American Politics

[EihTooms]

Yeah right Trump accomplshed a lot with Russia and North Korea. LOL.

Those two nations are still and will always be run be dictators who poison or murder anyone who questions their "leadership. " Does that sound like American values to you? Reagan must be spinning in his grave!

Trump appeases Russia, North Korea and China while stabbing Ukraine and the rest of Europe in the back along with Canada, Mexico and any other American allies he can find.

This is not "peacemaking". This is switching sides from the side promoting peaceful relations, democracy and democratic values to the side of bullying, murderous, anti-democratic, imperialist, authoritarian thugs.

[KeviKev68]

Great post. I'm more hopeful than you are Axel, that an end to death and destruction is in sight. Trump, while being firm, improved relations with Russia and North Korea by developing a relationship with their leaders. I suspect you're right, the war in Ukraine wouldn't have kicked off under a Trump presidency. From memory, North Korea ceased medium and long range ballistic missile tests after Trump improved relations, only to start them up again under Biden. I may have problems with Trump's tariffs and what he tried to pull after the 2020 election. But he did a great job with Russia and North Korea.

Yeah right Trump accomplished a lot with Russia and North Korea. LOL.

Those two nations are still and will always be run be dictators who poison or murder anyone who questions their "leadership. " Does that sound like American values to you? Reagan must be spinning in his grave!

[Elvis 2008]

Politicians lie a lot. Trump lies more than most politicians. Get over it.

I do not think you can say people with dementia can lie nor can people who are asleep, so I think it is safe to say that Biden lied less than Trump.

Of course, if the Democrats elected Biden who was pretty much brain dead, maybe they can use AI and special effects imagery and elect someone who IS actually dead next time. I was thinking about the recently deceased Democratic presidents to choose from and lord knows I would pick a dead JFK over a live Kamala any day.

[Sirioja]

Politicians lie a lot. Trump lies more than most politicians. Get over it.

If he helps end this stupid war then maybe, just maybe, he'll get the Nobel Peace Prize! Wouldn't that be the cat's meow!

Trump does' t care about war and deaths and he doesn't protect Ukraine, but want to rob them and make business with his friend Putin, when he knows he lose for business versus better quality Europe and cheap China, so he just tries to find money elsewhere, robbering poor Ukraine, lying about money given, to ask more. A liar chicken robber for USA image in front of the world who know now. I wish Ukraine who defend their lands and freedom will resist to be robbed by shameful twins.

[EihTooms]

So what do you propose? Send USA Or NATO troops to Ukraine? Get into a nuclear war? Because those are the only ways Russia gives up the territory it's occupying. At least Trump is promoting peace, instead of war "to the last Ukrainian. ".

So your and fat lying clown Trump's only conceivable solution to the end of Russia's aggression and a settlement in the war is to have him and his idiotic Secreatary of Defense start out by giving Russia Russia Russia Russia everything Putin wants, concede nothing to the country he invaded, demand that country give up their mineral resources to fat lying clown Trump and just shut up about the former Leader of the Free World characterizing him, the target and victim of the invasion, as a "dictator" and the one who started the war?

Brilliant. Why didn't Biden think of that? What a magnificent negotiator that fat clown liar Trump is!

Because, most certainly when one does that there is no way a murderous dictator thug like Putin would ever think of moving his juggernaut of world dominance one inch beyond Ukraine. Just as it never occurred to him to move one inch beyond Georgia after he invaded them under GW Bush.

Russia was not going to continue that war forever. Those troops were barely hanging on to any resolve to continue with only the prospect that Putin's #1 Useful Fat Lying Clown in the Western World, Trump, might squeak out another razor-thin win last November as a hope.

And even Trump-glorified God's like Putin don't live forever.

[EihTooms]

Politicians lie a lot. Trump lies more than most politicians. Get over it.

If he helps end this stupid war then maybe, just maybe, he'll get the Nobel Peace Prize! Wouldn't that be the cat's meow!

I got over Repub politicians lying in order to further their War Against America during Reagan's 1st term.

Still, I do think it is a wee bit newsy and worth a mention that the current POTUS just sided with Russia Russia Russia Russia, Xi, Kim and a whole bunch of anti-democratic dictators and against Western Democratic Allies on an issue of who invaded who in the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Yeah, he'll get the Nobel Peace Prize for preemptively surrendering everything to a murderous dictator on behalf of the country he invaded after Newd Grinbitch wins the Nobel Prize in Economics for doing everything in his power to thwart and reverse the Great Dem / Clinton Economic Recovery, Expansion and Trajectory to a Balanced and Surplus Budget without a single Repub vote for it that began months if not a year before Grinbitch or any other Repub controlled so much as a committe much less a house in Congress.

[SubCmdr]

Your arguments have not won me over. But I am newly converted EV fan. Why? Because I got picked up in a BYD for a Bolt Trip here in Pattaya, Thailand. The vehicle was amazing! It was like a magic carpet ride. So quiet. I has a great conversation with the driver. She has a charging station in her house and it takes about 6 hours to charge her vehicle each night. She says that if she has a long trip to let's say Bangkok, she will have to hit a charging station for about 1 hour. Torque is sublime. The power came on smooth and study with no increase in interior noise as the vehicle sped up. Fit and finish was remarkable. I would buy one just from the ride in it. In my opinion the days of ICEs are numbered.

For you MAGA Luddites, still having trouble, keeping up the changing times and EV technology and terminology...listen up and pay attention!

Let me be clear, once again! When I (or any non-MAGA, with a lick of intelligence) talks about the classification of EVs and hybrids, it means, they fall under the broader classification of "electrified vehicles", equipped with some form of electric propulsion.

Got it...Good!

Oh, and BTW, when the term NEVs (or new energy vehicles) is used, this will refer to BEVs, PHEVs or FCEVs. If you have any further difficulties with auto vehicle nomenclature, may I suggest you take it up with whatever automotive governing bodies makes that call.

My apologies, if that was too much for MAGA Luddites to learn in one post! (...kkkk!)


Hey, as much as that article was more of a Toyota propaganda piece, to sell more HEVs and PHEVs over BEVs, that's really fine and okay by me, if they can bamboozle enough buyers to believe them, like they're trying to do with their hydrogen cars (FCEVs) (...kkkk!). Hey, the more EVs, the merrier, the smart consumers, will figure it out for themselves!

You should know, HEVs and PHEVs, are just gateway vehicles to BEVs anyways and are merely bicycles with training wheels. Soon enough, their owners will take-off the training wheels and graduate up to owning a BEV, once they see through all the bullshit about EVs, as they get better and cheaper every year.

[SubCmdr]

So what do you propose? Send USA Or NATO troops to Ukraine? Get into a nuclear war? Because those are the only ways Russia gives up the territory it's occupying. At least Trump is promoting peace, instead of war "to the last Ukrainian. ".

If someone walks up to me and tells me I am going to fuck you in the ass. I am going to tell them the only way you are going to fuck me the ass is after you have killed me.

The United States of America has no moral standing to decide if a man should bend over and take it or fight to the death. It's easy to type on a keyboard. Who among us have stood against an armed opponent that intends to cause you death or serious bodily harm?

Why are you willing to tell another man he should bend over and take it?

If the Ukraine wants to continue to fight and all we are doing is shipping arms because we have no boots on the ground exactly what is the problem?

[Tiny 12]

That was an amazing moment, one of the most shameful in a long list of shameful Trump moments.

And I assume very, very few MAGAs will ever know about it. Or understand what happened even if they did ever hear about it on Fux News and the rest.

Or care even if they understood the full implications of it. If anything, love their America-hating lord and savior even more for it.

Which is exactly the premise on which con man Donald Trump operates. It is the reason he is a Repub and could never have run as a Dem. He operates on the premise that his supporters are astonishingly stupid and / or hate America as much if not more than he does.

Old fat con man Trump starts lying in public about the man who is sitting right there next to him. And since Trump has now abdicated the President of the United States' 80 plus year unchallenged position as The Leader of the Free World and has turned his job and the USA into a pathetic laughing stock of an anti-democratic wannabe dictatorship, Macron had ZERO qualms about sticking out his hand, grabbing that fat lying clown's arm and stopping his lie dead in its tracks, correcting him in mid sentence.

Fat lying Clown Trump seemed shocked by the move and then sat there like a snot-nosed 7 year old who just got his knuckles cracked with a ruler, rolling his eyes, but enduring it because he KNEW he was just busted on a huge, critically-important lie.

Then what is fat lying clown Trump's only way he can figure out to ease out of the most humiliating moment any POTUS in history has ever suffered in public on the world stage over such an all-important foreign policy matter and at the HAND of the now presumably real Leader of the Free World, the very man fat lying clown Trump was lying about?

He simply repeated the lie about the man!

What the hell else does he know about how to deal with any and every issue that his golfing is interrupted for him to deal with? LIE, of course.

And every World Leader on the Planet, even the ones from countries Trump would denigrate as "sh*thole countries", knew he was lying and watched him lying about it. Twice. And they now fully understand how shamefully, historically low the once-great USA has fallen in just one month.

For any real American patriot, it was nauseating to watch as well as for anyone else in the world who ever revered and looked up to America or at least the idea of America as a symbol and embodiment of whatever good might be achieved in this world.

Politicians lie a lot. Trump lies more than most politicians. Get over it.

If he helps end this stupid war then maybe, just maybe, he'll get the Nobel Peace Prize! Wouldn't that be the cat's meow!

[Elvis 2008]

For you MAGA Luddites, still having trouble, keeping up the changing times and EV technology and terminology...listen up and pay attention!

Let me be clear, once again! When I (or any non-MAGA, with a lick of intelligence) talks about the classification of EVs and hybrids, it means, they fall under the broader classification of "electrified vehicles", equipped with some form of electric propulsion. !

So when someone gets a car with a combustion engine and an electrical power train, you and the other leftoids take credit for saving the planet when the person uses the combustion engine 90+% of the time and dole out tax subsidies at the same rate as someone using a pure electrical vehicle? And that is your version of intelligence? Yeah, that sounds about right.

You should know hybrids are just gateway vehicles to electrical vehicles anyways and are merely bicycles with training wheels. Soon enough, their owners will take-off the training wheels and graduate up to owning a electric vehicle, once they see through all the bullshit.

These are sales of BYD's car, the Han.

Year China.

Han hybrid Han EV Total.

2020 11,783 28,773 40,556.

2021 30,476 87,189 117,665.

2022 128,524 143,938 272,462.

2023 121,859 105,887 227,746.

2024 141,284 87,429 228,713.

This data just so happens to be the opposite of what you are saying Spidy.

And is this just the Han? Uh no.

https://www.carscoops.com/2023/11/de...***-than-bevs/

It's little surprise then that sales of hybrids grew by 72% during the January-September 2023. To put these figures into perspective, electrical vehicles sales in sale have 'only' grown by 14% this year. Last I checked, 72 is greater than 14.

As for why, there is the cost: In most markets, hybrids are sold at a premium over ordinary internal combustion engine vehicles but that's not the case in China. In fact, some hybrids are cheaper than standard gasoline models and upwards of 23% cheaper than battery-electric vehicles.

Uh, Spidy, why are people going to spend 23% more on a car? Because you say so?

If you are taking solace in Bloomberg Finanical though, Spidy, I would not. Sure they project "battery-electrics still account for the bulk of global plug-in vehicle sales, but the hybrid share is higher than in last year's outlook, and they stay around for longer, peaking at 10% of the global vehicle market in 2030 before falling back as battery prices drop further. " Source: https://about.bnef.com/blog/tracking...lug-in-hybrids.

What they failed to project is the tremendous continued decline in the price of hybrids. In the graph on their report, hybrids are more expensive than pure electric vehicles and within just the last two years, that trend has totally changed.

So as for now as a leftoid, you got "emission free" electrical vehicles running on gasoline with batteries charged by coal plants. That is not good. Your only case for clean air is if people use the batteries more often than gasoline.

And things do not look good there either, from Bloomberg, For private car buyers, studies found a range of 26% to 54% of all kilometers driven in PHEVs were done in electric mode. For company cars, the story is much worse, with the electric drivetrain accounting for just 11% to 24% of total mileage.

[Elvis 2008]

Do you even understand what is stated in your own link?

It provides beatutiful substantiation, in context, for why Britain did not hold elections during WWII, when the country was being bombed by the Germans. Almost the exact same reason Ukraine has not held elections in Ukraine while Russia Russia Russia Russia is bombing Ukraine with the added bonus of experiencing a Full-Scale Invasion of Ukraine by Russia Russia Russia Russia that Britain was largely spared.

Since you did not get the election point, the UK still had elections, I guess it just goes over your head that Churchill did not ban the free press not did he dissolve the other political parties. In addition, it may have gone over your head that the Russians have brought up Zelensky not being a duly elected president. They would likely agree to not bomb for a day if asked if Ukraine did likewise.

Come on, admit it; until you read my posts about this you have been so insulated inside the Winger MAGA mis- and dis-information bubble created by Russia Russia Russia Russia that you had no idea any part of Ukraine had been bombed by invading aggressor Russia Russia Russia Russia or that so much as a square meter of Ukraine had been invaded by Russia Russia Russia Russia, right?

Loony Tooms, those things that you hear in your brain are not my thoughts, they are voices. You really need to get treated for schizophrenia.

[Sirioja]

So when are you going over to the Ukraine to volunteer your services fight for freedom? I am not going to hold my breath.

The truth is that it has been a bloodbath over there with no end in sight since the Russian invasion began under Joe Biden and this Russian invasion would never have happened in the 1st place if Trump had been President and not the brain addled Joey Biden.

I am very dubious as to whether Trump can actually pull off a real deal between Russia and the Ukraine, ie a lasting peace and an end to all hostilities, but he is thinking outside the box. The alternative is a continuance of the death and destruction for years & years & years. So, I am going to hold off my judgement of this until I see the results. Yes, it might be a no go and nothing comes of it, or it might be another Neville Chamberlain "peace in our times" piece of bull shit, or it just could be a lasting peace where Ukraine survives mostly intact and becomes a part of the European Economic Community (EEC). Who knows? But I am sure we will all find out pretty soon.

Trump is friend with Putin who has photos of him with prostitutes, and USA didn't protect Ukraine. I agree too many deaths, but Ukraine don t have to accept to be robbed lands by Putin and values by Trump, when both are liar and chicken robbers. We all know Putin is a shameful dictator, but also so bad image for USA.

[Tiny 12]

The level of MAGA willful ignorance is just astonishing.

So what do you propose? Send USA Or NATO troops to Ukraine? Get into a nuclear war? Because those are the only ways Russia gives up the territory it's occupying. At least Trump is promoting peace, instead of war "to the last Ukrainian. ".

[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.

The pro-Trump Wall Street Journal Editorial Board agrees with you. An excerpt from what they wrote a couple of days ago:

As Commander in Chief, President Trump has the power to fire and promote military advisers as he chooses. The question that occurs after his Friday evening purge of Pentagon leaders is whether he wants personal loyalty or honest military counsel.

Mr. Trump and Defense chief Pete Hegseth relieved six officers of duty, including chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the Chief of Naval Operations (CNO). Other Presidents have sacked military leaders, notably Barack Obama's decision to dismiss Stanley McChrystal after a magazine reported that he had made critical comments about Mr. Obama.

Such dismissals usually come with a specific reason or performance failure. Messrs. Trump and Hegseth offered no reason for Friday's purge, except for a general assertion that they will make choices based only on merit and war-fighting ability.

In that case firing CQ Brown as chairman of the joint chiefs is unfortunate. Air Force Gen. Brown's legacy includes his 2020 document "Accelerate Change or Lose," warning that air dominance isn't an American birthright and the force would have to change quickly or risk defeat in the next war.

He understands the challenge from China and has thought about how to defeat it, arguing for more modern equipment and embracing new tech. He didn't get as far as the Air Force needs but at least he was pushing. He also cut a low political profile as chairman, a welcome improvement over his press-hungry predecessor, Gen. Mark Milley.

https://www.wsj.com/opinion/trump-sw...ts_pos4&page=1

[Tiny 12]

I think youre missing the bigger picture. Whether its 2027, 2028 or 2029, when they do meet their goal of %100 renewables, it will signal, a milestone and a monumental moment in Australian and world energy history and prove that you can have renewables as base load and beyond.

In my books, even if they are still at 3-5% LNG, being used as a peaker plant and part of their energy mix, for those rear summer peak demands moments, its still a huge WIN!



Not sure whats the deal is with Australian electricity prices in general, but Australia has for a long time ranked among the worlds top 10 countries with the highest residential electricity prices. So comparing it with Texas, isnt realistic.

Yeah, I remember, the winter storm, which struck Texas in Feb 2021. Where a seized up grid and frozen windmills, let wholesale electricity prices, spike up, to a ridiculous price of $9,000/MWh. Leaving residents, with electrical bills of $10-17K for just a few days worth of electricity. (...kkkk!). So Texas is not without its hiccups!

Although, comparing SA with other Aussie states is fair, and their rates are the currently among highest in the country, when you take into account the cost/investment of transitioning to renewable energy, I would have thought, it'd be actually be higher than it is. Historically their rates have been higher then they are today. So while a bit high, it's only short term pain.

The higher rates, wont remain high, in the coming years. Couple that with their increased periods of negative rates, excess electricity sent to NEM and possible green hydrogen generation, theyll be more positive net gains to their flexible 100% renewable grid.

SA has turned the corner and are only using LNG as intermittent/peaker plant power sources. With regards to copycat state of Texas, nuclear is only 5-8%, and barely anything in the scheme things. While natural gas is still doing most of the heavy lifting, with wind, solar and batteries (SWB) as a very close second. It wont be long before copycat Texas follows places like SA and California, with SWB as the biggest part of their energy mix.

SA, phased out coal in 2016, as I reported. Natural gas (LNG) is next!

Just repeating what I've already said doesn't do anything for your argument. Re-read my section on the "Recap of the Dominican Republics Energy Mix:". And don't worry so much, today's solar will still generate a fair amount of power on those approx. 125-165 cloudy days in the DR. But again, from what I've gleaned about the DR, they'll need a mixture of solutions, from SWB, and maybe pumped hydro, offshore wind and offshore solar, perhaps.

What your looking at are LCOE project costs, in my report.

First, batteries are hardly ever paired with nuclear and suited with wind and solar. Second, the cost for storage is dropping everyday, with alternatives like Na-Li batteries being even cheaper. Third, when batteries are paired with S+W, the your LCOE, is better than buying them separately. Fourth, consider, there are projects in the U.S. (Texas, Arizona) now bid $30-$40/MWh for solar + 4h storage (with subsidies) LCOE. Still w/o subsidies globally, your looking at LCOE of $70-$80/MWh SWB combos.

Utility-Scale Solar, 2023 Edition: Empirical Trends in Deployment, Technology, Cost, Performance, PPA Pricing, and Value in the United States
https://emp.lbl.gov/publications/uti...r-2023-edition

With an annual cost of between $2.55 - $3.47 billion dollars to import and burn fossil fuels for electricity, is good enough reason to look for cheaper, sustainable alternatives.

I'm sure you love it, when your right-winger billionaire robber oil-n-gas barons, run roughshod over poor struggling emerging countries and would like nothing better than to see them continue to suckle on their oil rich nipples, for the next 15-20 years. But I don't think they can afford NOT to adopt a 15-20 plan, to tackle the ever increasing and rising costs of fossil fuels and provide energy independence for their secured future, if shown what's possible.

Hence way I think the SA's example will show many, what's possible!

Spidy, you could simply say you made a mistake, and draw my attention to your much more realistic, revised LCOE numbers. It's only by a fluke that I noticed you apparently got the moderator to change your original post, to change the LCOE's per megawatt hour.

Again, I believe South Australia has the largest onshore natural gas production on the continent. I haven't checked that in a while though. The natural gas they use to generate power would be transported by pipeline from the Moomba Gas Plant in northern South Australia to Adelaide, and maybe they get a little pipeline gas from Victoria. The cost of generating electricity from natural gas transported by pipeline, especially with new combined cycle plants, is much cheaper than using LNG. Your post conveniently omitted LCOE ranges for combined cycle natural gas power plants.

No doubt South Australia may by 2027 produce more electricity from renewables than it consumes. The state has some very sunny and windy places. It will however export the excess electricity, and continue to generate a substantial part of its electricity with reliable natural gas.

And if the state mandates "no more electricity from natural gas", then no doubt South Australia may, say, generate electricity from renewables in excess of its consumption, while importing, say, 25% of its needs from Victoria, produced there by coal fired power plants.

While I won't make any wager involving kissing EihTooms ass in 2050, given that unfortunately he will have either passed away or have a disgusting looking ass by then, I would bet that SA will still be consuming natural gas in 2050.

As to your cost estimates for electricity with 4 to 12 hour battery storage, I suspect they're low. And also suspect there are periods much longer then 12 hours in the DR when the sun doesn't shine and the wind doesn't blow much. The DR doesn't have the ability to import electricity from a neighboring country, like SA does from Victoria.

As to your next-to-last paragraph, if renewables were the be all and end all, then why are they still constructing coal fired plants in India, China and many other countries? The air quality in cities in those countries sucks big time, and would benefit from less coal. But because of the economic reality they continue with coal. Are people in those countries stupid?

You've got things reversed. If the rich world somehow imposes renewable energy on developing countries without paying for it, people are going to suffer worse lives than they would otherwise. So called "robber oil and gas barons" are not imposing their will on poor countries. Rather, economic reality causes them to make the choices they do. That reality will result in greater consumption of renewables, but the world is not going to abandon fossil fuels for a long while.