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Coal-fired electricity generation climbed this year in the U.S. for the first time since the Obama administration, spurred by spiking natural gas prices, a setback for the Biden climate agenda and a sign that the president’s drilling crackdown may be backfiring. The U.S. Energy Information Administration said Monday that electricity generated by coal-fired plants is expected to jump by 22% in 2021 over last year’s levels for the first year-over-year increase since 2014. The reason: the rising cost of natural gas, which began climbing in April and hit a 13-year high this month, fueled by pent-up pandemic demand that has...

Procter & Gamble Co. said it will raise prices on a number of household staple goods as the cost for raw materials and freight has increased faster than it had anticipated. The company, which makes a range of products including Tide and Charmin, said it would begin to charge more for oral care, beauty, and razors. Earlier this year, Procter & Gamble said it would charge more for toilet paper and diapers. The new price hikes are not being implemented on all its products, but they will be marked for specific items such as razors and in some sub-categories, CFO...

On the face of it, America has little to fear from China's new deal to upgrade Cuba's power grid. The countries are already firm allies via their Communist leaders, Havana is under a diplomatic and economic embargo from Washington, and all efforts to mend ties between the two ended when Obama left office. But scratch the surface and what emerges is a picture of Chinese economic dominance in America's backyard that would be enough give any president sleepless nights. In fact, the deal with Cuba - signed this week as part of China's trillion-dollar Belt and Road Initiative - is...

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has declared himself the Moses of Climate Change, and said that global warming is worse than Covid and therefore “we have to listen to the scientists.” Speaking at the Global Investment Summit at the Science Museum in London on Tuesday, the prime minister claimed that free-market capitalism, which produced the world’s coronavirus vaccines, needed to be mobilised again to “face a challenge that is even bigger for humanity” and “a threat to our way of life that is ultimately far worse than COVID”: alleged manmade climate change.

Former Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe (D), who is running for governor again, released an ad this week clarifying that he has “always valued the concerns of parents” after he was hit with a tsunami of backlash for a comment he made about parents’ role in education in the last gubernatorial debate. The new ad features photos of McAuliffe and his family as McAuliffe emphasizes the importance of parents in schools, a message that comes after McAuliffe said during the debate September 28, “I don’t think parents should be telling schools what they should teach.”

A New York Foodie does the Texas State Fair and loves it.

Facebook has changed its rules to make journalists a protected class shielded from "bullying" and "harassment" (aka criticism), according to a report from Reuters. From Reuters, "EXCLUSIVE Facebook to change rules on attacking public figures on its platform": Facebook Inc will now count activists and journalists as "involuntary" public figures and so increase protections against harassment and bullying targeted at these groups, its global safety chief said in an interview this week. The social media company, which allows more critical commentary of public figures than of private individuals, is changing its approach on the harassment of journalists and "human rights...

Hoyer: Democrats 'committed' to Oct. 31 timeline for Biden's agenda © Associated Press/J. Scott Applewhite The second-ranking House Democrat said Tuesday that party leaders remain intent on passing both pieces of President Biden's two-prong domestic agenda before the end of the month. That timeline is an ambitious one, as Biden and other Democratic leaders have struggled to unite the feuding factions of their party behind a massive package of family benefits and climate provisions. Only when that legislation is finalized do House leaders intend to move on a separate $1 trillion infrastructure bill, which has already passed through the Senate.

LANSING, Mich. (WJRT) - A house cat from Ingham County is the first pet in Michigan with a confirmed case of COVID-19. The Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development says numerous pets have tested positive for the illness around the country, but the domestic shorthair cat is the first confirmed in the state. The cat’s owners tested positive for COVID-19 a week before the cat got ill. The cat developed sneezing, but animal officials say it since has recovered. “Given the other reported cases of SARS-CoV-2 being found in pets throughout the world, this detection is not unexpected,” said...

We all know the border is a mess. Our own Julio Rosas has been to the southern border multiple times to document the chaos. The Biden administration swore the adults were back, and that competency would return. Neither has happened. The adults are idiots, and this has to be one of the most incompetent administrations since Jimmy Carter. Everyone told Biden that rescinding Trump immigration policies too quickly would cause a crisis. He refused to listen because Biden has an ego the size of Delaware. Where he got that is a mystery since the man has accomplished little and is...

Former US Secretary of State Colin Powell died on Monday of Covid-19 complications. His family announced that he was fully vaccinated. He was 84 years old, and had multiple myeloma, a blood cancer. Health officials worry that anti-vaccine activists will seize upon Powell's death to make the claim that vaccines don't work. If you can still die after being vaccinated for Covid-19, what's the point of getting the vaccine? CNN: When we see vaccinated people dying from Covid-19, how do you explain that vaccines are still worth taking? Dr. Leana Wen: We need to start with the science and what...

OLYMPIA, Wash. – More than 125 state troopers have been cut following Governor Jay Inslee’s mask mandate. Washington State Patrol announced Tuesday morning it “separated” 127 people from employment who were not vaccinated by the Oct. 18 deadline. This included 53 civil servants and 74 officers. The officers include 67 troopers, six sergeants and one captain. WSP said it has more than 2,200 people in eight districts and the firings are spread across the state. “As for the more than 2,000 individuals who elected to stay with our agency, I am forever thankful. We have the responsibilities of the agency...

Phoenix – Former Congressman and Republican gubernatorial candidate Matt Salmon today announced the formation of his Economy and Workforce Coalition. This group of leaders across Arizona form the foundation of a coalition that will advise the campaign’s policy agenda on issues related to the education pipeline, workforce preparedness, and economic development. “I’m proud to welcome these forward-thinking leaders as the founding members of my Economy and Workforce Coalition. These men and women are the best and brightest when it comes to strengthening our state’s workforce and creating policies that form the foundation for our economic success for generations to come....

The Honorable Lloyd J. Austin III Secretary of Defense U.S. Department of Defense Washington, DC 20318-9999 Dear Secretary Austin, I write today to express my grave concerns about this administration's imposition of COVID vaccine mandates on the uniformed and civilian workforces, at the expense of readiness and morale. This haphazardly implemented and politically motivated vaccine mandate must be immediately suspended or risk irrevocable damage to our national security reminiscent of sequestration. At a time when our adversaries continue to increase their quantitative and qualitative advantage against our forces, we should seek to ensure that no policy, even unintentionally, hinders military...

A 60-day nationwide state of emergency has come into force in Ecuador. The measure was announced by President Guillermo Lasso on Monday evening in response to a wave of violent crime. Guillermo Lasso said police and the armed forces were being mobilised and their presence would be felt "with force" in the streets. Official figures suggest the number of murders in the first eight months of this year are double those in the same period last year. Speaking in a televised address, President Lasso said that under the emergency measures, the armed forces and police would carry out "arms checks,...

There’s a long-standing tradition among conservative pols and gabbers to compare every Democratic president to Jimmy Carter. It’s hardly surprising: Carter was the first and last sitting Democratic president since the 19th century to lose a general election. His presidency, moreover, led to a sort of Republican golden age with the landslide election (and 49-state reelection) of Ronald Reagan and the first Republican-controlled Senate since the early 1950s. It was natural for many pundits to compare the southern governor Bill Clinton and the foreign-policy novice Barack Obama to the 39th president, and Republicans, of course, loved to point to signs...

The CARES Act has created a moral dilemma for those Americans who value freedom. The pandemic has cost them their jobs, their savings, their businesses. And they blame a significant part of this loss on the government. But because they oppose government handouts, they worry that accepting CARES money would be a breach of integrity. At the Ayn Rand Institute, we are dedicated to philosophic principle. And because we are, we will take any relief money offered us. We will take it unapologetically, because the principle here is: justice. To see why, focus on a fact that everyone seems determined...

In an exclusive interview, Law Enforcement Today learned that L.A. County is mandating that employees register their vaccination status through Fulgent Genetics, an international technology company with ties to China, with a required consent to release their personal and genetic information to foreign nations. https://pbs.twimg.com/card_img/1449327351628709888/PxC4fEyK?format=jpg&name=small Hilda Solis, chairwoman of the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors, issued an executive order on Aug. 4 requiring the county’s 110,000 employees to provide proof of vaccination against COVID-19 . First responders, including the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department are being required to upload their medical records and personal information into a Fulgent app...

FBI agents are at the home of Russian tycoon Oleg Deripaska, the agency confirmed Tuesday. The agents are conducting “court-authorized law enforcement activity” at Deripaska’s home in Washington, D.C., an FBI spokeswoman told CNBC. The spokeswoman did not provide additional details about the FBI presence. Multiple agents were seen restricting access to the property, NBC News reported.

If you’re in the market for a new home appliance and you want that purchase to be as environmentally friendly as possible, you might look for options that feature a label from Energy Star, a symbol backed by the Environmental Protection Agency and Department of Energy specifically to promote energy-efficient products. Each year, Energy Star puts out a list of the Most Efficient appliances, those that the program says “save you money and protect the environment.” The list also features the “most efficient, pollution-reducing products.” Until now, that list might have included gas-powered appliances such as gas dryers, furnaces, and...