As anyone could have predicted, the meat industry (through its innocuous-sounding front group “Center for Consumer Freedom”), spend $5 million on a Super Bowl ad in an attempt to dissuade viewers from trying The Impossible Burger or Beyond Meat. What ensued was equally foreseeable: a parody ad from the plant-based meat industry, which is hysterical, IMO.
All 17 U.S. intelligence agencies agree that Russia hacked the 2016 election in favor of Trump, and plan to do the same thing in 2020. Meanwhile congressional Republicans blocked legislation that would prevent this from January 2019 until criticism mounted to the point that Senator Mitch McConnell was finally forced to give up nine months later. How on Earth is that acceptable to anyone with the conscience of a rattlesnake?
Had I been in the Sunflower Bank conference room when this slogan was being considered, I would have point out that, while the slogan could be translated, “Spend money you have, not money you don’t,” and that’s a good thing:
a) The phrase “money doesn’t buy happiness” is one of the most well-recognized pearls of wisdom of all time.
b) Promoting the contrary is going to make us look stupid to some people, petty and money-grubbing to others.
We need to consider the words of George Orwell when acts of petty vengeance are taken against people who obey subpoenas and tell the truth under oath.
Yes, their words resulted in damage to the U.S. president, a man who tells, on average 12 – 13 lies per day and punishes critics as severely as possible, so the ouster of these honest men came as no surprise to anyone. But if this republic has any chance of survival, it will be realized only when some semblance of truth and honor is returned to the top echelon of government.
We commonly come across opinions as to how Trump gained the U.S. presidency, many of which contain the now-cliched metaphor of “the perfect storm,” meaning, in this case, the confluence of ignorance, financial hardship, a disdain for liberals, a fierce hatred of Hillary Clinton, and bottled up racism. (more…)
Reader Mark Sudia asks, “Are you aware that CO2 is Carbon Dioxide, which when absorbed by the plants causes them to produce the Air we breathe? So what do you think would happen if most of the CO2 was (sic) removed from the atmosphere? And please don’t think to (sic) hard about the answer.” (more…)
Rightfully, there is a great deal of hand-wringing about the American oligarchy, that our country is controlled a narrow set of billionaires, and that the common American has no voice in politics. Somehow, Michael Bloomberg’s entrance onto the seen has made people aware of this, as if for the first time. (more…)
Coal consumption continues to decline in the U.S., as plants around the country are shuttered, largely due to operational costs and inexpensive natural gas and renewable energy. As one might guess, however, this happy trend is not proceeding unencumbered. From the Environmental Working Group:
A coalition of leading national environmental and consumer protection groups today called on state lawmakers in Indiana to scrap legislation that would make it difficult for electric utilities to retire dirty, uneconomic coal-fired power plants. (more…)
The past few weeks have shown that the U.S. president can a) do whatever he wants with total impunity, and b) punish those whose acts of conscience command them to speak the truth in opposition. 
The wall that formerly separated the U.S. from an authoritarian regime has been effectively demolished.
We either turn this around immediately, or we surrender the freedoms for which our brave ancestors fought and died.
Strange news seems to be limitless in supply. From this article:
The UK’s phase-out date of unabated coal power is to be brought forward by one year to 2024, Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced today as he officially kicked off the countdown to this autumn’s COP26 Climate Summit in Glasgow. (more…)
