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'That don’t fit his narrative'

DAILY CALLER NEWS FOUNDATION—In a recent interview, World Energy Council Secretary General Angela Wilkinson told me that one of the main impediments to the energy transition today is a lack of what she calls “systems thinking.” “Energy transitions are a change in the organization of society,” she pointed out. “They’re not a simple case of swapping out one technology for another and everything else stays the same. Yet we have this very simplistic narrative that we can take the oil system, we can put renewables in, it’s going to happen immediately, and nothing else will change. It’s like saying we’re going to take your thighbone out, but we’d like you to run a marathon.” But that simplistic narrative is essentially what President Joe Biden and congressional Democrats used to sell the public and reluctant Democrat senators—like Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia—on the glories of the Orwellian-named Inflation Reduction Act during the course of 2021 and the first eight months of 2022. Given that Friday marked the two-year anniversary of the day Manchin surrendered his political future by serving as the deciding vote in the passage of that landmark bill, now is a good time to take a look at where it has brought the country since Aug. 16, 2022. The first thing to understand about the Inflation Reduction Act is that the Democrats who enacted it along strict party-line votes see it as merely a down payment for their ultimate Green New Deal-based goals for transforming the entire U.S. economy. It is not just me saying this, it is Democrat officeholders like Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, who recently told an interviewer that the global energy transition to a net-zero goal would require $3 trillion in new capital spending every year through 2050. That is a conservative estimate, by the way. McKinsey & Co. released an estimate two years ago of $275 trillion from 2021 to 2050 to meet that goal. That estimate came before we began to learn about the energy demands for data centers and artificial intelligence technology, and before we experienced all the Biden-Harris inflation. By now, the number would no doubt come to $300 trillion or more, a cost so high and economically ruinous that the human mind simply cannot truly conceive of it. The advertised $369 billion in green energy tax breaks and direct subsidies contained in the Inflation Reduction Act seems paltry by comparison. Goldman Sachs estimated last year that the true cost over time will be more in the range of $1.2 trillion, but that is still just a drop in the bucket. Obviously, future presidents and Congresses would need to enact many more Inflation Reduction Act-type debt-funded spending sprees to really have any hope of getting to the flowery utopia envisioned by the Green New Deal and its sponsors. So, two years down the road, what has this down payment really accomplished? Not a lot, really, in terms of transforming the energy system. The U.S. has seen a marginal rise in the percentage of power generation provided by wind and solar. This is especially true in solar, where installed capacity rose by over 10% in 2023 and has continued a rapid rise in 2024. The growth has been especially rapid in Texas, which has quickly become the national leader in solar capacity after having focused on growth of wind power over the prior 20 years. The flow of Inflation Reduction Act subsidies and tax breaks has also had the inevitable effect of encouraging the starting up of businesses that are not based on sound business models. This is especially manifesting itself in the electric vehicles sector, where almost every pure-play EV maker in the country not named Tesla is either in bankruptcy or teetering on the brink. Legacy automakers like Ford, GM, and Stellantis, who were so eager to go in whole hog on the Biden-Harris agenda, have spent much of the past year scaling down and canceling EV investments as the consumer market has flopped. The vaunted Biden-Harris offshore wind adventure is also shaping up to become a boondoggle, as companies like Orsted, BP, Equinor, and others have canceled project after project and suffered big financial hits related to high inflation, rising interest rates, and mucked-up supply chains. The recent collapsed wind blade fiasco at Vineyard Wind, the only offshore project to come online to date, which littered the beaches of Nantucket Island with dangerous fiberglass insulation, now threatens to force a reconsideration of the entire sector in the United States. Finally, the other aspect of the deal Manchin made with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi in exchange for his decisive Inflation Reduction Act vote—legislation to streamline permitting processes related to energy projects—has also been a flop. Manchin’s initial bill failed in late 2022, and the bipartisan bill he is now pursuing seems to have similarly dim prospects of ultimate passage. As we observe the Inflation Reduction Act’s two-year anniversary, it is fair to say the disjointed collection of green subsidies and tax incentives have created exactly the negative impacts its critics warned would be the result when Biden signed it into law. It has all been quite a disaster so far, and whomever assumes the presidency in 2025 should make a reconsideration of the entire approach his or her top energy priority. Perhaps even engage Angela Wilkinson to help lead the effort. Originally published by the Daily Caller News Foundation. We publish a variety of perspectives. Nothing written here is to be construed as representing the views of The Daily Signal. The post Two Years In, the Inflation Reduction Act Is Exactly What Its Critics Said It Would Become appeared first on The Daily Signal.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., long has used American Indian issues to further her own political goals—from controversially proclaiming herself to be of American Indian ancestry to enhance her academic career to today, when she exploits sensitive American Indian issues as part of her own racially divisive political ploys. As an example, look no further than Warren’s primary sponsorship of a bill designated as S. 1723. This legislation would “establish a Truth and Healing Commission on Indian Boarding School Policies in the United States,” imbue it with wide-ranging subpoena powers, and provide ample opportunities for Warren and other left-leaning politicians to reward ideological allies with plum positions on the panel and its “other necessary advisory committees and subcommittees,” which would control an annual slush fund of $15 million.  Appointees to this commission would be entitled to up to a half-month’s compensation at the six-figure rate of a GS-14 government employee, be reimbursed for potentially extensive travel expenses, and could have government employees detailed to them without it being charged back to their budget. And on top of that, most of the commissioners’ records and communications would be exempted from public disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act, more commonly known by its acronym of FOIA. It’s a prime perch from which to abuse power. But why this issue? And why now? To understand, it’s important to take a step back and look at what has happened north of our border. Canada established its own Truth and Reconciliation Commission to address “the legacy of [Canada’s] Indian Residential Schools system.” The issue of tribal boarding schools and the conduct of the entities that ran them—primarily religious organizations such as the Catholic Church—has stoked dangerous divisions among Canadians. This has resulted in financial and physical attacks on religious individuals and entities. The furor started in mid-2021 with the discovery of what appeared to be a mass grave at the site of a former residential boarding school. It may not be a mass grave at all, since experts found no human remains after two years of excavation and research. Yet the damage had been done. Since the initial “discovery” in 2021, at least 85 Catholic churches in Canada have been torched or vandalized in some way.  And Canadian Catholics have paid out millions in settlement sums. Other Christian denominations in Canada have suffered too. Back in the Lower 48, there’s already a perception, if not a reality, that religious institutions are under attack. The Biden-Harris Justice Department has zealously prosecuted Americans who pray outside abortion clinics, but has not-so-shockingly failed to aggressively pursue those who threaten or damage churches and pro-life pregnancy resources centers.  Consider then that Warren’s so-called Truth and Healing Commission would give its members almost unfettered subpoena power for up to six years (the life of the commission if it doesn’t finish its work sooner) to obtain “records, papers, correspondence memoranda, documents, books, videos, oral histories, recordings, or any other paper or electronic material, as the commission may determine necessary to accomplish the purposes” of the legislation that established it. The U.S. attorney general could block the proposed Truth and Healing Commission from issuing a subpoena, but only because of a “procedural or substantive defect” and only “after the commission has [had] a reasonable opportunity to cure” that defect.  After that, the attorney general would have to “submit to Congress a report detailing the reasons for that prohibition.”  What’s the likelihood that any subpoena a Truth and Healing Commission issues would be quashed by the AG? Almost none.  It’s an illusory check on the commission’s subpoena power. Warren’s proposed legislation makes clear throughout that any reports, research, or documents from religious institutions may specifically be sought by the commission or those working on its behalf. But step back again and consider more generally that there’s an ongoing, concerted effort by the Left to categorize everyone by race and to view most aspects of modern American life through a racial lens. Warren has claimed that “America has an ugly history of racism.” As a result, the Massachusetts Democrat has explicitly endorsed reparations for American Indians.  Along with then-Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., Warren also endorsed reparations for black Americans, although myriad moral and practical problems are associated with implementing such a plan. In the wake of the summer 2020 riots after George Floyd’s death while in the custody of Minneapolis police, some called for the United States to establish a broad-based racial truth and reconciliation commission. That didn’t gain much traction. But now Warren has slyly set the stage to accomplish many of the same goals with her more narrowly focused Truth and Healing Commission. This idea primarily is a project of the Democratic Party, but some Republicans have supported it too, perhaps for crass political purposes or perhaps because they don’t understand the powers such a commission would exercise and the precedents it would establish. Regardless, we should all fear a Truth and Healing Commission imbued with this level of unaccountable power. If it’s established, this commission would be only the first step toward a radical, race-based redistribution scheme that, in the end, harms everyone by stoking racial strife and demeaning us all in the process. The post Elizabeth Warren’s Dangerous Push for a Truth and Healing Commission appeared first on The Daily Signal.

Russian Space Force Deployed Against Ukraine in Kursk

In a follow up to his nonsensical and false analysis from the previous evening, CNN’s Chris Wallace kicked off Night Two of the Democratic National Convention on Tuesday by boasting about Vice President Kamala Harris’s “love affair” with American voters. Calling it “a very interesting thing,” Wallace touted how “Joe Biden dropped out of this race 30 days ago, and that is played very much to Kamala Harris's advantage.” According to him, that advantage meant, “She's had this kind of speed dating relationship with voters and so far, it's a love affair!” Does her husband, Doug know?! The analogy falls apart when one takes into consideration that even in speed dating, the other person gets to ask some questions. Outside of the analogy, Harris has refused to hold any press conferences and had not done any interviews; and the liberal media were more than happy to help their candidate by not pressing her on it.   CNN's Chris Wallace boasts that Kamala Harris has "had this kind of speed dating relationship" with America since Biden dropped out, "and so far, it's a love affair!" pic.twitter.com/MGVq2w3cpE — Nicholas Fondacaro (@NickFondacaro) August 20, 2024   Wallace opined about how the lineup of speakers for Night Two were meant to add substance to this courtship analogy: But having said that, most Americans don't know very much about Kamala Harris, they need validation, they need background, they need to anecdotes; that she hadn't gone through the yearlong campaign that people normally got before they come to a convention and are nominated as they're party's standard bearer. So, I think it's going to be very interesting what you hear from Doug Emhoff and from Barack Obama and from Michelle Obama tonight, in terms of validating Kamala Harris. What Wallace described there was basically a very long one-night stand. Just before gushing about the supposed “love affair,” Wallace bloviated about how impactful former President Obama’s speech was going to be: You know. It's interesting, Wolf [Blitzer], the impact that a former president could have. Back in 2012, when Barack Obama was running for reelection, the night before he spoke, Bill Clinton spoke and gave – but I think Obama later admitted it was a better rationale for why you should realize Barack Obama than Barack Obama gave in his acceptance speech. And in fact, afterwards, Obama called Clinton the secretary of splain’ things. I think the hope is that tonight Barack Obama can give that kind of a testimonial for Kamala Harris and explain in a way that she hasn't had an opportunity – obviously, she hopes to exceeded it on Thursday night – why America should vote for her and trust her. This is what he left Fox News to do. The transcript is below. Click "expand" to read: CNN’s The Situation Room August 20, 2024 6:08:19 p.m. Eastern (…) CHRIS WALLACE: You know. It's interesting, Wolf [Blitzer], the impact that a former president could have. Back in 2012, when Barack Obama was running for reelection, the night before he spoke, Bill Clinton spoke and gave – but I think Obama later admitted it was a better rationale for why you should realize Barack Obama than Barack Obama gave in his acceptance speech. And in fact, afterwards, Obama called Clinton the secretary of splain’ things. I think the hope is that tonight Barack Obama can give that kind of a testimonial for Kamala Harris and explain in a way that she hasn't had an opportunity – obviously, she hopes to exceeded it on Thursday night – why America should vote for her and trust her. You know. It's a very interesting thing. Joe Biden dropped out of this race 30 days ago, and that is played very much to Kamala Harris's advantage. She's had this kind of speed dating relationship with voters and so far, it's a love affair! But having said that, most Americans don't know very much about Kamala Harris, they need validation, they need background, they need to anecdotes; that she hadn't gone through the yearlong campaign that people normally got before they come to a convention and are nominated as they're party's standard bearer. So, I think it's going to be very interesting what you hear from Doug Emhoff and from Barack Obama and from Michelle Obama tonight, in terms of validating Kamala Harris. (…)

President Joe Biden took to the stage in Chicago, Illinois, to thunderous applause from the audience at the Democratic National Convention, but his speech was filled with misleading statements and outright lies. Here are four of the biggest whoppers. Banning abortion nationwideBiden went on the attack to support abortion rights, but he exaggerated the position of his opponent to make him appear more extreme. “Trump will do everything to ban abortion nationwide. Oh, he will,” said the president. 'We export American products and create American jobs right here in America.'This has become a common refrain among Democrats trying to radicalize their voters in order to persuade them to run panicked to the poll booths, but it does not reflect reality. In fact, Trump has said many times that he prefers the issue to be determined at the state level and has denied wanting a national ban on abortion. How much billionaires pay in taxes“We have a thousand billionaires in America. You know what the average tax rate they pay? 8.2%,” Biden said during his speech. While Biden has used the statistic before, he does not put it in context as an alternative stat instead of a definitive one. “Biden’s numbers are way too low,” said Howard Gleckman, senior fellow at the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center, to CNN in 2023. Gleckman cited one analysis that found the top 400 households paid an effective tax rate of about 23%. Later in 2024, the Tax Policy Center found that the top 0.1% of households paid an effective tax rate of about 30.3% in 2020. Both of these figures are far more than Biden's claim. How many charging stations has Biden built? "Creating hundreds of thousands of jobs in clean energy for American workers, including the IBEW installing 500,000 charging stations all across America. And in the process, reducing carbon emissions," Biden said of his efforts. The president mocked Trump for declaring every week "Infrastructure Week" during his first term, but he then went on to falsely claim victory in building charging stations. The truth falls far short of the promise. As of May, the program Biden touted had only built eight charging stations out of the half a million he promised. The trade deficit under BidenThe president explicitly claimed that he had worked to reverse the trade deficit, but a CNN fact-check found the opposite. “We used to import products and export jobs. Now we export American products and create American jobs right here in America," said Biden. Whether the populist policy is economically beneficial for the U.S. in the long term is debatable, but the fact is that the trade deficit has widened under Biden's term. CNN reported that the trade deficit was $901 billion in 2020 and increased to over $1 trillion in Biden's first year. And it stayed above that number every year afterward. The Democratic National Convention will close on Thursday when Vice President Kamala Harris will receive the presidential nomination. Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

A Texas woman was convicted of stealing more than a million dollars, and prosecutors say she spent much of her ill-gotten gains on TikTok influencers in a bid to become an influencer herself. Staci Blackmon was indicted in 2022 after three years of siphoning money from the company where she worked in Southlake, according to Tarrant County Assistant District Attorney Lori Varnell.'She didn’t put the money anywhere and had nothing to offer.' Varnell said that Blackmon was given access to the account of an associate who had passed away and was tasked with figuring out the book-keeping. "Staci Blackmon actually befriended the heir of this senior partner and was helping her figure out where all he had accounts and all of this, and so she was literally walking through this with the person she was victimizing," Varnell explained to KDFW-TV. Varnell said Blackmon used a company credit card and sent nearly $900k to TikTok through PayPal. She would give that money to other influencers on the platform in order to try to become an influencer herself. And then she stole another $300k from the business. Prosecutors said Blackmon also spent the money on lavish trips and purchased a suite at games for the Dallas Mavericks. Varnell said Blackmon's spending made it nearly impossible to reclaim the money for the victims. "She didn’t buy any assets. She didn’t put the money anywhere and had nothing to offer, to payback, that was comparable to the amount that she stole," she continued. Blackmon will have plenty of time to practice her TikTok moves after being sentenced to 35 years in prison. "She is extremely intelligent," Varnell said. "She only ever graduated from high school, but that is no measure of how intelligent you are or how good you are at figuring out how to hide money — and she is very good at that." KDFW was unable to obtain a comment from her attorney, but it noted that court documents indicate they will file an appeal. Here's KDFW-TV's news video report about the conviction. Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

The skeletons were found remarkably undisturbed in a small room, untouched for nearly 2,000 years. The post Family Killed By Vesuvius Blast Found Huddled Together In A Room In Pompeii appeared first on All That's Interesting.

At the turn of the 20th century, Cerro Gordo was a bustling mining town that once averaged a murder a week. Today, it sits abandoned — and is allegedly haunted. The post How Cerro Gordo Went From A Silver Boomtown To An Abandoned Ghost Town appeared first on All That's Interesting.