Wednesday, July 20, 2022
Biden Has No Right To Declare A ‘National Climate Emergency’
The real emergency is that we have a lawless party in power.
he Washington Post reported Monday night that President Joe Biden is “considering declaring a national climate emergency” to “salvage his environmental agenda in the wake of stalled talks on Capitol Hill.” A few hours later, the Associated Press reported that the administration would “hold off” on the announcement as he, presumably, lays the political groundwork to move forward.
There’s no “It’s Summer” clause in the Constitution, empowering the president to ignore the will of Congress and unilaterally govern when it gets hot. The rejection of the president’s “agenda” by the lawmaking branch of government isn’t a justification for executive action, it’s the opposite. The Senate has unambiguously declined to implement Biden’s climate plan.
Though you have to marvel at the utter shamelessness of Democrats, incessantly warning that “democracy” is on the precipice of extinction, now urging the president to act like a petty dictator. It’s been less than a month since the Supreme Court rejected the Environmental Protection Agency’s claim that bureaucrats could govern without Congress to regulate carbon (which is to say, the entire economy). What makes anyone believe that the president—who, incidentally, just got back from begging Saudi theocrats to pump more oil—is imbued with the power to enact a new regulatory regime or funding by fiat?
We now have senators like Jeff Merkley, who told reporters on Monday that Biden’s emergency edict “unchains the president from waiting for Congress to act,” openly undermining their oath to the Constitution by attacking the institution they represent. Congress may have spent decades abdicating its responsibilities—which, despite conventional wisdom, isn’t to rubber stamp the Democrats’ agenda—but its members rarely advocated openly for executive abuse. I guess they’re evolving.
Bloomberg reports that a emergency declaration would “unlock” the president’s power to “redirect federal funding to clean-energy construction.” When Donald Trump enacted an emergency declaration to reallocate funding earmarked for military projects to build a wall on the U.S. Southern border—“a clear attempt to circumvent the legislative branch and one that I hope leads to the Supreme Court overturning the abused National Emergencies Act,” I wrote at the time, so save your emails—the entire establishment melted down. “Declaring a National Emergency Could Give Trump Authoritarian Powers,” a columnist at New York claimed. “A Win For Trump’s Authoritarian Agenda,” wrote another in Forbes. And so on. It’s worth remembering the border is within the purview of the federal government. Trying to control the weather is not.
Which brings us to another small problem: There is no emergency. Politicians might treat every hurricane, tornado, and flood as an apocalyptic event—and then conveniently blame their political opponents for failing to...
The 90 Miles Mystery Video: Nyctophilia Edition #1085
Before You Click On The "Read More" Link,
Please Only Do So If You Are Over 21 Years Old.
If You are Easily Upset, Triggered Or Offended, This Is Not The Place For You.
Please Leave Silently Into The Night......
The 90 Miles Mystery Box: Episode #1785
You have come across a mystery box. But what is inside?
It could be literally anything from the serene to the horrific,
from the beautiful to the repugnant,
from the mysterious to the familiar.
If you decide to open it, you could be disappointed,
you could be inspired, you could be appalled.
This is not for the faint of heart or the easily offended.
You have been warned.
Tuesday, July 19, 2022
Will China Shoot Down Explorers to the Moon?
- "We must be very concerned that China is landing on the moon and saying: 'It's ours now and you stay out,'" — Bill Nelson, NASA administrator, interview with Bild, July 2, 2022.
- The Chinese have made it clear that, if they get there [to the moon] first, they will shoot down visitors.
- "Many are beginning to wonder if China will soon do to the moon and the rest of space that which it has done to the South and East China Seas, Taiwan, and northern India: claim them as sovereign." — Brandon Weichert, author of Winning Space: How America Remains a Superpower, to Gatestone, July 6, 2022.
- Unfortunately, President Joe Biden has no apparent interest in getting to the moon. Only Elon Musk, with his Starship effort, is developing the means to compete with the Chinese.
- "We are in a second moon race, this time it's for keeps. Whoever gets to the moon with the mostest gets to keep the moon, and the United States is lagging." — Richard Fisher, International Assessment and Strategy Center, on John Batchelor 's CBS Eye on the World radio program, July 6, 2022.
"This is not the first time that the NASA administrator has lashed out at China in disregard of facts," said Zhao Lijian, Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson, at his July 4 regular press briefing. "Some U.S. officials have spoken irresponsibly to misrepresent the normal and legitimate space endeavors of China. China firmly rejects such remarks."
Zhao, known for rabid anti-Americanism, was reacting to attention-grabbing comments of NASA Administrator Bill Nelson. "We must be very concerned that China is landing on the moon and saying: 'It's ours now and you stay out,'" Nelson told German newspaper Bild in an interview published July 2.
Nelson has every right to be concerned. America may have to go to war with China if it even wants to land on the moon. The Chinese have made it clear that, if they get there first, they will shoot down visitors.
Chinese officials themselves reveal grand ambitions and malevolent intentions. "The universe is an ocean, the moon is the Diaoyu Islands, Mars is Huangyan Island," said Ye Peijian, the head of China's lunar program, in 2017, referring to features in the East China and South China Seas to which Beijing claims sovereignty. "If we don't go there now even though we're capable of doing so, then we will be blamed by our descendants. If others go there, then they will take over, and you won't be able to go even if you want to."
In short, Ye was projecting, blaming others for what Beijing itself intends to do. He was essentially saying that China would exclude others from these heavenly bodies.
In fact, Ye's choice of examples is telling. He said the moon is like the Diaoyu Islands. The Diaoyus, in the East China Sea, have been claimed and administered by Japan, which calls them the Senkakus. The claim of the People's Republic of China to the outcroppings appears weak as a matter of international law: Beijing acknowledged they were Japanese until 1971. This month, Chinese vessels intruded into Japanese territorial waters around the Senkakus, as a means of pressuring Tokyo to surrender them.
Ye also said Mars is like Huangyan Island, China's name for Scarborough Shoal. In early 2012, Chinese vessels seized the South China Sea reef from the Philippines. Beijing claims Scarborough even though it is just 124 nautical miles from the main Philippine island of Luzon and 472 nautical miles from the Chinese coast.
The name of China's Mars rover, Zhurong, is instructive. The official Xinhua News Agency explains Zhurong is the god of fire. What Beijing did not say is that Zhurong is also China's god of war—and the god of the...
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