Texas secessionists feel more emboldened than ever

Lead image for this article
Kyle Biedermann, a former state representative and current Legislative Advisor for the Texas Nationalist Movement’s Advisory Board, speaks during the Saturday opening event at TEXIT in Waco, on Nov. 11, 2023. Credit:
Evan L’Roy for The Texas Tribune

No taxes or Faucis, no speed zones or toll roads. No liberals, no gun laws. No windmills, no poor people. A separate currency, stock market and gold depository. “Complete control of our own immigration policy.” World-class college football, a farewell to regulators. And unthinkable, unimaginable wealth.

“We are going to be so rich,” he chanted. “We’re gonna be rich. We are gonna be rich. We. Are. Going. To Be. Rich! … As soon as we declare independence, we’re going to be wealthy. I personally believe that our personal GDP will double in five to seven years.”

“The independence of Texas is good for humanity as a whole,” he added to cheers.

Kamau-Imani, a Houston-based preacher, was among 100 or so people who spent the weekend at the Waco Convention Center for the first conference of the Texas Nationalist Movement, which since 2005 has advocated for the Lone Star State to break away from the United States — a “TEXIT,” as they call it.

Supporters of the movement said they are more energized and optimistic than ever about the prospect of an independent Texas, and pointed to appearances or support from current and former lawmakers — including state Sen. Bob Hall, R-Edgewood, who spoke at the event — as evidence that their movement is far from fringe. The get-together also came as TEXIT supporters celebrated what they believe is crucial momentum: Days before the meeting, the Texas Nationalist Movement announced that it was more than halfway to the roughly 100,000 signatures needed to put a non-binding secession referendum on the Texas Republican primary ballot.

Experts say it’s a much easier sell in theory than in practice. Roughly one-third of Texas’ annual budget is supported by federal funds, according to the budget and policy nonprofit Every Texan. And, upon breaking from the United States, experts note that Texas would immediately have to supplement key programs like social security.

“To replace the government services we rely on, the nation of Texas would have to find a way to get an additional nine thousand dollars or so per person living here — possibly through income or sales taxes,” Eva DeLuna, a state budget analyst at Every Texan, told Texas Monthly last year. “For a two-person household, that’s eighteen thousand dollars coming out of your pocket.”

Steve’s note:Maybe WEXIT and TEXIT can join forces and become an oil producing conglomerate. Maybe they can RULE the world!! Maybe this is what happens when you sniff too much gas… |Read more https://www.texastribune.org/2023/11/15/texas-secession-texit/| texastribune.org/2023/11/15/te…

#abpoli #texas #WEXIT #TEXIT #secessionists #conglomerate #independent #oil #gas #fracking #republicans

Analysis: China’s emissions set to fall in 2024 after record growth in clean energy

Emissions are set to fall in 2024

China’s CO2 emissions have seen explosive growth over recent decades, pausing only for brief periods due to cyclical shocks.

Over the past 20 years, its annual emissions from fossil fuels and cement have climbed quickly almost every year – as shown in the figure below – interrupted only by the economic slowdown of 2015-16 and the impact of zero-Covid restrictions in 2022.

While CO2 is rebounding in 2023 from zero-Covid lows (see: Why emissions grew in Q3 of 2023), there have also been record additions of low-carbon capacity, setting up a surge in electricity generation next year. (See: Solar, wind and hydropower set to surge in 2024.)

Combined with a rebound in hydro output following a series of droughts, these record additions are all but guaranteed to push fossil-fuel electricity generation and CO2 emissions into decline in 2024, as shown in the figure below.

Moreover, with the power sector being China’s second-largest emitter and with other major sectors, such as cement and steel, already seeing CO2 falling, this drop in power-sector emissions could drive a sustained, structural emissions decline for the country as a whole.

This is because – for the first time – the rate of low-carbon energy expansion is now sufficient to not only meet, but exceed the average annual increase in China’s demand for electricity overall. (See: Continued clean power growth can peak emissions in 2024.)

If this pace is maintained, or accelerated, it would mean that China’s electricity generation from fossil fuels would enter a period of structural decline – which would also be a first. |Read more https://www.carbonbrief.org/analysis-chinas-emissions-set-to-fall-in-2024-after-record-growth-in-clean-energy/| carbonbrief.org/analysis-china…

#china #emissions #C02 #reduction #solar #wind #Hydro

The Federal Court just overturned Ottawa’s single-use plastic ban

The Federal Court has quashed a cabinet order that listed plastic manufactured items as toxic under the Canadian Environmental Protection Act.

The court says in a decision released today that it was not reasonable to say all plastic manufactured items are harmful because the category is too broad.

The decision has implications for the government’s ban of six single-use plastic items, including straws, grocery bags and takeout containers. |Read more https://globalnews.ca/news/10096664/plastic-ban-overturned-court/| globalnews.ca/news/10096664/pl…

#cdnpoli #plastic #SingleUse #environment #chemicals #manufactures

Alberta COVID-19 panel urges consideration of ‘alternative’ scientific theories

EDMONTON – A panel studying Alberta’s pandemic response urges the province to consider “alternative” scientific theories – a recommendation the Opposition NDP says opens the door to fringe ideas akin to Premier Danielle Smith once advocating the use of a horse dewormer to fight COVID-19.

The report by the panel led by former Reform Party leader Preston Manning says science should still play a role in future crises, but only as part of a “balanced response” tied to “evidence-informed decision-making.”

It calls for the premier and cabinet to be the final decision-makers in any crisis response while drawing on the expertise of a chief science officer and a roster of professionals from a range of scientific and other fields.

“Elected officials, the (Alberta Emergency Management Agency) and the subject matter ministry should be open to considering and investigating alternative scientific narratives and hypotheses,” wrote the panel.

The panel said these theories should be pursued “even at the risk of acknowledging some uncertainty as to which scientific narratives are most relevant to the emergency at hand.”

Opposition NDP Leader Rachel Notley said the report encourages the adoption of dangerous fringe medical theories that could put health workers in a bind if they are ordered to administer such treatments down the road.

“What you see is an invitation to normalize conspiracy theories and pseudo-science at the expense of evidence-based medical care,” Notley told reporters in Calgary. |Read more https://edmonton.ctvnews.ca/alberta-covid-19-panel-urges-consideration-of-alternative-scientific-theories-1.6646275| edmonton.ctvnews.ca/alberta-co…

#abpoli #smith #health #expertise #manning #coconspirator #fringe #medical