“President Joe Biden and other Democrats love to pretend that replacing fossil fuels with less efficient energy sources is an economic win for the United States. Last year Mr. Biden claimed in a speech to corporate CEOs that “it won’t hurt your bottom lines.” But the U.S. state with the largest economy is implicitly acknowledging the opposite. In fact so-called green energy is such a burden on bottom lines that even in the most climate-obsessed jurisdiction in the country politicians still can’t persuade enough businesses to generate it.
Adam Beam reports for the Associated Press that the Golden State’s campaign against fossil fuels appears to work really well—until summer arrives:
Then it gets hot, and everyone in the nation’s most populous state turns on their air conditioners at the same time. That’s when California has come close to running out of power in recent years, especially in the early evenings when electricity from solar is not as abundant.
Now, Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom wants to buy massive amounts of renewable energy to help keep the lights on. The idea is to use the state’s purchasing power to convince private companies to build largescale power plants that run off of heat from underground sites and strong winds blowing off the coast — the kinds of power that utility companies have not been buying because it’s too expensive and would take too long to build.
So it turns out that summer is still hot, and alternative energy is still expensive. On the one hand the high cost shouldn’t be a surprise, given that state and federal politicians have been shovelling subsidies at alternative energy projects for decades. If such power sources really were economic winners, businesses and consumers would just adopt them without any need for government intervention.
Mr. Newsom’s agenda may include moving on before everyone realizes just how non-economical it is. AP reports:
The Democratic governor, now in his second term and widely seen as a future presidential candidate, insists California will be carbon neutral by 2045. But this goal is often mocked in the summer when, to avoid rolling blackouts, state officials turn on massive diesel-powered generators to make up the state’s energy shortfall.
Laugh if you must, but Mr. Newsom does seem to have succeeded in keeping Californians in the dark when it comes to the full cost of his energy plans, as the AP explains:
Customers would have to pay for the new power the state buys through a new, still undetermined, charge on their electric bills.
What a compelling proposal! Mr. Newsom is promising that Californians will pay more, but won’t reveal how much more while he’s seeking to enact his plan. How could anyone be opposed? The AP report continues:
Advocates say California is in a prime position to try something like this. Last year, five companies spent more than $750 million to lease areas off the California coast for offshore wind projects. These projects could collectively generate close to 5 gigawatts of energy, according to Alex Jackson, director of American Clean Power Association, which represents these companies. That’s enough to power more than 3.5 million homes.
If approved, the next step is getting the permits and building the turbines and the infrastructure necessary to transport the power to the grid. It would be easier for these companies to sell all of their power to the state instead of selling pieces of it to multiple utilities.
“We do think there is real advantages of having a single buyer,” Jackson said.
Advocates say the darnedest things. Some readers may wonder why any real business would want to be at the mercy of just one buyer, rather than enjoy a raft of customers bidding for its services. Could it possibly be that these are not real businesses?
Even in liberal political precincts, taxpayers may grow weary of funding losers. On the other side of the country Ry Rivard recently noted in Politico that New Jersey’s Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy is struggling to pay for his windy projects:
Quiet negotiations have been going on since last year between state officials and Orsted, the company expected to build what would be the state’s first wind farm.
The stakes couldn’t be higher for either side — or for state electricity customers, who are caught in the middle and may pay billions of dollars more in coming decades depending on the outcome of the talks.
So far, the state has awarded subsidies to three wind farms, all funded by higher bills for electricity customers, but none of them have yet to begin construction. The first project, known as Ocean Wind 1, was approved in 2019. In the years since, inflation, interest rates and supply chain issues have driven up building costs, causing the company behind the project, Orsted, to say it may not make money on it without help.
Oops. Now it’s going to cost a little more. David Nahan reports for the Ocean City Sentinel:
The Cape May County Board of County Commissioners is formally opposing the Ocean Wind 1 offshore wind farm and the Danish company’s adjacent proposed wind farm, Ocean Wind 2, and threatening legal action “on all fronts.” The board unanimously passed a resolution to that effect Tuesday, May 23, arguing the wind farms will harm the marine environment, tourism and, potentially, real estate values.
Other than that, the proposal was sensible?”
It’s the green energy equivalent of, “Other than that, how’d you enjoy the play, Mrs. Lincoln?”
Here’s the juice in meme form:
As our friends in Maine would say:
In a related item, California Republican Tom McClintock lays into the Forest Service over the notable difference between the condition of federally and privately managed forests:
Next, NRO‘s Michael Brendan Dougherty detailswhat he terms…
“In the middle of his campaign kickoff speech in Iowa, Ron DeSantis was ticking through a seemingly endless list of legislative accomplishments he has had in Florida as governor. But then he suddenly stepped aside from the microphone and invited his wife Casey DeSantis to speak. The decision to hand over this part of the introduction seemed to have a specific purpose. More easily than her husband, Casey DeSantis summons genuine passion in her political oratory. She was there to talk about the governor’s leadership during Covid and to emphasize that this crisis was a test of political leadership, a test that Ron DeSantis alone passed.
“When you look at Covid, the world descended on Florida,” she said:
You had the corporate media, the Left, the White House, Fauci, Birx, all prognosticating that every bad thing would happen unless the governor followed their dictates, and their politicized, unscientific orthodoxy. But he held the line in defense of the liberties of the people he represented. He never backed down. He took their livelihoods and their happiness above his own.
Notice she included “the White House” in the list. In other words, this campaign isn’t the first time Ron DeSantis went against Donald Trump. His Covid move was the moment that really mattered, she said. The one that “forever impacts the people.”
You can take the path of least resistance. You subcontract your leadership to the medical bureaucracy. You can aim for self-preservation. You can be more interested in your political career. Or you can hold the line. Do you defend the rights of the people? Their ability to earn a living, to be with their loved ones, especially in their final moments. Do you fight for our children to be in school, to breathe without a mask being forced on their face? Do you ensure that people have the choice as to whether or not they want to take an mRNA vaccine and certainly not make it contingent upon their job? At the end of the day, it’s what you do in the moment that matters.
Now, many liberals and some conservatives reading this list will shrug. They were happy to mask their kids for two years. They credit the vaccines with ending the public-health emergency.
But for a huge swath of voters, this issue really did bond them to Governor DeSantis. At the moment that Casey DeSantis mentioned masks on children, the crowd spontaneously started roiling with noises of anger at the pro-mask policies — and approval of the governor, for rolling them back.
Those days three years ago really were the moment that many families started wondering whether they too should join the scores of thousands of other Americans who were moving to Florida during the pandemic. This was the moment that made Ron DeSantis a national figure. These voters credit Florida — and to a lesser degree Georgia and Texas — with normalizing the country after the pandemic. These voters knew what the experts also knew but refused to admit publicly: that they didn’t need the vaccine because they had already contracted Covid and had natural immunity; or that they were young and not vulnerable to severe Covid. They knew, long before the experts admitted, that the Covid vaccine did not stop transmission, and that the logic of mandates was therefore mooted. In their hearts, these voters knew that expert opinion was a kind of guild conspiracy that — when joined with the force of government — directly threatened their livelihood, their family, and the well-being of their children.
And DeSantis took unorthodox steps to protect the social fabric of Florida. He used the emergency powers the public-health crisis granted to him to mandate that schools remain open, and to mandate that schools not impose their own mask mandates on children. Any fool — even Dr. Fauci himself at the start of the pandemic — could figure out that child-sized cloth masks bought at a sunglasses stand were not an effective public-health measure against an airborne virus. But only DeSantis and a handful of other governors ever acted, and acted vigorously, on this obvious truth.
By using his powers in this way, he pioneered a model for how he would begin using constitutional executive power to prevent the ideological contagions of the left from seizing all the institutions of public life.
Later in the event, the governor spoke for himself:
We also pledge to usher in a reckoning for the federal government’s disastrous Covid policies. From lockdowns to mask mandates, to fiscal and monetary measures. The policies eroded freedom and imposed great harms on American society. We desperately need accountability so this never happens to our country again.
This is something that Ron DeSantis offers that no other candidate does — and it will infuse his campaign with critical popular support in the GOP: He is the catharsis candidate. He’s the candidate who is telling millions of Americans that they weren’t crazy, that their informed instincts around the pandemic were sound after all. His election is the closest thing to justice on offer for those millions. They’re going to fight like hell for him.”
Meanwhile, the Trump team and their temporary allies in the MSM focus on the really important issues facing the country…like how Ron DeSantis pronounces his last name. In the interest of full disclosure, we have, on occasion, stressed the “Mick” in McKee, while at other times using more of a “Muh”, which rhymes with…
Jim Geraghty has more on the subject of what appears to be…
Have you heard that “Rob” DeSanctimonious wants to change his name, again. He is demanding that people call him DeeeSantis, rather than DaSantis. Actually, I like “Da” better, a nicer flow, so I am happy he is changing it. He gets very upset when people, including reporters, don’t pronounce it correctly. Therefore, he shouldn’t mind, DeSanctimonious?
These are apparently the sorts of thoughts that consume the mind of one of the four people most likely to take the oath of office on the steps of the U.S. Capitol on January 20, 2025. (The other three are Joe Biden, Kamala Harris, and Ron DeSantis. While some other figure could surprise us all by leaping to the Democratic or Republican presidential nomination, or even by mounting a competitive independent bid, right now, all other figures are extreme underdogs.)
By the way, the next evidence that DeSantis “gets very upset when people, including reporters, don’t pronounce it correctly,” will be the first evidence.
Trump, however, is not alone in spending time and energy contemplating the proper pronunciation of “DeSantis.” The New York Times ran a two-byline column, “Deh-Santis or Dee-Santis? Even He Has Been Inconsistent,” although they at least acknowledged that it is a “highly inconsequential matter.” Axios also believed that this topic was worth spending time, energy, reader attention, and some of humanity’s presumably finite supply of neurons on. (In Mike Allen’s newsletter today, the “How do you pronounce DeSantis’s name” section is above the section about the House passing the debt-ceiling deal. Smart brevity! All the news you need, if you have the attention span of an over-caffeinated ferret.)
The former president seems to think it is a real power move to call the Florida governor “Rob.” I suppose this is a demonstration that DeSantis is so unimportant that Trump can’t be bothered to remember his first name. But this demonstration of DeSantis’s alleged unimportance is undermined by the fact that Trump’s Truth Social feed is an endless tirade against DeSantis. If you genuinely don’t care about someone, you don’t spend a lot of time and energy talking about them. Trump’s social-media activity makes him look obsessed with DeSantis, not above him. Trump is still sharing memes about the failure of the Elon Musk–DeSantis Twitter Spaces event. It’s been a week, and DeSantis has done a full schedule of events and interviews. The world has moved on. Trump hasn’t.
Beyond these two men, the ever-expanding Republican presidential field is now set to feature (deep breath): Nikki Haley, Tim Scott, Mike Pence, Chris Christie, Vivek Ramaswamy, Chris Sununu, Doug Burgum, Larry Elder, Asa Hutchinson . . . and perhaps a few others.
These candidates will attempt to win your vote by laying out proposals on how they would counter the rise of China, secure our border and build an immigration system that works, roll back the federal bureaucracy and administrative state, make sure schools are preparing our children for the challenges of the future economy, stem and roll back the rising tide of crime and chaos in our cities, deal with the ever-increasing federal debt, and address the ominous indicator of a shrinking birth rate and a general darkening pessimism about America’s future.
And then there’s going to be Trump, who may well spend part of a debate mocking DeSantis for allegedly not knowing how to pronounce his own name.
Way back in the prehistoric times of my high-school years, I had a drama teacher who loved using the word “moreso.” (As the Grammarist explains, “Though the phrase more so is conventionally spelled as two words, the one-word moreso gained ground in the late 20th century and continues to appear despite the disapproval of usage authorities and of spell check.”)
The 2024 cycle Trump will be the Trump of 2020, only “moreso.” More insulting, more raging, more unhinged, more obsessed with irrelevant minutiae and what the media is saying about him — why would any American president get so worked up about what Don Lemon or Mika Brzezinski are saying about him? — and evenmore reflexively lashing out against anything he perceives as a slight or disloyalty. (Lord knows I’ve had disagreements with Kayleigh McEnany, but she was about as hardworking and dedicated a staffer as Trump had in his administration. Trump served up an out-of-the-blue tirade calling for Fox News to fire McEnany — calling her “milktoast,” his spelling — because she cited a poll he didn’t like. It’s a sign that during the 2024 campaign, Trump will turn against and lash out against anyone for anything. When a guy runs around saying “I am your retribution,” it’s a sign that he gets up in the morning hungering for his own retribution…”
Here’s the juice: When it comes to The Donald, we’re a combination of Popeye…
“…“I was one of the 51 original endorsers for former President Trump. But I cannot further continue endorsing him. I am withdrawing my endorsement. And I’m going to endorse Ron DeSantis,” he said. “The reason being that when I did endorse Trump I thought that he would be able to continue with a positive message, learn from his past mistakes and give us a way forward to continue the policies that he started before … But it’s become evident, especially with the latest attack on Kayleigh McEnany that there’s no loyalty in him.”
“He can’t be trusted to stay loyal to the people who supported him in the past,” said Spillane, who backed Trump in 2016 and 2020. Meanwhile, DeSantis is “above all else, a loyal person and brings a positive message,” he said…”
Moving on, here’s a septet of special selections certain to pique the interest of inquiring Conservative minds:
(2). The Editors at NRO set the record straight on DeSantis’s WuFlu response. Spoiler alert: When the disgraced author of New York’s draconian Covid-mitigation policies, the man who ordered the deaths of thousands of elderly citizens he was sworn to protect and who resigned amid allegations of sexual harassment and corruption investigations that were bearing fruit, sings your praises, you know you’re argument is founded on fables.
(4). Sorry, but how does this change anything? Comer will say there’s fire, Raskin will say he can’t even smell any smoke…assuming Wray hasn’t redacted almost the entire document.
(5). If this speech by Oklahoma’s Jim Lankford doesn’t induce Chip Roy to call for a no-confidence vote on Kevin McCarthy as Speaker…
…Roy is as much of a hypocrite as McCarthy!!! We were initially willing to give Kevin McCarthy the benefit of the doubt, despite his history as a spendaholic. No longer.
You know…like an innocent fetus spoiling the plans of a self-centered mother.
(7). In an event which must have John Harvard whirling like a dervish in his grave and our brother Rob grinding his teeth, in a trifecta from Speed, The Harvard Gazette reports…
“Former Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot has been appointed as a Richard L. and Ronay A. Menschel Senior Leadership Fellow for the fall term at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.
During her tenure as mayor, which ended May 15, Lightfoot led a coordinated, citywide response across government, business, and community organizations to safeguard public health and minimize economic impact from the COVID-19 pandemic. Among other steps(One of which was her decision to bring her hairdresser into her home while banning others from having the hair done!), she created a Racial Equity Rapid Response Team and the COVID-19 Recovery Task Force. (Which accomplished exactly JACK SH*T!!!)
Chicago’s first Black woman and first openly gay mayor, Lightfoot also focused on generating inclusive economic growth across the city’s neighborhoods. Her accomplishments included landmark ethics and good governance reforms, worker protection legislation, and key investments in education, public safety, and financial stability. In August of 2021, Lightfoot secured a $15 minimum wage for most workers in Chicago, including domestic workers, years ahead of the state’s planned phase-in of a living wage…”
Lightfoot was SO successful Windy City residents rewarded her by making her a one-term mayor, a rarity in a city dominated by Dimocratic-machine politics. Perhaps voters cared more about the skyrocketing violence in their city rather than questionable “ethics and good governance reforms” in a city rife with corruption and a $15 minimum wage a number of Chicagoans won’t live to spend…assuming they had jobs.
Which brings us, appropriately enough, to The Lighter Side:
Then there’s this from Speed:
Finally, we’ll call it a day with the Nothing to See Here, Folks…Please Move Along segment, courtesy today of Breeze Gould, as Asia Times relates…
“In the first publicized simulation of its type, China has war-gamed a hypersonic missile attack on the latest US supercarrier, sinking the warship and its escorts in a computer war game. South China Morning Post (SCMP) reported that North University of China researchers recently published the results of a war game in which China used 24 hypersonic missiles to sink the USS Gerald Ford supercarrier and its five escorts in the Chinese-language Journal of Test and Measurement Technology.
The SCMP and other local language reports describe the war game as a three-wave hypersonic missile attack that sunk the USS Gerald Ford, the USS San Jacinto Ticonderoga-class cruiser and four Arleigh Burke Flight IIA guided missile destroyers. The war game reportedly simulated a situation where the USS Gerald Ford and its escorts continued approaching a China-held island in the South China Sea despite repeated warnings.
…SCMP says that the research team assumed satellite targeting would not be available and only a limited number of hypersonic missiles, forcing the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) to rely on sea-based surveillance to track and identify the US fleet. The PLA then fired eight less-reliable hypersonic missiles from southern and central China in the simulation.
The attack reportedly depleted the US fleet’s 264 interceptor missiles, including the advanced SM-3 armed with hit-to-kill warheads, with two missiles fired at the USS San Jacinto. That volley was followed by eight more reliable hypersonic missiles fired from northern and western China, with four aimed at the USS Gerald Ford and the others targeting the Arleigh Burke destroyers.
Afterward, the PLA confirmed the status of the surviving Arleigh Burke destroyers and then sunk them with six of its remaining less-reliable hypersonic missiles fired from southern China. The destroyers survived the first two waves due to having the most soft-kill weapons in the fleet, such as electronic warfare systems, chaff and flare dispensers.
The SCMP report also mentions that the Chinese research team repeated the simulation 20 times to minimize uncertainty…”
Meanwhile, our Commander-in-Chief, a man literally on the ChiCom payroll, can’t stand up long enough to finish his duties at the Air Force Academy commencement. Then again, the Naval Academy Class of 2023 had it far worse; THEY had to endure the constant cackling of Kamala!
Magoo
Video of the Day
Alistair Begg puts the state of the world into proper perspective.
Tales of The Darkside
Too Lazy to Hoop tells trans “athletes” to STOP LYING!!!
On the Lighter Side
Michael Knowles highlights just how idiotic educated Libtards actually are!
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