Meet James Talarico, Radical DEI Activist and 'Defund the Police' Promoter

 HotAir

"Time to start spending some money to define Talarico for exactly what he is: a progressive wolf in "centrist" sheep's clothing." 

. . . "Democrats have tried to package the state legislator as a centrist who can connect with Texans in the suburbs, exurbs, and rural precincts of the Lone Star State. They hope especially to push his time in a Presbyterian seminary as a way to connect to Christian voters, particularly with the controversial Ken Paxton as his Republican opponent. As the Free Beacon reported yesterday, however, Talarico has spent his political career advancing a radical-progressive agenda aimed particularly at public schools, and joined forces with a group seeking to "defund the police" in Austin: . . ."

James Talarico trained at seminary that teaches social justice-based preaching: Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary

. . . "The school’s public theology focus area also offers several biblical interpretation classes that analyze gospel text through a liberal lens, such as “Bi.315: Womanist and Feminist Readings of the New Testament,” “Bi.240: Activism and Old Testament Scriptures,” and “Bi.195: Immigration and the Old Testament.”

"Other course options within the public theology discipline include “TH.206: Environmental Ethics,” which covers climate change and “environmental racism,” and “TH.310: Social Justice,” an introductory class to social justice theory.

"The seminary mandates that students in the Master of Divinity program wishing to concentrate in public theology take three elective courses of their choosing from a list largely consisting of similarly styled classes structured around social justice discussions." . . .

Explaining James Talarico’s theology   . . . "Talarico has stated that “Jesus never said anything” about abortion, transgenderism, or gay marriage. In his view, Mary’s agreement to become the mother of the Messiah means that “creation has to be done with consent,” affirming what abortion activists call “reproductive rights” for women. Speaking against a bill restricting transgender student athletes, he stated that “God is nonbinary

"In an interview with New York Times columnist Ezra Klein, Talarico said he believes “Christianity points to the truth,” but “other religions of love point to the same truth.” He views Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam, and Judaism as “circling the same truth about the universe, about the cosmos. And that truth is inherently a mystery.” Because he is a student at Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary, the media often characterizes him as a “Bible scholar.”

"Talarico’s positions are consistent with a stream of theology often called “liberalism.” Where does it come from? How are we to understand its core beliefs in light of biblical truth?" . . .

Rising Texas Dem Talarico faces backlash for 'creepy' remark about trans kids

  . . . "In the same speech, Talarico also said that "God is both masculine and feminine and everything in between. God is non-binary."

"At the end of his speech, Talarico shared a message to children directly, saying, "To the trans kids watching at home, I just want to say, I love you and so do a lot of people in this room, and so do a lot of people around this big state. I know it may not seem like it tonight, but you are loved beyond measure."

3 Ways To Escape the Doom-And-Gloomers

Intellectual Takeout 

 "Of these three weapons against our age of negativity, gratitude is the most powerful. Sadly, though gratitude is called the “parent of all virtues,” it’s amazing how few people practice it."

"For most of the 21st century, a mob of Grinches has controlled American culture and politics.

"These are the Chicken Littles who have wailed that “climate change” would doom the planet. They are the sorcerers who declare that men can become women and vice-versa, who despite the blood-stained evidence of a hundred years proclaim the virtues of communism, who reinstituted racism through DEI initiatives. They are the iconoclasts who tore down statues and mocked the Constitution, the educators who have graduated legions of young people who can barely read or cipher and know almost nothing of history, the politicians who pontificate about problems without having the spine to tackle them.

"The results? An embarrassing number of Americans now lay claim to some sort of victimhood. A record number suffer from emotional and mental illnesses. Irrationality in public affairs now seems the norm. The country has become so divided that even the sexes have gone to war with each other.

"Perhaps worst of all, optimism, that can-do attitude that was once a hallmark of the American spirit, seems as dead as our knowledge of the past. In his 1902 book “As a Man Thinketh,” James Allen writes of men and women, “As he thinks, so he is; as he continues to think, so he remains.”

"The idea is old, but how often do we keep it in mind? If we’re daily surrounded by mostly negative thoughts and fail to keep them at bay, then we’ll become those thoughts, just as Allen says. Imagine the state of America today had our ancestors been so drenched by these downpours of negative thinking.

"So, what are some ways we can intentionally channel our thinking out of this swamp and into the brighter waters of a living stream? How can we reorient ourselves toward realistic optimism?" . . .More...

Dems Do An About-Face On Climate Change Because They Know How Toxic The Narrative Is

Dems Reverse Climate Messaging to Help Midterm Chances  

 Brianna Lyman:

“Isn’t it so coincidental that now all these leftist activists are saying, ‘Maybe we got it wrong for the past 50 years,’ just as Politico reports that Democrats are actually backing off of the climate change narrative, because it’s so politically toxic and detrimental to their midterm chances. And it’s amazing that Americans were told: ‘You had to give up your gas powered car, your gas-powered leaf blower, your gas-powered boiler, in order to save the climate.’ And all we got in exchange for that were higher energy prices, like in New Jersey. You saw disinvestment in places like Pennsylvania,” The Federalist’s Brianna Lyman said on Hannity. “Meanwhile, you have China responsible for a third of the world’s global emissions — they’re not changing any of their patterns.”

Karen Bass: Palisades Fire Victim Spencer Pratt ‘Exploiting the Grief’ of Palisades Fire Victims

 How unintelligent must one be to want Democrats to govern anything?

AfterMath - Home

Karen Bass: Spencer Pratt 'Exploiting the Grief' of Palisades Fire  

. . . "During an appearance on MSNOW with Katie Phang, Bass called Pratt “reprehensible,” accusing him of exploiting others’ grief, seemingly unaware of the very grief he personally experienced when his home burned down along with thousands of others in his neighborhood.

“Honestly, before this, I had never even heard of Spencer Pratt,” the mayor said.

“But the thing I am concerned about is that I feel like he’s exploiting the grief of people in the Palisades. And I think that’s reprehensible. That’s the main thing. And I think that he is about his own celebrity, he’s famous now again,” she added.

Bass even recommended that Pratt take a “basics civics course,” blaming the wildfires on “climate change.”

“He could benefit by a basic civics course, because I don’t think he understands the basics of how any government works,” she said. “For me, these fires, it was the worst natural disaster that we experienced in our city. At the root of it, we have to get adjusted to, just like everybody else in the nation, to different weather experiences because of climate change.” . . .

When you are painted into a corner, go to the leftist refuge: MSNOW and climate change

It was never about the climate

 Silvio Canto, Jr.   

"Maybe someone should tell them that the clean air in Cuba is due to a collapse of industrial activity. Or we can always remind them of how they treat gays in Palestine or women in general."

"Here is a question for your long weekend: Why haven’t you ever seen a climate change protest before the Chinese embassy anywhere? Why is it always the US or capitalism messing up the environment? Why don’t they show up at all when China is a bigger threat to clean air than any US city?

""The answer is obvious, but I’ll say it. It was never about the climate but rather capitalism or the US.

"Check this out:

In 2024, climate activists in New York City protested alongside anti-Israel protesters at a rally headlined “Climate Justice Means Free Palestine.” Last year, climate change celebrity icon Greta Thunberg tried to storm Israel by sea on a flotilla protesting the country’s war in Gaza, yelling “Free! Free! Palestine!” when she was refused entry.

And, last week, activists from CodePink, a far-left feminist activist group that has received funds from an American expatriate, Neville Roy Singham, living in Shanghai, took a break from their rallies supporting the Islamic Republic of Iran and the Cuba Communist Party to circulate a video on Instagram, attacking a Utah data center project backed by investor Kevin O’Leary.

"That’s a busy bunch protesting against the West. Maybe someone should tell them that the clean air in Cuba is due to a collapse of industrial activity. Or we can always remind them of how they treat gays in Palestine or women in general.

"As the article points out, these marches were always about hating the West and what we stand for. So don’t be fooled by the slogans or some well-meaning people showing up to protest. The root of all of this is hatred of the West and our individual freedoms."   More...

Al Gore can claim the global crown of our modern age's biggest mountebank ... and people actually believed him!

MOUNTEBANK Definition & Meaning | Dictionary.com

 Monica Showalter

"Two decades on, An Inconvenient Truth reminds us that panic is a terrible policy adviser. Focusing on cost-effective solutions—innovation, adaptation, development—will save trillions and do much more to help both people and the climate."

"When Al Gore lost the 2000 election, many foolishly thought that that would be the last of him.

"He was, after all, a buffoon. A well-known television journalist once told me he was so stiff she once mistook him for a cardboard cutout of himself while covering the White House during his vice presidency.

"Turns out his ridiculous exit from politics was just the start of his career as our age's leading mountebank, untouchable and untouched, even by #metoo-style sex harassment claims.

"His error-plagued 'documentary,' "An Inconvenient Truth,' put him on track to become the world's most consequential influencer of the rich, white, global elites. In this regard, he resembles Jean-Jacques Rousseau, the Geneva philosphe, who bewitched Parisian high society with errant concepts of what would become today's leftism.

"Once Gore's error-plagued movie came out, the accolades followed, particularly from wealthy Europeans who awarded him the Nobel Peace Prize in 2007, and after that, global warming became 'the science.'

"Vatican encyclicals were written. Bike lanes were installed to ensure more crowded traffic in cities. Cap and trade became the emperor's new clothes. Plastic straws were taken away along with plastic bags and consumers had to ask for utensils for their takeout food. Taxes soared as fossil fuels were replaced with unreliable solar and wind power and grids buckled. Cars were saddled with fuel efficiency mandates literally unknown to sciece. Treaties were signed -- remember the Paris accords? And then they were gleefully ignored by the third world's [unprintables]. Cash was shaken down. Germany lost its reliable electricity sources and its costs soared. Putin financed green groups to undermine the West and invaded Ukraine. Schoolchildren were preached the virtues of eating bugs. Agriculture became addicted to ethanol subsidies and cars began running on the less efficient fuel. Forests were denuded to make space for solar panels that blinded pilots overhead and wasted farmland, while wind farms became bird Cuisinarts on land and harmed whales at sea. And hypocrites everywhere flew on private jets to fancy conferences to discuss new ways of reducing free people's quality of life, all because of global warming. Elites became rich off this idea, of course, from the Solyndra barons to Gore himself, who left office with about $1 million in assets  and is worth a reported $300 million today. And COVID and its lockdowns took global warming hysteria as its model for increasing government power.

"Now we're on the 20th anniversary of the film, and the damage has been done." . . . More...

Greta, the "Doom Goblin" warns us...

“The people who have been the avatars of climate change, never suffer the consequences of their own ideology. Barack Obama said the planet would be inundated pretty soon, if we didn't address global climate change. Why would he buy a seaside estate at Martha's Vineyard or one on the beach of Hawaii if he really did believe that the oceans would rise and flood his multimillion-dollar investment?

Hate Wars: Luke Skywalker Proves Yet Again That He's No Hero — He's Just Part of a Death Cult

 Bob Hoge – RedState  

"It’s quite ironic that the man who played an ironic rebel, who stood up to tyranny and oppression and fought heroically, now sides firmly with the corrupt Democrat regime that despises law and order and wants to destroy the freest and most noble republic that has ever existed."

"So many Hollywood stars have gotten so gross, lecturing us from awards shows about climate change while jetting around in private planes, talking about peace and love while admitting they despise half the American population, and regularly ruining franchises like Star Wars and Snow White by injecting them full of toxic woke messages.

"Actor Mark Hamill has become a face of the Tinseltown far-left movement and has made himself much more well-known for his pious lectures than he has for his performances. While he was a serviceable Luke Skywalker in numerous Star Wars movies, it was actually the much more dynamic Harrison Ford who rose to superstardom playing Han Solo.

"Hamill has always been somewhat insipid, but now he’s taken his hate to new levels and is openly wishing for death to strike the president of the United States. I have always cared about our country and its leaders, but have never once prayed for the demise of those on the other side. Why? Because it’s sick.

"Once you cross that line, you are no longer a concerned citizen practicing your First Amendment rights and simply voicing your opinion — you have become an evil cog in the progressive machine that is working feverishly to destroy this country. (Trust me, I live in California; I know of what I speak.)" . . .  

🚨 NOW: The White House is EVISCERATING deranged Mark Hamill for openly egging on the death of President Trump
The SAME Mark Hamill that Barack Hussein Obama just welcomed to his trash can library in Chicago
THEY WANT 47 TO BE KlLLED.
"Mark Hamill is one sick individual. These… pic.twitter.com/WUUrsyXZQg

— Eric Daugherty (@EricLDaugh) May 7, 2026

Speaking of... The Barack Obama Presidential Center won't be open to the public for another few weeks, but the gift shop is already up and running

. . . "These other books by notable authors ($40) It's always a good time to learn about community organizing and structural racism. Add these fun titles to your child's summer reading list, or get the whole neighborhood involved by starting a book club—in which case you should probably get them on Amazon for half the price." . . .

. . . "This gorgeous lapel pin ($30) This "unique accessory" was designed by Sameera Chukkapalli Holmes, a former NYU professor of ethical leadership and an architect who specializes in sustainability and social equity. It allegedly represents the "intersection of bold design and global leadership."

 More...

The design of the library is referred to as Brutalist architecture: . . . "is an architectural style that emerged during the 1950s in the United Kingdom, among the reconstruction projects of the post-war era. Brutalist buildings are known for minimalist construction showcasing the bare building materials and structural elements over decorative design.^] The style commonly makes use of exposed, unpainted concrete or brick, angular geometric shapes and a predominantly monochrome colour palette; other materials, such as steel, timber, and glass, are also featured.

" . . .I suggest this must be the cheapest, fastest way of restoring bombed-out, devastated cities such as Britain and Germany after WW2. A legacy of Adolph Hitler's destruction..

 No! No! I do not call Obama's Library "Nazi"; aren't we all sick of that?  

UPDATED! $2.2B Obama Ivanpah Project Shutting Down, Leaving Behind 173K Thermal Collectors; The purple-haired DeLauro update!

Christina Aguayo . . . "So - the $2.2 billion Obama-era green energy investment meant to benefit the environment depended on natural gas because of cloud cover, killed tens of thousands of birds, displaced hundreds of desert tortoises causing risk of higher mortality, destroyed rare plant species and sacred Indigenous sites, and had ecological costs that outweighed its benefits.

"Plus the site's altered ecosystem may never fully recover.

"This marks the latest in a long list of Obama DOE funded large scale solar plants that went belly up.

"According to Solar Insure, 16 large solar companies have gone under since 2023, with over 100 solar companies filing for bankruptcy in the year 2023 alone."

Comment from a reader: "The plants are shutting down, but the infrastructure in place will be reused for solar panels. However i will agree the plant is a failure. The plant’s design basically uses mirrors to heat molten salt. That molten salt is then used to heat water. However at night, the mirrors cant direct enough radiation to keep the motel salt, molten, so the molten salt cools and hardens. Meaning the plant needs natural gas to keep it running at night or it hardens and no longer works. The plant is being sold to pg&e and edison (everyone hates these two)."

By the way, "Turtoys" should have been "Tortoise". TD

UPDATE: Finally, An Administration That’s Changing The Climate Narrative – Issues & Insights . . . "In a town where hot air, witless politicians, and ruinous policies outweigh sensibility, Zeldin gives hope. Earlier this month, the New York Times reported that “Zeldin has fundamentally shifted both the EPA’s mission and the words he uses to describe it.”

"Rather than harping on terms such as “global warming,” “energy efficiency,” “pollution,” “toxics,” and “public health,” Zeldin instead uses “energy dominance,” “American energy,” “economic growth,” “red tape,” and “cost of living,” the Times complained. The narrative swing is apparently part of Zeldin’s effort to oversee “a systematic unraveling of climate change protections.”

"To the Times and the rest of the true believers, the climate grifters, the gullible and useful idiots, and the revolutionaries on the left, this is a tragedy.

California’s Climate Overreach

  American Greatness  California is strangling its own energy base—then blaming oil companies for the predictable fallout of shortages, wildfires, and policies built on ideology instead of economics.

"Even if the most dire climate scenarios are accurate, and humanity must transition away from fossil fuel, it can’t happen overnight. The rational approach is to first develop alternative sources of energy without precipitously destroying the industries that reliably produce oil and natural gas. Once alternatives are available at a competitive price and in sufficient quantities, demand naturally migrates to the alternatives. Meanwhile, the oil and gas industry, recognizing that their core business is to provide energy, actually stays healthy by also investing in the transition.':None of that is happening in California. The approach the state’s politicians have chosen is irrational and predatory. For more than twenty years, they have legislated and litigated the state’s oil and gas companies down to a fraction of their former size, making up most of the resulting energy shortage not with alternative energy, but with imports.

"A recent and particularly brazen case of this ongoing harassment comes in the form of Senate Bill 982, something that only last week came perilously close to moving to a floor vote. Under the moral masquerade of requiring restitution for allegedly causing climate change, which in turn allegedly caused wildfires, what this bill really amounted to was a state-sponsored shakedown. SB 982 is a vivid example of how California’s legislature is determined to cannibalize and ultimately destroy entire industries in order to pay for disasters of their own making.

"SB 982 would impose liability on fossil fuel companies for “climate-attributable damages,” expected to be assessed in billions of dollars. It would empower California’s attorney general to sue the state’s oil companies without even needing to prove fault, negligence, or specific causation by an individual company.

"This bill is not only legalized extortion, but also a total disregard for economic reality. Combustible fuels remain the primary engine of civilization, and they’re not going anywhere for at least the next several decades. Despite this unavoidable fact, California’s in-state oil industry is already on the verge of implosion. The results are easily quantifiable." . . .More...

Climate: For decades celebrities said we had one decade to live. But nowwwww...um

That was then:

Before Al Gore there was this: In 1975, Newsweek Predicted A New Ice Age. We’re Still Living with the Consequences.

Then later... Al Gore says the doomsday predictions from climate scientists 20 years ago "were proven dead right," so we should take them even more seriously now.

He says it's "inevitable that we're going to see Greenland go and the west Antarctic ice sheet go."
Reminder, in 2006, Gore… pic.twitter.com/W042RpBeUA

— Breitbart News (@BreitbartNews) March 27, 2026

 What Did Al Gore Say About Climate Change?  

One of Gore’s most significant contributions to the climate change conversation was his documentary “An Inconvenient Truth,” released in 2006. Through this film, he showcased the undeniable evidence of global warming, presenting scientific data, personal anecdotes, and compelling visuals that illustrated the stark realities of a changing planet.   

More from the same source: 

The Environmental Impact of the Fashion Industry

The Environmental Impact of the Wedding Industry

The Hidden Costs of the Green: Understanding the Environmental Impact of Golf -

Green Thumbs, Hidden Costs: The Environmental Impact of Gardening

Al Gore’s ‘Inconvenient Truth’ turns 20, and critics say biggest disaster is its failed predictions 

 "Since Gore’s film was released – which was given a sequel in 2017 – Gore has continued to make false predictions, the meteorologist said. In 2009, Gore stated that the Arctic would be ice-free in summer within five to seven years. As of today, the Arctic still has ice in summer."

2019: Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Warns, ‘World Is Going to End in 12 Years,’ Reiterating Claims of Recent U.N. Climate Change Report   

"Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the Democrat from New York, called climate change "our World War II" and warned that the world will end in 12 years if we don't address global warming on Monday."

The human cost of global warming is hard to quantify.

. . . "Thousands of lives per year could be lost as the elderly or ill suffer from heat stroke and other heat-related trauma. Poor and underdeveloped nations would suffer the worst effects, since they would not have the financial resources to deal with the problems that come with an increase in temperature. Huge numbers of people could die from starvation if a decrease in precipitation limits crop growth and from disease if coastal flooding leads to widespread water-borne illness." . . .

Do we really only have ten years to save the planet? 

"The trouble is, we’re already at 1.1°C above this baseline. Without urgent action we’ll pass 1.5°C in around 20 years. This would have catastrophic impacts for our planet, such as more extreme weather, loss of habitats and the species living within them, which could threaten our food and water supplies. Preventing this requires much more action, and this needs to happen right now."

But this is now!   Al Gore Warns 'The Day After Tomorrow' Ice Age Could Happen in 25 Years, 10 Years After 'Inconvenient Truth' Prophecies Failed

 In response to this doomsday warning, Whitford sets a more drastic timeline — that if Gore’s energy policies are not enacted, “we’re in an ice age in, like, 10 years.” However, Gore punts the prophecy’s deadline much farther into the future, dodging any chance of accountability."

A "Mini-Ice Age" Could Hit Earth By 2030, Scientists Warn

Will there be an Ice Age in another 15 years? - Climate Fact Checks

Most sources guess in 10000 years; not likely a consensus, but probably one guess metastasizing into many copies. TD

"Even electricity is leaving blues states"

 Don Surber  

"The only fix is the elimination of the law, which won’t happen because Democrats won and Republicans are too chicken to demand a rematch."

"New York state’s tax policy is exiling millionaires to Florida. California’s craziness is banishing billionaires.

"But Illinois has them beat with its climate change laws that are forcing two-thirds of an electric plant in Elwood to take the advice of Suzy Bogguss and drive South with the one they love.

"Reddy Kilowatt packed its power plant and headed for Texas, which welcomes gas-powered electric plants. The company that owns two-thirds of that plant is hauling away the equipment that will generate 900 megawatts of power for Texans.

"This is the reaction to the 2021 Climate & Equitable Jobs Act, which the Chicago Tribune called “one of Gov. JB Pritzker’s signature accomplishments, requires Illinois to phase out the burning of fossil fuels for electricity by 2045 and sets an earlier 2030 deadline for closing certain gas-fired plants.”

"Elwood was among the plants that Democrat gave the arbitrary death penalty.

"One year after the governor signed the law, the Chicago Tribune proudly endorsed Pritzker’s re-election.

"Much to its surprise, the editorial board discovered the evil Elwood plant is shutting down ahead of schedule.

"On Friday, the newspaper ran an editorial, “Owner of massive Elwood Energy plant isn’t waiting for Illinois closure deadlines. They’re literally moving the plant to Texas.”

"The editorial said, “Imagine that an entire nuclear reactor were shutting down for good in northern Illinois. The move at Elwood Energy is the equivalent.”

"Democrats already are shuttering nuclear power plants." . . .More...

Recovering the Lost Art of Diplomacy

The following is adapted from a speech delivered at Hillsdale College on October 21, 2025, sponsored by Hillsdale’s Center for Military History and Strategy.

Imprimis 

 "The Trump administration has also had success resolving a number of seemingly intractable regional conflicts, including Azerbaijan–Armenia, India–Pakistan, Egypt–Ethiopia, Thailand–Cambodia, and Rwanda–DRC. And Secretary of State Rubio’s reforms are refocusing the State Department on its core mission. We are on the right track, and it is important that we stay on it." 

"Diplomacy is an instrument of strategy that great powers use to survive and gain an advantage in competition with other powerful states. Excellence in diplomacy is a vital prerequisite to the success and endurance of great powers. Diplomatic skills atrophied in the United States after the end of the Cold War, as we came to rely on military technology and economic sanctions as the main tools of our foreign policy. But now we are entering a dangerous age in which great powers are competing for the things they have competed over from the beginning of time: territory, resources, influence, and prestige. In this setting, the United States will need to recover the lost art of diplomacy.

"First, let me clarify that by diplomacy, I don’t mean John Kerry landing in Davos, Switzerland to give a lecture to the world’s political and business leaders about climate change. I mean the use of negotiations to reconcile conflicting interests on matters of war and peace. Diplomacy is an art and is best defined by its outcomes rather than by its processes. The most consequential outcome by far is the constraint of the power of one’s adversaries—in other words, setting limits to the hostile accumulation of power. Powerful states are naturally constrained by all kinds of things, such as geography, fearful neighbors, and limitations of military technology. Diplomacy works to maximize these constraints in order to restrict an aggressive opponent’s options for conquest. Of all forms of diplomacy between great powers, the most important concerns itself with limiting, avoiding, or preparing for war.

"I should also define what I mean by strategy: it is the matching of national means, in the form of military and economic resources, to national ends, in the form of foreign threats and opportunities. Danger arises when gaps emerge between the means at a nation’s disposal and the ends to which those means must be applied. Diplomacy is critical when a state faces enemies too numerous or powerful to be deterred or defeated by military means alone. Diplomacy’s role in strategy is to increase the external means at the nation’s disposal by building coalitions and to reduce the threats arrayed against it through détente. Effective diplomacy permits states to avoid tests of strength that are beyond their ability to bear.

"There are two erroneous conceptions of diplomacy that have become entrenched in the modern mind, one mostly on the left and the other mostly on the right. The main error on the left is thinking that diplomacy’s purpose is to build rule-making institutions that transcend nation-states and that will eventually expunge war from the human experience. A historical example of this is seen in the policies of President Woodrow Wilson after the First World War, as in his promotion of a League of Nations. This way of thinking persists today in the liberal institutionalism of those who advocate for a rules-based international order." . . .

Recovering the Lost Art of Diplomacy

"The following is adapted from a speech delivered at Hillsdale College on October 21, 2025, sponsored by Hillsdale’s Center for Military History and Strategy."

 Imprimis  

 In recent years, the U.S. State Department has taken on a dizzying array of goals detached from the national interest. These range from fighting climate change to advancing identity politics and advocating for an assortment of supposed global “rights” untethered from the U.S. Constitution.

"Diplomacy is an instrument of strategy that great powers use to survive and gain an advantage in competition with other powerful states. Excellence in diplomacy is a vital prerequisite to the success and endurance of great powers. Diplomatic skills atrophied in the United States after the end of the Cold War, as we came to rely on military technology and economic sanctions as the main tools of our foreign policy. But now we are entering a dangerous age in which great powers are competing for the things they have competed over from the beginning of time: territory, resources, influence, and prestige. In this setting, the United States will need to recover the lost art of diplomacy.

"First, let me clarify that by diplomacy, I don’t mean John Kerry landing in Davos, Switzerland to give a lecture to the world’s political and business leaders about climate change. I mean the use of negotiations to reconcile conflicting interests on matters of war and peace. Diplomacy is an art and is best defined by its outcomes rather than by its processes. The most consequential outcome by far is the constraint of the power of one’s adversaries—in other words, setting limits to the hostile accumulation of power. Powerful states are naturally constrained by all kinds of things, such as geography, fearful neighbors, and limitations of military technology. Diplomacy works to maximize these constraints in order to restrict an aggressive opponent’s options for conquest. Of all forms of diplomacy between great powers, the most important concerns itself with limiting, avoiding, or preparing for war.

"I should also define what I mean by strategy: it is the matching of national means, in the form of military and economic resources, to national ends, in the form of foreign threats and opportunities. Danger arises when gaps emerge between the means at a nation’s disposal and the ends to which those means must be applied. Diplomacy is critical when a state faces enemies too numerous or powerful to be deterred or defeated by military means alone. Diplomacy’s role in strategy is to increase the external means at the nation’s disposal by building coalitions and to reduce the threats arrayed against it through détente. Effective diplomacy permits states to avoid tests of strength that are beyond their ability to bear.

"There are two erroneous conceptions of diplomacy that have become entrenched in the modern mind" . . . More...

A. Wess Mitchell is a principal and co-founder at The Marathon Initiative, a grand strategy think tank. From 2017 to 2019, he served as Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs. He received a B.A. from Texas Tech University, an M.A. from Georgetown University, and a D.Phil. from the Otto Suhr Institut für Politikwissenschaft at Freie Universität in Berlin. A recipient of a Stanton Foundation prize for writing in applied history, he is the author or co-author of several books . . .

Are EVs The Biggest Boondoggle In Human History?

Issues & Insights  

"That’s especially true of automakers who, rather than standing up for their consumers, eagerly bent the knee to the Climate Industrial Complex."

"When Stellantis last week announced it was writing down $26 billion, the CEO of the car company that now owns Chrysler, Antonio Filosa, said it was “part of a decisive process we started in 2025 to once again make our customers and their preferences our guiding star.”

"Which begs the question: What was Stellantis’ guiding star before if not its own customers?

For that matter, who or what has been guiding General Motors (which announced a $7.6 billion writedown last month), Ford ($19.5 billion), and other automakers that’ve written down a total of $140 billion in just the past three years?

"Anyone who has followed the auto industry over the past decade knows the answer. All of these losses are the result of automakers chasing the phantom known as “zero emission” cars.

"Remember that until just recently, we were treated to a constant barrage of stories about how EV sales were skyrocketing, and car companies were winning plaudits for going green.

"Just five years ago, GM promised to go all-electric by 2035, and just two years ago, its chief executive, Mary Barra, said “we believe in an all-electric future.” Honda, Volvo, Ford, and others laid out plans to be 100% “zero emission” within two decades.

"It was all supported by Big Environment, which brayed that EVs were the only way to save the planet from “climate change.”

"But none of it worked out as planned.

"And keep in mind that the $140 billion in combined auto industry losses is just the tip of the iceberg. Those are just the costs incurred by shareholders and employees of these companies.

"Taxpayers have forked over hundreds of billions in federal and state tax dollars in subsidies that were designed to “kick start” the EV car market. They paid thousands toward the cost of each EV sold. They paid companies to build battery factories. They paid for charging stations." . . .   More...