Fly Fishing Beaver Creek & Countering Communism for Kids
Plus, why I'm stoked about nuclear energy's renaissance in the U.S.
Good morning,
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This Week in Review:
Fly Fishing Beaver Creek
On Columbus Day, I drove 2.5 hours to Virginia’s Shenandoah Valley to do a media excursion with Cool Water Outfitters. Founder Tim Freeman, whom I connected with at the Virginia Fly Fishing and Wine Festival, guided me and we were joined by his colleague, Jay, and our mutual friend and festival director Beau Beasley.
Experiences range from fishing a four mile spring creek in Beaver Creek near Harrisonburg, Va to the “East Coast’s only Western-style, backcountry fishing expedition in the beautiful Monongahela National Forest of West Virginia.” And more opportunities in between. Tim just opened up Cool Water Ranch bookings for fly fishing, catch-and-release experiences.
You’ll hear more about Tim’s story and be sold on fishing with Cool Water Outfitters today on District of Conservation.
Countering Communism for Kids
In my Townhall VIP column out today, I skewer a “communism for kids” article printed in The Conversation that sanitizes communism and ignores its deadly reality. An excerpt:
I was scanning Twitter recently and saw conservative commentator John Cardillo tweet about a local Florida publication that physically printed a glowing profile of communism. It wasn’t your typical whitewashing of communism, mind you. It was a column geared towards kids.
I hunted down the digital column and traced it back to The Conversation- a self-described nonprofit with the motto “academic rigor, journalistic flair.” The Conversation’s U.S. division printed the disturbing piece entitled What is a communist, and what do communists believe?, as part of their Curious Kids series inspired by a question from a 10-year-old. The piece was written by Michigan State University Associate Professor of History Amanda Smith. Nowhere in her piece did she mention the horrors inflicted by communist regimes.
Supercharging Nuclear Energy
I spoke to Just the News reporter, Kevin Killough, about the excitement building for nuclear energy’s renaissance in America.
Gabriella Hoffman, director of the Center for Energy and Conservation at Independent Women’s Forum, told Just the News that the opposition will be operating in a different environment now. The “legacy environmental groups,” she said, drove up fears of climate change and promised wind and solar would be the solution. As people become more aware of the problems with wind and solar, nuclear is gaining favor as the more effective solution.
“If you're looking for a clean energy source that's reliable, least land intensive, that's going to produce electricity that's reliable, almost 24/7 with a capacity factor of 93%, nuclear is the best way to go,” Hoffman said.
As I told Kevin, for this technology to flourish it must be unburdened by red tape, not bogged down by government subsidies, and be unyoked from net-zero.
Hoffman with the Independent Women’s Forum said the nuclear industry is more likely to be impeded by federal funding and net zero goals than it is by activists — or perhaps it might help them. She said tying the growth of nuclear to net-zero interests ignores the potential for nuclear to produce energy abundance.
“I feel like it would stifle nuclear’s potential, if it's only brought back because of that, and not because of private investment,” Hoffman said. Hoffman also said that a challenge to maintaining and growing nuclear support will be reaching women. The Pew survey showed that men remain far more likely than women to support nuclear energy — 70% to 44%.
Hoffman said that could change if proponents focused on how energy abundance drives down the cost of everything, including groceries and utility bills. “I think women will come around to nuclear too eventually, if they're kind of marketed in a smart way,” Hoffman said.
From District of Conservation Podcast
We've officially hit 400 episodes and have entered Season 7 of the program. There will be several District of Conservation episodes this week. Here's what you missed.
Catch up on episodes below:
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Happy trails and tight lines, everyone!
Kind regards,
Gabriella Hoffman
Award-Winning Writer, Journalist, & Policy Analyst