'There will be a market incentive to build wind and solar anyway'

'The real risk to the electric grid'

The Wall Street Journal editorial board

The "U.S. electrical grid is in trouble," says The Wall Street Journal editorial board. The Inflation Reduction Act "turbocharged subsidies for wind and solar in ways that are distorting energy investment." The "renewable lobby claims that new gas plants can't be built in time to meet rising power demand." But "if what they say is true, why do wind and solar need subsidies?" The "best way to make the grid reliable again is to let supply and demand work."

Read more

The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

'The right tech could have saved dozens in the Texas floods. My industry needs to step up.'

Theresa Payton at Newsweek

Hearts are "breaking all over America and the world as the devastating stories from Texas continue to take shape," says Theresa Payton. We have the "technology right now, today, to issue earlier warnings of freak weather events, identify areas at greatest risk, and save as many lives as possible when the worst does happen." AI "can be used to map flood-prone areas with precision, and model flood, fire, and storm risks for every county in America."

Read more

'What the culture war over Superman gets wrong'

Noel Ransome at The Guardian

We've "entered the era of the superhero movie as sermon," says Noel Ransome. This "particular episode of American Fragility kicked off because James Gunn had the audacity to call Superman 'the story of America.'" An "immigrant, by definition, as he was always meant to be." For "all the hand-wringing over Superman's alienness, what rarely gets named is how meticulously his story was crafted to cushion the unease of the topic at hand: otherness itself."

Read more

'Found! A U.S. government service that really works.'

Michael Hiltzik at the Los Angeles Times

It "would be a shock to find a government function that, you know, actually works," says Michael Hiltzik. But the "State Department launched its online passport renewal portal," and "if you can think of another government service that can perform its task in two weeks from application to consummation, let me know." This is a "service that really works." Let's "hope that it lasts, and that the determined effort that brought it about can work the same magic" elsewhere.

Read more