Andrew Cuomo And The Perils Of Politicized Prosecution

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Andrew Cuomo And The Perils Of Politicized Prosecution

  • Here in New York, the news today is dominated by one big story: a supposedly “independent” investigative report issued by the Attorney General has apparently validated allegations of a pattern of sexual harassment committed by our Governor, Andrew Cuomo. From CBS News, August 3:

  • New York Governor Andrew Cuomo sexually harassed multiple current and former staffers as well as women who did not work for his administration, the state's attorney general Letitia James said Tuesday during a press conference summarizing the findings of an independent investigation.

  • Suddenly, a guy who had been riding high on a wave of (ridiculously) favorable publicity for his (disastrous) handling of the Covid-19 crisis now faces calls from all over the place — even from President Biden! — to resign. How could this all have gone so wrong so quickly?

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Does The President Have The Authority To Issue A Nationwide Ban On Evictions?

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  • As you may know, during the current pandemic, since the enactment of the so-called “CARES Act” in March 2020, there has been in effect, in various forms, a federal “moratorium” on evictions of rental tenants from their apartments. Thus some landlords have now gone well over a year without getting paid what they are owed, and with no access to any legal remedy.

  • The most recent version of the “moratorium” expired on July 31 (Saturday). This version had been promulgated by the CDC on its own authority, without specific authorization from Congress. On Sunday (August 1) the Democratic Congressional leadership called on President Biden to extend the moratorium. From The Hill, August 2:

  • Top House Democrats on Sunday called on the Biden administration to extend the eviction moratorium amid the coronavirus pandemic, hours after the ban expired, putting millions of Americans at risk of being forced out of their homes. “Action is needed, and it must come from the Administration. That is why House leadership is calling on the Administration to immediately extend the moratorium,” Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.), Majority Whip James Clyburn (D-S.C.) and Assistant Speaker Katherine Clark (D-Md.) wrote in a joint statement.

  • Wait a minute: They’re saying that Congress has passed no law specific to Covid-19 calling for this eviction moratorium, and yet the leaders of Congress are demanding that the President just enact it on his own authority? Is that how this is supposed to work?

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A Little Arithmetic: The Costs Of A Solar-Powered Grid Without Fossil Fuel Back-up

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  • Yesterday’s post made the point that states or countries seeking to march toward 100% “renewable” electricity don’t seem to be able to get past about the 50% mark, no matter how many wind turbines and solar panels they build.

  • The reason is that, in practical operation, due to what is called “intermittency,” no output is available from the solar and wind sources at many times of high demand; therefore, during those times, other sources must supply the juice. This practical problem is presented most starkly in California, where the “renewable” strategy is based almost entirely on solar panels, with only a very small wind component.

  • Daily graphs published by the California Independent System Operator (CAISO) show a clear and obvious pattern, where the solar generation drops right to zero every evening just as the peak demand period kicks in from about 6 to 9 PM.

  • Commenter Sean thinks he has the answer: . . .

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The Triumphant March Toward 100% "Renewable" Electricity: Germany and California

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The Triumphant March Toward 100% "Renewable" Electricity: Germany and California

  • As a state or a country, if you want to have any status in the ranks of the climate virtuous, the key metric is your commitment to get most or all of your energy from “renewables” (mainly wind and solar) by the earliest possible date. Everybody is doing it, and you are nobody if you don’t get in on the bidding.

  • Just a couple of weeks ago (July 14), according to Reuters, the European Commission entered a bid of 40% of final energy consumption from “renewables” by 2030. Back here in the US, the most recent bid from the Biden administration (from April 28) is a goal of 80% of electricity by 2030, which is ambitious on its own, although electricity is a minority of final energy consumption. Congress has yet to consider the Biden administration bid.

  • Within both the EU and the US, there are national and state champions that are far out-virtuing everybody else. In the EU, it’s Germany. . . . Here in the US, our champion is California.

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The Left Allows No Deviation From Orthodoxy

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  • The United States is currently subject to a sharp political divide between the left and the right, with just around half of the country on each side.

  • The two sides obviously differ in the government policies that they advocate, but there is another difference that I think is even more important. The right, or at least most of it, welcomes differences of opinion, while the left allows no dissent from the orthodoxy of the moment.

  • An op-ed by Ben Shapiro in today’s New York Post provides several notable examples. But this one best illustrates the left/right divide on tolerance of dissent:

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Chinese Virus Retrospective: The Shame Of Our Public Health "Experts"

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  • It’s been over a year since I’ve commented on the question of whether the response to the Chinese Virus has been appropriate versus overblown. (See this post from July 6, 2020.). Now, with most of the population vaccinated, and the pandemic hopefully winding down, it’s time to take stock of where we are.

  • During the year and a half since the cases of Covid-19 began to emerge, we have endured seemingly interminable stay-at-home orders and recommendations, “lockdowns,” business closures, millions thrown out of work, school closures, “social distancing,” mask mandates, the cancelation of all in-person social events, concerts, theater, and on and on. And we’re not done even yet.

  • Just today I rode the subway in New York, where the mask mandate is still in place (although the compliance rate is finally dropping significantly). Even now, most office workers in New York have not returned to the office. The business districts remain semi-deserted, although they are beginning to awaken.

  • All this has come about by the edicts of our public health authorities and “experts,” who have done everything in their power to scare the bejeezus out of us.

  • Was all that appropriate? Absolutely not.

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