Taxing Billionaires
We see frequent and impassioned discussions on this topic nowadays, especially as the threat of environmental collapse continues to mount.
I thought the author of the meme here nailed it nicely.
Tagged with: Taxing Billionaires
Only An Educated Mind …
This quote from Aristotle translates as “Only an educated mind can understand (entertain?) a thought that is different than his own without necessarily accepting it.”
I’m reminded of a segment I heard on NPR just yesterday about a college economics professor and his two sons, both of whom are majoring in econ. The dad’s a libertarian, and, understandably, so are the boys.
Though this is a concept very far from what I believe, I really try to wrap my wits around this philosophy, which had a real run in the U.S. Its high watermark of acceptance here was probably somewhere in the mid-20th Century; the popularity of the Libertarian Party capped at ~5%.
It’s true that most things cannot be accomplished as efficiently in the public sector as they can be privately. If I had been allowed to pay nothing into Social Security over the years, I’m sure that I would have been far ahead of the game, now that I’m a senior citizen.
But all this ignores what I believe to be a far larger fact, i.e., that we live in a society. Yes, we have our own personal rights, but we also have duties to do things like keeping the environment clean, educating all children, and ensuring people aren’t dying of treatable diseases.
There are also hundreds of functions that can’t function at all without government: national defense, policing and criminal justice, fire-fighting, emergency management, utilities, infrastructure, and so on.
Nonetheless, I understand that people, especially rich ones, want to keep every penny of their money, and see no obligation to society at large. See example below:
Being Repulsive Isn’t a Crime
The cartoon here reminds me of the many allegations aimed at Trump over the years. He’s a pathological liar, or a racist, or a backstabber, or a misogynist. All true, but all completely meaningless, because none of these is a crime.
Of course, seditious conspiracy is a crime, so now we have something of interest to talk about.
Americans Are Exuberant
Americans are rejoicing in the news that professional liar and conman Alex Jones is getting skewered by the U.S. justice system. Where all this goes is yet to be seen, but he’s certainly in the process of getting creamed.
It’s a natural human tendency to want to see good people prosper and bad people meet their comeuppance. And Americans have been deprived of that sense of fair play for far too long now.
May justice in the case of Alex Jones be the first of many victories for the good guys. In particular, may his downfall lead to that of the entirety of the team that attempted to overthrow the U.S. government following the 2020 election.
A Bad Day for Conspiracy Theories and Those Who Promote Them
The astonishing developments in the defamation suit brought by the Sandy Hook victims against Alex Jones has us all hoping that the wave of conspiracy theories/theorists may have crested.
After Jones is ruined financially, and criminally prosecuted for perjury or whatever, we’ll have the pleasure of watching attorneys for Dominion Voting Systems figuratively dismember Rudy Giuliani, Sydney Powell, and whole bunch of other professional liars.
What might come next? What about damages from those who suffered bodily injury and death due to COVID-19 disinformation campaigns?
It’s not unreasonable to believe that this tsunami of litigation will serve as a powerful deterrent to those seeking to profit from spreading malicious bullshit.
Are Electric Vehicle Batteries Recyclable?
As those who check out this excellent article on the subject of recycling EV batteries will learn, the answer is a qualified yes, and the entire arena is growing more robust with each passing year.
The first thing to understand is that old EV batteries often serve a second life as stationary energy storage, where the demand for energy density is not a consideration. An EV battery that initially stored 100 kWhrs that loses 20% over time will normally be replaced, but that 80 kWhr battery still has significant use in various places.
Once it’s finished, it’s time for recycling, to extract and reuse the many valuable materials. Large machines shred the batteries, the start of a long process that separates plastics and ferrous materials, then lithium, cobalt, nickel, and manganese, using a “hydrometallurgical” process (see article).
Increasingly, these recycled materials are used to manufacture new batteries, which reduces the amount of mining required to put new EVs on the road.
The entire process is a long way from perfect, but it will be far closer to that ideal by the time most of today’s EVs are ready for retirement.
Tagged with: Electric Vehicle Batteries Recyclable
The Least the Democrats Can Say Is That They’re “Not Nuts”
In an earlier post, Is a New Political Party in the U.S. a Good Idea?, I pointed out that there is nothing intrinsically wrong with the Democratic party. It may lack forceful new ideas, and it may be led by a less-than-bombastic president, but that’s just fine, in comparison with the criminal insanity that has become the GOP.
The button shown at left makes this point very nicely.
No Quick and Easy End to QAnon-Style Conspiracy Theorists
As suggested here, the QAnoners of the world have a handy defense, one that’s going to be hard to beat. They claim that the fact-checkers that expose their ideas as silly and baseless were actually put in place because their ideas are true.
This is a mess, folks.
Tagged with: QAnon-Style Conspiracy Theorists
Is a New Political Party in the U.S. a Good Idea?
Pastor John Pavlovitz and I see this precisely the same way.
There is nothing intrinsically wrong with the Democratic party. It’s platform includes environmental responsibility, quality education, human rights, equal justice, and restoring the economic policies that made this nation extremely prosperous and ensured a decent quality of life for all Americans.
There’s nothing wrong with that, and especially in comparison with the criminal insanity that has become the GOP.
Affirmation of Abortion Rights Is an Auspicious Sign for Democrats
Laws in the U.S. that place bans on abortion took a huge hit in a Kansas election yesterday, as voters in enormous numbers turned out to express their demands for a woman’s right to choose, in a referendum that won 65.3% to 34.7%. For those unfamiliar with U.S. politics, Kansas is among the most conservative, most heavily Christian states in the country, meaning that women (and most men) everywhere heavily favor the protection of abortion under law.
Many say that Democrats have very little force behind whatever ideas they have, which may explain their poor results in opinion polls. But at least Democrats aren’t trying to foist off some of the most oppressive and regressive policies conceivable on the American people. This really can’t be good for Republicans.
Tagged with: Abortion Rights
