Thanks, Simon! It's a gorgeous day in the DMV and I hope you can get outside and enjoy it some.
I've been worried about the state of our grid for decades. Distributed generation can help, but can also put new strains on the grid. There's so much we should be working on, but instead we've spent a decade just trying to stop the toddler from running around the room pulling things off shelves.
I called Congressman Raskin and Senators Alsobrooks and Van Hollen to say that the president is not in touch with reality and needs to be removed. I'm writing postcards to Ohio voters today.
Decades ago China started making fertilizers out of its own coal and now makes most of the fertilizer it needs. Meanwhile, Trump's "beautiful coal" is being wasted on dirty energy production.
We can use natural gas. I don’t know how dependent we are on fertilizer from the Middle East. Like everything else it is a global market. But we have relatively abundant natural gas. Using coal just sounds like a terrible idea.
Let's keep the focus on what a titanic disaster Trump is and also what a total mess the Republican party is, rather than wasting time with the little squabbles and infighting about this or that Democrat, who may have 'disappointed' someone on any given day.
And just for reference, this is the current state of the President of the United States of America.
I'm calling my MoCS right now to highlight Sheldon Whitehouse's comments ('not one damn penny") to get on board and push for no military budget unless support for Ukraine is part of the deal. Good to see that people like (R) Don Bacon are also making noise on this.
Comprehensive and inspiring, Simon, thank you. Re: global food supply and agriculture: one of our candidates, Jamie Ager, NC-11, a fourth generation farmer, has worked all his life in sustainable, indeed, regenerative agriculture. Regenerative agriculture practices regenerate the soil and water systems. here's one link
I've been hoping for time to write more about this with links, especially inspiring the before and after, but won't have time for a while yet - perhaps someone, looking at you, Bison Doc, would like to weigh in here?
The war against the child molester President will be won when he and all of his enablers are rotting in prison. Anyone who benefited from Trump’s heinous crimes must be held to account.
Rebecca Solnit pointed out this year’s Pulitzers were especially admirable at rewarding the strong journalism we so desperately need. I was surprised WaPo won. I keep thinking about canceling but they’re still doing good work.
Very good analysis. The growing interactions/alliance between the Middle East and Ukraine, especially in the area of drone technology, might play a part in funding Ukraine's war against Russia. ETTD.
Krugman's article is very important. Again, it proves ETTD. The petrochemical companies and corrupt petrostates wanted Trump. He's accidentally accelerating a transition to clean energy.
Food security is extremely important, and I think we might have short-term issues. As for "non petroleum" technology for nitrate fertilizers, I'm not sure what that would mean. Breaking N2 molecules is extremely hard to do, which is why the Haber-Bosch process is so energy intensive. I did see some interesting work being done at MIT to use iron-rich olivine minerals (a large fraction of the Earth's crust and mantle is olivine) to catalyze ammonia production. So there may be some way forward there. I haven't read the MIT papers yet carefully. But people have been looking at alternate routes to ammonia production-- and it is very hard to do.
If all else fails, we can fall back to an economy centered of exports of steaks and vodka.
I am back from my work trip, getting recovered from a cold I managed to contract, and tonight I will start up with some post carding. Looking forward to Wednesday with Hopium.
I am stunned that both House and Senate Democrats and pundits like Simon are accepting Trump's defense budget of $1.5T. That is a 50% increase with NO justification whatsoever over a $1.0T budget that is already bloated beyond belief. Jeffries and Schumer should be screaming it is DOA for such a ludicrous proposal. It's probably stuffed full of things like battleships and aircraft carriers when the new war will be fought with drones and droids. This is INSANITY.
Even supporting Ukraine, which we should, that is no justification for the obscene amount that trump wants for the department of war, especially when his own family is now benefitting from dod contracts. If we had not wasted so many munitions blowing up small boats in the Carribbean and this ridiculous war, they would not even need half of that amount. We spend way too much on the military (but not salaries) and too little on the things people really need, like food assistance, ACA assistance etc. Eisenhower warned about the military industrial complex and we are caught it in big time. Further our military needs to take a page out of the Ukraine play book and start using much cheaper munitions like drones to take down drones not expensive missiles. In the 1960s when I took a political science course on military procurement, the military was spending way to much for things like hammers and toilet seats! That was nearly sixty years ago, I can only imagine how much worse it is now. And in the midst of this our deployed soldiers are hungry.
Really interesting discussion between Greg Sargent (The New Republic) and Max Flugrath (voting rights group Fair Fight Action) about the redistricting 'battle' if anyone is interested.
Thanks, Simon! It's a gorgeous day in the DMV and I hope you can get outside and enjoy it some.
I've been worried about the state of our grid for decades. Distributed generation can help, but can also put new strains on the grid. There's so much we should be working on, but instead we've spent a decade just trying to stop the toddler from running around the room pulling things off shelves.
I called Congressman Raskin and Senators Alsobrooks and Van Hollen to say that the president is not in touch with reality and needs to be removed. I'm writing postcards to Ohio voters today.
Decades ago China started making fertilizers out of its own coal and now makes most of the fertilizer it needs. Meanwhile, Trump's "beautiful coal" is being wasted on dirty energy production.
Thanks, I had not heard of this before. Here's a reference.
https://www.reuters.com/graphics/IRAN-CRISIS/CHINA-UREA/zgpolzxlqvd/
wow nice!
Reuters is where I saw it a couple of weeks ago.
Using coal to make fertilizer is also going to be very dirty.
Better or worse than shipping it from the middle east? And either way, is there any alternative for making the fertilizer we need?
We can use natural gas. I don’t know how dependent we are on fertilizer from the Middle East. Like everything else it is a global market. But we have relatively abundant natural gas. Using coal just sounds like a terrible idea.
Great post Simon.
Let's keep the focus on what a titanic disaster Trump is and also what a total mess the Republican party is, rather than wasting time with the little squabbles and infighting about this or that Democrat, who may have 'disappointed' someone on any given day.
And just for reference, this is the current state of the President of the United States of America.
https://bsky.app/profile/ronfilipkowski.bsky.social/post/3ml3wbta5os2n
It is not pretty and in fact it's very, very concerning!!
What goes on in his head and comes out of his mouth is most concerning.
I keep wondering how much money the Republican Senators made with the stock market since the Iran War every time one speaks or doesn’t.
There is also a way to use hydrogen, from water, to power cars. The man who invented it was killed. Information about this is on YouTube.
I'm calling my MoCS right now to highlight Sheldon Whitehouse's comments ('not one damn penny") to get on board and push for no military budget unless support for Ukraine is part of the deal. Good to see that people like (R) Don Bacon are also making noise on this.
Start writing a version of Project 2029 for the coming Democratic victories to work from.
Comprehensive and inspiring, Simon, thank you. Re: global food supply and agriculture: one of our candidates, Jamie Ager, NC-11, a fourth generation farmer, has worked all his life in sustainable, indeed, regenerative agriculture. Regenerative agriculture practices regenerate the soil and water systems. here's one link
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regenerative_agriculture
I've been hoping for time to write more about this with links, especially inspiring the before and after, but won't have time for a while yet - perhaps someone, looking at you, Bison Doc, would like to weigh in here?
The war against the child molester President will be won when he and all of his enablers are rotting in prison. Anyone who benefited from Trump’s heinous crimes must be held to account.
Rebecca Solnit pointed out this year’s Pulitzers were especially admirable at rewarding the strong journalism we so desperately need. I was surprised WaPo won. I keep thinking about canceling but they’re still doing good work.
https://www.pulitzer.org/prize-winners-by-year/2026?fbclid=IwZnRzaARm6YlleHRuA2FlbQIxMQBzcnRjBmFwcF9pZAo2NjI4NTY4Mzc5AAEehtw--U4m1oBCHYf7ieUVAf24atZLBsH-r-wfNVb4zZdSb6fKxnkV_zNphl0_aem_lZUA6uKDQH7h4iruOl5Elg
I just wanted to share this with you. You won't regret reading it. Author is Miles Taylor.
https://defiance.substack.com/p/eulogy-for-an-unsung-patriot?r=9xdq6&utm_campaign=post-expanded-share&utm_medium=web
Thank you, that was very moving.
Thank you. I copied the link and will read later.
thanks for the most informative message I have ever received from you!
Very good analysis. The growing interactions/alliance between the Middle East and Ukraine, especially in the area of drone technology, might play a part in funding Ukraine's war against Russia. ETTD.
Krugman's article is very important. Again, it proves ETTD. The petrochemical companies and corrupt petrostates wanted Trump. He's accidentally accelerating a transition to clean energy.
Food security is extremely important, and I think we might have short-term issues. As for "non petroleum" technology for nitrate fertilizers, I'm not sure what that would mean. Breaking N2 molecules is extremely hard to do, which is why the Haber-Bosch process is so energy intensive. I did see some interesting work being done at MIT to use iron-rich olivine minerals (a large fraction of the Earth's crust and mantle is olivine) to catalyze ammonia production. So there may be some way forward there. I haven't read the MIT papers yet carefully. But people have been looking at alternate routes to ammonia production-- and it is very hard to do.
If all else fails, we can fall back to an economy centered of exports of steaks and vodka.
I am back from my work trip, getting recovered from a cold I managed to contract, and tonight I will start up with some post carding. Looking forward to Wednesday with Hopium.
I am stunned that both House and Senate Democrats and pundits like Simon are accepting Trump's defense budget of $1.5T. That is a 50% increase with NO justification whatsoever over a $1.0T budget that is already bloated beyond belief. Jeffries and Schumer should be screaming it is DOA for such a ludicrous proposal. It's probably stuffed full of things like battleships and aircraft carriers when the new war will be fought with drones and droids. This is INSANITY.
I don't think there is much Dems can do to be honest.
Trying to work with Ukraine friendly Repubs to get funding attached seems like the best option they have.
The bill can pass with or without them.
*I mean you are right about the figures though, obviously ludicrous.
Even supporting Ukraine, which we should, that is no justification for the obscene amount that trump wants for the department of war, especially when his own family is now benefitting from dod contracts. If we had not wasted so many munitions blowing up small boats in the Carribbean and this ridiculous war, they would not even need half of that amount. We spend way too much on the military (but not salaries) and too little on the things people really need, like food assistance, ACA assistance etc. Eisenhower warned about the military industrial complex and we are caught it in big time. Further our military needs to take a page out of the Ukraine play book and start using much cheaper munitions like drones to take down drones not expensive missiles. In the 1960s when I took a political science course on military procurement, the military was spending way to much for things like hammers and toilet seats! That was nearly sixty years ago, I can only imagine how much worse it is now. And in the midst of this our deployed soldiers are hungry.
Really interesting discussion between Greg Sargent (The New Republic) and Max Flugrath (voting rights group Fair Fight Action) about the redistricting 'battle' if anyone is interested.
Link to transcript...
https://newrepublic.com/article/209934/transcript-trump-no-clue-supreme-court-just-unleashed?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=tnr_daily