Free is good, of course. But I also have some gripes about how Band functions so I’m interested to see what else is out there. Thanks for the Campfire recommendation; I will check it out.

It’s nothing new. The WPA was created in the era of political machines and the Red Scare. Early on, opponents worried that Roosevelt was creating a nationwide political machine run by far-left radicals.

I expect a substantial portion of that cow pasture/range land is dry grasslands and shrub steppe out west. It’s rough terrain and not good for much else. A lot of it doesn’t even have cows on it most of the time.

I think your question needs some clarification. By “flat rate” do you mean a fixed percentage income tax on individuals, or a fixed percentage consumption tax like a universal sales tax? If it’s an income tax, do you only tax wages or do you also tax interest, dividends, and capital gains? Would any deductions be allowed? Is it only a tax on individuals’ income or do you also tax money earned by legal entities like businesses or investment trusts? If it’s sales tax, do you exempt necessities like food or medicine from the tax?

In each state you only need >50% of the votes to win all the electoral points for that state. Once you have 50% of the votes in a state, additional votes within that state are essentially worthless. In Hillary’s case her supporters were heavily clustered in a handful of states. She won California by a landslide, for example, but then went on to lose in a bunch of other states by narrow margins. If her supporters had been spread out among more states she would have easily won the overall election.

It’s like they want to inflict him on the people they’re angry at, as if he’s a weapon

This completely nails it. Trump’s lack of a filter and eagerness to pick fights makes him look like a fearless champion for his followers. He isn’t going to pull punches or compromise with anyone.

A very conservative relative of mine likened supporting Trump to hiring a sleazy but effective lawyer: his personality and methods are irrelevant; you hired him to achieve specific results and the only thing that matters is his ability to achieve those results. If it makes the opposition scream then that’s just added entertainment.

I think that’s a fair criticism. It seems very Euro-centric to me.

What’s going on in Latvia and Lithuania?

This had me scratching my head for a minute, wondering why there was so much whitespace between the Load curve and the total energy generated. I can’t imagine Germany having nightly rolling blackouts to accommodate a shortfall in generated energy. Then I realized several categories in the legend that are not shown on the chart.

Simply determining which group is the single “native” people to that area is difficult. So many groups have inhabited, controlled, and fought over the region for millennia.

I agree with Horsey. The more I read about the conflict, and the farther back I go in history, the messier it all gets. I will be amazed if someone can write up a good ELI5 on this particular topic.

The groupings in OP’s image don’t make sense to me. There is huge variation within those regions. Why is Washington lumped together with Idaho and Montana? Why is New York grouped with New England rather than standing on its own?

Link to larger version of this image.

And GDP per capita paints an even different picture. By this metric North Dakota should stand by itself:

Link to larger version of this image.

Oooo, I really like the Rejected Energy category on the infographic to account for inefficiencies.

Reminds me of a joke from engineering school rephrasing the three laws of thermodynamics:

• 1. The best you can ever do is break even.
• 2. You can’t break even.
• 3. You can’t even come close.