(Steven Hayward)Lenin famously said that capitalists would sell the rope that Communists would use to hang capitalists. But it turns out his imagination failed him: who knew that capitalists would pay for the rope with which the revolutionary left will kill capitalism.

Liberal political analyst Thomas Byrne Edsall, who along with David Shor, Ruy Teixeira, and a handful of other liberals of relative sobriety, notes today in the New York Times the huge increase in contributions to “racial equity” causes since George Floyd’s death. Using data assembled by an organization called Candid, the numbers are staggering:

Before Floyd’s death, Candid found that philanthropies provided “$3.3 billion in racial equity funding” for the nine years from 2011 to 2019. Since then, Candid calculations revealed much higher totals for both 2020 and 2021: “50,887 grants valued at $12.7 billion” and “177 pledges valued at $11.6 billion.”

Among the top funders, according to Candid’s calculations, are the Ford Foundation, at $3 billion; Mackenzie Scott, at $2.9 billion; JPMorgan Chase & Co. Contributions Program, at $2.1 billion; W.K. Kellogg Foundation, $1.2 billion; Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, $1.1 billion; Silicon Valley Community Foundation, $1 billion; Walton Family Foundation, $689 million; The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, $438 million; and the Foundation to Promote Open Society, $350.5 million.

Let that sink in: in a little more than a year, capitalist philanthropy to radical racial causes was three times larger than the total philanthropy of the previous decade. (Don’t hold your breath for a close accounting of how the money is spent.)

Given that Black Lives Matter, and Ibram Kendi, explicitly stand for expropriation and the destruction of capitalism, one realizes how fully weak-minded our corporate and philanthropic overlords have become.

But maybe this is a secret diabolical plot to blow up the Democratic Party? “Defund the Police” worked so well for them in the 2020 election cycle. Edsall thinks this flood of dollars to radical organizations is very bad for Democrats:

There are Democratic strategists who worry about unintended political consequences that could flow from this surge in philanthropic giving. Rob Stein, one of the founders of the Democracy Alliance, an organization of major donors on the left, argued in a phone interview that while most foundation spending is on programs that have widespread support, “when progressive philanthropists fund groups that promote extreme views like ‘defunding the police’ or that sanction ‘cancel culture,’ they are exacerbating intraparty conflict and stoking interparty backlash.” The danger, according to Stein, is that “some progressive politicians and funders are contributing to divisiveness within their ranks and giving fodder to the right.” . . .

Darren Walker, president of the Ford Foundation, argued in a phone interview that no consideration is — or can be — given to partisan political consequences:

We make no calculations about how our grantees give credibility or not to the Democratic Party. That is of no concern to the Ford Foundation, or to me personally.

Walker continued: “We support organizations that are working toward more justice and more inclusion in America, but we have no interest in the Democratic Party’s strengths or weaknesses.”

I asked Walker about the concerns raised by Stein and Bennett. “We support issues that are about progress and inclusion and justice, but the chips fall where they fall,” Walker said.

If Darren Walker didn’t exist, Karl Rove and Steve Bannon have to invent him.

JOE adds: This is why I use Patriot Mobile. Even a billion-dollar foundation isn’t much in the face of the phone bills of 100 million conservatives.

(John Hinderaker)Wind and solar energy are notoriously unreliable sources of electricity, with the best wind turbines producing electricity a little over 40 percent of the time, and solar panels faring even worse. Where I live, solar panels work around 18 percent of the time, and the electricity they produce is so faint that when they are covered by snow in the winter–I know, it’s a shock, but that happens in Minnesota and other northern states–they aren’t worth shoveling off.

Can anything save wind and solar energy from irrelevance? If you ask a liberal that question, his answer will be: batteries! Batteries that will store electricity when wind turbines and solar panels actually work, and discharge that electricity the rest of the time. Do batteries approaching such a scale actually exist? Well, no. It’s a concept.

But how does the total quantity of existing battery storage, which all of us rely on every day for our laptops, phones and other devices, compare with an industrial society’s need for power? Bjorn Lomborg does the math; the result is pathetic:

We’re told solar and wind future

But when wind is not blowing and sun not shining?

Batteries!

Yet

Asia uses 25GWh/minute and has 13GWh of battery storage: enough for just 31 seconds

2030: 9m:55s

After that, need 100% backup, mostly fossil fuelshttps://t.co/dore3BbLIO pic.twitter.com/jMIUAiWeaI

— Bjorn Lomborg (@BjornLomborg) January 3, 2022

Batteries are incredibly expensive compared with the power that can be generated by reliable energy sources–nuclear, coal, natural gas and hydropower. Cranking up the world’s battery capacity with vast mining projects to acquire the necessary lithium and other minerals would entail massive environmental degradation along with driving up the price of those materials. And obtaining and processing the materials needed to manufacture the turbines and panels needed to convert the world’s economy to wind and solar energy–a hopeless pipe dream in any case–would be a mining and manufacturing project unprecedented in human history.

Also, one that would be mostly under the control of the Red Chinese–they are not major players in fossil fuels, but utterly dominate “green” energy. But for liberals, that is probably a feature rather than a bug. If you think that America deserves to be destroyed, this is a quick way to do it.

At some point in human history, there must have been a dumber idea than converting our industrial base to wind, solar and imaginary batteries, but offhand I can’t think what it was.

BTW, I came across Lomborg’s tweets on Lara Logan’s Twitter feed, to which I followed a now-forgotten link. Ms. Logan’s Twitter feed is excellent, and I commend it to you if you are on that platform. One is tempted to say that she has come out as a conservative, but then again, she may just be sane. These days, that is a subtle distinction.

Logan posts this graphic, which sums up the world of journalism very well:

pic.twitter.com/REL7b1a1UW

— Lara Logan (@laralogan) January 5, 2022

 

(John Hinderaker)Millions of Americans are fleeing blue states for freer, more prosperous red states. Many have worried that these refugees may be foolish enough to bring blue-state politics with them. This could happen, but recent voter registration data from Florida suggest that it isn’t happening there.

Hoo-boy! The pandemic effect on FL voter registration has been.. jaw-dropping

Since 3/31/20:
+274,503 R
-51,995 D
66/67 counties becoming redder
R’s overtake D’s for first time in state history@karol @HotlineJosh @guypbenson @MZHemingway @ReyAnthonyFL @Bryce__L @FloridaGOP pic.twitter.com/b8qWzLT8Og

— Tim (@TimDCpolitico) January 4, 2022

So in just ten months, the GOP has a net gain of 325,000 voter registrations. Stephen Green comments:

Out of over 14 million registered voters, last year Democrats held the edge with 37.38% of registrations compared to the GOP’s 35.28%. (The remaining four million or so — around 26% — were independents or members of minor parties.)

Democrats held a two-point advantage, but higher Republican turnout has made the state safely red in the last two presidential elections.
***
As you can see, the GOP now has a slight lead in registrations, having gained more than a quarter of a million party members in just the last nine months.

66 out of Florida’s 67 counties shifted towards the red.

Republicans made a net gain of over 61,000 in Miami-Dade County in just the last 10 months. I assume this has to do, at least in part, with minorities switching to the GOP.

Many of these new Republican voters might not be blue-state refugees; Governor DeSantis’s strong record no doubt has prompted some party-switching. But at a minimum, the numbers indicate that lots of new residents from blue states doesn’t necessarily mean lots of new blue voters.

(Paul Mirengoff)Scott has already mentioned the 48-mile traffic backup that occurred in Northern Virginia yesterday. Reportedly, cars were stopped on I-95 for more than 24 hours in freezing temperatures.

It must have been awful, but it could have been worse. And, as Charles Lane explains, it would have been much worse if there had been many more electric vehicles (EVs) in the traffic jam.

Lane writes:

Sometime after 3 a.m. Tuesday. . .a long-haul trucker from Canada heard a knock at the door of his cab. It was one of the hundreds of other motorists stuck in subfreezing temperatures with no food or water.

The supplicant was “driving a Tesla,” recounted the trucker, who told the story on Twitter under the handle My World Through A Windshield, “and he’s worried about running out of power in the cold. [It’s] 19°F or -7°C. He’s a nice guy who was worried about his kids. I gave him some water, a spare blanket and [a] thermal/mylar blanket.”

Lane continues:

The not-so-unprecedented event — essentially a repeat of what happened on a wintry night in the D.C. area 11 years ago this month — therefore provides a reality check on the push by government and business to electrify cars and trucks.

It is a scientific fact that batteries of all kinds lose capacity more rapidly in cold weather, and that includes the sophisticated lithium-ion ones used by Teslas and other EVs. Carmakers can, and do, mitigate cold-weather “range anxiety” through various technologies; Tesla is touting a new “heat pump” to extend winter range. Drivers can save battery power by, say, turning off the heat. The issue cannot be eliminated, however, as Tesla acknowledges on its corporate website.

It’s a hassle in ordinary winter situations but potentially much worse than that on a night like Monday.

Any EV driver stuck on I-95 was right to be anxious — not only about a rapidly dying battery but also about recharging it. Cold would make that process much more time-consuming, assuming there was a charging station nearby, and that the electric power system hadn’t gone out (as it did in parts of Virginia on Monday).

To be sure, cold also affects the performance of gas-powered vehicles and many were left stranded in Virginia after they ran out of fuel or their batteries died. But, says Lane:

All else being equal, though, cars and trucks with internal combustion engines (ICE) would have the advantage in coping with a sudden challenge such as the I-95 fiasco. It is much easier to rehabilitate a disabled ICE vehicle. Rescuers can deliver gallons of gas in convenient jugs; gas stations are still far more numerous than EV charging stations; and ICE car batteries can be jump-started in minutes.

Absent some breakthrough in mobile charging technology, out-of-juice EVs in out-of-the-way places will need a tow. If Monday’s nightmare had been an all-electric affair, they might have littered the highway for miles.

But what about frozen Norway, where the EV share of new car sales was 65 percent in 2021 thanks to massive subsidies — ones far larger than those contemplated in the stalled Build Back Better legislation? Norwegians may be susceptible to bribery, but they aren’t stupid. As Lane points out, “internal combustion models still account for 85 percent of vehicles on Norway’s roads, partly because those Norwegians who bought EVs generally did so in addition to an ICE car they already owned.”

Moreover:

[Norway’s] government is planning to scale back EV purchase incentives because of the cost, which reached $3.4 billion in 2021. Even Norway, which has accumulated a $1.4 trillion sovereign wealth fund through fossil fuel exports, can’t afford unlimited green subsidies.

Lane concludes:

The point is that when people invest their money in a vehicle, they expect to be able to count on it even in extraordinary conditions.

Mass adoption of EVs, and the hoped-for cut in greenhouse gas emissions, thus hinges on the availability of EVs that can do everything existing ICE models can, all the time, for the same price and total cost of ownership, with no extra “hassle factor” — in all kinds of weather.

And like that Tesla driver on I-95 in the wee hours of Tuesday morning, we’re not there yet.

(Scott Johnson)Robert Mitchum played drunken sheriff J.P. Harrah in the classic Howard Hawks film El Dorado. As one thing leads to another in the movie, John Wayne’s Cole Thornton embarrasses Harrah into sobering up. Quotable quote: “I’m lookin’ at a tin star with a… drunk pinned on it.”

In the Twin Cities, we are in a John Wayne, call your office situation. What we really need, however, is someone who can embarrass the Star Tribune into doing its job. That is a tall order. Offhand, I can’t think of anyone capable of it.

Hennepin County is the populous Minnesota county including the city of Minneapolis and its near suburbs. David Hutchinson is the sheriff of the county. Insofar as Hennepin County is deeply challenged by law enforcement issues of all kinds, the sheriff’s position is an important job. Last month Hutchinson was involved in a drunk driving accident in the early morning hours (2:30 a.m.) of December 8. These are some of the relevant facts as they have emerged to date:

• Hutchinson attended a sheriffs’ convention at the Arrowwood Resort in Alexandria, Minnesota before heading back to the Twin Cities on Interstate 94 on December 8.

• He had a lot to drink before heading back to the Twin Cities in the early morning hours. He only made it five miles out of town as he headed home by himself.

• He was driving a county-owned Ford Explorer when he crashed his vehicle in a one-car rollover accident. Hutchinson was injured and the vehicle was totaled.

• When a urine sample was tested by State Highway Patrol officers after the accident, Hutchinson blood alcohol level was measured at 0.13. Hutchinson was driving seriously impaired.

• Hutchinson had an open bottle of “Eagle Rare Bourbon” in the passenger compartment of the vehicle.

• Local journalist Rebecca Brannon tracked the vehicle down at a lot in the Twin Cities suburb Medina. She posted the photos below and more on Twitter.

EXCLUSIVE: @HennepinSheriff Dave Hutchinson’s wrecked squad car from his DUI crash.

Thread 1/3 pic.twitter.com/MESvkzF6Ii

— Rebecca Brannon (@RebsBrannon) December 16, 2021

 

• Brannon has also posted audio of the highway patrol dispatching officers to the scene. “Caller states male party was crawling along the road.” “You’ll need a flatbed and it’s…it’s completely wrecked here.”

• Hutchinson told officers at the scene of his drunken driving crash that someone else was driving his vehicle.

• Hutchinson issued a statement following the accident including the obligatory acceptance of “full responsibility.” This is the operative paragraph: “I take full responsibility for my actions and am prepared to accept the consequences of my poor decision. I am relieved that no one else was injured in the crash. I will immediately address my personal issues surrounding alcohol and seek the help I need to continue to serve the people of Hennepin County.”

• Hutchinson was charged with four misdemeanors including carrying a pistol under the influence of alcohol. On December 16 he pleaded to one count of drunk driving with dismissal of two other charges and continuance for dismissal of the drunk with a pistol charge. He will do no time. He has returned to the job and is moving on.

• Brannon adds these notes.

Without any public notice, Sheriff Dave Hutchinson was quietly sentenced yesterday to 2 years’ probation after pleading guilty to 4th degree DWI. He has also apparently returned to work.

He was never arrested upon discharge from the hospital, booked w/ mugshot & fingerprints. https://t.co/IeB3ZwyHyX

— Rebecca Brannon (@RebsBrannon) December 21, 2021

 

• Hutchinson appears to be an alcoholic. In his statement he put it this way: “I will immediately address my personal issues surrounding alcohol and seek the help I need to continue to serve the people of Hennepin County.” He seems to imply elsewhere that he has previously been treated for alcoholism.

• The Star Tribune stories on the accident have been vague on Hutchinson’s alcohol issues. The latest of these is David Chanen’s December 26 story with this quote: “Hutchinson said he doesn’t believe he has ever intended to drink and drive in the past, but he can’t be sure it hasn’t happened. Alcohol has never impacted his work as sheriff, he said.” And this: “He admitted to sometimes drinking alcohol to turn off his ‘struggles and stress,’ but said treatment has taught him other ways to cope, such as going to the gym, reading a book or taking a walk.” He has a problem.

• The Star Tribune published an editorial on Hutchinson’s accident on December 9. It is an exercise in apologetics derivative of “DFL privilege,” as our friends at Justice & Drew call it (and they nailed this example of it from day one). This is the Star Tribune’s last editorial word on the case so far.

• As a result of her efforts to cover the story, the Medina police called on Rebecca Brannon — at the request of the Hennepin County Sheriff’s Office. Last week Deena Winter covered this development for Minnesota Reformer in “Police looked into how journalist got photos of Hennepin County sheriff’s wrecked SUV.” Subhead: “Independent photojournalist Rebecca Brannon said police interviewed her about photos.” Brannon’s photo below accompanied Winter’s story. Hutchinson and his department are both a disgrace. Winter’s most recent story on the case is here.

• Brannon joined Justice & Drew in-studio to discuss her coverage of the case during the third hour of yesterday’s show. Brannon itemizes several irregularities in the handling of the case. Here you will also learn that, in addition to his other failings, Hutchinson is a pig.

 

Everything about the handling of the case reeks of privilege. As they say in the world of problem drinking, we need an intervention, and not only to deal with the continuing problem of David Hutchinson.