Anteater

1. It really isn't of any consequence. Other than our GDP and obesity rates, what does the U.S. actually "excel at" over other countries right now? If your looking for the latest and greatest in environmental technology, most of that isn't being developed here. The only thing we can really boast about is that it's easier to establish a successful small business here than, say, Ireland or Germany.

2. The point of posting that anon message was to show there's two sides to every story. The truth is somewhere between the "cherry picked" opinions of the liberal elite and what was described in that post. Both sides have their respective agendas, and there's a lot of $$$ at stake. My opinion is a compromise between two extremes that each hold part of the truth.

3. The Internet would have never made it to the public without private enterprises who were willing to develop the things most people take for granted (like UX and UI related advances). Otherwise we'd still be stuck with massive magnetic tape mainframes in countless warehouses and we'd have a population far less educated about the internet that we do now (if things had gone a little differently). We all owe a big debt of gratitude to Tim Berners-Lee and others in that space for that.

4. The advances you are currently seeing in renewable energy research (especially the solar boom) are all because of the deregulation of those industries. As in, government pulling away so that people have more choice in the market. Here in north Texas, for example, there are a mix of regulated / deregulated areas and providers. I happen to live in an area that still hasn't been deregulated, so I don't get to choose to get my power from a more environmentally friendly provider or even install solar without going through fifty mountains of paperwork and hassle.

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Exo

I hope we get taxed up the ass by every single country until we join everybody in Paris. I want this country to dip into the mud with only the strong keeping their heads above the dirt. Then, Trump can be publicly lynched, the middle of the country can be flamethrowered, and we can start anew with a brand new outlook on how to be a country.

I've never despised a person so much.

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LastFM

SUPREME POO BAH MODERATOR EXTRAORDINAIRE

Anteater

His chances of being re-elected in three years are looking ridiculously slim. Most of the independents who swung his way back in November will not give him the benefit of the doubt again. So you won't get a lynching, but you'll see the political equivalent of that in 2020.

Also, this is the best article I've read in quite a long time. And from Salon of all places.

Wake up, liberals: There will be no 2018 “blue wave,” no Democratic majority and no impeachment - Salon.com

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Chula Vista

Trump: I was elected to represent Pittsburgh, not Paris.

Mayor of Pittsburgh: **** you Trump. My city is going to follow the Paris accord guidelines.

Trump is getting roasted all across the board tonight by everyone except his zombies.

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“The fact that we live at the bottom of a deep gravity well,
on the surface of a gas covered planet going around a nuclear fireball 90 million miles away
and think this to be normal is obviously some indication of how skewed our perspective tends to be.”

Exo

Wouldn't it be nice to see, just once, Trump make a decision with the ACTUAL people he presides over in mind? The sexual harassment stuff, the refusal to shake Merkels hand, the way he behaves on twitter, the way he pushes to be the center of attention everywhere he goes, the asinine and archaic beliefs he has, all that could be pushed aside if he didn't make every single decision since he was elected based on who he owes favors to and how much he has to gain from it. The president is not the CEO of his own company. He is elected to carry out the good of the people. Trump is only interested in what is good for himself.

I'll never understand the thought process some people had when they thought a businessman would be a good president. That's not how it works.

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LastFM

SUPREME POO BAH MODERATOR EXTRAORDINAIRE

Chula Vista

Amen.

Trump meets with Saudi Arabia and signs a $50 billion dollar weapons deal. Ivanka walks away with a $100 million dollar Saudi clothing distribution deal.

Obscene.

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“The fact that we live at the bottom of a deep gravity well,
on the surface of a gas covered planet going around a nuclear fireball 90 million miles away
and think this to be normal is obviously some indication of how skewed our perspective tends to be.”

Lisnaholic

^ This point is something of a red herring isn't it? The real reason that Trump's decision is significant is this: with approx 2% of the world population, the USA generates approx 20%* of the world's carbon emissions. In terms of pollution per capita, America is one of the dirtiest countries on the planet. That's why America's presence at the Paris Agreement table is significant, and that's why people are calling Trump's decision "immoral." He's leaving the planet to pay the ecological bill so that his prefered industries can have an easy ride.

(* on tv last night I heard a figure of 30%, this morning I read a figure of 15%, so take your pick!)
^ Thank you for the insight that there are two sides to every story. I don't know why you subjected us to an anonymous rant against a non-existent "Church of Climate Change" in order to make such an elementary point. ^ Much of Tim Berners-Lee's work on the internet was done when he worked at CERN - in fact CERN boasts the world's very first web address. CERN is a project of international cooperation established by the governments of many European countries; it's not a private enterprise. Thus you seem to have undermined the point you were trying to make, unless you are taking the difficult-to-defend position that CERN would ever afterwards be content with "massive magnetic tape mainframes in countless warehouses" if private enterprise had not come to their rescue.
^ Don't know anything about regulation of US domestic industries, so I can't comment on this.

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"Am I enjoying this moment? I know of it and perhaps that is enough." - Sybille Bedford, 1953

djchameleon

This is my line of work and I wish that mote states would deregulate the supply side so that people could have choice of who they use for their utilities. I also make solar panel referrals as well. Slowly more and more states have been opening up but I feel like with the current administration being so against green energy jobs and pushing more for coal. It might end up going the other way.

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Fame, fortune, power, titties. People say these are the most crucial things in life, but you can have a pocket full o' gold and it doesn't mean sh*t if you don't have someone to share that gold with. Seems simple. Yet it's an important lesson to learn. Even lone wolves run in packs sometimes.

rostasi

Anteater

Considering what I bolded there, why do you disagree with what I said? The U.S. even during our previous administration wasn't really in a position to be the leader of renewable energy. We aren't as bad as India or some of the other developing countries, but we're still sucking at Big Oil's teat. Other countries are far ahead of us. Also, this incident with the Paris Accord has been blown out of proportion since its likely to be reversed in 2020 (or earlier) before any real implementation of a pull-out is achieved. Trump is making a big show about it, but he won't get his way long-term (as usual). Though if you read that Salon article...now there's a real problem to worry about: the fact Trump's opposition here in the U.S. is so disorganized and weak that he could stomp all over them again in three years.


If you don't see a problem in the Paris Accord where billions upon billions are spent but there's no accountability to where that money actually goes and what it's used for (like lining Elon Musk's pockets), then start with that and work your way through what I've said before. That anon post illustrates a legitimate concern even if the use of phrases "Church of Climate Change" are juvenile.

That's exactly the position I'm taking because that's reality. CERN was never going to popularize the use of the Internet or develop it into what we have today. That's where the free market came in and companies like PSINet, Compuserve, etc. stepped in to actually turn that technology into something viable for mass consumption. Lee would have never bothered to set up the W3C if that hadn't happened at the start of the '90's.

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