(C) Daily Kos
This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered.
 . . . . . . . . . .



Overnight News Digest for Dec 20 (Solstice Eve edition) [1]

['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.']

Date: 2023-12-20  

Welcome to the Overnight News Digest with a crew consisting of founder Magnifico, regular editors side pocket, maggiejean, Chitown Kev, eeff, Magnifico, annetteboardman, Besame, jck, and JeremyBloom. Alumni editors include (but not limited to) Interceptor 7, Man Oh Man, wader, Neon Vincent, palantir, Patriot Daily News Clearinghouse (RIP), ek hornbeck (RIP), rfall, ScottyUrb, Doctor RJ, BentLiberal, Oke (RIP) and jlms qkw.

OND is a regular community feature on Daily Kos, consisting of news stories from around the world, sometimes coupled with a daily theme, original research or commentary. Editors of OND impart their own presentation styles and content choices, typically publishing each day near 12:00 AM Eastern Time.

x Beautiful sunsets on the approach to the Winter Solstice. ☀️



📷: John Rogers pic.twitter.com/VK9K0kmmSi — Stonehenge (@EH_Stonehenge) December 19, 2023

According to NASA, the precise timing of the winter solstice this year will occur at 9:27 p.m. on Dec. 21, making that the shortest day of the year in terms of total daylight. "In the lead-up to the Winter Solstice, the days become shorter and shorter," a blog from Space.com reads. "Then on the evening of the solstice, winter begins," a blog from Space.com said. As the first day of winter approaches, here's what to know. ... The earliest sunset of the year actually occurred earlier this month in the city of Chicago, just after 4:19 p.m. In fact, on Dec. 15, the sun will actually set at 4:20 p.m., showing that sunset is actually starting to grow later a week before the solstice. The days, however, are still becoming shorter, and that’s because the sunrise is occurring later and later, and will continue to do so until early January, when the sunrise will occur at approximately 7:18 a.m.

x Timelapse of Milky Way reflecting over water



📹kidnamedtervelpic.twitter.com/Lv72Yhxsw1 — Science girl (@gunsnrosesgirl3) December 19, 2023

A volcano in southern Iceland, near Grindavik, began erupting in spectacular fashion Monday night following weeks of warning signs, including thousands of earthquakes. Iceland's Meteorological Office said the eruption opened an approximately 2.5-mile-long fissure and created lava fountains up to 98 feet high. x Stunning drone footage of the eruption in Iceland filmed by the very talented Bjorn Steinbekk 😍 pic.twitter.com/CjgZ9ebPSe — Volcaholic 🌋 (@volcaholic1) December 19, 2023 Last month, the 3,400 residents of the fishing village of Grindavík, the town nearest the volcano on Iceland's Reykjanes Peninsula, were evacuated in anticipation of the pending eruption. x Wowww!! Drone footage of the eruption in Iceland from https://t.co/XDkdhpVonj.



Stunning!!! https://t.co/AyYb2SJTUq pic.twitter.com/zk8NliXJfp — Volcaholic 🌋 (@volcaholic1) December 19, 2023 The meteorological office reported Tuesday that the southernmost point of the erupting volcano was about 1.86 miles from the town, and that the eruption's intensity was weakening. The lava also appeared to be flowing away from Grindavík. x Spectacular drone footage flying over lava fields and an erupting volcano in Iceland by Bjorn Steinbekk.#Iceland #icelandvolcano #IcelandEruption pic.twitter.com/TOJkkSSBel — Iyarkai (@iyarkai_earth) December 19, 2023

x How big is Africa, in reality. pic.twitter.com/TGLCOzMosP — Massimo (@Rainmaker1973) December 19, 2023

...The rapid phase-out of coal and the shift to renewables and battery storage are forcing another reckoning with the bulk power grid and the challenge of building transmission lines. This time around, President Joe Biden’s goal of zeroing out carbon pollution, and now serious electric reliability concerns tied to the threats of extreme weather, are every bit the driver as the growing economy. As a result, that push to green the grid is stirring opposition and legal threats from a coalition of Republican attorneys general and political operatives, many with ties to Donald Trump’s campaign for president. x The political problem with clean energy is that it's cheap. It presents an unwinnable competitive threat to those who depend on expensive energy. Building transmission makes markets more competitive... and that's become partisan. https://t.co/d4cmOXEurb — Sean Casten (@SeanCasten) December 19, 2023 The atmosphere has injected raw political tactics into an ongoing rulemaking at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission meant to put longer-term grid planning into practice — with the potential for a more deliberate transmission build-out to deliver wind and solar power to major metropolitan areas. Republican state attorneys general — led by Texas’ Ken Paxton and Utah’s Sean Reyes — are gearing up to challenge in court the FERC transmission planning proposal once it’s finalized. They’ve argued that the plan would force red states to pay for transmission lines that would solely benefit climate-conscious blue states. Others rallying against the FERC rule and other transmission initiatives include outgoing FERC Commissioner James Danly and former Commissioner Bernard McNamee — two Trump appointees who have become increasingly influential on energy policy in conservative circles, political analysts said.

x Truly catastrophic floods all over the world



This is scary and it’s caused by Climate Change. pic.twitter.com/M1LO9C2zM9 — Sophia Kianni (@SophiaKianni) December 20, 2023

What's the definition of insanity again? Edmunds.com is among the few automotive publications that actually buys its longterm test vehicles (Autoblog is not among them), which gives them a greater selection of vehicles from which to test (not all car companies give out year-long loans). That includes many new-to-the-market electric vehicles, including multiple Teslas, Lucid Air and the original Chevy Bolt EV, that they have been among the first to own as well as test. It has historically not gone well. I worked there when the original Tesla Model S passed through the longterm garage — it had by far the most problems of any longterm car to that point. Subsequent Teslas as well as the Air were rife with problems, too. The Bolt was hardly trouble-free, albeit to a lesser extent. One could therefore deduce, albeit from this small sample size, that being among the earliest adopters of a new EV model isn't the wisest move. Nevertheless, Edmunds is among the first owners of a 2024 Chevrolet Blazer EV, and it is not going well. You can find the full post here, Our Chevy Blazer EV has 23 problems after only 2 months, but the headline does a pretty bang-up job of summarizing the unfortunate situation. In short, the car erupted with error messages during a drive from Los Angeles to San Diego. When they took it to a dealer, they received "the single longest list of major faults we at Edmunds have ever seen on a new car." Edmunds includes the entirety of its list in its post along with a full rundown of what happened. In the original version of this post, I wrote that "one hopes this is a rare occurrence," but shortly after publishing I received an e-mail from a person who stated they've been having similar issues with their recently purchased Blazer EV. He said he's talked with other owners who have reported other issues.

x ICYM Team @CarbonBrief did a post-#COP28 webinar on Friday and you can watch the recording here:



(We also tried to answer as many of your questions as we could during the session – see the Qs and As here)https://t.co/dcBsLhVhyo — Simon Evans (@DrSimEvans) December 19, 2023

I don’t know if you’ve been following the state of the New Jersey Senate race, but it looks like the Democratic establishment may be pulling out all the stops to elect the next Krysten Sinema — Tammy Murphy is a former Republican (but now she’s married to the Democratic Governor)

...Tammy Murphy wants to be New Jersey’s first woman to reach the U. S. Senate, and having never held office, she’s presenting herself as the leader of a successful fight to combat our state’s “shameful” maternal death rate and narrow the racial gap that is cursing the Black community today. Here’s the problem: Neither claim is true. We are making slow progress in some areas, and none in others, still lagging behind neighboring states and the nation as a whole on maternal mortality. As for the racial gap, it is as profound as ever. ...All of which leaves us with the final question: How does this work qualify Tammy Murphy for the Senate? She won’t discuss that. And the answer, in our view, is that it doesn’t come close. Voters have very little to latch onto when assessing this campaign, given that Tammy Murphy has no voting record to scrutinize. She was a Republican for most of her adult life, switching parties at age 49 when her husband began soliciting Democratic support for his 2017 campaign. She wouldn’t discuss that either. What we are witnessing now is a power play by the governor and Democratic bosses, who are rushing to endorse Tammy Murphy despite her obvious shortcomings because she is the wife of the governor, a man with important leverage over them. Two county chairmen, in Essex and Middlesex, are lobbyists with business before the governor. Others are lawyers with state business. In Bergen, chairman Paul Juliano got a job from Murphy running the NJ Sports and Exposition Authority with a salary of $280,000….

x I want to emphasize what a massive political victory each of these five wolves represents.



This rewilding referendum is a powerful expression of democratic sovereignty and a direct blow to the ranching industry’s mission to privatize public land. https://t.co/vRzffBfhKM — spencer 🦈 (@Unpop_Science) December 19, 2023

Years of renewables development set Portugal up for stunning success this fall when the country met all of its electricity needs with renewable sources for six days straight. For five of those days, no fossil fuels had to be burned at conventional power plants to keep the grid humming along. I recently joined the Weather Channel’s climate-change-focused show Pattrn to talk about Portugal’s clean energy success with hosts Jordan Steele and Stephanie Abrams. A stormy, gusty weather pattern in late October and early November boosted wind power and helped supercharge renewable energy production for Portugal’s 10 million people, but the country’s renewable record is also a sign of things to come. Here are the five lessons that Portugal’s clean streak teaches us about the broader energy transition. x YouTube Video The grid can handle 100 % renewables At the most basic level, Portugal showed that it’s possible to ramp down fossil fuel generation, operate for days on end with just renewables and then ramp the fossil plants back up when they’re needed again. For a tempestuous moment this fall, those transitions proved seamless, and the lights stayed on, which is vital to maintaining confidence in the shift to carbon-free energy. We learned that this grid, at least, can physically handle 100% renewable operations.

x Coachella Valley floor got 1-2 inches more rain during Hilary compared to the Borrego Valley (we are one valley south) of Coachella. Resulting in a much bigger display of purple verbena & desert sunflowers. This dune wildflower scene from yesterday afternoon (Photo: Sicco Rood). pic.twitter.com/PgxO1SPOxH — Anza-Borrego DRC (@AnzaBResearch) December 20, 2023

...By now, anyone looking out the window can see flowers blooming earlier and lakes freezing later. Why, after all this time, do 15 percent of Americans fall for the lie that global warming isn’t happening? And is there anything that can be done to bring them around to reality? New research suggests that understanding why fake news is compelling to people can tell us something about how to defend ourselves against it. x On Grist, @katemyoder asks why, in the year of our lord 2023, with climate impacts visibly crashing down around us, people still fall for the #climatescam stuff. Unsurprisingly I have a lot to say on the matter but here I'd just share one thought.https://t.co/U7QQEZs7Xb — David Roberts (@drvolts) December 19, 2023 People buy into bad information for different reasons, said Andy Norman, an author and philosopher who co-founded the Mental Immunity Project, which aims to protect people from manipulative information. Due to quirks of psychology, people can end up overlooking inconvenient facts when confronted with arguments that support their beliefs. “The more you rely on useful beliefs at the expense of true beliefs, the more unhinged your thinking becomes,” Norman said. Another reason people are drawn to conspiracies is that they feel like they’re in on a big, world-transforming secret: Flat Earthers think they’re seeing past the illusions that the vast majority don’t. The annual U.N. climate summits often coincide with a surge in misleading information on social media. As COP28 ramped up in late November, conspiracy theories circulated claiming that governments were trying to cause food shortages by seizing land from farmers, supposedly using climate change as an excuse. Spreading lies about global warming like these can further social divisions and undermine public and political support for action to reduce emissions, according to the Climate Action Against Disinformation report. It can also lead to harassment: Some 73 percent of climate scientists who regularly appear in the media have experienced online abuse. x In short: there's nothing to explain here. Believing in the facts of climate change is uncomfortable for lots of people -- it puts them at odds with their tribes, throws their other beliefs & narratives into doubt -- so they don't. The quantity of evidence is immaterial. — David Roberts (@drvolts) December 19, 2023

In late August, Republican presidential hopeful Vivek Ramaswamy took a break from his typical campaign events to make a pit stop at an unusual venue for mainstream Republicans: The Richard Nixon Presidential Library. Speaking before a packed house, Ramaswamy was slated to deliver a speech on foreign policy. But his opening remarks served the more provocative purpose of challenging Nixon’s much-maligned status in the annals of conservative history. “He is by and away the most underappreciated president of our modern history in this country — probably in all of American history,” said Ramaswamy, without a hint of irony. Ramaswamy’s homage to America’s most disgraced ex-president perplexed some liberal commentators , for whom Nixon remains the ultimate symbol of conservative criminality. But Ramaswamy is far from alone in rethinking Nixon’s divisive legacy. Among a small but influential group of young conservative activists and intellectuals, “Tricky Dick” is making a quiet — but notable — comeback. Long condemned by both Democrats and Republicans as the “ crook ” that he infamously swore not to be, Nixon is reemerging in some conservative circles as a paragon of populist power, a noble warrior who was unjustly consigned to the black list of American history. Across the right-of-center media sphere, examples of Nixonmania abound. Online, popular conservative activists are studying the history of Nixon’s presidency as a “ blueprint for counter-revolution ” in the 21st century. In the pages of small conservative magazines, readers can meet the “ New Nixonian s” who are studying up on Nixon’s foreign policy prowess. On TikTok, users can scroll through meme-ified homages to Nixon. And in the weirdest (and most irony laden) corners of the internet, Nixon stans are even swooning over the former president’s swarthy good looks .

For this year’s holiday book list, a tradition that began in 2016, we reviewed the bookshelves, interviews, and reviews Yale Climate Connections published in 2023 while keeping a watchful eye on new releases. The result? A mix of brand new and recent titles, five of which have now appeared on “best books of 2023” lists put out by magazines, newspapers, and radio and TV networks. This year’s holiday list begins with two overviews of Earth’s 4-billion-year climatic history: Michael Mann’s “Our Fragile Moment” and Stephen Porder’s “Elemental.” (Michael Mann was the subject of a YCC interview published Sept. 16, and “The Fragile Moment” was awarded “best of” status by The Financial Times and Scientific American.) The focus then narrows to topical titles on biodiversity, infrastructure, and urban sustainability before turning to climate solutions in general and dietary solutions in particular. x Thanks @AlleghenyFront for featuring #OurFragileMoment in "12 climate change books to give friends and family over the holidays" https://t.co/yKDqVn3ZAO — Prof Michael E. Mann (@MichaelEMann) December 19, 2023

Are you making your lists? Have you checked them twice? Who gets a Michael Mann book, and who gets a lump of coal? Tell us all about it in the comments!

[END]
---
[1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/12/20/2212846/-Overnight-News-Digest-for-Dec-20-Solstice-Eve-edition?pm_campaign=front_page&pm_source=trending&pm_medium=web

Published and (C) by Daily Kos
Content appears here under this condition or license: Site content may be used for any purpose without permission unless otherwise specified.

via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds:
gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/dailykos/