WHAT’S PLANNED FOR US: South Africans left in the dark after grid collapse. For greens this isn’t a bug, it’s a fixture.
IT’S A SHOW TRIAL, BUT THE SHOW HAS LOUSY WRITERS AND CHEAP PRODUCTION VALUES: Byron York: The Jan. 6 committee charade. “This is very serious, Cheney said, but I won’t tell you anything else. In what way is that the purpose of a congressional investigating committee?”
Plus: “The process a committee observes in its investigations means something. When a committee throws an established process out the window, that means something, too. And that is what the Jan. 6 committee has done. It’s a shame there is no opposition party voice inside the committee to let the public know what’s going on.”
Well, Pelosi made sure of that. But it’s also why the committee is a joke — worse, it’s political show trial — and thus Americans have tuned it out. You can now identify the useful idiots by the people who take it at all seriously.
GOODER AND HARDER, CALIFORNIA: More Pain at the Pump: California Gas Tax Increase Goes into Effect.
According to AAA gas price averages, the average price of gas for July 1 is $4.842 per gallon. In California, it’s at $6.270, several more cents higher than the next highest, which is Hawaii, at $5.612.
NBC Bay Area said that the annual gas tax in California, which is among the highest at 51 cents a gallon, is to pay for infrastructure projects:
The state uses the gas tax to fund different highway and road projects. Proponents argued keeping the increase, so, those projects can continue.
Some economists said the increase comes at a bad time.
“So, the problem isn’t that the gas tax is itself an overwhelming indignity, it’s that it comes on top of a whole series of indignities. There are a whole bunch of problems with the economy,” said Robert Chapman Wood, SJSU Global Economics Professor.
What the report doesn’t mention, though, is that the pain is the point. In April, a report from the Urban Center offered, “To Ease Pain at the Pump, Help People Avoid the Pump.”
Sure enough, one bullet point reads: “Gas consumption is bad for the climate. Driving should be discouraged, not subsidized. One-fifth of global carbon dioxide omissions [sic] come from transportation, most of it from road vehicles.”
The Congressional Leadership Fund (CLF) blamed Democrats in California running for Congress, noting that Assembly members Rudy Salas and Adam Gray had the chance to suspend the gas tax but were among those who voted against it. And while Jay Chen claims to be “committed to lowering costs for working Americans,” he hasn’t spoken out against the gas tax increase.
“Families are struggling to keep up with record-high gas prices and California Democrats are making it even worse,” said CLF Press Secretary Cally Perkins. “Californians have the highest gas prices in the nation and have only Democrats to blame for it.”
Why, it’s as if “Elitist environmentalists hate the working class” or something.
EVERYTHING IS GOING SWIMMINGLY: Voters itching to punish Washington on border crisis, 67% give Biden failing grade.
GREAT MOMENTS IN PATRIOTISM: Official Arizona Democrat account promotes ‘F*ck the Fourth’ event.
DEAL OF THE DAY: Jeacitory 12×50 Binoculars with Clear Low Night Version. #CommissionEarned
PLEASE MAKE THIS YOUR ELECTION PITCH: Biden Economic Adviser: Americans Need To Pay More for Gas To Defend ‘Liberal World Order.’
OUT ON A LIMB: Do mask mandates work? Bay Area COVID data from June says no.
MAYBE YOU SHOULDN’T HAVE JOINED THE “CABAL” THAT INSTALLED HIM IN THE WHITE HOUSE, THEN: ‘One Of The Worst Downturns’: Mark Zuckerberg Blasts Biden’s Economy In Warning To Employees.
FROM CELIA HAYES: Lone Star Sons. #CommissionEarned
The time – 1842
The place – the Republic of Texas, a place threatened and besieged on all frontiers!
Jim Reade lay on his back in the desert dust, incuriously seeing that ominous shadow circle, lower and lower until every finger-like dark feather became distinct against the burning sky . . . He hurt in every bone, from his head to his fingertips, and all the way to his booted toes. . .the sun had blazed on his exposed face and hands for many hours, and there was a mass of congealed blood which had oozed from his forehead, running back into his sweat-matted hair.
Jim Reade, a volunteer Texas Ranger, is the sole survivor of an ambush in the contested Nueces Strip. Rescued by Indian scout, Toby Shaw, the two young men join forces in pursuit of a mysterious wagon carrying a treasure in silver and gold – a treasure with a curse upon it!
Sworn blood-brothers, Jim and Toby meet with other challenges and mysteries, including a trove of documents sought after by spies of three nations, a girl vanished in the midst of a vicious feud between two families, a den of murderous robbers on the Opelousas Trace … and a tiny baby left an orphan in the desert!
Lone Star Sons – the classic Wild West rides again, in this collection of adventures intended for younger readers by the author of the Adelsverein Trilogy.
AND THAT PROBABLY SHOCKED THEM: No Dem Bounce from Roe Repeal: Emerson Poll.
LOOKS LIKE LARRY CORREIA WON’T BE ABLE TO GET A CARRY PERMIT IN NEW YORK: NY Senate OKs bill barring guns in Times Square, requiring social media info for permit.
BECAUSE HE TELLS THE TRUTH: Twitter suspends Jordan Peterson: why?
And also: Hail Lobster!
WE SHOULD NEVER HAVE STARTED IT: We Should Immediately End Nationalized Funding of Student Tuition.
JIMMY CARTER WAS A HOT MESS; THE BIDEN JUNTA ACTIVELY WANTS TO DESTROY US: When Joey Met Jimmy.
IT’S NOT JUST THAT THEY LIE: The Washington Post Runs Cover for Cassidy Hutchinson’s Trainwreck of Testimony.
It’s that they wouldn’t know reality if it bit them in the flesh part of the behind.
THIS IS NOT AN EMERGENCY: TANSTAAFL DAY 1- In Which The Writer Tries to Fund the Blog.
I’ve been writing this blog for about 15 years. My readers and my family finally convinced me to do a fundraiser to fund the blog. (Unlike the one in which my readers and friends pulled my behind out of a trap.) We are not in trouble, this is simply a fundraiser to make it easier for me to blog and write fiction, and not be permanently tired.
I’VE READ SOME OF THIS STUFF. IT IS FOR REAL INSANE: Racial Equity In Roads For Pete Buttigieg.
OH OH WELL. IF THEY TRY THIS IN A RED STATE… “Climate Activists” Slash SUV Tires in NYC, Say Other U.S. Cities Will be Hit Next.
OH, LOOK DEMOCRATS TRYING TO START A CIVIL WAR: New York Democrats Undermine Supreme Court 2nd Amendment Ruling In New Legislation.
Deja vu all over again.
July 1, 2022
IT’S A CRIME, BUT NEVER MIND: Pro-abortion protesters target Justice Amy Coney Barrett’s home.
OPEN THREAD: No pain, no hurt.
JAMESTOWN BASE GOES ON THE EDGE OF SHACKLETON CRATER, RIGHT? Where will NASA set up its moon base?
PUBLIC SUPPORT FOR POLITICAL PRISONERS IS RISKY: Ottawa Police just fined a protester $1,130 for writing “FREE TAMARA LICH” in chalk! “Tamara Lich was one of the original organizers of the Freedom Convoy of truckers who drove across Canada to Ottawa protesting vaccine mandates. Lich was recently re-arrested and it is widely believed that Lich is a political prisoner.”
Whether that support is under the regime of Fidel Castro, or that of Fidel Trudeau.
SO HOW DOES THE “WHAT TO EXPECT FROM KAVANAUGH” COLUMN I WROTE IN 2018 HOLD UP?
Let’s see: He has replaced Roberts as the “swing” vote; we did see more Second Amendment activity; the Court was more aggressive on overturning Roe than I expected (I always figured you’d need 7 votes to overturn Roe); we’re seeing some strange new respect for judicial minimalism on the left, but mostly they just want to recapture the Court so they can engage in judicial maximalism again; and I really nailed it on increased disrespect for the Court now that it’s seen as conservative.
BY WRECKING THE ECONOMY, WHICH WAS ALWAYS THE GREEN GOAL: The Pandemic Showed We Totally CAN Limit Global Warming. Here’s How.
IT’S A SHOW TRIAL THAT MAKES JOE MCCARTHY LOOK MILD: ‘What a POOR justification’: Brit Hume goes SCORCHED EARTH on January 6 Committee Hearings and their defenders and just wow.
FLORIDA MAN FRIDAY: Star Wars, Stealing That Star Wars…
EVERYTHING IS GOING SWIMMINGLY: David Axelrod sees bad news for Biden: Things look ‘out of control and he’s not in command.’
“MASSIVE RESISTANCE:” New York Democrats Undermine Supreme Court 2nd Amendment Ruling In New Legislation. “Among other things, lawful concealed carry of guns would be banned almost everwhere by designating much of society a ‘sensitive’ location. State governors like Kathy Hochul in New York are banking on the limited SCOTUS docket to evade the ruling, even if they ultimately lose.”
UPDATE: New NY bill: If you want to carry concealed, we’ll need to see your social media accounts.
This just sets us up for national carry/reciprocity when we get the next GOP president and Congress.
WELL, THIS IS THE 21ST CENTURY, YOU KNOW: Elon Musk’s SpaceX Internet Scores With FCC. It’s a Blow to DISH, ViaSat.
ILYA SOMIN: A Broader Perspective on “My Body, My Choice.” “It frustrates me that many who propound the principle when it comes to abortion ignore or even oppose it in other contexts. Many on the political right are also inconsistent when it comes to issues of bodily autonomy. In this post, I explain why abortion is a relatively hard case for the ‘My Body, My Choice’ principle.”
REMEMBERING Col. Rex Applegate.
EVERYTHING IS GOING SWIMMINGLY: J.D. Power Claims Vehicles Are Becoming Less Reliable.
DEAL OF THE DAY: HexClad 6-Piece Hybrid Cookware Set. #CommissionEarned
THE SUPREME COURT AND BIDEN’S EPA POWER GRAB: A pen and phone are no substitute for a statute duly passed by Congress.
The EPA’s attempt to impose such a scheme on states was particularly bold because Congress had just declined to enact a similar scheme. After the 2008 election, Democrats introduced the Waxman-Markey bill, a sweeping cap-and-trade scheme to reduce carbon emissions dramatically. Even with Democratic supermajorities in both houses, Congress failed to pass the bill.
After his party lost the House in 2010 President Obama turned to the EPA, which in 2015 promulgated the Clean Power Plan. The basic idea of the CPP was to pressure states into shutting down coal and (eventually) natural-gas plants and switch to renewable electricity sources. The agency resorted to an obscure provision of the original Clean Air Act that lay largely dormant for decades. It empowers the EPA to designate a “best system of emissions reduction,” or BSER, for existing facilities. The provision had been used only a handful of times, mostly for solid-waste incinerators, to reduce emissions “inside the fence line” of the facility itself. . . .
One issue the court unfortunately didn’t focus on was the federal coercion of state governments. The EPA normally has the power to do itself whatever it’s asking states to do. But in the CPP, even the EPA admitted that it has no statutory authority to impose directly the measures it was asking states to take. It got around that by using its power to shut down coal plants as leverage to seize control of state policy in areas far beyond its jurisdiction.
Regulators tend to use their power that way if allowed.
WHY WOULDN’T THEY, WHEN BIDEN IS CLEARLY DESPERATE FOR A DEAL, ANY DEAL? Iran accused of making ‘maximalist demands’ in nuclear deal talks.
EVERYTHING IS GOING SWIMMINGLY: Jeffrey Carter: Stocks Worst 6 Months in 50 Years.
Of course, we have a show trial of sorts going on in the U.S. Capitol as well.
NO, IT’S ABOUT PUNISHING AMERICANS FOR BEING WEALTHY AND PRODUCTIVE AND ENJOYING IT: Biden Admin To Families Suffering High Gas Costs: ‘This Is About The Future Of The Liberal World Order.’
PLAGUES FIRST, FAMINE LATER: NY to receive more than 8,000 monkeypox vaccine doses. “Officials recently expanded the group of people recommended to get vaccinated against the monkeypox virus, expanding the pool of people to include those who may realize on their own that they could have been infected. That includes men who who have recently had sex with men at parties or in other gatherings in cities where monkeypox cases have been identified.”
COME SEE THE RACISM INHERENT IN THE LEFTISM: White CNN Host Asks “Why Have You Never Seen Clarence Thomas at an NBA Game?’
GRAFT IS DELICIOUS! Ben & Jerry’s Foundation President Steered Funds to His Own Charity.
WHY ARE LAW SCHOOLS SUCH CESSPITS OF BIGOTRY AND OPPRESSION? Get Out: Structural Racism In The Legal Academy And Academic Terror
RACISM, STRAIGHT UP: White House Press Corp Is Not Pleased with Karine Jean-Pierre.
OTHER PEOPLE’S MONEY: Secretary Buttigieg to Spend $1 Billion to Combat Racist Highways.
KEEP COOL IN THE SUN: RIVBOS Polarized Sports Sunglasses Driving shades For Men. #CommissionEarned
FORMER BLACKFIVE MILBLOGGER “LAUGHING WOLF” CONTINUES HIS RECOVERY: Alive Day. “My military friends will know what that means, but potentially countless others will not. It is the day you died, or should have died. The day something catastrophic impacted you and perhaps those around you. In some cases, people I know quite literally died and the docs and doctors brought them back. Some more than once. In other cases, the docs and doctors poured forth their skills and power like water, and kept them alive. Even spending time in Iraq and elsewhere, I never truly thought that I would have an alive day.”
HIGHER EDUCATION BUBBLE UPDATE: Nearly 9 in 10 recent student loan borrowers bet on Biden bailing them out.
LAYERS OF EDITORS AND FACT-CHECKERS: Good Morning America: Thurgood Marshall & Clarence Thomas ‘Ain’t Black.’
HOW UT-AUSTIN ADMINISTRATORS DESTROYED AN INTELLECTUAL DIVERSITY INITIATIVE. College admins really, really do not want students to hear unapproved opinions. And FIRE ranks UT-Austin #102 out of 154 schools in its climate for free speech.
KRUISER’S MORNING BRIEFING: Congressional Climate Cult Commies Upset That SCOTUS’s EPA Ruling Would Make Them Do Their Jobs. “The EPA really became an unchecked behemoth during the Obama years. The Lightbringer loved weaponizing his pet agencies with infusions of cash and new bodies to hinder the freedoms of law-abiding citizens in a variety of ways.”
YOUR TERMS ARE ACCEPTABLE: DAVID HOGG PROMISES NOT TO HAVE CHILDREN IF WE KEEP ROE V. WADE OVERTURNED AND VALUE GUN RIGHTS.
THEY ONLY ROLLED OUT THE “FACT-CHECKERS” WHEN THE TRUTH STARTED GETTING OUT: This is the age of the “fact checker.”
Politico on Twitter said,
Clarence Thomas claimed in a dissenting opinion that Covid vaccines are derived from the cells of “aborted children.”
No Covid vaccines in the U.S. contain the cells of aborted fetuses.
2,061 Retweets. 1,537 Quote Tweets. 5,676 Likes. Dozens of sneering replies.
And two egregious falsehoods in one tweet.
As Egon Alter (@AlterEgon75) put it in their reply,
This is a gross mischaracterization of Thomas’ words.
HE is not making the claim, the plaintiffs in the case are.
And he said they object because aborted fetus cells were used in the development of the vaccine, which your reporting verifies, not that the vaccine contains them.
UPDATE:
You can see a screenshot of Justice Thomas’s exact words in this tweet from AGHamilton29. Thomas said,
They object on religious grounds to all available COVID-19 vaccines because they were developed using cell lines derived from aborted children.
Firstly, note that he is paraphrasing the opinion of the petitioners, not giving his own opinion. Secondly, note that the petitioners themselves did not claim that the vaccines were made from aborted foetuses, they claim that foetal cells were used in the development process, which they were. As one would expect from a judge, Thomas has noted this crucial distinction.
Again via the estimable AGHamilton29, I see that it was not just Politico spreading this false story.
They sit on a throne of lies, because the truth is fatal to them.
MATT TAIBBI: Are Black 2nd Amendment Advocates the Ultimate Taboo?
They’re right up there. “Perhaps the most dependable taboo in American media, however, involves black Second Amendment advocates. As Ford and News2Share have documented over the years, there are many such groups, and they sometimes march in conjunction with groups like the Boogaloo Boys. In fact, the biggest taboo of all might be showing such groups demonstrating together. . . . Whatever your feelings about guns — I personally am not a fan — the psychology of the contrasting coverage of pro-gun demonstrations is fascinating. News audiences are clearly meant to associate white pro-gun protesters with a dangerous and probably organized national race-hatred movement, while black pro-gun protesters either don’t exist or are a fringe movement not worth covering. Under no circumstance must such groups be shown together, even when they organize co-demonstrations.”
That sort of cooperation is the establishment’s worst nightmare.
EVEN GREENS SEE THE LIGHT SOMETIMES: Chasing Utopian Energy: How I Wasted 20 Years of My Life.
I started to realize that I had accepted as true certain claims about energy and our environment. Now I began to see those claims were false. For example:
I used to think solar and wind power were the best ways to reduce CO2 emissions. But the biggest reduction in CO2 emissions during the past 15 years (over 60%) has come from switching from coal to natural gas.
I used to think that the world was transitioning to solar, wind, and batteries. This, too, was false. Trillions of dollars were spent on wind and solar projects over the last 20 years, yet the world’s dependence on fossil fuels declined only 3 percentage points, from 87% to 84%.
I used to believe nuclear energy was dangerous and nuclear waste was a big problem. In fact, nuclear is the safest and most reliable way to generate low-emission electricity, and it provides the best chance of reducing CO2 emissions.
It’s now clear I was chasing utopian energy. I was using green energy myths as moral camouflage, and I was able to believe those myths as long as I remained ignorant about the real costs and benefits of different energy sources.
Ignorance is the key to green policy. So is moral camouflage.
YEAH, THAT’S NOT GONNA FLY: S.C. Bill Would Apparently Outlaw News Sites’ Writing About Legal Abortion Clinics in Neighboring States.
BIDEN’S RETURN TO NORMALCY: America’s nuke waste chief: 2 MIT degrees, ‘genderfluid,’ role plays dogs.
I HAD BEEN TOLD BY ALL THE BEST PEOPLE THAT PLANNED PARENTHOOD DID HEALTH CARE: Planned Parenthood Admits on Tape That Their Abortion Butchers Cannot Help With Your Ectopic Pregnancy.
SO MUCH DECLINE:
DEAL OF THE DAY: ENERGIZER LED Headlamp PRO. #CommissionEarned
MAYBE THEY HAVE HILLARY LEADING THIS BECAUSE THEY SEE HER AS EXPENDABLE: The Vicious, Racially Charged Assault on Clarence Thomas: Hillary Clinton invokes racist trope to attack Supreme Court’s only black justice.
MAJOR, BUT ALAS NOT FATAL: The Supreme Court Just Dealt a Major Blow to the Green Left—and a Major Win for Democracy.
IT’S COMPLICATED: The One China Policy Is A Lie.
Seeking to both assuage China and to clarify confusion left by President Joe Biden’s off-the-cuff remarks about Taiwan, National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan earlier this month reiterated America’s “One China” policy while speaking at a Washington think tank. He should not have.
Put aside the unseemliness of unelected, unconfirmed staffers correcting a sitting president – an action that only reinforces the notion among foreigners that Biden is senile and not in control of his own administration. The reality is that the One China notion was born from the ambition of Mao Zedong, chairman of China’s Communist Party, and Henry Kissinger, who as national security advisor helped broker détente with Beijing.
Four years before Sullivan was born, President Richard Nixon acquiesced to the One China idea in the Shanghai Communique. But Nixon’s agreement was never as clear as Beijing claims. Rather than unequivocally endorse Mao’s statement that “the Government of the People’s Republic of China is the sole legal government of China; Taiwan is a province of China,” Nixon said the “United States Government does not challenge that position” but instead “reaffirms its interest in a peaceful settlement of the Taiwan question by the Chinese themselves.”
Don’t believe anything the CCP claims, or their mouthpieces in the United States government.
PARENT OF MURDER VICTIM TURNS ON PROSECUTORS: “Take that restorative justice bull**** and shove it up your ***es!”
SARAH HOYT: It is us at the gate.
ICYMI: EXCLUSIVE FROM J. CHRISTIAN ADAMS: FOIAs Reveal Progressive Money Fueling FBI, DOJ, Leftist Activist and Election Official Coordination
EVERYTHING IS GOING SWIMMINGLY: Biden lashed on rising crime, and 86% warn it’s a top election issue.
WHEN A NEGATIVE IS A NET POSITIVE: Dobbs Ruling Triggers Not-Real-Men to Get Vasectomies.
POT, KETTLE: Hillary Clinton calls Clarence Thomas a “Person of Grievance.”
Of course, the idea that that’s somehow disqualifying undercuts the entire Democratic platform.
FROM C. CHANCY: Tell No Tales.
#CommissionEarned
Some nights it just doesn’t pay to rise from the grave….Corbin wants to uncover the truth behind her death at a demon’s hands. But her memories have been shattered by the grave, and even with footloose Sighted mechanic Devon Fortunato helping her search for answers, a restless ghost is up against the darkest spells and lies of the living. If they can’t unravel who sabotaged the Cunning Folk circle’s spellcast defenses, the child Corbin meant to protect will suffer a fate worse than death. Corbin’s notes hold clues, but the broken circle would rather die than admit the truth….
IT NEEDED ONLY THIS NOW: Solar explosion projected to shoot toward Earth today, disrupt magnetic field.
IN AMERICA WE TREAT MENTAL PATIENTS VERY WELL: ‘The View’ hosts face backlash for $14K a night luxury Bahamas getaway.
IT’S NOTHING COMPARED WITH HAVING TO WATCH IT: Meredith Vieira says returning to ‘The View’ sounds like ‘a prison term’.
MAOIST? STALINIST? ROTTEN IS WHAT IT IS: Tucker puts together the long list of political arrests in Biden’s America.
POSSIBLY THE ONLY WOMAN MORE REPULSIVE THAN HILARY AND MORE VAPID THAN KAMALA: Michelle Obama Is Running for President in 2024.
BUT IT IS NOT PERFECT: SCOTUS: Biden Can End ‘Remain in Mexico’ Policy.
We can’t ask for perfect. And their reasoning might be fine. We just need someone not a traitor in power.
AND GIVE THANKS FOR THIS: Supreme Court Aborts The Green New Deal, Strikes Down EPA’s Carbon-Emission Power Grab.
InstaPundit is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com.