Climate Change – Page 30

Open Thread for July 18, 2021

Posted by Joanne Dixon at 7:43 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Jul 182021

Yesterday I drafted and sent an emeil to the visiation staff to ask what I need to do to plan a visit. Yes, there are instructions on line, but they don’t answer everything. I don’t expect a reply until sometime Monday. I do know they can see a jpg file because in the past I’ve attached jpgs to express thanks and they’ve told me they can see them.

Cartoon –

Short Takes –

Reuters – Death toll rises to 170 in Germany and Belgium floods
Quote – German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier visited Erftstadt in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia, where the disaster killed at least 45 people. “We mourn with those that have lost friends, acquaintances, family members,” he said. “Their fate is ripping our hearts apart.” Steinmeier said it would take weeks before the full damage, expected to require several billions of euros in reconstruction funds, could be assessed.
Click through for details, including video. well, there you have it. The US is not exceptonal. Every part of the world is sufferiung consequences.

APNews – Biden pledges appeal of ‘deeply disappointing’ DACA ruling
Quote – In his statement, Biden urged Congress to move forward with legislation to permanently protect those covered by the program. “Only Congress can ensure a permanent solution by granting a path to citizenship for Dreamers that will provide the certainty and stability that these young people need and deserve,” the president said. “I have repeatedly called on Congress to pass the American Dream and Promise Act, and I now renew that call with the greatest urgency,” he said. “It is my fervent hope that through reconciliation or other means, Congress will finally provide security to all Dreamers, who have lived too long in fear.”
Click through for story. This is heartbreaking, and it shows – again – why it is so important to have qualified and humane judges in our courts.

Common Dreams – Florida-Based Doctor Arrested on Suspicion of Plotting Assassination of Haiti’s President
Quote – Haitian authorities said that 63-year-old Christian Emmanuel Sanon worked with a Miami-based private security firm to recruit the mercenaries who carried out the assassination last Wednesday. According to video footage of the scene, a group of heavily armed assailants posed as officials with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency as they moved in on Moïse’s private residence on the outskirts of Port-au-Prince.
Click through for information and speculation. I’ve always maintained that some conspiracies are real. I must say this one boggles the mind.

Food for Thought:

Video Thread for 7/17/21

Posted by Joanne Dixon at 11:48 am Open Thread, Politics

Jul 172021

Glenn Kirschner – Donald Trump Issues a Statement Saying “if I was going to do a coup” it Wouldn’t be with Gen. Milley

Meidas Touch – Breaking: Unindicted Trump Organization Co-Conspirator #1 REVEALED

The Lincoln Project – Which Side

The Damage Report – Trump Almost Died BOMBSHELL Revelations REVEALED (I trust this is no surprise, just a heartbreaking tragedy.)

Armageddon Update – Hot as Fahrenheit

Keith – OLBERMANN VS…UNVACCINATED ATHLETES WHO THREATEN THE GAMES AND ENABLE ANTI-VAX COWARDS – GET. OUT.

Beau – Let’s talk about the separation of church and state….

Video Thread for 7/4/21

Posted by Joanne Dixon at 12:30 pm Open Thread, Politics

Jul 042021

Glenn Kirschner – Legal Recap For June 2021: June Started w/Trump Saying He’ll Be Reinstalled, Ended w/Indictments

Meidas Touch – Trump Organization Indictments Show Company is “One Gigantic Ponzi Scheme”

Thom [Hartmann] Reveals Way To Push Democratic Party Left

Rebel HQ – Cop Abandons Black Woman Being Threatened With Gun

Beau – Let’s talk about Ecocide, a new proposed international law….

Just for the holiday – Disney’s Celebrate America Fourth of July Fireworks at The Magic Kingdom

‘What To The Slave Is The Fourth Of July?’: Descendants Read Frederick Douglass’ Speech

Open Thread for July 3, 2021

Posted by Joanne Dixon at 7:11 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Jul 032021

Last night’s opera was “Nixon in China.” It’s the first in John Adams’s American history trilogy; “Doctor Atomic” was the second. “Nixon in China” is fairly straightforwardly historical, until the second act, when a plot point of Mme. Mao making up a clownish exaggeration of a villain as Kissinger in a performance for the guests requires the storyteller singing Kissinger to double. The more you detest Kisinger, of course, the funnier it is. As with “Doctor Atomic,” actual journals and quotes from contemporary interviews were used in the libretto. The only character who is spared some mockery is Chou En-Lai, who at the time of Nixon’s visit was dying of cancer but also ersonally invested in the meeting going well – good reasons to treat him kindly. There is a piece which was contemplated being in the opera but withdrawn which is known as “The Chairman Dances” or, alternatively, “Foxtrot for Orchestra.” (I guess the idea of a mobility challenged Mao dancing for 12 minutes, energetically at that, was simply too much.) I’ve never seen the third opera in the trilogy, because it involves terrorism and ends up getting boycotted. Since I haven’t seen it, I can’t say whether the boycotting is justified, but I suspect it isn’t. Perhaps some day I’ll find out.

Cartoon

Short Takes –

The Hill – Five takeaways from the Supreme Court’s term
Here are the five: The court is shifting to the right
Still some room for consensus
Religious rights groups extend winning streak
Losing streak continues for voting rights
A ‘warm-up act’?
Click through for details on each.

Yahoo!news – Tropical Storm Elsa is the latest evidence climate change is happening now
I’m not a big fan of yahoo news, but this was the only source I could find quickl which made the link to climate change explicit
Quote – While Elsa, whose maximum sustained winds are 45 miles per hour, is unlikely to inflict the same amount of damage as a stronger hurricane if and when it makes landfall, its formation on July 1 — following Ana, Bill, Claudette and Danny — fits into a pattern in which the changing climate makes conditions for life-threatening storms more favorable.
Click through for the rationale.

Axios – Poll: Americans more worried about restrictive voting laws than election fraud
Yes, I know, this is one of those “file under No Shit, Sherlock” stories. But there’s so much denial of it.
Quote – Why it matters: 67% of Americans — including majorities of Republicans, Democrats and independents — said they believed American democracy is currently under threat, though the survey did not ask what they believed is threatening it.
Click through for details.

Food for Thought

Just a little extra – Smithsonian Trivia for July 4. Their quizzes are generally tough but I managed 4 out of 5 on this one.

Video Thread 6/29/21

Posted by Joanne Dixon at 1:00 pm Open Thread, Politics

Jun 292021

Glenn Kirschner – NY DA Trump Org Indictment Watch – First Criminal Indictment Expected Soon. Won’t likely be the Last

Now This News – UN Releases Report on Global Systemic Racism (sometimes the word “state” is used where we would say “nation” or “country” – the UN realli is talking world wide.)

Right Wing Watch has been kicked out of YouTube. So I’m going to start looking for them on Vimeo. This one features “prophet” Chuck Pierce (who is pretty clearly delusional.) Update: Yes it’s back already. Overwhelming support. Article tomorrow.)

Rebel HQ – The Deadliest Weather Phenomenon In DECADES!

Pigeon loses ability to fly. He adapts by becoming one of the dogs.

Beau – Let’s talk about how the Trump years impacted capitalism…. – This is priceless.

Open Thread for June 28, 2021

Posted by Joanne Dixon at 7:00 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Jun 282021

I’m trying to get little smarter about finding the news,since letting it come to me is not always enough any more. We’ll see how it goes in the long run. We can be glad Colleen is recovering even though the recovery is not yet complete. I also heard from Carrie B last night, and she has a couple of spots on her face which she worries may be cancerous, and is stalled waiting for a referral to a dermatologist. Prayers for her please.

Cartoon

Short Takes –

Axios – Bill Barr on Trump’s election fraud claims: “It was all bullsh*t”
Quote – Barr said that Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) had been urging him to speak out against Trump’s false claims since November but would not do so himself. McConnell did not want to upset Trump as he needed Trump to campaign in Georgia. “Look, we need the president in Georgia,” McConnell said, according to Barr. “And so we cannot be frontally attacking him right now. But you’re in a better position to inject some reality into this situation. You are really the only one who can do it.”
Click through for as much of this profile in cowardice as they are willing to print from a book not yet released

Insider – 14 years after a sexual assault in Tampa, a man has been charged with rape because he entered his own DNA into a genealogy database
Quote – DNA evidence was collected at the time but did not find any matches, and the case remained unsolved for more than a decade. In 2020, however, detectives revisited the case and began to search genealogy testing databases, including GEDmatch and FamilyTree, two services often used by people who are researching their ancestry, to find potential matches…. Florida was the first state to establish its own forensic genealogy unit in 2018. Similar units have since been created in California and Utah to solve cold cases.
Click through for more. I believe in giving credit where credit is due, even to Florida.

The Guardian – Rattlesnakes everywhere: the odd consequences of California’s drought
Quote – Surprisingly, disease-carrying mosquitoes, which most people associate with wet times rather than dry, thrive in cities during times of drought when waters recede and grow still. Webb explains that human-made structures like pipes, pits and ponds are prime spots for stagnant water to become a breeding ground for the insects. “Fish and other animals that live in these systems die and the mosquitoes have free rein”.
Click through for details, and a multitude of consequences, obviously, of climate change. And yet, some still deny it.

Food for Thought

Open Thread for June 27, 2021

Posted by Joanne Dixon at 7:00 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Jun 272021

Yesterday was strange – not that nothing happened around the nation and the world, but that so many of the things that did happen were so odd. We can blame climate change for some of it, but not for all, certainly. I think I remember that Colleen’s delayed surgery was for carpal tunnel or somethiing of the sort – if so, she may be recovering just fine but not feel up to commenting yet. I hope that’s the case, but also hope to hear soon.

Cartoon

Short Takes – News of the Weird today!

WFAA – ‘Once you see one, you’ll see another’: Have you seen one of these worms in your yard? They’re toxic. Here’s how you deal with them.
Quote – “The way this flatworm harms our ecosystem is it eats earthworms, which are necessary for our forests, our crops…our gardens to survive,” Morgan-Olvera said, “In order for it to digest earthworms, it secretes a chemical, or a neurotoxin, and that can cause an allergic reaction on your skin if you’re handling it.”
Click through for full story, including what – and what not – to do.

NBC News – Vehicles stuck on Detroit freeways after torrential downpour
Quote – [I]t was predicted that the city would get close to two inches of rain Friday night, but nearly seven inches fell. “The intensity of these storms exceeded the design standards for pump stations and combined sewer overflow facilities serving the Detroit region,” Brown said at a press conference on Saturday. There was so much rain that there was nowhere for the water to go, he explained, other than flooding streets and basements.
Click through for more. (But there’s no such thing as climate change. Right.)

NextShark – Australian Woman Who Woke Up From Surgery With Irish Accent May Be Stuck With It for Life
Quote – This week, Yen underwent a brain scan which confirmed “nothing wrong.” But she was diagnosed with Foreign Accent Syndrome (FAS), a rare medical condition that may be triggered by neurological or psychological damage, according to speech pathologist Kirrie Ballard. “Foreign Accent Syndrome is a legitimate disorder. It’s described as a person’s speech changing, so that it sounds as though they’re speaking in a different accent to their habitual accent,” Ballard told 60 Minutes.
Click through for the story. Bizarre, but true. And it says a lot about how we humans treat each other – none of it good.

Food for Thought