Riley

California?

Ugh anything but the oil sands 🫠

Note you’d need to adjust for inflation, efficiency, and oil use changes. Basically all the oil we used for power plants in the 1970s (a not insignificant portion of generation) is now a mix of coal, natural gas, and renewables. We also don’t use oil furnaces as much, etc. Then there’s efficiencies.

To an extent, yes. But with the right mix from different sources, you can keep refineries going. www.ijcea.org/papers/38-A5...

We’ve seen this with Venezuelan crude at gulf coast refineries. Surely they’ll want to keep refineries running in China, India, Singapore, Korea, etc.

These American Service Members Died in the Iran Conflict

Heartbreaking. I gifted this article so you could read about them. May their memories be a blessing.
www.nytimes.com/2026/03/03/w...

They switched from county-wide voting to precinct only and that was a surprise to many of us.

We all lived through the Covid disruptions and then the invasion of Ukraine. Quite a few people in this administration lived through the 70's oil crisis. Astounding that people don't seem to understand that energy (oil and increasingly gas) underpins EVERYTHING.

Mandatory drone operator training and a supply of drones required for their version of an Assize of Arms?

Might not be*
Ugh the shame

Energy shortages might be as direct of a link to mortality as food shortages, but there is still a link there. Those shortages will eventually affect people through increased prices for agriculture, transportation, fertilizer, heating, cooling (to a lesser degree), etc.

I know this is entirely self-inflicted, but isn’t the Strait of Hormuz closing exactly the sort of thing the SPR was created for?

To be clear, I supported the Biden admin’s use of the reserve to ease price spikes. I think the failure to refill it since April 2024 is the real issue.

The ouster of at least a dozen staffers from a counterintelligence unit, known as CI-12, which operates out of the Washington Field Office, was ordered by FBI Director Kash Patel, according to four former officials familiar with the dismissals. The dismissals came just days before the start of Operation Epic Fury and, separately, a deadly mass shooting at a bar in Austin, Texas, by a man reportedly wearing a sweatshirt that said, “Property of Allah,” beneath which was a T-shirt that was “emblazoned with a design similar to the Iranian flag,” CBS News reported Monday. CI-12 focuses on media leaks, global espionage, and international threats against America emanating from countries such as Cuba and Iran, former FBI officials tell the Sun. More broadly, CI squads are the lead domestic teams for investigating insider threats and foreign intelligence activity on American soil. In 2020, CI-12 assisted in monitoring potential retaliatory actions by Iranian-backed actors on American soil following a U.S. drone strike near Baghdad International Airport that killed Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps major general Qasem Soleimani, an operation ordered by Mr. Trump, former FBI officials tell the Sun.

Kash just fired some counter Iranian espionage agents.

www.nysun.com/article/excl...

Language Selection with Germany's flag for German, Italy for Italian, a cute US flag for English, Japan for Japanese, and China's flag for Chinese.

Surely all that does is force Americans to start speaking Australian

Raytheon Executive: I know you’re skeptical about buying American again. But hear me out. The MIM-104 Patriot is the only surface to air missile system with a proven track record of success against the US Air Force.

Danish Defense Minister: Continue.

Speaking from Texas, the more interconnection the better 🫠

Going from thinking I was hot shit to then pondering whether or not I was the dumbest person in these classes was rough. Still glad I stuck it out, though.

Yeah I wasn’t sure of what he replaced it with. In light of recent news I’ll consider myself wrong here and concede the point. Don’t elect nazis is a good principle.

Fiction series:
Bobiverse
The Expanse
Discworld — has helped me better handle our current reality
Red Rising
Old Man’s War
Dungeon Crawler Carl

Nonfiction:
Invention of Nature
Anything by Vaclav Smil (I like Growth + Energy and Civilization)
Slouching Toward Utopia

100% agreed

Also the goat chops

Him covering it up over only after it was pointed out makes me think he doesn’t actually hold those beliefs is just dumb. Having grown up near military bases, I definitely recognize the type.

Janet Mills > Platner sure.

Anyone that reacts to shame/pressure is probably better than Fetterman

Not just liberals. I think that if Ted Cruz had responded like this (e.g. on the debate stage) after Trump called his wife ugly, it would have sunk Trump similar to Christie’s Little Marco.

Do you have a preferred term or framing? I agree that Blue MAGA is ridiculous.

Distinction* oops.

Mostly agreed. I will note that I think Manchin >>> Sinema. With her and Fetterman you could’ve just had a normal democrat run. I worry Platner could be a Fetterman 2.0. But I also think beating Collins is #1.

The only important diction moving forward should be the “fighters” or not. Ideological purity tests undermine the party and therefore our goals. But complacency and senescence (real or perceived) do real harm as well.

We agree that you need large majorities to fix / prevent this from happening again.

The path to getting a majority like that requires doing much more with smaller majorities. Kill the filibuster. DC and PR statehood. Up the reapportionment cap. Add more SC justices.
Break out of this 50/50!

Only a simple majority in the house to start impeachment proceedings. Regardless of the trial’s outcome.

Waiting until 2023 with an R majority in the House before introducing the SCERT Act is the crux of the issue. Dems must use and be seen using their power when they have it.

Absolutely true.

It’s also true that fixes were neglected following Trump 1. E.g. bringing back independent counsels. ~No pressure on the Supreme Court—at min requiring the same standard of ethics as lower courts. Nor starting impeachment proceedings against Thomas and Alito for basically bribes.

The solution is/was fundamentally political. With the Supreme Court providing cover (e.g. forcing Colorado to put Trump on the ballot), that leaves only the Senate to disqualify someone. That was a fundamental error after Jan 6.
Ditto for allowing the Supreme Court to make such disastrous rulings.