1 00:00:18,079 --> 00:00:21,800 And we are back with another edition of the Federalist Radio Hour. I'm Matt 2 00:00:21,839 --> 00:00:28,000 Kittle's senior elections correspondent at the Federalist and your experience Shirpa on today's quest for 3 00:00:28,160 --> 00:00:32,960 Knowledge. As always, you can email the show at radio at the Federalist 4 00:00:33,039 --> 00:00:40,359 dot com, follow us on x at fbr LST, make sure to subscribe 5 00:00:40,399 --> 00:00:44,920 wherever you download your podcast, and of course to the premium version of our 6 00:00:44,960 --> 00:00:50,600 website as well. I'm joined today by Bonner Cohen, senior policy analyst with 7 00:00:50,679 --> 00:00:57,039 the Committee for a Constructive Tomorrow. Bonner also serves as Senior policy Advisor with 8 00:00:57,119 --> 00:01:02,479 the Heartland Institute, Senior Fellow at the National Center for Public Policy Research, 9 00:01:02,920 --> 00:01:07,239 and as an adjunct scholar at the Competitive Enterprise Institute. Bonner, Welcome to 10 00:01:07,319 --> 00:01:11,920 this edition of the Federalist Radio Hour. Well, thank you very much for 11 00:01:11,040 --> 00:01:15,359 having me. I'm delighted to be here. I'm delighted to have you. 12 00:01:15,400 --> 00:01:19,560 We've talked for many years on the climate cult, which we're going to delve 13 00:01:19,599 --> 00:01:23,000 into in just a moment. But let's begin here with your resume. When 14 00:01:23,040 --> 00:01:27,519 do you have time to rest, or eat or do anything. You're a 15 00:01:27,560 --> 00:01:32,840 busy, busy man. I managed to work in three meals a day, 16 00:01:33,439 --> 00:01:42,519 nice, despite inflation's best efforts. And otherwise I live almost exclusively. Why 17 00:01:42,519 --> 00:01:48,159 are you in front of my computer where either write articles or do interviews like 18 00:01:48,280 --> 00:01:53,079 this? And oh I occasionally sneak out in this behave as is to be 19 00:01:53,200 --> 00:01:57,319 expected, but not nearly as often as I would like. Yes, yeah, 20 00:01:57,480 --> 00:02:01,359 I've known you to be dreamely busy, and with as we mentioned, 21 00:02:01,439 --> 00:02:09,280 the climate change cult climate change extremist, particularly with a full administration that is 22 00:02:10,400 --> 00:02:16,840 drinking the kool aid on the climate change extremist agenda, you do log in 23 00:02:17,039 --> 00:02:21,879 a lot of hours. Of course, let's start here with some headlines I'd 24 00:02:21,919 --> 00:02:23,759 like you too. There are a bunch of them, and it just gives 25 00:02:23,759 --> 00:02:29,840 you a sense of what you're dealing with today with an accomplice media that is 26 00:02:29,960 --> 00:02:37,199 all in on the climate change alarmist narrative. Headline from NBC News will start 27 00:02:37,240 --> 00:02:42,439 with the debate, of course, that's on everybody's mind. The headline from 28 00:02:42,560 --> 00:02:50,800 NBC News is Biden fears Trump will undo his climate legislation. And to that, 29 00:02:51,199 --> 00:02:54,439 I say, first of all, Biden, I believe is still in 30 00:02:54,520 --> 00:03:01,400 the second branch and is not entitled to create legislation. So there's some constitutional 31 00:03:02,840 --> 00:03:09,520 learning problems there, I think. But as far as Biden's policies on climate 32 00:03:09,639 --> 00:03:15,400 change, there are a lot of us who would say hooray if that is 33 00:03:15,439 --> 00:03:20,199 indeed the case if Donald Trump is elected, because these are some of the 34 00:03:20,199 --> 00:03:28,439 most overreaching, and let's face it, consumer straddling policies that we've ever seen 35 00:03:28,479 --> 00:03:32,840 in this country. You're quite right to say they are consumers straddling, and 36 00:03:32,879 --> 00:03:40,439 they're straddling not just our ability to choose the products and technologies that we won't 37 00:03:40,960 --> 00:03:46,199 whether that applies to a kitchen appliance, an automobile, we're going to buy, 38 00:03:46,879 --> 00:03:53,360 how we heat and cool our homes. But in circumscribing those choices, 39 00:03:54,240 --> 00:04:01,680 the Biden administration and the entire climate cult or climate COBO is essentially feathering its 40 00:04:01,719 --> 00:04:09,560 own nest. It's doing that politically by giving itself power over the rest of 41 00:04:09,639 --> 00:04:14,400 us, which I might add is ultimately what the climate agenda is all about, 42 00:04:15,080 --> 00:04:19,839 and in so doing, taking decisions that we would ordinarily make for ourselves 43 00:04:20,279 --> 00:04:28,720 and putting those decisions into the hands of unelected and unaccountable bureaucrats. The purpose 44 00:04:28,759 --> 00:04:32,480 of the exercise, of course, at least with respect to climate is to 45 00:04:32,560 --> 00:04:40,519 get control of energy, because once you control energy, you control the people 46 00:04:40,800 --> 00:04:46,120 who need and use energy. And the environmental movement finally hit on this about 47 00:04:46,160 --> 00:04:51,319 twenty five or thirty years ago, and they realize of all the various scare 48 00:04:51,759 --> 00:04:57,199 tactics that they were using trying to scare us about this, that, and 49 00:04:57,240 --> 00:05:04,000 the other, the keys to the kingdom are the climate agenda. That will 50 00:05:04,000 --> 00:05:10,439 open the door to power, and power is what this is ultimately all about. 51 00:05:11,120 --> 00:05:15,959 And if you can scare enough people by convincing them that there is a 52 00:05:15,079 --> 00:05:21,879 climate crisis which is urgent and needs to be addressed immediately, you can then 53 00:05:23,279 --> 00:05:30,839 impose all sorts of rules and regulations. You can move pieces around the chess 54 00:05:30,839 --> 00:05:38,800 board and tilt that chess board to favor certain industries, and you can regulate 55 00:05:38,920 --> 00:05:43,040 those industries that you don't like. You can regulate them out of business. 56 00:05:44,319 --> 00:05:47,439 If you can't get it done legislatively, and that's difficult, you do it 57 00:05:47,639 --> 00:05:54,600 through the administrative regulatory state. That's exactly what has been going on for some 58 00:05:54,839 --> 00:05:58,560 time. And as I said, this is a real threat. It's not 59 00:05:58,680 --> 00:06:01,879 just a threat to our economic wellbeing, which would be bad enough. But 60 00:06:02,439 --> 00:06:11,399 it also limits our personal freedoms, our individual liberty, as people who believe 61 00:06:11,519 --> 00:06:16,879 that they live in a free society but find themselves in many respects serving the 62 00:06:17,040 --> 00:06:26,120 very, very narrow interest of an even narrower ruling class, and all in 63 00:06:26,160 --> 00:06:30,839 the name of what Bonner I mean, that's the trillion trillion dollar question. 64 00:06:30,959 --> 00:06:34,600 I mean, what are we doing this for? Because if you look at 65 00:06:34,600 --> 00:06:39,199 the headlines, and we'll go through a couple more of these that I have, 66 00:06:39,319 --> 00:06:45,279 you know, everything is existential crisis. This is this is an existential 67 00:06:45,360 --> 00:06:50,680 crisis, you know, and you recall we're both old enough to remember the 68 00:06:50,759 --> 00:06:58,079 many existential crises we've seen in this arena over the last half century or so 69 00:06:58,680 --> 00:07:01,879 in this country. Many of them, all of them to date, have 70 00:07:02,000 --> 00:07:08,360 not come to pass to fulfill the existential doomsday crisis. But you know, 71 00:07:08,639 --> 00:07:14,680 more recent vintage, we have Alexandria Casio Cortes, of course, the climate 72 00:07:14,800 --> 00:07:21,399 change cult high priestess who told us it's Jesus, it's got to be coming. 73 00:07:21,720 --> 00:07:26,839 Going on six eight years now than in twelve years this earth it's over, 74 00:07:27,000 --> 00:07:30,600 it's done, We're still here. After that point. I don't think 75 00:07:30,639 --> 00:07:34,759 we're necessarily going to check out in the next four or five years. So 76 00:07:35,279 --> 00:07:42,199 what is you mentioned the power? But is any of are any of the 77 00:07:42,240 --> 00:07:47,040 policies that they're pushing on us making any difference whatsoever, none or whatsoever, 78 00:07:47,560 --> 00:07:54,120 because essentially the problem that they have identified, the problem quote unquote that they 79 00:07:54,160 --> 00:08:01,639 have identified, namely a dangerous heating of the planet as a result of certain 80 00:08:01,759 --> 00:08:09,480 human activities, including primarily the burning of fossil fuels that that's oil, gas, 81 00:08:09,680 --> 00:08:16,879 and coal, as well as certain agricultural practices. That warming of the 82 00:08:16,000 --> 00:08:24,560 earth is so dangerous that we need to take urgent action to combat What is 83 00:08:24,639 --> 00:08:28,399 wrong with that old narrative? And it's a very fashionable narrative that has made 84 00:08:28,439 --> 00:08:37,960 its way into k through twelve education colleges and universities, corporate boardrooms, establishment 85 00:08:37,120 --> 00:08:43,600 media, into both parties, more Democrats than Republicans, but you will find 86 00:08:43,600 --> 00:08:50,919 them there too. That's the narrative. Is the narrative itself rooted in reality? 87 00:08:50,039 --> 00:08:56,720 And the answer is no. It is true that the Earth is marginally 88 00:08:56,960 --> 00:09:03,519 warmer now than it was around three hundred years ago, but that is a 89 00:09:03,559 --> 00:09:09,080 result of the Earth rebounding from what is called the Little Ice Age, which 90 00:09:09,120 --> 00:09:16,120 it existed from about twelve fifty two, roughly the beginning of the eighteenth century. 91 00:09:16,399 --> 00:09:22,559 Some take to the beginning of the nineteenth century. Their temperatures were about 92 00:09:24,120 --> 00:09:28,440 oh degree and a half fahrenheit lower than they are now, and every bit 93 00:09:28,559 --> 00:09:35,919 is important. Atmospheric levels of carbon dioxide CO two were considerably lower than they 94 00:09:35,919 --> 00:09:41,799 are now. Then there was lowest two hundred and fifty parts per million today 95 00:09:41,840 --> 00:09:46,039 around four hundred and twenty parts per million. And the climate narrative, that 96 00:09:46,159 --> 00:09:52,960 climate crisis narrative, goes that it's the rise in those greenhouse gas levels through 97 00:09:52,039 --> 00:09:56,399 greenhouse gas emissions that are part of the problem, that are causing the warming. 98 00:09:56,759 --> 00:10:03,200 There is a big problem with that. Greenhouse gas emissions began to rise 99 00:10:03,440 --> 00:10:07,759 globally and the middle of the twenty first it excuse me, in the middle 100 00:10:07,799 --> 00:10:13,080 of the twentieth century, shortly after the end of World War Two. The 101 00:10:13,120 --> 00:10:18,879 warming that we are experiencing, which again is very modest and by the way, 102 00:10:18,960 --> 00:10:26,559 quite beneficial, dates from around seventeen to eighteen hundred. In cause and 103 00:10:26,600 --> 00:10:31,440 effect relationships, the cause precedes the effect. So how can something that got 104 00:10:31,519 --> 00:10:39,200 underway in the mid twentieth century have caused something that started in the early eighteenth 105 00:10:39,240 --> 00:10:46,200 century. It doesn't add up Bonner that Bonner. Now you're using logic, 106 00:10:46,440 --> 00:10:50,720 and yes, I know you're using facts and logic that can't enter into the 107 00:10:50,759 --> 00:10:58,080 climate alarmist agenda conversation. But we'll take a look at actically deny this. 108 00:10:58,320 --> 00:11:03,879 They've lost over it. Yeah, they put nothing into perspective, such as 109 00:11:05,279 --> 00:11:11,360 temperatures warmer in the Middle Ages than they are now, but that came on 110 00:11:11,399 --> 00:11:18,039 the heels of a cooling that took place shortly after the fall of the Roman 111 00:11:18,080 --> 00:11:22,840 Empire, though there was no causal relationship there. But during the time of 112 00:11:22,000 --> 00:11:28,799 Romans, temperatures were so warm that vineyards were widespread in where written of all 113 00:11:28,840 --> 00:11:35,080 places, because it was so warm there. But this is context, and 114 00:11:35,519 --> 00:11:41,200 they don't want context at all. They want to scare us into doing things 115 00:11:41,240 --> 00:11:46,240 that are manifestly contrary to our own interest. Well, on that topic, 116 00:11:46,279 --> 00:11:52,679 take a look at this headline, because that's pretty much sums it up. 117 00:11:54,039 --> 00:11:58,600 This was in the Washington Post this week. Here it is I want you 118 00:11:58,679 --> 00:12:05,399 to react to this headline, The scariest thing about climate change question mark global 119 00:12:05,519 --> 00:12:13,759 cooling. The burning of fossil fuels has been cooling the planet while warming it 120 00:12:13,159 --> 00:12:18,960 presenting problems for the future. I don't know how to unpack that, so 121 00:12:20,000 --> 00:12:22,960 I'm going to turn to an XX two US to unpack that. If you 122 00:12:24,000 --> 00:12:26,799 don't mind, yes, we'll give you. We'll give you a special commendation 123 00:12:28,000 --> 00:12:31,360 if you can, because I'm having a hard time, you know, trying 124 00:12:31,399 --> 00:12:37,039 to figure out what. You know. They've been pushing about the heating of 125 00:12:37,120 --> 00:12:39,600 the Earth's surface and now it's global cooling. But this is what we've seen 126 00:12:39,879 --> 00:12:43,840 play out with the climate change alarmist over the last fifty years in this country. 127 00:12:43,919 --> 00:12:48,759 That's exactly right. What I think they're doing here is they are giving 128 00:12:48,799 --> 00:12:56,159 themselves some running room just in case we have an extremely severe winner, whether 129 00:12:56,240 --> 00:13:00,120 in the United States or Europe or globally or wherever, so they can say, 130 00:13:00,120 --> 00:13:05,399 ah, huh, the plummeting temperatures that we're having now with record levels 131 00:13:05,399 --> 00:13:09,320 of snow, this too is climate change. This is why rhetorically they have 132 00:13:09,559 --> 00:13:16,320 moved away from global warming over the past twenty or thirty years, moved an 133 00:13:16,360 --> 00:13:20,639 erection of climate change. That way, they've got themselves covered, or at 134 00:13:20,720 --> 00:13:26,159 least they think they have, so that there's something totally contrary to the prevailing 135 00:13:26,279 --> 00:13:28,879 narrative comes along, they can say, ah, we told you so, 136 00:13:30,960 --> 00:13:35,600 this is calimate change and we need to take urgent action to combat it. 137 00:13:39,159 --> 00:13:43,000 Congrats, you owe one hundred thousand dollars. The washed Out on Wall Street 138 00:13:43,000 --> 00:13:48,440 podcast with Chris Markowski. Every day Chris helps unpack the connection between politics and 139 00:13:48,480 --> 00:13:52,360 the economy and how it affects your wile. As the national debt topples thirty 140 00:13:52,440 --> 00:13:56,360 five trillion, every American now owes over one hundred thousand dollars to our national 141 00:13:56,399 --> 00:14:01,600 debt, and nobody running for president has planned cut spending. Whether it's happening 142 00:14:01,639 --> 00:14:03,759 in DC or down on Wall Street, it's affecting you financially. Be informed. 143 00:14:03,840 --> 00:14:07,960 Check out the Watchdot on Wall Street podcast with Chris mccowski on Apple, 144 00:14:07,039 --> 00:14:13,360 Spotify, or wherever you get your podcast. What do you mean you told 145 00:14:13,440 --> 00:14:18,639 us so? You told us many different things and none of them have come 146 00:14:18,679 --> 00:14:20,960 true. I remember when I was a kid that we were facing an ice 147 00:14:22,000 --> 00:14:26,519 age, because that's right, we had a significant amount of snow. I 148 00:14:26,559 --> 00:14:30,879 remember, I don't remember this, I remember the stories. I was rather 149 00:14:31,039 --> 00:14:35,519 young, you know, a kid when we moved from Rockford, Illinois to 150 00:14:35,720 --> 00:14:41,279 Potosi, Wisconsin, and I think the April that we moved there, we 151 00:14:41,320 --> 00:14:46,799 had a massive snowstorm in seventy four I believe it was, and then we 152 00:14:46,879 --> 00:14:52,519 were all expecting the mastodons to come roaring back, you know. But that's 153 00:14:52,559 --> 00:14:56,000 the thing, and I want to tie this in bonner to what we've just 154 00:14:56,120 --> 00:15:00,879 experienced over the last four years in this country, particularly the first two years 155 00:15:00,919 --> 00:15:09,120 in the pandemic era. We were told by the experts this and this and 156 00:15:09,159 --> 00:15:15,519 this and so much of this and this and this panned out to be not 157 00:15:15,559 --> 00:15:20,720 only not true, but intentional. Here's a term that the left loves to 158 00:15:20,840 --> 00:15:26,679 use, intentional disinformation. And I think we've gotten the same thing over the 159 00:15:26,759 --> 00:15:30,879 years with climate change, as we've just talked about. But do you think 160 00:15:30,919 --> 00:15:37,799 that the problems we've experienced with the COVID experts translate into the American mind with 161 00:15:37,879 --> 00:15:43,440 the climate change alarmist stuff. It's always, you know, the boy who 162 00:15:43,440 --> 00:15:46,559 cried wolf kind of thing, and can we trust the experts anymore? On 163 00:15:46,559 --> 00:15:52,679 on a lot of this stuff. Those of us who have been involved in 164 00:15:52,720 --> 00:15:58,159 the climate wars over the past several decades were probably the ones who were the 165 00:15:58,320 --> 00:16:03,120 least bit surprised the governments in this case the federal governments, but it also 166 00:16:03,159 --> 00:16:07,879 went to certain state governments and local governments, shall we say, the ruling 167 00:16:07,919 --> 00:16:17,240 classes reaction to COVID nineteen, they saw an opportunity to increase their power over 168 00:16:17,279 --> 00:16:22,159 the rest of us, and in the case of the pandemic, we were 169 00:16:22,200 --> 00:16:30,360 treated to lockdowns, mask mandates, vaccine mandates. Never mind that the vaccines 170 00:16:30,480 --> 00:16:40,159 in question never inhibited transmission from one party to the next. They provided absolutely 171 00:16:40,320 --> 00:16:48,039 no immunity whatsoever. A lower respiratory disease like COVID mutates, and it mutates 172 00:16:48,159 --> 00:16:53,080 so fast that no vaccine you come up with is ever going to catch up 173 00:16:53,120 --> 00:16:59,519 with the ever mutating the vaccine. Well, the experts never told us this. 174 00:17:00,240 --> 00:17:06,039 Instead, they encouraged the pharmaceutical manufacturers to come up with ever new boosters. 175 00:17:06,079 --> 00:17:10,680 The only thing that the boosters boosted were the profits of the pharmaceutical manufacturers. 176 00:17:10,960 --> 00:17:17,240 They provided no public health benefits whatsoever. But at least in the case 177 00:17:17,359 --> 00:17:21,359 of the pandemic, there was a real problem there. There really was a 178 00:17:21,440 --> 00:17:30,119 lower respiratory disease called COVID nineteen. And it's just a great tragedy that our 179 00:17:30,279 --> 00:17:36,279 public health establishment in the United States, and this was predominantly true in Europe, 180 00:17:36,359 --> 00:17:41,400 with the notable exception of Sweden, took measures that actually did far more 181 00:17:41,440 --> 00:17:47,359 harm than the disease itself was doing. But at least there was a problem 182 00:17:47,400 --> 00:17:52,599 there to address. In the case of man made climate change, the whole 183 00:17:52,640 --> 00:18:00,160 thing is a contrivance. It is a hoax. Temperatures have gone up modestly, 184 00:18:00,720 --> 00:18:07,079 atmospheric levels of CO two have gone up more than modestly. But that 185 00:18:07,240 --> 00:18:12,519 rise in CO two has been highly beneficial. Why because it has helped plant 186 00:18:12,559 --> 00:18:21,079 life. It has contributed to increased agricultural productivity, without which we have absolutely 187 00:18:21,160 --> 00:18:26,079 no way in the world to feed the planet's eight billion people. We should 188 00:18:26,119 --> 00:18:30,799 have learned, and our so called experts should have learned in the tenth in 189 00:18:30,839 --> 00:18:38,440 their tenth grade science classes, that CO two is plant food. Plants react 190 00:18:38,640 --> 00:18:42,920 positively to higher levels of CO two. And I said, we have an 191 00:18:42,920 --> 00:18:47,799 awful lot of people to feed in the world, and the very worst thing 192 00:18:47,920 --> 00:18:52,920 we can do is adopt policies in the name of combating climate change that freeze 193 00:18:53,039 --> 00:18:59,720 are much less lower atmospheric levels of CO two, because what we will then 194 00:18:59,839 --> 00:19:04,119 be doing is putting the most vulnerable people of the world in sub Saharan Africa 195 00:19:04,480 --> 00:19:10,519 and an Indian subcontinent at risk of what, in this case would be a 196 00:19:10,559 --> 00:19:17,319 man made Femine Bonnard Cohen, senior policy analyst with the Committee for a Constructive 197 00:19:17,359 --> 00:19:22,920 Tomorrow, joining us on this edition of the Federalist Radio Hour. The Supreme 198 00:19:23,039 --> 00:19:30,720 Court, probably to most who followed this case not surprising that it ruled six 199 00:19:30,839 --> 00:19:37,640 ' three in the Chevron case, which is extremely critical for those who have 200 00:19:37,839 --> 00:19:47,960 seen the expansion of government, particularly the expansion of the bureaucracy, the deep 201 00:19:48,039 --> 00:19:53,279 state. In many ways, the administrative state take control over our republic, 202 00:19:55,359 --> 00:20:00,519 you know, at the detriment of the Constitution. Yet it's interesting to me 203 00:20:00,519 --> 00:20:06,440 that we have the New York Times their first take, their first headline on 204 00:20:06,480 --> 00:20:11,240 this is super core Supreme Court, excuse me, overrules. Maybe they think 205 00:20:11,240 --> 00:20:18,559 of it as the super court. Supreme Court overrules Chevron doctrine imperiling inn array 206 00:20:18,720 --> 00:20:22,720 of federal rules. Again, this is according to the New York Times. 207 00:20:22,319 --> 00:20:30,039 As I said before with the NBC headline, Biden is concerned that Trump will 208 00:20:30,119 --> 00:20:36,240 undo his policies if elected. I say to the New York Times, hallelujah, 209 00:20:36,279 --> 00:20:41,119 it is about time that the Supreme Court reigned in, what will this 210 00:20:41,279 --> 00:20:47,640 mean for climate alarmist policies? Well, New York Times, Well once got 211 00:20:47,680 --> 00:20:55,119 something absolutely right. It does imperil federal rules. And those federal rules are 212 00:20:55,119 --> 00:21:00,799 not based on legislation enacted by Congress and signed into law by the President, 213 00:21:00,319 --> 00:21:08,640 but rather are rooted in what we can refer to as the regulatory administrative state. 214 00:21:11,759 --> 00:21:18,519 Every law passed will keep it here's simple in the environmental area. But 215 00:21:18,799 --> 00:21:26,799 every law passed it has the requirement that various agencies, whether it's Environmental Protection 216 00:21:26,960 --> 00:21:33,599 Agency, Department of Energy, you name, it didn't write rules that say, 217 00:21:33,720 --> 00:21:38,680 shall we say fill in the blanks of what members of Congress have mandated 218 00:21:38,880 --> 00:21:48,559 that those agencies do. Each rule and regulation written by a federal bureaucrat has 219 00:21:48,680 --> 00:21:53,920 the force of law behind it, with the result that we now have unelected 220 00:21:53,960 --> 00:22:04,720 and unaccountable bureaucrats throughout the federal government structure, effectively making laws that they are 221 00:22:06,000 --> 00:22:12,160 executive branch employees. And under the Constitution's division of powers, you have legislation 222 00:22:12,400 --> 00:22:19,640 enacted by Congress, it is implemented by the executive branch, and the judiciary 223 00:22:21,200 --> 00:22:29,160 steps in to decide whether those steps being taken are compatible with the Constitution. 224 00:22:29,680 --> 00:22:33,160 Well, that whole world has been turned upside down for decades, actually going 225 00:22:33,200 --> 00:22:40,880 all the way back to the nineteen thirties to which we can date the gradual 226 00:22:41,079 --> 00:22:48,400 expansion of the administrative regulatory state. Now at long last steps are being taken 227 00:22:48,680 --> 00:22:56,119 by the current Supreme Court to roll back those powers and in effect saying to 228 00:22:56,400 --> 00:23:02,839 an agency, if you want to do X, Y or Z, you 229 00:23:03,119 --> 00:23:10,440 must have authorization from Congress to do X, Y or Z, otherwise you 230 00:23:10,640 --> 00:23:14,680 can't do it. And in the case handed down today, which is the 231 00:23:14,880 --> 00:23:21,839 so called Chevron deference case, Supreme Court overturned a forty year old precedent. 232 00:23:21,920 --> 00:23:30,599 That precedent was that in the case of ambivalent language in a statute, it 233 00:23:30,680 --> 00:23:40,400 is then incumbent upon the regulators at a regulatory agency to, shall we say, 234 00:23:40,720 --> 00:23:49,559 clear up those imperfections and come up with a language that, in their 235 00:23:49,799 --> 00:23:55,279 view, is what Congress wanted. Well, that put a tremendous amount of 236 00:23:55,400 --> 00:24:03,160 power into the hands of those bureaucrats, whether they are career bureaucrats or for 237 00:24:03,240 --> 00:24:07,920 that matter, in the case of the Biden administration of the Obama administration, 238 00:24:10,039 --> 00:24:15,079 you have people who use these federal agencies to expand the power of the state. 239 00:24:15,359 --> 00:24:22,680 Well, they could combine forces and effectively legislate not here from the bench, 240 00:24:23,039 --> 00:24:30,680 but rather from the cubicle in some the gigantic bureaucratic office somewhere, And 241 00:24:30,720 --> 00:24:37,599 this is what they have been getting away with. Today the US Supreme Court 242 00:24:37,880 --> 00:24:42,880 struck that down and said, no, you cannot do that. It is 243 00:24:44,039 --> 00:24:51,279 incumbent upon law courts to make that decision. The bureaucrats themselves cannot do it. 244 00:24:51,920 --> 00:24:55,720 One year ago, in a case called West Virginia v. Epa, 245 00:24:56,559 --> 00:25:02,039 a Supreme Court also told the well, we'll call it, go ahead and 246 00:25:02,039 --> 00:25:07,480 call it the deep state, that you cannot assume powers that Congress has not 247 00:25:07,799 --> 00:25:14,599 awarded to you. If you put those two together. There's a decision that 248 00:25:14,759 --> 00:25:25,279 was handed down today which strips bureaucrats of their ability unilaterally to determine is what 249 00:25:25,359 --> 00:25:30,079 a statute means, with the power that was also stripped from those bureaucrats a 250 00:25:30,200 --> 00:25:40,559 year ago, telling them that if you want to regulate something absent explicit congressional 251 00:25:40,599 --> 00:25:44,559 authority to regulate that, you can't do it. You put those two together, 252 00:25:45,079 --> 00:25:51,359 and this is a severe blow to the regulatory state, one that I 253 00:25:51,400 --> 00:25:56,200 think freedom loving people throughout the United States should welcome because really, the last 254 00:25:56,279 --> 00:26:02,319 thing you want to have in your life is to be ruled by people who 255 00:26:02,359 --> 00:26:07,519 are accountable to absolutely know one, who are doing all this in the name 256 00:26:07,559 --> 00:26:11,279 of protecting us from X, Y or Z, be it the climate crisis 257 00:26:11,400 --> 00:26:18,039 or COVID, whatever they conjure up. But that is a sure way to 258 00:26:18,160 --> 00:26:25,720 move us one step road, one step closer down the road to tyranny. 259 00:26:25,839 --> 00:26:32,079 And that's something we don't want. The tyranny of the bureaucracy is a highly 260 00:26:33,119 --> 00:26:40,279 undesirable state of affairs, and we should certainly welcome the Supreme Court to saying 261 00:26:40,400 --> 00:26:42,559 no, you can't do that. As you've said, I mean, we've 262 00:26:42,599 --> 00:26:49,519 lived under this Chevron decision for the past forty years in this country. You 263 00:26:49,599 --> 00:26:53,519 see the effects of that. And isn't it interesting as you talk about the 264 00:26:53,559 --> 00:26:57,960 tyranny of the administrative state, the tyranny of the bureaucracy, the unelected bureaucrats, 265 00:26:59,480 --> 00:27:03,880 that this comes out few days shy of Independence Day, which I think 266 00:27:04,039 --> 00:27:08,480 is very fitting. Just happened to work out that way in the court scheduled, 267 00:27:08,559 --> 00:27:12,519 but very fitting, you know, Bonner, I think that there are 268 00:27:14,119 --> 00:27:18,680 you know, powerful bureaucrats in Washington, d C. Who are shuddering at 269 00:27:18,680 --> 00:27:22,000 this decision. Of course, they're going to lose their good thing. As 270 00:27:22,440 --> 00:27:25,759 they like to say, I think the Biden administration is shuttering. I think 271 00:27:25,759 --> 00:27:29,559 you're going to see all kinds of Oh my goodness, this is this is 272 00:27:29,599 --> 00:27:33,519 horrible, this is terrible. You know again, like the New York Times, 273 00:27:33,920 --> 00:27:37,440 their headline is true, but you know the feeling beyond it. Oh 274 00:27:37,519 --> 00:27:41,279 no, it's going to destroy our perfect, massive government and the system that 275 00:27:41,319 --> 00:27:48,519 we've concocted here to control the lives of everyday Americans from cradle to grave. 276 00:27:48,640 --> 00:27:52,799 But I'll tell you, I believe there is one party that will be even 277 00:27:52,880 --> 00:27:57,039 more worried about this, and that's Congress because Congress, for the first time 278 00:27:57,079 --> 00:28:02,160 in a long time, will have to do something that they haven't done because 279 00:28:02,160 --> 00:28:07,279 they've abdicated that job to these eurogress They're going to have to write better laws, 280 00:28:07,279 --> 00:28:11,039 they're going to have to get more involved, and they're going to have 281 00:28:11,200 --> 00:28:18,839 to do their job. Yeah. Every time a Congressman or senator was confronted 282 00:28:18,960 --> 00:28:26,680 with his outrage constituents who said, aha, EPA is shutting down our community, 283 00:28:26,960 --> 00:28:30,119 shutting down our business, making it impossible to farm or whatever it is. 284 00:28:30,839 --> 00:28:34,480 How did that member of Congress react, Oh, well, that's the 285 00:28:34,519 --> 00:28:40,119 bureaucracy. I agree with this, and we're going to do this, that 286 00:28:40,279 --> 00:28:45,319 and the other. But collectively, it has been Congress going back for decades 287 00:28:45,759 --> 00:28:55,279 that advocated that responsibility, and it delegated its law making responsibility to the bureaucracy. 288 00:28:56,319 --> 00:29:02,359 Now that delegation, which was done quite conscious, Yeah, you vote 289 00:29:02,359 --> 00:29:04,200 for the Clean Air Act. Well, that's great. We all like clean 290 00:29:04,240 --> 00:29:08,880 air, we like clean water. That's not the problem. The problem lives 291 00:29:10,000 --> 00:29:17,759 in what those statutes actually say and what potential the loosey goosey language in those 292 00:29:17,880 --> 00:29:26,160 statutes gives to people who want to misuse that loosey goosy language to their own 293 00:29:26,400 --> 00:29:34,440 ends. Now, Congress, in coming up with laws, is going to 294 00:29:34,599 --> 00:29:41,720 have to actually write them clearly so that people will then so that they themselves 295 00:29:42,079 --> 00:29:48,440 will be accountable at long last for what they are imposing on the rest of 296 00:29:48,519 --> 00:29:55,640 us. And this is a long overdue step. Look, the Left had 297 00:29:55,640 --> 00:30:02,599 a good run for decades because of this. They could see the power of 298 00:30:02,640 --> 00:30:07,960 the administrative state grow and grow and grow. We even had things where uh 299 00:30:08,400 --> 00:30:15,279 regulatory agencies e PA was by far the worst offender in this would cut deals 300 00:30:15,279 --> 00:30:22,480 with by environmental groups who were suing them to shut down a natural gas pipeline 301 00:30:22,359 --> 00:30:27,599 or oil and gas exploration of whatever it is that they do. And so 302 00:30:27,759 --> 00:30:32,480 we were forced sue and settle, and we were forced to doing this, 303 00:30:32,640 --> 00:30:37,839 and we just cut the best deal possible. But the sue and settle was 304 00:30:37,960 --> 00:30:45,200 part of the whole game that too, now is gradually being put back into 305 00:30:45,440 --> 00:30:52,480 its box because the latitude and the freedom that unelected bureaucrats have had to do 306 00:30:52,799 --> 00:31:00,319 as they please, that has now been greatly circumscribed by the two court decisions, 307 00:31:02,039 --> 00:31:07,319 the one handed down last year and the one handed down today. Will 308 00:31:07,400 --> 00:31:10,920 this, I mean, we think about one of the obvious impacts to the 309 00:31:11,119 --> 00:31:17,359 federal government, federal regulators. Does this send a clear message to state regulators, 310 00:31:17,359 --> 00:31:22,799 because the problems are deeply entrenched in the administrative state of state governments as 311 00:31:22,839 --> 00:31:26,920 well. Yes they will. And what this will do if, say, 312 00:31:26,759 --> 00:31:33,480 Heaven forbids, the state of California does something stupid, which it does with 313 00:31:33,640 --> 00:31:40,160 remarkable You can set your watch by another remarkable regularity, but you can throw 314 00:31:40,200 --> 00:31:45,039 in Oregon, Washington, New York, Massachusetts, Illinois, you name it. 315 00:31:45,960 --> 00:31:51,519 But if they come up with a regulation, a state regulation that goes 316 00:31:51,759 --> 00:32:00,519 far beyond what we allow at the federal regulation and is in fact contrary to 317 00:32:00,640 --> 00:32:07,000 what the Constitution says government can do, I think you will see a growing 318 00:32:07,119 --> 00:32:15,759 number of lawsuits targeting state governments, but ultimately winding up in federal court, 319 00:32:16,039 --> 00:32:24,920 because whether your rights are being infringed upon in Washington or in Sacramento is ultimately 320 00:32:25,599 --> 00:32:30,319 six of one and half a dozen of the other. But this should provide 321 00:32:30,440 --> 00:32:35,559 a path for people, not just at the state level, even at the 322 00:32:35,960 --> 00:32:39,119 municipal level or county level. Say wait a minute, on the basis of 323 00:32:39,279 --> 00:32:47,079 what constitutional amendment or provision is the state of California doing X, Y or 324 00:32:47,200 --> 00:32:52,799 Z. So yes, absolutely right, this will have an effect that will 325 00:32:52,880 --> 00:32:59,559 go far beyond simple federal regulations. What's going on with the Joshua trees? 326 00:33:00,480 --> 00:33:05,920 Speaking of California? Speaking of California, you know, I saw this pop 327 00:33:06,039 --> 00:33:09,759 up in my feed and I thought, is you two recording another album? 328 00:33:10,039 --> 00:33:14,680 They got back to one of the most successful albums of all time. We 329 00:33:14,799 --> 00:33:17,920 wish, yeah, I do. I wish they would have stayed in that 330 00:33:19,000 --> 00:33:21,759 era. But you know, we don't always get what we want, like 331 00:33:21,799 --> 00:33:24,640 we don't ever get what we want out of California, at least those who 332 00:33:24,720 --> 00:33:35,279 are reasonable human beings. But there is an issue with the historic Joshua trees 333 00:33:35,519 --> 00:33:38,440 involving the climate change alarm us. Let us in on what's happening for those 334 00:33:38,519 --> 00:33:46,720 who are The State of California and county officials in Kern County, California, 335 00:33:47,000 --> 00:33:52,759 which is located in the central part of the state where the Mojave Desert is, 336 00:33:52,160 --> 00:34:00,039 have decided that the best way to combat climate change is to allow a 337 00:34:00,920 --> 00:34:08,119 giant solar farm to go up in the middle of the Mojave Desert. Well, 338 00:34:08,159 --> 00:34:15,840 the Mohave Desert is home to the very rare Joshua tree, and it's 339 00:34:15,840 --> 00:34:22,960 also home to the very rare, also endangered Mohabi Desert tortoise. Having to 340 00:34:23,039 --> 00:34:28,639 choose between the survival of those trees and for that matter, of the tortoise 341 00:34:29,239 --> 00:34:36,679 and putting in a taxpayer subsidized solar farm that will never produce anything more than 342 00:34:36,760 --> 00:34:42,840 intermittent, in other words, weather dependent energy. The powers that be in 343 00:34:42,920 --> 00:34:50,320 California have sided with the solar farm developers and that is leading to and this 344 00:34:50,480 --> 00:34:55,039 is already underway. This is not planned. This is taking place tearing down 345 00:34:55,480 --> 00:35:02,320 three thousand, five hundred Joshua t freeze, some of which are over two 346 00:35:02,679 --> 00:35:09,239 hundred years old. They will be removed, and the solar panels, almost 347 00:35:09,280 --> 00:35:15,280 all of which will have been manufactured in the People's Republic of China, will 348 00:35:15,320 --> 00:35:20,440 be going in to take their place. Now, you ask yourself, how 349 00:35:20,480 --> 00:35:23,039 in the world can something like this happen, because, after all, it's 350 00:35:23,119 --> 00:35:30,199 being done in the name of protecting the environment, in this case, protecting 351 00:35:30,480 --> 00:35:36,960 the environment from the dangers of what they tell us where the straight pace is 352 00:35:37,000 --> 00:35:43,599 the climate crisis. Who benefits here or obviously the solar panel developers, because 353 00:35:43,679 --> 00:35:49,199 they will pocket the enormous subsidies that the federal government and also the state of 354 00:35:49,239 --> 00:35:54,440 California give them to put these things up. Where will the electricity go that 355 00:35:54,559 --> 00:36:00,840 will be produced, Well, the hobby desert is not exactly a place for 356 00:36:00,039 --> 00:36:07,280 high rollers. There are some fairly impoverished cities nearby that could in fact use 357 00:36:07,519 --> 00:36:14,199 some of the electricity that the solar farm will produce, but as it stands 358 00:36:14,239 --> 00:36:15,480 now, it doesn't look as if they're going to get any of it. 359 00:36:15,679 --> 00:36:22,760 Instead, that electricity is going to be sent via high voltage transmission lines west 360 00:36:22,960 --> 00:36:32,119 to coastal California to affluent communities, and distributed to those affluent communities by two 361 00:36:32,559 --> 00:36:42,400 non profit renewable energy organizations. This enables both the recipients and the utilities themselves 362 00:36:42,639 --> 00:36:50,039 to thump their chest and say they are combining climate change by providing renewable energies 363 00:36:50,480 --> 00:36:54,519 to homes throughout their area. But this, of course is happening at a 364 00:36:54,599 --> 00:37:01,880 tremendous cost to the environment. Joshua are supposed to be protected, but of 365 00:37:01,920 --> 00:37:07,960 course protected turns out to be a relative term, because there are ways around 366 00:37:08,039 --> 00:37:16,760 that protection if you are a politically connected organization or are trying to put forward 367 00:37:16,920 --> 00:37:24,480 a politically connected cause. And sure enough, renewable energy in this case solar 368 00:37:24,559 --> 00:37:31,239 Panels checks that particular box, which means that it was green lighted and rubber 369 00:37:31,280 --> 00:37:37,840 stamped by state and local authorities. And as for the Joshua trees, well, 370 00:37:38,679 --> 00:37:44,199 that's collateral damage. Nobody really cares. By the way, there's nothing 371 00:37:44,360 --> 00:37:52,079 unusual in that we are supposed to be protecting golden eagles and bald eagles from, 372 00:37:52,280 --> 00:37:58,719 among other things, wind turbines which can go hundreds of feet into the 373 00:37:58,800 --> 00:38:02,320 air. What we allowed to happen. When I say we, it's primarily 374 00:38:02,480 --> 00:38:12,360 the Department of Interior allows to happen is for wind turbine developers to get a 375 00:38:12,480 --> 00:38:21,679 kind of papal commentation for putting up wind turbines in areas known to be the 376 00:38:21,760 --> 00:38:29,679 habitat of golden and bald eagles. They know full well that those spinning rotors 377 00:38:29,679 --> 00:38:37,119 of those turbines will kill god knows how many eagles, so called protected eagles. 378 00:38:37,639 --> 00:38:43,199 But you can get an exemption from that which is in writing, and 379 00:38:43,280 --> 00:38:51,079 you can do this, and you can kill bald and golden eagles if they 380 00:38:51,360 --> 00:38:57,679 if their depths are linked to renewable energy. Think of it as James Bond 381 00:38:57,719 --> 00:39:00,360 and Double O seven, What did you do? He had a life to 382 00:39:00,440 --> 00:39:05,840 kill? Well. Wind developers can also get a license to kill granted by 383 00:39:05,880 --> 00:39:12,159 the federal government, which allows them to put up wind turbines that the officials 384 00:39:12,199 --> 00:39:16,719 who give them that permission no full well will lead to the killing of bald 385 00:39:16,800 --> 00:39:22,559 and golden eagles. Well, I suppose Bonner in the parlance of U two's 386 00:39:22,760 --> 00:39:29,760 nineteen eighties seminal record the Joshua Tree. The environmentalist extremists who used to be 387 00:39:29,840 --> 00:39:35,280 all about preserving the spotted owl and the Greek snail or whatever it is, 388 00:39:35,440 --> 00:39:42,320 can live with or without the golden eagle, the desert tortoise, and then 389 00:39:42,360 --> 00:39:46,360 the desert tortoise and the Joshua tree. Absolute violence is deafening. Yes, 390 00:39:46,559 --> 00:39:52,599 some of these organizations are in the pay of the renewable energy industry, and 391 00:39:52,719 --> 00:40:00,480 others are simply ideologically committed to an agenda that allows them complete look the other 392 00:40:00,639 --> 00:40:07,960 way and go into complete denial about the very predictable and observable consequences of the 393 00:40:08,000 --> 00:40:15,920 policies they're advocated. I think that basically sums up what we've been talking about 394 00:40:15,920 --> 00:40:21,679 with the climate change cult. It is steeped in, it is based on 395 00:40:21,960 --> 00:40:31,119 founded on a war on reality, and it produces exactly the sort of conflicts, 396 00:40:31,320 --> 00:40:37,800 the cognitive dissonance that we've been talking about. Just a moment left and 397 00:40:38,239 --> 00:40:45,079 wanted to give you an opportunity to talk a little bit about one of the 398 00:40:45,320 --> 00:40:51,559 key organizations you work for, obviously, the Committee for Constructive Tomorrow. I 399 00:40:51,599 --> 00:40:59,280 know you've been doing work in the field of combating the climate alarmist agenda and 400 00:40:59,440 --> 00:41:01,800 message, but give us a little more insight. Oh to be happy to 401 00:41:02,639 --> 00:41:07,239 the Committee for Constructor Tomorrow, which goes by its acronym c FACT. C 402 00:41:07,840 --> 00:41:15,760 fact check us out at our website, which is c fact dot org, 403 00:41:15,760 --> 00:41:23,079 and you will see there articles by me and other contributors outlining what we've talked 404 00:41:23,119 --> 00:41:32,400 about this morning and related areas. We visit un sponsored climate conferences around the 405 00:41:32,440 --> 00:41:37,960 world just to keep an eye on these people. We know they're up to 406 00:41:37,000 --> 00:41:44,639 mischief and if somebody doesn't monitor their behavior and report back on it, then 407 00:41:44,960 --> 00:41:50,559 people are going to be set for some very nasty surprises. And when I 408 00:41:50,599 --> 00:41:54,360 see people, it's important to recognize in all of this, and ce Fact 409 00:41:54,480 --> 00:41:58,639 I think has been one of the leaders in all of this, is that 410 00:41:58,880 --> 00:42:04,480 this agenda is being imposed on the the rest of us is highly regressive. 411 00:42:05,159 --> 00:42:09,039 The people who will suffer from this are people of middle and lower income who 412 00:42:09,079 --> 00:42:19,840 will find their access to affordable and reliable energy effectively blocked and having their disposable 413 00:42:19,960 --> 00:42:25,320 incomes reduced as a result. Now, that is all being done in the 414 00:42:25,440 --> 00:42:30,400 name of combating a crisis, which is a complete hoax, but one which 415 00:42:30,480 --> 00:42:37,400 benefits financially if you're a renewable energy developer and politically, if you're a powerful 416 00:42:37,440 --> 00:42:45,639 bureaucrat if it benefits a tiny percentage of the population to the detriment of millions 417 00:42:45,679 --> 00:42:50,880 of ordinary people. And to combat this, we need an informed citizenry. 418 00:42:51,159 --> 00:42:55,360 And what are the places you can get informed and stay on top of things, 419 00:42:55,360 --> 00:43:00,360 and stay abreast of all the bad things that are coming our way as 420 00:43:00,360 --> 00:43:04,880 well as the occasional good things like today's Supreme Court decision. Is to check 421 00:43:04,920 --> 00:43:07,559 out our website, So please do so, and I do, I do 422 00:43:07,679 --> 00:43:14,000 so quite often. And I've always enjoyed our conversations. And let me let 423 00:43:14,079 --> 00:43:19,960 our listeners know here and now that there were no desert tortoises, golden eagles, 424 00:43:20,039 --> 00:43:25,519 or bold eagles injured or killed in the production of this podcast. Fair 425 00:43:25,599 --> 00:43:31,440 enough, fair enough, thank you. We really sure about the environment. 426 00:43:31,480 --> 00:43:37,039 We care about nature exactly, not hustling at all, exactly. And I 427 00:43:37,800 --> 00:43:43,599 still enjoy the Joshua Tree. Thanks to my guest today, Bonner Cohen, 428 00:43:43,800 --> 00:43:49,440 senior policy analyst with the Committee for a Constructive Tomorrow. I've been listening to 429 00:43:49,519 --> 00:43:53,599 another edition of The Federalist Radio Hour. I'm Matt Kittle, senior correspondent at 430 00:43:53,639 --> 00:43:59,039 The Federalist. We'll be back soon with more. Until then, stay lovers 431 00:43:59,079 --> 00:44:07,960 of freedom and anxious for the frank You got me right, well you wrong. Ro