President Biden: The NEW one and only politics thread

I support a single payer health care system.

Now ask yourself: Where does health care appear to be on the Democrats' lists of concerns? I know where it was in 1992, and where it was in 2008.

This side of social media, what seems to be the Democrats' largest concerns? It's not health care.

 

And I'll say again: One of the worst things about Trump - and there are tons of awful things about him - is how quickly he changed the Democratic Party.

 

Clearly you do not live in Acapulco. Or in Florida. Because if water temperatures continue to rise the hurricanes will only get more severe.

 

Bernie Sanders is all over it. And the squad. I think with larger majorities the Democrats would do more.

 

These debates are nice, but they aren't what is going to decide the next presidential election. We are likely to have a choice of two men who are way too old for the job. One has weaknesses, but at least bring some basic humanity and competence to the job. The other is a lying, corrupt wannabe dictator who would happily burn the whole system down if it would give him one more day in power. Keeping the latter out of power is what matters most. None of the problems are going to be solved and we are far more vulnerable if another crisis like COVID hits if we have an overgrown toddler as president.

 

Would you rather live in a world where the far left got everything it wanted or a world where the far right got everything it wanted?

 

Nobody is all over it. The squad? C'mon.

And Bernie Sanders was going to win the nomination in 2020 until, in essence, the Democratic Party power structure said "Nope. Biden."

 

No, I don't live Acapulco. At any rate, I don't think electric cars and wind farms will solve that problem.

 

And yet, the water temperature when that Acapulco storm went to Cat 5 in the blink of an eye was only 85 degrees.

Florida was pummeled far worse by storms in 2004-05 than it has in any recent year.

One of the unfortunate effects of climate change interpretation is that it is now the default, knee-jerk culprit for EVERY instance of bad weather. Another is that "climate change is bad for 100% of the population 100% of the time" . . . as if there is a single thermostat setting for "optimal human life" and that any variation is catastrophic---for everyone.

And frankly, if you're living in California, The Big One will fuck up your life before climate change will.

 

There isn't A Solution. The problem is too large due to decades, centuries, of things we have done on a massive industrial scale to cause the problem. There is no easy way to offset these changes unless cold fusion or some other miracle technological breakthrough is achieved. What we can do is create as large a collection of smaller incremental fixes, changes, and offsets as our science and engineering can devise and then begin to actually *use* them. How do you eat an elephant? A bite at a time over a long enough period of time until it is gone.

"Oh, well, there isn't really anything we can do" is a guarantee that these changes continue to accelerate. If electric cars turn out to be a poor choice then turn to the hybrids which use much smaller internal combustion engines which burn less gas and produce fewer greenhouse gases. Start actively designing and building Euro style neighborhoods where people can walk or bike and still have access to jobs and grocery shopping, etc. as much as is possible. The older part of the small municipality where I live has sidewalks. The newer neighborhoods do not, to include sidewalks to and from local schools. Those kids are not allowed to walk or bike home, someone has to come pick them up in a car as school policy.

You experiment, invent, work, think, and step by step you improve and build and get closer to your goal. Maybe it's coming up with a functional system of using hydrogen fueled cars instead of electrics, but you keep working the problem.

 

For a lot of people, it's not unfortunate. It's a planned effect- that social media makes possible.

 

I didn't say there isn't anything we could do. I said the current green energy jobs initiative won't solve it.

We will not run into anything more drastic - to consumption, to travel, to fossil fuel use - than the COVID pandemic. It is the best possible example - produced without an ounce of manipulation, totally by happenstance - to gauge how much mankind can effect climate change. The world stopped for more than a year.

Did it have an effect? Do we know? Is anyone studying it?