California Passes New Requirements For Trucks And Vans, Requiring Electrification Starting In 2024

By William Teach June 29, 2020 – 8:02 am

States like Nevada, Oregon, and Arizona are thrilled, knowing that these regulations will drive businesses to relocate from California and consumers to make purchases not in California

California shakes up auto industry, says all vans and trucks must be electric by 2024

California regulators have approved new rules that would see a massive shift from conventional gas and diesel trucks and vans to ones powered by batteries and zero-emission hydrogen fuel cells.

The first-of-their-kind guidelines, which take effect in 2024, cover a broad range of truck segments, from medium-duty models up to the “big rigs” that move vast amount of goods throughout California and across the country. Current guidelines from the California Air Resources Board already press manufacturers to add electric and hydrogen trucks to light-duty segments.

California’s push to reduce truck emissions could lead to some major changes in a traditionally staid automotive industry. Among other things, it could encourage the emergence of new competitors such as Nikola Motors, which is producing an array of hydrogen-powered heavy-duty trucks, and Detroit-based start-up Rivian, which has a contract to produce around 100,000 all-electric delivery vans for Amazon.

What are the costs? Can they compete monetarily? Where do they get the hydrogen (know what happens with hydrogen power? It’s converted to clean (reportedly) water vapor. What’s the number one greenhouse gas? Water vapor. Now you’d have a lot more at surface level, increase temperature and humidity) from? Do states other than California bother, meaning that the vehicles can’t travel out of California?

“California is once again leading the nation in the fight to make our air cleaner, becoming the first place in the world to mandate zero-emission trucks by 2045,” Governor Gavin Newsom said in a Thursday statement. “Communities and children of color are often forced to breathe our most polluted air, and today’s vote moves us closer toward a healthier future for all of our kids.”

If it’s so important racially, why not mandate it now? Otherwise, you’re just killing kids of color.

Under guidelines approved Thursday, at least 40 percent of the tractor trailers sold in California would have to be powered by some form of zero-emissions technology by 2024. Medium-duty trucks, such as the Ford F-250 or Chevrolet Silverado HD, would be required to switch over 55 percent of their sales by 2035; and 75 percent of delivery trucks and vans would have to use zero-emissions powertrain technology by 2035, a point by which fully 100 percent of government fleets and last-mile delivery trucks would have to meet the target.

So, by those dates, purchases will be made in surrounding states. Unless California mandates that they cannot be driven on California roads, then people and businesses will see a huge decrease in deliveries and consumer goods, including food. And what of the state operations? Will they be replacing their own vehicles, moving on from fossil fuels? Since they’re using taxpayer money for these expensive vehicles, sure. Easy.

How many precious metals will have to be mined (using fossil fueled vehicles) to provide the means to make the batteries? Who makes all the hydrogen? What supplies power for charging stations? California is putting the cart before the horse, as the saying goes, but, hey, good luck with the loss of business and inability to move food to market.

Read: California Passes New Requirements For Trucks And Vans, Requiring Electrification Starting In 2024 »

Posted in Dems in Charge: Now What?, Global Warming | 1 Comment | Trackback URL

Forget Social Distancing And Cops Quitting, The Important Issue Is Dungeons And Dragons

By William Teach June 29, 2020 – 7:45 am

As the world passes 10 million cases of Bat Soup Virus and 500,000 deaths, social distancing took a hit

(The Blaze) June is Pride month, and June 28 is a celebrated day in LGBTQ history as it is the anniversary of the Stonewall Rebellion in New York City on June 28, 1969. Most cities have canceled their Pride events and parades because of the coronavirus pandemic. But apparently not everyone got the message, especially in Chicago, where a massive crowd gathered.

“Aerial footage shows massive crowds rallying to celebrate #Pride in Chicago,” the Bloomberg QuickTake Twitter account posted on Sunday with a video that featured people amassing with little or no social distancing.

There are lots of tweets with video at The Blaze showing this, including NYC, where some cops were there for protect, some had a massive problem clearing the folks to allow emergency vehicles through, and others got chased off. Also NYC

(Breitbart) According to figures released to the New York Post, about 272 NYPD uniformed officers have filed for retirement since riots over the death of Minneapolis resident George Floyd began in late May. At the same time last year, about 183 officers had filed for retirement, indicating a nearly 50 percent spike in retirements this year.

One officer, who wanted to wait to retire until he hit 30 years with the NYPD, told the Post “It’s an all-out war on cops and we have no support.” More than 300 officers were injured in the recent riots.

Mayor Bill de Blasio has vowed to cut funding to the NYPD and Commissioner Dermot Shea has announced the disbanding of the city’s 600-officer undercover anti-crime unit that was responsible for keeping shootings and violent crime down.

Murder has increased by nearly 50 percent in New York City over the last month compared to the same time last year. Likewise, burglaries have spiked more than 122 percent and grand larceny auto has increased more than 56 percent.

And shootings have gone up 341% over the last week. But, the Virtue Signalers are more concerned with things like

‘Dungeons & Dragons’ Race Issues Have Deep Roots In The World Of Fantasy

Wizards of the Coast — the company behind the self-proclaimed “world’s greatest role-playing game,” “Dungeons & Dragons” — has committed to stressing diversity and removing racially problematic language from its product line, and fans are holding the company to account for its promises.

“Dungeons & Dragons,” commonly known as D&D, is a game in which a group of players creates characters, rolls dice and navigates a story overseen by a Dungeon Master. Originally created in 1974, the game issued a fifth edition in 2014 that became its most popular, especially after livestreaming platforms such as Twitch and shows such as Netflix’s “Stranger Things” introduced D&D to new audiences.

The game’s newfound popularity, however, has also invited critiques. Critics have pointed out that when creating a character, D&D players must choose a “race” — such as an elf, dwarf or gnome — and that this usage of the word is technically a misnomer.

“‘Races’ in D&D are fundamentally different than our concept of ‘races’ in the real world,” medievalist Paul B. Sturtevant told HuffPost. “In D&D, races are based in deep biological differences, whereas we know that in the real world, race is a social construct based upon arbitrary and superficial differences. Using the word ‘race’ in the game where they really mean something more like ‘species’ promotes racist ideas.”

It’s a very long article, originally from the HuffPost with added material. ON D&D being “problematic.” No, really. People getting apoplectic over how Orcs and other creatures are described. Forcing change. And the company behind it giving in. The Cancel Culture Virtue Signaling SJW Leftist moonbats should consider that their Comrades could come after the stuff they like next. Or themselves. Because everything is stupid these days.

Read: Forget Social Distancing And Cops Quitting, The Important Issue Is Dungeons And Dragons »

Posted in Special Snowflake Syndrome, Unhinged Tools | 11 Comments | Trackback URL

St. Greta Is Upset That Warmist Leaders Latch On To Her Fame

By William Teach June 28, 2020 – 4:32 pm

What, exactly, did she think was going to happen when she parlayed her blowing off education stunt into demanding that leaders do what she says?

Greta Thunberg hits out at leaders who use her fame to ‘look good’

Environmental campaigner Greta Thunberg has hit out at world leaders for wanting to be pictured with her to “look good”.

The 17-year-old became a global star thanks to her activism, and gave a powerful speech at the United Nations climate change summit in September in which she told world leaders: “You have stolen my dreams and my childhood with your empty words … how dare you!”

As part of a series she has made about her campaigning for Swedish radio during the coronavirus lockdown, Thunberg revealed that the German chancellor, Angela Merkel, had queued up to have a “selfie” with the teenager at the international gathering in New York.

On the radio programme, she was critical of the way high-ranking figures had behaved after her UN appearance.

She said: “Presidents, prime ministers, kings and princesses came and wanted to talk to me.

“They saw me and suddenly saw the chance that they could take a photo with me for their Instagram account. Then the hashtag #savetheplanet.

“It seemed as if they had forgotten for a moment to be ashamed that their generation had let future generations down.”

Perhaps if she went to school she’d have realized this is the way the world works.

In follow-up comments made to the BBC, Thunberg, who has more than 4m Twitter followers, said she had a “dislike” for politicians who wanted to capitalise on her fame by being photographed alongside her.

“To be fair, it was not only her, it was many,” she said, when asked about the situation with Merkel.

“And those kinds of things happen all the time. People just want to stand next to me and other climate activists.

“They can post it on social media and it makes them look good, it makes them seem like they care.”

There’s a lot of whining going on. Perhaps if she was less concerned with using her fame to attempt to shame adults who actually graduated from schools and colleges and more with actually getting Warmists to practice what they preach, this wouldn’t be a concern. It’s like a movie or sports star whining about people wanting their autograph and a selfie.

Read: St. Greta Is Upset That Warmist Leaders Latch On To Her Fame »

Posted in Global Warming | 14 Comments | Trackback URL

If All You See…

By William Teach June 28, 2020 – 1:00 pm

…are lightbulbs which are not climate friendly, you might just be a Warmist

The blog of the day is Knuckledraggin My Life Away, with a post on the reason why SCOTUS is not taking up gun cases, which is no trust in John Roberts.

It’s tight dresses week!

Read: If All You See… »

Posted in If All You See | 8 Comments | Trackback URL

Sorta Blogless Sunday Pinup

By William Teach June 28, 2020 – 9:33 am

Happy Sunday! Another great day in America. The sun is shining, the bunnies are all over the backyard, and baseball is almost back. This pinup is by Zoey Mozart, with a wee bit of help.

What is happening in Ye Olde Blogosphere? The Fine 15

  1. Weasel Zippers covers Mississippi starting the process to change their state flag
  2. Vox Popoli notes Barnes and Nobles in free fall
  3. The Right Scoop discusses blacks disagreeing with white Leftists on getting rid of the police
  4. The Lid features 21 biggest lies about Trump
  5. The Last Refuge notes BLM restarting “polar bear hunting”
  6. The First Street Journal discusses reparations
  7. The Feral Irishman thought that working out was supposed to make you feel better
  8. The Daley Gator has a reminder to never, ever grovel to the SJW mob
  9. Raised On Hoecakes discusses the history of the Confederate flag
  10. Powerline notes Conservatives moving to bias free sources
  11. Patterico’s Pontifications takes a deep dive into the qualified immunity debate
  12. Doubleshot from Pacific Pundit, with both Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer getting George Floyd’s name wrong
  13. Never Yet Melted notes leftists find a painting of St. Michael defeating Satan to be raaaaacist
  14. Moonbattery wonders what happened to Believe All Women
  15. And last, but not least, Legal Insurrection features a Venezuelan women explaining what comes after statue toppling
  16. And one to grow on: Vlad Tepes notes that Defunding police is ONE STEP before banning all private property

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.

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?

Read: Sorta Blogless Sunday Pinup »

Posted in Patriotic Pinup | 2 Comments | Trackback URL

Minneapolis City Council Looking To Defund The Police Hires $4500 A Day Private Security

By William Teach June 28, 2020 – 8:10 am

The Minneapolis City Council is looking to fully defund their police department. Not reduce funding, eliminate them. They’ve voted on it. Yet

Minneapolis council members calling to defund police spend $63G on private security details after receiving death threats

Several Minneapolis City Council members who have received death threats following their calls to defund the police after the death of George Floyd have been assigned private security details — reportedly costing the city $4,500 a day in taxpayer dollars.

According to information obtained by Fox News, the city has spent $63,000 on private security over the last three weeks.

“The names of the people getting security details are not public,” a city spokesperson told Fox News Saturday.

The names of three council members who are receiving private security detail have already been made public, two of whom interviewed with local affiliate Fox 9 on Friday. The spokesperson did not respond to Fox News’ questions about whether or not there were additional council members receiving security detail.

The threats reportedly came after the council members were vocal in their calls to defund the Minneapolis Police Department (MPD).

The Minneapolis City Council unanimously approved a proposal to eliminate the city’s police department Friday, initiating steps toward establishing a new “holistic” approach to public safety.

Must be nice to use public funds to get private security protection, something most citizens cannot afford. If only there was a group that already works for the government which could do this….oh, right, they’ve pissed them off in trying to take all their jobs away. Why aren’t they depending on the holistic approach themselves? Surely a social worker could provide protection, right?

The Minneapolis Police Department, which would traditionally provide security in this scenario, could not be reached by Fox News but told Fox 9 that the MPD does not have any records of recent threats against the three council members — adding that it was possible the record could have been filed confidentially.

“Council members have reported to staff numerous threats to themselves personally,” the city told Fox News Saturday.

One of the council members who spoke with Fox 9 said they did not alert the threats to the MPD because they were consumed with dealing with the “global pandemic and global uprising” after Floyd‘s death. But they noted that the threats had been wide-ranging, attacking their ethnicity, gender identity and sexuality.

Isn’t the wise idea to report threats to law enforcement so they are on record? That way they can be investigated and, at the least, be on record if someone needs to be arrested? Those private security folks can’t. How does the judicial system get involved if there are no complaints? Isn’t there a social worker on the force who could take the complaint?

This would be the state of cities when they defund the police: everyone else would fear for their lives (think legal and illegal ownership of firearms would spike?), and big wigs would get private security.

Meanwhile

https://twitter.com/darrengrimes_/status/1276938083116691458?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1276938083116691458%7Ctwgr%5E&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Ftwitchy.com%2Fdougp-3137%2F2020%2F06%2F27%2Fi-st-you-not-video-of-officer-explaining-why-organizers-of-defund-the-police-protest-requested-police-presence-melts-irony-detectors%2F

Read: Minneapolis City Council Looking To Defund The Police Hires $4500 A Day Private Security »

Posted in Current Affairs, Democrats | 2 Comments | Trackback URL

D.C. Joins The Madness Of Suing Fossil Fuels Companies Due To ‘Climate Change’

By William Teach June 27, 2020 – 3:08 pm

The District Of Columbia could literally not run without fossil fuels. All the cars and buses. All the people coming to tour the capital in fossil fueled vehicles and airplanes. All the government workers using fossil fueled travel. All the elected officials. Visitors and government folks coming from other countries. If there’s any one place playing this lawsuit game where the fossil fuels companies could say “nope, not selling fossil fuels in the area”, D.C. would be it

District of Columbia Sues BP, Chevron, ExxonMobil and Shell for Misleading Public on Climate Change

Washington, D.C., Attorney General Karl A. Racine sued four of the world’s largest oil and gas companies on Thursday for misleading consumers about the impact their products have on the climate.

Coming just a day after Minnesota filed a similar suit, the District lawsuit contends that BP, Chevron, ExxonMobil and Royal Dutch Shell have been aware since the 1950s of the threat posed by fossil fuels but launched public relations campaigns to manufacture doubt about the reality and seriousness of climate change. It seeks a court order for the companies to pay civil penalties, provide financial relief for District residents, and stop their disingenuous PR campaigns.

“For decades, these oil and gas companies spent millions to mislead consumers and discredit climate science in pursuit of profits,” Racine said in a statement. “The defendants violated the District’s consumer protection law by concealing the fact that using fossil fuels threatens the health of District residents and the environment. [The Office of the Attorney General] filed this suit to end these disinformation campaigns and to hold these companies accountable for their deceptive practices.”

For all the fancy rationale, this is simply a shakedown.

The lawsuit also maintains that the companies’ current marketing campaigns hype the relative “green” benefits of natural gas and other products, suggesting that they are “clean” and “emissions-reducing,” while concealing the fact that they still contribute significantly to the climate crisis.

And no more natural gas for D.C.

Start by refusing to sell to the D.C. government.

Read: D.C. Joins The Madness Of Suing Fossil Fuels Companies Due To ‘Climate Change’ »

Posted in Climahypocrites, Global Warming | 2 Comments | Trackback URL

If All You See…

By William Teach June 27, 2020 – 1:00 pm

…are monkeys spreading into areas that used to be too cold for them due to climate change, you might just be a Warmist

The blog of the day is Moonbattery, with a post on chess being deemed racist.

Read: If All You See… »

Posted in If All You See | 4 Comments | Trackback URL

House Democrats Patronize Blacks By Passing DC Statehood Bill

By William Teach June 27, 2020 – 10:30 am

The District of Columbia is 45% black and 42% white. Of course, the major majority Democrat voting whites like to keep the blacks in their own areas. And now they want to patronize them

House passes DC statehood bill: Here’s how it would work

The Democratic-led House on Friday for the first time passed a bill that would make Washington, D.C. the 51st state. While it’s not expected to any further — with Republicans controlling the Senate and the White House — here’s how H.R. 51, The D.C. Statehood Act, as proposed by Democrats, would work:

The new state would be called “Washington, Douglass Commonwealth.” In order to preserve its abbreviated name, D.C. would stand for “Douglass Commonwealth” after Maryland abolitionist Frederick Douglass.

The mayor would become governor and the city council would perform as a legislative assembly. Congress currently serves as a type of overlord over D.C. and can intervene in some of the city’s laws and policies. But the bill would wipe out the role of Congress in D.C.’s affairs.

D.C. residents currently pay taxes but have no voting representation on Capitol Hill. That spawned the city to issue license plates in the mid-1990s which read “Taxation Without Representation.”

The city has no official Senate representation except a “shadow senator,” who isn’t formally recognized by the legislative body. D.C. also has a nonvoting delegate to the House, Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC). She can do everything in Congress except vote on the House floor.

Wait, I thought Democrats were upset about tiny population states having two Senators? Oh, right, that’s only when the talking points are convenient. Seriously, D.C. has a population of 702,455 residents (which is 702,455 residents too many. No one should actually live there).

Article I, Section 8 of the Constitution calls for the creation of a federal district to be the seat of government. The Founders carved D.C. out of two states, Maryland and Virginia, so no single state would have undue influence, hosting the capital.

However, the legislation would carve out a capital city district, a special political subdivision, around the White House, government buildings, the national mall and U.S. Capitol. That would be all that was left of the “District of Columbia.”

There is zero chance of this being taken up by the Senate, and even if Biden wins in 2020 and the Dems are able to get a filibuster proof majority in the Senate to pass it, it would still really be un-Constitutional and would have little chance of making it through the Supreme Court.

Even the liberal The Week is against this.

If admitted to the Union as a state in its own right, Washington or New Columbia or Pronoun City or whatever they could get away with calling it in 2020 would not only be far and away the smallest state in geographical terms; it would have the third lowest population but the highest median household income and unprecedented influence over the workings of the federal government, which it would contain and, in many ways, effectively control. (This ultimately was the reason that Britain was forced to create new devolved parliaments in Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland, in order to balance out de facto English authority over the center of the kingdom.) It would also be the only state with no rural population. It would be, constitutionally speaking, a freak, an arbitrary creation that would forever alter the meaning of statehood itself.

But, hey, if they really want to do this, let’s move the capital to the central U.S. It would primarily be made up of government and business buildings. The only residences allowed would be for elected officials to live in while working in D.C. Any worker bees for Congress, the White House, and the Supreme Court who want to live there will understand that if they call this their home they cannot vote for representation. Heck, if you work directly for Congress you shouldn’t be voting in the first place.

And repeal the 17th Amendment if Dems are so concerned about Senators having undue influence.

But, this is more about patronizing blacks than anything else.

Read: House Democrats Patronize Blacks By Passing DC Statehood Bill »

Posted in Barking Moonbats, Constitution, Democrats | 13 Comments | Trackback URL

Enviroweenies Look To Hijack “I Can’t Breathe”

By William Teach June 27, 2020 – 7:27 am

Well, at least they mention a black woman, Heather McTeer Toney, in the article, because this stuff is usually only from uber-white enviroweenies and climate cultists. Of course, her group, Mom’s Air Force, only has two blacks out of 18 people on its national team

For some environmentalists, ‘I can’t breathe’ is about more than police brutality

“I can’t breathe.”

Those three words were uttered by Eric Garner in 2014 and again by George Floyd in 2020, when both men died while in police custody.

The words have become a rallying cry for protesters. But for some, “I can’t breathe” is about more than police violence.

“It’s not just about being choked out by police brutality — it’s about being choked out because of air pollution,” said Heather McTeer Toney, a former regional administrator at the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) under President Barack Obama and is now a national field director at Moms Clean Air Force, an advocacy group.

Communities of color in the US are more likely to breathe air pollution, despite contributing less to fouling the air. They are more likely to be exposed to contaminated water, and to live near hazardous waste sites. And as the climate crisis worsens, many groups — including poor communities and communities of color — are the most vulnerable to the dangers of a warming planet.

In short, experts say Black people in the US are dying as a result of environmental racism.

Well, getting beyond the notion of hijacking, it’s rather weird that most of this stuff is happening in Democratic Party run cities, eh? Why are they keeping all these people of color in such poor environmental conditions? Why do they not give them clean water and air? Why do they make them live like hazardous waste sites?

For many, Flint, Michigan, has become synonymous with the problem of mass water contamination in the US.

After local and state officials decided to switch Flint’s water supply to cut costs, thousands of residents of the predominantly Black city — including children — were exposed to dangerous levels of lead.

Who primarily ran Flint? Democrats. Which president mostly ignored the issue? Obama.

The 2018 National Climate Assessment, the US government’s most comprehensive report on the impact of current and future climate change, says, “Across all climate risks, children, older adults, low-income communities, some communities of color, and those experiencing discrimination are disproportionately affected by extreme weather and climate events, partially because they are often excluded in planning processes.”

“Low-resource people are more likely to be in the impact zone,” Miranda said. “And they’re more likely to live in places that don’t have the resources to bring good mitigation technologies to bear.”

Why do Democrats keep people of color poor and make them live in areas that might possibly maybe “It Could Happen!!!!!” be affected by ‘climate change’? Do they hate people of color?

It’s great the way these nutters hijack everything and destroy its meaning.

Read: Enviroweenies Look To Hijack “I Can’t Breathe” »

Posted in Climate Ghouls, Enviroweenies, Global Warming | 50 Comments | Trackback URL
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