Home › Blog › Page 39

by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Climate Change

It would be great to see the United States make substantial investments in climate change mitigation, and certainly the Inflation Reduction Act is an excellent start here.

Even better would be our nation’s leading the way towards a broad, international coalition in this space. If we can’t help to solve this problem for highly populated developing countries, this planet will bake itself over the next couple of decades.

The sad truth, of course, is that the United States, with the incoming Trump administration is moving in the opposite direction.  Trump claims that climate change is a hoax, will undoubtedly kill the Inflation Reduction Act, and will double-down on the consumption of fossil fuels.

Tagged with: , ,

by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Politics

I often quote Pavlovitz; he is a true humanitarian, and an extremely insightful human being.

Tagged with:

by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Politics

British particle physicist Brian Cox is one of those incredibly bright fellows who doesn’t mind being in the public eye, and making observations that transcend science itself.

What he says here about stupidity is interesting.  I would only add that the problem here isn’t actually stupidity itself, but rather that recently we’ve come to accept and, in fact, glorify it.

Think back 20 years, and try to imagine a United States that elected, and then re-elected Donald Trump.  You cannot do it; it’s inconceivable.

Tagged with:

by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Politics

Gotta give this map-maker credit. Obviously, none of this is ever going to happen, but the sentiment here is spot-on.

Some speculate that the talk about Canada, Greenland, the “Gulf of America,” and Panama is a distraction from the issues of lowering consumer prices.

 

Tagged with: ,

by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Politics

I don’t know exactly what percentage of Canadians feel the same way this guy does, but I bet it’s very close to 100.

Canadians tend to be sane, intelligent, and warm people.  They’re the antimatter of the MAGA Trump base.

Tagged with:

by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Politics

From the Associated Press:

PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) — President-elect Donald Trump on Tuesday said he would not rule out the use of military force to seize control of the Panama Canal and Greenland, as he declared U.S. control of both to be vital to American national security.

Speaking to reporters less than two weeks before he takes office on Jan. 20 and as a delegation of aides and advisers that includes Donald Trump Jr. is in Greenland, Trump left open the use of the American military to secure both territories. Trump’s intention marks a rejection of decades of U.S. policy that has prioritized self-determination over territorial expansion.

“I’m not going to commit to that,” Trump said, when asked if he would rule out the use of the military. “It might be that you’ll have to do something. The Panama Canal is vital to our country.” He added, “We need Greenland for national security purposes.”

Trump has also inquired about the prospects of getting his bust carved as the fifth American president on Mount Rushmore.

Maybe there’s a connection between the viewpoints of a criminal sociopath and his interest in destroying our country’s relationships with our international allies.  Not sure.

Tagged with: ,

by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Politics

This from a reader.  My response:

Well, I appreciate your bravado, but I question your understanding of the magnitude of the power that the U.S. federal government has over the common American.  Unless we make major changes quickly, you will live in a country that has:

• Committed to make rich people richer and poor people poorer, by looting the treasury to provide billionaires with ever larger tax advantages.

• Rejected science as the pillar in policymaking.

• Abandoned any pretense it may have had towards environmental responsibility.

• Sent women back to positions of inferiority.

I’m not saying that there is nothing you can do about this, but denial isn’t a road to a solution.

 

Tagged with:

by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Politics

As a few brave congressional Republicans stay the course and maintain their integrity under the most ferocious opposition from Donald Trump, all the rest of the civilized world can say is well done.

 

Tagged with:

by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Business

How is it possible that, with American unemployment rates so low, there seems to be such an appalling lack of staff in key trades–in everything from retail to healthcare?

So often we hear, “No one wants to work anymore,” but does that really make sense?  People would rather live in their parents’ basements?  Hitchhike?  Scrounge for food in dumpsters?  Live under freeway overpasses?

As suggested at left, it’s more likely that “Few people want to work anymore under truly oppressive conditions.”

Perhaps the truth is that life in the corporate world, unless you’re the CEO, has gone from merely stressful to truly hellish–within just the past few decades.  From 1978 to 2022, CEO compensation shot up 1,209.2% compared with a 15.3% increase in a typical worker’s compensation. In 2022, CEOs were paid 344 times as much as a typical worker in contrast to 1965 when they were paid 21 times as much as a typical worker.

It’s hard to rejoice for young people in the workforce in these conditions, and especially for young parents, whose kids will grow up under financial duress that’s hard to imagine.

Tagged with:

by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Politics

The statement at left has a certain surface-level appeal, but it’s inaccurate.

What’s true:

The United States was started by rich white male landowners, and its original laws were put into place to maintain the dominance of the wealthy Europeans.

The subjugation of blacks, immigrants, and the native peoples further cemented the hegemony of the upper class whites.

What’s also true:

Throughout most of its history, the U.S. has seen times where the common American somehow succeeded in grabbing a significant amount of power: the abolitionists of the mid-19th Century, the women’s suffragists, the anarchists of the early 20th Century, organized labor, the New Deal, the post-WW2 booming affluence of the middle class, Brown vs. Board of Ed., and the Civil Rights Act.

It really wasn’t until the neoliberalism that blossomed under Reagan that the super-rich forged a way to use their wealth to take control of our lawmaking processes, and the United States began its path toward oligarchy.

Tagged with: , , , , , , , , ,