Just browsing the headlines today in the Washington Post:
Race hovered over Ketanji Brown Jackson’s confirmation hearing
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton goes after puberty blockers
Ted Cruz held up ‘The End of Policing’ in a hearing. Sales soared.
It’s Pride Week in Austin schools. The Texas AG says that’s illegal.
Then we find stuff that's buried on page A6 somewhere, or not even making much news.
The number one killer of adults ages 18-45 is fentanyl poisoning. COVID-19 is indeed a public health crisis that in my opinion we're not done with yet. But fentanyl is killing people, companies are making money by illegally distributing this killer, and we seem to be impotent against that threat.
Public education continues to be under attack from the segregationists, this time in the guise of all manner of culture war issues like puberty blockers and critical race theory and Pride Week. Meanwhile, our kids keep falling behind in math and science and reading and writing while the politicians argue over masks and whether little Johnny should wear a dress. And those kids will not be able to compete in the 21st-century global economy, leading the world in the 21st-century global energy transition.
And speaking of the 21st-century global energy transition, Vladimir Putin's invasion of Ukraine has opened the eyes of the West to the perils of dependence on crude oil imported from bad actors like Russia, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Venezuela, and others. The price of gasoline won't matter when most vehicles on the road have electric motors instead of internal combustion engines. The price of propane won't matter when you heat your home and your water with a very efficient electric heat pump. The price of fuel won't matter when your forklifts and your golf carts have batteries instead of fuel tanks.
But instead of tackling hard issues head on, in good faith, we spend our political energy fighting over bullshit.
No comments:
Post a Comment