Duke Energy announced it would award over $1 million in grants to improve natural areas in the Carolinas. That should warm you heart as you dial down the thermostat this winter. Why am I whining on a public policy web site about all those landlords who keep the premises frigid during the winter? Because Duke is giving angry, vocal environmentalist opponents hush money, much like a mommy shoves a candy bar in the face of a temperamental baby, so the environmentalists’ lawyers and lobbyists will ease their grips. And they do that because our social welfare state that governs by privilege keeps getting more and more illiberal.