Sen Feinstein: Why I changed my mind about Cali’s Diablo Canyon nuclear plant

Senator Feinstein is perceived as low key corrupt and an entitled oligarch. Look at how she talks to kids: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eIebWywFfNw&ab_channel=USATO... She's just not the person who has credibility to tell Californians not to fear nuclear power.

My first memory of her is a speech she gave with Clinton in the early 90s at the Alameda Naval Air Station promising not to close it. Both her and Clinton soon supported closing it. I wouldn't say her endorsement has meant much to me ever

That whole scene seems kind of gross. Whether those children are correct in their assessment or not, what such encounters call for is a bunch of fake words, as the kids are basically there as the mouthpiece of the adult in the room. A more skillful political handling would be to brush the children off by saying that she is doing everything and more.

Any "green deal" can only happen if a sufficient majority is on board, and Feinstein is not the blocker here, and neither is California the king of the nation. If those children want to engage in the politics of energy and ecology in an effective way, then they need to find a platform which addresses the entire nation, especially those demographics which are yet to be convinced of any green deal whatsoever.

Closing down instead of building modern nuclear plants will prove to be the worst knee jerk/emotional decisions California's leaders have ever made. I hope she's serious about not only keeping Diablo Canyon open but restarting San Onofre as well as building new nuclear power plants. Nuclear is the best option, despite any perceived risks.

Senator Feinstein ran for reelection at aged 85. A full term in the Senate is 6 years. So if she didn't die in that time (which is a very real possibility at her age) then she would be 91 at the end of her term. That's... ridiculous.

She seems to be in clear mental decline now, so much so that she stepped down (some say was removed) from the senate Judiciary committee [1].

So what allowed her to get renominated? Simple she was good at the most important thing for a large blue state Democratic Senator: fundraising. For whatever reason, she was a massive rainmaker. You have to be to be nominated as a Demorat for Senate in California. kamala Harris was too. It's pretty much how she rose to being VP now.

It's also why Chuck Schumer is the Senate Majority Leader and also why you will never see any serious Wall Street reform under the current system. It is the core of Schumer's fundraising base.

So there's a fine line between fundraising and corruption (legally speaking). Unfortuantely this Supreme Court has decided that money is speech [2], which has made all this even more important.

As polarized as things may seem, all that is on social issues. Both parties have class solidarity with the capital-owning class that has bought both sides.

So we can look at Feinstein's "corruption" in isolation but that's really missing the forest for the trees.

[1]: https://www.politico.com/news/2020/11/23/dianne-feinstein-st...

[2]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Citizens_United_v._FEC#:~:text....