There’s A Wee Bit Of A Problem With Lost Federales Decriminalizing Marijuana

By William Teach April 4, 2022 – 7:00 am

All the legalize marijuana advocates out there might be in for a rude surprise (again, I couldn’t care less one way or the other about it being legal)

The real problem with U.S. marijuana regulation ‘not from federal illegality,’ WeedMaps CEO says

The House voted to decriminalize marijuana and remove it from the list of banned controlled substances at the federal level on Friday. Now the Marijuana Opportunity Reinvestment and Expungement (MORE) Act will move to the Senate, where it is unlikely to attain the 60 votes needed to pass.

And while the passage of the MORE Act would certainly expand cannabis markets in the U.S., Weedmaps CEO Chris Beals thinks that a bigger obstacle lies in the 37 states where the substance is already legal for adult use.

“The single biggest issue facing legalized cannabis markets… is that there’s just not enough licenses,” Beals told Yahoo Finance Live (video above), adding that consumers are still choosing the illicit market over the legal one “by a four-to-one ratio.”

As a result, “a lot of the harm that’s being inflicted is not from the federal illegality,” Beals said, “It’s from states not issuing enough licenses because the biggest correlating factor to these high illicit market rates is you have to drive too far or there’s not enough robust competition on pricing or product selection.”

Did you get that? This whole thing is really based on needing states giving out licenses to vendors, and increasing those numbers and having lots and lots of vendors, rather than all the illegal growers. And even federal licenses. Why? I usually hate using Wikipedia, but, it’s put succinctly

  • Creates cannabis tax and grant programs funded by a 5% tax on cannabis products (excluding prescription medications derived from cannabis)
  • Community Reinvestment Grant Program providing services for “individuals most adversely impacted by the War on Drugs“, including job training, health education, mentoring, literacy programs, and substance use treatment programs
  • Cannabis Opportunity Program providing funds for eligible states to make loans to assist small businesses in the cannabis industry that are owned and controlled by socially and economically disadvantaged individuals
  • An Equitable Licensing Grant Program providing funds for eligible states to develop and implement equitable cannabis licensing programs that “minimize barriers to cannabis licensing and employment for individuals most adversely impacted by the War on Drugs

It’s all about the money. States already have their own tax and fee programs in place, and keep raising them, hence why there’s a pretty active black market. Now, the feds want in on the sales. I mean, I don’t blame them, but, how many products have a federal sales tax? There are some, like tobacco, airline tickets, and alcohol, for which the feds made a cool $100 billion.

Sure, there’s some element of Democrats trying to give a boon to their base, but, that’s a sidebar: it’s mostly about the money. Most of their base will have zero idea. It’s rather cynical.

BTW, if states do not want to decriminalize it, they don’t have to. Same with states who will keep it legal for medical only.

Read: There’s A Wee Bit Of A Problem With Lost Federales Decriminalizing Marijuana »

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Biden Invokes Defense Production Act For EV Battery Mining

By William Teach April 3, 2022 – 5:30 pm

Brandon is fine with mining for the materials for EV batteries, which actually often leaves a nice environmental mess, to be able to build vehicles which the average American won’t be able to afford, but, not OK with drilling for oil and natural gas

Biden invokes Defense Production Act for EV battery materials: How it impacts automakers

President Joe Biden said Thursday he will invoke the Defense Production Act to boost domestic mining and production of key minerals used in electric vehicles, a big move to help the Detroit automakers transition to EVs.

It was part of a broader announcement addressing gasoline prices.

The move means that battery materials will be added to the list of items covered by the 1950 act, which former President Harry Truman invoked to make steel for the Korean War and which President Donald Trump called on to boost mask production amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

“We need to end our long-term reliance on China and other countries to supply the inputs” used in U.S. electric vehicles, Biden said.

By invoking the Defense Production Act to provide incentives for companies to mine and process more minerals for EVs, it will help the U.S. tackle climate change and it will lead to the creation of new jobs.

“It will also save your family money,” Biden said, citing studies that indicate a typical driver will save about $80 a month by not having to pay for fuel.

First, Brandon is correct that the U.S. needs to produce our own materials, instead of depending on China and other nations. We should be doing that with oil and natural gas.

Second, technically you would save money by not having to pay for gas, it’s just that you’ll pay a heck of a lot more for the vehicle, so, those savings will be way, way wiped out.

Third, you can bet that the enviroweenies will sue, protest, blockade, have sit ins, etc, to stop the mining of the metals. Because that’s what they do.

Bailo agreed that Biden’s move will likely create jobs as more mining companies spring up. It will also bring down the cost of shipping, but compared with the cost of raw materials, logistics expenses are “a drop in the bucket.”

That means the sticker price on EVs won’t go down for car buyers in the near term.

“It makes sense on paper to control the supply chain, but it doesn’t mean it’ll help the consumer,” said Joe McCabe, CEO of auto industry advisory firm AutoForecast Solutions. “It’s going to help lower the manufacturing costs, which will help the profit margins of the electric vehicle manufacturers. But we’re still trying to convince a consumer to spend $50,000 and much more on electric vehicles.”

Doesn’t matter: the enviroweenies will get a friendly judge to block this, and it’ll be tied up in litigation for years.

*Info on Biden’s fossil fueled limo, which would be accompanied by around 18 other fossil fueled vehicles.

Read: Biden Invokes Defense Production Act For EV Battery Mining »

Posted in AGW Idiocy, Global Warming, Joe Biden | 6 Comments | Trackback URL

If All You See…

By William Teach April 3, 2022 – 1:00 pm

…is a river that will soon! rise up over the banks and flood the city from ‘climate change’, you might just be a Warmist

The blog of the day is Moonbattery, with a post on a sucker punch.

It’s leather and latex week!

Read: If All You See… »

Posted in If All You See | 1 Comment | Trackback URL

Sorta Blogless Sunday Pinup

By William Teach April 3, 2022 – 9:44 am

Patriotic Pinup Pearl Frush

Happy Sunday! Another fantastic day in the Once And Future Nation Of America. The Sun is shining, the birds are singing, and Opening Day is just 4 days away. This pinup is by Pearl Frush, with a wee bit of help.

Also, this is year 17 of doing the Sunday pinup post, having started in 2005.

What is happening in Ye Olde Blogosphere? The Fine 15

  1. The First Street Journal discusses the freedom to tell the truth
  2. The Last Refuge covers Biden telling illegals to come on May 23rd
  3. The Lid discusses how special Opening Day is
  4. The O.K. Corral covers Britain having an explosive problem
  5. The Other McCain notes Russian troops retreating from Kyiv
  6. The Right Scoop highlights Sarah Palin running for Congress
  7. Weasel Zippers is not impressed by Palin running for Congress
  8. Real Clear Science covers the UK’s imaginary energy
  9. Jo Nova explains how wind power is working in Australia
  10. Green Jihad covers Biden’s energy secretary using Ukraine to push “clean energy”
  11. 357 Magnum notes Progressive utopia of NYC having a problem with hate
  12. American Elephants discusses the cheap labor pipeline of illegals
  13. Chicks On The Right covers Woke Disney getting bad news from parents
  14. Cold Fury highlights the Green deceit
  15. And last, but, not least, Dissecting Leftism cover Australian doctors forced to follow government health decrees

As always, the full set of pinups can be seen in the Patriotic Pinup category, or over at my Gallery page (nope, that’s gone, the newest Apache killed access, and the program hasn’t been upgraded since 2014). While we are on pinups, since it is that time of year, have you gotten your Pinups for Vets calendar yet? And don’t forget to check out what I declare to be our War on Women Rule 5 and linky luv posts and things that interest me. I’ve also mostly alphabetized them, makes it easier scrolling the feedreader

Don’t forget to check out all the other great material all the linked blogs have!

Anyone else have a link or hotty-fest going on? Let me know so I can add you to the list. And do you have a favorite blog you can recommend be added to the feedreader?

Two great sites for getting news links are Liberty Daily and Whatafinger.

Read: Sorta Blogless Sunday Pinup »

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#Unity: Biden Wants AG Garland To Prosecute Trump

By William Teach April 3, 2022 – 8:30 am

This would bring American together, right? No? It would further divide Americans? Wow. It would set a heck of a precedent for the next Republican president to send their Justice Department after Biden, Kamala, and all the other Democrats involved in accused wrongdoing. It would be a good distraction from Biden’s terrible economy and foreign policy failures, though

Garland Faces Growing Pressure as Jan. 6 Investigation Widens
The inquiry is a test for President Biden and Attorney General Merrick B. Garland, who both came into office promising to restore the Justice Department’s independence.

Biden, serving under Obama, helped destroy the DOJ’s independence. It’s now known as a hardcore leftist organization, especially after the whole fake Russia Russia Russia thing

Immediately after Merrick B. Garland was sworn in as attorney general in March of last year, he summoned top Justice Department officials and the F.B.I. director to his office. He wanted a detailed briefing on the case that will, in all likelihood, come to define his legacy: the Jan. 6 assault on the Capitol.

Even though hundreds of people had already been charged, Mr. Garland asked to go over the indictments in detail, according to two people familiar with the meeting. What were the charges? What evidence did they have? How had they built such a sprawling investigation, involving all 50 states, so fast? What was the plan now?

Same DOJ has mostly ignored the attacks on federal property and employees from the BLM/Antifa riots.

The attorney general’s deliberative approach has come to frustrate Democratic allies of the White House and, at times, President Biden himself. As recently as late last year, Mr. Biden confided to his inner circle that he believed former President Donald J. Trump was a threat to democracy and should be prosecuted, according to two people familiar with his comments. And while the president has never communicated his frustrations directly to Mr. Garland, he has said privately that he wanted Mr. Garland to act less like a ponderous judge and more like a prosecutor who is willing to take decisive action over the events of Jan. 6.

Speaking to reporters on Friday, Mr. Garland said that he and the career prosecutors working on the case felt only the pressure “to do the right thing,” which meant that they “follow the facts and the law wherever they may lead.”

Still, Democrats’ increasingly urgent calls for the Justice Department to take more aggressive action highlight the tension between the frenetic demands of politics and the methodical pace of one of the biggest prosecutions in the department’s history.

Pudding brain wants to cause massive problems in the U.S., have people at each other’s throats. And it’s Constitutionally dubious whether a former president can even be prosecuted for actions while still in office. It does appear that Garland is resisting the calls from Brandon and all his Comrades in Congress and other Progressive people and groups.

“The Department of Justice must move swiftly,” Representative Elaine Luria, Democrat of Virginia and a member of the House committee investigating the riot, said this past week. She and others on the panel want the department to charge Trump allies with contempt for refusing to comply with the committee’s subpoenas.

A banana republic committee trying to drag the DOJ into their banana republic ways. It’s a witch-hunt for political purposes.

Read: #Unity: Biden Wants AG Garland To Prosecute Trump »

Posted in Joe Biden, Unhinged Tools | 40 Comments | Trackback URL

Old And Busted: California Permanent Drought. New And Hot: California Extreme Rainfall

By William Teach April 2, 2022 – 3:00 pm

It’s always something with the Cult of Climastrology. They never seem to acknowledge the science that parts of the world flip in and out of certain climate conditions. Climate, of course, is the long term average of weather. Because of where California, Washington, and Oregon are, they’ll have periods of drought and periods of wet, mostly having to do with Pacific Ocean conditions, which flip, such as La Nina and El Nino. It wasn’t that long ago that the cultists were apoplectic over the California Permanent Drought, much like with Australia. Now Australia is seeing a lot more wet. California and the west coast?

Climate change may mean more extreme rain after wildfire in western US

Under severe warming scenarios, the risk is growing that areas of the western US will experience extreme rainfall within a year or so of being hit by a wildfire.

The risk of extreme rainfall in areas that have recently experienced wildfires may increase significantly by the end of the century in the western United States, if greenhouse gas emissions continue to rise unabated.

“In many places in the western US, we experience a lot of natural disasters,” says Samantha Stevenson at the University of California, Santa Barbara. “Some of the most important ones are wildfires, many of which have burned through California and other western states recently. We also have rainstorms that can lead to devastating floods. Climate change has been known to amplify both these things.”

Ah, so, they’re prognosticating that this will happen. Why? Because it will, based on the meteorological and geologic history of the west coast. This way, though, they can link it to Your Fault for refusing to purchase an unaffordable EV and switching to unreliable, expensive renewables. That’s what the whole “amplify” part is about, part of the whole “fingerprint” meme. Virtually every single one of those wildfires can be traced back to a human setting it, either intentionally or unintentionally. Warmists will say the fires were worse because of human caused global warming, rather than due to human idiocy in land use.

Stevenson and her colleagues decided to study how often these extreme rainfall events will occur following a wildfire over the coming decades. The team ran simulations of the climate in the western US, under the most extreme warming scenario – in which greenhouse gases continue to be emitted uncapped.

Study something that hasn’t occurred yet? With computer models, of course.

In an extreme warming scenario, the team found that by the end of this century, extreme rainfall events in California will be twice as likely to occur in the year following a wildfire than they were in the late 20th century. Such events will be eight times more likely to occur in the Pacific Northwest. For over 90 per cent of extreme wildfire events that will happen in this century in Colorado, California and the Pacific Northwest, the team’s model predicts that extreme rainfall events will occur at least three times within five years of the fire.

Will the team who wrote the paper pay the price if this doesn’t come to pass? Except, they know this is utterly normal weather behavior. It is all about trying to scare people into complying with the cult. Oh, and government grants.

Read: Old And Busted: California Permanent Drought. New And Hot: California Extreme Rainfall »

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If All You See…

By William Teach April 2, 2022 – 1:00 pm

…is a rising sea causing people to move up into the highlands, you might just be a Warmist

The blog of the day is The Daley Gator, with a post on a guy earning being shot by the police.

Read: If All You See… »

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New COVID Variant Spikes In U.K., And No One Really Cares

By William Teach April 2, 2022 – 10:30 am

Here we go again

COVID in UK at record levels with almost 5 million infected

The prevalence of COVID-19 in the U.K. has reached record levels, with about 1 in 13 people estimated to be infected with the virus in the past week, latest figures from Britain’s official statistics agency showed.

Some 4.9 million people were estimated to have the coronavirus in the week ending March 26, up from 4.3 million recorded in the previous week, the Office for National Statistics said Friday, The latest surge is driven by the more transmissible omicron variant BA.2, which is the dominant variant across the U.K.

Hospitalizations and death rates are again rising, although the number of people dying with COVID-19 is still relatively low compared with earlier this year. Nonetheless, the latest estimates suggest that the steep climb in new infections since late February, when Prime Minister Boris Johnson scrapped all remaining coronavirus restrictions in England, continued well into March.

The figures came on the day the government ended free rapid COVID-19 tests for most people in England, under Johnson’s “living with COVID” plan. People who do not have health conditions that make them more vulnerable to the coronavirus now need to pay for tests to find out if they are infected.

“The government’s ‘living with COVID’ strategy of removing any mitigations, isolation, free testing and a considerable slice of our surveillance amounts to nothing more than ignoring this virus going forwards,” said Stephen Griffin, associate professor at the University of Leeds’ medical school.

Masks didn’t work before, they won’t work now. Quite a few places had mask mandates when Delta and Omicron spiked, worse than the original COVID outbreak. Keeping testing around would certainly be helpful, as people would be more likely to go get one to know if they have COVID. Requiring isolation protocols would also be helpful, so people do not go to work, out in public, spreading it around. Otherwise, for everyone else, government and COVID Cultists need to leave us alone

“Such unchecked prevalence endangers the protection afforded by our vaccines,” he said. “Our vaccines are excellent, but they are not silver bullets and ought not to be left to bear the brunt of COVID in isolation.”

Not silver bullets? Huh. That’s the way they were portrayed. Anyhow, it’s expected that most people in the U.K. will get the BA.2 variant by the summer, and you know that that will probably happen in most 1st World nations, including America.

But, you know who really cares? Not many. The above is an AP article published in a Dayton, Ohio news outlet. Going to UK outlets, you find almost nothing about COVID and this spike. A year ago it would have been top of the page news. Now? BBC News and UK Guardian do not even mention it. Same with several others. The UK Daily Mail mentions, way down the page, that people are learning to live with it. Most are just over it. They do not want restrictions, shut downs, forced masking, being fired for refusing to take the vaccine, or anything else. No more showing your vaccination papers. I doubt many Americans will put up with anything if BA.2 hits the U.S.

Read: New COVID Variant Spikes In U.K., And No One Really Cares »

Posted in Bat Soup Virus, Europe | 4 Comments | Trackback URL

Transforming The Energy Sector Can Strengthen Democracy Or Something

By William Teach April 2, 2022 – 7:15 am

Well, this is a rather new line of cult talking points

Energy transformation can strengthen democracy and help fight climate change

It is impossible to forecast how the war in Ukraine is going to end: current events are fast-moving. Given the inhumanity of it all, it is important to consider the resulting uncertainty and implications for the entire world.

Uncertainty about the global ramifications of the war clearly has driven world prices of liquified natural gas (LNG) dramatically higher over the past several months. These price increases have not hurt Russia: In fact, they have helped to finance its war effort. Rapidly climbing LNG and oil prices, however, have, hurt much of the rest of the world, as supplies of LNG have been gobbled up swiftly by the highest bidders with the largest appetites. Those most hurt by all this live in other developed and developing nations all around the world. And even in many European countries and the United States, those with limited means already are suffering.

So what can be done?  Any first-year student of economics knows that increasing supplies from all non-Russian sources of energy could work over time, especially in concert with efforts to reduce demand. These are good ideas, of course, but the devil is in the details.  There are at least two distinct options:

Can you guess which one they want?

Option 1: Invest in opening untapped supplies of petroleum and natural gas, drill for more of both, operate existing distribution infrastructure at its fullest capacity, and build more as quickly as possible; or

Option 2: Two complementary parts, here: (a) invest in expanding diverse and decentralized non-fossil energy systems; and (b) invest in R&D on new technologies that can smooth the demand-side transition to using electricity, technologies such as electric vehicles.

Unsurprisingly, option 2 is their choice.

Putin’s war has pushed world energy markets to inflection points. It has created a perhaps once in a generation opportunity to reorganize and transform global markets toward renewables and thereby reduce the world’s dependence on fossil energy from countries with leadership antithetical to democracy (not just Russia). Investing aggressively in energy option 2 would reduce the political power of major fossil fuel exporting nations with authoritarian leaders. Why? Because rapid transition to Option 2 undermines the ability of autocrats to maintain their extraordinary market clench over supplies of scarce and essential commodities. Such a transition would undermine their access to money from the rest of the world – money they use to fund inhumane oppression at home and unlawful and immoral extracurricular aggression abroad.

You know, Gary Yohe, the article writer, sorta has a point. Conservatives have for decades stated that the U.S. needs to wean itself from oil from those types of countries and develop our own fossil fueled sources, which are in abundance. Nothing says we can’t do that while also looking towards non-fossil fuels, including nuclear, doing the R&D to make sources like solar, wind, and hydro more effective and reduce costs, along with deploying it. An all of the above agenda.

Shrinking such gains derived from formidable market power would strengthen the hand of democracy – not by making democracy work better (it will always be messy), but by diminishing the use of fossil fuel energy to bankroll wars and hold energy-needy countries hostage. Constraining dictators’ and autocrats’ power over energy issues can help both to forward democratic principles and to help propel progress toward a cleaner and more healthy global environment.

Kumbaya, baby! The funny part here is that these same people yammering about Democracy! want to force their agenda on everyone else, with government mandating it, regardless of what the citizens want. There’s a name for that type of governmental agenda.

Read: Transforming The Energy Sector Can Strengthen Democracy Or Something »

Posted in AGW Socialism, Global Warming | 5 Comments | Trackback URL

Russians Switching To Support Of Putin, Ukraine War

By William Teach April 2, 2022 – 7:00 am

Well, this is not a good thing for the West

Shaken at First, Many Russians Now Rally Behind Putin’s Invasion

Biden Brain SlugThe stream of anti-war letters to a lawmaker in St. Petersburg, Russia, has dried up. Some Russians who had criticized the Kremlin have turned into cheerleaders for the war. Those who publicly oppose it have found the word “traitor” scrawled on their apartment door.

Five weeks into President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, there are signs that the Russian public’s initial shock has given way to a mix of support for their troops and anger at the West. On television, entertainment shows have been replaced by extra helpings of propaganda, resulting in a round-the-clock barrage of falsehoods about the “Nazis” who run Ukraine and American-funded Ukrainian bioweapons laboratories.

Polls and interviews show that many Russians now accept Putin’s contention that their country is under siege from the West and had no choice but to attack. The war’s opponents are leaving the country or keeping quiet. (snip)

The public’s endorsement of the war lacks the patriotic groundswell that greeted the annexation of Crimea in 2014. But polls released this week by Russia’s most respected independent pollster, Levada, showed Putin’s approval rating hitting 83%, up from 69% in January. Eighty-one percent said they supported the war, describing the need to protect Russian speakers as its primary justification.

Can this continue?

Analysts cautioned that as the economic pain wrought by sanctions deepens in the coming months, the public mood could shift yet again. Some also argued that polls in wartime have limited significance, with many Russians fearful of voicing dissent, or even their true opinion, to a stranger at a time when new censorship laws are punishing any deviation from the Kremlin narrative with as much as 15 years in prison.

But even accounting for that effect, Denis Volkov, Levada’s director, said his group’s surveys showed that many Russians had adopted the belief that a besieged Russia had to rally around its leader.

Could all the sanctions by Brandon and other 1st World nations have the opposite affect in getting Russians to rally around Putin and the war? Perhaps Biden and a few others shouldn’t have been pushing Russia to invade Ukraine

Now, while the government has tried to popularize the letter “Z” as an endorsement of the war, Shalygin said it’s rare to see a car sporting it; the symbol is mainly popping up on public transit and government-sponsored billboards. The “Z” first appeared painted on Russian military vehicles taking part in the Ukraine invasion.

“Enthusiasm — I don’t see it,” said Sergei Belanovsky, a prominent Russian sociologist. “What I rather see is apathy.”

So, pretty much “something’s happening down over there and the West is hurting the average Russian. Mr. Vast Foreign Experience should have been more careful beforehand. He’s pretty much in La La Land now.

Read: Russians Switching To Support Of Putin, Ukraine War »

Posted in Current Affairs, Joe Biden | 21 Comments | Trackback URL
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