90 Miles From Tyranny

Monday, July 4, 2022

The 90 Miles Mystery Box: Episode #1769 - July 4th Edition

You have come across a mystery box. But what is inside?

It could be literally anything from the serene to the horrific,

from the beautiful to the repugnant,

from the mysterious to the familiar.

If you decide to open it, you could be disappointed,

you could be inspired, you could be appalled.

This is not for the faint of heart or the easily offended.

You have been warned.

Hot Pick Of The Late Night - Independence Day Edition

Visage à trois #338

Three Videos For Your Viewing Pleasure:

Three Additional Bonus Videos:

Quick Hits Of Wisdom, Knowledge And Snark #506

The Top 10 Reasons Trump Should be Speaker of the House

Many prominent personalities have been urging the president to do this, so here are the top reasons why he should step up to the challenge.

You could argue that our "betters" in the anti-liberty left are trying to destroy the country, or perhaps they are completely incompetent. Even the totally incompetent would have occasional success, so we're thinking it's the former. Either way, we need to change back to leadership that works, and we need it as soon as possible.

Having the House of Representatives elect President Trump as speaker would go a long way toward this goal. So, this is our reverse order listing of the top reasons President Trump needs to step up to the challenge.

1. Four words: State of the Union.

Picture this: while Biden and Harris are still in office and delivering their interminable State of the Union addresses, Donald J. Trump can be sitting behind them as the last visual word on their BS. It's even money they would cancel these political snooze fests for the duration.

2. The entertainment value of driving the nation's socialist media insane.

We can already hear your response that they lost the plot years ago, and you would be correct. Let's face it: Robert Ballard is going to need to develop a new submersible to get to the depths of insanity that they've reached in recent years.

Their echo chambers have their own echo chambers.

Watching them lose it every night, whining about the death of democracy (because they aren't in control), will be well worth the price of admission.

3. It will save billions from not having to bail out the nation's socialist media.

This goes right along with the previous point. We all know that the Democrats' propaganda organ is going to need a bailout. We can remember those bygone days when they at least tried to pretend to be objective.

The nation's socialist media are so blatant these days that you can imagine a latter-day Joseph Goebbels operating behind the scenes.

The people have taken notice, and their ratings are lower than a putrid stain under a dustbin. So it won't be long until they look to their partners in crime for a bailout — from the government. But having Trump to whine about 24/7 could keep them afloat.

4. It throws a spanner into the plans of the anti-liberty left.

It's a lot more fun to take the initiative than remain passive.

We can only guess what the liberticidal leftists have in store for us. President Trump as the new speaker of the House will throw those carefully laid plans into chaos, and when we're talking about liberty-destroying leftists, that's always a good thing.

5. It will energize the pro-freedom electorate.

The pro-freedom right needs every advantage it can muster against the anti-liberty left. The key is selecting those tactics that would have a selective effect of energizing the freedom community while driving the other side to distraction. Can anyone think of a better way to do that than the prospect of President Donald J. Trump as speaker of the House?

6. He can preside over "President" Biden and "Vice President" Kamala's impeachments.

Wouldn't this make it all worthwhile? Anti-liberty leftists love to...

I wasted 20 years of my life chasing utopian energy.

Utopian energy is an imagined form of energy that’s abundant, reliable, inexpensive, and also clean, renewable, and life-sustaining. But utopian energy is as much a fantasy as a utopian society. Seeking the fount of perfect energy allows us to pretend there aren’t real-world tradeoffs between, say, banning fossil fuels and helping people in impoverished nations or between using solar and wind power and conserving natural habitats.

For years, I chased utopian energy. I promoted solar, wind, and energy efficiency because I felt like I was protecting the environment. But I was wrong! Feeling like you’re doing the right thing doesn’t mean you are. I just couldn’t admit it. My sense of identity was tied to my false beliefs about energy—myths that blinded me to what really does—and doesn’t—help the planet.

I’ve loved the outdoors since I was a teenager. I led mountaineering expeditions in Alaska, spent months backpacking in the Rockies, and climbed in national parks. My wilderness experiences led to my desire to protect these beautiful areas. I saw that a lot of people who tried to solve environmental issues worked in academia, nonprofits, or government, but they often failed to understand what it actually took to get things done in the real world. I didn’t want to be one of those people. I wanted to make a real difference.

I believe that to fix something, you need to understand it and that hands-on experience is the only way you can gain understanding. So I started building my knowledge and skills from the ground up.

I went to work in construction to build energy-efficient homes, and I started a company that built composting systems for cities and businesses. I became executive director of an organization that championed green building policies and became CEO of a consulting firm that commercialized clean energy technologies and ran energy-efficiency programs. I then founded a software startup to help promote green home upgrades, and I led business development for a company making wireless power technology.

I learned how to see things not just the way environmentalists do, but also the way utilities, governments, builders, engineers, lenders, and manufacturers see them.

But by 2008, I started to see cracks in my beliefs. The Obama administration had earmarked billions of dollars in federal funding to create jobs in the energy sector, and my company won multi-year contracts valued at over $60 million. Creating jobs and making buildings more energy-efficient were worthy goals. But the project was an utter failure. It didn’t get anywhere close to achieving the goals that the government had set. But what was really shocking to me was how the government refused to admit the project had failed. All of its public communications about the project boasted about its effectiveness.

I started to realize that I had accepted as true certain claims about energy and our environment. Now I began to see those claims were false. For example:

I used to think solar and wind power were the best ways to reduce CO2 emissions. But the biggest reduction in CO2 emissions during the past 15 years (over 60%) has come from switching from coal to natural gas.
I used to think that the world was transitioning to solar, wind, and batteries. This, too, was false. Trillions of dollars were spent on wind and solar projects over the last 20 years, yet the world’s dependence on fossil fuels declined only 3 percentage points, from 87% to 84%.
I used to believe nuclear energy was dangerous and nuclear waste was a big problem. In fact, nuclear is the safest and most reliable way to generate low-emission electricity, and it provides the best chance of reducing CO2 emissions.

It’s now clear I was chasing utopian energy. I was using green energy myths as moral camouflage, and I was able to believe those myths as long as I remained ignorant about the real costs and benefits of...

Visage à trois #337

Three Videos For Your Viewing Pleasure:

Three Additional Bonus Videos:

Quick Hits Of Wisdom, Knowledge And Snark #505

Arizona Democrats Blasted for Promoting ‘F**k the Fourth’ Event: They ‘Should Be Ashamed’

Democrats in Pima County, Arizona, scrubbed a social media post advertising an event called “Fuck the Fourth” after taking heat for the move.

The event that was to be hosted by the Tucson Women’s March was advertised by the Pima County Democratic Party, Fox News reported Friday.

Juan Ciscomani, a Republican running for the United States Congress, shared a screenshot of the party’s tweet, writing, “THIS is who is supporting our opponents.”

“These are the crowds they run in. THIS is what we are up against. I love this country and THIS is why we need to win in November,” he continued:

Social media users were quick to reply, one person commenting, “This is so sad. Pima County Democrats should be ashamed. I say, God bless America and bless the patriots who have fought and died to keep us free.”

Another person called it “Disturbing.”

Meanwhile, conservative activist Scott Presler said, “Thank you for bringing more Arizonans to the Republican Party”:

The Pima County Democratic Party later claimed the move was a “mistake” but still supported the event, according to the Fox report:

“PCDP posted a graphic advertising a women’s march which, we agree, was in poor taste. We were eager to share the event, and in our haste we used the graphic provided by the event organizer. That was a mistake, and we will do better,” the Pima County Democratic Party tweeted. “Make no mistake, however. We support the event which will be on July 4 at 7 pm at Reid Park. The event was organized to help women in our community grieve for the loss of...