Below are some interesting facts gleaned from articles from various sources, which are indicated following the facts.

What is the price on carbon?

In mid-August, Europe’s carbon price hit an all-time high of just over 99 euros (about US$99) for a ton of carbon dioxide emissions. It has since declined, but this was a watershed for the EU’s cap-and-trade carbon market, first launched in 2005. Under the program, companies can trade allowances for the tons of CO₂ they emit, so the higher the price the more incentive they have to cut emissions of the planet-warming gas.  – Bloomberg Green, Sept. 15

The cost of illegal immigration

The Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR) has released a new analysis to break through that notion, looking at the billions in extra burden the unchecked border crisis has added to the nation’s citizens.

Fox News reported on the data provided by FAIR that found since Biden took office there have been an estimated 1.3 million illegal immigrants released into the U.S. following encounters with immigration officials and roughly an additional one million “gotaways” who otherwise avoided Border Patrol to the tune of an added $20.4 billion per year.

The analysis broke down those costs into some readily understandable numbers such as each illegal immigrant costs $9,232 per year to support and found alternative uses for that $20.4 billion would include the ability to provide an annual salary of $50K for an entire decade for every homeless veteran residing in the United States. – American Wire News, Sept. 13

King Charles III pampered oddities

King Charles III of the United Kingdom is pampered. Some of the oddities include: Ironed shoelaces, valet squeeze one-inch of toothpaste onto his toothbrush, his pajamas are pressed every morning, a bath plug has to be in a certain position and water temperature just tepid and filled half full, he brings his own toilet seat and paper whenever he travels, his cheese and biscuits must be warmed to a certain temp at the end of meals. – New York Post, Sept. 13

Using a credit card to purchase a gun?

The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) has adopted a new merchant category code that is specific to sales at gun stores. The new code will change the classification of credit card purchases of guns and ammunition from the more general “sporting goods” category.

Visa, Mastercard, and American Express have all indicated they will comply with the new rules. 

“Perhaps the most concerning consequence of this new coding scheme is the fact that all of this information about individuals’ gun purchases will be easily accessible to the government, thanks to the so-called ‘third-party doctrine,'” said Amy Peikoff, Parler’s Head of Policy and Legal. That legal doctrine provides that any information shared with a “third party,” such as a credit card company, no longer enjoys the protection of the Fourth Amendment’s warrant requirement. – Parler

COVID vs. the flu

COVID could kill 125,000 people over the next 12 months, according to Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. Flu, by contrast, kills one average 50,000 in a bad year. – National Public Radio, Sept. 16