In ONLY 100 days ...
- Moscow is ready to cooperate with the United States on settling the Syrian crisis, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Saturday, Russian news agencies reported.
- China is cooperating and putting the screws on North Korea.
- The UN Secretary and Euro countries are getting UN Ambassador Haley and Trumps message loud and clear about unfair treatment of Israel. And relations with Israel have never been better!
- The glory days of Hamas, Hezbollah, and ISIS are OVER! And Israel and USA security are much better for it. Europe has gotten the message on the costs of radical Islam in their midst - and the world has started to realize that the only way to solve the refugee crisis is for the refugees to be able to go home to start rebuilding their countries!
- NATO countries have agreed they need to step up to their fair share on defense.
- Unfair trade deals and treaties are being renegotiated. And American manufacturing is coming back.
- Our absurd tax rates and structure is being overhauled. We will go from being one of the least competitive countries to one of the more.
- The unsustainable giant entitlement ACA is near repeal, while better designs for lowering health care costs are being re imagined.
- Plans to raise our failing infrastructure are around the corner.
- The gigantic volume of over regulation which was put in place over the last eight years is being evaluated and unraveled, causing historic leaps in business and consumer confidence and markets. Big increases in business investment and GDP are inevitable.
- Rather than damaging our energy self-sufficiency options and potential, America is on it's way toward greater energy self-sufficiency and massive export revenues, and the benefits of national security that comes with greater energy independence!
- Trump has welcomed many international leaders to the Whitehouse with positive results.
- We are starting to see wage growth and less UNDER employment.
- We are going to stop forcing people who have a moral or religious belief against abortion to contribute their Federal tax dollars to fund them.
More is to come, and I could go on with the progress in the first 100 day, but it won't matter TO THE LEFT! Because to the haters, Trump has done nothing or worse, and no matter what he does they will hate him for it. Fortunately, both Houses and the majority of governors know why they were elected, and it surely was not the agenda of the past 8 years!
Obama promised hope and change. Trump is delivering on his promises, and as a result we are getting LONG overdue changes to be hopeful about.
The Left answers with Russian conspiracy theories, obsession with Trump's tax return even after one year's illegally leaked release showed Trump paid more than most Presidents, and violent efforts to restrain free speech and united obstruction in Congress.
While Trump IS making America greater, the Left is looking for him to fail. The Left would rather for America to be in a disastrous situation than for Trump to succeed. Their mantra is as UN-American as it can get -> "Not My President."
Saturday, April 29, 2017
Sunday, April 23, 2017
The Real Inconvenient Truth
What if Obama and the scientists got it wrong? Is it possible that the best thing that could have happened for CO2 emissions and handling climate change is for Trump to have replaced Obama?
In his presidential nomination victory speech, Obama said:
"I am absolutely certain that generations from now, we will be able to look back and tell our children that this was the moment when the rise of the oceans began to slow ..."
Based on the facts, Obama's prediction did not work out. I give him credit for trying - but only because it certainly proved to be an effective campaign strategy. Unfortunately, if anything, according to the data, sea levels are rising faster in this past decade.
Science was right about CO2 emissions, they are definitely on the rise, accelerating rapidly during President Obama's term:
How could it be that we are better off with Trump? Here are a few possibilities:
1. During Obama, regulations have inhibited the construction of pipelines. Oil and gas has to be distributed, so a greater percentage is going by truck and rails. That is despite the fact the pipelines are proven to be safer and more efficient.
In addition, building new natural gas pipelines will help electric plants and manufacturers convert away from less clean fossil fuels. Plus, as America begins to export more of our plentiful natural gas, other countries can rely less on dirty coal, and America will yield giant financial benefits to boot!
2. Nuclear power is 8000 times more efficient than oil.
Nuclear power can be produced more safely and efficiently than ever. Yet, as the chart below shows, our usage has dramatically flattened off because it is nearly impossible to bring newer and safer nuclear plants into production. So we continue to rely on less safe plants built 40+ years ago. If we want to see a dramatic reduction in fossil fuel use we might want to be more open to the benefits of more modern nuclear plants. Unlike Obama who picked winners and losers, with Trump, all energy options are on the table.
3. The problem is consumption. Americans are energy pigs! We drive more, shower more, live in bigger houses, and consume more than other countries. We are voracious users of electricity.
We need to conserve! Everyone can do their part. I have changed all my lights to LED, installed a solar system, and replaced my older less efficient oil furnace to the highest efficiency German made unit on the market. I keep my house cooler in the winter and warmer in the summer. I recycle my entire garbage stream. And I carpool 3 days a week. (Even though Mary wishes she could drive alone so she didn't have to listen to my politics.)
The problem is that no matter how much America conserves, we can not solve the problem of CO2 alone.
America is a big part of the CO2 problem. But, as we have lost manufacturing jobs to other countries like China, because of their cheaper labor and more lax regulations, those countries are becoming bigger producers of CO2. Bringing manufacturing back to the USA, as Trump seeks to do, is better for American jobs and better for the planet, because America is a cleaner producer.
4. America will use less fossil fuels if we improve our infrastructure. Sitting in traffic and on runways costs Americans billions of dollars in lost productivity and wastes enormous amounts of energy, and produces more CO2! President Trump seeks to cut through the regulations that make building new roads, wider and safer bridges, better airports, and faster rail possible. Coupled with Trump's proposal to invest a trillion dollars on such infrastructure, Trump wants to be the best thing to happen to USA infrastructure, using USA steel!
One of the best things America can to do is overhaul our energy grid to make it safer from terrorist and hacker threats and more efficient. A better grid can save America 10% or much more in energy. Expect biggly announcements regarding our electricity distribution network during the Trump term.
5. Remember "Peak Oil?" Yeah, that prevalent miscalculation was undone by innovation, technology, entrepreneurship, and free markets. These forces have a long history of solving big problems. LED bulbs versus incandescent. Advances in solar, wind, and wave energy efficiency, Smart grids, Carbon capture, and other rapidly emerging technologies can change the equation. Countries like Israel and Japan have tapped the greatest source of energy - the human mind. The best potential for dealing with climate challenges is to unleash human innovation.
The real "Inconvenient Truth" is not what most people are talking about! Here is the larger issue and why I believe the critical problem we are going to need to deal with is NOT the one we are focused on today.
Emerging countries such as India and China are going to grow and increase CO2 production FAR FAR more than any amount America can save! Plus, deforestation is the second largest cause of CO2.
Trump haters would rather talk about his tax returns, a fake Russian conspiracy, or Federal funding for abortion than either of these two realities.
The real inconvenient truth is that we are not going to be able to reverse climate change and the rise of our oceans in time! The multitude of reasons that are causing warming and rising oceans are so complex and outside America's control that humans are not going to solve them in time to save large population centers from the ravages of flooding without ginormous investment in sea walls, levies, dikes, drainage, elevation, and some cases relocation. Coastal erosion and flooding is going to increase dramatically over the coming decades whether we like it or not. To deal with droughts we need to invest in desalinization.
There are many other highly costly infrastructure measures countries will have to take in order to cope with a planet that is changing, perhaps because of man, perhaps in spite of man, or even perhaps to spite man.
What happened in New Orleans and with Hurricane Sandy in the Mid-Atlantic that devastated the East, is only a foreshadowing of what is to come. And not just here! Vast population centers on the world's coasts are in peril.
So unless we start to solve our infrastructure problems, a lot of cities and towns in America and elsewhere are fucked. So maybe science is wrong about Trump. He may be the best chance America has for dealing with climate change, man made or otherwise.
In his presidential nomination victory speech, Obama said:
"I am absolutely certain that generations from now, we will be able to look back and tell our children that this was the moment when the rise of the oceans began to slow ..."
Based on the facts, Obama's prediction did not work out. I give him credit for trying - but only because it certainly proved to be an effective campaign strategy. Unfortunately, if anything, according to the data, sea levels are rising faster in this past decade.
Science was right about CO2 emissions, they are definitely on the rise, accelerating rapidly during President Obama's term:
How could it be that we are better off with Trump? Here are a few possibilities:
1. During Obama, regulations have inhibited the construction of pipelines. Oil and gas has to be distributed, so a greater percentage is going by truck and rails. That is despite the fact the pipelines are proven to be safer and more efficient.
In addition, building new natural gas pipelines will help electric plants and manufacturers convert away from less clean fossil fuels. Plus, as America begins to export more of our plentiful natural gas, other countries can rely less on dirty coal, and America will yield giant financial benefits to boot!
2. Nuclear power is 8000 times more efficient than oil.
3. The problem is consumption. Americans are energy pigs! We drive more, shower more, live in bigger houses, and consume more than other countries. We are voracious users of electricity.
We need to conserve! Everyone can do their part. I have changed all my lights to LED, installed a solar system, and replaced my older less efficient oil furnace to the highest efficiency German made unit on the market. I keep my house cooler in the winter and warmer in the summer. I recycle my entire garbage stream. And I carpool 3 days a week. (Even though Mary wishes she could drive alone so she didn't have to listen to my politics.)
The problem is that no matter how much America conserves, we can not solve the problem of CO2 alone.
America is a big part of the CO2 problem. But, as we have lost manufacturing jobs to other countries like China, because of their cheaper labor and more lax regulations, those countries are becoming bigger producers of CO2. Bringing manufacturing back to the USA, as Trump seeks to do, is better for American jobs and better for the planet, because America is a cleaner producer.
4. America will use less fossil fuels if we improve our infrastructure. Sitting in traffic and on runways costs Americans billions of dollars in lost productivity and wastes enormous amounts of energy, and produces more CO2! President Trump seeks to cut through the regulations that make building new roads, wider and safer bridges, better airports, and faster rail possible. Coupled with Trump's proposal to invest a trillion dollars on such infrastructure, Trump wants to be the best thing to happen to USA infrastructure, using USA steel!
One of the best things America can to do is overhaul our energy grid to make it safer from terrorist and hacker threats and more efficient. A better grid can save America 10% or much more in energy. Expect biggly announcements regarding our electricity distribution network during the Trump term.
5. Remember "Peak Oil?" Yeah, that prevalent miscalculation was undone by innovation, technology, entrepreneurship, and free markets. These forces have a long history of solving big problems. LED bulbs versus incandescent. Advances in solar, wind, and wave energy efficiency, Smart grids, Carbon capture, and other rapidly emerging technologies can change the equation. Countries like Israel and Japan have tapped the greatest source of energy - the human mind. The best potential for dealing with climate challenges is to unleash human innovation.
The real "Inconvenient Truth" is not what most people are talking about! Here is the larger issue and why I believe the critical problem we are going to need to deal with is NOT the one we are focused on today.
Emerging countries such as India and China are going to grow and increase CO2 production FAR FAR more than any amount America can save! Plus, deforestation is the second largest cause of CO2.
Trump haters would rather talk about his tax returns, a fake Russian conspiracy, or Federal funding for abortion than either of these two realities.
The real inconvenient truth is that we are not going to be able to reverse climate change and the rise of our oceans in time! The multitude of reasons that are causing warming and rising oceans are so complex and outside America's control that humans are not going to solve them in time to save large population centers from the ravages of flooding without ginormous investment in sea walls, levies, dikes, drainage, elevation, and some cases relocation. Coastal erosion and flooding is going to increase dramatically over the coming decades whether we like it or not. To deal with droughts we need to invest in desalinization.
There are many other highly costly infrastructure measures countries will have to take in order to cope with a planet that is changing, perhaps because of man, perhaps in spite of man, or even perhaps to spite man.
What happened in New Orleans and with Hurricane Sandy in the Mid-Atlantic that devastated the East, is only a foreshadowing of what is to come. And not just here! Vast population centers on the world's coasts are in peril.
So unless we start to solve our infrastructure problems, a lot of cities and towns in America and elsewhere are fucked. So maybe science is wrong about Trump. He may be the best chance America has for dealing with climate change, man made or otherwise.
Sunday, April 16, 2017
Faith is a Funny Bunny Thing
My thoughts this early Easter morning, at the tail-end of Passover.
In a great sense, people are slaves to their sins - controlled by addictions, behaviors, and attitudes. We have free will, and too often we fail to choose wisely. As humans, we can easily become slaves to our ways, our poor choices. It is said that we have Pharaoh's in our life.
Help to overcome the sins, and Pharaoh, in our personal life can come faith. The two holidays, Easter and Passover which are profoundly and eternally linked to one another, are also deeply rooted in the same meaning, both offer us an the opportunity for freedom.
Both Moses and Jesus led us from bondage. Moses in a physical sense, Jesus in a mental sense. And both Moses and Jesus in the spiritual sense lead us out of bondage and to Freedom, be that freedom in the Promised Land or Eternal Life in Heaven, by acknowledging that there is a greater power in the Universe. That Higher Power freed us from Pharaoh thousands of years ago, and gave us the Torah at Mount Sinai. And the same Power freed us from our sins and gave us the Gospel as a result of what happened at Mount Calvary.
G-d works through Man. In one case Moses and in the other Jesus. There are many other prophets. Jews wait for our Messiah, putting out a cup of wine for Elijah and opening the door on Passover as a symbolic invitation. Jesus lifted a cup at Passover as symbolic expression that he was offering himself as the Messiah. G-d can work through us today, if do good deeds, Mitzvah. In the Torah we learn of many Commandments. Tradition holds from the 3rd Century that there are 613.
From both Passover and Easter we can take away that there is a code of conduct for how to live our life in service to a higher purpose, a spiritual purpose. A way that is offered to us through the study of scripture and by keeping the Sabbath, as best we can, in ways we choose. Keeping the Sabbath is about remembering we are not a slave to either Pharaoh or our sins.
Of course this requires FAITH. And some of you reading my post may be thinking you do not have faith. So let me say this one thing about faith ...
Faith is a funny thing. To explain it I will tell you a story about how I became "Toastmaster of the Year" in 1983 for the Poughkeepsie Area Chapter of Toastmasters International. True story. An old friend from High School, Jim Brady, suggested I join this club to become a confident speaker because he told me it would help me with my career. I was afraid to go. But as I considered it further, and how right he was, the following paradigm shift became clear. "You don't get confidence to speak, you speak to get confidence." So it is with Faith.
Happy Easter and Chag Semeach Peseach friends and family!
Here is another thing the spring holiday's have in common. The Secret Jewish History of Peeps.
In a great sense, people are slaves to their sins - controlled by addictions, behaviors, and attitudes. We have free will, and too often we fail to choose wisely. As humans, we can easily become slaves to our ways, our poor choices. It is said that we have Pharaoh's in our life.
Help to overcome the sins, and Pharaoh, in our personal life can come faith. The two holidays, Easter and Passover which are profoundly and eternally linked to one another, are also deeply rooted in the same meaning, both offer us an the opportunity for freedom.
Both Moses and Jesus led us from bondage. Moses in a physical sense, Jesus in a mental sense. And both Moses and Jesus in the spiritual sense lead us out of bondage and to Freedom, be that freedom in the Promised Land or Eternal Life in Heaven, by acknowledging that there is a greater power in the Universe. That Higher Power freed us from Pharaoh thousands of years ago, and gave us the Torah at Mount Sinai. And the same Power freed us from our sins and gave us the Gospel as a result of what happened at Mount Calvary.
G-d works through Man. In one case Moses and in the other Jesus. There are many other prophets. Jews wait for our Messiah, putting out a cup of wine for Elijah and opening the door on Passover as a symbolic invitation. Jesus lifted a cup at Passover as symbolic expression that he was offering himself as the Messiah. G-d can work through us today, if do good deeds, Mitzvah. In the Torah we learn of many Commandments. Tradition holds from the 3rd Century that there are 613.
From both Passover and Easter we can take away that there is a code of conduct for how to live our life in service to a higher purpose, a spiritual purpose. A way that is offered to us through the study of scripture and by keeping the Sabbath, as best we can, in ways we choose. Keeping the Sabbath is about remembering we are not a slave to either Pharaoh or our sins.
Of course this requires FAITH. And some of you reading my post may be thinking you do not have faith. So let me say this one thing about faith ...
Faith is a funny thing. To explain it I will tell you a story about how I became "Toastmaster of the Year" in 1983 for the Poughkeepsie Area Chapter of Toastmasters International. True story. An old friend from High School, Jim Brady, suggested I join this club to become a confident speaker because he told me it would help me with my career. I was afraid to go. But as I considered it further, and how right he was, the following paradigm shift became clear. "You don't get confidence to speak, you speak to get confidence." So it is with Faith.
Happy Easter and Chag Semeach Peseach friends and family!
Here is another thing the spring holiday's have in common. The Secret Jewish History of Peeps.
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