Monday, February 26th, 2018
MICHAEL WALDMAN , - Politico Magazine
Stephan: Every time I hear someone advocating for the Second Amendment I know I am listening to a person with more bile than brains. It seems that only a few thousand history teachers and professors, and not even all of them, actually seem to know anything about this amendment and how it came to be.
For starters it is not about the right to own AR-15s, or for people to conceal and carry fire arms. That is all cancerous drivel. So is the fake history the NRA peddles about itself.
Here are some actual facts.
“A fraud on the American public.” That’s how former Chief Justice Warren Burger described the idea that the Second Amendment gives an unfettered individual right to a gun. When he spoke these words to PBS in 1990, the rock-ribbed conservative appointed by Richard Nixon was expressing the longtime consensus of historians and judges across the political spectrum.
Twenty-five years later, Burger’s view seems as quaint as a powdered wig. Not only is an individual right to a firearm widely accepted, but increasingly states are also passing laws to legalize carrying weapons on streets, in parks, in bars—even in churches.
Many are startled to learn that the U.S. Supreme Court didn’t rule that the Second Amendment guarantees an individual’s right to own a gun until 2008, when District of Columbia v. Heller struck down the capital’s law effectively banning handguns in the home. In fact, every other time the court had ruled previously, it had ruled otherwise. Why such a head-snapping turnaround? Don’t look for answers in dusty law books or the arcane reaches of theory.
So how does legal change happen in America? We’ve seen some remarkably successful […]
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Monday, February 26th, 2018
MARTIN CIZMAR, - Raw Story
Stephan: On one side we have the students who survived the Parkland massacre. One the other we have this. This is how sick we have become as a culture. How long do you think it will be before the next massacre of innocents, a week, a month? Oh, and don't forget the 92 people who died from gunfire today, or the 92 who died the day before, or the 92 who will die tomorrow.
Let's face it. America is a nation of gun junkies, whose fix is death.
As the nation is roiled by debates over gun control inspired by the Parkland massacre, a Florida gun show held over the weekend had “lines out the door” and “strong sales,” according to a New York Times report.
Thousands showed up for a show at the state fairgrounds in Tampa, where they bought guns, ammunition and t-shirts bearing pro-gun slogans. There were Girl Scouts selling cookies outside the show.
According to the Times, some sellers said they did double their normal sales figures.
“It’s sad to say, but whenever there’s a shooting, business only goes up because people are afraid of losing their right to own a certain weapon,” said salesman Quaidman Woody. “So even if they don’t need another AR, they’ll buy another AR or pieces of it.”
AR-15s were being sold at the show by people including Robert Ellie, who custom-makes the weapons at his shop in Fort Myers. Ellie said he uses the semi-automatic war rifle to hunt “wild boars.”
“We’ve had the Second Amendment for more than 200 years, but mass shootings are only a recent phenomenon,” he told the Tampa Bay Times.
Ironically, the show itself […]
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Sunday, February 25th, 2018
Stephan: If the transition out of the carbon-energy era were a horse race, the United States would be standing at the starting gate smelling a road apple it just dropped, while the other horses were going around the track.
Here is the latest, and this from Budapest, Hungary. By 2040 Most of Europe, China, and several other nations in Asia will have no carbon powered vehicles on their roads. In the U.S. what will we be driving?
Budapest solar parking lot
Credit: Platio
Solar roadways are quickly becoming the way of the future, with photovoltaic pavers popping up everywhere, from Georgia to France to the Netherlands. Now Hungary has gotten in on the action, thanks to energy startup Platio, which recently installed a swath of solar panels into a sidewalk in Budapest.
Measuring 4.7 square meters, or about 50 square feet, the 720 Wp system of Platio Solar Pavers is made up of 40 units and is located at a charging station for electric vehicles on the campus of real estate company Prologis. The solar sidewalk supplies green energy to the charging station during the day, but when the station is empty, the power is rerouted to a nearby building.
The solar pavers are nearly completely integrated into the environment, causing no disruptions to the way people use sidewalks. In a statement, Platio developers said that they hoped “to demonstrate that by turning energy absorbing paved areas into huge walkable solar arrays, energy production can be achieved at a large scale […]
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Sunday, February 25th, 2018
Nancy Owano, - techxplore
Stephan: In the U.S. the Trump administration is emphasizing offshore oil drilling -- remember the Golf Horizon oil spill -- while other countries are moving in the opposite direction. Here's the latest from Scotland. Which country do you think is best positioned for the future?
Scottish floating wind farm
Credit: The Independent
Statoil is riding high on performance outcomes during the first three full months of its wind farm production, which exceeded expectations.
This is all about its floating wind farm dubbed Hywind Scotland.
Its location is about 15 miles offshore Peterhead in Aberdeenshire, Scotland. The wind farm is powering approximately 20,000 UK households.
Reports highlighted nature’s beasties that set a real challenge. Storm Caroline in December had gusts over 160 km/h, or 100 mph, and waves topping 8.2 meters (27 feet).
How did the wind turbines withstand bad weather conditions?
The turbines shut down for safety during the worst winds, and they automatically resumed.
“A pitch motion controller is integrated with the Hywind turbine‘s control system and will adjust the angle of the turbine blades during heavy winds which mitigates excessive motions of the structure,” said the company.
Operations are by Statoil in partnership with Masdar. The Gulf Today reported that Masdar formed a strategic partnership with Statoil to pursue joint offshore wind projects.
Turning to Masdar, BusinessGreen said Masdar confirmed that […]
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Sunday, February 25th, 2018
Peter Montgomery, - Right Wing Watch
Stephan: One of the central strategies of the christofascists is to breach the firewall between church and state in order to transform the United States into a White Supremacist theocratic state, basically a christian cult Iran.
From what I read and see, and from conversations with people of all kinds, it is clear to me that very few Americans outside of the christofascist world recognize what is going on, nor do they understand why christian cultists support a man whose life is a profile of anti-family values, nor how they are doing it.
This report will, I hope, bring some clarity.
Mark Gonzales at a POTUS Shield meeting in Ohio.
Credit: Right Wing Watch
In the early morning hours of November 9, 2016, God told Frank Amedia that with Donald Trump having been elected president, Amedia and his fellow Trump-supporting “apostles” and “prophets” had a new mission. Thus was born POTUS Shield, a network of Pentecostal leaders devoted to helping Trump bring about the reign of God in America and the world.Amedia described the divine origins of POTUS Shield during a gathering that spread over three days in March 2017 at the northeastern Ohio church he pastors. Interspersed with Pentecostal worship, liturgical dancing, speaking in tongues, shofar blowing, and Israeli flag waving, Amedia and other POTUS Shield leaders put forth their vision for a Christian America and their plans to bring it to fruition through prayer, political engagement and organizing in all 50 states. Among the many decrees made at the event was that Islam must be “completely broken down.”
POTUS Shield’s leaders view politics as spiritual warfare, part of a […]
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