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There has been no more dramatic story in the world of energy over the last 20 years than the rise and fall of coal.
In the early 2000s, coal fueled China’s rapid growth. From 2000 to 2013, coal consumption in the country grew at a ludicrous pace of 12 percent a year on average, from 1.36 billion tons annually to 4.24 billion. For a while, China was burning over half of global coal output. Coal producers across the world flourished and many believed the “economic miracle” would go on forever.
It didn’t. In the early 2010s, China’s manufacturing-driven boom began slowing, cheap fracked gas took off the in the US, the world woke up to climate change, and renewable energy began its unstoppable march down the cost curve.
The result has been an extraordinary reversal of fortunes for coal at a time when it’s clearer than ever that we must stop using fossil fuels as soon as possible.
Just how bad has it gotten? For that, we turn to the Carbon […]
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With Criminal Trump and his family, it is always a grift, or a bribe, or some sleazy finagle. Here's the latest proof of that. There just doesn't seem to be an honest thought in their heads. This may matter to you, and it certainly matters to me. But Trumpers? They don't care. In the midst of the biggest healthcare crisis since the polio scare of the 1950s, and a screw-up of unparalleled proportions, Trump's approval rating according to fivethirtyeight has hardly changed. The latest poll I have seen shows 74% of Trumplicans approve of Trump's performance, while only 8% of Democrats do. 
The Trump Organization paid bribes, through middlemen, to New York City tax assessors to lower its property tax bills for several Manhattan buildings in the 1980s and 1990s, according to five former tax assessors and city employees as well as a former Trump Organization employee.
Two of the five city employees said they personally took bribes to lower the assessment on a Trump property; the other three said they had indirect knowledge of the payments.
The city employees were among 18 indicted in 2002 for taking bribes in exchange for lowering the valuations of properties, which in turn reduced the taxes owed for the buildings. All of the 18 eventually pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in Manhattan except for one, who died before his case was resolved.
No building owners were charged, though the addresses of some of the properties involved became public. Trump Organization buildings were not on that list. No evidence has emerged that Donald Trump personally knew of or participated in the alleged bribery.
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Most people are stocking up on hand sanitizer and toilet paper, but the super-rich have adopted more extreme measures to ward off the coronavirus – including preparing doomsday bunkers, according to reports.
Robert Vicino, founder of Vivos Group — a California-based firm that builds underground shelters — said his company has seen a surge in sales of such bunkers since the crisis erupted, according to the Guardian.
In Indiana, the company has converted a Cold War bunker into a fortified refuge for 80 people — and is offering space in hundreds of bunkers in an abandoned World War II ordnance depot in South Dakota.
The concierge company Quintessentially said one of its members had actually converted his home into a “military-style bunker” and was asking his visitors to show records of their movements and contacts.
In Kansas, the Survival Condo offers the well-heeled accommodations inside a 15-story-deep retired missile silo that once housed Atlas missiles and was built to withstand nuclear strikes.
Survival Condo owner Larry Hall bought the obsoleted […]
Credit: Acropolis Aviation ACJ320neo
- Acropolis Aviation recently unveiled the interior of its new Airbus ACJ320neo aircraft, of which it is the first operator.
- The Airbus Corporate Jet family of aircraft are modified versions of Airbus’ passenger jets converted for private use.
- The apartment-like aircraft are a step above the most luxurious private jets from Gulfstream, Bombardier, and Dassault.
The Airbus A320neo was a game-changer for airlines and is now being eyed by the private jet industry.
The first next-generation aircraft to be produced by the European manufacturer, the A320neo promised and delivered lower operating costs and increased efficiency compared to the previous generation Airbus A320s.
The aircraft has the same shell of its ever-popular predecessor but features new engines and aerodynamically friendly sharklet wingtips, both aiding in its reduced fuel consumption and providing additional range.
While the passenger model of the A320neo is in use the world over with airlines such as British Airways, Scandinavian Airlines, and Lufthansa, there’s a small subset of the aircraft being produced with the world’s mega elite in mind.
Marketed as an Airbus Corporate […]
Remote Viewing the Year 2060
