The orange is blowing (literally) a billion dollars a day on his war of indeterminate goals
against Iran.
Bezos could buy two super yachts for that.
The budget for USAID, before it was terminated, was about $40 billion. Millions benefited.
All of that is obscene.
“Sinn Féin has introduced legislation – the Mineral Oil Tax (Emergency Cost of Living Reduction) Bill – to cut excise duties on petrol and diesel and bring real relief to households and workers.
Oireachtas website showing zero results for Mineral Oil Tax legislation.
Also (and lookit, in this day and age, who cares about facts really?), Pearse hasn't introduced legislation - Oireachtas website search returns zero results. In fact, given the Dáil is in recess, it couldn't have been introduced.
But those are just facts, which are kinda quaint.
white text on black City: We unanimously declare a climate emergency! We must make change no matter what the cost, humanity's survival depends on it! Community: Can we put in a protected mobility lane? City: No, we'll lose parking spots
An emergency
Bear in mind that a good of the revenue from carbon taxes is ringfenced for socially progressive measures like targeted social welfare payments, social housing retrofit and small farming supports.
Bear in mind too that SF include past increases in their alternative budgets.
Sinn Féin leader again deliberately conflating carbon tax with the sum total of taxes levied on fuel. In fact, carbon taxes makes up only a small portion of same (which is why we adjusted excise during last crisis).
This is a populist, anti-climate position.
Oranges. Delicious, but Christ, the mess......
As I put it a few years ago in my blunt advice to Irish cities, “Your goal SHOULDN’T be to replace a million fossil fuel vehicles with a million electric vehicles. It should be to replace a million fossil fuel vehicles with 250,000 electric vehicles. The main answer MUST be FEWER cars driven LESS."
but make sure your 4 year old is wearing hi vis at all times archive.ph/LgEVM
I'm only bitter. My wife comes from land, but we've no site. Constitutional rights violated!
(And yes, I have lots of reservations about human rights, the political system, embodied carbon and so on. But good lord, they are hauling ass on renewables and electrification.)
Jeebus Crisp. The next time someone tries to undermine a climate measure with the 'but China' argument.....
One of the reasons we have high energy prices is our dispersed grid. One of the reasons we have poor rural public transport is our dispersed population. Leaking septic tanks, loneliness, land use difficulties, the list goes on.
One-off rural housing is a bad idea, and the real costs are socialised.
bad ideas have a tough time dying in Ireland
Má fhaigheann tú amhlaidh, bheinn buíoch as freisin!
Yesterday, two Oireachtas committees discussed giving gardai the power to use AI to single us out from a crowd on CCTV based on our face, gait and body size.
ICCL’s @olgacronin.bsky.social sets out the concerns we have, the lack of detail and what “biometric analysis” means under the #AIAct.
Weird photo choice, right?
Story shows more people opting to cycle, photo shows e-scooter in flood. Positive story, negative picture.
But climate-induced heatwave? Ice-cream.
Dunno, lads.
No, staggering bin lifts. That's the ticket.
What an amazing win! Congratulations to Hannah Spencer MP and to all our friends in @greenparty.org.uk 💚🗳️
I'm writing in today's Irish Examiner on what this SNA U-turn tells us about this government coalition. Spoiler alert: it's not good. www.irishexaminer.com/opinion/comm... #edchatie
Does that mean we can build more data centres ❤️
Newspaper headline - Martin: Slash capital gains tax to spark investing boom.
If we make it cheaper to be rich, then rich people can get richer! Which is a good thing that we all are happy about! Let's cut one of the few wealth taxes we have - yay!
Imagine a world where free school meals were provided through state supported, locally owned social enterprises, providing good jobs, nutritious food and supporting local growers and food supply chains. A real just transition with food sovereignty at its heart.
www.thejournal.ie/hot-school-m...
Very much capturing the reality of the classroom there. So often, what's really happening is 'stop everything while I deal with this.' Which means nobody is receiving proper attention, even the kid in distress, because the teacher's attention is necessarily divided keeping a half-eye on the others.
Apparently, yesterday was St Berahert's Day (who knew?), so altogether timely to share this beautiful piece by @aislinnn.bsky.social on the holy well named after him in Co. Tipp.....
open.substack.com/pub/aislinna...
This is essential thinking for how we live better together within our planetary boundaries. We need to disentangle standard of living and quality of life, and be clear that while the latter requires a minimum level of the former, more happiness does not come from more stuff.
Excellent article.
What could possibly have changed, I wonder?
They were my Sunday newspaper until the change of editor and their new-found fixation with Dublin Airport.
Fair play to Holly Davidson, making a bit of history in the 6 Nations today #IREvITA. Richly deserved - have yet to see her have a bad game.
Zero surprise. You can expect significant erosion of our pesky and inconvenient Climate Bill from the current government configuration if left unchecked. And sadly, I don't think it will face significant backlash from opposition benches (and none at all from govt back benches).
Head 12 Exemption from the Act of 2015 Provide that: Any function or exercise undertaken under this Act shall be exempt from the provisions of section 15 of the Act of 2015. Explanatory Note This Head provides that the provisions of section 15 of the Climate Action and Low Carbon Development Act 2015 do not apply to any functions or exercises undertaken under this Bill.
An appalling proposal is hidden at the end of the Government’s Bill on the airport cap; it would exclude decisions under the legislation from the current obligation on almost all public bodies to consider their climate impact and to be consistent with climate objectives.
