GREEN TRUMPS RED:

Giant batteries are transforming the way the US uses electricity (Leslie Sattler, June 10, 2024, The Cool Down)

Over the past three years, the number of these game-changing batteries connected to the electricity grid has grown by 10 times. And this year, that capacity is expected to nearly double again, with Texas, California, and Arizona leading the charge, per the Times.

Resembling giant shipping containers, the batteries work by soaking up excess solar and wind energy when it’s plentiful, like during sunny or windy days.

Then, they release that carbon-free electricity back to the grid in the evenings, when energy demand spikes but solar and wind power drop off.

The Right can’t stop the laws of economics by hating environmentalists.

ALWAYS BET ON THE DEEP STATE:

Using Math to Analyze the Supreme Court Reveals an Intriguing Pattern (SARAH ISGUR and DEAN JENS, 06/02/2024, Politico)

Here are some patterns from the Supreme Court’s last term that might surprise you. About 50 percent of the court’s cases were decided unanimously. Only five of 57 cases — just 8 percent — were decided 6-3 with the six Republican appointees all on one side and the three Democratic appointees on the other. Ninety percent of the 57 cases were decided with at least one liberal justice in the majority. Kavanaugh, Roberts, and Barrett were all in the majority over 90 percent of the time, while Justices Jackson, Sotomayor, and Kagan were all more likely to be in the majority than either Samuel Alito or Clarence Thomas. The three liberal justices voted together in fewer than a quarter of the non-unanimous cases, and the six conservatives voted together only 17 percent of the time.