Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

A snarling mass of vitriolic jackals

The willow is too close to the house.

Our job is not to persuade republicans but to defeat them.

Whoever he was, that guy was nuts.

Optimism opens the door to great things.

You cannot shame the shameless.

Putin must be throwing ketchup at the walls.

fuckem (in honor of the late great efgoldman)

Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Historically it was a little unusual for the president to be an incoherent babbling moron.

When someone says they “love freedom”, rest assured they don’t mean yours.

This really is a full service blog.

Fuck these fucking interesting times.

If senate republicans had any shame, they’d die of it.

Hot air and ill-informed banter

Despite his magical powers, I don’t think Trump is thinking this through, to be honest.

And now I have baud making fun of me. this day can’t get worse.

Not all heroes wear capes.

I did not have this on my fuck 2022 bingo card.

Americans barely caring about Afghanistan is so last month.

Tick tock motherfuckers!

Make the republican party small enough to drown in a bathtub.

Russian mouthpiece, go fuck yourself.

It’s always darkest before the other shoe drops.

You are here: Home / Politics / Biden Administration in Action / Thursday Morning Open Thread: Earth Day

Thursday Morning Open Thread: Earth Day

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  3. 3.

    Betty Cracker

    It’s in the mid-50s here this morning, and I left all the windows open last night because I didn’t know it would be so cold. Brrr!

  6. 6.

    OzarkHillbilly

    Dog breaks loose to win relay race in US high school track event – video

    A pet dog escaped its owners to join the home stretch of a 4×200 metre relay race at a high school athletics meet in Utah. The dog, Holly, can been seen running on to the track to chase Logan high school’s Gracie Laney down the home straight. Holly clocked the final 100m in about 10.5 seconds, which is 1 second behind Usain Bolt’s world record, track and field website MileSplit reported. The crowd roared as the dog overtook Laney just before the finishing line, almost tripping her over. Race officials still awarded Logan a win for the heat with a time of 1 minute 59.27 seconds. Video courtesy of FloSports & MileSplit

  10. 10.

    Ken

    Does anyone have WaPo access? I’m curious in that last tweet where the money for the extended school lunches is coming from. TFG ignored budgets (and Congress) for pet programs, but I would have though the new administration would be better.

  12. 12.

    Robert Sneddon

    @germy: ​
     

    Yep. It’s not just the amount of CO2 in the atmosphere from burning fossil carbon is going up, the rate at which it’s being added is also increasing (about 3 parts per million each year).

    Back in 1997 the Kyoto Protocols said, loud and clear, that high levels of CO2 was a bad thing and we should stop burning fossil fuels now. CO2 levels were 360 ppm at that time. The Paris accords in 2015, same thing only louder. CO2 levels had climbed to 400 ppm by that time. Today they’re about 418ppm.

  15. 15.

    Frankensteinbeck

    @rikyrah:

    Does anyone really miss the anxiety driven attention we had to pay to Trump.

    I held up better than I think anyone here, but it left me wounded.  The anxiety has come after, a mix of waiting for the other shoe to drop and exhaustion.  In particular, I have no strength to argue anymore, which makes me much less active here.  Maybe it’s four years of talking people down off the doom porn panic ledge, and now that everyone will be okay I’ve collapsed.

  18. 18.

    OzarkHillbilly

    Marjorie Taylor Greene
    Flag of United States
    @mtgreenee
    ·
    Apr 20
    DC is completely dead tonight. People stayed in and were scared to go out because of fear of riots.
    Police are everywhere and have riot gear. #BLM is the strongest terrorist threat in our county.

    Joe [email protected]
    Replying to
    @mtgreenee
    Huh? This was DC: (video)

    In all fairness, that video is rather graphic. I can understand why a racist pos would be so terrified by such sights.

  20. 20.

    WereBear

    @Frankensteinbeck: Maybe it’s four years of talking people down off the doom porn panic ledge, and now that everyone will be okay I’ve collapsed.

     
    I so understand that. I think the anxiety has lessened enough for me to realize just how completely burned out the lunatic last four years have left me.

  21. 21.

    Immanentize

    @Ken: Who cares where the money for kids’ lunches is coming from?  As long as it is coming to public schools everywhere.

  24. 24.

    Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes

    Trump would have had serious problems with the notion of providing scaled lunches to loser kids from loser families.

    In the meantime though, thoughts and prayers for COVID-19 – it caught a bad case of Ted Nugent. I hope it recovers soon.

  25. 25.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @Betty Cracker:

    it got down to 30° overnight here. And high today is supposed to be only in the mid-50s. Yes, it’s nippy, but I dread the months of unrelenting summer heat that are looming, so this is fine.

  29. 29.

    Frankensteinbeck

    @rikyrah:

    I think Fox News is so furious abt Chauvin verdict not bc they care abt him

    I don’t know.  For at least forty years, police have been close to worshipped by America’s white supremacists – a good half the population – as their proxies in brutalizing blacks.  Republicans are deeply emotionally invested in cops being able to hurt and kill blacks and get off scot free.

  32. 32.

    Soprano2

    @Ken: The article doesn’t say how they’re paying for it. It says they’re going to reimburse at the higher summer rate, and they announced it now to make it easier for schools to plan for the fall.

  33. 33.

    germy

    Cat Scratch Fever: Ted Nugent tests positive for COVID days after flight with Gov. Kristi Noem

    SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (KELO) — Motor City Madman Ted Nugent has tested positive for the coronavirus one week after flying with Gov. Kristi Noem from Waco, TX to Pierre. In his announcement, Nugent says he had been having symptoms for 10 days prior to getting his positive result. His flight with Noem, six days before his announcement, falls within that window.

    Nugent’s wife Shemane posted a picture of herself and her husband with Noem, along with Greg and Donna Mosing, a pair of GOP donors who’s company, Stantion Aviation LLC, appears to own the plane according to filings with the Louisiana Secretary of State.

    Nugent is a one-man superspreader event.

  34. 34.

    Ken

    @Frankensteinbeck: which makes me much less active here.

    It has seemed to me that there’s been a considerable drop-off in comments per post since January, though I’ve not run statistics. It is most noticeable in the late-night threads, so maybe people in the US are sleeping better.

  36. 36.

    Soprano2

    @Frankensteinbeck: I held up better than I think anyone here, but it left me wounded.

    I’m having a hard time breaking the habit of constantly checking Twitter and other sites to see what’s happened now. I’ve also been feeling some burnout the past couple of weeks. I think I need a vacation.

  37. 37.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @germy: Nugent says he had been having symptoms for 10 days prior to getting his positive result. His flight with Noem, six days before his announcement, falls within that window.

    The gods are not so kind as to grant my wish.

  38. 38.

    Soprano2

    @germy: It’s too much to hope that Noem will come down with a really bad case of it, isn’t it? All those crazy deniers seem to get mild cases. It’s what happened here; Governor Parson and his wife both got a mild case. It makes them even more resistant to taking serious measures to keep it from spreading.

  39. 39.

    Betty Cracker

    @SiubhanDuinne: Same! I always feel out of step with most of America when it celebrates the arrival of summer. It’s the worst season, except for the amazing cloud formations and thunderstorms. Those I do look forward to! :)

  40. 40.

    lee

    My Rep has turned into a right-wing nut job.  He keeps tweeting about ‘open borders’. Me and others have dog-piled him in the replies.

    Late yesterday he tweeted the same nonsense and blocked replies to his tweet.

    https://twitter.com/RepVanTaylor/status/1385048159848632325?s=20

    I sent the ACLUTX the tweet. I wonder if anything will come of it. I’d be more than happy to pay for a federal lawsuit to stop this.

  43. 43.

    Low Key Swagger

    @OzarkHillbilly: Is it just me…or did the person with that boy (his mother?) really stay far away from ledge and had no chance to reach him?  Maybe she was terrified, but they got awful close to that ledge when he fell.

  45. 45.

    germy

    @Soprano2:

    according to the article, she says she received the first pfizer shot and is scheduled for her second dose in a few weeks.

  46. 46.

    Jeffro

    @Frankensteinbeck: Republicans many, many white people are deeply emotionally invested in cops being able to hurt and kill blacks and get off scot free.

    (Same thing, I know.)

    Yup, this is exactly why the GQP and Fox News (also the same thing) were laser-focused not on the trial or Chauvin’s guilt but Maxine Waters’ comments and also why they immediately pivoted to “well, of course it was fear of the (Black) mob that caused the conviction”.

  48. 48.

    germy

    @Betty Cracker:

    I’m only really happy for a few weeks in autumn.

    But even then, I’m dreading the approaching winter weather, icy sidewalks and wet snow shoveling.

  49. 49.

    Ken

    @germy: Nugent was traveling with a sell-out who bought into the COVID lies and took the evil vaccine?  Here I thought he was a man of principle.

  50. 50.

    Jeffro

    @Baud: yes…where ARE those “libertarians”, anyway?  They should be thrilled that a jackbooted enforcer of state power was held accountable for denying a citizen his right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

    Instead…crickets.  It’s just odd.

  51. 51.

    germy

    @OzarkHillbilly:  Nugent says he had been having symptoms for 10 days prior to getting his positive result. His flight with Noem, six days before his announcement, falls within that window.

    Conservatives unfailingly refuse to consider the safety of other people.  Even people from their own tribe.

  52. 52.

    Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes

    @rikyrah:

    Florida has managed to put up a law that would have turned MLK, Jesse Jackson, Fred Shuttlesworth, John Lewis into felons.

    They’ve essentially outlawed law-abiding protests.

  55. 55.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    It’s just above freezing here, yet I’m contemplating going for a walk rather than to the gym because I’m so sick of watching the time tick down on the step machine. Even listening to the Obama bros doesn’t make it better

  56. 56.

    Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes

    @Frankensteinbeck:

    The cop worship of the 50s and 60s in popular culture was off the charts. Frank Serpico helped a bit, but was forgotten.

  58. 58.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @Betty Cracker:

    It was the one thing I really loved during my six years in Tampa — the amazing clouds and staggeringly gorgeous sunsets. (And I did enjoy my time at USF and start of my radio career at WUSF.) But the heat and humidity? No, thanks.

  60. 60.

    Betty Cracker

    @Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes: As an added bonus, felony convictions can prevent protesters from voting in future elections since DeSantis and the GOP statehouse refuse to implement the voter rights restoration ballot initiative that passed by more than 60% in 2018. So you can see why the new law is so attractive to Republicans.

  62. 62.

    Soprano2

    @germy:  I have mixed feelings about that – glad she got the shot because we need everyone to do it, sad that she won’t get a bad case of Covid from Nugent.

  63. 63.

    Soprano2

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: Oh God, if I had to exercise on a machine all the time I don’t think I could do it. Jazzercise and yoga for me all the way. I used to do Zumba, which was more fun, but the place where I did it stopped having classes.

  64. 64.

    Ken

    @Jeffro: I’d also think a libertarian in a culture war would be on the side that was for gay marriage, access to contraception and abortion, marijuana legalization (and generally less restrictive drug laws), religious liberties, et cetera.

  66. 66.

    Kay

    @Betty Cracker:

    I just cannot believe they created a new category of felonies. There’s already felony criminal damaging! This crime already exists! They’re now going to put another layer of criminal laws on top of the hundreds they already have, but they added vague and idiotic language that no one can decipher and apply?
    It’s not just that the laws are targeted to suppress political speech and assembly it’s that they’re profoundly stupid and drafted by morons. It’s garbage work.

  67. 67.

    OzarkHillbilly

    We’ve known for some time that Senate Republicans were laying the groundwork to obstruct the new administration, particularly when it came to opposing President Biden’s Cabinet nominees. And today, even though almost all of Biden’s crisis-tested and historically diverse Cabinet has been confirmed, we cannot forget that Republicans tried — and ultimately failed — to derail the incoming Biden administration. And we cannot forget that this opposition was driven not simply by Senate Republicans’ partisanship and a desire to score political points, but also in a deliberate effort to protect their special interest allies and corporate donors.

    Gearing up for obstruction

    Following President Biden’s win, but before losing their majority in early January, Senate Republicans blew up the longstanding bipartisan tradition of moving the confirmation process forward during the lame-duck period. Instead, they did nothing, waiting to see if they’d maintain control of the Senate — where they would have the power to obstruct Biden’s nominees even further. The obstruction continued as Mitch McConnell, soon to lose the majority when Vice President Harris was sworn in and became the tiebreaker in the 50-50 Senate, refused for weeks to agree to a simple organizing resolution — a procedural step that would allow Senate Democrats to start confirming Biden’s nominees, the work he and his party refused to do.

    We don’t have to wonder what would happen if the shoe was on the other foot. In 2001, in a 50-50 Senate with Democrats in control ahead of President Bush’s inauguration, Senate Democrats put political differences aside to make sure the incoming administration had its Cabinet in place as soon as possible. In 2021, amid a global pandemic and after former President Trump and members of their own party helped incite a violent insurrection on our U.S. Capitol, Senate Republicans failed to do the same.

  68. 68.

    comrade scotts agenda of rage

    @Baud: ​
     

    “…if the Democratic mob gets its way, “the country as we knew it will be over.”

    Feature, not a bug. Hey Tucker, elections have consequences. If we were in another generation and another continent, the revolution would have your carcass dragged down a street. Count your blessings.

  71. 71.

    Ken

    @Llelldorin: Thank you. It didn’t seem likely that the new guy would be following in TFG’s bad footsteps, and shifting money from, oh, military pensions.

  72. 72.

    Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes

    @Ken:  There’s now a dominant strain of libertarianism that holds that true liberty is being able to create the rules and boundaries of the society you want to live in, without heed to the desires of the individuals who don’t want to live under those controls of their personal lives, particularly so far as it comes to their intimate and religious choices.

    Calvinists love this one.

  73. 73.

    Frankensteinbeck

    @Ken:

    I’d also think a libertarian in a culture war would be on the side

    Always remember that the Kochs, when astroturfing the Tea Party, picked the most extreme cultural conservatives they could find.  Libertarians really are just Republicans who want to avoid being called bigots without giving up their bigotry.

  74. 74.

    Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes

    @Booger:

    Stranglehold is the only tolerable item  that he’s been involved with, and it wasn’t even his song.

  75. 75.

    Betty Cracker

    @Kay: My Florida lawyer friends say the same. I’ve also seen some analyses that suggest lawsuits will shut down the most idiotic provisions. It’s not my area of expertise, so I have no idea, but it wouldn’t surprise me if the whole thing is white grievance theater. DeSantis and some of the bill’s statehouse sponsors admit they’re not responding to any emergency here in FL, just trying to prevent the state from becoming “Seattle.” Really, that’s what they said. If only!

  76. 76.

    Kay

    @comrade scotts agenda of rage:

    Tucker Carlson is an essential piece of the GOP grift machine:

    Two of the leading Republican firebrands in Congress touted big fundraising hauls as a show of grassroots support for their high-profile stands against accepting the 2020 election results.But new financial disclosures show that Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., and Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., relied on an email marketing vendor that takes as much as 80 cents on the dollar. That means their headline-grabbing numbers were more the product of expensively soliciting hardcore Republicans than an organic groundswell of far-reaching support.

    They all use clips from their appearances on his show to rob the same group of small donors over and over and over.
    It’s lucrative enough that the middlemen, the people who sell the lists and do the solicitations, can take EIGHTY per cent and they’re all still making money.

  79. 79.

    Kay

    @Betty Cracker:

    if the whole thing is white grievance theater.

    Agree completely. They inadvertently did some actual (poor quality) work, though, and now there’s a real law.
    There are some good questions that could be asked about why police declined to use existing laws to protect property and pick up the tiny percentage of people who were looting and damaging at some of the protests. That was deliberate by police. They were pissed off that they were being criticized so they simply refused to do their jobs. They don’t need any new criminal laws. They need to ask why police have to be flattered and coddled into enforcing the laws we already have.

  81. 81.

    comrade scotts agenda of rage

    @Frankensteinbeck: ​
     

    Libertarians really are just Republicans who want to avoid being called bigots without giving up their bigotry.

    The libertarian movement has always been an odd ball. One part honest libertarians worried about civil liberties and state overreach. One part racists and cranks that are pissed they can’t get their bigot on. One part rich people that just don’t want to pay any taxes ever, and one part conspiracy theorists.

    In my limited exposure to libertarians, the constant seems to be a total self-centeredness and selfishness, and the belief that their life and lifestyle is OF COURSE the way everyone lives and OF COURSE they did it all on their own. All of them I know are undereducated, underemployed, and yet completely convinced of their own brilliance in every arena. Penn Gillette strikes me as the quintessential libertarian; glib, selfish, and convinced of his own superiority.

    In addition, they almost universally haven’t studied how the real world and government work and what they provide, so it takes about five minutes of discussion before they run out of logical thoughts and everything gets distilled down to “Get Big Government Out Of My Life”.

    It is fairly defined as “Free me from the shackles of that which I find bothersome.”

  83. 83.

    Jeffro

    @comrade scotts agenda of rage: In my limited exposure to libertarians, the constant seems to be a total self-centeredness and selfishness, and the belief that their life and lifestyle is OF COURSE the way everyone lives and OF COURSE they did it all on their own. All of them I know are undereducated, underemployed, and yet completely convinced of their own brilliance in every arena. Penn Gillette strikes me as the quintessential libertarian; glib, selfish, and convinced of his own superiority.
    In addition, they almost universally haven’t studied how the real world and government work and what they provide, so it takes about five minutes of discussion before they run out of logical thoughts and everything gets distilled down to “Get Big Government Out Of My Life”

    All of this.

    Or “I just don’t want to pay taxes”

    Or more simply, “I’m a child”

  84. 84.

    Jeffro

    Btw good article in NYMag: the GOP Stands Up to Cancel Culture By Criminalizing Dissent

    In January, Ron DeSantis argued that combating the repression of political speech was “the most important legislative issue” of 2021…
    Three months later, DeSantis signed a law empowering Florida drivers to run over protesters without fear of civil liability.

    …it would be a mistake (or at least, imprecise) to regard the GOP’s simultaneous opposition to “cancel culture” and support for criminalizing dissent as hypocritical. Although the former is often expressed through civil libertarian rhetoric, and the latter through authoritarian policy, the two positions are actually of a piece. The conservative movement has a principled view on freedom of expression, but the principle is that Republicans should use state power to promote conservative speech and deter progressive dissent.

  87. 87.

    Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes

    @Kay:

    I saw this in the Louisville protests. LMPD was so busy flexing and putting up a show of force in order to break up the protests that they lost the ability to respond quickly (or at all) to vandalism as it occurred.

    So long as the crowd was together, there were some strong internal controls on fuckery in the crowd, led primarily through the Panthers (all of whom were great – they were all definitely over 55 or so, calm and respected). One episode that I remember, a 20 something guy was agitating to go up and block I-64 a few blocks away, figuring that having a mixed race crowd with kids would make it a good idea. I thought it a really stupid, counterproductive and potentially lethal idea that was going to get me arrested – but said nothing as I’m not the one in cop crosshairs and was willing to accompany this fools’ errand out of solidarity and support. The Panthers were the ones who made the call not to do it, and ran him off.

    Another recollection – Juneteenth. LMPD came out in massive force, shields and all, and kept buzzing the crowd. As I explained to some participants and organizers, this was deliberate intimidation and misuse of the asset – I’ve been on enough helicopter rides to know that it’s power as an observation platform is in orbiting at some distance so that observers can scan for anything of interest. Low buzzing helo turns are simply for agitating people on the ground.

    They did a shit job of protecting and serving all those protests.

  88. 88.

    zhena gogolia

    I can never go back to doing my own shopping, because I’ve developed a relationship with some of these shoppers. I don’t want to deprive them of the work.

  89. 89.

    Another Scott

    @Ken:

    Horse’s mouth – USDA.gov:

    The announcement today comes in addition to a variety of actions taken recently by USDA to strengthen food security, drive down hunger, and put a greater emphasis on the importance of nutrition. Just recently, USDA maximized economic relief for struggling families by taking administrative action on SNAP emergency allotments by targeting an additional $1 billion per month to roughly 25 million people. The Biden-Harris Administration’s American Rescue Plan Act provides over $12 billion in new nutrition assistance to address hardship caused by the pandemic, including:

    * Extending a 15 percent increase in SNAP benefits— providing over $1.1 billion per month in additional benefits for about 41 million participants—through September 2021;

    * Adding $1.1 billion in new funding for territories that operate nutrition assistance block grants—home to nearly 3 million Americans—to support those hard-hit by the pandemic;

    * Extending and expanding P-EBT—a program that served over 8.4 million families with children at its peak last year—through the duration of the public health emergency;

    * Funding meals for young adults experiencing homelessness through Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP) emergency shelters;

    * Providing nearly $900 million for the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC), including a temporary increase in fruit and vegetable vouchers to $35 per month and an historic investment in innovation and outreach to better serve more than 6.2 million people that use WIC to support a healthy start for infants and young children.

    For a complete list of the waiver actions announced today, visit FNS’s COVID Response page at http://www.fns.usda.gov/coronavirus.

    tl;dr – it’s a combination of the American Rescue Plan and existing authority.

    HTH.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  90. 90.

    Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes

    @zhena gogolia:

    Ours do an awful job on items like apples, cucumbers and tomatoes. They pick John Holmes sized cukes, half yellow with bitter skins and watery interiors, apples are mealy with spots and the tomatoes giant unripe abominations that rot before ripening.

  93. 93.

    Geminid

    @Jeffro: There is a “libertarian” radio host who has a noon hour show in Charlottesville. He combines his libertarian principles with ideas of “spiritual  warfare. ” Thinks antifa demonstrators may be demonically possessed. He values Republican politicians because they are the only ones who will stand up to the scary Left. A particularly toxic form of negative partizanship.

  95. 95.

    J R in WV

    @Baud: 

    As Tucker Carlson informed his audience on the night of Derek Chauvin’s conviction, if the Democratic mob gets its way, “the country as we knew it will be over.”

    OH, Please, Please.

    No more racism? No more homophobia? No more Transphobia hate?

    No more cops Killing people for broken tail-lights? No more busting liberals for being around a drum circle dancing and singing?

    Sounds OK to me, Fucker Carlson, you hopeless dweeb of a fascist Nazi~!~

  97. 97.

    WaterGirl

    @Baud:

    Several police officers across the country have been suspended or faced discipline for sharing opinions about Floyd since his death last May. In June, a Missouri police officer was suspended for mocking Floyd’s pleas that he couldn’t breathe, and a month later, a corrections officer in Kentucky was suspended without pay for criticizing Floyd on social media.

    Yet they are still cops who get to subject black people to god knows what throughout th course of their work day.  Just say no to  “slaps on the wrist” that are most likely cover your ass moves by the racist superiors at the top of the organizations.

  98. 98.

    Cermet

    As far as current levels of CO2, which is now ‘baked’ in, most the world is screwed. As I point out repeatedly, the equatorial regions near the equator will be uninhabitable by the 2050’s with these levels of CO2. Where the billions of people who live there will go, and how they will be fed is not something I wish to dwell upon. This issue dwarfs covid, ocean rise, and pretty much anything short of nuclear war.

  99. 99.

    J R in WV

    @Frankensteinbeck:

    Hey, I bought one of your “Please Don’t Tell My Parents…” books — haven’t gotten into it yet, but looking forward to it asap. Need to finish the current read first, tho.

    I have misplaced my tablet somewhere, and now have to use the laptop, which is not nearly as conveniently portable.

  100. 100.

    Ruckus

    @Kay:

    It’s not just that the laws are targeted to suppress political speech and assembly it’s that they’re profoundly stupid and drafted by morons. It’s garbage work.

    Would you actually expect more from them? They are on the ropes as far as attempting to be leaders, to have a coherent governing process. And they are scared shitless that they are done. They went all in on trump, primarily because they think and operate the same way as he does, lies and bullshit. Actual leadership, actual governing, actually helping their constituents? They have none and they keep proving it over and over. They are desperate, hell they liked trump as president. That alone should tell us all we needed to know, if we didn’t already. The republican party is dying. It will be a slow and ugly death, until it isn’t. Majorities of people even in red states want better gun laws, fair voting, etc. Republican policy has hitched it’s wagon to hate and theft of rights and wealth, IOW pure hate and destruction. It’s a matter of how much of that they can punish us and them with before they implode.

  101. 101.

    germy

    Democrats are introducing a bill today to allow Americans aged 50-64 the option to buy into Medicare. Led by Debbie Stabenow, Sherrod Brown and Tammy Baldwin.

    — Sahil Kapur (@sahilkapur) April 21, 2021

  102. 102.

    Jeffro

    @Geminid: There is a “libertarian” radio host who has a noon hour show in Charlottesville. He combines his libertarian principles with ideas of “spiritual warfare. ” Thinks antifa demonstrators may be demonically possessed. He values Republican politicians because they are the only ones who will stand up to the scary Left. A particularly toxic form of negative partizanship.

    Wow.

    I’ll have to remember not to check that show out.  ;)

    Seriously though, how is that not ‘Q’ territory?

  105. 105.

    germy

    COMFORT, n. A state of mind produced by contemplation of a neighbor’s uneasiness.

    (Ambrose Bierce, Devil’s Dictionary)

  106. 106.

    Jeffro

    @J R in WV: what Tucker really means, of course, is that if cops aren’t able to inflict violence on Black people with impunity…how are racist whites going to stay on top?

    I mean, the law’s not supposed to apply to everyone, JR

    //

  107. 107.

    Ken

    @Jeffro: Seriously though, how is that not ‘Q’ territory?

    Unless TFG gets to skim 10% off the top, it’s not ‘Q’ territory.

    Seriously, it is all branding and market share.

  109. 109.

    Jeffro

    @Cermet: have you read ‘Under A White Sky’ by Elizabeth Kolbert?  It takes it as a given that we’re not going to even come close to current CO2 targets and will need to resort to some pretty drastic measures to try to mitigate climate change effects.

    It’s terrifying.

  110. 110.

    germy

    MIND, n. A mysterious form of matter secreted by the brain. Its chief activity consists in the endeavor to ascertain its own nature, the futility of the attempt being due to the fact that it has nothing but itself to know itself with. From the Latin mens, a fact unknown to that honest shoe-seller, who, observing that his learned competitor over the way had displayed the motto “Mens conscia recti,” emblazoned his own front with the words “Men’s, women’s and children’s conscia recti.”

    (Ambrose Bierce)

  112. 112.

    germy

    The first thing that we need to keep in mind is that Trump may be gone, and that may be a positive thing for the climate, but we cannot relax just because of that. People seem to think of Joe Biden as a savior and now everything will be alright just because Trump is gone, but that’s a very dangerous thing to do. We must not allow ourselves to relax. We must continue to push even harder and still call out Joe Biden because, of course, he’s not good for the climate either. Just because he’s a bit less bad doesn’t mean that he’s good for the climate. We need to see through the speeches [politicians] make. Just because they say they care about the climate doesn’t mean that they’re actually going to do anything big

    (Greta Thunberg)

  113. 113.

    sab

    @Betty Cracker: In NE Ohio we live the windows open in the 50s because otherwise too hot too sleep at night.

    People do adapt to their climate.

    Our thermostat set to 62.

  114. 114.

    MisterForkbeard

    @Jeffro: I think you’ve actually hit on why so many evangelicals are prone to Q. They already believe Democrats are evil incarnate and doing the work of Satan and that Republicans can’t go far enough to stop them.

    Why wouldn’t they believe all Democrats are also involved in child sex trafficking, cannibalism, etc.

  115. 115.

    Another Scott

    It’s not unprecedented for Congress to adjust the size of the Supreme Court to defeat white supremacy. We’ve done it three times before.

    Here are some examples from our nation’s First Reconstruction. ?? https://t.co/Kk6qzLgBbS

    — Mondaire Jones (@MondaireJones) April 21, 2021

    (He’s a US Representative (NY 17).)

    (via LOLGOP)

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  116. 116.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Betty Cracker:

    Same! I always feel out of step with most of America when it celebrates the arrival of summer. It’s the worst season,

    I used to fantasize about winning the lottery and spending Apr-Oct in South America

  117. 117.

    sab

    @J R in WV: My great grandparents (rich) worried about mobs storming rich neighborhoods during the Depression. Maybe I could become nostalgic for the non-racist part of Tucker’s nostalgia for olden times.

  118. 118.

    Cermet

    @Jeffro: No I haven’t but she is correct. Anyone with children need to warn them about this future and be prepared for the vast consequences that dwarf most past ones (I’ll exclude the Black Death but not the Mongol invasion’s.)

  119. 119.

    Betty Cracker

    @sab: I’m laughing because I just walked past our thermostat, which tells me the current temp in the house is 62, and I was horrified! But I resisted the urge to turn on the heat. It will warm up! :)

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: If I had the money, I’d buy a house in Vermont and spend June – August there. I totally understand why snowbirds do their migration!

  120. 120.

    Geminid

    @Jeffro: Spiritual warfare has been a belief among many conservative evangelicals for decades. Now it is being applied to politics. That may be why the Q beliefs spread so easily among evangelicals.

    You would not like their noon hour host, but WINA has good local news coverage. Dory Zook, the afternoon reporter, is especially good.

  122. 122.

    WaterGirl

    @germy:

    Just because he’s a bit less bad doesn’t mean that he’s good for the climate.   Just because they say they care about the climate doesn’t mean that they’re actually going to do anything big.

    Sorry, that’s just bullshit.  She can say we’re not doing enough, and even that Biden is not doing enough.  But to say that Biden is only “a bit less bad” on climate is ridiculous.

    I get that she’s young, but statements like that make her a lot less credible to me.

  125. 125.

    rikyrah

    @lee:

     

    My Rep has turned into a right-wing nut job.  He keeps tweeting about ‘open borders’.

     

    They literally don’t have anything else on 46. They are clinging to this, even though they didn’t give two shyts about it during Dolt45’s tenure.

  126. 126.

    J R in WV

    @MisterForkbeard:

    @Jeffro: I think you’ve actually hit on why so many evangelicals are prone to Q. They already believe Democrats are evil incarnate and doing the work of Satan and that Republicans can’t go far enough to stop them.

    Why wouldn’t they believe all Democrats are also involved in child sex trafficking, cannibalism, etc.

    Why wouldn’t they believe Democrats traffic in children, the Republicans and their evangelists all do that behind the pulpit, right? Every accusation is a confession with these people~!!~

  127. 127.

    rikyrah

    @zhena gogolia:

     

    I can never go back to doing my own shopping, because I’ve developed a relationship with some of these shoppers. I don’t want to deprive them of the work.

     

    I might do some, but, I’m going to keep ordering for awhile.

  130. 130.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @WaterGirl: She’s very young (18) and not American, but I do find similar rhetoric from less-young American political (eta: and media) figures who reflect that same attitude both tiresome and counterproductive, and on a lot more issues. Politics is the art of addition, and Joe Biden does not represent the right of US politics, not even his pre-trump incarnations.

  134. 134.

    Another Scott

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:  (I resisted posting this for a while, but failed…)

    I admire her passion, but am troubled by her skipping school for years on end for her protests and advocacy. If I were conspiracy minded (and I’m not), I would wonder why she got (seemingly) special treatment to travel the world as a minor and do all that she has done.

    She doesn’t have to justify herself to me. ;-)

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  135. 135.

    Frankensteinbeck

    @Betty Cracker: ​

    just trying to prevent the state from becoming “Seattle.”

    Conservatives are convinced that Seattle and Portland have been swamped with riots, including looting and burning, since last summer. It’s much like their belief that Los Angeles is a seething Hellhole of gang crime.

    EDIT – Seriously, it’s a widespread article of faith.  They take it so for granted that they think pointing at Seattle and Portland are evidence when arguing with liberals.

  137. 137.

    rikyrah

    I don’t follow soccer, so can someone explain what happened this week with the ‘ Super League’?

    It was happening, and then it wasn’t.

  138. 138.

    James E Powell

    @Jeffro:

    It’s a point I bring up, probably too often, that the majority of white people support the Republican outrages, but the press/media will never say that.

    When they do their diner safaris, they never ask, “Why do you think police should never be accountable for shooting unarmed people?” or “Why do you think it’s okay to make it harder for some people to vote?” The answers would reveal things about those RealAmericans® that don’t fit the press/media narrative.

  139. 139.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    if you want to hear a joyful voice of transgression: Marc Maron released his interview with John Waters in honor of the 75th birthday of The Pope of Trash. I’m not gonna re-watch Pink Flamingos, but he’s a great talker.

  140. 140.

    Betty Cracker

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: From your link:

    Next week, Rep. Jamaal Bowman, D-N.Y., speaking on behalf of the left-wing Working Families Party, will respond after Biden gives his first address to a joint session of Congress.

    Bowman, a freshman lawmaker who defeated a 16-term Democratic incumbent in a primary in a New York City district last year, said the response is intended not to be critical of Biden but rather to credit him as appropriate and cue him for what the left wants to see next.

    “It’s a balancing act. He’s already done a lot that I love. And he’s going to say a lot of things that I like, as well,” Bowman said in an interview. “But if we relent, it doesn’t mean that what’s been going on so far is going to continue. It’s important for us as progressives to continue to push and continue to organize.”

    Isn’t that exactly what people on the left should be doing? I’m not seeing what’s so terrible about this.

  141. 141.

    Frankensteinbeck

    @rikyrah:

    I don’t follow soccer, but I have been curious and read a bit about it.  The answer seems to be that the whole idea was idiotic as Hell, dreamed up by businessmen who have no connection to the sport itself, and was not really based in the model by which international soccer works.  It left out large numbers of popular and frankly more skilled team.  Fans and teams screamed bloody murder, and it quickly became clear that if they really tried this, it would collapse because the rest of the soccer establishment and their own players would abandon them.

  143. 143.

    Soprano2

    @Kay: There are some good questions that could be asked about why police declined to use existing laws to protect property and pick up the tiny percentage of people who were looting and damaging at some of the protests. That was deliberate by police.

    Yep, absolutely deliberate. They might have even known and been sympathetic to some of those who were doing the damage; anything to make the BLM protesters look bad and give Fox plenty of footage for their shows. I’ve become extremely cynical over the past 5 years, even more so than I was before. I agree that with different policing they could stop most of this stuff cold, but they don’t want to – it’s not their communities being burned and looted, so what do they care?

  144. 144.

    WaterGirl

    @Betty Cracker: For me, it depends on whether it’s billed as a “rebuttal”, or even whether it appears to be a rebuttal as it’s covered in the media.  Dems in disarray, and all that.

    If so, then it’s not helpful.  That’s my take, anyway.

  145. 145.

    scav

    Come on, it’s so unfair that the plutocrats’ teams have to compete — actually compete with the possibility of not making it in! — with all those other plebeian teams to get into the championship games.  Not to mention share any of the lovely advertising and licensing lolly with the oiks. Better to have their own gilded playground with all the bling, because of course, they’re the popular ones and they deserve it.

  146. 146.

    Another Scott

    Reuters:

    The United States and two other countries hiked their targets for slashing greenhouse gas emissions at a global climate summit hosted by President Joe Biden, an event meant to resurrect U.S. leadership in the fight against global warming.

    Biden unveiled the goal to cut emissions by 50%-52% from 2005 levels at the start of a two-day climate summit kicked off on Earth Day and attended virtually by leaders of 40 countries including big emitters China, India and Russia.

    The United States, the world’s second-leading emitter after China, seeks to reclaim global leadership in the fight against global warming after former President Donald Trump withdrew the country from international efforts to cut emissions.

    “This is the decade we must make decisions that will avoid the worst consequences of the climate crisis,” Biden, a Democrat, said at the White House.

    British Prime Minister Boris Johnson called the new U.S. goal “game changing” as two other countries made new pledges.

    Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga, who visited Biden at the White House this month, raised Japan’s target for cutting emissions to 46% by 2030, up from 26%. Environmentalists wanted a pledge of at least 50% while Japan’s powerful business lobby has pushed for national policies that favor coal. read more

    Canada’s Prime Minster Justin Trudeau, meanwhile, raised his country’s goal to a cut of 40%-45% by 2030 below 2005 levels, up from 30%.

    Chinese President Xi Jinping did not announce a new emissions goal, saying that China expects its carbon emissions to peak before 2030 and the country will achieve net zero emissions by 2060.

    […]

    Good, good.

    The work continues.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  147. 147.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Betty Cracker: It ain’t what they do, it’s the way that they do it. I don’t think using Biden’s first SOTU (Yeah, I know, not official) to grab a megaphone to say “It’s not enough!” and feed Chuck Todd “Dems in disarray” talking points is good politics. But I’m one of those tired old farts who remembers not just 2016, but 2000.  Also 2018 and 2020.

    “We desperately want this president to succeed and to make that Rooseveltian transformational change he has promised,” said Maurice Mitchell, the party’s national director. […]
    “The worst thing we could do in a moment like this, where we feel like we have momentum, is to slow down — to misread the moment and think we can sit back now,” Mitchell said. “He laid out this agenda to be big and bold, and we’re saying, ‘Game on.'”

    Does the Working Families Party have momentum in Wisconsin, North Carolina and Pennsylvania? Do you think Maggie Hassan and Mark Kelly want Maurice Mitchell to be reading the moment for their campaigns? Genuine question for NYers: what kind of following does the WFP have outside of the four non-Staten Island boroughs? The self-identified progressives do a great job of talking to themselves and preaching to their twitter choirs; their record is somewhat more mixed in talking to the voters who deliver winning elections. Raphael Warnock didn’t run on Berniecare. John Hickenlooper didn’t run on the Green New Deal. Joe Biden beat Bernie Sanders two to one when the primaries thinned out, and Elizabeth Warren lost her home state to both of them.

    And if we don’t hold the Senate in 2022, you can forget about Big Bold Rooseveltian Transformation.

  148. 148.

    rikyrah

    @Frankensteinbeck:

     

    Fans and teams screamed bloody murder, and it quickly became clear that if they really tried this, it would collapse because the rest of the soccer establishment and their own players would abandon them.

    Good. Shouldn’t have tried that bullshyt anyway.

  149. 149.

    rikyrah

    @James E Powell:

     

    When they do their diner safaris, they never ask, “Why do you think police should never be accountable for shooting unarmed people?” or “Why do you think it’s okay to make it harder for some people to vote?” The answers would reveal things about those RealAmericans® that don’t fit the press/media narrative.

     

    UH HUH

    UH HUH

  150. 150.

    Gin & Tonic

    @burnspbesq: When I was there a while back, late in ski season (September) I was riding up the lift with an American woman who did precisely that. She was from the Philly area, retired, and didn’t like summers, so spent just under 6 months (the NZ immigration limit) of every year in NZ.

  153. 153.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @germy:

    Democrats are introducing a bill today to allow Americans aged 50-64 the option to buy into Medicare. Led by Debbie Stabenow, Sherrod Brown and Tammy Baldwin.

    — Sahil Kapur (@sahilkapur)

    This is where I feel most out of touch with the American electorate. I can’t figure out how this isn’t a 60% issue for Democrats

  157. 157.

    Mike in NC

    The Trump administration put up bureaucratic obstacles that stalled approximately $20 billion in hurricane relief for Puerto Rico and then obstructed an investigation into the holdup, according to an inspector general report obtained by The Washington Post.

    This should surprise approximately nobody. The Orange Clown was content to throw paper towels at those “animals” (as he fondly referred to all brown people). Expect a lot more stories like this to be coming out in the weeks and months ahead. Trump was and remains a fucking sadist.

  159. 159.

    PST

    @The Thin Black Duke:

    False equivalencies gave this country Nixon, Reagan, both Bushes and Trump. No thanks.

    In a tug-of-war, there is a huge difference between someone you think isn’t pulling hard enough your way and someone pulling in the opposite direction.

  160. 160.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Baud: as keen a grasp on the actual politics of the 1930s as their figurative older siblings had in 2009 when they kept saying Obama needed to be more like LBJ

  161. 161.

    Another Scott

    @Amir Khalid: I immediately thought of “Clash City Rockers”.

    PunkRocker.org.uk:

    THE CLASH were always more than some people could take and now, in a changed climate, knives are being sharpened that were kept well hidden while the Clash star was in the constant and meteoric ascendant, Some say the Clash have become – or always were – punk’s answer to the Bay City Rollers. Others have renounced them in favour of Tom Robinson’s more easily digestible agit-prop or the crass and banal ‘sincereness’ and ‘street credibility’ of Jimmy Pursey and his British Movement followers.

    Ah, music criticism. ;-)

    RIP Les.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  162. 162.

    The Moar You Know

    If I were conspiracy minded (and I’m not), I would wonder why she got (seemingly) special treatment to travel the world as a minor and do all that she has done.

    @Another Scott:  follow the money.  Hers is extremely well hidden.  But someone (or some group or consortium of groups) is funding her media and travel to the tune of some millions a year.   And getting a lot of media and mindshare out of it, but not a lot of actual work on climate change.

    Personally, I think she’s being used by some really bad people.  To what end I am still unsure.  

  164. 164.

    James E Powell

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:

    This is where I feel most out of touch with the American electorate. I can’t figure out how this isn’t a 60% issue for Democrats

    Me neither. I am going to guess it’s because of the way it’s presented to white people through their usual news sources. Democrats say “You can buy into Medicare when you’re 50.”  FOX, Sinclair, and right-wing radio report, “Democrats are giving more free stuff to black people!”

  166. 166.

    Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes

    @The Moar You Know:

    Back before my Twitter permaban, I had some amusing squabbles with some of the more earnest Green types about her value to environmentalism. I offered my usual cautions on overelevating the voice of an adolescent to the point where it drowned out scientists and sympathetic policymakers. I was told that having young people express poisons and engage in advocacy without training or experience is a wonderful thing and would elevate public discourse….

  167. 167.

    L85NJGT

    @Baud:

    Probably not. If only for the fact that “Rooseveltian” looks odd, and enunciates even worse.

    That man has been dead seventy-six years. They should let him Rest In Peace.

  168. 168.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Baud: and de-program the Reagan-addled white people who have been convinced for three generations that Government is an enemy force come to force Those People on them, that government is actually a tool they can use to even the playing field against the Bosses and The Rich.

  170. 170.

    Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:

    People are weird about this. While I like my doctor, I don’t give a fuck whether I keep him or not, as I view the provision of medical services as fungible. I think it all really comes down to this dumb preference in American medical care.

  172. 172.

    Betty Cracker

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: I remember 2000 too, and I think it’s possible to focus so much on holding the center-left that the left-left can slip away. We need every constituency to feel heard, have a stake and stay engaged.

  173. 173.

    L85NJGT

    @Baud:

    BR: Before Reagan. As I pointed out last night, that majority was winning seats in what is now the GOP heartland.

    My working theory is that those New Deal voters died. Joe’s focus needs to be on zombie voting rights.

  175. 175.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes: I’m 53 and childless, but a lot of my circle is planning for that time between the empty nest and Social Security and I hear so many variants on “I have to stay in this job I hate/I could pay the bills working at That Place but/we’d like to move closer to X’s parents or our kids but…” because health insurance

  176. 176.

    Ruckus

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:

    Because Medicare has become minimally beneficial, cost wise.

    You pay out of SS every month, the benefit only pays 80% of amounts that have not kept up with medical prices, just as people need more medical services and most have a limited, and likely insignificant, income.

  177. 177.

    lowtechcyclist

    @Betty Cracker:

    I always feel out of step with most of America when it celebrates the arrival of summer.

    Don’t blame you – if we lived down there, I’d spend all summer inside with the A/C going.  Here in the DC area, I’ve always loved being outdoors in summer, but even in SC (where I lived for 5 years),  July and August were too much for me.  Summer in Florida is right out.

  178. 178.

    Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:

    Exactly.

    I really don’t give a damn which doctor writes my prescriptions, treats my wounds, takes blood samples or jams a finger up my ass, so long as they’re reasonably competent and each tells me the best truth as he or she sees it. This notion of “I have to keep this provider so I have to keep this insurance” is like an overly expensive, genuinely stupid national fetish. It traps us in places and careers that we dislike and which aren’t convenient to living our lives.

  179. 179.

    bemused

    @rikyrah: ​
     
    I and my liberal friends, family have been commenting how fantastic it is to not see or hear gigantic orange bastard daily. That is when we even think about him which is rare. Now it’s the rest of the depraved republicans that we wish would disappear.

  180. 180.

    Baud

    @L85NJGT:

    Right. Unless we want to recreate a Jim Crow wing within the Democratic Party again, we have to accept the fact that we don’t have the political muscle to do everything we’d like to do in other areas.

  181. 181.

    JaneE

    Our local school district made lunches free for all because of the covid school shutdown.  It was far easier to just let anyone get lunches than try to keep track of who was eligible, and so many were already eligible to start with it just made things better for everyone.  Everything I heard from anyone was that it was a great idea.

  184. 184.

    Kelly

    @Ruckus: I’ll be 65 in June. I’ve been studying my options. Way too complicated. I’d rather keep my Obamacare. Mrs Kelly will stay on Obamacare which will cost $170 a month more than Obamacare currently costs us together since the subsidy income formula only accounts for what we spend on Obamacare.  Hopefully this marriage glitch will get some attention while the Democrats have a majority.

  185. 185.

    Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes

    @Baud:

    True, but it is nice to have the amount compromised and some of it reimbursed by insurance.

    If you pay downtown cash prices, you don’t get the break on money….

  186. 186.

    L85NJGT

    @Baud: 

    Joe has a different coalition, with a different geography, demographics and policy priorities….. and that’s okay.

  187. 187.

    trollhattan

    In the eyes of the world this is a Big Biden Deal. BBC World Service is covering Biden’s initiative closely. China seems intent on being specifically non-specific as to how they halt the trajectory of their emissions increases and then becoming neutral by [checks watch] 2060. And Australia is making nice about their own emissions while being the world’s #1 coal exporter. Strange bedfellows.

  189. 189.

    Ken

    @trollhattan: IIRC in one of the NFT threads a few days ago, someone noted that when a Chinese coal mine recently flooded, Bitcoin lost about 30% of their “mining” capacity — because the servers were running off coal-fired plants in that province.

  190. 190.

    Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes

    @L85NJGT:

    Women seem to worry about this stuff way too much.

    Its like my mom insisting that I try and go to her and my dad’s ortho guy for my torn quad. She doesn’t seem to get how little I care about who treats me.

  191. 191.

    Another Scott

    @Ken: [ raises hand!! ]

    Just how dependent is Bitcoin on Xinjiang? When a single coal mine in Xinjiang flooded last weekend, that halted more than THIRTY PERCENT of Bitcoin's global computing power. https://t.co/lrUn5Js3SP

    — Isaac Stone Fish (@isaacstonefish) April 21, 2021

    (via nycsouthpaw)

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  192. 192.

    mrmoshpotato

    Jen Psaki says the U.S. will hit Pres. Biden’s doubled goal of 200 million shots on Thursday, more than a week ahead of schedule

    Functional government! Ya love to see it! (h/t 2Aussie)

  195. 195.

    Gravenstone

    @Amir Khalid: If I recall the story correctly, they threw a dart at a map of the US and Bay City, MI ended up being the closest city to where it landed. And thus a flash in the pan was born! Anyone else remember their extremely short lived US variety show? That era seemed to produce oh so many shows like that, some (Carol Burnett) with far greater longevity than others (BCR, Starland Vocal Band, etc…). Although to be fair, the SVC did introduce us to a young comedian by the name of David Letterman.

  197. 197.

    Ruckus

    @Kelly:

    9 years ago I started collecting SS and opted out of Medicare, because I use the VA. The only coverage close to the VA was to use Medicare AND a Medicare Advantage policy, which would have gotten me medical coverage and made my SS monthly payment, inadequate to live on in CA. Our wonderful corporate/insurance betters, having decided that several million+ dollar houses, yachts, multiple million dollar salaries as being far, far more important than actually providing value for whatever it is they are selling has made everything far more expensive, at the expense of any concept of quality. And that hurts all of us, while killing a bunch of people.

  198. 198.

    Another Scott

    ScienceMag:

    EDINBURGH, U.K.—Alongside the chilly, steel-gray water of the docks here stands what looks like a naked, four-story elevator shaft—except in place of the elevator is a green, 50-ton iron weight, suspended by steel cables. Little by little, electric motors hoist the weight halfway up the shaft; it is now a giant, gravity-powered battery, storing potential energy that can be released when needed. And that moment is now: With a metallic moan, the weight inches back down the shaft. Reversing direction, the motors become electric generators, sending up to 250 kilowatts of power back to the grid. For peak power, the weight can descend in 11 seconds—but for testing purposes, it moves just a few meters at “creep speed,” says Douglas Hitchcock, project engineer at Scottish startup Gravitricity.

    The company announced this week that its small-scale demonstrator is now operational, capable of switching between drawing energy from the grid and sending it back in a matter of seconds. The design offers an alternative to the chemical batteries that dominate the global energy storage market—a market that is growing hand in hand with renewable power, which needs to bank energy when the Sun shines or the wind blows, and release it when the grid faces high demand.

    Gravitricity is one of a handful of gravity-based energy storage companies attempting to improve on an old idea: pumped hydroelectric power storage. Engineers would dam up a reservoir on a hill, pump water to it at times of low demand (usually at night), and release it to generate electricity. But the systems require specific terrain, expensive infrastructure, and planning approval that is increasingly hard to come by. These days, banking energy usually means hooking up renewable power to giant batteries.

    Yet gravity-based storage has some distinct advantages, says Oliver Schmidt, a clean energy consultant and visiting researcher at Imperial College London. Lithium-ion batteries, the technology of choice for utility-scale energy storage, can charge and discharge only so many times before losing capacity—usually within a few years. But the components of gravity storage—winches, steel cables, and heavy weights—can hold up well for decades. “It’s mechanical engineering stuff,” Schmidt says. “It’s relatively cheap.” And whereas mining the minerals for lithium-ion batteries brings environmental and human rights problems and recycling the batteries is hard, a bucket of iron has a much lighter footprint, says Miles Franklin, Gravitricity’s lead engineer.

    […]

    I like this. Batteries should ideally mostly be reserved for things that have to move (until the price is so cheap that they can be everywhere), not for static installations.

    Recognizing that much of WV mining is strip/surface/mountain-top-removal, there may still be some old mines there (and elsewhere in the USA) where this might make sense.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

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