WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.160 --> 00:00:03.160 I've made the point repeatedly on the show that there 2 00:00:03.160 --> 00:00:06.080 are a lot of problems in California where everyone fully 3 00:00:06.240 --> 00:00:10.599 understands what the problem is, what the solution is, and 4 00:00:10.759 --> 00:00:13.880 just decides not to solve it. And by everyone, I 5 00:00:13.919 --> 00:00:16.199 guess what I really mean is the Democrats were in 6 00:00:16.239 --> 00:00:24.239 the majority. They fully completely understand, particularly when it comes 7 00:00:24.280 --> 00:00:29.800 to gas prices, energy costs, that it's their environmental policies. 8 00:00:30.359 --> 00:00:37.039 Their environmental policies make gasoline more expensive, their emission standards 9 00:00:37.079 --> 00:00:40.759 requiring California to have its own special blend of gas 10 00:00:40.799 --> 00:00:43.640 that's put into you know, that's put into your car 11 00:00:43.679 --> 00:00:51.119 from the pump, their specific high gasoline taxes. That's the 12 00:00:51.119 --> 00:00:53.679 reason why gas prices are high in California. It's not 13 00:00:53.719 --> 00:00:57.799 a mystery. It's not some gas companies are greedy, but 14 00:00:57.880 --> 00:01:00.520 just in California. For some reason, once you cross the 15 00:01:00.560 --> 00:01:03.759 border into Arizona, Nevada or Oregon or something, they all 16 00:01:03.759 --> 00:01:07.519 of a sudden become less greedy. No, it's California's own 17 00:01:07.560 --> 00:01:10.239 policies that make gas and all kinds of other things 18 00:01:11.239 --> 00:01:14.519 much more expensive. It's California's own policies that make it 19 00:01:14.599 --> 00:01:19.519 more difficult to build in California, and I think a 20 00:01:19.840 --> 00:01:24.040 phenomenal piece about this. Just read a phenomenal piece about 21 00:01:24.040 --> 00:01:30.120 this in the California Globe written by John Fleischman. Now, 22 00:01:30.200 --> 00:01:35.439 John Fleischmann is a very interesting writer that I recommend 23 00:01:35.439 --> 00:01:38.359 to all of you. You can find him on Twitter. 24 00:01:38.719 --> 00:01:47.519 His Twitter account is at flash Report. Fleischmann used to 25 00:01:47.680 --> 00:01:53.680 run Brightbart's sort of California specific web page that was 26 00:01:53.719 --> 00:01:56.040 back in the day when Andrew Breitbart was still alive. 27 00:01:56.799 --> 00:01:59.879 And he's a very smart guy and a very shrewd 28 00:02:00.319 --> 00:02:03.760 commentator on sacrament on California politics. I got to hear 29 00:02:03.840 --> 00:02:09.400 him speak one time about California politics, about Sacramento politics, 30 00:02:10.319 --> 00:02:14.280 and like California state politics, not local Sacramento politics, and 31 00:02:14.719 --> 00:02:19.599 uh he honestly, like, in one talk I got to 32 00:02:19.680 --> 00:02:24.120 fully understand all the dynamics of how politics works in Sacramento, 33 00:02:24.360 --> 00:02:30.120 how much the labor unions completely run everything in Sacramento, 34 00:02:30.199 --> 00:02:34.479 how they are the driving force in California politics. He's 35 00:02:34.520 --> 00:02:37.759 a brilliant guy, and he has a great piece about 36 00:02:38.680 --> 00:02:47.479 California's carbon crusade. California's carbon crusade a reckless assault on prudence. 37 00:02:49.240 --> 00:02:55.039 California's leaders let the poor subsidize their eco fantasies, driving 38 00:02:55.360 --> 00:03:01.919 misery for minimal gain. California's single state war on human 39 00:03:01.960 --> 00:03:06.759 produced carbon emissions is a case study in policy without prudence. 40 00:03:07.759 --> 00:03:12.919 From Sacramento lawmakers til tech climate windmills, imposing draconian measures 41 00:03:12.919 --> 00:03:16.639 that harm residents while achieving little globally. The state's cap 42 00:03:16.719 --> 00:03:20.520 and trade program, punishing electricity taxes and regulatory over each 43 00:03:20.599 --> 00:03:22.759 drive up costs for those least able to afford them, 44 00:03:22.840 --> 00:03:26.879 exacerbate the housing crisis, and ignore the irony of wildfires 45 00:03:27.000 --> 00:03:31.919 dwarfing their efforts. This column critiques the worst of their policies, 46 00:03:32.000 --> 00:03:36.240 highlighting their futility against the backdrop of California's self inflicted woods. 47 00:03:36.319 --> 00:03:39.680 So first he talks a little bit more about the 48 00:03:39.719 --> 00:03:44.360 cap and Trade program, which I'll confess I was. I'm 49 00:03:44.400 --> 00:03:52.759 not super familiar with it, but it I had not 50 00:03:52.800 --> 00:03:55.639 been super familiar with it up to this point, but 51 00:03:55.800 --> 00:03:59.439 he kind of explains it a little bit. The Cap 52 00:03:59.520 --> 00:04:04.479 and Trade aid program, which is billed as a market 53 00:04:04.520 --> 00:04:10.719 based fix for emissions, is a bureaucratic mess. The Cap 54 00:04:10.759 --> 00:04:13.759 and Trade program what it does is it puts a 55 00:04:13.800 --> 00:04:22.920 cap on total emissions and it lets companies trade allowances 56 00:04:23.079 --> 00:04:25.839 to pollute within that limit. Okay, so we have a 57 00:04:25.879 --> 00:04:28.920 certain limit. Companies are allowed to pollute up to that limit, 58 00:04:29.160 --> 00:04:32.600 but companies are allowed to trade with each other allowances. 59 00:04:34.439 --> 00:04:38.319 In reality, it's a hidden tax inflating costs for businesses 60 00:04:38.759 --> 00:04:42.600 that trickle down to consumers. A twenty twenty three study 61 00:04:42.600 --> 00:04:46.720 pegged its impact at ten to fifteen cents per gallon 62 00:04:47.079 --> 00:04:54.639 of gasoline. So it's another policy decision on California's part 63 00:04:54.759 --> 00:04:57.600 that makes all kinds of energy, but including you know, 64 00:04:57.720 --> 00:05:02.199 gas at the pump, about ten to fifteen cents more expensive. 65 00:05:02.240 --> 00:05:05.879 So emission standards add this much. Cap and trade adds 66 00:05:05.959 --> 00:05:08.879 ten to fifteen cents on the ten to fifteen cents 67 00:05:09.079 --> 00:05:13.839 per gallon gas taxes in California add another you know, 68 00:05:14.240 --> 00:05:18.800 chunk of money, which is painful in a state with 69 00:05:18.879 --> 00:05:23.240 high Cap and Trade impacts the price of gasoline by 70 00:05:23.279 --> 00:05:25.560 ten to fifteen cents per gallon, which is painful in 71 00:05:25.560 --> 00:05:28.480 a state with already sky high fuel prices, while hiking 72 00:05:28.600 --> 00:05:33.879 electricity and heating bills. Small businesses drown in compliance costs, 73 00:05:34.480 --> 00:05:38.560 while corporate giants game the system. For all this, the 74 00:05:38.639 --> 00:05:43.800 climate impact is negligible. California produces less than one percent 75 00:05:44.639 --> 00:05:49.800 of global CO two, and even zeroing out its emissions 76 00:05:50.199 --> 00:05:53.759 wouldn't sway the global trend when nations like China add 77 00:05:53.839 --> 00:05:59.480 coal power plants weekly. Yet policy makers cling to this scheme, 78 00:05:59.600 --> 00:06:03.639 oblivion to its regressive sting as if symbolic wins trump 79 00:06:03.680 --> 00:06:13.800 real world harm. That this is this is why, this 80 00:06:13.920 --> 00:06:17.600 is like a limit of federalism. Why does any state 81 00:06:19.399 --> 00:06:28.519 have like emissions regulations like the idea emissions regulations that 82 00:06:28.720 --> 00:06:33.879 are designed to help like the global ozone the global 83 00:06:34.120 --> 00:06:41.639 trends of carbon based warming. Flash makes this point throughout 84 00:06:41.680 --> 00:06:48.160 the piece. California the sixth biggest economy or whatever is 85 00:06:48.199 --> 00:06:51.959 the the stat that Gavenusom always likes to trump. California 86 00:06:52.079 --> 00:06:54.240 is like the sixth biggest economy in the world just 87 00:06:54.319 --> 00:06:58.399 on its own, if considered separately from the United States, 88 00:06:59.560 --> 00:07:04.560 it pretty use is less than one percent of global 89 00:07:04.560 --> 00:07:13.279 CO two. So we are killing ourselves with environmental regulation 90 00:07:16.519 --> 00:07:20.920 for something that's not really impacting much of anything. I mean, 91 00:07:20.959 --> 00:07:25.240 we only we have forty million people. There are eight 92 00:07:25.480 --> 00:07:30.199 billion people on the planet. We're not really changing much. 93 00:07:30.240 --> 00:07:32.600 We're a relative I mean, if you're looking at the 94 00:07:32.600 --> 00:07:37.319 globe as a whole, we're a relatively small part of 95 00:07:37.680 --> 00:07:44.240 this continent. The idea that we are saving the environment 96 00:07:44.319 --> 00:07:51.000 by killing our businesses by regressively putting the costs for 97 00:07:51.399 --> 00:07:55.800 environmental compliance on lower income people paying the tax of 98 00:07:55.839 --> 00:07:58.439 the pump. You know this is it's the the idea 99 00:07:58.439 --> 00:08:04.000 of a regressive versus a aggressive tax. Okay. A progressive 100 00:08:04.079 --> 00:08:08.800 tax system is where people at the higher end of 101 00:08:08.920 --> 00:08:13.399 the wealth spectrum pay a greater percentage of their wealth. 102 00:08:14.160 --> 00:08:19.959 Why well, if someone who only has ten thousand dollars 103 00:08:21.160 --> 00:08:26.160 has to spend ten percent of their wealth on taxes. 104 00:08:26.160 --> 00:08:28.519 So someone only has ten thousand dollars left to their name, 105 00:08:28.759 --> 00:08:32.080 they're not They're not in good shape. Okay. If they 106 00:08:32.080 --> 00:08:34.840 have to give the government one thousand dollars in taxes, 107 00:08:35.200 --> 00:08:41.120 that's a huge blow to them. If someone with a 108 00:08:41.200 --> 00:08:45.559 billion dollars has to give even fifty percent of their 109 00:08:45.600 --> 00:08:50.080 wealth away to the government in taxes, well, they've still 110 00:08:50.080 --> 00:08:53.480 got five hundred million dollars. They're fine. Their quality of 111 00:08:53.519 --> 00:08:56.840 life has not been impacted. There are no basic necessities 112 00:08:56.840 --> 00:08:59.679 that they are being shortchanged out of, even though they 113 00:08:59.720 --> 00:09:02.200 are being taxed at a much higher percentage. So that 114 00:09:02.279 --> 00:09:06.840 is a progressive taxation system. And I don't think it's 115 00:09:06.879 --> 00:09:11.080 supposed to carry like progressive is a very positive sounding word. 116 00:09:11.200 --> 00:09:13.200 I don't think that's the idea. It's just that as 117 00:09:13.240 --> 00:09:17.000 you gain more money, you progress in your rate of 118 00:09:17.039 --> 00:09:19.840 how much you pay. That's a progressive tax system. A 119 00:09:20.039 --> 00:09:26.000 regressive tax system would say everyone pays forty percent. Okay, 120 00:09:26.039 --> 00:09:29.200 well again, someone with a billion dollars paying forty percent 121 00:09:29.519 --> 00:09:31.559 is really not going to be hurt very much. But 122 00:09:31.679 --> 00:09:35.399 someone who's only making, you know, fifty thousand dollars a year, 123 00:09:36.039 --> 00:09:38.519 they need that forty percent much more badly than the 124 00:09:38.519 --> 00:09:43.679 guy with a billion dollars. Flat taxes, one could a 125 00:09:43.720 --> 00:09:47.080 flat tax where everyone's tax at the same rate can 126 00:09:47.080 --> 00:09:55.080 be deemed regressive. And sales taxes, taxes on basic necessities 127 00:09:55.480 --> 00:10:03.759 like gas or food, those are regressive because it's more 128 00:10:03.919 --> 00:10:07.960 burdensome for someone on the lower end of the income spectr. 129 00:10:08.000 --> 00:10:11.360 I mean, everyone has to drive, or most people anyway, 130 00:10:11.480 --> 00:10:17.559 have to drive for their work. People who only make 131 00:10:17.600 --> 00:10:19.440 forty thousand dollars a year have to drive to work 132 00:10:19.480 --> 00:10:22.440 just the same as you know, a fancy schmanaged lawyer 133 00:10:22.480 --> 00:10:27.639 who makes two million dollars a year. High gas costs 134 00:10:28.159 --> 00:10:32.200 impact the guy making forty thousand dollars a year worse 135 00:10:32.240 --> 00:10:35.360 than it does the lawyer making two million a year 136 00:10:35.440 --> 00:10:38.120 driving his corvette. You know, even if the guy with 137 00:10:38.159 --> 00:10:40.759 the corvette is pumping in premium gasoline and has a 138 00:10:40.759 --> 00:10:46.360 car that gets terrible gas mileage. In fact, i'd given 139 00:10:46.440 --> 00:10:48.639 how much remote work is being done by a white 140 00:10:48.639 --> 00:10:52.799 collar workers nowadays, I'd venture the lower income guy probably 141 00:10:52.919 --> 00:10:58.120 is has to drive more than the upper income person, 142 00:10:58.159 --> 00:11:05.720 all things being equal. So this is that's sort of 143 00:11:05.759 --> 00:11:13.080 the inegalitarian aspect of what California does. We lump so 144 00:11:13.240 --> 00:11:18.960 many of our costs on. We have all these costs 145 00:11:19.000 --> 00:11:24.919 associated with our environmentalism that are disproportionately burdening the middle 146 00:11:25.399 --> 00:11:31.240 and lower socioeconomic classes. Rich people in the Bay Area 147 00:11:31.279 --> 00:11:35.759 are fine with it. Rich people in you know, Beverly 148 00:11:35.840 --> 00:11:40.919 Hills or whatever, they're fine, but not lower income people 149 00:11:41.399 --> 00:11:45.960 who have to you know, on whom those burdens are 150 00:11:46.000 --> 00:11:52.879 far heavier. Small businesses drown and compliance costs, while corporate 151 00:11:52.960 --> 00:11:55.440 giants gain the system. For all this, the climate impact 152 00:11:55.480 --> 00:11:58.399 is negligible. California produces less than one percent of global 153 00:11:58.480 --> 00:12:01.559 CO two, and even zuring out its emissions won't sway 154 00:12:01.840 --> 00:12:06.000 the global trend. Yeah, I mean we're killing ourselves to 155 00:12:06.759 --> 00:12:09.639 one hundred percent of all new car sales in California 156 00:12:09.679 --> 00:12:15.399 by twenty thirty five are going to be electric vehicles. Meanwhile, 157 00:12:15.480 --> 00:12:20.399 China's just polluting like crazy, just dumping, you know, producing 158 00:12:20.480 --> 00:12:24.720 coal power plants, just dumping more pollutants into the environment 159 00:12:24.759 --> 00:12:27.799 than we even know about it. Said, I'd be like, 160 00:12:28.720 --> 00:12:30.879 what is the point of us breaking our back if 161 00:12:30.960 --> 00:12:33.720 India and China are going to be these massive polluters. 162 00:12:35.159 --> 00:12:41.000 Electricity prices already crushing showcase California's disdain for affordability, at 163 00:12:41.039 --> 00:12:44.120 thirty two cents per kilowatt hour in twenty twenty four, 164 00:12:44.440 --> 00:12:48.960 which is double the national average. The state's rates stem 165 00:12:48.960 --> 00:12:53.240 from relentless regulations in taxes. Mandates for wind and solar, 166 00:12:53.279 --> 00:12:57.480 which demand costly grid upgrades for their intermittency, and the 167 00:12:57.519 --> 00:13:01.360 phase out of reliable natural gas plants have triggered blackouts 168 00:13:01.360 --> 00:13:03.679 like those in twenty twenty and twenty twenty two. Low 169 00:13:03.720 --> 00:13:06.840 income households suffer the most. A twenty twenty four California 170 00:13:06.840 --> 00:13:10.440 Public Utilities Commission report found one in four families struggle 171 00:13:10.480 --> 00:13:15.039 with electric bills, many facing shutoffs. One in four families 172 00:13:15.080 --> 00:13:19.279 wow prudence would balance green goals with keeping the lights on, 173 00:13:19.919 --> 00:13:23.639 but California's leaders let the poor subsidize their eco fantasies, 174 00:13:23.720 --> 00:13:28.639 driving misery for minimal gain. This war on carbon also 175 00:13:28.679 --> 00:13:33.000 fuels California's housing crisis, a catastrophe of affordability made worse 176 00:13:33.039 --> 00:13:39.200 by reckless policy, stringent environmental regulations layered atop emissions goals 177 00:13:39.200 --> 00:13:46.120 in flight construction costs. The California Environmental Quality Act my favorite, 178 00:13:46.600 --> 00:13:49.879 often weaponized to block development, delays projects for years, adding 179 00:13:50.000 --> 00:13:54.399 legal and compliance expenses estimated at one hundred thousand dollars 180 00:13:54.399 --> 00:14:01.960 per housing unit in some cases. Wow estimating here. I 181 00:14:02.000 --> 00:14:06.080 guess some people are estimating. He's citing them that SEQUA. 182 00:14:06.159 --> 00:14:07.759 I've talked about SEQUA a bunch of times on the 183 00:14:07.759 --> 00:14:14.519 show before. The idea with SEQUA is basically, anybody can 184 00:14:14.639 --> 00:14:19.240 sue someone starting some kind of construction, real estate project, 185 00:14:19.600 --> 00:14:24.840 real estate project, any kind of business, construction project on 186 00:14:24.919 --> 00:14:32.440 the grounds that it's environmental impact study is insufficient. And 187 00:14:32.480 --> 00:14:35.679 it's been used a lot by these left wing nonprofits 188 00:14:36.120 --> 00:14:38.879 to stop construction they don't like on some kind of 189 00:14:39.000 --> 00:14:43.399 environmental grounds. I thought the craziest example of this was 190 00:14:43.440 --> 00:14:48.879 back in December when they stopped construction of a hydrogen 191 00:14:49.000 --> 00:14:55.320 power plant, a zero emissions green energy hydrogen power plant 192 00:14:55.320 --> 00:14:57.840 that Gavin Newsom is like desperately hoping we can build 193 00:14:57.840 --> 00:15:00.000 more of these in California. That was going to be 194 00:15:00.000 --> 00:15:04.600 built in Pixley on the grounds of what Pixley For 195 00:15:04.679 --> 00:15:06.919 those of you who don't know, maybe you're in the 196 00:15:06.960 --> 00:15:09.799 North Valley and you're not familiar with Pixley. Pixley is 197 00:15:09.840 --> 00:15:13.320 basically a pit stop on the ninety nine, kind of 198 00:15:13.440 --> 00:15:16.440 in between where you would turn off on one ninety 199 00:15:16.480 --> 00:15:20.679 eight to go to Icelia. In between there and Bakersfield. 200 00:15:21.279 --> 00:15:25.879 Pixley is a tiny little town. It just kind of 201 00:15:25.879 --> 00:15:31.879 straddles the ninety nine. They stopped construction of this green 202 00:15:32.200 --> 00:15:35.120 energy hydrogen power plant on the grounds that well, it 203 00:15:35.120 --> 00:15:38.000 would lead to more trucks coming into Pixley to drop 204 00:15:38.039 --> 00:15:40.559 off I guess the raw hydrogen, liquid hydrogen or something. 205 00:15:41.039 --> 00:15:43.080 More trucks coming into Pixley and would lead to more 206 00:15:43.120 --> 00:15:47.480 truck pollution. Pixley is nothing but truck pollution. Then ninety 207 00:15:47.559 --> 00:15:50.080 nine goes right through the The whole town just kind 208 00:15:50.080 --> 00:15:53.039 of straddles the ninety nine. The whole town is there's 209 00:15:53.120 --> 00:15:55.919 no part of the town that's more than like, I 210 00:15:55.960 --> 00:15:59.559 don't know, half a mile away from the ninety nine. 211 00:15:59.600 --> 00:16:02.879 That's all Pixley is. It's the ninety nine. You know 212 00:16:03.000 --> 00:16:06.440 how many gazillions of trucks go through Pixley every year, 213 00:16:06.639 --> 00:16:11.360 every every day, Oh but a few will park at 214 00:16:11.360 --> 00:16:16.440 a power plant every day. That's that's what's gonna change 215 00:16:16.519 --> 00:16:21.519 the whole environmental outlook of Pixley to make a green 216 00:16:21.720 --> 00:16:24.679 energy power plant. That's the kind of insanity we're talking about. 217 00:16:25.120 --> 00:16:28.639 All of these housing construction projects that can get stopped 218 00:16:28.720 --> 00:16:35.000 with one jerky lawsuit that some left wing nonprofit wants 219 00:16:35.000 --> 00:16:38.480 to file to make a name for itself. All right, 220 00:16:38.519 --> 00:16:40.519 we'll keep going through this piece again. You can find 221 00:16:40.559 --> 00:16:42.639 it at my Twitter account, Twitter dot com, slash president 222 00:16:42.720 --> 00:16:45.879 Johnny at President Johnny next on the John Girardi Show. 223 00:16:47.879 --> 00:16:52.120 A great piece in the California Globe, a website i'd 224 00:16:52.159 --> 00:16:53.399 like to recommend to you, by the way, I just 225 00:16:53.399 --> 00:16:55.679 stumbled across. It seems to be kind of a conservative 226 00:16:55.759 --> 00:17:00.759 leaning California news and opinion site. John Fleischmann has a 227 00:17:00.759 --> 00:17:04.160 great piece in it. John Fleischman is Everyone should follow him. 228 00:17:04.200 --> 00:17:07.079 Go to Twitter, go to x I can't call it X. 229 00:17:07.440 --> 00:17:12.640 I just I'd rather have Elon Musk own Twitter than 230 00:17:13.079 --> 00:17:16.920 the people who owned it before. But I hate the 231 00:17:17.160 --> 00:17:20.799 X brand. I think it's so dumb anyway, But you know, 232 00:17:20.880 --> 00:17:23.920 he's got several hundred billion dollars more than I do, 233 00:17:24.000 --> 00:17:27.519 so maybe he knows what he's doing. Anyway. Go to 234 00:17:27.559 --> 00:17:32.599 Twitter dot com, look up at flash report. That's John Fleischman. 235 00:17:32.640 --> 00:17:36.160 He's a great commentator on California political stuff. Used to 236 00:17:36.200 --> 00:17:40.920 be Andrew bright Bart's main guy for California stuff. Check 237 00:17:40.960 --> 00:17:43.160 him out, or just go to my Twitter account and 238 00:17:43.160 --> 00:17:49.960 I've got the story retweeted. He's talking about California environmental 239 00:17:50.039 --> 00:17:52.759 law and the variety of ways in which California just 240 00:17:52.799 --> 00:17:56.680 completely fails the test of prudence, Like, Okay, you want 241 00:17:56.720 --> 00:18:00.160 to help the environment, but you're putting all these costs 242 00:18:00.240 --> 00:18:04.519 on people in California. You're making California just incredibly difficult 243 00:18:04.519 --> 00:18:09.680 to live in to what benefit. Meanwhile, he writes, so 244 00:18:10.200 --> 00:18:12.799 after going through all these different ways, you know, the 245 00:18:12.839 --> 00:18:19.880 cap and trade system, gas prices, SEQUA, and how SEQUA 246 00:18:19.880 --> 00:18:23.359 could add one hundred thousand dollars of costs per housing 247 00:18:23.440 --> 00:18:26.759 unit in some cases. He then goes on to address 248 00:18:30.839 --> 00:18:36.920 wildfires and the fact that because we've had so many wildfires, 249 00:18:37.079 --> 00:18:44.759 it's basically completely undone whatever benefit accrued from all the 250 00:18:44.759 --> 00:18:50.480 state's environmental policies put together, wildfires mock the state's efforts, 251 00:18:51.000 --> 00:18:56.440 spewing carbon far beyond what regulations curb. In twenty twenty, 252 00:18:56.519 --> 00:19:00.599 Do y'all remember the summer of twenty twenty when basically, uh, 253 00:19:00.920 --> 00:19:03.839 it was COVID, so everything was a bunch of stuff 254 00:19:03.880 --> 00:19:08.200 was closed. And then we had all the wildfires and 255 00:19:08.319 --> 00:19:11.559 the whole San Juaquin Valley basically looked like Mordor for 256 00:19:12.200 --> 00:19:16.880 a solid month. You got outside and the sun was 257 00:19:16.920 --> 00:19:19.559 glowing and the evil orange in your car. If you 258 00:19:19.599 --> 00:19:22.519 parked your car outside, it was covered with ash. Yeah, 259 00:19:22.519 --> 00:19:27.240 that was fun or or whatever it was. In twenty twenty, 260 00:19:27.279 --> 00:19:31.960 fires released one hundred and twenty seven million metric tons 261 00:19:33.240 --> 00:19:41.680 of CO two equivalent, triple California's annual industrial emissions. Decades 262 00:19:41.799 --> 00:19:45.880 of forest mismanagement, including restricted burns and logging bands so 263 00:19:46.000 --> 00:19:50.920 bands on restricted burns and logging have left landscapes primed 264 00:19:51.160 --> 00:19:54.839 to blaze. Yet instead of tackling this, Sacramento fixates on 265 00:19:55.119 --> 00:19:59.680 tailpipes and power plants. It's like mopping the floor in 266 00:19:59.759 --> 00:20:04.599 a fl blood resources squandered on optics while forests burn. 267 00:20:05.240 --> 00:20:08.519 Prudence would fund fire breaks and brush clearing, but California's 268 00:20:08.519 --> 00:20:12.599 carbon tunnel vision prevails. Contrast this with the Trump administration's 269 00:20:12.640 --> 00:20:15.839 pragmatic energy policies from twenty seventeen to twenty twenty one 270 00:20:15.880 --> 00:20:20.960 and resuming in twenty twenty five. Trump prioritized domestic production oil, gas, coal, 271 00:20:21.039 --> 00:20:25.240 and cut red tape, lowering electricity costs and boosting self sufficiency. 272 00:20:25.640 --> 00:20:28.480 You know, that's the thing California. I've heard this point 273 00:20:28.559 --> 00:20:31.720 maybe before. California has a bunch of oil. We have 274 00:20:31.799 --> 00:20:35.960 oil that we can get, We have ways of generating 275 00:20:36.000 --> 00:20:38.119 power just from our own state, but we refuse to 276 00:20:38.160 --> 00:20:40.079 take advantage of it. And as a result, we then 277 00:20:40.240 --> 00:20:45.599 have to get oil and other sources of energy from abroad, 278 00:20:45.680 --> 00:20:49.680 from like Saudi Arabia and stuff. And last I checked, 279 00:20:51.720 --> 00:20:55.599 oil doesn't get from Saudia Arabia to here in a 280 00:20:55.759 --> 00:21:02.880 carbon zero fashion. There are no green shipping cruiser, you know, 281 00:21:02.920 --> 00:21:07.599 the the enormous shipping vessels that have you know, eight 282 00:21:07.680 --> 00:21:13.240 hundred like truck, you know the big things that the 283 00:21:13.480 --> 00:21:16.799 big rectangle things that eighteen wheelers are carrying those things, 284 00:21:16.799 --> 00:21:19.759 the big truck containers. Yeah, they're that are carrying you know, 285 00:21:20.759 --> 00:21:23.720 a thousand of those at a time. Yeah, those guys 286 00:21:23.799 --> 00:21:28.319 go through a lot of gas. Got it takes a 287 00:21:28.359 --> 00:21:33.599 lot of gas to get from Saudi Arabia to California. 288 00:21:34.480 --> 00:21:36.920 Go through the Panama can I don't even know what 289 00:21:37.079 --> 00:21:41.279 route they take. Did they They go through the Suez Canal, 290 00:21:41.480 --> 00:21:45.039 through the Mediterranean out into the Atlantic. They go through 291 00:21:45.079 --> 00:21:48.799 the Panama Canal. I guess up up to California. Yeah, 292 00:21:48.799 --> 00:21:51.200 that's a long trip. You're burning a lot of gas 293 00:21:51.200 --> 00:22:00.720 to do that. California's lead. Let's see emissions now, that's 294 00:22:00.759 --> 00:22:04.079 the thing. Trump was president twenty seventeen to twenty one. 295 00:22:04.720 --> 00:22:10.759 Emissions still dropped. Emissions dropped driven by market shifts to 296 00:22:10.839 --> 00:22:15.400 natural gas, not by mandates. This balance growth and affordability 297 00:22:15.680 --> 00:22:20.519 highlights California's folly. California's leaders, with Governor Gavin Newsom atop 298 00:22:20.559 --> 00:22:23.599 the pack, lack the humility to see their limits. Their 299 00:22:23.640 --> 00:22:27.480 anti carbon crusade ignores the state's poverty, housing woes, and 300 00:22:27.519 --> 00:22:33.039 global insignificance. Again, less than one percent of emissions. Cap 301 00:22:33.079 --> 00:22:36.400 and trade burdens the poor for no climate gain. Electricity costs, 302 00:22:36.400 --> 00:22:42.359 crushed families to fund, shaky renewables, housing grows unattainable under 303 00:22:42.400 --> 00:22:46.119 the weight of regulations. Wildfires expose the absurdity of it all. 304 00:22:46.160 --> 00:22:50.039 Prudence demands focus on what works, affordable energy, fire prevention 305 00:22:50.400 --> 00:22:53.960 homes people can buy, and not on a quixotic quest 306 00:22:54.480 --> 00:22:58.680 to save the planet alone. Because that's the thing. There's 307 00:22:58.720 --> 00:23:02.480 this attitude of, well, everyone has to do their part, 308 00:23:02.480 --> 00:23:04.799 and so we Californians, we're doing our partns Like, yeah, 309 00:23:04.799 --> 00:23:08.279 but if only you were doing your part separate from like, 310 00:23:08.720 --> 00:23:14.720 at the very least, a nationwide federal policy, then it's pointless. 311 00:23:14.920 --> 00:23:19.400 It's pointless if the United if if California alone adopts 312 00:23:19.400 --> 00:23:23.079 some kind of super rigorous uh, you know, in green 313 00:23:23.240 --> 00:23:28.319 environmental policy, if Texas and Oklahoma and Nevada and Wyoming 314 00:23:28.359 --> 00:23:30.079 and idahoa blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah, 315 00:23:30.119 --> 00:23:34.119 don't follow suit. What's the point again? We are you 316 00:23:34.200 --> 00:23:38.160 look at a globe, California is a blip, all right, 317 00:23:38.240 --> 00:23:44.480 it's really not very much land mass. We're not saving 318 00:23:44.480 --> 00:23:48.160 the planet with these regulations. And if anything, our environmental 319 00:23:48.240 --> 00:23:52.599 regulations have contributed to more environmental harm given their responsibility, 320 00:23:53.119 --> 00:23:55.920 you know, no control burns, no brush clearing. They're the 321 00:23:55.960 --> 00:23:58.759 responsibility of those policies for so many of the wildfires 322 00:23:58.759 --> 00:24:02.880 we've had. All Right, when we return, I'm not sure. 323 00:24:03.359 --> 00:24:06.039 I think we're gonna talk a little bit about planned 324 00:24:06.079 --> 00:24:09.160 parenthood's bad financial state. Maybe we'll talk a little bit 325 00:24:09.200 --> 00:24:13.680 about Harvard University losing its money or potentially losing its money. 326 00:24:13.680 --> 00:24:15.759 I might talk about that, is Harvard gonna lose its money? 327 00:24:15.799 --> 00:24:18.079 Should Harvard lose its money? Next on the John Growardy Show. 328 00:24:19.960 --> 00:24:24.960 All Right, President Trump made some news. He's basically right 329 00:24:25.000 --> 00:24:32.000 now in this little fight with Harvard. Harvard University has 330 00:24:32.319 --> 00:24:37.720 been resistant to Trump administration desires that it cut out 331 00:24:37.759 --> 00:24:44.519 some of its DEI stuff. Harvard has faced some accusations 332 00:24:44.559 --> 00:24:49.519 over how Jewish students were being treated based on the 333 00:24:49.559 --> 00:24:58.240 toleration that was given to pro Hamas align well some 334 00:24:58.799 --> 00:25:03.880 possibly Prohamaca line protesters on Harvard's campus, and the possible 335 00:25:04.160 --> 00:25:07.079 violation of federal civil rights laws that may have ensued 336 00:25:07.119 --> 00:25:09.640 on Harvard's campus as a result. So one of the 337 00:25:09.680 --> 00:25:12.720 aspects of federal civil rights law when it comes to 338 00:25:12.799 --> 00:25:18.599 universities is basically, if students are being hindered in their 339 00:25:18.640 --> 00:25:21.880 ability to walk around on campus. And if a campus 340 00:25:21.960 --> 00:25:25.119 is tolerating such kinds of conditions, there's a lot of 341 00:25:25.160 --> 00:25:30.599 existing federal civil rights law to say, hey, that's no good. Universities, 342 00:25:30.599 --> 00:25:34.480 if they're going to take public money, cannot gage in 343 00:25:34.759 --> 00:25:41.400 race based discrimination. They cannot allow students of race or religion, 344 00:25:41.680 --> 00:25:43.960 of a certain race or religion or ethnic backroom whatever 345 00:25:45.119 --> 00:25:48.440 to be subject to those kinds of mistreatment. Okay, let's 346 00:25:48.440 --> 00:25:52.079 think about again, a lot of federal civil rights laws 347 00:25:52.119 --> 00:25:57.000 coming out of the South, and our experience, the experience 348 00:25:57.039 --> 00:26:00.000 of African Americans, not our experience, I'm not the experience 349 00:26:00.119 --> 00:26:04.559 to African Americans. Our American experience, if you will, Where 350 00:26:05.519 --> 00:26:10.559 African Americans finally were allowed to be admitted to certain 351 00:26:10.640 --> 00:26:15.960 kinds of historically all white schools and may have been 352 00:26:16.000 --> 00:26:19.680 subject to mistreatment, threatened, made to feel like they can't 353 00:26:19.759 --> 00:26:24.000 actually exercise their ability to be students on campus. So 354 00:26:24.480 --> 00:26:30.839 there's federal civil rights law on the books to basically say, hey, universities, 355 00:26:30.880 --> 00:26:33.920 you can't allow that right if you want to, all 356 00:26:33.920 --> 00:26:36.039 of you are getting federal money of some sort. If 357 00:26:36.079 --> 00:26:42.839 you want to keep getting federal money, then okay, that's fine, 358 00:26:42.880 --> 00:26:44.559 but you got to play by our rules. You can't 359 00:26:44.599 --> 00:26:47.640 engage in various kinds of race based discrimination. You have 360 00:26:47.680 --> 00:26:53.960 to follow various kinds of federal civil rights laws. And 361 00:26:54.039 --> 00:26:59.160 between that and then affirmative action, between that affirmative action 362 00:26:59.279 --> 00:27:02.319 and dei, Harvard, I think is not in a great spot. 363 00:27:02.359 --> 00:27:07.440 So Harvard was like the subject of the big Supreme 364 00:27:07.480 --> 00:27:11.400 Court case that ultimately decided it was Harvard and University 365 00:27:11.400 --> 00:27:14.279 of North Carolina. They were the subject of this big 366 00:27:14.319 --> 00:27:18.599 Supreme Court case that was just decided a year ago saying, hey, 367 00:27:18.720 --> 00:27:24.240 no more affirmative action in admissions. Okay, you can't positively 368 00:27:24.319 --> 00:27:30.400 weigh people just on the basis of their race. And 369 00:27:28.920 --> 00:27:34.920 the twenty years ago sort of cut the baby in 370 00:27:35.039 --> 00:27:39.880 half solution devised by Sandrade O'Connor. We're getting rid of that. 371 00:27:40.079 --> 00:27:44.680 So Sandrede O'Connor was such a Santade O'Connor is basically 372 00:27:44.759 --> 00:27:49.680 responsible for the pre twenty twenty four from about two 373 00:27:49.720 --> 00:27:52.119 whenever those decisions came down. In the early two thousands, 374 00:27:52.960 --> 00:27:57.640 we were living under Sandrade O'Connor's basically legal regimes surrounding 375 00:27:57.640 --> 00:28:02.559 affirmative action for the last twenty years and O'Connor's viewpoint 376 00:28:02.720 --> 00:28:12.759 was schools can't have a crude point system where it 377 00:28:12.799 --> 00:28:16.640 was the Grutter and Grats cases, where basically they were 378 00:28:16.640 --> 00:28:20.039 looking at the University of Michigan's undergrad admissions system and 379 00:28:20.079 --> 00:28:23.799 their law school admission system, which were slightly different. So 380 00:28:24.119 --> 00:28:26.519 at that time, University of Michigan, just if you were 381 00:28:26.880 --> 00:28:30.440 a minority, a racial minority, and you wanted to go 382 00:28:30.440 --> 00:28:33.960 to the University of Michigan, they basically scored all their 383 00:28:34.000 --> 00:28:37.119 applicants with a kind of points system, and if you 384 00:28:37.160 --> 00:28:41.359 were black, you got automatically a certain number of points 385 00:28:42.119 --> 00:28:46.799 just by virtue of being black. And O'Connor said, now 386 00:28:46.839 --> 00:28:50.519 you're not allowed to do that. You can't have quotas, 387 00:28:50.559 --> 00:28:55.160 you can't have a point system like that. University of 388 00:28:55.200 --> 00:29:00.240 Michigan's law school, though, had a system where there wasn't 389 00:29:00.359 --> 00:29:05.680 a points system, but admissions advisors could take into account 390 00:29:05.720 --> 00:29:09.599 raised as part of a broad reaching review of students. 391 00:29:09.599 --> 00:29:13.119 And then there are genuine benefits, educational benefits that diversity 392 00:29:13.160 --> 00:29:20.720 affords to lawyers. And that so what O'Connor wound up approving, 393 00:29:20.759 --> 00:29:23.839 and she was kind of the determinative swing vote on 394 00:29:23.880 --> 00:29:29.240 the court for this, and what O'Connor wound up approving 395 00:29:29.519 --> 00:29:34.039 was basically the worst possible system. As crude as the 396 00:29:34.079 --> 00:29:39.079 points based system was for affirmative action, it at least 397 00:29:39.160 --> 00:29:43.519 left a paper trail, you know, it was at least measurable, 398 00:29:45.799 --> 00:29:50.640 so you could see when the university was discriminating. And 399 00:29:50.680 --> 00:29:53.279 basically what all these universities did was they would just have, 400 00:29:53.359 --> 00:29:56.759 you know, these broad based assessments solve an applicants, so 401 00:29:56.920 --> 00:30:01.079