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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Politics

Here’s a prediction from former federal prosecutor Elizabeth de la Vega on the Manhattan DA’s indictment against Trump that is rumored to be coming tomorrow.

All I can say in response is “I damn well hope so.”

As the world waits anxiously, we all trust that the scope of the crimes is such that it would have warranted charges against anyone, and that they are clearly not politically motivated.

In any case, wouldn’t this better be done after Fulton Country Georgia indicts Trump on a crime several orders of magnitude larger, i.e., trying to overthrow the United States federal government?

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Politics

I know I’ve made this point before, but I feel some level of sympathy for the foot-soldiers of the insurrection.

These are people who broke what they believed to be an immoral set of laws, and were ordered to do it by the person they believed to be the rightful President of the United States.

Following the surrender of the Confederacy, the Union could have prosecuted not only the South’s highest ranking officers, but every single person who took up arms against our country.

This, of course, heightens the imperative to prosecute Trump and his co-conspirators at the top.

 

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Politics

I’m suspicious of the flag here.  In particular, I doubt that they have sold a single one, because I don’t think even the dumbest pseudo-patriot / faux-Christian would want to make such an asinine statement about himself.

Now, it’s true that I have not been in the backwoods of the Deep South, but we have our fair share of Trump supporters here in this rural part of Central California.  There are even a few flags here and there is support of the former president, but nothing this idiotic.

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Climate Change

Here’s an excerpt from legendary environmentalist Bill McKibben’s appearance on Democracy Now! earlier today, in which he points out how insane our civilization’s response is to climate change.

ConocoPhillips, which is developing that ill-begotten project up in the Arctic, has tens of billions of dollars of loans from the banks that we’re talking about. The (big banks) keep funneling them money so that they can do these kind of projects. And, I mean, that one is just absolutely emblematic of the insanity. They’re going to have to literally refreeze the ground up there before they’re able to — the ground that they have melted, before they’re able to drill again for yet more oil.

But it’s not just up in the Arctic. Look at what’s happening in Africa. Cyclone Freddy blows across Malawi, leaving huge devastation, while Total, the French energy giant, and others are busy trying to build a giant oil pipeline across the heart of Africa. This is — as the IPCC said yesterday, this is really the battle for the future of planet Earth.

McKibben, however, is not giving up, noting that people of all ages are protesting this lunacy in numbers never before seen, and divesting from fossil fuel companies as well.

I had the honor of meeting him at a Bioneers conference pre-pandemic; he is quite a powerhouse.

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Politics

As long as there are huge numbers of Americans who reject what the rest of the developed world has learned about the connection between gun control legislation and the lessening of gun violence, there will be politicians who will happily sell our children’s lives to make possible their next term in office.

Regardless of how stupid you may happen to be, I hope you don’t get a call asking you to identify your kid’s lifeless body, shot to pieces, in your local morgue.

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Sustainability

At left we see a reminder of what mega-billionaire David Koch said when asked, regarding taxation, what he thinks is fair.  He responded, “I get to keep my money.”

Yes, there really are people who don’t recognize that they live in a functioning society.  We are all the beneficiaries of national defense, criminal justice, fire fighting, law enforcement, libraries, FEMA, airports and other elements of infrastructure, etc.

If most of us were suddenly thrust into wealth of tens of billions of dollars, we’d be a bit less despicable.

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Politics

In my recent post: Can Trump’s Supporters Overthrow the U.S. Government?, I made the points that a) some of the lower level military people are Trump supporters, but that b) if the military is engaged against an uprising, the orders given to the foot-soldiers will include the line: As your commanding officer, I’ll do my best to make sure that anyone who commits treason against his country spends 20+ years in prison.  

In response, a reader comments: Support for Trump right now is 36%, and there is no reason to think that it’s any higher or lower in the military.  

Actually, it does happen to be different in the military; in fact, it’s much lower.  I base this on the facts that:

According to a poll conducted by the Military Times, approval of Trump was far less than 50% while he was in office, and it was especially dismal among officers.

These people, from buck private to full general, regard themselves as people of high integrity and loyalty to our country and its constitution.  They didn’t sign up to get rich; they chose a career path based on devotion to a worthy cause.  I’m not saying that real estate agents, stock brokers, and truck drivers are indifferent to honor, but, for those who carry guns to defend our country, it’s all that matters.

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Politics

No one, regardless of their intelligence, broadcasts messages that they know make them look stupid.

Even around this rural, “God and country” part of Central California, which is dominated by Republicans, the Trump flags and bumper stickers have slowly vanished over time, as it became clear–even to these people–that Trump is a criminal.

My point is that these messages simply go away; they are not replaced with signs that read, “I voted for Trump, but I came to realize that I’d been conned.”

 

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Politics
As they say, Pennsylvania is Philadelphia and Pittsburgh with Alabama in the middle.
Here’s Lloyd Smucker, a mis-representative from PA, district 11.
An election denier
Objected to certification of electoral college votes
Voted against impeachment or conviction of Donald Trump for inciting an insurrection
Voted against creating an independent commission to investigate the Jan. 6 attack
Voted against holding Steve Bannon in contempt of Congress
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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Politics

Not according to the author of the meme here, who seems to be asserting that our military will prevent such an occurrence.

The caveat I see here is that some of the lower level military people are, at the same time, Trump supporters.

However, the leaders of the armed forces are intelligent people, strictly loyal to defending the Constitution, rather than a criminal conman.  If the military is engaged, the orders given to the foot-soldiers will include the line: As your commanding officer, I’ll do my best to make sure that anyone who commits treason against his country will spend 20+ years in prison.  

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