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Thread: Had enough yet

  1. #3736
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    It’s good to be the president’s son!

    Twitter: Letting the sunshine in! Saying ‘no’ to suppression of free speech and censorship.

    Still no shame in Hunter Biden’s game

    https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/opini...8e50960ed00a5a

    When a political shyster has to rely on art critics for character references, you know things are looking grim. The only thing shakier is to count on your daddy’s Justice Department to prove your purity.

    A New York art gallery is featuring Hunter Biden’s artwork in a show opening Friday night. This is the latest triumph on the president’s son’s Redemption Tour.

    Hunter Biden is totally corrupt, sporadically depraved, and utterly untrustworthy. His “Laptop from Hell” exposed enough dirt to spur a deluge of federal charges. But instead of doing time, Hunter is being feted as if he were the resurrection of Vincent Van Gogh.

    Former federal ethics chief Walter Shaub observed that “we have no way of monitoring whether people are buying access to the White House. What these people are paying for is Hunter Biden’s last name.”

    For his first art show last year, Hunter, a former crack cocaine addict, showcased pieces created “by blowing ink on Japanese Yupo paper through a metal straw.” An art critic at New York magazine characterized Hunter’s work as “generic post zombie formalism illustration.” Another critic scoffed that Hunter’s work was “somewhere between a screen saver and if you just Googled ‘midcentury abstraction’ and mashed up whatever came up.”

    Hunter Biden is being honored like he is Vincent Van Gogh. But some art critics have praised Hunter’s work — confirming John Lennon’s adage that “Avant Garde is French for bulls–t.”

    But will Hunter remain free long enough to fulfill his artistic potential? The Washington Post reported on Oct. 6 that federal lawyers concluded there was sufficient evidence for criminal charges of gun laws and tax laws. A grand jury has met in Delaware and may resume in the coming weeks. Law professor Jonathan Turley warned that the Justice Department could offer Hunter a plea deal that could impede investigations by congressional Republicans of other crimes he committed.

    Have Justice Department lawyers deposed Hunter’s father about his knowledge or role in his son’s alleged crimes? If they haven’t talked to “the Big Guy,” is this all a charade?

    As long as Hunter hasn’t been indicted, Team Biden and their media allies can claim that he is innocent and vilify all his critics as extremists and maybe election deniers, too. So pop the champagne, come to the art show, and plop down thousands of dollars for zombie formalism (anonymously). Let the good times roll!

  2. #3737
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    Twitter exposing left / Big Tech attack on free speech and disinformation

    Every time you see a liberal reporter cry "disinformation" or see AOC mention "stochastic terrorism," know that what they're really doing is categorizing speech they disagree with as unprotected speech — thus speech fit to be censored.

    The Left’s endless string of censorship justifications

    https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/th...7ed41c14e41e09

    [I]Your First Amendment right to free speech is not absolute. The Supreme Court has found multiple exceptions, examples of speech that governments may abridge. Incitements to violence and true threats are two unprotected categories of speech. A third is fraud. Knowing this, you can begin to understand why politicians, commentators, and reporters on the Left often talk the way they do. They are trying to shoehorn conservative speech into a category of unprotected speech.

    Of course, the First Amendment applies only to government restrictions of speech. Big Tech or the major liberal media have every right in the world to deplatform, censor, or squash conservative arguments, facts, or jokes. these left-leaning institutions express liberal sentiments, which include the general principle of free expression. So now that the Left has such immense cultural power but sees itself losing political power, its best path is to become censorious while paying lip service to the principle of free speech. And the best way to do that is to lump opposing speech into an unprotected category.

    If you want to silence someone you disagree with, just declare that their speech is either a threat or incitement or somewhere in between.

    Yoel Roth, Twitter’s former chief censor, gave the most recent example. On a panel, he defended Twitter’s decision to ban the Babylon Bee for making a joke about Rachel Levine, a controversial transgender Biden administration official who is biologically male but identifies as a woman. “The targeting and victimization of the trans community on Twitter is very real, very life-threatening, and extraordinarily serious,” Roth said recently, citing the account Libs of TikTok.

    About the Babylon Bee’s joke, calling Levine the “Man of the Year,” Roth said, “Not only is it not funny, but it is dangerous, and it does contribute to an environment that makes people unsafe in the world.”

    The intellectual argument here involves the term “stochastic terrorism.” Armed with this notion, you can call any criticism of favored groups or people "incitement." This is one method the Left uses to cement its privilege into place and silence opposition.

    Fraudulent statements, likewise, are not protected speech. My freedom of speech doesn’t protect my right to claim that the water I’m selling is really wine. And that’s why liberal journalism moved away from disagreeing in opinion pieces and toward “fact-checking” and then flagging supposed “disinformation,” often flagging perfectly true pieces of information as false. This way, they could brand opinions they disliked as “lies” or “disinformation,” which in turn would give tech platforms an excuse to censor them.

    Fraudulent statements, likewise, are not protected speech. My freedom of speech doesn’t protect my right to claim that the water I’m selling is really wine. And that’s why liberal journalism moved away from disagreeing in opinion pieces and toward “fact-checking” and then flagging supposed “disinformation,” often flagging perfectly true pieces of information as false. This way, they could brand opinions they disliked as “lies” or “disinformation,” which in turn would give tech platforms an excuse to censor them.

    Every time you see a liberal reporter cry "disinformation" or see AOC mention "stochastic terrorism," know that what they're really doing is categorizing speech they disagree with as unprotected speech — thus speech fit to be censored.I]

  3. #3738
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    Biden and the left’s lies / hypocrisy on fighting for our democracy and free speech

    The ‘Twitter Files,’ continuing failing Biden administration policies, its corruption and lies leave one to question whether democracy and free speech played any part in this administration’s concern for the best interest of its citizens during the midterm elections.

    • Biden led us to believe he was going to reduce the national debt. Yet the federal debt widened to record $247 billion last month, and his administration has approved an application by Washington state to expand health insurance access for all residents regardless of immigration status by allowing it to forgo requirements set by the Affordable Care Act (ACA).

    • Former Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe said Sunday that it’s no "coincidence" Jim Baker got a top a job at Twitter after pushing the Russian collusion narrative during his time at the FBI. Ratcliffe, who served under the Trump administration, told "Sunday Morning Futures" anchor Maria Bartiromo that Baker, who was recently fired by new Twitter CEO Elon Musk for "suppression" of information, has a long history of anti-Trump, pro-Democratic bias at the FBI, and that he doesn’t believe it’s a coincidence that he wound up as Twitter’s deputy general counsel. “Jim Baker was working and taking actions that worked to the favor of Hillary Clinton or Democrats or to the left and universally working to the detriment of Republicans, conservatives and Donald Trump," he continued. "And that was all before he got to Twitter and got involved with suppressing the Hunter Biden laptop story."

    *Biden allies move to intimidate witnesses ahead of GOP’s coming Hunter probe

    https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/polit...80c9442d065573

    Just when you thought our politics could not get more poisonous, a recent meeting in California suggests the past is mere prelude. The Washington Post, which revealed the powwow, described it as Biden family “allies” planning an offensive to blunt any investigation into the Bidens’ alleged multimillion-dollar influence-peddling schemes.

    Republicans will see it more like the gathering of the Legion of (Democratic) Doom. Some of the most controversial political operatives are involved in the all-hands-on-deck effort to protect the Bidens. The California meeting’s host was none other than Hunter Biden’s friend, agent, and lawyer Kevin Morris. After Hunter was placed under investigation for, among other possible charges, tax evasion, Morris reportedly paid off as much as $2.8 million in back taxes for Hunter.

    For key witnesses like Bobulinski, the message is about as subtle as a two-by-four to the head. The Washington Post is viewed as one of the most pro-Biden newspapers in the country and only recently admitted the Hunter Biden laptop was authentic after pushing the false Russian-disinformation claim. Now the paper is detailing a plan that could create an open season on those who might try to substantiate the Biden family’s influence peddling.

    Various Democratic groups plan to attack efforts to disclose the Bidens’ multimillion-dollar efforts by attacking Donald Trump’s family. These include the Congressional Integrity Project, which recently hired Jeff Peck, the chief of staff to Biden when he was a senator. These talking points are already appearing in the media, which are heavily invested in denying any scandal connected to the family.

    • The distasteful Bout / Greiner prisoner exchange. According to a report from Reuters, Viktor Bout has already a Russian extremist group called the Kremlin-loyal ultranationalist Liberal Democratic Party. The party holds to “a hardline, ultranationalist ideology, demanding Russia reconquer the countries of the former Soviet Union,” Reuters reports.

    Though some believe Bout is no longer a threat and has been held accountable for his crimes, it’s certainly not good news that he’s already taking part in an extremist political party that advocates Russian imperialism just days after his release from the United States.

  4. #3739
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    Going to hell in a handbasket

    America today: sad!

    The Biden administration recently awarded a $172 million grant to the Vera Institute of Justice, an activist group backed by left-wing billionaire George Soros. The taxpayer funding will be used to provide lawyers to young illegal immigrants seeking to evade deportation. Administration officials and liberal activists view this legal aid as an act of compassion, but it's not. Making it easier for illegal immigrants to stay, even sympathetic younger ones, only incentivizes more people to make the dangerous journey, or hire smugglers to traffic their children across the border. Hundreds of immigrants die on this trip every year, and a much larger number face physical and sexual abuse.

    Texas Republican Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick torched the Biden administration's mishandling of the southern border as the state faces an overwhelming surge of migrant crossings. "You're talking about millions of people allowed to come into this country. That is not the duty of the president of the United States to allow our state of Texas to be invaded or this country to be invaded," Patrick said. Patrick now believes the crisis has swelled into an "impeachable offense" against President Biden, arguing the Founding Fathers would never have believed a president would allow this to happen. Patrick said Texas has spent billions of taxpayer dollars to "do the job the Biden administration is not doing," adding that the Border Patrol is "doing everything they can."

    President Biden wrongly claimed Tuesday that he lowered the national debt by $1.7 trillion — when in fact the debt grew by nearly $3.7 trillion during his first 23 months in office. Biden made the error while using the terms “deficit” and “debt” interchangeably during remarks touting the slight decline in the annual inflation rate to 7.1% in November. “We’ve done all of this while lowering the federal deficit in the two years we’ve been in office $1.7 trillion,” Biden said before incorrectly adding, “Let me say that again — $1.7 trillion we’ve lowered the federal debt.” The national debt was roughly $27.75 trillion when Biden took office, according to the Congressional Research Service. It is about $31.43 trillion today. And Biden is proposing to spend more on student loan forgiveness and providing free health care for illegal immigrants.

    While Elon Musk sits on a treasure trove of secrete Twitter files, liberal media networks NBC News, CBS News, ABC News, and CNN largely ignored the "Twitter files" on the air, with only MSNBC offering substantial coverage of the company’s internal documents in the past several days. While the files have dominated discussion on Twitter, a site known to facilitate discussions among members of the press, on-air coverage of the internal documents has been almost nonexistent. Since Friday, networks have only discussed the Twitter files for a combined total of 14 minutes. The term "Twitter files" has only been used six times on-air over the same span of time, according to a review of Grabien transcripts by Fox News Digital.

    TUCKER CARLSON: America's real problems are being ignored

    https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/tuck...oblems-ignored

    SEAN HANNITY: It's a national security crisis of epic proportions under Biden

    https://www.foxnews.com/media/sean-h...ns-under-biden

    The border crisis is not a priority for Biden, and he has no interest in visiting it. 5 million illegals crossing the border, hundreds of terrorists captured, 100,000 plus fentanyl deaths, billions in cost to the American taxpayer, nobody cares.

  5. #3740
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    Inflation, the hidden tax

    Still paying $3.53 for a gallon of gas and watching food and energy bills escalate. The White House is singing self-praise that inflation is cooling at 7.1% and that their policies are working. The following report says otherwise and is spot on.

    Why no one should rejoice over Biden's still-awful inflation numbers

    https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/rejo...lation-numbers

    If you listen to the White House, the latest inflation data is cause for celebration, like an early Christmas gift to America. Yet nothing could be further from the truth. Inflation is still crushing American families, and there’s no financial cause for rejoicing—a sad situation during the holiday season.

    The administration’s claims to be winning against inflation fly in the face of their own data. Since Biden took office, prices have risen 13.8 percent. In fact, prices have risen so much faster than wages that the average family has lost $5,800 in real annual income (i.e., what their incomes can actually buy). Conversely, real incomes rose $4,000 under President Trump.

    Add on to that the increased borrowing costs resulting from higher interest rates, and the average family is effectively $7,100 poorer today than when Biden became president.

    The administration’s fiscal and monetary policies are literally crippling people’s livelihoods, but you wouldn’t know that from the president’s speeches. He now cites a 7.1 percent inflation rate as an achievement. Those same speeches never acknowledge the fact his policies drove inflation from 1.4 percent at the time of his inauguration to 9.1 percent in less than two years.

    Yes, 7.1 percent inflation is better than 9.1 percent, but it’s surely nothing to brag about. At the current 7.1% pace, prices will still double in about a decade. That is a horrific rate of inflation, and it’s breaking the back of the middle class. Now the same president who told us inflation was transitory is predicting that it will be gone by the end of next year. Biden is always wrong, but never in doubt. The statistics from his own administration do not support that prediction at all.

    Meanwhile, the president has no plans to curtail Washington’s profligate spending, which is the ultimate driver of inflation. Inflation serves as a tax, but it’s a hidden one. That’s why many politicians don’t want it to go away. If you’re wondering where the government got the trillions and trillions of dollars it spent over the last two years, look no further than your family budget. Every time you pay more for groceries or gasoline, you are paying the hidden tax of inflation.

    Democrats have displayed no desire to get the nation’s fiscal house in order. And despite their political rhetoric, it’s unclear whether incoming Republicans in the House will have the political will to tell their Senate counterparts ‘no’ when it comes to massive deficit spending.

  6. #3741
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    Sad news, bad news, worse news

    Living in la-la-land Biden is touting the decrease in inflation, signing the Respect for Marriage Act which protects marriages of same-sex and interracial couples, bringing home Olympian and WNBA star Brittney Griner, lowering of gas prices, and new jobs.

    Biden declared at the U.S.-Africa Leaders’ Summit, "Including mobilizing $8 billion in public and private finance to help South Africa replace coal-fired power plants with renewable energy sources." This money couldn’t be better spent helping Americans at home?

    Biden promising $55 billion in reparations. Joe must have a money tree somewhere, right?

    Biden’s embarrassing hires – Sam Brinton, the nonbinary ex-Energy Department nuclear waste official facing major prison time.
    Transportation Secretary Buttigieg took 'personal trip' to Europe during intense rail strike negotiations.

    Dow Jones drops 764 points, recession predicted in 2023.

    As massive migrant caravans continue to cross the U.S.-Mexico border, one national security expert signaled the border crisis will only get worse for Americans - and their pocketbooks - once the Biden administration drops Title 42.Thus far, the number of illegal immigrants who have crossed the border under President Biden’s watch is estimated to cost the U.S. taxpayer more than $20 billion each year, according to the Federation for American Immigration Reform.

    CNN reporter Oliver Darcy trashed Elon Musk’s "Twitter Files" drop on Thursday morning, reiterating claims the revelations provide "no evidence" that Twitter worked with the government to censor certain stories, and blasted the new Twitter owner for not allowing newsrooms, like CNN’s, to have access to the internal company documents. Mind boggling, eh? Years of claiming disinformation and silence on Hunter and they now want in!

    First lady Jill Biden, despite being so worn out from a recent circuit of White House events that she lost her voice, is now seriously looking ahead to her husband running for reelection in 2024. That’s a tidal shift from her position just three months ago. Jill Biden is now “all in” on the idea, according to a person who works with the East Wing. Jill saw Joe’s shadow today and predicts 6 more years of Biden in office. Two-thirds of voters voice not wanting to see a Biden-Trump rematch in 2024.

    Just another day in the Biden administration. We never had it so good, right?

  7. #3742
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    Ukraine: Russia’s barbaric strategy to kill, terrorize, and create unbearable hardship

    So much disinformation and false hope is presented by NATO allies and the media to indicate the Russians are in a bad way, losing militarily, showing signs of exhaustion and despair, and a willingness to negotiate. Nonsense!

    Ukraine defense minister Halushchenko warns Putin and the Russians are preparing a major offensive in the coming year and the Ukraine continue to suffer untold hardships, more so in the winter months and with its infrastructure being destroyed.

    Russia Targets Infrastructure Across Ukraine in Latest Barrage

    https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world...e1bac821432185

    Russia fired a barrage of missiles targeting energy infrastructure in Kyiv and other Ukrainian cities Friday, part of a campaign to wear down its adversary while rebuilding for what Kyiv officials expect will be a renewed Russian ground offensive next year.

    Emergency blackouts were introduced across the country because of damaged energy facilities in several regions. Ukraine’s energy minister, Herman Halushchenko, said Friday on Ukrainian television that some nine power-generating facilities were affected as well as electricity substations. The campaign targeting Ukraine’s energy infrastructure began in October after Gen. Sergei Surovikin was put in charge of Russia’s war in Ukraine. Since then, Russia has fired hundreds of missiles at power-generation facilities, heating equipment and elements of the country’s power grid, also deploying Iranian-made drones to overwhelm Ukraine’s patchwork of air defenses.

    The Kyiv School of Economics assessed the damage to Ukraine’s infrastructure since the start of the invasion in February at $135.9 billion as of last month. It said the damage to Ukraine’s energy infrastructure alone was at least $6.8 billion. Russian President Vladimir Putin last week vowed to continue the campaign. “There’s a lot of noise about our strikes on the energy infrastructure of a neighboring country,” Mr. Putin said. “Yes, we do that.”

  8. #3743
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    Often times it pays not working in the Biden administration

    The labor force participation rate was 62.1% last month, notably lower than the 63.4% mark it was at before the coronavirus pandemic struck the United States in March 2020. Unemployment benefits and Obamacare subsidies outpace median income in several states. In 14 states unemployment benefits and ACA subsidies for a family of four with two people not working amounts to an annualized equivalent of $80,000 a year in wages and benefits. Those benefits come out to over $100,000 in three states – Washington, Massachusetts, and New Jersey.

    Most Americans believe in a reliable government safety net in America, so that when people fall on tough times or lose their jobs, their families will not go hungry, lose their homes, or suffer deprivation. But most Americans also believe that government assistance should be short-term and aimed at quickly getting people back on their feet, into a job and on the road to being financially self-sufficient and a contributor to our economy. Today’s welfare programs are failing to accomplish that goal.

    Families earning half a million dollars a year can receive Obamacare subsidies? Or that in some states, unemployment insurance benefits can be equivalent to a job with an annual pay of $100,000? It’s shocking but true, and it might explain why so many businesses can’t get workers back on the job almost three years after COVID-19 hit these shores. Today there are still at least 3 million fewer Americans working than there were in 2019.

    There are many reasons for the worker shortage today, but one is that in many states, welfare pays more than or nearly as much as respectable middle-class jobs.

    The value of these benefits can be staggering — much higher, in fact, than many blue-collar professions. In the study with the Committee to Unleash Prosperity, the following was found:

    • In 24 states, unemployment benefits and Obamacare subsidies for a family of four with no one working are the annualized equivalent of at least the national median household.

    • A family making almost a quarter of a million dollars annually still qualifies for Obamacare subsidies in every state.

    •  In a dozen states, the value of unemployment benefits and Obamacare subsidies exceeds the salary and benefits of the average teacher, construction worker, electrician, firefighter, truck driver, machinist or retail associate.

    •  In New Jersey, a family of four can receive benefits equal to an annualized earned income of $108,000 with no one working.

    •  In Connecticut and New Jersey, a family earning $300,000 a year can receive Obamacare subsidies

    •  New Jersey is a state where a family can earn the equivalent of $100,000 a year if both parents are collecting unemployment benefits and Obamacare subsidies for health care. In Connecticut, the benefits can reach $80,000.

    Fairness and equity, eh?

  9. #3744
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    Title 42 restrictions are scheduled to end: or maybe not!

    The Title 42 restrictions, which allow US officials to turn away asylum seekers and other migrants at the border, had been set to end on Wednesday. The White House urged Congress to provide additional border funding as the administration braces for another potential migrant surge if pandemic-era restrictions at the center of a court battle are lifted.

    At the same time, the Department of Homeland Security said it would comply with a Supreme Court order that keeps in place a provision allowing migrants to be swiftly sent back to Mexico.

    White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said the administration was bolstering resources on the southern US border and planning for a new influx of migrants, already at record numbers, but that lawmakers had to quickly act on President Joe Biden’s request for additional aid.

    “We need Congress to give us the funds we’ve requested to do this in a safe, orderly and humane way,” Jean-Pierre said on Monday.

    The Title 42 restrictions, which allow US officials to turn away asylum seekers and other migrants at the border, had been set to end on Wednesday. But after Jean-Pierre’s comments, US Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts temporarily blocked the scheduled ending of the border rule, while the high court considers a bid from Republican state officials who want to keep Title 42 in place while litigation plays out.

    US officials recorded more than 2 million migrant encounters at the US-Mexico border in fiscal 2021 – and over 2 million this year. Title 42 was used to expel migrants more than one million times that year.

    The administration is seeking $3.5 billion from Congress to help offset the cost of the impending surge, a surge the result of Biden policies. White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said congressional Republicans, who have seized on the surge in migrant crossings to criticize Biden over his immigration policies, should work with Democrats to provide the Homeland Security the funds it needs.

    Jean-Pierre, Homeland Secretary Mayorkas, Democrats, and the media are unashamedly and foolishly claiming the border is secure, that there is no border crisis, and if there is a problem it’s Trump’s fault.

    Congressional Democrats are racing to spend almost $2 trillion more before the clock runs out on a massive omnibus bill that will likely contain more than 7,500 earmarks. The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget warned that Congress’ year-end spending rush could enact changes that “add up to $4.5 trillion to 10-year deficits in a worst-case scenario.”

    Sir ‘Spendalot’ Biden is responsibly spending our money, right?

  10. #3745
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    Electrification: Energy roadmap

    With the impending storm about to hit this area, and during the storm, the following insightful and provocative report from Buffalo News on electrification, its benefits, its costs, its supply, abundance, and mandates will weigh upon the public regarding their means and access – especially when 60 % of Americans declare living paycheck-to-paycheck.

    It is time to realistically discuss the feasibility of meeting time related green energy goals vs the elimination of fossil fuels – use of gas generators, gas fireplaces, cooking with gas, etc. The ‘experts’ speculation is often so much BS.

    Benefits, and costs, lie ahead in state's new energy roadmap

    Plan raises concerns on supply of electricity

    New York's new energy roadmap calls for drastically altering energy use in New York State homes and businesses in the years ahead.
    It also illustrates the stark choices between the environmental benefits of reducing the use of climate-changing fossil fuels and the potential costs of making those changes.

    But everything isn't finalized just yet. And there are concerns that New York won't be able to build up its electricity-generating capacity fast enough to meet all the new demand that the roadmap will create.

    Broadly speaking, the plan contains recommendations for shifting the state away from fossil fuels toward electrification, in everything from appliances to commercial buildings.

    While the plan lays out the projected benefits – making steep cuts in harmful emissions and protecting public health – there are potentially significant costs that come with achieving those ambitious goals, for homeowners, businesses, and the state's power grid.

    The state Department of Environmental Conservation was tasked with writing the rules stemming from the plan's recommendations. Gov. Kathy Hochul and the State Legislature next year are expected to play a role in implementing some elements of the plan, opening the door to lobbying by both proponents and critics that could yield changes in the months ahead.

    Supporters are pushing to make the recommendations a reality, arguing that the state can't afford to wait any longer to combat climate change and start moving away from fossil fuels. The state is aiming to cut greenhouse gas emissions from 1990 levels by 40% by 2030, and 85% by 2050.

    Critics are questioning some elements of the plan, such as the cost of retrofitting homes and businesses to move away from fuels such as natural gas, and whether the state's power grid will have the capacity to handle the ramped-up demand for electricity.

    The cost to homeowners

    For homeowners, elements of the plan are expected to start taking effect around 2025. Starting then, newly built homes' appliances would have to run on a zero-emission system like a heat pump, instead of natural gas. In existing homes, that same standard would start to apply in 2030, once appliances reach the end of their lifespan.

    Critics say the plan doesn't give homeowners a clear picture of the conversion costs coming their way.

    In a study prepared for the New York State Association of Realtors, Rosen Consulting Group said the overall costs to retrofit a typical, existing natural gas-powered single-family home in the state range from $17,400 to $31,700, including an air source heat pump, water heater, cooktop range, clothes dryer, and electrical modifications. Those costs wouldn't hit all at once. They would be incurred as individual appliances are replaced over time, at the end of their lifespan.

    "Financial incentives, such as rebates and tax credits, are likely to be key factors in terms of facilitating and expediting adoption of electrical heat pumps and other appliances," the study said.

    Allison Considine, senior representative for the Sierra Club's Beyond Coal campaign in New York, said the changeover is intended to be gradual.

    "All of this is about targeted, phased-in investment," she said. "Nothing in this plan is requiring a homeowner to change out their perfectly good boiler today and make that conversion, which would be expensive." The plan calls for incentives that would be aimed at low and moderate-income communities, she said.

    Considine said it was premature to say with certainty the cost of converting systems starting about seven years from now.

    "I think we're going to see a continued decrease in the cost of these systems," she said.

    Another issue is homeowners' energy bills after conversion. Census data show that nearly 90% of homes in the Buffalo Niagara region are heated with natural gas, which is regarded as the least-expensive heating fuel.

    The Rosen Group study said that the annual energy bill could rise between nearly $450 and nearly $700, in homes that implement "relatively standard electrification upgrades with minimal additional efficiency upgrades."

    On the other hand, the study said, it was "quite likely" that switching to electrification could generate "significant savings" for homes that rely on other, more expensive fuels, such as propane or heating oil.

    James E. Hanley, a fellow with the Empire Center for Public Policy think tank, casts doubt on the Climate Action Council plan's forecast that from 2030 onward, a quarter of a million homes annually in the state will switch to heat pumps.

    "What is instead likely to happen is that before 2030, homeowners will rush to replace aging gas and propane furnaces, planning to hang onto them as long as possible," he wrote in a report Tuesday.

    Will there be enough electricity?

    The energy targets in the Climate Action Council's plan will require a lot more electricity in the coming years, to power homes, buildings, and vehicles.

    The New York Independent System Operator, which manages the state's power grid, said in a recent report that by 2030, about 20 gigawatts of additional renewable power generation – a 54% increase from the state's current generating capacity –must be in service to support the state's energy policy target of 70% renewable generation.

    And by 2040, between 111 gigawatts and 124 gigawatts of total generating capacity will be needed to support the climate law's mandate of an emissions-free grid, roughly three times the current capacity of 37 gigawatts, according to the New York ISO.

    "For us as a utility, it's going to be important to build an energy system that can meet those evolving needs of the energy transition," said Huck Montgomery, senior manager of regulatory delivery for National Grid. "It's a focus of our whole company."

    Gavin Donohue, president and CEO of the Independent Power Producers of New York, questioned how much it would cost to upgrade the state's power grid, who would pay for it, and how the grid's reliability would be assured.

    "Just saying we care about reliability but in essence doing nothing about it is troubling," said Donohue, who was one of three council members to vote no. "If you're going to build out this grid to the level we're talking about building it out, you're going to need a significant amount more of resources that are zero emitting."

    The Sierra Club's Considine said she agrees much more electricity will be needed on the grid, but believes the goals are realistic, and said the plan was designed with reliability in mind.

    "Right now, we are on track both with the amount of renewable energy we have contracted and with the recommendations in the plan to increase our buildout of renewable energy and strengthen the grid to have a reliable grid," she said.

    How will state government do it?

    Conor Bambrick, director of climate policy for Environmental Advocates NY, said many elements of the plan will be implemented by state agencies using their regulatory powers.

    "Now that the plan is approved, I anticipate the Legislature will seek to work with the governor to advance legislation as needed," Bambrick said. "Our role will be to educate the public and lawmakers to build support for the plan and its implementation."

    The final version of the plan says that for the "next several years and beyond, the implementation of the Climate Act necessitates an all-hand-son-deck approach across state government, with input from a broad array of stakeholders, technical advisers, and experts."

    "Many strategies in the (energy roadmap) also require action on the part of local governments or the state legislature," the plan says.
    National Fuel Gas Co. "will participate in all upcoming regulatory proceedings, strongly advocating for energy policies that prioritize consumer affordability and grid resiliency," said Donna DeCarolis, president of National Fuel's utility business.

    DeCarolis, a council member, voted against the plan, which would threaten the demand for the natural gas that National Fuel's utility business transports.

    Considine said she envisions changes being made to existing state regulations, to reflect the recommendations in the Climate Action Council's plan.

    "Advocates will also be looking to lock in some of the good recommendations with legislation and make sure that
    specificity and dates are reflected in the law," she said.

    The plan will also require a lot more state funding, Considine said: "Creating more revenue structures, making sure the state budget is aligned with the recommendations, is going to be another big priority."

    Dottie Gallagher, the Partnership's president and CEO, said now that the council has approved the plan, "state legislators will have no choice but to engage and explain to their constituents how New York state is going to ensure affordable and reliable energy, especially since the (council's) plan fails to address either in any meaningful way."

    New Yorkers for Affordable Energy, a coalition of businesses and utilities, plans to poll state residents about the plan's contents and share the results with state lawmakers, said executive director Michelle Hook.

    "I think the thing that resonates most with elected officials is public sentiment, because it's their constituents," she said. "They want to do what their constituents want."

  11. #3746
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    America needs actual leadership

    Americans should be outraged. While the United States teeters on the brink of a complete meltdown at the border, the Biden administration is still consumed with blame-shifting and evasions. The border is secure, there is no crisis, and whatever happens at the border is the fault of the prior administration and beyond anyone’s control. And no matter how bad things get, it is definitely not in any way a “crisis at the border” — a phrase as taboo at the Biden White House as “black sheep” and “ladies and gentlemen” at Stanford University; or that we should stop calling ourselves Americans..

    The president has broken campaign promises, fibbed about what’s actually going on at the southern border and disgraced our U.S. immigration officers, even saying that he has "more important things to do," than visiting the border.

    The issue of border security is a soft underbelly for the left and one needs to come to the realization that it is costing much more than taxpayer money, it is costing actual lives from illegal drugs entering the country. We need to judge a president by his actions, not his words; we have an obligation to hold him accountable.

    After Trump hosted two outspoken antisemites for dinner last month, Biden tweeted a blunt condemnation of bigotry and the White House launched a new task force to combat antisemitism. Minutes after Trump suggested terminating parts of the Constitution to overturn his 2020 election loss, and the White House issued a statement chastising the former president and defending the “sacrosanct document.” Trump is being held accountable for his every action – and rightfully so.

    Not so with Biden

    Biden’s stewardship of the economy has been inept. Chaos has been spawned by high inflation, crime, immigration, and homelessness and will motivate voters far more than any Democratic effort to paint all Republicans as extremists.

    While MyPillow CEO and ardent Trump ally Mike Lindell baselessly questions whether Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis legitimately won his re-election bid in November, his prior baseless claims have led to him facing a $1.3 billion lawsuit filed by voting technology company Dominion , as well as another lawsuit from voting systems company Smartmatic. Moronic!

    Equally Moronic

    It has been 700 days since President Joe Biden took office and as a direct result of his lax border policies we now reap one of the largest humanitarian and national security crises our nation has ever seen.

    The idea of a country protecting its sovereignty appears to be an obscure concept for our president and progressive elected officials. Mr. President, you took an oath to protect the citizens of our country, but you are abdicating your responsibility to secure our border as commander-in-chief.

    Any rational person can see the danger flooding into our country. The likes of MSNBC, CNN and the New York Times will not report the truth because it simply doesn’t help the Democrat’s cause. On immigration, the left stands to lose as the "welcoming" or "humane" party. Encounters at the southern border have spiked to over 2.3 million migrants in 2022, up from 458,000 in 2020. That is an increase of 1.9 million migrants in under two years – larger than the entire city of Dallas, Texas to put things into perspective.

    Wake up America! We are being led by a ship of fools, the captain utterly inept and incapable. An embarrassment!

    What did he say?

    https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/wh...b00c83da4f370b

  12. #3747
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    Near halfway mark of first term, Biden points to legacy-defining achievements

    By Zeke Miller ASSOCIATED PRESS - Dec 28, 2022*

    WASHINGTON – When he ran for the White House, Joe Biden told voters his presidency would be a bridge to the next generation. His first two years on the job have revealed it to be a much more ambitious venture.

    As he nears the halfway mark on his first term, Biden is pointing to legacy-defining achievements on climate change, domestic manufacturing, and progress on the Covid-19 pandemic — all accomplished with razor-thin majorities on Capitol Hill and rather dim views from the public.

    Biden's legislative accomplishments extend to nearly every aspect of American life – although their impact may take years to be felt in some cases — and his marshaling of a global coalition to back Ukraine's defenses and of democracies against China's growing influence will echo for decades. He defied history in the midterm elections, persuading voters to stick with his vision of long-term gains despite immediate concerns about inflation and the economy.

    It turns out his conception of the job is about far more than restoring democratic norms and passing the baton, as the 80-year-old president looks toward an announcement in early spring that he'll run again despite his record-setting age.

    The road ahead will be far tougher: Republicans take control of the House on Jan. 3, the threat of recession looms during stubbornly high inflation, and sustaining support for Ukraine will be harder as the conflict approaches the one-year mark.

    The next two years also will be complicated by a heavy overlay of 2024 presidential politics. And whatever Biden's accomplishments, his job approval rating remains underwater, and voters have expressed doubts about his capacity to lead. Biden swats away questions about his ability to hold up with a dismissive "watch me."

    Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo, echoing a refrain among presidential aides from chief of staff Ron Klain on down, says Biden has been "frequently underestimated."

    "I don't think he ever thought of himself as a caretaker," she said. "He came in with an unbelievably ambitious agenda, and a core belief that he had to preside over many investments in America and American workers, American infrastructure, American manufacturing, that presidents had not done or not been able to get done for decades before him."

    In the 2020 campaign, Biden offered himself as an experienced hand ready to step in to stabilize a pandemic-weary nation, but who was also mindful of a clamoring for fresh leadership.

    "Look, I view myself as a bridge, not as anything else," Biden said in March 2020, as he campaigned in Michigan with younger Democrats, including now-Vice President Kamala Harris, Sen. Cory Booker of New Jersey, and Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer. "There's an entire generation of leaders you saw stand behind me. They are the future of this country."

    A week later, he swatted back at primary rival Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders' agenda saying, "People are looking for results, not a revolution."

    Those statements have often been thrown back at Biden by Democratic critics of two minds: moderates who have wanted him to curb the ambition of his agenda as he's navigated an often-rocky legislative path, and progressives urging him to step aside in 2024.

    "Nobody elected him to be F.D.R.," Rep. Abigail Spanberger, D-Va., told The New York Times

    Meanwhile, some prominent Democrats have publicly declined to endorse Biden's re-election when confronted with the question, and the progressive group Roots Action is running ads in New Hampshire — recently unseated by Democrats as the first state on the primary calendar — calling on Biden to step aside for younger blood in 2024.

    Biden aides and allies argue that such critics miss the point — that Biden never set out merely to keep the seat warm for the whippersnappers to follow, nor does he believe he's finished the job. His successes of late have quieted many doubters— though some in his party still harbor private doubts.

    "He couldn't have thought about it more differently," said Kate Bedingfield, the White House communications director and longtime Biden aide.

    "He's leading with his experience, and the next generation is leading alongside him."

    Bedingfield pointed to Biden's relatively youthful Cabinet and to Democratic candidates across the country who won election in the 2022 midterms by running on the president's agenda.

    Says Democratic political consultant Jesse Ferguson: "He's not giving a hand-off; he's really giving a leg up to the next generation and people are responding to that."

    For restive young voters who may have once gravitated toward the younger crop of Democrats, Biden pollster John Anzalone said the president is offering proof of "getting things done for the new generation."

    "You saw that in how they voted in the 2022 cycle, and you'll see that in 2024," he added.

    Yet while younger voters skewed toward Democrats in the 2022 midterms, their enthusiasm waned from 2020, when dislike for the chaotic presidency of Donald Trump drove them to the polls in greater numbers. It's a potential warning sign for Biden, especially if the GOP nominates a fresh face.

    Biden entered the White House almost two years ago with pent up expectations but long odds for delivering on them with the slimmest of margins in Congress. Right out of the gate, he secured passage of the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan. But then he quickly ran into hurdles with a series of even larger proposals first billed as the "American Families Plan" and later the "Build Back Better" package.

    A tortuous period of on-again, off again talks with West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin pared back those proposals and weighed down Biden and his White House for months, even after passage of the $1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure law.

    In the legislative morass and the fallout from the darkest moment yet of Biden's presidency — the chaotic withdrawal of American forces from Afghanistan last summer — Biden's approval rating plummeted.

    It wasn't until mid-2022, as the midterm elections loomed, that Biden was able to break through the gridlock and secure legislation that would make for the most productive first-term Congress since President Lyndon Johnson, with bipartisan action on gun violence and rebooting domestic high-tech manufacturing, and Democrats only investments in combating climate change and lowering drug costs.

    "He had a big ambition for this presidency, in particular the need to make generationally important investments in the country, things that have been left undone, really for years, in many cases — the investment in the country itself," said Biden senior adviser Steve Richetti. Biden, he said, set out to "restore the sense of what the presidency and what a president are capable of."

    Still, Biden fell short on some popular 2020 campaign promises, particularly on what his aides had billed as "human infrastructure" like free community college—apriority of first lady Jill Biden — expanding paid family leave and early childcare. And his fall pledge to forgive much of the nation's publicly held student debt has been frozen pending Supreme Court arguments in February.

    Biden's next two years, aides say, will be necessarily constrained. Democrats lost unified control of Congress and his priorities will shift toward implementing new initiatives and reminding Americans of their impact as he heads into reelection. Biden, they said, will continue to look for areas of bipartisan cooperation, but little is expected on his biggest priorities like banning assault-style weapons and codifying a nationwide right to abortion.

    Instead, he'll look to highlight and build upon popular programs, like a $35 monthly cap on insulin costs for th

    "The next two years are about those solutions impacting people's daily lives and that starts with the insulin cap on Jan. 1," Ferguson said.

    Comment

    * What a "Lean Left" Rating Means

    Sources with an AllSides Media Bias Rating of Lean Left display media bias in ways that moderately align with liberal, progressive, or left-wing thought and/or policy agendas. A Lean Left bias is a moderately liberal rating on the political spectrum.

    Zeke Miller is a young millennial journalist supposedly devoid of political bias.

    Is this the Biden with which you are familiar with? Leading us in the right direction? Tearing America apart and building it back better?

    Didn't realize AP was in the tank for Biden.

  13. #3748
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    Democrats and their media lackeys unending quest to fool all the people all the time

    Repeat a lie often enough,,, Throw enough stuff against the wall,,,

    From the Washington Examiner

    The Washington Post is confident that next year will be much happier — at least for Democrats, declaring the guardrails of democracy and the rule of law will be reestablished. But the Post’s glorified guardrails include a “Do Not Enter” sign for Hunter Biden’s laptop and plenty of other untouchable /unmentionable Democratic domestic and foreign policy failures.

    Post columnist E.J. Dionne whoops up “the next generation” and valorizes “democratization powered by the energy of the young.” But the most visible example of Millennials’ and Gen Z’s activism is their endless clamoring to have their federal student debt expunged. When did forcing other people to pay your debts become the height of idealism?

    Democratic senators will help safeguard “the constitutional rights that make us a beacon for the world.” As long as the Post continues ignoring how federal agencies trample those constitutional rights, Americans will live happily ever after.

    Trump and George Santos get pilloried for their lies but Joe Biden get a pass for his lies.

    Post columnist Helaine Olen ¬laments that “the past few years have not been kind to in-person gatherings,” leaving people “isolated.” Happily, people are “again going to gatherings large and small.” This is “no fault” punditry at its worst. It would be bad form to castigate the politicians and officials whose lockdowns destroyed freedom, subverted education, and spurred soaring rates of suicide, drug abuse and alcoholism with lockdowns that dismally failed to stop the spread of COVID. Instead, people are supposed to forget everything that happened before they were let out of their cages.

    The Post omitted one of the biggest reasons why liberals are hopeful for 2023. “Big Brother is protecting you,” Mayor Adams declared last week. The fierce backlash against Elon Musk for exposing FBI censorship of social media vivifies how liberals trust federal blindfolds to keep people in their place, paying and obeying. Perhaps liberals are confident that G-men will yank the same strings to boost Biden’s ¬reelection campaign that they illegally pulled to aid his 2020 ¬victory.

    Regardless of the Post’s wacky list, there are plenty of reasons for hope next year. Republican-controlled congressional committees could expose so many federal crimes that even The Washington Post will have to notice. Backlashes in financial markets may compel politicians to cease spending trillions of dollars that they don’t have. And more Americans are finally recognizing that, regardless of Biden’s preening or the media’s cover-ups, the federal government is the most dangerous threat to their rights and ¬liberties.


    Republicans

    As for the Republicans, they continue to eat their young. Between both parties struggles, lies, and infighting the one saving grace is that we very likely will not find Trump or Biden as their party’s endorsed presidential candidate in 2024.

    Politics, no longer the art of compromise and acting in the best interest of the public, rather the art of obfuscation, outright lying, divisiveness to further one's own agenda and best interests. It won't take long for registered independents to become the major party as the general public has had enough of the Democratic and Republican Party BS!

  14. #3749
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    Who dares to mock Dark Brandon now? Joe Biden keeps rolling up the wins
    Salon Magazine*


    https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/polit...e65a6c4ac3882a

    Biden has turned out to be full of surprises. Rather than just acting as a kindly old caretaker president until the new generation can take the wheel, his administration has been a flurry of activity, passing more Democratic domestic legislation than any president since Lyndon Johnson in the 1960s. To name just a few, he signed into law the huge American Rescue Plan in the spring of 2021 (with no Republican votes); the $740 billion Inflation Reduction Act, with massive investments in climate policy and health care; the $280 billion CHIPS Act, funding a vital semiconductor industry in the U.S.; the PACT Act to help veterans; and the first federal gun control legislation in almost 30 years. In the big omnibus spending bill just passed during the lame-duck session, he got the Electoral Count Act included as a step toward avoiding another Jan. 6 debacle. Finally, Biden pushed through and signed the Respect for Marriage Act, offering at least some protection to same-sex couples against the inevitable assault from right-wing judges and legislators. Some of that legislation was even bipartisan, which seems like something out of an old black-and-white movie at this point.

    A lot of important items were left on the cutting room floor. No voting rights reform, no new child tax credit, and no subsidies for the elderly. There are a dozen other worthy programs I could name. Important tax legislation was nixed by Sinema for inexplicable reasons. Nonetheless, what remained is substantial and meaningful, and frankly kind of miraculous considering the narrow Democratic majority and the toxic political climate.

    The withdrawal from Afghanistan, which was proposed by both Obama and Trump but never actually carried out, was messy, but everyone knew it would be. Biden showed admirable resolve in going through with it anyway, even though he was hamstrung by Trump's blunderbuss negotiations, and deserves credit rather than the outrageous moral preening by the press, which suddenly decided it cared about the Afghan people after ignoring them for years. That was a sickening bookend to the rah-rah cheerleading the media delivered when George W. Bush ordered the invasion of Afghanistan 20 years earlier.



    *Salon has a far-left bias in its daily reviews of domestic politics and provocative cultural topics. The American Journalism Review described Salon's progressive political views as provocative.

    Despite Biden’s alleged great achievements, 76% of Americans declare the country is headed in the wrong direction and don't want either Trump or Biden to run again.

    It’s not surprising that only 15% of the public trust today’s slanted media.

  15. #3750
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    Fox News Channel had largest cable TV audience for 7th-straight year in 2022

    Despite being targeted by the liberal media as a disingenuous, malevolent, extreme right-wing propagandist media outlet threatening America’s democracy, the FOX News Channel continues to best its liberal media outlet competitors by considerable margins in comparable categories No opinion or speculation, just a fact!

    https://www.foxnews.com/media/fox-ne...ight-year-2022

    Fox News Channel officially finished 2022 as the most-watched cable network in all of television for the seventh straight year.

    Americans flocked to Fox News during a jam-packed year that saw Russia invade Ukraine, the death of Queen Elizabeth II, crucial midterm elections, widespread economic issues, the impact of the COVID pandemic, Elon Musk’s Twitter takeover, the raid of former President Trump's Mar-a-Lago residence and other major news stories.

    Along the way, "The Five" made history as the first non-primetime program to ever lead cable news viewership for an entire year and Laura Ingraham finished as the highest-rated female host. Fox News finished as the most-watched cable news channel for the 21st consecutive year.

    Now the numbers are final, and Fox News averaged 1.5 million total day viewers, an 11% increase compared to 2021. Despite the news-heavy year, MSNBC averaged 734,000 viewers to shed 19% of its 2021 audience and CNN managed only 565,000 average viewers to lose 27% of last year’s viewership.

    When it came to the advertiser-coveted demographic of adults age 25-54, Fox News also topped MSNBC and CNN combined. Fox News averaged 228,000 demo viewers compared to 122,000 for CNN and only 83,000 for MSNBC.

    During the primetime hours of 8-11 p.m. ET, Fox News averaged 2.3 million viewers compared to 1.2 million for MSNBC and a dismal 722,000 for CNN. It was much of the same among the primetime demo, as Fox News averaged 341,000 viewers compared to 171,000 for CNN and 132,000 for MSNBC.

    Fox News Channel finished with its third highest-rated year ever, while CNN and MSNBC each saw their lowest-rated years of all time in various categories. FNC programs made up 92 of the top 100 cable news shows during 2022.

    Dana Perino, Greg Gutfeld, Jesse Watters and Jeanine Pirro’s "The Five" averaged 3.4 million viewers to finished as cable news’ most-popular program despite airing well before the primetime hours that traditionally dominate viewership. It was the first time a program that begins outside the coveted 8-11 p.m. ET primetime window has achieved the top spot.

    "Tucker Carlson Tonight" averaged 3.3 million viewers to finish second, while "Jesse Watters Primetime" averaged 2.9 million to finish third. "Hannity" averaged 2.8 million to finish fourth and "Special Report with Bret Baier" averaged 2.5 million viewers to round out the top five.

    "The Ingraham Angle," "Gutfeld!," "Outnumbered" and "America’s Newsroom with Bill Hemmer and Dana Perino" occupied the next five spots as Fox News programs nearly swept the top ten.

    The 10th spot went to MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow and Alex Wagner, who have shared the liberal network’s 9 p.m. ET hour ever since the "Rachel Maddow Show" namesake decided earlier this year she would only work on Mondays, leaving Wagner to host the remaining four nights.

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