So the reality of independence is that as a country we are producing and serving our own needs so we are not dependent on OPEC prices, right? Who cares what the world is stuck paying for oil when our independent reality is that oil costs what it takes to get oil out of the ground, refine it, and get it to the consumers, be they commercial or private citizens.

But there is no independence of we are going to produce more than we need and oil companies depend on the extra money they get for increased profit margins.

So please tell me exactly what difference it makes to people whether they pay $5.00 a gallon if we are importing some oil or if we produce all of our own?

I can make the argument all day long that if we are using our own oil, it would be far cheaper than after it has gone through exporting and importing games that are adding unnecessary costs to the end product. Say oil companies produce more than we are using, they would be inclined if not forced to lower prices to encourage higher use and competitive pricing among US oil companies. That would give the US a different set of supply and demand dynamics. Another reality argument there is that other countries that do not produce oil would drive the costs to OPEC producers, but the US prices would be only determined by supply costs and industry greed and collusion.

The term energy independence is ridiculously stupid and meaningless, yet the right has touted it as the reason to drill more and bigger in terms of government subsidies and tax breaks.

https://www.sacbee.com/news/california/article258943743.html

Should California’s undocumented workers get unemployment benefits? New bill says ‘yes’
BY NADIA LOPEZ
UPDATED MARCH 02, 2022 7:18 AM
Millions of undocumented immigrants living in California could soon be eligible for unemployment insurance under a new proposal that advocates say would provide much-needed assistance to a workforce that’s often excluded from social safety net programs.
Millions of undocumented immigrants living in California could soon be eligible for unemployment insurance under a new proposal that advocates say would provide much-needed assistance to a workforce that’s often excluded from social safety net programs. FILE

Millions of undocumented immigrants living in California could soon be eligible for unemployment insurance under a new proposal that advocates say would provide much-needed assistance to a workforce often excluded from social safety net programs.

The plan, authored by Assemblymember Eduardo Garcia, D-Coachella, would allocate $6.9 million to create the Excluded Workers Pilot Program, a two-year program that would provide funds to undocumented workers who’ve lost their job or had their hours reduced. The bill, AB 2847, allows qualifying, unemployed individuals to receive up to $300 a week for 20 weeks.

As of now, unemployment benefits, which are distributed by the state’s Employment Development Department, are only available to individuals who are legally allowed to work in the U.S. and were fully or partially unemployed due to a layoff, furlough, reduced wages, or reduced hours. The pilot program is separate from the state agency but would guarantee unemployment funds to undocumented individuals who become unemployed for the same reasons.

If approved, the program would go into effect from Jan. 1, 2023, until Jan. 1, 2025.

“The bill certainly stems from seeing how people were impacted by this p******c,” Garcia told The Bee in a March 1 interview. “These are our neighbors, friends, relatives, and people that are around us that we are unaware are here without legal status. We want to make sure that these individuals and their families do not suffer dire consequences.”

Garcia said the p******c hit California’s undocumented workers hard, but many were forced to use their savings or risked falling into severe poverty because they did not qualify for many state and federal benefits. He said the state’s undocumented workers should be entitled to unemployment benefits because they pay taxes and contribute to the state’s economy.

California would become the third state, following Colorado and New York, to implement a program that provides temporary wage replacement to undocumented workers who were affected by the p******c.

“This proposal is critical and fundamental to what everything that California stands for,” Garcia added.

Sasha Feldstein, the director of economic policy at the California Immigrant Policy Center, said the proposal is the latest effort to remove barriers for undocumented residents to access public benefits. The C****-** p******c only exacerbated many of the hardships that undocumented immigrants already face, including housing and food insecurity, she added.

“We all knew that in the p******c, low-income immigrant workers were going to be the hardest hit with the least support and financial relief,” said Feldstein. “So, over the past two years, we’ve been calling for a better, stronger safety net that would include all Californians and all workers.”

California is home to 2 million undocumented immigrants, including more than 1.1 million workers, according to a December 2021 analysis from the UC Merced Community and Labor Center.

Many of these workers are more likely to experience lower wages and greater financial insecurity than those legally allowed to work in the U.S. At least 38% of California’s undocumented workers live in households that earn less than a living wage, according to the study.

Feldstein said unemployment assistance has been crucial in helping low-income families stay afloat during the p******c. She hopes the proposal will help undocumented workers who didn’t qualify for state and government funds such as federal stimulus checks or p******c unemployment assistance and help families stay financially afloat in the event of a future crisis.

“Unemployment assistance is what really allowed people to survive,” she said. “We know that the C****-** p******c is not the first nor will it be the last emergency or crisis that’s going to put thousands of Californians out of work with no financial recourse.”

An estimated 852,065 immigrants lost their jobs when the p******c first hit in the spring of 2020, including 357,867 undocumented workers, according to a separate June 2020 policy report from the UC Merced Community and Labor Center.

From 2019 to 2020, the median amount of time an undocumented worker would stay unemployed hovered around 20 weeks, the Dec. 2021 analysis showed.

Edward Flores, an assistant professor of sociology and the co-director of the UC Merced Community and Labor Center, said low-wage workers in industries like agriculture, food processing, forestry, landscaping, and construction could benefit most from the pilot program.

Many workers in these industries, like farmworkers, also experience hazards such as wildfire smoke, and heat while working, which could jeopardize their health or safety. Unemployment insurance could provide a financial cushion for many undocumented workers who are afraid of losing their jobs if they speak out against these poor conditions, he said.

“Unfortunately, because of the p******c, issues that undocumented workers have been facing for a long time really came to light in a way that wouldn’t have had there not been such a major public disaster,” he said. “This bill helps workers who have lost their jobs to have some amount of financial relief, but also those who are afraid of losing their jobs.”

Julieta Fuentes is an undocumented immigrant from Chihuahua, Mexico, and a mother of two children who has lived in Riverside County for the past 18 years. The 52-year-old lost her job at a retail warehouse in September 2021 after contracting C****-**. She hasn’t been able to return to work and said it’s been difficult keeping up with bills and making rent.

Fuentes relies on her husband, who works in construction, and on relatives to help make ends meet. She also receives food from a local food bank. But she worries about the debt she keeps racking up from borrowing money from family and friends, she said.

“It’s emotionally draining, she said in Spanish. “We don’t know what’s going to happen tomorrow, if we are going to have a roof over our heads, or if we are going to have enough food. They help you at the food banks, but they do not give you everything you need.”

Fuentes supports Garcia’s bill and hopes that it will help provide financial relief to struggling immigrant families like hers.

“We pay taxes, we contribute, we are part of the community,” she said. “There are many challenges that we have faced. But the lack of unemployment, more than anything, has left us with a lot of financial stress. This bill would provide an unemployment benefits system for us that would help us so, so much.”

L*****ts pull out the knives after actor Sam Elliott blasts 'allusions of homosexuality' in 'piece of s**t' movie 'The Power of the Dog'

Iconic actor Sam Elliott — known for his deep, down-home voice, signature mustache, and new starring role in "1883" — let loose with pointed, profane criticisms of Oscar-nominated movie "The Power of the Dog" during an interview on Marc Maron’s "WTF" podcast.

What are the details?
Consequence Film characterized director Jane Campion's effort as a "deconstructed Western" that "stars Benedict Cumberbatch as Phil Burbank, a self-styled macho man whose insistence on presenting himself in the most manly way possible hides deep insecurities about his sexual identity."

After Maron asked Elliott his opinion of "The Power of the Dog," he replied, “You wanna talk about that piece of s**t?”

The 77-year-old brought up a Los Angeles Times ad for the movie containing a blurb that “talked about ‘the evisceration of the American myth.’ And I thought, What the f***? What the f***? This is the guy that’s done Westerns forever. The evisceration of the American West."

Elliott then said the "f***ing cowboys" in movie looked like Chippendales dancers: "They’re all running around in chaps and no shirts. There’s all these allusions of homosexuality throughout the f***ing movie.”

He then turned his attention to Campion, who's from New Zealand: “What the f*** does this woman from — she’s a brilliant director, by the way, I love her work, her previous work — but what the f*** does this woman from down there know about the American West? And why in the f*** did she shoot this movie in New Zealand and call it Montana — and say this is the way it was? So that f***ing rubbed me the wrong way, pal."

Elliott added, “I mean, Cumberbatch never got out of his f***ing chaps. He had two pairs of chaps, a woolly pair and a leather pair. And every f***ing time he'd walk in from somewhere ... he never was on a horse, maybe once, he’d walk into the f***ing house, storm up the f***ing stairs, go lay in his bed in his chaps, and play his banjo. And It’s like, what the f***? What the f***, you know?"

He also wondered, “Where’s the Western in this Western?”

How did folks react?
As you might imagine, l*****ts didn't appreciate Elliott's tirade, and said so on Twitter:

USA Today opinion columnist Michael J. Stern wrote, "Sam Elliott can stuff his homophobia in his moustache and hopefully never work again in Hollywood."
Tami Sawyer, a commissioner in Shelby County, Tennessee, responded, "I mean most movies about the American West don’t know anything about the American West, including the ones Sam Elliott has been a part of. They erase the presence of anyone who isn’t white or male when the West was mostly built by Indigenous, Black, Mexican & Chinese people."
The Huffington Post added, "No one tell Sam Elliott about 'Brokeback Mountain,' because he already has his chaps in a twist about Jane Campion’s 'The Power of the Dog' over its 'allusions of homosexuality,' among other concerns."
Actually Elliott knows all about "Brokeback Mountain" and said in regard to its gay themes at the time of its release, "The whole homosexual thing was interesting — they stepped over the line — but [my wife] Katharine and I both looked at it and thought, ‘What’s the big deal?’”

Other observers weren't letting Elliott off the hook, though:

"Nah man, Sam Elliott being from Sacramento and cussing out Jane Campion for ‘not knowing about the Old West’ — incredible just incredible," one user said.
"More like Sham Elliot, amirite?" another user quipped.
"Sam Elliott is a h********c old man with old man smell emanating from every aspect of him, both physical and metaphorical," another user opined.
"This is some pretty gnarly homophobia," another user said in regard to Elliott's words. "I've seen the movie & if the characters honestly remind him of Chippendales (?), then that just sounds like he's got some personal issues with gay people."

https://www.theblaze.com/news/l*****ts-pull-out-the-knives-after-actor-sam-elliott-blasts-allusions-of-homosexuality-in-piece-of-st-movie-the-power-of-the-dog?utm_source=theblaze-dailyPM&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Daily-Newsletter__PM%202022-03-03&utm_term=ACTIVE%20LIST%20-%20TheBlaze%20Daily%20PM

https://dcweekly.org/2022/03/03/pro-russian-mayor-in-eastern-ukrainian-city-of-kreminna-found-shot-dead-in-the-street-after-he-was-detained-by-officials/

Found Shot Dead in the Street After He Was Detained by Officials

Jeff Rizzone
The Pro-Russian mayor Vlodymyr Struk was found dead in the street of Kreminna in Luhansk eastern Ukraine after he was reportedly detained a day earlier.

The head of Kremenets OTG Vlodymyr Struk, who welcomed Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, was found dead. He was an active supporter of the so-called “LPR”. And since the Russian invasion of Ukraine, he has actively called on local deputies to cooperate with Russians.

His wife claimed he was taken by unidentified people in camouf**ge clothing a day earlier.

The death of Kreminna Mayor Volodymyr Struk was confirmed to Donbass Online journalists by local law enforcement officers and SBU officers with reference to the Prosecutor General of Ukraine Iryna Venediktov.

The pro-Russian mayor of a city in eastern Ukraine who welcomed President Vladimir Putin’s invasion was ‘shot dead’ after being kidnapped from his home, it has been announced.

Vlodymyr Struk, of Kreminna in Luhansk, was k**led on Tuesday and suffered a ‘gunshot wound to the heart’ after he was ‘abducted from his home’, according to his wife.

Announcing the news on Facebook, the adviser for Interior Minister of Ukraine, Anton Gerashchenko claimed Mr Struk was a ‘Luhansk People’s Republic supporter’ (LPR) and actively pursued a ‘pro-Russian position’ in the last week by ‘communicating with the Russian Federation’.

The adviser for Interior Minister of Ukraine alleged that Mr Struk ‘was judged by the court of the people’s tribunal’ and called him a ‘t*****r’.

He also claimed Ukraine has not been able to ‘do anything with Struk for the past eight years’ since Moscow-backed separatists have controlled the southeastern Ukrainian regions of Donetsk and Luhansk – collectively known as Donbas.

Hi Y'all..

So Bout a month ago, I was in the hospital with pneumonia.. NOT C***d!! Just regular good ol' fashioned Pneumonia.. I get out of the hospital, and my NOW Ex room mate/bf 3 days after I got out of the hospital, still very weak, starts a fight with me over some silly assed video about a traffic stop that was about 32 minutes long.. ok.. so I start watching this video, in my mind thinkin this traffic stop person, is fulla Shiite.. It was in regards to being a "traveler" Not needing a License or insurance proof in order to drive on our roads, the pulled over'eee said that he's Not commerce, and therefore doesn't need any proof of their person to drive a vehicle across state lines etc..Because "commerce, IE Truck Drivers doing commerce needed all the licensing and insurance but as a Private citizen he didnt' need all that proof to just drive our roads.." I watch.. about every 3 minutes this said room mate comes into the room, askin me to pause said video to Man Splain to my 146 IQ what this video is about..LMAO.. ok fine, I let this slide by a few times.. here I am, about 5 hours later only 20 minutes into the video..and finally told this Fool that I understand fine to please quit insulting my intelligence.. Here I am, in My own, OWNED home, not havin to depend on this A$$ Clown to help me by way of bills, suddenly start to poke me in the breast that I had my breast cancer surgery on...(later to discover the bruises on said breast)..

This person has also emphatically stated that he Never starts fights with the first punch.. but I NOW understand how he does it.. he doesn't actually Punch a person, but gets up in their Grill, along with whole body slams to provoke..well at that point he provoked me.. he bounced me all over the place in my home, ultimately slamming me to such a degree that I Lost balance and fell backwards (this person also knows about my osteoporosis) I reached out to catch my fall, and he tossed my arm off, so then grabbed a hold of the end table. of which I pulled the contents of down upon me.. He had been scaring me for sometime... telling me of his ambition to "go to the homes of democrats on the Nevada v**er rolls, and take them all out, including children.. Instead of paying me rent or utilities his idea of "Helping" was to buy me more ammunition.. ok..what ever, but when the height of the argument came, Of all the things he could have called me was :DEMOCRAT!!.. ugh.. I can take most things, but being called a democrat was the Height of INSULT!!.. Needless to say this A$$ Clown has been evicted from my home.. the night of the fight, he told me that If I called the cops, he would say he was a resident here, and that I had lost it.. Well news flash to this douche' canoe I OWN THIS PLACE!! Ain't NO ONE taking it from me or gettin me put away over their F uckery!!

Oh BR, you sound like your singing your wheels. I've never seen you complain about the way the word "t*****r" had been used. Yeah, who tried to have his lieutenants black mail Ukraine to get dirty on their opponent? Why don't you come down of your pedestal and skip the big words? I do like your comments even though they stink to high heaven. I always think of that meme you posted with Trump running thru a blazing fire carrying a baby. I wonder how someone a smart as you can be so easily duped by someone so stupid and devious as Trump? E******n s****n, let's march to the capital, Pence can declare me the president, I produced my tax returns, eventually. All lies by Trump, an be you swallowed hook, line, and sinker.

China understands Russia's security concerns, FM says
CHINADAILY

China always respects the sovereignty and territorial integrity of all countries, and also understands Russia's reasonable security concerns, as a complicated and special history lies behind the Ukraine issue, State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi told Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on Thursday.

Talking with Lavrov over the phone, Wang said China calls for a complete renunciation of any Cold War mentality, as well as a security system for Europe that is balanced, effective and sustainable and achieved through talks and negotiations.

Lavrov said Russia was forced to take necessary measures as the United States and NATO went back on their promises of not expanding the organization eastward, refused to implement the Minsk II agreement and violated Resolution 2202 of the United Nations Security Council.

Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said on Thursday that Russia, an independent major country, decides and implements its diplomacy and strategies based on its own judgment and national interests.

She said that China-Russia ties are non-alliance, non-confrontation and do not target any third parties.

Hua made the remarks at a news conference after US State Department spokesman Ned Price said China should urge Russia to "back down" and "de-escalate" tensions with Ukraine, and added the growing China-Russia partnership is "concerning".

On the US suggestion that Moscow made the move because it had gained China's support, Hua said she believed the Russian side will be "very displeased to hear such a notion".

China-Russia ties are fundamentally and essentially different from the "small groups" the US has been pursuing, based along ideological lines, to create confrontation and separation, Hua said. "China is not interested in, and does not intend to imitate the 'enemy or friend' Cold War mentality or the practice of patching up so-called 'alliances' and 'small cliques'," she added.

Hua said the US is unqualified to tell China what to do about respecting state sovereignty and territorial integrity.

China has consistently and firmly safeguarded the UN Charter's tenets and principles, as well as the basic norms guiding international relations, Hua said.

However, in the 250 years since its foundation, the US has only refrained from waging military operations in other countries for less than 20 years, she said.

"Such a country surely has a different understanding of respecting state sovereignty and territorial integrity than we do," Hua said. "The international community knows this clearly."



When asked whether China has provided or plans to provide any weapons to Russia, Hua said China does not take the initiative to provide weapons to others facing the risk of conflict, "unlike when the US provided a large amount of military equipment to Ukraine".