Showing posts with label RICK PERRY. Show all posts
Showing posts with label RICK PERRY. Show all posts

Saturday, February 21, 2026

The FiveStack LIVE: SCOTUS Guts Trump’s Tariffs, Wexner Names Names - Under Oath, Andrew Arrested, Allies Block Ir…

            

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The FiveStack LIVE: SCOTUS Guts Trump’s Tariffs, Wexner Names Names - Under Oath, Andrew Arrested, Allies Block Iran Bases, and Bombshell J6 Texts Surface

SCOTUS guts Trump’s $175B tariff scheme · Hamas reasserts control in Gaza as Trump sleeps through his “Board of Peace” · U.K. and France refuse war staging over Iran · Wexner names names under oath ·

Welcome back to the FiveStack Live.

🚨 BREAKING NEWS: SCOTUS STRIKES DOWN TARIFFS

The Supreme Court ruled 6-3 that Donald Trump never had the authority to impose tariffs under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act. Chief Justice Roberts, joined by Gorsuch, Barrett, and the three liberal justices, held that IEEPA does not grant the president the power to set tariffs — and no president in the law’s half-century history ever tried to use it that way until Trump. Over 60 percent of all tariff revenue collected last year came through IEEPA, and economists now estimate $175 billion is at risk of refund. Trump called it a “disgrace” and immediately tried invoking Section 301 and Section 232 as alternatives, but as Zev noted, “Roberts has already indicated this is bullshit, and you’re going to have to re-litigate this entire process.” Dean pointed out that Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick — standing right next to Trump during his furious rant — had been buying up tariff refund claims from struggling businesses at pennies on the dollar through Cantor Fitzgerald, positioning himself to collect billions now that the tariffs have been ruled illegal. The ruling also killed Trump’s plan to announce $2,000 tariff dividend checks at Tuesday’s State of the Union. Dean delivered the Canadian perspective with particular satisfaction: “To all of those people who chastised Mark Carney for not getting a deal done with Donald Trump — now you know why.”

5️⃣ Hamas Retakes Gaza

While Donald Trump told the inaugural Board of Peace meeting that “the war in Gaza is over,” an IDF assessment presented to Prime Minister Netanyahu tells a very different story — Hamas has reasserted control over 90 percent of the populated areas in Gaza. The group appointed five new district governors linked to its armed al-Qassam Brigades, restarted 14 of 17 government ministries, and is collecting taxes on imports by force. The U.S.-backed technocratic committee led by Ali Shaath hasn’t been allowed to enter the territory. Dean described the Board of Peace roster as “mafia states” and the inaugural meeting as “broken English open mic night” during which Trump repeatedly fell asleep, at one point drooling and sweating with his mouth hanging open. “That is the president of the United States and a show of strength with the biggest losers in the world,” Dean said, “and he couldn’t stay awake for any of it.”

4️⃣ Allies Fracture Over Iran

Britain told the United States no. Prime Minister Keir Starmer blocked American use of RAF Fairford and Diego Garcia for any preemptive strike on Iran, citing the legal reality that lending a runway makes you a party to the war. France also refused to make its bases available. Trump retaliated by torpedoing U.S. support for the Chagos Islands sovereignty deal one day after his own State Department endorsed it. Two aircraft carriers are now moving into the region, and Trump gave Iran a 10-day deadline for a nuclear deal. Dean argued that Trump’s military posturing is theater: “He is so scared to death of starting a war — more scared than any president in the history of the presidency.” Zev pointed to Russia’s coordinated drills with Iran as the real tell, noting that Trump never moves without Putin’s coordination on geopolitical strategy.

3️⃣ Wexner Names Names Under Oath

Les Wexner’s congressional testimony became the most riveting moment of the Epstein investigation this week. Under oath, the 88-year-old billionaire began naming names — the Queen, the Rothschilds, Sergey Brin, Jeff Bezos, the Saudi prince — while his own lawyer grew visibly agitated, at one point leaning in and telling him “if you give another answer that’s more than five words, I will fucking kill you.” Zev noted the lawyer received a text message that changed his entire demeanor, and identified four separate interventions to shut Wexner down. Wexner also revealed that Epstein had worked for the Rothschilds before joining him in 1987 — a fact Zev said he had never encountered despite years of research. The emails in the Epstein files tell the rest of the story: Epstein once wrote to Wexner, “We did gang stuff. You owe me. I owe you.” When Epstein got caught, Wexner replied: “You broke our number one rule.” As Dean put it: “This is the beginning of the great sellout of everybody that was involved.”

2️⃣ Andrew Arrested — Epstein Widens

The first arrest of a senior British royal in nearly 400 years happened on Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor’s 66th birthday, on suspicion of misconduct in public office related to forwarding confidential government trade reports to Jeffrey Epstein while serving as UK trade envoy. He was held for 11 hours, and police are still searching his former Royal Lodge residence through Monday. Met Police are now asking Andrew’s former protection officers to consider whether anything they witnessed — including visits to Epstein’s island — is relevant. Virginia Giuffre’s family said “our broken hearts have been lifted at the news that no one is above the law, not even royalty.” Trump called it “very sad” and “a shame” without once mentioning Epstein’s name. Zev connected Andrew to the same Al-Yamana arms deal network that linked Douglas Lees, Adnan Khashoggi, and Epstein — noting that Andrew’s arrest came the same day Wexner named the Queen under oath.

1️⃣ Bombshell J6 Texts From Denver Riggleman

Dean Blundell’s exclusive interview with former J6 investigator Denver Riggleman produced never-before-published text messages revealing the origins of the fake elector scheme. A November 4, 2020 text from then-Energy Secretary Rick Perry to chief of staff Mark Meadows laid out the plan: get Republican-controlled state legislatures to declare election results invalid and send their own electors to be ruled on by the Supreme Court. The next day, Don Jr. texted Meadows a detailed blueprint for stealing the election through fake electors, culminating with: “We have multiple paths. We control them all. We have operational control. Total leverage. Moral high ground. POTUS must start second term now.” The texts also identified Justice Clarence Thomas as their “ace in the SCOTUS hole” — his wife Ginni Thomas was already working the independent state legislature theory that would have given state legislatures the power to override election results. Riggleman told Dean that Liz Cheney blocked him from going public with the Clarence Thomas material because of “familial relationships” between the Cheneys and the Thomas family. Riggleman has thousands more texts and plans to release them weekly.

The walls are closing in from every direction. The Supreme Court gutted Trump’s tariffs. His allies are refusing him war bases. Wexner is naming names under oath. Andrew’s been arrested. And now the original texts proving January 6th was a planned coup are finally seeing daylight. Tuesday’s State of the Union has never looked more precarious.

The FiveStack is available as an audio podcast on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. The FiveStack is a co-production of deanblundell.substack.com and narativ.org.

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Thank you Lev ParnasThis Will HoldNick ParoCat: Poli-PsychStephanie G Wilson, PhD, and many others for tuning into my live video with Zev Shalev! Join me for my next live video in the app.

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—Dean


Tuesday, June 18, 2024

HOW STUPID OR LAZY DO YOU HAVE TO BE TO BELIEVE FOX NEWS = FAKE NEWS LIARS? ENERGY LIES!

 

SHARING FOX NEWS = FAKE NEWS LIARS SIMPLY DUE TO STUPIDITY! 

BRAIN DEAD RICK PERRY was appointed by the IGNORANT BOOB in the WHITE HOUSE
appointed to the ENERGY COMMISSION...preceded by 2 NUCLEAR PHYSICISTS - one a 

NOBEL PRIZE WINNER....

FOX NEWS = FAKE NEWS LIARS: 

BRAIN DEAD Former Texas Gov. Rick Perry discusses oil companies on BLEACH BLOND DIM WIT'S ‘Maria Bartiromo’s Wall Street’....


The US is producing record amounts of OIL that ill-informed FAUX viewers would know if they looked it up. Prices are high due to REPUBLICAN PRICE FIXING....look it up from CREDIBLE SOURCES

FOX NEWS = FAKE NEWS LIARS! FOX NEWS LIARS: Thank you for protecting your DISINFORMATION reputation! IF YOU WANT TO WHINE & COMPLAIN ABOUT GAS PRICES, READ THIS: excerpt: The majority leader ranks fourth among all House lawmakers in 2023-24 campaign contributions from oil and gas interests, according to the watchdog OpenSecrets. His $325,833 in Big Oil contributions trails only Rep. August Pfluger (R-Texas), who took $572,421; former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), who received $335,399; and House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.), who got $328,019. https://www.commondreams.org/news/big-oil-political-contributions?utm_source=Common+Dreams&utm_campaign=c2aedf9a6f-Top+News%3A+Tue.+6%2F4%2F24&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_-3b949b3e19-%5BLIST_EMAIL_ID%5D


"R" voters refuse to inform themselves with FACTS that are readily available. https://www.eia.gov/energyexplained/oil-and-petroleum-products/imports-and-exports.php


BIG OIL PRICE FIXING!


BIG OIL PRICE FIXING: Tell the DOJ to Prosecute Big Oil STOP THE CORRUPTION!

PRESIDENT BIDEN NOMINATED ANTITRUST ADVOCATES & 

PROVOKED WIDESPREAD OPPOSITION - WERE YOU PAYING 

ATTENTION?  AMERICAN CONSUMERS ARE BEING CHEATED 

BY CORRUPT INDUSTRIES!  

THESE CORRUPT COMPANIES ARE USING THEIR OUTRAGEOUS 

PROFITS FOR STOCK BUYBACKS

PRESIDENT BIDEN PROPOSED A PENALTY FOR STOCK BUYBACKS 

REPUBLICANS OPPOSED THOSE PENALTIES!

PROTECT YOUR $$$$ !  






Tell the Department of Justice: Prosecute Big Oil!

Big Oil corporations have been illegally conspiring to raise the price of oil. The DOJ must pick this case up and investigate and prosecute.


When Pioneer Natural Resources, the largest oil company in Texas, tried to merge with ExxonMobil, the Federal Trade Commission discovered evidence that Pioneer was illegally colluding with OPEC, the oil cartel that includes Iran, Iraq, and Saudi Arabia, to keep prices high.

US oil producers are explicitly prohibited by federal law from price fixing and taking actions restricting competition.

But Pioneer CEO and GOP mega-donor Scott Sheffield was caught red-handed coordinating production strategies in private messages to Oil Ministers in the Middle East, to keep prices artificially high. (see: Congress Urged to Tax Big Oil for Price Fixing and 'Issue Every American a Refund'Common Dreams, 5/7/2024)

In addition to the direct price increases at the gas pump, many of the higher prices we’ve faced, from groceries to food delivery, come back to the increased price of oil.

Higher prices are not, as we're sometimes told, simply the result of government spending or the market's invisible hand.

Real human hands are involved here, including CEOs who send texts to oil ministers about how they should work together to keep prices high.

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has already made an example of Sheffield and Pioneer. Sheffield was barred from working for Exxon, and Exxon was banned from appointing top Pioneer executives for five years. It also referred the case to the Department of Justice for criminal prosecution.

The DOJ must pick this case up and investigate and prosecute any American oil executives caught illegally colluding to keep gas prices high!


Thanks for all you do,
The whole Common Dreams team


Call 207.775.0488 to donate by phone or mail a check to:
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EIN: 20-3368194

Monday, August 28, 2023

The Texas Group Waging a National Crusade Against Climate Action

 

The Texas Group Waging a National Crusade Against Climate Action

David Gelles/The New York Times

The Texas Group Waging a National Crusade Against Climate ActionJason Isaac, director of the Life:Powered initiative of the Texas Public Policy Foundation. (photo: Montinique Monroe/The New York Times)


The Texas Public Policy Foundation is shaping laws, running influence campaigns and taking legal action in a bid to promote fossil fuels.

When a lawsuit was filed to block the nation’s first major offshore wind farm off the Massachusetts coast, it appeared to be a straightforward clash between those who earn their living from the sea and others who would install turbines and underwater cables that could interfere with the harvesting of squid, fluke and other fish.

The fishing companies challenging federal permits for the Vineyard Wind project were from the Bay State as well as Rhode Island and New York, and a video made by the opponents featured a bearded fisherman with a distinct New England accent.

But the financial muscle behind the fight originated thousands of miles from the Atlantic Ocean, in dusty oil country. The group bankrolling the lawsuit filed last year was the Texas Public Policy Foundation, an Austin-based nonprofit organization backed by oil and gas companies and Republican donors.

With influence campaigns, legal action and model legislation, the group is promoting fossil fuels and trying to stall the American economy’s transition toward renewable energy. It is upfront about its opposition to Vineyard Wind and other renewable energy projects, making no apologies for its advocacy work.

Even after Democrats in Congress passed the biggest climate law in United States history this summer, the organization is undaunted, and its continued efforts highlight the myriad forces working to keep oil, gas and coal companies in business.

In Arizona, the Texas Public Policy Foundation campaigned to keep open one of the biggest coal-fired power plants in the West. In Colorado, it called for looser restrictions on hydraulic fracturing, or fracking. And in Texas, the group crafted the first so-called “energy boycott” law to punish financial institutions that want to scale back their investments in fossil fuel projects, legislation adopted by four other states.

At the same time, the Texas Public Policy Foundation has spread misinformation about climate science. With YouTube videos, regular appearances on Fox and Friends, and social media campaigns, the group’s executives have sought to convince lawmakers and the public that a transition away from oil, gas and coal would harm Americans.

They have frequently seized on current events to promote dubious narratives, pinning high gasoline prices on President Biden’s climate policies (economists say that’s not the driver) or claiming the 2021 winter blackout in Texas was the result of unreliable wind energy (it wasn’t).

They travel the nation encouraging state lawmakers to punish companies that try to reduce carbon emissions. And through an initiative called Life:Powered, the group makes what it calls “the moral case for fossil fuels,” which holds that American prosperity is rooted in an economy based on oil, gas and coal and that poor communities and developing nations deserve the same opportunities to grow.

“When you look at their advocacy, it is consistently a false choice between being environmentally responsible and enjoying economic prosperity,” said Jeff Clark, chief executive of Advanced Power Alliance, an Austin-based trade group for renewable energy companies. “They’re against offshore wind, yet they spent decades advocating for offshore oil drilling. They are against subsidies, but only when it applies to renewables. They’re for looser restrictions on fracking and drilling, but greater restrictions for solar and wind. This organization exists to defend fossil fuels from any threat to their market share.”

On Thanksgiving, Jason Isaac, an executive at the group, tweeted “Today, I’m thankful to live a high-carbon lifestyle and wish the rest of the world could too. Energy poverty = poverty. #decarbonization is dangerous and deadly.”

Mr. Isaac said that the benefits of oil, gas and coal outweigh the risks, and that while emissions may be warming the planet, the changes are modest and humans can adapt.

“Absolutely, man is having an impact, I just disagree with the argument that it’s dangerous,” Mr. Isaac said in an interview.

Mr. Isaac’s remarks run counter to the overwhelming scientific consensus that the burning of fossil fuels is already making weather more extreme, and if not quickly and sharply abated will lead to increasingly catastrophic floods, heat, storms, drought and social unrest.

“Just as the tobacco industry had front groups and the opioid industry had front groups, this is part of the fossil fuel disinformation playbook,” said David Michaels, an epidemiologist at the George Washington School of Public Health who has studied corporate influence campaigns. “The role of these so called policy organizations is not to provide useful information to the public, but to promote the interests of their sponsors, which are often antithetical to public health.”

Robert Henneke, the foundation’s executive director, disputed the assertion that it was a front for fossil fuel interests. “That characterization is inaccurate,” he said. He also said that most of the policies the foundation promotes have nothing to do with energy.

A Local Group Goes National

James Leininger, who earned a fortune selling medical beds, founded Texas Public Policy Foundation in 1989 to promote charter schools. As it evolved, the organization embraced other causes including criminal justice, immigration, border security, taxes, and energy.

Mr. Leininger bankrolled Rick Perry’s successful gubernatorial campaign in 2000, and Mr. Perry reciprocated by donating the proceeds of his 2010 book, “Fed Up! Our Fight to Save America from Washington,” to the group. Other wealthy conservative donors began writing checks, including Tim Dunn, an oilman who is the vice chairman of the board.

In 2015, the group moved into a $20 million six-story headquarters in downtown Austin, where the Texas Capitol is visible from the headquarter’s “Governor Rick Perry Liberty Balcony.”

When President Donald J. Trump tapped Mr. Perry in 2017 to serve as energy secretary, the group followed him to Washington, opening an office there and placing several senior officials inside the administration.

Mr. Trump nominated Kathleen Hartnett White, a fellow at the foundation, to lead the Council on Environmental Quality. Ms. White, who had once described believing in global warming as “a kind of paganism,” stumbled at a confirmation hearing, and the White House withdrew her nomination.

Susan Combs, another fellow at the group, became acting assistant secretary of fish, wildlife and parks at the Department of the Interior. Brooke Rollins, chief executive of the foundation, went to work at the White House.

Bernard McNamee, a onetime policy adviser to Senator Ted Cruz, the Texas Republican, joined the Department of Energy under Mr. Perry, then left for the Texas Public Policy Foundation, only to return to the Trump administration after a few months. Mr. McNamee is now a lawyer who advises fossil fuel companies.

Douglas W. Domenech, who ran the foundation’s efforts to block the Obama administration from regulating emissions from power plants, became assistant secretary at the interior department. He was later found to have violated federal ethics rules by meeting with foundation officials, creating the appearance that he was working on behalf of a former employer.

As the organization’s profile grew, donations ballooned from $4.7 million in 2010 to $25.6 million in 2021, the most recent year for which records are available. That allowed the group to expand its mandate far beyond the Lone Star state.

The foundation said much of its funding comes from individuals. Because it is a nonprofit, the Texas Public Policy Foundation is not required to disclose its donors. But publicly available tax filings show that the group has received money from fossil fuel companies including the coal giant Peabody Energy, Exxon Mobil and Chevron.

The foundation has also received at least $4 million from conservative donors including Charles G. Koch and David H. Koch, according to public filings. Koch Industries owns oil refineries, petrochemical plants and thousands of miles of oil and gas pipelines, and the brothers have a long history of funding efforts to block climate action. Many of the foundation’s executives and board members have worked for the oil and gas industry, including Mike Nasi, a top lawyer for coal companies who is a senior adviser to its Life:Powered project.

The energy policies supported by the Texas Public Policy Foundation largely line up with those of the fossil fuel industry. And in at least one instance, its work directly affected a donor, Peabody Energy.

For more than four decades, the Navajo Generating Station near Page, Ariz., burned coal from a nearby Peabody mine, releasing mercury, arsenic, sulfur dioxide and nitrous oxides from its smokestacks, along with carbon dioxide, while draining the underground water supply.

The rapid expansion of cheap, natural gas starting around 2007, combined with new emissions rules during the Obama administration, made the Navajo Generating Station too expensive to operate, and by 2017 it was slated for closure.

To try to attract new buyers for both the plant and the mine in 2018, the Texas Public Policy Foundation produced a video that portrayed the coal plant as not only a major employer for the Navajo nation but also a part of its culture. The video featured a Navajo girl speaking over Native American flute music.

“Papa says it’s the heart of the land,” she said as an image of the plant’s three smokestacks fill the screen. “Sometimes I think I can hear it beating.”

The effort wasn’t enough; the Navajo Generating Station closed in 2019. Peabody Energy did not return a request for comment.

Last year, the foundation set its sights on the fight in New England over the Vineyard Wind project, which will consist of 84 turbines located 14 miles off the coast.

Attorneys for the organization filed a lawsuit in federal court on behalf of fishing companies, working free of charge, and the foundation produced a cinematic YouTube video to promote the case. The video attacks wind energy, showing footage of rusted, stalled turbines and suggests that tax subsidies for wind turbines benefit “foreign governments.”

Meghan Lapp of Seafreeze Shoreside, a seafood wholesaler and one of the plaintiffs, said she hadn’t been aware of the foundation’s extensive work to dispute climate science but was willing to look past it.

“The fishing industry needed somebody to represent them,” she said. “When you’re at the point where you’re facing complete annihilation, you look for people who can help.”

Taking on New Fights

Since President Biden came to office pledging to make climate action a top priority, the organization has only increased its efforts to combat what it sees as the overblown response to global warming — disputing broadly accepted models that project an uptick in temperatures, questioning the viability of wind and solar energy and dismissing the 2015 Paris climate agreement as a political stunt that will “will push more people into poverty.”

When a storm led to blackouts across Texas in February 2021, the foundation blamed the blackouts on frozen wind turbines, even though utility officials said the primary cause was the state’s natural gas providers. The message was echoed by Republican politicians across the country and commentators including Tucker Carlson.

The Texas Public Policy Foundation continues to campaign against wind power despite the fact that Texas now generates almost a third of its energy from wind power.

It is also helping shape the law. When a Texas oil executive complained that he couldn’t get a bank loan to expand drilling operations, Mr. Isaac, a former state lawmaker who previously co-founded a nonprofit that promotes natural gas, drafted a bill directing the state to stop doing business with banks and companies that were divesting from the fossil fuel industry. Gov. Greg Abbott of Texas signed the law last year.

With encouragement from Mr. Isaac and a network of Republican state treasurers, four other states — West Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee and Oklahoma — have passed similar laws. That has led some states to stop doing business with major financial institutions including Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan and BlackRock.

Meanwhile, the foundation is suing the Environmental Protection Agency, challenging its designation of greenhouse gases as a danger to human health and welfare, and this summer lodged its objection to a proposal at the Securities and Exchange Commission that would require public companies to disclose the financial risks they face from climate change.

As Republicans take control of the House of Representatives in January, the Texas group is poised to regain influence in Washington.

“It gives us a leg up,” Mr. Isaac said. “We’ve been educating staff on the Hill on our research, our positions and our messaging. We’re going to have more of an impact in Washington not only over the next two years, but over the next six years. It’s great.”

This Weekend in Politics, Bulletin 441.

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