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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Sustainability

Yes, McDonald’s can pay its employees in the states more, but it doesn’t have to, so it won’t.

Like every other law in the United States, the legislation that governs labor is made by people who receive enormous campaign donations from the wealthiest folks in the country, and guess what: they want wages as low as possible.

The fact that low-income wage earners are working two or three jobs, some living in their cars, is of no concern whatsoever to McDonald’s and its multi-millionaire franchisees.

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Politics

Our culture is deeply rooted in guns and violence.  And, as a nation taken as a whole, we seem to have very little capacity to pull ourselves out.

Tomorrow, next year, and a decade from now, it appears that we’ll still be talking about police department units with astronomically high rates of complaints of unnecessary brutality, and how our Second Amendment provides our citizens the right to carry weapons of war.

There will be funerals for young black men, a few police going to prison, and numerous protest demonstrations.

The meme here suggests just how powerless and frustrated we are.

Of course, the “blue lives matter” people will be asking if we want police to stop thwarting crime.  No.  We want to them to stop executing innocent black men, especially via torture. God damn it.

 

 

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Politics

My wife and I recently returned home after escorting my 96-year-old mother from a senior living facility in Hawaii to one we’re sure she’ll like far better in Richmond, VA, where she’ll be surrounded by numerous grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

Richmond is rich in U.S. history, especially that of the Civil War.  The Union army’s overtaking the city close to the end of the conflict was a turning point; the Confederacy was forced to evacuate, but before doing so, they did everything they could to burn Richmond to the ground.

Of course, everything made of wood was destroyed, but most of the large brick buildings survived.  At the time, they had industrial purposes; now they are condos and trendy eating and drinking establishments.

We were delighted to find that the smallish state capital is quite sophisticated, rife with well educated people and a robust social fabric. In particular, during three full days there, we didn’t see a single sign suggesting support for Trump or the Confederacy.

Mom is deeply conservative, but I think she will fit in here very well.  She has a profound appreciation for the  feelings of others, and is loath to engage in political discussions unless provoked, which is unlikely to happen.

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Climate Change

I just met a hydrology engineer who works for the U.S. Forest Service, which is an agency within the U.S. Department of Agriculture; it administers the nation’s 154 national forests and 20 national grasslands, managing 193 million acres of land.

The gentleman works primarily in disaster relief, following severe flood damage, which, sadly, we have in great abundance out here in (once again) sunny California.

I was gratified to learn that the Forest Service fully accepts climate science and the imperative to both mitigate and adapt to climate change.  He says, “Unfortunately, there are some agencies within the federal government that only pay lip service to that issue, but we are simple men and women of science.”

Good to know.

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Sustainability

A friend from college who resents “woke” culture sent the meme here.

I’m wondering what, in his mind, is the difference between “racism” and “people of color are oppressed.”

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Politics

There may be no proven answers to this question, but there are certainly some obvious candidates.

Let’s start here: he’s going to lose, and thus will have no power to return favors for rich donors.  This stands in stark contrast to what happened in 2016 – 2020, when Trump looted the U.S. Treasury to provide trillions of dollars of tax cuts for billionaires and the country’s wealthiest corporations.

Even if he’s not indicted on charges of tax evasion, fraud, extortion, witness intimidation, election tampering, theft of classified documents, seditious conspiracy or treason, the majority of Republicans, bless their hearts, prefer someone (anyone?) who isn’t a career criminal and traitor to the United States.

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Politics

Former South Carolina governor and UN ambassador Nikki Haley (Nimrata Nikki Randhawa Haley) will announce her candidacy for U.S. president on Wednesday.

Not much to see here, folks.  She’s a garden-variety conservative, though she doesn’t sport Donald Trump’s sociopathic tendencies.  She’s not a career criminal, a pathological liar, nor a spoiled child.

As a consequence, we can expect her to perform better in the election than, say, a traitor who desperately tried to overthrow the U.S. federal government.

Exactly how much better, however, remains to be seen.   It will depend on voters’ appetites for the current-day elements of the GOP platform: its enmity to LGBTQs, the poor, people of color, women’s rights, black history, epidemiology, and climate science.

 

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Sustainability

I believe that religion will come to play an ever-diminishing role in human civilization.

Of course, there is no reason to expect a straight decline, and there are phenomena in the United States right now, e.g.,  QAnon and the evangelicals, that represent huge anomalies.  Yet, if we have an organized society here in 100 years, there will be widespread adoption of science and rejection of superstition.

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Politics

Love the meme here.

Keep in mind, though, that the American right-wing has a humungous appetite for Ron DeSantis, a total ban on abortion, don’t say gay, removing black history from schools and colleges, forbidding cities from putting COVID restrictions into place, and rejecting climate science.

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Sustainability

To a question currently circulating on social media: What item from the 1970s should be brought back? an old friend answered: a counterculture.

I found that quite thought-provoking.  Don’t we have a counterculture today?

It’s possible that we have one, but it doesn’t look like it did 50 years ago?

Speaking for myself, the ultimate victory of progressive values in today’s world is all we require.  I don’t need long-haired freaky people; I need whatever Bernie Sanders (to pick a progressive at random) and everything that he stands for in terms of environmental stewardship, social equity, quality education and healthcare for all, a solid attempt at world peace, human rights, a single-tiered justice system, etc.

 

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