Howdy All, a few Interesting Items for your information. Enjoy –
In this issue –
1. Stoves
2. BATFE
3. Pharma
4. Farming
5. SWF
6. Floods
7. Merit
8. Wells Fargo
1. Stoves. Final word on the attempted ban on natural gas stoves comes via the Washington Free Beacon, with took an extended look into the Rocky Mountain Institute, the non-profit that authored the meta-study claiming 13% of childhood asthma is due to emissions from natural gas stoves. First comment is about meta-studies. The instant someone uses a meta-study to prove something, dismiss it out of hand, as meta-studies (studies of studies) pick and choose which ones they want to include, usually discarding any that do not agree with the conclusions they already arrived at and are attempting to prove. Second, the Rocky Mountain Institute has partnered with China for a decade. It takes Chinese money. It has a Chinese (CCP) oligarch on its Board. It is China pushing the natural gas stove ban using the kiddos as a fig leaf. Why? China needs natural gas. If we aren’t using it, they would love to purchase it. China is doing what Saudi Arabia and Russia have been doing for decades, funding green anti-fossil fuel groups and campaigns here in the US and Canada. The first joint foray took place in 2013 when the Rocky Mountain Institute joined forces with China’s National Development and Reform Commission to produce a report that advised China to create climate targets and emissions goals, all of which the CCP adopted, with all the expected chaos and subsequent rationing of electricity in China. In short, the study on asthma, was CCP-connected garbage, yet another attack on US energy independence.
2. BATFE. Nothing like turning 40+ million Americans into felons at the stroke of a pen. This appears to be the daily goal of the Biden administration and their goons at the BATFE. Vehicle for this is a new rule requiring any firearm with stabilizing braces to be registered. This rule is the most recent iteration of the bump stock prohibition rule the Trump administration attempted to pass several years ago. It and follow-on attempts have been thrown out of federal court on a regular basis. The BATFE is back with the most recent attempt. Once the rule goes live, owners have 120 days to register their firearms with the feds. Alternately, they can destroy the firearm or the bump stock, modifying the firearm so that it will no longer accept a stabilizing brace. The definition of precisely what constitutes a stabilizing brace or a rifle is left to the creative imagination of the BATFE, sort of a “We’ll know it when we see it” worldview. Good luck defending against that in court. The BATFE is furiously trying to catch up with the FBI as a rogue criminal enterprise masquerading as a federal law enforcement agency. Sadly, they’re doing pretty well.
3. Pharma. As we explore the lessons learned following the Zombie Apocalypse that was COVID, we are identifying Bad Actors at all levels. The public health apparat committed seppuku nationwide, destroying their credibility for most Americans for decades if not forever. It was closely followed by the FBI, WH, and other federal agencies that used social media to brute force stop any and all dissenting discussion. Today’s entrant to the list is Big Pharma, which participated in a parallel censorship operation. There were several additional Twitter file releases last week. Pfizer / BioNTech conspired with social media to censor activists demanding low-cost generic vax’s for low income countries. While unstated in the tweets, the censorship must have also extended to therapeutics as time went on. In the beginning, there was push to make the vax equitable, creating an international partnership to share ideas, tech and new meds to solve the crisis. This quickly changed when the companies took a page out of Rahm Emanuel’s never let a crisis go to waste approach, realizing they had an opportunity for unprecedented profit without any responsibility. And they took it by launching a massive lobbying blitz to crush any country or group attempting to create generic low cost COVID meds or vax’s. The excuse was protection of patients’ privacy rights. The German government was fully on board (Pfizer), closely followed by the newly ensconced Biden regime. Moderna was also a participant. As usual, silencing only went one way, with none of the Pharma sources ever censored, even after they wildly exaggerated the risks of creating low-cost generic COVID drugs and vax’s.
5. Farming. I am always tickled when we figure out something the ancients were doing that works better than what we are doing. Roman concrete is a recent example. This week’s example comes out of farming, with the discovery of a technique for growing grains that helps stabilize yields during try conditions. The technique has been used for over 3,000 years by farmers mainly in Central Asia, the Middle East and northern Africa. Famers plant a mix of cereals that include multiple species of barley and wheat together. They are harvested and used together, like a single crop, to make bread and beer. The mix, called maslins, gives a more stable harvest under changing conditions. Farmers shift the mix of species each season to respond to changing conditions. Essentially, the climate chooses which mix works the best. The shifting mix works much quicker than evolution responding to changing conditions. The technique has historically been tried on small farms, though it can be scaled up. The other thing is that the mix of species give a higher yield that single species.
6. SWF. Real Clear Investigations ran a piece by Joel Kotkin and SJ Abrams entitled The Rise of the Single Woke (and Young, Democratic) Female. This is fallout from the 2022 election and describe what the authors call “… one of the most potent voting blocs in American politics.” Unmarried women without children have been trending democrat for years, joining African Americans today as the most reliable democrat voter. Note that black women are very, very reliable democrat voters, black men are wavering. The number of never married women grew from 20% in 1950 to over 30% today. Percentage of married women fell from 70% in 1950 to under 50% today. The percentage of married households with children declined from 37% in 1976 to 21% today. Per the 2020 census, one in six women do not have children. Single adult women now total 42 million, comparable to African Americans at 46 million. This is much larger than the 14 million union members or 20 million college students. Only 38% of these women are dating. The key driver of these attitudes is indoctrination on college campuses, where women are now 59% of college graduates. And they’ve bought into the whole LGBTQWTF ideology, taking it personally. Anti-family attitude are quickly growing, with female support for BLM and AntiFa. When women are not part of an economic familial unit, they tend to look to the government for help. Anyone else remember the O’Bama 2012 Life of Julia? It was called a failed progressive political campaign. Sadly, it once again turns out that O’Bama and his minions were prescient, as were his and subsequent democrat promises for cradle to grave assistance for women. As numbers of single women enter other fields, those fields start swinging democrat in outlook. Medicine is the most recent and obvious example. Married women in urban areas split evenly between voting liberal and conservative. Single women in urban areas split 44 – 18% liberal. In the suburbs, unmarried women split 34 – 22% liberal. In rural areas, the split is even. Urban areas cater to the needs and sensibilities of single women without kids. The longer people stay single, the better things are for democrats.
7. Floods. Cali, in the midst of extended drought conditions, periodically gets a bit of rain. Over the last three weeks, rainfall caused flooding, and over a billion dollars of damage. It also started to refill drying reservoirs. Sadly, a lot of it was allowed to runoff to the Pacific Ocean. How much did Cali get? Northern Cali ranged 44 – 115% of yearly total, Central Cali, 63 – 115%, and Southern Cali 50 – 101%. Needles in the Mojave Desert continued to be dry (a dry town in the desert, who knew?), with only 37% of its yearly total. With all that water, you would expect a reprieve from the ongoing drought. And you would be wrong. Cali has refused to spend money of flood mitigation. They have also refused to spend on new reservoirs to mitigate future droughts. This is where the finger-pointing happens. Most of the refusal to spend was due to climate change advocates insisting on what they describe as a more “natural” approach to flood prevention. Where excess water is concerned, a natural approach means standing by and watching the expected flooding. Cali Republicans got themselves involved demanding why Governor Newsome and his democrat legislature refused to start a $7.5 billion water storage project passed in a 2014 ballot initiative. The last dam in the state was built in 1980. Since then, the population increased by two thirds, from 23 – 39 million, yet the Powers That Be decided not to build any more water storage, guaranteeing any future drought will be just as painful as humanly possible. Remember this in 2024 when Gavin Newsom runs for president. He will bring this act to DC.
8. Merit. Speaking of ongoing discrimination based on race, we have 17 high schools in Northern VA, which withheld National Merit Scholarship awards and notification from white and Asian students for at least two years. So far, these high schools are located in Fairfax, Loudoun and Prince William County. These sorts of awards are important for students on their way to college, as they help the students compete for scholarships and for admission into their chosen colleges. Governor Youngkin has requested the VA Legislature pass legislation prohibiting high schools from withholding awards. Note that the National Merit Scholarship Corporation people are also at fault, as apparently, they do not directly notify the winners. 75% of those not notified were Asian students. Why were the awards withheld? All in the name of equity, which all but demand its adherents to drag those who excel down to the lowest possible level, not unlike crabs trying to escape a bucket. Recognizing their legal exposure, some of the school administrators are mealy mouthing their way around what they refer to as an error.” I do expect some yet to be determined number of parents to take the school administrators, schools and districts to civil courts demanding damages. Make it hurt sufficiently badly, and they will think long and hard before pulling this sort of stunt again.
9. Wells Fargo. One of the things that happen with businesses is that the location of their headquarters tend to drive the way they conduct their businesses. Those in DC tend to do Beltway things. Those in NY tend to do East Coast things. Those in Cali tend to do Cali things. Latest example of this is Wells Fargo, which has become increasingly hostile to things those of us in the Red parts of the country do every day. Wells Fargo abruptly ended a 25-year long banking relationship with Brandon Wexler of Delray Beach, FL. It ended a 14-year long relationship with Wex Gunworks, the guy’s company. It also cancelled his line of credit. The bank made the announcement in a Dec 22 letter, giving Wexler 30 days to find other banking arrangements. Reason given in two letters was that the business had become too risky, and that banking guidelines exclude lending to certain types of businesses. No word at this time whether Wells Fargo is doing this at the behest of the SEC or other Biden administration pressure, or if it is simply wokeness trundling on its narrow-gauge track to oblivion. Wexler is relatively well known in the firearms world, having been interviewed by major media on a variety of firearms related stories, which is probably how his name surfaced for the feds / Wells Fargo. The bank was an exception to a trend of major banking corporations to cancel business with Ruger. It never announced a policy against working with firearms businesses. Unfortunately, it started shifting its position, with a $10 million donation to gun violence research (whatever that is) in 2019. Expect the states to get involved in pushing back at this sort of banking discrimination. No word as yet whether Wexler will pursue a complaint against Wells Fargo which is most certainly lying about his personal and business being suddenly too risky.
More later –
– AG