Biden offers ‘pointless’ climate agenda

NEWS AND OPINION:

President Biden and a White House fact sheet offered insight on clean energy and critical minerals on Tuesday, and included references to job creation, supply chains and other dynamics.

Some observers are not impressed.

“Joe Biden keeps doubling and tripling down on the same war-on-conventional-energy policies that sent energy prices skyrocketing in the first place. Somebody needs to hold an intervention for him,” said James Taylor, president of The Heartland Institute, a Chicago-based think tank, in a statement.

Steve Milloy, founder of JunkScience.com, a news site, noted in another statement that “although Joe Biden is bent on forcing his pointless and expensive climate agenda on Americans struggling to recover from the pandemic, he has no actual plan for actually making it work on a sensible basis.”

He is particularly concerned about Mr. Biden’s push for electrical vehicles, which would require lithium-ion batteries. Mr. Milloy says about 80% of the rare earth minerals for such batteries currently comes from China.

“Although Biden is starting to realize his EV agenda is dead-on-arrival without ensuring a rare earth supply chain independent of China, he has no actual plan to accomplish this. This has all been merely a dog-and-pony show to pretend that he is making progress on that problem,” Mr. Milloy advised.

TRUMP’S ‘TRUTH SOCIAL’ HITS NO. 1

There are cultural and political battles everywhere — even among apps. Here’s one to consider: Former President Donald Trump’s new Truth Social app has bested the intensely popular Wordle and every other free application in the social-media kingdom.

Mr. Trump’s social media outreach, which quietly launched Sunday night, reached the top of Apple’s download charts for free apps as of Tuesday morning.

The platform unveiled a soft launch late Sunday, and was available as a free application by Monday. Despite some glitches, waiting lists and delays, Truth Social landed at the top of the heap within 24 hours. It also was more popular than apps for HBO, TikTok, YouTube, Instagram, Facebook and Snapchat, according to the Apple list, as of Tuesday afternoon.

Shares of Digital World Acquisition Corp, the company behind Mr. Trump’s new venture, rose 14% on Tuesday, according to a handy count from the Daily Mail.

Meanwhile, Trailar — a British solar-technology firm — is considering suing Truth Social over its nearly identical logo, the news organization said.

“Based on recent news brought to our attention by various media outlets, showcasing the similarities between our own TRAILAR logo and the Truth Social logo, we are now seeking legal advice to understand next steps and options available to protect our brand,” the company told the Daily Mail.

THE EDUCATION CHALLENGE

New research conducted by EAB — an educational research organization based in the nation’s capital — reveals that a sizable number of U.S. school superintendents are eyeing the exits.

A new EAB poll of 141 superintendents in 32 states found that 46% are now considering or planning to leave their jobs in the next two to three years. The survey was conducted from Dec. 6 to Feb. 3 and released Thursday.

The superintendents also revealed their biggest challenge.

“Struggling to manage polarized communities and navigating divisive conversations is now the hardest part of the job,” the EAB poll analysis said.

“To spend more time in classrooms, superintendents will need a way to spend less time quelling community unrest and managing crises. But in today’s polarized political climate, many superintendents are working with families who find little common ground on any issue,” the report said.

“As a result, 80% of survey respondents agreed that managing divisive conversations is now the most challenging aspect of their job. Seven in ten also say that they would benefit from additional training in this area — indicating that they do not feel adequately equipped to manage these conversations today.”

On Feb. 1, a National Education Association revealed that a “staggering 55% of educators” are thinking about leaving the profession earlier than they had planned — up from 37% in a similar poll released by the organization in August.

HELPFUL READING

The Heritage Foundation has released “Budget Blueprint 2022,” a comprehensive roadmap for policymakers who are intent on reducing out-of-control federal spending, restoring fiscal sanity to Washington and balancing the budget in 10 years.

“The budget of the federal government is more than a list of line items and charts: It is a statement of the values of its drafters,” the blueprint says.

Six very informed contributors produced the guidelines, including Kevin Roberts, president of the Heritage Foundation, and Matthew D. Dickerson, director of the organization’s Grover M. Hermann Center for the Federal Budget.

And a sample suggestion from the publication?

“Eliminate the U.S. Department of Education, saving $333 billion over 10 years, and more importantly, remove the federal bureaucracy from our schools,” the blueprint advises.

It is one of many succinct ideas.

“Entrenched and unelected elites spend our hard-earned tax dollars on wasteful pursuits and programs that do nothing to benefit Americans, and often actively work against our interests. The ‘Budget Blueprint’ removes any excuse for inaction,” Mr. Roberts said in a statement.

Find the blueprint at Heritage.org/budget/index.

POLL DU JOUR

• 30% of U.S. adults graded the “media’s handling of Donald Trump’s presidency in general” as a failure — or a grade of F.

• 15% rated the media coverage of Mr. Trump as poor — or a grade of D.

• 17% rated the coverage as average — or a C.

• 16% rated the coverage as good — or a B.

• 14% rated the coverage as excellent — or an A.

• 7% were not sure.

SOURCE: An Issues & Answers/TIPP poll of 1,355 U.S. adults conducted Feb. 2-5 and released Monday.

• Follow Jennifer Harper on Twitter @HarperBulletin.