Europe’s forced transition away from Russian gas and oil has led to inflation, civil discontent and…a possible effective, real-world use for crypto mining, data centers, social media sites and so on. As The Wall Street Journal reports, all that online activity not only consumes a lot of energy, it also produces a huge amount of heat as the computers try to keep pace with our doom scrolling. And that heat may finally be put to good use: In the past year, Amazon.com Inc., Apple Inc. and Microsoft Corp. have started connecting, or announced plans to connect, major data centers to…
Author: Norman Leahy
Norman Leahy
Norman Leahy has written about national and Virginia politics for more than 30 years with outlets ranging from The Washington Post to BearingDrift.com. A consulting writer, editor, recovering think tank executive and campaign operative, Norman lives in Virginia.
We’re all familiar with the various flavors of political corruption that sometimes make headlines in local, state and federal government. Outright corruption – taking bribes, for example, is relatively rare (and far less common today than in the early days of the Republic). But what about softer forms of corruption – the sort that don’t cross bright legal lines but raise enormous ethical questions? The U.S. Supreme Court finds itself with just such a problem right now. The issue is the Supreme Court Historical Society – a nonprofit that helps preserve court history and educate the public on the court’s…
Life is full of natural pairings. Peas and carrots, for example. Wine and chocolate. Baseball and hotdogs. And that most natural pairing of them all: politicians and moral panics. One of the current moral panics sweeping the political world is the fear of the social media app TikTok. A slew of (mostly Republican governors have banned the app from state-owned phones and other hardware. President Joe Biden, whose political career has thrived on moral panics (to the detriment of millions of people) is on board with the TikTok crusade, too. Buried inside the massive year-end spending bill was a TikTok…
Back in August, official Washington was patting itself on the back for the bipartisan unity it showed in approving a massive industrial policy bill aimed at subsidizing the domestic manufacture of semiconductors. The reason? An acute shortage of chips helped spur inflation, and foreign manufacturers were considered increasingly unreliable given the rise of aggressive autocrats plus COVID-snarled supply chains. At a signing ceremony for the bill, President Joe Biden said: “Today is a day for builders. Today, America is delivering,” Biden said just before signing the legislation in a White House ceremony. “I honest to God believe that 50, 75,…
News reports about government failures are as old as the Republic. But few demonstrate the level of incompetence – bordering on malice – as does a recent investigative piece from The Washington Post on the Social Security Administration. The issue: the SSA routinely denies disability claims because it insists there’s plenty of alternative work available for claimants. Based upon a tome called the Dictionary of Occupational Titles. Which was last updated during the Carter administration: The vast majority of the 12,700 entries were last updated in 1977. The Department of Labor, which originally compiled the index, abandoned it 31 years…
Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky’s pre-Christmas address to a joint session of Congress was a powerful reminder of just how high the stakes are in that nation’s fight against Russia’s invasion. Zelensky was clear: The struggle will define what world our children will live [in],” Zelensky continued. “This battle cannot be frozen or postponed, or ignored, hoping the ocean or something else will provide protection. The world is too interconnected and interdependent to allow someone to stay aside and at the same time feel safe when such a battle continues. Our nations are allies in this battle.” Which made it all…
Nature has a way of putting things into their proper perspective. That’s particularly true when we look up into the night sky. We’re looking back across time at bodies of gigantic proportions. They shined down on earth when the dinosaurs ruled, and most will still be there when humanity has gone the way of the Dodo. Or perhaps our end, long into the future, will be a bit more…crispy. As the Courthouse News Service’s Madalyn Wright reports, scientists have published observational data of a giant plant currently spiraling into its star…and a fiery demise.” Similar to Earth’s ocean, tides are…
For anyone who has searched for new health insurance during the recent open enrollment period, one thing stands out: prices are going up, even for those who don’t use a lot of health care or have bare-bones plans. There are any number of reasons/excuses for such price hikes. But the biggest factor is delivering health care just keeps getting more expensive. Okay, sure. But that’s not the only cost driver. One highly unsavory reason for higher costs? Hospitals – many of them nonprofits – looking to squeeze every penny they can out of patients and personnel. The upshot? Fat profit…
The Christmas Eve cold snap that affected much of the country produced misery for millions, and unusual pleas from various electric utilities for customers to conserve energy in order to avoid shortages (and temporary blackouts). In its message to customers, Duke Energy, for example, said customers should: If it doesn’t interfere with health or safety, lower your thermostat. Manage water heating. Set your water heater to 120 degrees or less. Please try to limit the use of your washer, dryer and dishwasher. However, if you must use these appliances run full loads of laundry and dishes. It’s important to run…
Political news observers have no holidays, and that’s particularly true for stories about the 2024 presidential election. To date, the only declared major party candidate is former president Donald Trump, who’s running for the third time. While Trump has several advantages over any potential opponents, there’s the potential for a large field of possible challengers to emerge in 2023. The most talked-about contenders are either making subtle moves to raise their profiles or are huddling with family, friends and advisors about a possible run. At the tip of the potential Trump challengers is Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who, according to…