Here We Go Again: Usual Suspects Predict Doomy Fall/Winter COVID And Flu

By William Teach October 11, 2022 – 10:30 am

They just can’t give up, because they’re too invested in the scaremongering when most people have mostly moved on. Do they think they’ll be able to get more mandates at this point? No one will allow it

How bad will flu and Covid be this winter? Hospitals brace for rough season.

Hospitals nationwide are preparing for another winter with Covid — the first one that’s also expected to include high levels of influenza and other respiratory illnesses that have simmered quietly in the background for the past two years.

Flu cases are already rising in parts of the U.S., according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Pediatricians, too, are seeing a growing number of children sick with respiratory syncytial virus, or RSV, and enteroviruses.

And despite a downward trend in Covid, tens of thousands of new cases are still being diagnosed every day.

The convergence of viruses is hitting health care systems as they’re forced to reckon with staffing shortages that worsened during the pandemic.

Staff shortages? You mean like from terminating doctors and nurses and assistants for refusing to take the unproven, emergency use vaccines? Which, sadly, have shown to be not as good as positioned, and are causing a lot of problems, such as strokes (including in young folks) and messing up menstrual cycles?

“If you go around the nation and ask hospitals how busy they are, every single one of them will tell you: They’re busy,” said Dr. Carlos del Rio, an executive associate dean at the Emory University School of Medicine and Grady Health System in Atlanta.

Really? Weird that I do not see that in the local news around here or any of the other outlets I hit for whatever reason.

Health care workers are quitting at rates 23 percent higher than when the pandemic began, mirroring a larger nationwide trend of workers leaving their jobs, according to Health System Tracker, a joint effort between the nonprofits Peterson Center on Healthcare and Kaiser Family Foundation to monitor how well the U.S. health care system is performing.

“Nurses were on the front line, and some of them burned out and quit,” said Dr. James McDeavitt, executive vice president and dean of clinical affairs at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston. “Others that were in their 50s and 60s who maybe thought they’d be working for another five years took an early retirement.”

Some are leaving because they refuse to take the mandated vaccines. Some refuse to take a booster, because we now know more. The COVID cultists really want to make this happen, as they are too invested in doom. And, speaking of vaccines

Federal employees have more paid time off from OPM to get COVID-19 booster shots

The Office of Personnel Management is making it a little easier for federal employees to get their booster doses of the COVID-19 vaccine.

Employees now have up to four hours of paid administrative leave, after OPM authorized the time off on Oct. 6. Feds can also use time off to take family members to get their doses of the vaccine. And any employees who are not yet vaccinated against COVID-19 can use the time off toward getting their first dose.

Why? They have days off. They have after work time. It barely takes any time to get a shot. Even in the depths of COVID, with all the social distancing, it took less than an hour to drive to the center, wait in line, get jabbed, and get home. Why are We The Taxpayers footing the bill for federal employees? They surely won’t take advantage of this, right?

Additionally, federal employees are eligible for up to two days off if they have an adverse reaction to the vaccine. Beyond the initial two days, employees can use their own sick leave to take additional time off until they recover.

Adverse reactions, eh? Huh.

Read: Here We Go Again: Usual Suspects Predict Doomy Fall/Winter COVID And Flu »

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Your Fault: Heatwaves To Make Places Unlivable

By William Teach October 11, 2022 – 7:00 am

Yes, it’s that time of year to start really pimping the uber-doom, what with the next UN IPCC COP meeting in Egypt coming up in November

Heatwaves will make regions uninhabitable within decades: UN, Red Cross

Heatwaves will become so extreme in certain regions of the world within decades that human life there will be unsustainable, the United Nations and the Red Cross said Monday.

Heatwaves are predicted to “exceed human physiological and social limits” in the Sahel, the Horn of Africa and south and southwest Asia, with extreme events triggering “large-scale suffering and loss of life”, the organisations said.

Heatwave catastrophes this year in countries like Somalia and Pakistan foreshadow a future with deadlier, more frequent, and more intense heat-related humanitarian emergencies, they warned in a joint report.

The UN’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) and the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) released the report in advance of next month’s COP27 climate change summit in Egypt.

“We don’t want to dramatise it, but clearly the data shows that it does lead towards a very bleak future,” said IFRC secretary-general Jagan Chapagain.

Right, right, they don’t want to dramatise it. That’s all they do. And, what happens when this doesn’t occur? Who’s held responsible for the doomsaying? And, has this happened during previous Holocene warm periods? There needs to be a comparison for proper science. The Sahara used to be a lush rain forest 6,000 years ago. How dare you drive fossil fueled vehicles back then!

Read: Your Fault: Heatwaves To Make Places Unlivable »

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New York Open Border Liberals Upset Over More Shipped Illegals

By William Teach October 11, 2022 – 6:45 am

The NY Daily News is a pretty far left “newspaper”, further out than the NY Times. Of course, no one at the NYDN is offering to support or house any of the illegals/migrants

Nearly 2,000 migrants arrived in NYC over weekend as shelter crisis shows no sign of abating

At least 1,800 Latin American asylum-seekers arrived in the city over the weekend, signaling that the migrant wave is accelerating even as Mayor Eric Adams’ administration scrambles to shelter thousands of desperate travelers already in New York.

The mayor disclosed the latest figure to reporters on the sidelines of the Columbus Day Parade in Manhattan on Monday morning.

“Those numbers are unbelievable — 1,800,” Adams said before issuing a plea for assistance: “We need every level of government to participate in dealing with this crisis that we are facing. You know, over just the last few days to receive those large numbers, it’s a strain on our system and we have to make sure we get the support that we need.”

The weekend influx means the total number of migrants in the five boroughs is now at least 19,200, according to data from Adams’ office. An Adams spokeswoman cautioned the tally is likely higher, as the data only covers migrants who have cycled through the shelter intake system.

Aww, that’s a real shame, NY having to deal with the results of the policies they support.

The mayor did tell reporters that the city desperately needs funding and assistance from the federal and state governments to deal with the crisis, and suggested his emergency declaration served as an opportunity to communicate that.

“I had to explain to New Yorkers what we were dealing with, what we did already, what we’re going to do and what we need, because this situation is so complex,” he said. “I wanted to take my time out and say to New Yorkers, ‘Here’s what we’re dealing with.’”

Like the border cities with way, way more fallout from liberal open-border policies?

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott criticizes NYC Mayor Eric Adams for ticketing buses carrying migrants

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott criticized New York City Mayor Eric Adams over the ticketing of buses carrying migrants from his state to the so-called sanctuary city, following a state of emergency declaration in the Big Apple amid the influx.

The New York Police Department was seen over the weekend pulling over buses near the Port Authority that had dropped of dozens of migrants. The officers reportedly searched each bus for possible infractions, including tire treads, fluid levels and even windshield wiper placement, the New York Post reported (snip)

“This is another pathetic ply by Mayor Adams to stop Texas from busing migrants to his self-declared sanctuary city,” a spokesperson for Abbott’s office told Fox News. “Each bus used by the State of Texas for this busing mission undergoes thorough Texas Department of Public Safety Commercial Vehicle inspections before departing for sanctuary cities.”

Why doesn’t Adams want to be compassionate to illegals?

But the bussing is a bipartisan effort, with the Democratic mayor of El Paso, Texas, sending more migrants to New York City than Abbott.

Hmm, I hadn’t heard that one before.

Read: New York Open Border Liberals Upset Over More Shipped Illegals »

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Good News: High Speed Rail Company Declined To Work On California Project Due To State Being “Politically Dysfunctional”

By William Teach October 10, 2022 – 6:06 pm

First the shot

Multi-billion?

(Hoover) Back in 2008, California voters approved about $10 billion in bond funds to partially finance a HSR system that would stretch across the state, from the south to north, and from the valleys to the coast, promising travel from San Francisco to Los Angeles in just two and one-half hours, with trains traveling at 220 miles per hour. The system was to be operational by 2020, for a cost of about $34 billion. Too date, the cost has escalated to about $105 billion, just for the 520-mile Los Angeles–San Francisco leg. And now that we are in 2022, the only certainty is that costs that will rise further, and that a completion date—“completion” meaning whatever bits and pieces of the system ultimately are finished—will stretch further into the future.

A bit more than “multi-billion”, and, so far, nothing is operational

A company hoping to help California with its high-speed rail built one in North Africa instead, saying the region was ‘less politically dysfunctional’

The Société nationale des chemins de fer français (SNCF), a French state-owned railroad operator, came to California in hopes of helping the state build a high-speed rail system from Los Angeles to San Francisco but left for North Africa in 2011 because the region was ‘less politically dysfunctional’ than the Golden State.

Within 7 years, they built a functioning high-speed rail system in Morocco, the New York Times reported.

California sought to have the first high-speed rail system in the country, but a new report from the Times showed political disagreement on the train’s route slowed the ambitious project to a near halt — and raised construction costs by billions.

That Times piece notes that the Peoples’ Republik Of California is now thinking $113 billion. That Hoover piece is from mid-August this year.

The California High-Speed Rail Authority continues to build: The first section of the rail is under construction in Central California. The authority hopes to begin testing the section in 2025.

Some rail operators told the Times the entire project could potentially be a bust.

“I don’t think it is an existing project,” Quentin Kopp, a former rail chairman, told the Times. “It is a loser.”

The same types of Leftists want to force Everyone Else to take the train.

Read: Good News: High Speed Rail Company Declined To Work On California Project Due To State Being “Politically Dysfunctional” »

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Half Of Voters Say ‘Climate Change’ Is Super Important For Them Or Something

By William Teach October 10, 2022 – 3:00 pm

It’s obviously not important enough for them to change their own lives and make them carbon neutral

Half of voters say climate change is important in midterms, poll finds

climate cow…

With less than a month until Election Day, roughly half of registered voters say climate change is either “very important” or “one of the most important issues” in their vote for Congress, according to a recent Washington Post-ABC News poll.

As Republicans work to wrest control of the House and Senate from Democrats, the results are divided along party lines. Among adults, roughly 8 in 10 Democrats (79 percent) say climate change is at least very important in their vote, compared with 46 percent of independents and 27 percent of Republicans.

Similar shares of voters of all ages say global warming is a priority at the ballot box. That’s a change from previous polls that have shown younger Americans worry more about Earth’s rapid warming, which is more likely to affect them in the form of raging wildfires, rising seas and stronger storms.

They can say “half”, but, less than half of Independents care, and, let’s be honest, all those Democrats may say climate apocalypse is important, but, they won’t really factor it into their vote, as, again, it’s popular in theory, not practice. Other things they find

Overall, climate change ranked below the six other issues tested in the poll, including the economy, abortion, crime and immigration. While 51 percent of registered voters say climate change is important in their vote, that compares with 85 percent who say the economy is important.

The gap is smaller when it comes to the highest category of importance. Roughly 14 percent of registered voters say climate change is “one of the most important issues” in their vote, below the economy (27 percent) and abortion (22 percent) but similar to immigration (14 percent) and crime (13 percent).

So, it’s super important, but, as usual, below real world issues. This is from page 11 of the poll

When measured against those real world issues, ‘climate change’ is dead last, 11 points behind immigration. As usual.

BTW, the poll starts out noting that Biden has a 39% approval rating, with 53% disapproving. On handling the economy, it is 36% approve, 57% approve.

Read: Half Of Voters Say ‘Climate Change’ Is Super Important For Them Or Something »

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If All You See…

By William Teach October 10, 2022 – 1:00 pm

…is a horrible plastic straw causing Bad Weather, you might just be a Warmist

The blog of the day is This ain’t Hell…., with a post on Kamala saying you can be religious and support abortion on demand.

Read: If All You See… »

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Bummer: New York State Sheriffs Refuse To Enforce Highly Restrictive NY Gun Law

By William Teach October 10, 2022 – 10:30 am

If you pass a law that is hard to enforce and probably unconstitutional, why would Democrats think anyone would enforce it? non-paywalled version at Yahoo)

Another Challenge to New York’s Gun Law: Sheriffs Who Won’t Enforce It

Robert Milby, Wayne County’s new sheriff, has been in law enforcement most of his adult life, earning praise and promotions for conscientious service. But recently, Milby has attracted attention for a different approach to the law: ignoring it.

Milby is among at least a half-dozen sheriffs in upstate New York who have said they have no intention of aggressively enforcing gun regulations that state lawmakers passed last summer, forbidding concealed weapons in so-called sensitive areas — a long list of public spaces including, but not limited to, government buildings and religious centers, health facilities and homeless shelters, schools and subways, stadiums and state parks, and, of course, Times Square.

“It’s basically everywhere,” said Milby, in a recent interview in his office in Wayne County, east of Rochester. “If anyone thinks we’re going to go out and take a proactive stance against this, that’s not going to happen.”

Everyone, including myself, said that it would be everywhere. Remember, it’s not just those places Milby mentioned

The big one is that private businesses must post their intent to allow CCW holders to enter while carrying. Because most won’t bother, mostly because most won’t know the rule. In most states private companies must post if you may not carry in the business. So, this NY law will mean concealed carry will be banned in most businesses across the entire state. Those few who are truly paying attention will post a “sure, go ahead and carry” sign, if they are gun rights supporters. Most won’t have any idea. Which means that CCW holders, who tend to be law abiding, won’t carry often because they cannot bring it anywhere. In a city like Albany they can at least lock it in a car. In NYC, they won’t usually have that ability, so, it will stay at home.

If not posted, it’s banned.

On Thursday, a U.S. District Court judge blocked large portions of the law, dealing a major blow to lawmakers in Albany who had sought to blaze a trail for other states after the Supreme Court in June struck down a century-old New York law that had strictly limited the carrying of weapons in public. Between the court challenge and the hostility of many law enforcement officers, New York’s ambitious effort could be teetering.

It was simply an attempt at a big blanket ban after the Supreme Court struck down New York’s “special need” law. If NY chooses to appeal the newest block, it will probably end up at the Supreme Court, and NY will be smacked down yet again.

The judge, Glenn T. Suddaby, agreed to a three-day delay of his order to allow an emergency appeal to a higher federal court. But even before Suddaby ruled, a collection of sheriffs from upstate New York were already saying they would make no special effort to enforce the law, citing lack of personnel, an overbroad scope and possible infringements on the Second Amendment.

Nationwide, conservative sheriffs have been at the front line of an aggressive pushback on liberal policies — often framing themselves as “constitutional sheriffs,” or as self-declared arbiters of any law’s constitutionality. Sheriffs in other states have also been part of efforts to prove a fallacious conspiracy theory that former President Donald Trump won the 2020 election.

Of course there needed to be a mention of Trump in a NY Times piece, because Trump Derangement Syndrome.

“I have to enforce it because I swore to uphold the laws, but I can use as much discretion as I want,” said Richard C. Giardino, the Republican sheriff in Fulton County, northwest of Albany. “If someone intentionally flouts the law, then they’re going to be handled one way. But if someone was unaware that the rules have changed, then we’re not going to charge someone with a felony because they went into their barbershop with their carry concealed.”

Such criticism has been heard from Greene County, in the Hudson Valley, to Erie County, home to Buffalo, the state’s second-largest city, as well as from groups like the New York State Sheriffs’ Association, which called the new law a “thoughtless, reactionary action” that aims to “restrain and punish law-abiding citizens.”

How many people even know that quiet part of the law, that it’s illegal unless a business or home (yes, private domiciles) states that concealed carry is allowed?

And as for who was to blame, Milby said the opinions in Wayne County were crystal clear long before Thursday’s decision.

“There’s a very strong sentiment in this county that the governor has just thumbed her nose at the Supreme Court, in what’s being touted as an unconstitutional conniption fit,” he said. “She’s absolutely overstepped.”

The law is a blatant attempt to circumvent the SCOTUS ruling, and all it does is harm law abiding citizens looking to protect themselves. It does nothing to stop criminals. As the NY Daily News wrote “Add it all up, and assuming these requirements survive inevitable court challenges, it’s going to remain fairly difficult to arm oneself legally in New York.”

Read: Bummer: New York State Sheriffs Refuse To Enforce Highly Restrictive NY Gun Law »

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St. Greta Says The Name ‘Climate Change’ Is Too Timid Or Something

By William Teach October 10, 2022 – 7:15 am

It’s been awhile since we heard from St. Greta Of Stockholm. Nice to see she hasn’t given up on doom, as this is and edited extract from The Climate Book created by Greta Thunberg and to be published on 27 October

Greta Thunberg on the climate delusion: ‘We’ve been greenwashed out of our senses. It’s time to stand our ground’

st greta carMaybe it is the name that is the problem. Climate change. It doesn’t sound that bad. The word “change” resonates quite pleasantly in our restless world. No matter how fortunate we are, there is always room for the appealing possibility of improvement. Then there is the “climate” part. Again, it does not sound so bad. If you live in many of the high-emitting nations of the global north, the idea of a “changing climate” could well be interpreted as the very opposite of scary and dangerous. A changing world. A warming planet. What’s not to like?

Perhaps that is partly why so many people still think of climate change as a slow, linear and even rather harmless process. But the climate is not just changing. It is destabilising. It is breaking down. The delicately balanced natural patterns and cycles that are a vital part of the systems that sustain life on Earth are being disrupted, and the consequences could be catastrophic. Because there are negative tipping points, points of no return. And we do not know exactly when we might cross them. What we do know, however, is that they are getting awfully close, even the really big ones. Transformation often starts slowly, but then it begins to accelerate.

So, doom?

The German oceanographer and climatologist Stefan Rahmstorf writes: “We have enough ice on Earth to raise sea levels by 65 metres – about the height of a 20-storey building – and, at the end of the last ice age, sea levels rose by 120 metres as a result of about 5C of warming.” Taken together, these figures give us a perspective on the powers we are dealing with. Sea-level rise will not remain a question of centimetres for very long.

So, um, what caused that to happen? Bueller? And why is that different from today? Of course, most of that ice is nowhere near the oceans, and wouldn’t make it there. Anyhow, there’s more doom and gloom from St. Greta, moving to

Saving the world is voluntary. You could certainly argue against that statement from a moral point of view, but the fact remains: there are no laws or restrictions in place that will force anyone to take the necessary steps towards safeguarding our future living conditions on planet Earth. This is troublesome from many perspectives, not least because – as much as I hate to admit it – Beyoncé was wrong. It is not girls who run the world. It is run by politicians, corporations and financial interests – mainly represented by white, privileged, middle-aged, straight cis men. And it turns out most of them are terribly ill suited for the job. This may not come as a big surprise. After all, the purpose of a company is not to save the world – it is to make a profit. Or, rather, it is to make as much profit as it possibly can in order to keep shareholders and market interests happy.

This leaves us with our political leaders. They do have great opportunities to improve things, but it turns out that saving the world is not their main priority, either.

Sounds like she wants government to institute those restrictions. You know, the ones that most Warmists won’t voluntarily put in their own lives based on their beliefs.

We cannot live sustainably within today’s economic system. Yet that is what we are constantly being told we can do. We can buy sustainable cars, travel on sustainable motorways, powered by sustainable petroleum. We can eat sustainable meat and drink sustainable soft drinks out of sustainable plastic bottles. We can buy sustainable fast fashion and fly on sustainable aeroplanes using sustainable fuels. And, of course, we are going to meet our short- and long-term sustainable climate targets, too, without making the slightest effort.

So, what economic system does she want? Maybe the full book will say. Not that I’ll read it. It will be very silly.

Read: St. Greta Says The Name ‘Climate Change’ Is Too Timid Or Something »

Posted in AGW Scaremongering, Global Warming | 14 Comments | Trackback URL

Surprise: Bidenflation Ate Up Worker’s Raises

By William Teach October 10, 2022 – 7:00 am

Glad to see the media is finally catching on

Workers got bigger raises this year, but inflation has gobbled them up

John Bjorklund’s savings account is shrinking. Alex Bonifaz worries about skyrocketing heating oil costs. Rose White is delaying replacing the leaky roof on her house.

All three work for the Boston nonprofit 2Life Communities, where nearly everyone got raises in April — some at higher rates than normal. But soaring inflation has eroded those increases, wiping them away completely in some cases, as it has for workers across the country.

Prices have gone up 8.3 percent on average over the past year, according to the Consumer Price Index, and for some essential items it’s far higher — eggs are up nearly 40 percent, for instance — putting an especially large burden on lower-income workers. The inability to get ahead is further fueling worker frustration at a time when people are quitting their jobs at record rates. (snip)

Bjorklund, who also plays guitar in a rock band, got a 4.2 percent raise in April — more than he normally gets, but less than others received.

“I’m not complaining,” he said. “When they’re saying inflation is like a 7 or 8 percent increase, the 4 percent raise really doesn’t amount to a lot of money. But I’m grateful to have it.”

Most won’t be getting an 8%+ raise, but, even if they did, it wouldn’t account for the food and other goods they buy the most which have skyrocketed.

White, 47, has been spending $50-$100 more a week on groceries for her family of four, including a daughter, 12, and son, 14, who play sports and often have friends over to eat. “The volume of food is incredible,” said White, who has been making more trips to Costco — and buying less meat — and recently started growing vegetables to help combat high prices. She also worries about her children’s college fund and soaring electricity costs, and is seriously considering investing in solar panels.

When White and her husband get raises, they usually put the increase into their retirement savings. But White didn’t do that with her 2.5 percent bump this year for “cash flow reasons.”

If you can’t afford to buy meat as much, you can’t afford solar panels. Such is life in the Bidenconomy. Especially when it’s hurting the working class and low end of the middle class the most.

Read: Surprise: Bidenflation Ate Up Worker’s Raises »

Posted in Democrats, Economy, Joe Biden | 10 Comments | Trackback URL

If All You See…

By William Teach October 9, 2022 – 1:00 pm

…is a horrible fossil fueled vehicle causing drought, you might just be a Warmist

The blog of the day is Independent Sentinel, with a post on a report saying COVID began in May 2019 and was weaponized.

It’s ladies of Fall week!

Read: If All You See… »

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