Tuesday evening reading - October 29, 2024

More goodies from the stack of stuff I read on a daily basis here on Substack.

Sunset on Delaware Bay, taken from the Jersey side. My wife and I recently spent a pleasant weekend near Cape May at a Millman cottage just up the street.

The success of this concept last time stoked my sharing flame because I subscribe to a lot of good reading, and come across even more from my following. So when I get to between six and eight posts (or so) I think are worth sharing, you’ll get Tuesday evening reading. It won’t be every week, but likely about once or twice a month. There’s nothing wrong with link love!

My original intent was to do the first and third Tuesdays each month, but it dawned on me that NOBODY will be reading Substacks next Tuesday night unless it’s part of a chat. Thus I moved this one up a week; think of it as a blue moon edition.

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So here goes. Read them first then come back and see what I have to say with it.

Solar Subsidies Amount to $56,000 per Acre

The Future of Energy

I doubled up on the

Energy Bad Boys

because these points are important and intertwined. Unfortunately, those who are running the federal and state governments can’t seem to get this message through their thick, pointy heads.

In the first case, the government that is looking to preserve farmland on the one hand is destroying it with the other. Let’s say a solar farm is damaged in a storm or simply outlives its usefulness: would you want to eat the crops grown on that land once the panels are gone given the chemicals used to create the panels that have leached off? The answer is obviously no, which is why certain regressive states are trying to eliminate local input on these solar farms.

The second post is relatively self-explanatory and echoes something I’ve said for years: there was a reason rural America took down its windmills when the government came along and wired their areas - at last they had reliable electricity, even on those hot, still days of summer where a breeze is nowhere to be found.

The Attempted Rigging Of The Coming 2024 Election

My good friend

David Wolosik

is on the case yet again. However, I do have one thing to say in response: if you make the margin large enough, they really have to work at it to cheat. It’s worth remembering that, among those who actually showed up at the polls and simply didn’t mail it in, Donald Trump won Delaware against a favorite son candidate in 2020.

We already have the early voting numbers (by county, but not by party) and here in Sussex (the Republican end of the state) we’re already ahead of absentees with early voting, by a margin of better than 2:1. Kent County is as well, so the red and purple counties of the state are coming out already. Statewide there was only about a 1,500 vote difference between absentees and early voting after day 1 and early voting blew by absentees on day 2. (Democrat-dominated New Castle County was the only laggard by close of business Saturday and probably moved ahead Monday.)

In 2016, absentees made up about 6% of the Presidential vote here in Delaware, so I would expect the 2024 absentee total to at best mimic that, particularly since early voting is now available. A strong GOP turnout both for early voting and on Election Day may lead to some real progress in the state.

Do You Want Fries with That?

Judd Garrett puts together a good Substack, even if he doesn’t allow mentions. In this case the question is about Kamala Harris, and as he notes:

She has to lie about being middle-class and working at McDonald’s in order to pretend that she actually cares about the middle-class in our country because every single one of her administration’s policies has harmed the middle class.

I’m not one of those one in eight who supposedly began their working career at McDonalds. Instead, I helped my brother do the lawn of a nice old lady down the road then, when I went to college, worked in the dining hall. (So it was a somewhat related task.) But even if she did work there, the reality is still as Garrett says: the Biden/Harris policies have served to hollow out the middle class.

The American slave trade, alive and well

How about another failure of the Biden/Harris administration, from

Andrew Paquette, PhD

? I will grant this has probably gone on for decades, but this process has been placed into overdrive by the lax border security of the current administration. (It makes me wonder if cartel money was somehow funneled to Biden/Harris. Remember, there’s a question about ActBlue contributions out there, too.)

The inescapable conclusion is that people with significant political authority have thoroughly compromised government by creating an underground railroad of sorts, every step of which is illegal, and often results in death and further crimes against Americans.

I haven’t watched Line in the Sand and I’ve already voted. But it sounds like a case of journalism being inflicted for the American people. Imagine what an honest Department of Justice that collars criminals and not peaceful J6 protestors could do for this matter.

Victim

A lot of

Kelli

’s perspective comes from her views on the conflict in Gaza, which is what attracted me to the Substack. The fact it’s an Australian storyteller holds my interest as well.

But #firstworldproblems don’t just occur here, and this is a comeback story still being written. I was glad she opened up about it and perhaps this is a stone on the road to success she’s building.

Poverty➕

There is a philosophy out there which asserts, “you will own nothing and like it.” One aspect of this is fleshed out in this post by

The Obsolete Man

.

I’ve never aspired to a mansion, and I don’t live in one. But I will say: stuff can easily overtake a family, even in a 1,500 square foot house with a 500 square foot garage and probably another 600 to 800 square feet of sheds. It needs a good purging, but the solution isn’t starting over in a smaller space (although I tried that once in moving down here 20 years ago.)

Yet there is one apparent trend expressed here:

This abdication of ownership has crept into every corner of our society. Subscriptions have overtaken purchases. Renting and leasing are increasingly our only options, with buying being a luxury reserved for the rich. But those at the helm seem to think this is a better model.

One example is the OnStar-style service I received with my truck for a year. But it was an option that converted to a subscription service which would have lightened my wallet by about $100 a year (for now.) Even though I own the truck, I don’t own that feature and carmakers are working to make that more common for all their options, like heated seats.

That’s one reason why I bought a “base” truck.

Last but certainly far, far from least:

Sharing the Good News in Dark Times

I haven’t been as good regarding this challenge as I should be, but this is my way of making up a wee bit. A good inspirational one from

Mike Donio

to wrap this Tuesday evening reading up. Pray for a good election result but remember God is in control.

All that should keep a good reader going and thinking for awhile. Now I’ll keep collecting for next time.

In the meantime, though, you can Buy Me a Coffee, since I have a page there now.