USA elections 2020 - 2021

[skh1]

Well, to be fair, there is nothing like contemplating this disaster of a presidential election cycle to wipe the smile off one's face. Except, perhaps, the last presidential election cycle.

[alhoon]

We're leaving coal in the dust because it's not a base ingredient for nearly anything. Too bad for West Virginia's somewhat in denial residents.

We're transitioning on power regarding petroleum, but a 45 gallon barrel of petroleum only makes 19.4 gallons of gasoline. Cars that, mind you, we are also starting a major transition to electrical cars. Which, I think is ironically a mistake lest someone come down to the garage one morning to find the power was out long enough during the night to find themselves with a dead battery(yea, we've all woken up to the flashing clock before). So mostly hybrid cars is typically the best way to go, I believe as an engineer.

From there, we need to still figure out how to make hundreds of materials cheaply for which petroleum is a base ingredient. Paint, solvents, tires, certain cheap plastics, piping, trash bags, artificial turf, safety glasses, golf balls, a huge amount of the clothing industry is dependent on this, roofing, tapes, a big huge etcetera.

So oil will still be used. But, the question is what will it be used for. And what will happen to the countries that build their economies around it and enough of it being used for the world's power.


You're reading a lot into Florida in extending 2000 to 2020. Florida has an ironic status of "being used to" being a swing state. Their biggest bit of news was having their voter registration system crash the last day of registration, for something like the third presidential election in a row, and the federal judge was forced to roll their eyes in a pissed off manner but deny an extension of registration window as these things are state rules.

Florida doesn't want another 2000 on their hands. But people are predicting one. In Pennsylvania. And if you go to google, you'll see an entire slew of pre-election court fights up there.

In short... we completely agree. On both coal, Florida and Pennsylvania.

[Vardano]

Uh... because he was there to deliver someone else's vision? What a stupid thing to say. Do you think Pence has had any say what so ever over things Trump wants to do? SMH.

I'm not sure I understood correctly what you mean by saying it is someone else's vision. Biden says he will create a pathway to citizenship for undocumented immigrants but fails to explain to why he did not do it as VP. He accuses Trump of being racist but fails to explain what reforms he has pushed to help to fight "the cause". It is really hard to compare two viruses, but did they do great jobs on Swine flu in 2009 to accuse Trump now in terrible handling of Coronavirus?

And that fracking thing is like a cherry on top.

He has 47 years of experience in politics, he wrote 1994 Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act, he has almost bullied Slobodan Milosevic. Are you saying this man had no influence in politics as VP. If not, I'm glad to learn it, no sarcasm.

And yes, bringing up all that weak and debunked Russian to the conversation over and over again is as annoying as it is lame at this point.

[Vanoi]

https://www.aljazeera.com/economy/20...e-on-statehood

Another Presidential election another referendum for Puerto Rico. These referendums usually don't amount to anything but i wonder if the Democrats win control over Congress would they accept Puerto Rico as a US state?

[Heathen Hammer]

Problem being nobody wants a huge ass nuclear power plant so no new ones with good safety features are being built. The newest one that exists got built in something like the 80s without anything resembling modern safety features. And its getting a bit old for what it's trying to do.

Now, if you built them as small as what powers a nuclear submarine and spread them around the area...

So build new safer ones. This kinda reminds me of how "environmentalist" Sanders had a nuclear one removed, only to be replaced... with a coal one. Anti-nuclear environmentalists are a joke.

[Gaidin]

So build new safer ones. This kinda reminds me of how "environmentalist" Sanders had a nuclear one removed, only to be replaced... with a coal one. Anti-nuclear environmentalists are a joke.

It's like you didn't read my post. That you're quoting.

[B. W.]

Former Secret Service agent Dan Bongino does an in-depth interview with Rudy Giuliani about the Hunter Biden affair and it is illuminating. The Giuliana portion starts around 32:20 and the video is imbedded in the article for anyone interested to hear just how corrupt Joe Biden is. It is about 15 minutes long:

https://www.americanthinker.com/blog...joe_biden.html

[alhoon]

So build new safer ones.

I agree with that.

On the other hand... do you realize how bloody hard it is to design a nuclear plant?
Now consider changing the established practices trying to find safer ones. And passing them from the local government. You know, that bald finger-waving guy that wants to be elected in the municipal government so that one day he may make it as a state legislator.

Gaidin's take that "100 nuclear power plants instead of one" has some merit but then, with many more plants there are bound to be accidents and scares. And when Township_8_33 makes the national news for their leaking nuclear reactor and how it was found to have increased the birth defects in the nearby towns by 15% in the past 3 years that finger-waving guy will capitalize on that.
To be clear, I am not against such a view but it needs consideration. It would be better to install nuclear plants of 10-15 mini-reactors each in deserts or on mountains... I think.
But it is something wiser than me people should spend more thought than I have so far.

[Gaidin]

I agree with that.

On the other hand... do you realize how bloody hard it is to design a nuclear plant?
Now consider changing the established practices trying to find safer ones. And passing them from the local government. You know, that bald finger-waving guy that wants to be elected in the municipal government so that one day he may make it as a state legislator.

Gaidin's take that "100 small nuclear power plants instead of ten" has some merit but then, with many more plants there are bound to be accidents and scares. And when Township_8_33 makes the national news for their leaking nuclear reactor and how it was found to have increased the birth defects in the nearby towns by 15% in the past 3 years that finger-waving guy will capitalize on that.
To be clear, I am not against such a view but it needs consideration. It would be better to install nuclear plants of 10-15 mini-reactors each in deserts or on mountains... I think.
But it is something wiser than me people should spend more thought than I have so far.

I've added a key point to my suggestion that you smugly left out in the form of the underlined word in your quote. And I also changed your number from one to ten if you really want to push the idea of 100 small generators. The idea is that for fifty or sixty years the US has known how to safely run small nuclear power generators. Large nuclear power generators, while we do know how to run them, can have a random variable cause issues. Look no further than Fukushima. A smaller building, a smaller plant, a smaller generator, could be more tightly protected against issues like this or anything we need to protect against.

[antaeus]

I'm not sure I understood correctly what you mean by saying it is someone else's vision. Biden says he will create a pathway to citizenship for undocumented immigrants but fails to explain to why he did not do it as VP. He accuses Trump of being racist but fails to explain what reforms he has pushed to help to fight "the cause". It is really hard to compare two viruses, but did they do great jobs on Swine flu in 2009 to accuse Trump now in terrible handling of Coronavirus?

You said: "this guy is about to do so many great things but he did not do any of it when he was vice-president, why?"

I said, during that time he was there to deliver for Barak Obama's policy platform. Biden was not president. He was not the decision maker. He was the backup. Just like we don't discuss Pence's policies at the moment because Pence delivers on Trump's policy platform. Sure the VP can have influence, and Obama credits him with a lot of assistance - but that is informal.

It's not that hard to understand. But by all means dig your heels in.

If you want a list of Biden's achievements go to his Wikipedia page. I don't like the guy, but I can acknowledge he has a long and active career behind him that is successful enough to put him in the lead in a presidential race when most people are retired. It's easy to sit there and parrot opinion based talking points like "he hasn't done anything". But that's all they are. Opinion.

https://www.aljazeera.com/economy/20...e-on-statehood

Another Presidential election another referendum for Puerto Rico. These referendums usually don't amount to anything but i wonder if the Democrats win control over Congress would they accept Puerto Rico as a US state?

I think the Democrats want to, but I don't think they will get the numbers in the Senate. Even if they win a majority, they wont get a supermajority.

[alhoon]

I've added a key point to my suggestion that you smugly left out in the form of the underlined word in your quote. And I also changed your number from one to ten if you really want to push the idea of 100 small generators. The idea is that for fifty or sixty years the US has known how to safely run small nuclear power generators. Large nuclear power generators, while we do know how to run them, can have a random variable cause issues. Look no further than Fukushima. A smaller building, a smaller plant, a smaller generator, could be more tightly protected against issues like this or anything we need to protect against.

You mentioned the nuclear submarines though, you need like 100 of such reactors to replace a nuclear power plant I think.
And yes, the "small" was implied. It was assumed that someone reading my post would have read yours too.

You also put the words "smugly left out". It kinda looks like you think I disagree with you or want to undermine your opinion.
Far from it, I consider it and propose alterations or better, a continuation of that train of thought. I am not sure why you assume we are in disagreement when we're not and that's not the first time in this thread.

[Modern Day Roman]

Amazing. This place was leftist headquarters 10 year ago, now Trump is leading (by a bit) on TWC ?! I'm surprised.

[Cyclops]

You said: "this guy is about to do so many great things but he did not do any of it when he was vice-president, why?"

I said, during that time he was there to deliver for Barak Obama's policy platform. Biden was not president. He was not the decision maker. He was the backup. Just like we don't discuss Pence's policies at the moment because Pence delivers on Trump's policy platform. Sure the VP can have influence, and Obama credits him with a lot of assistance - but that is informal.

It's not that hard to understand. But by all means dig your heels in.

If you want a list of Biden's achievements go to his Wikipedia page. I don't like the guy, but I can acknowledge he has a long and active career behind him that is successful enough to put him in the lead in a presidential race when most people are retired. It's easy to sit there and parrot opinion based talking points like "he hasn't done anything". But that's all they are. Opinion.

Yes its standard election rhetoric "if this guy is gonna do all these things why didn't he do it when he was in office last time etc etc". It works for most candidates because they are typically old guys who have been around the block.

The specific example of Pence is interesting, though. I think Trump is an opportunist with very few actual moral positions. Pence's Pro Life agenda (and especially huge question of court appointments) is actually one of the few consistent elements in a truly chaotic presidency. Trump has lied and flipflopped about a lot but I think he's stayed on message on this point with laser focus: to me that's his ally and VP Pence clearly directing the administration.

[Heathen Hammer]

I agree with that.

On the other hand... do you realize how bloody hard it is to design a nuclear plant?
Now consider changing the established practices trying to find safer ones. And passing them from the local government. You know, that bald finger-waving guy that wants to be elected in the municipal government so that one day he may make it as a state legislator.

Gaidin's take that "100 nuclear power plants instead of one" has some merit but then, with many more plants there are bound to be accidents and scares. And when Township_8_33 makes the national news for their leaking nuclear reactor and how it was found to have increased the birth defects in the nearby towns by 15% in the past 3 years that finger-waving guy will capitalize on that.
To be clear, I am not against such a view but it needs consideration. It would be better to install nuclear plants of 10-15 mini-reactors each in deserts or on mountains... I think.
But it is something wiser than me people should spend more thought than I have so far.

Safe nuclear power plants already exist, so its not like you'd be starting from Kurchatov's notes and nothing else. Technology to safely and efficiently store nuclear waste is already here as well. Just don't do what Ukrainians did in Chernobyl (which is turning off multiple layers of safety systems to fulfill a 5 year energy generation plan in 5 miliseconds), and you'll be fine.
You have a point about inefficient government being the bottleneck for sustainable and clean energy system, but its not due to shortcomings of modern nuclear power plant technology, but rather due to fossil fuel lobbying and pseudo-environmentalist busybodies that criticize nuclear energy with use of hysterical and emotional propaganda, that ironically only helps fossil fuel industry, which is the main culprit behind the global environmental crisis.

[antaeus]

The specific example of Pence is interesting, though. I think Trump is an opportunist with very few actual moral positions. Pence's Pro Life agenda (and especially huge question of court appointments) is actually one of the few consistent elements in a truly chaotic presidency. Trump has lied and flipflopped about a lot but I think he's stayed on message on this point with laser focus: to me that's his ally and VP Pence clearly directing the administration.

Pence brings Trump a guaranteed religious conservative demographic, so I'm sure there is a little quid-pro-quo. But the pro-life stance has been a GOP baseline position for generations. Trump doesn't actually flip-flop a lot in policy. Definitely in what he says, but he's consistent with policy, and with the exception of trade, consistent with a modern Republican base. That's why they all pinch their noses and vote for him anyway.

[pacifism]

I would say that selecting Pence didn't do much more than cement what already existed by then. Jerry Falwell Jr. endorsed Trump over Cruz or Carson or anyone before a single primary vote was even cast. As a recent Rolling Stone article suggests, it's likely because Falwell saw a kindred spirit, but it was still a big catalyst for white evangelicals to rationalize their support for Trump. Of course, the awkward love story between Trump and evangelicals + prosperity gospel preachers began soon after.

My disgust over the whole thing is probably what made me leave the GOP more than anything else.

[Sir Adrian]

Whether the surveyed resource would be extracted though, depends on whether it is profitable and legal to do so.
And profitability very much depends on the price of the commodity. Virtually all current oil fields would not be considered reserves 40 years ago when the price per barrel was like 2-3$. They were not being counted. See here an article of 1975. Back then, we considered just 103B metric tons (650 billion barrels) as reserves, with a consumption of 2.8B/year.
Now, 45 years from that doom & gloom prediction, the reserves are considered 1650 Billion barrels!!!!
I.e. the reserves jumped from 650B barrels to 1650 billion barrels in 45 years.

When we say a reservoir has been "Exhausted" nowdays we mean that we have taken like 25%-30% from the oil in place and left the 70% because it was too expensive to extract.

So basically as scarcity and prices increase so should extraction, because people will be eager to extract it an increased profit margin leading to accelerated depletion - which is my original point.


What do you mean they were not even counted? If a reserve is a know field that is intentionally not being exploited, then all discovered oil fields are reserves. You can't undiscover an oil field.

Some history books would lie and tell you that the Germans used it successfully. (Wikipedia: In total, CTL provided 92% of Germany's air fuel and over 50% of its petroleum supply in the 1940s.)
My answer is "no, certainly not."

However that were are not producing synthetic oil in significant quantities does not mean we cannot. It simply means it is not profitable (and very polluting).

The reason EU is moving away from oil is mostly because of emissions and secondary because oil is becoming too expensive.

But as far as oil is concerned? If environmental regulations are set aside, we can have oil for as long as humanity exists.
Which will not be for long if we set environmental regulations aside and start liquifying coal.

So we can safely eliminate synthetic oil from the list. Which leaves us with LNG, which you agreed is not oil, and biodiesel which may or may not be a form of oil.

So basically, due to the economic factors at play, and the existing alternatives, America has to start / take measures to continue getting off black oil (not biodiesel) and into alternative fuels starting this December if it wants to finish the transition smoothly.

[Heathen Hammer]

I would say that selecting Pence didn't do much more than cement what already existed by then. Jerry Falwell Jr. endorsed Trump over Cruz or Carson or anyone before a single primary vote was even cast. As a recent Rolling Stone article suggests, it's likely because Falwell saw a kindred spirit, but it was still a big catalyst for white evangelicals to rationalize their support for Trump. Of course, the awkward love story between Trump and evangelicals + prosperity gospel preachers began soon after.

My disgust over the whole thing is probably what made me leave the GOP more than anything else.

So neocon GOP before Trump with its globalist "world policeman" lunacy, pandering to foreign interests, constant foreign coups and endless foreign wars was fine, but Trump's "bad behavior" was the deal breaker?

[Prodromos]

Second look at building the wall?

Biden Trails in Texas Due to Weakness Amongst Hispanic Voters - The New York Times

President Trump maintains a narrow lead in Texas, according to a New York Times/Siena College poll on Monday, as he faces a rebellion in the state’s once overwhelmingly Republican suburbs but survives with support from an unlikely ally, Hispanic voters. ...

In these [suburban congressional] districts, Republicans face a combination of rapid demographic change and previously unthinkable Democratic gains among white college-educated voters. Mr. Trump leads Mr. Biden by just two points among white college graduates in these districts, even though they say they backed Mr. Trump by 24 points over Hillary Clinton in 2016.

Even those who have long embraced the Democratic dream of a “blue Texas,” powered by mobilizing the state’s growing Latino population, probably never imagined such staggering Democratic gains in once-solidly Republican areas. Yet the poll suggests that Hispanic voters might just be the group that keeps the state red a while longer.

Mr. Biden has a lead of only 57 percent to 34 percent among that group, somewhat beneath most estimates of Mrs. Clinton’s support among Hispanic voters four years ago. The finding broadly tracks with national surveys, which have shown Mr. Trump improving among Hispanic voters compared with his 2016 standing.

[Infidel144]

Second look at building the wall?

Biden Trails in Texas Due to Weakness Amongst Hispanic Voters - The New York Times

White supremacist Brown people.

Perhaps they should be treated like white supremacist Jews in New York:
Family describes horror as violent maskless rioters throw rocks, attack 'Jews for Trump' convoy

https://www.foxnews.com/politics/ant...onvoy-new-york


If only these Black white supremacists and Brown white supremacists and Jew white supremacists would do what their betters (white leftists) tell them to do...