nuclear-news

Fanned by Santa Ana winds gusting up to 65 mph, the Thomas Fire swiftly expanded toward the Santa Barbara community of Monticeto on Saturday. The blaze rapidly grew by 8,500 acres forcing numerous evacuations and road closures, including the emptying of a zoo.

Tonight, winds are still fanning burning embers and lighting spot fires in the Monticeto area. This video shows a palm tree burning as sparks fly down a local street.

Montecito is one of Santa Barbara’s more affluent communities. But as of this report, all homes have so far been kept safe due to valiant firefighting efforts by the more than 8,000 personnel battling what has aptly been called a monster blaze. That said, night-time flare ups and spot fires continue to make this defensive effort extraordinarily…

Opinion:

¶ “Tesla vs. Tesla: The Juice In Your Car Will Increasingly Come Through HVDC, Edison’s Preferred Current” • This is partially a Thomas Edison vs Nikola Tesla story. Edison was committed to direct current, but Tesla liked alternating current. Edison did some ugly things to try to win the fight, but lost. Now the world is moving his way. [CleanTechnica]

Converter Transformers

¶ “The year is 2037. This is what happens when the hurricane hits Miami” • After the hurricane hit Miami in 2037, hotel lobby floors in Miami Beach are covered by a foot of sand. A dead manatee floats in a pool where Elvis had swum. Most damage came not from the hurricane’s 175-mile-an-hour winds, but from the twenty-foot storm surge. [The Guardian]

¶ “Canada’s Oil Capital Making Leap to Renewable Energy” • The government of Alberta, home to the world’s third-largest oil…

By DemocracyNow.org:
“Trump and the Russian Money Trail”: Trump’s Ties to Oligarchs Go Back Decades STORY JULY 20, 2017

Link: http://youtu.be/Ao1x8rG0FbA
President Trump on Wednesday said he never would have nominated Jeff Sessions to be attorney general had he known Sessions was going to recuse himself from a Justice Department investigation into alleged ties between Russia and Trump associates.

One Russia expert says the smoking gun indicating a quid pro quo between Russian money and Trump may lie with a little-known case that was abruptly settled involving a holding company linked to the Russian elite. Prevezon’s lawyer is Natalia Veselnitskaya—the same Russian woman who initiated the now-infamous meeting with Donald Trump Jr. last June. We speak with author and Russia expert Seva Gunitsky, associate professor of political science at the University of Toronto.

Transcript
This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.
AMY GOODMAN:…