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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Politics

I’m going with treason on this one, Michael.

Whether the charge is actually “treason” or “seditious conspiracy,” it was an attempt to overthrow the United States government.

What makes this development so frightening is the extent to which the crimes appear to have spread through the executive branch.  By the time this is over, there may be thousands of guilty people who get away with one of the most heinous crimes in U.S. history.

I’ll live with that if the top 5 – 10 go to prison.

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Politics

TV and film icon Rob Reiner is quite vocal in his demand that Trump be brought to justice, and here, he expresses himself sarcastically.

At this point, I’d have to say that it appears improbable that we’ll ever recover the content of all those thousands of text messages that would have incriminated the former president and God knows who else.

Having said that, it looks equally unlikely that Trump will get off the hook, due to the enormous volume of evidence, including witness testimony, that has survived the cover up.

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Politics

In today’s installment of his popular video series “Justice Matters,” former federal prosecutor Glenn Kirschner makes the point that Trump’s attorneys are gearing up to deal with incoming indictments, and that his principal line of defense is going to be expecting his top-level team to “take the fall” for him.  This means hoping that people like Rudy Giuliani, Jeffery Clark, John Eastman, and Mark Meadows will refuse to testify, thus insulating him from evidence that he himself organized the coup attempt.

But how is all this going to play out in practice?  Kirschner, who has visited many jails and prisons around the country for various purposes over this three-decade career, surmises that these old white guys “aren’t going to thrive” in that environment and, given that they all realize that Trump is a despicable person who has no loyalty to them whatsoever, will be highly motivated to cooperate with government prosecutors in exchange for reduced sentences.

We’ll see.

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Climate Change

Great point to be made here.

It’s obvious to the scientific community that too little is being done to mitigate global warming, but policy-makers, at least in the U.S., don’t have the political will behind them to support forceful and effective action.

Moreover, the disinformation campaigns spewing forth from the fossil industry make this even tougher.

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Business

Hawaii has said goodbye to coal, and will be doing its best to phase out oil, as an increasingly rich mix of renewables comes on line.

From Governor David Ige: “This week Hawaii is receiving its final shipment of coal,” said in a statement. “This is a huge step forward in Hawaii’s transition to clean energy. In its time, coal was an important resource for Hawaii and I’d like to thank the workers who have run our last remaining coal plant.”

It seems to me that this is the proper way to think of fossil fuels in general.  In their day, they made enormous contributions to all humankind.  There is no reason to revile the coal industry; it’s simply time for it to step aside.

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Sustainability

Interesting.  Comments here include:

No. We intellectualize God differently. It doesn’t mean we don’t believe in a “God.” It just means we don’t necessarily accept the crazy nonsensical human interpretation of a god that religion has crammed down our throats all our lives.
No. The more educated you are, the more you can have an intelligent conversation with God. Do you ever stop to think that God might get bored with the same superstitious ignorance, generation after generation repeating the same nonsense?
As shown in the words above, there are various ways to look at the subject.
Having said that, in general, the church sign-maker is correct; there is an inverse correlation between education level and piety.
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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Sustainability

This quote from ancient Greek philosopher and mathematician Pythagoras translates as “Educate the boys so you don’t have to punish the men.”

There is no doubt that poor education leads to poverty and to crime.  Unfortunately, our society doesn’t see this as a worthwhile investment.

Here’s a question on the same subject based on what’s below: Do we have anything to learn from the greatest minds that have gone before us?

 

 

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Sustainability

A new study just validated that plant-based food products, e.g., Impossible Food and Beyond Meat, are healthier than their animal-based counterparts, while reconfirming that they’re better for the environment.

We all need to expect the first assertion (about health) to be cause for controversy for a very long time, if the issue is ever resolved at all.  At best, studies like these are retrospective, meaning that they look back on people who eat mainly beef or plant-based meat, and compare various aspects of their health.  The problem is that these cohorts could have predispositions to better or worse heath: other morbidities, smoking, exercise, food supplements, etc.

The second assertion is completely noncontroversial.  Fewer acres of rainforest destroyed, fewer cows producing methane and waste, less water and feed consumed, are all good things.

 

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Climate Change

From a reader:

What I can’t understand is this, supported by about every climate scientist on the globe: If the U.S. stopped producing 100% of all CO2, it would change global temperature by year 2100 a negligible amount (-.246°F)  according to Forbes. Why are we doing all the green revisions for this? Our money can be better applied elsewhere where it would really change the lives of people short term and long term. (more…)

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Sustainability

The meme at left is just silliness.  I suppose if you want a plant-based opiate, or booze, or whatever, then fine.

Most people want things like plant-based meat, i.e., nutritious foods that taste like beef, that don’t come from cows.

Tons of other people have health-related dietary restrictions. e.g., men with prostate cancer who can’t eat eggs. Plant-based eggs substitutes like Just Egg (pictured) have textures and flavors that are very close to real chickens’ eggs.

 

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