Lee Ohanian: California’s Solar Power Madness

The five political appointees who comprise the California Energy Commission voted unanimously in May to require that almost all new California housing include rooftop solar panels. 

The mandate also requires that new homes include expensive, highly energy-efficient appliances, lighting, windows, and home insulation. Environmental groups and the solar industry are embracing this building mandate, which would take effect in 2020. But the new policy is unprecedented within the United States and it highlights just how far California has gone in its quest for renewable energy.

California has committed itself to renewable energy like no other state, and this reflects the state government’s preferences to unilaterally reduce carbon emissions through renewables, with a focus on solar and wind power. As Governor Jerry Brown stated, “We don’t want to do nothing and let the climate get worse. California is all in.” The new solar mandate follows up on 2015 legislation requiring 50 percent of electricity to be produced from renewables by 2030. Moreover, California Senate Bill 100, which likely will be voted on this year, commits California to produce carbon-free electricity by 2045.

Paul Gregory: Why Socialism Fails

As the collapse of the Soviet Union approached, Francis Fukuyama proclaimed the victory of liberal democracy over planned socialism in his 1989 essay, “The End of History?” 

More than a quarter century later, the USSR has indeed disintegrated. Its former east European empire lies inside the European Union. China has a market economy, though the nation is led by a single party. And the “socialist” states of North Korea, Cuba, and Venezuela are in economic ruin. Few now advocate “back to the USSR.” At the same time, many people still consider socialism an appealing economic system. 

Consider, for example, that Bernie Sanders—an avowed supporter of a socialist United States—is America’s most popular politician—and that as many millennials favor socialism as capitalism.

Mole News

Rural Ngāpuhi whānau to receive special delivery
The initiative is part of the Rural Regeneration programme and partnership between the Te Rūnanga-Ā-Iwi O Ngāpuhi and Te Puni Kōkiri to provide practical help and support to vulnerable Ngāpuhi whānau living in the rural areas of the Hokianga, Horeke, Otaua, Waima and Tautoro.

Lindsay Mitchell: Govt fails public and prisoners alike

Last week the government announced it will add a net total of 174 extra beds at Waikeria prison by 2022. This will fall woefully short of what is needed to fairly serve both the public and prisoners alike because the incarcerated population will continue to increase. How do I know?

Because the population group most prisoners arise from continues to behave as they have for decades.

GWPF Newsletter: Happy Birthday! Shale Revolution Turns 10

The Shale Revolution Is A Uniquely American Story

In this newsletter:

1) Happy Birthday! Shale Revolution Turns 10
Business Wire, 20 June 2018 
 

2) The Shale Revolution Is A Uniquely American Story
Kathleen Hartnett White, Washington Examiner, 18 June 2018

Viv Forbes: Warmists lynching an innocent bystander, CO2

I live in SE Queensland. Yesterday the surface air temperature rose from a frosty 36ºF at sunrise to a balmy 72ºF in mid-afternoon. The enormous heat needed to achieve this 36º of warming came via radiation from the sun. 

Carbon dioxide in the atmosphere plays no significant part in this daily heating event – in fact it may intercept a tiny proportion of the incoming solar radiation and re-radiate it in all directions, thus keeping the daytime surface temperature a tiny bit cooler than it would have been otherwise.

At the deep Mount Isa Mine in NW Queensland, the surface temperature may average about 77ºF but it increases by about 20ºF every 50 meters of depth – rock walls are red hot in places. The enormous heat causing this comes via conduction from Earth’s geothermal heat plus some oxidation and heating of the sulphide ores as they come in contact with natural air containing oxygen. Carbon dioxide in the atmosphere plays no part in this heating.

GWPF Newsletter: Not A Single EU State Is Meeting Paris Climate Targets

Britain Backs Away From Total Ban Of Conventional Cars

In this newsletter:

1) Forget Paris: Not A Single EU State Is Meeting Paris Climate Targets
P Gosselin, No Tricks Zone, 19 June 2018 

2) James Hansen: The World Is Failing 'Miserably’ To Address Climate Change
The Guardian, 19 June 2018

Melanie Phillips: The titanic struggle to save the United Kingdom

No-one should be in the slightest doubt about the titanic struggle becoming more desperate by the day to defend British democracy and restore the UK as an independent self-governing nation.

An all-out attempt is being being made to frustrate the wish of the British people, expressed by 52 to 48 per cent in the 2016 referendum, to leave the EU.

Last night, after a day of drama and arm-twisting, Theresa May’s government narrowly escaped defeat over the EU Withdrawal Bill.

Wendell Cox: Housing Affordability - Time To Do What Works

The front page of The Wall Street Journal cited the difficulty of cities (Note 1) trying to stop the escalation of house prices “Western Cities Try, and Fail, To Slow Chinese Home Buying.” The more descriptive online headline said: Western Cities Want to Slow Flood of Chinese Home Buying. Nothing Works: Governments from Vancouver to Sydney to Toronto are using taxes and other restrictions to tackle real-estate bubbles. 

The article also covered Auckland and Melbourne and their attempts to discourage Chinese buyers, who have been getting much of the blame for the severe housing affordability.

NZCPR Weekly: Time for Random Drug Testing of Drivers

Dear NZCPR Reader,   

This week, we investigate the growing danger that drug users are posing on our roads and outline the urgent need for stronger deterrents and better detection, our NZCPR Guest Commentator Mike Noon from the Automobile Association is challenging the Labour-led Government to introduce random roadside drug testing devices, and our poll asks whether the Associate Minister of Transport, Hon Julie Anne Genter, should recuse herself from decision-making over the introduction of roadside drug testing devices.

*To read the newsletter click HERE.
*To register for the NZCPR Weekly mailing list, click HERE.  

Daniel Di Martino: Socialism, Not Corruption, to Blame for Venezuela’s Oil Production Drop

Venezuela’s tragic famine and refugee crisis taking place despite the largest proven reserves of oil on the planet. Watching it play out on television is one thing. Living through the ways socialism pushes the middle class to poverty and the poor to starvation is another experience entirely.

Although I was fortunate enough to leave Venezuela almost two years ago to come to the United States, not everyone has the chance to leave. Venezuela has become the latest experiment of socialism, and like all those before, it has resulted in famine and mass exodus.

However, some news outlets wrongly state that Venezuela’s crisis is due to lower oil prices and that its oil production has collapsed due to mismanagement and corruption, claiming socialist policies are not to blame. However, what these analysts fail to understand is that widespread mismanagement and corruption of a whole industry and country are only possible within socialism. Only an economy that lacks free prices and competition, with high levels of government involvement and tight regulations can harbor government mismanagement and corruption that lead to shortages and hyperinflation.

GWPF Newsletter: Antarctica Is Still Gaining Ice, NASA Scientist Says

Claimed Antarctic Ice Loss In Doubt

In this newsletter:

1) Antarctica Is Still Gaining Ice, NASA Scientist Says 
Daily Caller, 15 June 2018 
 
2) Ice Loss? Maybe
GWPF Observatory, 15 June 2018

Karl du Fresne: Even Northland didn't want him, but now he's going to be our acting PM

So we’re going to have Winston Peters as our acting prime minister for six weeks. Not bad for a politician who was rejected by his own electorate at the last election after failing to complete a single term.

Not bad either for a politician whose party won only 7 per cent of the vote and which, judging by recent polls, would struggle to scrape back into Parliament if an election was held tomorrow. 

This is democracy New Zealand-style, in which the rewards – the baubles of office that Peters once insisted he wasn’t interested in – go not to a politician who commands broad public support, but to a crafty minor player who has learned how to game the system and manipulate the bigger parties.

Frank Newman: ACT re-branding

Apparently the ACT Party is having an identity crisis. My take is that its crisis is much broader than identity alone, however ACT leader and sole MP David Seymour says they are looking at a possible name change.

In an interview on Radio NZ on 15 June he said he did not want to give anything away about the new name, but he did mention various options were being considered, like Liberal Party or something more radical like Reason Party.

Frank Newman: Fact based myths

Last month I wrote about the meth myth, and how a moral panic and media beat-up cost blameless tenants and landlords their homes and lots of money. 

The "How did this happen?" post-mortems are going on at present but it's pretty clear that real facts were nowhere to be seen when the decision makers were writing the rules. 

This makes one wonder what other moral "pandemics" are similarly based on fiction or fear rather than fact. How about house sales to foreign home buyers?

GWPF Newsletter: Coal Comeback Spurs CO2 Emissions Growth

Global Emissions Surged To Record High — But In The US, They Dropped

In this newsletter:

1) Coal Comeback Spurs CO2 Emissions Growth
Reuters, 13 June 2018
 
2) Oh Dear: Global CO2 Emissions Surged To Record High In 2017 — But In The US, They Dropped
Bloomberg, 13 June 2018

GWPF Newsletter - Green No More: Germany Rejects EU’s Green Energy Ambitions

Germany On Track To Widely Miss 2020 Climate Target 

In this newsletter:

1) Green No More: Germany Rejects EU’s Green Energy Ambitions

EurActive, 12 June 2018

2) Germany On Track To Widely Miss 2020 Climate Target - Government 
Clean Energy Wire, 12 June 2018 

Newt Gingrich: The Economy is Thriving on Trump’s Reforms

President Trump’s positive impact on the U.S. economy and markets is unassailable.

Except for a short disruption in February, the major stock market indices have been on a steady ascent since Donald Trump’s formal selection as the Republican nominee for president. The Nasdaq Composite Index has sailed from 5036.37 on July 19, 2016 to 7637.86 at the closing bell on Tuesday – continuously meeting and exceeding record highs along the way.

We have seen similar market trends in the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the S&P 500, which have climbed from 18559.01 and 2163.78 on the day Trump was nominated to 24799.98 and 2748.8 by Tuesday, respectively.

Melanie Phillips: Springtime for Kim Jong-un and Donald Trump?

So how should we view the meeting between President Donald Trump and Chairman Kim Jong-un and the declaration they have both signed? Is it a “historic” breakthrough for world peace as is being celebrated by the likes of this commentator; or is it a disgraceful debacle, as is being lambasted by the likes of this one?

Well, as Zhou Enlai reputedly observed when asked about the impact of the French Revolution on western civilisation, it’s simply too early to say.

The terms of the declaration signed by Trump and Kim are studiedly vague. The North Korean regime has previously made promises about de-nuclearisation which it promptly tore up.

NZCPR Weekly: Replacing Damaging Regulations

Dear NZCPR Reader,   

This week we look into the damage caused by over-the-top regulations - including meth testing and the ban on fireplaces and wood burners, our NZCPR Guest Commentator Mike Butler investigates the methamphetamine testing scandal, and our poll asks whether you believe there should be a greater requirement for law makers to produce evidence-based research before passing new laws and regulations.

*To read the newsletter click HERE.
*To register for the NZCPR Weekly mailing list, click HERE.