Kevin Drum

The Washington Post reports that President Biden's response to the Maui wildfire is being "scrutinized." But why? Although it's true that Biden's public remarks have been limited, Hawaii's governor sings his praises and the response on the ground has been great:

“I’ve never seen such dedication in a president, who within six hours dedicated his time to determine that this was an emergency, and to commit full repair, full reconstruction for our people here in Hawaii.”

....Indeed, The federal response effort has been substantial and multifaceted, with FEMA joining agencies including the Defense Department, the Department of Health and Human Services and the Small Business Administration to deliver aid to locals. By Saturday, more than 1,000 federal personnel were on the ground, and the rush of federal aid included thousands of blankets and cots, more than 50,000 meals and cash payments of $700.

So why the scrutiny? That finally comes in the 9th paragraph:

But as criticism, largely from Republicans, has intensified over the past week, White House officials have mounted a sweeping effort to showcase the president’s personal involvement in handling the crisis.

Of course. Republicans are pretending to be upset, so that means we have to write several hundred words about Biden's demeanor before we get to the part about how he's been closely involved behind the scenes, insuring that federal action is thorough and robust.

Of course.

Apparently grocery stores have been jammed all day here in Southern California, with lines literally snaking out the door. It turns out that people are stocking up in order to make it through the 18 hours of rain we're expecting tomorrow. This is happening all over, including places that are in zero danger of flooding—which is most of them.

Life is weird.

The Wall Street Journal reports that China's fertility rate dropped to 1.09 last year:

Fertility is down nearly everywhere, but China is in a class by itself. For some reason, starting in 2018 Chinese families simply decided they didn't want children. Fertility has dropped by nearly half over the past five years, an unprecedented decline outside of famine or war.

Why? This decline obviously poses problems from a purely demographic standpoint, but it also points to a souring mood among families. A slow, steady drop is one thing, but a sharp fall like this says something new and serious about deteriorating views of life in China—both now and in the future.

As of 2:30 pm, Hurricane Hilary is hundreds of miles away and the skies are calm here in Southern California. Sadly, my planned astrophotography mission still has to be aborted with extreme prejudice, as you can see from this up-to-the-minute picture of the sky.

I am reminded this morning of the odd contempt that conservatives have for renewable power—There's no sun at night! The wind doesn't always blow!—paired with their seemingly inexhaustible love of nuclear power, which survives even $17 billion overruns on $14 billion nuclear plants.

I myself have mixed views on nuclear. On the one hand, new Gen 4 technologies hold out the hope of reliable, modestly priced, carbon-free power. On the other hand, waste disposal can't be blithely waved away and existing construction of nuclear plants is wildly expensive. It's hardly a slam dunk for either side.

So why the endless love from right-wingers? And why the equally endless mockery of solar and wind? Even if you're deeply invested in pretending that climate change is a big liberal delusion, clean energy is still something to root for, isn't it? At the very least it reduces air pollution of all kinds, and who's against that? And it's hardly a secret that modern, utility-scale renewable installations include battery storage that allows them to provide electricity all day long.

But conservatives nevertheless jump gleefully on any reported hiccup with renewable energy. They even hate electric vehicles. Ron DeSantis has enshrined this in his "Declaration of Economic Independence," and red states are passing regulations to rein in charging stations and increase EV registration fees for no reason other than an inchoate grudge against anything "green."

The obvious answer to all this, I suppose, is that the libtards like solar, wind, and EVs, so MAGAnauts don't. Ditto in reverse for nuclear power. It seems like there has to be more to it than just this, but I sure can't figure out what it might be.

Huh:

According to a survey of 7,100 American teens last year conducted by investment bank Piper Sandler, 87% of teens currently have an iPhone, and 87% plan on sticking with the brand for their next phone.

But the stigma regarding Android phones is mostly an American phenomenon, at least to the degree to which it affects purchase habits. Worldwide, per the same Statcounter report, Androids represent the significant majority of all smartphones, holding a 71% share of sales compared with Apple’s 28%.

This article promises in the headline that American teens "have their reasons" for preferring iPhones, but it never tells us what they are aside from "all my friends have one so I want one too." Which, you know, is fair enough, I guess. It explains much of the world, after all.

Still, 87% is remarkable. That gets all the way down to families earning less than $20,000—below the official poverty level. And yet they can still spring for an iPhone for the kids? wtf?

Wisconsin has one of the most egregiously gerrymandered state legislative maps in the country. In 2022 Republicans captured 64% of Wisconsin's Assembly seats even though they won only 47% of the vote.

In April Democrats won an election that gave them a majority on the state Supreme Court, and they have now filed petitions to challenge the gerrymandered lines drawn by the legislature and approved by the former court. One of the court's Republican justices is pretty upset about it:

The outcome of a challenge to Wisconsin’s legislative maps is “predetermined” by the court’s liberal majority, conservative Justice Rebecca Bradley wrote in a dissent issued Tuesday.

....On Tuesday, the court ordered the Wisconsin Elections Commission to file responses to the petitions by Aug. 22. In a dissenting opinion, Bradley wrote that “everyone knows” the court’s four liberal justices will grant the petitions.

This displays some serious chutzpah. Bradley is certainly right that this is a purely partisan case, but she didn't seem to mind that back when the court had a Republican majority and it was equally predetermined that they'd rubber stamp the transparently one-sided map drawn by Republicans.

If you adopt brutally partisan tactics when your party has control, you can hardly feign outrage when the other party does the same. What's good for the goose is good for the gander.

Last week you saw Charlie peering at Hilbert from a distant hedge. This week you get a closeup of Charlie in the hedge. He was having lots of fun that day, leaping out of the hedge and startling Hilbert, and then circling back to the hedge to do it again. Hilbert just wandered around the whole time, never really catching on.

Apparently a Category 4 hurricane is headed toward sunny little Irvine. That's something new and exciting. It's true that I've been desperately pining away for cooler weather since June, but this sure wasn't what I had in mind. Also, I was hoping to restart my astrophotography this weekend, but I'm pretty sure a hurricane will produce poor viewing conditions.

On the other hand, there's this:

Projections show the storm has about a 50% chance of hitting Southern California late Sunday or early Monday as a tropical storm, meaning sustained winds at or above 39 mph.

Huh. A 50% chance of 39 mph winds. Astrophotography is still out, but maybe this isn't quite as bad as people are making it out to be.

A new Washington Post "analysis" informs us that the Senate and Electoral College are biased in favor of small red states. Also that political polarization has increased and trust in government has decreased.

This is not exactly big news. But at least it's all true. On the other hand, despite all this there's been a lot of substantial action under the past three presidents:

1. Wall Street reform
2. Auto industry rescue
3. Obamacare
4. DACA
5. 2017 tax cut
6. Operation Warp Speed
7. Withdrawal from Afghanistan
8. IRA, CHIPS Act, Infrastructure Act, and 2021 stimulus
9. Global unity on Ukraine
10. Electoral Count Reform Act

This is not the record of a country hobbled by gridlock or the demise of democracy, no matter how loud and belligerent members of Congress are these days. Plus there's this:

11. Donald Trump is facing four separate felony trials

As for the unfairness of Congress and the presidency, since 2000 Democrats have held the presidency for 12 years and Republicans for 12 years. The House has been in Democratic hands for 8 years and the Senate for 13. The number of federal judges is split almost evenly between Democrats and Republicans. This doesn't strike me as demonstrating any fundamental unfairness in a country that's been split 50-50 for more than two decades.

There are gripes on both sides about unpopular policies that nonetheless remain in effect—abortion for liberals, immigration for conservatives.

And yet, things continue to putter along. It's true that suicides are up a bit; weather has gotten crazy as the world continues to warm; and we still haven't figured out how to educate Black children decently. Also, the Republican Party long ago went insane. On the other hand, the economy is good; COVID is no longer a threat; we are making slow progress on solar and EVs and other climate change mitigations; and until COVID hit people continued to report that they were happy. In other words, aside from the fact that we're all spitting mad at each other, things seem fairly normal these days.