Smart Talk #26
California’s Huntington Beach City Council just made a smart move. A measure passed that prohibits all non-government flags from being flown on city property flag poles. And for the best of reasons. Said Councilman Pat Burns regarding possible claims of discrimination against certain groups: “The measure was meant to encourage residents to unite under a common American identity.” One of the likely exceptions would be flags of the U.S. Armed Forces, clearly government entities. Other exceptions could possibly be flown upon receiving a unanimous Council vote. Great meaningful move from this more conservative California community ridding its city property poles of all politically-intended flags.
DEI (“diversity, equity, and inclusion”) mandates around educational and corporate America, once blazing hot, may now be experiencing an “end-date” reality in certain sectors around the nation. Experiencing in some quarters a replacement standard of “universal human dignity.”
In the corporate world, some well-known companies have “quietly” reduced the often-bloated size of internal DEI departments, if not replacing them altogether. Several companies “have realized that DEI programs undermine productivity, destroy merit-based systems, and poison corporate culture.” On the university front, down in Florida, based on newer state law (January 2024), at the University of Florida, “all employees in DEI positions” are being terminated. Said Governor DeSantis: “DEI is toxic and has no place in our public universities. I’m glad that Florida was the first state to eliminate DEI and I hope more states follow suit.” Continued Governor DeSantis: “Florida is where DEI goes to die.” Commented Elon Musk: “DEI, because it discriminates on the basis of race, gender and many other factors, is not merely immoral, it is also illegal.” However, it must be noted that Florida, to date, is the exception, as not all institutions have followed suit. For instance, the University of Michigan, in an acknowledged more liberal state certainly than Florida, reportedly currently has an estimated 500 DEI or more positions, said to be costing over $30-million per year, amidst its three campuses. Politically-charged concepts, once established, can often take considerable time to be modified or eliminated.
Congressional Republicans are reportedly “outraged that the Biden administration is poised to outlaw most gas-powered cars in less than a decade under proposed tailpipe emissions regulations.” The proposed regulation would effectively require American vehicle owners to make the switch from gas-powered vehicles to EV’s by 2032. Not only would citizen choice be eliminated by or before the 2024-2032 period ends, but considerably higher-priced vehicles would be forced upon our citizens.
Far from fairness to our citizen’s first, its effectively dictatorial imposition from government on-high, far from the citizen freedom we’ve come to expect (e.g., upcoming dictates on home appliances and business kitchen equipment), all in obedience to the ultra-liberal everything-green under the imposed scourge of ‘climate change.’ Such mandates are far from our traditional citizen freedom and fairness. And all of this forced action, at the time Hertz recently announced that it is selling one-third of its EV fleet (20,000 vehicles), with much of the proceeds to be invested back into gas-powered vehicles. Hertz “cited weaker demand for electrics and their higher operating costs.” Apparently, for vehicle manufactures, they appear to have “largely exhausted the pool of early adopters who tend to be willing to take a chance on new technology.”
“Fossil fuels, not renewables, remain the real engines behind economic growth,” wrote Kevin Williamson. “In 2023, the U.S. economy grew while greenhouse gas emissions declined, a good environmental outcome and a good economic outcome, brought to you by our old friend: petroleum.” Continuing with the errant notion that renewables are the answer, there remains this truth: “The renewable energy industry is a subsidy-based industry, as wind and solar are largely dependent on lucrative state and federal subsidies. No matter how many billions the government pours down the solar rathole, no one has figured out a way to generate solar power after the sun goes down.” And the same goes for wind turbines when the wind isn’t blowing. Neither of those generation source outputs can be stored in any great capacity until huge storage batteries are developed. We’re not there yet, if in fact we ever will or need to be. The only renewables that, today, make any dependable economic sense are: nuclear and hydro power.
With regard, now, to public opinion of the Israel-Gaza (Hamas) situation and conflict, in a January 2024 poll from the Harvard-Harris organization, “80% of American voters support Israel in the current war in Gaza, while 20% support the Hamas terrorist organization.” Sadly, but perhaps understandable given the regrettable wokie-liberal university political environments these days, and the apparent lack of truthfully-informed media use, “younger voters tend to believe that Hamas can be negotiated with to create peace, and they tend to favor an unconditional ceasefire in Gaza, even without the return of Israeli hostages (!).” The latter insulated and naïve beliefs are unfortunate but reflect the overall thinking of today’s younger age groups (who also to varying degrees aren’t that crazy about America). Thankfully, there is currently, as reflected again by this poll, an 80% support level for America’s oldest continuing, and only true ally in the Middle East. And due to ultra-liberal and misguided politics, the continuation of that key historic relationship may, today, seemingly be on the line with the current leftist foreign policy position of this administration.
Remaining with that critical geographic conflict, the ever-brilliant Victor Davis Hanson has written smartly that “Hamas, in no way, would have invaded Israel under Trump.” Nor does he believe that Russia would have invaded Ukraine, with Mr. Trump in office. Neither would predictably have happened “because we were strong and reliable.” Given our history, how shameful that we appear to the world to be neither strong nor reliable today. And those failings are to our continuing peril.
And continuing, now, with former Present Trump’s thoughts on that regrettable conflict, perhaps the fault, among others, of America’s perceived weakness, Mr. Trump had the following to say: “The fight between Israel and Hamas is between civilization and savagery, between good and evil. There is no comparison between a group that worships death and a group that cherishes life. Every single life lost in this conflict is on the shoulders of Hamas, and Hamas alone.” Echoing Mr. Trump’s thoughts, article author Robert Spencer added the following: “Loving death is not natural. Loving life is. When the lovers of death have wreaked their destruction and have been brought to heel, the lovers of life will, as always, rebuild again.”
And getting away now from death and destruction, this, my friends, is likely a very smart way, literally, to conclude this edition. Recently, Jacob Young, a very smart boy from Colorado, was accepted into “a prestigious and exclusive high-IQ society called Mensa.” With about 150,000 members, from 90 countries around the world, “only those who score in the top 2% of the world population on an approved intelligence test (several hours long) qualify for Mensa.” Jacob’s dad is an intelligence officer with America’s Space Force, while his mother was once a data analyst. Clearly very smart parents. Now the rest of the story. As mentioned above, only those who complete the lengthy intelligence test are afforded the possible privilege of being accepted into Mensa. As also mentioned, successful entrants must then “score in the top 2% of the world population” on Mensa’s test to qualify. Jacob Young, however, scored in the top 1% of the world population! And now please fasten your seat belt, because this true story is about to get even more incredible. Jacob Young currently attends kindergarten at Prairie Winds Elementary School in Monument, Colorado. Jacob is just 5-years old!! And what a great future no doubt awaits this incredibly bright young boy.
(Fact Sources: Huntington Beach flag ordinance via foxnews.com, Jamie Joseph, 3-10-24; University of Florida terminates all DEI positions via foxnews.com, David Rutz, 3-1-24; Elon Musk comment of DEI via Daily Caller.com, Jason Cohen, 1-8-24; Imposition of EV’s over gas-powered vehicles via dailymail.com, Jon Michael Raasch, 3-22-24; Hertz to see 1/3 of it’s EV fleet via wsj.com, Mike Colias & Ben Glickman, 1-12-24; Fossil fuels remain the real engines behind economic growth via nypost.com, Kevin D. Williamson, 1-20-24; Renewables can’t survive on their own via powerlineblog.com, John Hinderaker, 3-13-24; 80% American voter support for key ally Israel via breitbart.com, Joel B. Pollak, 1-23-24; Trump’s perceived strength when in office via breitbart.com, Joshua Klein, 10-23-23; Between civilization and savagery via pjmedia.com, Robert Spencer, 10-29-23; Mensa member at a very young age via KKTV/Gray News, Erika Ferrando, 3-4-24).