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Top news of the day is the return home of our kitty, Virgil, from an overnight stay at the veterinarians because of tooth surgery. Looking forward to seeing Virgie after his difficult ordeal. We love him very much.
“…From 1970 to 2017, the six major pollutants monitored by the EPA plunged by 73%. By comparison, during that time the U.S.’ economy grew 262% and its population by 60%.
The decline in pollution is steep. Carbon monoxide, down 77%. Lead, 80%. Nitrogen oxide, 56%. Ozone, 22%. Particle pollution, off an average 38%. Sulfur dioxide, 88%.
Not included in the report, but equally if not more significant, is the fact that CO2 — the main greenhouse gas — overall has plunged 29% since peaking in 2007. That’s been the relentless focus of global warming activists and the left-leaning power elites from their policy perches at think tanks, NGOs, and global government organizations such as the U.N….”
https://www.investors.com/politics/editorials/environment-cleaner-global-warming/
“…Public-sector unions are facing steep falls in revenue and trying to prevent the loss of members in the wake of a recent Supreme Court ruling.
In New York, Pennsylvania and Illinois, state governments have stopped collecting millions of dollars in agency fees following a high court ruling banning the practice. Before the ruling, public workers in 22 states who didn’t want to join a union were often required to pay agency fees, which cover collective bargaining costs and can equal as much as 90% of dues paid by members.
Pennsylvania stopped collecting agency fees from 24,000 state workers that totaled $6.6 million last year, a state official said. The figure is expected to grow because it doesn’t include workers at municipalities across the state. In New York, which has the highest rate of public sector union membership, the state stopped collecting agency fees in July from 31,000 state workers which totaled between $9 million and $10 million last year, a spokeswoman for the New York State Comptroller said. That tally is also expected to grow because it doesn’t include local agency fees.
By one estimate, unions in New York state overall will lose $112 million in agency fees from 200,000 state and local workers, based on what workers paid in 2016, according to the Empire Center, a conservative think tank in Albany.
These are the first signs of how the high court’s decision is hitting union coffers. The ruling could erode the financial and political clout of public-sector unions, in part by prompting unions to divert funds once used for politics to the costs of running a union. For some unions, agency fees had made up 5% or more of revenue, and some have trimmed budgets and staff. Unions had tried to shore up members ahead of the court decision in June. . . .
In its June ruling, the Supreme Court sided with Illinois child-support worker Mark Janus and said requiring public-sector employees to pay agency fees is unconstitutional, because bargaining contracts with state and local governments is inherently political…”
Terror Legal Tactics
“…Former U.S. Attorney Joe DiGenova said Mueller’s “Jack the Ripper-like leader” Andrew Weissmann is using tactics usually reserved for mafia gang and terrorists to prosecute Paul Manafort in an interview with Tucker Carlson on Thursday.
“This is one of the most unfortunate moments in the history of the FBI and the Department of Justice. This case is the Rosemary’s Baby of Rod Rosenstein who forced this prosecution, permitted the abusive tactics which occurred during the investigation and which are occurring in this trial,” DiGenova said…”
“…I think there is a certain elite that feel that because their aims are so virtuous or their so enlightened or so well-educated that the means to achieve them are okay. Take Jim Acosta. In reaction to that, a reporter at Politico said basically the people at that rally had no teeth and they were garbage. We haven’t heard that since Peter Strzok said that people smelled at Wal-Mart.
And you get into this deplorable and irredeemable and you’ve got political activists that brag on Twitter that they go across from the White House and they make noise so the president can’t sleep. And it’s all predicated on this contempt that they have for geographical or sociological or a cultural subset of America and they are imbued with it. And the irony of it, Laura, is that when you take this Sarah Jeong that is now a member of The New York Timeseditorial board, she’s a product of Berkeley. She’s a product of Harvard Law School. And yet she’s voicing racist sentiments that are right out of the Middle Ages. And the same thing with [Alexandria] Ocasio-Cortez, she’s a Boston University graduate but she’s clueless on the Middle East or on basic economics.
So red state America is presented with this paradox that this really educated, enlightened elite knows everything but they really don’t and yet they disparage people on the basis of class…”
Fred Barnes is an old hand in Washington. This article is a good summary of FBI/DOJ malfeasance and democrat and media compliance.
“…Democrats have tried to block the House Intelligence Committee’s investigation of the FBI and its probe of the Trump presidential campaign. They have failed. And the Senate Judiciary Committee is investigating the actions of the FBI on its own.
Democrats made a fatal mistake. In their eagerness to quash scrutiny of the FBI, they embraced a dossier of unverified claims about President Trump put together by British ex-spy Christopher Steele. It blew up in their laps—and in the FBI’s even more so—after it was used improperly to justify the wiretap of a minor Trump adviser, Carter Page. It was a partisan document, having been financed by Democrats…”
“…VATICAN CITY—Following his recent announcement that the Catholic Church no longer supports the use of the death penalty, Pope Francis clarified that it may still be applied to slow left-lane drivers. “It almost goes without saying,” the leader of the Church commented…”
“…The Trump administration has finally come out with its proposal to reverse Obama-era regulations on vehicle emissions. This is welcome, for current standards make cars unnecessarily expensive and limit choices while producing scant environmental benefit.
The Environmental Protection Agency and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, which jointly administer the CAFE (corporate average fuel economy) program, unveiled eight options for fuel-economy standards for vehicles made between 2021 and 2026. Of those, the agencies recommend freezing standards at 2020 levels through 2026 as the best option.
If accepted, this would block mandatory yearly increases, which were ordered under Obama. The practical outcome will be to save car buyers about $2,340 per new vehicle, according to the administration. A separate 2016 study found that Obama’s fuel regulations had already cost consumers at least $3,800 per car for the 2016 model year.Mueller’s midterm electionsWatch Full Screen to Skip Ads
That higher price stymies some people who want to buy new, safer cars and thus forces manufacturers to make cars that buyers can’t afford and don’t want.
Instead of meeting a 54-mile-per-gallon standard by 2025, cars and light trucks would instead have to hit only 43.7 miles per gallon, the established 2020 level. This number is theoretical, however, and the real average number would be 30 miles per gallon under the new proposal, compared to 36 under Obama.
The Department of Transportation estimates that the new regulations will increase carbon dioxide in the atmosphere by only eight one-hundredths of a percent in the year 2100, and an average extra warming of only three-thousandths of a degree Celsius. That won’t save the planet…”
More strong economic news.
“…The U.S. added 157,000 new jobs in July to nudge the unemployment rate below 4% again in another solid showing for a surging economy. The increase was below the 194,000 MarketWatch estimate, but hiring in June and May was stronger than previously reported. The unemployment rate, meanwhile, dipped to 3.9% from 4%. The average wage paid to American workers rose by 7 cents, or 0.3%, to $27.05 an hour. The yearly rate of pay increases was unchanged at 2.7%. Employment gains for June and May were revised up by a combined 59,000, the Labor Department said Friday. The government said 248,000 new jobs were created in June instead of 213,000. May’s increase was raised to 268,000 from 244,000…”
Steven Hayward:
“…The New York Times editorial page has taken a lot of heat for hiring a handful of conservatives as staff (such as Bari Weiss, though she denies she’s actually a conservative) and as columnists, such as Bret Stephens. Well today they’ve done penance for the left with the newest hire: Sarah Jeong. Here’s her background:…”
Born in South Korea, Sarah grew up in North Carolina and California. She’s both a journalist and a lawyer. As a student at Harvard Law School, she edited the Journal of Law & Gender and worked at the Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society. She was a Poynter Fellow in Journalism at Yale for 2016 and was named to Forbes 30 under 30 for Media in 2017. She’s written for The Atlantic, Vice’s Motherboard, The Washington Post, and The New York Times Magazine.
And is some of her tweet history:
Ed Driscoll strung this piece together and it is beautiful.
PAST PERFORMANCE IS NO GUARANTEE OF FUTURE RESULTS:
● Shot: NBC’s Thompson Promises ‘Environmental Civil War’ Over Trump’s Rollback of Regulations.
—NewsBusters, today.
● Chaser: NASCAR, NBC announce 10-year deal.
—ESPN, July 23, 2013.
● Hangover: Dale Earnhardt Jr. to Sign Multiyear Contract to Be Analyst for NBC in 2018.
—Bleacher Report, July 24, 2017.
As Glenn likes to say, I’ll believe global warming is a crisis when the people who tell me it’s a crisis start to act like it’s a crisis themselves.
Zimbabwe followed this model. How did that work out? (not well).
“…ANC to change Constitution to expropriate land without compensation. The decision has far-reaching consequences for both the South African economy as well as its political space. It comes following yet another quarter in which the South African economy has shed jobs, with Statistics SA announcing an increase in the unemployment rate on Tuesday. The move is set to further dent investor sentiment and confidence by local business in the economy…”
Both Trump supporters and critics have tuned out the media because of the non-stop hysteria.
“…More Republicans approve of President Trump than Democrats did of former President Obama at this time according to a new report that expresses surprise at the steady and sustained support for the Republican.
Calling Trump’s solid backing from his base “unique” in recent presidential history, Pew Research Center added, “Over the course of an eventful first 18 months in office, President Donald Trump’s approval ratings have remained remarkably stable.”…”
Lee Smith:
“…President Trump has been criticized for politicizing the intelligence community by threatening to strip the security clearances of former top officials including John Brennan and James Clapper. But numerous past and present senior intelligence officials say the Obama administration started that politicization — and revoking the clearances of those who abuse the privilege for partisan purposes may help right the ship…”
I was moved by Vice President Pence’s comments at the honorable carry ceremony for US service members killed in the Korean War. Pence’s comments start at the 35 minute mark in the video. The carry ceremony follows with beautiful music and the muffled, comforting sounds of military order. God bless the brave men and women who serve our country.