Thursday News & Notes
JUNE 10, 2021 -- PRESIDENT EISENHOWER REJECTS CALLS FOR U.S. ISOLATIONISM, 1953
Today on The Hustings home page, we preview Braver Angels’ June 17 National Coliseum debate on the role of violence in American politics. David Amaya discusses liberal arguments (or “Blue”, in Braver Angels’ parlance) from the left column on the issue, while David Iwinski argues the conservative (“Red”) point-of-view from the right column. Read up on the issue and sign up to watch the debate at braverangels.org. Viewers always are encouraged to participate. It’s on Zoom and it’s free: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/national-debate-violence-in-the-political-process-registration-156741667547
Inflation Jumps 0.6% in May; 5% Annual Rate Highest since 2008 – The Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers – CPI-U – was up 0.6% in May, a slight reduction in the inflation level from the 0.8% hike in April, the U.S. Labor Department’s Bureau of Labor Statistics reports Thursday morning. Economists had expected another CPI hike last month as the economy recovers from the COVID-19 pandemic shutdown, but also fear the inflation levels may not quickly subside, despite Federal Reserve Chairwoman Janet Yellen’s assurances that the rates are temporary.
All consumer items were running at a hefty 5% inflation rate for the 12 months ending in May, the BLS reports, the highest since August 2008, when it reached 5.4% just before the U.S. economy sank into the Great Recession.
Used car and truck prices rose 7.4% in May, accounting for roughly one-third the total seasonally adjusted items increase, while food prices ticked up 0.4%.
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U.S. to Buy 500 million Vaccine Doses for the World – President Biden is expected to announce the U.S. will buy 500 million doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine for countries in short supply during his tour of Europe this week, Roll Call reports. The effort would support the World Health Organization’s COVAX initiative.
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Keystone XL No More – TC Energy of Alberta, Canada, is giving up on its 1,210-mile Keystone XL pipeline project after the Biden administration reversed the Trump administration’s approval of the plan, which had languished for most of about nine years after the Obama Administration initially rejected it.
“We continue to be disappointed and frustrated with the circumstances surrounding the Keystone XL project, including the cancellation of the presidential permit for the pipeline border crossing,” said Alberta Premier Jason Kenney in a statement. The government of Alberta had invested $1.3 billion in the project.
TC Energy’s (formerly TransCanada) pipeline was to cross into Montana from Alberta, and extend through North Dakota and South Dakota into Nebraska, ending in Steele City, delivering 830,000 b/d of crude oil, The Washington Post says. The pipeline’s southern leg is up and running after it was approved in 2012.
Note: Keystone XL had U.S. opposition from Native American tribes, but also from landowners in rural parts of the states it would cross, and most of the employment TC Energy would create were to be temporary construction jobs to build it. Only 50-ish new jobs would be permanent, in an industry from which North America is already producing export oil, even as it faces competition from new, cleaner forms of energy. The project proposal’s life was extended by only a couple of years thanks to ex-President Trump’s support. Although Biden’s executive order cancelling the project has ended the north-south, Alberta-to-Nebraska pipeline, one imagines it could go from east to west, to ship the oil-intense sludge to China.
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Transportation Bill Passes Committee, 229 Amendments Offered – A $547 billion surface transportation reauthorization bill that Democrats hope will become a key component of President Biden’s infrastructure initiative passed the House of Representatives’ Transportation and Infrastructure committee in a 38-26 vote, with just two Republicans, Reps. Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania and Jennifer Gonzalez Colon of Puerto Rico, supporting, Roll Call reports. Committee members offered a hefty 229 amendments to the bill in what Roll Call described as a “harsh debate,” including one by Rep. Troy Nehls, R-TX, to strip federal highway safety money from communities that ‘defunded’ police.
Note: Um, Rep. Nehls, that’s the federal highway, which means mostly interstate.
Fun fact: The amendment count comes to 3.58 per committee member.
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Sounds Like a Job for Space Force – Herewith, the exchange between Rep. Louie Gohmert, R-TX, and Jennifer Eberlien, associate deputy chief of the National Forest Service, during a webcast of the House National Resources Committee Hearing Wednesday, per The Hill:
“Is there anything that the National Forest Service, or BLM (Bureau of Land Management) can do to change the course of the moon’s orbit, or the Earth’s orbit around the sun?” Gohmert asked. “Obviously, they would have profound effects on our climate.”
“I would have to follow up with you on that one, Mr. Gohmert,” Eberlien responded.
“Well, if you figure out a way that you in the Forest Service can make that change, let me know.”
Note: Well, Gohmert did acknowledge the existence of climate change. --Edited by Todd Lassa, Gary S. Vasilash and Nic Woods