Fact check: Biden temporarily banned new oil and gas leasing on public lands

 https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/factcheck/2021/01/30/fact-check-biden-orders-dont-completely-ban-fracking/4315441001/

The claim: Biden is banning fracking

Our rating: False

We rate this claim FALSE, based on our research. A Facebook claim stating that Biden is following through with a fracking ban referenced an article from a conservative opinion website that notes the Biden administration's recent environmental action. Biden signed two executive orders placing a temporary moratorium on new oil and gas leasing on public lands and offshore waters, but he has not banned fracking. The president said he will not put an end to fracking in remarks released by the White House.

Did Biden Break Campaign Promise On Fracking? No—And Here’s Why

 https://www.forbes.com/sites/rachelsandler/2021/01/21/did-biden-break-campaign-promise-on-fracking-no-heres-why/?sh=45b040c575a2

Hard-core supporters of President Trump, including his son, Donald Trump Jr., are suggesting Biden has already flip-flopped on a major campaign promise that he would not impose a nationwide ban on fracking—and here's why that’s false.

A story claiming Biden will ban fracking was published by conservative news site Townhall, which simply explained that Biden would—as he said he would during his campaign—deny permits for new fracking on federal land.

It’s an important difference because the majority of fracking takes place on private land, with only 12% of U.S. natural gas production and nearly a quarter of U.S. oil production coming from federal lands, according to a 2020 study from the American Petroleum Institute, an energy industry group.

And the president does not even have the power to ban fracking nationally.

Fury of orthodox leaders as Israeli courts allow secular weddings in Israel for the first time

 https://www.thejc.com/news/israel/fury-of-orthodox-leaders-as-israeli-courts-allow-secular-weddings-in-israel-for-the-first-time-2GflJhSA9BC0V3G22SMqJ2?reloadTime=1657603109239

Orthodox politicians have reacted with fury after a court in Israel ruled that secular online weddings must be recognised by the state in a move that could have widespread implications for millions of Israelis.

Judges in the district court of Lod in Central Israel stated that the country's interior ministry must accept the legitimacy of online marriages performed by a local authority in the US state of Utah, even when the couple being married is in Israel.

No, Joe Biden didn't just ban fracking

 https://edition.cnn.com/2021/01/27/business/fracking-ban-biden-federal-leasing/index.html"

Let me be clear, and I know this always comes up. We're not going to ban fracking," Biden told reporters Wednesday.

During the campaign, Biden explicitly opposed a nationwide ban on the controversial oil-and-gas technique, although the Trump campaign repeatedly suggested otherwise. And it's not even clear that a president has the legal power to ban fracking on private lands -- that would likely take an act of Congress.

Biden Fracking Ban At A Standstill Amid Global Energy Crisis

 https://earth.org/bidens-fracking-ban/

But just over a year into Biden’s presidency and right when the US seemed on path to phase out fossil fuels once and for all, the unexpected war in Ukraine placed all hopes on hold. Russia’s invasion of the European country sparked an unprecedented global energy crisis, deepening fears of worldwide oil and gas shortages. And as western nations scramble for new suppliers, America found a new position as a leading fossil fuel producer and provider.

Just weeks into the conflict, EU Commission head Ursula von der Leyen struck a deal with Biden, with the US pledging to supply American LNG to the European Union “until at least” 2030, as the latter aims to completely cut ties with Russian gas as fast as possible. The agreement scrapped the plans of halting new oil and gas extraction on public lands. Rather, it did the exact opposite, calling for more drilling and the release of oil from the government’s emergency stockpiles to help cut rising gas prices. In fact, in late April 2022, the White House announced it was opening up public land for drilling – nearly 144,000 acres – to new oil and gas leases, just months after suspending them. While Biden’s promise to ship more LNG to Europe may abate the energy price crisis and contribute to softening the rising costs, it is also extremely likely to hamper the transition to renewable resources. Some experts even argue that the new LNG infrastructure needed to meet the EU’s import demand would embed fossil fuel in the economy for decades. In a bid to justify the decision of opening up more land for drilling, the US released a report that shows the country is on course to produce enough renewable energy to power about 9.5 million homes by 2025. While this is certainly good news, we should not let this distract us from the fact that the Ukraine conflict is exposing the consequences that the US may face by having other countries rely so much on its fossil fuels.

Posts mislead on US energy independence

 https://factcheck.afp.com/doc.afp.com.326T98W

Social media posts claim President Joe Biden's policies are undermining US energy independence, arguing that the White House is making America reliant on oil from abroad. This is misleading; the United States became a net exporter of oil and refined products in 2020 but still imports millions of barrels per day, and global market conditions will affect the country no matter how much crude it produces domestically.

Despite claims of Trump-era 'energy independence,' the US never stopped importing foreign oil

 https://edition.cnn.com/2022/03/15/politics/energy-independence-fact-check/index.html

In fact, contrary to prominent Republicans' suggestions over the last month that the US had just recently started consuming Russian energy under Biden, US energy imports from Russia spiked during the Trump presidency.

And that isn't the only thing Republicans have gotten wrong.

Contrary to claims from Trump and other Republicans, Biden has not "shut down" American energy: US crude oil production in Biden's first year was higher than in each of Trump's first two years and just narrowly shy of production in Trump's last year, though substantially lower than production in Trump's record-setting third year. And experts say it is economic factors and cautionary pressures from Wall Street, not anything Biden has done, that has made US oil companies reluctant to dramatically ramp up production from current levels.

"Gas is high because they shut down production in the U.S.” under the Biden administration. - false

 https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2022/mar/09/facebook-posts/oil-production-bidens-first-year-par-trump/

Gas prices soared to an average $4.173 per gallon on March 8, according to AAA, breaking a 2008 record.

Oil production in the U.S. in President Joe Biden’s first year was on par with 2020 and higher than in two of the four years Trump was president.

Increased consumer demand, inflation and the war in Ukraine are among the factors in the rising price at the pump, experts say.

Trump and Boebert’s Oil Spin

 https://www.factcheck.org/2021/08/trump-and-boeberts-oil-spin/

The average gross exports so far during the Biden administration are higher than the average during the Trump administration, Samantha Gross, director of the Energy Security and Climate Initiative at the Brookings Institution and the director of the Department of Energy’s Office of International Climate and Clean Energy under Obama, told us in an email.

“But the real issue here is way beyond anything either administration did – it’s about global oil prices,” Gross said. “Presidents can’t do much to control those, they are set in the global marketplace, although politicians suffer when gasoline prices rise. As the swing producers, OPEC decisions make a difference here and that’s why presidents often jawbone OPEC to produce more to bring oil prices down. It’s not because we are any more dependent on the Middle East than we were last year.”

Freshly lost suitcases said thrown out amid airport chaos, as hundreds more pile up

 https://www.timesofisrael.com/freshly-lost-suitcases-said-thrown-out-as-hundreds-pile-up-amid-airport-chaos/

With hundreds of lost suitcases piling up amid recent travel snafus at Ben Gurion Airport, some luggage that became separated from travelers flying abroad has been thrown into the garbage, Channel 12 news reported Sunday.

Some members of the airport staff were said to have first rummaged through the contents of the bags that were tossed, looking for valuables.

Trump Avoids Word 'Vaccine' at Alaska Rally After Boos Over It in Alabama

 https://www.newsweek.com/trump-avoids-word-vaccine-alaska-rally-after-boos-over-it-alabama-1723229

"We did so much in terms of therapeutics, and a word that I'm not allowed to mention—but I'm still proud of that word," he said. "We did that in nine months, and it was supposed to take five years to 12 years and nobody else could've done it. But I'm not mentioning it in front of my own people."

Putin Ally Lukashenko Faces Revolt From Officers Against Ukraine War

 https://www.newsweek.com/putin-ally-lukashenko-faces-revolt-officers-against-ukraine-war-1723224

Senior officers from the fifth brigade of the Special Forces warned in an open letter to Lukashenko, who is a close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, against sending troops to fight in Ukraine, describing that such decision is "pure suicide," the Express reported Saturday.

"By entering the war against Ukraine, Belarus will be evicted from the community of civilized states and will be an international outcast for many years to come," the military officers wrote.

Belarus has allowed Russia to station its troops and carry out large-scale military drills in the country since the beginning of the war, which started in late February. Meanwhile in May, Belarus launched large-scale drills of its military forces in order to test its army's combat readiness, according to the Belarusian defense ministry.

4 days in January: Trump push for Capitol coda to 2020 vote

 https://apnews.com/article/capitol-siege-biden-presidential-elections-election-2020-congress-eb90b5a11a77fe528fa610cccb442c1e

It would have been something never quite before seen in America — a defeated president, Donald Trump, standing at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, with a mob of supporters, some armed, contesting the election outcome.

Trump intended to go there that day. His allies had been planning for the moment, envisioning the president delivering a speech outside the building or even entering the House chamber amid objections to Congress certifying the 2020 election results for Democrat Joe Biden.

“He’s going to look powerful,” mused Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani to a young White House aide four days earlier.

Baruch Lebovits, convicted child abuser whose case shed light on Hasidic justice system, dies at 71

 https://www.jta.org/2022/07/06/obituaries/baruch-lebovits-convicted-child-abuser-whose-case-shed-light-on-hasidic-justice-system-dies-at-71

Both Lebovits and Kellner are household names, according to a source in the Hasidic community in Brooklyn — Lebovits as a serial sex offender, and Kellner as an example of what can happen to those who go outside the community’s legal system to civil authorities.