Month: May 2024

Oakland city officials decided to take down a traffic light at a busy intersection after homeless people repeatedly stole copper wire from an electrical box that supplied power to the lights.

CBS has reported that city officials have since replaced the traffic light with a four-way stop sign to prevent thieves from stealing more copper.

The city of Oakland initially placed large cement blocks as barriers to prevent thieves from accessing the electrical box, but the barriers were quickly removed.

Locals familiar with the matter stated that a local homeless encampment extending from 12th Street to 17th and 14th Avenues has been using the electrical box as a power source for their electronics.

Oakland is now replacing traffic lights with stop signs due to homeless encampments stealing from Oakland’s electrical boxes: pic.twitter.com/Y2lFQ8BJsM

— End Wokeness (@EndWokeness) May 19, 2024

Per CBS:

Oakland has removed the traffic lights from one intersection and replaced them with 4-way stop signs due to people stealing copper and then tampering with an electrical box.

It’s a sight that has made drivers do a double take: a stop sign hanging overhead where a traffic light would normally be, located above the intersection of E. 12th Street and 16th Avenue in Oakland.

Neighbors said city workers removed the all the traffic lights in the last week and replaced them with four-way stop signs. The installation came after months of people stealing copper wires and tampering with the city electrical boxes that supply power to the traffic lights.

“It’s just telling us that the city is giving up on us,” said Tam Le, owner of Le’s Auto Body & Engine Repair, located at the corner of the intersection.

Neighbors said the lights that were there before hadn’t worked in months, either blinking red or being completely out.

Oakland recently removed traffic lights from a busy intersection and replaced them with stop signs.

The reason?

Homeless people have been stealing copper from electric boxes that controlled the traffic lights.

We can’t live like this! pic.twitter.com/s7dOaEOW7S

— I Meme Therefore I Am (@ImMeme0) May 21, 2024

KTLA reported the city of Los Angeles received over 11,000 calls regarding street lights going dark due to thieves stripping copper from light posts.

The post Can’t Make This Up: Oakland Replaces Traffic Lights With Stop Signs After Homeless Steal Copper Wire appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.

It may seem redundant — but yes, Biden is NOT in good shape. Either because of senility, dementia, or knowing that he won’t be held to account by the mainstream media — Biden ONCE AGAIN trotted out a lie that has been debunked numerous times regarding his history with civil rights. What was the lie, and why is Biden so intent on keeping it up?

Elijah Schaffer discusses all this and more on today’s Beyond the Headlines! 

The post Biden FALLS APART During Train-Wreck NAACP Speech | Beyond the Headlines appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.

This morning, Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky questioned Anthony Blinken in a Senate hearing about the current U.S. policy concerning the Ukraine-Russia War. In his comments, Paul stressed the impossibility of Ukraine’s war aims—which Kiev defines as the retaking of all territory controlled by Ukraine prior to 2014—as well as the continued hampering of peace talks by the Western insistence that post-war Ukrainian neutrality is off the table. 

The Kentucky senator, quoting Petr Pavel, the president of Czechia and former head of NATO’s military committee, said “It is naive to think that Ukraine will be able to regain the occupied territories from Russia.” Paul also referred to the characterization of the war a “stalemate” by the former commander-in-chief of the Ukrainian military, Valery Zaluzhny; he argued that the current Russian superiority in men and materiel prevents any resolution to the conflict more favorable to Kiev. Paul suggested that the most likely outcome of the war would be something like the partition of the Korean peninsula.

Paul claimed that the current position of the Biden administration, that Ukraine must be allowed to align with the West after the conflict, is actively undermining the chance for a peaceful settlement. He described Ukraine’s potential future neutrality as “one of the few negotiating items Ukraine possesses” and highlighted how the promise of Ukrainian neutrality might serve as the basis for a peace deal.

Blinken did not reply to Paul’s comments on Ukraine in the hearing, though he did reply on the subject of sanctions directed towards China, stating that he was engaged in talks with the Chinese leader about their possible lifting in the future. 

The post Rand Paul: Ukraine War is Heading to a ‘Stalemate’ appeared first on The American Conservative.

Joe Biden on Tuesday traveled to Nashua, New Hampshire to deliver remarks on veteran healthcare under the PACT Act.

“President Biden signed the landmark bipartisan Sergeant First Class Heath Robinson Honoring our Promise to Address Comprehensive Toxics (PACT) Act into law in August 2022, enacting the most significant expansion of benefits and services for toxic exposed veterans in more than 30 years.” The White House said.

“Named in honor of Sergeant First Class Heath Robinson, a decorated combat medic who died from a rare form of lung cancer, this historic legislation is delivering timely benefits and services to veterans—across all generations—who have been impacted by toxic exposures while serving our country.” The White House said.

Biden crumbled as he announced more than 1 million PACT Act-related claims have been granted in the last two years.

“After I signed the Pack-Anderl-An-Pack-At-Lack-Ack into law I handed a pen that I signed it with which is the position the person with the most responsibility…” Biden said.

Biden is completely shot.

WATCH:

The guy can’t string a sentence together—he can’t be President of the United States.pic.twitter.com/Te2uF20cTt

— Trump War Room (@TrumpWarRoom) May 21, 2024

The post HE’S SHOT: Biden Crumbles During New Hampshire Speech: “After I Signed the Pack-Anderl-An-Pack-At-Lack-Act Into Law” (VIDEO) appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.

Joe Biden is releasing one million barrels of gasoline from the Northeast Gasoline Supply Reserve in a bid to reduce prices as summer driving season begins (and the November presidential election draws nearer.) The timing is similar to Biden’s a 2022 sale of millions of barrels of oil from the nation’s Strategic Petroleum reserve that sought to drive down prices before that year’s midterm elections that has left the reserves dangerously low with Biden slow-walking efforts to refill it.

File image.

As TGP reported last month, gasoline prices were up 18 percent this year.

Last Friday the Energy Department announced the awarding of contracts to buy 3.3 million barrels of oil in October at an average price of $79.38 (excerpt):

…the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Office of Petroleum Reserves announced that contracts have been awarded for the acquisition of 3.3 million barrels of U.S.-produced crude oil for the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR). The contracts awarded today represent a fully subscribed solicitation for October delivery following the Request for Proposal (RFP) that was announced on May 7, 2024. The 3.3 million barrels are being purchased for an average price of $79.38, well below the average of about $95 per barrel that SPR crude was sold for in 2022, securing a good deal for taxpayers. To date, DOE has purchased a total of 35.6 million barrels of oil for the SPR for an average price of $77.18 as well as accelerated nearly 4 million barrels of exchange returns, pursuant to its strategy to refill the SPR. DOE will continue to evaluate options to refill the SPR while securing a good deal for taxpayers, taking into account planned exchange returns and market developments.

Forbes posted an analysis this month of Biden’s efforts to refill the SPR (excerpt):

…To recap, the SPR is maintained by the U.S. Department of Energy, and its oil stocks are stored in huge underground salt caverns at four sites along the coastline of the Gulf of Mexico. The size of the SPR (authorized storage capacity of 714 million barrels) makes it a significant deterrent to oil import cutoffs and a key tool in foreign policy.

After Russia invaded Ukraine, the Biden Administration made the largest withdrawal in SPR history in an effort to curb the oil price spikes that happened in the wake of the invasion. Between Biden’s inauguration in 2021 and mid-2023, 291 million barrels were sold from the SPR. That 46% reduction took SPR volumes to a level last seen in 1983.

Since hitting a low level of 347 million barrels in June 2023, the Biden Administration has returned about 14 million barrels of the 291 million removed (4.8%).

Tuesday’s DOE press release in full:

U.S. Department of Energy Announces Sale of Northeast Gasoline Supply Reserve as Americans Hit the Road for Summer Driving Season
MAY 21, 2024

WASHINGTON, D.C.— Today, the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Office of Petroleum Reserves announced a solicitation for the sale and liquidation of 1 million barrels (42 million gallons) of gasoline in the Northeast Gasoline Supply Reserve (NGSR). This solicitation is strategically timed and structured to maximize its impact on gasoline prices, helping to lower prices at the pump as Americans hit the road this summer.

“The Biden-Harris Administration is laser focused on lowering prices at the pump for American families, especially as drivers hit the road for summer driving season,” said U.S. Secretary of Energy Jennifer M. Granholm. “By strategically releasing this reserve in between Memorial Day and July 4th, we are ensuring sufficient supply flows to the tri-state and northeast at a time hardworking Americans need it the most.”

The awarded entities, likely made up of retailers and terminals, from this sale will have the fuel transferred or delivered no later than June 30, 2024, just in time for the July 4 holiday. In 2024, in accordance with the Consolidated Appropriations Act, DOE will sell close to 1 million barrels of gasoline from the following NGSR storage sites:

Port Reading, NJ (900,000 bbl)
South Portland, ME (98,824 bbl)

The volumes will be allocated in quantities of 100,000 barrels. This approach will ensure a competitive bidding process that both fuel retailers and terminal holders can participate in – ensuring this product can flow into local retailers ahead of the Fourth of July 4 holiday and that it will be sold at competitive prices, helping lower costs for American families and consumers.

Bids for the solicitation are due no later than 11:00 a.m. Central Time on May 28, 2024.  Revenues from the sale will be deposited to the Treasury.

The sale of this Government controlled stock will release nearly 1 million barrels (42 million gallons) of gasoline blendstock into the commercial market for use at their discretion. Contracts resulting from this sale shall be subject to contract price adjustment as set forth in the Supplements and Amendments to the Standard Sales Provisions (SSP).

This Notice of Sale contains the terms and conditions of the sale and specific instructions for preparation and submittal of offers.

For more information on the NGSR please visit the NGSR website.

The Northeast Gasoline Supply reserve was set up by the Obama administration in 2014 after Superstorm Sandy devastated the northeast in 2012.

Congress mandated the reserve be sold off and closed as part of a budget deal this year. The AP reports an analyst saying the gasoline reserve made little sense to begin with (excerpt):

…The move, which the department said is intended to help “lower costs for American families and consumers,″ follows a mandate from Congress to sell off the 10-year-old Northeast reserve and then close it. The language was included in a spending deal Congress approved in March to avert a partial government shutdown.

…Congressional Republicans have long criticized the Northeast reserve, which was established by former President Barack Obama, saying any such stockpile should have been created by Congress. A 2022 report by the Government Accountability Office said the gasoline reserve, which has never been tapped, would provide minimal relief during a severe shortage. The reserve costs about $19 million a year to maintain.

Patrick De Haan, an analyst for GasBuddy, said sale of the Northeast reserve would have little impact on gasoline prices nationally, although there “may be a slight downward pressure on prices” in the Northeast. The million-barrel reserve only amounts to about 2.7 hours of total U.S. gasoline consumption, he said.

“As an analyst, this reserve never really made a whole lot of sense to have,’’ De Haan said in an Associated Press interview. The reserve is very small and must be frequently rotated, “because gasoline has a shelf life,’’ De Haan said. “That’s why there’s really no nation that has an emergency stockpile of gasoline’’ other than the U.S.

The Strategic Petroleum Reserve has vastly more quantities of oil needed in an emergency, he said.

The post Biden to Release 1 Million Barrels of Gasoline in Bid to Reduce Prices for Summer Driving Season appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.

However much you hate the media — it isn’t enough. Despite raking Trump over the coals for the slightest infraction, when it was recently revealed that his former lawyer, Michael Cohen, admitted to stealing $30,000 from him — Lawrence O’Donnell from MSNBC still found a way to justify it. You won’t believe the rationalization here..

Elijah Schaffer discusses all this and more on today’s Beyond the Headlines! 

The post MSNBC Drops a Babylon Bee Headline on Itself | Beyond the Headlines appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.

PLEASE CONSIDER DONATING TO RUDY GIULIANI’S DEFENSE FUND BY CLICKING HERE.

Trump’s former lawyer Rudy Giuliani on Tuesday was arraigned on junk charges related to the Arizona alternate electors.

Rudy appeared remotely for his arraignment and pleaded not guilty to all nine charges, including conspiracy, fraud, and forgery.

Giuliani posted a $10,000 bond and will have to appear in Phoenix, Arizona for his booking photo within the next 30 days.

Last month Trump 2020 alternate electors, GOP state legislators, former Arizona GOP chairwoman Kelli Ward and others were indicted by a state grand jury in Arizona.

A total of 18 people involved in the Arizona alternate electors plan were indicted by the Arizona grand jury last month.

Trump lawyers Christina Bobb, Jenna Ellis, Rudy Giuliani and John Eastman were indicted.

President Trump was named “Unindicted Coconspirator-1” in the indictment because he made a phone call about the ballot counting to former governor Doug Ducey.

Arizona’s Democrat Attorney General Kris Mayes announced last month. She defended her witch hunt and the curious timing of the indictment – just months before the 2024 general election. Make no mistake, the charges are a warning shot to anyone who may want to challenge the 2024 election.

Giuliani was served with an Arizona indictment during his 80th birthday event in Palm Beach last Friday.

Sources close to Giuliani likened the scene to a military operation, stating that the serving of the indictment was executed “like it was Normandy,” according to The Post.

Goons from the Arizona attorney general’s office showed up at 11 pm and served Rudy indictment papers in front of his 75 birthday guests.

Photos of Rudy Giuliani at his birthday party in Florida tonight. I’m told guests had just finished singing “happy birthday” when agents served him paperwork on AZ fake elector charges.

Trump strategists Roger Stone/Steve Bannon were also present. pic.twitter.com/u2YqdgoSU6

— Rachel Louise Just (@RLJnews) May 18, 2024

You can support Rudy by clicking here.

Pre order today https://t.co/9ZXtDxyWdg pic.twitter.com/mtABY8U8Pe

— Rudy W. Giuliani (@RudyGiuliani) May 21, 2024

The post JUST IN: Giuliani Arraigned on Junk Charges Related to Arizona Alternate Electors, Pleads Not Guilty, Posts $10,000 Bond appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.

President Donald Trump is back in court today for the ongoing Alvin Bragg- Juan Merchan – Joe Biden show trial of the former president and leading candidate in the 2024 election.

Robert Costello will complete his testimony on Tuesday. Costello is expected to be the last witness before the defense rests its case.

The prosecution has yet to define the alleged criminal act that President Trump committed.

Today, President Trump is joined by several members of Congress, Senator Eric Schmitt (R-MO), actor-comedian Joe Piscopo, Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, Sebastian Gorka, former Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi, and Donald Trump, Jr.

During a break today in the Democrat Party’s show trial, the Trump supporters at court today went outside and held a press conference.

Several members of the Trump entourage spoke to the assembled fake news reporters.

When Dan Patrick took the microphone he was confronted by a fake news lackey who accused President Trump of being a member of the elitist class!  Dan Patrick let her have it!

Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick: Dan Patrick, Lieutenant Governor of Texas. When is Michael Cohen going to be indicted? He stole $60,000. Do your job. That should be the headline. Number two, Alvin Bragg should be indicted. He brought someone as a witness in a case with someone he knew had committed a crime. He should be indicted. So headline, please. Where are you, Alvin Bragg? Who’s going to indict him? Who’s going to indict Michael Cohen? Look,

We are here to defend our Constitution, our freedoms. We are here because we are friends of Donald Trump, the President of the United States. When a friend has trouble, friends have his back. The way he has been treated, you would see in Russia, you would see in China, you would see in North Korea, you would see in every little tin pot dictatorship across the world.

That’s what we have here in New York, in America. If they can go after The former President of the United States of America who has the ability and the financial resources to fight back, what happens to the average America? What happens to any of you? If the courts in New York come after any of you because of something you said, because you said something the ruling class didn’t like. That’s what all these other countries are about.

They shut down the ruling class. They want to be sure that anyone that speaks up against the ruling class disappears. They want Donald Trump to disappear. They want to send him to jail. They want to take him off the main stage because they know he’s their biggest danger to take the ruling class down.

Leftist Reporter: But isn’t Donald Trump the ruling class?

Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick: No, Donald Trump is not the ruling class. Donald Trump is for every New Yorker. He’s for every Texan, every state. Donald Trump has put his whole life on the line, his whole life on the line for the American people. When he came down that escalator, he probably had no idea that he was going to be called to be the man in the gap to stand up for Americans. He’s standing up for you, even if you don’t know it. I don’t know who’s next.

Sebastian Gorka: So would a member of the ruling class be facing 730 years in prison? What a pathetic question. 730 years in prison, and he’s a member of the elite? That’s pathetic. You’re not a journalist.

Sebastian Gorka came in for cleanup.  Nice work.

Here is the entire exchange – video from War Room.

 

The post “He’s Standing Up for You, Even if You Don’t Know It!” – Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick SHUTS DOWN Horrible Leftist Media Hack Outside Trump Lawfare Trial (VIDEO) appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.

A film about the early career of Donald Trump, titled The Apprentice, directed by Ali Abbasi, caused significant controversy this week after its premier at the Cannes Film Festival, where it was shown with the purpose of finding a buyer ahead of November’s U.S. election. The film, which has no relation to the television show of the same name, depicts an admittedly fictionalized account of the relationship between Donald Trump and the lawyer Roy Cohn. 

Galvanizing the controversy is a scene of a fictitious rape of Ivana Trump by Donald. Ivana, who died in 2022, refuted claims that Trump had raped her, stating in 2015 that “Donald and I are the best of friends and together have raised three children that we love and are very proud of.” The Trump campaign has announced that it would be suing the filmmakers over this scene. Steven Cheung, a campaign spokesman, said that the film is “pure fiction which sensationalizes lies that have been long debunked.”

Abbasi has responded to criticism of the film by stating that it “is really not a movie about Donald Trump,” but rather “a movie about a system and the way the system works.” Abbasi has offered to screen the film for Donald Trump, saying that he does not think that “it’s a movie he [Trump] would dislike.”

Dan Synder, the billionaire former owner of the Washington Redskins football team and a Trump donor, is also “furious” over the film, in which he had invested under the impression that it would be favorable to the former president. Other investors in the film include the governments of Ireland, Canada, and Denmark.

The film received an 11-minute-long standing ovation at Cannes. Reacting to the film, American director Oliver Stone called it “spectacular” and “dramatic,” going so far as to compare it to Citizen Kane. Due to the current litigation over the movie, it is unclear whether it will hit theaters in its current form.

The post New ‘Apprentice’ Movie Causes Controversy appeared first on The American Conservative.

Do illegal immigrants coming across the Southern Border have more rights than January 6 Political Prisoners?

Real America’s Voice host of ‘Law & Border,’ Ben Bergquam, teams up with J6 political prisoner Jake Lang to answer the toughest questions about the border crisis!

Why are illegal immigrants being treated better than the Jan 6ers?!

Jake Lang: “I mean, we have something here that we’ve never seen before, literal domestic terrorism, literal invasion, literal insurrection happening at the border! Meanwhile, they’re sending the FBI’s 51 field offices after J6 grandmas and, you know, social media influencers and reporters like Steve Baker, and this is nonsense.

You’ve been on the ground. What is the difference between a Jan 6 peaceful protester, political prisoner, and a migrant that is coming across the border with drugs, with sex trafficking, with the different ways to destroy our society?

Are we in the same class? Are we both threats to society? Or what’s your opinion?”

Ben Bergquam: “Well, first, let me just say to everybody that is being held, that is still watching, wherever you’re watching from, it’s an absolute honor. You guys will be able to watch it. God bless you guys. And we stand with all of you in this fight.

So it’s very simple.

To me, it’s pretty black and white.

The January 6ers, outside of a couple of the ones that were used by the federal government informants, people that were sent in there to do bad acts, The vast majority that I know love America and that’s really the big difference.

You’ve got people that love America being held prisoners, and you’ve got people and -I’ll.. I’m actually going to compare three tiers, three tiers of justice, so you’ve got the January 6ers or anybody any patriot that loves this country that stands for this country, then you’ve got you mentioned illegal aliens, illegal migrants, whatever you want to call them, they’re illegal being basically given special treatment not only equal treatment but special treatment!!

And I just came from Chicago, and you look at how they’re treated versus how homeless veterans are treated left out in the street in the cold while illegal aliens are given three meals a day they’re given a warm hotel room.

They’re given total freedom and autonomy of movement; they can go anywhere they want in our country, and it’s all under the guise of refugee resettlement. It’s all through this office of refugee resettlement. It’s all under the facade of asylum.

The reality is the vast majority of these people, illegal aliens that were allowed into our country by a fraudulent regime under Joe Biden that is, as you mentioned, communist globalist anti-american.

And that’s the third category I would say of justice we have in America. So you have you, and I would say I would include President Trump in what they’re doing – the injustice you see, the weaponization of the justice system by communist DA’s and communist judges in America against President Trump and against you guys, and you’ve got illegal aliens that are put almost as a higher class, and then you’ve got the leftist people…

Jake Lang: “The Untouchables.”

Ben Bergquam: “The untouchables—Hillary Clinton, Joe Biden, Hunter Biden, Barack Obama, Bill Clinton—all of these traitors to America.

Nancy Pelosi, who, by the way, allowed January 6th to happen, not only allowed it, but in my opinion, if we actually do the real investigation, J6 investigation that needs to happen, I believe she orchestrated it, was involved with it.

I have communications from different people that her daughter and her son-in-law were meeting with some of the leftist BLM members that ended up coming into the building that day, and there’s no question about it.

They are protected.

So to me, sadly, we’re living in a post-constitutional America.

It’s no longer equal protection under the law.

You have the protected and you have the targeted, and that’s really what we’re seeing. ”

Listen:

 

The post Border Warrior Ben Bergquam Joins Jake Lang’s Political Prisoner Podcast-J6ers Vs. Illegal Immigrants- Who is the Real Threat to America? appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.