Texas: A Cautionary Tale

                                                                                                   written 21 February 2021

                                                                                               published 28 February 2021

                                               

 

            The crisis in Texas was created by bad governance, rooted in two big lies and a fanatic obsession.  The big lies are that government regulations are always bad and that climate change is a hoax.  The obsession prioritizes short term, lowest bidder profits over every other social value.

            The Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) formed in the 1970's to organize power within the state.  Current production is 50% natural gas, 25% wind, 14% coal, with nuclear, solar, and hydro making up the rest, for a total of about 120,000MW.  Summer heat is normally their largest electrical load, so essential down time maintenance is done during the winter, which is also a slack time for wind production.  ERCOT weather forecasters predicted the expected cold weather would require about 67,000MW and figured they would have about 80,000MW capacity available, which should have been adequate.

            Strong polar vortexes are occurring more frequently due to climate change.  The Arctic is warming much faster than the rest of the planet, destabilizing the jet stream, letting it wander more widely, bringing cold Arctic air further south.  This polar vortex was colder than anticipated, covered more area, and lasted longer.  Electric heat in Texas is generally older and less efficient, so the actual load was greater than anticipated.  

            ERCOT has kept electricity unregulated, which maximizes utility profits, encourages construction of the cheapest generation systems, and keeps the overall system size very lean, with reduced reserve capacity.  Preparing infrastructure for cold is expensive, and in the deregulated Texas market the extra cost was discouraged, so the state was vulnerable and their power systems froze.  

            The gear boxes in a third of the wind turbines locked up.  Stored piles of coal froze into useless boulders.  Gas pipelines and generators froze.  One nuclear plant went off line due to frozen instrumentation.  Consequently, only 40,000MW of generation was available to meet over 70,000MW in demand. 

            Long standing choices by Texas governance made the situation worse.  Texas has always prided itself on independence and self-reliance.  As the national electric grid became formalized in 1935, Texas decided not to join interstate connectivity in order to avoid any Federal regulations.  In other parts of the country, emergency electricity can be imported over grid interconnections, but the intentional isolation of Texas precluded that option.

            The extreme mismatch between supply and demand could have damaged the entire system, requiring months to repair, so the grid was shut down, replaced with rolling black outs, creating a cascading crisis.  After the heat failed, water systems froze, resulting in burst pipes, wide spread property damage, and the loss of overall water pressure, creating problems for hospitals and fire fighters.  Cell towers ran out of backup power, causing communications problems.  Gasoline and food supplies were curtailed, rationed, or depleted.  

            This crisis was not unexpected because a polar vortex had frozen the Texas grid in 1989, and again in 2011.  The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission did an extensive investigation in 2011, with recommendations for how to harden the grid against cold.  Power is reliably generated in cold climates, so the solutions are simple and known.  Wind turbine gear boxes and critical gas infrastructure have insulation and heaters installed.  Coal piles have antifreeze added.  Water pipes are buried deep or insulated.  Everywhere else in the nation, these would have been requirements to allow interstate commerce.  But since Texas is separate, Republican leadership just ignored the report.

            Rather than deal with reality, Texas governor Abbott declared on Fox news that this crisis was due to failure of wind turbines, which were then referred to as "liberal fashion statements".  Senator Cruz flew his family to Cancun for a break during the worst of the crisis.  One mayor told Texans freezing in their homes that "no one owned them anything".  In the unregulated Texas market, electricity prices spiked 100 fold, profiting more in two days than the normal annual total, so those Texans that were lucky enough to still have power will pay through the nose for it.  This is what Naomi Klein calls "disaster capitalism", where a few profit from the suffering of the many.

            Our changing environment requires investment in power resilience, with costs over and above the immediate needs, in order to ensure an enduring, viable society.  Real governance, at the local, state, and federal levels, understands this.

 

 

The Social Dilemma

                                                                                                   written 14 February 2021

                                                                                               published 21 February 2021

                                             

 

            Part of the sadness of our time is the deep polarization in our country, and the wild disparity in what we believe to be "true".  Our economic system is not working for many in the country, and various ideas are put forth about "who is to blame".  Conspiratorial answers run the gamut from such "proven facts" as the 1949 conviction of five corporations who cooperated to destroy electric interurban rail systems, to the current "insane delusions" of Q-anon and the Q-cumbers (mindless vegetables that end up in a pickle) who believe Trump will save us from the alien lizards who control the blood drinking pedophiles of the Democratic party.

            In between there are a lot of weird and unexplained events in the world.  I personally believe that not all the crop circles are man-made, and find it significant that on 9/11, three buildings in New York fell into their own footprint at free fall velocity, but only two had been hit by planes.

            How is a person to decide what is "real" and what is "fiction"?

            For myself, I talk and listen to people whose opinions I respect and read about an issue in different sources.  But all this external input is balance against an internal sense of what feels "true", based on previous experience and cultural programming.  Of course, this is not fool proof, by any means, but without this internal confirmation process, I could easily follow any mass hysteria.

            The power of the internet has shifted how information is delivered.  The book and newspaper industries are economically stressed, losing readership, with editorial control shrinking into smaller groups of owners.  The situation is worse online, where a few social media organizations control the information people get.  "The Social Dilemma", a recent documentary on the subject, is well worth watching and can be streamed on Netflix.

            In 2003, Harvard sophomore Mark Zuckerberg created Facemash, allowing fellow students to compare pictures of the women on campus, two at a time, determining who was "hotter".  This was so popular it crashed the campus server.  Zuckerberg launched Facebook within a year, leading to massive fame and fortune.  Facemash focused only on looks, without any regard for the deeper qualities that make up a whole human being.  This prioritization of superficiality over substance is at the core of Facebook as well, only the consequences are more damaging, because the platform now has 2.8 billion users.

             Social media such as Facebook are primarily economic enterprises making money selling ads to be displayed while you are viewing various pages.  They claim to be content neutral, and not in the business of censoring content, but like an addiction, the longer they can hold your attention, the more marketable you are to their advertisers.  Their algorithms are designed to keep track of what you have been watching, and provide you more of the same.  As people become more addicted, they are less likely to seek other information sources.  Bad actors have taken advantage of this, resulting in the virulent spread of disinformation, with great social cost.  

            Russian trolls on social media have been identified as agents affecting the last two US presidential elections and the Brexit vote.  Genocide against the Rohingya minority in Myanmar was linked to Facebook disinformation.  When Twitter banned Trump from their platform for repeatedly posting information about election fraud that had already been proven wrong, disinformation on the subject dropped by 75%.  

            This information model, with extreme focus on external input, diminishes critical thinking and internal evaluation, a form of hypnosis, contributing to the rise of delusional group thinking.  It also makes suggestive people vulnerable to group shaming, or simple lack of group acceptance.  Young people in particular show increases in depression and suicide as a result of negative social media responses.  Excessive screen time stunts development of inter-personal skills.

            However, there are serious free speech concerns about requiring social media companies to censor material.  One suggestion is to ban anonymous posting, much like full disclosure in political advertising, and require a verified identity for everyone posting online.  Further, people should treat social media like any other powerfully addictive substance, to use in measured moderation, limiting frequency and duration of indulgence, while recognizing that children are particularly vulnerable.  Another alternative is to drop out of social media completely, and start talking to our neighbors.

Whole Systems Planning

                                                                                                     written 7 February 2021

                                                                                               published 14 February 2021

                                               

 

            One of the serious limitations of traditional capitalism is the "silo effect", where each economic unit is treated as an isolated entity, to turn a profit or die on its own.  The real world is much more cooperative.

            Large corporations have addressed this to some extent by vertical integration, where several stages in a particular industry operate under one corporate umbrella.  This allows a more profitable sector of the process to subsidize an essential, but less profitable sector.  But vertical integration is relatively limited, and can create problems with anti-social monopolistic tendencies.  Furthermore, large social issues can't be addressed by this kind of business model.

            For example, after WW2, Britain had the opportunity to rebuild their entire economy, and instituted a national health system as part of the solution.  At the time, most homes were heated by burning coal, which made sense given the strong British coal industry.  However, the very high health costs from breathing the poisonous air were born entirely by individuals, who had no power to change the fundamental situation.  When the government began funding those costs, they immediately considered ways to reduce them.  Their solution was to pay for the conversion of all the heating systems from coal to something less polluting.  The resulting health care savings more than made up for the one-time upfront conversion cost, let alone that the entire population was healthier.  This is the benefit of whole systems planning.

            Several decades ago, Amory Lovins, of the Rocky Mountain Institute, calculated that America would be money ahead to retire every low mileage gas automobile, and give everyone a high mileage car for free.  This one-time expense would save the country money over the long term, as well as reducing dependence on foreign oil, and all the military expenses associated with that geo-political exposure.  Of course, this suggestion was ignored as being too socialist, and threatening to the massive profits of the oil companies.

            Recently, a similar suggestion has been made with regard to electric vehicles.  This time the issue is not the cost of foreign oil, but the crisis of climate change and the real threat of near-term human extinction.  A swift transition away from fossil fueled transportation could be accomplished by recycling every gas and diesel burning vehicle and subsidizing the replacement with a zero-carbon vehicle, either electric or hydrogen fueled.  To make it equitable across the population, the poorest would get the car for free, with the subsidy reducing as the ability to pay increased.  While large, this investment is modest compared to the total collapse of the economy, and should be evaluated.

            But whole system thinking can be applied at a local scale as well.  The Ukiah Unified School District recently installed canopy solar arrays at three of their schools outside the city limits, in PG&E territory.  This makes good sense, given the higher cost of PG&E power, which will continue increasing over time.  These arrays will provide power for decades at a fixed cost less than the current PG&E rates, making them a prudent investment.  However, there is no battery storage included in these systems, so they will be useless in a power emergency.  While the arrays are immediately cost effective, batteries costs are significant, and the school electrical systems would need to be upgraded and changed to allow for emergency operation when the grid is down.  Because the school system has to show a profit for every investment, the community is less resilient in an emergency.

            A whole system investment would apply emergency preparedness funding to augment the innovative investment the school system has already made.  With adequate battery storage, appropriate inverter electronics, and the necessary infrastructure upgrades, these schools could be important assets in an emergency.  With new efficient HVAC upgrades, which is also an asset dealing with Covid, assembly areas could operate as cooling centers, or shelters, in an emergency.  If the cafeteria was powered as well, sheltered people could be feed, and the whole community would be more resilient.

            This kind of investment is outside the limitations of competitive capitalism, but well within the ideals of socialist government, where the goal is not short-term fiscal return, but long-term social endurance.  We already experience the world changing very rapidly, and building resilient systems, before they are needed, is becoming more important each year.  

 

 

 

The Illusion Of Secrecy

                                                                                                     written 31 January 2021

                                                                                                 published 7 February 2021

                                                                                                

 

            As I have said many times before, the core dysfunction of our time is believing the illusion of separation in the face of unity reality.  One of the manifestations of this illusion in the conceptual realm is the notion of a secret: "something that is kept or meant to be kept unknown or unseen by others".  

            The Newtonian perspective of matter incorporated the flawed prevailing cultural perspective of separation, but it was superseded a century ago by the quantum perspective, which understands the world as fundamentally connected by wave resonance.  While unity reality has always been known by some mystics and indigenous peoples, the widespread social manifestation of that connectivity has become more obvious in the last few decades, with the rise of electronic communication founded on the physics of quantum mechanics.

            The first smartphone, defined as both computer and cell phone, was introduced 25 years ago, and Apple produced the first iPhone only 14 years ago.  Now 1/2 the planet has smartphones and an additional 1/5 have cell phones.  With such informational interconnection, enduring secrecy is increasingly fleeting.

            At the mundane level, Wikileaks showed that the National Security Agency, and all the other three letter agencies, may know everything we communicate on electronic medium.  All the social media platforms keep track of what you are looking at every second so they can make money selling ads.  The 11 virtual assistants, like Google's Now, Amazon's Alexa, or Apple's Siri, are always listening.  The cell phone system keeps track of, and records, the general location of every active cell phone, in order to quickly direct the signal to the proper phone.  Any project that includes more than three people is likely to leak information eventually.  The news is full of hackers breaking into "secure" systems.  This can be motivated by legitimate law enforcement, criminal personal profit, foreign national security interests, or to effect social transformation by the public disclosure of damaging, previously secret, information.

            At the more esoteric level, consciousness and awareness have been shown to be "non-local", operating outside the space/time limitations.  Remote viewing has been demonstrated in people, animals, and even plants.  Reincarnation is believed by a significant portion of the planet, including a quarter of Christians.  Australian aboriginal "dreamtime" is an accessible record of a continuum of past, present, and future, which has allowed them to live in a difficult environment for over 65,000 years.  For those who believe, Santa Claus knows if you have been good or bad, and God knows every thought, emotion, word, or action.  

            A recent example of the failed illusion of secrecy in our digitally connected age is the story of Parler.   According to Wikipedia, this self-proclaimed "free speech" social networking service launched in August 2018, quickly developing a user base of Donald Trump supporters, conservatives, and the far right, posting extremist content, antisemitism, misogyny, and conspiracy theories such as QAnon.  After reports that Parler was used to coordinate the 2021 storming of the U.S. Capitol, the site was taken offline on January 10, 2021, when Amazon Web Services canceled its hosting services.  The website's poor security allowed an outside researcher to download roughly 80 terabytes of Parler posts, including more than 1 million videos, including GPS location data, just before Parler went offline.  These people never expected that their secret plotting would be made public, but the data dump was posted online to be used as evidence against those who took part in the insurrection.

            The participants further aided law enforcement by posting their seditious actions on social media, which have already been used as evidence in bringing charges.  One site scoured all the posts, and pulled out and posted 6000 different faces, asking for public help in identifying them all.  

            It is a radical step to abandon the illusion of secrecy.  Secrecy is an attempt to avoid responsibility for, or the consequences of, our actions.  The alternative demands complete responsibility, living our lives committed to the integrity of everything we think, say, and do.  Considering the consequences of our actions, we then choose to move ahead with our choices, willingly accepting the results.  This can lead to increased morality, as spiritual teachers have pointed out for millennium, because recognizing the illusion of secrecy comes from recognizing the unity of reality.  This is the essential understanding behind the Golden Rule.

 

 

 

Imagining A New Energy Future

                                                                                                     written 24 January 2021

                                                                                                 published 31 January 2021

                                               

 

            My favorite Mendocino county beer is Anderson Valley Brewing Company's Boont amber.  They advertise as a "solar powered brewery", currently producing 40 percent of their electricity from the sun, and recently announced plans to expand to 100 percent.  The woman running the taproom said the contracts have been signed, the staff had been briefed on the new construction, and the system will include battery storage. 

            Their current solar system is probably grid tied, allowing excess production to be sold back to PG&E, while buying power when needed.  Over the last few decades, such net-metering has boosted the installation of solar arrays by using the grid to deal with renewable power intermittency.  About 20 percent of the electricity generated within California is currently produced by wind or sun, a percentage that is increasing rapidly as costs plummet due to increased efficiencies in the hardware and mass production.  Over the last decade, solar prices dropped 90 percent and wind dropped 70 percent, each now producing power at $40/MWh, making them the most cost-effective sources of new generation.  

            As renewable production grows, the mismatch between when power is produced, and when it is needed, is driving a boom in grid scale energy storage, primarily batteries at the moment.  There are three scales of mismatch to address: daily, seasonal, and year to year.  Batteries are great for addressing the daily day/night cycle, allowing rapid shift from charge to discharge, with a relatively small energy cost for the exchange.  Battery costs have been dropping faster than solar costs, and larger battery storage systems are being constructed every month, threatening to economically replace natural gas "peaker" plants for handling short term load changes.  But the seasonal winter/summer mismatch, and year to year changes, can't be handled with batteries.  This requires storing energy in a fundamentally different form, and the current best candidate is hydrogen.

            All combustion fuels, including carbohydrates in the bodies of humans and animals, firewood, coal, oil, and natural gas, have stored energy as hydrogen in chemical compounds.  The oxidation of hydrogen releases the stored energy into forms that can be utilized by living and social systems.  Oxidizing pure hydrogen releases only energy and water.  Oxidizing anything else produces additional carbon compound residues, which is why fossil fuel combustion is a climate problem.  Because hydrogen is so reactive, there is no free hydrogen, and it must be stripped out of a compound and stored.

            95 percent of the hydrogen produced today is generated from fossil fuels, which still creates the problematic carbon residues.  Hydrogen can be stripped from water using electricity, and if the electricity is from a renewable source, it is called green hydrogen, as it leaves no carbon residue.  The hydrogen must be compressed, or cooled, for efficient long-term storage, and all these steps require equipment and energy, reducing the overall efficiency of the energy stored.

            As humanity begins to deal with the reality of climate change, green hydrogen production and storage is becoming the next "new thing".  Trillions have already been committed in Europe, Japan, and Australia, which will dramatically reduce the cost of this hardware.  As with all renewable systems, the hardware is a scalable fixed cost, and the energy is free

            Now imagine if Anderson Valley Brewing Company wanted to become completely energy sufficient.  The solar array and battery storage must be large enough to handle their electrical needs in the winter minimum, so the summer excess could be converted to hydrogen.  This could be used for all their space heating needs throughout the year, as normal combustion appliances can be converted to burn hydrogen.  It would also supply all their brewing production heating needs.  Electricity needs beyond the array and battery system could be generated using a fuel cell or a hydrogen fueled gas turbine, or the brewery could remain connected to the grid.

            Mercedes, Nissan, Hyundai, Toyota, and Nikola, are all working on producing hydrogen fuel cell cars and trucks.  UPS and FedEx expect to shift to hydrogen.  The state of California is subsidizing hydrogen fueling stations.  Having electrical charging and hydrogen fueling available at the brewery would be an economic draw, not only for the brewery, but the entire Anderson valley.  Hydrogen production could use cheaper off-peak grid power, helping the overall economics of the grid.

            What a wonderful world this could be!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Conspiracy Theories Kill Us

                                                                                                     written 17 January 2021

                                                                                                 published 24 January 2021

                                              

 

            By the time you read this, we will know if domestic terrorists have succeeded in decapitating the government, ending the American democratic republic.  I expect they failed, and Biden was inaugurated, because most Americans still respect the rule of law.  But we are a divided nation, riven by rampant conspiracy theories. 

            From Wikipedia: "A conspiracy theory is an explanation for an event that invokes sinister groups, despite more probable explanations.  Conspiracy theories resist falsification because evidence against, and an absence of evidence for, are re-interpreted as evidence of truth, thus, the conspiracy becomes a matter of faith."  

            "Historically, conspiracy theories are linked to prejudice, witch hunts, wars, and terrorist attacks.  Conspiracy theories are obstacles to public health, and have been linked to outbreaks of preventable diseases, reduced trust in scientific evidence, and radicalization of extremist groups, with negative consequences for the economy. "

            " Conspiracy theories have become commonplace in mass media of the early 21st century.  Maintaining an open society and improving the analytical thinking skills of the general public reduce the occurrence of conspiracy beliefs."

            One common element of a person caught up in a conspiracy theory is the feeling of being excluded: that "they" are out to get "me".  Consequently, the more isolated a person is, the more likely they are to be drawn toward conspiracy groups.  But life and reality are inherently inclusive, so conspiracy groups perpetuate a false separation, leading to corrosion of society.

            Trump's most recent big lie, that the election was a fraud, is rooted in the belief that only white votes are valid.  This racist trope, left over from the Civil War, explains the Confederate flags during the terrorist Capitol invasion. While this continues to threaten our democratic institutions, only a few people have died so far.  

            Trump's previous big lie, that Covid-19 is a hoax, rooted in the belief that we aren't all human, has now killed over 400,000 Americans, and reduced American lifespan by one year, mostly in white rural areas.  America has over 24 million cases, more than any other country, yet Republicans still treat Covid-19 as a partisan matter.  

            Since May, eighteen states have experienced per capita Covid-19 deaths more than four times the national level, fifteen of them Republican led.  Recent reports show increased cases in jurisdictions where law enforcement decided not to enforce public health rules.  

            Hospital capacity is stretched everywhere, and hospitals in the Los Angeles area are now in surge mode, rationing care.  The National Guard was called in to help deal with bodies, as mortuary facilities couldn't keep up.  Some hospitals had emergency infrastructure upgrades because their oxygen supply lines froze up due to unexpected volume.  There is still concern another surge in cases will arrive because of New Year holiday social events. 

            But wait, there's more!

            As the global pandemic endures and expands, the virus has more chances to mutate, becoming more efficient.  In the last 13 months, hundreds of minor mutations have been detected, but in December two, more infectious, mutations were reported, one in the UK and a different one in South Africa.  While the current vaccines are still effective, 70 percent of the current cases in the UK are the newer strain, almost overwhelming their health system, forcing the country into lockdown.  This strain has now been detected in the US. 

            Brazilian president Bolsonaro's denial of Covid-19 has allowed the virus to rage out of control.  In Manaus, Brazil, the infection has reached "herd immunity" levels, but cases continue to expand, overwhelming health care facilities.  Even people who have had Covid-19, and recovered, are getting sick again.  Reports now indicate another mutation with a different spike protein, which reduces the protection from previous infection or the current vaccines.  This strain is more contagious and more lethal, and could be considered a whole new disease, Covid-21, requiring a heightened global health response to isolate, test, and quarantine, to limit the spread.  The sooner everyone is vaccinated against Covid-19, the less risk of further mutations.  

            If we survive these two big lies, we might be able to deal with the third big lie, that climate change is a hoax, which is rooted in the idea that humanity is not part of the web of life.  Conspiracy theories divide us, while reality demands we work together.  The choice is ours.

 

The Whole World Is Watching

                                                                                                     written 10 January 2021

                                                                                                 published 17 January 2021

                                                                                                

 

            For as long as history has been written, humanity has struggled to evolve society from the tribal to a more inclusive system.  A healthy society nourishes all its members, or it rots from within.  America's experiment with a democratic republic still suffers from tribal exclusivity, where some count more than the rest.  This flaw manifests in capitalism as the illusions of exclusive gain and externalized costs.  The social function of government is to set boundaries on tribalism, and address the needs of the entire society, without exclusion.    

            In 1986, President Reagan claimed the nine most terrifying words in the English language are "I’m from the government, and I’m here to help.”  In the decades since, Republicans have relentlessly disparaged government, sowing public distrust, while working to underfund or eliminate essential social services.  This has created massive economic inequity and disenfranchised millions.

            Believing they could control him, Republicans embraced candidate Trump, accepting his incompetence, corruption, and disregard for the rule of law, being more focused on power than integrity.  In 2020, during the pandemic, the 614 American billionaires increased their net worth by $931B while most Americans suffered.  America leads the planet in Covid cases and deaths, due to incompetent federal leadership.

            January 6th was the culmination of Republican anti-governmental sentiment when the mob of Trump supporters, incited by his deranged, self-serving lie about a fraudulent election, invaded Congress to stop the peaceful transfer of power.  The self-proclaimed "patriots" were armed, had explosive devices, and were prepared to take hostages.  This insurrection was coordinated with actions in thirteen state capitals.

            The good news is the attempted coup failed.  The legislators and staff were unharmed by the mob.  Order was restored later that day, Congress returned to business, and Biden was confirmed as the next president.

            The bad news is that five people died, including one policeman.  Capitol security was easily overwhelmed, perhaps even complicit in the invasion.  Trump's defense department appointees delayed authorizing the Maryland National Guard to enter and restore order.  Six Republican Senators and a majority of Republican House members voted to thwart the will of the electorate.

            Keep in mind, the core of all this is the big lie that the election was stolen and that violence and opposition to the rule of law was somehow patriotic duty.  This lie ignores 60 failed legal challenges, numerous recounts, and the certification by every state governor and secretary of state, a majority Republican-controlled, affirming the election was free and fair.  Trump just got fewer votes.

            The aftermath is still unfolding.  Trump, loyal only to himself, abandoned his supporters and belatedly condemned their actions in a stilted video.  The Wall Street Journal and the National Manufacturers Association, among others, have called for Trump's resignation.  Pence and the cabinet have been requested to invoke the 25th amendment to immediately remove the president from power, but Pence has gone into hiding and some cabinet members have resigned to avoid the issue.  The House has begun presidential impeachment proceedings for sedition and insurrection, which could bar Trump from ever holding public office again.  There are calls for resignation, expulsion, or censure of legislators who participated in attempting to thwart the will of the voters.  Around the country, prosecution of members of the mob are proceeding, based on selfies, cell phone data and social media videos.

            It is understandable that Trump needs to believe in fraud, because he is too mentally damaged to admit that he lost.  He should be pitied and given psychological care in a safe environment with no responsibilities.  But the sad part is the millions of people who have swallowed the big lie, hook, line and sinker, rather than listening to their inner truth. 

            What does it mean to be an American?  Are rich, white, Christians the only people who count?  Or are we truly a land of equal opportunity, open to everyone, without regard to wealth, race, or religion?  The mob invaded Congress wrapped in flags and carrying crosses.  Republicans with integrity need to call out the autocratic faction that has flourished in their party, and excise it like a cancer.  Real Christians, who understand the Golden Rule as the essence of Christ's message, need to reclaim the integrity of their religion.  It is encouraging to see that this process has begun.