BIDEN APPOINTEE’S RENEWABLES CONFLICTS OF INTEREST: You may never have heard of Richard Glick, President Joe Biden’s nominee to head the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), an obscure federal agency with significant energy industry power (no pun intended). Biden would probably prefer that your ignorance continue.

But in the interest of advancing public understanding, check out this report by The Washington Free Beacon’s Colin Anderson and Joseph Simonson who did some digging and discovered something important: Glick’s FERC recently approved an off-shore wind farm project half-owned by the U.S. subsidiary of a Spanish firm for which he has lobbied for years.

Now, I’m from out of town and all, but where I come from, that’s spelled C-O-N-F-L-I-C-T-O-F-I-N-T-E-R-E-S-T. But wait, there’s more! Anderson and Simonson note:

“Glick is not the only top environmental official with ties to a green energy company championed by the Biden administration. Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm holds up to a $5 million stake in Proterra, an electric bus manufacturer that Biden has promoted on multiple occasions. A slew of Biden’s top donors also have sizable investments in the company, and Proterra recently turned to a pair of Obama administration alums to lobby the White House for funding.

“In addition to Glick, deputy interior secretary nominee Tommy Beaudreau represented Vineyard Wind as a corporate attorney. Under federal ethics rules, Beaudreau is barred from participating in any ‘particular matter’ involving his former clients for two years. The Biden appointee can, however, assert himself into deliberations pertaining to the wind industry as a whole.”

There’s yet more blowing in the wind on this one, so stay tuned.

BATS, BIRDS AND A BIBLE BLUNDER: You may have heard that Moses screwed up royally by classifying bats as birds. Eric Lyons of Apologetics Press suggests that this is yet another illustration of judging the past by the standards of the present.

WHICH COMES FIRST, RELIGIOUS OR ECONOMIC FREEDOM: According to Stanford Digital Lab Digital Fellow Christos Markidis, “religious liberty is an even more quantitatively important determinant of human flourishing than economic freedom.”

This remarkable study, produced by Markidis for a Cato Institute project with support from the John Templeton Foundation, is rather technical and can be heavy reading for those without statistical analysis skills. But the conclusions are clear and weighty, suggesting that advocates of economic freedom who aren’t believers nevertheless owe thanks to advocates of religious liberty.

H/T: Professor Tyler Cowen, Marginal Revolution.

WHO PANEL WANTS MORE POWER, FUNDING: Somebody at the World Health Organization (WHO) has decided Covid is the occasion for a worldwide application of former Obama White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel’s maxim to “Never let a good crisis go to waste.”

A WHO group known as the “Independent Panel” issued a report earlier this month, according to LifeSiteNews, that observes:

“Our message is loud and clear: no more pandemics.  If we fail to take this goal seriously, we will condemn the world to successive catastrophes … On the basis of its diagnosis of what went wrong at each stage of the COVID-19 response, the panel makes […] seven recommendations directed to ensuring that a future outbreak does not become a pandemic. Each recommendation is linked directly back to evidence of what has gone wrong. To be successful they must be implemented in their entirety.”

Note that last sentence well. Under the seven recommendations, WHO would essentially become the world-wide version of the CDC but with vastly more power and funding. And if you question the wisdom of their recommendations, then, as Glenn puts it, because shut up.

RENAME POLITIFACT ‘POLITIFALSE:’ That might well be the conclusion of reasonable people after reading this analyis by the Media Research Center’s (MRC) Tim Graham of how Politifact approaches reporting on His Fraudulency.

WHO KNEW DEMINT WAS SUCH A BARD? Former Sen. Jim DeMint usually writes political stuff, but his new “Satan’s Dare” is a thoroughly entertaining and deeply thoughtful fictional treatment of the ultimate questions through the eyes and lives of two guys, Tony and Johnny, who are different breeds, but linked by similar life tragedies. This one might just be a summer surprise for the best-sellers lists.

ALLSIDES SURVEY RATES EPOCH TIMES MOST CENTERED: AllSides recently showed a balanced sample of 2,000 people news stories produced by five news organizations but without their brand names, then asked them to read the stories and rate them according to where they would place them on the political spectrum.

The results say something fundamentally important about the current state of American journalism:

1. Epoch Times – 64.26 percent rated it “Center.”
2. Associated Press – 53.08 percent.
3. BBC – 33.29 percent.
4. New York Times – 16.20 percent
5. Bloomberg – 14.69 percent.

Roughly 10 percent of the respondents put Epoch either on the Left or Lean Left, while 25 percent said Right or Lean Right. As an Epoch Times congressional correspondent, am I proud of these numbers?

You bet I am because the Epoch Times practices the kind of old-school journalism that was epitomized in something Wes Pruden, my former editor at the Washington Times told me when I moved from the Reagan administration to the newsroom: “Get it first, but first get it right.”

More than 68 percent put the New York Times on the Left or Lean Left. At AP, 36 percent put the wire service at Left or Lean Left. Nearly 65 percent put Bloomberg on the Left or Lean Left. The BBC was placed Left or Lean Left by 45 percent of the respondents.

HILL’S LEAST-VISIBLE, MOST POWERFUL INFLUENCE GROUP: There are thousands of them working behind-the-scenes for individual senators and representatives, as well as for congressional committees, agencies and offices.

Capitol Hill staffers have immense power by virtue of doing the day-to-work that enables Congress to function. They also have tremendous influence by way of their direct relationships with and service to individual lawmakers. Change how and what staffers think and you can go a long way toward changing their bosses’ conduct on the Senate and House floors.

A lot of folks on the Right will instantly dismiss Hill staffers as irrelevant, but in some important respects that’s a huge mistake, one that’s been made for decades. Former Scalise Chief of Staff Lynnel Ruckert’s recent testimony before the House Select Committee on the Modernization of Congress offers multiple insights about this obscure power center.

NO BIAS HERE: Roll Call reports that the House “Ethics” Committee has absolved Rep. Jim Clyburn (D-SC) and Rep. Harold Rogers (R-KY) of violating Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi’s rule requiring every Member of Congress to pass through a magnetometer before entering the House chamber.

The rule — known informally around the Capitol as the “Boebert Dome,” after Israel’s anti-missile defensive system — is a response to Colorado Republican Rep. Lauren Boebert’s insistence on packing a Hog Leg everywhere she goes, including on the House floor. Pelosi reportedly worries that the petite Boebert, who has years of experience running a bar frequented by rowdy cowboys, is known for having a short temper, a quick trigger finger and perfect aim.

First offense fine is $500 and a second offense is $2,500. Do it a third time and you are detained by FBI Director Christopher Wray, strapped to a chair in Pelosi’s dank, dark Capitol basement chambers and forced to listen to recordings of her weekly news conferences, over and over and over and ….

Rep. Andrew Clyde (R-FL) and Rep. Louis Gohmert (R-TX), who have refused to pay their fines, may be asking who among their Republican colleagues on the committee, which is evenly divided with five members of each party, joined Democrats on the Clyburn and Rogers votes.

Clyburn, it should be recalled, is the House Majority Whip whose support during the 2020 Democratic presidential primary was crucial to rescuing Joe Biden’s then-faltering campaign. Rogers is a veteran member of the Washington Establishment by virtue of his long tenure on the House Appropriations Committee, including multiple years as chairman when the GOP had the majority.

WHAT WOULD YOU SAY IF I TOLD YOU: Actually, it would be Dr. Steven Sanchez of the Colson Center, not me, explaining why there are thousands more manuscripts of the Bible copied multiple centuries earlier than Homer, Plato, Aristole, Julius Caesar, and indeed every other ancient work of note?

VACCINATIONS SPARK COVID VARIANTS: That’s what French virologist and Pulitzer Prize winner Luc Montaignier contends, as reported by LifeSiteNews’ Celeste McGovern. This report from the same publication also has me wondering.  Now I am really confused. But surely the CDC can clear this up, right? Right???

THIS EXPLAINS A LOT: About the wall of resistance, that is, erected by Maricopa County officials to the Arizona state senate’s audit of the jurisdiction’s 2020 election returns. Remember Sheriff Joe Arpaio, erstwhile foe of illegal immigration who lost a re-election bid in 2016.

The guy who defeated Arpaio is the current Sheriff, Paul Penzone, who, according to Just the News, benefitted from a $2 million campaign contribution from George Soros. Penzone got another $250,000 from Lauren Jobs, the deceased Apple co-founder’s former wife.

CORI CAUGHT CORONAVIRUS, WAS HEALED ON THE TELEPHONE: Yes, you read that right, though you might not realize that “Cori” is Rep. Cori Bush (D-MO), Kingdom Embassy International Churches St. Louis chapter. Alana Goodman of the Washington Free Beacon spotlights the faith healer in the House.

ANY BETS ON WHEN DOJ SHUTS DOWN MARICOPA AUDIT: Public Interest Legal Foundation’s J. Christian Adams notes that Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Pamela Karlan’s threat to bring federal charges against officials with the Maricopa County 2020 election audit lacks legal authority. And speaking of baseless, when is Karlan going to correct the record regarding her 2009 Duke Law law journal claim about the Bush administration’s alleged failure to file Voting Rights Act suits?

UPDATE (FROM GLENN): Nothing says “normal, fraud-free election” like baseless threats to bring federal charges against people auditing the votes.

MEDIA BIAS? LET ME COUNT THE WAYS: Joseph Simonson, writing for the Washington Free Beacon this morning, describes how the Associated Press (AP), which is the standard-setter for many media organizations in terms of what to cover and how, bowed to pressure from open-border activists and stopped referring to the waves of illegals coming into the U.S. as a “surge.” Too harsh, suggests illegals are bad, etc. etc.

AMERICA THE NEUROTIC: Issues & Insights, like all sane people, cheers the news that the masks are coming off throughout the land, including in familiar places frequented by many like Walmart, Trader Joe’s and Costco.

But, I&I notes, there continue to be Karens demanding masks today, masks tomorrow, masks forever (in a manner of speaking), and that is worrisome:

“Certainly everyone is free to express their opinions about masks, and everyone is also free to decide to shop elsewhere if they don’t like the Trader Joe’s policy. Yet the response concerns us.

“Will enough Nervous Nancies and Timorous Toms boycott Trader Joe’s, Walmart, Costco and others that have liberalized their mask policies to force the companies to backtrack on their decisions (which will help restore the humanity dignity that was ripped away by mask rules)? Will they actively picket in front of stores in an effort to bully executives into yielding to their neuroses, fixations, and superstitions?”

I think not, but I can also see this becoming an enduring obsession among certain ranks of the multitudinous cranks, loonies and loudmouths on the Left. What do you think?

MORE GOOD READS FOR THE GOOD BOOK: Latest survey of the American Bible Society and the Barna Group finds millions more Americans are reading the Christian scriptures during the Pandemic than before.

Will be interesting what happens to the trend in the next year as the Pandemic restrictions go away, especially as the overall trend has been somewhat upward since a low point in 2011 of less than a majority of Americans saying they read the Bible in the past year more than a few times.

THE SAINTLY CONSPIRACY BEGAN BEFORE 2020: Scott Walters, the Capital Research Center’s chief, pulls the curtain back on the rest of the story Mollie Ball kept out of her now-famous Time Magazine story about the Left’s shadow campaign that put Biden in the White House:

“So the ‘shadow campaign Ball claims popped up in 2020 actually predates Trump by decades. The mainstream media hasn’t reported on this sophisticated, highly coordinated effort by the Left to find ever stronger tools to turn out Democratic voters. But don’t blame the media for not knowing about it; most Republicans didn’t either.”

SAYS IT ALL: From The Daily Gouge, a thrice-weekly roundup of news, analyses and the Lighter Side from the desk of a former Navy F-14 pilot.

BIDEN ENERGY BACKERS CLEANING UP: Washington Free Beacon’s Collin Anderson and Matthew Foldi connected some green dots and found a bunch of energy folks who are doing quite well for themselves, courtesy of Joe Biden and friends:

“Shortly after becoming president, Biden virtually toured Proterra’s South Carolina plant before hosting company CEO Jack Allen at his State Department’s Leaders Summit on Climate. The move sparked a barrage of ethics concerns from federal lawmakers given that Biden’s energy secretary, Jennifer Granholm, holds up to $5 million in Proterra stock. Biden’s infrastructure package includes a $45 billion government investment in ‘clean, zero-emissions buses’ such as those produced by the company.

“Other Clean Energy for Biden leaders also stand to profit from the administration’s promotion of Proterra. At least three members of the group’s finance council work as partners at venture capital firms that list Proterra on their portfolios: Energy Impact Partners‘ Shayle Kann, Ajax Strategies‘ Veery Maxwell, and G2VP‘s Brook Porter. Popple left Proterra to join G2VP in February, according to LinkedIn.”

Trust me, there is much more to come along this same line in the days ahead.

NO TRANSPARENCY IN CALIFORNIA: State Controller Helen Yee’s office issued $320 billion worth of checks but is unable to track a single one of them. That’s what her lawyers told Open the Books anyway. I’ve covered transparency-in-government issues for more than two decades and this may be the most incredible illustration ever of the lengths to which officials will go to avoid accountabillity.

WAPO’S HAWLEY HIT PIECE DRIPS DISGUST FOR MIDDLE AMERICANS: John Daniel Davidson in The Federalist looks at that Washington Post “profile” of Sen. Josh Hawley by “national political investigative reporter” Michael Kranish. You may recognize the name from two of his previous books, “Trump Revealed” and “The Real Romney.”

Davidson, who has forgotten more about real journalism than Kranish appears ever to have known, concludes the Post writer’s attack isn’t merely about the Missouri Republican, it’s really all about us.

You know, Middle American Bigots with our White Privilege, spewing on and on about Jeeezus, committing insurrection at the Capitol on January 6 and generally dragging our knuckles on the ground. Next, Kranish will “profile” that glorious apostle of tolerance and free thought, Josef Stalin.

LET’S CLEAR THIS UP: Is exercising your constitutionally guaranteed right to religious practice equivalent to imposing your religious beliefs on others? Sharon Stonestreet of the Colson Center for Christian Worldview thinks not and she offers three solid reasons why.

HOW MARK ZUCKERBERG PUT JOE BIDEN IN THE WHITE HOUSE: Writing in The American Conservative, Capital Research Center’s Hayden Ludwig reports the results of his in-depth examination of the $400 million in activities of Facebook co-founder Mark Zuckerberg’s Center for Technology and Civic Life (CTCL) during the 2020 presidential campaign and found a distinct pattern:

“Our conclusion is that across the board, the CTCL’s grants favored the biggest, most vote-rich Democratic counties, which helped turn out the most left-leaning voters in U.S. history—and secure Joe Biden as the country’s 46th president. Far from ‘nonpartisan,’ CTCL’s oceans of money made it easier for fraudsters to cheat and the Democrats to win in 2020.”

Ludwig may well be pointing to the most significant unwritten story of the 2020 election. And you can bet Zuckerberg will be looking for repeat performances in 2022 and 2024. After all, when your estimated net worth is $118 billion, $400 million every two years is barely pocket change.

WILL RELIGIOUS FREEDOM SURVIVE: Ken Starr thinks it will because America has such a robust legal bulwark and cultural tradition of protection, but Casey Chalk, writing in The Federalist, is not so sure. A bit lengthy, but well worth the reading time.