The Horrible Way the Biden Admin Messed Up the Strategic Petroleum Reserve

RedState 

Fox Business correspondent Edward Lawrence recently reported on a big problem that the Biden administration left with the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR). 

He explained to Fox News anchor Harris Faulkner how the SPR was now at a 43-year low, noting how the Biden administration had drained 180 million barrels before the 2022 midterm elections. 

It was clearly for political reasons to help in the elections, not for the reason you're supposed to do it - for emergencies in the market supply. Then Biden never fully refilled it, Lawrence explained. But it gets worse than that. 

The current Undersecretary of Energy, Kyle Haustveit, who is now in charge of the SPR, detailed to Lawrence in an interview how the prior administration even left one of the four SPR sites inoperable. Haustveit said the Trump team now had to get more equipment to that site because the Biden team bought equipment to repair the site, and then just left it out to deteriorate. Because of the weather, it's no longer usable. The Biden administration "completely wasted taxpayer dollars" on that, Haustveit said, and then it "sat on surface" and they "didn't install" it. 

"They also failed to maintain some of the sites," Haustveit also revealed. He told Lawrence he thought the Biden team didn't have any long-term plan for maintenance or working on the sites. So now the Trump administration has to do it to make up for the mess that was left by the prior administration.

Crazy. Not only draining it for the wrong reasons and putting us in danger thereby, but wasting our money and not even properly maintaining the reserve when it is such a critical resource for national security. Now that releasing oil might make sense, not for political reasons - but for the right reasons - supply issues, Biden's actions have made that more problematic because you don't want to let it get too low. 

Lawrence further explained that while the Trump administration had been releasing some of the supply to deal with the current situation with Iran, cooperating in an effort coordinated by the International Energy Agency (IEA) of worldwide strategic supplies to stabilize global energy markets, for everything they are releasing, they would replace it with more in a swap program. So they're looking out for the reserve and making sure that it isn't going to be depleted further or messed up like it was under Biden. 

State Dept: Code Pink, DSA, People's Forum Among Groups in Cuba-Linked Rapid Response Network

RedState 

The political left loves to protest. They seem to do a lot more protesting than people on the right do; people on the right, after all, have jobs. Now, though, we may see another round of protests and potentially riots, as Cuba is reportedly organizing far-left American activist groups to target American military bases, ICE facilities and other federal installations if there is any overt American action against Cuba.

A new State Department report argues that Cuba has cultivated a network of American activist organizations that can be mobilized against U.S. policy, citing a publicly posted plan for protests at U.S. military bases, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facilities and federal buildings as a recent example.

The June "National Rapid Response Plan" was distributed by the National Network on Cuba, a U.S. coalition of more than 60 organizations. The State Department links the coalition to the Cuban government through its relationship with the Cuban Institute of Friendship with the Peoples, or ICAP, a government entity sanctioned in June for allegedly supporting Cuban intelligence activities.

The plan calls for "coordinated nationwide actions" within 24 hours of a U.S. military attack — or the "imminent threat" of one — and says its goal is to make it "politically and materially costly for the U.S. government to wage war on Cuba."

The State Department report, which you can view here, states in part (emphasis added):

In June 2026, NNOC began distributing a “National Rapid Response Plan” outlining a detailed strategy for activating and launching “coordinated nationwide actions” against federal institutions, U.S. military bases, and ICE detention centers and field offices in the United States within 24 hours of U.S. military action (or the imminent threat of it) against Cuba. The plan, which purports to be a blueprint to “make it politically and materially costly for the U.S. government to wage war on Cuba,” meticulously details specific activation triggers, target categories and priorities, tiered action strategies – with guidance tailored to geography and population density – and operational timeline for coordinating actions across its nationwide network, establishing different action timetables depending on when the trigger occurs so as to achieve “rapid mobilization…across timezones.” 

The document is explicit about the Cuban network’s kinship with domestic left-wing causes, instructing activists to target ICE detention centers and field offices in a strategic effort to link “Cuba solidarity to anti-ICE/immigrant defense work happening nationwide.” (In addition to the three priority target categories – federal buildings, U.S. military bases and recruitment offices, and ICE facilities – “sports arenas during high-visibility events” are offered as a fourth “optional target”). 

The groups Cuba has reportedly approached include Code Pink, the People's Forum, the Democratic Socialists of America, and the Communist Party USA. This is quite a laundry list of American far-left groups.

This "National Rapid Response Plan" includes some alarming specifics, and specifies a 24-hour response time in the event any action is taken by the United States against Cuba. This presumably means any military action, but might also apply to a blockade or any similar economic sanction. In major cities, this could include mass protests against any federal installation, including but probably not limited to courthouses, military bases, and ICE/Border Patrol installations.

What's really concerning about this is the potential for things to get out of control, and fast. Protests from the far-left have the distinct tendency to become violent, and with this plan, these Cuban proxies are planning to mobilize thousands of unhinged far-left nuts to flood the areas around any federal installations. We're already seeing this with the attempts to interfere with ICE agents in the performance of their duties; this Cuban plan could take that up an order of magnitude.

There are, at present, no indications that the Trump administration is planning any military action against Cuba. It probably won't be necessary. Cuba seems to be collapsing quite well all on its own. But this is another indication of a disturbing trend in American politics, that being that the far-left is increasingly willing to resort to violence. What the far-left doesn't understand is that, in the end, it won't work out at all like they think it will.

Tom Homan Went Off After We Learned This About the Suspected NYC Federal Office Firebomber

Townhall 

Earlier today, a man was arrested for allegedly setting off an incendiary device outside a New York City federal building, one that houses not only the FBI's New York field offices, but ICE offices and immigration courts. 

Here's more video of the suspect, allegedly pouring a flammable liquid and igniting it outside the building.

After months of spouting inflammatory rhetoric against ICE and the federal government, New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani issued a statement on the attack.

"Our administration will continue to ensure that every New Yorker is safe in their city — and hold accountable any who threaten that," he wrote on X.

Now we're learning that the suspect had 'anti-ICE stuff' on him, and Tom Homan went off on Democrats for inciting violence against ICE and federal immigration agents.

"Why does he think ICE is bad? Why does he want to attack ICE? Again, because the last year, year and a half, all he's heard from ... Democratic members of Congress and sanctuary city mayors and governors is that ICE is not a real law enforcement agency, ICE is separating families, arresting people in churches and hospitals which none of thatis true. So I'm sure he's been educated by the wrong people and that's why he chose to take actions," Homan said.

"Because every time they talk about this hateful rhetoric," Homan continued, "there's that small percentage on the far Left who will take some sort of ridiculous action because they feel emboldened because members of Congress are agreeing with him that ICE needs to go away."

Homan also had a message for Mamdani himself.

"First of all, I appreciate the comments from Mamdani and Jeffries but, too little, too late," Homan said. "They spent a year attacking ICE, comparing ICE ... let's abolish ICE because they're fascists. ICE are Nazis, ICE are racists, ICE is the secret police, ICE isn't a real law enforcement agency."

"I see the signs at every protest, 'Resist.' So, look, they have educated people that they can resist ICE and the hateful rhetoric continues," he added. "We've had some tragedies recently because people didn't want to comply with ICE. This is yet another example today, what happened in front of the federal building, is another example of attacking ICE and I'm sure if you ask that person why he did it, he's going to repeat the talking points I just said that you hear from Democratic members of Congress, the Democratic mayors and governors who simply want ICE to go away."

Homan also vowed zero tolerance for this crime.

"We've got a strong leader in the Attorney General's Office, we've got a strong leader in the FBI," Homan said. "President Trump has said a thousand times we will not stand by and let anybody violate the laws. Especially when it comes to domestic terror acts like this or attacks against ICE officers. Attacks against ICE officers are up over 1,400 percent. Zero tolerance. President Trump told me this himself: zero tolerance. You attack ICE, you'll be held to the highest standards of the law.

Homan also got angry with the press.

"Guys, ICE agents are moms and dads, too. They don't hang their heart on a hook every day to do this job. And it's not just an attack on the ICE agents, it's an attack on their spouses and children and no one knows that better than me. I can't even go get a quart of milk at a grocery store without a security detail. Why? Because I'm enforcing the laws of this country. It's pathetic and disgusting," Homan said before walking off.

The Eloquence of Evasion

The Eloquence of Evasion

By Abe Greenwald for Commentary

Is there a discernible difference between the communication styles of successful Democrats and their Republican counterparts? Judging from the latest crop of rising Democrats, it certainly seems so. 

MAGA Republicans, with a few exceptions, tend to speak in blunt declarations. Extremist Democrats, also with some exceptions, lean rhetorically in the opposite direction. That is, the more radical the Democratic candidate or elected official, the more slick, measured, or downright elusive he tries to sound in selling his ideas.  

Take New York City’s Mayor Zohran Mamdani. He claims currently to be weighing his options for arresting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu when the latter next comes to town for the UN General Assembly. On the podcast this morning, Seth Mandel referred to Mamdani’s handling of this subject in a recent interview with the New York Times’s Lulu Garcia-Navarro.

Mamdani begins plainspokenly enough. “I believe that Prime Minister Netanyahu belongs in The Hague. He’s a war criminal who has been charged by the International Criminal Court,” he says. But he soon adopts pure Kamalaese. “And what you will find is that is an opinion that is held by many purely because of what his actions have wrought over these last many years. I’ve also said that I will follow the laws that we have here in New York City because I believe that there is an importance in following the law as a leader who presides over our city.”

That kind of rhetorical vagueness usually satisfies liberal journalists, who rarely respond with the brisk fact-checking to which they regularly subject conservatives. It partially doomed Kamala Harris because she was running for the highest office in the land and was forced to venture outside of liberal media precincts. 

But as Seth pointed out, Garcia-Navarro refreshingly didn’t play along with Mamdani. “I’m sorry, I don’t understand what that means,” she said. For once, he was caught. 

Not so the equally radical Abdul El-Sayed, who’s running for U.S. Senate in Michigan. Yesterday on CNN, Jake Tapper rightly pressed him on his past accusations that AIPAC steals U.S. elections with “foreign” money. El-Sayed went the slick and measured route in response. “If you were to take all the outside spending in this race out, this would not be a close election,” he said. “But it speaks to the way that, unfortunately, money from DTE, our local utility, money from Blue Cross Blue Shield, money from AIPAC, has come in to try to tilt this election in favor of somebody who they know is going to do their business instead of the people’s.” Finally, he wrapped it up in a bow. “And I think that’s anti-democratic on its own terms. It’s why I’m running on getting money out of politics so that we can put money back in people’s pockets and pass Medicare for all.”

With no fact-check follow-up, El-Sayed was left sounding as reasonable as he possibly could. What’s important is that both Mamdani and El-Sayed are in a crop of the most staunchly anti-American major political figures this country has ever produced—and they seek to obscure their animus with cleverness.

Why is it that MAGA’s leading lights don’t, for the most part, do the same? For one thing, their policy proposals—even the distasteful ones—tend to hew far closer to our political traditions. They don’t need the extensive camouflage of those who seek an end to the American experiment as we know it. 

But the more salient point is that MAGA has been, from the start, largely about the genuine appeal of coarseness. It was always more a revolution in style than substance. In 2016, Donald Trump offered up his worldview in such indecorous terms that Americans found it to be a relief from the usual political equivocation. Trump trolls his enemies by sounding like a troglodyte. Once Trump was elected, his party largely followed suit. At the start of Trump’s second term, simple language made a nice fit for what he deemed a “common sense revolution.”

The left’s revolution, however, comes straight out of academia, where mystifying language routinely stands in for substantive argument. They deal in the very opposite of common sense. Left-liberals nevertheless pride themselves on being the self-evidently smarter option. They appeal to their own by sounding thoughtful and troll the right by speaking down to them. Their coarseness, however, is to be found on full display in their actual agenda. 

Lightning strikes and human activity are the two primary causes of forest fires,

 

Lightning strikes and human activity are the two primary causes of forest fires, with their dominance varying significantly by region. 

• Human Activity: Globally, humans are responsible for the vast majority of wildfire ignitions, with estimates ranging from 85% to 90% in the United States and Canada.  Common human causes include discarded cigarettes, unattended campfires, debris burning, equipment malfunctions (such as sparks from engines or power lines), and intentional arson. 
• Natural Causes: Lightning is the most common natural ignition source, accounting for nearly half of all wildfires in Canada and up to 60% in British Columbia.  While lightning starts fewer total fires than humans in some populated areas, it is responsible for a disproportionate amount of the total land area burned because these fires often occur in remote locations. 
• Other Natural Causes: Volcanic eruptions and spontaneous combustion of dry organic matter are rare but documented natural causes. 

Climate change is the primary driver behind the increased frequency and severity of forest fires in both Canada and the United States, creating conditions of extreme heat, prolonged drought, and reduced snowpack that act as fuel. 

• Fuel Accumulation: Decades of aggressive fire suppression and a lack of controlled burns have allowed dry vegetation to accumulate on forest floors, turning natural ecosystems into tinderboxes ready to ignite. 
• Geographic Scale: Canada’s vast, remote boreal forests are often impossible to contain once ignited, while U.S. western states face "perfect storms" of record heat, snow droughts, and low humidity that extend fire seasons and intensify blazes. 

 Canada has a long-standing reciprocal agreement with the United States to assist with wildfire suppression, dating back to 1982.  This mutual aid involves sharing personnel, aircraft, and equipment across borders to manage large-scale fire events. 

Recent and historical examples of Canadian support include:

• California (January 2025): Canada deployed resources including CL-415 waterbombers from Quebec and Ontario, Type 1 wildland firefighters from Alberta and British Columbia, and incident command personnel to help battle devastating wildfires in Southern California. 
• 2023 Historic Season: During a record-breaking fire year in Canada where over 45 million acres burned, the U.S. deployed 2,774 wildland firefighters to Canada. In return, Canada provided aid to U.S. states affected by wildfires, reinforcing the "shared challenge" dynamic. 
• Ongoing Coordination: Resources are mobilized through the Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Centre (CIFFC) and the U.S. National Interagency Coordination Center (NICC).  This includes sending specialized crews, airtankers, and overhead staff to U.S. states like California and others during peak fire seasons. 

Despite political tensions over smoke drift in 2026, officials from both countries emphasize that fire does not know borders and that cross-border cooperation remains a critical component of wildfire management in North America. 

 Canada has also invested $12 billion since 2020 in forest sustainability and fire prevention to mitigate future risks. 

♦️𝐖³𝐏 𝐃𝐚𝐢𝐥𝐲 𝐍𝐞𝐰𝐬 𝐎𝐩𝐞𝐧 𝐓𝐡𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝

 

W³P Daily News Open Thread. 

posted by DarkGoldenMan

Welcome to the W³P Daily News Open Thread. 

Post whatever you got in the comments section below.

This feature will post every day at 6:30am Mountain time. 

 

An Uncomfortable Change in Perspective

Conservative Treehouse 

I would strongly suggest interested readers or researchers to go back and look carefully at the very public comments from Senate Intelligence Community Vice-Chairman Mark Warner, as they relate to the seizure of Fulton County, GA, election records.   What you might notice forms the background of an uncomfortable change in perspective.

In nearly all of Warner’s remarks, his main argument centered on opposing DNI Tulsi Gabbard’s presence at the Fulton County election records warehouse. He wasn’t worried about the FBI seizing the records; rather, he was deeply concerned about Gabbard observing the seizure.

Here’s part of the bigger problem.

When wrongdoing, fraud, corruption, or criminal activity occurs within a federal agency, including the Intelligence Community, the FBI is the institution tasked with investigating it.

That’s the problem.

People ask repeatedly, why has there been no accountability for the obvious corruption?

Perhaps we really don’t want to accept the obvious answer.

The FBI is doing corrupt, criminal and fraudulent stuff because the institution of the FBI is comprehensively corrupt. As a consequence, they are allied -directly or through willful blindness- with operatives in other agencies doing criminal, corrupt and fraudulent stuff.

Think about “security clearances.” Which agency or institution determines the outcomes of Security Clearance reviews or investigations? Who is responsible for approving or denying security clearances? The same FBI.

The same FBI agency who took possession of Hillary Clinton’s missing emails, Huma Abedin/Anthony Weiner’s laptop and Hunter Biden’s laptop. The same FBI agency who took custody of Jeffrey Epstein’s safe contents. The same FBI agency who raided James O’Keefe to retrieve the Ashley Biden diary. That’s the same FBI agency now with custody of the Fulton County election evidence.

The same agency who investigated the J6 pipe bombing, the Las Vegas mass shooting, the various Trump assassination attempts and even the TWA-800 explosion. That’s the same agency that seemingly cannot stop Antifa terrorist attacks yet can pour over 1,500 agents into a J6 investigation.

The FBI now has the physical ballots and machines from the Fulton County election offices.

Do we think the FBI wants honest elections?… that could result in larger ranks of honest, elected officials?… that could then hold oversight over the FBI?

Do we really think valid and secure elections are in the interests of a corrupt FBI organization?

While leading the Office of the Director of National Intelligence and overseeing the revocation of security clearances from dozens of career intelligence operatives, Tulsi Gabbard was in a unique position to uncover the motives and intentions of the FBI as a governmental institution.

FBI agents and analysts were assigned to desks inside the ODNI.

Do you remember the leaks against Tulsi Gabbard?

Perhaps now we can contextualize why Tulsi Gabbard was in Fulton County, GA.  And, more importantly, why the SSCI was going bananas when they found out she was there.

Senate Intelligence Committee Vice-Chairman Mark Warner was not apoplectic the FBI was in Fulton County, Georgia, taking control of election machines and ballots.  Warner likely already knew what the FBI was doing there.  The same motive and intent behind all the mysteriously missing laptops (Clinton, Abedin, Weiner, Awan, Biden) of evidence that seemingly vaporized from the public psyche.

No, Senator Mark Warner was apoplectic because Tulsi Gabbard followed the FBI to Fulton County, to watch them take custody of evidence with the motive to watch their intent.

The FBI was forced into action because Garland Favorito was annoyingly and methodically winning the painstakingly slow legal arguments, and there was a full summer of concern before the next election was scheduled.  Someone was going to be looking at those raw election ballots, those physical receipts, records and factual tabulation outcomes.  The FBI took over.

Do you remember when Fulton County commission chair, Robb Pitts, said at a press conference he received a phone call –two days before the FBI served a criminal warrant to seize 2020 election documents– to warn that he, Georgia’s secretary of state, Brad Raffensperger, former Raffensperger deputy Gabriel Sterling and others in the state were at risk of imminent arrest by federal agents. {SOURCE} Robb Pitts was tipped off by someone in DC.

DNI Tulsi Gabbard said she went to Fulton County, to watch events as approved by the White House. There is every reason to believe her statement.  Recently, there was a reported considerable disparity between what Acting DNI Pulte wanted President Trump to outline in his speech on election manipulation, and what the White House insiders were comfortable with {SOURCE}. The final outcome within the Trump speech was ‘smoothed’ by the Intelligence Community.

If we modify our perspective to consider the DNI was not a participant to law enforcement activity, but rather the DNI was bearing witness to a crime taking place; then suddenly, Senator Mark Warner’s apoplexy makes a lot more sense.

Anti-ICE Leftist Attacks Federal Immigration Court in Manhattan

An anti-ICE violent leftist attacked 26 Federal Plaza earlier this morning, where an immigration court takes place.  The attacker carried explosives and was captured on video pouring a flammable liquid in front of the building before setting it ablaze.   The suspect was intercepted during the attack and has been detained by police.

The New York City Fire Department reported to WABC that three civilians sustained minor injuries, with two declining medical treatment. The third individual was taken to NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital.  FBI Director Kash Patel released a statement on X confirming details about the incident.

“This morning an individual deployed an incendiary device outside of 26 Federal Plaza in New York. The individual is in custody and two minor injuries reported thus far. FBI JTTF is investigating the incident,” Patel wrote on X.

The suspect is a known anti-ICE activist who used a cart to wheel in fireworks, an accelerant in buckets, and what looked like rifles to attack the federal building.  Some alarming video below.