The Morning Briefing: Elon Musk Just Can't Quit Fossil Fuels Yet

Top O’ the Briefing

Happy Tuesday, dear Kruiser Morning Briefing friends. Sascha’s ability to thread needles while singing John Denver songs in Dutch is always a hit at competitive quilting bees.

One of the things that has always intrigued me about Elon Musk is his ability to be a very forward-looking visionary while being honest about the realities of the present.

Most of the sustainable future Climate Church types act as if we can go from Point A to Point Z without hitting any of the 24 points between them. They truly believe that they can mandate the future. Just pass laws saying that all of the icky fossil fuel stuff has to be gone by a certain date and — Voila! — all of the alternatives will be fully functioning by then.

Of course, the more zealous among the Climate Church devotees would prefer that we put oil and coal companies out of business right away. As Chris writes, Musk doesn’t find that haste to be functional:

Reuters reports that Musk told reporters he thinks “we need to use oil and gas in the short term, because otherwise civilization will crumble.”

“One of the biggest challenges the world has ever faced is the transition to sustainable energy and to a sustainable economy,” he added. “That will take some decades to complete.”

Not, “Things will be uncomfortable for a while,” but, “…civilization will crumble.”

Whether or not that’s entirely true, Musk’s lack of doctrinaire climate fanaticism is, as Chris put it, “refreshing.” He’s practical, while most of the rest of the sustainable crowd is so blinded by passion that we’re saddled with boondoggles like half a million dollars spent to repair parking lots in the name of climate change.

Musk is so loathed by leftists these days because he dares speak the truth about their various sacred cows and he’s too rich to cancel.

It’s a lot of fun watching him irritate them.

The Mailbag of Magnificence

Tuesday’s Mailbag is full of grace. Or something.

I’ll begin with this note from James, even though he’s not going to see it:

I faithfully read your column every day. But guess which section gets skipped every time it appears. You got it – ” Mailbag of Magnificence”. I do not find this section particularly interesting or amusing. Too bad, because the rest of the column is.

Well James, even Ted Williams only hit .400 when he was at the top of his game. The reason I started this was to have a way to interact with all the readers after our comments went behind the paywall (which was a most necessary move). Oddly, people tend to be more pleasant in this section and I personally am enjoying it. It also reminds me of some of the weekly back-and-forth I’d do with viewers in the “Tweets of the Week” segment on the old PJTV “Kruiser Control.” The response has been overwhelmingly positive so I’m going to continue to give the readers what they want.

“MeiMei” writes:

Hey Stephen!

Thanks for laboring on a daily newsletter, I was a little skeptical when you took over the Morning Briefing but you have grown on me. I used to laugh at conspiracy theorists but have stopped laughing as they keep getting proved correct. You’re a smart guy, what do you think is the next most likely to prove correct? I’m torn between The Zuck really is an alien and Bezos has a Volcano Fortress.

Not gonna lie, I was a little skeptical when I took over too. I hadn’t really wrapped my head around what went into producing a newsletter five days a week. Fortunately, the Mothership wrapped a paycheck around it so that I was able to find out and I have been forever grateful.

Oh, Bezos totally has a Volcano Fortress. We flew over it one day when I was having lunch with him on the Bilderberg stealth jet.

This is from Jonathan:

–Few readers, I’ve noticed, comment on the artwork you provide. Some of these paintings are priceless in terms of quality. I’m reminded, of looking at some so-called art, of the story where an old mountaineer went to an art gallery. He asked the guide, as the story goes, just what a certain picture was supposed to be. The guide explained what the painting was supposed to be and the other gentleman replied, “If it’s supposed to be that, then why aint’ it?”

–I also love the non-sequitirs in your opening paragraph. Tell me, with all the names and topics, will you ever run out of either?

–But in all sincerity, I really appreciate your passion for sharing truth. If we don’t have truth, then we don’t have much of anything at all, do we?

–Finally, keep up the good work! We need and appreciate your work more than most of us can say. We’d be “hurtin’ for certain” without you!

Jonathan, in the immortal words of Ted Lasso: I appreciate you.

I find that — for better or worse — people tend to get a little serious when they hit the comment section. It’s all about the outrage du jour there. Honestly, I’ve had more people mention the art and the comedy clips in one month of doing the Mailbag than in three years of comments prior to that, which is another reason I like doing this. There is more than enough heaviness in the daily news. That’s why I like to begin the Briefing with something silly and finish with something fun. Thanks for noticing!

This was unsigned and the email addy is cryptic but I want to wrap up with it:

Happy Monday, Kruiser, and many compliments to the chef who produces these daily casseroles of information and opinion.

I think that the arc of the Democrat party can be summed up in these three quotes (OK, one is slightly apocryphal):

Harry Truman: “The buck stops here!”

Bill Clinton: “It all depends on what the word ‘buck’ means!”

Joe Biden: “What the buck…?”

And many happy returns of the day.

Excellent! Just for fun, let’s add Kamala’s take:

“Here we have a buck, and the buck is in buck form. We will always continue to have the buck with other bucks that we will never stop calling “bucks.” Because the buck, and stuff.”

Thanks again to everyone who wrote in. Keep ’em coming to [email protected] to create the illusion that we’re all hanging out in the same room.

Everything Isn’t Awful

The masks are finally useful.

Taking the birds out for a drive.. 😅 pic.twitter.com/yGRR1doz9h

— Buitengebieden (@buitengebieden) August 29, 2022

Smells Like Onion

Gigantic L.A. Police Robot Rises From Ocean To Chase Homeless Child From Park https://t.co/57G40JrEBl pic.twitter.com/hTyEtyB1us

— The Onion (@TheOnion) August 29, 2022

The Kruiser Kabana

Kabana Gallery

Vineyards with a View of Auvers, 1890 #vincentvangogh #postimpressionism https://t.co/F47tbtXFUe pic.twitter.com/niHlJ8WtT3

— Vincent van Gogh (@vangoghartist) August 29, 2022