Biden Taps U.S. Oil Reserves for Political Reasons…Again

 

Ahead of the 2024 election and busy summer travel season, President Joe Biden announced over the weekend he will tap the Northeast Gasoline Supply Reserve in an effort to lower gas prices at the pump. 

Gas prices are down $1.40 from their peak after Russia’s war, but they’re still too high.

My Administration is releasing 1 million barrels of gasoline from the Northeast Gasoline Supply Reserve ahead of July 4th, which will lower prices at the pump when folks need it the most.— President Biden (@POTUS) May 28, 2024

White House Press Secretary Karine Jean Pierre touted the move Tuesday afternoon during the daily briefing. 

Karine Jean-Pierre brags about “lowering the price of gas” by “selling one million barrels of gasoline from the Northeast Gasoline Supply Reserve.”

FACT: The nationwide average for gas remains ~50% higher than the day Biden took office. pic.twitter.com/tikV5PicbT— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) May 28, 2024

The Northeast Gasoline Supply Reserve is supposed to be used in response to natural disasters or other emergencies that disrupt supplies, not to lower prices for political reasons. 

In 2012, Superstorm Sandy made landfall in the northeastern United States and caused heavy damage to two refineries and left more than 40 terminals in New York Harbor closed due to water damage and loss of power. This left some New York gas stations without fuel for as long as 30 days. As part of the Obama Administration’s ongoing response to the storm, the Department of Energy established the Northeast Gasoline Supply Reserve (NGSR); the first federal, regional, refined petroleum product reserve containing gasoline

Creation of the emergency stock of gasoline was authorized by Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz on June 20, 2014. Secretary Moniz directed the Office of Petroleum Reserves to establish a one million barrel gasoline component of the Strategic Petroleum Reserve in the Northeast. The intent was to create a buffer large enough to allow commercial companies to compensate for the initial impacts of interruptions in supply, but not so large as to dissuade the companies from maintaining stock levels sufficient to respond to routine disruptions or to recognize that increasing prices are an indicator that more supply is needed. A one million barrel emergency reserve would give Northeast consumers supplemental supplies for a few days in the event of a hurricane or other disruption, until existing distribution infrastructure could return to full operation.

Another Desperate Attack on SCOTUS Turns Out to Be Complete and Utter Garbage

 

An important piece of information emerged over the holiday weekend, and it’s important that it not get buried.  By way of background, the activist Left — very much including a large share of the ‘news’ media — has been doing its best to fabricate yet another entirely phony “scandal” against a conservative Supreme Court justice.  They’ve been actively pursing this strategy for years, funded by mountains of the sort of ‘dark money’ they pretend to abhor, for the purpose of eroding the Court’s legitimacy.  Let’s be explicitly clear: They are not doing so because they are genuinely concerned about “ethics.” They are not doing so because there are clear violations or conflicts of interests at play (this cynical brigade has shown zero interest in similar or more flagrant potential issues involving the Court’s leftist contingent).  They are doing so because the Court’s conservative majority is denying them the outcomes they desire.  It’s that simple.  They are laboring to tear down an institution that stands in the way of their extreme ideological project because they view and demand power as their ideological birthright. 

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This is dangerous, both to “our democracy,” about which they purport to care very deeply, and to the targeted justices.  We’ve witnessed the Democrats’ Senate leader specifically threaten members of the Court by name, earning a rare rebuke from the Chief Justice.  We’ve seen ugly, menacing protests outside the family homes of various justices.  And we’ve even seen a thwarted assassination attempt against Justice Brett Kavanaugh, which garnered shockingly little coverage.  As always, “civility” and “rhetoric” media panics cut in one direction among the progressives who run America’s widely-distrusted, ‘elite’ newsrooms.  And it’s from those newsrooms that the current, ludicrous controversy has emanated — driven by activists, and picked up by elected Democrats.  It’s ginned-up nonsense.  It’s embarrassing.  And it’s all so transparent.  The country is supposed to be scandalized by an upside-down American flag flown outside of Justice Sam Alito’s home in early January 2021.  The country was then instructed to be further appalled by the discovery of another, ‘insurrectionist-linked’ flag flying at his vacation home.  

Justice Alito has explained the 2021 incident, drawing incredulous heckles from the Left, but it turns out that his account aligns with contemporaneous reporting from the Washington Post.  Indeed, back at the time, the Post looked into the matter and found the episode so unremarkable that they didn’t even run a story on it.  But here we are, years later, and the manufactured outrage machine insists that everyone simply ignore this:

The Washington Post reveals they actually already discovered in Jan 2021 the Alito flag story was fake and chose not report it after they determined it was part of a neighborhood dispute not rooted in politics. It’s a good thing we didn’t let this all get out of hand! pic.twitter.com/B5i5fBxCUT— Philip Letsou (@philipletsou) May 25, 2024

It getting ‘out of hand’ was the whole point, of course.  But the fact remains that the Post dug into this flap more than three years ago and declined to report on it after concluding that the upside-down flag was hoisted by the justice’s wife, over a neighborhood dispute.  The dispute, it seems, originated from bouts of profane rudeness from left-wing residents: “Alito said that a neighbor had posted a sign saying ‘F**k Trump’ near a school bus stop and then a sign attacking his wife, Martha-Ann Alito. On a walk, the justice told Fox, the Alitos got into an argument with the neighbor, who used the term ‘c**t’ at one point. His wife then flew the inverted flag,” which is a sign of distress.  But the New York Times’ breathless reporting in recent days is designed to conjure up the impression that Alito is a pro-Capitol-riot, ‘stop the steal’ lunatic.  Facts that were explored and dismissed at the time have been resurrected and distorted, as part of a shameless political hit job.  As for the other ‘problematic flag,’ what an embarrassing attack:

Rather than retreat in humiliation, the Times doubled down this week with a follow-up report of yet another flag—this one right-side up—spotted at the Alitos’ vacation home in New Jersey. The left tells us that the 1775 Pine Tree flag was spotted among Jan. 6 protesters! And moreover, that its catch phrase, “an appeal to heaven,” derives from a radical character—John Locke. The Times somehow fails to let readers know that the flag is a longtime symbol of independence; that it was designed byGeorge Washington’s secretary; was flown on ships commissioned by Washington; has been honored, commemorated and flown over state capitols; and is the official maritime flag of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. It is currently displayed outside the office of the speaker of the House. Dozens of historic flags were toted to the Capitol on Jan. 6, as were copies of the Constitution and pictures of the American eagle. Are they all now symbols of “insurrection”?

The ‘Appeal to Heaven’ banner was never controversial or “linked” to January 6th until the journo class abruptly decided that it was, as part of a preposterous pile-on.  Beware the Trump insurrectionists who run…San Francisco?  

lest you think this was just 2019, the Appeal To Heaven flag was flying outside San Francisco City Hall in 2023 as well — the same time frame as at Alito’s beach house

Dastardly insurrectionists everywhere pic.twitter.com/x7oNSx2hct— Logan Dobson (@LoganDobson) May 25, 2024

The lengths to which people will go to re-write history on the fly, in service of craven politics, is creepy and Orwellian:

Wikipedia edits on the Pine Tree Flag page are fascinating.

On Wednesday, it was just a normal flag.

On Friday, it’s a now a symbol of Christian nationalism and right-wing extremism.

And the Popular Culture section on the HBO miniseries has been completely removed. pic.twitter.com/vIadtsCiyZ— Andrew Kerr (@AndrewKerrNC) May 24, 2024

Recall that a well-known dictionary company literally altered the definition of a term overnight, in support of a separate partisan assault against another current member of the Court.  Nevertheless, Senate Democrats — including many of the same cretins who seized upon the insane, debunked Julie Swetnick/Michael Avenatti ‘serial gang rape parties’ smear of Brett Kavanaugh to demand the withdrawal of his nomination — are pouncing on the humiliating, made-up flags ‘scandal’ to issue new demands.  They want Alito to recuse himself from certain cases.  They want new rules imposed on the justices.  They insist upon ’emergency’ meetings to address this garbage (they actually wrote the words “MAGA battle flags” in their idiotic press release).  And they’re making dark threats like this, via a conspiratorial lunatic and prominent all-white club member:

Raskin: “if and when we win back the House and the Senate and the White House we will look at the Supreme Court and figure out what can be done about that extremely corrupted and contaminated body.” Yes we will, brother. Yes we will.https://t.co/tqrffjtEnl— Sheldon Whitehouse (@SenWhitehouse) May 24, 2024

As an aside, Rep. Raskin, last seen cowering and caving to pro-Hamas mobs in Maryland, is quoted here railing against the “extremely corrupted and contaminated” Supreme Court over its, um, unanimous decision against a fringe, anti-democracy left-wing effort to force Donald Trump off of ballots.  The ‘corruption and contamination’ runs so deep that they’ve even gotten to Sotomayor, or something.  Do these people hear themselves?  What’s frightening is seeing them openly broadcast the sorts of power-grabs they would be willing to attempt against the Court if given the opportunity.  These sorts of people have contempt for our country and our system, assailing and bullying any check or balance that frustrates their thirst for political supremacy and power:

Nothing says don’t question the legitimacy of elections and “our Democracy” like “stolen seats.” pic.twitter.com/bRxZ8RMrnJ— Randy Barnett (@RandyEBarnett) May 25, 2024

No one should take seriously any lectures about democracy, institutions, or norms from these clowns.  And the hackery truly is off the charts.  Just look at these Senate Democrats go:

In 2016, Justice Ginsburg—not her spouse—weighed in against Trump’s election, suggested fleeing the country, and made comments about his tax returns.

Why did Senate Democrats not call for her recusal in any Trump case—including one about his taxes? https://t.co/4b3syltgwV pic.twitter.com/AMg9HpftuG— John McCormack (@McCormackJohn) May 25, 2024

They never called for RBG to recuse herself (just like they ignored ‘ethical issues,’ under their own, ever-changing, on-the-fly ‘standards’ from Sotomayor and others) because they don’t actually believe any of this rubbish.  They don’t adhere to consistent principles or standards.  They pursue whatever they feel like they must, in any given moment, to achieve political and ideological advantage.  That’s it.  Their pathetic histrionics should be ignored by the Court, but not by Republicans or voters.  These are radicals who pose an actual threat to the country’s governing institutions and the rule of the law.  They are aided and abetted by many in the news media.  They must not be entrusted with the power they covet and crave.  Speaking of histrionics, I’ll leave you with this:

“There are days that I come to my office, close my door, and cry.”

Justice Sotomayor says she often cries when SCOTUS announces a ruling:

pic.twitter.com/hD4F4IM8vO— End Wokeness (@EndWokeness) May 26, 2024

Given the Left’s fleeting rules from 2018 — when they claimed Brett Kavanaugh’s righteously furious reaction to being baselessly accused of gang rape painted a troubling portrait of his temperament and fitness for the beach — is Sonia Sotomayor emotionally stable enough to remain on the Court?  By the way, the Roberts Court is not actually very right-wing, isn’t unusually ‘activist,’ and Sotomayor is quite often in the majority.  That little emotive rant seems to be her way of previewing that the leftist screamers are not going to like a number of the rulings that will be announced in the coming weeks.  It may be time to further enhance the justices’ security details, given the dangerous, unhinged rhetoric and conduct that might once again follow — shamefully stoked by politicians at the highest levels of the inaptly-named Democratic Party.

Biden Not Fooling Voters on Economy

 

If you want to explain to a puzzled, left-leaning writer like The Atlantic's Annie Lowrey why most voters this year rate the economy during former President Donald Trump's term more favorably than the economy during President Joe Biden's, you might start with a pair of simple charts.

Lowrey said the Biden years have seen "the strongest economy the United States has ever experienced." She cited an unemployment rate below 4%, wage growth higher "than it was at any point during the Obama administration," and "stronger pay increases than any president since Richard Nixon." Inflation, she noted defensively, "has cooled off considerably."

All well and good, and you can hear similar thoughts from Democratic economists and Biden administration spokespeople, together, sometimes, with suggestions that many voters are, well, just not knowledgeable or sophisticated enough to appreciate the bounty the administration's policies have produced.

In response, look at the pair of charts tweeted by Republican consultant Patrick Ruffini as evidence of "how Joe Biden is losing the election with an economy like this." They come from an article in last weekend's Wall Street Journal by Greg Ip and Rosie Ettenheim.

After comparing rises in the Dow Jones average during the two presidencies, the writers explain that "a better measure of financial wealth is net worth: all assets, including stocks, bonds, cash and property, minus debts. Total household net worth rose 19% through Biden's first three years in office, according to Federal Reserve data -- not much less than the 23% through Trump's first three years."

That's reflected in the first of the pair of charts. The second takes inflation into account and shows the changes in household net worth. The first year of each administration saw modest increases, under 10%, but 15 months in, the lines diverge.

Real household net worth kept climbing during the Trump presidency, with some downward spikes roughly coinciding with the Nov. 2018 off-year elections and the imposition of COVID-19 restrictions. Altogether, inflation-adjustment household net worth grew a robust 16% during the Trump presidency.

In contrast, the line showing real household net worth during the Biden presidency shoots downward in summer 2022, following and perhaps sustaining the plunge of Biden's job approval rating after the botched withdrawal from Afghanistan.

For the last two years, real household net worth has mostly continued in negative territory, finally poking just barely above the Jan. 2021 level. For the total Biden presidency so far, Ip and Ettenheim reported, it is up a barely perceptible 0.7%.

Given these numbers, it should not be entirely mysterious why many people, including most partisan Republicans but many Democrats as well, don't believe they are witnessing "the strongest economy the United States has ever experienced."

It's true that most political commentary and the economic exhortation one can find in The New York Times opinion pages don't highlight changes in household net worth. But it may be a better index of voters' economic discontent (or contentment) than the oft-used unemployment or total income figures.

When I was growing up in Detroit in the 1950s, people lived in terror of unemployment. They had vivid memories of the Great Depression, in which stretches of unemployment could last for years, maybe permanently, and the absence of a regular paycheck meant meatless meals and raising vegetables in backyard gardens. You couldn't get through by using your credit card for groceries or school clothes (Visa was introduced in 1958 and was uncommon for the next decade).

Inflation operates differently today, too. Voters under 60 have had no significant experience with inflation in the U.S. When prices suddenly jump up by magnitudes entirely outside your experience (gasoline is up 48%, electricity is up 28%, pet food is up 24%, and restaurant meals are up 21%), and when they show no sign of falling back to familiar levels, you may be inclined to blame a national administration, particularly one that boasted of injecting vast sums into an economy that had high savings rates during the pandemic. And you may not take comfort from assurances that inflation "has cooled off considerably."

These days, most people are on a path to accumulate modest but significant wealth. They can withstand, with some pain, a bout of unemployment and low wage increases, as in 2007-17. But a spell of persistent inflation leaves them feeling they're falling behind. No wonder "Bidenomics" is a hard sell.

Meanwhile, Democrats' argument that Trump poses a threat to democracy is "not working," as Ezra Klein, Lowrey's husband, wrote in The New York Times. Most of the Biden-encouraged prosecutions of Trump have been postponed, perhaps indefinitely, and the kangaroo court proceeding in Manhattan is discrediting not the defendant but his prosecutors. On this, as on the economy, Biden strategists are better at fooling themselves than fooling the voters.

Oh, So That’s Why Lloyd Austin Is Going Back to Walter Reed

 

Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin will be back at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center on Friday evening — this time a planned visit disclosed ahead of time — according to Pentagon Press Secretary Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder. 

“Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III will undergo a scheduled, elective, and minimally invasive follow-up non-surgical procedure related to his previously reported bladder issue at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center,” a statement from Ryder explained.

“The Secretary has determined he will be temporarily unable to perform his functions and duties during the procedure, so Deputy Secretary of Defense Kathleen Hicks will assume the functions and duties of the Secretary of Defense and serve as the Acting Secretary of Defense,” the notice continued.

Ryder reiterated that “the Secretary's bladder issue is not related to his cancer diagnosis and has had no effect on his excellent cancer prognosis.” 

The Pentagon also said that President Biden and members of Congress had been notified of Austin’s temporary incapacitation and an update on the secretary’s status would be provided following the procedure.

Austin was diagnosed with prostate cancer in December and, as Townhall previously reported, unnecessarily turned into a scandal due to the way Austin handled the situation:

He went in for secret surgery on December 22. After a subsequent infection, Austin went back to the hospital and landed in intensive care. 

During this entire period, Austin never informed President Joe Biden or National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan of his absence. His deputy, who was on vacation in Puerto Rico at the time, was also not informed of Austin's condition until days into the hospitalization last week. Congress, in breach of federal law, was also left in the dark.

A subsequent investigation led to new protocol for transferring the secretary’s duties and notifying Congress and the White House, hence this Friday’s announcement.

Only Trump Can Launch and Win a War Against the DEI Army

 

Former President Donald J. Trump has consistently and correctly called out many in the Democratic Party, the left, and various Neocons who continually want to force our nation into military conflicts or outright war.

That acknowledged, maybe there is one "war" former President Trump could get behind.  One that he must get behind. That being a war against the far-left DEI policies which are threatening our health, our safety, and our national security.

Why Trump?

Earlier this month, the New York Times Frank Bruni spelled it out during an interview with Margaret Hoover over at PBS. 

HOOVER: “I want to talk about grievance on the left and then go to the right. On the left, you talk about how it can take the shape of what we call wokeism: critical race theory, DEI programs, and concepts like micro aggressions. Broadly speaking, do you think the left's embrace of these concepts has generated a backlash for the Democratic Party, and how?”

BRUNI: “Well, I'll answer your question about a backlash with two words, a proper noun actually: Donald Trump. I think when we examined all the reasons he had the success he did in 2016, a big share of that success was people saying, I'm tired of having my language patrolled. I don't want to worry about being canceled. I feel like there is this oppressive orthodoxy coming from the progressive left. And people responded positively to this man who just smashed through those rules, who said, I'm having none of it. Who kind of modeled a rebellion against that that they found cathartic and appealing. And I think that is the greatest example of backlash.”

Trump is the face of the backlash and I believe only Trump can defeat the DEI Army now overrunning every institution in our nation.

As I have stressed in the past, I don’t care if someone is gay, straight, trans, black, white, brown, male, female, faith-based, or atheist.  If that person is truly qualified for a job based on merit and experience alone, they should get it. Period. 

That commonsense qualification metric should apply to all jobs but most especially those in which human life could be at risk if the employee is not qualified.  A list that must include those who protect us, such as the police, firefighters, and the military; those who transport us, such as pilots, air traffic controllers, bus drivers, train engineers, and ship captains; and those in the medical field.  Just to name a few.

But, as we all know, every single one of those occupations has been upended by far-left DEI mandates which are threatening the health and safety of us all.  Some more than others.

One trend – which is truly alarming – is taking place in the medical and science fields.  Two recent reports – one in the Free Press and the other in the Washington Free Beacon – outlined how truly troubling and chilling this trend has become.  Both from a threat to a qualified healthcare and facts perspective as well as from a blatant and surely illegal discrimination against the qualified, perspective.

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As the Free Press headlined: “Yale Tells Hopeful Scientists: You Must Commit to DEI.”  As the piece went on to detail: “When making hires at Yale’s department of molecular biophysics and biochemistry, faculty are told to place “DEI at the center of every decision,” according to a document tucked away on its website.” A mandate which has infiltrated virtually every single college and university in our nation.

Next, we come to the report headlined in the Free Beacon:

“'A Failed Medical School': How Racial Preferences, Supposedly Outlawed in California, Have Persisted at UCLA.”

The report goes on to detail that “Up to half of UCLA medical students now fail basic tests of medical competence. Whistleblowers say affirmative action, illegal in California since 1996, is to blame.”  Again, this is a trend which is taking place at virtually every single medical school in the country.  The far-left deans and administrators are often choosing “identity politics” over merit and experience.

In deep blue Los Angeles, Mayor Karen Bass has stated that she is determined to remove "obstacles" for police recruits who fail to initially qualify for training as a means of further diversifying the Los Angeles Police Department.  Excuse me?

In response, Tom Saggau, spokesperson for the Los Angeles Police Protective League (LAPPL) responded: "We think that particular provision or that goal or that idea is dangerous. … If you have police officers that can't make minimum qualifications or attained minimum standards, for instance, there are recruits that have been in the academy that just can't score the minimum requirements for a physical fitness test. … One hundred is the maximum score, 50 is acceptable. There are folks that are scoring under 10. That's just dangerous."

More than “dangerous,” it’s insane.  And yet, that is now the far-left directive in every profession in which the safety of human beings is in the hands of those hired to be in control.

Such as the airline industry where certain airlines in both the United States and the European Union are pushing DEI mandates for the hiring of all pilots and co-pilots.  A policy so frightening that one senior pilot I spoke with said he chose to retire early rather than risk his life flying with unqualified pilots or on aircraft being maintained by unqualified mechanics. 

More than every profession, the DEI Nanny-State commands have infiltrated all of our military as well as our service academies.  “Go woke” is now the order of the day in the Navy, Army, Air Force, the Marines as well as at West Point, the Naval Academy, and the Air Force Academy. 

But, at what real cost to our national security, our personal health, our personal safety?  How long before we reach the tipping point where all is lost when it comes to ensuring such security and safety?

Before we reach that point of no return, I suggest that we launch -- and win -- a war against these self-destructive and dangerous DEI mandates.  We will need a leader and an all-volunteer army to win it, but I am confident with Trump taking charge, the enlistees are out there by the tens of millions.