It is hard to believe that the end of January is here which means…the Iowa caucuses are on Monday. I will be out to caucus Monday night and I cannot wait to see what the results are once all the counting is done.
As scary as the idea of another four years of Donald Trump is to me and just about every American with half an ounce of sense, there is something exciting about Democratic candidates for president actually talking about progressive ideas for once. Too often Democratic candidates play this game of tilting right wing ideas a little leftward and calling it a day. Clinton’s “welfare reform” and Obama’s healthcare reform come to mind.
Regardless of who wins the nomination it is incumbent upon every voter to line up in support or we are doomed to four more years of the worst president in history.
On to the links…
How Republicans Made Millions on the Tax Cuts they Pushed through Congress—In a world where the president’s lawyer argues that it is not illegal for a president to break the law if he thinks that it is in his interest to be reelected we also get Republicans profiting handsomely from tax cuts that blew another hole in federal budgets.
Revealed: Top Official did Special Favors on Guns for NRA at Interior Department—The Trump administration is literally the best thing that money can buy for groups like the NRA. Whatever they want is just a check away.
Trump’s USDA Chief Thinks Farm Workers Are Overpaid—I wonder who would think that farm workers were overpaid?
Evangelicals Love Donald Trump for Many Reasons, But One of Them Is Especially Terrifying—I guess when you surround yourself with people who preach for the death of satanic pregnancies this was bound to happen.
The Right Keeps Attacking Greta Thunberg’s Identity, not Her Ideas—There are no ideas on the right anymore. All that remains is vitriol and hate.
Make Big Polluters Pay for Mass Tree Planting, Officials Say—Every gallon of gasoline that is sold, every ton of coal that is mined, etc. should have a tax on it to support environmental restoration.
Kansas’s Ag-Gag Law has Been Ruled Unconstitutional—These laws were going to be Republican’s favorite thing to pass right after expanded gun legislation and whatever the right-to-life people want that week. Too bad those pocket Constitutions bit them in the ass.
The British Wind Market Keeps Breaking Its Own Record—The offshore wind market in Britain is crazy. The numbers for the size of these offshore wind farms are insane. Each one is bigger than the last.
Zero-Carbon Hydrogen Injected into Gas Grid for First Time in Groundbreaking UK Trial—This is an interesting way to decarbonize natural gas. Given that we may have situations where renewable energy is over producing, making hydrogen in that scenario makes sense.
One Less Thing to Worry about in Your Carbon Footprint: Whether Your Food is Local—I do not believe that the thrust of eating local was just about one’s carbon footprint. Yes, it is part of the equation but there is so much more to the story than that.
Two-Thirds of Freight Shipped by Truck in the US in 2018 was Shipped Less than 100 Miles—My 2015 Nissan Leaf has the range to handle these kinds of routes.
Nightmares on Wax: the Environmental Impact of the Vinyl Revival—What is it with people and vinyl records? When I was a kid I do not remember anyone mythologizing vinyl records as boxes of old records sat in garage sales. Do we need to blame hipsters?
Chinese Winter Olympics To Be Held On Mountains With No Natural Snow—Who else thinks this will end poorly?
$38 Billion is Spent Yearly on Self-Storage—Is there anything in these self-storage units that is worth anything close to $38 billion? Imagine what we could do as a society with an extra $38 billion per year.
My Green Misadventure 