Sunday, December 24, 2023
Dictatorial Control, From Covid to Climate
Paul Driessen
I choked on my coffee when I read the headline: “Democrats raise specter of Trump dictatorship to boost Biden.” What a textbook example of “projection,” I laughed, referring to the psychology term for deflecting attention away from one’s own blatant behavior by claiming someone else is doing it.
Partisan media and politicos parroted the accusation, and the Biden campaign doubled down.
In the interest of fairness and accuracy, it’s appropriate then to revisit ways the Biden Administration, Democrats and their allies have battled wannabe dictators and defended freedom, democracy and viewpoint diversity in recent years. (Or not.) For example:
* Incessant Antifa rage, riots, rampaging and legal warfare against “Russia-colluding” President Trump, from his election and inauguration throughout and after his term in office.
* School, park and restaurant lockdowns, “social distancing” and mask “advisories,” mandates for “safe and effective” inoculations with vaccines approved with minimal study under “emergency use authorizations,” and endless misrepresentation and censorship by Biden officials, Democrat governors and “journalists” – in the name of preventing Covid.
* Opening our southern border to untold millions of “undocumented noncitizens” – mostly Latin Americans but also Chinese agents, drug smugglers, sex traffickers, terrorists, and disease carriers.
* Billions in “student debt forgiveness,” forcing taxpayers to pay off huge loans to graduates who struggle to get six-figure jobs despite prestigious degrees in gender studies or community organizing.
* Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) and Environment Social Governance (ESG) programs, from K-12, college to law school, and into government and corporate arenas – to ensure that every component of the society reflects racial, ethnic, and gender proportionality, but never viewpoint or political diversity.
These and many other authoritarian actions impacted American society, freedoms, health, and prosperity in countless negative ways. Far worse, many progressives and leftists hope they will pave the way for obeisance to even more dictatorial mandates promulgated in the name of saving our planet from supposed cataclysms inflicted by fossil-fuel-driven climate change.
Few will quibble that President Biden directed federal employees to take public transportation, ride bikes or rent electric vehicles for work travel, and hold virtual meetings instead of in-person gatherings.
These rules certainly won’t apply to private-jet globe-trotters like Climate Czar John Kerry, and EVs mostly transfer emissions from tailpipes to distant countries where toxic pollution and child labor accompany the mining and processing of raw materials to make EV batteries. But at least some federal workers will now suffer the inconveniences they impose on us, commoners.
However, Team Biden’s endless torrent of dictatorial executive orders, regulatory mandates, and twisted legal reinterpretations for electricity generation, vehicles, appliances, agriculture, housing, and other matters are already impacting our industries, livelihoods, living standards, and basic rights and freedoms.
These diktats are designed to force us to convert everything we now operate with coal, gasoline, diesel or natural gas to electric models. The United States will soon need 3-4 times more electricity than today – and still more to power the AI revolution.
But the same bureaucrats are shutting down coal, gas, nuclear, and hydroelectric generators – ensuring that electricity will be in short supply, generated primarily by weather-dependent wind turbines and solar panels, backed up by massive grid-scale battery systems, and thus unavailable or unaffordable during the coldest and hottest days, when electric heat or air conditioning becomes a matter of life or death.
In fact, just the batteries to back up nationwide electricity would cost up to $290 trillion (13 times US 2021 GDP)! Add that to wind, solar, and transmission costs, and the juice to run your all-electric home, business, hospital, school, or transportation will likely cost 30-40 cents per kilowatt-hour instead of the 12-15 cents the average American is paying now.
It’s a prescription for repeated blackouts, economic disaster – and unelected, unaccountable bureaucrats micromanaging every aspect of our lives: what size home we can have; how warm or cool we can keep it; what cars we can drive and how far, or whether we too will be forced to walk, bike or take a bus; how many trips we can take in jetliners, in our lifetime; what foods we can eat (hint: not beef); maybe even how many new clothing items we will be “allowed” to purchase each year!
The ecological impacts will be equally horrendous and widespread in the USA and overseas.
Wind and solar installations, transmission lines, and enormous battery complexes would sprawl across millions of acres of now scenic wildlife habitat and agricultural land. A single solar facility proposed in Virgnia would involve 3,000 acres of panels on 21,000 acres (over half the land area of Washington, DC). It’s just one of dozens of Virginia solar plans – on top of onshore and offshore wind turbine projects.
The installations “will power millions of homes,” supporters insist. Perhaps – but only when the wind is blowing and sun is shining at optimal intensities ... maybe 15-30% of the year in northern latitudes, considering winter snow and sunlight, clouds, nighttime, zero wind and other factors.
Many local residents and other citizens don’t want these massive installations in their backyards; the habitat and scenic vista destruction, bird and bat killings, health problems, and electricity costs and disruptions that go with them; or being turned into energy colonies for progressive urban centers. They’ve already blocked more than 500 wind and solar projects, on environmental and other grounds.
That’s why Michigan, California, New York and Illinois have already enacted laws that give state bureaucrats authority over land use – the ability to exercise eminent domain and other powers over local governments that want to slow or stop the onrush of enormous, heavily subsidized industrial wind, solar, transmission line and other “green” projects. More are likely to follow – depriving rural communities of their rights, property values and autonomy – to serve corporate interests that bankroll Democrat pols.
The federal “deep state” is likely to seek similar legislative authority – or simply assert authority – to implement President Biden’s national net-zero “renewable” energy transformation agenda.
UN and Biden “30x30” plans to “conserve” (make off limits to development) 30% of US and global lands and waters by 2030 will massively increase all these impacts and usurpations of power. Any lands not made off-limits by 30x30, wilderness, park, refuge, and other actions will be developed and desecrated to the hilt with wind, solar, transmission line, mining, biofuel, and other “green energy” projects.
Meanwhile, international climate alarmists and bureaucrats are telling African and other impoverished nations how much they will be “permitted” to develop and improve their health and living standards – using only “sustainable, renewable” wind and solar power. It’s dictatorial colonialism at its worst.
And amid all that, China, India, Indonesia, Vietnam, and other rapidly developing countries are burning more coal, oil, and gas – and emitting more greenhouse gases – than most developed nations combined. That means US and EU economic suicide on the climate altar won’t make an iota of difference.
What might a Trump dictator do? Roll back or cancel these dictatorial decrees. Stop fast-tracking wind and solar projects. End phony environmental justice, DEI, and ESG programs. Return America to energy independence and affordable energy. Build the wall and control immigration. Above all, follow the law and Constitution. How revolutionary, tyrannical ... and refreshing ... that would be!
Paul Driessen is a senior policy advisor to the Committee For A Constructive Tomorrow (www.CFACT.org) and author of books and articles on energy, climate, environmental, and human rights issues.
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Environmental campaigners filmed, threatened and harassed at Cop28
Greenie versus Greenie
Incidents of harassment, surveillance, threats and intimidation are creating a climate of fear at UN events including the recent Cop28 climate conference in Dubai, experts have said.
Indigenous campaigners, human rights defenders and environmental activists say they are increasingly afraid to speak out on urgent issues because of concerns about reprisals from governments or fossil fuel industries.
“In the last few years, we’ve seen Indigenous representatives being filmed by people related to government institutions while giving statements about human rights at UN events, or photographed just for being present at a UN event,” said Lola García-Alix, the global governance senior adviser for the International Work Group for Indigenous Affairs.
“We’ve witnessed people working closely with governments physically corner and encircle Indigenous representatives in UN meetings. Such acts of intimidation have drastic effects back home, where Indigenous people sometimes face reprisals, including being questioned, harassed or detained.
“While many of these incidents happened in UN human rights events, such as the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, this worrying trend is expanding,’ García-Alix said. “We recently saw intimidation tactics at Cop in Dubai, where several Indigenous people from one country were intimidated by people working closely with that country’s government.
“The brazenness of governments is spreading into international spaces to suppress any voice that goes against their narratives. Over the last decade, there has been increasing alarm over the severity and frequency of such acts. Governments now feel they can act without suffering consequences.”
Other Indigenous activists also reported an atmosphere of intimidation in Dubai. “There was a heavy presence of surveillance and harassment at Cop28,” said Mesiah Burciaga-Hameed, an afro-Indigenous activist with Native Land Digital. “On numerous occasions, we were stalled from entering events, with no explanation. The United Nations framework convention on climate change (UNFCCC) prides itself on being a peaceful space for self-expression when, in reality, it silences many people.”
Activists, Indigenous and otherwise, have reported being filmed and photographed by people connected to governments or fossil fuel industries as an intimidation tactic.
“Many individuals who made speeches during actions for Palestine or West Papua had reps from Israel and Indonesia taking closeup shots of them,” said Neeka Jun from the Climate Alliance for Palestine. “This intimidation causes extreme fear. There are many people who simply wouldn’t speak their truth publicly for fear of being targeted later.”
Marta Schaaf, Amnesty International’s programme director of climate, economic and social justice and corporate accountability, was at Cop28. Her delegation’s plans to highlight the link between human rights and climate action in Cop host countries, including the UAE and Egypt, resulted in demands for changes from the UNFCCC and UN security, including for text and photos to be removed.
“We were told our safety couldn’t be guaranteed if we didn’t comply with the requests,” said Schaaf. “We’re concerned about freedom of expression and the right to protest at Cop, including the UNFCCC’s commitment to ensuring safeguards are in place to protect participants.”
Other attenders were afraid to use sim cards or WhatsApp at Cop28, in case phones or messages were being monitored, or to speak openly in public areas because of the thousands of cameras installed, or to openly discuss or protest on wider issues, such as Russia and Ukraine or Israel and Gaza.
“I was stopped by a security guard for a watermelon pin [a sign of solidarity with Palestine] I was wearing,” Krishna, a climate campaigner from the Philippines, said. “He said I could be debadged.”
Official processes are in place for people to report incidents of harassment or intimidation to the UN, but they are seen by many as toothless.
Activists are concerned there will be a similarly repressive atmosphere at next year’s Cop29 in Azerbaijan, a petrostate with strong ties to Russia and where “violations of international humanitarian law” have been reported.
“The last two Cops and the next Cop on climate are in countries where freedom of speech and the right to protest are not upheld, so the UN has increasingly targeted activists,” said Big Wind Carpenter from the Northern Arapaho tribe, part of the Wisdom Keepers delegation at Cop28. “It’s a growing problem. Many Indigenous activists are threatened and punished by their own governments, and can’t speak out against them or corporations. Instead, the UN would rather punish us for speaking the truth.
“But in the hottest year in human history, where we’re watching fossil fuel corporations lead backdoor deals at the UN conference on climate, where leaders can refute climate science as ‘false’ or ‘fringe’, you have to ask why isn’t this oppression happening to the industry responsible for climate change?”
Campaigners are calling for change. “The agreement between the UNFCCC and each Cop host country’s government should be made public,” said Schaaf. “There is a lack of transparency. There should be stronger rules on conflicts of interests to minimise fossil fuel industry influence, and stronger safeguards for all civil society participants. Activists, researchers, and journalists need their rights to free expression to be respected.”
Activists are also hoping the UN will commit to protecting Indigenous peoples and other activists at events and afterwards, including taking action against states or organisations that intimidate campaigners.
“The reprisals faced by Indigenous leaders and defenders of human rights in the United Nations’ mechanisms is alarming – it’s at pandemic level,” said Anexa Alfred Cunningham, an Indigenous Miskitu lawyer from Nicaragua, who was blocked from returning home after participating at an Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (EMRIP) event in Switzerland in 2022. She now lives in Geneva, separated from family, friends and colleagues.
“The UN must take effective measures to ensure no one is subject to retaliation for their participation. The UN should operate free spaces where you can express yourself without fear.”
Activists say the suppression of free speech at Cops and other UN events is hampering progress on climate action and human rights. “If people, Indigenous or otherwise, know they will be intimidated, threatened, harassed or worse for bringing their situation to the attention of the UN and the international community, we’re all facing a serious problem,” García-Alix said.
“If this continues to be allowed, it will delegitimise the whole UN system, important voices will be lost, and environmental degradation and gross human rights violations will persist.”
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Wind farm ‘free for all’ must stop, says Bob Brown
Veteran conservationist Bob Brown has turned on sections of the wind industry, accusing some developers of “profiteering” from climate change and not caring about the planet, while warning the wind rush risks accelerating extinctions.
The former Greens leader told The Weekend Australian better planning and environmental regulation were needed to ensure the nation’s wind rush did not have perverse outcomes.
“Wind power is an essential part of the answer to global warming but at the moment we have a free-for-all and whenever that happens there are reckless casualties,” Dr Brown said.
“And the (Albanese) government is way behind industry on this. There are international as well as national (wind farm developer) interests looking at anywhere the wind blows. They’re not doing it in the service of the planet.
“I do see a small number of those wind farms that are environmentally unjustified because the detriment is far greater than the benefit. That’s not being properly safeguarded at state or federal level.”
Dr Brown’s foundation has opposed a wind farm proposed for Robbins Island, at the northwestern tip of Tasmania, and Dr Brown is opposed to another inland from Cairns, in Queensland.
He said he was being approached to help fight wind farms across the country and had to make a case-by-case decision.
“(Some of these wind farms) are going in the end to be negative – the overall environmental offer is false because the impact on the environment is going to be bigger than the benefit,” he said.
Dr Brown, who famously led opposition to the damming of the Franklin River for a hydro-electric scheme in the 1980s, agreed the wind rush, if mishandled, could create as many environmental problems as it solved.
He was concerned the Tasmanian government’s pursuit of a 200 per cent renewable energy target – to allow surplus power to be exported to the mainland – was driven by “profiteering” under the guise of climate action.
The Bob Brown Foundation continues to fight the 100-turbine wind farm proposed for Robbins Island by ACEN Australia.
“The real driving reason for that (200 per cent renewables target) is profiteering by people like ACEN, moving into a lucrative new market which is being forced by the exigencies of climate change,” Dr Brown said.
He said the federal government was still talking about improving environmental regulation of wind farms, while developers moved into inappropriate areas.
“There’s an appalling wind farm being built inland at Cairns on the top of the range there, to the west of the Daintree National Park, and this one on Robbins Island,” Dr Brown said.
“I’m afraid we’re going to see more of this with massive wind farms lined up across the Australian environment to sell at profit renewable energy into Asia, either directly through cables or for hydrogen.
“We’re in a calamitous situation for the environment and nobody in this is much discussing energy efficiency, which is the cheapest and most environmentally sound (source of new power).”
ACEN said it had worked hard to address potential impacts of its Robbins Island wind farm on endangered Tasmanian devils and orange-bellied parrots, and that such impacts would be negligible.
Federal Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek declined to comment but her department said the government was committed to “strengthening and streamlining … national environmental laws, including for renewables projects”.
“The reforms will improve the system for business and ensure we have faster, clearer, more efficient decision-making that enables economic development, while at the same time ensuring we better protect our environment and heritage,” a spokeswoman said.
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British PM faces Net Zero ‘boiler tax’ rebellion
Tory backbenchers mobilise against plans to penalise boiler makers that do not meet heat pump installation targets.
Rishi Sunak is facing another major Tory rebellion over his plans to introduce a net zero “boiler tax” to railroad through the switch to heat pumps.
Conservative backbenchers are mobilising to oppose the proposals when they come before the Commons for a crunch vote in the new year.
The Prime Minister is pressing ahead with plans to fine boiler makers who do not meet heat pump installation targets from April.
Manufacturers have responded to the proposals by increasing their prices, raising them by up to £120 to offset the cost of the heat pump rollout.
However, the penalties require legislation to enforce, meaning Mr Sunak faces a showdown with MPs who are unhappy with the cost to consumers.
The Telegraph has been told the Net Zero Scrutiny Group, which consists of 50 Tory backbenchers, is mobilising to vote against the plans.
Craig Mackinlay, the influential group’s chairman, said: “The Government’s planned new boiler tax is another blow to hardworking families.
“If heat pumps are as good as ministers are claiming then why do they feel the need to mandate them?
“I urge the Prime Minister to remember his speech from back in September and deliver on his promise to protect families from the cost of net zero. He must scrap this tax.”
Ministers need to pass a Statutory Instrument through the Commons early next year to provide the legal powers to enforce heat pump quotas.
‘Green mania will increase inflation’
Sir Jacob Rees-Mogg, a former energy secretary, said: “Once again the green mania will increase inflation and lower living standards.
“It is wrong to tax boilers. If heat pumps are expensive and inefficient people should not be coerced into buying them.”
Sir John Redwood, a former Cabinet minister, said that if MPs saw an opportunity to vote against the proposals “we’ll obviously take it”.
He branded the plan “a disgrace”, adding: “It will mean higher prices for gas boilers for the many who still want them and will not necessarily sell more heat pumps.”
Under the scheme boiler manufacturers will have to ensure that 4pc of their sales are made up of heat pumps next year, rising to 6pc in 2025-26.
They will be fined £3,000 for every unit that they miss their target by.
Labour is poised to support the measures, known as the Clean Heat Market Mechanism (CHMM), meaning Mr Sunak is not in danger of an embarrassing defeat.
But a sizeable mutiny would leave him once again in the embarrassing position of having to rely on the opposition to pass a flagship piece of Net Zero law.
The Prime Minister suffered one of the biggest rebellions of his premiership earlier this month as dozens of Tory MPs opposed similar targets for car makers.
Senior figures including Suella Braverman and Dame Priti Patel, both former home secretaries, voted against quotas for electric vehicle sales.
In total 26 of Mr Sunak’s own MPs opposed the plans, meaning that they would have been defeated had it not been for Labour’s support.
Backbenchers have accused the Prime Minister of effectively reneging on a promise he made in September to scale back the cost of Net Zero.
He gave a major speech from Downing Street which he hailed as a change of course on green targets to reduce the hit to family finances.
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My other blogs. Main ones below
http://dissectleft.blogspot.com (DISSECTING LEFTISM )
http://edwatch.blogspot.com (EDUCATION WATCH)
http://pcwatch.blogspot.com (POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH)
http://australian-politics.blogspot.com (AUSTRALIAN POLITICS)
http://snorphty.blogspot.com/ (TONGUE-TIED)
http://jonjayray.com/blogall.html More blogs
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