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Dependable, low-cost electricity is essential to keeping the lights on for millions of American family-owned businesses. It is the type of essential item that touches nearly every aspect of our lives; the bakery relies on ovens, the repair shop on power tools, and the local grocer on refrigeration, and on and on. A consistent and affordable power source ensures that they can operate without interruption and keep prices competitive for their customers despite low margins and a fragile economy. Unfortunately, misguided federal policies now threaten to further disrupt our electric grid and could cause these business to shutter. In the...

President Biden invoked a Cold War-era law in a surprising move Friday to pour taxpayer funds into domestic manufacturing of electric heat pumps, an alternative to gas-powered residential furnaces. In a joint announcement with the White House, the Department of Energy (DOE) said the federal government would award a "historic" $169 million for nine projects across 15 sites nationwide in an effort to accelerate electric heat pump manufacturing. The significant level of funding was made possible after Biden utilized the 1950 Defense Production Act (DPA) to increase domestic production of green energy technologies. Under the actions announced Friday, the DOE...

Wyatt from Defense Politics - ASIA joins the boys at The Duran [Alex Christoforou in Nicosia and Alexander Mercouris in London] to discuss the summer-fall-winter-spring offensive in the Ukraine. 1:44:13 long video [1 hour and 44 minutes]

Update from Bakhmut Front: A series of geolocation of drone footages by DeepStateUA confirmed a MASSIVE breakthrough by Russian forces after the Russian forces overrun a major entrenchment west of Blahodatne.The Russian forces advanced all the way to the Bakhmut-Slovyansk highway; and Ukrainian MoD tacitly confirmed the situation by reporting fighting near Orikhovo-Vasylivka and Dubovo Vasylivka, the 2 towns lines along the southern side of the highway.This breakthrough threatens an encirclement of all the Ukrainian troops that are currently valiantly and successfully holding the Russian advance in Krasna Hora and Paraskoviivka. A major withdrawal from this region is now expected.

President Joe Biden is set to use his executive authority Monday to issue a 24-month moratorium on solar panel tariffs designed to bolster U.S. industry. Biden’s actions will pause enforcement of Obama-era anti-circumvention tariffs on solar panels and invoke the 1950 Defense Production Act (DPA) to boost domestic panel manufacturing, the White House announced. The president’s move came in response to complaints from the green energy industry and Democratic lawmakers that an active Commerce Department probe into Chinese companies’ alleged tariff violations was slowing the administration’s clean energy goals.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden on Wednesday invoked the Defense Production Act to speed production of infant formula and authorized flights to import supply from overseas, as he faces mounting political pressure over a domestic shortage caused by the safety-related closure of the country's largest formula manufacturing plan. The Defense Production Act order requires suppliers of formula manufacturers to fulfill those orders before other customers. Biden is also authorizing the Defense Department to use commercial aircraft to fly overseas formula supplies that meet federal standards to the U.S., in what the White House is calling “Operation Fly Formula.” Supplies...

CNN's Jake Tapper unhinged about enormous progress Trump Administration has made on testing, etc. https://t.co/AfHiuqmdCe— Mark R. Levin (@marklevinshow) July 27, 2020

MEMORANDUM FOR THE SECRETARY OF DEFENSE  SUBJECT:       Presidential Determination Pursuant to Section 303 of the Defense Production Act of 1950, as amendedBy the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, including section 303 of the Defense Production Act of 1950, as amended (the “Act”) (50 U.S.C. 4533), I hereby determine, pursuant to section 303(a)(5) of the Act, that the industrial base production capability for ultra-high and high temperature composites for hypersonic, strategic missile, and space launch systems is essential to the national defense.Without Presidential action under section 303...

By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, including the Defense Production Act of 1950, as amended (50 U.S.C. 4501 et seq.) (the “Act”), and section 301 of title 3, United States Code, it is hereby ordered as follows:Section 1.  Policy.  In Proclamation 9994 of March 13, 2020 (Declaring a National Emergency Concerning the Novel Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) Outbreak), I declared a national emergency recognizing the threat that the novel (new) coronavirus known as SARS-CoV-2 poses to our Nation’s healthcare systems.  In recognizing the public health risk, I noted that...

President Trump invoked the Defense Production Act on Tuesday to keep livestock processing facilities open, a decisive action that will keep our nation’s food supply chain intact and food on kitchen tables. America’s farmers and ranchers — of which I am one — cheer the president’s bold action. Something drastic had to be done. Meat producers were headed for the proverbial cliff. Processing of pigs has drastically slowed, swelling herds to the tune of roughly half a million a week! Pig and chicken producers have started “depopulating” their herds, a $2 word for slaughtering and disposing of an otherwise viable...

By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, including the Defense Production Act of 1950, as amended (50 U.S.C. 4501 et seq.) (the “Act”), and section 301 of title 3, United States Code, it is hereby ordered as follows:Section 1.  Policy.  The 2019 novel (new) coronavirus known as SARS-CoV-2, the virus causing outbreaks of the disease COVID-19, has significantly disrupted the lives of Americans.  In Proclamation 9994 of March 13, 2020 (Declaring a National Emergency Concerning the Novel Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) Outbreak), I declared that the COVID-19 outbreak in the United States constituted a...

The CEO of 3M said Friday his company is maximizing its efforts to get respirator masks to U.S. health workers fighting the coronavirus, pushing back on what he called President Donald Trump’s “absurd” suggestion that the manufacturer was not doing all it could. “Nothing is further from the truth,” CEO Mike Roman said on CNBC’s “Squawk on the Street” after being read Trump’s tweet slamming 3M “after seeing what they were doing with their Masks.”

MEMORANDUM FOR THE SECRETARY OF HOMELAND SECURITY THE ADMINISTRATOR OF THE FEDERAL EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT AGENCYSUBJECT:       Order Under the Defense Production Act Regarding 3M CompanyBy the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, including the Defense Production Act of 1950, as amended (50 U.S.C. 4501 et seq.) (the “Act”), it is hereby ordered as follows:Section 1.  Policy.  On March 13, 2020, I declared a national emergency recognizing the threat that the novel (new) coronavirus known as SARS-CoV-2 poses to our healthcare systems.  In recognizing the public health risk, I noted that...

Today, I have issued an order under the Defense Production Act to more fully ensure that domestic manufacturers can produce ventilators needed to save American lives. My order to the Secretary of Health and Human Services and the Secretary of Homeland Security will help domestic manufacturers like General Electric, Hill-Rom, Medtronic, ResMed, Royal Philips, and Vyaire Medical secure the supplies they need to build ventilators needed to defeat the virus. I am grateful to these and other domestic manufacturers for ramping up their production of ventilators during this difficult time. Today’s order will save lives by removing obstacles in the...

MEMORANDUM FOR THE SECRETARY OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES THE SECRETARY OF HOMELAND SECURITYSUBJECT:       Order Under the Defense Production Act Regarding the Purchase of VentilatorsBy the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, including the Defense Production Act of 1950, as amended (50 U.S.C. 4501 et seq.) (the “Act”), it is hereby ordered as follows:Section 1.  Policy.  On March 13, 2020, I declared a national emergency recognizing the threat that the novel (new) coronavirus known as SARS-CoV-2 poses to our healthcare systems.  In recognizing the public health risk, I noted...

12:13 P.M. EDT Q Mr. President, do you think the Easter timeline is off the table now, sir? THE PRESIDENT: Well, we’re going to see what happens. We want to get our country back to work. The doctors, nurses, first responders — everybody doing a phenomenal job, like beyond good. I’m going to — as you know, the Comfort — the great ship, Comfort — is stocked up to the gills. It’s right up to the top. And we’re going over there. I guess some of you are coming with me. But we’re going to send that up to New...

By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, including the Defense Production Act of 1950, as amended (50 U.S.C. 4501 et seq.) (the “Act”), the National Emergencies Act (50 U.S.C. 1601 et seq.), and section 301 of title 3, United States Code, it is hereby ordered as follows:Section 1.  Policy.  In Proclamation 9994 of March 13, 2020 (Declaring a National Emergency Concerning the Novel Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) Outbreak), I declared a national emergency recognizing the threat that the novel (new) coronavirus known as SARS-CoV-2 poses to our Nation’s healthcare systems.  In recognizing the public...

MEMORANDUM FOR THE SECRETARY OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICESSUBJECT:      Order Under the Defense Production Act Regarding General Motors CompanyBy the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, including the Defense Production Act of 1950, as amended (50 U.S.C. 4501 et seq.) (the “Act”), it is hereby ordered as follows:Section 1.  Policy.  On March 13, 2020, I declared a national emergency recognizing the threat that the novel (new) coronavirus known as SARS-CoV-2 poses to our national security.  In recognizing the public health risk, I noted that on March 11, 2020, the World Health Organization...

Germany’s long-understaffed army has a new plan to boost recruitment: allowing foreigners from other European Union countries to serve in the unified armed forces (Bundeswehr). The defense ministry confirmed on Saturday that it was seriously considering the idea. “The Bundeswehr is growing. For this, we need qualified personnel,” a Defense Ministry spokesman told German news agency DPA. Speaking with local newspaper Augsburger Allegemeine, Social Democrat (SPD) defense expert Karl-Heinz Brunner said that he could imagine EU citizens serving in the Bundeswehr. But he warned that any soldier who fought for Germany must be promised citizenship. “If citizens of other countries...

The leading German news agency, dpa, just reported that Apple has been granted a preliminary injunction against Samsung's Android-based Galaxy Tab 10.1, barring with immediate effect all distribution of the product in the entire European Union except for the Netherlands on the grounds of an alleged infringement of Apple's iPad-related [European] Community design no. 000181607-0001. I can confirm that Apple has a separate lawsuit underway in the Netherlands as well, asserting the same Community design. This was also confirmed by a court in The Hague to Dutch website Webwereld. There are differences in competition law between Germany and the Netherlands,...