I would like to point to the extent the USA is totally misguided by petroleum corporation profits.

During the "W" Bush administration there was a push in Cheney's 2005 Energy Policy for increased production of natural gas. Of course, much of that was through the disastrous industry of fracking.

May 24, 2004 – January 31, 2006 (click here) 

Liquefied natural gas (LNG) imports to the United States are increasing to supplement domestic gas production. Recent actions by Congress and federal agencies have promoted greater LNG supplies by changing regulations, clarifying siting authorities, and streamlining the approval process for LNG import terminals. Were these policies to continue and gas demand to grow, LNG might account for as much as 21% of U.S. gas supply by 2025, up from 3% in 2005. Congress is examining the infrastructure and market implications of greater U.S. LNG demand....

The production of domestic natural gas was successful. It was so successful the idea of exporting came to light.

Since 2010, (click here) of 35 applications it has received that require a public interest review, the Department of Energy (DOE) has approved 3 applications to export liquefied natural gas (LNG) and 6 applications are conditionally approved with final approval contingent on the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission's (FERC) issuance of a satisfactory environmental review of the export facility. DOE considers a range of factors to determine whether each application is in the public interest. After the first application was conditionally approved in 2011, DOE commissioned a study to help it determine whether additional LNG exports were in the public interest. Since the 16-month study was published in December 2012, DOE issued 7 conditional approvals (one of which became final) and 1 other final approval (see fig. below). In August 2014, DOE suspended its practice of issuing conditional approvals; instead, DOE will review applications after FERC completes its environmental review....

March 7, 2016

The growth of natural gas production in the US (click here) over the past decade has prompted the development of LNG export terminals.
The EIA observes that with the rapid growth of supply from shale gas resources over the past decade, US natural gas production has grown each year since 2006.
The decline in domestic natural gas prices has led to rising natural gas exports, both via pipeline to Mexico and to overseas markets via LNG tankers.
Currently, the US is a net importer of natural gas, and gross imports represented nearly 10% of total supply in 2015, based on data through November. The US imported 7.5 billion cubic feet per day of natural gas, mostly from Canada by pipeline, and exported 4.8 bcf/d, mostly to Mexico by pipeline.
In addition to the Sabine Pass terminal, four other LNG export terminals are currently under construction.
Several LNG import terminals were built in the 1970s, and a new wave of terminals was constructed in the mid- to late-200s. As domestic production increased, LNG imports declines, as many new terminals were barely used and the utilisation rates of older terminals declined.
The four export terminals currently under construction are Dominion Energy’s Cove Point LNG facility in Maryland, Cheniere’s Corpus Christi LNG project, Sempra Energy’s Cameron LNG terminal in Louisiana and Freeport LNG in Texas....

September 17, 2020

North America LNG Export Terminals (click here)

Now, in the year 2023 the Allies of the Free World needs energy as every relationship with Russia is not serving their best interest. The Free World does not support genocide.

The U.S. (click here) is about to become the global leader in exports of liquefied natural gas, or LNG. What does that mean for the climate? (page down to read the article and see the graphs)

But, this is not good news for the climate, now is it? Methane otherwise known as natural gas is a very heavy greenhouse gas that is at least 24 times more dangerous than carbon dioxide when released into the troposphere. The release into the troposphere happens everyday in the USA and for all the lavished funds given to the petroleum industry from the USA Congress, the industry simply doesn't care about it's incontrollable leaks of methane.

So. I guess that is simply the price of protecting our national security, right? Well, that is what the USA Republicans want everyone to believe. 

BUT. 

There is another way. 

If I may?

January 31, 2023
By John Ainger and Maria Tadeo

Australia Seeks to Boost Hydrogen Exports to EU as Part of Green Push (click here)

Australia wants to boost exports of green hydrogen to the European Union as the bloc seeks to cut emissions in its most energy-intensive sectors.

“Australia can be a renewable energy export superpower and Europe is energy hungry,” Chris Bowen, Australia’s climate and energy minister, told Bloomberg TV. “Australia is 100% all in with Europe in this transition.”

The EU has set itself ambitious goals to scale up output of hydrogen made using renewable technologies such as wind and solar — aiming to produce 10 million tons by 2030 — but will also need to import the same amount from abroad. The bloc has already struck agreements with nations like Egypt and Namibia to help supply some of it.

At the same time, Europe has been tapping alternative energy sources from around the world to make up for the shortfall in Russian pipeline gas since the invasion of Ukraine.

Bowen rejected suggestions that shipping hydrogen to the other side of the world would make it economically unviable, saying that the main costs are associated with producing the fuel and loading it on ships. He said Australia coal industry has proved that the country is capable of transporting energy over long distances.

“Transport costs of green hydrogen aren’t the problem,” Bowen said. “Once we’ve made the green hydrogen and got it on a ship, it doesn’t really make that much difference if we send it from Sydney to Auckland, or from Darwin to Rotterdam.”...

The minister on Monday signed a memorandum of understanding with the Netherlands to promote green hydrogen supply chains. A deal was also signed with Germany to fund projects for the fuel.

Bowen also said that he had talked to EU officials about the bloc’s plans for a carbon border adjustment mechanism, a levy due to start later this year. He said he hoped to minimize its impact on Australia and that Europe’s trade dispute with the US over the Inflation Reduction Act can also be resolved. 

Australia’s free trade agreement meant it had received “significant concessions” from the US in battery and electric vehicle manufacturing, Bowen said.

It is a darn shame the Republicans are all about the petroleum industry, because, they caused the USA to miss the boat on the sale of alternative energies. Europe doesn't want petroleum, it wants the end of the climate crisis. The reason the USA missed the climate crisis alternative energy boat is because of REPUBLICAN CORRUPTION WITH THE PETROLEUM INDUSTRY!!!!!!!!!

No party can PLAN to make history in the number of votes for Speaker. There has to be a real reason for the misdirection of morality.

I heard the Republicans want to make Groundhog Day a national holiday.

February 2, 2023

By Ben Werschkul

...America's two biggest entitlement programs (click here) —which make up about a third of the federal budget—are all but certain to remain at the center of the debate at least when Democrats are in front of microphones. McCarthy recently promised that these entitlement programs are "off the table." But Democrats say the math simply doesn't add up if the Speaker wants to achieve a balanced budget and raising taxes are also off the table.

And the pattern repeated on Wednesday night following the Oval Office meeting.

"The real issue is, do the Republicans have a plan and what is that plan?" outgoing White House Chief of Staff Ron Klain said in an MSNBC interview. "Some Republicans say they’re going to cut Social Security and Medicare. Some say they aren’t."....

The Republicans continue to celebrate the same old rhetoric over and over, year after year.

The budget cuts the Republicans state they want to make cannot be taken seriously. It is the same old rhetoric for the sake of driving politics. The Republicans don't govern. They seek to maintain majorities to hold onto their own corruption of government.

We have had at least two years of Wall Street greed. Housing has gotten to be ridiculous as well as the cost of eggs. Well, the bird flu and the death of millions of birds in the USA had something to do with that, but, the cost of goods has gone up and there are two points of view. The Republicans state it is the cost of the supply chain and; oh, yeah, the cost of labor. The Democrats point to ridiculous profits by companies that sell things like petroleum vs. the bread and butter issues of the American family such as school supplies and medical costs.

February 2, 2023
By Simon Jack and Nick Edser

Shell reports highest profits in 115 years

Oil and gas giant Shell (click here) has reported record annual profits after energy prices surged last year following Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

Profits hit $39.9bn (£32.2bn) in 2022, double last year's total and the highest in its 115-year history.

Energy firms have seen record earnings since oil and gas prices jumped following the invasion of Ukraine.

It has heaped pressure on firms to pay more tax as households struggle with rising bills.

Opposition parties said Shell's profits were "outrageous" and the government was letting energy firms "off the hook". They also called for the planned increase in the energy price cap due in April to be scrapped....

Quite frankly, the folks screaming "It is nothing but pure Wall Street greed," have it right. Basically, it is about time labor got it's appropriate piece of the Wall Street greed pie. Shell was not charging exorbitant prices for their products. Quite the opposite. They were allowing their rewards cards to give 5 cents a gallon off to anyone who asks. So, in all honesty, most if not all Wall Street IPOs have racked in significant profits. GM is feeling very confident about its future, too.

So, the whining from the Republicans every time the Democrats raise the issue of increasing taxes, especially windfall amounts of taxes, it is only reassurances to their cronies to keep monies flowing into the party. It has nothing to do with governance. The Republicans rather let the Middle Class pay more and more year after Trump tax year, then do something MORAL like a Wall Street Transaction Tax.

LONG BEFORE McCarthy even thinks about touching Social Security or Medicare and Medicaid he needs to take a lesson in "Governance 101." He might be interested in realizing there is a path forward to end the log jam of the debt ceiling IF his party actually governs and stops allowing the exploitation of the American Middle Class' monthly budgets for corporate profits.

It is all about politics for McCarthy, not about statemanship.

Comments by Congresswoman Omar pale in compare to those of the Republicans McCarthy has moved into place on committees such as Marjorie Taylor Greene.

McCarthy isn't interested in building a consensus to move legislation forward, he relishes the politics and damns the country to bitterness for two years he is Speaker.

Ilhan Omar  
February 11, 2019 (click here)

February 2, 2023

By Karoun Demirjian

Washington - A bitterly divided House (click here) on Thursday ousted Representative Ilhan Omar of Minnesota from the Foreign Affairs Committee over past comments about Israel that were widely condemned as antisemitic, as Republicans moved to cater to the demands of right-wing members and mete out punishment to a Democrat their party has demonized for years.

The 218 to 211 party-line vote, with one member voting “present,” settled a partisan score that has been festering since 2021, when the House, then controlled by Democrats, stripped Representatives Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia and Paul Gosar of Arizona of their committee assignments for social media posts in which they endorsed violence against Democrats....

China is pushing it's limits to test an act of war.

This is such a joke. Trump eliminated any and all surveillance of China and Russia. Now, they want to surveil the USA. It is an act of war. It is a direct attack on our sovereignty.

February 2, 2023
By Courtney Kube and Carol E. Lee

The U.S. military (click here) has been monitoring a suspected Chinese surveillance balloon that has been hovering over the northern U.S. for the past few days, and military and defense leaders have discussed shooting it out of the sky, according to two U.S. officials and a senior defense official.

“The United States government has detected and is tracking a high-altitude surveillance balloon that is over the continental United States right now,” Pentagon spokesperson Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder told NBC News. “We continue to track and monitor it closely.”

“Once the balloon was detected, the U.S. government acted immediately to protect against the collection of sensitive information,” Ryder said....

While Trump told Russia and China there would be no more surveillance of their countries, they increased their production of satellites.

April 13, 2022

By Frank Wolfe

Between 2019 and 2021, (click here) China doubled its number of satellites in orbit from some 250 to 499, while Russia increased its number of orbiting satellites from about 150 in 2019 to 169 last year after a slight dip in 2020, according to a new, unclassified Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) report, Challenges to Security in Space: Space Reliance in an Era of Competition and Expansion.

The DIA study is a follow-on to an agency study in 2019 of the same topic.

“Between 2019 and 2021 the combined operational space fleets of China and Russia have grown by approximately 70%,” per the report. “This recent and continuing expansion follows a period of growth (2015– 2018) where China and Russia had increased their combined satellite fleets by more than 200%. The drive to modernize and increase capabilities for both countries is reflected in nearly all major space categories — satellite communications, remote sensing, navigation-related, and science and technology demonstration.”

A chart in the report, based on quarterly updates to the Union of Concerned Scientists’ satellite database, indicates that the greatest increase in the number of Chinese and Russian satellites between 2019 and 2021 came in Chinese remote sensing satellites which increased in number by some 150 or more since 2019. The Chinese satellites also include several dozen military satellites in the BeiDou — “Big Dipper” — navigation constellation.

Of the 4,852 satellites by the end of last year, the U.S. had 2,944, while China was in second place with 499, and Russia third with 169....