{"id":14452,"date":"2022-10-27T18:18:48","date_gmt":"2022-10-28T01:18:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bradblog.com\/?p=14452"},"modified":"2022-10-27T18:46:14","modified_gmt":"2022-10-28T01:46:14","slug":"good-bad-and-very-surprising-news-bradcast-10272022","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bradblog.com\/?p=14452","title":{"rendered":"Good, Bad and Very Surprising News: &#8216;BradCast&#8217; 10\/27\/2022"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/BradBlog.com\/Images\/BradCast_Putin-NatGas-Biden_102722.jpg\" hspace=\"6\" vspace=\"3\" border=\"0\" align=\"right\">The element of surprise plays a central role in several of the stories covered on today&#8217;s <a href=\"https:\/\/BradBlog.com\/BradCast\"><i>BradCast<\/i><\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Among them&#8230;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><i>SURPRISE!<\/i> <b>Natural gas prices<\/b> actually <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/2022\/10\/26\/energy\/europe-natural-gas-prices-plunge\/index.html\">went <i>negative<\/i><\/a> (companies paying to give it away) in parts of <b>Europe<\/b> this week, as the EU now has a glut of natural gas with Winter approaching and storage facilities reaching capacity. That&#8217;s particularly surprising after earlier concerns earlier this year that folks could freeze to death after <b>Russia&#8217;s Vladimir Putin<\/b> cut off much of its supply in retaliation for sanctions against his brutal invasion of <b>Ukraine<\/b>. So, why the glut? Several reasons: EU nations scrambled to make up for the gas cut off by Putin with sources from elsewhere while also working toward a quicker transition to renewable sources of energy. Also, mild, climate changed weather in the region has eased demand so far this Autumn.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li><i>SURPRISE!<\/i> The <b>price of natural gas<\/b> in parts of west <b>Texas<\/b> <i>also<\/i> <a href=\"https:\/\/oilprice.com\/Latest-Energy-News\/World-News\/Texas-Natural-Gas-Prices-Sink-Close-To-Zero.html\">plummeted to nearly zero<\/a> recently, thanks to over-production and a lack of storage there as well.  All of which is &#8220;surprising&#8221;, if only because <b>Republicans<\/b> have been telling (lying to) Americans that Joe Biden had crippled fossil fuel energy production in the U.S. (he hasn&#8217;t), which has lead to increased prices&#8230;which is actually largely due to price gouging that every Republican in Congress recently <a href=\"https:\/\/www.salon.com\/2022\/05\/19\/every--and-4-democrats--vote-against-bill-to-stop-big-oils-price-gouging-on-gas\/\">voted <i>against<\/i><\/a> prohibiting.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li><i>SURPRISE!<\/i> Russia&#8217;s war in Ukraine is <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2022\/10\/27\/climate\/global-clean-energy-iea.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&#038;referringSource=articleShare\">hastening, not slowing<\/a>, a <b>global shift away from fossil fuels<\/b> and towards cleaner, renewable energy sources like wind, solar and EV&#8217;s, according to a new <b>International Energy Agency<\/b> (IAE) <a href=\"http:\/\/www.iea.org\/reports\/world-energy-outlook-2022\">report<\/a> on Thursday. Global investment in renewable sources is quickly rising, as nations seek energy security in response to Putin&#8217;s war and in hopes of improving their economies by grabbing a chunk of the trillions of dollars being spent on development and manufacturing in the burgeoning clean energy industry. Nonetheless, while the shift will reportedly result in peak fossil fuel usage by 2025, the current pace of the transition is still nowhere near what climate scientists say is necessary to avoid the worst impacts of global warming.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li><i>SURPRISE (FEES)!<\/i> The Biden Administration&#8217;s <b>Consumer Financial Protection Bureau<\/b> (CFPB) <a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/inflation-biden-business-economy-government-and-politics-39153f8d641f587e2fccb53f94371401\">announced<\/a> on Wednesday that it is <a href=\"https:\/\/www.whitehouse.gov\/briefing-room\/blog\/2022\/10\/26\/the-presidents-initiative-on-junk-fees-and-related-pricing-practices\/\">cracking down<\/a> on unlawful <strong>corporate junk fees<\/strong> &#8212; for checks you deposit at your bank from someone which ends up bouncing; for changing plane tickets after an airline cancelled your flight, etc. &#8212; amounting to billions of dollars in savings for American consumers. The President&#8217;s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.whitehouse.gov\/briefing-room\/speeches-remarks\/2022\/10\/26\/remarks-by-president-biden-on-protecting-american-consumers-from-junk-fees\/\">announcement<\/a> at the White House on Wednesday comes just days after three Trump-appointees on the <strong>5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals<\/strong> sided with part of a lawsuit from the sleazy Payday Lending Industry lobby charging that the funding mechanism for the CFPB &#8212; created during the Obama Administration in response to the Great Recession as the only federal agency created to protect consumers rather than corporations &#8212; was <a href=\"https:\/\/prospect.org\/justice\/conservative-judicial-ruling-threatens-functioning-of-daily-life-cfpb\/\">somehow unconstitutional<\/a>. And after Biden&#8217;s announcement to end junk fees, <strong>Republicans in both the House and Senate<\/strong> released statements <a href=\"https:\/\/www.levernews.com\/the-gop-fights-to-preserve-predatory-fees\/\">vowing to end the new consumer protections<\/a>&#8230;which will be much easier for them to do if they win majorities in either chamber in the November midterms.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li><i>SURPRISE (NOT)!<\/i> After <b>Amazon<\/b> indignantly pretended to cut off political donations to <b>Republicans<\/b> who voted against certifying Joe Biden&#8217;s Electoral College victory after the January 6, 2021 U.S. Capitol insurrection, the monopolistic retailer apparently <a href=\"https:\/\/deadline.com\/2022\/10\/amazon-resumes-january-6th-contributions-1235155122\/\">restarted them<\/a>&#8230;just as soon as the nation&#8217;s next major election got under way.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>Finally, it&#8217;s no surprise that Desi Doyen has both good news and bad in <a href=\"https:\/\/bradblog.com\/?p=14451\">our latest <i>Green News Report<\/i><\/a>, as <b>drought deepens<\/b> across the U.S.., the <b>U.N. warns<\/b> about catastrophic consequences of climate change; <b>Australia builds<\/b> a really <i>really<\/i> big battery; and as the <b>Biden Administration rolls out<\/b> a national fleet electric school buses&#8230;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<blockquote><p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\".\/Images\/Speaker_Icon_24.png\" style=\"width: 24px; float: none; vertical-align: middle;\"><span style=\"font-size: 18px; line-height: 18px;\"> <b><i><a href=\"https:\/\/BradBlog.com\/audio\/BradCast_BradFriedman-NatGasPricePlummet-RenewableShiftEU-BidenJunkFees_102722.mp3\">CLICK TO LISTEN OR DOWNLOAD SHOW!&#8230;<\/a><\/i><\/b><\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><center><b>* * *<\/b><\/center><i>While we post <a href=\"https:\/\/BradBlog.com\/BradCast\"><\/i>The BradCast<i><\/a> here every day, and you can hear it across all of our great affiliate stations and websites, to automagically get new episodes as soon as they&#8217;re available sent right to your computer or personal device, subscribe for free at <a href=\"https:\/\/itunes.apple.com\/us\/podcast\/the-bradcast-w-brad-friedman\/id803467610\">iTunes<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.pandora.com\/podcast\/the-bradcast-w-brad-friedman\/PC:1000025838\">Pandora<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/tunein.com\/radio\/The-BradCast-with-Brad-Friedman-p477565\/\">TuneIn<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/podcasts.google.com\/feed\/aHR0cHM6Ly9icmFkYmxvZy5jb20vcG9kY2FzdGdlbi9icmFkY2FzdC9mZWVkLnhtbA\">Google<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/The-BradCast-w-Brad-Friedman\/dp\/B08JJRN86R\/ref=sr_1_1\">Amazon<\/a> or <a href=\"https:\/\/bradblog.com\/podcastgen\/bradcast\/feed.xml\">our native RSS feed<\/a>!<\/i><\/p>\n<p><!--BB-DONATEPITCH-START--><\/p>\n<div style=\"background:#f5f0e0; border:2px solid #6b5a2e; border-radius:6px; padding:10px 14px; text-align:center; font-family:Georgia,serif;\"><span style=\"display:block; margin:0 0 8px 0; color:#3a2e0e; font-size:0.95em; line-height:1.5;\"><strong>The BRAD BLOG<\/strong>, <em>The BradCast<\/em> and <em>Green News Report<\/em> are all 100% independent and 100% listener and reader supported!<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/bradblog.com\/Donate\" style=\"display:inline-block; background:#6b5a2e; color:#ffffff; padding:6px 18px; border-radius:4px; font-weight:bold; text-decoration:none; font-family:Georgia,serif; font-size:0.9em;\">Please CLICK HERE to help support our work today!<\/a><\/div>\n<p><!--BB-DONATEPITCH-END--><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The element of surprise plays a central role in several of the stories covered on today&#8217;s BradCast. Among them&#8230; SURPRISE! Natural gas prices actually went negative (companies paying to give it away) in parts of Europe this week, as the EU now has a glut of natural gas with Winter approaching and storage facilities reaching [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1241,620,89,675,1008,543,499,390,1630,753,1691,841,288,1590,320,477,1357,498,534,542,47,698,186,628,541],"tags":[],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-14452","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-amazon","category-australia","category-media-appearance","category-bradcast","category-cfpb","category-climate-change","category-coal","category-economy","category-election-2022","category-electric-vehicles","category-electricity","category-eu","category-health-care","category-insurrection","category-joe-biden","category-kpfk","category-monopolies","category-natural-gas","category-russia","category-solar","category-texas","category-ukraine","category-united-nations","category-vladamir-putin","category-wind"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bradblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14452","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bradblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bradblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bradblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bradblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=14452"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bradblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14452\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bradblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=14452"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bradblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=14452"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bradblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=14452"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bradblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcoauthors&post=14452"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}