Please note that you can leave a comment on any of our posts at our Facebook page.  Subscribers can also comment at length at our Angel's Corner Forum.

SUBSCRIPTION DRIVE – HELP NEEDED!

This is the most important subscription drive in Urgent Agenda's history.  We have been publishing for almost 15 years.  We have the most loyal readership imaginable.  We survive largely because of our readership's support. 

This is a critical election year, and the period after the election will be even more critical.  Our country is in peril.  We believe we perform a useful service in keeping readers informed about the trends we see and can identify.  We are not a newspaper.  We're more of an experienced observer.  We publish seven days a week, 365 days a year. 

If you like what you see, please subscribe or donate.   The ways to do either are given in the right hand column of this page under SUBSCRIPTIONS – directly opposite these words.  If you prefer to use regular mail, just email me at service@urgentagenda.com, and I'll give you instructions. 

We don't have gimmicks or prizes.  We do have a Forum that's published frequently, giving subscribers and donators the chance to write on anything they wish at any reasonable length.

I look forward to welcoming you aboard.

OCTOBER 6, 2022

THE GREATNESS OF ELECTRIC VEHICLES.  Why, I'm overwhelmed at how superior they are, and here's the proof.  Can you not see our future?  Can you not?   From Fox: 

A top Florida state official warned Thursday that firefighters have battled a number of fires caused by electric vehicle (EV) batteries waterlogged from Hurricane Ian.

EV batteries that have been waterlogged in the wake of the hurricane are at risk of corrosion, which could lead to unexpected fires, according to Jimmy Patronis, the state's top financial officer and fire marshal.

"There’s a ton of EVs disabled from Ian. As those batteries corrode, fires start," Patronis tweeted Thursday. "That’s a new challenge that our firefighters haven’t faced before. At least on this kind of scale."

"It takes special training and understanding of EVs to ensure these fires are put out quickly and safely," he continued in a follow-up tweet. "Thanks to [North Collier Fire Rescue] for their hard work."

Patronis published a video of firefighters in Naples, Florida, battling a fire started from a Tesla EV's battery. A bystander is overheard in the video saying that the crew had used hundreds of gallons of water attempting to put the fire out.

Last week, Hurricane Ian pummeled cities along Florida's west coast including Naples and Fort Myers, making landfall as a Category 4 storm. The hurricane caused more than 100 deaths and over a million residents to lose power.

It is unclear how many EVs were impacted or destroyed by the storm.

Meanwhile, consumers are increasingly turning to EVs as the Biden administration continues to push a green transition involving zero-emission cars. Between April and June, EVs accounted for 5.6% of new car purchases in the U.S., up slightly from the first three months of 2022, according to Kelley Blue Book.

Shortly after taking office, President Biden announced a goal of ensuring that 50% of new car sales would be EVs by 2030.

COMMENT:  Can''t wait to get my EV.  So it'll catch fire in a major storm.  So what?  You can't have everything.

Oh, I wonder if the storm knocked out the electric charging stations.  Just askin'.

October 6, 2022       Permalink

THE KEY NATIONAL ISSUE.  FROM FOX: 

The FBI released its annual report on national crime in 2021, showing murders slightly increasing above 2020's historic numbers. The data comes just a month ahead of midterms and as voters say crime is one of their top concerns as they head to the polls.

"No question that the GOP has an advantage on crime, as [Democrats] are still saddled with the ‘defund’ movement from two years ago. Both crime and immigration could play important secondary roles in the campaign, especially if the inflation issue begins to fade. Further, crime is a top concern among suburban women — a key constituency this fall," Neil Newhouse, pollster and co-founder of Public Opinion Strategies, told Fox News Digital earlier this month. 

Murders spiked by nearly 30% in 2020 as the pandemic upended society in unprecedented ways, and as protests and riots demanding that police be defunded erupted during the summer that year. The data marked the largest single-year increase in killings since the agency began tracking the crimes

The murder trend continued in 2021, with FBI data showing murders increased from 22,000 in 2020 to an estimated 22,900 in 2021, marking a 4.3% increase.

For voters, crime looms large ahead of Election Day on Nov. 8.

Polls have shown that the vast majority of Americans see violent crime as a major problem ahead of Election Day, including in a Politico-Morning Consult poll published this week and similar findings from Gallup last month. Crime is often joined by the economy and inflation as top concerns for voters.

The managing editor of Sabato’s Crystal Ball, a campaign and elections newsletter from the University of Virginia (UVA) Center for Politics, told Fox News Digital that it’s unclear whether the FBI report specifically will make any difference to the campaigns but noted that Republicans have leaned into hammering crime on the campaign trail.

COMMENT:   Crime is a major issue wherever it affects residents or their families.  It's also a big issue for parents who send their children to out-of-town school. 

And yet, I fully expect that millions of voters in Democratic big cities will continue to vote Democratic despite their party's catastrophic record on crime.  These are ideological voters who often see criminals as victims of society.  Or, they're people who believe it will never happen to them.  But many voters are sobering up on crime.  There's nothing to concentrate the mind faster than being mugged, or watching in a store as looters strike, laughing all the way.  Crime is an issue you feel,  it's not theoretical.  That's what Republicans must bring home to voters, even as the left-wing press asks, "Crime?  What crime?"

October 6, 2022     Permalink

OCTOBER 5, 2022

THE NEXT PRESIDENT?  COULD BE.  Florida Republican Governor Ron DeSantis is probably the most famous governor in the nation right now.  He is also the odds-on favorite for the GOP presidential nomination in 2024 should Trump not run.  From Breitbart: 

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is enjoying a double-digit lead in support among Florida’s Latino voters, a recent Spectrum News/Siena College survey found.

The survey showed DeSantis holding a comfortable overall lead against his Democrat challenger Rep. Charlie Crist (D-FL), leading 49 percent to Crist’s 41 percent. Seven percent remain unsure of who they would support.

DeSantis happens to enjoy stronger support from his Republican base than Crist sees from Democrats, as 95 percent of Republicans support DeSantis and 90 percent of Democrats support Crist. The governor also leads among independents, 52 percent to the congressman’s 34 percent. 

Further, the survey found that Crist is failing to garner significant support among Latino voters, as DeSantis has a 16 point advantage — 53 percent to 37 percent:

GOVERNOR
(R) Ron DeSantis 49% (+8)
(D) Charlie Crist 41%
Independents
(R) Ron DeSantis 52% (+18)
(D) Charlie Crist 34%
Hispanics
(R) Ron DeSantis 53% (+16)
(D) Charlie Crist 37%

The results coincide with the recent trend seen in key areas of the state. For instance, there are more Republican Hispanic voters in blue Miami-Dade than Hispanic Democrats. And across the state as a whole, registered Republicans are leading Democrats. Further, GOP voters vastly outnumber Democrats in net gains since 2018.

COMMENT:  If DeSantis is re-elected decisively next month, the presidential spotlight will immediately be on him.  If Trump declines to run, I have no doubt that DeSantis will toss his hat in the ring.  But what if Trump runs?  Does that automatically mean that DeSantis will stay out?  I don't think so.  DeSantis knows that this is his time.  He may never be in a better position.  He'll look at the polls, and if challenging Trump looks statistically possible, I'm guessing he'll do it.  It will take some deft diplomacy on the part of Republican Party leaders to handle the mess.  Could be the political fight of the century.

October 5, 2022       Permalink 

A STARTLING REVOLUTION.  FROM THE WASHINGTON FREE BEACON:

A dozen federal judges say they are no longer hiring clerks from Yale Law School, citing a slew of scandals that they say have undermined free speech and intellectual diversity.

In addition to Fifth Circuit judge James Ho, who announced on Thursday that he would no longer hire law clerks from the nation’s top-ranked law school, 12 federal judges—both circuit and district court jurists—told the Washington Free Beacon they are joining the boycott.

"Students should be mindful that they will face diminished opportunities if they go to Yale," said a prominent circuit court judge, whose clerks have gone on to nab Supreme Court clerkships. "I have no confidence that they’re being taught anything."

With one exception, the judges made clear this is a policy they are imposing on future—not current—Yale Law School students.

A spokeswoman for the law school did not respond to a request for comment.

If the boycott catches on among other right-leaning judges, it could deal a serious blow to Yale Law School, which has maintained the top spot in the U.S. News and World Report rankings since the publication began ranking law schools in the 1980s. Clerkships, particularly on the federal bench, are coveted jobs in the legal profession, and many students choose Yale over other elite law schools because its graduates have historically had the best shot of clerking for prominent judges. A boycott could change that calculus, forcing Yale administrators to rein in activist students and colleagues if they want to keep attracting the best and brightest—and if they want to maintain even a fig leaf of ideological diversity.

The judges joining the boycott, all of whom requested anonymity in order to speak freely, cited a series of incidents where they say free speech has come under attack at Yale Law, starting with a September 2021 controversy in which administrators pressured second year law student Trent Colbert to apologize for an email in which he referred to his apartment as a "trap house." The law school’s diversity director Yaseen Eldik, also described Colbert’s membership in the conservative Federalist Society as "triggering," according to leaked audio obtained by the Free Beacon.

Then in March, over a hundred Yale Law students disrupted a bipartisan panel on civil liberties, causing so much chaos that police were called to escort speakers to safety. Though the disruption was an apparent violation of Yale’s free speech policies, Yale Law School dean Heather Gerken ruled out disciplinary action for the protesters. She even denied that the students had transgressed any formal policy, a move that sparked blowback from her colleague, Kate Stith, who warned that Gerken was setting a "terrible precedent."

Another circuit court judge—a top "feeder" for Supreme Court clerkships—said he was "torn" on whether to participate in the boycott, but that the case for it had "gotten stronger" over the past year. "I’ve hired a bunch of great Yale Law clerks," the judge said. But "at some point, the institution becomes so worthless and degenerate that you wonder what conservative would want to be a part of it."

COMMENT:  Wonderful!   This is another step in the small but growing counter-revolution against wokeness.  There are new recruits every day, in colleges, universities, professional schools and local school boards.   Many have had it with rigid, juvenile, left-wing thinking.  Taking on the Yale Law School, with its powerful alumni association, is an act of pure courage.  Best of luck to the new revolutionaries.

October 5, 2022       Permalink