Gas Prices Soar in California, Despite National Decline
California drivers are paying about $2 per gallon of gasoline more than the national average price, with prices in the state soaring even as the national average has steadily declined from its record-high level in the spring.
Currently, according to the American Automobile Association, the national average price for regular gas is $3.71 per gallon. In California, it is a staggering $5.76 per gallon.
Generally, California drivers pay more because of state taxes and regulations. But that alone would not explain the fact that California prices have actually been rising in recent weeks, after falling along with those in the rest of the country.
Drivers in Southern California are mystified, according to local ABC affiliate KABC-7 in Los Angeles:
The average price [in Los Angeles County] has increased 44.3 cents over the past 22 days, according to figures from the AAA and Oil Price Information Service. It is 26.1 cents more than one week ago, 37.1 cents higher than one month ago, and $1.286 greater than one year ago.
The current streak of increases follows a run of 78 decreases in 80 days totaling $1.216. The average price is 77.3 cents less than the record high of $6.462 set June 14.
…
The national average price is $1.316 less than the record $5.016 set June 14.
The San Jose Mercury News recently attempted to explain:
[T]he widening gap between what everyone from San Jose to Los Angeles is paying compared to the rest of the country is due to the concentrated nature of California’s oil refineries, experts say. Due to the state’s special gas blend, California is often termed a “fuel island” because nearly all gas sold in the state is refined locally by a handful of companies, including Chevron, Marathon Petroleum and PBF Energy. That means mechanical hiccups at refineries can cause major price spikes not seen elsewhere in the country.
Tom Kloza, of the Oil Price Information Service, said the reduced flow of gas is likely due to refiners bringing equipment offline for maintenance. He said much of the oil industry deferred regularly scheduled maintenance in spring so they could continue reaping record profits during the energy price spike following the Russian invasion.
…In a statement, the California Energy Commission said state refineries are seeing “temporary” production issues that, coupled with maintenance activity and “lower-than-normal gasoline inventories,” is driving the current price spike over the past four weeks.
The nationwide decline in gas prices reflects a global drop in the price of oil, on fears of recession. President Joe Biden, who blamed Russia’s invasion of Ukraine for the price spike, is now claiming credit for the decline, though the war is ongoing.
Gavin Newsom Signs Law to Expand State ID for Illegal Aliens
California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) signed a law Friday that expands the ability of illegal aliens to obtain state identification — and tightens restrictions on state cooperation with federal immigration authorities to bar even health and safety exceptions.
Under Newsom’s predecessor, Gov. Jerry Brown, the state began issuing driver’s licenses to “undocumented” residents. The move was advertised as a way to improve road safety and automobile insurance for a significant population of drivers.
The new bill, AB 1766, directs the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) to “by no later than July 1, 2027, issue a restricted identification card to an eligible applicant who is unable to submit satisfactory proof that their presence in the United States is authorized under federal law if they provide satisfactory proof of identity and California residency, as specified.”
Gov. Newsom said in a statement: “California is expanding opportunity for everyone, regardless of immigration status. … We’re a state of refuge – a majority-minority state, where 27 percent of us are immigrants. That’s why I’m proud to announce the signing of today’s bills to further support our immigrant community, which makes our state stronger every single day.”
The DMV has become a flashpoint for controversy due to “Motor Voter” laws that also allow automatic voter registration when driver’s licenses are obtained. The department has, in the past, registered thousands of voters improperly.
In addition, AB 1766 specifies that health and safety concerns are no longer exceptions that would allow state authorities to provide “noncriminal” information to federal immigration authorities. That means criminals who are illegally in the country might not be reported; it also means that despite California’s aggressive lockdown policies in the coronavirus pandemic, the state may not be allowed to provide information about illegal aliens to the federal government in future public health crises.
Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of the recent e-book, Neither Free nor Fair: The 2020 U.S. Presidential Election. His recent book, RED NOVEMBER, tells the story of the 2020 Democratic presidential primary from a conservative perspective. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.
VISUALIZE REVOLUTION OR CIVIL WAR II
CAN YOU NAME EVEN ON DEMOCRAT POLITICIANS NOT ON THE TAKE, INFLUCENCE PEDDLING FOR RAW CASH, INSIDE TRADING OR BRUIBES SUCKING???
Watters: The Five (CRIME) Families of the Democrat Party
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BBpvvHethg0
Videos Show Audience Booing Nancy Pelosi at NYC Music Festival
The welcome was anything but warm for House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Saturday night as she was booed on stage at the Global Citizen Festival after being introduced by Indian actress Priyanka Chopra Jonas.
Pelosi, 82, was attending the gathering in New York’s Central Park with husband Paul when Chopra Jonas invited her to appear before the crowd of music devotees.
The result was underwhelming for them both.
As Pelosi set out plans heading for Congress to tackle climate issues, members of the audience could be heard booing the veteran Democrat even as she expounded on carbon pollution and “climate change.”
“It’s thanks to your help that the United States recently enacted historic climate legislation, which will be a game changer,” Pelosi said as the jeers carried on, the New York Post reports.
“It will slash carbon pollution by 40 percent by 2030, it will give a historic, an historic $370 billion to fight the climate crisis.”
As the audience grew even more loud in its response, several hecklers are heard yelling “let’s go!” apparently looking for the evening’s entertainment to resume without a politician taking center stage.
Lars Ulrich, Nancy Pelosi and Paul Pelosi pose backstage during Global Citizen Festival 2022: New York at Central Park on September 24, 2022 in New York City. (Photo by Kevin Mazur/Getty Images)
The Post report added Pelosi tried to continue her speech, saying the bill would result in “better water and air for our children” as well as “better-paying jobs and lower energy bills for their parents.”
The California representative can also be heard calling for “better water and air for our children” and “better-paying jobs and lower energy bills for their parents.”
Mariah Carey, Metallica, The Jonas Brothers and Usher performed at the festival.
President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen also spoke at the event.
CAN YOU NAME EVEN ON DEMOCRAT POLITICIANS NOT ON THE TAKE, INFLUCENCE PEDDLING FOR RAW CASH, INSIDE TRADING OR BRUIBES SUCKING???
Watters: The Five (CRIME) Families of the Democrat Party
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BBpvvHethg0
VIDEO:
JOE BIDEN'S FINAL MOMENTS - NANCY WAS AT HIS BEDSIDE TO EASE THE TRANSITION
He’s done
Pelosi Calls GOP ‘Commitment’ to Secure Border, Stop Crime, Curb Inflation an ‘Out of Touch’ MAGA ‘Extremist Agenda’
By Craig Bannister | September 23, 2022 | 4:59pm EDT
On Thursday, Republicans unveiled a “Commitment to America” platform, which Democrat California House Speaker Nancy Pelosi denounced as a “whole-hearted commitment” to Make America Great Again (MAGA).
“Today’s rollout is the latest evidence of House Republicans’ whole-hearted Commitment to MAGA: going all-in on an extremist agenda designed to greatly diminish Americans’ health, freedom and security,” Pelosi said in a statement condemning Republicans’ commitment to stop violent crime, secure the border, tackle inflation and prevent illegal voting.
“But this extreme MAGA agenda is way out of step with Americans’ priorities, who align with Democrats’ vision of putting People Over Politics,” Pelosi says in her statement.
As Republican House Leader Rep. Kevin McCarthy explains in a video, the nation is facing serious problems that require the attention of elected officials:
- “Violent crime is at record highs in our streets and neighborhoods.”
- “The border has become a national security crisis, with fentanyl killing our fellow citizens.”
- “Soaring inflation has shrunk paychecks and sent us into a recession.”
Rep. McCarthy calls Republicans’ “Commitment” a “plan for an Economy that’s strong – where you can feed your family and fill up your tank” designed to make America “a nation that’s safe – where communities are protected by the police and criminals are prosecuted, a future that’s built on freedom where your children come first and are taught to dream big and a government that’s accountable where politicians don’t get special treatment.”
The full text of Pelosi’s statement is presented on Speaker Pelosi’s website.
Rep. McCarthy’s video is embedded below.
As Breitbart News pointed out, “the massive wave of new customers has helped spike the value of real estate, apartment rents, and the cost of new houses, especially in areas where well-to-do Americans flee from the arrival of diverse populations.”
“A 2017 report by the CATO Institute says the cost of illegal immigration could be reduced by cutting spending on border enforcement: ‘If the typical illegal immigrant increases the value of all housing unit prices by 11.5 cents, then illegal immigrants increase nationwide housing values by about $1 trillion,'” the report added.
Running the World into the Ground
The actions of the people who are in charge of governments are supposed to benefit the countries they serve -- in theory, at least. In practice, the opposite is true. In the West, our leaders are destroying everything they can get their hands on.
This is certainly an apt description of the Biden/Harris administration. They inherited a healthy country from President Trump. The economy was taking off, inflation was practically nonexistent, the U.S. was energy independent for the first time in decades, and the border was closed. So what did Biden do? He immediately set out to reverse everything Trump achieved.
Who can claim to be better off under Biden? The economy has tanked, inflation is at a 40-year high, people can’t afford to heat their homes or fill up their cars with gas, crime statistics are off the charts, and confidence in America is at an all-time low. Biden’s open-border policy, which is opposed by a majority of American citizens, is leading to social unrest and economic chaos. A country without a functioning border is not a country, yet that is where Biden has taken us.
America is marching toward totalitarianism as Biden empowers the DoJ and FBI to go after his political opponents, i.e., at least half of the population. His worst offense, however, is following the climate dictates of the World Economic Forum. Biden is torpedoing the robust U.S. economy in service of a totally false assumption -- that human beings are able to change the planet’s climate. He is raising taxes so that billions of your dollars can be wasted on ridiculous anti-fossil fuel projects.
Biden has declared war on the energy industry in the name of global warming. He wants us to believe that oil, gas, and coal are killing the planet. What is the result of his climate policy so far? “Harvesting of fuel was cut back drastically,” explained Bill O’Reilly, “and that caused the price of oil worldwide to rise, and that caused the price of gas at the pump to rise, and that lit inflation, as all other goods went up in price as well because they are trucked in to the stores and businesses. That is all on President Biden.”
First, human beings are incapable of controlling the climate, which operates in cycles and always has since the planet was created. Second, our economy is dependent on fossil fuels, and -- contrary to the lies fed by the administration -- fossil fuel alternatives do not exist, and will not exist in the foreseeable future.
Climate Change Business Journal quantified the cost to the U.S. of the green agenda at a whopping $1.5 trillion per year. That is the equivalent of economic suicide. And what do we get for this waste of time, money, and effort? Danish environmentalist Bjorn Lomborg calculates that even if every nation in the world adheres to its climate change commitments -- which they won’t, by the end of the century it will reduce the world’s temperatures by a mere 1/20th of a degree. In other words, the quality of our lives is going to plummet based on a monumental hoax.
If Biden gets away with his green policy, it will play right into Obama’s socialist dream of fundamentally transforming America. Under the guise of responding to climate change, the Left wants to take what we have and redistribute it to the Third World even if it means crippling the U.S. economy. Rampant crime, insane immigration policy, assault on individual rights, suicidal climate dictates -- Americans are being sold out by the politicians in charge, who happen to be members of the Democratic Party.
Now let’s talk about our friends in Europe. The criminal politicians who are in charge on the other side of the Atlantic are no better than their American counterparts. Europe’s social fabric was destroyed when Angela Merkel decided to open Germany’s borders to an onslaught of immigrants from the Middle East and Africa, most of whom are either unwilling or unable to assimilate into European culture. Other countries followed Merkel’s deranged example. The appalling result is that France, the U.K., Holland, Belgium, Denmark, and Sweden are on the verge of civil war as they struggle to deal with hostile Muslim newcomers.
The takeover of Europe by Islam was predicted by Mark Steyn in his 2008 book, America Alone: The End of the World as We Know It. “What happens,” Steyn asked, “when a Western world so in thrall to platitudes about boundless ‘tolerance’ allows the forces of intolerance to carve it out from the inside? Much of the Western world is engaged in an act of auto-genocide, and Islam will be the immediate beneficiary.” European politicians have opened the doors to people who are opposed to the Western way of life and whose mission is to stamp it out.
On the economic front, European leaders have, like Biden in the U.S., succumbed to the delusional World Economic Forum. In a mad rush to eliminate reliance on fossil fuels, European economies are going into the winter without adequate energy supplies. The poor citizens of the continent are being told to anticipate blackouts and food shortages. They are about to discover that without fossil fuels, their way of life is going to hell.
What recourse do we voters have against the irresponsibility of political leaders who are obsessed with the lure of power? Is it too late to stop them? In the U.S., we have the possibility of Republican resurgence in the 2022 and 2024 elections. We need Donald Trump or someone like him to execute a return to sane policymaking. I’m counting on it. The alternative is just too bloody awful.
Ed Brodow is a conservative political commentator and author of nine books including his new #1 Amazon besttseller, America on its Knees: The Cost of Replacing Trump with Biden. His website is www.edbrodowpolitics.com.
Report – Americans Lost over $4K in Annual Income Thanks to President Biden: ‘Financial Catastrophe’
Americans are bleeding money and struggling to make ends meet, thanks to President Joe Biden (D).
“New economic numbers show that the average American has lost the equivalent of $4,200 in annual income under the Biden administration because of inflation and higher interest rates,” the Heritage Foundation said in a press release Thursday.
The foundation continued:
Heritage experts calculated this shocking number based on different sets of data. Consumer prices have risen 12.7% since January 2021, significantly faster than wages, so that the average American worker has lost $3,000 in annual purchasing power. Further, as the Federal Reserve implements tighter monetary policy to reduce inflation, interest rates are rising. Higher rates have in turn increased borrowing costs on mortgages, vehicle loans, credit cards, and more. The higher interest rates and borrowing costs have effectively reduced the average American’s purchasing power another $1,200 on an annualized basis.
Meanwhile, more Americans are shouldering credit card debt as inflation continues hurting families, Breitbart News reported Wednesday.
“In a recent survey from CreditCards.com commissioned by YouGov, 60 percent of Americans have been carrying monthly credit card debt for at least 12 months – a ten percent increase from 2021,” the outlet said.
During a recent interview, Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) reacted to an estimate that projects households will be forced to spend over $11,000 more this year to maintain the same standard of living:
What we know for sure is that now we’ve lost more to inflation than they gave us in the form of free money. The inflation came from the free checks that were passed out. They shut the economy down. They sent free checks to everyone. And they said, oh, this will make up for it. But guess what? When people add up how much they’re paying for gas and the grocery store, it’s canceled out all the free money. And I don’t think the inflation’s over by a long shot.
EJ Antoni, research fellow in regional economics with the Heritage Foundation’s Center for Data Analysis, spoke about the financial burden placed on Americans.
“This financial catastrophe for American families is the direct result of a president and Congress addicted to spending our money, combined with a Federal Reserve compliantly enabling this addiction by printing more dollars,” he said.
In addition, American voters trust the Republican Party over Democrats by a wide margin when it comes to the economy as the midterm elections approach, according to a recent Morning Consult poll.
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