Russian president Vladimir Putin’s decision not to attend the BRICS summit in Johannesburg, South Africa, illustrates how fully his 2022 invasion of Ukraine has made him an international pariah.
I think the point of HCR’s details, with pertinent references to documentation, points up the difference between News as a form of entertainment and developing historical record.
A historian can use examples from the past to identify critical events and possible outcomes.
The New York Times and a few other major news sources have managed to maintain a depth of reporting similar to HCR.
Modern Media has made todays events seem a form of entertainment but HCR Demonstrates they form history.
Art, great assessment. When Professor Richardson writes "current events", she writes with an intent to inform the historians of 150 years from now to see how we got here and what we did.
I agree with you regarding your point that many news sources focus on entertainment. I subscribe to the New York Times and am have become disappointed in how they portray what is going on in our political world. I truly believe that our country and the world is headed for disaster. And yet the media presents what is going on as “that’s politics “. There is no conservative party. What we have is the Republican cult. And cults are dangerous.
I subscribe to the NYT and to the WaPo. I don't see them covering MAGA antics as anything close to "normal politics". Their online presentation is a bit too entertaining when I'm just trying to scan the headlines. MSNBC is a bit over-the-top in it's shock reaction to Trumpism, but in breaking news, they're quite good. CNN has lurched "right" to take pains to say there are rational opinions on both sides that should be listed to. While that's true, they've gotten rid of those that had the temerity to be rational journalists and call out Republican BS for what it is, so I don't watch them as much. FOX has not improved, other than it's a bit less crappy since TCarlson's out.
Sigh. Who, other than retirees and professional news folk have time to sift through all this? Until I retired, I certainly had little energy for news.
Jerry, I subscribe to The New York Times' and the Washington Post's newspapers and online, among other outlets. I do not find either paper entertaining, except in the entertainment section as in the newspapers they publish.
I didn't see any MAGA stories on the front pages of The New York Times or Washington Post this morning. I did find the following foreign news stories, some of which impact international developments:
LIVEUpdated
July 21, 2023, 7:23 a.m. ET Just Now
Russia-Ukraine WarRussian Strikes and Naval Drills Unsettle Black Sea as U.N. Prepares to Meet
Moscow struck granaries in Odesa, continuing its apparent campaign to incapacitate Ukraine’s ability to export food by sea.
Their City in Ruins, a Ukrainian University and Its Students Persevere
Mariupol State University, an oasis amid the war, has graduated its newest class, more than a year after fleeing its devastated home city.
Around the Globe, Searing Heat With No Sign of Relief
In Asia, Europe and the United States, records are shattering, and forecasters say there’s no respite in sight.
U.K. Voters Hand Sunak’s Party Two Defeats and a Win in By-elections
The governing Conservatives retained Boris Johnson’s former Parliament seat in northwest London, but lost in two districts, including a sobering defeat in northern England.
In Spain’s Election, Left and Right Answer for the Company They Keep
Before voting Sunday, a focus on the leading parties’ allies has dominated the campaign — and obscured debate about more fundamental issues.
Lawmakers Challenge Ford and Chinese Battery Partner Over Forced Labor
Republicans are raising fresh concerns about CATL, the battery maker Ford is working with to bring new technology to the U.S., and its connections to Xinjiang.
What’s Reasonable? A Debate Over a High Court’s Reach Divides Israel.
The legal concept of “reasonableness,” which has allowed the Supreme Court to strike down ministerial appointments, among other things, is at the center of a domestic crisis gripping the country.
A sampling of foreign news on the front page of the Washington Post:
Ukraine now using U.S.-provided cluster munitions ‘effectively’ in combat, official says
Live briefing: Fourth day of Odessa strikes as Russia pounds port region on Black Sea
Viral video of a sexual assault in India sparks outrage and protest
Iraq orders expulsion of Swedish ambassador over Quran controversy
Afghanistan may have $1 trillion worth of electric-vehicle metals. U.S. rivals are angling to exploit them.
The headline that stands out in this long list is "Around the Globe, Searing Heat With No Sign of Relief" - imagine the next great migration here in the US: generations of folks who moved south/southwest for the great weather having to reverse course to stay alive.
I live an hour west of Boston, in a very green semi-rural town that is 230 feet above sea level. I am already trying to imagine how Massachusetts will handle the future influx of climate refugees not only from the South and Southwest, fleeing the killing heat, but also fleeing west from our own coastline as it slowly inundates with sea level rise. Will our state have the foresight to begin relocating towns and cities? Will it be left to individuals as their individual properties flood, with no overall planning by the government, because "freedom" plus government inertia?
If we wait too long, until moving a lot of people becomes an emergency, will the U.S.-internal climate refugee crisis get bad enough that either the government will have to take land by eminent domain on higher ground to build places to relocate people and towns, or alternatively, civil disorder will break out with (armed?) conflict between current landowners and climate refugees squatting or demanding, because they have no place else to go?
These ruminations do not give serenity, as my husband and I walk our cute, enthusiastic dog around our lovely, currently green, currently low-density neighborhood. The more I think about it, the more I think that Biden should be setting up a Cabinet-level department of Climate Mitigation and Adaptation, right now.
The Mitigation side needs to bring together and turbo-charge (sorry, internal combustion engine metaphor) all the initiatives to speed the conversion to green energy and rapidly wind down extraction and burning of fossil fuels.
The Adaption side is needed to start planning right now for an orderly reshaping of where Americans live and work, driven as much as possible by incentives to goose free-market decisions. Your house is destroyed by flooding or a hurricane? In certain zones, no rebuilding help is available in that location, but substantial rebuilding help is available if you relocate to higher ground. Entire cities are doomed to disappear under water? We need to be planning now to turn them into floating cities, a la some towns in coastal Netherlands, or provide a plan and incentives to relocate to a New CityX well inland, where the government buys a big chunk of land and plans a community designed to be net-zero, with social and racial justice, and well above sea level rise.
We can start planning all this to happen in as orderly a way as possible, with input from all stakeholders and preservation of as much freedom and personal choice as possible, or we can fail to plan, which means planning to fail and just letting the chaos and social disorder and unmitigated economic disaster rip.
As a resident of another hilly and currently green place about 40 miles from the Atlantic, well above any reasonably foreseeable flooding of the Kennebec, the proposed office of climate mitigation and adaptation has to make as a first priority perserving as much of our forests as possible, while creating safe clean places for humans to live and work. We have to preserve our forests.
Lynn, you are absolutely correct. Part of the mission and mandate of the proposed new Department of Climate Mitigation and Adaptation (DCMA) absolutely must be to preserve our forests, waterways and wetlands, and land and marine wildlife habitats. This department needs to have the authority to change the policies and practices of the Department of the [Interior?] and the Bureau of Land Management and the Department of Energy, if I am right about the federal agencies that currently administer, make the rules for, and control what happens to all federal land. There also need to be strong incentives for private owners of forests and other carbon sinks and natural habitats, to preserve them. Establishing the DCMA with sufficient power and mandate (while still respecting democratic values) will be an earthquake, but it needs to happen.
Considering the repugnants want to get rid of all the safety regulations that have been implemented such as the EPA so corporations can retain their profits and the cultists Supreme Court aiding them with the new laws ! Its always about money and power and who cares if we destroy the planet !! My money , my precious money !!
Thank you for this excellent post. I'm sharing it with others. Unfortunately, we rarely plan anything and the republicans are actually opposed to planning unless it helps the rich.
Thanks, William! Share away! And please add the comments about protecting forests and habitats. The Republicans, the rich, and Big Carbon will clearly try very hard to completely squash any of the ideas my post proposes.
I live in the lush green farmland and forest of Ontario Canada, beautiful, sparsely populated and elevated enough, and far enough from the ocean to probably never flood. I think about the questions you posed as well. On the other hand, I have a cottage in Newfoundland sitting on a 50 foot bluff overlooking the Gulf of St. Lawrence. I have often wondered how it would be to see the ocean waves coming up over that bluff on to the property. Scary thought. I really appreciate your post. You have obviously thought a lot about how to address and perhaps forestall the coming calamity of weather refugees on the move. I assume you've been in contact with you Senators and Representatives (I know, pretty futile, but perhaps will actually be taken up by someone up there).
Big Oil companies employ hundreds of environmental engineers to minimize (but not prevent) the damage they do, and then remediate afterwards. While I don't tend to vilify them "too" much, I agree that public pressure is absolutely necessary to push them to do more of the right thing. I don't think they'll just go away and shut down until you and I stop driving and using electricity.
Elizabeth M you have a pov that’s so on point and entirely sensible not many will want to digest or will want to listen. Too uncomfortable. Too prescient.
I live near the flank of Vineyard Sound. People are scrambling to build more, yes more and larger houses as close to the shore as they can.
This is not news I’m sure to many of us who live close to beaches and their sunsets.
Oh, and mjust as I was reading HCR’s letter today, I got a banner from the NYTimes suggesting 5 horror films to watch this weekend.
Thanks, Samm. I would love to be wrong about all this. It's painful to see people digging further into locations that will be flooded at high tide or totally underwater in ten, twenty, or thirty years. It's also painful to *not* see the states and the federal government planning for how we will relocate our coastal towns and cities, and how and where we will grow our food when droughts and heat take over some large sections of the country where most of our food is currently grown. Failure to plan is planning to fail. I guess I should be getting people together to lobby the Biden Administration directly, put my time and action where my mouth is.
A major frustration about this lack of foresight, is that other countries have all the knowledge and information about how to do this, so we wouldn't have to completely reinvent the wheel. Look at The Netherlands and their water management expertise. And, when there's a flood often the US taxpayer gets the bill. I'd rather my tax dollars go to the long term planning and operationalizing of those plans, then to foolishly rebuild repeatedly.
The beaches around Vineyard Sound are beautiful. Since they were deposited during the Pleistocene as the glaciers from the last ice ager melted and receded, the sand they're made from will continue to naturally compress and subside. For those areas, the effect of seal level rise will be accentuated by this subsidence.
But regarding beach houses, my attitude is that as long as I don't have to subsidize their risk while I'm far from the ocean, and they're willing and able to afford losing the house or rebuilding, I don't mind, as long as public access to those beaches is maintained. I do mind, though, the thought of these beautiful sandy islands shrinking.
The Vineyard and Nantucket are beautiful places. I agree it's a shame that both are eroding. Are you on the landward or island side of Vineyard Sound? Some friends of mine inherited a small cottage at Madaket, on Nantucket. They have had to move it back from the retreating edge of the dune a couple of times in the last 30 years. They feel fortunate their grandparents bought a piece of land that goes all the way back to the road. I hope you are able to stay in your beautiful spot for many decades to come.
An additional comment re rising sea levels-let's see if DeSatan decides to even address that issue, since the entire state of FL is a peninsula! Does the northern states want an influx of MAGA leaning folks?
Florida is the world's largest sand bar - if the sea rises even just 100 feet, half the state disappears. At 200 feet, almost the entire state except for the higher ground near Alabama will be the new Atlantis.....
Well deathsantis will be responsible for that since all of the insurance companies are leaving Floriduh and his non handling of previous flooding and hurricanes are destroying the state !
At 3 to 7 feet sea level rise per century, it's not clear the politics will take the same shape in 30 centuries, when half of Florida might be under water. We might be an enlightened species by then. Or endangered...
Elizabeth M., I agree that the issues you mention are real and worrisome and that addressing them should start now. However, the actual rate of sea level rise we should expect ranges from less than 6 inches per century (what it has been observed to be since 1900 or so) to an unlikely 7 feet per century.
What does it mean? The answer varies by where someone lives. Let's assume (based on the websites I mentioned) that the possible range is 3-6 feet of sea level rise per century. My cousin who lives in Brick, NJ has a house that's 3' above sea level. He's going to have to raise his house or move by 2100, maybe sooner because his neighborhood is on sand, which WILL continue to compress over time and sink. Your neighborhood won't become a beach town for 35-70 centuries, though that should be reassessed to check for sea level rise.
Clearly, there is scope for action now for those affected in the near term in terms of public policy and insurance guarantees. That is actually already happening, as FEMA is redrawing its flood risk maps and insurance companies are raising insurance rates by a lot. Still, if you drive along areas flooded in Houston after Hurricane Harvey or decimated by Hurricane IKE in Galveston, TX, you will see houses on piers in Houston and on very tall stilts in Galveston. For those that can't afford the sky high insurance or the cost to raise their house, FEMA has a flood risk buyout program (for houses already flooded), though they don't quite offer market rates.
All this is progress along the lines you discuss. Yes, more needs to be done, and the sooner the better. But it's not yet time to panic.
One more comment: There is existing technology that can assess actual subsidence rates at a very high resolution, that would enable policy makers and residents alike to assess which coastal areas are at higher risk than others. We need to advocate for that technology to be adopted in the U.S. (a first mover in this technology, but slower-than-Europe rate of adoption).
Jerry Helfand and subscriber friends, the following is the best current information about rise in sea levels that I could find:
'ENVIRONMENTEXPLAINER'
'Sea levels are rising at an extraordinary pace. Here's what to know.
Seas are predicted to rise a foot by 2050, regardless of how much global carbon emissions can be reduced. Why is this happening, and what can we do to adapt?'
BYCHRISTINA NUNEZ ANDNATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC STAFF
PUBLISHED APRIL 10, 2023
'As humans continue to pour greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, oceans have tempered the effect. The world's seas have absorbed more than 90 percent of the heat from these gases, but it’s taking a toll on our oceans: 2021 set a new record for ocean heating.'
'Rising seas is one of those climate change effects. Average sea levels have swelled over 8 inches (about 23 cm) since 1880, with about three of those inches gained in the last 25 years. Every year, the sea rises another .13 inches (3.2 mm.) Research published in February 2022 shows that sea level rise is accelerating and projected to rise by a foot by 2050.'
'That translates into as much sea level rise in the next 30 years as occurred over the last century, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Rick Spinrad, the NOAA administrator, called the findings “historic,” and warned that the projected rise will occur even if carbon emissions are drastically cut.' See link below.
Even though houses can be built to be above high water, how sustainable is that? Storms, drinking water, sewage and garbage disposal, access are all things that are extremely difficult to build and maintain. Lots and lots of R&D are needed.
It's sustainable until the next sucker forest and buys it off you for hus yarn st living the dream of a coastal life. Collectively, we know quite a lot about where houses shouldn't be built. Individually, our constitution allows us to be as stupid as we want.
In light how republicans have treated any ecological programs and basically dismantled the EPA, if the republicans get in, there will be no hope of any thing like that happening. basically they areclimate deniers.
Thank you, Elizabeth M. Last night down here in PA, I was watching on MBL network, the NY Mets play my life-long favorite team, the Boston Red Sox. But in the third and then fourth inning, the rains came, and the game was suspended until this afternoon. I learned this morning that the reason for the suspension was that it had rained so hard that beloved Fenway Park, that's been there since 1912, had flooded. I wonder if the highway that goes underground, known as THE BIG DIG, was also flooded. How about Logan International Airport that is on the Atlantic Ocean and is barely above sea level. Imagine the immigrants, or as you call them 'Climate Refugees' that would be fleeing left to where you live! Roxbury, Southie, the Italian North End, Framingham, and the Cape. And then there is Rhode Island. Then let us skip down to Biden's state of Delaware. I agree with you completely.
Sorry about Fenway Park. And you're right about Boston. Much of the city is only a little above sea level. Several years ago, there was an article in a Boston magazine projecting that in a few decades, Boston's Back Bay neighborhood, built on saltmarsh landfill at the base of Beacon Hill, would need to be turned into a USA Venice with canals instead of streets. In the Seaport District, which in the early 1800's was saltmarsh and was progressively filled, some areas of the district already had sunny day flooding at least a few inches at high tide when I worked there from 2009 to 2013. Nevertheless, the late Mayor Menino spearheaded a massive building campaign of new office space and condo buildings in that built-on-landfill-laid-over-a-saltmarsh district, in that same period. Not only that, there are only three ways to get to the district: over one of two two-lane bridges at Summer Street and Congress Street that cross the Fort Point Channel, or by boat. It was great to take a walk and see tall ships on my lunch break, but getting there was hell. I assume the developers and the lenders who financed them were eager to participate, because I presume they did not hold the buildings they built and collect rent, but sold the office or residential condos to owners who now own all the climate change risk. I still don't get it. You mention Rhode Island. In Newport, the robber barons' mansions are all built along a high cliff. Great views, and well above any high tide for at least another couple of centuries.
Thanks for the detailed information. I'm from Kittery, Maine, which as you probably know is about 55 miles north of Boston. But I move to the D.C. area in 1983 and have moved north to where I now live in York, PA. I went to the University of Maine in Orono, ten miles north of Bangor. U Maine is a land and sea grant school. They heavily involved with various things that include working on climate change issues. Anyway, I still try to keep in touch with what's happening in NE. Did you know that the Gulf of Maine, which is the part of the North Atlantic Ocean bordered by Mass., NH, Me, and Nova Scotia, is considered to be the fastest warming part of the Atlantic and the rest of the 70% of the planet. More moisture in the air causes oceans to heat up. So, those 'experts who tell the world that it will take a long time for land to disappear along coasts are lying. When I lived in Takoma Park, MD, with several others, one of them was a writer and also worked for the Washington Post. He also has published a number of books on different subjects. You might find the book he wrote that was published in 2003 of particular interest about ocean warming and the plight of those that live there. His name is Mike Tidwell, and the book is "Bayou FAREWELL: THE RICH LIFE AND TRAGIC DEATH OF LOUISIANA'S CAJUN COAST." Here is the bio of him from that book. "Mike Tidwell is the author of four previous books, including "In the mountains of Heaven", "Amazon Stranger", and The Ponds of Kalambayi". A former National Endowment for the Arts fellow, Tidwell has published his work in National Geographic Traveler, Reader's Digest, Washingtonian, and many other publications. His frequent travel articles for The Washington Post have earned him four Lowell Thomas Awards, the highest prize in American travel journalism. He lives in Washington, D.C." In this book, he travelled to New Orleans and went down the Mississippi River Delta to speak with Cajun folks who lived and fished there. Over the years, the Gulf Coast had, and still is, taken over the coast of Louisiana moving closer to New Orleans. I saw a number of years ago a TV video of a reporter interviewing the then governor of that state on a boat. He pointed out as they move how the land is disappearing as the Gulf move north. I'm sure Mike's book would be helpful for people who live along the various coasts to read this book. It was written 20 years ago, so you can imagine how much has changed since then.
Yes, Elizabeth, hooray for PLANNING! So like the reasons we got here; how long has the coming of global warming been known? When will the planning begin? When will we speed up the transition to replace our dependency on fossil fuels? When will Americans wake up to our urgent needs to survive and repair democracy?
I have a picture of a newspaper clipping from 1912 with a story about scientists' warning about the effects of burning coal on the atmosphere. This story has been authenticated.
Yup, exactly. But every time we face a choice, we do have the choice. It's getting very late to wake up and take serious, big action on both of these. I read somewhere that half of all the CO2 humans have ever added to the atmosphere has been added since 1988, when NASA climate scientist James Hansen spoke before Congress at Al Gore's invitation, about the onrushing threat of climate change, caused by humans burning fossil fuels. But our species still has the choice to bend the curve of climate change downward, but the longer we wait, the less we can save. Saving and repairing our democracy requires what everyone who comments here already knows: Democrats actively fighting to elect Democrats, up and down the ballot, all over America.
Elizabeth, I write this late at night just before HCR will post her next-day's message. I sometimes skip a day or several in my reads and this was one of them so am late to have read your thoughtful words.
I too, live at +230' above the Atlantic except for being located on a unique geographic anomaly less than a mile from both the sea and NY harbor on the NJ side. The Navesink Highlands are the highest point on the eastern seaboard from southern Maine to the FL Keys. So, while we are well above even the extremes of the coming sea level rise(s) we are also quite exposed to the storms that are similarly rising in intensity and frequency.
I relate better than most to your words as this knowledge has been part of my DNA since my studies in architecture in the early 70's and our program's focus on passive energy design. The late Paolo Soleri whose Arcosanti was / is one of the world's first truly sustainable cities (excepting those of our ancestors) and was an advisor and mentor so everything you speak to was more than words. It was a philosophy and way of life. Sadly, not many were interested in passive energy concepts as it challenged the main stream view of flipping-a-switch to get one's heat, cooling, light or other source. Off-the-grid concepts were seen as radical and often could not even obtain conventional loans for construction. Even now, rather than integrated into our homes and cities through orientation to the sun, wind and other natural forms of energy the solutions are more often, add-ons to traditional structures that have No relationship whatsoever to the planet they are built on.
Our ancestors knew the earth well and built beautiful structures and cities with indigenous materials that often oriented to the sun as well as the seasons and cycles. But, while Tesla's and Edison's beautiful inventions gave us electricity and other forms of energy it also disconnected us from everything we had learned in the millennia before. So, yes we now stand at the precipice of what we have both created and caused having in a very short period of time caused ourselves to believe we could dominate the earth instead of live with it in reasonable harmony with its resources.
It is far too long a conversation because the logic you so accurately present with a process that would prepare us for what is coming still stands in sharp contrast to the social, economic and other systems we have put in place. I prefer optimism and it remains central to my own work but, just miles down the shoreline from where I write this are construction cranes building new high-rise housing towers literally on the beach funded and developed by Kushner's new Saudi-petro dollars.
All to say that while some cities and states with more progressive leaders are already beginning planning for some of these issues that the migration away from the most vulnerable areas will begin by exposing not just the physical but the economic realities. Property values in these zones will begin decreasing with examples like major insurance companies pulling out of entire states as is already happening.
But, with all the negative examples that can be listed my optimism still suggests that it may and will stimulate new, more sustainable developments and cities in the areas of migration (translation: opportunity) in northern latitudes where the "livable" more temperate zones are shifting. Perhaps, the lessons of the precipice may yet still have the ability to bring us back to what our ancestors knew long ago.
More dialog to come but, thank you for starting it for us.
I live in that same area. When I moved here, one of the few houses I could afford within a reasonable commuting distance happened also to be on a small knoll, twenty feet above the surrounding land. I followed the dictum from my military training: "take the high ground, and hold it". I share your worries of the influx of climate refugees: do we have enough space for them all?
We are turning ourselves into an endangered species. Continuing to depend of fossil fuels folks?! 'Humans or modern humans (Homo sapiens) are the most common and widespread species of primate.'
Once we go, the earth will return to its normal rhythms within 100 years. Yes, there will be some continued warming but it will stabilize in a fairly short time - the planet will survive and quite nicely - once we're gone.....
I agree with you up to a point. However, the grotesque amount of plastic with which the species has created and left behind, together with all the places we've poisoned the earth with mining, and all the other things we've done that have damaged local environments, leads me to think it will take a lot longer than 100 years. The nuclear power plants and other facilities alone will continue endangering their local environments for hundreds if not thousands of years. Yes, other life will adapt and evolve to cope with all the crap humans have generated and will have left, but I think that for at least some places, thousands of years will be required. And the losses of species alive today as a consequence of us just being here is staggering.
It's what rats do too. If confined to a single space they will keep reproducing despite the lack of room and begin to eat each other when other resources are gone.
Considering what they and their predecessors have done to the American southwest with their idiotic lawns and development, they can all just stay there and reap what they've sowed - literally.
And our American Cassandra Al Gore warned that we needed to deal with the warming AND what he projected would be mass migrations — way back a couple or three decades ago.
But we did not plan for this. OK, opportunity lost.
😖. I know. Ridicule is a great intellectual vaccinator against anyone taking a person seriously. It is used in politics to great effect. Doesn’t even have to ridicule something real. It still works. Giving Gore grief for talking about being “busy inventing the Internet” is another of those times, but that was actually true, too. The government program — ARPANET — that gave rise to the Internet was funded during Gore’s time as a legislator. [He never said he invented it himself.] But it’s more fun to ridicule than it is to admit reality. That’s why I call him a Cassandra. He was often right, but he couldn’t get any traction with the truth.
Ridiculing the very idea of human activity changing climates the world over worked really well for along time, too. Still works in some circles, though most people these days are too busy trying to stay ahead of the weather to give it much thought ….
If the southerners do move north, I hope they can adjust to our way of living and not try to change it to their narrow way of thinking. I qualify my statement to say not all Southerners are like that
For more "news" from 'the people' in the UK, I recommend you check out THE CANARY, a journalist-owned email that you may also find on Facebook. If you do, you will likely learn how the people feel about things there and around the world.
This fails to be a thoughtful comment. In what universe does sending arms *that already exist* for the precise purpose of defending Europe from Russian aggression to Europe to defend against Russian aggression constitute "pissing away"? You see some personal or national benefit to letting Russia take another bite (Syria, Georgia, Chechnya, etc, etc, etc)?
I just returned from a family reunion in Texas (we've had them annually since 1930.) News? For some of my cousins, nephews and nieces, the "news" that they get comes from OAN, Newsmax and Fox News (sic.) It reminds me of that old adage: you can lead a horse to water but you can't make it drink. The only solution, the desperate solution, is to out-vote them.
Oy, Newsmax. My Texas neighbors were absolutely sure that Trump won in 2020 regardless of the failed lawsuits, failed fake electors, recounts, and failed insurrection. They might still be sure, but I don't go there in conversation. We just talk about trash pickup schedules, weather, and mosquitos. I wish I could find a mosquito repellent as effective as the truth repellents spread by OAN, Newsmax, etc.
I do get it. The "good ol' boy' culture is something that I just never liked. They're going to believe what they want to believe. But that's true for the majority. Real critical thinking is not for the faint of heart. I explain myself by telling them that I have a simple philosophy or theory of government, and that is that government should be organized and operated to benefit the vast majority of the people under its jurisdiction, which means public services, education, health care, security, jobs and more. Government is not set up to advance religious goals, except in places like Israel, Iran, Afghanistan and others. So, I've started asking them, "What is your theory of government?"
Thank you for this on-the-ground reporting. I have a niece in Austin and often wonder what news she gets. Her parents are born again racists (in SC), she is an architect. As a polite aunt, I don’t ask.
In Texas, Austin is often referred to as "The People's Republic of Austin" - a puddle of blue in the devil's den..... :-) Other, bigger blue puddles are around Dallas, San Antonio, Houston and El Paso.....but our esteemed unhinged governor (Greg Abbott) is determined to tame them.
Good question. I didn't realize that it may have been linked only to my AOL account. You might try googling the piece about Fox News being an unindicted co-conspirator with Trump. I think that this is the general MediaMatters link: action@e.mediamatters.org
I do too, getting one delivered and depending on LFAA and the NYT headline articles online for the others. Sometimes I wonder how many people under age 40 still read newspapers, in either their paper or online versions? I also wonder what the age breakdown of those following LFAA is.
We take the NYT. I read parts of it online. We also have the WaPo, the Oregonian, and the Seattle Times on line as well as the Atlantic and a few other things. We take the local rag online, mainly for obits. There are also a few online sources here in Salem which are good for local news and two of them especially on local politics. I start my am with Heather and a cup of coffee. I also read a number of the comments here skipping only those that I know are trolls. I post Heather's letter to my Facebook page. Most of the people who read it are older, but I have a couple ex-students who are also reading although I doubt they are under 40 now. I doubt my relatives in the midwest read anything. Our nephews here on the west coast don't post about politics although I am sure they are aware.
I've subscribed to at least two newspapers almost all of my life; now three: Boston Globe, Worcester Telegram&Gazette, NY Times. And LFAA, Michael Moore, et alii. But my three children (in their late 30s-early 40s now) do not subscribe to any. It appears I have failed at teaching them the value of the free press, and that we need to keep it alive and working - all of us.
My daughter in NYC doesn't read the Times and I gifted my son in Florida a digital subscription to the South Florida Sun-Sentinel. I don't know what either spreads on the floor if they want to paint a small item.
My search engine found it immediately: "The LFAA (Looking For Arab Actors) is the place where directors and producers get to search for and meet all the arab actors/actresses out there."
I wasted several minutes looking for that Great news site. I have been a subscriber to Heather for 2 years..I'm glad I'm not the only one who wasn't hip to that acronym. But, like LOL, I won't be using it.
The Guardian is the only online paper I read on a regular basis.
I read HCR's column every day, of course, and I have discount subscriptions to the Post and NYT, but that's primarily to read articles I see on various social media outlets.
Yes, The Guardian! And there is no paywall. We also get the Guardian Weekly in the mail. (Brit husband.) There is useful news in English from France on TV, a half hour program repeating all day.
I didn’t know that the Louisiana Field Archery Association published a daily newspaper. Which is my roundabout way of asking “what is LFAA?” I googled it, and the Louisiana site was the first listing.
In the 1960's I read Le Monde for news inside France but, relied on returning percipient witness reports. Post digital revolution (www) international news is easy.
At the start of the Pandemic, easily accessed South Korean medical research was critical by documenting airborne infection paths (plural). The planet is round.🌍🌏🌎
Today’s newsletter made me think about the hard analytical work that goes on everyday in our various intelligence agencies. Many of us love a good spy novel or movie. Not so much the ones that devolve into endless explosions and absurdly difficult physical feats...although, it’s hard not to like the original Bond movies starring Sean Connery. No, what I’m talking about is the very dangerous and tricky work that gets to the bottom of just who profits from supporting the Russian War of Aggression against Ukraine. Smart college grads are sometimes identified and recruited just for this kind of work and they don’t want any public acknowledgment for their work. Others come from the military or perhaps some come right out of left field and volunteer. At CIA Headquarters in Langley, VA, a few of the greatest, bravest and most brilliant Americans are only memorialized with stars on a wall...no names. For what it’s worth, I’d like to say “thank you” to them all today ...those still doing their jobs and those we’ve lost.
But if you check today's sources, you can see that she does not reiy on them soley. One reason I choose to follow Professor Cox Richardson is that she does not rely on those sources alone. I'm a bit of a news junkie, but I have vision issues, and I welcome the range and depth of her sources. Not to mention her terrific ability to construct a narrative from all she reads.
I learn so much from reading Professor Cox Richardson. She does have a great ability to construct a narrative that is easy to read and comprehend. Thank you, Professor, for all you do.
Jennifer, here is breaking news getting around the country. HCR may have finally been asleep when it broke.
'Trial in Trump Documents Case Set for May 2024'
'Judge Aileen M. Cannon rejected former President Donald J. Trump’s request to delay the trial until after the election but pushed the start date past the Justice Department’s request to begin in December.'
'In her order, Judge Aileen M. Cannon said the trial was to be held in her home courthouse in Fort Pierce, Fla., a coastal city two-and-a-half hours north of Miami that will draw its jury pool from several counties that Mr. Trump won handily in his two previous presidential campaigns.'
'Judge Cannon also laid out a calendar of hearings, throughout the remainder of this year and into next year, including those concerning the handling of the classified material at the heart of the case.'
'The scheduling order came after a contentious hearing on Tuesday at the federal courthouse in Fort Pierce where prosecutors working for the special counsel, Jack Smith, and lawyers for Mr. Trump sparred over when to hold the trial.'
'The timing of the proceeding is more important in this case than in most criminal matters because Mr. Trump is now the front-runner for the Republican presidential nomination and his legal obligations to be in court will intersect with his campaign schedule.'
'Indeed, the date Judge Cannon chose to start the trial — May 20, 2024 — is one day before the primary in the key swing state of Georgia. But it falls after the bulk of the primary race contests will have already taken place.' (NYTimes) Sorry, no gifting is available, but this excerpt covers all main points of the report.
She is under some scrutiny from the 11th Circuit, and this schedule in effect sabotages Trump's presidential campaign because May 2024 is the start of serious campaigning after the Republican primaries, and Trump will have to be in court, which means the longer his attorneys try to delay the trial, the longer Trump is off the campaign trail.....
What if the Orange Shameful Shambles just doesn't show up for the trial? I wouldn't put it (or anything, really) past him. You know his counsel will be clamoring for a continuance, due to his busy schedule. He could be tried in absentia under the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure if he shows up for the first day of the trial, then absents himself for the rest - and you know he won't be testifying, in any case, so there's an argument he doesn't actually have to be there.
The question is: will her loyalty be guided by her oath to support the Constitution, that she may realize that Trump wishes to put an end to judicial authority in this country, or whether she will show allegiance to the insurrectionist who appointed her to the bench. Is she "A Profile in Courage?"
I don't understand why she set it so far in the future. This isn't a complicated case and there aren't many classified documents being introduced. I don't know why the lawyers have to read the classified documents. The question is, did he take them or not? It has nothing to do with their content. Yes, there's a lot of evidence but they should be able to read it in 5 months.
I believe it's to help trump. In May trump will cry that it's campaign season and it's unfair to have the trial while he's campaigning. Based on her past actions, I believe she will be receptive to that argument.
I don't assume how she will act. Trump will stamp his feet but don't know if that will serve his interest. My sense is that the noose around his neck will get tighter, and I am neither an optimist or a negativist. .
I wonder if the trial will actually allow some of his followers who end up on the jury to open their eyes, or will they continue to maintain that the trial is a conspiracy by the Justice Department to persecute poor little ol' Orange Menace.
And don't forget, there are 2 more indictments yet to show up and go to trial: DC and GA. Those could slot in before the May trial, but we'll have to see how they play out. Regardless of how he's polling with Republicans right now, a LOT still has to happen before T***p is the Republican nominee. He could still very easily completely tank in the polls before all the primaries get underway next spring. The more stuff that comes out, the harder it may be for Donnie to refute it all, and Republican voters might just start to get really uneasy about having a candidate under multiple indictments as their nominee. Those could be very serious liabilities for a candidate to have come November, even if it IS T***p. We still have a long way to go . . .
The reason the MSM doesn't cover much international news is that many, maybe most Americans don't care about it. Before retirement when I was dealing with my company's international manufacturing plants I had a boss that couldn't understand why I read the Economist. While the Economist has a conservative view point their world wide coverage is outstanding.
We remain insular. It’s very bad for our politics and our history. The Founding Fathers would be horrified. Too bad Scalia and Alito couldn’t understand the 18th century.
That figure probably includes Congress too. Trying to get my stepson who has retired from Bath Shipyards where he designed warships, to design steamships or sailing ships to get us affordably and ecologically across the oceans. It’s time.
I am convinced that if we can unleash both government research and private corporations, we WILL find the solutions to the problem of climate change caused by global warming..... Make it profitable, and there is no limit to the energy and commitment industry will bring to solving the problems. It's what we have done for the past 245 years.....
Relying on TV in the U.S. for international news is best done streaming BBC, or if you speak French, online channels like France24 which is on the Sling information package. At least there are newspapers in the US with decent world news sections. There are plenty of international radio stations you can get for free. And don't forget "The World", a daily news program, on PRX.
Thank you for your measured discussion of cluster munitions. Unfortunately, with Russia using them against Ukrainians, the Ukrainians already have the danger of unexplored munitions.
I’d like to see a US or Chinese minesweeper travel through international waters to clear a path for grain ships to stave off starvation for so many.
If the US Sixth Fleet did for Ukrainian grain ships what was done for international oil tankers in the Persian Gulf 10 years ago, which called Iran's bluff, that would solve the problem. Putin may huff and puff and threaten to blown the house down, but that collection of garbage scows he calls a "navy" would be out of their minds to try and intervene with an escorted convoy. The Russian Navy knows they have been nothing but targets for other navies for the past 200+ years.
Tom If Putin blocks grain shipments, bombs Odessa, and threatens ships, Zelensky should announce that he WILL destroy the bridge between Russia and Crimea. Built illegally by Putin—and destroyed by Zelensky. Looking for the photo op.
Mine Sweepers are a truly unique, limited asset. Last I checked we had exactly SEVEN and they were not on active service (they have to activated). It's something they should at least think about.
I really, really hope all NATO nations are thinking and planning for their use, because grain riots in the continent of Africa doesn't bear thinking. I assume at least the Brits, French and Germans have them, as well as the US?
The disparity is probably even larger than that. The U.S. "advertised" dud rate is 2.35%, but it's probably more like the 5% you stated. I've seen assessments of Russian dud rates as high as 40%. The munitions are a big deal. If provided in large quantities, they can absolutely change the battlefield (ask the Iraqi Army, ca. 1991 about this). The bottom line is exactly as Heather stated--IT'S THE UKRAINIANS' TERRITORY. This is NOT the time for Western useful idiot sanctimoniousness.
One factor to consider here is that Russia has been using cluster munitions for the entire war, generally on civilian targets as terror weapons. Also, there are millions of Russian and Ukrainian mines and unknown numbers of unexploded artillery shells in the ground in Ukraine. The cluster munitions Ukraine is using will be used in open rural areas on the current front line, so a limited part of Ukraine's territory. It will take years of careful de-mining to find all the munitions, and they won't find all of them that's true - and also true of mines and unexploded artillery shells. War IS hell.....
I have read that the orcs have also placed landmines throughout Ukraine's best farmland. Putin, his generals, and his orcs, should be the ones forced to remove them when the war is over and Ukraine has all its territory out from under the boot.
There won't be an opportunity to fill those trenches until after the war is over, which is months to years from now. Until then, Ukrainian soldiers will have occupy and traverse that territory, so clearing of unexploded ordinance will be necessary. Any unexploded bombs are a danger, but yes, the deeper a bomb is, the less likely it is to explode and then cause damage. But over time, soil erodes, utility trenches are dug, and soil is overturned for farming. Basements for buildings may be dug. Sometimes, buried items migrate upwards due to effects of drying/wetting and freeze/thaw cycles. Bottom line is that while buried explosives pose less risk than those at the surface, they will continue to be dangerous for decades.
Thank you for the detailed reply. Had wondered if current cluster munitions are smaller than the long-lived bombs of WWI and that since they were aimed at trenches whether they would be buried more easily. The reminders of soil movement with freezing, thawing, etc., are clear too. I have seen the green fields of Northern France and hope with all my heart that the Ukrainians will be able to grow wheat sooner than the French have been able to.
Every year, farmers in Europe on sites of WWI battles dig up or collect surfaced artillery shells and grenades from that war, and they are collected by local army demolition experts - over 100 years after the end of the "Great War".....
And closer to home. From Mt. Desert Island, Maine.
A year ago Leonard Leo orchestrated the arrest of a young man who was exercising his First Amendment rights by criticizing Leo. Recently the DA declined to prosecute the case. Today news comes of the young man filing a Federal case against the two arresting officers (willingly) corrupted by Leo. And the Bangor Daily News published a link to 52 minutes of Leo and the cops planning the arrest. Which they had to know was illegal. And which the officers pursued without checking with or notifying police leadership.
Read all about it here - and listen to Leo in his own words. Among other things, claiming family values as sufficient to violate civil rights - which is just Leo all over.
The arrogance of ignorant money and those who sign on to such evil. The only family values these cretins know are the ones to hog any resources for their own progeny.
Exactly, Jeri. I have had the opportunity to observe several businesses here in Oregon (a couple restaurants, a printing shop, and a furniture store) that were started by Generation One, continued with a little loss of commitment, but not enough to crash the business with Generation Two, and when Generation Three had no interest in the business (already having lots of money because of, you guessed it, the success of the business), the business either goes under or becomes unrecognizable.
Yay for the young man! I hope he gets w settlement but too bad Leo’s name is not on the filing. What a piece of garbage he is! I also hope that you are still protesting at his home, lin.
Yup I am protesting in front of Leo's estate. And also chalking in Bar Harbor. It is the other local activists who have sustained the protests at Leo's estate ever since he bought it. And held a fundraiser for Susan Collins after she voted for Brett Kavanaugh,
This story has been, and continues to be, a distressing example those with abundantly substantial resources operating as if one is above the laws and rights and privileges of ordinary citizens. The nation desperately needs to see that justice can be applied evenly. May the young man and his lawyer be successful. It was such an irritating miscarriage of justice.
I have read that the public’s admiration of the wealthy changed after people learned how many wealthy men behaved as the Titanic sank. And learning that the third class passengers were locked in.
Since his tax free $1.6 billion windfall donation from Barr Seide and the overturning of Roe, independent and mainstream media have expanded their investigative reporting spotlighting Leo.
Leo and family values, I say ‘whose’! He is drunk with power fueled by the billion plus gift he uses to undermine democratic values! There I USED THE MUCH MALIGNED ‘values word’!
I like to use the word virtues as to me the word values implies monetization.
As in: Leonard Leo profits off using religion as a political wedge issue - for instance making it so that his religious values regarding the unborn outweigh the civic virtues of protecting child bearing persons' health and constitutional rights.
Please see my expanded comment of Leo's arguments that the personal sentiments of some privileged people (his fellow religious extremists, his family) outweigh the civil rights of all of us.
Eli and his Mom were driving through town on the way to a protest outside one of Leo's estates when they saw Leo. They shouted at Leo as they drove by. Leo told the police that Eli cursed in front of/at at his family. (Wife and 11 year old daughter.) And that this was not political speech but harassment. The police and Leo agreed Eli should be arrested for Disorderly Conduct. Eli and his Mom deny the specifics of Leo's assertions. But even if Leo's assertions were accurate and actionable - to arrest someone on Disorderly Conduct charges, the police would have had to witness the actions themselves. Which they did not and do not claim to have. Leo is arguing here that saying something he doesn't like in front of his wife and child outweighs all free speech protections. This is the same argument Leo has made regarding religious beliefs outweighing civil rights.
Leo has been moving to expand the right of freedom of worship to mean the right of religious conscience in all areas of society. Ie any religious sentiment outweighs all civil law and every civil right protection. The religious extremists Leo has selected and successfully lobbied for appointment to the Supreme Court have made decisions upholding Leo's interpretation of the law. This is not in service of Christ or the Constitution - it is in service of reducing government's ability to uphold equality before the law, equal representation, and most importantly to Leo's big money funders, equitable taxation. Where do you think Leo got the money to buy these estates? This estate, was purchased by Leo at very favorable terms from a fellow Knight of Malta. A complaint made to the IRS based on investigative analysis of the public record suggests Leo has shifted money from his non profit shell companies to his for profit business. Why do you think Republicans are against Biden requesting funding for the IRS to hire staff capable of auditing the 1000 or more page tax returns of folks like Leo and his funders? Follow the money.
Also, these alleged religious rights apply only to a narrowly defined viewpoint. They clearly do not apply to any religious persons welcoming the stranger by providing water (or wine) to thirsty migrants or voters, for example.
Meanwhile, there are an abundance of religious sentiments, including from texts and leaders these right-wing extremists claim to revere, that command the exact opposite of what they are trying to force on everyone else.
"two principles -- right and wrong -- throughout the world. They are the two principles that have stood face to face from the beginning of time, and will ever continue to struggle. The one is the common right of humanity and the other the divine right of kings" - Lincoln
It's the evil twin of the Sermon on the Mount. MAGA's despise the poorest and most abused, fawn over wealth and the rich, and hunger to shoot their enemies. The "Good Samaritan" was the good enemy, and the sanctimoniously indifferent passes by, the phonies. They even depart from their ostensible leader on taxes, of which Jesus was not a fan, but not worth fighting. I wonder what he might have thought of taxation with representation, especially as an aid to those in need of help?
By "christian" I assume you mean "Leoian", the "Federalists" just "marriage of convenience" honor among thieves. Like Trump, they'll throw anyone and anything under the bus for advantage, including our national interests.
Oh yes. Follow the money; all the swells, currents, and trickles; like a hydrological system; and the changes installed by "Reaganomics". After all these years, "Republicans" are still preaching massive tax cuts and impunity for the ultra-rich and people still vote for it without questioning how it's served them so far. Having their prejudices pandered to is enough.
What is religion? In every form I have a passing familiarity with there are those who seem to cultivate their "better angels" and those who what to claim inherent superiority and therefore the right to bully. I don't see much continuity. The latter is, as you say, not in service of Christ or the Constitution or anyone, except their toxicly narcissistic selves. Somehow their god always favors them and what they want, and therefore "trumps" the common rights of humanity; always with injustice, and sometimes with horrifying, sociopathic results.
Super Links lin, thank you for the diligent work & the attachment of tbe illuminating speaking-complaint that covered Plaintiff's Constiutional rights in Maine. Go Eli.
Extra Bonus. The detailed pleadings & evidence of Leo's modus operandi should generate deeper factual inestigations & even more powerful judicial remedies. Thank Team Eli & thank you twice lin.
Thank you. Criminal intent written all over this one. Have been wondering if the Heritage Foundation could be prosecuted as Fifth Column. This is a start.
Lin Did you see that Leonard Leo was behind providing about $3 million to produce PR pieces lauding Clarence Thomas and countering a documentary on Anita Hill? Leonard Leo, Federalist Society, Mitch McConnell—-The Three Constitutional Conspirators.
It appalls me that that scum cucker tarlson and leonard leo think they have the right to come pollute our beautiful State by their presence. I don't want them breathing any oxygen at all, let alone Maine's pristine air. How do we "motivate" them to leave and never come back? They can scurry back to the ratholes beset with their "conservative" cockroach friends that they infest the rest of the year and stay there.
When you start using food...grain supplies as a weapon against civilians...especially poor, needy ones in countries with no ties to the hostilities, you are a desperate animal, backed into a corner. Putin is making himself a total monster in his efforts to personally survive his conflict that he created. Way to go...so Trump, is he still a genius and your good friend....???
Yes. Because I think, in their hearts, both Putin and Trump are the same: sad bullies. Trump because he wasn’t shown love and affection as a child, and Putin because he’s struggling with his own being gay - I’m sure of it.
It's hard to imagine someone, no matter their predicament, taking actions that likely will cause already-struggling people to starve. Putin, an evil man, never hesitates doing so. Yet many Republicans all but worship him.
How much more suffering will NATO allow Putin to inflict? I abhor war, but Biden and NATO need to amp up provision of highly advanced weaponry to Ukraine that will end the war sooner rather than later. Otherwise, they're dragging out this horror, which is affecting very vulnerable people thousands of miles away.
Michael, the news is full of stories of more aid and weapons for Ukraine. Starvation at Putin's hands isn't loud enough, along with the means to feed the people living in at least 27 countries.
'CIA chief: Russia’s elite are questioning Putin’s judgment'
'The brief mutiny led by the Wagner Group’s chief appears to have rattled those around the Russian leader, William Burns told the Aspen Security Forum.'
“I think in many ways it exposed some of the significant weaknesses in a system that Putin has built,” Burns said. Even aside from the mutiny, such weaknesses “were exposed by Putin’s misjudgment since he launched this invasion” of Ukraine.' (Politico)
'A move that will have reverberations'
“The idea that Putin would play roulette with the hungriest people in the world at the time of the greatest food crisis in our lifetimes is just deeply disturbing,” Power told Marquardt.
He asked if she thinks Russia might rejoin the grain deal.
“It is going to require pressure not only from the United States and the United Nations, but from those countries in sub-Saharan Africa who will suffer most from the higher grain and oil prices,” Power said.
'Ukraine’s grain is key to the worldwide food supply'
'Wheat and corn prices on global commodities markets jumped Monday after Russia pulled out of the deal, and they spiked again Wednesday after attacks on the ports in Odesa and as hope faded for Russia to rejoin the grain deal.'
'Last year, economic shocks that included the impacts of the Ukraine war and the pandemic were the main reasons for “acute food insecurity” in 27 countries, affecting nearly 84 million people, according to a report by the Food Security Information Network, a data-sharing platform funded by the European Union and the United States. The FSIN defines acute food insecurity as lacking enough food to the extent that it puts the person’s life or livelihood at risk.'
'The International Rescue Committee (IRC) said in November that the deal’s collapse would “hit those on the brink of starvation the most.” The warning came after Moscow suspended its participation in the pact for several days following drone attacks in Sevastopol, a port city in Russian-controlled Crimea.'
'UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres also said at the time that a breakdown of the deal would turn a “crisis of [food] affordability into a crisis of availability” if farmers around the world couldn’t source fertilizers needed ahead of planting season.'
“If you are a bully and an aggressor, it is always easier to lob missiles and send drones at civilian infrastructure. So, I think we absolutely should expect the worst from the Russian Federation as it continues to struggle on the battlefield.” (CNN)
Zelensky always tells us what Ukraine needs. As for aid to Ukraine, here's what has been announced recently in the news:
NATO's response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine
Jul 13, 2023 — Individual NATO member countries are sending weapons, ammunition and many types of light and heavy military equipment, including anti-tank and …
Relations · Relations with Russia · Statement by NATO Heads of...
Have the western imperial powers weaponized the International Criminal Court, together with the International Monetary Fund, against Russia?
The NATO countries, led by the United States, have voting control at the IMF, which demanded in 2014 that Ukraine re-conquer the breakaway Donbass republics as part of a loan agreement.
Zelensky, after publicly pledging to keep Ukraine's promises to the IMF, reneged on both his campaign promise to bring peace and the Minsk Agreements. Zelensky first built up troops on the Donbass line of control and then started a pre-invasion bombardment while talking about re-acquiring nuclear weapons, precipitating the Russian invasion.
The Russians relocated children whose parents were dead or missing out of the war zone to Russia. For this, Putin was indicted for war crimes. Has the ICC, based in Europe, been turned into a tool of partisan NATO war propaganda?
Beyond that, HCR's claim that Putin has become an international pariah would seem to be absurd on its face.
I mean, aside from the facts she laid out, you're right-on as usual John. Y'know, I hear those milbloggers are hiring--have you looked into that? Why waste your, ahem, talents on here with people who don't APPRECIATE that you alone know the truth? I think this is your calling....
What is "misinformation" in that? Your comments on relocated children are inaccurate/incomplete at best. The pre-invasion bombardment red herring is irrelevant--I've heard this before. Ukraine and Russian had been trading counterbattery fire in Donbas since 2014 (still Ukraine's territory BTW--did Russia somehow obtain rights on that land? No). The idea that any sort of build-up by Ukraine in Donbas precipitated Putin's invasion is 100% guano. BS. Crap. Disinformation not relevant to facts. The Russians built up a clear INVASION force for months. U.S. intelligence assessed an invasion was likely more than six months prior to them actually doing it--the idea that all happened as a RESPONSE to a Ukrainian force buildup is 1) non-sensical militarily--I have 24 year in service as an officer; what do you have? 2) not-supported by force gen realities, strategic movement, or geopolitics as they existed at that time. Even the Russians themselves--never ones to pass an opportunity in information space--didn't lean on this. If it were TRUE, one would think they'd have done so, with fervor.
I could go on, but I'm tired. You have a LOT of suppositions that, frankly, aren't corroborated by reliable sources OR are taken WAY out of context for their ability to drive strategic and tactical decisions. And I'd encourage you to dig a little deeper on the altruism of Russia relocating those children--it's something they have a considerable history of doing, and it's rarely been altruistic whatsoever.
My previous post brought forth some criticism of my source. Perhaps you could take a look at my reply to Ron Boyd regarding the Moon of Alabama website:
The misinformation was that Putin has become an international pariah.
You have a lot of suppositions that you haven't documented, except to put on airs as a self-important "expert" because you were in the military.
I hope you and others will begin to consider the thought that the American people are being lied to about the mess in Ukraine.
Back in February, the "Moon of Alabama" website began posting a day-by-day account of what had happened exactly one year before, as Ukraine prepared to attack the Donbass, precipitating the Russian invasion. The first in this series of day-by-day reports is here:
Just doing a bit of checking to see where various statements in this thread came from. Mr. Schmeeckle seems - not - to post many sources. Of course that allows statements and claims to appear with no way to judge truth or validity. AHA. Here I see a "moonofalabama" link to follow. "Fascinating" ... as Mr. Spock would opine. In its own words:
start quote
About
Moon Of Alabama
This site's purpose is to discuss politics, economics, philosophy and blogger Billmon's Whiskey Bar writings. Some time ago, the commenting at Billmon's Whiskey Bar became a bit excessive. Billmon therefore closed the comments at his place on June 29, 2004. The community of commentators was left behind to search for a new place. Moon Of Alabama was opened as an independent, open forum for members of the Whiskey Bar community.
end quote
As part of their masthead, the alabama moon-folk advertise it as "A place where barflies get together."
I am satisfied now that I can lean back in my chair and choose exactly how much time to spend integrating Mr. Schmeeckle's multitude of offerings into the larger discussions here.
John, your syntax is off revealing your disposition on this & on other Platforms. This Platform has contractual rules that can be enforced at JAMS SF per contract by defined "Readers."
Because HCR, with her spin and bias, is a useful news source.
So is the Epoch Times, which has a different bias, which you can discount if you're well-informed and learn to recognize it. (They seem to like Trump but they don't love him.)
I could say the same thing for Sputnik News and my Smart News app.
I did not realize this about the cluster munitions until I read it here -
"President Biden eventually decided to send the cluster munitions, apparently in part because the areas of Ukraine where they would be deployed are already uninhabitable because of Russian mines and in part because Ukrainians themselves requested the weapons to throw out the Russian invaders, who have been using cluster munitions against Ukrainian civilians."
A tragedy indeed, that the Russians have contaminated the Ukrainian areas with cluster munitions already and that the Ukrainians are desperate enough to use them also, to defend against the Russian invaders. I think of the Ukrainians often and wonder at their strength and persistence.
So do I, when I look at pictures of what used to be attractive apartment blocks in tree-lined streets, shattered shells of noble edifices that a year ago were theatres, museums, law courts, schools.
It will take a huge effort and resources to rebuild Ukraine & make the land safe again (swept of unexploded ordinance)….Marshall Plan big. I hope the hucksters, opportunists and greedy investors aren’t allowed to participate in any part of the effort….grift, graft & greed need not apply
Thanks Heather. I've provided comments on Dan Drezner's blog as well as CNN's discussions prior to this. I'm a retired field artillery officer (24 years) and DPICM was the name of the game before the GWOT, and I know all about it. We never banned them, but we stopped using them--so, there are probably plenty to give (we don't train with them either--there's no real need). You hit on the most important aspect of this: it's the Ukrainians' territory; end of story. Well-intended people (AKA useful idiots for a guy like Putin) using this issue/moment to get sanctimonious is just as inexecrable as the Dems who urged for peace/negotiations months ago (thankfully, my own very pro-Ukraine rep was not one of them).
The munitions are a big deal, maybe even more so than F16s--certainly so in the near-term. Their ability to destroy armor in large formations far exceeds that of conventional munitions and their numbers make them preferable at scale to using smart munitions. I know the term "game-changer" has gotten thrown around a lot in the past year or so, to the point I think people are mocking it. The truth is, combined arms warfare requires ALL of the things we're giving them--there is no magic pill, not even attack/fighter aircraft or ATACMS. But this is, more than the others, a mass killer. Sorry to be so cold, but that's EXACTLY what this gives Ukraine--the ability to destroy large amounts of Russian materiel and people. Not-fun fact: most of the ridiculous levels of destruction we incurred on the Iraqi Army in 1991 was not from the smart bombs on TV every night. It was from artillery--tens of thousands of rounds and rockets, most with DPICM. It is THAT big of a force killer.
As it is that big of a force killer is a major reason why cluster bombs should never be used. To say so is not sanctimony, but principle.
Is it not ironic that with the much ballyhooed release of 'Oppenheimer ", and approaching the 78th anniversary of our most shameful moment--the war crime of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima--that we still distort logic and principles to "win" a war, or as the Ukrainian foreign minister said with Orwellian chill, "win the peace"
I might suggest that the use of nukes on Hiroshima and Nagasaki would have much to compete with in the category of "America's Most Shameful Moment." Consider a history from the pilgrims' times for our treatment of indigenous folk, slavery, land grabbing and empire building across the continent and the Pacific, internment of Japanese during WWII, general misogynism, voter suppression, and most anything associated with MAGA-Trump-ism. Lots of competition for Most Shameful.
There are good, honest arguments opposing the use of nuclear weapons, anytime, anywhere, by anyone. That said, one of the reasons we are (in the US) free to debate it today is the nuclear umbrella held over us to deter and prevent the bad sorts of things that are happening in the Ukraine--as yet without nukes.
BTW, my bona fides include 13 years in the Strategic Air Command, commanding small elements of nuclear bomber and missile forces. All of us were extremely sensitive to the horrific responsibility we bore, on alert duty on airfields or in underground silos. Deterrence has worked. So far. Think of the balance President Biden must maintain while helping Ukraine to defend itself, deciding to offer the request for cluster munitions, and still working to avoid a total spiral in the use of force. No one will "win" a nuclear exchange. Some would survive it. We must continue to avoid it. And finally, our unilateral disarmament and a sincere prayers won't bring us the goal of world peace and good will to men.
I appreciate your thoughts in response to mine, and agree with many of them, Bill.
While there is no shortage of competition for America's most shameful moment, the wholly unnecessary and path-breakingly brutal destruction of over 60,000 innocent souls in Hiroshima on one day, still seems to be at least the first among unenviable equals.
As for the nuclear umbrella serving as deterrent, while I am sure that it has served in that capacity in some ways, there have still been way too many shooting and killing wars since that fateful day in 1945, and way too many of them have been initiated by the US of A unnecessarily. I also do not see how the nuclear umbrella has deterred any of the horrific events initiated by the war criminal Putin in Ukraine. Beyond that, the introduction of the atom's genocidal side to this little planet continues to disrupt Nations everywhere, scrambling to join their big nuclear brothers in the exclusive club of death, has it not?
Your bona fides are to be honored and respected, Bill. You and your fellow servicemen and women honorably served, unnoticed and underappreciated by so many of us in the hard work of keeping the world as peaceful as possible. Eternal gratitude is owed you.
Finally, while unilateral disarmament and sincere prayers will not in and of themselves bring world peace and good will to men, it is certain that neither will the ongoing militaristic mindset, and the constant shoveling of billions of dollars toward perpetual war.
Bill, at the risk of lobbing one off into far left field, reading your comment about nukes reminded me of a very short story (linked from a longer article…the product of the internet rabbit hole late one night) that I happened upon a week or so ago. Has to do with identifying the elements that would last eons in our geologic record. It is speculative sci-fi-ish, but found the whole Silurian Hypothesis interesting. Anyway the very short story is on this site..have to scroll down a bit to it: https://www.vice.com/en/article/3kj4y8/gavin-schmidt-fiction-under-the-sun
You write, "It's the Ukrainians' territory, end of story." I disagree, and perhaps you will be willing to have a reasoned exchange of views.
First of all the history: Kyiv was the mother of Moscow, close to 1000 years ago. Then both were overrun by different empires, and the languages slowly diverged somewhat. Then, in the 17th Century, Russia took the Kyiv area from Poland/Lithuania. This was the kernel of "little" Ukraine.
Later, in the 18th century, Russia reconquered the depopulated area north of Crimea from the Tatar slave raiders. This became Novorossiya and was settled by a mixture of different ethnic groups, with Russian becoming the dominant language.
Later, as the old Russian Empire was reformulated by the new Communist Soviet regime, Russian-speaking Novorossiya was stapled together with "little" Ukraine to form the Ukrainiane Soviet Socialist Republic. Then, in the 1950s, Crimea was tacked onto Ukraine by the Soviet leader Kruschev.
History is interesting, isn’t it? Putin expected Ukrainians to fold and give up- he predicted he would control Ukraine in 4 or 5 days, didn’t he?
The US offered Zelensky a fight to safety. Zelensky responded with something like, “The fight is here. I don’t need a ride, I need ammunition.”
The Ukrainians have been fighting for their property and right to self-determination ever since. Putin’s aggression has killed thousands of Ukrainians, as well as a rather horrifying number of his own troops, wrecking the Ukrainian economy and also his own.
Now grain, one of the goals of Putin’s assault, enough to feed whole countries, is being destroyed as Putin becomes unhinged and forgets what he thought he was fighting for.
The Ukrainians continue to be very clear about what they are fighting for, and the lengths to which they are willing to go, to retain their land and right to self-determination.
I think you are badly misinformed about what Putin expected and predicted. His invasion force was very light on infantry, not close to enough to fight a protracted urnan warfare campaign. His goal, in his feint toward Kyiv, was to flush out the neo-Nazi military elements and pound them into oblivion.
I have disagreements with the rest of what you wrote, but time compels me to abbreviate.
Regarding Zelensky’s aggression, tearing up the Minsk Agreements and provoking Putin's invasion:
"On Sunday February 13 2022, after a phone call with U.S. president Joe Biden, the Ukrainian president Zelensky gave the final order for the planned Ukrainian attack.
"That the decision had been made was immediately leaked in London as well as in Kiev.
"In its summary of the day the Guardian listed a lot of activities that were consistent with the imminent start of a conflict. Diplomats and foreign military were moving out of Ukraine. Weapons flew in.
"Tipped off by its government the British insurance conglomerate Lloyd stopped reinsurance services for anything Ukraine:
" 'Anatoliy Ivantsiv, head of Ukrainian insurance firm Expo, told Interfax that British reinsurance giant Lloyds announced it would temporarily cease all conflict risk insurance over Ukrainian airspace from Feb. 14.'
"When the news of the attack order leaked in Kiev, its 'elite' oligarchs and some parliament members were ready to leave. On February 13 and the following days they fled the country..."
Yes, my thought is you have described nothing to justify Russian aggression led by Putin to invade Ukraine, a sovereign nation. Nothing. So what is your purpose?
Here's a source about Zelensky’s aggression in the Donbass, tearing up the Minsk Agreements and provoking Putin's invasion:
"On Sunday February 13 2022, after a phone call with U.S. president Joe Biden, the Ukrainian president Zelensky gave the final order for the planned Ukrainian attack.
"That the decision had been made was immediately leaked in London as well as in Kiev.
"In its summary of the day the Guardian listed a lot of activities that were consistent with the imminent start of a conflict. Diplomats and foreign military were moving out of Ukraine. Weapons flew in.
"Tipped off by its government the British insurance conglomerate Lloyd stopped reinsurance services for anything Ukraine:
" 'Anatoliy Ivantsiv, head of Ukrainian insurance firm Expo, told Interfax that British reinsurance giant Lloyds announced it would temporarily cease all conflict risk insurance over Ukrainian airspace from Feb. 14.'
"When the news of the attack order leaked in Kiev, its 'elite' oligarchs and some parliament members were ready to leave. On February 13 and the following days they fled the country..."
As Marva writes below, your point is lost in a somewhat one sided historical perspective, and fails to account for the most important fact: That Ukraine is a sovereign, independent Nation. Yes, its historical and cultural ties to Russia are undeniable. But that pales in importance compared to Ukraine's sovereign and independent nature, a nature historically ignored by Russian leaders going back to the Romanov period.
I realize that I'm taking a very narrow view here of what is an extremely well thought out and informative letter, but something jumped out at me -- all the issues around grains, from starvation to politics, could all be easily eliminated if we just stopped using the majority of the crops on earth to feed animals that humans don't really need to eat (or their eggs and dairy), and replace those crops with crops for humans to eat, we could feed the world ten times over and avoid the very worst consequences of climate change. Methane is 85 times more potent a GHG than CO2. In the U.S. methane from livestock, yes chickens, pigs, and cows constitutes 37% of all methane emissions. Globally, animal ag contributes more GHGs than all global transportation combined. With everything in the news about the climate crisis that we are all experiencing in various ways, and the vulnerability of the world regarding crops, this should be top news and our highest priority. Why isn't it? Big Ag is the most powerful lobbyist group in DC and they've literally got both sides of the aisle doing their bidding. So it's up to us to change. So much of this is in our hands and control. Isn't it easier to cut back on meat, eggs, and dairy than on driving? Please act now. Otherwise we might as well hand over the keys to the kingdom to Putin and the likes ad well as big ag. They are all blinded by power and greed. We can force a change by what we put on our plates. Not to mention for the 80+ billion land animals raised and slaughtered in horrifically cruel and violent factory farming facilities. There's that to consider...
I agree with what you say and follow that. You are a voice drowned out by widespread cultural habits going back eons. Changing all that is not as easily facilitated as you suggest. “So it’s up to us to change.” I did, so I guess it’s not impossible. But I didn’t for most of my life because I was surrounded by carnivores, which is what most humans are, for better or worse…
It may not be easily facilitated BUT it is a message and a fact that bears repeating until it is sanely heard and soberly considered....even in these complicated times. There is healthful life after the slaughter of billions of animals has ceased world wide.
I'll sign on to that. The 60 Minutes Show that spoke of the 6,000 cows slaughtered in one day at one plant made me sick. And I know that treatment is worse than horrid before they are turned into our burgers, steaks, etc.
Yes and there are dozens of powerful and difficult videos online showing the actual brutal conditions under which the chickens, pigs and cattle we eat are forced to live just long enough to fatten up quickly, with hormones and antibiotics, often in shockingly confined spaces just to be marched to a brutal demise. I became a vegan/begetarian for health reasons. However, the videos cemented the ethical commitment. I now look at those friends and family who remain carnivores and the diet strikes me as so unappealing and uncreative. The evidence is out there. Just like climate change. We just don't want to look at it. Not yet, not now, maybe not ever. But I will never look back....
I didn't say it was easy. Or did I? LOL. I meant simple. It's definitely not going to happen on it's own, and it will not be easy. That's why I'm an activist, not just a vegan. Everyone's blasting their ACs in these horrible heatwaves -- that's not easy to change either -- I still believe we can more easily transform what we eat and how we grow food every bit as easily if not more easily than all the energy related changes that need to happen. Those are happening at such a snail's pace. It's not one or the other. Overheating is life threatening. Eating less animal products isn't. I just want people to realize that this is a major piece of climate change and it is unacceptable that our leaders are completely leaving it out of the dialogue and plan. Unless you're Cory Booker of course! He seems to be the only one willing to stand up to this giant, ruthless industry.
While thoughtful & concerned, your statements don’t really seem to address the immediacy of need for foodstuffs, which is how that grain is slated to be used in the countries importing it, for the most part, at this time. People the world over are using grain for bread, and although I may be mistaken, those nations primarily affected by the implosion of the grain deal are trying to feed their people on a starvation/famine prevention basis. How do we address THAT issue right now?
No clue. But I do know that we must think forward. We cannot always be thinking only in the moment. There are going to be many disasters and catastrophes, natural and manmade. We need to place at least half of our focus on preventative measures that will yield the kind of results we want to see in the future, that we wish were the case now, instead of being reactionary -- like Western Medicine. We've got to embrace the 7 generations philosophy.
All of agriculture currently generates less than 10% of greenhouse gases. The fossil fuel industries generate 70% of green house gases. Growing human quality produce is more energy intensive than raising hay or oats. Insulate your house, seal your windows, upgrade your appliances, get some solar panels and an electric car, then get an induction range and turn off the gas line to your house. Much more substantive actions to mitigating the problems caused by fossil fuel extraction and combustion. Cruelty to animals is a completely different thing, and a worthy issue to grapple with, but don’t get confused, survival of all life as we know it is a more basic question, and a tremendous amount of money is being spent by fossil fuel interests to make us all worry about about cow burps. Don’t get distracted.
In the US, there were millions of buffalo burping. The oil companies are trying to distract from the vast quantity of unflared, undocumented methane they are releasing. I am sorry I don’t remember the reference , but I expect if you Google unidentified point sources of methane,you will learn some things you didn’t know about how much more methane comes out of a well than out of a herd of cows. The discussion was originally about what to do about climate change. What to do with starving people as a result of climate change is another discussion...
You sound like an industry advocate. I'm a former energy efficiency consultant and got my BS in energy management and design. Millions of Buffalo igrazing on natural meadow sis very very different than 100 billion animals being stuffed full of an unnaturall diet that causes them gastrointestinal stress. The average life on earth is that of a factory farmed animal. It's completely unnatural. I'm also an animal rights activist.. I assure you that I am not confused. The world is caught in a delusion. Fossil fuels are obviously a problem. But you are underestimating animal ag's contribution.
Which industry do you think I am advocating for? Have you see the very recent research on the astounding methane plums from wells in Texas, Turkey, and Turkmenistan? I believe these new findings increase the relative impact of unflared wells, and decrease the impact of ag in general on the general warming of the planet. I am far from an advocate for factory farming. The huge feedlots should be outlawed, as environmental hazards. The reason the price of eggs went to 7 or 8 dollars a dozen was because of the overcrowding of the factory chicken farms, leading to the infection or potential for infection of all those chickens, which led to the culling of all those chickens. Corporate fantasies of economies of scale, accomplished by failure to account for the true cost of waste disposal and hiding catastrophic events like bird flu epidemics, are creative at best, and simple profiteering lies at worst. What are your suggestions for remediating all these problems, which, from my point of view, come from the same erroneous decision making processes by a certain set of human beings?
Yep, and pound per pound you'd be shocked at how much methane chickens are responsible for just based on their sheer numbers. about 1/5 of the methane from livestock comes from chickens. But by body weight they make up a ridiculously small fraction of the total livestock mass. The fact that these billions are mostly chickens does not mean that the associated emissions are insignificant. I've done the math.
I think everyone should have a few chickens in their back yard. Fresh eggs, no Japanese beetles or ticks, funny little feathered dinosaur opinions about things. But once again, even using your numbers, 1/5 of 35 is 7%. The oil fields release more and don’t even report it. Go after the big guns, you know? I am shocked at why Exxon, BP, and Amaco get a pass, aren’t you?
I'm not shocked, but I'm disgusted. Both industries are nearly exempt from any and all environmental regulation or accountability. They are both super destructive. I'm not exactly sure how you're doing the math, but animal ag emitting more GHGs than all global transportation combined is not insignificant, no matter what the number. I don't eat eggs anymore so if I ever rescue a chicken I'll love it like family. Otherwise I don't think I "need" chickens. Last time I checked 7% or 10% aren't insufficient values. I mean if that was interior lighting I doubt you'd be so dismissive about that value. Big Ag, then fossil fuels, then who knows, big pharma? They are the bread and butter of the global economy. Especially the poor animals, because very very little overhead goes into those hellish places - they die all the time before reaching slaughter. Roughly 15-20% is the industry's loss tolerance. It is unconscionable. It's nearly all profit the way they do it. When you combine the torture of animals with the negative, and no doubt undercounted, climate and environmental impacts of factory farming, I'm afraid I'm unwilling and unable to agree that fossil fuels are a bigger issue for our planet. You're missing the backside of the meat egg and dairy problem. And that is disease, viruses, pandemic risks, and all the masses of energy spent on Healthcare facilities treating all the sick people from diseases caused by consumption, and zoonotic viruses, plus all the transport fuel spent on getting animals to slaughter and then to market. Animals are frequently trucked 24-48 hours to slaughter (without water or food, but that's not energy related), not to mention the masses of burned and cleared forests for grazing and growing feed crop, and the energy to grow these crops, the CO2 released by burning, the lack of those trees to sequester CO2. Humans weigh far less than cattle. We wouldn't have to grow nearly as much food if we weren't growing it for cows that we then eat! There are only 8 billion of us. We don't weigh over 400 lbs on average. It's absurd! Gosh let's not forget all the refrigeration required for meat eggs and dairy. Produce isn't anywhere near as energy intensive overall as animal ag. Energy = emissions. I hope that you can see that there is so much more to animal ag in terms of its contributions to climate change than just the methane. But ilet's say you're right, hypothetically, that animal ag "only" accounts for 10% of GHG emissions ... what about the fact that methane is 85 times more potent than CO2 as a GHG? It dissipates faster, so if we can reduce in the near term that is a win win - because it's so potent and better at trapping heat. It would help but it's time and could literally make the difference. Not everyone can afford all the EE retrofits you suggested, which should always start with the roof and envelope insulation, including windows and doors. Then appliances etc. But EVERYONE can eat less animal products - no excuse. - we don't need the nutrients and more than those animals we eat. That's a totally myth. Watch the Game Changers on Netflix for more info on that, and then What The Health. So no, animal ag doesn't get a free pass from scrutiny and neither do the masses who consume it. We have to change both things animal product and energy consumption. It's about its climate change contributions and its not either/or. Both unscrupulous industries as well as our elected officials who prop them up with our tax dollars and deregulation are to blame. It's literally outrageous and unacceptable. They're is literally no public messenging in our media networks about either issue. Shameful.
I just had a frustrating few minutes trying to sign in on my laptop so am pecking this on my phone instead. Thank you for the post and providing clarity to much of what is happening. And as I read this I'm thanking our stars above that Joe Biden and clear heads are in charge rightnow. May we continue to have actual patriots and smart people on the watch.
Thank you for insightful, well-researched article Heather!
"The U.S. Treasury and the U.S. State Department today announced additional sanctions on companies that have given Russia access to products that feed the war, provide revenue from minerals and mining, give it access to the international financial system, or provide military technology."
I hope they are going after SLB (formerly Schlumberger), Baker Hughes, and Halliburton.
Thank you George for these links. Very important info that I had not seen so explicitly reported previously. Shameful behavior by the cited companies, particularly SLB (formerly Schlumberger), which I find infuriating under the circumstance! Nothing but greed could justify actions taken by SLB, insatiable greed and an eye for beating the risk and getting away with it.
From my perspective the combination of greed and willful ignorance are destroying the planet. And the fossil fuels industry generates billions in revenue and profit every month in which they can delay any meaningful societal/global response to the climate emergency. Greed is a core component of the fossil fuel industry DNA. Their behavior is reprehensible.
How was that allowed to continue for over a year?! SLB wasn't smuggling oil rig equipment in boxes of cereal. Time and again it turns out that U.S. sanctions are smoke-and-mirrors.
I think her assertion, that Putin being not able to attend the BRICS Summit--kind of a big deal for him--indicates he's a pariah, has absolute relevance. And by the way, "weaponizing" the ICC, if there is such a thing ("weaponize" such a go-to word for the MTGs and Boebies of the world now--jump on that train!), is no different (it's a tool. Their called instruments of national/international power--look it up) that, say, Russia "weaponizing" food distribution to Africa--a place where Wagner offers its "services" in 12 countries (well, 11 now), mostly with brutality, to, wait for it, "weaponize" the UN votes against its invasion. There is truth that, Russia's status outside the west is much more ambivalent--but that is less about those countries actually supporting Russia than it is their concern for, y'know, things like basic food and security--the things Putin is trying to hold hostage (if that wasn't clear--I'm dying to hear your spin on that).
We are hearing more and more about younger Americans, youth through those in their 30s and 40s, all in the prime of their lives, experiencing and suffering from depression, anxiety, anger, loss of direction, and other signs of mental, emotional and physical fatigue.
At the same time, I hear many FOX followers blaming this on laziness, woke, liberals, failed Christian commitment, and everything else their neo authoritarian politics ascribes to the “others”.
I can’t help but believe that living in a world of rapidly increasing climate change catastrophes, economic inequalities, political threats, the legalized violence and denialism that FOX & FRIENDS promotes and then blames on the innocent, while Putin and his international supporters practice this on their own people and other nations, is driving us, particularly the young, all insane and feeling lost and hopeless.
Great assessment, David, and one that I think is the most spot-on of any "laments about the youth" from my generation that I have heard. It ain't being "woke". It is about existential and environmental and political crisis.
World War III has become a distinct possibility. Putin is nuts. Fascism is spreading. World wide. George Orwell lives on in our GOP. Ignorance and fear rule among America’s prejudiced, uneducated and intolerant whites. The best campuses are silent and complicit. Yet, Yale’s Timothy Snyder spells out the historical context and significance of Russia’s actions and the danger to all. Jews will not replace us is the cry. Never Again is forgotten. Food is now a weapon. Starvation is now likely. War crime is sanctioned by silence and violence. Ambivalence in America is an old story. Winston S. Churchill was patient. Japan solved FDR’s isolationist problem. Who and what will focus our intolerance and ignorance problem? Warming assures refugees in the millions. And violence. Borders close. Bombs drop. GOP Rep. Elise Stefanik of the 21st rules Speaker Kevin McCarthy. Both are liars. Both are fascist. Fascism depends on the willfully complicit. And silent. President Dwight David Eisenhower warned us about the military industrial complex. He understood. President Abraham Lincoln was our best. The Civil War never ended. Two terms of Obama triggered the white supremacy born again movement. White churches across the south are fired up. Blacks are targeted. The white American male is upset. Daily mass murder is proof. Former President Trump and the now infamous son of Robert and Ethel Kennedy are severely disturbed pathological liars... that appeal to ignored Americans of no education... born to hate, many unloved, often addicted, intolerant to a fault.. and angry.
Well said. In my humble opinion, we also have a group of not so ignorant isolationist and a group of not so ignorant actual fascist. I wish ignorance and fear only effected the prejudice, uneducated and intolerant among us. We humans seem to have an ability to not think and not see and not care until a problem is at our throats. The natural world is pushing back in a very visible way now and it seems like a conversion of many life threatening or life ending factors are beginning to push us rapidly to the brink. We will do reckless things when that happens. Not well reasoned and well informed.
Buried in your staccato summary of our disjointed history is one sentence ending with a question mark. 'Who and what will focus our intolerance and ignorance problem?" I wonder what cost to our freedoms such a focus will require. We should not be looking for a benevolent dictator. They don't exist.
Very well said. Paints an ugly picture of humans who don’t seem to learn the lessons of the past. Agree that climate change is going to throw an already charged and tenuous world out of the frying pan and into the (literal) fire. Maybe there will remain, after we’ve mostly done ourselves in, some scattered folk deep in the wilderness who live their traditional ways (no, or little, prior “outside” contact) to keep our species alive.
Very strange to be so close to war without being at war .. I wonder how long NATO can stay that way ? This is very scary as a wrong move by Putin could start WWIII.
I wish the main stream news channels would cover international developments as much as you do. They are giving too much oxygen to the MAGA wildfire.
I think the point of HCR’s details, with pertinent references to documentation, points up the difference between News as a form of entertainment and developing historical record.
A historian can use examples from the past to identify critical events and possible outcomes.
The New York Times and a few other major news sources have managed to maintain a depth of reporting similar to HCR.
Modern Media has made todays events seem a form of entertainment but HCR Demonstrates they form history.
Art, great assessment. When Professor Richardson writes "current events", she writes with an intent to inform the historians of 150 years from now to see how we got here and what we did.
I agree with you regarding your point that many news sources focus on entertainment. I subscribe to the New York Times and am have become disappointed in how they portray what is going on in our political world. I truly believe that our country and the world is headed for disaster. And yet the media presents what is going on as “that’s politics “. There is no conservative party. What we have is the Republican cult. And cults are dangerous.
I subscribe to the NYT and to the WaPo. I don't see them covering MAGA antics as anything close to "normal politics". Their online presentation is a bit too entertaining when I'm just trying to scan the headlines. MSNBC is a bit over-the-top in it's shock reaction to Trumpism, but in breaking news, they're quite good. CNN has lurched "right" to take pains to say there are rational opinions on both sides that should be listed to. While that's true, they've gotten rid of those that had the temerity to be rational journalists and call out Republican BS for what it is, so I don't watch them as much. FOX has not improved, other than it's a bit less crappy since TCarlson's out.
Sigh. Who, other than retirees and professional news folk have time to sift through all this? Until I retired, I certainly had little energy for news.
Jerry, I subscribe to The New York Times' and the Washington Post's newspapers and online, among other outlets. I do not find either paper entertaining, except in the entertainment section as in the newspapers they publish.
Plus I find lots of other interesting articles in both papers (online) that have nothing to do with national or world politics.
Jim Acosta is still good.
A problem is maintaining position. If the Times relied on the same number of commenters to HCR they’d go broke.
But the breadth of their reporting on Trump is awesome. And I succeeded ignoring him until 2022.
Well thought out and articulated Art. Bravo ~
I didn't see any MAGA stories on the front pages of The New York Times or Washington Post this morning. I did find the following foreign news stories, some of which impact international developments:
LIVEUpdated
July 21, 2023, 7:23 a.m. ET Just Now
Russia-Ukraine WarRussian Strikes and Naval Drills Unsettle Black Sea as U.N. Prepares to Meet
Moscow struck granaries in Odesa, continuing its apparent campaign to incapacitate Ukraine’s ability to export food by sea.
Their City in Ruins, a Ukrainian University and Its Students Persevere
Mariupol State University, an oasis amid the war, has graduated its newest class, more than a year after fleeing its devastated home city.
Around the Globe, Searing Heat With No Sign of Relief
In Asia, Europe and the United States, records are shattering, and forecasters say there’s no respite in sight.
U.K. Voters Hand Sunak’s Party Two Defeats and a Win in By-elections
The governing Conservatives retained Boris Johnson’s former Parliament seat in northwest London, but lost in two districts, including a sobering defeat in northern England.
In Spain’s Election, Left and Right Answer for the Company They Keep
Before voting Sunday, a focus on the leading parties’ allies has dominated the campaign — and obscured debate about more fundamental issues.
Lawmakers Challenge Ford and Chinese Battery Partner Over Forced Labor
Republicans are raising fresh concerns about CATL, the battery maker Ford is working with to bring new technology to the U.S., and its connections to Xinjiang.
What’s Reasonable? A Debate Over a High Court’s Reach Divides Israel.
The legal concept of “reasonableness,” which has allowed the Supreme Court to strike down ministerial appointments, among other things, is at the center of a domestic crisis gripping the country.
A sampling of foreign news on the front page of the Washington Post:
Ukraine now using U.S.-provided cluster munitions ‘effectively’ in combat, official says
Live briefing: Fourth day of Odessa strikes as Russia pounds port region on Black Sea
Viral video of a sexual assault in India sparks outrage and protest
Iraq orders expulsion of Swedish ambassador over Quran controversy
Afghanistan may have $1 trillion worth of electric-vehicle metals. U.S. rivals are angling to exploit them.
The headline that stands out in this long list is "Around the Globe, Searing Heat With No Sign of Relief" - imagine the next great migration here in the US: generations of folks who moved south/southwest for the great weather having to reverse course to stay alive.
I live an hour west of Boston, in a very green semi-rural town that is 230 feet above sea level. I am already trying to imagine how Massachusetts will handle the future influx of climate refugees not only from the South and Southwest, fleeing the killing heat, but also fleeing west from our own coastline as it slowly inundates with sea level rise. Will our state have the foresight to begin relocating towns and cities? Will it be left to individuals as their individual properties flood, with no overall planning by the government, because "freedom" plus government inertia?
If we wait too long, until moving a lot of people becomes an emergency, will the U.S.-internal climate refugee crisis get bad enough that either the government will have to take land by eminent domain on higher ground to build places to relocate people and towns, or alternatively, civil disorder will break out with (armed?) conflict between current landowners and climate refugees squatting or demanding, because they have no place else to go?
These ruminations do not give serenity, as my husband and I walk our cute, enthusiastic dog around our lovely, currently green, currently low-density neighborhood. The more I think about it, the more I think that Biden should be setting up a Cabinet-level department of Climate Mitigation and Adaptation, right now.
The Mitigation side needs to bring together and turbo-charge (sorry, internal combustion engine metaphor) all the initiatives to speed the conversion to green energy and rapidly wind down extraction and burning of fossil fuels.
The Adaption side is needed to start planning right now for an orderly reshaping of where Americans live and work, driven as much as possible by incentives to goose free-market decisions. Your house is destroyed by flooding or a hurricane? In certain zones, no rebuilding help is available in that location, but substantial rebuilding help is available if you relocate to higher ground. Entire cities are doomed to disappear under water? We need to be planning now to turn them into floating cities, a la some towns in coastal Netherlands, or provide a plan and incentives to relocate to a New CityX well inland, where the government buys a big chunk of land and plans a community designed to be net-zero, with social and racial justice, and well above sea level rise.
We can start planning all this to happen in as orderly a way as possible, with input from all stakeholders and preservation of as much freedom and personal choice as possible, or we can fail to plan, which means planning to fail and just letting the chaos and social disorder and unmitigated economic disaster rip.
As a resident of another hilly and currently green place about 40 miles from the Atlantic, well above any reasonably foreseeable flooding of the Kennebec, the proposed office of climate mitigation and adaptation has to make as a first priority perserving as much of our forests as possible, while creating safe clean places for humans to live and work. We have to preserve our forests.
Lynn, you are absolutely correct. Part of the mission and mandate of the proposed new Department of Climate Mitigation and Adaptation (DCMA) absolutely must be to preserve our forests, waterways and wetlands, and land and marine wildlife habitats. This department needs to have the authority to change the policies and practices of the Department of the [Interior?] and the Bureau of Land Management and the Department of Energy, if I am right about the federal agencies that currently administer, make the rules for, and control what happens to all federal land. There also need to be strong incentives for private owners of forests and other carbon sinks and natural habitats, to preserve them. Establishing the DCMA with sufficient power and mandate (while still respecting democratic values) will be an earthquake, but it needs to happen.
Considering the repugnants want to get rid of all the safety regulations that have been implemented such as the EPA so corporations can retain their profits and the cultists Supreme Court aiding them with the new laws ! Its always about money and power and who cares if we destroy the planet !! My money , my precious money !!
Thank you for this excellent post. I'm sharing it with others. Unfortunately, we rarely plan anything and the republicans are actually opposed to planning unless it helps the rich.
Thanks, William! Share away! And please add the comments about protecting forests and habitats. The Republicans, the rich, and Big Carbon will clearly try very hard to completely squash any of the ideas my post proposes.
I live in the lush green farmland and forest of Ontario Canada, beautiful, sparsely populated and elevated enough, and far enough from the ocean to probably never flood. I think about the questions you posed as well. On the other hand, I have a cottage in Newfoundland sitting on a 50 foot bluff overlooking the Gulf of St. Lawrence. I have often wondered how it would be to see the ocean waves coming up over that bluff on to the property. Scary thought. I really appreciate your post. You have obviously thought a lot about how to address and perhaps forestall the coming calamity of weather refugees on the move. I assume you've been in contact with you Senators and Representatives (I know, pretty futile, but perhaps will actually be taken up by someone up there).
Big Oil companies employ hundreds of environmental engineers to minimize (but not prevent) the damage they do, and then remediate afterwards. While I don't tend to vilify them "too" much, I agree that public pressure is absolutely necessary to push them to do more of the right thing. I don't think they'll just go away and shut down until you and I stop driving and using electricity.
I live in Connecticut and have similar feelings.
Elizabeth M you have a pov that’s so on point and entirely sensible not many will want to digest or will want to listen. Too uncomfortable. Too prescient.
I live near the flank of Vineyard Sound. People are scrambling to build more, yes more and larger houses as close to the shore as they can.
This is not news I’m sure to many of us who live close to beaches and their sunsets.
Oh, and mjust as I was reading HCR’s letter today, I got a banner from the NYTimes suggesting 5 horror films to watch this weekend.
Thanks, Samm. I would love to be wrong about all this. It's painful to see people digging further into locations that will be flooded at high tide or totally underwater in ten, twenty, or thirty years. It's also painful to *not* see the states and the federal government planning for how we will relocate our coastal towns and cities, and how and where we will grow our food when droughts and heat take over some large sections of the country where most of our food is currently grown. Failure to plan is planning to fail. I guess I should be getting people together to lobby the Biden Administration directly, put my time and action where my mouth is.
A major frustration about this lack of foresight, is that other countries have all the knowledge and information about how to do this, so we wouldn't have to completely reinvent the wheel. Look at The Netherlands and their water management expertise. And, when there's a flood often the US taxpayer gets the bill. I'd rather my tax dollars go to the long term planning and operationalizing of those plans, then to foolishly rebuild repeatedly.
The beaches around Vineyard Sound are beautiful. Since they were deposited during the Pleistocene as the glaciers from the last ice ager melted and receded, the sand they're made from will continue to naturally compress and subside. For those areas, the effect of seal level rise will be accentuated by this subsidence.
But regarding beach houses, my attitude is that as long as I don't have to subsidize their risk while I'm far from the ocean, and they're willing and able to afford losing the house or rebuilding, I don't mind, as long as public access to those beaches is maintained. I do mind, though, the thought of these beautiful sandy islands shrinking.
The Vineyard and Nantucket are beautiful places. I agree it's a shame that both are eroding. Are you on the landward or island side of Vineyard Sound? Some friends of mine inherited a small cottage at Madaket, on Nantucket. They have had to move it back from the retreating edge of the dune a couple of times in the last 30 years. They feel fortunate their grandparents bought a piece of land that goes all the way back to the road. I hope you are able to stay in your beautiful spot for many decades to come.
Oops I need to finish that: all I need to do is read news headlines shout Putin,
I give up! Putin.
An additional comment re rising sea levels-let's see if DeSatan decides to even address that issue, since the entire state of FL is a peninsula! Does the northern states want an influx of MAGA leaning folks?
Florida is the world's largest sand bar - if the sea rises even just 100 feet, half the state disappears. At 200 feet, almost the entire state except for the higher ground near Alabama will be the new Atlantis.....
Well deathsantis will be responsible for that since all of the insurance companies are leaving Floriduh and his non handling of previous flooding and hurricanes are destroying the state !
At 3 to 7 feet sea level rise per century, it's not clear the politics will take the same shape in 30 centuries, when half of Florida might be under water. We might be an enlightened species by then. Or endangered...
If we have the good fortune not to have driven ourselves to extinction, along with many other species.
Elizabeth M., I agree that the issues you mention are real and worrisome and that addressing them should start now. However, the actual rate of sea level rise we should expect ranges from less than 6 inches per century (what it has been observed to be since 1900 or so) to an unlikely 7 feet per century.
(A graph of the full range can be found in https://www.climate.gov/news-features/understanding-climate/climate-change-global-sea-level#:~:text=Future%20sea%20level%20rise,-As%20global%20temperatures%20continue%20to ) .
The Royal Society in 2020 took a stab at a "best guess" of 16 to 31 inches (about 2.5 feet). (link: https://royalsociety.org/topics-policy/projects/climate-change-evidence-causes/question-14/)
What does it mean? The answer varies by where someone lives. Let's assume (based on the websites I mentioned) that the possible range is 3-6 feet of sea level rise per century. My cousin who lives in Brick, NJ has a house that's 3' above sea level. He's going to have to raise his house or move by 2100, maybe sooner because his neighborhood is on sand, which WILL continue to compress over time and sink. Your neighborhood won't become a beach town for 35-70 centuries, though that should be reassessed to check for sea level rise.
Clearly, there is scope for action now for those affected in the near term in terms of public policy and insurance guarantees. That is actually already happening, as FEMA is redrawing its flood risk maps and insurance companies are raising insurance rates by a lot. Still, if you drive along areas flooded in Houston after Hurricane Harvey or decimated by Hurricane IKE in Galveston, TX, you will see houses on piers in Houston and on very tall stilts in Galveston. For those that can't afford the sky high insurance or the cost to raise their house, FEMA has a flood risk buyout program (for houses already flooded), though they don't quite offer market rates.
All this is progress along the lines you discuss. Yes, more needs to be done, and the sooner the better. But it's not yet time to panic.
One more comment: There is existing technology that can assess actual subsidence rates at a very high resolution, that would enable policy makers and residents alike to assess which coastal areas are at higher risk than others. We need to advocate for that technology to be adopted in the U.S. (a first mover in this technology, but slower-than-Europe rate of adoption).
Jerry Helfand and subscriber friends, the following is the best current information about rise in sea levels that I could find:
'ENVIRONMENTEXPLAINER'
'Sea levels are rising at an extraordinary pace. Here's what to know.
Seas are predicted to rise a foot by 2050, regardless of how much global carbon emissions can be reduced. Why is this happening, and what can we do to adapt?'
BYCHRISTINA NUNEZ ANDNATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC STAFF
PUBLISHED APRIL 10, 2023
'As humans continue to pour greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, oceans have tempered the effect. The world's seas have absorbed more than 90 percent of the heat from these gases, but it’s taking a toll on our oceans: 2021 set a new record for ocean heating.'
'Rising seas is one of those climate change effects. Average sea levels have swelled over 8 inches (about 23 cm) since 1880, with about three of those inches gained in the last 25 years. Every year, the sea rises another .13 inches (3.2 mm.) Research published in February 2022 shows that sea level rise is accelerating and projected to rise by a foot by 2050.'
'That translates into as much sea level rise in the next 30 years as occurred over the last century, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Rick Spinrad, the NOAA administrator, called the findings “historic,” and warned that the projected rise will occur even if carbon emissions are drastically cut.' See link below.
https://www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/article/sea-level-rise-1#:~:text=Average%20sea%20levels%20have%20swelled,by%20a%20foot%20by%202050.
Thanks for the link.
Even though houses can be built to be above high water, how sustainable is that? Storms, drinking water, sewage and garbage disposal, access are all things that are extremely difficult to build and maintain. Lots and lots of R&D are needed.
It's sustainable until the next sucker forest and buys it off you for hus yarn st living the dream of a coastal life. Collectively, we know quite a lot about where houses shouldn't be built. Individually, our constitution allows us to be as stupid as we want.
In light how republicans have treated any ecological programs and basically dismantled the EPA, if the republicans get in, there will be no hope of any thing like that happening. basically they areclimate deniers.
Thank you, Elizabeth M. Last night down here in PA, I was watching on MBL network, the NY Mets play my life-long favorite team, the Boston Red Sox. But in the third and then fourth inning, the rains came, and the game was suspended until this afternoon. I learned this morning that the reason for the suspension was that it had rained so hard that beloved Fenway Park, that's been there since 1912, had flooded. I wonder if the highway that goes underground, known as THE BIG DIG, was also flooded. How about Logan International Airport that is on the Atlantic Ocean and is barely above sea level. Imagine the immigrants, or as you call them 'Climate Refugees' that would be fleeing left to where you live! Roxbury, Southie, the Italian North End, Framingham, and the Cape. And then there is Rhode Island. Then let us skip down to Biden's state of Delaware. I agree with you completely.
Sorry about Fenway Park. And you're right about Boston. Much of the city is only a little above sea level. Several years ago, there was an article in a Boston magazine projecting that in a few decades, Boston's Back Bay neighborhood, built on saltmarsh landfill at the base of Beacon Hill, would need to be turned into a USA Venice with canals instead of streets. In the Seaport District, which in the early 1800's was saltmarsh and was progressively filled, some areas of the district already had sunny day flooding at least a few inches at high tide when I worked there from 2009 to 2013. Nevertheless, the late Mayor Menino spearheaded a massive building campaign of new office space and condo buildings in that built-on-landfill-laid-over-a-saltmarsh district, in that same period. Not only that, there are only three ways to get to the district: over one of two two-lane bridges at Summer Street and Congress Street that cross the Fort Point Channel, or by boat. It was great to take a walk and see tall ships on my lunch break, but getting there was hell. I assume the developers and the lenders who financed them were eager to participate, because I presume they did not hold the buildings they built and collect rent, but sold the office or residential condos to owners who now own all the climate change risk. I still don't get it. You mention Rhode Island. In Newport, the robber barons' mansions are all built along a high cliff. Great views, and well above any high tide for at least another couple of centuries.
Thanks for the detailed information. I'm from Kittery, Maine, which as you probably know is about 55 miles north of Boston. But I move to the D.C. area in 1983 and have moved north to where I now live in York, PA. I went to the University of Maine in Orono, ten miles north of Bangor. U Maine is a land and sea grant school. They heavily involved with various things that include working on climate change issues. Anyway, I still try to keep in touch with what's happening in NE. Did you know that the Gulf of Maine, which is the part of the North Atlantic Ocean bordered by Mass., NH, Me, and Nova Scotia, is considered to be the fastest warming part of the Atlantic and the rest of the 70% of the planet. More moisture in the air causes oceans to heat up. So, those 'experts who tell the world that it will take a long time for land to disappear along coasts are lying. When I lived in Takoma Park, MD, with several others, one of them was a writer and also worked for the Washington Post. He also has published a number of books on different subjects. You might find the book he wrote that was published in 2003 of particular interest about ocean warming and the plight of those that live there. His name is Mike Tidwell, and the book is "Bayou FAREWELL: THE RICH LIFE AND TRAGIC DEATH OF LOUISIANA'S CAJUN COAST." Here is the bio of him from that book. "Mike Tidwell is the author of four previous books, including "In the mountains of Heaven", "Amazon Stranger", and The Ponds of Kalambayi". A former National Endowment for the Arts fellow, Tidwell has published his work in National Geographic Traveler, Reader's Digest, Washingtonian, and many other publications. His frequent travel articles for The Washington Post have earned him four Lowell Thomas Awards, the highest prize in American travel journalism. He lives in Washington, D.C." In this book, he travelled to New Orleans and went down the Mississippi River Delta to speak with Cajun folks who lived and fished there. Over the years, the Gulf Coast had, and still is, taken over the coast of Louisiana moving closer to New Orleans. I saw a number of years ago a TV video of a reporter interviewing the then governor of that state on a boat. He pointed out as they move how the land is disappearing as the Gulf move north. I'm sure Mike's book would be helpful for people who live along the various coasts to read this book. It was written 20 years ago, so you can imagine how much has changed since then.
Yes, Elizabeth, hooray for PLANNING! So like the reasons we got here; how long has the coming of global warming been known? When will the planning begin? When will we speed up the transition to replace our dependency on fossil fuels? When will Americans wake up to our urgent needs to survive and repair democracy?
I have a picture of a newspaper clipping from 1912 with a story about scientists' warning about the effects of burning coal on the atmosphere. This story has been authenticated.
Yup, exactly. But every time we face a choice, we do have the choice. It's getting very late to wake up and take serious, big action on both of these. I read somewhere that half of all the CO2 humans have ever added to the atmosphere has been added since 1988, when NASA climate scientist James Hansen spoke before Congress at Al Gore's invitation, about the onrushing threat of climate change, caused by humans burning fossil fuels. But our species still has the choice to bend the curve of climate change downward, but the longer we wait, the less we can save. Saving and repairing our democracy requires what everyone who comments here already knows: Democrats actively fighting to elect Democrats, up and down the ballot, all over America.
There is little evidence of long term planning. If Biden attempted it, the republicans would do everything in their power to block it.
Elizabeth, I write this late at night just before HCR will post her next-day's message. I sometimes skip a day or several in my reads and this was one of them so am late to have read your thoughtful words.
I too, live at +230' above the Atlantic except for being located on a unique geographic anomaly less than a mile from both the sea and NY harbor on the NJ side. The Navesink Highlands are the highest point on the eastern seaboard from southern Maine to the FL Keys. So, while we are well above even the extremes of the coming sea level rise(s) we are also quite exposed to the storms that are similarly rising in intensity and frequency.
I relate better than most to your words as this knowledge has been part of my DNA since my studies in architecture in the early 70's and our program's focus on passive energy design. The late Paolo Soleri whose Arcosanti was / is one of the world's first truly sustainable cities (excepting those of our ancestors) and was an advisor and mentor so everything you speak to was more than words. It was a philosophy and way of life. Sadly, not many were interested in passive energy concepts as it challenged the main stream view of flipping-a-switch to get one's heat, cooling, light or other source. Off-the-grid concepts were seen as radical and often could not even obtain conventional loans for construction. Even now, rather than integrated into our homes and cities through orientation to the sun, wind and other natural forms of energy the solutions are more often, add-ons to traditional structures that have No relationship whatsoever to the planet they are built on.
Our ancestors knew the earth well and built beautiful structures and cities with indigenous materials that often oriented to the sun as well as the seasons and cycles. But, while Tesla's and Edison's beautiful inventions gave us electricity and other forms of energy it also disconnected us from everything we had learned in the millennia before. So, yes we now stand at the precipice of what we have both created and caused having in a very short period of time caused ourselves to believe we could dominate the earth instead of live with it in reasonable harmony with its resources.
It is far too long a conversation because the logic you so accurately present with a process that would prepare us for what is coming still stands in sharp contrast to the social, economic and other systems we have put in place. I prefer optimism and it remains central to my own work but, just miles down the shoreline from where I write this are construction cranes building new high-rise housing towers literally on the beach funded and developed by Kushner's new Saudi-petro dollars.
All to say that while some cities and states with more progressive leaders are already beginning planning for some of these issues that the migration away from the most vulnerable areas will begin by exposing not just the physical but the economic realities. Property values in these zones will begin decreasing with examples like major insurance companies pulling out of entire states as is already happening.
But, with all the negative examples that can be listed my optimism still suggests that it may and will stimulate new, more sustainable developments and cities in the areas of migration (translation: opportunity) in northern latitudes where the "livable" more temperate zones are shifting. Perhaps, the lessons of the precipice may yet still have the ability to bring us back to what our ancestors knew long ago.
More dialog to come but, thank you for starting it for us.
I live in that same area. When I moved here, one of the few houses I could afford within a reasonable commuting distance happened also to be on a small knoll, twenty feet above the surrounding land. I followed the dictum from my military training: "take the high ground, and hold it". I share your worries of the influx of climate refugees: do we have enough space for them all?
We are turning ourselves into an endangered species. Continuing to depend of fossil fuels folks?! 'Humans or modern humans (Homo sapiens) are the most common and widespread species of primate.'
Only fitting, I guess, that we are driving ourselves into extinction. Life on earth, ever adaptable, will continue in our absence.
Once we go, the earth will return to its normal rhythms within 100 years. Yes, there will be some continued warming but it will stabilize in a fairly short time - the planet will survive and quite nicely - once we're gone.....
I agree with you up to a point. However, the grotesque amount of plastic with which the species has created and left behind, together with all the places we've poisoned the earth with mining, and all the other things we've done that have damaged local environments, leads me to think it will take a lot longer than 100 years. The nuclear power plants and other facilities alone will continue endangering their local environments for hundreds if not thousands of years. Yes, other life will adapt and evolve to cope with all the crap humans have generated and will have left, but I think that for at least some places, thousands of years will be required. And the losses of species alive today as a consequence of us just being here is staggering.
It's what rats do too. If confined to a single space they will keep reproducing despite the lack of room and begin to eat each other when other resources are gone.
Considering what they and their predecessors have done to the American southwest with their idiotic lawns and development, they can all just stay there and reap what they've sowed - literally.
Heartbreaking.
And our American Cassandra Al Gore warned that we needed to deal with the warming AND what he projected would be mass migrations — way back a couple or three decades ago.
But we did not plan for this. OK, opportunity lost.
NOW, what must we do?
Not only didn't we plan, he was ridiculed.
😖. I know. Ridicule is a great intellectual vaccinator against anyone taking a person seriously. It is used in politics to great effect. Doesn’t even have to ridicule something real. It still works. Giving Gore grief for talking about being “busy inventing the Internet” is another of those times, but that was actually true, too. The government program — ARPANET — that gave rise to the Internet was funded during Gore’s time as a legislator. [He never said he invented it himself.] But it’s more fun to ridicule than it is to admit reality. That’s why I call him a Cassandra. He was often right, but he couldn’t get any traction with the truth.
Ridiculing the very idea of human activity changing climates the world over worked really well for along time, too. Still works in some circles, though most people these days are too busy trying to stay ahead of the weather to give it much thought ….
If the southerners do move north, I hope they can adjust to our way of living and not try to change it to their narrow way of thinking. I qualify my statement to say not all Southerners are like that
Fern: Your sweep is daunting. Thank you.
Good morning, K Barnes. It is good to see you. Cheers!
For more "news" from 'the people' in the UK, I recommend you check out THE CANARY, a journalist-owned email that you may also find on Facebook. If you do, you will likely learn how the people feel about things there and around the world.
Pissing away another 1.3 Billion to the Ukraine.
This fails to be a thoughtful comment. In what universe does sending arms *that already exist* for the precise purpose of defending Europe from Russian aggression to Europe to defend against Russian aggression constitute "pissing away"? You see some personal or national benefit to letting Russia take another bite (Syria, Georgia, Chechnya, etc, etc, etc)?
I just returned from a family reunion in Texas (we've had them annually since 1930.) News? For some of my cousins, nephews and nieces, the "news" that they get comes from OAN, Newsmax and Fox News (sic.) It reminds me of that old adage: you can lead a horse to water but you can't make it drink. The only solution, the desperate solution, is to out-vote them.
Oy, Newsmax. My Texas neighbors were absolutely sure that Trump won in 2020 regardless of the failed lawsuits, failed fake electors, recounts, and failed insurrection. They might still be sure, but I don't go there in conversation. We just talk about trash pickup schedules, weather, and mosquitos. I wish I could find a mosquito repellent as effective as the truth repellents spread by OAN, Newsmax, etc.
I do get it. The "good ol' boy' culture is something that I just never liked. They're going to believe what they want to believe. But that's true for the majority. Real critical thinking is not for the faint of heart. I explain myself by telling them that I have a simple philosophy or theory of government, and that is that government should be organized and operated to benefit the vast majority of the people under its jurisdiction, which means public services, education, health care, security, jobs and more. Government is not set up to advance religious goals, except in places like Israel, Iran, Afghanistan and others. So, I've started asking them, "What is your theory of government?"
Thank you for this on-the-ground reporting. I have a niece in Austin and often wonder what news she gets. Her parents are born again racists (in SC), she is an architect. As a polite aunt, I don’t ask.
In Texas, Austin is often referred to as "The People's Republic of Austin" - a puddle of blue in the devil's den..... :-) Other, bigger blue puddles are around Dallas, San Antonio, Houston and El Paso.....but our esteemed unhinged governor (Greg Abbott) is determined to tame them.
Want to know how serious a situation we are in, speaking of fake news and the effort to bring down our government? This from MediaMatters for America:
https://mail.aol.com/d/folders/1/messages/AHMeoiREHgehZLqdawV6WPKRS6o
Is this available somewhere other than aol? I haven't had an aol account for years, and don't want to create another one.
Good question. I didn't realize that it may have been linked only to my AOL account. You might try googling the piece about Fox News being an unindicted co-conspirator with Trump. I think that this is the general MediaMatters link: action@e.mediamatters.org
I'm sorry that I can't be of more help.
Is this the article you're citing: https://www.mediamatters.org/january-6-insurrection/whatever-trumps-jan-6-indictment-brings-fox-news-effectively-his-unindicted?
My last few years in the US during the mid-1980s, I needed a shortwave radio to get any reasonable amount of international news.
That's why I read three newspapers. Starting with LFAA.
I do too, getting one delivered and depending on LFAA and the NYT headline articles online for the others. Sometimes I wonder how many people under age 40 still read newspapers, in either their paper or online versions? I also wonder what the age breakdown of those following LFAA is.
We take the NYT. I read parts of it online. We also have the WaPo, the Oregonian, and the Seattle Times on line as well as the Atlantic and a few other things. We take the local rag online, mainly for obits. There are also a few online sources here in Salem which are good for local news and two of them especially on local politics. I start my am with Heather and a cup of coffee. I also read a number of the comments here skipping only those that I know are trolls. I post Heather's letter to my Facebook page. Most of the people who read it are older, but I have a couple ex-students who are also reading although I doubt they are under 40 now. I doubt my relatives in the midwest read anything. Our nephews here on the west coast don't post about politics although I am sure they are aware.
Some of us in the Midwest (Kansas) read Heather every morning. First news read of the day!
For me in Oregon also.
Me too in Canada
I've read that most young people get most of their news from Tic Toc, Facebook and Twitter.
And that is where the First Amendment starts to become the Achilles heel of democracy. What can we do about it without diminishing our freedoms?
I've subscribed to at least two newspapers almost all of my life; now three: Boston Globe, Worcester Telegram&Gazette, NY Times. And LFAA, Michael Moore, et alii. But my three children (in their late 30s-early 40s now) do not subscribe to any. It appears I have failed at teaching them the value of the free press, and that we need to keep it alive and working - all of us.
My daughter in NYC doesn't read the Times and I gifted my son in Florida a digital subscription to the South Florida Sun-Sentinel. I don't know what either spreads on the floor if they want to paint a small item.
Did a search which yielded nothing for LFAA. What is it?
My search engine found it immediately: "The LFAA (Looking For Arab Actors) is the place where directors and producers get to search for and meet all the arab actors/actresses out there."
I wasted several minutes looking for that Great news site. I have been a subscriber to Heather for 2 years..I'm glad I'm not the only one who wasn't hip to that acronym. But, like LOL, I won't be using it.
https://www.theguardian.com/
I recommend The Guardian
The Guardian is the only online paper I read on a regular basis.
I read HCR's column every day, of course, and I have discount subscriptions to the Post and NYT, but that's primarily to read articles I see on various social media outlets.
Yes, The Guardian! And there is no paywall. We also get the Guardian Weekly in the mail. (Brit husband.) There is useful news in English from France on TV, a half hour program repeating all day.
I didn’t know that the Louisiana Field Archery Association published a daily newspaper. Which is my roundabout way of asking “what is LFAA?” I googled it, and the Louisiana site was the first listing.
Letters From An American....the name of Heather's newsletter.
OMG! Now I know what LFAA is! I call it "Heather"
In the 1960's I read Le Monde for news inside France but, relied on returning percipient witness reports. Post digital revolution (www) international news is easy.
At the start of the Pandemic, easily accessed South Korean medical research was critical by documenting airborne infection paths (plural). The planet is round.🌍🌏🌎
My sentiments, too, Jerry.
Today’s newsletter made me think about the hard analytical work that goes on everyday in our various intelligence agencies. Many of us love a good spy novel or movie. Not so much the ones that devolve into endless explosions and absurdly difficult physical feats...although, it’s hard not to like the original Bond movies starring Sean Connery. No, what I’m talking about is the very dangerous and tricky work that gets to the bottom of just who profits from supporting the Russian War of Aggression against Ukraine. Smart college grads are sometimes identified and recruited just for this kind of work and they don’t want any public acknowledgment for their work. Others come from the military or perhaps some come right out of left field and volunteer. At CIA Headquarters in Langley, VA, a few of the greatest, bravest and most brilliant Americans are only memorialized with stars on a wall...no names. For what it’s worth, I’d like to say “thank you” to them all today ...those still doing their jobs and those we’ve lost.
IF you look at all the places where this news come from (bottom) you can see there is WAPO. NYT and Reuters.
But if you check today's sources, you can see that she does not reiy on them soley. One reason I choose to follow Professor Cox Richardson is that she does not rely on those sources alone. I'm a bit of a news junkie, but I have vision issues, and I welcome the range and depth of her sources. Not to mention her terrific ability to construct a narrative from all she reads.
I learn so much from reading Professor Cox Richardson. She does have a great ability to construct a narrative that is easy to read and comprehend. Thank you, Professor, for all you do.
Clear, precise, well-ordered, brilliant. Grateful for her magnificent intelligence.
Ditto and also the many comments from all of you which except for the trolls I appreciate.
I also learn much from the comments.
Yes! People that are so much more knowledgeable than I.
Jennifer, here is breaking news getting around the country. HCR may have finally been asleep when it broke.
'Trial in Trump Documents Case Set for May 2024'
'Judge Aileen M. Cannon rejected former President Donald J. Trump’s request to delay the trial until after the election but pushed the start date past the Justice Department’s request to begin in December.'
'In her order, Judge Aileen M. Cannon said the trial was to be held in her home courthouse in Fort Pierce, Fla., a coastal city two-and-a-half hours north of Miami that will draw its jury pool from several counties that Mr. Trump won handily in his two previous presidential campaigns.'
'Judge Cannon also laid out a calendar of hearings, throughout the remainder of this year and into next year, including those concerning the handling of the classified material at the heart of the case.'
'The scheduling order came after a contentious hearing on Tuesday at the federal courthouse in Fort Pierce where prosecutors working for the special counsel, Jack Smith, and lawyers for Mr. Trump sparred over when to hold the trial.'
'The timing of the proceeding is more important in this case than in most criminal matters because Mr. Trump is now the front-runner for the Republican presidential nomination and his legal obligations to be in court will intersect with his campaign schedule.'
'Indeed, the date Judge Cannon chose to start the trial — May 20, 2024 — is one day before the primary in the key swing state of Georgia. But it falls after the bulk of the primary race contests will have already taken place.' (NYTimes) Sorry, no gifting is available, but this excerpt covers all main points of the report.
Thanks for this! I hadn't yet seen it! Just knowing that she ISN'T going to play games that benefit the jaundiced horror is a big relief. :)
Given her prior history, I wouldn't count on her not playing sneaky games.
She is under some scrutiny from the 11th Circuit, and this schedule in effect sabotages Trump's presidential campaign because May 2024 is the start of serious campaigning after the Republican primaries, and Trump will have to be in court, which means the longer his attorneys try to delay the trial, the longer Trump is off the campaign trail.....
What if the Orange Shameful Shambles just doesn't show up for the trial? I wouldn't put it (or anything, really) past him. You know his counsel will be clamoring for a continuance, due to his busy schedule. He could be tried in absentia under the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure if he shows up for the first day of the trial, then absents himself for the rest - and you know he won't be testifying, in any case, so there's an argument he doesn't actually have to be there.
The question is: will her loyalty be guided by her oath to support the Constitution, that she may realize that Trump wishes to put an end to judicial authority in this country, or whether she will show allegiance to the insurrectionist who appointed her to the bench. Is she "A Profile in Courage?"
I don't understand why she set it so far in the future. This isn't a complicated case and there aren't many classified documents being introduced. I don't know why the lawyers have to read the classified documents. The question is, did he take them or not? It has nothing to do with their content. Yes, there's a lot of evidence but they should be able to read it in 5 months.
I believe it's to help trump. In May trump will cry that it's campaign season and it's unfair to have the trial while he's campaigning. Based on her past actions, I believe she will be receptive to that argument.
I don't assume how she will act. Trump will stamp his feet but don't know if that will serve his interest. My sense is that the noose around his neck will get tighter, and I am neither an optimist or a negativist. .
You have more faith in her than do I.
I don't call it faith; it's secular observance.
I wonder if the trial will actually allow some of his followers who end up on the jury to open their eyes, or will they continue to maintain that the trial is a conspiracy by the Justice Department to persecute poor little ol' Orange Menace.
'Little', he is not, J. Nol.
And don't forget, there are 2 more indictments yet to show up and go to trial: DC and GA. Those could slot in before the May trial, but we'll have to see how they play out. Regardless of how he's polling with Republicans right now, a LOT still has to happen before T***p is the Republican nominee. He could still very easily completely tank in the polls before all the primaries get underway next spring. The more stuff that comes out, the harder it may be for Donnie to refute it all, and Republican voters might just start to get really uneasy about having a candidate under multiple indictments as their nominee. Those could be very serious liabilities for a candidate to have come November, even if it IS T***p. We still have a long way to go . . .
And the Guardian and Steve Benen (MSNBC).
The reason the MSM doesn't cover much international news is that many, maybe most Americans don't care about it. Before retirement when I was dealing with my company's international manufacturing plants I had a boss that couldn't understand why I read the Economist. While the Economist has a conservative view point their world wide coverage is outstanding.
We remain insular. It’s very bad for our politics and our history. The Founding Fathers would be horrified. Too bad Scalia and Alito couldn’t understand the 18th century.
The last figure I read was that 80% of Americans today have never had a passport, so they have never traveled beyond the borders of the US.....
That figure probably includes Congress too. Trying to get my stepson who has retired from Bath Shipyards where he designed warships, to design steamships or sailing ships to get us affordably and ecologically across the oceans. It’s time.
I am convinced that if we can unleash both government research and private corporations, we WILL find the solutions to the problem of climate change caused by global warming..... Make it profitable, and there is no limit to the energy and commitment industry will bring to solving the problems. It's what we have done for the past 245 years.....
So that’s their problem! Brilliant, Virginia.
Relying on TV in the U.S. for international news is best done streaming BBC, or if you speak French, online channels like France24 which is on the Sling information package. At least there are newspapers in the US with decent world news sections. There are plenty of international radio stations you can get for free. And don't forget "The World", a daily news program, on PRX.
The PBS Newshour is excellent.
CSpan!
NPR broadcasts of BBC News.
Please notice how often HCR cites 'mainstream' news media as her sources. I only have radio and print, so don't follow tv or internet news channels.
https://www.theguardian.com/
I recommend as well The Guardian
Thats my favorite cross reference.
Then reading through I encounter fascinating minutiae.
Agree!
Thank you for your measured discussion of cluster munitions. Unfortunately, with Russia using them against Ukrainians, the Ukrainians already have the danger of unexplored munitions.
I’d like to see a US or Chinese minesweeper travel through international waters to clear a path for grain ships to stave off starvation for so many.
If the US Sixth Fleet did for Ukrainian grain ships what was done for international oil tankers in the Persian Gulf 10 years ago, which called Iran's bluff, that would solve the problem. Putin may huff and puff and threaten to blown the house down, but that collection of garbage scows he calls a "navy" would be out of their minds to try and intervene with an escorted convoy. The Russian Navy knows they have been nothing but targets for other navies for the past 200+ years.
Tom If Putin blocks grain shipments, bombs Odessa, and threatens ships, Zelensky should announce that he WILL destroy the bridge between Russia and Crimea. Built illegally by Putin—and destroyed by Zelensky. Looking for the photo op.
Hmm calling Putin's bluff vs calling the ayatollahs' bluff?
10 years ago vs today?
Not exactly equivalent perhaps.
Mine Sweepers are a truly unique, limited asset. Last I checked we had exactly SEVEN and they were not on active service (they have to activated). It's something they should at least think about.
I really, really hope all NATO nations are thinking and planning for their use, because grain riots in the continent of Africa doesn't bear thinking. I assume at least the Brits, French and Germans have them, as well as the US?
Here in Germany, Ukraine is just a little over 1,000 miles by car. Wondering how desperate Putin is to make himself a hero in his own little eyes.
Spot-on comment Mary with a proposed international-waters solution to reduce risk of human starvation in vulnerable populations.
I read somewhere that Russian cluster munitions detonate at a far lower rate, like 70% vs. 95%.
End of comment :-).
The disparity is probably even larger than that. The U.S. "advertised" dud rate is 2.35%, but it's probably more like the 5% you stated. I've seen assessments of Russian dud rates as high as 40%. The munitions are a big deal. If provided in large quantities, they can absolutely change the battlefield (ask the Iraqi Army, ca. 1991 about this). The bottom line is exactly as Heather stated--IT'S THE UKRAINIANS' TERRITORY. This is NOT the time for Western useful idiot sanctimoniousness.
One factor to consider here is that Russia has been using cluster munitions for the entire war, generally on civilian targets as terror weapons. Also, there are millions of Russian and Ukrainian mines and unknown numbers of unexploded artillery shells in the ground in Ukraine. The cluster munitions Ukraine is using will be used in open rural areas on the current front line, so a limited part of Ukraine's territory. It will take years of careful de-mining to find all the munitions, and they won't find all of them that's true - and also true of mines and unexploded artillery shells. War IS hell.....
One thing I have always loved about this comment section is the solutions offered here.
I have read that the orcs have also placed landmines throughout Ukraine's best farmland. Putin, his generals, and his orcs, should be the ones forced to remove them when the war is over and Ukraine has all its territory out from under the boot.
Is it possible that when Ukrainians fill the trenches in their fields much unexploded ammo will be too deeply buried to explode?
There won't be an opportunity to fill those trenches until after the war is over, which is months to years from now. Until then, Ukrainian soldiers will have occupy and traverse that territory, so clearing of unexploded ordinance will be necessary. Any unexploded bombs are a danger, but yes, the deeper a bomb is, the less likely it is to explode and then cause damage. But over time, soil erodes, utility trenches are dug, and soil is overturned for farming. Basements for buildings may be dug. Sometimes, buried items migrate upwards due to effects of drying/wetting and freeze/thaw cycles. Bottom line is that while buried explosives pose less risk than those at the surface, they will continue to be dangerous for decades.
Thank you for the detailed reply. Had wondered if current cluster munitions are smaller than the long-lived bombs of WWI and that since they were aimed at trenches whether they would be buried more easily. The reminders of soil movement with freezing, thawing, etc., are clear too. I have seen the green fields of Northern France and hope with all my heart that the Ukrainians will be able to grow wheat sooner than the French have been able to.
Every year, farmers in Europe on sites of WWI battles dig up or collect surfaced artillery shells and grenades from that war, and they are collected by local army demolition experts - over 100 years after the end of the "Great War".....
In Northern France acres and acres of unsafe farmland. I have seen them from the Somme.
And closer to home. From Mt. Desert Island, Maine.
A year ago Leonard Leo orchestrated the arrest of a young man who was exercising his First Amendment rights by criticizing Leo. Recently the DA declined to prosecute the case. Today news comes of the young man filing a Federal case against the two arresting officers (willingly) corrupted by Leo. And the Bangor Daily News published a link to 52 minutes of Leo and the cops planning the arrest. Which they had to know was illegal. And which the officers pursued without checking with or notifying police leadership.
Read all about it here - and listen to Leo in his own words. Among other things, claiming family values as sufficient to violate civil rights - which is just Leo all over.
https://www.bangordailynews.com/2023/07/20/news/hancock/lawsuit-eli-durand-mcdonnell-leonard-leo-maine-police-falsely-arrested-xoasq1i29i/
https://theqsjournal.substack.com/p/breaking-news-audio-of-leonard-leo
Read the filing here:
https://barharborstory.substack.com/p/police-officers-sued-by-bar-harbor
The arrogance of ignorant money and those who sign on to such evil. The only family values these cretins know are the ones to hog any resources for their own progeny.
Yes, bending the law to favor the already wealthy to perpetuate their privileged access to resources - and rights.
worse thing they could do for their children, if my memory serves. Inherited money often creates more problems than it solves.
Exactly, Jeri. I have had the opportunity to observe several businesses here in Oregon (a couple restaurants, a printing shop, and a furniture store) that were started by Generation One, continued with a little loss of commitment, but not enough to crash the business with Generation Two, and when Generation Three had no interest in the business (already having lots of money because of, you guessed it, the success of the business), the business either goes under or becomes unrecognizable.
maybe the rule rather than the exception
Yay for the young man! I hope he gets w settlement but too bad Leo’s name is not on the filing. What a piece of garbage he is! I also hope that you are still protesting at his home, lin.
Yup I am protesting in front of Leo's estate. And also chalking in Bar Harbor. It is the other local activists who have sustained the protests at Leo's estate ever since he bought it. And held a fundraiser for Susan Collins after she voted for Brett Kavanaugh,
More power to you, Lin, and all of your fellow protestors!
I wish I could join you!!!
You are one of my heroes, Lin!
Definitely one of mine!
This story has been, and continues to be, a distressing example those with abundantly substantial resources operating as if one is above the laws and rights and privileges of ordinary citizens. The nation desperately needs to see that justice can be applied evenly. May the young man and his lawyer be successful. It was such an irritating miscarriage of justice.
They are trying to re-create the US in the image it was in during the late 1800s/early 1900s era of the robber barons and zero unions or regulation.
Leo is behaving like we're there already, and doing everything he can to make sure we get there again.
This was the wealthy's sweet spot, and they truly believe they are the only ones that should have power and make policy.
I have read that the public’s admiration of the wealthy changed after people learned how many wealthy men behaved as the Titanic sank. And learning that the third class passengers were locked in.
We do have at least some sense of unfairness.
Lets hope we manage to keep our Titanic afloat while we fix the leaks and holes in our democracy.
I'm sooo surprised (not!), another far right hypocrite.
Lin, Keep feeding us LL news. Can’tvwait for him to fall
Since his tax free $1.6 billion windfall donation from Barr Seide and the overturning of Roe, independent and mainstream media have expanded their investigative reporting spotlighting Leo.
Yeah, he and his ilk are now out of the shadows. What the light has revealed ain’t pretty. Hope that light keeps seeking the dark places….
And that *light* is often honest investigative reporting.
Leo and family values, I say ‘whose’! He is drunk with power fueled by the billion plus gift he uses to undermine democratic values! There I USED THE MUCH MALIGNED ‘values word’!
I like to use the word virtues as to me the word values implies monetization.
As in: Leonard Leo profits off using religion as a political wedge issue - for instance making it so that his religious values regarding the unborn outweigh the civic virtues of protecting child bearing persons' health and constitutional rights.
Please see my expanded comment of Leo's arguments that the personal sentiments of some privileged people (his fellow religious extremists, his family) outweigh the civil rights of all of us.
You stated his views very well.
Whose family?
Eli and his Mom were driving through town on the way to a protest outside one of Leo's estates when they saw Leo. They shouted at Leo as they drove by. Leo told the police that Eli cursed in front of/at at his family. (Wife and 11 year old daughter.) And that this was not political speech but harassment. The police and Leo agreed Eli should be arrested for Disorderly Conduct. Eli and his Mom deny the specifics of Leo's assertions. But even if Leo's assertions were accurate and actionable - to arrest someone on Disorderly Conduct charges, the police would have had to witness the actions themselves. Which they did not and do not claim to have. Leo is arguing here that saying something he doesn't like in front of his wife and child outweighs all free speech protections. This is the same argument Leo has made regarding religious beliefs outweighing civil rights.
Leo has been moving to expand the right of freedom of worship to mean the right of religious conscience in all areas of society. Ie any religious sentiment outweighs all civil law and every civil right protection. The religious extremists Leo has selected and successfully lobbied for appointment to the Supreme Court have made decisions upholding Leo's interpretation of the law. This is not in service of Christ or the Constitution - it is in service of reducing government's ability to uphold equality before the law, equal representation, and most importantly to Leo's big money funders, equitable taxation. Where do you think Leo got the money to buy these estates? This estate, was purchased by Leo at very favorable terms from a fellow Knight of Malta. A complaint made to the IRS based on investigative analysis of the public record suggests Leo has shifted money from his non profit shell companies to his for profit business. Why do you think Republicans are against Biden requesting funding for the IRS to hire staff capable of auditing the 1000 or more page tax returns of folks like Leo and his funders? Follow the money.
Also, these alleged religious rights apply only to a narrowly defined viewpoint. They clearly do not apply to any religious persons welcoming the stranger by providing water (or wine) to thirsty migrants or voters, for example.
ThankYou. Yes religious sentiments aligning with racist right wing religious extremist prejudices.
Meanwhile, there are an abundance of religious sentiments, including from texts and leaders these right-wing extremists claim to revere, that command the exact opposite of what they are trying to force on everyone else.
"two principles -- right and wrong -- throughout the world. They are the two principles that have stood face to face from the beginning of time, and will ever continue to struggle. The one is the common right of humanity and the other the divine right of kings" - Lincoln
Or people standing in line to vote, either.
We claim, with historical justification, that the right to vote is sacred, and then treat it abusively.
It's the evil twin of the Sermon on the Mount. MAGA's despise the poorest and most abused, fawn over wealth and the rich, and hunger to shoot their enemies. The "Good Samaritan" was the good enemy, and the sanctimoniously indifferent passes by, the phonies. They even depart from their ostensible leader on taxes, of which Jesus was not a fan, but not worth fighting. I wonder what he might have thought of taxation with representation, especially as an aid to those in need of help?
Lin, excellent summary. Leo is hell bent on installing a “christian” theocracy in this country, and has been using the Federalist Society to do so.
By "christian" I assume you mean "Leoian", the "Federalists" just "marriage of convenience" honor among thieves. Like Trump, they'll throw anyone and anything under the bus for advantage, including our national interests.
Excellent summary. Keep us posted. With "God is on his side", the Knight of Malta continues to strike for power, as he pockets his $$$. For anyone who missed this WAPO bio of Leo: https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2023/05/05/leonard-leo-clarence-thomas-ginni/
Oh yes. Follow the money; all the swells, currents, and trickles; like a hydrological system; and the changes installed by "Reaganomics". After all these years, "Republicans" are still preaching massive tax cuts and impunity for the ultra-rich and people still vote for it without questioning how it's served them so far. Having their prejudices pandered to is enough.
What is religion? In every form I have a passing familiarity with there are those who seem to cultivate their "better angels" and those who what to claim inherent superiority and therefore the right to bully. I don't see much continuity. The latter is, as you say, not in service of Christ or the Constitution or anyone, except their toxicly narcissistic selves. Somehow their god always favors them and what they want, and therefore "trumps" the common rights of humanity; always with injustice, and sometimes with horrifying, sociopathic results.
Exactly
Super Links lin, thank you for the diligent work & the attachment of tbe illuminating speaking-complaint that covered Plaintiff's Constiutional rights in Maine. Go Eli.
Extra Bonus. The detailed pleadings & evidence of Leo's modus operandi should generate deeper factual inestigations & even more powerful judicial remedies. Thank Team Eli & thank you twice lin.
Thank you. Criminal intent written all over this one. Have been wondering if the Heritage Foundation could be prosecuted as Fifth Column. This is a start.
Lin Did you see that Leonard Leo was behind providing about $3 million to produce PR pieces lauding Clarence Thomas and countering a documentary on Anita Hill? Leonard Leo, Federalist Society, Mitch McConnell—-The Three Constitutional Conspirators.
Does this young man have a gofundme page for monetary assistance with his case?
Thanks for that tidbit of information.
It appalls me that that scum cucker tarlson and leonard leo think they have the right to come pollute our beautiful State by their presence. I don't want them breathing any oxygen at all, let alone Maine's pristine air. How do we "motivate" them to leave and never come back? They can scurry back to the ratholes beset with their "conservative" cockroach friends that they infest the rest of the year and stay there.
When you start using food...grain supplies as a weapon against civilians...especially poor, needy ones in countries with no ties to the hostilities, you are a desperate animal, backed into a corner. Putin is making himself a total monster in his efforts to personally survive his conflict that he created. Way to go...so Trump, is he still a genius and your good friend....???
He is just holding out, hoping that chump will win and hand over Ukraine — and America.
Yes. Because I think, in their hearts, both Putin and Trump are the same: sad bullies. Trump because he wasn’t shown love and affection as a child, and Putin because he’s struggling with his own being gay - I’m sure of it.
Putin's just what the Russians call a "yard punk" - their term for a variety of juvenile delinquent, who didn't grow out of it as he grew up.
Of course. trump would be doing exactly the same thing.
And we would most certainly be out of NATO.....delinquents take care of their own.
It's hard to imagine someone, no matter their predicament, taking actions that likely will cause already-struggling people to starve. Putin, an evil man, never hesitates doing so. Yet many Republicans all but worship him.
How much more suffering will NATO allow Putin to inflict? I abhor war, but Biden and NATO need to amp up provision of highly advanced weaponry to Ukraine that will end the war sooner rather than later. Otherwise, they're dragging out this horror, which is affecting very vulnerable people thousands of miles away.
Michael, the news is full of stories of more aid and weapons for Ukraine. Starvation at Putin's hands isn't loud enough, along with the means to feed the people living in at least 27 countries.
'CIA chief: Russia’s elite are questioning Putin’s judgment'
'The brief mutiny led by the Wagner Group’s chief appears to have rattled those around the Russian leader, William Burns told the Aspen Security Forum.'
“I think in many ways it exposed some of the significant weaknesses in a system that Putin has built,” Burns said. Even aside from the mutiny, such weaknesses “were exposed by Putin’s misjudgment since he launched this invasion” of Ukraine.' (Politico)
'A move that will have reverberations'
“The idea that Putin would play roulette with the hungriest people in the world at the time of the greatest food crisis in our lifetimes is just deeply disturbing,” Power told Marquardt.
He asked if she thinks Russia might rejoin the grain deal.
“It is going to require pressure not only from the United States and the United Nations, but from those countries in sub-Saharan Africa who will suffer most from the higher grain and oil prices,” Power said.
'Ukraine’s grain is key to the worldwide food supply'
'Wheat and corn prices on global commodities markets jumped Monday after Russia pulled out of the deal, and they spiked again Wednesday after attacks on the ports in Odesa and as hope faded for Russia to rejoin the grain deal.'
'Last year, economic shocks that included the impacts of the Ukraine war and the pandemic were the main reasons for “acute food insecurity” in 27 countries, affecting nearly 84 million people, according to a report by the Food Security Information Network, a data-sharing platform funded by the European Union and the United States. The FSIN defines acute food insecurity as lacking enough food to the extent that it puts the person’s life or livelihood at risk.'
'The International Rescue Committee (IRC) said in November that the deal’s collapse would “hit those on the brink of starvation the most.” The warning came after Moscow suspended its participation in the pact for several days following drone attacks in Sevastopol, a port city in Russian-controlled Crimea.'
'UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres also said at the time that a breakdown of the deal would turn a “crisis of [food] affordability into a crisis of availability” if farmers around the world couldn’t source fertilizers needed ahead of planting season.'
“If you are a bully and an aggressor, it is always easier to lob missiles and send drones at civilian infrastructure. So, I think we absolutely should expect the worst from the Russian Federation as it continues to struggle on the battlefield.” (CNN)
Zelensky always tells us what Ukraine needs. As for aid to Ukraine, here's what has been announced recently in the news:
NATO's response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine
Jul 13, 2023 — Individual NATO member countries are sending weapons, ammunition and many types of light and heavy military equipment, including anti-tank and …
Relations · Relations with Russia · Statement by NATO Heads of...
https://www.nato.int/cps/en/natohq/topics_192648.htm
EU launches talks on 20 billion euro Ukraine military fund
The European Union's foreign policy chief on Thursday proposed a 20 billion euro ($22.4 billion) fund to pay for weapons, ammunition and...
U.S. approves $1.3 billion package of long-term military aid for Ukraine
https://apnews.com/article/russia-ukraine-war-weapons-us-aid-4aba41fbf5511e44801d4bd56d34d6f1#:~:text=According%20to%20the%20Pentagon%2C%20the,haven't%20yet%20been%20identified.
US sending $500 million in weapons, military aid to Ukraine
https://apnews.com/article/russia-ukraine-war-weapons-us-aid-4aba41fbf5511e44801d4bd56d34d6f1#:~:text=According%20to%20the%20Pentagon%2C%20the,haven't%20yet%20been%20identified.
South Korea to expand support for Ukraine as President Yoon Suk Yeol makes a surprise visit
https://www.reuters.com/world/south-korea-president-yoon-makes-surprise-visit-ukraine-yonhap-2023-07-15/#:~:text=Yoon%20said%20South%20Korea%20also,from%20South%20Korea%2C%20he%20said.
There may be more for Ukraine. These came up in a brief search.
I always thought that the GOP was also skilled at imposing suffering on people, including US citizens.
Have the western imperial powers weaponized the International Criminal Court, together with the International Monetary Fund, against Russia?
The NATO countries, led by the United States, have voting control at the IMF, which demanded in 2014 that Ukraine re-conquer the breakaway Donbass republics as part of a loan agreement.
Zelensky, after publicly pledging to keep Ukraine's promises to the IMF, reneged on both his campaign promise to bring peace and the Minsk Agreements. Zelensky first built up troops on the Donbass line of control and then started a pre-invasion bombardment while talking about re-acquiring nuclear weapons, precipitating the Russian invasion.
The Russians relocated children whose parents were dead or missing out of the war zone to Russia. For this, Putin was indicted for war crimes. Has the ICC, based in Europe, been turned into a tool of partisan NATO war propaganda?
Beyond that, HCR's claim that Putin has become an international pariah would seem to be absurd on its face.
I mean, aside from the facts she laid out, you're right-on as usual John. Y'know, I hear those milbloggers are hiring--have you looked into that? Why waste your, ahem, talents on here with people who don't APPRECIATE that you alone know the truth? I think this is your calling....
I don't suppose you'll agree that it important for HCR to not misinform her readers.
What is "misinformation" in that? Your comments on relocated children are inaccurate/incomplete at best. The pre-invasion bombardment red herring is irrelevant--I've heard this before. Ukraine and Russian had been trading counterbattery fire in Donbas since 2014 (still Ukraine's territory BTW--did Russia somehow obtain rights on that land? No). The idea that any sort of build-up by Ukraine in Donbas precipitated Putin's invasion is 100% guano. BS. Crap. Disinformation not relevant to facts. The Russians built up a clear INVASION force for months. U.S. intelligence assessed an invasion was likely more than six months prior to them actually doing it--the idea that all happened as a RESPONSE to a Ukrainian force buildup is 1) non-sensical militarily--I have 24 year in service as an officer; what do you have? 2) not-supported by force gen realities, strategic movement, or geopolitics as they existed at that time. Even the Russians themselves--never ones to pass an opportunity in information space--didn't lean on this. If it were TRUE, one would think they'd have done so, with fervor.
I could go on, but I'm tired. You have a LOT of suppositions that, frankly, aren't corroborated by reliable sources OR are taken WAY out of context for their ability to drive strategic and tactical decisions. And I'd encourage you to dig a little deeper on the altruism of Russia relocating those children--it's something they have a considerable history of doing, and it's rarely been altruistic whatsoever.
Say hi to the rock for me.
Robert McTague,
My previous post brought forth some criticism of my source. Perhaps you could take a look at my reply to Ron Boyd regarding the Moon of Alabama website:
https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/july-20-2023/comment/21127080
The misinformation was that Putin has become an international pariah.
You have a lot of suppositions that you haven't documented, except to put on airs as a self-important "expert" because you were in the military.
I hope you and others will begin to consider the thought that the American people are being lied to about the mess in Ukraine.
Back in February, the "Moon of Alabama" website began posting a day-by-day account of what had happened exactly one year before, as Ukraine prepared to attack the Donbass, precipitating the Russian invasion. The first in this series of day-by-day reports is here:
https://www.moonofalabama.org/2023/02/the-buildup-to-war-in-ukraine-february-13-2022.html
Just doing a bit of checking to see where various statements in this thread came from. Mr. Schmeeckle seems - not - to post many sources. Of course that allows statements and claims to appear with no way to judge truth or validity. AHA. Here I see a "moonofalabama" link to follow. "Fascinating" ... as Mr. Spock would opine. In its own words:
start quote
About
Moon Of Alabama
This site's purpose is to discuss politics, economics, philosophy and blogger Billmon's Whiskey Bar writings. Some time ago, the commenting at Billmon's Whiskey Bar became a bit excessive. Billmon therefore closed the comments at his place on June 29, 2004. The community of commentators was left behind to search for a new place. Moon Of Alabama was opened as an independent, open forum for members of the Whiskey Bar community.
end quote
As part of their masthead, the alabama moon-folk advertise it as "A place where barflies get together."
I am satisfied now that I can lean back in my chair and choose exactly how much time to spend integrating Mr. Schmeeckle's multitude of offerings into the larger discussions here.
John Schmeeckle - "Back in February, the "Moon of Alabama" website began posting a day-by-day account of what had happened exactly one year before,"
Just another waste of my time.
𝗢𝘃𝗲𝗿𝗮𝗹𝗹, 𝘄𝗲 𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝗠𝗼𝗼𝗻 𝗼𝗳 𝗔𝗹𝗮𝗯𝗮𝗺𝗮 𝗟𝗲𝗳𝘁 𝗮𝘀 𝗕𝗶𝗮𝘀𝗲𝗱 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗾𝘂𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝗮𝗯𝗹𝗲 𝗯𝗮𝘀𝗲𝗱 𝗼𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗺𝗼𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗼𝗳 𝗽𝗿𝗼-𝗥𝘂𝘀𝘀𝗶𝗮𝗻 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗽𝗮𝗴𝗮𝗻𝗱𝗮 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝘀𝗽𝗶𝗿𝗮𝗰𝘆 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗼𝗿𝗶𝗲𝘀, 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘂𝘀𝗲 𝗼𝗳 𝗽𝗼𝗼𝗿 𝘀𝗼𝘂𝗿𝗰𝗲𝘀, 𝗳𝗮𝗹𝘀𝗲 𝗰𝗹𝗮𝗶𝗺𝘀, 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗮 𝗹𝗮𝗰𝗸 𝗼𝗳 𝘁𝗿𝗮𝗻𝘀𝗽𝗮𝗿𝗲𝗻𝗰𝘆. --https://mediabiasfactcheck.com/moon-of-alabama/
I knitted a scarf John!!
John, your syntax is off revealing your disposition on this & on other Platforms. This Platform has contractual rules that can be enforced at JAMS SF per contract by defined "Readers."
Why do you subscribe then?
Because HCR, with her spin and bias, is a useful news source.
So is the Epoch Times, which has a different bias, which you can discount if you're well-informed and learn to recognize it. (They seem to like Trump but they don't love him.)
I could say the same thing for Sputnik News and my Smart News app.
Come on.... even Sergey Lavrov would struggle to come up with a better lie than that.
A better lie than what? Are you capable of actually having an exchange of views with someone who disagrees with you?
I believe in HRC!
If Putin and Trump would just each have their massive fatal myocardial infarctions, the world would be vastly improved.
Evil has incredible staying power, sad to say.
Ain't that the truth
A friend once said, "Evil does not die. It must be destroyed."
I did not realize this about the cluster munitions until I read it here -
"President Biden eventually decided to send the cluster munitions, apparently in part because the areas of Ukraine where they would be deployed are already uninhabitable because of Russian mines and in part because Ukrainians themselves requested the weapons to throw out the Russian invaders, who have been using cluster munitions against Ukrainian civilians."
A tragedy indeed, that the Russians have contaminated the Ukrainian areas with cluster munitions already and that the Ukrainians are desperate enough to use them also, to defend against the Russian invaders. I think of the Ukrainians often and wonder at their strength and persistence.
So do I, when I look at pictures of what used to be attractive apartment blocks in tree-lined streets, shattered shells of noble edifices that a year ago were theatres, museums, law courts, schools.
A deliberate war crime as heinous as any the world has seen, or damn close.
It will take a huge effort and resources to rebuild Ukraine & make the land safe again (swept of unexploded ordinance)….Marshall Plan big. I hope the hucksters, opportunists and greedy investors aren’t allowed to participate in any part of the effort….grift, graft & greed need not apply
Thanks Heather. I've provided comments on Dan Drezner's blog as well as CNN's discussions prior to this. I'm a retired field artillery officer (24 years) and DPICM was the name of the game before the GWOT, and I know all about it. We never banned them, but we stopped using them--so, there are probably plenty to give (we don't train with them either--there's no real need). You hit on the most important aspect of this: it's the Ukrainians' territory; end of story. Well-intended people (AKA useful idiots for a guy like Putin) using this issue/moment to get sanctimonious is just as inexecrable as the Dems who urged for peace/negotiations months ago (thankfully, my own very pro-Ukraine rep was not one of them).
The munitions are a big deal, maybe even more so than F16s--certainly so in the near-term. Their ability to destroy armor in large formations far exceeds that of conventional munitions and their numbers make them preferable at scale to using smart munitions. I know the term "game-changer" has gotten thrown around a lot in the past year or so, to the point I think people are mocking it. The truth is, combined arms warfare requires ALL of the things we're giving them--there is no magic pill, not even attack/fighter aircraft or ATACMS. But this is, more than the others, a mass killer. Sorry to be so cold, but that's EXACTLY what this gives Ukraine--the ability to destroy large amounts of Russian materiel and people. Not-fun fact: most of the ridiculous levels of destruction we incurred on the Iraqi Army in 1991 was not from the smart bombs on TV every night. It was from artillery--tens of thousands of rounds and rockets, most with DPICM. It is THAT big of a force killer.
As it is that big of a force killer is a major reason why cluster bombs should never be used. To say so is not sanctimony, but principle.
Is it not ironic that with the much ballyhooed release of 'Oppenheimer ", and approaching the 78th anniversary of our most shameful moment--the war crime of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima--that we still distort logic and principles to "win" a war, or as the Ukrainian foreign minister said with Orwellian chill, "win the peace"
I might suggest that the use of nukes on Hiroshima and Nagasaki would have much to compete with in the category of "America's Most Shameful Moment." Consider a history from the pilgrims' times for our treatment of indigenous folk, slavery, land grabbing and empire building across the continent and the Pacific, internment of Japanese during WWII, general misogynism, voter suppression, and most anything associated with MAGA-Trump-ism. Lots of competition for Most Shameful.
There are good, honest arguments opposing the use of nuclear weapons, anytime, anywhere, by anyone. That said, one of the reasons we are (in the US) free to debate it today is the nuclear umbrella held over us to deter and prevent the bad sorts of things that are happening in the Ukraine--as yet without nukes.
BTW, my bona fides include 13 years in the Strategic Air Command, commanding small elements of nuclear bomber and missile forces. All of us were extremely sensitive to the horrific responsibility we bore, on alert duty on airfields or in underground silos. Deterrence has worked. So far. Think of the balance President Biden must maintain while helping Ukraine to defend itself, deciding to offer the request for cluster munitions, and still working to avoid a total spiral in the use of force. No one will "win" a nuclear exchange. Some would survive it. We must continue to avoid it. And finally, our unilateral disarmament and a sincere prayers won't bring us the goal of world peace and good will to men.
Thanks Bill and Robert. E perience and expertise still matter. You add both to this discussion.
I appreciate your thoughts in response to mine, and agree with many of them, Bill.
While there is no shortage of competition for America's most shameful moment, the wholly unnecessary and path-breakingly brutal destruction of over 60,000 innocent souls in Hiroshima on one day, still seems to be at least the first among unenviable equals.
As for the nuclear umbrella serving as deterrent, while I am sure that it has served in that capacity in some ways, there have still been way too many shooting and killing wars since that fateful day in 1945, and way too many of them have been initiated by the US of A unnecessarily. I also do not see how the nuclear umbrella has deterred any of the horrific events initiated by the war criminal Putin in Ukraine. Beyond that, the introduction of the atom's genocidal side to this little planet continues to disrupt Nations everywhere, scrambling to join their big nuclear brothers in the exclusive club of death, has it not?
Your bona fides are to be honored and respected, Bill. You and your fellow servicemen and women honorably served, unnoticed and underappreciated by so many of us in the hard work of keeping the world as peaceful as possible. Eternal gratitude is owed you.
Finally, while unilateral disarmament and sincere prayers will not in and of themselves bring world peace and good will to men, it is certain that neither will the ongoing militaristic mindset, and the constant shoveling of billions of dollars toward perpetual war.
Bill, at the risk of lobbing one off into far left field, reading your comment about nukes reminded me of a very short story (linked from a longer article…the product of the internet rabbit hole late one night) that I happened upon a week or so ago. Has to do with identifying the elements that would last eons in our geologic record. It is speculative sci-fi-ish, but found the whole Silurian Hypothesis interesting. Anyway the very short story is on this site..have to scroll down a bit to it: https://www.vice.com/en/article/3kj4y8/gavin-schmidt-fiction-under-the-sun
That was a good one - thanks, Barbara!
Robert McTague,
You write, "It's the Ukrainians' territory, end of story." I disagree, and perhaps you will be willing to have a reasoned exchange of views.
First of all the history: Kyiv was the mother of Moscow, close to 1000 years ago. Then both were overrun by different empires, and the languages slowly diverged somewhat. Then, in the 17th Century, Russia took the Kyiv area from Poland/Lithuania. This was the kernel of "little" Ukraine.
Later, in the 18th century, Russia reconquered the depopulated area north of Crimea from the Tatar slave raiders. This became Novorossiya and was settled by a mixture of different ethnic groups, with Russian becoming the dominant language.
Later, as the old Russian Empire was reformulated by the new Communist Soviet regime, Russian-speaking Novorossiya was stapled together with "little" Ukraine to form the Ukrainiane Soviet Socialist Republic. Then, in the 1950s, Crimea was tacked onto Ukraine by the Soviet leader Kruschev.
Any thoughts?
History is interesting, isn’t it? Putin expected Ukrainians to fold and give up- he predicted he would control Ukraine in 4 or 5 days, didn’t he?
The US offered Zelensky a fight to safety. Zelensky responded with something like, “The fight is here. I don’t need a ride, I need ammunition.”
The Ukrainians have been fighting for their property and right to self-determination ever since. Putin’s aggression has killed thousands of Ukrainians, as well as a rather horrifying number of his own troops, wrecking the Ukrainian economy and also his own.
Now grain, one of the goals of Putin’s assault, enough to feed whole countries, is being destroyed as Putin becomes unhinged and forgets what he thought he was fighting for.
The Ukrainians continue to be very clear about what they are fighting for, and the lengths to which they are willing to go, to retain their land and right to self-determination.
What is your point?
I think you are badly misinformed about what Putin expected and predicted. His invasion force was very light on infantry, not close to enough to fight a protracted urnan warfare campaign. His goal, in his feint toward Kyiv, was to flush out the neo-Nazi military elements and pound them into oblivion.
I have disagreements with the rest of what you wrote, but time compels me to abbreviate.
Regarding Zelensky’s aggression, tearing up the Minsk Agreements and provoking Putin's invasion:
"On Sunday February 13 2022, after a phone call with U.S. president Joe Biden, the Ukrainian president Zelensky gave the final order for the planned Ukrainian attack.
"That the decision had been made was immediately leaked in London as well as in Kiev.
"In its summary of the day the Guardian listed a lot of activities that were consistent with the imminent start of a conflict. Diplomats and foreign military were moving out of Ukraine. Weapons flew in.
"Tipped off by its government the British insurance conglomerate Lloyd stopped reinsurance services for anything Ukraine:
" 'Anatoliy Ivantsiv, head of Ukrainian insurance firm Expo, told Interfax that British reinsurance giant Lloyds announced it would temporarily cease all conflict risk insurance over Ukrainian airspace from Feb. 14.'
"When the news of the attack order leaked in Kiev, its 'elite' oligarchs and some parliament members were ready to leave. On February 13 and the following days they fled the country..."
https://www.moonofalabama.org/2023/02/the-buildup-to-war-in-ukraine-february-13-2022.html
Yes, my thought is you have described nothing to justify Russian aggression led by Putin to invade Ukraine, a sovereign nation. Nothing. So what is your purpose?
Here's a source about Zelensky’s aggression in the Donbass, tearing up the Minsk Agreements and provoking Putin's invasion:
"On Sunday February 13 2022, after a phone call with U.S. president Joe Biden, the Ukrainian president Zelensky gave the final order for the planned Ukrainian attack.
"That the decision had been made was immediately leaked in London as well as in Kiev.
"In its summary of the day the Guardian listed a lot of activities that were consistent with the imminent start of a conflict. Diplomats and foreign military were moving out of Ukraine. Weapons flew in.
"Tipped off by its government the British insurance conglomerate Lloyd stopped reinsurance services for anything Ukraine:
" 'Anatoliy Ivantsiv, head of Ukrainian insurance firm Expo, told Interfax that British reinsurance giant Lloyds announced it would temporarily cease all conflict risk insurance over Ukrainian airspace from Feb. 14.'
"When the news of the attack order leaked in Kiev, its 'elite' oligarchs and some parliament members were ready to leave. On February 13 and the following days they fled the country..."
https://www.moonofalabama.org/2023/02/the-buildup-to-war-in-ukraine-february-13-2022.html
As Marva writes below, your point is lost in a somewhat one sided historical perspective, and fails to account for the most important fact: That Ukraine is a sovereign, independent Nation. Yes, its historical and cultural ties to Russia are undeniable. But that pales in importance compared to Ukraine's sovereign and independent nature, a nature historically ignored by Russian leaders going back to the Romanov period.
I realize that I'm taking a very narrow view here of what is an extremely well thought out and informative letter, but something jumped out at me -- all the issues around grains, from starvation to politics, could all be easily eliminated if we just stopped using the majority of the crops on earth to feed animals that humans don't really need to eat (or their eggs and dairy), and replace those crops with crops for humans to eat, we could feed the world ten times over and avoid the very worst consequences of climate change. Methane is 85 times more potent a GHG than CO2. In the U.S. methane from livestock, yes chickens, pigs, and cows constitutes 37% of all methane emissions. Globally, animal ag contributes more GHGs than all global transportation combined. With everything in the news about the climate crisis that we are all experiencing in various ways, and the vulnerability of the world regarding crops, this should be top news and our highest priority. Why isn't it? Big Ag is the most powerful lobbyist group in DC and they've literally got both sides of the aisle doing their bidding. So it's up to us to change. So much of this is in our hands and control. Isn't it easier to cut back on meat, eggs, and dairy than on driving? Please act now. Otherwise we might as well hand over the keys to the kingdom to Putin and the likes ad well as big ag. They are all blinded by power and greed. We can force a change by what we put on our plates. Not to mention for the 80+ billion land animals raised and slaughtered in horrifically cruel and violent factory farming facilities. There's that to consider...
I agree with what you say and follow that. You are a voice drowned out by widespread cultural habits going back eons. Changing all that is not as easily facilitated as you suggest. “So it’s up to us to change.” I did, so I guess it’s not impossible. But I didn’t for most of my life because I was surrounded by carnivores, which is what most humans are, for better or worse…
It may not be easily facilitated BUT it is a message and a fact that bears repeating until it is sanely heard and soberly considered....even in these complicated times. There is healthful life after the slaughter of billions of animals has ceased world wide.
I'll sign on to that. The 60 Minutes Show that spoke of the 6,000 cows slaughtered in one day at one plant made me sick. And I know that treatment is worse than horrid before they are turned into our burgers, steaks, etc.
Yes and there are dozens of powerful and difficult videos online showing the actual brutal conditions under which the chickens, pigs and cattle we eat are forced to live just long enough to fatten up quickly, with hormones and antibiotics, often in shockingly confined spaces just to be marched to a brutal demise. I became a vegan/begetarian for health reasons. However, the videos cemented the ethical commitment. I now look at those friends and family who remain carnivores and the diet strikes me as so unappealing and uncreative. The evidence is out there. Just like climate change. We just don't want to look at it. Not yet, not now, maybe not ever. But I will never look back....
I can’t even watch ASPCA ads. It’s so horribly cruel. Neither will I ever look back, I tell it proudly
I didn't say it was easy. Or did I? LOL. I meant simple. It's definitely not going to happen on it's own, and it will not be easy. That's why I'm an activist, not just a vegan. Everyone's blasting their ACs in these horrible heatwaves -- that's not easy to change either -- I still believe we can more easily transform what we eat and how we grow food every bit as easily if not more easily than all the energy related changes that need to happen. Those are happening at such a snail's pace. It's not one or the other. Overheating is life threatening. Eating less animal products isn't. I just want people to realize that this is a major piece of climate change and it is unacceptable that our leaders are completely leaving it out of the dialogue and plan. Unless you're Cory Booker of course! He seems to be the only one willing to stand up to this giant, ruthless industry.
While thoughtful & concerned, your statements don’t really seem to address the immediacy of need for foodstuffs, which is how that grain is slated to be used in the countries importing it, for the most part, at this time. People the world over are using grain for bread, and although I may be mistaken, those nations primarily affected by the implosion of the grain deal are trying to feed their people on a starvation/famine prevention basis. How do we address THAT issue right now?
No clue. But I do know that we must think forward. We cannot always be thinking only in the moment. There are going to be many disasters and catastrophes, natural and manmade. We need to place at least half of our focus on preventative measures that will yield the kind of results we want to see in the future, that we wish were the case now, instead of being reactionary -- like Western Medicine. We've got to embrace the 7 generations philosophy.
All of agriculture currently generates less than 10% of greenhouse gases. The fossil fuel industries generate 70% of green house gases. Growing human quality produce is more energy intensive than raising hay or oats. Insulate your house, seal your windows, upgrade your appliances, get some solar panels and an electric car, then get an induction range and turn off the gas line to your house. Much more substantive actions to mitigating the problems caused by fossil fuel extraction and combustion. Cruelty to animals is a completely different thing, and a worthy issue to grapple with, but don’t get confused, survival of all life as we know it is a more basic question, and a tremendous amount of money is being spent by fossil fuel interests to make us all worry about about cow burps. Don’t get distracted.
In the US, there were millions of buffalo burping. The oil companies are trying to distract from the vast quantity of unflared, undocumented methane they are releasing. I am sorry I don’t remember the reference , but I expect if you Google unidentified point sources of methane,you will learn some things you didn’t know about how much more methane comes out of a well than out of a herd of cows. The discussion was originally about what to do about climate change. What to do with starving people as a result of climate change is another discussion...
You sound like an industry advocate. I'm a former energy efficiency consultant and got my BS in energy management and design. Millions of Buffalo igrazing on natural meadow sis very very different than 100 billion animals being stuffed full of an unnaturall diet that causes them gastrointestinal stress. The average life on earth is that of a factory farmed animal. It's completely unnatural. I'm also an animal rights activist.. I assure you that I am not confused. The world is caught in a delusion. Fossil fuels are obviously a problem. But you are underestimating animal ag's contribution.
Which industry do you think I am advocating for? Have you see the very recent research on the astounding methane plums from wells in Texas, Turkey, and Turkmenistan? I believe these new findings increase the relative impact of unflared wells, and decrease the impact of ag in general on the general warming of the planet. I am far from an advocate for factory farming. The huge feedlots should be outlawed, as environmental hazards. The reason the price of eggs went to 7 or 8 dollars a dozen was because of the overcrowding of the factory chicken farms, leading to the infection or potential for infection of all those chickens, which led to the culling of all those chickens. Corporate fantasies of economies of scale, accomplished by failure to account for the true cost of waste disposal and hiding catastrophic events like bird flu epidemics, are creative at best, and simple profiteering lies at worst. What are your suggestions for remediating all these problems, which, from my point of view, come from the same erroneous decision making processes by a certain set of human beings?
You
Presumably these 80 + billion animals will then be reduced to a very small fraction by not breeding them anymore?
Exactly.
Mainly chickens.
Yep, and pound per pound you'd be shocked at how much methane chickens are responsible for just based on their sheer numbers. about 1/5 of the methane from livestock comes from chickens. But by body weight they make up a ridiculously small fraction of the total livestock mass. The fact that these billions are mostly chickens does not mean that the associated emissions are insignificant. I've done the math.
I think everyone should have a few chickens in their back yard. Fresh eggs, no Japanese beetles or ticks, funny little feathered dinosaur opinions about things. But once again, even using your numbers, 1/5 of 35 is 7%. The oil fields release more and don’t even report it. Go after the big guns, you know? I am shocked at why Exxon, BP, and Amaco get a pass, aren’t you?
I'm not shocked, but I'm disgusted. Both industries are nearly exempt from any and all environmental regulation or accountability. They are both super destructive. I'm not exactly sure how you're doing the math, but animal ag emitting more GHGs than all global transportation combined is not insignificant, no matter what the number. I don't eat eggs anymore so if I ever rescue a chicken I'll love it like family. Otherwise I don't think I "need" chickens. Last time I checked 7% or 10% aren't insufficient values. I mean if that was interior lighting I doubt you'd be so dismissive about that value. Big Ag, then fossil fuels, then who knows, big pharma? They are the bread and butter of the global economy. Especially the poor animals, because very very little overhead goes into those hellish places - they die all the time before reaching slaughter. Roughly 15-20% is the industry's loss tolerance. It is unconscionable. It's nearly all profit the way they do it. When you combine the torture of animals with the negative, and no doubt undercounted, climate and environmental impacts of factory farming, I'm afraid I'm unwilling and unable to agree that fossil fuels are a bigger issue for our planet. You're missing the backside of the meat egg and dairy problem. And that is disease, viruses, pandemic risks, and all the masses of energy spent on Healthcare facilities treating all the sick people from diseases caused by consumption, and zoonotic viruses, plus all the transport fuel spent on getting animals to slaughter and then to market. Animals are frequently trucked 24-48 hours to slaughter (without water or food, but that's not energy related), not to mention the masses of burned and cleared forests for grazing and growing feed crop, and the energy to grow these crops, the CO2 released by burning, the lack of those trees to sequester CO2. Humans weigh far less than cattle. We wouldn't have to grow nearly as much food if we weren't growing it for cows that we then eat! There are only 8 billion of us. We don't weigh over 400 lbs on average. It's absurd! Gosh let's not forget all the refrigeration required for meat eggs and dairy. Produce isn't anywhere near as energy intensive overall as animal ag. Energy = emissions. I hope that you can see that there is so much more to animal ag in terms of its contributions to climate change than just the methane. But ilet's say you're right, hypothetically, that animal ag "only" accounts for 10% of GHG emissions ... what about the fact that methane is 85 times more potent than CO2 as a GHG? It dissipates faster, so if we can reduce in the near term that is a win win - because it's so potent and better at trapping heat. It would help but it's time and could literally make the difference. Not everyone can afford all the EE retrofits you suggested, which should always start with the roof and envelope insulation, including windows and doors. Then appliances etc. But EVERYONE can eat less animal products - no excuse. - we don't need the nutrients and more than those animals we eat. That's a totally myth. Watch the Game Changers on Netflix for more info on that, and then What The Health. So no, animal ag doesn't get a free pass from scrutiny and neither do the masses who consume it. We have to change both things animal product and energy consumption. It's about its climate change contributions and its not either/or. Both unscrupulous industries as well as our elected officials who prop them up with our tax dollars and deregulation are to blame. It's literally outrageous and unacceptable. They're is literally no public messenging in our media networks about either issue. Shameful.
I just had a frustrating few minutes trying to sign in on my laptop so am pecking this on my phone instead. Thank you for the post and providing clarity to much of what is happening. And as I read this I'm thanking our stars above that Joe Biden and clear heads are in charge rightnow. May we continue to have actual patriots and smart people on the watch.
Thank you for insightful, well-researched article Heather!
"The U.S. Treasury and the U.S. State Department today announced additional sanctions on companies that have given Russia access to products that feed the war, provide revenue from minerals and mining, give it access to the international financial system, or provide military technology."
I hope they are going after SLB (formerly Schlumberger), Baker Hughes, and Halliburton.
https://www.pbs.org/newshour/world/major-u-s-firms-supplied-equipment-to-keep-russian-oil-flowing-after-ukraine-invasion
Thank you for this info and article, as horrific as it is. Sharing with 2 family members who worked in the oil services industry.
Thank you George for these links. Very important info that I had not seen so explicitly reported previously. Shameful behavior by the cited companies, particularly SLB (formerly Schlumberger), which I find infuriating under the circumstance! Nothing but greed could justify actions taken by SLB, insatiable greed and an eye for beating the risk and getting away with it.
From my perspective the combination of greed and willful ignorance are destroying the planet. And the fossil fuels industry generates billions in revenue and profit every month in which they can delay any meaningful societal/global response to the climate emergency. Greed is a core component of the fossil fuel industry DNA. Their behavior is reprehensible.
How was that allowed to continue for over a year?! SLB wasn't smuggling oil rig equipment in boxes of cereal. Time and again it turns out that U.S. sanctions are smoke-and-mirrors.
I think her assertion, that Putin being not able to attend the BRICS Summit--kind of a big deal for him--indicates he's a pariah, has absolute relevance. And by the way, "weaponizing" the ICC, if there is such a thing ("weaponize" such a go-to word for the MTGs and Boebies of the world now--jump on that train!), is no different (it's a tool. Their called instruments of national/international power--look it up) that, say, Russia "weaponizing" food distribution to Africa--a place where Wagner offers its "services" in 12 countries (well, 11 now), mostly with brutality, to, wait for it, "weaponize" the UN votes against its invasion. There is truth that, Russia's status outside the west is much more ambivalent--but that is less about those countries actually supporting Russia than it is their concern for, y'know, things like basic food and security--the things Putin is trying to hold hostage (if that wasn't clear--I'm dying to hear your spin on that).
A pariah and a menace.
Thank you Robert for such a clear statement of the issue.
We are hearing more and more about younger Americans, youth through those in their 30s and 40s, all in the prime of their lives, experiencing and suffering from depression, anxiety, anger, loss of direction, and other signs of mental, emotional and physical fatigue.
At the same time, I hear many FOX followers blaming this on laziness, woke, liberals, failed Christian commitment, and everything else their neo authoritarian politics ascribes to the “others”.
I can’t help but believe that living in a world of rapidly increasing climate change catastrophes, economic inequalities, political threats, the legalized violence and denialism that FOX & FRIENDS promotes and then blames on the innocent, while Putin and his international supporters practice this on their own people and other nations, is driving us, particularly the young, all insane and feeling lost and hopeless.
Great assessment, David, and one that I think is the most spot-on of any "laments about the youth" from my generation that I have heard. It ain't being "woke". It is about existential and environmental and political crisis.
World War III has become a distinct possibility. Putin is nuts. Fascism is spreading. World wide. George Orwell lives on in our GOP. Ignorance and fear rule among America’s prejudiced, uneducated and intolerant whites. The best campuses are silent and complicit. Yet, Yale’s Timothy Snyder spells out the historical context and significance of Russia’s actions and the danger to all. Jews will not replace us is the cry. Never Again is forgotten. Food is now a weapon. Starvation is now likely. War crime is sanctioned by silence and violence. Ambivalence in America is an old story. Winston S. Churchill was patient. Japan solved FDR’s isolationist problem. Who and what will focus our intolerance and ignorance problem? Warming assures refugees in the millions. And violence. Borders close. Bombs drop. GOP Rep. Elise Stefanik of the 21st rules Speaker Kevin McCarthy. Both are liars. Both are fascist. Fascism depends on the willfully complicit. And silent. President Dwight David Eisenhower warned us about the military industrial complex. He understood. President Abraham Lincoln was our best. The Civil War never ended. Two terms of Obama triggered the white supremacy born again movement. White churches across the south are fired up. Blacks are targeted. The white American male is upset. Daily mass murder is proof. Former President Trump and the now infamous son of Robert and Ethel Kennedy are severely disturbed pathological liars... that appeal to ignored Americans of no education... born to hate, many unloved, often addicted, intolerant to a fault.. and angry.
Well said. In my humble opinion, we also have a group of not so ignorant isolationist and a group of not so ignorant actual fascist. I wish ignorance and fear only effected the prejudice, uneducated and intolerant among us. We humans seem to have an ability to not think and not see and not care until a problem is at our throats. The natural world is pushing back in a very visible way now and it seems like a conversion of many life threatening or life ending factors are beginning to push us rapidly to the brink. We will do reckless things when that happens. Not well reasoned and well informed.
Buried in your staccato summary of our disjointed history is one sentence ending with a question mark. 'Who and what will focus our intolerance and ignorance problem?" I wonder what cost to our freedoms such a focus will require. We should not be looking for a benevolent dictator. They don't exist.
Very well said. Paints an ugly picture of humans who don’t seem to learn the lessons of the past. Agree that climate change is going to throw an already charged and tenuous world out of the frying pan and into the (literal) fire. Maybe there will remain, after we’ve mostly done ourselves in, some scattered folk deep in the wilderness who live their traditional ways (no, or little, prior “outside” contact) to keep our species alive.
For all you people responding to the troll.
Please don't feed them, they get dependent and only want more.
Best thing is to ignore them and soon they will go away because they're not getting what they want.
Not so, sadly. Ignoring Adolf Hitler did not work... ignoring today’s fascist will inspire more.
And you can report them to Substack by clicking on the three dots at the end of their message.
Thank you, Beth! My sentiments exactly.
Very strange to be so close to war without being at war .. I wonder how long NATO can stay that way ? This is very scary as a wrong move by Putin could start WWIII.
Putin meant to scare people, not just the Ukrainians
Indeed... remember the Arch Duke and one shot.