Stephan: All of the stories in today's edition have one thing in common, other than the obvious non-carbon aspect. They represent this new perspective on technology to which I have been drawing your attention. I consider all of this very good news. Here's a final one for this edition.
In August 2019, the Japanese multinational holding firm SoftBank invested $110 million in Swiss company Energy Vault. It was a major boon for the company, which has a somewhat unique take on renewables: It stores potential energy through the use of stacked concrete blocks. Energy Vault will use the investment to build its first two full-scale models in Italy and India.
Energy Vault is only two years old, but has earned its investment through growing interest in energy storage. As renewables rise in use and their prices drop, energy storage is becoming increasingly crucial. Left to their own devices, energy sources like solar panels or wind turbines don’t run forever; solar panels can only produce electricity when the sun’s out, for example, while wind turbines only turn when there’s wind.
Enter storage methods like Energy Vault.
When solar panels in a field in Rome, for example, begin producing energy, they would siphon part of that energy off to a storage facility like Energy Vault. With that energy stored, the company could then run the energy when there was no wind or a cloudy day.
Stephan: I can't speak for you but I, for one, never, ever, thought I would see video of people to whom the United States had pledged its alliance and support, throwing rotten fruit, and screaming curses at American troops under orders from a criminal commander-in-chief, whom himself ought to be in prison, abandon them to their probable death.
The entire world is watching this, and America's reputation as a country others can always trust may never recover. Speaking as a vet, son of a vet, grandson of a vet, and so on back to the American revolution, I see this as treason.
Retreating American troops pelted with potatoes and rotten fruit as they leave Syria abandoning their Kurdish allies.
Pelted with fruit and hounded by insults, the American military’s exit from Syria was very different from its time on the ground. The remnants of the US presence in the north-east of the country made an ignominious departure on Monday, driving through towns that had welcomed them for the past four years.
The regional capital of Qamishli, a hub of cooperation between US officers and Kurdish officials throughout the war against Islamic State, was among the least hospitable spots on the road out. As US battle trucks, sporting large American flags, made their way through town and headed towards Iraq, groups of locals threw rotting fruit and vegetables at them, cursing soldiers that only two weeks ago many in the region had considered to be their protectors.
The US convoy of roughly 100 armoured vehicles and lorries competed with a new wave of refugees as it made its way to the border, passing cars full of families crammed with their […]
Stephan: The thuggery of the American police has become an international issue. A German reader sent me this story with a note saying she and her family had planned to come to Philadelphia next summer to see the Liberty Bell and Independence Hall where the United States of America was created but, after doing a Google search on Philadelphia and seeing this, have decided they won't come to the U.S.; they see it as too dangerous.
Police Officer Aaron Dean, left, firing shots into home of Atatiana Jefferson and killing her. Police Officer Amber Guyger, right, on cellphone pacing near Botham Jean’s apartment after shooting and killing him. Credit: CNN/Bunny Babbs
As of Oct. 17, police in this country have shot to death 717 persons so far in 2019. That’s more than the Bloods and Crips combined have killed this year or any year. So who are the real murderous gangstas? (emphasis added)
Compare that 717 to 36, which is the number of police officers killed by gunfire in 2019 — and two of those were cops killing cops. I should point out that most cops who are killed by civilians are killed by white male civilians. For example, in 2016, 71 percent of the shooters who killed police officers were white men. That type of trend continued in 2017 and 2018 and continues in 2019. And since 1990, white far-right extremist groups killed 51 police officers, while Black far-left extremist groups (allegedly) killed 11 during […]
Stephan: They came to the United States seeking asylum, just as the Statue of Liberty plaque invites them to. And what happened? Here is the latest on our criminal president, and the thugs he has put into office, and the thugs they have hired for ICE and the Border Patrol.
I do not understand why there are not millions out in the streets standing up against this immoral and nefarious administration; people crying out for justice and fairness and making it clear to their Congressional representatives that their failure to serve justice and fairness will cost them their cushy jobs.
Araceli Ramos walks with her five-year-old daughter, Alexa, in a park in San Miguel, El Salvador, on Aug. 18, 2018. Credit: Rebecca Blackwell / AP
As the deportees were led off the plane onto the steamy San Salvador tarmac, an anguished Araceli Ramos Bonilla burst into tears, her face contorted with pain: “They want to steal my daughter!”
It had been 10 weeks since Ramos had last held her 2-year-old, Alexa. Ten weeks since she was arrested crossing the border into Texas and U.S. immigration authorities seized her daughter and told her she would never see the girl again.
Stephan: Yesterday I ran a report on youth suicides, but the symptoms of social dysfunction in the United States hardly end there. Look at these figures on the prevalence of Americans turning to drugs and alcohol for relief from depression, stress, and anxiety.
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
More than a third of Americans say alcohol has caused trouble in family
More than a fourth report family troubles because of drug abuse
Altogether, 46% have experienced one or the other issue
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Close to half of U.S. adults, 46%, have dealt with substance abuse problems in their family: 18% have had just alcohol problems and 10% have had just drug problems, while 18% have experienced both.
Summary of Americans’ Experience With Drinking and Drug Abuse as Family Problems
U.S. adults
%
Drinking, only, a cause of trouble in family
18
Drugs, only, a cause of trouble in family
10
Drinking and drugs both causes of trouble in family
18
Neither
54
GALLUP, 2018-2019
These findings are based on combined 2018-2019 data from Gallup’s annual Consumption Habits poll, conducted each July. Overall, across the two polls, 36% of Americans reported that drinking has been a cause of trouble in their family and 28% said the same of drug abuse.
Both questions are lifetime measures, asking Americans if drinking or drug abuse has ever been a problem in their family. It might be expected that […]
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
