There’s no such thing as ‘clean coal’

As concerns about the adverse effects of burning fossil fuels on our climate became more widespread, the coal industry launched a marketing campaign to try and resurrect the image of coal, the burning of which is one of the biggest sources of greenhouse gases. So the friendly sounding term ‘clean coal’ was brought in. But the more accurate term is ‘clean coal technology’ because the adjective ‘clean’ really modifies ‘coal technology’ and not just ‘coal. What is being talked about are ways to minimize the release of the greenhouse gases.
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It’s my fault that Trump is escalating the war in Afghanistan

Donald Trump is clearly going to make things worse in Afghanistan now that he has pledged an open-ended war there until the US ‘wins’. What winning means is never defined but it is not hard to imagine that as the inevitable stalemate drags on (as even his own secretary of state concedes is the best outcome the US can hope for), an increasingly frustrated Trump, wary of being branded a loser, will simply escalate the carnage, making life even more miserable for the already suffering Afghans. And the US media will praise him for ‘being presidential’ because there is nothing they like better than the killing of people of color overseas by massive military power..
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Post-eclipse reflections

As I said, I was not that excited about the total solar eclipse that passed over sections of the US yesterday. Maximum totality occurred some distance south of where I live and was reached at 2:30pm Eastern Time. It turned out that I had to take my car in for some recall work and so I was in the waiting room from 1:00pm onwards. The TV set in the room (you cannot escape the pervasive presence of TV in any public area it seems) was tuned to CNN and I was astounded that they talked about nothing but the eclipse for the entire 75 minutes while I was waiting.
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Why should statues be permanent?

One of the key features of Buddhism is its emphasis on the impermanence of all things and the consequent undesirability of having too great an attachment to material things. I was reminded of this while I was following the current debates raging about the removal of statues and other icons honoring Confederate leaders and others who supported and perpetuated slavery.
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The new strategy in Afghanistan, same as the old

I just finished listening to Donald Trump’s highly promoted speech about what he plans to do in Afghanistan and to say that it was underwhelming is to put it mildly. There was absolutely nothing concrete in his 25-minute speech. About half of it was devoted to the obligatory pandering to the military and America, saying how they are the greatest and noblest fighting force in the world protecting the greatest and noblest nation on Earth.
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Another Leopold and Loeb-type murder?

Some readers may be aware of the infamous Leopold and Loeb murder case where two young undergraduates at the University of Chicago who came from wealthy families kidnapped and murdered a 14-year old boy in 1924 just for the hell of it. They felt that with their superior intellect, they could get away with carrying out the perfect murder. They were found and convicted.
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What Trump hates most is happening to him

We know that Donald Trump knows little about policy and seems to care even less. What drives him seem to be greed and a pathetic need for approval, blended in with some nasty instincts. But we do know that he seems to enjoy most the pomp and ceremony of his office, as evidenced by his eagerness to be given the full royal treatment on his visit to the UK. He has always been driven by a desperate need for acceptance by those whom he seems to consider his betters, those who are more successful than him in business and those who belong to high society. Becoming president would enable him to feel superior to all those whom he felt had looked down at him all these years.
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That nice young neo-Nazi next door

The Vice News video of the events that unfolded in Charlottesville by reporters embedded among the marchers has had over 46 million views. When I was watching it, I was struck (and depressed) by the fact that most of the white supremacists and neo-Nazis marching with tiki torches and chanting racist slogans seemed to be young people. I like to think that the younger generation is more enlightened and tolerant than their predecessors, but of course that is an extremely broad generalization. There will always be those who are throwbacks to the past, embracing old abhorrent views even more strongly than their ancestors did.
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