"California set out to be the nation's leader in the energy transition, but it isn't going quite as planned.

"In October, Phillips 66 announced it was closing down its Los Angeles-area refinery, which analysts say was the result of the state's hostility toward its oil industry. Then in April, Valero announced it would cease operations at its San Francisco-area refinery in April 2026.

"Facing serious shortfalls of gasoline, jet fuel and diesel, the state is now hoping to broker a deal for a buyer to take over the Valero refinery, Reuters reported, so that it may keep the facility running. The California Energy Commission (CEC) wouldn't confirm its engaging buyers directly, but it did confirm to Reuters that it's trying to keep the facility open.

"University of Southern California professor Michael Mische told Just the News that California Gov. Gavin Newsom, a Democrat, and the state's legislature weren't quite prepared for one refinery shutting down. With a second refinery closing and possibly more to follow, the state may be starting to consider the possibility that petroleum might not be as dispensable as they thought. The state's Assembly has been in Democratic hands since 1970, and the Senate has been under Democratic control since 1975."

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"One of the most important provisions in the One Big Beautiful Bill has gone completely unnoticed, but promises to make the auto industry great again.

"For 50 years, the federal government has been forcing fuel economy standards on auto companies. If the average fuel economy of the cars sold in a year exceeded a federal standard, the companies had to cough up enormous penalties.

"Passed in 1975 as a way to deal with an energy crisis (that was caused by government price controls), 'corporate average fuel economy' (CAFE) standards -- required the fleet of cars sold by an automaker to achieve an arbitrary miles-per-gallon goal. If they missed the goal, they paid hefty annual fines.

"From the beginning, these standards were a disaster, forcing automakers to radically downsize their fleet, which research showed cost thousands of lives because, all things being equal, smaller, lighter cars are less safe than larger ones."

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"The Supreme Court on Wednesday paved the way for President Trump to fire three members of the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) -- the second time the justices have allowed Trump's terminations at independent agencies to go into effect.

The emergency order lifts a lower court's ruling that determined the firings were unlawful and effectively ordered the reinstatement of Commissioners Mary Boyle, Alexander Hoehn-Saric and Richard Trumka Jr. as the litigation progresses.

The Supreme Court majority pointed to its May emergency ruling greenlighting Trump's firing of members of two other independent agencies, saying the CPSC did not differ in 'any pertinent respect.'"

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"The Trump administration officially introduced a rule to end former President Joe Biden's paper straw mandate across the federal government, cutting waste and reversing the cultural weakness pursued by Democrats for years.

"The official rule finalized by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and published July 21 will end the mandate forcing every executive agency to purchase paper straws for use in all their installations across the country, including for military bases and Veterans' Affairs facilities, according to OMB Senior Adviser Dr. Kevin Rhodes.

"The new rule would require government contractors to only offer straws that 'have the strength and durability of plastic,' Rhodes, the nominee for Administrator for Federal Procurement Policy, told The Federalist. That does not necessarily mean plastic, but it does mean straws that function in an equivalent way would be required."

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"Congress is investigating a coordinated effort -- led by billionaire Michael Bloomberg and funneled through New York University -- to shape state-level climate and energy policy via state attorneys general, raising serious ethical concerns about outside influence on public legal offices.

"On Thursday, House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman James Comer (R-KY) announced a formal investigation into the State Energy & Environmental Impact Center (SEEIC) at NYU School of Law. Launched in 2017 with a $5.6 million grant from Bloomberg Philanthropies, SEEIC places so-called 'climate fellows' directly into state attorney general offices, funding their salaries to primarily support lawfare against the U.S. energy sector.

"The arrangement has long raised major ethical and constitutional concerns: Is it appropriate for a private billionaire -- with a vested financial and ideological interest in eliminating oil and natural gas -- to fund public legal personnel to sue private actors, and shape local and federal enforcement? Chairman Comer says no.

"To date, SEEIC fellows -- who are named as special assistant attorneys general (SAAGs)/-- have been embedded exclusively in Democratic-led AG offices across at least ten states, including New York, Minnesota, and Wisconsin, as well as the District of Columbia. These fellows have supported the filing of lawsuits, regulatory comment letters, and other legal strategies aligned with Bloomberg's climate policy priorities."

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"Last week, CIA Director John Ratcliffe referred former CIA Director John Brennan to the FBI for a criminal investigation. Some reports claim the referral relates to Brennan potentially having perjured himself before Congress. But on Wednesday, President Donald Trump may have pointed to another direction the FBI probe may take. In an interview with reporter John Solomon, Trump said he would declassify an annex to the May 2023 report filed by John Durham, the special counsel appointed during Trump's first term to investigate Russiagate.

"The annex, according to Solomon, deals with the 'Clinton Plan intelligence' -- and, says Solomon, 'lawmakers and Durham have suggested it would provide damning evidence to any prosecutor.' Trump told Solomon, 'I will absolutely declassify it.'

"The 'Clinton Plan Intelligence' refers to intelligence the CIA received in late July 2016 from a Dutch spy agency. The Dutch had penetrated a Russian intelligence agency that appears to have hacked the emails of Clinton allies and Democratic officials. And it was from these communications that the Russians learned the Clinton campaign had devised a plan to smear Trump as a Russian agent to deflect attention from her use of a private email server.

"According to Durham's final report in May 2023, the U.S. intelligence official 'who initially received the information immediately recognized its importance -- including its relevance to the U.S. presidential election -- and acted quickly to make CIA leadership aware of it.' Brennan himself, the report shows, 'personally received a copy of the intelligence.'"

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"The way Sen. Bernie Sanders (I., Vt.) tells it, the only way to fight the 'oligarchs' is to travel like one.

"The socialist senator's campaign spent nearly $230,000 on chartered private jets during the second quarter of 2025 as the senator continued to jet-set the nation on his nationwide Fighting Oligarchy Tour, according to Federal Election Commission records released Tuesday. The campaign contracted exclusively with Ventura Jets, a New York company that specializes in providing private airfare for the same sort of corporate leaders that Sanders has demonized since launching his tour in February.

"Sanders's private jet budget during the second quarter of 2025 exceeded the nearly $222,000 his campaign spent on private airfare during the first three months of the year, and shows the Vermont senator remains unapologetic about living a millionaire's lifestyle while propagating socialist rhetoric on the campaign trail against 'oligarchs and corporate interests,' whom he's equated to 'heroin addicts' driven by greed."

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"President Donald Trump on Monday called for California Democratic Sen. Adam Schiff to be prosecuted for alleged mortgage fraud.

"Trump said the mortgage giant Fannie Mae's financial crimes division concluded Schiff 'engaged in a sustained pattern of possible Mortgage Fraud' in a Monday morning post on the social media platform Truth Social. The president called on the California Democrat to face prosecution for alleged mortgage fraud for claiming a Maryland home as his primary residence for more than a decade.

"'Adam Schiff said that his primary residence was in MARYLAND to get a cheaper mortgage and rip off America, when he must LIVE in CALIFORNIA because he was a Congressman from CALIFORNIA,' Trump wrote. 'I always knew Adam Schiff was a Crook.'"

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"After stepping off the plane in Nashville, having paid far more than expected for your flight, the rental car desk awaits.

"Four days with a Toyota Camry costs $670. A Starbucks coffee on the way to the hotel is another $7.

"Your budget hotel somehow costs $500 for the weekend, breakfast not included. Eating out for dinner means the day's spending is comfortably into four figures.

"Welcome to America in the summer of 2025, where years of surging prices have left consumers struggling with widespread sticker shock.

"Inflation, which began to rise sharply in 2021, has significantly increased the cost of just about everything. Overall, prices are about 26 per cent higher than they were before the Covid pandemic, according to the personal finance company NerdWallet."

Read the entire article here.

"Like frogs slowly being boiled alive, Democratic Party leaders across America are trying to swim in the steaming pot of Zohran Mamdani's extremist agenda.

"Bereft of any principle, they're just desperate to stay politically afloat amid the far-left surge that's only grown more stormy since the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas atrocities in Israel.

"Asked about Mamdani's refusal to condemn the pro-terror slogan 'globalize the intifada,' Democratic National Committee chief Ken Martin squirmed, 'We're a big tent party.'"

Read the entire article here.