Commentary

The “Nimbys” of the Hamptons

Surely, you’ve heard of the Hamptons, the summer playground of the rich and famous.  They work on Wall Street and in Hollywood and own homes of $10 million plus or drop $100,000-a-month for a plush rental, some big names, but many you wouldn’t recognize.

“There’s so much money now its nauseating,” a longtime homeowner there told a reporter for Vanity Fair. “I’m a one-percenter, but I bear no resemblance to these people.”

Residents along this ritzy span of beach properties have become “Nimbys,” trying to stop a project of giant wind turbines some 50 miles offshore, not exactly in their backyard.

Although work recently began on the project after a six-year approval process involving federal, state and local governments, residents of the exclusive Hamptons hamlet of Wainscott are objecting the laying of a cable to be buried under a street that runs to the beach.

Even though the windmills and the cable associated with the project will not be visible, the opposition continues while the digging proceeds.  Legal battles could soon complicate progress with delays.  One owner claims in a lawsuit that the feds didn’t adequately address environmental and pollution risks.

Some 200 wind and solar projects across the country are facing opposition. Progress on offshore wind projects has been slow, with just seven turbines installed last year.  Yet, the 2021 Edition of the Offshore Wind Market Report expects wind energy deployment to accelerate in an attempt to meet the Biden administration’s 2030 renewable goals.

The Opposition to Musk’s Takeover Bid of Twitter

There are approximately 7,500 employees at Twitter, a bastion of left-leaning liberals who decide for users what they think you ought to see.  Is it true or false, safe or dangerous?

They don’t like what they hear about Elon Musk’s view of Twitter, and his perceived intention of a laissez-faire content policy.  Tweets that aren’t considered strictly illegal will be permitted.  Employees have greeted his proposal almost apocalyptically.

Instead of viewing Musk’s goal of a free speech platform, employees went to the microphones to call it an attack on democracy, while forgetting how they kept American voters from knowing about the Biden laptop and family corruption in 2020.

You may be interested in knowing that about 25 percent of U.S. Twitter users are male and 22 percent are female, and 23 percent are U.S. adults.  Twitter’s audience is believed to be those in the 25-34-year range.  Thirty-four percent of Americans who use Twitter earn $75k plus, while 29 percent earn $30-49k.

I found it interesting that Twitter’s chief executive Parag Agrawal tried to assure his workforce that “one man could not change a culture” and that it was up to them to set strategy.

Not true.  I couldn’t help being reminded of Jack Welch, who led General Electric over two decades of extraordinary prosperity and was undoubtedly the most influential business leaders of his generation.  GE was Jack Welch.

Austin Further Weakens Military

Setting aside Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin’s failure associated with the Afghanistan withdrawal, regular readers will recall my opposition to his systematic weakening of our military forces, supporting the study of critical race theory at our military academies, his search within for white supremacists, and his special attention to gender transition and his guidance of wokeness.

Last week the Pentagon released its Equity Action Plan, which is aimed at “equalizing outcomes for employees and partners across racial, sexual and gender lines, while it is part of the Biden administrations socialist goals of diversity, inclusion and equity.”

Austin’s plan was in support of EO 13985, “Advancing Racial Equity and Support for Underserved Communities Through the Federal Government,” a little-known executive order President Biden signed on his first day in office along with his order stopping the Keystone pipeline and cut oil and gas production.

All of Austin’s actions are in response to Biden directives.  One has to assume that Austin is in agreement.  If not, he could have decided to retire and spend some time with his family.

And I thought Chuck Hagel was a bad choice as defense secretary; of whom I recall reading, his biggest mistake was taking the job in the first place.

Austin isn’t alone on equity.  So far, I’ve seen equity plans issued by the EPA, the Department of Transportation and the Department of Justice, all of which challenged their authors in creative writing.

The Midterms as Viewed by the Left

If the left continues to take to print with their recommendations to keep the House and Senate, they’re going to help Republicans in the midterms.  In an op-ed published in the New York Times. Sen. Elizabeth “Gotta Get Me A Beer” Warren wants the party to continue to slam profitable corporations, with a global minimum corporate tax. And she’s pushing more inflationary spending on clean energy, childcare and universal pre-K.  “If we fail to use the months remaining before the elections to deliver on more of our agenda, Democrats are headed toward big losses in the midterms,” she wrote.

Joan C. Williams, writing in the left-leaning New Republic, is concerned about Americans who didn’t attend college because of the significant numbers of them who are less likely to support gay marriage, more likely to think immigrants threaten American values and are more likely to believe abortion should be illegal.  The fact that 32 percent of non-college Hispanics support reducing even legal immigration is shocking to her.

Williams’ prescription:  College-educated Americans need to increase our cultural competence and treat non-elites … “whose lives and values often differ from our own” … with respect.  Isn’t she aware of the fact that Hispanics and blacks already recognize that they have been used by the party?

Now, more than ever … may God continue to bless the United States of America.