Sunday, May 26, 2019
Friday, May 24, 2019
"Green" Technologies Continue to Appear
Science, education, and development of technologies has made the world a better place. Today there is development of various ways to collect, hold, and use cheap clean energy or to conserve it. I regularly post about new developments which I think are likely to become common and hugely beneficial. Today I have seen an article about wood treatment which is fantastic. It's like the development of new kinds of metals to use less weight, but retain strength, and add ease in forming shapes.
First up is the article about treating wood:
Converting waste to energy is another common idea, though it has not been used as often.
Battery technologies are developing to help us store energy and use it when we need it. Here are two links to a technology I think has some promise.
Here's a a new development of science, using nature as an inspiration to generate energy more efficiently.
Wednesday, May 22, 2019
Is it Time for a New AUMF?
After 9/11 Congress passed an Authorization to Use Military Force (AUMF) to fight the al Qaeda terrorists who attacked us and anyone or any nation which helped them. Pres. George W. Bush violated that by sending the military to war in Iraq when there was no justification under either the AUMF or based on the arguments they gave that Iraq had nuclear weapons or a nuclear weapon program. Pres. Barack Obama sent the military to Afghanistan and destroyed al Qaeda there and killed Osama bin Laden. Then, in response to an al Qaeda offshoot called Islamic State (nicknamed also ISIS, ISIL, and Daesch) and began the war to destroy them. These were clearly authorized under the AUMF. Our assistance to the Saudi regime with their war in Yemen had to be authorized in some other way. Today Pres. Donald J. Trump has American forces in many places and fighting many foes who aren't clearly part of or a derivative of al Qaeda. The Republicans Bush and Trump have broken the law like George H. W. Bush and Ronald Reagan and Richard Nixon before them. No AUMF stops them because Congress refused to step in and stop them.
Today we have many reasons to believe the actions (or inactions) of Pres. Trump are influenced (or even directed) by other leaders (perhaps Vladimir Putin or Bibi Netanyahu or others). We can't trust he will direct the military to remain peaceful or to fight the appropriate battles. We need a new AUMF or simply a Congressional Resolution to clarify their support or lack thereof for current actions vis a vis the AUMF. Does Congress believe current military actions are justified under the current AUMF? It seems doubtful they could say yes.
It's time to specify the groups the old AUMF could justify fighting in order to limit its random use for any crazy idea the president may have.
Thursday, May 16, 2019
Trump Corruption
Is it any wonder the Democrats don't want Pres. Trump to have access to billions of dollars to "build a wall" when you see stories like this?
Money meant for farmers is somehow diverted to Chinese or Brazilian firms who may be kicking back money to Donald Trump. If Congress can't investigate his finances, then he has a free hand to steal as much as he likes. That's not the way the presidency is supposed to operate. I can't imagine any Republican Congress would let a Democratic president have that same kind of free ride.
Collusion
from an article in The New Yorker magazine, Why Would Paul Manafort Share Polling Data with Russia?:
https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/why-would-paul-manafort-share-polling-data-with-russia
"Fabrizio is also longtime friends with former Trump advisers Paul Manafort and Roger Stone.[15]
In October 2016, it was reported in multiple media outlets that Trump was refusing to pay for Fabrizio's polling services, with the Federal Election Commission report showing that Trump's campaign was disputing nearly $767,000 that Fabrizio's firm said it was still owed for polling"
"We would report out to the senior team what markets those voters were concentrated in," Fabrizio told "Frontline." "In Florida, literally, if you changed four counties in Florida, twenty-nine electoral votes would have been off the table. Four counties."
https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/why-would-paul-manafort-share-polling-data-with-russia
"Fabrizio is also longtime friends with former Trump advisers Paul Manafort and Roger Stone.[15]
In October 2016, it was reported in multiple media outlets that Trump was refusing to pay for Fabrizio's polling services, with the Federal Election Commission report showing that Trump's campaign was disputing nearly $767,000 that Fabrizio's firm said it was still owed for polling"
"We would report out to the senior team what markets those voters were concentrated in," Fabrizio told "Frontline." "In Florida, literally, if you changed four counties in Florida, twenty-nine electoral votes would have been off the table. Four counties."
The linkages are there in plain sight. Reasons for Impeachment are obvious. The only question is whether Senate Republicans will accept the obvious and act to remove Donald Trump from the presidency. Thus far they have not been interested in doing that.
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