Biden Shutting Down American Energy With One Exception—Interior Secretary’s Home State
8 stories today
DonnyFerguson.com
Tuesday, May 24, 2022
In this issue:
OFF TO THE RACES
>>> Only 33 Percent Of Dems Approve Of National Direction Under Biden
>>> Killer Poll: Large Majority Say Biden Doesn't Care About Them
>>> New Numbers Reveal Georgia Voter Suppression A Democrat Hoax
LIBERAL CORRUPTION
>>> Biden Shutting Down American Energy With One Exception—Interior Secretary’s Home State
>>> GOP Leaders React to Revelation White House Coordinated With Liberal Group To Declare Parents Terrorists
RIGHT TO LIFE
>>> Senators Demand UN Withdraw New Global Abortion Mandate
IN THE COURTS
>>> Free Speech Win In Court For Conservative Sued Over Twitter Joke
WORLD
>>> Senate Introduces Bill To Pull US Out Of UN World Health Organization
OFF TO THE RACES
>>> ONLY 33 PERCENT OF DEMS APPROVE OF NATIONAL DIRECTION UNDER BIDEN
Joe Biden’s approval rating hit the lowest point of his presidency in a new AP-NORC poll. His approval sits at 39% and only 2 in 10 Americans say the economy is heading in the right direction. What’s even worse is that only 33% of Democrats say the country is heading in the right direction – a 16-point drop from April.
It’s not surprising that Joe Biden’s approval continues to drop. Americans are paying more for just about everything, there’s a raging crisis at the Southern Border, and Joe Biden doesn’t seem to care since he can’t be bothered to answer questions.
What is surprising is that vulnerable Democrat Senators STILL fully support Joe Biden’s failing agenda. They say one thing in their states then go to Washington and vote for Biden’s agenda.
Come November, Senators like Mark Kelly, Maggie Hassan, Raphael Warnock, Catherine Cortez Masto, and Michael Bennet are going to regret their unwavering support for Biden’s deeply unpopular agenda.
- NRSC
>>> KILLER POLL: MAJORITY SAY BIDEN DOESN'T CARE ABOUT THEM
A new CBS/YouGov poll spells even more bad news for Joe Biden and Senate Democrats. Nearly 70% of Americans say the ‘economy is bad’ and 74% say ‘things in America are going badly.’ That’s up from 63% and 66% last month. 65% of Americans say Joe Biden is slow to react when important issues arise compared to only 35% who say he reacts the right way.
Here are some more dismal numbers from the new poll:
56% of Americans say Joe Biden doesn’t care much or doesn’t care at all about their needs.
55% of Americans say Joe Biden doesn’t fight hard to address the country’s problems.
60% of Hispanic Americans say Joe Biden is slow to react to important issues.
77% of Americans are pessimistic about the cost of goods and services.
57% of Americans are pessimistic about their plans for retirement.
Americans give Joe Biden and Senate Democrats a failing grade on just about every issue. They don’t think he’s up to the job when it comes to dealing with important issues. Which isn’t surprising given how the Biden Administration and Senate Democrats continually denied the crisis they created at the Southern Border. Only to admit there’s a crisis when it was clear that they could no longer deny it.
Joe Biden and Senate Democrats are playing politics with Americans’ safety and livelihoods. They refuse to admit their failures because it would be bad for them politically. Luckily for voters, Senate Democrats answer to the American people, not Joe Biden and radical Democrats in D.C. They’re going to find out who their real bosses are in November when voters send them home for good.
- NRSC
###
>>> NEW NUMBERS REVEAL GEORGIA VOTER SUPPRESSION A DEMOCRAT HOAX
Last year, Raphael Warnock and Stacy Abrams decided to stake their political futures on inventing a controversy by crying foul over Georgia’s common-sense voter integrity measures. Their antics cost Atlanta the All-Star Game and the $100 million windfall that came with it, and stirred up misplaced distrust in our elections.
Not to be outdone, President Joe Biden recklessly called the voter integrity bill, “Jim Crow on steroids.”
Now, just over a year since the bill was signed into law, 857,401 Georgians have voted early – a new record!
This staggering number is a 168% increase in early voting turnout from the last gubernatorial primary in 2018 and a 212% increase from the last presidential primary in 2020.
So, were Warnock and Abrams purposely lying about the impact of their state’s new voting measures or willfully ignorant?
Their concern now should be with their own party, as Democratic energy appears to be near record lows. Here’s what one of Warnock’s parishioners told the New York Times:
“I think 2020 was a referendum on Trump,” said Ashley Fogle, a 44-year-old Democrat who lives in Atlanta and attended Ebenezer church on Sunday. “I just don’t know if there’s that same energy in 2022.”
Not only is Democrat energy low, but Warnock is without a leader he wants to be seen with, refusing to say whether he wants President Biden to campaign for him in Georgia.
A tough day to be a Georgia Democrat!
Statement from NRSC Spokesman T.W. Arrighi: “Most impartial observers knew that Warnock and Abrams were badly overplaying their hand when it came to Georgia’s new voter integrity laws. But, no one could have expected how incredibly wrong their predictions were. Raphael Warnock’s irresponsible fear-mongering cost his state jobs and money, and sowed doubt in our voting process. With no wave to ride in November, Warnock will be held accountable at the ballot box.”
- NRSC
###
LIBERAL CORRUPTION
>>> BIDEN SHUTTING DOWN AMERICAN ENERGY WITH ONE EXCEPTION—INTERIOR SECRETARY’S HOME STATE
U.S. Senator Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska) delivered the following remarks yesterday on the Senate floor regarding the Biden administration’s actions that continue to harm American energy production.
Three Examples of the Biden Administration Shutting Down American Energy From the Past Three Weeks:
“. . .Let me give you three examples, just in the past few weeks, that demonstrate this 100 percent that their goal continues to be to shut down energy production and still make it hard as heck to produce and build energy infrastructure. Two are very close to home for me, unfortunately.
“Last week, the Federal Government, the Biden administration, at the last minute, canceled a lease sale for oil and gas leases in a place we call Cook Inlet in Alaska. I was actually on the Kenai Peninsula, where Cook Inlet is, last weekend. The people were furious. They were furious. This is a lease sale. We have State leases, Federal leases. And Cook Inlet, this is the original major hydrocarbon basin in Alaska, still producing oil and gas. We had a Federal lease sale canceled. None of this is controversial. We have them all the time. The Biden administration canceled it. So much for wanting to increase production— canceling the lease sales.
“Let me give you another one, Mr. President. The National Petroleum Reserve of Alaska, set aside by Congress decades ago, probably the most prolific basin in the world right now for oil and gas—when you explore there, explorers are finding billion-barrel fields. Not controversial—it has been set aside, like I said, for decades for oil and gas production.
“Three weeks ago, the Biden administration announced in an Executive order they were going to take half of that massive petroleum reserve off the table for any exploration and development—just 3 weeks ago. That is the biggest oil and gas reserve in the country by far, the most prolific producing energy basin, probably in the world, and they took half of it off the table. And they claim they are trying to increase production, increase supply? Not true.
“And the third one, again, just in the last 3 weeks, Mr. President: The Council on Environmental Quality at the White House issued new rules on how to implement NEPA, the permitting that goes into any infrastructure project. By every measure—by every measure, these new rules are meant to delay the building of American infrastructure, especially oil and gas infrastructure. . .”
On the Hypocrisy of New Mexico’s Oil and Gas Expansion:
“. . .I will admit there are few places in the world, if you are lucky enough to live there, that the Biden administration actually is doing all it can to increase the production and supply of energy—two places, as far as I can tell. Let me talk about those two places. The first is New Mexico, the State of New Mexico. Close to half the oil and gas permits issued by the Federal Government last year went to one State.
“Every State in the country like mine is trying to get permits. Guess which State got 2,286 oil and gas permits in 2021. New Mexico. Alaska is being crushed: no lease sales in Cook Inlet, NPRA, half of it off the table, probably about the size of New Mexico, and New Mexico is getting special treatment. Hmm. Interesting. A couple of reasons why that is interesting.
“Let’s see. Who is from New Mexico? Oh, my goodness, the Secretary of Interior is from New Mexico. Isn’t that interesting? I think that is interesting. I wish the media thought that was interesting. Could you imagine if that was a Republican Secretary of the Interior favoring his State over every other State in the country for more oil and gas production? The New York Times and the Washington Post would have a field day.
“If this was Ryan Zinke, there would be a front-page story once a day but not if it is a Democratic Secretary of the Interior. Almost half the oil and gas permits in America issued by the Federal Government last year went to one State, New Mexico. Hmm. Who else is from New Mexico? Well, the senior Senator from New Mexico is obviously from New Mexico. In December, I gave a speech about all that he is doing—that I am still very riled up about—to shut down oil and gas production in Alaska.
“The senior Senator from New Mexico spent a lot of his time writing letters to banks, writing letters to insurance companies, writing letters to his fellow New Mexican, Deb Haaland, on how to shut down oil and gas development in Alaska. Now, why would he care about Alaska? I don’t really know. But in his letters, he said we need to shut down, no investment in Alaska banks, insurance companies to ‘‘achieve America’s climate goals.’’ That is one Senator trying to crush my State to ‘‘achieve America’s climate goals.’’ Hmm. I am still not sure why that Senator cares so much about crushing my State. But like his New Mexico colleague, the Secretary of the Interior, they are doing a pretty good job of hurting my State, especially the Native communities.
“Today in the ENR Committee, the senior Senator from New Mexico, with Secretary Haaland testifying, had the audacity to brag that New Mexico’s oil and gas production is up 400 percent in the last decade. Now, look, I think this is good for the country. I think it is good for New Mexico’s oil and gas workers—400 percent. He was bragging about that while still writing letters to shut down oil and gas production in Alaska. . .”
On the Biden Administration Loosening Venezuelan Sanctions:
“. . .What is the other place that the Biden administration is trying to really help in terms of increasing oil and gas production? It is foreign countries controlled by dictators who don’t like us. You heard the story several months ago about the Biden administration reaching out to Iran—the biggest state sponsor of terrorism in the world—trying to lift sanctions so they can produce more oil for the world.
“Let’s shut down oil in Alaska, but let’s go to the Iranian terrorists and get them to produce more oil. Well, this week—this past week—there was another story that happens to be true that the Biden administration is now loosening sanctions on another one of those wonderful leaders, the dictator in Venezuela so they can produce more oil. Let’s help the dictators who hate our country produce more, and then we will go shut down Alaska where great Americans are trying to produce energy.
“Oh, by the way, Senator Barrasso did a great job in the ENR hearing today saying guess who has the most dirty, polluting oil in the world in terms of production and carbon footprint, 18 times more dirty and polluting than oil production in America. Guess. Venezuela. So we are going to get terrorists who don’t like us, who are the dirtiest polluters of energy when they produce it and get them to produce more, and we are going to shut down oil and gas production in the great State of Alaska that has the highest environmental standards on the planet. . .”
-Senator Dan Sullivan
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>>> GOP LEADERS REACT TO REVELATION WHITE HOUSE COORDINATED WITH LIBERAL GROUP TO DECLARE PARENTS TERRORISTS
Last fall the National School Boards Association sent a letter to President Biden, calling for the Justice Department to use counterterrorism tools to investigate parents at school board meetings. Almost immediately, Attorney General Merrick Garland directed the FBI and U.S. Attorneys to launch a task force to target parents. Whistleblowers later told Congress that the FBI had created a unique “threat tag” to effectuate the Attorney General’s directive, which the FBI used to label at least dozens of parents as potential threats.
As the facts became more apparent, it became clear the premise of the investigation was orchestrated by senior officials in President Biden’s own administration.
Today, the NSBA released the results of an internal investigation into the letter. The results of the investigation further confirms that America’s parents were the target of a coordinated political operation, all for doing nothing more than exercising their fundamental right to direct the upbringing of their children.
House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy, Judiciary Ranking Member Jim Jordan, Oversight and Reform Ranking Member James Comer, and Education and Labor Ranking Member Virginia Foxx reacted to today’s NSBA investigation with the following statement:
“This report confirms that the Biden administration colluded with members of the NSBA to abuse the counterterrorism authorities of the federal government and investigate America’s parents. Within days of the NSBA releasing its September 29th letter likening parents to ‘domestic terrorists,’ President Biden even called the NSBA to thank them. The NSBA has since disavowed the letter and although the DOJ has failed to provide any evidence to justify launching an investigation on American parents, Attorney General Garland still refuses to rescind his anti-parent directive.
“Our committees and task forces will be meticulously reviewing the 500-plus page appendix included in the report, but to be clear, this report remains incomplete. According to the report itself, ‘[t]o date, Counsel has not received any response to its request for cooperation and documents from the White House.’ Until full cooperation from the White House is received and all documents are provided and the Department of Justice rescinds its flawed and abusive directive, this matter will not be over.
“After coping with two years of school closures, mandates, and disruptive learning for their children, America’s parents need support, not smear campaigns by the same people who were supposed to be helping get our schools back to normal. This entire episode remains an insult to parents. House Republicans are committed to continuing to investigate the collusion that occurred among the White House, the Department of Justice, the Department of Education, and leadership of the NSBA. Those who coordinated these unprecedented attacks on our families must be held accountable.”
- House Education and Labor Committee
RIGHT TO LIFE
>>> SENATORS DEMAND UN WITHDRAW NEW GLOBAL ABORTION MANDATE
Senators James Lankford and Mike Lee (R-UT) and Representative Doug Lamborn (R-CO) led 52 other House and Senate colleagues in sending a letter to Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO), urging a reversal on the Organization’s recent guidelines on abortion. These guidelines advocate for abortion on demand and critique conscious objections of healthcare providers. The updated guidelines follow years of controversy regarding the role, allegiance, and effectiveness of the WHO.
The letter reads in part, “We, members of the US Congress, write to you today with concerns about the World Health Organization’s (WHO) dangerous new abortion guidelines. These extreme new guidelines aim to remove all legal and policy safeguards on abortion, impose restrictions on the conscience rights of health workers, and ignore the right to life and the safety of the mother and child.
“Moreover, we are astonished that the WHO is attempting to de-humanize preborn children and assert that the rights of the preborn do not exist by categorizing self-induced—and, in some cases, illegal—abortions as ‘self-care’ and demanding ‘the full decimalization of abortion’ without any gestational age limits. To categorize abortions as ‘self-care’ not only strips away the humanity and dignity of a preborn child but also contradicts international standards recognizing the preborn child as a rights-holding person,” the Members continued.
You can find the full text of the letter below:
Dear Dr. Tedros,
We, members of the United States Congress, write to you today with concerns about the World Health Organization’s (WHO) dangerous new abortion guidelines. These extreme new guidelines aim to remove all legal and policy safeguards on abortion, impose restrictions on the conscience rights of health workers, and ignore the right to life and the safety of the mother and child.
While the WHO guidelines are not legally binding on any country, we are concerned that the organization is attempting to delegitimize the will of all sovereign nations by falsely asserting that abortion is a human right. This is far from an isolated instance of United Nations affiliates attempting to encroach on matters far out of their jurisdiction. Last November, for example, a United Nations special rapporteur attempted to interfere with domestic United States judicial proceedings by calling on our Supreme Court to adopt a specified outcome in the ongoing Dobbs v. Jackson’s Women’s Health Organization case. In addition to blatantly ignoring the life of the preborn, such statements undermine the increasingly fragile trust globally in the concept of internationally recognized human rights while discrediting the United Nations’ legitimacy as a whole.
Moreover, we are astonished that the WHO is attempting to de-humanize preborn children and assert that the rights of the preborn do not exist by categorizing self-induced—and, in some cases, illegal—abortions as “self-care” and demanding “the full decriminalization of abortion” without any gestational age limits. To categorize abortions as “self-care” not only strips away the humanity and dignity of an preborn child but contradicts international standards recognizing the preborn child as a rights-holding person. Additionally, advocating for the termination of the life of a human being up to the point of birth is quite shocking and inhumane as a day, an hour, or even moments later, similar action against a child that has been born would constitute murder. Even in countries where early abortion is freely available, there are laws in place restricting abortions based on the preborn child’s gestational age.
Furthermore, this guidance not only threatens the conscience rights of health care providers at all levels but treats individuals and institutions that object to abortion as obstacles. The WHO’s guidance states that “access to and continuity of comprehensive abortion care be protected against barriers created by conscientious objection” It continues further, stating “[i]f it proves impossible to regulate conscientious objection in a way that respects, protects and fulfils abortion seekers’ rights, conscientious objection in abortion provision may become indefensible.” Conscience protections are critical to prevent health care providers from being forced to take part in ending an innocent human life, thereby violating their ethical, moral, personal, or religious convictions. This radical stance reveals the WHO would rather cave to pressure from the abortion industry and force health care providers to choose between committing violence against an innocent baby and her mother, or be unemployed. This stance inevitably also threatens patient access to health care in geographic areas that are primarily served by faith-based health care providers as those who hold conscience objections would be deemed unfit for service.
We are also alarmed by the WHO’s recommendation that women and girls seeking abortion should be allowed to take abortion-inducing drugs without medical supervision. This policy is reckless and harmful to the well-being of women and girls, especially to those living in rural areas. While abortion activists incorrectly assert abortion drugs are safe, evidence-based data signals otherwise. Large-scale, peer-reviewed studies have shown women who take chemical abortion pills are significantly more at risk of serious complications and more likely to require a visit to the emergency room, while some women even die. According to the United States Food and Drug Administration, abortion drugs have been linked to at least 24 maternal deaths, 1,045 hospitalizations, and over 4,200 serious complications between 2000 and 2021 in the United States.Encouraging the removal of medical oversight from abortion will not save lives but instead put more women and girls at risk of being targeted by illegal purveyors of abortion pills or provided with abortion drugs without consent. As such, the WHO guideline turns a blind eye to the harms of the abortion pill by providing support to those that enable abortion through the trafficking of black market abortifacients.
Every instance of abortion is a tragedy. Instead of advocating for greater access to abortion, the WHO should instead seek to address the root causes that motivate women to seek illegal abortions. This means promoting human dignity and preserving human rights for everyone, including the preborn.
Given the WHO’s influence, this guidance will likely cause severe, irreversible harm, not only to US citizens but to women and children worldwide. For these reasons, we ask that the World Health Organization reverse course and retract the anti-life recommendations that it has promoted through the release of its 2022 abortion care guidelines.
Sincerely,
- Senator James Lankford
###
IN THE COURTS
>>> FREE SPEECH WIN IN COURT FOR CONSERVATIVE SUED OVER TWITTER JOKE
he Third Circuit Court of Appeals dismissed a claim filed against Ben Domenech, co-founder of The Federalist, for a tweet he shared to his personal Twitter account. In June 2019, Mr. Domenech jokingly posted to his personal account: “FYI @fdrlst first one of you tries to unionize I swear I’ll send you back to the salt mine.” Mr. Domenech’s employees, two of whom are represented by Southeastern Legal Foundation (SLF), understood the tweet was a joke. But a third party with no connection to Mr. Domenech or The Federalist did not get the joke and reported Mr. Domenech to the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) for “threatening” his employees.
Ignoring The Federalist employees’ sworn affidavits that they found Mr. Domenech’s tweets humorous and satirical, the administrative law judge and the NLRB found that by making a joke on his personal Twitter account, Mr. Domenech was threatening his employees in violation of the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA). But as SLF argued in its amicus brief supporting Mr. Domenech, such a ruling would give cancel culture a green light, posing grave consequences for freedom of speech. The Third Circuit agreed, finding that Mr. Domenech’s joke was just that–a joke.
“This case is an important step in combatting cancel culture,” says SLF Attorney and Director of the 1A Project Cece O’Leary. “The courts are an imperative tool in the fight to protect free speech. And as the Third Circuit has made clear, attempts to silence and repress speakers will not be tolerated by a court of law.”
Adds SLF General Counsel Kimberly Hermann, “We applaud our clients for standing up and speaking out in support of their employer when he was wrongly accused of threatening them via Twitter. Together with Mr. Domenech, their courage in the face of the cancel culture mob must be commended.”
- SLC
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WORLD
>>> SENATE INTRODUCES BILL TO PULL US OUT OF UN WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION
U.S. Senators Steve Daines and Tom Cotton sent a letter to President Biden expressing concerns with the administration’s recent actions regarding the future of the World Health Organization (WHO). The Senators urge President Biden to not only rescind the proposed January 18, 2022, amendments to the International Health Regulations (IHR), but also to withdraw the United States from this corrupt and inept international organization.
“Your administration has decided to support at least two measures intended to increase the power of the WHO at the expense of sovereign nations like our own. First, you proposed IHR amendments that would, among other things, grant unilateral authority to declare public health emergencies of international or regional concern to the WHO’s Director General and Regional Directors, respectively. This would be an alarming transfer of U.S. sovereignty to an unelected U.N. bureaucrat. Second, your administration announced that it supports the negotiation of a new international pandemic treaty over the next two years which seems intended to grant evermore sweeping powers to the WHO,” the Senators wrote.
“We are deeply troubled by these proposed policies that threaten to erode America’s sovereign power to address public health emergencies as we see fit. The WHO cannot be trusted to properly exercise its current powers; it absolutely cannot be trusted with more power. Accordingly, we respectfully urge you to instruct the American delegation to this World Health Assembly to withdraw the proposed amendments to the IHR. We further urge you to withdraw the United States from this corrupt organization whose leadership is beholden to Communist China,” the Senators continued.
Background:
The World Health Assembly, which is the decision-making body of the World Health Organization, is convening from May 22-28 in Geneva, Switzerland, where discussions about the International Health Regulations (IHR) and amendments proposed by the United States are expected to be considered.
- Senator Steve Daines
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