Tornado Danger in the American Midwest
Using individual extreme weather events as evidence of climate change is not a scientifically accurate thing to do, but this is a lot of tornadoes. Indiana averages 22 per year, and they are already at 44.
Tagged with: Evidence of Climate Change
How Much Power Should the Billionaires Have?
Former Labor Secretary Robert Reich poses a good question here.
At this point, it appears that the billionaires can do anything they want, insofar as they own all three branches of the U.S. federal government.
Tagged with: How Much Power Should the Billionaires Have?
Trump’s Never Been Held Accountable, and That’s a Problem
In response to the question posed at left, yes. I would say that this applies to about 60% of Americans and probably 95% of people from the rest of the developed world.
An old friend told me, “The problem is that he always wins.”
My reply: “So far, but keep in mind that everyone is undefeated until their first loss.”
Tagged with: Trump's Never Been Held Accountable
American Oil
These people promote themselves as follows:
Now is your chance! Join our free investor webinar and learn more about how Phoenix Energy can help you get 9-13% annual interest rates with monthly payments or compounding interest.
I hope somebody will notify me when/if the first investor gets a single penny back.
If you’re a gullible idiot who doesn’t know the first thing about the world oil market, this could be for you. Any political persuasion is fine, but 99% of the target market here are Trump supporters, with that perfect blend of faux patriotism, ignorance, and arrogance.
If you have any capacity to think for yourself, ask yourself why the executive strata at Big Oil has exactly zero interest in pursuing this path. The CEO of ExxonMobil made $44.1 million last year. How did you and your plumbing company do?
Tagged with: American Oil
Two Thousand Years Hence
My recent post The Human Condition According to a Famous Stoic presents Roman philosopher Seneca‘s bold statement at left, but it also raises the question: Are there any people of our current era that will be the subject of conversation 2000 years from now?
Let’s start by admitting that, unless a miracle occurs, it’s extremely unlikely that there will still be organized human life here in 100 years, let alone 2000. Environmental collapse, runaway disease unleashed from the melting of permafrost, nuclear holocaust, AI, and a variety of other as-yet-unseen threats leave us with what most informed people would agree to be a poor chance of survival. But let’s set that aside and assume that humankind just keeps bumping along.
A few ideas:
The iconic religious figures like Jesus Christ, Mohammed, and the Buddha might still be topics for intellectuals of the fifth millennium CE. It’s unlikely that a new religion will take hold, as the world (outside the United States) becomes more dependent on science and less on superstition.
As much as I hate to say it, I doubt that anything that’s happened in music will make it anywhere close to another 2000 years. It pains me to think of a day when the works of people like Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, and Chopin are forgotten, but that seems inevitable.
My last remark may come as a surprise: It’s possible that the name Donald Trump may be on people’s lips into the indefinite future. Two millennia after the fall of Rome, we’re still studying and analyzing what happened to what was at the time, the most empire that Earth had even seen. We write books on the subject that weigh more than a small boy, but there was no single culprit. And we’ve examined it all: Caesar, corruption, Nero, decadence, outreach into lands that are uncontrollable. The debates still continues.
It’s possible that the people studying world economics and politics in the future will wonder what caused the wealthiest and most powerful nation in Earth’s history to wither, grow cold, and die–all within just a few years. It wasn’t Bill and Hillary Clinton.
Tagged with: The Human Condition
The Human Condition According to a Famous Stoic
Roman Stoic philosopher Seneca made a bold statement at left, though most of human culture acts as though there is no truth to his statement whatsoever.
We live our lives surrounded by never-ending war, torture, the death penalty, poverty/hunger, injustice, ignorance/the denial of science, greed/selfishness, xenophobia, and racial hatred.
Tagged with: The Human Condition
What Do Other Countries Think about the United States–and Why?
What concerns the rest of the world more? Is it Trump, or is it a system and its people that’s so twisted and broken that it enabled Trump to come to power in the first place? There is no way of knowing.
Worse, the situation is getting worse by the day. Today’s new is Trump’s lust for sending American citizens to El Salvadoran prisons. But the shelf-life of these horror stories is limited to just a few days, and we have no idea what’s coming next.
Recent Changes in America Haven’t Been Too Positive
This is where we are now, and it’s not an enviable position.
Tagged with: Recent Changes in America Haven't Been Too Positive
What We Can Learn from the George Santos Story
From CBS News:
Prosecutors are seeking more than seven years in prison for disgraced former New York Congressman George Santos after he pleaded guilty to federal fraud and identity theft charges.
A federal judge on Long Island is scheduled to decide Santos’ sentence during a court hearing April 25.
In a court filing Friday, the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York argued that a significant sentence was warranted because the New York Republican’s “unparalleled crimes” had “made a mockery” of the country’s election system.
“From his creation of a wholly fictitious biography to his callous theft of money from elderly and impaired donors, Santos’s unrestrained greed and voracious appetite for fame enabled him to exploit the very system by which we select our representatives,” the office wrote.
Prosecutors argue Santos has a “high likelihood of reoffending”
Prosecutors also argued that Santos had been “unrepentant and defiant” for years, dismissing the prosecution as a “witch hunt” and refusing to resign from Congress as his web of lies was debunked.
There are a couple of aspects to the case that make it particularly sickening:
Santos was elected in southeastern New York, not some rural part of the Deep South that brought Marjorie Taylor Greene to power. It’s impossible to blame a lack of education for this humiliating catastrophe.
He actually is a threat to reoffend, because he’s crazier than an outhouse rat.
This whole revolting story illustrates how it’s possible that the United States re-elected Donald Trump as its president. As a population, we have very little capacity to differentiate between a decent human being and a criminal sociopath.
Sea-Level Rise
I had to laugh at this discussion on the video on sea-level rise and the post I just made:
Reader A: Bull, it’s not global warming. It’s part of the ice age cycle. As the gulf stream is near it’s (sic) pike (sic) towards the North Pole.
Reader B: How to tell everyone you’re American without actually saying you’re American. The next thing you’ll tell us is that you voted for Trump.
Tagged with: sea level rise
