Biden's America Last Program

[GURPS]

Truckers Say California Law Likely to Make U.S. Supply Chain Crisis Even Worse​

Touted as the leftist cure to save gig workers from exploitation, in reality, AB5 is simply a job- and freedom-killing monstrosity. AB5 limits the freedom of California’s workers to be independent contractors. Instead, it forces them to be considered salaried employees, which means the employers are also forced to place them under the existing laws for health insurance, retirement, and a myriad of other regulations concerning full-time employees. While AB5 does exempt some specific occupations from its onerous regulations, the state’s over 70,000 independent truckers were not explicitly among those exemptions in the original bill.

These exempt occupations would include, among others, licensed insurance agents, certain licensed health care professionals, registered securities broker-dealers or investment advisers, direct sales salespersons, real estate licensees, commercial fishermen, workers providing licensed barber or cosmetology services, and others performing work under a contract for professional services, with another business entity, or pursuant to a subcontract in the construction industry.

This led the California Trucking Association to take the exemption fight all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court. Unfortunately, on June 30, the Supreme Court declined to hear the petition. Now, AB5 forces the state’s more than 70,000 independent truckers to decide if they will lose their freedom by becoming an employee, forever park their rigs, or flee the once-Golden State for other gig-friendly states. Some “protection,” huh?

On cue, power-hungry California bureaucrats called for truckers to snitch on their employers. “Drivers, if you believe that you and other colleagues at the same trucking company are being misclassified as independent contractors,” tweets CA’s leftist Labor Commissioner Lilia Garcia-Brower, “you can file a report of labor law violations and request an investigation from our office.” Yeah, that’ll help the supply chain crisis and the economy alright.

 

[GURPS]

Watchdog seeks to compel DHS to release records linking disinformation to domestic terror​

The bulletin discussed how "conspiracy theories," "misleading narratives," and mis- and dis-information can fuel foreign and domestic terrorism. It also cited "false or misleading narratives regarding unsubstantiated widespread election fraud and COVID-19" online as "key factors contributing to the current heightened threat environment."

Critics have expressed concern about the government suppressing free speech by using such justifications to claim a mandate to target those expressing views at odds with the Biden administration, such as questioning the efficacy of COVID-19 vaccines or the results of the 2020 presidential election — a point echoed in the lawsuit.

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Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas defended the initiative as important in tackling the "threat" of disinformation, especially when it targets migrants or comes from the Russian government.

However, critics lambasted the board as an Orwellian "Ministry of Truth" established to silence people with certain political views. Such criticism led DHS to "pause" the DGB amid widespread outcry.

Whistleblower documents released last month by Republican Sens. Josh Hawley (Mo.) and Chuck Grassley (Iowa) and highlighted by Claremont Institute fellow Ben Weingarten appeared to confirm such concerns.

In a memo written to Mayorkas, DHS officials wrote that disinformation threatens homeland security, especially "conspiracy theories about the validity and security of elections" and "disinformation related to the origins and effects of COVID-19 vaccines or the efficacy of masks."

The DHS officials also warned that "domestic violent extremists" spread such narratives to push "racially or ethnically motivated and anti-government/anti-authority violence," arguing the department must "respond" to disinformation for the good of the country.

The memo, which was penned in September 2021 and contained similar language to the February 2022 bulletin, also recommended the creation of a DGB.

The documents obtained by Hawley and Grassley also showed an effort by DHS to work with Twitter and other Big Tech firms to execute its mission to stamp out "disinformation."

Indeed, the Hawley-Grassley trove included the DGB charter, which calls for the board to "support and coordinate" its work with "the private sector" and "non-governmental actors." The trove also included internal DHS documents showing DHS officials discussing the benefits of sharing information with tech companies to empower them to remove content deemed threatening at their discretion.

 

[GURPS]

Federal Court Bars Biden Admin From Forcing Radical Gender Policy On States​

Tennessee’s Attorney General Herbert Slatery led the lawsuit and claimed that the justification for DOE’s and EEOC’s guidance rested on a false interpretation of Bostock v. Clayton County, which declared that it was discriminatory for a private business to fire or hire somebody based on their gender identity or sexual orientation under Title VII.

“These agencies also have misconstrued the Supreme Court’s Bostock decision by claiming its prohibition of discrimination applies to locker rooms, showers, and bathrooms under Title IX and Title VII and biological men who identify as women competing in women’s sports, when the Supreme Court specifically said it was not deciding those issues in Bostock,” Slatery argued in August 2021 lawsuit, Courthouse News reported at the time.

The lawsuit also said that the Biden administration “purports to resolve highly controversial and localized issues such as … whether individuals may be compelled to use another person’s preferred pronouns. But the agencies have no authority to resolve those sensitive questions, let alone to do so by executive fiat without providing any opportunity for public participation.”

The attorneys general argued that the agencies in question were “usurping authority that properly belongs to Congress, the States, and the people and to eliminate the nationwide confusion and upheaval that the agencies’ recent guidance has inflicted on States and other regulated entities.”

 

[GURPS]

 

[GURPS]

Biden’s Economic Approval Is Now Double Digits Lower Than Trump’s Worst Rating​

A meager 30% of Americans approve of President Joe Biden’s economic performance — a level far lower than the worst reading under his recent predecessors, according to a new poll released Monday.

CNBC’s All-America Economic Survey recorded Biden’s economic approval rating dropping five percentage points since the most recent survey in April. Only 6% of Republicans and 25% of independents support Biden’s record, while 58% of Democrats still approve of Biden’s handling of the economy.

Former President Donald Trump’s lowest economic approval rating was 41%, while former President Barack Obama’s was 37%, according to CNBC.

 

[GURPS]

“It is very hard to conclude that we are in a recession when you look at the payroll and the job gains that we’ve seen now, it is tricky to look around the corner here, and I’m not going to predict quarters down the road,” he argued. “But I think right now, you’ve got inflation headwinds big time in this economy — not taking anything away from that — but you also have some very strong tailwinds that are boosting consumers.”

Rather than true economic growth, inflationary pressures are likely inducing the higher expenditures from American households, with many dipping into savings to make ends meet as consumer confidence plummets to its lowest level in seven decades. Meanwhile, the labor force participation rate — the percentage of people who either have a job or are actively looking for one — has not recovered since the recession, likely worsening inflation.

With respect to recessionary risks, the United States economy shrank at a 1.5% annual rate during the first quarter of 2022, according to a report from the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis. Although data for the second quarter has not yet been released, the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta is forecasting that the economy continued to contract at a 1.5% pace. A recession is defined by two consecutive quarters of negative growth.

Top Biden Adviser Says Americans Seeing ‘Very Strong’ Economic Conditions, Deflects On Whether A Recession Is Coming

Jared Bernstein, a member of President Joe Biden’s Council of Economic Advisers, on Sunday deflected on whether the United States is bound for a recession. During an interview with Fox News anchor Shannon Bream, Bernstein was pressed on issues ranging from soaring inflation to the Biden...

www.dailywire.com

 

[Sneakers]

Latest food item to go MIA....

Frozen Swedish Meatballs. I used to get the Cooked Perfect brand, but all of a sudden, they were gone. Managed to find a 5lb bag of the BJs brand a while back, but now they are gone too. A search online shows Swedish Meatballs of every brand out of stock at every store, BJs, Giant, Target, WalMart....

Of all things, why these? Every other variety of meatball is available and contain the same ingredients (beef, pork) except for spices. And all brands.

 

[kwillia]

Latest food item to go MIA....

Frozen Swedish Meatballs. I used to get the Cooked Perfect brand, but all of a sudden, they were gone. Managed to find a 5lb bag of the BJs brand a while back, but now they are gone too. A search online shows Swedish Meatballs of every brand out of stock at every store, BJs, Giant, Target, WalMart....

View attachment 165234 Of all things, why these? Every other variety of meatball is available and contain the same ingredients (beef, pork) except for spices. And all brands.

Sweden refuses to pay the meatball tariff.

 

[Merlin99]

Latest food item to go MIA....

Frozen Swedish Meatballs. I used to get the Cooked Perfect brand, but all of a sudden, they were gone. Managed to find a 5lb bag of the BJs brand a while back, but now they are gone too. A search online shows Swedish Meatballs of every brand out of stock at every store, BJs, Giant, Target, WalMart....

View attachment 165234 Of all things, why these? Every other variety of meatball is available and contain the same ingredients (beef, pork) except for spices. And all brands.

You’re going to the wrong store, everyone knows for Swedish meatballs you go to Ikea.

 

[Sneakers]

You’re going to the wrong store, everyone knows for Swedish meatballs you go to Ikea.

Good point. Too bad they aren't closer.

 

[stgislander]

Latest food item to go MIA....

Frozen Swedish Meatballs. I used to get the Cooked Perfect brand, but all of a sudden, they were gone. Managed to find a 5lb bag of the BJs brand a while back, but now they are gone too. A search online shows Swedish Meatballs of every brand out of stock at every store, BJs, Giant, Target, WalMart....

View attachment 165234 Of all things, why these? Every other variety of meatball is available and contain the same ingredients (beef, pork) except for spices. And all brands.

Sounds like a trip to Ikea is in order.

 

[GURPS]

People, PLEASE. Because of you, tireless fact-checking website Snopes was forced to debunk ANOTHER insane right-wing conspiracy theory yesterday. Fortunately, its indefatigable editors are up to the job, and alertly sprang into action almost immediately after the story went viral.

An article published on Snopes’ website yesterday bears the headline, “‘Brandon Falls’ Added to Google Maps to Mock Biden’s Bike Fall.” I checked, and apparently Google has taken it down, but here’s an archival screen grab in all its disrespectful glory:



I would be remiss if I didn’t make it clear: Snopes wants you to know that Brandon Falls is NOT a historic landmark, not REALLY. It’s kind of just a prank. So don’t make any big travel plans or anything.

Virtue-signaling scolds on Twitter think it’s terrible — just terrible — that people are tricking Google into making fun of our 96-year-old White House resident for having an accident than could happen to anybody. It’s EASY to fall off a motionless bicycle, even with one foot on the ground. You just lean over far enough and plop! And, it is NOT an analogy to anything either. The fall wasn’t an analogy OR a metaphor.

☕️ Coffee & Covid ☙ Wednesday, July 20, 2022 ☙ HYDRATE 🦠

Jabbed 7x more likely to get serious covid; CDC data compares county lockdown results; practical heat wave advice; the Economist says dems need to wake up; protests in Argentina; and more...

www.coffeeandcovid.com

 

[GURPS]

The State Of The US Consumer: AT&T Crashes As Americans Can't Afford To Pay Their Phone Bills​

A weakened consumer adds to pressure facing AT&T, which has already taken hits from deeply discounting new phones and capital outlay on network equipment. The company now expects 2022 free cash flow of $14 billion - with around $1 billion of the reduced amount tied to the "timing of customer collections."

The news, which overshadowed second-quarter results that beat on profit and wireless subscriber growth, also hit peers Verizon and T-Mobile, sending shares lower.

The company added 813,000 regular monthly phone subscribers in the second quarter, exceeding the 554,000 average estimate of analysts surveyed by Bloomberg. Earnings, excluding some items, topped estimates at 65 cents a share, while analysts were looking for 62 cents. Revenue in the quarter met estimates at $29.6 billion.
Recent price increases and subscriber gains allowed the company to raise its forecast for full-year wireless service revenue growth to a range of 4.5% to 5%, up from at least 3% previously. Even so, those price hikes aren’t fully covering costs, Chief Executive Officer John Stankey told analysts on AT&T’s earnings call. -Bloomberg

"I’m not surprised to hear consumers are paying bills more slowly; they are already struggling with higher food and energy prices," said Wolfe Research analyst Peter Supino. "I’m not worried so much for AT&T as I am for the broader consumer economy. You wonder if this is the canary in the coal mine."

The highest US inflation in four decades has been squeezing household budgets everywhere from the gas pump to the grocery aisle. That has soured people’s view of the economy and forced some to scale back entertainment and other discretionary spending. But wireless has long been considered an essential service, even for low-income Americans, and discounts on phones are still luring them to sign up with AT&T. -Bloomberg

And as a reminder, the so-called strong consumer is draining savings at an almost unprecedented pace, while relying on credit cards to cover the soaring cost of living.

 

[GURPS]

You ever wonder why healthy, Caucasian, heterosexual 18 year old men do not want to join an organization that encourages transgender insanity, weakening physical conditioning requirements, insists on that you use correct pronouns and demands you take a vaccine that does not work? Yeah, me neither.

The woke Army, along with the rest of the disgraced Department of Defense, is discovering the hard way that their hatred of white, conservatives is being fully understood by the parents and grand parents of young men who are white conservatives (and religious to boot). Prospective recruits apparently hear the voice of Nancy Reagan–“JUST SAY NO.”

A recent report from the Military Family Advisory Network tells part of the story:

In 2021, just over sixty percent (62.9%) of military and veteran respondents would recommend military life to someone considering it. This statistic represents a troubling drop from the 74.5% of respondents who recommended military life to someone considering it in response to the 2019 survey.
Under half (46.1%) of civilian respondents would recommend military life to someone they care about, unchanged since 2019. Military families who demonstrated excellent family health were significantly more likely to suggest marriage to a service member.
Unfortunately, enlisted families were significantly less likely to recommend military life. The spouse of an active duty Navy member explained, “It is a difficult job and life, and the ‘benefits’ simply are not worth it. Especially since said benefits just keep dwindling and decreasing in quality the longer we are in. Military life not only affects the mental health of the service member but also that of their family. Additionally, I would not want anyone I care about, or even people I don’t care about, to be subjected to toxic work environments.

Russia and China must be laughing their asses off. Are Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Milley actually secret agents of Russia or China? How else to explain insisting on dumping 252,000 soldiers who refuse to be vaccinated while finding it more difficult to wrangle new recruits. Most Americans do not realize that Ukraine’s Army at the start of Russia’s Special Military Operation was larger than the U.S. Army. But don’t worry, I am sure that Russian Generals are shivering with fear over the prospect of being attacked by purple haired transgender battalions.

Mommas Don’t Let Your Babies Grow Up to Join the Army | The Gateway Pundit | by Larry Johnson

(My apology to Waylon and Willie for stealing their line and modifying.) Leave it to the Biden Administration to create the quintessential example of the right hand not know what the left hand is doing.

www.thegatewaypundit.com

 

[GURPS]

Biden’s DHS Reveals Nearly 1K Illegal Aliens with Arrest Warrants as ID Allowed to Board U.S. Flights This Year​

“How many individuals have presented TSA with arrest warrants or deportation notices that were permitted to travel in this calendar year?” Hawley asked, to which Pekoske responded “Under 1,000 sir.”

Pekoske also noted that not all illegal aliens presenting arrest warrants and deportation orders at TSA airport checkpoints are subject to screenings involving an airport’s federal security director.

“They have an interview with the [TSA] officers that are on scene at the checkpoint,” Pekoske said. “… they will bring in the federal security director if needed … we aren’t looking if a person is legal or illegal in the country.”

 

[GURPS]

What Recession? You Won't Believe Biden's Latest Goalpost Adjustment​

The economy shrank in the first quarter of this year at an annualized rate of 1.6%. The Atlanta Fed’s growth tracker “sees the second-quarter running at negative 2.1%.”

So not only are we technically already in a recession (it won’t be official until next week), the contraction appears to be accelerating rather than easing off — just like that “transitory” inflation.

Economist Art Laffer — one of the architects of Ronald Reagan’s boom times — told Fox News this week that “Recession ‘is here’ and will ‘last for awhile.’”

Most Americans think we’re already in a recession, including some big names:

Surveys show consumers have the lowest levels of confidence in the U.S. economy ever and business executives are the most downbeat since the onset of the coronavirus pandemic. Even major figures are starting to bring more attention to the problem — from entrepreneur Andrew Yang, rapper Cardi B and Tesla CEO Elon Musk.

Can barely put gas in the car? Sick of being told by the secretary of Transportation to spend $60 grand you don’t have on a Tesla? Steak is now a rare treat (no pun intended)? You’re wondering how many extra years you’ll have to work to get your 401K back to where it needs to be?

These are just some of the pains Americans feel under the Biden administration, but the administration wants us to believe everything is hunky-dory.

Politically, how is the White House’s new denial therapy supposed to play out?

This administration has a shabby habit of telling Americans precisely what we know not to be true: The southern border is secure, the Afghanistan bugout was not a failure, inflation is a high-class problem, etc.

 

[GURPS]

CDC promotes teen chat platform to discuss LGBT topics, witchcraft without parental oversight​

On the CDC's "LGBT Youth Resources" page, one of the resources listed is "Q Chat Space," which the CDC describes as "a digital LGBTQ+ center where teens join live-chat, professionally facilitated, online support groups."

The platform is made up of live, "online discussion groups for LGBTQ+ and questioning teens ages 13 to 19," according to the Q Chat Space website.

The live chats "are facilitated by experienced staff who work at LGBTQ+ centers around the United States," the platform explains, emphasizing that its "facilitators are NOT mental health professionals."

One of the adult facilitators, introduced on Q Chat Space's Instagram with "they/xe" pronouns, is "a Black nonbinary queer asexual" and a "drag artist." Another facilitator, who uses "xe/xem, they/them" pronouns, is identified as "Black, genderqueer, gray-ace, and neurodivergent."

According to its website, "Q Chat Space is a collaboration," of Planned Parenthood, PFLAG – "the largest organization for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ+) people, their parents and families, and allies" — and CenterLink: The Community of LGBT Centers.

 

[GURPS]

TGIF: Prince Harry, Dave Chappelle, and AOC​

Welcome back to another Friday. We’ve got all the headlines we’re talking about this week, in group chats I need to learn to mute. See you in the comments.

→ Biden got Covid: And yet, at 79-years old, this is the least of his concerns. Biden’s approval has dropped to a new new low: about 37% of Americans like how he’s running the place. A lot of the people polled say they are worried about his age. And something’s changed in the media coverage and I don’t think it’s just me. The drum beat is starting: maybe Biden should go. Those beating the drum are hoping, no doubt, for a new Democrat in charge who will pack the courts and keep the money hose turned on.

The parlor game everyone I know is playing: Which Democrat could possibly run in his stead? Kamala Harris is right there with Biden. And the cost of a photo with her drops faster than the value of my crypto investments (just kidding I sold my bitcoin at the top).

Gas prices are dropping a lot this week thankfully, so that ought to help Biden’s numbers a bit, though one weird thing he’s doing is selling off our strategic oil reserves in the middle of all this. Inflation still plagues him and rightly so. The effects of it are everywhere: This week, New York’s iconic Central Park boathouse announced imminent closure, citing impossible costs of labor and goods. The boathouse will close in the coming months and 163 people will be out of work.

 

[GURPS]

Dr. Jha: ‘The Virus Is Going to be With Us Forever,' Undermining a Key Point from Candidate Biden in 2020​

Not only is this White House lacking transparency when it comes to key aspects of President Joe Biden's positive COVID-19 result, but it also has been cagey with its responses to questions that reporters ask. It's no wonder that, as Sarah highlighted about Thursday's press briefing, that George Condon, of the National Journal, not bringing out Biden's doctor "would be the least transparency of any White House and 50 years on a presidential illness." Then there's the hypocrisy. Compared to all the promises that then candidate Biden made, his administration has now done a complete 180.

During Friday's press briefing, COVID-?19 Response Coordinator Dr. Ashish Jha acknowledged something that many of us have come to realize and accept, even, that the virus is here to stay. It's pretty much endemic at this point.

After calling on those who have not yet been vaccinated to receive the vaccine, Dr. Jha aptly pointed out "this virus is going to be with us forever." Polling has showed though, that Americans who have not been vaccinated are unlikely to get the vaccine.

Dr. Jha was responding to a question from a reporter about Congress having not funded boosters for the fall, which provided him with an opportunity to call for Congress to pass even more funding. He also doubled down on how vaccines, and boosters, are the best way to build up immunity. It's worth repeatedly reminding, though, that Biden has been received both doses of the vaccines, and has been double boosted, yet still contracted the virus. How, exactly, he did contract the virus, is one more detail the White House doesn't believe the American people deserve to know, since they claim it doesn't matter.

 

[GURPS]