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50 STATES AND DC, CONGRESS AND THE PRESIDENT

Biden’s Lies About Energy Can No Longer Be Ignored

https://issuesinsights.com/2022/10/21/bidens-lies-about-energy-can-no-longer-be-ignored/

It’s stunning to hear President Biden (and the rest of the Democrats) spin our growing energy crisis. Like a child with his hand caught in the cookie jar, Biden continually tells the American people, “I didn’t do it!” In fact, yes he did. And he still is.

“Let’s debunk some myths: My administration has not stopped or slowed U.S. oil production,” Biden said on Wednesday, adding that he’s “doing everything in my power to reduce gasoline prices.”

Is that true? In fact, the entire energy policy of the Biden administration has been directed at not just slowing, but stopping U.S. oil production. The intended result: Higher gasoline prices for consumers, yet another Bidenflation tax on American families that is already pushing many to the brink of financial insolvency.

That’s not a partisan talking point, by the way. Even his own administration’s energy officials admit that the goal of the administration is to get rid of fossil fuels by raising prices. They just don’t want it now, before the 2022 midterm elections.

Oil output must be limited in order to “make sure that we’re in a better footing to accelerate the transition,” said Amos Hochstein, Biden’s Special Presidential Coordinator for International Energy Affairs.

By the way, we wrote about this back in March of this year, when Biden was fixated on blaming Russia’s dictator Vladimir Putin for our self-inflicted energy woes.

“Putin’s war is already hurting American families at the gas pump . . . I’m going to do everything I can to minimize Putin’s price hike here at home,” Biden said, as he banned Russian oil imports.

Just as he did back then, Biden this week blamed U.S. oil companies for the energy mess.

“You’re sitting on record profits and we’re giving you more certainty so you can act now to increase oil production now,” Biden said.

More certainty? Record profits? Sure enough, as energy prices soared recently, quarterly oil company profits jumped along with them. But that’s only part of the story.

Is the Red Wave Back? The question for Republicans is what will they do if—perhaps when—they reacquire congressional power. The question is doubly relevant with two more years of guaranteed Democratic White House control. By Josh Hammer

https://amgreatness.com/2022/10/20/is-the-red-wave-back/

In the dog days of summer, as Joe Biden’s average approval rating plummeted to historic lows amid an intense flurry of national setbacks, policy blunders, and rhetorical “gaffes” (otherwise known as palpable senility), most in the punditry class began to predict an imminent “red wave” of Republican electoral dominance in November’s midterm elections.

The midterms that take place two years after a new presidency typically favor the opposition party, after all, and certain data—such as the four-decade-high inflation rate that was, and still is, raging like wildfire—pointed in the direction of a strong ballot-box backlash to one-party Democratic rule. At that time, we could also add in an “eyeball test” of sorts: Uncle Joe was (and still is), quite simply, way too old and way too bad at this.

Then, from late July through Labor Day weekend in early September, the momentum seemed to shift a bit toward the incumbent party. Democrats largely outperformed expectations in special elections in Nebraska, Minnesota and New York, and the culturally conservative state of Kansas resoundingly rejected a pro-life attempt to amend the state’s constitution to democratize the abortion issue and let the state legislature decide Kansas abortion policy.

In general, for about four to six weeks, we began to see enough data trickle in to suggest that a “Dobbs backlash”—whereby the U.S. Supreme Court decision to overturn Roe v. Wade would have the effect of energizing and mobilizing progressive voters—might really be in the offing. Some promising Republican Senate candidates in reliably Trumpy states, such as J. D. Vance in Ohio, seemed to be failing to gain polling traction. The punditocracy switched gears: The “red wave” might simply be a shapeless “purple drip.” (Some of us, it must be said, suggested that little had actually changed.)

The Green Energy Profiteering Scam “Green” Profits Can Only Rise if Citizens’ Freedoms Fall by J.B. Shurk

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/19008/green-energy-profiteering

When governments limit drilling and mining for hydrocarbons in the ground, they manufacture scarcity.

When only certain wealthy individuals and companies can afford artificially expensive hydrocarbon energies as regular business costs, then budding entrepreneurs and small firms can no longer compete. Those at the peak of society’s wealth pyramid have a much easier time staying on top when the same natural sources of hydrocarbon energy once used to amass fortunes are now denied to those who would do the same.

A war on “fossil” fuels is a superb tactic for protecting private market share. It is a profitable ideological cause for fattening government revenues. And it is a constant source of income for environmental “nonprofits” and other special interests….

Can plastics, heating oil, and most synthetic materials found around a home be magically manufactured without petroleum?

Can the global population stave off famine and starvation if farmers are forced to overhaul agricultural and livestock production methods in order to abide by “green” laws limiting the use or release of carbon dioxide, methane, nitrogen, and phosphate — molecules and compounds essential to basic farming and high crop yield fertilizers?

Ideology hijacks the market’s natural direction toward an objective and transparent “meeting of the minds.” There is an unspoken but unmistakable fraud. Until governments, including hostile adversaries such as Russia and the United States, conspired to limit the use of hydrocarbon energy and “go green,” the idea that anybody could turn a profit from the wind or sun would have seemed as absurd as a vendor selling rocks freely available all around us.

Are electric vehicles as powerful as their internal combustion engine counterparts? Can wind and solar energies really provide nations with reliable power grids robust enough to avoid rolling blackouts? Can plastics, heating oil, and most synthetic materials found around a home be magically manufactured without petroleum?

Can the global population stave off famine and starvation if farmers are forced to overhaul agricultural and livestock production methods in order to abide by “green” laws limiting the use or release of carbon dioxide, methane, nitrogen, and phosphate — molecules and compounds essential to basic farming and high crop yield fertilizers?

In free markets, commodities bought and sold possess perceived value. When a buyer and seller reach an agreed upon price for any product, there is a “meeting of the minds.” The value of any natural raw material is proportional to its scarcity. The more of it there is, and the more easily it can be obtained, the less value it holds. A vendor who sells ordinary rocks cannot make a living when his product is found freely all over the ground. If he transacts in gold or silver, diamonds or rubies, however, his hard-to-find “rocks” are worth a small fortune. If only there were a way to turn ordinary rocks into valuable commodities!

There are, in fact, two well-known ways to do so. An unscrupulous vendor could simply paint ordinary rocks gold and pretend that common minerals are rare, and an unsuspecting customer might never be the wiser. Through fraud, the seller can hijack the perceived value of his goods and undermine the agreed “meeting of the minds” between himself and any deceived customer. His “precious” rocks actually hold no value but provide him with ill-gotten gains. Over time, however, this type of fraud does not last. More discerning customers eventually catch on to the ruse, and that information is shared among prospective buyers. And unless he is quick to move on to a new town with new buyers yet to be deceived, old swindled customers are likely to end his livelihood or much worse. Engaging in illicit fraud comes with serious personal risks.

November-like chill places 100 million people under frost and freeze alerts KATHRYN PROCIV

https://www.aol.com/news/november-chill-places-100-million-142415893.html

More than 100 million people woke up Wednesday under frost advisories, freeze watches and warnings on what was expected to be the coldest morning of the week for the South and the coldest temperatures for most since the spring.

Due to the cold air mass plunging south before expanding east, southern cities actually woke up colder than northern cities. Dallas was colder than Boston, and Atlanta was colder than Cleveland.

For the first time on record, Birmingham, Alabama, hit 32 degrees before Billings, Montana, beating that notoriously cold city to the first official freeze of the season.

New York City’s Central Park dipped to 42 degrees, the coldest temperature since April 29, and Charlotte’s 30-degree reading set its fifth earliest freeze on record.

Most of the cold alerts expire by midmorning Wednesday, but some will linger through Thursday morning, especially across the Ohio Valley, the Gulf Coast and the Southeast coast.

D.C. Set to Allow Illegal Immigrants to Vote in Local Elections By Ari Blaff

https://www.nationalreview.com/news/d-c-set-to-allow-illegal-immigrants-to-vote-in-local-elections/?utm_source=

The D.C. Council, the legislative body representing Washington, D.C., sent a set of bills to Mayor Muriel Bowser’s desk on Tuesday, one of which will allow illegal immigrants to vote in local elections.

The bill allowing illegal immigrants to vote passed on a near-unanimous 12-1 vote following its first reading earlier this week, after languishing in the city council for a decade. It expands previous legislation which allowed green-card holders to vote.

Councilman Charles Allen, chairman of the Judiciary Committee, said he sponsored the bill because the issue of representation is “personal” to D.C. residents.

“In the District [of Columbia], we understand disenfranchisement,” Allen said during the committee vote.

“We know what it feels like to be taxed without representation. That people we didn’t elect make decisions that deeply affect our lives,” he said.

Local activist groups such as DC Latino Caucus as well as D.C. for Democracy were active in pushing for the issue. “Passage of this bill means that, for the first time in our lives, I and thousands of D.C. residents—immigrants who live, work, and pay taxes in the District—will be able to vote,” a local organizer and member of the Democratic Socialists of America, Abel Amene, said.

The only dissenting opinion upon first reading was councilwoman Mary Cheh, who understood it was an uphill battle. “Futility is not my goal here,” Cheh told the DCist. “Could someone who was put on a bus from Texas and dropped off at the vice president’s property … then vote in our local elections?” Cheh reportedly asked.

“Cheh’s ‘questions’ are rooted in age-old xenophobia and racism,” Amene wrote to the Washington Post following the vote. “Immigrants are not ‘complete strangers.’ They are our neighbors, family and friends.”

Maryland has been one of the states leading the charge to expand the vote to illegal migrants. If the bill is ratified, Washington D.C. will join neighboring Hyattsville and Takoma Park in having laws in place that will allow non-citizens to vote in local elections. New York City passed similar legislation to allow illegal immigrants to vote last year but it was struck down as unconstitutional by a state Supreme Court judge in June.

Texas Republican representative August Pfluger denounced the development. “If you’re in the United States illegally, you don’t have the right to vote—period. Liberals in Washington, D.C. who want to allow noncitizens to vote are putting the integrity of our election system at risk. My bill will put a stop to it. Americans deserve confidence in our elections and to know that only legal citizens are voting in the United States of America.” Pfluger introduced a bill last week to block the motion.

There are believed to be over 50,000 illegals in the District of Columbia. The bill was passed alongside another initiative that would make mail-in voting a permanent feature of elections.

As Michigan Dems Plot To Take Over Elections And Trans The Kids, Grassroots Activists ‘Stand Up’ To Fight By: Shawn Fleetwood

https://thefederalist.com/2022/10/19/as-michigan-dems-plot-to-take-over-elections-and-trans-the-kids-grassroots-activists-stand-up-to-fight/

‘If we don’t protect our children and our Constitution, then we have utterly failed,’ said Stand Up Michigan President Ron Armstrong.

With Election Day rapidly approaching, the fight for the soul of one of the country’s most contested battleground states is just starting to heat up. In Michigan, where Democrat Gov. Gretchen Whitmer is facing a tough general election challenge from Republican gubernatorial candidate Tudor Dixon, residents will be voting on two leftist-backed ballot amendments that carry serious ramifications — and one grassroots group is standing up to make sure they don’t pass.

The amendments seek to overhaul the state’s election systems and codify unlimited access to abortion into Michigan’s constitution, with the latter amendment covertly including a right for transgender-identifying minors to undergo sterilization without parental consent.

Known as “Proposal 2,” the first of the two initiatives would essentially legalize Democrats’ election-takeover policies throughout the state. If passed, the amendment would allow for “state-funded ‘absentee ballot drop boxes’ and ‘postage for applications and ballots,’” as well as allowances for private “donations to fund elections,” such as the “Zuckbucks” that were used to alter operations in state and local government election offices during the 2020 contest. Moreover, Proposal 2 would also “provide voters with a ‘right’ to fill out a single absentee ballot application ‘to vote absentee in all [future] elections,’” which would “keep mass mail-in balloting, the least secure form of elections, in place after such measures caused a chaotic 2020 election.”

It’s been two years since 51 intelligence agents interfered with an election — they still won’t apologize By Miranda Devine ******

https://nypost.com/author/miranda-devine/

Exactly two years ago, on October 19, 2020, one of the dirtiest tricks in electoral history was played on the American people by 51 former intelligence officials, who used the false alarm of “Russian interference” to stop Donald Trump winning a second term as president.

Using the institutional weight of their former esteemed roles, they signed a dishonest letter to mislead voters 15 days before the election, claiming that material from Hunter Biden’s laptop published by The New York Post “has all the classic earmarks of a Russian information operation.”

In their expert opinion “the Russians are involved in the Hunter Biden email issue.”

Russia was “trying to influence how Americans vote in this election . . . Moscow [will] pull out the stops to do anything possible to help Trump win and/or to weaken Biden should he win.

“A ‘laptop op’ fits the bill, as the publication of the emails are [sic] clearly designed to discredit Biden . . . It is high time that Russia stops interfering in our democracy.”

It was all a lie. Their letter was the culprit “interfering with democracy” in broad daylight.

Not one of the 51 had seen any material from the laptop or bothered asking for it, but their letter, instigated by, signed and delivered to Politico by Democratic operative and former John Brennan aide Nick Shapiro, killed the story stone dead. It got candidate Joe Biden off the hook for the corrupt influence peddling scheme his family had been running through the eight years of his vice presidency.

The shameful letter was used by Joe Biden three days later, on October 22, to deflect Trump’s attack in their last debate.

Images and files revealing personal information were discovered on Hunter Biden’s laptop.

“There are 50 former national intelligence folks who said that what he’s accusing me of is a Russian plan . . . Four, five former heads of the CIA, both parties, say what he’s saying is a bunch of garbage . . . You know his character. You know my character. You know my reputation is for honor and telling the truth . . . The character of the country is on the ballot.”

Biden dismissed as a Kremlin smear all the evidence that was on his son’s laptop of dirty money from China and Russia, of all his meetings with Hunter’s overseas business partners, and all the lies he had told about his involvement in Hunter’s business deals.

Myth and ‘Following the Science’ The real nature of the apocalypse we’re facing. by Bruce Thornton

https://www.frontpagemag.com/myth-and-following-the-science/

Increasingly over the last few centuries, science has become the dominant narrative of the West. The spectacular success of natural science in understanding, controlling, and transforming the material world has given science an authority that transcends the old certainties of faith, custom, and tradition. These authorities are now seen as retrograde, illiberal, and dangerous, the realm of superstition and myths that impede the ultimate triumph of progress and the utopia our cognitive elite “brights” who “follow the science” will create once the forces of reaction and unreason are corrected or eliminated.

Yet human nature––“the crooked timber,” as Kant put it, from which “nothing straight can be made”––continues to thwart this optimistic orthodoxy, partly because of our own hubris. We arrogantly claim more knowledge and wisdom and certainty than we actually have, even when talking about the natural world, let alone the unpredictable springs and consequences of our frequently irrational choices and actions.  Hence the beliefs and ideals that we think are the fruit of science and reason, often end up to be the detritus of old myths we dress up in the formulas and rhetoric of science.

In a time like the present––with a brutally destructive, potentially nuclear war in Ukraine, a looming global economic disaster, and especially an energy crisis created by our own irrational or venal polices that confuse science and myth––such policies are increasingly suicidal.

The threats to energy supplies, and the punitive costs of the fossil-fuel products that comprise 80% of all the energy we use, are a lesson in the dangers of claiming the unearned certainty of our science, and substituting gratify myths for established facts. Indeed, our current energy difficulties are the direct consequence of the progressives’ feckless “green” energy cult of zero-carbon emissions, and its misguided attempts to replace cheap, abundant fossil fuels with unreliable, expensive “renewable” solar and wind power.

Pelosi’s ‘Winning’ Message To Voters: Quit Griping About Inflation

https://issuesinsights.com/2022/10/20/pelosis-winning-message-to-voters-quit-griping-about-inflation/

To all those suffering from skyrocketing prices, struggling to make ends meet, going to food kitchens to feed their families, breaking the bank just to fill up their tanks, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has a message for you.

Quit your griping and vote Democratic.

That is the “new and improved” messaging that Pelosi thinks will win over voters in November.

And no, we are not kidding. In an interview with Punchbowl News published on Wednesday, here’s what she said:

Inflation’s an issue, but it’s global. It’s global. … What’s [the Republicans’] plan? They ain’t got nothing. When you bring down unemployment, inflation goes up. … So, in any case, [President Joe Biden] brought unemployment [down], cut it in half. Inflation is there but it’s global and not as bad as it is in some countries. We’ll have to message it better in the next three weeks ahead. I think we’re in great shape. Other people don’t want to believe that.

Let’s break that down.

“It’s global.” Not exactly.

The U.S. inflation rate is worse than 13 of the G20 nations. Canada’s has been steadily declining since June. And several European countries are suffering higher prices thanks to their decision to impose the idiotic “clean energy” mandates Biden wants to import. Energy costs in Germany, for example, were up 44% in September.

In any case, telling people “everybody’s suffering, so don’t feel so bad,” is not what we’d call a winning message.

Who Denies Election Results? There is nothing “unprecedented” about challenging election results. And for Democrats, there’s nothing unprecedented in trying to manipulate them. By Victor Davis Hanson

https://amgreatness.com/2022/10/19/who-denies-election-results/

A Democratic myth has arisen that Donald Trump’s denial of the accuracy of the 2020 vote was “unprecedented.”

Unfortunately, the history of U.S. elections is often a story of both legitimate and illegitimate election denialism. 

The 1800, 1824, 1876, and 1960 elections were all understandably questioned. In some of these cases, a partisan House of Representatives decided the winner.  

Presidential candidate Al Gore in 2000 did not accept the popular vote results in Florida. He spent five weeks futilely contesting the state’s tally—until recounts and the Supreme Court certified it. 

The ensuing charge that George W. Bush was “selected not elected” was the Democrats’ denialist mantra for years.

In 2004, Senator Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) and 31 Democratic House members voted not to certify the Ohio election results in their unhinged efforts to overturn the election. Those denialists included the current sanctimonious chairman of the January 6 select committee, U.S. Representative Benny Thompson (D-Miss). 

After 2016, crackpot Democratic orthodoxy for years insisted that Donald Trump had “colluded” with Russia to “steal” certain victory from Hillary Clinton. 

Clinton herself claimed that Trump was not a “legitimate” president. No wonder she loudly joined #TheResistance to obstruct his presidency. 

The serial denialist Clinton later urged Joe Biden not to concede the 2020 election if he lost.  

Also after 2016, left-wing third-party candidate and denialist Jill Stein vainly sued in courts to disqualify voting machine results in preselected states. 

A denialist host of Hollywood C-list actors in 2016 cut television commercials begging members of the Electoral College to violate their oaths and instead flip the election to Hillary Clinton. 

Clinton herself had hired foreign national Christopher Steele to concoct a dossier of untruths to smear her 2016 campaign opponent, Donald Trump. 

The FBI took up Clinton’s failed efforts. It likewise paid in vain her ancillaries like Christopher Steele to “verify” the dossier’s lies. 

The bureau further misled a FISA court about the dossier’s authenticity. An FBI lawyer even altered a document, as part of a government effort to disrupt a presidential transition and presidency.