Sunday Smiles

David Strom 2:00 PM | June 28, 2026
Grok David Strom

There are innumerable differences between the United States and Europe, but one of the most telling, because it strikes so close to home, is that air conditioning is not just "unpopular" in European countries but can get you into genuine trouble with the government. 

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Having not traveled extensively in Europe, I haven't much of a personal opinion on the matter, but in the midst of a periodic heat wave it has become clear that the relative lack of air conditioning isn't due to preference alone, but something much more sinister: wanting to have and use air conditioners is actively punished by European governments. 

France. It's hot. People would like air conditioning. Monique Barbut, the environment minister in the Lecornu government, says she's horrified by these requests because no one is thinking about climate change. Her ministry has air conditioning.

I thought the differences between the two continents were a quirk, but it turns out that this is entirely false. A whole lot of Europeans actually WANT to have air conditioners, but in many countries, you actually need permits which get denied routinely, and it gets even worse than that. 

Net Zero policies have been so baked into government policies that even the most obvious uses for A/C, such as surgical recovery ICUs, are not using cooled air. Patients are literally dying due to lack of air conditioning, and that choice was intentional on the part of the government. 

This is, objectively speaking, as a human being who lives in a First World country, insane. 

I take that back. It is sane, if you believe, as government officials do, that the hoi polloi are a disposable resource. The technocratic aristocracy subordinates the individual to the collective, and if you can't take the heat, you really ought to have the decency to die already. 

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In the pyramid of power, only those at the top rate anything good. Even the lower technocrats must suffer in order to save Gaia, while the Party Apparatchiks contemplate weighty matters in blissful comfort. 

Do they call each other "Comrade?"

As Europeans swelter in a heat wave—which does come regularly, if not predictably every year—governments crack down on illicit air conditioners. 

Comrade, are you not loyal to the Party? The Lives of Others was an instruction manual, or Part II for 1984.

Vast swathes of America—places to which Americans are moving in droves—have much harsher climates than Europe. But few Americans die of heat exposure. 

Europe, which has, in most respects, much milder climates, regularly suffers far more heat-related deaths than we do here. I grew up in Arizona, where we would call this "devastating" European heat wave "Summer." The people who die from heat exposure were generally out hiking without enough water. 

One of the interesting things I noticed about the "Europeans discover America rocks" videos was the occasional "I Love A/C" posts, where Euros discover that air conditioning really does make a huge difference to their lives. 

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Well, duh. How on Earth did you not know that? Except...we all know how. They are constantly propagandized, just as they are about everything else. 

And the Nanny State creates a cadre of willing informers, who will rat their neighbors out, as happened here in Minnesota and other states that created COVID snitch lines, to report people who violated mask or stay-at-home orders. 

Propaganda creates zealots, and zealots love to punish others to bolster their own sense of virtue. 

After watching all the videos of Europeans whose eyes were opened by visiting the United States during the World Cup, I almost think we should establish cultural exchange programs to expose oppressed Europeans to what life here is really like. We did that with the Soviets, I seem to recall. 

It might help us start a freedom revolution in our erstwhile allies. 

Lee Kuan Yew: 

“Air conditioning was a most important invention for us, perhaps one of the signal inventions of history. It changed the nature of civilization by making development possible in the tropics. Without air conditioning you can work only in the cool early-morning hours or at dusk. The first thing I did upon becoming prime minister was to install air conditioners in buildings where the civil service worked. This was key to public efficiency."

At the end of the visit, we can have a field trip to Buc-ees. 

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The official advice of the German government's Federal Environmental Ministry, here conveyed by the state broadcaster, is that portable air-conditioning units are "not effective" because they vent hot air outside, causing a pressure drop which brings air into the room, making the room overall hotter.

Here we see the midwit condescension of the European managerial elite in its purest form. First of all, this is all disingenuous. The environment ministry knows full-well that air-conditioners work, they just don't want people using them because it would strain the German electricity infrastructure -- which the environment ministry itself has done a good deal to weaken.



















































BEST OF THE BABYLON BEE:


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BEST OF THE REST...


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Daycare calls me. That's never good. 

For them. 

Daycare: "your son hurt his elbow and won't move his arm. Can you come take him to a doctor's office?"

Me (ex Special Forces Medic): "A real doctor is on the way to you now. I am 6 mikes out. Alert me of status changes."

I arrive at daycare. I locate the patient. 21 month old male. Scene is not safe. I drag the patient to cover and concealment behind a seesaw, away from the other small terrorists in the AO. 

I begin my assessment. Blood sweep negative for massive hemorrhage. Mental status: conscious and verbal but confused (answers "dada" when asked for blood type). One breath every 2 seconds. Bilateral rise and fall of the chest. Strong carotid pulse, strong bilat radial pulse. 

Teeth and tongue intact no blood no mucus no dip or foreign objects. Eyes PERRLA, negative JVD/trach deviation, C-spine intact upon palpation. 

Heart sounds strong upon auscultation. Percussion negative for hemo-T. Abdominal quads normal upon palpation. Pelvis negative for book sign. 

Arms and legs negative for crepitus. However, Patient indicates discomfort in right arm upon palpation and supination/flexion of the elbow. 

Nursemaid's elbow. 

I begin interventions. Supination/flexion technique complete at 1215. Palpable clunk on successful reduction. I write the time on his chest in Sharpie. I tape a popsicle to his hand and tell the patient to suck but do not bite/chew. I write "1 x popsicle (10g sugar)" on his chest in Sharpie.

I reassess the patient after performing interventions then package the patient for handoff to daycare/higher level of care. I yell at daycare over the Blackhawk in my head: "21 month old male!!! Nursemaids elbow!!! Treated with supination/flexion technique at 1215!!! Patient has 1 x popsicle onboard!!"

Daycare: "sir please leave."

Me: "you should have called my wife."

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AND FINALLY...


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