Month: November 2021

White House Unveils US Long-Term Strategy To Achieve Net-Zero Emissions By 2050

White House Unveils US Long-Term Strategy To Achieve Net-Zero Emissions By 2050

Well, here it is. John Kerry’s masterpiece explaining just how the US will reach net-zero emissions by 2050… and everything will be awesome (for the children):

“We can create a healthy, vibrant, and abundant world for our children. This plan is our promise to them – and  it is one we must keep.”

Because if we don’t, well, picture all the worst parts of the Bible…

“As we undertake this global transformation, the United States and other major economies must act quickly to keep a safer climate within reach. Across the United States and around the world, climate change is already harming communities—particularly the most vulnerable that are least equipped to cope, rebuild, and adapt. Wildfires, storms, floods, extreme heat, and other climate-fueled impacts are causing deaths, injuries, degraded health, economic hardship, and damage to the earth’s ecosystems—all from warming of only roughly 1.0 C. Failure to immediately curtail emissions will condemn the world to nearly triple that level of warming, unleashing far more frequent and severe climate impacts and far more extreme downside risks.”

The United States has set a goal of net-zero emissions by no later than 2050.

The goal includes all major GHGs (CO2 , CH4 , N2 O, HFCs, PFCs, SF6 , NF3 ) and is economy-wide. The goal is on a net basis, including both sources of emissions and removals. It does not include emissions from international aviation or international shipping. At this time, the United States does not expect to use international market mechanisms toward achievement of this net-zero goal. Progress toward the goal will be assessed and the U.S. LTS may be updated, as appropriate.

Kerry explains that “The Long-Term Strategy shows that reaching netzero no later than 2050 will require actions spanning every sector of the economy.”

Here’s the trajectory that emissions will follow…

Translation: as far as the current soaring energy costs, you ain’t seen nothing yet!

Will President Biden stay awake long enough to sell it to the world…

Oh and by the way, India’s Modi just demanded that rich countries provide them $1 trillion to fund their move to net-zero by 2070.

*  *  *

Here is the full Strategy document…

Tyler Durden
Mon, 11/01/2021 – 13:00

via ZeroHedge News https://ift.tt/3bvlIqL Tyler Durden

Pennsylvania Homeless Man Spared Felony Charge for 43-Cent Misunderstanding


zumaglobalten936579

In September, Pennsylvania prosecutors charged a homeless man with theft over a 43-cent misunderstanding, which due to the state’s three-strikes law could have subjected him to years in prison. Last month, the theft charge was dropped, thereby preventing the worst possible outcome, although that does not mean everything necessarily worked out as it should have.

As Reason reported at the time, Joseph Sobolewski grabbed a Mountain Dew at a convenience store that was advertising them as two for $3. He placed $2 on the counter and walked out, unaware that the individual price was $2.29, or $2.43 with tax. The clerk called the police over the infraction. The police then tracked Sobolewski down and arrested him for theft, which because of Pennsylvania’s three-strikes law was automatically escalated to felony theft, due to his two previous theft convictions from a decade earlier. Held on $50,000 bond, Sobolewski faced up to seven years in prison.

According to The Patriot-News, however, prosecutors dropped the theft charge and reduced another charge for driving with a suspended license from a misdemeanor to the equivalent of a traffic ticket. As a result, Sobolewski would be spared from the possibility of a yearslong prison sentence over an obvious misunderstanding, which he described as “great news.”

While this is indeed great news, it does not mean that the system worked as it should have.

First, upon being arrested, Sobolewski spent a week in jail under a bond amount completely incommensurate with either the alleged offense or his purported danger to society. It was only after a public defender stepped in and convinced a different judge to change it to “unsecured,” which meant that he could leave without having to post any money upfront, that he was able to go free.

According to a GoFundMe arranged by another Pennsylvanian on his behalf, Sobolewski and his wife are both homeless, and he works odd jobs to try and support them. Even if he did have gainful employment, however, it is entirely possible that a week in jail would have led to his termination.

In addition, Sobolewski still owes court fees, and his bail amount is still set at $50,000—if at any point the district attorney’s office decides that Sobolewski has violated the terms of his bail, it can simply call him back to prison. While this is unlikely based on the recent media attention, it still hangs over Sobolewski’s head.

In fact, as The Patriot-News noted, prosecutors dropped the charges earlier in October after the story had gone “viral, with dozens of other publications across the country and into Canada writing about it.” People are arrested every day in the more than half of U.S. states that currently have three-strikes laws on the books, and it should not take national media attention to spare them from cruelly disproportionate sentences.

Ultimately, that is exactly what three-strikes laws are: Cruel and disproportionate sentences enshrined into statute. The idea that the punishment should fit the crime is completely upended by mandatory sentencing requirements that treat lesser offenses more harshly based not upon the circumstances of the crime being charged, but upon previous offenses for which the offender has already been punished. Even in cases where a judge would prefer not to impose a harsh sentence, such laws often give them no choice. It is welcome news that Sobolewski will not face a felony charge in this case, but unfortunately, the policy that initially threatened him with one remains in place.

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“Interest Rate Are Going To Go Bonkers” If The Fed Comes Back In With More QE, Pento Warns

“Interest Rate Are Going To Go Bonkers” If The Fed Comes Back In With More QE, Pento Warns

Via Greg Hunter’s USAWatchdog.com,

In June, economist and money manager Michael Pento warned the Fed was going to kill the economy by “tapering” the easy money policies.  Instead, the Fed ignored inflation, which is obviously not transitory and has kept the money printing going.  Now, Pento says it’s coming down to one issue for the Fed.  Pento explains, “If the Fed does not taper, yields will skyrocket.  That will destroy the economy and kill the real estate market.”  

Pento goes on to point out how bad inflation from trillions of dollars of Covid money printing really is in the real world.  Pento explains,

“Why work and get exposed to Covid 19 when they can stay home, do noting and buy stuff online.  That’s your real problem.  That’s why you have inflation, if you measured it accurately, close to 14%. . . . Almost 14% inflation, that’s the highest we have seen in 40 years.”

Don’t expect China to get the global economy going like it did after the 2008 meltdown either.  Pento says,

“What they cannot do is repeat what they did in 2008.  The global economy is slowing.  It’s going to go over a massive fiscal and monetary cliff, the biggest since WWII, and there is not a darn thing China can do about it.  They can ring-fence the problem with Evergrande and other construction and real estate companies.  They cannot tell the Chinese citizens home prices are already stalling and falling because of the over-built condition of the bubble.  So, we are going to go on an expedition to build more?  No, you cannot.”

When does Pento think the markets will come under big downside pressure?  Pento says,

“The average amount of money printed by Mr. Powell and given to Wall Street to gamble with in the stock market is $250 billion each and every month.  That’s the average, and that’s going to zero by June of 2022.  That is the biggest monetary cliff we have ever seen heading into an economy already suffering from stagflation.  If you wanted to kill an economy, you would perpetuate inflation, threaten to raise people’s taxes and you would raise the cost of borrowing, in other words, raise interest rates.  All three of those things are happening. . . . The odds of a major liquidity crisis happening in the first half of 2022 should lead to a stock market decline and the freezing of the repo market, credit market and the Fed Funds market. . . . A credit market crisis is a Siamese twin to a stock crisis.”

Pento predicts that if the Fed comes back in with another round of money printing, “interest rates are going to go bonkers to the upside, and that’s what I am watching. . . . This is not going to end well.  The salient fear out there is a stock market collapse and a liquidity crisis.”

Join Greg Hunter of USAWatchdog.com as he goes One-on-One with economist and money manager Michael Pento, founder of Pento Portfolio Strategies.

(There is much more in the 47 min. interview with Michael Pento.)

To Donate to USAWatchdog.com Click Here

Tyler Durden
Mon, 11/01/2021 – 12:40

via ZeroHedge News https://ift.tt/2ZCLI0O Tyler Durden

Pennsylvania Homeless Man Spared Felony Charge for 43-Cent Misunderstanding


zumaglobalten936579

In September, Pennsylvania prosecutors charged a homeless man with theft over a 43-cent misunderstanding, which due to the state’s three-strikes law could have subjected him to years in prison. Last month, the theft charge was dropped, thereby preventing the worst possible outcome, although that does not mean everything necessarily worked out as it should have.

As Reason reported at the time, Joseph Sobolewski grabbed a Mountain Dew at a convenience store that was advertising them as two for $3. He placed $2 on the counter and walked out, unaware that the individual price was $2.29, or $2.43 with tax. The clerk called the police over the infraction. The police then tracked Sobolewski down and arrested him for theft, which because of Pennsylvania’s three-strikes law was automatically escalated to felony theft, due to his two previous theft convictions from a decade earlier. Held on $50,000 bond, Sobolewski faced up to seven years in prison.

According to The Patriot-News, however, prosecutors dropped the theft charge and reduced another charge for driving with a suspended license from a misdemeanor to the equivalent of a traffic ticket. As a result, Sobolewski would be spared from the possibility of a yearslong prison sentence over an obvious misunderstanding, which he described as “great news.”

While this is indeed great news, it does not mean that the system worked as it should have.

First, upon being arrested, Sobolewski spent a week in jail under a bond amount completely incommensurate with either the alleged offense or his purported danger to society. It was only after a public defender stepped in and convinced a different judge to change it to “unsecured,” which meant that he could leave without having to post any money upfront, that he was able to go free.

According to a GoFundMe arranged by another Pennsylvanian on his behalf, Sobolewski and his wife are both homeless, and he works odd jobs to try and support them. Even if he did have gainful employment, however, it is entirely possible that a week in jail would have led to his termination.

In addition, Sobolewski still owes court fees, and his bail amount is still set at $50,000—if at any point the district attorney’s office decides that Sobolewski has violated the terms of his bail, it can simply call him back to prison. While this is unlikely based on the recent media attention, it still hangs over Sobolewski’s head.

In fact, as The Patriot-News noted, prosecutors dropped the charges earlier in October after the story had gone “viral, with dozens of other publications across the country and into Canada writing about it.” People are arrested every day in the more than half of U.S. states that currently have three-strikes laws on the books, and it should not take national media attention to spare them from cruelly disproportionate sentences.

Ultimately, that is exactly what three-strikes laws are: Cruel and disproportionate sentences enshrined into statute. The idea that the punishment should fit the crime is completely upended by mandatory sentencing requirements that treat lesser offenses more harshly based not upon the circumstances of the crime being charged, but upon previous offenses for which the offender has already been punished. Even in cases where a judge would prefer not to impose a harsh sentence, such laws often give them no choice. It is welcome news that Sobolewski will not face a felony charge in this case, but unfortunately, the policy that initially threatened him with one remains in place.

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Brickbats: November 2021


1bb-nov-2021

A family has sued Kentucky’s Jefferson County Public Schools after their then-6-year-old daughter was dragged 1,147 feet by a school bus in 2015. The girl’s backpack got caught in the door as she stepped off. The driver did not watch to make sure she safely exited as required by the driver’s training and realized the problem only after a nearby car’s driver started honking its horn.

Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison has said the country will open its borders again and end lockdowns when 80 percent of the population has been fully vaccinated against COVID-19. As of August, just 18 percent of the population had been fully vaccinated against the virus, one of the lowest vaccination rates among developed nations. In the meantime, the country has sent soldiers to Sydney to enforce the lockdown.

Bacon and other pork products could become hard to find in California starting in 2022. That’s when state regulators begin enforcing an animal welfare law approved by voters in 2018. The law requires specific amounts of space for pigs, egg-laying hens, and veal calves. Egg and veal producers say they should be able to meet the requirements, but only 4 percent of pig farmers nationwide currently provide the mandated space. Farms that don’t meet those standards won’t be allowed to sell pork in California.

China’s Ministry of Culture is banning some songs from karaoke bars. In a statement on its website, the agency said karaoke bars must remove any songs that “endanger national unity, sovereignty or territorial integrity, or harm national security, honor or interests” or “incite ethnic hatred.” The statement said only “healthy” songs that “promote positive energy” should be performed.

In Cape Town, South Africa, two police officers have been charged with kidnapping, obstructing justice, and fraud. The two reportedly grabbed a man off the street to replace a man arrested for theft who had escaped their custody.

Officials in Gold Coast, Australia, have fined a woman 1,300 Australian dollars ($960) for violating her hotel quarantine by having cigarettes delivered to the balcony of her room by a drone. The operator of the drone may also be fined for violating safe flying rules.

French judicial authorities have fired Olivier Bailly, vice president of the family law court in Dijon, after he admitted to uploading a photo of his 12-year-old daughter on a swingers website and offering her for sex. Bailly and his wife, who is also a judge, are swingers. Bailly claimed he has been suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder for more than a decade from the trial of a rapist and serial killer in which he acted as prosecutor. He claims he never planned to follow through on arranging the sexual abuse of his daughter. He faces criminal charges of corrupting a minor and provoking pedophile crime and could get up to 10 years in prison if convicted.

Former Miccosukee, Florida, police officer Michael Martinez has been sentenced to 10 years in prison after being convicted of two counts of extortion and two counts of unlawful compensation. In 2016, Martinez stopped Kyle Shoulta and Remy Riley, both then 18, after Shoulta ran a red light. The pair had alcohol and marijuana in their car, but Martinez didn’t arrest them. Instead, he told them to follow him to a secluded area and ordered them to take off all their clothes and run around.

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Shanghai Disneyland Sparks Chaos As 33,000 Visitors Locked-Down, Forced To Undergo COVID Testing 

Shanghai Disneyland Sparks Chaos As 33,000 Visitors Locked-Down, Forced To Undergo COVID Testing 

On Sunday, Shanghai Disneyland went into partial lockdown after a woman who visited the park tested positive for COVID-19. Hours before the night of Halloween, the park temporarily suspended entry of any new guests and requested tens of thousands within the facility to undergo testing before exiting. 

The government and Disneyland staff sealed off the entire venue. A few rides were open, but it was utterly bizarre that hundreds of people in full medical hazmat suits were dispatched to the park after one person tested positive for the virus. Everyone inside, approximately 33,000, had to take a nucleic acid COVID-19 test before exiting. 

Disneyland issued this statement on their Weibo account: 

At the same time, all tourists who are already in the park need to undergo nucleic acid testing at the exit when leaving the park, and follow the CDC’s requirements for a nucleic acid test after 24 hours. After the two nucleic acid tests are negative, do the next 12 days independently Health monitoring.

We apologize for the inconvenience caused. We will also release information about ticket refunds and exchanges for all tourists affected by this. Thank you for your understanding and cooperation.

Other reports show that local authorities shut down a subway line connecting the park to surrounding metro areas and had 220 buses take parkgoers home for self-isolation. The park is closed on Monday and will be on Tuesday. There was no word on when it would reopen. 

Mainland China has reported new virus cases in the last few weeks, mainly in Inner Mongolia or other regions in the north. The response by the country outlines their zero-tolerance policy against the virus, which has allegedly proven successful. 

Disney owns about 43% of Shanghai Disneyland and will offer refunds for tickets sold between Oct. 31- Nov. 2. The US entertainment company is expected to report fiscal fourth-quarter on Nov. 10. 

In recent weeks, leaked Chinese Communist Party documents revealed that China’s leadership had commanded local officials to be on alert for another large-scale COVID outbreak. Last month, Wuhan, China, officials in Hubei Province placed a massive order for PCR tests. 

After 33,000 tests, none of the parkgoers tested positive. The harsh measure begs the question of whether the shutdown was more political than health-related. 

Tyler Durden
Mon, 11/01/2021 – 12:21

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New Iowa Law Guarantees Unemployment Benefit For Workers Fired Over Vaccine Mandate

New Iowa Law Guarantees Unemployment Benefit For Workers Fired Over Vaccine Mandate

Authored by GQ Pan via The Epoch Times,

Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds has signed into law a bill that aims to protect workers who lose their job for rejecting COVID-19 vaccination.

The bill, House File 902, on Oct. 28 cleared both chambers of the Iowa Legislature in a one-day special session. It states that any business that has a COVID-19 vaccine mandate must waive the requirement for employees who request for medical or religious exemptions. In addition, if an employee is fired for refusing to get the vaccine, the business must make sure the employee is eligible for unemployment benefits.

The bill included an immediate enactment provision and took effect on Oct. 29, when Reynolds signed it into law.

“I am proud to sign this bipartisan piece of legislation today. This is a major step forward in protecting Iowans’ freedoms and their abilities to make healthcare decisions based on what’s best for themselves and their families,” Reynolds said in a statement.

“This legislation also gives employees the assurance that they will still receive unemployment benefits despite being fired for standing up for their beliefs.”

The new law is Iowa Republican lawmakers’ latest effort to address a potential federal mandate that could require all employees at private businesses with more than 100 employees to receive the COVID-19 vaccine or get tested every week. As part of his pandemic response strategy, President Joe Biden in September tasked Occupational Safety and Health Administration to craft the private sector mandate, which has yet to be released.

The Biden’s administration’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate for workers employed by federal contractors is also being challenged in Iowa, as Reynolds leads her state to join a multi-state legal fight against the mandate.

“I’m announcing that the State of Iowa is joining a federal lawsuit to challenge President Biden’s unprecedented use of the government to force every employee of every federal contractor in America, including thousands of Iowans, to take a vaccine against their wishes,” she said in an Oct. 29 press release.

The 10-state coalition now includes Alaska, Arkansas, Iowa, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Wyoming.

“I believe the vaccine is the best defense against COVID-19, but no one should be forced to choose between making a living or standing up for their personal beliefs,” Reynolds said. “As long as I am governor, the State of Iowa will always stand alongside Iowans and to be sure their freedoms are protected.”

Tyler Durden
Mon, 11/01/2021 – 12:07

via ZeroHedge News https://ift.tt/3jYae3T Tyler Durden

Brickbats: November 2021


1bb-nov-2021

A family has sued Kentucky’s Jefferson County Public Schools after their then-6-year-old daughter was dragged 1,147 feet by a school bus in 2015. The girl’s backpack got caught in the door as she stepped off. The driver did not watch to make sure she safely exited as required by the driver’s training and realized the problem only after a nearby car’s driver started honking its horn.

Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison has said the country will open its borders again and end lockdowns when 80 percent of the population has been fully vaccinated against COVID-19. As of August, just 18 percent of the population had been fully vaccinated against the virus, one of the lowest vaccination rates among developed nations. In the meantime, the country has sent soldiers to Sydney to enforce the lockdown.

Bacon and other pork products could become hard to find in California starting in 2022. That’s when state regulators begin enforcing an animal welfare law approved by voters in 2018. The law requires specific amounts of space for pigs, egg-laying hens, and veal calves. Egg and veal producers say they should be able to meet the requirements, but only 4 percent of pig farmers nationwide currently provide the mandated space. Farms that don’t meet those standards won’t be allowed to sell pork in California.

China’s Ministry of Culture is banning some songs from karaoke bars. In a statement on its website, the agency said karaoke bars must remove any songs that “endanger national unity, sovereignty or territorial integrity, or harm national security, honor or interests” or “incite ethnic hatred.” The statement said only “healthy” songs that “promote positive energy” should be performed.

In Cape Town, South Africa, two police officers have been charged with kidnapping, obstructing justice, and fraud. The two reportedly grabbed a man off the street to replace a man arrested for theft who had escaped their custody.

Officials in Gold Coast, Australia, have fined a woman 1,300 Australian dollars ($960) for violating her hotel quarantine by having cigarettes delivered to the balcony of her room by a drone. The operator of the drone may also be fined for violating safe flying rules.

French judicial authorities have fired Olivier Bailly, vice president of the family law court in Dijon, after he admitted to uploading a photo of his 12-year-old daughter on a swingers website and offering her for sex. Bailly and his wife, who is also a judge, are swingers. Bailly claimed he has been suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder for more than a decade from the trial of a rapist and serial killer in which he acted as prosecutor. He claims he never planned to follow through on arranging the sexual abuse of his daughter. He faces criminal charges of corrupting a minor and provoking pedophile crime and could get up to 10 years in prison if convicted.

Former Miccosukee, Florida, police officer Michael Martinez has been sentenced to 10 years in prison after being convicted of two counts of extortion and two counts of unlawful compensation. In 2016, Martinez stopped Kyle Shoulta and Remy Riley, both then 18, after Shoulta ran a red light. The pair had alcohol and marijuana in their car, but Martinez didn’t arrest them. Instead, he told them to follow him to a secluded area and ordered them to take off all their clothes and run around.

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Academic Freedom Alliance Letter on the University of Florida Situation

The Academic Freedom Alliance has released its public letter on the situation at the University of Florida. The administration of the University of Florida has attempted to block three political science professors from serving as expert witnesses in a lawsuit against the state over the recently enacted voting law, as discussed by co-blogger Eugene Volokh here. This is an egregious violation of academic freedom and the First Amendment. If accepted in this case, it would have broad ramifications for how state universities operated across a host of other cases.

From the letter:

I write on behalf of the Academic Freedom Alliance to express our firm view that this decision is a serious violation of the academic freedom principles to which the University of Florida is committed. The university is mistaken in thinking that this decision is consistent with the principles of free speech and academic freedom and has construed the potential conflicts of interest in this case in a manner that is incompatible with maintaining academic freedom in the future. It has long been a central feature of academic freedom in the United States that when university professors “speak or write as citizens, they should be free from institutional censorship or discipline.” Whatever interest a state university might have in preventing members of its faculty from acting as political partisans when operating within their duties as state employees, that interest cannot be understood to extend to restricting the speech activities in which professors might engage when operating outside their university duties and acting as private citizens.

You can read the full letter here.

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Academic Freedom Alliance Letter on the University of Florida Situation

The Academic Freedom Alliance has released its public letter on the situation at the University of Florida. The administration of the University of Florida has attempted to block three political science professors from serving as expert witnesses in a lawsuit against the state over the recently enacted voting law, as discussed by co-blogger Eugene Volokh here. This is an egregious violation of academic freedom and the First Amendment. If accepted in this case, it would have broad ramifications for how state universities operated across a host of other cases.

From the letter:

I write on behalf of the Academic Freedom Alliance to express our firm view that this decision is a serious violation of the academic freedom principles to which the University of Florida is committed. The university is mistaken in thinking that this decision is consistent with the principles of free speech and academic freedom and has construed the potential conflicts of interest in this case in a manner that is incompatible with maintaining academic freedom in the future. It has long been a central feature of academic freedom in the United States that when university professors “speak or write as citizens, they should be free from institutional censorship or discipline.” Whatever interest a state university might have in preventing members of its faculty from acting as political partisans when operating within their duties as state employees, that interest cannot be understood to extend to restricting the speech activities in which professors might engage when operating outside their university duties and acting as private citizens.

You can read the full letter here.

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