Our broken Primaries Election System

Republican politicians have no regard for the desires of the people. Here is an example regarding gun safety:

“A new Fox News poll out yesterday shows that:

• 87% of voters favor background checks for gun purchases, 
• 81% favor making 21 the minimum age to buy a gun, 
• 80% want mental health care checks on all gun buyers, 
• 80% want flags for people who are dangerous to themselves or others, 
• 77% want a 30-day waiting period to buy a gun, and 
• 61% want an assault weapons ban.

And yet, Republican majorities in state legislatures are rapidly rolling back gun laws.”

Why?  Because of our broken primary election system where only the most rabidly political people vote in primaries, and that includes fanatical gun nuts. The 20% who oppose all gun responsibility laws are the ones who elect Republican candidates. 

So children are trained in how to stay alive when killers come for them, and deranged men kill families if five, including a child, when he is asked to stop firing his AR15 in the backyard. 

I do not know how assault weapons manufacturers can live with themselves. Or Republican lawmakers. 

Assault weapons are for war. Not neighborhoods. Obvious. 

And, lest I forget why — 

$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

The Putin Wing of the Republican Party is trying to destroy the American dollar

It is possible to believe that the Republican Party is trying very hard to blackmail the Democratic Administration with a promise to refuse to pay America's debts because they are dedicated to an ideology that says two things - lowering the cost of government spurs the economy, and reducing the dependency of the poor and middle class on government help makes them stronger.  But I don't believe that - anymore.  In my Republican days I did, but it seems nonsense to me now.

Rather, it seems to me, that the blackmail is coming from the Putin Wing of the Republican Party - and the purpose is to destroy the American economy, destroy American credit around the world, and remove the American dollar as the world currency.  

I understand Putin's desire to destroy America, it is what he has been doing all of his life.  

It is harder for me to understand the Putin Wing of the Republican Party. They openly admire the murderous autocrat, they support the Putin invasion of Ukraine, and they seem dedicated to defaulting on American debt - i.e. dedicated to stop paying America's bills.  (Actually, about 25% of the national debt came from Trump's four-year reign of incompetence)  And, of course, the Republicans never threatened default during the presidency of Trump - nor of any Republican president. 

And, of course, they threaten default every year for every Democratic president.  Mostly, in the past, this was simply to do what they love the most to do - cut spending on the middle class, and on poor people (read that as black and brown and red people).

But this year seems different to me.  This year has people in Congress even more extreme than the cut-the-cost-of-caring-about-people-Tea Party.  Congress now has active Putin supporters.  And I am starting to believe they are following orders from Russia.  I don't trust that they are operating in good faith.  I am starting to believe that bribery and/or blackmail is involved.  Or, perhaps, it is simply the admiration of a fellow traveler autocrat by wannabe autocrats.  But my bet is obedience to their master.

The way this year seems different to me is that I don't think it is possible for the Putin controlled House of Representatives to agree on a budget, and I think they will default on the debt - on purpose - and shut the Federal Government down.  They seem to be trying to harm America as part of their plan to establish an authoritarian, autocratic, fascist rule that will or won't be led by Trump.  If not Trump, there are more in the wings of the Republican Party ready to dominate.  

Autocrats of a feather flock together.

But this is still America.  And I refuse to believe that it will fall to fascists.

The lying will continue

 Tucker Carlson was fired from the “Lies-R-Us” Fox News network.  

Fear not MAGA Cult faithful, the lies will continue, just like you want them to.  It’s their business model. As was proven in the discovery phase of the Dominion lawsuit that cost them $787.5 million. 

I think he was fired for workplace and sexual misconduct and finally being sick of having to deal with a jackass asshole.

Breakthrough in nuclear fission power - small modular plants

 As more and more people demand electric vehicles there will be greater and greater demand for power to be supplied to the electric grid.  One solution is breakthroughs in energy storage, and as I wrote yesterday, rechargeable Sodium batteries may be one of those breakthroughs.

But what about producing more power?  In addition to wind and solar, I am hopeful that modular nuclear power plants can be a breakthrough in providing non-fossil-fuel-based power.  

There have always been two big problems with nuclear power - disposing of the nuclear waste and the danger of runaway nuclear power plants in case of power plant failure - like the Fukushima power plant in Japan, which had the cooling water pumps incapacitated by a tsunami which allowed the plant to spew radiation uncontrolled.

The runaway plant problem may have been solved by new design small modular nuclear power plants, recently approved by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC).  

"Unlike current plants, though, the water used to cool the reactor doesn't rely on a pump, which can fail....Instead, the SMR uses natural convection to keep cold and hot water flowing inside the containment vessel."

These are about 50 MW plants (compared to about 1000 MW old style plants).  They can be built and installed much more quickly and linked together for more power demand.  They could be installed locally near smaller cities and rural areas.  

Disposal of the spent nuclear waste remains a problem but that seems to be more political than technical to me.  If nobody is willing to store it in remote desert areas, maybe the Energy Department puts it on rockets and shoots it up into the sun?

Energy storage is the next giant step to decarbonization - rechargeable sodium batteries?

I have been thinking for some time that the smartest kids in MIT, Stanford, England, China, Japan are dreaming of breakthroughs in green energy.  It is clear that fossil fuels is a major part of Global Warming and Climate Change.  So, what to do?  

Energy storage can be a big step in decarbonizing the world.  Store the energy in the grid when the sun shines and the wind blows and release it into the grid when they don't.  Turns out China is making big strides in that direction already.

"...China is positioning itself to command the next big innovation in rechargeable batteries: replacing lithium with sodium, a far cheaper and more abundant material...They keep almost all of their charge when temperatures fall far below freezing, something lithium batteries typically do not do...The most immediately promising use for sodium batteries is for electric grids, ... Sodium batteries need to be bigger than lithium ones to hold the same electrical charge. That is a problem for cars, which have limited space, but not for electricity grid storage."

The oldest Econ 101 truth is that the demand for buggy whips declined dramatically with the rise of the demand for automobiles.  Well, the demand for fossil fuels could start to decline if we get good energy storage to make solar and wind power available 24/7.  

Go for it.

Republican Party taken over by anti-democracy Christian dogmatists

 I usually read historian Heather Cox Richardson's Substack "Letters from an American" each day.  She gives an excellent historical perspective to today's world.  Her April 1, 2023 missive does a good job of presenting an historical observation of the differences between today's conservatives and today's liberals.

"They (White Christian Nationalist conservatives) argue that the ideas that underpin democracy—

• equality before the law, 
• separation of church and state, 
• academic freedom, a 
• market-driven economy, 
• free speech—

have undermined virtue. These values are “liberal” values because they are based on the idea of the importance of individual freedom from an oppressive government, and they are at the heart of American democracy. But post-liberal thinkers say that liberalism’s defense of individual rights has destroyed 

• the family,
• communities, and even the 
• fundamental differences between men and women, 
• throwing society into chaos. 

They propose to restore the values of traditional Christianity, which would, they believe, restore traditional family structures and supportive communities, and promote the virtue of self-sacrifice as people give up their individualism for their children (their worldview utterly rejects abortion). 

The position of those embracing a post-liberal order is a far cry from the Reagan Republicans’ claim to want small government and free markets. The new ideologues want a strong government to enforce their religious values on American society, and they reject those of both parties who support democratic norms—for it is those very norms they see as destructive. They urge their leaders to “dare to rule.”

Those who call for a new post-liberal order want to “reconquer public institutions all over the United States,” as Christopher Rufo put it after Florida governor Ron DeSantis appointed him to the board of New College as part of a mission to turn the progressive school into a right-wing bastion.  ... To spur that process, Republicans have turned to so-called culture wars"

I see this as Christian fanaticism and I see the government imposition of a religion to be a violation of the First Amendment.  But clearly, these Christians think that their interpretation of the Bible supersedes the dictates of the Constitution of the United States of America.  

I believe they are fundamentally anti-American, and I recall that the British who fled to America in the pre-Revolutionary war decades came to America to flee religious persecution in the old country where their brand of Christianity was oppressed and brutalized by more dominant brands of Christianity.  It seems to me that those who claim the mantle of Christian morals to themselves have a long history of oppressing others and forcing conformity to their very limited notion of spirituality.

And they are running the Republican Party.  But I believe the foundations of America rest upon the Constitution rather than on some particular religious dogma.

Roy Cohn - Joe McCarthy - the Former Guy

Roy Cohn first prosecuted the Rosenbergs for espionage.  Then he was the prosecuting attorney behind McCarthyism. Then he was the mentor to The Former Guy.  

Roy Cohn taught The Former Guy three rules:

1. Never surrender

2. Always counterattack

3.  Always declare victory, no matter the outcome 

These three rules have been the very foundation of The Former Guy’s life.  He has lived a life of financial and personal fraud and crime, and he has “gotten away with it”. That is, he has stayed out of prison and became “successful “ - meaning he got rich, or was seen to be rich at least, and he became president of the United States. 

For one term. 

But…

Roy Cohn’s life of vicious hatred and intimidation was deeply etched on the mask of menace and threat that replaced his face.  And he openly defied all law.  And he “got away with it.”  Until he didn’t.  He died a broken and crushed man, legally, morally, career wise, and physically, died of aids. 

Roy Cohn got away with it, until he didn’t. 

Just like The Former Guy is about to. His time has come, and All the King’s Horses and All The King’s Men Are Not Going to Put the orange Humpty Dumpty  Back Together Again.