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Reports of protests are overblown. A few incidents around the country, but nothing major.

5 (45.5%)

A few major incidents in capitals, but nothing much in DC.

5 (45.5%)

A major incident in DC, but nothing much around the country.

0 (0%)

More than 10 capitals have major upheavals, but nothing much in DC.

0 (0%)

A major incident in DC plus more than 10 capitals with significant upheavals.

1 (9.1%)

More than half the capitals around the country have problems with protesters, but DC is quiet.

0 (0%)

DC has major problems, while more than half the capitals around the country also have considerable trouble with protesters.

0 (0%)

Huge disruption to the day.

0 (0%)

Total Members Voted: 9

Voting closed: January 19, 2021, 10:49:21 PM

[REDSTATEWARD]

https://www.cnn.com/2019/09/20/business/coal-power-dying/index.html

About those coal plants...

I don't agree that we need fossil fuels to make concrete

You might be right if MIT research proves viable. Or we use Nuclear.
Otherwise you have no argument.

Oh? Why is it you think none of solar, wind, tidal, or geothermal  can do it?!

Because the volume of concrete needed (3 tons per year for every person on earth) and the heat required to heat the kilns( 2700 degrees Fahrenheit) simply cannot be met without using primarily coal and/or natural gas. The MIT study is encouraging. But, at this point, only that.

[REDSTATEWARD]

Warren would ban fracking. Not only is that economically stupid it is a power not granted  the federal government, least of all the President, because it is a power that rests with the states.

It seems to depend on who sits in the White House. The guy in it now doesn't seem to acknowledge those pesky limits.

You only do when it suits you, too.

Say what?

It's okay, Ward. Nobody expects you to understand.

Especially when your post makes no sense.

[kiidcarter8]

Marcia Bernicat, principal deputy assistant secretary of state for oceans and international environmental and scientific affairs, will represent the United States at the UN Secretary General's Climate Summit, a State Department official says.


https://www.cnn.com/2019/09/20/politics/trump-un-climate-summit-religious-persecution-session/index.html

Bernicat's solid.

[LarryBnDC]

https://www.cnn.com/2019/09/20/business/coal-power-dying/index.html

About those coal plants...

I don't agree that we need fossil fuels to make concrete

You might be right if MIT research proves viable. Or we use Nuclear.
Otherwise you have no argument.

Oh? Why is it you think none of solar, wind, tidal, or geothermal  can do it?!

Because the volume of concrete needed (3 tons per year for every person on earth) and the heat required to heat the kilns( 2700 degrees Fahrenheit) simply cannot be met without using primarily coal and/or natural gas. The MIT study is encouraging. But, at this point, only that.

Hempcrete?

Go ahead and laugh, that’s a free one.

But consider, just for a second how technology adapts naturally but solutions for problems are shelved because they are not ridiculously profitable.

You always act as if what we have right now is what we’ll have in the future.

Did you know they teach folks how to plant trees out on the prairie to shield farms, driveways and highways from the fucking winds? They have to build fencing to stop wind from drifting snow and blowing the soil away. Windbreaks. Why aren’t those red state legislators fighting each other over who can build the most wind Farms?

We got a freaking super volcano under Old Faithful so why haven’t we cancelled a few F-35s and work on figuring how to harness that energy and maybe avoid a mid continent Krakatoa?

The GOP and conservatives always think so small and that’s how they so easily fit in the pocket of Big Energy.

[josh]

Warren would ban fracking. Not only is that economically stupid it is a power not granted  the federal government, least of all the President, because it is a power that rests with the states.

It seems to depend on who sits in the White House. The guy in it now doesn't seem to acknowledge those pesky limits.

You only do when it suits you, too.

Say what?

It's okay, Ward. Nobody expects you to understand.

Especially when your post makes no sense.

To you.

The rest of us understood it just fine.

*pats head*

[josh]

https://theweek.com/speedreads/866567/trumps-farmer-bailout-already-more-than-twice-expensive-obamas-automaker-bailout?fbclid=IwAR2pRegBx6ZWUXwU6rKddkChH3tCiB8YRicC7VzK48Y_u83WR9ZxgNcQxTg

[REDSTATEWARD]

https://www.cnn.com/2019/09/20/business/coal-power-dying/index.html

About those coal plants...

I don't agree that we need fossil fuels to make concrete

You might be right if MIT research proves viable. Or we use Nuclear.
Otherwise you have no argument.

Oh? Why is it you think none of solar, wind, tidal, or geothermal  can do it?!

Because the volume of concrete needed (3 tons per year for every person on earth) and the heat required to heat the kilns( 2700 degrees Fahrenheit) simply cannot be met without using primarily coal and/or natural gas. The MIT study is encouraging. But, at this point, only that.

Hempcrete?

Go ahead and laugh, that’s a free one.

But consider, just for a second how technology adapts naturally but solutions for problems are shelved because they are not ridiculously profitable.

You always act as if what we have right now is what we’ll have in the future.

Did you know they teach folks how to plant trees out on the prairie to shield farms, driveways and highways from the fucking winds? They have to build fencing to stop wind from drifting snow and blowing the soil away. Windbreaks. Why aren’t those red state legislators fighting each other over who can build the most wind Farms?

We got a freaking super volcano under Old Faithful so why haven’t we cancelled a few F-35s and work on figuring how to harness that energy and maybe avoid a mid continent Krakatoa?

The GOP and conservatives always think so small and that’s how they so easily fit in the pocket of Big Energy.

Huh?
Our entire existence is the result of innovation and ingenuity. Who isn’t rooting for an MIT breakthrough on energy? Or the capture and storage of CO2 if it is possible.
O

[josh]

Marcia Bernicat, principal deputy assistant secretary of state for oceans and international environmental and scientific affairs, will represent the United States at the UN Secretary General's Climate Summit, a State Department official says.


https://www.cnn.com/2019/09/20/politics/trump-un-climate-summit-religious-persecution-session/index.html

Bernicat's solid.

Yup.

But unfortunately she will have no authority to do anything and anything she proposes will be disavowed by the president.

[josh]

Your silence on this is noted, Ward and Kid.

The claim from Kid is that it's nothing makes where he stands clear - he is anti-America.

What about you, Ward? Going to remain silent or going to follow Kid's lead and pretend it's nothing? Or have you finally reached your limit and will finally admit that Trump has to go?

It's really that simple, even if you wish it were not.

[facilitatorn]

This Thanksgiving, trump will be the turkey getting carved up on the table.

We’ll have to wait till next year for turtle soup, but that’s coming as well.

[bodiddley]

Whoa!  Trump tried to get a foreign gov't (Ukraine) to dig up dirt and help tarnish a political opponent of Trump's (Joe Biden).  Specifically, Trump wanted Ukraine to reopen an investigation of a gas company that Hunter Biden was on the Board of.  And this while the novice and new Ukraine President sought an Oval Office meeting with Trump to show Russia the US supported Ukraine strongly.  While Trump decided to hold up military aid to Ukraine that Congress had overwhelmingly passed.  So there is a new untested Ukraine gov't, under direct threat from Russia, being blackmailed by Trump into helping him politically in exchange for $250M in military aid and a show of support.  At the same time, Trump seems to be in the pocket of Putin and not wanting to upset Russia.  Apparently wouldn't support Ukraine and counter Russia without getting tangible help in US domestic politics.  So Trump invites another foreign gov't to interfere in US politics while being investigated for helping Russia interfere last election. 

Lock him up.
Let the impeachment begin.

Back in the Spring, there was GOP chatter that Hunter Biden was a liability for Joe Biden and that the Trumpeters would go after Hunter to depict Joe Biden as corrupt.  The obstacle for them was that Ukraine has discontinued the investigation they were counting on.  So apparently Trump put on a squeeze play to force Ukraine to reinvestigate.

Btw, Rudy Guiliani was all-in on this, meeting with high-level Ukrainians to cement such a deal.  He already appears all squirrelly and self-contradictory to go with his usual reprehensibility. 
Anyway, it's absurd that Donald Trump is president and in charge of the US economy and foreign policy.  He continues to run things via Twitter and much like his shady businesses.  The guy is nothing if not transactional and willing to skirt laws.

This is the best article I've seen on this imbroglio.

[bodiddley]

Ukraine Background:

- the new president Zelensky was a TV actor who played a school teacher whose rant against gov't corruption went viral, leading him to run for office and become president. Then life imitated art, as the actor took that fame and ran such a campaign and became president. So he's about as much as an outsider as you can get.

- The name of the country is Ukraine and it's wrong to call it The Ukraine as Rudy does in his Tv interviews. I had a Ukrainian girlfriend who railed against the "The" even in the latter days of the the USSR, pre-independence. Traditionally it was referred to as The Ukraine (much like The Sudan), but this represented a Russian and colonial mindset, as though it was territory and not independent.

- Russia has posed a substantial threat to Ukraine, invading and annexing the Crimean Peninsula, supporting Russian separatists in their war in Eastern Ukraine, and threatening to cut off gas supplies most recent winters. Which is why Ukraine is eager for US support.

- Apparently the $250M in military aid for Ukraine was released Sept 12.  Which seems to be around the time that the national security agencies got wind of all this and got involved.
I'm not completely clear on the timeline, but seems once it looked like damaging info was going to come out about Trump's quid pro quo with Ukraine, only then, when it could no longer be used for blackmail, was the military aid provided.  Speaking of timing, I wonder how the Trumpeters got this to break on the weekend.

[barton]

   To seek solutions to this dilemma, in 2015, the United Nations Environmental Program Sustainable Building and Climate Initiative (UNEP-SBCI) established a technical working group to review practical alternative technologies for reducing CO2 emissions and increasing materials efficiency throughout the cement industry value chain, which could reduce the need for CCS. The aim of this report is to demonstrate that there are several potential solutions for CO2 mitigation that are far less expensive than CCS, that could be used in the short-to-medium term, while significantly impacting net global CO2 emissions — without making concretes and mortars too expensive for ordinary consumers, particularly those in developing countries where the vast bulk of cement will be produced. Implementing existing-and developing innovative-mitigation technologies will require significant funding. This will in turn require R&D and technical transfer incentives, a greater portion of which must probably come from developed economies. The ultimate long-term benefits, however, will be shared by everyone.
 

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0008884618301480

[barton]

My (often cloudy) crystal ball shows Trump slithering away after he somehow manages to throw Rudy under a bus, making it look like Rudy went rogue.   Congress will hold hearings, people won't show, and any impeachment initiative will collapse.   Conservatives will be cool with what Trump did because it's okay to violate ethics and Constitution if you're trying to beat the libtards.   Being a Repub now doesn't require a coherent ideology, just the lust to WIN!   

[kiidcarter8]

Whoa!  Trump tried to get a foreign gov't (Ukraine) to dig up dirt and help tarnish a political opponent of Trump's (Joe Biden).  Specifically, Trump wanted Ukraine to reopen an investigation of a gas company that Hunter Biden was on the Board of.  And this while the novice and new Ukraine President sought an Oval Office meeting with Trump to show Russia the US supported Ukraine strongly.  While Trump decided to hold up military aid to Ukraine that Congress had overwhelmingly passed.  So there is a new untested Ukraine gov't, under direct threat from Russia, being blackmailed by Trump into helping him politically in exchange for $250M in military aid and a show of support.  At the same time, Trump seems to be in the pocket of Putin and not wanting to upset Russia.  Apparently wouldn't support Ukraine and counter Russia without getting tangible help in US domestic politics.  So Trump invites another foreign gov't to interfere in US politics while being investigated for helping Russia interfere last election.


Nice summary.  You guys have good writers of drama.