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JULY 1, 2022

SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE

A GROWING CONCERN:  I've mentioned this before, but it bears emphasizing.  Conservatives are becoming too confident about the November election.  Some leaders are already measuring the drapes for their new Congressional offices.  It's in the bag.  A sure thing.  A red wave.  A once-in-a-century triumph.  I certainly hope the optimism is warranted, but that will only happen if the votes are there on election day...and in the days before when those very corruptible "mail-in" ballots are sent in.

Wise contenders always campaign as if they're 20 points behind.   Some of our people are acting as if they've already been sworn in.  Look, the Democrats may be immature and reckless, but they aren't all that stupid.  They have loads of money, and, perhaps most important, they have the powerful media on their side.  One event can change the course of a race, and that event may have already occurred, at least in some parts of the country, in the form of the Supreme Court's abortion decision.  We don't know yet. 

I've noticed that electoral pundits are starting to get a bit more cautious about their predictions, especially about the Senate.  There is still widespread expectation that the GOP will take the House, and that's good.  But remember that it's the Senate that confirms judges. Without taking the Senate, the Republicans are in danger of eventually losing the Supreme Court.

So work hard.  Assume nothing.  Expect the one-sided press to become increasingly more partisan.  Brace yourselves for an October surprise.  The future of America as we know it  hangs in the balance.

July 1, 2022       Permalink

HOW DARE YOU WANT TO LIVE YOUR OWN LIFE!  One of our two political parties clearly believes that the right of individual choice is a threat to the social order and may even raise temperatures in marginalized communities.  This crowd has plans for us.  From the New York Post:

They want you … to keep paying record-high gas prices!

Americans will have to endure pain at the pump indefinitely in the name of the “liberal world order,” a top economic adviser to President Biden said Thursday — hours after Biden himself said US drivers would have to shell out the big bucks for “as long as it takes” for Ukraine to defeat Russia’s invasion.

During an appearance on CNN Thursday, National Economic Council director Brian Deese was asked by anchor Victor Blackwell: “What do you say to those families who say, ‘Listen, we can’t afford to pay $4.85 a gallon for months, if not years. This is just not sustainable’?”

“What you heard from the president today was a clear articulation of the stakes,” Deese answered. “This is about the future of the liberal world order and we have to stand firm.

“But at the same time, what I’d say to that family and to Americans across the country is you have a president, an administration that is going to do everything in its power to blunt those price increases and bring those prices down,” Deese added.

Hours earlier, Biden was asked by New York Times reporter Jim Tankersley during a news conference in Madrid: “The war has pushed prices up. [Oil] could go as high as $200 a barrel, some analysts think. How long is it fair to expect American drivers and drivers around the world to pay that premium for this war?”

“As long as it takes,” Biden answered. “Russia cannot, in fact, defeat Ukraine and move beyond Ukraine. This is a critical, critical position for the world.”

Republicans and conservatives expressed outrage over Deese’s comments, which Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) called “completely out of touch” on Twitter.

“Don’t believe that rising gas prices are a result of Biden’s bad leadership?” wrote Pennsylvania Senate Candidate Dr. Mehmet Oz. “Well, his Director of National Economic Council will set the record straight for you. He calls it, ‘the future of the liberal world order.”’

The Biden Admin has forgotten they work for the American people and not the ‘liberal world order,'” said Sen. Roger Marshall (R-Kan.).

“Notice how cold Biden’s adviser is about the pain of the American people,” tweeted author David Limbaugh. “No compassion that liberals are so falsely famous for. It’s a mini-clinic in statism. Like Biden, he’s saying, ‘Subjects of government exist for the state, not vise versa.'”

COMMENT:  All this is caused by Biden's crazy order, issued on his inauguration day, to essentially freeze the energy industry and move this country from energy independence to energy dependence.  The president is controlled by the environmental fanatics, and theirs has become our national religion.

July 1, 2022     Permalink

JUNE 30, 2022

ANOTHER HIT FOR THE SUPREMES:  While President Biden was tastelessly attacking the Supreme Court while on a foreign trip, the actual court was handing down a decision informing the federal government that its powers are not unlimited.  Liberals are shocked  There are faintings.  There are medical emergencies.  911 operators are overworked.  From Fox Business: 

The Supreme Court dealt a significant blow to the Biden administration’s climate change agenda, ruling Thursday that the Environmental Protection Agency cannot pass sweeping regulations that could overhaul entire industries without additional congressional approval.

The decision in West Virginia v. EPA could also impact how other federal agencies address rulemaking going forward.

The case stemmed from the Obama administration’s 2015 Clean Power Plan which aimed to reduce carbon emissions at power plants. The plan was blocked by the Supreme Court in 2016, and then repealed by the Trump administration and replaced by the less extreme Affordable Clean Energy (ACE) Rule. 

After President Biden took office, the ACE Rule became the subject of litigation that led to the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals vacating that rule as well as the repeal of the Clean Power Plan. The Biden EPA, however, has stated that it will not reinstate the Clean Power Plan, opting instead to develop and implement its own plan.

The question of how much power the EPA has was based on a provision in Section 111 of the Clean Air Act, which grants the EPA power to set "standards of performance" for existing sources of air pollutants as long as they take into account cost, energy requirements, and non-air health and environmental impacts. 

The Trump EPA, in repealing the Clean Power Plan, took the position that Section 111 only let them determine measures to be implemented at the physical power plants themselves (an "inside-the-fence-line" restriction) and not broadly-applied measures for entire industries.

Similarly, West Virginia and other states claimed that Section 111 does not allow the EPA to go so far as to make rules that would completely reshape American electrical grids or force industries to eliminate carbon emissions altogether. 

West Virginia’s argument is based on the "major questions doctrine," which says that even though federal agencies generally have broad rule-making power as delegated by Congress through the statutes that create them, when it comes to issues of major economic and political significance to the country those statutes need to have clear language to support the agency’s action.

Without clear language, they would need new legislation that specifically grants them the power to carry out their actions.

The Biden EPA claimed that the major questions doctrine did not apply in this case, arguing that there was no issue of such great significance. During oral arguments, Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar asserted that there cannot be a major question because there is no current rule in place. 

Additionally, the administration argued that there is no major question because the U.S. ended up meeting the Obama administration’s carbon goals even without the Clean Power Plan in place.

COMMENT:  Another victory for the people.  Agencies may not exceed their authority.  Major decisions require Congressional approval.  Geez, what a concept.  Limited government.  Must be a bunch of fascists on that court. 

June 30, 2022       Permalink