Consumers, industries paying the cost of Houthi attacks on rerouted Red Sea shipping - Will Kessler

 

by Will Kessler

The number of weekly transits traveling through the Suez Canal and Red Sea has dropped 42% over the last two months, with the route typically being responsible for around 12% of global trade.

 

Global shipping has been thrown into disarray by attacks from Iran-backed Houthi militants in the Red Sea, adding expenses and travel time to freight companies which will eventually be passed down to American consumers, according to experts who spoke to the Daily Caller News Foundation.

The number of weekly transits traveling through the Suez Canal and Red Sea has dropped 42% over the last two months, with the route typically being responsible for around 12% of global trade, according to the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development. Extra expenses due to the disruptions have led to higher shipping costs across multiple factors for freight companies, which will ultimately be passed down to consumers, leading to higher prices and greater inflation, experts told the DCNF.

“By any number of measures, avoiding the Red Sea has been costly to shippers,” Peter Earle, an economist at the American Institute for Economic Research, told the DCNF. “The initial attacks led to a spike in shipping insurance (in at least one case, by tenfold) and concerns about the safety of crews and equipment, which resulted in several carriers shifting to the route around the Cape of Good Hope. Others followed. Because that course is at least twice as long — 10,000 to 12,000 nautical miles versus 4,000 to 5,000 nautical miles — there are two other knock-on effects driving up costs.”

Many shipping companies are instead sending their routes around the Cape of Good Hope in South Africa, adding around ten days to travel times and requiring more fuel and greater labor expenses, according to Reuters. The resulting need for fuel is expected to add $1 million in extra expenses for every round trip between Asia and Northern Europe.

“First and most obvious, more fuel consumed, more crew time, more support required, etc.,” Earle told the DCNF. “The second is that with shipping containers spending longer on ships, certain ports have reported shortages, which drives up their prices on shipping exchanges… Those increases are hitting shippers, who are passing them on to manufacturers and other shippers and are on their way to consumer (end) prices — if they haven’t reached them already.”

Ships using the Red Sea also now need specialty war risk insurance, which has increased fiftyfold since the attacks began, now equating to around 0.7% to 1% of the value of the ship, according to The New York Times. Tankers carrying fuel are especially wary about traveling through the Red Sea due to the explosive nature of their cargo, threatening energy prices.

“A number of auto manufacturers, including Volvo and Tesla, have indicated that they will suspend production for anywhere from a few days to a few weeks in order to avoid having orders get backed up waiting for transport,” Earle told the DCNF. “If the disruptions continue, there will be a broad rise in prices at the consumer end for any good that has incurred substantially higher shipping costs.”

American electric vehicle company Tesla as well as automaker Volvo paused some of their production in Europe due to an inability to get necessary components for manufacturing, signaling that other companies may face the same fate as the shipping issues persist, according to Reuters. A lack of production would put constraints on the supply of goods for consumers, raising prices and contributing to inflation increases.

The Red Sea is also along a key energy corridor, with large amounts of oil and liquified natural gas traveling through the Suez Canal, most recently leading to various fluctuations in energy prices, Reuters says. Increases in the cost of energy not only increase prices at the gas pump but also permeate throughout the economy due to the need for energy during manufacturing and production.

Nearly 4 million tons of grain have also been diverted from the Suez Canal since the attacks began, with around 7 million metric tons typically traveling through the route, according to Reuters. The diversion has the potential to raise global food prices as shipping costs increase.

“The situation with the Red Sea is important,” Desmond Lachman, a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, told the DCNF. “That is why we are seeing strong action by the U.S. and the U.K. against the Houthis to ensure that shipping is not disrupted. They realize that a blockage of that passageway would constitute an unwelcome inflationary shock to the world economy.”

In an attempt to alleviate risks in the Red Sea, the U.S. has established Operation Prosperity Garden, targeting the Houthi rebels in Yemen. The U.S. and the United Kingdom have since launched an attack targeting an underground storage site where drones and missiles were being housed, while also deflecting missile attacks toward ships.

“I think that it will take time before those increases are passed onto the consumers,” Lachman told the DCNF. “I expect that companies will wait to see if this is a permanent or a transitory phenomenon, and they will also want to see if it gets any worse.”

Global shipping is also facing increased costs from a severe drought in the Panama Canal, another widely used shipping passage in the Americas, according to The Associated Press. Panamanian authorities have had to cut the number of ships allowed through the passage by 36%, forcing them to go around the southern tip of South America or wait to be let through the canal.

“The issues in the Panama Canal involve a drought, resulting in fewer vessels being able to travel through,” Earle told the DCNF. “Typically, some 90 to 100 ships pass through the canal each week, but the lower water levels have reduced that number to between 40 and 50. There are now auctions being conducted for places in line, and some shipping firms have bid well over $1 million USD to move up in the queue. That cost will undoubtedly end up hitting consumers.”

***

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Will Kessler

Source: https://justthenews.com/politics-policy/transportation/consumers-manufacturers-industries-paying-cost-houthi-attacks

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George Soros pours millions into Texas in hopes of shifting power to Dems - Joe Schoffstall , Brandon Gillespie

 

by Joe Schoffstall , Brandon Gillespie

The financier has recently donated over $3M to at least five left-wing groups in the Lone Star State

 

Liberal billionaire George Soros is pouring extensive amounts of cash into Texas in an attempt to flip the state to Democrats, state campaign finance records reviewed by Fox News Digital show.

Soros has contributed over $3 million to at least five left-wing groups in the Lone Star State over the last year to beef up infrastructure and help Democrats make gains in the overwhelmingly Republican stronghold.

The financier is single-handedly propelling one of the progressive groups working to accomplish those goals. 

Fox News Digital reported in August that Texas Majority PAC, a mysterious under-the-radar group positioning itself to turn the state blue, had received hundreds of thousands of dollars from Soros' Democracy PAC II.

SOROS PUSHED $15M TO NONPROFIT LINKED TO BIDEN SUPER PAC TO TEST 'CRITICAL' POLICY ISSUES, TAX DOCS REVEAL

George Soros has recently dropped millions of dollars into Texas to help Democrats gain ground in the state. (Fabric Coffrini/AFP via Getty Images)

Texas Majority PAC had not been publicly launched, nor were there any news reports about it at the time. However, it has since come out of the shadows and into the spotlight. 

A recent report by The Texas Tribune said former staffers from Democrat Beto O'Rourke's failed gubernatorial campaign operate the group, and it raised nearly $2.25 million last year. 

BIDEN'S RE-ELECTION EFFORTS BOLSTERED BY MASSIVE DONATIONS FROM GEORGE SOROS AND OTHER BILLIONAIRES

"We need millions of more dollars and hundreds of more full-time staff to do this," the group's executive director, Katherine Fischer, told The Texas Tribune last week regarding its fundraising. "Texas Majority PAC works with partners across the state to create the conditions that will make flipping the state possible."

Recently released Texas campaign finance records reviewed by Fox News Digital show Soros has provided all its donations to date. His Democracy PAC II has given the group $850,000 in contributions, while he has personally provided $1.4 million. They account for the PAC's entire $2.25 million in donations.

Soros has single-handedly propelled a group called Texas Majority PAC. (Simon Dawson/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

Mayra Flores, a former Republican congresswoman and the first Mexican-born woman to serve in the House of Representatives, believes Soros is pouring money into the Texas Majority PAC to boost Democrat turnout in 2024 because he doesn't want Republican Hispanic leaders like her to win over other Hispanics who have traditionally voted blue.

"They're seeing that Hispanics are shifting towards the Republican Party because they're realizing that we are the party of prosperity, that we want to build a strong economy, that we want to secure the border, that we want to prioritize the people of this country and not prioritize people from outside this country. And I believe that it's our policies that are winning people over, and the struggle is real," Flores recently said. 

ALEX SOROS' ACCESS TO BIDEN'S WHITE HOUSE CONTINUES AS HE'S NOW VISITED AT LEAST 20 TIMES, RECORDS SHOW

"George Soros and the Democratic Party are seeing people like myself that resonate with the Hispanic community," she added. "They resonate with me. I resonate with them. We have similar stories. I'm bilingual. I speak Spanish and English. We have similar stories, and we share that bond."

The bulk of Soros' Texas cash has gone to the Texas Majority PAC, but he has also given hundreds of thousands of dollars to other groups working to elect Democrats statewide.

Soros has also contributed to at least four other left-wing groups in Texas. (Simon Dawson/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

Campaign finance records show Soros has donated at least $300,000 in the second half of 2023 to CTX Votes, which doesn't appear to have an online footprint. 

In December, he gave $250,000 to the Texas Organizing Project, which caught flak last month for previously bailing out an individual charged with killing several people in Texas, including his parents.

Additionally, he gave $200,000 to the Dallas County Democratic PAC and $100,000 to a group called First Tuesday, which also does not appear to have an online presence, in the second part of 2023.

Michael Vachon, Soros' spokesperson who also runs his Democracy PACs, did not respond to Fox News Digital's request for comment. 

Joe Schoffstall is a politics producer/reporter for Fox News Digital. Story tips can be sent to Joe.Schoffstall@Fox.com and on Twitter: @joeschoffstall

Joe Schoffstall , Brandon Gillespie 

Source: https://www.foxnews.com/politics/george-soros-pours-millions-texas-shifting-power-dems

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Biden, the Border, and Tik Tok Too - Clarice Feldman

 

by Clarice Feldman

Nothing, it seems, will stop Biden from pursuing this unpopular, and in my mind, illegal policy.

 

President Biden is in a pickle of his own making, and his efforts to deal with it are as idiotic and destructive as his open borders policy has been.

Last month alone over 300,000 mostly military age men illegally crossed our border, with the Border Patrol tasked to easing their invasion and even making them sandwiches rather than detaining and deporting them. Texas governor Greg Abbott directed his National Guard to obstruct their passage by placing floats in the river at the border and installing barbed wire topped fences at Shelby Park in Eagle Pass, Texas. He also spread the misery the border states were feeling by transporting many of the illegal crossers to cities that had virtue signaled they were “sanctuary cities,” cities that would not turn over illegals to ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) for detention and deportation. Now, those same cities -- which apparently thought El Paso was better able to handle housing and feeding and providing medical care for millions of largely needy military-aged men than they were -- are begging for help and federal money as they are overwhelmed by the task they dreamed would be shouldered by the border states.

Polls show that the majority of citizens are strongly opposed to this invasion. Former FBI officials have warned that this influx of unvetted invaders from around the world who have been allowed to travel freely around the country pose a serious national security threat. Still, the President, who blocked further construction of the wall Trump was constructing and ended the Trump policy of making asylum seekers stay in Mexico as their claims were processed, doubled down on allowing unlimited free passage into the United Sates. He demanded that Abbott tear down the border barriers. A federal court enjoined the Administration from removing the barriers to free passage into the country. (Most of these asylum claims lack merit, but it takes years to process during which time the applicants are living and working here.) “Border Patrol is being instructed to facilitate illegal entry at scale into the United States. The fundamental problem is that anyone can claim asylum with zero proof, which means all of Earth can come to America.”

The Administration sought relief from the Supreme Court and got it: The District Court injunction was lifted. 

Abbott continued nevertheless to fortify the barriers. Governors of 26 states wrote in support of Abbott’s actions, some even have sent National Guardsmen and other law enforcement to help Texas defend the border. 

Nothing, it seems, will stop Biden from pursuing this unpopular, and in my mind, illegal policy. This week, the Administration placed its hopes on a negotiated deal with Congress, tying an immigration “fix” with aid to Ukraine and Israel. Some Senate Republican poohbahs might be amenable but it doesn’t appear the House will go along with any such thing. To date no one knows what the specifics are except that the Democrats at the outset declared “off limits” any discussion about completing the wall. There’s been a perfectly good immigration law on the books for years which was passed by the House and Senate. It simply needs to be enforced, not ignored.

The open border administration is floundering between trying to satisfy more moderate voters (which unfortunately for Democrats includes many of the minority voters in their base who are most deleteriously affected by an open border policy) and its far-left youth faction. 

First, they had the Department of Homeland Security demand access to Shelby Park, to remove the invasion barriers. Texas attorney general Ken Paxton made some counter-demands:

“By February 15, DHS must supply the official plat maps and deeds demonstrating the precise parcels to which they claim ownership, an explanation of how Texas is preventing access to those specific parcels, documentation showing that Eagle Pass or Texas ever granted permission for DHS to erect infrastructure that interferes with border security, and proof of Congress empowering DHS to turn a Texas park into an unofficial and illegal port of entry. If the federal government is going to make such claims, it must provide proof.”  

In a sense, I’m sorry DHS won’t be getting access because one picture of them cutting the wire in Shelby Park should insure a Republican landslide victory. 

The Administration at some point through the media remoras let it be known it was considering criminal action against the Texas Border Patrol. Unfortunately for that plan, the Texas Border Patrol doesn’t seem to be scared off. 

According to a new post put out by the Border Patrol Union, and a new report from Griff Jenkins of Fox News, Biden has lost operational control of the situation, at least in a practical sense. 

The Biden administration had initially warned Texas that it had until mid-day Friday to relinquish control of Shelby Park, the nearby boat dock, and the International Bridge. That deadline has now come and gone, and instead of there being a major clash between the Border Patrol and the state-controlled soldiers on site, it appears those on the ground have already de-escalated the situation.

The Border Patrol Union ends by slamming Biden for creating the current "catastrophe" and reiterating that there will be no conflict between CBP agents and state forces. The statement is a clear signal of support for the Texas National Guard, its mission, and those leading it, including Gov. Greg Abbott.

Rank-and-file BP agents appreciate and respect what TX has been doing to defend their state in the midst of this catastrophe that the Biden Admin has unleashed on America.

We want to be perfectly clear, there is no fight between rank-and-file BP agents and the TX NG, Gov. Abbott, or TX DPS. It may make flashy headlines, but it simply isn't true.

Furthering the division between the Border Patrol and the White House was a senior CBP official who said they have no plans to follow through on removing the razor wire put up by Texas. Biden has completely lost whatever leverage he had.

This is an incredible turn of events. I don't know if "mutiny" is the right word here, but clearly, Biden has no way to enforce his threats at this point. Border Patrol agents are not going to go along with it and short of using the Insurrection Act to mobilize the U.S. Army (and they likely wouldn't act either), this represents a major roadblock to the president's attempts to further destroy the Southern border. 

All other pathways seemingly having been unavailing, the Administration attempted to economically punish Texas and, in the process, has helped Russia increase its economic hold through energy sales to Europe, strengthen China, cost American jobs, and irritated our allies while doing nothing to promote the “climate change” policies it also stupidly endorses. It announced a ban on further permitting of Liquid Natural Gas (LNG) exporting. 

Nobody in the White House seems to understand that countries sign long-term contracts years in advance so they can plan their energy infrastructure and needs. They won’t build new gas plants or import terminals without supply locked in -- or they will turn to more reliable sources. Russia now looks like a more reliable energy source than the U.S.

Much of the supply from LNG projects in the works is slated for Asia. They would strengthen U.S. relationships and influence in the region to counter China. Xi Jinping no doubt is elated by the Administration’s pause, which will do more damage to U.S. strategic interests than blocking the Keystone XL pipeline.

Re-election imperatives have partly restrained the President’s attack on fossil fuels in his first term, but don’t expect the same in a second. Recall how the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission in early 2022 backtracked on a plan to conduct greenhouse-gas analyses for natural gas pipelines and export projects after West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin raised a ruckus. 

But Mr. Manchin is retiring, and Mr. Biden won’t need to worry about him in a second term. Nor will he have to heed voters in states such as Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin. Mr. McKibben will lead a no-holds-barred children’s crusade against fossil fuels. Is Mr. Biden trying to give Americans another reason to vote for Donald Trump?

The largest LNG operations happen to be in Texas and it is impossible to see this as anything but a means to punish Abbott’s closing of the border. It will do nothing to ease chimerical “climate change.” Natural gas is one of the most benign sources of energy, even if you subscribe -- and I do not -- to the notion that CO2 emissions need to be severely limited. What it will do is create great problems for our European allies and Asian countries who depend on and plan for steady supplies of energy to meet their domestic needs. Who dreamed up this ludicrous strategy? Apparently 25-year-old Tik Tok “influencer” Alex Haraus, who demanded Biden save the planet by killing the Calcasieu Pass 2 Natural gas Project.

It appears that having infuriated most of the country with an outlandish immigration policy, it hopes to pick up the ignorant youth vote to make up for the loss of millions of voters who see and feel the consequences of those policies.

Clarice Feldman

Source:https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2024/01/biden_the_border_and_tik_tok_too.html

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$83M 'embarrassing farce' just a taste of what awaits Trump - Victor Davis Hanson

 

by Victor Davis Hanson

The legal system itself, hand-in-glove with left-wing politicos, is turning the process of balloting and elections into an embarrassing farce

 

$83 million?

 In a furor, Donald Trump stormed out of a New York courtroom after the conclusion of the defamation suit brought by author and dating/boyfriend/sex-advice columnist E. Jean Carroll.

The Carroll suit was just settled against Trump for $83.3 million! It was largely subsidized by Reid Hoffman, a billionaire capitalist and mega-donor to the Democratic Party and left-wing causes.

 The subtext of Trump’s rage, aside from the outrageous monetary size of the defamation ruling, is that he was facing — and angered — a left-wing claimant, a quite hostile left-wing judge, and a left-wing New York jury.

The civil suit serves as a mere preview of four additional left-wing criminal prosecutions, left-wing judges, and left-wing juries to come — all on charges that would have never been filed if Trump had either not run for president or been a liberal progressive.

JURY DECIDES TRUMP MUST PAY $84.3M IN DAMAGES FOR DEFAMING E. JEAN CARROLL

Former President Donald Trump is seen on January 25, 2024 in New York City. A federal jury decided Trump must pay E. Jean Carroll more than $83 million in damages after he denied allegations that he raped her in the 1990s.  (GWR/Star Max/GC Images)

Yet here we are.

The E. Jean Carroll case is the most baffling of all five. She, the alleged victim, did not remember even the year in which the purported sexual assault took place, nearly three decades ago. Observers have pointed out dozens of bizarre inconsistencies in her story, some of them seemingly exculpatory of Trump.

It was never clear what the preliminaries were that supposedly (Trump denies meeting her) led both, allegedly, willingly to retreat together to a department store dressing room, where during normal business hours, the alleged assault took place.

Moreover, the sexual assault complaint came forward decades post facto — and only after Trump was running for and then became president.

 Carroll eventually sued him for battery, but well after the statute of limitations had expired, thus the case seemed defunct.

NIKKI HALEY SLAMS TRUMP AFTER DEFAMATION TRIAL VERDICT: ‘NOT TALKING ABOUT’ BORDER, INFLATION

Her claims of defamation injuries arise in part from being fired from her advice column job at ELLE magazine.

She claimed that Trump’s sharp denials and ad hominem retorts led her career and reputation to ruin. But the loss of a column for anyone at 76 does not seem such a rare occurrence, and the absence of a salaried job for four years in one’s late seventies does not seem to equate to an $83 million hit.

E. Jean Carroll (C) and attorney Roberta Kaplan (R) is seen leaving Manhattan Federal Court on January 26, 2024 in New York City. A federal jury decided Trump must pay $18.3 million in compensatory damages and $65 million in punitive damages after he was found to have defamed Carroll.  (GWR/Star Max/GC Images)

Notably, the allegation that her dispute with Trump led to her firing was strongly denied by the very magazine that cut her loose.

But then another strange thing happened. In 2022, a new law, "The Adult Survivors Act," was passed by the New York legislature. It also post facto established a twelve-month window (beginning six months from the signing of the bill) that permitted survivors of long ago alleged sexual assaults to suddenly sue their accused long-ago perpetrator — regardless of the previous statute of limitations.

That unexpected opening suddenly gave Carroll’s prior unsuccessful efforts a rebirth. And she quickly refiled with the help of arch-Trump-hating billionaire Hoffman.

NEW YORK LAW THAT UNLEASHED WAVE OF SEXUAL MISCONDUCT LAWSUITS FACES CONTROVERSY AS IT NEARS EXPIRATION

Yet the bill may have been introduced with Trump particularly in mind — given the legislator who introduced it, Democratic state Sen. Brad Hoylman-Siga, was known as another Trump antagonist.

More interestingly, Hoylman-Siga had earlier introduced and had passed another Trump-targeted bill. That "TRUST" act empowered particular federal Congressional committees to access New York State's once-sealed tax returns of high-ranking government elected officials — such as Trump.

That bill’s generally agreed subtext was a green light for anti-Trump members of Congress to obtain legal access to Donald J. Trump's tax returns.

Trump attorney Alina Habba is seen on January 26, 2024 in New York City. Habba called the $83 million judgment against Trump a "violation of our justice system."  (GWR/Star Max/GC Images)

So there is an eerie feeling that the New York legislature may have abruptly passed legislation that was aimed at the past conduct of Donald Trump but only after he entered the political arena.

While these are not quite bills of attainder, there is something unsettling if they are post facto laws aimed at targeting the most famous and controversial man in America and the leading candidate for the presidency.

In essence, they were targeted statutes designed to make Trump’s prior legally unactionable behavior suddenly quite legally actionable.

TRUMP DEFENDS HIMSELF ON THE STAND, BLASTS E JEAN CARROLL TRIAL: 'THIS IS NOT AMERICA'

Video

 

Trump will be subject to such special treatment all summer and fall.

Prosecutors Alvin Bragg, Letitia James, Jack Smith, and Fani Willis will synchronize their court business for maximum effect.

Trump again will face left-wing big-city prosecutors, judges, and juries on charges that are politically driven, involving alleged behavior that is either usually not criminalized or not to the same degree as in Trump’s case. (Do we remember the nearly $375,000 federal fine belatedly leveled at an exempt Obama but only five years after his 2008 efforts to avoid identifying all the names of contributors to his campaign?).

The stakes are higher each day as Trump closes in on the Republican presidential nomination and thus becomes the hope of half the country to end the Biden madness.

Somehow, Trump will have to stay calm and give no opening to his legion of hostile prosecutors, all while conducting a nonstop campaign against Biden (and for a while, Haley), and while fighting to keep his name on various state ballots.

So what we are witnessing is not even the extralegal efforts of Steele/Fusion GPS, Perkins Coie/DNC/Hillary Clinton in 2016, or the 2020 "Russian disinformation" ruse/change the voting laws/infuse half a billion dollars to absorb the work of the registrar machinations against Trump.

We are way beyond all that. The legal system itself, hand-in-glove with left-wing politicos (compare campaign boasts of James and Willis, or prosecutorial visits to the January 6 committee and the White House) is turning the process of balloting and elections into an embarrassing farce.

Still, Trump will have to soldier on. He must stay controlled amid the tsunamis, not play into the hands of his accusers, and remember that he may soon be the only eleventh-hour hope to stop this mockery of American law, customs and traditions.

This op-ed was originally published on X and republished with permission, with edits for clarity.

 

Victor Davis Hanson is a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution and the author most recently of "The Dying Citizen."

Source: https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/83-million-just-beginning-donald-trump-soldier-on

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Biden administration plows forward with electric buses even as cities stuck with inoperable vehicles - Kevin Killough

 

by Kevin Killough

Despite multiple cities with inoperable electric buses, the Biden administration announced it had selected 67 applicants to receive nearly $1 billion in taxpayer money to purchase over 2,700 “clean” school buses in 280 school districts across 37 states.

 

Cities across the U.S. have purchased electric buses that are inoperable and cannot be repaired. Despite such problems, the Biden administration is providing school districts with $1 billion in taxpayer money to help them transition many of their buses over to electric.

Many of the buses used by transit departments were manufactured by Proterra, which President Joe Biden heavily promoted. The company went bankrupt in August, which has made it hard to get parts and services for the buses, which transit departments are reporting have a number of problems.

The city of Asheville, North Carolina, is the latest municipality to find itself with million-dollar buses it cannot use. The city, Fox News reports, spent millions in 2018 to add five buses to its fleet. Three of them  are out of commission due to mechanical and software problems, and one has a broken door that can’t be replaced.

According to the News & Observer, the company has idled its assembly lines since August, and there’s no word on when the company will resume production.

Asheville is not alone. A transit department in Stockton, California, told Just The News in December it had six of its 17 electric buses in December that weren’t operating. They also reported problems with charging stations.

Duluth, Minnesota, had Proterra buses with cracked chassis and failed to make it up steep hills. The South Philadelphia transit system also had buses that stopped running as a result of cracked chassis. The city of Edmonton, in Alberta, Canada, purchased 60 of the buses, and most of them aren’t running.

The transit department service Jackson Hole, Wyoming, purchased eight of the buses, all of which broke down at one point. In December, the department’s director told Just The News they managed to get two running.

Despite all these problems, the Biden administration announced earlier this month that it had selected 67 applicants to receive nearly $1 billion in taxpayer money to purchase over 2,700 “clean” school buses in 280 school districts across 37 states.

“Every school day, 25 million children ride our nation’s largest form of mass transit: the school bus. The vast majority of those buses run on diesel, exposing students, teachers, and bus drivers to toxic air pollution,” said Vice President Kamala Harris in the announcement.

The Clean School Bus Program, which was part of the bipartisan infrastructure law, provides a total of $5 billion for the effort. Some of the buses will be natural gas- and propane-powered.

David Blackmon, energy analyst who publishes “Energy Absurdities,” compared the administration’s determination to continue spending taxpayer dollars on technology that’s producing failing buses to arguments supportive of further attempts at socialism, despite its historic record of failures.

Electric bus supporters are “so overwhelmingly anxious to virtue signal about green energy, they’ve convinced themselves that they're the ones that are going to do it right,” Blackmon said.

A spokesperson for the city of Asheville told Fox that there can be problems with adapting new technologies.

The San Joaquin Regional Transit District in Stockton, California, despite the problems they’ve had with buses, spoke favorably in December of their effort to adopt new electric bus technology.

Blackmon pointed out that the first electric vehicles were invented in the early 1800s. The cars didn’t succeed against gas-powered vehicles because of what Blackmon said is “intractable limitations of applicability of battery technology.”

The Biden administration’s first rounds of awards for the electric school buses provided $42 million of taxpayer money for over 100 low-emission buses in Illinois. It’s not clear how many of those will be electric, but statements by Illinois lawmakers in the announcement said the money would go toward electric buses.

“These grants will set the stage for the rest of our country to move away from fossil fuel and invest in clean, reliable energy that will keep our children safe,” said Rep. Mike Quigley, D-Ill.

 
Kevin Killough

Source: https://justthenews.com/politics-policy/energy/biden-administration-plows-forward-electric-buses-despite-cities-stuck

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U.S. and Quebec ask Trudeau to Slow Influx of Mexican Illegals as Quebec Nears ‘Breaking Point’ - Christine Williams

 

by Christine Williams

The Liberal government finds itself in a quandary.

 

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Canada and America do not see eye-to-eye on the issue of immigration, despite the open-door policies of both “progressive” governments. Notwithstanding the southern invasion of the United States, the Biden administration is asking Canada to reestablish visas for Mexicans, so as to staunch the flow of Mexicans making their way into the U.S. from Canada. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is also under pressure from the province of Quebec’s premier, since the influx of illegals has pushed Quebec to “breaking point.”

The Canadian government suddenly appears willing to cooperate with the U.S. and Quebec. To understand why, let’s revisit some key historical events. In 2009, then-Prime Minister Stephen Harper established a requirement of visas for Mexicans. This was intended to put an end to bogus asylum claims and reduce the rate of illegal migration. Predictably, Leftists harshly criticized this measure; they have demonstrated no foresight in their propensity to advocate for open-door migration policies. By 2012, Harper was softening his stance due to pressure from them, and wanted conciliation with Mexico. He experienced renewed pressure to drop the visa requirement in 2014. By 2016, the Liberals were “working with diligence” to end the Mexican visa requirement. Not long after that, Justin Trudeau finally dropped it.

Then something unexpected happened. In April 2023, the U.S. asked Canada to reimpose its visa requirements for Mexico so as to end the surge of crossings from the Canadian border into the United States. This request came despite the Biden administration’s allowing multitudes to cross into the U.S. from Mexico. The Biden administration wasn’t concerned about its Southern border, but about Mexicans who were entering Canada and then making their way into the U.S. through easy entrance points, and remaining there. Canada’s 5,525-mile-long land border with the United States is the longest international border in the world. Of course, the numbers of Mexicans coming into the U.S. from Canada hardly compared with the multitudes of illegals entering from Mexico, but far-Left insanity knows no limits. The latest: “Trudeau’s Public Safety Minister Dominic LeBlanc said he and the Immigration Minister Marc Miller were considering visas and other measures.” The quick switch is prompted by the no-nonsense Quebec Premier Francois Legault.

“‘Breaking point’: Legault asks Trudeau to slow influx of asylum seekers,” Canadian Press, January 18, 2024:

Quebec Premier Francois Legault is asking Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to slow the influx of asylum seekers entering his province, which he said is nearing a “breaking point.”

Legault made his request in an official letter to Trudeau sent Wednesday afternoon, a copy of which was obtained by The Canadian Press.

“We are very close to the breaking point due to the excessive number of asylum seekers arriving in Quebec month after month. The situation has become unsustainable,” Legault wrote.

He said that in 2022, Quebec took in more asylum seekers than the rest of the country combined.

The closure of the unofficial Roxham Road crossing point south of Montreal in August 2023 “momentarily” slowed the flow, Legault said. “However, the arrivals have continued to increase at airports. The number of people arriving on a visitor visa and applying for asylum is also increasing significantly.”

Nearly 60,000 new asylum seekers were registered in Quebec in the first 11 months of 2023, which has put “very significant pressure” on services, the premier writes.

“Asylum seekers have trouble finding a place to live, which contributes to accentuating the housing crisis,” the letter said. “Many end up in homeless shelters, which are overflowing.”….

Justin Trudeau cannot afford more bad publicity. Support for his leadership is also at “breaking point,” despite his comical efforts to denigrate the Opposition. Elections are planned for the fall of next year. This describes in a nutshell the situation in Canada:

🇨🇦Good morning Canada!

Let’s see if we can get this message to 1M views?🤔

Trudeau keeps saying Pierre wants to take us backwards.🤦🏻‍♂️

Well let’s explore that statement shall we?🤔 pic.twitter.com/NIbGWFI7Vm

— Contrarian (@ContrarianTribe) January 21, 2024

Trudeau’s “joke” about bribing the media in 2019 wasn’t really a joke, despite the best efforts by his cronies to spin news to his benefit. The Western Standard reported:

In its 2019 budget, the federal government rolled out nearly $600 million in subsidies for select media outlets that obtain the federal government’s approval. The latest $600 million cheque is meant to fill a blind spot in exerting government influence over the Canadian print and online media.

CTV reported:

The Liberals’ pledge to roll out nearly $600 million in subsidies to select news media outlets is one of the most controversial spending plans of the government’s 2019 budget…the so-called “media bailout” continues to garner criticism, including from Conservatives who have accused the Liberals of trying to bribe the news media ahead of the October election, as well as those who question how such funding might impact journalists’ objectivity.

The usually supportive Toronto Star even reported recently that Justin Trudeau and his Liberals hit new lows in support, poll suggests.

Given the shabby state of Canada’s economy, its levels of divisiveness, and its record on various freedoms, it isn’t to Trudeau’s advantage to enter the ring against the Quebec premier Francois Legault. Without pressure, most people recognize that the Trudeau government would continue with its open-door migration policies. But the government is now in a quandary and is willing to do whatever it takes, including flip-flopping on this issue. According to Canada’s Public Safety Minister Dominic LeBlanc, Canada is currently “looking at a number of measures that would, in fact, put us in a position to have done what’s necessary to ensure that these flights directly from Mexico don’t become sort of an indirect way to get access to Canada and to claim asylum.” How times change when the Liberals are afraid of losing power.

 

Christine Douglass-Williams is Associate Editor of Frontpage, regular writer for Jihad Watch, a nine-time award-winning journalist, past Canadian government appointee to the Canadian Race Relations Foundation and the Office of Religious Freedom; author of "The Challenge of Modernizing Islam" and "Fired by the Canadian Government for Criticizing Islam".

Source: https://www.frontpagemag.com/u-s-and-quebec-ask-trudeau-to-slow-influx-of-mexican-illegals-as-quebec-nears-breaking-point/

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Navy Drops High School Requirement for Recruits - Daniel Greenfield

 

by Daniel Greenfield

The Navy could drop DEI or drop its standards. It's choosing to drop standards.

 

The military is in the midst of a self-inflicted recruitment crisis.

As I wrote earlier, new data showed that the Army’s recruitment crisis was almost entirely caused by a drop in white recruits and a woke brass chasing DEI and diversity at the expense of national security. There are good odds that the Navy has the same issues and that its recruiting crisis could be fixed if the service, which is even more woke than the Army, stopped playing political games.

Despite a year of pilot programs aimed at getting new sailors, the Navy missed all its recruiting goals in Fiscal Year 2023, resulting in higher goals for next year, the sea service announced Tuesday.

The Navy missed its enlisted sailor goal by 7,464, according to the sea service’s numbers published Tuesday. It aimed to recruit 37,700 sailors, but ended the FY 2023 with 30,236. The service met its active-duty enlistment goal in Fiscal Year 2022 by a thin margin, USNI News previously reported.

So the Navy is dealing with that by dropping standards even further. And I don’t just mean with its ‘drag queen ambassador’ but by tossing out a GED or high school diploma requirement.

The U.S. Navy is starting to enlist individuals who didn’t graduate from high school or get a GED, marking the second time in about a year that the service has opened the door to lower-performing recruits as it struggles to meet enlistment goals.

The decision follows a move in December 2022 to bring in a larger number of recruits who score very low on the Armed Services Qualification Test. Both are fairly rare steps that the other military services largely avoid or limit, even though they are all finding it increasingly difficult to attract the dwindling number of young people who can meet the military’s physical, mental and moral standards.

Under the new plan, Navy recruits without an education credential will be able to join as long as they score 50 or above on the qualification test, which is out of 99. The last time the service took individuals without education credentials was in 2000.

Lowering standards had been recommended to the military brass in order to improve diversity metrics. As was ignoring criminal records and other issues. Expect those to show up on the agenda soon enough.

The Navy could drop DEI or drop its standards. It’s choosing to drop standards.

Daniel Greenfield, a Shillman Journalism Fellow at the David Horowitz Freedom Center, is an investigative journalist and writer focusing on the radical Left and Islamic terrorism.

Source: https://www.frontpagemag.com/navy-drops-high-school-requirement-for-recruits/

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Iran-Pakistan: The Beautiful Vase Has Been Chipped - Amir Taheri

 

by Amir Taheri

Tehran is sore that China decided to locate the trade-cum-security hub it wants to build in the Indian Ocean in the Pakistani port of Gawadar on the Arabian Sea rather than in the Iranian port of Gavatar a few kilometers to its west.

 

• Despite attempts by both sides to pretend that the recent clashes were a passing storm, it is clear that something deeper and more lasting may be involved.

• Tehran is sore that China decided to locate the trade-cum-security hub it wants to build in the Indian Ocean in the Pakistani port of Gawadar on the Arabian Sea rather than in the Iranian port of Gavatar a few kilometers to its west.

• Tehran fears that China's choice indicates Beijing's lack of confidence in Iran's stability once the "Supreme Guide" Ali Khamenei bows off stage, while Pakistan would retain a measure of stability because its system does not depend on a single leader.

• Both Tehran and Islamabad are anxious to patch things up as quickly as possible. But one thing is clear: the beautiful vase filled with flowers has been chipped.

Despite attempts by Iran and Pakistan to pretend that the recent clashes were a passing storm, it is clear that something deeper and more lasting may be involved. Pictured: An anti-Iran protest in Lahore, Pakistan on January 19, 2024, after Iran launched an airstrike in Baluchistan province. (Photo by Arif Ali/AFP via Getty Images)

If you had asked me just a couple of weeks ago, I might have assured you that Pakistan is the last county with which the Islamic Republic of Iran would pick a fight.

I might have cited many reasons for that opinion.

First, A recent demise of the classical reasons for antagonism between nation-states. Their border, almost 1,000 kilometers long, was fully demarcated in 1964, ending ambiguities left behind by the British when they withdrew from the subcontinent in 1947. Relations were never marred by irredentist pressures on either side.

Nor did Iran and Pakistan compete over access to natural resources, including water, or competition over markets.

History, too, designated Iran and Pakistan as natural friends. Iran had been a source of inspiration for two generations of Muslims in the subcontinent who dreamt of a separate homeland. Many of them even adopted surnames that indicated an Iranian rather than Indian origin: Gailani, Isfahani, Shirazi etc.

The great poet Muhammad Iqbal, who wrote in Persian, propagated the idea of a new Muslim state alongside Iran. His ode "To the Persian Youth" is now a classic of Persian literature, a love letter from a man who never actually visited Iran.

During the independence struggle, the Persian phrase "Pakistan zinda baad!" ["Victory Pakistan!"] became the war cry of millions from Baluchistan to East Bengal.

The founding fathers of the new Muslim state chose the Persian word Pakistan (Land of The Pure) to name the nascent state whose national anthem was also written in Persian.

Not surprisingly, Iran was the first country to recognize the new state and set up a vast embassy in its first capital, Karachi. There were also numerous intermarriages, including by President Iskandar Mirza and, later, Prime Minister Zulfiqar Al-Bhutto.

Tight links between the two neighbors were formalized when, along with Iraq, Turkey and the UK, they created the Central Treaty Organization (CENTO) and later, with Turkey, the Regional Cooperation for Development (RCD). Joint top brass meetings and frequent diplomatic exchanges helped bring the two closer in all domains.

In the 1965 war between India and Pakistan, over the Rann of Kutch marshlands, Iran helped the latter to victory by supplying non-lethal military equipment, as well as cut-price oil and interest free loans. That helped Field Marshal Muhammad Ayub Khan to pose as a war hero and forge a dictatorial system with Tehran's constant support.

A year later, the Shah of Iran played peacemaker by preventing a war between Afghanistan and Pakistan over the North-West Frontier Province, where ethnic Pashtuns formed a majority of the population.

In 1971, another military dictator, General Muhammad Yahya Khan, led Pakistan into a much bigger war with India that led to the secession of East Pakistan (renamed Bangladesh).

Despite massive Iranian support, the Pakistani army suffered a major defeat, one that tempted India to prepare for further operations that could have rendered Pakistan unsustainable as a functioning nation-state.

There, too, intervention by Iran, along with the USSR and the US, helped restrain Indian ambitions and prevented a larger conflagration.

In a stern message to New Delhi, the Shah said:

"Iran has no aggressive intentions, but it will not accept any attempt to liquidate Pakistan. The USSR and India must be fully aware of our resolution.... We do not want a new Vietnam on the frontier of Iran."

The statement shocked India, which had rich historical links with Iran and was engaged in massive industrial and trade projects with Tehran. With the conflict ended, Iran granted Pakistan a $600 billion low-interest loan to help the war-shaken nation regain its bearings.

With General Zia ul-Haq's military coup in Islamabad and later the fall of the Shah in Tehran, the loan was never fully paid.

The mullahs who seized power in Iran in 1979 continued close ties with Pakistan in the hope of launching a massive conversion campaign in the world's third-most-populous Muslim nation. In 1980, once the US had cut diplomatic ties with the Islamic Republic of Iran, the mullahs chose Pakistan to represent Iranian interests in Washington.

The decade-long Soviet intervention in Afghanistan also provided a measure of diplomatic convergence between the two. That was reaffirmed when both Tehran and Islamabad gradually moved towards closer ties with Beijing.

Over the years Pakistan, through the "father" of its own atomic bomb Abdul Qadeer Khan, also helped Iran develop its nuclear weapons capacity close to what is known as the threshold level, that is to say having the scientific and technological ability to produce a nuclear warhead. Iran repaid that favor by supplying Pakistan with cut-price oil and gas.

Nevertheless, bilateral relations remained bogged by an attraction-revulsion accent. Islamabad and Tehran never quite trusted each other. Tehran continued financing militant Shiite groups in Pakistan, while Islamabad refused to allow Iran to open a branch of the Imam Khomeini University in Karachi.

We now know that both sides also tolerated the presence of dissident ethnic Baluch groups on their soil. In 2022, Tehran claimed that some 80 anti-Iran armed groups were based in Pakistani territory. Those groups had allegedly been responsible for dozens of attacks claiming over 300 victims among the Iranian military, notably one of the rising stars of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, General Nur-Ali Shushtari.

It was on such grounds that Tehran ordered direct military action against targets deep inside Pakistani territory, forcing Islamabad to retaliate to avoid losing face.

Last week, Pakistan claimed that the three villages it had bombed in southeast Iran, killing 11 people, sheltered secessionist Baluch groups.

Despite attempts by both sides to pretend that the recent clashes were a passing storm, it is clear that something deeper and more lasting may be involved.

Tehran is sore that China decided to locate the trade-cum-security hub it wants to build in the Indian Ocean in the Pakistani port of Gawadar on the Arabian Sea, rather than in the Iranian port of Gavatar a few kilometers to its west.

Tehran fears that China's choice indicates Beijing's lack of confidence in Iran's stability once the "Supreme Guide" Ali Khamenei bows off stage, while Pakistan would retain a measure of stability because its system does not depend on a single leader.

Both Tehran and Islamabad are anxious to patch things up as quickly as possible. But one thing is clear: the beautiful vase filled with flowers has been chipped.

This article originally appeared in Asharq Al-Awsat

Amir Taheri was the executive editor-in-chief of the daily Kayhan in Iran from 1972 to 1979. He has worked at or written for innumerable publications, published eleven books, and has been a columnist for Asharq Al-Awsat since 1987. He is the Chairman of Gatestone Europe.

Source:https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/20344/iran-pakistan

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