From my friends at Power Line Blog:
Tag Archives: Power Line Blog
This Green Energy Thing Just Isn’t Working
On Friday, John Hinderaker posted an article at Power Line Blog about the current state of green energy.
The article reports:
Wind and solar are both terrible methods of generating electricity, both expensive and unreliable. The one thing that can make the situation worse is the drive to electrify everything, including motor vehicles. The impracticality of this “green” vision has become blindingly obvious, and the “green” movement has begun to fall apart.
The article cites a few recent articles on the subject.
From the Telegraph: “Electricity prices ‘must rise by 70pc to pay for more wind farms.’”
No new wind farms will be built off Britain’s shores unless the Government lets operators earn more money from the electricity they produce, the chief of the nation’s biggest generator has said.
Tom Glover, country chair of RWE’s UK arm, said the price offered by the Government to wind farm operators must rise by as much as 70pc to entice companies to build.
***
His warning follows the disastrous result of the last offshore wind allocation round in September, which ended in a humiliation for ministers with not one company offering to build new offshore wind farms.
From Robert Bryce: “Ford Lost $62,016 For Every EV It Sold In 3Q.”
The bloodbath in Ford Motor Company’s EV division continues. On Thursday, Ford reported an operating loss of $1.3 billion in its EV division during the third quarter. That translates into a loss of $62,016 for each of the 20,962 EVs it sold during the period.
That’s a smaller loss than the company recorded in the second quarter, when it lost $72,762 for each EV and the $66,446 it lost per EV during the first quarter.
***
In its October 26 press release, Ford provided an additional comment on the EV losses, saying, “According to the company, many North America customers interested in buying EVs are unwilling to pay premiums for them over gas or hybrid vehicles, sharply compressing EV prices and profitability.” …
That’s a truth bomb of the first order, one to which veteran observers of the EV hype should rightly reply, “ya think?” Consumers, that is, consumers who aren’t part of the Benz and Beemer crowd, have been unwilling to pay premiums for EVs throughout the century-long history of the EV business. The question that Ford shareholders should be asking the company’s management, and CEO Jim Farley in particular, is obvious: “What the hell took you so long to recognize that customers aren’t willing to pay high prices for EVs?”
I don’t know if I can ever forgive Ford for what it did to the Mustang!
This is what happens when the government interferes in the free market.
This Was Election Interference; No Penalties Were Paid
On Saturday, Scott Johnson posted an article at Power Line Blog about a recent television interview with former CIA Director Leon Panetta. Leon Panetta was one of the 51 people who signed the letter declaring information about Hunter Biden’s laptop as Russian disinformation. It should be noted that the FBI and other government agencies knew at the time that the laptop was real. It should also be noted that no one has been held accountable either for the information on the laptop or for lying about the laptop.
The article notes:
If you need a refresher, review Natasha Bertrand’s October 19, 2020 Politico story on the letter. Politico posted the letter here. (Bertrand now works as a “National Security Reporter” for CNN.)
The letter an information operation, but it was a Biden campaign information operation assisted by the campaign’s press adjunct. Appearing on Fox News’ Special Report yesterday to discuss the Hamas/Israel war, Bret Baier asked Panetta if he stands by the letter (video below). Of course he does. The man has no shame. He’s still dirty after all these years.
So you were part of a deliberate lie that influenced an election, and you have no regrets. How sad for you.
Israel At War
Today, John Hinderaker posted an article at Power Line Blog about Hamas’ attack on Israel this morning. The article makes a connection between the six billion dollars we recently gave Iran access to in a prisoner swap and the attack. That connection is real.
The article quotes The London Times:
The British government believes that Iran is linked to the Hamas attack on Israel and that the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) is likely to have played a role in training and the supply of weapons (Dipesh Gadher writes).
A Whitehall source said: “The Revolutionary Guards have their fingerprints all over this multifaceted attack. Hamas is just another tool in Iran’s campaign against the West.”
***
Members of the Iranian parliament were shown on state television today chanting: “Palestine will be victorious, Israel will be destroyed.”
The article at Power Line Blog notes:
Where would Iran get the money to finance the Palestinians’ war? Oh, that’s right. We just gave them $6 billion.
It should also be noted that there is a strong possibility that some of the weapons used against Israel were weapons America left behind in Afghanistan.
Fox News is reporting today:
At least 250 people have been killed since Hamas terrorists started firing rockets and slaughtering Israelis near the Gaza Strip over the weekend, officials say.
Israeli officials say that at least 250 people were killed, making the conflict one of the deadliest attacks in the country’s history. At least 1,500 people were also wounded.
The Palestinian Health Ministry reported that at least 232 people in the Gaza Strip were killed, with 1,700 others wounded.
Hamas soldiers surprised the Israeli military with their attacks on Saturday, which coincided with a major Jewish holiday called Simchat Torah. October also marks the 50th anniversary of the Yom Kippur War.
The amount of Israeli civilians and soldiers that Hamas militants have taken captive is unknown. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu responded to the violence by vowing to retaliate.
The Covenant of the Islamic Resistance Movement (HAMAS) calls for the removal of Israel. As long as that is part of their charter, a two-state solution is not possible. Right now, Israel has an armed enemy camp on its border. It’s very hard to make peace with people who want to drive you into the sea. There will not be peace in the Middle East until the Arab terrorists accept the existence of Israel as fact and stop trying to destroy the nation.
Cultural Changes In Political Parties
On Monday, John Hinderaker at Power Line Blog posted an article about some of the cultural changes in America and how they are reflected in the two major political parties.
The article includes the following chart from Gallup via Breitbart:
The article reports:
Note that in 1999, there was no significant difference between the parties. Here, as in so many other respects, Republicans have stayed pretty much the same, while Democrats have engaged in a mad dash to the left.
It would be interesting to know exactly what caused that shift–our education system, media, social media, etc., are probably all involved. Facebook was launched in 2005. Instagram was launched in 2010. Facebook is now grandmothers posting kid and grandkid pictures. Instagram and TikTok are more likely to be used by younger people. The largest group of Twitter users are between the ages of 25 and 34. MTV went on the air in 1981. All of these media sources have had an impact on our culture. It should be noted that TikTok is Chinese-Communist controlled and American children who watch TikTok see very different things than Chinese children who watch TikTok. American children see sexual content, transgender things, and things you would find on America’s Funniest Home Videos; Chinese children see science experiments, museum trips, and educational videos.
Being Kind To Our Enemies While Dissing Our Friends
It is no secret that the Biden administration would like to reach a nuclear deal with Iran some time in the next year. The administration sees that deal as a potential ‘feather in its cap.’ The fact that the deal would not be worth the paper it would be printed on is purely incidental. The fact that it would not only give Iran a green light to create a nuclear bomb, but also require American taxpayers to fund that bomb is also not to be mentioned. After all, a feather in a cap is a feather in a cap.
On Wednesday, Scott Johnson at Power Line Blog posted an article a recent U.S. Strategic Command (STRATCOM) symposium on deterrence.
The article quotes a Washington Free Beacon Newsletter:
WHAT WE’RE WATCHING: Making plans for a symposium on deterrence, U.S. Strategic Command (STRATCOM) decided that a top Iranian official cum Princeton professor, Hussein Mousavian, would make a good keynote speaker. Mousavian last made headlines when he was captured on Iranian television smirking about the regime’s threats to assassinate U.S. officials. He showed up in Nebraska to lavish praise on the defunct nuclear agreement and urge mutual nuclear disarmament. Our Adam Kredo has the story.
This is the video of the speech:
The article concludes:
…The idea that military personnel sat there and listened to it at their invitation is…disturbing.
Quotable quote (former State Department Special Advisor for the Iran Action Group Gabriel Noronha): “The decision to invite former Iranian ambassador Mousavian to speak to STRATCOM is unimaginably foolish. He is a pawn and propaganda agent of the Iranian regime, which explains why he is allowed to travel back to Iran.”
We are giving the people who hate us the weapons to destroy us.
Symbolism Over Substance
“Symbolism over substance” was one of Rush Limbaugh’s favorite phrases. I sorely miss his wisdom. Currently we have a situation in our Department of Justice that totally illustrates that concept.
Today, Scott Johnson at Power Line Blog posted an article reminding us of some of the background of United States Attorney David Weiss, the attorney chosen to be special counsel in the investigation of Hunter Biden.
The article reminds us:
Weiss is special. On that we can agree:
• Weiss is the “prosecutor” whose plea deal with Hunter Biden failed to pass muster with Judge Maryellen Noreika, the federal judge presiding over the case.
• “These agreements are not straightforward and they contain some atypical provisions,” Judge Noreika observed.
• Weiss is the “prosecutor” whom IRS whistleblowers have just called out for abetting the suppression of of the investigation and lying about his authority to Congress, among other things.
• Weiss is the “prosecutor” who has spent five years on the investigation and never gotten around to seeking an indictment of Hunter Biden as the clock has ticked to bar the most serious tax felonies Biden’s has committed.
• Weiss is a United States Attorney and therefore ineligible for special counsel appointment under the applicable regulations.
• Given his disqualifications, one might reasonably infer that Weiss’s appointment is a pretext to assure that the cover-up continues — that minimal harm befalls Hunter Biden and that no roads lead to Joe Biden.
• It’s good to know we have a law-abiding administration to restore regular order.
The article concludes:
The first thought that occurred to me upon learning of Weiss’s appointment was what a farce. That is also the label that Andrew McCarthy affixes to it. However, it isn’t funny and it does not promise a happy ending.
There are two reasons a political justice department appoints a special counsel. The first is to remove someone from office (as in Richard Nixon). The second is to provide the appearance of doing something while allowing the clock to run out on the statute of limitations. Don’t expect anyone ever to be held responsible for the money the Bidens made by selling influence. Also, don’t ever expect anyone to investigate any links between the money and Vice-President or President Biden’s policies.
Expect the most-used phrase in any upcoming Congressional investigations to be, “I can’t answer that–it’s part of an ongoing investigation.”
An Interesting Turn Of Events
It seems as if the mainstream media is spending more time fact-checking President Biden. That is a change. It may represent a move to find a new presidential candidate before 2024, or it may be that they are simply trying to prove that they are unbiased. Either way, the fact checking is increasing. On Thursday, John Hinderaker at Power Line Blog posted an article about some recent fact checks.
The article cites a few examples, here are some:
In a Friday speech at the National Safer Communities Summit in Connecticut, Biden spoke of how a gun control law he signed in 2022 has provided federal funding for states to expand the use of gun control tools like “red flag” laws, which allow the courts to temporarily seize the guns of people who are deemed to be a danger to themselves or others. After mentioning red flag laws, Biden invoked his late son Beau Biden, who served as attorney general of Delaware, and said: “As my son was the first to enforce when he was attorney general.”
Facts First: Biden’s claim is false. Delaware did not have a red flag law when Beau Biden was state attorney general from 2007 to 2015.
***
“Put a pistol on a brace, and it…turns into a gun,” Biden said. “Makes them where you can have a higher-caliber weapon – a higher-caliber bullet – coming out of that gun. It’s essentially turning it into a short-barreled rifle, which has been a weapon of choice by a number of mass shooters.”
Facts First: Biden’s claims that a stabilizing brace turns a pistol into a gun and increases the caliber of a gun or bullet are false. A pistol is, obviously, already a gun, and “a pistol brace does not have any effect on the caliber of ammunition that a gun fires or anything about the basic functioning of the gun itself,” said Stephen Gutowski, a CNN contributor who is the founder of the gun policy and politics website The Reload.
Please follow the link to the article for further examples.
The article concludes:
Fact-checking Joe Biden poses difficulties. For one thing, you first have to figure out what he is trying to say. Beyond that, just about everything Biden says is wrong, so fact-checking him could be a full-time job. Still, it is interesting that after years of running interference for Biden, some Democratic Party news outlets are starting to throw him under the bus.
Approaching Caveman Status
From what we know, the cavemen lived in caves heated by firewood in the winter and naturally (somewhat) cooled in the summer. Based on what our government has planned for us in the future, we might want to consider similar options.
On Monday, John Hinderaker at Power Line Blog posted an article about the energy policies of the Biden administration.
The article notes:
The mark of a developed country is reliable, affordable energy. Despite this undeniable fact, the Biden administration and what Robert Bryce calls the anti-industry industry are rushing pell-mell to destabilize our electric grid, while charging Americans more and more for less and less electricity. This impoverishment of ordinary Americans is not an unfortunate by-product of liberal energy policies. Rather, it is the central goal of those policies.
Bryce writes at Substack about the deliberate devastation of our electric grid:
On May 4, members of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission delivered stark warnings to the members of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee. The agency’s acting chairman, Willie Phillips, told the senators, “We face unprecedented challenges to the reliability of our nation’s electric system.”
FERC Commissioner Mark Christie echoed Phillips’ warning, saying the U.S. electric grid is “heading for a very catastrophic situation in terms of reliability.”
The problem with the administration’s energy policies is that they are designed to change from fossil-fuel generated electricity to electricity generated by wind farms and solar farms. There are a number of problems with that–the wind doesn’t always blow and the sun doesn’t always shine–not to mention to disposal problems, the Chinese manufacturers and the children in Africa working in the mines. Brownouts will become a way of life for Americans if the Biden administration continues down this path.
The article concludes:
Exactly one week after that May 4 hearing, the Environmental Protection Agency announced a proposed rule that could force the closure of every coal-fired power plant in America as well as most of the natural gas plants if they cannot cut their emissions by 90%. Here’s how Politico reported on it: The new rule will require, “most fossil fuel power plants to slash their greenhouse gas pollution 90% between 2035 and 2040 — or shut down.”
At the link, Bryce explains why that can’t possibly be done. We are on a collision course between “green” dreams and reality, and reality is going to win. The situation would be dire even if demand for electricity were to stay constant, but of course that is not what the Left has in mind:
[T]he top people and key agencies that oversee the operation of the electric grid — FERC, NERC, and PJM — are all warning that our most important energy network is becoming less reliable. That declining reliability is happening at the same time the NGO-corporate-industrial-climate complex is spending tens of millions of dollars on campaigns to “electrify everything.” Those measures include bans on natural gas for heating and cooking in homes and businesses. The alt-energy push also includes, of course, electric vehicles. And again, the timing matters. The EPA’s May 11 announcement about power plants came less than a month after the same agency announced pollution rules that could require up to two-thirds of all the new vehicles sold in the country to be electric by 2032.
We are driving off a cliff, and American prosperity–our status as a developed country–is at stake.
Please follow the link to read the entire article.
Times Have Changed And We Have Lost Our Sense Of Humor
I was never a Monty Python fan, but I have to admit that some of the skits in their movies were funny. Some were controversial, but also very funny. On Monday, Steven Hayward at Power Line Blog posted an article about plans to create a stage musical based on The Life of Brian. However, there is a problem.
The skit below is the problem:
I think the skit is not only funny, it is very timely. The movie was made in 1979, but the above scene totally captures where we are today.
The article at Power Line Blog reports:
Well guess what? There is a stage musical version of Life of Brian in development, largely because of the success of “Spamalot,” the stage musical version of Monty Python and the Holy Grail. And guess which scene the producers have said must be cut out? Of course you don’t need to guess at all:
Cleese, 83, the prime mover in the revival, said: ‘I think Life Of Brian is our best film. We are going to do it in London in the second half of next year and I’ve changed certain things.’
One exchange which has had to come out is the discussion between People’s Front of Judea members Stan (played by Idle) and Reg (Cleese). Stan says that he wants to be known as Loretta and to have babies. ‘It’s every man’s right to have babies if you want them,’ says Stan. Reg counters: ‘But — you can’t have babies.’ At which Stan responds: ‘Don’t you oppress me.’
Cleese told an audience at his one-man show last week that when the scene (co-written with the late Graham Chapman) was performed at a read-through for the new show in New York last year, doubts emerged. ‘At the end, I said to the American actors: ‘What do you think?’ And they said: ‘We love the script, but you can’t do that stuff about Loretta nowadays.’
‘So here you have something there’s never been a complaint about in 40 years, that I’ve heard of, and now all of a sudden we can’t do it because it’ll offend people. What is one supposed to make of that? But I think there were a lot of things that were actually, in some strange way, predictive of what was actually going to happen later.’
We have lost our sense of humor.
Preventing A Celebration Of Antisemitism
On Wednesday, Scott Johnson at Power Line Blog reported the following:
We are obviously crushed by the voluminous bad news. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy provides what must count as today’s good news. He has foiled Rep. Rashida Tlaib’s attempt to host an event at the Capitol Building with anti-Israel groups decrying the founding of Israel as a “catastrophe.”
“This event in the US Capitol is canceled,” McCarthy announced in a tweet on Tuesday (below). “Instead, I will host a bipartisan discussion to honor the 75th anniversary of the US-Israel relationship.”
The Washington Free Beacon first reported on Tlaib’s event in Adam Kredo’s story yesterday. McCarthy linked to Kredo’s story in the tweet canceling the event.
Kredo followed up on the cancelation in the Free Beacon last night. McCarthty told Kredo, “It’s wrong for members of Congress to traffic in anti-Semitic tropes about Israel. As long as I’m Speaker, we are going to support Israel’s right to self-determination and self-defense, unequivocally and in a bipartisan fashion.” The New York Post also covers it here.
Speaking for myself, I would like to thank Speaker McCarthy for this good deed.
Antisemitism has no place in America or in the world.
Is Our ‘Democracy’ Endangered By Authoritarian Republicans?
First of all, we are not a democracy–we are a representative republic. Secondly, let’s look at the authoritative tendencies of each party. On Tuesday, Steven Hayward posted an article at Power Line Blog that included the following chart:
The article concludes:
Given how Democrats like President Biden think your own children don’t belong to you, imagine what Democrats might do if there wasn’t a Second Amendment.
Chaser: Yes, you may well ask, who are the idiot Republicans who answer Yes to any of these questions, when the right answer is NO. I suggest this survey is an ideal screen for identifying RINOs, who are, alas, not an endangered species.
Maybe you support the idea of mandatory vaccines, but do you want to see your fellow Americans arrested or put in camps because they refuse a shot?
The Trip To Ireland
The coronation of King Charles III will be held at Westminster Abbey on May 6. President Biden will not be in attendance. American Presidents generally send a delegation to the coronation rather than personally attending, so there is nothing unusual here. The First Lady will likely lead the delegation.
However, some of the press doesn’t see it that way.
On Wednesday, The U.K. Telegraph posted the headline, “Joe Biden has gravely insulted Britain.” The subtitle read, “The US President thinks nothing of lecturing the government on Northern Ireland policy, and has shown contempt for the Special Relationship.”
On Thursday, John Hinderaker at Power Line Blog quoted the Telegraph article:
President Biden’s insulting decision to prioritise Ireland over the UK on his visit to mark the anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement should have come as no surprise. It is just as unsurprising as his decision to skip the coronation of King Charles III. Biden, like Barack Obama before him, has shown nothing but contempt for Great Britain and the Special Relationship.
Biden began his presidency in 2021 by removing a bust of Winston Churchill from the Oval Office. …
Biden’s insult towards Churchill and his memory set the tone for his presidency. His approach towards Britain, traditionally America’s closest friend and ally, has been sneering, arrogant and disrespectful. With deep roots in Ireland, Biden’s track record as a US Senator and Washington politician for half a century has been one of unyielding support for the Irish Republican cause. As recently as 2017 he was photographed with Gerry Adams and erstwhile IRA fugitive Rita O’Hare.
Biden’s missteps are not a surprise. Robert Gates, the former defense secretary, once remarked that President Biden has been “wrong on nearly every major foreign policy and national security issue over the past four decades.”
It wasn’t necessary for President Biden to attend the coronation, but visiting Ireland just weeks before and skipping the coronation is tone-deaf.
Some Highlights From The April 6 White House Press Briefing
It’s good to know that creative fiction lives. It’s not so good to know that it lives in the White House Press Briefing Room.
Below are parts of the transcript from the April 6 briefing:
…But while it was always the President’s intent to end that war, it is also undeniable that decisions made and the lack of planning done by the previous administration significantly limited options available to him.
President Biden inherited a force presence in Afghanistan of some 2,500 troops. That was the lowest since 2001. He inherited a Special Immigrant Visa program that had been starved of resources. And he inherited a deal struck between the previous administration and the Taliban that called for the complete removal of all U.S. troops by May of 2021 — or else the Taliban, which had stopped its attacks while the deal was in place, would go back to war against the United States.
…And just to remind: We continue to facilitate the safe departures of Americans from Afghanistan when they tell us they are ready to leave. And we have proudly welcomed nearly 100,000 of our Afghan partners and their family members to the United States. Many of these families left Afghanistan after the withdrawal, and they continue to arrive on a regular basis.
Scott Johnson at Power Line Blog also posted an article about the briefing. That article included two Twitter screen shots:
I am amazed.
A Very Important Policy Change
On Monday, Scott Johnson at Power Line Blog posted an article about a rather subtle change in American foreign policy recently voiced by Joint Chiefs Chairman Mark Milley.
The article reports:
The Foundation for the Defense of Democracy’s Andrea Stricker tuned in to Joint Chiefs Chairman Mark Milley’s testimony before the House Appropriations Committee this past Thursday. Stricker quotes Milley stating that the United States “remains committed, as a matter of policy, that Iran will not have a fielded nuclear weapon.” Stricker observes that this statement, as well as a similar comment by Milley last September, suggests the Biden administration is prepared to tolerate nuclear weapons in Iran’s hands provided the weapon is not “fielded” — that is — deployed. Perhaps it depends on the meaning of “fielded.”
…Stricker reminds readers that a shift in U.S. policy from one of nuclear weapons denial to one of preventing deployment — but not their production — would reflect a major departure. President Joe Biden has said repeatedly that the United States will “never allow Iran to acquire a nuclear weapon” on his watch. Former President Trump insisted, “Iran will never be allowed to have a nuclear weapon.” Former President Obama declared, “Iran will never be permitted to develop a nuclear weapon.”
I take it that it’s all blather and that the United States is okay with Iran’s development and deployment of nuclear weapons. It would surely be more hazardous to act after Iran has fielded such weapons. The Milley modification, if that is what it is, should probably be clarified, not that the clarification would be believable either.
Please follow the link above to read the entire article. This is NOT good news.
Exposing The Truth
The reaction to Tucker Carlson’s showing the video tapes from January 6th is just as interesting as the video tapes. This article highlights one of the lies the video debunks.
On Tuesday, Power Line Blog posted an article detailing one of the most egregious lies:
The Democrats’ preferred narrative is that Trump supporters “incited a deadly insurrection.” Police officers were killed. Initially, in unison, the legacy media repeated the claim (started by the New York Times) that Sicknick (Capitol police officer Brian Sicknick) had been struck in the head with a fire extinguisher by a protestor. The mob had killed him. Carlson said:
But only after that lie had hardened into conventional wisdom did the newspaper bother to retract it. … Brian Sicknick, a Trump voter, had been transformed without his consent into a political martyr of the left.
The Democrats’ insisted that Sicknick’s cremated remains lie in honor at the Capitol Rotunda for maximum political impact. President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden were the first of many to pay their respects to the fallen officer. Or rather to exploit his death.
But it turned out that Sicknick had not been “murdered by the mob outside.” In fact, after his murder was said to have occurred, he is captured on video walking normally, even vigorously, directing people through the corridors of the Capitol (at the 19:45 mark).
“This tape overturns the single most powerful and politically useful lie the Democrats have told us about Jan. 6,” Carlson said. He knows that Jan. 6 Committee investigators saw this particular clip because the “footage contains an electronic bookmark that is still archived in the Capitol’s computer system.”
There were actually at least two protesters killed on January 6th. One was Ashli Babbitt. The other was Rosanne Boyland who was killed inside a tunnel on the lower west terrace of the Capitol building. The official report was that Rosanne Boyland died of a drug overdose, but the witnesses say otherwise (article here).
A Few Notes On The State Of The Union Speech
The Punching Bag Post posted an article late last night detailing twenty-seven lies President Biden told during the State of the Union speech.
Here are only a few of them:
“Greatest speaker in the history of the house, Nancy Pelosi.”
“Created 12 million new jobs in two years.”
“Created 800,000 manufacturing jobs”
“Inflation is a global problem, blame Putin.”
“Inflation is coming down.”
“Gasoline price down $1.50.”
‘Chip factory salaries average $130,000 per year some of them requiring no college degree.”
“Reduce the deficit by $114 Billion by catching tax cheats”
Follow the link to see the entire list. I think the lie that bothered me the most was, “Let’s stop Fentanyl from coming across the border.” Securing the border would solve that problem, yet that is one thing the President is not interested in doing.
The Conservative Review posted an article this morning titled, “9 Most Ridiculous Claims Biden Made During State of the Union Address.” Their list is generally different from the list above. It includes that claim that Paul Pelosi was attacked because of election deniers. Anyone who actually reads the news knows that is not true.
Scott Johnson at Power Line Blog posted an article today about the speech that included the following:
I thought the flight of the Chinese spy balloon across the United States was a national embarrassment, but it was nothing compared to President Biden’s State of the Union performance last night. I thought he hit the high point with his congratulation of Kevin McCarthy for ascending to the Speakership in the first few seconds of his speech. The speed of the descent varied, but it was downhill all the way from there. That means it was a long, long way downhill.
The Washington Post has a useful set of corrections on subjects other than those I mention below (the link is to the accessible version published by Jewish World Review). David Harsanyi adds a stylish touch in his Federalist column “Don’t Fall For Joe Biden’s Economic Fairy Tale.”
Biden wants to “finish the job” he has started. The phrase appears in the text of his speech 12 times. I think that has an ominous ring. Finishing the job will finish us off.
I wonder if even the President believed what he was saying.
Heading To The Supreme Court
On Sunday, John Hinderaker at Power Line posted an article about the Biden administration’s plan to forgive $400 billion in outstanding student debt. The plan is being challenged and will make its way to the Supreme Court at the end of February.
The article notes:
On Friday, a group of amici filed a brief urging the Court to invalidate Biden’s order. It is probably the most impressive group of amici I have ever seen, including top constitutional scholars like Michael McConnell and political figures including William Barr, Mitch Daniels, Mick Mulvaney, and others. These amici are represented by Sidley and Austin, a major law firm.
The brief is included in the article.
The article concludes:
In recent years, as the brief documents, presidents of both parties have used strained interpretations of broadly-worded statutes to justify unconstitutional usurpations of power, sometimes spending money that Congress had specifically refused to appropriate. Biden’s debt forgiveness continues this trend under particularly absurd pretenses, and on an unprecedented scale. As the brief argues, if the Biden administration can get away with this, there is really no check on executive power, going forward.
As a condition precedent to the merits, the case also raises a standing issue. I have not studied that issue, and have no idea whether it has merit under current law. I would only say that if a president acts unconstitutionally to deprive the taxpayers of $400 billion in revenue, there had better be someone who has standing to challenge his illegal action.
Let’s pray that the Supreme Court understands the checks and balances our Founding Fathers put in place.
Green Energy Is A Problem In Really Cold Weather
On Saturday, John Hinderaker at Power Line Blog posted an article about the Christmas season energy brownouts in North and South Carolina.
The article reports:
Duke Energy customers in North and South Carolina experienced rolling blackouts over Christmas. Duke is appropriately contrite, but its explanation of its own failure is revealing:
Duke Energy executives repeatedly apologized and owned up to the situation that caused thousands in North and South Carolina to be without power during a bitter cold snap leading up to the Christmas holiday weekend. The admissions came during a hearing Tuesday before the North Carolina Utilities Commission.
According to testimony before the NCUC, high winds had already left 300,000 without power during the day of Dec. 23 before a severe cold snap later that night and into Dec. 24.
The linked story does not explain why high winds left 300,000 people without power. This may be a failure of wind turbines, as they must be shut down if the wind blows too hard.
“I want to express how sorry we are for what our customers experienced,” said Julie Janson, executive vice president, and CEO, of Duke Energy Carolinas. “Winter storm Elliott was an extremely powerful event with a unique confluence of high winds, extreme temperature drops, and other conditions that forced us to curtail power as a last resort.
“Curtailing power” means imposing rolling blackouts on Duke’s customers. A rolling blackout is when a utility intentionally cuts power to a particular area in order to prevent the entire grid from collapsing.
The article concludes:
Duke Energy’s “nuclear fleet” was reliable, but solar generation was unable to meet peak demand because it occurred before sunrise.
Imagine that! It’s always coldest before the dawn, or something like that. The uselessness of solar energy is blindingly obvious, but utilities are happy to invest billions in solar panels and reap guaranteed profits at the expense of their customers.
Rolling blackouts are starting to become common, and they will only increase as long as our country continues its insane commitment to unreliable “green” energy.
The constant emphasis on green energy by the Biden administration is going to turn America into a third-world country. We have the capability to keep everyone warm in winter if we are willing to use our God-given natural resources to do it.
Lied To Again
In an article posted Tuesday at Power Line Blog, John Hinderaker noted:
Joe Biden’s Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that over a million jobs were created in the second quarter, a heartening statistic that no doubt helped the Democrats in November. But now, the Philadelphia Federal Reserve says that those million jobs were almost entirely fictitious:
The article at Power Line Blog quotes a Washington Times article from December 16th:
The Biden administration vastly overstated its estimate that employers created more than 1 million jobs in the second quarter of this year, claiming historic job growth when in fact hiring had stalled, according to a new estimate.
Job growth was “essentially flat” in the second quarter with only 10,500 jobs added, the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia said.
The Washington Times also noted:
The BLS, a division of the Department of Labor, estimated net job growth of 1,047,000 jobs in the second quarter. The Philadelphia Fed now says its data shows that 10,500 net jobs were created in that period.
Republican Sen. Rick Scott of Florida called the development “outrageous.”
“Wrong by a million jobs,” Mr. Scott tweeted Friday. “@JoeBiden’s admin has been lying to the American people about our economy to prop up his failed agenda & I won’t stand for it. I’m requesting an immediate meeting with the head of @BLS_gov. WE NEED ANSWERS NOW!”
President Biden had boasted about the second-quarter job numbers in the heat of the midterm election campaign, using the BLS report as proof that the nation wasn’t headed for a recession.
“In the second quarter of this year, we created more jobs than in any quarter under any of my predecessors in the nearly 40 years before the pandemic,” Mr. Biden said on July 8.
The White House repeated the theme a few weeks later.
The article at Power Line Blog concludes:
One of the problems with perverting the federal bureaucracy, as the Democrats have done, is that pretty much everyone loses faith in the integrity of government. At this point, there is no reason to assume that government numbers are accurate and unfudged. We have been lied to, too many times.
It is sad, but that is where we find ourselves. Trust has been destroyed.
It should also be noted that the Workforce Participation Rate reported by the Bureau of Labor Statistics has been slowly dropping since August. It will be interesting to see what December’s numbers are.
The Dangers Of Climate Change
On Friday, Steven Hayward at Power Line Blog posted an article about deaths caused by climate change since the 1900’s. The numbers are very interesting. The three graphs included in the article are posted below:
The article notes:
Meanwhile, you know the leading climate-related case of death is? Cold weather, especially when you can’t keep your house warm because of expensive (or intermittent) “green” energy. Here is The Economist magazine’s projection of elevated death rates in Europe this winter because of costly or rationed energy:
Lied to again. Please follow the link to read the entire article.
The Golden Turkey Awards
From 1975 through 1987, Wisconsin Sen. William Proxmire sent out monthly press releases announcing his Golden Fleece Awards, given to the most outrageous spending projects in Congress. The Senator passed away in 2005, but the concept is still with us in the form of the Golden Turkey Award given by American Experiment.
On Thursday, Power Line Blog posted an article about the latest winner of the Golden Turkey Award.
The article reports:
This year we had some remarkable nominees: our state government paid children to play outdoors; it spent tens of thousands of dollars promoting folk remedies for covid like burning sage and eating sauerkraut; and it paid random citizens stipends of $6,000–e.g. a stripper who was paid to continue stripping.
But if you have been following the Feeding Our Future scandal, it can come as no surprise that the Minnesota Department of Education was voted this year’s Golden Turkey. I presented the award to the Department of Education at their headquarters on a cold, windy afternoon.
…One more thing: we presented the award at 3:30 in the afternoon. It says on the front of the building that it is open until 4:30 every weekday afternoon, but when we were there, the place was deserted. The Department of Education building was dark, and there was not a single car in the vast parking lot, other than ours. Is no one working at the Department of Education? Frankly, that might be an improvement. But at the very least, it suggests another area where the State of Minnesota could save money: the Department of Education’s budget.
This is the video:
It’s time taxpayers at all levels of government held their elected officials accountable for reckless spending.
A little irony from Power Line Blog:
Do As I Say, Not As I Do
On Tuesday, Steven Hayward posted an article at Power Line Blog about the gender pay gap that President Biden pledged to close during his 2020 election campaign.
The article reports:
During his 2020 campaign and after taking office, Joe Biden has been happy to retail the favorite leftist cliche of the “gender pay gap,” in which women only earn 83 cents for every dollar a man earns. Biden pledged to “close the gender pay gap,” and ostentatiously signed a list of commitments to “Advance Pay Equity and Support Women’s Economic Security.” Biden also signed an executive order that called on the Office of Personnel Management to review compensation packages and report back to the president on how to advance equal pay.
The chart below illustrates that gender pay gap in the White House:
The article concludes:
This isn’t a new story for the Sniffer-in-Chief. The Washington Free Beacon notes:
For Biden, a gender pay gap among his staffers is nothing new. Over his 35-year Senate career, Biden paid women lessthan men every single year—at one point, women working for Biden were paid just 44 cents for every dollar paid to men.
It’s always better to clean up your own backyard before yelling at a neighbor for an untidy yard.
Florida, Again, Takes The Lead
On Saturday, John Hinderaker at Power Line Blog posted the following headline:
Florida: Covid Vaccines Are Dangerous to Young Men
The article reports:
Yesterday, Florida’s Surgeon General issued a new guidance regarding mRNA vaccines: he said that young men between the ages of 18 and 39 should not be given such vaccines for covid:
This analysis found that there is an 84% increase in the relative incidence of cardiac-related death among males 18-39 years old within 28 days following mRNA vaccination. With a high level of global immunity to COVID-19, the benefit of vaccination is likely outweighed by this abnormally high risk of cardiac-related death among men in this age group. Non-mRNA vaccines were not found to have these increased risks.
As such, the State Surgeon General recommends against males aged 18 to 39 from receiving mRNA COVID-19 vaccines.
An 84% increase in cardiac-related death is stunning, although in this age group the numbers would be low. As I understand it, the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines are mRNA, while the Johnson & Johnson and AstraZeneca vaccines are not.
…Given the tiny risk that covid poses to young men, it seems reasonable for young men to avoid covid vaccines altogether, pending further information.
I don’t know whether the findings of the Florida study will hold up, or how the debate over the risks and benefits of various types of vaccines will ultimately be resolved (assuming it is resolved at all). But what should be blindingly obvious is that it was outrageous for the Centers for Disease Control, the federal government generally, and the government’s social media minions to try to suppress discussion of the need for, efficacy of, and risks associated with, covid vaccines. The idea that the public health establishment knew all there was to know about covid vaccines in a flash of revelation, and that any dissenting opinion or any pointing to contrary data constituted “misinformation,” is an affront to the scientific method. This is also a valuable reminder of why free speech is so important.
It is time to remove vaccine mandates and to caution people about the dangers of the vaccine. A friend of mine recently developed Bell’s Palsey after getting her booster shot. Her doctor advised her not to get any more boosters. No kidding.
Because the information on the dangers of this vaccine has been suppressed, we all need to do our own research. Too many people have had serious health complications from the vaccine. It’s time to assess the risk of the vaccine as well as the risk from the disease.