Pun Salad

He Fixes the Student Loan Debt Crisis and doesn't even demand you thank him:

No transcript at the link, but if your sense of humor is close to mine, you'll laugh, you'll cry, you'll want to Google 'narwhal'. And here's a (relatively) serious point he makes:

Briefly noted:

• Speaking of universities, NHJournal takes a look at the latest from the University Near Here: UNH Pulls Planned 'Counter Programming' to Students for Life Event.

  When the University of New Hampshire Students for Life planned an event on campus, opponents of their pro-life politics took action. They planned their own event in the same building and simultaneously as a counterprotest to the Students for Life event.

  This counterprogramming is significant because it was launched not by the pro-lifers’ fellow students but by UNH administrators — specifically the UNH Health and Wellness Center. And it is part of what pro-life UNH students say is a culture of opposition and intimidation at the Durham campus.

  […]

  “We started to advertise and spread the word, and it didn’t take long for the UNH Health and Wellness Center to announce plans to host their own event. It’s in the exact same building at the exact same time,” Regan said.

  UNH administration apparently decided that throwing their official weight onto one side of a contentious political issue would be a bad look for an institution that prides itself on being "inclusive" and "welcoming". This was put up on the Health and Wellness Center's Facebook page for a while, then appears to have been memory-holed:

  

  "Abortion as healthcare". Celebrate it, unless you're an unborn child.

• Joe Lancaster notes an issue that's lost on the current generation of climatistas: EPA Ban of Gasoline-Powered Cars Will Hinder Electric Vehicle Development. So it's not a bad idea simply because it's an offensively totalitarian dictate!

  The Biden administration should let the market decide. Clearly, there is a demand for electric vehicles. But by insisting on the rate at which the industry needs to make the transition, the administration's incentives could be undermining progress. Axios noted this week that "battery technology is still evolving…meaning the U.S. may be at risk of building mines and factories to produce batteries that wind up being obsolete in a decade."

  As Reason's Ronald Bailey wrote in the March 2023 issue, electrochemists are already devising new methods of powering electric cars that don't use scarce materials. By imposing such a breakneck timeline, the EPA is forcing automakers to choose production over innovation.

  And that's not all…

• Dominic Pino detects mental malfunction: The Government’s Own Numbers Show Biden’s EV Mandate Is Crazy. Not just stupid and offensive! Crazy!

  Among the many other problems:

  The Annual Energy Outlook [from "Energy Information Administration (EIA), the statistical arm of the Department of Energy"] also projects electric-vehicle adoption as part of its energy forecasts. Currently, it says that EVs have a 6.4 percent market share. By 2050, the reference scenario projects that EVs will have an 18.7 percent market share. Even in the most extreme scenario, with high oil prices, it projects that EVs will make up 28.5 percent of new cars by 2050.

  The EPA yesterday said that it wants EVs’ market share to be 67 percent by 2032. This target is not even on the same planet as the EIA’s March forecast, and the two don’t even refer to the same types of EVs. The EPA wants 67 percent of new cars by 2032 to be battery-electric vehicles that take no gasoline at all. The EIA’s definition of EVs in the report includes plug-in hybrids in addition to battery-electrics. Excluding plug-in hybrids, the EIA projects only 14 percent adoption of battery-electric cars by 2050 in the reference scenario and 24 percent in the most extreme scenario of high oil prices.

  I think it would be kind of neat to have an EV, but every time I game it out, it comes up impractical.

• In our "Hey Kids, What Time Is It?" department, WIRED has some New Hampshire news, specifically from down Exeter way: It’s Time to Stop Arresting People for Trolling the Government.

  After Robert Frese posted a nasty Facebook comment about a police officer in 2018, police obtained a warrant to arrest him. This was the second time in six years that Frese was charged with “criminal defamation.”

  Frese does not live in Russia, China, Iran, or another country notorious for oppressive speech laws. He lives in New Hampshire, which criminalizes the act of purposely making a false statement that exposes someone “to public hatred, contempt, or ridicule.” While Americans typically associate defamation with civil lawsuits, in which the alleged victim sues the speaker for money, many are unaware that, in some states, defamation is a crime that can lead to fines or jail time.

  The writer wisely refrains from referring to NH as the Live Free or Die state. He'd like to see SCOTUS take up the case. I'll just make my usual observation: our state really outdoes itself on serving up free speech cases:

  Chaplinsky v. New Hampshire; Cox v. New Hampshire; Sweezy v. New Hampshire; Wooley v. Maynard. Frese v. New Hampshire next?

• Nearly two weeks ago I fisked an editorial column from steffany Shaheen, which was full of emotionalism, conspirarcism, and just plain bad ideas about gun control. among her proposals:

  • A mandatory assault weapon buyback program.

  As more people notice, she's now advocating… well, something else. Not sure what. Her recent tweet, and my response:

  Your column advocated "A mandatory assault weapon buyback program." Period. Nothing about "offer". Nothing about restricting it to "municipalities."

  — Paul Sand (@punsalad) April 14, 2023

  If I was feeling uncharitable, I'd say she's backtracking. In the words of J. Alfred Prufrock: "“That is not what I meant at all; That is not it, at all.”