George Rebane
Don Rogers, ex-hotshot firefighter and now publisher of The Union, writes a good piece (here) in today’s newspaper in which he instructs readers about believing hasty predictions about ‘new normals’ of cold, hot, wet, and dry in California’s weather patterns. He confirms what we have been preaching for years on these pages about wildfires (recently here). Mr Rogers’ piece concludes with, “In any case, the path forward includes no small amount of smoke. The fires will burn, but we do have some choice about when. Our best firefighting, perhaps paradoxically, includes setting the forest alight. Basically burn now, when the weather’s right, before we burn up later.” (also see 24nov18 update below)
For us history buffs, preeminent living war historian Max Hastings has produced another masterpiece – Vietnam, an epic tragedy, 1945-1975 (2018) – which may become the definitive history of that decades-long conflict. I strongly recommend his entire oeuvre, and highlight two must reads – Armageddon: The Battle for Germany, 1944-1945 (2005) and Retribution: The Battle for Japan, 1944-1945 (2007) – that document the last years of WW2 in Europe and in the Pacific. (Longtime readers know that I claim intimate knowledge of the contents of the former.)
‘A $15 Minimum Wage Goes National’ – Nancy Pelosi wants to boost the wage floor far higher than the historical average. So writes Michael Saltsman in the 23nov18 WSJ. What progressives and their communist brethren never seem to understand is that such wage controls – especially large ones like this $15/hr would be – always harm the workers and consumers, i.e. the economy. If the central planners really want to shove more money into workers’ shorts, then why not raise the minimum wage to $100/hr or even $500/hr – then everyone would be happy dancing in the street (for about five minutes). None of these leftists learn from history of how such merit-removing policies mangle markets – the prices of everything would increase accordingly – without providing any longer term benefits to anyone save the politicians who count on the votes of the ignorant.
[24nov18 update] This RL Crabb graphic was filched from today’s copy of The Union where Bob is their duty political cartoonist. I particularly enjoyed this edition of Bob’s work where he sticks his creative big toe into more artistic waters. My hope is that perhaps he can ease off a bit from his (not so) ‘middle of the road’ observations of our politics, and offer us a richer sampling of his more philosophical and contemplative renditions.
The tragic Camp and Woolsey Canyon wildfires have made news and also a lot of fake news in the last couple of weeks. A more measured view (here) of these disasters is available from Stanford University’s Hoover Institute, which in part reads –
An enormous debate has developed over the cause of both fires. Outgoing California Governor Jerry Brown has loudly proclaimed that climate change deniers are “definitely contributing” to the onslaught of new fires. But the best evidence says otherwise. Global temperature increase has been nil over the last 20 or so years, notwithstanding the increased levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. Similarly, the repeated claims that we have had more unstable global climate patterns within that period is likewise false. According to Professor David B. South of Auburn University, “data suggest that extremely large megafires were four-times more common before 1940” than today, even though CO2 levels were lower.
[26nov18 update] Migrants now rushing our southern border. Remember just a week or so ago these thousands of people were walking toward us over a thousand miles away. It was supposed to take them weeks to walk to the border. Then suddenly all kinds of transportation and logistical support appeared for the marchers. Hard to keep arguing that all this was a spontaneous exodus from their home countries. Now who provided the money for all this, and who is providing the political welcome into America? This question is actually a freebie, since Ocasio-Cortez, the Dems’ new ignoramus in Congress, is today publicly comparing this mass attempt to illegally enter the US to the Jewish Holocaust survivors’ illegal entry into Palestine after WW2.
GM exits sedans, and plans to lay off about 18K workers in the US. Decades ago the Rebanes could not figure out why any family would want to buy a sedan as opposed to a van or SUV or the station wagon of yore. Sedans were such inefficiently designed vehicles, especially for a growing family. Finally the entire country is getting the message as sedan sales are “sliding” industry wide in favor of pickups and SUVs. For years now our stable has housed a van, SUV, and a pickup. Hopefully, government mandated electric vehicle production will not prevent the return of those jobs as the car companies start producing more of the vehicles which the market actually demands.
rebanesruminations.com 
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