Tag Archives: Biden administration

Good News From The House Of Representatives

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In August, I posted an article about the Biden administration’s Department of Education interpreting a law in a way that withheld critical funds for elementary and secondary schools nationwide with hunting or archery programs in their curriculum. On Wednesday, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a bill blocking the government from withholding funds for schools with school shooting sports courses.

Fox News reported Wednesday:

The House voted late Tuesday evening in favor of legislation striking down the Biden administration’s decision to block federal funding for school shooting sports courses.

In a 424-1 vote, the House approved the Protecting Hunting Heritage and Education Act with 216 Republicans and 208 Democrats voting in favor, and just one lawmaker, Rep. Veronica Escobar, D-Texas, voting against. Rep. Mark Green, R-Tenn., introduced the bill on Aug. 1, days after a Fox News Digital report in late July revealed the Department of Education was withholding funds for school hunting and archery courses.

“Hunters and fishers are the best conservationists,” Green told Fox News Digital after the vote Tuesday. “Hunting, whether it be with a firearm or bow, is one of the most effective ways to control wildlife populations, protect our beautiful lands, and connect with nature. My Protecting Hunting Heritage and Education Act is critical for our children.”

The article concludes:

The law included an amendment to a subsection in the ESEA listing that prohibited uses for federal school funding. That amendment prohibits ESEA funds from helping provide any person with a dangerous weapon or to provide “training in the use of a dangerous weapon,” but, according to the BSCA’s sponsors, was included to prevent ESEA funding for school resource officer training.

Earlier this month, three of the four BSCA Senate sponsors — Sens. John Cornyn, R-Texas; Thom Tillis, R-N.C.; and Kyrsten Sinema, I-Ariz. — introduced companion legislation to Green’s bill.

“The Biden administration’s misinterpretation of these provisions has jeopardized educational enrichment programs like hunting and archery, which play a critical role in our next generation’s development and well-being,” Cornyn said Tuesday after the House vote. “This legislation would ensure these programs remain available in schools across the nation, and I urge the Senate to pass it as soon as possible.”

Democratic Sens. Jon Tester of Montana, Joe Manchin of West Virginia, Sherrod Brown of Ohio, Bob Casey of Pennsylvania, Maggie Hassan of New Hampshire, Tim Kaine of Virginia, Martin Heinrich of New Mexico, Tammy Baldwin of Wisconsin, Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota and Mark Kelly of Arizona have all spoken out against the Biden administration’s interpretation of the BSCA.

Keep in mind that the original block was not a law–it was a decision put in place by unelected bureaucrats. Congress is supposed to be the one making laws so that their members can be held accountable. Also keep in mind that the law passed by the House also has to go through the Senate and be signed by the President. It will be interesting to see if that happens.

Does Anyone Actually Believe This?

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On Saturday, Hot Air reported the latest amazing statement by White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre.

The article reports:

The Biden administration thinks you are stupid. White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said that Joe Biden has “done more to secure the border than anybody else.” She delivered that statement with a straight face to the press corps and no one laughed at her.

She has stated:

“Look, the president has done what he can from here, from the federal government, from the White House to put forth and manage our border in a safe and humane way to respect the dignity of every human, as he says all the time, and making sure that our communities are safe, and you have seen him do that,” Jean-Pierre said.

She later said: “The president has done more to secure the border and to deal with this issue of immigration than anybody else. He really has. June saw the single largest month-to-month drop in unlawful border crossing because of the policies this president put in place.”

The problem with the border is bi-partisan. As long as we keep electing Republicans who want cheap labor and Democrats who want future voters, we will have an open border. If the voters want change, they will have to vote in change. The conclusion of the article is very telling.

The article concludes:

Not only has Joe Biden thrown open the southern border to prove he is not Donald Trump, which we already knew anyway, but he is prosecuting Governor Abbott who has been left to fend for himself in protecting the Texas border with Mexico. Abbott began Operation Lone Star in March 2021 and the Biden DOJ has fought him ever since. Abbott is defending his buoy barrier in the Rio Grande River at Eagle Pass now. Think about that – the American president is trying to stop a governor from protecting a sovereign border. Biden’s top job is to protect the homeland, but, never mind.

The administration describes Abbott’s efforts as political stunts.

Jean-Pierre also said at the time: “We continue to see political stunts from many Republicans out there and that’s not how we’re going to fix this issue. They want to secure the border, we’ve been doing that work on our own, and we’re asking them to, ‘Hey, you know what? There’s an immigration reform plan that the president put out on the first day, they should work with us and do this in a bipartisan way.’”

You can’t make this up.

The problem with the Democrats’ “immigration reform” plan is that they demand blanket amnesty of all illegal aliens. That’s a deal-breaker for Republicans. Why would we reward law-breakers? Republicans were burned when Reagan agreed to amnesty during his administration. Democrats want the future voters. Republicans want law and order on the border. Just enforce the laws already on the books and put enough personnel on the border. That would be a solid start to bringing the situation back under control.

As long as you put a ‘poison pill’ in the bill that the Republicans cannot accept, you can continue to blame the Republicans for the lack of reform. Until the Republicans learn to (or want to) stand up to those tactics, we will have an open border.

Something To Watch

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We all remember the horrendous nuclear deal the Obama administration attempted to broker with Iran. It looks like the Biden administration is attempting the same thing.

On Tuesday, The Daily Wire reported the following:

A group of 26 Republican senators raised concerns about the Biden administration bypassing congressional authority to agree to a nuclear deal with Iran. 

In a letter — signed by the majority of Senate Republicans last week and addressed to Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen — the lawmakers voiced concerns with the Biden administration’s recent prisoner swap that sent $6 billion to the Iranian regime in a “secret negotiation.” 

When are we going to send $6 billion to Hawaii?

The article notes:

“When the Obama administration released $400 million in liquidated assets to Iran in 2016, we warned that this dangerous precedent would put a price on American lives. Seven years later, the current administration is providing a ransom payment worth at least fifteen times that amount to the world’s largest state sponsor of terror, in yet another violation of the United States’ long-standing ‘no concessions’ policy,” the senators wrote.

“The release of such a significant sum to the Iranian regime runs entirely counter to that claim and will only serve to encourage additional hostage taking for financial or political gain,” the letter continued.

The letter comes after House Intelligence Committee Chairman Mike Turner (R-OH) said earlier this month that the Biden administration’s prisoner swap with Iran involved a renewed Iran nuclear deal. The New York Times also reported that the agreement could increase the chances of Biden pursuing his goal of coming to the table with Iran over nuclear weapons. Last summer, Biden attempted to renew the Obama administration’s nuclear deal but ultimately failed. In 2018, former President Donald Trump withdrew from the agreement he routinely criticized as “horrible” and “one-sided.” 

America is rapidly going bankrupt. Sending billions of dollars to countries that hate us is not a wise expenditure.

Americans Are Waking Up To The Problems With Green Energy

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On Wednesday, The Daily Caller posted an article about American’s views on energy production in America.

The article reports:

An overwhelming majority of Americans support the idea of tearing up regulations to boost domestic energy production and independence, according to a new poll by Power the Future (PTF) obtained exclusively by the Daily Caller News Foundation.

Of those surveyed, 90% found at least somewhat convincing the argument that permitting reform would strengthen U.S. energy independence, enhance national security and allow the country to stand tall in the face of geopolitical challenges, with 64% of respondents saying that the idea was extremely or very convincing to them, the PTF poll found. Eighty-eight percent of the poll’s respondents support improvements to the federal permitting system for energy infrastructure projects in order to keep energy affordable and reliable.

Ninety percent of the surveyed individuals similarly responded that it is at least somewhat convincing that permitting reform is necessary to unlock the massive potential of U.S.-made energy and reestablish the country as a net energy exporter, the poll found. Eighty-eight percent of respondents found the premise that bureaucratic idling cannot be allowed to kill energy projects at least somewhat convincing, with 50% of respondents finding the idea very or extremely convincing.

Energy independence helps Americans in a number of ways. When energy is inexpensive and reliable, companies are willing to move manufacturing to America. Even with the higher cost of labor, if corporation taxes are relatively low and energy is inexpensive and reliable, American manufacturing grows, our trade balance improves, and the federal government actually collects more in taxes. Also Americans are able to travel more because of lower fuel prices, and American goods are more competitive with foreign imports. Energy independence is a win-win for American citizens.

The article concludes:

The poll sampled 1,600 registered voters across the country, pulling respondents of varied demographic and socioeconomic backgrounds. Energy policy is emerging as a key issue in the 2024 presidential race, as Republican candidates and officials have slammed the Biden administration’s sweeping climate agenda for its role in driving up costs for Americans and increasing dependence on adversarial countries.

The Biden administration has stated its goal of having the U.S. power sector achieve net-zero carbon dioxide emissions by 2035, and having the overall U.S. economy reach net-zero by 2050. Fossil fuels provided nearly 80% of the energy consumed by Americans in 2022, while just over 20% of consumed energy came from nuclear energy and green technology in 2022, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

What Supreme Court?

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When our Founding Fathers wrote the U.S. Constitution, they put in place a system of checks and balances that would theoretically prevent one branch of government or one person from becoming too powerful. That system only works when it is followed.

On Tuesday, The Epoch Times reported the following:

The Department of Education announced Monday that it will begin notifying more than 804,000 borrowers that their $39 billion in federal student loans will be “automatically discharged in the coming weeks.”

“The forthcoming discharges are a result of fixes implemented by the Biden-Harris Administration to ensure all borrowers have an accurate count of the number of monthly payments that qualify toward forgiveness under income-driven repayment (IDR) plans,” said the administration in an Aug. 14 press release—a month after the forgiveness plan was announced.

The department said that the forgiveness program was part of fixes to address “historical failures” in which “qualifying payments made under IDR plans that should have moved borrowers closer to forgiveness were not accounted for.”

This is the Biden administration’s workaround the Supreme Court decision that declared the student loan forgiveness program unconstitutional. There are a number of problems with this program, but one thing that needs to be looked at is the fact that the government is interfering in a contract. When these loans were taken out, the borrower agreed to pay them back. The government should not and does not have the power to interfere in a private contract.

The article notes the cost of the plan:

According to an estimate by the Department of Education, the SAVE plan will cost $138 billion over a decade.

However, the University of Pennsylvania’s Penn Wharton’s Budget Model predicts the cost to be more than three times that. “We estimate SAVE will incur a net cost of $475 billion over the 10-year budget window,” a July 17 post about the Budget Model said.

The article concludes:

In a June 30 statement, Alfredo Ortiz, president and CEO of Job Creators Network, slammed President Biden for criticizing the Supreme Court order striking down his student loan forgiveness plan and his vowing to find another way to push ahead with it.

“President Biden shamelessly failed to recognize a co-equal branch of government in his remarks,” Mr. Ortiz said. “Rather than respecting the court’s decision, Biden promised more executive overreach to forgive student loan debt. His proposals include expanded income-driven repayment plans and a 12-month grace period when payments are set to restart this fall.”

Please follow the link to read the entire article. It includes the details of how to apply and how the Biden administration claims to be within the law.

Training the Sheep

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Author: R. Alan Harrop, Ph.D

Freedom is not a permanent state in any society. It is better visualized as something that has to be nurtured and defended constantly if it is to survive. The Founding Fathers recognized this truism. For example, Benjamin Franklin when asked what type of government had been created by the newly written Constitution, he replied: “A constitutional Republic if you can keep it.” Sadly, recent actions by the Biden regime raise the question of whether we are going to show the courage to fight for freedom or act like sheep.

The expansion of the welfare state and people’s willingness to be on the government dole, which would have been rejected by prior generations, shows that many Americans do not treasure their independence as much as we once did. All government handouts come with strings attached that limit our freedoms. Federal government funds provided for Medicaid expansion recently moved many states, including unfortunately North Carolina, to accept increased government control of our healthcare.

The use of fear by the Biden regime resulted in many people caving to the curtailment of their freedoms during the COVID outbreak. Similarly, they are using the fear of catastrophic climate change to get people to accept restricted freedom and a reduction in their standard of living. For example, recently proposed, impossible to achieve, restrictions on emissions from internal combustion engines will effectively result in only the production of electric vehicles by 2032. Freedom of choice is eliminated when the government allows only one option. That is also the case with gas stoves and other household appliances. The regulatory agencies are increasingly the way the Biden regime is controlling our lives and curtailing our freedoms.

Freedom of speech is the basis of all our freedoms. As the revelations made by the Republican controlled House have shown, the Biden regime, with the assistance of the FBI and the DOJ, colluded with platforms like Facebook and Twitter to interfere and block our freedom of speech. Questioning vaccines or man-made climate change were enough to get one blocked on these internet sites. Now, they have gone so far as to charge former president Trump with multiple criminal offenses because he dared to express his opinion that the 2020 election results were fraudulently obtained. Say something the Biden regime disagrees with and you are blocked on social media, or now, potentially indicted for a crime! If it can happen to an ex-president it can happen to all of us.

The youth of this country are being indoctrinated with the Marxist agenda. Make no mistake about it. This not only occurs at all grade levels in our public schools but also in our public libraries. Recently, I was in the public library in Boone, N.C., and observed a group of children on a scavenger hunt. The theme was the coming man-made climate catastrophe. The library staff conducted this program. No balanced information was given about the evidence that climate change is continuous and is caused by natural phenomena. Of course not!

Although the young people in our country seem oblivious to their loss of freedoms, we older people know better and must step up to fight against the Biden regime. Contact your elected officials and tell them you want the regulatory excesses stopped and the agencies that promote them de-funded. We must show them we are wolves not sheep!

We Need A President Who Will Put Americans’ Interests First

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Every four years, we elect a President of America. That person is not elected to be President of the world, he is elected to be President of America. Lately it seems as if some of our Presidents have forgotten this basic fact.

On Friday, Issues & Insights reported:

The Biden administration has just spent two years negotiating with a group of foreign countries to raise taxes on U.S. companies operating overseas. Now we’re being told it’s been “delayed” for two more years. But why delay a bad decision? It’s an awful idea that should be rejected out of hand.

“Americans have already been crushed by inflation caused by the Biden administration,” argued West Virginia congresswoman Carol Miller, in a recent op-ed. “But now, they want to add fuel to the fire by giving American taxes to foreign countries, raising costs for Americans, and sticking us with the bill for funding a global socialist agenda.”

Her analysis is spot on. The U.S. Treasury and White House have no business negotiating a deal to subvert America’s sovereignty and erode its economic power, which the accord with the 38-nation Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), headquartered in the ultra-deluxe Château de la Muette in Paris, is clearly meant to do.

For the record, the U.S. already imposes a 10.5% minimum tax on U.S. businesses’ foreign income, and last year imposed a 15% “global minimum tax” on big multinational companies’ profits. And the standard corporate rate here in the U.S. is now already 21%, well above 15%. So what’s the issue?

Under the OECD “deal” that both President Joe Biden and Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen have embraced, there’s something called the Undertaxed Profits Rule (UTPR). That guideline basically would let other countries tax a U.S. company at a higher rate if the country determines that it is paying less than the 15% somewhere else. And the other country, not the U.S. taxpayer, gets the revenue.

The opportunity from this rule for global tax abuse and even graft are clear. Moreover, U.S. tax rates by law have always been determined by Congress and the president, not by foreign bureaucrats.

The first thing to understand here is that corporations do NOT pay taxes–they simply consider them a business cost and past the expense on to consumers. Higher taxes mean lower wages for employees and higher prices for the product produced.

The article concludes:

The House Ways and Means Committee has already held hearings, and will no doubt hold more in the future to halt or radically change the Biden-Yellen “deal,” which excluded congressional input. No doubt, more hearings are on the way.

Meanwhile, a post from the Committee’s website after a hearing earlier this month said it all: “Committee Members found the proposal would hurt American companies, kill American jobs, give Chinese Communist Party-sponsored businesses a global economic advantage, and surrender $120 billion in U.S. tax revenue.”

Sound like a good deal to you?

Who does our representative government represent?

Weaponizing Climate Change

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Author: R.Alan Harrop, Ph.D.

A rational discussion of climate variation should be acceptable to everyone. Question: Do Marxist climate extremists want a rational discussion and investigation? Obviously not. They are increasingly using climate change as a weapon to further their radical Marxist ideologies. Let’s see how they are doing this.

First of all, they are acting more like cultists than objective, rational investigators. Cults are based on emotional commitments that exclude others who do not share their beliefs. Labeling people who question their beliefs that climate warming is caused by man-made use of fossil fuels rather than natural causes as “climate change deniers” does not foster rational inquiry and debate.

Second, as a recent book by Jeremy Williams shows, they are now claiming that climate change is racist and an example of white supremacy. He claims that Blacks and other minorities suffer disproportionately from the negative impacts of man-made climate change. Since the United States, Canada and Australia, use much more electricity per person, than say, African countries like Madagascar it must be due to racism. Also, since many polluting factories are located in communities with a higher concentration of Blacks; this is more evidence of white privilege.

Third, the Marxists are good at re-inventing the meaning of words to further their agenda. Jeremy Williams claims that climate change is actually a form of violence perpetrated on Black people. He equates it with alleged police brutality using George Floyd’s death as a parallel. All this is intended, of course, to justify the actions of groups like Black Lives Matter and give them another reason (i.e. climate change) to strike out towards Whites.

Clearly, the climate extremists are using these tactics to attack Western civilization, industrialism, and capitalism. Their solution is a typical Marxist one: more extensive government control of our lives– including what we eat, where we live, where we travel, etc. They are very pleased with the Biden regime not only greatly expanding tax money spent on solar/wind energy, blocking pipelines and drilling, and encouraging Federal agencies to implement restrictive regulations against gas stoves, reasonably priced home appliances, and gas vehicle emissions. All of these actions will increase the cost of living for all Americans, especially the middle class.

This Marxist attack on Western Civilization must be stopped if we are to survive as a nation. China is applauding our caving in to the destruction of our own country by these Marxist extremists while they build a new coal powered plant on average of one per week!

 

First They Came For Our Shower Heads…

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On Sunday, The New York Post reported that the Biden administration is now targeting gas generators and gas water heaters.

The article reports:

Water heaters could soon be subject to much more stringent efficiency requirements if a recent Department of Energy proposal that has been criticized by Republican lawmakers goes into effect.

In a draft rule unveiled Friday, the Biden administration is seeking to compel most electric water heaters to deploy heat pump technology and gas-fired ones to use condensing technology.

It comes months after the Biden administration ignited a firestorm over feared stove top regulations, after Albany lawmakers enacted a controversial first-in-the-nation gas stove ban in New York.

“Today’s actions—together with our industry partners and stakeholders—improve outdated efficiency standards for common household appliances, which is essential to slashing utility bills for American families and cutting harmful carbon emissions,” Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm said in a statement. 

Water heaters that have tanks are not as efficient as tankless gas water heaters. Heat pump technology is not efficient below about 40 degrees. The idea of getting everyone off of gas is not about ecology–it’s about control–it’s easy to shut off electricity or limit it if someone says the wrong thing or supports the wrong cause.

The article illustrates some of the reaction to this move:

“First they came for your gas stoves. Then they came for your dishwashers. Next they came for your water heaters and air conditioners. Now the Biden apparatchiks are coming for your portable gas generators,” Forbes contributor David Blackmon tweeted.

“From the people who want showers and faucets without enough water pressure, dishwashers that don’t fully clean, washers and dryers that fully wash or dry, etc. they now want water heaters that don’t fully and quickly heat. All in the name of ‘environmentalism’ or ‘climate change,’” Ken Gardner tweeted.

“Leave us alone. These products already exist in the free market. Consumers should decide whether the upfront cost of a heat-pump water heater is worth the possible long term savings. In many cases, the monthly savings never make up for the upfront cost of the equipment,” Rep. Thomas Massive (R-Ky.) tweeted.

Somehow I don’t think this is what our Founding Fathers had in mind when they established our government. I wonder if the White House and the Capitol Building are planning on changing their water heaters.

Creating Policies That Are Unconstitutional

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On Friday, The Federalist posted an article about a new policy that the Biden administration is creating. Recently, Forsyth County Public Schools (FCPS), a school district outside of Atlanta, reviewed their school libraries to flag age-inappropriate sexual material for removal.

The article explains what happened next:

Though the review process focused exclusively on sexual content and ended with the return of nearly all of the books under inspection to school library shelves, the Education Department’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR) nevertheless opened an investigation into whether the district’s book review had created a “hostile environment” based on race and sex that the school district had unlawfully failed to remedy.

Rather than invite federal sanctions, FCPS cut short this investigation by entering into a resolution agreement with OCR. One particularly concerning provision of that “voluntary” agreement requires the school district to issue a statement reassuring students “that the District strives to provide a global perspective and promote diversity” in curating its library catalog — despite the fact that no federal civil rights law mandates such acts of worship at the altar of so-called diversity, equity, and inclusion.

On June 8, the White House made clear that the FCPS matter was not an isolated investigation, announcing that OCR will appoint a new “coordinator” to warn state and local education agencies that heeding parents’ calls to remove sexually explicit books from school libraries could trigger the agency’s enforcement authority, including the withholding of federal funding.

The article concludes:

The Biden Education Department’s illegal interference in school library decisions is calculated to intimidate parents and school districts that want to ensure children do not read graphic sexual content at school. The real civil rights violation at issue here is OCR’s impermissible chilling of First Amendment rights regarding what books are appropriate for public school students. The president’s claimed authority to silence concerned parents and restrain school districts from curating library books is nothing more than fiction.

Something is very wrong here. What kind of people want our school students reading sexually explicit material? What are they attempting to do to the minds of the children? At this point, any parent with any common sense needs to remove their children from public schools.

The Biden Administration Should Review The History Of Gypsy Moths

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In June of 2022, I posted an article about some of the things that have occurred as a result of man trying to improve scientifically on the work of Mother Nature. I am not against science, but I think that sometimes we get way out over our skis.

The article detailed a few times mankind has tried to improve on mother nature and the results:

Over the years, men have done things in the realm of nature that have not exactly worked out as they planned. The Marine Mammals Protection Act of 1972 resulted in a dramatic increase of the seal population off off Cape Cod, Massachusetts. That was a nice gesture to save the seals, but it resulted in an influx of great white sharks in the area because of the increased food supply for the sharks. There is also the example of kudzu, which was introduced to Americans during the Philadelphia Centennial Exposition in 1876 where it was touted as a great ornamental plant for its sweet-smelling blooms and sturdy vines. From the 1930’s to the 1950’s the Soil Conservation Service promoted it as a great tool for soil erosion control and planting it was encouraged throughout the south. Kudzu is now recognized as an invasive plant and has killed multiple trees throughout the southern United States. Gypsy moths came from a scientist in Massachusetts who was trying to breed a more hearty breed of silkworm to create silk for America. A few escaped and have the resulting moths have now gone as far south as New Jersey. It’s not good to mess with mother nature.

Our track record in the area of improving the work of Mother Nature is not good.

On Sunday, BizPacReview reported the following:

The Biden administration’s fervor to radically transform America’s energy infrastructure to battle the alleged global warming apocalypse has spurred the White House to consider an idea that could have come directly out of a science fiction disaster movie, blocking out the rays of the sun, a risky scheme but one which is increasingly popular among the climate cult crazies.

In a new report that was released on Friday, the regime expressed an openness to solar radiation modification, a geoengineering theory that could reduce the effects of climate change by reflecting sunlight away from the Earth’s surface, a concept that could come with potentially dangerous consequences, not the least of which would be to trigger the climate doomsday that the hysterics are trying to prevent.

“A program of research into the scientific and societal implications of solar radiation modification (SRM) would enable better-informed decisions about the potential risks and benefits of SRM as a component of climate policy, alongside the foundational elements of greenhouse gas emissions mitigation and adaptation,” the report said. “SRM offers the possibility of cooling the planet significantly on a timescale of a few years.”

The report, titled “Congressionally-Mandated Report on Solar Radiation Modification,” was published on the White House website and lists methods of geoengineering known as “stratospheric aerosol injection (SAI) and marine cloud brightening” being considered to block the sun.

However, the White House noted that the review was done according to a congressional directive and that “there are no plans underway to establish a comprehensive research program focused on solar radiation modification.”

Hang on to your hats; this could be a VERY bumpy ride.

Why We Can’t Have Nice Things

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On Thursday, Issues & Insights posted an article about the impact the Biden administration has had on the pocketbooks of Americans. It’s not a pretty picture.

The article notes:

In one of the most memorable presidential debate moments, Ronald Reagan asked voters if they were better off in 1980 than they were when Jimmy Carter was elected in 1976. The obvious answer was, for most, a resounding “no.” Whoever runs against the Democratic nominee next year needs to bring back that question, because it’s a certainty that in the fall of 2024, we’ll still be worse off than we were in pre-pandemic 2020.

And for that, we can thank, or rather blame, Joe Biden.

In a poll taken earlier this year, 41% of Americans said they were financially worse off than they were two years earlier when Biden took office, the highest number in “ABC News/Washington Post polls dating back 37 years.” Only 16% said they were better off, the lowest number since 2009, when only 8% said their financial situations were better.

At roughly the same time in Donald Trump’s term, only 13% said they were worse off than when he became president while a quarter said their finances had improved.

An America struggling under Biden is not a new development. In a survey conducted in the spring of 2022, 52% said they were worse off than a year earlier; 39% said they expected to be worse off in one year than they were when they were asked the question in June.

Last year’s New York Times|Momentive Poll further discovered that “The number of people who expect periods of widespread unemployment or depression to occur in the next five years has risen to 71%, another new high,” while 41% said “now is a bad time to make large purchases.” This was “up from 36% in April and slightly” exceeded “the 39% that number reached in April 2020 at the start of the COVID pandemic.” 

A few months after those poll results were released, the Heritage Foundation published an analysis that determined the average American had lost $4,200 in annual income since Biden stumbled into the Oval Office.

It’s where we are, folks. I will make a calculated guess that most Americans want the economy to improve. Unfortunately, under the Biden administration, the economy will not improve. When the economy tanks in the next month of two, the Democrats will blame the Republicans for not raising the debt ceiling. That’s how Washington works. A recession is coming. The only way the Democrats can avoid being blamed is if the Republicans refuse to raise the debt ceiling–then the Democrats can blame the Republicans. Refusing to raise the debt ceiling will not be the cause of the recession, but Americans who watch the mainstream media will not know that. Hang on to your hats–the next two years is going to be rough, and if a Democrat is elected to the White House in 2024, the next six years are going to be very rough.

Can We Please Get Back To Merit-Based Promotions?

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You have to admit that the Biden administration is diverse. There are people in high positions representing all sectors of society. However, there seems to be a lack of people qualified to do their job. We have had supply chain problems, airline problems, train problems, etc., while the Transportation Secretary tells us that highways are racist. Was he appointed because he was the most qualified person or because he represented a minority sexual orientation? Actually some highways are racist. The parkways on Long Island were specifically built with bridges too low for buses from New York City to go through. The people who lived on Long Island did not want the city residents taking buses to the beaches there. That is racist, but that is also the1950’s–before the civil rights movement. There are other examples of questionable cabinet appointments in the Biden administration, but I am sure you get my point.

On Sunday, The Daily Caller reported that General Mark Milley is retiring as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff later this year.

The article reports:

  • Air Force chief of staff Gen. Charles Q. “C.Q.” Brown and Marine Corps commandant Gen. David Berger have emerged as the top contenders to replace Gen. Mark Milley as President Joe Biden’s top adviser on military issues after Milley’s retirement in October.
  • The Biden administration’s perception of China’s military designs will dictate his decision more than anything else, experts said.
  • “I think General Berger would be more unflappable but that General Brown might be more inspirational,” Patrick Cronin, Asia-Pacific security chair at Hudson Institute, told the Daily Caller News Foundation.

Both contenders to replace Gen. Mark Milley as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff later this year are focused on change to counter China, but one is prone to radical changes while the other affirms the administration’s ideological priorities, experts told the Daily Caller News Foundation.

With Milley, a Trump appointee, set to retire by October, President Joe Biden is expected to announce his pick to replace the outgoing Army four-star soon between top prospects Air Force chief of staff Gen. Charles Q. “C.Q.” Brown and Marine Corps commandant Gen. David Berger, according to The New York Times. Both would differ from Milley’s gregarious leadership style, but while Brown has experience in a key area of operations and satisfies the Biden administration’s focus on Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) in public service, Berger has shown the grit to make radical, if difficult, changes necessary for coming great power conflict, according to defense experts and media

Is it racist to point out that one of the candidates is black? Does that give him an edge? If he is appointed, will it be because he is the best man for the job or because of the Biden administration’s focus on diversity? The problem with the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) agenda is that you never know if the person you are dealing with got the job because he was qualified or because of some other factor. That is unfair to the person who got the job and unfair to the people who did not get the job. DEI is racism disguised as equality.

 

 

 

Do These Regulations Look Familiar?

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The mid-term elections are behind us and even though it is way too early, attention has turned to the 2024 presidential election. One of the challenges to whomever the Democrat candidate is will whether or not the crisis at our southern (and now northern) border is resolved. The Biden administration has a plan for that. Actually, it bears a striking resemblance to the Trump administration plan.

On Tuesday, The Daily Wire reported:

The Biden administration proposed a new restriction on asylum seekers that closely resembles a policy from the Trump administration.

The new rule would prevent migrants who do not use already available legal pathways to asylum and do not seek asylum in a third country from applying for asylum in the U.S. Biden Administration officials said the rule was proposed in response to the end of Title 42 immigration restrictions. It also closely resembles a Trump administration policy which similarly banned asylum seekers who did not first seek asylum in another country.

The article concludes:

After a public comment period, the new restrictions will go into effect on May 11th, the same day that the Biden administration intends to end the COVID-19 national and public health emergencies. Title 42 restrictions, which allow authorities to turn migrants away due to public health concerns, are also scheduled to end then.

The new restrictions closely resemble a similar asylum ban implemented by the Trump administration. Those restrictions, referred to as both “asylum bans” and “transit bans,” were highly controversial and bitterly fought over in the courts from the beginning of former President Trump’s term. The Trump-era bans were blocked by the courts in 2018 and 2020; the final rule was implemented on Trump’s last full day in office, but a judge struck that down as well.

Democrats and immigration advocates decried the new rules because of the similarities to Trump policies. But the Biden administration dismissed those criticisms, and noted that they have provided alternative pathways for migrants to seek asylum. In January, DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas rejected the comparisons, saying that his plan was based on “a rebuttable presumption of ineligibility. And there’s a marked difference between the two,” he said, via The Hill.

The South American refugees coming through Mexico are a much better fit for asylum in Mexico than in America. They share the Spanish language and culture. Mexico needs its patriots and those willing to join its patriots to stand up to the thugs that are attempting to take it over. I realize that is easier said than done, but we need both a strong border and a strong Mexican government to put an end to the refugee crisis.

Giving Away American Sovereignty?

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On Saturday, The Epoch Times posted the following headline:

Biden Admin Negotiates Deal to Give WHO Authority Over US Pandemic Policies

The next line says:

New international health accord avoids necessary Senate approval

Is anyone else getting tired of the Biden administration’s total disregard for the U.S. Constitution?

The article reports:

The Biden administration is preparing to sign up the United States to a “legally binding” accord with the World Health Organization (WHO) that would give this Geneva-based UN subsidiary the authority to dictate America’s policies during a pandemic.

Despite widespread criticism of the WHO’s response to the COVID pandemic, U.S. Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Xavier Becerra joined with WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus in September 2022 to announce “the U.S.-WHO Strategic Dialogue.” Together, they developed a “platform to maximize the longstanding U.S. government-WHO partnership, and to protect and promote the health of all people around the globe, including the American people.”

These discussions and others spawned the “zero draft” (pdf) of a pandemic treaty, published on Feb. 1, which now seeks ratification by all 194 WHO member states. A meeting of the WHO’s Intergovernmental Negotiating Body (INB) is scheduled for Feb. 27 to work out the final terms, which all members will then sign.

Written under the banner of “the world together equitably,” the zero draft grants the WHO the power to declare and manage a global pandemic emergency. Once a health emergency is declared, all signatories, including the United States, would submit to the authority of the WHO regarding treatments, government regulations such as lockdowns and vaccine mandates, global supply chains, and monitoring and surveillance of populations.

Let’s look back on the successes and failures of following the WHO policies during the Covid pandemic. Sweden refused the lockdown suggested by the WHO and (according to the BBC) suffered a death rate of 185.9 per 100,000 people. America locked down and suffered a death rate of 308.6 per 100,000. I don’t think the lockdowns had the desired effect.

The article continues:

The WHO pandemic treaty is part of a two-track effort, coinciding with an initiative by the World Health Assembly (WHA) to create new global pandemic regulations that would also supersede the laws of member states. The WHA is the rule-making body of the WHO, comprised of representatives from the member states.

“Both [initiatives] are fatally dangerous,” Francis Boyle, professor of international law at Illinois University, told The Epoch Times. “Either one or both would set up a worldwide medical police state under the control of the WHO, and in particular WHO Director-General Tedros. If either one or both of these go through, Tedros or his successor will be able to issue orders that will go all the way down the pipe to your primary care physicians.”

Physician Meryl Nass told The Epoch Times: “If these rules go through as currently drafted, I, as a doctor, will be told what I am allowed to give a patient and what I am prohibited from giving a patient whenever the WHO declares a public health emergency. So they can tell you you’re getting remdesivir, but you can’t have hydroxychloroquine or ivermectin. What they’re also saying is they believe in equity, which means everybody in the world gets vaccinated, whether or not you need it, whether or not you’re already immune.”

This is an unacceptable loss of American freedom and American sovereignty.

What An Incredible Coincidence.

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Somehow President Biden and the Environmental Protection Agency don’t seem too interested in the train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio. At least they were not all that interested until President Trump said that he would visit the area.

On Friday, The Conservative Treehouse reported the following:

The announcement by President Trump with his intent to visit East Palestine next Wednesday, followed moments later by a reversal announcement from FEMA stating they will now offer support to East Palestine, do not seem coincidental.

The Biden administration, including the EPA, FEMA and Transporation Secretary, was likely very worried about the optics of getting blasted by President Trump very visibly next week for their lack of urgency and concern. Moments after Trump announces his visit, FEMA reverses their prior denial of aid. lol

On Friday, wkyc reported:

Just hours after saying he “[did] not expect” members of the Federal Emergency Management Agency to be in East Palestine, Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine now confirms the government entity will, in fact, be sending a crew to assist with the aftermath of the train derailment in the village.

In a joint statement released Friday night, DeWine and FEMA Regional Administrator Thomas C. Sivak said the agency would deploy a Regional Incident Management Assistance Team (IMAT) to Columbiana County starting Saturday, along with a senior response official. The workers will “support ongoing operations, including incident coordination and ongoing assessments of potential long-term recovery needs.”

The article at wkyc concludes:

It is unknown what changed in the time since those remarks, but the governor did confirm he would “preemptively file a document with FEMA to preserve our rights in case we need their assistance in the future.” DeWine has not declared the crash aftermath to be a federal disaster, perhaps because of concerns doing that could shield the Norfolk Southern Railway from liability.

“Let’s say, for example, the railroad stops paying, for whatever reason,” DeWine said Friday of filing the paper. “We’re still going to go after the railroad, but we want to make sure that there will be support for people if that support does, in fact, stop from the railroad.”

The wreckage from the freight train led to the release of multiple potentially toxic materials both into the air and into waterways. The Ohio Environmental Protection Agency has continued to say both the air and municipal drinking water are safe, with DeWine adding that a chemical plume in the Ohio River has since completely dissipated.

Some of us don’t think that the reason for the change is unknown.

Your Tax Dollars At Work

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On Saturday, Townhall reported that the Biden administration has spent millions of taxpayer dollars on dental and healthcare for illegal immigrants.

The article reports:

In an annual report released by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the Biden Administration spent hundreds of millions of dollars to ensure illegal immigrants were well taken care of. 

The ICE Health Service Corps’ budget was about $324 million, which was an $8 million increase from the year prior. 

According to the report, the money was spent on providing “direct care – including medical and dental health services – to over 118,000 non-citizens housed at 19 IHSC-operated facilities throughout the United States, which exceeded 1.1 million visits over the course of the fiscal year.”

At taxpayers’ expense, illegal migrants are treated to “an initial medical screening, including for mental health needs, as well as all necessary follow-up care” once they have illegally entered the U.S. 

Even migrants flagged as “public safety” are still given these cushy services. 

Last month, the Biden Administration approved Washington state’s request to offer health care insurance to undocumented immigrants, thanks to the Affordable Care Act (ACA).

The state will expand access to qualified health plans as well as dental care regardless of immigration status. 

No wonder illegals are forcing their way into our country when Biden gives out cushy incentives. 

The Federation for American Immigration Reform published a study that shows that for the U.S. to provide the so-called “necessary” needs for illegal migrants, American citizens must burden an additional $20.4 billion every year.

This comes as Texas Attorney General, Ken Paxton, announced he was suing the Biden Administration over a rule that punishes taxpayers to pay for the cost of illegal immigration. 

How many Americans are foregoing dental care because they cannot afford it? At some point, we need to stop the gravy trail for illegals and begin taking care of American citizens. How many veterans are living on the streets of America? Where is the help that they need?

Bad News For America

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On Saturday, The Daily Caller reported that President Biden has agreed to having America pay climate reparations to the rest of the world. Yes, I know that’s not what they are calling it, but that’s what it is.

The article reports:

The Biden administration and nearly 200 world governments agreed on Saturday to a framework that would have richer countries compensate poorer nations for damages allegedly caused by carbon emissions at the United Nations COP27 climate conference, according to Reuters.

Wealthy nations will create a “loss and damage” fund that will provide money to countries that have suffered from climate-related “disasters” such as droughts or hurricanes, according to a draft proposal seen by Reuters. However, most of the details of the financial framework will be decided and agreed upon in 2023 at the next COP conference that will take place in Dubai.

In March 2016, I reported the following (article here):

…former United Nations climate official Ottmar Edenhofer:

“One has to free oneself from the illusion that international climate policy is environmental policy. This has almost nothing to do with the environmental policy anymore, with problems such as deforestation or the ozone hole,” said Edenhofer, who co-chaired the U.N.’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change working group on Mitigation of Climate Change from 2008 to 2015.

So what is the goal of environmental policy?

“We redistribute de facto the world’s wealth by climate policy,” said Edenhofer.

The Biden administration is part of the move toward worldwide socialism. This latest giveaway of American taxpayer dollars is part of that effort.

The article concludes:

COP27 has been dominated by the debate surrounding a plan to compensate developing nations for climate damages, according to Reuters. The European Union said Thursday that it would support such a framework if China, the world’s chief polluter, would provide funding and if the money raised was exclusively earmarked for developing countries that are destitute to ensure that China did not benefit from the proposal, according to the WSJ.

After agreeing to the climate financing framework, the U.S. also called for the inclusion of a pledge to phase out all fossil fuels which would build on the 2021 agreement to “phase down” coal use, according to Bloomberg.

The White House and United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change did not immediately respond to the DCNF’s request for comment.

This is another reason we need to vote the Biden administration out of office in 2024.

President Trump Is Running

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I watched President Trump’s speech Tuesday night. It was a reminder to me of how much things have changed in the past two years. I remember when my grocery bill was a lot lower and it cost me less to fill up my gas tank. I remember when my stock portfolio was not scary to check. I remember when our southern border was on the way to being secured and the amount of drugs coming over that border decreased. I remember when we weren’t sending millions of dollars and some ‘noncombatant’ soldiers overseas to support a war. The country is not in a good place right now. Under the current leadership of both parties, the country will not return to a good place.

Temporarily at least, the uni-party has won. The Republicans have taken control of the House of Representatives, but there are no indications of a change in leadership. I will believe that there will be honest investigations of the misdeeds of the Biden family and the Biden administration when I see them. I am not optimistic.

Meanwhile, this mid-term election taught us the difference between ballots and votes. Votes are in-person and have some degree of assurance that the person is a legal voter and is who they say they are. Mail-in ballots and ballot harvesting are two of the biggest invitations to voter fraud that we have. I am willing to bet that until we deal with mail in ballots and ballot harvesting, we will never see another Republican President.

I have some thoughts for the never-Trumpers. They are all over the internet today fact-checking and criticizing. Were they not paying attention during the four years Donald Trump was President? How did their household budgets look? How much were they paying for gas? Did they enjoy the benefits of America becoming energy independent? Did they feel safer knowing that America’s southern border was being secured? If you don’t support President Trump, keep in mind that any Republican candidate who is not part of the uni-party (and I am not sure there is anyone in leadership who fits that description) will be subject to the same sort of attack that has been waged against President Trump. Do you believe anyone else would be willing to fight back against that attack?

The uni-party in Washington cannot afford to have an outsider become President. They like their power, and they want to hold on to it. Expect a media, Justice Department, and political attack on President Trump the likes of which we have never seen.

Stopping The Mutilation Of Children

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On Saturday, The Daily Caller posted an article about a recent decision by a federal judge regarding the issue of gender identity.

The article reports:

A federal judge has reversed a Biden Administration rule that directed the Department of Health and Human Services to increase access to sex change surgeries and hormone therapies, including to children, in a Friday ruling.

Biden’s HHS said in May 2021 that it would interpret a section of the Affordable Care Act, which bars doctors from discriminating on the basis of sex, as covering sexual orientation and gender identity. Two doctors represented by the America First Legal Foundation brought a class action lawsuit against the Biden administration after the HHS took the action, arguing that the rule would interfere with their ability to properly practice medicine.

The judge argued that the Biden administration’s interpretation of Title IX to include “gender identity,” was faulty and could not be changed until Congress passed a law to that effect, or the Supreme Court ruled otherwise.

In recent years, we as Americans have subverted the lawmaking process our Founding Fathers put into place. Many, if not all, of our laws are being made by government agencies and Executive Orders rather than Congress. Executive Orders are easily overturned by subsequent Presidents, but laws by the bureaucracy seem to go unchallenged.

The article concludes:

The judge also added that by extending sex protections to individuals who identified with a sex other than their biological sex, the purpose of Title IX was compromised.

“Defendants’ reinterpretation of Title IX through the Notification imperils the very opportunities for women Title IX was designed to promote and protect — categorically forcing biological women to compete against biological men.”

Several states have moved to ban sex change procedures for minors. Florida’s Board of Medicine has voted to ban sex change surgeries and hormones for children under 18. Tennessee lawmakers introduced a bill to ban the procedures Wednesday.

The way to treat gender dysphoria is not to surgically confirm it–the way to treat it is to find the underlying cause or simply wait for the child to outgrow it.

Why The Red Wave Was A Trickle

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On Friday, The American Thinker posted an article explaining the forces that blocked the overwhelming Republican victory that should have happened in the mid-term elections.

The first headwind that the red wave encountered was the Republican Elites who do not want to give up their power (despite the fact that they have not used their power to help average Americans in any way).

The article notes:

What response did the Republicans make to the Dems’ constant drumbeat about Republican fascism leading up to the election? As far as I can tell, it was mostly crickets. They were overconfident and complacent. They spent three weeks beating their chests about the “red wave” and talking big about what they’d do when they took control of Congress. While they were doing that, the Democrats and their media allies were scaring the bejesus out of their base and, as a result, they turned out in droves.

When I read that Mitch McConnell called Joe O’Dea, a Colorado Senate candidate, “the perfect candidate,” I shuddered because conservatives dislike McConnell almost as much as they dislike Nancy Pelosi. That statement probably cost O’Dea support among rural conservatives.

There was also the matter of denying money to candidates that McConnell knew would not support him as Senate majority or minority leader.

The second headwind was the garbage the media was constantly feeding Americans.

The article reports:

…Americans don’t see the threat to our freedoms that vaccine and mask mandates and lockdowns were and are. They also don’t understand that someone must pay the bill for government handouts, either directly as confiscatory taxes or indirectly as rampant inflation or hyperinflation.

As a result, they tend to vote for the person who promises them something for nothing. Many are mush-heads who will be gobsmacked with the business failures, job losses, foreclosures, bankruptcies, shortages, and other chaos that will inevitably result from the Biden administration’s policies.

The third headwind was early voting. It skews the results by letting those who engage in stuffing ballot boxes how many ballots they need to create.

The article notes:

Early voting is the sleeper contributor to last night’s losses. It gives both parties an advance detailed picture of how many people voted, who voted, who is likely to vote but hasn’t yet, and what party voters support or belong to. With all the massive databases out there and modern computers, they have a pretty good idea of how many votes they need to produce to win an election and where to go to get them, days before election day.

The Democrats have turned early voting and stuffing drop boxes into a science.

Please follow the link to the article to read the details. The Republicans who still believe in the Republican platform need to get their heads out of the sand and change their Washington leadership.

Ballots vs. Votes

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On Wednesday, The Conservative Treehouse posted an article analyzing Tuesday’s election. The article notes that there is a distinction between the Republicans view voting and the way the Democrats view voting. The Republicans emphasize votes; the Democrats emphasize ballots.

The article notes:

As the political discussion centers on the 2022 wins and losses from the midterm election, one thing that stands out in similarity to the 2020 general election is the difference between ballots and votes. It appears in some states this is the ‘new normal.’

Where votes were the focus, the Biden administration suffered losses. Where ballots were the focus, the Biden administration won.

Perhaps the two states most reflective of ‘ballots’ being more important than ‘votes’ are Michigan and Pennsylvania.  Despite negative polling and public opinion toward two specific candidates in those states, Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer and Pennsylvania Senate candidate John Fetterman achieved victories.

Whitmer and Fetterman were not campaigning for votes, that is old school. Instead, the machinery behind both candidates focused on the modern path. The Democrat machines in both states focused on ballot collection and ignored the irrelevant votes as cast.

Since the advent of ballot centric focus through mail-in and collection drop-off processes, votes have become increasingly less valuable amid the organizers who wish to control election outcomes.  As a direct and specific result, ballot collection has become the key to Democrat party success.

The effort to attain votes for candidates is less important than the strategy of collecting ballots.

It should be emphasized; these are two distinctly different election systems.

The system of ballot distribution and collection is far more susceptible to control than the traditional system of votes cast at precincts.

A vote cannot be cast by a person who is no longer alive, or no longer lives in the area.  However, a ballot can be sent, completed and returned regardless of the status of the initially attributed and/or registered individual.

While ballots and votes originate in two totally different processes, the end result of both “ballots” and “votes,” weighing on the presented election outcome, is identical.

While initially the ballot form of election control was tested in Deep Blue states, through the process of mail-in returns under the guise and justification of “expanding democracy,” a useful tool for those who are vested in the distinction, I think we are now starting to see what happens on a national level when the process is expanded.

The article concludes:

Campaigning, advertising, promoting, debating, hand-shaking, crowd attendance and venues for rallies, along with physically meeting people and convincing them of your worth, are only important if you are trying to win votes. Fortunately for Democrats, modern electioneering via ballot collection does not require these arcane efforts. So, in the larger picture of what you now see in elections, Democrats have stopped wasting time doing them.

Republicans are running around trying to convince people and win votes. Meanwhile, who needs voters? Democrats have skipped all of that old fashioned stuff and modified all of their electioneering systems to quietly and efficiently collect ballots. Yesterday you saw the outcome.

Haven’t you noticed?

It really is that simple.

Obviously election fraud is much easier when counting ballots than when counting votes. I think it’s time to go back to what we used to do–vote on one day and mail-in ballots for military and those who truly cannot make it to the polls.

The Ongoing War On Fossil Fuels

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Whoever is currently directing the energy policy for the Biden administration has little of no regard for the common man. Gasoline prices have more than doubled since President Biden took office, and heating costs for the average American are expected to go through the roof this winter. Meanwhile, the Biden administration continues its war on fossil fuel.

On Thursday, The American Thinker posted an article about the Biden administration’s energy policies and their consequences.

The article reports:

On October 19, in the heat of an election campaign, President Biden told the American people, “We need to increase oil production.”  He went on to say, “My administration has not stopped or slowed U.S. oil production.”  It was a disingenuous statement from a man whose sense of reality, fact, and fiction have become an undecipherable narrative.  Biden failed to mention the executive order he issued which stipulates, “the Secretary of the Interior shall pause new oil and natural gas leases on public lands or in offshore waters.”  This pause is ongoing.  Biden uses the same executive order as an instruction to the secretaries of State, Treasury, Energy, Defense, and Homeland Security, “to organize and deploy the full capacity of its agencies to combat the climate crisis.”

Millions of Americans are employed by businesses supporting the fossil-fuel industry.  Others choose to invest in fossil-fuel businesses.  All Americans rely on fossil fuels to power their businesses, transportation systems, and utilities.  Democrats will destroy these people’s jobs, capital, and imperil the U.S. economy.  The Biden administration decreed that, “we must combat the climate crisis with bold, progressive action that combines the full capacity of the Federal Government with efforts from every corner of our Nation, every level of government, and every sector of our economy.”  By executive order Biden has weaponized the federal bureaucracy to destroy the fossil-fuel industry. 

Please follow the link to read the entire article. The world’s economy depends on fossil fuel, and to destroy the fossil fuel industry is to take down that economy. One of the ways America could rebound from the rapidly increasing inflation would be to begin drilling our way back to energy independence. As soon as gasoline prices began to drop, the cost of goods would begin to drop and the domino effect would begin. I don’t know if there will be enough people in the newly elected Congress to bring back American energy, but that is the ultimate solution to a lot of America’s problems and would also have a positive impact on America foreign policy.

I Approve Of Something The Biden Administration Did!

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The Biden administration did something really smart. I don’t know exactly who is responsible, but I am grateful. On Sunday, Hot Air posted the story. I need to say up front that this is one of those articles I do not totally understand, but what I read sounds really good.

The article reports:

I am pretty sure that I have never praised the Biden Administration. I mean, why would I?

Well, I may have found a reason, believe it or not. It seems that the Biden Administration has struck a huge blow against the Chinese tech industry, and it wasn’t even by accident. They did something right, and never let it be said that I am more unfair to liberals than my job naturally requires.

…So here we go, and yes, it is painful to praise Biden, even a little bit. Worse, I have to rely on The New York Times for part of the story, completing my humiliation:

This is the important part of the article:

There are two important aspects of the China/Taiwan tension that are both related to technology:

    • China has become a technology superpower due to America’s reliance on its manufacturing prowess. Almost everything we think of as high-tech has a lot of Chinese manufacturing and components in the end product. Those DJI drones doing the heavy lifting in Ukraine? Chinese.
    • Taiwan is a much more important technology superpower. Almost every high-end microprocessor (the highest up the value chain) is reliant on Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) is made by TSMC. They blow everybody else away in making chips, including former leader Intel. Over half of the chips in the products you use are manufactured by TSMC.

China doesn’t only want Taiwan territory; if they ran Taiwan they would control many of the most important parts of the tech industry. They aren’t a design or software powerhouse, but the world would still rely on them for high-tech products. As a matter of fact, one of the reasons China remains hesitant to invade Taiwan is the implied strategy of the Taiwanese government to threaten the destruction of TSMC facilities were they to be invaded. This is the so-called “silicon shield.”

The article concludes:

To the extent that I can, which is not much, I have verified this. And that means that it is of medium reliability. Certainly, ASML leaving is a big blow, and the extent of the Biden Administration sanctions is dramatic, the thread itself is more than plausible.

I admit to being shocked that the Biden Administration has chosen this path. It is bold, aggressive, and likely to hurt China badly both economically and militarily. I would have to assume that they have war-gamed the consequences extensively because such a move would not be taken either lightly or without serious consideration.

In this case, unlike the Russia sanctions, the Administration had plenty of time to evaluate the costs and benefits. Without access to the information and analysis they have, I can’t say with certainty that this was precisely the right policy, but it certainly moves us in the direction of achieving the goal of slowing China’s ability to threaten our interests in the Pacific.

Even a blind squirrel finds a nut occasionally!