Assault Rifles Are Easy to Come Across
This fellow makes a good point.
The problem is that the American people have exactly zero control of their lawmaking processes, at least in cases where large amounts of money are at stake.
Tagged with: Assault Rifles
Interpreting the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution
If you want an honest answer to the question posed at left, you’ll need to ask the National Rifle Association. How, precisely, did they buy our lawmaking processes? I’m sure it’s an interesting story.
Tagged with: Second Amendment
New House Speaker Not Strong on Rule of Law, Human Rights
Unless you’re a seditionist and/or hard-core religious zealot, these are not good times for America.
U.S. Energy Policy Loves ExxonMobil
From my colleague Joe Spease:For anyone believing the republican and Fox lies about Biden killing the oil and gas companies here is news from today: Exxon Mobil Corporation today announced third-quarter 2023 earnings of $9.1 billion, or $2.25 per share assuming dilution. Cash flow from operations was $16.0 billion, up $6.6 billion versus the second quarter.
Yes, Big Oil is on a profit-making tear right now, and they’ve shelved the idea of PR campaigns that hide this from the world. They are baking the planet, in exchange for immeasurably large amounts of money.
From the NY Times:
Exxon Mobil Strikes $60 Billion Deal for Shale Giant
The acquisition of Pioneer Natural Resources, Exxon’s largest since its merger with Mobil in 1999, is a bet that U.S. energy policy will not move against fossil fuels in a major way.
Tagged with: Exxon Knew
Is This Wind Turbine a Scam? Let’s Do Some Math.
Assume the turbine presented here is 1.5 meters tall, as shown, and let’s say 0.5 meters wide, meaning that its swept area is 0.75 square meters if it were refashioned into a standard bladed turbine, spinning in a circle, with a radius of 0.488 meters.
Let’s round that off to 0.5 and plug this into this wind power calculator, showing that you’ll get 10 KWs from it if the average wind speed is a bit over 84 MPH. That’s quite a breeze.
Since the power derived from a wind turbine is proportional to the cube of the wind speed, an average speed of 7-8 MPH, which exists everywhere outside of the plains states, will get you about 10 Watts, enough to charge your phone if you leave it plugged in 11 hours per day.
If that sounds like a bargain, by all means, jump on in. Even with the feeble level of math intelligence in our country, I’m not sure Americans will be lining up to buy, but 0ne never knows.
Tagged with: wind turbine
Michael Cohen on Trump
All this is fine, but we need specifics that juries can use to send this traitor to prison for life.
The New Yorker Comic Andy Borowitz on House Speaker Mike Johnson
One of the problems with living in today’s insane society is that it’s hard to know the difference between comedy and real journalism.
It was only when I saw Borowitz’ name here that I realized that this wasn’t a serious statement by religious zealot Johnson, who truly is completely unqualified for the position.
Tagged with: Andy Borowitz
Thomas Paine’s Thoughts Are Wonderful, But …
U.S. founding father Thomas Paine’s thought here is a noble one indeed.
Sorry to say, however, but the odds against a period of peace in our children’s days seem to be very long indeed. I say that because:
• War is the paradigm by which countries settle their differences, and there doesn’t seem to be any progress in changing that.
• The persecution of the Jews has been a feature of life on Earth for thousands of years, and, since the formation of Israel 75 years ago, this situation has generally gotten more violent and senseless.
• Terrorism on the part of rogue groups (and established countries) has become commonplace. (more…)
Justice for Trump
The author of the meme here isn’t the only one with this dream, or at least a variation on its theme.
However, as I’ve written before, I caution that exorcizing this career criminal from the consciousness of the U.S. will happen only to the degree that Americans are able to watch the justice system at work as it tries the former president on 91 (possibly more to come) felony counts and sends this sociopathic traitor to prison.
Tagged with: Justice for Trump
Creating Incentive for Electric Vehicles
David Radzieta notes:
My LEAF turned 12 years old this month. The battery was replaced 8.5 years ago under warranty with a 24kwh Lizard battery. Still running at 85% battery capacity.
If your family has multiple cars and you can charge at home one should be an EV.
90k miles. About 300,000 pounds of carbon dioxide saved. That’s about 500 acres of forest. Total charging cost around $300. Saved nearly 9k gallons of gasoline. Great ride, reliable. $1500 repairs (OBC and windshield) and $1000 tires, rims, and wiper blades.
We do have to pay a $200 annual EV fine in Alabama now subsidizing gas cars.
Nice going!
I’m not sure I would call it a fine, but rather a fee to force EV drivers to share the cost of road maintenance, which seems fair to me.
Having said that, I completely agree that phasing out internal combustion engines should be incentivized, which would happen with the implementation of the Carbon Fee and Dividend program that I’ve written about frequently.
Tagged with: Carbon Fee and Dividend
