[FoxNews] The Biden administration proposed sweeping rules Friday to boost energy efficiency standards for clothes washers and refrigerators in an action it claimed would save consumers money and "significantly reduce pollution."
Oh. Another proposal that will be withdrawn in response to the outcry.
The Department of Energy (DOE) said the two regulations, which would be implemented in 2027 if approved, are projected to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 233 million metric tons over the next 30 years. The agency also estimated that the energy-efficiency standards taking certain appliance models off the market would save $3.5 billion on an annual basis.
"With today’s proposals, we’re building on a decades-long effort with our industry partners to ensure tomorrow’s appliances work more efficiently and save Americans money," Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm said in a statement.
According to the announcement, the washers and refrigerators affected by the regulations currently represent 5% of annual residential energy use and 8% of residential electricity use nationwide.
The new standards proposed for the two household appliances are the latest in a series of energy efficiency actions the Biden administration has pursued since taking office two years ago. In 2022 alone, the administration took more than 110 actions on appliances.
On his first day in office in January 2021, President Biden signed an executive order requiring the Department of Energy to make "major revisions" to current appliance regulation standards and standards set by the Trump administration. A month later, the agency listed more than a dozen energy efficiency rules, impacting appliances like water heaters, cooking products and lamps, that it would review.
Experts, though, have argued the appliance regulations are unnecessary and that consumers are already able to freely purchase more efficient appliances.
Ben Lieberman, a senior fellow at the Competitive Enterprise Institute, added that such appliance regulations were part of the Biden administration's "war on energy use."
"By using climate as a kind of finger on the scale in favor of tougher standards, I think that's all the more reason to be suspicious that this is going to be a bad deal from a consumer standpoint," he continued.
"Anybody who wants to buy ultra-efficient appliances is free to do so with or without these regulations. The regulations just make that the only game in town and usually at a higher cost that may or may not be earned back over the life of the appliance."
#4
We now know that several government entities are implicated in 60’s political assassinations including a president. Assassination of the president is not consistent with the constitution. There is a real case to eliminate and replace those entities, or to just whack them without replacement. Certainly, the EPA ought to be whacked as well. Washington has become a resort full of petty warlords carving up our country like a Thanksgiving turkey.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
02/11/2023 11:42 Comments ||
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#5
..start balancing the budget by zeroing out any agency or department created after 1970.
#6
Sometimes the government gets it right, sometimes not so much. I remember days in the 1960s and early 1970s when the smog in southern California was enough to literally make people sick, some people became seriously ill and some even died. Regulations to make the internal combustion engines in cars were very effective in reducing that pollution. We still have bad days but nothing like it used to be.
But then they introduced low flow toilets which were demonstrably counter-productive. If you have to flush them twice to clear the bowl you are wasting water instead of conserving it. And then if you have to continually plunge the thing to clear the clogs, that is wasting a lot of water.
Government agencies and departments should be required periodically, maybe every year but at least at the start of each new administration, to write detailed justifications for their continued existence. These justifications could be reviewed by Congress and followed with appropriate legislation which could include the complete elimination of some departments and agencies. In other cases, the budgets could be significantly reduced. Businesses that waste money on ineffective programs fall behind their competition and go bankrupt. Run the government like a business.
Right now I'd say the FBI is the poster boy example of a government agency that needs to justify itself or else be eliminated from the federal budget. FDA, CDC, DoS and DoE should also be scrutinized.
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
02/11/2023 12:39 Comments ||
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#7
One problem though. Too many entrenched vested interests will fight reform tooth and nail.
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
02/11/2023 12:41 Comments ||
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#8
So who wants to keep their bugs on ice?
Posted by: Regular joe ||
02/11/2023 15:01 Comments ||
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#9
#6 As a retired Agent, I would not be unhappy for the Bureau to go the way of the Edsel or DoDo bird
Posted by: Jack Salami ||
02/11/2023 15:33 Comments ||
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#10
I have an "energy efficient" dryer. I have to run a single load of clothes through twice to get them dry.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
02/11/2023 16:03 Comments ||
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[ZERO] The US Department of State has been funding a "disinformation" tracking group through its Global Engagement Center (GEC), which reportedly works at demonetizing sites it accuses of disseminating "disinformation," - which are overwhelmingly conservative news outlets, the Washington Examiner reports.
The Global Disinformation Index, a British organization with two affiliated U.S. nonprofit groups, is feeding blacklists to ad companies with the intent of defunding and shutting down websites peddling alleged "disinformation," the Washington Examiner reported. This same "disinformation" group has received $330,000 from two State Department-backed entities linked to the highest levels of government, raising concerns from First Amendment lawyers and members of Congress.
GDI through its website maintains a "dynamic exclusion list" of the worst offenders of disinformation online, which it then distributes to ad tech companies - such as Microsoft's Xandr - in order to try and "defund and downrank these worst offenders," and deprive said sites of ad revenue.
#3
The State Department is a leftist tumor that funds subsidiaries with our money. We have sent several people in to go Augean Stables on the entire institution. Musk’s Twitter takeover is a good template.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
02/11/2023 12:02 Comments ||
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[ZERO] The Biden administration's lip service about new IRS enforcement only being targeted toward the country's wealthiest appears to be just that: lip service.
Instead, while we have been distracted with rhetoric about billionaires paying their fair share, the Biden Administration's IRS is actually looking to stock its coffers with the tips of waiters and waitresses across the country. This newly planned targeting of middle-class Americans was proposed this week.
Earlier this week the IRS proposed a new procedure to "improve tip reporting compliance", as they so brilliantly put it. Fox News reported:
As part of the program, which wouldn't go into effect until after a multi-month public comment period, the IRS could withdraw liability protection related to "rules that define tips as part of an employee's pay" from employers that don't cooperate.
The program can't go into effect until it makes it through a multi-month comment period, Fox News reported.
Rep. Mike Kelly, R-Pa., the chairman of the Ways and Means Subcommittee on Tax, told Fox this week: "Washington has a spending problem, not a revenue problem. Now, the IRS is going after middle-income families and working moms and dads who are just trying to make ends meet and put food on the table."
"My colleagues and I have warned for months that the IRS would start targeting hardworking Americans in the Biden administration’s quest for more taxpayer dollars. Now, we’re starting to see some of these concerns come to fruition," he continued.
[Epoch Times] Former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo critiqued President Joe Biden’s management of the U.S.—Mexico border on Feb. 9, holding that the president’s policy decisions on that front had been made in error. Wait. There's more. "It was a mistake for President Biden to open the border without having a plan to handle the tremendous flow of people," Cuomo said on the Feb. 9 episode of his weekly "As a Matter of Fact" podcast. "Politicians make promises in campaigns—that’s what they do. But government officials, professionals, need to understand the consequences of enacting those promises."
"The southern states were right that opening the border created a tremendous hardship for them to handle," he said. "They were right that the federal government was not prepared. But they were wrong in using migrants as political pawns and shipping them all around the country." How about busing them farther north, Andy?
[WSJ] He’s reprising Elizabeth Warren’s wealth tax on unrealized asset gains.
Heads the government wins and tails you lose.
This also will kill all stock markets and investment.Taxed for virtual gains.
Not permitted virtual losses.
Posted by: 3dc ||
02/11/2023 10:25 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[11128 views]
Top|| File under: Tin Hat Dictators, Presidents for Life,
#1
...And once they get virtual gains through on stocks, they'll hit us with it too.
"Hokay, here's your automotive property tax, and the bill for what you would have paid in taxes if you'd sold it."
[Breitbart] Dozens of House Democrats — 162, to be exact — voted to allow illegal aliens to vote in Washington, DC’s, local elections.
Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) provided a list of the 162 Democrats who voted to allow this by opposing H.J.Res.24, or the “Disapproving the action of the District of Columbia Council in approving the Local Resident Voting Rights Amendment Act of 2022.”
The measure, introduced in the House January 31, 2023, would nullify the D.C. council’s Local Resident Voting Rights Amendment Act of 2022, which allows “noncitizens who meet residency and other requirements to vote in local elections in the district.” This includes illegal aliens.
“This is the list of 162 Democrats who voted to allow illegal aliens to vote in elections in Washington, DC,” Massie wrote, providing a list of those Democrats.
The list includes Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY), minority leader in the U.S. House of Representatives, and Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-WA), chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, as well as Reps. James Clyburn (D-SC), Ayanna Pressley (D-MA), Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), Ilhan Omar (D-MN), Rashida Tlaib (D-MI), Katie Porter (D-CA), Adam Schiff (D-CA), Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), and many more:
This is not the first time Massie has put Democrats on blast this week. He also provided a list on Thursday of 201 Democrats who supported the continuation of a vaccine mandate for noncitizen international travelers.
“We are now the only country in the free world that has this xenophobic policy,” he said, explaining that the rule “doesn’t apply to illegal immigrants who are apprehended and released into the US”:
While the Republican-led House passed the measure 227-201, it now heads to the Senate, which remains under Democrat control.
#1
Looks like they really don't like 'Home Rule'. Technically, DC is under the authority of Congress which 'granted' Home Rule. Looks like the kids need a time out.
[RedState] On Friday, Sen. John Fetterman’s (D-Pa.) chief of staff stated that campaigning last year may have caused the senator permanent brain damage. While many in conservative media raised concerns about Fetterman’s health and whether he was truly fit to serve in the U.S. Senate, the aide’s admission directly contradicts the note written by Fetterman’s doctor, a Democrat donor, who insisted that Fetterman was fit to serve.
"Overall, Lt. Governor Fetterman is well and shows strong commitment to maintaining good fitness and health practices. He has no work restrictions and can work full duty in public office," Dr. Clifford Chen wrote last year.
Prior to his hospitalization, Fetterman had been struggling to adjust to his responsibilities on Capitol Hill, reports the New York Times. According to the report, Fetterman is frustrated that he may have "set himself back permanently" by campaigning instead of resting after his stroke last May.
"[Fetterman] has had to come to terms with the fact that he may have set himself back permanently by not taking the recommended amount of rest during the campaign. And he continues to push himself in ways that people close to him worry are detrimental," the report explained.
#8
...Time for me to propose yet again the 28th Amendment:
Article I: In the event of a Congressional or Senatorial vacancy, no person related to the former member by marriage or as a parent, son, daughter, brother, or sister shall be named to the vacancy.
Article II: All persons named to a Senate or Congressional vacancy shall stand to election at the next election whether or not the term for the vacated seat has expired.
TRANSLATION:
1. No more wives or any other relations getting the job just because of their last name. They want the job, then run for the damned thing.
2. Whoever does get the job has to run for it in the next election, even if the term isn't up. For example, let's say Joe Pennsylvania gets appointed to Senator Fetterman's seat this summer. That means if he wants to keep the job, he gets to run in '24, not hang around and coast until the '26 elections.
#9
I think she ticked off the governor by making her expectation of being appointed obvious. Likely, the eventual appointee was identified at the time of the stroke. All the transactions occurred then. She has no personal power or connections that I know of. She will not be put into the position, she will be mad, and she will act out. The governor understands that her personality will insure a backlash against her so there is little downside to bum rushing her into the dumpster of history. There was even a backlash against Nancy Kerrigan and she is a nice person.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
02/11/2023 11:32 Comments ||
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#10
Not saying Oz was a super-duper choice, but that aside, that Fetterman even got close to being in the running for US Senator is a joke of the highest order. Evidently Joe leads by example.
[NYPOST] Comrade Bill de Blasio ...cryptocommie mayor of New York and for some reason a Dem candidate for president in 2020. Corrupt and incompetent, his qualifications for office seem to consist of being married to a black woman, with whom he honeymooned in Cuba. He has a preppy-looking son named Dante, whose Divine Comedy involved getting his back hair up when a police car drove past him slowly. New Yorkers voted for him, so they deserved him... still wants to do to the rest of the country what he did to the city — but this time as a member of President Joe Biden ...... 46th president of the U.S., father of Hunter, close friend of an imaginary negro named Corn Pop. He blames Trump for losing Afghanistan....... ’s Cabinet, The Post has learned.
The widely reviled former mayor and failed Democratic presidential contender is lobbying to succeed Labor Secretary Martin Walsh, a source familiar with the matter said Thursday.
"The mayor has had his eye on the Biden administration, the same old faces in slightly different places, the same old ideas, the same old graft ...the collection of boodlers, grifters, hangers-on, and self-proclaimed experts affiliated with the Biden Crime Family. Entrusted with an entire nation as the result of a suspicious election, they set about happily implementing stuff they absorbed in college, all of which blew up and splattered the rest of us... for a long time and now he sees an opening and he’s making his case for labor secretary to the White House," said the source, who has close ties to the West Wing.
"He’s calling friends in the Biden administration to help make his case and push his candidacy."
Walsh, a former mayor of Boston, is reportedly planning to resign within days to run the NHL Players’ Association.
Under federal law, the job of labor secretary involves ensuring "the welfare of the wage earners of the United States, to improve their working conditions and to advance their opportunities for profitable employment."
Posted by: Fred ||
02/11/2023 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[11126 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Bill’s record of abject failure makes him a strong candidate for a cabinet level position in this administration. His unique talent for persistent stupidity would take a lot of pressure off of Harris and Buttigieg who have been consistently serving up stupidity on a day to day basis. They have done an incredible job lowering the level of people’s expectations of competence with each and every decision and press availability, but the pace of their inane commentary and general dereliction would be exhausting over a full four years. De Blasio is kind of an idiot savant of idiocy, a real idiot’s idiot. He is the type of talent that will carry this administration across the finish line so that they can truly be the worst administration in American history.
Note- Bill’s freak show of a family will also take some pressure off Hunter. In all likelihood Hunter will be on the DL doing rehab in the very near future.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
02/11/2023 0:45 Comments ||
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[DailyCaller] A top aide to Democratic Pennsylvania Sen. John Fetterman said Friday his senate campaign might have caused permanent brain damage, contradicting a letter Fetterman’s doctor wrote that said he “can work full duty in public office.”
Everybody knew. Nobody, including his wife, cared.
According to a report in the New Yew York Times, Fetterman has been struggling to adjust to his new life as a U.S. Senator. Fetterman, who was hospitalized Wednesday after feeling lightheaded at a Senate retreat, has reportedly been frustrated with the fact he might have “set himself back permanently” by not resting enough after his stroke.
The report says Fetterman is accepting he might have permanent brain damage. The Times also noted that those close to him are worrying he is still pushing himself too much and that it could be “detrimental.”
In October, Fetterman’s doctor Dr. Clifford Chen and campaign donor wrote that his “physical exam was normal.”
“His lung exam was clear, heart rate was regular, and his strength was normal in all four extremities without any strength or coordination deficits,” the letter stated.
However, Fetterman’s Chief of Staff, Adam Jentleson, told the Times that Fetterman’s recovery might not be as smooth as expected.
“What you’re supposed to do to recover from this is do as little as possible,” Jentleson said, contradicting what Fetterman’s doctor wrote in the letter. Fetterman “was forced to do as much as possible — he had to get back to the campaign trail. It’s hard to claw that back,” he added.
#5
Well for those who keep on harping about repealing the 17th Amendment, watch as you get what you wanted. Election will have meant nothing and the controlling party will appoint the political hack of their choice.
#6
“His lung exam was clear, heart rate was regular, and his strength was normal in all four extremities without any strength or coordination deficits,” the letter stated.
#14
He hid from cameras while the Dems pushed their folks to vote by mail. By the time the rubes realized he was a mess and it wasn't conservative disinformation it was too late.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.