If I were to ask 100 high school kids about what they know about solar PV and about this “breakthrough,” many of them would say, “Look, a photon either hits the array and dislodges an electron, or it passed through and lights up whatever’s on the other side. It can’t do both.”
Now, these folks are targeting investors who lack this basic understanding.
But, in today’s world of stupidity and criminality, anything’s possible.
Perhaps a more fair rewrite to the question at left would be: “Why do the most powerful people in the United States strip resources from the most downtrodden?”
Of course, extreme greed and cruelty isn’t limited to the U.S., though we have most certainly taken it out of the hands of the amateurs.
But why? How? It’s an interesting question. Partial answers include our:
Involvement with slavery that persisted well past the point that the rest of the developed world had abolished it.
Vitriolic reaction to immigrants through the last 150 years., e.g., Asians, Irish, and Italians.
Ongoing white nationalism that has only skyrocketed since the recent dawn of Trumpism.
Present-day decline in educational standards, such that now, only a slim minority of Americans are capable of thinking for themselves.
To the reader who sent me this meme, my answer: It depends on how we define “qualified.”
Every single one of these people is uniquely qualified to do precisely what Trump appointed him/her to do: make the president wealthier and more powerful–without any regard whatsoever as to the devastating impact on the economic or moral health of our nation.
Of course, that means something different in each case:
• Destroying public education, making the electorate less capable of critical thinking with each passing year
• Rejecting science as the core of policymaking, especially in matters of the environment and human health
• Weaponizing the Justice Department against the president’s enemies
• Ending NPR, PBS, and any other news institution that could be critical of Trump and his administration
• Rewarding wealthy donors with tax breaks, paid for, in part, by killing public services that formerly benefitted the common American
• Extending the life of fossil fuels as far as possible into the future by revoking support for renewables
It’s by far the most corrupt regime ever seen in U.S. history, and it’s possible that there is no turning back.
Common Dreams report: “The Trump administration will stop at nothing to rip coverage away from American families, even kids they claim they want to protect.”
One might think that the welfare of America’s children would be of at least some importance politically, and the party that claims to be “pro-life” would have one hell of a hard time kicking little kids off of Medicaid. Yet somehow, this doesn’t seem to register with Republican voters.
The world’s 200+ sovereign nations have that precise number of leaders, and it’s impossible to say how many of them are totally lucid–or completely senile–or anywhere in between. Is it possible that important decisions around the globe are being made by underlings, acting behind the scenes? Of course.
If Donald Trump is losing his mental faculties, that’s not good, but far worse is his lack of honesty and integrity, and his compulsion to act purely and only in his own personal interest, regardless of the dictates of law.
We need to accept that, in general, the people of the Deep South actually don’t care if their government isn’t helping them achieve healthier and more productive/affluent lives. As long as white people dominate their part of the world, socially and politically, they are quite happy to remain at the bottom of the rankings in terms of longevity, education, etc.
Let’s stop hoping for change from a region that wants nothing to do with it.
Admiral McRaven’s words at left focus on Trump’s effect on America and our country’s effect on the rest of the world.
All this started, of course, in 2015, when our national politics first embraced Donald Trump, a conman, pathological liar, and horrible human being. McRaven, along with hundreds of other top-ranking military commanders, recognized that this basic lack of integrity was going to act as a cancer to our nation.
In Santa Barbara County, where 2GreenEnergy “headquarters” makes its home, PBS and NPR are hardly under threat. We at “2GE” make regular monthly contributions to the local affiliates of both, and those organizations have money coming out their ears from like-minded listeners and viewers. The criminal insanity of the Trump administration could no more shut us off from quality information and entertainment than it could put out a wildfire with a squirt gun.
Now, go 30 miles inland from here, or head out into any of the other rural areas of the nation, and that cash simply doesn’t exist. That’s why it’s Americans farm country that may soon be left in an information desert.
But isn’t that exactly what Republicans want? Is there anyone stupid enough to believe that the Trump administration wants kind and well informed people in the voting booth?
Let’s imagine that the assertion at left is true–even the most extreme version. There are astrophysicists who believe that the universe in which we live that began 13.7 billion years ago is just one of an endless number of universes that come into being, expand, contract, and implode, only to give rise to the next.
However, from a practical perspective, we know for a fact that extinction is forever, and democracy, once lost, is almost impossible to win back.
That leaves us all with some serious level of responsibility.
I’m a Pennsylvanian, and I believe the answer is corn.
Looking at the question at a broader level, though, I’m sickened to say that it’s Trump supporters.
When I was growing up, Pennsylvania was decidedly a blue state. Lots of affluent, well educated people in Pittsburgh and Philadelphia, and not enough yokels in between to make a real difference. Imagine my shock and disappointment when the Keystone State went for Trump in both 2016 and 2024.
