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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Uncategorized

There has been much discussion concerning the relationship between educational levels and political leanings.  There is no doubt, for instance, that one is more likely to encounter a Trump supporter running a hardware store in rural Mississippi than teaching cardiology in a university hospital in Massachusetts.

Let’s grant that there is a strong correlation here; after all, Trump says that he “loves the uneducated.” But is there causation?  Does education actively reduce the tendency to adopt Trumpist principles?

I’ll end this here and hope for a few comments that attempt to answer the matter.

 

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Politics

The numbers at left re-enforce my belief that Lincoln should have accepted the secession of the Confederacy in 1861, telling them:

So long.  Sorry your slaves will have to suffer, but it won’t be long until you, a pariah nation, simply implodes from things like lack of innovation and trading partners.  By 1870, a few small gangs of Mexican banditos will come across the border and blow you fools to bits.

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Politics
Retired news journalist Dan Rather notes: Momentum appears to have moved in the direction of Biden/Harris. But with the election still months away, we need to remind ourselves that everyone who cares about the country needs to pay attention and get involved.
I would say that the momentum is shifting away from Trump, though, of course, these are equivalent statements.
My sense is that anyone who believes that Biden has performed admirably in terms of the economy, gun control, renewable energy, banking regulation, drug prices, etc. has long since come to that realization.
By contrast, the steady drumbeat about Trump and his crimes seems to be slowly eroding his support.  So what if these people are, in fact, deplorable in their character?  They’re nonetheless human beings, and their behavior is therefore, at some level, predictable.  Some of them are getting sick of the Big Lie and hearing the utter crap concerning their hero’s persecution by the Justice Department, the Deep State, and whatever other hobgoblins they believe are pestering the former president.
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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Politics

I had to laugh when I saw this, and how illustrative it is of the conditions of abject stupidity in which this country lives right now.

Sure, all presidential campaigns seek to make the differences between a candidate and his opponent as clear as possible, even if that means exaggeration.

But seriously?  He won’t be a dictator?

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Politics

Is someone suggesting that there should be some factual accuracy in what Trump says?

If he’s proven anything since his arrival on the U.S. political scene, it’s that lies are just as good as the truth in the minds of his supporters.

It sure will be good to get through this ghastly period in our nation’s history.

 

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Politics
America could never warm up to Hillary, though this never made sense to most of us.  “What exactly don’t you like about her?” we’d ask.
A reader notes: What a loss for America when we lost her as POTUS.  And got satan instead.
True.  Think about where we’d be right now in terms of things like environmental and social justice.  Think of what our news stories would be about.
Would Russia have been emboldened to attack Ukraine?
Mostly, of course, we wouldn’t be teetering on the edge of authoritarianism, centered around a man with tens of millions of heavily armed hateful white nationalists in support.
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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Climate Change

I spend a decent amount of time trying to improve my understanding of particle physics and quantum mechanics.  The subject is difficult, but it’s important in our world today, and therefore I believe it’s worth some of my resources.

By contrast, the subject of climate science is a piece of cake.  The reason that Venus has a higher surface temperature than Mercury, even though the former is farther from the sun, is that it has an atmosphere that traps in heat that would otherwise be reradiated back into space.

Here on Earth, rising concentrations of greenhouse gases, especially CO2, are causing our planet’s temperature to increase.  Sure there are feedback loops that complicate all this to some degree, but the basic theory of anthropogenic global warming is something I could explain to an average 10-year-old.

Yet millions of people believe that our so-called “scientists” are driven by politics to create and defend theories that are not corroborated by actual evidence.

It just seem so unlikely to me that a few thousand people who have been studying Earth’s climate all their adult lives, and live at the very top of their field, are conspiring to fabricate lies.

 

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Politics

Unless a U.S. president dies in office and is replaced by the VP, the role of vice president is normally a small one indeed.  That may be even more the case with milquetoast Mike Pence, though his actions on January 6, 2021 will enshrine him in history as he certified the 2020 vote, and then escaped Trump’s vigilantes who were threatening to hang him outside the Capitol building.

In any case, we need to ask ourselves how important it may be to the outcome of the 2024 election that Pence will not endorse his former boss. Does the typical Trump supporter care?  If you truly believe that restoring Trump to the White House is what this country needs, does it matter what Pence or anyone else believes?

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Politics

The thought expressed here was very definitely part of the American zeitgeist at the time (mid-20th Century), but it has largely fallen out of favor since then.

As a friend told me probably 30 years ago, the motto of the Republican party might as well be: “I’ve got mine. Go to hell.”

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Climate Change

The meme here is powerful, but there is no evidence that such a moment will actually arrive.

Of course, it’s possible that humankind will find itself on the precipice of some sort of collapse, perhaps, via environmental decay, and there will be a massive movement uniting all the peoples of Earth.

Uncountable works of science fiction have been based on this premise.  Could happen.

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