January 22, 2017 Quotation ‘We have nearly 100 years’ worth of natural gas and more than 250 years’ worth of clean, beautiful coal.’ President Donald Trump The Situation California, long the nation’s trendsetter, is a land of extremes. It has the highest summit and the lowest natural depression in the … Continue reading
Category Archives: Sound
Seeking a Compromise on Taiwan
November 16, 2021 The lack of an acknowledged breakthrough on Taiwan in the wake of the summit between Presidents Biden and Xi is, to put it mildly, alarming. We’ve previously summarized some of the reasons for Taiwan’s importance to both China and the United States, hence the irreconcilable posture between … Continue reading
Gridlock and COP26
November 3, 2021 For the first time, the 2020 census showed a shrinking non-Hispanic White population that identifies as a single race in 35 states. While 60% of White adults say the trend is neither good nor bad for society, 35% of Whites 65 and older believe it’s bad for … Continue reading
Make or Break
October 25, 2021 BackgroundThe upcoming COP26 meeting in Scotland does not herald a breakthrough in the global cooperative, coordinated action that is absolutely essential to replace nuclear fission, coal, gas and oil with renewable energy, particularly hydrogen, to generate electricity. The probable absence of Presidents Putin and Xi speaks volumes … Continue reading
COP 26
October 12, 2021 In just a few days the nations of the world will once again meet to discuss climate change. The meeting will likely set the stage for action –or lack thereof- that will make or break our collective effort to halt the dumping of greenhouse gases in the … Continue reading
China, the U.S. and Taiwan
October 9, 2021 A month ago Presidents Biden and Xi had a crucial telephone conversation that according to the White House, covered a number of unspecified issues. Then, almost a month later, President Biden acknowledged that Taiwan was one of them and that the two had agreed to abide by … Continue reading
Trillion-Dollar Infrastructure Bill
BackgroundThe Senate recently approved a bipartisan 1-trillion infrastructure bill that earmarked 8.3 billion for water projects in the drought-stricken West. Assuming the House concurs and the President signs it into law, the bill will appropriate 1.15 billion for improving water storage, transport infrastructure and projects to replenish aquifers, 1 billion … Continue reading
Dominance
Quotation “The first man who, having fenced in a piece of land, said “This is mine,” and found people naïve enough to believe him, that man was the true founder of civil society. From how many crimes, wars, and murders, from how many horrors and misfortunes might not any one … Continue reading
Security and Logic
July 4, 2021 BackgroundA long-awaited, unclassified Preliminary Assessment of Unidentified Aerial Phenomena issued by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence is an unexpected silver lining to the Covid-19 pandemic: The $2.3 trillion relief bill signed by then-President Donald Trump actually required the Pentagon to continue investigating UAPs and … Continue reading
Climate Change and Nuclear War Revisited
April 29, 2021 Background On April 19, 2021, at a press conference about climate change, the Secretary-General of the United Nations, António Guterres said that “we are on the verge of the abyss.” The evidence supporting his conclusion is overwhelming. Increasingly severe storms, droughts, wild fires, rising seas, and mass … Continue reading