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Author Topic: Bear Pit: now the sole domicile of politics at LuLa  (Read 466256 times)

Alan Klein

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Re: Bear Pit: now the sole domicile of politics at LuLa
« Reply #8020 on: February 22, 2021, 04:59:36 pm »

The fun continues.

Dominion Voting Systems Files Defamation Lawsuit Against MyPillow, CEO Mike Lindell

https://www.npr.org/2021/02/22/970117188/dominion-voting-systems-files-defamation-lawsuit-against-mypillow-ceo-mike-linde
Does that mean I'll have to return My Pillow. 

TechTalk

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Re: Bear Pit: now the sole domicile of politics at LuLa
« Reply #8021 on: February 22, 2021, 05:15:46 pm »

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission in its 2011 report noted:

Winterization

"Generators and natural gas producers suffered severe losses of capacity despite having received accurate forecasts of the storm. Entities in both categories report having winterization procedures in place. However, the poor performance of many of these generating units and wells suggests that these procedures were either inadequate or were not adequately followed.

The experiences of 1989 are instructive, particularly on the electric side. In that year, as in 2011, cold weather caused many generators to trip, derate, or fail to start. The PUCT [Public Utility Commission of Texas] investigated the occurrence and issued a number of recommendations aimed at improving winterization on the part of the generators. These recommendations were not mandatory, and over the course of time implementation lapsed. Many of the generators that experienced outages in 1989 failed again in 2011."

"While extreme cold weather events are obviously not as common in the Southwest as elsewhere, they do occur every few years. And when they do, the cost in terms of dollars and human hardship is considerable."

Again on July 18, FERC and NERC issued a staff report titled, The South Central United States Cold Weather Bulk Electric System Event of January 17, 2018. The report discusses the cold weather event that occurred in the south-central U.S. in January 2018. In the report, FERC and NERC note that "More than one-third of the GO/GOPs that lost generation during the Event did not have a winterization plan".

Their recommendation again: "Developing one or more mandatory Reliability Standards that require Generator Owner/Operators to prepare for the winter and to provide information regarding their preparations (or lack thereof) to their RCs [Regulatory Commissions] and Balancing Authorities (BAs)."[/i]

I mean the nerve of that pesky federal government to make recommendations to Texas, when Texas has designed a system exempt from federal regulation. Every conservative ideologue knows deep in their bones that states know better than the tyrannical federal government what is best for their state and their citizens!

I just want to add that to think the Federal government's solutions are better than the state's, well, that is not true.

Even when it is true?
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Alan Klein

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Re: Bear Pit: now the sole domicile of politics at LuLa
« Reply #8022 on: February 22, 2021, 05:23:15 pm »

Even when it is true?
Well, the original post posited that the Federal government is always better than the state in deciding policy and methods.  That's only not true, but the Federal government often has nothing to say what the state governments decide to do as they are unconstitutionally not allowed to make those decisions.  Additionally, they often have no credentials to make such decisions in any case because they have never been involved in those decisions.  It would be like me telling my wife how to put her makeup on. 

digitaldog

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Re: Bear Pit: now the sole domicile of politics at LuLa
« Reply #8023 on: February 22, 2021, 05:30:58 pm »

Does that mean I'll have to return My Pillow.
It's been bitten too many times to be returned. 😭
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faberryman

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Re: Bear Pit: now the sole domicile of politics at LuLa
« Reply #8024 on: February 22, 2021, 05:35:30 pm »

Well, the original post posited that the Federal government is always better than the state in deciding policy and methods.

Could you link me to that post? Who posted it?
« Last Edit: February 22, 2021, 08:31:03 pm by faberryman »
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TechTalk

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Re: Bear Pit: now the sole domicile of politics at LuLa
« Reply #8025 on: February 22, 2021, 05:40:06 pm »

Well, the original post posited that the Federal government is always better than the state in deciding policy and methods.

That simply is not true. The basis of my post was about the value of energy suppliers having mandatory reliability standards by means of regulation and the difference between a government agency recommending vs regulating. That is what I posited in my post. That was the basis for what I wrote.

NOTHING in "the original post posited that the Federal government is always better than the state in deciding policy and methods". That is an illusion, generated by your imagination—not my post.

posit: assume as a fact; put forward as a basis of argument.

And NOWHERE did I say "that the Federal government is always better than the state in deciding policy and methods". I pointed to one instance where the Public Utilities Commission of Texas should have regulated mandatory reliability standards for winterization rather than just recommend them and pointed out multiple instances where the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission discussed the winterization efforts that the Texas PUC recommended, but with the added suggestion for the state to adopt mandatory reliability standards.

I pointed to ONE instance where mandatory regulation of winterization standards that were recommended by a federal agency might have saved a state needless suffering. It does not follow that I said the federal government should regulate everything or always makes better decisions than a state.

On the other hand, I have heard it posited that states know better than the federal government what is best for their states and their citizens. I pointed out one instance where that might not have been true and took a poke at that notion being universally true at the end of the post. That's it.

I can speak for myself pretty clearly. Putting words in my mouth is completely unwelcome and unnecessary.

« Last Edit: February 22, 2021, 07:15:02 pm by TechTalk »
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TechTalk

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Re: Bear Pit: now the sole domicile of politics at LuLa
« Reply #8026 on: February 22, 2021, 05:43:58 pm »

Could you link me to that post? Who posted it?

Here's a suggestion for Texas regulators. Regulate rather than recommend...
« Last Edit: February 22, 2021, 05:48:47 pm by TechTalk »
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faberryman

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Re: Bear Pit: now the sole domicile of politics at LuLa
« Reply #8027 on: February 22, 2021, 05:46:18 pm »

I knew Florida Governor Ron DeSantis was a conservative and big Trump supporter, but this seems to go beyond the pale. Flags half staff for Rush Limbaugh? Really?

Florida governor: Flags will be at half-staff for Limbaugh

https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory/florida-governor-flags-half-staff-limbaugh-76008911

This seems more appropriate:

Biden to order flags to half staff to mark 500K virus deaths

https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/539899-biden-to-order-flags-to-half-staff-to-mark-500k-virus-deaths

« Last Edit: February 22, 2021, 06:42:19 pm by faberryman »
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Peter McLennan

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Re: Bear Pit: now the sole domicile of politics at LuLa
« Reply #8028 on: February 22, 2021, 06:45:06 pm »

Incompetence in government is just as common as corruption.

Yah?  Seen any videos of spacecraft landing on other planets recently?

Just sayin'


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Ray

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Re: Bear Pit: now the sole domicile of politics at LuLa
« Reply #8029 on: February 22, 2021, 09:16:16 pm »

Are you nuts? Texas didn't move "towards unreliable power sources in order to protect themselves (and the world) from excessive warming". Texans don't believe in climate change.

I wasn't aware that Texans don't believe in climate change. The main problem with renewable power in general is its unreliability due to the intermittency of supply. Addressing the intermittency problem of renewables tends to make the total cost of the energy higher because the back-up plants are not being used most of the time.

Protecting the windmills and gas-supply pipelines from rare, but not unprecedented, freezing temperatures would also have increased the cost of energy, so I understand why this was not done. However, it seems rather puzzling that any State would move towards a 'renewable energy supply' despite the majority of the population not believing in climate change. Is Texas another example of the government not representing the people?  ;)

The irony, from my perspective, is that the purpose of the movement towards renewables is to protect one's own state, country, and the world, from the risk of future, catastrophic changes in climate, due to CO2 emissions, which, it is claimed, could take place within the next hundred years and sooner, yet Texas has ignored the known risk of the recurrence of exceptionally cold winters that have occurred before and are in the records of past weather events in Texas.

From the 'The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA)'.

Texas leads the nation in wind-powered electricity generation, producing almost three-tenths of the U.S. total in 2019.

Renewable energy sources contribute nearly one-fifth of the net electricity generated in Texas and account for one-fifth of the total U.S. utility-scale electricity generation from all nonhydroelectric renewable sources.
The state has encouraged renewable energy use by authorizing construction of transmission lines to bring electricity from remote wind farms to urban market centers. Wind accounts for nearly all of the electricity generated from renewable resources in Texas, and the state leads the nation in wind-powered electricity generation, producing almost three-tenths of the U.S. total.

Installed solar capacity in the state doubled between 2017 and 2019, exceeding 3,100 megawatts in 2019.
The Public Utility Commission of Texas first adopted rules for the state's renewable energy mandate in 1999 and amended them in 2005 to require that 5,880 megawatts, or about 5% of the state's electricity generating capacity, come from renewable sources by 2015 and 10,000 megawatts of renewable capacity by 2025, including 500 megawatts from resources other than wind. Texas surpassed the 2025 goal in 2009, predominantly because of the generating capacity provided by the state's wind farms.

https://www.eia.gov/state/analysis.php?sid=TX
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kers

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Re: Bear Pit: now the sole domicile of politics at LuLa
« Reply #8030 on: February 22, 2021, 09:18:55 pm »

"The number of American deaths from Covid is higher than the death toll from World War I, World War II, and the Vietnam War combined."
The US passed officially the 500,000 death toll today and for the first time there is moment of national sorrow and grief initiated by the President of the US.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-56159756
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Alan Klein

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Re: Bear Pit: now the sole domicile of politics at LuLa
« Reply #8031 on: February 22, 2021, 09:36:56 pm »

That simply is not true. The basis of my post was about the value of energy suppliers having mandatory reliability standards by means of regulation and the difference between a government agency recommending vs regulating. That is what I posited in my post. That was the basis for what I wrote.

NOTHING in "the original post posited that the Federal government is always better than the state in deciding policy and methods". That is an illusion, generated by your imagination—not my post.

posit: assume as a fact; put forward as a basis of argument.

And NOWHERE did I say "that the Federal government is always better than the state in deciding policy and methods". I pointed to one instance where the Public Utilities Commission of Texas should have regulated mandatory reliability standards for winterization rather than just recommend them and pointed out multiple instances where the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission discussed the winterization efforts that the Texas PUC recommended, but with the added suggestion for the state to adopt mandatory reliability standards.

I pointed to ONE instance where mandatory regulation of winterization standards that were recommended by a federal agency might have saved a state needless suffering. It does not follow that I said the federal government should regulate everything or always makes better decisions than a state.

On the other hand, I have heard it posited that states know better than the federal government what is best for their states and their citizens. I pointed out one instance where that might not have been true and took a poke at that notion being universally true at the end of the post. That's it.

I can speak for myself pretty clearly. Putting words in my mouth is completely unwelcome and unnecessary.


I appreciate your clarification and  support of the Federal system. It seemed like you favored Washington control of state prerogatives. I'm glad I was wrong.

Ray

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Re: Bear Pit: now the sole domicile of politics at LuLa
« Reply #8032 on: February 22, 2021, 10:09:50 pm »

Regarding energy, I wouldn't say that's the only thing that represents a country's wealth.  Mainly, it's the productivity of its people.   

Nor did I say that. I wrote:  "..the prosperity of any nation is dependent upon the true cost and reliable availability of energy supplies, and the sensible and efficient ways we use that energy."

Quote
What good is energy if you don't have teachers, doctors, barbers, farmers, and photographers and others who produce things and provide services?

What good are teachers and doctors and others who provide a multitude of services, if there are no energy supplies? Without energy supplies, the farmer can't operate his equipment to plant and harvest his crops, nor transport his crop to the market. Without energy supplies, the factories or labs can't manufacture and supply the drugs and medicines, and the children and teachers can't travel to school, unless they are lucky enough to own a horse.  ;)

Both 'Energy Supplies' and the 'capacity to use that energy sensibly and efficiently', are the essential requirements for a flourishing economy. As long as the USA continues to provide sufficient and affordable energy to it's industries, which continue to provide the goods and services that are required for reasonable prosperity, there should be no serious problem from over-printing of money.
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Robert Roaldi

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Re: Bear Pit: now the sole domicile of politics at LuLa
« Reply #8033 on: February 22, 2021, 10:36:50 pm »

That's $9 per KWH, a lot of money.  Why would anyone sign up for this plan knowing they are open to these charges?  On the other hand, if Texas bails out the people who got charged high this time, they will create a huge moral hazard.  ...

You seem to be finding lots of moral hazards lately. Careful of that slippery slope because almost anything can be framed as a moral hazard. Should doctors treat patients who smoke, or who ride motorcycles, or who shoot themselves while cleaning their guns? Isn't Las Vegas one great big moral hazard? Couldn't you view any insurance as a moral hazard? What about safety equipment in cars, don't they just encourage people to drive faster? Maybe large pickups make people feel safer and take more risks, maybe big trucks are a moral hazard.

I think you're confusing insurance with moral hazard. You need to do some reading. Try Joseph Heath's book Filthy Lucre, he discusses these things at length. I know you won't read it, but jic.

For example, the federal deposit insurance is a big nation-wide insurance policy that the citizens of a country buy themselves to protect against scamming bankers. It is far far cheaper than to have every depositor examine every bank in detail, even if they could do that and even if all the banks made their internal affairs fully known. It does NOT encourage people to deposit money in bad banks. It does not encourage banks to act irresponsibly. Where in the hell did you read something that whacko?

The basic problem is always the same one. You seem to think that society is a support system for commerce, whereas it is the other way around.

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Alan Klein

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Re: Bear Pit: now the sole domicile of politics at LuLa
« Reply #8034 on: February 22, 2021, 11:22:42 pm »

You seem to be finding lots of moral hazards lately. Careful of that slippery slope because almost anything can be framed as a moral hazard. Should doctors treat patients who smoke, or who ride motorcycles, or who shoot themselves while cleaning their guns? Isn't Las Vegas one great big moral hazard? Couldn't you view any insurance as a moral hazard? What about safety equipment in cars, don't they just encourage people to drive faster? Maybe large pickups make people feel safer and take more risks, maybe big trucks are a moral hazard.

I think you're confusing insurance with moral hazard. You need to do some reading. Try Joseph Heath's book Filthy Lucre, he discusses these things at length. I know you won't read it, but jic.

For example, the federal deposit insurance is a big nation-wide insurance policy that the citizens of a country buy themselves to protect against scamming bankers. It is far far cheaper than to have every depositor examine every bank in detail, even if they could do that and even if all the banks made their internal affairs fully known. It does NOT encourage people to deposit money in bad banks. It does not encourage banks to act irresponsibly. Where in the hell did you read something that whacko?

The basic problem is always the same one. You seem to think that society is a support system for commerce, whereas it is the other way around.


If a person takes an undue economic risk because he figures the government is going to bail him out, that's a moral hazard and encourages more people to take the same risks.  If I was offered electricity for 2 cents a KWH, knowing that I have no downside risk because the government will bail me out, I'll drop the standard guaranteed but higher 12 cent rate.  Wouldn't you?  So when the next problem occurs, the government, well the taxpayers, will bail out all those people who were paying 2 cents.  It's unfair to the rest of society.  It's not commerce supporting society.  It other taxpayers who are doing it.  This is not about something people don't have control over.  It was very clearly spelled out that there were high risks with the 2 cents. The people who signed on knew exactly what they were getting into and were betting that the 2 cents was the better deal.  They weren't fooled into taking the deal.  Not much different than people taking adjustable mortgages because the rates are lower rather than higher fixed-rate conventional mortgages. Then when rates go up, they don't have the money and have to give up the house.  How you make you bed, that's how you sleep in it.

These things are bad for the economy, steal money from others who are thrifty, and encourage wasteful economic behavior. It doesn't protect society, but rather hurts it. 

Robert Roaldi

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Re: Bear Pit: now the sole domicile of politics at LuLa
« Reply #8035 on: February 23, 2021, 07:29:27 am »

I see that Biden addressed the sad statistic of Covid deaths reaching the half million milestone. Here's an article from the BBC about that number, https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-56150141.
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Alan Klein

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Re: Bear Pit: now the sole domicile of politics at LuLa
« Reply #8036 on: February 23, 2021, 08:23:39 am »

Who thinks NY Gov. Cuomo's is doing this based on scientific reasons? Economic reasons?  Political reasons?

Gov. Cuomo continues to release new COVID-related rules for New York State.
On Monday, Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced that as New York's hospitalization and COVID-19 infection rates continue to decline, New York is issuing guidance to begin re-opening additional sectors of the economy.

Specifically, billiard halls statewide and movie theaters in New York City are now permitted to re-open. Additionally, guidance is also being released for weddings and catered events which are scheduled to resume on March 15.

"From day one, we have said that our COVID recovery is not a choice between public health and the economy - it has to be both - and in New York we're demonstrating how to do that safely and smartly," Cuomo said. "Thanks to the hard work and commitment of all New Yorkers, our infection rate is now the lowest we've seen in three months, and accordingly we will now be reopening various recreational activities across the state including billiard halls, weddings and movie theaters in New York City. As our infection rate continues to fall, and the vaccination rate continues to climb, we will keep reopening different sectors of our state's economy and focus our efforts on building our state back better than it was before."

 https://hudsonvalleypost.com/cuomo-releases-new-covid-rules-for-many-new-york-industries/?utm_source=tsmclip&utm_medium=referral


Robert Roaldi

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Re: Bear Pit: now the sole domicile of politics at LuLa
« Reply #8037 on: February 23, 2021, 08:41:13 am »

Who thinks NY Gov. Cuomo's is doing this based on scientific reasons? Economic reasons?  Political reasons?


Probably all of the above. Who are you arguing with? Did anyone here claim Cuomo was the new messiah?
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James Clark

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Re: Bear Pit: now the sole domicile of politics at LuLa
« Reply #8038 on: February 23, 2021, 09:22:39 am »

Probably all of the above. Who are you arguing with? Did anyone here claim Cuomo was the new messiah?

Notably, high profile members of his own party, the media and his own (D) state AG are all raising very loud concerns.  Compare and contrast with Republicans who still have their noses up Trump's butt.
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Alan Klein

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Re: Bear Pit: now the sole domicile of politics at LuLa
« Reply #8039 on: February 23, 2021, 09:42:17 am »

Probably all of the above. Who are you arguing with? Did anyone here claim Cuomo was the new messiah?
I'm reminding people again that it's the Governors and not Trump or Biden who have been and still are making these decisions on a state level.  Their decisions are being made for scientific, economic, and political reasons of their own. 
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