States with Republican governors are leading the recovery from the Covid-19 economic shock, complicating President Joe Biden’s push for a new sweeping infusion of federal aid.
Of the 15 states that have returned to pre-pandemic levels of economic activity, 12 are led by Republican governors, Federal Reserve data shows. Of the 10 states reporting the lowest levels of activity since January 2020, seven — including New York, Pennsylvania and Illinois — are run by Democratic governors.
Red states are also reporting lower unemployment numbers.
Businesses, economists and policymakers are divided over whether conservative governors’ policies on jobless benefits and Covid-19 restrictions — many of them chose not to issue stay-at-home orders at all — are actually helping their economies or if their states’ industries simply didn’t fall as far behind during the pandemic.
Still, the uneven recovery and the lackluster job growth reported in both April and May have given Republicans ammunition to repudiate Biden’s expensive aid plans. They’ve also ignited concerns among conservatives that the federal assistance — especially the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan that passed without GOP support in March — should have focused more on who needed help the most.
Where was Garland,Biden, Harris, National Guard,etc? A second insurrection happened against the White House and the U.S. Government. Well known hate groups blocked all 10 entrances to the White House Tuesday? Where was the outrage? This is the second time that an assault was launched against the people’s house. First being last June.
Today we showed up to @JoeBiden’s doorstep with 500+ people and blockaded every entrance to the white house, demanding that he include a fully funded #CivilianClimateCorps in his infrastructure bill.
Secret Service arrested “dozens” of climate change activists who blocked entrances to the White House on Monday demanding the Biden administration prioritize Green New Deal initiatives in current infrastructure talks. Guess who set them off?
Reprint. So why aren’t we hearing more about how Joe is taking a beating in the courts? Biden’s bad run. He’s doing worse in the courts than Trump. Ye Joe’s had one loss after another. Here’s a snapshot.
President Biden repeatedly framed his campaign and his administration as defending “the rule of law” after what he and others portrayed as the lawless reign of President Trump. The image of Biden as restoring the Justice Department back into the good graces of the law and the courts is reinforced regularly in the media.
What is not being as fully reported is that Biden actually has racked up a litany of notable court losses that may now exceed those of his predecessor in his first six months. Indeed, the Biden administration has been found to have violated the Constitution in a surprising array of cases in a surprisingly short period of time.
Across the country, trial courts have been finding constitutional violations by the Biden administration in areas ranging from immigration to the environment to pandemic relief. The administration actually began with the same court record as the Trump administration, which lost an early challenge to its travel ban. (The Supreme Court later upheld the core elements of the travel ban and rejected the general claims raised against it.) Biden also lost a critical immigration fight when a federal court enjoined his 100-day moratorium on deportations. In a 105-page opinion, the court found that the administration omitted “any rational explanation grounded in the facts reviewed and the factors considered” and left only “an arbitrary and capricious choice” of the president in this early immigration order. Sound familiar? It should: That was the same argument used against Trump.
In Wisconsin, a federal court stopped Biden’s controversial $4 billion race-based federal relief program for farmers after finding that he was engaging in systemic racial discrimination. The court found that “the only consideration in determining whether a farmer or rancher’s loans should be completely forgiven is the person’s race or national origin.” As such, farmers were found to be “experiencing discrimination at the hands of their government.”
A court in Texas found that the Biden administration engaged in systemic discrimination to implement COVID-19 relief for American restaurants by giving preference to women, minorities and “socially and economically disadvantaged” people.
In Louisiana, a federal court enjoined the administration from carrying out its halting of gas and oil leases, finding that Biden’s unilateral action violated the separation of powers under the Constitution.
In Washington, D.C., a federal judge found that the Biden administration and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention exceeded its authority by imposing a federal eviction moratorium to help stop the spread of the coronavirus. The court rejected the administration’s sweeping claims of pandemic authority, a view taken by other (but not all) courts in a dispute that could go to the Supreme Court.
These rulings against the Biden administration came in the same areas covered extensively by the media during the Trump administration, including findings of constitutional violations and discriminatory practices. When early rulings were issued against Trump, legal and media experts declared that a war on the rule of law existed, if not the onset of tyranny. However, the media has given light coverage to Biden’s legal losses.
One of the most remarkable court losses was delivered at the hands of the Supreme Court in the case of Terry v. United States. It involved a criminal defendant in a crack case who argued for a sentence reduction under the First Step Act. The Trump administration argued against the defendant’s claim — but this was one of many positions that the Biden administration changed before the court. The Biden administration informed the court that it not only would refuse to defend the judgment below — and defend the federal statute — but was “confessing error” in the case.
The move by the Biden Administration was astonishing on a number of levels. Acting Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar informed the Supreme Court in March, on the actual due date for the government’s brief. Oral argument was scheduled for April; the court was forced to reschedule the oral argument for a special sitting in May, a completely avoidable conflict the administration created by waiting a ridiculous two months to inform the court. The Biden Justice Department simply suggested in a letter that the Supreme Court find someone else to defend a federal law. Moreover, the Biden administration was confessing error in a case where the government was likely to win. In other words, it was refusing to make an argument with which many if not most of the justices would agree.
Instead, the Biden administration advanced an argument that was so weak that the justices referred to its arguments as a meritless “sleight of hand” to evade the clear, obvious meaning of the statute. They ruled unanimously against the administration and the defendant. Eight justices signed on to the opinion of Justice Clarence Thomas entirely, and Justice Sonia Sotomayor concurred with his interpretation of the First Step Act. So, the Biden Justice Department confessed error and abandoned an argument that, ultimately, garnered a unanimous vote of the Supreme Court.
While continually claiming to be a champion of “the rule of law” in public, the Biden administration has been found to be a transgressor in these cases. These losses constitute an inauspicious start for any administration.
President Biden repeatedly framed his campaign and his administration as defending “the rule of law” after what he and others portrayed as the lawless reign of President Trump. The image of Biden as restoring the Justice Department back into the good graces of the law and the courts is reinforced regularly in the media.
What is not being as fully reported is that Biden actually has racked up a litany of notable court losses that may now exceed those of his predecessor in his first six months. Indeed, the Biden administration has been found to have violated the Constitution in a surprising array of cases in a surprisingly short period of time.
Across the country, trial courts have been finding constitutional violations by the Biden administration in areas ranging from immigration to the environment to pandemic relief. The administration actually began with the same court record as the Trump administration, which lost an early challenge to its travel ban. (The Supreme Court later upheld the core elements of the travel ban and rejected the general claims raised against it.) Biden also lost a critical immigration fight when a federal court enjoined his 100-day moratorium on deportations. In a 105-page opinion, the court found that the administration omitted “any rational explanation grounded in the facts reviewed and the factors considered” and left only “an arbitrary and capricious choice” of the president in this early immigration order. Sound familiar? It should: That was the same argument used against Trump.
In the early months of the Trump administration, I noted that “the White House gave the courts a target-rich environment in the first travel order, which was poorly drafted, poorly executed and poorly defended.” The same is true with the Biden administration; it has racked up losses for engaging in systemic racial and gender discrimination, exceeding its constitutional authority, and acting arbitrarily and capriciously in carrying out federal policy.
Of course, it still could prevail on appeal in some of these cases, as did Trump in his win on the travel ban before the Supreme Court. However, like the prior administration, the Biden administration has shown serious deficiencies in arguing these early cases in court.
President Biden has declared that “every country faces challenges to the rule of law, including my own.” His administration has, thus far, proven just how difficult that challenge can be.
Jonathan Turley is the Shapiro Professor of Public Interest Law at George Washington University. You can find his updates on Twitter @JonathanTurley.
How sad that Joe would forget History. Sorry Joe, CBS indirectly says that you lied. First, did you forget what happened on 911? Also how about five other attacks on the capitol? One of them we had Five congressmen — Republicans Alvin Bentley and Ben Jensen, and Democrats Clifford Davis, George Hyde Fallon and Kenneth Roberts — were injured by gunfire. Bentley was the most seriously injured and required numerous surgeries.
Bullet holes can still be seen in House chamber from the shooting #OnThisDay 1954. House was debaing federal program allowing migrant Mexican farmers to work in US with Speaker Martin presiding when 5 Congressmen were shot on the floor. https://t.co/pibetZBNUZ@cspanhistorypic.twitter.com/ms4yQHTDo1
One was Obama’s old friends from the Weather Underground. But Joe for some reason forgets history. Below are the dates. All after the Civil War.
Three sticks of dynamite — July 2, 1915
Puerto Rican nationalists attack Congress — March 1, 1954
Bombing in protest of U.S. military in Laos — March 1, 1971
Armed Resistance Unit bombing — Nov. 7, 1983
On July 24, 1998, Russell Eugene Weston, Jr. burst into the Capitol and opened fire, killing two Capitol Police officers, Jacob Chestnut and John Gibson. Weston’s motives remain unknown and he faced murder charges for the shootings. However, he was committed in a mental institution with paranoid schizophrenia.
For some reason the MSM just let’s Joe say these loony tune things.
Seventy-three percent of Americans believe crime is higher now under President Joe Biden than under former President Trump in 2020.
“Majorities think crime is increasing both nationally (73 percent say there is “more” crime), as well as in their local communities (54 percent),” according to a Fox News poll released Wednesday.
Regardless, the number of “breakthrough” coronavirus infections (cases among fully vaccinated people) will be skewed moving forward, given that only cases resulting in hospitalization and death will be counted.
Michael Kinch, a former drug developer who’s now associate vice chancellor at Washington University in St. Louis, says as much information as possible should be recorded on breakthroughs. Cases that don’t rise to hospitalization are still important to track, he said, since symptoms that aren’t as severe for someone could eventually lead to hospitalizations. Non-life-threatening symptoms can impact someone’s life greatly, and evolve over time, Kinch said.
“It’s essential that we stay on top of this,” he added. “If we let our guard our down, we will pay the price.”
The Welfare Queen is back. Only difference is that Joe Biden made her and him white, black, brown, and red. She was a creation during the Reagan years. Some of it true, most of it was not. But we had made great strides towards deflating that myth about blacks. Until now.
Biden and his policies of forget working for a living and have the government provide for all, has created Welfare Queen lifestyle for all races. Unlimited and enhanced unemployment, free college, more social benefits, and the list just grows.
This man has taken the work ethic and created a a welfare ethic. According to Joe, gone are the days of making A LIVING FOR YOURSELF AND FAMILY.
Phillip said, “Domestically here in the United States, you have these really, I think, searing visuals. If you’re of a certain age, it particularly brings you back to — I think Republicans would love to bring people back to the Carter years. But these gas lines it is a psychological problem. Maybe it is temporary, but for the American public, there is something psychological about hearing about inflation and seeing gas lines and literally going to the pump in certain Southern states and not being able to get gas.”
Has Biden agreed with former President Trump? Restart the wall to keep out undocumented immigrants. Has Joe finally come to his senses? Both Fox and Gateway Pundit are reporting that a 13.4 section of the wall will be built in the Rio Grand Valley.
Confirmed by the Army Corps of Engineers, “In support of CBP’s border infrastructure program, USACE has resumed DHS-funded design & construction support on approx. 13.4 miles of levee in the Rio Grande Valley that were partially excavated or at various levels of construction when work on the wall was paused for review.”
In the face of most Democrats’ opposition, US Steel cancels a billion-dollar investment.
BRADDOCK, Pennsylvania — Exactly two years ago, U.S. Steel Corporation announced that the company would turn its Mon Valley operations into a key source of lightweight steel for the automotive industry.
At the time, local leaders and company officials called the investment “transformational.”
Statue of Joe Magarac, a folktale steelworker who could bend steel with his bare hands, in front of the 148-year-old Edgar Thomson Works.
(Shannon Venditti / Washington Examiner)
It involved a whopping $1.5 billion upgrade to its Mon Valley Works. This included an upgrade of the Edgar Thomson Works in Braddock, the Irvin Plant in West Mifflin, and Clairton Coke Works, with technology and improvements that would have provided cleaner air for all three communities where the plants are located, as well as good-paying jobs that would have provided prosperity for the region for decades.
On Friday, U.S. Steel said after months of tug-of-war with the Allegheny County Health Department, it is canceling the $1.5 billion upgrade and idling three batteries at Clairton Coke Works by 2023.
U.S. Steel said in a statement that a dragged-out delay from Allegheny County officials for permitting the project contributed to their decision, along with the new direction that the company is taking to focus on sustainability.
Allegheny County chief executive Rich Fitzgerald, a city Democrat, said he was “blindsided by the news.”
Lt. Gov. John Fetterman, also a Democrat, said he was simply devastated. “It is heartbreaking,” said Fetterman, whose home is across the street from the sprawling 148-year-old Edgar Thomson Works that hugs the Monongahela River.
Local economic development forecasters estimate over 1,000 direct jobs will be lost. Countless more support jobs that would have facilitated the build-out are also gone.
Jeff Nobers, the president of Pittsburgh Works, an economic group made up of officials in manufacturing, steel, energy, and labor unions, said the unknown costs and future implications due to this decision are formidable and long-lasting. “We have to be thinking about what manufacturers who were looking to locate here are thinking,” he said. “Do they look at the climate here and wonder if it is worth it? Well, that is a problem too.”
Local elected officials are of several minds on this project. Most of them were just hoping it would fly under the radar of the climate justice warriors and go up without notice. That was never going to happen. The rest fully backed its demise because of their views on climate change.
One exception has been Fetterman, the progressive populist Democrat who is seeking his party’s nomination to run for the Senate seat being vacated by Republican Pat Toomey in 2022. He was a vocal supporter of the project, which sometimes placed him at odds within his own party’s ranks. His support created a strange alliance for him with Republican state lawmakers such as Allegheny County state Sen. Devlin Robinson and the state senate majority leader, Kim Ward.
Ward said that although she does not agree with Fetterman on much, “I sure do on this one.”
Robinson agreed. “The constant rhetoric attacking manufacturing in this country is going to impact jobs,” he said. “That is not something to worry about in the future — it is happening right in front of us.”
Critics of the closure also point to the constant drumbeat coming from local environmental justice nonprofit groups and reporting organizations funded by elite, left-wing foundations such as the Heinz Endowments. These, they argue, are contributing to a hostile business climate.
The Edgar Thomson Works, named after a Pennsylvania Railroad president, was built by Andrew Carnegie in the 1870s on the site of an old French and Indian War battlefield.
U.S. Steel also told its investors that they are reallocating capital to other places — which means all of the work that was going to go here is likely going someplace where bureaucrats are less beholden to (or aligned with) environmentalists.
Fetterman calls the moment an opportunity lost: “We could have made the safest, greenest steel in the world right here in Braddock. We could have secured thousands of good-paying union jobs.”
Now, that opportunity is gone.
President Joe Biden said in his joint speech in front of Congress that there there’s no reason that steel can’t be continually manufactured in the United States and by doing it in a safe and green way, in a environmentally efficient way. Biden even riffed, “There’s no reason the blades for wind turbines can’t be built in Pittsburgh instead of Beijing.”
“Well, that’s what this investment was about,” said Robinson. “This $1.5 billion was about making steel in a more environmentally friendly way. But the current environment right now is so hostile to manufacturing, manufacturers know making things in America is not a viable option. Especially not now, and especially not into the future, where they’re going to see a return on their investment.”
Manufacturers may have to relocate to places where there are no unions or outside the country. This makes hollow Biden’s promise to protect union jobs and bring back manufacturing — and it will be doubly hollow if he looks the other way when things like this happen.
This conflict between manufacturing and environmentalism is also going to place Biden at odds with both. Biden argues that a decarbonizing economy will create millions of jobs. Here, however, it meant zero jobs created and perhaps many destroyed.
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