A Stark Reality Behind This Season's "House of Cards" Plot Will
Raise Your Eyebrows  Note: This article contains spoilers.
Source: Netflix.  If you have watched House of Cards lately on
Netflix, you may be wondering if the things that happen in the
show are possible. No, I'm not talking about the scandals and
murders, I'm talking about the situations that provide the
backdrop for this season. Are the United States and the rest of
the world really reliant on China for rare-earth elements? Are
we really at risk of an energy crisis that could lead to
nationwide blackouts?  One way to make compelling television is
to take a truth and embellish on it, but these matters are not
so overblown. Let's look at the two issues that House of Cards
uses this season and why they actually do matter in the worlds
of energy, industry, and politics.   Rare-earth elements,
China's dominance, and the trade war Possibly the last time you
looked at a periodic table of the elements was in high school
chemistry. Rare-earth elements a