Is a Desalination Plant “Systemic Racism”?
Friday September 25, 2020 | K. Lloyd Billingsley

“California American Water withdrew its application to the California Coastal Commission for a permit to construct a desalination plant in the Monterey Bay,” reported Josh Copitch of KSBW, so the Commission canceled its September 17 meeting. Opponents of the desalination plant hailed the Commission’s new policy on “environmental justice” for nixing the project. (more…)

Breonna Taylor Riots and More Irresponsible Rhetoric
Thursday September 24, 2020 | William J. Watkins, Jr.

Two police officers have been shot in Louisville as mobs ransacked local businesses. The mob did not get the murder charge they wanted and now are taking things into their own hands. Unfortunately, even organizations such as the NAACP are continuing to allege that Taylor was murdered by the police. They will not accept a reckless endangerment charge for just one officer. What happened to Taylor was a tragedy, and one can make compelling arguments about the high cost of the war on drugs in America. But the Taylor situation is a poor example of alleged “systematic racism” and “police brutality.” Let’s get the facts straight. (more…)

To Go to School in L.A.
Thursday September 24, 2020 | K. Lloyd Billingsley

“We don’t realistically anticipate that we would be moving to either tier 2 or to reopening K-12 schools at least until after the election, in early November. When we just look at the timing of everything, it seems to us a more realistic approach to this would be to think that we’re going to be where we are now until we are done with the election.”  (more…)

Replacing RBG: A Lesson in Politics
Tuesday September 22, 2020 | Randall G. Holcombe

Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s death on September 18, less than two months before the upcoming presidential election, set off a major political controversy. Democrats argued that the appointment of her successor should wait until after the election and be made by the winner of the election. Most (but not all) Republicans argued the appointment should be made now, before the election. (more…)

Did Forest Management or Climate Change Cause California Wildfires?
Monday September 21, 2020 | K. Lloyd Billingsley

“Please remember the words, very simple. Forest management. Please remember that,” said President Trump, in Sacramento on Monday for a meeting with Gov. Gavin Newsom. The president contended that brush and dead trees in California’s forests are “like a matchstick.” Gov. Newsom countered that “The hots are getting hotter, the dries are getting drier... something happened to the plumbing of the world. Climate change is real and exacerbating this.”  (more…)

The First Green New Deal
Monday September 21, 2020 | Craig Eyermann

Chester Nez grew up on the “Checkerboard,” an area of land broken up into privately owned plots adjacent to the Navajo reservation in northern New Mexico. There, his family tended its herds of sheep and goats, eking out a living through subsistence farming, much as their Navajo ancestors had done in the difficult environment. By modern standards, they would be considered to be living in near extreme poverty. It was the era of the Dust Bowl. High temperatures and severe drought combined with traditional and early mechanized farming methods to dry out and loosen the topsoil in the nation’s southwestern plains. Topsoil that blew away with the winds in massive dust clouds during the 1930s. It was both an economic and environmental disaster. (more…)

Pandemic Prophecy Not on the Rosy Side
Monday September 21, 2020 | K. Lloyd Billingsley

Actress Jennifer Garner (13 Going on 30) recently asked Dr. Anthony Fauci, “When are we going to be able to sit in a theater and watch our favorite performers up on stage again?” Dr. Fauci, a member of the White House Coronavirus Task Force, replied, “I think it’s going to be a combination of a vaccine that has been around for almost a year and good public-health measures,” adding that a vaccine was unlikely by November. This was hardly the doctor’s only venture into prophecy.  (more…)