And here comes the deflection and sorry attempt at humour. I knew it was coming but I thought would at least make another attempt at playing it straight. Sad.
you're so busy trying to play gotcha games with folks here you forget all about discussion. not sure why I defend you sometimes honestly
I'm trying to play gotcha games? Your entire schtick is a gotcha game. All I did was post a link, how is that a gotcha. Since when do you care about discussion? Da ****? You can stop defending, please stop defending me. You are a really weird dude, 90% of the time you are trolling and trying to get a reaction and then the slightest thing makes you feel some kind of way. Discussion? LOL.
"OPEC, Biden and Gas Prices": two points below: "U.S. petroleum consumption is now roughly where it was at this time in 2019." and "But a squabble between Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates over quotas is blocking an agreement, sending U.S. gasoline prices to a near seven-year high." https://www.wsj.com/articles/opec-biden-and-gas-prices-11625611235?mod=hp_opin_pos_1 OPEC, Biden and Gas Prices The President wants the cartel to pump more oil, but the U.S. to pump less. By The Editorial Board July 6, 2021 6:40 pm ET As cognitive dissonance goes, this is a classic. President Biden’s explicit policy goal is to reduce U.S. oil and gas production, limiting the global supply of fossil fuels in the name of fighting climate change. Yet his Administration is now imploring the OPEC oil cartel to pump more oil so U.S. gasoline prices don’t rise more than they already have on Mr. Biden’s watch. Oil prices climbed to a six-year high on Tuesday after the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and Russia failed to agree on increasing production quotas. Last spring OPEC slashed production quotas after crude prices plunged to $20 per barrel amid economic lockdowns and a price war between Saudi Arabia and Russia. But energy demand has snapped back in much of the world as Covid-19 vaccines roll out, governments ease lockdowns, and freight shipments surge. U.S. petroleum consumption is now roughly where it was at this time in 2019. OPEC estimates that oil demand in industrialized countries will increase by 2.7 million barrels a day this year. In early June OPEC modestly raised production quotas, but demand is still rebounding faster than supply. The upshot is that crude prices are averaging around $74 a barrel, up 45% or so this year. OPEC countries naturally want to take advantage of the pandemic recovery to boost production and generate more petrodollars to fund their governments. But a squabble between Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates over quotas is blocking an agreement, sending U.S. gasoline prices to a near seven-year high. Enter the Biden Administration. A White House spokesperson on Monday said it is urging OPEC and its allies to quickly come up with a compromise “that will allow proposed production increases to move forward.” The Administration is worried that higher gas prices could undermine Mr. Biden’s climate agenda and spending plans. Republicans have been linking his veto of the Keystone XL pipeline with higher gas prices. The two aren’t directly related. But no Keystone does mean that more crude from Canada and the northern Bakken Shale will have to move by rail to U.S. refiners. This is contributing to higher freight demand and prices, as well as supply-chain bottlenecks, all of which are adding to inflationary pressure. Consumers feel the pain at the pump and on their utility bills as natural gas and propane prices have also surged. Rising energy costs are also feeding into the higher price of goods more broadly. Mr. Biden knows surging prices for gas and other goods hurt middle-class Americans and could undermine his Presidency. This is one reason he refused a proposal to pay for the Senate’s bipartisan infrastructure deal by increasing the gas tax. But note the irony that Mr. Biden is now urging OPEC to open its taps even while his Administration is pursuing policies with the goal of shutting down U.S. oil and natural gas production. His Administration has sought to halt new leases on federal land, suspended leases in Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, and is expanding endangered-species protections to limit oil production on private land, among other policies designed to punish fossil fuels. But reducing U.S. production means reduced global supply even as demand surges. This means more pricing leverage for OPEC and Russia—and for Iran if Mr. Biden lets Tehran escape sanctions on its oil exports as part of a renewed nuclear deal. So Russia and Iran will benefit from Mr. Biden’s fossil-fuel disarmament while Americans pay more for energy. The way out of such contradictions would be to let U.S. producers respond to higher prices without new political obstacles. He can tell the climate lobby it beats political defeat. Appeared in the July 7, 2021, print edition.
"US hosts high-level Saudi visit after Khashoggi killing": https://apnews.com/article/joe-bide...and-politics-fe49077941a4742da5dde3704d312927 US hosts high-level Saudi visit after Khashoggi killing By ELLEN KNICKMEYER, MATTHEW LEE and LOLITA C. BALDOR today WASHINGTON (AP) — Top Biden administration officials on Tuesday hosted a brother to Saudi Arabia’s powerful crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, in the highest-level such visit known since the U.S. made public intelligence findings linking the crown prince to the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi. The Biden administration did not publicly disclose the visit by Prince Khalid bin Salman, Saudi Arabia’s deputy defense minister, in advance. President Joe Biden had pledged to make a “pariah” of the kingdom’s crown prince during his presidential campaign over Khashoggi’s killing and other abuses, but his administration has instead emphasized U.S. strategic interests with Saudi Arabia. The high-level sessions with Prince Khalid, a younger brother and confidant to Saudi Arabia’s powerful crown prince, revived complaints that the administration was giving the Saudis a pass in the Khashoggi killing, given that country’s strategic importance as a Middle East power and top oil producer. “US still has their back, no matter how awfully they terrorize their citizens,” Sarah Leah Whitson, who leads the Arab rights group Democracy for the Arab World Now, tweeted Tuesday in a criticism of Biden administration policy. Biden has pledged a foreign policy that follows human rights and American values. But after the February release of the U.S. findings on Mohammed bin Salman’s role in Khashoggi’s death, Biden told ABC News there was no precedent for the U.S. punishing the acting head of a country with which it has a partnership. National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan told Prince Khalid in one of Tuesday’s meetings about the need to improve human rights in the kingdom, according to a U.S. readout of their talk. But the two also discussed strategic matters where Saudi Arabia’s cooperation is important for Biden administration aims, such as the global economic recovery, where the kingdom is leading a push to step up OPEC pumping and calm rising oil prices. The U.S. also is trying to reassure Saudi Arabia on security matters as the Biden administration seeks to reenter a nuclear deal with Iran, among other issues. Khalid bin Salman met at the Pentagon with officials including Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, one official said, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss a meeting that the Pentagon did not detail publicly. Prince Khalid will meet with State Department officials Wednesday. White House press secretary Jen Psaki indicated in a briefing with press that officials might raise the killing of Khashoggi. Khashoggi, a columnist for The Washington Post who had written critically of Mohammed bin Salman, was killed by Saudi officials in October 2018 at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul. Khashoggi, who was based in the Washington, D.C., area, had gone to the consulate to get documentation for his upcoming wedding. The Biden administration in February released a declassified intelligence report concluding that Mohammed bin Salman, son of the aging King Salman, had authorized the team of Saudi security and intelligence officials that killed Khashoggi. Prince Khalid was the kingdom’s ambassador in Washington at the time of Khashoggi’s killing. He was recalled soon after amid bipartisan U.S. outrage over the death of the widely known journalist. When Khashoggi vanished after going to the Saudi consulate in Turkey, Khalid bin Salman insisted for days that accusations of official Saudi involvement in his disappearance were groundless. The Washington Post reported that it was Prince Khalid who told Khashoggi to go to the consulate in Turkey to pick up his wedding papers and said it would be safe to do so. The prince’s official travel to Washington comes as the kingdom’s rulers still keep numerous members of the royal family and advocates for more rights in detention or under travel bans that sometimes apply to their relatives as well. “Prince KBS can travel although he is working for the Crown Prince, directly involved in the murder” of Khashoggi, tweeted Lina al Hathloul on Tuesday. She is the sister of Loujain al Hathloul, whom Mohammed bin Salman imprisoned for more than two years following her high-profile campaign for the kingdom to allow women to drive. The Saudi government had no immediate public comment on Tuesday’s visit. State Department spokespeople did not respond to a question Tuesday about why they had not announced the Saudi official’s visit in advance. They also did not answer whether the Biden administration had concluded Khalid bin Salman played no role in the Saudi organization behind Khashoggi’s killing, or had decided that U.S. interests required Biden officials to meet with senior Saudi royals despite the administration’s public condemnation of the killing. A State Department spokesperson, speaking on condition of anonymity because the person was not authorized to discuss the matter publicly, said the administration has made clear that it found Khashoggi’s killing unacceptable. ___ AP reporters Aya Batrawy in Dubai and Zeke Miller in Washington contributed to this report. Knickmeyer reported from Oklahoma City.
"U.S. gas prices at highest level in 7 years ahead of July 4 weekend": https://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2021/06/29/gas-prices-july-fourth-holiday-aaa/5671624979167/ but no worries, it's a sure-fire sign the economy is just humming along
Ya or just the relative change over time from pandemic to no lockdowns. I'm sure you were all giddy about low gas prices after the 2008 crash.
things must be bad if you've got CNN criticizing you "The worst speech of Biden's presidency": https://www.cnn.com/2021/07/09/opinions/biden-afghanistan-speech-malarkey-bergen/
"THE STRANGE CAREER OF JIM CROW, JOE BIDEN EDITION": https://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2021/07/the-strange-career-of-jim-crow-joe-biden-edition.php excerpt: Biden seems to have fallen in love with the “Jim Crow” charge. Putting an evaluation of its truthfulness — i.e., its falsity — to one side, I wonder how effective it is beyond Biden’s core audience. I would love to see one of those Jesse Watters or Ami Horowitz interview segments asking passersby on the street if they know Jim Crow. If they know who Jim Crow is. If they know what Jim Crow was. I think the results would be illuminating. more at the link
Democrats Prepare To Dump Joe Biden Now That He’s Served His Purpose https://thefederalist.com/2021/12/2...mp-joe-biden-now-that-hes-served-his-purpose/ excerpt: When The New York Times begins publishing op-eds saying Joe Biden should not run again, and that he should announce it soon, then the gig is officially up. Biden is a lame duck. Perhaps someone should tell him. Columnist Bret Stephens is right to note that the president would be 86 years old at the time of the next election cycle, and that he now “seems … uneven. Often cogent, but sometimes alarmingly incoherent.” More simply, Joe is old and tottering—and he’s unpopular to a startling degree. As Stephens notes, even passage of a multi-trillion-dollar “infrastructure” spending bill didn’t boost his numbers much. He suggests the president liberate his party by freeing new (and younger) candidates to begin exploring a path to the presidency. Sure, the question of Joe’s future “need(s) to be discussed candidly, not just whispered constantly.” At the same time, can we also ask the other obvious question candidly? Why did the media cover for an elderly septuagenarian with clear age-related issues, thrusting him into a job he was never truly capable of holding—and subjecting the nation to a dangerous period without a strong leader? It’s fine to have a mea culpa moment, and truth delivered late is better than truth denied forever, but as the nation stumbles along with a puppet president there should be some accountability. Just a year after a record 81 million Americans voted for Biden, they’re now being told it didn’t work out. Sorry. It’s coming within the timeframe of the traditional presidential “honeymoon,” that brief period presidents are normally at their zenith of political power and brimming to pass a bold agenda.
