Here’s something that should have happened 100 years ago: barring congresspeople from buying and selling stock while they hold office.
No wonder it has bipartisan support; no one wants to enable his opponent to say that he voted against the anti-corruption bill.
Apparently, a great deal of care was taken to focus the $370 billion climate/environment package on creating markets that will reduce CO2 emissions; I’m getting some good reports here.
My mom, quoting Fox News, says that dealing with climate will ruin the economy; fortunately for us all, fewer and fewer people believe this lie.
Re: the new climate/environment bill and my comment that Asia is the real problem in terms of greenhouse gas emissions, a reader notes: Hopefully, it’ll give China/India marginally less cause to drag their feet. Does seem this bill is plausibly designed to catalyze CO2-reducing market responses, but I’m pretty ignorant in this realm.
Here’s my recommendation for what should happen in the U.S.: The Carbon Fee and Dividend Initiative. The cost? $0.00.
It would create instant incentives to find low-carbon alternatives, and to build stuff that consumers can use to decarbonize. It’s net revenue-neutral, meaning that it doesn’t cost a dime overall; it just takes money from people and business entities that hog carbon and hands it to those who don’t.
Obviously, it can be implemented by any country on the planet.
There is no doubt that robots will be replacing human beings in hundreds of different roles in the workplace. And this one, baking pizzas, on the surface, is as workable a suggestion as any other.
Let’s imagine that we have a low-cost kiosk that simply enables a hungry patron to plunk down a credit card, and walk away a few minutes later with a piping hot, perfectly constructed, made-to-order pizza. What could go wrong? (more…)
Do you remember Trump’s unrecorded and unmonitored one-on-one conversation with Vladimir Putin in Helsinki, midway through his presidency?
I recall thinking at the time that the content of that discussion might have been the single most potent threat to national security in our country’s history. Now, it seems trivial.
Why? Because of Trump’s coup attempt following the 2020 presidential election.
No one could possibly express this any better than Liz Cheney. She nailed this, and now it’s up to us to assimilate that core truth.
It’s amazing that there are so many elements of American society that have suddenly become controversial. It wasn’t 10 years ago that virtually everyone believed that a high-quality education was a top priority, for the welfare of both the child and the nation into which he’ll soon find himself functioning as an adult.
Now, education is often perceived to teach socialism, alternate sexual identities, critical race theory, police blaming, and anti-Americanism. Schools are viewed by many as breeding grounds for woke, liberal, and anti-capitalist ideas.
Of course, when you read this woman’s story about her experience in a Florida elementary school, you could argue that none of this matters, because the actual education is so substandard that what we teach is of no real consequence.
If I were protesting at George Washington University, I’d be citing Thomas’ treason, i.e., not recusing himself from cases in which his wife had personal interests, including overthrowing the United States government.
Here’s a coincidence: I found the meme here, just minutes after hitting “publish” on my post on the new $700 billion spending package that passed the U.S. House of Representatives, containing $370 billion for climate and the environment.
I wrote: The problem really is that GHG emissions in the US and the EU are holding steady (which isn’t good) but those in Asia are going through the roof, which is terrible. This is an international problem, and any “solution” that fails to address it accordingly is largely a waste of time and resources.
An old school chum who went on to become a professor of constitutional law at Georgetown and I were talking about the coup attempt, during which I wrote: “I’ll never forget what you wrote in my yearbook: words to the effect of ‘Sadly, you’ll probably spend this summer on the golf course. What you should be doing is following Watergate; this is one of the most interesting and important times in our country’s history.’”
Knowing that my focus is environmental stewardship, he asked, “Hi Craig. Don’t know whether to laugh or be embarrassed about that golf comment! Speaking of important stories, what are your thoughts about the Senate Dems’ climate deal?”
My response:
I’m surprised that anything like this is moving forward at all, though, of course, the numbers on emissions reduction are all aspirational.
Re: the size, it’s $370 billion for climate/environment, which actually IS something. I’ll be interested to see the specific allocation.
The very first thing we need is an energy policy that states our intention to phase out fossil fuels as rapidly as is feasible. That doesn’t sound like a big deal to me. It’s not like this country is timid about creating and adopting policies. Why not this one?
The problem really is that GHG emissions in the US and the EU are holding steady (which isn’t good) but those in Asia are going through the roof, which is terrible. This is an international problem, and any “solution” that fails to address it accordingly is largely a waste of time and resources.
For some reason, political correctness is a controversial thing. It strikes me a common courtesy, but maybe I’m missing something.
In any case, no one can accuse the fellow here of PC. He’s willing to take the bull by the horns, and tell those women a thing or two.
Just when you thought you’d seen it all.
Here’s an 
