“Time to Get Tough” by Donald Trump (2011)

Yesterday I picked up a remaindered copy of President Trump's "Time to get tough" (2011). I've been browsing--and it's actually shocking to see that he was the same guy 8 years ago (or 9 if you count the time to write it). And it's exactly in his style.

Trump was running in 2011 (announced he was dropping it in May 2011)--and didn't have wonderful things to say about Obama. "Obama's popularity in America may be at rock bottom levels, but I know one place his ratings are likely sky high: the Kremlin. Russia's leaders can hardly believe their luck. Never in a million years did they think America would elect a guy as ineffective as this. Obama's pretty-please diplomacy and endless American apology tours have served Russian interests extremely well. . . No sooner did Obama move into 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue than he began making concessions and sacrificing American power on the Altar of "improving relations" with Russia." (pp. 93-94, PB)

Called that one.

There is effectively an oil spill every day at Coal Oil Point (COP), the natural seeps off Santa Barbara, California, where 20 to 25 tons of oil have leaked from the seafloor each day for the last several hundred thousand years. Keep that in mind when you hear about man made environmental problems like oil spills. Research is on-going. https://www.msi.ucsb.edu/current-projects/effect-hydrocarbon-production-offshore-natural-seep-rates-coal-oil-point-area-santa?

Donald Trump mentioned this in his 2011 book, "Time to get tough," as he commented on the amount of oil and gas the U.S. has, but because of the environmental lobby and Obama's weakness and messing around with the free market economy, there was no leadership.

"Here at home, he's kept in place the bans on drilling off our coasts. But he goes to Brazil, gives them $2 billion through the U.S. Export-Import Bank, and brags that he's proud and excited to make America one of Brazil's "best customers." . . . It's the most ludicrous, anemic leadership anyone could imagine."

We now export energy

"As of 2017, renewables (solar, wind, hydroelectric, geothermal, and biomass) provided 12.8% of the US power supply, an increase from 8.1% of all power generated in 1980. Biomass is the leading renewable energy source, accounting for 5.1% of 2017 power production. Solar power grew by 12 times since 2007, but only generated 0.9% of power in 2017. Nuclear power provided 8.6% of the nation's power, up from 3.5% in 1980. Meanwhile, fossil fuels supplied 77.7% of American power in 2017, down from 89.4% in 1980. Petroleum continues to be the largest source of energy consumption, with natural gas being a second and rising source." USA Facts, annual Report.

We used to be an importer of energy; now we're an exporter.

https://annualreport.usafacts.org/articles/26-transportation-infrastructure-energy-natural-disasters-diversifying-power-supply-energy-independent

Hydraulic fracturing (fracking) and horizontal drilling have created the shale gas boom

“The natural gas boom that transformed the energy picture in the United States in the last decade is still in its infancy, says John Shaw, chair of Harvard’s Earth and Planetary Sciences Department. . .

Fracking is probably not a direct cause of associated earthquakes, Shaw said, noting that the pressure to fracture the rock is applied for only minutes and is followed by the gas flowing from the rock into the borehole, which actually lowers the pressure in the surrounding rock. Instead, Shaw said, it is the disposal, by injection into the earth, of the ample waste liquid the process generates that is largely responsible for generating quakes. Some firms are now looking at recycling wastewater as an alternative.”

There are those who see fracking as a threat to renewable energy sources where they are either financially or emotionally invested.  In my opinion, that is behind many of the scare stories.

http://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2015/03/staying-power-for-shale-gas/

Warnings of peak oil are nearly as old as the oil industry

“. . . the International Energy Agency forecasts that U.S. production will still surpass Saudi Arabia’s output of 9.7 million barrels a day, and overtake Russia’s 10.3 million, perhaps sometime next year. This would make America the world’s largest oil producer, which it was from the dawn of the oil age through 1974. Thanks to the fracking boom, the U.S. surpassed Russia as the world’s largest natural-gas producer in 2013. “  Peak Oil Debunked Again.

Natural gas is our weapon

On Meet the Press (Aug. 2008), Pelosi said while defending her investment in natural gas: “I believe in natural gas as a clean, cheap alternative to fossil fuels,” she said at one point. Natural gas “is cheap, abundant and clean compared to fossil fuels,” she said at another. Later she clarified that and said she meant compared to oil and coal. Yes, I'm sure, after someone explained it to her.

“If the early 21st century is the “golden age of gas,” as the International Energy Agency has declared, who will be its king? Until 2009, the answer seemed obvious: Russia. But a funny thing happened on the way to the “third Rome” that Russian nationalists view as their destiny. In that year, propelled by the technological innovations of hydraulic fracturing (or “fracking”) and horizontal drilling, U.S. gas production surpassed that of Russia.”  Read more: http://thehill.com/blogs/congress-blog/energy-environment/201003-can-fracking-save-the-world

Windmills and solar power

After 100 billion in subsidies, windmills and solar power combined amount to less than 4% of the energy we use. Both are so inefficient that they only exist because they get billions in subsidies from you. Fossil fuels get subsides too, but wind and solar get 100 times more. John Stossel

 

“The Federal government has set an ambitious goal of '20% wind power by 2030,' and generous subsidies targeted at every segment of American society have been set in place.

State subsidies for wind power are equally generous and can often be combined with Federal programs resulting, in some instances, in government funding equivalent to 80% of a wind power system's total cost.

Subsidies range from Direct Federal Grants, ITC's (Investment Tax Credits) and PTC's (Production Tax Credits) to a myriad of State Grants, Rebates and Tax Credits available to all tax-payers, ranging from your family to Fortune 500 corporations.” http://www.massmegawatts.com/government-subsidies-finance.php

Solar Financing, Subsidies and Incentives

http://www.forbes.com/sites/timworstall/2013/05/30/solar-power-subsidies-were-too-large-too-fast/

http://blogs.wsj.com/experts/2013/11/14/solar-isnt-the-only-subsidized-energy-source/

“Subsidies go primarily to the rich. While subsidies allow owners to pay off the cost over time, up-front costs put solar panels out of reach for most people. Subsidies take money from working-class families and give it to people who can afford high, up-front capital costs.”

http://blogs.wsj.com/experts/2013/11/14/solar-subsidies-take-money-from-the-poor-to-help-the-rich/

Iran’s deal of the century

If nuclear energy is so great for Iran, why isn’t  the U.S. faster about developing it?

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/christine-todd-whitman/plant-vogtle-nuclear-reactors_b_1269422.html

http://www.forbes.com/sites/jamesconca/2013/07/08/whats-wrong-with-obamas-energy-policy/

“On Feb. 9, 2012, the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission approved a license for two new nuclear reactors in Georgia. The electricity giant Southern Co. intends to build them at its Vogtle site south of Augusta. (The White House pointed us to news coverage of the approval when we asked for evidence of Obama’s statement.)

Prior to this year, the last time the commission granted a license to build a new reactor was in 1978, which was 34 years ago, according to a commission spokesperson. The permit was for the Shearon Harris plant operated by Carolina Power & Light near Raleigh, N.C. But it takes a long time to build nuclear reactors, so the plant didn’t get operational approval until 1986.

And the North Carolina plant isn’t the most recent to go operational. That distinction goes to the Tennessee Valley Authority’s Watts Bar site in Tennessee. It received a construction license in 1973 and an operating license in 1996, or 16 years ago.”

http://www.politifact.com/florida/statements/2012/mar/02/barack-obama/obama-says-he-supported-first-nuclear-power-plant-/

Yes, and Ohio and all the Appalachian states agree

Killing Ohio’s economy while adding to your utility bills

We shouldn’t be surprised by what’s happening [laying off 1200 coal miners]. Obama told us his disastrous plan for the coal industry and affordable electricity on the campaign trail in 2008. “If someone wants to build a new coal-fired power plant they can, but it will bankrupt them,” candidate Obama said then. “Electricity rates would necessarily skyrocket,” he added.

I can't imagine how an intelligent Ohioan can vote for him.

To stop the war on American jobs we must end Obama's war on coal 

http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2012/09/19/to-stop-war-on-american-jobs-must-end-obama-war-on-coal/#ixzz27KbCZY4c

Let the market work

By Chip Wood, The North Dakota Oil Boom, http://personalliberty.com/2012/03/16/the-north-dakota-oil-boom/

[North Dakota] has the lowest unemployment rate in the Nation, at just 3.3 percent. California’s, by contrast, is 11.1 percent. That doesn’t even count the unemployed people who have simply stopped looking for work. The true unemployment number is probably closer to 20 percent.

According to the Census Bureau, North Dakota led the Nation in job and income growth in 2011. While California is losing millionaires every day, North Dakota is creating them faster than anyplace else in the country. But even entry-level positions are benefiting. For example, a job flipping burgers at McDonald’s pays $18 an hour plus a “signing bonus” for new employees.

And while the State of California can’t begin to pay all of its bills — it even issued IOUs last year in place of tax refunds — the biggest argument in North Dakota’s State Capitol is how to spend all of the money that’s pouring in. Legislators in Bismarck have approved hundreds of “shovel ready” infrastructure projects, including roads, bridges, railroads and pipelines. But even while spending more on worthwhile projects, legislators also agreed to cut the State income tax.

What’s happening in North Dakota is a classic example of the one thing that would solve our energy problems everywhere — and most other problems in the economy, too. Unfortunately, it’s the one thing Obama and his team won’t even consider.

The solution is simple: Let the market work.

God, Satan and the Environmentalists

The coal mine tragedy in West Virginia is in the news. It is already morphing from a story of anxious relatives, grieving co-workers and community to one of the need for more government regulation for safety, and (who knew?), the dangers of fossil fuels. Let's forget for a moment that we Americans could save 2,000 to 3,000 lives a year by just raising the legal driving age to 18; what clout in Washington DC would that have? So whatever the hoopla or spin by the media, it isn't rooted in concern for the lives of the miners and their families and way of life in Appalachia.

Turn the page of the newspaper to the World Bank investing $3.75 billion to finance a coal fired power plant in South Africa. Notice the global spread of personal names and titles--Hitachi Power (Germany), Eskom Holdings (South Africa), the African National Congress, and S. Vijay Iyer (India) of the World Bank. This investment has the support of China, India, Brazil, and the African country members of the World Bank. Not so much the United States, which owns a lot but not enough to fight the rest.

I do love this quote by Mamatho Netsianda (who claims he answers to no white man) of Chancellor House Holdings, the investment arm of the African National Congress, which has a 25% stake in the new coal fired Hitachi Power. "I don't care who our shareholders are--whether it's God, Satan or the ANC--I'm running the company in accordance with South African law." Lucky he doesn't have a part African statist president changing all the rules as he goes along in order to by-pass both the laws of the nation and the power of the Congress at the expense of the shareholders.

Captured CO2

Last week there was a dust storm over Australia that dumped tons of red dust in the ocean. The dust contained nutrients which fed huge blooms of phytoplankton. Those tiny plants provide food for larger ocean creatures. The plankton has captured about 8 million tons of CO2. This will be deposited on the ocean floor. That's one month of emissions from a dirty coal-fired plant in China making energy conserving light bulbs for Americans so they can sit in dim rooms feeling good about themselves for not using American clean coal mined here in Ohio and other Appalachian states providing good jobs. The DC and California greenies don't like the ocean doing the natural CO2 capture and storage primarily because they can't make any money that way or tax it.

Wake up America, and smell the gas

"The first results of the survey indicate previous assessments have severely underestimated Turkmenistan's gas reserves. The BP Statistical Review of World Energy, an industry bible, sets the country's reserves at 2.67 trillion cubic meters. Analysts expect that to be upgraded in light of the information on South Yolotan.

The findings suggest Turkmenistan should be able to confidently move ahead with plans to boost its exports of gas. At the moment, it sells most of its gas to Russia -- about 50 billion cubic meters a year, which is mostly resold to Ukraine -- and a little to Iran. But it has plans to export to China and Europe too, as well as significantly boost sales to Russia. China is building a pipeline from Turkmenistan that will have the capacity to bring 30 billion cubic meters a year, and Ashgabad has also agreed to sell 10 billion cubic meters to Europe. The European Union hopes that a gas pipeline will one day be built across the Caspian Sea, which would enable direct imports of Turkmen gas, bypassing Russia." WSJ, Oct. 16, 2009

Now that the fifth largest natural gas field in the world has been found in Turkmenistan, let‘s review what Governor Palin of Alaska, which has the mother load of energy resources for the USA, told Charlie Gibson about our relationship with Putin and former Soviet republics like the Ukraine. You didn’t see this part of the interview because ABC which is in the tank for Obama was trying to make her look like a beauty queen ingénue.

GIBSON: And under the NATO treaty, wouldn’t we then have to go to war if Russia went into Georgia?

PALIN: Perhaps so. I mean, that is the agreement when you are a NATO ally, is if another country is attacked, you’re going to be expected to be called upon and help.
But NATO, I think, should include Ukraine, definitely, at this point and I think that we need to — especially with new leadership coming in on January 20, being sworn on, on either ticket, we have got to make sure that we strengthen our allies, our ties with each one of those NATO members.

We have got to make sure that that is the group that can be counted upon to defend one another in a very dangerous world today.

GIBSON: And you think it would be worth it to the United States, Georgia is worth it to the United States to go to war if Russia were to invade.

PALIN: What I think is that smaller democratic countries that are invaded by a larger power is something for us to be vigilant against. We have got to be cognizant of what the consequences are if a larger power is able to take over smaller democratic countries.

And we have got to be vigilant. We have got to show the support, in this case, for Georgia. The support that we can show is economic sanctions perhaps against Russia, if this is what it leads to.

It doesn’t have to lead to war and it doesn’t have to lead, as I said, to a Cold War, but economic sanctions, diplomatic pressure, again, counting on our allies to help us do that in this mission of keeping our eye on Russia and Putin and some of his desire to control and to control much more than smaller democratic countries.

His mission, if it is to control energy supplies, also, coming from and through Russia, that’s a dangerous position for our world to be in, if we were to allow that to happen.