Top China hawks aren’t sold on Canadian company Lithium Americas’ move to distance itself from top Chinese investor

A Canadian company hopes to use Biden administration loans to open the largest lithium mine in North America. But first, it must convince government officials and prospective partners that it’s adequately decoupled from its top shareholder: a Chinese enterprise led by known Chinese Communist Party members.

Lithium Americas—whose largest shareholder is Chinese mineral giant Ganfeng Lithium—earlier this month announced its intention to split the company into two separate entities, a move that comes as it works to obtain a Biden administration loan to fund “the majority” of its lithium mining project in northern Nevada. The company told the Washington Free Beacon it expects the separation to ease “geopolitical” concerns from government officials and investors over its relationship with Beijing-tied Ganfeng, given that the split would decouple Lithium Americas’ Nevada mine from its more controversial mining projects in South America, which Ganfeng holds direct ownership stakes in. But leading China hawks in the Republican Party are not satisfied with the separation, prompting them to sound the alarm over Lithium Americas’ potential to receive federal funding.

That dissatisfaction stems from the fact that under the proposed split, shareholders will receive stakes in both Lithium Americas’ North American and South American entities proportional to their current holdings. Because Ganfeng is the only entity that owns more than 10 percent of Lithium Americas’ shares, it will remain the largest shareholder of both companies following the split, a Lithium Americas official confirmed to the Free Beacon. As a result, Ganfeng will still have a sizable financial interest in Lithium Americas’ mine unless it decides to divest—financial interest that has former secretary of state Mike Pompeo calling the split a “half measure” that is “nowhere near enough to guarantee that the CCP will not have any amount of control over a key source of America’s lithium supply.”

“Until we know that no CCP-controlled shareholder is involved in this project, the Treasury Department should not allow it to move forward,” Pompeo told the Free Beacon. Rep. Mike Waltz (R., Fla.) and Sen. Tom Cotton (R., Ark.) echoed Pompeo’s sentiment, with Waltz calling Lithium Americas’ separation plan a “shell game” and Cotton urging President Joe Biden’s Energy Department to “do its due diligence and not fall prey to any trickery orchestrated by Ganfeng.”

It’s unclear whether Lithium Americas’ corporate split will convince the Biden administration, which did not return a request for comment, to award the company a loan. A Lithium Americas official told the Free Beacon the company expects to receive a final decision on its loan application in the near future, meaning it could receive federal funding before it finalizes its separation plan next year. “It definitely won’t be far,” the official said of the Biden administration’s loan decision. “We have gone through the entire Department of Energy process.”

Should Lithium Americas obtain a Biden administration loan, the company still may not be in the clear when it comes to federal oversight. Waltz told the Free Beacon that a Republican-controlled House could investigate loan recipients as they work to avoid a repeat of the Obama administration’s failed green energy loans and grants, which went to a number of startups—including a grant to electric battery maker A123 Systems—that went on to declare bankruptcy. 

“There will absolutely be efforts—they’re already underway. Now that we’ll have subpoena power, we’ll shine a big spotlight on it,” Waltz said of House Republicans’ plans to conduct energy-related investigations. “I think the next two years we’ll be investigating, getting to the bottom, having hearings, putting on a spotlight. And then we’ve got to win the Congress and the White House to actually start rolling some of this stuff back.”

Lithium Americas plans to break ground on its mining site in northwestern Nevada, which is home to tens of thousands of tons of lithium, next year. The project is a clear priority for the Biden administration as it works to promote electric vehicles, which require large amounts of lithium for their batteries. Those batteries, however, are almost impossible to source from the United States—China controls roughly 60 percent of the world’s lithium resources and dominates the electric battery supply chain in general.

In an attempt to undermine that dominance, the White House in December 2021 announced $17 billion in federal loans to “support the domestic battery supply chain,” a move Democratic Nevada senator Catherine Cortez Masto said would “benefit national security by leveling the playing field with China.” Lithium Americas applied for such a loan in April, but the company’s deep ties to the very same nation the White House hopes the loan program will deter—China—have plagued its plot to obtain federal funds. Beyond its status as Lithium Americas’ largest shareholder, Ganfeng has a tight relationship with China’s state-owned banks, which helped the company fund mining projects in South America and Australia. 

Ganfeng’s executives also have extensive ties to Beijing, the Free Beacon reported in September. Ganfeng president Li Liangbin, for example, serves on a number of Chinese Communist Party-aligned committees and advisory boards, and executive vice president Wang Xiaoshen—who serves on Lithium Americas’ board—got his start in the lithium sector through Chinese state-owned enterprises. Lithium Americas acknowledged in an interview with the Free Beacon that Xiaoshen’s role on the company’s board prompted questions from investors following media reports.

This is not the first time Ganfeng’s sizable stake in Lithium Americas has sparked concern from federal officials. Following the Free Beacon‘s September report, Cotton wrote a letter to Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm demanding “strict oversight regarding potential federal funding of CCP-owned or -controlled entities.”

“As the government continues to invest in battery supply chain programs, it is critical that DOE ensure taxpayer funding does not go to corporations with CCP ties and does not increase U.S. mineral dependence on China,” Cotton wrote. “Ganfeng and any other Chinese entities with CCP ties should divest their stakes in Lithium Americas before the company is offered this loan.”

SOURCE: Washington Free Beacon

U.S. regulators have imposed a ban on electronic equipment created by several major Chinese tech corporations, citing national security concerns.

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) adopted new rules on Nov. 25 that will prohibit the import or sale of Chinese communications equipment deemed to pose an unacceptable risk to national security.

The new rules will bar equipment from Chinese telecom firms Huawei and ZTE from being imported into or sold in the United States. The order will also prohibit telecommunications equipment and video surveillance equipment produced by Hytera, Hikvision, and Dahua, as well as the companies’ subsidiaries or affiliates.

By unanimous vote, the FCC concluded that the products posed an “unacceptable risk to [the] national security of the United States or the security and safety of United States persons,” according to a statement.

“The FCC is committed to protecting our national security by ensuring that untrustworthy communications equipment is not authorized for use within our borders, and we are continuing that work here,” said Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel.

“These new rules are an important part of our ongoing actions to protect the American people from national security threats involving telecommunications.”

Products from the companies will not be allowed for import, marketing, or sale until the FCC approves the measures taken by the companies to remedy how their products might be used against the national interest.

Congress voted to bar all federal agencies from purchasing products from the five listed companies back in 2018. The new rules will expand and modify the FCC’s “Covered List” of banned products to prevent private entities from bringing the items into the United States.

“Today, the FCC takes an unprecedented step to safeguard our communications networks and strengthen America’s national security,” said FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr.

“Our unanimous decision represents the first time in the FCC’s history that we have voted to prohibit the authorization of communications and electronic equipment based on national security considerations. And we take this action with the broad, bipartisan backing of congressional leadership.”

The order on Friday implemented requirements from the Secure Equipment Act of 2021, which was signed into law by President Joe Biden last November, the FCC said.

Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the UK, and the United States have all declared the use of Huawei telecommunications equipment, particularly in 5G networks, to pose significant security risks to infrastructure. U.S. officials and experts have also sounded the alarm that the company’s ties to the Chinese Communist Party mean that its products could be used to spy on Americans or interfere with the free flow of data worldwide.

“This is the culmination of a bipartisan effort spanning multiple presidential and FCC administrations, and it will help make Americans more secure by preventing hostile governments from using their technology exports to establish footholds in our networks,” said FCC Commissioner Nathan Simington.

“But as we celebrate this victory, we cannot forget that our work to secure our country from insecure and untrustworthy equipment is only just beginning. In addition to banning equipment from untrustworthy state-controlled companies, as we have done here, we need to address the proliferation of insecure devices more generally.”

The Epoch Times has reached out to the Chinese firms for comment.

SOURCE: The Epoch Times

Billionaire Elon Musk, who recently acquired Twitter, has issued a grave warning about the threat posed by woke ideologies to human civilization.

In a Nov. 25 tweet tagged “need advice,” Musk asked Twitter users about what they think about the culture war. When a user replied that the conservative side needs to start funding more artists, filmmakers, and writers instead of politicians and PACs since “you can’t win a culture war without any culture,” Musk responded that he is neither “conventionally right nor left,” although he agrees with the point.

“The woke mind virus has thoroughly penetrated entertainment and is pushing civilization towards suicide. There needs to be a counter-narrative,” he said.

Musk also agreed with a meme that suggests teachers are trying to push woke propaganda into childrens’ brains through education.

After acquiring Twitter, Musk said that the reason he bought the social media platform was to create a “common digital town square” where people can debate on a wide range of topics in a healthy manner.

“There is currently great danger that social media will splinter into far right-wing and far left-wing echo chambers that generate more hate and divide our society,” he warned.

In a recent interview with The Epoch Times, political commentator Amber Athey pointed out that Democrat-run legacy mainstream media outlets are increasingly becoming beholden to younger radical progressives.

Woke millennials want left-wing groups to agree with their version of political correctness and truth, failing which they will label such groups as sexist, racist, and transphobic, she said.

“They thought the woke millennials were on their side … [and] quickly learned that ‘wokeism’ does not accept anything but 100 percent fealty.”

Failing Woke Agenda in Entertainment?

Hollywood has been at the forefront of promoting progressive culture. However, its recent summer box office performance might be an indication that the American public wants less of the woke content.

Hollywood raked up $3.43 billion in North America during summer 2022, 21 percent lower than that of summer 2019, the last year prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a report by The Wall Street Journal.

This is also 19 percent lower than the average summer gross in the 14 years between 2005 and 2019. It is also the lowest haul for the season since 2001.

In an analysis published at Breitbart, senior writer John Nolte points out that the Toy Story franchise’s “Lightyear” and the Harry Potter franchise’s “Fantastic Beasts: The Secret of Dumbledore” both performed poorly at the box office. Both films, which were targeted at children, contained homosexual content.

Marvel’s “Thor and Thunder,” which has received criticism for emasculating masculine heroes, only collected $340 million domestically, a low for a Marvel franchise movie.

The two big blockbusters of summer 2022 were Marvel’s “Spider-Man: No Way Home” and “Top Gun: Maverick,” both of which collectively pulled in over $1.5 billion from the domestic market. The two movies are “non-woke” movies, Nolte points out.

SOURCE: The Epoch Times

Republican House candidates gained over 3 million more votes than Democrats in the Nov. 8 midterm elections, but barely secured a GOP majority in the lower chamber.

Recent data published by the Cook Political Report show that Republicans lead by some 3.5 million votes when all 435 House races are combined. As of Friday morning, Republicans had 54.13 million votes as compared with Democrats’ 50.79 million votes.

With several races called this week, the GOP has 220 seats to Democrats’ 213, giving Republicans the majority. Two House races—one in Colorado and one in California—remain uncalled, although Republicans are leading in both.

But Democrats were able to maintain their majority in the Senate with at least 50 seats and are waiting for the conclusion of the Georgia Senate runoff to determine if the upper chamber be an even 50–50 split or not. Vice President Kamala Harris would cast the tie-breaking vote for Democrats if that is the case.

Republicans did not pick up seats in several Senate battleground states—including Pennsylvania, New Hampshire, Nevada, and Arizona. However, a closely contested race in Wisconsin went in favor of Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.).

“Simply put, Republicans picked up the votes they needed, just not where they needed them most,” Charlie Cook, a longtime analyst and founder of the Cook Political Report, wrote after the election. “Clearly something or someone intervened, affecting the outcome of the election in the places that mattered.”

Michael McKenna, a Republican operative and aide in the Trump administration, told the Washington Times this week that Democrats benefitted from redistricting in certain states following the 2020 census. However, he suggested that it might not pan out for Democrats in future elections.

“This is the first cycle inside a redistricting cycle. My guess is two years from now they’re going to regret this,” he said, adding that a number of first-time Republican candidates were close to taking seats held by Democrat House incumbents.

Overall, he added, the United States “is in the middle of a national realignment, and that’s going to benefit the Republicans,” he said, pointing to some Republican gains among black and Hispanic voters. He noted that Democrats benefitted the most from college-educated unmarried women.

Republicans got 3 million more votes in 2022 than during the 2018 midterms. Democrats got 10.3 million fewer votes than 2018, during which the party won control of the House at 235–199.

Meanwhile, some Republicans said their party suffered during 2022 midterms, in part, because former President Donald Trump was not standing in an election this year. However, some in the GOP have suggested that the 45th president was a drag on the party amid several investigations and lawsuits, claiming some of his high-profile picks like Dr. Mehmet Oz and Kari Lake did not pan out.

“Donald Trump remains a very popular figure in the Republican Party in each corner of the country,” Rep. Jim Banks (R-Ind.), the head of the influential Republican Study Committee, told Fox News earlier this month, noting the former president “wasn’t on the ballot.”

A week after the midterms, Trump announced that he would run for president in 2024 during an event at Mar-a-Lago.

Where Races Stand

This week, Alaska’s at-large congressional seat was called for Rep. Mary Peltola (D-Alaska.) over two Republican candidates, former Gov. Sarah Palin and Nick Begich. Earlier this year, Peltola also defeated Palin and Begich in a special election that was sparked by the death of Rep. Don Young (R-Alaska.), although the state features a controversial ranked-choice voting system that was approved by voters a year before.

Palin in September criticized the state’s ranked-choice voting system and called it a mistake. Several days ago, Palin signed an initiative to repeal the system, according to local media reports.

A week ago, Democrat Adam Frisch announced that he had called Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.) to concede the race for Colorado’s 3rd Congressional District. The Associated Press and other news outlets have not yet called the race for Boebert, who was endorsed by Trump, despite 99 percent of the vote being tallied.

And in California’s redrawn 13th Congressional District, Republican John Duarte has received 50.2 percent of the total votes with 99 percent of the votes counted. Democrat candidate Adam Gray trailed Duarte by about 600 votes, fewer than 0.5 percentage points, as of Friday.

Days before that, AP and others called another California House race in favor of Republican Kevin Kiley, who was endorsed by Trump. Kiley currently has about 53.3 percent of the vote as compared with Democrat Kermit Jones’ 46.7 percent, according to AP.

SOURCE: The Epoch Times

FBI, US Air Force special agents reportedly seized computers, cameras, and damaged property

A Nevada blogger reporting for years on the highly classified military base Area 51 said he’s still feeling “traumatized” after FBI and U.S. Air Force agents raided his homes with a search warrant early in November.

“I was never given a reason for the raid—nor have I been charged with a crime,” said Joerg Arnu, owner of the Dreamland Resort website, which covers topics related to the heavily guarded airbase commonly known as Area 51.

Arnu said that “without warning,” joint agents of the FBI and Air Force Office of Special Investigations “busted open” the doors to his homes in Las Vegas and nearby Rachel and “ransacked” his property on Nov. 3.

In an email update to The Epoch Times, Arnu said the raids caused “significant damage” to both homes.

“All my computer equipment, several laptops, backup drives, camera gear, a drone, and many other items were seized,” Arnu said. “My girlfriend and I, two unarmed, innocent, cooperating senior citizens, were manhandled like hardened criminals, and we are still traumatized from the events.”

Arnu feels the raid was to “send a message” to Area 51 researchers and discourage others from looking too deeply into the subject.

Area 51 is the top-secret military installation located at Groom Lake within the Nevada Test and Training Range in southern Nevada. The base is a Nellis Air Force Base unit about eight miles northeast of Las Vegas.

A spokesperson at Nellis referred comment on the apparent raid to the AFOSI public affairs office, which did not return an email requesting comment from The Epoch Times.

“Nellis Air Force Base is aware of the joint-AFOSI (Department of the Air Force Office of Special Investigations), FBI investigation involving Mr. Arnu,” U.S. Air Force Lt. Col. Bryon McGarry told Business Insider.

The FBI’s field office in Las Vegas did not immediately respond to the Epoch Times’ request for comment.

Area 51 has been the focus of widespread speculation of alien visits and UFO cover-up theories for decades, culminating in an internet joke movement to “raid” the facility in 2019. About 1.5 million people signed on for the event.

The U.S. government finally admitted to the site’s existence in 2013.

“The remote area, which is part of an active military base, patrolled and guarded by some of the heaviest security on Earth or anywhere else, has a long history of reported UFO sightings,” according to TravelNevada.com.

A 25-year Area 51 researcher from Germany, Arnu launched the Dreamland Resort website in 1999, logging over 8 million visits. His site features the latest reports and updates related to Area 51, including high-resolution aerial photos and panoramas near the location.

Arnu said the joint raid left him without a computer, phone, medical and financial records, passwords, and digital contacts. He feels he has “zero chance” of being reimbursed for the damage and is doubtful federal authorities will release his property.

Arnu declined further comment when contacted on his home phone by The Epoch Times. In the meantime, he has launched a GoFundMe page to raise $9,000 to replace and repair his equipment.

“I have substantial expenses to buy replacements for the most essential items, such as a laptop and a new phone. I also have to pay for the repair or replacement of three doors and other items such as destroyed furniture,” Arnu said on the webpage.

As of Nov. 22, the site had raised more than $2,000 in donations.

Arnu said the raid has left him feeling the federal government “has the right to harass and traumatize random citizens that are not accused of any crime. Kick in their doors, manhandle them and take whatever they want from them.”

“I have not been charged with a crime, and all my attempts to reach out to the FBI to at least get my much-needed medical and financial records and passwords stored on the seized computers were in vain. Crickets from the feds,” Arnu said.

SOURCE: The Epoch Times

Top U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) officials were excited by the response to the agency’s controversial ivermectin Twitter post, internal emails show.

The Aug. 21, 2021, post is now at the center of a court case.

The post said: “You are not a horse. You are not a cow. Seriously, y’all. Stop it.” It linked to an FDA page that says people should not use ivermectin to prevent or treat COVID-19.

The post was created by Brad Kimberly, an FDA official, after Mississippi officials reported (pdf) an increase in calls from people who had taken ivermectin to prevent or treat COVID-19, including some who took the versions of ivermectin developed for animals.

Ivermectin is an antiparasitic that is used in both humans and animals.

Kimberly and a slew of other officials were thrilled when the post went viral, according to the emails.

The post “is the most popular post we’ve ever had on Twitter,” Erica Jefferson, an associate commissioner for external affairs, wrote in one message, adding that “we’re pleased with the response and the results.”

Jefferson was writing to Dr. Janet Woodcock, an FDA official who was acting commissioner at the time.

“That was great! Even I saw it!” Woodcock said. She said she agreed with the new strategy of being “creative and accessible” and called the missive an “excellent start.”

‘Take the Opportunity’

Jefferson said she and another team wanted to capitalize on the Mississippi warning and were able to craft the post and send it out just one day later, even though it was a Saturday.

“I’m sure you saw some of the news coming out of Mississippi on Friday regarding the use of ivermectin to treat / prevent Covid-19 and the increase in adverse events (poisonings) the state highlighted as a result of its use. I expressed to the team late Friday night that we take the opportunity to remind the public of our own warnings for ivermectin and by early Saturday morning the social media team had posted the … tweet,” Jefferson said.

“Needless to say, the direct, straight-forward and clever (humorous) communication, paired with a follow-on tweet that provided additional answers to common questions about ivermectin, saw the tweet quickly going viral and being shared across multiple social medium platforms (where it was amplified by other influencers) and resulted in additional news coverage,” she added.

Jefferson said she was focused on identifying ways for the FDA “to reach the ‘everyday’ American” and to “develop content that allows the agency to feel both accessible and informative in a time of incredible misinformation.”

Several FDA officials, including Jefferson, said they laughed when they saw the post, which garnered praise from some half a dozen officials.

“Team – this is OUTSTANDING work So creative and, most importantly, gets FDA s public health message out to the universe I can’t wait to see what else you all have in the works!” Julia Tierney, another official, said.

“I saw the Tweet and was super impressed. Glad we have data now to backup the direct approach,” wrote Anna Staton, yet another official.

Jefferson and Sandy Walsh, another FDA official, reached out to Kimberly to create the post. Walsh said that the “edgy Tweet was a hit.”

You are not a horse. You are not a cow. Seriously, y’all. Stop it. https://t.co/TWb75xYEY4

— U.S. FDA (@US_FDA) August 21, 2021

‘Fun Weekend’

The post drew millions of eyeballs, according to analytics shared internally, including 23.7 million impressions on Twitter alone. Officials also shared the same post on Facebook, LinkedIn, and Instagram.

Kimberly was identified by others as the writer who crafted the language, and he told several colleagues he wrote it.

“It’s been a fun weekend watching people say the words I wrote on TV and TikTok and such,” Kimberly said in one email.

Kimberly was asked to present the data during a meeting. Details of the meeting weren’t included, but Kimberly sent what he described as a “blurb” to colleagues.

“Responding to a topical item that had appeared in the news, we created a post that fell in line with the new engagement strategy our team has been working to implement. As a result, the post was seen by more than 24M people on Twitter… becoming the most popular post in our account’s history,” Kimberly said.

Woodcock told The Epoch Times in an email: “As you may be aware, ivermectin has been shown to be ineffective against COVID in large randomized trials. Additionally, taking any medicine at doses intended for large animals can result in serious illness. I believe professionalism is critical for staff of any regulatory agency. That said, sometimes humor can help get an important message across.”

Jefferson, Kimberly, Tierney, Staton, and Walsh did not respond to requests for comment.

Vice News first reported on the emails, but only included screenshots and quotes from a subset of them. The full set was obtained by The Epoch Times through a Freedom of Information Act request.

A second set of internal emails showed that Woodcock said ivermectin “certainly is a very safe drug” but repeatedly questioned whether it would work against COVID-19, despite other countries such as Peru and India having success with the drug against the disease.

Evidence on ivermectin is mixed. Some studies show little to no benefit, while others suggest a strong benefit.

Lawsuit

The government defended the Twitter post, and another that was posted in 2022, during a recent court hearing. Lawyers said the statements “were not directives” but “recommendations.”

The hearing was on a motion to dismiss a lawsuit filed by three doctors, who said the FDA’s statements on ivermectin unlawfully interfered with their work.

The statements were made “with knowledge and intent that these actions would interfere with the practice of medicine,” violating the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FDCA) and the Administrative Procedure Act, according to the suit.

The FDA lacks authority to opine on using approved drugs off-label, or for another usage than that for which they’re approved, the doctors asserted. The FDCA, they noted, says that nothing in it “shall be construed to limit or interfere with the authority of a health care practitioner to prescribe or administer any legally marketed device for any condition or disease within a legitimate health care practitioner-patient relationship.”

U.S. District Judge Jeffrey Brown, a Trump appointee overseeing the case, said the social media statements were concerning because there were no qualifiers. On the FDA webpages, there are qualifiers about people being able to take ivermectin if their doctor prescribes it.

Brown has not yet ruled on the motion to dismiss.

Editor’s Note: This story has been updated with a comment from Dr. Woodcock.

SOURCE: The Epoch Times

Twitter CEO Elon Musk announced a blanket amnesty for Twitter users permanently suspended from the platform.

Musk made the decision Thursday in response to the final results of a poll he tweeted Wednesday. The platform will begin unbanning accounts en masse, except for those who broke the law or engaged in excessive spam, next week, he tweeted in response to the results. Musk has already unbanned a number of popular accounts that were permanently suspended before he took over as “Chief Twit.”

On Wednesday, Musk tweeted a poll asking whether or not to unban users that had been permanently suspended. “Should Twitter offer a general amnesty to suspended accounts, provided that they have not broken the law or engaged in egregious spam?” he wrote.

More than three million users voted in the poll, and the vote was overwhelmingly in favor of amnesty; nearly three-quarters of voters, 72.4%, voted “yes,” while just 27.6% voted “no.”

“The people have spoken,” Musk wrote after the poll concluded. “Amnesty begins next week. Vox Populi, Vox Dei.”

The people have spoken.

Amnesty begins next week.

Vox Populi, Vox Dei.

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 24, 2022

Before the poll ended, Musk seemed to indicate that in effect, the platform would significantly curtail content moderation to target illegal content and increase transparency.

“Please limit content moderation to illegal content (or, at most, a narrow interpretation of moderation under Section 230) and give users the tools that enable the freedom to choose what content they see,” Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton replied to the poll.

“That’s the general idea,” replied Musk.

That’s the general idea

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 24, 2022

“[W]hatever it decides to do, twitter should be clear and consistent about it’s rules and penalties for breaking them, enforcement should be unbiased, and the mechanisms of enforcement shouldn’t be easily abused by people who have an agenda,” DogeCoin creator Billy Markus replied to the poll.

Musk agreed with Markus’ suggestion, replying with the “100” and “bullseye” emojis. In a separate tweet, he indicated that Twitter’s policies and enforcement methods were dishonest. “The more I learn, the worse it gets,” Musk said. “The world should know the truth of what has been happening at Twitter. Transparency will earn the trust of the people.”

The more I learn, the worse it gets. The world should know the truth of what has been happening at Twitter.

Transparency will earn the trust of the people.

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 23, 2022

The blanket amnesty policy is the latest move in Musk’s effort to restore free speech on Twitter. Under his leadership, the social media giant has already restored the accounts of several high-profile conservative and right-leaning influencers. The list includes: Christian satire site The Babylon Bee, which likely played a role in Musk’s decision to buy Twitter in the first place;  clinical psychologist and DailyWire+ host Dr. Jordan B. Peterson; conservative undercover investigative journalism outfit Project Veritas; and former President Donald Trump.

Despite restoring high-profile conservative users, Musk has not been immune from criticism from the right. Conservatives slammed Musk last week after he announced that mean tweets would be aggressively de-boosted, effectively keeping the same “shadowbanning” policies that were in effect by Twitter before he took over.

“New Twitter policy is freedom of speech, but not freedom of reach,” Musk tweeted. “Negative/hate tweets will be max deboosted & demonetized, so no ads or other revenue to Twitter. You won’t find the tweet unless you specifically seek it out, which is no different from rest of Internet.”

“The very concept of deboosting should not even exist because there shouldn’t be an algorithm on twitter,” one user fired back. “Your timeline should just show the tweets that are posted in the order they are posted. Period. Don’t like it? Block/unfollow.”

“You paid this guy $8 to make shadowbanning real LMAO,” another user mocked.

“Ok how is this any different than the previous policy?” added another. “People’s tweets suppressed because a biased rando at twitter thinks a tweet is mean or mad?”

SOURCE: The Daily Wire

Lower-level Russian parliamentarians unanimously passed a law Thursday that would ban the distribution of materials promoting homosexuality, pedophilia, and gender reassignment.

More than 300 representatives of the State Duma, including the chairman, authored the new law, which imposes heavy fines of up to 10 million rubles ($165,000) for violating the ban by promoting such propaganda using online channels, media, or in public. Foreign citizens and stateless persons who violate the law would also face expulsion from the Russian Federation.

Chairman Vyacheslav Volodin said the law would help protect the motherland’s traditions and values for her children and the future of Russia from the “darkness spread by the United States and European states.”

Volodin called the U.S. the “center of this sodom in the world” in response to Secretary of State Anthony Blinken, who had allegedly proposed Russian representatives withdraw the draft law.

“There is no need to impose alien values ​​on us,” Volodin said. “You destroyed yours — we’ll see how it all ends. But it’s definitely sad because this is sodom — there’s no other way to say it.”

“Let them live there, but don’t bother us,” Volodin added.

Russian lawmakers have already banned propaganda promoting homosexuality among minors nearly a decade ago and passed amendments to its constitution outlawing same-sex marriage in 2020.

Alexander Khinstein, one of the bill’s authors, referred to LGBT ideology as “hybrid warfare.”

“LGBT today is an element of hybrid warfare, and in this hybrid warfare,” Khinstein said, according to Reuters. “We must protect our values, our society, and our children.”

Political scientist Ekaterina Schulmann said in an interview from Cologne, Germany, that the law would prohibit anything showing LGBT relations as “socially acceptable” or “equal to so-called traditional family relations or sexual relations.”

“People — authors, publishers, just people — will think twice before even mentioning anything related to LGBT,” Schulmann said, according to Reuters.

Kseniya Mikhailova, a member of the LGBT support group Vykhod (“Coming Out”), told Reuters that the new law could make same-sex kissing in public illegal, but would not put adults-only gay bars or clubs out of business.

Dilya Gafurova, the head of LGBTQ rights group Sfera, told Agence France-Presse that it was “disturbing that the state is saying LGBT+ people are a Western invention,” adding “there is nothing wrong with us and nothing that needs to be hushed up.”

The law still needs approval from the upper house of parliament and President Vladimir Putin before taking effect.

SOURCE: The Daily Wire

Protests have broken out throughout communist China in response to revamped coronavirus lockdown measures that have gone back into effect amid a skyrocketing number of coronavirus infections.

Dozens of cities across the country have gone back into lockdown with millions of people impacted, a situation that has negatively impacted economic forecasts.

Notable demonstrations have included thousands of workers at an iPhone factory clashing with authorities, protesters breaking out of locked down buildings, and online outrage over an infant who died because her father could not get her medical services due to the country’s lockdowns, The New York Times reported.

CHINA: Protests getting out of hand at Foxconn iPhone plant in Zhengzhou tonight where workers are rebelling against Covid harsh restrictions and work environment pic.twitter.com/xwe2oAHYge

— Joyce Karam (@Joyce_Karam) November 23, 2022

BREAKING: New Footage of Chinese police fleeing from workers at Zhengzhou iPhone factory 🚨 🚨 🚨

🔊sound …🔥🔥🔥#Apple #Foxconn #Foxconnriot #chinalockdown pic.twitter.com/57OFTE0IFc

— Wall Street Silver (@WallStreetSilv) November 24, 2022

The report noted that the unrest is unprecedented for the communist nation, which has a history of using force to stamp out dissent.

China, which is where the coronavirus pandemic originated, reported a new high in coronavirus infections Friday, with more than 32,000 new cases.

The numbers have started spreading so quickly that experts have warned that China has potentially “passed the point of no return” in reference to the country’s goals of having no coronavirus cases.

“China might have already passed the point of no return, as it’s unlikely to achieve zero Covid again without another Shanghai-style hard lockdown,” Macquarie’s Chief China Economist Larry Hu said. “What policymakers could do now is to slow the spread of virus, i.e. flatten the curve, by tightening the Covid controls for the time being.”

While the numbers were deemed to be a new record for China, there is no way to know that because China was widely accused of lying throughout the pandemic over how many cases and deaths the country was experiencing, not to mention the accusations that the country covered up the origin of where the outbreak originated.

“What we’re witnessing at Foxconn is the bankruptcy of ‘the China model,’” said Wu Qiang, a political analyst in Beijing, in reference to the manufacturing plant that produces Apple’s iPhones. “It’s the collapse of China’s image as a production powerhouse, as well as China’s relationship to globalization.”

Li Qiang, founder and executive director of China Labor Watch, added, “If the government continues with its zero-Covid policy, Foxconn would only be the beginning. There is Foxconn today, but other factories will face similar situations.”

The protests at Foxconn, which turned violent, came in response to bonuses not being paid to workers on time because the company did not follow the country’s strict coronavirus restrictions by isolating new workers from those who had tested positive, the report said.

The company claimed that the delays were due to a “technical error” and offered to pay employees who wanted to resign $1,400 and give them free rides home.

SOURCE: The Daily Wire

What’s Happening:

It’s no secret that Thanksgiving is much more expensive this year–thanks to Joe Biden. The price of food has skyrocketed under the Biden administration. This is due to a variety of factors, mostly Biden’s failure to address the struggling supply chain–and other decisions that he made which have deliberately hurt the economy.

Reports indicate that everything from stuffing to turkey will cost Americans much more this year. And that’s not getting into the high price of just traveling to see family. But is Biden worried? Of course, not. When has he even shed a tear over Americans in need? In fact, one of his cronies just said Biden is “happy” with inflation.

And while some families struggle this year, Biden will be eating with a billionaire.

From New York Post:

For the second straight year, President Biden and his family will spend Thanksgiving at the Nantucket home of private-equity billionaire David Rubenstein…

Joe Biden, his wife Jill, and other family members were set to fly to the upscale Massachusetts island on Air Force One later Tuesday and remain there until Sunday, the White House confirmed over the weekend.

While there, the Bidens plan to stay at Rubenstein’s sprawling, $20 million waterfront home, the Nantucket Inquirer and Mirror reported.

Must be nice! While American families wonder how they will pay for Thanksgiving dinner, Biden will enjoy a free dinner at the table of billionaire David Rubenstein. He and his crooked family will enjoy several days at the man’s $20 million home on Nantucket.

Hmm… it’s hard to claim Biden is a “man of the people” when he hobnobs with the richest elitists on the planet. What is Bernie Sanders saying right now–since his ally is breaking bread with the one percent of the one percent?

How can Democrats pretend their guy is really looking out for the working class and poor when he so frequently jets off to have dinner with billionaires?

Isn’t it odd that the “president” isn’t having Thanksgiving at the White House? Or his own home in Delaware? Why isn’t Biden opening up the White House to feed the poor? Or do something that makes him seem even remotely sympathetic or compassionate?

Nope! He is doing what every elitist does–taking care of himself. Biden has routinely ignored inflation, even as food prices hit record highs. He smugly said the economy is “strong as hell” as he licked ice cream that cost more than some people’s lunches.

He does not care that Americans are suffering. In fact, that seems to be part of the plan. As long as the rich get richer and the poor get poorer, Biden is “happy.”

Key Takeaways:

• Biden’s advisor claims Joe is “happy” over prices, despite raging inflation.
• Joe Biden will be spending Thanksgiving at a billionaire’s $20 million house.
• This comes as Thanksgiving dinner will cost much more this year.

Source: YouTube, New York Post

SOURCE: The Patriot Journal

Dr. Anthony Fauci said he could not recall key details about his actions during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to one of the officials who questioned him on Nov. 23.

Fauci, the director National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) since 1984 and President Joe Biden’s chief medical adviser, was deposed by Louisiana Attorney General Jeff Landry and Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt, both Republicans.

“It was amazing, literally, that we spent seven hours with Dr. Fauci—this is a man who single-handedly wrecked the U.S. economy based upon ‘the science, follow the science.’ And over the course of seven hours, we discovered that he can’t recall practically anything dealing with his COVID response,” Landry told The Epoch Times after leaving the deposition. “He just said, ‘I can’t recall, I haven’t seen that. And I think we need to put these documents into context,’” Landry added.

“It was extremely troubling to realize that this is a man who advises presidents of the United States and yet couldn’t recall information he put out, information he discussed, press conferences he held dealing with the COVID-19 response,” Landry added later.

Fauci and NIAID did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Landry declined to provide more details about the deposition until it is made public, which will happen at a future date. But he said officials would be able to take some of what they learned to advance their case.

Landry and Schmitt sued the U.S. government in May, alleging it violated people’s First Amendment rights by pressuring big tech companies to censor speech. Documents produced by the government in response bolstered the claims. U.S. District Judge Terry Doughty, the Trump appointee overseeing the case, recently ordered Fauci and seven other officials to testify under oath about their knowledge of the censorship.

Doughty concluded that plaintiffs showed Fauci “has personal knowledge about the issue concerning censorship across social media as it related to COVID-19 and ancillary issues of COVID-19.”

While Fauci qualified as a high-ranking official, the burden of him being deposed was outweighed by the court’s need for information before ruling on a motion for a preliminary injunction, Doughty said.

Wednesday was the first time Fauci testified under oath about his interactions with big tech firms, including Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg.

Before the deposition, Landry said in a statement, “We all deserve to know how involved Dr. Fauci was in the censorship of the American people during the COVID pandemic; tomorrow, I hope to find out.”

“We’re going to follow the evidence everywhere it goes to get down to exactly what has happened, to get down to the fact that our government used private entities to suppress the speech of Americans,” Landry told The Epoch Times.

Great Barrington Declaration

Jenin Younes with the New Civil Liberties Alliance, another lawyer representing plaintiffs in the case, said that Fauci claimed he did not worry about a document called the Great Barrington Declaration.

Penned in October 2020, the document called for focused protection on people most at-risk from COVID-19 while rescinding the harsh restrictions that had been imposed on children and others at little risk from the disease. Two of its authors, Dr. Jay Bhattacharya and Martin Kulldorff, are plaintiffs in the case.

“I have a very busy day job running a six billion dollar institute. I don’t have time to worry about things like the Great Barrington Declaration,” Fauci said, according to Younes.

Fauci, though, has spoken multiple times about the declaration.

In internal emails that were later published, Fauci and Dr. Francis Collins, Fauci’s former boss, both criticized the declaration. “There needs to be a quick and devastating published takedown of its premises,” Collins wrote, prompting Fauci to send him a Wired magazine article he claimed “debunks this theory.”

In another missive, obtained by The Epoch Times through a Freedom of Information Act request, Fauci said the declaration reminded him of AIDS denialism.

Fauci also talked about the declaration in public, including defending his criticism during a congressional hearing in May.

“I have come out very strongly publicly against the Great Barrington Declaration,” Fauci wrote to Dr. Deborah Birx in another email.

Other Depositions

The government moved to block some of the depositions, but not Fauci’s. It just won an order blocking the depositions of Surgeon General Vivek Murthy, Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency Director Jen Easterly, and Rob Flaherty, a deputy assistant to Biden.

Similar efforts to block the depositions of former White House press secretary Jen Psaki and FBI official Elvis Chan have been unsuccessful.

Chan is scheduled to answer questions next week. Psaki is scheduled to be deposed on Dec. 8.

Chan was involved in communicating with Facebook, LinkedIn, and other big tech firms about content moderation, according to evidence developed in the case and public statements he’s made. Psaki publicly said while still in the White House that platforms should step up against alleged mis- and disinformation.

Plaintiffs have already deposed several officials including Daniel Kimmage, an official at the State Department’s Global Engagement Center.

That center worked with Easterly’s agency to create a coalition of nonprofits called the Election Integrity Partnership, which pushed social media companies to censor speech.

Kimmage was also responsible for meetings during which censorship was discussed, with State Department official Samaruddin Stewart acting on his orders, according to documents produced by LinkedIn.

Motion to Dismiss

Earlier Wednesday, the government asked Doughty to throw out the case, asserting that plaintiffs have not shown the government engaged in coercion against the companies.

Even if government officials “urged social media companies do more to contain misinformation, any content moderation decisions made by social media companies ultimately ‘rested with’ those companies,” U.S. lawyers said.

“Even emphatic requests or strongly worded urging, see … (President Biden saying failing to take action against misinformation results in ‘killing people’), do not plausibly amount to coercion,” the lawyers added.

Plaintiffs are crafting a response to the motion.

Both sides are also preparing briefs regarding the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit’s decision that blocked the Murthy, Easterly, and Flaherty depositions.

The appeals court said Doughty had not adequately considered whether alternative means of obtaining the information sought exist, such as deposing lower-level officials or seeking written answers from the higher-level officials.

Doughty ordered plaintiffs to file a brief by Nov. 29. The government has until Dec. 2 to respond. Plaintiffs may reply to that response by Dec. 5.

SOURCE: The Epoch Times

The newly appointed special counsel to oversee probes related to former President Donald Trump is a “left wing hatchet man” in pursuit of a “witch hunt,” according to former House Speaker Newt Gingrich.

Attorney General Merrick Garland’s pick for the role is Jack Smith, a registered independent and a veteran federal prosecutor who most recently served as the chief prosecutor of the special court in The Hague.

Coming days after Trump officially declared his 2024 presidential candidacy, the appointment put Smith in charge of two investigations: one involving Trump’s handling of classified materials in Mar-a-Lago, and another on the alleged interference of the transition of power following the 2020 presidential election and the certification of electoral votes.

While proponents of the move have applauded Smith’s appointment, pointing to his long career fighting corruption, Gingrich, an Epoch Times contributor, does not agree.

“This guy is not an independent counsel. He’s a left wing hatchet man,” he said in an interview, describing Garland’s choice as “outrageous.”

“I think the Justice Department figured out that when Trump announced for president that they couldn’t just continue the normal process, because they have always avoided prosecuting candidates,” he said.

“But what they’re doing is it absurd,” he added.

“Most Americans will rapidly figure out this is one more example of the kind of witch hunt that has been dealing with the whole process of the Trump candidacy, starting in 2015.”

Following Garland’s announcement, the White House denied foreknowledge, saying that the Department of Justice “makes decisions about its criminal investigation independently.”

While Smith, in a statement, pledged to carry out the investigations “independently and in the best traditions of the Department of Justice,” Gingrich remains skeptical, citing Smith’s record working under the Obama administration.

During the five years serving as the Justice Department’s public integrity chief from 2010, Smith oversaw the conviction of former Virginia Governor, Republican Bob McDonnell, on bribery and extortion charges. The Supreme Court later unanimously reversed the conviction, ruling that the government’s “boundless interpretation of the federal bribery statute” was unconstitutional.

The former speaker called Smith’s impartiality into question, citing his involvement in what Gingrich called the IRS scandal. The House Oversight Committee in 2014 found Smith to be responsible for arranging a meeting with an official in the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to scrutinize nonprofits’ political activities. This meeting would set in motion the IRS’s campaign targeting Tea Party groups, which later resulted in a public apology from the agency and a $3.5 million Justice Department settlement for two lawsuits.

Selective Prosecution

Gingrich also pointed to the absence of similar treatment to Democrat politicians, such as former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who used a private email server for government business, and the president’s son Hunter Biden, whose foreign business dealings are set to be a top focus of a new Republican House from January.

“I think that it is strange that they can find one more excuse to go after Donald Trump even though he keeps getting found innocent, but neither Hillary Clinton nor Hunter Biden have gotten independent counsel, and it tells you how corrupted the system is,” Gingrich said.

Rep. James Comer (R-Ky.), who is in line to chair the House Oversight Committee, said the committee Republicans have found business deals by the Biden family in more than 50 countries, including Russia and China which were often led by Hunter. They also allege that the elder Biden had knowledge of and was involved in some deals.

Tony Bobulinski, Hunter’s former business partner, has welcomed Republicans’ plan to probe the Biden family’s business operations in the hopes that it will prove the senior Biden played a part.

Trump’s Reaction

Gingrich was at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort when the news of the special counsel appointment came out. Trump, he said, seemed “very balanced,” “positive, and cheerful.”

“He knew what they were doing. He’s been through this now for six years,” he said.

Marking a setback for Trump, the United States Supreme Court on Nov. 22 cleared way for a Democrat-led House committee to access his tax records. But Trump might expect some reprieve in the new Congress next year.

“By the time they get turned over the house will have a Republican leadership,” said Gingrich. “The House Republicans are going to emphasize investigating Hunter Biden a lot more than investigating Donald Trump, and I think that a lot of Republicans feel that this whole thing has been a witch hunt.”

While prosecutions can have the effect of wearing people down, whether or not it will hurt Trump ultimately comes down to the substance of allegations, the former speaker said.

He compared Trump’s experience with that of Israel’s newly elected prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who suffered a defeat last July before winning a sixth term this month.

“It’s an all-time record,” said Gingrich. “And Netanyahu has been through these kinds of fights over and over again. People look at it and decide it’s all political, and they keep moving.”

It’s the same for Trump, he said. “They attacked him for the Russian hoax, the Ukrainian phone call, and you go down the list. It’s amazing how many things that they attacked him for that turned out not to be true.”

The Justice Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

SOURCE: The Epoch Times

Outgoing Republican Gov. Doug Ducey has congratulated Secretary of State Katie Hobbs, a Democrat, who was named his successor after the midterm elections, which her GOP opponent Kari Lake has not conceded while disputes play out.

Ducey met with Hobbs on Wednesday, two weeks after Election Day, amid reports of widespread problems at voting sites in Maricopa County revealed in a memo written by attorney Mark Sonnenklar. Sonnenklar was one of 11 roving attorneys working with the Republican National Committee’s (RNC) Election Integrity program in Maricopa County.

“Today I congratulated Governor-elect Katie Hobbs on her victory in a hard-fought race and offered my full cooperation as she prepares to assume the leadership of the State of Arizona,” Ducey said in a statement.

Ducey said his administration will make the transfer of power as “smooth and seamless as possible” to ensure the next governor “can hit the ground running.”

“All of us have waited patiently for the democratic process to play out. The people of Arizona have spoken, their votes have been counted and we respect their decision,” he added.

“No matter who we voted for, all of us have a stake in Arizona’s success. Our future is bright and boundless. Let us never forget that as we begin this next chapter in our state’s history.”

Today I congratulated Governor-elect Katie Hobbs on her victory in a hard-fought race and offered my full cooperation as she prepares to assume the leadership of the State of Arizona. pic.twitter.com/gkn9bbDlTF

— Doug Ducey (@DougDucey) November 23, 2022

‘They Really Better Think Long and Hard’

Lake, who filed a lawsuit against Maricopa County officials on Wednesday, suggested that Ducey and Hobbs think twice before certifying the Democrat as the next governor of Arizona.

“For the governor, if he says he’s going to certify this, and Katie Hobbs to certify this, I think they really better think long and hard,” Lake told Steve Bannon’s “War Room” program.

The Epoch Times contacted Lake for further comment.

Her remarks come after the state’s attorney general wrote to officials from Maricopa County demanding answers about the problems revealed in the memo.

Read More

Arizona AG’s Election Integrity Unit Demands Answers From Maricopa County Over Election Day Problems

Two rural Arizona counties, Mohave and Cochise, have also delayed certifying their elections until the last possible day on Nov. 28 in protest of the problems reported in Maricopa County, the state’s most populous electorate, on Election Day.

Abe Hamadeh, the Republican candidate for Arizona’s attorney general position, has also sued his opponent and a number of election officials in Maricopa County over alleged voter disenfranchisement caused by widespread “errors and inaccuracies.”

Former President Donald Trump, a presidential candidate for the 2024 U.S. elections, called for Maricopa to redo its elections.

“This Election was a disgrace,” Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social on Nov. 22. “They should at minimum redo the Arizona Election,” Trump added, pointing to the memo.

Lake Files Lawsuit Over Maricopa County

Lake said her lawsuit was a bid to get the court to put pressure on Maricopa County to hand over public records her campaign has been asking for.

She accused local election officials of maladministration and went further to suggest they ran the election with “malicious intent” against Republican voters, who she said mostly vote in person on Election Day.

“We cannot allow an election like this to stand,” Lake told Newsmax, adding that she’s building a case with whistleblowers and insiders to support her claims.

“Sixty-two percent of the equipment in the polling places was inoperational or not fully functioning, and people were waiting in lines that were three hours or longer,” she added.

“They knew that on Election Day, that’s when our voters were showing up, and they intentionally, in my belief, threw a wrench into the machinery to make sure that that would be a day of disaster when it comes to elections.”

Read More

Mohave County Delays Certifying Arizona Election Results in Protest

Memo Reports ‘Material Problems’ at Voting Sites

Sonnenklar’s memo said that 72 of the 115 voting sites visited by monitoring attorneys, or 62.61 percent, witnessed “material problems.”

Among the problems were long lines on Election Day, which the memo said negatively affected GOP candidates, amounting to voter suppression.

“Because Republican voters significantly outnumbered Democrat voters in the county on election day, such voter suppression would necessarily impact the vote tallies for Republican candidates much more than the vote tallies for Democrat candidates,” Sonnenklar added.

The memo also disputed claims by county officials that printer/tabulator problems were resolved as of 3 p.m. local time and that their impact on voters was “insignificant.”

Read More

‘Redo the Arizona Election’ Says Trump, Pointing to Voting Issues in Maricopa County

“Collectively, I and the other 10 roving attorneys also reported that voters had to wait in significant lines at 59 of the 115 vote centers we visited (51.3 percent). In many cases, voters had to wait 1-2 hours before they received a ballot for voting,” Sonnenklar wrote.

He added, “It is certainly safe to assume that many voters refused to wait in such lines, left the vote center, and did not return to vote later.”

Lake, in response to Trump’s statement, characterized the issues identified in the memo as the “mass disenfranchisement” of Arizona voters.

According to the Arizona secretary of state’s office, Hobbs leads Lake by 17,116 votes—or 50.3 percent to 49.7 percent.

Hobbs declared victory on Nov. 15, but Lake hasn’t conceded yet.

SOURCE: The Epoch Times

The Biden administration has quietly approved plans to build a new crude oil terminal in the Gulf of Mexico off Texas, seemingly in contradiction to the president’s past comments on the consumption of fossil fuels and carbon emissions.

The Department of Transportation’s Maritime Administration (MARAD) approved the application (pdf) for Enterprise’s Sea Port Oil Terminal, one of four proposed offshore oil export terminals, on Monday.

According to the application, the port will be located offshore of Freeport, Texas. It will have 4.8 million barrels of storage capacity and add 2 million barrels per day to the U.S. oil export capacity.

The decision comes as energy prices across the United States have soared, which many have blamed on Biden’s energy policies that have hampered domestic U.S. energy production.

In its 94-page decision (pdf), MARAD said that it had granted the approval because the construction and operation of the port is “in the national interest and consistent with other policy goals and objectives.”

“The construction and operation of the Port is in the national interest because the Project will benefit employment, economic growth, and U.S. energy infrastructure resilience and security,” the administration wrote. “The Port will provide a reliable source of crude oil to U.S. allies in the event of market disruption and have a minimal impact on the availability and cost of crude oil in the U.S. domestic market.”

The statement implies that the port will be for export of fossil fuels for use by other countries.

Protests Over Planned Oil Terminal

The decision states that the project will expand an existing Enterprise Crude Houston-operated terminal located in Houston and will generate 62 permanent jobs over 30 years. Additionally, 1,400 temporary construction jobs will be created, with the majority of the workforce being hired from existing labor pools in Texas and Louisiana, according to the application.

In July, MARAD issued an 890-page impact statement in which it said that oil processed at SPOT would create greenhouse gas emissions equal to 233 million tons of carbon dioxide per year.

The Environmental Protection Agency quietly issued its own approval (pdf) of the project in October but stressed that “more emphasis is needed to ensure that environmental justice and climate change considerations are included in the project for the protection of overburdened communities.”

Protests broke out shortly after on the Gulf Coast, The Texas Tribune reported, with some activists condemning the move and pointing to the fact that President Joe Biden has prioritized issues such as climate change and clean energy incentives during his time in office.

Biden has vowed to cut carbon emissions by 50 percent by 2030 and to end fossil fuels, on which the modern world is highly dependent and from which the U.S. gets two-thirds of its energy.

He canceled the Keystone pipeline that was revived by former President Donald Trump and which was expected to carry around 800,000 barrels of oil per day into the United States.

Many Republican leaders believe his policies have contributed to soaring energy costs and low supplies.

‘Peak Hypocrisy for President Biden’

Despite this, Greenpeace promptly took aim at the Biden administration’s decision regarding the new oil terminal, stating that the new terminal would “emit over 300 million tons of carbon dioxide every year polluting the air and water of Brazoria and Harris counties in Texas while creating serious health threats for everyone living there.”

“It is peak hypocrisy for President Biden and Secretary [of Transportation] Pete Buttigieg to shorten the fuse on the world’s largest carbon bomb by greenlighting additional oil export terminals right after lecturing the world about increasing climate ambitions at COP27,” the independent global campaigning network added.

“This approval seems particularly tone-deaf just days after COP27 wraps with the U.S. theoretically championing a phaseout of all fossil fuels,” said Collin Rees, U.S. program manager with Oil Change International.

A recent study by the Committee to Unleash Prosperity found that Biden’s anti-fossil fuel policies cost the U.S. economy $100 billion a year.

Additionally, the study found that the U.S. would be producing between 2 and 3 million more barrels of oil a day and between 20 and 25 more billion cubic feet of natural gas,” under former President Donald Trump’s policies.

The approval of the Sea Port Oil Terminal would facilitate the safe and efficient long-term loading of large crude carriers while simultaneously slashing oil transportation costs and reducing ship collision risks among other issues, according to officials.

“Compared to facilities and processes used today, this project will create a safer, more efficient mechanism for exporting oil, and will play a key role in facilitating U.S. energy security,” a Maritime Administration spokesperson said in a statement to The Texas Tribune.

A MARAD spokesperson told The Epoch Times in an email that it is “working with the U.S. Coast Guard and, in consultation with the Environmental Protection Agency, and other federal, state, and local agencies, recently issued a Record of Decision, with conditions, for the SPOT Terminal Services LLC (SPOT) application to own, construct, operate, and eventually decommission a deepwater port facility.”

“Compared to facilities and processes used today, this project will create a safer, more efficient mechanism for exporting oil, and will play a key role in facilitating U.S. energy security as the nation works towards a cleaner energy future,” it said. “The project will create new construction jobs. SPOT must comply with all state and federal permitting, mitigation, and related requirements outlined in the ROD before beginning construction.”

UPDATE: This article has been updated to include a statement from MARAD.

SOURCE: The Epoch Times

Arizona Republican gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake on Nov. 23 filed a lawsuit against Maricopa County.

Lake sued Stephen Richer, the county’s recorder, and other officials in Arizona Superior Court. She’s asking the court to compel the officials to promptly produce records on the administration of the midterm elections, which featured widespread issues in the state’s largest county.

“Given instances of misprinted ballots, the commingling of counted and uncounted ballots, and long lines discouraging people from voting, as demonstrated in the attached declarations, these records are necessary for Plaintiff to determine the full extent of the problems identified and their impacts on electors,” the 19-page suit states.

Maricopa County officials have acknowledged that tabulators across many polling sites stopped working properly on election day. Among the advised solutions was voters placing their ballots into a box to be counted later. Declarations attached to the new suit from poll observers say that workers mixed counted and uncounted ballots in the same container at the end of the night.

Another solution to the tabulator problem was a voter checking out of a site and utilizing a mail-in ballot. To try to figure out the extent of the problems, the Lake campaign on Nov. 15 requested information such as all records related to voters who checked into a site and who also submitted a ballot by mail. The campaign sent another request on Nov. 16. None of the records have been produced yet, which violates Arizona law that public record requests must be fulfilled “promptly,” the suit states.

“We need information from Maricopa County,” Lake said on Steve Bannon’s “War Room.” “They ran the shoddiest election ever, in history, and we want some information. We’re on a timeline, a very strict timeline when it comes to fighting this botched election. And they’re dragging their feet. They don’t want to give us the information, so we’re asking the courts to force them to give us the information.”

At present, Lake’s opponent Katie Hobbs, a Democrat who serves as Arizona’s secretary of state, is ahead in the race. Maricopa County is scheduled to canvass the results on Nov. 28, with the state following on Dec. 5. Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey this week said he’s working to help Hobbs transition to become governor.

The suit asks the court to compel the county to produce the records prior to the canvassing. “This deadline (or its substantial equivalent) is, under the circumstances presented, necessary to ensure that vital public records are furnished promptly and that apparent deficiencies can be remedied before canvassing of the 2022 general election,” it says.

Maricopa County did not return requests for comment on a different lawsuit filed this week by Abe Hamadeh, the Republican candidate for state attorney general, and the Republican National Committee. Its offices were closed on Thursday for Thanksgiving.

Attorney General

The office of Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich, a Republican, recently requested information from Thomas Liddy, the chief of the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office’s Civil Division, after receiving hundreds of complaints about issues related to the midterms.

“These complaints go beyond pure speculation, but include first-hand witness accounts that raise concerns regarding Maricopa’s lawful compliance with Arizona election law,” Assistant Attorney General Jennifer Wright wrote. “Furthermore, statements made by both Chairman Gates and Recorder Richer, along with information Maricopa County released through official modes of communication appear to confirm potential statutory violations of title 16.”

The information indicated that the county did not uniformly administer the election, as is required by state and federal law, and that poll workers weren’t trained to check out voters who left sites where the tabulators weren’t working right, she added.

Wright requested the information on or before the county submits its canvass to the secretary of state because the issues “relate to Maricopa County’s ability to lawfully certify election results.”

Bill Gates, the Republican chairman of the county’s Board of Supervisors, said in a statement that the county would not delay the canvass.

“Prior to the canvass, the County will respond to a letter from the Arizona Attorney General’s Office requesting information about the administration of the November General Election,” he said at the time. “Board members received this letter on Saturday night and had a team working on a response all day Sunday, even as staff continued counting votes. We look forward to answering the AG’s questions with transparency as we have done throughout this election.”

Brnovich’s office has not indicated that the county has provided the information, nor has the county said it handed over the information.

Lake said on “War Room” that the county is “trying to run out the clock,” referring to the looming canvass.

Not the ‘Main Case’

At least one other lawsuit is in the works, according to Lake.

“This is not our main case. When our main case drops, they will hear it,” she said.

Lake reiterated that whistleblowers are coming forward and that officials “better think long and hard” before certifying the election in light of the widespread issues that unfolded in Maricopa County.

The forthcoming suit may cite findings from nearly a dozen Republican attorneys who observed the election at Maricopa County sites and attested to the tabulator failures being more widespread than county officials presented.

The issues led to “substantial voter suppression,” attorney Mark Sonnenklar wrote in a memorandum summarizing the findings. Since Republicans voted in larger numbers on the day than Democrats, “such voter suppression would necessarily impact the vote tallies for Republican candidates much more than the vote tallies for Democrat candidates,” he added.

SOURCE: The Epoch Times

The midterm elections aren’t quite over, as several House races have yet to be called. We know Republicans reclaimed the majority, but the GOP didn’t get the “red wave” they were looking for.

That’s why every last seat is critical right now, in order to establish at least a little breathing room. And Republicans are now celebrating one of those crucial late wins.

Perhaps surprisingly, it came in a very big Democrat stronghold.

California is arguably the biggest liberal haven in the country, even though we’ve seen some shifting in recent years. And the state holds the largest Congressional delegation with 52 members.

That’s where Republican Kevin Kiley squared off against Democrat opponent Kermit Jones in the race for the 3rd House district.

For a while, it looked as if Jones would claim a close victory but now the Associated Press – and other sources – are projecting that Kiley will be the winner.

And again, it’s an important win for the GOP. From Fox News:

The Associated Press projects that Republican nominee Kevin Kiley will win the open seat for California’s newly drawn 3rd House district, defeating his Democratic opponent, Kermit Jones, in a crucial victory for Republicans.

The GOP win in this district gives Republicans 220 seats, a slight majority when the 118th U.S. Congress convenes next January. Votes are still being counted in three House races.

If Kiley had lost, it actually might’ve been viewed as an upset, as the 3rd Congressional District is right-leaning.

It’s also interesting to note that it’s the largest district in California, as it runs from the greater Sacramento area all the way down to Death Valley. Democrats had hoped to flip this segment blue in the midterms.

But it looks like Kiley will hold on. He’s been a GOP State Assemblyman since 2016, and has often stood up against Gov. Gavin Newsom’s woke regime.

In fact, Kiley was one of the Republicans who led the charge to recall Newsom last year. And though that effort ultimately failed, Kiley managed to secure plenty of support from right-win citizens.

He’s also endorsed by former President Donald Trump, though that didn’t help a lot of candidates during this midterm season.

As for Jones, he’s seen as a somewhat moderate Democrat who didn’t support House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. By separating himself from the far left, he’d hoped to squeak out a victory.

It doesn’t look like it’ll happen, though, and Republicans now have just a bit more margin for error in the House.

Key Takeaways:

• Republican Kevin Kiley is projected to win his House race in California.
• It gives the GOP another critical seat in the chamber, bringing their total to 220 with 3 seats left in play.
• Democrat opponent Kermit Jones tried to distance himself from Democrats and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

Source: Fox News

SOURCE: The Patriot Journal

Arizona Republicans have filed a lawsuit after widespread voting issues impacted Election Day and prolonged results for more than a week.

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Arizona Republican attorney general nominee Abraham Hamadeh in conjunction with the Republican National Committee (RNC) filed suit against many election officials Tuesday. 

The lawsuit targets Arizona Secretary of State Katie Hobbs (D) alongside the recorders and boards of supervisors for all counties in the state.

According to Fox News, the lawsuit also stated the Republicans are not alleging “fraud, manipulation or other intentional wrongdoing,” and added that the alleged mismanagement did not directly affect the outcome of the election.

“The voters of Arizona demand answers and deserve transparency about the gross incompetence and mismanagement of the General Election by certain election officials,” Hamadeh said. “Pervasive errors by our election officials resulted in the disenfranchisement of countless Arizonans who had their voices silenced.” 

According to Maricopa County election officials, at least 60 voting locations experienced issues with their ballot-on-demand printers. The assistant attorney general is demanding an in-depth report addressing those issues, as well as the “check-out” procedures at each polling location and each location’s official ballot report.

Hamadeh and the RNC allege that Arizona officials also wrongly disqualified provisional ballots and mis-marked early voters in the system.

Over the weekend, Assistant Attorney General Jennifer Wright sent a letter to the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office demanding explanations for the numerous election problems before the results can be certified next week.

“The Elections Integrity Unit of the Arizona Attorney General’s Office has received hundreds of complaints since Election Day pertaining to issues related to the administration of the 2022 General Election in Maricopa County,” Wright wrote. “These complaints go beyond pure speculation, but include first-hand witness accounts that raise concerns regarding Maricopa’s lawful compliance with Arizona election law.”