Electricity crisis, Gas prices up, and No Labels = No Candidate.
Jackson 5 and Earth Wind and Fire.
Virginia FREE Fridays at 4pm
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89488954736
Topics today:
State of POTUS race
No Labels PUNTS on second down. No Labels is now No Candidate.
American political realignment continues
Virginia budget - veto or just amend?
Tucker Carlson’s recent interview with Marjorie Taylor Greene (R - Whiskey Tango Foxtrot)
Three Reads:
WSJ lead editorial: The Coming Electricity Crisis Artificial-intelligence data centers and climate rules are pushing the power grid to what could become a breaking point.
Projections for U.S. electricity demand growth over the next five years have doubled from a year ago. The major culprits: New artificial-intelligence data centers, federally subsidized manufacturing plants, and the government-driven electric-vehicle transition.
Geopolitics Future: The Next Phase in the Ukraine War - Russia is biding its time.
The battle for Donbas is a pivotal moment in the war, potentially setting the stage for a strategic breakthrough. Russia aims to improve its operational positions before Ukraine can stabilize the front and launch a new counteroffensive.
Public: “I Was Wrong About Renewables,” Says Former Green Energy Executive A twenty-year veteran of clean tech now says we need to use more, not less, energy, especially natural gas and nuclear (reminder - sharing an article is just sharing not endorsing, but this one is thought provoking which is still a GOOD thing)
I used to think that wind, solar, and electric vehicles were the best ways to protect our environment. I went into the business of renewables and efficiency because I believed that they would result in a better world.
I was wrong. It took twenty years of working in the energy industry promoting these technologies to realize they don’t solve climate problems.
Just look at Germany. Over the past two decades, it poured an estimated $500 billion into wind and solar power, restricted oil and gas development, shut down all its nuclear power plants, and increased its dependence on Russian gas. The results? German households saw their energy bills double between 2010 and 2020.
Three Graphics:
In other news:
The New York Times Biden Trails Trump in Key States, Wall St. Journal Poll Shows
Former President Donald J. Trump still leads President Biden in the battleground states likeliest to decide the presidency, according to polls from The Wall Street Journal in seven key states.
The Wall Street Journal Trump Now Leads Biden in Six Swing States, WSJ Poll Finds: Key Takeaways
Donald Trump is leading against President Biden in key battleground states, a Journal poll found. WSJ's Aaron Zitner explains what the latest numbers say about the presidential rematch.
New York Post Ex-White House chief of staff Ron Klain admits ‘prices too high,' Biden ‘needs to make more progress'
A Wall Street Journal poll released Tuesday night shows Biden, 81, trailing Trump, 77, by 20 percentage points (54% to 34%) among registered voters in seven vital swing states on the question of which man would best be able to handle the economy.
New York Post Biden campaign mass hires veteran pollsters after survey shows Trump up in swing states: report
The Journal poll, published Tuesday evening, found Trump, 77, between one and six percentage points ahead of Biden, 81, in Michigan, Pennsylvania, Georgia, North Carolina, Arizona and Nevada.
It's unclear whether the pollsters are specifically tasked with reinvigorating Biden's 2024 campaign in response to the disappointing Journal poll numbers.
New York Daily News Biden critics claim 12% of NY Democratic voters cast blank ballots to protest Gaza war
'The delegate unofficial results tabulation does show blanks and voids, so that could give a rough indication of the number of Democratic voters who checked in at the poll sites,' said Kathleen McGrath, the BOE spokeswoman.
Chicago Tribune Steve Chapman: The grave threats to abortion rights are sparking a backlash
A Pew Research Center poll last year found that 53% of Americans think medication abortion should be legal in their state, with only 22% saying it should not be.
POLITICO The case for treating tech companies like railroads.
Axios Poll: How Colorado voters feel about the influx of migrants
The big picture: 62% of the 632 likely voters surveyed last month by the independent Colorado Polling Institute say the recent influx of migrants from the southern U.S. border is a "crisis" or "major problem."
Axios Behind the Curtain: How Trump's mind works
Members tell him how great he's doing. He'll often show them a printout of a poll that shows him as the greatest.
HuffPost Wisconsin 'Uninstructed' Vote Shows Democratic Frustration With Joe Biden
A majority of U.S. voters support a permanent cease-fire and de-escalation of violence in Gaza, according to a poll conducted in December. That number is even higher among likely Democratic voters, with 76% calling for a cease-fire. A separate poll conducted in February found that a majority of Muslim and Jewish Democrats also favor a permanent cease-fire in Gaza.
The Hill 20 percent say violence may be needed to get US back on track: Poll
Just more than 20 percent of Americans indicated violence may be necessary to secure political objectives in 2024, according to an NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist poll released Wednesday.
The New York Times Ford Slows Its Push Into Electric Vehicles
Its decision was the latest sign that large automakers have been forced to rethink their strategy for electric vehicles because sales for those models are slowing.
Many car buyers interested in electric vehicles appear to be opting for hybrid cars, which can cost just a few hundred dollars more than a comparable gasoline-only models.
The Associated Press Southeast Asian countries consider ways to boost ‘green financing' as region chokes on smog
ASEAN members are extremely vulnerable to extreme weather, drought and rising sea levels. Investments in clean energy need to increase by five to seven times, to more than $200 billion a year, according to various estimates. Laos and its neighbors also are contending with a raft of other regional troubles, including human trafficking, a growing illicit drug trade and fast-growing enclaves of online scam centers run by criminal syndicates.
The Associated Press Treasury secretary heads to China to talk trade, anti-money laundering and Chinese ‘overproduction'
There are tensions over Chinese government support for the manufacturing of electric vehicles and solar panels, just as the U.S. government ramps up its own aid for those tech sectors. There are differences in trade, ownership of TikTok, access to computer chips and national security — all of them a risk to what has become a carefully managed relationship.
Yellen last week said China is flooding the market with green energy that 'distorts global prices,' and plans to tell her counterparts that Beijing's increased production of solar energy, electric vehicles and lithium-ion batteries poses risks to productivity and growth to the global economy.
Axios Yellen "won't rule out" measures to blunt economic aggression from China
What they're saying: "We are trying to nurture an industry in, for example, solar cells, electric batteries, electric vehicles," Yellen said.
The White House has warned that the subsidies have resulted in huge capacity of products like solar panels and electric vehicles that China can export at cheap prices.
Axios Why car buyers' shift to electric vehicles is slow and messy
Why it matters: This is what car-buying will be like for the foreseeable future amid the messy, multi-decade transition from gasoline to electric vehicles (EVs).
Portland Press Herald Mining for EV metals threatens gorillas and chimpanzees in Africa
A third of Africa's gorillas, bonobos and chimpanzees are at risk because they live in areas that overlap with mining operations for metals critical to the global clean energy transition.
Demand for minerals needed to make rechargeable batteries that power electric vehicles is on the rise. Africa is home to a third of the world's mineral resources, only 5% of which have been mined so far.
The Washington Times Ford delays launch of 2 EVs as demand slows
Ford announced Thursday that it would delay the unveiling of two of its upcoming electric vehicles.
While 2023 was a banner year for electric vehicles, 2024 is seeing a sharp downturn in consumer interest.
Houston Chronicle Shell, BP's plans to build EV-charging networks could rev the revolution. (Editorial)
Electric vehicles are a small, yet significant piece of the larger puzzle of cutting greenhouse gases and avoiding the worst-case scenarios of climate change, which is why Shell and BP's investments are so encouraging.
Hartford Courant Americans are buying cheaper cars
Consumers seem to be cooling to fully electric vehicles due to a lack of charging infrastructure and high prices. While EV sales rose from a year ago, volume in the first quarter likely declined sequentially for the first time since early in the pandemic, according to researcher Cox Automotive.
Washington Examiner Johnson-linked PAC releases first slate of ‘trailblazer’ House endorsements
Derrick Anderson, who is running in a competitive race to flip Rep. Abigail Spanberger's (D-VA) seat, said he was 'honored' to have the CLF's endorsement. Spanberger is not seeking reelection and is instead running for governor in 2025, as Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R-VA) will term out and be ineligible for reelection.
The Virginian-Pilot Virginia wildlife officials propose regulations to help manage hunting dogs
The bill had split support, and Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears cast the tie-breaking vote that killed the bill.
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A friend on Facebook challenged me to post pictures of the 20 albums that influenced my life.
In the interest of time, I offered just two - both greatest hits albums - the Jackson 5 and Earth, Wind, and Fire.
Here are two songs from those albums. Jackson 5 was listened to EVERY night and EWF tape was on my Sony boombox w/ Koss headphones stuffed into my daily afternoon paper route bag.