Last week gave us one more indicator that the United States should think twice about rushing into electric vehicles (EVs).
While Harvard’s president was defending her plagiarism and anti-Semitism, and Maine’s secretary of state declared that a former president had no right to appear on her state’s ballot, merchant seamen were in a life-and-death struggle in the Pacific Ocean.
The cargo vessel Genius Star XI was steaming from Vietnam to San Diego when its cargo of EV lithium-ion batteries burst into flames.
The crew pumped carbon dioxide into the hold before sealing it up, but it continued to burn. Everyone feared an explosion.
The crew alerted the U.S. Coast Guard, who diverted the ship to Dutch Harbor, a busy Alaskan island fishing port.
When it arrived, the batteries continued to burn, emitting toxic gases, and the vessel was ordered to anchor two miles offshore.
This isn’t the first time something like this has happened.
Five months earlier another cargo vessel was transporting more than 3,500 vehicles through the North Sea, nearly 500 of which were EVs.
While off the Netherlands, a "fire started in the battery of an electric car,” according to a crewman.
One crew member was killed in the blaze.
After their unsuccessful attempts to control the inferno, all 23 crew members were removed by boat and helicopter, some suffering from burns, broken bones and respiratory issues.
After a week the ship’s cargo burned itself out and it was towed into the northern Dutch port of Eemshaven to begin salvaging what they could.
And individual EVs have apparently combusted spontaneously, often while they’re parked, setting adjacently parked vehicles on fire as well. And other EV fires occur as the result of an accident.
And once they catch on fire they’re difficult to control.
Firefighters in Alabama reportedly required more than 36,000 gallons of water to extinguish a Tesla fire on Christmas.
"Electric vehicle fires are unusual and present unique challenges and dangers to firefighters," the Pine Level, Alabama Fire Department said on Facebook, and added another danger EV fires pose.
"These vehicles can reignite hours or days after they are first extinguished."
And the 36,000 gallons of water isn’t unusual. In Franklin, Tennessee, firefighters needed 45,000 gallons of water, over the course of several hours, to control a burning Nissan Leaf EV that caught fire while being recharged.
Consumers are taking note.
Despite the huge federal subsidies that EVs enjoy, American car buyers are turning to traditional gasoline and diesel powered cars, and "electric cars and trucks are piling up on dealer lots," The Wall Street Journal reported.
As a result, nearly 4,000 auto dealerships signed a letter urging President Biden to "slow down" on his push for electric vehicles.
Even the auto workers, those on the line, are turned off by EVs.
They don’t want to build them, they don’t want to drive them, they don’t want to work on them: "We’ve got a lot of people that are frustrated, just with all of them," said Aaron Westaway, Union of Auto Workers Local 900 bargaining representative.
CNN asked Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg to respond to the union’s concerns over Biden's forced "transition" to electric vehicles.
"These cars are going electric with or without us," he said.
When the Democratic Party doesn’t have the UAW, they’ve already lost.
In the first year of his administration, Biden signed an order setting a goal that half of all new vehicles would be electric by the year 2030. Nothing since then has detracted him from reaching that goal.
At the moment the administration is heavily subsidizing EVs to get people to drive them, prompting a question from Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., at a budget hearing last May: "If electric cars are so swell, how come government has to pay people to drive them?"
Forcing the government’s will upon the people is not what America is all about, especially given that they’re often wrong.
Investigative journalist Sharyl Attkisson revealed this week that a soon-to-be-released CDC report will acknowledge that people who received flu and COVID-19 vaccines may have done worse than those who were unvaccinated.
Freedom of choice is the essence of a democratic society, and every time politicians try to ram a candidate, an idea, or a product down our throats, there’s probably something wrong with it.
And if that product is an EV, it may end up in smoke.
Michael Dorstewitz is a retired lawyer and has been a frequent contributor to Newsmax. He is also a former U.S. Merchant Marine officer and an enthusiastic Second Amendment supporter. Read Michael Dorstewitz's Reports — More Here.