What does a TRUMP presidency look like?

[Tonitrus]

I had no idea there was a Tiffany Trump.

Tiffany's name derives from that of the famous jewelry store on Fifth Avenue, adjacent to Trump Tower. Donald had bought the store's air rights for $5 million when he was still putting together the deal to build the signature building that bears his name.

Apparently the most distant from her dad of all the Trump kids.

Content aside, I thought Tiffany Trump delivered her remarks rather well.  Far better than her siblings to date.

[merithyn]

So that I have this straight, right now, as a country, the US is dealing with:

* World-wide pandemic that is being spread across the US by a motorcycle party in South Dakota
* The CDC, under pressure of our President, has decided that testing asymptomatic people isn't necessary, despite knowing that asymptomatic people spread the virus
* Protests over racial inequality
* Riots due to the protests over racial inequality
* Armed protests at State Houses over having to wear masks
* A derecho that devastated the Midwest's economy
* Largest fires ever in California
* Cat 4 hurricane with an "unsurvivable" surge heading toward Louisiana and Texas

Am I missing anything? Because with all this winning going on, I'm exhausted.

Edited to add the protests over masks. (Those are seriously still a thing? I'm looking at you, Idaho.)

[Sheilbh]

I have seen there's been a few warnings in about firenadoes but I understand that's calmed down/passed now

[merithyn]

I have seen there's been a few warnings in about firenadoes but I understand that's calmed down/passed now

Has it though, really? Because I'm going to go with we'll still see those at some point the way that things are going....

[Sheilbh]

The moment he truly became President:
https://twitter.com/Acyn/status/1299485775587803137?s=20

[Syt]

https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1299471313128452097?s=19

No, I want Big Ten, and all other football, back - NOW. The Dems don't want football back, for political reasons, but are trying to blame me and the Republicans. Another LIE, but this is what we are up against! They should also open up all of their Shutdown States.

[Iormlund]

Trumpo: unhinged.

[viper37]

So that I have this straight, right now, as a country, the US is dealing with:

* World-wide pandemic that is being spread across the US by a motorcycle party in South Dakota
* The CDC, under pressure of our President, has decided that testing asymptomatic people isn't necessary, despite knowing that asymptomatic people spread the virus
* Protests over racial inequality
* Riots due to the protests over racial inequality
* Armed protests at State Houses over having to wear masks
* A derecho that devastated the Midwest's economy
* Largest fires ever in California
* Cat 4 hurricane with an "unsurvivable" surge heading toward Louisiana and Texas

Am I missing anything? Because with all this winning going on, I'm exhausted.

Edited to add the protests over masks. (Those are seriously still a thing? I'm looking at you, Idaho.)

trade disputes with China, Canada and Europe.

The net result has been exagerated inflation for many products in the US and many Chinese companies getting richer by acquiring US based plants and avoiding tariffs while local companies struggle.

Win! Win! Win!

[viper37]

How a Plan to Save the Power System Disappeared

A federal lab found a way to modernize the grid, reduce reliance on coal, and save consumers billions. Then Trump appointees blocked it.

On August 14, 2018, Joshua Novacheck, a 30-year-old research engineer for the U.S. National Renewable Energy Laboratory, was presenting the most important study of his nascent career. He couldn't have known it yet, but things were about to go very wrong.

At a gathering of experts and policy makers in Lawrence, Kansas, Novacheck was sharing the results of the Interconnections Seam Study, better known as Seams. The Seams study demonstrated that stronger connections between the U.S. power system's massive eastern and western power grids would accelerate the growth of wind and solar energy—hugely reducing American reliance on coal, the fuel contributing the most to climate change, and saving consumers billions. It was an elegant solution to a complicated problem. 

Democrats in Congress have recently cited NREL's work to argue for billions in grid upgrades and sweeping policy changes. But a study like Seams was politically dangerous territory for a federally funded lab while coal-industry advocates—and climate-change deniers—reign in the White House. The Trump administration has a long history of protecting coal companies, and unfortunately for Novacheck, a representative was sitting in the audience during the talk: Catherine "Katie" Jereza, then a deputy assistant secretary in the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Electricity.

Jereza fired off an email to DOE headquarters—before Novacheck had even finished speaking, according to sources who viewed the email—raising an alarm about Seams' anti-coal findings. That email ignited an internal firestorm. According to interviews with five current and former DOE and NREL sources, supported by more than 900 pages of documents and emails obtained by InvestigateWest through Freedom of Information Act requests and by additional documentation from industry sources, Trump officials would ultimately block Seams from seeing the light of day. And in doing so, they would set back America's efforts to slow climate change.

A nearly impermeable electrical "seam" divides America's eastern and western power grids. These giant pools of alternating current on either side of the Rockies contain a total of 950 gigawatts of power generation by thousands of power plants. (A third grid serves Texas.) But only a little over one gigawatt can cross between them. Western-grid power plants in Colorado send bulk power more than 1,000 miles away to California, for example, but merely a trickle across the seam to its next-door neighbor Nebraska. That separation raises power costs, and makes it hard to share growing surpluses of environmentally friendly wind and solar power. And years of neglect have left the grids—and the few connections between them—overloaded and ill-prepared to transition to highly variable renewable energy.
[...]

Not unexpected from this administration.  Still, I wonder why the Democrats aren't using this to attack Trump's leadership.

[grumbler]

How a Plan to Save the Power System Disappeared

A federal lab found a way to modernize the grid, reduce reliance on coal, and save consumers billions. Then Trump appointees blocked it.

On August 14, 2018, Joshua Novacheck, a 30-year-old research engineer for the U.S. National Renewable Energy Laboratory, was presenting the most important study of his nascent career. He couldn't have known it yet, but things were about to go very wrong.

At a gathering of experts and policy makers in Lawrence, Kansas, Novacheck was sharing the results of the Interconnections Seam Study, better known as Seams. The Seams study demonstrated that stronger connections between the U.S. power system's massive eastern and western power grids would accelerate the growth of wind and solar energy—hugely reducing American reliance on coal, the fuel contributing the most to climate change, and saving consumers billions. It was an elegant solution to a complicated problem. 

Democrats in Congress have recently cited NREL's work to argue for billions in grid upgrades and sweeping policy changes. But a study like Seams was politically dangerous territory for a federally funded lab while coal-industry advocates—and climate-change deniers—reign in the White House. The Trump administration has a long history of protecting coal companies, and unfortunately for Novacheck, a representative was sitting in the audience during the talk: Catherine "Katie" Jereza, then a deputy assistant secretary in the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Electricity.

Jereza fired off an email to DOE headquarters—before Novacheck had even finished speaking, according to sources who viewed the email—raising an alarm about Seams' anti-coal findings. That email ignited an internal firestorm. According to interviews with five current and former DOE and NREL sources, supported by more than 900 pages of documents and emails obtained by InvestigateWest through Freedom of Information Act requests and by additional documentation from industry sources, Trump officials would ultimately block Seams from seeing the light of day. And in doing so, they would set back America's efforts to slow climate change.

A nearly impermeable electrical "seam" divides America's eastern and western power grids. These giant pools of alternating current on either side of the Rockies contain a total of 950 gigawatts of power generation by thousands of power plants. (A third grid serves Texas.) But only a little over one gigawatt can cross between them. Western-grid power plants in Colorado send bulk power more than 1,000 miles away to California, for example, but merely a trickle across the seam to its next-door neighbor Nebraska. That separation raises power costs, and makes it hard to share growing surpluses of environmentally friendly wind and solar power. And years of neglect have left the grids—and the few connections between them—overloaded and ill-prepared to transition to highly variable renewable energy.
[...]

Not unexpected from this administration.  Still, I wonder why the Democrats aren't using this to attack Trump's leadership.

This "Seams" issue has been studied before, and the problem remains:  the cost of interconnection is high and the benefits uncertain.  The interconnection issues exist because it is had to run reliable power lines over massive mountains.  Neither the eastern nor western grids have an excess of renewable power generation, so the idea that the seam is really slowing down renewables is pretty far-fetched.  It is possible that eliminating the seam would be cost-effective, but that's independent of the issue of renewable energy.  Lowering transmission costs would increase the utility of increasing linkage.

[11B4V]

So that I have this straight, right now, as a country, the US is dealing with:

* World-wide pandemic that is being spread across the US by a motorcycle party in South Dakota
* The CDC, under pressure of our President, has decided that testing asymptomatic people isn't necessary, despite knowing that asymptomatic people spread the virus
* Protests over racial inequality
* Riots due to the protests over racial inequality
* Armed protests at State Houses over having to wear masks
* A derecho that devastated the Midwest's economy
* Largest fires ever in California
* Cat 4 hurricane with an "unsurvivable" surge heading toward Louisiana and Texas

Am I missing anything? Because with all this winning going on, I'm exhausted.

Edited to add the protests over masks. (Those are seriously still a thing? I'm looking at you, Idaho.)

Yes the Mayan's predicted this.

[Tonitrus]

So that I have this straight, right now, as a country, the US is dealing with:

* World-wide pandemic that is being spread across the US by a motorcycle party in South Dakota
* The CDC, under pressure of our President, has decided that testing asymptomatic people isn't necessary, despite knowing that asymptomatic people spread the virus
* Protests over racial inequality
* Riots due to the protests over racial inequality
* Armed protests at State Houses over having to wear masks
* A derecho that devastated the Midwest's economy
* Largest fires ever in California
* Cat 4 hurricane with an "unsurvivable" surge heading toward Louisiana and Texas

Am I missing anything? Because with all this winning going on, I'm exhausted.

Edited to add the protests over masks. (Those are seriously still a thing? I'm looking at you, Idaho.)

Yes the Mayan's predicted this.

Pretty sure it was Nostradamus. :hhm:

[11B4V]

So that I have this straight, right now, as a country, the US is dealing with:

* World-wide pandemic that is being spread across the US by a motorcycle party in South Dakota
* The CDC, under pressure of our President, has decided that testing asymptomatic people isn't necessary, despite knowing that asymptomatic people spread the virus
* Protests over racial inequality
* Riots due to the protests over racial inequality
* Armed protests at State Houses over having to wear masks
* A derecho that devastated the Midwest's economy
* Largest fires ever in California
* Cat 4 hurricane with an "unsurvivable" surge heading toward Louisiana and Texas

Am I missing anything? Because with all this winning going on, I'm exhausted.

Edited to add the protests over masks. (Those are seriously still a thing? I'm looking at you, Idaho.)

Yes the Mayan's predicted this.

Pretty sure it was Nostradamus. :hhm:

New Math.....naw. They'd still be working the problem

[viper37]

How a Plan to Save the Power System Disappeared

A federal lab found a way to modernize the grid, reduce reliance on coal, and save consumers billions. Then Trump appointees blocked it.

On August 14, 2018, Joshua Novacheck, a 30-year-old research engineer for the U.S. National Renewable Energy Laboratory, was presenting the most important study of his nascent career. He couldn't have known it yet, but things were about to go very wrong.

At a gathering of experts and policy makers in Lawrence, Kansas, Novacheck was sharing the results of the Interconnections Seam Study, better known as Seams. The Seams study demonstrated that stronger connections between the U.S. power system's massive eastern and western power grids would accelerate the growth of wind and solar energy—hugely reducing American reliance on coal, the fuel contributing the most to climate change, and saving consumers billions. It was an elegant solution to a complicated problem. 

Democrats in Congress have recently cited NREL's work to argue for billions in grid upgrades and sweeping policy changes. But a study like Seams was politically dangerous territory for a federally funded lab while coal-industry advocates—and climate-change deniers—reign in the White House. The Trump administration has a long history of protecting coal companies, and unfortunately for Novacheck, a representative was sitting in the audience during the talk: Catherine "Katie" Jereza, then a deputy assistant secretary in the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Electricity.

Jereza fired off an email to DOE headquarters—before Novacheck had even finished speaking, according to sources who viewed the email—raising an alarm about Seams' anti-coal findings. That email ignited an internal firestorm. According to interviews with five current and former DOE and NREL sources, supported by more than 900 pages of documents and emails obtained by InvestigateWest through Freedom of Information Act requests and by additional documentation from industry sources, Trump officials would ultimately block Seams from seeing the light of day. And in doing so, they would set back America's efforts to slow climate change.

A nearly impermeable electrical "seam" divides America's eastern and western power grids. These giant pools of alternating current on either side of the Rockies contain a total of 950 gigawatts of power generation by thousands of power plants. (A third grid serves Texas.) But only a little over one gigawatt can cross between them. Western-grid power plants in Colorado send bulk power more than 1,000 miles away to California, for example, but merely a trickle across the seam to its next-door neighbor Nebraska. That separation raises power costs, and makes it hard to share growing surpluses of environmentally friendly wind and solar power. And years of neglect have left the grids—and the few connections between them—overloaded and ill-prepared to transition to highly variable renewable energy.
[...]

Not unexpected from this administration.  Still, I wonder why the Democrats aren't using this to attack Trump's leadership.

This "Seams" issue has been studied before, and the problem remains:  the cost of interconnection is high and the benefits uncertain.  The interconnection issues exist because it is had to run reliable power lines over massive mountains.  Neither the eastern nor western grids have an excess of renewable power generation, so the idea that the seam is really slowing down renewables is pretty far-fetched.  It is possible that eliminating the seam would be cost-effective, but that's independent of the issue of renewable energy.  Lowering transmission costs would increase the utility of increasing linkage.

Since the main researcher disagrees with you and since the study has been hidden and shelved, it's impossible to determine the rightness of your statement.

Given that he felt his career was over in the public sector, I tend to believe it wasn't a simple case of "it's too costly to be done".

[grumbler]

Since the main researcher disagrees with you and since the study has been hidden and shelved, it's impossible to determine the rightness of your statement.

Since this was just one man's conclusion, and given that you have just completely made up the bits here about the study being 'hidden and shelved,' the "rightness of your statement" is pretty easy to dismiss.

Given that he felt his career was over in the public sector, I tend to believe it wasn't a simple case of "it's too costly to be done".

Given that
(1) the claim that "he felt his career was over in the public sector" is something that you just made up in a feeble effort to try to strengthen a bad argument;
(2) that Novacheck is still employed both by the University of Michigan and the NREL https://www.nrel.gov/research/highlights/index.html and
(3) that he was published at least as recently as January: https://www.nrel.gov/docs/fy20osti/74191.pdf
I'd say that your conclusions based on your false assertion that "he felt his career was over in the public sector" can be safely tossed on the trash pile.