Knight of the Middle
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Reeling liberals ready to ditch Manchin as rest of Dems hope for a deal
Source: Politico
By NICHOLAS WU and SARAH FERRIS
12/20/2021 06:54 PM EST
The House’s fiercest liberals are — so far — showing little to no interest in the Build Back Better remodeling required to win over Joe Manchin.
A day after Manchin’s bombshell rejection of their party’s social spending plan, leaders of the left are so frustrated that they are now calling on Democrats to ignore him altogether. Rep. Pramila Jayapal, who helms the roughly 100-member Congressional Progressive Caucus, said Monday she would push the White House to take executive actions to enact some of President Joe Biden’s domestic agenda, despite widespread doubts among fellow Democrats about the effectiveness of such an approach.
After sustaining months of concessions meant to placate the Senate’s centrists, progressives say they are in no mood to substantially alter their bill any further. As they see it, the package Manchin rejected was already the scaled-back version of their ambitions.
“It is abundantly clear that we cannot trust what Sen. Manchin says,” Jayapal (D-Wash.) told reporters Monday. "No one should think that we are going to be satisfied with an even smaller package that leaves people behind or refuses to tackle critical issues like climate change.”
Read more: https://www.politico.com/news/2021/12/20/liberals-ditch-manchin-dems-deal-525797
Joe Manchurian isn't a "centrist," he's a DINO.
Andy Slavitt: 'It's Going To Be A Surge Like We Haven't Seen Before'
It's coming to GET us, Bah-bra!
Coal isn't dying yet. 2021 brought a record surge in use: Grist
As much of the world emerged from lockdown, coal stepped in to meet energy needsby María Paula Rubiano A.
Environmental Justice Fellow
In the span of a year, coal power generation went from a historic drop to an all-time high.
In 2021, global electricity generation from coal increased by nine percent, the highest in history, according to a new report by the International Energy Agency, or IEA. Most of that increase came from power plants in China and India, where the need for electricity jumped by nine and 12 percent, respectively. According to the IEA, Europe saw a 12 percent increase while the U.S. went up by 17 percent – despite nearly a decade of declines in coal power generation in both regions.
“Coal and emissions from coal are stubborn,” said IEA’s executive director Fatih Birol in a press call. “Without strong and immediate actions by governments to tackle coal emissions – in a way that is fair, affordable and secure for those affected – we will have little chance, if any at all, of limiting global warming.”
In 2020, when restaurants, theaters, offices, and many industries went dormant due to COVID-19, electricity demand shrank. As a result, coal power generation dropped by four percent; a first in decades. But in 2021, after relatively successful vaccine roll-outs and the relaxation of lockdown measures in most developed countries, economic activities resumed and power needs mounted. Because renewable energy projects couldn’t meet demand, the IEA says oil and gas filled the gap at first, then, as gas prices skyrocketed, coal became a cheaper alternative and demand soared.
ob Jackson, a professor of earth system science at Stanford University, says there are important regional differences to coal power generation. In the U.S. and Europe, for example, the historic increase may be a blip as coal declines and cleaner energy sources accelerate – a stop-gap as renewable infrastructure continues to grow. But China and India’s influence on the coal market cannot be understated, said Keisuke Sadamori, director for markets and security at IEA, in a press release. Both countries represent two-thirds of the global coal demand and last year’s increase, Jackson says, can be partially explained by the fact that the Chinese and Indian governments bolstered coal-based industries as part of COVID-recovery efforts. “These two economies – dependent on coal and with a combined population of almost 3 billion people – hold the key to future coal demand,” Sadamori said.
https://grist.org/climate-energy/coal-isnt-dying-yet-2021-brought-a-record-surge-in-use/
"Coal, we wish we could quit you!" Or do we?
Davos forum called off for January 2022, will go virtual
Source: Politico
BY JULES DARMANIN AND JOHANNA TREECK
December 20, 2021 1:10 pm
FRANKFURT – The World Economic Forum in Davos will go virtual for the second year in a row, amid the surge of COVID-19 cases in Europe and fears about the Omicron variant, organizers of the event announced Monday.
“Current pandemic conditions make it extremely difficult to deliver a global in-person meeting,” the WEF said in a release.
Instead, participants will join a headline series of "State of the World" sessions, bringing together global leaders online to focus on shaping solutions to the world’s most pressing challenges.
The forum was supposed to take place from January 17-21 in the Swiss ski resort town. The full annual meeting, with in-person attendance, is now scheduled to take place in early summer.
Read more: https://www.politico.eu/article/davos-forum-called-off-for-2022-will-go-virtual/
Sad when a group of wealthy economists can't share expensive cognac face-to-face, isn't it?
Omicron cases doubling at least every 3 days, WHO says
Source: Al Jazeera
18 Dec 2021
The Omicron variant of the coronavirus is spreading significantly faster than the Delta strain in countries with documented community transmission, with the number of cases doubling in 1.5 to 3 days, the World Health Organization (WHO) has said.
In an update on Saturday, the United Nations’ health agency said Omicron has been reported in 89 countries. The highly mutated variant is spreading rapidly in countries with high levels of population immunity, the WHO said, but it is unclear if this is due to the virus’ ability to evade immunity, its inherent increased transmissibility or a combination of both.
The agency designated Omicron a variant of concern on November 26, soon after it was first detected by scientists in South Africa, and much is still not known about it. Scientists remain uncertain how dangerous it is, but early data suggests it can be more resistant to vaccines and more transmissible than the Delta variant.
“There are still limited data on the clinical severity of Omicron,” the WHO said in its update. “More data are needed to understand the severity profile and how severity is impacted by vaccination and pre-existing immunity.” It added, “There are still limited available data, and no peer-reviewed evidence, on vaccine efficacy or effectiveness to date for Omicron.”
On Friday, a non-peer reviewed study by Imperial College London said the risk of reinfection with Omicron is more than five times higher and it has shown no sign of being milder than Delta.
Read more: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/12/18/omicron-cases-doubling-at-least-every-3-days-who-says
I do believe the planet's getting serious.
Pandemic Sees Black Homeschooling Boom - Zerlina
Dec 17, 2021
I'm a home-schooling skeptic, but hey, blacks who do it cannot possibly be worse than their FOXheaded white counterparts, who teach their children that The Flintstones was an historically-based drama and that Donald Trump is Jesus Christ.
Least Surprising Headline of 2021
Facebook executive blames users for believing misinformationRepublicans Are Dying From COVID At An Alarming Rate
Note: ROF'S TITLE, NOT MINE!
Well, since Dems are alleged by the wingnuts to be elitist, pointy-headed snobs who think we're better and smarter than Real Mercans, I think we should take this opportunity to prove them wrong! Let's not impose what they deem "tyrannical" health protection measures on them! Let's not apply mandates or legislation that would infringe in any way on THEIR LIBERTY!!! Let's just make sure we are doing all the right things, and let Nature take its course!
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Name: LeoGender: Male
Hometown: Buhl, ID
Home country: United States
Current location: Bay Area
Member since: Sun Dec 5, 2021, 04:06 PM
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