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The Biden administration is taking steps to help distribute several billion dollars in aid for winter heating and utility bills, an unprecedented sum that comes largely from its $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief package. The package provided an additional $4.5 billion for the government’s Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program, which typically has funding of $3 billion to $4 billion annually. Aid for renters can also cover utility costs, while the money provided to state, local and tribal governments can help families that face high heating bills and are ineligible for other programs.

The climate summit was expensive, energy-burning theater. One hundred eighteen private jets flew into the airport, President Joe Biden's motorcade had 24 vehicles, including SUVs and vans, and Greta Thunberg was angry. Demonstrators denounced Israel, which recycles and reuses 90 percent of its wastewater while ignoring the Palestinian pastime of burning tires containing multiple carcinogens.Sustainability, less, new technologies, clean technologies, and more less (yes, more less) were the watchwords. Use less, do with less. The President should have touted America's successes in reducing emissions: From 2005 to 2018, total U.S. energy-related CO2 emissions fell 12% while global energy-related emissions increased...

Headline inflation, including food and energy, rose at a 4.4% annual rate in September, the fastest since 1991. Core inflation, which is the Fed’s preferred gauge, increased 3.6% for the 12 months, the same as in August but still also the fastest pace in 30 years. Personal income declined at a faster pace than expected while consumer spending increased and was in line with forecasts. Employment costs rose more than expected and at the fastest annual pace in 19 years.

Failure on the part of the Fed to toss its stubbornly-held “transitory” inflation narrative and act more decisively to rein in persistently high price pressures raises the likelihood the central bank will need to slam on the brakes of easy money policies much more forcefully down the road, risking avoidably severe disruption to domestic and global markets, according to Queen’s College President and economist Mohamed El-Erian. “In stark contrast with the mindset of corporate leaders who are dealing daily with the reality of higher and persistent inflationary pressures, the transitory concept has managed to retain an almost mystical hold on...

It has been a while since Americans have had to weather the “perfect storm” of high inflation, low economic growth, shortages, and a sluggish labor market. The last time the U.S. economy simultaneously suffered from these threats was in the 1970s, under what became known as stagflation. Unfortunately, based on several economic indicators, the U.S. economy seems headed towards another bout of stagflation. However, this time, it could be more widespread and long-lasting than it was almost 50 years ago. First, inflation, which is a regressive tax, is spiraling out of control. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics,...

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) tacitly confirmed reports that have long circulated regarding moderate Sen. Kyrsten Sinema’s (D-Ariz.) opposition to raising corporate tax rates. Though her colleague Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W. Va.) has controlled headlines for months, Sinema has joined with Manchin on a number of key issues. Because of the Democrats’ razor-thin one-vote majority in the upper chamber, Democratic leadership cannot spare a single defection; But Sinema, like Manchin, has broken with the party on a laundry list of issues. Yet Sinema, as has been her tendency, has been unwilling to give her opinion on various issues...

Residents of New York City's Upper West Side have complained that by housing hundreds of homeless people in three hotels during the coronavirus crisis, the area has become dangerous. They say that the area has now become a spectacle of drug taking, public urination and cat calling, and have called on city Mayor Bill de Blasio to take action. 'It doesn't feel safe anymore,' nanny Michele McDowall, 39, said to the The New York Post, telling the website that she was recently offered crack by a pair of homeless men as she pushed a toddler past Riverside Park at 79th...

At the risk of being called cold or harsh, let me begin by saying every American has a right to his/her opinion on just about any issue. Including guns. Now that we’ve got that out of the way, let me add this: the people playing partisan politics on the graves of the 17 innocent dead people from Douglas High School are despicable. I don’t care what age they are. Over the last couple of weeks, a variety of conservative voices have gotten in trouble for insinuating that the anti-gun protesters coming out of Douglas High School seem far too practiced...

We here at FR know this but it still needs to be said, spread and read.

WATERLOO, Iowa -- Until Monday, when Donald J. Trump proposed a ban on Muslims entering the United States, Hillary Clinton could hardly keep herself from laughing at the mention of his name. "I'm sorry, I can't help it," she told ABC News on Sunday, letting out a giggle that made advisers squirm. She is no longer laughing. At a town hall here on Wednesday, Mrs. Clinton delivered her most damning, direct criticism of Mr. Trump, saying that he traffics "in prejudice and paranoia," and that his Muslim proposal was "not only shameful, it's dangerous." But Mrs. Clinton also strove to...

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — Rep. Gary Peters (D-Mich.) attacked both the Hobby Lobby U.S. Supreme Court decision and Republican Terri Lynn Land over the 5-4 vote that came down in favor of closely held businesses being able to decide whether they would offer contraceptive coverage to their employees under the Affordable Care Act.The Michigan Democratic Party took the opportunity to again blast Land, issuing several press releases July 1 attacking Land for what the state party described as her “radical agenda” on birth control and her initial silence on the Hobby Lobby ruling.“I support access to birth control, but...

Christian Heinze at The Hill picks up on a months-long polling trend that I've noted for quite a while, but which has mostly escaped the media. Mitt Romney has consistently and clearly led among independent voters for quite a while, although Heinze only looks at the most recent polls to make his point about the nature of the race: Fueling his current polling surge, Mitt Romney's numbers with indies are just getting remarkably good.a. IBD/ITP poll released today: Romney 52% Obama 34%.b. Pew poll, released yesterday: Romney 46% Obama 42%.c. Politico/GW poll, released yesterday: Romney 51% Obama 35%.d. CNN, released...

If you have read Horse Soldiers: The Extraordinary Story of a Band of US Soldiers Who Rode to Victory in Afghanistan you will be outraged by the statement that the President intends to investigate the actions of General Dostum in the death of 1,000 Taliban prisoners, while also investigating the Bush administrations unwillingness to press charges of some sort at the time. You may not know, but Dostum is a colorful General in the Northern Alliance, working on various sides of various issues and often for himself, as warlords do. This event is with respect to the prison riot that...

Note: The following text is a quote: THE BRIEFING ROOM THE WHITE HOUSE Office of the Press Secretary _____________________________________________________________________________ FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE July 10, 2009 Food Security: Investing in Agricultural Development to Reduce Hunger and Poverty The vast majority of the world’s poorest people depend on agriculture for food and household incomes. When world food prices spiked last year, the G8 acted, including by advancing the Global Partnership for Agriculture and Food Security and implementing largely short and medium term measures to reduce hunger, the majority using emergency food aid. This year, the global economic and financial crisis threatens the...

Video on YouTube.com: "The Tax Lie."

We are all familiar by now with the ongoing battle for the votes of Florida & Michigan to count. The DNC and Obama Campaign will tell you how much they value the votes of all Democrats. But is there any way we can really determine how much they value those votes. Hmmm…. Wait, we can tell how much they value the votes of all democrats simply based upon the math. The Democratic Party has a proportion (not necessarily fair) delegatory system. Delegates in each state are awarded based upon the overall popular vote and based upon the vote tally of...

WASHINGTON – On the eve of a hearing before the U.S. Supreme Court, the Indiana Voter ID law has become a story with a twist: One of the individuals used by opponents to the law as an example of how the law hurts older Hoosiers is registered to vote in two states. Faye Buis-Ewing, 72, who has been telling the media she is a 50-year resident of Indiana, at one point in the past few years also claimed two states as her primary residence and received a homestead exemption on her property taxes in both states. Monday night from her...

The presidential campaign of Hillary Clinton, the Democrat frontrunner, is facing a wave of defections by supporters to Barack Obama, as an aura of “inevitability” about her nomination fades. With Oprah Winfrey, the talk show host and Obama enthusiast, challenging former president Bill Clinton for star power on the campaign trail, the coronation of Hillary has been put on hold. A few days ago, Helen Quarles peeled off the Hillary for President bumper stickers from her car and replaced them with Obama ’08. “I didn’t think anybody could turn me away from Hillary,” said Quarles, who worked as a volunteer...

<p>CNN's YouTube Republican presidential debate will go down in history as one of America's biggest media scandals alongside Dan Rather's fake documents and Will Duranty's Pultizer Prize-winning pro-Stalin proganda for The New York Times. The cries of "foul" from conservatives and Republicans will soon be drowned out by the wails from those who rightfully lose their jobs at CNN for the supposedly objective forum that was rife with Democratic activists posing "gotcha" questions.</p>

(Michael P. Tremoglie is the author of the novel A Sense of Duty, available at http://www.geocities.com/nattybumpo1981/) On June 15, 2006 during the Congressional debate about the Iraq war, Democrats routinely said President Bush was lying and that he misled country into sending the troops to war. New York Democrat Congressman Maurice Hinchey, claimed that Bush misled the Congress because, he said, Bush knew that Iraq had not tried to obtain uranium from Africa for a nuclear weapon. Congressman Hinchey also issued a press release on June 15, 2006 that stated among other things: "At the heart of the CIA leak...