Here in the U.S. the most remarkable thing about the times in which we live is the fact that almost half our nation simply cannot see the truth in the meme here.
For perhaps 55% of us, it’s as obvious as the proposition that rain is wet.
But tens of millions of Americans just don’t see it.
Astounding.
Apparently, this is a real statue in Japan, and what a statement it makes.
One’s impact on the world is a function of their education.
What Margaret Thatcher said here is completely untrue. There are numerous government investments that add jobs (thus adding to the tax base) and make our country more competitive on the global stage.
This why it’s such a disaster that the United States is being led around by the nose by the fossil fuel industry. Falling behind in clean energy and transportation simply lifts the Chinese to a position of economic world leadership.
Thatcher was famously a contemporary of Ronald Reagan whose theory of “trickle-down economics” was equally incorrect, and did untold damage to this country, both economically and socially.
Until I became an environmentalist, it never dawned on me that the traditional American lawn, i.e., a large expanse of a single species of grass that needs water, fertilizer, and herbicides, is an ecological nightmare.
I would happily rethink this if I had it to do over, and I’m sure I’m not alone on that.
When we were introduced to Shakespeare in 8th grade, our English teacher explained that most of these plays were written for a variety of different audiences, each with its own level of education and social standing. He went on to say that the lower classes sat in a “pit,” and took great pleasure in slapstick buffoonery and vulgarity that The Bard would write in, especially for them.
I see a great parallel to the antics in today’s Republican party. Take Mike Lindell of My Pillow fame, and his ongoing claim that he has ironclad proof that the 2020 presidential election was stolen, but sadly, we’ll have to wait a bit longer to have that evidence.
If we weren’t dealing with the real possibility that American democracy is at its end, fools like Lindell and Giuliani would be hilariously funny.
This certainly applies to life in the U.S. over the past decade.
I think I would have preferred not knowing that I live among 74 million people who voted to re-elect Trump.
The author of the meme at left suggests that Trump is simply going to fade away as people come to realize that they’ve been conned, the legal noose tightens slowly around the former president’s neck, and congresspeople, one by one, figure out that Trump now represents a liability to them and try to pretend they never heard of him. The graphic below illustrates this concept. 
But a whimper? Sorry, but no. He never gives in, and he doesn’t have a problem escalating matters to the next level, regardless of how outrageous that level may be.
The fact that none of the 44 presidents before him had attempted to overthrow the U.S. government didn’t even slow him down from a full-bore coup attempt.
Now he got caught. What will happen when his delay tactics eventually fail and he goes on trial for seditious conspiracy? Does anyone think for a minute that he’s not going to tap into the anger of his base of tens of millions of armed supporters?
The first insurrection involved a few thousand people. This one could feature millions, each one believing that each of the 65 judges who rejected the Big Lie is corrupt, along with the entirety of the Department of Justice, as well as the news media, both here are around the globe. They will be told, once again, that they need to “fight like hell or they won’t have a country.”
Bang.
The answer, of course, is “hater on a grater” (though someone suggested “grifter on a sifter”).
If you’ve come across these rhyme-memes, you know that they can be fun. My problem with this one is that, while Trump is a hater, and that’s not a good thing, he’s actually dozens of things that are far worse, e.g., a traitor to the United States of America.
In fact, being a hater is what got him into power and enables him to remain the most influential person in U.S. politics. He hates the same people that his supporters do.
In a related story, there was testimony in the Oath Keepers’ seditious conspiracy trial that they have one or more contacts inside the Secret Service.
Justice is coming.
For Bloomberg, Angel Adegbesan writes:Utility-scale solar is now about a third cheaper than gas-fired power, while onshore wind is about 44% less expensive, Guggenheim analysts led by Shahriar Pourreza said Monday in a note to clients. (more…)
There are two things that can be said about this.
One is that self-accountability, while it’s a good thing overall, is taken to extreme in conservative politics. There are victims in this world, victims of systemic and oppressive conditions, racism being among them. If that seems controversial, realize that the average net worth of white American families is eight times that of black families.
More importantly, the fact that life is not fair is not an excuse to sit around and do nothing about demonstrably unfair situations. That’s why good people involve themselves in women’s rights, persecution of LGBTQs, universal healthcare, quality education, wealth inequality, as well as social and environmental justice.
