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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Politics

As the ultra-right political movement in the U.S. continues to move even further to the fringes, human rights are finding themselves squeezed.  On the chopping block now, for the first time in the last 50 years, are women’s abortion rights.

Wisconsin is one of those states like Pennsylvania, which, as a friend told me the other day, is “Philadelphia and Pittsburgh with Alabama in the middle,” i.e., concentrations of educated urbanites surrounded by tens of thousands of square miles of Trump supporters.

Mandela Barnes, whose statement we see above, is trailing GOP extremist Ron Johnson by 2% in the polls.  I wish him well, but this doesn’t look good.

 

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Politics

Why isn’t Hershel Walker down 25 points in the polls?

It’s because Republican are showering him with endorsements and huge donations.

That he’s criminally insane doesn’t matter a goddamn thing.

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Politics

From this:

The Washington Post reports that it will present new evidence that former President Donald Trump blew off warnings of imminent violence from his supporters.

As the Post puts it, the evidence will show that Trump “was repeatedly alerted to brewing violence that day, and he still sought to stoke the conflict” that culminating in his supporters violently rioting at the Capitol and sending lawmakers fleeing for their lives.

If this can be corroborated, it eliminates any doubt that Trump should be arrested and charged with sedition.

Anyone can understand that indicting a former president, especially on who is still likely to attempt a second term in office, is likely to draw protest to the effect that it is politically motivated and bound to create reprisals.  But the evidence here is so clear, and the crime so egregious, that the Justice Department has no other option.

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Sustainability

Do you ever cut up avocados for use in a salad?  Tired of using a knife that takes perhaps 15 seconds?  Want a specialized device that takes at least as long, then needs to be washed and stored? If so, this latest utensil for American idiots has your name on it.

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Politics

Americans have reason to be cynical about the honesty of their politicians, so it shouldn’t come as a surprise when an apparently sincere Republican U.S. representative (in this case, Mike Gallagher) switches from being a supporter of justice to a Trump lackey overnight.

I would think, however, that it would be a poor decision from a practical perspective.  Doesn’t it make you look like a lying ass**** to voters in both political parties simultaneously?

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Politics

Many Americans think of their country as a “Christian nation.” Yet the teachings of Jesus are virtually nonexistent in the way we treat other people.

Characteristically, the Pope, a deeply compassionate and humanitarian figure, is unhappy about this.  Perhaps unhappy is too mild a word; furious is better.

Yet, based on the way the media coverage of American politics is so profoundly hate-based, dealing with our xenophobia is next to impossible.  No hate means no gripping news, no ratings for the incendiary cable channels, and ultimately no votes for the demagogues.

That dog don’t hunt.

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Sustainability

“It was among the strongest feelings of grief I have ever encountered. The contrast between the vicious coldness of space and the warm nurturing of Earth below filled me with overwhelming sadness. Every day, we are confronted with the knowledge of further destruction of Earth at our hands: the extinction of animal species, of flora and fauna . . . things that took five billion years to evolve, and suddenly we will never see them again because of the interference of mankind. It filled me with dread. My trip to space was supposed to be a celebration; instead, it felt like a funeral.”

It’s not uncommon for space travelers to have profound thoughts as they look back at the Blue Planet. When I was in grade school in the 60s, we watched a movie in which an early astronaut related his feelings of awe that there are “no lines, no borders” on the Earth’s surface.  All the force we apply to divide up the planet into (often warring) countries is entirely artificial.

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Business

Since my college days almost 50 years ago, I’ve believed that the United States is experiencing the unsustainable end game of unbridled capitalism, i.e., that we were seeing winners win and the losers lose.

I graduated in 1977, just before the base year of the comparison in wages between CEOs and workers, shown at left.  As is apparent, things have only gotten worse since then.

Moreover, workers are becoming unnecessary in most industries, as automation replaces human labor.  This is why union busting today is like shooting fish in a barrel: workers have no leverage, and nowhere to go.

 

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Sustainability

People who don’t vote in their best interests come in two varieties. Ironically, they’re polar opposites:

Altruists.  Many people with no kids in school vote for school bond issues because education is important to society. The same can be said about people with health insurance voting for universal healthcare, and the list goes on.

Idiots.  Many of the people who voted for Trump, especially in 2020, believe that tax breaks for billionaires create jobs, that environmental responsibility hurts the economy, that the former president is bringing jobs back from overseas, that Jews are replacing them, and, most glaringly, that the U.S. medical industry is conspiring to shut down the American economy and social fabric with pandemic remedies that have no scientific value.

Strange days indeed.

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Politics

This reminds me of the response a fellow from Sweden gave me, when I asked about his country’s perception of Trump: “We simply feel sorry for you.  Not one of us thought this could ever happen in the United States.”

This, as we all know, is quite a dramatic shift.  Until 2016, at least since the turn of the 20th Century, the U.S. was the envy of the world, especially in regard to its respect for rule of law.  How ironic is that?

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