In the wake of Joe Manchin’s back stabbing of his fellow Democrats this week, an attempt to keep West Virginia comfortably in the Nineteenth Century, I felt the need to offer a realistic approach for the environmental cause going forward. In short, we need to move forward aggressively in the nuclear energy sector soon if we have any hope of staving off climate change.

Unfortunately like almost everything in the world of public policy, this point of view is not perfect, but is a lesser evil much in the way that Hillary was in 2016. If that didn’t rattle the cages of the ideological purists who squeamishly voted for Gary Johnson or Jill Stein, enjoy your Supreme Court Justices for the next thirty years you bunch of simpletons.

The United States currently has fifty-five nuclear power plants with an average age of around forty years old, the most recent came online in twenty-sixteen. The fact is that nuclear power can provide a clean, stable source of energy for all the time that the sun isn’t shining on solar panels or wind isn’t propelling turbines.

Nuclear is the answer to how we power all the electric vehicles in the future, and move away from the most environmentally catastrophic sources of energy like coal, oil and natural gas. All of those batteries aren’t going to charge themselves, and a well regulated nuclear industry can be the bridge to our energy future as well as lower dependence on foreign sources.

Back to the purists, nuclear energy is not risk free, but significant progress has been made. Let’s take a look at three of the most commonly cited nuclear disasters: Chernobyl, Fukushima, and Three Mile Island. The Chernobyl disaster was a result primarily of misplaced Soviet bravado, and extremely short sighted cost cutting measures in the construction and composition of the plant that compromised safety. In addition there was a near complete lack of damage mitigation structure around the reactor.

With Fukushima, simply put, Japan never should have been in the nuclear business. The risk factors of being located on a major fault line that has repeatedly experienced major earthquakes, and susceptibility to tsunamis on the coast which ultimately caused the plant to fail and melt down should have been foreseen long before construction.

Three Mile Island was not as significant of a disaster as the aforementioned, but was in the United States. Though a relief valve failed and caused a partial meltdown of the reactor core, the concrete protective structure around the core prevented a much more serious radioactive event from taking place. Better regulation and safety procedures may have prevented the event, but the worst was avoided.

Building well regulated, modern nuclear facilities in areas statistically safe from natural disasters could prove to be a palatable comprise between the fossil fuel addicted right and the green obsessed left. I would even suggest using eminent domain to build facilities in areas that fit that criteria, here’s looking at you Dakotas.

That bumper sticker, and the dozens of memes and references I’ve seen since have never ceased to make me crack a wide, devious, and undeniably smug smile. Sometime this year, when I saw the sticker actually on the back of another Prius, I realized the world had come full circle and my grin was ear to ear. Please allow me take you through my last five commutes to work:

My Commute according to Google Maps is 24.3 miles, a combination of highway and city streets, and I averaged 52.88 miles per gallon over 5 trips. I was a History major, but I thought it would be important to include some of my mathematical insights as I did finish at the top of my only math class; MATH 1180 Math For Liberal Arts (Yes, it was actually called that).

This particular tank was filled at $4.99 a gallon, and for the purposes of not straining my little snowflake brain, I’m going to call it $5.00. So this is a sizable commute, from Northwest Columbus to the East side, and with these numbers, I was paying less than $5.00 a day there and back. Can somebody, anybody, give me a, “Let’s Go Brandon?!”

In 2015, the year I bought my 2012 Prius C, the average fuel economy for new cars in the United States soared to 24.8 miles per gallon. (Citation Below) I did pay more to buy a hybrid back then than I would have paid for an average car, but let’s put that into a little 2022 perspective. I paid $12,500 for my Prius in 2015, and have been averaging around 50 miles per gallon or more combined since then.

United States Average Gas Prices By Year 2015-Present:

2015: $2.45, 2016: $2.14, 2017: $2.42, 2018: $2.72, 2019: $2.60, 2020: $2.17 2021: $3.01 2022: $4.90

Cost of My Current Commute By Year, Average 2015 Vehicle Vs. 2012 Prius C

4 in office days a week, 8 trips a week, 24.3 miles, 50 weeks a year. (8×24.3×50=9,720)

Average Car 2015, 25 MPG = 388.8 Gallons/Year:

2015: $952.56 2016: $832.03 2017: $940.89 2018: $1,057.53 2019: $1,010.88 2020: $843.69 2021: $1,170.29 2022: $1,905.12

7 Year Total: $8,712.90

Prius C 2012, 50 MPG = 194.4 Gallons/Year:

2015: $476.28 2016: $416.02 2017: $470.45 2018: $528.77 2019: $505.44 2020: $421.85 2021: $585.15 2022: $952.56

7 Year Total: $4,356.52

My decision was based on both my environmentalist beliefs and personal economics, two things that are only mutually exclusive if you are a moron, or have consistent proximity to truck nuts. In short, you can irrationally blame gas prices on Biden, but you should have gotten smart long before a 2020 decision was in your care.

Toyota has been selling the Prius in the United States since 2000, and many other auto makers have followed in the hybrid market since then. What I’m trying to say is that if you haven’t made a smarter decision on your vehicle by now, I have no sympathy for you. You don’t have to buy a Tesla to make a difference, willful ignorance however is inexcusable.

I’ll leave you with another quote to ponder, and know that it’s never too late to go green, but you might have to remove the fake testicles from your vehicle first. “God has a special providence for fools, drunkards, and the United States of America.” – Otto Von Bismarck

https://www.titlemax.com/discovery-center/planes-trains-and-automobiles/average-gas-prices-through-history/

It wasn’t my first time seeing palm trees, it wasn’t my first time west of the Mississippi, but it was my first time in the Republic of California. That Eagles lyric, ‘You can check out anytime you like, but you can never leave’ needs to be updated to; ‘If you can afford it, you will never leave.’ I can’t find another way to describe it: paradise.

Spending the better part of a week there was magical. The only regret I had was not making it two weeks. I started planning the trip wanting to play Torrey Pines Golf Course, but after a few youtube videos I realized that was totally out of my league. My best friend and I did still make the trip up to Torrey Pines and it was the most beautiful golf course I have ever seen.

Despite a water crisis the course looked great, if my handicap dramatically improves I will be taking another swing at this one. I did fulfill the golf requirement of the trip however, as the next day we headed to Mission Bay Golf Course. The course was fantastic and the weather couldn’t have been better, we played a 4 ball scramble and started out -2 on the front but ended +2.

We continued on the following day to Los Angeles, and I have to say even though we encountered a limited amount of traffic during the time we were there, I understand the nightmare. Coming from San Diego on the 5 freeway we got a great view of the skyline, and made our way to the L.A. Galaxy stadium we were looking for.

The stadium was great, and we weaseled our way into getting this photo by persistence and friendliness with the front desk staff, almost as if Ted Lasso was with us. My friend has a bucket list to visit every MLS stadium, so one more down and I collect jerseys so I got their June pride jersey. Honestly how could I escape Los Angeles in June without something colorful?

We continued on to the tourist trap of the Hollywood sign, not my first choice, but my friend is never going back to California. It was worth it since we were there, and the Hollywood sign park is definitely the place to go if you need the picture.

From the Hollywood sign we moved on to Pasadena and the Rose Bowl. I don’t know a bigger Ohio State fan than my best friend, so this was like seeing Mecca. I have no idea what will become of The Rose Bowl now that USC and UCLA will be joining the Big Ten, but seeing it even from the outside was a religious experience.

‘The Big Lebowski’ is my favorite movie, and I studied film extensively in college, so this trip to California was a long time coming. I’ve been to Europe and I knew that would be the only comparison I could make as I reside in Ohio.

California did not disappoint. If you are looking for a vacation with perfect weather and don’t have a passport, Southern California is the answer. We stayed in La Jolla, and I can’t say anything negative about it. Europe has a leg up for historical significance on almost any western destination, but Southern California is where I want my ashes spread.

After these last couple weeks I’ve come to find that the US Constitution is very similar to the bible, in that, if you want to be a hateful, vitriolic dipshit, it can be interpreted to prove whatever perverse conclusion you want. While this is nothing new, and was most notably exercised to justify slavery in this country, the christian rights’ insistence on pushing their values on others is no less infuriating.

Even though the first amendment begins with, ‘Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion’ it is very clear that the current Supreme Court will be ruling as a fundamentalist christian entity. The decision on Roe appears to be only the first target in its crosshairs, and represents a landmark decision in that it takes away rights from millions of people rather than advancing them.

With that being established now, their final day of rulings had to include an attack on the environment. All of god’s creation, something christians care so little about, really brings into question the role they see for their creator. How could you possibly think that a loving god came down and created this beautiful planet, and didn’t have any expectation of taking care of it?

The decision at the end of this July fourth freedom week is a big victory for coal, yes, that old boyfriend you never thought you’d hear from again. For the court to rule that The Environmental Protection Agency does not have to the authority to regulate industry and protect the environment is so absurd that it’s as if they are prepping for a banana republican open mic night. 

Remember when Obama said that Miami was flooding when the sun was shining? That was seven years ago, and four of those were under the rule of a president who put a former oil executive in charge of the EPA. Climate change is real, like hell apparently, and we appear to be moving closer to that temperature with every stroke of the pen from this group of Salem wanna-be jurists.

When I started speech class, essentially debate, as a required course during high school I was told by our teacher that ‘The O’Riley Factor’ presented an excellent model to emulate. I had already been regularly watching ‘The Daily Show’ for a few years and I tuned in to see what he was talking about. I have a vivid memory of him asking us, “Who runs America?” I raised my hand and said, ‘the big corporations.’

I would pay an unreasonable amount of money to have a meme of this instructors’ face as he simultaneously could not fathom the answer he had just received from an eleventh grader in the middle of nowhere Ohio and was shaking off whatever brand of whiskey was in his coffee. He responded with something to the effect of, “Well that’s true, but…” and then continued with whatever he was intending to say before he was unexpectedly interrupted.

That is Jon Stewart in a nutshell. If you were fortunate enough to have Comedy Central, you were exposed to a light in the dark. Before I knew anything about his political affiliation or my own, I knew he was funny. Even being as young as I was when I started watching, I could appreciate absurdity or irony like any other teenager, and with an open mind and loving parents that blossomed into liberalism in a wasteland of ignorance.

This was a catholic high school which brought with it all the conservatism, stupidity and circumstance you would expect. Another story from the same year, 2004, that I love to tell is how I fulfilled my four hour service requirement for our Junior religion class that quarter. Terrified, but emboldened, I volunteered for a total of four hours cold calling voters for the John Kerry campaign. If it isn’t immediately obvious how big of a middle finger this was, he was pro-choice, and our school paid for kids to go on a bus to Washington every year for the ‘right to life’ march.

My best friend and I wore Kerry/Edwards buttons around school outside of the speech teacher’s class for fear of academic consequences, and responsibly, our parents stopped us from wearing our, ‘Impeach Bush’ t-shirts to school. Jon Stewart allowed two kids that were vastly outnumbered numerically to feel a collective confidence that there was somewhere bigger and better that we could strive to be a part of.

The following year, I started the Democratic and Independent Club along with some like minded peers and a supportive, enthusiastic teacher. There were around fifteen of us in a school of three-hundred, and we met after lunch periodically to discuss politics and the news of the day. None of this would have been possible without the guiding influence of Jon Stewart.

To this day my yearning for truth and the views I seek out to row down the tumultuous river of American life are rooted from the start with Jon Stewart. Luckily others have continued in his lineage, most notably John Oliver with, ‘Last Week Tonight.’ They pay homage to his tradition of truth and comedy as The Kennedy Center honors him with the Mark Twain award for humor this month.

There aren’t a lot of public figures I would genuinely like to say, ‘thank you’ to, but Jon Stewart is one of them. His ability to inspire a generation of what O’Riley frequently called, ‘stoned slackers’ is a testament to not only his greatness but to the possibility of hope and thought as his legacy.

After arriving home from the doctor’s office today I was informed of the decision. I didn’t want to share every meme I liked because this is more important than that. After taking time to think about it again, I couldn’t help but be furious that the same right to medical privacy I had just been afforded would no longer be offered to women by the law. 

It doesn’t matter what I was there for, that’s not important, what is important is that a woman has a right to choose what she does with her own body. This is something that is between her, and her doctor, not anyone else. The right to privacy of medical decisions is tantamount to attorney-client privilege and should never be infringed upon.

To be so disingenuous as to say, ‘use birth control’ or, ‘don’t have sex if you don’t want a child’ is essentially saying: your sovereignty is not legitimate. Birth control is not 100%, and not all forms are available to all people, let me go back to the privacy part: if a woman wants to have an abortion it is none of your fucking business regardless of her reason.

I have tried to keep this free of emotion, and I hope that many states will adopt their own responsible laws on the subject to provide proper medical care for their women, but it’s hard not to. Chick Fil A stock probably rose 1000% today, you can still go there for breakfast, but remember those eggs are unborn, but very much wanted chickens. 

I just turned 35 and I was thinking about all of the negatives of getting older, and lower car insurance rates were not a benefit I would trade for youth. Upon reflection of isolation and getting Covid this week I realized that I had forgotten one of the rights I had gained. Look out America, I can run for President of the United States now!

So with that newfound opportunity, and some isolation free time, I decided to pen my platform for running in 2024. I’m a newcomer to the political scene so I have no special interests vying for my candidacy, although if you have read anything on this page you would know I will be running as a Democrat.

Son of two wonderful teachers from northwest Ohio, I am already a higher probability candidate than Biden is for re-election, so humor me at least. My platform will be based on liberal principals that I think the entire country could benefit from, not just the blue states. While I support the current president, I think it is unlikely he will be re-elected.

First, I will promote legislation for a national abortion rights bill, so that all women in the United States can be capable of planning their lives like men are. Part of this legislation will include funding for proper sexual education in schools to prevent unwanted pregnancies, preventing abortions from happening at all is a priority. It will also provide assistance to young women making a difficult, life changing health decision who cannot provide it for themselves.

Second, we will endeavor to prevent union busting practices from taking place, so that workers in this country can re-establish their sovereignty. The erosion of labor representation has caused the quality of life in this country to devolve since the years of Reagan and subsequent leaders to the point that people need to reimagine their workplace.

Third, In accordance with the Paris climate accord that we currently abide by, but can be stripped with a change in political power in Washington we will promote the conversion to green energy. The infrastructure of this country needs to be updated to support electric vehicles. Although this may not please all liberals, nuclear energy in safe areas will need to be a part of the transition to the next phase of our energy economy. When regulated, this is a far safer source of the energy that we need than fracking, and is essential to our independence from other sources.

That’s my starting point, I don’t feel that any of these proposals are unreasonable, and I think they would benefit most Americans. This is a simple proposal of ideas for my candidacy that will never happen, as I have no support as of yet. So far I have taken no contributions from anyone, but if you wanna buy me a beer, I’m your candidate.

As liberals, If we weren’t busy paving the path to hell with good intentions, then we would have idle hands, which I’m told do work for the devil. I’ve been so worn down by this circular stupidity being cast in my direction that if the devil was hiring for a project, I might take him up on his offer out of sheer trying to do something to improve things here.

Meanwhile conservatives, from their curated perch of moral superiority, pave the path to heaven with privately funded toll roads. One can’t get in if he doesn’t pay, and like all those ‘what would Jesus do?’ bumper magnets, it’s just as empty and pointless if it’s filled by the likes of you. Take your weary scratch off tickets and slither back to the deserted wastelands you crawled from.

Of course we’re not just talking about roads here, we’re talking about rights. In my lifetime one party has been about expanding them, the other has been about taking them away from everyone but straight white men, pausing only to defend an outdated musket rights amendment.

Another mass shooting happened in Buffalo last weekend, and I have no confidence any meaningful change will come about as a result. Ten more people will take that stroll up the road to St. Peter, how can he possibly judge them when the crime that caused their death in 2022 was skin color? 

As an imperfect person, what place do I have to judge anyone you might be asking? These are simply observations and criticisms of the world around me that I can talk about with a clean concience because I subscribe to the gospel of: Do no harm. The choices I make and the actions I take in my life are firmly rooted in this concept, and I think there are a lot of people who would do well to follow.

After all, this belief is rooted in the Hippocratic oath that all physicians in the modern world have agreed to abide by. I live my life to do no harm to others with my actions, and limit the consequences of the ones I can live with, like hangovers. I don’t want harm-inducing republican votes to happen, or result in any of the abhorent things they believe in, but I would never attempt to re-engineer the structure of voting to take away the rights of them to make the wrong decisions.

Maybe, they will eventually choose to leave our minds and bodies out of their agenda this time and do no harm to the rest of us, but I doubt it. If the Pennsylvania primary is any indication, we are in for high surf on the sea of stupidity again this year, with no end in sight. The next time you ask the question, ‘What would Jesus do?’ and the answer isn’t, ‘Buy a Prius’ you can drive straight to hell.

I grew up in the middle of nowhere to liberal parents and I will admit that I listened to a lot of conservative radio as a way of re-enforcing my beliefs. At my first job after college I would switch between Rush Limbaugh and American Family Radio to see who was giving the hot take of the day, this was way back in 2010 before they called it, ‘owning the libs.’

They were fronting all kinds of nonsense about Obama at the time, and despite passing the Affordable Care Act, the 2010 election cycle was a bloodbath for Democrats. The vitriol I heard on the christian radio station just 12 years ago has now become the reality, the systemic transition of the rule of the majority to the rule of the minority.

Thanks to three Supreme Court seats being filled by Donald Trump, the christian right has finally achieved its goal to overturn Roe V. Wade. So where do we start with capacity? This is a word defined as the maximum amount something can contain, as in, what is the maximum capacity a female human being in America has to make decisions about her own health care and her body.

I want to pause for a minute and place part of the blame on Democrats for not passing a national law on the topic, considering they have a nearly universal stance on choice, but let me stop there. The idea that a Woman does not have the capacity to make a choice on something as important as bringing or not bringing another life into this world is unconscionable.

Two-Thirds of the country believe abortion should be safe and legal, and this is not a state issue, this is a right like my ability to write this sentence is. Since the time I was listening to the very driven poison on conservative radio they have neglected to speak out against things that cause death in America like mass shootings. Attempts to make meaningful legislative change on the issue have often come down to capacity, as in the capacity of the magazine, as if that would have stopped Sandy Hook from happening.

If the United States government is more concerned about 36 rounds than 36 weeks, we have a major problem. Women don’t have a second amendment to cling to and rely on, so they need the rest of us. Unfortunately, we have a system of electing presidents that gives enough power to a minority of ignorant evangelicals instead of the will of the people.

I count myself lucky enough to have never been in a situation where abortion was on the table, but I don’t take that lightly, and I understand the weight of a decision that important. Several states have adopted ‘heartbeat’ legislation that prevents abortion after 6 weeks or a fetal heart beat can be detected. Mitch McConnell has three children, and there has yet to be a heartbeat detected among them.

Abortion is not an easy topic, but it is a topic that we have to talk about. This is especially true now considering we may now have a generation of unwanted pregnancies that will need care. A six week fetus cannot sustain life on its own anymore than a stack of dirty laundry, and I say this as a joke, but who knows it could be a Republican slogan in 4 years: Masturbation is Murder!

So when we are talking about capacity, the maximum allowable amount, why would we not think that women would have the capacity to make a decision about their own lives? Considering this is something white men have enjoyed since 1789 in the U.S. Constitution, what exactly does this say about the constitution?

Without a 500 person panel like Rolling Stone had to find the 100 best songs of all time, I reverted to my own canny sense of the best of what I’ve heard in my own library. Don’t consider this an all inclusive list, but trust in the fact that I don’t need twitter validation to feel this is a legitimate list.

• 1. Toto – Africa
• 2. The Rolling Stones – Gimme Shelter
• 3. U2 – Beautiful Day
• 4. The Jimi Hendrix Experience – Voodoo Child (Slight Return)
• 5. The Who – Won’t Get Fooled Again
• 6. Oasis – Live Forever
• 7. Dire Straits – Sultans of Swing
• 8. The Verve – Bittersweet Symphony
• 9. Boston – More Than a Feeling
• 10. Blue Oyster Cult – Don’t Fear the Reaper

I know your favorite song was left off the top 10, remain calm, here’s another 10.

• 11. Derek and the Dominoes – Layla
• 12. Neil Young – Heart of Gold
• 13. Foo Fighters – Everlong
• 14. Guns N’ Roses – Sweet Child O’ Mine
• 15. Eminem – Lose Yourself
• 16. Head East – Never Been Any Reason
• 17. The Eagles – Hotel California
• 18. Pink Floyd – Comfortably Numb
• 19. Train – Drops of Jupiter
• 20. The Velvet Underground – Sweet Jane

Still didn’t see it? C’mon, it will be in the next 10.

• 21. Incubus – Drive
• 22. The Guess Who – No Sugar Tonight/New Mother Nature
• 23. Third Eye Blind – How’s it Gonna Be
• 24. Bob Dylan – Shelter From the Storm
• 25. The Wallflowers – One Headlight
• 26. Led Zeppelin – Stairway to Heaven
• 27. Weezer – Say it Ain’t So
• 28. John Mayer Trio – Who Did You Think I Was?
• 29. R.E.M. – Losing My Religion
• 30. Red Hot Chili Peppers – Californication

Maybe we don’t have the same playlist:

• 31. Rod Stewart – Forever Young
• 32. The Stone Roses – Waterfall
• 33. The Rolling Stones – Can’t You Hear Me Knockin’
• 34. U2 – Where the Streets Have No Name
• 35. The White Stripes – Seven Nation Army
• 36. The Strokes – Reptillia
• 37. The Clash – Train in Vain
• 38. Coldplay – Yellow
• 39. The Cars – Just What I Needed
• 40. Cream – White Room

Top 40 under 40 say you will like the next 10.

• 41. Dr. Dre – The Next Episode
• 42. Electric Light Orchestra – Evil Woman
• 43. Elliot Smith – Son of Sam
• 44. Foo Fighters – Times Like These
• 45. Oasis – Supersonic
• 46. Beck – Where it’s at
• 47. Green Day – When I Come Around
• 48. Ice Cube – It Was a Good Day
• 49. The Black Keys – Gold On the Ceiling
• 50. Goo Goo Dolls – Iris

Halftime, and Michigan is down.

• 51. Weezer – Buddy Holly
• 52. The Hives – Hate to Say I Told You So
• 53. The Vines – Ride
• 54. Van Halen – Panama
• 55. Toto – Hold the Line
• 56. Steve Miller Band – Take the Money and Run
• 57. Incubus – Wish You Were Here
• 58. Notorious B.I.G. – Juicy
• 59. Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds – If I Had a Gun
• 60. The Marshall Tucker Band – Can’t You See

Here comes the decade of love.

• 61. Nirvana – Come As You Are
• 62. Oasis – Wonderwall
• 63. Neil Young – Ohio
• 64. Foo Fighters – Learn To Fly
• 65. Jet – Cold Hard Bitch
• 66. Beck – E-Pro
• 67. Audioslave – Cochise
• 68. The Beatles – Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds
• 69. Jimmy Eat World – Bleed American
• 70. John Mayer – Waiting On the World to Change

The final 30.

• 71. The Jimi Hendrix Experience – Purple Haze
• 72. Oasis – Champagne Supernova
• 73. Third Eye Blind – Never Let You Go
• 74. The Who – Baba O’Riley
• 75. MGMT – Time To Pretend
• 76. Muse – Hysteria
• 77. Rage Against the Machine – Sleep Now in the Fire
• 78. The Bravery – Believe
• 79. Phoenix – Armistice
• 80. The Red Hot Chili Peppers – Dani California

The hair band years.

• 81. The Rolling Stones – Jumpin’ Jack Flash
• 82. David Bowie – Heroes
• 83. The Darkness – I Believe in a Thing Called Love
• 84. Dr Dre – Still D.R.E.
• 85. Snoop Dogg – Gin’n’Juice
• 86. The Eagles – Take it Easy
• 87. Iggy Pop – The Passenger
• 88. Jimmy Eat World – The Authority Song
• 89. John Mayer – Slow Dancing in a Burning Room
• 90. Neil Young – Rockin’ in the Free World

Shit, this is a playlist on its’ own.

• 91. Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds – The Dying of the Light
• 92. Jimmy Eat World – Big Casino
• 93. Pavement – Cut Your Hair
• 94. R.E.M. – What’s the Frequency Kenneth?
• 95. Queens of the Stone Age – No One Knows
• 96. Radiohead – Street Spirit (Fade Out)
• 97. The Rolling Stones – Rough Justice
• 98. Rush – Fly By Night
• 99. The Smiths – How Soon is Now?
• 100. The Stone Roses – Love Spreads