It’s quite clear that a major impediment to a fuller embrace of renewable energy is the pushback from fossil fuel giants who still have huge lobbying budgets and outsized influence with members of Congress.

What should infuriate us all is the durability of their old arguments focused on the necessity of a mix of technologies– this as a way of nurturing a certain “diversity” and maintaining a stable of options. They neglect to highlight that such a scenario wouldn’t do any harm to a sustained enrichment of their bottom line.

It’s always about profit margins, about the money. It’s an intentional dragging of feet and turning a blind eye to environmental degradation, in the name of doing business the way they prefer to do business.  

Well, there’s a welcome headline: “‘Extreme’ drought status nearly eliminated in California…”

Fantastic news, though one might hope that this recharging of supplies doesn’t engender complacency, the familiar tendency of folks to default to business as usual when it comes to water usage.

Some reservoirs are topped off at the moment, but this can’t mean a return to previous practices and habits. Summer is coming, and one might think there’s a lesson to be learned in acting like the water supply issues are solved. It’s partially that shortsighted gluttony that got everyone into this mess in the first place.

That, and an ungodly dry spell.

Too many of us are wandering, eking out an existence, unnoticed or simply ignored, unloved, sick, hungry, cold, without hope. Things are unraveling for so many, in part because so many others spend most of their time and energy looking out for themselves and their dogs and cats.

All the beautiful people will live in their bubbles and fortresses and subdivisions, pointing fingers, trying to avoid pain until even they can’t anymore, and then we’ll all be in the same boat. Basic survival instincts will be on full display.

It’s becoming easier to envision a colossal, large scale exercise in Darwinism, precipitated by some nefarious gang of hackers who will destroy power grids and other critical infrastructure, plunging the world into darkness and cold and unending chaos, where we’ll all be scrambling for our next meal, and a warm place to lay our heads.

Yikes. Is this really our future?

According to a recent Popular Mechanics article, it very well could be. And not all that far into that future! Which is either an irresponsible pants-on-fire, sensationalized sky-is-falling piece of journalism, or a wake-up call to all of us.

Either way, maybe it’s time we rethink the way we live our lives. Move from the endlessly self-indulgent molding and shaping of “our best selves” to a more selfless world view, where we care at least as much about healing the hurt in a communal way. We need to reimagine, reevaluate our motives and choices, and the way we interact and think about each other. For the sake of a collective good.

Sounds laughably difficult, pollyanna-ish. And, for some tragic reason, un-American. Like turning the Allure of the Seas around, times a billion.

Maybe we can at least pay attention to upping our cyber security game, plugging the holes in our internet. Heaven forbid we should have to go without the Tik-Tok.

Our Congressional leadership, primarily on the right, is a laughingstock, populated by misfits, pretenders, and ignorant loudmouths, people ironically beholden to entitlement of a different sort, and a frightening lack of judgment and faith. In it for their own gain and notoriety, not averse to regular trips down the rabbit hole, still more like Trump than they might be willing to admit. 

And Mike Pence is a liar, too. Witness the interview with ABC News a while back and the answer he gave to a question about classified documents in his house.

There have been thirty-nine mass shootings nationwide since January 1, a little over three weeks into the new year.

“Jaw-dropping” doesn’t cut it. “Stunning” is cliche. There are no words anymore. Haven’t been for a while.

We just limp along, dumbfounded and diminished by the bad news of more lives taken by people in possession of weapons they shouldn’t have. Lives ended, families destroyed. And all because people aren’t coping. Options fizzle, anger rules, emotions run rampant, and GUNS ARE EVERYWHERE. Might as well put ‘em in vending machines or just hand ‘em out.

Why does the lowest common denominator seem to be panic and throwing in the towel?

It’s a complicated issue, but still… Republicans are a useless lot, by and large.

Looks like a KC/Philly Super Bowl. I can’t envision a different scenario.

Well, I can, because Joe Burrow and Brock Purdy are good players. But this feels like the year for Mahomes and Hurts to face each other, unless Mahomes’s ankle is worse than they’re saying.

I was hoping the Giants would continue their run. And the Vikes’ charmed season finally gave way to the reality that they just weren’t that good.

Philly, on the other hand, looks to be the real deal. At this point.

Describing Trump’s fate only ever happens with conditional words– might, could, maybe, possibly… I’m hoping at some point that this changes to words with a more definitive ring to them.

There are many who hope he gets his comeuppance, but it’s best not to be holding one’s breath. He’s a slimy bastard.

Six more classified documents found at Joe Biden’s home. What the hell, Joe?

Let’s move on to something else. It’s feeling like much ado about a nothing burger. It begs the question, though: What’s the difference between the Biden papers and the fiasco with Trump?

Is this about trying to get at intentions, or just politics run amok? What matters anymore? It all takes on the air of distraction and wasted effort. Either there are consequences, or there are no consequences.

Then we move on to the next fabricated crisis, while the real ones fester.

We weren’t born into this world to be pawns and objects destined only to do someone else’s dirty work. Talking to you, Vladimir. Your twisted vision is a cold tonic, a vile intrusion on many lives interrupted or cut short by your hand and your grandiose, hateful, and paranoid worldview.

I can only imagine that for you and your inner circle, things are developing as you planned. But what is your endgame? World domination (good luck with that), or scorched earth, a reason to use your nukes and take the world with you as you bid adieu?

Why do people like you continue to come along? The death and maiming and gratuitous obliteration of homes and livelihoods– none of that registers with you, does it? It’s all just the cost of doing business, and restoring Mother Russia in your image.

You must know how this ends, right?

Some will probably admit to feeling a sense of relief, maybe satisfaction, over Alec Baldwin’s manslaughter charge, i.e. it couldn’t have happened to a nicer guy. And a fair question has to be why live ammunition was on the set in the first place!

I hope the charge isn’t because “someone needs to be held accountable,” regardless of whether or not it was a tragic accident. By now, though, one might think that an investigation has been done and the findings have led to this development. Baldwin was not only an actor on set, but also a producer, so his level of responsibility and accountability was increased. One news report suggests this might have something to do with the charge.

In any event, it’ll be a developing story, something to take our minds off the fifty other more consequential things going on in the country and world. Maybe George Santos will somehow lay claim to exonerating Baldwin and emerge as a hero of his own imagining. That could happen.