Posts Tagged ‘green new deal’

The Biden Regime is neutering the M1 Abrams Main Battle Tank

Posted: October 13, 2022 by Jon Fournier in Uncategorized
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For over forty years the M1 Abrams has been the absolute best tank.  It outclasses all others when it comes to firepower, armor protection, mobility, and accuracy.  The M1 Abrams is the gold standard all other tanks are measured against.  Thanks to Joe Biden and his climate change obsession, this will come to an end.

As you can see from this Federalist Papers article, the Pentagon is turning the next generation of the M1 Abrams into a pussified green clown car.

The tank’s “hybrid power pack” will also consume half the fuel that current versions do and run more quietly; it “even allows for some silent mobility,” according to the company.

There’s only so silent a multi-ton vehicle is ever going to be when it’s on the move, of course, but things are relative on the battlefield.

This may be making a virtue of necessity, as the U.S. military — like every branch of an out-of-control federal government run by un-elected bureaucrats and increasingly left-leaning idealogues — has climate-change-related goals it must meet.

“The AbramsX’s hybrid power pack supports the U.S. Army’s climate and electrification strategies,” the company announced.

Not only is the engine being replaced, the M1 Abrams will shed a significant amount of armor protection.

Described in the company’s news release as the “main battle tank for the next generation,” GDLS says the newest Abrams version will weigh significantly less than those currently in service, which could make the tank both more mobile and more easily transported to far-off battlefields.

The engine of the M1 Abrams is one of the  primary factors responsible for the success of this tank.  It is described  here on the M1 Abrams Wikipedia page.

The M1 Abrams’s powertrain consists of a Honeywell AGT1500 (originally made by Lycoming) multifuel gas turbine capable of 1,500 shaft horsepower (1,100 kW) at 30,000 rpm and 395 lb⋅ft (536 N⋅m) at 10,000 rpm and a six-speed (four forward, two reverse) Allison X-1100-3B Hydro-Kinetic automatic transmission. This gives it a governed top speed of 45 mph (72 km/h) on paved roads, and 30 mph (48 km/h) cross-country. With the engine governor removed, speeds of around 60 mph (97 km/h) are possible on an improved surface. However, damage to the drivetrain (especially to the tracks) and an increased risk of injuries to the crew can occur at speeds above 45 mph (72 km/h).

The tank was built around this engine[ and it is multifuel–capable, including diesel, kerosene, any grade of motor gasoline, and jet fuel (such as JP-4 or JP-8). For logistical reasons, JP-8 is the U.S. military’s universal fuel powering both aircraft and vehicle fleets. The Australian M1A1 AIM SA burns diesel fuel, since the use of JP-8 is less common in the Australian Army.

 The gas turbine propulsion system has proven quite reliable in practice and combat, but its high fuel consumption is a serious logistic issue (starting up the turbine alone consumes nearly 10 US gallons (38 L) of fuel). The engine burns more than 1.67 US gallons (6.3 L) per mile (60 US gallons (230 L) per hour) when traveling cross-country and 10 US gallons (38 L) per hour when idle.

No traditional type of power plant comes close to matching the horsepower to weight ratio of a gas turbine engine.  This has given the M1 Abrams an unmatched top speed. The new green engine, although more fuel efficient, will perform significantly worse than even a traditional tank engine, drastically reducing the performance.  This will greatly endanger the tank crews.

The armor protection of the M1 Abrams is second to none.  Because of this no Abrams has been destroyed by enemy fire.

Similar to most other main battle tanks, the M1 Abrams feature composite armor only on the frontal aspect of the hull. However, the Abrams’ turret features composite armoring across both the front and the sides. In addition, the side skirts of the frontal half of the hull are also made of composite, providing superior ballistic protection against chemical energy munitions such as HEAT rounds. The composition of the Abrams’ composite armor consists of sandwiched plates of non-explosive reactive armor (NERA) between conventional steel plates. The NERA plates feature elasticity, allowing them to flex and distort upon perforation, disrupting the penetrating jets of shaped charges and providing more material and space for a kinetic round to pass through, thus providing increased protection compared to conventional steel armor of similar weight….Armor protection was improved by implementing a new special armor incorporating depleted uranium and other undisclosed materials and layouts.[31] This was introduced into the M1A1 production starting October 1988. This new armor increased effective armor particularly against kinetic energy rounds but at the expense of adding considerable weight to the tank, as depleted uranium is 1.7 times denser than steel.  

The only way to significantly reduce the weight of tank is to significantly reduce the armor of the tank.   That will unconscionably reduce the protection for the tank crews, endangering them,

Yes the M1Abrams is a fuel hog.  Fixing that will turn the Abrams into third rate fighting vehicle.

Green Energy Policies are destabilizing the world

Posted: July 21, 2022 by Jon Fournier in Uncategorized
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The political left has demonstrated a remarkable affinity for replacing what actually works with what will bring about ruin and chaos  This is true when it comes to government policies, fiscal policies, or culture.  Wherever leftists gain control, nations collapse because of their intolerance for what has brought about prosperity and stability.

For well over a century fossil fuels have powered the world, bringing about the Industrial Revolution.  The Industrial Revolution brought freedom and prosperity to every nation which protected individual rights and property rights.

Free and prosperous people are difficult for tyrants to rule. Poor and downtrodden are much more pliant   Fear is also one of the favorite tools used by tyrants to rule over those who do not wish to be controlled.  Creating an imaginary extended crises and hyping it endlessly in the media has proved most effective in turning the United States into a nation populated by compliant sheeple.  That strategy was used by Democrats most effectively over the past two years in the form of the Wuhan Flu pandemic.  It made the theft of the 2020 presidential election possible.

Globalist elites have longed for decades to implement a one world socialist government.  That would mean stripping the rights away from everyone individual.  A significant portion of the world’s population would object to this.  Climate change is the crisis used to create the overwhelming sense of fear needed.   If these elites could scare us enough to agree to ban fossil fuels in most nations, that would collapse the world economy, making everyone so miserable they would submit to being ruled by tyrant elites who would run a global socialist government.  That is being implemented through a plan called the Great Reset.  In the United States the plan to implement the Great Reset is called the Green New Deal.

This article documents the havoc caused by one nation’s attempt to implement a green new style plan. Sri Lanka Crisis Shows Consequences Of Elites’ Green Revolution (thefederalist.com)

Sri Lanka, a small island nation in South East Asia, is on the verge of total political and economic collapse after its president’s “green” policies have brought famine to the island’s 21 million people. 

From the 1970s to 2020, with the help of synthetic fertilizers, Sri Lanka had become self-sufficient in rice production. However, Sri Lanka’s government fell under the spell of the “green” revolution promoted by Western liberal elites. In a now-deleted article published by the World Economic Forum (WEF), then Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe vowed to make his country “rich by 2025,” partially by adopting WEF-sponsored “climate change” initiatives.  

Advised by the Rockefeller Foundation, Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa promised to transition the nation’s agriculture industry to organic farming within ten years. In April 2021, he banned “the importation and use of synthetic fertilizers and pesticides and order[ed] the country’s 2 million farmers to go organic,” according to Foreign Policy magazine. The Western green revolutionists were so pleased that they bestowed Sri Lanka with a near-perfect Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) score of 98, much higher than the United States’ score of 51.

But Sri Lanka’s adoption of green policies brought nothing but disasters. Its rice production has dropped more than 50 percent, while domestic rice prices have increased more than 80 percent. Once sufficient in rice production, the nation has been “forced to import $450 million worth of rice.” In the words of Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., Sri Lanka is experiencing “a government-created famine reminiscent of Mao.” 

And there is this article, Germany’s ‘Green’ Energy Disaster Is A Warning To The United States (thefederalist.com)

The move to “clean energy”—without nuclear—has accomplished three things:

1. It has prompted Germany, and the rest of the EU, to begin relying more heavily on Russian natural gas as it “transitioned.” Putin, who has begun demanding EU nations pay for their energy in roubles, is now able to undercut the European economy at will.

2. It has created the highest global electricity prices per household in the world. In 2019, German households were paying 34 cents per kilowatt-hour compared to 13 cents in the United States. The price of energy has doubled since 2000, when Germany first mandated decarbonization, an effort that forced energy companies to purchase long-term inefficient renewables at high, fabricated prices.

3. It has meant the burning of coal. Even before Russia began cutting off supply, Germany was more reliant on coal than the United States. This week, Germany’s Economy Minister Robert Habeck, who earlier this year rejected a European Union label of nuclear energy as “green,” announced that in an effort to avoid future gas shortages—because cars can’t run on wind—the government would incentivize the use of more coal-fired power plants.

Thanks to their version of the Green New Deal, conditions in the Netherlands are so bad mass protests are taking place, Media Ignore Dutch Farmer Protests To Protect Climate Fearmongering (thefederalist.com)

The government of the Netherlands seems to be willing to starve Europe to browbeat Dutch farmers about climate change, and American corporate media outlets are largely ignoring it.

The Netherlands is demanding its farmers drastically reduce their herds of livestock in order to eliminate 50 percent of the nation’s nitrogen pollution by 2030. That leaves just eight years for farmers whose livelihoods revolve around cultivating land and raising animals to figure out how they can keep supplying the continent with food.

Under the new “green” restrictions, many generational farmers say that they risk bankruptcy or being forced out of the industry altogether. Even the government has admitted that “The honest message … is that not all farmers can continue their business.” That’s why, for more than a month now, large numbers of these Dutch farmers have protested government policies forcing them to wreak havoc on the nation’s agricultural industry.

A disruption like this, to a nation that is the “largest exporter of meat in Europe and the second largest exporter of food overall after the United States,” will also likely exacerbate food shortages caused by the Ukraine-Russia war throughout the European Union and other parts of the world.

Joe Biden is hell bent on cramming the Green New Deal down the throats of the American people through executive order.   So far, the Biden regime has done tremendous harm to the American economy by closing one major pipeline and a large number of wells.  The economy would be ground to a halt if the Green New Deal is implemented?

Joe Biden’s policies not 9000 unused drilling permits are responsible for skyrocketing gas prices

Posted: March 10, 2022 by Jon Fournier in Uncategorized
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It is truly ironic that the Biden regime declared that individuals spreading ‘misinformation’ are domestic terrorists because Joe Biden spreads an inordinate amount of actual misinformation.  Just this past Tuesday, Biden told a rather egregious whopper about what is causing gas prices to climb alarmingly fast, to record levels.  Joe Biden told the world that gas prices are high because domestic oil production is not keeping up to demand, because oil companies are not using 9000 drilling permits that were previously issued. 

This article, American Petroleum Institute: Biden ‘Misusing Facts’ When Talking About Unused Drilling Permits (legalinsurrection.com), proves this to be a mistruth.

“Just because you have a lease doesn’t mean there’s actually oil and gas in that lease, and there has to be a lot of development that occurs between the leasing and then ultimately permitting for that acreage to be productive,” he said. “I think that they’re purposefully misusing the facts here to advantage their position.”

This article, Biden’s U.S. Oil Embargo – WSJ, explains in great detail how Joe Biden’s radical policies are in fact responsible for the skyrocketing gas prices here in the United States.

On Tuesday he even blamed U.S. companies—not his policies—for not producing more. There are 9,000 available unused drilling permits, he claimed, and only 10% of onshore oil production takes place on federal land. Talk about a misdirection play.

First, companies have to obtain additional permits for rights of way to access leases and build pipelines to transport fuel. This has become harder under the Biden Administration. Second, companies must build up a sufficient inventory of permits before they can contract rigs because of the regulatory difficulties of operating on federal land.

It takes 140 days or so for the feds to approve a drilling permit versus two for the state of Texas. The Administration has halted onshore lease sales. Producers are developing leases more slowly since they don’t know when more will be available. Offshore leases were snapped up at a November auction because companies expect it might be the last one.

Different agencies under the Biden regime have worked hard at instituting policies that are responsible for the astronomically high gas prices, and will continue at their efforts, regardless how devastating they are to the American people.

Interior’s five-year leasing program for the Gulf of Mexico expires in June. Yet the Administration hasn’t promulgated a new plan. Nor did it appeal a liberal judge’s order in January revoking the November leases. But the Administration has appealed another judge’s order requiring that it hold lease sales.

Then there’s the not-small problem of financing. Companies can’t explore and drill, or build pipelines, without capital. Biden financial regulators allied with progressive investors are working to cut it off. The Labor Department has proposed a rule that would require 401(k) managers to consider the climate impact of their investment holdings.

The Securities and Exchange Commission is expected to issue a rule requiring companies and their financiers to disclose greenhouse gas emissions. Mr. Biden has nominated Sarah Bloom Raskin, of all people, to be the Federal Reserve’s top bank supervisor. Her top priority is using bank regulation to redirect capital from fossil fuels to green energy.

Joe Biden’s green energy policies are so odious they are affecting the long term strategic planning of American energy companies.

Large energy producers are buying back stock and redirecting capital to renewables because they see the Administration’s writing on the wall. Small independent producers are eager to take advantage of higher prices but can’t get loans. Many relied on private equity during the last shale boom, but now these firms are cutting them off.

Progressive outfit Global Energy Monitor gleefully proclaimed Tuesday that $244 billion in U.S. liquefied natural gas projects are stalled because they “are struggling to find financiers and buyers” amid “pressure from cheap renewables”—i.e., rich green energy subsidies that Democrats want to make richer—and “tightening climate commitments.”

This article, Is It Intentional or Simply Ignorance? – American Thinker, explains in great detail how the Biden regime’s energy policies are most definitely causing gas prices here in the United States to skyrocket.

Among a number of things going wrong in America right now, worst of all is our totally unnecessary, self-inflicted end to energy independence.

This one is particularly frustrating because it is so unnecessary and arbitrary.  Based purely on liberal arrogance and adolescent egotism — not on well-considered business factors or with the country’s long-term well-being in mind — “President” Biden canceled the Keystone Pipeline as soon as he occupied the Oval Office.  This was simply a ploy to curry favor with the Green voting bloc and do something to counter President Trump.  It was the act of a shallow emotional simpleton and his behind-the-scenes puppet masters trying to look good in the eyes of the Squad and the liberal media.

It’s not as if the cancelation of Keystone in and of itself ruined our energy sector.  Biden also stopped any fossil fuel exploration in ANWR, voided existing oil exploration and development leases on federal lands, and sharply curtailed the ability of existing oil and natural gas fracking companies to conduct their operations.  This has markedly reduced our supply, but far more important, it sent a message to the world oil market that any possibility of substantial new American oil was stopped dead in its tracks.  The result?  We’ve now got hyper-inflation-inducing higher crude oil pricing, even before the Ukraine-Russia fandango fanned those flames even higher.

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