Message Forum

https://www.cnn.com/2022/03/24/energy/gas-prices-oil-production-wall-street/index.html

Consequences. And their often galling causes.

This is a summary provided by the writer of a very well researched story in the Atlantic about the consequences of inaction on a serious front.

It just boggles my mind how single individuals can influence history. When we were kids they told us stories about individuals who influenced it in a positive way. I'm spending too much of my adulthood taking note of how easy it is for one apple to spoil the barrel. That's a charming metaphor for very tragic real life realities. Long-range realities.

Senate Democrats have spent the past 18 months trying to put together a climate deal amenable to all 50 members of their caucus. It has not been easy. The main obstacles, so far, have been Senator Joe Manchin of West Virginia, the owner of a coal-trading company, who wants any deal to reduce the federal budget deficit, and Senator Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona, who refuses to increase tax rates, the easiest way to satisfy Manchin’s deficit-reduction goal. Even beyond that problem, there’s been a lot of confusion about next steps—Manchin, Sinema, the White House, and Majority Leader Chuck Schumer have struggled to run a quiet, low-drama negotiation together.

They are running out of time. The Senate only has 17 working days left before its traditional August recess. Senators can take longer than that to blink. Reconciliation, the parliamentary procedure used to pass legislation through the Senate with a simple majority, devours floor time, so even if the caucus does make a deal, Schumer may not be able to hustle it through the process in time.

For the past few weeks, I’ve been thinking and talking to experts about one question: What if they fail? If Democrats can’t reach an agreement on climate policy before the midterms, how will that shape the country—and the world—in the 2020s and beyond?

This is the subject of my story at The Atlantic today, which I encourage you to read. But for this newsletter, I want to highlight one section. Many of the consequences of congressional inaction will appear in the environment, of course: More carbon will pile into the atmosphere, accelerating climate change and intensifying ocean acidification. But even before that, other consequences will show up in the American economy. Here’s one particularly important one:

Another probable outcome is that the next generation of clean-energy technologies won’t get scaled up in the United States; the expertise to produce them will be created elsewhere in the world. I’ve written before about how American labs and companies invented solar photovoltaic technology in the 1950s, only to squander their competitive advantage and allow other countries to reap the benefits of mass production. Without a climate bill, that could happen again for the next round of decarbonization technology, such as hydrogen produced by renewables, direct air carbon capture, and sustainable-aviation-fuel production. China, meanwhile, has thrown its weight behind renewables manufacturing, encouraging companies to scale up domestically and investors to support them.

By contrast, if the tax credits pass, “you start to see a world where with some of these emerging technologies, like [direct air capture] or hydrogen, the U.S. has a competitive head start and has the potential to get into a dominant position,” Larsen said.

The most likely outcome might be a mix of these scenarios. Some new climate-tech start-ups may build their first facility here, because last year’s bipartisan infrastructure law authorized more than $11.5 billion for demonstration direct-air-capture and hydrogen projects. But that money can’t necessarily help build a company’s third, fourth, or fifth facility, and when it comes time to scale up, those same firms may go abroad. “Nobody’s going to build a scale-up business on a fingers-crossed hope that there’s a tax credit at the end of the decade,” Larsen said.

“We’re talking about $1 [trillion] to $4 trillion a year in investments due to energy transition,” Nemet added. “If that spending happens elsewhere, or U.S. firms don’t do that hiring, that’s a lost opportunity.” It could also be a national-security blunder. Look at the role that batteries and other climate tech have played in the war in Ukraine, where soldiers have used small drones to drop grenades on Russian trenches and fired anti-tank rockets from e-bikes. In a future conflict, having the industrial capacity and engineering know-how to mass-manufacture such gadgets could prove decisive.

Even if the U.S. forgoes that investment, Nemet’s largest fear is that the transition will happen too slowly. Even the most conservative assessments say that the world will need to use technology to remove one to three gigatons of carbon every year by the middle of the century. That implies an almost unimaginable level of technological growth given what exists today. “For direct air capture to reach one gigaton a year in 2050, it would have to grow at 40 percent a year, every year, from now to 2050,” he said. Solar deployment, by contrast, has grown 30 percent a year for 40 years, according to Nemet’s research. “And solar’s been kind of miraculous that way, so we’d have to go a little faster,” he said. Even cellphones grew only 15 percent per year at their peak. “If we’re talking about taking our foot off the gas a little bit in the U.S., that’s gonna make it harder” to meet those targets, Nemet told me.

06/15/22 05:56 PM

#11282

John Jackson

MM, on gas prices, I know it doesn’t fit the right wing (and incredibly simplistic) narrative of blaming Biden for everything, but see my previous post. But don’t take my word for it - financial publications (which skew right) are awash with stories about why American oil companies are reluctant to scale up production. Here’s an excerpt from the link at the bottom of this post, which more or less sums it up:

"For years, the boom-to-bust oil industry spent lavishly to fund all-out production growth. US oil output skyrocketed, keeping prices low. Yet sustaining profits proved elusive. Hundreds of oil companies went bankrupt during multiple oil price crashes, leading investors to demand more restraint from energy CEOs".

"Discipline continues to dominate the industry," an executive from an oilfield services firm told the Dallas Fed in the survey. "Shareholders and lenders continue to demand a return on capital, and until it becomes unavoidably obvious that high energy prices will sustain, there will be no exploration spending."

06/15/22 06:25 PM

#11283

If you've ever been to scotland, and even if not:

https://www.facebook.com/BBCScotland/videos/1538070669556026

06/16/22 01:01 AM

#11284

John, I lay everything at the feet of the green energy agenda....an all or nothing approach that seeks to achieve "net zero emissions" by 2050. This is purposefully deceitful as all forms of energy use large amounts of fossil fuel in their supply chain. This administration in particular, seeks to pick the energy winners,,,,.solar and wind, and the energy losers...coal, oil and gas. The U.S. has abundant natural resources (coal, oil, gas) which are essential for continued human flourishing and which can be used judiciously to continue to provide an improved lifestyle for all Americans. Biden,however, seeks to undo all of that through his numerous executive orders, such as: halting the leasing programs in Anwar that the previous administration had opened up, placing a 60 day halt on all new oil and gas leases and drilling permits on federal lands and waters (which counts for 25% of U.S. oil production), directing all U.S. agencies to eliminate all supports for fossil fuels, and imposing new regulationa on oil and gas and methane emissions. Each one of these actions has had an extremely negative effect on the daily life of hard-working American families and Biden and his administration bear responsibility for their part in creating and perpetuating the escalating energy crisis. Yes, the world has changed due to the devastating and ill-advised Covid lockdowns and mitigations, but with Biden's election our nation began a financial nosedive from which it is apparent we will not recover from anytime soon. Sometimes, solutions to problems are not all that complicated. They become complicated when the powers-to-be flip the tables by taking what was successful energy policy and purposefully enacting executive orders to destroy that which made us a nearly independent, energy rich nation.

06/16/22 09:44 AM

#11285

John Jackson

Republicans used to have a pretty good grasp of economics and markets, but in the age of Trump and the simplicities pushed by right wing media, everything has a partisan explanation.

Oil companies are sitting on enough unused federal land leases to last for a decade so Biden’s pausing of new (not existing) leases can’t begin to explain the rapid run-up in gas prices over the past year. And the very recent 60 cent rise in the price of gas over the past month is due almost entirely to the war in Ukraine which has made it difficult for Russia (a huge exporter) to sell its oil on world markets.

If U.S. oil companies wanted to produce more oil they have plenty of existing drilling and fracking leases that they are sitting on, but they can’t open up the spigot overnight - it would take a couple of years for any appreciable increase to happen. In the meantime, oil companies worry that current high prices will not last, especially since pretty much the entire world economy, still tied into knots by COVID supply disruptions, looks to be slowing down - and recessions cause oil prices to tank.

06/16/22 11:51 AM

#11286

John, you are right about one thing,,,,:"everything has a partisan explanation". And why is that? It is because the right and the left see the future of this nation from very different and uncompromising perspectives on the solutions to our problems. I would ask why shoud any company continue to increase their investment in an industry that has been threatened with extinction by its own govenment and is excelerating the means to do so?

Exxon has been investing more than it has been earning in the past five years, with the level of investments in new oil and gas supply double the level of profits, the supermajor said in an official response to accusations made by President Biden earlier this week.

"We have been in regular contact with the administration to update the President and his staff on how ExxonMobil has been investing more than any other company to develop U.S. oil and gas supplies," the company said in a statement

"This includes investments in the U.S. of more than $50 billion over the past five years, resulting in an almost 50% increase in our U.S. production of oil during this period," Exxon also said.

The President earlier this week hit at the oil industry for not investing enough in new production, singling out Exxon as an example.

"Why aren't they drilling? Because they make more money not producing more oil," he said. "Exxon, start investing and start paying your taxes," Biden said.

The President also said that they would make sure everyone knew how much Exxon was profiting. "Exxon made more money than God last year."

Exxon's 2021 profit stood at $23 billion, which was a year earlier preceded by a loss of $22.4 billion, which Exxon also noted in its statement, saying, "We kept investing even during the pandemic, when we lost more than $20 billion and had to borrow more than $30 billion to maintain investment to increase [refining] capacity to be ready for post-pandemic demand."

The oil industry has become a major target for both the White House and Congress in the blame game for record-high retail fuel prices. Accusations of price-gouging and deliberately staying away from new well drilling have abounded in the past few weeks. The industry, however, has not budged, saying that, quite plainly, it cannot switch on new drilling with a flick of a finger.

06/16/22 12:10 PM

#11287

Our parents went out as the greatest generation. we'll go out as "most self-absorbed."

06/16/22 01:08 PM

#11288

John Jackson

MM, I’m trying to compose a coherent response but I’m so choked up and teary by the plight of poor Exxon and the other oil companies that I can barely see my keyboard.

In all seriousness, as I’ve argued before I don’t think Biden (nor American presidents generally) deserve to be blamed for high gas prices, but I also admit that blaming oil companies for price gouging isn’t fair either. Exxon and the others are doing what companies of all sorts (including mine) always do - they look to maximize profit and protect the interests of their owners/shareholders. And right now for oil companies that means not making big investments based on the current high price of oil which they think is unlikely to continue.

The real culprit is markets – normally they are very efficient at smoothing out kinks in supply and demand, but COVID and the war in Ukraine, both totally unanticipated events, have thrown U.S. and world markets (and not just oil markets) way out of balance.

06/16/22 11:48 PM

#11289

https://youtu.be/Slszva6kk90

Believe what you will, John, but the assault on fossil fuels is a main driver of high gas prices at the pump which then transfers to higher food costs & all other consumer goods. Biden is doing exactly what he said he would do!

06/17/22 11:02 AM

#11290

Well I stayed away from this thing as long as I could but like John, I make it a point to not “believe” in myths. Here are five of them I found based on reliable sources right off the bat on this pain in the butt gas thing.

I would hasten to say that though I don't mind short term sacrifice on behalf of long-term benefits to the species, I'm not charmed by how Biden has handled this. He should be focusing on cutting through disinformation as opposed to getting caught up in the usual argumentation. Then again, speaking of myths, he's not out there attacking windmills, which was the rather low bar set by his predecessor when it came to understanding energy issues.

Myth one: The United States is “energy independent.” If the word “independent” means self-sufficient, with no need for outside help, then this statement is true only for certain types of energy—and not at all true regarding the oil used to make gasoline. When you combine every type of energy the U.S. consumes and produces—fossil fuels, renewables, nuclear power and so on—it is true that the United States produces more than it consumes. Total U.S. energy production first exceeded consumption in 2012, when Barack Obama was president. That remained the case while Donald Trump was president, and it is still the case under Biden.

But as for oil, however, domestic consumption has exceeded production every year since at least the end of World War II. New drilling techniques have boosted U.S. oil production, and the need for imported oil has narrowed since 2006. But the United States was not “oil independent” under Obama or Trump, and it’s still not under Biden. This is why U.S. consumers have to accept prices set in the global market for oil—and why there’s no practical way to change that.

Myth two: Biden’s cancellation of the Keystone XL pipeline drove up gasoline prices. Two things happened one after the other: 1. Biden cancelled the Keystone XL pipeline on his first day in office in 2021. 2. U.S. pump prices doubled during the next 12 months. Many Republicans insist this correlation proves that Biden’s anti-carbon policies caused gas prices to go up. But that’s lazy logic, and facts demonstrate otherwise.

Keystone XL would have been one new pipeline moving oil from Alberta, Canada to Nebraska, and from there to the Gulf Coast for refining into gasoline and other products. The pipeline never got built and never moved any oil, so no oil supply was lost when Biden axed the project. XL would have added pipeline capacity in the future, equivalent to about 4% of the oil the United States consumed in 2020. Some or all of that could have been exported instead of sold to America.

Meanwhile, there are still other pipelines, trains and tankers moving oil from Canada to the United States. Some of those routes are being expanded to transport more oil, and several energy experts told Yahoo Finance any oil that would have flown through XL is simply coming in via other routes. One last point: Overall oil imports from Canada have risen steadily for years, indicating there’s plenty of transportation capacity. There was a drop-off in 2020, when oil consumption crashed, amid the COVID pandemic. But Canadian oil imports bounced back in 2020.

Myth three: High prices are Putin’s fault. After the Russian invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24, Biden and some other Democrats started talking about the “Putin price hikes.” Nice try. There was clearly a quick spike in global oil prices after the Russian invasion on Feb. 24, since Russia is the world’s third-biggest producer and financial sanctions have made it hard for Russia to sell oil. But through March 22, the Putin premium only explained about 15% of the rise in oil and gasoline prices since Biden took office in 2021. The rest of the increase occurred before global markets had priced in the Russian invasion.

Myth four: So it’s Biden’s fault, then. Nope. Americans seem to think the U.S. president can—or should—control oil and gas prices. But unlike the energy industry in Saudi Arabia or Russia, American oil and gas firms are private-sector entities driven by the profit motive, not by government diktat. It’s true that Biden favors green-energy policies that would reduce U.S. fossil-fuel use and possibly cut U.S. oil and gas output. But Biden has implemented hardly any of the policies he favors, and little has actually changed under the Biden administration.

The biggest factor keeping U.S. oil output tight, by far, is the bloodletting that occurred in the U.S. energy industry from 2015 through 2020, when drillers overproduced, prices cratered and more than 600 U.S. energy firms went bankrupt. That was great for drivers because gas prices barely drifted above $2 per gallon. But financing for drilling began to dry up as investors got sick of losing money. Even with oil prices above $100, drillers are reluctant to pump more because it’s expensive to expand capacity and they fear they’ll lose money, again, if (or when) new supply pushes prices back below $60 or $70 per barrel.

Myth five: Low gas prices are normal. Consumers tend to think the lowest price they’ve paid for an important product is the “normal” price, while anything higher is an aberration that politicians need to fix. But low gas prices from 2015 to 2021 were the result of bad business decisions in the oil and gas industry that created way too much supply and triggered steep losses for many producers. “U.S. energy investors subsidized consumers around the world for the last seven years, by encouraging producers to grow, grow, grow,” Raoul LeBlanc, vice president of the energy practice at S&P Global, told Yahoo Finance. “U.S. consumers got used to low prices they think of as normal. But for these firms to be profitable, prices have to be higher.” That's what shocked consumers are adjusting to now, and there's not much Biden or any politician can do about it.

06/17/22 01:47 PM

#11291

And on another front - it's all in the family:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EVhIIJtICFY

06/17/22 04:01 PM

#11292

Joseph Gentilini

I have not responded to anything for quite a while, except my condolences on the death of Brian B - sad. However, I am enjoying the different perspectives that have been expressed on gun control, the economy, Hilliary, Biden, Trump, etc. Here are a few of my thoughts.

1) I am glad that the Congress will pass some gun controls, but they are so minimal that I doubt they will do much good. The republicans are controlled by the NRA and will do nothing to upset them. With the recent violence in Buffalo and in Texas, I think they felt that they had to do something. Well, they won't deal with the problem which is too many guns in our society. People don't talk out their conflicts and arguments, anymore - they just shoot. This is a problem with our society and it really worries me..

2) I support Biden period.

3) Trump I believe is a traitor to this country and should be in prison for treason. He tried to arrange a coup and tried to subvert the will of Americans by actively encouraging VP Pence to break the law and discount the US Constitution. He almost succeeded in overturning our democracy and, if he is elected again, our democracy will be over.

4) Many republican politicians in the Senate (and the House) have changed their tune in denouncing trump for what he did and now lap at his feet trying to earn his favor. They have no moral credibility - hypocrites~

5) Go Bucks!

06/17/22 07:31 PM

#11293

John Maxwell

Hello,
I want to express my condolences to the friends and family of Brian Becker. May you rest in peace Brian.

06/18/22 12:15 AM

#11294

Yay, Paulie!

A headline in a Brit publication.

And yes, it's serious, not a joke.

Nyet it be! Paul McCartney scraps Beatles hit Back in the U.S.S.R. from ALL live shows due to Putin's brutal war in Ukraine

06/18/22 12:16 PM

#11295

This was shared today by a dear friend of mine:

The Root of Fatherlessness

June 18, 2022

An excerpt from Morgan Snyder's book “Becoming a King”

Years ago I came across a very revealing story recounted by Gordon Dalby. He told of a nun who worked in a men’s prison. One year she brought some Mother’s Day cards to distribute to any prisoners who were interested in sending cards to their moms. Word spread, and requests for cards began pouring in. The demand was so great that she reached out to Hallmark to see if they’d be willing to donate extra boxes of cards. That first year the warden drew numbers from a lottery to determine which inmates would receive the limited number of Mother’s Day cards. With Father’s Day quickly approaching, the nun got to work securing sufficient boxes of Father’s Day cards, and the warden announced a free giveaway to all who were interested in sending a Father’s Day card.

Not a single prisoner asked for one.

What are we to make of this story? What has happened to the God-intended bond between fathers and their children?

Of U.S. students in grades one through twelve, 17.7 million (39 percent) live in homes absent their biological fathers.5
According to 72.2 percent of the U.S. population, fatherlessness is the most significant family or social problem facing America.6
To identify the root of fatherlessness in our soul is to begin to recover a path leading to restoration of the greatest treasure we could ever receive.

06/18/22 12:37 PM

#11296

Mary Margaret,

Although I have been on the road and can't spend much time on this, I did see your post #11280 which apparenty was a drop-in copy from a Nick Arama column. It is so far from the truth it would be laughable if it weren't about such a serious matter. If I had the time I'd respond to more of it, but I'll stick to a few parts.

He says something about "unprecidented use of almost all major networks" - "Unprecidented"? Who are you kidding? Any time a major news items breaks, most channels all go to that story - an election, a major catastrophe, a severe weather incident, a major crime scene, breaking white house story, etc. (He must not watch muhc TV)

Then he uses the phrase, "Misrepresenting facts in order to target political opponents ". Precisely which facts have they mistated?

I'm am asking you directly - which facts?

Or haven't you even been listening? Live recordings of actual conversations? Live videos of people stating their in-person witness testimony? Jared's statement about being "too busy working on Pardons? Trump's repeated threats against Mike Pence? The many testimonies of multiple witnesses repeating Eastman's blatant attempt at an illegal cancelling of the state's delegate votes? Or maybe yesterday's testimony of Conservative Republican Judge Michael Luttig's cautious and deliberate testimony of the details of Eastman's plan to simply void the Constitution of the United States.

My favorite part was the revelation in the third session about the millions of emails going out - while the attack on the Capital was going on - to raise money for his "Election Defense Fund" (or whatever they are calling it) . A fund that has raised $250,000,000, yet somehow seems not to exist? (And all this time, I thought his old "Trump Univesristy" was a great scam. Ha, chump change!)

So you really think this is partisan? If I am not mistaken, every single witness so far has been a loyal conservative, or even a Trump insider. And as for any comments about it taking over a year and we "should be past this by now" - this is a deeply. tangled web of intrigue. You really think it should be done over a weekend?

And as for "bi-partisan". Give me a break. Kevin "the coward" McCarthy offered a couple of the biggest liars and (fattest mouths) in Congress in JIm (big-mouth) Jordan, and Jim Banks, who attempted that crazy trick about sending a letter to all the Committee members claiming to be the chairman of the committee - which he was not even on. That, if I recall from my 3rd grade Catechism is still called lying!

For all of the above and many more reasons, I deeply resent this support for the destruction of my Republican Party. I can see that this lying, cheating, Whore-mongering, monster is already harming our upcomming elections and am convicned it is time to start a third party with the likes of honest people like Liz Cheney, Larry Hogan, and many others (who are still hiding out for fear of Trump's wrath).

And while we are at it, precisely what are they "not covering" in those other 22 hours a day?

06/18/22 01:59 PM

#11297

Meanwhile did we really think John Cornyn was capable of being the "bi-partisan" guy in talks regarding gun control? Think again.

06/19/22 12:49 AM

#11298

This is fabulous.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5tu9JGK_yHo

06/20/22 11:23 AM

#11299

https://pjmedia.com/news-and-politics/stacey-lennox/2022/06/19/is-the-green-energy-climate-cabal-crumbling-n1606451

Clean energy and care for the environment should not be the zero-sum plan that green energy activists are pushing,

06/20/22 11:40 AM

#11300

Hope I'm not boring anybody with my Garrison Keillor obsession.

This is just a funny back and forth with a fan from the mail-bag feature on his website.

Dear Mr. Keillor: I was ABSOLUTELY THRILLED to read in your column of 6/22 the correct name of my church denomination. I am a very happy Unitarian Universalist and thank you for updating your previous usages of only part of our name. I know denominations merging is unusual but happily we found that we had more things in common than not.

Trudy Brown

I did that for you, Trudy, but don’t expect me to make a regular practice of spending all those syllables on UUs. There are Pentecostal denominations with great long catalog names and I’ll be darned if I’m going to quote the whole marquee. Apostolic Holiness Full-Bible Pentecostal Church of our Lord Jesus Christ — I’m sorry, they’re just Pentecostals to me.

06/20/22 10:39 PM

#11301

Forgive me for something so personal,,,,,

,,,,,,,but I wish to share it anyway since you have heard part of the story before.

I ran this photo a while back, in a general salute to our "Observers" - the enlisted men who sat in the left seat of our cockpit, leaning out their left door to assist in the search we conducted, flying sometimes very slowly, and as low as 6 feet. There were occasions when we hoverd down to 2 feet - over a hole with one or two VC hiding - to enable the Observers to flick a grenade ("willy pete" {white phosforous}, gas, concussion, or colored marker smoke, out the door with their left hand. Sometimes we made bigger (an much more dangerous) "bombs" out of four taped strips of C-4, or "plastique" explosives with an added blasting cap and firing pin which we inserted - (very dangerous!). All this while holding their automatic rifle in the right hand. And occaisionally, with automatic weapons fire (AK-47s) coming back at you from close range. This was intense, in-your-face, work - 2+ hours at a time, two or three sorties a day - about four out of every five days.

Their bravery, cooperation, and concentration were esential to the mission, and my favorite and most frequent observer (we rotated some days with other observers) was a terrific guy named Clint Hunt. from some "holler" back in "Kintucky". Clint and I were from two diffrent worlds, but we were perfectly matched team in the cockpit. He was a real backwoods country boy with a fantastic hillbilly acccent that I loved, sharp vision, nerves of steel, and a wonderful upbeat personality. I could not have asked for a more perfect teammate to fly these rather intense missions. He was simply a blessing in my life for the better part of my first year in Vinh Long.

I am so lucky to have found him after 50 years, and to have enjoyed a vistit with he and his wife at their tiny farm near Lexington Kentucky a few years ago.

Last Thursday night, I attended his funeral in Nicholasville, KY. Clint was 75 and still active. He kept a very small heard of cows on his little farm and he was charged, and then stomped to death by his bull. Yes, you read that correctly. I am devastated!

At the funeral home, I was asked to stand up and share some memories with his wife, family, and friends - who were curious to have me explain some of our history together - a history of a strange mission they (and most Americans) had heard absolutely nothing about while Clint was alive. I gave them an overal explanation of the crazy mission and then brought up all thoose same sweet compliments I could think of. Plus a cute, funny cockpit story to conclude my remarks. They were most appreciative. (I got through about 10 or 15 minutes with only two or three "choke" interruptions. I was "equipped" with a Kleenex while I spoke)

I hadn't been feeling well before the trip, but I am so glad I went.

I am a lucky man for having known Clint Hunt. He was simply the BEST !

(Clint on your Right)

06/20/22 11:28 PM

#11302

Every now and then I run across a quote that summarizes how Alice in Wonderland our politics have become.

Gotta say I won't be surprised if Mike Pence is our next president.

“The situation Mike Pence faces is a political briar patch,” said David Kochel, a Republican strategist who worked on Jeb Bush’s presidential campaign in 2016. “The more he’s praised by Democrats and the media for doing the right thing on Jan. 6, the more some in Trump’s base grow skeptical of his loyalty to the Trump team.” He added, “There is no upside for him to lean into any of this.”

06/21/22 11:22 AM

#11303

Dave. Just now seeing this. That's awful. He sounds like a hell of a guy and I wish I had met him.

Also just now getting aroung to seeing that Joe chipped into the discussion, which I somehow had missed. I like hearing any relatively new voice regardless of what they may say. A healthy breadth of well supported viewpoints and rational discussion always good to see. Wish there were more platforms, relatively courteous ones, like ours usually is, around and about.

I had an experience recently that I want to write about here but have to clear out my assignments first.

I'm also re-reading no country for old men for about the sixth time. Feel a little guilty going back to the familiar but it's just such a masterpiece, it's like an old friend I can't shut the door on.

Meanwhile I'm adding "contingent electors" to my ever-growing list of evil euphemisms.

And here's a hall pass to heaven for you:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lmk1vLuHtjQ

And here's a name that will go down in history: Shaye Moss.

Say it fast enough and it sounds like "Shame us."

Call it a coincidence if you want to. I'm not so sure.

06/22/22 06:24 PM

#11304

Joseph D. McCarthy

Yesterday started off at a nice 53 degrees. By the afternoon the temperature rose sightly to 104 degrees, thank goodness all I had to do was drive my wife about 18 miles North for a doctor's appointment. The good news - the Hum-o-ditt-ity (that's the scientific name fro hummidity) only reached 20%. Oh for the good old days in Columbus where the hum-o-ditt-ity didn't go below 70% in the summer.

06/23/22 01:27 PM

#11305