January 27, 2021 — Steven Hayward
Time to grok some graphics. . . • The Biden-Harris Administration is determined to be anti-energy, the opposite of Alexander Hamilton’s hopes for “energy in the executive.” They want to start by ending fossil fuel subsidies. This first chart is hard to make out (you may be able to enlarge it), but it shows that “renewables” receive ten times the amount of subsidies as fossil fuels. Roy Spencer comments: But federal
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January 26, 2021 — Steven Hayward
Jason Riley of the Manhattan Institute has completed his biography of Thomas Sowell, and Maverick: A Biography of Thomas Sowell will appear in May (though by all means pre-order it now). In the meantime, it really is worth finding a spare hour to take in this documentary about Sowell based on Jason’s book, from our friends at Free to Choose media:
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January 26, 2021 — Steven Hayward
• News item: Recall drive against California Governor Gavin Newsom nears threshold to qualify for a special election. • News item: Gov. Newsom abruptly lifts statewide lockdown order, even though the infection rate remains little changed from a month ago. Gee—I wonder if these two stories might be related? Chaser: Unemployment fraud during COVID has cost California $11 billion California has paid out a staggering $11 billion worth of fraudulent
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January 25, 2021 — Steven Hayward
For 30 years or more, I’ve been pointing out that when you hear someone at an environmental group, such as the Sierra Club or NRDC, has the title “senior scientist,” you can usually assume the person is a lawyer. Hence this detail from a Northwestern University roundup of Biden’s climate science team jumps out: Some scientists have reservations about the new team, particularly about the need to stress climate reform.
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January 24, 2021 — Steven Hayward
On the podcast this week we discussed John Lott’s statistical analysis of voting anomalies in several key swing states, in which he concluded there were likely around 290,000 fraudulent votes. The difficulty is that the analysis depends on sophisticated regression techniques that are beyond the grasp of most laypeople, and indeed there is a serious critique of Lott’s paper that argues that Lott’s result is largely an artifact of the
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January 24, 2021 — Steven Hayward
Okay, it’s official: The Bernie Sanders Lawn Chair Memes have taken over the world. They’ve rocketed to the top of the socialist charts, the best showing since 1917. This is the first time in recorded history that socialism has ever produced anything in abundance (except misery of course). Chris Christie’s beach chair escapade has been eclipsed, and needless to say, eclipsing Christie is no simple task! So this calls for
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January 23, 2021 — Steven Hayward
President Biden’s diktat canceling the Keystone XL pipeline is thought to signify his total slavishness to the climate campaigners, for whom pipelines have become like garlic and holy water to a vampire. This is correct, but the larger significance of it is much more ominous. If anything, the critics of the decision are under-reacting. We are continuously told by our betters that high voter turnout is to be celebrated because
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January 23, 2021 — Steven Hayward
Joe Biden was the supposed “moderate” in the Democratic field, but 72 hours in, is there anything Pres. Biden has done so far that Bernie Sanders wouldn’t have done just as fast? Perhaps it is more than symbolic that the leading image that emerged from the inauguration is Bernie sitting alone in a folding chair with his mittens like the wizard-figure he’s become in the Democratic Party, even though he’s
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January 22, 2021 — Steven Hayward
It’s been wall-to-wall podcasts for me today. This morning I was a guest on the flagship Ricochet podcast with Jame Lileks, Peter Robinson, and Rob Long, discussing Biden’s inaugural and first steps in office, and then after me the show took up UFOs and aliens, which may be our best hope for the next four years. Then this evening I recorded a new episode of our “Three Whisky Happy Hour”
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January 21, 2021 — Steven Hayward
Time for another periodic nerdgasm. • It’s a miracle! Biden becomes president and COVID hospitalizations begin to decline! • This chart explains all you need to know about why our elites love the lockdowns. Think of them maybe as “Baby Zoomers.” • Consumer sentiment still stinks. But notice in the second one that Democrat consumers are suddenly ebullient, probably because they’ve already made plans to spend their $2000 Biden Bucks.
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January 20, 2021 — Steven Hayward
• So, Joe Biden is now President. Can’t you just feel the excitement? • No, seriously—has there been a new president in the last 70 years entering office with less enthusiasm than Slow Joe? I caught a YouGov poll today reporting that Joe Biden’s public approval rating is 52 percent—among the lowest for an incoming president since this polling question began decades ago. (Obama was at 69 percent on inauguration
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January 20, 2021 — Steven Hayward
As I write, we’re about an hour away from Biden’s swearing in and inaugural address. I’ve got my whisky shots lined up and ready to roll. Here’s what to watch for (and down a shot to): • Appeals to unity and reconciliation—followed by more of the standard Democratic divisive disaggregations of Americans into segments, i.e., “people of color,” “LBGTQ,” etc. • Reaching out to have better relations with our allies
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January 18, 2021 — Steven Hayward
For readers (especially our homebound readers with flexible schedules), tomorrow from 12:50 – 2 pm Pacific time (3:50- 5 Eastern) I’ll once again be sparring with political scientist Thomas Mann on the general topic, “How Will Biden Govern?” on a webinar that is free and open to the public. Prof. Terri Bimes, who teaches the presidency at Berkeley, will moderate the discussion. We plan on taking audience questions, though Tom
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January 18, 2021 — Steven Hayward
Word is out today that Joe Biden plans to cancel the permit for the Keystone XL pipeline on Day One in office. Leaving aside potential legal difficulties (I can imagine that, depending on the exact status of the permit, Trans-Canada may have a strong case for damages before the U.S. Federal Court of Claims), this is pure symbolism, as it will not reduce the amount of oil consumed in the
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January 17, 2021 — Steven Hayward
• With near-President Biden proposing to spend $1.9 trillion out of the gate in what will likely be just a down payment on the next wave of the liberal agenda, worth thinking about what could possibly go wrong. Well, maybe inflation, or a crash (or both). Right now we aren’t seeing much inflation, even though the Federal Reserve is goosing the money supply like it’s 2009 on steroids. That’s the
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January 16, 2021 — Steven Hayward
Settle in with your favorite single malt for this extra-long episode that offers a deep dive into the election results with Henry Olsen, the Trump-sympathetic analyst who concludes that Democrat voter fraud did not determine the outcome of the election. He fields a lot of fastballs and curveballs from me and “Lucretia” about why so many Americans can harbor reasonable doubts that the election was run fairly—about why this election
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January 16, 2021 — Steven Hayward
MIGA! Make impeachment great again! Like any other Democratic policy initiative these days, it is going to be a complete fiasco. I’ll bet the website—Impeachment.gov—works about as well as the launch of the Obamacare websites in 2013. I’m sure incoming Senate Majority Leader Schumer will be delighted to get the article of impeachment sent over from the House. And if Speaker Pelosi doesn’t send it, Republican Senators should demand every
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