American Politics

[SubCmdr]

I disagree Tiny. I think the uppermost qualification in Trump 47's mind is loyalty and the 2nd most important is capability. I was surprised by the Hegseth choice myself. I thought Trump would pick Mike Pompeo or somebody like him with stature and experience. Guess I was wrong, but I am willing to give Hegseth a chance. If he fucks up Trump will fire him in a nano second.

He certainly isn't qualified at all. He is a racist and a sexist. Loyalty to the Musk / Trump Co-Presidency that is building a growing Nazi movement called MAGA in the United States of America anathema to the oath he took to defend the Constitution of the Untied States of America from all enemies forgien and domestic.

It is the domestic ones I worry about now. The Musk / Trump Co-Presidency is building personal loyalty to themselves in order to take over the all functions of the government in a dictatorship.

We have seen this play run before in history: Reference made to Post #17283 written by me on 02/22/2025.

[Axel Heyst]

His most important qualification for president in Trump's eyes was probably that he looks good on television.

I disagree Tiny. I think the uppermost qualification in Trump 47's mind is loyalty and the 2nd most important is capability. I was surprised by the Hegseth choice myself. I thought Trump would pick Mike Pompeo or somebody like him with stature and experience. Guess I was wrong, but I am willing to give Hegseth a chance. If he fucks up Trump will fire him in a nano second.

[Elvis 2008]

These are mostly opinions and not subject to fact-checking. The infection fatality ratio from COVID, while higher than 0. 2% at the start of the epidemic, probably is lower than that now. Elvis' number is as good as any. The gross federal debt is indeed $37 trillion, and the federal budget deficit, about $1.9 trillion, is indeed $2 trillion if rounded upwards.

Zero Pinocchio's!

And Elvis gets One Wise Man because of his willingness to vote for Bill Clinton, who helped Newt Gingrich balance the budget!

Excellent post Tiny. I would love to think this puts Tooms in his place, but we know better right?

On the Covid infection, I would add two things. There was not sufficient tests available early on. Once testing was done on the general population versus the sick population, studies as early as April 2020 had rates as low as at 0. 3 and 0. 4%.

Thing is one of those studies had 500 people with 2 deaths. So the difference in that study between 0. 2 and 0.4% was one death.

In addition, doctors had to learn how to treat patients. The use of steroids and anticoagulants became standard practice. If monoclonal antibodies had been used more widely, the rate of Covid deaths may have been less than 0. 2%. In addition, doctors had to learn to keep Covid patients off ventilators as long as possible as 80% of the time a Covid patient was placed on a ventilator, they died.

The reason that I brought this up is that there is a new pandemic scare that I suspect is bullshit, https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/st...ial-discovered.

So here is the scare sentence: The new virus is even closer related to MERS, a deadlier type of coronavirus that kills up to a third of people it infects.

The key sentences is at the end: HKU5-CoV viruses were first detected in bats in 2006, but the new data suggests HKU5-CoV-2 has a 'higher potential for interspecies infection' than others. However, the potential for HKU5-CoV-2 to spill over to humans 'remains to be investigated. '

The reason I think this is bullshit is Covid was designed in a lab to be as contagious is possible, and this virus then is likely way less contagioius. Also, the mortality rates on this new virus are likely also way overestimated as Covid was.

But yeah, great post, Tiny. Thing is that my post was not even about the facts but that Zelensky's image is taking a hit. When you want to deify someone, you do not mention their negatives. The idea that Tooms is floating, that Zelensky is flawless, is pretty absurd.

[Tiny 12]

Even Without knowing anything about Brown, I'm confident he's more qualified to be Secretary of Defense than the man who fired him.

[SubCmdr]

So Secretary of State Mark Rubio is the token minority in the Cabinet. They can point to him and say, we are not anti-diversity.

The revolution will not be televised Tiny 12. But when it comes I will let everyone know you are a good one!

I thought I was clear SubCmdr. Hegseth was a bad nominee, and based on what he wrote people should have known he'd preferentially fire women and anyone who could be accused of getting ahead because of DEI. In other words anyone who wasn't white.

His most important qualification for president in Trump's eyes was probably that he looks good on television.

Dummies don't get into Princeton. That doesn't mean he was qualified for the office. He wasn't.

[Tiny 12]

I thought I was clear SubCmdr. Hegseth was a bad nominee, and based on what he wrote people should have known he'd preferentially fire women and anyone who could be accused of getting ahead because of DEI. In other words anyone who wasn't white.

His most important qualification for president in Trump's eyes was probably that he looks good on television.

Dummies don't get into Princeton. That doesn't mean he was qualified for the office. He wasn't.

[SubCmdr]

It should also be noted that two females that were in charge of services, The US Coast Guard and the US Navy were also fired. Along with the commanders of the Judge Advocate Generals.

Why exactly do you think Hegseth a smart guy? Because he has an Ivy League education. Why did Hegseth get the job? He faced allegations of sexual misconduct, financial mismanagement, and alcohol issues leading up to his committee confirmation. He was a Major. Please! Do you think I am smart guy? Do I have an Ivy league education (or equivalent. Think John Elway)? Do you question if I would gotten any jobs I held throughout my adult years because I am black?

At that level it is not about absolute confidence, it is about politics

The Musk/Trump Co-Presidencys objective is the cement power for the billionaire class under authoritarian rule that is un-democratic and weld unchecked power!

No room for blacks or women in the power structure under a Musk / Trump dictatorship. They want to take the United States of America back to theses days:

In the U.S. Constitution, the Three-fifths Compromise is part of Article 1, Section 2, Clause 3:

Representatives and direct Taxes shall be apportioned among the several States which may be included within this Union, according to their respective Numbers, which shall be determined by adding to the whole Number of free Persons, including those bound to Service for a Term of Years, and excluding Indians not taxed, three fifths of all other Persons.

Look around this thread and see who is a Trump Supporter. This is what they are supporting!

Republican lawmakers are pushing back against sweeping cuts to the federal government launched by President Donald Trump and Elon Musk, as their downsizing crusade begins to hit GOP constituents.

A growing number of GOP lawmakers are trying to intervene with the Trump administration and are weighing legislation to circumvent the changes. But with the Department of Government Efficiency and the Office of Management and Budget moving at a rapid clip and flouting federal law to carve up the government, the lawmakers face monumental challenges in getting the White House to spare their constituents from the ax.

Historically, we have seen this play run before:

Adolf Hitler's rise to power began in 1919 when he joined the German Workers' Party, which later became the Nazi Party. He quickly rose to prominence within the party and became its leader in 1921. During the 1920s, the Nazi Party remained on the political fringes, but gained significant support after the Great Depression began in 1929. Hitlers oratorical skills and the party's use of propaganda helped him to become extremely popular. On January 30, 1933, President Paul von Hindenburg appointed Hitler as Chancellor of Germany. After the Reichstag fire in February 1933, Hitler convinced Hindenburg to sign the Reichstag Fire Decree, which severely curtailed civil liberties and allowed for the persecution of political opponents. Hitler then proposed the Enabling Act, which gave him dictatorial powers and allowed him to pass laws without parliamentary oversight. By April 1933, Hitler held de facto dictatorial powers and ordered the construction of the first Nazi concentration camp at Dachau. Hitler's rise to power was completed in August 1934 when, after Hindenburg's death, he merged the chancellery with the presidency into the title of Fhrer.

MAGA is a NAZI movement in the United States of America!

[Tiny 12]

Since you apparently could not find a single link to substantiate so much as one word of your tall tales of woe

Your demands for links have become tiresome. For example, more than once you've asked me to provide Google links for data I pulled from a proprietary database, that you could verify in seconds with a little initiative. OK, I'll help you out just this once. However, in the future please do your own fact checking.

Yeah, the whole Democratic playbook of Zelensky good and Putin bad is getting old. As for Zelensky.

He's in year 6 of his 5 year term.

This is true. Zero Pinocchio's!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volodymyr_Zelenskyy

Declared martial law Feb 2022 and has banned elections since then.

This is true, as to martial law. And elections are banned when martial law is in effect. Zero Pinocchio's!

https://www.rnbo.gov.ua/en/Diialnist/7035.html

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Next_U...ntial_election

Banned 11 political parties.

This is true. Zero Pinocchio's!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Politi...ies_in_Ukraine

Passed law in 2022 to censor journalists and combined all news into one gov't station.

The first part of this statement, about the 2022 law, is true! The second part is not true as there are local stations broadcasting news.

One tenth of one Pinocchio!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freedo...ess_in_Ukraine

Journalists investigating his corruption get conscripted and thrown on the front lines to die.

This is probably true! Men over the age of 25, including journalists investigating Zelensky, are conscripted. And most likely some have served on the front lines. In addition, journalists are arrested and incarcerated. See Wikipedia link above and

https://www.state.gov/reports/2023-c...tices/ukraine/

Zelensky's administration has card carrying Nazis in it, and one Jewish lawyer was on Tucker Carlson and saying Zelensky is throwing priests in jail. This lawyer was no Putin fan. In fact, Putin ordered his arrest.

This is probably true. It is not known whether Nazis still carry cards identifying themselves as Nazis. However please see the following link.

https://www.nbcnews.com/think/opinio...ar-ncna1290946

I am not an avid viewer of Tucker Carlson but Elvis would have seen what he said he saw.

Zero Pinocchio's!

So it is more like Putin bad and Zelensky is even worse.

And then there is Glenn Greenwald's take on things: There were all sorts of things that the United States knew that it could do that could provoke Russia to invade Ukraine. There were memos floating all around Washington for years saying, "These are the things that are the red lines for Moscow, not just for Putin but for everybody in Moscow, including his opponents and these are the things that if we do, we will force them to essentially invade eastern Ukraine."

The United States then proceeded to do all of them seemingly wanting Russia to invade Ukraine. In February 2022 they did that and the United States immediately announced, under the Biden administration, that we were going to fund this war, we were going to give Ukraine all the weapons and the money they needed to win.

So after had enough of the Covid scam, you Democratic douches pulled another scam to secure taxpayer money and started the Ukraine war.

If you were go to make a valid criticism of Trump, you could put to the huge budget deficits that he rung up, but Biden was fucking worse.

So while you advocated spending trillions on Covid with its 0.2% mortality and now this fucking stupid war, you kind of ignore the fact that we are $37 trillion in debt, racking up $2 trillion per year and are on the path to default. And while you Democratic douches bash Trump and Musk for cutting spending, which has to happen or it is inevitable we default on our debt, you have no plan outside of continuing to throw good money after bad.

Name one Democrat interested in cutting spending, Loony Tooms. You cannot.

If you actually brought out a candidate like Clinton who actually had a goal of a balanced budget, I might vote for them.

These are mostly opinions and not subject to fact-checking. The infection fatality ratio from COVID, while higher than 0. 2% at the start of the epidemic, probably is lower than that now. Elvis' number is as good as any. The gross federal debt is indeed $37 trillion, and the federal budget deficit, about $1.9 trillion, is indeed $2 trillion if rounded upwards.

Zero Pinocchio's!

And Elvis gets One Wise Man because of his willingness to vote for Bill Clinton, who helped Newt Gingrich balance the budget!

[Tiny 12]

https://www.reuters.com/world/us/tru...ar-2025-02-22/

Trump fired a Black Four Star General as the top military official in the United States of America and replaced him with a White 3 Star General.

I know nothing about Brown. But this, from your link, is potentially telling:

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth had been skeptical of Brown before taking the helm of the Pentagon with a broad agenda that includes eliminating diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives in the military.

In his most recent book, Hegseth, a former Fox News personality and military veteran, asked whether Brown would have gotten the job if he were not Black.

"Was it because of his skin color? Or his skill? We'll never know, but always doubt. Which on its face seems unfair to CQ. But since he has made the race card one of his biggest calling cards, it doesn't really much matter," he wrote in his 2024 book "The War on Warriors: Behind the Betrayal of the Men Who Keep Us Free. ".

Hegseth is a smart guy with an Ivy League education. However he did not have the experience to equip him to deal with a department that employs over 2 million people and spends over $800 billion per year. And he had a vendetta against DEI and women in the military. You had to wonder if he'd take that too far and get rid of good people. That's what may have happened here.

[Tiny 12]

South Australia as a Case Study:

To show how DR could transition their base Load, intermittent and peaker power plants, with renewables, I used South Australia, as a case study example, to compare what theyve done, successfully.

Background Info on South Australia (SA):

The population in the state of South Australia, in 2024, is estimated to be approximately 1.8 million people. The Dominican Republic has 11.1 million people, and has approx. 6 times more people than South Australia.

South Australia, has around 984,321 sq.km (380,048 sq.mi) of land area. The Dominican Republic has around 48,671 sq.km (18,792 sq.mi) of land area. SA is approx. 20 times larger, in land area than the Dominican Republic.

South Australia is, at the frontline of the global energy transition, having transformed its energy system from 1% to over 69% renewable energy, in just over 20 years. Between June 2022 and June 2023, South Australias energy generation via renewables has been 72.3% compared to 36.3% nationally.

South Australia phased out coal in 2016, becoming the first mainland state to do so and hopes to have their grid as 100% renewables by 2027.

South Australias Energy Demand Loads:

SAs Consumption & Demand
Annual Electricity Consumption: 11,506 GWh (or 11.5 TWh)
Typical Peak Demand: Is between Peak Demand: 3,084 MW (heat waves periods and 2,000 to 2,500 MW during cooler periods. The high was reached on Thursday 23 February 2023 @ 7:30pm).
Base Load: Unknown, but with 73.4% renewables, its safe to say they have flipped the scales and now renewables run base loads and nat. gas is being as the intermittent/peak load energy source.

Note #1: SAs Annual consumption is only half that of the DR, for a population that is 6x smaller.
Note #2 : SA Peak Demand is only about 580 MW more than the DR, for a population that is 6x smaller.

South Australias Energy Mix:

Renewables (2023) (73.4%, up from 69.0%)
Solar: 26.5% (rooftop solar provided 17.7%, up from 16.5%, large-scale solar PV farms, providing another 8.8%. Note: over 40% of households have rooftop solar, stabilize the grid.)
Wind: 46.9% (up from 44.6 in 2022, wind farms accounted for the largest portion to the grid, with major installations at Hornsdale, Lake Bonney, and Snowtown)
BESS: 30% of Australias home batteries are in SA. Large-scale batteries like the Hornsdale Power Reserve (150 MW) and residential batteries (30,000+ installed) stabilize the grid and store excess renewable energy.

Non-Renewables Sources and Imports (30%)
Natural Gas: 25.4% (down from 29.5%, gas-fired plants are a diminishing but still critical backup)
Interstate Imports: 2-5% (South Australia connects to the National Electricity Market (NEM) via interconnectors with Victoria (Heywood and Murraylink).

Recap of the Dominican Republics Energy Mix:

Annual Cost of Fossil Fuel, for generation of electricity: Between $2.55 - $3.47 billion
Annual electricity consumption (2023)*: 22,193 GWh
Peak demand: 3,662 MW (megawatts)
DRs Energy Mix: Heavy fossil fuels at 83.1% (oil: 12.3%, natural gas: 40.6%, coal: 30.2%) and some renewables at 16.9% (solar: 5.7%, wind: 4.3%, hydro: 6.1% and bio-fuels: 0.8%)
Base Load (or Baseload or Base Input) for DR: 2,197 MW (or 0.60 x 3,662 MW Peak Load. Just a best effort guessimate)

A Solution for the Dominican Republic (DR) Base Load and Beyond:

Okay, so heres the deal, with how the DR, should be able to reach 100% renewables, for their base load electricity grid needs. My recommendation, is for DR to have like a renewables clean energy plan for the next 15-20 years.

A plan, which outlines their intentions, commitments and schedule, showing steady continual growth and build-outs of smaller manageable projects, of like 5% - 7% SWB worth of renewables, added annually to the grid.

Yeah, I know, not exactly the explosive, home run solution, you were perhaps looking for, but the DR, need only take an additional 6-8 years, if they followed a constant regiment of 5-7% SWB yearly implementations to reach your estimated 40% base load (or a few years later to reach 60%). Considering the DR, is already at 17% renewables.

Here is my summation of levelized cost of electricity (LCOE) in ranges, using approx. estimates from several sources for the years 2023 (or 2024), in $/MWh, for those energy technologies, I could find:

LCOE Ranges for Energy Technologies in 2023 (or 2024):
Nuclear Reactor: $90140+ (high upfront costs, delays)
SMR: $6090+ (early projects at upper end, targets lower with scale)
Solar (utility-scale): $3050 (lower with sun-rich regions, higher with storage)
Onshore Wind: $3555 (site-dependent, rises with transmission costs)
Offshore Wind: $70150+ (higher upfront/transmission costs, but improving with scale and tech)
BESS (4-hour storage): $120170 (lithium-ion, varies with duration/cycles)
Pumped Hydro: $60200 (site-specific, high upfront but low operating costs)
LNG (gas peaker): $50100 (import costs, volatile fuel prices, carbon costs add ~2030/MWh)
Coal: $60100+ (import costs, older plants higher; carbon costs push to 80150+)

Cost Ranges for Energy Hybrid Systems using 2023 (or 2024):
Solar + BESS: $50100/MWh (sun-rich regions with 48h storage).
Wind + BESS: $60120/MWh (onshore wind with 412h storage).

LCOE Sources for 2023 or 2024:
International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA): https://www.irena.org/-/media/Files/...ts_in_2023.pdf
Lazard's Levelized Cost of Energy Analysis: https://www.lazard.com/media/xemfey0...e-2024-_vf.pdf
U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA): https://www.eia.gov/outlooks/aeo/ele...COE_report.pdf
The International Energy Agency (IEA): https://www.iea.org/data-and-statist...ario-2022-2030

Closing Arguments:

As I look around the worlds at those that are making the transition to a greener electrical grid, I looked to see what is working, what is cheap and less expensive, what is reliable and sustainable, and what is simple in design and complexity, requiring low maintenance and technical expertise to build, service and maintain. More often than not, its SOLAR, WIND and BESS (SWB), with some natural gas to round out the energy mix.

Remember it took the state of South Australia 20 years to go from 1% to 72.3% today. In a few more years, their grid, will be 100% renewables, with excess electricity, to either export it via interconnects or used to make green hydrogen.

And like SA, who have flipped the switch and turn the tables on their fossils fuels plants, being the ones that provide intermittent energy when needed (and soon to be phased out), is the right approach the DR should follow, to save millions of dollars (IMHO) and wean themselves off of fossil fuels.

So YES, I think DR, can absolutely establish and transition to 40% (or 60%) base load (and beyond), with 100% renewables. It will just take a small, but reasonable amount of time. But doable, considering DR has 6x the population of SA, but ONLY consumes twice (2x) as much annual electricity.

Note, I didnt get into specifics, in terms of a cost/benefit analysis, but with the LCOEs provided, one can easily figure out, a half-dozen different cost scenarios. I suspect its going to be a mixture of SWB (with more WIND than SOLAR and even pumped hydro), given DRs small land size and available space (that being 20x smaller than SA), lots of offshore wind will need serious consideration.

Finally, I think this approach works best for DR, while the rest of the world (mostly the very rich nations), use their time and money to figure out, how viable and cost efficient, SMRs really are, as the industry becomes more mature.

If South Australia gets to 100% renewables by 2027, I'll kiss EihTooms' ass in the middle of Soi Cowboy at 10:00 PM on a Saturday night.

South Australia has the highest electricity prices in Australia, probably because it pushed renewables too hard. The wholesale price is almost twice Queensland's:

https://www.aer.gov.au/industry/wholesale/charts

And in 2023, SA consumers were paying 0. 45 AUD per kilowatt hour, or $0. 30 USD per kilowatt hour.

https://www.bluettipower.com.au/blog...-bELRHo-TfVGMz

For comparison, in the Great State of Texas, I pay about $0. 13 USD per kilowatt hour.

And Texas, by the way, generates about 40% of its electricity from renewables and nuclear.

South Australia I believe has the largest onshore production of natural gas in Australia. Without that and natural gas fired power plants, SA would be reliant on coal for baseload electricity generation.

The Dominican Republic doesn't have natural gas reserves. It has to import LNG and fuel oil, which are expensive, or use coal, which is dirty and emits more carbon than natural gas. Now this admittedly is a good argument for renewables for intermittent supply in the DR, like what Texas does. But they're just not going to cost effectively supply all base load and peak load requirements.

The Dominican Republic during parts of the year has lots of cloud cover. A hell of a lot more than sunny SA.

Your cost numbers per MW hour above are screwed. Please note that $60100 per MW hour for coal would be $60.10 per kw hour. That's off by a factor of around 1000. The real number is around $60 per MW hour or $. 06 per kw hour.

And you're saying that the cost to generate electricity from coal is 20 X the cost from solar and 17 X the cost of wind? The cost of generating electricity with a conventional nuclear plant is 15 X more than with a small nuclear reactor? That's complete and total bollocks.

Then there's battery storage, which is essential in the tree hugger's pipe dream, which of course doesn't allow for base load electricity generation from nuclear. Cheerleaders for renewables understate the cost of storage. At some point the cost of battery storage may come down to where renewables can cost effectively supply base load electricity. But we're not there yet. And may never be in the USA (which admittedly doesn't preclude that from happening the DR) as long as the Democratic and Republican parties won't allow America to buy from China.

The biggest consideration for the DR is the cost. Californians can afford to pay out the ass for energy. People in the DR cannot. Leftist elites in the developed world should not try to force high priced renewable energy onto developing countries unless they are first willing to give up air conditioning. Because that's what they'd be doing to people in places like the DR and India who would have to pay prices for energy even higher than South Australians. Some will be lucky to afford electric lighting so their kids can study at night, let alone A/C.

[The Cane]

They voted for him. Now let them get what they voted for! No sympathy here. FAFO (fuck around and find out)!

https://youtu.be/N23KVyaSoLw?si=KnsvsFjmK5yr6Q-P

[Spidy]

South Australia as a Case Study:

To show how DR could transition their base Load, intermittent and peaker power plants, with renewables, I used South Australia, as a case study example, to compare what they’ve done, successfully.

Background Info on South Australia (SA):

The population in the state of South Australia, in 2024, is estimated to be approximately 1.8 million people. The Dominican Republic has 11.1 million people, and has approx. 6 times more people than South Australia.

South Australia, has around 984,321 sq.km (380,048 sq.mi) of land area. The Dominican Republic has around 48,671 sq.km (18,792 sq.mi) of land area. SA is approx. 20 times larger, in land area than the Dominican Republic.

South Australia is, at the frontline of the global energy transition, having transformed its energy system from 1% to over 69% renewable energy, in just over 20 years. Between June 2022 and June 2023, South Australia’s energy generation via renewables has been 72.3% compared to 36.3% nationally.

South Australia phased out coal in 2016, becoming the first mainland state to do so and hopes to have their grid as 100% renewables by 2027.

South Australia’s Energy Demand Loads:

SA’s Consumption & Demand
• Annual Electricity Consumption: 11,506 GWh (or 11.5 TWh)
• Typical Peak Demand: Is between Peak Demand: 3,084 MW (heat waves periods and 2,000 to 2,500 MW during cooler periods. The high was reached on Thursday 23 February 2023 @ 7:30pm).
• Base Load: Unknown, but with 73.4% renewables, it’s safe to say they have flipped the scales and now renewables run base loads and nat. gas is being as the intermittent/peak load energy source.

Note #1: SA’s Annual consumption is only half that of the DR, for a population that is 6x smaller.
Note #2 : SA’ Peak Demand is only about 580 MW more than the DR, for a population that is 6x smaller.

South Australia’s Energy Mix:

Renewables (2023) (73.4%, up from 69.0%)
• Solar: 26.5% (rooftop solar provided 17.7%, up from 16.5%, large-scale solar PV farms, providing another 8.8%. Note: over 40% of households have rooftop solar, stabilize the grid.)
• Wind: 46.9% (up from 44.6 in 2022, wind farms accounted for the largest portion to the grid, with major installations at Hornsdale, Lake Bonney, and Snowtown)
• BESS: 30% of Australia’s home batteries are in SA. Large-scale batteries like the Hornsdale Power Reserve (150 MW) and residential batteries (30,000+ installed) stabilize the grid and store excess renewable energy.

Non-Renewables Sources and Imports (30%)
• Natural Gas: 25.4% (down from 29.5%, gas-fired plants are a diminishing but still critical backup)
• Interstate Imports: 2-5% (South Australia connects to the National Electricity Market (NEM) via interconnectors with Victoria (Heywood and Murraylink).

Recap of the Dominican Republic’s Energy Mix:

• Annual Cost of Fossil Fuel, for generation of electricity: Between $2.55 - $3.47 billion
• Annual electricity consumption (2023)*: 22,193 GWh
• Peak demand: 3,662 MW (megawatts)
• DR’s Energy Mix: Heavy fossil fuels at 83.1% (oil: 12.3%, natural gas: 40.6%, coal: 30.2%) and some renewables at 16.9% (solar: 5.7%, wind: 4.3%, hydro: 6.1% and bio-fuels: 0.8%)
• Base Load (or Baseload or Base Input) for DR: 2,197 MW (or 0.60 x 3,662 MW Peak Load. Just a best effort guessimate)

A Solution for the Dominican Republic (DR) Base Load and Beyond:

Okay, so here’s the deal, with how the DR, should be able to reach 100% renewables, for their base load electricity grid needs. My recommendation, is for DR to have like a renewables clean energy plan for the next 15-20 years.

A plan, which outlines their intentions, commitments and schedule, showing steady continual growth and build-outs of smaller manageable projects, of like 5% - 7% SWB worth of renewables, added annually to the grid.

Yeah, I know, not exactly the explosive, home run solution, you were perhaps looking for, but the DR, need only take an additional 6-8 years, if they followed a constant regiment of 5-7% SWB yearly implementations to reach your estimated 40% base load (or a few years later to reach 60%). Considering the DR, is already at 17% renewables.

Here is my summation of levelized cost of electricity (LCOE) in ranges, using approx. estimates from several sources for the years 2023 (or 2024), in $/MWh, for those energy technologies, I could find:

LCOE Ranges for Energy Technologies in 2023 (or 2024):
• Nuclear Reactor: $90–140+ (high upfront costs, delays)
• SMR: $60–90+ (early projects at upper end, targets lower with scale)
• Solar (utility-scale): $30–50 (lower with sun-rich regions, higher with storage)
• Onshore Wind: $35–55 (site-dependent, rises with transmission costs)
• Offshore Wind: $70–150+ (higher upfront/transmission costs, but improving with scale and tech)
• BESS (4-hour storage): $120–170 (lithium-ion, varies with duration/cycles)
• Pumped Hydro: $60–200 (site-specific, high upfront but low operating costs)
• LNG (gas peaker): $50–100 (import costs, volatile fuel prices, carbon costs add ~20–30/MWh)
• Coal: $60–100+ (import costs, older plants higher; carbon costs push to 80–150+)

Cost Ranges for Energy Hybrid Systems using 2023 (or 2024):
• Solar + BESS: $50–100/MWh (sun-rich regions with 4–8h storage).
• Wind + BESS: $60–120/MWh (onshore wind with 4–12h storage).

LCOE Sources for 2023 or 2024:
• International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA): https://www.irena.org/-/media/Files/...ts_in_2023.pdf
• Lazard's Levelized Cost of Energy Analysis: https://www.lazard.com/media/xemfey0...e-2024-_vf.pdf
• U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA): https://www.eia.gov/outlooks/aeo/ele...COE_report.pdf
• The International Energy Agency (IEA): https://www.iea.org/data-and-statist...ario-2022-2030

Closing Arguments:

As I look around the world’s at those that are making the transition to a greener electrical grid, I looked to see what is working, what is cheap and less expensive, what is reliable and sustainable, and what is simple in design and complexity, requiring low maintenance and technical expertise to build, service and maintain. More often than not, it’s SOLAR, WIND and BESS (SWB), with some natural gas to round out the energy mix.

Remember it took the state of South Australia 20 years to go from 1% to 72.3% today. In a few more years, their grid, will be 100% renewables, with excess electricity, to either export it via interconnects or used to make green hydrogen.

And like SA, who have “flipped the switch” and “turn the tables” on their fossils fuels plants, being the ones that provide intermittent energy when needed (and soon to be phased out), is the right approach the DR should follow, to save millions of dollars (IMHO) and wean themselves off of fossil fuels.

So YES, I think DR, can absolutely establish and transition to 40% (or 60%) base load (and beyond), with 100% renewables. It will just take a small, but reasonable amount of time. But doable, considering DR has 6x the population of SA, but ONLY consumes twice (2x) as much annual electricity.

Note, I didn’t get into specifics, in terms of a cost/benefit analysis, but with the LCOEs provided, one can easily figure out, a half-dozen different cost scenarios. I suspect it’s going to be a mixture of SWB (with more WIND than SOLAR and even pumped hydro), given DR’s small land size and available space (that being 20x smaller than SA), lots of offshore wind will need serious consideration.

Finally, I think this approach works best for DR, while the rest of the world (mostly the very rich nations), use their time and money to figure out, how viable and cost efficient, SMRs really are, as the industry becomes more mature.

[SubCmdr]

https://www.reuters.com/world/us/tru...ar-2025-02-22/

Trump fired a Black Four Star General as the top military official in the United States of America and replaced him with a White 3 Star General.

Elvis2008 you are welcome to explain this to me. I think the optics look bad and shows me and the entire country what Trump really wants to do is to make The United States of America * again!

[SubCmdr]

The only way the evil prevails is for good men to do nothing.

This man did something!

https://youtu.be/lXW_BHW_wM4?si=CTC0RkIK-XjZFkuP

The Musk/Trump Co-Presidencys objective is the cement power for the billionaire class under authoritarian rule that is un-democratic and weld unchecked power!

Fight the Power! We have to Fight the Power that be! - Public Enemy.

[EihTooms]

There is a reason Trump's post-election relief rally has been one of the weakest and most tepid in history. And despite him inheriting and taking over another historically successful Dem Administration's Economy that was The Envy of the World.

For the 2nd time:

Dow tumbles 500 points after weaker-than-expected consumer sentiment, UnitedHealth decline.

https://www.cnbc.com/2025/02/20/stoc...ndroidappshare

The University of Michigan consumer sentiment index fell to 64.7 in January, a decline of 10% and a steeper drop than expected as consumers feared higher inflation ahead. The 5-year inflation outlook in the survey was 3.5%, the highest since 1995.

All of this is definitely creaking at the edges, and the data is also getting softer, said Tom Fitzpatrick, managing director at R.J. OBrien and Associates. Its still early (and being early is the same as wrong), but looking at these things and the way fixed income is trading is suggesting things are not as rosy as people thought.
.................
Wall Street is waking up to the potential effect of tariffs on consumers

The recent slump in stocks could be tied to Wall Street seriously considering the effect of tariffs and seeing consumers changing buying patterns as a result, according to Harris Financial Group managing partner Jamie Cox.

Its pretty clear that markets are waking up to the consumer impact of tariffs. While the tariffs themselves may never get implemented, consumers are voicing their opinions with major changes in buying behaviors and sentiment about the prospects of their implementation, Cox told CNBC.

The reason? Trump. Trump's "all the right words" and the awareness that the Trillions he added to the USA Deficit from his one and only crap economic "stimulus" legislation in the four years of his previous term along with his failed Trade War with China and his Tariffs plunged our Agriculture and Manufactoring sectors into Recessions so deep he had to issue emergency welfare checks just to keep them afloat. Adding billions more to his deficits.

Oh, and this:

Trumps cuts hit red states, triggering GOP pushback.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/republica...220000057.html

Republican lawmakers are pushing back against sweeping cuts to the federal government launched by President Donald Trump and Elon Musk, as their downsizing crusade begins to hit GOP constituents.

A growing number of GOP lawmakers are trying to intervene with the Trump administration and are weighing legislation to circumvent the changes. But with the Department of Government Efficiency and the Office of Management and Budget moving at a rapid clip and flouting federal law to carve up the government, the lawmakers face monumental challenges in getting the White House to spare their constituents from the ax.

Hey, I hear MAGAs are in a panic to spin new definitions for the words "Best. Month. In. Four. Years. " So they can continue to give a Thumbs Up and props to those inane Russia Russia Russia Russia bot pop-ups on the Internet.