Don's Tuesday Column

     THE WAY I SEE IT   by Don Polson   Red Bluff Daily News   3/15/2022

Biden’s mental decline, energy lies

It bears reporting, with caveats, that Obama’s and Trump’s White House physician, Dr. Ronny Jackson, said on Friday: “Biden doesn’t know what’s going on with Ukraine…He doesn’t know what’s going on with anything! He’s not cognitively capable of leading. He needs to resign before our country suffers any more…The whole country is seeing his mental cognitive issues on display for over a year now, and there’s really no question in most people’s minds that there’s something going on with him, that he’s not cognitively the same as he used to be and, in my mind, not fit to be our president right now.” I take no joy in that; America needs a mentally sound (if misguided) leader.

Partisanship aside, is this “diagnosis-absent-examination” out of bounds? The proverbial “blind man” could at least hear the unhinged, disconnected, tirade-like nonresponsive utterances of an increasingly enfeebled man. Democrat objectors, remember the routine aspersions from mental health “professionals” leveled at, not just Donald Trump, but other Republicans: George Bush, John McCain, Ronald Reagan, etc. Only dishonesty or mental decline explains Biden’s lies that tax hikes only target $400,000+ earners.

Biden’s dishonesty over his energy policies begs the question: If he’s mentally incapable of recognizing factual reality, is he really lying? Yes, given the same dissembling from Ms. Psaki and others over a clear record of first, promising to shut down coal, oil, and natural gas fracking in favor of “renewable” energy (excluding reliable nuclear or further hydro sources); then, cancelling pipelines, oil and gas leases and targeting energy investments.

Hence, “The madness of slow Joe, energy edition,” by Scott Johnson (powerlineblog.com), asks the serious question: “What does Biden really think about the green energy nonsense that has fueled his war on American energy since his inauguration in January 2021? Does he really ‘think’ about anything at all? If shamelessness were a virtue, Biden might be the most virtuous man in American political history…”

What, other than shamelessness, could explain Biden’s ludicrous, even bizarre, utterance—“Putin’s gas tax”—or hashtags like “Putinflation,” and “PutinsPriceHike” in lame attempts at deflection. Energy prices—by the barrel, gallon or cubic foot—started climbing upon Biden’s oath of office. During the 2020 campaign, Trump forced Biden to answer if he would “close down the oil industry.” Biden: “I would transition from (DP: meaning leave, aka ‘close down’) the oil industry.” Translation, in later damage-control: “we’re not getting rid of fossil fuels for a long time.”

Well, the “long time” for “getting rid of fossil fuels” apparently started the minute his pen hit the paper to cancel not only the Keystone pipeline—permanently decreasing our supply of Canadian oil—but also any new leases on federal lands or offshore (pending finding an “Obama judge” to agree). It will, however, be beyond “a long time” for any significant portion of America’s energy needs to be supplied by wind or solar power, currently providing less than 5 percent—with no battery storage for when sun or winds stop. But wait, without both fossil fuels and China, there aren’t any solar panels or wind turbines. Hard to square that.

Next Biden speech, supply yourself with beer, booze (or soda, etc.) and play this “drinking game”: Just chug one can or shot for each time Biden says “Frankly,” “Make no mistake,” “Let me be clear” or (since they are all “tells” for Biden lying) “I’m not kidding/All kidding aside.” You’ll either pass out or need to spend half the night in the lavatory.

The rather complex energy industry—from federal, state and private lands and waters, to the leases, permits, exploration, test wells and final extraction, to refinement into the multitude of products that fuel our cars, home heating, agriculture and consumer needs—defies concise explication.

Rather than be “spoon-fed” talking points and narratives serving ideological, political agendas (climate change, blame shifting/avoidance, populist finger-pointing), take the time to inform yourself. “How Dems helped spike gas prices” (freebeacon.com): “Despite reassurances from the White House that it is doing nothing to discourage oil companies from opening new drill sites, President Joe Biden's allies in Congress just months ago pressured oil executives to decrease outputs because of climate change…

“You can draw a direct line from how the Democrats marauded energy production yesterday to the unprecedented pain Americans are feeling at the pump today” (See article for details; the average price per gallon when Biden came in=$2.38; now=$4.43)

“Oil industry debunks Biden admin's narrative meant to deflect from hostile policies as gas prices skyrocket” (theblaze.com): “That accusation (about 9,000 unused ‘leases’ or ‘permits’—they can’t keep it straight) is a complete red herring,” Anne Bradbury (CEO of the American Exploration & Production Council) told Fox Business. “It's really a distraction from the fact that this administration has paused leasing on federal lands…The fact is that industry is producing at a higher level on existing leases on federal lands than in the last 20 years (which) takes many years to explore, to develop and produce on.”

Mike Sommers, of the American Petroleum Institute, told Fox Business the Biden administration's claim “represents a fundamental misunderstanding as to how this process works. Once you lease land there is a whole process that you have to go through. First, you have to actually discover whether there is oil and gas in that land. Second, you have to get a permit to develop that land," Sommers said. "Right now, we are developing more leases than we have in two decades so the White House certainly doesn't have their facts straight on this.”

Fact: Companies hurriedly acquired leases and permits under Trump, knowing Biden and the Dems would halt all that they could, which came true.