The installation of wind and solar power projects is slowing down in the United States, with some projects being canceled over persistent cost issues and community animosity.

New utility-scale solar installations are estimated to have fallen by 40 percent in 2022 compared to the previous year, according to a report from research firm Wood Mackenzie. Utility-scale solar deployments in the third quarter of 2022 were 36 percent lower when compared to Q3, 2021, and 9 percent lower compared to Q2, 2022.

“The low installation figures are the result of previous project delays and continued supply chain constraints,” the report said.

During the third quarter, new wind installations are calculated to have crashed by 77.5 percent compared to the same period a year ago based on another report by S&P Global Market Intelligence. Between July and September, U.S. developers only added 501 MW of new wind power capacity, down 22 percent from Q3, 2021.

“No other third quarter saw lower wind capacity additions since at least 2015. The 4,500 MW of new wind capacity added in the first three quarters of 2022 is less than half of that added by the end of 2021’s third quarter, 9,223 MW,” the report states.

NASA and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) announced a plan on Tuesday to test out a nuclear-powered thermal rocket engine which will enable NASA-crewed missions to Mars, according to NASA.

Artist concept of Demonstration for Rocket to Agile Cislunar Operations (DRACO) spacecraft, which will demonstrate a nuclear thermal rocket engine. Nuclear thermal propulsion technology could be used for future NASA crewed missions to Mars.

The program, called Demonstration Rocket for Agile Cislunar Operations, or DRACO, could allow for faster transit time, an increased payload capacity, and higher power for instrumentation and communication.

In a nuclear thermal rocket engine, a fission reactor is used to generate extremely high temperatures. The engine transfers the heat produced by the reactor to a liquid propellant, which is expanded and exhausted through a nozzle to propel the spacecraft. Nuclear thermal rockets can be three or more times more efficient than conventional chemical propulsion. -NASA

First, a stranger would face a far greater challenge entering a post-presidential Mar-a-Lago than a pre-presidential Biden home, office, or garage -- or who knows where?

Secret service agents and private security were stationed at Mar-a-Lago. Prior to the 2020 presidential election they were not at citizen Biden's various troves for most of 2017-2020, much less prior to 2009.

Second, we seem to forget that for much of the developing controversy, Biden's own team was investigating Biden.

On the other hand, the Biden Administration's Justice Department and the FBI were not just investigating Trump as an outside party, but as a former president -- and possible 2024 presidential candidate and opponent of Biden himself.

Remember, the narrative of the first Democratic impeachment of Trump was the allegation that Trump had used his powers of the presidency to investigate Biden and his family, a likely 2020 challenger to Trump's reelection bid.

Third, no one in a position of government authority had passed judgment on Biden's alleged security violations.

That was not the case of the still alleged violations of Trump.

Timing is everything, and it may determine the fate of Georgia’s former president, Mikheil Saakashvili. Saakashvili was president of Georgia from 2004 to 2013, and governor of Ukraine’s Odesa Oblast in 2015 and 2016. He returned to Georgia on October 1, 2021 and promptly started a hunger strike to protest previous convictions and new charges against him, including battery, misappropriation, abuse of power, and embezzlement.

Recently, there has been a groundswell of protest to force the Georgian government, led by the Georgian Dream party, to free Saakashvili so he can seek medical attention in the U.S. or Europe for his deteriorating health. His dire condition may be caused by neglect and heavy metal poisoning, and a council of physicians convened by Georgia’s state ombudsperson Nino Lomjaria declared the prison clinic (Vivamedi Clinic) “fails to meet his medical needs.” His condition is likely worsened by petty harassment by the government, including turning off the electricity to the clinic.

Saakashvili demonstrated bad judgement in the past, by starting a war with Russia in 2008, and returning to Georgia despite earlier convictions and with new charges pending against him, despite an earlier pledge to not return. And he made it easy for the Georgian authorities by entering the country illegally, inside a cargo container. (Saakashvili was stripped of his Georgian citizenship in 2015 after he accepted Ukrainian citizenship.)

Lockheed Martin has said that it’s ready to meet demands for F-16 fighter jets if the US and its allies choose to ship them to Ukraine.

So far, the US and its allies have been hesitant to send fighter jets to Ukraine due to concerns that they could be used to target Russian territory. But the Western powers seem less and less concerned about escalation as the US and Germany have now pledged to send their main battle tanks.

 

Frank St. John, chief operating officer of Lockheed, told Financial Times that there has been a "lot of conversation about third-party transfer of F-16s," which would involve European nations armed with the F-16 shipping them to Ukraine.

St. John said Lockheed wasn’t involved in the conversations but was preparing for the eventuality. He said the arms maker was "going to be ramping production on F-16s in Greenville [South Carolina] to get to the place where we will be able to backfill pretty capably any countries that choose to do third-party transfers to help with the current conflict."

The Netherlands expressed openness to sending its F-16s to Ukraine last week, with the Dutch foreign minister saying it would look at any requests for the aircraft with an "open mind." Another option could be for former Warsaw pact countries that are now NATO members to send their older Soviet-made MiG fighter jets to Ukraine and replace them with F-16s or other modern Western-made aircraft.

Shortly after President Biden announced Ukraine would be getting the Western-made tanks it sought, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky was demanding fighter jets and longer-range missiles.

Ukrainian officials have been lobbying for months to receive F-15 or F-16 fighter jets from the US and Army Tactical Missile Systems (ATACAMS), munitions with a range of up to 190 miles.

The US has held off on providing such arms due to concerns they could be used to target Russian territory. But the US has previously ruled out other equipment that it eventually sent to Ukraine, including the M1 Abrams tanks that Biden just announced the US would be supplying.

The White House refused to say if it will provide Ukraine with Bradley Fighting Vehicles equipped with radioactive depleted uranium rounds, ammunition that is linked to cancer and birth defects.

Depleted uranium is typically created as a byproduct of producing enriched uranium and is extremely dense, making it an effective material to pierce the armor of tanks. Bradleys can be equipped with depleted uranium ammunition, which is why they are known as “tank killers.”

When asked on Wednesday if the Bradleys the US is sending to Ukraine will be equipped with depleted uranium, a senior Biden administration official said, “I’m not going to get into the technical specifics.” The official also declined to answer if the M1 Abrams tanks the US is providing Kyiv will be equipped with a depleted uranium cage.

The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) issued an alert to taxpayers on Tuesday, reminding them that they must report all digital asset-related income and answer a new digital asset question on their 2022 federal income tax return or face consequences such as delayed refunds or even penalties.

 

The IRS said in a Jan. 24 release that a key change on 1040 forms this year is that the agency has replaced the term “virtual currency” with “digital assets,” in addition to some other modifications to the wording.

The “Yes” or “No” question, which was expanded and revised this year to update terminology, reads as follows:

“At any time during 2022, did you: (a) receive (as a reward, award or payment for property or services); or (b) sell, exchange, gift or otherwise dispose of a digital asset (or a financial interest in a digital asset)?”

The question appears at the top of tax forms 1040, Individual Income Tax Return; 1040-SR, U.S. Tax Return for Seniors; and 1040-NR, U.S. Nonresident Alien Income Tax Return.

“All taxpayers must answer the question regardless of whether they engaged in any transactions involving digital assets,” the agency cautioned.

It is a legal requirement to accurately report all income, including income from digital assets, on federal income tax returns. Failure to do so could result in non-compliance with tax laws and possible penalties.

The IRS has provided a detailed explanation of what constitutes a digital asset, which includes such things as stablecoins, non-fungible tokens (NFTs), and cryptocurrencies.

Joe Biden has made it a hallmark of his presidency to nominate more women and “people of color” to the the federal judiciary than any other president. Sometimes that means not nominating the most informed people for the bench, or those who struggle to answer the most basic questions of constitutional scholarship–or even humanity–as long as the nominee checks certain boxes on the Biden qualification list even if their ignorance leaves senators scratching their heads.

Jordon Trishton Walker, Pfizer Director of Research and Development, physically assaulted James O’Keefe and Veritas staffers on Thursday.

Five ex-Memphis police officers were charged with second-degree murder and kidnapping on Thursday in the death of a black motorist.

Biden told families struggling to put food on the table to buy a brand new $65,000 electric car or purchase a new, energy-efficient refrigerator to save on tax credits.

This is a troubling story regarding an entire police department bullying a young policeman to the point of quitting for expressing his personal religious convictions. The Daily Signal on Wednesday shared the story of Jacob Kersey, a 19-year-old former police officer in Georgia who resigned earlier this month after posting a 20- word message on Facebook expressing his faith-based opposition to gay marriage.

The powers that be continue to tinker with their plan for global destruction and the evidence is everywhere to be seen.

Following a complaint submitted by the watchdog group Do No Harm, the Department of Education recently launched an investigation into a prominent Chicago medical school’s internship program that requires applicants to submit a photograph of themselves.

A young Philadelphia man with a long rap sheet is now in custody after he allegedly shot and killed four people and wounded another during a deadly string of violence earlier this year.

Rookie Georgia police officer Jacob Kersey resigned after his superiors threatened to terminate him for expressing his views on traditional marriage, the Daily Signal reported today.

A Florida middle school teacher was arrested after allegedly showing a gun to a security guard after being denied entry into a gated community over the weekend.

A Republican lawmaker proposed a bill this week that, if passed, would require Congress members and their staff to receive health care from the Department of Veterans Affairs. The Lead by Example Act aims to force lawmakers to address and rectify the VA's long-standing issues.

A high school teacher, youth pastor, hockey player, and volunteer firefighter were among 46 men arrested in an undercover operation in Texas, according to Yahoo News.

On Tuesday, the Department of Justice and eight states filed a lawsuit against Google accusing the technology giant of abusing its monopoly over online advertising, the New York Times reported.

In the 2022 to 2023 school year, the State University System of Florida spent millions of taxpayer dollars on critical race theory and diversity, equity, and inclusion programs, according to a report obtained by the University of Florida's student newspaper, Independent Florida Alligator.

Bill Gates' Breakthrough Energy Ventures was announced as the lead investor in a seeding round for company Rumin8, which is targeting methane emissions from livestock in an effort to stop climate change.

Microsoft has announced a multibillion-dollar investment into OpenAI, the company behind the popular ChatGPT application that allows users to ask the artificial intelligence complex questions or have it write content based on keywords and ideas.

An armed man tried to rob a passenger aboard a Chicago train Friday — but it turns out the suspect picked the wrong victim: a concealed carrier who pulled out his own gun and shot the suspect.

Fox News host Geraldo Rivera brandished a musket during a debate about the Second Amendment on Tuesday, suggesting that only antiquated firearms are acceptable to own.

Homeowners in Australia are being encouraged by activists, celebrities, and a senator from the Australian Greens party to pay a weekly rent to native groups for living on the land, according to the Daily Mail.

California lawmakers introduced a bill that would impose a “worldwide wealth” tax on wealthy individuals even after they leave the state.