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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Politics

AUSTIN, TX – MAY 29:

In a recent post, I laid out the principal reason that Trump could not possibly be reelected, i.e., by next November, the entire world will have seen crushing evidence that proves that the former president committed a vast array of felonies in a grossly illegal attempt to remain in power after losing the 2020 election.

I failed to mention the final nail in the coffin: Republican politics is ridiculously out of touch with the sensibilities of most Americans, where it comes to things like abortion bans, Ukraine, education, environmental issues, racism, and Social Security and Medicare.

This entire group is going to go down hard in November.

 

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Politics

The next presidential election is still almost a year from now, so we’ll have to wait a considerable length of time to see what happens. This is good news for the media, though it’s no minor disease for the mental health of most Americans, not to mention folks around the world.

That said, let’s examine a key data point that will be informing voters’ decisions. Over the coming few months, it will become clear, even to most of Trump’s current supporters, that the former president attempted to overthrow the U.S. government via his conduct after the 2020 election, leading up to, during, and after the J6 insurrection.

We will be exposed to mountains of evidence, including testimony from dozens of witnesses, that Trump was–and continues to be–engaged in a grossly illegal attempt to maintain power by overturning the results of a free and fair election.

Yes, there will be those who will still be impressed with Trump’s swagger as a political strongman, just like the sheep in the cartoon, but it’s unimaginable that he’ll be reelected after being proved to be a traitor to his country.

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Politics

I wouldn’t say Sarah Palin is crazy.  Inept, to be sure, but she doesn’t seem mentally ill.

What we have now with the Republicans, however, is indeed a brand of criminal insanity.  If you doubt this, consider for a moment the Big Lie.  We have people in Congress echoing Trump’s assertion that the 2020 presidential election was rigged, ever though this falsehood has been repeatedly and thoroughly debunked, including being rejected by 60+ courts of law.

You most certainly would not find the McCain/Palin-style of Republican making such delusional claims.

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Climate Change

Morgan, at “Inside the Movement,” writes: This year’s COP Conference has been hard to watch. Between the record number of oil lobbyists attending and the COP President (an oil CEO) who doesn’t believe phasing out fossil fuels will reduce global heating, we can’t lose sight of the urgency and action that is needed for our planet.

I remember attending a conference on alternative fuels whose keynote address was delivered by the president of the American Petroleum Institute. She pointed out that she was a soccer mom and needed a reliable way to get her kids to and from practices and games, as if only an internal combustion engine could deliver that level of dependability.

I found the organizer of the event and pointed out the absurdity, but he didn’t see the issue at all.

“If this represents the best of our capacity to think, conferences like these are really pointless, aren’t they?” I asked, as I turned and walked away.

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Business

The meme here speaks to what has become a defining element of American society, i.e., facts have ceased to matter.

Here we have a scenario in which essentially every metric surrounding the economy is extremely positive; inflation, job growth, real GDP growth, unemployment, and the major stock indices–all in great shape.  Yet there are tens of millions of U.S. voters who have been convinced by the media sources they follow that Biden is ruining the economy.

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Sustainability

I’m happy to hear this, but I would make this prediction: Go 40 miles in any direction from downtown Dallas and repeat the experiment.  Don’t be surprised if the bartender is cheered.

This is the same phenomenon that we see played out all over the country, and probably, at a certain level, all over the world.

In addition, it’s apparently been the case throughout human history.  I once asked a tour guide at a museum of ancient Greek artifacts how it was possible that the same people who established democracy, geometry, and Western philosophy believed that Mercury with his chariot pulled the sun across the sky.

He laughed, and then explained that the educated people of Athens, while they didn’t have Newtonian physics, didn’t believe the theology of the day.  He went on to explain that the farmers out in the fields, a day’s ride on horseback, who had little or no education, weren’t strong in critical thinking and simply believed whatever they were told.

To me, this explains why we find the Bible Belt (and the QAnoners and the core support base for Donald Trump) in places that are home to by-and-large uneducated people.

 

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Politics

Yes, the meme here represents a profound contrast between the character of two different U.S. presidents, separated by 50 years.

But let’s keep this in mind: being a vulgar slob, even the greatest among the 46 U.S. presidents, is not a crime. Were Andrew Jackson, Warren Harding, or Richard Nixon decent human beings?  Of course not.

What makes Trump stand alone is his attempt to overthrow the U.S. federal government.  That he was a terrible person does not make him unique.  That he committed treason certainly does.

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Climate Change
Reader Charlie Heller notes: Hydrocarbons are not nearly the problem climate change hysteria peddlers claim. They are making money off of fear mongering.
I had no idea. Please provide some evidence in support of the claim you make here.
I’d also be interested to know why are there just short of 2500 lobbyists from Big Oil, more than twice as many as any previous year, at the COP (climate change) meeting in Dubai.
Someone has a profit motive, to be sure. Not sure it’s the climate scientists and the other advocates of clean energy and environmental sustainability, but I remain interested in your assertion.
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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Sustainability

Below is a performance of Frederik Chopin’s waltz in G flat.

I bring it up because a dear old friend who grew up in the Netherlands used to play it, and when I asked him how he could get through such a difficult piece, he told me that every kid he went to school with learned to play the piano at that level, at the very least.

High schoolers also read Plato and Descartes, and speak fluent English (as well as Dutch) and get by in both French and German.

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Politics

Re: the meme here, a reader notes: If you don’t think Nikki Haley and Joe Biden would split the non-MAGA vote, you’re not paying attention.

Personally I think it would be more likely that Nikki Haley and Trump would split the Republican vote.  The conservatives I have in my life would never vote for a criminal sociopath, but neither would they vote for a Democrat.

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