In terms of personal character, Jimmy Carter may have been the very finest human being ever to occupy the White House.

Note how different this humble, deferential statement on his faith is from the way today’s Republicans use fanatical Christianity as a weapon against those of differing views.

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Yes, sedition / the attempted coup is deadly serious business, but that doesn’t preclude certain clever people from having a laugh.

Hat’s off to whoever thought of “inside sedition.”

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The effort to decarbonize every building on the planet needs to succeed if we are to become net-zero emissions by mid-century.  Since most of these structures have already been built, that means retrofitting at an enormous scale.

But is this feasible?  Linked above is an article on a Dutch company that says yes.  Hope you’ll check it out.

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It’s possible that the United States is unique in all the world for the way some of the scummiest people imaginable dominate its political news.  Here we have convicted felon Roger Stone and master of hateful misinformation Alex Jones.

We’d all like to think we’re in the process of ridding ourselves of vermin like these two.  It appears Stone was involved in the coup attempt, and thus he could get life in prison.  And, if it happens, the libel judgement against Jones will send him into bankruptcy.

Yet both these events may never take place, saddling this country with their ongoing presence in our affairs.

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To be honest, I had completely forgotten about this.

There were so many elements of the Trump administration that came straight out of the Mafia that it really is hard to remember them all.

Is justice coming?  Thankfully, it looks like it might be.

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The first thing to acknowledge here is that China is not a free country, so of course, they can command anything they choose to be built.  Americans are free to get filthy rich, and are under no obligation, legally or morally, to concern themselves with anyone’s well-being but their own.

Looking past that, however, it’s clear that China is in the process of surpassing the U.S. in terms of both financial strength and military might.  The Chinese have a sense of national unity and they take pride in advancements that propel them into the future.

Meanwhile, we make blockbuster movies that are magnificently appealing to semiliterate, underemployed young people. We also sell fast food, overpriced drugs, gas-guzzler cars and trucks, Confederate flags, alcohol coolers and energy drinks, and AR-15s.

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One America News Network (OAN) makes absolutely no attempt to any semblance of fairness or honesty as a “news” outlet.  They happily present total ultra-right-wing hog**** that even the editors at Fox News would toss in the trash. (more…)

There are no approaches to climate change mitigation and other forms of environmental protection that are truly consistent with unbridled free enterprise and small government.  What Inglis is proposing is simply a revenue-neutral carbon tax, which is something essentially everyone, liberal or conservative, understands to be necessary to hasten the reduction of carbon emissions.

Now, one can say that the basic idea of making progress in this arena without raising taxes is a “conservative” concept.  Say what you will.  Maybe that’s why Inglis is no longer in congress, because voters don’t buy that.  Conservatives believe that any manipulation of the free market is unacceptable, especially if its purpose is to advance “liberal” ideas like climate stability.

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Last January, somewhere in Michigan, a bunch of Republicans decided, “Let’s create some documents to the effect that we, not those who represent the true winner, are the legitimate voices on which the outcome of the presidential election is to be based.”

Wow, that’s just an amazing stunt to pull.

This is another good example of the fact that, the more outrageous the claim, the more likely it is to be believed.

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A spokesmen for the Kremlin was on Sunday morning television today, explaining that the Russian aggression, which became a threat to world peace only within the past few months, actually began with the re-unification of Germany more than 30 years ago. He never really got around to explaining why this is happening right now.

Let me advance another possible explanation, and I ask you to choose between the two propositions. (more…)

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