House Democrats Need To Get Over Their Latent "Rebellion" And Back Nancy Pelosi!

Nancy Pelosi - The only rational choice to head the House when Dems assume majority rule next year.

Enough already about the hackneyed calls from the Right- and clueless "centrist" Democrats- to infuse "new blood" into the House leadership next year.   (Last week, 32 members of the House Democratic caucus  voted against Nancy Pelosi in a secret ballot vote. She can afford to lose no more than 17 member in the main vote in January.)

Make no mistake this revolt against Ms. Pelosi is counterproductive and will undermine Democratic House members' efforts to form a coherent plan going forward for  legislation,  as well as holding Dotard Donnie accountable for his sundry lawless actions, including treason.  What's more , the aimless babble about "new blood" is an idiotic meme that does no good, and sabotages Democratic unity when they need a strong and experienced leader to take the helm. And as journalist Mike Littwin put it: "This is no time for Dems to abandon a proven leader in Nancy Pelosi."

Littwin, in a recent piece in the COS Indy, made no bones about who he prefers and why, and I totally agree. As he noted ('Pelosi Attackers Miss The Big Picture',  Nov. 21-27, p. 7), if the midterms just held truly were the "most important in our lifetime" why in hell would you now consider dumping a person "who hardly any Democrats deny has been an effective speaker". As he adds:

"I'm puzzled, at minimum, about the timing of the rebellion."

Well, I am as well. I hate to invoke conspiracy memes, but it almost appears that the uprising against Pelosi has its roots in right wing elements who seek to provoke House Democrats into rejecting her at the final vote in January.  (See any number of recent WSJ editorials  attacking her, e.g.

The Pelosi Steamroller - WSJ

https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-pelosi-steamroller-1543453343

And what, pray tell., might be the worst outcome should that transpire? Say Nancy getting fewer than the 218 votes minimum in January?  Well, House Reep Punk extremist Kevin McCarthy - who might get all the other votes - or become de facto leader by default.  This is what "rebellious" Dems need to bear in mind when considering who ought to assume duties as House majority leader.  Given this admittedly outside outcome, as Mike Littwin writes:

"It's hard for me to think of anything more politically misguided than for Democratic centrist rebels in the House to try to kick Pelosi out now."

Note he identified these Dem mutant mutts as "centrists" in other words, idolizers of the Neoliberal state. So why wouldn't they be opposed to a hard core San Francisco liberal like Pelosi?

One of the top rebels is from Colorado, named Ed Perlmutter.  In 2016 he nominated  rebel Tim Ryan to go up against Pelosi, and as Littwin admits "that might have been a good time to change leadership". But no longer! Not after we've seen first hand two years of the Trump fanatics destroying the fabric of our government and the Reepo House majority aiding and abetting at every step.  Littwin again:

"Now is a precarious time, an almost certainly counterproductive time, a time far too important to risk the chance of failure or to toss in someone who needs to learn/grow on the job."

In other words, my friends, given the total absence of checks and balances on the Trumpites, this is not the time for a new be to take control in the House and to be put on a learning curve. No, we don't need wet behind the ears neophytes but an experienced, wily and wise leader. That is Ms. Pelosi, like her or not.

As Littwin put it (ibid.):

"The rebellious House Dems have yet to identify anyone who could do a better job taking on Trump. "

And going on to note that given this,

"The absolute worst reason to dump Pelosi id that the Republicans don't like her. I mean, the idea that Pelosi is uniquely an albatross for Democratic candidates is absurd. Yes, her approval ratings are brutally low (29 percent in a recent Gallup poll) but better than Mitch McConnell's (24 percent)"

And the more cogent point:

"If it weren't Pelosi being demonized it would be someone else. Anyone else. Demonizing Democrats, particularly Democratic women, is what Republicans have long done and what Trump specializes in."

In other words, the Repuke shtick is demonization and it's done to try to tarnish or knee cap effective women leaders. They can no longer emulate their Fuhrer Dotard in pussy grabbing so they try to do it this way.  This is why I am confident the new infusion of House Dem women will prevail on the House rebels like Perlmutter and newly elected CO member Jason Crow, to grow up - put aside childish things - and back Nancy Pelosi.

As I said, having finally come to power after some 8 years in the political wilderness  (since the Tea Party revolt  took control in 2010) this is no time for House Dems to lose their minds, their spines or direction.

Will Trump Allow Space Weather Prediction Initiatives To Proceed?

Several posts ago (July 18) I highlighted how our space weather forecasts are rendered replete with errors by virtue of changing magnetic fields. These can be localized solar region fields such as occur near sunspots (and which trigger large flares) or larger scale solar magnetic fields that interact with Earth's magnetosphere.  In any case, space weather research is motivated by the quest (and need) to understand the proximate and distal effects that solar activity has on the near Earth space environment. It also includes the effects on our electronic infrastructure.

In my June 10, 2012 post I noted that the CME (coronal mass ejection) you don't want to see is the one that smacks our planet broadside, sending power grids crashing down like so many tenpins, knocking out GPS satellites, and in general making life miserable for millions. As I noted in an earlier blog:

http://brane-space.blogspot.com/2012/01/monster-plasma-blob-headed-for-earth-is.html

 We narrowly dodged such a monster six months before that blog post was written.  Less well known is that barely five weeks later, on July 23, a solar storm manifested which had a magnitude comparable to the classic Carrington event. It narrowly missed Earth but provided an object lesson on the need to plan and monitor for such intense events.

While it is some comfort to know that flare energy (as well as that to power coronal mass ejections) is limited by the magneto-hydrodynamic potentials available on a star like the Sun, this is not really much consolation if and when a major energy burst whacks us straight on broadside with 1 million amp field-aligned induction currents that have the potential to take out all our power grids in a cascade of failures. Space weather aficionados call such maxi-catastrophes "Carrington Events" after the signature original event that transpired in September, 1859. This event incepted geo-magnetic currents so large that for days telegraph operators could actually disconnect their equipment from battery power and send messages solely via the emergent "auroral currents".

In our own current situation, we've become a more vulnerable society by constructing mammoth, interlocked  power grids which can crash if the right combination of factors is imposed. While we do have high voltage transformers that connect directly to the ground (zero or earth potential) to neutralize power surges from lightning strikes, these don't afford any protection against powerful geo-magnetic currents that are induced in the earth and flow upward into the grid. Then ...one such mammoth event, could spark calamity.

Over the last two years of the scientifically savvy Obama administration, notice was taken of these solar events and a strong impetus provided to monitor space weather and devise strategies for forecasts and dealing with impacts. In October, 2015, for example, the White House Office of Science and Technology released the National Space Weather Strategy:

http://bit.ly/space-weather-strategy


And also an accompanying action plan:

http://bit.ly/space-weather-action


Subsequently, an October 13, 2016 executive order called for space weather preparedness and efforts to minimize the extent of economic loss and human hardship from adverse space weather events such as powerful CMEs. See, e.g.:

http://bit.ly/space-weather-EO


One thing all workshop participants agreed on even then is that despite major developments in space weather modeling, the forecasting is still in its infancy. As I pointed out in my previous post on space weather, a lot of this can be attributed to inadequate data or observations by which to construct theoretical models. Let us note here that these are the gold standard for prediction, as opposed to relying on brute statistics - often using ex post facto methods.

One of the shortcomings which I noted before is the dearth of space craft between Earth and the Sun. One of the primary monitoring craft we have is confined to the L1 (Lagrangian) point i.e. where Earth's and Sun's gravities balance out. This is the Advanced Composition Explorer (ACE) satellite which can measure the intensity and magnetic orientation of any CME that sweeps by it. There is also the Deep Space Climate Observatory (DSCOVR) and the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO).

A huge current problem is that ACE is nearly on its last legs and a replacement monitor is needed, lest we become "blind" to the killer CME with our name on it.

Is the Trump bunch doing anything to repair the ACE or ensure the other craft remain in prime monitoring positions? We don't know but it appears all these programs have been left to languish along with the development of forward strategies to deal with space weather cataclysms. One thing we do know is the space budget has been cut and severely.

The biggest need currently is open access  to models in space weather research. Such models being readily accessible to the space weather community will ensure we move forward expeditiously in forecasting, testing and validating models.

On the positive side, . Ed Perlmutter (CO-7th) introduced the Space Weather Research and Forecasting Act.  The Act strengthens space weather research by directing federal agencies to develop new tools and technologies to improve forecasting and set benchmark standards to measure space weather disturbances and their potential impacts to Earth. The legislation outlines clear roles and responsibilities for the federal agencies which study and predict space weather events, including the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the National Science Foundation (NSF), the Department of Defense (DOD), and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).

Additionally, the legislation enhances the relationships between federal agencies, academic researchers and the commercial industry. The legislation also directs NOAA to develop plans to provide a back-up for the aging Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) satellite, the only currently operating satellite providing imagery of space weather that could impact Earth.

Even if by some small chance the Act passes the House, we have to hope it also passes the Senate and that Trump manages to muster enough sense to sign it. Don't hold your breath.

See also:

http://www.spaceweather.com/

How the Frackers Prevailed in Colorado

Thanks to an extended report, we now know how Gov. John Hickenlooper, his Neoliberal Dem cronies and the fracker brigade managed to prevail in Colorado. By "prevail" I mean that they managed to finagle a closed doors, or back door deal - presented as a compromise  - that resulted in Dem rep Jared Polis removing his two local fracking initiatives from the November Ballot.  As the Post put it in its report ('Hickenlooper's Deal', p. 1A, Aug. 24):

"Nearly every person interviewed by the Denver Post doubted that anyone but Hickenlooper, a former geologist who has allies in the energy community and environmental communities,  could have pulled off a compromise."

But the problem is that it's no real compromise, only a puny token sham that managed to scrap actual potential for action. According to the Denver Post report back on Aug. 8:

"A 20 - person commission was announced Monday as part of a compromise to keep two oil and gas oriented initiatives from the fall ballot."

And what, pray tell, would  we see from this commission?

"The commission will have 6 months to make recommendations to the legislature which will then consider further legislation."

Oh, terrific! Six months to make "recommendations" and then the (bought out) legislature will have its say in making new laws. All you need to know is that the two largest fracking companies - from Texas- cheered wildly at the news. Can you figure it out now? Because never mind the legislature, the 6 month span will allow the drillers to put down 5,000 more frack wells, threatening our air, soil and ground water, see e.g.

http://brane-space.blogspot.com/2014/05/now-fracking-pollutes-soil-as-well-as.html


Anyway, Hick and his compadres were propelled to act to get a deal - any deal - after learning from Brian Lawrence (who founded Yorktown Partners - a company that invests in energy) that while the firm had planned to invest $1 billion in Colorado energy companies they were unable to proceed while any fracking control items were on the ballot. Thus the impetus for Hick to come up with any kind of bogus deal he could.

The breakthrough came when U.S. Rep Ed Perlmutter organized a dinner at a downtown Denver steakhouse to discuss the ongoing fracking debate and try to come to a resolution. No members of the fracktivists were allowed to attend, only the inside pols and their lackeys. Oh ...and the oil and gas representatives.  According to the Post (p21 A, ibid.):

"To Chris Castilian, director of government affairs for Andarko Petroleum and deputy chief of staff for former Republican governor Bill Owens, the dinner was a watershed moment."

Oh, I am sure it was as the weasels - in their secluded meetings-  found concordance on how to craft a deal to screw the public out of an opportunity to vote for local control of frack operations. Now, they're at the mercy of "commissions" and an industry-driven "task force".

To make a long story short, Hickenlooper according to the Post,  "practiced shuttle diplomacy" until he got all the participants on board as well as PR firms   - to be able to sell this sham to the public. After all, following all the hoopla of the ballot initiatives you had to toss them a rag when the measures were removed. (It helped of course that the state Dept. Of Natural Resources houses the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission - which is the industry 'pet' group designed to run interference on fracktivists )

As Hickenlooper beheld the "hangman's noose", i.e. the date of Aug. 4 approaching with all the signed petitions that would enable the two local fracking control initiatives, he and his minions pushed into overdrive to secure the bogus deal. The break point came when Polis caved under the pressure and dropped all additional demands concerning the composition of the task force designated to oversee the issues via the commission set up for the compromise. The road was then free and clear to bamboozle the public. (Polis was told if he really wanted to have local fracking control he could run for a special state office.)

So we can then plausibly conclude that Polis has likely been playing us all, or at least only exploited the initiative drive to get more press for himself.. Sadly, with the initiatives pulled, it means all those 100,000+ who've signed them will likely not be tricked into doing so again  - for another sham cover by a lying politico only seeking to protect his own hide. Meanwhile, the Neoliberal Dem Governor Hickenlooper has again resorted to his usual codswallop, once describing  the push for the local control initiatives and the action by five municipalities to place bans on moratoriums for drilling as "a rebellion". Obviously showing he has no clue what a REAL one looks like, making me wish I could transport him back in time to Yorktown  or Lexington in 1777, oh,  in a Redcoat uniform.

And in his most recent Post remarks:

"There are still a bunch of critics who say we're kicking the can down the road. But if those critics had their way we would be in the middle of a ballot war right now. "

You have that one right, sonny.  And we'd have had a full throated expression of the people's will which you and your imps have now prevented by a back room deal.

Some things never change, but the people of Colorado won't forget. You can make book on it!