25 Comments

1. "That is a sleight of hand that highlights just how disingenuous Biden is being."

This is not 'sleight of hand' or 'disingenuous', it's in yo' face lying

2. Electric cars do NOTHING to diminish energy demand. The electric battery STORES energy, which still has to come almost entirely from fossil fuels

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What will be absolutely stunning and infuriating is in a matter only weeks the narrative leading up to the November election will be, "Russia/Ukraine" war and you people told me to sanction Russian oil, I did. The gas price is not my fault."

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I cannot see the future any better than anyone else, but I can imagine Democrats letting gas prices rise quite high and then realize they have hurt the poor people they claim to love so much. At that point the left will suggest several trillion dollars to buy electric vehicles for the poor.

I saw Biden's speech on the oil ban from Russia. He is disingenuous in his claim of so many leases out there that the oil companies won't take. I am really disgusted by this Administration lying to us (Psaki) so often and then when Joe steps up to the mike he leaves out important facts. I cannot but think dishonesty is an anti-virtue for the left. Joe was never a great politician. It seems like the Peter Principle has come to fruition in his Administration. So many people (including Joe) have risen to the level of incompetency.

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There was a movie with Jack Nicholson & Diane Keaton ( Something's Gotta Give? ) where Jack's character told Diane's "I always told you some version of the truth."

Jen Psaki says there are 9,000 oil leases not being used... which is technically true.

But she fails to state that the oil companies can't get permits to build roads to get to the driling sites. So the companies can't drill because the Biden Admin won't give them permission to acess the site.

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An oil company needs to have a lease before they will ever check the said property out. So leases are bought with no knowledge that oil exists under the leased land. Once leased the oil company may do some seismic testing and make a determination to drill or simply set it aside. The overriding factor in determining whether a somewhat marginal lease might be worth drilling is the price of crude oil.

So of the 9,000 leases many likely have been eliminated as sites for drilling for the reasons you stated or I outlined above. Jen Psaki likely knows all this and simply assumes that she can hoodwink people into believing that the oil companies are responsible for the high gas prices because they are unwilling to drill.

Gas prices flow from the cost of a barrel of crude oil. Here is a link to the always current pricing for oil futures:

https://www.marketwatch.com/investing/future/brn00?countrycode=uk

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There is also no guarantee that there is oil even present at that location.

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Right! And, if the hole is dry the Feds don't give you a refund.

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I had never realized the real meaning of “futures” until now. Seeing the clip with Christie and that crowd is a telling look at what we’re up against. They appear to be indulging the comments of a simple minded fool. They truly believe that they know so much more about solving our problems than us little folk. It’s disgusting.

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Please read to the end: Drilling in the Middle East, Eastern and Western Europe causes pollution but America with the clean drilling has to be banned per the Democrats. Ban oil from Russia but purchase from Opec where Iran is the second largest exporter; look up OPEC and see who their members are; most are corrupt countries. Biden won't go after Putin because he wants to NEGOTIATE with Iran on a nuclear deal AGAIN with Putin's help. Do the people of the United States understand this? Climate Change has been in the Democrat's bible since the 70's, we will all die in the next 100 years, seas are rising and we are destroying the world. First, follow the money, secondly if seas are rising why are the elites buying million dollar properties near the water? They must know something, we don't know. Also, US gas emissions were at the lowest under Trump because as a business man, he worked with both Government and companies, unlike with the Democrats - Government is god. Note: electric cars use cobalt for their lithium batteries - cobalt comes from the Congo, China and Canada, etc. Carbon dioxide and nitrogen dioxide emission are highest from cobalt mining but Dems want to ban drilling in the United States of America.

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Erick, my request is your take on whether this Ukraine mess is part of the Great Reset. I have a sister who keeps feeding me articles and videos on the subject. Aside from what she's sent me, I know very little about the subject. What caught my attention are the financial sanctions that PRIVATE organizations - banks, Visa, AMEX - have placed on Russia, causing them to turn to China for financial help. Since China owns so much of our debt, it seems feasible that Russia and China could attempt a take-down of the US dollar as international currency. I'd be interested in your thoughts on this.

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More on futures please. Voters need to hear and understand this.

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And now they want to move forward with a $1.5 Trillion in new spending. These people are driving us off a cliff. They’re despicable, evil people. Both sides. We need to remove this tyranny before it’s too late!

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So, where do we go from here? These wild swings are an inevitable result of the abdication of responsibility by the legislature as they punt their role in governance to executive orders. So, God willing, three years from now, the pendulum will swing wildly back, the leftists and media will wail and cry that the world is ending, but who in their right mind is going to invest with these crazy, uncertain cycles?

How the heck do we force the legislators to do their damn job and codify some stability? Even if its a long term movement toward renewables?

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Every time I go by any large apartment complex I wonder how they will charge all of those cars sitting there if they all of a sudden become electric. Will they have a charger available for each parking space? That’s a lot of charging stations. What will that do to the electrical grid In the area? That’s just one apartment complex. What about the rest of them in any large metro area? If you don’t put a charger in each space will you have a number of stations that are shared and then have to schedule your charging? For a large complex you might be waiting days.

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Ok, I'm in. Let's go Green, and let's do it now. Ready. Go! Ok, let's hear the transition plan from fossil fuels to Green energy. What is it, Joe, I mean Ron Klain? How much is it going to cost, how long is it going to take, and what are all the steps and key players involved? And if we're going to do this before all the Ukrainians die, before China invades Taiwan, and before the Ayatollahs acquire nukes, then we need to start like yesterday. Oh my, this is exciting! But wait, please assure us that smart people like John Kerry, Al Gore, AOC, Elizabeth Warren, Bernie Sanders, the Obamas and of course the Clintons, will be involved. Please, please, please hurry. Obama has two coastal luxury properties to save. Cleary he bought those in anticipation of the Green New Deal becoming a reality. Otherwise, that would have been pretty stupid of him, don't you think? I mean investing ten of millions of dollars in properties that will be under water within 10 years. And when you think about it "Green New Deal" is a very appropriate moniker - "Green" for the money the corrupt politicians will line their pockets with, "New" a word politicians use when they run out of good ideas, and "Deal", quite literally from the Middle English delen (from Old English dælan) meaning "to divide, distribute, separate." Sounds about right.

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The problem with Stephanopoulos and coastal elites is that they never had to "work hard" for most things in their life. To be fair, almost all of these people are extremely intelligent. They come from families that went to the brightest and best private schools. They were pushed by their parents to study and perform at very high levels. The competition to be at the top of the class is brutal. This is very hard work academically. But there was never any doubt that there parents will pay the next years tuition. Their families lived in the most sought after wealthy neighborhoods with like-minded people and institutions. If they ever did have to fill up a car, I doubt they even looked at the pump once they started to fill up. They waited for the click, paid with a CC and then outa-site-outa-mind. Most average middle class Americans grew up similar to me. The family income came from blue collar or service jobs such police, fire dept, retail, etc. Teenagers started working part-time after school to make some money to pay for a junior college or state college or to pay to start a young family. We had to keep an eye on expenses. My first credit card had a $200 limit. I had to pay any charges.....mom and dad would not. I continued to work part time until I graduated from the University of GA in 1988. These experiences taught how to learn money management and make life decisions that will ensure at least the same opportunities for our children. Out votes reflect our communities needs.....not some abstract concept like climate change that more than likely will not end up being the earth destroying force it is forced on us to be. My Dad passed away last year. He was a very wise man that lived thought the depression and a US Marine during the Korean war. He summed up elites vs everyday Americans like this: "Elites may be highly book smart. But they are not street smart or farm smart. If it ever came down to a SHF survival situation....they will not make it on their own.

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"To be fair, almost all these people are extremely intelligent." I totally agree, which is why I firmly believe that when they do something we consider stupid, it's actually intentional with a desired outcome that we simply can't get our heads around. "If they ever did have to fill up a car...." Forget the car, they put more fuel in their YACHT than most people make in a month. And then, of course, there's the airplane. "We had to keep an eye on expenses." Clearly, NO ONE in Congress had this life experience. Nice post!

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Intelligent does not equal smart. They know what they know and no-one can convince them otherwise because they are reaffirmed by all in their echo chamber to strengthen their resolve. These people have zero common sense.

I think of the mantra that those who can't do teach. Unfair as it is because real teaching is hard work. I'm talking about the intellectually lazy variety who didn't want to compete and work hard. They just wanted summers off, spring break forever, etc.

I added a codicil in graduate school when really subjected to PhDs who had never had a real job. Those who can't teach research.

Now there needs to be another. Those who can't research, report.

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That feeling of entitlement and not working hard is rampant. I would argue working hard in academia is not what it used to be. I know what I had to do to get where I am today. I graduated the same year you did, only from the Citadel instead of UGA.

After years of work, I got my master's degree in MIS in 2005. Professors from Harvard, Princeton, MIT, etc. They knew theory. They'd done research, but had no clue how things actually work and how to make things happen. I'd be in the class and after spewing a concept the PhD would look over at me to explain how something would be implemented in practice. I'd explain, but think WTH? Who's teaching who?

After that time I have watched my kids as they progressed through their education in the entitled environment of East Cobb. Rich kids, all the advantages, some of the best schools, extremely high expectations, and highly accelerated curriculum. Where we had algebra I in 9th grade, they had it in 7th. I'm looking at the course titles thinking damn, look at what they are taking at their age. But then you look deeper. Are they really learning anything for real? Can they apply anything they've learned? How are they getting through?

I'll tell you how, CHEATING. Rampant cheating. Teachers can't help but know it yet do nothing. Lazy people use same tests year to year. Kids use phones to look up answers. Online sites like Quizlet allow finding damn near any answer. Pictures of tests shared real time. COVID made this far worse. Online classes were a breeze, but there was zero true learning.

My daughter is a Junior at UGA. Its no better there. Pressure to make the grade to have the GPA to allow entry to the prime company interviews drives so much, but these kids have been done such a disservice. These people how have always received participation trophies, high grades with little actual learning, constantly told they are geniuses, never allowed to fail at any level, and these are the future elites.

This is where the coastal elites come from and how they got to be what they are. To quote Ronald Reagan: 'The trouble with our liberal friends is not that they're ignorant; it's just that they know so much that isn't so.

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Outstanding Terry. I agree as I am closer to your Fathers Generation. I grew up in the 1930/40s and worked three jobs in HS. plus band, quartet, boxing, wrestling and school subjects that qualified me for college. But only went one year and then into the USMC. 24 yrs. One thing that NO ONE mentions today is the Council of Foreign Relations that is really in charge of this administration. They were set back when Trump one and they are now really going at it for the one world gov. I studied about them over 20 years ago and can see them doing all they can for this to happen. They belong to the Trilateral Commission that is made up of Asia, Europe, and the America's. The C of FR's is made up of all those rich people you are talking about but includes Rep. and Dems as well. Both Bush presidents were/are members. These people need to be totally exposed but so far, I have not talked to anyone that knows about them. I am hoping that Erick can find out about them and have an article about them sometime. But in the mean time,

Blessings to all that read his stuff and stay healthy and safe.

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His stance has consequences. I was driving to work yesterday and a little low on gas. But I was running late, so I thought to fill up after work. The price increased over 30 cents per gallon from morning until evening. And thanks, Erick, for bringing up the Bush example. Had Joey Naps just said we would use our own energy during this announcement, it probably would have evened out. And the thought of getting in bed with Iran and Venezuala just makes me ill.

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He can spout nonsense like that because he knows he won’t have any consequences for doing so…and he knows that we can’t all run out and buy super expensive cars (that we won’t be able to keep charged anyway), so when we don’t do so, he can blame us for the failure of his “plan”.

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It’s also telling that President Biden has so alienated our “friends” in the UAE and Saudi Arabia that the leaders of both countries refused to even speak with him this week. He can’t call on our friends to help him solve the oil crisis he created so he is turning to our enemies, Venezuelanand Iran to help him out. The question I keep asking myself is, can this country. Survive the Biden presidency?

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