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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Business

I’ve always admired this quote from one of history’s greatest economists.

At this point, however, I think the “modern conservative” has no interest in “moral philosophy” or “justification” whatsoever.  The rich and powerful, at least in the United States, have only one interest: becoming richer and more powerful.

Making matters worse: over the years, this has become progressively easier.  In 2010, for example, with the Citizens United decision from the U.S. Supreme Court, corporations were granted the same protections that people enjoy under the First Amendment and became legally able to donate as much as they wanted to political candidates.

Yet today, Citizens United is a “baby step” compared to what’s happened under the Trump administration, which could be summarized as:  You pay me huge sums to meet with you and tell me what you want, and I will make it happen for you.

Here’s an example documented in the New York Times:

President Donald Trump last night hosted a gathering with the highest-paying customers of his personal cryptocurrency business, sparking bipartisan concerns that he’s selling access to the presidency for personal profit.

Full transcript here.

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Sustainability

It’s worth taking a look at the “Deadly Sins” and “Holy Virtues” at left, and asking:

Who are we as a nation?

How have we changed overtime?

Have we chosen a leader who will take us in the right direction?

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Politics

From MSN:

Representative Randy Fine (R-FL) has sparked controversy by advocating for the repeal of the 22nd Amendment, which limits U.S. presidents to two terms, citing President Donald Trump’s role in brokering a Gaza peace agreement as justification for extending his presidency. A bipartisan coalition of lawmakers introduced a resolution denouncing Fine’s proposal as a danger to democratic norms, escalating the debate. Amending the Constitution would require a two-thirds vote in Congress and ratification by three-quarters of state legislatures, a formidable hurdle.

Is this a joke?  Congressional Republican Trump sycophant is suggesting that the president’s bid for a third term should be done legally, even though the last few years have brought a nonstop onslaught of grossly illegal acts: the storming of the Capitol, numerous other attempts to overthrow the U.S. federal government by overturning the 2020 election, stealing top-secret government documents, an adjudicated rape, the 34 counts of business fraud on which Trump was convicted, current-day violations of posse comitatus, the execution of unconvicted Venezuelan people on ocean-going ships, and bulldozing the East Wing of the White House.

The man’s life is one big, ongoing crime; let’s be honest here.

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Politics

In a recent post, California IS Different, But It’s Not TOO Different, I drew the distinction between the urbane sophistication of the state’s coastal region and the rural regions in its interior.

As one may expect, there is a huge chasm in terms of politics between the two areas.  Yes, California is a blue state, and Trump lost the 2024 presidential election to Harris by about 20%, but 20 points is actually fairly close compared to the thumping he gave Harris in the red states that he won by considerable landslides (see map).

Fortunately, California has masses of well-educated people in the counties adjacent to the Pacific Ocean who are generally quite liberal in their thinking.  Yes, there are a growing number of ranchers in the state’s eastern parts, but, for now at least, they’re far outnumbered by the folks fighting the traffic jams and ridiculous real estate prices in IT, entertainment, defense, insurance, professional services, manufacturing, healthcare, and banking.

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Sustainability

When my friends and I were growing up in the suburbs of Philadelphia, we regarded California as if it were a foreign country–if not another planet.  The widespread speculation was that California was one big movie/TV studio, that had beaches for the thousands of blond-haired surfers who spoke some extremely hip language, and had adoring, bikini-clad girls clinging to them.

Yet living here soon taught me that, though this perception of the Golden State was in some measure true for the cities and towns on the Pacific, a trip 30 – 40 miles inland exposed a culture that wasn’t altogether different than that of Central Pennsylvania, or Central Alabama for that matter.

I bring this up because of the recent announcement (see above) that the University of California, with its 10 campuses, won five Nobel Prizes recently.   UC Santa Barbara alone has 11 Nobel laureates, nine of which are in physics and materials science.  That’s a lot of intelligence floating around in a city whose population is only about 89,000.

Per my point, however, 2GreenEnergy “headquarters” is about 30 miles inland from Santa Barbara.  Where they have people speaking French and discussing quantum physics, we have saloons and rodeos.

I’m not complaining (too much).  It’s still a great place to live, and if I want to find someone to converse with on the subject of quarks and neutrinos, they’re only a short drive away.

 

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Politics

Ronald Reagan is a symbol of how far this country has fallen in terms of humanitarianism in just a few decades.

As a conservative, Reagan did many things, too many to list, that upset the bejeepers out of progressives like me. But at least he wasn’t a twisted, hateful, unAmerican madman like the Republicans of today.

Think for a minute how miserably unsuccessful you’d be running as a GOP candidate on the platform that Reagan articulated at left.

Now it’s, “Unless you’re a wealthy white guy, say, from Sweden, we don’t want you anywhere near the United States.”

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Science

There are so many things going wrong in this country simultaneously, that it’s hard to list them all.

Here’s something that no one could have seen coming: (see short video here) crackpot politicians giving parents insane medical advice about how to care for their children.

If I told you that our country’s parents were making decisions on vaccinating their children based on information provided by figure skaters or power tool salesmen, you wouldn’t believe me.

But the case is actually worse.  Now it’s coming from the psycho in the White House.

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Uncategorized

In this short video on the bombing of ships leaving Venezuela, President Trump asserts that drug overdoses took the lives of more than 350,000 people last year, a figure that, according to the CDC, is actually 79,383.

In any case, the video fails to mention that executing people who have not been charged with and convicted of a crime is a violation of both domestic and international law.

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Politics

Keep in mind that, in 2020, more than 70 million voters cast their ballots for Trump, who, though he is a pathological liar, is 100% trusted by his supporters.  When Trump said the election was rigged, the vast majority of these folks believed him.  Even today, more than five years later, there are still millions of people who believe there was rampant voter fraud in the election.

Now, is storming the Capitol and beating up/killing law enforcement personnel an acceptable solution? It wouldn’t be for you or me, or most people, but imagine you’re an uneducated white-supremacist MAGA guy, and your president is telling you to do whatever’s necessary to prevent the election from being certified.

These are people who were so desperate to hang Mike Pence that the vice president had to be escorted out of the Capitol building to a secret and secure location, so he didn’t end up at the end of a rope.

When asked about this, Trump replied, “Maybe he deserved it.” To anyone trying to make sense of this, remember that you’re dealing with a deeply disturbed individual, and many millions of truly pathetic people who believe he is an honest and effective servant of the American people.  In congress, we have a couple of hundred of the most terrible butt-kissers imaginable, all clamoring to curry favor with him.

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Business

It’s only been a few months since Elon Musk’s DOGE (Department of Government Efficiency) came and went.

In case you’re worried about Musk, don’t be; he did just fine. From AI:  Reports suggest that Musk’s companies have received billions in government funding through contracts, subsidies, and loans, and that his position with DOGE has provided him with opportunities to influence policy and decision-making that could benefit his businesses.  

As shown above, however, it appears that the American people, however, did not fare well at all. We just absorbed another trillion dollars in debt, about $3000 for every man, woman, and child in the nation.

Anyone who thought that Musk’s presence in the White House boded well for the common American was a fool.

 

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