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SEPTEMBER 17-18, 2022

THE START OF THE WAKING UP:  At last, even news reporters are starting to ask serious questions about electric cars.   The left may be horrified that anyone would question the genius behind these God-given vehicles, which clearly will save us from being flooded up to the 82nd floor of the Empire State Building.  But, alas, questions are being asked, and some of the askers are political leaders.  From Fox: 

Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., dismissed California's intent to ban sales of gas-powered cars by 2035, arguing that until there is new battery technology, electric cars will still be relying on fossil fuels for power.

During a press conference held at Resurrection Muscle Cars in West Palm Beach, Florida, Rubio fielded a question from Fox News Digital about California's ban, which the state approved soon before a heat wave led to an advisory for residents to limit charging their electric cars.

"Well, if they’re going to go to all battery-powered cars, then I guess they’re going to be charging their cars with coal and natural gas because that’s how you produce electricity because they don’t like nuclear plants," Rubio pointed out. "And I don’t think you can generate enough power for a state like California based on solar and wind. So in the end, it’s self-defeating."

Rubio did not oppose the idea of electric cars in general, and he was even confident that there will be technological advancements that make them practical and more prevalent.

"I don’t think you’re going to get there through government mandates that force you to get to that point," he said.

Republicans criticized California's ban when soon after the state's power grid operator said that a heat wave over Labor Day weekend could necessitate people not charging their cars in the evening hours to ease the burden placed on the grid.

"I think the silliness of it is, you’re going to ban electric cars by 2030, but you’re telling people please don’t charge your electric cars during the day because it’s putting pressure on the grid," Rubio said.

The Florida senator reiterated that he thinks the U.S. is "going to get there" when it comes to electric cars in time. 

"But when you try to get there before the science gets there, the only thing you’re going to do is create ridiculous outcomes, heavier burdens, heavier costs, and in the end, people are going to go to Nevada and buy gasoline-powered cars and bring them back into California," he said.

COMMENT:  That's called common sense, a phrase that the Democratic Party would like to ban.   I welcome the new skepticism surrounding electric vehicles.  It's long overdue.  These are not miracle machines.  They are a form of technology that is far from developed, and may create more problems than it solves.

September 18, 2022     Permalink

THE OTHER NEW BRITISH LEADER:  Britain got a new king last week, but, possibly more important in terms of governing, a new prime minister as well.  So far, she's making the right moves.  From PJ MEDIA: 

The news of the death of Queen Elizabeth II and the round-the-clock coverage of her upcoming funeral has almost made us forget that the UK also has a new prime minister. Liz Truss won the heated contest to replace Boris Johnson as the leader of the Conservative (Tory) Party and thus moved into 10 Downing Street as prime minister.

On Truss’s third day in office, her monarch died, which put politics on the back burner, but she kicked off the Liz Truss era in a head-turning way. She began leading the Tories and governing her nation as an actual conservative.

Tom Harris, a former Labour member of Parliament, writes at the Telegraph about what we’ve seen of Truss so far as prime minister.

“At least for now, she seems to have brought a clear philosophy back to government, a philosophy that, however opposed it might be in some quarters, is at least recognisable,” Harris writes. “It differs from the politics of the previous regime in that it is distinctly Conservative: small state, low tax, less nanny statism.”

It’s a far cry from the last several Tory prime ministers who talked a conservative talk but have often avoided walking a conservative walk.

Harris cites the move by Truss’s pick for Chancellor of the Exchequer, Kwasi Karteng, to buck the European trend of capping the bonuses that bankers can earn as a bold move. He writes that “the motivation and long-termism embraced by Kwasi Kwarteng is at least clear and sound. In a post-Brexit world, there is much to be gained in making London the world’s most attractive capital in which to conduct financial business.”

Another positive step for the Truss government is backing off from the “war on obesity” that brought nanny-state intervention to the kitchen and the restaurant table...

...To these bold, conservative moves, I would add Truss’s removal of the UK’s ban on fracking in the North Sea, a move that could do much to lower energy prices for the British public.

“The lifting of the moratorium on so-called fracking was part of a package of measures announced on Thursday [Sept. 8, the same day Queen Elizabeth passed away] to tackle soaring energy prices that are hammering households and businesses, reported Bloomberg last week. “Even with the renewed government support, the shale gas industry still faces an uncertain road, with significant opposition from local communities and challenges related to the country’s geology.”

COMMENT:  These are the things we like to see.  Truss has a bit of the Maggie Thatcher in her.  Of course, if worldwide economic conditions darken, the British people might foolishly turn to the leftist, often irresponsible Labour Party for immediate relief.  Not a good prospect.  We will cheer Liz Truss and root for her success.

September 17, 2022     Permalink 

SEPTEMBER 15-16, 2022

WHAT AN HONOR:  The race to the bottom, from Daily Mail: 

New Orleans overtook St. Louis as the US murder capital in the first half of this year, as the city struggles with its lowest police staffing level in modern history amid a crisis of officer morale. 

In the first six months of 2022, New Orleans recorded 41 murders per 100,000 population, a higher homicide rate than any other US city, according to a Wall Street Journal analysis of data from the Major Cities Chiefs Association. 

By comparison, the first-half murder rate per 100,000 was 11.5 in Chicago, 4.8 in Los Angeles and 2.4 in New York City.

In New Orleans, the homicide rate has soared 141 percent compared with 2019, while shootings are up 100 percent, carjackings up 210 percent and armed robberies up 25 percent, according to the city's Metropolitan Crime Commission.

A separate analysis from Rochester Institute of Technology ranked St. Louis as the US murder capital last year, with a full-year murder rate of 61 per 100,000. 

New Orleans would easily top that if the current 2022 trend holds, with a full-year murder rate of 82, compared to the city's second-place rate of 56 last year. 

Because the FBI has not released its nationwide Unified Crime Report since the 2019 reporting year, comparing the murder rates in different cities has become fraught with difficulty at times.

However, the sources available show that violent crime rates have soared in many cities across the country, a surge that follows psychological and financial stress from the pandemic as well as police cutbacks in response to Black Lives Matter protests.

In New Orleans, the police budget has actually increased significantly in 2022, rising to $215 million from $178 million in 2021.

It's about $570 per resident, approaching the city that spends the most per capita on police, New York, where the outlay for the massive police department is about $653 per resident. 

Hoping to beef up its meager police department, New Orleans officials last week announced a three-year $80 million plan offering raises for all officers, free health care and $30,000 in incentive payments for new hires. 

Some in New Orleans have blamed soaring crime rates on Mayor LaToya Cantrell, a Democrat who was re-elected last year, accusing her of failing to be tough on crime. 

But Cantrell blames a decade-old pact with the Justice Department that she says has made it difficult to recruit new police officers by putting their actions under microscopic scrutiny.

COMMENT:  New York, under Mayors Giuliani and Bloomberg, lowered its murder rate 80%, making New York the safest large city in the world.   You'd think other cities would follow the New York methods.  But, sadly, politics, and especially racial politics, too often get in the way.  In addition, there are leftist blocks in some large cities, including cities in the South, who believe that criminals are simply victims of society, and should be treated as such.

And that is the way civilizations commit suicide.

September 15-16       Permalink

COURAGE, AND THAT'S WHAT IT TAKES:  A new group of college professors put their careers on the line by forming an organization promoting real free speech on college campuses.  You may be sure that each professor will be targeted for this outrageous stand.  From College Fix:

Professors from across the state of California and a wide range of scholarly disciplines have one major thing in common — they are willing to defend free speech and academic freedom at a time when doing so publicly can literally put their jobs in jeopardy.

Nearly 160 professors from all 23 California State University campuses have signed an open letter stating “intellectual discourse and scholarly truth-seeking require open debate and free inquiry.”

“All ideas are subject to scrutiny and critique. Illiberal tactics that silence opinions and discourage dissent in the academy should be rejected,” the letter states, citing tactics such as mandatory ideological statements, cancel culture and administrative discipline without due process as part of the problem.

The open letter comes at a time when professors are expected to support diversity, equity and inclusion in efforts such as teaching, research and service — mandatory criteria during hiring and tenure reviews.

San Diego State University English Professor Peter Herman, one of the letter’s signers, praised his fellow signatories for their courage.

“It is one thing for full professors to sign a letter like this, it is quite another for an associate, an assistant, and God knows, an adjunct — a lecturer — to sign something like this,” said Herman, a full professor, in an interview with The College Fix.

A few like-minded professors from across the system, which employs about 56,000 faculty and staff, began to connect online about a year ago to discuss concerns about how diversity, equity and inclusion requirements on campuses have actually stifled open debate and free inquiry.

“The talk on campus is about building community, but it is a forced community,” said Arlette Baljon, an associate professor of physics at San Diego State University and another of the letter’s signers, in an interview with The College Fix.

During their online meetings, the scholars “felt free to express opinions that, until then, were either whispered in hallways or kept to themselves,” according to the group’s organizers.

The open letter is a result of that budding online group.

COMMENT:  Definitely read the rest.  It is well worth it.  Our kids aren't being educated in college.  They're being indoctrinated, and every indoctrinated student becomes an ideological soldier for this nation's enemies.  In fact, that may be the whole point of the thing, but so-called journalists refuse to ask probing questions. 

September 15-16     Permalink

A KEY DEVELOPMENT THAT WILL DELAY THE "CASE" AGAINST PRESIDENT TRUMP:  A special master has been appointed.  From The Hill: 

A federal judge on Thursday denied the Justice Department’s motion to access the classified records stored at Mar-a-Lago and installed a recently retired judge to serve as the special master former President Trump requested.

The duo of orders from federal district Judge Aileen Cannon will ignite a Department of Justice (DOJ) appeal to the 11th Circuit and also selects Judge Raymond Dearie to serve as the special master — the one candidate both the DOJ and Trump’s legal team could agree on.

The order requires Dearie to complete his review by Nov. 30 — a slightly shorter deadline than the 90-day window Trump requested, but one that punts the determination past the midterms. In a rare instance of siding with the DOJ, Cannon required Trump to pay for the full cost associated with a special master.

Cannon’s decision came after the DOJ asked for a partial stay of the judge’s motion, arguing they should be able to review the more than 100 classified documents taken during the search as Trump could have no possible claim to the records as either personal property or under executive privilege.

“If the court were willing to accept the government’s representations that select portions of the seized materials are—without exception—government property not subject to any privileges, and did not think a special master would serve a meaningful purpose, the court would have denied plaintiff’s special master request,” Cannon wrote.

“The court does not find it appropriate to accept the government’s conclusions on these important and disputed issues without further review by a neutral third party in an expedited and orderly fashion.”

The order is the latest blow to the DOJ, where the investigation based on those documents is largely blocked until the completion of the review. While the intelligence community-led damage assessment of the fallout from the mishandling of the documents has been allowed to continue, the DOJ made clear it will be difficult to complete while the FBI is siloed from its other intelligence partners.

Dearie only announced his full retirement in late August from the U.S. District Court for Eastern New York after working as a senior judge since 2011. While he was initially proposed by Trump, in a later filing the DOJ agreed to his possible selection, listing him as among the proposed candidates with “substantial judicial experience … including federal cases involving national security and privilege concerns.”

A Reagan appointee, Dearie has worked as a judge since 1986, including a seven-year stint on the U.S. Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, or FISA court.

During that time Dearie was among the judges to approve the 2016 warrant to surveil Trump campaign foreign policy adviser Carter Page as the Justice Department investigated Russian interference in the presidential election.

COMMENT:  A good development.  Dearie's experience – and he may have been lied to as a FISA judge – provides a strong credential.  There is no point in speculating about what he'll find.  But he seems a trustworthy guy.

September 14, 2022       Permalink