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Thursday, June 16, 2022

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Biden’s Poor Handling of the Economy Can End His Presidency

Daily Wire: President Joe Biden falsely claimed in a Tuesday speech for the AFL-CIO that inflation is hitting the rest of the world worse than in the United States. “Under my plan for the economy, we’ve made extraordinary progress,” Biden nevertheless argued at the labor union’s conference. “And we put America in a position to tackle the… worldwide problem that’s worse everywhere but here: inflation.” However, data from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) shows that the United States boasts higher inflation rates than many other developed countries. The 8.3% inflation rate seen in the United States as of April was higher than the 7.8% rate in the United Kingdom, the 7.4% rate in Germany, the 6.8% rate in Canada, the 6% rate in Italy, the 4.8% rate in South Korea, and the 2.5% rate in Japan (Daily Wire). Benny Johnson: The gloves are OFF: CNN ENDS Biden Presidency: “AWFUL— Biden is doing WORSE than Jimmy Carter” (Twitter). Last week, Karine Jean-Pierre stated the economy is in a good place (Twitter). Charlie Kirk: When you have the amount of dollar bills in the economy that is increased preemptively and the economy cratering, there is no other way to fix it than you raise interest rates and you have to grin and bear a recession for multiple years. Democrats are going to have to own this at the ballot box (Daybreak Daily).

Campaign to Recall Los Angeles DA George Gascón Gathered Enough Signatures to Force Vote on Ballot

ABC: A group seeking to recall Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón said on Wednesday that it has collected enough signatures to qualify for the ballot. In a statement, the Recall DA George Gascón campaign announced it has has surpassed 566,857 signatures collected as of Tuesday, “which equates to 10% of registered voters” in the county “and is the required threshold to officially initiate a recall.” Organizers said their focus has now turned to collecting as many additional signatures as possible to ensure there is a necessary “cushion” to offset those that are invalidated by the county registrar of voters. The campaign’s stated goal is to submit 650,000 – 700,000 total signatures or more (ABC). Fox News: The recall is the second attempt by supporters to oust Gascon, who came into office in December 2020 on a criminal justice reform platform. As crime has increased across the county, so has scrutiny of its top prosecutor, who has barred his deputy district attorneys from seeking enhancement allegations, which can significantly lengthen prison sentences, and charging juveniles as adults, even those accused of serious crimes, among others (Fox News). Daily Wire: And the criminals certainly appear to have gotten the message. According to Melugin’s reporting a week earlier, as plans to recall Gascón began to gain momentum, audio surfaced of a gang member charged with murder asking his attorneys to “hurry up and make a deal” while Gascón still held the office (Daily Wire).

Environmentalists Sue Biden Administration for Approving Oil and Gas Drilling Permits

Wall Street Journal: Environmental groups sued the Biden administration on Wednesday, saying that its decision to approve more than 3,500 oil and natural-gas drilling permits in New Mexico and Wyoming violated environmental laws by not taking into account the impact on climate change. In their lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., the conservation nonprofits Center for Biological Diversity and WildEarth Guardians say the approved oil and gas wells will release as much as 600 million metric tons of greenhouse-gas emissions, worsening climate change and damaging U.S. ecosystems. The federal permitting agency “has admitted that continued oil and gas exploitation is a significant cause of the climate crisis, yet the agency continues to recklessly issue thousands of new oil and gas drilling permits,” said Kyle Tisdel, climate and energy program director with the Western Environmental Law Center, which filed the lawsuit on behalf of the nonprofits… Roughly 10% of U.S. oil and gas production comes from federal land. Most comes from state and private land (Wall Street Journal). CNN: Interior announced in April it would resume onshore oil and gas leases after a federal judge issued an injunction that thwarted President Joe Biden’s efforts in early 2021 to rein in drilling on federal land. Interior announced it would significantly reduce the number of parcels being offered, and make companies pay a higher royalty rate. Biden himself is increasing pressure on fossil fuel companies to ramp up their capacity. On Wednesday, the president penned letters to seven oil refinery companies, urging them to take “immediate actions to increase the supply of gasoline, diesel, and other refined product.” The American Petroleum Institute, a top fossil fuel trade group, responded on Wednesday to the letter, saying they “appreciate the opportunity to open increased dialogue with the White House” but that “the administration’s misguided policy agenda shifting away from domestic oil and natural gas has compounded inflationary pressures and added headwinds to companies’ daily efforts to meet growing energy needs while reducing emissions” (CNN).

Federal Reserve Skyrocketed Interest Rates by 0.75 Percentage Points in Largest Increase Since 1994

Wall Street Journal: The Federal Reserve approved the largest interest rate increase since 1994 and signaled it would continue lifting rates this year at the most rapid pace in decades as it races to slow the economy and combat inflation that is running at a 40-year high. Officials agreed to a 0.75-percentage-point rate rise at their two-day policy meeting that concluded Wednesday, which will increase the Fed’s benchmark federal-funds rate to a range between 1.5% and 1.75%… New projections showed all 18 officials who participated in the meeting expect the Fed to raise rates to at least 3% this year. The median projection would lift the fed-funds rate to around 3.375%, or by an additional 1.75 percentage point over the following four meetings this year. Most officials had projected in March that they would raise rates to at least 1.875% this year (Wall Street Journal). CNBC: Inflation as measured by the consumer price index rose 8.6% on a yearly basis in May. Also, retail sales numbers released Wednesday confirmed that the all-important consumer is weakening, with sales dropping 0.3% for a month in which inflation rose 1%. The jobs market has been a point of strength for the economy, though May’s 390,000 gain was the lowest since April 2021. Average hourly earnings have been rising in nominal terms, but when adjusted for inflation have fallen 3% over the past year (CNBC).

Pro-Choice Terror Group Announces Pregnancy Centers Fair Game

Katie Pavlich: The violent pro-abortion group Jane’s Revenge, which is connected to the leftist anarchist group Antifa, has declared open season on pro-life crisis pregnancy centers and has issued an ultimatum (Townhall). Andy Ngo: Jane’s Revenge, the terrorist far-left group connected to #Antifa that carried out attacks targeting religious buildings & pregnancy centers, has released a new statement saying it’s open season (Twitter). Jane’s Revenge: Your thirty days expired yesterday. We offered an honourable way out. You could have walked away. Now the leash is off. And we will make it as hard as possible for your campaign of oppression to continue. We have demonstrated in the past month how easy and fun it is to attack. We are versatile, we are mercurial, and we answer to no one but ourselves. We promised to take increasingly drastic measures against oppressive infrastructures. Rest assured that we will, and those measures may not come in the form of something so easily cleaned up as fire and graffiti. Sometimes you will see what we do, and you will know that it is us. Sometimes you will think you merely are unlucky, because you cannot see the ways which we interfere in your affairs. But your pointless attempts to control others, and make life more difficult, will not be met passively. Eventually your insurance companies, and your financial backers will realize you are a bad investment. From here forward, any anti-choice group who closes their doors, and stops operating will no longer be a target. But until you do, it’s open season, and we know where your operations are… Through attacking, we find joy, courage, and strip the veneer of impenetrability held by these violent institutions (Jane’s Revenge).

Elon Musk Leaning Toward Governor Ron DeSantis in 2024 Much to Democrats’ Chagrin

Fox News: Tesla CEO Elon Musk said he voted Republican for the first time ever – casting a ballot for Mayra Flores who claimed victory in the special election for Texas’ 34th Congressional District, flipping the House seat red. She will be the first Mexican-born congresswoman to serve in the House. Musk also predicted a massive red wave is coming in 2022 and suggested he is leaning toward voting for Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis for president, should he decide to run in 2024 (Fox News). Musk’s quasi-endorsement came with criticism. Democrat Jamaal Bowman: Elon Musk is not a leader. He’s just another Republican billionaire who supports white supremacy and authoritarianism because he doesn’t want his workers to unionize or to pay his fair share in taxes. The GOP just tried to end democracy and now he’s supporting them (Twitter). New York Post: The Florida governor spoke to reporters during a news conference in Tallahassee. When asked about Musk’s tweet, DeSantis replied: “So what I would say, you know, I’m focused on 2022, but with Elon Musk, what I would say is, you know, I welcome support from African-Americans. What can I say” (New York Post)?

Russia Further Decreases Gas Flow to Europe After Canadian Sanctions Kick In

ABC: Russia’s Gazprom announced a reduction in natural gas flows through a key European pipeline for the second day in a row Wednesday, creating further energy turmoil for Europe as it tries to reduce its extensive use of Russian oil and natural gas amid the war in Ukraine. The state-owned energy giant said on Twitter that deliveries through the Nord Stream 1 pipeline to Germany would be cut again Thursday, bringing the overall reduction through the undersea pipeline to 60%. The drop in shipments of gas used to power industry and generate electricity would amount to some 16 billion cubic meters by the end of the year, or around 10% of total European Union gas imports from Russia, according to Simone Tagliapietra, an energy policy expert at the Bruegel think tank in Brussels. The new cut came a day after Gazprom said it would reduce flows by 40% after Canadian sanctions over the war prevented German partner Siemens Energy from delivering overhauled equipment. It blamed the same issue for the additional reduction (ABC). Wall Street Journal: Further concerning gas traders already on edge due to the war in Ukraine, Gazprom cut the volume of gas sent to Italy by 15% compared with Tuesday. Italian gas and oil company Eni, the country’s biggest importer of Russian gas, said Gazprom gave no explanation for the cut… The cut to Italy, the eurozone’s third-biggest economy, poses another threat. The country was heavily reliant on Russian gas before the invasion of Ukraine, meeting about 40% of its gas needs from Moscow (Wall Street Journal).

Dmitry Medvedev Questions If Ukraine Will Even Exist in Two Years

New York Post: One of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s closest allies ominously suggested that Ukraine might not exist in two years’ time. Dmitry Medvedev, former president and prime minister of the Russian Federation, who currently serves as deputy head of the country’s Security Council, took to his Telegram channel Wednesday to muse about Ukraine’s attempts to secure gas imports from its Western allies. “I saw a report that Ukraine wants to receive from its overseas masters [liquified natural gas] as part of a land-lease plan with payment for delivery after 2 years,” Medvedev wrote. “Otherwise the country will freeze next winter. “But here’s a question. Who said that after two years Ukraine will even exist on the world map? “But it makes no difference to the Americans – they are so invested in their ‘anti-Russia’ project, that everything else is trivial to them” (New York Post). Yahoo: Suggesting a country should be wiped off the map is inherently genocidal. The UN defines genocide as “acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial or religious group” (Yahoo).

Ukraine Refuses to Surrender Donbas City of Sievierodonetsk

Independent: Ukraine ignored a Russian ultimatum to surrender the eastern city of Sievierodonetsk today. Russia told Ukrainian forces sheltering in a chemical plant in the ruined Donbas city to stop “senseless resistance and lay down arms” from Wednesday morning, pressing its advantage in the battle for control of eastern Ukraine. Ukraine said more than 500 civilians, including 40 children, remained alongside soldiers inside the Azot chemical works as the Russian bombardment of the surrounding city continued. Officials made no reference to the Russian ultimatum in remarks to the press on Wednesday. Moscow had said it would let civilians evacuate the plant on Wednesday but Russian-backed separatists said Ukrainian shelling had scuppered the plan (Independent). New York Post: With those reports, the siege of Severodonetsk began to mirror the tragedies of Mariupol, where defenders and residents held out for weeks in the bowels of a steel plant. But unlike the siege of Mariupol, Ukrainian-controlled Severodonetsk is not yet completely cut off from the rest of Ukrainian territory, Struyk said — despite Russian forces destroying the three bridges connecting the city to Ukrainian-held Lysychansk (New York Post).

10.

President Biden Signs Executive Order Securing LGBTQ Rights

NBC: President Joe Biden signed an executive order Wednesday aimed at combating a historic number of anti-LGBTQ bills introduced in state legislatures across the country. The order will direct federal health and education agencies to expand access to gender affirming care and advance LGBTQ-inclusive learning environments at American schools. It will also curb federal funding for the debunked practice of “conversion therapy,” which nearly every leading U.S. medical association has condemned, and ask the Federal Trade Commission to consider whether the practice constitutes an unfair or deceptive act (NBC). USA Today: In an effort to address mental health in LGBTQ youth, Biden will expand access to suicide prevention resources. Biden is also launching a new initiative through the executive order to address discrimination and barriers that LGBTQ+ children and parents face in foster care (USA Today).

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