Senator Joe Manchin (D-WV) found out he is disliked by both Democrats and Republicans. You’ll remember that President Biden pushed for a huge spending bill for at least $2.5 Trillion. Only two of the fifty Democrat Senators questioned that massive bill: Manchin and Sen. Sinema (D-AZ). They stood up to the other 48 for months. Republicans cheered them from the sideline.

Eventually, in July, Manchin (and Sinema) agreed to vote for a much smaller $750 Billion bill with a misleading name, Inflation Reduction Act. That allowed the bill to pass, 50-50, with VP Harris breaking the tie. In return for his support, Manchin was promised that Congress would vote to speed up the process of approving energy projects, especially new pipelines for oil and natural gas.

Removing ridiculous roadblocks to new energy projects is popular for the average American because of inflated prices for gasoline and home heating. Why delay pipeline construction for four years when it should be approved in a few months?

But a bill introduced last week in the Lame Duck Senate, left out the promise to Manchin. He got blindsided. Democrats don’t like that he forced them to cut almost $2 Trillion from their “Inflation” bill. Republicans don’t like that he agreed to spend $750 Billion.

Oddly, President Biden lashed out at energy companies for spewing methane (natural gas) into the air from oil wells while opposing construction of pipelines that would transport that gas to electric power plants, businesses and homes. On a bigger scale, the lack of rapid permitting is keeping us from becoming energy independent again and exporting adequate supplies of LNG (liquefied natural gas) to Europe to replace Russian gas.

Meanwhile, our Strategic Petroleum Reserve is being drawn down by President Biden to artificially lower the price of gasoline. And the largest storage of crude oil in the world, located at Cushing, Oklahoma, is also far below capacity.

Elon Musk has released more disturbing news about Twitter. We learned that before the 2020 election, high officials in the FBI and other federal agencies were meeting weekly with Twitter employees, encouraging them to ban comments from Conservatives and anyone who was pro-Trump or anti-Biden. This included any information from Hunter Biden’s computer. Yes, these officials were in the Trump Administration, including FBI General Counsel James Baker. Then a few months before the election, Baker left the FBI and began working as General Counsel for… Twitter. When Musk learned about these shenanigans this week, he fired Baker and about 80% of the other employees.

Time magazine named Ukraine President Zelensky as its Person of the Year. Considering the liberal slant of Time, I’m surprised they didn’t name James Baker instead. For 2023, I hereby nominate Elon Musk.

Considering the actions at Twitter, Facebook and most of the mainstream media, are you surprised at Trump’s reactions since the November 2020 election? We don’t have to agree with or condone his comments to understand his frustration.

Imagine if individuals in your company, organization or family were secretly working to undercut your leadership, how would you react when you learned the truth? You might vehemently express your displeasure, including a few posts on Twitter.

Historic quotes by Will Rogers:

“Now they [Senators] wouldn’t be so serious and particular if they only had to vote on what they thought was good for the majority of the people of the U.S. That would be a cinch.” WA #78, June 8, 1924

“Senators are a kind of a never-ending source of amusement, amazement, and Discouragement.” WA #345, Aug. 4, 1929

“This is a very momentous Congress that is in session. They have appropriated more money than any Congress ever did, but I guess that is all right; we are not paying our national debt, anyhow. We just keep on adding to it, so it don’t matter how much it is.” Radio, June 11, 1933