Well, the Magic Glasses did not improve the impression of his "improved" intelligence the moment he opens his mouth. At least he now knows a llittle more about the Dept. of Energy, but my friends at the university level are seriously worried aboout their research funding being cut by pRick Perry.
Perry is such a peacock, all this display of feathers, a brainless child of circumstances foreign to him...and for which he seems so eager to take credit for. Welcome Perry to join the rest of dimwitted pluto-kleptocrats in the cabinet of crooked lying Trump. Hopeless...while sun and wind do their best to prove them wrong.
1
Trump demonstrates over and over and over again that he has the emotional and mental maturity of a 14-year old. Yet here we are. Apparently there are some woman-hating white males out there who are completely in love with this guy.
2
"Clean" coal takes a hit in Mississippi.
"Southern Company and Mississippi Power announced Wednesday afternoon that they would suspend all coal gasification operations at a Kemper County plant and simply use natural gas instead. The decision comes after the Mississippi Public Service Commission (MPSC) recommended that the plant burn only natural gas, which is cheaper at the moment."
Dominance.
https://arstechnica.com/business/2017/06/7-5-billion-kemper-power-plant-...
"Southern Company and Mississippi Power announced Wednesday afternoon that they would suspend all coal gasification operations at a Kemper County plant and simply use natural gas instead. The decision comes after the Mississippi Public Service Commission (MPSC) recommended that the plant burn only natural gas, which is cheaper at the moment."
Dominance.
https://arstechnica.com/business/2017/06/7-5-billion-kemper-power-plant-...
4
Apparently, the man did not know what was happening in his own backyard. Another entitled Trump git who doesn't have a clue. They are starting to give the affluent a bad name which is good. Nuclear is dead unless fusion becomes possible or small, safe, and much lower cost nuclear fission plants become economic. Even then any sane utility company will probably balk at nuclear without large handouts from Trumps merry band.
4
On a daily basis and contrary to his own distorted self-image, Trump exposes himself with freakish weakness
Strength with its foundation in the power of truth and knowledge has never and will never be comprehended by Trump.
Strength with its foundation in the power of truth and knowledge has never and will never be comprehended by Trump.
5
American "energy dominance"? That's a laugher! I think it should be called, more appropriately, American fossil fuel industry dominance of the political landscape. The Trump Admin looks more and more pathetic with each passing day. Perry et al. say these things with supposedly straight faces. Something that only experienced politicians can do after decades of incessant lying.
It reminds me of a joke I heard long ago: How do you know a politician is lying? Answer: His or her lips are moving.
It reminds me of a joke I heard long ago: How do you know a politician is lying? Answer: His or her lips are moving.
3
Does he write his own remarks? Who would take credit for energy-free and dominance?
3
It's always tricky to translate Trump rhetoric into English, but I assume that "energy dominance" means that the United States would sell energy-generating equipment and technology to the rest of the world. So while the rest of the world working furiously to convert from carbon-based to renewable energy sources, the Trump administration wants to sell them oil, natural gas, and coal. This has got to be the dumbest means possible to the goal of "energy dominance."
politicsbyeccehomo.wordpress.com
politicsbyeccehomo.wordpress.com
7
Trump. Perry. Nuclear.
These are three words that shouldn't even be spoken in the same sentence.
These are three words that shouldn't even be spoken in the same sentence.
7
Remember Rick Perry thinks the Oceans are responsible for Global warming. And thinks we should all pray for rain, as well.
5
Perry is obviously another example of being blinded by the light produced by the highly nuclear and electronic White House.
1
Action at the state level is imperative for the continued success of renewable energy in this country. I created a website to help make it easy for us all to connect to our state legislators with the detailed information needed to support an increase of renewable energy options for all customers. Hopefully you find it helpful - http://www.consciouswatt.com/
3
We've gone through the looking glass into a dystopic Wonderland. While Cabinet Members are painting the roses red, the King of Hearts continues his bizarre attacks on people and his kangaroo courts. Up is down. Bad is good. When will we awaken from this nightmare?
9
Perry's reversal of any progress made toward dealing with climate change is all part and parcel of the Trumpian task of "deconstructing" government. This is the obsession of Stephen Bannon. Trump's White Supremacist adviser who wants to take the United States back to the times of 19th Century bare-knuckle capitalism when corporate giants ruled with absolutely no government oversight whatsoever. Billionaire donor Robert Mercer hooked Trump up with Bannon to replace Russian front man Paul Manafort who was sinking into a dark hole of disgrace. Trump himself has painted the White House with fifty shades of scandal.
11
Vote in 2018. Don't sit home and fret. And for God's sake, don't waste your ballot on hopeless "third party" thrill seeker.
19
And don't play patty-cake with how likeable the candidate. Look rather from the view of whether or not this person will work hard, care about issues, educate her/himself and listen.
6
Nonsense, a third party vote tells the big bosses NO.
Yeah, it worked real well this time. We got a dangerous fool.
2
Energy duminence (never could spell). It is so far from a zero sum "game". Everyday the sun send us $trillions worth of energy and we capture a pebble's worth with solar collectors and wind (yes that is solar too) turbines, and hydrodams (solar too). Coal and Pertroleum? Ancient (with lot's of zeros) Solar too. The only non-solar is geothermal and nuclear, but go back to the birth of gods and they are star stuff too.
1
Perhaps "Secretary" Perry should take a trip to Fukushima, Japan, to see just how extremely cool nuclear energy can be.
5
Also South Florida, where Florida Power and Light has received permission to bury nuclear waste under Miami's drinking water supply.
7
hit the submit key too quickly last time:
I'm staring at picture of the guy with the very smart looking glasses, The only thing missing is one of those cartoon caption bubbles showing what kind of sublime thoughts on the mysteries of the universe are really going through his mind: "E = mc^2". or "what kind of cheese is the moon made out of"
I'm staring at picture of the guy with the very smart looking glasses, The only thing missing is one of those cartoon caption bubbles showing what kind of sublime thoughts on the mysteries of the universe are really going through his mind: "E = mc^2". or "what kind of cheese is the moon made out of"
2
Whither that famous GOP preference for giving power to the states?
Why do they bother pretending they have principles, or calling themselves "Republican?" They abandoned the res publica during the Reagan years.
Why do they bother pretending they have principles, or calling themselves "Republican?" They abandoned the res publica during the Reagan years.
3
Trump and his cabinet: a national embarrassment.
We have become the laughingstock of the civilized world.
We have become the laughingstock of the civilized world.
11
for sure you think like a leftist.
Don't forget Secretary of the Interior Zinke. While he loves having his picture taken while on horseback, what he's doing off-camera is also cheerleading for Trump's misguided "Energy Dominance" approach - looking for more fossil fuel in places we should leave alone.
http://www.newsweek.com/climate-change-oil-drilling-alaska-zinke-619240
And also looking to replace well-staffed parks and the Bureau of Indian Affairs with a mineral-friendly approach to federal lands
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/energy-environment/wp/2017/06/20/zin...
"“Those of us who serve on an Indian Affairs committee just know how woefully underfunded the tribes are,” said Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.). “How do these cuts support sovereignty?”
Zinke repeated himself: “This is what a balanced budget looks like.”
Franken looked up from notes he was reading. “There are ways to balance the budget other than on the backs of tribes.”
“It’s unfortunate,” Zinke said."
http://www.newsweek.com/climate-change-oil-drilling-alaska-zinke-619240
And also looking to replace well-staffed parks and the Bureau of Indian Affairs with a mineral-friendly approach to federal lands
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/energy-environment/wp/2017/06/20/zin...
"“Those of us who serve on an Indian Affairs committee just know how woefully underfunded the tribes are,” said Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.). “How do these cuts support sovereignty?”
Zinke repeated himself: “This is what a balanced budget looks like.”
Franken looked up from notes he was reading. “There are ways to balance the budget other than on the backs of tribes.”
“It’s unfortunate,” Zinke said."
13
It used to be that Republicans genuinely opposed wind and solar because they were more expensive. The same with compact fluorescent and LED lights. Now that all these things are on par cost-wise with coal, oil and incande lights respectively, you'd think they'd change their tune. But no. They just oppose anything that's good. Because liberals like it. It's completely absurd and childish and vindictive and counterproductive, but that's where we are. That's who they are.
15
My first response on seeing the Perry photo was that it was an SNL promo. I don't remember when this started...
Sadly this NYT piece missed when Rick Perry spoke “to protect the security interests of America,” and how Rare Earths have been allowed to be monopolized by China over the years.
If ever there was a case for the federal government to step up and ensure an American-owned secure source alternative to an industry nearly 100% dominated by an astute China, this is it.
That group of 17 little-known elements from the Periodic Table, Rare Earths are so critical, vital to American national security, modern mainstream electronic production, small magnets driving electric motors, and tomorrow’s future industries in wind turbines, electric cars and photovoltaics.
All rare earth metallurgy used in our Pentagon advanced weapons defense systems must today originate through China.
That cannot stand.
What a complete 180 degree turnaround there is with this stellar appointment from years of the ignorant shutting down of American mining of Rare Earths.
That is the real story, the real hard tangible news story today being ignored by the pettiness, the cheap personal shots at the accomplished Texas governor, and the hyped entertainment of small thinkers including Gail Collins and the NYT here in this piece.
Texas created more jobs than all the other 49 states combined during the more than a decade Rick Perry was governor by incentivizing employers, many from California, to relocate in Texas by creating loser pays tort reform and welcoming essential risk takers and their capital investment.
If ever there was a case for the federal government to step up and ensure an American-owned secure source alternative to an industry nearly 100% dominated by an astute China, this is it.
That group of 17 little-known elements from the Periodic Table, Rare Earths are so critical, vital to American national security, modern mainstream electronic production, small magnets driving electric motors, and tomorrow’s future industries in wind turbines, electric cars and photovoltaics.
All rare earth metallurgy used in our Pentagon advanced weapons defense systems must today originate through China.
That cannot stand.
What a complete 180 degree turnaround there is with this stellar appointment from years of the ignorant shutting down of American mining of Rare Earths.
That is the real story, the real hard tangible news story today being ignored by the pettiness, the cheap personal shots at the accomplished Texas governor, and the hyped entertainment of small thinkers including Gail Collins and the NYT here in this piece.
Texas created more jobs than all the other 49 states combined during the more than a decade Rick Perry was governor by incentivizing employers, many from California, to relocate in Texas by creating loser pays tort reform and welcoming essential risk takers and their capital investment.
1
The heavy metals that are vital to computer components are found in few places. The US has almost no known sources of these rare metals. China and some places in Africa are the main sites.
The metals are also extremely toxic (perhaps a redundancy) and mining them is an environmental disaster.
The US would be better served committing resources to developing other materials to build components to protect its security than depending on foreign resources or the hope of finding it's own supply. Not much different from renewable energy.
The metals are also extremely toxic (perhaps a redundancy) and mining them is an environmental disaster.
The US would be better served committing resources to developing other materials to build components to protect its security than depending on foreign resources or the hope of finding it's own supply. Not much different from renewable energy.
1
I seriously doubt that "more jobs than 49 other states" claim. Texas population has grown, and it did benefit from an oil boom during his tenure, but it's hardly the envy of the nation.
Among other things 49 states do better in: air quality, educational achievement and infant mortality. Wage growth is nothing to crow about, either.
In each case, Texas's low-tax, small-government policy is to blame. Better land-use planning, school funding, and social services in other states show how it's done.
Among other things 49 states do better in: air quality, educational achievement and infant mortality. Wage growth is nothing to crow about, either.
In each case, Texas's low-tax, small-government policy is to blame. Better land-use planning, school funding, and social services in other states show how it's done.
2
Greetings, MKKW in Baltimore.
You are sadly misinformed.
Of the 17 Rare Earths:
Cerium (Ce), Dysprosium (Dy), Erbium (Er), Europium (Eu), Gadolinium (Gd), Holmium (Ho), Lanthanum (La), Lutetium (Lu), Neodymium (Nd), Praseodymium (Pr), Promethium (Pm), Samarium (Sm), Scandium (Sc), Terbium (Tb), Thulium (Tm), Ytterbium (Yb) and Yttrium (Y),
Only Promethium is unstable and mildly radioactive.
There are vast ore deposits in Wyoming, Pennsylvania and most recently mined at California's Mountain Pass mine, but no more, like coal, regulated out of production here at home,
And low priced barriers to entry abroad caused by unfair Chinese trade practices successfully seeking monopoly.
The environmental concerns of mining, refining, and recycling of Rare Earths can be and were well abated for decades here when properly managed.
But the hard line adversarial modern day zealotry of our greens armed with false narratives as you write here against industry place other priorities over production, progress, and prosperity in this regard.
Mining is essential, and far too maligned today by those ideologically inclined, detached, misinformed and not pragmatic or results oriented.
The average home requires 140 pounds of copper. The list of such elements attributable to our comfortable existence and quality of life built over generations of Americans is long and convincing.
You are sadly misinformed.
Of the 17 Rare Earths:
Cerium (Ce), Dysprosium (Dy), Erbium (Er), Europium (Eu), Gadolinium (Gd), Holmium (Ho), Lanthanum (La), Lutetium (Lu), Neodymium (Nd), Praseodymium (Pr), Promethium (Pm), Samarium (Sm), Scandium (Sc), Terbium (Tb), Thulium (Tm), Ytterbium (Yb) and Yttrium (Y),
Only Promethium is unstable and mildly radioactive.
There are vast ore deposits in Wyoming, Pennsylvania and most recently mined at California's Mountain Pass mine, but no more, like coal, regulated out of production here at home,
And low priced barriers to entry abroad caused by unfair Chinese trade practices successfully seeking monopoly.
The environmental concerns of mining, refining, and recycling of Rare Earths can be and were well abated for decades here when properly managed.
But the hard line adversarial modern day zealotry of our greens armed with false narratives as you write here against industry place other priorities over production, progress, and prosperity in this regard.
Mining is essential, and far too maligned today by those ideologically inclined, detached, misinformed and not pragmatic or results oriented.
The average home requires 140 pounds of copper. The list of such elements attributable to our comfortable existence and quality of life built over generations of Americans is long and convincing.
Renewable energy and environmental protection are not going to be wrecked by the Republicans nearly as much as we fear.
Why? Because as many posters here have stated, the train has left the station. The future is coming and no one can stop it.
Consider the corporations that are well on the road to implementing the regulations despised by the Republicans. A few might relish the idea of returning to the bad old days of profits from pollution, but the majority have a culture—engineers, younger more idealistic executives and even stockholders—that won’t let them go back.
The most pragmatic companies are well on the road to a greener future. They know green sells and besides, if they reversed their direction, there is a pretty good chance the Democrats will be back in four years and do they reverse direction again? Reversing costs money.
Trump and friends badly misread how much corporations hate environmental and energy regulations. The secret is, many of them don't mind having to be told to do good.
Why? Because as many posters here have stated, the train has left the station. The future is coming and no one can stop it.
Consider the corporations that are well on the road to implementing the regulations despised by the Republicans. A few might relish the idea of returning to the bad old days of profits from pollution, but the majority have a culture—engineers, younger more idealistic executives and even stockholders—that won’t let them go back.
The most pragmatic companies are well on the road to a greener future. They know green sells and besides, if they reversed their direction, there is a pretty good chance the Democrats will be back in four years and do they reverse direction again? Reversing costs money.
Trump and friends badly misread how much corporations hate environmental and energy regulations. The secret is, many of them don't mind having to be told to do good.
3
Why don't I see news coverage of our country's leaders who are speaking out against Trump and the narrow minded republican leadership? I see lots of editorials but not news regarding senators, governors, representatives, etc. speaking out in their own words. I try to follow the news - am I missing something here? Not criticizing the NYT, WP, etc. Just wondering. Thanks
6
Um.... the Democrats are doing just that. The GOP? Not so much.
2
As we watch the Trumpians dismantle our country for the benefit of the very wealthy we can only hope and pray that the Millennials today listen to the words of Bob Dylan, who influenced an older generation to question and to fight against the Trump Tyranny of all shades:
from “Masters of War”
Bob Dylan
How much do I know
To talk out of turn
You might say that I'm young
You might say I'm unlearned
But there's one thing I know
Though I'm younger than you
That even Jesus would never
Forgive what you do
Let me ask you one question
Is your money that good
Will it buy you forgiveness
Do you think that it could
I think you will find
When your death takes its toll
All the money you made
Will never buy back your soul
from “Masters of War”
Bob Dylan
How much do I know
To talk out of turn
You might say that I'm young
You might say I'm unlearned
But there's one thing I know
Though I'm younger than you
That even Jesus would never
Forgive what you do
Let me ask you one question
Is your money that good
Will it buy you forgiveness
Do you think that it could
I think you will find
When your death takes its toll
All the money you made
Will never buy back your soul
15
Beautiful and appropriate introduction to an unforgettable song. Thank you.
5
The Clintons will soon be billionaires.
Presidents Obama and W. Bush reduced barriers to nuclear power expansion, to no avail. Even Perry's "make fission cool again" idea won't budge the last obstacle to new nuclear power plants--economics. They cost $10 billion, take 10 years to complete, and the electricity they make is expensive. Banks won't finance them, utilities and ratepayers don't want the risk, and there aren't many firms left in the world that build them. We can always start burning oil to make electricity again. Haven't done that since 1972. American Petroleum Institute would reward the GOP bigly. More bigly, sorry.
2
We have nuclear waste building up at power plants. The biggest problem is storage.
4
"Because, you know ... dominance."
Gail Collins is simply the best.
Very few philosophers can sum up an insightful argument covering a large segment of our national discussion in four words, while, at the same time, causing their readers to actually laugh out loud.
We love you Gail.
Gail Collins is simply the best.
Very few philosophers can sum up an insightful argument covering a large segment of our national discussion in four words, while, at the same time, causing their readers to actually laugh out loud.
We love you Gail.
16
I would think Rick Perry's degree work in animal science is serving him well in the cabinet.
18
Thank you, Gail, for calling attention to what the rest of 45's cabinet is up to while he is spewing Twitter bombs as distraction. Your voice is critical right now.
11
What about safety issues at Los Alamos?
6
I recall a few years ago when Secretary Perry made his first run at the Republican Presidential nomination, some mean-spirited fake news organization, I think it was the Huffington Post, managed to secure a copy of Perry's transcript from Texas A&M. While it is true that he was awarded a degree in Animal Husbandry, during his senior year he received a "D" in Feeds and Feeding, which I don't doubt is paralyzingly boring, but would seem fairly crucial to a planned career in animal husbandry, although not, I suppose in politics.
However, more pertinently to his present job, he started his quest for an education at A&M as a pre-veterinary medicine major, but he flunked organic chemistry. Twice. Vet medicine's loss is our gain, of course, but one would think that organic chemistry might bear on being Energy Secretary. On the other hand, he doesn't strike me as dumber or more incompetent than other members of the Trump administration. Well, maybe a little dumber.
However, more pertinently to his present job, he started his quest for an education at A&M as a pre-veterinary medicine major, but he flunked organic chemistry. Twice. Vet medicine's loss is our gain, of course, but one would think that organic chemistry might bear on being Energy Secretary. On the other hand, he doesn't strike me as dumber or more incompetent than other members of the Trump administration. Well, maybe a little dumber.
21
Shows what those dumb professors know. Perry's shone in Feed and Feeding ever since, at the public trough!
The answer for West Virginia is to turn most of it into the "National Park of Despair and Dead Industry."
West Virginians would be hired as National Park Rangers, coal miners would play their role as the despairing, standing around coal mines complaining about mine safety rules killing their jobs.
Other miners would participate in the Miners Trapped in A Cave-in Show - simulated of course - and they would curse Silas McGhee and Family who would play the role of the anti-union family intent on increasing profits at the expense of worker lives.
A mountain top scalping coal operation would play itself in a drama featuring environmentalists fighting the scalping and underground miners making pseudo violent attacks on dragline operators and bosses.
Streams will remain pure and clean except for faux pollution and stench from dying industry. Former coal miners with play themselves and everyone in West Virginia will receive single payer health and life insurance.
Unspoiled West Virginia areas will be treated as the epitome of what once was before despair, woe and gloom set upon the states.
The coal industry barons wil play their natural Simon Lehrer like characters bullying the former miners with faked violence on both sides. At the end if the day, nightclub West Virginia will come alive with Modern Carry nation visiting with a promise to Shute erythjng die.
West Virginians would be hired as National Park Rangers, coal miners would play their role as the despairing, standing around coal mines complaining about mine safety rules killing their jobs.
Other miners would participate in the Miners Trapped in A Cave-in Show - simulated of course - and they would curse Silas McGhee and Family who would play the role of the anti-union family intent on increasing profits at the expense of worker lives.
A mountain top scalping coal operation would play itself in a drama featuring environmentalists fighting the scalping and underground miners making pseudo violent attacks on dragline operators and bosses.
Streams will remain pure and clean except for faux pollution and stench from dying industry. Former coal miners with play themselves and everyone in West Virginia will receive single payer health and life insurance.
Unspoiled West Virginia areas will be treated as the epitome of what once was before despair, woe and gloom set upon the states.
The coal industry barons wil play their natural Simon Lehrer like characters bullying the former miners with faked violence on both sides. At the end if the day, nightclub West Virginia will come alive with Modern Carry nation visiting with a promise to Shute erythjng die.
3
Oh, my God. It's like those dioramas at the Museum of Natural History or those living tableaux in Colson Whitehead's Underground Railroad.
3
Greed, beady-eyed, selfish, treasonous...
All of these adjectives found in this Comments Section I agree with as they do apply to the the modern-day GOP (I wouldn't put IKE or Teddy Roosevelt in this category, hence the "modern-day").
I like a different set of adjectives, more effective I think, as Republicans like to see themselves as tough and self-reliant (I know, I worked in Texas and am from Montana):
Cowardly - carrying water for the billionaire class is the exact opposite of bravery.
Needy (I'd say Dependent but it's important to know your audience; dependent is harder to understand) - liberal states' tax dollars keep red states, who can't sustain themselves, financially afloat.
That's enough. Those two strike deepest into the hearts of the red state mind.
All of these adjectives found in this Comments Section I agree with as they do apply to the the modern-day GOP (I wouldn't put IKE or Teddy Roosevelt in this category, hence the "modern-day").
I like a different set of adjectives, more effective I think, as Republicans like to see themselves as tough and self-reliant (I know, I worked in Texas and am from Montana):
Cowardly - carrying water for the billionaire class is the exact opposite of bravery.
Needy (I'd say Dependent but it's important to know your audience; dependent is harder to understand) - liberal states' tax dollars keep red states, who can't sustain themselves, financially afloat.
That's enough. Those two strike deepest into the hearts of the red state mind.
6
Energy dominate. Dominance. The choice of this word is so telling. Our shallow shell of a president does not want to work with our allies to improve lives and the planet. He is unable to understand the complexities of energy independence and its critical role for the future. He appointed a man who made the unfortunate decision to participate in the reality show, Dancing with the Stars and who had no idea about the responsibilities of Secretary of Energy. It's all about dominance. That is Donald Trump's objective because sometime in his past he was not dominant and is seeking revenge. Unfortunately, we will all suffer for his mental illness.
10
Thank god we have finally dumped the Clinton factotum.
As noted, previous Energy Secretaries were highly respected scientists, while Mr. Perry got "D" at Texas A&M in a course titled "Meats". As Texas Governor, during a severe drought he proclaimed " ' ... the three-day period from Friday, April 22, 2011, to Sunday, April 24, 2011, as Days of Prayer for Rain in the State of Texas.' Alas, a rainless spring was followed by a rainless summer. July was the hottest month in recorded Texas history." (NYTimes)
10
You can sort of laugh at Rick Perry, and there are many good reasons to do that. But a recent "Frontline" broadcast on PBS ended that for me.
While Governor of Texas, Perry refused to halt the execution of a man named Cameron Todd Willingham, who had been convicted of burning his house and killing his three children. Before his execution, new evidence surfaced from the Texas Forensic Science Commission that exonerated him. He was actually innocent. But Perry removed the chairman and two members of the commission, and replaced them with political cronies in an attempt to change their official findings.
You don't stay governor long in Texas if you're perceived as being "soft" on crime. So, Willingham was executed. Simply for politics. Simply because laughable Rick Perry didn't want to look "soft."
While Governor of Texas, Perry refused to halt the execution of a man named Cameron Todd Willingham, who had been convicted of burning his house and killing his three children. Before his execution, new evidence surfaced from the Texas Forensic Science Commission that exonerated him. He was actually innocent. But Perry removed the chairman and two members of the commission, and replaced them with political cronies in an attempt to change their official findings.
You don't stay governor long in Texas if you're perceived as being "soft" on crime. So, Willingham was executed. Simply for politics. Simply because laughable Rick Perry didn't want to look "soft."
77
Of course you know by now that this is old news. Yet NONE of the major news outlets ran this story when Perry was running for President in 2012, before he destroyed himself with his "oops" moment.
In my book, Perry is a murderer.
In my book, Perry is a murderer.
1
Interesting article about Texas getting less red. Seems that Democrats there realized that if they go talk to people who tend not to vote, find out what they are interested in, and then engage in making things happen - then those people start voting.
But the article also makes clear that demographics is NOT destiny, if you don't get the people - not "the demographic" engaged.
https://harpers.org/archive/2017/03/texas-is-the-future/
Of course, long-term it's possible that Texas and other states in the Southeast will start losing population northwards again as conditions deteriorate over coming decades.
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/06/29/climate/southern-states-w...
Think the "Southern Strategy" would get a revision when they start losing seats in the House?
But the article also makes clear that demographics is NOT destiny, if you don't get the people - not "the demographic" engaged.
https://harpers.org/archive/2017/03/texas-is-the-future/
Of course, long-term it's possible that Texas and other states in the Southeast will start losing population northwards again as conditions deteriorate over coming decades.
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/06/29/climate/southern-states-w...
Think the "Southern Strategy" would get a revision when they start losing seats in the House?
2
I question his strategy of self-reliance (sounds like North Korea's Juche to me). I advocate for the idea of gaining leverage over Saudi Arabia and the oil pact: it has translated into cheaper oil prices. It sounds like protectionism again, but trade is essential to growth. It's a human fallacy to think that you are going to do it on your own. Those who work together in teams succeed. As a suggestion, come up with a way to decrease the World's energy prices, so that we all float up together.
2
This was funny until you mentioned the administration might try to override state laws requiring a portion of utilities' power come from renewable sources. This speaks to a level of malevolence that even this confirmed resister could not have imagined. Is everyone on the take from the oil and gas industry?
8
Trump (and a certain number of his cabinet) now seem like distractions from the ongoing and serious process of national government. We will be nothing but lucky if the US survives the next 3.5 years with its economy intact. Disappearing fast are our reputation, prestige and credibility as a global leader.
6
For a little comic relief, here's Trump in Scotland, where they have a way with selfish and stupid. Enjoy:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3pbTmXsfiYk
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3pbTmXsfiYk
5
thanks for sharing susan! ...LOVE SAMANTHA BEE AND "FULL FRONTAL" , this episode in particular!!!
2
It's Energy Week: that is code for Trump is going to open up areas for more oil/gas exploration.
Too bad we aren't being more aggressive about finding more wind and solar energy, plus better batteries for storage.
They should be part of Energy Week celebration, too.
Too bad we aren't being more aggressive about finding more wind and solar energy, plus better batteries for storage.
They should be part of Energy Week celebration, too.
8
Let's cut him some slack. After all, he IS from Texas.
9
So did he mention his big win again in November in all of this mish mash of policy?
2
We've been driving around in modified versions of the ole Model-T for over one hundred years......and nobody ever came up with a better way to do this???
As for Power Production.....we're still using 60 year old power plant designs based on WW2 research, not one freakin' step closer to the future....in over 70 years. Still the same ole heavy water reactors.
As for Power Production.....we're still using 60 year old power plant designs based on WW2 research, not one freakin' step closer to the future....in over 70 years. Still the same ole heavy water reactors.
8
i guess it's all about power and dominance with this group. My oh my, what tiny hands they all must have!
As for Perry, so glad he crows just like a rooster. Keep him out of hen houses and state laws. I'm sure the wind power jobs were not intentional on his part. He's still learning how energy works beyond a lump of coal.
Renewable, schmooable. What good can come of it if you're not poisoning water or air somewhere.
I think Trump's aversion to wind power is two fold: he creates enough wind just speaking and those pesky wind farms make the tacky on view in his properties hard to see when they are part of the landscape.
As for Perry, so glad he crows just like a rooster. Keep him out of hen houses and state laws. I'm sure the wind power jobs were not intentional on his part. He's still learning how energy works beyond a lump of coal.
Renewable, schmooable. What good can come of it if you're not poisoning water or air somewhere.
I think Trump's aversion to wind power is two fold: he creates enough wind just speaking and those pesky wind farms make the tacky on view in his properties hard to see when they are part of the landscape.
7
"The second was a nuclear physicist. Rick Perry has a bachelor’s degree in animal sciencemo, but we are not going to point that out because it’s simply meanspirited."
Actually, this dynamic simply proves what Republicans think of government. This is hardly the latest Repub hack installed in circumstances they weren't qualified to navigate. This is the modus operandi for repubs. It would have been surprising if Trump had actually picked someone competent to run the DOE.
Actually, this dynamic simply proves what Republicans think of government. This is hardly the latest Repub hack installed in circumstances they weren't qualified to navigate. This is the modus operandi for repubs. It would have been surprising if Trump had actually picked someone competent to run the DOE.
11
What is with the grammar...
1
Can't wait for Shark Week!
7
More Magical Thinking. Cures all ills, don't it. Sorta' like Reagan's Voodoo Economics.
4
"...in terms of the world..." whatever that means!
1
Love the comment made by Jim Marston of the Environmental Defense Fund’s Texas office, and think it applies to all of the Republicans who huddled together in secret to destroy healthcare for 22 million Americans: “Rick Perry is like the rooster who thinks his crowing caused the sun to come up.”
The Trump administration concocted a foul brew of nasty and mean cuts to so many Americans that I wonder that we don't have uprisings. Hope voters take the opportunity to visit their representatives offices to vent their dismay and anger--in lieu of uprisings!
The Trump administration concocted a foul brew of nasty and mean cuts to so many Americans that I wonder that we don't have uprisings. Hope voters take the opportunity to visit their representatives offices to vent their dismay and anger--in lieu of uprisings!
10
Rick Perry. Just waiting for Orders on Solar Panels for Mexican Wall so USA can not just be Dominant but "Energy-Dominant".
2
Ms. Collins is a humorist who has little understanding on how things work outside of her cocoon. Irrespective of what thinks of Secretary Perry, he is an effective manager. Whether it is managing state government or a federal agency, these are gigantic jobs that only few of us are capable of doing well.
With all due respect to the brilliant men who were Energy Secretary under POTUS Obama, neither one of these men can be characterized as an outstanding manager/leader. This is my considered opinion and it is does not detract from their considerable intellectual prowess.
It is the tone of Ms. Collins' OP-ED that is also troubling. She effectively has told us that if POTUS Obama nominated someone to the Cabinet, then this person must have been a superstar. Likewise, anyone nominated by POTUS Trump is a bumpkin of effectively zero value. While such musings fly on the west side of Manhattan, these musings are an anathema in Flyover Country.
Political pieces authored by Ms. Collins should be accompanied by a warning, "Any resemblance of her prose to the facts/truth is pure coincidental."
With all due respect to the brilliant men who were Energy Secretary under POTUS Obama, neither one of these men can be characterized as an outstanding manager/leader. This is my considered opinion and it is does not detract from their considerable intellectual prowess.
It is the tone of Ms. Collins' OP-ED that is also troubling. She effectively has told us that if POTUS Obama nominated someone to the Cabinet, then this person must have been a superstar. Likewise, anyone nominated by POTUS Trump is a bumpkin of effectively zero value. While such musings fly on the west side of Manhattan, these musings are an anathema in Flyover Country.
Political pieces authored by Ms. Collins should be accompanied by a warning, "Any resemblance of her prose to the facts/truth is pure coincidental."
1
Have you even considered the lack of qualifications for their posts in trump's cabinet? Obviously not. The biggest thing they have in common is their willingness to undo what little good President Obama was able to do against a wall of Republican obstructionism.
4
Energy Sector is one major part of The Infrastructure.It needs bringing efficiency and having a back up plan to minimize disruptions.Having those most accomplished Physicists at the top makes a great sense : 1) I specialize in Mathematics of Quantum Physics and The Advanced Applied Math Book Manuscript ( yet 2 b published) I have completed a major part of it is about making Energy distribution efficient, facilitate resilience and mitigate the impact of possible disruptions; 2) I stumbled to the connection between the type of Math above and the practical problems I saw or may some day arise naturally, but the insight wouldn't have come handy if it were not due to some level of Mathematical Science exposure.So, the appointment of Mr.Perry's predecessors was very sensible move.Yesterday on CNN there was a report on how half of London is green and that the sum effect of having about 10 trees around a every high rise building is that residents on the average live 7 yrs longer and that is a profitable bargain.If a melt down occurs it will ruin all sorts of life in a very wide vicinity and so why bring them back when the clean approach can b profitable or 1 can break even.Accidents can happen or may happen and why not make their probability 0. My experience fro planting some 70-80 trees some 4 yrs ago is that when U let Flowers bloom, trees, pines, leaves, Herbs and green spice ingredients grow fully with constant tending life comes back, the area freshens and it pleases the Eye.
1
But wind and solar energy, they are — not popular. The presidential budget calls for a nearly 70 percent cut in spending for the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy. Why do you think this administration is so hostile to a growing industry that’s clearly the global future? Lobbying? Political donations? A general aversion to anything Barack Obama liked?
The answer to that question is most confounding. Simply put, why the animosity toward renewable energy. Conservative sites are crowing about the fact that used solar panels will present some challenges in the future regarding recycling and conflating that with nuclear waste. Used solar panels can be recycled while nuclear waste cannot and will last essentially forever.
The only answer I can come up with is that conservatives and the Republicans in office are against anything and everything that liberals or Democrats are in favor of irrespective of whether it is good for the country, the environment, people and the world community or not.
The answer to that question is most confounding. Simply put, why the animosity toward renewable energy. Conservative sites are crowing about the fact that used solar panels will present some challenges in the future regarding recycling and conflating that with nuclear waste. Used solar panels can be recycled while nuclear waste cannot and will last essentially forever.
The only answer I can come up with is that conservatives and the Republicans in office are against anything and everything that liberals or Democrats are in favor of irrespective of whether it is good for the country, the environment, people and the world community or not.
14
The concept of "Energy dominance", from a man who believes exercise is meaningless and the human body is born with a limited and finite amount of energy, does not surprise me.
13
Renewable energy - particularly solar - is an engineering problem. The government should be placing their thumb on the scale in the form of taxes, mandates, and research dollars, but its ultimately up to those in lab coats and work boots to make it happen. Energy is the largest market in the world and if there is a way to dethrone King Fossil Fuel, someone will make it happen despite the government.
In the mean time, I would like to see Democrats support nuclear policy. Yes, waste is an issue, but I'll trade an irreversible global problem for a local one that we can figure out. It's currently the only viable 24-hour solution out there that doesn't pump CO2 into the atmosphere or foul the environment (hydro dams are awful). If nuclear can buy us some time while solar finds its way, then I'll stand with Trump on this issue.
In the mean time, I would like to see Democrats support nuclear policy. Yes, waste is an issue, but I'll trade an irreversible global problem for a local one that we can figure out. It's currently the only viable 24-hour solution out there that doesn't pump CO2 into the atmosphere or foul the environment (hydro dams are awful). If nuclear can buy us some time while solar finds its way, then I'll stand with Trump on this issue.
Thank you for volunteering Pittsburg as a storage facility for nuclear waste.
1
It's not the only viable option. Have you not noticed a worldwide disinvestment in nuclear power? Scandinavia, Germany, Japan, and the US? That's because it's not viable.
Economics? Name one nuclear plant, anywhere, built solely with private investment. It doesn't exist. That's despite the fact that nuclear facilities are explicitly protected from liability, by federal law.
Denmark today produces 40% of its electricity from wind. That's up from 25% 10 years ago. Windmills are owned cooperatively by communities, so there's no local opposition.
California uses electricity at half the national per capita average rate. It pays power companies to find efficiencies because it's cheaper to replace old appliances than to build new plants.
All our electricity needs can be met by a combination of solar, wind, greater efficiency, better transmission, and maybe a backup of natural gas. Anyone who tells you otherwise is misguided.
Economics? Name one nuclear plant, anywhere, built solely with private investment. It doesn't exist. That's despite the fact that nuclear facilities are explicitly protected from liability, by federal law.
Denmark today produces 40% of its electricity from wind. That's up from 25% 10 years ago. Windmills are owned cooperatively by communities, so there's no local opposition.
California uses electricity at half the national per capita average rate. It pays power companies to find efficiencies because it's cheaper to replace old appliances than to build new plants.
All our electricity needs can be met by a combination of solar, wind, greater efficiency, better transmission, and maybe a backup of natural gas. Anyone who tells you otherwise is misguided.
2
No. It's because, you know....Obama.
11
Rick oops Perry. Maybe he will oversee the department he forgot he wanted to eliminate.
3
I believe the word you a4re searching for is not dominance, Gail, it's ignorance.
12
It's really quite simple that Trump is an idiot and the people he's appointed overall are all the same.
A pity for America.
Hopefully they will survive Trumpdom.
A pity for America.
Hopefully they will survive Trumpdom.
11
Perry is like the "50 Shades of Grey" dominator, in that we, the once proud citizens of this great country, are all getting a good spanking right about now.
5
Glad to see someone--Gail of course--is finally paying attention to the no. 1 idiot among idiots in the cabinet. Somehow he's been under the radar for too long. I guess he was studying & learning, & now he's up to speed. All of which is yet another reflection on Trump, our own Caligula.
12
Dear Sec. Perry. Glasses don't make people smart.
Keep the cheaters on if you need them for reading, and re-read this friendly letter from the American Meteorological Society after your recent chat with Senator Franken and your CNBC interview:
https://www.ametsoc.org/ams/index.cfm/about-ams/ams-position-letters/let...
And Sec. Perry, the Energy Information Agency says this about your state and about the power sources you dislike vs. one you promote:
"Texas leads the nation in wind-powered generation capacity with more than 18,500 megawatts; in 2014 and 2015, Texas wind turbines produced more electricity than the state's two nuclear plants. "
https://www.eia.gov/state/?sid=TX
That power is useful, since your state also uses an awful lot of electricity.
Keep the cheaters on if you need them for reading, and re-read this friendly letter from the American Meteorological Society after your recent chat with Senator Franken and your CNBC interview:
https://www.ametsoc.org/ams/index.cfm/about-ams/ams-position-letters/let...
And Sec. Perry, the Energy Information Agency says this about your state and about the power sources you dislike vs. one you promote:
"Texas leads the nation in wind-powered generation capacity with more than 18,500 megawatts; in 2014 and 2015, Texas wind turbines produced more electricity than the state's two nuclear plants. "
https://www.eia.gov/state/?sid=TX
That power is useful, since your state also uses an awful lot of electricity.
11
This administration is so inept that it would be funny if it were a sitcom. However, the reality of it makes it scary.
7
Not a sitcom, but an apocalyptic horror show.
Rick Perry is not very smart. Everybody knows that but Rick and those who sucked up to him while he was Governor of Texas.
We are so glad that someone found a job for him that at least temporarily removes him from the state of Texas. Thank you Donald Trump. And I never thought I'd say that.
By the way, Mr. Animal Science Major and for Mr. Cheerleader made a D in Meat Cutting while in college. Oops.
We are so glad that someone found a job for him that at least temporarily removes him from the state of Texas. Thank you Donald Trump. And I never thought I'd say that.
By the way, Mr. Animal Science Major and for Mr. Cheerleader made a D in Meat Cutting while in college. Oops.
3
Why do I think this administration is so hostile to a growing industry that’s clearly the global future?
I vote for ... a general aversion to anything Barack Obama liked.
I vote for ... a general aversion to anything Barack Obama liked.
8
As with everything else going on with this administration, commenting on individual policy issues misses the point entirely. While these issues are being debated, the big picture is shifting in Washington, and not in a positive way for this country.
4
"Why do you think this administration is so hostile to a growing industry that’s clearly the global future? Lobbying? Political donations? A general aversion to anything Barack Obama liked?"
1) Yes to the last Question. 1000 times yes.
2) An aversion by this president to live in the present and embrace the future. In not just energy, but in all subjects (science, economics, transportation), he is stunted in the 60's and 70's when he was presumably the talk of Manhattan. He is just not very modern.
Now I have a question: what IS It about this president that causes powerful, accomplished, intelligent men such as Tillerson, "the generals," and even Rick Oops Perry to degrade themselves? I hear Trump is charming, but I think that is a complete HOAX. His approval rating is in the toilet. He has pretty much decimated the GOP with his brand. Trump is the very definition of old, weak, grumpy and UNCOOL. What is it about him that is like a moth to flame for his minions?
1) Yes to the last Question. 1000 times yes.
2) An aversion by this president to live in the present and embrace the future. In not just energy, but in all subjects (science, economics, transportation), he is stunted in the 60's and 70's when he was presumably the talk of Manhattan. He is just not very modern.
Now I have a question: what IS It about this president that causes powerful, accomplished, intelligent men such as Tillerson, "the generals," and even Rick Oops Perry to degrade themselves? I hear Trump is charming, but I think that is a complete HOAX. His approval rating is in the toilet. He has pretty much decimated the GOP with his brand. Trump is the very definition of old, weak, grumpy and UNCOOL. What is it about him that is like a moth to flame for his minions?
3
Want to get rid of the "nanny-state" government that taxes the rich; provides social services to middle class, poor, elderly and disabled people; and regulates businesses that engage in destructive activities and scam consumers and investors?
The Trump administration is currently showing us how is it done with a one-two punch in the government's gut.
1. No need for a coup or right-wing revolution. Simply put inexperienced, incompetent people in charge of the agencies that the ultra-conservative right wants to destroy. "Whoops, Perry" is one of many examples. Remember how we argued in one of Gail's recent columns over which Trump appointee was the worst of the worst of the Trump-chosen cabinet? So many to choose from--education, health and human services, environment, energy, and so on down the list.
2. Use all media to deflect the public's short attention from what is really important and needed and from the not-so-hidden GOP agenda to destroy the federal government and all vestiges of FDR's New Deal. The Trump and GOP clowns are delighting themselves by creating a circus of confusion that intentionally keeps us from solving our problems that desperately need to be addressed.
Rational government leaders and employees are made to look like fools by the mini-minded, immature GOP school-yard bullies who taunt authority and those who play by the rules and competently do their government jobs.
Things may be worse before they get better, but we will come out stronger
The Trump administration is currently showing us how is it done with a one-two punch in the government's gut.
1. No need for a coup or right-wing revolution. Simply put inexperienced, incompetent people in charge of the agencies that the ultra-conservative right wants to destroy. "Whoops, Perry" is one of many examples. Remember how we argued in one of Gail's recent columns over which Trump appointee was the worst of the worst of the Trump-chosen cabinet? So many to choose from--education, health and human services, environment, energy, and so on down the list.
2. Use all media to deflect the public's short attention from what is really important and needed and from the not-so-hidden GOP agenda to destroy the federal government and all vestiges of FDR's New Deal. The Trump and GOP clowns are delighting themselves by creating a circus of confusion that intentionally keeps us from solving our problems that desperately need to be addressed.
Rational government leaders and employees are made to look like fools by the mini-minded, immature GOP school-yard bullies who taunt authority and those who play by the rules and competently do their government jobs.
Things may be worse before they get better, but we will come out stronger
10
It resembles a Saturday Night Live skit that just keeps going and going, getting more and more absurd by the hour.
Don't worry - he is beginning to campaign for 2020 already. No doubt based on his solid record of accomplishment. By that time his approval rating will be solid single digits.
Don't worry - he is beginning to campaign for 2020 already. No doubt based on his solid record of accomplishment. By that time his approval rating will be solid single digits.
9
Folks, a lot of you are having trouble parsing "“I don’t want to be energy-free; we want to be energy-dominant in terms of the world."
It's simple and very revealing: "I don't want there to be any free energy; we need to dominate everyone so that they must keep buying our fossil assets."
Wind and solar are renewable resources from nature. There is a capital cost, and some ongoing maintenance, but those who make the investment are then free of the rentiers.
And those rentiers have a lot of fossil fuel in the ground they still want you to have no alternative but to buy.
It's simple and very revealing: "I don't want there to be any free energy; we need to dominate everyone so that they must keep buying our fossil assets."
Wind and solar are renewable resources from nature. There is a capital cost, and some ongoing maintenance, but those who make the investment are then free of the rentiers.
And those rentiers have a lot of fossil fuel in the ground they still want you to have no alternative but to buy.
12
What is going to happen US Energy Dominance when the sanctions on Russia are lifted and Exon is able to assist extracting from the oil reserves that are 5 times greater than the reserves in the US. I would not be surprised if the sanctions are already being skirted or efforts are underway to circumvent them.
4
In the USA, nuclear power plant are announcing plans to close at the fastest rate in history. That's not an alternative fact. It's just a fact. We are entering the post-nuclear power age. And the NRC hasn't a clue what to do with the waste. Any thoughts, Mr. Perry? I didn't think so.
8
"I don't want to be energy free..." I'm guessing that means the administration's big friends in the energy sector don't want us to stop paying for their excesses.
6
"Why do you think this administration is so hostile to a growing industry....?"
Wild guess: the Trump family and friends lining their pockets.
Wild guess: the Trump family and friends lining their pockets.
8
"Perry has a BA in animal science." That's true, but he got a 'D' in a course called 'Meat'.
Doesn't bode well for building and handling nuclear weapons.
Doesn't bode well for building and handling nuclear weapons.
8
Perry is acting like an idiot, as does everyone else in this sorry excuse for an administration. Have so few ever tried to do so much damage to the country and world in such a short time?
Energy, health care, climate change, education, the environment, civil rights, women's rights, trade, foreign policy. There isn't an area of importance that the Trump administration hasn't tried to reverse years of painstaking progress.
No one wants to work with Trump. Governors and mayors go around him. Our allies humor him but ignore whatever he says. Even Republicans in Congress don't want to work with him. (They might even work with Democrats before Trump, but we'll have to see that to believe it.)
This administration is a disaster. Anyone with an ounce of common sense knows it. Hopefully this too shall pass without too much damage.
Energy, health care, climate change, education, the environment, civil rights, women's rights, trade, foreign policy. There isn't an area of importance that the Trump administration hasn't tried to reverse years of painstaking progress.
No one wants to work with Trump. Governors and mayors go around him. Our allies humor him but ignore whatever he says. Even Republicans in Congress don't want to work with him. (They might even work with Democrats before Trump, but we'll have to see that to believe it.)
This administration is a disaster. Anyone with an ounce of common sense knows it. Hopefully this too shall pass without too much damage.
10
Perhaps it is no coincidence that with Rick Perry in charge wind has become so important to Texas.
5
I'm actually hopeful even though the U.S. shot itself in the foot because of Russian trolls, James Comey and the Electoral College. I know we now have Rick Perry, a guy who thinks the energy bullets he wants to fire can be powered by coal and by nuclear power plants that basically boil water with fuel rods to make steam. But it's not going to happen, Rick. Nuclear plants are not insurable. Private capital will not invest in them. Coal is in decline from free market forces that are accelerating the use of renewables. You're only kidding yourself and the 37% who want to be fooled.
11
As the brilliant John Oliver recently put it: "The coal industry is going through a painful but necessary transition." Necessary not only as a function of economic factors which cannot be reversed but for the well being of human kind. But instead of helping the coal mining communities hurt by this transition, Trump and the idiotic Perry perpetrate a cruel hoax that coal jobs can be restored (and Trump simultaneously proposes a budget that would slash funding for the one federal agency currently helping miners with job transition throughout Appalachia). Think instead of a policy which would talk plainly and honestly to miners about the realities facing their industry and give them training -- and priority -- for green energy jobs. But this kind of policy would have to occur in a different county -- a country that has rid itself of the morally depraved denegerates who currently rule it.
5
Submission 1 accepted but does not appear. Here a 2d in a series after returning from 30 days in NE USA.
Trump cannot possibly love coal, but he loves votes and attitudes of those who mine coal even though mining wrecks their health, their land, and the ecosystems in which they fish and hunt (see July 3 New Yorker for details).
There is a readily available alternative to coal, a renewable energy alternative, but using it will not provide jobs for coal miners. The resource is solid waste, picked up every other week here, probably weekly where you live.
Were we to use this in the USA as widely as it is used in, for example, Sweden and Denmark, then not much coal would be needed, if any.
Here is the system I find best I ever have experienced as home owner – 60 of my 85 y.
A truck picked up my solid west yesterday, when full it drove 7 km N and deposited that waste at the hypermodern Gärstad incinerator system – in two beautiful giant glass buildings. Combustion heats water to 100 C, water that flows to virtually every dwelling and building, heating them silently 24/7 365.
In the USA, the waste is there but not the technology. Environmental groups opposed it. They won. Coal could be mined far away, with terrible damage resulting.
Adopting this technology would provide jobs, but not for coal miners. It could move the USA toward the level that Nordic countries are already approaching.
Your response?
Only-NeverInSweden.blogspot.com
Dual citizen US Se
Trump cannot possibly love coal, but he loves votes and attitudes of those who mine coal even though mining wrecks their health, their land, and the ecosystems in which they fish and hunt (see July 3 New Yorker for details).
There is a readily available alternative to coal, a renewable energy alternative, but using it will not provide jobs for coal miners. The resource is solid waste, picked up every other week here, probably weekly where you live.
Were we to use this in the USA as widely as it is used in, for example, Sweden and Denmark, then not much coal would be needed, if any.
Here is the system I find best I ever have experienced as home owner – 60 of my 85 y.
A truck picked up my solid west yesterday, when full it drove 7 km N and deposited that waste at the hypermodern Gärstad incinerator system – in two beautiful giant glass buildings. Combustion heats water to 100 C, water that flows to virtually every dwelling and building, heating them silently 24/7 365.
In the USA, the waste is there but not the technology. Environmental groups opposed it. They won. Coal could be mined far away, with terrible damage resulting.
Adopting this technology would provide jobs, but not for coal miners. It could move the USA toward the level that Nordic countries are already approaching.
Your response?
Only-NeverInSweden.blogspot.com
Dual citizen US Se
6
President Trump once again displays his fundamental ignorance of all things economic. I might have stopped after "all things" though. You don't need to be dominant in a market in order to be successful in a market. You only need to be relatively dominant in the market in order to "win" in the market place. Absolute advantage versus comparative advantage. Economics 101. Did Trump actually go to college or did he just pay someone to print a degree with his name on it? [Cough, cough] Time Magazine. [Cough]
As a matter of fact, pursuing "energy dominance" is a fools errand. You can export oil, gas, and coal. Everything else is fairly limited geographically. Nobody wants coal and building nuclear plants is regionally oriented. What's the point in generating an excess energy supply that people don't want and you can't move around? You're actually damaging the energy economy by creating resistance to market demand. Just let them build wind turbines for crying out loud. Instead, government should be expending their efforts trying to create energy storage and transfer systems so we aren't wasting unused renewable energy.
As a matter of fact, pursuing "energy dominance" is a fools errand. You can export oil, gas, and coal. Everything else is fairly limited geographically. Nobody wants coal and building nuclear plants is regionally oriented. What's the point in generating an excess energy supply that people don't want and you can't move around? You're actually damaging the energy economy by creating resistance to market demand. Just let them build wind turbines for crying out loud. Instead, government should be expending their efforts trying to create energy storage and transfer systems so we aren't wasting unused renewable energy.
5
Actually, although "energy dominance" is a new slogan, it is hardly a new idea. I believe one of the major motives behind W's invasion of Iraq was not to get assured access to Iraqi oil, but to be in a position to threaten to deny it to others. Thus, US hegemony would be strengthened.
It didn't turn out that way because of Iraqi resistance to becoming a client state, along with the remarkable incompetence of the US occupation.
We again have an administration whose Machiavellianism is apt to be trumped by its incompetence. At least, I hope it will.
It didn't turn out that way because of Iraqi resistance to becoming a client state, along with the remarkable incompetence of the US occupation.
We again have an administration whose Machiavellianism is apt to be trumped by its incompetence. At least, I hope it will.
8
Without wind and solar how are they producing all that hot air?
8
Energy efficiency has something akin to a 20:1 return on investment.
So it's a brilliant business move to destroy that investment.
As for Rick Perry, like Ben Carson and Newt Gingrich, I prayed that the end of the election meant they would stop trumpeting their stupidity. Now all we get is "white noise," literally.
So it's a brilliant business move to destroy that investment.
As for Rick Perry, like Ben Carson and Newt Gingrich, I prayed that the end of the election meant they would stop trumpeting their stupidity. Now all we get is "white noise," literally.
8
I'm so very, very tired of stupid. Does no one in this administration, including the president, have an IQ above 50? They all will have done so much damage by the time they leave, on every front imaginable, that it will take decades to sort it all out.
7
Patience.
As frustrating and downright disgusting all of this juvenile stupidity is, we must carry on, pushing Mueller to do his due diligence and preparing for the 2018 elections.
Never give up fighting and working hard to take back our democracy as well as putting all of the Trump international crime family and team behind bars where they belong,
As frustrating and downright disgusting all of this juvenile stupidity is, we must carry on, pushing Mueller to do his due diligence and preparing for the 2018 elections.
Never give up fighting and working hard to take back our democracy as well as putting all of the Trump international crime family and team behind bars where they belong,
And so, the decline of empire continues apace.
8
Ok. Indulge an old lady in what if's and might have been's for a minute.
What if JEB! and the Scalia SC hadnot picked Bush as President and had allowed Gore to be elected? Just sit back and imagine with me.
No invasion of Iraq. Think about that. Different policies and different views of military action and different intelligence and no Oedipal grudge and no invasion of Iraq. Just a concerted, all resources given, all intelligence agencies and branches of the military, targeted mission to get bin Laden and his men.
No dismantling of Iraq's government and military to provide the vacuum which all the terrorist groups filled, no trillions of dollars spent with no results to show, no American lives lost or turned upside down by serious injury; no Iraqi lives lost or turned upside down by collateral damage - breeding grounds for new terrorists, no never ending quagmire in countries we will never understand or bring lasting peace to. - you know all this.
On the other hand, untold dollars and labor and jobs and materiel invested in R&D on alternative energy, development, technology, system design on every scale, installation, cost effectiveness.
We would be an alternative energy country, also exporting our technology and energy systems to the world, and saving the planet at the same time. The men and women whose lives were not wasted in war working and paying taxes in the new industries.
OK. Time to wake up. Just don't tell me the two parties are both the same.
What if JEB! and the Scalia SC hadnot picked Bush as President and had allowed Gore to be elected? Just sit back and imagine with me.
No invasion of Iraq. Think about that. Different policies and different views of military action and different intelligence and no Oedipal grudge and no invasion of Iraq. Just a concerted, all resources given, all intelligence agencies and branches of the military, targeted mission to get bin Laden and his men.
No dismantling of Iraq's government and military to provide the vacuum which all the terrorist groups filled, no trillions of dollars spent with no results to show, no American lives lost or turned upside down by serious injury; no Iraqi lives lost or turned upside down by collateral damage - breeding grounds for new terrorists, no never ending quagmire in countries we will never understand or bring lasting peace to. - you know all this.
On the other hand, untold dollars and labor and jobs and materiel invested in R&D on alternative energy, development, technology, system design on every scale, installation, cost effectiveness.
We would be an alternative energy country, also exporting our technology and energy systems to the world, and saving the planet at the same time. The men and women whose lives were not wasted in war working and paying taxes in the new industries.
OK. Time to wake up. Just don't tell me the two parties are both the same.
16
"No invasion of Iraq. Think about that. Different policies and different views of military action and different intelligence and no Oedipal grudge and no invasion of Iraq."
If you want to imagine further, there may not have been a 9/11 due to a bungling, lazy and arrogant administration.
If you want to imagine further, there may not have been a 9/11 due to a bungling, lazy and arrogant administration.
3
"Perry has also hinted that the administration might try to override state laws requiring utilities to get a certain percentage of their power from renewable sources."
What ever happened to States' Rights? Oh, that's right. Only when it's convenient. What hypocrites
What ever happened to States' Rights? Oh, that's right. Only when it's convenient. What hypocrites
7
Replacing Ernest Moniz with Rick Perry says it all!
5
Donald Trump, the Man for all Reasons, must be trying to get his Cabinet Secretaries, thinking of that Summer's End composition, which they will need to write. So Rick Perry, the Energy Secretary who is so...(well) energetic, that he doesn't even need lenses in his eyeglasses to appear "Intelligent", is gathering background for that big Treatise.
The only question that I have is, since Donald Trump doesn't read, who will Secretary Perry turn his "What I did on my summer vacation." assignment to?
https://thetruthoncommonsense.com
The only question that I have is, since Donald Trump doesn't read, who will Secretary Perry turn his "What I did on my summer vacation." assignment to?
https://thetruthoncommonsense.com
3
"So Rick Perry, the Energy Secretary who is so...(well) energetic, that he doesn't even need lenses in his eyeglasses to appear 'Intelligent'"
Where's Moe Howard when you need him?
Where's Moe Howard when you need him?
1
The utter corruption of Benedict Donald's gang is limitless.
We still need to root out the treason and crimes they commit, so PROSECUTE RUSSIAGATE! These distractions Gail writes about are dangerous.
We still need to root out the treason and crimes they commit, so PROSECUTE RUSSIAGATE! These distractions Gail writes about are dangerous.
3
He confuses boosterism with everything. The state is full of guys who make public policy based on things like football team preferences. If you see a guy at church and at Friday night high school football games, well, he's gotta be a good guy, right?
News flash: Sociopaths go to church and root for your team. It's part of their camouflage.
News flash: Sociopaths go to church and root for your team. It's part of their camouflage.
Gail, there is at least one energy sector where the US is submissive: Waste to Energy. Why can't coal mine areas in Appalachia be converted to WTE sites which could provide thousands of clean energy jobs? Or does Secretary Perry want Sweden to have "energy dominance" over America?
https://sweden.se/nature/the-swedish-recycling-revolution/
https://sweden.se/nature/the-swedish-recycling-revolution/
4
I hope we are not paying Perry a salary.
5
The biggest challenge so far of Perry's tenure was his tooth-and-nail battle for second place in Collins's "worst cabinet appointee" poll. Many Texans might feel well rid of Perry if it weren't for his truly medieval successor Greg Abbott (and I fear we won't have to wait long for Abbott's inevitable crusade on the WH).
. . .But yeah, Rick must have been pretty puzzled when he discovered Secretary of Energy wasn't just about oil, and he has that peculiar Texan trait of believing that, counter to Galileo's findings, the universe actually revolves around College Station.
. . .But yeah, Rick must have been pretty puzzled when he discovered Secretary of Energy wasn't just about oil, and he has that peculiar Texan trait of believing that, counter to Galileo's findings, the universe actually revolves around College Station.
Please tell governor they better hurry up that conversation up. I wouldn't leave it too long. It'll Impeachment Dominance Week any day now.
2
Several friends have asked about this. Are those Warby Parker glasses?
3
Miners can be retrained. Perry, not so much.
Many of us in Texas called him Governor Goodhair. The hair endures.
Many of us in Texas called him Governor Goodhair. The hair endures.
5
Perry is a vacuous as the frat boy in the White House, who is all dressed up as president but has no idea regarding what he should be doing, in the words of our Preamble, as the chief executive: "to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity..."
5
“Rick Perry is like the rooster who thinks his crowing caused the sun to come up,”
No one would believe that solar energy is possible under that much shade--a total eclipse of Rick Perry's sun provided by Jim Marston.
No one would believe that solar energy is possible under that much shade--a total eclipse of Rick Perry's sun provided by Jim Marston.
3
Forty-five doesn't want to be "energy free?" What does that even mean? The only way to survive this disaster is to get a calendar just for the purpose of crossing off each day that he remains in the WH and crossing our fingers that "energy dominance" doesn't blow us to smithereens.
5
"Why do you think this administration is so hostile to a growing industry that’s clearly the global future? Lobbying? Political donations? A general aversion to anything Barack Obama liked?"
I go with the aversion to anything Barack Obama liked. Don the Con has a totally overwhelming grudge against anything Obama. Perhaps it stems from the joke that Obama made at the correspondents' dinner. Or perhaps it is because of his long held racism (re: his reluctance/aversion to rent to Blacks). But what ever is the cause, it has become personal to The Donald and, as such, Don the Con will destroy the country rather than support anything that Obama did.
I go with the aversion to anything Barack Obama liked. Don the Con has a totally overwhelming grudge against anything Obama. Perhaps it stems from the joke that Obama made at the correspondents' dinner. Or perhaps it is because of his long held racism (re: his reluctance/aversion to rent to Blacks). But what ever is the cause, it has become personal to The Donald and, as such, Don the Con will destroy the country rather than support anything that Obama did.
4
Glib articles like these are not helpful. Energy supply is a science and engineering issue, not a political one. It the numbers stupid. Wind, solar, geothermal, hydro etc, are limited and sporadic. Fossil fuels provided reliable consistent electricity. Now that we (or those of us who look at the numbers) realize that the Earth can no longer absorb their emissions, we need to look elsewhere for a power source that's comparable. Nuclear fusion would be great, but it has a ways to go. Keep trying researchers. So what's left is nuclear fission. Not the antique submarine clones out there now, but slick modern, inherently safe designs with greatly reduced waste and ability to be placed far from coastlines. It's the numbers stupid. Look at them.
19
Uh, Bob in NM ... "slick modern, inherently safe designs" ... like the ones that just bankrupted Toshiba/Westinghouse?
3
No, that was one of those "antique submarine clones". By the way, it was designed for the largest credible earthquake considered at the time - magnitude 8. It got hit with 10 times worse. And the deaths from the Tokoku earthquake were from the Tsunami and the evacuation. Only a couple of people died from the reactor. New designs don't need water for the reactor or water to remove waste heat. So they can be inland, away from tsunamis.
1
Bob in NM,
I have read different assessments from scientists who look at the numbers (e.g., Rocky Mountain Institute), but I hear your concern. We need to be creative and open-minded--and efficient and effective in finding a broad array of solutions. But we must also understand the "full costs" of all our options and ensure our "means" are moving us toward our desired "ends"--which aren't just minimizing financial costs.
How are we factoring "resilience" into our equation? Don't we want resilience rather than centralized, insecure grids? Shouldn't we also encourage conservation (reducing energy consumption) through innovative solutions in the transportation and built environment? If we can get total consumption down, our energy solutions might look different. If we consider the total cost of energy, which includes the entire life cycle of the product--the full "costs" (social, environmental, financial) of developing and delivering the energy all the way through disposal--we might find some solutions (like nuclear historically) perform poorly stacked against rival solutions.
So when you say look at the numbers, I agree. But we need to make sure we are looking at ALL the relevant numbers.
I have read different assessments from scientists who look at the numbers (e.g., Rocky Mountain Institute), but I hear your concern. We need to be creative and open-minded--and efficient and effective in finding a broad array of solutions. But we must also understand the "full costs" of all our options and ensure our "means" are moving us toward our desired "ends"--which aren't just minimizing financial costs.
How are we factoring "resilience" into our equation? Don't we want resilience rather than centralized, insecure grids? Shouldn't we also encourage conservation (reducing energy consumption) through innovative solutions in the transportation and built environment? If we can get total consumption down, our energy solutions might look different. If we consider the total cost of energy, which includes the entire life cycle of the product--the full "costs" (social, environmental, financial) of developing and delivering the energy all the way through disposal--we might find some solutions (like nuclear historically) perform poorly stacked against rival solutions.
So when you say look at the numbers, I agree. But we need to make sure we are looking at ALL the relevant numbers.
Perry with his "smart" glasses on always means either comedy or trouble. He should be doing his "see how energetic I am" shtick, instead of telling us how he'll derail the only bright spots (wind and solar) in our energy jobs arena.
Could there possibly be a worse nominee for this cabinet post? That's serious food for thought. What he shows the world is this administration's clueless contempt for environmental stewardship (bet he'll never use those words!) and professional competence.
Could there possibly be a worse nominee for this cabinet post? That's serious food for thought. What he shows the world is this administration's clueless contempt for environmental stewardship (bet he'll never use those words!) and professional competence.
57
I go to the dog park in Connecticut a couple of times a week. A number of people there are angry. They are looking for a fight. They love their president in a way that seems disturbing to me. They wait with baited breath for a slight and are often looking at Fox News alerts on their phones. I have been told to 'shut up ', have been called a 'lib' and a 'leftist ' and have been tailgater by pick up trucks with angry drivers. A confederate flag waves from a flagpole at a house by the river. The people seem detached from my reality, one where climate change is real and people had respect for Obama's desire to protect our lands and waterways. I am not sure what they imagine this president will do for them at his $35,000 a head dinner as his sons count the money in the back room but I find this to be a sad day when the leader strokes his vanity with rallies and insults to the media. I will smell the roses today and hope for hearts to open for the downtrodden. I will sadly stay away from the place where the dogs befriend each other and run for freedom.
153
Thanks for your heartfelt response. Too bad your dogs can run free in that park but your freedom is curtailed. It is a sad time for America but keep on smelling the roses. All things come to an end eventually...
5
Dogs are smarter than Trump supporters.
4
My heart goes out to you. Keep up your courage and please don't let them get to you. They must not win. How they can call themselves Christian is beyond me.
1
Advances in technology made the 20th century a boom time for the world whether those advance we're in transportation, agriculture, communications or power generation and distribution. There are not a lot of people making a living delivering goods with horse drawn wagons as there were 1n 1900 and people world wide are talking to each other on smart phones rather than by telegraph, Train travel has given way to sir travel and nearly every home and business is connected to the electric grid with power mostly generated by things other than coal. Very few homes in the country have coal furnaces. All of those changes have yielded more and more jobs. The Trump administration seems bent on stifling technological advance and the jobs that go with it. Since the rest of the world is pressing forward with technology I don't think America's current group of Luddites will be able to stop progress but they might very well pull America to the back of the pack from where we will be forced to purchase our 21st century goods and services from other countries. That's good for those other countries and for the wealthy people that can spread their investments around the globe but not so good for American workers and the middle class.
2
It's obvious that Trump and his merry and wealthy cabinet ne-er-do-wells are unable to act as leaders, so they double down as 'dominators'. It's, quite frankly, testosterone laden maleficence and malfeasance run amok. I'm sure Brothers Koch are high-fivin' and gigglin' while the planet takes the swan song. That's what we have: oligarchy runnin' the show. And a big shout out to the Robert's court for Citizens United. Paving the way to all things destructive for democracy.
90
No, I think it's Putin and his cronies who are high-fivin and gigglin'.
Never in the history of the world has such a low cost attack caused such damage as the Russians did to us with their election interference.
Never in the history of the world has such a low cost attack caused such damage as the Russians did to us with their election interference.
1
Gail - if wind and solar generated power are the answer to our energy problems, at least the wind power could be really increased if we just harvested the wind coming out of Washington D.C. Congress, itself, could generate enough for to at least double our hot wind power reserve.
4
Er ... anyone know what Trump means by "I don't want to be energy-free"? Has anyone said the U.S. should be free of energy?
7
He means no "free energy" ... meaning you pay and pay and pay the people who own the fossil fuel reserves ... including Saudi Arabia, Venezuela, Russia, Iraq, Iran ... such nice people ... you wouldn't want to stop giving them your money ... would you?
1
“I don’t want to be energy-free; we want to be energy-dominant in terms of the world.” Clearly President Trump, as usual, has no idea what he is talking about: it just sounds good. If he were serious about energy dominance, we would still be in the Paris Accord and pushing renewable energy instead a taking several steps back to promote coal. Indeed, Gail Collins makes an excellent correlation with Trump's aversion to President Obama as a motivation to limit renewable energy. Trump would rather give up energy dominance for obsolete energy.
65
I think what 45 meant to say was "I don't want energy to be free."
Perry has jumped on the Trump "win every deal" bandwagon. Therefore, it's not enough to have independence, it must be dominance. Otherwise, there's no "win."
Forget the nuclear disasters we've had. Forget the city children with asthma due to air pollution. What matters is keeping foolish promises like bringing coal back.
Today's coal may be cleaner than previously but it's not a clean fuel. Wind and solar are clean fuels. That's what we need.
Forget the nuclear disasters we've had. Forget the city children with asthma due to air pollution. What matters is keeping foolish promises like bringing coal back.
Today's coal may be cleaner than previously but it's not a clean fuel. Wind and solar are clean fuels. That's what we need.
71
Today's "clean coal" is really not as dirty as it used to be? Compared to what? Another marketing ploy like the old "Winston tastes good like a cigarette should" jingle. Or the tobacco companies denying smoking causes cancer. Why do we have such ignorant people running the country in such a dangerous times?
Speaking of jobs:
22 million fewer insured = 1 million fewer health care jobs +/- 100k
but we have to remember the 800 wonderful coal mining jobs saved.
Thank you jobs killing president.
22 million fewer insured = 1 million fewer health care jobs +/- 100k
but we have to remember the 800 wonderful coal mining jobs saved.
Thank you jobs killing president.
24
I love the solar panels on my roof in Texas!
13
Perry seems to confuse hot air with wind power.
46
Why is there no person in this administration with a good idea?
19
"The fish rots from the head."
4
Trump's aversion to wind energy might have an even pettier basis than his hatred of Obama. Those nasty Scots put a wind farm near one of his precious golf courses, where he thinks it spoils the view. Yes, he really is that smalk a man.
37
Dominance? Isn't that some sort of parlor game?
5
Wait til you see the costumes! That's not global warming!
3
This is great, Gail, it is just so sad that no one who should read it, will, as NYT is off limits to those who think like Perry, Pruitt and Trump.
16
In a perfect world, Rick Perry would be unknown outside his immediate neighborhood.
(sigh)
(sigh)
23
Rick Perry reminds me of the guy who runs the gas station and general store in a small upstate burg not too far from me. Fox News is always on; he doesn't have any idea other than those that come from Fox.
Remember Shibani Joshi and "Germany has more sun?" That's the Fox News energy "expert" in action.
And Rick Perry is dumber than that. At least she had a degree in econ.
Remember Shibani Joshi and "Germany has more sun?" That's the Fox News energy "expert" in action.
And Rick Perry is dumber than that. At least she had a degree in econ.
3
We have terrible politicians in Texas--all members of the GOP.
14
Well, Perry fits right in with Trump's theme of dismantling government. Perry shows government can be dismantled not only by deliberate actions, but by appointing idiots to key positions.
18
He can use that training in Animal Science to understand and deal with Trump.
17
Little Ricky is carrying oil for Rexxon now, just like he did as governor.
12
This administration's inability to handle facts is mind-boggling. It would be funny except we are giving up domination of the new economy for coal ...... Stupid, stupid, president and shame on the Republicans for selling American for the vote of the ignorant (and working to keep the ignorant, ignorant).
16
Rick Perry's dark rimmed glasses has not made the former Texas A & M. cheerleader an intellectual titan. We were warned by the likes of the late great Texan Molly Ivins that James Richard Perry would make 'Shrub' aka George Walker Bush look like one the 20th Century's leading renaissance luminaries.
The only kind of energy that Perry knows best is oil, gas and cow patties. If does not go inside of a truck or come out of a bovine Perry is lost.
What Texas is missing is the forward thinking humble humane empathetic leadership of the likes of Quanah Parker, Barbara Jordan, Lyndon Johnson, Dan Rather, Bill Moyers and Molly Ivins. Instead we have the myth of the Alamo 'tragedy'. Texas seceded from Mexico after Mexico abolished slavery in 1828 because it feared that the exemption initially given would be lifted.
The heroes of the Alamo were the Mexicans led by Santa Ana. The tragedy of the Alamo was the Battle of San Jacinto and Texas secession from the Union.
The man who abolished Mexican slavery was the African Native Mexican aka Garifuna President of Mexico Vicente Guerrero.
The only kind of energy that Perry knows best is oil, gas and cow patties. If does not go inside of a truck or come out of a bovine Perry is lost.
What Texas is missing is the forward thinking humble humane empathetic leadership of the likes of Quanah Parker, Barbara Jordan, Lyndon Johnson, Dan Rather, Bill Moyers and Molly Ivins. Instead we have the myth of the Alamo 'tragedy'. Texas seceded from Mexico after Mexico abolished slavery in 1828 because it feared that the exemption initially given would be lifted.
The heroes of the Alamo were the Mexicans led by Santa Ana. The tragedy of the Alamo was the Battle of San Jacinto and Texas secession from the Union.
The man who abolished Mexican slavery was the African Native Mexican aka Garifuna President of Mexico Vicente Guerrero.
8
It's pretty hard to see Santa Ana as any sort of "hero," you sure lost me with that one.
It's pretty clear that Rick Perry won't be bringing the potato salad to the Mensa picnic.
The very idea that he was put forth to head the Energy Department is a clear, unambiguous 'middle finger' extended by Donald Trump to the American electorate.
The whole thing defies imagination.
NOT my president
The very idea that he was put forth to head the Energy Department is a clear, unambiguous 'middle finger' extended by Donald Trump to the American electorate.
The whole thing defies imagination.
NOT my president
24
"Like the rooster who thinks his crowing caused the sun to come up." Sorry, but that would be Trump.
11
Roosters of a feather?
2
Gail Collins is such a star! Thank you, Gail Collins, thank you NY Times!
12
But really, don't you think he looks smarter with those glasses? Forget what he says, just take a gander at the glasses and you know he is smart.
Just like the size of his bosses towers makes him smart too.
Just like the size of his bosses towers makes him smart too.
9
Also the length of President of the Electoral College Trump's ties makes up for his short, uh, fingers.
1
Perry, as in almost all of Trump's appointees, is there for one reason. They represent a gleeful finger (certainly the middle one) to poke into the eyes of liberals and environmentalists, spiting anyone with an intelligent mind who cares about mankind. You don't have to read further into the motivations of any of these creeps other than they exist to enrich themselves.
19
Perry was wearing his smartypants glasses. Still, a BA in animal husbandry from Texas A&M ain't exactly getting him into mensa.
3
News flash - Having a dope like Perry leading the charge on nuclear isn't going to make anyone feel safe.
13
How far into the Twilight Zone can America go? Rick Perry ain't no Rod Serling.
4
"Rick Perry has a bachelor’s degree in animal science, but we are not going to point that out because it’s simply meanspirited."
and so you did, and so you are.
and so you did, and so you are.
2
Of course, the twitter president would put a twit in charge of nuclear energy. Of course.
7
However, winning a Nobel Prize at least indicates that you are smart, which is an improvement over Rick Perry.
3
With all the hot air spewing from his lying mouth, it simply isn't credible for President Trump to claim that humans aren't contributing to global warming.
5
Rick Perry is such a moron, he occasionally makes Trump look smart (and that's really saying something - might be the only reason Perry's there in the first place). That said, they do have at least one thing in common: they'll opportunistically tilt whichever way the wind is blowing (sorry) and claim they invented the breeze.
As has already been pointed out by others, the energy industry will move wherever the profits are. Wind and solar are cheaper to produce, require less overhead and startup and don't cause cataclysmic problems. The fact that they're also "conservative" ways to produce energy and are environmentally friendly doesn't hurt either. It's too bad the Republican braintrust that pulls Trump's strings can't do anything other than bash Obama. What a waste.
As has already been pointed out by others, the energy industry will move wherever the profits are. Wind and solar are cheaper to produce, require less overhead and startup and don't cause cataclysmic problems. The fact that they're also "conservative" ways to produce energy and are environmentally friendly doesn't hurt either. It's too bad the Republican braintrust that pulls Trump's strings can't do anything other than bash Obama. What a waste.
12
Oh Gail - thank you. "Rick Perry has a bachelor’s degree in animal science, but we are not going to point that out because it’s simply mean spirited.". Literally LOL.
3
What a cabinet! There's just no end to it. And why does Texas get so many of these guys? It must be karmic balance for Willie Nelson.
So to those who took part in that Oval office love fest last week, here’s a Trump epitaph:
“If I’ve been able to see farther than most, it’s because I stood on the shoulders of morons”.
So to those who took part in that Oval office love fest last week, here’s a Trump epitaph:
“If I’ve been able to see farther than most, it’s because I stood on the shoulders of morons”.
4
From where comes all the stupidity? When you got facts screaming in your face. Perry could just recognise wind and solar as the job providers they are. But no, the thin-skinned president of WH Inc might be angry with reasoning based on facts. Guess I answered my own question.
4
Rick Perry is all hat and no cattle.
6
Rick Perry: "Solar, wind, what? Whoops!"
3
After energy secretaries with Phds and a Nobel prize, we have a know nothing idiot in charge of maintaining our nuclear arsenal who wants to drive us back to iron age dependency on coal. He's much more qualified to be Dancing With the Stars than shaping our energy future.
4
The Dominatrix in action.
Doing what and going where, don’t know!
Doing what and going where, don’t know!
2
Uh huh and uh huh. Real bright, Perry. I feel as if I am witnessing obstreperous middle schoolers who say white just because common-sense adults say black. And they now have taken over the entire school, locking their teachers in the closet.
5
"Make nuclear energy cool again". Gail, that classic Perryism almost had me falling off my kitchen stool. Apocalyptic visions of Chernobyl and Fukushima, but with hoards of smiling Russians and Japanese enjoying the comfortable temperatures amidst the surrounding nuclear waste. This guy must be having the time of his life in his latest gig: the big, black limo; his Secret Service buddies; the fawning he receives at chic D.C eateries; being acknowledged as The Honorable Secretary. I can imagine that he even manages to step out on some 14th Street dance club floors to proudly strut his stuff. A charter Trumpian Clown Club member.
2
Just saying. 1280+ days until the next President takes office. 545 + days until the next Congress takes office. Republicans and Democrats, begin working now to find, nominate, and elect the leaders that we and our children expect and deserve.
21
Energy dominance is a war-like position only in the school yard. Dominance, the word, is the key. For what reason is energy dominance our policy? Over who? Why does Trump pursue this? Is this the excuse he needs to restart war in Iraq and use that as an excuse to steal their oil?
Worldwide, the jobs with a future, old fashioned lifetime work are in every country while Trump sits over his 70% in spending for the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy.
Every newspaper in the country should be asking, "why dominance?" I fear the answer lies in German history 1931 - 9141.
http://thegovernmentinexile.live
Worldwide, the jobs with a future, old fashioned lifetime work are in every country while Trump sits over his 70% in spending for the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy.
Every newspaper in the country should be asking, "why dominance?" I fear the answer lies in German history 1931 - 9141.
http://thegovernmentinexile.live
10
According to experts climate change threatens to end all human life. Trump and Perry seem determined to accelerate that appalling reality.
We face OMNICIDE: The total extinction of the human species as a result of human action.
This is the greatest emergency humans have ever confronted.
Every means should be employed to publicize, discuss and attack the Global Warming problem without delay.
Bombers rolled off an assembly line every hour during WWII. Breakthrough new energy systems are being born. They are much less complex. Several are discussed at aesopinstitute.org
Most reflect hard to believe new science. Some exploit a surprising loophole in the Second Law of Thermodynamics. See SECOND LAW SURPRISES on that site.
Engines can run 24/7 on atmospheric ambient (solar) energy, without fuel! They can scale and provide a cheap, faster, alternative to rooftop panels, wind and solar farms!
Electric cars can soon have unlimited range, becoming power plants when suitably parked, selling electricity to local utilities or powering buildings.
Such breakthroughs usually require a generation to gain acceptance. We do not have that luxury.
Innovation is taking place at severely underfunded small firms. Mass production of the best systems will inevitably follow. Time to speed the process on an emergency basis.
A laser like focus to slow climate change is urgently needed. If you can assist, the lives you save may include your own - and those of everyone you care about.
We face OMNICIDE: The total extinction of the human species as a result of human action.
This is the greatest emergency humans have ever confronted.
Every means should be employed to publicize, discuss and attack the Global Warming problem without delay.
Bombers rolled off an assembly line every hour during WWII. Breakthrough new energy systems are being born. They are much less complex. Several are discussed at aesopinstitute.org
Most reflect hard to believe new science. Some exploit a surprising loophole in the Second Law of Thermodynamics. See SECOND LAW SURPRISES on that site.
Engines can run 24/7 on atmospheric ambient (solar) energy, without fuel! They can scale and provide a cheap, faster, alternative to rooftop panels, wind and solar farms!
Electric cars can soon have unlimited range, becoming power plants when suitably parked, selling electricity to local utilities or powering buildings.
Such breakthroughs usually require a generation to gain acceptance. We do not have that luxury.
Innovation is taking place at severely underfunded small firms. Mass production of the best systems will inevitably follow. Time to speed the process on an emergency basis.
A laser like focus to slow climate change is urgently needed. If you can assist, the lives you save may include your own - and those of everyone you care about.
14
Folks, read here about Mark Goldes and his Aesop institute:
https://physicsreviewboard.wordpress.com/2013/12/22/perpetual-flimflam-m...
https://physicsreviewboard.wordpress.com/2013/12/22/perpetual-flimflam-m...
To be fair, Texas A&M is a fine university but now and then it let a few like him slip through. This is not about his intelligence. After all, leaders don't have to be the smartest cookie in the room. They need to possess leadership qualities, like knowing who the experts are, having the capacity to rely on the latter by allowing the experts to do their jobs. Small minded people like him may know how to play politics but they don't govern well. Case in point, as governor, his mean spirit against UT Austin, some call it the Harvard of Texas, was apparent
8
"A general aversion to anything Barack Obama liked?"
This says it all for practically any and every issue, be it domestic or foreign, that Trump has advocated.
This says it all for practically any and every issue, be it domestic or foreign, that Trump has advocated.
20
To put historical perspective on the current crisis of governance, read "Madness Rules the Hour", about Charleston, South Carolina in 1860. Not an optimistic view, but we all have to keep our wits about us and not give up.
6
“I don’t want to be energy-free; we want to be energy-dominant in terms of the world"
President Donald J Trump speaks his mind on American energy policy. Can someone provide an English to English translation of what he is trying to say? Four years of incoherence and incompetence from the Trump administration is an existential threat to the United States. We need to remedy the danger posed by him and his GOP cohort by voting against all Republican candidates in the upcoming 2018 election. The economic wellbeing of the country and the national security of the Nation are at genuine risk by the present unfettered Republican governance of our country.
President Donald J Trump speaks his mind on American energy policy. Can someone provide an English to English translation of what he is trying to say? Four years of incoherence and incompetence from the Trump administration is an existential threat to the United States. We need to remedy the danger posed by him and his GOP cohort by voting against all Republican candidates in the upcoming 2018 election. The economic wellbeing of the country and the national security of the Nation are at genuine risk by the present unfettered Republican governance of our country.
24
Translation: "Money in the pocket for me and my buddies, all you suckers are gonna pay us."
Trump has no other thought really, on any topic.
Trump has no other thought really, on any topic.
4
Perry has no valid credentials with respect to energy. He is, and always has been a puppet. He is second only to George W. as the worst governor Texas has ever had. He survived as governor, as most Texas governors do, because the Lieutenant Governor of Texas is vested with all the duties and powers granted to governors in other states. In Texas, Perry's only power was the veto of laws created by a legislature that meets only every other year.
Don't expect any significant progress in energy independence, dominance or any other area while this incompetent is on the dance floor.
Don't expect any significant progress in energy independence, dominance or any other area while this incompetent is on the dance floor.
187
But...but...did you SEE him dance? All that energy!!
3
Truly--the rest of the country DOESN'T expect any progress in any area Perry is in charge of.
We are just desperately hoping NOT to be returned to the Stone Age before this regime is through.
We are just desperately hoping NOT to be returned to the Stone Age before this regime is through.
I was talking to my brother last week. He is an Environmental scientist based in the UK. He told me that his opposite number in the EPA had, following the Scottish Pruitt appointment, reported despair, fear and appallingly low morale in the US agency. Until recently the two scientists were in regular contact. My brother has been told that all emails are now being monitored and the views of EPA scientists are now being censored. Censored!! In international climate science circles the USA government is now being viewed in the same way as the government of North Korea! Please can someone tell me when this nightmare going to end?
44
The idea of "energy dominance" is so silly that it wouldn't fly as a junior high school science project.
12
Rick Perry might try to override state laws??? Aren't he and his fellow Republicans the ones incessantly crying, "States' rights! Federalism! [Presidential] executive overreach!"? It seems that their real intention is to force everyone to do things their way, regardless of level of government, regardless of whether it is sound public policy. This is very immature behavior.
8
Let us give credit where it is due. Were it not for the inspiration of a leader like Rick Perry, who showed that governance did not require competence, a younger Donald J Trump may not have aspired to the Presidency.
So the stage is set, thanks to Sec. Perry and President Trump, and we are now back to 1984 where "Newspeak", "Doublespeak", and "Lying Gibberish" have been codified as the official language of the Great United States of America.
The inspiration of Sec. Perry is so very evident in the incoherent garden-salad deceptive language that falls from the lips of, not only the President, but the Speaker of the House, and the Majority Leader of the Senate, and their minions.
Thanks Texas!
So the stage is set, thanks to Sec. Perry and President Trump, and we are now back to 1984 where "Newspeak", "Doublespeak", and "Lying Gibberish" have been codified as the official language of the Great United States of America.
The inspiration of Sec. Perry is so very evident in the incoherent garden-salad deceptive language that falls from the lips of, not only the President, but the Speaker of the House, and the Majority Leader of the Senate, and their minions.
Thanks Texas!
11
Perry is a mere symptom of the underlying disease. Trump and the GOP seek to eliminate all vestige of Obama's legacy. Therein lies our nation's sickness unto death.
The Trump presidential scam, day by day, exposes itself for what it always was: a pseudo-populist Plutocrat's successful effort to occupy the Office of the Presidency in order to enrich himself, his family and his fellow Plutocrats.
Trump and his minions like Perry, aided and abetted by their media enablers, employ the demagogue's favored tactics on a daily basis: gross oversimplification, fear mongering, emotional appeals, accusations that opponents are disloyal or weak, attacks on the news media, obstructive refusals of all compromise and bald faced lies.
Under the cover of readily discredited demagogic premises, Representative Ryan and Senator McConnell willingly and enthusiastically contribute to Trump's on-going erasure of the Obama legacy. These two legislative regressives work diligently to realize their donor's goals: deregulate; repeal and deface Obamacare; unravel the remnants of the New Deal safety net via "reform" or privatization; reduce taxes on wealthy individuals and corporations; invent new tax breaks that favor the wealthy; etc.
Today: Gilded Age Plutocracy.
Tomorrow Trump fulfills his dream: The Obama legacy is thoroughly erased and replaced by the glories of a Putinesque authoritarian kleptocracy.
The Trump presidential scam, day by day, exposes itself for what it always was: a pseudo-populist Plutocrat's successful effort to occupy the Office of the Presidency in order to enrich himself, his family and his fellow Plutocrats.
Trump and his minions like Perry, aided and abetted by their media enablers, employ the demagogue's favored tactics on a daily basis: gross oversimplification, fear mongering, emotional appeals, accusations that opponents are disloyal or weak, attacks on the news media, obstructive refusals of all compromise and bald faced lies.
Under the cover of readily discredited demagogic premises, Representative Ryan and Senator McConnell willingly and enthusiastically contribute to Trump's on-going erasure of the Obama legacy. These two legislative regressives work diligently to realize their donor's goals: deregulate; repeal and deface Obamacare; unravel the remnants of the New Deal safety net via "reform" or privatization; reduce taxes on wealthy individuals and corporations; invent new tax breaks that favor the wealthy; etc.
Today: Gilded Age Plutocracy.
Tomorrow Trump fulfills his dream: The Obama legacy is thoroughly erased and replaced by the glories of a Putinesque authoritarian kleptocracy.
9
No doubt we'll soon see Perry wearing yet another new style of eyeglass frame, ostensibly portraying dominance. The last ones, ostensibly portraying intelligence, did not get the job done.
10
Despite the new glasses, Rick Perry seems to be no smarter than he was at the debates. With that said, he seems intent on making sure the US is rolling backwards when it comes to energy use. Please tell me, who would pick nuclear or coal over non-polluting, almost free energy.....Rick and Donald along with the oil industry it seems.
Perry did prove one thing though.....dinosaurs can talk.
Thanks Rick....and your grandchildren will thank you too.
Perry did prove one thing though.....dinosaurs can talk.
Thanks Rick....and your grandchildren will thank you too.
10
I'm sad to offer a very generalized concept that's maybe mostly a little bit true but not supported by specific data - just like most of the prounouncements of the GOP's leadership: "The GOP hasn't yet had a good solution for 21st century challenges......in the 21st century." All seriousness aside, the GOP continues to embrace the worst of human decision-making: emotionally decide what you believe, then try to justify it. It is human nature, but we've been trying to improve upon for about the 500 yrs of the Scientific Revolution. Maybe someday that effort will broach GOP borders, but not likely without a fight.
3
Seems to me, wind and solar are integral to this Administration. All they produce is hot air.
8
And in the near future, all joggers will be required to carry .44s in their jogging shorts. Coyotes, yuh know!
1
If if you thought Infrastructure and Energy Weeks were fun, just wait until Trump proclaims Hotel Week and Golf Course Week. That's as in Trump Hotels Week and Trump Golf Course Week.
During Hotel Week, Trump will require all the Republican senators to show up at his hotel each day during happy hour and have fun. They will be discussing their legislative achievements of the week and Rick Perry will lead off the go-round of accolades for each of the Trump edict signings that week. Omarosa will be there to make sure each Senator praises Trump in an acceptable manner.
Of course it goes without saying, that even though this may be Happy Hour at the Trump Hotel, drinks won't actually be sold at a discount. The Press will be there as well but since Sean Spicer will be sitting in the corner nursing his pint of stout, no cameras will be allowed to film.
A great time will be had by all! I'm looking forward to it; aren't you?
During Hotel Week, Trump will require all the Republican senators to show up at his hotel each day during happy hour and have fun. They will be discussing their legislative achievements of the week and Rick Perry will lead off the go-round of accolades for each of the Trump edict signings that week. Omarosa will be there to make sure each Senator praises Trump in an acceptable manner.
Of course it goes without saying, that even though this may be Happy Hour at the Trump Hotel, drinks won't actually be sold at a discount. The Press will be there as well but since Sean Spicer will be sitting in the corner nursing his pint of stout, no cameras will be allowed to film.
A great time will be had by all! I'm looking forward to it; aren't you?
5
Better make Sean's a Stout Lite.
2
You know those Republicans: all about states' right ... unless that state is California.
5
I knew on Election Night that I'd just been sentenced to four years of arrogant idiocy, but is there anything these people do even remotely in the national interest?
8
"The presidential budget calls for a nearly 70 percent cut in spending for the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy. Why do you think this administration is so hostile to a growing industry that’s clearly the global future? Lobbying? Political donations? A general aversion to anything Barack Obama liked?"
Maybe they're just a bunch of dummies.
Maybe they're just a bunch of dummies.
3
"Why do you think this administration is so hostile to a growing industry that’s clearly the global future? Lobbying? Political donations? A general aversion to anything Barack Obama liked?"
"All of them, Katie."
"All of them, Katie."
9
If President Obama was for something, then the current administration is against it. It all goes back to our president's strong dislike for President Obama, who is getting all of the respect, admiration and affection that our president feels he himself should be getting. And to make matters worse, President Obama is a black man.
I believe that that is the reason for the current love affair with coal. Coal is a dirty fuel and a leading cause of air pollution. Mining coal is a dangerous and dirty job with serious health impacts on the miners. Mining destroys the countryside and pollutes local water sources. Anyone with half a brain would be glad to move away from coal to cleaner, less harmful sources of energy.
Yet our president and his administration are attempting to restore the coal mining industry. This latest attempt to bring back coal is blatantly obvious. We cannot achieve 'energy dominance' without using more coal, although we could achieve energy independence without using any coal.
Unfortunately, most of the Republican Party and a good portion of the American people share our president's feeling about President Obama. It's a real shame because President Obama took a country that had serious problems and turned it around for everyone, not just the wealthy. History will treat him much more kindly than the current batch of so-called Republican patriots in Washington.
I believe that that is the reason for the current love affair with coal. Coal is a dirty fuel and a leading cause of air pollution. Mining coal is a dangerous and dirty job with serious health impacts on the miners. Mining destroys the countryside and pollutes local water sources. Anyone with half a brain would be glad to move away from coal to cleaner, less harmful sources of energy.
Yet our president and his administration are attempting to restore the coal mining industry. This latest attempt to bring back coal is blatantly obvious. We cannot achieve 'energy dominance' without using more coal, although we could achieve energy independence without using any coal.
Unfortunately, most of the Republican Party and a good portion of the American people share our president's feeling about President Obama. It's a real shame because President Obama took a country that had serious problems and turned it around for everyone, not just the wealthy. History will treat him much more kindly than the current batch of so-called Republican patriots in Washington.
8
With people like Perry in the Cabinet and trump in the White House how many decades will it take to get this country back on track, if ever.
3
Fine. Since Donald Trump, Rex Tillerson and Rick Perry want to dominate the world in "America's interest" (read oil and gas) then they should pay at least 50% of their income in taxes to fund it.
3
"Why do you think this administration is so hostile to a growing industry that's clearly the global future? Lobbying? Political donations? A general aversion to anything Barack Obama liked?"
It's also worth mentioning on occasion the obvious: Stupidity.
It's also worth mentioning on occasion the obvious: Stupidity.
5
President Trump is going to Paris for Bastille Day on July 14 and he will watch the grand military parades, including jets flying over the beautiful city leaving trails of the tricolors streaming behind. He will think it's a tribute to him and no doubt return home to declare a " Military Parade Week" executive order to fulfill another campaign promise.
3
I really feel sorry for Perry. He might not be the sharpest pensil in the box, but in comparison to the rest of the Trump team he is fundimqntally a decent guy, a human being. By comparison.
The fact is that Trump is the head of every government department and he calls the tune and it is the job of the Trump team members to look into the camera and tell the public with a straight face, just how greatly honored they feel to be allowed to serve this great leader, Donald Trump. There is no mention of serving the people, but of course they are all Republicans and that’s not what they do. Perry, unlike so many on the cabinet does not seem to have a corrupt personal agenda or some business or industry to serve or destroy.. He is a dog among jackals.
The fact is that Trump is the head of every government department and he calls the tune and it is the job of the Trump team members to look into the camera and tell the public with a straight face, just how greatly honored they feel to be allowed to serve this great leader, Donald Trump. There is no mention of serving the people, but of course they are all Republicans and that’s not what they do. Perry, unlike so many on the cabinet does not seem to have a corrupt personal agenda or some business or industry to serve or destroy.. He is a dog among jackals.
At the risk of being overly simplistic, I believe just about EVERYTHING Trump does is simply REVENGE on Barack Obama for mocking him at the WH correspondents dinner a few years back.
Besides profiting himself (icing on the cake), the so-called president can only think in terms of revenge. Not just 'sad' - PATHOLOGICAL.
Besides profiting himself (icing on the cake), the so-called president can only think in terms of revenge. Not just 'sad' - PATHOLOGICAL.
10
Perry sees energy as a kind of popularity contest? Trump sees energy as a way to dominate? Nuclear + domination = Fukushima.
3
Rick Perry despite suing the EPA endlessly now can not eliminate the agency strangely the EPA without eliminating himself. He was a man obsessed with using the EPA as a whipping boy to increase his status. Now he is the whipped. Rick Perry is like a man looking into a mirror and watching himself disappear.
Meanwhile the nation goes on with the task of trying to control CO2 and to clean up our environment with no leadership.
Meanwhile the nation goes on with the task of trying to control CO2 and to clean up our environment with no leadership.
3
I can only imagine what the employees of DOE who actually run the agency and do the important work think of Rick Perry.
3
I worked at a USDOE laboratory for nearly a decade. It's not printable here.
6
Welcome to Codependent America.
The current craziness going on in Washington reminds me of a scene in countless films in which one woman says to another, "Well, I took him back again. I don't know what's wrong with me. Well, I guess I do. Every time I kick him out, he goes back to being that charming guy I first met, telling me everything I want to hear, how beautiful I am, how he can't live without me. Now he's out cheating with some Russian babe and telling me the most blatant lies as if I were the dumbest hick on the planet. I'd kick him out again, but you know what? I'm so tired of having to make these decisions I just might let him stay. How much can he hurt me?"
For all those prudent souls out there who decided to take a "wait and see" approach when the Mad Tweeter named Rick Perry to Energy, Scott Pruitt to the EPA, Ben Carson to HUD, and Betsy DeVos to Education (!), are you starting to feel concern?
I can understand and forgive those who have been so stoked by fear that they think alienating our allies and mistreating our minorities are necessary if we are to maintain [fill in the blank]. One day five or six years ago I switched channels to Fox News by mistake and after 20 minutes was convinced that the nukes from North Korea were on their way.
It's the groovy middle-of-the-road folks who can't seem to see the difference between filling a cabinet position with a Nobel Prize winner and a frat boy dunce who enrage me.
Remember, even the endearments were lies.
The current craziness going on in Washington reminds me of a scene in countless films in which one woman says to another, "Well, I took him back again. I don't know what's wrong with me. Well, I guess I do. Every time I kick him out, he goes back to being that charming guy I first met, telling me everything I want to hear, how beautiful I am, how he can't live without me. Now he's out cheating with some Russian babe and telling me the most blatant lies as if I were the dumbest hick on the planet. I'd kick him out again, but you know what? I'm so tired of having to make these decisions I just might let him stay. How much can he hurt me?"
For all those prudent souls out there who decided to take a "wait and see" approach when the Mad Tweeter named Rick Perry to Energy, Scott Pruitt to the EPA, Ben Carson to HUD, and Betsy DeVos to Education (!), are you starting to feel concern?
I can understand and forgive those who have been so stoked by fear that they think alienating our allies and mistreating our minorities are necessary if we are to maintain [fill in the blank]. One day five or six years ago I switched channels to Fox News by mistake and after 20 minutes was convinced that the nukes from North Korea were on their way.
It's the groovy middle-of-the-road folks who can't seem to see the difference between filling a cabinet position with a Nobel Prize winner and a frat boy dunce who enrage me.
Remember, even the endearments were lies.
8
Thanks, Gail, for bring up an enormously important issue currently being decided by idiots, morons, and thieves. I'm in tiny little Luxembourg which is a Duchy but enormously engaged with renewable energy and deeply devoted to environmental stewardship. A truly enlightened culture rich in the arts with honest and sincere regard for its' citizens well being and happiness. I return to the US on Sunday with great sadness and yuge embarrassment.
Also noteworthy that Luxembourg's neighbors, Germany and France, are shuttering their nuclear plants and phasing out the remaining coal utilities. I believe Belgium and the Netherlands are doing the same. I smile when passing through the countrysides here, seeing ancient barns fitted with solar panels and livestock grazing beneath wind turbines. The US is putting itself at an immense disadvantage in the present and even more so in the future.
Also noteworthy that Luxembourg's neighbors, Germany and France, are shuttering their nuclear plants and phasing out the remaining coal utilities. I believe Belgium and the Netherlands are doing the same. I smile when passing through the countrysides here, seeing ancient barns fitted with solar panels and livestock grazing beneath wind turbines. The US is putting itself at an immense disadvantage in the present and even more so in the future.
9
Why use dangerous, outdated technology when we could use and develop cleaner, better ones?
The USA has it's own Confederacy of Dunces rushing to place us under some other country's boot. China? Russia?
The USA has it's own Confederacy of Dunces rushing to place us under some other country's boot. China? Russia?
3
I am so grateful to you to take the time to actually listen to these stupid talking monkeys that have taken over the zoo so that I don't have to. After four months, five months? who's counting? many of us are realizing that nobody is coming to save us so maybe it is time to shore up the walls around our own cages to stay safe and ride it out until they tear each other to bits or run out of bananas and starve.
5
How could one administration hire so many rich people who know so little from the President on down. "Make America great Again" like when the Erie Canal was a sewer, and polio was rampant kids were afraid to go swimming, and when the small brook running along the Boulevard in Bristol CT was purple with 6" of foam from toxic chemicals dumped directly in the river from an electric plating company, or when The Three Rivers nuclear plant exploded. The problem with aging is you remember things and it makes the job harder for lying Politicians.
6
"I don't want to be energy free;..."
Good Lord.
Good Lord.
4
President TRUMP and his minions want to take us back to the '50's.
Gail....I'm talking the 1850's.....it's painfully obvious that they are 'channeling' Millard FILLMORE and his "Know-Nothing" party....Gotta give them credit...they've really nailed it...
Gail....I'm talking the 1850's.....it's painfully obvious that they are 'channeling' Millard FILLMORE and his "Know-Nothing" party....Gotta give them credit...they've really nailed it...
4
“Rick Perry is like the rooster who thinks his crowing caused the sun to come up,”
thank you! please extend this description to include the entire republican party.
thank you! please extend this description to include the entire republican party.
5
How about we have a, "Smart, intellectually brilliant week" instead of, what is the absolute dumbest thing we can do week after week after week?
2
You note that Perry has a degree in Animal Science. Any word on his stance on dogs riding on the top of cars for family vacations?
4
On the same morning that a front page NYT story reveals that the US appears to have lost control of its cyberweapons, I read Gail's column on Rick Perry, whose Energy Department is responsible for the safety of the country's vast stockpile of nuclear weapons. Is it time for a drink yet?
4
Way past. And, it helps to have more than one.
As a Texan and a democrat, I'll have to say that Rick Perry is such an embarrassment! Like Ann Richards said when she ran opposite him for governor, "He's got nice hair." I even donated money to republican candidate Kaye Hutchinson when she opposed Perry for governor. It didn't work, but now in addition to a flood of mail from dems, I also get it from republicans - even surveys from Mr. Trump himself (ha!)! Those are a lot of fun to fill out .....(hee, hee, hee ..)!
2
Oh, it's a bit much.
We've lost respect as he's turned his back on our 70 years of profoundly important global leadership. We're not even engaged in humanitarian aid.
His secretary of state told staffers our foreign policy will remain separate from the way other countries treat or mistreat their own people.
Add in Trump doesn't believe in clean energy or technological progress. Instead, obsessed with coal, he's abdicated our values by dropping out of the Paris Accord.
Our allies don't trust Washington following his amateur act with NATO and the G7. It was France's dynamo Macron who strongly said Russian TV & Sputnik are agents of influence and propaganda. Not Donald Trump.
It's as if Archie Bunker from 70's television took residence in our white house. A bigoted man with bigoted views. Narrow minded, with no filter, or even a smidgen of intellectual curiosity.
Might even be wagging the dog by abruptly threatening N. Korea and Syria as if to change topic away from failed healthcare bill + zero accomplishments.
Whatever, it's exhausting--and embarrassing. His only interest is driving controversy and discord. And we aren't even 6 months into this presidency.
We've lost respect as he's turned his back on our 70 years of profoundly important global leadership. We're not even engaged in humanitarian aid.
His secretary of state told staffers our foreign policy will remain separate from the way other countries treat or mistreat their own people.
Add in Trump doesn't believe in clean energy or technological progress. Instead, obsessed with coal, he's abdicated our values by dropping out of the Paris Accord.
Our allies don't trust Washington following his amateur act with NATO and the G7. It was France's dynamo Macron who strongly said Russian TV & Sputnik are agents of influence and propaganda. Not Donald Trump.
It's as if Archie Bunker from 70's television took residence in our white house. A bigoted man with bigoted views. Narrow minded, with no filter, or even a smidgen of intellectual curiosity.
Might even be wagging the dog by abruptly threatening N. Korea and Syria as if to change topic away from failed healthcare bill + zero accomplishments.
Whatever, it's exhausting--and embarrassing. His only interest is driving controversy and discord. And we aren't even 6 months into this presidency.
3
PERRY, the rooster that believes that the Sun comes up because he crows, is also full of good old Texan hot air. Hot air that, by the way, has brought many new jobs in sustainable energy to Texas. No thanks to Perry. Nobody has told him that he missed the boat on energy "dominance" worldwide, mainly because the US gave away its government funded research in solar cells to the Chinese, who ran with it, to a dominant force i sustainable energy by producing solar cells at a low price. Perry forgot the name of the Cabinet agency he heads. While he may not hold degrees in physics, he knows a lot about Nooh Kuh Ler energy, the Texan process of capturing the "oops." (Hint: energy from atoms.) But just like Old King Coal, Perry is a Merry Merry Merry old soul. With Jingle Bells, Laughing All the Way and riding a one horse open sleigh. Ooooooooops!
2
"Rick Perry is like the rooster who thinks his crowing caused the sun to come up". Snorted my coffee out my nose, with laughter. God bless you, Gail. Needed a smile these days.
2
Watching Gov Perry writhe and lace and unlace his fingers during the interrogation by Sen Franken in the committee hearing was enlightening. Coping with irrefutable logic is apparently very uncomfortable for our Sec Energy. "We don't need no stinkin' irrefutable evidence," seemed to be at his BlueTeamRedTeam meme.
2
Amusing as always, Gail, darker than usual. That dominance thing evokes "Duty to Warn" and Yale psychiatrist Bandy Lee who initiated a petition from the mental health profession. Trump's megalomania is only one manifestation of his dangerous mental disorders.
2
That Rick Perry is working at anything above pumping gas in Midland speaks volumes to the still living American Dream. That a fool can rise to be a cabinet secretary is pure Tocquevillan. A Herculean effort of grand proportions. Or maybe just dumb luck. Who knows, the man is an embarrassment to anyone with a degree in animal science let alone nuclear physics or mechanical engineering. He fits the Trumpian mold, dumb as a box of rocks that took the short bus to school and deferential to the Boss. Ugh, I can't take anymore.
6
"...we are not going to point that out because it’s simply meanspirited."
Ms. Collins is meanspiritedness personified. Her team lost. I can feel her pain.
Ms. Collins is meanspiritedness personified. Her team lost. I can feel her pain.
This president will leave the country "behind the pack" in all categories.
2
Perry has a scientific degree??? God help us all! What is dominant here is the furious full reverse from a rational path. It is not the first time in history that backward blind ideology destroys solid progress. Think "The terror" 1793, Prague1968, the Iranian revolution 1979, Tiananmen 1989, ISIS, and now the trump cabinet... President Jefferson said it well: "I like the dreams of the future better than the history of the past. So, tonight, I will dream on." In the meantime, allow me to repeat myself: God help us all!
3
Coco Pazzo that's a Lincoln quote, good observation though.
1
I'm staring at picture of the guy with the very smart looking glasses, The only thing missing is one of those cartoon caption bubbles showing what kind of sublime thoughts on the mysteries of the universe are really going through his mind: "E = mc^2".
1
Texas is the leading state in wind power production. Too bad it's the legacy of one of the biggest hot air producers.
2
What next? A muzzle? Handcuffs? The whip? No no not the whip! ( Entirely plausible as a dystopian future become real scripted in a morality play starring the Three Stooges)
1
Perry, perhaps to his credit, was not as obsequious as some of the others at that cringe-worthy cabinet meeting where most attendees praised their "dear leader," in terms that would make the North Korean leader appreciative.
Preibus, whose job is reported to be in jeopardy every other week or so, probably won the sycophant-in-chief title at that meeting when he spoke for all and said "we thank you for the opportunity and the blessing" to work for Trump.
Yet, the "all hat and no cattle" Perry did say, "...we're still going to be leaders in the world when it comes to the climate, but we're not going to be held hostage to some executive order that was ill thought out. And so, my hat's off to you for taking that stance and presenting a clear message around the world that America's going to continue to lead in the area of energy."
Perry, who didn't know his department's mission, I guess, was blissfully unaware of the many frivolous executive orders issued by the "dear leader," the one on Travel Ban creating chaos at many airports and in the courts.
Preibus, whose job is reported to be in jeopardy every other week or so, probably won the sycophant-in-chief title at that meeting when he spoke for all and said "we thank you for the opportunity and the blessing" to work for Trump.
Yet, the "all hat and no cattle" Perry did say, "...we're still going to be leaders in the world when it comes to the climate, but we're not going to be held hostage to some executive order that was ill thought out. And so, my hat's off to you for taking that stance and presenting a clear message around the world that America's going to continue to lead in the area of energy."
Perry, who didn't know his department's mission, I guess, was blissfully unaware of the many frivolous executive orders issued by the "dear leader," the one on Travel Ban creating chaos at many airports and in the courts.
2
Gail (facetiously) asks why the "administration is so hostile to a growing industry that's clearly the global future?" Her answer--"a general aversion to anything Barack Obama liked?"
BINGO!
Trump's only policy is to destroy Obama's legacy.
BINGO!
Trump's only policy is to destroy Obama's legacy.
2
Sounds like the Governor, a former Texas macho has fallen submissive to Donald Grey Trump. Although, Trump is more of a stalker than some dominant freak, but still pathological. Both Perry and Trump should go to therapy and work things out before they ruin the country.
1
It isn't that Perry majored in animal husbandry - that is a fine major that has launched many people into successful careers in ranching, veterinary medicine, etc. It is that his GPA was horrifically low, including making a "D" in the only economics course he ever took. Can you say "dim bulb"?
6
Yeah, but he's pretty - and look how far that got him.
Wait til one of the aging nuclear plants blows. The one in Plymouth MA would be ironic. Pilgrims came, then the plant (named Pilgrim!) blows and erases eastern New England with all the education institutions, medical research, and hallowed Revolutionary War sites. No joke, look at the map of what would happened. Oh, and there is no escape route other than a boat out to sea for some residents. http://www.psr.org/resources/evacuation-zone-nuclear-reactors.html Pilgrim nuclear is ranked as the most dangerous in the U.S.
Wait, I was supposed to follow the article after you mentioned Dancing With the Stars. I was seriously supposed to get that image out of my mind?
1
The solar panels on the wall between us and Mexico will do the trick!
I love the tone of satire in your articles, but has the challenge of writing them evaporated when confronted with a cast of complete idiots? Tragically, I cannot allow the thought to intrude that these clowns are governing (?) the most powerful country in the world. Annexation by Canada seems to be the only possible solution.
1
Wouldn't this make a great slogan for the whole administration: "Dominance, through Ignorance!"?
2
Despite his history, I'd rather have Rick Perry in the Oval Office than Trump.
1
When Rick Perry is clearly not among the 5 worst cabinet appointments, you know our country is in dire trouble.
1
You can't fix stupid, but if someone doesn't wise up we all suffer. From Mitch "I can fix it" McConnell, to Paul "He's a rookie" Ryan, over to Rick "Better in Texas" Perry, all reporting to Jabba the president, who doesn't really mean what he says, how can a political party be this mean and incompetent and still be in power? Maybe this is the price of lowering educational standards and the need for your 15 minutes of fame in the Kardashian Age. Herr Bannon is the happiest man in Washington.
2
I'm becoming convinced that Trump is trying to ruin America. Perry is just an unwitting accomplice.
2
Rick still hitting the pills? Trump Administration = full employment for political hacks and billionaire buffoons.
3
Think of Rick Perry as the male version of Sarah Palin, both governors of our two biggest states, both wear glasses and both as dumb as rocks. Just a good ole boy and a good ole gal. As we say in the South- bless their hearts.
I grew up in South Texas and I promise you Texas is better than Rick Perry and the U.S. is better than Trump.
I grew up in South Texas and I promise you Texas is better than Rick Perry and the U.S. is better than Trump.
3
“I don’t want to be energy-free ….”
There’s a quote for the ages. And it’s true. He needs energy to power his resorts and hotels. What Trump really wants is for the rest of us to be money-free, dutiful providers to the cause of making the already-wealthy richer, while he rolls in his “golden age” and gloats like Uncle Scrooge.
Perry seemed like a weird Trump-pal to me a first, but they really are flip sides of the same rug. Or actually, different seasons of the same weasel. Trump is the glorious white-coiffed ermine. Perry is the dull little brown stoat. But they have the same nastiness and aggression, and both will pull the rug out from under the people of America to attain their goals.
There’s a quote for the ages. And it’s true. He needs energy to power his resorts and hotels. What Trump really wants is for the rest of us to be money-free, dutiful providers to the cause of making the already-wealthy richer, while he rolls in his “golden age” and gloats like Uncle Scrooge.
Perry seemed like a weird Trump-pal to me a first, but they really are flip sides of the same rug. Or actually, different seasons of the same weasel. Trump is the glorious white-coiffed ermine. Perry is the dull little brown stoat. But they have the same nastiness and aggression, and both will pull the rug out from under the people of America to attain their goals.
2
Happy as a lark...Naked as a jaybird. Never heard "happy as a jaybird" before.
Surely, in a country with over 300 million people, Trump could have found someone qualified to lead the Energy Department.
This "administration" is an obscene spectacle.
2
Is it cupidity or stupidity? (Answer: probably both.) These people - I mean, Perry and many of the GOP leader-- are Pavlovian-- trained to salivate at the sounds of certain words (coal, nuclear) and growl at others (wind, solar), without actually pondering meanings. Or maybe they simply focus on code meanings, the words all being ciphers for money--donations, Koch Brothers, and most importantly NOT-progressive--
128
they like saying "dominant".....makes 'em feel manly
1
Gail asks why Trump might be so hostile to wind and solar? With Trump you must look at his motivations through the frame of How does this help Trump? He owns several golf courses near the ocean. There have been efforts to build wind farms off these coasts, which Trump fears would tarnish the beautiful views. That motivation would be consistent his many other self-serving positions and decisions.
88
Someone should explain to Trump that the wind farms won't matter because all of his golf courses near the coast will be below the tide line in the near future.
1
mark - you nailed it. i wish more people would understand that EVERYTHING that psycho does is self-serving.....the doc by anthony baxter "YOU'VE BEEN TRUMPED" says it all.
He has never been hostile to wind and/or solar. As a matter of fact, today he spoke about nuclear with is a good and clean source of energy. Totally dropped by Obama. Remember this, in the next 20-30 years, is order to be energy independent we'll need natural gas and crude oil as the center piece.
I would like to make a suggestion that we change the unofficial slogan, "The American Dream" to "The American Nightmare".
That should take care of a host of problems, imagined and otherwise. And it would be much more accurate. After all how many people will flood the United States to pursue The American Nightmare?
That should take care of a host of problems, imagined and otherwise. And it would be much more accurate. After all how many people will flood the United States to pursue The American Nightmare?
7
Although Gail doesn't deride nuclear power directly, her piece comes across as if she does. But nuclear power is the one really good approach to energy production with low environmental impact. Its the way to go. Almost limitless clean energy production. Waste disposal....actually not a problem. See the recent story about Finland's approach:
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/09/science/nuclear-reactor-waste-finland...
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/09/science/nuclear-reactor-waste-finland...
2
Victor -- you live in Idaho Falls perhaps? I worked at Hanford for nearly a decade.
Psst -- go look at what is happening right now to Toshiba/Westinghouse, and the only four reactors under construction in the US.
It's over.
Psst -- go look at what is happening right now to Toshiba/Westinghouse, and the only four reactors under construction in the US.
It's over.
1
"Low environmental impact." As at Three Mile Island. As at Chernobyl.
The US could become truly independent with a combination renewable energy and some fossil fuels but domination is just ignorance run wild.
That Trump and Perry don't understand that we will be eclipsed by the Chinese in a few years (if we let these guys make policy) is just typical of people who put greed 1st and knowledge last.
That Trump and Perry don't understand that we will be eclipsed by the Chinese in a few years (if we let these guys make policy) is just typical of people who put greed 1st and knowledge last.
7
Coal is obsolete, renewable energy is the future. Trump and Perry could institute training programs for the miners, insuring their futures, not their demise.
15
There are probably close to 6 trillion dollars worth of proven coal reserves just in the USA--that buys a lot of political influence. Everything we can do as consumers and investors to reduce production of coal reduces the valuation of those reserves.
Besides the efforts as consumers to reduce electrical usage in areas using coal for energy production, as investors we can also defund coal production and the wealth it represents through investments in clean energy. Currently, there exist many investment vehicles in clean energy companies with risk/rewards that match or out perform tradition energy sector investments. You'll be helping the environment, yourself economically, hiring Americans to work in the clean energy sector and defund coal's political influence.
Besides the efforts as consumers to reduce electrical usage in areas using coal for energy production, as investors we can also defund coal production and the wealth it represents through investments in clean energy. Currently, there exist many investment vehicles in clean energy companies with risk/rewards that match or out perform tradition energy sector investments. You'll be helping the environment, yourself economically, hiring Americans to work in the clean energy sector and defund coal's political influence.
5
It's only "6 trillion dollars of proven coal reserves" if customers will buy it. And the reality now is that coal cannot be burned economically, because the pollution control is too expensive, and there are cheaper alternatives.
Those cheaper alternatives are natural gas, wind, solar.
And here's the punchline: wind power from good sites is so cheap, levelized cost of electricity (LCOE), that it is cheaper than the fuel cost from a IGCC natural gas plant. And solar is very close to that now from good sites too, and still getting cheaper fast.
What this means is that a utility can afford to build the wind or solar AND the natural gas plant: run the natural gas plant only to provide what the wind/solar doesn't ... this is in fact the lowest cost electricity today.
Those cheaper alternatives are natural gas, wind, solar.
And here's the punchline: wind power from good sites is so cheap, levelized cost of electricity (LCOE), that it is cheaper than the fuel cost from a IGCC natural gas plant. And solar is very close to that now from good sites too, and still getting cheaper fast.
What this means is that a utility can afford to build the wind or solar AND the natural gas plant: run the natural gas plant only to provide what the wind/solar doesn't ... this is in fact the lowest cost electricity today.
Thanks to Trump's backing out of Paris climate accord, energy dominance is more likely in China's future than our own. Sad!
8
It is just too sad that the reasonable voters in the US have to depend on the incompetence of the recent Republican winners of 2016 elections to prevent the disasters that the full implementation of their policies would create. Ms. Collins sure hits one out of the ballpark on Rick Perry's effect of the US as Sec. of Energy. So let this irrelevant man hold his news conferences to tell us of former glories created by others when he was one of the least powerful governors in the country. He can't stop alternative energy innovation globally.
11
Only in America, and Specificily only in Texas can a man with few talents rise so high. He is probably a decent man but he wasn't able to beat Betsy the uneducated to be the worst cabinet member in this administration.
But back to energy week, The highlight for me about the promotion of nuclear power was the announcement that 3 mile island nuclear plant in Harrisburg will be shut down along with the nuclear plant in Pittsburgh.
By the way, what has this administration done about the Bankruptcy of Westinghouse Nuclear and the potential loss of thousands of jobs ?
I guess he forgot to mention those in the conference.
In one of Mr. Trumps favorite sayings there has been nothing like it before.
But back to energy week, The highlight for me about the promotion of nuclear power was the announcement that 3 mile island nuclear plant in Harrisburg will be shut down along with the nuclear plant in Pittsburgh.
By the way, what has this administration done about the Bankruptcy of Westinghouse Nuclear and the potential loss of thousands of jobs ?
I guess he forgot to mention those in the conference.
In one of Mr. Trumps favorite sayings there has been nothing like it before.
15
This administration was elected to "dismantle the administrative state". This objective is not being initiated at the Cabinet level as many observe. It actually starts at the position of POTUS. The power brokers want no one in control that can impede their vision, and that starts with the people who they are willing to support for POTUS. They view governance as nothing more than business in the pursuit of profit, and are constantly looking for the areas where margins can be increased, no matter the consequences. Corporate downsizing takes a human toll but it is considered good business practice. Throwing as many as possible off social services, insurance rolls, etc. is simply seen as a necessary cost of doing business and maximizing wealth.
14
Gail Collins, I'd rather listen to an off key rendition of "Fifty Ways to Leave Your Lover". I'm feeling more like slipping out the back Jack, making a new plan Stan, and I'm not being coy, Roy.
12
The most serious problem in all Federal departments is that essential jobs under the secretaries are empty. This is particularly bad when it comes to preparing budgets which require a great deal of attention to details. Perry is not only ignorant about what the Department of Energy is supposed to be doing, he does not have any people under him that should be filling him in on the details. The chain of command between the secretary and the permanent civil servants is broken. It is impossible to plan for future initiatives in these circumstances. The Department of Energy is presently just drifting along. Perry as Secretary of Energy may look good for a laugh but this is no laughing matter.
29
Appointing Perry was just another example of Trump's disdain for learning, credentials, and achievement. Keep in mind we already had a doofus, or someone playing the part of a doofus, as a two-term president. He too was from Texas. Trump caters to an audience that would rather the nation go up in flames than admit science into government policy. Rick Perry is the perfect choice to bring back coal, boost oil, and Make America Great Again. As they say in the world of sports, "He's got all the tools."
24
Perry and Trump are remarkable in similar ways. Completely ill-prepared for the government positions they now hold. Both very much believing their own press. Especially the part that they wrote about themselves.
Perry now runs an agency whose name he couldn't remember when asked during a presidential debate. Trump now runs a country whose election he decried as "rigged" prior to election day.
It is incredible the depths to which this country has now sunk.
We were once a people who rose from the ashes of the Great Depression to put our shoulder against the wheel of fascism and stop it.
Now we willingly embrace a corporatist form of it in which empty suits man positions of immense responsibility.
We the People fiddle while our Rome burns.
Perry now runs an agency whose name he couldn't remember when asked during a presidential debate. Trump now runs a country whose election he decried as "rigged" prior to election day.
It is incredible the depths to which this country has now sunk.
We were once a people who rose from the ashes of the Great Depression to put our shoulder against the wheel of fascism and stop it.
Now we willingly embrace a corporatist form of it in which empty suits man positions of immense responsibility.
We the People fiddle while our Rome burns.
43
Fiddling? We cast the most votes for someone else.
I am so weary of confusion and stupidity in what passes for governance propped up by voters in the fly over zone whose votes count three times more than mine and can be counted on to don their red hats buy up Trump campaign leftover product and cheer on command. It is a nightmare with everyday bringing more evidence of incompetence iced with outright clumsy lying to keep the base high on a collective myth of greatness cheering on the spectacle while the ship of state sinks deeper and deeper into insanity. I am an elder in a family in which postgraduate training is the norm and I see a brain drain coming as a new emphasis on foreign language competency is emerging and passports are made ready.
55
Count me among those who are "cool" on the energy thing: cool with wind and cool toward nuclear. Governor Goodhair goes where the wind blows, and right now the direction is determined by his benefactor, not by any level of knowledge or expertise in the field he is supposed to be in charge of.
I'm surprised Trump didn't tap Perry for Secretary of Transportation. As guvnor, Perry tried to outsource the construction of highway maintenance and new construction to a conglomerate from Spain. Wouldn't cost Texans a dime in new taxes, he said. Not after he put toll booths on every mile of public roadway in the state. I'm really, really surprised the Lege didn't dive into that one like a tumblebug with a warm cow pattie.
Wind wasn't covered in Animal Husbandry 101 at ATM (That's the logo for Texas A&M, honest! Only with this ATM, money disappears into it, not magically ejected from it.). Today Texas is the leading state in wind energy production. Number One!! And thanks to Trump, Ricky is loath to trumpet this development. He is up or down, back or forth, depending on the wind. Which, of late, has been blowing hot and blustery out the White House.
I'm surprised Trump didn't tap Perry for Secretary of Transportation. As guvnor, Perry tried to outsource the construction of highway maintenance and new construction to a conglomerate from Spain. Wouldn't cost Texans a dime in new taxes, he said. Not after he put toll booths on every mile of public roadway in the state. I'm really, really surprised the Lege didn't dive into that one like a tumblebug with a warm cow pattie.
Wind wasn't covered in Animal Husbandry 101 at ATM (That's the logo for Texas A&M, honest! Only with this ATM, money disappears into it, not magically ejected from it.). Today Texas is the leading state in wind energy production. Number One!! And thanks to Trump, Ricky is loath to trumpet this development. He is up or down, back or forth, depending on the wind. Which, of late, has been blowing hot and blustery out the White House.
16
Governor Gppdhair indeed. Don't you miss Molly Ivins?!
Why ever would we want more nuclear energy? We can't dispose of the waste we've already created. We don't need more dominance. We need to clean up the act we already have going. The earth will soon have nothing more to give up to us.
11
Maybe Rick Perry is saying that he welcomes nuclear waste in Texas. Putting that waste in Texas might solve both the nuclear waste problem and the Texas problem (just kidding about the last).
"Why do you think this administration is so hostile to a growing industry that’s clearly the global future?" Most likely because the Trump family is heavily invested in the fossil fuel industries, owes lots of favors to fossil fuel lobbyists, andowes money to donors and lenders from the fossil fuel industry, and because Trump gets invited to play golf with the rich industry leaders. At really exclusive country clubs where he would otherwise not be welcome. Follow the money.
27
This has already been said, but still has resonance, and most definitely relevance. This cabinet is about as clueless as you can get. Bizarro world is still a working allegory for the Trump administration.
Their modus vivendi is fairly simple, If it is a good thing, we will undo it or make it bad. If it is a bad thing, we will make it worse.
Their modus vivendi is fairly simple, If it is a good thing, we will undo it or make it bad. If it is a bad thing, we will make it worse.
10
Nutty...that is the only way you can spin this administration. They have potential wins right in their hands and manage to turn it into a loss. What is so discouraging, is it took a decade to author an energy policy that is both climate friendly and self-sustaining and now Trump...
8
Thank you for this column. It's based on research, facts, and a history that goes back farther than two years. Russian interference in our elections is vitally important to our democracy and our future. But it's not the only story in town.
Coal is up. Solar power is down. How do you manage to find the funny in the truly awful?
Coal is up. Solar power is down. How do you manage to find the funny in the truly awful?
9
Increasingly Trump will find himself irrelevant to the rest of the country and the world. He is already being stroked but ignored by his cabinet, and most of them are too ignorant to do more than bloviate about what they want to achieve. Responsible states are governing for the interests of their people and will ultimately succeed in avoiding the effects of Republican follies (Republican states will be in trouble). When it comes to energy, the solar panels on my roof are incredibly efficient and cost effective, many of my neighbors agree and PG&E is having trouble generating enough revenues to support older forms of energy. Corporate America has woken up to the self sufficiency and economies of alternative energy, why should they go back? And most compelling, when the Russians hack into and destroy our electrical grid, if you have solar panels and a generator you won't be affected. I would think corporate America will be very prudent when it comes to their own energy supplies. Trump, Rick Perry and the Republican Congress are just irrelevant on the issue of energy.
9
We've renounced our leadership in science and technology! It just isn't funny anymore.
14
It's not complicated. To most conservatives renewable energy is just another project of the "liberal establishment" that they are consequently obligated to hate, never mind how much sense it makes. Kind of like the ACA.
15
Putting Rick Perry in charge of the Energy Department is the same as shutting it down.
Here it is Thursday and I, a news hound, am just getting the word that this is "energy week"? The fault lies not with Mr. Perry, it lies with the star he is now dancing with. Perhaps he wasn't sufficiently obsequious at that recent cabinet meeting to deserve more attention. Poor fellow, he is getting his toes trampled.
Here it is Thursday and I, a news hound, am just getting the word that this is "energy week"? The fault lies not with Mr. Perry, it lies with the star he is now dancing with. Perhaps he wasn't sufficiently obsequious at that recent cabinet meeting to deserve more attention. Poor fellow, he is getting his toes trampled.
8
Right. We're trusting our country's future energy supply to a guy who sought to end a drought in his home state by holding a prayer meeting in a football stadium. The fact that it didn't work does not seem to have persuaded him that the strategy was not a valid one. No doubt his energy policies will be equally valid.
23
The clown car keeps rolling along. We've had Infrastructure Week without infrastructure, not even a solar-powered Wall. We're enjoying Energy Week without any coal mines reopening (but wind and solar are doing fine). Next week will doubtless be Science Week, celebrating the dismissal of most scientists from the EPA's Board of Scientific Counselors to be replaced by "industry voices" (oil is good, global warming is a hoax). The public servants we employ at the White House are becoming more secretive and less accountable about how we're being governed. And we're breathlessly waiting for the "wonderful health care surprise" promised by the Campaigner-in-Chief.
I sure am tired of winning.
I sure am tired of winning.
32
This is the first time in all the years that I have been reading Gail Collins columns that when I finished it, I felt depressed and discouraged. My question: why are the American people sitting around and passively accepting the destruction of their democracy and the endangering of their lives now and for the future of their children.
108
I reside in the Washington, DC area, in the shadows caused by the new light in the White House. I, too, ask this question often though quietly in my mind, in the privacy of my apartment. And also every so often here in the public commentariate, as now here. If I were at this time residing outside the US and someone had told me of what's currently happening in our country, I would not have believed it. But then, I guess, I'm a a 70-year old boob. All my life, I have believed that the Republicans were a party of good ol' family values. I believed that above all they were gung-ho national security matters. I believed they were the real warriors against our foreign adversaries, be they the old time communists and or new authoritarians. If it were not for the so patently dumb president, I probably would be carrying these thoughts with me to my last day.
Collins is depressing. Never an unbiased explanation, always on the attack. As a spokesperson for the Left Collins demonstrates the one-sided frenzy of her constituency.
Yes, that is the question. Why???? I always wonder how it is that the dictators in other countries maintain their power. I believe it must start with passiveness on the part of the population. We sure hope our Constitution and elected officials will help us protect our democracy from despots like Trump and his gang of crooks.
2
We definitely need to bring back coal. The gas and renewables people aren't happy about it, but coal mining has many benefits the others don't. We're talking about good old fashioned coal mining in real mines -- not chopping off the tops of mountains and hauling the stuff away, which doesn't create jobs. We're going to need those mines to house the homeless because the Trump housing folks are more interested in converting existing federally subsidized housing into condos than building more places for poor people to live. So let's get those canaries geared up -- another growth industry -- to sing their little hearts out down under.
30
Brothers and sisters, we're in serious trouble. That's all there is left to say at this point.
173
I hear you Brother.
Attaining "dominance" in energy or anything else is the least of America's worries at this point. We'd better hope that at the end of four years of Trump we still retain even a modicum of respect and influence among our friends and allies and that our enemies look upon us with any fear. Our erstwhile "beacon of hope" is rapidly dimming and this administration may extinguish it for years to come.
69
Susan, we better pray that at the end of four years there remains anything even vaguely democratic that actually works in the federal government. As we watch Bannon and Trump are fully occupied through the Cabinet in making the federal agencies either disappear or become intentionally disfunctional so that all governing devolves back to the states and only War making is something that the federal government will do.
The SCOTUS and gerrymandering will do the rest. The one third or less of Americans who gave DT the Presidency will never change their minds any more than those who invested with DT changed theirs -- until he went bankrupt with all their money.
The SCOTUS and gerrymandering will do the rest. The one third or less of Americans who gave DT the Presidency will never change their minds any more than those who invested with DT changed theirs -- until he went bankrupt with all their money.
7
Good article, but environmentalists have become so politically correct that nuclear and hydropower are unthinkable. Global warming is a crisis that can't afford either left or right wing ideology.
Modern nuclear power is very safe. Move beyond "split wood not atoms". How many people have died due to mining accidents or respiratory coal related ailments as compared with radiation?
Hydropower understandably concerns people who care about migratory aquatic life. But these fish are already doomed to high water temperatures.
This is a crisis and we need to make decisions accordingly.
Modern nuclear power is very safe. Move beyond "split wood not atoms". How many people have died due to mining accidents or respiratory coal related ailments as compared with radiation?
Hydropower understandably concerns people who care about migratory aquatic life. But these fish are already doomed to high water temperatures.
This is a crisis and we need to make decisions accordingly.
5
The reason nuclear power is dying in the US is not because of its safety issues. It's because the much-hyped "nuclear renaissance" in which the latest generation of nuclear plants would finally be cheap enough to compete with other sources turned out to be Lucy holding the ball for Charley Brown yet again. Instead of $1,500/kW as was claimed way back in 2001's MIT study, all of the recent nuclear construction projects in Europe and the US have come in at seven to ten times that amount and many years behind schedule, starting with Finland's state-sponsored Olkiluoto 3 project, then moving to France's state-sponsored Flamanville project, the latest being the gathering disaster at Southern Co.'s Vogtle Plant and the only slightly less disastrous Summer Plant in South Carolina. I cite the two European state-sponsored projects to head off the usual whine from nuclear proponents, that the high cost of nuclear is due to "over-regulation." France heavily protects its nuclear industry and buries as much of the cost as possible in other accounts, and yet it's still costing over $8,000/kW and many years behind schedule. We need affordable new nuclear, but that will have to wait until we jettison the nearly 60-year-old large central station paradigm that is irreparably broken and replace it with small modular reactors that can leverage manufacturing economies and fit much better with increasing quantities of intermittent renewables production.
5
Perhaps, though I am already tired of people trying as hard as they can to feel good about being as economically, socially and politically as "incorrect" as possible. Didn't "incorrect" once mean -- to quote T --"wrong"?
3
Very impressive stats, Mr. Hogan, but you failed to solve a really big problem: how to dispose of the deadly spent fuel, the waste product. It is not cost effective to rocket it off into the sun, as you know. So now what?
Thanks for covering Rick Perry. I've always been pulling for RIck in your worst Cabinet secretary contest, mainly because Rick is (almost) benignly ignorant.
"Energy dominance" and the rest of the GOP agenda is what you get when sheer greed rules the world.
"Energy dominance" and the rest of the GOP agenda is what you get when sheer greed rules the world.
74
Secretary Perry no doubt remains committed to the GOP's central arguments concerning global climate change.
"There is no global climate change.
"Even if there were such change, it is not due to human activity; and even if it were due to human agency, there is nothing we now can do about it; and even if there was something we mere mortals could do about it, it would cost too much to intervene; and even if it would not cost too much to intervene, why should we bother? It costs us absolutely nothing to just sit here and be flooded, swelter and fry. It is far more cost effective just to sit here and endure the flooding, sweltering and frying as best and for as long as we can.
"Obviously, there is no need to pay any attention to those alarmist scientists and their rantings about some purported global climate change.
"Besides, we are in the End Times anyway and we have known for millennia that the long scheduled Wrath would inevitably descend upon us. During our few remaining days, we might as well profit all we can from oil, gas and coal. Thereby we will be able to buy a grander mansion in Heaven."
"There is no global climate change.
"Even if there were such change, it is not due to human activity; and even if it were due to human agency, there is nothing we now can do about it; and even if there was something we mere mortals could do about it, it would cost too much to intervene; and even if it would not cost too much to intervene, why should we bother? It costs us absolutely nothing to just sit here and be flooded, swelter and fry. It is far more cost effective just to sit here and endure the flooding, sweltering and frying as best and for as long as we can.
"Obviously, there is no need to pay any attention to those alarmist scientists and their rantings about some purported global climate change.
"Besides, we are in the End Times anyway and we have known for millennia that the long scheduled Wrath would inevitably descend upon us. During our few remaining days, we might as well profit all we can from oil, gas and coal. Thereby we will be able to buy a grander mansion in Heaven."
57
That summarizes it perfectly. But I think you left out one phase of the deniers algorithm: the "we are so rich we are impervious to Mother Nature's wrath and will survive any impending apocalypse" phase.
This would be absolutely hilarious if it wasn't very close to the truth. Because it is, it's both nauseating and depressing.
What exactly does our ignoramus-in-chief mean by "energy-free"? What an intellectual dwarf. In fact, "energy dominant" is no less ambiguous. Does it mean "providing a lot more of the world's energy supply than any other economy"? or "having the world's most energy efficient economy" or "consuming more energy per capita than any other people"? The guy utterly lacks the intellectual horsepower to make careful distinctions, and can't grasp them when someone else goes to the trouble of making them. He just opens his mouth and spews simplistic nonsense and is proud of it. Fiasco!
What exactly does our ignoramus-in-chief mean by "energy-free"? What an intellectual dwarf. In fact, "energy dominant" is no less ambiguous. Does it mean "providing a lot more of the world's energy supply than any other economy"? or "having the world's most energy efficient economy" or "consuming more energy per capita than any other people"? The guy utterly lacks the intellectual horsepower to make careful distinctions, and can't grasp them when someone else goes to the trouble of making them. He just opens his mouth and spews simplistic nonsense and is proud of it. Fiasco!
You also forgot the "God made earth for us so God will protect us from anything we do ... we know he will."
Scientists call this the "pink fairies riding purple unicorns" hypothesis; that being equally intellectually believable.
Scientists call this the "pink fairies riding purple unicorns" hypothesis; that being equally intellectually believable.
With Trump and his team of vandals, rarely does a day go by that I am not reminded of the words of Adlai Stevenson: "It hurts too much to laugh, and I'm too old to cry."
52
On on US 85 between Muleshoe, TX and Lubbock there are places where, in any direction, there are wind turbines as far as you can see. Beautiful sight. The age of fossil fuels is drawing to a close, get over it, and embrace the future Mr. Trump.
40
She is unable to make up her mind and I try to be helpful. Instead of standing in for her as an actress, I will play the part of a horse, which is easy and then out of the shadows pops Trump carrying fifty props, insisting that I act in this young woman's place. Protestations galore fall on his deaf ears, and I get hauled away shouting 'I don't have the figure for it!' in this early summer dream. Maybe this is Shakespeare's 'My Kingdom for a Horse'.
Some of us could not wait until the presidential elections were over, some of us even thought if the worse happened (that would be Trump now), at least we would know, and deal with 'IT'. It is far worse than some of us could have imagined.
My understanding was that Rick Perry thought the Energy Department should be abolished in 2011. Ms. Collins, you forgot to mention that there are plans to tinker with our water resources, a matter which affects all of us and is the latest news from the E.P.A.
The housing market is not moving in this region and there is one listing that has a roof of solar energy panels which can be removed. My parent, an architect, was building houses out of rubble in the 60s and wrote about the benefits of solar energy with her scientific mind.
Roger Cohen wrote earlier of 'Trump 2020', and if I had to sum it up about this fake administration, it is one thing to be stupid but not crazy too. No wonder we need more security.
Some of us could not wait until the presidential elections were over, some of us even thought if the worse happened (that would be Trump now), at least we would know, and deal with 'IT'. It is far worse than some of us could have imagined.
My understanding was that Rick Perry thought the Energy Department should be abolished in 2011. Ms. Collins, you forgot to mention that there are plans to tinker with our water resources, a matter which affects all of us and is the latest news from the E.P.A.
The housing market is not moving in this region and there is one listing that has a roof of solar energy panels which can be removed. My parent, an architect, was building houses out of rubble in the 60s and wrote about the benefits of solar energy with her scientific mind.
Roger Cohen wrote earlier of 'Trump 2020', and if I had to sum it up about this fake administration, it is one thing to be stupid but not crazy too. No wonder we need more security.
8
It's hard to imagine a political satire that could imaginatively and creatively present a fiction that is so absurdly childish, so populated by such incompetent political hacks, and so destructive in its policy intentions.The Silly-Putty reality of Trump and his crew of zanies provides daily proof that fact is often stranger and more absurd than fiction.
24
Hooray for Energy Week and Infrastructure Week!
I look forward to Impeachment Week when we will be Trump-free and frauds like Rick Perry will no longer be dominant. If we could just find a way to convert unbridled greed into energy we could power this nation for decades off of this dangerous and goofy administration.
I look forward to Impeachment Week when we will be Trump-free and frauds like Rick Perry will no longer be dominant. If we could just find a way to convert unbridled greed into energy we could power this nation for decades off of this dangerous and goofy administration.
40
"Rick Perry has a bachelor's degree in animal science"
My lovely, intelligent wife will I hope forgive me for sharing this story:
When in high school, either due to indifference or an intellectual blind spot, she found herself unable to hack chemistry, but was required to take a science course. She transferred into --drum roll-- animal science, which turned out to be the home of every know-nothing in school. As she tells it, she spent the year feeding rabbits. It wasn't as simple as it sounds; they had to weigh them or something at the end of the course.
He does look smart in those glasses, though, and has a very nice head of hair.
My lovely, intelligent wife will I hope forgive me for sharing this story:
When in high school, either due to indifference or an intellectual blind spot, she found herself unable to hack chemistry, but was required to take a science course. She transferred into --drum roll-- animal science, which turned out to be the home of every know-nothing in school. As she tells it, she spent the year feeding rabbits. It wasn't as simple as it sounds; they had to weigh them or something at the end of the course.
He does look smart in those glasses, though, and has a very nice head of hair.
43
There is as much logic to the Trump administration as there is to Trump's hairstyle.
Trump is all message over substance, and his message can change on a whim.
Trump is all message over substance, and his message can change on a whim.
1
Govenor Perry was blessed in his tenure at Texas leadership by high global oil prices in a state that has tremendous oil & gas reserves resulting from geology. Neither of these conditions were of his own making, nor did he have any input at all. To his credit, Perry did oversee the largest wind-energy program in the nation.
That being said, he did a credible job as a senior manager of af a right-wing GOP state government. But then it's easy to do when your state is flush with cash.
That being said, he did a credible job as a senior manager of af a right-wing GOP state government. But then it's easy to do when your state is flush with cash.
"Perry has also hinted that the administration might try to override state laws requiring utilities to get a certain percentage of their power from renewable sources."
Oh that's rich. Rick "States Rights and 10th Amendment Means You Ladies Can't Have Access to Abortion and Even Contraception Services from Planned Parenthood or Anybody Else Because We Are Going to Exercise Our 10th Amendment Right in Texas to Say No to the Federal Government and PPACA and Close Down All Those Clinics Using a Technicality About Having Restricted Hospital Privileges" Perry is going to override the 10th Amendment and States Rights in Texas now when it comes to energy policy?
The language is impoverished for new adjectives to characterize the cynical hypocrisy of the likes of Rick Perry.
Oh well, it could be worse. He could be pres ....
Um.
Oh that's rich. Rick "States Rights and 10th Amendment Means You Ladies Can't Have Access to Abortion and Even Contraception Services from Planned Parenthood or Anybody Else Because We Are Going to Exercise Our 10th Amendment Right in Texas to Say No to the Federal Government and PPACA and Close Down All Those Clinics Using a Technicality About Having Restricted Hospital Privileges" Perry is going to override the 10th Amendment and States Rights in Texas now when it comes to energy policy?
The language is impoverished for new adjectives to characterize the cynical hypocrisy of the likes of Rick Perry.
Oh well, it could be worse. He could be pres ....
Um.
1
During his tenure as governor, Perry once held a press conference on education at the high school where I taught. The journalism teacher of one of my students assigned her to cover the event. The next day, when I asked her about her reaction to the governor's comments, she merely said, "He's not very smart."
Now, the entire country knows what my student grasped after one encounter with Perry. Never a thoughtful man, he spent his entire career in Texas blasting the federal government for intervening in what he considered to be state affairs. Now he says Washington might prevent states from regulating their own utilities. With cabinet secretaries like Perry, Trump can rest assured that the dim wattage of his own intellect will not attract undue attention.
Now, the entire country knows what my student grasped after one encounter with Perry. Never a thoughtful man, he spent his entire career in Texas blasting the federal government for intervening in what he considered to be state affairs. Now he says Washington might prevent states from regulating their own utilities. With cabinet secretaries like Perry, Trump can rest assured that the dim wattage of his own intellect will not attract undue attention.
99
trump and GOP always emphasize to let States have more authority to regulate themselves. WHY is it now they want to prevent States from regulating their own utilities ???
4
But he's very smart....... Look where he is and what he gets to do. Or perhaps he's just cunning..................
Gray? I see the colors as being somewhere in the dark mustard to tarry black range, but don't let me get bogged down in icky-picky terminology.
Gail,
I know you don't like to drive and prefer to take the subway system for the "we're all in this together" collective experience, but let me tell you something about the rest of us out here? We drive cars and trucks, because we don't have a national passenger train system like Amtrak running on our rails, and we access places that the public commuter system doesn't.
To this day, I have not seen a car or truck or vehicle that runs on solar or wind. Sure, one day we'll get there. Like one day Elon Musk will have us all flying around in electric cars -- that drive themselves! -- before he heads off to Mars...
But for right now, we Americans rely on gas and fossil fuels. A few years back, Gail, the national economy tanked when gas prices shot up higher than the economy could respond. Heating costs, transportation costs, commute costs -- in some parts of our country, we are still undertaking to rebuild the economy where the energy costs swamped our homes and businesses.
Energy matters to American pocketbooks, Gail. Let us become dominant again (that's not a bad word!) in global energy access (remember, without the Western powers, workers and technology all that natural oil would have been left sitting under the MidEast sands) before you turn on the energy regulations, pipe dreams about "alternative" sourcing for the "future", and chastising Americans for wanting to provide for ourselves, and then some...
I know you don't like to drive and prefer to take the subway system for the "we're all in this together" collective experience, but let me tell you something about the rest of us out here? We drive cars and trucks, because we don't have a national passenger train system like Amtrak running on our rails, and we access places that the public commuter system doesn't.
To this day, I have not seen a car or truck or vehicle that runs on solar or wind. Sure, one day we'll get there. Like one day Elon Musk will have us all flying around in electric cars -- that drive themselves! -- before he heads off to Mars...
But for right now, we Americans rely on gas and fossil fuels. A few years back, Gail, the national economy tanked when gas prices shot up higher than the economy could respond. Heating costs, transportation costs, commute costs -- in some parts of our country, we are still undertaking to rebuild the economy where the energy costs swamped our homes and businesses.
Energy matters to American pocketbooks, Gail. Let us become dominant again (that's not a bad word!) in global energy access (remember, without the Western powers, workers and technology all that natural oil would have been left sitting under the MidEast sands) before you turn on the energy regulations, pipe dreams about "alternative" sourcing for the "future", and chastising Americans for wanting to provide for ourselves, and then some...
1
Midway - the rise in energy costs was an effect of the economic recession, not a cause. You can thank your Republican economic philosophy for that fiasco - but you won't.
25
You understand, of course, that cars will most likely never "run on solar or wind". Perhaps solar directly, and partially. It's the by-product of solar and wind...you know, something called electricity...that these cars will (and do) run on.
On my small suburban street alone, there are 3 electric cars.
With comments such as yours, little wonder there is such a divide between the uninformed (trump supporters) and the informed who are actually working hard to save this planet, and, thanklessly, you
On my small suburban street alone, there are 3 electric cars.
With comments such as yours, little wonder there is such a divide between the uninformed (trump supporters) and the informed who are actually working hard to save this planet, and, thanklessly, you
1
Might makes right. Leading by example is for losers. Trump and his supporters make no distinction between fear and respect. They seriously think that one is as good as the other. It is truly astonishing to consider just how stunted, selfish, and short-sighted this administrations world view actually is.
Sometimes I think this administration is one huge national acid trip. I swear Trump was selling time-shares down the coast from me and that Perry was the office manager. Or maybe it is an acid trip. This whole Trump administration (?!) just gets curioser and curioser. Really, who ever thought that the oligopoly would be this farcical? The downside is that Trump is the CIC and that is scary, very scary.
25
Trump could have picked a random name out of the phone book and wound up with a smarter Secretary of Energy than Rick Perry. The Democrats will have a real mess to clean up the next time they get another chance, assuming the country is still around.
24
Perry is simply parroting and following the basic premise of trump and this whole administration -- it is all about dominance, being the "best," making other countries respect us (even though they're all starting to hate us now), and, of course, dismantling everything that President Obama stood for. They play into their "uneducated, deplorable" base with their anti-intellectualism and lying to them about coal and manufacturing jobs returning. Instead of looking forward, this administration is all about looking backwards and taking the country back. Eventually, the blinders will fall off the Cult45 followers eyes (maybe) and they will see that this was once again, just another con game created by trump and his family.
11
I don't know who's the best, you or Samantha Bee. I can say that your zingers seem to last longer, but that may be due to the different medium. And, no, I'm not referring to the Long Island Medium. She's way down on the list, although she's ahead of Trump, whose zingers are endangering the free world. You, Samantha Bee, the Long Island Medium, you're all at least civilized--and funny. I guess Trump is sort of funny, in a terrifying, apocalyptic sort of way....
8
Energy Dominance! Well it's about time. What have we been waiting for? Let's flip that switch. Dominance!
After we achieve energy dominance we should go for (in order of critical importance):
Postal Service Dominance
Typewriter Production Dominance
Phone Booth Delivery Dominance
and my personal favorite - Hair Transplant Dominance (HTD!)
What did I miss?
After we achieve energy dominance we should go for (in order of critical importance):
Postal Service Dominance
Typewriter Production Dominance
Phone Booth Delivery Dominance
and my personal favorite - Hair Transplant Dominance (HTD!)
What did I miss?
24
Kleptocracy dominance. With a concerted effort, we can overtake Putin. I just know it!
1
VHS dominance.
Segway dominance.
Leisure Suit dominance.
Film production dominance. Take that, Fuji.
And let's bring back Big Hair. An important natural resource. I'm sure Donald would agree.
Segway dominance.
Leisure Suit dominance.
Film production dominance. Take that, Fuji.
And let's bring back Big Hair. An important natural resource. I'm sure Donald would agree.
1
Very well written and humorous but sad, really sad; oh so sad that this what the executive branch has degenerated to after so many qualified and talented members of the Obama administration. Very hard to digest that the GOP has allowed this country to flush itself down the drain.
21
Trump just wants to destroy everything progressive for the sake of doing it. I doubt he believes anything he is saying. He just wants to be a Conservative god because he wants the adoration. I also think he knows that his policies won't last once he is out of office.
9
I've always assumed the Republican dislike of clean energy was based their being too stupid or ignorant to understand its benefits or to appreciate its future value. But there is another possibility: clean energy simply won't generate the kind of cash flow which funnels millions of dollars into the pockets of Republicans. Perhaps they're not as dumb as they appear.
Maybe they're against wind and solar power because they can't dominate the wind and the sun.
"Fifty Shades of Trump." Fifty Shades of Dumb. The pornification of the White House.
Is there a strategy in Trump's objective: “we want to be energy-dominant in terms of the world”? How else will we sell the stockpiles of coal after America is great again, when coal mining is our biggest industry, the driver of our economy, the number one source of American jobs?
We must dominate the world by burning coal, polluting the skies, blacking out the sun. Then useless solar panels will be thrown out. The world will cry out for our coal. The great negotiator will demand their submission.
I wonder if Perry's Texas cowhide collar is studded.
Is there a strategy in Trump's objective: “we want to be energy-dominant in terms of the world”? How else will we sell the stockpiles of coal after America is great again, when coal mining is our biggest industry, the driver of our economy, the number one source of American jobs?
We must dominate the world by burning coal, polluting the skies, blacking out the sun. Then useless solar panels will be thrown out. The world will cry out for our coal. The great negotiator will demand their submission.
I wonder if Perry's Texas cowhide collar is studded.
1
The answer to all three questions is a resounding yes: lobbying, political donations and the destruction of Obama's achievements are the reasons we're being deprived of renewable energy policies and research.
The tragedy is that the United States can be energy independent using renewable resources, but the current administration will do all it can to prevent this from happening. Rick Perry is a dunce who repeats whatever he's told by those above him who benefit from lobbying, donations, and the total eradication of President Obama's legacy.
The tragedy is that the United States can be energy independent using renewable resources, but the current administration will do all it can to prevent this from happening. Rick Perry is a dunce who repeats whatever he's told by those above him who benefit from lobbying, donations, and the total eradication of President Obama's legacy.
1
Rick "DWTS" Perry shares a characteristic with The Donald - take credit even if it is not due.
And that is why he is touting the reduction in pollution in Texas, as though he or his administration or his policies had anything to do with that.
Rick "DWTS" Perry will try to earn credit the old fashioned way - by grabbing it. Just like his boss, who likes to grab anything he can.
And that is why he is touting the reduction in pollution in Texas, as though he or his administration or his policies had anything to do with that.
Rick "DWTS" Perry will try to earn credit the old fashioned way - by grabbing it. Just like his boss, who likes to grab anything he can.
1
When dominance week comes, we should see a lot more coherence between the efforts of the administration and its theme for the week.
Why do I think this administration is so hostile to a growing industry that’s clearly the global future? I am becoming increasingly convinced that the reasons are simply stupidity, stubbornness and spite.
1
Where did "happy as a jaybird" come from ? I've heard it several times, but all the jays I've ever seen always seem to be complaining.
The New York Times and President Donald Trump have a stormy relationship, so it is nice to see Gail Collins mending some fences by publicizing Energy Week as it winds or winds to a close.
Most of us had no idea of the strides made by Texas in reducing air pollution under George W. Bush by stressing wind power, a policy continued by Rick Perry.
It is unclear if President Bush remained committed to renewables in the face of daunting forces like Dick Cheney, but his successor in the White House, Barack Obama, certainly shared George’s and Rick’s enthusiasm.
In his own way, President Trump is doing his part this Energy Week, even if most Americans don’t appreciate it. We have never had a president who spent so much time every day jousting at windmills. He’s not just a blowhard.
If Donald Trump were not so self-effacing, he’d explain that dominance in energy requires a huge amount of work. In the meantime, he owes a shout out to Gail Collins for putting Energy Week in its proper perspective.
Most of us had no idea of the strides made by Texas in reducing air pollution under George W. Bush by stressing wind power, a policy continued by Rick Perry.
It is unclear if President Bush remained committed to renewables in the face of daunting forces like Dick Cheney, but his successor in the White House, Barack Obama, certainly shared George’s and Rick’s enthusiasm.
In his own way, President Trump is doing his part this Energy Week, even if most Americans don’t appreciate it. We have never had a president who spent so much time every day jousting at windmills. He’s not just a blowhard.
If Donald Trump were not so self-effacing, he’d explain that dominance in energy requires a huge amount of work. In the meantime, he owes a shout out to Gail Collins for putting Energy Week in its proper perspective.
Trump likes Russia and Saudi Arabia, two of the biggest fossil fuel producers on the planet. Trump hates renewable energy. Trump's Sec of State used to run Exxon Mobil, one of the world's biggest fossil fuel companies. How many dots do you need to connect before you get a picture?
1
Trump wants coal and nuclear power. Read The Future of Coal Country by Eliza Griswold in the July 3 New Yorker - appears under “Undermined” to read how the Bailey Mine Complex has destroyed and will continue to destroy the very environment in which the people of Green County live. Has any other advanced country allowed such destruction? I doubt it. Nuclear power fine if we were capable of doing what Finland is doing at Olkiluoto, building a 3.2 billion dollar facility to store high-level radioactive waste. Not a chance in the USA.
So yes, renewables are the answer, but just as Trump has only two words in his non-renewable vocabulary - coal and nuclear - the New York Times has only two words in its renewable vocabulary - wind and solar. Same for many comment writers.
So repeat after me:
Heat pump
Biogas from food and human waste
Heat and electricity from solid-waste incineration.
Then learn how successful these are outside the fossil-fixated USA.
Back home in Burlington VT, Saco ME, Albany NY and probably your very own town you can take a first step. In my 30 days in those and other towns I visited my American banks. Surprise, each one had one or more heat pumps outside, heating and cooling each bank building. Learn from these that one of the best reasons for using renewable is that it is so much more pleasant to live with. Heat pump outside, silent system inside, no fire hazard, no fumes, heat and cool.
Only-NeverInSweden.blogspot.com
Dual citizen US SE
So yes, renewables are the answer, but just as Trump has only two words in his non-renewable vocabulary - coal and nuclear - the New York Times has only two words in its renewable vocabulary - wind and solar. Same for many comment writers.
So repeat after me:
Heat pump
Biogas from food and human waste
Heat and electricity from solid-waste incineration.
Then learn how successful these are outside the fossil-fixated USA.
Back home in Burlington VT, Saco ME, Albany NY and probably your very own town you can take a first step. In my 30 days in those and other towns I visited my American banks. Surprise, each one had one or more heat pumps outside, heating and cooling each bank building. Learn from these that one of the best reasons for using renewable is that it is so much more pleasant to live with. Heat pump outside, silent system inside, no fire hazard, no fumes, heat and cool.
Only-NeverInSweden.blogspot.com
Dual citizen US SE
2
Another demented slogan from our Sloganeer in Chief, President Trump - "a golden age of American energy dominance"! And the steward of this slogan in your "Fifty Shades of Trump" piece is Rick Oops Perry. We have seen Trump's Cabinet in their forelock-tugging grotesquerie, and loathe coal-mining. Loathe the fracking, mining and coal companies, but love the miners. Perry at the White House yesterday (while Sarah Huckabee Sanders - in royal purple including purple lipstick) subbed for Sean Spicer.
Yes, Trump's administration REALLY hates talking with the press, and having anything to do with the legit press and journalists. Tweets and social media are their bag of candy and nuts.
Wind-power in Texas was initiated in 1999 under Gov. G.W. Bush before he initiated his two ongoing wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. Wind-power has grown to shed some credit on hapless Rick Perry of the serious black-rimmed glasses. The happy path of wind and solar energy jobs will be shrunk to a Trumpian brand as soon as Trump & Co. and Rick Perry can figure out a way to stomp on it, along with their stomping on President Obama's legacy. The "golden age of energy dominance", my sweet foot.
Yes, Trump's administration REALLY hates talking with the press, and having anything to do with the legit press and journalists. Tweets and social media are their bag of candy and nuts.
Wind-power in Texas was initiated in 1999 under Gov. G.W. Bush before he initiated his two ongoing wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. Wind-power has grown to shed some credit on hapless Rick Perry of the serious black-rimmed glasses. The happy path of wind and solar energy jobs will be shrunk to a Trumpian brand as soon as Trump & Co. and Rick Perry can figure out a way to stomp on it, along with their stomping on President Obama's legacy. The "golden age of energy dominance", my sweet foot.
"Why do you think this administration is so hostile to a growing industry that’s clearly the global future?" Because it is more manly to dig something up, ship it across the country, and then burn it in a high temperature furnace than to passively extract energy from the wind or sun as it passes harmlessly through your property.
If your stated goal is to dismantle this agency, it really doesn't matter if your degree isn't in the specialty. In fact, one could argue, it's better that the head of the agency not understand its important mission lest he lose sight of HIS mission.
Seems to me, wind and solar are integral to this Administration. All they produce is hot air.
2
I hope readers of the New York Times op-ed columns realize the importance of Gail Collins in the current government's overall activities.
She is a much mightier force related to how we will ultimately get through the next 3 1/2
years. The mental capacity to understand what is really taking place here is so demanding - that if it were not for Gail, as well as all those comics who ply their trade -
most certainly a very large body of Americans would lose their capacity to use reason during these remaining years of this administration.
While this is a tremendous burden for her to carry, one can be certain she bears it with obvious glee. Here's hoping her sanity holds up for the next few years.
She is a much mightier force related to how we will ultimately get through the next 3 1/2
years. The mental capacity to understand what is really taking place here is so demanding - that if it were not for Gail, as well as all those comics who ply their trade -
most certainly a very large body of Americans would lose their capacity to use reason during these remaining years of this administration.
While this is a tremendous burden for her to carry, one can be certain she bears it with obvious glee. Here's hoping her sanity holds up for the next few years.
1
"Energy dominance" is typical idiocracy from Trump and GOP. It sounds like something, but really it's just a big bag of gas.
It doesn't even make sense, but it's used as a cover for whatever policy their big-business overlords have them pushing.
Shameful!
It doesn't even make sense, but it's used as a cover for whatever policy their big-business overlords have them pushing.
Shameful!
Not reassuring to have Dumb and Dumbest in charge of energy-4-years let alone energy week!
4
The train has already left the station, not just in Texas but across much of the nation, where wind and solar power are concerned; they are cheaper/cleaner sources of energy and will become more vital, in fact necessary, in combatting climate change. Trump and Perry can talk all they want about coal, but the energy industry and market itself moved away from coal long ago and it isn't coming back. What is one to expect from two men who have a shortsighted disdain and ignorance for science, our planet and its inhabitants.
411
Trump and Perry (and Jeff Sessions) don't seem to have noticed that they're not living in 1957 any more.
"Why do you think this administration is so hostile to a growing industry that’s clearly the global future? Lobbying? Political donations? A general aversion to anything Barack Obama liked?"
Exactly. "Energy dominance" comes across like nails on a blackboard not only because it reflects such a narrow view that energy is only a matter of the zero-sum competition for the earth's pool of fossil fuels but because it's so... oafishly belligerent. Instead of directing his own personal energy into trying to broaden his understanding and his policy vision, Trump seems interested only in spitting out mean little sound bites that he figures are somehow gratifying to his "base." "Energy dominance," like "America first" and even "make America great again," is both mean-spirited and self-limiting.
Exactly. "Energy dominance" comes across like nails on a blackboard not only because it reflects such a narrow view that energy is only a matter of the zero-sum competition for the earth's pool of fossil fuels but because it's so... oafishly belligerent. Instead of directing his own personal energy into trying to broaden his understanding and his policy vision, Trump seems interested only in spitting out mean little sound bites that he figures are somehow gratifying to his "base." "Energy dominance," like "America first" and even "make America great again," is both mean-spirited and self-limiting.
288
He might be spitting out "mean little sound bites" to gratify his base, but I rather think hes does it because he's a mean little man.
3
trump is only interested in spitting out mean little sound bites because it's all he can do; he is completely out of his league and can't begin to run with the big dogs on the world stage. He tries to hide his incompetence by shunning our role as leader of the free world, tearing up TPP, walking out of the Paris Accord, attempting to shred the social safety as well as the constitution.
2
Let us not forget his promise to "take the oil".
2
GOP pols do not conserve. They destroy, rather than improve, virtually every program that has demonstrated value. Shouldn't the GOP's current embodiment as the regressive Party of Trump, Ryan and the "Freedom" Caucus be properly referenced as "The Wrecking Crew"? "The Wrecking Crew" drives our nation ever rightward--today plutocracy; tomorrow Trumpian authoritarian kleptocracy. Trump's cabinet is filled with secretaries who have a history of opposition to the policies emblematic of the agencies under their "custodial care."
Please feel free to add to this list.
Wreck environmental protections, clean air and energy.
Wreck public education.
Wreck progressive taxation.
Wreck financial and environmental regulations.
Wreck what remains of the labor union movement.
Wreck Obamacare.
Wreck equality of opportunity for women, minorities, gays and the poor.
Wreck Planned Parenthood.
Wreck the Paris Accords and all efforts to combat global warming.
Wreck civil rights and voting rights.
Wreck Social Security.
Wreck Medicare and Medicaid.
Wreck fair housing opportunities.
Wreck the last vestiges of the New Deal.
Wreck the middle class.
Wreck the American Dream.
We have now transcended the era of Republican obstructionism and entered that of Republican "demolitionism."
Under GOP misrule, the American prospect affords:
For the super-rich: a kleptocratic pathway to ever greater wealth and power.
For the vast majority of U.S. citizens: a superhighway to serfdom.
Please feel free to add to this list.
Wreck environmental protections, clean air and energy.
Wreck public education.
Wreck progressive taxation.
Wreck financial and environmental regulations.
Wreck what remains of the labor union movement.
Wreck Obamacare.
Wreck equality of opportunity for women, minorities, gays and the poor.
Wreck Planned Parenthood.
Wreck the Paris Accords and all efforts to combat global warming.
Wreck civil rights and voting rights.
Wreck Social Security.
Wreck Medicare and Medicaid.
Wreck fair housing opportunities.
Wreck the last vestiges of the New Deal.
Wreck the middle class.
Wreck the American Dream.
We have now transcended the era of Republican obstructionism and entered that of Republican "demolitionism."
Under GOP misrule, the American prospect affords:
For the super-rich: a kleptocratic pathway to ever greater wealth and power.
For the vast majority of U.S. citizens: a superhighway to serfdom.
719
It's like Yertle the Turtle. They see the world as a zero sum game--what lifts your boat lowers mine. Moreover, they measure there self-worth not by any sort of absolute measure, but only in relation to how much better they are doing than everyone else. It doesn't matter if the pie is getting smaller or their personal share is shrinking in actual size so long as their percentage is getting larger.
Yup! Making America Great Again (except for you and you and you)! The only glimmer of hope is that every day, this administration is proving itself so clearly evil and incompetent that Americans will commit to demanding solutions that benefit the 99%, not the 1%.
Exceedingly well said: you've provided the one-page summary of Tom Frank's book:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wrecking_Crew_(book)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wrecking_Crew_(book)
1
It certainly seems that Trump and his merry band of Robbing Hoods do not have the long-term best interests of the country at heart when making their policy decisions. They always seem to defer to powerful interests for either personal or political gain...Nuclear and coal?! ...Seriously?!
This is not the time to go "stupid". Clearly, wind and solar are singularly responsible for the great strides we have made in producing cheap and clean energy at low cost both to our planet and the life forms that inhabit it.
I simply don't trust most Republican leaders in Washington DC -- especially Trump and his fellow clown, Rick Perry -- to make their decisions solely on the basis of what is in the best interest of the country. No, they seem, more often than not, to make calculated decisions that are in their own personal best interest, don't you think?
Once again, the Republican Party shows its ugly side by embracing greed and personal gain over what is in the best long-term interest of the country and its people. This entire administration has become a national (and international) nightmare of epoch proportion...And have you noticed that Trump seems to filter all of his decisions through the prism of whether or not Putin would approve?
When have you ever heard Trump say anything negative about Putin? You haven't. Why?...And, to make matters worse, I haven't even said a word about healthcare reform as applied through the greedy, beady eyes of Republican legislators.
This is not the time to go "stupid". Clearly, wind and solar are singularly responsible for the great strides we have made in producing cheap and clean energy at low cost both to our planet and the life forms that inhabit it.
I simply don't trust most Republican leaders in Washington DC -- especially Trump and his fellow clown, Rick Perry -- to make their decisions solely on the basis of what is in the best interest of the country. No, they seem, more often than not, to make calculated decisions that are in their own personal best interest, don't you think?
Once again, the Republican Party shows its ugly side by embracing greed and personal gain over what is in the best long-term interest of the country and its people. This entire administration has become a national (and international) nightmare of epoch proportion...And have you noticed that Trump seems to filter all of his decisions through the prism of whether or not Putin would approve?
When have you ever heard Trump say anything negative about Putin? You haven't. Why?...And, to make matters worse, I haven't even said a word about healthcare reform as applied through the greedy, beady eyes of Republican legislators.
286
I do find it hard, at times, to see trump's moves as calculated for his own best interest--more as gut level responses of his id. That said, he shows no concern for anyone else's interest.
1
Follow the money. It's in his tax returns -- he took laundered Russian mob money to fund his real estate gimmicks.
2
Nuclear is actually the safest form of energy on earth. And the cheapest. It also has the ability to displace both coal and nat gas faster than any other source.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/jamesconca/2012/06/10/energys-deathprint-a-...
https://www.forbes.com/sites/jamesconca/2012/06/15/the-naked-cost-of-ene...
https://www.forbes.com/sites/jamesconca/2012/06/10/energys-deathprint-a-...
https://www.forbes.com/sites/jamesconca/2012/06/15/the-naked-cost-of-ene...
The price of oil is down, fracking is on the decline because of a glut. The West is awash in wind and solar farms. People are buying hybrids and electric cars. CA has not missed San Onofre - renewable is taking over. Trump is behind the times, locked in a prehistoric vision of the world. He is the one man cloud obscuring our future.
25
Anyone else out there stop the daily tweets out of the Dept. of the Interior? I did when every other one seemed to be about the importance of coal, about energy companies, etc. No more "mainly pretty and/or cute" pictures from/about the great outdoors," the daily report from Interior is now 99.99% PR for Big Coal, Big Oil, etc.
9
You should follow your favorite national parks instead. National Park rangers have been very diligent ensuring I continue to get my daily dose of beauty and majesty of our great nation's best features without any of the Trump administration nonsense.
This is all about protecting a declining industry--carbon-based fuels--and the megadonors like the Kochs who control (''dominate?'') the Republican Party.
The unsubsidized cost of solar has dropped precipitously, wind had become quite competitive while coal is dangerously dirty and there is a worlwide supply glut of oil. The megadonors want the US Government to subsidize their dying industry as the underlying economics have turned against them.
Rick Perry is the perfect spokesperson for irrational policy. He is easily convinced of simple-minded ideas and can talk non-stop untroubled by his lack of knowledge. He affably accepts insults, a perfect fit in the ring-kissing Trump cabinet. The Kochs must be very pleased.
The facts are against them. They will distort reality in every imaginable way to preserve the ineviable decline of their tiresome ''dominance.''
Resist.
The unsubsidized cost of solar has dropped precipitously, wind had become quite competitive while coal is dangerously dirty and there is a worlwide supply glut of oil. The megadonors want the US Government to subsidize their dying industry as the underlying economics have turned against them.
Rick Perry is the perfect spokesperson for irrational policy. He is easily convinced of simple-minded ideas and can talk non-stop untroubled by his lack of knowledge. He affably accepts insults, a perfect fit in the ring-kissing Trump cabinet. The Kochs must be very pleased.
The facts are against them. They will distort reality in every imaginable way to preserve the ineviable decline of their tiresome ''dominance.''
Resist.
23
''prevent'' not ''preserve''
Oops.
Oops.
2
You mean the megapredators like the Kochs. Donors is too benign a term for what they do to the rest of us.
1
I wonder when will freedom come?
Not just for you, not just for me.
But freedom for everyone!
Lord, are we too late?
How long must we make freedom wait?
–Memphis Slim, Blues artist
When America was great, all it took was a tab of acid to produce a thrilling, danger-laden, alternative universe magic carpet ride. Now the thrill zone of no-return belongs to a President and Republican Senators who accumulate points flying frequently near the dark edge, feeling its very power. Among the Men-as-devils, an imperfect few cratered a bill that removes 15 million Americans from healthcare. To kiss and make-up, they boarded a White House for a freedom ride* (*No Democrats allowed; they are blocking appointments not nominated!).
In the White House, white servants broke out hidden flasks of Russian vodka, and posed nudes, photographed and stashed during a state visit, emerged as the White House reception turned into a locker room. The vodka was traded for the Comey tapes. Who cares about healthcare? Obama obstructed–“the pressure is off.”
The strange smell of death and new wealth--of uninsured cadavers and newly minted money stacked/shrink-wrapped/and strapped for the rich--mingled in the Red Room, above the rim of the giant crater left by the insurance implosion. Drooling with Botox and anticipation, each waited to lick the rim, a secret ritual demanded by Leader McConnell, but some refused.
(Part 2 below.)
Not just for you, not just for me.
But freedom for everyone!
Lord, are we too late?
How long must we make freedom wait?
–Memphis Slim, Blues artist
When America was great, all it took was a tab of acid to produce a thrilling, danger-laden, alternative universe magic carpet ride. Now the thrill zone of no-return belongs to a President and Republican Senators who accumulate points flying frequently near the dark edge, feeling its very power. Among the Men-as-devils, an imperfect few cratered a bill that removes 15 million Americans from healthcare. To kiss and make-up, they boarded a White House for a freedom ride* (*No Democrats allowed; they are blocking appointments not nominated!).
In the White House, white servants broke out hidden flasks of Russian vodka, and posed nudes, photographed and stashed during a state visit, emerged as the White House reception turned into a locker room. The vodka was traded for the Comey tapes. Who cares about healthcare? Obama obstructed–“the pressure is off.”
The strange smell of death and new wealth--of uninsured cadavers and newly minted money stacked/shrink-wrapped/and strapped for the rich--mingled in the Red Room, above the rim of the giant crater left by the insurance implosion. Drooling with Botox and anticipation, each waited to lick the rim, a secret ritual demanded by Leader McConnell, but some refused.
(Part 2 below.)
6
(Part 2 of a non-fiction fantasy.)
The transgender lesbian president (watch his hands!) who refuses a gray rinse spoke on behalf of the White House Klan chapter and big business. His remarks, unencrypted/leaked: “Senators–fellow rogues, demons, and barbarians–ignore the doctors, nurses, hospitals, AARP—ignore America! White magic will deconstruct the administrative state."
"The bill will steal Treasury’s bunce, give to the rich and scatter death among the poor and traitors, among the blamed and hated. It bans incentives/initiatives, new thinking, new health policy. It isolates America from single payer. It will kill not only people but also close hospitals and put doctors, nurses, and technicians out of work, leaving only unfilled jobs for the next election cycle.” The carpet he got from the Saudi king hovered in the corner, idling.
“By economic alchemy, death becomes wealth! Its excess rises from waste! Decrease is increase!”
The newly installed coal furnace blackened their faces, but black faces didn’t matter. Nor did women. The coven, swooped around the room flying on backward brooms; and mingled with shadowy figures.
They were intoxicated with power, filled with darkness; its powers of deception. The Senators, guardians of this power, overlords of deception, know to keep opposing the bill’s new draft; it will make the final agreement look like a good deal.
The transgender lesbian president (watch his hands!) who refuses a gray rinse spoke on behalf of the White House Klan chapter and big business. His remarks, unencrypted/leaked: “Senators–fellow rogues, demons, and barbarians–ignore the doctors, nurses, hospitals, AARP—ignore America! White magic will deconstruct the administrative state."
"The bill will steal Treasury’s bunce, give to the rich and scatter death among the poor and traitors, among the blamed and hated. It bans incentives/initiatives, new thinking, new health policy. It isolates America from single payer. It will kill not only people but also close hospitals and put doctors, nurses, and technicians out of work, leaving only unfilled jobs for the next election cycle.” The carpet he got from the Saudi king hovered in the corner, idling.
“By economic alchemy, death becomes wealth! Its excess rises from waste! Decrease is increase!”
The newly installed coal furnace blackened their faces, but black faces didn’t matter. Nor did women. The coven, swooped around the room flying on backward brooms; and mingled with shadowy figures.
They were intoxicated with power, filled with darkness; its powers of deception. The Senators, guardians of this power, overlords of deception, know to keep opposing the bill’s new draft; it will make the final agreement look like a good deal.
1
The point "A general aversion to anything Barack Obama liked?" shows again and again in editorials as Trump's possible motivation. I recognize this claim rings true. But what might be considered just as true is that Trump exhibits a general aversion to democratic principles.
20
There is much the Department of Energy could do to help us achieve energy independence and perhaps dominance if they, you know, used science.
Our nuclear program was co-opted by ADM Hyman Rickover in creating a nuclear navy where the nuclear propulsion systems had to be small enough to fit in a submarine. Hence, the water-cooled high-pressure reactors.
Alternative nuclear systems exist, at least in theory. Molten salt reactors and pebble bed reactors deserve further study, especially when the fuel source is primarily thorium, more abundant than uranium and less subject to difficulties with proliferation of weapons-grade materiel, like plutonium.
The holy grail of power production, a fusion reactor, is remotely possible although commercialization is a long way off.
Even with all this, the largest fusion reactor remains the sun which, even though it is 93 million miles away, still provides us with energy we can tap with every sunrise.
So, the DOE can help by consistent and ongoing research funding and application of science, not politics. Go to it, Secretary Perry.
Our nuclear program was co-opted by ADM Hyman Rickover in creating a nuclear navy where the nuclear propulsion systems had to be small enough to fit in a submarine. Hence, the water-cooled high-pressure reactors.
Alternative nuclear systems exist, at least in theory. Molten salt reactors and pebble bed reactors deserve further study, especially when the fuel source is primarily thorium, more abundant than uranium and less subject to difficulties with proliferation of weapons-grade materiel, like plutonium.
The holy grail of power production, a fusion reactor, is remotely possible although commercialization is a long way off.
Even with all this, the largest fusion reactor remains the sun which, even though it is 93 million miles away, still provides us with energy we can tap with every sunrise.
So, the DOE can help by consistent and ongoing research funding and application of science, not politics. Go to it, Secretary Perry.
12
That 3rd agency that Mr. Perry couldn't remember and now runs has a dilemma with the energy source most countering coal, it seems to me. Nuclear energy is more threatening on a large scale to coal than renewable sources. I wonder why wind and solar power is portrayed as the enemy to Trumpites. I found it enlightening, though, that the 'coal museum' in WV (?) keeps its lights on with solar cells. At least with solar and wind power, I feel safer with Perry at the helm than with nuclear. Like feeling that I'm living near Fukushima or Chernobyl as we do with so many nuclear facilities that, well, hardly receive a mention.
9
The coal museum with solar panels is in Kentucky. I know Mitch would want everyone to know.
2
I'm going to go with "dominance" as the keyword instead of "energy."
Several days ago, CNN had one of those "let's try to understand Trump voters" segments, where they sit a bunch of them down and attempt to take them seriously. Trump shoving aside the prime minister of Montenegro came up. A faux-blonde middle-aged woman who looked as if she cared about her self-presentation in a Midwestern way said she was fine with that. It was just Trump taking his "rightful place." When pressed as to what rule of etiquette she might be applying, she simply said "Dominance. We are the United States. We dominate."
I'm no doubt paraphrasing slightly, but she said, "we dominate."
This is the fundamental difference between Democrats and Republicans. Democrats want people to flourish. That's why we liberal Dems, unlike true leftists, can forgive the rich for being filthy rich as long as everybody else is okay too. Republicans seek dominance. They don't care whether they make things better as long as they get to operate in an exploit-and-dominate mode. If obtaining clean energy means happy wind farms and cooperating with the sunshine, they don't like it. Where's the struggle? They LIKE destroying mountaintops or burrowing into the bowels of the earth for fossil fuels. They're subjugating the earth, not singing kumbaya with it. Clean energy sounds like educated people in white uniforms with clipboards, not grimy masses toiling in misery that the overlords can exult above. It's ABOUT dominance.
Several days ago, CNN had one of those "let's try to understand Trump voters" segments, where they sit a bunch of them down and attempt to take them seriously. Trump shoving aside the prime minister of Montenegro came up. A faux-blonde middle-aged woman who looked as if she cared about her self-presentation in a Midwestern way said she was fine with that. It was just Trump taking his "rightful place." When pressed as to what rule of etiquette she might be applying, she simply said "Dominance. We are the United States. We dominate."
I'm no doubt paraphrasing slightly, but she said, "we dominate."
This is the fundamental difference between Democrats and Republicans. Democrats want people to flourish. That's why we liberal Dems, unlike true leftists, can forgive the rich for being filthy rich as long as everybody else is okay too. Republicans seek dominance. They don't care whether they make things better as long as they get to operate in an exploit-and-dominate mode. If obtaining clean energy means happy wind farms and cooperating with the sunshine, they don't like it. Where's the struggle? They LIKE destroying mountaintops or burrowing into the bowels of the earth for fossil fuels. They're subjugating the earth, not singing kumbaya with it. Clean energy sounds like educated people in white uniforms with clipboards, not grimy masses toiling in misery that the overlords can exult above. It's ABOUT dominance.
169
"We dominate" juices a person if they are actually feeling vulnerable and impotent, I'd suggest. And so I would expand on C Wolfe's observation about Democrats and Republicans to add that, when it comes to the policymaking leadership, the former want to find solutions to the problems that beset people and impair their lives, and the latter are content to leave the problems in place so they can exploit those feelings of vulnerability and impotence for their own political gain.
1
C Wolfe
Yes, I also took note of the lady's response. It struck me as being a really odd remark and indicative of blind followers of repressive regimes. Sad to watch
Yes, I also took note of the lady's response. It struck me as being a really odd remark and indicative of blind followers of repressive regimes. Sad to watch
3
Hear, hear. I also saw that clip. It was nauseating.
Trump, his team, and the GOP are practicing absolute insanity. Troubling signs daily as reported in the NYT, Twitter and WAPO bring us all to the brink of despair (or many are already there). Humor from Gail always helps though.
1. 128 degree heat in Bangladesh.
2. Flights cancelled in Arizona due to extreme heat.
3. Trump administration wails about "Fake News" daily and has begun barring media from events.
4. GOP is working to sacrifice health care, SS, Medicare and Medicaid and the climate to the Gods of the 10% of wealthy Americans.
On the other hand:
1. Many states are promising to fight climate change on their own. 1,400 mayors have pledged to do so.
2. Gov Brown in CA has begun working with China on climate control.
3. The 'media' doesn't seem to be giving up the fight against Trumpism and GOP absurdities. Murdoch's media outlets remain treasonous though.
4. Canada is working with state and local managers directly on several fronts.
There is more. We simply cannot give up.
1. 128 degree heat in Bangladesh.
2. Flights cancelled in Arizona due to extreme heat.
3. Trump administration wails about "Fake News" daily and has begun barring media from events.
4. GOP is working to sacrifice health care, SS, Medicare and Medicaid and the climate to the Gods of the 10% of wealthy Americans.
On the other hand:
1. Many states are promising to fight climate change on their own. 1,400 mayors have pledged to do so.
2. Gov Brown in CA has begun working with China on climate control.
3. The 'media' doesn't seem to be giving up the fight against Trumpism and GOP absurdities. Murdoch's media outlets remain treasonous though.
4. Canada is working with state and local managers directly on several fronts.
There is more. We simply cannot give up.
48
And, never forget, leaders of both parties supported the gifting of citizenship to Murdoch so that he could own certain media outlets and contribute to the poisoning of the nation's state of mind(s).
1
Harold, you are right to maintain some optomism. Even here in coastal Maine which often has foggy days I am seeing solar panels pop up everywhere. In Very Republican South Carolina, huge solar "farms" are being constructed. And in Idaho, solar is more and more popular. Farmers who pay huge sums for electricity to run their irrigation lines are turning to solar to save a fortune!
Perry's belief that he is intellectually or otherwise qualified to be the Secretary of Energy is eclipsed only by Trump's soaring egoism. The gulf between our present and future realities and the worldview shared by Trump, his appointees, and supporters, grows wider and deeper every day this administration remains in office. Their energy policies exemplify this growing and destructive detachment from reality.
48
Correct. The stupids have arrived. The "A" students and the "B" students are not around. And not too many "C" students either, maybe mostly "C-" or "D+" kids. More seriously, what we see is (a slim) majority of voters reacting against all those "smart" people who used to run the show.
1
This all makes perfect sense to me. Having recently read the book Dark Money by Jane Mayer, I understand how the Koch brothers and their henchmen have purchased the conservative movement. With the Citizens United ruling, they are free to pour vast amounts of money in support of or against political candidates as they please. Folks, our government has been bought by some greedy billionaires. Understand that and you can understand our current situation.
139
Yes, a great reveal. You might like to add this to your understanding:
"What Is the Far Right’s Endgame? A Society That Suppresses the Majority."
http://www.slate.com/articles/life/history/2017/06/james_mcgill_buchanan...
"What Is the Far Right’s Endgame? A Society That Suppresses the Majority."
http://www.slate.com/articles/life/history/2017/06/james_mcgill_buchanan...
"President Donald Trump has appointed the best incoming cabinet of any president since Abraham Lincoln’s famous Team of Rivals in 1861." This quote comes from Prof. Calabrese in an article reviewing Trump's cabinet nomination.
http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2017/02/01/steven-g-calabresi-trumps-got-...
As I read the grandiose claims made for each nominee, I kept on thinking that he was writing a satire, but no, like Trump, he thinks they are really great. Well, you know, beauty is in the eye of the beholder...especially if you are looking through a glass darkly.
http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2017/02/01/steven-g-calabresi-trumps-got-...
As I read the grandiose claims made for each nominee, I kept on thinking that he was writing a satire, but no, like Trump, he thinks they are really great. Well, you know, beauty is in the eye of the beholder...especially if you are looking through a glass darkly.
46
In Trump's looking-glass world, and apparently that of his admirers everything is perfect, even if perfectly backward.
Always remember Murdock owns Fox News and his conservative views are always what appears on Fox. They say what he wants every day. Fox is the propaganda arm of one man.
1
Go solar and stop industrial agriculture that releases carbon into the atmosphere Please..Victorian greenhouse gets $565m wind farm
A huge new wind farm will power a hydroponic farm in western Victoria as part of a $565 million expansion.
The Nectar Farms business at Stawell will expand from 10 hectares to 40 and be powered by a new wind farm and battery storage facility, the state government announced on Tuesday.
A huge new wind farm will power a hydroponic farm in western Victoria as part of a $565 million expansion.
The Nectar Farms business at Stawell will expand from 10 hectares to 40 and be powered by a new wind farm and battery storage facility, the state government announced on Tuesday.
8
Since the days of Chaucer (that I know of, probably much earlier) there have been stories where the roosters decided not to crow, and the sun, not hearing their crow, either couldn't or wouldn't rise (I think the sun overslept). Of course, godless unbelievers say the sun doesn't rise, the earth falls, and anthropomorphising both the sun and roosters doesn't fit the facts, but what do they know?
Poor Mr Peabody's robots are worried about their jobs, and Trump plans big tax credits for coal that will make them feel more secure as they strip mine our coal, and those tax credits will also keep Mr Peabody's coal train happy as it hauls paradise away.
How can anyone criticise Trump or Perry for such benevolent actions?
Poor Mr Peabody's robots are worried about their jobs, and Trump plans big tax credits for coal that will make them feel more secure as they strip mine our coal, and those tax credits will also keep Mr Peabody's coal train happy as it hauls paradise away.
How can anyone criticise Trump or Perry for such benevolent actions?
15
Thank you, Gail, for pointing out the idiocy of our fake president and his cabinet members.
I especially like the reference to the word 'dominance'.
Everything about Trump reminds me of the old George Carlin bit about the differences between baseball and football.
Anyone not familiar with the Carlin routine can check it out on You Tube.
Obama was baseball. Trump is football on steroids.
I especially like the reference to the word 'dominance'.
Everything about Trump reminds me of the old George Carlin bit about the differences between baseball and football.
Anyone not familiar with the Carlin routine can check it out on You Tube.
Obama was baseball. Trump is football on steroids.
55
If only George was around today, he would have a monologue about the Trumpster, Perry and the rest of the White House minions that would make all the current late night TV show host green with envy. Thanks Kevin for a good morning chuckle. Made my day.
1
Check out the last two Carlin specials - as an old man - he nails what we have become.
1
Actually, Trump is the WWF.
2
Sec. Perry engages in subterfuge when he talks about 'we' and 'American' energy, since he is really referring to lots of international corporations who own the energy reserves and production assets, companies who happen to maybe still have their home offices here, but do like most of our corporations and pay as little in taxes as possible by shifting income to off-shore entities.
A prime example of such tax-dodging would be the situation with the Dakota Access Pipeline; there are many many others.
The Koch Bros. et al should be happy with Perry's old cheer-leading talents on display at the White House lectern, but his flag-waving about 'we' and 'American' energy is not really about American companies, except in the sense those companies have their H.Q.'s here, their executives here, and they finance GOPers' political campaigns.
A prime example of such tax-dodging would be the situation with the Dakota Access Pipeline; there are many many others.
The Koch Bros. et al should be happy with Perry's old cheer-leading talents on display at the White House lectern, but his flag-waving about 'we' and 'American' energy is not really about American companies, except in the sense those companies have their H.Q.'s here, their executives here, and they finance GOPers' political campaigns.
24
The Original Sin of the GOP is its rejection of science, specifically evolution. Rejecting evolution did not have any immediate consequences but it paved the way for rejecting other science whenever it was convenient. Fact based economics went away (See Paul Krugman's many columns in this paper.) and also climate science.
Since facts and expert opinion are disregarded, what is left but "Lobbying? Political donations? A general aversion to anything Barack Obama liked?"
Since facts and expert opinion are disregarded, what is left but "Lobbying? Political donations? A general aversion to anything Barack Obama liked?"
52
Trump's administration is like Seinfeld's Bizarro world where up is down, in is out. Solar and wind power are the future so Trump handicaps it in favor of nuclear and coal. Hires De Vos as education secretary who is known for her animosity toward public education; Pruitt as energy secretary despite numerous lawsuits toward the energy department. One could go on and on. It challenges one's sanity.
109
Pruitt is EPA. Perry is Energy.
Janet, Pruitt is EPA - another fox in the hen house. You meant to say Perry.
Pruitt is the head of the EPA, and sued it 34 or more times as A/G of Oklahoma.
The greatest single act the United States could do in becoming energy independent, dominant and ALL of the above, is to upgrade and make more efficient the power grid. All other actions are minuscule in comparison.
We could turn to wind, solar, geothermal, fuel cells and everything else that is of a green nature,( throw in a doubling of the fuel standard which President Obama enacted and this administration is rolling back ) and STILL it would not all add up to overhauling the power grid.
We hardly ever talk about that though.
We could turn to wind, solar, geothermal, fuel cells and everything else that is of a green nature,( throw in a doubling of the fuel standard which President Obama enacted and this administration is rolling back ) and STILL it would not all add up to overhauling the power grid.
We hardly ever talk about that though.
103
The argument about distributed energy rages on. I'm in favor of breaking up the grid and using more local sources. I know that's complex, but even more complicated is the complete breakdown of our power supply that is in store for us in the not so distant future.
Here's an interesting article on solar in Africa, which points up some of the complexities of leapfrogging the big fossil, big grid model we are so eager to export.
http://www.thewrap.com/will-larry-flynt-help-john-oliver-win-lawsuit-ove...
Here's an interesting article on solar in Africa, which points up some of the complexities of leapfrogging the big fossil, big grid model we are so eager to export.
http://www.thewrap.com/will-larry-flynt-help-john-oliver-win-lawsuit-ove...
2
@Susan
Were we meant to read an article on John Oliver ? Bad link ?
Anyways, I like your idea, and any idea that makes any grid more efficient. It is an all of the above strategy that we should take on every issue.
Many locals\power companies have ingrained into local bylaws that you cannot even put a solar panel on your roof. They don't want the competition, nor have it set up to take on the excess power for rebate\sale into said power grid.
That needs to change, like yesterday.
Were we meant to read an article on John Oliver ? Bad link ?
Anyways, I like your idea, and any idea that makes any grid more efficient. It is an all of the above strategy that we should take on every issue.
Many locals\power companies have ingrained into local bylaws that you cannot even put a solar panel on your roof. They don't want the competition, nor have it set up to take on the excess power for rebate\sale into said power grid.
That needs to change, like yesterday.
15
Sorry, my corrected link doesn't seem to have gone through, my bad. This may end up a duplicate, sorry:
http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2015/06/29/power-to-the-people
http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2015/06/29/power-to-the-people
4
Like Gail, I am at a loss to understand the logic behind what this administration chooses to support or oppose. Reading Gail's column in conjunction with Tom Friedman's article about how Trump's irrational rejection of the Pacific Trade agreement has essentially ceded U.S. influence in Asia to the Chinese does not make me feel any better.
All this continues to beat a long deceased horse. If I, or anyone else, could do anything beyond raising our blood pressure; excommunicating crazy Uncle Joe from family gatherings until he agrees to stop watching Fox news; and contributing to the ACLU, I am open to suggestions. In the meantime I think we are stuck until 2018.
All this continues to beat a long deceased horse. If I, or anyone else, could do anything beyond raising our blood pressure; excommunicating crazy Uncle Joe from family gatherings until he agrees to stop watching Fox news; and contributing to the ACLU, I am open to suggestions. In the meantime I think we are stuck until 2018.
65
"It’s a new era and you don’t want to be just skipping along the independence trail when you could be right up there on the mountaintop with your foot on the rest of the world’s throat. Leaders, shmeaders. We’re going to be dominators."
Gail, one of your best. In Trump world, everything is hyperbole. The best, the greatest, the most wonderful cake in the world, give me my two scoops now, we've accomplished more in 3 months than any other president, I'm the smartest, greatest president that ever lived.
Gag me with a spoon. The president and his cabinet needs to realize one thing: the judgments of the country, the world, and history come far later in the cycle than the ever present "most wonderful" now. Every action prompts a reaction.
And with Trump's "actions," which are basically undoing every item, however small, that President Obama touched, I do not believe history will be kind or that the consequences will be bold. We're already a world pariah in the arena of climate change (energy dominance!!!) and more embarrassing assessments are in process.
I love how everything seems to come down to "the security interests of America". If anything, with all our allies antagonized, China not cooperating (indeed treating us like chumps per Tom Friedman) and our allowing Putin a free pass on everything, even the ability to hack away in 2018, America has become far less secure since January 20.
Take that for dominance, Mr. Trump!
Gail, one of your best. In Trump world, everything is hyperbole. The best, the greatest, the most wonderful cake in the world, give me my two scoops now, we've accomplished more in 3 months than any other president, I'm the smartest, greatest president that ever lived.
Gag me with a spoon. The president and his cabinet needs to realize one thing: the judgments of the country, the world, and history come far later in the cycle than the ever present "most wonderful" now. Every action prompts a reaction.
And with Trump's "actions," which are basically undoing every item, however small, that President Obama touched, I do not believe history will be kind or that the consequences will be bold. We're already a world pariah in the arena of climate change (energy dominance!!!) and more embarrassing assessments are in process.
I love how everything seems to come down to "the security interests of America". If anything, with all our allies antagonized, China not cooperating (indeed treating us like chumps per Tom Friedman) and our allowing Putin a free pass on everything, even the ability to hack away in 2018, America has become far less secure since January 20.
Take that for dominance, Mr. Trump!
209
Christine:
I haven't read/heard "Gag me with a spoon" in years. It made me smile. And we need occasions to smile.
I haven't read/heard "Gag me with a spoon" in years. It made me smile. And we need occasions to smile.
3
@Christine
Bravo. I like the alliteration. It seems quaint in comparison to everything being YUUUUGe! or Unbelievable! or you know. ..sigh
Anyways, there is hope and just a little silver lining to all of this. The executive orders are starting to cut into the profits of the powers that be. They can't have that, and I feel they are on the verge of revolting.
The only thing binding them, is the possibility of a YUUUGE tax cut. If it doesn't appear that will be so, then the cord will be cut that nanosecond. We can only wish.
Keep the faith . ( love your comments overall )
Bravo. I like the alliteration. It seems quaint in comparison to everything being YUUUUGe! or Unbelievable! or you know. ..sigh
Anyways, there is hope and just a little silver lining to all of this. The executive orders are starting to cut into the profits of the powers that be. They can't have that, and I feel they are on the verge of revolting.
The only thing binding them, is the possibility of a YUUUGE tax cut. If it doesn't appear that will be so, then the cord will be cut that nanosecond. We can only wish.
Keep the faith . ( love your comments overall )
3
Christine, I agree with everything you said except the spoon. My reaction to all these antics is "gag me with a pitchfork".
2
Rick Perry is all about contradictions, so I guess he's a good fit for the current administration. He was a laughable presidential candidate who earned a reputation for not being that smart. He’s now wearing those Leonard Hofstadter glasses, but frankly they’re not fooling anybody.
His inability to remember the name of a cabinet department was funny at the time, but to be named its head is so astoundingly ironic that you have to wonder if the universe isn’t screwing with us. But if it’s not the universe, it’s probably the president.
It’s also ironic that he bragged about the soaring population of Texas, although he enthusiastically reduced it by 234 death row inmates. Maybe his degree in animal science qualified him for that, but it’s not much help in the nuclear whatsit he’s into now, with all the protons and the morons and what-not.
Perry brings with him a lot of hot air, which Texas is known for. It blew George W. Bush up to Washington, but that was just a gust. Perry flew in unexpectedly on a whirlwind, hardly able to restrain his glee at making nuclear cool again.
He’s thinking hard about it, since he’s really enjoying the spotlight, and he really, really wants to please the president. If only there was a way to make nuclear energy from coal….
So hang on to your hats, America. And you might want to invest in fallout shelter futures.
His inability to remember the name of a cabinet department was funny at the time, but to be named its head is so astoundingly ironic that you have to wonder if the universe isn’t screwing with us. But if it’s not the universe, it’s probably the president.
It’s also ironic that he bragged about the soaring population of Texas, although he enthusiastically reduced it by 234 death row inmates. Maybe his degree in animal science qualified him for that, but it’s not much help in the nuclear whatsit he’s into now, with all the protons and the morons and what-not.
Perry brings with him a lot of hot air, which Texas is known for. It blew George W. Bush up to Washington, but that was just a gust. Perry flew in unexpectedly on a whirlwind, hardly able to restrain his glee at making nuclear cool again.
He’s thinking hard about it, since he’s really enjoying the spotlight, and he really, really wants to please the president. If only there was a way to make nuclear energy from coal….
So hang on to your hats, America. And you might want to invest in fallout shelter futures.
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The soaring population in Texas is due in no small measure to the fact that the State leads in the category: 'Teenagers'.
So much for the rhythm method. They seem to lack rhythym.
So much for the rhythm method. They seem to lack rhythym.
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gemli, Texas did not blow Dubya up to Washington. The failed American electorate did that, just as they blew Trump up to Washington !! Lets keep the record straight.
And, in spit of my zip code, I do not live in Texas. I live in Marfa.
And, in spit of my zip code, I do not live in Texas. I live in Marfa.
"Why do you think this administration is so hostile to a growing industry that’s clearly the global future?"
That is such an interesting question, isn't it? How could anyone be against cleaner air, renewable energy resources, and leading the world into the future of both? Likely all of your suggestions - lobbying, political donations, Obama - are all part of the answer. I'd add fear of the future, comfort with the past, and a right-wing belief that somehow 'new fangled' things are a lefty plot to take over the world and leave them behind.
That is such an interesting question, isn't it? How could anyone be against cleaner air, renewable energy resources, and leading the world into the future of both? Likely all of your suggestions - lobbying, political donations, Obama - are all part of the answer. I'd add fear of the future, comfort with the past, and a right-wing belief that somehow 'new fangled' things are a lefty plot to take over the world and leave them behind.
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Also, it's going to be difficult to dominate the world with our energy if the rest of the world is out there meeting it's own energy requirements with wind and solar and whatever they don't have to buy from us.
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The Koch Brothers. That's enough, sadly.
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And don't exclude oil and gas interests who lobby and spend profusely.
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Repeat after me. Glasses don't make you smarter.
If we want energy dominance, we ought not cede renewables to China, They make most of the solar panels already, and control many of he rare earth metals required for the technology.
Will wind turbines be far behind? And will we develop efficient fuel cells or other technologies for places on which wind and air are not good sources of energy?
Who knows, because the Department of Energy isn't about investment in new sources. Thank goodness Perry now knows that the Department controls the nuclear arsenal; it will give him something to do.
If we want to be energy dominators, we are doing to have to devote money to development of new technologies. I am not holding my breath, although that could change, the more we promote coal.
If we want energy dominance, we ought not cede renewables to China, They make most of the solar panels already, and control many of he rare earth metals required for the technology.
Will wind turbines be far behind? And will we develop efficient fuel cells or other technologies for places on which wind and air are not good sources of energy?
Who knows, because the Department of Energy isn't about investment in new sources. Thank goodness Perry now knows that the Department controls the nuclear arsenal; it will give him something to do.
If we want to be energy dominators, we are doing to have to devote money to development of new technologies. I am not holding my breath, although that could change, the more we promote coal.
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And China is currently working aggressively to corner the lithium sources, a critical element needed for battery production.
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We have plenty of rare-earth metals in this country, but mining them is difficult because they are contaminated with thorium. But we could use the thorium to make small-scale thorium reactors, which would help consume our growing pile of nuclear waste. We don't need any more large-scale reactors, too expensive and dangerous. Small-scale reactors that can't melt down would ease our way past fossil fuels.
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I certainly can support Perry's (and Trump's) enthusiasm about nuclear power. But that's not popular among some, because a few liberal icons decreed that it would be one of the "causes" whose resistance should unite the left.
The rest of it? I always supported Perry's assignment to the Dept. of Energy, mostly because I remember the Donald Trump of the late 1970s and 1980s and that white man's overbite while boogalooing with Roy Cohn beneath the strobe at Studio 54 -- he always needed dancing lessons, and who better than Perry? But you have to wonder about all of Perry's enthusiasms when you remember that rain ceremony in TX that didn't ... actually ... deliver rain; but admittedly was entertaining.
Happy Energy Week, folks. Or is it "Merry Energy Week"? Whenever I think of England, I get a bit confused about the right qualifiers, and Perry's ancestry is mostly English. Now, if we could only invent a "single-payer" week, we'd really start cookin' with gas.
The rest of it? I always supported Perry's assignment to the Dept. of Energy, mostly because I remember the Donald Trump of the late 1970s and 1980s and that white man's overbite while boogalooing with Roy Cohn beneath the strobe at Studio 54 -- he always needed dancing lessons, and who better than Perry? But you have to wonder about all of Perry's enthusiasms when you remember that rain ceremony in TX that didn't ... actually ... deliver rain; but admittedly was entertaining.
Happy Energy Week, folks. Or is it "Merry Energy Week"? Whenever I think of England, I get a bit confused about the right qualifiers, and Perry's ancestry is mostly English. Now, if we could only invent a "single-payer" week, we'd really start cookin' with gas.
8
Fukashima, mon amour?
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Apparently, regarding nuclear energy, you have, alone in the world, figured out what to do with nuclear waste that remains amazingly toxic for more than 100,000 years. Please, let the rest of us know so we can be excited about nuclear energy, too.
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nuclear power: creating tons of radioactive waste that will last for thousands of years, and nowhere to put it...yes, a great idea!
4
Interesting to hear that Rick Perry is bragging about air quality in Texas.
Houston and Dallas have some of the worst air pollution in tbe country. Houston has several hundred chemical factories along the Ship Canal, as well as coal fired power plants and metro traffic congestion from all of those pickup trucks. Six million people in the Houston area breathe lung toxic air, exposed to high levels of ozone, particulates and organic compounds.
And then there is all of that really dirty Canadian oil sands crude Texas is anxious to deliver to the part Saudi owned giant sour crude refinery in Port Arthur, TX. That should help air quality.
I think I missed Health Care Week, maybe because it was named Tax Cuts for the Wealthy Week. Even some of the slowest minds in the Senate are starting to realize this as a branding problem, since only 17% of Americans like their health care bill, according to a just released Marist poll.
Houston and Dallas have some of the worst air pollution in tbe country. Houston has several hundred chemical factories along the Ship Canal, as well as coal fired power plants and metro traffic congestion from all of those pickup trucks. Six million people in the Houston area breathe lung toxic air, exposed to high levels of ozone, particulates and organic compounds.
And then there is all of that really dirty Canadian oil sands crude Texas is anxious to deliver to the part Saudi owned giant sour crude refinery in Port Arthur, TX. That should help air quality.
I think I missed Health Care Week, maybe because it was named Tax Cuts for the Wealthy Week. Even some of the slowest minds in the Senate are starting to realize this as a branding problem, since only 17% of Americans like their health care bill, according to a just released Marist poll.
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"But wind and solar energy, they are — not popular."
So much for "populist" politics.
So much for "populist" politics.
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I love your Rick Barry review,
I hope he now can count past two.
I hope he now can count past two.
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PERRY,PERRY, PERRY.
6
Mr. Eisenberg,
That says it all!
That says it all!
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The content of this article is an A plus. Sadly, when we are sincere it is harder to be lightheartedly humorous: nice try though.
Maybe I'll just try repeating it.
Renewables are where the new jobs are. That's why Texas is doing so well. It's so obvious.
Renewables are where the new jobs are.
Renewables are where the new jobs are.
What is the matter with clean energy? What's not to like? Do people really like poisoned watersheds? And it's the bosses who are getting rid of the jobs, not the competition.
John Oliver, speaking of humor. I understand he's being sued for telling the truth about "heroic" boss Murray who doesn't care about his workers and his wonderful self-promoting lovefests with Trump.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aw6RsUhw1Q8
[Puleeaze don't miss the shoveling dumbsplay by Trump 30 second in.]
Maybe I'll just try repeating it.
Renewables are where the new jobs are. That's why Texas is doing so well. It's so obvious.
Renewables are where the new jobs are.
Renewables are where the new jobs are.
What is the matter with clean energy? What's not to like? Do people really like poisoned watersheds? And it's the bosses who are getting rid of the jobs, not the competition.
John Oliver, speaking of humor. I understand he's being sued for telling the truth about "heroic" boss Murray who doesn't care about his workers and his wonderful self-promoting lovefests with Trump.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aw6RsUhw1Q8
[Puleeaze don't miss the shoveling dumbsplay by Trump 30 second in.]
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Just for fun, on that lawsuit: http://www.thewrap.com/will-larry-flynt-help-john-oliver-win-lawsuit-ove...
"The Supreme Court said in Flynt’s case that the First Amendment protects “vehement, caustic, and sometimes unpleasantly sharp attacks” on public figures, said Lincoln Bandlow, a Los Angeles media law lawyer at Fox Rothschild.
"“In my mind, this is not a complaint, this is a press release,” he told TheWrap, referring to Murray’s lawsuit."
And on the substance: http://www.sltrib.com/home/5450022-155/gehrke-coal-exec-bob-murrays-attacks
"The Supreme Court said in Flynt’s case that the First Amendment protects “vehement, caustic, and sometimes unpleasantly sharp attacks” on public figures, said Lincoln Bandlow, a Los Angeles media law lawyer at Fox Rothschild.
"“In my mind, this is not a complaint, this is a press release,” he told TheWrap, referring to Murray’s lawsuit."
And on the substance: http://www.sltrib.com/home/5450022-155/gehrke-coal-exec-bob-murrays-attacks
21
Thanks for passing on the John Oliver piece. Laughing still!
I'm a Texan - we all bought shirts that said "I survived Rick Perry." He is such a light-weight and what in the world is he doing in charge of the Dept of Energy? Crazy scary times.
I'm a Texan - we all bought shirts that said "I survived Rick Perry." He is such a light-weight and what in the world is he doing in charge of the Dept of Energy? Crazy scary times.
3
I used to cringe at W's deliberate mispronunciation of nuclear. His mispronunciation was not only annoying, but a dog-whistle to anti-elites who took pleasure in knowing that it made people that they took as elite cringe. He was signaling to the plain folk that, although born into wealth and educated at Yale, he was one of them. Now we get “I don’t want to be energy-free; we want to be energy-dominant in terms of the world”. The individual words appear to be US-English. Beyond that I don't know what language it is. I don't cringe, I recoil in horror. Anti-elites have hit the jackpot!
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Nucular was Eisenhower, a hero by today's standards, with his stellar take on the military industrial complex, despite his horrible internship camps. Even some knowledgeable people have picked it up.
This selfish thing is scary. At a time when climate is going seriously haywire in an obvious way (nobody is going to be able to ignore this much longer, or pretend their sealed room is not subject to the vagaries of the big trend changes) working together to solve problems is more important than ever.
The internet depends on a continuous supply of energy. Bigger longer breakdowns in the power supply (and increasingly sophisticated hacks) mean we should be looking and more distributed energy from cleaner sources so we can stop making the problem ever worse. And we need backup systems (my books still have the markings I put in them decades ago, and my paper lists are easier to use and sort). Imagination, please: even plumbing is relatively new, let alone computers ...
Day by day, in every way, we are making the planet worser and worser (to paraphrase Coue
This selfish thing is scary. At a time when climate is going seriously haywire in an obvious way (nobody is going to be able to ignore this much longer, or pretend their sealed room is not subject to the vagaries of the big trend changes) working together to solve problems is more important than ever.
The internet depends on a continuous supply of energy. Bigger longer breakdowns in the power supply (and increasingly sophisticated hacks) mean we should be looking and more distributed energy from cleaner sources so we can stop making the problem ever worse. And we need backup systems (my books still have the markings I put in them decades ago, and my paper lists are easier to use and sort). Imagination, please: even plumbing is relatively new, let alone computers ...
Day by day, in every way, we are making the planet worser and worser (to paraphrase Coue
47
Jimmy Carter also said, "nucular."
My husband is a physician who says "nu-cu-lar". I have tried to sound out the syllables for him but apparently they didn't teach phonics in California 60 years ago. Why does it matter?, he asks. I cringe, thinking anyone hearing this egregious mispronunciation would think him an ignoramous like that frat boy George.
3
But degrees in physics generally guarantee a familiarity with certain basic scientific concepts.
A degree in animal science, an undergraduate career as a cheerleader, and a spell on "Dancing With the Stars" does not guarantee an ability to succeed as an administrator. The Texas governorship is a notoriously weak position, with little power, and no prediction for how well its occupant can manage a mammoth Federal agency that requires scientific knowledge.
A degree in animal science, an undergraduate career as a cheerleader, and a spell on "Dancing With the Stars" does not guarantee an ability to succeed as an administrator. The Texas governorship is a notoriously weak position, with little power, and no prediction for how well its occupant can manage a mammoth Federal agency that requires scientific knowledge.
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It's oil baby! Drill, baby drill. Save a dying industry!
Texas government today is even worse than when JR was at the helm - if you can imagine that. And, our national government is the very worst in my 78 years. Trump and JR !! We wouldn't have either of these yahoos in office if it were not for the failed American electorate.
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"A general aversion to anything Barack Obama liked?" Naw, surely the president wouldn't be that petty.
In the versus of coal and renewable energy jobs are obviously the big talking point. But has anyone compared relative safety of cola versus renewables? How do the workers fair?
In the versus of coal and renewable energy jobs are obviously the big talking point. But has anyone compared relative safety of cola versus renewables? How do the workers fair?
28
The workers fare much better with renewables than with coal. Coal's many dirty secrets include mercury and radiation, along with poisoned water and blacklung. And of course, Republicans don't want or need health care: those coal workers can just die before they figure out they've been screwed. Death panels for the poor schlubs.
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It's not just the workers who suffer from Black Lung. Many people, including children, living near a mine have also contacted black lung and the sludge has contaminated drinking water. There was series on this issue a year or so ago. Many residents of small towns in West Virginia were greatly affected.
16
Hydro power doesn't look very toxic.
Wind turbines are made out of carbon fiber and resins that are made in a factory environment. These controlled environments can have equipment that sucks up harmful vapors. Controlled environments like a factory are easy places compared to coal mines to ensure the use of respirators and proper disposal of toxic materials.
Ditto for solar panels. Nasty chemicals, but used in a highly controlled environment, with little human interaction.
Rest easy, Mr. Clark.
Wind turbines are made out of carbon fiber and resins that are made in a factory environment. These controlled environments can have equipment that sucks up harmful vapors. Controlled environments like a factory are easy places compared to coal mines to ensure the use of respirators and proper disposal of toxic materials.
Ditto for solar panels. Nasty chemicals, but used in a highly controlled environment, with little human interaction.
Rest easy, Mr. Clark.
2
"Barack Obama’s first secretary won a Nobel Prize for his work on trapping atoms with laser light. The second was a nuclear physicist. Rick Perry has a bachelor’s degree in animal science, but we are not going to point that out because it’s simply meanspirited."
Harry Truman attended Spalding Commercial College, studying fields like bookkeeping. He dropped out and did not graduate. He took night courses at Kansas City Law School but dropped out. He had no college degree. He was president of the United States and not a bad one, at least in my view.
Academic degrees and even a Nobel Prize do not guarantee that one succeed as an administrator or that one has the necessary people skills to run a large body. Academics are notoriously poor at administration even if they are constantly appointed to administrate.
Academics are not necessarily visionaries in the fields that they are called upon to administrate and few have the skills to translate that vision, if they have it, to reality.
I refrain from commenting regarding Mr. Perry or his predecessors; however, academic credentials, as important as they are, are not always a guarantee of success anyplace outside of the immediate academic workplace (and even there that is questionable).
Harry Truman attended Spalding Commercial College, studying fields like bookkeeping. He dropped out and did not graduate. He took night courses at Kansas City Law School but dropped out. He had no college degree. He was president of the United States and not a bad one, at least in my view.
Academic degrees and even a Nobel Prize do not guarantee that one succeed as an administrator or that one has the necessary people skills to run a large body. Academics are notoriously poor at administration even if they are constantly appointed to administrate.
Academics are not necessarily visionaries in the fields that they are called upon to administrate and few have the skills to translate that vision, if they have it, to reality.
I refrain from commenting regarding Mr. Perry or his predecessors; however, academic credentials, as important as they are, are not always a guarantee of success anyplace outside of the immediate academic workplace (and even there that is questionable).
17
I applaud your mention of Harry Truman as the exception that proves the rule. You had to reach back 70 years, but you found one. Congratulations! However, in the present day, and regarding a science and technology-focused agency in which insight and knowledge are at the very heart of fulfilling its mission, your argument and its lone example don't quite hold water. You also seem to have internalized some quaint stereotypes regarding academically accomplished people. They are not a bunch of "absent-minded professors." And running an agency doesn't always require a glad-hander. Academics often know how to do many things besides fiddle with instruments, bury themselves in their computers, and forget to button their shirts.
Believe it or not, earning an advanced degree does not obviate somebody possessing "people skills" and the ability to run an agency efficiently. In fact, many have actually run large departments that didn't fall into ruin around their brilliant heads and cease functioning.
This particular agency deals with complex emerging science and economics. I believe it would be a joy and a luxury for employees of this agency to have somebody at the helm who actually understands climate science and its numbers!
Believe it or not, earning an advanced degree does not obviate somebody possessing "people skills" and the ability to run an agency efficiently. In fact, many have actually run large departments that didn't fall into ruin around their brilliant heads and cease functioning.
This particular agency deals with complex emerging science and economics. I believe it would be a joy and a luxury for employees of this agency to have somebody at the helm who actually understands climate science and its numbers!
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"Academic degrees and even a Nobel Prize do not guarantee that one succeed as an administrator or that one has the necessary people skills to run a large body. Academics are notoriously poor at administration even if they are constantly appointed to administrate."
Would you say that having some familiarity with the sector one is supposed to administer is immaterial? Would you say that moving from managing a hospital to managing a symphony orchestra or a ski resort is all right because it's all about "management?"
On the other hand a brain surgeon impersonating a conscious human at the head of Housing and Urban Development makes me think that perhaps you have a point....
Would you say that having some familiarity with the sector one is supposed to administer is immaterial? Would you say that moving from managing a hospital to managing a symphony orchestra or a ski resort is all right because it's all about "management?"
On the other hand a brain surgeon impersonating a conscious human at the head of Housing and Urban Development makes me think that perhaps you have a point....
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Having degrees certainly doesn't guarantee that someone will be effective at anything, including administration. However, when you combine lack of training in a particularly technical field, such as nuclear physics, with a singular lack of understanding of what a job requires, you end up with someone like Rick Perry.
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No, let's try to make toxic nuclear waste cool ~ it will still be hot, Hot, HOT when our grandkids' grandkids have grandkids. He's a fool.
In early July, we'll be about 94.5 million miles from our Sun, and that's the proper distance between us and any kind of nukes...