Just in case you missed it, California is blaming their failures on big oil. So, they’re going to court. Yes, they claim big oil caused Climate change. What happened to mankind being the culprit?
The American Petroleum Institute, an industry group also named in the lawsuit, said climate policy should be debated in Congress, not the courtroom.
“This ongoing, coordinated campaign to wage meritless, politicized lawsuits against a foundational American industry and its workers is nothing more than a distraction from important national conversations and an enormous waste of California taxpayer resources,” institute senior vice president Ryan Meyers said in a statement.
If big oil caused this, why not sue for damages? But the state wants the establishment of a fund to offset future costs from extreme weather events and climate mitigation efforts. In other words, it rains, or snows, big oil pays.
Let’s hope that all who were there and especially those who disagreed with the cowardly retreat are allowed to talk. And the hearings must be open to the public.
House Speaker Kevin McCarthy set social media ablaze on Thursday after he pushed back against a reporter’s assertion that he launched an impeachment inquiry “without evidence.”
“AP reported that McCarthy’s impeachment inquiry was launched ‘without evidence,’” GOP operative Arthur Schwartz posted on X, formerly known as Twitter, on Thursday. “Here’s McCarthy forcing an AP reporter to admit that there was lots of evidence to support an impeachment inquiry.”
In the clip, Associated Press reporter Farnoush Amiri asked McCarthy about fellow Republicans who have said that the investigation into President Biden has yet to show an impeachable offense at this point. “Is that an assessment you share?” Amiri asked.
“You know, an impeachment inquiry is not an impeachment,” McCarthy responded, “What an impeachment inquiry is to do is to get answers to questions. Are you concerned about all the stuff that was recently learned?”
McCarthy then went through a list of instances that many have characterized as possible evidence of wrongdoing from the president.
“Do you believe the president lied to the American public when he said he’d never talked to his son about his business dealings?” McCarthy asked “Yes or no?”
“I can’t answer that,” Amiri replied.
“Do you believe when they said the president went on conference calls? Do you believe that happened?” McCarthy asked. “That’s what the testimony says,” Amiri answered.
Do you believe the president went to Cafe Milano and had dinner with the clients of Hunter Biden, who believes he got those clients because he was selling the brand?” “That’s what the testimony said,” Amiri answered.
“Do you believe Hunter Biden, when you saw the video of him driving the Porsche, that he got $143,000 to buy that Porsche the next day? Do you believe that $3 million from the Russian oligarch that was transferred to the shell companies that the Bidens controlled after the dinner from Cafe Milano took place?” McCarthy asked.
McCarthy then asked Amiri again if she believed the president lied, to which she responded, “But is lying an impeachable offense?”
“All I’m saying is I would like to know the answer to these questions,” McCarthy said. “The American public would like to know.”
The clip was immediately picked up by conservatives on social media who slammed the narrative from many on the left who have claimed there is no evidence of wrongdoing related to President Biden and his family.
“This is what happens when reporters follow the White House’s commands to engage as activists with the Republican inquiry instead of as journalists impartially seeking facts,” GOP strategist Matt Whitlock responded on X.
This is what happens when reporters follow the White House’s commands to engage as activists with the Republican inquiry instead of as journalists impartially seeking facts. https://t.co/E2y1ZAKWjV
“It’s on days like today where we see what the left wing foundations that bankroll the Associated Press get for their money,” former Ted Cruz spokesperson Steve Guest posted online.
It's on days like today where we see what the left wing foundations that bankroll the Associated Press get for their money.
The AP is funded by a foundation founded by 1619 Project author Nikole Hannah-Jones, the Hewlett Foundation, the Walton Family Foundation, etc. https://t.co/o4ZxrkiOKX
“’Is lying an impeachable offense,’” The Spectator Editor Stephen L. Miller posted on X. “Oh you sweet summer child…”
In a statement to Fox News Digital, a spokesperson for the AP said, “The Associated Press stands by reporter Farnoush Amiri, an established and respected journalist covering the U.S. Congress.”
McCarthy officially gave the go ahead for an impeachment inquiry on Tuesday after saying that House Republicans have “uncovered serious and credible allegations into President Biden’s conduct.”
“Today, I am directing our House committees to open a formal impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden,” McCarthy announced in a statement at the Capitol. “This logical next step will give our committees the full power to gather all the facts and answers for the American public.”
Megyn Kelly is joined by former President Donald Trump to talk about the Biden impeachment inquiry, what we’re learning now about the potential for then-VP Biden corruption that Trump tried to bring up at the debate, whether Biden is too old to be president, birthright citizenship and the immigration crisis in America.
Why he didn’t fire Dr. Fauci, how Biden and DeSantis handled COVID, the success or failure of Operation Warp Speed and COVID vaccines, not getting enough credit for what did during the beginning of the pandemic, his stance on trans rights and how it’s evolved, his friendship with Caitlyn Jenner (and previously Bruce), trans in the military, whether he’d ban puberty blockers for kids, the details of his classified documents case and the Presidential Records Act, why he didn’t turn over documents after the subpoena, Hillary Clinton and the double standard, if he’s angry about the prosecutions, the real story behind the “DeSanctimonious” Ron DeSantis nickname.
Why he values loyalty above so much else, how Melania and Barron are doing, the personality traits about Melania that the media doesn’t understand, why he’s running for president and facing jail time instead of enjoying retirement, the way this country can come together, that big debate moment between Trump and Megyn, and more. Plus Megyn shares behind-the-scenes details about the interview. Then Victor Davis Hanson, author of “The Dying Citizen,” joins to react to the Trump interview, and discuss whether Trump should debate, if the Trump indictments will help or hurt his general election against Biden, and more.
The school board in Sunol Glen School Unified School District in California has voted to allow only the state flag and the U.S. flag to fly over school buildings, outraging many people on the left.
Liberals obviously want to be able to fly the LGBT pride flag and BLM flags at school buildings and this measure would prevent that.
This is an example of what can be done when parents retake control of their local school boards.
Parents and staff are claiming a California school district is targeting LGBTQ Pride flags after the board voted to forbid the display of banners other than the American or California state flags.
Trustees representing the Sunol Glen School Unified School District in the East Bay, which serves 270 K-8 students, engaged in a tense exchange with attendees at a Tuesday meeting.
“The symbol of the flag solidifies that message,” Sunol Glen Superintendent and Principal Molleen Barnes said during Tuesday’s meeting. “Tonight, with this resolution, our board members have been clear where they stand.”
Barnes also noted that the school has previously displayed Pride flags to remind LGBTQ students and families they “are a place of equity and inclusivity.”
“When a school starts endorsing any single particular point of view, that can be divisive,” Board President Ryan Jergensen said when asked to explain the proposed policy. “The school should be inclusive of all. Individual views are irrelevant. I prefer to seek more for what unites us as a school.”
The judge maintained that President Barack Obama exceeded his authority when he created the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program by executive action in 2012.Credit...Al Drago for The New York Times
A revised version of the federal policy known as the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, which prevents the deportation of thousands of immigrants brought to the U.S. as children, has once again been deemed illegal by a federal judge who gave the same ruling previously.
U.S. District Judge Andrew Hanen said in his decision Wednesday that on July 16, 2021, the court vacated the DACA program created by the 2012 DACA Memorandum, which prohibited the U.S., its departments, agencies, officers, agents and employees from granting new DACA applications and administering the program.
Hanen’s decision then was affirmed by the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, and Wednesday, reaffirmed by him. Send them home.
Appeals court overrules affirmative action judge. Affirmative action judge Steve Jones denied Mark Meadows to move his trial to Federal Court. He also denied granting a stay until an appeal is filed. So, Meadows went to a real judge. We have this from ABC News.
An appeals court on Wednesday granted former Trump Chief of Staff Mark Meadows’ request for an expedited review of his emergency motion seeking to block a lower court’s ruling that kept his Georgia election interference case in state court.
Meadows filed the request for an emergency stay with the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals after Judge Steve Jones last week rejected Meadows’ bid to have his case moved, based on a federal law that calls for the removal of criminal proceedings brought in state court to the federal court system when someone is charged for actions they allegedly took as a federal official acting “under color” of their office.
House Speaker Kevin McCarthy walks through Statuary Hall in the U.S. Capitol building in Washington, D.C., July 19, 2023. (Leah Millis/Reuters)
White Progressives are at it again. They’re asking social media to lie for them again. The folks in the White House are again calling on their friends in Social media to attack the House Impeachment Inquiry.
Since Wednesday morning the MSM AND THE LEFT WING TALKING HEADS started the personal attacks and lies. Where were they when the fake January 6th commission based on lies and fake news impeached a President? This from CNN Business.
The letter was sent to executives helming the nation’s largest news organizations, including CNN, The New York Times, Fox News, the Associated Press, CBS News, and others, a White House official familiar with the matter said.
The official tally is in and it is brutal: Americans suffered the biggest drop in household income in 2022 in a dozen years.
Real median household income was $74,580 in 2022, a drop of 2.3 percent from the prior year, the Census Bureau said Tuesday.
This is the biggest drop in household income since 2010, when it household income fell 2.6 percent. That means it is worse than the pandemic decline of 2.2 percent. It is the fourth worst year in records going back to 1985.
The declines were driven by high inflation. The measure of inflation that is used to calculate real income rose 7.8 percent, the worst inflation since 1981.
The real median earnings of all workers—including part-time and full-time workers—declined 2.2 percent between 2021 and 2022. Median earnings of those who worked full-time, year-round fell 1.3 percent in 2022.
The figures are even worse once taxes are figured into the equation. Real median post-tax household income in 2022 fell 8.8 percent in 2022.
Income inequality also got worse in 2022 once taxes are calculated. Pre-tax, income inequality—as measured by an gauge of income distribution called the Gini index—declined for the first time since 2007. After taxes, however, the index increased 3.2 percent. An increase in the Gini index signals increasing income inequality.
The official poverty rate in 2022 was 11.5 percent, with 37.9 million people in poverty. This was unchanged from the prior year.
A few weeks before Interior Secretary Deb Haaland announced that she would withdraw more than 336,400 acres of public land from mining and drilling with a 10-mile buffer around Chaco Culture National Historical Park, Navajo Nation lawmakers passed legislation opposing the move.
Although Haaland’s action was applauded and supported by environmentalists and tribal members from the Navajo Nation and Pueblo tribes, not everyone is happy. Among the critics are Navajo allotment holders who are worried about what this will do to their livelihood.
Navajo tribal leaders also voiced displeasure, including Speaker Crystalyne Curley and President Buu Nygren, who both released statements about the 10-mile radius buffer zone.
“The Secretary’s action undermines our sovereignty and self-determination,” said Nygren. “Despite my concerns and denunciation, the Department of Interior has moved forward, which is highly disappointing. Secretary Haaland’s decision impacts Navajo allottees but also disregards the tribe’s choice to lease lands for economic development. Ultimately, this decision jeopardizes future economic opportunities, while at the same time placing some 5,600 Navajo allottees in dire financial constraints.”
The legislation, passed in April by Navajo Nation lawmakers, rescinded the previous administration’s bill opposing H.R.2181 and S.1079, the Chaco Cultural Heritage Area Protection Act of 2019, and recommending the proposed buffer zone be reduced to five miles, rather than 10 miles that encompass the 336,400-acre land withdrawal.
The new bill does not support any buffer zone and opposes the intent for any withdrawal.
Haaland said the decision to create the buffer came after “significant consultation” with other tribes, and she noted that the 20-year withdrawal applies only to public lands and federal mineral holdings and does not apply to minerals owned by private, state or tribal entities.
It also does not affect valid existing leases. Production from existing wells could continue, additional wells could be drilled on existing leases, and Navajo Nation allottees can continue to lease their minerals.
But former Navajo Council Delegate Mark Freeland had reported during an April 2022 government-to-government consultation meeting that those who could be most deeply affected are those who live around Chaco Canyon, and who are the ones being ignored on this issue.
“The White House, as did Congress, stated that the rule would not apply to individual Indian allotments or to minerals within the area owned by private, state, or tribal entities,” Freeland said. “In reality, the rule would have a devastating impact because the indirect effect would make the allottees’ land primarily worthless from the standpoint of energy extraction.”
He reported that withdrawal of land affects 53 individual allotments, generating $6.2 million a year in royalties for approximately 5,462 allottees. Many Navajo families rely on this income to meet their daily needs. It is estimated that 418 unleased allotments are also associated with about 16,615 allottees, and the withdrawal could adversely affect well over 22,000 allottees.
“Collectively, leadership of the Navajo Nation is equally concerned that environmental organizations have made a point to target Chaco Culture National Historical Park for political or financial gain,” Freeland said, “without listening or taking into account the people who are from the region. Chaco Canyon is located on Navajo Nation lands.”
At the forum, he noted that the National Park Conservation Association has been one of the primary advocacy groups to launch a campaign for buffers around national parks most threatened by oil and gas production, and Chaco Canyon was on top of their list.
Freeland reemphasized that those living in the Chaco Canyon area have been ignored, and for the past six years Congress has considered multiple proposals to create a buffer zone around the historical park at the additional request of the All Pueblo Council of Governors.
“Protecting Indigenous lands is important for future generations to understand our country and to respect the Pueblos’ sacred culture,” said Theresa Pierno, president and CEO of the National Parks Conservation Association after Haaland announced her decision.
“There are limits to this administrative protection, as 20 years is significant but also the equivalent of an eye blink on this timeless landscape,” Pierno said. “The National Parks Conservation Association calls on Congress to finish the job and approve legislation championed by the entire New Mexico delegation to permanently protect the region.”
Those who live around Chaco Canyon, who were born there before it became a National Historic Park, and are descendants of those who lived in the area for generations have always expressed their dismay about a buffer zone and Haaland’s stance on the issue.
Delora Hesuse is a Navajo allottee and has been advocating on the allotments and the challenges of what fellow allotment owners are trying to let people know. One conflict is Haaland’s position on Chaco Canyon and whether she would be able to really listen to those living in the area.
“There is a conflict with everything that is going on,” said Hesuse, adding that Haaland “never once met with us when she was a congresswoman. I say this too, as another Native woman, does she have respect for other tribes? Does she have respect for us?”
She described the elders who receive royalty payment from oil and gas and said they are grateful. This income from oil and gas is income that Navajo allottees depend on and they are living a better life because of it. She also noted she has never heard of anyone getting sick from the effects of oil and gas production.
Within the Navajo Nation, 35.8% of households have incomes below the federal poverty threshold, and about 10% live without electricity. The Chaco Canyon drilling ban would strip an energy source from the Navajo Nation, and could cost Navajos an estimated $194 million over the next two decades.
“We have all these environmentalists coming in and telling us how we should be or how we should live,” Hesuse said. “Remember, we are the first people here.”
