56 thoughts to “Open Thread Non-Petroleum, September 18, 2022”

  1. The Texas High Plains accounts for…
    — 66% of the state’s cotton yield
    — More than 33% of the nation’s cotton yield
    — 4% of the global cotton yield
    Now, Texas cotton farmers are facing more than $2 billion in losses due to drought and extreme heat.

    https://www.texastribune.org/2022/08/31/texas-drought-cotton-farming-economy/

    Drought and heat wave take toll on paddy crop
    https://kathmandupost.com/money/2022/09/17/drought-and-heat-wave-take-toll-on-paddy-crop

    Europe’s high mortality in July may be linked to heatwave – Eurostat
    https://english.almayadeen.net/news/health/europes-high-mortality-in-july-may-be-linked-to-heatwave—e

    This ain’t gonna buff out.

  2. The North Seas Energy Cooperation (NSEC) consists of nine countries – Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Ireland, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, and Sweden –have announced this week a target to reach at least 260GW of offshore wind energy by 2050.

    https://reneweconomy.com.au/nine-north-seas-countries-target-260gw-of-offshore-wind-by-2050/

    It is not a perfect subsitute for fossil fuels, but when you have very reliable good wind resources near you, it is there begging for investment. Almost every good location offshore with good wind conditions now have plans for offshore windfarms. All over the globe. That is if it is a ground fast wind farm at below 60 meter depth, which is easier by design than the floating wind farms. That tells a story that the volume of energy combined with reliability of offshore windfarms is good enough for just about every prosperious country to invest in at the moment.

    https://globalwindatlas.info/

    It is an open question how much it is possible to electrify the economy. Given that electricity is very efficient to its end application (especially in the form of mechanical energy); renewable energy could potentially get over 50% of needed supply and then struggle due to grid issues and the inherent difficult parts of the industry to decarbonise.

      1. Hickory,
        I am not singling you out with this comment, but the assertion that the “grid and storage mechanisms will have to undergo a major transformation” type of thinking is almost the universal lens through which almost everyone views the energy problem. While we will certainly throw a pile of money in that direction and make some measure of progress, I submit that in the end it will be large structural changes in the way society manages the flow of labor that will change. Gone will be the structured 5 day, 40 hr work week. When the wind blows and the sun shines you will work the electrified jobs. When it doesn’t you will likely work in manual agricultural jobs or do hand work. And you will be grateful to be able to do either. Europe had over 10,000 windmills back before the fossil fuel era and their history is fascinating. how did they manage them? Using wind to directly drive the production process locally is immensely more efficient when you cut out ac/dc conversion and transmission losses. In a world of scarce energy it is that direction that needs to be pushed. There will be violent upheavals in the structure of society. The answer will not look at all like how we work and travel and trade today. In my humble opinion of course.

  3. Pay attention to what’s going on with crops. This is what climate scientists and financial risk analysts describe as “multiple breadbasket failure”, and it’s happening way sooner than was predicted.

    Will the world’s breadbaskets become less reliable?
    https://www.mckinsey.com/capabilities/sustainability/our-insights/will-the-worlds-breadbaskets-become-less-reliable

    Increasing risks of crop failure and water scarcity in global breadbaskets by 2030
    https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1748-9326/ac22c1

    The risk and consequences of multiple breadbasket failures: an integrated copula and multilayer agent-based modeling approach
    https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00291-020-00574-0

    Increasing risks of multiple breadbasket failure under 1.5 and 2 °C global warming
    http://www.regionalclimateperspectives.com/uploads/4/4/2/5/44250401/gauppetal2019multiplebreadbasketfailure.pdf

    The Risks of Multiple Breadbasket Failures in the 21st Century: A Science Research Agenda
    https://www.bu.edu/pardee/the-risks-of-multiple-breadbasket-failures-in-the-21st-century-a-science-research-agenda/

    Just wait until Alex Jones and the MAGA Qtards starts calling bankrupt farmers crisis actors.

    1. Has there ever been an attempt at putting all the threats to agriculture together: loss of yield and nutritional value from rising average temperatures; volatility from floods, droughts and heatwaves; effects of loss of biodiversity; invasive species; loss of soil from erosion and salinisation; exhaustion of irrigation aquifers; lack of fertilisers; lack of diesel; reduction in work hours from high wet bulb temperatures; societal unrest; etc. My guess is the whole will be much worse than the sum of parts, but maybe you “starvation” sums it all up.

      1. If there has been an attempt I don’t know of it.
        I’m sluicing through aggregate articles like this that perhaps have more details in the sources/links.

        https://farmtogether.com/learn/blog/global-threats-on-agriculture

        The long-winded title sounds comprehensive

        Future threats to agricultural food production posed by environmental degradation, climate change, and animal and plant diseases – a risk analysis in three economic and climate settings
        https://www.researchgate.net/publication/271914493_Future_threats_to_agricultural_food_production_posed_by_environmental_degradation_climate_change_and_animal_and_plant_diseases_-_a_risk_analysis_in_three_economic_and_climate_settings

        What Shall We Do Now?
        https://youtu.be/CS_FCbQ-okM

        1. I’m just a gardener and I like predictable weather/climate as do my plants. In 2021 there there was an unusual warm spell in February and most of my fruit trees and bushes had little or no crop. June normally gets almost 6 inches in multiple showers but had less than 1/2 inch in 2021. I got almost no vegetable crops. [note: I did get a crop from one corn variety, Looney dent corn.]
          https://www.southernexposure.com/products/looney-dent-corn/
          This year June was even hotter and drier. Not much production but Looney again set a crop.

          I know that farmers will be facing terrible losses in the future from weather disasters as well as increasing seed, fertilizer, and monsanto costs. When farmers can’t grow crops, people starve.

          1. We have a small apple farm in the Northeast. There has been a noticeable difference in climate over the last six years or so: Springs are catastrophically dry and hot. Dry spells are to be expected–in the summer. Not having rain in April, or May, or June wreaks havoc. Pollination is affected: in hot weather, pollen becomes less viable. Drought stress causes trees to shed fruit during “June drop.” Newly planted trees have to be constantly watered. Water-deprived mammals (porcupines, deer) discover orchards and tear them apart.

            One thing I have noticed: While the newspapers get around to reporting dry condition once summer arrives, no one is talking about the overall change in New England climate. One expects the period from March to June to be cool and wet up here. Not anymore.

      2. “been an attempt at putting all the threats to agriculture together”
        There is a lot of high level Ag ecology and modeling work in the world, but I don’t think we can expect clear results from such an analysis attempt of so many factors each with so many unmeasurable variable trends.
        But the overall vulnerability is certainly a big deal.

  4. Radio Ecoshock is back after its summer break. It is very dry with a series of interviews with scientists discussing their latest results but I find it the roomiest climate and environment focussed podcast around. I’d say without exception the results discussed are worse (usually much worse) than expected. There is rarely an attempt to suggest solutions now (why would we expect any from people whose expertise is in a completely different field) and the “it’s still not too late” crowd either don’t get asked or refuse (they would have to face some very probing and perspicacious questions).

    The most recent broadcast had two particularly troubling pieces. One suggests a mechanism for sudden methane release from hydrates (like permafrost thaw, that has recently become an imminent tipping point threat, this has been dismissed as unlikely or too slow to be of concern) and one on how passing the Paris limits is mostly invertible and earlier than previously thought.

    https://www.ecoshock.org

  5. I believe we are looking at record electricity production from solar PV in Australia today (Monday Sept. 19) following this article from yesterday (Sunday Sept. 18):

    Wind and solar records tumble again, as coal and fossil fuels hit another low

    Records have tumbled again across Australia’s main grid in the past few days, with new benchmarks set for the share of renewables, the share of wind and solar, the lowest level for coal, and output records in multiple states.

    The new records tell an uplifting story of the continuing renewable energy transition in Australia, but also point to some of the deficiencies, with record levels of enforced curtailment of wind and solar in South Australia speaking to the investment needed in storage, load management and new technologies such as green hydrogen.

    Saturday was the scene of multiple records, with the share of renewables in the National Electricity Market, the main grid that includes all states except Western Australia, leaping to 64.34 per cent at 10.45am on Saturday, bettering the 62.94 per cent level reached just two days earlier.

    On Sunday, those records were broken again, with the share of renewables jumping to 64.6 per cent.

    Other records identified by data analysts GPE Nemlog2 include the share of wind and solar (i.e. not including hydro), which reached a new peak of 61.84 per cent at 12.05pm, beating the previous peak of 60.95 per cent set on November 11 last year. Wind alone hit a new record high share of 35.92 per cent early on Sunday morning.

    So Much for the naysayers that said that “too much renewables” would destabilize the grid. From the table beside the graph below rooftop and utility scale solar were providing 51% of the power at 1:30 PM AEST. Germany has also observed more than half of their mid day electricity coming from solar as has the state of California. I am curious about when we will see a major developed country satisfying 100% of their mid day electricity demand from solar alone. On October 12 2020 it was reported that the state of South Australia met 100% of their mid day demand with solar alone ( https://reneweconomy.com.au/solar-meets-100-per-cent-of-south-australia-demand-for-first-time-78279/ ) but, South Australia barely qualifies as a gigawatt scale grid.

    Germany and California both have neighbors that they can import electricity from and export electricity to so it will be interesting to see how isolated grids like Texas cope with increasing amounts of solar. Western Australia might be a good indicator but, again it is a rather small grid. See: Rooftop solar reaches 72 per cent of demand in world’s biggest isolated grid

    1. Solar was looking pretty good there for a few hours on Monday afternoon.

      “Fossil fuels contributed 71% of total electricity generation in 2021, including coal (51%), gas (18%) and oil (2%).”… “Renewables contributed 29% of total electricity generation in 2021, specifically solar (12%), wind (10%) and hydro (6%).”
      https://www.energy.gov.au/data/electricity-generation

    2. Islandboy —

      Yes, more production from solar PV in Australia makes it easier for them to maintain, or increase, their fossil fuel exports (mainly coal and natural gas).

      The new Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has assured the resources industry that the country will remain a major exporter of fossil fuels under his leadership. In a speech to the Australian Minerals Industry Parliamentary dinner, Albanese said the federal government would work with the industry to lower its emissions but had no intention to limit coal and gas exports.

      2. “had no intention to limit coal and gas exports”

        Doug- Could you remind me if any countries have signaled intention to limit their coal and gas exports?
        Perhaps there is an exception that I cannot recall, but it seems that the world wide trend is for any country with fossil solar energy to have a robust export ambition if they have enough of the stuff.
        The big players in the industries generally have their way with the rules,
        despite what the general citizenry may prefer be policy.

        For example US coal production has dropped by roughly 1/2 in the past 15 years, while the % for export has increased from 4 to 16% in the past 20 years.

        2. HICKORY —

          Doug- Could you remind me if any countries have signaled intention to limit their coal and gas exports?

          Well their are probably a couple out there, smaller players. Gives the Green Washers something to rattle on about.

          1. Russian exports are down but for other reasons. Yet the results are good. It is becoming increasingly obvious to Europeans that the Russians are not to be trusted and they are being forced to look at alternatives including renewables.

      3. How much longer before the countries that are increasing their consumption of coal realize that even where it is “made” (Australia), using coal to generate electricity results in more expensive electricity than that produced by renewables?

        As the cost of renewables and storage continue to fall how much longer before the countries currently using coal seek to take advantage of the lower costs?

        1. “Too little too late” pretty much says it all, in terms of the global environment and climate, but it’s NOT too late for the richer western countries to break the fossil fuel habit and free themselves from the clutches of exporters such as Russia and Saudi Arabia .

          The question is not whether it can be done. If countries such as the USA and Canada in particular keep the pedal to the metal, there’s more than enough affordable fossil fuel to manage the transition over the next few decades.

          If we elect enough Democrats to maintain control of the federal government in November, the odds of success will be substantially better, because they will keep the pedal floored, to the extent it’s politically possible.

          And in another year or two or three, the typical man on the street is hopefully going to come to understand that renewable energy, and energy conservation, is very much in his own best long term interest.

          I’m doing all I can, as an individual, to help my poorly educated neighbors understand that renewable electricity is in their best interests……… but it’s a slow job.

          It took two generations for them to come to understand and then finally ADMIT and SAY PUBLICLY that tobacco is a killer, with a dozen or more known to me personally dying from smoking WITHOUT acknowledging that now obvious truth to themselves, or to their families.

          The tobacco industry’s FUD campaign worked extraordinarily well, and the fossil fuel industry’s FUD campaign is obviously working rather well too.

          For now there are hundreds of thousands if not millions of trolls on social media lying about the cost and practicality of renewable energy, and millions of brain washed and ill informed people who are convinced renewable energy is one, a libtard plot to take away their freedoms and run their lives, and two, a tax payer funded boondoggle that’s breaking us rather than potentially saving us.

          So now the troll’s biggest argument seems to be that if renewable energy is cheaper, why is electricity more expensive when there’s lots of renewable electricity on the grid?

          They’re counting on Joe and Sue Sixpack just jumping to the conclusion, without checking anything, that renewable electricity is a BAD THING.

          I’m having some success, on a quiet face to face basis, explaining to them that if they have a gas hog car, and trade it off for one that gets twice the mpg, it’s still going to cost them more, on a monthly basis, than driving the old car………. until they make the last payment.

          They don’t have any problem understanding this sort of talk……. if you can ever get them to listen.

  6. CO2 maintaining healthy growth. 😉

    Sep. 18, 2022 416.00 ppm
    Sep. 18, 2021 413.20 ppm
    1 Year Change 2.80 ppm (0.68%)

      1. Rising CO2 levels mean trees increasingly live fast and die young
        https://www.newscientist.com/article/2253908-rising-co2-levels-mean-trees-increasingly-live-fast-and-die-young/

        Plants love carbon dioxide, but too much could be bad for them
        https://www.newscientist.com/article/2166918-plants-love-carbon-dioxide-but-too-much-could-be-bad-for-them/

        As Carbon Dioxide Grows, Tropical Trees Do Not
        https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/as-carbon-dioxide-grows-tropical-trees-do-not/

        Sucking CO2 from the Air Would Not Halt Effects of Global Warming
        https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/sucking-co2-from-the-air-would-not-halt-effects-of-global-warming/

    2. 64°F°C
      Precipitation: 0%
      Humidity: 39%
      Wind: 16 mph
      Kamloops, BC, Canada
      Monday 5:00 PM
      Mostly cloudy

      77°F°C
      Precipitation: 0%
      Humidity: 33%
      Wind: 6 mph
      Spokane, WA
      Monday
      Clear with periodic clouds

      73°F°C
      Precipitation: 0%
      Humidity: 40%
      Wind: 9 mph
      Tacoma, WA
      Monday
      Clear

      75°F°C
      Precipitation: 10%
      Humidity: 68%
      Wind: 12 mph
      Huntington Beach, CA
      Monday
      Partly cloudy

  7. FAO’s Maximo Torero Cullen discusses how global food supply difficulties could tip into a full-blown catastrophe
    https://www.imf.org/en/Publications/fandd/issues/2022/09/Cafe-Econ-a-looming-Food-Crisis

    Editorial- Approaching peak phosphorus- published 15 September 2022
    https://www.nature.com/articles/s41477-022-01247-2

    Long-term probabilistic temperature projections for all locations – published 12 August 2022
    https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00382-022-06441-8

    Warmer climate will dramatically increase the volatility of global corn crops – published 11 June 2018
    https://www.washington.edu/news/2018/06/11/warmer-climate-will-dramatically-increase-the-volatility-of-global-corn-crops/

    “New research from the University of Washington and Harvard University gives a range of heat impacts worldwide by the end of this century, depending on future emissions of greenhouse gases.”
    https://www.washington.edu/news/2022/08/25/dangerous-and-extremely-dangerous-heat-stress-to-become-more-common-by-2100/

    The new research:
    Probabilistic projections of increased heat stress driven by climate change – published 25 August 2022
    https://www.nature.com/articles/s43247-022-00524-4

    Interview with David Battisti regarding the new research linked above:
    https://theconversation.com/if-you-thought-this-summers-heat-waves-were-bad-a-new-study-has-some-disturbing-news-about-dangerous-heat-in-the-future-189370

    1. “We are Heading in the Wrong Direction – published 13 September 2022”

      No shit. I knew this back in 1976.

  11. This was in the Times this morning (behind paywall)

    Lithium shortages ‘will mean cars must switch to hydrogen’

    The government-backed agency helping to fund the motor industry towards a zero-emission future has warned that with likely shortages of lithium for electric battery production, Britain must lead a transition to hydrogen fuel cell vehicles.
    The latest quarterly update from the Advanced Propulsion Centre states that expected shortages of battery-grade lithium in this decade mean domestic manufacturers must prepare to “mitigate” against lacking supplies and to “diversify powertrain choice in the short to medium term”.
    It does not expect smaller cars to be switched to hydrogen fuel cells, as battery technology works well in lighter vehicles, but it believes that as many as 75 per cent of the largest and luxury cars on the road — vehicles such as the BMW 7 Series, the Mercedes S Class and the typical output of Rolls-Royce Motor Cars and Bentley Motors — could switch away from electric, with half being moved into running on power from hydrogen fuel cells.

    That is probably because of the relatively small production runs of such top-end models, the Advanced Propulsion Centre report said. Bentley and Rolls produce only 20,000 cars a year between them. In these vehicles, fuel cells will be more cost-effective than large battery packs and will deliver the driving range required.
    The taxpayer-funded centre believes it will be a similar story in the sports utility vehicle/four-wheel drive segment, with half of volumes switching away from batteries-only and of that, 20 per cent moving to hydrogen fuel cells. Its report says the dimensions of such vehicles make fuel cells more compatible. The same could be true for larger vans.

    …

    https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/lithium-shortages-will-mean-cars-must-switch-to-hydrogen-dvblsczq9

  12. So, a gentle update, the UN’s annual Production Gap assessment last year found that governments plan to burn more than twice the fossil fuels by 2030 that would be consistent with a 1.5C world.

    FOSSIL FUEL RESERVES CONTAIN 3.5 TN TONNES OF CO2

    “The United Nations estimates that Earth’s remaining carbon budget—how much more pollution we can add to the atmosphere before the 1.5C temperature goal of the Paris Agreement is missed—to be around 360 billion tonnes of CO2 equivalent, or nine years at current emission levels.”

    https://phys.org/news/2022-09-fossil-fuel-reserves-tn-tonnes.html

    1. Weekly earnings, adjusted for inflation, decreased by 3.4 percent from August 2021 to August 2022, and real hourly earnings fell by 2.8 percent in the same period. Hourly earnings, adjusted for inflation, have fallen for the past 17 months. The lopsided priorities — billions of dollars in “security assistance” being sent to Ukraine by the Biden administration and other NATO members — predictably saw Russia slash gas supplies to Europe. Russia will not resume the flow until sanctions imposed on the country are lifted. Russia provides 9 percent of European Union (EU) gas imports, down from 40 percent before the invasion.

      We shall see—-

      Hedges view:
      http://www.smirkingchimp.com/thread/chris-hedges/103246/strike-strike-strike

      1. Russia is perhaps also worth considering in the context of its fertilizer exports.
        https://www.statista.com/statistics/1278057/export-value-fertilizers-worldwide-by-country/

        … and that agriculture powerhouses like Brazil are big fertilizer importers.
        https://www.statista.com/statistics/1278061/import-value-fertilizers-worldwide-by-country/

        “In 2020, Brazil imported $7.82B in Fertilizers, becoming the 1st largest importer of Fertilizers in the world. At the same year, Fertilizers was the 6th most imported product in Brazil. Brazil imports Fertilizers primarily from: Russia ($1.43B), Morocco ($904M), Canada ($738M), United States ($700M), and China ($617M).”
        https://oec.world/en/profile/bilateral-product/fertilizers/reporter/bra?redirect=true

        Brazil too important a food producer to depend on fertilizer imports, industry says
        “Brazil imports about 85% of the fertilizer it requires”
        https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/brazil-too-important-food-producer-depend-fertilizer-imports-industry-says-2022-08-23/

        Brazil’s Petrobras puts potash mining rights up for sale
        https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/brazils-petrobras-puts-potassium-mining-rights-up-sale-2022-08-11/

        Brazil chemical maker Unigel interested in Petrobras’ fertilizer project -CEO

        https://www.reuters.com/business/brazil-chemical-maker-unigel-interested-petrobras-fertilizer-project-ceo-2022-04-29/

        ‘There’s great potential for Brazil to achieve phosphate and potassium self-sufficiency’

        https://www.bnamericas.com/en/interviews/theres-great-potential-for-brazil-to-achieve-phosphate-and-potassium-self-sufficiency

    2. Hi Doug,
      There’s not much I can do to help solve the climate crisis other than vote blue and help get the word out at every opportunity.
      But there’s a couple of things I can do to perhaps make it a little easier on the next couple of generations.

      I’m putting in a pecan grove, and propagating figs and passing them out, free, to everybody I know. My place is extreme borderline for both species, in terms of yields, but the trees themselves do ok.

      If it warms up just a little bit more, both trees will produce a good crop at least half the time, and if ( meaning WHEN) we get South Carolina weather here, another hundred twenty five miles north, we’ll get good yields.

  13. GFS and ECMWF are both forecasting Hurricane Fiona to strike Nova Scotia Canada as a major hurricane.
    I wonder if Fiona might make it to Greenland?

    1. Yes, the models show Fiona ending up at the southern tip of Greenland next Monday or so. It will be much weaker by then, but will still have gale force winds.

      1. I think the bigger news is likely to be about Hermine. It is likely to form and get to Cuba as a hurricane and could enter the Gulf, where sea surface temperatures and ocean heat content are as high as they’ve ever been, without crossing land. It’s still a couple of weeks out but if I could get decent odds I’d bet on it making landfall as a major hurricane and having the name retired. And there’s a train of potential storms behind it which would be on similar tracks, so if not Hermine then something in October.

        1. In other words, there’s a possibility of an active tropical storm regime being Biden’s October Surprise. 😬

    1. Thanks but not impressed. The narrator is choosing to use aggregate data, not per capita data, skewing the picture significantly. Also no mention of decades and decades of pollution before Asia (and China) became industrialized, also no mention of the fact that China to a large degree acts as an outsourced manufacturing hub – anytime a country imports a good it exports pollution.

      rgds
      WP

        1. I have no confidence that the US or China will make bright decisions on Taiwan.
          Watch out.

          thanks for the reading suggestions- very good

  15. Wednesday morning trivia.

    SCIENTISTS EXPOSE VULNERABILITIES OF CRITICAL ANTARCTIC ICE SHELF

    Pine Island Ice Shelf in West Antarctica, which holds back enough ice to raise sea levels by 0.5 meters, could be more vulnerable to complete disintegration than previously thought. A new study led by British Antarctic Survey (BAS) scientists shows two processes, whose recent enhancement already threatens the stability of the shelf can interact to increase the likelihood of collapse.

    Scientists have previously observed that Pine Island Ice Shelf is becoming increasingly fragile due to two processes: enhanced thinning, as a result of an increase in ice shelf melting into the sea, and an increase in calving events in which masses of ice break off into icebergs. Now, a team of researchers has shown that the combination of calving and melting will likely make an even greater contribution to melting of Pine Island Ice Shelf than was assumed.

    https://phys.org/news/2022-09-scientists-expose-vulnerabilities-critical-antarctic.html

  16. Check out the 3 day max 2 meter temperature forecast map for southern Greenland.
    https://climatereanalyzer.org/wx_frames/gfs/ds/gfs_arc-lea_t2max_3-day.png

    And the 5 day
    https://climatereanalyzer.org/wx_frames/gfs/ds/gfs_arc-lea_t2max_5-day.png

    And the 10 day
    https://climatereanalyzer.org/wx_frames/gfs/ds/gfs_arc-lea_t2max_10-day.png

    And the jet stream forecast
    https://www.netweather.tv/charts-and-data/jetstream

    It’s gonna be quite a week on the Greenland ice sheet.

    http://nsidc.org/greenland-today/

  19. Hurricane Fiona is 60 hrs away from becoming the strongest (lowest pressure) storm in recorded history to strike Canada. Reliable model forecasts show Post Tropical Cyclone Fiona at least 10 millibars lower than the Candian record of 940MB.

  20. Most Republicans Support Declaring the United States a Christian Nation

    Christian nationalism, a belief that the United States was founded as a white, Christian nation and that there is no separation between church and state, is gaining steam on the right.

    Prominent Republican politicians have made the themes critical to their message to voters in the run up to the 2022 midterm elections. Doug Mastriano, the Republican nominee for governor in Pennsylvania, has argued that America is a Christian nation and that the separation of church and state is a “myth.” Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, the Georgia hard-liner, declared: “We need to be the party of nationalism and I’m a Christian, and I say it proudly, we should be Christian Nationalists.” Amid a backlash, she doubled down and announced she would start selling “Christian Nationalist” shirts. Now Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis seems to be flirting with Christian nationalist rhetoric, as well.

    2. It is amazing to see so many willing to flirt with the edge of the cliff.
      Its a tiny step from this position toward a fall from democracy down into a combined state of fascism, autocracy, and theocracy. Don’t think you can just climb out of that sewer when you wake up to see what you’ve done.
      When you roll these dice you really don’t know what you’ll get, as those in Germany in the early 1930’s found out.
      Or the Russians, the N.Koreans, the Iranians or the Chinese.
      Republicans (vast majority and smaller portion of Democrats and ‘Independents’) seem eager to find out.
      Were they all absent from history class?

      1. I think Dostoevsky had a point:

        “In short, one may say anything about the history of the world–anything that might enter the most disordered imagination. The only thing one can’t say is that it’s rational. The very word sticks in one’s throat.”

  21. Good presentation about the looming labor crisis in the US.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w05QgHwq8Ig&ab_channel=Lightcast

    This will be filled by poor people moving into the market, even though their birth rates are falling.

    Another issue is how unattractive a lot of jobs are. Fast food jobs in America suck, because nobody sees the idea of flipping burgers as attractive. But Japan is full of restaurants run by people fanatical about making the best noodles or sushi or whatever in the world. That keeps the workers in the market.

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