Alexander Vindman entered the American consciousness when he blew the whistle on Trump for extorting Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskye; Trump sought to offer military assistance in fighting the Russian invaders in exchange for Zelenskye’s willingness to dig up dirt on Hunter Biden.
At left we see Vindman’s summary of the difference between the two U.S. presidential candidates.
Here’s a short video that a reader sent me in which Neil deGrasse Tyson explains the importance of pure research, i.e., theoretical scientific research, normally in physics, performed without an eye towards the development of anything of purpose.
He pointed out that one of Einstein’s equations laid the groundwork for the laser, which eventually became the technology by which we scan our UPC codes when we buy our consumer products, although Einstein (obviously) wasn’t contemplating that at the time.
It’s an interesting topic, to be sure. In 2011, I interviewed Dr. Martin Perl, an aging genius who, at the time, was running the Stanford Linear Accelerator, after having won the Nobel Prize in physics for discovering an elementary particle, the tau lepton.
I happened to ask him about the practical application of his life’s work, and he told me flatly, “There is none.”
I was stunned, and I immediately began to stammer to correct my mistake, ” Oh, let me ask this a different way. Isn’t there a chance that something you and your graduate students are doing could eventually have some sort of practical implication?” He replied, again to my astonishment, “Not one in a million.”
Hey, I’m not a particle physicist, so I’m not in a position to argue, but it does seem a bit weird that what we’re learning about the core components of the universe couldn’t possibly have some future application in our lives.
Every American should be terrified of what’s happening within the U.S. Supreme Court–in particular with the presidential immunity case, in which our nation has been refashioned into a monarchy.
Someone asked me the other day what level of progress we’re making in phasing out fossil fuels in favor of renewable energy. My response to this question hasn’t changed much in the 15 years I’ve been studying this subject: as shown in the graph here, we’re definitely making progress in terms of decarbonizing the grid and the light-duty transportation sector.
A more important question is this: If this trend is extrapolated, and eventually takes on the more difficult-to-address sectors, e.g., commercial aviation and ocean-going cargo freight, will this be sufficient to avert the worst consequences of climate change?
The answer is that no-one knows. Personally, I doubt it, in the absence of some major technological breakthrough.
Our civilization consists of 200+ sovereign nation-states, that have shown essentially zero interest in coming together to address this existential threat.
I’m sure I’m not the only one who feels this way at the start of each football season. The planet is on fire, and Americans everywhere are huddled around their huge TV screens watching the Packers take on the Rams.
No offence to the author of the meme, but your “experience” has nothing to do with the issue at hand. The subject matter here is true by definition.
Conservatives want small government, low taxes, and the dominance of the white race, because all this enables them to retain as much of their wealth as possible. Since they have no interest in anyone or anything else, this really says nothing more about the right and left than one could find in a dictionary.
I’m reminded of what the late multibillionaire Charles Koch said in an interview when asked about taxation and what he thought was fair. His reply: “I get to keep my money.”
Of course. What a thoughtful and useful response. You benefit from your country’s infrastructure, law enforcement and justice system, disease control, military defense apparatus, air traffic control, and 40+ other governmental systems that all increase your level of health, safety, and convenience, but “you get to keep your money?”
You apparently have failed to notice that you live in a society, one that requires you to think beyond your own greed and selfishness.
Note that there is nothing about this guy, his car, or his sign that associates him directly with a certain presidential candidate. But is there really any doubt?
Trump says he likes the uneducated, and it’s pretty clear why. There are a lot of them, and their viewpoints are a piece of cake to manipulate.
I don’t know how readers play the New York Times daily games like Wordle, but the meme here reminds me of a clue from yesterday’s “The Mini” (crossword). The clue was “PR concern” and the answer was “image.”
Does this promote a good image of Trump and his support base? Does the lady portray anything but stupidity and insanity?
As suggested here, Trump’s assertion that he has no knowledge of Project 2025 is a lie, but so is essentially everything else he says.
It’s remarkable that anyone still believes anything that comes out of his mouth.
2GreenEnergy supporter Gary Tulie in Buckinghamshire, England sent me this report on the relationship between healthcare spending and life expectancy among countries in the developed world. He writes:
Hi Craig,
I thought you would find this interesting.
Many Americans are horrified at the idea of “socialised medicine” but look at the results. Pretty much all the countries on the list have some form of universal healthcare paid for either by taxes or by compulsory universal insurance cover with average costs around half those in the U.S. and average life expectancies nearly 5 years longer!
Yes, there is no doubt that we have both higher healthcare costs and worse outcomes than the rest of the wealthiest nations. I’m sure there are dozens if not hundreds of groups trying to understand the correlation here.
In addition to the horrible fact that we have people dying of treatable diseases because they can’t afford healthcare, I would bet it’s a function of deregulated corporations’ impact on our lives, in terms of food/nutrition, toxic waste, etc.
It all comes down to something that permeates our lives here: we care very little about the wellbeing of others.
Ask yourself how well Donald Trump would fare if he were running to become Prime Minister of England (or the president of France). He’d be a laugh.
