USA

Biden admin is considering shutting down Enbridge Line 5 pipeline despite soaring energy prices

Biden is considering shutting down ANOTHER oil pipeline despite soaring energy prices: Republicans demand Michigan’s Line 5 be kept open to avoid a further rise in energy bills this winter

The Biden Administration is considering shutting down a Michigan oil pipeline in another push to get the U.S, away from fossil fuels, despite warnings from Republican lawmakers who believe the move would result in fuel price shocks throughout the Midwest.

The administration is exploring the possibility of terminating the Line 5 pipeline – which links Superior, Wisconsin, with Sarnia, Ontario – and gathering data to determine if shutting down the line will cause a surge in fuel pricing, according to published reports.

In a letter dated Thursday, 13 Congress members – led by Ohio Rep. Bob Latta – urged the president to keep the oil line in operation, saying: ‘Line 5 is essential to the lifeblood of the Midwest.’

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted inCanada, USA, WTF?

The World No Longer Believes in American Democracy, and Neither do We

If the end of the world came, but nobody told you about it, would you care? Here’s a stunning piece of information that appeared in exactly no American news media, right, left or center. I read about it in Global Times, the Chinese government’s English-language newspaper.

The Pew Research Institute, a respected non-partisan opinion research organization, polled the world’s major countries about American democracy. Only 17% said the U.S. “is a good example for other countries to follow,” while 57% said it used to be. Twenty-three percent said it never was.

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted inUSA

Harvey Milk: US Navy launches ship named for gay rights leader

The US Navy has launched a ship named after a gay rights activist forced to resign from the service because of his sexuality in the 1950s.

The USNS Harvey Milk was launched in San Diego on Saturday in a service attended by Navy Secretary Carlos Del Toro and Milk’s nephew, Stuart.

It is one of six new ships to be named after famed US civil rights leaders.

Others include former Chief Justice Earl Warren and slain presidential candidate Robert Kennedy.

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted inUSA, WTF?

The Big Truth: Election 2020 Really Was Rigged

Mollie Hemingway has written a blockbuster book about all the strands of deception and falsehoods that converged to take down Donald Trump on Nov. 3 and 4 and beyond (and before), in her book: Rigged: How the Media, Big Tech and the Democrats Seized Our Elections (Regnery, 2021).  I twice asked two Barnes and Noble stores in two weeks whether they had it in stock, and each time — no. So I finally had to order it online.  It has ten chapters, plus a prologue and an epilogue. The total number of endnotes is 1,243 (I added them up), many having extensive commentaries. Only a large and excellent team of researchers could put together a book like this, and she credits them by name in her acknowledgments.

Hemingway’s conclusion: It is clear that the Dem Party have followed a pattern of cheating, inch by inch, for a long time. 

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted inUSA

Chinese Spy Convicted of Conspiracy to Steal Cutting-Edge US Aviation Technology

A jury in Cincinnati has convicted a Chinese intelligence agent over his role in a scheme to recruit spies and steal sensitive American aviation technology for Beijing.

Xu Yanjun, a deputy division director at the Chinese Ministry of State Security, Beijing’s top intelligence agency, was found guilty on all counts, including conspiring to and attempting to commit economic espionage and stealing trade secrets, according to the Justice Department.

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted in"China - Communist Slave State", Espionage, USA

The Intentional Destabilization of America

The attacks on America are not accidental nor the result of ignorance and stupidity. No, the attacks are intentional and strategic. The goal is the transformation of America, which would be made possible by the destruction of America’s core institutions. This intention is stated explicitly by President Biden, who said in August 2021 that his “Build Back Better” bill would transform America. “Today, the House of Representatives has taken a significant step toward making a historic investment that’s going to transform America.”

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted inUSA

Violent clashes erupt as Mexico’s National Guard confronts US-bound migrants

Mexico’s southern state of Chiapas saw intense violence as local National Guard officers faced off with a migrant caravan moving north to Mexico City. Scuffles reportedly resulted in injuries on both sides.

The Mexican National Guard was deployed to Chiapas in recent days to halt a migrant caravan that set off on foot last month from the country’s southern border with Guatemala. Around 3,000 people are currently moving north to Mexico City in the hope of eventually reaching the US border.

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted inCamp Of The Saints, USA

The Royal Marines defeat the US Marines at the ‘Battle of the Mojave Desert’

The Marines occupy an almost mythic place in many Americans’ minds as an invincible force that runs to the guns and fights no matter what. That’s why it was so shocking to learn that, during a joint training exercise in the Mojave Desert, Britain’s Royal Marines inflicted such a shellacking on the Americans that the latter had to surrender halfway through the exercise. This is a direct result of the Pentagon having gone woke under Obama — something that Trump failed to undo — followed by Biden doubling down on Obama’s policies.

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted inUSA

Why is Trudeau pressuring Michigan to keep a dangerous oil pipeline open?

Canada would be apoplectic if the US government marched into a Canadian court and argued that the province of Ontario has zero authority over an American company operating an aging, corroded pipeline under Canada’s pristine Georgian Bay. Yet this is the exact approach Canada is taking in US courts by arguing that the state of Michigan has zero authority to order the shutdown of an aging and dangerous pipeline operated by a Canadian company under the Straits of Mackinac – where any spill would have catastrophic ramifications for the Great Lakes.

Canada’s strained position is premised on ignoring the plain text of the 1977 US Canada Pipeline Treaty: “Pipeline[s] shall be subject to regulations by the appropriate governmental authorities … with respect to such matters as the following: (a) pipeline safety … ; (b) environmental protection.”

The author is a former Obama appointee:

Lana Pollack was appointed by President Obama to chair the US Section of the International Joint Commission. The IJC was established by the Boundary Waters Treaty of 1909 to assist the US and Canadian governments in managing and protecting waters shared by the two countries. The views expressed are Pollack’s, not those of the IJC

This is not looking great for Canada, I would not be at all surprised if Trudeau bends over again.

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted inCanada, USA

How a medieval English law affects the US gun control debate

A medieval English law dating back nearly seven centuries is now at the heart of the most important US Supreme Court gun case in a decade.

The case – which stems from a New York legal battle – challenges a state law that requires that gun users who want a concealed carry permit first prove they have a valid reason.

To help them determine how broad the rights of America’s many gun owners go, the country’s nine supreme court judges are also looking back to the 1328 Statute of Northampton, which dates back to the reign of Edward III.

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted inGun Control, Gun Rights, USA

China increasing nuclear arsenal much faster than was thought, Pentagon says

China is expanding its nuclear force much faster than US officials predicted just a year ago, highlighting a broad and accelerating buildup of military muscle designed to enable Beijing to match or surpass US global power by mid-century, according to a new Pentagon report.

The number of Chinese nuclear warheads could increase to 700 within six years, the report said, and may top 1,000 by 2030. The report released on Wednesday did not say how many weapons China has today, but a year ago the Pentagon said the number was in the “low 200s” and was likely to double by the end of this decade.

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted in"China - Communist Slave State", USA

Israeli spyware company NSO Group placed on US blacklist

NSO Group has been placed on a US blacklist by the Biden administration after it determined the Israeli spyware maker has acted “contrary to the foreign policy and national security interests of the US”.

The finding by the commerce department represents a blow to the Israeli company and reveals a deep undercurrent of concern by the US about the impact of spyware on national security interests.

It comes three months after a consortium of journalists working with the French non-profit group Forbidden Stories, including the Guardian, revealed multiple cases of journalists and activists who were hacked by foreign governments using the spyware.

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted in"Surveillance Society", Espionage, Israel, USA

Maine referendum deals blow to Hydro-Québec project

That unusual alliance seeking to stymie the project included nature-lovers and fossil fuel companies, which funded the campaign against their common hydroelectric foe.

Democrats weren’t the only losers in elections held Tuesday in the U.S. So was a Canadian-led energy project, rejected by voters in one state referendum.

This spurned project doesn’t involve oil or pipelines or Western Canada.

It involves a Hydro-Québec transmission line between Quebec and New England — and now its future is in doubt.

Voters in Maine voted about 60-40 to halt construction of the project and force its backers to obtain two-thirds support in the state legislature if they want to complete it.

Justin’s best friend Joe Biden just pegged his butt again.

h/t SM

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted inCanada, USA

Iranian Oil Sales to China Skyrocket as Experts Say Biden Admin Turns Blind Eye to Sanctions Enforcement

Illicit Iranian oil sales to China have soared in recent months as the Biden administration attempts to reenter the 2015 nuclear accord, raising concerns from Iran experts that the United States is turning a blind eye to sanctions violations in a bid to entice Iran back to the bargaining table.

China imported nearly 800,000 barrels of Iranian crude per day on average during the last three months, almost double the amount it was illegally buying from Iran during the same period last year when the Trump administration was pressuring Iran with a crippling sanctions campaign. The increase comes amid an effort by China and Iran to boost diplomatic ties and force the Biden administration into removing sanctions on the Islamic Republic.

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted in"China - Communist Slave State", Iran, USA

China and the Crisis Presidency of Joe Biden

Less than a year in and Joe Biden’s presidency is beset by crises. Domestically, his increasingly unpopular agenda has been stalled by his own political party in Congress. On the international front, the Afghanistan withdrawal debacle continues to reverberate along with Europe’s growing frustration in dealing with the administration. Even on matters where we can agree, such as the submarine deal and our alliance with the Australia and the United Kingdom to counter China, the announcement was so badly handled it became just another friction point in U.S.-European relations. Then there is China itself. From the origins of COVID to its recent hypersonic missile test — an event the Pentagon’s top general Mark Milley concedes was a near “Sputnik moment” — and China’s ability to crush all US satellites as “debris,” the challenges between the U.S. and China only continue to grow.

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted in"China - Communist Slave State", USA