After decades of California-style hippie messaging on “environmentalism,” “climate change,” “zero carbon” policy — the name keeps changing, the game remains the same — it might come as a bit of a shock to learn that full-spectrum clean energy is a reality far from West Coast shores. But the truth is that Texas, long cast as the “fossil fuel”-burning villain in the hippie fantasy, is now far outstripping the Golden State at what was supposed to be its own Earth-loving game. But environmentalist fears that become more outdated every day continue to keep California from moving forward with the new and better plants that would really change minds. As the Financial Times reports, “after trailing for years, Texas has become America’s clean energy giant.” A quarter-century ago, California’s annual clean-source power generation sat at roughly twice that of its big-state rival. But like some Californians themselves, the output was erratic and unstable. A wiggly line began to form as time marched on. A decade ago, progress slumped, and even some later spikes on the graph failed to beat the Lone Star State’s steady, measured increases in clean-source power. The lines crossed around 2015 and again around 2020 — and after that, the neck-and-neck race was over. Today Texas is ahead in absolute terms by about the same sum as California was near the turn of the millennium. What changed? The answer, we might say, is dirty tech. Think of it as the tech that makes your hands dirty when you work on it — something the vast majority of West Coast techies experience rarely if at all. Rather than clattering across a keyboard or gliding across a touchpad, dirty tech involves stuff that makes a mess. Think big works, heavy machinery, excavations, installations, grease, and elbow grease — and yes, danger: Mishandle the tools, the raw materials, or your floor teams, and you’re finished. Dirty tech, in other words, carries risks — real ones that demand discipline, focus, and responsibility in real life, not just inside the realms of an interface. Of course, there’s usually some connection between the two somewhere, and, ideally, a fairly intimate one. Technologists of all kinds are well served harnessing their softest and most sterile of work to serve something concrete and tangible — not just in the brick-and-mortar sense, but in the flesh-and-blood one. Nevertheless, the distinction tells a powerful tale in the case of clean energy. Texas has pulled away from the emissions-obsessed Cali crowd because, today, “greening” our output doesn’t just mean harnessing the sun and the wind. It also means drawing power from water, biomass, and nuclear energy. And on that expanded score, California hasn’t been the beacon of futurism it’s cracked up to be. In fact, its approach to solar hasn’t made headlines because the state failed to take into proper account the overwhelming importance of capturing and retaining solar energy. Much as the state notoriously fails to hold onto vast quantities of the rainwater that occasionally pour onto its mountain ranges and into its lakes, when it comes to solar, all that California sun makes a limited impact in the absence of robust battery storage capabilities. (Speaking of water, Sacramento has also stagnated on desalination.) Meanwhile, the statehouse tug of war over nuclear continues. One of the few operational plants was recently granted a stay of political execution, extending its life span until the end of this decade. But environmentalist fears that become more outdated every day continue to keep California from moving forward with the new and better plants that would really change minds. Finally, few on the West Coast want to admit that natural gas can play a key supporting role — as it has in Texas — that bolsters and stabilizes alternative energy sources like wind or sun. Absent a steady backup, it’s harder to use all the energy produced by those gusts and rays and harder to persuade people that clean energy is reliable enough to trust. Dirty tech, clean energy. It’s a simple formula with results as big as Texas. But until something changes in California’s notionally progressive mindset, its ideological “greens” remain far behind the curve.

"You know they’re not going to let you go,” an old friend told President Donald Trump in an intimate Oval Office meeting during the summer of 2020. “They’re going to come after you, after your kids; they’re going to come for your money; and they’re going to try to put you in jail.” The president, he told me later that day, look frightened, even startled, as if he hadn't considered there could be anything worse than defeat at the ballot box. "Unfair” is a child’s protest. “Hypocrisy” is the adult version — a fine word for the powerless to hurl against the powerful (to no avail). Underestimating just how far his opponents across all strata of society would go to hurt him was a frequent tic of Trump’s first term. The 45th president of the United States was slow to realize position and power are not the same thing. And now, four years later, he’s been convicted of a bogus crime by a man who won office by promising to lock him up. It can feel cathartic to point out that Trump has been found guilty of disguising hush money as "legal expenses,” while Hillary Clinton did the same to hide payments to a British spy to compile the far more insidious Russia dossier. You can yell “Hypocrisy!” on a friendly network and the host might nod along. It can feel witty to explain how clearly the judge violated Trump’s Sixth Amendment right "to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation.” Judge Juan Merchan actually told the jurors they didn’t need to agree on what “unlawful” act Trump might have committed to upgrade a misdemeanor outside the statute of limitations to a felony charge. You can write “Unfair!” on X, and your friends might retweet you. It can feel like a relief to know the Supreme Court will likely intervene and might even do so quickly. Merchan’s obvious work to assist the prosecution, undercut the defense, and gag the Republican candidate for president makes a strong case for appeal. The prosecution’s “novel legal theory” is fair game, too. Merchan might even face review and censure. Phew! But in the words of Clinton herself, “What difference does it make?” “Unfair” is a child’s protest; my 8-year-old sometimes yells it to no avail. “Hypocrisy” is the adult version — a fine word for the powerless to hurl against the powerful, also to no avail. Democrats were never going to let Trump go and were leaving as little as possible to chance, launching cases up and down the country. They weren’t even hot on Bragg’s “novel legal reasoning” until it appeared likely to deliver while the other cases faltered. “Whatever they can get him for,” the noisy NeverTrump lawyer George Conway said last week, “is fine with me.” It's about power and the will to use it. Merchan did not lack the will, even if it means short-term suffering for it. “Merchan,” Federalist CEO Sean Davis wrote, “is going to get his bogus conviction, retire, get an absurd amount of left-wing money laundered to him in the form of a book advance, and become a CNN/MSNBC contributor.” Trump’s legal team will quickly appeal to the New York Appellate Division to try to keep their client out of prison, though he isn't likely to see justice before Election Day. In the meantime, Joe Biden’s social media team is planning to change his political opponent’s title to “Convicted Felon Donald Trump.” Given the reaction so far, it could backfire, but they’re still going to give it their best. For them, this is all about the election — and an election they are deeply worried about. Or more plainly: It’s about the power — power they intend to hold tightly. BlazeTV’s Mark Levin to Trump’s attorneys: Next stop? The Supreme Court! The Federalist: Judge Merchan’s jury instructions prove Trump’s trial is about power, not the law Blaze News: Biden bets big on Trump conviction Blaze News: What happens if Trump gets convicted? Blaze News: Stefanik files misconduct complaint against Judge Merchan, says his selection for Trump NY case was 'not random at all. Bedford: There’s a reason DC Democrats are always winning, even when they lose Sign up for the Christopher Bedford newsletter Sign up to get Blaze Media senior politics editor Christopher Bedford's newsletter. IN OTHER NEWS Biden goes full race war in desperate appeal for black votes The White House knows it’s in trouble. Poll after poll shows black and Hispanic voters are leaning toward Trump, the Republican just held a Bronx rally so successful that even CNN and MSNBC had to take notice, and every week a new article drops on the growing panic among professional Democrats. It’s rare the president appears anywhere alongside his earnest VP these days, but in Philadelphia on Wednesday, Vice President Kamala Harris was once again useful, or at least the campaign hoped as much. “What would’ve happened if black Americans had stormed the Capitol?” Biden asked the crowd. “I don’t think [Trump would] be talking about pardons. “This,” he continued, is the same guy who wanted to tear-gas you as you peacefully protested George Floyd’s murder. It’s the same guy who still calls the “Central Park Five” guilty, even though they were exonerated. He’s that landlord who denies housing applications because of the color of your skin. He’s that guy who won’t say “Black Lives Matter” and invokes neo-Nazi Third Reich terms. We all remember, Trump is the same guy who unleashed the birtherism lie against Barack [Obama]. This is far from Biden’s first foray into the politics of race hate. Way back when milquetoast mascots Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan were the Republican standard-bearers, the then-vice president whisper-growled to a black audience, “They want to put y’all back in chains.” Fauci set to testify on Capitol Hill Monday The squirmy doctor is back in the hot seat, as Blaze Media launches a new docuseries on all the COVID lies. Dr. Anthony Fauci is scheduled to testify on Capitol Hill Monday, as more evidence trickles out daily that he and his team sought to hide, disguise, and delete records of their COVID response to protect themselves and their friends from public and congressional oversight. The doctor went from seemingly omnipresent to quiet and withdrawn as the panic subsided. Monday will be the first chance for lawmakers to question him since closed-door testimony on the origins of COVID-19 in January. It will be his first public testimony since retiring as the highest-paid person in the federal government, with the highest government pension in American history. For months, BlazeTV host Matt Kibbe and his team at Free the People investigated the lies and cover-ups of 2020, building an incredible multi-part docuseries. “The Coverup,” episode one, is live now. Watch it here. Blaze Media Original: The Coverup exposes Fauci and his whole cabal Blaze News Original: Former New Jersey gym owner arrested for staying open during COVID lockdowns wins big in court The fire rises: City Journal: Can we get back to tougher policing? This isn’t the first time we’ve experimented with liberalizing policing and sentencing in America. In the 1950s, activists concerned about the United States’ prison population went a similar route to what we're seeing today. The result of their tinkering was the destruction of our cities. By the end of the 1980s, a good summer blockbuster meant some vigilante finally beating up the criminals and punching the reporters for good measure. We fought our way out of it and ended with a far larger prison population than had originally concerned the activist class. And then, like Alzheimer's patients, we did it again. It won’t be so easy to fix this time, however, because now the police know Americans don’t like them. The Manhattan Institute's Rafael Mangual reports: More than 40 years have passed since the publication of one of the most important public-policy essays ever written. Its title, “Broken Windows,” captured the essence of a simple but deeply insightful idea: public order matters. “[I]f a window in a building is broken and is left unrepaired, all the rest of the windows will soon be broken,” wrote the late authors, political scientist James Q. Wilson and longtime Manhattan Institute senior fellow George L. Kelling, in the March 1982 issue of The Atlantic. Visible signs of chaos were like warnings: you’re not safe here. If left unaddressed, the chaos made those areas more vulnerable to further disorder, including serious crime. “‘[U]ntended’ behavior,” the authors maintained, “leads to the breakdown of community controls” and causes residents to “think that crime, especially violent crime, is on the rise, and . . . modify their behavior accordingly.” The areas where disorder festers become more “vulnerable to criminal invasion” than “places where people are confident they can regulate public behavior by informal controls.” The theory — expanded on by Kelling and his wife, Catherine Coles, in their 1996 book, Fixing Broken Windows — sparked a revolution in American policing. At the direction of innovative officials like NYPD commissioner and later LAPD chief William “Bill” Bratton, and with crucial support from political leaders like New York mayor Rudy Giuliani, police departments across the country would, in the 1990s and 2000s, adopt tactics and strategies that reflected these vital insights. Proactive policing not only drove street crime down but also yielded unexpected benefits — like the illegal firearms discovered during pat-downs of turnstile jumpers in the subways and the outstanding arrest warrants discovered on the street through the enforcement of open-container violations. The historic, generation-long crime decline that resulted as Broken Windows policing took hold widely solidified legendary status for Kelling and Wilson. Yet this law-enforcement revolution sparked acrimonious pushback from antipolice academics and activists — aided, in no small part, by how often the concept of Broken Windows policing was misinterpreted and distorted, much to the frustration of its originators. These distortions became more influential as crime continued its downward trajectory nationwide during the first decade of the twenty-first century, as large urban police departments focused on developing counterterrorism capabilities in a post-9/11 world and as a new generation of urban residents came of age with little or no awareness of recent history. Progressive critics argued for rolling back proactive policing measures and for lessening criminal-justice penalties; and a series of viral police use-of-force incidents, beginning in Ferguson, Missouri, in 2014, built momentum for these efforts, while intensifying hostility toward law enforcement. The death of George Floyd in Minneapolis in May 2020 served as the movement’s apex, triggering the deadliest urban riots in the United States since the 1960s amid widespread condemnation of police. Perhaps not coincidentally, 2020 marked the largest one-year homicide spike in at least 100 years. Four years later, with crime — particularly gun violence — still well above pre-2020 levels in many U.S. cities, calls for American police to return to their mid-1990s crime-fighting approach have gotten louder. Unfortunately, this appeal, while entirely justified, cannot be practically pursued in the current environment. Two massive obstacles block the return of Broken Windows-style policing: the police workforce crisis; and the demonization of cops, and of policing itself, as racist. The kind of policing that led to one of the safest generations on record for American cities cannot be revived until these obstacles are surmounted.

Beginning in the Renaissance, locals affixed verses protesting various societal ills to six sculptures scattered across the Italian city

Guess How Much Judge Merchan's Daughter Earned From the 2020 Biden-Harris Campaign

Did They Awaken the Sleeping Giant?

JBL is a headphones brand that doesn't get as much attention as it should. Some users think of JBL as the best-kept secret when it comes to wireless earphones, but we're going to let the cat out of the bag. Amazon is running a big sale right now on JBL Bluetooth earbuds with discounts of up to 40% off. JBL earbuds already make excellent cheap AirPods alternatives. Now, during this sale, you'd have to be crazy not to at least consider them before you buy a new pair of AirPods. The star of the show is the JBL Tune Flex Bluetooth earbuds model, which is on sale for just $59.95. According to Amazon, more than 4,000 people have bought these popular headphones in the past month alone. You can also get JBL Vibe Beam earbuds for just $49.95 if you want to spend as little as possible. Or, you can take your pick between JBL 130NC pill-shaped buds or JBL 230NC earbuds with stems, and get either for $59.95 instead of $100. JBL Tune 130NC TWS True Wireless In-Ear Noise Cancelling Headphones - Blue Price: $59.95 (reg. $100) You Save: $40.00 (40%) Buy Now JBL Tune 230NC TWS - True Wireless In-Ear Headphones, Active Noise Cancelling with Smart Ambien… Price: $59.95 (reg. $100) You Save: $40.00 (40%) Buy Now JBL Vibe Beam - True Wireless JBL Deep Bass Sound Earbuds, Bluetooth 5.2, Water & Dust Resistan… Price: $49.95 (was $100) Buy Now JBL Tune Flex - True Wireless Noise Cancelling Earbuds (Black), Small Price: $59.95 (reg. $100) Buy Now Apple's AirPods Pro 2 with USB-C are currently on sale for $229, which is not a great deal for this updated model. There are a few other AirPods deals available right now, though. But the cheapest AirPods you can get at the moment cost $89. That means none of those deals come close to being as affordable as JBL Bluetooth earbuds — especially while JBL buds are on sale with deep discounts. Beginning with the most popular models, the JBL Tune Flex Bluetooth earbuds are on sale right now for $59.95, down from $100. And if you want to spend as little as possible, JBL Vibe Beam earbuds are down to $49.95, thanks to a new lower MSRP. On top of that, JBL's fan-favorite ANC earbuds lineup is also on sale. The JBL 130NC noise cancelling earbuds have a pill-shaped design, and they're down to $59.95 instead of $100. The same goes for JBL 230NC with stems, which can be had for $59.95 as well. These are among the most affordable noise cancelling earbuds you can get that still have good sound quality despite the low price tags. They're essentially the same earbuds, but they have one main difference. The Tune Flex model features active noise cancelling tech, while JBL's Vibe Beam model does not. Both versions feature long battery life, sweat and water resistance, and solid sound quality. Also, you'll also find JBL Tune Buds on sale for $69.95 instead of $100. They're very similar to the Tune Flex model, but they have two main differences. The first is a different form factor, as the Tune Buds model doesn't have stems sticking out. And the second is the lack of a water-resistant charging case. Many people prefer the pill shape of the Tune Buds model, but the Tune Flex had a better fit and felt more comfortable in my ear when I tested both earphones. JBL Tune 130NC TWS True Wireless In-Ear Noise Cancelling Headphones - Blue Price: $59.95 (reg. $100) You Save: $40.00 (40%) Buy Now JBL Tune 230NC TWS - True Wireless In-Ear Headphones, Active Noise Cancelling with Smart Ambien… Price: $59.95 (reg. $100) You Save: $40.00 (40%) Buy Now JBL Vibe Beam - True Wireless JBL Deep Bass Sound Earbuds, Bluetooth 5.2, Water & Dust Resistan… Price: $49.95 (was $100) Buy Now JBL Tune Flex - True Wireless Noise Cancelling Earbuds (Black), Small Price: $59.95 (reg. $100) Buy Now If you're looking for over-ear or on-ear noise cancelling headphones instead of earbuds, there are two more deals that you definitely should check out. JBL Tune 660NC headphones feature JBL's "Pure Bass" technology, which people have been raving about for years. You also get fantastic battery life of up to 55 hours with ANC disabled, or up to 44 hours with noise cancelling turned on. These popular on-ear headphones retail for $100, but they're down to $69.95 on sale. That's a 20% discount, and it matches the best price I've seen so far this year. You can also upgrade to JBL Tune 760NC over-ear ANC headphones for $92 instead of $130. JBL Tune 660NC: Wireless On-Ear Headphones with Active Noise Cancellation - Black, Medium Price: $79.95 (reg. $100) You Save: $30.00 (30%) Buy Now JBL Tune 760NC - Lightweight, Foldable Over-Ear Wireless Headphones with Active Noise Cancellat… Price: $92.12 (reg. $130) You Save: $37.83 (29%) Buy Now Don't Miss: Today’s deals: $249 iPad, Sonos speakers from $199, $495 Apple Watch Ultra, $14 charging station, more The post These cheap AirPods rivals are great, but no one seems to know about them appeared first on BGR. Today's Top Deals Best Apple deals for May 2024 Today’s deals: $199 Bose soundbar, $38 Sony headphones, Energizer batteries, $200 off DJI Explorer, more Today’s deals: $249 iPad, Sonos speakers from $199, $495 Apple Watch Ultra, $14 charging station, more Today’s deals: $3.25 smart plugs, $79 AirPods, $849 M2 MacBook Air, $329 Sony WH-1000XM5 headphones, more

North Korea said on Friday it had fired 18 short-range ballistic missiles during a drill as a demonstration of its willingness to launch a pre-emptive strike against South Korea's "gangsters' regime" if necessary to counter an attack. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un guided...

A Minneapolis police officer responding to a shooting call was ambushed and killed Thursday when he stopped to provide aid to a man who appeared to be a victim. That man instead wound up shooting the officer, authorities said.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom vowed he would not fix the state's budget deficit by taking away health insurance from low-income adults living in the country without legal permission, calling the state's policy "something I believe in."

A court in Russia on Friday ordered a detained Russian American journalist to be held until at least Aug. 5, pending investigation and trial, a further step in the Kremlin's crackdown on dissent and free speech.