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Well, not being a lawyer, I can't say what's a secondary and what's a primary count. best, Jeff, Larry

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Hi Larry

Considering the major Trump victory, perhaps a followup essay?

Regards Jeff

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Hi Bill, What I meant to convey, which may not be the case, is that most Republicans deny the climate is changing. No one in their right economic mind would advocate ending use of fossil fuels overnight. best, Larry

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Hi Jeffrey, Please argue this with Politico and the rest of the press. I'm not misinformed. I check every number I include in everything I write. Sometimes the sources aren't as reliable as I'd like, but this one certainly is. best, Larry

https://www.politico.com/interactives/2023/trump-criminal-investigations-cases-tracker-list/

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Hi Larry, Thank you for the response. My pushback to your "91 criminal counts"is that it was hyperbolic. I certainly understand that there are many charges against Trump yet I also recognize that many are a real stretch. Of course I will respect your request for me to take it up with the rest of the press. Kind regards, Jeff

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Hi Bill, First, thanks for writing. Second, I ran to present a platform -- what economists would do to fix our problems. It's a free download book called You're Hired. You can grab it at kotlikoff.net. My guess is you'll agree with these simple solutions. Re green energy solving today's energy needs, that's not feasible. I've never suggested that. If you read this article: https://kotlikoff.net/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/The-Fast-Track-to-Carbon-Taxation-Chapter-3.pdf and the papers it cites, you'll see that the optimal transition to a full green economy is 75 years, not 7 days. So, I'm not sure you really get where I'm coming from. Let's keep talking. best, Larry

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Hits and misses on this one in my opinion. Many of these appear to be simply political in nature, I still agree with a large number of them, but many such as funding a war for Ukraine, and (depending on angle) fossil fuels seem far more up for debate.

I would love a legitimate alternative to Trump/Biden, but Trump doesn't scare me, especially in any existential way. He has and never will get my vote, but Biden won't either.

Cheaper oil and less dependence on middle eastern bad-actors is a good thing I believe, I also hope we can reduce consumption over time - but this seems far from a huge concern to me. I guess I am still hoping science will save us as time goes on. Nuclear power just doesn't seem to be able to get the proper support. I am dumbfounded that countries have shuttered such plants and that we haven't invested modern nuclear.

I'm probably the wrong person to opine on wars because I am a non-interventionist and think Israel, though justified in their actions - needs to start making deals and not remain a dependent for eternity. They are modern and capable and need to work out some kind of solution to the Palestinian mess they have been instrumental in creating or prolonging. It seems to me the Palestinians have had terrible governance for a long time and Israel has alternatively offered and denied reasonable 'deals' to them. Neither side is faultless in this. Hamas does have to go and of course Israel is justified in their retaliatory response. I don't know... I'm pretty ignorant to much of this and hear blatantly partisan accounts from both/all sides. Difficult to make your mind up without committing to independent research, for which I have neither the inclination or time. I can't trust news outlets to present information that is measured. Even the NYT is often painfully biased and click-baity with their offerings in my opinion.

Anyway - I wish we could twinkle our noses and disappear Trump and Biden and the majority of the rest into retirement, but sadly we can't.

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You should read another, much better Substack contributor who gets it. My bet is that he has a much bigger subscription base because he is not a biased progressive with a chip on his shoulder that his run for president did not get off the one yard line. His site deals with facts and stats and not just nutty bullet points and fantasy ideas about green energy solving todays needs. Try reading Doomberg or listening to the "green chicken" at every opportunity. Time well spent vs. Economics Matters.

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Larry, I would love to know more about your back up to the statement "most Republicans deny the climate is changing". I think everyone, Democrat or Republican agrees that climate is and always has been changing. They just disagree on cause. As someone who lives on the east coast, you may have had the opportunity to visit the Finger Lakes in upstate New York (near the Cornell campus). If so, you saw the deep lakes originally created when the area was glaciated thousands of years ago, then the glaciers melted (climate change), also thousands of years ago. I think we can all agree that there were no co2 emissions created by people, cows or fossil fuel powered cars back then but hey, climate changed. Lots more example of that including the recently reported discovery of seashells on Mt Everest. Climate will continue to change and it will be convenient but disingenuous to blame Republicans.

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Thank you Larry, and yes I misread your # 19 point "Almost three-fifths of Republicans favor more use of fossil fuels" as something that you considered as negative. Thanks for clarifying that you think its a huge positive to sustain our way of life for now. You obviously understand that fossil fuels are our future for years to come, at least until we rally behind the cleanest and most reliable energy source currently known to man which is nuclear energy. Your digs on Trump don't bother me at all but keep in mind that the next President will likely nominate two lifetime Supreme Court justices and Biden has a poor record on that front.

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Can it be possible that three fifths of the US population doesn't know who our country fought in WWII?

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AMEN, Larry. I do wonder at what point nothing will shock or surprise us. All of it makes me crazy and angry. I dream about moving away to an island but am not delusional so will tough it out as most of us have little choice…..but it’s a helluva way to spend one’s last quarter on the earth, worrying about it and wishing we would do better again as a country. Let’s hope there are more of us than them and good smart people will prevail.

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Your first point "91 criminal counts" is simply not true by a longshot.

Criminal charges:

Georgia election interference: 13 charges, including racketeering and solicitation to commit election fraud.

Classified documents: 4 charges involving alleged mishandling of classified documents.

How could you be so misinformed?

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NY state felony charges: 34

Classified documents federal: 40

DC federal: 4

Georgia state: 13

Total: 91

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It's pretty much a done deal now. The special counsel recommends that all federal charges be dropped. Finally, the Democrat "Lawfare" foolishness is getting what it deserves, nothing.

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Trump

WINS .......Guess charges will go away.

Glorious USA....

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