If these people aren't also protesting FOR more nuclear, then they aren't serious; they are just stupid, spoiled, bored children.
You won't catch them demanding more lithium mining and processing for batteries for their smart phones or EVs. They're perfectly content to let other countries bear that environmental burden.
You have no idea what these protestors are for or against, other than Manchin's refusal to take climate change seriously - and it takes some nerve to describe working people in West Virginia, still one of the poorest states in the Union, as spoiled and bored children.
I doubt very seriously that those are working people of West Virginia; oh perhaps a token few, but not the majority. I can't take climate change seriously when they don't; and nuclear is the only way to replace fossil fuels for generation of electricity. I think that would be a great step forward.
Well, DC isn’t too far away. I’m sure the “perpetual agitation” crowd could pull together a few nickels and dimes, rent some buses & supply box lunches for angry college students, homeless people and other disenfranchised persons who don’t have anything better to do than roll over to WV for the day.
Yes pretty sick scenario. We have desperately poor people(often black) toiling for minimal money for rich white people. Sounds surprisingly like antebellum America
Fascinating. I would be interested to see the racial makeup of those toilers. How many blacks, whites, and asians. It would also be interesting to see the religion, ethnicity and creed of the miners. I certainly hope they're meeting their affirmative action quotas.
Windmill "farms" have footprints of miles upon miles. Anyone thinking they are pretty needs to drive through and/or stay a night where they have been installed. Anyone with a home in the area has probably lost a lot of re-sale value and their quality of life at the same time.
Let me first say I admire your homage to Veblen. My Graduate Econ program was heavily into Institutional. Having said that, my former agency, Department of Energy, did a nationwide search for a safe storage site for nuclear waste. Nevada, in the middle of no where, was their pick. Like someone dissing vaccines or masking requirements, Harry Reid ignored the science. He used his position as Senate Majority Leader to stop the science.
I grew up in Vegas and went on a tour of Yucca Mountain in high school. It was fascinating. And I remember being quite impressed by the safety measures.
That said, there are definitely places in the United States that are a hell of a lot more “the middle of nowhere” than that, even within Nevada. And the folks living in Nevada, including my parents and grandparents back in the ‘90s, have opposed it by a pretty significant margin the whole time. Maybe he ignored the science, but he didn’t ignore his constituents, which is ultimately his job.
I’m all in on nuclear as the solution to our problem, but there’s definitely a messaging issue. Nuclear is like airplanes: it’s incredibly safe but when it goes wrong, it tends to go horribly wrong.
You brought it on yourself with your taunt about putting spent fuel in the commenter's yard. It was mockery at its lowest, particularly when a safe storage place was long ago in the process of development. You deserve the ad hominem.
Storage of “spent” fuel is a more complicated issue…it is actually still useful as nuclear fuel. Most other nuclear power generating countries reprocess their spent fuel. The US, in a stupid, idealistic, Carter-era policy, chose to discard the waste. The reason was that fuel reprocessing generates plutonium that could be used in weapons. But so what? We produce weapons. We don’t need the reprocessed fuel for that. But it was a move that made nuclear disarmament activists happy.
That’s too extreme. People can be right on some points and wrong on others, even on the same issue. In fact this is probably the norm.
I agree that the left has a knee jerk irrational reaction to nuclear power, but it doesn’t mean they are wrong about Manchin.
( I am agnostic about nuclear power. Some say it is too expensive andI don’t know enough to be able to determine who is right. I am just acknowledging that for many people there is a strong irrational component to their opposition.)
it takes time to move from the old position to the necessity for nuclear power plants. It comes down to a simple equation: if you want to save "civilization" that is the dominant solution on the table with wind, solar, etc being supportive technologies. long term, though, it just postpones the reckoning that we face. extracting "resources" from the planet disturbs planetary function and out civilization as it is now constituted is oriented around extraction. ecological limits exist and sooner or later they have to be understood to be foundational to our species survival. the planet is not in trouble, our civilization is and if we press far enough, potentially our species. We are ecological beings on an ecological planet, nothing will ever allow us to escape that foundational truth. so, once again, we are in a situation where there are competing goods, our civilization and lifestyle as it is presently constituted or a necessary alteration of how it is constituted, at its foundation (which nuclear power is not). I do agree with you that nuclear power is the only power system that is widely available at the present time that can possibly allow the civilizational structure to continue as it is. It will buy us time, however, i don't expect us to use that time wisely.
The first oil crisis in human history had nothing to do with OPEC, but it did have to do with depleting a resource - which in turn led to the substitution of a previously useless thing that seeped out of the ground (in some places). Now if you want to talk wasteful - think of all the natural gas that was flared off when petroleum was being extracted. At least we don't do that like we used to.
no, we no longer do that (or do we, i have seen it still in NM) but we do do other stupid things that are part of standard practice rationalism. reducing complex nonlinear systems to static "stuff" in order for degreed experts to more effectively utilize their theories of resource extraction (as well as promulgate their simplistic theories of the natural world) to "better" mankind is incredibly stupid, nor is it rational. Looking more deeply into the ways that preliterate and unschooled artisans, craftsmen, farmers and so on worked for centuries with landscapes constantly reveals that they were aware of landscape behavior and interactions that the majority of rationalists and scientists constantly missed and which many are only now being able to perceive. Top down theory placed on living landscapes leads to destruction of those landscapes. Period. The problem is in allowing rationality and meritocracy as an orientation to life to become a dominant force in human cultures. There are other kinds of rationality, other kinds of science, not just the one that has been lauded by current western cultures. (and these other forms were in vogue to a much greater degree even in what we now call "science" prior to WWII.) We will ALWAYS do it like we used to (re gas flaring) in more ways than can be easily seen until it is too late. it is the system through which the world is viewed, its climate of mind, that is the trouble. when human qualities of empathy, compassion, caring, the heart's response to how a place is being treated by rational science or industry, honor, integrity, and so on and on are left out of how rationality and science are done then something is seriously wrong.
it is always interesting that people with your orientation believe that is what i am talking about. it isn't. that you think so points up the limitations of your belief system/mind set more than anything else. skeptics are always so unable to be skeptical about their own skepticism, they cut such ridiculous figures. your thinking is simplistic, uninformed, lacks any understanding of history, is certainly uneducated, and definitely indicates an inability to reason. but hey, if it works for you go for it. other than that, you are a perfectly charming person.
Yeah, when you start going on about the virtues of pre-modern life, it's a little tough not to assume you've got a Continental Romantic angle to your thinking. I'm not going to say I have answers for how all of humanity ought to operate - I lack both the creativity and hubris to sustain that kind of thing. History can tell us something about the past, but often it tells us as much about the present and what we would project both backwards and forwards.
The halcyon days of yore, when the population was small, their days were long, their lives were short, and every moment was filled with miserable toils and possibility of imminent death are thankfully long gone. Capitalism clawed us out of all that.
it just struck me, are you the author of Plant Intelligence and the Imaginal Realm? If so, hats off to you. That book made such an impression on me, I actually felt the trees as alive intelligent beings.
the ‘love it’ heart-shaped button refuses to work, so I’ll just drop a response to say I love your comment. Goes right to the heart of the matter, but too complicated for our simple-minded population to digest
None of them said a word about nuclear power - pro or con - so you're jumping to conclusions. And as a proud Luddite...there's nothing wrong with Luddites! :)
it takes time to move from the old position to the necessity for nuclear power plants. It comes down to a simple equation: if you want to save "civilization" that is the dominant solution on the table with wind, solar, etc being supportive technologies. long term, though, it just postpones the reckoning that we face. extracting "resources" from the planet disturbs planetary function and out civilization as it is now constituted is oriented around extraction. ecological limits exist and sooner or later they have to be understood to be foundational to our species survival. the planet is not in trouble, our civilization is and if we press far enough, potentially our species. We are ecological beings on an ecological planet, nothing will ever allow us to escape that foundational truth. so, once again, we are in a situation where there are competing goods, our civilization and lifestyle as it is presently constituted or a necessary alteration of how it is constituted, at its foundation (which nuclear power is not). I do agree with you that nuclear power is the only power system that is widely available at the present time that can possibly allow the civilizational structure to continue as it is. It will buy us time, however, i don't expect us to use that time wisely.
First, note that the company is his own company, which he founded and now owns much, if not all, of the stock. Those who own stock collect dividends, which are earnings. Second, as far as activism in West Virginia goes, good luck. I spent a part of my life just across the river in NE Kentucky and even though there are a lot of Democrats around, it's perhaps the most conservative part of the US, not to mention that coal is the primary source of income for most West Virginians. Not to mention that West Virginia was solidly for Trump. The only reason Manchin was reelected is because he's well-liked. Why he hasn't switched parties is beyond me.
By the way, I doubt that more than a third, if that many, of the "activists" are West Virginians.
I suspect the main reason that Manchin hasn't switched parties is that the Manchin name and family is a long-time political family in WV and has always been on the Democratic side of the road. So it may be more of a family thing that we would think... and I don't think ALL of his positions are quite in line with the Republican/Conservative views.
The reason Joe has not switched is because he has the ultimate vote on the Dem side of the aisle. If he switched he would only be one of 51. He is definitely more center than any other Dem but he's still a Dem
He is paid a bribe of $500,000 which is unearned [he didn't work for it unless doing what you are bribed to do is defined as 'work'] income. If he did not hold a public office, he'd not be receiving it. So it is, in truth and in fact, income resulting from holding a public office and should go into the public's treasury.
Just a point. He started and owns the company and collects a dividend on the stock. that is taxable and legal. The company should have been put in a blind trust. That is a big ethical/legal problem.
Trumps holdings were always a bone of contention with his detractors but the rest of Congress is given a pass. Nancy's husband and others spouses in Congress make loads of money dealing with government contracts and/or acting as lobbyists for corporations or individuals. That is why D.C. is know widely as 'THE SWAMP.' It is putrid and stinks like a cesspool. Most every American knows this.
Trump addressed it and got elected but was sucked down into that same swamp. When The Swamp monsters impeached him twice it was obvious their motivations. Biden makes Trump look like a choirboy with his cartel like family.
Good god. Trump was swimming in the swamp with the rest of them long before he was elected. Born with a silver spoon in his (big) mouth, and tried building a fortune through shady deals, multiple bankruptcies, and not paying taxes. It’s just he’s a master salesman at selling his image as something entirely different.
Trump was a pretty typical ruthless businessman and nasty piece of work. He never sent a night in D.C. in his life before he was elected. For whatever reason he was excluded from the D.C. Club and he scared the hell out of the permeant gov't that runs the U. S. Trump and all the many businessmen like him don't make a pimple on a dogs ass compared to the D. C. looters and war mongers who cost America their children with their unnecessary wars waged to line their pockets. Keep ranting at the scarecrow that is Trump while the professional grifters and war mongers merrily continue daily plunder of our Treasury and sacrificing the lives of our children. Compared to Trump these individuals and organizations are as evil as it gets. Trump is just pornography for the left to jack off to.
From what I am hearing from previous Trump supporters his time has passed and he might have trouble getting out of a primary. Trump was a one off in my opinion. The reaction from the left and the MSM was so crazed and rabid that a lot of people found it troubling and seemed to feel that there was something more going on.
As I posted previously Kennedy's drunk driving caused a young girls death. He kept his position and remained as a "revered" figure in Dem. circles. Bill Clinton was everything the woman's movement riled against yet he was supported and feted by the faux feminists while his victims were freely attacked by Democrat politicians.
Trump an innocuous businessman/playboy set off a holocaust of hate, media rancor, over the top personal attacks and attempts by government enforcement agencies to illegally remove him from office. From day one of his announcement the media treated him like a bad joke. His election was immediately branded a Russian plot.
Anyway it all appeared to be that he represented some mega threat to someone or something buried deep within the government. Almost like trying to kill a humming bird with an nuclear weapon. Gotta raise an eyebrow or two among many Americans who long past had lost trust in the government, its' FBI and CIA and the DOJ. All were all in against Trump from day one. Rightly or wrongly those driving forces unleashed a pandora's box of conspiracies, told you so's and all manner of aggrieved people against the establishment and its' media minions. Odd thing was that the left who distrusted the gov't and sued the hell out of them over the decades suddenly jumped in and acted like there was no more trustworthy institution than the gov't and its Congressional clowns.
why should that be scary? Biden is the person pushing for escalation of the Russia/Ukraine war that could very well lead to a nuclear fallout, and you are not scared by that?!?
Advocating for your constitutions is a bit different that profiting directly from your programs and policies that are supposed to benefit the companies that employ and bring jobs to your district or State. It is in the interest of the elected official to stand up for his voters but working for his own personal gain is a horse of a different color.
There are so many conflicts-of-interest. Going after Manchin seems totally unfair if Scott Gottlieb, the ex-FDA chief can be on the board of Pfizer, and the Secretary of Defense comes from Raytheon's board. At least Manchin was elected by voters knowing about his side gig.
I understand having a blind trust where you don't know what it's invested in and what impact your actions as a congressman might have on them. What would a blind trust accomplish in this instance?
Probably not much, but short of having every candidate divest themselves of every business or stock there is no real solution in the real world except hoping that the candidate is a basically honest individual. If you did force a liquidation of assets we probably would get career politicians (enough of them already) without real world experience and poor to boot. That opens another pandora's box. No easy answers or safeguards except a free press and informed voters.
Free press is now part of the establishment. The Washington Post is a totally compromised source of information. Press seems to be a "kept woman" addicted to power and access to the very government they are expected to police. When Max Boot a so called journalist calls for MORE censorship you know that institution has jumped the shark.
I do not know this to be true or false "he started and owns". So I am ignorant. I accept your representation of 'started' and 'owns' as I think you intend their meaning such as those terms are used in conversational English. The question arises, to me, source of funds for starting and how much his holding of public office could be reasonably considered as having influenced the continued existence. If it was started with funds gifted/loaned a political contributor or supporter [whether he was in office at the time is less important, to me, that whether he was thought of as a rising political star.] then that is one thing. If started with funds he saved up washing dishes at the local McDonalds or an inheritance that would be a different factual setting and call for a different analysis. I don't know. He might be clean on these two points or me might be just a different kind of dirty. He is presently dirty and he may, or may not, have started out dirty. Don't know. cheers.
Very astute analysis. Since I have no independent knowledge of the how's or why's of his ownership of this company you make a good. point. With elected officials it is always an adventure trying to determine their motivations or their ethical underpinnings. I think this is pretty common with every government on earth. This is the nature of government. At least in a democracy the voters IF interested and informed can mitigate the actions of the worst of the swamp creatures by voting them out. We voted in rapists, murders, drug addicts and all manner of American lowbrow people. Ted Kennedy's actions resulted in the death of a staffer and he was celebrated and lauded over. But when he attempted to gain higher office he was rebuked. Bill Clinton needs no examination to point out his flaws. Life like gov't is not perfect and we are all compromised in some ways but we get by and often surprise ourselves by stepping up and doing the right thing when the chips are down. Problem with Congress is they are all in a fishbowl that most of us would be loath to have our lives exposed within. Okay got that off my chest.
Manchin’s family has been in the coal business for decades, as have many if not most wealthy West Virginian families. This long pre-dated his entry into politics, and pre-dated even the birth of the climate change business. Al Gore has made more from climate alarmism than Manchin could DREAM of making from brokering and refining coal, which is still an important part of energy production in this country largely if not exclusively because of the nonsensical opposition to nuclear power.
Sweden burns almost zero fossil fuel because it relies massively on clean nuclear power. Western technology has made nuclear as close to 100% safe as it can likely ever be. Multiple sites for waste burial have been rejected for political, not scientific reasons .
Wind power has been a genocide on America’s avian population. Wind companes have paid tens of millions in fines for the death of HUNDREDS of rare golden and bald eagles. There is nothing more viscerally upsetting than the site of a noble bald eagle,, broken and dead beneath a churning turbine. These photos are suppressed by the climate activists.
Thanks a well informed post and some sanity regarding the climate obsessed cultists on the left. If the toll on the bird population could be placed before the public the windmill industry would have to be evaluated against the harms it causes. But that scared cow industry never has to answer for the vast killings of wildlife or its very flawed technology.
Texas found out just what reliance on wind power can result in when there is a stampede to new unproven technology that can collapse in an instant. Funny how the individuals responsible for that disaster just move on to the next thing without missing a beat.
Even though the novel "Atlas Shrugged" is flawed in many places its depiction of the leeches and government bureaucrats who profit from the innovation of others is very compelling and accurate. The Obama's others with their bogus mantra of "you did not build this" are a very typical example of those hideous grifters who buzz around successful individuals like flies attracted to piles of shit. They who have never produced anything nor created one job somehow get to attack those who add value to society all the while demonizing the very people whom they feed off. The exact definition of a leech.
There is more to adding value to society than producing goods and creating jobs. Those who teach, who comfort, who raise children, who inspire, who entertain, who support their families, who encourage, who deal honestly with others, etc., help to make life worth living for us all. There are many ways to define success.
"This long pre-dated his entry into politics, and pre-dated even the birth of the climate change business." His entry into politics, okay, but he may be a 'third generation' grifter/grafter [ht. Holmes] This pushes the same questions back in time and onto prior Manchin crime family members err I mean "ancestors" and may result in a cleanness of origin that was later dirtied up. More we don't know. cheers.
It appears you believe that all business people regardless of their origin are somehow grifters, grafters and criminal in nature. Calling individuals whom you don't know or are broad brushing them as criminal is a form of know nothingness that leads to mobs and "off its their heads" types of societal revolutions. Most these revolutions sputter out and societies return to their natural stasis.
The vaulted Kennedy's fortune was acquired by nefarious means and was laundered over the years. A Nazi sympathizer Joe Kennedy was removed from his ambassadorship to G.B. Yet this is almost never referred to by the Democrats who castigate everyone else. Nancy Pelosi herself is a product of a Mafia connected family and her husband has made loads of money with government contracts steered to him by -- guess who.
Yeah, wind power wil stop wars over resources. Sure. Have you ever looked at the emissions and pollution created by the manufacture of a wind turbine? The elements and materials that are required? Do you understand why the components for them and solar cells are manufactured primarily in China, and the metals and REE’s are mined and refined in China and Russia? Anyone who believes wind is better and more scalable than nuclear is not a serious person. And yes, the murder of hundreds of rare eagles is a crime. That’s why the operators pay millions in fines. They should go to jail.
And that suprises you!! Every so called representative, engages in this personal enrichment. They are bought and paid for by the people who own them. They can call it a campaign contribution, lobbying funds, or my favorite, junkets. In the real world these are called bribes and kickbacks. What's funny is that these are approved by the "Ethics" committee. Like there's one fucking ethical person in the whole of government. Well, maybe one?
I know there are. Our representative went to Congress for several terms and retired no wealthier (or not much) than he went in. Our current Senator seems to be on same track.
Let me introduce you to Dianne Feinstein sometime. Or maybe Nancy Pelosi. DiFi in particular has made in excess of $100M in war profiteering and other pork from the trough. And that doesn't even count the $Billion her husband made off similar sweetheart deals including selling off CA state land and buildings to the lowest bidders who would then lease the land and buildings back to the state.
Great gig if you can get it ... 'course you'll have to knock-off DiFi to get then wait for Pelosi to pick the bones clean
They are both so vile… but you know, powerful successful women, it’s sexist to criticize them…let’s toss in Maxine Waters and Claire McCaskill… Sen Blackburn is suspect as well. I wish I could stop caring. I went to college with Susan Collins and she was always a very focused, serious person. As a Republican from Maine, I think she does a great balancing act and I would keel over if she was proven to be corrupt.
I've never met Senator Collins, but as a gay man, I'm particularly fond of her and fmr Senator Snowe. It was they who out-maneuvered obama and reid when DADT and DOMA were up to be repealed. Obama told reid to keep the repeals in committee so DADT and DOMA would remain law. Snowe and Collins got them out of committee and on to the senate floor where both were repealed.
I grow so weary of people claiming the clintons and obama and the democratic party are friends to gays, when it was clinton who created DOMA and DADT, and it took two strong republican women to champion gay rights and get both pieces of discriminatory legislation repealed.
Yup, saying the DNC genuinely support gays is like people believing that Hillary is a genuine feminist. I’m 70, I’d like to slap her for co opting feminism… I think she toasts herself nightly for being such a shrewd charlatan.
Not familiar with him. I of course am exaggerating, but there really are some steroidal unethical hypocrites… Maisie Honoro (sp?) close to the top of the list
Technically you are correct. The IRS treats dividends as "unearned" income.
To say the dividends that Joe receives are unearned neglects the fact that he "earned" them by putting his ownership stake at risk of failure. Holding public office has not a diddly squat thing to do with it. He'd own the company even if he were a private citizen. Would you still say the dividends equal bribe then? Explain.
Sir/Madam-Fuck off. Your opinion is an uniformed as you are. I can tell by what you say you don't get the point. I can't even tell if you try. So your opinion if a "fuck off" opinion that I can ignore since it is just a 'blurt'. No reasoning, no logic. As ignorant as fuck. Cheers. Feel no need to respond unless it is lengthy and begins with a fair-minded [Principle of Charity] summary of the argument presented. A notation of factual or reasoning error and no simple "you are stupid" statements. Your blurt tells a reader more about your lack of consideration [in both senses] than it does about the facts and opinion I present, however flawed you deem them. If I were not feeling bitchy today and truly tired of numbnuts with keyboards I wouldn't have responded. And since you operate under an alias you are not entitled to a response, though arguments presented by you might be.
He owns stock in a company that makes money off of energy. It's not a bribe as some have pointed out. But it is a wicked Conflict of Interest, as many of our esteemed "leaders" also possess. Some will argue that having people in the know sit on committees and handle things like this is good. They are right to a point, but there is also a point where their own best interest served outweigh the rest of us. Manchin is likely there based on his voting record.
Again, that's the people of West Virginia's right, and they likely share a similar view to Manchin. So... it's what it is I suppose.
since a significant percentage of the WV people are employed by the coal industry and it's supporting industries - I suspect they are OK with his support for the coal industry...
Yup, I’m always appalled by the callous disregard by liberals for Appalachia. “They must transition to other jobs.” Go spend a week in Appalachia and get back to me….and then stop virtue signaling and start problem solving.
Born and raised by those that grew up in Shenandoah, and bounced back and forth across MD, PA, and WV borders following work. Fully and completely aware of the area.
Conflicts of interest go MUCH further than just one place. I am against all conflicts of interest. Like... Those that write rules on term limits or stock trading, or any number of issues.
Oops, I was not responding to your comment! I understand the conflicts of interests... what I have no use for is the people who throw coal miners into that Big Bad Basket of Deplorables..... out of sight, out of mind... Far too many liberals have no “on the ground” real understanding of a State completely different than theirs. Same people who consider farmers to be “ hayseeds.” I’m related to several.... and they express their distain from their Range Rovers....
I don't agree it's a conflict of interest. Joe has always said he's for whatever is good for West Virginia. Coal is good for WV. Joe would be for coal even if he didn't have a dime invested in the industry.
Did you read the article? He OWNS the company--ergo, the earnings (what's left over after all the expenses) go to him and whatever other investors there are
Before that, they were sacrificing children to appease the weather gods and shaking rain sticks. Claims about what we need to do to improve the weather are the longest-running scam in human history.
But what if we didn’t need to kill people over oil anymore? Or the leader of the free world didn’t have to kiss Saudi Venezuela ass ever time there’s an oil whoopsie daisy. Also, speaking of fuck the environment, did you know wind mills are slaughtering birds? I bet you could sell tickets for that! The tears of environmental folks could give us more hydroelectric. But yeah no more regime change wars for oil. Americans are stupid but are we that stupid?
Even though the global mean temp has only increased .4 degrees since 1978, exactly why is there mass neurosis over warming? Other than the hysterical, wildly-unsubstantiated conjectures of "scientists" seeking research grants.
Think about how stupid the American voter is when just looking at the last 3 years. They emboldened pointless and destructive lockdowns, advocated mandatory injections, support censorship, and now they are advocating for war with Russia. This country is brimming with absolute imbeciles who fall for every hysteria fed to them.
I wrote a long reply but there was an error and it didn’t post. I’m in Korea. I have been for the past 10 years. Climate change is only debated in the US. Everyone else believes the scientific evidence. All the covid19 related stuff you complained about was implemented here to a greater extent and as of today Korea is over 20k deaths. Since everyone followed the guidelines here as a collective they worked.
Spend sometime in another country and you’ll gain perspective.
I think it's important to remember, whether you like it or not, that without fossil fuels (including coal) you will starve to death in the freezing darkness.
Then there is the observation that a lot more (17x) people die from cold weather than hot weather. But somehow an extra couple of degrees warming are supposed to amount to an existential crisis. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(14)62114-0
An extra couple of degrees makes a pretty big difference, actually, particularly in the ocean. Anyone with a reef tank can tell you that.
The biggest danger of climate change comes from its impact on food production, both on land and from the sea. A shift in the ocean's temperature and salinity levels will impact the microorganisms that form the base of the food pyramid, while hotter weather has a negative impact on crops. I'm sure we'd adapt, but it won't be a fun process.
This is the true idiocy of the Climate movement. The answer is less people, but that's not humane either. Renewable energy does not and cannot support 7+ Billion people on this planet. At least not with current tech.
Our govt is a cesspool of corruption. Of the many things I loved about Trump one of the best is it is hard to buy billionaires. This is a bipartisan issue and desperately needs to be addressed
Billionaires aren't bought with money. There is an interesting transition for people with money. They get to a point on the wealth/Happiness chart that money no longer means anything. If you've ever sat down and talked to someone that was a billionaire (one on one), you'd see that money isn't their drive. Power is. Power takes many forms, and has different meanings to different people. Also, when good people climb that ladder they do change, and generally not for the better.
Yes, I've known a couple of billionaires in my life, and several millionaires. Odd that I am a broke peon.
Agree. My husband worked closely with Jeff Bezos years ago and says he was an entirely different person back then. He was very rich then, still, but was still a nerdy little guy who went home to his wife and kids every night and picked up sandwiches for the gang on his way into the office. Now he’s basically a Bond villain, up to and including the bimbo on his arm and the weird space mining plans.
Fair point. Who’s to say Elon bought 9% of Shitter just for fun? Who’s to say he never had any intention to acquire the company and take it private?
Maybe he was just bored and thought, “what the hell…let’s do something outlandish like buy 9% of Shitter. That way we can poke the bear and have some kicks and giggles for a week or two.”
Just reiterating that billionaires don’t think like everyone else and don’t make decisions like we do. At the same time, maybe he bought the stock for a legit reason. Who knows?
While you may not be able to buy a billionaire that same billionaire has his/her own agenda and making a "killing" is never far from their mentality. Occupying elected office just eliminates the middleman who usually acts on behalf of some wealth individual. A guy like Trump MIGHT act in his own interests while mouthing the usual political B.S. Money to the wealthy is like crack to a drug addict. It is irresistible no matter how much willpower is exerted. Without a granite moral base rooted in your DNA or religious belief humans will do what they usually do and that is act in their own interests before anything else. Just the way of the world.
Great point. It is a conundrum. I’m open to suggestions here are a few: audit all elected representatives; term limits; prosecute insider trading by politicians govt employees.
Robert Kagan says, "Russia may possess a fearful nuclear arsenal, but the risk of Moscow using it is not higher now than it would have been in 2008 or 2014, if the West had intervened then. And it has always been extraordinarily small…"
But CIA's Billy Burns says, "Given the potential desperation of [Russian] President [Vladimir] Putin and the Russian leadership, given the setbacks that they’ve faced so far militarily, none of us can take lightly the threat posed by a potential resort to tactical nuclear weapons or low-yield nuclear weapons."
So which is it? Minimal or likely?
Honestly this kind of cross messaging just creates nuke hesitancy. Is Burns one of those anti-nukers I've been hearing about? I think this Burns fellow needs to be watched closely by Tweeter & Fakebook. There's really no reason for this kind of misinformation in a corporate dystopian utopia like the USA. Top down messages should be uniform & easy to swallow. Contradictions just create cognitive dissonance and, as everyone knows, cognitive dissonance kills.
Then again this may be another "right wing moral panic" & Burns may just be another Putin stooge in Washington. Even more reason to keep an eye on him. Hell, keep two eyes on the potential traitor.
Hopefully the Biden administration has a nuke mandate in the works. Make these bastards accept a nuke or two or risk cancelling. It may be the only way to ensure that everyone everywhere climbs aboard the nuke train.
Maybe Colbert could dress some staffers up as nukes so they can do a little Cossack dance across the stage.
Keith Olbermann could continuously tweet out how he wishes anti-nukers would just die already.
Jimmy Kimmel could make funny jokes shaming anti-nukers into compliance.
True, but there's no need to fret. You can rest easy in the knowledge that, while your skin is melted off by the heat of a ten megaton airburst, FedGov will be burrowed into their bunkers plotting to restart democracy.
Those that can produce a baby=females. Simple. The ratio, not ration, is from Dr Strangelove where they are looking at the bright side of nuclear war for the government folks that have bunkers. The plan was to have significantly more women than men. All the men perked up, well I'll stop right there.
I am not one to side with immature lacking reality small minded idiots. But here? I have to side with the climate fools. Manchin is the prototype for the kind of people running our lives these days. Corporate aligned, or celebrity millionaires with a voice, or a seat on some board dictating how the rest of us live. All of them are clueless morons that gained favor by luck, or privilege.
We truly need a house cleaning among our ruling class. All of these front and center issues on the Global political scene are truly only there to divide us and not allow us to see reason or accountability. It's baffling that we are so buried in our phones and whatnot to not look up and realize we are being crushed on purpose.
The only solution is a whole lot LESS government power. A government powerful enough to pick winners and losers is a government destined to be captured by the winners.
It's interesting how the "narrative du jour" changes. We've moved on from the trans agenda which came a few after the end of the world climate agenda with the COVID agenda in-between. Now, the end of the world climate change has changed to the I hate Putin agenda. Now the Europeans, especially the German's who switched from clean existing nuclear power to lignite, the worst polluting fossil fuel are gonna forgow relatively clean pipellined Russian gas to amerikan fracked gas which many people say is worse than coal. Of course, it's gonna cost a lot more making German industry industry non competitive.You couldn't make this stuff up especially when just a few years ago, Ukraine and Zelensky were getting the bad press they deserved and still do. Of course, in WVa, one of the poorest states in the USA, most of the poor don't know they're poor and the president couldn't get a job at McDonald's, he's so far gone and the VP; please Lord, NO!
lol i love these emotional irrational sorts of stories. the globe runs on fossil fuel. period. if you are not living in a cave using stone tools, and wearing animal skins you are the demand side of the equation. you will not feed or run a global economy w/o fossil fuels. just ask sweden which dusting off an oil fired power plant to generate electricity. no windmills or solar panels for them. or better yet just ask putin who runs the country that happens to be the second largest exporter of oil in the world. you want to maintain your current lifestyle????? better start building some nukes.
Interesting story. Guess Old Joe is just like most politicians. The "man of the people" has a hidden driving force and it is MONEY. Conflicts of interest are a way of life in the Congress. POTUS is the expert in money driven decisions and hidden agendas.
Usually the GOP is tarred with these types of actions. Given Nancy's investments and the stock trading of elected officials it seems a way of life among the "special folks." Full disclosure of ALL immediate families financial dealings might be necessary to keep the grifters from their behind the scenes conflicts of interest and influence peddling. But you can bet the farm that new and innovative methods of getting rich doing "public service" will emerge like mushrooms after a storm. Honest politician seems to be an oxymoron -- too bad since there are some honest idealistic individuals but their silence marks them as enablers and co-conspirators with those who are in it for the money. The silent witness to a crime has much to answer for.
I appreciate this forum, but I had to escape at about 6:41. These people are so lame. Really. Put a sign on a fence and lay on the road. I sure as hell hope I am not paying off their student loans. Apparently in our America the only way to change anything is to be an "activist" or "community organizer." Not think or do for yourself. We are doomed.
Assume for the sake of argument that Manchin is corrupt. Well which Congress critter isn't? It would be impossible for him to be more corrupt than the Biden crime family. Putting that aside for the moment, Manchin, by putting tar in the gears of the far left's democrat agenda, is doing a wonderful service for the country. Without Manchin to put the brake on the Biden regime's economic agenda, who knows how much further down the slope to outright communism this sinking ship of state would be. What I don't understand is why Manchin hasn't fled from the democrats, most of whom hate him with a passion, into the arms of the republicans who would gleefully welcome him with open arms. If Manchin did so and decided to run again as a republican when his current term is up, he would win by a landslide, as West Virginia has gone from solid democrat to the Reddest state in America.
"the NM Senator" has been back for several weeks. He is not your problem. Manchin will not vote for BBB, thank God. Your wish list comes with costs and at least you are honest about iyour solution: raise taxes on working Americans. That is probably the main reason - besides the idiocy of more spending in a time of inflation. Not likely, but kudos for honesty.
If these people aren't also protesting FOR more nuclear, then they aren't serious; they are just stupid, spoiled, bored children.
You won't catch them demanding more lithium mining and processing for batteries for their smart phones or EVs. They're perfectly content to let other countries bear that environmental burden.
You have no idea what these protestors are for or against, other than Manchin's refusal to take climate change seriously - and it takes some nerve to describe working people in West Virginia, still one of the poorest states in the Union, as spoiled and bored children.
I doubt very seriously that those are working people of West Virginia; oh perhaps a token few, but not the majority. I can't take climate change seriously when they don't; and nuclear is the only way to replace fossil fuels for generation of electricity. I think that would be a great step forward.
Well, DC isn’t too far away. I’m sure the “perpetual agitation” crowd could pull together a few nickels and dimes, rent some buses & supply box lunches for angry college students, homeless people and other disenfranchised persons who don’t have anything better to do than roll over to WV for the day.
You are spot on as to the demographics of the protesters.
These are activists, not poor, working people.
Why, specifically, do you take climate change seriously?
Yes pretty sick scenario. We have desperately poor people(often black) toiling for minimal money for rich white people. Sounds surprisingly like antebellum America
Fascinating. I would be interested to see the racial makeup of those toilers. How many blacks, whites, and asians. It would also be interesting to see the religion, ethnicity and creed of the miners. I certainly hope they're meeting their affirmative action quotas.
Sounds not surprisingly like the world as a whole. What is your solution, sorry tradeoff?
We'll store the spent fuel near your house, okay?
And I’ll stick six wind turbines on your lawn. Grow up
Windmill "farms" have footprints of miles upon miles. Anyone thinking they are pretty needs to drive through and/or stay a night where they have been installed. Anyone with a home in the area has probably lost a lot of re-sale value and their quality of life at the same time.
We had a place to store it that no one lived within 100 miles of, but your attitude carried the day.
Harry Reid overruled the science on nuclear waste storage because it was in his home state.
All we need is your address. I'm sure it'll bring Jobs! Jobs! Jobs! You're welcome.
Let me first say I admire your homage to Veblen. My Graduate Econ program was heavily into Institutional. Having said that, my former agency, Department of Energy, did a nationwide search for a safe storage site for nuclear waste. Nevada, in the middle of no where, was their pick. Like someone dissing vaccines or masking requirements, Harry Reid ignored the science. He used his position as Senate Majority Leader to stop the science.
I grew up in Vegas and went on a tour of Yucca Mountain in high school. It was fascinating. And I remember being quite impressed by the safety measures.
That said, there are definitely places in the United States that are a hell of a lot more “the middle of nowhere” than that, even within Nevada. And the folks living in Nevada, including my parents and grandparents back in the ‘90s, have opposed it by a pretty significant margin the whole time. Maybe he ignored the science, but he didn’t ignore his constituents, which is ultimately his job.
I’m all in on nuclear as the solution to our problem, but there’s definitely a messaging issue. Nuclear is like airplanes: it’s incredibly safe but when it goes wrong, it tends to go horribly wrong.
Oh I see, you really are that stupid and trite. Well, bye!
Straight to the ad hominem? You need to stockpile more ammunition, pard.
You brought it on yourself with your taunt about putting spent fuel in the commenter's yard. It was mockery at its lowest, particularly when a safe storage place was long ago in the process of development. You deserve the ad hominem.
Not for the likes of you. You don't use an elephant gun on a varmint.
Here's the quote you're riffing on from the movie Simon. Like most other things from 1980 it hasn't aged well:
"6. Pollution. Anybody who owns a factory that makes radioactive waste has to take it home at night with him to his house."
Storage of “spent” fuel is a more complicated issue…it is actually still useful as nuclear fuel. Most other nuclear power generating countries reprocess their spent fuel. The US, in a stupid, idealistic, Carter-era policy, chose to discard the waste. The reason was that fuel reprocessing generates plutonium that could be used in weapons. But so what? We produce weapons. We don’t need the reprocessed fuel for that. But it was a move that made nuclear disarmament activists happy.
NIMBY much???
Funny too because I'm willing to bet I live much closer to a nuclear generating plant than he does.
That’s too extreme. People can be right on some points and wrong on others, even on the same issue. In fact this is probably the norm.
I agree that the left has a knee jerk irrational reaction to nuclear power, but it doesn’t mean they are wrong about Manchin.
( I am agnostic about nuclear power. Some say it is too expensive andI don’t know enough to be able to determine who is right. I am just acknowledging that for many people there is a strong irrational component to their opposition.)
it takes time to move from the old position to the necessity for nuclear power plants. It comes down to a simple equation: if you want to save "civilization" that is the dominant solution on the table with wind, solar, etc being supportive technologies. long term, though, it just postpones the reckoning that we face. extracting "resources" from the planet disturbs planetary function and out civilization as it is now constituted is oriented around extraction. ecological limits exist and sooner or later they have to be understood to be foundational to our species survival. the planet is not in trouble, our civilization is and if we press far enough, potentially our species. We are ecological beings on an ecological planet, nothing will ever allow us to escape that foundational truth. so, once again, we are in a situation where there are competing goods, our civilization and lifestyle as it is presently constituted or a necessary alteration of how it is constituted, at its foundation (which nuclear power is not). I do agree with you that nuclear power is the only power system that is widely available at the present time that can possibly allow the civilizational structure to continue as it is. It will buy us time, however, i don't expect us to use that time wisely.
The first oil crisis in human history had nothing to do with OPEC, but it did have to do with depleting a resource - which in turn led to the substitution of a previously useless thing that seeped out of the ground (in some places). Now if you want to talk wasteful - think of all the natural gas that was flared off when petroleum was being extracted. At least we don't do that like we used to.
no, we no longer do that (or do we, i have seen it still in NM) but we do do other stupid things that are part of standard practice rationalism. reducing complex nonlinear systems to static "stuff" in order for degreed experts to more effectively utilize their theories of resource extraction (as well as promulgate their simplistic theories of the natural world) to "better" mankind is incredibly stupid, nor is it rational. Looking more deeply into the ways that preliterate and unschooled artisans, craftsmen, farmers and so on worked for centuries with landscapes constantly reveals that they were aware of landscape behavior and interactions that the majority of rationalists and scientists constantly missed and which many are only now being able to perceive. Top down theory placed on living landscapes leads to destruction of those landscapes. Period. The problem is in allowing rationality and meritocracy as an orientation to life to become a dominant force in human cultures. There are other kinds of rationality, other kinds of science, not just the one that has been lauded by current western cultures. (and these other forms were in vogue to a much greater degree even in what we now call "science" prior to WWII.) We will ALWAYS do it like we used to (re gas flaring) in more ways than can be easily seen until it is too late. it is the system through which the world is viewed, its climate of mind, that is the trouble. when human qualities of empathy, compassion, caring, the heart's response to how a place is being treated by rational science or industry, honor, integrity, and so on and on are left out of how rationality and science are done then something is seriously wrong.
If you wish to embark on a Rousseauvian noble savage life, you are free to do so. You are not free to drag me along.
it is always interesting that people with your orientation believe that is what i am talking about. it isn't. that you think so points up the limitations of your belief system/mind set more than anything else. skeptics are always so unable to be skeptical about their own skepticism, they cut such ridiculous figures. your thinking is simplistic, uninformed, lacks any understanding of history, is certainly uneducated, and definitely indicates an inability to reason. but hey, if it works for you go for it. other than that, you are a perfectly charming person.
Yeah, when you start going on about the virtues of pre-modern life, it's a little tough not to assume you've got a Continental Romantic angle to your thinking. I'm not going to say I have answers for how all of humanity ought to operate - I lack both the creativity and hubris to sustain that kind of thing. History can tell us something about the past, but often it tells us as much about the present and what we would project both backwards and forwards.
But but but if they voted for the noble savage life, your social contract says you must dutifully comply.
Show me my signature on that contract, then we'll talk.
The halcyon days of yore, when the population was small, their days were long, their lives were short, and every moment was filled with miserable toils and possibility of imminent death are thankfully long gone. Capitalism clawed us out of all that.
it just struck me, are you the author of Plant Intelligence and the Imaginal Realm? If so, hats off to you. That book made such an impression on me, I actually felt the trees as alive intelligent beings.
Thank you for this comment
the ‘love it’ heart-shaped button refuses to work, so I’ll just drop a response to say I love your comment. Goes right to the heart of the matter, but too complicated for our simple-minded population to digest
If they say they’re climate activists and they aren’t for nuclear power they’re really just Luddites.
None of them said a word about nuclear power - pro or con - so you're jumping to conclusions. And as a proud Luddite...there's nothing wrong with Luddites! :)
What a rude fecking comment from 65 people. Try living in W.V.
I have friends in W.V. and they aren't the kind that would be out protesting like that. They have better things to do with their time.
just so you will know... there is significant lithium mining and processing taking place in the US as well...
1% of global mining isn't significant.
https://www.cnbc.com/2022/01/15/how-the-us-fell-way-behind-in-lithium-white-gold-for-evs.html#:~:text=More%20than%2080%25%20of%20the,to%20the%20International%20Energy%20Agency.
I'm so f---ing tired of "climate change activists" who oppose nuclear power. You're not serious people, so shut up.
That's all.
Absolutely. I’m on record that if Gore comes out for nuclear then they really believe their nonsense
Not if Robert Reich beats him to it.
it takes time to move from the old position to the necessity for nuclear power plants. It comes down to a simple equation: if you want to save "civilization" that is the dominant solution on the table with wind, solar, etc being supportive technologies. long term, though, it just postpones the reckoning that we face. extracting "resources" from the planet disturbs planetary function and out civilization as it is now constituted is oriented around extraction. ecological limits exist and sooner or later they have to be understood to be foundational to our species survival. the planet is not in trouble, our civilization is and if we press far enough, potentially our species. We are ecological beings on an ecological planet, nothing will ever allow us to escape that foundational truth. so, once again, we are in a situation where there are competing goods, our civilization and lifestyle as it is presently constituted or a necessary alteration of how it is constituted, at its foundation (which nuclear power is not). I do agree with you that nuclear power is the only power system that is widely available at the present time that can possibly allow the civilizational structure to continue as it is. It will buy us time, however, i don't expect us to use that time wisely.
How dare Manchin take bribes for filthy fossil fuel! He needs to take bribes for "green energy" like every other democrat.
Troy, you win Best Comment of the Day! Exactly!!
Murphy in New Jersey. Lucky he kept his job. Colossal d*ck.
First, note that the company is his own company, which he founded and now owns much, if not all, of the stock. Those who own stock collect dividends, which are earnings. Second, as far as activism in West Virginia goes, good luck. I spent a part of my life just across the river in NE Kentucky and even though there are a lot of Democrats around, it's perhaps the most conservative part of the US, not to mention that coal is the primary source of income for most West Virginians. Not to mention that West Virginia was solidly for Trump. The only reason Manchin was reelected is because he's well-liked. Why he hasn't switched parties is beyond me.
By the way, I doubt that more than a third, if that many, of the "activists" are West Virginians.
I suspect the main reason that Manchin hasn't switched parties is that the Manchin name and family is a long-time political family in WV and has always been on the Democratic side of the road. So it may be more of a family thing that we would think... and I don't think ALL of his positions are quite in line with the Republican/Conservative views.
The reason Joe has not switched is because he has the ultimate vote on the Dem side of the aisle. If he switched he would only be one of 51. He is definitely more center than any other Dem but he's still a Dem
Whatever the reason, it’s fun watching make everyone else go full-on apoplectic because Joe gives the party a bad name.
You say "pay". I say "bribe."
Some say "earned". I say "unearned."
He is paid a bribe of $500,000 which is unearned [he didn't work for it unless doing what you are bribed to do is defined as 'work'] income. If he did not hold a public office, he'd not be receiving it. So it is, in truth and in fact, income resulting from holding a public office and should go into the public's treasury.
So he's a double thief.
Just a point. He started and owns the company and collects a dividend on the stock. that is taxable and legal. The company should have been put in a blind trust. That is a big ethical/legal problem.
Trumps holdings were always a bone of contention with his detractors but the rest of Congress is given a pass. Nancy's husband and others spouses in Congress make loads of money dealing with government contracts and/or acting as lobbyists for corporations or individuals. That is why D.C. is know widely as 'THE SWAMP.' It is putrid and stinks like a cesspool. Most every American knows this.
Trump addressed it and got elected but was sucked down into that same swamp. When The Swamp monsters impeached him twice it was obvious their motivations. Biden makes Trump look like a choirboy with his cartel like family.
Well put.
Good god. Trump was swimming in the swamp with the rest of them long before he was elected. Born with a silver spoon in his (big) mouth, and tried building a fortune through shady deals, multiple bankruptcies, and not paying taxes. It’s just he’s a master salesman at selling his image as something entirely different.
Trump was a pretty typical ruthless businessman and nasty piece of work. He never sent a night in D.C. in his life before he was elected. For whatever reason he was excluded from the D.C. Club and he scared the hell out of the permeant gov't that runs the U. S. Trump and all the many businessmen like him don't make a pimple on a dogs ass compared to the D. C. looters and war mongers who cost America their children with their unnecessary wars waged to line their pockets. Keep ranting at the scarecrow that is Trump while the professional grifters and war mongers merrily continue daily plunder of our Treasury and sacrificing the lives of our children. Compared to Trump these individuals and organizations are as evil as it gets. Trump is just pornography for the left to jack off to.
It’s just that Trump became President and may be Commander in Chief again. Surely this country, the GOP, can find someone better.
From what I am hearing from previous Trump supporters his time has passed and he might have trouble getting out of a primary. Trump was a one off in my opinion. The reaction from the left and the MSM was so crazed and rabid that a lot of people found it troubling and seemed to feel that there was something more going on.
As I posted previously Kennedy's drunk driving caused a young girls death. He kept his position and remained as a "revered" figure in Dem. circles. Bill Clinton was everything the woman's movement riled against yet he was supported and feted by the faux feminists while his victims were freely attacked by Democrat politicians.
Trump an innocuous businessman/playboy set off a holocaust of hate, media rancor, over the top personal attacks and attempts by government enforcement agencies to illegally remove him from office. From day one of his announcement the media treated him like a bad joke. His election was immediately branded a Russian plot.
Anyway it all appeared to be that he represented some mega threat to someone or something buried deep within the government. Almost like trying to kill a humming bird with an nuclear weapon. Gotta raise an eyebrow or two among many Americans who long past had lost trust in the government, its' FBI and CIA and the DOJ. All were all in against Trump from day one. Rightly or wrongly those driving forces unleashed a pandora's box of conspiracies, told you so's and all manner of aggrieved people against the establishment and its' media minions. Odd thing was that the left who distrusted the gov't and sued the hell out of them over the decades suddenly jumped in and acted like there was no more trustworthy institution than the gov't and its Congressional clowns.
why should that be scary? Biden is the person pushing for escalation of the Russia/Ukraine war that could very well lead to a nuclear fallout, and you are not scared by that?!?
Why should it be in a blind trust? Maybe the people from WV want someone with an economic interest in coal.
Advocating for your constitutions is a bit different that profiting directly from your programs and policies that are supposed to benefit the companies that employ and bring jobs to your district or State. It is in the interest of the elected official to stand up for his voters but working for his own personal gain is a horse of a different color.
There are so many conflicts-of-interest. Going after Manchin seems totally unfair if Scott Gottlieb, the ex-FDA chief can be on the board of Pfizer, and the Secretary of Defense comes from Raytheon's board. At least Manchin was elected by voters knowing about his side gig.
seems like the woke activists got the marching orders to defame and attack Manchin; their bosses are getting tired of this ‘treacherous’ Dem!
I understand having a blind trust where you don't know what it's invested in and what impact your actions as a congressman might have on them. What would a blind trust accomplish in this instance?
Probably not much, but short of having every candidate divest themselves of every business or stock there is no real solution in the real world except hoping that the candidate is a basically honest individual. If you did force a liquidation of assets we probably would get career politicians (enough of them already) without real world experience and poor to boot. That opens another pandora's box. No easy answers or safeguards except a free press and informed voters.
Free press is now part of the establishment. The Washington Post is a totally compromised source of information. Press seems to be a "kept woman" addicted to power and access to the very government they are expected to police. When Max Boot a so called journalist calls for MORE censorship you know that institution has jumped the shark.
what an apt description ‘kept woman’, except kept women of yore could still have more integrity and honor than these current ones.
Sounds like he’s not a total grifter. I hate the swamp!!
I do not know this to be true or false "he started and owns". So I am ignorant. I accept your representation of 'started' and 'owns' as I think you intend their meaning such as those terms are used in conversational English. The question arises, to me, source of funds for starting and how much his holding of public office could be reasonably considered as having influenced the continued existence. If it was started with funds gifted/loaned a political contributor or supporter [whether he was in office at the time is less important, to me, that whether he was thought of as a rising political star.] then that is one thing. If started with funds he saved up washing dishes at the local McDonalds or an inheritance that would be a different factual setting and call for a different analysis. I don't know. He might be clean on these two points or me might be just a different kind of dirty. He is presently dirty and he may, or may not, have started out dirty. Don't know. cheers.
Very astute analysis. Since I have no independent knowledge of the how's or why's of his ownership of this company you make a good. point. With elected officials it is always an adventure trying to determine their motivations or their ethical underpinnings. I think this is pretty common with every government on earth. This is the nature of government. At least in a democracy the voters IF interested and informed can mitigate the actions of the worst of the swamp creatures by voting them out. We voted in rapists, murders, drug addicts and all manner of American lowbrow people. Ted Kennedy's actions resulted in the death of a staffer and he was celebrated and lauded over. But when he attempted to gain higher office he was rebuked. Bill Clinton needs no examination to point out his flaws. Life like gov't is not perfect and we are all compromised in some ways but we get by and often surprise ourselves by stepping up and doing the right thing when the chips are down. Problem with Congress is they are all in a fishbowl that most of us would be loath to have our lives exposed within. Okay got that off my chest.
Manchin’s family has been in the coal business for decades, as have many if not most wealthy West Virginian families. This long pre-dated his entry into politics, and pre-dated even the birth of the climate change business. Al Gore has made more from climate alarmism than Manchin could DREAM of making from brokering and refining coal, which is still an important part of energy production in this country largely if not exclusively because of the nonsensical opposition to nuclear power.
Sweden burns almost zero fossil fuel because it relies massively on clean nuclear power. Western technology has made nuclear as close to 100% safe as it can likely ever be. Multiple sites for waste burial have been rejected for political, not scientific reasons .
Wind power has been a genocide on America’s avian population. Wind companes have paid tens of millions in fines for the death of HUNDREDS of rare golden and bald eagles. There is nothing more viscerally upsetting than the site of a noble bald eagle,, broken and dead beneath a churning turbine. These photos are suppressed by the climate activists.
Thanks a well informed post and some sanity regarding the climate obsessed cultists on the left. If the toll on the bird population could be placed before the public the windmill industry would have to be evaluated against the harms it causes. But that scared cow industry never has to answer for the vast killings of wildlife or its very flawed technology.
Texas found out just what reliance on wind power can result in when there is a stampede to new unproven technology that can collapse in an instant. Funny how the individuals responsible for that disaster just move on to the next thing without missing a beat.
Even though the novel "Atlas Shrugged" is flawed in many places its depiction of the leeches and government bureaucrats who profit from the innovation of others is very compelling and accurate. The Obama's others with their bogus mantra of "you did not build this" are a very typical example of those hideous grifters who buzz around successful individuals like flies attracted to piles of shit. They who have never produced anything nor created one job somehow get to attack those who add value to society all the while demonizing the very people whom they feed off. The exact definition of a leech.
There is more to adding value to society than producing goods and creating jobs. Those who teach, who comfort, who raise children, who inspire, who entertain, who support their families, who encourage, who deal honestly with others, etc., help to make life worth living for us all. There are many ways to define success.
"This long pre-dated his entry into politics, and pre-dated even the birth of the climate change business." His entry into politics, okay, but he may be a 'third generation' grifter/grafter [ht. Holmes] This pushes the same questions back in time and onto prior Manchin crime family members err I mean "ancestors" and may result in a cleanness of origin that was later dirtied up. More we don't know. cheers.
It appears you believe that all business people regardless of their origin are somehow grifters, grafters and criminal in nature. Calling individuals whom you don't know or are broad brushing them as criminal is a form of know nothingness that leads to mobs and "off its their heads" types of societal revolutions. Most these revolutions sputter out and societies return to their natural stasis.
The vaulted Kennedy's fortune was acquired by nefarious means and was laundered over the years. A Nazi sympathizer Joe Kennedy was removed from his ambassadorship to G.B. Yet this is almost never referred to by the Democrats who castigate everyone else. Nancy Pelosi herself is a product of a Mafia connected family and her husband has made loads of money with government contracts steered to him by -- guess who.
Give it a rest
Birds are getting killed?! Oooh no! I’m more concerned about the people all over the world killed for oil. But for sure, birds.
Yeah, wind power wil stop wars over resources. Sure. Have you ever looked at the emissions and pollution created by the manufacture of a wind turbine? The elements and materials that are required? Do you understand why the components for them and solar cells are manufactured primarily in China, and the metals and REE’s are mined and refined in China and Russia? Anyone who believes wind is better and more scalable than nuclear is not a serious person. And yes, the murder of hundreds of rare eagles is a crime. That’s why the operators pay millions in fines. They should go to jail.
He's paid a bribe by his own company?
Well thank goodness Manchin is the only member of Congress with these sorts of “agreements.” 😂😂😂😂😂 See Military Industrial Complex vendors.
And that suprises you!! Every so called representative, engages in this personal enrichment. They are bought and paid for by the people who own them. They can call it a campaign contribution, lobbying funds, or my favorite, junkets. In the real world these are called bribes and kickbacks. What's funny is that these are approved by the "Ethics" committee. Like there's one fucking ethical person in the whole of government. Well, maybe one?
I like to believe there are a few with clean hands, but I have no proof of it
I know there are. Our representative went to Congress for several terms and retired no wealthier (or not much) than he went in. Our current Senator seems to be on same track.
Me neither.
Who is your guess? I’ll go with Sen Susan Collins.
Let me introduce you to Dianne Feinstein sometime. Or maybe Nancy Pelosi. DiFi in particular has made in excess of $100M in war profiteering and other pork from the trough. And that doesn't even count the $Billion her husband made off similar sweetheart deals including selling off CA state land and buildings to the lowest bidders who would then lease the land and buildings back to the state.
Great gig if you can get it ... 'course you'll have to knock-off DiFi to get then wait for Pelosi to pick the bones clean
They are both so vile… but you know, powerful successful women, it’s sexist to criticize them…let’s toss in Maxine Waters and Claire McCaskill… Sen Blackburn is suspect as well. I wish I could stop caring. I went to college with Susan Collins and she was always a very focused, serious person. As a Republican from Maine, I think she does a great balancing act and I would keel over if she was proven to be corrupt.
I've never met Senator Collins, but as a gay man, I'm particularly fond of her and fmr Senator Snowe. It was they who out-maneuvered obama and reid when DADT and DOMA were up to be repealed. Obama told reid to keep the repeals in committee so DADT and DOMA would remain law. Snowe and Collins got them out of committee and on to the senate floor where both were repealed.
I grow so weary of people claiming the clintons and obama and the democratic party are friends to gays, when it was clinton who created DOMA and DADT, and it took two strong republican women to champion gay rights and get both pieces of discriminatory legislation repealed.
Yup, saying the DNC genuinely support gays is like people believing that Hillary is a genuine feminist. I’m 70, I’d like to slap her for co opting feminism… I think she toasts herself nightly for being such a shrewd charlatan.
Out of 535 people, I vote for the dog
Ron Wyden? Really not sure
Not familiar with him. I of course am exaggerating, but there really are some steroidal unethical hypocrites… Maisie Honoro (sp?) close to the top of the list
Technically you are correct. The IRS treats dividends as "unearned" income.
To say the dividends that Joe receives are unearned neglects the fact that he "earned" them by putting his ownership stake at risk of failure. Holding public office has not a diddly squat thing to do with it. He'd own the company even if he were a private citizen. Would you still say the dividends equal bribe then? Explain.
Your understanding of ownership and capital is nonexistent. Really the wisdom of a kindergartner
Sir/Madam-Fuck off. Your opinion is an uniformed as you are. I can tell by what you say you don't get the point. I can't even tell if you try. So your opinion if a "fuck off" opinion that I can ignore since it is just a 'blurt'. No reasoning, no logic. As ignorant as fuck. Cheers. Feel no need to respond unless it is lengthy and begins with a fair-minded [Principle of Charity] summary of the argument presented. A notation of factual or reasoning error and no simple "you are stupid" statements. Your blurt tells a reader more about your lack of consideration [in both senses] than it does about the facts and opinion I present, however flawed you deem them. If I were not feeling bitchy today and truly tired of numbnuts with keyboards I wouldn't have responded. And since you operate under an alias you are not entitled to a response, though arguments presented by you might be.
You remain clueless. Is that lengthy” I enough for you? You made my day knowing that my comment made you even more “bitchy”.
LOL
Did you comprehend the article?
He owns stock in a company that makes money off of energy. It's not a bribe as some have pointed out. But it is a wicked Conflict of Interest, as many of our esteemed "leaders" also possess. Some will argue that having people in the know sit on committees and handle things like this is good. They are right to a point, but there is also a point where their own best interest served outweigh the rest of us. Manchin is likely there based on his voting record.
Again, that's the people of West Virginia's right, and they likely share a similar view to Manchin. So... it's what it is I suppose.
since a significant percentage of the WV people are employed by the coal industry and it's supporting industries - I suspect they are OK with his support for the coal industry...
Yup, I’m always appalled by the callous disregard by liberals for Appalachia. “They must transition to other jobs.” Go spend a week in Appalachia and get back to me….and then stop virtue signaling and start problem solving.
Born and raised by those that grew up in Shenandoah, and bounced back and forth across MD, PA, and WV borders following work. Fully and completely aware of the area.
Conflicts of interest go MUCH further than just one place. I am against all conflicts of interest. Like... Those that write rules on term limits or stock trading, or any number of issues.
Oops, I was not responding to your comment! I understand the conflicts of interests... what I have no use for is the people who throw coal miners into that Big Bad Basket of Deplorables..... out of sight, out of mind... Far too many liberals have no “on the ground” real understanding of a State completely different than theirs. Same people who consider farmers to be “ hayseeds.” I’m related to several.... and they express their distain from their Range Rovers....
I don't agree it's a conflict of interest. Joe has always said he's for whatever is good for West Virginia. Coal is good for WV. Joe would be for coal even if he didn't have a dime invested in the industry.
Excellent point to move past this "its a conflict" stuff.
Like many of our “public servants”
Did you read the article? He OWNS the company--ergo, the earnings (what's left over after all the expenses) go to him and whatever other investors there are
"The end is nigh!" screeched the climate change activists... back in 2010, and 2000, and 1995, and 1980, and 1970, and...
Before that, they were sacrificing children to appease the weather gods and shaking rain sticks. Claims about what we need to do to improve the weather are the longest-running scam in human history.
But what if we didn’t need to kill people over oil anymore? Or the leader of the free world didn’t have to kiss Saudi Venezuela ass ever time there’s an oil whoopsie daisy. Also, speaking of fuck the environment, did you know wind mills are slaughtering birds? I bet you could sell tickets for that! The tears of environmental folks could give us more hydroelectric. But yeah no more regime change wars for oil. Americans are stupid but are we that stupid?
Yes, but in the 70s the imminent doom was another Ice Age!!!
Cooling. Warming. Changing. Warming causing cooling. It's all unfalsifiable rubbish.
Back to my son’s quote when he was 17 “ the reality is the human race is but a bleep on the radar screen of existence”
Smarter at 17 than most at 60! (I assume he's much older now but had to show respect for his wisdom!)
Thank you, yes, he’s 40’s and fortunately loaded with common sense.
If only we could bottle common sense.....
Snowfalls are now a thing of the past.
Even though the global mean temp has only increased .4 degrees since 1978, exactly why is there mass neurosis over warming? Other than the hysterical, wildly-unsubstantiated conjectures of "scientists" seeking research grants.
Slow your roll, man…the acceptable wording is no longer “global warming.” It’s now “climate change.” 😆
That way, its proponents can flip-flop their positions if the ice age decides to rear its ugly head like it did back in the 1970’s.
So it’s a world wide conspiracy to take money from the fossil fuel industry and give it to the green energy industry?
"Conspiracy?" No, it's right out in the open. Looting by politics with a constituency gullible enough to fall for anything.
Think about how stupid the American voter is when just looking at the last 3 years. They emboldened pointless and destructive lockdowns, advocated mandatory injections, support censorship, and now they are advocating for war with Russia. This country is brimming with absolute imbeciles who fall for every hysteria fed to them.
I wrote a long reply but there was an error and it didn’t post. I’m in Korea. I have been for the past 10 years. Climate change is only debated in the US. Everyone else believes the scientific evidence. All the covid19 related stuff you complained about was implemented here to a greater extent and as of today Korea is over 20k deaths. Since everyone followed the guidelines here as a collective they worked.
Spend sometime in another country and you’ll gain perspective.
Take from one and give to another, that sounds vaguely familiar.
I think it's important to remember, whether you like it or not, that without fossil fuels (including coal) you will starve to death in the freezing darkness.
Then there is the observation that a lot more (17x) people die from cold weather than hot weather. But somehow an extra couple of degrees warming are supposed to amount to an existential crisis. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(14)62114-0
An extra couple of degrees makes a pretty big difference, actually, particularly in the ocean. Anyone with a reef tank can tell you that.
The biggest danger of climate change comes from its impact on food production, both on land and from the sea. A shift in the ocean's temperature and salinity levels will impact the microorganisms that form the base of the food pyramid, while hotter weather has a negative impact on crops. I'm sure we'd adapt, but it won't be a fun process.
Crop yields have been rising monotonically. If we were truly concerned about food security, diplomacy would have had a bigger role in Ukraine.
Oh my gosh....so perfectly stated!
This is the true idiocy of the Climate movement. The answer is less people, but that's not humane either. Renewable energy does not and cannot support 7+ Billion people on this planet. At least not with current tech.
So obvious, and so misunderstood.
Our govt is a cesspool of corruption. Of the many things I loved about Trump one of the best is it is hard to buy billionaires. This is a bipartisan issue and desperately needs to be addressed
Billionaires aren't bought with money. There is an interesting transition for people with money. They get to a point on the wealth/Happiness chart that money no longer means anything. If you've ever sat down and talked to someone that was a billionaire (one on one), you'd see that money isn't their drive. Power is. Power takes many forms, and has different meanings to different people. Also, when good people climb that ladder they do change, and generally not for the better.
Yes, I've known a couple of billionaires in my life, and several millionaires. Odd that I am a broke peon.
Very interesting. Totally agree that at some point money loses its cachet. I’m not into power either. I like reading, thinking, and conversing
Agree. My husband worked closely with Jeff Bezos years ago and says he was an entirely different person back then. He was very rich then, still, but was still a nerdy little guy who went home to his wife and kids every night and picked up sandwiches for the gang on his way into the office. Now he’s basically a Bond villain, up to and including the bimbo on his arm and the weird space mining plans.
Fair point. Who’s to say Elon bought 9% of Shitter just for fun? Who’s to say he never had any intention to acquire the company and take it private?
Maybe he was just bored and thought, “what the hell…let’s do something outlandish like buy 9% of Shitter. That way we can poke the bear and have some kicks and giggles for a week or two.”
Just reiterating that billionaires don’t think like everyone else and don’t make decisions like we do. At the same time, maybe he bought the stock for a legit reason. Who knows?
While you may not be able to buy a billionaire that same billionaire has his/her own agenda and making a "killing" is never far from their mentality. Occupying elected office just eliminates the middleman who usually acts on behalf of some wealth individual. A guy like Trump MIGHT act in his own interests while mouthing the usual political B.S. Money to the wealthy is like crack to a drug addict. It is irresistible no matter how much willpower is exerted. Without a granite moral base rooted in your DNA or religious belief humans will do what they usually do and that is act in their own interests before anything else. Just the way of the world.
But if we just vote harder, we can get the right politicians in place who will clean it up.
Great point. It is a conundrum. I’m open to suggestions here are a few: audit all elected representatives; term limits; prosecute insider trading by politicians govt employees.
Term limits. I like that.
I propose guillotines.
Robert Kagan says, "Russia may possess a fearful nuclear arsenal, but the risk of Moscow using it is not higher now than it would have been in 2008 or 2014, if the West had intervened then. And it has always been extraordinarily small…"
But CIA's Billy Burns says, "Given the potential desperation of [Russian] President [Vladimir] Putin and the Russian leadership, given the setbacks that they’ve faced so far militarily, none of us can take lightly the threat posed by a potential resort to tactical nuclear weapons or low-yield nuclear weapons."
So which is it? Minimal or likely?
Honestly this kind of cross messaging just creates nuke hesitancy. Is Burns one of those anti-nukers I've been hearing about? I think this Burns fellow needs to be watched closely by Tweeter & Fakebook. There's really no reason for this kind of misinformation in a corporate dystopian utopia like the USA. Top down messages should be uniform & easy to swallow. Contradictions just create cognitive dissonance and, as everyone knows, cognitive dissonance kills.
Then again this may be another "right wing moral panic" & Burns may just be another Putin stooge in Washington. Even more reason to keep an eye on him. Hell, keep two eyes on the potential traitor.
Hopefully the Biden administration has a nuke mandate in the works. Make these bastards accept a nuke or two or risk cancelling. It may be the only way to ensure that everyone everywhere climbs aboard the nuke train.
Maybe Colbert could dress some staffers up as nukes so they can do a little Cossack dance across the stage.
Keith Olbermann could continuously tweet out how he wishes anti-nukers would just die already.
Jimmy Kimmel could make funny jokes shaming anti-nukers into compliance.
So much work so little time.
“Hell, we’ll lose 50-100 million tops...”
True, but there's no need to fret. You can rest easy in the knowledge that, while your skin is melted off by the heat of a ten megaton airburst, FedGov will be burrowed into their bunkers plotting to restart democracy.
https://troygrice.substack.com/p/cog?r=2chft&s=w&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web
I think that everyone knows that you can't make a nuclear omelet without breaking a hundred million eggs or so.
Although it would go a long way towards solving the myth of overpopulation.
Hey, wait a minute. It's a myth?
Damn cognitive dissonance again.
And the ration of female to male would be?
Define male and female please. Seems it’s up for debate these days by some.
Those that can produce a baby=females. Simple. The ratio, not ration, is from Dr Strangelove where they are looking at the bright side of nuclear war for the government folks that have bunkers. The plan was to have significantly more women than men. All the men perked up, well I'll stop right there.
The really sad thing is none of this would surprise me.
It's a Schrodinger's Putin
I am not one to side with immature lacking reality small minded idiots. But here? I have to side with the climate fools. Manchin is the prototype for the kind of people running our lives these days. Corporate aligned, or celebrity millionaires with a voice, or a seat on some board dictating how the rest of us live. All of them are clueless morons that gained favor by luck, or privilege.
We truly need a house cleaning among our ruling class. All of these front and center issues on the Global political scene are truly only there to divide us and not allow us to see reason or accountability. It's baffling that we are so buried in our phones and whatnot to not look up and realize we are being crushed on purpose.
The only solution is a whole lot LESS government power. A government powerful enough to pick winners and losers is a government destined to be captured by the winners.
Unless you are a West Virginian, you have no say in who they elect to represent West Virginia in the Senate.
You are 100% correct, but also totally missing the point of my post.
It's interesting how the "narrative du jour" changes. We've moved on from the trans agenda which came a few after the end of the world climate agenda with the COVID agenda in-between. Now, the end of the world climate change has changed to the I hate Putin agenda. Now the Europeans, especially the German's who switched from clean existing nuclear power to lignite, the worst polluting fossil fuel are gonna forgow relatively clean pipellined Russian gas to amerikan fracked gas which many people say is worse than coal. Of course, it's gonna cost a lot more making German industry industry non competitive.You couldn't make this stuff up especially when just a few years ago, Ukraine and Zelensky were getting the bad press they deserved and still do. Of course, in WVa, one of the poorest states in the USA, most of the poor don't know they're poor and the president couldn't get a job at McDonald's, he's so far gone and the VP; please Lord, NO!
lol i love these emotional irrational sorts of stories. the globe runs on fossil fuel. period. if you are not living in a cave using stone tools, and wearing animal skins you are the demand side of the equation. you will not feed or run a global economy w/o fossil fuels. just ask sweden which dusting off an oil fired power plant to generate electricity. no windmills or solar panels for them. or better yet just ask putin who runs the country that happens to be the second largest exporter of oil in the world. you want to maintain your current lifestyle????? better start building some nukes.
Environmentalism IS the coal industry. Every move toward clean energy causes more usage and profit for coal.
Interesting story. Guess Old Joe is just like most politicians. The "man of the people" has a hidden driving force and it is MONEY. Conflicts of interest are a way of life in the Congress. POTUS is the expert in money driven decisions and hidden agendas.
Usually the GOP is tarred with these types of actions. Given Nancy's investments and the stock trading of elected officials it seems a way of life among the "special folks." Full disclosure of ALL immediate families financial dealings might be necessary to keep the grifters from their behind the scenes conflicts of interest and influence peddling. But you can bet the farm that new and innovative methods of getting rich doing "public service" will emerge like mushrooms after a storm. Honest politician seems to be an oxymoron -- too bad since there are some honest idealistic individuals but their silence marks them as enablers and co-conspirators with those who are in it for the money. The silent witness to a crime has much to answer for.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nVI-cCZTwa8&t=7s
I appreciate this forum, but I had to escape at about 6:41. These people are so lame. Really. Put a sign on a fence and lay on the road. I sure as hell hope I am not paying off their student loans. Apparently in our America the only way to change anything is to be an "activist" or "community organizer." Not think or do for yourself. We are doomed.
Assume for the sake of argument that Manchin is corrupt. Well which Congress critter isn't? It would be impossible for him to be more corrupt than the Biden crime family. Putting that aside for the moment, Manchin, by putting tar in the gears of the far left's democrat agenda, is doing a wonderful service for the country. Without Manchin to put the brake on the Biden regime's economic agenda, who knows how much further down the slope to outright communism this sinking ship of state would be. What I don't understand is why Manchin hasn't fled from the democrats, most of whom hate him with a passion, into the arms of the republicans who would gleefully welcome him with open arms. If Manchin did so and decided to run again as a republican when his current term is up, he would win by a landslide, as West Virginia has gone from solid democrat to the Reddest state in America.
"slope to outright communism"... Joe's going to nationalize all the banks, agriculture, and heavy industry? Who knew? Should be quite a show.
"the NM Senator" has been back for several weeks. He is not your problem. Manchin will not vote for BBB, thank God. Your wish list comes with costs and at least you are honest about iyour solution: raise taxes on working Americans. That is probably the main reason - besides the idiocy of more spending in a time of inflation. Not likely, but kudos for honesty.
Agree with your comment but got the sex of the NM senator wrong. Name is Kristin Sinema.
No, that is Sinema from Arizona. The guy from NM is, well, a guy. Not sure of what sex he has ...
Yes, you are correct about Sinema's home state. My mistake.