“We are fast approaching the stage where the government is free to do anything it pleases, while the citizens may act only by permission.” (Ayn Rand)

“What the bill is really about is giving more artificial advantage to electric vehicles over the internal combustion engine. Higher the prices, the better, while deflecting the blame to Big Oil.”

When it comes to energy, the California government has termite aspirations. Having wounded its electricity grid with centrally planned wind and solar reliance, the state is legislating vile-and-spite toward the mainstays of the transportation sector: gasoline and diesel.

Consumer preference for the most affordable, plentiful, dependable energies? No standing in this state. Taxpayer neutrality? Absent. Government knows best, with today’s intervention adding to the issues created by prior intervention.

Already, taxes and other mandates have made the Golden State’s pump prices the highest in the country: $4.83/gallon, almost 40 percent higher than the national average.…

“Energy is not for conserving; it is for unleashing to serve us, to make our lives better, to allow us to realize our dreams and to reach for the stars, those bright lights that pierce the darkness of the night.”

Since early men ignited the first fires in caves, the unleashing of energy for light, heat, cooking, and every human need has been the essence and symbol of what it is to be human. The Greeks saw Prometheus vanquishing the darkness with the gift of fire to men. The Romans kept an eternal flame burning in the Temple of Vesta. Our deepest thoughts and insights are described as sparks of fire in our minds. A symbol of death is a fading flame; Poet Dylan Thomas urged us to “rage, rage against the dying of the light.”…

“Working together is the only way we are going to reach net zero by 2050. That’s why Shell supports Rational Middle’s latest docuseries on Net Zero. Bring your skepticism, bring your questions & join the conversation.” – Shell, Rational Middle 

Greenwashing, greenhushing, greenwishing–it’s all a mess as the anti-CO2 lobby and woke companies confront the reality of energy density and consumer requirements.

“Big Oil” companies that bought into climate alarmism/forced energy transformation have a tiger by the tail. Shell and BP most of all. And guess which two companies are on the firing line the most with the climate activists? Shell, in fact, finds itself in some legal trouble for ceding the moral high ground, rather than making a strong intellectual defense of energy density and the social good of affordable, reliable energy.…

“A Flex Alert urging consumers to reduce their power use in the late afternoon and evening is also in effect today and tomorrow, marking seven consecutive days the call to cut demand has been issued.” (CAISO, September 5, 2022)

“I’ve lived in California for more than 70 years and seen her go from the prettiest girl in class to a haggard washed-up starlet. She needs an intervention. My grandson deserves nothing less.” ( — California resident Tom Tanton)

It is another example of fiction-to-fact from an Ayn Rand novel. Spiraling government intervention with an essential commodity has predictably created a shortage, then calls for sacrifice and threatened rationing. The narrative is that “historic heat” from “climate change” is the culprit–and fighting climate change requires the population to reset their comfort zone … down.…