California ‘engineered the conditions’
for gas crisis hammering state harder
than nation
Posted By: Mercedes44, 4/9/2026 7:59:00 AM
Following Operation Epic Fury, supply chain disruptions have ricocheted across the market and hiked gas costs for the average American – with Californians paying the prettiest penny at the pump. Though AAA data shows the average national cost of gas has jumped from $2.98 to $4.018 over the past month, Californians are shouldering more crushing gas costs. The Golden State has enacted stringent regulations on the oil and gas industry for decades, implementing the highest gas tax in the nation, moving to block fracking permits and attempting to phase out the sale of new gas-powered vehicles by 2035 before Congress and President Donald Trump stopped the effort.
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Mercedes44"
The midterm elections ought to be the best of times for Democrats. But they’ve learned nothing from 2024.
Midterms are traditionally a referendum on the party in the White House. That’s usually bad news. People who are angry at the president are much more likely to vote than people who are happy with the job he’s doing.
In modern times, only two presidents — George W. Bush in 2002 and John F. Kennedy in 1962 — grew their party in Congress. Both were foreign policy crisis elections: W after 9/11 and JFK just after the Cuban Missile Crisis. Races for the Senate and for governor often go the same way.
Two Thirds of Voters Want Starmer Out
4 replies
Almost two thirds of voters want Sir Keir Starmer to resign immediately and a similar number want a General Election now, a poll has found, with even Labour voters saying they want him gone. The Telegraph has more.
Fewer than one in five think the Prime Minister should stay on, while almost half of those who voted Labour at the 2024 General Election want him to go.
Sir Keir is likely to come under increased pressure to step down if Labour fares badly in next month’s local elections, and there is a growing belief within the party that it cannot win the next General Election with him as leader.
Cuban "president" Miguel Díaz-Canel has been doing some rare interviews with the U.S. media in recent days, with the goal of combatting Donald Trump and Marco Rubio's "Cuba is falling" rhetoric and spewing his own propaganda in hopes that he finds a sympathetic U.S. audience.
The latest was with NBC's Kristen Welker, host of Meet the Press. The full interview will air on Sunday, but we've seen some glimpses, and let's just say it got a little heated. Díaz-Canel was not a huge fan of Welker's line of questioning.
"Would you be willing to step down if it meant saving Cuba?" Welker asks.
Díaz-Canel does not look amused.
Creepy Democrat Rep. Eric Swalwell is going down in flames.
Swalwell is currently running as a Democrat in California’s gubernatorial race.
As TGP reported earlier on Friday, The San Francisco Chronicle published a story about a woman who claimed that Democrat Eric Swalwell sexually assaulted her twice.
The woman, who worked as a staffer in Swalwell’s office for two years, told The San Francisco Chronicle that Swalwell began pursuing her just weeks after she was hired at the age of 21 in 2019.
Senator opens probe into tech giants over
alleged online child exploitation reporting failures 4 replies
alleged online child exploitation reporting failures 4 replies
Senator Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, on Thursday opened a congressional probe into eight tech giants over allegations the companies failed to sufficiently report online child sexual exploitation, hampering law enforcement investigations.
The senator, who chairs the Senate Judiciary Committee, also released new information provided by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) detailing the alleged reporting deficiencies in tips submitted by eight technology companies.
These eight companies, Meta, Amazon AI Services, TikTok, Snapchat, Discord, X.AI, Grindr and Roblox, collectively made up 81% of all suspected child exploitation reports received through NCMEC’s CyberTipline last year.
Trump says Iran is doing 'very poor job'
of allowing oil to pass through Strait
of Hormuz 13 replies
of allowing oil to pass through Strait
of Hormuz 13 replies
President Donald Trump slammed Iran Thursday night for doing a "very poor job," of letting oil pass through the Strait of Hormuz in the Persian Gulf.
The United States and Iran reached a two-week ceasefire on Tuesday that was contingent on Iran reopening the Strait, which is a critical waterway where about 20% of the world's oil passed through before the conflict broke out in February.
"Iran is doing a very poor job, dishonorable some would say, of allowing Oil to go through the Strait of Hormuz," Trump posted on Truth Social. "That is not the agreement we have!"
Texas lawmakers propose incorporating the Bible into public school reading lists, drawing support from those who say it is essential to understanding American history and criticism from opponents who raise constitutional concerns.
The Texas State Board of Education met this month to discuss potential changes to how social studies is taught under the state’s Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills for K-12 social studies curriculum.
The Texas Education Agency has also published a recommended reading list of literary works developed with input from more than 5,000 Texas English teachers, according to a previous report by The Center Square.
Michigan Democratic Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed’s recent campaign event with streamer Hasan Piker has led to a firestorm of media coverage and brought the Democratic Party’s internal divide on continued support for Israel into full view.
El-Sayed is currently locked in a contentious primary with Rep. Haley Stevens and state Sen. Mallory McMorrow. Polling data has consistently shown Stevens in the lead to win the party nod and face expected GOP nominee Mike Rogers in the contest to replace retiring Sen. Gary Peters, D-Mich.
Nevertheless, El-Sayed is hot on the heels of his opponents and his latest campaign event —
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Friday he was open to ceasefire talks with Lebanon a day after its bombing of the country reportedly killed the Hezbollah security chief Naim Qassem.
Lebanon retaliated to the Israeli strikes by sending around 70 missiles over its border into northern Israel, though those strikes reportedly caused only minor damage.
Israel’s continued clashes with Lebanon, its neighbor to the north, have endangered the U.S. peace talks with Iran.
Now, Netanyahu said he is open to talks with Lebanese leaders, though he did not promise to halt attacks on Lebanon-based Hezbollah rebels during the talks. Hezbollah is an Iran-based insurgent group operating within Lebanon.
As President Trump tries to regain control of the crisis created by his war of choice in Iran, much of the rest of the world is in a struggle to secure energy resources. In Britain, pressure on the Government to drop its commitments against North Sea oil and gas production is intensifying. The debate no longer divides on Left-Right, Labour-Conservative lines, with Chancellor Rachel Reeves, unions and even a caucus of Labour MPs putting the spotlight on Ed Miliband, on whom the Prime Minister has said the decision rests. While we wait for a clear answer from the Government about how rising energy prices are going to be managed,
America is living through a moment difficult to describe without sounding a little unhinged.
But here goes: We are watching the United States do things that only the United States can do. In the span of a few days, Americans have watched astronauts push farther into space than any human beings in history, while U.S. forces execute military operations so precise and technologically overwhelming that they look like something written for a Hollywood script. Pilots are being rescued in missions that resemble "Mission: Impossible." Terrorists are being eliminated with the kind of targeted strikes that only a modern superpower can carry out.
Twitch streamer and political gadfly Hasan Piker has a nose for publicity. More than a billion people have seen his Twitch stream that features some truly outrageous, hate-filled — even for a radical leftist — rants. He says that America "deserved" 9/11. The pro-Israel group StopAntisemitism nominated Piker as "Antisemite of the Year" in 2024 for remarks he made about Israel after the October 7 attack. Specifically, he excused Hamas's sexual violence against Israeli women, saying it “doesn’t change the dynamic” of the conflict.
Indeed, he has been disavowed by much of the establishment Democratic Party,
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Apparently, Tucker Carlson thought it would be a good idea to use his platform to attack Franklin Graham, Samaritan’s Purse and the faith-based community. Tucker Carlson made a big mistake.There are situations that we sometimes have a great deal of familiarity with. The work of Samaritan’s Purse and Franklin Graham is one of those situations for me. Readers here will know of my time spent as a CERT volunteer during national disasters, most of which involve hurricane relief.(snip) the single most effective emergency response mission in our nation.
On his podcast, Tucker Carlson and guest “Bro” Nathan Apffel spin a conspiracy tale that’s wildly out of touch with reality.
In Colorado, the highest posted speed limit is 75 mph. I can live with that, even though I think 85 mph might be better and perhaps just as safe.
This speed limit of 75 means that it’s against the law to go faster than that. Trust me on this, I used to be a lawyer.
But now, Colorado has announced that if you go the 75-mph speed limit in the left lane, or even if you violate the speed limit by going 85 mph, and people stack up behind you who want to go 95, then you’re violating the law by impeding traffic. And you’ll be ticketed for it.
Oh, Great, Peace in the Middle East Again
17 replies
Well, it’s another glorious day, or something. President Donald Trump’s threats against the Islamic Republic of Iran have apparently worked, a “ceasefire” has been concluded, and as he did when he forced Israel to stop fighting Hamas when it had a chance to destroy the jihad terror group once and for all, Trump is once again hailing the dawn of peace in the Middle East: (Snip)
The Islamic Republic of Iran was likewise in a celebratory mood, and in its joyful exuberance, fired off a round or two of celebratory missiles and drones into Israel and the Sunni states that it has targeted since the beginning of this conflict.
WaPo Columnist Says Muslims Should Not
Be Expected to Assimilate, and What Could
Possibly Go Wrong? 14 replies
Be Expected to Assimilate, and What Could
Possibly Go Wrong? 14 replies
It used to be taken for granted that immigrants to the United States would assimilate, adopt American cultural values, and become Americans. That idea, of course, was lost long ago as the lust for “diversity” and “multiculturalism” overtook the political and media elites, but up until Old Joe Biden opened the floodgates to any sentient being that could be relied upon to vote Democrat, most Americans took for granted the idea that people who settled in this country should obey the existing laws.
No more, however. On Wednesday, Shadi Hamid, a Washington Post columnist and professor at Georgetown University,
Israeli leaders overnight Thursday denounced the government of Pakistan, which is mediating the US-Iran ceasefire negotiations, after the country’s defense minister called Israel “cancerous.” In a post on X, Khawaja Asif wrote, “Israel is evil and a curse for humanity,” and asserted that “as peace talks are underway in Islamabad, genocide is being committed in Lebanon.”
Israel has been fighting Hezbollah in Lebanon since March 2, when the Iran-backed terror group started attacking the Jewish state with rockets and drones in support of its Iranian sponsor.
Trump says Iran is doing 'very poor job'
of allowing oil to pass through Strait
of Hormuz 13 replies
of allowing oil to pass through Strait
of Hormuz 13 replies
President Donald Trump slammed Iran Thursday night for doing a "very poor job," of letting oil pass through the Strait of Hormuz in the Persian Gulf.
The United States and Iran reached a two-week ceasefire on Tuesday that was contingent on Iran reopening the Strait, which is a critical waterway where about 20% of the world's oil passed through before the conflict broke out in February.
"Iran is doing a very poor job, dishonorable some would say, of allowing Oil to go through the Strait of Hormuz," Trump posted on Truth Social. "That is not the agreement we have!"
What does this mean? Perhaps Donald Trump's latest statement is meant to paraphrase a line from the most worthwhile Star Wars film: You have altered the deal. Pray I do not alter it further.
Sometime in the next few hours, talks will begin in Islamabad between the US and Iran in an attempt to end the war. Trump agreed to a two-week cease-fire that stopped a massive American attack on energy and transportation infrastructure in exchange for a full re-opening of the Strait of Hormuz and an end to Iranian missile and drone attacks. Not only has Iran not delivered on those points
federal judge ruled Thursday that the Pentagon cannot impose its new press restrictions, which he claimed was an effort to negate his previous order.
U.S. District Judge Paul Friedman last month dismissed parts of the Pentagon's guidelines released last year and ordered it to restore the press passes of seven journalists for the New York Times.
The War Department then changed its protocols late last month for its media briefing room, which includes the relocation of reporters to workspace outside the Pentagon. It also closed the correspondents' corridor within the Pentagon.
Suicide Wish
10 replies
The State of Minnesota requires schools to allow boys to compete in girls’ sports. It also requires schools to allow teenage boys to shower with the girls, and otherwise avail themselves of girls’ locker rooms. This is not, to put it mildly, a popular policy, especially with the parents of teenage girls. But Minnesota’s DFL party defends it doggedly.
It gets worse: the federal government has sued Minnesota, alleging that the state’s anti-girl policies violate Title IX of the 1972 Education Amendments. That lawsuit potentially could cost Minnesota up to $3 billion in federal education funding.
But none of that matters to Minnesota’s Democrats. Republicans in the Minnesota House introduced legislation
Texas lawmakers propose incorporating the Bible into public school reading lists, drawing support from those who say it is essential to understanding American history and criticism from opponents who raise constitutional concerns.
The Texas State Board of Education met this month to discuss potential changes to how social studies is taught under the state’s Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills for K-12 social studies curriculum.
The Texas Education Agency has also published a recommended reading list of literary works developed with input from more than 5,000 Texas English teachers, according to a previous report by The Center Square.
In another jaw-dropping example of Minnesota’s collapsing justice system under far-left Governor Tim Walz, a major fraud kingpin in the state’s largest-ever Medicaid scam has skipped the country, just days before his high-profile trial was set to begin.
Abdirashid Said, the top defendant in a sprawling $11 million personal care assistant (PCA) fraud scheme, is now a fugitive after skipping a scheduled pretrial hearing in Hennepin County.
The trial, expected to last weeks and expose a massive web of fraud targeting taxpayer-funded Medicaid programs, has now been abruptly canceled.
Illegal Immigrant Found Guilty of Assault
After Groping Female Peers in Fairfax
County School 8 replies
After Groping Female Peers in Fairfax
County School 8 replies
Israel Flores Ortiz, an 18-year-old junior at Fairfax County High School, was found guilty of assault and battery, after at least a dozen female students came forward accusing Ortiz of grabbing them between their legs.
Ortiz was found guilty on nine counts of assault and battery and not guilty on three counts. The judge dismissed one count against Ortiz. All of the charges were misdemeanors.
Ortiz is an illegal immigrant from El Salvador who entered the United States in 2024. He is currently an eleventh-grader at Fairfax County High School. In the state of Virginia, illegal immigrants can attend public schools at the taxpayers’ expense until the age of 22.