It was a standoff in the province of Friesland in the Netherlands on the evening of July 5. Police fired gunshots at a band of farmers who were reportedly driving tractors into officers and their vehicles to get past a blockade and onto the highway.
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Acting Secretary of Natural and Historic Resources Travis Voyles said the Youngkin administration is planning to complete repeal of Virginia’s involvement in a greenhouse gas regulatory program by the end of 2023.
“The administration will put forth in the coming weeks a notice of intended regulatory action, or NOIRA, which will repeal the trading rule and end Virginia’s participation in RGGI [Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative]. This NOIRA will set the stage for a full administrative process act, or APA, regulatory action,” Voyles said at a Wednesday meeting of the Virginia Air Pollution Control Board.
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CALIFORNIA CITY — California’s precariously out-of-date hybrid power grid can’t handle the state’s growing amounts of solar and wind energy coming online, with system managers already forcing repeated cutbacks in renewables and a continued reliance on conventional energy to keep the grid stable, according to state data.
The shortcomings of the transmission grid, which energy consultants in this bellwether state have warned about for years, raise the prospect that marquee products of the growing battery economy such as electric vehicles – “emission free” on the road – will be recharged mainly from traditional electricity-generating power plants: energy from fossil fuels, some of it from out of state.
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Alarm bells are sounding at the Department of Energy as the Biden administration has moved to triple the budget for the Weatherization Assistance Program, which provides low-income applicants with free home and apartment renovations, such as insulation, duct-sealing, new heating systems, and kitchen appliances. The last time the program was lavished with such a surge in funds, through President Obama’s 2009 stimulus bill, audits and investigations uncovered a pattern of fraud, embezzlement, shoddy work, inflated expenses for parts and materials, sketchy billing, kickbacks, and gimcrack construction.
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Woke retailers like Home Depot, Kroger, and Walmart are asking Congress to pass their own special smash and grab worth billions of dollars by mandating changes to how credit cards are processed.
Joining forces with far-left Democratic Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin of Illinois, retailers are seeking changes in federal law threatening rewards programs that many consumers use to take some of the sting off of the high cost of everything from food and gas to furniture and travel.
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A new toll discount program will go into effect September 1 to reduce costs for Floridians using the state’s turnpike system and toll facilities to help offset inflation.
Florida commuters will be able to take advantage of a new rewards program called “SunPass Savings” when driving on Florida’s Turnpike System and using its toll facilities owned by the Florida Department of Transportation. The savings program is for SunPass customers who use the prepaid electronic toll collection program operated by Florida’s Turnpike Enterprise, Florida’s toll agency.
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The state of Texas announced new restrictions on at least 10 finance firms that have declared an opposition to oil and other fossil fuels, since such a stance could “undermine” the Texas economy that depends heavily on such fuel sources.
The Daily Caller reports that the restrictions, announced by the Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts Glenn Hegar, will prevent the companies in question from entering into most contracts with entities at the state or local level. The new policy is the result of a law passed in 2021 that requires the state government to limit its ties with anti-oil companies. As a result, the government requested information from over 100 companies to determine their stances on fossil fuels.
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Friday morning on The Tennessee Star Report,
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The late spring scenario of a massive GOP win—in historic proportions analogous to 1938, 1994, or 2010—is said now to be “iffy.”
The Left boasts that it now has a chance at keeping the House, with even better odds for maintaining control over the Senate.
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The U.S. financial system is not working for too many Americans. We see it every day at the gas pump and grocery store with record-high inflation. We see it with empty store shelves and higher rents. We see it with high fees and slow transactions at the big banks – the same ones we taxpayers bailed out a little more than a decade ago.
There’s an alternative that can help these systemic problems: cryptocurrency.
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A report released Monday by Pennsylvania’s Independent Fiscal Office (IFO) shows that new Keystone-State employment opportunities fell in June, marking a three-month overall decline.
Examining numbers from the federal Department of Labor, the IFO found that around 393,000 new jobs opened in June. Although that number exceeds the 281,000-per-month average for job openings that preceded COVID-19 in 2020, it continues a downward slope that began after new employment offerings reached 514,000 in March.
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The left denies it, but it’s truly happening – a massive realignment is underway in the American electorate as Latinos are leaning in with the GOP. This November, Republicans are running Hispanic nominees in key battleground districts, headlined by rising stars like Myra Flores, Cassy Garcia, and Monica De La Cruz in Texas, Michelle Garcia Holmes and Alexis Martinez Johnson in New Mexico, Lori Chavez-DeRemer in Oregon – and of course, Yesli Vega in Virginia. Over the past two years, the Old Dominion has been ground zero for this shift, providing a glimpse into what the future of the Republican Party might look like on a national scale.
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The Democrats’ massive climate spending package, which President Joe Biden signed into law on Tuesday, will give over $40 billion to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), just as the bill allocates almost $80 billion to expand the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).
The bill, dubbed the Inflation Reduction Act, includes $369 billion in total climate spending, and will give the EPA more than $40 billion in the current fiscal year to combat climate change, enforce environmental standards and secure “environmental justice,” according to a Congressional Research Service report. The EPA’s enacted budget for 2022’s fiscal year was about $9.5 billion, according to the agency figures, meaning the bill will more than quadruple the EPA’s current annual spending.
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Republican Gov. Mike Dunleavy of Alaska filed a complaint in Alaska’s United States District Court to compel the Department of the Interior (DOI) to take responsibility for hundreds of contaminated areas that the federal government transferred to Alaska Natives.
Dunleavy and the state of Alaska filed the lawsuit in mid-July as a last resort after the DOI allegedly ignored calls to identify and clean up 650 former federal military installations, oil drilling sites and other projects that are contaminating Native Alaskan lands, according to court filings. Despite the Biden administration’s emphasis on securing “environmental justice” for minority communities, the DOI’s Bureau of Land Management (BLM), nor any other associated federal agency, is taking responsibility, the lawsuit alleges, allowing pollution and toxic waste to creep into natives’ food and water systems.
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Two prominent Michigan economists, a county zoning administrator, and a nonprofit program manager scrutinized the details of a proposed Ann Arbor to Traverse City passenger rail system for The Center Square.
The feasibility of the A2TC project was discussed in separate conversations with University of MI-Flint economics professor Chris Douglas; Mackinac Center for Public Policy Fiscal Policy Director James Hohman; certified land use planner Kevon Martis, a zoning administrator in Deerfield Township, Lenawee County; and Caroline Ulstad, transportation program manager at Groundwork Center for Resilient Communities.
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Large oil and gas producers are lauding the Senate Democrats’ climate bill due to its green incentives and regulations on fossil fuels; however, smaller producers argue that the new taxes and fees included in the bill will kill their operations.
Big oil is hailing the $369 billion climate bill for its steps to regulate the fossil fuel industry and promote green energy, according to Bloomberg. However, smaller, independent oil and gas companies are arguing that the bill’s numerous, costly regulations will threaten their industry’s development, according to an industry letter that was sent Tuesday night to the House Ways & Means Committee.
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Virginia Democrats trumpeted the Inflation Reduction Act after the House of Representatives passed the legislation on Friday, putting President Joe Biden on the path to a key win on his goals ahead of the 2022 congressional midterms. At the same time, Republicans mocked the bill’s title and criticized its policies.
In a speech on the House Floor, Congressman Don Beyer (D-VA-08) compared the bill to landmark legislation from the U.S.’ past.
“This is our generation’s signature contribution to American history. Our Social Security Act. Our Civil Rights Act, even the Bill of Rights,” Beyer said.
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Arizona Representatives, including Debbie Lesko (R-AZ-08), Paul Gosar (R-AZ-04), and Andy Biggs (R-AZ-05), all recently released statements slamming the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) as it passed the U.S. House Friday and will move on to President Joe Biden.
“President Biden and congressional Democrats are so out of touch with everyday Americans that they just pushed through a massive tax and spending bill that will increase taxes, gasoline prices, and utility rates all while making the lives of Americans worse,” Lesko said. “I won’t do that to the American people and that is why I voted no.”
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In a major reversal, U.S. Senator Joe Manchin (D–WV) struck a deal with Senator Chuck Schumer (D–NY) to enact a major climate, entitlement, and tax bill. This legislation has been praised by President Biden, Al Gore, and other proponents of highly progressive policies.
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Rep. David Schweikert (R-Ariz.-06) is concerned that Arizona is undergoing the highest level of inflation within the continental states (urban Alaska is the only part of the country with a higher level). To combat the problem, he co-sponsored H.R. 8579, the Retirement Protection Act, with Rep. Byron Donalds (R-Fla.-19).
In a statement, Schweikert said, “This bill would play a critical role in fighting inflation while helping Americans protect their savings.” He told The Arizona Sun Times, “It improves people’s retirement future so they stay even and don’t become a victim of inflation.”
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TN-5 Republican nominee Andy Ogles on Thursday criticized the Inflation Reduction Act.
According to the Thursday statement obtained by The Tennessee Star, Ogles expressed “strong opposition to the so-called ‘Inflation Reduction Act’ rammed through by Democrats in the Senate over the weekend without a single Republican Vote.”
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The slight drop in the rise of consumer prices may only be a momentary bit of relief as federal policy could make matters worse, a Georgia nonprofit said.
On Wednesday, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics said the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers Increased 8.5% over the past 12 months. That is down from a 9.1% year-over-year increase in June.
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President Joe Biden’s continuous sales of crude oil from the U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) could have severe consequences for taxpayers, experts told the Daily Caller News Foundation.
The Biden administration announced plans last Tuesday for another wave of oil sales from the SPR, as well as a proposal to help restock the reserve, according to a White House press release. The Biden administration aims to strategically sell oil from the reserve to boost supplies and fight soaring gas prices, but the rapid draining of U.S. stockpiles could cause taxpayers to foot the bill when the department inevitably refills its reserves.
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Newly discovered emails prove beyond all doubt that the “true purpose” of Hunter Biden’s lucrative deal with a Ukrainian energy company was for Hunter to get “high-ranking US officials” to visit Ukraine and persuade the nation’s leaders to “close down” all criminal “cases/pursuits against” the firm’s primary owner, a notoriously corrupt oligarch with ties to Russia.
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The folly of the Biden administration’s recently announced “Inflation Reduction Act” recalls Orwellian slogans such as “Slavery is Freedom.” The plan will throw fuel on the flames of stagflation while accelerating environmental deterioration. The act would raise an estimated $739 billion through tax increases and heightened IRS scrutiny to then invest $306 billion in “deficit reduction” and $369 billion in “energy security and climate change” to “reduce carbon emissions by roughly 40 percent by 2030.” If ever there were a proposal that failed out the gate, this is one.
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Arizona Representative Paul Gosar (R-AZ-04) last week blasted the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022, a revival of President Joe Biden’s (D) “Build Back Better” (BBB) economic bill, saying the contents of the bill will not accomplish what the title promotes.
“Families can’t afford gas and groceries, yet democrats want to raise taxes and spends billions more of your hard-earned money. Instead of addressing the root cause of the recession: out-of-control government spending, Joe Biden and democrats are now doubling down on their Far-Left Socialist policies that put us into this inflationary death spiral,” Gosar said.
Former President Donald Trump should announce his election bid for 2024 on the Tuesday after Labor Day. Here’s why.
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TWIL: What everybody thought constituted a recession no longer does.
The Bureau of Economic Analysis announced that gross domestic product (GDP) fell by 0.9 percent in the second quarter. This follows a 1.6 percent contraction in the first quarter.
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China’s rise to rival the United States as a global superpower has been unprecedented. The last war between empires was centered around an arms race, and ended with the U.S. standing strong and solitary atop the world as the Soviet Union fell. But a new race has begun in those 30 years since. China sprinted ahead of the U.S., this time in the field of technology, and aims to stay there. But Congress and the Biden administration have other ideas.
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On Wednesday, a U.S. Senate vote to proceed with veteran-benefits legislation failed to receive the 60 votes needed for cloture, as Sen. Pat Toomey (R-PA) and other fiscal conservatives noted the PACT Act would have permitted up to $400 billion to be spent on unrelated programs.
Earlier this week, Toomey urged Senate colleagues to accept his proposed amendment to keep the bill focused entirely on aiding those who served in the Armed Forces.
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Georgia 6th Congressional District Republican Nominee Rich McCormick challenged Bidenomics and President Biden’s definition of the word ‘recession’ in a statement on Monday.
“‘Two quarters of declining GDP doesn’t mean we are in a recession’ is the new ‘Inflation is transitory.’ The Biden Administration should try to spend as much time trying to fix the economy as they do making excuses for it,” McCormick said.
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After recent criticism of President Biden’s ‘war on American energy,’ Georgia 11th Congressional District Representative Barry Loudermilk has called for Biden to resume the construction of the Keystone XL Pipeline.
Congressman Loudermilk relayed his thoughts to The Georgia Star News.
“For the U.S. to have a robust energy sector, it would first require having a President who believes in the oil and gas industry, not one who vilifies it at every turn. But if President Biden were to embrace returning America to energy independence, one of the first things he would do would be resume construction of the Keystone XL Pipeline,” Congressman Loudermilk said.
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In recent years, communities across Tennessee have considered pursuing a municipally-run broadband network. In July of 2021, this trend continued with the Knoxville Utilities Board’s (KUB) proposal for the largest municipal fiber network in the nation being approved unanimously by the Knoxville City Council. KUB’s broadband business plan came with a colossal $702 million price tag, as well as an estimated seven to ten year network build out, with the hopes of providing service to a four-county footprint, the majority of which would be located in Knox County, where the FCC estimates that 98.3% of the area has access to three or more broadband providers already.
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Last week, American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten tweeted the results of a poll of teachers showing “nearly 9 out of 10 respondents say schools have become too politicized.” As she put it, “AFT members were on the frontlines of the first wave of the pandemic, but in many ways the last year was even harder” due to “mask wars, culture wars, the war on truth, or the devastation in Uvalde.”
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New numbers from the Florida Department of Economic Opportunity (DEO) detailed the state’s unemployment rate in June continued to decline, remaining below the national average.
Furthermore, the state’s labor force grew by 40,000, which is roughly .4 percent. Again, the state outperformed the national average, which witnessed a decrease.
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Representative John Rose (R-TN-06) on Wednesday slammed an appropriations package passed by House Democrats that will increase the budgets of multiple federal agencies.
Rose contended that the increase in spending comes as individuals across the country are being crippled by increased inflation.
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A Chinese-dominated mining company has procured millions of dollars in American subsidies to extract lithium in the United States – but, given a dearth of U.S. processing capacity, the mineral is likely to be sent to China with no guarantee that the end product would return as batteries to power President Biden’s envisioned green economy.
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Try as they might to mitigate the severe energy crisis plaguing the U.S., the Biden administration’s attempt to shore up supply is a few wellheads short of an oil rig.
With gasoline prices averaging over $4.60 per gallon and several electric grid operators warning of rolling blackouts, increasing the supply of America’s most critical energy sources is vital. Fossil fuels account for 80% of America’s energy usage, yet the administration is intent on curbing oil and gas supply, cutting gasoline refining capacity, and making it more challenging to meet rising electric demands.
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Wisconsin gubernatorial candidate Tim Michels released a new economic plan that, he contends, will put “Wisconsin first.”
The candidate, who received the endorsement of former President Donald Trump, supported lower taxes and an increase in economic investments.
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Most of the time during campaigns, candidates lay out their visions for why they should be elected. But for Democrats in Georgia, that seems to be a difficult endeavor.
At a debate earlier this year, my opponent Charlie Bailey was asked point blank if there were any policy positions that he disagreed with Stacey Abrams on—to which he responded: “None that I can think of.” Let that sink in: A candidate running for statewide office in Georgia doesn’t have a single original policy position, agenda item, or vision of his own—so instead, he blindly swears allegiance to Stacey Abrams.
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There used to be an agreed-on body of wisdom, which both Left and Right, Republicans and Democrats, generally accepted. Heated arguments and invective centered on implementations and methods of solving problems, which at least both sides agreed were problems. Both ideologies accepted a common core of wisdom, despite their radical differences in interpreting it.
Joe Biden, Kamala Harris, and especially Biden’s strange cabinet of loud Jacobin amateurs, reject the very hallowed knowledge upon which civilization is based. In that sense the public has begun to recognize them as nihilist and anarchist. Nearly two out of three Americans in some polls hold unfavorable views of the Biden Administration. They fear that it is decoupled from both the past and reality, and quite capable of destroying their lives as they have known them.
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The Tennessee Department of Finance and Administration announced Friday that overall June state tax revenues exceeded budgeted estimates. On an accrual basis, June is the 11th month in the 2021-2022 fiscal year.
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Next week will mark one and a half years since Joe Biden became president on Jan. 20, 2021. On July 20, every American should look within and ask: “Am I better off than I was 18 months ago?”
To Biden’s credit, the unemployment rate has fallen from 6.4% when he took office to 3.6% in June. Today’s figure is a notch higher than the 3.5% joblessness that Americans enjoyed in February 2020, thanks to President Donald Trump’s Republican tax cuts, deregulation, energy dominance, and other pro-growth initiatives.
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In response to this week’s news of the consumer price index rising to 9.1%, Republican U.S. Sen. Rob Portman of Ohio gave a blistering summation and offered direction to the Biden administration.
Portman said numbers provided for Ohio indicate residents are spending an additional $8,300 a year on energy needs, food and clothing. Jonathan Church at the Bureau of Labor Statistics, contacted by The Center Square, responded in an email for response to getting state-specific index numbers, “The CPI program does not produce state-level indexes.”
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There is a real likelihood that the Republicans will win a big victory this fall.
However, defeating the Democrats because of their terrible performance will not be powerful or lasting. Republicans must defeat the Democrats because their values are wrong, and their policies simply can’t work.
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Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia said that he will not back a bill that includes climate provisions and tax hikes, according to The Wall Street Journal.
Manchin informed Sen. Majority Leader Chuck Schumer that he would only back legislation that includes provisions to reduce the costs of prescription pharmaceuticals and a two-year extension of Affordable Care Act subsidies on Thursday, the WSJ reported. The Democrats are rushing to reach a consensus on the bill before the August recess when legislators from both parties will begin to concentrate completely on bids for re-election.
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Prior to heading to Saudi Arabia, the U.S. energy industry invited President Joe Biden to visit American energy sites.
The Texas Oil and Gas Association, Texas Independent Producers & Royalty Owners Association, and over 25 U.S. energy associations invited Biden and his cabinet members to visit U.S. energy facilities throughout the U.S.
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Republican gubernatorial candidates support Line 5 as it exists and champion the proposed $500 million tunnel to house the pipeline 100-feet beneath the Straits of Mackinac.
Their Democrat opponent, incumbent Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, has been attempting to shut down the pipeline as well as prevent construction of the five-mile conduit, which would be buried beneath the lakebed of the Straits.
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In a run-up to what is likely to be a 2024 presidential bid, California Governor Gavin Newsom hit upon the bizarre idea of boasting in commercials that California is America’s true “free” state.
Part of his ad campaign is to attack Florida—currently run by Newsom’s possible rival, Governor Ron DeSantis.
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Thursday morning on The Tennessee Star Report, host Leahy welcomed Fox Business contributor and Wall Street expert Liz Peek on the newsmaker line to discuss the lies of President Biden, the lack of business skills in the White House, and the instability of Europe.
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