Differing Policies on Crime
In 2020, Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear (D) decided to grant early release to 1700 convicts because of the covid pandemic. Within a year of being released 70% of these former prisoners committed at least one crime. Fifty percent of these crimes were felonies.
Nevertheless, Beshear says "the early release was fairly successful at getting people back in society and making sure they are healthy. That 30% of those released have not committed any new crimes that we are aware of is very encouraging. In baseball, a 30% success rate for a batter is considered an excellent, all-star caliber performance. I'm proud to see that we did so well."
Across the river, Ohio took a different approach. In 2022 the state enacted a law that allowed gun owners to keep and bear firearms without having to obtain a government-issued permit. House Minority Leader Allison Russo (D-Upper Arlington) opposed this law, claiming that "it shows that the Republican majority have no care or concern about the safety of their constituents."
Data compiled since the law went into effect reveal that violent crime in Ohio declined by 7.5%. This decline significantly exceeded the 1.6% national decrease during the same time span. Gov. Mike DeWine (R) pointed out that "the individuals who are responsible for the vast majority of homicides and other violent offenses were already carrying firearms without a permit. It should not be surprising that a law enabling law-abiding people to arm themselves has deterred some of predatory violence of the worst members of society."
In related news, Vice President Kamala Harris praised Australia's near total confiscation of guns, calling it "the best solution for ensuring peaceful obedience. Consider that during the pandemic Australia was able to achieve a 92% compliance with the government's vaccination mandate. In contrast, we were only able to get an 81% rate of compliance despite heroic efforts to pressure everyone into getting the shots. The Australia experience shows that when only the military and police have guns the common people know how to behave."
NY Court Reinstates Fired Employees
In 2021 New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio (D) ordered that all city employees must get the covid vaccine or be fired. The 1,700 employees who declined to take the experimental vaccine were fired. Current Mayor Eric Adams (D) barred rehiring any of them even though the pandemic has ended.
The New York state Supreme Court has ordered that all NYC employees who were fired must be reinstated with back pay. Judge Gerard Neri ruled that "since being vaccinated does not prevent an individual from contracting or transmitting COVID-19 it is both illogical and unjust for these individuals to continue to be punished for refusing to be injected with an ineffective drug. Further, state law does not grant mayors or the Department of Health the authority to order these vaccinations."
This latest ruling confirms a similar judgment rendered by Judge Ralph Porzio a year ago when he called the firings "capricious and arbitrary. It is time for the City of New York to do what is right and what is just."
Adams hasn't decided whether to appeal the verdict to the US Supreme Court. "I'm concerned about the bad example these judgments may set if left in place," he said. "Discipline within the ranks is essential for the conduct of official government business. At the time the vaccinations were mandated the scientific consensus was that the injections were needed to combat the virus. It doesn't seem right that the City and the taxpayers should now have to pay for following the guidelines of Dr. Fauci and the CDC."
Suit Over Unsupervised Ballot Boxes
The Arizona Free Enterprise Club (AFEC) has filed a lawsuit challenging the state's use of drop boxes that are not monitored by election workers. AFEC President Scott Mussi argued that "Arizona law requires that ballot boxes be located in secure places to ensure that ballot box stuffing doesn't distort the one-person-one-vote standard. So-called 'drop boxes' for ballots that are placed on the sidewalk invite ballot box stuffing."
Arizona Secretary of State Adrian Fontes pointed out that "the current Election Procedures Manual (EPM), created in 2019 by the former secretary of state and now-Gov. Katie Hobbs, specifically amended state law to permit election office employees to place these ballot collection boxes wherever they wanted. The objective is to make voting as convenient as possible. The signature verification process is what prevents ineligible votes from being cast and counted."
Mussi observed that "neither the secretary of state nor the governor has the authority to 'amend' state law by executive fiat. In the 2022 election the signature verification process was too rushed and polluted by Fontes' notion that 'other documents not containing the voter's signature can be used to meet the signature verification requirement.' Election integrity requires that all eligible votes and only eligible votes be counted. Otherwise, we won't have a democratically elected government."
Fontes rebutted Mussi, saying "since Hobbs won in 2022 we actual do have an elected Democratic government. AFEC's suit should be thrown out for being moot."
No Live Interviews for Trump
Insiders report that Fox News has decided it will no longer do live interviews with former President Donald Trump "because we lose control of the narrative. Trump would be able to have direct access to our viewing audience. We would have no opportunity to edit his remarks like we would with a taped interview. Any remarks of his that we deem are irrelevant could be skipped over. Brevity would be enhanced."
Jason Miller, senior adviser to Trump's current presidential campaign, criticized this decision, saying "live dialog is honest dialog. Edited dialog can produce misleading information. Questions and responses can be mismatched. This could result in confusion or, worse, intentional distortion. This is pretty shabby treatment considering that it was President Trump's frequent appearances on Fox that helped this network to gain enough viewers to dominate its cable news competitors."
Special Prosecutor Jack Smith called Fox's aversion to live coverage of Trump "a wise move. Giving themselves the opportunity to control what is aired will help keep them from violating the 'gag order' that has been placed on him. While Trump will always be the primary target of our efforts to suppress banned commentary, others must be careful to avoid aiding and abetting him if they don't want to share his punishment."
EV Deficiencies Becoming More Apparent
Whether or not electric vehicles (EVs) are really less polluting than gasoline-powered vehicles is not clear. However, the effort to mandate an all-electric future for transportation may not be economically feasible.
Gasoline-powered cars didn't have to be mandated. Their performance advantage over animal-drawn transportation is what enabled them to reshape transportation. EVs do not have a performance advantage. They have a performance deficit. They are less convenient and more expensive. All the government subsidies poured into EVs makes the cost of driving them equivalent to having to pay more than $17 per gallon of gasoline.
With a gasoline-powered car you can fill up the tank in under five minutes and drive 300 to 400 miles before you need to refill. With an EV a "fast charger" you can drive about 200 miles before you need to refill. Most of the public chargers being built with federal aid will provide a maximum of 60 miles of range for each hour of charging. Due to the longer dwell time during refueling for EVs it is estimated that for each gasoline nozzle we have today we will need 20 EV charging ports.
While EV service providers claim that their equipment works 95% to 98% of the time, 20% of EV drivers say that they have been unable to charge because equipment isn't working or the lines are too long. Department of Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm blamed these drivers for "not planning ahead. On my recent EV road trip I sent staff ahead in a non-EV to reserve me charging port before I arrived at the charging station."
She also disputed the need for as many chargers as have been forecast, saying "this assumes that everyone who owns a car now will still own a car in the future. What if we simply outlaw gasoline? Most members of the lower classes won't be able to afford an EV. Therefore, they won't need to use a charging port. With fewer cars on the road there will be less traffic congestion and the more valuable time of important people won't be wasted in traffic jams."
In related news, a recent report from the International Energy Agency (IEA) concluded that "the world will need to add 50 million miles of new transmission lines at a cost of $600 billion per year to achieve the year 2040 global emission reduction targets of the Paris Agreement." In line with this objective, the Biden Administration just announced a budget of $3.5 billion for 58 green energy projects, which Granholm called "the largest-ever direct investment in critical grid infrastructure, supporting projects that will harden systems, improve energy reliability and affordability."
Mutual Admiration Between Newsom & Xi
In a bid to boost his chances of replacing the faltering Joe Biden as the Democrat Party's presidential nominee, California Gov. Gavin Newsom has been cozying up to China. In a recent meeting with General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) Xi Jinping, Newsom pledged that "California is ready to become China's long-term, stable, strong, and obedient partner."
In return, Xi praised "the sincere and warm Governor for his deep connection with China" and said he "hoped the Governor's week-long trip would play a positive role for bilateral ties. While many in the United States have been critical of our Belt and Road Initiative (BRI)--calling it 'debt colonialism,' Gov. Newsom has been more understanding of its unifying purpose."
The CCP's Global Times called Newsom's administration in California "more rational and stable in dealing with its relations with China than the erratic Biden regime" and suggested that "the potential for a more harmonious interaction between our two countries may be only a timely, disabling stumble away."
Meanwhile in Washington DC, President Biden met with Wang Yi, China's foreign minister and director of the Office of the Foreign Affairs Commission, to warn him that "a dalliance with Gov. Newsom is ill-advised. I am the most powerful man in the world. I can have Newsom neutralized anytime I want. I can order nukes to be fired at China. Hunter and I have kept our part of the bargain. Your side needs to keep yours. The cash flow must not be interrupted."
