I saw AWA’s post on a Democrat Senator who wants to impose a 21% tax on oil profits.

Their justification is anti-price gouging.

Before I saw his post I saw this story at Fox Business:

Biden threatens oil companies with ’emergency powers’ if they don’t boost supply amid inflation spike

President Biden may resort to using emergency powers if American oil companies don’t increase output at their refineries, the president told oil CEOs in a series of letters Wednesday.

Biden’s statement blames oil companies for running “historically high profit margins” even as Americans experience surging gas prices. Biden has recently faced criticism for a lack of executive action aimed at curbing inflation.

“There is no question that Vladimir Putin is principally responsible for the intense financial pain the American people and their families are bearing,” Biden wrote. “But amid a war that has raised gasoline prices more than $1.70 per gallon, historically high refinery profit margins are worsening that pain.”

“Your companies and others have an opportunity to take immediate actions to increase the supply of gasoline, diesel and other refined product you are producing,” he continued. “My administration is prepared to use all reasonable and appropriate Federal Government tools and emergency authorities to increase refinery capacity and output in the near term, and to ensure that every region of this country is appropriately supplied.”

I don’t know if Democrats actually believe this or just use it as a talking point for the masses but it’s clear that their narrative is that the oil and gas industry is sitting on huge supplies of crude and massive amounts of production capacity but are throttling supply to drive up prices to maximize their profits.

Of course, for this to work all the oil and gas companies – including overseas oil companies – must be in cahoots operating as an illegal cartel.

Reality it completely different.

The biggest problem is that the US is closing refineries.

There were several reasons for this.

COVID shutdowns reduced demand for gas.  Refineries closed and now are not easily turned back on.

Environmental regulations make it difficult to impossible to upgrade capacity of existing refineries or build new ones.

The Democrats’ push away from gas dissuades investors from investing in refinery construction or upgrades.  If states will ban gasoline in 10 years why invest in building a refinery that won’t be profitable for 20 years?

Refineries are currently running at about 95% capacity, which is maximum safe capacity.

There is no more capacity to kick in.

The growth of China, India, and other countries means were competing for overseas refined product.

The analogy is a draft horse pulling a wagon that is too heavy as fast as it can, and Biden threatening to beat it harder if it does pull faster and Democrat Senator threatening to take 21% of its food away as punishment.

Add to this that the Biden Administration has canceled drilling leases in New Mexico, Alaska, and offshore.

So what will Biden do?

He won’t reverse his drilling ban or cut back EPA regulations or encourage long-term investment in oil and gas.

The fact is that it doesn’t matter if they really believe their narrative or not, they do not understand what the problem is and their actions will destroy the petroleum industry, and that’s the point.

We will feel it here.

I believe they are banking on Democrat Privilege – being judged on intentions and not results – to save them.

They will be praised as “doing something for working Americans” while driving gas past $10/gal, and letting the petroleum industry catch the blame.

From Bloomberg via yahoo news: Biden Ally Floats 21% Surtax on Oil Profits to Blunt Inflation

“The proposal I’m developing would help reverse perverse incentives to price gouge, by doubling the corporate tax rate on companies’ excess profits, eliminating egregious buybacks and reducing accounting tricks,” [Senator Ron] Wyden said about the proposal he plans to introduce in the coming weeks. “By contrast, companies that provide relief to consumers by either reducing prices or investing in new supply would not be affected.”

Inflation isn’t caused by any policy of Joe or the Democrats, nope, it is those evil nasty capitalist oil companies being greedy.

If greed was the driving force, wouldn’t they oil companies have raised their prices long ago to maximize their profits? It would be much easier to sell $2.99/gal gas to public than $5.25/gal.

To quote somebody wiser than me: The beatings will continue until moral improves

I figure some if not most of you heard about this tragic case in Orlando where a kid fell off a ride and died.  And I bet we all imagined and undersized kid who was allowed to ride and the security devices did not keep him in his seat.

And then this morning, the results of the autopsy were revealed.

ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — An autopsy says a Missouri teenager died of blunt force trauma after falling from a 430-foot Florida drop-tower amusement park ride.

The report Monday by the Orange County Medical Examiner’s Office also ruled that 14-year-old Tyre Sampson’s death in March was an accident.

Sampson slipped out of his seat about halfway down the Free Fall ride located in a tourist area of Orlando. Sampson was there with a friend’s family for vacation.

The autopsy also showed that Sampson, who played football in the St. Louis area, weighed 383 pounds when he died.

Autopsy: Tyre Sampson, 14, died of blunt trauma in Florida drop-tower ride death (wsmv.com)

What the f…? A 14 year old who was almost as heavy as I was when I started dieting? Holy shit, this guy never met a McDonalds that did not tackle with gusto

Sampson’s parents sued the ride’s owner, manufacturer and landlord in April, claiming they were negligent and failed to provide a safe amusement ride. They said in the lawsuit that their son was not warned about the risks of someone of his size going on the ride and was not provided an appropriate restraint system.

They are partially right in the sense that the ride owners should have not allowed somebody this fat on a ride that may have strained the safety systems developed for regular human beings. then again, if they denied the kid a ride, they would have been accused and maligned for being racist fatphobes or some woke crap like that.

And Child Services should investigate the parents for allowing their kid to reach such an unhealthy mass of body fat. I don’t give a rat’s ass what they say, allowing him to blow up like that is not proper parenthood.

And whatever feelings of sympathy I had because of the initial descriptions of the accident and the victim have evaporated because they plain lied by omission rather than telling me the straight facts. Backlash after finding out you lied is not a nice thing to happen to lying sacks of poor journalism.

Via Facebook:

He ain’t wrong and we all know the answer. In fact, we probably know many people who were falsely accused as violent during divorce procedures and had to relinquish their guns than actual people who actually were dangerous. And not a single lying domestic partner was ever punished for those lies and the restriction of fundamental Rights they created.

In the decade since the mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown, Connecticut, that perspective has helped drive the guns debate toward an almost religious tone – that of a battle between good and evil that goes well beyond good or bad policy. For a small group of Americans and religious leaders, the more access to firearms has become a moral question, the more defending them has become a righteous cause in defense of the freedom to protect America’s virtues.

Second Amendment: Has the gun become a sacred object in America? – CSMonitor.com

Noteworthy article since the author reached over our side and ask our point of view rather than accept the propaganda bleated from every screen out there by the antis. David Yamane, a regular reader of the blog is quoted. And even some obscure blogger got to dip his 2 cents in the process:

Mr. Gonzalez, the Florida gun owner, traces his attachment to firearms to his family’s experiences in the Spanish Civil War, the Cuban Revolution, and gun restrictions in his native Venezuela.

“We do not pray or light candles to any type of weapon just like a biker does not kneel in front of a Harley or a car aficionado genuflects at the sight of an original Shelby Cobra,” writes Mr. Gonzalez, the founder of the tongue-in-cheek-named Gun Free Zone blog. “The ‘article of faith is written’ in the Second Amendment of the Constitution and the ‘gospel’ is the historic precedents here and abroad where unarmed people were massacred by either the government or civilians who had the privilege to be armed.”
…
“By blaming the sacralizing of weapons, he says, critics “fail to see the irony [created] by assigning an almost evil intent to the inanimate object rather than seeking and healing what ails the soul of those who use the object to commit evil …,” says Mr. Gonzalez. “It is the equivalent of blaming the cross for the Crucifixion of our Lord.”

I saved the whole email interview, and you can read it here. (Be advised, the whole thing is backwards, so you have to start at the bottom and read up)

I believe Patrik Jonsson did a fair job and for that I thank him.

A California pet shop and shelter is working to address wrong think.

“We do not support those who believe that the 2nd amendment gives them the right to buy assault weapons,” Kim Sill, owner of the Shelter Hope Pet Shop in Thousand Oaks, wrote on the organization’s website. “If your beliefs are not in line with ours, we will not adopt a pet to you.”

While the Constitution states that the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed, Kim Sill is of the opinion that doesn’t apply to assault weapons.

She has determined that in order for you to adopt (buy) an animal from them you must prove you are scared of firearms and hate them. You will be grilled in a long and detailed interview.

“If you forster for us and believe in guns, please bring our dogs and/or cats back” Kim said. Expressing her firmly held belief that guns are imaginary. And that you are unfit to be a pet owner if you believe in guns.

Being a member of the NRA will also disqualify you. Never mind that the no mass murder has been a member of the NRA nor has the NRA ever advocated for murder. And the NRA being the oldest civil rights organization, fighting to get blacks equal protection doesn’t count.

Animal shelter bans pro-gun supporters from adopting dogs

The NSBA is the group that worked with the Biden DOJ to come up with a letter painting parents as domestic terrorists.

The old game of “If you aren’t calm we are going to remove you from the room.” Parents that were angry and speaking in anger were told they were the worse possible people. All the while petty bureaucrats did all they could to block transparency into what was happening in the schools.

A number of state school board associations left shortly after the NSBA sent their letter to the DOJ demanding that the DOJ investigate parents. What most didn’t see is that many states are just no renewing their memberships.

Nebraska Association of School Boards being the latest to cut ties with the NSBA. They just waited till their membership expired then voted not to pay to remain.

Keep it in mind that some types of resistance take a bit of time to actually take affect.