145 thoughts to “Open Thread Non-Petroleum, May 2, 2022”

  1. The Market continues to go down, Oil continues to go up.
    Anyone surprised?

    1. HT , 10 year hit the 3% mark today . Going to my bunker and hunker down .

    2. Yeah, TOO simple. 😉 Markets (Nasdaq, FAANG, and Russell 2000) have crashed – which is much more dramatic than “continues to go down”. I mean, this is carnage. And oil is just pure craziness – not just “continues to go up”. Oil hasn’t made a new high since March 8th (2nd best high was late march). And the volatility has been so crazy for so long its actually become normalized. Clearly the up-down pricing has chased away a lot of traders. CFTC long positioning is near lowest of the year. I.e. the market is not making big bets on the long side, but its still bullish, so not much short squeeze potential either. I’m sure HHH could elaborate or correct me if I’m missing anything here.

      Broadly the market is definitely hunting for the remaining winners. So many commodities have been hammered. Inflation has clearly rolled over (and trapped a bunch of people that piled in). It’s only a matter of time before this market crash swallows up everything. Will it be as bad as 2008? No clue. I do know the Fed Futures rate has 10+ rate hikes priced in. If the Fed goes for THAT then yes.

  3. What is it about republicans and their analogous citizens from other countries that makes them
    anti-science. Such as
    – failure to embrace/accept evolution of species
    – failure to acknowledge global warming from the big fossil fuel burn
    – failure to accept that respiratory transmission of pandemic Covid virus can be dramatically decreased by mask wearing
    – failure to accept that cigarette are addicting and increase the risk of many diseases such as cancer
    for example.

    Is it a fear that scientific principles will hurt business,
    or will make God angry?
    Or did they really just not pay attention in school at all?
    Or some kind of personality disorder?

    I don’t know.
    Maybe they just want to be contrary even though it makes them look like fools.

    1. Most of those are issues “Libs” recognize; therefore, acc. to Repugs, they are evil.

      1. Hi Mike, I was going to reply to Hickory thus, All of the above plus your reply…… but you beat me to it, lol.

    2. Any important driver of ant-science ideology is that religions have always profited from offering quack remedies to the sick. In fact it is one of the main drivers of religious belief.

      For example Jesus freaks in America make a bundle on “faith healing” and “laying on of hands”. Universal healthcare schemes like Obamacare are their enemy, as are science based cures.

      It’s worth noting that laying on of hands is a major selling point for Evangelicals in Latin America in their Crusade against Catholics. Of course anyone who understands the basics of biology can debunk this crap.

      The first time my wife visited my home town in East Tennessee she remarked “Boy, God sure does spend a lot on advertising around here”. Where do you think that money comes from? Meanwhile health care is awful in the area, and the state government actively suppresses access to health care. Follow the money.

    3. Hint:
      Over half the population of the US over 16 reads at less than a 6th Grade level.
      In other words, they are illiterate.

      1. This is evident when I visit my favorite photography website located in Poland that has English as the standard language. Every foreigner who would be speaking in another tongue writes English better than most Americans.

      2. >> A 2019 report by the National Center for Education Statistics determined that mid to high literacy in the United States is 79% with 21% of American adults categorized as having “low level English literacy,” including 4.1% classified as “functionally illiterate” and an additional 4% that could not participate.

        According to the U.S. Department of Education, 54% of adults in the United States have prose literacy below the 6th-grade level. <<

        https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Literacy_in_the_United_States#Defining_adult_literacy

    4. Right wing ideology and religion they do seem to have something in common. Both have repeatedly failed in tests against reality while maintaining a strong “feel good” attraction. I’m not really sure that the leadership in any religion or political entity truly understands this on a conscious level but they do understand that there is a need in public for association with a strong leadership figure and simple answers. In the US Republicans recognized long ago that the trickle down economics weren’t credible and changed their focus to demonizing whoever was too weak to fight back. Nixon, Reagan, the Bushes and, ultimately, Trump spent enormous energy, in many different ways ,of projecting strength and identifying enemies over any ideological message and have accomplished a great deal with that strategy. Church members, with a pre-disposition for irrational answers and rigid behavioral rules are natural targets for that approach.

      1. JJH slightly off topic-
        I remember that ‘door to hades’ incident in your town back about year 2000.
        I’m pretty sure those with the fear weren’t Al Gore voters.
        hahah

        1. I’d forgotten that. This neck of the woods is pretty leftie but there’s really no place safe from ’em.
          We have anti-vaxxers here from the outer edges of both extremes.

    5. Fantasyland by Kurt Anderson is an absolutely fascinating book about delusional thinking throughout and at the core of American history. And he doesn’t take partisan sides – interrogating the New Age/Hippie movements of the 60’s as well. But certainly, our strong religious beginnings are a key factor. I believe he echoes Alimbiquated’s statement and talks at length about delusions surrounding health (“snake oil” / faith healing etc). Highly recommended.

    6. In their defense, science and the major institutions that control them haven’t given them much to believe in. My understanding is that faith in institutions peaked with the assassination of JFK. The Warren Commission? No one believed it. I mean no one. And yet its still the official story to this day (even after the House Select Committee on Assassinations!!!). Add to that the Vietnam War. The Church committee. Falling/stagnant wages. Deindustrialization. Religion may be lying to you, but at least its offering you a sweet deal in Heaven.

    7. And now, as you all have no doubt heard, Roe is dead. Not minding one’s own business is a Repug virtue.

      They’re coming after my marriage next.

      Here’s hoping for a quick collapse!

    8. Let me start by declaring that my political persuasion is far more ‘progressive than it is conservative. Regulars here know exactly which island I live on but, for any new readers or casual passers by I do not live in Hawaii or Puerto Rico but in a former British colony so my interest in US politics is guided by the impact of the choices made in the US on the rest of the world.

      I find it difficult to understand how people can deny the evolution of species with the evolution of the SARS-COV2 virus we have all witnessed in real time. Anyone with a solid grounding in the sciences and statistics/probabilities should understand that the evolution of microorganisms is just much easier to observe because of the frequency reproductive cycles that occur in those organisms compared to higher life forms. A population of bacteria can double in as little as twenty minutes, while it takes more than ten years for a human female just to reach puberty after which she can produce maybe one child per year for a few years at best. The chances of observing a genetic change in a large population of humans over the course of a human lifetime are essentially zero but, looking back thousands or millions of years through the fossil record clearly shows that evolution has occurred.

      In the previous thread Hickory posted about increasing coal burning in India in response to a record heatwave. My thoughts are WTF? So the response to an event caused by burning FF is to burn more FF? The world has indeed gone bat shit crazy. I would have thought that India would have used it’s not insignificant scientific and engineering resources to fast track the development of cost competitive air conditioning and refrigeration appliances that rely on solar energy rather than grid power.

      I cannot understand why no one has developed a simple ac unit that runs off a 240 PV array with a small battery or super capacitor to ride through temporary cloud cover. For longer duration energy storage it should be possible to have a fairly simple “ice bank” storage unit and make ice when the sunshine to provide cooling into the night. The technology necessary to do all of this exists but, no one has taken it seriously enough to scale it up to the point where they are competitive with currently available technology. Maybe increased electricity prices will drive the rapid commercialization of such technology but, I’m not holding my breath.

      Where i differ from most people on this forum is my thoughts on this pandemic. First off, the human species evolved in coexistence with a huge variety of microorganisms some of which thrive inside our bodies and actually provide benefits to us. Ask any woman that has had a vaginal yeast infection after taking a course of antibiotics! One way to eliminate these yeast infections is to restore the natural balance of certain bacteria that normally occupy the affected areas. Viruses have also been with us forever and we didn’t succeed by avoiding them. We evolved by way of a immune system capable of eliminating the viruses from our bodies.

      It is probably beyond the scope of a post like this but, there is a genetic mutation in primates, guinea pigs and a small number of other species that prevents them from making vitamin C from glucose as a biochemical process in the body. Species with this mutation can experience scurvy if they are deprived of vitamin C in their diet. Species that make their own vitamin C do not experience scurvy, Vitamin C along with vitamin D and zinc among other nutrients are essential for immune system function but, the public health messaging in western countries has been almost completely devoid of this information. Instead there has been an obsessive, almost manic focus on mass vaccination as a strategy for protecting the population from this virus.

      Before anybody starts flaming me you had better look at the science. Yes I said it, the science! You can start by going to c19early.com and take a look at the real-time analysis of 1,737 studies (scientific) of potential remedies for this disease. Next you can go over to Our World in Data and explore the data atthe page for daily confirmed cases per million. I’d suggest comparing the data from shithole countries like Nigeria (almost any country in Africa or the continent as a whole with the exception of South Africa), Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, Myanmar, the Philippines and Mexico with the US, the UK or any other G7 country where mass vaccination was the chosen strategy. An even simpler comparison is between the “low income” group and the “high income” group (screenshot below). If you all do not see clearly that the strategy of lock downs and mass vaccination has been a catastrophic failure then your heads are well and truly buried in the sand and I cannot help you.

      For what it’s worth the scientists and doctors that I am being guided by claim that of the many patients that have treated, they have not lost a single patient when aggressive treatment was started at first symptoms, even when one or more high risk factors were present. Look up “Overcoming the COVID Darkness: How Two Doctors Successfully Treated 7000 Patients’ by Dr. Brian Tyson and Dr. George Fareed.

      i am extremely disappointed that progressives and the left have completely swallowed the Big Pharma line. I stopped watching clips of several TV programs on line because i got sick and tired of hearing that, “vaccination is the only way out”. The data from many low income countries that did not get adequate access vaccines shows that vaccination was most certainly not the only way out. In the meantime some folks have made out like bandits and are now newly minted billionaires. We are now seeing the end of the pandemic due to mass infection by the most recent, very infectious but, less deadly variations of the virus. Herd immunity is being achieved no thanks to the vaccines. For those who think I am being callous for my approach I have one question. How many people who succumbed to this virus would be alive today, if they were treated early and aggressively at first symptoms instead of basically doing nothing as sanctioned by the WHO, the NIH, CDC and FDA in the US and the NHS in the UK?

      My thoughts on this virus are completely devoid of any religious considerations as far as i am aware.

      1. I am fully vaccinated and boosted. I would not take horse dewormer medicine on a bet. I think people who crusade against the Covid vaccine have a screw loose. Covid deaths among the unvaccinated are astronomical compared to the vaccinated. See the chart below. Especially the bottom line in the chart, vaccinated and boosted I am in that group.

        Nuff said.

        1. Ron,

          I agree. And, vaccines don’t just protect you, they also help other people stay healthy around you — especially old people, young people and people who can’t get vaccinated themselves, like those undergoing chemotherapy. This is called herd immunity, and it effects the health of everybody.

        2. In my state the risk of dying of Covid is 24 fold greater for those who have chosen to remain unvaccinated vs those who got 3 doses of vaccine.
          There is very little in life that can give such a massive benefit to risk advantage,
          on par with walking out of a burning building.

          [age adjusted death rate per 100,000 over the last 30 days]

          1. Yea if all those people counted in the statistic are identical genetically, dietarily/lifestyle and environmentally under similar stresses, then yea you can say the vaccine is effective. Otherwise its nothing but statistical bs looking at one factor as if we lived in a 1-d world and complexity is non-existent.

            I am really surprised at your age and most people here, who have had a life time of experience, haven’t you guys realised yet we live in an extremely complex world. You have to be extremely cautious to make definite statements about any thing. Hubris is strong in our species.

            Doug, herd immunity has never been proven. What you just said regarding innoculations, is like saying i am going to apply sunscreen so you can be protected from skin cancer. Absolute rubbish.

            You guys are hilarious, look at Africa, low vaccination rates, at the start of the pandemic the whole western world was panicking about the spread of covid into Africa and the disaster which will ensue there. The data which we have now, showed how much “science” doesn’t know about fields it thinks it knows and the dynamics and nature of pandemics.

            All of you CNN pfizer peddlers are swallowing propaganda in light of contrary data. It would be hilarious if it wasn’t so tragic.

            And you pat yourself on the back because you aren’t republicans and don’t believe in a deity. Hilarious.

            1. Yea if all those people counted in the statistic are identical genetically, dietarily/lifestyle and environmentally under similar stresses, then yea you can say the vaccine is effective. Otherwise its nothing but statistical bs looking at one factor as if we lived in a 1-d world and complexity is non-existent.

              Bullshit! You are saying that everyone must be genetically identical, have the same environment, the same diet, and the same lifestyle, otherwise, statistics are meaningless. Damn, what kind of logic is that? Go here:

              United States: COVID-19 weekly death rate by vaccination status, All ages
              Death rates are calculated as the number of deaths in each group, divided by the total number of people in this group. This is given per 100,000 people.

              Move the cursor over January 15, 2022, and you will get the Covid-19 death rate, on that day, per 100,000 people. The survey looked at all Covid-19 reported deaths in the USA and their vaccionation status before their death. And that rate is for the:

              > Unvaccinated ———————- 26.22
              >Fully vaccinated, no booster — 4.36
              >Fully vaccinated + booster —— 1.28

              By what far-fetched logic could you say that those statistics are invalid because everyone in the United States is not all identical twins with the exact same diet, environment, and lifestyle? By that logic, there is no such thing as a valid statistic.

              And you pat yourself on the back because you aren’t republicans and don’t believe in a deity. Hilarious.

              Hilarious. 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

            2. Mike
              “Yea if all those people counted in the statistic are identical genetically, dietarily/lifestyle and environmentally under similar stresses, then yea you can say the vaccine is effective.”

              My data based conclusions are focused on the US where I live. We have large and racially very diverse population, with huge differences in environmental factors. The data collected in all of the states is concordant.
              The results are not subtle. I have not looked into the outcomes in other countries in great detail. My conclusions may or may not be applicable to certain countries.

              Note- I had no preconceived notions about vaccination efficacy. Proof was/is in the data. As far as I can tell from the comments made over time IslandBoy and yourself had/have very strong preconceived beliefs about vaccination.

            3. “like saying i am going to apply sunscreen so you can be protected from skin cancer.”

              I can’t even tell you how many times I caught a bad case of the sunburn from my surfer brothers growing up, even though I never left the house. Most people just seem so unaware of how contagious it is.

            4. Hi Iron Mike,

              The concept of herd immunity is solid.

              “When a high percentage of the population is vaccinated, it is difficult for infectious diseases to spread, because there are not many people who can be infected. For example, if someone with measles is surrounded by people who are vaccinated against measles, the disease cannot easily be passed on to anyone, and it will quickly disappear again. This is called ‘herd immunity’, ‘community immunity’ or ‘herd protection’, and it gives protection to vulnerable people such as newborn babies, elderly people and those who are too sick to be vaccinated.”

              And furthermore(

              “Herd immunity does not protect against all vaccine-preventable diseases. The best example of this is tetanus, which is caught from bacteria in the environment, not from other people who have the disease. No matter how many people around you are vaccinated against tetanus, it will not protect you from tetanus.”

              https://vk.ovg.ox.ac.uk/vk/herd-immunity

              Works for HPV too.

              HPV Vaccine May Provide Men with “Herd Immunity” against Oral HPV Infections
              “Oral HPV infections cause over 70% of all oropharyngeal cancers in the United States, and rates of these cancers in men have skyrocketed over the past several decades.”
              “Between 2009 and 2016, rates of HPV vaccination in both males and females increased while rates of oral HPV infection among unvaccinated men dropped…”
              https://www.cancer.gov/news-events/cancer-currents-blog/2019/men-oral-hpv-infection-vaccine-herd-immunity

              Let me explain more simply with a sexual analogy. If you’re into oral pleasure and you go down on a population of different men and women, then you might get oral HPV, and maybe cancer. If enough of those men and women that you’re going down on get vaccinated against HPV then you’re less likely to get it. Even if you don’t get vaccinated against HPV yourself. Because there’s fewer people to get it from. Neat, eh!?

              I like to Google “excess mortality (plus sign) africa” to look at the excess death data. Most nations have a coroner service and good birth and death records, even if cause of death is vague due to rural primary health limitations. Many of the excess deaths are likely covid or COVID related, like dying of trauma because the ICU is full of COVIDs. Once ICU is full all kinds of folks die, kids falling of horses, whatever.

        3. I would like to point out that the data may change-
          new variants might not be covered by prior vaccinations, or immunity from prior infections.
          We will have to watch.

          Also, we are lucky this pandemic has only been relatively light on mortality 1-2%.
          The next one might be 5 or 10%, and might target the younger more severely.
          Best luck.

          1. Well, in 2 years it has killed over twice the American Solders killed in WWII, which lasted 4.5 years.
            1 in 330 people in the US have been killed (a very conservative value).
            And we have just started (a mRNA respiratory virus is not going to go away)

          2. I can prove just exactly how totally worthless vaccination is.
            Just look at the statistics on the number of smallpox and polio deaths occur in the world every day.

        4. Actually I am very much pro healthy lifestyle and early treatment rather than anti vaxx. Let me repeat what I have told many people. If you have one or more risk factors (obesity, heart disease, diabetes, a history of smoking, are on immune suppressing drugs etc.) and you are not prepared to fully embrace the early treatments published by several doctors that have looked seriously at treating this disease and you do not have access to a doctor that has studied the various treatment regimens do not hesitate to get vaccinated!

          However i have been looking at resources provided by doctors (not accountants or bankers or engineers or astronomers or geologists or random “dudes on the internet” if you get my drift) on how to reduce the risks of catching this disease or from being hospitalised and dying if infected. These doctors are saying that it has been their experience that anybody, including those with risk factors for severe outcomes that, employs aggressive treatment at the first sign of symptoms can greatly reduce the risk of severe outcomes. In fact in anybody had bothered to look up the book Overcoming the COVID Darkness: How Two Doctors Successfully Treated 7000 Patients by Dr. Brian Tyson and Dr. George Fareed, would have seen that, these two doctors claim that of 7,000 patients they treated, only two died and in the case of the two that died, treatment was started when they were brought to them at the late stage of the disease. “Covid deaths among the unvaccinated untreated are astronomical compared to the vaccinated treated ” but, nobody’s bothering to collect that data, as if early treatment does not exist.

          At the link below here is a list of 2,706 doctors that have submitted their names and contact information to be published at the web site created by one group of doctors that advocates early treatment. Roughly 2,100 of these doctors are in the US, while the rest are from all over the world including one in Jamaica. The doctors that have opted to be on this list are risking their professional reputations by choosing to be affiliated with a group that advocates early treatment so it they must have a very good reason for doing so. I know of at least one doctor (Jamaican practicing in GA) that has not put her name on the list despite being all in on early treatment. I see her in the chat sometimes during the weekly Zoom webinar hosted by the group that publishes the list and her Twitter activity shows she clearly supports early treatment. The number of doctors that do not want to risk going public probably outnumbers those who are willing to go public with their support. The list is sorted by country and region for anybody that’s interested in finding a doctor in your area that will treat early:

          https://covid19criticalcare.com/network-support/the-flccc-alliance/

          Finally, on the topic of “horse dewormer”, ivermectin is not only a horse dewormer but, is used widely in veterinary medicine in dogs (Heartguard), cows, pigs, sheep etc. It is also available for human consumption under the names stromectol and mectizan, the name used by the owner of the patent Merck & Co. known as Merck Sharp & Dohme outside the United States and Canada. The two men that discovered the drug won The 2015 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for their contribution to the development of therapies that have revolutionized the treatment of some of the most devastating parasitic diseases in the world (River Blindness and Elephantiasis). The Nobel press release linked to in the previous sentence is quite interesting. Characterizing this drug as a mere “horse dewormer” is the result of a skillfully orchestrated plan to steer the public away from it. Such schemes are not unfamiliar to me, having seen these types of tactics used by a well known software monopoly to try and steer people away from open source software (Linux, Firefox, LibreOffice etc.) as well as being used by the FF industries to try and steer people away from renewable energy and electric cars. The lengths corporations will go to in order to protect their gravy trains is quite sinister.

          I am glad to see that not everyone’s brain is under the control of the largely US and UK based mass media, thought influencing apparatus (Hat tip to Iron Mike!). If I appear to be against Vaccines, it is only because I believe that life saving early treatments have been pushed aside to further the cause of vaccination at the cost of millions of lives. Doctors that advocate early treatment claim that at least three out of every four people that have died from this disease could have been saved if aggressive treatment was started at the first sign of symptoms. It appears that the problem is that all of the therapeutics that are being recommended by these doctors are either out of patent or cannot be patented and thus inexpensive.

          For the open minded and curious here are a few of the groups led by doctors advocating early treatment (no random dudes on the internet):

          Front Line COVID-19 Critical Care Alliance
          Association of American Physicians and Surgeons (home treatment guide featured prominently on home page)
          http://www.bird-group.org
          The World Council for Health

          Many of these groups of doctors have memberships that have become disillusioned with the current state of affairs in health care, especially as it relates to corporate capture of the regulatory agencies, largely by the pharmaceutical industry.

      2. I have a good friend who is a retired molecular biologist, the writer of many scientific papers and maker of many diagnostics systems during his career. He says get vaccinated and boosted. My husband’s endocrinologist and his PCP say get vaccinated and boosted. Another good friend, an NP, says get vaccinated and boosted.

        You, on the other hand, are some dude on the Internet.

        1. Too many people confuse looking up data online with research. When I started graduate school I was discussing with my advisor the value of starting freshman engineering students with design projects. He said that the didn’t have enough tools in their toolbox to learn much at that point. Most of us fit in that category trying to understand topics, like epidemiology, on the internet. But everyone can find something that will reinforce their prejudices. The internet has helped the right wing demagogues to demonize all experts and convince people that everyone that they disagree with has a malignant agenda.

          1. “The internet has helped the right left wing demagogues to demonize all experts and convince people that everyone that they disagree with has a malignant agenda.” There, fixed that fer ya! I vehemently disagree with senator Ron Johnson on just about everything that comes out of his mouth with the exception of his support for early treatment. I guess even a broken clock is right twice per day!

        2. See my post (05/09/2022 at 9:59 am ) that appears immediately above yours at the time of this posting. The doctors I am listening to are largely pulmonary and intensive care specialists and researchers. They live in ICUs and the ICUs that they work in have seen better recovery rates than the national and global average. You may have seen the picture below that went viral around Thanksgiving 2020 (before vaccines were widely available). The doctor is Dr. Joseph Varon and he is a founding member of the Front Line COVCID-19 Critical Care Alliance with his 132 page CV available at the FLCCC web site. He has has probably been interviewed by news outlets more times than any doctor on the planet and has made the news for working without a day off since the beginning of the pandemic, 780 days and counting according to the following news report published 4 hours ago as of the time of this post:

          Texas Doctor Calls U.S. COVID Deaths Nearing 1 Million ‘Mindblowing’

          As the United States nears the grim milestone of 1 million coronavirus-linked deaths, Varon, chief of critical care and COVID-19 at United Memorial Medical Center in Houston, Texas said only one of those battles has been won.

          “I think that I have won the fight against the coronavirus. I think I’ve lost the fight against human stupidity,” Varon told Reuters.

          “The reason why we have lost a million people in this country is because of that fight against human stupidity. I can tell you that the number of deaths that we will have would have been much more smaller if people just listen and do the right thing, if they have a little bit of common sense,” he said.

          An article from earlier this year describes how:
          COVID patients are crossing state and international lines to get treatment from this Houston doctor

          Varon added that people are traveling to United Memorial Medical Center, seeking treatment that other practitioners are not offering.

          Co-developed with four other colleagues, he said they use steroids, vitamins, blood thinners and ivermectin.

          “We use ivermectin in conjunction with all these agents and then we use zinc, we use melatonin,” says Varon.

          While Varon does not have UMMC’s 2021 data, he said the hospital is seeing high success rates among COVID patients, “Our published mortality, which we published for 2020 was 4.4% when the rest of the country was 25%.”

          “I’m not going to beat them up because they did not get vaccinated. That was a choice that they made. I am going to take care of them the same way I would take care of somebody with an alcoholic condition or some other condition,” said Varon.

          Finally here is a YouTube video of Varon being interviewed by one Dr. Mobeen Syed:

          Prof. Dr. Joseph Varon Discusses COVID-19

          Dr. Varon is not alone. If you get rid of him, I can find lots more. he just happens to be the one that has garnered the most attention from the media. The one thing they all have in common is very low death rates among their patients. You cannot make all these doctors and their success stories cease to exist. You can just choose to ignore them, which is basically what is happening. I refuse to ignore doctors that are getting good results treating folks that have been afflicted by this disease.

      3. To throw another log on the bonfire, I seem to remember a liberal, I suppose, slogan that said “My body, my choice” in another matter. So some want to have it one way in one case, but not in the other?
        But basically, if you´re vaccinated, you´re home free, no need to be rabid about others choices. Btw, I´m vaccinated, but contemplated opting out.

        1. My body, my choice would appear to pertain to vaccination policy. I’m not aware of anyone being forced to take a vaccine. Granted, there are consequences to not being vaccinated, and perhaps that’s coercion, or maybe it’s just good public health. But I’m not aware of any adults being forcibly vaccinated against their will.

        2. How does a woman’s reproductive choices affect her neighbors and friends?

          How does refusing vaccination affect one’s neighbors and friends?

          Are you saying pregnancy is a pathogen?

    9. To paraphrase Timothy Snyder from a War College interview he did, that I quite like;
      “The word science can mean a lot of different things. When we say the word science people will have a lot of different associations. Some people think it’s a field of experimentation, a mode of learning, a fashion of testing hypothesis; and have then the ability to change the relationship between people and people, and people and nature, by way of technology and understanding.’

      https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/angry-planet/id1023774600?i=1000358645838

      I have some right wing nutter associates with a science background. They get masks. But they still blow hard and talk about Biden like he’s some kind of cartoonish super villain. I don’t see the Dims as super villains. I feel they’re more like petulant children, with a lot of money, arguing about things that will matter very little, while they watch us all die. I suppose some people prefer them to the others.

      1. “petulant children, with a lot of money, arguing about things that will matter very little,”

        Well, at least I have a have a clearer idea of how you see me.

        1. Can’t wait to see the Dims articulate an equitable policy that will help the American people (pro tip). Good luck in the mid terms.

          Green Party 2024

            1. I am all for third parties, I love them. But, unfortunately, they never get more than two or three percent of the vote. Therefore a vote for a third party is a wasted vote. Even if you think you may be voting for the lesser of two evils, that is better than just wasting your vote. You would be just as well stayed home and not voted at all.

            2. In an election in Arcata, with ranked choice voting, the Repug was 5th on the ballot.
              The Dim was 3rd.
              But not all voting districts are similar.
              It does challenge our one party state.
              Pepsi, or Pepsi Lite?
              Obviously, both of our “wasted votes” were not part of the final process.

            3. I just vote for the party with the policies that I like the most. I think that’s the point of elections. Third party!? Some countries have 4 parties. Can you imagine!? Anarchy! I think Soviet Kanuckistan ran 5 parties on the ballot in their last Federal election. Wasted votes probably fuel the power generators. I dare say, the two party system seems not too much better than the one party system. The furthest left politician and the furthest right politician in USA have more in common with each other than with their constituents. That’s why Presidents like Bush Jr nominate unremarkable lobbyists like Hunter Biden for Amtrak board. They have a lot of common interests, and you’re not one of them.

            4. Ron that’s the entire point of ranked choice voting. Your vote is never wasted. You vote for whom you actually want elected but also rank your second and third choices. If your first candidate doesn’t get enough votes then your vote goes to your second choice, etc.

            5. Ron that’s the entire point of ranked choice voting. Your vote is never wasted.

              Total absolute bullshit. If in 2000 you voted for Ralph Nader then your vote was wasted. In fact, it was more than wasted, It got George Bush elected. Ralph Nader took only liberal votes. If he had not run, or if enough idiots had not voted for him, Al Gore would have been elected.

              So please, please, please, don’t come here with that bullshit that your vote is never wasted. It is even worse than wasted, it gets the wrong man, or woman, elected.

              Enough already!

            6. Ron, re-read Steven’s comment as “Ron that’s the entire point of ranked choice voting: your vote is never wasted.” Then, maybe you’ll understand that the point is, votes aren’t wasted under a ranked-choice voting system. If the entire US had ranked-choice voting in 2000, those left-leaning Nader voters would have presumably ranked Gore higher than Bush and Gore would have won.

            7. We have RCV in Maine. The loser Republican, Bruce Poliquin, has not been able to keep his loser mouth shut that he lost because of RCV.

            8. If the entire US had ranked-choice….

              Yeah, you are probably right but we just cannot play that IF game. We have what we have. If we did not have that stupid electoral college then George Bush would never have been president because Gore got a majority of votes. If we did not have the electoral college system then Hillery Clinton would have been our 45th president.

              If you want to start playing IF and live in ifland, then everything changes. But we live in the world we have, IF doesn’t count.

              Having what we have, IF you vote for a third party cantidate, then what you are doing is worse than just wasting your vote. You are actually helping the least desirable cantidate get elected.

      2. The German word closest to science is Wissenschaft. To a beginner learner of the language is can be a little puzzling because it translates to “study”, or “knowledge” or “research”.

        Learning foreign languages is good for your mind because it teaches you to differentiate between word and ideas. The question of what “science” means is just nonsensical word juggling. entertaining, but not very useful.

  4. I’m with Ron, Doug, and Hickory on vaccines. I’ve had my three jabs.

    But Islandboy does have a point of sorts.

    People recover from the Covid infection, most of the time, and eventually you get something approaching herd immunity in terms of death rates.

    Farmers working with animals consider this kind of trade off quite often.

    1. “People recover from the Covid infection”

      The ones that don’t die do indeed recover, its true. [some with severe lung damage,etc]
      Of course the ones that die (in the USA)- most are unvaccinated.
      Just about 1 million deaths now.

      1. I’m on board, lol.
        But it would be a very good idea to investigate infection and death rates in Africa and other such places to find out why the disease didn’t hit as hard there as expected.

        I’m reasonably sure this is being done, but I haven’t heard that we know the answers yet.

        1. African population is younger and more rural than western countries. That will perhaps reduce infection and death stats. Also, many countries in Africa have budgets that restrict them from confirming whether or not a rural person now in a rural cemetery had in fact died of covid. Not everyone is swabbed for diagnosis confirmation in rural primary health, where the focus is more on the 3 B’s: breaks, bleeds and births. While urban African populations might skew worse than western urban due to over crowding and poorly funded public health programs, I feel the rural population is large enough to improve the picture.

          https://www.populationpyramid.net/africa/2020/

          https://www.populationpyramid.net/northern-america/2020/

          The two links below are good for contrasting urban vs rural population.

          https://www.worldometers.info/demographics/demographics-of-africa/

          https://www.worldometers.info/demographics/demographics-of-northern-america/

  5. Long time lurker and learner here. I have a question. So we say The US imports six million barrels of oil more or less . What does that really mean? I mean when the boat docks, who writes them a check for the oil? Who signs the check? Joe Biden? The CEO of Exxon? Who is the Check made out to? I guess I am asking does the US import oil or do oil companies import oil?
    Thanks, Atlas84

    1. Atlas, petroleum posts should be posted in the petroleum thread. However I will answer your question.

      In 2021 the US imported 8,468,000 barrels per day of petroleum and petroleum products. The US exported 8,632,000 barrels per day of petroleum and petroleum products. Therefore we were a net exporter of about 106,000 barrels per day.

      No, no one in the government has anything to do with this. It is the oil companies, refineries, and just customers in general of the oil and oil products. Petroleum and petroleum products are just commodities, imported and exported by buyers and sellers of the product, just like any other commodity.

  6. In the meantime,
    “Damned if we do, and damned if we don’t”!
    https://electrek.co/2022/05/02/protectionist-move-could-backfire-us-solar-industry-update/

    I’m no trumpster, but I’m a firm believer in avoiding problems such as we are experiencing now with imported oil.

    Germany and some other European countries are basically in the position of allowing Putin to hold a gun to their head.

    And if we collectively allow a country such as China to dominate a critical industry beyond a certain point……… well catching up may be pretty close to impossible later, because the dominant player can simply wipe out any new competitors, who will necessarily be high cost low volume producers, by dumping for a few months or a year or two, if necessary.

    You can’t get an industry back easily once the people in it are long gone into other lines of work. The supporting infrastructure vanishes along with the factories.

      1. I would go even farther and say that when you have a consistent, imbalance of trade, even in non-critical commodities you ( the government) needs to take action. And I’ll bet that happens long before the important stuff and staff starts disappearing from your factories.

        1. I don’t think it’s possible, for the US.

          As long as the US has the dominant currency, US dollars will flow to other countries, both in cash and in the form of credit (Treasuries, commercial paper, etc). That is a form of export, and it raises the exchange rate for the dollar. In turn, other exports are disadvantaged, and imports are cheaper.

          It’s a form of Dutch Disease, and I don’t know how to stop it other than making the Dollar less attractive. Which, of course, the US is working on with bank related Russia sanctions…

          1. You can affect foreign exchange with tariffs but almost every economist hates tariffs. Then again, most economists think you can have infinite growth on a finite planet and that with continuous growth you eventually end poverty.

  7. It looks as if the Supreme Court , the trump court, may overturn Roe vs Wade anytime now.

    This will please the shit out of my Bible thumping neighbors, but the ones of them who will vote are almost all voting already. Voters of that sort are very likely to be older, and poorly educated. There aren’t all that many younger people in churches on Sunday mornings these days.

    Maybe this news, or this actual reality, if it comes to pass before the upcoming elections, will serve as a piece of broken brick upside the collective head of younger and better educated voters.

    I’m not making any predictions, yet, but if Roe Wade IS overturned, this could be the wake up call that will get ten million younger women to the polls for the first time ever.

  8. https://www.pv-magazine.com/2022/05/02/us-startup-claims-hydrogen-output-for-0-85-kg-or-less-via-new-water-vapor-electrolyzer/

    I ‘m guessing that over ninety five percent of the new break through technologies I read about are never commercialized. But it does seem likely that somebody will eventually find an economical way to electrolyze water so that green hydrogen can eventually be a real thing.

    If this were to work ok at scale, using otherwise surplus wind and solar power, the hydrogen could be easily and cheaply stored underground, like natural gas.

    And the intermittency problem will largely be history, if this once actually works at scale.

    It would require building some pipelines to places it will be needed from suitable to store it in old mines or oil wells, etc, but that wouldn’t be all that big a problem. Centrally located generating plants can serve an area as large as fifty to a hundred miles around, no problem, using existing transmission lines.
    And if this particular process doesn’t work out……..
    it’s rather likely than another one will, given time, assuming we don’t crash before hand.

    1. I think the limit on the economics of electrolization is purely physical. It takes about 10% more energy to liberate Hydrogen from water than from methane. You’re just stuck with that. Today it’s cheaper to break the CH4 bond because it takes less energy. The economics are more complicated than that (sources of energy, cost of methane, etc.) but I doubt you can simplify the process much. You can electrolyze water at home with a 9 volt battery and some salt.

  10. Is collapse happening under our noses?

    It seems oil peaked in 2018 but has been masked by pandemic disease and war. We won’t know for sure until several years have passed. The US is down to one growing oil basin.

    Meanwhile, diesel prices are at all-time highs. The FAO food price index is at an all-time high. Housing is out of sight.

    CO2 levels have surpassed historic levels, unlike anything for hundreds of thousands of years. Arctic sea ice thickness is dangerously thin, and a “blue ocean event” seems imminent. Sinks are becoming sources. Forests and permafrosts are disappearing. Coral reefs are dead. Methane emissions are arcing upward.

    The US, along with other states, is falling into minority rule and autocracy. Female autonomy is slipping away: The Right wants women to submit to being vessels for male desires and babies. The Left refuses even to call them “women” but “birthing bodies” and “pregnant people.” Reality is what one wants it to be.

    I see fire, everywhere.

    Remember: The Bronze Age ended in 50 years, c. 1180-1230 BC.

    But maybe I’m just being selective and EVs and windmills will save us. Do you believe in Magick?

    1. 50 years may be optimistic, unless you started your count when the population reached 7 Billion

    2. I’m not entirely comfortable with the tone you’re using to bring “pregnant people” into the conversation . The actual reality is, that’s now the preferred term in polite and/or formal conversation because it accounts for how science recognizes trans men as men, but a subset of trans men can get pregnant, thus the statement “only women can get pregnant” isn’t 100% accurate.

      1. Sprouse,
        Do you want me to place you in a safe space, so you don’t feel uncomfortable about the brutal facts of the universe we live in ?

        Mike B,

        Apparently this transgender mania we are experiencing has happened before prior to civilisation collapsing according to this video:

        https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I8BRdwgPChQ&t=260s

        I agree with all your observations.

        1. To say that transgender people have anything to do with the collapse of civilization is absurd beyond belief. Only the most fanatical conspiracy theorist could believe such a stupid thing.

          1. Paglia (whom I usually deplore) does make some sense in the video: She’s clear about the current fashion of transgenderism among the young as distinct from the condition, which is real and demands gravity and mature thought.

            But, yeah, the shit about this predicting the collapse of civilization is a bit much…. (Not that I don’t think collapse is likely imminent….)

            1. We’ll go to the authorities on this: Drs. Venkman, Stanz and Spengler:

              Dr. Peter Venkman:
              This city is headed for a disaster of biblical proportions.

              Mayor:
              What do you mean, “biblical”?

              Dr Ray Stantz:
              What he means is Old Testament, Mr. Mayor, real wrath-of-God type stuff.

              Dr. Peter Venkman:
              Exactly.

              Dr Ray Stantz:
              Fire and brimstone coming down from the skies. Rivers and seas boiling.

              Dr. Egon Spengler:
              Forty years of darkness. Earthquakes, volcanoes…

              Winston Zeddemore:
              The dead rising from the grave.

              Dr. Peter Venkman:
              Human sacrifice, dogs and cats living together – mass hysteria.

              Nothing about “men in skirts” in there. : )

      2. This “science” is a lot of woke political correct self censorship.
        You have trans men and men – the “software” is the same, the bodies not. And since you live in the software, you have to adopt the body to stay sane. And no, a psychoterapy can’t change this, it was tried often enough.

        Normally trans men remove the ability to birth – it’s a hormonal hell to keep it, since they take testosterone to adjust the body. So they can’t birth anymore. There is no problem with trans men, and normally you won’t even recognize them when you meet one on the street or at work.
        I have 3 as friends, and all are not very political correct. And nobody at work does it know even this.

        If you engage romantically you will have to deal with the speciallities (being bi helps a lot here…), but otherwise it’s no problem at all and I hate all these gender gaps and * writings and all the left fluff around it. That doesn’t help them.

        It’s the same with gay people. The left make a lot of wuss around it, but it’s normal and they have been there in any times. I met even a gay oil worker, working on a platform in the north sea as a mechanic 😉 .

        Here the conservative people should leave their hetero only fortress, too. I can’t stand this bible stuff, too (I’m more with David and Jonathan).

      3. Sprouse, I’m familiar with your point of view as I am gay and know a few transwomen. They will find their place in society, but casting eggshells under everyone’s feet and forcing them to talk a certain way is going to backfire, full stop.

        There is no shame in being a woman, or even being called a woman. Not using the word woman when it is called for is just outright misogyny. The idea that being “misgendered” is some sort of major trauma is a sham. Get over it.

        I mean, really. “Birthing bodies”? It is to laugh.

        1. I hope I made this clear – this casting eggshells is very contraproductive to be polite.

          I had no problem explaining “trans” to a bunch of workers, without the fluff.

  11. This is the nightmare that auto companies never wanted to face. An awesome electric truck. Once some country bois get in one of these things with the expensive tools locked in the frunk, it’s all over for ICE trucks.

    “Have you ever heard of instantaneous torque? You probably associate it with racecars. Well, now you can experience it. This system harnesses the truck’s remarkable 775 pound-feet of torque to make take-offs faster and smoother than you thought possible.”

    https://www.earnhardtford.com/new-ford-f150-lightning-phoenix-az

    1. Right. Ersatz BAU. Nope. They’re not LOUD enough….

      The XLT starts at $54,669 and the Lariat and Platinum versions will be considerably more expensive—a loaded model starts above $92,000.

      My 2018 Nissan Frontier cost 19K.

      1. Nope.

        There is a Porsche patent for a fake exhaust with integrated power speakers. They should license it. You can even change the sound – one day 12 valve, then ferrari or thundercat….

        1. That’s great! They can invent a fake CO2 sequestration device and a fake ice cap re-freezer and a fake coral reviver and a fake species resurrector and a fake ocean de-acidifier to go with it.

          1. Volkswagen and Mercedes already invented fake smog devices. They only work on the dynamometer. So what you describe probably isn’t far in the future, especially since the Chinese are no doubt stealing advanced technology from everyone.

      2. I’ve never spent more than several 1000 on a vehicle. When I was younger my fav second hand car to pick up was a Buick with about 90,000 miles on it and for sale by its original owner who is an elderly person. Buicks are dressed up with a lot of options and the older crowd really bought them up. Lots of good deals in that segment. Same chassis as Malibu, Impala etc.; what they made a lot of taxi cabs from so they wanted durability and high miles. I like to think that buying second hand is one of the reasons I have a good nest egg saved up. Just recently, while in town visiting the significant other, my farm truck was vandalized by attempted theft and the steering column was left beyond repair due to obsolete parts. I was a little pissed off at first. Insurance wrote it off for 5600. I had paid 2600 for it. That cheered me up. I’ll never understand the ostentatious transport crowd.

        1. You can get a complete steering column, including switches and keys, for just about any older truck, for no more than two hundred bucks plus shipping.
          You might have to have the computer reprogrammed if the truck came with a chipped key. That’s maybe a couple of hundred more.

          It’s rare that you have to scrap any serviceable truck due to being unable to find parts to fix it.

          I’ve always made a point of driving older cars and trucks. I’ve never ever made even ONE payment on a car. I bring them home paid for, and earn the rough equivalent of four or five hundred bucks a day in avoided depreciation costs for each day I spend working on them.

      3. You may think an electric truck is not significant, but you’re wrong. Now actual work (instead of just moving people around) in the economy is getting done by electric motors rather than combustion ones. This means an instantaneous fourfold increase in efficiency. For a world on the cusp of major shortages of energy, this will be crucial. Granted most of the power of the typical pickup these days goes to assuaging the egos of the cowardly, but as energy prices increase the opportunity cost of this secondary activity will be too high for it to continue in any meaningful fashion.

        1. Stephen, I don’t think anyone doubts that electric pickup trucks are helpful but when we talk about trucks we usually mean the big 18-wheelers. A battery big enough to haul them cross country would be over half their load.

          1. There are now eight companies marketing/developing electric 18-wheelers.

            1. There are no cross-country electric trucks on the market. Triton has a hybrid hydrogen-electric truck with a range of 300 miles. Volvo has an electric truck with a range of 150 miles. There is no infrastructure to charge trucks every 150 miles. Can you imagine a truck driver who gets paid by the mile who spends far more time charging his truck than driving it?

              It is not just charging stations but charging time that is the Achilles heel of the electric truck. In my opinion, it will never happen. Drivers will never sit for hours to charge their truck.

            2. I saw one discussion where they were talking about having the battery bank in an auxiliary trailer, so rather than sitting and charging your batteries, you just dropped off the battery and picked up a new one.

            3. Driving a truck cross country is kinda dumb anyway. Containers on trains make much more sense. Trucks are most useful for the last mile.

              The vast majority of truck trips are much shorter distances.

            4. The vast majority of truck trips are much shorter distances.

              True, but you are talking about very small trucks. The vast majority of freight is transported by truck, not train. I think it is about 3 to 1. By far, the majority of miles hauled by freight is by trucks.

              I know, I know, it ought to be by train. But “ought to be” is very seldom the way it is.

    2. Global Light vehicles sales may have already peaked in 2018 at about 95 million units/yr.
      -vehicles last much longer than they used to
      -vehicles cost more, while many countries have reached a peak in earning power/capita already
      -fuel costs more
      -some people are delaying a purchase until EV’s get better, like waiting for the next model cell phone or computer

      Someday vehicle sales will be less than 55 million units/yr, like they were at the turn of this century.
      And those vehicles will be nearly 100% electric, for what that is worth.

      1. Ideally, as much as possible of the light vehicle inventory should be moved to be electric as fast as feasible.

        It would not be a 100% target by a long shot as EVs are great in urban settings and less great in rural settings. And also the agricultural sector is not very easy to electrify. Long range heavy trucking is one of the key areas were oil is needed the most. You have the Volvo truck at 20 tons capable of up to 300 km range. In practice it has something like 5 regular 50 kwh battery packs stacked. The charging is possible to get up to less than 1 hour. But the cost of the charging station and the truck itself is going to be very high. For buses it can be justified having a 3 times higher purchasing costs, if fuel costs are going to be substantial less during the lifetime of the battery. Same goes for some trucks. Batteries for heavy transportation has it limits however.

        More likely, the very light end of electric vehicles is going to be more promoted going forward. If you have a 1 ton car with a modest battery (25-30 kwh) with about 200 km range, you would cope pretty good. It would be less costly to set up the charge infrastructure with rapid chargers (30 min -1 hour) and easier to charge fully at night using a modest home charger. It would require that heavier items are transported to your home and that the really long trips are made by other modes of transportation. But there is so much infrastructure in place a lot of places now, that just theses things are going to be less of a problem. So my bet is the scenario you outline, and with more 1 ton EV cars or even less (in very urban settings). A 1 ton car would be a cramped 2-seater (or a 4-seater with absolutely no luggage space). It would work, and the main reasons are that it eases requirements for battery metals and that it accommodates both the urban and suburban lifestyle; in which a lot of sunk infrastructure costs are already invested.

        There would also be much fewer light diesel vehicles being made going forward, due to obvious reasons (the fuel type is needed elsewhere). But still, quite a few petrol based ones I would guess.

    1. Russia and Ukraine are the number one and five largest exporters of grain. A spokesperson for the UN world food program said on TV this week that they are already taking food away from hungry children and giving it to starving children.

        1. It is a painfully complex issue to choose between protecting “our own” and thinking of all mankind as your brothers and sisters. I doubt any ethics environment can clearly define how to handle the dichotomy. Self-reliance is almost universally honored and helping a neighbor who has borne bad luck is too, but when your neighbor has acted recklessly and is suffering as a result, how much do you owe him? Should you sell your Mercedes SUV to feed his children? I am currently re-reading E. F. Schumacher’s “Small Is Beautiful”. Except for some religiosity it is holding up pretty well after almost 50 years.

          1. JJ , what was it in the Bible ” Am I my brothers keeper ? ” Why is Afghanistan the ” Grave of Empires ” ? Understand Pashtunwali . First rule ” me against my brother but my brother and me against the invaders ” . Second rule ” First me , then my family , then my clan, then my tribe and then my nation ” Yes , ” small is beautiful ” we agree on this . ELP ( Economize, Localize . Produce ) is the only narrow alley from where some can escape but for the majority that are not reading POB or other sites are in for hell .
            P.S : ELP is thanks to Jeffery Brown also West Texas .

            1. “West Texas”! Ah, the old days of the original Oil Drum. How long ago was that?
              I suspect we are all in for hell, those of us who live long enough. For me, it’s not so long. My high school class had it’s 60th reunion last summer. Statistically half of us are dead already, certainly many of my friends are. I worry for my children.
              I am certain that those of us who grew up in the years after WW2 and became adults in the late ’50s and early ’60s had the best lives possible for working class humans past or future. Unless, that is, you happened to get shipped to Viet Nam.

            3. Stephen:
              I’m not sure how much better anyone is now than in the period I described. In this country the relative wealth, safety and opportunity of all the groups you mention isn’t much better than in the 60s and the number of people who resent any gains made seems to be more vocal and more connected to sources of power.

    2. You mean farmers will have to stop wasting fertilizer? Shocking!

    1. It was going to be an economic slowdown either way (we are comping against a massive gov’t stimulus response to covid). But with the Fed absolutely committed to tightening – Powell actually compared himself to Volker in the latest meeting – markets are in big big trouble. But they’re trying to counter inflation with Oil (Russia), Food – (Russia and Ukraine), and Housing (tight inventories), and ongoing supply chain (China lockdown) all fairly immune to rate hikes, we are in the world beyond Stagflation. It’s simultaneous disinflation and high inflation. The Fed knows the only way out of this is to crush the job market and demand. The Lord’s work must be done. Supply/Demand magick eight ball doesn’t seem to be working.

  16. FAO Global Food Price Index retreated slightly in April from the all-time high registered in March…

  18. Sigh, on and on it goes.

    BRAZIL’S AMAZON DEFORESTATION HITS APRIL RECORD, NEARLY DOUBLE PREVIOUS PEAK

    In the first 29 days of April, deforestation in the region totaled 1,012.5 sq km (390 sq miles), according to data from national space research agency Inpe. April is the third monthly record this year, after new highs were also observed in January and February. Destruction of the Brazilian Amazon in the first four months of the year also hit a record for the period of 1,954 sq km (754 sq miles), an increase of 69% compared to the same period of 2021 – clearing an area more than double the size of New York City.

    https://ca.yahoo.com/news/brazils-amazon-deforestation-hits-april-143238198.html

  19. Is anybody here paying really close attention to the Ukrainian situation ?

    I can read the news, as well as anybody but most of the good stuff that goes into detail is behind paywalls

    1. Most of us on the site (I believe) are Americans. And that war is, like, really far away. And it hasn’t been “drafted” fully into the culture (war) games – which is all that Americans really care about (at least those that write news articles and do politics). So until Zelensky refuses to stand for his national anthem or something, no one will really care at this point. Though I did see Biden kissing some Javelins on the day Roe doc leaked.

    2. OFM , here are the two websites have been reading over the last 12 years when I need to update on Russia . Away from the crap that MSM and Psaki, Sullivan , Blinken and Kirby spout . History , maps and updates . Serious stuff .
      https://www.moonofalabama.org/
      http://thesaker.is/
      On YT see the following
      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=exubjkiNQhI&ab_channel=smoothieX12
      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6NBRAZvuA6c&ab_channel=AlexanderMercouris
      Also search for Scott Ritter . Authentic ex marine who had the guts to tell the Bush admin that Iraq had no WMD’s .

      1. I also visit Moon Of Alabama on a regular basis.
        German perspective, very well informed.

        A bit of a distant from Bertolt Brecht, but excellent source.

        1. I have never heard of that site but being an Alabamian I decided to check it out.

          They should change their name to “Pro Russian Bullshit Propaganda Blog.” Every article was anti-Ukraine, anti-USA, and Pro Russian bullshit.

          It is beyond me how anyone can support Russia in this invasion of an independent democratic nation. The very idea that the USA is goading Russia into escalating the war is the very stupidest conspiracy theory I ever heard of. It is more unbelievable than believing Jewish space lasers started the California forest fires.

          But I should not be surprised. There are a lot of non-US citizens who hate the USA so much that they will believe any lie that puts the USA in a bad light. And there are a lot of US citizens who hate democracy so much that they want to overthrow the government via a coup and install an ignorant dictor like Putin in place of the democratically elected president.

          1. Agree Ron, it does have a Russian bias.
            But, one can extract info.
            A bit on the Right for my taste also.
            Plus, what is happening in Galicia–Volhynia, and what is happening in Donbas, both in Ukraine, are on two different planets.

          2. Ron , as a someone who knows you since the TOD days I know how hard headed and sensitive you can be when a certain subject does not align with your point of view . These sites were up even before 2014 ” the Maidan coup de etat ” . I have no desire to get into an argument with you knowing your resistance . I will revert to this post when the war is over . Please do not respond because as Alan Watts said ” Be like the cat , withdraw , rest and then walk away ” and that is what I am going to do .

            1. Alan Watts was my scholar in residence for a year.
              Once a week, one never knew what would happen in class.
              Never happen in todays corporate University world.

            2. HT , you are lucky to have met him in person , unfortunately I can only read his books . I envy you .

            3. Yep, Higher Education in California in the 60’s.
              A place long, long ago, never to be traveled again.

            4. No, it is my privilege, my duty, even my obligation, to respond so I will. Why did you bring that 2014 event up? Oh, I know that is your justification for the Putin invasion. That is justification for Putin bombing hospitals and schools. “Damn those Ukrainians, for such a dradastardly event they all deserve to die!” Bullshit, that is fake news and I am shocked that anyone with any common sense would buy into it.

              The Maidan in 2014 is a coup d’etat: a review of Italian and German pro-Russian media VoxCheck Team

              If you would just do a little Vox Checking yourself HinH, you would not spread such bullshit. What you are reading is Russian propaganda and those sites are spreading bullshit. It is Fake News as this site clearly explains. But I know you do not want the facts, you only want to read “hate Ukraine, hate America, love Putin bullshit.”

              America will survive a wannabe little Hitler like Trump. But I don’t know if we can survive a madman like Putin. He has his finger on the nuclear button and he is just crazy enough to use it. I wish people would please stop defending him. It scares the hell out of me.

    3. The RSOTM Telegram channel run by Wagner private military contractors currently in Ukraine said that either “there will be a mobilization or we will lose the war.” They think they need 600-800k people to defeat Ukraine.

      t.me/grey_zone/13960

      1. Survivalist , private military contractor = mercenaries = soldiers of fortune = more war = more profit for the contractor . Not going to explain more .

    4. OFM —
      You can follow the war in Ukraine in almost real time by checking out the FIRMS website, which tracks satellite data on fires worldwide.
      This view shows that most nearly all the fighting is happening in the long narrow area between Severodonetsk and Izyum.

      https://firms.modaps.eosdis.nasa.gov/map/#m:tsd;d:2022-05-06..2022-05-07,2022-05-06;@37.7,49.2,9z

      You can also see that there is a surprisingly large amount of fires in southwestern Russia, that nothing is happening in Kherson, and that the shelling of Kharkiv has mostly ended as the Ukrainians have pushed the Russians out of range.

  24. Ron said this upthread someplace.
    “America will survive a wannabe little Hitler like Trump. But I don’t know if we can survive a madman like Putin. He has his finger on the nuclear button and he is just crazy enough to use it. I wish people would please stop defending him. It scares the hell out of me.”

    I totally agree with Ron.

  25. India invokes emergency law reopening 100+ coal mines as power demand hits record with fuel inventories plummeting .
    Burn baby burn .

  26. Wind and solar beat nuclear and coal in US for first time in April

    April was a milestone month for utility-scale wind and solar generation in the U.S. For the first time, the two renewable resources generated more electricity than coal or nuclear power.

    According to data from the Energy Information Administration, utility-scale wind and solar produced 57.73 million megawatt-hours (MWh) during the month, while coal and nuclear both generated less than 56 million MWh.

    Gas remained the No. 1 source of electricity during the month, producing 95.61 million MWh.

    The April numbers for wind and solar mark an important step in the transition to a cleaner grid across the U.S., and highlight the rapid growth in the two resources over the past two years.

  29. EARTH’S CARBON DIOXIDE LEVELS HIT THE HIGHEST RECORDED LEVEL IN HUMAN HISTORY

    For the first time on record, monthly average carbon dioxide (CO2) levels exceeded 420 parts per million (ppm) in April, their highest peak since accurate measurements began 64 years ago. They even reached 421.33 ppm on one day last week, as greenhouse gas emissions continue to soar around the world.

    https://www.msn.com/en-us/weather/topstories/earths-co2-hits-highest-recorded-level-in-human-history/ar-AAX4004

  30. I have often mentioned my personal belief that the inevitable hard crash headed our way will arrive piecemeal in time and place, that there is no longer any significant carry over of grain from one year to the next, on a global basis, that when a major crop failure occurs in one of the world’s big bread baskets, there probably won’t be good will enough to make up the shortage by way of eating down the ladder in richer countries,giving up meat so that starving people can have bread……………….

    This year could be the year. It’s very likely Ukrainians will produce a smaller than average wheat crop, given the war.

    I haven’t heard much yet about the Russian crop. It’s not very likely that the war will have much effect on Russian farmers, other than maybe some younger guys being drafted and possible shortages of imported machinery and spare parts.

    https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2022/05/india-heat-wave-climate-change/629786/
    https://www.cnbc.com/2022/04/27/heat-wave-in-india-threatens-residents-and-crucial-wheat-harvest.html

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