Rep. Kay Granger, Ambassador Jon Huntsman, Senator Richard Shelby, and Senator John Thune meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in Moscow, Russia, July 3, 2018. Screen cap from RFE/RL.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov says a visit by Republican members of the U.S. Congress should improve ties between the two countries’ legislatures.
The U.S. lawmakers are in Russia this week on what they say is a mission to try to help revive relations, which are severely strained, and observe how Russia’s economy is doing after four years of Western sanctions.
At a meeting on July 3, Lavrov said he hoped the visit will “symbolize the renewal of relations between the parliaments” of the United States and Russia, something he said was “very timely” ahead of the summit in Helsinki — the first full-fledged meeting between Presidents Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin.
…The legislators were invited to Russia by U.S. Ambassador Jon Huntsman and are considered to be sympathetic to or allied with U.S. President Donald Trump, who plans to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin on July 16 in an effort to revive Russia-U.S. ties after years of deterioration [“U.S. Legislators in Moscow to Improve Ties, Observe Economy,” Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 2018.07.03].
Incredibly, no tweets yet from Thune in Russia. Must not have gotten the international plan for his phone.
Thune and his Republican chums are the first Congressional delegation to travel to Russia since 2013, when Steven Seagal arranged a trip for a bipartisan group of six members of Congress in a futile search for more information about that year’s Boston Marathon bombing. Among those visitors were radical GOPers Dana Rohrbacher, Steve King, and Michele Bachmann, who were able to use the trip to stoke their fears of radical Islam. Our members of Congress have since avoided Russia, due in part to its invasion of Crimea in 2014, the violent annexation of which Trump, due in Putin’s office on July 16, appears inclined to recognize.
Wasicu wingnuts requested all meetings with Russkie enemies be behind closed doors. Must be fomenting plans to install Putin’s Puppet as defacto forever ruler of Putin/USA.
Dana P
Extremely damning report from the Senate Intell Committee. Released yesterday. Thune and the rest should just stay in Russia. Selling out to a dictator who did this to our country. This is disgusting
Is there any truth to the rumor that if Russia wins the World Cup, trump intends to invite them to the White House?
mike from iowa
That is funny, Buckobear. US is looking to pull troops out of Germany and Drumpf sent scathing letters to NATO allies in two clear wins for Drumpf’s Puppet Master Putie.
mike from iowa
Speaking only for myself, I am getting tired of Drumpf winning for Putin.
jerry
Confederate Thune now can now come out to show his contempt of all people with dark skin. I am sure that he will say that he was just looking for a market for South Dakota grown caviar, but failed once again. Clearly, the confederate Thune is looking to make sure that those like him are elected in South Dakota, Putin to the rescue. One wonders when Putin will be invited to see the Shrine of something or other.
Robert McTaggart
There are energy issues at stake.
Russia is building and selling nuclear reactors with China instead of the United States today. So we lose out on that market, and also have less influence on matters of nuclear safety and nuclear security because we are not participating like we should.
But the larger issue is that if Europe wants to go all in on renewables, then they must choose between burning coal, burning natural gas, or using nuclear energy. Guess who has the natural gas? Russia. The threat of supplying Europe with liquefied natural gas from the U.S. is one of the few areas of leverage that we have.
Donald Pay
Selling nuclear reactors in the Middle East and Africa isn’t what I’d do to “make America great again.” Far better to encourage the end of the nuclear business, and sell renewable energy, which we still have some participating companies, though Republicans have done all they could to kill off the industry. It’s not as if any of the firms that would build nuclear plants with American taxpayer assistance are actually American companies. They are all foreign owned.
One thing you will notice is that regimes headed by dictators seem to love nuclear power, but when the people dig into it, it tends to create public outrage and instability. Unless they slam the jackboot of oppression down on their citizens, people tend to rise up against nukes. That’s what happen during the Cold War, by the way.
Policing the nuclear industry is a complex endeavor which most of these countries can’t do. The US and France are already involved in trying to keep African uranium from falling into the hands of terrorists. Adding wastes from power plants into the mix will be a recipe for dirty bomb terrorism.
mike from iowa
Doc, to the best of your knowledge, has anyone done a follow up study on the risks of using depleted uranium in artillery shells?
Robert McTaggart
The environmental defense fund just stated that 25% of our global warming is now due to leaks of natural gas….brought to you by….renewables (take a bow). The leaks of methane are exceeding EPA estimates by 60%. Going all in on renewables means that more natural gas will be consumed, not less. Maybe because companies are losing money through those leaks, they will do something about it.
If you do not give the Middle East, South Asia, and Africa a viable clean energy alternative (where supply meets demand whenever they want the energy), they will fulfill their power needs without being clean. The alternative is to sell American coal to the Middle East so they can burn it there. We’ll be carbon-free, but they won’t.
That is like saying we should mine the rare earth metals for renewables in China so that we can have clean renewable energy in the U.S. with a clean conscience. Oh wait a minute…that is what we are doing today. Maybe it’s like California building a lot of solar and then relying on Wyoming coal for the backup energy they need…oh darn it, we do that too.
What we can do is reduce the natural gas we burn is use nuclear energy differently, i.e. not just baseload. And the U.S. should be more involved in global nuclear energy. We should be setting up an international framework to do the enrichment and recycling so that the other nations do not.
Darin Larson
Do the Republicans not actually care about the optics of being in Russia on July 4th and kowtowing to a dictator?
Robert McTaggart
Mike,
The issue is typically the chemistry of uranium, not its radioactivity. Human biology doesn’t like a whole lot of heavy metal chemistry, uranium included. Both you and I have uranium inside us right now, but it is at very low levels.
So I would focus on whether pathways exist from depleted shells for significant enough exposures, or if other war-related chemical exposures and other stresses are the problem.
Roger Cornelius
Dang! republicans aren’t even subtle anymore, they go through the front door of Putin’s castle with their hands outstretched asking for campaign donations from Putin;s oligarchy.
Before Al Qadeda and ISIS and the war on terror was our enemy Russia was and they still are.
Every presidential administration national security council in my recent memory has said that Russia was our enemy and there was no reason to trust or believe them.
The republican senators visiting Russia are not on any kind of goodwill tour, they are there for illicit purposes, most likely there to collude in our 2018 mid-terms.
Loren
The idea that this visit is made up of only Republicans and the Dumpster is going to meet with Putin one on one with only interpreters makes me think not everything is on the up and up. I would write to Thune, but you only get, “Thank you for contacting my office,” B.S. in return. Nice photo op, but shouldn’t Mitch be standing in front of him?
mike from iowa
Thanks, Doc. I just remember there being a number of unexplained illnesses related to returning Iraq vets and this deep scientific stuff gives me a headache.
On a slightly lighter note, I can dig this stuff- A Clinton County, Pennsylvania couple apparently got just a little too messed up on Saturday (police claim they’d overdone it on the bath salts) and waged an epic battle with summertime fireflies—which they had mistaken for “alien lasers,” reports WNEP.
Jesse Shields fired a handgun at the “lasers” at the fluorescent creatures and he and Katherine McCloskey ran away to hide in a barn, thinking they were being chased by aliens.
They ran to a neighborhood home, where a neighbor was able to make them relinquish their weapon. Shields begged the neighbor to “get the goo off him that was burning his skin.”
Dang that Obama for allowing fireflies to cross the Southern unprotected border.
mike from iowa
Wingnuts apparently believe they don’t have to attempt bi-partisanship and can still force bills through w/o debate and simple majority votes only. I believe now they are stuck with the 60 vote thresh hold to get a bill passed. Unless they allow Drumpf and EO to rule the country.
mike from iowa
Ode to Marlboro Barbie- Cheatsheet ranks South Dakota Numero Supremo in corruption in 2018.
Rorschach
Someone remind me. What is Thune good for?
jerry
Thune is only good for a NO vote to anything that has to do with Democracy. Same as the NO vote from Rounds, and the NO from NOem. Confederates through and through that could give a care about anything but lining their pockets.
Robert McTaggart
He’s worth about 15 points and 8 rebounds a game. Maybe he’ll hit a 3 when you need it….
Debbo
We know Dana Rohrbacher and Devin Nunes are on Putie’s payroll because Lyin Ryan said so. Apparently Pretty Face/Empty Head Thune is too, and the rest of that bunch of traitors.
Debbo
Apparently I was wrong about this. I thought natural gas was a fossil fuel. It’s a renewable? How?
Robin Cox
Will Thune look into Putin’s eyes like G. W. Bush did and see his soul? I mean really how long do we have to do this with Putin before we understand that it doesn’t matter whether it is democrat or republican, Putin has no respect for democracy and will do everything he can to weaken and interfere in democratic nations. He has already in Belarus, Bulgaria, Canada, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Georgia, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Macedonia, Moldova, Montenegro, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Turkey, United Kingdom, Ukraine and the United States. And yet, here are the republicans trotting off to genuflect at the alter of Putin’s authoritarian regime. Disgusting.
Richard Schriever
McTaggart – that’s what he was good for in HS – in SD Class B. After that he’s been good for nothing B-ball-wise – as he wasn’t good enough to play at all in a higher educational setting.
leslie
trump’s little planned “summit-type” meets commence with so little planning that everyone else has to run grab-ass to cover for him. thune is right behind mcconnell
Rorschach
These red tie, gray suit, rubber-stamp yes-men are going to come back after their taxpayer-funded trip and do whatever Trump wants them to do. And that’s exactly the same thing that was going to happen if they had stayed home. They go on trips like this to create the impression that they are doing something, but the reality is that the Republican congress isn’t doing anything but strapping on their red tie gray suit uniform 3 days a week and rubber stamping whatever Trump wants rubber stamped. John Thune is basically one of Trump’s (many) concubines.
jerry
Mr. Rorschach, may I remind you that the gray suit and red trim were standard confederate uniforms, that are a fitting today as those who wore them in the 1860’s. The meaning is also the same. Thune is just showing his true colors, those of a traitor to the union cause of the Thirteenth, Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments for starters.
Debbo
They’re going to pick up their Putie Paychecks. I wonder how much Traitor Johnny gets?
United States Senator Richard Shelby of Alabama, speaking about the trip to Russia with secret meetings …
“We could be competitors—we are competitors. But we don’t necessarily need to be adversaries,” Shelby added.
They stole our damn election. And the United States Senate admits it. You know, the same United States senate where Richard Shelby tells people he works.
The Senate Intelligence Committee on Tuesday backed the intelligence community’s assessment that Russia interfered in the 2016 presidential election to aid President Donald Trump and is continuing its efforts to undermine U.S. democracy.
Robert McTaggart
Debbo,
Building more renewables generates more energy when the wind blows or the sun shines. That just makes the intermittency worse. Sort of like Spinal Tap…this song stinks, but turning it up to 11 doesn’t solve the problem.
We solve that problem today by burning natural gas to make up the difference. So building more renewables means more natural gas, and the carbon from natural gas.
That plan reduces carbon when you are replacing coal plants, but not when you are replacing nuclear plants. The renewable/gas combo will eventually generate more carbon than we do today. The climate will not care if you are generating less than you would have been otherwise if you are still over the threshold.
You can solve the carbon problem in three ways. The first is to use some sort of energy storage. It’s not that it doesn’t exist, but it is not sufficient and efficient, and the critical elements we would need will become more rare.
The second I would call carbon mitigation (either capture the carbon, or burn the fossil fuel differently to emit less). People are working on it, but even if it works as intended, it would add more expense to what is currently a cheap fuel.
The third is flexible nuclear energy. It is feasible and is occurring in France and the US Navy (submarines do not move at the same speed all the time). We have avoided it for political reasons.
If all three approaches work together with renewables, we will generate the best result.
Robert McTaggart
Maybe the Russians will be awed by Thune’s basketball prowess and give back the 1972 Olympic gold medals in basketball?
Debbo
Thanks Robert.
So natural gas is Not a renewable fuel. Ok. I understand about the energy used to build wind turbines, solar panels and the things that generate energy from the motion of waves in oceans and seas.
In my understanding, the ability of renewables to fill in all the gaps is still in the future. In the interim, I’m intrigued by the possibility of using a lateral drilling method similar to fracking for storing nuclear waste.
The rapid technological strides being made in battery energy storage is exciting. Imo the biggest obstacle to better use and management of energy is the GOP.
Robert McTaggart
I guess technically natural gas is renewable….you just have to wait a long time for it to renew if you go the fossil fuel route :^). I guess you could get your methane from biomass instead, but most of our focus is biomass to ethanol, not biomass to hydrogen or methane.
Methane is also a feedstock for hydrogen production today, so that would be another way of reducing carbon.
At the end of the day there will not be one universal means of energy storage. We’ll have different approaches (including batteries) depending upon available land and critical elements, and how fast the power must be available. We will still have gaps, but they will be different and smaller.
For instance, pumped hydro has a role, but it will not work to provide super-quick bursts of power.
Robert McTaggart
Russia does produce rare earth elements, but it is like 1% of global production. China dominates global production today. We have not mined any since 2015.
jerry
The Confederates will be swayed by the money, as always. Then they will come back to the States and lie about it.
“All this was inspired by the principle—which is quite true within itself—that in the big lie there is always a certain force of credibility; because the broad masses of a nation are always more easily corrupted in the deeper strata of their emotional nature than consciously or voluntarily; and thus in the primitive simplicity of their minds they more readily fall victims to the big lie than the small lie, since they themselves often tell small lies in little matters but would be ashamed to resort to large-scale falsehoods.
It would never come into their heads to fabricate colossal untruths, and they would not believe that others could have the impudence to distort the truth so infamously.
Even though the facts which prove this to be so may be brought clearly to their minds, they will still doubt and waver and will continue to think that there may be some other explanation.
For the grossly impudent lie always leaves traces behind it, even after it has been nailed down, a fact which is known to all expert liars in this world and to all who conspire together in the art of lying.”
— Adolf Hitler, Mein Kampf, vol. I, ch. X[1]
Stalin and Hitler were once bro’s. The torch has now been handed to Putin who in turn stole our election and put Goebbels (trump) in charge to run the Confederacy. Beauregard Thune is 3rd in command, so there is that.
Robert McTaggart
News Flash….Pruitt resigns.
Debbo
I saw that too Robert. Now what Bigger Bozo will pres Child Abuser appoint and drooling lapdog GOP approve?
Robert McTaggart
The acting head apparently is a coal guy, Andrew Wheeler, but he may be more favorable to the renewable fuel standard than Pruitt was. Not sure if he wants the job permanently though.
mike from iowa
Problem is Pruitt wants perjurer Sessions job as AG and he would be a perfect fit for Drumpf.And I’m sure enough wingnuts would go along to make him AG.
jerry
What does Putin have on Thune? Maybe a pee tape? Who knows why the sellout, but there is something to make you a traitor, always something.
“The American lawmakers later met with members of the Duma and the Council of the Federation, Russia’s lower and upper houses. Kennedy said that meeting was “damn frank, very very very frank, no holds barred.” A Duma lawmaker later said “this was one of the easiest” sit-downs he ever had with American officials.”
RUSSIA IS OUR ENEMY. Those who went to Russia are traitors all
Lars Aanning
Wonder if they brought enough vaseline with them…
jerry
The Thune apology tour. Please Russia, stop Sutton and Bjorkman from beating up on Opie and the Dust Bunny…we will give you anything…Fix the elections like you did in 2016. Hey Thune, RUSSIA IS OUR ENEMY.
Still no Tweets from Russia from Thune. But he and Senator Shelby are acknowledging that Russia tried to meddle in the 2016 election:
Sen. John Thune, a South Dakota Republican, called for a “change in behavior” on the part of Moscow.
“The best way to demonstrate this as we head into the 2018 election is to show the American people and our congress and our administration that the Russians have no intention of messing or playing with the American election,” Thune told The Associated Press in an interview.
Richard Shelby, a senator from Alabama who heads the delegation, brought up the topic of alleged Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election.
“I think it’s a given in the United States, in both parties, that Russia tried to meddle and probably did meddle in the election,” Shelby told the AP [“Senator Warns Russia Not to Meddle in 2018 Election,” AP via San Jose Mercury News, updated 2018.07.05].
Thune joined the entire GOP delegation in avoiding Russia Tweets, in order to make the meeting go better:
The delegation avoided publicity, with none of the eight lawmakers tweeting from Russia about their trip. Several, such as Sen. John Thune of South Dakota and Sen. John Kennedy of Louisiana, posted generic Independence Day greetings from Moscow.
Kennedy explained the delegation’s low profile resulted from a desire not to make waves ahead of the summit. “We certainly don’t want to do anything to adversely impact that meeting, we want to try to enhance it,” he told NPR [Lucien Kim, “GOP Lawmakers Hope Russia Visit Sets Stage for ‘New Day’ Ahead of Trump-Putin Summit,” NPR, 2018.07.05].
Sinator Shelby (from David Newquist’s link) “I think it’s a given in the United States, in both parties, that Russia tried to meddle and probably did meddle in the election,” Sen. Shelby told the Associated Press.
No,Sinator, I don’t think it is a given that wingnuts believe in Russian interference. See Drumpf for details.
RUSSIA IS OUR ENEMY. Remember those missiles on the prairie that are still there and pointing to our enemy? What do they have on you Thune? Why did you become a traitor or have you always been?
Wingnuts asked……asked Russia not to interfere in our elections. That sure enough ought to do it. Wingnuts must be graduates Of Drumpf U on How To Negotiate Your Way Out Of A Wet Paper Bag (or not) Bwahahahahahahahahahahahah, Thanks OldSferbrains and Drumpf.
Bob J
It’s really quite simple, these Senators were there to get the account numbers of the secret bank accounts Russia is using to pay them. There is no other safe way for them to get the numbers. Email, or any other method is too traceable. Putin has more than one puppet in the US Government. Can you see Thune or any of these traitors standing up to Russia? Not me!
jerry
I think you may be onto something there Bob J, probably through the Alfa Bank as that is the bank of choice for laundering and it is very familiar to South Dakota politics, goes way back with NRA as well. 30 pieces of silver and all of that for the sellout.
https://www.rawstory.com/2018/07/happy-independence-day-analyst-busts-gop-senator-russian-tv-consorting-grandson-stalin-confidante/
Wasicu wingnuts requested all meetings with Russkie enemies be behind closed doors. Must be fomenting plans to install Putin’s Puppet as defacto forever ruler of Putin/USA.
Extremely damning report from the Senate Intell Committee. Released yesterday. Thune and the rest should just stay in Russia. Selling out to a dictator who did this to our country. This is disgusting
https://www.burr.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/SSCI%20ICA%20ASSESSMENT_FINALJULY3.pdf
This is disgusting
What did you expect from the party that refuses to take any charge against Drumpf or Russia seriously?
Drumpf claims it is due solely to him that we aren’t at war with NK, the same NK he threatened with belligerent, bellicose and bitchy tweets.
Is there any truth to the rumor that if Russia wins the World Cup, trump intends to invite them to the White House?
That is funny, Buckobear. US is looking to pull troops out of Germany and Drumpf sent scathing letters to NATO allies in two clear wins for Drumpf’s Puppet Master Putie.
Speaking only for myself, I am getting tired of Drumpf winning for Putin.
Confederate Thune now can now come out to show his contempt of all people with dark skin. I am sure that he will say that he was just looking for a market for South Dakota grown caviar, but failed once again. Clearly, the confederate Thune is looking to make sure that those like him are elected in South Dakota, Putin to the rescue. One wonders when Putin will be invited to see the Shrine of something or other.
There are energy issues at stake.
Russia is building and selling nuclear reactors with China instead of the United States today. So we lose out on that market, and also have less influence on matters of nuclear safety and nuclear security because we are not participating like we should.
But the larger issue is that if Europe wants to go all in on renewables, then they must choose between burning coal, burning natural gas, or using nuclear energy. Guess who has the natural gas? Russia. The threat of supplying Europe with liquefied natural gas from the U.S. is one of the few areas of leverage that we have.
Selling nuclear reactors in the Middle East and Africa isn’t what I’d do to “make America great again.” Far better to encourage the end of the nuclear business, and sell renewable energy, which we still have some participating companies, though Republicans have done all they could to kill off the industry. It’s not as if any of the firms that would build nuclear plants with American taxpayer assistance are actually American companies. They are all foreign owned.
One thing you will notice is that regimes headed by dictators seem to love nuclear power, but when the people dig into it, it tends to create public outrage and instability. Unless they slam the jackboot of oppression down on their citizens, people tend to rise up against nukes. That’s what happen during the Cold War, by the way.
Policing the nuclear industry is a complex endeavor which most of these countries can’t do. The US and France are already involved in trying to keep African uranium from falling into the hands of terrorists. Adding wastes from power plants into the mix will be a recipe for dirty bomb terrorism.
Doc, to the best of your knowledge, has anyone done a follow up study on the risks of using depleted uranium in artillery shells?
The environmental defense fund just stated that 25% of our global warming is now due to leaks of natural gas….brought to you by….renewables (take a bow). The leaks of methane are exceeding EPA estimates by 60%. Going all in on renewables means that more natural gas will be consumed, not less. Maybe because companies are losing money through those leaks, they will do something about it.
If you do not give the Middle East, South Asia, and Africa a viable clean energy alternative (where supply meets demand whenever they want the energy), they will fulfill their power needs without being clean. The alternative is to sell American coal to the Middle East so they can burn it there. We’ll be carbon-free, but they won’t.
That is like saying we should mine the rare earth metals for renewables in China so that we can have clean renewable energy in the U.S. with a clean conscience. Oh wait a minute…that is what we are doing today. Maybe it’s like California building a lot of solar and then relying on Wyoming coal for the backup energy they need…oh darn it, we do that too.
What we can do is reduce the natural gas we burn is use nuclear energy differently, i.e. not just baseload. And the U.S. should be more involved in global nuclear energy. We should be setting up an international framework to do the enrichment and recycling so that the other nations do not.
Do the Republicans not actually care about the optics of being in Russia on July 4th and kowtowing to a dictator?
Mike,
The issue is typically the chemistry of uranium, not its radioactivity. Human biology doesn’t like a whole lot of heavy metal chemistry, uranium included. Both you and I have uranium inside us right now, but it is at very low levels.
So I would focus on whether pathways exist from depleted shells for significant enough exposures, or if other war-related chemical exposures and other stresses are the problem.
Dang! republicans aren’t even subtle anymore, they go through the front door of Putin’s castle with their hands outstretched asking for campaign donations from Putin;s oligarchy.
Before Al Qadeda and ISIS and the war on terror was our enemy Russia was and they still are.
Every presidential administration national security council in my recent memory has said that Russia was our enemy and there was no reason to trust or believe them.
The republican senators visiting Russia are not on any kind of goodwill tour, they are there for illicit purposes, most likely there to collude in our 2018 mid-terms.
The idea that this visit is made up of only Republicans and the Dumpster is going to meet with Putin one on one with only interpreters makes me think not everything is on the up and up. I would write to Thune, but you only get, “Thank you for contacting my office,” B.S. in return. Nice photo op, but shouldn’t Mitch be standing in front of him?
Thanks, Doc. I just remember there being a number of unexplained illnesses related to returning Iraq vets and this deep scientific stuff gives me a headache.
On a slightly lighter note, I can dig this stuff- A Clinton County, Pennsylvania couple apparently got just a little too messed up on Saturday (police claim they’d overdone it on the bath salts) and waged an epic battle with summertime fireflies—which they had mistaken for “alien lasers,” reports WNEP.
Jesse Shields fired a handgun at the “lasers” at the fluorescent creatures and he and Katherine McCloskey ran away to hide in a barn, thinking they were being chased by aliens.
They ran to a neighborhood home, where a neighbor was able to make them relinquish their weapon. Shields begged the neighbor to “get the goo off him that was burning his skin.”
Dang that Obama for allowing fireflies to cross the Southern unprotected border.
Wingnuts apparently believe they don’t have to attempt bi-partisanship and can still force bills through w/o debate and simple majority votes only. I believe now they are stuck with the 60 vote thresh hold to get a bill passed. Unless they allow Drumpf and EO to rule the country.
Ode to Marlboro Barbie- Cheatsheet ranks South Dakota Numero Supremo in corruption in 2018.
Someone remind me. What is Thune good for?
Thune is only good for a NO vote to anything that has to do with Democracy. Same as the NO vote from Rounds, and the NO from NOem. Confederates through and through that could give a care about anything but lining their pockets.
He’s worth about 15 points and 8 rebounds a game. Maybe he’ll hit a 3 when you need it….
We know Dana Rohrbacher and Devin Nunes are on Putie’s payroll because Lyin Ryan said so. Apparently Pretty Face/Empty Head Thune is too, and the rest of that bunch of traitors.
Apparently I was wrong about this. I thought natural gas was a fossil fuel. It’s a renewable? How?
Will Thune look into Putin’s eyes like G. W. Bush did and see his soul? I mean really how long do we have to do this with Putin before we understand that it doesn’t matter whether it is democrat or republican, Putin has no respect for democracy and will do everything he can to weaken and interfere in democratic nations. He has already in Belarus, Bulgaria, Canada, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Georgia, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Macedonia, Moldova, Montenegro, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Turkey, United Kingdom, Ukraine and the United States. And yet, here are the republicans trotting off to genuflect at the alter of Putin’s authoritarian regime. Disgusting.
McTaggart – that’s what he was good for in HS – in SD Class B. After that he’s been good for nothing B-ball-wise – as he wasn’t good enough to play at all in a higher educational setting.
trump’s little planned “summit-type” meets commence with so little planning that everyone else has to run grab-ass to cover for him. thune is right behind mcconnell
These red tie, gray suit, rubber-stamp yes-men are going to come back after their taxpayer-funded trip and do whatever Trump wants them to do. And that’s exactly the same thing that was going to happen if they had stayed home. They go on trips like this to create the impression that they are doing something, but the reality is that the Republican congress isn’t doing anything but strapping on their red tie gray suit uniform 3 days a week and rubber stamping whatever Trump wants rubber stamped. John Thune is basically one of Trump’s (many) concubines.
Mr. Rorschach, may I remind you that the gray suit and red trim were standard confederate uniforms, that are a fitting today as those who wore them in the 1860’s. The meaning is also the same. Thune is just showing his true colors, those of a traitor to the union cause of the Thirteenth, Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments for starters.
They’re going to pick up their Putie Paychecks. I wonder how much Traitor Johnny gets?
@Mike:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3VKzqAefBVY
chris, My computer has no sound and I have never seen this movie. What did I miss? Thanks.
@Mike
J. Frank Parnell, in “Repoman”.
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0087995/characters/nm0289051
That’s hilarious stuff. Thanks.
From Juanita Jean’s today-
United States Senator Richard Shelby of Alabama, speaking about the trip to Russia with secret meetings …
“We could be competitors—we are competitors. But we don’t necessarily need to be adversaries,” Shelby added.
They stole our damn election. And the United States Senate admits it. You know, the same United States senate where Richard Shelby tells people he works.
The Senate Intelligence Committee on Tuesday backed the intelligence community’s assessment that Russia interfered in the 2016 presidential election to aid President Donald Trump and is continuing its efforts to undermine U.S. democracy.
Debbo,
Building more renewables generates more energy when the wind blows or the sun shines. That just makes the intermittency worse. Sort of like Spinal Tap…this song stinks, but turning it up to 11 doesn’t solve the problem.
We solve that problem today by burning natural gas to make up the difference. So building more renewables means more natural gas, and the carbon from natural gas.
That plan reduces carbon when you are replacing coal plants, but not when you are replacing nuclear plants. The renewable/gas combo will eventually generate more carbon than we do today. The climate will not care if you are generating less than you would have been otherwise if you are still over the threshold.
You can solve the carbon problem in three ways. The first is to use some sort of energy storage. It’s not that it doesn’t exist, but it is not sufficient and efficient, and the critical elements we would need will become more rare.
The second I would call carbon mitigation (either capture the carbon, or burn the fossil fuel differently to emit less). People are working on it, but even if it works as intended, it would add more expense to what is currently a cheap fuel.
The third is flexible nuclear energy. It is feasible and is occurring in France and the US Navy (submarines do not move at the same speed all the time). We have avoided it for political reasons.
If all three approaches work together with renewables, we will generate the best result.
Maybe the Russians will be awed by Thune’s basketball prowess and give back the 1972 Olympic gold medals in basketball?
Thanks Robert.
So natural gas is Not a renewable fuel. Ok. I understand about the energy used to build wind turbines, solar panels and the things that generate energy from the motion of waves in oceans and seas.
In my understanding, the ability of renewables to fill in all the gaps is still in the future. In the interim, I’m intrigued by the possibility of using a lateral drilling method similar to fracking for storing nuclear waste.
The rapid technological strides being made in battery energy storage is exciting. Imo the biggest obstacle to better use and management of energy is the GOP.
I guess technically natural gas is renewable….you just have to wait a long time for it to renew if you go the fossil fuel route :^). I guess you could get your methane from biomass instead, but most of our focus is biomass to ethanol, not biomass to hydrogen or methane.
Methane is also a feedstock for hydrogen production today, so that would be another way of reducing carbon.
At the end of the day there will not be one universal means of energy storage. We’ll have different approaches (including batteries) depending upon available land and critical elements, and how fast the power must be available. We will still have gaps, but they will be different and smaller.
For instance, pumped hydro has a role, but it will not work to provide super-quick bursts of power.
Russia does produce rare earth elements, but it is like 1% of global production. China dominates global production today. We have not mined any since 2015.
The Confederates will be swayed by the money, as always. Then they will come back to the States and lie about it.
“All this was inspired by the principle—which is quite true within itself—that in the big lie there is always a certain force of credibility; because the broad masses of a nation are always more easily corrupted in the deeper strata of their emotional nature than consciously or voluntarily; and thus in the primitive simplicity of their minds they more readily fall victims to the big lie than the small lie, since they themselves often tell small lies in little matters but would be ashamed to resort to large-scale falsehoods.
It would never come into their heads to fabricate colossal untruths, and they would not believe that others could have the impudence to distort the truth so infamously.
Even though the facts which prove this to be so may be brought clearly to their minds, they will still doubt and waver and will continue to think that there may be some other explanation.
For the grossly impudent lie always leaves traces behind it, even after it has been nailed down, a fact which is known to all expert liars in this world and to all who conspire together in the art of lying.”
— Adolf Hitler, Mein Kampf, vol. I, ch. X[1]
Stalin and Hitler were once bro’s. The torch has now been handed to Putin who in turn stole our election and put Goebbels (trump) in charge to run the Confederacy. Beauregard Thune is 3rd in command, so there is that.
News Flash….Pruitt resigns.
I saw that too Robert. Now what Bigger Bozo will pres Child Abuser appoint and drooling lapdog GOP approve?
The acting head apparently is a coal guy, Andrew Wheeler, but he may be more favorable to the renewable fuel standard than Pruitt was. Not sure if he wants the job permanently though.
Problem is Pruitt wants perjurer Sessions job as AG and he would be a perfect fit for Drumpf.And I’m sure enough wingnuts would go along to make him AG.
What does Putin have on Thune? Maybe a pee tape? Who knows why the sellout, but there is something to make you a traitor, always something.
“The American lawmakers later met with members of the Duma and the Council of the Federation, Russia’s lower and upper houses. Kennedy said that meeting was “damn frank, very very very frank, no holds barred.” A Duma lawmaker later said “this was one of the easiest” sit-downs he ever had with American officials.”
https://www.thedailybeast.com/gop-senators-to-russian-foreign-minister-we-dont-need-to-be-adversaries
RUSSIA IS OUR ENEMY. Those who went to Russia are traitors all
Wonder if they brought enough vaseline with them…
The Thune apology tour. Please Russia, stop Sutton and Bjorkman from beating up on Opie and the Dust Bunny…we will give you anything…Fix the elections like you did in 2016. Hey Thune, RUSSIA IS OUR ENEMY.
Still no Tweets from Russia from Thune. But he and Senator Shelby are acknowledging that Russia tried to meddle in the 2016 election:
Thune joined the entire GOP delegation in avoiding Russia Tweets, in order to make the meeting go better:
Meanwhile, the GOP senator from Montana who was part of the delegation posted greetings showing him and his wife in D.C. https://gritpost.com/gop-senator-dc-russia/
Sinator Shelby (from David Newquist’s link) “I think it’s a given in the United States, in both parties, that Russia tried to meddle and probably did meddle in the election,” Sen. Shelby told the Associated Press.
No,Sinator, I don’t think it is a given that wingnuts believe in Russian interference. See Drumpf for details.
Business Insider claims that Sen. Daines left Moscow early to be home on the Fourth.
http://www.businessinsider.com/was-steve-daines-in-russia-on-july-4-no-2018-7
Thune and company praised the Russian gunner on his aim of the civilian airliner they shot down over the Ukraine killing an American and several Dutch and Australian nationals. Good shooting comrades, from comrade Thune. https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/flight-mh17-latest-russia-missile-malaysia-airlines-netherlands-australia-ukraine-a8368566.html
RUSSIA IS OUR ENEMY. Remember those missiles on the prairie that are still there and pointing to our enemy? What do they have on you Thune? Why did you become a traitor or have you always been?
This is Hillaryous- https://www.rawstory.com/2018/07/russian-officials-state-media-mock-weak-gop-senators-moscow-visit/
Wingnuts asked……asked Russia not to interfere in our elections. That sure enough ought to do it. Wingnuts must be graduates Of Drumpf U on How To Negotiate Your Way Out Of A Wet Paper Bag (or not) Bwahahahahahahahahahahahah, Thanks OldSferbrains and Drumpf.
It’s really quite simple, these Senators were there to get the account numbers of the secret bank accounts Russia is using to pay them. There is no other safe way for them to get the numbers. Email, or any other method is too traceable. Putin has more than one puppet in the US Government. Can you see Thune or any of these traitors standing up to Russia? Not me!
I think you may be onto something there Bob J, probably through the Alfa Bank as that is the bank of choice for laundering and it is very familiar to South Dakota politics, goes way back with NRA as well. 30 pieces of silver and all of that for the sellout.