Every time you think the energy policies pushed by the Democratic Party can’t possibly get any crazier, they go and fool you again.
Politico’s E&E News published an article Friday with a headline that should scare the bejeebers out of anyone who hopes for sanity in energy policy: “Progressives look to recharge the Green New Deal for the AI era.”
The piece quotes Melat Kiros, the socialist who unseated longtime incumbent Democratic Colorado Rep. Diana DeGette in the party’s recent Colorado primary as saying, “The Green New Deal, frankly, is a floor now, not a ceiling, for what we need to actually be looking at doing.”
This, of course, parrots the classic mantra of every generation of new socialists, who, when presented with the reality that socialism fails disastrously everywhere it is tried, invariably claim that it just hasn’t been done the right way, and they know better.
But they never really do know better.
Let’s be clear: what any version of the Green New Deal introduced by Democratic New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio Cortez and Democratic Massachusetts Sen Ed Markey in 2019 would kill the AI era. Why? Because it is a classically socialist program by its very nature. It is a program which would seize the means of production through the central government, invoke a gigantic array of top-down command-and-control regulatory structures and utterly destroy the spirit of human initiative and innovation that leads to human flourishing and prosperity.
All the various socialist candidates quoted in the E&E piece are supported by The Sunrise Movement, a far-left activist NGO funded mainly by leftwing billionaire interests like the Rockefeller Foundation, the Tides Foundation and the Soros-affiliated Open Society Policy Center. What a surprise – it’s like a who’s who of far leftwing astroturf protest funders who have been behind every U.S. protest movement since Occupy Wall Street.
The Green New Deal as proposed by AOC and Markey seven years ago involved ending discretionary air travel; heavily restricting all other travel; heavily restricting personal driving; de facto banning oil, natural gas, and coal; building a vast network of high-speed rail lines which would cost trillions of dollars and take a century or more to develop (assuming the economy didn’t enter a major depression in the meantime); and destroying power grid reliability by forcing mass adoption of wind and solar.
To this new generation of Sunrise-supported socialists, that array of destructive and frankly impossible options is now the “floor” for what really needs to be done. You just can’t make this stuff up.
“The Democrat Party – the socialists, the Marxists – have nominated some of the most radical candidates to ever run for office, and they’re running for Congress. The insurgent left is on the rise,” House Speaker Mike Johnson said after New York voters nominated three socialist candidates.
The speaker isn’t wrong; in fact, he’s a master of understatement. The insurgent left is not just on the rise, it is being funded by the same leftwing billionaire interests who funded the destruction of America’s coal industry, the anti-fracking movement and the effort to kill the shale revolution that has generated hundreds of billions of dollars in economic growth and made the United States the world’s dominant energy powerhouse.
Any revitalization of the Green New Deal would be intentionally designed to destroy all of that and much more. Any effort to apply a renewed Green New Deal to the AI industry would be designed to destroy it, too. Because socialism at its base is never about building anything, but about destroying things, with human flourishing being its main target.
David Blackmon is a contributor to The Daily Caller News Foundation, an energy writer, and consultant based in Texas. He spent 40 years in the oil and gas business, where he specialized in public policy and communications.
Former Pima County Supervisor and daughter of late Arizona Democratic Congressman Raúl Grijalva, Adelita Grijalva, defeated her fellow Democrats to win the 7th Congressional District nomination. Grijalva was armed with the endorsements of Democrat Socialists of America (DSA) darling Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), self-avowed socialist Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT), and a major ad-spend and endorsement from the Working Families Party (WFP). Both Democrat leaders and the WFP also endorsed socialist New York City Mayoral Candidate Zohran Mamdani.
As previously reported by AZ Free News, Grijalva opted to run for her late father’s congressional seat with Tucson Mayor Regina Romero declining to run in order to chair the Grijalva campaign.
We’re fighting a rigged system, taking on corporate greed, and building a government that works for everyone — not just the wealthy few. Let’s go! 💪 pic.twitter.com/xGnbOljvoV
“At a time when Trump, Musk, and their billionaire gang are attacking our democracy and ripping off the working class, we need leaders who have the backbone to take them on,” Sanders said in a statement in April. “That’s why I’m proud to endorse Adelita Grijalva for Congress. Adelita understands that real change never comes from the top down, it comes from the bottom up.”
THE AZ U.S. CONGRESS CD7 RACE IS ON: AMERICA 1ST MAGA REPUBLICAN DANIEL BUTIEREZ vs RADICAL LEFTIST DEMOCRAT—BERNIE SANDERS PROGRESSIVE PROTEGE—ADELITA "ADELANTE" GRIJALVA
— Maricopa County Republican Committee | MCRC (@MaricopaGOP) July 16, 2025
Described as Sanders’ “Progressive Protégé,” by the Maricopa County Republican Committee, Grijalva also proudly boasted of her endorsement by Democratic Socialists of America member Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.
I’m deeply honored to share that our campaign has the endorsement of @AOC– a bold, visionary leader who speaks truth to power and inspires millions to fight for a more just and inclusive future. Thank you for your support in our fight for #AZ07! pic.twitter.com/BYmJDSjDIV
Grijalva also enjoys the endorsement of the openly socialist WFP with Maurice Mitchell, National Director of the Working Families Party, saying Tuesday, “Adelita’s victory tonight isn’t just a win for families in Southern Arizona. It’s a win for all those who believe in a government that works for everyday people. Voters are tired of politicians who hide in the pockets of their billionaire donors. We know that Adelita is going to be a fearless fighter for working families in her district.”
According to the WFP website, the party spent significantly on ads in the CD7 race, writing “The Party was a significant force in the race, spending $221,000 on several ads for TV, digital, and sending thousands of texts to voters. Along with our union and grassroots partners, we knocked on more than 90,000 doors and sent two direct mail pieces to likely voters in the district.”
As Arizona’s first Latina congresswoman, Adelita Grijalva will fight AGAINST Trump’s agenda, and FOR healthcare, climate action, and an economy that works for all of us.
Adelita is a proven champion for working families, and she’s ready to represent her community in Congress. pic.twitter.com/CjGaTY64EB
— Working Families Party 🐺 (@WorkingFamilies) July 16, 2025
The party also credited itself with the victories of Zohran Mamdani as well as Mayoral races in Buffalo, Syracuse, and Albany. WFP has historically supported members of ‘The Squad,’ the most radical leftists in Congress, including Reps. Ayanna Pressley, Rashida Tlaib, and Jamaal Bowman. Grijalva will face Republican candidate Daniel Butierez in a Special Election on September 23rd.
It appears that Rep. Paul Gosar (R-AZ-09) wasn’t a white supremacist posing a real threat of violence after all.
On Tuesday, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY-14) was captured engaging in a friendly conversation with Gosar. This interaction occurred a little over a year after she accused Gosar of white supremacy and threats of violence for posting a meme video portraying her and other Democrats as slain anime villains. Her claims of fear resulted in Gosar’s censuring and removal from two committees.
So then I says "The combustion engine was actually a miracle of engineering that people take for granted today…" pic.twitter.com/oloHkBjlGo
Ocasio-Cortez later clarified to reporters that the floor conversation with Gosar concerned Democrats’ support for Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA-20) or Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY-08) as House Speaker. She toldMSNBC that Gosar spoke to her to keep GOP leadership “honest,” dispelling McCarthy’s claim that he had Democrats’ support.
On her floor convo with Rep. Gosar earlier, AOC tells me that McCarthy made claims within the GOP conf. that some Ds would walk away to lower the threshold. Gosar was asking AOC for clarification — would she walk away? “We would never do that,” AOC told me. Jeffries all the way. pic.twitter.com/yDsbJjFIPU
The fallout from Gosar’s meme occurred in November 2021. Ocasio-Cortez derided Gosar, insisting that the meme portrayed Gosar’s “fantasy” of killing her. She also claimed that institutions don’t protect women of color.
“White supremacy is for extremely fragile people and sad men like him, whose self concept relies on the myth that he was born superior because deep down he knows he couldn’t open a pickle jar or read a whole book by himself,” tweeted Ocasio-Cortez.
So while I was en route to Glasgow, a creepy member I work with who fundraises for Neo-Nazi groups shared a fantasy video of him killing me
And he’ll face no consequences bc @GOPLeader cheers him on with excuses.
Outcry from Democrats resulted in Gosar’s censure, which took four hours of debate to reach.
The congressman was removed from two committees: the National Resources Committee and the Oversight and Reform Committee. Gosar’s censure broke an 11-year dry spell for censures. Only two Republicans voted with Democrats to censure Gosar: Reps. Adam Kizinger (R-IL-16) and Liz Cheney (R-WY).
WATCH: Complete remarks by Rep. Paul Gosar (@RepGosar) during House debate on his censure.
"I do not espouse violence towards anyone. I never have. It was not my purpose to make anyone upset." pic.twitter.com/a6JI4xxqgt
During the censure vote, Ocasio-Cortez claimed the meme was an incitement to violence. Since the meme’s posting, Ocasio-Cortez hasn’t been subject to any publicized attacks.
WATCH: Complete remarks by @RepAOC@AOC during U.S. House Debate on Resolution to Censure Rep. Paul Gosar.
"What is so hard, what is so hard about saying that this is wrong? This is not about me. This is not about Rep. Gosar. But, this is about what we are willing to accept." pic.twitter.com/nqV8ElU3d3
Late last week, the National Border Patrol Council (NBPC) announced that detention facilities remain over-capacity, now over a year into the Biden Administration. The NBPC highlighted the Del Rio sector detention centers, all of which were filled to three times their limit and contained not only adults, but children.
(1 of 2) Where is AOC and the lamestream lying media? Why are they no longer yelling about kids in cages? Over the weekend, Del Rio had more than three times its prisoner capacity in their facilities…and yes that includes children. Democrat in WH = no more outrage.
The NBPC railed against federal Democratic leadership, specifically calling out Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY-14) and the “lamestream lying media” for choosing to ignore the current situation despite visiting the border when no crisis existed under former President Donald Trump.
(2 of 2) Did they manufacture the entire narrative to smear Trump and create a false narrative for the American public? No wonder so few trust much of the media or politicians like AOC who care only about their political careers. #KidsInCages@RepAOC@DonaldJTrumpJr@SenTedCruzpic.twitter.com/AAWzbRI63I
The latest data from the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) revealed that a historic high of illegal immigrants encountered along the Southwest border in February: nearly 165,000. Around 76 percent of those were single adults.
Around the same time, the Biden Administration expressed concerns that lifting the COVID-19 border policies would result in a greater surge of illegal crossings. It’s unclear what data the Biden Administration relied on to believe that their COVID-19 border policies stymied the border crisis in any way, considering the record highs occurring just about every month since President Joe Biden took office.
Biden officials apparently fear a "mass migration event" if COVID border policies are lifted.
Are you kidding me? A "mass migration event" is happening right now!
As noted in separate reporting by AZ Free News and the Daily Caller, the steady stream of illegal immigrants have caused the Biden-prompted inflation and supply chain crises to be felt more heavily by the agricultural communities. Farmers and ranchers have had their land and equipment damaged or destroyed by illegal immigrants trekking through or fleeing law enforcement. In addition to the property losses, those working the land report increased safety issues due to the constant flux of trespassers.
One property owner, Brad Whitaker, explainedto the Daily Caller the extent of damages and heightened threats he and others faced due to the illegal immigrants. Whitaker said that the illegal immigrants have “no consideration for anything,” citing the masses of trash left behind day after day.
“They caught a convicted felon on the ranch here in November and then they just caught him again last night because he goes back and comes back,” said Whitaker. “Since this administration has taken over, it has just been a complete nightmare […] The holes in the fences that they cut, they come in, they’re tearing up the houses, my skinning shed out there, I can’t keep knives in it because they steal them. They’re pulling batteries out of the deer feeders and tearing up, pulling off the solar panels to charge their phones with. And the trash, it is just unbelievable how much trash.”
Corinne Murdock is a reporter for AZ Free News. Follow her latest on Twitter, or email tips to corinne@azfreenews.com.