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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Politics

The words of journalist Dan Rather here remind us of something happening here in the United States that doesn’t seem to be changing over time.  Americans’ perceptions of Donald Trump fall into one of three categories:

He’s a vile criminal, and the thought of his leading this formerly great nation is nauseating.

He may not be a fine person, but his policies are so far superior to the Democrats’ that we need to overlook any of his imperfections.

God sent us Trump, an honest and strong person, to lead us away from the communist, woke sissies that would otherwise take over this nation.

 

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Politics

Perhaps the most important criterion for determining if a certain group is a cult is as follows: Its leader is always right.  In other words, if it appears to you that the leader made a mistake, it is you who are confused, ignorant, etc.

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Sustainability

It’s good to see this concept gaining ground.

We have the resources to deal with each of our civilization’s woes: starvation, destitution, ignorance, baking temperatures, and so on.  All we need is the political will.

 

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Politics

Every year, almost exactly one million American citizens of Hispanic descent turn 18 and become eligible to vote.

When this figure first came to light, progressives cheered.  After all, we wondered, won’t virtually every one of these young people embrace the liberal values that apply to them and their families?  One would think that all Latin0 voters, almost to a person, would favor the party that supports:

 • Humane treatment of immigrants, especially those with babies and young children, many  of whom walked hundreds, some thousands of miles, in an attempt to cross our southern border

 • Conformity to the domestic and international laws that pertain here (to which we continually thumb our collective noses)

 • Continuation of DACA, many of whose recipients are now teaching our kids’ math and chemistry

 • The people who pick our vegetables, clean our houses, watch our children, wash our restaurant dishes, all while contributing to our tax base

Trump’s plan is to command law enforcement to drive through our cities and towns, rounding up and detaining the undocumented, then deporting them to their countries of origin.  How appealing does that sound?

OK, now check out the graphic above.  How is it possible Trump steadily gained ground in the last two elections?

 

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Science

Please take a second to read this dialog between Stephen Colbert and Neil DeGrasse Tyson.  Is this what would have surprised Carl Sagan most?

I doubt it.  From what I can remember, he had a low opinion of our civilization when it came to our intellectual curiosity, thirst for truth, and demand for evidence to support our beliefs.

Of course, things have gotten much worse in the nearly 30 years since he left us, but I don’t think that would have surprised him either.

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Politics

MLK’s famous quote at left and that from lesser-known Pittsburgh sportswriter Harry Psaros (below) seem to be saying essentially the same thing, i.e., that small but steady improvements are possible, and that they’re the best we can hope for.

Before Donald Trump was reelected and replaced seasoned, highly respected individuals in the highest levels of the U.S. federal government with grossly unqualified lackeys, I might have believed this.

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Fossil Fuels

Here  at 2GreenEnergy we’ve discussed the externalities of fossil fuel consumption hundreds of times since our inception in 2009.  An externality is a term in economics, meaning the costs associated with transactions that are shifted off to unwary third parties.

Here is a good example: currently, the oil industry sells gasoline and diesel to be used in vehicles with internal combustion vehicles.  Yet it’s not the oil companies, but rather the entirety of Earth’s population, that absorbs the costs of the damage to our lungs, air pollution, global warming, etc.

Here’s a fabulous piece that looks at a tiny little sliver of this: the costs associated with the mining of coal in Appalachia, then shipped through the ports of Eastern Virginia all around the globe.

If you had children who coughed 365 days per year, or you had air duct filters that needed to be changed every two weeks because they were blackened by coal dust,  you’d be looking for a solution here, and that solution would involve, at a minimum, having the coal companies reimbursing your costs.

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Sustainability

Good quote here, but I’m wondering if the death of empathy and the fall into barbarism aren’t the same thing.

In any case, life here in the United States is most certainly marked by our gross indifference to the suffering of other people.

There are many examples, but our treatment of immigration may be at the top of this list.  Trump became our next president by convincing a majority of voters in 31 out of 50 states that “vermin” are flooding across our southern border.

Many Americans are aware that there are both domestic and international laws that provide a certain set of rights to asylum seekers.  But, generally, we couldn’t care less, and simply want them denied entry into the United States, regardless of how overtly criminal this act is.  Or, in the situation in which they do get in, we want them rounded up and deported.

The cruel policy of separating children  from their parents is supported by close to 100% of Trump supporters.

 

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Fossil Fuels

I had to laugh when a reader sent me the meme here, because I spent most of my career in marketing, writing statements intended to win people over. I hope my own weren’t this ludicrous, however.

What does it mean to say that being in favor of a fossil fuel is “who I am?” It’s equivalent to saying, “I have a financial interest in this form of energy, and I don’t care that it’s baking the planet.”

Everybody else who knows anything about the subject is in favor of the quickest feasible transition away from fossil fuels in favor of renewables and nuclear, i.e., the decarbonization of our energy and transportation sectors.

 

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Politics

It’s been proven over the past few years that making claims like the one in the billboard here is a worthless, and perhaps even self-defeating activity.  Those who believe in things like false prophets, the Great Deceiver, the anti-Christ and the rest also believe that Trump was sent by God to save America.

That was established long ago; it’s not worth anyone’s time and money to try to refute it.

Given that we live in a land where Matt Gaetz can be appointed Attorney General one day, we could have Mike Lindell (Mr. Pillow) or Marjorie Taylor Greene appointed Surgeon General the next.

I’m far past the point where I expect anything coming from Trump to conform to reason.

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