Ted Rall for July 11, 2022

I tried to make sense of this cartoon, then I remembered that in Rall’s world, Russia is the protagonist.

I was sincerely hoping that the petrol/natural gas crisis which is impacting Europe, the Americas and the rest of the world would have led to more green initiatives I hear an occasional report such as the UK investing in using the large tide differentials off the coasts of Wales and Cornwall to generate electricity as well as the success of some wind farms in Western Australia. Even in Florida a solar farm at Babcock Ranch in the SW part of the state near Cape Coral (an environmental disaster of a planned community itself) is being hailed as a success though the big power companies in FL as well as lot of the repubbas went out of their way to make its implementation very difficult and the big power companies do not want to buy any surplus electricity the project will put back into the grid though it is state law. Still we are doing next to nothing in the states to further green technologies and ween ourselves off of oil, coal and natural gas. I guess the BBB had some good initiatives in it but it is dead thanks to Coal Baron Joe Manchin and his Repubba allies. The planet is in peril, we are at a tipping point environmentally yet almost everyone in the major 2 parties are not seeing the forest for the trees as they are focusing on short term goals like getting inflation under control before the 2022 elections (which sadly could get ugly for the party in blue as Ted has mentioned here). Congress used to get stuff done, in 1970 a relatively progressive congress was able to work with a right wing Oval Office to get the EPA established and nominated 3 somewhat progressive SCOTUS justices but it seems nothing like that has happened since then as the country has grown more and more divided, starting in the ‘80s with Teflon Ron, exacerbated in the ’90s by things like Clinton’s NAFTA travesty as well as the 2000’s and Bush’s neo-conservatism only to be topped by Trump. In short, the country has been circling the drain for some time.

Does anyone besides me get the general impression that an increasing number of people in Western countries are getting tired of hearing about the atrocities and general miseries of Ukrainians that never seem to end? All the billions tossed from afar just don’t seem to do any lasting good. If so, then Putin is correct in gloating that Western nations’ resolve will soon wan.

He hasn’t yet come right out and said it (yet), but he could say that if only his buddy Trump had succeeded in his plan to disembowel NATO, this “military action” wouldn’t have been necessary: “Now see what you made me do? Okay, we’ll have to do this the hard way — it’s a shame to destroy a perfectly good country (except for being infested with Nazis) but if that’s the way the way you want it …”

Let’s buffer the potential cost increase with a LUV the Saudies an’ a Cuddle the Venezuelan’s.

An octane rating is simply a measure of how heat resistant a fuel is in order to prevent knocking. In other words, octane doesn’t enhance combustion — it prevents the air-fuel mixture inside an engine from igniting before it’s supposed to.

The higher a fuel’s octane, the more resistant it is to knocking. If you hear knocking, you could be using the wrong octane for your ride. The recommended octane rating varies by vehicle, so always consult your owner’s manual to determine which is right for you. Some vehicles require a higher octane rating because they have what’s known as supercharged or turbocharged engines that create higher compression levels.

You should always use at least the minimum octane rating recommended by your vehicle manufacturer. Using a lower-octane fuel than required can cause knocking and will prevent your vehicle from meeting its stated fuel economy. On the other hand, using a fuel with a higher octane rating than your vehicle requires will never do any harm, but it won’t necessarily benefit you either. Higher-octane fuels can potentially increase performance in some vehicles when towing heavy loads, especially in hot summer weather. Under normal conditions, though, the best octane to use is the one recommended by your owner’s manual.

Higher octane than specified for everyday use is just burning money.

As usual, Ted did not think this one through. But he will get more of Putin’s rubles.

That ominous Abortion Rights surcharge is what should frighten people.

Gas prices are high mostly due to oil company greed. They’re posting all-time record profits as they soak consumers.

And Ted’s inexplicable campaign to justify/defend/minimize Putin’s destruction of Ukraine continues.

Made me smile.

Biden and his advisers said no such thing at all.

This is very “Mad” Magazine-style. Clever, but offers no real solutions.

Ted leaves out the part about record oil company profits and concentration of the oil market.

Understandable oversight, I guess.

I’ll pay more to protect Ukraine

Brandon is safe in the great state of Kali, I found regular for the low price of $5.39 a gal today. Crises averted nothing to see here.

I remember back in the 60s when some people refused to pay a portion of their federal income taxes as a protest against the War in Vietnam. I was sympathetic to their position, but I wasn’t convinced that that form of protest would do any good, though likely it would land them in trouble with the IRS. But I wondered about a different way of thinking about taxes. Let’s say that we all agreed that we should pay the proper assessed amount, whatever it would be, but we could choose which programs we wanted the money to support. So you could choose that x% of your taxes would go for the environment, say, and y% for education, and z% for infrastructure, and so on, but 0% for the military; and your neighbour could say that x% would go for the military and y% for police and z% for grants to big oil companies, and 0% for either education or the environment. So in effect you would vote for government programs with your money. Is this just a demonstration that I’ve read too much science fiction?

Biden didn’t say it, his “advisors” didn’t say it. One basically unknown advisor did. Repubs either need to be occasionally funny or factual, otherwise they’re just a bunch of bitter bores.