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Hide in Plane Sight Family of Possible 727 Pilot: "He Is Not a Terrorist" W A S H I N G T O N, June 18 - While international authorities continue their search for a missing jetliner, fearful that it could be used in a terror attack, the family of the American believed to have been piloting the aircraft worries about his fate. Workers at Luanda Airport in Angola watched dumbfounded on May 25 as a Boeing 727 taxied down the runway and took off - without permission. The plane - which ABCNEWS has learned was refitted to haul...

This afternoon’s fabulous cabinet announcement is that Chris Wright, founder and CEO of Liberty Energy, is President Trump’s pick to be secretary of energy. Chris is an old friend—he hosted me any my family for a week of skiing once at his second home in Big Sky, Montana, some years back—and he was a guest on our podcast along with his great friend Lord Matt Ridley back in 2018, which you can take in here. He has spoken to couple of my classes on a few occasions when his busy schedule allowed. With his solid background in science and energy,...

President-elect Donald Trump tapped longtime fracking advocate Chris Wright to lead his administration’s Department of Energy, he announced Saturday. Wright, the chief executive of oilfield services group Liberty Energy, helped launch the American Shale Revolution of the mid-2000s that significantly increased US production of oil and natural gas. “As Secretary of Energy, Chris will be a key leader, driving innovation, cutting red tape, and ushering in a new ‘Golden Age of American Prosperity and Global Peace,'” Trump said in a statement. Wright’s appointment to the Trump administration cabinet signifies the president-elect’s determination to boost fossil fuel production in the...

President-elect Donald Trump announced on Saturday that he has selected Chris Wright, the head of fracking company Liberty Energy, to lead the Department of Energy and to serve on a new National Energy Council. Get the latest election news and results In his announcement, Trump credited Wright as “one of the pioneers who helped launch the American Shale Revolution,” adding that “as Secretary of Energy, Chris will be a key leader, driving innovation, cutting red tape.” Trump on Friday tapped North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum (R) to serve as interior secretary and as “energy czar” to oversee the new National...

Harris, 60, replaced President Biden, 81, atop the Democratic ticket in late July and quickly surged in polling while raking in about $1 billion over a six-week period — massively out-raising Trump, 78, and providing the resources to drive home her early advantage over the Republican nominee. Her failure to seal the deal outraged Democrats, including those who worked in the Biden-Harris administration and on her campaign. “I’ve worked on five presidential campaigns. I knew this would be hard. Others acted like they knew they were going to win,” said one person who chipped in during the final stretch of...

President Biden said Thursday that the US is “discussing” the possibility of Israel bombing Iranian oil facilities as payback for a volley of nearly 200 rockets fired at the Jewish state on Tuesday — causing a spike in global crude prices. Biden said the oil strike option was under consideration when asked directly by a reporter as he left the White House. “We’re discussing that. I think that would be a little… anyway,” the retiring 81-year-old president said ... Within 45 minutes of Biden’s remark, crude oil futures spiked to about $74 per barrel from its opening price of $70.10,...

He states that there will be “Rapid Approvals” for the following: —— new drillings, new pipelines, new refineries, new power and electric plants, and new reactors of all types (nuclear) —— “This will quickly reduce the prices of everything almost immediately.”

Herd of elk adopt a donkey who went missing over five years ago in Auburn, California. The donkey's name is Diesel and he ran away from his owner in 2019 after getting 'spooked' while trail packing. While on a hunting trip, pro triathlete Max Fennell noticed a donkey in the middle of a herd of elk. "Probably one of my wildest hunting trips to date. I bumped into a herd of elk that have adopted a donkey. I can't get over seeing it and I'm amazed that the donkey looks happy and healthy," he posted on Instagram. The donkey's owner,...

There's some fascinating news about an alliance between billionaires Elon Musk and Nelson Peltz and former President Donald Trump. We reported on Musk's meeting with Trump in March. Now, there are more details about the meeting, which was reportedly at Peltz's mansion. The men also had their sons at the meeting: Barron, Diesel, and Musk's son X, who is a toddler. There were also allegedly other wealthy and powerful people at the meeting.

American federalism is struggling. Federal rules are an overwhelming presence in every state government, and some states, due to their size or other leverage, can impose their own policies on much or all of the country. The problem has been made clearer by an under-the-radar plan to phase out diesel locomotives in California. If the federal government provides the state with a helping hand, it would bring nationwide repercussions for a vital, overlooked industry. Various industry and advocacy groups are lining up against California's costly measure, calling on the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to deny a waiver needed to...

A man faces multiple charges after a larceny report in the town of Perth, New York. On May 12, the Fulton County Sheriff's office investigated a complaint that a man had pumped more than $500 worth of diesel fuel and left without paying. According to the sheriff's office, the driver, identified as Richard A Ruiz-Conyedo, 20, fled the area, but was eventually stopped in Amsterdam with help from the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office and a Stewart’s employee. FULTON COUNTY, NY (WRGB) — A man faces multiple charges after a larceny report in the town of Perth, New York. On May...

Confidence! It’s what consumers DON’T have under Bidenomics. For the fourth straight month, The Conference Board revised its consumer confidence data significantly lower. In fact January’s was the biggest downward revision since Feb 2022. And Conference Board Consumer Confidence was DOWN to -3.90 in January, the worst since Feb 2022. It really isn’t surprising the consumer confidence stinks. Food prices (CPI) are UP 21% under Vacation Joe Biden. Diesel fuel prices are UP 90% under Listless Joe. Well, Biden’s appearance on (unfunny) Seth Myer’s Late Night Show certainly didn’t make me feel more confident about America’s future.

Goodbye free markets! Hello heavy-handed government cronyism. So, despite recent declines in energy prices, gasoline prices are still up 46.25% under “Green Joe” and the all important for shipping, diesel prices, are still up 55.6% under Brainless Joe. One would think that massive rises in gasoline and diesel prices would make everyone buy an electric vehicle (EV). But alas, the high cost and unreliability of EVs is turning off consumers. (I own a hybrid and wish I didn’t). Another one of the Biden administration’s “visions” for forcing people to own electric vehicles isn’t working out exactly as planned. Both Ford...

More than six years ago, Mazda debuted a technology that promised to revolutionize internal-combustion. Now, we’re wondering if it was a false dawn. Skyactiv-X, as Mazda calls it, represented the culmination of decades of auto-industry research and development into a compression-ignition gasoline engine. For years, major automakers and research groups worked toward creating a homogeneous-charge compression-ignition (HCCI) engine, which held the promise of diesel-like fuel economy with far fewer emissions. Ford, GM, Nissan, Honda, Mercedes-Benz, and Hyundai all developed prototype HCCI engines, and even the US Department of Energy funded research into the technology. While most efforts seemingly petered out,...

JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon slammed Democratic messaging about MAGA, or “Make America Great Again,” Republicans on Wednesday, telling Democrats to “grow up” and “listen” to supporters of former President Trump. “When people say MAGA, they’re actually looking at people voting for Trump and … they’re basically scapegoating them,” Dimon told CNBC’s “Squawk Box.” “I don’t like how [Trump] said things about Mexico … but he wasn’t wrong about some of these critical issues, and that’s why they’re voting for him,” Dimon continued. “And I think people should be a little more respectful of our fellow citizens.”

The symbolism that German farmers chose to express their discontent with the government in the first days of the new year was as unambiguous as it was ominous: by the side of rural roads across the country, there were sightings of makeshift gallows dangling traffic-light signs, a reference to the colours of the three governing parties. The chilling sculptures are harbingers of unprecedented cross-sector protests and strikes hitting German roads and railways from Monday, and speak of a dramatic change of mood in a country long feted for its consensus-seeking approach to industrial relations, especially compared with its more traditionally...

It’s the largest Clean Air Act violation settlement in history.Diesel engine manufacturer Cummins has agreed to settle an accused violation of the Clean Air Act for a record $1.675 billion. The company was accused of installing defeat devices and other "undisclosed" emissions equipment on almost a million engines used in Ram pickups, allowing the release of thousands of tons of harmful nitric oxides.The settlement, announced Friday by the U.S. Department of Justice, concerns the emissions equipment used on 960,000 diesel engines used on Ram 2500 and 3500 heavy-duty pickups between model years 2013 and 2023. They share the 6.7-liter Cummins...

It is déjà vu for major oil producers, who are again considering steeper production cuts. It took only a month after the Hamas attacks on Israel unleashed a punishing war for oil prices to fall below their pre-Oct. 7 level. The steep drop in oil prices last week, with Brent crude briefly dropping to $77 per barrel, led to speculation that the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and allied producers (OPEC+) will decide to cut production at its next meeting. OPEC’s last-minute decision to delay the meeting, now scheduled for Nov. 30, will only add to the speculation. U.S....

As we enter the Christmas season in earnest, with decorating, gift shopping, and other seasonal activities keeping us busy, we cannot help but notice the unprecedented level of inflation everywhere we go. There are several reasons for these three years of price hikes, of course. It’s not all caused entirely by a single issue. But there is one major cause that outshines the rest: the cost of diesel fuel. What, you don’t buy diesel, yourself? You don’t have to. In many ways, the American economy itself runs on diesel fuel. Transportation costs – inbound and outbound, raw materials and finished...

It took about an hour of work to make it run again, but the 14-liter engine now purrs like a big cat. We usually associate twelve-cylinder engines with high-end cars and the occasional SUV like the Audi Q7 V12 TDI, Rolls-Royce Cullinan, or the Bentley Bentayga. However, these powerhouses have a long history of serving a far more utilitarian purpose at a work site. Such is the case here of a Detroit Diesel Series 71, a two-stroke engine that was available in both inline and V configurations. The smallest of the lot was a single-cylinder, 1.2-liter unit while the largest...