Stigma and language barriers complicate treating Hispanics with Alzheimer’s disease
Border counties in Texas have some of the highest Alzheimer’s diagnosis rates in the nation, with rates ranging from 13% to 18% of people aged 65 and over.
Most Texas border counties lack adequate medical facilities and staff. Local leaders are trying to fix that.
More than 90% of Texas’ 32 border counties don’t have enough primary care services, sites or providers to meet local medical needs, according to federal data.
Conned, exploited, trapped: Romania’s new flock of Asian delivery riders
Names marked with an asterisk have been changed to protect identities. Bucharest, Romania – For six months, Douglas* worked hard at a Bucharest restaurant, cooking more than 200 hamburgers a day in the kitchen. But like many other foreign workers in Romania, he took on a second job delivering takeaway food by motorcycle to supplement his income. On Sundays, his day off from the restaurant, he wakes up at 7.30am in a room provided by his employer. It is crammed, to say the least. Fourteen Sri Lankan men sleep in seven bunk beds, “like in a hospital”, he jokes. Their jackets and towels hang on the edge of the beds. Douglas’s spacious green square backpack, with the words Bolt Food, sits on the floor. He eats rice and lentils for breakfast before getting on his motorcycle for a seven-hour shift, to deliver sushi and pizza to famished customers. Between 2pm and 9pm, he delivers about 14 orders. Afterwards, he eats dinner – rice again, this time with chicken. “The most difficult thing for me is to get used to the idea because I didn’t come for this. But I can do it. I can try for a good salary,” he said. Each week, he makes about 120 Romanian lei ($26) profit as a rider. He pays 250 lei ($54) to rent the motorcycle and 30 lei ($6.50) for petrol. He arrived from Kandy, a lush plateau of tea plantations and Buddhist temples in the heart of Sri Lanka. He had spotted a job offer online last November, to work as a housekeeper in a European Union country. Accommodation and meals would be provided, the advertisement said. The opportunity could see his dreams achieved, he thought. His 12-year-old son – a cricket enthusiast – could eventually study in the United Kingdom after all. He had tried working abroad before, in Dubai, “but it was very expensive”, he said. To secure the European job and work permit, Douglas took on a loan to pay about 3,000 euros ($3,200) to a recruitment agency. A year later, sitting in a café in central Bucharest, he looks over the WhatsApp conversations he had with the agent, a Sri Lankan man. “Things were not as they had told me,” he said. When he arrived in Romania, the job and salary were different from what was initially offered. He had been promised 800 euros ($864) for a housekeeping job, not 500 euros ($540) to flip burgers. “I’m trapped. I can’t go back because I have to pay [off] the loan but earning so little, I don’t know how I’m going to pay it either,” he said with a tired smile. Delivery riders, who often hail from Asia, work relentlessly across Romanian cities [Lola Garcia Ajofrin/Al Jazeera] Ali*, a robust 27-year-old who emigrated with his brother from Colombo in late July, rides for up to 15 hours a day. The siblings had worked as mechanics back home, but “the salary was nothing”, Ali said. Their father knew a Sri Lankan expatriate in Romania, who found them cleaning jobs in Bucharest, but soon after they arrived, their work permits were cancelled. While they get to grips with a new round of paperwork, they deliver food by bike. Food delivery is a booming business in Romania. Tazz, a Romanian enterprise, and international companies such as Glovo, Bolt Food, FoodPanda and Takeaway compete for hungry fingertips in the country’s large cities. According to Glovo, which has 3,000 delivery riders nationally, a rider can earn about 23 lei per hour ($5). Meanwhile, the number of Sri Lankans travelling abroad for work is on the rise. According to Sri Lanka’s labour and foreign employment ministry, more than 300,000 emigrated in 2022. Between January and September this year, more than 200,000 left. Sri Lankans have left the island for a number of reasons – due to security fears after the 2019 Easter Sunday bombings, amid the COVID-19 pandemic and as a result of political and economic crises. The people behind the 100,000 quota Douglas, Ali and several others Al Jazeera interviewed for this story are just some of the people who make up the quota the Romanian government set in 2023, of 100,000 work permits for non-EU workers, a number that will rise to 140,000 in 2024, to alleviate employment gaps. According to The Economist, the Eastern European nation is changing from a country of “emigrants to one of immigrants”. Most of Romania’s foreign workforce, excluding Europeans, are Nepalis. Sri Lankans make up the second largest non-EU expatriate force, with 15,807 people. “It is only in the past year or so that we started to see migrants from Southeast Asia delivering food in the streets of Bucharest,” said Maria-Luiza Apostolescu, a researcher in public policy. “Initially you could see them in the kitchen, in the background.” She said some arrive on a student visa and deliver food part-time, while for others, it’s a second job. But she warned that there are no NGOs supporting “economic migrants”, partly because of a lack of funds. “It is [also] hard for Romanians to understand that other people are coming here to have a better life. We are [usually] the ones who emigrate.” ‘You must assure decent conditions for foreigners’ At the immigration office in Bucharest, an official shouts to the crowd, which has formed into various queues. “If you don’t have an online appointment, get out of the room!” Many waiting are young Asian men. There are also some families. “A significant number of vacant jobs were registered between January and August 2023,” said a spokesperson of the Ministry of Labour, Solidarity and Social Solidarity, citing positions such as couriers, builders, secretaries, kitchen helpers and security guards. “This quota looks very good on paper but if you can’t find Romanian workers, you must assure decent conditions for foreigners,” said Radu Stochita, a Romanian journalist who has investigated the plight of Nepali workers. Like Sri Lankans, many of those from Nepal pay exorbitant sums to recruitment agencies,
US official and Saudi’s MBS discuss sustainable Israel-Palestine peace
White House national security adviser tours Middle East after Biden warned Israel about ‘indiscriminate’ bombing of Gaza. White House national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, has met the crown prince of Saudi Arabia to discuss the war in Gaza and efforts towards creating sustainable peace between Israel and Palestine. Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS) hosted Sullivan on Wednesday during his tour of the Middle East to bolster the United States’s influence in the region. The US official will travel to Israel next to hold talks with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and members of the war cabinet on Thursday and Friday as President Joe Biden has warned that Israel risks losing international support over its “indiscriminate bombing” of civilians in Gaza. Sullivan and MBS discussed “a number of bilateral and regional matters, including ongoing efforts to create new conditions for an enduring and sustainable peace between Israelis and Palestinians”, a White House statement said. They also discussed the humanitarian response in Gaza, including how to increase the flow of critical aid to the besieged enclave, it added. Earlier, US officials said Sullivan would also discuss with the Saudis efforts to deter ongoing Houthi attacks against international commercial vessels in the Red Sea. Officials from the two countries also revisited the possibility of normalising relations between Israel and Saudi Arabia, which was interrupted by the October 7 Hamas attack and subsequent Israeli offensive. All sides have said they want to resurrect the deal when the time is right. Sullivan and MBS also discussed areas of deepening bilateral cooperation in the fields of security, commerce, space exploration, and advanced technologies, including open radio access (O-Ran) networks, the White House said. [embedded content] US-Israel relations Sullivan’s visit to Israel on Thursday comes after the sharp comments Biden made on Tuesday about Israel’s “indiscriminate” bombing of civilians in Gaza. “[Israel] has most of the world supporting them,” Biden told donors during a political fundraiser in the US. “[But] they’re starting to lose that support by indiscriminate bombing that takes place.” He also said Israel “can’t say no” to a Palestinian state, which Israeli hardliners, including in Netanyahu’s government, have opposed. Washington has been calling for weeks for Israel to take more care to avoid civilian casualties in Gaza, saying too many Palestinian people have been killed. Sullivan will discuss with the Israelis the need to be more precise with their strikes against Hamas targets, spokesperson John Kirby told reporters. More than 18,000 Palestinians have been killed and nearly 50,000 others wounded in the Israeli assault on Gaza since October 7. Israel launched its onslaught in response to a raid by Hamas fighters from Gaza who killed about 1,100 people in southern Israel. [embedded content] Adblock test (Why?)
Pakistan extends deadline for Afghans awaiting third-country resettlement
More than 450,000 Afghans have left the country since Pakistani authorities launched a deportation drive in October. Islamabad, Pakistan – The Pakistani government has announced that undocumented Afghans awaiting paperwork to resettle to a third country will be allowed to stay in Pakistan for two more months. The extension of the deadline on Wednesday from the end of this year to February 29 comes amid Pakistan’s drive to expel more than one million foreigners living in the country without paperwork. According to the United Nations refugee agency (UNHCR), more than 450,000 people have returned to neighbouring Afghanistan since the deportation campaign began in early October. Ninety percent of them did so “voluntarily”, according to the Pakistani government, but the UNHCR says they cited fear of arrest as the primary reason for their decision to leave. Announcing the extension, interim information minister Murtaza Solangi said anybody overstaying the new deadline would be fined $100 monthly, with a cap set at $800. “These measures were aimed at encouraging the Afghans residing illegally in Pakistan to obtain legal documents or finalise evacuation agreements as soon as possible in a third country,” Solangi added. The announcement followed a visit to Pakistan by US State Department officials to discuss the issue of Afghan refugees. It is estimated that nearly 25,000 Afghans require paperwork for resettlement in the United States. Pakistan estimates that more than 1.7 million Afghan nationals have long lived in the country without documents, with the majority arriving in different waves since the Soviet invasion in 1979. The last such major influx of an estimated 600,000 to 800,000 people took place two years ago after the Taliban took control of Afghanistan. Pakistani authorities have cited a dramatic surge in violence this year – there have been more than 600 attacks in the first 11 months of 2023 – for the deportation drive. Interim Interior Minister Sarfraz Bugti said in October that 14 out of 24 suicide attacks in the country over that period were carried out by Afghan nationals. He did not provide any evidence. The Taliban has denied any accusations of providing shelter to fighters, maintaining their position that Afghanistan’s soil is not being used for cross-border violence. Adblock test (Why?)
Canisters were in…: Accused Manoranjan reveals details on how Parliament attack was planned
The group that planned the security breach found value in what Manoranjan witnessed in July at the old Parliament building because the canisters were concealed inside the shoes.
GOP senator wants immediate vote to bar federal tax dollars for colleges that fail to condemn antisemitism
Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., is demanding an immediate vote on a bill he is co-sponsoring that would rescind funding for colleges that do not condemn antisemitism on campus. Scott told Fox News Digital in an interview that the call for a vote on the bill — drafted by Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., in October — comes after Harvard refused to take action against university President Claudine Gay after her testimony before the House Education and the Workforce Committee hearing this month. During the hearing, Gay said that calls on campus for the genocide of Jews require “context” before they would violate the school’s code of conduct. “I don’t think you ought to be going to schools that don’t want to stop antisemitism, and we’ll call it for what it is,” Rick Scott said. “And so, I think that I think that we ought to outlaw this.” Scott added, “This is absolute hatred, and our schools should not be allowing this.” SEN RUBIO INTRODUCES BILL TO BAN FEDERAL TAX DOLLARS TO PRO-TERRORIST ACTIVITIES ON COLLEGE CAMPUSES The bill, known as the Stop Antisemitism on College Campuses Act, would “prohibit institutions of higher education that authorize Anti-Semitic events on campus from participating in the student loan and grant programs,” according to the bill text. It was introduced in the upper chamber last month. Other co-sponsors include Republican Sens. Marsha Blackburn, Katie Britt, John Cornyn, Joni Ernst, Cindy Hyde-Smith, James Lankford and Ted Budd. This isn’t the first attempt by Republican lawmakers to call out reported antisemitism on college campuses. Last month, Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., tried to pass a resolution with unanimous support that would condemn antisemitism on college campuses. Democrat Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., blocked the resolution from advancing. Van Hollen argued that most of the pro-Palestine protests across U.S. campuses were not violent, “as repugnant as some of them were in terms of the words.” He said the resolution would “smear all of the students who engage in these protests,” potentially violating First Amendment rights. HAWLEY TAPS DOJ TO INVESTIGATE PRO-PALESTINIAN STUDENT GROUPS’ POTENTIAL TIES TO HAMAS CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP Also last month, Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., introduced the Ending Subsidies for Pro-Terrorist Activities on Campus Act, which would designate terrorist-related activity as grounds for disqualification from federal student aid. Rubio cited several student groups on college campuses that have shown support for Hamas, the Islamist terrorist group, after its attack on Israel. Since the Oct. 7 massacre carried out by Hamas, Jewish students nationwide have experienced a surge in incidents like vandalism, arson and harassment.
Hunter Biden claimed he didn’t ‘stand to gain anything’ in controversial Burisma role despite making millions
FIRST ON FOX: Hunter Biden previously claimed he didn’t “stand to gain anything” from his role on the board of Ukrainian energy firm Burisma despite it leading to him making millions of dollars. He made the claim in a May 15, 2014 email recovered from his infamous abandoned laptop, which revealed he was considering writing an op-ed to push back on what he perceived were misleading reports about his then-new role on the Burisma board. However, emails from weeks earlier and the millions of dollars he would later make contradict his claim. “So you think it makes sense for me to write some sort of op/ed explaining my role as an independent director with no equity interest in the company. The objective would be to clarify that I don’t ‘work’ for Burisma and that I don’t stand to gain anything as I am not an equity shareholder in the company,” Hunter wrote. WASH POST ADMITS HUNTER BIDEN’S BURISMA BOARD MEMBERSHIP ‘SHOULD HAVE BEEN A SCANDAL’ WHEN HIS DAD WAS VP “My decision to join the board was made in the context of lending support and ‘western’ corporate governance standards to a vital Ukrainian company and industry under siege from pro-Putin/ Russian forces,” he added. Despite Hunter’s claims, the wheels were already in motion for then-Vice President Biden’s son to make a lucrative salary from Burisma. One day before Hunter’s email, a top Burisma executive sent an email that said they planned on paying “monthly fees” to the directors as previously discussed, referring to Hunter Biden and his now-former business partner Devon Archer, among a couple others. A follow-up email noted that the wires were “received” for Hunter and Archer. An email Biden sent a month earlier to Archer shows Hunter was actively strategizing how the pair could capitalize on their board memberships and expand their business. In one section, Hunter appears to be attempting to leverage his connections with his father, then-Vice President Joe Biden, in order to boost his potential pay, including saying that his contract with Burisma should include “a retainer in the range of 25k p/m [with] additional fees where appropriate for more in depth work to go to [law firm Boies, Schiller, Flexner] for our protection.” Hunter’s pay per month ended up being more than double that proposed figure. Citing bank records, the House Oversight Committee investigating Biden’s foreign business dealings said Hunter and Archer reached a deal with the firm to be paid $1 million per year, which the committee said equated to approximately $83,333 per month. A couple of these payments rolled in mid-April 2014 and then more payments arrived on May 15, 2014, the same day Hunter said that he didn’t “stand to gain anything.” Hunter and Archer each received a $83,333 payment to Rosemont Seneca Bohai and would continue to receive identical payments until late 2015 when Hunter’s payments were switched to his corporate account, Owasco P.C. JORDAN SAYS HUNTER BIDEN MADE A ‘HUGE CHANGE’ BY SAYING HIS FATHER WAS ‘NOT FINANCIALLY INVOLVED’ IN BUSINESS The committee reported that the two men received approximately $3.32 million in 2014 and 2015 alone, and $6.5 million total, according to FBI whistleblower testimony. Other emails showed Biden thanking a top Burisma executive for birthday gifts he described as “far too extravagant” less than two months before the top Ukraine prosecutor investigating the energy company was infamously fired. “V- Thanks so much,” Hunter wrote in the email to Vadym Pozharskyi, an adviser to Burisma’s board, asking him to thank “Nikolay” for the gifts, appearing to refer to Burisma’s founder and former president, Mykola Zlochevsky, who also went by “Nikolay.” WATCH: WHITE HOUSE SAYS BIDEN ‘PROUD’ OF HUNTER DESPITE MOUNTING LEGAL ISSUES, SUBPOENA DEFIANCE “Let Nikolay know how much I appreciate his friendship and loyalty. I truly believe in what we are doing and I’m proud to say I am a part of this organization. And I am so glad you and I are on the same team,” Hunter wrote. The committee has also been investigating whether President Biden was involved in Hunter’s business dealings, something the latter denied Wednesday during a press conference outside the U.S. Capitol ahead of what was supposed to be his appearing for a deposition as a result of a congressional subpoena. “My father was not financially involved in my business,” Hunter said. “No evidence to support that my father was financially involved in my business because it did not happen.” Hunter’s recent indictment last week in California, which includes 9 new tax-related charges, talks about how he “earned handsomely” while serving on Burisma’s board and his involvement with CEFC China Energy Co Ltd, a Chinese energy conglomerate, but failed to pay over $1M in federal income taxes over the course of a “four-year scheme.” Fox News Digital has reached out to representatives of Hunter for comment.
DOJ prosecutor accused of limiting questions on Biden during Hunter probe expected to appear for deposition
The assistant U.S. attorney who is accused of limiting questions related to President Biden during the federal investigation into Hunter Biden is expected to be deposed at the House Judiciary Committee on Thursday morning, all while the whistleblowers who made the allegations against her testify at a separate committee. Assistant U.S. Attorney Lesley Wolf was subpoenaed last month for a deposition. She is expected to sit behind closed doors at the House Judiciary Committee at 10 a.m. on Thursday. HUNTER BIDEN INVESTIGATORS LIMITED QUESTIONS ABOUT ‘DAD,’ ‘BIG GUY’ DESPITE FBI, IRS OBJECTIONS: WHISTLEBLOWER Over at the House Ways and Means Committee, the whistleblowers who put Wolf’s work under the microscope will sit for a closed-door hearing during the committee’s executive session on Tuesday at 10:30 a.m. Gary Shapley, who led the IRS’ portion of the Hunter Biden probe, and Joseph Ziegler, a 13-year special agent within the IRS’ Criminal Investigation Division, are expected to speak to the panel. Shapley and Ziegler have alleged political influence surrounding prosecutorial decisions throughout the Hunter Biden investigation, which began in 2018. Shapley alleged that Wolf sought to block investigators from asking questions related to President Biden throughout the years-long federal investigation into his son, Hunter Biden. Specifically, Shapley alleged that Wolf worked to “limit” questioning related to President Biden and apparent references to Biden as “dad” or “the big guy.” Wolf allegedly said there was “no specific criminality to that line of questioning” relating to President Biden, which Shapley said “upset the FBI.” COMER, JORDAN DEMAND HUNTER BIDEN APPEAR FOR DEPOSITION, SAY HE WILL NOT RECEIVE ‘SPECIAL TREATMENT’ In October 2020, Wolf reviewed an affidavit for a search warrant of Hunter Biden’s residence and “agreed that probable cause had been achieved,” Shapley testified. However, Shapley said Wolf ultimately would not allow a physical search warrant on the president’s son. Shapley said Wolf determined there was “enough probable cause for the physical search warrant there, but the question was whether the juice was worth the squeeze.” Wolf allegedly said that “optics were a driving factor in the decision on whether to execute a search warrant,” Shapley said, adding that Wolf agreed that “a lot of evidence in our investigation would be found in the guest house of former Vice President Biden, but said there is no way we will get that approved.” Wolf also allegedly tipped off Hunter Biden’s legal team ahead of a planned search of his storage unit. The whistleblowers’ testimony before Ways and Means and Wolf’s deposition at Judiciary comes as part of the House impeachment inquiry against President Biden. House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Jason Smith, R-Mo., Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, and Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., are leading the investigation as the House gathers evidence and considers whether to draft articles of impeachment against President Biden. COMER DEFENDS PRIVATE DEPOSITION OF HUNTER BIDEN, VOWS TO RELEASE TRANSCRIPT AND HOLD PUBLIC HEARING The committees are investigating the alleged politicization of the federal probe into Hunter Biden. They are also investigating the Biden family’s foreign business dealings and whether the president was involved or benefited directly from those ventures. President Biden has repeatedly denied having any involvement in his son’s business dealings. Hunter Biden defied his subpoena to appear for a deposition at the House Oversight Committee on Wednesday. Instead, he made a public statement on Capitol Hill, blasting the Republican impeachment inquiry and saying his father was “not financially involved” in his business dealings. Comer and Jordan have threatened to hold Hunter Biden in contempt of Congress. Hunter Biden’s public statement Wednesday came just days after he was charged out of Special Counsel David Weiss’ investigation. Weiss alleged Hunter Biden was engaged in a “four-year scheme” when the president’s son did not pay his federal income taxes from January 2017 to October 2020 while also filing false tax reports. Weiss filed the charges in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California. The charges break down to three felonies and six misdemeanors concerning $1.4 million in owed taxes that were since paid. Weiss also indicted Hunter Biden in September with federal gun charges, to which the president’s son has pleaded not guilty. Biden’s defense attorney, Abbe Lowell, this week moved to dismiss those charges altogether. Weiss’s investigation is ongoing.
Energy experts bash John Kerry’s UN deal to shut down fossil fuels
U.S. energy experts heavily criticized the United Nations’ sweeping agreement Wednesday to completely end fossil fuel reliance across the world, arguing that the pact would only serve to harm American national and energy security. The agreement was announced during the U.N.’s now-concluded COP28 climate summit in Dubai, which was extended with an “overtime” period as delegates hammered out a deal with commitments related to future fossil fuel usage and other climate-related priorities. The so-called global stocktake represented the first U.N. agreement of its kind to include language calling for nations to transition “away from fossil fuels.” “While diplomats are fearmongering about projected minuscule temperature changes, billions of men, women and children around the world would rejoice at the opportunity to enjoy reliable electricity that fossil fuels provide,” American Energy Institute CEO Jason Isaac told Fox News Digital. “Lunatics with the U.N. are inhumanely attempting to bribe countries into phasing out fossil fuels but [have] no realistic means for replacing the products and energy those hydrocarbons produce,” he continued. “Meanwhile, the Biden administration turns a blind eye to Iranian oil sanction and the spigot is flowing right to China, which is now refining the products that move the world: diesel and jet fuel.” TOP POWER GRID WATCHDOG WARNS FOSSIL FUEL SHUTDOWNS COULD DESTABILIZE FUTURE RELIABILITY Isaac added that the COP28 agreement ultimately “won’t be worth the paper it’s printed on” given the history of nations failing to meet other U.N. climate objectives and agreements. Special Presidential Envoy for Climate John Kerry, who led the U.S. delegation at the summit, applauded the agreement for delivering a significant piece of “climate action.” EXPERTS RAISE ALARM AFTER BIDEN STRIKES AGREEMENT WITH CHINA TO SHUT DOWN FOSSIL FUELS “The United States supported this call for clearer language about the need to largely phase out fossil fuels, but we know this was a compromise between many parties. And that does not detract from its significance,” Kerry remarked during a press conference Wednesday. “This text also aligns with the decisions the marketplace has already made,” he said. “The message coming out of this COP is that we are moving away from fossil fuels and we are not turning back.” Overall, the top-line goal of the agreement, which COP28 President Sultan Al Jaber characterized as a “historic achievement,” is to ensure future carbon emissions reductions and limit global warming to just 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels. The world has already warmed about one degree above pre-industrial levels, according to the U.S. In addition to the pledge to phase out fossil fuels, it calls for a tripling of renewable energy capacity by 2030, includes a firm commitment to shutter coal-fired power generation, calls for greater proliferation of electric vehicles, endorses carbon capture technology and disavows fossil fuel subsidies. DEM, GOP REPS RAISE ALARM THAT BIDEN ADMIN LOOKING OTHER WAY ON SOLAR INDUSTRY’S ALLEGED FORCED LABOR TIES “Thankfully, the COP28 agreement is just the latest do-nothing agreement to come out of the U.N. climate meetings … blah-blah-blah, as Greta Thunberg might say,” Steve Milloy, a senior legal fellow at the Energy & Environment Legal Institute, told Fox News Digital. “After 28 U.N. climate meetings, emissions have increased 50% with no end in sight, per a pre-COP28 U.N. report.” “There are no enforceable commitments to cut emissions or fossil fuel use and no requirements for rich countries to pay poor countries for climate,” Milloy added. “Next year, the COP29 circus will be held in Azerbaijan, another oil producing country. So, the climate farce will continue, as will fossil fuel use and emissions.” Power the Future, which advocates for energy workers, noted recent headwinds facing green energy development in the U.S., pointing in particular to the recent cancellation of a major offshore wind project green-lit by the Biden administration and Ford Motor Co.’s decision this month to cut back on its electric vehicle production. “This joke of an agreement really only has two goals: Allow Joe Biden to continue his war on American energy and ensure these elitists have something to do before next year’s COP29 exclusive junket,” Power the Future founder and Executive Director Daniel Turner said. “These unelected bureaucrats can smile as they board their carbon-spewing private jets knowing feckless leaders like Joe Biden will continue to do their bidding in pursuit of a fanciful and misguided agenda,” Turner added.