By Dale Glading
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We are less than a month into the Biden administration and already, the 46th President of the United States has somehow managed to alienate large segments of the American public. His record-setting blitz of executive orders has ticked off (and rightfully so) everyone from union pipefitters to high school athletes.
I will leave it up to you to decide who has the biggest – and most legitimate – beef with Joseph Robinette Biden. Here is a short list of contenders…
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First up are female athletes, especially at the high school level. Not only are transgendered athletes (boys posing as girls) obliterating the records of biological females, but they are also costing them potential college scholarships. Just this week, three high school girls and their families filed suit in Connecticut after watching two biological males, who self-identify as females, win 15 girls state championship races since 2017… setting back women’s rights by two generations to the days before Title IX.
President Biden’s executive order allowing boys to routinely beat up on girls on an unequal playing field may eventually deal a fatal blow to women’s sports at all levels while resulting in unintended consequences for the feminist movement. Joe’s response: suck it up, ladies!
Next in line are the out-of-work welders and pipefitters, until recently employed building the Keystone XL pipeline. Original estimates are that 11,000 new jobs would have been created this year alone – about 8,000 of which were earmarked for union members – not to mention tens of thousands of ancillary jobs in the hospitality industry among others. I’ll bet they all wish they hadn’t voted for “Lunch Bucket Joe” now.
Meanwhile, the rest of us are already feeling the pinch at the pump as the spigot that was to transport 800,000 barrels of oil per day has been turned off tight. Also suffering are states like Montana where, according to Attorney General Austin Knudsen, killing the Keystone XL pipeline will likely cost the state $58 million in annual tax revenue. That’s probably why Knudsen and 13 other state attorneys general have filed suit against the Biden administration (notice a pattern here?)
I guess the only guy not hurting is billionaire Warren Buffet, a major donor to the Biden campaign, whose railcars will now be filled to capacity. Oh, and Russia and OPEC too, as a once energy independent America goes begging to its enemies for oil.
It’s a good thing that trains never derail… and oil tankers never run aground and leak. Otherwise, the environmental lobbyists that supported the Democratic ticket might experience some real buyer’s remorse in the days to come.
Not to be outdone, workers constructing the southern border wall also received pink slips from Uncle Joe during his first-week flurry of EOs. But, as John Kerry arrogantly told the Keystone pipefitters, I guess these masons, iron workers, electricians, heavy equipment operators, and other skilled laborers can always get a job making solar panels… in China. How they will navigate the 6,789-mile commute from El Paso TX to Beijing, China every day remains to be seen, especially since incoming Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg now wants everyone to ride bicycles or electric scooters to work.
Last, but certainly not least, how about the oil and natural gas workers in New Mexico (and elsewhere)? According to a recent economic impact study by the American Petroleum Institute, an estimated 62,000 jobs and $1 billion in revenue will be lost in the first year in New Mexico alone after President Biden signed an order bringing oil and gas leasing and drilling permits on federal lands and waters to a screeching halt.
I guess no one told Joe that New Mexico’s oil, gas and mining industries are responsible for 40 percent of the state’s tax revenue. In 2019, those taxes totaled a whopping $3.1 billion, with $1.36 billion of that amount going to public schools.
“It will also cost a lot of jobs in the industry, the small businesses that support them and take a major bite out of our economic development,” said John Waters, executive director of the Carlsbad Department of Development. “Many people who work in the industry are Hispanic,” added Waters, a Carlsbad native. “This hurts across the board. It’s literally kicking a state that’s already down while they’re down.”
Waters added that, as a result of Biden’s EO and the resulting business closures, taxes will inevitably be raised for every New Mexico resident across the board. I am sure that the folks in the “Land of Enchantment” are tickled pink that their state went blue in November.
Conversely, the Pelican State supported President Trump, but Biden’s offshore drilling ban will also devastate Louisiana’s Gulf Coast. Data compiled by API shows a potential loss of 48,000 jobs by 2022, with more than $95 million in state revenues being at risk. Ouch!
So, there you have it, my friend. A few strokes of Joe Biden’s pen resulting in job losses and human misery from coast to coast and sea to shining sea. Makes you wonder what major catastrophes – economic and otherwise – Joe has in store for month #2.
After all, according to his mentor, all you need is a pen and a phone…
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Dale Glading is an ordained minister and former N.J. Republican candidate for Congress.
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