WARNING: Disturbing content. Viewer discretion is advised.

The Oxford English dictionary defines meme as “a humorous image, video, piece of text, etc., that is copied (often with slight variations) and spread rapidly by internet users.” Depending on how rotten your brain is from prolonged exposure to social media, you may or may not be aware that we are in the midst of a “meme war” that will ultimately determine the fate of American democracy.

One of the most significant new developments in this raging conflict is the emergence of the “Dark Brandon” meme, which portrays Joe Biden as a laser-eyed Machiavellian overlord skilled in the art of four-dimensional political chess. It also seeks to expropriate the “Brandon” moniker from Biden’s critics, who embraced the phrase “Let’s Go, Brandon!” in 2021 after a filthy NASCAR journalist falsely claimed that fans at Talladega were chanting in support of winning driver Brandon Brown. (Fact Check: They were chanting, “F— Joe Biden!”)

In any event, the Washington Free Beacon has exclusively obtained a number of avant-garde “Dark Brandon” memes created with the help of cutting edge artificial intelligence technology. Bear in mind: The mainstream media does not want you, the American people, to see these humorous images. Enjoy!

Source: The Washington Free Beacon

Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley was appointed by former President Donald Trump in 2019 and remains in office under Joe Biden.

In a recently published excerpt from her forthcoming book, “The Divider: Trump in the White House, 2017-2021,” New Yorker writer Susan Glasser recounts Milley’s service during the Trump administration.

Glasser portrays Milley as a dedicated military officer with a strong set of values who loathed his unstable and temperamental boss. But despite his commander in chief’s “fits of rage, late-night Twitter storms” and “abrupt dismissals,” Milley was determined not to resign for the good of his country. So altruistic.

There was that one time, however, when Milley was so utterly humiliated by Trump that he spent days in his Pentagon office, writing and rewriting a letter of resignation.

The occasion came during the June 2020 George Floyd riots. Members of Black Lives Matter had tried, but fortunately failed, to burn down St. John’s Church in Washington, D.C.’s Lafayette Square. Trump, accompanied by several advisers and Cabinet members, famously walked to the church and was photographed as he held up a Bible. Milley was among that group.

The legacy media claimed that a crowd of BLM protesters had been “violently” cleared from Lafayette Square by the U.S. Park Police for the sole purpose of this photo-op. One year later, the inspector general of the Interior Department released a report stating that the USPP had cleared the park to allow fencing to be installed “in response to destruction of property and injury to officers.”

In her new book, of course, Glasser tells readers, “Most of the demonstrations had been peaceful, but there were also eruptions of looting, street violence, and arson, including a small fire in St. John’s Church, across from the White House.”

Anyway, because members of the military are expected to remain apolitical and he had participated in a “political event,” Milley was filled with remorse.

During a pre-recorded commencement address to the graduating class of the National Defense University, Milley apologized. He said, “I should never have been there.”

“As senior leaders, everything you do will be closely watched, and I am not immune, as many of you saw the result of that photograph of me at Lafayette Square last week,” he told the graduates.

“I should not have been there. My presence in that moment and in that environment created a perception of the military involved in domestic politics. As a commissioned, uniformed officer, it was a mistake that I have learned from and I sincerely hope we all can learn from it.”

Upon additional reflection, Milley penned his letter of resignation, which is included in Glasser’s excerpt.

It is a boastful, four-paragraph letter written by a disgruntled subordinate with little sense of self-awareness. He tells the president he’s done some “deep soul-searching” and “can no longer faithfully support and execute your orders.”

Woke Gen. Milley Quietly Revises Wildly Incorrect Prediction He Gave Congress in February

“It is my belief that you were doing great and irreparable harm to my country,” he begins. “I believe that you have made a concerted effort over time to politicize the United States military. I thought that I could change that. I’ve come to the realization that I cannot, and I need to step aside and let someone else try to do that.”

Milley continues, “You are using the military to create fear in the minds of the people — and we are trying to protect the American people. I cannot stand idly by and participate in that attack, verbally or otherwise, on the American people.

“The American people trust their military and they trust us to protect them against all enemies, foreign and domestic, and our military will do just that. We will not turn our back on the American people.”

“I swore an oath to the Constitution of the United States and embodied within that Constitution is the idea that says that all men and women are created equal,” Milley writes. He expands upon his own acceptance of all people no matter their race, religion or sexual orientation, then moves on to his patriotism. The implication is, of course, that Trump is racist, bigoted and doesn’t love America.

“Lastly it is my deeply held belief that you’re ruining the international order, and causing significant damage to our country overseas, that was fought for so hard by the Greatest Generation that they instituted in 1945. Between 1914 and 1945, 150 million people were slaughtered in the conduct of war. They were slaughtered because of tyrannies and dictatorships.

“That generation, like every generation, has fought against that, has fought against fascism, has fought against Nazism, has fought against extremism. It’s now obvious to me that you don’t understand that world order.

“You don’t understand what the war was all about. In fact, you subscribe to many of the principles that we fought against. And I cannot be a party to that. It is with deep regret that I hereby submit my letter of resignation.”

Is he calling Trump a fascist? A Nazi? Sounds like it. If Milley thinks Trump damaged America’s reputation, we have to wonder how he feels about Biden’s blunders.

Unfortunately, he never submitted the letter to Trump.

Glasser writes, “Milley had finally come to a decision. He would not quit. ‘F*** that s***,’ he told his staff. ‘I’ll just fight him.’ The challenge, as he saw it, was to stop Trump from doing any more damage.”

Trump would have been better off if this coward had resigned. Among other allegations, Milley reportedly told his Chinese counterpart he would alert him if Trump were to plan any surprise attacks.

“Gen. Milley needs to be called in TODAY and asked under polygraph what he said to China.”

Sen. @RandPaul tells me why he believes Milley’s alleged actions could have “caused an accidental war.” pic.twitter.com/81YadLJbbv

— Glenn Beck (@glennbeck) September 15, 2021

I would remind Milley of a certain oath he took a long time ago. He solemnly swore to support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic, and to bear true faith and allegiance to the same.

The BLM riots in the summer of 2020 were not peaceful. They were responsible for over $1 billion in property damage. They caused injury and even deaths. It’s one thing to oppose racism and quite another to excuse crime in our cities.

Either you’re for the rule of law and against terrorism, or you’re not.

Standing up for the rule of law and against terrorism isn’t politics, Gen. Milley. It’s your job.

Former President Donald Trump released a dramatic political video, hours after the FBI raided his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida, in which he laments the “declining” state of America and says it’s “time to start talking about greatness for our country again.”

“We are a nation in decline … We are a nation that in many ways has become a joke,” says Trump over the ominous sounds of thunder and rain in the nearly four-minute video in which he lists the apparent failures of the Biden administration, before promising, “Soon we will have greatness again.”

Trump, who is expected to announce that he will run again for president in 2024, released the video on his Truth Social platform late Tuesday.

In the video, he says that America has the “highest inflation in over 40 years” and “highest energy cost in its history.” He adds that in the two years since Joe Biden took office, America has lost its energy independence and dominance.

“We are a nation that is begging Venezuela and Saudi Arabia for oil,” Trump says. “We are a nation that surrendered in Afghanistan, leaving behind dead soldiers and American citizens and $85 billion worth of the finest military equipment in the world.”

Trump accuses the Biden administration of allowing “Russia to devastate a country, Ukraine, killing hundreds of thousands,” and suggests that “it will only get worse.”

‘Weaponization of the Justice System’

“We are a nation that has weaponized its law enforcement against the opposing political party like never before. We’ve never seen anything like this,” Trump says in his video.

Late on Monday, Trump announced that the FBI was raiding his Palm Beach estate, Mar-a-Lago, calling it evidence of “prosecutorial misconduct” and a “weaponization of the Justice System.”

The former president said the raid wasn’t announced and that it was motivated because Democrats do not want him to run again for president in 2024.

“They detest Donald Trump, not just on the Democrat side but the general establishment, because he’s not one of them. Because he doesn’t play their game,” his daughter-in-law Lara Trump told Fox News on Tuesday.

“They are terrified he’s going to announce any day that he’s running for president in 2024. And this is a very convenient way to just throw a little more mud on Donald Trump.”

America ‘No Longer Respected’

In his video, Trump also cites the legacy media as contributing to what he says is a nation in decline, saying America “no longer has a free and fair press. Fake news is about all you get.”

Traditionally, the media acts as a guardian of the public interest and a watchdog on government activities. But Trump has in the past accused legacy outlets of being partisan and colluding with “radical left Democrats … to hide the real facts.”

“We are a nation that is allowing Iran to build a massive nuclear weapon and China to use the trillions and trillions of dollars it’s taken from the United States to build a military to rival our own,” Trump says in the video.

“We are a nation that over the past years is no longer respected or listened to all around the world. We are a nation that is hostile to liberty and freedom and faith.

“We are a nation whose economy is floundering, whose stores are not stocked, whose deliveries are not coming, and whose educational system is ranked at the bottom of every list,” he says.

“We are a nation that in many ways has become a joke,” says Trump. “But soon we will have greatness again.”

‘Soon We Will Have Greatness Again’

Trump’s political video starts in black and white with only the sounds of rain and thunder underscoring it. This sequence features video representative of the Biden administration’s apparent failures, including oil fields, the chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan, and Russian President Vladimir Putin.

However, the last third of the video becomes colorized and the musical score uplifting as Trump shifts to speak about his promise of America having “greatness again.”

“It was hard-working patriots like you who built this country. And it is hard-working patriots like you who are going to save our country,” Trumps says in his video.

“There is no mountain we cannot climb. There is no summit we cannot reach. There is no challenge we cannot meet. There is no victory we cannot have.

“We will not bend. We will not break. We will not yield ever, ever, ever. We will never give in, we will never give up, and we will never ever back down. We will never let you down.

“As long as we are confident and united the tyrants we’re fighting do not stand even a little chance. Because we are Americans and Americans kneel to God and God alone. And it is time to start talking about greatness for our country again,” he says.

The video ends on a black screen with the words, “The best is yet to come.”

SOURCE: The Epoch Times

Former President Donald Trump has warned Americans to brace for something “a lot worse than a recession” while blaming the Biden administration’s poor stewardship of the economy for soaring inflation and denouncing the tax hikes in the latest Democrat spending bill.

Trump made the remarks at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in Dallas on Saturday, where the former president raised the alarm on the state of the union.

“Our country is being shot. It’s being destroyed,” Trump told attendees, while touting his administration’s record on the economy and national security.

Trump spoke of “creating the most secure border in American history, record tax and regulation cuts, $1.87 gasoline, no inflation, low interest rates, record growth in real wages, record growth in our economy.”

Soaring Inflation, Recession

During Trump’s tenure, the highest the Consumer Price Index (CPI) inflation gauge came in at was 2.9 percent in July 2018, while in his final month in office, January 2021, inflation clocked in at 1.4 percent.

Under Biden, inflation has climbed steadily, soaring 9.1 percent year-over-year in June 2022, a figure not seen in more than 40 years.

In his speech, Trump drew a contrast with the economy under Joe Biden, blaming the president for the highest inflation in decades that Trump estimates is costing American families as much as $7,000 a year.

“After the pandemic, we handed the radical Democrats the fastest economic recovery ever recorded, the history of our country, ever recorded,” Trump continued. “They’ve turned that into two straight quarters of negative economic growth, also known, despite their protestation to the contrary, as a recession.”

Two consecutive quarters of negative GDP growth are a common rule-of-thumb definition for a recession, although recessions in the United States are officially declared by a committee of economists at the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) using a broader definition than the two-quarter rule.

Despite a number of economists arguing that the United States is in a recession based on the two-consecutive-quarters rule, the Biden administration insists that the economy isn’t in a recession, citing NBER’s consideration of a broader range of indicators.

A key argument against recession made by Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and others in the Biden administration is that the U.S. labor market remains tight, with unemployment at 3.5 percent and, at 10.7 million, the number of job openings remaining well above the 6 million or so people classified as unemployed.

Worse Than Recession

In his CPAC speech, Trump then issued an ominous warning that, absent a course correction, the recession could spiral into something even worse.

“Just hope that the recession doesn’t turn into a depression, because the way they’re doing things, it could be a lot worse than a recession,” Trump said, echoing similar remarks he made at a rally in Arizona at the end of July, where he warned that “we’re going to have a serious problem” unless political change takes place.

“We got to get this act in order, we have to get this country going, or we’re going to have a serious problem,” Trump said at a rally in Arizona, warning that “we’re going to have a much bigger problem than recession. We’ll have a depression.”

During his appearance at CPAC, Trump issued a call for urgent action at the polls in the upcoming midterms.

“The future of our country is at stake. We don’t have time to wait years and years. We won’t have a country left. What I used to say about Venezuela is true. We have to save the economy, defeat the Biden, Pelosi, Schumer tax hike, which is happening right now tonight,” Trump continued, referring to the so-called “Inflation Reduction Act” that cleared the Senate not long after his speech.

Senators passed the sweeping bill, estimated at $740 billion, in a 51–50 vote on Aug. 7, with the package next going to the House for consideration.

During the deliberations, Senate Democrats rejected an amendment offered by Sen. Mike Crapo (R-Idaho) that sought to ban any of the $80 billion for the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) from being used to target Americans making less than $400,000 per year.

“My colleagues claim this massive funding boost will allow the IRS to go after millionaires, billionaires and so-called rich ‘tax cheats,’ but the reality is a significant portion raised from their IRS funding bloat would come from taxpayers with income below $400,000,” Crapo said in a statement.

Crapo’s amendment was rejected on a party-line vote, with the Democrat bill including softer language that features a non-binding statement of intention not to squeeze more revenue from America’s middle class.

Tax Hikes

According to an analysis by Americans for Tax Reform, a U.S. advocacy group, the spending bill includes a number of tax hikes on American households and businesses.

This includes a $6.5 billion natural gas tax that ATR says will increase household energy bills, a $12 billion crude oil tax that will end up being passed on to drivers in the form of higher gas prices, and a $52 billion income tax hike on mid-sized and family businesses.

In a separate analysis, ATR said that the Democrat bill’s changes to the book tax threaten small businesses.

Elaborating on that theme, economist and author Antonio Graceffo wrote in an op-ed for The Epoch Times that the so-called “Inflation Reduction Act” would drive up prices for American households.

“Nearly half of these new taxes will be paid by manufacturers, creating disincentives to produce. Diminished industrial output will drive up the cost of goods and reduce the variety and quantity of goods available on store shelves,” Graceffo wrote.

“Beyond the manufacturing sector, the act increases taxes on businesses in general, which, combined with higher interest rates will decrease new investment and hamper job creation. Ultimately, these increased costs will be passed on to customers,” he added.

‘We Have to Win’

During his CPAC speech, Trump revealed what he sees as the key to bringing the country and its economy back on track.

“We have to win an earth-shattering victory in 2022. We have to do it, coming up in November,” Trump said.

“This election needs to be a national referendum on the horrendous catastrophes the radical Democrats have inflicted on our country,” he continued.

“The Republican party needs to campaign on a clear pledge that, if they are given power, they’re going to fight with everything they have to shut down the border, stop the crime wave, beat inflation, and hold the Biden administration accountable. They have to hold it accountable. Job number one for the next Congress,” Trump said.

The national midterm election takes place on Nov. 8, with 34 Senate seats and all 435 House seats up for grabs.

SOURCE: The Epoch Times

Supply chain woes have more companies eyeing manufacturing here at home

It wasn’t long ago that Sherman, Texas, might have been best known as the birthplace of Buck Owens, the late country-and-western star, or as the home of Austin College, one of the state’s oldest colleges. More recently, however, the city of nearly 44,000 people located about 65 miles north of Dallas has had something else to brag about: a growing reputation as a center of high-tech manufacturing.

In June, Taiwan-based semiconductor manufacturer GlobalWafers announced plans to build a state-of-the-art, $5 billion silicon wafer factory in Sherman, which beat competing sites in South Korea and Ohio for the facility. The plant will produce advanced, 300-millimeter wafers—which are currently manufactured in Asia—and could support as many as 1,500 jobs over time.

The GlobalWafers announcement came on the heels of Dallas-based Texas Instruments saying that it would put up as many as four new semiconductor (or chip) manufacturing plants in Sherman, potentially investing $30 billion and employing up to 3,000 people. Before selecting the North Texas city, the company had considered Singapore for the facilities, which also will produce 300-millimeter wafers.

The latest developments are a far cry from previous decades in Sherman, when factories there making surgical dressings and automotive glass products were shuttered, with some of the jobs going to other countries.

“We’ve suffered our ups and down,” Sherman Mayor David Plyler said. “But as the economy changed and we started telling our story, things turned. Now folks want to be here.”

Sherman’s success at luring new factories underscores how some cities and towns across the country are enjoying a manufacturing renaissance. That renaissance comes after the United States spent decades shipping manufacturing jobs overseas—mainly to lower-cost suppliers in East Asia, especially China. In 1990, the United States made 37 percent of the world’s computer chips, a figure that since has fallen to about 12 percent. Now, however, some of the manufacturing is coming back, promising communities new jobs and new life.

The return of manufacturing to the United States, known as “reshoring,” got a kick-start in about 2010. But it took on new urgency after COVID-19 lockdowns revealed vulnerabilities in global supply chains. Shipping costs soared and ports were logjammed, resulting in shortages of products ranging from masks and toilet paper to computer chips, which are critical components in everything from smartphones and computers to appliances and automobiles.

“You’ve got by far the most momentum we’ve had at any time in the 12 years we’ve been tracking it,” said Harry Moser, founder and president of the Reshoring Initiative, a nonprofit that promotes the “return-manufacturing-home” message. “Where I’ve had to go to companies in the past and sort of hustle them, now I get more calls from companies saying, ‘I’ve been told we have to get our work out of China and find a source in the U.S. Can you help me find a source?’”

While other kinds of manufacturing are experiencing a U.S. revival as well—there are plans for more than a dozen new electric vehicle battery factories in the South and Midwest, for example—semiconductor plants have taken center stage lately, in part because of the $280 billion CHIPS and Science Act.

The bipartisan measure, which passed the House and Senate last week and was headed to Joe Biden’s desk, provides $52 billion in federal subsidies for domestic chipmaking. Both GlobalWafers and California-based Intel, which plans to build two big semiconductor plants in Licking County, Ohio, had stated that the projects in Sherman and Ohio might not have proceeded as planned unless the legislation was successful. The Biden administration pushed the measure partly on national security grounds, citing U.S. reliance on China for “mature” chips, as well as China’s threats against the island of Taiwan, which the United States has depended on for the most advanced chips.

Offshoring Declines

As recently as the 1970s, the United States had a robust manufacturing sector and balanced trade. The country ran a trade surplus of $8.9 billion in 1975, and manufacturing employment in June 1979 climbed to a record 19.5 million. After that, however, both figures went south. Manufacturing employment plunged to 11.5 million in 2010 before recovering some to 12.5 million in 2021. And the export-import trade balance has been underwater for more than 45 years, with a record deficit of about $860 billion in 2021.

It’s also been about four decades since U.S. companies started “offshoring” jobs overseas. Attracted by the lower cost of labor in Latin America and Asian countries such as China, manufacturers in industries including textiles, steel, and electronics decided to relocate some of their operations there, ostensibly to stay competitive by paring production costs. By 2011, however, an analysis by the Boston Consulting Group was questioning this strategy. The influential consulting firm stated that China’s labor-cost advantage was quickly eroding and predicted that, by 2015, “manufacturing in some parts of the U.S. will be just as economical as manufacturing in China.”

Companies such as Caterpillar and General Electric got the message. Over the past 12 years, the rate of offshoring has declined, while the rate of “reshoring plus foreign direct investment (FDI)” in the United States has been accelerating, Moser said. Combined, the latter two categories were responsible for a record 261,000 manufacturing job announcements last year, up from 6,000 in 2010, he said. That brought the total number of jobs announced because of reshoring and FDI since 2010 to more than 1.3 million.

Most of the jobs came back from Asia. Eliminating the trade deficit by making in the United States what’s currently being imported would result over time in a 40 percent increase in domestic manufacturing, generating 5 million more manufacturing jobs, he said.

The best candidates for reshoring include companies in those manufacturing sectors with high freight costs, volatile demand, frequent design changes, and processes that can be automated, Moser said. Among them are machinery, transportation equipment, appliances, electric batteries, semiconductors, personal protection equipment, pharmaceuticals, and rare earth materials. To help companies better understand the benefits of reshoring, his nonprofit has developed something called a “Total Cost of Ownership Estimator” (TCO). The TCO is a free online tool that calculates the “true” total cost of outsourced products, including such factors as overhead, balance sheets, corporate strategy—and risk.

Risks such as the COVID-19 pandemic and Russia’s war on Ukraine pale in comparison to the risk of China “decoupling,” which these days hangs over companies like the sword of Damocles, according to Moser.

“I tell companies, ‘Figure out what you can bring back now, and get it back here now—or if you have to, get it to Mexico,” he said. “Because if the [expletive] hits the fan and nothing is coming from China to anyone, you’re going to be one of 30,000 companies trying to find a foundry or a machine shop, and you’re not going to get it.”

Hitendra Chaturvedi, a professor of supply chain management at Arizona State University, agrees that Mexico is a good alternative location for U.S. companies exiting China. “Nearshoring” from China to Mexico—as well as to Latin America and Canada—would make supply more accessible, he said. And manufacturing in Mexico is about 20 percent cheaper than in China.

Besides considering the advantages of nearshoring, Chaturvedi suggested a more targeted approach to reshoring itself.

“We should not take a shotgun approach to this,” he said. “You don’t want low-paying sewing jobs coming back to the U.S. You want high-paying jobs. I want us to focus strategically on sectors that we want to onshore.”

‘Just Getting Started’

For its part, Sherman attracted the two new chip facilities with incentives such as tax abatements, in Texas Instruments’ case, and a package of cash, cheap land, and other breaks for GlobalWafers. The Taiwan-based company also received a $15 million grant from the Texas Enterprise Fund, the state’s “deal-closing” fund, and is eligible for more incentives under the CHIPS Act. The CHIPS subsidies should also benefit Texas Instruments’s Sherman projects (as well as South Korea-based Samsung’s plans to build multiple semiconductor plants in the Austin area).

Plyler said his city also touted its ample workforce, abundant water supply, “business-friendly” approach, and diversified economy. Among the city’s top employers are Tyson Foods, beverage company Sunny Delight, and II-VI, a high-tech optical firm and Apple supplier.

“We’ve taken a lot of hassles out of City Hall for developers and people who want to come in and start a business,” he said. “We walk them through the process of getting permitted, sometimes in a fast-track manner. Making that process easy goes a long way in getting some of these projects off the ground.”

As a result of Sherman’s success, smaller towns around the city are preparing to accommodate the Texas Instruments and GlobalWafers workers with new housing, and industrial facilities for high-tech suppliers and vendors “are really hopping” in the region, the Dallas Business Journal reported.

“We’re expecting a lot of businesses to fill in,” Plyler said. “We’re expecting a lot of new restaurants, a lot of quality-of-life improvements. I think we’re just getting started.”

SOURCE: The Epoch Times

Revisionist powers, nations whose leaders seek to undermine American leadership in the world, seem to be on the march.

Russia persists with its heavy bombardments in Ukraine. Its army holds on, at least for now, not only in eastern Ukraine but also on the Black Sea coast, shutting off Ukraine from supplies and trade with the rest of the world.

China is threatening retaliation for Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s trip to Taiwan. The regime of President Xi Jinping may be mollified for the moment by the Biden White House’s hints that it wasn’t their idea, or deterred by the staging of U.S. naval forces nearby. But there’s no doubt that China has much more military capacity to attack Taiwan and inflict damage on U.S. forces than when Speaker Newt Gingrich visited Taiwan in 1997.

Iran, meanwhile, is showing little interest in Biden administration efforts to reinstate the JCPOA, the nuclear pact signed by the Obama administration in 2015 and from which the Trump administration withdrew in 2018. The mullah regime seems unblushingly intent on achieving nuclear weapons capability.

In reflecting on these threats, I am struck by how much longer the leaders of each of these revisionist polities have been in power, how secure their hold on it has been, how short the tenure has been and how weak the hold of elected leaders here in the United States and among our allies.

Consider Vladimir Putin. When he took power in the last hours of 1999, he was unknown beyond Moscow and not expected to be around a generation later. Yet he’s still there 22 years and eight months later, longer than the reign of Tsar Nicholas II (1894-1917) and not that many years less than the 29 years of Joseph Stalin (1924-1953). There’s speculation that the 69-year-old Putin’s hold on power has been endangered by the failure of his apparent plan to absorb Ukraine, but last year, he signed a law that would allow him to serve until 2036.

Speaking of changing term limits, China abolished its limit of two five-year terms in 2018. Xi is expected to be granted another 10 years in power this fall. Those term limits were established by Deng Xiaoping, a close observer and sometime victim of the violent lurches in the nearly 27-year rule of Mao Zedong (1949-1976).

Now Xi, at age 69, is positioned to challenge that record, though not that of the 18th-century Emperor Qianlong (1735-1796). But Xi may want to stick around for the 100th anniversary of the Communist takeover in 2049, at which point the regime hopes to become the world’s dominant power, according to Michael Pillsbury’s “The Hundred-Year Marathon.”

The supreme leader of Iran, Ayatollah Khamenei, is already a record-setter. He has held that position since the death of Ayatollah Khomeini in June 1989, 33 years ago. That’s nearly as long as the 37-year reign of the Shah Reza Pahlavi (1941-1979).

There’s an obvious contrast here with Western leaders. The two most recent American presidents won a majority of electoral votes by margins of 77,000 and 42,000 popular votes in three states. Though there’s some continuity in their administrations’ policies, they’re not on speaking terms. Oh, and they’re also currently 76 and 79 years old.

Other Western countries are in similar flux. Britain awaits a vote of some 160,000 Conservative Party members that will determine who becomes prime minister next month. France’s Emmanuel Macron lost his parliamentary majority last month. Germany’s Olaf Scholz, in office since December, leads an unwieldy coalition. Japan’s prime minister lacks the counsel of his long-lasting predecessor Shinzo Abe, assassinated July 8.

Successive Western leaders have supposed that they can change the behavior of revisionist leaders. American China policy since Henry Kissinger assumed that China could be prodded to be more open, more democratic, less aggressive. It didn’t work much before Xi, and under Xi, China has been moving in the opposite direction.

The first three presidents this century sought some kind of reset with Russia, and Donald Trump had some positive words for Putin (but the charge he colluded with Russia was always a hoax). But these approaches never worked out better than Hillary Clinton’s mislabeled reset button. As for Iran, presidents including Reagan, Obama and now Biden have reached out for better relations — and have gotten nothing for their concessions.

Putin and Xi are both 69, and Khamenei, the only one older than Biden and Trump, is 83. None will last forever. But deaths are hard to forecast and regime change even harder. There are underlying geopolitical forces behind Russia’s and China’s challenge to American leadership, and a religious motivation behind Iran’s.

The downside risk is that revisionist leaders, or Western mistakes, may plunge much of the world into destructive war. That has happened in Ukraine, although the violence is minuscule next to the carnage of the 20th century’s two world wars. The negative potential in Taiwan could be worse, and the reverberations of communist conquest more profound, as defense analyst Elbridge Colby argues. But those are subjects for another column.

In the meantime, let’s hope recent events have made the West’s wobbly buttressed leaders skeptical of the possibilities of enticing the revisionist leaders to see things our way. They’ve played this game before.

SOURCE: Right and Free

Small businesses seeking to grow their overseas sales are supposed to be the primary beneficiaries of loan guarantees by the U.S. Export-Import Bank (EX-IM), but a new analysis by a nonprofit government watchdog finds most of the funds go to corporate giants and corrupt regimes overseas.

“Small businesses, supposedly the intended beneficiary of the Export-Import Bank, received only $54.8 billion of the over $234 billion in total assistance since 2007, or about 23 percent” of the bank’s total funding, according to the report by Open The Books (OTB), a Chicago-based nonprofit that monitors government spending.

By filing more than 40,000 federal Freedom of Information Act requests and posting the checkbooks of 49 state governments, OTB has posted to the internet more than $6 trillion in public spending. The non-profit’s goal is to “post every dime in real-time.”

By far the biggest beneficiary of EX-IM lending is the Boeing Corporation, the largest U.S. aircraft manufacturer and one of the world’s most successful designers and builders of commercial airliners.

Boeing’s headquarters is currently in Chicago, but the company is planning a move to Arlington, Virginia, in the near future.

“The Export-Import Bank has been nicknamed ‘Boeing’s Bank’ by critics, and it is easy to see why. From 2007-2021, the aircraft giant received 33 percent of all of the Export-Import Bank’s assistance, totaling over $66.4 billion, while the second largest vendor received just over $5 billion. That’s more than all small businesses received combined,” the OTB report said.

“Boeing subsidiary Boeing Satellite Systems International reaped another $1.4 billion in assistance. Major international airline companies like Ryanair, Emirates Airlines, and Air Canada have all received assistance for Boeing purchases. Boeing employs a small army of 18 lobbyists to advocate for the Export-Import Bank,” the report said.

The second largest beneficiary of EX-IM funding is the Reston, Virginia-based Bechtel Corporation, which ranked only behind Boeing despite getting assistance for only seven contracts since 2007.

“The engineering and construction company received just over $5 billion from the bank for petroleum engineering in wealthy countries like the United Kingdom, Australia, and India, as well as with governments like Serbia and Kenya,” according to the OTB report.

General Electric Corporation and its subsidiaries whose exports of industrial engines and machinery in over 265 transactions earned them third place on the list of top vendors. The report said GEC got $4.7 billion in assistance between General Electric International Operations Company and General Electric Energy Parts alone.

About EX-IM’s overseas funding activities the report said, “the mandate of EX-IM is ‘filling the gaps’ to provide liquidity—facilitating the wheels of commerce. [A total of] 147 countries have received some amount of aid since 2007.

“While the United States sent billions of aid to some of the most corrupt countries and repressive regimes in the world, equally disturbing is the amount that went to wealthy countries that don’t need our aid.”

Ranked by countries, the largest beneficiary of U.S. taxpayer-guaranteed EX-IM loans is Nigeria, ruled by a regime that is ranked among the world’s most corrupt. “Ranked 149th in the world on a scale from least to most corrupt by Transparency International in 2020, importers in Nigeria received over $570 million from the Export-Import Bank.

“It would be a miracle if any of those dollars actually reached their intended recipient,” the OTB report said.

China, with the world’s second-largest economy, was also a large beneficiary of EX-IM resources.

“Second to only the United States in [Gross Domestic Product] GDP, businesses in China nonetheless received more than $6.4 billion in U.S. Export-Import Bank assistance. Even amidst Donald Trump’s trade war with China, $128,062,638.20 flowed to China from 2017 to 2020,” the report observed.

Russia and Turkey are also big beneficiaries of EX-IM funding.

“At least part of the over $1.9 billion that went to Russia likely went to line the pockets of [Russian President Vladimir] Putin’s oligarchs, who control most of the commerce in the country.

“Sberbank, Russia’s largest financial institution, was recently sanctioned by the United States for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, though they were approved for $29,103,807 of assistance from the Export-Import Bank,” the report said.

“Human Rights Watch warned in 2021 that Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan has been ‘dismantling human rights protections and democratic norms in Turkey on a scale unprecedented in the 18 years he has been in office.’ Still, the Export-Import Bank has sent over $6.2 billion to Turkey since 2007,” OTB reported.

The EX-IM bank currently has 396 employees, with 321 of them, or 81 percent, being made more than $100,000 annually. The highest paid employee made $199,300.

The bank has been the source of controversy for nearly a decade, with conservative Republicans demanding it is abolished as a corrupt example of crony capitalism, and Democrats defending it as an essential tool of U.S. foreign policy.

The then-Republican-led Congress allowed EX-IM to expire in 2015 but reversed itself five months later.

SOURCE: The Epoch Times

Democrats and Republicans need to rein in spending: Heritage Foundation’s Joel Griffith

With raging inflation and the Democrat-led Congress gathering enough Senate support to pass billions more in spending, Joel Griffith, a research fellow in the Thomas A. Roe Institute for economic policy studies at The Heritage Foundation, told NTD TV that if the United States does not rein in its irresponsible fiscal actions, the nation is headed for a worse economic crisis.

Griffith said that raising taxes on the wealthy will not get the federal government out of the financial hole it’s dug for itself over the past few decades, particularly the spending that’s occurred in the last two years.

“The only way to pay for all this would be to print the money, to borrow the money, or to raise taxes on the middle class. There’s no easy way out of this,” Griffith said during the interview. “And politicians don’t have an appetite to correct the problem. So, there’s going to be a crisis if we do not correct our ways. It’s just a matter of time.”

By technical definition, the United States already has entered a recession, but the Biden administration continues to deny the facts.

“Everybody loves the goodies, and now we’re suffering the consequences. And it’s so important for people to realize that the economic misery that we’re feeling right now is directly related to the mistakes that were made in the past two years, with shutdowns, with spending, and with printing,” said Griffith.

The U.S. government’s debt now amounts to more than $30 trillion, which calculates to $100,000 per person, and with current interest rates, it’s an additional $1,000 in debt, per person, being added each year, said Griffith.

Democrats’ ‘Inflation Reduction’ Bill

Senators Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) and Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) announced on July 27 that they had enough votes to pass a measure called the “Inflation Reduction Act of 2022” (pdf), which seeks to spend some $433 billion—about $369 billion toward energy and climate programs over the next 10 years, and $64 billion toward extending federal subsidies for three more years for some people buying private health insurance.

Meanwhile, many from both sides of the aisle viewed Manchin as a fiscal moderate who would not opt for further government spending, especially during a recession.

Griffith, however, said that he is not surprised by Manchin supporting liberal legislation that will expand the federal government, and hurt his own state of West Virginia, because he has observed that the senator supports liberal policies.

“We know what [Manchin has] supported in the past. And he has been for expanding the size and the scope of government. So I’m disappointed that he has agreed to a package that is going to dramatically increase taxes on businesses, [that] it’s going to actually include more taxes on fossil fuels. And it’s going to even further socialize our health care sector,” said Griffith.

The U.S. consumer is already paying, via taxes and inflation, the trillions of dollars the government spent and printed in the name of pandemic relief, said Griffith. This new package will only make the economy worse off.

“We are suffering through the consequences of too much spending … and to see the Senate now moving forward on a package that’s going to increase taxes and increase [the] costs on fuel production,  it’s unfortunate,” said Griffith.

Not Putin’s Fault

Griffith said for a family with a middle-class income, “We’ve seen your real take-home pay decline by more than $6,000 annually because of all this inflation.”

And even if inflation were to revert to normal tomorrow, about 2 percent annually, it will not negate the economic damage, only lessen it for the future, he said.

“Putting the blame on [Putin] and his actions in the war in Ukraine for rising prices—that’s simply, largely untrue,” said Griffith.

Gas prices were already on the rise long before Russian President Putin invaded Ukraine, said Griffith, adding, “Same thing goes with our food costs, commodity costs, fertilizer costs—all of those were rapidly increasing long before Putin decided to invade Ukraine.”

“Let’s remember, it was our own politicians who shut down our economy. It was our own Congress in the United States that voted to spend $6 trillion that we don’t have. And it was our central bank, our Federal Reserve, that printed $6 trillion out of thin air. That is what is largely responsible for this inflation, not Vladimir Putin,” said Griffith.

Another contributing factor to the poor economy is an aspect of the employment rate called the participation rate (i.e., the percentage of people who are working age and are either working or looking for work), which more accurately describes who is working, said Griffith.

“The [participation rate] is near generational lows. In fact, if we were to have a participation rate that would have remained steady over the past three years … it shows that more than a million people have actually dropped out of our workforce entirely.”

“That’s part of the reason why if you go to a restaurant, a bar, a retail store, you notice the service isn’t so good right now,” added Griffith. “And that’s because relative to our overall population, we have fewer people working today than there were just two and a half years ago.”

There has been some increase in the participation rate in the United States, said Griffith, because “as people draw down on those savings [accumulated during the time when the government was doling out pandemic relief funds], they’re finding it necessary to return to the workforce.”

Middle-Class Most Impacted

Griffith said the money the government is spending is coming from the taxpayer and that this will affect the middle-class the most because they won’t be able to save and “build wealth” because of the current and rampant inflation.

“And that’s what I’m very fearful of—that as we continue to spend far beyond our means, that it’s not just going to have an impact this year, and next year, [but] 10 years and 15 years from now, [and] we’re going to see even fewer opportunities [like the creation of new jobs] for typical American families,” said Griffith.

Mimi Nguyen Ly contributed to this report.

SOURCE: The Epoch Times

My blood is boiling.

The Deep State Cabal inside the DOJ and FBI went out of their way to hinder the investigation of Hunter Biden’s laptop just weeks before the 2020 Presidential election. By blocking the disastrous news, it kept America in the dark and aided Biden’s so-called victory.

When America was being distracted with COVID, mandates, lockdowns, and BLM riots, our freedom was being taken away without most people noticing because our government was conspiring against us.

How can we trust our so-called “top law-enforcement” agency to do their job when they actively hid Hunter’s investigation in a RESTRICTED SUBFOLDER on their network?

Now Biden’s handpicked Attorney General has no problem turning a blind eye to the actions of the Biden family. This isn’t just refusing to investigate Hunter’s laptop, this is ACTIVELY HIDING EVIDENCE so no one else would investigate.

That’s why you and I must continue to stand up to them.

If you want to see Hunter investigated and the Big Guy impeached, then I need your URGENT Contribution of $25, $50, or $100 today!

We need to let these Deep State hooligans know that we’re going to do the job they were supposed to do. I’m opening up a congressional investigation into the contents of Hunter Biden’s laptop and exposing the criminality of Hunter and the Big Guy. I told you my blood is boiling, right?

If the DOJ didn’t cover up Hunter’s crimes and the intelligence officials didn’t peddle the lie that Hunter’s Laptop was “Russian Disinformation,” Donald Trump might still be President.

The 18-month-long nightmare we all have been living under Biden’s illegitimate reign would not have happened.

No hyper-inflation. No borrowing trillions of dollars to pay for Marxist social programs. No baby formula shortages or selling of oil reserves to Hunter’s friends in China.

That’s what the DOJ took away from us when they covered for the Biden family’s criminal enterprise.

If you’re as upset as I am, then chip in $50, $100, or $250 today to help me investigate and expose the truth behind Hunter’s and the Big Guy’s criminal enterprise… and those who helped cover it up!

Here’s the problem. The Swamp knows I’m a woman of my word. They know that I will not rest until Congress finally investigates Hunter and impeaches Joe Biden.

That’s why they have been working overtime to make sure I’m not in Congress after November. From filing lawsuits to kick me off the ballot to donating millions to my Democrat opponent, I’m having everything AND the kitchen sink thrown at me.

Do you really think Nancy Pelosi has ignored the behavior from AOC and the Jihad Squad by mistake?

Do you think the Democrats accidentally forgot to sanction their own member who gave the middle finger on National TV to GOP Members of Congress at the Congressional Baseball game the other day?

Somehow no one is being held accountable for their actions… except me. Because in Washington, some people do as they’re told while I’m fighting to do what Americans expect from their duly elected Representatives—SERVE THE PEOPLE!

That’s why I URGENTLY need your help to fight back and win this November with your $100, $500, or $1,000 donation today. Otherwise, Hunter and Brandon are going to keep enriching themselves off the backs of the U.S. government and no one will stop them.

But if I win in November, all bets are off.

That’s why we can’t let Hunter and Brandon get away with it simply because I wasn’t there to lead the charge in Congress. Help me win so I can investigate Hunter and impeach Joe Biden! Please donate today.

Thank you. God Bless America.
Marjorie Taylor Greene
Congresswoman (R-GA)

Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) said on July 31 that he expects there to be an agreement to conceal an indictment of Hunter Biden.

Johnson predicted in a Fox News interview that law enforcement “may indict Hunter Biden, but they’ll probably seal—they’ll do a deal—they’ll seal all the information.”

“The American public will never get the full truth,” he said.

Both Johnson and Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) have been involved in a yearslong investigation into the business dealings of Joe Biden’s son in places such as China, Ukraine, and elsewhere. The pair released a report in September 2020 that detailed extensive financial connections between Chinese Communist Party-linked entities and individuals and Hunter Biden.

“We’ve known that the Bidens are a corrupt family for years,” Johnson told Fox News’ Dan Bongino, noting that the “corrupt mainstream media has been covering it all up” and “even the FBI.”

Johnson also predicted that legacy news media outlets will now turn on Biden amid increasingly low poll numbers.

In March, both Republican senators presented bank records on the Senate floor showing CEFC China Energy, a now-defunct firm, made payments to Hunter Biden. That included a $100,000 wire payment to one of the younger Biden’s companies, Owasco, from CEFC.

Other payments include a wire transfer of $5 million to Hudson West, a company Hunter Biden invested in and managed, from Northern International Capital, a business that partnered with CEFC. A contract also made public by the senators shows that $500,000 went to Hunter Biden as a “one-time retainer fee.”

Two others show a $1 million payment made to Hudson West by CEFC and a transfer of $1 million from Hudson West to Owasco, with the money appearing to go to Hunter Biden for the purposes of representing Patrick Ho, a Chinese businessman who has helped CEFC gain advantages through bribery.

FBI Interference

In a recent letter, Johnson further claimed that the FBI attempted to undermine their congressional investigation in mid-2020.

Amid recent “whistleblower revelations,” they “would strongly suggest that the FBI’s August 6, 2020 briefing was indeed a targeted effort to intentionally undermine a Congressional investigation,” he wrote in a letter (pdf) to top Department of Justice officials and members of other intelligence agencies.

“If these whistleblower allegations are accurate, how can your agency, Director Wray, be capable of investigating the president’s son?” Johnson wrote in his letter. “Unfortunately, the FBI can no longer be trusted to investigate Hunter Biden with integrity and the equal application of law.”

He was referring to whistleblower complaints issued by unnamed FBI officials, as detailed by Grassley in a July 25 letter (pdf).

“The allegations provided to my office appear to indicate that there was a scheme in place among certain FBI officials to undermine derogatory information connected to Hunter Biden by falsely suggesting it was disinformation,” wrote Grassley, who has long been involved in crafting legislation to support federal government whistleblowers.

“If these allegations are true and accurate, the Justice Department and FBI are—and have been—institutionally corrupted to their very core to the point in which the United States Congress and the American people will have no confidence in the equal application of the law.”

Department of Justice officials didn’t respond to a request for comment by press time.

Zachary Stieber contributed to this report.

SOURCE: The Epoch Times

President Donald Trump has warned that America’s economy is on track for a bigger disaster than a recession, with his remarks coming shortly before government statistics showed GDP printing negative for the second consecutive quarter, which is a rule-of-thumb definition for a recession.

“Where we’re going now could be a very bad place,” Trump said at a rally in Arizona last week. “We got to get this act in order, we have to get this country going, or we’re going to have a serious problem.”

The former president singled out the collapse in Americans’ real wages, a historically depressed labor force participation rate, and the Democrat push for the Green New Deal that he said would crush economic growth.

“Not recession. Recession’s a nice word. We’re going to have a much bigger problem than recession. We’ll have a depression,” the former president said.

Trump’s remarks came several days before the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) released data showing that real U.S. GDP fell by an annualized 0.9 percent in the second quarter after contracting 1.6 percent in the first quarter.

Two consecutive quarters of negative GDP growth are a common rule-of-thumb definition for a recession, although recessions in the United States are officially declared by a committee of economists at the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) using a broader definition than the two-quarter rule.

Vance Ginn, Chief Economist at the Texas Public Policy Foundation, told The Epoch Times’ sister media NTD in an interview that, while officially it’s NBER that calls recessions, the two-quarter rule is “usually how it’s done by a rule of thumb.”

“I think this is definitely recession that we’re in now from these bad policies,” Ginn added, blaming a series of “progressive policies” coming out of the White House and the Democrat-controlled House.

Stagflationary Winds Blowing

In his remarks, Trump also took aim at resident Joe Biden’s handling of the economy, blaming him for soaring inflation.

“Biden created the worst inflation in 47 years. We’re at 9.1 percent, but the actual number is much, much higher than that,” Trump said.

While the former president didn’t provide his own estimate for the true rate of inflation, an alternative CPI inflation gauge developed by economist John Williams, calculated according to the same methodology used by the U.S. government in the 1980s, puts the figure at 17.3 percent, a 75-year high.

Trump also said that persistently high inflation combined with an economic slowdown has put the country “on the verge of a devastating” spell of stagflation, which is a combination of accelerating prices and slowing economic growth.

Inflation is “going higher and higher all the time,” Trump said, adding that it’s “costing families nearly $6,000 a year, bigger than any tax increase ever proposed other than the tax increase that they want to propose right now.”

In Trump’s first full month in office in February 2017, the headline Consumer Price Index (CPI) inflation gauge came in at 2.8 percent in annual terms. While the CPI measure fluctuated during his tenure, the highest it ever reached was 2.9 percent in July 2018, while in his final month in office, January 2021, inflation clocked in at 1.4 percent.

Under Biden, inflation has climbed steadily, soaring 9.1 percent year-over-year in June 2022, a figure not seen in more than 40 years.

‘War on American Energy’

Soaring energy prices have been one of the key contributing factors to inflation, accounting for around half of the headline inflation figure, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

In his criticism of Biden’s policies, Trump singled out what he called “Biden’s war on American energy” and blamed it for pushing up gasoline prices.

Since taking office, Biden has taken a number of executive actions targeting the oil industry, including rescinding the Keystone XL pipeline permit, halting new oil and gas drilling leases on federal lands and waters, and ending fossil fuel subsidies by some agencies.

The price of gasoline is around double what it was when Biden took office, with the president blaming various factors, including a lack of refining capacity, the war in Ukraine, and corporate greed.

In a bid to lower prices at the pump, Biden ordered the release of oil reserves from the national strategic reserve, called on U.S. refineries to boost output, and pushed OPEC to pump more crude.

In his speech, Trump said this amounted to “begging” other countries to pump more oil instead of trying to ramp up domestic production.

“We have more liquid gold under our feet than any other country in the world. We are a nation that is consumed by the radical left’s Green New Deal, yet everyone knows that the Green New Deal will lead to our destruction.”

“Just two years ago, we were energy-independent. We were even energy-dominant. The United States is now a beggar for energy

SOURCE: The Epoch Times

With an expected GOP takeover of the U.S. House of Representatives following November’s midterm elections, Republicans in the chamber are poised to launch a slew of investigations aimed at dialing up the pressure on the Biden administration over a range of issues—from border security to Hunter Biden to the origins of the pandemic.

Domestic concerns faced by everyday Americans—most notably a historic inflation rate—will be key priorities, according to Chair of the House Republican Conference Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.).

House Republicans will take the administration to task on alleged “policy failures that have created an inflation crisis, energy crisis, border crisis, and crime crisis impacting every American family,” Stefanik told The Epoch Times in an emailed statement.

Big Tech’s censorship of conservative voices will also be scrutinized, she added.

On the foreign policy front, the Biden administration’s botched withdrawal from Afghanistan, the Chinese Communist Party’s influence in the United States and abroad, and U.S. strategy toward Iran are set to come under focus.

Republicans are already laying the groundwork to take on “an aggressive oversight role” next year by issuing preservation notices and document requests so a potential GOP majority “will be ready to hold the Biden administration accountable from day one,” a House GOP leadership aide told The Epoch Times in an email.

Oversight Committee

Many of the inquiries are expected to be spearheaded by the powerful House Committee on Oversight and Reform, the chamber’s main investigative panel that has broad authority to scrutinize various facets of the administration.

The committee’s ranking member James Comer (R-Ky.), who is poised to take the chair should the Republicans flip the House, foreshadowed an ambitious agenda by a GOP-led panel.

“[W]e will return the House Oversight and Reform Committee to its core mission of rooting out waste, fraud, abuse, and mismanagement in the federal government and holding the Executive Branch accountable,” Comer told The Epoch Times in an emailed statement.

Another committee member Rep. Michael Cloud (R-Texas) had a clear message for the Biden administration via email to The Epoch Times: “Their days of corruption, fraud, and abuse will no longer be met with blind eyes.”

Hunter Biden

Chief among a GOP-led House Oversight Committee’s priorities is an investigation into Hunter Biden and his foreign business dealings.

For more than two years, the president’s son has been at the center of growing controversy over his overseas business activities, including in Ukraine, Russia, and China, conducted while Biden was vice president in the Obama administration.

Hunter is currently the subject of a federal investigation being run out of Delaware and, according to a recent CNN report citing unnamed sources, it is “nearing a critical juncture.”

Hunter has previously denied wrongdoing, and the elder Biden has maintained that he has never discussed Hunter’s business activities with his son.

The president’s son’s extensive financial dealings with foreign individuals and businesses, raise concerns about conflicts of interests, illegal lobbying, and whether his ties influenced U.S. foreign policy during the Obama administration, critics say.

Republicans have honed in on Hunter’s work for Ukrainian gas firm Burisma, while his father was the Obama administration’s point-man on Ukraine, and Hunter’s dealings with several Chinese companies and businessmen with links to the Chinese Communist Party.

“We will continue to conduct oversight of Hunter Biden and the Biden Family’s pattern of peddling access to the highest levels of government to enrich themselves,” Comer said.

“They have racked up over 150 suspicious activity reports for their foreign business deals, which is a national security threat,” the lawmaker said, referring to a CBS report saying that U.S. banks had flagged more than 150 financial transactions involving Hunter or the president’s brother, James, for further review by the Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network. Some of the transactions involved large wire transfers, the report said.

“We need to know if resident Biden benefited financially from these deals and if he is beholden to the interests of foreign adversaries,” Comer said.

COVID-19 Origins

The ranking member highlighted that the committee would continue to investigate the origins of COVID-19, focusing on the possibility that the pandemic was the result of a leak from the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV) in China.

“Growing evidence shows COVID-19 likely originated from the Wuhan Lab and the Communist Party of China covered it up,” Comer said.

An array of circumstantial evidence has prompted some officials and scientists to point to the WIV as the most likely source of the pandemic. These include the WIV’s gain-of-function research on bat coronaviruses, reports that staff members became sick with symptoms consistent with both seasonal flu and COVID-19 in the fall of 2019, before the Chinese regime acknowledged the outbreak, and that a WIV public database of 22,000 samples and viral sequences was taken offline in September 2019 before the onset of the pandemic.

The Chinese regime’s persistent refusal to allow outside access to the lab and its data has made it nearly impossible to fully investigate the lab leak theory.

Domestically, the potential role of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in aiding WIV’s activities has been viewed with particular alarm by Republicans, who are looking to intensify the inquiry. The NIH has previously funded WIV via New York-based health nonprofit EcoHealth, including one grant that amounted to what experts have described as gain-of-function research on bat coronaviruses.

“We will seek to hold U.S. government officials accountable for any wrongdoing, and ensure Americans’ tax dollars aren’t being used on risky research at unsecure labs,” Comer said.

Other Key Priorities

The ongoing struggle by the administration to control the flow of illegal immigration at the U.S.–Mexico border is set to become another focal point for Republicans serving on the House Oversight Committee, and other panels.

“We will also continue our oversight of Biden’s border crisis that has led to historic illegal immigration, a surge of deadly drugs pouring across the border, and mismanagement of taxpayer dollars,” Comer said.

With a GOP-led House Energy and Commerce Committee, Biden’s energy policies amid a deepening global squeeze on oil and gas are expected to come under close scrutiny.

“We will build on our robust oversight over how the administration is censoring conservative speech, shutting down American energy and increasing gas prices, abusing its public health emergency powers, [and] colluding with political allies like teacher’s unions,” a spokesperson for Energy and Commerce Republicans told The Epoch Times in an email.

Meanwhile, a Republican-led House Financial Services Committee would focus on probing regulatory agencies’ alleged efforts to impose a “far-left agenda” on the U.S. financial system, as well as the Biden administration’s implementation of the $1.9 trillion COVID-19 stimulus package known as the American Rescue Plan, said Laura Peavey, communications director for the House Financial Services GOP, in an email to The Epoch Times.

The Epoch Times has reached out to the White House for comment.

SOURCE: The Epoch Times

The Biden administration has sold nearly 6 million barrels of oil from the U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve to an entity tied to the Chinese Communist Party, records show.

From September 2021 to July, the Department of Energy (DOE) has awarded three crude oil contracts with a combined value of roughly $464 million to Unipec America, the U.S. trading arm of Chinese state-owned oil company Sinopec, according to a review by The Epoch Times of the DOE documents. A Chinese firm with ties to Hunter Biden had invested in the national oil giant.

The sale would tap 5.9 million barrels in total from the strategic reserve (SPR) to export to the Chinese firm. The latest contract, revealed on July 10, was for 950,000 barrels sold for around $113.5 million.

The two most recent sales to Unipec came out of an emergency drawdown of the U.S. oil stockpile, initiated under resident Joe Biden on March 31 in what he said would offset the loss of Russian oil in global markets and tame rising fuel costs at home.

The Unipec contracts have been subject to heavy criticism in recent weeks, especially because of the firm’s connections to the president’s son. With Americans nationwide still reeling from elevated gas prices, the selling of oil reserves to foreign adversaries such as China is at odds with U.S. energy and security needs, Republican lawmakers and analysts have said.

“Biden is draining our strategic reserves at an unprecedented rate. This is an abuse of the SPR, far beyond its intended purpose. Sending U.S. petroleum reserves to foreign adversaries is wrong, and it undermines our national security,” Rep. Clay Higgins (R-La.) told The Epoch Times.

What the United States should do, he says, is to “unleash American energy production and ensure that our strategic reserves are stocked and able to meet the demands of a national emergency.”

Unipec’s Bids

The oil auction is price-competitive, meaning contracts are awarded to the highest bidder. Unipec, a consistent participant in previous U.S. crude oil sales, secured 1.9 million barrels over the past three months through two contracts it won on April 21 and July 10.

The DOE also sold 4 million barrels to Unipec last fall during a congressionally mandated sale.

Sales to Unipec appear to fall in the lower price range among the successful buyers, a review of DOE contracts by The Epoch Times shows. For the 2021 contract, Unipec paid about $63 for each barrel, about $7 lower than the trading price at the time, and more than $2 short of the highest price from other buyers in the sale.

The April and July purchases cost Unipec $103.30 and $119.50 per barrel, respectively. The highest prices offered, by comparison, were $111.25 and $125.10.

Unprecedented Drawdown

The Strategic Petroleum Reserve is the world’s largest supply of emergency crude oil, with four storage sites in Texas and Louisiana designed to alleviate significant oil supply shortages in times of major geopolitical events or natural disasters.

The amount of oil in the SPR has seen a steep decline over the past year, more notably since Biden, blaming Russia’s Ukraine war for the “price hike at the pump,” in March ordered a withdrawal at a rate of 1 million barrels per day for six months to curb gas prices. The planned sale of about 180 million barrels marked the biggest drawdown in the reserve’s more-than-four-decade history and is set to cut the U.S. backup oil supply by about a third.

The inventory stood at 474.5 million barrels as of July 22, marking a 34 percent drop from its peak of 726.6 million, and some 90 million lower than the level in late March.

The DOE on May 5 announced a “long-term buyback plan” to repurchase 60 million barrels in fall through “a competitive, fixed-price bid process.” The delivery date, the DOE said, will take place “in future years when prices are anticipated to be significantly lower,” likely after fiscal year 2023. More buybacks would follow after this first tranche of purchases, it added.

But releasing oil reserves at this magnitude carries risks, according to Abhi Rajendran and Robert Johnston, two research scholars on global energy policy at Columbia University. For one, there’s no guarantee that oil prices will fall when the government moves to refill the stock. Further, the diminution of oil supply may cause the market to price in a greater premium for wars and other supply shocks, resulting in higher prices for longer, they said in a Q&A on April 1.

Scrutiny

On Capitol Hill, Republican lawmakers have been watching the oil sales with growing alarm. A total of 206 House Republicans voted on July 20 in support of a legislative amendment aimed at preventing the Biden administration from exporting petroleum to entities with Chinese Communist Party ties.

“It does not make sense that we are using our already depleted energy supplies to help China build up their own strategic reserves,” Rep. David Valadao (R-Calif.) said in a speech rallying support for the proposal.

China is the world’s largest importer of oil. As the West turns away from Russian oil due to the Ukraine war, China has been quietly snapping up Russian resources at steep discounts. From March through June, it spent more than $25 billion on Russian oil, gas, and coal, nearly doubling the amount from the year-earlier period, the latest customs data show. The sales volume propelled Russia to become China’s top oil supplier for two straight months from May, displacing Saudi Arabia.

The GOP-led measure was overruled after 219 Democrats in the House unanimously voted against it.

The same day, 20 Republican members on the House Committee on Oversight and Reform wrote (pdf) to Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm requesting an immediate briefing and all documents related to the administration’s decision to sell U.S. oil reserves. They noted that Sinopec, the parent organization of Unipec, has been linked to the president’s son Hunter Biden, through the state-backed Chinese private equity firm BHR Partners, which became a stakeholder of Sinopec in 2014.

Hunter served as a founding board member of BHR from 2013 through April 2020. His firm Skaneateles also held a 10 percent stake in BHR, which his lawyer said has been divested as of November 2021. On BHR’s 2021 annual report released in June, however, Skaneateles was still listed as a shareholder.

Hunter’s lawyer hasn’t responded to The Epoch Times’ questions regarding Skaneateles.

“As if Biden couldn’t have bundled this energy crisis anymore, this latest development of sending our strategic petroleum reserves to a Chinese oil firm connected to Hunter Biden reaches a new low,” Rep. Byron Donalds (R-Fla.), who signed on the letter, told The Epoch Times.

“For one, this administration should have never tapped into these reserves. Second, these reserves should have never left U.S. shores, and third, the U.S. shouldn’t be doing deals with firms connected to the president’s son,” he said, adding that the Biden family’s “continued compromising actions require strict oversight from Congress.”

Rep. James Comer (R-Ky.), the ranking GOP member of the House Oversight Committee who spearheaded the letter, noted that previous inquiries by Republicans to the DOE about the oil sale had gone unanswered.

“Under no circumstances should the Department of Energy be making decisions which financially benefit Hunter Biden or any of the Biden family’s business partners,” he told The Epoch Times.

“If Administration officials continue to ignore meaningful oversight,” Republicans will “use the gavel to get answers in January,” Comer said, in reference to the expected swing to a Republican majority in the House in the November midterm elections, which would hand GOP lawmakers subpoena power as chairpersons of the chamber’s various committees.

“The American people need answers to determine if this is another attempt by the Biden family to peddle access to the highest levels of government to enrich themselves.”

Rep. Ralph Norman (R-S.C.), who also backed the Oversight Committee request, said the sale demonstrates the current administration’s “rank incompetence.”

“The Biden White House obviously didn’t see a problem with loading millions of barrels from our strategic reserves onto tankers bound for foreign countries, which likely explains why they don’t see a problem selling our emergency crude oil to a Chinese gas company with ties to Hunter Biden’s investment firm,” he told The Epoch Times.

White House Pushes Back

Ian Sams, a special assistant to Biden and spokesman for the White House Counsel’s Office, responded to the Republican claims on July 22, calling them “ridiculous and false.”

The DOE is “required by law to sell it ‘in a competitive auction to the highest bidder,’ regardless of whether that bidder is a foreign company,” he told Fox News, noting that the Trump administration, in 2017, also sold a half-million barrels of crude oil from the reserve to China’s state-run PetroChina International through the same “competitive bidding process.”

Sams also stressed that Biden “had no personal involvement in this process whatsoever.”

But Sams’s statement may not have presented the full picture, according to Daniel Turner, founder and executive director of Power the Future, a nonprofit group advocating for energy workers.

“The White House has pushed back as saying we have sold in the past to the communist Chinese. And that is true. We sold when our SPR was nearly full and oil was not at record highest and the world was at relative peace,” he told The Epoch Times. “Times change, and thanks to this president, they have not just changed but become worse, and our policies must change with them.”

DOE officials didn’t respond by press time to a request by The Epoch Times about its buyback plan and Republican lawmakers’ concerns.

SOURCE: The Epoch Times

Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) alleged on July 25 that there were “systemic and existential problems” within the Justice Department and the FBI, after “highly credible” whistleblowers informed his office that officials from the bureau labeled evidence against Hunter Biden as disinformation.

“The allegations provided to my office appear to indicate that there was a scheme in place among certain FBI officials to undermine derogatory information connected to Hunter Biden by falsely suggesting it was disinformation,” Grassley wrote in a letter (pdf) to Attorney General Merrick Garland and FBI Director Christopher Wray.

Grassley, the ranking member on the Senate Judiciary Committee, said the “volume and consistency” of the whistleblowers’ allegations “substantiate their credibility.”

The latest revelation is part of Grassley’s ongoing effort to probe into Hunter Biden’s business activities. In September 2020, he and Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) released a report, discovering that there was “potential criminal activity relating to transactions among and between Hunter Biden, his family, and his associates with Ukrainian, Russian, Kazakh, and Chinese nationals,” while Joe Biden was vice president during the Obama administration.

In March, the two senators presented bank records on the Senate floor showing CEFC China Energy, a now-defunct company, made payments to Hunter Biden. Currently, the U.S. attorney’s office in Delaware is investigating Biden for possible tax violations.

Whistleblowers

According to whistleblowers, the FBI came into possession of information about Hunter Biden’s “criminal financial and related activity” in 2020, which prompted FBI supervisory intelligence analyst Brian Auten to open an assessment in August 2020, according to the letter. An FBI headquarters team subsequently used the assessment to “improperly discredit negative Hunter Biden information as disinformation” and caused the bureau’s investigation on Hunter Biden “to cease.”

A month later, the FBI team placed findings by FBI agents involved in Auten’s assessment in “a restricted access sub-file.” Grassley said the decision was “problematic.”

“[I]t does not allow for proper oversight and opens the door to improper influence,” Grassley explained.

Auten was previously known for being under investigation for failing to properly vet the now-discredited Steele dossier, which contained false and fabricated claims accusing former President Donald Trump of colluding with Russia.

In October 2020, “an avenue of additional derogatory Hunter Biden reporting” surfaced, and the reporting was “verified or verifiable via criminal search warrants,” whistleblowers told Grassley. However, the FBI did not pursue the reporting after Timothy Thibault, an assistant special agent in charge of the Washington field office, shut it down.

“Thibault allegedly ordered the matter closed without providing a valid reason as required by FBI,” the letter said. FBI officials, including Thibault, then tried to “improperly mark the matter in FBI systems so that it could not be opened in the future.”

In May, Grassley requested an Inspector General investigation into Thibault, expressing concerns about how the agent had demonstrated “a pattern of active public partisanship,” in violation of his “ethical obligation as an FBI employee.” In his letter (pdf) to Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz at that time, Grassley documented Thibault’s left-wing social media posts, including retweeting a post from the anti-Trump political-action committee the Lincoln Project.

In response to Grassley’s letter, Horowitz wrote back (pdf) saying that Thibault may have violated the Hatch Act, and asked the Office of Special Counsel to review the case. The Act, passed in 1939, bans federal government officials from taking in certain political activities.

Request

Grassley said Garland and Wray must take the whistleblower allegations seriously.

“If these allegations are true and accurate, the Justice Department and FBI are—and have been—institutionally corrupted to their very core to the point in which the United States Congress and the American people will have no confidence in the equal application of the law,” Grassley wrote in his letter.

Grassley ended his letter by asking Garland and Wray to turn over records and information relating to the Biden family, Austen, and Thibault before Aug. 8.

The senator requested “all leads” that were either “ordered closed” or denied further review by Thibault.

“All records related to derogatory information on Hunter Biden, James Biden, and their foreign business relationships,” Grassley wrote as one of his requests.

The FBI said it has received the letter but declined to comment further.

Eva Fu contributed to this report.

SOURCE: The Epoch Times

A Republican lawmaker is warning that the National Guard’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate will possibly cripple the military reserve component weeks after Army officials announced that some 60,000 troops won’t be allowed to participate in their duties if they aren’t vaccinated.

“June 30 marked Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin’s arbitrary deadline for members of the National Guard and Reserves to receive the COVID-19 vaccine despite Congress’ mandate that the Department of Defense establish uniform procedures under which service members can be exempted,” Rep. Michael Waltz (R-Fla.), a retired Army Green Beret, wrote for Fox News on July 25, saying that if the mandate is ultimately enforced, the guard “will be crippled” due to a lack of staffing.

“To date, approximately 60,000 National Guard and Reserves remain unvaccinated and the pending decision from the Biden administration could punish the very service members who have been on the front lines of fighting this pandemic.”

Combined with poor recruitment efforts, “woke indoctrination,” and mandates, Waltz said that the U.S. military is “being depleted” in the midst of the Chinese regime’s military buildup and the Russia–Ukraine conflict. At the same time, the United States is soon to enter both its hurricane season, which generally starts in August, and its wildfire season, the congressman said.

“Two things have changed since the mandate was implemented. First, the vaccine has shown to not stop the spread but rather reduce symptoms,” Waltz wrote. “Second, tens of thousands of National Guard and reservists have expressed serious reservations about the emergency development of the vaccine.”

He added that “many of these service members have already been exposed to COVID-19 and last year’s defense bill specifically asks the department to consider whether previous exposures induce sustained antibody protection, which may produce similar levels of immunity as the vaccine.”

Earlier this month, the Army confirmed that 40,000 National Guard and 22,000 reserve soldiers who didn’t get the vaccine will be blocked from their duties.

“Soldiers who refuse the vaccination order without an approved or pending exemption request are subject to adverse administrative actions, including flags, bars to service, and official reprimands,” an Army spokesperson said in a statement.

A study published in JAMA found that at least 22 service members have suffered from serious vaccine-related side effects, including heart inflammation. Few service members, meanwhile, have been given religious exemptions, with only 20 being approved in the Army and six National Guard soldiers having their religious exemptions approved.

Several Republican governors have vowed not to remove Guard members who remain unvaccinated. Last year, the governors of Wyoming, Alaska, Iowa, Mississippi, and Nebraska wrote in a letter to the Pentagon that the troops don’t need to follow federal military policy.

Pentagon officials didn’t respond by press time to a request by The Epoch Times for comment.

SOURCE: The Epoch Times

Deputy National Cyber Director Camille Stewart has called for a race-focused defense agenda

Solving “perceived” systematic racism by implementing systematic racism. Sounds like a democrat. Stop looking for hand-outs and start lending a hand. [US Patriot]

Resident Joe Biden’s incoming cyber defense deputy has claimed that “systemic racism” is one of the greatest threats to U.S. cybersecurity.

Camille Stewart, a former Google strategist whom Biden reportedly tapped for White House deputy national cyber director, has argued that “our #NatSec apparatus must be a part of dismantling systemic racism,” and “pursuing anti-racist and anti-hate policy outcomes” should be a chief national security focus for the administration.

Biden’s new hire is likely to stoke concerns from Republican legislators that his administration has been more focused on pushing a race-focused ideological agenda than on traditional national defense issues—such as the increasing risk of cyberattacks from Russia, Iran, and China. The Department of Justice said in June it is bracing for more cyberwarfare from adversarial countries. Last month, the FBI revealed it intercepted an Iranian-backed cyberattack against Boston Children’s Hospital, and Russian hackers targeted an American satellite company in Ukraine earlier this year.

Stewart, who served as policy adviser for the Obama administration’s Department of Homeland Security, has criticized the United States as an intrinsically racist society in her writing and on social media.

She claimed that the U.S. economy “lost $16 trillion b/c of Racism against Black Americans,” and warned in 2020 that “SYSTEMIC RACISM WILL RUIN THIS DEMOCRACY,” arguing that systemic racism was a part of “every institution not just the criminal justice system.”

“[Solutions] to cybersecurity challenges will never reach their full potential until systemic racism is addressed and diverse voices are reflected among our ranks at all levels,” Stewart wrote in a 2020 column for the Council on Foreign Relations titled “Systemic Racism Is a National Security Threat.”

She added that “communities of color are disproportionately affected by cyberattacks that target critical infrastructure.”

In a 2020 column for the Hill, Stewart said the Biden administration’s efforts to combat systemic racism “must be woven into leadership priorities, processes, structures, and domestic and international strategy.”

Stewart proposed that U.S. foreign policy leaders be encouraged to “talk about systemic racism in the U.S on a global stage” and acknowledge the “detrimental effects of racism at home and in U.S. foreign policy towards regions of the world.”

The White House did not respond to a request for comment. A White House press release on Monday said Stewart was “regarded as not only an expert but also as an inspiration, especially to women and underrepresented minorities.”

Republican lawmakers have objected to other recent hires by the Biden administration, including U.S. special representative for racial equity and justice appointee Desirée Cormier Smith, who claimed white diplomats lack empathy and humility.

SOURCE: The Washington Free Beacon

Wheat prices rose on July 25, days after Russian forces struck the southern Ukrainian port of Odesa.

Chicago wheat futures surged by as much as 4.6 percent before paring the gain to trade 3.1 percent higher at $7.82 1/4 per bushel by 3:21 p.m. in Singapore.

Corn futures rose by as much as 2.8 percent on July 25 before the gain eased to 1.4 percent, while soybeans were up by just 0.3 percent.

Wheat prices dropped by almost 6 percent on July 22 after Russia and Ukraine, both of whom are major exporters of grains, reached a deal to allow crucial grain shipments to safely leave three Ukrainian Black Sea ports: Odesa, Pivdennyi, and Chornomorsk.

That level of prices haven’t been seen since before Russian President Vladimir Putin launched his “special military operation” in neighboring Ukraine in February.

The agreement was brokered by Turkey and hailed as a vital step toward helping to avert a global food crisis.

Representatives of Turkey, as well as Ukraine and Russia, met in Istanbul on July 22 to sign the deal, along with United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said of the deal on July 22: “We are proud of being instrumental in an initiative that will play a major role in the solution of the global food crisis that has occupied the whole world for a long time.”

The president also said the deal would “contribute to preventing the danger of hunger that awaits billions of people in the world.”

Missile Strike

However, Russia said on July 25 that its cruise missiles had struck military infrastructure in Ukraine’s Odesa port over the weekend, shortly after the agreement was signed.

The strike used “Kalibr missiles” and destroyed Ukrainian military infrastructure, “sending a Ukrainian military boat to the Kiev regime’s favorite address in a precision strike,” Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Telegram on July 24.

The “favorite address” was a reference to Ukrainian forces on Snake Island in the Black Sea who reportedly told a Russian ship to “go [explicit]” itself before a Russian strike in February.

Serhii Bratchuk, a spokesman for the Odesa military administration, said on Telegram that Kalibr-type cruise missiles hit the infrastructure of the port and that two were shot down by Ukraine’s air defense forces.

“Two hit the port’s infrastructure facilities,” he wrote.

Natalia Humeniuk, a spokeswoman for the Ukrainian military’s southern command, said on TV that the missiles didn’t hit grain storage at Odesa’s port.

An estimated 20 million metric tons of grain have been held up in the port of Odesa in southwestern Ukraine, according to the BBC.

Wheat futures rose by 70 percent to a record high of $12.94 per bushel in the two weeks after the invasion began, prompting concerns that the conflict could impact global supplies, worsen food insecurity, and drive prices up further.

Wheat prices have gradually declined by roughly 42 percent since reaching those initial highs, but U.S. wheat features are still 15 percent higher than where they were last year, while the Benchmark French milling wheat futures are 65 percent higher than they were at this time last year, according to Business Insider. 

The EU’s high representative for foreign affairs, Josep Borrell, said on July 23 that the bloc “strongly condemns” the attack.

He wrote on Twitter, “Striking a target crucial for grain export a day after the signature of Istanbul agreements is particularly reprehensible & again demonstrates Russia’s total disregard for international law & commitments.”

SOURCE: The Epoch Times

China’s military has become more aggressive and dangerous over the past five years, the top U.S. general asserted on July 24.

Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told reporters during a trip to Indonesia that the United States and its allies have conducted more and more intercepts of Chinese aircraft and ships in the Pacific. The number of unsafe encounters has also increased significantly, he said.

“The message is the Chinese military, in the air and at sea, have become significantly more and noticeably more aggressive in this particular region,” said Milley, who recently asked his staff to compile details about interactions between China and the United States and others in the region.

The Chinese military has become “noticeably more aggressive in this particular region,” he also told the Financial Times. Milley spoke with The Associated Press and the Financial Times aboard his aircraft as he was flying to visit the Indo–Pacific over the weekend.

Milley, who has faced congressional blowback for holding two phone calls with a top Chinese general during the waning months of the Trump administration, didn’t provide specific figures about incidents involving Chinese jets or ships.

But, in one example, a Chinese J-6 fighter jet in May flew close to an Australian P-8 Poseidon spy plane and released chaff—pieces of metal debris to confuse enemy radar—that was sucked into the Australian plane’s engines, Australian officials said.

“The intercept resulted in a dangerous maneuver which posed a safety threat to the P-8 aircraft and its crew,” Australia’s military said last month about the encounter.

Threats to the Region

U.S. military officials have recently raised alarms about the possibility that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) could invade Taiwan amid speculation the CCP could take inspiration from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The CCP has stepped up its military provocations against Taiwan in 2022 as it looks to intimidate it into assimilating with the communist mainland.

Milley also made note of an agreement between the CCP and the Solomon Islands that will allow Beijing to potentially construct a naval base in the South Pacific region.

“This is an area in which China is trying to do outreach for their own purposes. And again, this is concerning because China is not doing it just for benign reasons,” Milley told reporters. “They’re trying to expand their influence throughout the region. And that has potential consequences that are not necessarily favorable to our allies and partners in the region.”

He said that the “vast majority” of countries in the Pacific want the U.S. military to be more involved amid the CCP threat.

“We want to work with them to develop interoperability and modernize our militaries collectively, in order to make sure that, geostrategically, we’re able to meet whatever challenge that China poses,” he said, according to the FT.

Earlier this month, two Republican congressmen again asked Milley’s office to provide more details about two phone calls he had with a top Chinese general, including one on Jan. 8, 2021. They said that the general may have usurped civilian control of the military and said that he “has yet to respond” to their questions.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

SOURCE: The Epoch Times

Advocacy group Judicial Watch has filed a lawsuit against the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) alleging that the agency is slow-rolling a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request to turn over records tied to resident Joe Biden’s son, Hunter Biden.

Judicial Watch filed the FOIA suit against DHS on July 17 at the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, asking the court to force the agency to turn over all non-exempt records concerning government-provided security services to Hunter Biden or companions on any international trips from 2010 to 2013.

The advocacy group said in a July 20 statement that the Secret Service, which is part of DHS, had “failed to respond adequately” to three FOIA requests in March and April demanding records of security services—and related use of taxpayer funds—provided to Hunter Biden and companions.

“The Secret Service is violating FOIA law by slow-rolling and hiding Hunter Biden records,” Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton said in the statement. “What is the Secret Service trying to hide about Hunter Biden?”

DHS didn’t respond by press time to an Epoch Times request for comment on the lawsuit.

‘Questions Have Been Raised’

The backdrop for the lawsuit is Secret Service records obtained by Judicial Watch in 2020 showing hundreds of international trips taken by Hunter Biden during the first several years of the presidency of Barack Obama while receiving Secret Service protection.

“While it is typical for the families of the president and vice president to travel with them, questions have been raised about whether Hunter Biden used the government trip to further his business interests,” Judicial Watch stated.

Missing from the records the advocacy group obtained in 2020 was information on whether Hunter Biden’s travel was on Air Force One, Air Force Two, or other government aircraft or whether other family members were present.

Judicial Watch’s complaint indicates that the Secret Service had acknowledged the group’s FOIA request and by April 19 had “located potentially responsive records, was processing the records, and would send them” to Judicial Watch “upon completion of the processing.”

But those records haven’t been handed over to Judicial Watch, nor has DHS explained why it hasn’t yet transmitted the documents, the complaint alleges.

Other Hunter Probe

Besides Judicial Watch, Republicans in Congress have also sought Secret Service records tied to Hunter Biden’s travels while his father was vice president.

While the Secret Service turned over 259 pages of records (pdf) to Sens. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) and Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), the pair of senators objected to what they said were “extensive” and “improper” redactions that impede their ability to “understand the full scope of the interactions between Hunter Biden, his associates,” and the Secret Service.

Grassley and Johnson have been probing Hunter Biden’s overseas business dealings. The senators released a report in 2020 (pdf) that said Hunter Biden’s job with Ukrainian energy firm Burisma created a “potential conflict of interest” for his father, who was heavily involved in U.S. policy toward Ukraine.

In 2019, Hunter Biden sat for an interview with ABC News, in which he insisted he hadn’t done anything “improper” in his business dealings, although he acknowledged “poor judgment.”

Hunter Biden told the media outlet that he “did nothing wrong at all,” but conceded that it was “poor judgment to be in the middle of something that is … a swamp … in many ways.”

SOURCE: The Epoch Times

Moderate Democrats will play a key role in the coming midterm election and very likely handle the U.S. House to the Republicans, analysts said.

The main reason for the rebelling moderates is President Joe Biden’s policies.

“This [moderate voting] base is becoming increasingly disenchanted with what seems to be the ongoing failures of the Biden administration on major party platforms such as rising inflation, gas prices, and a pretty weak economy,” Jamie Wright, a political pundit at The Wright Law Firm, told The Epoch Times.

Josh Wilson, a political consultant and ex-aide to former Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad, shared the view that the state of the economy under Biden is a significant factor in the shift.

Besides this, Wilson also pointed out that the historical pattern of midterm elections for the party of the president will also contribute.

“Simply based on U.S. electoral history, where the president’s political party tends to suffer major losses during the first midterm of the presidential term, it is highly likely that Republicans will see major gains in the House of Representatives,” he said.

Progressive Movement Pushing Moderates Away

For over a decade, progressive activists have been pushing the political spectrum in the United States to the left in various ways, from woke textbooks in the education system to protests on the streets.

As a result, some moderate Democrats found themself isolated and being pushed out.

Elon Musk, the Tesla CEO who was a liberal, shared a meme on April 28 explaining how the progressive movement has made him closer to the conservative side. The meme shows the political left moving away from the centers since 2008 while the center and right remaining stationary. As a result, he falls into the area close to the conservative without even changing his political stance.

The meme was liked by over 1.5 million users after Musk shared it on his Twitter account.

Biden, who mainly posed as a moderate during his campaign, followed the progressive movement closely after he came to the White House and adopted policies from the woke agenda.

That deepened the discontent among moderates.

A major factor was the extreme lockdowns, mask mandates, and vaccine mandates related to the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus, also known as the novel coronavirus, outbreak.

“You just have one public official who’s never been elected … no scientific citation for any of these mandates, simply telling Americans: ‘do what you’re told,’” Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a prominent Democrat, criticized the policies during an interview with The Epoch Times’ sister media NTD at the “Defeat the Mandates” rally in Washington on Jan. 23.

The mandates were “all designed to instill fear and confusion in Americans, and it’s just a catastrophic exercise in bad government and manipulation,” he added.

Biden’s Energy Policies and Soaring Gas Price

Another area that moderate Democrats feel upset about is the economic performance during Biden’s presidency, especially the rising inflation and gas prices.

According to CNBC’s All-America Survey, Biden’s economic approval rating dropped 5 points from April’s survey to 30 percent. His approval of the overall handling of the presidency dropped to 36 percent. Of the 800 people across the nation polled by CNBC, 51 percent believe Biden’s efforts to fight inflation are making no difference, and 30 percent think the measures are actually hurting.

The Biden administration has strictly adhered to its climate crisis agenda, rejecting boosting domestic energy production and insisting people should buy electric vehicles as an alternative option amid high gas prices.

However, electric vehicles are unaffordable for many families.

A Consumer Reports survey shows that 52 percent of people say they would not buy an electric vehicle because the costs of buying and maintaining them are too high.

How Moderate Democrats May Act in Midterms

Though the moderates are not as popular in the mainstream media or on some politicians’ priority agendas, they still make up the majority of Democrats, Wright said.

“There is a real power struggle between the moderates and the extreme left within the party. However, moderates still make up the majority,” she said.

She believes it’s important for the Democrat candidates to appeal to the moderate voting base to ensure they don’t leave the party over failed policies.

Wilson believes the moderates will act in two ways—either they won’t show up or vote Republican—and will cost the Democrat Party heavily.

“Democrat members of the Congress seem to be trending more to the left but Democrat voters are not. To be more specific, Democrats in D.C. seem to be putting social issues ahead of economic issues. [However,] most voters want the government to focus on things that impact them daily,” he said.

“It’s more likely that moderate Democrat voters will not vote in the midterm if [they are] extremely fed up, rather than cast a ballot for a Republican,” he said. “If the Republican candidate in those swing districts is also a moderate, they may be able to bring Democrat voters across the line.”

“By not showing up and voting for the Democrat, Democrat voters will absolutely be protesting the current situation and indirectly helping Republicans take control,” he added.

The situation is also likely to put moderate Democrat candidates in harm’s way because “they will be painted as extreme liberals during the campaigns” under the current political climate, Wilson stated.

Masooma Haq and Jack Phillips contributed to the report.

SOURCE: The Epoch Times

The Biden administration is poised to give Iran “more than a hundred billion dollars” in cash windfalls if it signs a new nuclear deal, according to former ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley, who also hinted to a group of pro-Israel activists on Monday that she will run for president in 2024.

With negotiations over a revamped nuclear deal ongoing, Haley warned an audience of pro-Israel activists that the Biden administration is preparing to unload billions of dollars to Tehran—money that “will fund terrorist attacks on Israel and America.”

Biden has “made clear that he’ll do almost anything to get the ayatollahs to sign on the dotted line,” Haley said in a speech before the Christians United for Israel organization during its annual gathering in Washington, D.C. “And do you know who Biden allowed our lead negotiator on the Iran deal to be? Russia.” An advanced transcript of her remarks was obtained by the Washington Free Beacon.

Haley said that with Moscow’s help, the Biden administration is laying the groundwork for Iran to obtain “missiles and nukes to destroy both Israel and America.”

Haley’s speech, which focused heavily on Israel and the threats posed by both Iran and Russia, comes amid speculation that she will throw her hat into the ring for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination—rumors that she appeared to confirm in her speech. It also laid the groundwork for a foreign policy approach that would refocus America on countering Iran and its growing alliance with Russia.

“Anything Joe Biden signs [with Iran] will all but guarantee that Iran gets the bomb. No deal is better than a bad deal,” she said. “And if this president signs any sort of deal, I’ll make you a promise. … The next president will shred it—on her first day in office.”

In addition to advocating for increased U.S. military aid to Israel to help it confront Iran, Haley discussed the war in Ukraine and blamed the Biden administration’s failures in Afghanistan for fueling Russian president Vladimir Putin’s invasion.

“If America hadn’t failed so miserably in Afghanistan, there never would have been a war in Ukraine,” she said. “Putin saw the strongest country in history leave Bagram Air Force Base in the middle of the night—without even telling our allies who stood shoulder to shoulder with us for decades.”

The bungled U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan is why “Putin made his move. It’s the price we pay for American weakness. And now countless Ukrainians are paying for our mistake with their lives,” Haley said.

Other world dictators learned a similar lesson when the United States ran out of Afghanistan, according to Haley.

“Putin wasn’t the only one who saw a green light in Afghanistan. So did Kim Jong Un in North Korea. So did Xi Jinping in Communist China,”
she said. “And last but not least, our surrender in Afghanistan was the gift that keeps on giving for Iran. When Kabul fell, the ayatollahs celebrated.”

Haley also criticized Biden’s recent trip to the Middle East, including Israel, where he announced a $300 million cash infusion to the Palestinian government. The Free Beacon exclusively reported last week that a large portion of this cash is funding the United Nations Relief and Works Agency, known as UNRWA, which has a history of inciting violence against Jews.

“The money has no conditions, no strings, nothing. The Palestinians can keep stoking hatred of Israel,” Haley said of the renewed funding. “They can keep paying the families of terrorists, which encourages more suicide bombings. Basically, the Palestinians can use America’s money to attack America’s ally. It’s a disgrace.”

SOURCE: The Washington Free Beacon

Hunter Biden held dozens of talks with his father from 2008 to 2016, often shortly after returning home from trips abroad on business, according to data from the younger Biden’s abandoned laptop.

At least 30 such talks took place, The New York Post reported on July 16, based on a personal calendar on the laptop. The meetings took place at either the White House or the vice president’s residence at the U.S. Naval Observatory.

The latest revelation comes amid President Joe Biden’s continued claim that the two have never spoken about Hunter Biden’s business dealings, which included transactions with entities and individuals in countries such as Russia and China.

One of the talks occurred in February 2012, when the young Biden met with his father at the Naval Observatory. The meeting came four days after Hunter Biden was wined and dined by billionaire oligarchs in Moscow.

In November 2015, Hunter Biden met with his father again at the Naval Observatory, two days after returning home from a trip to Romania.

On April 15, 2016, Hunter Biden met with Daniel Kablan Duncan, who was at the time the prime minister of Côte d’Ivoire. Less than an hour after the meeting, the young Biden met with his father at the Naval Observatory.

House Republican Conference Chair Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y) told the NY Post that the latest discovery is more evidence of corruption.

“Hardly a day goes by without another revelation about how intimately involved Joe Biden was with his son Hunter Biden’s corrupt foreign business dealings,” Stefanik said. “The fact that Joe was in meetings with senior foreign leaders on behalf of Hunter and his business associates while vice president further proves that Joe has been lying to the American people.”

Cory Mills, who’s seeking the Republican nomination to represent Florida’s 7th Congressional District in the midterm elections, said the Post’s findings warrant legal action against the Bidens.

“Hunter Biden should be arrested and Joe Biden impeached,” Mills wrote on Twitter.

The laptop’s calendar also showed that Eric Schwerin, the former president of Hunter Biden’s now-dissolved investment firm Rosemont Seneca Partners, was an invite recipient on 21 of the 30 meetings between Hunter Biden and his father.

In April, The Epoch Times reported that Schwerin visited the White House at least 19 times from 2009 to 2015, after reviewing White House visitor log records. One of the meetings took place in the West Wing on Nov. 17, 2010.

Read More

White House Doesn’t Dispute Joe Biden Left Voicemail About China Story for Hunter Biden

Biden Spoke to Hunter About China Business Deals, Voicemail Reveals

The Post also revealed that Hunter Biden had set up a meeting between his father and Andrés Pastrana Arango, the former president of Colombia, on March 2, 2012.

Before the March 2012 meeting, Hunter Biden and his partners at Rosemont Seneca Partners were allegedly seeking business with Brazilian construction company OAS, according to emails from the laptop, the Post reported. The Brazilian firm was interested in several projects in Columbia at the time, including a hydroelectric power plant worth $1.8 billion and a renovation project to a subway system in Bogota worth $3 billion.

“If it works, we’ll all be rich,” Schwerin wrote to Hunter Biden in an email in August 2011, according to the Post. Emails showed Hunter Biden traveling to Bogota in November 2011.

It’s unclear if OAS won any of the projects the company was interested in.

Eventually, OAS was involved in a Brazilian government corruption scandal and agreed to pay a total of 1.92 billion Brazilian reais ($461 million) by 2047 as part of a leniency deal the company signed with Brazil’s federal government in 2019, according to Reuters.

White House officials didn’t respond to a request for comment by press time.

Recently, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), and Rep. James Comer (R-Ky.) wrote an op-ed published by the Post declaring that they aim to investigate the Bidens’ business dealings if Republicans take back the House after the 2022 midterm elections.

“Contrary to Joe Biden’s statement that he never spoke to Hunter about his foreign business dealings, associates state that he was fully aware of his family’s business dealings and influence peddling,” the three lawmakers wrote. “There is evidence of a direct sum of money set aside for ‘the Big Guy’—who witnesses have identified as Joe Biden—from foreign nationals.

“A Republican majority will be committed to uncovering the facts the Democrats, Big Tech, and the legacy media have suppressed.”

SOURCE: The Epoch Times

Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine finally, though perhaps not permanently, awakened Western Europe to the dangers of relying on a thug for its energy supply.

Help Governor DeSantis Keep Florida Safe From Radical Leftists!

The EU nations have scrambled to replace Russian natural gas, which they have feasted on for years even as they bullied emerging nations (some of whom have abundant oil and gas reserves) never to use the stuff.

The hypocrisy has gotten to be too much – and some emerging nations are calling out the Euros for putting their own comfort ahead of local needs:

While African leaders are eager for the millions in revenue that the gas deals are likely to bring in, they’re also calling out the sudden interest in their resources as a double standard that perpetuates the West’s exploitation of the region. They question why Africa must move away from dirty fuels — thereby delaying access for hundreds of millions of people to electricity — even as its gas is used to keep the lights on in Europe. Rich countries have been reluctant to fund pipelines and power plants that would facilitate the use of gas in Africa because of its emissions, yet haven’t delivered on promises to help finance green projects that could be an alternative source of energy.

Europe’s awkward position was on display at the Group of Seven leaders summit last month. The world’s most advanced economies walked back a climate commitment to halt financing for overseas fossil fuel projects, but indicated that exceptions would likely apply to projects that would allow for more shipments of LNG to their countries. In another climbdown, European Union lawmakers recently voted to classify gas and nuclear energy projects within the bloc as “green investments”, potentially opening up billions of euros in fresh funding.

That approach has irked African leaders who need fuel, any fuel, to lift millions out of poverty. “We need long-term partnership, not inconsistency and contradiction on green energy policy from the UK and European Union,” Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari said in written comments. “It does not help their energy security, it does not help Nigeria’s economy, and it does not help the environment. It is a hypocrisy that must end.”

And that’s just the beginning:

The turn to Africa for a short-term gas fix is “patronizing” and “hypocritical,” said Carlos Lopes, former head of the UN Economic Commission for Africa. It is “absolutely outrageous to say to the Africans that they should basically not look into the options that they have in front of them, and at the same time accelerate the request for gas for Europe because of the Russia-Ukraine war.”

Vijaya Ramachandran, director for energy and development at the Breakthrough Institute, a California-based think tank, was more blunt. It’s “green colonialism,” she said, as rich countries exploit poorer nations’ resources while essentially denying them similar access in the name of climate action.

“Green colonialism.” That ought to leave a mark on the conscience of even the most obtuse EU bureaucrat.

SOURCE: American Liberty News

Resident Joe Biden is losing support from some of his biggest backers.

Bill Kristol, who founded and edited the neoconservative magazine The Weekly Standard, became a fierce critic of Donald Trump during the 2016 presidential campaign and led the NeverTrump movement.

In 2018, Kristol co-founded The Bulwark, whose coverage is largely centered around criticism of Trump.

Two years later, he endorsed Biden in the Democratic primary, calling it a “simple choice,” and in the general election.

On Wednesday, however, Kristol argued that Biden should announce he won’t run for re-election.

He said on Twitter that a retirement announcement by Biden would bolster the Democrats’ chances in the 2022 midterm elections and lead to a Democratic victory in the 2024 presidential race.

Straightforward from here:

1. Biden announces not running again.

2. 2022 focus turns to R extremism, Ds do well in Nov.

3. Inflation subsides, Ukraine defeats Russia, Biden is successful 1-term president.

4. Younger moderate D defeats Trump or Trumpist in ’24.

Pourquoi pas?

— Bill Kristol (@BillKristol) July 13, 2022

As the president’s popularity drops further and further amid historic inflation and other crises, even liberals are increasingly giving him the cold shoulder.

A recent New York Times/Siena College poll indicated that 64 percent of Democratic voters want someone else than the incumbent as their nominee for president in 2024.

Biden snapped at a reporter who asked him about the poll at a White House event Tuesday.

“Read the polls, jack! You guys are all the same,” he said.

“What’s your message to Democrats who don’t want you to run again?”

BIDEN: “Read the polls! Read the polls, Jack! You guys are all the same.” pic.twitter.com/e0G3Sfufwm

— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) July 12, 2022

Related:

Conservative Anti-Trump Magazine The Weekly Standard Announces Closure

If Biden were to run for re-election in 2024, he’d start his second term at the age of 82, smashing presidential age records.

Democrats have quietly circulated concerns about his age and unpopularity.

Kristol repeated his desire for Biden to eschew a 2024 re-election campaign in a subsequent tweet.

A lively (I thought!) podcast with @SykesCharlie.

We discuss just how (predictably) dangerous Trump proved to be, and the failure of Republicans and conservatives to come to grips with this.

Bonus: I make the case for Biden announcing he’s one and done.https://t.co/Ux5LubuqpN

— Bill Kristol (@BillKristol) July 13, 2022

At the now-defunct Weekly Standard, the neoconservative ideologue became a crucial proponent of President George W. Bush’s 2003 invasion of Iraq.

The invasion has since become regarded as one of the worst foreign policy disasters in U.S. history.

Kristol reinvented himself by aligning with progressive Democrats as a Trump critic after the 2016 GOP primary, establishing himself as a mainstay on liberal cable channels such as CNN and MSNBC.

Surging costs of fuel, housing, and food were major contributors to high inflation last month

The U.S. annual inflation rate climbed to 9.1 percent in June, reaching its highest level since November 1981 and topping the market estimate of 8.8 percent and May’s annual rate of 8.6 percent.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), the consumer price index (CPI) rose by 1.3 percent month-over-month. The monthly inflation also was higher than economists’ expectations of 1.1 percent.

While the core inflation rate, which removes the volatile food and energy sectors, eased to 5.9 percent, that was higher than the forecast of 5.7 percent. On a monthly basis, core inflation rose at a higher-than-expected pace of 0.7 percent.

Food prices soared by 10.4 percent, while the energy index advanced by 41.6 percent.

Nearly every food item, except uncooked beef steak, was more expensive last month. Pork surged by 9 percent, chicken soared by 18.6 percent, and ham increased by 9.6 percent. Eggs spiked by 33.1 percent, milk rose by 16.4 percent, fruits and vegetables jumped by 8.1 percent, and coffee swelled by 15.8 percent.

On the energy front, fuel oil increased by 98.5 percent. Gasoline surged by 59.9 percent, electricity costs picked up by 13.7 percent, and propane and kerosene jumped by 26.1 percent.

New vehicles surged by 11.4 percent, used cars and trucks jumped by 7.1 percent, apparel increased by 5.2 percent, and shelter climbed by 5.6 percent.

Shelter costs, which make up about one-third of the CPI, increased by 0.6 percent in June from May. This was mainly driven by a 0.8 percent rise in rent of primary residence, the greatest rent increase since 1986.

“Today’s shockingly high consumer price inflation number does not bode well for our country’s economic outlook,” Desmond Lachman, economist and senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, told The Epoch Times in an email.

It makes it likely that the Fed will keep raising interest rates and decreasing its “bloated balance sheet” aggressively, he said.

“The Fed will likely do so despite the growing signs of economic and financial market weakness both at home and abroad,” Lachman said. “That has to raise the risk of a hard economic landing before yearend and further turmoil in the equity and bond markets.”

The S&P 500 ended 0.4 percent lower, its fourth consecutive drop, after tumbling as much as 1.6 percent earlier. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.7 percent, while the Nasdaq Composite ended down 0.2 percent, erasing nearly all of an early 2.1 percent loss.

The U.S. Dollar Index (DXY), which measures the greenback against a basket of currencies, spiked with the news before ending the day lower by 0.13 percent to 108.02. The index has been on a tear in 2022, rallying about 13 percent year-to-date.

A fake CPI report circulated online on July 12 and attempted to emulate the formatting of the May inflation data, using different dates and figures. It claimed that the annual inflation rate was 10.2 percent in June. Despite being a forgery, it caught the attention of investors, sending stocks slightly lower in the afternoon session on Wall Street.

The White House braced the American people on July 12 for an elevated headline reading, noting in a memo that the June CPI report was out of date since it didn’t contain the dramatic decline in food and energy prices. U.S. officials are ostensibly looking ahead to the July inflation numbers to show that their efforts are succeeding.

Peak Inflation?

Over the past month, crude oil and gasoline prices have fallen by notable levels amid growing recession fears and weaker demand outlooks.

West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude has slumped by about 17 percent to below $100 per barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange since the middle of July. The national average for a gallon of gasoline has tumbled by roughly 7 percent to about $4.65, according to AAA.

Agricultural commodities have also plummeted, with corn, wheat, and soybeans down by approximately 20 percent in the past month.

“The softening food, energy, and commodity prices, the improved supply chains, the easing shipping costs, and lower purchasing manager indices hint that U.S. inflation may have hit a peak last month, or will hit one soon,” Ipek Ozkardeskaya, a senior analyst at Swissquote Bank, wrote in a research note.

Even if inflation has peaked, market experts believe prices for many goods and services in the marketplace will remain elevated, such as rent and airline fares. Core CPI could moderate, too, because of weaker used car prices.

The headline inflation reading prompted the interest-rate futures market to revise its expectations that the Federal Reserve will raise rates by 100 basis points at this month’s Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) policy meeting. Most of the market had anticipated a three-quarter-point increase at the upcoming rate-setting committee meeting, with small odds of a full point hike, according to the CME FedWatch Tool.

Price stability has become the central bank’s primary objective, even if it triggers a recession and extends the selloff in the financial markets. Fed Chair Jerome Powell has stated that it’s possible to navigate a soft landing, but noted that it isn’t a guarantee.

Bryce Doty, senior vice president and senior portfolio manager at Sit Investment Associates, says the Fed’s actions will exacerbate problems in the economy.

“The Fed’s clear mistake of destroying demand by aggressively raising rates instead of supporting businesses desperately in need of workers will further extend shortages,” he wrote in a July 12 research note. “Just think of the incredible growth we would have if another 2 to 4 million workers re-entered the workforce. Supply shortages would dry up and inflation pressures would dissipate. Instead, the Fed’s actions will slow growth and inflation will persist longer than it should.”

However, Deutsche Bank analysts believe that the U.S. central bank needs to maintain its hawkish attitude as inflation continues to show that it’s “a demand-driven phenomenon.” In the past couple of months, consumer demand has eased. Personal spending rose by just 0.2 percent in May, according to the Bureau of Economic Analysis. Retail sales unexpectedly fell by 0.3 percent in May, the Census Bureau reported.

At the same time, with near-term recession fears growing, the financial institution expects the peak fed funds rate will be 4.1 percent, but economic downturn concerns “could well short-circuit the Fed’s hiking cycle before it reaches our current terminal rate expectations.”

Following the June FOMC meeting, the Fed updated its dot-plot from March, projecting that the benchmark rate would hit 3.4 percent this year, 3.8 percent in 2023, and drop back to 3.4 percent in 2024 (pdf).

“My expectation is that inflation will soon peak,” Lachman said. “It will do so as a result of the U.S. and world economy moving into a recession, as well as a result of the slump presently underway in international commodity prices in general and oil prices in particular.”

Next on the inflation front, the BLS will release the June producer price index on July 14. Economists forecast that it will come in at 10.7 percent year-over-year, down from 10.8 percent in May.

Emel Akan contributed to this report.

SOURCE: The Epoch Times

CROSSROADS

JOSHUA PHILIPP

Protests have broken out in the Netherlands, where the government has begun restricting agriculture in a push to reduce nitrogen use. This follows a broader global trend, where governments are placing restrictions on farmers and fertilizers under claims of fighting global warming. And meanwhile, Sri Lanka serves as an example of where these policies could lead, where restrictions on fertilizers caused food shortages that are now sparking riots.

We will also have war correspondent Michael Yon joining us live from the Netherlands to talk about the current farmers’ protests and what’s happening on the ground there.

In this live Q&A with Crossroads host Joshua Philipp, we’ll discuss these stories and others, and answer questions from the audience.

Subscribe to the new Crossroads newsletter and stay up-to-date!

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SOURCE: The Epoch Times

Analysts with JP Morgan Chase said the price for a barrel of oil could more than triple if Russia decides to cut its output amid record-high gas prices.

The current price for a barrel of oil stands at around $110, but that could increase to a “stratospheric” $380 per barrel if Russia acts to cut output, JP Morgan’s analysis wrote in a note, according to Bloomberg News.

“It is likely that the government could retaliate by cutting output as a way to inflict pain on the West,” the analysts wrote in what they described as a worst-case scenario. “The tightness of the global oil market is on Russia’s side.”

JP Morgan analyst Natasha Kaneva said that Russia cutting production by 3 million barrels a day would push global prices to $190 per barrel. And the worst-case scenario, she added, would be if Moscow cut 5 million barrels per day, which could send the price to $380.

Since the start of the Ukraine conflict on Feb. 24, Western nations have hit Russia with punishing sanctions. However, Russia supplies much of Europe with oil and natural gas. The United States, meanwhile, has blocked all Russian oil exports since March.

JP Morgan’s analysts added that if the West continues to target Russia’s oil industry, the Kremlin may not play along.

“The most obvious and likely risk with a price cap is that Russia might choose not to participate and instead retaliate by reducing exports,” the note said, according to Bloomberg.

Data from AAA shows that the nationwide average for a gallon of regular gas currently is hovering around $4.81 as of Sunday, a slight decline of about 10 cents from the previous week.

US Response

Last week, when asked about how long Americans should expect to pay high gas prices, President Joe Biden claimed that they will continue to be elevated as long as the conflict takes to resolve.

“As long as it takes so Russia cannot in fact defeat Ukraine and move beyond Ukraine,” Biden told reporters on June 30. “This is a critical, critical position for the world. Here we are. Why do we have NATO? I told Putin that in fact, if he were to move, we would move to strengthen NATO. We would move to strengthen NATO across the board.”

White House economic adviser Brian Deese said that Americans should pay high prices because it “is about the future of the liberal world order, and we have to stand firm.”

Biden also attempted to shift the blame to gas stations for the higher prices, writing on Twitter: “My message to the companies running gas stations and setting prices at the pump is simple: this is a time of war and global peril. Bring down the price you are charging at the pump to reflect the cost you’re paying for the product. And do it now.”

He did not provide any examples of how gas stations could “bring down the price.” It’s also not clear if he was writing to individual gas station owners, companies, or individuals who own many franchises.

A day later, Pentagon press secretary John Kirby defended the Twitter post in a Sunday morning interview with Fox News.

“If everybody cooperates on this, we can bring the price down at least by about a dollar a gallon,” Kirby remarked, “so he’s working very, very hard to do this because he knows the impact that high gas prices have on the American household.”

SOURCE: The Epoch Times

Amazon founder and multi-billionaire Jeff Bezos criticized the Biden administration’s messaging around gas prices and rising inflation.

On Saturday, resident Joe Biden suggested on Twitter that gas stations across the United States charge customers less for gasoline to offset historically high gas prices.

“Ouch,” Bezos wrote in response. “Inflation is far too important a problem for the White House to keep making statements like this. It’s either straight ahead misdirection or a deep misunderstanding of basic market dynamics.”

Earlier, Biden’s Twitter account wrote that he has a “message” to gas stations: “This is a time of war and global peril. Bring down the price you are charging at the pump to reflect the cost you’re paying for the product. And do it now.”

From the Twitter post, it’s not clear how gas stations might accomplish Biden’s Twitter demand, which was praised by a Chinese Communist Party media account. Others, however, criticized the president’s post.

“You know as well as everyone that the Federal Reserve actually sets the prices—through rampant inflation,” wrote the Libertarian Party’s account. “When 40 percent of the dollars in the world was printed in one year, inflation sets in and prices skyrocket. Just yesterday you were blaming [Russia]. We see through your scam.”

Added California gubernatorial candidate Michael Shellenberger, “At a time of war, Biden could have leveled with the American people and united the country through an ‘all-of-the-above’ clean energy strategy that included oil & gas. Instead, he has repeatedly lied about the causes of the energy crisis and divided the country.”

Data released by auto club AAA on Sunday shows that the national average price for a gallon of regular gas currently stands at $4.81, down about 10 cents from a week ago. In mid-June, the average price hit $5 per gallon for the first time.

Biden and fellow Democrats have shifted from blaming Russia and its leader, Vladimir Putin, for the spike in gas prices to blaming oil companies and gas stations in recent days. The president sent a letter to the top oil companies in the United States, demanding that they bring down prices while accusing them of price-gouging.

ExxonMobil, one of the firms, fired back by suggesting that federal policies have contributed to rising prices.

“In the short term, the U.S. government could enact measures often used in emergencies following hurricanes or other supply disruptions—such as waivers of Jones Act provisions and some fuel specifications to increase supplies,” the oil giant wrote in a news release.

The federal government, it added, “can promote investment through clear and consistent policy that supports U.S. resource development, such as regular and predictable lease sales, as well as streamlined regulatory approval and support for infrastructure such as pipelines.”

Republicans and some analysts have said the higher prices are caused by Biden having issued a series of executive orders last year suspending new drilling leases on federal lands, fossil fuel subsidies, and killing off the Keystone pipeline.

SOURCE: The Epoch Times

Ohio’s Marcy Kaptur distances herself from D.C. after serving for nearly four decades

Ohio Democratic congresswoman Marcy Kaptur says she’s fed up with “people in Washington” who “care only about the coasts.” She’s been in Congress since 1983 and votes in lockstep with her party’s coastal leaders.

In her first ad of the general election cycle, titled “Feeling Squeezed,” Kaptur claims “too many of us” are hurting economically because “the people in Washington only care about the coasts.” The Democrat should know—she’s served in Congress for nearly four decades and votes with resident Joe Biden and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D., Calif.) 100 percent and 99 percent of the time, respectively. Kaptur also routinely touts her vote in favor of the American Rescue Plan, Biden’s $2 trillion stimulus package. Prominent liberal economists say that bill drove the nation’s inflation surge.

This is hardly the first time Kaptur has attempted to distance herself from her record as a career politician as she navigates a competitive reelection campaign for the first time in decades. With record-high gas prices seen under Biden driving voters away from Democrats, Kaptur is blaming BP and other “big oil” companies for “gouging consumers.” But Kaptur has taken thousands of dollars in campaign cash from major oil and gas companies since 2013, including $12,000 from BP. And when Biden similarly blamed oil and gas companies for “pad[ding] their profits at the expense of hardworking Americans,” energy experts debunked the claim.

Bernie Moreno, Ohio chair of the nonpartisan group U.S. Term Limits, said Kaptur’s ad proves the Democrat is “desperate” with the midterm elections looming.

“Democrats are desperate for shifting narratives, so they pretend they’re something they’re not. Because the polling and the public sentiment is crystal clear—people don’t want career politicians, so the only way they think they can win is by pretending none of that exists,” Moreno told the Washington Free Beacon. “It’s unbelievable to see them try to morph into something they’re not. For example, Marcy Kaptur, she’s been there for 40 years. All the problems she’s talking about, well, why didn’t you solve those while you were there for four decades?”

Kaptur’s campaign did not return a request for comment. Her attempt to distance herself from Washington, D.C., Democrats is particularly bizarre given her unwavering support for Biden. When Biden visited Kaptur’s district in February, Kaptur called him the best president she’s “walked alongside as a member of Congress.” “resident Biden, your report card is outstanding for your first year as president,” Kaptur added. Just 27 percent of Ohioans approve of Biden, while 62 percent disapprove, according to Civiqs.

Kaptur’s February speech explicitly touted Biden’s American Rescue Plan, which the Ohio Democrat said would lead to “the modernization of our nation.” Instead, former Obama administration economic adviser Larry Summers says the legislation led to inflation. Buckeye Institute research fellow Greg Lawson agrees—he told the Free Beacon Kaptur was “sticking her head in the sand” if she believed Biden’s $2 trillion stimulus package wouldn’t be inflationary.

“It’s a massive amount of money that really wasn’t essential and has now created all kinds of reverberation effects,” Lawson said. “So at the end of the day, it was a bad deal. And now we’re paying for it quite a bit.”

Over her nearly 40-year career, Kaptur has won all but three of her reelection bids by at least 20 points. That will almost certainly change in November—Ohio’s redistricting process made her district considerably more red, meaning Kaptur will likely face the toughest reelection bid of her career in November. The Democrat is set to face Air Force veteran J.R. Majewski, who won his primary contest by 5 points in May. Roughly two months earlier, Majewski signed a U.S. Term Limits pledge to limit terms for elected officials. Kaptur, meanwhile, said in 1995 that term limits would cause “upheaval” and lead to a “bunch of juvenile congressmen.”

https://freebeacon.com/democrats/tone-deaf-democrat-whos-been-in-congress-since-1983-goes-after-people-in-washington/

New York billionaire and refiner John Catsimatidis, who owns hundreds of gas stations, blasted resident Joe Biden’s pinning the blame on high prices at the pump on gas station owners, arguing there’s only one solution for inflation—boosting production of crude.

Catsimatidis made the remarks in an interview on Fox News on June 24, after being asked to comment on Biden’s call to gas station owners to “bring down the price you are charging at the pump to reflect the cost you are paying for the product.”

“Do it now. Do it today. Your customers, the American people, they need relief now,” Biden said at a White House press conference on June 23, in which the president called for a federal gas tax holiday, urged oil companies to use their profits to boost refining capacity, and leaned on gas station owners to pass along lower crude oil prices by lowering prices at the pump.

‘Ridiculous to Put It on Us’

Catsimatidis reacted to Biden’s remarks by defending gas station owners, arguing that they’ve been “making the same margin that we’ve been making forever” as they have to cover payroll and pay rent, electricity bills, and other operating expenses.

While the margin gas station owners make fluctuates several cents one way or the other, Catsimatidis said it’s “ridiculous to put it on us. We’re not the ones that created the problem.”

The price of gasoline has nearly doubled since Biden took office, with the president variously blaming oil industry greed, a lack of refining capacity, global supply shortfalls set against a sharp post-pandemic rebound in demand, and the war in Ukraine.

Some experts and industry insiders have argued that the Biden administration’s anti-fossil fuel policies have discouraged companies from investing in refining capacity.

“It’s not the war in Ukraine. It’s really domestically caused constraint on the supply side,” said Ross McKitrick, a professor of economics at the University of Guelph in Ontario and expert on energy and environmental policy, in a recent interview with The Epoch Times.

“Nobody’s willing to invest in expanding refinery capacity because the outlook from everything that the government has said is you won’t get the approvals,” he added.

McKitrick’s view was echoed by Chevron CEO Mike Wirth, who said in a recent interview that he does not believe another oil refinery will be built again in the United States, arguing that government policies are the key factor.

“We’ve seen refineries closed. We’ve seen units come down. We’ve seen refineries being repurposed to become bio refineries. And we live in a world where the policy, the stated policy of the U.S. government is to reduce demand for the products that refiners produce,” Wirth said.

Still, American drivers facing pain at the pump could see some relief from economic headwinds and reduced demand, if not from gas station owners squeezing their margins or refiners finding ways to process more crude.

‘No Denying Biden Has Some Blame’

Oil prices have retreated over the past two weeks amid broad market concern over an economic slowdown as soaring inflation has pushed central banks to tighten financial conditions by hiking rates.

The drop in crude prices has led gas stations to reduce prices at the pump, with the national average for a gallon of gas landing at $4.897 on June 27, according to AAA.

Several weeks ago, that figure stood at over $5 a gallon, while a year ago, the national average for a gallon of gas was $3.095.

Some gasoline market experts, like GasBuddy analyst Patrick De Haan, predict further drops.

“We’re down to $4.88/gal with #gasprices down for the second straight week. A third is possible, with prices by July 4 falling to $4.75-$4.80/gal,” De Haan wrote in a recent tweet.

What’s De Haan’s take on Biden’s role in high prices at the pump?

“There’s no denying Biden has some blame for rising #gasprices, but it is far far from 100%,” he said in a tweet, while agreeing “100 percent” with a comment that pinned the blame on a massive demand disruption related to COVID-19 combined with a sluggish domestic production response driven by the desire to use profits to repair damaged balance sheets when oil prices crashed at the beginning of the pandemic.

‘Open Up the Spigots’

For his part, Catsimatidis said in the interview on Fox that there’s only one fix for the current inflationary spike—a big part of which is due to soaring energy costs.

“We have 100 years’ worth of oil,” he said. “Open up the spigots.”

“If we open up the spigots and flooded the market with oil, with crude oil, American crude oil, we bring the price of oil back” and “inflation goes away,” Catsimatidis said.

Petr Svab contributed to this report.

https://www.theepochtimes.com/oil-billionaire-blasts-bidens-gas-price-blame-game-says-only-one-thing-will-fix-inflation_4560993.html?utm_source=Morningbrief&utm_campaign=mb-2022-06-28&utm_medium=email&est=3%2FzcSKWPOY4rRNOP8hGJKXoA3vkP8asu0EcKoYlTK3zv%2BlyK%2BXvRXLgydkJeJZDyfw%3D%3D

The lessons for America from Germany’s ‘Energiewende’

American Founding Father Benjamin Franklin once said that “experience is an expensive school but fools will learn in no other.” Germany’s green energy policy, launched in the year 2000, could have been a cheap lesson for America today.

The Biden administration has chosen to follow Germany, providing heavy subsidies for wind and solar, while suppressing industries that could reliably meet America’s energy needs and even reduce its carbon footprint. In January, the administration announced that it had “pulled every lever to position America to scale up clean energy … the Biden-Harris Administration has readied offshore areas to harness power from wind, approved new solar projects on public lands, and passed the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law to build thousands of miles of transmission lines that deliver clean energy.”

On June 6, the Biden Administration invoked the Defense Production Act to increase the production of green energy and to replace the use of fossil fuels. While the legality of this move is questionable, it established the U.S. government as a major controlling party in America’s heretofore private energy industry. But like most grand government adventures into industrial policy, the push for renewables is already revealing itself to be enormously wasteful and counterproductive.

Twenty-two years ago, Germany stepped into the forefront of the green energy movement, implementing its “Energiewende,” an ambitious program of subsidies for solar panels and wind turbines, coupled with a reduction in coal, oil, and natural gas. After the 2011 nuclear disaster in Fukushima, Japan, Germany decided to also close its nuclear plants.

In 2000, less than 7 percent of Germany’s electricity came from so-called renewables. By 2021, that share exceeded 40 percent of the country’s electricity generation and about 20 percent of its total energy consumption, including electric vehicles (EVs).

By the end of 2021, before the Ukraine war drove prices even higher, German households paid 32 cents per kilowatt-hour for electricity. The rate in France, which kept its nuclear industry intact, was 23 cents. Americans paid an average price of 11 cents for electricity at that time—about a third of what Germans paid. Twenty percent of Germans’ electric bills went to a “renewables surcharge” to subsidize wind and solar.

Germany had spent heavily to increase its renewable energy capacity, but in the case of wind and solar, capacity never delivered the promised output. According to a 2020 report from the Institute for Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), Germany’s electricity output in 2000 was 54 percent of its total capacity, also known as the “capacity factor.” Unused capacity is the norm for power grids because the demand for electricity varies significantly depending on the time of day, the season, and the weather. By 2019, however, while Germany’s total electricity capacity had risen dramatically thanks to a sharp increase in renewables, its capacity factor had fallen to just 20 percent, largely because wind and solar generators were less productive than fossil fuels or nuclear.

The capacity factor for solar energy was just 10 percent because much of the country is often overcast. Wind energy was also producing well below capacity because wind turbines produced no energy on calm days and had to shut down on particularly gusty days to prevent turbine blades from being damaged. Even within those limits, the amount of energy produced by wind turbines was hugely variable depending on how hard the wind was blowing.

“It costs Germany a great deal to maintain such an excess of installed power,” the IEEE report stated. “The average cost of electricity for German households has doubled since 2000.”

A major problem with wind and solar is not only that they are unreliable, but also that they tend to generate the most power when people need it least. The peak seasons for wind generation tend to be fall and spring, but the peak demand for energy occurs in summer and winter when people need to heat or cool homes and offices.

An electricity grid must manage huge variability in demand. It must have enough capacity to cover peak demand, for example during the hottest hours of summer, but also have the flexibility to reduce power during early morning hours or springtime days when demand falls considerably. Because renewables are unpredictable in terms of how much energy they will produce, and when, they add substantial variability to the supply side of the equation as well.

“The whole idea that you would take something as complicated as an electric system, one of the most complicated things people have invented to date, and choose what to put on that system and how to run it by a popularity contest, to me that’s nuts and it’s going to end in tears,” Peter Hartley, Professor of Energy Economics at Rice University, told The Epoch Times. “Trying to run that system with politics is not a very smart thing to do.”

Germany’s energy sector had a difficult year in 2021 because the winds were calm. Even as demand surged, wind output fell by a quarter in 2021. The capacity factor for solar also fell because it was not a particularly sunny year.

After a sharp drop in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Germany’s CO2 emissions increased by 31 million tons in 2021. A significant portion of this increase was due to the failure of renewables to produce, which forced Germany to lean more heavily on fossil fuels, including coal, to keep its electric grid going. And while shutting down its own nuclear plants, Germany also bought nuclear-generated electricity from France.

The surplus periods for wind and solar brought problems as well. When the weather cooperates and wind and solar produce at peak capacity, they often generate more power than consumers want. This leaves power companies with the choice of either trying to store excess energy, which is technologically problematic, or trying to offload it at deep discounts. This left Germany in a position of importing energy when prices were high and attempting to dump excess energy on a saturated market when prices were low.

The same thing happens in the United States. In Texas, for example, wind farms have been known to even pay grid operators to take their excess output. America’s wind farms receive government subsidies based on the amount of power they sell to utilities. This means that they can pay grid operators to take their excess energy and still make a profit as long as the amount they pay is less than what the government pays them in subsidies.

This market distortion from government intervention comes at a price, however. In America, traditional energy producers that don’t get subsidies, such as natural gas, struggle to make a profit when prices are artificially depressed, and this means that more reliable energy producers are crowded out of the market and, in many cases, are shut down. Nuclear energy, a reliable, relatively inexpensive, carbon-free producer, suffers the most because of how costly it is to cycle nuclear plants up and down.

“By having governments force intermittent renewables into the system through industrial policy,” Hartley said, “You’re actually penalizing nuclear, which might be the best long-run solution.”

There is an ongoing debate about how much and how fast CO2 emissions are changing the earth’s climate. However, if reducing carbon emissions is the ultimate goal, nuclear is probably the best means of achieving it. It emits far less CO2 than renewable energies, when mining and construction are taken into account; it is scalable; it is steady, reliable, and not subject to wild variations due to the weather; and it builds energy independence.

“Two of the most successful mass displacement of fossil fuels in the world are the nuclear programs in France and Sweden,” Hartley said. Nuclear is by far the most energy-dense technology, producing 10,000 times the amount of energy per kilogram that diesel fuel produces. It also takes up less space than solar panels and requires far less mining, with all the collateral damage that comes with that.

The downsides of nuclear are well known: nuclear waste and the possibility of catastrophic accidents such as Chernobyl, Three Mile Island, and Fukushima. However, new innovations in nuclear energy have made the technology safer, cleaner, more flexible, and more scalable. Downsized nuclear plants called Small Modular Reactors can be built closer to industrial users, reducing the cost of building lengthy transmission networks.

While Germany appears to have closed the door on nuclear energy, the European Union is reportedly drawing up plans to reclassify natural gas and nuclear energy as “green.”

According to Jessica Johnson, communications director for Nucleareurope, “We’re starting to see member states recognize that in order to have a stable supply of low carbon electricity, nuclear needs to be part of the mix.”

Europe has set ambitious targets to “decarbonize our economy completely by 2050,” Johnson said. If nuclear energy is excluded, “we can forget those targets.”

Currently, about 25 percent of Europe’s electricity is generated by nuclear power, as well as half of Europe’s “low-carbon” electricity. Belgium is rethinking its program to phase out its nuclear plants, Johnson said. France has proposed ambitious plans for building up to six new nuclear plants, and “a couple of weeks ago, in a manifesto, the Finnish Green Party made a clear statement in support of nuclear.”

‘Carbon Debt’

Germany’s Energiewende has succeeded in reducing its national carbon footprint substantially, but it only measures emissions within its own borders. Had it measured its actual global footprint, it would have discovered that the batteries, solar panels, and EVs that it was importing were increasing CO2 emissions substantially.

EVs come with a “carbon debt.” This refers to the fact that manufacturing electric batteries, an industry projected to grow to $100 billion by 2025, is highly pollutive. A 2018 report by the International Council on Clean Transportation, a green energy advocate, noted that the production of EV batteries in China, where more than half of the world’s lithium-ion batteries are made, generated 60 percent more CO2 than building traditional gasoline-powered engines.

A report by the World Economic Forum, another renewables advocate, stated that the amount of fossil fuel required to build EVs exceeds that for gas-fired cars to such an extent that “in Germany, a mid-sized electric car must be driven for 125,000 km, on average, to break even with a diesel car [in terms of CO2 emissions], and 60,000 km compared to a petrol car. It takes nine years for an electric car to be greener than a diesel car.” EV batteries last between 10 and 20 years.

Rare earth minerals essential to the production of solar panels, wind turbines, and EV batteries include lithium, nickel, cobalt, manganese, and graphite, among others. Copper is also essential for building extended power lines to connect grids to distant renewable sources, such as offshore wind farms and remote solar fields.

According to a report by the International Energy Agency (IEA), in order to meet the climate goals of the Paris Agreement, the production of these minerals would have to increase by six times over what it is today, by 2040. Furthermore, “The production of many energy transition materials is more concentrated than that of oil or natural gas … the world’s top three producing nations control over three-quarters of global output.”

The dominant players in this market are the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and China, which together control a majority of the production of many essential renewable-energy minerals. “China’s share of refining is around 35% for nickel, 50-70% for lithium and cobalt, and nearly 90% for rare earth elements,” the report states.

The mining of these materials is energy-intensive and can be devastating to local environments. Lithium, for example, comprises only about one percent of the rock from which it is mined, causing the destruction of large swathes of land in the mining process in order to extract it. Lithium and copper mining also require huge amounts of water, straining natural resources. Cobalt is often mined by child slave labor in Africa. And the refining process releases toxic heavy metals and other pollutants into the soil and water.

The installation of solar panels requires taking large plots of land and displacing wildlife. Wind turbines kill birds and bats. And the disposal of these often toxic minerals, once batteries, turbines, and solar panels reach the end of their productive use, has yet to be resolved.

‘Conditions of Genocide’

Germany struggled with the moral consequences of its Energiewende. The German parliament determined that the solar panels it was buying from China were being manufactured under “conditions of genocide” and slave labor.

“People think they’re very virtuous with these wind, solar, electric vehicles and so forth,” Hartley said. “But when you look into the background of these things, it’s pretty dicey stuff from a human rights point of view, let alone the strategic issues.”

In February, these strategic issues came to the fore when Russia invaded Ukraine, and Germany discovered how dependent it had become on unfriendly foreign suppliers. Wind and solar, upon which it had bet so heavily, proved incapable of filling the gaps its energy policies had created, and the embargo of Russian exports, together with counter-threats from Russia to cut off vital energy supplies to the West, hit Germany hard.

In May, Germany’s producer prices jumped 33.6 percent in annualized terms, the largest increase since data collection began in 1949, largely due to escalating energy costs. Energy prices shot up 87.3 percent from a year earlier; natural gas prices were up 154.8 percent.

A German federal audit in March warned of energy shortages and blackouts across Germany and power rationing between consumers and industry. With the sharp increase in the cost of inputs, the report said “there is a risk of losing Germany’s competitiveness and acceptance of the energy transition.” Last week, Germany raised its gas risk level to “alarm,” the second-highest level before “emergency.”

The German government could soon be in a position of choosing which companies are more essential than others when allocating scarce energy supplies. As is often the case with government industrial policies, the Energiewende could end up harming the industry to such an extent that the only solution would be more government intervention to save it.

Throughout Europe, some companies began shutting down in June, unable to compete with foreign firms whose energy costs were much lower. One country that is not transitioning to renewables is China.

A June Foreign Policy report stated that, while China is rapidly building out its battery manufacturing industry for export, “the country continues doubling down on coal” for its domestic energy. China expanded its coal mining operations by 300 million metric tons in 2022, “almost the annual production of the entire European Union.” The report notes that China is prioritizing energy stability and cost competitiveness, while “China’s main competitor, the United States, now experiences increasingly frequent supply disruptions as it works to transition its electric system, the world’s second largest, toward renewable energy.”

The strategic risks of Biden’s green gamble go beyond consumers and industry to include our military. Access to energy often proves to be decisive in military conflicts. One of the reasons that Germany and Japan were defeated in the Second World War was their inability to acquire fuel for their ships, planes, and tanks. Today, while America’s submarines and aircraft carriers are nuclear powered, most of our military still runs on oil derivatives; diesel for tanks and ships and jet fuel for aircraft.

China is not a significant producer of oil, which has been its strategic Achilles heel. Transitioning from fossil fuels to wind and solar, however, reverses this equation, making American industry dependent on China for the raw materials of renewable energy, when we have fossil fuels in abundance.

The lesson that the Biden administration could have learned from Germany is that wind and solar are inferior technologies that are inefficient, unreliable, polluting, and create a dangerous dependence on foreign countries that are not always your friends. Apparently, they weren’t paying attention.

https://www.theepochtimes.com/why-bidens-green-energy-policy-will-end-in-tears_4559434.html?utm_source=News&utm_campaign=breaking-2022-06-27-1&utm_medium=email&est=PoMonR6CL3Il%2F8BHtmHUw1bHhvGxCZlVVo1calkHWiHrucg8%2FrfFztYS4Cuh49%2BtDA%3D%3D

For months, resident Joe Biden has blamed Russia’s war in Ukraine for the United States’ record-high inflation, calling it “Putin’s Price Hike.” Unfortunately for the White House, however, Federal Reserve chairman Jerome Powell just shot down this theory.

“Inflation was high before—certainly before the war in Ukraine broke out,” Powell said Wednesday during a Senate Banking Committee hearing.

By the time Russian forces invaded Ukraine in February, inflation had already skyrocketed from 1.4 percent at the start of Biden’s presidency to 7.9 percent—a 40-year high. Many economists blame the president’s $2 trillion American Rescue Plan, which Congress passed in March 2021, for driving up consumer prices.

https://freebeacon.com/biden-administration/watch-fed-chairman-throws-cold-water-on-bidens-favorite-inflation-excuse/

‘The West’s foolishness was boundless’

The Western world’s “total failure of deterrence” is largely to blame for Russian president Vladimir Putin’s ongoing war in Ukraine, former ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley said in a foreign policy speech Wednesday in London.

The West’s decades-long failure to confront Putin and other malign regimes like China and Iran should serve as a warning that prompts a “fundamental shift in how the West approaches our enemies,” Haley said, according to an early transcript of her remarks obtained by the Washington Free Beacon. She said it is time for the Western world to cut economic ties with Russia and China to send a message to these regimes that their subversion of the international order will no longer be tolerated.

Haley, who is positioning herself as a Republican prospect for the 2024 presidential election, previewed how a future Republican administration would handle the globe’s most pressing foreign policy matters. She harshly criticized the Biden administration’s appeasement of countries like Iran but also said Europe shares blame for the world’s instability—criticism that is usually expressed behind closed doors when a foreign leader travels abroad.

“It was Western weakness that convinced Putin he could get away with attempting to swallow Ukraine,” Haley said. “He saw America as too internally divided and distracted, and Europe as too bureaucratic and soft to stop him. And sadly, I have to say he wasn’t wrong.”

Decades of appeasement—and fears about directly confronting the Russia-China-Iran axis—led to the worst European war in nearly 80 years.

“We should have made crystal clear to Putin the full implications of his actions ahead of time. We didn’t,” Haley said. “And now we have the worst war in Europe since the Second World War. This dereliction of duty was years in the making. For too long, the West wrongly feared provoking Putin, instead of taking the steps needed to prevent him from starting a war in the first place.”

The Biden administration’s recent foreign policy blunders, primarily the botched withdrawal from Afghanistan, provided the fuel that sparked Putin’s war machine, Haley said.

“It pains me to say it, but if there had been no Afghanistan disaster, there would likely have been no Ukraine invasion,” she said. “Putin saw our lack of resolve in Kabul and assumed nothing meaningful would happen once his tanks rolled into Kyiv.”

But the conditions that led to Putin’s war weren’t created overnight. The United States and Europe spent decades trying to integrate Russia and China into the global economy while ignoring their totalitarian tendencies and mass military buildup.

“The West’s foolishness was boundless,” Haley said. “Whenever Russia tested us, the West shrugged off the necessary strong response, fearing it would do more harm than good.”

“It is critical that we all understand this central point: Appeasement never satisfies the appetites of tyrants. It only makes them want more,” Haley said. “Trying to be ‘inoffensive’ only emboldens our enemies. It leads to wars—like the one we are now witnessing right now in Ukraine.”

Russia is not the world’s most present threat, however, according to Haley. That distinction goes to China.

There can be “no doubt that China is the biggest national security threat the world faces,” she said.

There is only one solution to reassert Western dominance, Haley said. “We must economically detach from our enemies and rely more heavily on ourselves and our friends.”

“That means breaking the Western addiction to Russian energy,” Haley said. “It means securing strategic supply chains completely free of Chinese control or leverage. It means expecting our businesses to do their part to uphold our interests rather than those of our enemies.”

The belief that “economic interdependence with hostile regimes” would dampen their worst tendencies has been “painfully disproven,” according to Haley. If the West does not abandon these foolish ambitions, “our pain and vulnerability will only increase.”

The Western world stands at an “inflection point,” facing a “set of powerful and fanatical dictators with dreams of conquest. Imperial Russia, Communist China, and Jihadist Iran pose existential threats to us and to free peoples all over the world,” Haley said. “The Western way of life depends on deterring these threats.”

A stalemate, she said, “is not good enough. Victory is required.”

https://freebeacon.com/latest-news/nikki-haley-wests-total-failure-of-deterrence-drives-putins-war-machine/

In a stirring and spot-on campaign email, Florida’s Republican Governor Ron DeSantis declares war on the Far Left calling it a “Radical Vigilante Woke Mob.”

While I’ve seen my share of them over the years and sent out a few myself, campaign fundraising emails are notorious for appealing to the hard-core base of both parties.  

So, most of them are taken with a grain of salt by political observers.

However, the email I just received from the DeSantis re-election campaign really hit home. It accurately defined and summarized the aggressive domestic threat posed by the extreme Left to our nation’s very core:

Our country is currently facing a great threat. A new enemy has emerged from the shadows that seeks to destroy and intimidate their way to a transformed state, and country, that you and I would hardly recognize.

This enemy is the radical vigilante woke mob that will steamroll anything and anyone in their way. Their blatant attacks on the American way of life are clear and intensifying: stifling dissent, public shaming, rampant violence, and a perverted version of history.

A group that will, literally, tear down monuments and buildings but — perhaps in an even more sinister way — tear down the American spirit itself. They go after the family unit, parental rights, traditional moral values, the church, and fact-based education.

Over the past few years, we’ve watched horrified as this group has attempted to brainwash our children into thinking we live in an evil, racist, irredeemable country.

We listened to them deny science and data to exert political theater all the while trampling over personal liberties enshrined in the Constitution.

We saw them take to the streets for an entire summer like outlaws burning, looting, and destroying everything in sight while being told they were “mostly peaceful” and “passionate.”

DeSantis omitted the LGBTQ brainwashing of our young children and the collusion of major woke companies like Disney in doing so, but he has been at the forefront of battling both these evils in Florida.

The DeSantis campaign continues, noting something that impacted me directly on the huge social media platform LinkedIn: “We watched Big Tech moguls in Silicon Valley be the arbiters of truth – deciding who gets to speak and who gets silenced through the digital public square.”

And of course, the last piece of the massive leftist effort: “We listened to the legacy media muffle legitimately verifiable news stories that didn’t align with their preferred narrative, only to watch the truth trickle out months later at a more politically expedient time.”

Referring to himself as the “Governor of the Free State of Florida,” DeSantis then goes on to make his pitch for how he will fight this grave threat to America, at least in Florida, with “faith, with reason, and with freedom.”

And of course, he asks for our financial support.

In my view, this email accurately and effectively summarizes the threat we face from the extreme Left in America today. DeSantis is on the front lines of this battle in Florida, but he also seems to be preparing to take the fight nationally as well.

The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the positions of American Liberty News.

https://www.americanliberty.news/politics/florida-governor-goes-to-war-against-radical-vigilante-woke-mob/pcrespo/2022/06/?utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=ae01&seyid=7766

Whether or not Marie Antoinette said rioting French peasants upset about the shortage of bread to feed their families should “eat cake” instead is not important. The idea that she did has been passed down, generation to generation, as the perfect illustration of how the isolated elites in a society can become hopelessly out of touch.

This is not just a problem for the rich but also for the powerful, who use their positions to grant themselves perks that alleviate the need for them to worry about the kinds of things that keep the rest of us at night.

Like whether we’re going to have enough gas in the car to get to work in the morning.

Since coming into office, the Biden Administration has been at war with the American energy sector. Following the President’s lead, they believe climate change is an existential threat to the continued well-being of mankind that can only be thwarted if Americans are forced to go green.

That’s what’s really behind the sudden, continuing rise in the price of gasoline. It’s not, as resident Joe Biden continues to assert, a transitory thing caused by Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine. It is the result of calculated policy decisions intended to roll back the energy independence that became a reality by the end of the Trump Administration.

There’s nothing wrong with green energy per se. Indeed, the United States would realize considerable benefit from the ability to rely on fuel coming from renewable sources like wind and solar and to be more efficient in the generation and use of power from fossil fuels so that less of it is wasted.

All that can be achieved by market forces a lot faster and cheaper than by government mandates. The Biden Administration has chosen – regardless of the consequences – to force this upon us all, meaning that some people are now, in a period of inflation unseen for at least 40 years, to face the very real choice between putting gas in the car and food on the table.

Too many Democrats regard that as a good thing. They don’t blame the government for the problem. They blame the energy sector, which it criticizes for earning record profits because the price at the pump is up thanks to the shrinkage Biden and his cohorts have forced on the industry. The cancelation of new pipelines and oil and gas leases on federal lands are two among a handful of reasons domestic energy producers cannot respond to the increase in demand by increasing the supply to keep prices stable.

The energy markets are behaving as the President wants, given his belief, he can prioritize his strategy to increase the use of energy made from renewables and the need to bring down the price of gasoline.

White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre seemed badly ignorant of economic reality when she insisted during a recent press briefing that there was nothing inherently problematic with pursuing both objectives at the same time.

“What we’re trying to deal with right now is how do we lower costs for American families,” she said. “One of the things that we are seeing currently right now with oil refiners is they are using this moment,” she continued, “to actually make a profit.”

She can get away with shifting blame for a while but what does she suggest as an alternative? Does she think the energy sector should sell gasoline and other fuels at a loss? That’s a recipe for economic catastrophe, as would be the kind of nationalization of the sector that exists in so many other countries.

The problem is that Biden and Jean-Pierre and so many others are out of touch with what’s going on. The people aren’t rioting for gas yet, but it may just be a matter of time.

Consider the comments of Michigan Sen. Debbie Stabenow, who recently described a drive she made from her home state to Washington in an electric vehicle.

“After waiting for a long time to have enough chips in this country to finally get my electric vehicle,” the state’s senior elected Democrat said during a June 7 meeting of the Senate Finance Committee. “I got it and drove it from Michigan to here last weekend and went by every gas station and it didn’t matter how high it was.”

Stabenow doesn’t have to choose between putting food on her table and putting gas in her car. Rather than being grateful and understanding she’s insulated from reality because she enjoys elected privilege, she claims she’s mystified by the expressions of concern coming from the American people because they are routinely paying more than $100 for a full tank of gas. Wonderful.

An elected official, whose annual salary is just shy of $200,000, is driving a car that cost more than most Americans make in a year that the taxpayers probably pay for her to use, thinks high gas prices aren’t a problem because she doesn’t have to pay them anymore. That’s the kind of leadership that causes politicians to lose their heads.

The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the positions of American Liberty News.

Peter Roff can be reached at RoffColumns@gmail.com. Follow him on Twitter @TheRoffDraft.

https://www.americanliberty.news/capitol-hill/the-view-through-debbie-stabenows-windshield/proff/2022/06/?utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=ae01&seyid=7573

Columnist Naomi Wolf, author of “The Bodies of Others: The New Authoritarians, COVID-19 and the War Against the Human,” asserts that after two years of pandemic policies, people in free societies are behaving more like those in authoritarian societies.

Wolf maintains that America is now less free, and becoming almost unrecognizable.

“A handful of bad actors” including the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), Big Tech, and the World Economic Forum (WEF) used the pandemic to “exploit the crisis in such a way as to reengineer our free democratic open societies, especially in the West, especially in the United States, into a post-free society, a post-humane society,” said Wolf during a recent interview on EpochTV’s “American Thought Leaders.”

Related Coverage

‘We Don’t Have America Anymore’—Dr. Naomi Wolf on CCP-Style Technocratic Authoritarianism in the US

The Biden administration in April extended the 2-year-old coronavirus public health emergency for another 90 days.

Wolf said, based on history, the ongoing lockdowns and extension of the public health emergency indicate society is in the last phase of a tyrannical takeover, because with emergency powers, laws protecting liberty can be suspended.

According to Wolf, there are 10 steps every tyrannical government has followed. We are now at step 10, said Wolf. Some of the other steps include demonizing whistleblowers and critics, calling dissent “treason,” “espionage,” or “subversion,” and controlling the media narrative.

During the last two years of lockdowns and mandates, Big Tech and the elites have profited while the average Americans have seen the American Dream slowly “closing” on them, she said.

“And so often, when a democracy is dying, or a regime is turning the screws on freedoms to create an established new form of tyranny, it happens intentionally in a very incremental way,” said Wolf. “And you really see this from 1930 to 1933 in Germany.”

She said humanity is witnessing the formation of a two-tier society of the vaccinated versus the unvaccinated, in which people who would never discriminate against others based on categories of race and sex are now discriminating against the unvaccinated.

“Suddenly, they’re happily embracing a discrimination society in which some people are cast as clean and valuable members of society and other people are ostracized and marginalized and ‘othered’ and described as sort of dirty and causing infection to others,” said Wolf.

She argues that big tech companies had an active role in creating these perceptions and in “shaping legislation and certainly in presenting the drama of COVID and lockdowns to us, and then the vaccine rollout, in such a way as to change human behavior and to change human society,” said Wolf.

Wolf cited the emails between Dr. Anthony Fauci and Meta Platforms CEO Mark Zuckerberg discussing Facebook’s role in getting the right public health “messages out” during the lockdowns.

People had no choice but to rely on tech platforms while they were locked down, and Big Tech used that to manipulate the public, said Wolf.

“What I do trace in the book is how there was a vast profit that tech companies made by suppressing human assembly, by helping to message that it was unsafe or unlawful to gather in person,” she said. “And when you understand that big tech companies are competing with human beings gathering in human spaces, you understand why there was a vested interest in suppressing human assembly.”

Wolf thinks big tech companies will not stop at just harvesting data on the computer, but that they want to dominate peoples’ bodily autonomy with vaccine passports.

“What these companies want more than anything is to leave the parameters of your computer and to colonize other currently non-colonized spaces, notably the human body,” said Wolf.

This would give these companies and governments the ability to switch off peoples’ access to commerce, travel, and other goods and services if they did not comply with a particular mandate, Wolf added.

Some forms of digital tracking and surveilling are already here in the United States, she said.

“You’re now expected to swipe these QR codes just to see the menu, or just to get in. And the QR code uploads your data to a central database,” she said, adding that she’s seen the software “that maps the relationships of everyone sitting at that table, and then builds databases and networks of relationships.”

Wolf said that on a scale of one to 10 on the Chinese social credit system, the United States is currently at a three.

“There’s a change that’s happened in American cities in the last two years,” she said.

Because most people around the world, particularly in U.S. cities, use digital apps to travel, do banking, and shop, a digital social credit system similar to China’s is imminent, she said.

Our data is being harvested and used by the “global technocratic elite” to control human behavior, said Wolf.

“We’ve assumed that the worst it can be is data are harvested from us with everything that we choose to do using our free will as human beings,” said Wolf.

“But what I’ve seen is that digital technology has its own logic, and it isn’t restricted by what human beings want to do. So once digital platforms and their oligarchical masters can figure out how to change people’s behavior to suit technology, there’s nothing, moral or ethical, that will keep them from changing people’s behavior to suit their technology, and to suit their business plans,” she added.

The pandemic has revealed how this type of digital control is playing out, because humans, before the prevalence of digital technology, did not choose to “socially distance” to fight pandemics, said Wolf.

“The dream of our digital overlords is for technology to tell humans what to do, and that’s exactly where we’re at,” said Wolf.

While some people might label her a conspiracy theorist, her opinions are based on a long career as a journalist, political consultant, and now tech CEO, Wolf said. Furthermore, she has witnessed firsthand the powerful elites making historical decisions under the radar, she said.

Wolf was well acquainted with this group of powerful people until recently when she was ejected from their circles for writing oppositional pieces on lockdowns.

“But it’s really true that the global technocratic elite have more in common with each other than they do with their fellow Germans or Americans or Russians or Chinese, and they now are able to align above the level of nation-states,” she said.

For example, one of the WEF’s goals is to make nation-level decision-making less and less important, and the World Health Organization’s goal is to make public health decisions on a global scale, bypassing countries’ own authorities via the pandemic treaty, said Wolf.

“These technocratic elites really do believe that they can order the world better than you and I and that they have the right to,” she said. “That’s really scary.”

Little by little, humanity’s tolerance for cruelty and authoritarianism has grown.

“The war wasn’t just on us as a political entity, the war was on American culture, and is on American culture,” she said. “And they’ve succeeded largely, unless we wake up, because we were a kind, decent, inclusive culture that respected other people’s boundaries and freedoms. … And now a CCP-style cruelty is something that we tolerate.”

What people believe is largely determined by the news they consume, said Wolf, and many people only watch news outlets that give a skewed picture of pandemic treatments and policies, largely funded by wealthy people like Bill Gates.

“I do trace in ‘The Bodies of Others’ how millions of dollars flowed and are flowing from entities like the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to the BBC and the Guardian and NPR and other formerly very credible, objective news outlets.”

Because most people get slanted news coverage, the country is more divided and many people on the left refuse to consider any other narrative or look at primary source documents, because they believe only government sources are giving them “scientific” information, said Wolf.

This skewed messaging has been able to convince people that the mandates and lockdowns are more American and important than liberty or critical thinking.

Wolf said the most brilliant aspect of the pandemic messaging was that it was framed altruistically.

“You know, ‘You’ve got to exclude those people for the good of the community,’ or ‘You’ve got to mask yourself and your child to save your child,’” said Wolf. “This really brilliantly upended American culture because it cast freedom as selfish.”

Now that those in power have effectively conditioned people to be fearful and submissive, they can keep reinstituting emergency powers, she argued.

“That’s what emergency law means,” she said. “They can do whatever they want, basically. It’s a weaponization of boards of health, it’s a weaponization of the [Centers for Disease Control and Prevention] and the [Department of Health and Human Services].”

Wolf said although the situation is dire, people can do something to push back against this tyranny by being informed about what is really going on in the country, assembling in groups, and getting involved politically on the local level.

As it stands now, “I will say that each side is being fed narratives and stereotypes about the other that would persuade each side that the other is absolutely insane and dangerous, dangerously insane,” said Wolf.

“I get that conservatives think, ‘liberals don’t know what a woman is.’ That is not actually literally true, and liberals think ‘conservatives all want to torch our democratic processes, storm the Capitol, and are misogynist, racist thugs who are trigger happy,” said Wolf.

The last two years have conditioned people to fear each other and so the conversations that would have normally occurred when people gathered are not happening and keeping the country divided, said Wolf. She said she will gladly talk to people on the right.

“People I love think I’m doing something wrong in even talking to conservatives and libertarians. That’s very dangerous. The left, especially, has decided that you’re morally complicit if you have a conversation across the aisle,” Wolf said. “That is censorship, that is cancel culture, that’s un-American, that is an importation from Communism.”

She urges people to remember what makes America unique and a beacon to other nations: to remember we are the great experiment where neighbors talked to each other, listened, and didn’t “rat” each other out if they did not agree with each other, Wolf said.

https://www.theepochtimes.com/we-dont-have-america-anymore-author-naomi-wolf_4545628.html?utm_source=News&utm_campaign=breaking-2022-06-21-3&utm_medium=email&est=Ti3V30R3w%2F2JuDx47eYvzpeLpt8HYqj3OhnaBBsqKEGiN5KT8OMKfPTbD%2FFjf51nfw%3D%3D

Fox Business host Larry Kudlow didn’t hold back on a recent segment of his show and told his audience the full extent of the Biden Administration’s failing economic policies.

In part of the segment, Kudlow gives an insight into the latest Fox News poll numbers which show waning confidence in the President’s ability to lead an economic recovery.

He also refuted a common talking point the left often uses about wealthy individuals and major corporations not paying their fair share of taxes.

Notably, Kudlow actually agreed on a few observations recently made by resident Biden about issues plaguing the nation – before highlighting the fact that Biden’s own policies have led to the problems he wants to solve.

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https://www.americanliberty.news/economics/fox-business-host-exposes-true-impact-of-bidens-economic-policies/alnstaff/2022/06/?utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=ae01&seyid=7381

Chevron this week released a statement addressing resident Joe Biden’s letter to oil companies that suggested he may take executive action amid record-high gas prices.

“We understand the significant concerns around higher fuel prices currently faced by consumers around the country, and the world. We share these concerns, and expect the Administration’s approach to energy policy will start to better reflect the importance of addressing them,” Chevron said in a statement to Biden.

The president sent letters Wednesday to Marathon Petroleum Corp., Valero Energy Corp., ExxonMobil, Phillips 66, Chevron, BP, and Shell to demand action on lowering gas prices. He asked why oil companies are not refining more and claimed they are reaping windfall profits.

“At a time of war, refinery profit margins well above normal being passed directly onto American families are not acceptable,” Biden wrote, according to the letter. This weak, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre stated that oil producers have a “patriotic duty” to increase refining capacity, although she told a reporter Thursday that the United States doesn’t need to be drilling more to deal with the record prices at the pump.

Chevron further said that since Biden took office in January 2021, his administration has signaled that it will “impose obstacles to our industry delivering energy resources the world needs.”

While the firm did not elaborate, it may have been referring to a flurry of executive orders targeting the oil industry such as killing the Keystone XL pipeline, suspending new oil drilling leases on federal lands, and ending fossil fuel subsidies used by certain agencies, among other measures.

Chevron also stated it will increase its Permian Basin production by 15 percent in 2022, while other oil firms have said they’ve already increased capacity in light of the gas prices.

“Our refineries are running full out,” Bruce Niemeyer, corporate vice president of strategy and sustainability at Chevron, told the Reuters news agency on Tuesday. Meanwhile, Shell told the news outlet that it is “producing at capacity” and looking at options to increase oil production.

ExxonMobil also issued a response to Biden’s letter and provided what it described as short-term and long-term solutions.

“In the short term, the U.S. government could enact measures often used in emergencies following hurricanes or other supply disruptions—such as waivers of Jones Act provisions and some fuel specifications to increase supplies,” the energy company said in a news release Wednesday.

In the longer term, the federal government “can promote investment through clear and consistent policy that supports U.S. resource development, such as regular and predictable lease sales, as well as streamlined regulatory approval and support for infrastructure such as pipelines,” according to ExxonMobil.

https://www.theepochtimes.com/chevron-more-oil-companies-push-back-on-bidens-warning-letter_4540244.html?utm_source=Goodevening&utm_campaign=gv-2022-06-17&utm_medium=email&est=6hnZSQ4qwlozqKOyAYnuxaDLlzFm2yTOX9DAsM8KeZ16iZBMRyYzR1VB1MOM5Df0hw%3D%3D

CCP boosts ties with Russia amid Taiwan invasion fears

Congressional Republicans are spearheading an effort to fast-track U.S. weapons shipments to Taiwan amid growing concerns Communist China is planning to start “a war of aggression,” Rep. Jim Banks (R., Ind.) told the Washington Free Beacon.

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has emboldened the CCP, which took steps earlier this week to strengthen bilateral ties with Moscow to help it combat Western economic sanctions. With the two malign regimes displaying a united front, Republican lawmakers want to send a clear message that America will come to Taiwan’s aid if Beijing launches an invasion.

The Biden administration also is closely monitoring the situation, with a State Department official telling the Free Beacon on Thursday that U.S. officials remain “concerned about China’s alignment with Russia.”

Banks, a member of the House Armed Services Committee, said the Biden administration was caught off guard by Russia’s incursion, proving that “you can’t deter an invasion after it happens.” China is learning lessons from its Russian ally, fueling concerns that Beijing will make good on its threats to invade Taiwan sooner rather than later. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin raised the prospect of a Chinese attack on Taiwan during a speech over the weekend, saying, “We will defend our interests without flinching.”

“China breached Taiwan’s airspace a record number of times in 2021,” Banks told the Free Beacon. “House Republicans can’t let Joe Biden repeat the same mistakes he made in Ukraine. You can’t deter an invasion after it happens and Congress and the Biden administration should be entirely unified around the need to send Taiwan defensive weaponry to dissuade Xi from starting a war of aggression.”

Banks, who has repeatedly pressed the Biden administration in multiple forums to “unequivocally and publicly” commit to defending Taiwan in the event of an invasion, said the Taiwan Weapons Exports Act would serve as a central legislative vehicle to deter Beijing.

It would boost Taiwan’s trade standing to make it a central U.S. ally in the same way that NATO members like Japan and South Korea are, according to a full copy of the bill provided to the Free Beacon. It also would expedite licensing approval for weapons shipments to Taiwan and remove other administrative barriers that could slow the process. The measure also cuts in half the amount of time these types of weapons deals are reviewed by Congress, making it easier for military equipment to actually arrive in Taiwan.

A Senate companion version of the bill is being spearheaded by Sen. Josh Hawley (R., Mo.).

The Republican Study Committee, which is helmed by Banks, also is using its 2023 budget proposal to increase U.S. commitments to Taiwan. Under the RSC’s proposal, the U.S. would accelerate lethal aid to Taiwan, including stinger missiles, naval strike missiles, and quick strike air-dropped sea mine—all of which could be used if China launches an attack.

Russian president Vladimir Putin and Chinese president Xi Jinping spoke by phone on Wednesday to reaffirm relations in the face of Western sanctions. Xi reportedly “noted the legitimacy” of Russia’s military campaign in Ukraine, claiming that Moscow is protecting its “fundamental national interests in the face of challenges to its security created by external forces.”

Russia and China inked a cooperation agreement in February and both countries have said the deal contains “no limits” on their partnership.

The State Department says it sees through China’s claims of neutrality on the Russian war.

The U.S. and European partners have already “warned China against providing Russia military assistance” and continue to closely monitor Beijing’s actions, according to the State Department.

“More than three months into Russia’s brutal invasion, China is still standing by Russia,” the official said. “It is still echoing Russian propaganda around the world. It is still shielding Russia in international organizations, shirking its responsibilities as a P5 member. And it is still denying Russia’s atrocities in Ukraine by suggesting instead that they were staged.”

Both countries are believed to be boosting their economic infrastructure to “bypass SWIFT,” the international banking system, as well as “U.S. and European sanctions,” according to the official. These efforts have been accompanied by military drills, most recently a joint bomber patrol in East Asia.

“Nations that side with Vladimir Putin will inevitably find themselves on the wrong side of history,” the State Department official said. “This is not a moment for equivocation or hiding or waiting to see what happens next. It is already clear what is happening.”

https://freebeacon.com/national-security/china-plotting-war-of-aggression-in-taiwan-gop-lawmaker-warns/

by Pastor Andrew Isker

We are now back to a national average gas price of $5.00/gallon. This is a subject of serious concern for almost everyone. Conservatives will (rightly) point to the Biden Administration’s hostility toward domestic oil production and distribution as the primary cause of the growing crisis, yet struggle to frame the problem in terms other than “the naïveté of environmentalist policy.” While the American ruling class is indeed dominated by extremely stupid people, its environmentalism is not “oh whoops we accidentally made gas cost way too much, who could have predicted that!”

           Allowing it to be framed that way while giving conservative satirists plenty of low-hanging fruit to work with, is a massive mistake. It is easy to poke fun at the stupidity of people like Joe Biden, Kamala Harris, and AOC. And that’s entirely the problem. These people are not sincerely-yet-naively attempting a solution to what they see as a truly apocalyptic disaster. It is a major mistake to assume they are ever operating in good faith. None of these people actually believe this stuff. They all have massive multimillion-dollar homes on coastlines they say will not exist by the end of the decade. It has been demonstrated ad nauseum that these people fly around in private jets, expending more fossil fuels in a single vacation than the average person will in their entire lives. You have to understand these are deeply cynical people. They do not care about the stuff they say they do. But what do they care about?

           The most important filter to understand politics, especially politics in the Current Year, is Friend/Enemy distinction. Do not look at what these people say, look at what they do. And, look at who benefits from what they do or who is harmed by what they do. Who are the enemies of the occupational regime? Obviously, they will never explicitly state who it is they seek to destroy. Unless the pharmaceutical cocktail that allows the current president brief moments of lucidity is badly messed up, you are never going to hear him say “we want to totally impoverish and destroy the American middle and working class.” But every single day the actions of the regime speak as clearly as possible.

           You need to stop giving these people the benefit of the doubt. They are not stupid, at least not the ones that truly matter. They are not misguided. They are not simply mistaken. They are intentionally malicious. It is not the naïveté of bleeding-heart liberals who get teary-eyed at the thought of punishing violent criminals that have caused the ruling regime to empty prisons and violent crime to exponentially increase. Yes, the naive liberal useful idiots who give them power are easily deluded by propaganda, but those who wield power know exactly what they are doing. They want the people they hate to be punished. They want white women and their babies to be run over by violent criminals who never should have been let out of prison. They want violent criminals to be released back into the wild, they want police to be terrified to fight them, and they want you to go to prison if you ever have to defend yourself against them. These are not accidents caused by well-meaning-but-naive libs—this stuff is by design.

           “Climate change” is no different. For his entire presidential campaign, Joe Biden read carefully crafted scripts about reducing the use of fossil fuels, cutting oil production, increasing “clean energy,” etc. That the cost of gasoline is nearly triple what it was when he took office is not some accident of the inscrutable forces of the free market. The people who rule the American people want gasoline and diesel to be unaffordable for most of the country. Regular people—with jobs and families and mortgages—those people are the enemies of the regime. They want things to be more expensive for you. They want you to suffer.

           They not only don’t care if you are impoverished, but it also brings them sick pleasure. You are their enemy. They want to destroy you. This should have been evident during the Wuhan Flu, the Mostly Peaceful Summer of George, and the Most Secure Election in History. What were those events, in truth? Whether you believe those events were 100% organic or they were operations of alphabet agencies and aligned NGOs or (most likely) some mixture of both, it doesn’t matter. What matters is both who benefited from these events and who was harmed. Who benefited from the lockdowns? Megacorporations, especially trillion-dollar hedge funds like Blackrock, which got the overwhelming majority of newly printed trillions (while you got a couple of tiny checks). In short, the greatest constituency of the regime benefitted from everything that happened in 2020. Every industry got hundreds of billions for almost nothing, Big Pharma got a huge boon, and the military-industrial complex now likewise gets to cash in on an absurdly expensive (even by War on Terror standards) proxy war with Russia. Everyone who was already filthy rich got even richer, all at your expense. Wall Street, Big Tech, Big Pharma, and especially billionaire retailers like the Waltons and Bezos raked in the dough while their competitors were shut down.

           And who was harmed by the events of 2020 (and beyond)? The greatest enemy of the regime, that’s who: the middle class, the people who have spent their entire lives toiling away to build businesses that provide services and goods and jobs for their neighbors, who donate to the things that make their communities worth living in, churches, local sports teams, youth activities, and service organizations. The regular people who have a stake in the places they live, who love their country and their neighborhoods, who want to live in peace and quiet, who simply want good order. That is who the regime hates the most. The few Norman Rockwell Americans who have the audacity to still exist. The regime was happy to allow your businesses to be locked down, while their billionaire friends could stay open. The regime was happy to allow organized violent revolutionaries to burn down your neighborhoods with almost no arrests and no investigation into the machinations behind the scenes. All of this while spending years holding men without trial in solitary confinement for walking through wide-open doors to the U.S. Capitol and spending years investigating an understandably overly exuberant protest of a fraudulent election. You need to filter everything that happens today through the friend/enemy distinction and politics becomes absolutely crystal clear.

           This is why it cost so much to fill up your car and your grocery cart. The people in power hate you and your family. They are stupid and incompetent, but even worse, they are malicious. If you are a normal person, who just wants to have a job and home and family, who loves his country and loves his God, the people in power do not want you to exist. They want to make life as hard as possible for you. They do not want you to have children. And if you somehow can even have children, they want the children you do have to be groomed into disgusting freaks. You have an enemy that hates you. Do not ever forget it.

           But you also have friends. The good news is that more and more people are starting to see they no longer live in the America they grew up in. More people are beginning to see that the America of “at the end of the day everyone is an American on the same team and we just disagree about some things” is dead. And while this is a great tragedy it is a necessity. We have to realize the thing we love is gone before we can begin to bring it back. And many people are now beginning to have that realization.

           This is the very first step in things being made right again. Now you can organize around this principle, knowing who your friends are and who is on your side. From there you can build churches, build neighborhoods and towns, build communities dedicated to rebuilding Christian civilization, communities that will have the strength to weather together the difficult years to come. One in which you can recognize who your friends are and who your enemies are, only then will you have the ability to fight and build.

Andrew Isker is the pastor of 4th Street Evangelical Church in Waseca, MN. He is a graduate of Minnesota State University and Greyfriar’s Hall Ministerial Training School, and he has served churches in Missouri, West Virginia, and Minnesota. He is the author of the forthcoming book, The Boniface Option. Andrew, his wife Kara, and their five children reside in his hometown of Waseca, MN. He can be found on Gab @BonifaceOption.

Published in Bold Christian Writing

The only thing that could curb the current record-high gasoline prices would be a major drop in demand, i.e. a recession, according to several experts. Theoretically, a major shift in U.S. foreign and energy policy could make a difference too, but nobody seems to realistically expect that to happen.

Gas prices have particularly pained Americans, climbing in recent months to more than $5 a gallon. Some experts even consider it the driver of price inflation, which hit a four-decade high of 8.6 percent in May. The price hike has been caused by several factors piling up, including currency inflation, anti-carbon policy moves, misjudging the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

“We’ve made a lot of policy errors in this country and overseas to put us in this situation and it’s not going to be easily fixed,” commented Phil Flynn, senior analyst with The Price Futures Group.

“If we start to reverse some of those policies, the market can start pricing in a better future.”

The American Petroleum Institute, an industry group, on June 14 released a list of 10 steps the U.S. government should take to boost domestic oil production, which still lags behind pre-pandemic levels and barely budged for half a year now. Top of the list is restarting drilling leases on federal land and speeding up project approvals.

But since the Biden administration has centered its agenda around “decarbonizing” the economy, chances of any pro-oil policy moves are expected to be nil.

Tight Supply

The administration has been begging foreign producers, from Saudi Arabia to Venezuela, to pump out more, but with little success.

“People are estimating that global spare production capacity can be as low as 2 million barrels a day,” Flynn said, noting that “we’ve already stretched the system to the limit.”

Refineries have emerged as another bottleneck with no apparent fix in sight. Refining capacity in the United States and Europe has been declining for years under the mantra of moving away from fossil fuels. Meanwhile, as the COVID-19 pandemic hit in 2020 and governments locked down large swaths of the economy and population, oil prices collapsed and the industry was stuck with massive excess capacity. The prospects at the time were deary. Not only was there no end of the pandemic in sight, but financial elites openly discussed using the crisis as an opportunity to move away from oil. Especially in the financial sector, the “environment, social, governance” (ESG) initiatives went into overdrive, promising to starve the oil industry of capital. Investment prospects in the industry took a severe hit.

“We had people predicting that oil demand would never get to pre-pandemic levels,” Flynn told The Epoch Times.

As it turned out, the pandemic didn’t cripple the economy quite as severely as expected. Many U.S. states quickly started lifting the lockdowns and by the end of the year just about returned to normal. The vaccine was delivered before the end of the year, allowing reopening even in most areas that were previously reluctant to do so. Demand quickly bounced back and so did the oil market.

U.S. oil product demand reached roughly the pre-pandemic level in June last year, even as domestic oil production still lagged about 2 million barrels per day (bpd) behind the pre-pandemic maximum of over 13 million bpd.

With the inauguration of President Joe Biden came a new era of “whole of government” anti-fossil fuel policy. The administration stopped leasing federal land for drilling and nixed the Keystone XL pipeline, further squashing long-term industry prospects.

To attract investors, oil companies adopted a strategy of “efficiency”—cut costs, cut development, and instead send their profits to stockholders. The strategy has somewhat worked, but only at the expense of future production and processing capacity.

The Biden administration has recently blamed refineries and oil companies for profiting from the high oil prices, which have been hovering around $120 a barrel for the past few days—more than double from a year ago.

But some experts have argued that it’s been the excessive government spending and the subsequent money printing by the Federal Reserve that has allowed the oil industry to raise prices so much without, so far, significantly affecting demand.

“The government never makes any mistakes. Have you ever noticed that,” Flynn quipped.

Excise tax on oil recently floated by the administration would be “disastrous for the economy,” he said.

“If you kill the refining margins, you’re going to kill the incentive to work and you’re going to have less supply,” he explained.

Ukraine Invasion

The Russian invasion of Ukraine earlier this year was timed to take advantage of the tight oil supply, according to Art Berman, geologist and energy expert.

“Putin knew what he was doing,” he told Wealthion’s Adam Taggart in a recent interview, noting the Russian President has a Ph.D. in energy economics.

Oil prices rallied on concerns that Western sanctions on Russia will prevent it from selling its oil.

Such expectations haven’t materialized. European countries still buy the majority of Russian oil and China and India continue to buy too, albeit at a discount.

E.U. leaders have been promising to ban oil imports from Russia, but Berman doesn’t believe that’s realistic.

“They’re absolutely incapable of doing that,” he said.

The U.S. and the E.U. could also put pressure on India to stop buying.

“But they haven’t done that yet because they know, at the end of the day, if they do that, oil prices will go to $300,” Flynn said.

Russia is the world’s second-largest oil producer and it appears there’s just not enough spare capacity available to exclude it completely.

There are already examples of clever schemes to dodge the sanctions. Russia-made diesel is mixed with diesel of other origins, resulting in a product that can be shipped to Europe without restrictions, Berman said.

Price Drop

Berman predicted oil prices will come down significantly, but only through “demand destruction.” He argued that, historically, inflation and high gas prices in particular have caused consumers to cut back. He expects that U.S. gas and diesel consumption could drop about 10 percent in the next 12–18 months. That could lead to an oil glut and price collapse, but it could very well also mean a recession.

From an investment perspective, Lance Roberts, chief investment strategist at RIA Advisors, warned that oil rallies tend to unwind just as suddenly as they build up.

“Oil prices are all driven by commodity traders. So oil prices are somewhat supply-demand driven, but a lot of it is these non-commercial speculators in the options markets that are driving oil prices through options contracts. Right now, everybody is ramping up their oil contracts,” he said during a recent Wealthion interview.

“Well at some point, somebody says, ‘I’m out.’ … He’s like the popular guy that brings all the people to a party. Whoever that guy is, when he says, ‘I’m out,’ the rest of the herd follows him.”

Flynn doesn’t see that happening—at least not in the short term.

“Technically, most people think we’re in a recession right now, but assuming that we are, it might be a mild recession,” he said.

He expects “real demand destruction” would only come if oil climbs even further, perhaps to $150 a barrel.

Both Flynn and Berman agreed that in the longer term, oil prices will remain high.

“We can see a big correction of $30 … I think it will recover … I think it would only be a pause in the bull market,” Flynn said.

The Fed’s flurry of interest rate hikes may be the wild card that could pull the rug from under the economy more broadly.

https://www.theepochtimes.com/major-recession-only-realistic-way-for-gasoline-price-to-drop-experts_4535959.html?utm_source=News&utm_campaign=breaking-2022-06-16-1&utm_medium=email&est=ZYjHEB7ybGnPP%2Fgdk8YHmlQVlmLptWjj1iyKzXylQ64OSzwG8E48jarEMQRDSMkD0Q%3D%3D

Either 0.50 or 0.75 percentage point hike ‘seems most likely’ at the July meeting, according to Powell

The Federal Reserve raised the benchmark interest rate by 75 basis points on June 15, the largest rate hike since November 1994, as part of its effort to tame soaring inflation.

Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) officials agreed to increase the Fed funds target range to between 1.5 percent and 1.75 percent. This is the rate that banks charge each other for overnight borrowing, affecting consumer borrowing, such as credit cards and home equity loans.

Before the latest headline inflation reading, the Fed forward guidance had penciled in a 50-basis-point rate hike in June. Investors had been pricing in this level, but a red-hot consumer price index (CPI) prompted the market to alter its expectation and forecast a more hawkish central bank.

During his post-FOMC meeting press conference, Fed Chair Jerome Powell told reporters that “either a 50 basis point or a 75 basis point increase seems most likely” at the July meeting.

The Fed raised interest rates by 25 basis points in March, marking the first increase since 2018. Rates were increased by a half percentage point last month.

Looking ahead to the FOMC’s interest rate projections, the Fed is forecasting 3.4 percent at the end of 2022, up from 1.9 percent in the March projection. It’s also expecting 3.8 percent next year. The Fed’s policymakers anticipate that they’ll start trimming interest rates in 2024.

The Fed increased its inflation forecast for this year from 4.3 percent in March projections to 5.2 percent. The central bank sees inflation slowing to 2.6 percent next year.

On the gross domestic product (GDP) front, the Fed projects that growth will slow to 1.7 percent this year from the previous forecast of 2.8 percent.

“Overall economic activity appears to have picked up after edging down in the first quarter,” the revised FOMC statement reads. “Job gains have been robust in recent months, and the unemployment rate has remained low. Inflation remains elevated, reflecting supply and demand imbalances related to the pandemic, higher energy prices, and broader price pressures.

“The invasion of Ukraine by Russia is causing tremendous human and economic hardship. The invasion and related events are creating additional upward pressure on inflation and are weighing on global economic activity. In addition, COVID-related lockdowns in China are likely to exacerbate supply chain disruptions. The Committee is highly attentive to inflation risks.”

Kansas City Fed Bank President Esther George was the lone dissent vote, preferring a 0.5 percentage point increase.

Financial markets turned positive during Powell’s press conference after he signaled that the Fed would remain tough on inflation. The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained nearly 300 points. The S&P 500 increased by 1.5 percent, while the Nasdaq Composite Index was up by 2.5 percent.

The U.S. Treasury market was mostly in the red, with the benchmark 10-year yield down 14 basis points to 3.34 percent.

U.S. rate futures have priced in a 93.4 percent probability of a 75-basis-point hike in July and a 55 percent chance of a half-point increase in September.

Fed’s Balancing Act

The central bank has been coming under pressure to rein in four-decade high inflation by being more aggressive in tightening monetary policy and employing enormous rate hikes. At the same time, the Fed needs to avert a hard crash, ensuring that the United States doesn’t slip into a recession.

Powell and the FOMC are entrenched in a juggling act to balance economic growth and curb inflation. A chorus of economic commentators is doubtful that the Fed can fight inflation and sustain the post-pandemic economic expansion.

When asked if the economy will still experience a soft landing, Powell indicated that recent events, such as commodity price volatility, have increased the degree of difficulty and provided significant challenges to the central bank.

“Panicked by sky-high inflation, now the Fed is stepping hard on the monetary policy brakes too hard in much the same way as last year it kept its foot on the accelerator too long,” Desmond Lachman, economist and senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, told The Epoch Times in an email. “It is doing so now by rising interest rates in 75 basis point steps rather than the more normal 25 basis point steps.”

Lachman noted that the Fed’s shift to a more hawkish policy stance might trigger a recession because “it has already caused the asset and credit market bubbles it created last year to burst.”

“Since the start of the year, equity prices have fallen by around 25 percent, bond prices have declined by more than 20 percent, and the cryptocurrency market has lost more than half of its value,” he said. “That has involved the evaporation of around $15 trillion or 70 percent of GDP in household wealth that could cause consumers to cut back heavily on spending.”

The situation comes down to the Fed being unable to admit the problem in the first place, according to Nancy Tengler, CEO and chief investment officer of Laffer Tengler Investments.

Since last year, the policymakers “shared a stubborn refusal to admit the problem,” she wrote in a research note. “The chaos resulting from their actions—and make no mistake, those poor policies straddle both parties—goes unrecognized, un-examined, unresolved, doomed to be repeated.”

Ed Yardeni, president and chief investment strategist of Yardeni Research, essentially echoed this sentiment in a June 15 note, writing that the Fed has been behind the curve, turning “woke” in the process.

“Perhaps the most important similarity between the 1970s and recent events is the lame response of the Fed to the wage-price-rent spiral. The Fed was well behind the inflation curve during most of the 1970s and is now once again,” Yardeni wrote.

Today, the U.S. economy is dealing with a trade-off: beat inflation with a recession or deal with soaring prices and maintain stagnant growth.

“[A] more accelerated Fed hiking cycle ultimately should help tame inflation pressures but will make it more difficult to thread the needle between lower inflation and a recession,” Deutsche Bank said in a June 14 note. “We continue to anticipate that bringing inflation back down to target will require a meaningful hit to demand and rise in the unemployment rate, the latter of which historically does.”

There’s a growing expectation that substantial rate hikes would halt business activity and spending, while also leading to greater job losses.

But everything the Fed will do moving forward will be based on data, which has been the modus operandi from before the start of the tightening cycle, according to Robert R. Johnson, CEO of Economic Index Associates and professor at Heider College of Business, Creighton University.

“Let the Federal Reserve raise rates in a very measured manner and there is a possibility that we could achieve a soft landing for the economy,” he told The Epoch Times. “Reckless moves like some are calling for would preclude any possibility of a soft landing.”

Johnson does anticipate that the year-end interest rate would be closer to 3.75 percent to 4 percent.

About That Recession

Wall Street appears to be split on the odds of a recession. Many financial institutions and analysts have placed the bets at 50 percent, while others think there’s a decent chance that the U.S. economy could experience a soft landing.

The Atlanta Fed Bank’s GDPNow model projects zero percent growth in the April-to-June period.

But could a recession already be here? It wouldn’t be surprising, said Peter Boockvar, chief investment officer at Bleakley Advisory Group.

“I wouldn’t be surprised if it started in the third quarter of this year,” he told CNBC on June 10. “You can say that we’re in the midst of it right now, in the beginning phase. Only in retrospect will we know for sure, but it should not surprise us at this point.”

In the first quarter, the U.S. economy contracted at a 1.5 percent rate.

The next two-day FOMC policy meeting will take place on July 26 and 27.

According to the CME FedWatch Tool, the market is penciling in a three-quarter point rate hike next month.

https://www.theepochtimes.com/fed-raises-interest-rates-by-three-quarters-the-largest-increase-in-28-years_4534321.html?utm_source=Morningbrief&utm_campaign=mb-2022-06-16&utm_medium=email&est=GRTBLJh72iPWT0ishq3VoXCkzrzLbYcdIYyUoqGUAgMenXQsjOmrjzVXdqdW7hxkwQ%3D%3D

‘I never thought I’d see $7.50 a gallon for gas’

As the Biden administration oversees record-high gas prices, drivers across the country are struggling to pay at the pump.

“I never thought I’d see $7.50 a gallon for gas,” San Jose resident Joshua Howard told NBC News. “I remember when I bought my first car, it was $1.85. And I was afraid, how am I going to afford $1.85? Now it’s $7.50.”

Since resident Joe Biden’s inauguration, the average price of gas has more than doubled—from $2.38 per gallon to $4.98, according to AAA. Inflation, meanwhile, has reached a 40-year high, with consumer prices skyrocketing 8.6 percent over the last year, the Labor Department reported Friday. The price of energy commodities has climbed more than 50 percent, according to the report.

“Gas prices are ridiculous,” one Pennsylvania man told a local Fox affiliate.

https://freebeacon.com/biden-administration/watch-drivers-fed-up-with-bidens-record-high-gas-prices/

They have 30 days to respond to letters before being placed on a financial blacklist

Six banks have been warned by the West Virginia State Treasury that they may be in violation of a new law preventing the state from doing business with financial institutions boycotting energy companies.

The office told The Epoch Times it had sent out letters on June 10, but didn’t share the banks’ names on the record.

Enacted in March, S. 262 directs the state to notify financial institutions that they’re slated for placement on the restricted financial institution list 45 days before the document is published.

Those institutions must respond within 30 days of receiving those notification letters to avoid winding up on the list.

In June 2021, Texas passed a similar law barring state agencies from investing in funds boycotting energy companies.

“We felt like we had a clear conflict of interest,” West Virginia Treasurer Riley Moore said at a June 8 press conference.

He cited firms that he said want to benefit from the state’s finances while simultaneously “trying to diminish our dollars and destroy our industries.”

The letters come after months of escalating conflict between many energy-producing states and much of the financial sector.

In May 2021, Moore and treasurers from 14 other states sent a letter to U.S. climate envoy John Kerry to express their concerns about private comments that he made to banks in March of that year. He reportedly asked major financial institutions to step up their climate commitments.

“We intend to put banks and financial institutions on notice of our position, as we urge them not to give in to pressure from the Biden administration to refuse to lend to or invest in coal, oil, and natural gas companies,” Moore and his colleagues wrote at the time.

Environmental nonprofits mounted their own pressure campaign encouraging Kerry to further Wall Street’s divestment from the fossil fuel industry.

A March 2021 letter from 145 environmental organizations demanded that Kerry “[end] the flow of private finance” to the fossil fuel industry, specifically requesting that he push asset managers “to divest from pure-play coal, oil, and gas.”

In January of this year, West Virginia divested from BlackRock, the world’s largest asset manager.

“BlackRock CEO Larry Fink has been outspoken in pressuring corporate leaders to commit to investment goals that will undermine reliable energy sources like coal, natural gas and oil under the guise of helping the planet, but at the same time he’s pouring billions in new capital into China, turning a blind eye to abhorrent human rights violations, genocide and that country’s role in creating the COVID-19 global pandemic,” Moore said in a Jan. 17 statement explaining the decision.

Moore told The Epoch Times he hasn’t yet heard from BlackRock.

In his view, the war in Ukraine underscores the vital importance of maintaining domestic energy resources.

“There is power in this type of energy, and I just don’t mean electrification. I mean, power for the countries. And that’s why energy independence is so important,” he told The Epoch Times in a June 8 interview.

Moore said it would be “very easy” to get West Virginia to change its increasingly aggressive stance toward financial institutions that have turned against fossil fuels or embraced extreme environmental, social, and governance (ESG) investment practices.

“All you all need to do is have banks act like banks, asset managers act like asset managers, and maximize returns for your shareholders and your company. It’s pretty simple. I mean, that’s kind of how capitalism works,” he said.

The Epoch Times has requested additional information on the six banks from the West Virginia Treasury.

The Epoch Times has also reached out to BlackRock.

https://www.theepochtimes.com/west-virginia-notifies-six-banks-they-may-be-breaking-states-fossil-fuel-anti-boycott-law_4525672.html?utm_source=News&utm_campaign=breaking-2022-06-10-4&utm_medium=email&est=VYcTwCN53hwC%2FjELeRqaN3fSqUKsQCPgwnn4Zx5OfOv6Yn2fQZgHgILNHlJ4rObhnQ%3D%3D

The Department of Homeland Security worked with Twitter on its ill–fated Disinformation Governance Board, according to whistleblower documents, which show the agency arranged a meeting with the Twitter executive who blocked news stories about Hunter Biden’s laptop.

Department officials set up an April 28 meeting to ask Twitter to “become involved” in the disinformation project, according to a DHS itinerary. The meeting was planned with Yoel Roth, the Twitter executive behind the controversial decision to block New York Post stories about Biden’s laptop from being shared on the platform in October 2020. 

The whistleblower documents, released by Republican senators on Wednesday, show Homeland Security’s plans for the disinformation board were more extensive than previously acknowledged. The department publicly announced the board on April 27, but did not disclose plans to work with social media companies. Homeland Security chief Alejandro Mayorkas said the board would function as a “working group” to track disinformation regarding human smuggling operations and the Russian invasion of Ukraine. He insisted the board would have no “operational authority or capability,” though the itinerary for the Twitter meeting shows DHS saw it as “an opportunity to discuss operationalizing public-private partnerships between DHS and Twitter.”

The board came under intense scrutiny not only for its Orwellian-sounding name, but also the past comments of Nina Jankowicz, the board’s executive director. Jankowicz pushed the unfounded claim that Biden’s laptop emails were hacked or part of a Russian disinformation campaign. She also called on social media platforms, law enforcement officials, and lawmakers to crack down on content she deems “awful but lawful.” 

According to the documents, Homeland Security officials planned to offer government data to Twitter to help the disinformation board’s work. The DHS itinerary for the meeting urged Rob Silvers, the undersecretary for strategy, policy, and plans, to ask what data “would be useful for Twitter to receive” to help the company counter disinformation. 

Sens. Chuck Grassley (R., Iowa) and Josh Hawley (R., Mo.) said the documents “raise concerns” that DHS is enlisting the help of “social media companies and big tech” to censor viewpoints deemed to be disinformation. 

“DHS should not in any way seek to enlist the private sector to curb or silence opposing viewpoints,” the senators wrote Mayorkas. 

The Republicans noted it is unclear whether DHS held the April 28 meeting with Twitter. Neither DHS nor Twitter responded to Free Beacon requests for comment. 

Grassley and Hawley suggested in their letter to Mayorkas that Jankowicz was selected to lead the disinformation board because she had worked with Twitter’s Roth. The DHS itinerary for the April 28 meeting notes that Jankowicz and Roth knew each other. 

Roth, who recently unveiled Twitter’s “crisis management policy,” came under fire for blocking access to the Post stories about Hunter Biden’s laptop. Roth said he made the decision after American intelligence officials told him in meetings before the 2020 election that foreign actors might release materials hacked from Hunter Biden. 

To date, there is no evidence that Biden’s emails were hacked or that his laptop was mishandled. A computer shop owner said Biden dropped off his laptop for repairs in April 2019 but never came back to retrieve it. Federal prosecutors are investigating Biden’s business dealings, many of which are discussed on the laptop. 

https://freebeacon.com/biden-administration/dhs-solicited-twitter-to-become-involved-in-disinfo-board/

Column: Biden must abandon his quest for a nuclear deal

As if we didn’t have enough to worry about: This week Iran escalated its war against the West.

On June 8 the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) passed a resolution calling on Iran to explain traces of uranium that it found at three undisclosed sites of nuclear activity. Hours before the IAEA vote, Iran disconnected security cameras from one of its declared nuclear sites. Then Iran began taking down IAEA cameras throughout its territory. The world’s nuclear watchdog is flying blind. “When we lose this,” IAEA director Rafael Mariano Grossi told reporters, “then it’s anybody’s guess” what Iran is doing.

But we know what Iran is doing. Iran is playing hardball. For over a year now, the Biden administration and its European partners have attempted to lure Iran back into the 2015 nuclear deal, a.k.a. the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA). Those negotiations have failed. Iran keeps upping the ante. It wants Biden to drop sanctions on the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, its terrorist army, and to guarantee that future presidents won’t back out of the deal. The first demand is harmful to national security and a political hot potato. The second is impossible. Result: deadlock.

Deadlock that favors Iran. The mullahs have used the months of jaw-jaw to prepare for war-war. Ayatollah Khamenei has placed radicals in top positions, including the presidency. His proxy forces have spread violence in Iraq, Yemen, and throughout the Greater Middle East. He has plotted to assassinate U.S. officials. He has evaded sanctions. And he has built up his stockpile of nuclear fuel.

Iran has enough enriched uranium for a nuclear weapon. Last week, David Albright and Sarah Burkhard of the Institute for Science and International Security (the good ISIS) wrote that “Iran’s breakout timeline is now at zero.”

Swell. How does resident Biden respond? He says there is still time to make a deal that even his lead negotiator, State Department official Robert Malley, admits is “tenuous at best.”

The complacency is maddening. The other day, when a reporter asked National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan for his thoughts on Iran’s dispute with the IAEA, Sullivan said, “From our perspective, we have to view these on separate tracks, and that’s how we’re going to proceed.” Translation: We won’t let Iran’s hostile behavior get in the way of appeasement.

On June 9, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said that Iran’s moves against the IAEA are “counterproductive and further complicate our efforts to return to full implementation of the JCPOA.” Also, the sky is blue. What’s Blinken going to do about it? “We continue to press Iran to choose diplomacy and de-escalation instead,” he said.

This is willful blindness. Iran made its choice. It rejected diplomacy and de-escalation. It opted for confrontation and resistance.

Yet America is too preoccupied, too distracted, too overwhelmed to act accordingly. Inflation, crime, the border, guns, abortion, and Ukraine command the public’s attention. The growing danger from Iran does not. Meanwhile, the secretary of defense is a background player. The secretary of state and the national security adviser are staffers, not independent leaders. The president is 79 years old and not good at his job. This moment demands confidence, willfulness, boldness, imagination, and risk. What we get are odd ramblings from Biden on Kimmel.

Things must change. Iran policy is a good—and urgent—place to start. Step one is to face reality. Close the open hand that the ayatollah has spat upon. Demand enactment of snap-back sanctions. Adopt the bipartisan Senate bill that would integrate air and missile defenses in the Greater Middle East. Call for a massive defense buildup. Ease restrictions, limits, and delays on lend-lease to Ukraine, then take the same approach to arming Israel and our Gulf partners (as well as Taiwan). Recognize the importance of the Abraham Accords as the foundation for regional stability. And revive the military option to demonstrate our seriousness.

The drift toward global disorder began after former president Obama decided not to enforce his red line against chemical weapons in Syria. That was almost a decade ago. One way to repair the jagged breach in American credibility and American deterrence would be to make good on our longstanding promise that Iran won’t obtain the world’s most terrible weapon.

The current path leads to a world where America is ignored, where Israel’s existence is threatened, and where the risk of nuclear war is greater than it is even today. We’ve been telling ourselves for a while that such a world would be unacceptable. Let’s act like it.

https://freebeacon.com/columns/the-iran-crisis-is-here/

(DHG) — The liberals are back at it again… it seems like cancelling Dr. Seuss was not enough!

An innocent patriotic brand selling hilarious “I Do Not Like You Sleepy Joe” Mugs on their website has enraged Liberals and boy are they angry.

They’ve gone to social media to rant about how owners of said mug are “losers” and how it is just like the “racist” Dr. Seuss books. Simply hilarious!

Little did they know that their social media rants would completely back fire!

As soon as conservatives got wind that the site was being “cancelled”, demand skyrocketed.

Owner Tyler W. had this to say: 

“The Liberals, they sure don’t know how to get things done!

Thanks to them, sales have been FLOODING in. Seems like everyone loves our new mug!

The Libs are truly evil trying to take down a small business in times like these!”

>> Click here to check if there still is stock available

Finely made from ceramic with the iconic Let’s Go Brandon message, we see why the mug is such a prized possession….

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>> Click here to get one and join the Let’s Go Brandon movement

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FOR YOUR EYES ONLY – American Liberty News (ALN) – in collaboration with the Center for American Defense Studies (CADS) – provides our readers the PDB:

Not the President’s Daily Brief, but almost as good – PAUL’S DAILY BRIEFING.

Get Your Best Daily Defense and Foreign Affairs Intelligence Here in One Brief.

Read the summaries or dive deeper via the linked articles.

Today’s PDB includes a variety of critical, global national security issues.

** For additional intel on the Russia–Ukraine war and other hot topics we can’t fit here, please also subscribe to ‘Paul’s Defense Brief’ at paulcrespo.substack.com.

READ TODAY’S PDB BELOW:

HOMELAND SECURITY

GOOD OR BAD IDEA? Senator wants to ‘mobilize’ military veterans to guard schools. In the wake of the mass shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) is calling to “mobilize” military veterans to serve as security officers at schools around the country.

CHINA THREAT

INDEED! – With US distracted, Tehran and Beijing tighten embrace in the Middle East. The US pivot to the Pacific may be all about China, but it misses Beijing’s moves to fill a US void elsewhere.

Beyond weapons: Time for a new US strategy on Taiwan. Enlarging Taipei’s military cooperation throughout the Indo-Pacific is today potentially the most effective way to break Beijing’s heavy-handed efforts to quarantine Taiwan politically. Deciding what military assets America should provide Taiwan is crucial, but the bigger picture is to interweave Taiwan into the emerging alliances and coalitions forming to deal with the Chinese threat.

RUSSIA THREAT

Russia hits Kyiv with missiles; Putin warns West on supplies. Russian forces pounded railway facilities and other infrastructure early Sunday in Kyiv, which had previously seen weeks of eerie calm.

ESCALATION OR MORE OF THE SAME? – Putin threatens new targets if Ukraine gets longer-range rockets; missiles hit Kyiv. In a television interview with state media that was recorded Friday and aired Sunday, Putin said he considered the medium-range missiles Biden promised last month to be replacements for similar artillery that Ukraine has lost in the fighting. But should longer-range systems arrive, Putin said, his military would begin hitting targets it has so far avoided. He offered no specifics.

Russia-Ukraine war: List of key events, day 103. A Russian state media journalist reported Moscow’s Major General Roman Kutuzov was killed in eastern Ukraine, adding to the string of high-ranking military casualties sustained by Moscow. Ukraine has reversed a Russian advance in Severodonetsk and recaptured about 20 percent of the strategic eastern city, meaning Ukraine now controls half, the governor of Luhansk said.

LET THE NORDIC GAMES BEGIN – Major Baltic Sea exercise kicks off as Swedish, Finnish NATO bids wait on Turkey. The NATO exercise BALTOPS – to be held on the Baltic Sea next week – is the latest showing of unity and military strength as Sweden and Finland trade neutrality for NATO’s embrace in the wake of Russia’s three-month-old invasion of Ukraine.

NORTH KOREA THREAT

OVERDUE – US, S Korean navies end key exercise amid N Korea tension. The three-day exercise that began Thursday in international waters off Okinawa was apparently the allies’ first joint drill involving a U.S. aircraft carrier since November 2017.

YES, NORTH KOREA – WE HAVE MISSILES TOO – US and South Korea respond to North Korean launch with 8 missiles of their own. U.S. Forces Korea and the South Korean military fired one U.S. missile and seven South Korean missiles eastward into the sea to demonstrate the countries’ ability to “respond quickly to crisis events,” the U.S. military said Monday.

INTERNATIONAL SECURITY

‘Evil and wicked’: At least 50 killed in Nigeria church attack. Gunmen opened fire and detonated explosives killing dozens of people in an attack on a Catholic church in southwestern Nigeria.

PUTIN’S ‘AFRIKA CORPS’ – In Africa, a Putin-backed group that’s far more than a war machine. Backed by the Kremlin, a shadowy network known as the Wagner Group is getting rich in Sudan while helping the military crush a democracy movement.

US excludes Cuba, Venezuela, Nicaragua from Americas summit. The decision, which followed weeks of intense deliberations, risks an embarrassing boycott of the U.S.-hosted gathering this week in Los Angeles if Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador and some other leaders choose not to show up.

US MILITARY AND SPACE

INTERESTING – Marine Corps Reserve gets new missions, new roles and a whole new design. For decades the Marine Reserve was a near-carbon copy of the active side. Not anymore.

GUARDIANS ALERT – How the US Space Force plans to police outer space. Outer space is getting crowded, with both commercial endeavors and secretive military projects. And it’s going to be up to the newest United States military branch, the Space Force, to protect American interests there.

REAL ISSUE – OR EASY FIX? Military families not having enough food is a national security issue, report says. The key factors that make up military life were found to be significant contributors to food insecurity for military families and could hinder the ability of the armed forces to recruit and retain troops if it isn’t addressed, according to two reports released this week.

END of PDB

paulcrespo.com

https://www.americanliberty.news/defense-news/report-china-gaining-ground-in-middle-east/pcrespo/2022/06/?utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=ae01&seyid=5285

It’s time for a comprehensive fact-check on the origins and purposes of the Ukrainian war.

The underlying issue is the ultimate disposition of the 14 republics apart from Russia that seceded from and produced the dissolution of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics in 1991. Russia has never acknowledged the legitimacy of those secessions, and they were accomplished abruptly by the governments and legislatures of the jurisdictions involved, without the formality and legitimacy the break-up of countries requires.

As the Soviet Union fell like a soufflé without a shot being fired (after a Cold War in which there were routine reciprocal threats of nuclear annihilation), many promises were made by the major powers, including Russia and the United States, and none of them was kept. When the last Soviet leader, Mikhail Gorbachev, acceded to the reunification of Germany, then-Secretary of State James Baker assured him that NATO would not advance “one inch” to the east of Germany. The president whom he served, George H. W. Bush, famously gave what Nixon speechwriter William Safire called the “Chicken Kiev speech” to the Ukrainian parliament recommending that it remain in union with Russia, in 1991. All of the major powers, including Russia and the United States, promised Ukraine, Belarus, and Kazakhstan, that their borders would be respected, in exchange for the renunciation in 1994 of the nuclear weapons that they had inherited from the Soviet Union.

Needless to say, all of these solemn promises were forgotten almost as soon as they were made. In the next several years, NATO accepted as members Poland, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Bulgaria; and Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia, which had been constituent republics of the Soviet Union and had been fully integrated into Russia for more than 200 years prior to the end of World War I in 1918. President George W. Bush advocated the eventual admission to NATO of Ukraine and Georgia in 2008, but this was deferred as Russia invaded two largely Russian-speaking provinces of Georgia and intervened heavy-handedly in Ukrainian affairs. Russian meddling enabled the election of an outright puppet of the Kremlin in Ukraine, Viktor Yanukovich, in 2010, and Western counter-meddling achieved his ouster and replacement by Petro Poroshenko in 2014.

It must be admitted that Ukraine has never shown the slightest aptitude for successful self-government until its inspiring performance following the Russian invasion of Ukraine three months ago. It’s an ethnic hodgepodge of Russians, Lithuanians, Poles, and Tatars, and approximately one-sixth of its population of over 40 million is Russian-speaking.

The likeliest explanation for what brought on the present war is that the on-again, off-again Western enticement of NATO membership for Ukraine collided with the ambition of Russian President Vladimir Putin, Russia’s most purposeful leader since Leonid Brezhnev, to assert Russia’s partial authority over its former fellow republics of the USSR.

It isn’t surprising that Putin thought that this was the time to act: The unimaginable shambles of the American flight from Afghanistan and the complete failure of the United States to enunciate any consistent policy about the former Soviet Union could well have convinced him that this was his chance to begin reassembling the involuntary Confederation of ethnicities put together over more than 250 years by Peter the Great, Catherine the Great, some lesser Czars, and Joseph Stalin.

Many readers will remember the inanity of President George W. Bush’s assertions that he looked Putin in the eye, and the reassuring importance that Putin attaches to his cross. President Barack Obama appeased Putin by withholding the promised anti-missile defenses for Poland and the Czech Republic, as if such defensive weapons could remotely be considered a provocation to Russia. The Pentagon has contributed to the present confusion by taking the immense budget granted it by President Donald Trump and failing to keep pace with Russia and China in hypersonic weapons, in providing adequate antimissile defenses for America’s Nimitz class aircraft carriers, and possibly in some areas of artillery as well. This may explain why the United States and NATO generally have been clearly intimidated by Putin’s nonsensical threats to resort to nuclear weapons.

Because of this saber-rattling, which is much less believable and nerve-racking than the antics of Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev in the 1950s, President Joe Biden allowed the Pentagon to repudiate Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s public pledge to facilitate the transfer of Polish warplanes to Ukraine as “escalatory” (what was the Russian invasion?), and has declined to provide high-altitude anti-aircraft missiles and any Ukrainian capability to reply with offensive weapons that would reach inside Russia as a response to the relentless Russian aerial assault on Ukraine’s civil population.

Apart from the Ukrainian government, which has played its hand, militarily and in public relations terms, brilliantly, almost every conceivable blunder has been made by both sides in the present conflict. It’s inconceivable how Putin and his advisers imagined that they could, with only 150,000 trigger-pullers, overrun a country of over 40 million people defended by a trained army and reserve of half a million well-armed men. Ukraine possesses the possibility of a high manpower advantage unless Russia conducts a general mobilization, which would be extremely unpopular, and hideously expensive for a country with a smaller GDP than Canada. Ukraine has the advantage of having most of its war effort paid for by rich NATO countries; in that sense only is there any truth in the Russian government’s claim, echoed by a number of conservative isolationist American commentators, that Russia is at war with all NATO.

But there’s no truth to the claim of those American commentators that Ukraine is of no strategic value to the West. It’s making a bona fide effort to make democracy work and it’s the subject of a brutal and completely illegal and unprovoked attack. The consequence of permitting Russia to succeed in this criminal enterprise would be to provide convincing evidence that the United States is in inexorable decline and that it’s open season on the crumbling Western alliance as the Kremlin took a giant leap toward undoing the West’s epochal strategic victory in the Cold War.

Readers will painfully recall the total defeatism of Biden and the joint chiefs at the outset of the Ukrainian war, when Kyiv was expected to be occupied within a few days and Biden offered to evacuate president Volodymyr Zelenskyy and his family, and made sophomoric comments about the Russian ruble becoming “rubble” and the strength of sanctions, which since they’re being ignored by 155 countries in the world are a gigantic Swiss cheese. When the strength of Ukrainian resistance became clear, Biden spoke of Putin being mad and sick and a “war criminal” and that regime change was necessary, even as he backed down before Putin’s juvenile nuclear threats. There has been no clarification of Western war aims and a large quantum of aid is to some extent a substitute for giving Ukraine the weapons they need to provide the Russians an incentive to end the war.

As I have written since before the start of this war, we have the ability in the West to ensure that Ukraine is recognized as a sovereign state as long as we provide the Russians with some recognition of their traditional status in that country—assumedly the autonomy under Russian suzerainty of the Russian-speaking sections of the country but with an iron-clad Russia-NATO guarantee of the security of Ukraine’s modified borders. Zelenskyy cannot expect more; the geopolitical reality is that Putin doesn’t have to settle for less; American isolationists should be given a brief tutorial in geopolitical realities; the entire senior level of the Pentagon should be sacked; and NATO-U.S. will have to provide the weapons necessary to bring the war to a negotiated end. As long as the Russians can kill and terrorize Ukraine’s civilian population from the air with impunity, the war will go on and the tragedy will become greater.

https://www.theepochtimes.com/the-origins-and-purposes-of-the-ukrainian-war_4513275.html?utm_source=Morningbrief&utm_campaign=mb-2022-06-07&utm_medium=email&est=iI9rZk9cOaqw7aYT8NgcGKWK61%2Fcnb%2BEWj7cHBO9Ijd7E20fezd%2B%2BWHPnmURev%2FK3w%3D%3D

Friend,

Our country is currently facing a great threat. A new enemy has emerged from the shadows that seeks to destroy and intimidate their way to a transformed state, and country, that you and I would hardly recognize.

This enemy is the radical vigilante woke mob that will steamroll anything and anyone in their way. Their blatant attacks on the American way of life are clear and intensifying: stifling dissent, public shaming, rampant violence, and a perverted version of history.

A group that will, literally, tear down monuments and buildings but — perhaps in an even more sinister way — tear down the American spirit itself. They go after the family unit, parental rights, traditional moral values, the church, and fact-based education.

Over the past few years, we’ve watched horrified as this group has attempted to brainwash our children into thinking we live in an evil, racist, irredeemable country.

We listened to them deny science and data to exert political theater all the while trampling over personal liberties enshrined in the Constitution.

We saw them take to the streets for an entire summer like outlaws burning, looting, and destroying everything in sight while being told they were “mostly peaceful” and “passionate.”

We watched Big Tech moguls in Silicon Valley be the arbiters of truth – deciding who gets to speak and who gets silenced through the digital public square.

We listened to the legacy media muffle legitimately verifiable news stories that didn’t align with their preferred narrative, only to watch the truth trickle out months later at a more politically expedient time.

Well, friend, the time for listening and watching from the sidelines is over.

This enemy has taken over media, educational institutions, corporate boards, professional sports, foundations, and professional institutions. They have left no corner of our lives untouched. But all hope is not lost.

We The People still have a say. We know the truth, you and I, about America and the country she is and can be. We must fight to defeat these false pretenses and predetermined narratives.

I am choosing to counter this enemy with faith, with reason, and with freedom. As Governor of the Free State of Florida, I have chosen to lead with a vision that builds America up rather than tears it down.

Together we can ensure that our children are raised to know they live in the greatest state in the nation, the greatest country in the world and that they have an opportunity to continue making them even greater.

If you’ve been waiting for the right time to get off the sidelines and fight for the rights you know were given to man by God Himself – the time is NOW.

If you’re with me, friend, chip in any amount to help me defeat this enemy. I can’t do it without you. I promise you; I will never stop fighting.

Sincerely,

Ron DeSantis

Paid by Ron DeSantis, Republican, for Governor.

Rampant inflation dooms the incumbent, vindicates right-wing economic theories, and sets back the post-war liberal welfare project a generation. Those are not the words of a Wall Street Journal editorial, but of Joe Biden.

They came during an interview in 1987, at the early stages of Biden’s first presidential run. At the time, he lamented voters’ disillusionment with government and large spending proposals associated with the New Deal and Great Society. The skyrocketing inflation that defined the presidencies of Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, and Jimmy Carter, according to Biden, sparked a suspicion of government.

“Government was making the wrong decisions,” Biden told the Atlantic. “As much as 5 or 6 percentage points on the inflation rate were due to oil. Another 5 percent was due to Vietnam. And so you have 10 or 11 percent on top of the inflation that had accumulated since 1932, as conservatives had predicted, and BAM—everything’s gone.”

If those conditions sound familiar, it’s because they are. Inflation is the highest it’s been in 40 years—driven in part by the war in Ukraine, rising oil prices, and an unprecedented amount of federal spending—and it risks completely sinking Biden’s presidency just as they sank Carter’s.

Yet the Biden of the 1970s and the Biden of 2022 might as well be two different people, with the latter challenging economic orthodoxy and alleging that new entitlements and stimulus in the form of Build Back Better will actually bring consumer prices down. As a young, reform-minded senator in the 1970s, Biden introduced bills to slash tens of millions of dollars from what believed were ineffective and useless federal agencies and insisted the only way out of America’s stagflation nightmare was massive spending cuts. His 180-degree change reflects the leftward lurch of a Democratic Party and White House staffed with ideologues (many of whom never lived through the 1970s) able to convince a nearly 80-year-old president that everything he once understood about how the economy worked was completely wrong.

“The taxpayers of this country have been charged $52 million to support 1,500 advisory committees, despite the fact that 397 of these committees have never even met and another 891 have never produced a single report,” Biden said in 1975.

Those positions earned praise from such then-conservative-leaning publications as U.S. News & World Report, which wrote that lawmakers such as Biden “are increasingly disillusioned with Great Society-type programs.”

Biden agreed with that assessment: “We newer liberal Democrats are rejecting the theory of our more senior colleagues, which was that if you spend enough money you can solve any problem,” Biden said in 1972.

Democrats, according to Biden in 1974, had lost focus on who their main constituency should be: the middle class. The persistent inflation that defined that decade convinced the average working man who makes “$12,000 a year” (around $70,000 today) that “he’s been had.” Poor Americans, Biden said, had received an inordinate amount of attention from lawmakers.

When angry truckers appeared in 1973 in Washington, D.C., as part of their nationwide effort to shut down transit in protest of rising gas prices, Biden was one of the few lawmakers who met with them. His appearance at the protest set him apart from more liberal members of the Democratic Party—then-senator George McGovern (S.D.), a former presidential candidate and supposed ally of labor, was nowhere to be found—and helped Biden paint an image of himself as a pragmatist.

A year and a half into his first presidential term, Biden has been dogged by criticism that he’s not doing enough to lower gas prices (as well as by an angry trucking industry with grievances that his White House refuses to acknowledge). Critics point to shutting down pipelines and failing to renew oil licenses on federal lands.

After reviewing then-president Gerald Ford’s budget, Biden expressly attacked the White House for not doing enough to address high gas prices and for its tax hikes on corporations, arguing there were better ways to cool demand. During a Senate hearing in 1974, Biden chastised liberals for forgetting “the vast resources of the ocean and their importance to us … [which] range from lobsters to oil.”

Although Biden called for some tax hikes on the margins, his plan to curb inflation was defined mostly by spending cuts. During his Senate reelection campaign in 1978, Biden took out a full-page advertisement in the News Journal, one of the largest newspapers in his home state of Delaware, to promote his “sunset bill” that would force “a thorough and complete review of federal spending programs every four years … [that] would automatically end a program that wasn’t proved useful or effective.”

The News Journal Tue Oct 24… by Washington Free Beacon

“The spiraling costs of inflation are ripping into the fabric of American society,” the ad reads. “We must bring these problems under control and the first place to start is with the cost of government.”

Biden’s earliest days in the Senate were defined by bills to reduce federal spending. One of the first bills he introduced was to cap pay raises for all federal employees and block automatic cost-of-living adjustments.

By 1978, Biden said he earned the moniker one of the country’s “stingiest senators.” His bills targeted the budgets of the Department of Labor and what was then called the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare. He criticized the welfare system as “wasteful” and said it largely functioned as a way “to build political patronage.”

“I plan to keep chopping away—cutting wherever I can—so that eventually, we’re going to bring the monstrous federal budget under control,” Biden said during his first term in the Senate. “It’ll take time, but I know we can do it. We must.”

By 1979, the federal budget deficit was roughly $40.7 billion. In 2022, the federal budget deficit neared $1.4 trillion—an increase of $500 billion since 2019. In 1978, the inflation rate sat at 7.59 percent. Today, it sits at 8.5 percent.

A Gallup poll taken in April 1978—a year and a half into Carter’s term—found that just 39 percent of voters approved of the then-president’s job performance, with the firm concluding that the economy was responsible for Carter’s 9-point drop in one month. In April 2022, Gallup found that 41 percent of voters approved of Biden’s job as president, with a majority concerned about the economy.

One month before the 1978 midterms, Carter gave a televised address to the country on the state of the economy. In a rhetorical maneuver that Biden has also employed, Carter championed the improving labor market and pointed to rising inflation rates across the world.

“We know that government is not the only cause of inflation,” Carter said. “But it is one of the causes, and government does set an example. Therefore, it must take the lead in fiscal restraint.”

Those speeches, like many Carter gave during his only term in the White House, did little to reassure the public. Democrats would end up losing 3 seats in the Senate and 15 in the House.

Although Democrats did not lose control of either chamber of Congress, several Republicans who later led a conservative policy revolution, including Newt Gingrich, gained power. Carter, who afterwards attempted a pivot to the center, in 1980 faced a primary challenge from the left and then lost in the general election to Ronald Reagan.

Confronted with a similarly plummeting approval rating and a grim midterm cycle, party insiders are already speculating on who might replace Biden on the top of the ticket in 2024. An adviser to socialist Sen. Bernie Sanders (I., Vt.), Biden’s former left-wing rival, said recently Sanders has not ruled out another presidential run.

In a National Journal interview conducted nearly a decade after the 1978 midterms, Biden reflected on the political problems that plagued Democrats.

“There is a consistent pattern that crept into the Democratic Party in the late 1960s and through the 1970s: We forgot who our people were,” Biden said. “The moral business of this country is not the way liberals think of it.”

https://freebeacon.com/politics/how-biden-stopped-worrying-and-learned-to-love-inflation/

Column: The president’s budget doesn’t match U.S. commitments

War was in the background of President Biden’s trip to Asia last week. He redeployed U.S. forces to Somalia before he left. He signed into law $40 billion in financial and military assistance to Ukraine during his visit to South Korea. Then, in Japan, a reporter asked Biden if he was prepared to “get involved militarily to defend Taiwan.” Biden’s answer was succinct. “Yes,” he said.

Forget the clumsy White House reaction to Biden’s moment of lucidity. Leave aside the question of whether the United States should move from a policy of strategic ambiguity, where our response to a Chinese invasion of Taiwan is left undefined, to a policy of strategic clarity where we let China know the direct consequences of such an attack.

Consider instead the following: Does the Pentagon have the resources to defend democracies from autocrats in two hemispheres?

Afraid not. The Pentagon ditched the “two-front” war preparedness strategy under Barack Obama. Meanwhile U.S. defense spending as a percentage of the economy has been in decline for decades. Biden has shown little interest in changing its downward course. Indeed, the one place where he’s been reluctant to spend money is national defense.

Biden’s fiscal year 2022 request of $715 billion was too small even for the Democratic Congress. It ended up authorizing $728.5 billion. Biden’s fiscal year 2023 request is for $773 billion. Maybe that seems like a hefty sum. It’s not. Biden’s defense budget is meager compared with the tasks the president has set out.

Why? Part of the reason is inflation. The Biden budget request paints a rosy—and inaccurate—scenario. My American Enterprise Institute colleague Mackenzie Eaglen has run the numbers. She begins with the $773 billion marked for the Pentagon. “Using a more honest 7.46 percent CPI [Consumer Price Index] estimate (the FY22 average so far) for military personnel raises the topline to $794.5 billion needed next year,” she writes.

That still isn’t enough, however. “$846 billion in FY 2023 is a more realistic down payment on matching defense investments against national security threats,” Eaglen concludes, “and should be the starting point as Congress builds a more accurate defense budget.” In other words, Eaglen recommends a 9 percent increase in the Biden administration’s topline before Congress and its appropriators become involved. Her proposal makes sense. It’s necessary. And it won’t happen.

It won’t happen for several reasons. The first is inertia. None of the threats we encountered or fear we might encounter in the post-Cold War world have provoked the people’s representatives to increase defense spending to Reagan-era levels. The political willpower doesn’t exist. Entitlements and interest on the debt act as additional constraints. We’ve muddled through for 30 years, this thinking goes. No need to stop now.

The second brake on defense spending is the Progressive bias against hard power. By the 2024 election, America will have been governed by presidents skeptical of defense spending and the military for 12 of the past 16 years. Such leadership has an effect not only on materiel but also on the culture of the national security establishment. Progressives under Obama and Biden see the Pentagon more as a vehicle for social policy and geopolitical featherbedding than as an instrument of deterrence and the national interest. Left-wing taboos against nuclear weapons, nuclear power, oil and gas, and the warrior mindset take precedent over military readiness and lethality. The president overrules the secretary of defense and joint chiefs. America grows weaker even as its leader calls for greater global activism.

Noninterventionism and restraint on the foreign policy right creates a bipartisan reluctance to spend more on defense. President Trump increased defense spending, but not by enough. His administration was filled with skeptics of American engagement and foreign intervention who wanted to reduce not only the Pentagon’s budget but also its influence throughout the world. Republican voices in Congress promote an “America First” foreign policy that would constrict U.S. deployments, aid, and partnerships.

About a quarter of the House GOP and a fifth of the Senate GOP, for example, voted against the latest aid package to Ukraine. Granted, this batch of aid seemed designed to split conservatives, who have a longstanding aversion to unconditional economic assistance. The vote stands as a warning for both liberal and conservative internationalists, nonetheless. The bipartisan consensus over Ukraine may not survive a prolonged war of attrition.

You correct a mismatch between resources and commitments by increasing resources or decreasing commitments. President Biden resists increasing resources for national defense, while powerful elements of both left and right work to reduce American commitments. Neither strategy makes America safer. Someone needs to make the case for a major U.S. defense buildup in response to the challenges of China, Russia, and Iran. And they need to do it soon.

https://freebeacon.com/columns/biden-defines-defense-down/

Democratic consultants may have misled the Department of Justice about foreign lobbying work for a company that counted Hunter Biden on its board of directors, a pair of Republican senators claim.

Blue Star Strategies disclosed this month that its founders, Karen Tramontano and Sally Painter, had two meetings in 2016 with State Department officials regarding Ukraine’s Burisma Holdings.  But according to Sens. Chuck Grassley (R., Iowa) and Ron Johnson (R., Wis.), Blue Star’s founders failed to disclose nine other meetings with government officials, including two American ambassadors to Ukraine.

“It appears that Blue Star Strategies’ top executives, Karen Tramontano and Sally Painter, filed incomplete and misleading information with the Department of Justice,” Grassley and Johnson wrote Attorney General Merrick Garland. The senators pointed to records from their investigation into Biden and Blue Star’s work for Burisma.

Hunter Biden, who served on the Burisma board of directors, recruited Painter and Tramontano in November 2015 to consult for Burisma and its owner Mykola Zlochevsky, who was under investigation for bribery. It is unclear what role Hunter Biden played in Blue Star’s foreign lobbying efforts. But the arrangement has come under scrutiny because Biden served in that role while his father was leading the Obama administration’s anticorruption efforts in Ukraine.

The senators’ findings raise questions about whether the Justice Department prematurely closed an investigation into Blue Star’s foreign lobbying. Painter and Tramontano, who served in the Clinton administration, disclosed their 2016 meetings in a filing earlier this month in order to resolve a Justice Department investigation into their foreign lobbying activity. A lawyer for the consultants said prosecutors closed the investigation after the firm disclosed the two meetings in a filing under the Foreign Agents Registration Act.

The end of the probe was a much-needed win for Hunter Biden, who is under investigation for his taxes and foreign entanglements. Federal prosecutors are reportedly looking into Biden’s work in China and Ukraine. Burisma paid Biden and a business partner more than $80,000 a month to serve on the board of directors. At the time, Zlochevsky was under investigation for allegedly paying $23 million in bribes for drilling rights.

Painter and Tramontano disclosed to the Justice Department that they met with State Department officials Amos Hochstein and Catherine Novelli in 2016 to discuss Burisma. The consultants arranged meetings between the officials and Burisma’s lawyer in order to ascertain the U.S. government’s position toward the firm.

Grassley and Johnson detailed nine other meetings between Blue Star and officials from the Departments of State, Commerce, and Energy from 2015 to 2019.

The senators asked Garland whether the Department of Justice was aware of the meetings and whether the agency plans to address the incomplete filings.

“DOJ must scrutinize Blue Star Strategies’ recently filed [Foreign Agents Registration Act] forms given the firm’s apparent incomplete disclosures and its lack of consistency with our investigative records,” they told Garland.

Painter and Tramontano did other advocacy work for Burisma that is not disclosed to the Justice Department. In 2017, the consultants arranged a partnership between Burisma and the Atlantic Council, the prominent Beltway foreign policy think tank. For $300,000, Atlantic Council granted access to Burisma for its energy conferences and other policy events. State Department officials cautioned Atlantic Council officials about Burisma prior to the engagement, citing concerns about the Ukrainian company’s reputation.

Blue Star Strategies and a lawyer for the firm did not respond to a request for comment.

https://freebeacon.com/democrats/hunter-biden-cronies-filed-misleading-lobbying-disclosures-senators-say/

CONVENIENT THING TO LOSE.

The World Economic Forum has removed a document from its website, which revealed the attendance of the Mayor of the Chinese city of Wuhan – which hosts the lab believed to be responsible for COVID-19 –  at one of its events.

Former Wuhan Mayor Tang Liangzhi is included on the World Economic Forum’s (WEF) list of attendees to its 2013 “Meeting of the New Champions.” The event, hosted in China, is described by the WEF as the “premier gathering in Asia of leaders of multinational corporations [and] governments.” “The Meeting was held in close collaboration with the Government of the People’s Republic of China,” explains the WEF meeting summary.

A link containing a 42-page document, which revealed hundreds of attendees at the event, reroutes users to an error page reading “Apologies – this section of our website is currently unavailable.” An archived version of the webpage, however, reveals a document containing a list of the event’s participants, including the then-Mayor of the Wuhan Municipal Government Tang Liangzhi.

Tang, 61, served as Mayor of Wuhan from 2011 to 2014 before serving in the same role in other cities including Chengdu and Chongqing. He was later promoted in December 2021 to the Party Branch Secretary of the Anhui Provincial Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), which has been identified as the “highest-ranking entity overseeing” China’s United Front by the U.S. government.

The effort aims to “to co-opt and neutralize sources of potential opposition to the policies and authority of its ruling Chinese Communist Party” and “influence overseas Chinese communities, foreign governments, and other actors to take actions or adopt positions supportive of Beijing’s preferred policies.” The U.S. State Department also compares the United Front to the Chinese regime’s “magic weapon” to compromise Western politicians and elites.

MUST READ: Mask Mandates Caused MORE COVID Deaths, Study Alleges.

Tang’s ties to Wuhan follow controversy of the city and one of its premier laboratories, the Wuhan Institute of Virology, potentially being the source of COVID-19. The lab, which is under the control of the Chinese Communist Party, manipulated bat coronaviruses with striking genetic similarities to COVID-19 to become deadlier to humans.

The WEF has also been accused of exploiting COVID-19 to advance its transformational social, political, and business agenda through its push for the “Great Reset.”

Experimental drugs aim to help treat seasonal allergies

The National Institutes of Health division led by Dr. Anthony Fauci is slated to spend nearly $2 million to force feed puppies with experimental allergy drugs, according to a government watchdog group.

NIH’s National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), which is helmed by Fauci, allocated $1,836,453 in taxpayer dollars for a contractor to test an experimental hay fever drug on mice, rats, and dogs, including puppies, according to the funding documents, which were obtained by the White Coat Waste Project and provided to the Washington Free Beacon. The most severe symptoms of hay fever, also known as seasonal allergies, are a runny nose and sneezing.

The documents, which were obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request and are highly redacted, show that the division requested at least five separate experiments on dogs that are likely to include force-feeding them experimental drugs for several months. While the contractor conducting the tests, Inimmune Corp., said guinea pigs could be used in place of dogs for some testing, purchasing “six-month old puppies” that would be exposed to allergens and then used for testing was also proposed.

NIH’s animal experiments have become a flashpoint in Congress after it emerged earlier this year that the government spent $2.5 million injecting beagle puppies with cocaine, sparking a bipartisan investigation, which was first reported by the Free Beacon. The NIH also funds labs in Russia, even as it invades Ukraine, including one lab that conducted “horrific and barbaric experiments on 18 cats.” The disclosure of the latest funding tranche is likely to build momentum for legislation called the Preventing Animal Abuse and Waste Act that would bar NIAID from conducting these types of dog experiments.

“Fauci’s white coats at NIAID have forced taxpayers to pay millions to de-bark and poison puppies, infest beagles with ticks and flies, and, now, needlessly torture puppies to test a new drug to treat a runny nose,” Devin Murphy, White Coat Waste Project’s public policy and communications manager, told the Free Beacon. “Even NIAID’s own contractor acknowledges that the dog testing demanded by Fauci’s agency is unnecessary because alternative animal models are available.”

The latest animal experiment grant, which began on September 1, 2021, and is slated to end in August 2023, indicates that NIAID attempted to purchase “allergic dogs” from a supplier, but ran into supply roadblocks. “Unfortunately, all of the allergic dogs from the [redacted] have not been available,” the documents state. “Six-month old puppies” were proposed as an alternative solution, though it is unclear if NIH went forward with that suggestion.

NIAID’s contractor, Inimmune Corp., suggested guinea pigs be used “instead of dog studies,” according to the documents, indicating that dog experiments were unnecessary and raising questions about the government’s desire to use them as lab subjects. This proposal was under consideration as of January 2022.

White Coat Waste Project is challenging the redactions in the documents and has submitted follow-up requests to obtain information on the experiments.

Rep. Nancy Mace (R., S.C.), who is spearheading the PAAW Act and investigating NIH for its animal experiments, told the Free Beacon that U.S. taxpayers should not be forced to foot the bill for “unnecessary and cruel” government tests.

“Americans across the political spectrum have been horrified to learn their tax dollars are being used to subsidize NIAID’s barbaric experiments on beagle puppies,” Mace said in a statement. “I’m proud to be leading the bipartisan PAAW Act to ensure taxpayer money is not used to support outdated, unnecessary and cruel experiments on dogs.”

https://freebeacon.com/biden-administration/nih-to-spend-2-million-in-taxpayer-funds-experimenting-on-puppies/

IN ADDITION TO REGULAR EXPOSÉS, THE NATIONAL PULSE WILL ADD THE WORLD ECONOMIC FORUM TO ITS RESEARCH AND INVESTIGATIVE PRIORITIES.

PALM BEACH, Florida – The National Pulse is announcing a new investigative priority surrounding the work of the World Economic Forum, as well as launching a new public information website: TakeDownTheWEF.com.

Founded in 1971 by German economist Klaus Schwab, the World Economic Forum (WEF) is an unaccountable, non-governmental organization which convenes meetings of world leaders in Davos, Switzerland, with a view to impacting policy decisions on behalf of its members: predominantly multi-national corporations and politicians.

The group has been criticized for its stated aims of transforming or “resetting” global society for the benefit of private corporations rather than the public.

Schwab himself has argued governments are no longer “the overwhelmingly dominant actors on the world stage” and “the time has come for a new stakeholder paradigm of international governance.”

As a result, The National Pulse is announcing a new commitment to exposing the work of the World Economic Forum, and is calling on ordinary members of the public to help support this effort through our crowdfunding site: FundRealNews.com

Speaking on the subject, The National Pulse Editor-in-Chief Raheem Kassam said: “We’re not just setting up a resource for members of the public to learn more about the World Economic Forum, we’re also crowdsourcing information on the group. The World Economic Forum is the throbbing, blackened heart of globalism, and we intend to drive a stake in it. For those interested in taking the fight to this group journalistically, as well as politically, think about urgently supporting this initiative.”

The World Economic Forum’s Davos summit kicks off this week, with a massive number of attendees from the United States and Ukraine, as reported by The National Pulse last week.

IS YOUR REPRESENTATIVE GOING TO DAVOS, AND WHY?

The World Economic Forum has announced a list of public figure attendees for its upcoming Annual Meeting in Davos, Switzerland.

Taking place May 22nd through 26th, the World Economic Forum (WEF) Annual Meeting will count 50 heads of government and thousands of corporate, philanthropic, and scientific leaders in attendance.

Twenty-five American officials, including two White House representatives, are going to the meeting. An additional 12 Democrat and 10 Republican politicians, listed below, will accompany them.

Visit TakeDownTheWEF.com for more on the World Economic Forum.

U.S. and Ukrainian attendees outnumber those coming from other leading nations, which includes just three from the United Kingdom, France, and Germany respectively.

The names of U.S. delegates appear below, with a full list of public figure attendees in the embedded spreadsheet following.

American Attendees of the World Economic Forum 2022:

• Gina Raimondo Secretary of Commerce of USA
• John F. Kerry Special Presidential Envoy for Climate of the United States of America
• Bill Keating Congressman from Massachusetts (D)
• Daniel Meuser Congressman from Pennsylvania (R)
• Madeleine Dean Congresswoman from Pennsylvania (D)
• Ted Lieu Congressman from California (D)
• Ann Wagner Congresswoman from Missouri (R)
• Christopher A. Coons Senator from Delaware (D)
• Darrell Issa Congressman from California (R)
• Dean Phillips Congressman from Minnesota (D)
• Debra Fischer Senator from Nebraska (R)
• Eric Holcomb Governor of Indiana (R)
• Gregory W. Meeks Congressman from New York (D)
• John W. Hickenlooper Senator from Colorado (D)
• Larry Hogan Governor of Maryland (R)
• Michael McCaul Congressman from Texas (R)
• Pat Toomey Senator from Pennsylvania (R)
• Patrick J. Leahy Senator from Vermont (D)
• Robert Menendez Senator from New Jersey (D)
• Roger F. Wicker Senator from Mississippi (R)
• Seth Moulton Congressman from Massachusetts (D)
• Sheldon Whitehouse Senator from Rhode Island (D)
• Ted Deutch Congressman from Florida (D)
• Francis Suarez Mayor of Miami (R)
• Al Gore Vice-President of the United States (1993-2001) (D)

“The Annual Meeting 2022 will embody the World Economic Forum’s philosophy of collaborative, multistakeholder impact, providing a unique collaborative environment in which to reconnect, share insights, gain fresh perspectives, and build problem-solving communities and initiatives,” explains the group, whose efforts to exploit COVID-19 for its “Great Reset” has come under intense scrutiny.

“Against a backdrop of deepening global frictions and fractures, it will be the starting point for a new era of global responsibility and cooperation,” posits the WEF, which selected “history at a turning point” as its event’s primary theme.

The event focuses on eight key areas: Climate and Nature; Fairer Economies; Tech and Innovation; Jobs and Skills; Better Business; Health and Healthcare; Global Cooperation; and Society and Equity. Panel discussions include “Economic Weaponry: Uses and Effectiveness of Sanctions,” “Safeguarding Global Scientific Collaboration,” “Blue Foods for a Sustainable Future,” “The Journey towards Racial Equity”

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky will also be giving a special welcome address on the opening day of that event and will be followed by executives from companies such as COVID-19 vaccine maker Pfizer.

The event also counts dozens of corporate and philanthropic partners, including Alibaba Group, which is a key component of the Chinese Communist Party’s social credit score system, Google, Amazon, AstraZeneca, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, BlackRock, George Soros’s Open Society Foundations, Meta, Johnson & Johnson, Huawei Technologies, Pfizer, and the Wellcome Trust.

Read the full list of attendees:

Phelim McAleer, a producer of the upcoming independent movie “My Son Hunter” exposing alleged corruption in the Biden family, said he hasn’t “recovered from the shock” after knowing that Hunter Biden’s attorney had infiltrated his movie set in Serbia.

“Hunter Biden’s lawyer was on the set of our movie, secretly recording and interviewing people under false pretenses over several days to find out what was going on,” McAleer said in a recent interview with EpochTV’s “China Insider” program.

The lawyer that he was referring to is Hollywood attorney Kevin Morris, who won a Tony award as a co-producer of the Broadway musical “The Book of Mormon.” His law firm previously represented Hollywood celebrities including Chris Rock, Scarlett Johansson, and “South Park” creators Matt Stone and Trey Parker.

According to McAleer, Morris and two of his associates flew to his movie set in Serbia on a private jet, claiming to be making a documentary with the aim to expose Hunter Biden’s corruption.

McAleer said he found their visit “unusual” but he didn’t question their intention during their short visit, since Morris did not conceal his name and he knows who Morris is.

However, what Morris did hide from McAleer is the fact that he was representing Hunter Biden, a revelation exposed by CBS News in early May. The outlet got confirmation from Morris’s office that he was putting together a legal and media strategy for the president’s son.

What’s more, Christopher Clark, Hunter Biden’s criminal attorney, also confirmed to the outlet that Morris is acting as an “attorney and trusted adviser” to the president’s son.

McAleer said he was stunned when he saw the CBS report.

“I did not believe it,” McAleer said. “I was thinking, like, this is a lawyer, you can’t do that as a lawyer, you can’t pretend you’re not representing your client and speak to a third party, and misrepresent that.”

He added, “There’s an actual part of the California Bar Association ethics rules that says, you’re not allowed to represent yourself as an independent person, to someone who does not have legal counsels.”

Looking back, McAleer said he had some assumptions about why Morris was at his set.

“They’re trying to get some words that they could smear and put together to discredit the movie and to discredit our project,” McAleer said.

He said “My Son Hunter,” a crowdfunded film now in post-production, will be “Austin Powers” meets “House of Cards.” The movie stars British actor and political activist Laurence Fox in the title role and “Dynasty” star John James as Joe Biden.

“It’s a great story and that’s what they’re afraid of, that the story will travel far and wide and that’s why I suppose they infiltrated our movie set, tried to spy on it,” he added.

Hunter Biden, who is currently under federal investigation for tax affairs, has been under scrutiny for his overseas business dealings in countries including Ukraine, Russia, and China, particularly during the time when Biden was vice president during the Obama administration.

For instance, he was paid over $83,000 a month for his work at Ukrainian energy firm Burisma’s board, a position he held from 2014 until 2019, according to payment records that former Ukrainian law enforcement officials provided to Reuters.

Emails unearthed from Hunter Biden’s laptop showed that he traveled to Beijing between 2014 and 2015 trying to broker a $120 million oil agreement between a Chinese state-owned oil company and Kazakhstan’s then-prime minister.

In March, Sens. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) and Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) presented bank records on the Senate floor showing CEFC China Energy, a now-defunct company, made payments to Hunter Biden.

McAleer didn’t think the infiltration has caused him or his movie any damage.

“I suspect the damage actually is going to be for Kevin Morris and Hunter Biden,” he said. “How do you hold the moral high ground when you infiltrated a movie set under false pretenses?

As for what people can get out of watching “My Son Hunter,” McAleer said he wanted people to learn.

“I wish the people learn that the Vice President of the United States was doing deals with foreign entities, Chinese entities, Russian entities, Ukrainian entities, getting tens of millions of dollars for doing nothing,” he said.

“I want them to start asking questions,” he added. “But I also want them to enjoy a really funny movie.”

The Epoch Times has reached out to Morris for comment.

https://www.theepochtimes.com/my-son-hunter-movie-producer-says-hunter-bidens-attorney-infiltrated-his-film-set_4479039.html?utm_source=News&utm_campaign=breaking-2022-05-20-1&utm_medium=email&est=IdZF1SPppUzw6DuQihRiAr4ElRN3O7gSqZ8U223cSeqq2ZhGkKWwER%2FZ73uwn4JSwg%3D%3D

Both U.S. congressional chambers in May passed a bill allocating $40 billion for Ukraine.

See how each member voted below.

Senate (86-11) 

Senators who voted for the bill:

Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.)
Sen. John Barrasso (R-Wyo.)
Sen. Michael Bennet (D-Colo.)
Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.)
Sen. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.)
Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.)
Sen. Richard Burr (R-N.C.)
Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash)
Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.)
Sen. Ben Cardin (D-Md.)
Sen. Tom Carper (D-Del.)
Sen. Bob Casey (D-Pa.)
Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.)
Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine)
Sen. Chris Coons (D-Del.)
Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas)
Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.)
Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.)
Sen. Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.)
Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas)
Sen. Steve Daines (R-Mont.)
Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.)
Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.)
Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa)
Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.)
Sen. Deb Fischer (R-Neb.)
Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.)
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.)
Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa)
Sen. Maggie Hassan (D-N.H.)
Sen. Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.)
Sen. John Hickenlooper (D-Colo.)
Sen. Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii)
Sen. John Hoeven (R-N.D.)
Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-Miss.)
Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.)
Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.)
Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.)
Sen. Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.)
Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.)
Sen. Angus King (I-Maine)
Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.)
Sen. James Lankford (R-Okla.)
Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.)
Sen. Ben Ray Luján (D-N.M.)
Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.)
Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.)
Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.)
Sen. Bob Menendez (D-N.J.)
Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.)
Sen. Jerry Moran (R-Kan.)
Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska)
Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.)
Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.)
Sen. Jon Ossoff (R-Ga.)
Sen. Alex Padilla (D-Calif.)
Sen. Gary Peters (D-Mich.)
Sen. Rob Portman (R-Ohio)
Sen. Jack Reed (D-R.I.)
Sen. James Risch (R-Idaho)
Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah)
Sen. Mike Rounds (R-S.D.)
Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.)
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.)
Sen. Ben Sasse (R-Neb.)
Sen. Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii)
Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.)
Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.)
Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.)
Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.)
Sen. Richard Shelby (R-Ala.)
Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.)
Sen. Tina Smith (D-Minn.)
Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.)
Sen. Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska)
Sen. Jon Tester (D-Mont.)
Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.)
Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.)
Sen. Pat Toomey (R-Pa.)
Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.)
Sen. Raphael Warnock (D-Ga.)
Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.)
Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.)
Sen. Roger Wicker (R-Miss.)
Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.)
Sen. Todd Young (R-Ind.)

Senators who voted against the bill:

Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.)
Sen. John Boozman (R-Ark.)
Sen. Mike Braun (R-Ind.)
Sen. Mike Crapo (R-Idaho)
Sen. Bill Hagerty (R-Tenn.)
Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.)
Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah)
Sen. Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.)
Sen. Roger Marshall (R-Kan.)
Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.)
Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.)

Senators who did not vote:

Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio)
Sen. Jacky Rosen (D-Nev.)
Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.)

House (368-57)

Members who voted for the bill:

Rep. Alma Adams (D-N.C.)
Rep. Robert Aderholt (R-Ala.)
Rep. Pete Aguilar (D-Calif.)
Rep. Rick Allen (R-Ga.)
Rep. Colin Allred (D-Texas)
Rep. Mark Amodei (R-Nev.)
Rep. Kelly Armstrong (R-N.D.)
Rep. Jake Auchincloss (D-Mass.)
Rep. Cynthia Axne (D-Iowa)
Rep. Don Bacon (R-Neb.)
Rep. Jim Baird (R-Ind.)
Rep. Troy Balderson (R-Ohio)
Rep. Andy Barr (R-Ky.)
Rep. Nanette Diaz Barragán (D-Calif.)
Rep. Karen Bass (D-Calif.)
Rep. Joyce Beatty (D-Ohio)
Rep. Cliff Bentz (R-Ore.)
Rep. Jack Bergman (R-Mich.)
Rep. Donald Beyer (D-Va.)
Rep. Stephanie Bice (R-Okla.)
Rep. Sanford Bishop (D-Ga.)
Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-Ore.)
Rep. Lisa Blunt Rochester (D-Del.)
Rep. Suzanne Bonamici (D-Ore.)
Rep. Mike Bost (R-Ill.)
Rep. Carolyn Bourdeaux (D-Ga.)
Rep. Jamaal Bowman (D-N.Y.)
Rep. Brendan Boyle (D-Pa.)
Rep. Kevin Brady (R-Texas)
Rep. Mo Brooks (R-Ala.)
Rep. Anthony Brown (D-Md.)
Rep. Shontel Brown (D-Ohio)
Rep. Julia Brownley (D-Calif.)
Rep. Vern Buchanan (R-Fla.)
Rep. Larry Bucshon (R-Ind.)
Rep. Ted Budd (R-N.C.)
Rep. Michael Burgess (R-Texas)
Rep. Cori Bush (D-Mo.)
Rep. Cheri Bustos (D-Ill.)
Rep. George Butterfield (D-N.C.)
Rep. Ken Calvert (R-Calif.)
Rep. Salud Carbajal (D-Calif.)
Rep. Tony Cárdenas (D-Calif.)
Rep. Mike Carey (R-Ohio)
Rep. Jerry Carl (R-Ala.)
Rep. Andrew Carson (D-Ind.)
Rep. Buddy Carter (R-Ga.)
Rep. Troy Carter (D-La.)
Rep. John Carter (R-Texas)
Rep. Matt Cartwright (D-Pa.)
Rep. Ed Case (D-Hawaii)
Rep. Sean Casten (D-Ill.)
Rep. Kathy Castor (D-Fla.)
Rep. Joaquin Castro (D-Texas)
Rep. Steve Chabot (R-Ohio)
Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.)
Rep. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick (D-Fla.)
Rep. Judy Chu (D-Calif.)
Rep. David Cicilline (D-R.I.)
Rep. Katherine Clark (D-Mass.)
Rep. Yvette Clarke (D-N.Y.)
Rep. Emanuel Cleaver (D-Mo.)
Rep. Ben Cline (R-Va.)
Rep. Jim Clyburn (D-S.C.)
Rep. Steve Cohen (D-Tenn.)
Rep. Tom Cole (R-Okla.)
Rep. Gerald Connolly (D-Va.)
Rep. Jim Cooper (D-Tenn.)
Rep. Lou Correa (D-Calif.)
Rep. Jim Costa (D-Calif.)
Rep. Joe Courtney (D-Conn.)
Rep. Angie Craig (D-Minn.)
Rep. Rick Crawford (R-Ark.)
Rep. Dan Crenshaw (R-Texas)
Rep. Charlie Crist (D-Fla.)
Rep. Jason Crow (D-Colo.)
Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-Texas)
Rep. John Curtis (R-Utah)
Rep. Sharice Davids (D-Kan.)
Rep. Danny Davis (D-Ill.)
Rep. Rodney Davis (R-Ill.)
Rep. Madeleine Dean (D-Pa.)
Rep. Peter DeFazio (D-Ore.)
Rep. Diana DeGette (D-Colo.)
Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.)
Rep. Suzan DelBene (D-Wash.)
Rep. Antonio Delgado (D-N.Y.)
Rep. Val Demings (D-Fla.)
Rep. Mark DeSaulnier (D-Calif.)
Rep. Ted Deutch (D-Fla.)
Rep. Mario Díaz-Balart (R-Fla.)
Rep. Debbie Dingell (D-Mich.)
Rep. Lloyd Doggett (D-Texas)
Rep. Michael Doyle (D-Pa.)
Rep. Neal Dunn (R-Fla.)
Rep. Jake Ellzey (R-Texas)
Rep. Tom Emmer (R-Minn.)
Rep. Veronica Escobar (D-Texas)
Rep. Anna Eshoo (D-Calif.)
Rep. Adriano Espaillat (D-N.Y.)
Rep. Dwight Evans (D-Pa.)
Rep. Pat Fallon (R-Texas)
Rep. Randy Feenstra (R-Iowa)
Rep. Drew Ferguson (R-Ga.)
Rep. Michelle Fischbach (R-Minn.)
Rep. Scott Fitzgerald (R-Wis.)
Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick (R-Pa.)
Rep. Chuck Fleischmann (R-Tenn.)
Rep. Lizzie Fletcher (D-Texas)
Rep. Bill Foster (D-Ill.)
Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-N.C.)
Rep. Lois Frankel (D-Fla.)
Rep. Scott Franklin (R-Fla.)
Rep. Mike Gallagher (R-Wis.)
Rep. Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.)
Rep. John Garamendi (D-Calif.)
Rep. Andrew Garbarino (R-N.Y.)
Rep. Mike Garcia (R-Calif.)
Rep. Sylvia Garcia (D-Texas)
Rep. Jesus Garcia (D-Ill.)
Rep. Carlos Gimenez (R-Fla.)
Rep. Jared Golden (D-Maine)
Rep. Jimmy Gomez (D-Calif.)
Rep. Tony Gonzales (R-Texas)
Rep. Anthony Gonzalez (R-Ohio)
Rep. Vicente Gonzalez (D-Texas)
Rep. Lance Gooden (R-Texas)
Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-N.J.)
Rep. Kay Granger (R-Texas)
Rep. Sam Graves (R-Mo.)
Rep. Mark Green (R-Tenn.)
Rep. Al Green (D-Texas)
Rep. Morgan Griffith (R-Va.)
Rep. Raul Grijalva (D-Ariz.)
Rep. Glenn Grothman (R-Wis.)
Rep. Michael Guest (R-Miss.)
Rep. Brett Guthrie (R-Ky.)
Rep. Josh Harder (D-Calif.)
Rep. Andy Harris (R-Md.)
Rep. Jahana Hayes (D-Calif.)
Rep. Jamie Herrera Beutler (R-Wash.)
Rep. Brian Higgins (D-N.Y.)
Rep. French Hill (R-Ark.)
Rep. James Himes (D-Conn.)
Rep. Ashley Hinson (R-Iowa)
Rep. Trey Hollingsworth (R-Ind.)
Rep. Steve Horsford (D-Nev.)
Rep. Chrissy Houlahan (D-Pa.)
Rep. Steny Hoyer (D-Md.)
Rep. Richard Hudson (R-N.C.)
Rep. Jared Huffman (D-Calif.)
Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.)
Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-Texas)
Rep. Sara Jacobs (D-Calif.)
Rep. Chris Jacobs (R-N.Y.)
Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.)
Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.)
Rep. Eddie Johnson (D-Texas)
Rep. Bill Johnson (R-Ohio)
Rep. Dusty Johnson (R-S.D.)
Rep. Hank Johnson (D-Ga.)
Rep. Mondaire Jones (D-N.Y.)
Rep. David Joyce (R-Ohio)
Rep. John Joyce (R-Pa.)
Rep. Kaiali’i Kahele (D-Hawaii)
Rep. Marcy Kaptur (D-Ohio)
Rep. John Katko (R-N.Y.)
Rep. William Keating (D-Mass.)
Rep. Fred Keller (R-Pa.)
Rep. Robin Kelly (D-Ill.)
Rep. Mike Kelly (R-Pa.)
Rep. Trent Kelly (R-Miss.)
Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.)
Rep. Daniel Kildee (D-Mich.)
Rep. Derek Kilmer (D-Wash.)
Rep. Young Kim (R-Calif.)
Rep. Andy Kim (D-N.J.)
Rep. Ron Kind (D-Wis.)
Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.)
Rep. Ann Kirkpatrick (D-Ariz.)
Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-Ill.)
Rep. Ann Kuster (D-N.J.)
Rep. David Kustoff (R-Tenn.)
Rep. Darin LaHood (R-Ill.)
Rep. Doug LaMalfa (R-Calif.)
Rep. Conor Lamb (D-Pa.)
Rep. Doug Lamborn (R-Colo.)
Rep. Jim Langevin (D-R.I.)
Rep. Rick Larsen (D-Wash.)
Rep. John Larson (D-Conn.)
Rep. Robert Latta (R-Ohio)
Rep. Jacob LaTurner (R-Kan.)
Rep. Brenda Lawrence (D-Mich.)
Rep. Al Lawson (D-Fla.)
Rep. Barbara Lee (D-Calif.)
Rep. Susie Lee (D-Nev.)
Rep. Teresa Leger Fernandez (D-N.M.)
Rep. Julia Letlow (R-La.)
Rep. Andy Levin (D-Mich.)
Rep. Mike Levin (D-Calif.)
Rep. Ted Lieu (D-Calif.)
Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.)
Rep. Barry Loudermilk (R-Ga)
Rep. Alan Lowenthal (D-Calif.)
Rep. Frank Lucas (R-Okla.)
Rep. Blaine Luetkemeyer (R-Mo.)
Rep. Elaine Luria (D-Va.)
Rep. Stephen Lynch (D-Mass.)
Rep. Nancy Mace (R-S.C.)
Rep. Tom Malinowski (D-N.J.)
Rep. Nicole Malliotakis (R-N.Y.)
Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-N.Y.)
Rep. Sean Maloney (D-N.Y.)
Rep. Kathy Manning (D-N.C.)
Rep. Doris Matsui (D-Calif.)
Rep. Lucy McBath (D-Ga.)
Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.)
Rep. Michael McCaul (R-Texas)
Rep. Riordan McClain (R-Ohio)
Rep. Tom McClintock (R-Calif.)
Rep. Betty McCollum (D-Minn.)
Rep. Donald McEachin (D-Va.)
Rep. Jim McGovern (D-Mass.)
Rep. Patrick McHenry (R-N.C.)
Rep. Jerry McNerney (D-Calif.)
Rep. Gregory Meeks (D-N.Y.)
Rep. Peter Meijer (R-Mich.)
Rep. Grace Meng (D-N.Y.)
Rep. Dan Meuser (R-Pa.)
Rep. Kweisi Mfume (D-Md.)
Rep. Carol Miller (R-W.Va.)
Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks (R-Iowa)
Rep. John Moolenaar (R-Mich.)
Rep. Alex Mooney (R-W.Va.)
Rep. Blake Moore (R-Utah)
Rep. Gwen Moore (D-Wis.)
Rep. Joseph Morelle (D-N.Y.)
Rep. Seth Moulton (D-Mass.)
Rep. Frank Mrvan (D-Ind.)
Rep. Markwayne Mullin (R-Okla.)
Rep. Stephanie Murphy (D-Fla.)
Rep. Greg Murphy (R-N.C.)
Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.)
Rep. Grace Napolitano (D-Calif.)
Rep. Richard Neal (D-Mass.)
Rep. Joe Neguse (D-Colo.)
Rep. Dan Newhouse (R-Wash.)
Rep. Marie Newman (D-Ill.)
Rep. Donald Norcross (D-N.J.)
Rep. Tom O’Halleran (D-Ariz.)
Rep. Jay Obernolte (R-Calif.)
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.)
Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.)
Rep. Burgess Owens (R-Utah)
Rep. Steven Palazzo (R-Miss.)
Rep. Frank Pallone (D-N.J.)
Rep. Gary Palmer (R-Ala.)
Rep. Jimmy Panetta (D-Calif.)
Rep. Chris Pappas (D-N.H.)
Rep. Bill Pascrell (D-N.J.)
Rep. Donald Payne (D-N.J.)
Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.)
Rep. Greg Pence (R-Ind.)
Rep. Ed Perlmutter (D-Colo.)
Rep. Scott Peters (D-Calif.)
Rep. August Pfluger (R-Texas)
Rep. Dean Phillips (D-Minn.)
Rep. Chellie Pingree (D-Maine)
Rep. Mark Pocan (D-Wis.)
Rep. Katie Porter (D-Calif.)
Rep. Bill Posey (R-Fla.)
Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.)
Rep. David Price (D-N.C.)
Rep. Mike Quigley (D-Ill.)
Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.)
Rep. Guy Reschenthaler (R-Pa.)
Rep. Kathleen Rice (D-N.Y.)
Rep. Tom Rice (R-S.C.)
Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-Wash.)
Rep. Mike Rogers (R-Ala.)
Rep. Hal Rogers (R-Ky.)
Rep. Deborah Ross (D-Calif.)
Rep. David Rouzer (R-N.C.)
Rep. Lucille Roybal-Allard (D-Calif.)
Rep. Raul Ruiz (D-Calif.)
Rep. Dutch Ruppersberger (D-Md.)
Rep. Bobby Rush (D-Ill.)
Rep. John Rutherford (R-Fla.)
Rep. Tim Ryan (D-Ohio)
Rep. Maria Elvira Salazar (R-Fla.)
Rep. Loretta Sanchez (D-Calif.)
Rep. John Sarbanes (D-Md.)
Rep. Steve Scalise (R-La.)
Rep. Mary Scanlon (D-Pa.)
Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.)
Rep. Adam Schiff (D-N.Y.)
Rep. Brad Schneider (D-Ill.)
Rep. Kurt Schrader (D-Ore.)
Rep. Kim Schrier (D-Wash.)
Rep. David Schweikert (R-Ariz.)
Rep. Bobby Scott (D-Va.)
Rep. Austin Scott (R-Ga.)
Rep. David Scott (D-Ga.)
Rep. Terri Sewell (D-Ala.)
Rep. Brad Sherman (D-Calif.)
Rep. Mikie Sherrill (D-N.J.)
Rep. Mike Simpson (R-Idaho)
Rep. Albio Sires (D-N.J.)
Rep. Elissa Slotkin (D-Mich.)
Rep. Jason Smith (R-Mo.)
Rep. Adrian Smith (R-Neb.)
Rep. Chris Smith (R-N.J.)
Rep. Adam Smith (D-Wash.)
Rep. Lloyd Smucker (R-Pa.)
Rep. Darren Soto (D-Fla.)
Rep. Abigail Spanberger (D-Va.)
Rep. Victoria Spartz (R-Ind.)
Rep. Jackie Speier (D-Calif.)
Rep. Greg Stanton (D-Ariz.)
Rep. Pete Stauber (R-Minn.)
Rep. Michelle Steel (R-Calif.)
Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.)
Rep. Bryan Steil (R-Wis.)
Rep. Haley Stevens (D-Mich.)
Rep. Chris Stewart (R-Utah)
Rep. Thomas Suozzi (D-N.Y.)
Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.)
Rep. Mark Takano (D-Calif.)
Rep. Van Taylor (R-Texas)
Rep. Claudia Tenney (R-N.Y.)
Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.)
Rep. Glenn Thompson (R-Pa.)
Rep. William Timmons (R-S.C.)
Rep. Mike Thompson (D-Calif.)
Rep. Dina Titus (D-Nev.)
Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.)
Rep. Paul Tonko (D-N.Y.)
Rep. Norma Torres (D-Calif.)
Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-N.Y.)
Rep. Lori Trahan (D-Mass.)
Rep. David Trone (D-Md.)
Rep. Michael Turner (R-Ohio)
Rep. Lauren Underwood (D-Ill.)
Rep. Fred Upton (R-Mich.)
Rep. David Valadao (R-Calif.)
Rep. Juan Vargas (D-Calif.)
Rep. Marc Veasey (D-Texas)
Rep. Nydia Velazquez (D-N.Y.)
Rep. Ann Wagner (R-Mo.)
Rep. Tim Walberg (R-Mich.)
Rep. Jackie Walorski (R-Ind.)
Rep. Michael Waltz (R-Fla.)
Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.)
Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.)
Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-N.J.)
Rep. Randy Weber (R-Texas)
Rep. Daniel Webster (R-Fla.)
Rep. Peter Welch (D-Vt.)
Rep. Brad Wenstrup (R-Ohio)
Rep. Jennifer Wexton (D-Va.)
Rep. Susan Wild (D-Pa.)
Rep. Nikema Williams (D-Ga.)
Rep. Joe Wilson (R-S.C.)
Rep. Frederica Wilson (D-Fla.)
Rep. Robert Wittman (R-Va.)
Rep. Steve Womack (R-Ark.)
Rep. John Yarmuth (D-Ky.)

Members who voted against the bill:

Rep. Jodey Arrington (R-Texas)
Rep. Brian Babin (R-Texas)
Rep. Jim Banks (R-Ind.)
Rep. Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.)
Rep. Gus Bilirakis (R-Fla.)
Rep. Dan Bishop (R-N.C.)
Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.)
Rep. Ken Buck (R-Colo.)
Rep. Tim Burchett (R-Tenn.)
Rep. Kat Cammack (R-Fla.)
Rep. Madison Cawthorn (R-N.C.)
Rep. Michael Cloud (R-Texas)
Rep. Andrew Clyde (R-Ga.)
Rep. James Comer (R-Ky.)
Rep. Warren Davidson (R-Ohio)
Rep. Scott DesJarlais (R-Tenn.)
Rep. Byron Donalds (R-Fla.)
Rep. Jeff Duncan (R-S.C.)
Rep. Ron Estes (R-Kan.)
Rep. Russ Fulcher (R-Idaho)
Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.)
Rep. Bob Gibbs (R-Ohio)
Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-Texas)
Rep. Bob Good (R-Va.)
Rep. Paul Gosar (R-Ariz.)
Rep. Garret Graves (R-La.)
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.)
Rep. Diana Harshbarger (R-Tenn.)
Rep. Vicky Hartzler (R-Mo.)
Rep. Kevin Hern (R-Okla.)
Rep. Yvette Herrell (R-N.M.)
Rep. Jody Hice (R-Ga.)
Rep. Clay Higgins (R-La.)
Rep. Bill Huizenga (R-Mich.)
Rep. Ronny Jackson (R-Texas)
Rep. Mike Johnson (R-La.)
Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio)
Rep. Debbie Lesko (R-Ariz.)
Rep. Billy Long (R-Mo.)
Rep. Tracey Mann (R-Kan.)
Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.)
Rep. Brian Mast (R-Fla.)
Rep. Mary Miller (R-Ill.)
Rep. Barry Moore (R-Ala.)
Rep. Troy Nehls (R-Texas)
Rep. Ralph Norman (R-S.C.)
Rep. Scott Perry (R-Pa.)
Rep. John Rose (R-Tenn.)
Rep. Matt Rosendale (R-Mont.)
Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas)
Rep. Pete Sessions (R-Texas)
Rep. Greg Steube (R-Fla.)
Rep. Tom Tiffany (R-Wis.)
Rep. Jeff Van Drew (R-N.J.)
Rep. Beth Van Duyne (R-Texas)
Rep. Bruce Westerman (R-Ark.)
Rep. Roger Williams (R-Texas)

Members who didn’t vote:

Rep. Ami Bera (D-Calif.)
Rep. David McKinley (R-W.Va.)
Rep. Tom Reed (R-N.Y.)
Rep. Marilyn Strickland (D-Wash.)
Rep. Lee Zeldin (R-N.Y.)

https://www.theepochtimes.com/full-list-how-members-of-congress-voted-on-40-billion-for-ukraine_4477278.html?utm_source=News&utm_campaign=breaking-2022-05-19-4&utm_medium=email&est=CMkCpyGaviWgLWHqMBK%2FSdcaQwdS0zjwqcBG7DgFWM5jcOrvpqigy%2BYprxL2TD5IBg%3D%3D

Aspiring MSNBC host Jen Psaki’s penultimate White House press conference was an object lesson in how Democrats and their media allies work to undermine negative press.

Psaki dismissed a Washington Free Beacon report on taxpayer-funded crack pipes as a “bit of a conspiracy theory,” echoing the administration’s response to earlier stories on the subject. It’s hardly the first time the Biden administration has cried conspiracy. The White House often waves away inconvenient stories as misinformation, a move that bolsters social media platforms’ efforts to censor the stories.

The Biden campaign deployed this tactic to great effect in 2020 when it worked with social media companies to bury the New York Post’s story about Hunter Biden’s laptop. Twitter barred users from sharing the story, while other media outlets dutifully refused to report on the allegations until after the election.

Never was this reflex clearer than during COVID-19. During the pandemic, numerous allegations that would eventually prove true or at least plausible were initially rejected as conspiracies. Senior administration officials insisted that COVID-19 emerged “naturally,” and media outlets denounced the lab leak theory as racist. Many of the same outlets have since changed course.

In addition to burying the lab leak theory, social media companies silenced criticism of Democrat-backed COVID mitigation strategies. Tech platforms slapped a disinformation label on content critical of masks, social distancing, and vaccine policies. Numerous accounts, including those of newspapers and whistleblowers, were banned from social media platforms for sharing these stories.

Even as the Biden administration seems poised to scrap a planned “Disinformation Governance Board,” Democrats show no signs of changing their approach on the issue. The Democratic National Committee has called for the government to build a more robust partnership with tech companies to police what can be said on social media. Leading Democrats, including former president Barack Obama, have called for similar controls.

https://freebeacon.com/democrats/how-democrats-use-disinformation-to-bury-negative-press/

The Senate on May 16 decided in a bipartisan vote to advance a $40 billion military aid package to Ukraine, invoking cloture on debate over the objections of Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.).

The 80–11 vote included the support of vast swaths of both parties; 11 Republicans voted against invoking cloture. The bill will now await a final vote in the Senate, which may come as early as May 18.

In comments on the Senate floor, Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) decried Paul’s effort last week to block the legislation.

“Senator Paul’s obstruction of Ukraine funding is unacceptable, and only serves to strengthen Putin’s hand in the long run,” Schumer said.

“I would urge the senator from Kentucky to reconsider his objection,” Senate president pro tempore Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) said later.

The bill, the latest in a series of billion-dollar aid packages to the European nation, was blocked by Paul on May 11, even though House and Senate leaders were unanimous in their agreement to proceed with passing the package.

Paul refused to advance the bill until changes were made to the legislation that would ensure an inspector general could monitor exactly how the billions of dollars were being spent. Ultimately, the Senate invoked cloture without making any changes to the final draft of the bill.

“My oath of office is to the U.S. Constitution, not to any foreign nation, and no matter how sympathetic the cause, my oath of office is to the national security of the United States of America,” Paul said on the Senate floor on May 12.

“We cannot save Ukraine by dooming the U.S. economy. … Gasoline alone is up 48 percent, and energy prices are up 32 percent over the last year. Food prices have increased by nearly 9 percent. Used vehicle prices are up 35 percent for the year, and new vehicle prices have increased 12 percent or more,” he continued.

Paul noted that inflation “doesn’t just come out of nowhere” while pointing to deficit spending, noting that the United States spent almost $5 trillion on “COVID-19 bailouts” which have led to sky-high inflation.

“Americans are feeling the pain, and Congress seems intent only on adding to that pain by shoveling more money out the door as fast as they can,” Paul said.

Following Paul’s successful effort to temporarily halt the bill, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) promised Ukrainian leaders during a weekend visit to Kyiv that the bill would still pass with the support of an “overwhelming majority of Republicans in Congress.”

Paul’s lone objection to the bill in the Senate was only the latest in a series of complications that have stalled its progress.

President Joe Biden originally requested a much smaller aid package on April 28.

Biden’s request included $20.4 billion in military assistance along with $8.5 billion in economic assistance. The package also included $3 billion in humanitarian assistance to address food shortages around the globe. Ultimately, the bill would have cost American taxpayers about $33 billion.

“The cost of this fight is not cheap, but caving to aggression is going to be more costly if we allow it to happen,” Biden said during a live address on April 28. “We either back the Ukrainian people as they defend their country, or we stand by as the Russians continue their atrocities and aggression in Ukraine.”

Later, lawmakers added about $3.4 billion to the humanitarian and military aid components of the bill, but the legislation quickly got bogged down in partisan disputes.

Some Democrats hoped for the addition of about $10 billion in domestic COVID relief funding, which was opposed by Republicans, who cited billions of dollars of previously-allocated relief funds that had not been used.

On the other side, some Republicans pushed for an amendment to overturn Biden’s plan to end Title 42, a Trump-era COVID emergency policy allowing Border Patrol agents to turn back many of the illegal immigrants apprehended at the border.

Still, after a period of stalling, the $40 billion taxpayer-funded relief bill is expected to head to Biden’s desk by the end of the week.

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JOE KENT AND JAKE BEQUETTE ARE NEXT.

America’s involvement in Ukraine presents a clarifying contrast for the 2022 elections.

The old guard, establishment GOP supports plunging America deeply into a regional conflict in Eurasia. Interventionists like Mitch McConnell, Lindsey Graham, and Kevin McCarthy lock arms with radical Democrats to fund an escalation of a war for the eastern border of Ukraine. Meanwhile, America’s own border has been vaporized. Literally millions of unvetted illegals stream into the United States, welcomed in by our political elites.

Ukraine, in fact, proved pivotal in the come-from-behind victory of JD Vance in the Ohio GOP primary for the US Senate. Powerful globalist forces poured massive resources into advertising against Vance. Ukraine became the starkest policy difference of that tough primary race, with Vance insisting that America work to de-escalate the crisis. He also boldly asserted that the war there, while tragic, involves no strategic US national interest. Vance himself was deployed to Iraq as a US Marine and knows well the realities of unnecessary war. Though the corporate media and establishment GOP howled at Vance’s America First foreign policy of realism and restraint, the voters of Ohio rallied to this agenda.

Upcoming races could unfold similarly.

At the voter level, the GOP has been transformed into a pro-worker, populist nationalist party. But at the officeholder and donor level, the battle rages on between the throwback Bush-style globalists and the Trumpian patriotic populists.

Like Vance, two other military veterans, America First candidates – Jake Bequette and Joe Kent — make Ukraine de-escalation an important pillar of their outsider, renegade campaigns.

The Natural State.

In Arkansas, Jake Bequette takes on career politician, incumbent Senator John Boozman.

After more than two decades in Congress, Boozman remains an unremarkable and dependably establishment figure who poorly represents his deeply red, America First home state. The Arkansas state motto is literally “Regnat Populus” or “The People Rule.” 

But Boozman obediently joins D.C.’s escalation chorus, declaring “the United States must continue to provide Ukraine with… military and humanitarian assistance.” He also appears ready to approve the mammoth $40 billion aid package passed by Nancy Pelosi’s House. Only a handful of Republican senators have voiced opposition. Boozman is not one of them.

In substance and style, Bequette provides a stark contrast to backbench Boozman. Jake excelled on the gridiron as a third generation University of Arkansas Razorback football player. After his all-SEC college career, he played in the pros, earning a Super Bowl ring with the New England Patriots. After football, he volunteered for the Army and served America in the 101^st Airborne, qualified as a Ranger, and was deployed to Iraq.

On Ukraine, Bequette insists on the America First approach espoused by President Trump who declared: “it doesn’t make sense that Russia and Ukraine aren’t sitting down and working out some kind of an agreement.” Pushing back against the Washington war machine, Bequette observes: “the people of Arkansas could sure use $40 billion to be better spent here at home.” He has further asserted that Ukraine “is a massive money laundering operation for the DC uniparty.”

The Evergreen State.

Like Vance and Bequette, Joe Kent in the state of Washington takes on the establishment as a bold outsider. Kent challenges incumbent Congressman Jaime Herrera Beutler, who voted to impeach Donald Trump. Herrera Beutler also voted in favor of the giant, taxpayer-funded military escalation package for Ukraine, supporting Pelosi and establishment Republicans against braver members like Jim Jordan, Jim Banks, and Marjorie Taylor Greene.MUST READ:  CORTES: Vance’s Victory Over Ukraine Warmongers is an America First Foreign Policy Win.

Kent stands against inserting America into this regional conflict. As much as any American, Kent understands the gravity of war. He joined the Army out of high school and fought as a Special Forces warrior in 11 total combat deployments. Tragically, his wife Shannon Kent was killed while serving in the US Navy fighting against ISIS in Syria in 2019.

Informed by his family’s sacrifices, Kent insists on prioritizing our various systemic crises here at home, and not costly globalist interventions. He posted on social media:

“40 billion to Ukraine is the same scam we saw over & over again in the last 2 decades of endless wars. The uniparty sends $ to wars to line their pockets w/ $ from defense contractors. This system is so powerful our leaders don’t care if our babies starve, war is their priority.”

The Vance playbook will work in other GOP primaries.

JD, Jake, and Joe represent exactly the kind of bold outsiders with the guts to truly defang the Washington permanent political class. America needs all three of these veteran warriors in the Congress where they will prevent sending other young Americans to unnecessary wars. 

Former First Lady Melania Trump gave her first interview since leaving the White House, providing a hint that her husband may be seeking another term in office and saying “it’s sad to see” the state of the country under the current administration.

“I think we achieved a lot in four years of the Trump administration,” Melania told Fox News in a Sunday interview, adding that “never say never” when asked about whether she could be again living inside the White House.

“I like Washington, D.C. I know it operates completely different than any other city, but I really like it there. And I enjoyed living in the White House. To be first lady of the United States was my greatest honor. I think we achieved a lot in the four years of Trump administration. I enjoyed taking care of the White House. It was my home for a while. I understood it is people’s house. And it was, it was a privilege to live there,” she continued to say.

When asked by Fox host Pete Hegseth about former first ladies Michelle Obama and Hillary Clinton appearing on the cover of Vogue, Melania, a former model, criticized the magazine. Melania appeared on the cover of Vogue in 2005 when she was photographed alongside former President Donald Trump in her wedding dress.

“They’re biased and they have likes and dislikes, and it’s so obvious. And I think American people and everyone sees it. It was their decision, and I have much more important things to do—and I did in the White House—than being on the cover of Vogue,” Melania told the broadcaster.

The former first lady, a native of Slovenia, weighed in on the state of the United States under the Biden administration.

“I think it’s sad to see what’s going on, if you really look deeply into it,” Melania said, adding: “I think a lot of people are struggling and suffering and what is going on around the world as well. So it’s very sad to see and I hope it changes fast,” Melania added.

Donald Trump has not definitively said whether he will run for reelection, although he has suggested in interviews that he might.

Last month, Trump, 75, told the Washington Post that his health could play a role in whether he decides to run or not. In 2024, Trump will turn 78, and should he run—and win—the presidency, he’ll be 82 when he departs. President Joe Biden is slated to turn 80 this November.

“You always have to talk about health. You look like you’re in good health, but tomorrow, you get a letter from a doctor saying come see me again,” he told the outlet in April. ‘That’s not good when they use the word ‘again,’” Trump added, saying he is currently in good health.

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Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) on Thursday delayed the Senate’s vote to pass a nearly $40 billion aid package for Ukraine that would provide the nation with further military and economic assistance amid its ongoing conflict with Russia.

While leaders were unanimous in their agreement to proceed with passing the package this week, Paul refused to do so until changes are made to the legislation that will ensure an inspector general can monitor exactly how the billions of dollars are being spent.

The legislation has been approved by the House and has strong bipartisan support in the Senate, and is still likely to pass.

However, Paul’s objection signified a departure from the overwhelmingly supportive stance that Congress and the Biden administration have so far shown for Ukraine as Russian President Vladimir Putin continues with his “special military operation.”

The GOP senator, a libertarian who often opposes U.S. intervention abroad, argued that the extra spending outweighed that which the United States currently spends on multiple domestic programs, and raised concerns over how it could potentially further exacerbate federal deficits and inflation in the country, which currently stands at a 40-year-high.

“My oath of office is to the U.S. Constitution, not to any foreign nation, and no matter how sympathetic the cause, my oath of office is to the national security of the United States of America,” Paul said on the floor on Thursday.

“We cannot save Ukraine by dooming the U.S. economy … gasoline alone is up 48 percent, and energy prices are up 32 percent over the last year. Food prices have increased by nearly 9 percent. Used vehicle prices are up 35 percent for the year, and new vehicle prices have increased 12 percent or more,” he continued.

Paul noted that inflation “doesn’t just come out of nowhere” while pointing to deficit spending, noting that the United States spent almost $5 trillion on “COVID-19 bailouts” which have led to sky-high levels of inflation.

“Americans are feeling the pain, and Congress seems intent only on adding to that pain by shoveling more money out the door as fast as they can,” the Republican said.

The approximately $39.8 billion package for Ukraine includes $6 billion for security assistance to its military and national security forces and $8.7 billion to replenish stocks of U.S. equipment sent to the country.

It also contains $3.9 billion for European Command operations and would also authorize an additional $11 billion in Presidential Drawdown Authority, which would allow Biden to authorize the transfer of articles and services from U.S. stocks without congressional approval in response to an emergency. Biden had asked for $5 billion.

Another $4 billion would go to Foreign Military Financing, providing Ukraine and other countries with additional support to build and update their capabilities.

If approved, it would bring U.S. support for Ukraine since Russia invaded to nearly $54 billion, on top of the $13.6 billion in support that Congress passed in March.

Paul noted that the United States has provided more than $6 billion in security assistance to Ukraine since 2014, and said that if the latest amount is passed, it would see total aid equaling the entire military budget of Russia.

“And it is not as if we have that money lying around. We will have to borrow that money from China to send it to Ukraine,” he said. “The cost of this package we are voting on today is more than the U.S. spent during the first year of the U.S. conflict in Afghanistan.”

The senator also noted that the billions of dollars in funding towers in comparison to what the United States spends on cancer research annually—$6 billion—and is more than the government collects in gas taxes each year to build roads and bridges. It nearly equals the entire State Department budget, he said, and exceeds the budget for the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Energy.

Specifically, Paul asked that a special inspector general be created to oversee how the military aid to Ukraine is spent.

But Democrats objected to Paul’s plan because it would expand the powers of an existing inspector general whose current purview is limited to Afghanistan.

“Congress should evaluate the cost of going down this path,” the senator said, adding that, “the biggest threat to the United States today is debt and inflation and the destruction of the dollar” and that “we cannot save Ukraine by killing our economic strength.

“So I act to modify the bill to allow for a special inspector general. This would be the inspector general that’s been overseeing the waste in Afghanistan and has done a great job.”

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and other Democrats opposed Paul’s push to change the language and instead offered to have a vote on it, but that offer was rejected.

That means lawmakers will now vote on the passage of the measure again next week in hopes of advancing it.

“It’s clear from the junior senator from Kentucky’s remarks, he doesn’t want to aid Ukraine,” said Schumer on Thursday. “All he will accomplish with his actions here today is to delay that aid, not to stop it.”

The Epoch Times has contacted Paul’s office for comment.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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