A Thought That Has Little Meaning Today
What Kennedy said here was wonderful, yet how far from today’s political discourse it is.
Tagged with: sustainability
Creating a Wealthy Society Requires an Understanding of Economics and History
The meme here from a reader.
These really are five excellent sentences–for people who have no understanding of how the developed world became developed, and how the United States became the world’s super-power following the close of the Second World War.
High marginal tax rates on the wealthiest Americans and the corporations they control created a huge, well-educated, extremely productive and prosperous middle class.
Most of that is gone now. 40+ years of trickle-down economics has left the billionaire class with unprecedented wealth, and most common Americans living paycheck to paycheck.
This disease is almost entirely absent in the rest of the First World. It has virtually no bearing on how people live in Europe, Scandinavia, Japan, Oceana, and the other most affluent countries dotted around the remainder of the globe.
Blending Thanksgiving with U.S. Politics
Another clever reference to the ultimate disposition of Donald Trump.
As readers know, I’m with Snoopy on this one.
Tagged with: disposition of Donald Trump
Joe Biden and Gas Prices
A couple of points to be made in response to the meme:
The major component of gas prices is the cost of crude on the world commodity markets, and U.S. presidents have a negligible effect on that.
The people who blame Joe Biden for inflation do so by virtue of the propaganda they receive from their “news” sources. If you think Fox News is going to say anything whatsoever good about Biden, you’ve obviously never tuned into this garbage. It may be worthwhile, if only to provide you first-hand experience.
Tagged with: gas prices
Did Fauci Set Up His Criminal Enterprise in the 1970s?
Yes, the right-wing narrative on Anthony Fauci does seem a bit odd, but these folks are not backing down.
Fox News points out that Fauci has made a great deal of money over the years he’s been an advisor on COVID-19. Is it true? Even if it is, does that make him a criminal? Regardless, they and their followers demand to see him in prison.
Tagged with: Fauci Criminal Enterprise
Profiting from Catastrophe
The cartoon here reminds me of a similar one, in which a senior corporate executive is looking out a conference room window and sees flames everywhere. He tells the others at the meeting, “We have to monetize this. And soon.”
Tagged with: Profiting from Catastrophe
From the Los Angeles Times: U.S. Revises ‘Plant Hardiness’ Map for Gardeners to Keep Pace with Climate Change
The Here’s another reminder of the fact that not all the effects of global warming are harmful, and longer growing seasons in higher latitudes is among them.
Tagged with: Keep Pace with Climate Change
Wind Harvest
If you’ve ever wondered how the physicists who have been studying how to extract the most energy out of the wind for the last three hundred years, whose work has been greatly accelerated in the last few decades, these people claim to have a shocking answer.
Of course, you have to believe that all previous and present-day scientists are total fools.
If that’s your take, by all means, jump on in!
Tagged with: Wind Energy
Whenever We See an Artist’s Rendering, Rather than a Photograph of a Working Prototype, We Need to Wonder
This artist’s rendering at left suggests a device that its proponents say will, one day, capture CO2 from the Earth’s atmosphere, and mitigate the growing threat of climate change. But let’s think about this for a moment.
The concentration of CO2 in our atmosphere is fairly consistent from the planet’s surface up to about 60 miles in elevation.
Given that the radius of the Earth is ~4000 miles, and that the volume of a sphere is 4/3 πr3, this means the volume of this section of our atmosphere is 4/3 π 40603 – 4/3 π 40003 = 11.7 trillion cubic miles.
How many of these devices will be required to make a significant dent in the overall CO2 concentration, given that they need to process almost 12 trillion cubic miles of our atmosphere? What’s the cost per each one? How will they be powered, given that our grid-mix is largely fossil fuels? Won’t this only make matters worse?
This is a sad joke, but even sadder, it’s not the only one out there.
Tagged with: capture CO2 Earth's atmosphere
Newly Elected Argentine President Will Push Right-Wing Agenda
I’m sorry to report that “the Donald Trump of Argentina” Javier Milei has won his country’s presidential election.
Milei has all the earmarks of the world’s rising numbers of extreme right-wing leaders. He believes that climate change is a hoax perpetrated by Marxists and that gun laws increase crime levels.
From CNN: Milei, a social conservative with ties to the American right, opposes abortion rights and has called climate change a “lie of socialism.” He has promised to slash government spending by closing Argentina’s ministries of culture, education, and diversity, and by eliminating public subsidies.
The first person to call to congratulate him? Donald Trump himself.
Tagged with: Right-Wing Agenda
