Facing Up To Reality

Boy, it’s all very well to have those Green Dreams of making us all free of Evil Oil&GasCorp International, but when someone punches you in the nose and says, “No more oil!” you’d have to be completely stupid to keep on with the foolishness.  Take Germany, for example:

Germany is considering reopening some of its decommissioned coal power plants in the hopes of getting a handle on its ongoing energy crisis.  The reopening of shuttered plants is seen as an option as the country struggles to ween itself off of its addiction to Russian fossil fuels.

However:

However, the RWE head was keen to emphasise that no U-turn on the phasing out of fossil fuels was occurring, and that the stop-gap measures being suggested did not represent a rollback of the country’s climate change plans.
“It’s not a backwards roll, but at most a step aside for a limited time,” the energy Tsar said.

Uh huh.  Till the next crisis, when they’ll have to step aside again, and again, and again, when that back-and-forth is going to resemble a country two-step dance competition.

Morons.  And lest we forget, most of their problem is being caused by their panicked overreaction to the Fukushima meltdown and the resulting knee-jerk shutdown of all their own nuke power plants.  Morons times two.

I thought Germans were supposed to be pragmatic and logical, but clearly I’ve been misinformed.

About Damn Time

I was going to sound off about this Daylight Savings idiocy for the billionth time, but I see I’ll only  have to do it twice more, maybe — if the House gets off its ass:

The U.S. Senate on Tuesday passed legislation that would make daylight saving time permanent starting in 2023, ending the twice-annual changing of clocks in a move promoted by supporters advocating brighter afternoons and more economic activity.

The Senate approved the measure, called the Sunshine Protection Act, unanimously by voice vote. The House of Representatives, which has held a committee hearing on the matter, still must pass the bill before it can go to President Joe Biden to sign. The White House has not said whether Biden supports it.

Of all the stupid shit our government has ever done, the time-switching thing is unquestionably the most pointless.

What am I thinking?  Biden will probably veto it, just for spite.

Fed Forces Gather

Well, now:

The Department of Defense (DOD) said that Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin approved the deployments of the guards, which had been requested by the D.C. Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) and U.S. Capitol Police (USCP).

“The people who live, work and visit the District are part of our community, and their safety is our first mission priority,” Maj. Gen. Sherrie L. McCandless, D.C. National Guard commanding general, said in a statement to news outlets.

Sure sound nervous about a bunch of truckers, don’t they?  Oh wait:

“Our MPD and USCP partners have asked for our help in ensuring people can demonstrate peacefully and safely, and we stand ready to assist.”

Oh, so they’re going to guarantee the safety of the protesting truckers, are they?  Against whom, precisely?  BLM?  Zombies?  Militant vegans?

Fucking lying bastards.

And since when was the National Guard a “partner” to law enforcement?  (I know, since forever, never mind that pesky Posse Comitatus  thing.)

Anyway, here’s the tally:

The approval will enable around 400 D.C. National Guard members to “provide support at designated traffic posts, provide command and control, and cover sustainment requirements.”

“Sustainment”?  Getting food and such to the protesters?

Guards deployed to the area will not be armed and will not help with law enforcement or carry out domestic surveillance activities.

Pull the other one.  Fool me once, etc.

Austin also approved USCP’s request for assistance for up to 300 National Guard troops from outside the Washington area to help at certain traffic posts and Capitol entry points, Breitbart reports. That will begin later than 7 a.m., on Saturday, February 26, according to Breitbart, who note that 50 large tactical vehicles will also be placed at designated traffic posts on a 24-hour basis in the area.

“50 large tactical vehicles”, eh?  And their purpose is… what, exactly?  How about this:

Police around DC area have told the [National] Guard that the trucker convoy intends to shut down the [DC] Beltway and major roads leading in and out of DC. The Guard is scrambling to secure heavy tow trucks to haul away semis which may try to block roads.

My question (and it’s a serious one):  Are the feds trying to provoke a confrontation?

The evidence seems to support that they are.

Keeping Shtum

Ah yes, the conveniently-unsolved murder, a favorite of the Federal Alphabet Agencies:

Here the FBI swiftly arrests a Colombian national for a crime committed in Haiti, a foreign nation. On the other hand, in two years, the FBI has made no arrests in the murder of Philip Haney, a former DHS whistleblower gunned down in Amador County California, USA.

The FBI has Haney’s thumb drives, computer and documents, but no word what those might contain. In similar style, the FBI remains silent on any leads or persons of interest in the case. The Amador sheriff would like to know, and so would Haney’s friends and relatives, along with members of the public concerned about radical Islamic terrorism.

Based on developments so far, it would be hard to blame them for considering another possibility. Maybe the FBI and Homeland Security Investigations have [the late] Philip Haney right where they want him.

And law enforcement wonders why the American public is starting to hate them back…

Personal Recognisance

Is any government agency hated more than the IRS?  I don’t mean at any specific time, just in general.  Here’s their latest little escapade:

After an initial backlash over its facial recognition feature, the Internal Revenue Service said Monday it started a new option that will allow taxpayers to sign up for online accounts without the use of the controversial biometric data.

Taxpayers wanting to use its services online will still have to use ID.me to register, but people will have the option of verifying their identity during a “live virtual interview” instead of uploading a video selfie.

“This is consistent with the IRS’s commitment earlier this month to transition away from the requirement for taxpayers creating an IRS online account to provide a selfie to a third-party service to help authenticate their identity,” the IRS said in a statement.

ID.me said in its own statement that the verification process with an agent will take from 5-10 minutes, not including the wait time for the next available video chat agent.

The IRS said taxpayers will still have the option to use facial recognition if they like through ID.me.

Of course, this is just to help us, the victims of their godless theft, and would never ever cross-our-hearts be shared with any other Gummint Alphabet Agency, oh no.

Hey, instead of facial recognition, how about a simple digital signature?  Here’s mine:

Fuckers.

Festung Washington

I see that the Gummint is showing signs of panic:

Law enforcement agencies across the National Capital Region are aware of plans for a series of truck convoys arriving in Washington, DC, around the time of the State of the Union. As with any demonstration, the USCP will facilitate lawful First Amendment activity.

The USCP is closely coordinating with local, state, and federal law enforcement agencies, including DC’s Metropolitan Police Department, the United States Park Police, the United States Secret Service and other allied agencies to include the DC National Guard.

The United States Capitol Police and the United States Secret Service have been closely working together to plan for the upcoming State of the Union. The temporary inner-perimeter fence is part of those ongoing discussions and remains an option, however at this time no decision has been made.

Now, I’m no security expert or whatever, but I just don’t see those lil’ bitty fences as being exactly truck-proof, if you get my drift.  But as long as the gummint thugs don’t go all Ottawa on our protesters, everything will be fine.  And a special note to the po-po:  leave their pets alone. [/Pink Floyd]

However, let’s not forget that the Federal Bureau of Instigators will almost certainly get involved:

…although I’m pretty sure they won’t look like a Forrest Gump Cosplay Festival this time.

Now I’m not suggesting any kind of ugliness be directed at them, no sir not me.  What I am suggesting is that the truckers police their own protest, and if some asshole does start yelling about storming the Capitol or anything like that, kick the living shit out of him.

All for the sake of keeping the protest peaceful, you understand.