The meme here speaks to an important issue in current-day American society.  Does the First Amendment protect all our speech, and is it acceptable for anyone to block it?  This issue comes up constantly, though most people realize it’s a bit more nuanced than the buffoonery depicted here.

First, there is a difference between liking or disliking what someone is saying and blocking the proliferation of harmful lies.   Suppose you want to express the completely baseless claim that Joe Biden traffics cocaine and little boys.  Go for it, if you’re prepared to deal with the resultant slander cases that may result.

But can you expect that all media institutions, that may have standards about truth, have the obligation to publish and help you disseminate that?  Does the First Amendment force electronic or print media sources to publish your bull****?

No, it doesn’t.

 

 

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Here’s a video that will test your understanding of physics, if you don’t have a 5th or 6th grade education. It’s a wind turbine on a kite powered by eight motors that push the device into and  through the wind (or something like that).

If you respond, “Well, you’re not going to get more energy out of this than you put into it, you have what it takes to graduate into junior high school.

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Check out the meme here, and then realize: it’s not quite right.

This excluded the amoral rich.  Most rich people know that Trump is terrible for the country and the world at large, but he’s fabulous for them personally, and they couldn’t care less about anyone but themselves.

They make huge campaign contributions in exchange for tax breaks, and those gifts are worth every nickel.

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Here’s a fabulous graphical presentation on how economic growth going forward and the proliferation of clean energy solutions are, in fact, one in the same.

It’s from the Years Project, whose mission is “to compel measurable and effective action on climate change through trusted storytelling across all media.” And damn, they’re good at it.

 

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From a reader:

What are farmers doing besides feeding the rest of us? A NASA satellite found some odd readings over the United States. Global warming proponents thought they were onto something. They were surprised to find this image was a manifestation of the force of farming in the United States. This satellite image shows the photosynthesis of America’s 100 million acre Corn crop. Further research found the US corn crop, at it’s (sic) peak, produces 40% more oxygen than the Amazon rain forest. Thank you farmers. (more…)

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Regarding the suggestion here about writing in cursive, a friend writes: Handwriting is an essential skill, helps develop individuality, hand-eye coordination and a more intimate form of communication not deluged with mechanical devices. One’s signature and the sadly endangered art of the hand-written letter. Bring it back!!! (more…)

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Right this moment, 11.6% more Americans disapprove of Trump than approve of him.  This is according to fivethirtyeight.com, a composite “metastudy” of different surveys, weighted in favor of the most recent.  Yesterday, the figure was 10.4%, so this has moved dramatically in the very recent past. (more…)

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Watching half a nation full of people whipped into a frenzy of hate and ignorance, one’s initial reaction is a mixture of pity and amusement. As David Bowie said, “Oh man, look at those cavemen go!”

The problem, of course, is all the damage that’s being done along the way and how much time and effort will be required to repair it:  racial distrust, antagonism, and violence; international embarrassment; environmental collapse; a pandemic with no end in sight; the breakdown of rule of law; and a terrible blow to the rights of women, LGBTQ, and people of color.

The sooner he goes, the sooner we can start to rebuild.

 

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Here’s a development that’s been a long time in the making: windows that, as they receive heat from the hot, undergo chemical/physical changes and become solar panels.

Glass that changes color when light is incident on it has been around for probably half a century; oldsters recall the “photogray” eyeglasses of the early 1970s. More recent developments have made it electronic and switchable on demand, and scaled it up to window size, largely for the purpose of protecting secret operations from prying eyes. (more…)

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From this:

James Murdoch quit media empire (that includes Fox News) because it was ‘legitimizing disinformation’ and slams ‘crazy’ Trump for ‘infecting the US with cruelty’ and downplaying COVID

The youngest son of media mogul Rupert Murdoch told the New York Times about his decision to break free from the family business

James Murdoch, 47, said he ‘pulled the rip cord’ from the family empire because he was ‘increasingly uncomfortable’ with News Corp and Fox  (more…)

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