Author Archives: Jeff Porten

So… um… it’s going to be covered in *transparent* solar panels? But… uh… if the sunlight goes through… oh, never mind. Betsy Woodruff on Twitter

The epitome of a well-run campaign: while Don is soliciting the Russians for information, Jared is helping their attacks work better. Trump-Russia investigators probe Jared Kushner-run digital operation

Robert Mueller’s team right now: “Jesus, it’s hard keeping up with this shit.”

The bombshell new stories about Donald Trump Jr. and Russian collusion, explained

Amazing. I made my parents stop here annually in the 1970s. How South Carolina’s famous South of the Border still survives in modern times

“But no one — at least, no one I’ve seen — has explored what seems to me the most glaringly obvious factor. We are not, after all, divided because Americans pulled back from the center and retreated into extremism.

No, we are divided because one party did. And it wasn’t the Democrats.” Republican Party has ‘flat out lost its mind’

This article I posted yesterday raises an interesting theory: that the idea that “capitalism is the greatest producer of wealth” is a myth. Instead, the theory goes, capitalism was contemporaneous with (and created) the fossil fuel boom since the English Industrial Revolution. Ergo, all measurements of “capitalism’s” wealth production were actually derived from the external input of hundreds of millions of years of stored biofuels, expended in the course of under two centuries. Take away this input, as we will be forced to do by the global carbon budget, and growth returns to fractions of a percent.

I think this analysis underestimates the impact of successfully transitioning to sustainable (or nuclear) energy sources, but is otherwise intriguing. The problem is that I’m not finding good reliable sources for “fossil capitalism”, as this article terms it; Google is showing me many other unrelated links, from not particularly unbiased sources.

Thoughts? When Will the Planet Be Too Hot for Humans? Much, Much Sooner Than You Imagine.

Well, this will scare the bejesus out of you. Someone talk me off the ledge? Josh Foster? Ruben Aronin?

When Will the Planet Be Too Hot For Humans? Much, Much Sooner Than You Imagine.

My fax to Senator Toomey just went through on the 2nd try. That’s not good enough—it should be taking 10 tries at least. Get cracking, people! Resistbot

My God, this is excellent. “If you have a psychiatric disease, you might fight until you’re better, but then you might get bad again, so you fight harder and hopefully find more relief, and that’s the whole plan, that’s it. In fact, there’s never any predictable, permanent future where you’re okay.” Happily Sometimes After

“Those of us who believed in the conflation of entertainment and politics turned out to be wrong. There was no convergence. Rather there has been the obliteration of the second by the first. That was on full display last week during the tweet obsession. For the sad fact is this: Trump is not a celebrity politician. He is just a celebrity. The media don’t know what to do with that.” Our Celebrity President

America, Land of Freedom, Excepting the Use of Mathematics Under Certain Circumstances Pádraig on Twitter

Student Pugwash alum on why we should be pretty damn scared about the most obvious way for Trump to solve his problems. War is the ‘win’ Trump craves to end the Russia investigation

Student Pugwash alum on why we should be pretty damn scared about the most obvious way for Trump to solve his problems. War is the ‘win’ Trump craves to end the Russia investigation

THIS IS SOMETHING YOU HANG YOUR HEAD IN SHAME OVER

“Just 5 months into our time here, we’ve cut over half a billion $$$ from the UN peacekeeping budget & we’re only getting started.” Nikki Haley on Twitter