Use Facebook for good
If you ever thought a shred of your personal data on Facebook was private or didn’t know it was being bought and sold as a commodity, you haven’t been paying attention. We exchange data about our lives for convenience, access and discounts daily. If a for-profit corporation gives you its product for “free,” you are the product.
Technology is an amoral chameleon — it changes colors based on how we use it and how we abuse it. If you’re using Facebook to share angry rants about President Donald Trump, you’re still using social media to spread hate no matter what side you’re on. Anger is destructive. Stop taking the bait. Be proactive, not reactive. Convert your energy into constructive action online and in person.
Keep the outrage and spotlight directed at big money on both sides of the aisle. Yes, Democrats buy data and deploy psychographics, too. That doesn’t mean Facebook shouldn’t be held accountable for their gross inaction and lack of due diligence, but focusing anger and attention on Facebook as if it’s the problem is a magician’s misdirection.
Social media is the most powerful tool for the democratization of communications since the printing press. If you’re not using it to organize people, spread positive ideas and seek good information from verified sources, you’re wasting its true power.
And, please, stop taking Facebook quizzes and start using this incredible tool for good.
Liz Smith
Camden
Powering the clean revolution
I read a Nov. 23 letter to the editor that I had apparently missed from a gentleman questioning where all the new electricity would come from if the entire U.S. fleet were to go electric. He estimated we would have to triple production to meet the new need. It’s an interesting issue.
An oversight in his analysis though is that electric vehicles are typically four to five times more efficient than gasoline-powered vehicles. For example, the Chevy Bolt (238-mile range) has a 60 kilowatt hour pack, equivalent to 1.6 gallons of gasoline. The Tesla P90 achieves its range of about 300 miles on the equivalent energy of 2.4 gallons of gasoline. Last October, Bloomberg estimated that replacing all cars and light-duty trucks with electric vehicles would increase electricity demand by 775 terawatt-hours, approximately rivaling the demand of the entire U.S. industrial sector.
This may be less of a problem than we think. Demand for electricity is stagnating. For example, the Tennessee Valley Authority is forecasting an unprecedented 13 percent decline in demand for electricity by 2027 due to improved energy efficiency, outsourcing of heavy industry and, increasingly, onsite power generation. Utilities rely on long-range projections to plan investment in new capacity but find their projections are no longer accurate.
Electric vehicles increase demand for utilities’ product, and last month a group of 36 electric utilities lobbied Congress in support of removing caps on electric vehicle tax credits. I have little doubt that continued efficiency improvements and renewables will be able to meet the demand.
Frank John
Brooklin
Poliquin not watching my back
For the past 50 years, I have occasionally contacted our representatives in Washington Republican, Democratic or independent, such as Sen. Angus King. In all of these cases except one, I always received some follow up.
Rep. Bruce Poliquin introduced a bill to correct the penalties our educators suffer when it comes to Social Security. Even though they have paid into Social Security, when they retire with their teachers’ pension, they receive little or nothing from Social Security even though some worked years outside of teaching.
I called Poliquin’s office and expressed my concerns. I expected they would take my name, address and so on. When I asked “don’t you want my name,” they no, just my ZIP code.
I could not believe how any elected official would run at office in this manner. Then I read where many others were dissatisfied with Poliquin. Speaking as a veteran, any man who reportedly almost ran into the woman’s bathroom rather that face a reporter is not someone I want watching my back.
Bob Tweedie
Westfield
Dump Alex Gray
I’ve written for years about Alex Gray, owner of Waterfront Concerts, “playing” Bangor. The Bangor City Council mystifyingly voted unanimously to give Gray not a one-year contract, but a 10-year contract. They hurried the vote just before his trial for assaulting his ex-girlfriend, and on the very day he pleaded guilty, Gray said, “I’m 206 pounds … I would be on trial for murder if I did what she said I did,” reverting immediately to abusive, threatening language. One councilor said, “I kind of held my nose and voted for him.”
The council believes Gray caused Bangor’s economic resurgence. But music like the American Folk Festival and Kahbang already blazed a trail any promoter could follow. The council believes LiveNation, the world’s biggest concert-promoter, would leave Bangor without music unless we gave their representative, Gray, everything he asked for. I challenge this ridiculous thinking.
A quick glance at their competitor AEG Presents’ artists: Aimee Mann, Alanis Morissette, Alan Jackson, Alice Cooper, Andrea Bocelli, Anthrax, Arctic Monkeys, Art Garfunkel, Avenged Sevenfold, Average White Band, Avett Brothers, and that’s just a few of the letter A acts.
AEG is probably a better fit for Bangor anyway, but I guarantee LiveNation would break ties with Gray rather than leave money in Bangor.
Our councilors immediately shot down a morals clause or voiding Gray’s contract, spouting, “It can’t be done.” Yes, it can — if they have the will. Every councilor who has a daughter or sister should be ashamed. It is time to make things right.
John Picone
Bangor
Tax bill betrayed American dream
The Republican “tax reform” scam that was recently rammed through Congress with only Republican input, no public hearings and no transparency is expected to add trillions of dollars to the national debt while necessitating drastic cuts to public investment in infrastructure, scientific research, skills training and core government agencies defending the public interest.
This plan remains deeply unpopular with struggling working- and middle-class Americans who do not believe that they will benefit by giving corporations and Wall Street fat cats another huge tax cut. Posterity will not forgive Sen. Susan Collins and her Republican cohorts — including millionaire Rep. Bruce Poliquin — for this betrayal of the American dream.
Phil Locke
Bangor