Biden Administration misc. activities

[Mori Chu]

Here's the Homeland Security secretary trying to clarify what the disinformation board is/does. I don't think he does an especially good job.

[Mori Chu]

If you want to watch the complete remarks by Joe Biden and Trevor Noah from last night's White House Correspondents' Dinner, here you go:

Biden's jokes:


Trevor Noah's jokes:

[Superbone]

Thanks for posting those, Marty. That was good stuff.

[In2ition]

Crack pipes doesn't seem like something that should be funded or encouraged. This is a crazytown policy.

Crack pipes found in 'safe smoking kits' potentially funded by taxpayers: report
Jon Brown
Thu, May 12, 2022, 2:54 PM·2 min read
https://finance.yahoo.com/finance/news/ ... 13649.html

So-called "safe smoking kits" recently obtained in five major U.S. cities contained crack pipes and other drug paraphernalia, according to The Washington Free Beacon.

The Beacon reportedly obtained the kits from Boston, New York, Washington, D.C., Baltimore, and Richmond.

Blocks from the Capitol and two elementary schools in Washington, D.C., a harm reduction center reportedly offered pipes and other paraphernalia to a Beacon reporter that could be used to smoke crack and methamphetamine.

"They were never a part of the kit, it was inaccurate reporting," former White House press secretary Jen Psaki said of the story at the time. "A safe smoking kit may contain alcohol swabs, lip balm, other materials to promote hygiene and reduce the transmission of diseases."

The D.C. center, which once stood for Helping Individual Prostitutes Survive (HIPS), did not respond to request for comment.

Similar centers in the other major cities offered similar devices and responses, according to the Beacon.

Psaki responded to the Free Beacon's story Thursday, asserting that no taxpayer funds were used for crack pipes.

"This policy does not allow for crack pipes to be included," Psaki said in response to Fox News' Jacqui Heinrich's question at the White House press briefing. "I would just note that this is a bit of a conspiracy theory that's been spread out there. It's not accurate. There's important drug treatment programs for people who have been suffering from what we've seen as an epidemic across the country," Psaki said.

Spoiler: show/hide

The Free Beacon originally cited a HHS spokesperson who told the outlet that the pipes provided in the smoking kits would give users with the ability to smoke "any illicit substance," including crack cocaine and crystal methamphetamine. The story also noted existing smoking kit programs in cities such as San Francisco, Annapolis, and Seattle all include smoking pipes.

Neither HHS nor the White House immediately responded to Fox News' request for comment.

HHS spokesperson Sarah Lovenheim told the Washington Post earlier this year that "The Biden-Harris Administration has never authorized the use of federal funding for smoke pipes and will not in the future. We have not yet approved any harm reduction grants and no money for the program has gone out."

The Washington Post's fact-checker Glenn Kessler tweeted out the Free Beacon's story, suggesting a show of support.

[In2ition]

Oil companies shouldn't be taking in record profits, while everyone else suffers, so that should be looked into and curbed. Hopefully that happens, but I tend to not believe it will.

Biden promised to solve inflation and gas prices, then does this? Are he & and his cronies too stupid to understand that limiting the supply will make the prices go up and inflation to continue going up? Or is this just another small part of his plan to destroy our country?

I fully expect at least another $1.50 per gallon increase coming. At least.

Biden cancels offshore oil lease sales in Gulf Coast, Alaska
By MATTHEW DALY
yesterday
https://apnews.com/article/climate-envi ... a6b5c36895

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Biden administration is canceling three oil and gas lease sales scheduled in the Gulf of Mexico and off the coast of Alaska, removing millions of acres from possible drilling as U.S. gas prices reach record highs.

The Interior Department announced the decision Wednesday night, citing a lack of industry interest in drilling off the Alaska coast and “conflicting court rulings” that have complicated drilling efforts in the Gulf of Mexico, where the bulk of U.S. offshore drilling takes place,

The decision likely means the Biden administration will not hold a lease sale for offshore drilling this year and comes as Interior appears set to let a mandatory five-year plan for offshore drilling expire next month.

“Unfortunately, this is becoming a pattern — the administration talks about the need for more supply and acts to restrict it,″ said Frank Macchiarola, senior vice president of the American Petroleum Institute, the top lobbying group for the oil and gas industry.

“As geopolitical volatility and global energy prices continue to rise, we again urge the administration to end the uncertainty and immediately act on a new five-year program for federal offshore leasing,″ he said.

Spoiler: show/hide

The lease cancellations come as gas prices have surged to a record $4.40 a gallon amid the war in Ukraine and other disruptions that have pushed prices $1.40 a gallon higher than a year ago. Consumer prices jumped 8.3% last month from a year ago, the government said Wednesday.

A federal appeals court in New Orleans, meanwhile, is considering a challenge to a moratorium on new federal leasing that Biden imposed soon after taking office in January 2021. Biden said the administration needed to consider the effect of new drilling on climate change and conduct proper environmental reviews.

Louisiana and 12 other states challenged Biden’s order, saying laws passed in response to the 1970s oil crisis require lease sales on federal lands and waters.

The Biden administration failed to “grapple with prior analyses” of the planned sales to give a valid reason for postponing or canceling them, Louisiana Deputy Solicitor General Joseph Scott St. John told a 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals panel this week.

The three-judge panel did not indicate when they will rule.

Environmental groups hailed the latest lease cancellation, saying the administration needs to do more to curb greenhouse gas emissions from fossil fuels that are driving climate change.

“To save imperiled marine life and protect coastal communities and our climate from pollution, we need to end new leasing and phase out existing drilling,” said Kristen Monsell, oceans legal director at the Center for Biological Diversity, an environmental group.

Republicans denounced the decision as harmful to consumers and U.S. national security.

The Interior Department’s decision “approaches levels of irresponsibility and reckless stupidity never seen before,″ said Rep. Garret Graves, R-La. “We are paying record prices for gasoline and to heat and cool our homes. Rather than using American energy sources to help solve the problem and lower prices, the Biden administration continues to carry out policies that benefit″ Iran, Saudi Arabia, Venezuela and other countries, Graves said.

“New leasing will not lower current gas prices,″ countered Dustin Renaud, a spokesman for the environmental coalition Healthy Gulf. It takes several years for new leases to begin producing oil, he noted, adding that the industry “is already sitting on over 8 million acres of unused offshore leases.″

The state challenge to Biden’s leasing order has not yet gone to trial, but a federal judge blocked the order in a preliminary injunction last year, writing that since federal law does not state the president can suspend oil lease sales, only Congress can do so.

After U.S. District Judge Terry Doughty ruled for the states, the Interior Department held an offshore lease sale last fall, which a federal judge in Washington, D.C. later blocked.

The administration has appealed Doughty’s ruling, but has scheduled onshore lease sales next month in eight mostly Western states. However, the administration scaled back the amount of land offered for drilling and raised royalty rates by 50%.

Biden has come under pressure to increase U.S. crude production as fuel prices spike because of the coronavirus pandemic and the war in Ukraine. The United States and other nations have banned imports of Russian oil, driving up prices worldwide.

Biden also faces pressure from Democrats and environmental groups urging him to do more to combat climate change, even as his legislative proposals on climate and clean energy remain stalled in a sharply divided Congress.

Interior cannot conduct new offshore oil and gas lease sales until it has completed a required five-year plan. The current plan expires June 30, and administration officials have not said when or if a replacement will be released.

Interior Secretary Deb Haaland said last month that the oil and gas industry is “set” with the amount of drilling permits at its disposal. She defended Biden administration actions to scale down federal leasing, saying that industry has about 9,000 permits that have been approved but are not being used.

“The industry is free to use these permits in a way they see fit. They just haven’t acted on those,” Haaland told a House committee last week.

Oil companies say they have increased production as the economy recovers from the coronavirus pandemic, but they have been reluctant to ramp up production further, citing a shortage of workers and restraints from investors wary that today’s high prices won’t last. Decisions by the OPEC+ oil cartel, led by Saudi Arabia and Russia, to only modestly increase supplies to the world market have also kept prices high.

Major oil companies reported surging profits in the first quarter and are sending tens of billions of dollars in dividends to shareholders, along with stock buybacks that have sharply increased the value of investor holdings.

Democrats accuse the industry of “price gouging” and have vowed to bring legislation cracking down on price manipulation to votes in the House and Senate. A bid to impose a “windfall profits” tax on oil producers has generated little support in Congress.

___

Associated Press writer Janet McConnaughey in New Orleans contributed to this report.

[Indy]

It is a long video, but really interesting.

[Indy]

Oil companies shouldn't be taking in record profits, while everyone else suffers, so that should be looked into and curbed. Hopefully that happens, but I tend to not believe it will.

Biden promised to solve inflation and gas prices, then does this? Are he & and his cronies too stupid to understand that limiting the supply will make the prices go up and inflation to continue going up? Or is this just another small part of his plan to destroy our country?

I fully expect at least another $1.50 per gallon increase coming. At least.

Do you really think that giving more land for drilling to oil companies while they are gouging you at the pump will make them gouge you less?

[In2ition]

Oil companies shouldn't be taking in record profits, while everyone else suffers, so that should be looked into and curbed. Hopefully that happens, but I tend to not believe it will.

Biden promised to solve inflation and gas prices, then does this? Are he & and his cronies too stupid to understand that limiting the supply will make the prices go up and inflation to continue going up? Or is this just another small part of his plan to destroy our country?

I fully expect at least another $1.50 per gallon increase coming. At least.

Do you really think that giving more land for drilling to oil companies while they are gouging you at the pump will make them gouge you less?

No, I when did I say that I thought this? Maybe you didn't understand what I wrote, or maybe I didn't make myself clear. Those are 2 separate issues. Both need to be addressed.
1. We can't limit supply to the market and expect the price to go down.
2. We need to curb the possible price gouging that seems to be happening, with the knowledge that the companies are making "record profits".

Bonus 3. Another thing that Biden could do to help prices is to suspend the tax on gas that is passed to the consumers. I think they need to fix 2 first, otherwise the oil companies will just pocket the savings themselves instead of passing it on to the consumers.

[In2ition]

I haven't noticed this myself, as I don't have any babies that would require this, nor are there any in my family right now, but I'm hearing a lot about Baby Formula shortages. How are you all feeling about this? Seems like this may rise to crisis soon if true.

[Mori Chu]

I hear them there Demmycrats're giving baby formula to BROWN babies instead of WHITE ones!

[Mori Chu]

This baby formula thing is just the latest Fox News "two minutes hate" topic.

[In2ition]

This baby formula thing is just the latest Fox News "two minutes hate" topic.

So, you are saying this is a fake crisis?

[Nodack]

Hannity has dedicated his life to creating outrage against Dems. That’s his job at FOX News that itself is dedicated to creating outrage against Dems. Obviously he has done his job well and Republicans that watch FOX News are outraged at those evil radical Democrats who hate America and want to destroy it at all costs.

[Mori Chu]

This baby formula thing is just the latest Fox News "two minutes hate" topic.

So, you are saying this is a fake crisis?

No, there really is a shortage of baby food. I have an 11-month-old daughter so I know this firsthand. By "two minutes hate" I mean the way that Fox and other GOP media have tried to somehow make this a Joe Biden disaster, as well as turn it into a culture war issue by saying that all the baby formula is being somehow given to illegal immigrant babies. The shortage of baby formula is most primarily due to an outbreak of contamination in the product by the largest baby food manufacturer, not caused by any political leader or party. They had to throw out tons of containers of food because it was infected and was making babies sick. Them's the breaks.

[Indy]

Abbott got lazy and careless and were contaminating formula on their lines in Michigan. The FDA witnessed it first hand and issued something like a 30-40 page report about how out of control the site was. I have read hundreds of these FDA reports and usually they are <3 pages long. When you get a 30 page report, it likely means you are about ready to get shut down or placed under consent decree.

[Mori Chu]

[Nodack]

Same ole same ole…

[Nodack]

Oil giant Aramco reports record first quarter as oil prices soar
https://www.cnbc.com/2022/05/15/aramco- ... -soar.html
Oil giant Aramco reported a more-than 80% jump in net profit Sunday, topping analyst expectations and setting a new quarterly earnings record since its IPO.

The Saudi Arabian behemoth said net income rose 82% to $39.5 billion in the first three months of the year, up from $21.7 billion over the same period last year.

With a market cap of around $2.43 trillion on Wednesday, Aramco last week surpassed Apple to become the world’s most valuable company.

[Indy]

"inflation"

An oil price raise impacts nearly every single industry, especially in the "last mile" of the supply chain before products get to the stores or delivered to your home. The inflation we are seeing right now is going into the pockets of these companies.

[In2ition]

Millionaires and Billionaires have to eat too! Think of the children! Have some compassion for these lost souls.