I would say that there is a large variety of types of freedom, and that freedom itself is relative. No one is absolutely free; for instance, no one is free from eventual death.
Things that make people relatively free includes riches, health, peace of mind, wonderful interpersonal relationships, and living under a government that does not restrict speech or personal movement.
Well, obviously, it depends on how all this ends. If, for instance, the Democrats come to dominate congress as a result of the midterms and remove Trump with impeachment or the 25th Amendment, he’ll be best remembered for his treason and other crimes following his loss in the 2020 election and his mental breakdown in the second term.
But of course, there are dozens of other scenarios, including:
a) He finishes his second term and then refuses to leave office.
b) The war in Iran expands, perhaps involving other countries, nuclear weapons, or God knows what else.
c) All this sends the United States into a deep and prolonged depression.
Incompetence isn’t actually the issue with Trump.
Imagine for an instant that the president was paid $100 billion per year to run this country, and that he was given a $50 billion annual merit-based bonus if his key statistics were up that measured how well the country was doing in terms of the quality of Americans’ lives. Do you think he’d be starting useless and illegal wars that drive up consumer prices? Destroying the educational system and the environment?
Not for a millisecond.
As shown here, there are (formerly credible) people who are telling us that Trump is restoring Americans’ trust in government.
Do they truly believe this?
One of the casualties of the post-truth era is that the statements of our “leaders” no longer are required to have any basis in fact. What Jim Jordan says here is a fine example.
When he says “better” here, is he referring to runaway inflation? Trump’s purposeless and illegal war with no end in sight? His blatant corruption and criminality? His having, quite successfully, divided the American people into groups that hate each other? The enrichment of billionaires at the expense of the working class? The carefully engineered collapse of the environment so as to favor his donors in fossil fuels? The demise of the U.S. educational system?
Please be clear.
A dwindling number of hateful idiots still cling to the ideas at left.
But what was once 77 million is now approximately 45 million, and that number is falling every day, as Trump leads us deeper into corruption, economic ruin, and the revulsion of our former international allies.
Maybe we’ll see a meme like this in a month or so, when the president’s approval rating has declined into the teens, but I doubt it.
Nobody knows.
Without doubt, the damage is profound. The world has recognized that the United States is being commanded by a madman and has abandoned its place as the leader of the world.
As we look back across history, we see a certain shelf-life to democracies. It’s easy to believe that we’re in the final days of what became of ancient Greece. It’s also possible, as numerous scholars have asserted, that we’re on the precipice of the sixth extinction.
But it’s entirely possible that the pendulum may start to rebound toward the days of America’s greatness, the time of truth and fairness.
We’ll see.
As an archconservative, Sowell disagrees with me on virtually everything, though I normally can find some merit to his position.
That’s not the case here, where “multiculturalism, diversity, and gender awareness” mean acceptance and tolerance, the precise opposite of “hating each other.”
From a reader: For eight years, my neighbor flew a Trump flag under Old Glory. Last week it was gone. I have theories.
In the last 15 months, almost all Trump flags have disappeared from our town in Central California. It’s clear that a) some have defected and realized they made a terrible mistake in supporting the sociopath, and b) others still support him, but realize how stupid and mean they would look if they were to continue with their displays.
From “Science Enthusiast”
France has taken a major step in renewable energy by activating what is being hailed as the world’s first commercial-scale tidal lagoon power plant. Located along the Brittany coast south of Saint-Malo, the facility features a massive 12-kilometer curved seawall enclosing approximately 3,400 hectares of coastal waters, creating an artificial lagoon that harnesses the predictable power of Atlantic tides.
Unlike traditional tidal stream devices with rotors placed directly in open sea currents, this design keeps all generating machinery integrated within the seawall structure itself. It uses 90 bidirectional turbines embedded in the barrage. As tides rise, seawater flows into the lagoon through the turbines, spinning them to produce electricity. During ebb tides, water flows outward, generating power in both directions across the four daily tidal cycles. This setup avoids placing moving parts in the open ocean, reducing marine life disruption, corrosion, and maintenance challenges.
The plant is reported to deliver reliable, weather-independent clean energy—potentially around 270 MW—powering tens of thousands of homes. It showcases tidal range technology’s advantages: high predictability and long operational life compared to wind or solar. While building on France’s pioneering legacy with the 1966 Rance Tidal Power Station, this lagoon approach aims for lower environmental impact and greater scalability. It marks an exciting advancement in blue energy, offering a sustainable path to decarbonization by tapping into the ocean’s immense, constant power.
I hope the story above is true. If it is, it provides hope that at least one flavor of hydrokinetics (tidal) still remains potentially feasible.
What seemed to have killed hydrokinetics isn’t that it’s theoretically impossible; rather, that its levelized cost of energy (LCOE), largely due to high maintenance costs, couldn’t compete with solar and wind as their LCOE plummeted over the past decade.
