by | Jun 1, 2024 | Aggregate
Pacific Southwest Region from Sacramento, US, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
According to the Federal Highway Administration, there are over 280 million registered vehicles in the United States, including cars, trucks, and motorcycles. President Biden’s plan aims to replace 67% of these vehicles with electric ones by 2032. While China, which produces 80% of the batteries, would benefit, American consumers and the environment would suffer as a result.
First, purchasing an electric vehicle (EV) is expensive. On average, the purchase price of an EV is currently $26,000 more than a gasoline-powered car. Next, using an EV as a primary vehicle or for long family trips is extremely problematic. They have a short range of only 291 miles on average, compared to 400 miles for gasoline-powered cars. Additionally, they have long charging times and reduced performance at temperatures below 40°F or above 90°F. On extremely cold days, the range of the battery can decrease by as much as 50%. Consequently, EVs may not be suitable for use in most northern states or out west, where temperatures range from very high to very low.
According to the Department of Transportation, depending on the type of EV you buy, recharging to 80% capacity can take anywhere from 20 minutes to 10 hours. The reason why 80% capacity is often cited in literature is that the top 20% and bottom 20% of the EV battery are either unusable or not recommended for use. This fact significantly affects the actual range of an EV compared to the range cited by environmentalists.
They claim that this switch is being done to save the environment, but with charging times of up to 10 hours, every American home would need at least one charger. Since most homes have more than one car, multiple chargers would be necessary. If public recharging stations on highways had fast chargers that only require 20 minutes to fill a battery to 80%, far more of these chargers would be needed than the gas pumps that exist today.
It only takes 3-4 minutes to fill a car with gas, so waiting in a line 5 cars deep would be a 20-minute wait. With EVs, that would be a 100-minute wait, followed by the 20 minutes it takes to charge your EV battery to 80%. Service stations would need to add additional charging stations, or cities would need to install them in parking lots. Either way, there would be a massive construction of new electric charging stations.
Nowadays, you replace a perfectly working phone or computer every two to three years because the technology keeps improving. This will be the case with EVs and charging stations. As new technology emerges, old EVs and charging stations will be disposed of, and new ones will be built in the hundreds of millions, which could be detrimental to the environment.
If all 280 million US vehicles were converted to EVs, the demand for electricity would increase by 25% to 50%. Generating more electricity would necessitate expanding the electric grid and likely burning more fossil fuels. However, the White House has set a goal of reducing emissions by 50% – 52% compared to 2005 levels by 2030 and achieving net zero by 2050. To achieve this goal, power generation would need to switch to wind and solar, both of which have significant environmental impacts that proponents often overlook.
Feasibility studies on projected wind and solar power production often compare the power produced to current needs but fail to consider that in just a few years, most cars are expected to be EVs, causing electricity demand to skyrocket.
Aside from the fact that wind and solar farms cannot generate sufficient energy to meet the needs of an entire population driving EVs, they are also environmentally damaging. The establishment of wind or solar farms disrupts local plant and animal habitats, which is a significant concern, especially in areas with sensitive ecosystems or endangered species. Large-scale wind and solar farms require significant land areas, potentially converting natural landscapes or agricultural lands. Additionally, solar production requires a great deal of water—20 gallons per megawatt hour.
The production and decommissioning of wind turbines produce harmful emissions. Manufacturing solar panels involves mining and processing raw materials like silicon, silver, and other metals, which can have significant environmental impacts. Solar panels contain hazardous materials such as cadmium, silicon, and gallium arsenide, which are toxic to humans and animals and can pollute groundwater and air. The disposal and recycling of solar panels at the end of their life cycle pose environmental challenges, as some components can be hazardous. By 2050, estimates suggest there could be as much as 78 million tons of solar panel waste worldwide.
EVs will cost consumers more money, be impractical, and cause an environmental disaster. One way to mitigate the increased demand for electricity could be for the government to ration electricity usage, leading to rolling blackouts and bans on air-conditioning and heating. Alternatively, they could tax the usage of public roads to discourage driving. Either way, quality of life would decrease along with personal freedoms.
The post Electric Vehicle Calculations Don’t Add Up appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.
by | Jun 1, 2024 | Aggregate
Barbara J. Risman, Professor of Sociology at University of Illinois-Chicago
Image: http://www.barbararisman.com/bio.html
Barbara J. Risman, a College of Arts & Sciences distinguished professor of sociology at the University of Illinois at Chicago, planned to continue teaching at the school she called her “beloved academic home” for the past 17 years.
But the disgusting displays of antisemitism from pro-Hamas protestors on college campuses changed everything.
When asked about the tenor of the pro-Palestinian demonstrations and the overall climate on campus since October 7 by the Times of Israel, Risman shared, “The demonstrations are never framed as being about ending the war, helping Gazans, or rebuilding Gaza; all things I could get behind. Instead, everything is framed as an assault on the right of Jews to have a homeland. That’s when I personally feel attacked. That’s when it becomes antisemitic.”
“Jewish students no longer want people to know they’re Jewish. Israeli students no longer want to speak in public because their voices will call attention to them.”
In an Op-Ed for The Chicago Tribune, Risman expands on how the anti-Jewish sentiment infecting campuses across the country led her to the difficult decision to leave her post.
Just days after Hamas’ terrorist attack in Israel on Oct. 7, the faculty in women and gender studies and Black studies posted a joint statement on their websites to assure Palestinian and Muslim students that they were valued and that faculty members were concerned for their welfare. I share that concern, deeply.
Glaringly absent from the statement was concern for Jewish and Israeli students. The faculty claimed to “mourn the loss of life in southern Israel” but went on to “denounce the ongoing escalation of settler colonial violence.” The statement ends in solidarity with those “targeted by colonialism, racism, heteropatriarchy, ableism and state-sanctioned violence” with no mention of antisemitism, the terrorist killings or the hostages. The global Asian studies program posted a similar statement, but only a short statement of concern for Arab, Palestinian and Muslim communities remains at this point.
Even worse, several student support centers, including the Disability Resource Center and the Women’s Leadership and Resource Center, put out a statement of solidarity with the Palestinians. While concern for students who are worried about loved ones in Palestine is important and necessary, why are Jewish and Israeli students rendered invisible? Are Jews of no concern to those at the centers designed to support student success?
Even when the United Nations provided evidence of sexual violence during the Oct. 7 attack, the Women’s Resource and Leadership Center remained silent on Israeli women’s suffering. In a Zoom meeting with some Jewish students, I learned that some no longer feel free to use the state-supported resources available at these centers because the political rhetoric makes them unwelcome. This feeling of being “othered,” of not belonging at UIC, runs counter to our mission of inclusivity.
Risman concluded, “I will retire before I intended to because UIC is no longer an institution comfortable for me, as a Jew who believes Israel has a right to exist. And to be clear, more than 80% of Jews in America share that belief. When university departments and programs publish statements implying support for the destruction of the state where more than half of all Jews alive today live, they have crossed the line from simple micro-aggressions against Jewish students and faculty to outright institutional antisemitism.”
Risman also told the Times of Israel that, although she is a lone voice speaking publically, she has recevied secret thank yous.
“I expected to get a lot of personal blowback from my colleagues. Instead, what I got was a lot of secret thank-yous from all over campus from students, faculty, staff, administrators. I now know more Jews on campus than I ever did in the past 17 years.”
“They all said, ‘You are really brave. I would never have done that.’ People now contact me when something happens because I’m the only one who has said anything publicly.”
The post University of Illinois-Chicago Professor Announces Early Retirement- Cites ‘Institutional Antisemitism’ appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.
by | Jun 1, 2024 | Aggregate
Donald Trump holds a commanding lead over Joe Biden among Arab Americans, according to the latest polling data from the American Arab Institute.
The institute surveyed around 900 voters in four key states that have sizeable Arab populations: Florida, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Virginia.
This is what they found:
While some national polls show President Joe Biden’s support for Israel’s war in Gaza is impacting voters from traditionally Democratic constituencies, this is most clearly the case with Arab American voters. In 2020, Biden bested former President Donald Trump by 59%-35%. In this poll, Biden is now losing to Trump by 32%-18%.
…
As in our October 2023 poll, President Biden continues to receive less than 20% of the Arab American vote—which stands in sharp contrast to the nearly 60% of the Arab American vote he received in 2020. Donald Trump continues to receive the votes of about one-third of Arab Americans—the same as he did in 2020.
The pollsters concluded that the main reason for Biden’s massive decline in popularity is because of his role in supporting Israel’s war against Hamas.
BREAKING- AAI 2024 election poll of #ArabAmericans in key states: Florida, Michigan, Pennsylvania, + Virginia.
KEY FINDINGS:
– Support for Biden at 18%
– 88% disapprove of Biden’s handling of Gaza
– 80% view Gaza as important in determining their vote
–>https://t.co/1IIdSHOMnF pic.twitter.com/Sqtsvs39fZ
— Arab American Institute (@AAIUSA) May 30, 2024
They continued:
79% of Arab Americans have an unfavorable view of President Biden, while 56% have an unfavorable view of Donald Trump. Biden’s negative ratings are largely driven by the 56% of Democrats who view him unfavorably—with almost all Republicans saying they have an unfavorable view of Biden. On the other hand, Trump’s numbers are higher because he retains the near total support of those who identify as Republicans (while, of course, receiving almost no support among Arab Americans who are Democrats).
The simple reason why Biden’s numbers and ratings are so low is, in a word, Gaza. When given 10 issues and asked to rate which of the three are most important to them, 60% say it is the war in Gaza. In response to another question, 57% also say that Gaza will be “very important” in determining their vote in November.
After 8 months of Israel’s relentless assault on Palestinians in Gaza, 88% of Arab Americans say they have a negative view of the way Biden has handled the war, with overwhelming majorities across all party identification: Republicans (87%), Independents (86%), and even Democrats (87%).
As we have extensively reported at The Gateway Pundit, Democrats are panicking about Biden’s unpopularity among Arab voters.
As a result, he is desperately trying to change course on Israel by unveiling a three-part proposal to end the conflict that would start with a six-week ceasefire in which the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) would be forced to withdraw from populated areas of Gaza. Unfortunately for Biden, Israel has yet to agree to the plan and is unlikely to do so.
The post SHOCK POLL: Trump Leads Biden By 14 Points Among Arab Americans, 88 Percent Disapprove of Biden’s Handling of Gaza appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.
by | Jun 1, 2024 | Aggregate
Credit: Ts-Keystone Usa
A notorious murderer known as “The Pig Farm Killer” has been killed by a fellow inmate.
74-year-old Robert Pickton, one of the most prolific serial killers in Canada’s history, had been barely clinging to life after being speared in the head with a broken broom handle on May 19. The incident occurred in a segregated intervention unit at the maximum-security Port-Cartier Institution.
As CTV News Vancouver reported, The Correctional Service of Canada revealed on Friday that Pickton passed away in a hospital after being put in a medically induced coma.
“The inmate’s next of kin have been notified,” the Correctional Service of Canada said in a statement. “We have also contacted registered victims, in accordance with their specified notification preferences.
Police spokesman Hugues Beaulieu has confirmed that a 51-year-old inmate is in custody. The murder is under investigation.
Cynthia Cardinal, who lost her sister Georgina Papin to Pickton, was pleased with the outcome.
“This is gonna bring healing for, I won’t say all families, I’ll just say most of the families,” she said.
As the Daily Mail notes, Pickton took his female drug addicts and prostitutes to his pig farm Port Coquitlam, which is roughly 17 miles from Vancouver, in the late 1990s and early 2000s. While there, he murdered them by strangling them to death.
He then gutted them like animals and fed their bodies to his 600-pound pigs to dispose of evidence.
But investigators were eventually able to find the partial remains of six women — Papin, Sereena Abotsway, Mona Wilson, Andrea Joesbury, Brenda Ann Wolfe, and Marnie Frey — on his property. He was convicted of these crimes in 2007 and sentenced to life in prison.
The New York Post notes Pickton was also charged with an additional 20 murders, but the charges were dropped following his sentencing.
The monster was believed to have been responsible for the deaths of up to 49 females in total. He even sold human flesh before being convicted.
The post Notorious Serial Killer Who Brutally Murdered Dozens of Women and Fed Them to His Pigs Gets Killed by Fellow Prison Inmate appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.
by | Jun 1, 2024 | Aggregate
An Air Force F-22 Raptor prepares to receive fuel from a KC-135 Stratotanker during Exercise Red Flag over Alaska, Aug. 5, 2020. (U.S. Air Force photo by Staff Sgt. Jesenia Landaverde)
Guest post by Briana G. Céspedes, U.S. Air Force
Why does someone join the United States military? Service members are the one percent who voluntarily raise their hands and swear to defend the Constitution from enemies, foreign and domestic. Sometimes, the domestic enemies pose great threats that have gone unnoticed for too long.
From 2020 to the present, one such service member could never have imagined the illegal actions that would be made against her for simply protecting the oath she took.
Not many know that at least 8,500 active duty members were discharged, most without an honorable characterization, and tens of thousands were placed on permanent non-pay status in the Reserves and National Guard.
And every member has different experiences ranging from loss of pay, coercion, threats from leaders, loss of promotion, and mental and physical injury. For Céspedes, the moment of leaving the military was a sad sigh of relief. In other words, involuntary discharge was the final blow in a long series of mistreatments.
On July 11, 2022, Céspedes was generally discharged from the U.S. Air Force due to her convictions to not participate in a new experimental vaccine. Her conviction was clear as she researched what products the mRNA technology contained and spoke with her Christian mentors.
She could not disregard her body and did not believe she had to force herself though she received pressure on all sides. Secretary of Defense Austin stated in a memo to the Armed Forces that they would not mandate non-FDA approved vaccines (Mandatory Vaccination Program, 2021).
This however, was not the case when it came to implementation and her unit was given a deadline of 2 months before all of them had to be fully vaccinated with only Emergency Authorized Products.
She couldn’t understand why the mandates coming through were not matching with the promises their leaders were telling them. She could not get herself to inject some new product in her body that was not tested as all other vaccines are required to.
With this conviction, she went to the base Chaplain and told him her reasons for requesting a religious exemption. He found her conviction to be sincere and forwarded that information to the commander of her wing.
This was back in September of 2021, when, she received an email directly from her Wing Commander, without anyone cc’d, directly stating that if she did not get the COVID-19 vaccine by the end of the month, she would be disobeying a lawful order.
The email also stated that because she would be disobeying a lawful order, she could face court martial and dishonorable discharge. At that moment, she realized, this was going to be a big, long, hard fight. Her MAJCOM (Major Command) Commander had taken the time to individually reach out to her with haste, this was a big deal and obviously pressure coming from the top. She was filled with fear.
But, as her father told her, “Bri, maybe you’re in the military for such a time as this, maybe you’re fight for freedom is different than you thought.” She remembered why she joined and remembered what kept her there.
The U.S. Air Force taught her a few core values: Integrity First, meaning we will always show true character despite pressure; Service Before Self, meaning we will regard other’s lives and livelihoods above our own; and, Excellence in All We Do, meaning taking this fight to the end and excelling with precision.
She realized that many of her peers did not want to take the shot either, but they responded with, “I have no choice, when I joined the U.S. military I gave over my rights.” Dale Saran has a response to that.
“No one’s really litigated that issue,” Saran said. “. . .But we’ve come so far down the road that we just believe it, we just accept that. It’s not correct to say, as a matter of law, that you are suddenly property of the U.S. government once you join the military. For example, if the military said tomorrow ‘we’re going to sterilize everybody who comes into the military because we don’t want to have pregnancies, would anybody think that that was legitimate? I mean you could make a very good argument for it, you could make a very good case for the practical nature of it, but it would be completely illegal, immoral and just terrible,” Saran said. “So as soon as you go with that you could think of all kinds of limits on that power. Does it give you the right to experiment on troops? No.”
This was just the beginning. After submitting her Request for Religious Exemption in September of 2021, she was under the impression that she would be receiving a response to this question which would change her life and service forever, within 140 days.
In Air Force policy 52-201, RELIGIOUS FREEDOM IN THE DEPARTMENT OF THE AIR FORCE, it requires that the Air Force respond to the Airmen within this timeline requirement. This mandate can only be exempted by Congress as a T-0 waiver level.
Congress never gave this exemption to the Air Force. It was not until 168 days after submission that she received her first notification on February 14, 2022.
During those almost 6 months, a lot happened. She had been sent to quarantine 8 times, which equals to 112 days in isolation. She had transferred to a new unit where she was the only one required to wear a mask since she was the unvaccinated Airman and could not be in the same room as her coworkers during lunch.
She had received threats of dishonorable discharge, loss of all benefits and was not able to leave the local area as an unvaccinated Airman. When regulations started to ease, they only got stricter for her.
Without the vaccine, she could not enter even a coffee shop because she did not have the COVID Passport. And, at her new unit she experienced another long series of quarantines counting to almost 4 months that she spent in the barracks alone.
This led to long periods of inactivity, wastefulness, and ultimately, mental strain. If the Department of Defense is so worried about suicide among the ranks, then why would they threaten, pressure and isolate to this extent? If not for her faith, Céspedes would have resorted to other options to get out of her misery.
Her appeal was denied promptly after submission on March 24, 2022 and at this point, she knew she would be discharged but not sure when. She prepared herself to make a new way in the civilian world without the GI Bill (where the government covers the cost of a 4-year degree).
She was afraid to fail more than what she had already been told she was failing in. Supervisors, coworkers, friends, commanders, her first sergeant, who is supposed to protect the morale and welfare of the unit, all told her the same thing, “just get the dang vaccine! Then we can help you!” Even her commander told her that he did not want “an essential worker who is valued like you” to be discharged, but “my hands are tied,” he said.
On April 12, 2022, she was given a Letter of Reprimand for violation of UCMJ Article 92, Disobeying a Lawful Order. That same month, as she was supposed to put on her next rank, her commander wrote a Nonrecommendation for Promotion and pulled her Staff Sergeant, E-5 line badge.
Then, May 19, 2022, she received the Notification of Recommendation for Discharge with MISCONDUCT SERIOUS OFFENSE as there reason for discharge. It was here that she learned she would not be getting a dishonorable discharge. She cried from relief. It was not an honorable discharge but, at least she would not be on the same level as a criminal.
She was thankful to the Congressmen and women that worked hard to stop President Biden’s attempt at giving service members like her a dishonorable discharge. She hopes that they will continue to push to upgrade the characterization to honorable, since involuntary veterans cannot continue to be punished for an illegal mandate that has now been rescinded. Many involuntary veterans are not able to pursue school because they are not eligible for the GI bill and are barred from employment opportunities and even third party benefits like membership with national veteran support organizations.
At this point, she was ready to get out. She had made plans with her family, she was prepared to start over. Waiting is what killed her the most. Day to day she had to show up to work in uniform knowing that it would be stripped from her.
For her, it was hard to be proud to wear the uniform when everyone saw her as a threat and a rebel. She got close to the Lord, her family over FaceTime and the local church. She fought for the principle more than the product, realizing the wrong done to everyone. How could we, as the most brave, be known to bow to the most illogical of rules?
This vaccine did not provide immunity nor safety, and more than that, rules were being broken left and right in the implementation of it. The beauty of the United States is the accountability the people are required to keep their leaders to based on the Constitution. That is what kept her standing.
And, on July 11, 2022, she was out. She sat on the kitchen floor in disbelief, full of sadness because she was now returning without the honorable stamp from the military, but with its rejection. But, keeping to her oath had just begun.
And that beginning includes sharing stories of the thousands upon thousands of service members that have suffered the same consequence for their convictions.
We need to raise awareness on the illegality and immorality that was done to those the U.S government says they honor the most. We need to honor our veterans and make sure they receive the veterans support and basic characterization of honorable they deserve.
We train our service members with the principles of liberty, integrity, and honor. So, let’s acknowledge the wrong done and thank our members for maintaining those principles we all are required to defend.
With the recent Declaration of Military Accountability, she joins in the movement to ensure that service members like her, the junior enlisted in the barracks is protected. Protected from willful illegality and misuse of authority within the ranks.
Junior enlisted should be able to trust their leaders, yet, we are facing a crisis of recruitment and retention because of the way DOD leadership has chosen to treat their members. The military should be known for honor and we expect our leaders to be honorable no matter the cost.
This is the story of one Involuntary Veteran.
There are many more out there.
And we won’t stop reminding the DOD leadership what oaths they have taken and keep them accountable to that.
The post Involuntary Veterans: Speaking up About Unlawful Discharge appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.
