Biden’s bid to crash the energy grid and other commentary

Energy expert: Biden’s Bid To Crash the Grid

On May 4, Federal Energy Regulatory Commission members warned of “unprecedented challenges” to the nation’s electric system” and the “looming,” “very catastrophic situation” they could trigger, reports Robert Bryce at Substack. 

They cited premature coal-plant closures, insufficient pipelines and massive subsidies for weather-dependent renewables that are driving fossil-fuel generators out of business.

Yet just a week later, the Environmental Protection Agency proposed a rule — forcing plants to cut emissions by 90% by 2040 or shut down — that could lead most generators to close.

This, atop rules to force Americans to drive electric vehicles.

So while FERC is screaming about “catastrophic” grid failures, President Biden’s EPA is “pushing policies” to “dramatically increase” electric demand, while also further “undermining the reliability” of the grid. 

Conservative: Pondering Neely’s Death

“What should we think about — what should we do in response to — the death of Jordan Neely?” asks William Voegeli at City Journal.

Progressives fault supposed hysteria about crime and homelessness. But: “The system saw ten people murdered in 2022, compared with an average of two per year from 2015 through 2019.”

And in Martial Simon’s subway-shove killing of Michelle Go last year, “There was no motive; the assailant and victim did not know each other. It would be hard to say, based on witness accounts, that Simon was poised to attack anyone or represented an imminent danger.”

How are civilians “to make accurate, instant psychological evaluations that gauge how much of a threat a particular homeless person” poses? “ ‘There is nothing [Jordan Neely] did’ on that subway car ‘to deserve death,’ [The New York Times’ Jamele] Bouie declares. But denunciation is not the only risk of assessing and choosing incorrectly. Michelle Go did nothing on that subway platform to deserve death, either.”

Libertarian: Face the debt-fight stakes

Amid the debt-limit standoff and potential US default, it’s “worth reminding everyone how incredibly precarious the status quo is,” warns Reason’s Veronique De Rugy. Right now, “our budget deficit will likely be $1.4 trillion” and double to “about $2.8 trillion in 2033.” That’ll bring “$20 trillion in new borrowing over 10 years,” atop accumulated debt of $31 trillion. Borrowing has a cost — as “debt is a drag on economic growth, which means less tax revenue to pay it off.”

Inflation is another economic drag “that could result from all this debt accumulation.” To avoid the greater pain that will come from further delay “Congress should start working diligently to stop our debt from growing.”

From the left: Feinstein Symbolic of Failed System

Fragile, near-90 Sen. Dianne Feinstein’s return to the Senate “is demolishing whatever legacy she’d hoped to leave,” grumbles New York magazine’s Sarah Jones. “Feinstein is an Establishment Democrat to her core,” certain our system “works, ultimately, toward justice,” yet the “ghoulish spectacle” she’s become shows that “system is dysfunctional in part because of politicians like Feinstein — who choose personal gratification over public service.” Her “catastrophic personal failure” is symbolic of a widespread problem.

From the right: CIA Helped Biden Win

In 2020, “Joe Biden’s campaign helped engineer a statement from 51 former US spies” disingenuously discounting The Post’s accurate reporting off Hunter Biden’s laptop expressly to help the now-prez, recalls The Wall Street Journal’s Kimberley A. Strassel.

And now we learn “an active CIA official joined the effort” to get more signers to the statement, “using government time and resources to scheme with outside partisans” on behalf of Team Biden.

The CIA’s Prepublication Classification Review Board also cleared the letter within hours, when it can normally take months. And the agency is now stonewalling congressional requests for relevant documents.

“Par for the course. Federal intel and law enforcement agencies ever more brazenly interfere in politics (with leaks, probes, tip-offs to politicians), then retreat behind claims of secrecy when queried.”

— Compiled by The Post Editorial Board