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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Politics

I was one of many hundreds of people in our little town in Central California who protested the murder of George Floyd in May of 2020.  In fact, there were Black Lives Matter supporters all around the world who spoke as one, to the effect that civilized society will not tolerate extra-judicial killing by those who are provided guns and given the responsibility to keep people safe.

One might think the killing of unarmed black people is so totally indefensible that the American people would unite and demand that this cease, but no, today’s Republicans are banning all school books that would inform our young people blacks are often treated more aggressively than white people in comparable situations.

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Sustainability

It would be easy to read this comment from Marcus Aurelius and conclude that it applies to QAnoners and other Trump supporters.  In fairness, however, I don’t think the average Trumper knowingly “continues in self-deception and ignorance.”

Rather, I believe that these people are simply of below average intelligence whose brains are wired to make them more likely to interpret the world around them as frightening and hostile.  This causes them to seek out and latch onto “news” sources that are nothing more than a stream of lies designed to keep their hateful audience members tuned in.

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Politics

Here’s one of a dozen or so reasons that Mike Pence will not become President of the United States, i.e., he aided and abetted countless felonies.

This in addition to his being a religious fanatic with a personality like that of a large bag of fertilizer.

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Nuclear

As explained here, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission will allow Diablo Canyon to continue operations for at least another year, on the basis that it is required for grid stability.

Sadly, many environmentalists carry erroneous views on the safety of nuclear power and fail to understand its importance in decarbonizing our energy and transportation sectors.

 

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Politics

There are so many bizarre elements of American society that it’s hard to know where to start. But to pick one from hundreds:

If you send your kid to Catholic school, expecting that she will be respected with Christian values like tolerance, love, and gentleness, you’re a fool.  Children in parochial schools routinely have the living s*** beaten out of them; that’s part of the policy.

Again, if you think “Sister Ethel,” as shown here, has a drop of mercy or kindness running through her dried-up soon-to-be-lifeless corpse, you’re an idiot.

 

 

 

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Politics

Here’s an opinion piece in the New York Times: Florida Could Start Looking a Lot Like Hungary, whose author points out that Ron DeSantis is using his political power to eradicate liberalism in Florida’s public schools as well as its colleges and universities, in much the same way that Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orban passed a law intended to drive Central European University, a prestigious school founded by a Hungarian refugee, George Soros, out of the country.

What happened in Hungary was protested by free-thinking intellectuals all over the world, but Orban ultimately got his way, and the university was relocated to Vienna.  Now, there is a strong conservative, nationalistic, and anti-immigrant influence in the way every young Hungarian is taught, from the time he enters school.

From this article: “Anti-Semitic authors will soon be compulsory reading in Hungarian schools, and history books will be rewritten to promote pride in the nation.  Viktor Orban’s controversial new school curriculum is drawing outrage.”

From the New York Times article: Under (Florida’s) House Bill 999, general education core courses couldn’t present a view of American history “contrary to the creation of a new nation based on universal principles stated in the Declaration of Independence,” creating obvious limits on the teaching of subjects like slavery and the Native American genocide. The bill also says that general education courses shouldn’t be based on “unproven, theoretical or exploratory content,” without defining what that means. “State officials would have unfettered discretion to determine which views are ‘theoretical’ and banned from general education courses,” says a statement by the libertarian-leaning Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression.

In an ironic twist, conservative Americans, whose values once favored limited government, now want government involved in the most intimate parts of their lives.  Try to image Reagan-era Republicans demanding to be told what their children must and must not be taught, via book bans and restrictions like those discussed above.

In a related story, soon after I was accepted at Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut, I learned that the only requirement in terms of coursework was a “freshman seminar.”  I chose, of perhaps 40 different options, “Liberal Education at Trinity.”  This seemed to be a good bet, given that a liberal art school was what I had chosen in the first place. The summer reading assignment was Plato’s “Protagoras,” aka “Can Virtue Be Taught?”

If present-day conservatives get their way and force us to remake our schools around rigid thinking in general and white supremacy in particular, we will have lost something quite valuable.  Critical thinking and the capacity to question authority was highly prized.  Now, at least in Florida, it’s on its way to becoming illegal.

 

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Climate Change

Here’s a video called “The Six Phases of Climate Change Denial,” which begins with our political leaders’ swearing that the whole phenomenon is a hoax.  We see the former president of the United States, Donald Trump, in action.

This clip was recorded about seven years ago, early in his political career, near the onset of the period during which he told more than 30,000 documented lies, but even today, very few of his supporters have lost any real measure of confidence in his integrity.

The video goes on from there, but don’t expect to feel good about humankind’s acceptance of science.

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Sustainability

Just as everyone over the age of 30 knows where they were when they learned that the World Trade Centers had been attacked, I know where I was and what I was doing when I heard that Kurt Vonnegut, one of my true heroes, had died.

What he said at left is one of the reasons for my reverence for the man.  He was one of the most insightful social critics who ever lived.

 

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Politics

At left is a reminder that some level of gun violence is essentially guaranteed if Trump is indicted.

Considering there are tens of millions of ignorant gun-nuts out there, it seems all but inevitable.

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Sustainability
From a reader:  Tennessee has the 8th highest murder rate in the nation. It ranks 44th among states for health outcomes. And this is what the Governor is focused on.
Yes, but it’s silly to expect governors in deep red states to address issues like health and prosperity, given that voters themselves couldn’t care less, and simply want to see minority groups punished.
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