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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Climate Change

From this:

When Iowa meteorologist Chris Gloninger got an email notification last June, it read: “Getting sick and tired of your liberal conspiracy on the weather.”

“What’s your address,” another asked Gloninger a few days later. “We conservative Iowans would like to give you an Iowan welcome you will never forget.”

Par for the course, especially in states like Iowa, where Trump won in 2020 by more than 8%.

One thing we need to admire about conservatives is their tenacity.  They have reached into essentially every area in which science impacts human well-being, and are doing their best to dismantle it.

And meteorologists in red states aren’t the only ones who risk their lives as part of their careers.  Think of election workers, school administrators, gun control advocates, union and community organizers, investigative journalists, and providers of abortions. How about epidemiologists?  How many thousands of death threats do you think Dr. Anthony Fauci received?

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Politics

It will be interesting to see how history comes to regard Republicans’ efforts to protect the 45th U.S. president from the justice system.

There are really only two possible eventualities: a) Trump is honestly prosecuted for his crimes, or b) the former president is somehow let off the hook, and the presidency becomes a cloak by which all future holders of the highest office in our nation are permitted to do what they can to overthrow the government and become autocrats.

This, of course, is what the world suffers under in Russia, China, and the majority of states around the globe.

Below is a graphic that displays what the world looks like under autocracy.  We’re teetering on the edge.

 

 

by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Sustainability

Here’s an excellent article that examines why we are losing an increasingly large number of our toddlers to shootings by their young siblings.

You may have known, for instance, that a gunshot to a small body is more likely to destroy multiple organs or other critical structures, simply because little bodies are so much more compact than adults’.  Frankly, though the idea is obvious once it’s been mentioned, it was a new idea for me.

I would have said that the answer is actually more obvious: a) guns are rapidly proliferating through our society, b) we position them such that we can grab them at a moment’s notice, c) our population is more substance addicted than ever before, d) our home lives are more stressed and miserable, e) our government is incapable (due to the  power of the gun lobby) to keep guns out of the hands of the mentally ill.  Thus: our kids will continue to shoot more of their siblings to death.

Like most of my readers, I’ve made a great number of mistakes that I have a hard time forgetting. Fortunately, I never enabled either of my two kids to kill the other with a gun, and I’ve been spared the lifetime of emotional anguish that would have ensued.

But, for more parents every year, it’s become a reality, and, as Americans, there’s not a goddamn thing we can do about it.  Wish I had better news.

 

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Biofuels

From these people’s video: “Our technology transforms waste into energy, and that’s a huge opportunity, because that’s not being done across the board.”

They want investors to come on board.  But will they be impressed by what they see here?

There are dozens of different technologies that extract the chemical energy out of hundreds of forms of waste and convert that into biofuels, hydrogen, or electricity. As you’re reading these words, there are tens of thousands of scientists who have spent decades of their lives trying to make this happen in a way that is economically feasible.

There has not been a single success yet, from more than a half-century of work.

If you believe this guy has a unique approach and capability, by all means, jump right in. And good luck with that.

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Climate Change

The map here shows “the sea surface temperature anomaly on Sunday, June 18. Temperatures off the coast of the UK and Ireland are several degrees higher than usual.”

My colleague Joe  Spease notes: Trump, Republicans, and other climate change deniers are destroying the future of our children.

Yes, Joe, that’s true, but they’re making  a lot of money in the process.   For some people, that’s all that matters.

 

 

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Politics

If you think the main issue with Trump is that he’s too “divisive” and/or “controversial,” you, my friend, are part of the problem.

Re-installing a traitorous, career criminal in the White House will bring this country to its knees.

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Sustainability

The only thing I know about the book here is the word “Worlds” in its title needs an apostrophe.

This doesn’t make a good first impression.

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Politics

For the life of me, I cannot understand the appeal that Trumpism has on tens of millions of American voters.

People who accept the idea that there are no benefits to providing free meals to poor kids need to believe either that a) hunger is not an impediment to learning, or b) there is no value in educating poor children.

That level of stupidity and hate is hard to imagine.

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Politics

To Mike Madrid: I like the cut of your jib.  This is precisely what I expect.

I’m predicting something not unlike what happened in Salem, Massachusetts in 1692.  Not only did the persecution of witches stop abruptly, it ceased for no apparent reason, and a year later, some people in the town had forgotten that it ever existed.

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Politics
Here’s something from the Chris Christie campaign:
Chris Christie has made it very clear—there is only one “lane” to the White House, and it is THROUGH Donald Trump.  We all know Christie is the only person who will TELL IT LIKE IT IS, demand the truth, and expose Donald Trump’s many flaws on the debate stage.
What amuses me about this is the phrase “expose Donald Trump’s many flaws.”  If you’re really “telling it like it is,” you need to replace that with something like: “demand that Donald Trump be tried, convicted, and incarcerated for trying to overthrow the U.S. government.”
Sadly, there is not a single Republican who is anywhere close to the debate podium who will say that.
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