Category Archives: Politics

These are very U.S. focused since I live here, we are the craziest nation on earth of developed countries, and have a hell of a lot of nuclear weapons

What is the plan for an electric grid outage that lasts for months?

Preface. This is one of three posts based on Ted Koppel’s book Lights out.  There’s also: Want to survive peak everything? Become a Mormon” and a longer book review, which this post has excerpts from regarding what the plan is … Continue reading

Posted in Blackouts, Blackouts Electric Grid, Electric Grid & Fast Collapse, Energy Books, Politics | Tagged , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

The staggering level of corruption & kleptocracy in the world

Preface.  This is a book review of Frank Vogl’s 2021 book “The Enablers: How the West Supports Kleptocrats and Corruption – Endangering Our Democracy” (well, mostly kindle notes).  They couldn’t get away with it if there weren’t so many places … Continue reading

Posted in Banking, Bond Market, Corporate Welfare, Corruption, Crime, Gangs, Corrupt police, Private security, Debt, No Jail for Bankers & Wall St execs, Politics, Scams | Tagged , , , , | Comments Off on The staggering level of corruption & kleptocracy in the world

Book review: Bring the War Home: The white power movement & paramilitary America

Preface.  Whenever collapse from peak oil, peak soil, and peak everything else begins, these racist white groups with military training, in the military or from returned vets, could make many regions of the country unpleasant or even deadly for minorities … Continue reading

Posted in Politics, Social Uprising, Terrorism, Violence | Tagged , , , | Comments Off on Book review: Bring the War Home: The white power movement & paramilitary America

Predicting who will become a violent terrorist

Preface. This study was clever in predicting the political and religious outlook of people using abstract tests that were not political or emotional, such as memorizing visual shapes. This study of worldviews was able to predict political preferences 4 to … Continue reading

Posted in Critical Thinking, Politics | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

Why some people are conservative and others liberal

Preface. Although I thought Chris Mooney’s book “The Republican Brain” was brilliant, I couldn’t help but thinking that these conservative and liberal viewpoints must be embedded in our psychology from how we evolved over the last 300,000 years.  What follows … Continue reading

Posted in Evolution, Human Nature, Political Books, Politics | Tagged , , , | Comments Off on Why some people are conservative and others liberal

The Green New Deal is not a solution for the real problem: Overshoot

Preface.  Seibert & Rees’ paper is very important.  And also well-written, unlike the usual scientific jargon perfect for putting you to sleep at night.  It’s short too. In just 13 pages Siebert and Rees cover the most important issues we … Continue reading

Posted in Climate Change, Electric & Hydrogen trucks impossible, Limits To Growth, Manufacturing & Industrial Heat, Overpopulation, Overshoot, Peak Critical Elements, Politics | Tagged , , , , , , , | Comments Off on The Green New Deal is not a solution for the real problem: Overshoot

Can democracy survive peak oil?

Preface.  This is a book review of Howard Bucknell’s Energy and the National Defense.  University of Kentucky Press. Bucknell was amazingly prescient as you’ll see in this review, especially about why democracy might not survive the energy crisis.  Though the … Continue reading

Posted in Advice, Energy Books, Military, Politics, Rationing | Tagged , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Book review of “The Death of Expertise: the campaign against established knowledge and why it matters”

Preface.  Those who attack experts are exactly the people who will not read this book review (well, mainly some Kindle notes) of Nichols “The Death of Expertise: The Campaign against Established Knowledge and Why it Matters”. They scare me, they … Continue reading

Posted in Critical Thinking, Political Books, Politics | Tagged , , , | Comments Off on Book review of “The Death of Expertise: the campaign against established knowledge and why it matters”

Why we need more women leaders

Preface. Hector Garcia makes the case that women make better leaders in an excerpt from his book below. His conclusion is that “scientific literature shows that when women are allowed greater political and economic power, which is inseparable from the … Continue reading

Posted in Politics | Tagged , , | 5 Comments

Book review: How Democracies Die

Preface.  This is a book review with excerpts from the first half of “How Democracies Die” by Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt. A few main points: We tend to think of democracies dying at the hands of men with guns. … Continue reading

Posted in Politics | Tagged , , | 2 Comments