Over 2,000 people without masks at a huge sand bar bash at Lake Butte des Morts (translates to “Hill of the Dead”) in Oshkosh, Wisconsin yesterday.
Given that we live in a country of selfish morons, getting a handle on this pandemic is going to be extremely difficult.
There is no reason to doubt that the fossil fuel industry is pouring money into the coffers of President Donald Trump’s re-election campaign; after all, he is an outspoken and dedicated ally, and it’s easy to see how keeping him in the White House would be thought to be a key tactic for near-term success.
But what role does money play, in a world so polarized? If I were forced to look at 10 ads per day trying to convince me that Biden is a child-molester, that global warming is a hoax, or that a Biden victory means the demise of organized society, do you think I’d vote for Trump?
Holy cats. Check out the last three paragraphs of this obituary.
Expect to see more anger as the weeks pass and the death toll rises.
Of course, about one-third of American voters continue to believe Trump is doing an adequate-or-better job in handling the pandemic, but that figure is falling every day.
Let’s make a few projections for the next three months as the election nears. Trump is on the golf course, people are dying, and it’s becoming increasingly clear that an honest and competent president could have eliminated most of the carnage.
He could more easily be knighted by the Queen than be re-elected president.
About 2% of all natural gas produced in the U.S. leaks into the atmosphere before reaching the end customer – about 600 billion cubic feet each year, or the annual gas consumption in Virginia.
This, of course, is one of the key arguments that advocates of nuclear energy use against renewables, i.e., because solar and wind are intermittent, they need to be backed up, and that normally means with new gas plants. (more…)
There’s a lot of content in this one little photograph. The eye goes initially to the thin women, gazing peacefully forward, holding the “love” sign, but then soon moves to the gloved hand of the thug who’s constricting the neck of her friend behind her.
The mind races. How is the possible anywhere on Earth, and especially in the United States? Why are the police making it so hard for the protests to end? We’re trying to put a halt to brutality and unnecessary force–and by “we” I mean the vast majority of Americans, supported by people all around the globe–and this complete ass**** is using his thumb to compress the windpipe of a 95-pound girl?
Another rhetorical question: Are these cops so stupid that they don’t know there are cameras everywhere? They think they can commit battery and not be noticed?
One of the few good things that’s coming out of the white supremacist movement is our ability to improve our understanding of the laws in various states that address assault and battery. Check this out.
(more…)
Socrates would do what he’ll always be remembered for: hosting a series of dialogues with people who had certain ideas going in, but who were willing to think differently by the time they got up to leave. And there’s the problem: there are damn few of these people in 21st Century America. (more…)
This is not a post on astronomy, but on science generally, and its importance to society.
As suggested in the text at the bottom, though we knew that the Milky Way is a spiral-shaped galaxy, we didn’t know until recently that this spiral disk doesn’t sit flat on the galactic plane.
Perhaps the real import of this discovery is a reminder: that we now know more than we did last month doesn’t invalidate any aspect of astronomy as it existed up to that point; this is simply the way science works. (more…)
This proud member of the “master race” is making a very important, albeit unintentional point about the current state of affairs in America, and it’s not so good, is it?
We can only imagine how the rest of the world regards this country and what it’s become.
If anything good comes from the Trump presidency, it’s very likely to be that nearly every American now follows current events, and politics in particular. The sign in front of the Trinity Baptist Church shown here is evidence that many previously apolitical institutions have decided that sitting on the sidelines at a time of moral crisis is in and of itself an immoral act. (more…)
