From the Newmaverse: Democrats, Republicans and gas prices

 https://finance.yahoo.com/news/from-the-newmaverse-democrats-republicans-and-gas-prices-133921112.html

A lot of Biden critics and Democrat-haters seem to think Republican presidents keep gas prices low while Democrats send them higher. In a way, that squares with Biden’s effort to reduce fossil-fuel use and pivot to renewables.

But are gas prices really higher under Democratic presidents? Not by much. To answer the question, you have to analyze gas prices in constant dollars, adjusted for inflation, since the nominal price of many things goes up over time. Adjusting for inflation tells us how much things in the past would cost in today’s dollars.

Under Democrats Carter, Bill Clinton, Barack Obama and now Joe Biden, the average gas price has been $2.96 per gallon, in 2022 dollars. Under Republicans Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush, George W. Bush and Donald Trump, the average price was $2.84. So yeah, gas prices are higher under Democrats … by 12 cents.

Gas prices: New York Times 'fact check' says Republicans 'wrongly blame Biden' for surge at the pump

 https://www.foxnews.com/media/gas-prices-biden-new-york-times-fact-check

"These claims are misleading," Qiu wrote in bold text. "The primary reason for rising gas prices over the past year is the coronavirus pandemic and its disruptions to global supply and demand." She then cited GasBuddy petroleum analyst Patrick De Haan, who said, "The pandemic brought us to our knees" and pointed to production of U.S. oil which fell in the final months of the Trump presidency. De Haan also told the Times that Biden's actions on U.S. energy played a "very, very small role pushing gas prices up."

AP FACT CHECK: House GOP falsely blames Biden for gas prices

 https://apnews.com/article/donald-trump-lifestyle-health-coronavirus-pandemic-prices-084a908ac2850e8690a822d6c7f56301

THE FACTS: Biden’s policies aren’t behind the price increases. Gas prices are up because of a rapid and unexpected bounce-back in demand, and because of lingering problems from the forced shutdown early this month of the Colonial Pipeline, which provides 45% of the fuel consumed on the East Coast.

McCarthy’s comparison to a year ago is also misleading. Gasoline prices didn’t fall at the time because of the Trump administration, as Trump often claims; they plunged because of the coronavirus forcing people to abandon their offices, schools, business trips and vacations. Underscoring the connection to the pandemic shutdown, U.S. gas prices were at their lowest in April 2020 when people were staying home most but have mostly risen since then, according to U.S. Energy Information Administration, even when Trump was still in office.

In recent weeks, the biggest factor has been the cyberattack on the Colonial Pipeline. Even though it has been back in operation for nearly two weeks, many states, mostly in the South, still haven’t fully recovered.

GOP attacks on Biden for high gas prices don't add up, expert says

 https://news.yahoo.com/gop-attacks-on-biden-for-high-gas-prices-dont-add-up-expert-says-161903465.html

On Wednesday, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy delivered a speech in which he asserted that Russia's invasion of Ukraine was not the reason for high gas prices — Biden's energy policies were. To back up his claim, McCarthy asserted that gas prices "started rising the day President Biden took office.""

The first thing is, that’s factually inaccurate," Knittel said. "Gas prices actually started rising in November of the previous year. That’s just data, so you can graph gas prices and you’ll see them starting to trend up in November of 2020."

Republicans cheer Russian oil ban and jeer Biden for rising gas prices

 https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/politics-news/republicans-cheer-russian-oil-ban-jeer-biden-rising-gas-prices-rcna19178

Biden said Tuesday it's "simply not true" that his policies are holding back domestic energy production, noting that the U.S. companies "pumped more oil" in his first year than in the first year of the Trump administration and that the U.S. is nearing "record levels of oil and gas" production.

He added that oil and gas companies have millions of acres leased and 9,000 approved permits that aren’t being used to drill for oil.

‘Cynical, craven’ Republicans out to bash Biden, not Putin, over gas prices

 https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/mar/12/republicans-joe-biden-russia-gas-prices

Factcheckers have pointed out that the main cause of increasing gas prices over the past year is disruptions to global supply and demand following the coronavirus pandemic. Only a 10th of the Keystone XL pipeline was complete when Biden cancelled it and it was not likely to become operational until 2023 at the earliest.

Revisiting The Blame For High Gas Prices

 https://www.forbes.com/sites/rrapier/2021/09/26/revisiting-the-blame-for-high-gas-prices/?sh=36eb55c8e31e

Note when oil and gasoline prices began to rise. That rise started in May 2020. Between the first week of May 2020 and the last week of December 2020, oil prices had tripled. Was President Trump to blame for this?

No, the reason oil and gasoline prices rose is that the economy started to open back up from the Covid-19 shutdowns. Those shutdowns had negatively impacted a couple of million barrels of U.S. oil supplies, and those supplies were slow to bounce back once the economy opened back up. That’s why we have soaring oil and gasoline prices.

Keep in mind that the entire world has experienced this. Do people honestly believe that cancellation of the Keystone XL pipeline drove up gasoline prices in Tokyo? Further, this price rise has taken place across most commodities. We have seen soaring lumber prices, base metals prices, cotton, oats, sugar — all primarily associated with the Covid-19 impacts on the economy.

2 more polio cases detected in Jerusalem

http://www.xinhuanet.com/english/20220311/cb2eb7fdbf304475ba71acaa324c8d96/c.html

Two new polio infections were detected in Jerusalem, said the Israeli Ministry of Health on Thursday, four days after it reported the first case since 1989.

One of the new cases was a close contact of the first infected 4-year-old child who had not been vaccinated against the virus, and the other one was found via a blind survey in Jerusalem.

The ministry called on the public to fulfill routine vaccinations at the recommended times and for those unvaccinated to complete them as soon as possible.

Amalek

 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amalek

The commandment to kill Amalekites is not practised by contemporary Jews, based on the argument that Sennacherib deported and mixed the nations, so it is no longer possible to determine who is an Amalekite. For example, Rabbi Hayim Palaggi stated:

We can rely on the maxim that in ancient times, Sennacherib confused the lineage of many nations.[43]

In addition, many rabbinic authorities ruled that the commandment only applies to a Jewish king or an organized community, and cannot be performed by an individual.[44] According to Haggahot Maimuniyyot, the commandment applies only in the future messianic era and not in present times; this limitation is almost a consensus among medieval authorities.[45]

Maimonides explains that the commandment to destroy the nation of Amalek requires the Jewish people to peacefully request that they accept upon themselves the Seven Laws of Noah and pay a tax to the Jewish kingdom. Only if they refuse must they be physically killed.[46]

In addition, the Amalekites, as a physical nation, have been extinct since the time of Hezekiah's reign, according to the Hebrew Bible.[47]

A few authorities have ruled that the command never included killing Amalekites. R' Samson Raphael Hirsch said that the command was to destroy "the remembrance of Amalek" rather than actual Amalekites;[48] the Sfat Emet said that the command was to fully hate Amalek rather than performing any action;[49] and the Chofetz Chaim said that God would perform the elimination of Amalek, and Jews are commanded only to remember what Amalek did to them.[50]

US House approves $1 billion for Israel’s Iron Dome after months-long delay

 https://www.timesofisrael.com/us-house-approves-1-billion-for-israels-iron-dome-after-months-long-delay/

Despite that fraught debate, the House overwhelmingly approved the standalone $1 billion for additional Iron Dome spending in September. The Senate was also set to push it through, when a single senator — a Republican this time, Rand Paul of Kentucky — used his prerogative to hold up the bill.

Ready to Die? Why Most People Flunk the Zelenskyy Test.

 https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2022/03/10/zelenskyy-ukraine-courage-00015972

Even the most interventionist voices are not urging the United States or NATO countries to directly join the war to save Ukraine. But, in what now promises to be a long and costly conflict in a multitude of ways, it’s becoming impossible to avoid the Zelenskyy test: What are you willing to sacrifice in the name of your ideals?

Fact check: The various flavors of dishonesty that GOP candidates used to promote 2020 election lies this month

 https://edition.cnn.com/2022/02/23/politics/fact-check-2020-election-lies-arrington-marchant-ramthun-lake-hanks-perdue/index.html

Numerous Republican candidates running in 2022 primaries across the country continue to baselessly cast doubt on the integrity of the 2020 election.

Some of these candidates are just plain lying that the 2020 election was stolen from former President Donald Trump or was rife with massive fraud. Others are professing to be merely asking questions. Still others are walking an evasive tightrope, trying to avoid angering Trump and his devotees while also not saying anything explicitly inaccurate.

All of that is dishonesty.

The GOP wants you to think of Joe Biden when you fill your tank

 https://www.msnbc.com/opinion/msnbc-opinion/record-high-gas-prices-are-not-joe-biden-s-fault-n1291238

In the race to politically exploit the high cost of gas, Republicans are banking on voters not caring that they’re lying through their teeth about how much of this is Biden’s fault. The president does not, as they would have you believe, have a dial in the Oval Office that he uses to set gas prices. Meanwhile, suggested fixes the GOP has offered up would do nothing to shrink Americans’ costs, which suits them just fine for now.

America can’t solve its gas price problem (or its Russia problem) with drilling

 https://www.vox.com/22959903/russia-ukraine-oil-gas-price-europe-us-exports-climate-change

The four myths Republicans have been spreading about oil and gas prices, explained.