In Rapanos... “Since there was no majority opinion, the argument remained unresolved.” That is not quite accurate. Because there was no majority it is what is called a plurality opinion. Kennedy won because he got the most votes and the result of Rapanos was that Kennedy’s nexus test for whether a wetland is subject…

The International Court of Criminal Justice needs to open up an environmental crimes section. Been saying that for years. Blow up some Bosnians and the Hague comes down on you. Kill everyone on the planet and ... meh. 

I have used plain old Chapstick since the 70s. Please please please do not tell me what is in that tube. I don’t want to know. 

I have used plain old Chapstick since the 70s. Please please please do not tell me what is in that tube. I don’t…

Thanks, this is a really well written explanation of hydrogen issues I was unaware of. The Saudi national oil company, Aramco, sponsored a hydrogen powered truck in the Dakar this year. Red Bull TV did a special segment on it. The truck finished the race and Aramco says it will be back next year. We can bemoan MBS’s…

Great story about Berdymukhamedov doing donuts in a rally car near the crater. Had never heard that one before and he’s done a lot of bizarre things over the years. 

I can’t imagine driving a Honda Fit more than 100 miles in any one trip. Especially on a highway. Can you even pass semis in one of those? I had a half a Honda Fit once (NC700X literally half a Fit engine on a motorcycle) and it did not like semis. 

“When the rate of return on capital exceeds the rate of growth of output and income, as it did in the nineteenth century and seems quite likely to do again in the twenty-first, capitalism automatically generates arbitrary and unsustainable inequalities that radically undermine the meritocratic values on which…

Back in the day a defendant was not allowed to claim self defense using deadly force after instigating deadly force against unarmed individuals. It’s like the cops aren’t allowed to create their own exigent circumstances to get around the 4th Amendment. Never should have been in evidence. But there it was. I saw…

Excellent recap of this messy trial. As other commenters point out this wasn’t on everyone’s radar and even when I went looking for info there was not a whole lot of coverage so this summary is great. Extra points too for pointing out the “adverse inference” standard the jury gets to apply. It’s one step short of…

This is an extremely well-written piece about a big problem in a part of the world few Westerners even think of visiting. Kyrgyzstan is breathtakingly beautiful. It also suffers from (like Kazakhstan) some really bad Russian projects aimed at increasing agricultural production. The Russians left behind a legacy of…

On The Root CFA chicken is universally mocked as “slimey.”

Last spring a very liberal friend came to town with his kid and I loaned him my Subaru because car rentals were like $250 a day. When he returned to have me drive them to the airport he cleaned out the car and dumped some Chik-fil-A garbage in my bin. I expressed my extreme displeasure and made him take it out and…

The entire idea of a 401K was designed to fuck the middle class. And it worked as they’ve pretty much been fucked out of existence. They used to have defined benefit pensions. Some even had medical benefits attached to those pensions. Reagan had the genius idea (OK it wasn’t his idea because he was no genius) that…

Would buy if Subaru put head gasket changing stations at regular intervals on the USFS roads (yes I’m still bitter AF about that Impreza). 

There’s a Netflix documentary series called “Dirty Money” which looked at the Formosa Point Comfort atrocity. Well worth watching.

Thanks. This is great advice. I did not realize how non-secure my Venmo settings were. All fixed now and sent a link to this to more than a few people.

UP of MI looking pretty good right about now. 

Maybe BuRec should let Lake Mead dry up and cause all the quagga mussels to bake to death in their shells. Then refill it. Net all the carp and ship them to Germany in a cargo plane. They love carp in Germany. 

There’s a whole neighborhood in Boise, Idaho and part of the government buildings downtown that are heated from one geothermal source. My guess is that the ID Department of Water Resources wouldn’t grant a well permit to anyone else. They don’t want more users draining the groundwater.

The Idaho voters have put some very stupid people in charge at their legislature. The legislators can’t seem to grasp the simple idea that if the populace shoots, traps and otherwise maims all the wolves the USFWS will list them again under the ESA and take away management from the Idaho Fish and Game Department.…