President Biden Disrespects the Constitution

For John, BLUF:  In our name, but without our agreement.  This is government by experts over government by democracy.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Biden Uses Cold War Law to Nuke Your Gas Furnace

From PJ Media, by Blogger Stephen Green, 20 November 2023, 9:21 AM.

Here is the lede plus four:

Remember when it was nothing more than right-wing fearmongering that Democrats were going to outlaw your gas appliances? It was a more innocent time, way back in [checks notes] January of this year.

I sure do miss those days. So does my gas furnace.

Democrats went very quickly from "Nobody is going to take away your gas appliances" to "Biden invokes wartime powers to fund electric heaters as he cracks down on gas appliances."

"Wartime powers?" "Electric heaters?" One of these things is not like the other unless there are millions of dollars to throw around to your cronies while putting their competitors out of business. And sure enough, Biden will dole out $169 million of your tax dollars to boost the production of electric heat pumps.

What gives Biden the authority to throw money around like a drunken Congress to further an environmental agenda that the House rejected back in June? A 1950 law called the Defense Production Act (DPA) was meant to protect and promote the production of war materials. Biden is using it to make heat pumps.

And where is this money coming from?  The mislabeled Inflation Reduction Act.

So, the Federal Government isn't exactly banning gas stoves and furnaces, but it is using its power to give heat pumps a price advantage over other options.  This is the Government putting its thumb on the scale.

To me the big question is why the Administration didn't go to Congress to get these funds authorized and apropriated.  That would seem like the proper way to do things.  This makes the actions of Senator Tommy Tuberville (holds on military general and flag officer promotions over violation of the Hyde Amendment) make even more sense.  It is like the Biden Administrstion doesn't really respect the Constitutional process.  In the end, the ends do not justify the means.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

A Secret Insight

For John, BLUF:  The Biden Administration has been dooing almost everything in its power to weaken US Oil Production.  Why?  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Did Biden Seal a 'Clandestine' Saudi Oil Deal to Manipulate Prices Ahead of the Midterms?

From PJ Media, by Reporter Ryan Ledendecker, 5 December 2022, 10:30 AM.

Here is the lede plus two:

Back in July, a seemingly desperate President Joe Biden traveled to Saudi Arabia on a high-stakes trip where he met the Saudi Royal family, including the controversial Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

The president took a lot of heat for the trip for several reasons, including his scheduled meetup with the crown prince, who had previously signed off on the murder of WaPo journalist Jamal Khashoggi.  Biden was also criticized for appearing to use the trip to request help from a foreign nation on the oil production front, though the White House denied that was the case.

However, in a bombshell revelation this week, Rep. James Comer (R-Ky.), who will soon lead the powerful House Oversight and Reform Committee, announced that his committee will investigate what he believes to be a “secret deal” with Saudi Arabia regarding increasing OPEC+ oil production to manipulate the U.S. energy market ahead of the 2022 midterms.

I find it fairly cynical to think that the Biden Administration would manipulate world oil markets for the purpose of winning Congressional races in a mid-term election  That would have been a very cynical move, one disrespectful of petroleum woorkers across the nation.

Calling for increased oil production around the world, in the face of perceived climate change makes no swnse, unless there are other humanitarian factors in plan.

I think the Biden Administration has stumbled onto a problem in the mid- to long-term.  I don't knoow what it is, but I would look at the coming winter and Europe's shortage of energy, given the War in Ukraine and the various embargoes ongoing around the world.  What if President Biden is trying to increase oil production around the world, with the US as the hidden backup, when all else fails?  That makes much more sense.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

Those Terrible Coal Fired Power Plants

For John, BLUF:  In a move that seemed counter-intuitive, President Biden came out a couple of days ago and said coal fired power plants are going away, but withouot an apparent plan.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Biden says coal plants 'all across America' will be shut down, replaced with wind and solar

Here is the sub-headline:

Biden argued that it's 'cheaper' to generate electricity from wind and solar than it is from coal

From Fox Business, by Reporter Andrew Miller, 4 November 2022, 6:22pm EDT.

Here is the lede plus two:

President Biden said Friday that coal plants are too expensive to operate, and "we're going to be shutting these plants down all across America" in order to shift to wind power in a comment that drew criticism from the Republican National Committee.

"I was in Massachusetts about a month ago on the site of the largest old coal plant in America," Biden said at an event in Carlsbad, California, on Friday.  "Guess what?  It cost them too much money.  They can't count.  No one is building new coal plants because they can’t rely on it.  Even if they have all the coal guaranteed for the rest of the existence of the plant.

"So it's going to become a wind generation.  And all they're doing is it’s going to save them a hell of a lot of money and using the same transmission line that they transmitted the coal-fired electric on, we're going to be shutting these plants down all across America and having wind and solar power, also providing tax credits to help families buy energy efficient appliances, whether it's your refrigerator or your coffee maker, for solar panels on your home, weatherize your home, things that save an average, experts say, a minimum of $500 a year for the average family."

There are a number of views on the cost of wind and solar vs coal.  Here is an example from last year of someone saying coal is actually cheaper.  On the other hand, at about the same time The Guardian told us that solar and wind were coming in cheaper.  Some point to the subsidies provided by Governments to make renewable energy cheaper.

Reoorts show coal fired power plans are being closed, or will become more expensive than nearby renewable efforts, by four-fiths by 2025.  But, what about picking up the slack when thew wind does not blow or the sun does not shine.  Tht will be on hydropower or carbon or nuclear fueled power plants.

From a "Climate Change4" point of view it isn't just about the US and Europe.  China has recently approved 8.63 gigawatts (GW) of coal power just in the first three months of 2022.  China has pronmised to limit climate-warming carbon dioxide emissions by 2030, but that is off in the future.

What is missing from President Biden's untimely proclamation was a time schedule.  When is this going to happen?  Will he still be President.

What is missing is a program to inform the voters of the United States as to the long term plan for providing consistent electric power across the fruited plain, withouot the use of carbon fuel.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

Diminishing Forests

For John, BLUF:  It appears the forests are not dimishing.  Thanks to technology, the global forest coverage is increasing.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Samizdata quote of the day

From Samizdata, by Mr Perry de Havilland (London), 27 August 2021.

Here is the lede plus one:

The deforestation statistics are startling to anybody who listens only to green activists.  In 2018 a team from the University of Maryland concluded:  ‘We show that – contrary to the prevailing view that forest area has declined globally – tree cover has increased by 2.24 million km².  That’s 7 percent more forest globally than in 1982.  New forests have been planted and old ones have regenerated naturally, as the footprint of farming shrinks, thanks to better yields.

– Matt Ridley in the print version of The Spectator, article titled Viral misinformation.

This sounds like good news.  Why isn't it working?

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

Are We Ready?

For John, BLUF:  Are we ready for major actions to limit greenhouse gas emmissions, and will it make a difference?  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Study:  Fuel Shortages by 2025 Under TCI

TCI stands for Transportation and Climate Initiative

.

From Mass Fiscal Alliance, by Mr Paul Gangi, 4 August 2021.

Here is the lede plus three:

Did you happen to catch the latest analysis of the Transportation & Climate Initiative (TCI) put out by the Fiscal Alliance Foundation?

TCI is expected to cause fuel shortages almost immediately after implantation.

According to the Foundation, Massachusetts will begin to experience fuel shortages by 2025 if it enters into the agreement as planned in 2023.  Approximately 80,000 vehicles will not have enough fuel by 2025.

To avoid TCI’s fuel shortages in 2025, Massachusetts drivers would need to buy (swap out a gasoline/diesel vehicle for an EV) approximately 2,000 EV each month beginning this month.  The problem? Approximately 2,000 Electric Vehicles (EV) were sold in Massachusetts in ALL of 2020.

Problem 1, there likely won't be enough electric vehicles to meet th need.

Problem 2, will the targetted drivers have the money to purchase an electric vehicle?

Problem 3, will private industry, utilities and governments coordinate and cooperate to provide the electric power to recharge all these new electric vehicles?

With regard to question 3, I keep asking, but all I get is the bureaucratic salute.

\_(*_*)_/

And there is this:

John Kerry echoes China’s argument that human rights sanctions threaten climate talks

Senior Chinese officials warned John Kerry that U.S. support for human rights threatens climate change cooperation, eliciting a pledge from President Joe Biden’s climate point-man to explain their perspective to officials in Washington.

“I will certainly pass on … the full nature of the message that I received from Chinese leaders,” former Secretary of State John Kerry, who is now Biden’s special envoy for climate change, told reporters following two days of meetings with top Chinese diplomats. “On the one hand, we’re saying to them, ‘You have to do more to help deal with the climate.’ And on the other hand, their solar panels are being sanctioned, which makes it harder for them to sell them.”

Are things so bad regarding the climate that we are willing to turn a blind eye to the battering of human rights in other nations?  Sadly, it seems so.  And, if we won't speak up for human rights abroad, how long will they last at home?

Regards  —  Cliff

Hurting Our Neighbors

For John, BLUF:  Abusing one's neighbors is not good locally, nor is it good on the international stage.  We have been abusing Canada, regarding their oil production, in the name of the environment.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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'Smacks of hypocrisy':  Alberta slams White House for demanding more OPEC oil after cancelling Keystone XL

Here is the sub-headline:

Biden is taking the heat for higher gasoline prices during the summer driving season

From the Canadian Financial Post, by Reporter Colin McClelland, 12 August 2021 .

Here is the lede plus one:

Wounded after U.S. President Joe Biden cancelled the Keystone XL pipeline that would have shipped Alberta crude to the United States, the province snapped at the White House’s call on the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries Wednesday to raise production faster than planned.

“The Biden administration pleading with OPEC to increase oil production to rescue the United States from high fuel prices months after cancelling the Keystone XL pipeline smacks of hypocrisy,” Alberta Energy Minister Sonya Savage said in a statement Wednesday.  “Keystone XL would have provided Americans with a stable source of energy from a trusted ally and friend.”

This is the kind of good relations with our neighbors to the north that I desire.

Or maybe it is just that Alberta is one of those "Western" Provences, and thus doesn't really count, sort of like those fly-over states in the US.  This is why Speech Boy♠ is wrong when he calls for abolition of the US Senate, at least in my opinion.  The people in different regions have different needs, values and goals and governments should be structured to show some deference to that fact..

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

♠  "Speech Boy" from his time writing speeches for President Bill Clinton.  Thzt would be Michael A Cohen.  And just like Michael, he dropped notice of a new book to read, MacArthur at War, by Author Walter Borneman.  Great, as thought I am not behind already.

Democrats Divided

For John, BLUF:  Are the Democrats divided, between their environmentalis wing and their humanitarianist wing?  It could be a problem trying to get things done in DC.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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'Climate Change' vs. the Uyghurs

From The Pipeline, by Mr Tom Finnerty, 8 July 2021.

Here is the lede plus two:

Pretty shocking -- Politico reports on growing tensions within the Democratic coalition, with the environmental activist faction of the party objecting to even the mildest attempts by the Biden administration to confront China over its human rights violations and international aggression.

As a new Cold War takes shape between the U.S. and China, progressives fear the result will be a dramatically warming planet.  Over 40 progressive groups sent a letter to President Joe Biden and lawmakers on Wednesday urging them to prioritize cooperation with China on climate change and curb its confrontational approach over issues like Beijing’s crackdown on Hong Kong and forced detention of Uyghur Muslims.

The problem for the Biden administration is that American public opinion has shifted significantly against China in recent years, such that according to a recent Pew survey, 89 percent of Americans "consider China a competitor or enemy, rather than a partner."  This move began with Donald Trump calling out China's predatory trade policy and intellectual property violations before he was even president and continued through then-President Trump and Chairman Xi's trade war.  It was cemented, however, by the CCP's handling of the Covid-19 outbreak last year, which, if the no-longer-a-conspiracy-theory lab leak hypothesis turns out to be true, would mean that China is responsible for the most significant man-made disaster in human history.

No comment.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

Humans Adapt

For John, BLUF:  We have been fed a lot of bunk about past and future population busts.  This is a quick examination of what happened on East Island (the one with the big carved stone heads).  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Malthusian Myth Busting:  Easter Island Edition

From Watts Up With That, by Mr David Middleton, 15 July 2021.

Here is the lede plus several:

You know the story…

In just a few centuries, the people of Easter Island wiped out their forest, drove their plants and animals to extinction, and saw their complex society spiral into chaos and cannibalism. Are we about to follow their lead?

Jared Diamond, 2005

While it is true that the Easter Islanders deforested their island, forensic historians have now determined that by converting the forest to farmland and innovatively adapting to prolonged Little Ice Age droughts, they avoided collapse.

BingUNews Resilience, not collapse: What the Easter Island myth gets wrong

By Jennifer Micale
JULY 08, 2021

You probably know this story, or a version of it: On Easter Island, the people cut down every tree, perhaps to make fields for agriculture or to erect giant statues to honor their clans. This foolish decision led to a catastrophic collapse, with only a few thousand remaining to witness the first European boats landing on their remote shores in 1722.

But did the demographic collapse at the core of the Easter Island myth really happen? The answer, according to new research by Binghamton University anthropologists Robert DiNapoli and Carl Lipo, is no.

Their research, “Approximate Bayesian Computation of radiocarbon and paleoenvironmental record shows population resilience on Rapa Nui (Easter Island),” was recently published in the journal Nature Communications. Co-authors include Enrico Crema of the University of Cambridge, Timothy Rieth of the International Archaeological Research Institute and Terry Hunt of the University of Arizona.

Here is the money quote:

In short, the island never had more than a few thousand people prior to European contact, and their numbers were increasing rather than dwindling, their research shows.

One wonders how often decisions are made without having the full story?  I expect more than once.  Sometimes it is necessary, but not always.  Sometimes just a little more digging is what is required,

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

Moon and Floods

For John, BLUF:  How long has this been going on?  The moon, our moon, wobbling, and impacting our tides?  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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NASA predicts a "wobble" in the moon's orbit may lead to record flooding on Earth

From CBS News, by Reporter Sophie Lewis, 13 July 2021, 11:04 AM.

Here is the lede plus two:

Every coast in the U.S. is facing rapidly increasing high tide floods thanks to a "wobble" in the moon's orbit working in tandem with climate change-fueled rising sea levels.

A new study from NASA and the University of Hawaii, published recently in the journal Nature Climate Change, warns that upcoming changes in the moon's orbit could lead to record flooding on Earth in the next decade.

Through mapping the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA) sea-level rise scenarios, flooding thresholds and astronomical cycles, researchers found flooding in American coastal cities could be several multiples worse in the 2030s, when the next moon "wobble" is expected to begin.  They expect the flooding to significantly damage infrastructure and displace communities.

Science is like that.  Things happen and we don't understand them, or we misunderstand them, until someone looks into it and uncovers previously unknown interactions.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

To Space Without Wings

For John, BLUF:  In a move that seems petty and woke and bureaucratic, the Federal Aviation Administration has changed the rules for issuing "Wings" to those who soar to 50 miles above the earth.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Rare FAA rules change means Blue Origin crew may not get official 'wings'

From United Press International, by Mr Kyle Barnett, 23 July 2021, 8:27 AM.

Here is the lede plus two:

Federal aviation regulators have made a rare change to the requirements for its Commercial Astronaut Wings Program, meaning Blue Origin founder Jeff Bezos may not officially be recognized for his spaceflight this week.

The Federal Aviation Administration changed rules for the program on the same day Bezos, his brother and two others made their historic first commercial spaceflight on Tuesday.

For the first time in 17 years, the FAA updated its Commercial Astronaut Wings Program.  Before the change, all that was required to be recognized was to fly to at least an altitude of 50 miles.

Give me a break!

On the other hand, Mr Bezos has done something none of those FAA Weenies have done—gone into space.

It isn't the "wings", ...

... it is the adventure.

Here is the take from Law Professor Glenn Reynolds.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

Save The Uyghurs

For John, BLUF:  While some are calling for saving the environment, others are trying to save ethnic minorities, caught up in larger social movements.  Some ethnic minorities are not making the progressive cut.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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'Climate Change' vs. the Uyghurs

From The Pipeline, by Mr Tom Finnerty, 08 July 2021.

Here is the lede plus one:

Pretty shocking -- Politico reports on growing tensions within the Democratic coalition, with the environmental activist faction of the party objecting to even the mildest attempts by the Biden administration to confront China over its human rights violations and international aggression.

As a new Cold War takes shape between the U.S. and China, progressives fear the result will be a dramatically warming planet.  Over 40 progressive groups sent a letter to President Joe Biden and lawmakers on Wednesday urging them to prioritize cooperation with China on climate change and curb its confrontational approach over issues like Beijing’s crackdown on Hong Kong and forced detention of Uyghur Muslims.

The problem for the Biden administration is that American public opinion has shifted significantly against China in recent years, such that according to a recent Pew survey, 89 percent of Americans "consider China a competitor or enemy, rather than a partner."  This move began with Donald Trump calling out China's predatory trade policy and intellectual property violations before he was even president and continued through then-President Trump and Chairman Xi's trade war.  It was cemented, however, by the CCP's handling of the Covid-19 outbreak last year, which, if the no-longer-a-conspiracy-theory lab leak hypothesis turns out to be true, would mean that China is responsible for the most significant man-made disaster in human history.

The pronunciation of the ethnic group, the Uyghurs, is WEE-goorz.

The Uyghurs are an Islamic ethnic group, which has resisted assimilation into the larger Han population.  They have been sent to re-education camps, their reproductive freedom restricted, their women violated and their organs harvested.  Bad as all this is, there is little we can do about it, ecept scold and impose economic sanctions.  The Author notes that the Progressive Environmentalists want us to do nothing, for the sake of their ideology.

But for the environmentalists, none of this really matters.  They've convinced themselves that climate is the preeminent political issue, and no other consideration comes close.  Many of them would even argue that American capitalism and climate change are inseparable -- even indistinguishable -- political problems, never mind the fact that, while the U.S. has led the world in total carbon emissions decline since 2000, China's new coal-fired energy capacity alone outstripped the rest of the world by 300 percent in 2020.

When you think it is the end of the world in just a few years then your survival instincts kick in and all else falls away, including moral clarity.  Avoiding the Apocolypse becomes the focus.  I can understand it, and yet still I believe these are misguided thoughts.  We are not facing an existential climate disaster.  Is action required to secure our future?  Yes.  However, it should be doable within the larger context of our society.  We can think and engineer our way out of climate change issues, and in doing so guard against the consequences of the iron law:  "Every solution contains the seeds of a new problem."

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

The March of Climate Change is Not Always Smooth

For John, BLUF:  The march of Climate Change is not always in one direction.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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So Far Germany Seeing Coldest April In 104 Years, Second Coldest Since 1881, Snowiest Since 1986

Here is the sub-headline:

It’s been a really frosty April this year across Central Europe.  Germany so far has seen it’s second coldest April since records began in 1881.

From Watts Up With That, by Blogger P Gosselin, 18 April 2021.

Here is the lede plus three:

April across much of Europe has been unusually cold, frosty and even snowy, and the media have been awfully quiet about it.…

With a mean temperature of 4.5°C for Germany, April so far continues to be the second coldest since 1881, according to German DWD national weather service records. Only 1917 was colder at a mean of 4.3°C.

Another cold blast forecast for next weekend

And it likely isn’t going to change too much, as the ECMWF model is forecasting yet another unusual April cold wave with snow and frost for next week. A warm up is forecast near the end of the month, but that is still some 10 days out.

My wife reminded me that when we were living in Bitburg, Germany, in 1968, there were three weeks of Summer.

Just a tad of humility on the part of the Climate Change fanatics would help to bring more on board to their cause.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

Climate Change, Looking Back

For John, BLUF:  Climate change is like evolution itself, inevitable.  I am not sure it will be as rapid as some promise, absent a major event, such as the poles switching or an asteroid impact.  Forget the scientists.  What do the engineers say?  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Nolte:  NY Times Spread Fake News that East Coast Beaches Would Be ‘Gone’ by 2020

From Breitbart, by Reporter John Nolte, 12 March 2021.

Here is the lede plus four:

“[M]ost of the beaches on the East Coast of the United States would be gone in 25 years,” the fake New York Times told the world 25 years ago, all the way back in 1995.

Fact check: It’s 2021 and America’s East Coast beaches are doing just fine!

Here’s the relevant portion from the original Times’ article:

A continuing rise in average global sea level, which is likely to amount to more than a foot and a half by the year 2100.  This, say the scientists, would inundate parts of many heavily populated river deltas and the cities on them, making them uninhabitable, and would destroy many beaches around the world. At the most likely rate of rise, some experts say, most of the beaches on the East Coast of the United States would be gone in 25 years.  They are already disappearing at an average of 2 to 3 feet a year.

The date of the article is September 18, 1995.  The headline reads, “Scientists Say Earth’s Warming Could Set Off Wide Disruptions.”

I have a Bachelor of Science degree.  I like science.  I like to follow science.  However, not everyone is a scientist.  Some are propogandists.

There is climate change.  At some point it will get colder and at some point it will get warmer.  Examining the artifacts of the past shows that.

It appears to me that we need an engineering approach to climate change.  An engineering approach that is based on the idea that while world populationj will likely peak below the worse expectations, we are unlikely to arbitrarily bump off a couple of billion folks.  We need to avoid pie in the sky hopes and look at what we can do.  And, we need to avoid extremist views, like that from 25 years ago that all the beaches on the East Coast were going away in 25 years.

And yet, New York Times star science reporter, Mr Donald McNeil, exits over "racist remarks", not science reporting.  He didn't actually use the terms in a racist manner, but as a way of giving full context to what he was relating.  I wish he had gone over the Chimate Change coverage of the New York Times.

Regards  —  Cliff

The Great Climate Divide

For John, BLUF:  The Republican Party, heck the Republic, is divided between the well off, with well paying, long term, jobs, and the rest, who are not so well off and have more of a hard scrabble existence.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Charllie Baker Climate Official blasted for comments to 'break your will' over emissions.

Here is the sub-headline:

Baker:  Undersecretary will be talked to over comments

From The Boston Herald, by Reporters Joe Dwinell and Sean Philip Cotter, 5 February 2021.

Here is the lede plus five:

The state’s $ 130,000- ayear undersecretary for climate change is being blasted by a fiscal watchdog for saying the administration needs to “ break” the will of taxpayers when it comes to heating homes and driving cars.

The video shows David Ismay, Gov. Charlie Baker’s under secretary for climate change, telling Vermont climate advocates that it’s time to go after homeowners and motorists to help reduce emissions.

At the end of the clip, he adds:  “ I can’t even say that publicly.”

Ismay did not return a Herald request for comment Friday.  Asked about the video during a press conference, Baker said he and Lt. Gov. Karyn Polito had seen the video earlier that morning.  He added Climate Secretary Kathleen Theoharides, Ismay’s boss, is also aware of it.

“ First of all, no one who works in our administration should ever say or think anything like that — ever,” the governor said.  “ Secondly, Secretary Theoharides is going to have a conversation with him about that.”

Baker continued, “And the third — and one of the main reasons we didn’t sign the climate bill when it got to our desk was because we were specifically concerned about the impact that it’s going to have on people’s ability to pay for many of the pieces that were in it, which means it also doesn’t represent the administration policy or position.”

First, thanks to Mass Fiscal Alliance for posting the talk by Undersecretary for Climate Change David Ismay.

Second, this is a warning that there are people out there, like those talking about the "Great Reset",♠ who are prepared to demolish our Capitalist economic system in order to prepare for a climate change that may never arrive.  The losers in such an economic realignment are the little people.  People like those who read this blog.

When we reorganize our Economic System in anticipation of catastrophic climate change, we will have the haves and the have nots, and the great American dream of everyone being able to better themselves will be shattered.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

♠  I am reading the book, but it is slow going, because I sense where the author (World Economic Forum CEO Klaus Schwab) is going, and it is a bad place for most of us.  The sorting out will be ugly.

Fixing The Climate

For John, BLUF:  I worry that Government control of the means of production will be intoduced under the guise of fixing climate change.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Biden’s Climate Team:  “Systemic Racism” Is To Blame For Climate Change

From The Daily Wire, by Reporter Ashe Schow, 18 January 2021.

Here is the lede plus one:

Two aides named by President-elect Joe Biden to handle environmental issues claim “systemic racism” is partially to blame for climate change.

The Washington Free Beacon reported that Maggie Thomas has been tapped for the Office of Domestic Climate Policy chief of staff and Cecilia Martinez will serve as “senior director for e nvironmental justice.  Both incoming advisers have said racism drives climate change while insisting Biden’s environmental reforms should be based on “racial and economic justice.”

Then the article quotes The Washington Free Beacon as saying

Thomas and Martinez’s climate plans in many ways mirror the Green New Deal, a $94 trillion bill introduced by progressive Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D., N.Y.) in 2019.  The legislation calls for the “economic transformation” of the United States and aims to provide “adequate” federal housing for every American.  While Biden has not explicitly endorsed the Green New Deal, he has praised the bill as “a crucial framework for meeting the climate challenges we face” and included many of its components in his $2 trillion climate plan.  The proposal, released in July 2019, pledges to “comprehensively address the most pressing, intersectional environmental justice issues” by targeting federal subsidies to minority groups.

A trillion dollars is a lot of money, and two trillion doubly so.  The US Nation Security budget for the 2021 Fiscal Year is $740.5 billion.  That is less than a trillion.

I am dubious about the racism of climate change.  Open to being convinced, but I have seen these kinds of assertions defeated by folks I respect.  We will see what the Biden Administration produces.  I hope it isn't one of those Speaker Pelosi thousand page bills, which they have to pass for us to read it.  That isn't democracy.  That is the Bureaucratic State at its Fascist best.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

Looking At Ancient Temperatures

For John, BLUF:  There are a lot of assertions about Climate Change, but there is enough research data out that we should continue to ask questions.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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New Evidence That the Ancient Climate Was Warmer than Today’s

From Science Under Attack, by Mr Ralph B. Alexander, December 28, 2020.

Here is the lede plus one:

Two recently published studies confirm that the climate thousands of years ago was as warm or warmer than today’s – a fact disputed by some believers in the narrative of largely human-caused global warming.  That was an era when CO2 levels were much lower than now, long before industrialization and SUVs.

One study demonstrates that the period known as the Roman Warming was the warmest in the last 2,000 years.  The other study provides evidence that it was just as warm up to 6,000 years ago.  Both studies reinforce the occurrence of an even warmer period immediately following the end of the last ice age 11,000 years ago, known as the Holocene Thermal Maximum.

This came from the Blog Site via Watts Up With That, via Ms Sarah Hoyt, at InstaPundit.  Isn't the Internet a wonderful thing, with Links to Links to Links.

This kind of data suggests that there is much more to know about how the climate operates.  In addition, it appears, in other news locations, that the United States is actually making progress in controlling the identified climate gases.  It may all be due to COVID-19, but is a trend worth noting.

The idea that there is some Elastic Limit in terms of climate is one that still needs more research.  Species have show a high degree of adaptibility.  For example, birds are said to be evolutionary descendents of some early dinasours.

We need to follow the science, but we need to also remember that post Viet-nam War we were still worried about Global Cooling.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

Taxed Enough Already

For John, BLUF:  We are being scammed with this regional agreement for a climate tax on gasoline—the Transportation and Climate Initiative.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Baker OKs the TCI

Here is the sub-headline:

Signs up state for higher climate fees

The article is from The [Lowell] Sun, by Reporter Erin Tiernan, 22 December 2020.  The Link, however is from The Boston Broadside.

Here is the lede plus four:

Gov. Charlie Baker signed up Bay State taxpayers for a controversial carbon tax initiative praised by climate activists and blasted by businesses and residents concerned an up to 9-cent hike per gallon of gas could hit their bottom line as the state struggles to rebound from the coronavirus pandemic.

The “trailblazing” multistate Transportation and Climate Initiative sets a goal to reduce motor vehicle pollution by at least 26% and generate over $1.8 billion for climate causes in Massachusetts by 2032, Gov. Charlie Baker said in a statement announcing the partnership on Monday.

The cap- and- invest program will set a cap on vehicle emissions and mandate fuel distributors to buy permits for the carbon dioxide they emit — a cost businesses say will be handed down to the drivers at the gas pump.

“The revenue raised by TCI will come from the residents and businesses of participating states, not the fuel companies where the fee is applied,” the New England Convenience Store Owners and Energy Marketers Association said in a statement.

The program will increase the cost of gas somewhere between 5 cents and “an absolute maximum” of 9 cents per gallon — lower than the 17 cent cap the state floated last year, Energy and Environmental Affairs Secretary Kathleen Theoharides said Monday.

This will not turn out well.  Not only will it impact individuals, but it will impact our economy.  Stand by to be rammed.

Regards  —  Cliff

Ban the Bag Ban

For John, BLUF:  In Lowell we banned grocery store "one time use" plastic shopping bags.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Plastic bag bans dangerous during COVID-19 pandemic

From The Boston Herald,by Reporter Adriana Cohen, 22 March 2020.

Here is the lede plus four:

As we combat the coronavirus pandemic it’s important for Americans to note that many environmental initiatives that purport to “save the planet” not only restrict consumer choice and hurt the business sector—it also puts the public safety at risk.

Take the plastic bag bans here in Massachusetts and beyond.

In an effort to “go green” many states have banned disposable plastic bags at supermarkets and other retail locations causing a massive consumer shift to reusable shopping bags we’re now learning could contain the virus.

The coronravirus can live on surfaces for days, including on reusable shopping bags, which are notoriously filthy. Studies have shown that most people don’t clean their reusable bags.

For that reason, New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu issued an emergency order over the weekend prohibiting reusable shopping bags and requiring that stores use disposable plastic or paper bags instead.

Will the Lowell City Council suspend the plastic bag ban?

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

Computers Contributing to Global Warming

For John, BLUF:  I am not surprised at the revelation about the energy costs of computerization.  Remember the 2007 Bruce Willis movie Live Free or Die Hard?  One of the clues is that the computer be hacked is using a lot of energy, standing out from the background.  And it isn't just the computer.  There is the energy needed to provide the cooling needed.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Old Energy, New Boom

Here is the sub-headline:

Digital traffic will fuel the next dramatic economic expansion—but digital machines need the reliable and affordable energy that only hydrocarbons can provide.

Mark P. Mills January 24, 2020 Technology and InnovationInfrastructure and energyEconomy, finance, and budgets.

Here is the lede plus three:

Once upon a time, tech companies were upstarts, striving to change the world order.  Not anymore.  With financial potentates gathering in Davos this week for the 2020 World Economic Forum, tech giants reign in the global economy, both creating and ameliorating challenges from job destruction and wealth disparities to security, health care, and—of course—climate change.

Digital companies now “weaponize” their reputations for technological wizardry to shape our energy future.  It’s ironic, then, but no coincidence, that digital infrastructure has become the fastest-growing source of energy use.  Despite their best public relations efforts, these giants in fact meet increasing demand by using the same old hydrocarbon sources that power everything else in the economy.

Tech companies confront an inconvenient fact:  the global cloud uses more energy than is produced by all the planet’s wind and solar farms combined.  One-click shopping and streaming video, and everything else digital, rely on an ecosystem of energy-intensive hardware to mine rare-earth elements, manufacture silicon engines, and light up countless cell towers and warehouse-scale data centers.  This hardware is deeply and deliberately intertwined in global systems overwhelmingly fueled by hydrocarbons—the old-fashioned stuff that provides 85 percent of all energy, with just 3 percent coming from wind and solar.

Just ahead of the Davos meeting, Microsoft raised the bar for its fellow tech titans by announcing an initiative to help change how the world gets energy. Nearly every tech firm has “taken the pledge” to transition to using renewable energy exclusively.  They’re investing billions of dollars and deploying lobbyists to get more wind and solar projects going worldwide.  U.S. companies fund about half of Europe’s green tech, and these firms make sure to publicize these as “offsets” for domestic operations—in effect, purchased indulgences.  None of it changes the reality that data machines physically connect to conventional, local grids and pipes.

Maybe when everyone telecommutes we will find the energy savings.  In the mean time, computing is a big energy sink.

Like much we hear about, we could benefit from more information and less speculation.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

Jane Challenges DC

For John, BLUF:  I can see where Ms Jane Fonda is coming from, suggesting Defense dollars be diverted to fighting global warming, but we can't arm the Ukraine, defend the Kurds and still use those same dollars to fight climate change.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Cut Military Budget and Apply it to Green New Deal, Jane Fonda's Protest Advocates

From PJ Media, by Mr Nicholas Ballasy, 12 November 2019.

Here is the lede plus one:

Actress Jane Fonda, along with Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield, co-founders of Ben & Jerry's ice cream, led a climate action protest dedicated to calling on lawmakers to cut the defense budget and apply the savings to a Green New Deal to combat climate change.

"We are now spending over half of the federal government’s annual discretionary budget on the military when the biggest threat to mm U.S. national security is not Iran or China, but the climate crisis.  We could cut the Pentagon’s current budget in half and still be left with a bigger military budget than China, Russia, Iran and North Korea combined.  The $350 billion savings could then be funneled into the Green New Deal and ensuring a just transition for fossil fuel workers and communities," read a Facebook post announcing Friday's protest.

The organizers of the protest argued that "just one percent of the 2019 military budget of $716 billion would be enough to fund 128,879 green infrastructure jobs instead, and it would take just 11 percent — or $80 billion — to produce enough wind and solar energy to power every household in the United States."

Note that Ms Fonda is smart enough to recognize the Federal Budget is divided into discretionary and non- discretionary.  And there is a lot of money in the Defense Budget.

The thing is, Ms Fonda's ideas run counter to the views of the Deep State.  We can't cut the Defense Budget and continue to deploy forces to various global hotspots.  And the "Deep Staters" don't want to pull those forces back.  So, how are the Democrats going to square that circle?  Or, are they going to kick it down the road until after Inauguration In 2021?

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff