CDC, FPL & Elon – Top 3 Takeaways – October 5th
- Not everything is a conspiracy. On Monday the final vestiges of public pandemic policy were dropped by the CDC. The last advisory to fall, the CDC’s “Do Not Travel” recommendations based on COVID-19 concerns identified by the unelected body of scientists in Atlanta, which at various points during the pandemic acted as a quasi-dictatorship. Not that you were likely paying attention, even if traveling internationally, but as of Sunday, there were still 90 countries the CDC recommended against traveling to in the name of the virus. As of Monday, they were no more. What changed so significantly between Sunday and Monday that the CDC determined those 90 countries were now safe to travel to? Quoting the CDC: As fewer countries are testing or reporting COVID-19 cases, CDC’s ability to accurately assess the COVID-19 levels for most destinations that American travelers visit is limited. Got it. The dropping of the advisories isn’t based on the virus. It’s based on the fact that most countries don’t care to play the game anymore. It’s the latest, and perhaps last, illustrative example of how arbitrary so much of the pandemic policy has been. But it’s also illustrative of another key point. Not everything is a conspiracy. For much of the past year and a half, many have suggested governments would hype the virus and bring back peak pandemic restrictions just in time for the midterm elections. The conspiracy theory being that pandemic policy would be needed to pull off election shenanigans a la 2020’s cycle. With President Biden having recently declared the pandemic is over and even the CDC having dropped the last of their nonsense, it’s gone completely the other way just in time for the midterms. My point in mentioning this is two-fold. First, not everything is a conspiracy. Second, there are real conspiracies that do occur, a la the Steel Dossier and the Deep State’s creation of the Trump-Russia collusion narrative. In order to retain credibility when discussing real conspiracies, it's imperative not to embrace potentially false narratives and/or unproven conspiracies. Once you lose credibility with people over one non-conspiracy, you lose credibility in discussing any real ones too. As always, there are two sides to stories and one side to facts, it's important to establish facts before advancing stories.
- Impressive power. As the full extent of the devastation in Southwest Florida is still being realized, an impressive story about Florida’s power infrastructure is as well. As I address in today’s Q&A, FPL’s performance during hurricane Ian was truly impressive. That included having no significant structural damage to any power generating facilities or transmission systems – despite having numerous facilities in the direct path of Hurricane Ian. We also have a real-time assessment of how much more reliable underground power lines were in the impacted areas. A full five times better. Underground powerlines proved to be a full 500% more reliable in the Ian impacted areas according to FPL’s initial assessment. While it’s long been known underground powerlines are more reliable, the case study Ian has provided should put this conversation front and center in power conversation everywhere in our state. According to the most recent data, 45% of FPL’s footprint currently includes underground lines. That number drops off considerably with Florida’s other utility companies – especially those run by municipal governments. With the ability to improve the reliability of power by 500%, proven during one of the most severe weather events in our state’s history, underground powerlines should be the top priority for every energy provider in the state of Florida. Yes, it costs money to do so, but yes, it also costs money to repair down power lines and to not provide service for an extended period of time...and that’s aside from the potential to save lives. Speaking of improvement... It looks like Elon Musk is set to...
- Make Twitter Great Again. I don’t know any more about what changed with Elon Musk’s mindset Monday, which is when he reportedly reversed course on his decision to legally fight to back out of his previously agreed deal to buy Twitter, than anyone else. But I imagine it went something like this. Musk attorney: You’re going to lose your case in court. Musk: Crap. And the one thing that would be worse financially for Elon than losing in court and having to buy Twitter for the previously agreed to price, would be losing in court and having to buy Twitter for the previously agreed to price plus the costs of his legal team battling it out and for the legal costs of Twitter’s team to battle it out with them in court. So, it really does appear as though Elon Musk will be making Twitter Great Again after all.