First of all, this is Friday, and if you are in the USA, it is a day off for our country's 249th birthday.  How much longer we'll have  a Democracy will be a challenge with Donald Trump as president. Greece is where Democracy was born. However,  Democracy in Athens 2500 years ago  was not quite what it is supposed to be.  First, only males who served in the militia could vote.  With all the ineligible men, women, children and foreigners, only around 15% could participate in the democracy of those days As best as I can determine,  modern Greece did not return to Democracy until 1974!   Joined the European Union in 1981, but elected a socialist government later that year.  The government continues through crises, sometimes with coalitions involving communists, other times just messed up and in scandal.  So is Greece a Democracy today.  I guess yes. San Marino claims to have been a Republic since the year 300, but its current constitut...

Yes, America is doing well today, if you are wealthy and Republican.  President Donald Trump continues to reign supreme over the Republican Party.  His 887-page Big Beautiful Bill sailed through the House of Representatives.  The  minor hangup was not pulling back on the tax breaks to the rich nor easing up on the cuts to liberal interests.  The Freedom Caucus wanted much bigger reductions to medicaid and liberal interests and was worried about the national debt.  Trump will make a big deal of signing the measure tomorrow.   Read the details .  About the national debt, this bill will add $3.4 trillion to the already $29 trillion the country owes.  Interest on this debt will top a trillion dollars/year and will equal our Gross National Product.  From the  New York Times : Further, two-thirds of the federal budget goes to mandatory programs like Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid.  The Freedom Caucus wanted to lower this...

From  Time  magazine, I begin with a slew of Trump topics.  You can read the details. The unpopular Big Beautiful Bill is now in the House . The only truly effective anti-Trump person:  Elon Musk. The Trump Gaza ceasefire proposal . The July 4th Free American Anti-Trump Protest planned across the USA . This site began as a renewable energy and environment blog, and has evolved to just about any subject.  I try to keep Wednesdays for sci-tech, with perhaps a monthly focus on energy.  More recently, I've drawn from the  Energy Matters  info sent to me by the American Energy Society.  I'm inserting direct quotes this time to eliminate my predilections for more credibility. This service starts with some broad topics. - Fossil fuels: Helium is locked in a supply crunch, and prices are surging. - Renewables: Congress will probably pass new renewable fuel standards for 2026 and 2027. - Policy: President Trump is now focused on Califor...