I’m reminded of the time then-Secretary of State Mike Pompeo challenged NPR’s Harvard/Cambridge educated Mary Louise Kelly, arguably the most senior news broadcast journalist in the nation, to identify Ukraine on an unmarked globe.
What a boob.
Here’s a recent edition of the PBS News Hour, covering the part of U.S. President Biden’s $2 trillion infrastructure plan that promotes electric transportation.
According to the piece, the path to getting the replacement of internal combustion engines is not without hurdles. (more…)
I just signed up to receive a daily e-newsletter called 1440 whose ad reads:
Overwhelmed By Opinion Disguised As Fact, And Relentless Clickbait? 1440 provides an impartial view of what’s happening in the world so our readers can form their own conclusions. We scour hundreds of sources each day to bring you a single morning briefing thoughtfully curated by experts. (more…)
Whoever created this meme got it right–in the main. The reason we had four years of Donald Trump isn’t our 614 billionaires; it’s our 74 million people, many of whom are undereducated, who are easy marks for a talented conman, especially when he’s feeding them exactly what they want to hear: Your American Dream has been stolen from you by the “radical left,” who let immigrants pour unchecked across our borders, while you pay high taxes that support lazy people with brown skin to stay out of the workplace.
Here’s news on an ambitious plan to transmit 10.5 gigawatts of electrical power 3800 kilometers undersea from a huge solar and wind farm in Morocco to the UK. Even at the high voltages contemplated, the company building the link estimates line losses at somewhere between 10 and 12%, though they are justified given the ridiculously low LCOE (conservatively estimated at $0.013/kWh).
Next time someone tells you that renewable energy is expensive, you may want to mention this.
From this piece on jobs and the environment:
President Biden announced a goal to cut carbon emissions in half by 2030 – and the Biden administration says its $2.25 trillion American Jobs Plan will help the country achieve Biden’s climate goal of cutting carbon emissions in half by 2030 by building green infrastructure. Labor Secretary Marty Walsh says, “This is a once in a generation opportunity to rethink and recreate the infrastructure for the American worker and how we create pathways for the American worker back into the middle class.” (more…)
If you’re one of the Proud Boys who stormed the Capitol on January 6th in an act of insurrection, there is no doubt that there are other right-wing extremists who think you’re pretty cool for what you did. But that admiration for seditious acts doesn’t extend too far past that.
That’s what Robert Chapman learned when he bragged about his “accomplishment” that day to a prospective girlfriend on a dating app. Not only did she not go out with him, she promptly turned him into the FBI, after which he was arrested.
You can’t make this stuff up.
Here’s an article in The New Yorker on the removal of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, a subject which, some argue, is 100% vital to the continuation of the human civilization. As we all know, the concentration of CO2 hasn’t been this high (412 PPM) in the last 30 million years, when there was little ice at the poles and sea-levels were 60 feet higher than they are today. Many scientists believe that humankind will be unable to reduce emissions in time to avoid catastrophe. (more…)
On the surface, the meme here makes sense. Who wants to terminate a friendship based on a difference of opinion?
Well, it depends on what we mean by “opinion.” If we disagree with matters of taste, e.g., art, music, and fashion, that’s in no way equivalent to opinions that accept things like white nationalism, cruelty to children, indifference to environmental responsibility, religious bigotry and so forth.
In fact, I would argue that the latter really aren’t “opinions” at all, but rather grievous character flaws. Keep in mind that the great Aristotle told us that we are obligated to terminate friendships under these circumstances.
Speaking for myself, I feel dirty hanging around bad people, and I doubt that makes me unique–or even rare.
Well isn’t that a goddamn shame?
It was less than three months ago that Ted Cruz’s home state of Texas suffered a major power crisis, resulting in shortages of water, food, and heat. More than 4.5 million homes and businesses were left without power, some for several days. (more…)
