Merely Another Random Photo From The Trump Inaugural…
W-wait. That can’t be, it must be an optical illusion. You know, like, what’s it called, photo-shopping? a dope-lganger, perhaps? Perhaps this is the Meyer Inaugural? No, the Lady In Red was nowhere in sight there. Somebody’s gonna have to help me here, but isn’t that Bethany Hall Long at the Trump Inauguration? How/why did she go there? Most importantly, has she changed her Party registration yet? Congratulations to all the Party hacks who went out on a limb for her! Facts, pipples, I want facts.
The Energy Emergency That Doesn’t Exist:
President Trump has put unleashing American energy production at the center of his economic agenda, saying that ramping up fossil fuel production will lower inflation and end a cost of living crisis that has seen prices rise for staples like apples, bacon and eggs.
He declared a “national energy emergency” on Monday and said that high energy costs “devastate American consumers” by driving up the cost of transportation, heating, farming and manufacturing. Speaking to business leaders at the World Economic Forum in Davos on Thursday, the president renewed his pledge to unlock the “liquid gold” that the United States possesses.
One of the challenges is that Mr. Trump is creating an energy emergency that does not exist. The United States is already the world’s largest producer of oil and natural gas. The price of oil, about $76 per barrel, is in line with its average cost over the last two decades. Despite fears that war in Ukraine and the Middle East would cause gas prices to surge indefinitely, they have declined by about 3 percent, to about $3.13 per gallon, over the last year.
While Mr. Trump can create incentives for oil and gas companies to expand energy production, he cannot force them to produce. The oil and gas industry donated millions of dollars to Mr. Trump’s presidential campaign in hopes that he would roll back costly environmental regulations if elected. However, an expansion of production that drives down prices could also eat into the profits of big oil and gas companies.
The International Energy Agency, a multilateral organization based in Paris, is forecasting that global production will outpace demand by more than one million barrels a day this year.
Oh. Not as simple as the Simpleton-In-Chief ‘thinks’. Raising the question, what good is a ‘pro-fossil fuel’ agenda. if the oil companies are already overflowing with excess supply?
‘First, We Round Up All The Farmworkers’:
Fear of increased ICE raids have already negatively affected the nation’s agricultural sector, causing alarm that food prices could skyrocket in the near future as a result of Donald Trump’s aggressive immigration policies.
Bakersfield, California, saw a massive drop off in the number of field workers showing up for work last week after Border Patrol agents in unmarked Chevy Suburbans rounded up and detained immigrants in the area, profiling individuals they believed to be field workers, reported CalMatters.* The end result: acres of unpicked oranges roasting in the California sun at the height of the season.
Bakersfield makes up a small portion of California’s Central Valley, which produces approximately a quarter of the nation’s food. Kern County, where Bakersfield is located, has ranked within the top three agricultural counties in the nation for the last several years, largely off the backs of undocumented laborers, who are estimated to comprise more than half of the county’s workforce, according to CalMatters.
During a three-day operation in Kern County, undocumented workers were targeted walking in and out of gas stations, getting breakfast, at Home Depot, or while driving along the 99 Highway, leaving many with no other option than to simply stay at home.
“We’re in the middle of our citrus harvesting,” Casey Creamer, president of the industry group California Citrus Mutual, told CalMatters. “This sent shockwaves through the entire community. People aren’t going to work and kids aren’t going to school. Yesterday about 25 percent of the workforce, today 75 percent didn’t show up.”
No problem, I’ve got the solution. There are scores of pardoned MAGAts exiting prisons across this Great Land Of Ours. I’m sure they’d be grateful for the work. Win-win.
Yet Another Fox Setting Fire To The Henhouse:
During Doug Burgum’s two terms as North Dakota governor, the state repeatedly sued the U.S. Department of the Interior, attempting to rip up rules that govern federal lands in his state and across the country.
Now, Burgum is poised to oversee that same department as President Donald Trump’s nominee for secretary of the interior. Those lawsuits and a host of others the state launched against the federal government, some of which are ongoing, reveal the worldview he’ll bring to a department that touches nearly every aspect of life in the West. Its agencies oversee water policy, operate the national parks, lease resources to industries including oil and ranching, provide services across Indian Country and manage more land than any person or corporation in the nation.
It’s ProPublica, so it’s comprehensive reporting. You get the gist, though. Destroying public agencies is the goal of Project 2025 and Trump.
‘Conception Begins At Erection’. Mississippi lawmaker targets men where it hurts:
A Democratic Mississippi state senator introduced legislation this week that would make it unlawful for men to masturbate “without the intent to fertilize an embryo,” with the lawmaker criticizing anti-abortion measures that only “focus on the woman’s role.”
The bill, dubbed the Contraception Begins at Erection Act, was introduced by state Sen. Bradford Blackmon on Monday. For those convicted of violating the law, financial penalties will be imposed and will gradually increase.
Raise your hand (no, no, your other hand) if you’d be in debtor’s prison within, say, a week.
Governor Meyer Issues Executive Order On Transparency. I like it:
Under the order, every state worker is required to adhere to the Delaware employee code of conduct, while being ethical in their duties, which includes reporting waste, fraud, abuse or corruption if they see those actions taking place.
The governor’s office will collaborate with governmental agencies to undertake best practices for transparency and ethics, focusing on responses to such violations and how to prevent them.
The order also requires all agencies — within 90 days of Wednesday — to perform an internal review and deliver a report to the governor, as well as examine their respective audit findings over the last four years. In addition, they will be required to submit plans to the governor’s office that include how they will adhere to state laws and regulations, and address any findings in their audits.
Further, Gov. Meyer’s office will work with the Office of Management and Budget and the Department of Finance to conduct performance reviews of governmental services in the executive branch to determine areas of improvement.
Ethics complaints will be managed with the highest level of attention, according to the order, and the governor’s office will soon collaborate with appropriate agencies to set an ethics policy, required by April 1.
Meyer has also supported the establishment of an Office Of Inspector General. Big changes could be afoot.
What do you want to talk about (as if I didn’t know)?