Batteries

Batteries store energy.  Hydrocarbons (natural gas, oil, coal) also store energy ... much more energy and much more efficiently than batteries. Why can’t we just call hydrocarbons “batteries?” That small semantic tweak would solve all our economic and technological problems in short order ... but not, according to the greenies, our environmental problems. But two out of three ain’t bad.

Who?

Those of us of a certain age grew up laughing at many of the old Vaudeville classic comedy routines ... possibly the most famous of which was “Who’s on first” by Abbot and Costello. The above is a reprise of this skit which had all of us rolling in the aisles. For old times sake, take a gander. Everyone should view this skit at least once.

Powerline

John Hinderaker has a post about the futility of a green energy economy in, appropriately, his Powerline blog ... see: Batteries: a Forlorn Hope ... be sure to watch the video. If the greenies reject out of hand nuclear power generation, their dream of a fossil-fuel-free economy will never come about. Hear that Angela? She must be as detached from reality as Joe ... and Elon ... although I think Elon knows he is ... he is just playing the greenies for suckers.

Gaffes

Biden doesn’t always get his facts right ... see: CNN Story. The media tends to respond to Biden’s many gaffes with “Let Biden be Biden ...”

Then, can we also “Let Trump be Trump?”

I guess not. Isn't it funny how Biden’s “gaffes” are equivalent to Trump’s “lies” ... media bias anyone? A classic example!

Headlines

Judiciary Dems to investigate Trump push to host next year’s G-7 at his Doral resort

Trump says US and China resume trade talks Thursday ‘at a different level’

Comey roasted ... Barr doesn’t prosecute ...

Walmart outsources accounting, office jobs to Indian H-1Bs

Pentagon wants Ukraine military aid to continue

Senators ask Jeff Bezos to crack down on thousands of unsafe products on Amazon

Chinese troop movement into Hong Kong prompts unease ...

New Greek government wants Germany to pay war reparations

U.S. to cut troop strength in Afghanistan to 8,600 under peace deal, Trump says

US intel assessment says mysterious Russian explosion was not from testing nuclear-powered missile

6.3 magnitude quake strikes of Oregon coast ... Thousands of tremors hit northwest ...

Judge ends Epstein case

Paddle-boarding

From daily timewaster blog

Does he know?

Never-Trumpers

I recently wrote a comment on the “Crowd Sizes” blog entry that was so on the mark, I must repeat it here — Never-Trumpers enter a room on Xmas morning and find a pony ... and then start searching for all the horse shit.

Fractured Definition

Prognosticate — an uber-liberal’s refusal to play ice hockey

Headlines

Italian leaders strike agreement to form new government

Federal agents raid home on United Auto Workers union President, Gary Jones

30-year rate under 2% ... Rich stop spending ... Buffet hoarding cash ...

FEC complaint says Ilhan Omar broke law to fund alleged affair

Trump to visit favorite liberal target California in September

Bashing China could be the Democrats’ ticket to the White House

Mortgage defaults rise for first time since financial crisis ...

Virginia poll: Trump approval rating hits new low

Biden back on top, enjoying wide leads in two new polls

Queen approves Boris Johnson's plan to suspend parliament, making a no-deal Brexit more likely

Shock poll: Every major Dem beats Trump by at least 9 ...

Poll: Voters oppose additional migration by up to 3:1

Hybrid Swamp Creature

What do you get when you cross a weasel with a cockroach?

Scroll down ...

James Coney

Guns

Don’t do as I do ...

Lesson: Never screw with a man in a black suit ...

Fractured Definition

Hegemony — a very big privet barrier surrounding the Mutual of New York building

Headlines

Why some lesbians don’t want Pete Buttigieg to be president

A recession in 2020 would hurt Trump, but wouldn’t necessarily sink his re-election

Storm Watch: Dorian growing more organized as it heads for Puerto Rico ...

African migrants protest not being allowed passage through Mexico

Trump denies his Doral resort is infested with bedbugs

Key yield curve inverts to worst level since 2007, 30-year rate under 2%

Pew: 109 countries have become majority nonwhite since 2000 ...

Native American critics hesitant to accept Warren’s apologies

Iranian President says he’ll only meet Trump after U.S. drops sanctions

Amazon appears to be cutting prices at Whole Foods again

Footage from camera outside Epstein’s cell deemed ‘unusable’ ...

Woman gets NFL offer

Crowd Sizes

Trump rally in Evansville, IL

Last week Elizabeth Warren held a rally in the hotbed of liberal politics, Seattle, Washington. Just about every media outlet I saw reported that the crowd she drew totaled 15,000 ... a Trump-size rally. However, like in most fake news reportage these days, these numbers are suspect ... see: daily timewaster analysis ... which-calculates that the real numbers might be one quarter of that reported.

So, was her Seattle crowd as large as reported? Very doubtful. Was Trump’s inauguration crowd as large as Obama’s? Very doubtful ... but after all, it took place in Washington, DC ... not the epicenter of Republican voters. So Trump did let his ego get the better of him back then ... just as Warren’s people and media did recently.

However, there is little doubt that Trump’s recent rallies are drawing over-capacity crowds ... with many thousands more waiting outside his venues ... to see an attempt to discount his numbers, see: Washington Post’s Pooh-Poohing. Media outlets have even taken crowd pictures before the arenas are filled to prove that Trump is lying. And many more defend such media propaganda ...

Come on you liberal folks. Watch at least a snippet of one of Trump’s rallies and see for yourself if he and his people are inflating attendance numbers. If elections are won or lost on voter enthusiasm, Trump is a shoe-in.

reddit Pic

And this park bench that Roger donated is chock full of splinters ...

Headlines

Inside Susan Collin’s re-election fight in the age of Trump

Trump says he believes China sincerely wants trade deal: ‘I’m not sure they have a choice’

Big tech plans social scores ... Human era ending?

Michael Moore predicts NFL ‘won’t exist’ by 2050

Poll: Bernie, Warren surge to tie Biden atop Democrat field

Democrats float short-term funding bill to avoid another government shutdown

China’s spies on the offensive ...

Construction underway on replacement NM wall built with DOD funds

Sarah Huckabee Sanders launches new website as she weighs run for Arkansas governor

A sell-off worse than December can arrive in a week, says analyst who is predicting ‘Lehman-like’  drop

Insiders selling stocks as recession worries worsen ...

Miller: Trump ‘looking at all legal options’ to end anchor-baby policy

Malthus

221 years ago Thomas Malthus predicted that the world will populate itself faster than its ability to produce food and would result in a population crisis ... see: The Intelligent Economist. Needless, this Malthusian Theory didn’t come about. The world’s population has increased over seven-fold since Malthus’ time ... yet in much of the world there is a surfeit of sustenance.

Seems other prognosticators find fame making equivalent Chicken-Little forecasts. Actually, Al Gore recently received the coveted Malthus Trophy ... which he proudly displays in one of his Mc-mansions around the world.

Social Credits

China has instituted a “social credit” score for virtually all its adult citizens ... in essence a computer weighing based upon many social parameters as to how good a “citizen” its residents are. This score is then used by China to allow or restrict social rewards: freedom to travel, welfare benefits, medical services ... anything that the government can control ... and the government of China controls almost everything. This is all very restrictive and frightening ... the ultimate in Big Brother tyranny.

Now the barons of Silicone Valley are thinking to emulate this Brave New World ... see: Fast Company Story. Will these tech tyrants follow China’s lead in using the same parameters that measure us? (They already have quite a bit of raw data with which to work ... our buying patterns, our credit scores, our browsing histories, our friends, our travel preferences, our DNA, etc. ... and now are vying to corner our medical records and banking transactions too ... but, interestingly, not if we are a US citizen). So this development, unless it is nipped in the bud by Trump, might collect some other personal data on us Americans. May I suppose:

- have we ever typed or spoken the word “transgender”?

- do we vape or do any drugs?

- do we listen to gospel music?

- have we ever made a political donation ... and to which party?

- do we own an all-electric vehicle?

- what level of melanin do we have in our skin?

- do we believe in God, Allah, or climate change caused by CO2?

- do we own a weapon more powerful than a BB gun?

- do we own a BB gun?

- have we memorized any Bob Dylan lyrics?


Will  Mark Zukerburg soon effectively own us everyone ... cast our votes ...  make all other choices for us? ... or else!

Fractured Definition

Kinkajou — weird sexual practice using cooked meat juices

Headlines

Trump signals ‘second thoughts’ on escalating his trade war with China

White House says Trump regrets not raising tariffs on China higher

Drone war takes flight ... Israel battles Iran action over Beirut

AOC: Electoral College is ‘affirmative action’ for rural America

Lindsey Graham warns Trump not to pull U.S. forces out of Afghanistan

Kudlow does not expect China to retaliate against Trump’s latest tariffs, despite Beijing’s warning

Cities saying ‘No’ to 5-G, citing health, aesthetics, FCC bullying ... Carcinogenic?

2020 Senate Dems shy away from ‘Medicare for All’

Trump: ‘Chosen one’ remark was sarcasm

Trump hints at ‘very big trade deal’ with Britain post Brexit

Cory Booker: Car drivers are licensed, gun owners should be too

Iran foreign minister makes surprise visit [to G-7] ...

Gun Control

From Mostly Cajun blog

Moscovium

Back in 2003, element 115 was synthesizes by a team of Russian and American scientists  ... and was dubbed Moscovium ... see: Wikipedia Entry. Like many synthesized elements  Moscovium is very unstable ... with its most stable isotope to date having a half-life of 0.65 seconds.

The reason for interest in this element is that, if a stable isotope can be found, it might be the basis of nuclear rocket ships and missiles. In fact speculation has it that this element might have been involved in the recent nuclear accident in Russia ... an attempt to launch a supersonic missile ... possibly fueled by (a more stable?) Moscovium ... see: The Guardian Story.

I suspect that our spooks know the answer to this speculation.

Tanzanite

From Google Images

A very beautiful (and very expensive) gemstone ... a new favorite

Designer DNA

Recently, this blog highlighted the conflict between Darwinism and Intelligent Design ... neither of which satisfactorily explain how we have had and now enjoy the wide variety of very complex species here on Earth ... see: God’s Darwin. In that entry, I said I thought that “Punctuated Equilibrium” was close to what I thought explained things ... bursts of evolution driven by environmental changes.

Let me go even further than this brief explanation. I surmise that somehow DNA has its own designer logic ... like, “Gee, with all these trees, wouldn’t it be nice to have a prehensile tail? So let’s get on it you other DNA (or RNA) sequences!” I won’t try to justify such heresy mathematically ... but I do suspect that such microscopic “intelligence” could bring such evolutionary calculations within the bounds of plausibility.

Is this Punctuated Equilibrium controlled by a “Designer DNA sequence” shared by all living things? I would like not just to speculate so ... but, obviously, to know so. ‘Twould explain a lot.

Headlines

Justice Dept. cancels news briefings service after sending white nationalist link

‘China is not paying for it’: Trump tariff hike hits everyone from beer brewers to book publishers

Tropical storm Dorian forms over the Atlantic ...

NBC News: ‘Heterosexuality is just not working’ ...

Justice Dept. renews fight on Trump’s right to block on Twitter

Trump’s tariffs on monkeys could ‘severe damage’ US menial research and send labs to China

Axelrod warns Supreme Court vacancy would ‘tear country apart’ ...

Martha’s Vineyard home shows Obama knows global warming’s a hoax

Trump’s Greenland gambit finds allies inside government

In a bad sign for trade talks, Trump deploys a new label for China's Xi — ‘enemy’

Macron rips up agenda for G-7 summit in fit of climate fury ...

Activist: Elizabeth Warren ancestors ‘complicit in Cherokee dispossession’

Fractured Definition

Pandemonium — a black and white Chinese bear’s diarrhea medicine

Headlines

Haley-Pence rivalry heats up as GOP weighs post-Trump future

Trump will raise rates on Chinese goods in response to trade war retaliation

Ruth Bader Ginsburg undergoes more cancer treatments ...

Joni Ernst: Eliminating Electoral College would ‘silence’ Iowa voices

Trump praises Danish PM after calling her ‘nasty’ in Greenland row

EU chief Tusk says will ‘respond in kind’ if US imposes tariffs on France over digital tax

BIDEN: What would have happened if Obama had been assassinated?

Maher on David Koch: ‘I’m glad he’s dead’

Trump offers Brazil help with Amazon [rain forest] fires

Dow plummets more than 600 points after Trump orders manufacturers to leave China

Palestinian President Abbas: Millions of fighters will take over Jerusalem ...

Hong Kong protesters form 28-mile human chain

The Acid Test

President Trump and President Xi of China are now engaged in a hot trade war ... after, apparently, a cordial start at Mar-a-Largo soon after Trump was inaugurated and Xi was elevated to president for life. The back and forth escalation of tariffs and broken commitments is complicated ... so, if you need a reprise, please visit: US-China Tariff Timeline.

As seen in the above, China’s obvious strategy in defeating the United States in this trade war is to trump Trump in the 2020 election  ... hoping for a more pliant Democrat to replace him ... Biden, for instance, who it has already greased with a $1.5 billion “investment” in his son, Hunter’s “hedge fund.” Most people suspected this slow-walk strategy when the mutual trade talks leading to a tentative pact was abrogated by China this past May. This complicated deal had been arduously hammered out over the many previous months. And this slap was followed by a Chinese agricultural purchasing agreement that was also shortly reneged on.

Needless to say, this trade war is now getting hotter and the back-and-forth quicker. Trump has even just labeled Xi his “enemy” which seems appropriate ... given the duplicity China has engaged in since May. So, a thinking person has to conclude that no good will possibly come of this tariff pissing contest until after November, 2020. And this then is the acid test.

The American voter quite likely will be given a choice in the next general election ... overcome any distaste for Trump’s reality-TV personality and vote for him ... or vote for the Democrat and signal capitulation to China ... in this extremely consequential trade war ... so consequential that it might well mean the beginning of the end of American hegemony in the world. I realize that this all sounds melodramatic ... but this contrast and it’s consequence is bound to be drawn more sharply in the months ahead.

So, kind reader, study up.

Afterward: Me thinks that China is banking on a substantial portion of the American public voting to have us step back from center stage and let someone else take over ... after all we voted twice for the man who clearly had this as an objective ... and the world cheered ... they even gave him the Nobel Peace Prize ... his name of course: Barack Hussein Obama.

Rhode Island

From Powerline blog

Not so little Rhody ...

Powerline Pic

And God is an American female ...

Paradoxical Reality

OK, let’s suppose Elon Musk is right and we are only players in some super simulation run in a gigantic computer sometime in the future. Now fast forward in this computer until the time that the group of scientists begin assembling this big brain and then programming our simulation. Now take us to that moment when they activate this simulation in which they themselves have been players. What happens next in this paradoxical reality?

Does everything disappear in cloud of quantum smoke? Or does Schroeder’s cat step out of its box both dead and alive?

Headlines

Kamala’s rivals seize on [her] health care stumbles

The economist who first linked the yield curve to recession sees ‘pretty high’ chance of down turn

Shock poll: Trump disapproval 62% ...

Fed officials strike defiant pose against Trump, yield curve inverts

Hickenlooper to run for Senate in Colorado

Fed’s Powell will find it hard not to rock markets with his comments Friday

Manufacturing sector contracts for first time in decade ...

Yale computer scientist David Gelernter abandons Darwinism

Jay Inslee drops out of Democratic presidential race

How Amazon is fighting back against workers’ increasing efforts to unionize

Biden: Raise capital gains tax back to 39.6% ...

Silicone Valley high school bans smartphones

God’s Darwin

Or Darwin’s God. David Gelernter, Yale computer science professor ... who was once targeted by the Unabomber ... has upset the evolutionary applecart by questioning Darwin’s explanation of how the many species, that we find here on Earth, came about ... basically being mathematically impossible.

Which, of course, introduces the idea of intelligent design ... which then borders us on the idea of God ... or, as Elon Musk prefers,  a giant computer simulation sometime in the future creating our current reality. Anyhow, if you are interested in this subject, watch the discussion held by the Hoover Institute between Gelernter and Stephen Meyer, a believer in intelligent design. There is a third participant, a philosopher, who seems a poser NO-OP. Anyhow, watch it ... it will get your gray matter juices flowing: Understanding Intelligent Design ... Kinda.

Afterward: Not covered in this discussion and what I am inclined to believe is something called “punctuated equilibrium” ... wherein rapid evolutionary changes take place in animals based upon the details of environmental pressures.

Debt Crisis

I recently wrote a piece on the world’s economy ... see: World Economic Growth ... in which I predicted that the continued stimulus of many countries’ economies through the generosity of their central banks would not work out well. And today I read that China has been propping up its economy with enormous debt ... see: CNBC Article ... with its total debt at 300% of its GDP.

Now, to me it is understandable that China has dug this hole for itself ... after all it’s new to this capitalism thing ... so it has a lesson to learn about debt. But, what about the rest of the world? It is not our first rodeo! Yet, central banks around the free world are encouraging enormous borrowing with effectively zero interest rates ... or below. What can be wrong with this if this stimulates a vibrant economy?  OK maybe “vibrant” is much too strong a word given that Germany is in an economic contraction with negative half-point interest rates.

So then what are the “dark days ahead” of what I have suggested? Well, it seems obvious to me that, if it costs nothing to borrow money, countries, corporations and people are going to borrow money ... lots of money ... money that they cannot possibly pay back.

This eventually spawns a “debt crisis” which will be a banner headline in the few newspapers that are still publishing when this event occurs. How soon will this occur and what will be the consequence? Boy, I have bitten into a big Pennsylvania hoagie on this question! Honestly, I don’t really know, but I suspect a bit of lunch-meat indigestion will be involved. These events, from the little I have gleaned are a social-psychological phenomena ... where lending logic and rational rules go out the window. ... like they did in the sub-prime mortgage crisis of 2008 ... which actually was the genesis of our current predicament. Somehow large amounts of debt gets erased by the courts and by fiat ... and the lenders generally end up the losers. So, be careful lending money ... but borrowing might not be a bad idea.

Many banks around the world will disappear as will some governments I suspect. Maybe the US will be forced back on the gold standard. But, after a great deal of dislocation and pain, things will normalize and we will start lending and borrowing again. Sorry, that’s all I got at the moment. I’ll muse on it some more later.

Flamethrowers

Gun grabbers often mention that the government doesn’t allow bazookas, flame throwers or machine guns, therefore why should they allow other “weapons of war” like AR-15s? Well, as it turns out, Elon Musk has found a way around the flame thrower ban ... see above. And Hollywood studios obviously have lots of machine guns in their prop rooms. What is next for American “exceptionalism” ... bazookas?

Fractured Definition

Bumbershoot  —  the echoing report from a loud fart.

Headlines

Trump reverses himself on tax cut ideas

Bond market yield curve inverts, signaling Fed may be too slow to cut rates, risk’s recession

Job growth reduced by 501,000

Trump: No more tax cuts. Fear it would shake consumer cojnfidence?

Trump eases student loan forgiveness for disabled veterans

Fed says July rate cut was ‘recalibration’ and not part of a ‘pre-set course’ for more easing

Poll: 69% would hold Trump responsible if recession ...

Paul Ryan to move family from Wisconsin to Washington, DC

Jewish DEMs rage at Trump’s ‘disloyalty’ comments

‘I am the Chosen One,’ Trump proclaims as he defends trade war with China

Japan warns NKorea now has miniaturized nukes; ‘Imminent threat’ ...

Trump looking at ending ‘ridiculous’ anchor baby policy

World Economic Growth

The world is gasping for economic growth. Flat or falling populations in much of the developed world has pulled the props out of economic expansion opportunities. This is compounded by a socialism trope that has removed the notion that capitalistic fiscal policies should be used to stimulate things ... like Trump has been effectively using in the US with tax and regulation cuts.

The result of course is that central banks in these countries are being used to try to stimulate their economies ... after all it worked in the US after the financial crisis in 2008-09. This lesson has been followed slavishly until interest rates have gone negative ... even for 30-year German government bonds. Another symptom of this lassitude is in England home buyers can get mortgages wherein only the interest is due monthly. And, in Holland, one can get zero or even negative rate mortgages.

This trend at most of our trading partners ... to ignore fiscal policy and rely on monetary policy for economic growth ... cannot turn out well. Even the US is now being forced to play this monetary stimulus game given that we must compete with the rest of the developed world. American 10-year interest rates have been more than halved in the last year ... yet we are still almost two percentage points above the rest of the big boys.

This pushes up the dollar as other seekers of yield flock to the US ... and a strong dollar hurts our exports ... not that weak economies elsewhere are not also a drag.

The solution: The developed world ... including China ... needs to start focusing on fiscal stimulus and productivity instead of relying on their central banks to hold their economic heads above water. If these Bernanke acolytes don’t change their ways, the world is in for some dark days.

Jet Planes

Perhaps Ocasio-Cortez is right and we must abandon hydrocarbon assist when we travel. And perhaps Elon Musk clones will invent battery-powered 10-passenger prop planes that can go 300 miles before a recharge.

But what these Musk-ateers can’t do is to create jet-engine speeds without the condensed power contained in hydrocarbon fuels ... until nuclear-powered jets exist ... like the one that just blew up in Russia.

So, dear reader, enjoy what we have today in jet travel ... it is not to last 12 years ... according to Alexandria.

Righteous Indignation

The drama that can be invoked by those TV social justice warriors when they go on a rant opposing the latest Trump policy is often very moving. Their arm waving and spittle-flecked performance is very persuasive ... unless you understand their outrage is feigned.

I am generally quite impressed with their histrionics ... their righteous indignation could come from a Chautauqua revival meeting ... or a Sunday Baptist Bible-thumper sermon ... so convincing that it cannot be challenged ... except by logic.

A Lookback

From Mostly Cajun blog

And yet, we’re still here thirty years later. Bad predictions should have taken the wind out of global warming hysteria. But have they?

Headlines

Trump fuels prediction that Russian investigators will face prison

Facebook is giving users a way of wiping their web history

Warren crowd swells in MN ... 12,000 people, largest on tour

‘I have made mistakes’: Warren apologizes at Native American Fotum

Mueller-targeted Russian firm seeks April 2030 trial

A top- performing hedge fund is making a big bet on gold

Iowa corn poll: Biden, Pete ...

Rashida Tlaib’s grandmother fires back at Trump: ‘May God ruin him’

Italian prime minister resigns

FDIC approves tweak of Volker Rule, easing trading restrictions for Wall Street banks

U.S. Steel to lay-off hundreds in Michigan ...

WALLS WORK: Immigrants fail to scale new border wall

Juxtaposition

From Mostly Cajun blog

Millennials around the world ...

reddit Pic

President Trump assessing Greenland real estate under a blood moon ...

Nuance

President Trump does not have a nuanced bone in his body. The world is his china shop ... including China.

Tree Huggers

A plastic grocery bag costs one cent to make, while a paper bag costs five cents ... such is our irrational public policy making.

The Greens’ regressive laissez faire agenda is (too) often fundamentally at odds with man’s natural trope to utilize his environment. — Anon.

Headlines

Omar, Tlaib denounce Israel over travel restrictions

Alarm in Texas as 23 towns hit by ‘coordinated’ ransomware attack

Pentagon conducts 1st test of previously banned missile ...

Tim Cook warns Donald Trump that China tariffs could hurt Apple

Twitter, Facebook suspend China-linked disinformation campaigns targeting Hong Kong

Powell gets a chance this week to make up for his ‘mid-cycle adjustment’ [comment]

White House mulls payroll tax cut ... Effort to revive economy

Michael Savage slams media silence over [his] UK travel ban after Tlaib uproar

Democrat leaders assail Trump’s apparent reversal on background checks

More than 1,000 Google employees implore leaders to stop working with US Customs and Immigration

Attorneys General of 12 states to move forward with antitrust probe of big tech ...

Barr removes Federal Prisons chief in wake of Epstein’s death

Obvious Truths

“We all yearn for the body we had when we were 21.” — Anon.

The best way to lose weight is to cut back on your food intake to match your activity level. The second greatest benefit of dieting is the virtue signaling it affords you. 

The penultimate down-side to dieting is how long delayed your actual gratification is. And the worst part is those extra pounds you put on after you have surrendered to your cravings once again.

reddit Pic

Umbrella ... who says animals don’t use tools?

Juxtaposition

from Mostly Cajun blog