The Morning Roar: California May Waive Environmental Rules For Tesla, U.S. Actions In Iraq Fueled ISIS Leader’s Rise, Robin Williams Breaks Down The Last Decade Of Politics
Another legendary comedian died, a former NASCAR champion ran over another driver, and the New York Times admits blowback exists. It’s been an insane couple of days. We won’t be talking about NASCAR, but in Wednesday’s edition of The Morning Roar we’ll be discussing the other two shocking events and California's potential waiving of environmental rules to appease a crony corporation.California May Waive Environmental Rules For TeslaCalifornia lawmakers are considering waiving a more than four decade old environmental statute as they attempt to entice Tesla Motors Inc. to build a $5 Billion dollar battery factory in the state. The plan is being negotiated in the office of Gov. Jerry Brown. In addition to granting Tesla a waiver that would exempt the company from the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), the governor’s sales pitch also includes tax breaks that could be worth as much as $500 million (10% of the project total cost.)The CEQA statute was passed in 1970 and was signed into law by then governor Ronald Reagan. CEQA does not regulate land use, rather it requires state and local agencies in California to follow a protocol of analysis and to disclose environmental impacts of proposed projects to the public. The statute also requires feasible measures to mitigate those impacts to be adopted. Your guess is as good as mine how the feasibility of mitigation plans is determined or which bureaucrat is responsible for making that call.The Tesla battery plant would provide 6,500 jobs. California is competing with Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas for the factory that Tesla CEO Elon Musk refers to as his “gigafactory.” You can see why Californian politicians so badly want this factory to be built in California. You better believe the politicians would claim that they “created” 6,500 jobs when election time comes rolling around.Not everyone in California is super excited to see lawmakers lower the environmental bar in order to allow a crony corporation to build a factory in the state, even if the factory is manufacturing batteries that fuel a liberal's fantasy, the electric car.The LA Times reports what some unhappy environmentalist had to say about the proposal.
Environmental activists were critical of any attempt to waive CEQA regulations, especially for such a notably “green” company as Tesla, whose all-electric cars emit no greenhouse gases or other air pollution.“I think it's a terrible idea,” said David Pettit, a lawyer specializing in environmental review laws for the Natural Resources Defense Council. “For one thing, it does indicate that we have two systems of law in California — one for the super rich, and one for the developer doing multifamily housing.”The idea of essentially waiving CEQA is “unacceptable,” said Kathryn Phillips, director of the Sierra Club in California. “It sounds like you're taking away environmental review and taking away citizen enforcement … for a single project.”
The outspoken environmentalists are absolutely right to criticize the potential waiving of this statute for Tesla. Doing so would be an affront to all of the companies that have played by California’s rules and obeyed the statute. If they waive it for Tesla, then they should abolish the statute for all.The deal between California lawmakers and Tesla Motors Inc. is a prime example of the crony capitalism that both mainstream parties openly embrace.This fiasco meshes well with what I talked about in yesterday’s edition of The Morning Roar. I rose in opposition to Paul Krugman’s assertion that libertarianism is a fantasy because libertarian principles do not protect the environment.As I discussed yesterday, libertarians would protect the environment by enforcing property rights. Additionally, common sense rules could be contractually established by consenting landowners in order to protect the environment. If terms of the contract were violated or pollution occurred to one's property, then those that had their rights infringed upon could seek compensation through the legal system.In crony capitalist America, politicians routinely bend regulations to allow those favored by politicians to skate by. Sometimes companies are even permitted to write the regulations in which they are “forced” to comply.Maybe Paul Krugman and everyone else that defends the status quo, should ask themselves if environmental protection under the current system is a fantasy.Check out Marc Clair's interview with Hunter Lewis on the subject of crony capitalism from the Lions of Liberty Podcast. U.S. Actions In Iraq Fueled ISIS Leader’s RiseBlowback – the unintended consequences of a military operation that are suffered by the aggressor.Did the New York Times just acknowledge that the chaos in Iraq can be attributed to blowback resulting from the U.S. occupation of the country?It appears that NYT has acknowledged that blowback is real.
When American forces raided a home near Falluja during the turbulent 2004 offensive against the Iraqi Sunni insurgency, they got the hard-core militants they had been looking for. They also picked up an apparent hanger-on, an Iraqi man in his early 30s whom they knew nothing about.The Americans duly registered his name as they processed him and the others at the Camp Bucca detention center: Ibrahim Awad Ibrahim al-Badry.
That once-peripheral figure has become known to the world now as Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the self-appointed caliph of the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria and the architect of its violent campaign to redraw the map of the Middle East.
“He was a street thug when we picked him up in 2004,” said a Pentagon official who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss intelligence matters. “It’s hard to imagine we could have had a crystal ball then that would tell us he’d become head of ISIS.”
The NYT article focuses on the rise of al-Baghdadi from “street thug” to leader of ISIS. While the article acknowledges the role the U.S. invasion played in al-Baghdadi rising to power, it does not speculate if the U.S. occupation of Iraq made it easier for al-Baghdadi and ISIS to recruit for their cause in Iraq.The reality of the situation is that the U.S. occupation of Iraq and the following insertion of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, who is backed by the U.S., probably made it much easier for al-Baghdadi and others like him to rally support for ISIS.The entire Iraq situation has all the earmarks of blowback. And the Obama administration, escalating intervention in the country by way of air strikes, is sowing more seeds that will likely reap unintended consequences. Robin Williams Breaks Down The Last Decade Of PoliticsHere at Lions of Liberty we mourn the untimely death of legendary comedian and actor Robin Williams. While his politics didn’t align with libertarian ideals, often his comedy routines were fueled by a political populism that offered more honest analysis than can be found watching a months worth of coverage on mainstream news channels.Please enjoy this hilarious stand-up segment where Williams sprints through the last decade and change in politics. He talks about Osama Bin Laden, Saddam Hussein, George W. Bush, and Barack Obama while making it abundantly clear, as only Robin Williams could do, that it is hard to believe what the f*** happened over the last decade.(h/t libertyviral.com)Read The Morning Roar every weekday Monday-Friday!The Lions of Liberty are on Twitter, Facebook & Google+Receive access to ALL of our EXCLUSIVE bonus audio content – including “Conspiracy Corner”, “Degenerate Gamblers” and the “League of Liberty Podcast” by joining the Lions of Liberty Pride and supporting us on Patreon!
