Here’s a concept I just came across:
There are years that ask questions and years that answer. -Zora Neale Hurston (pictured), folklorist and writer (7 Jan 1891-1960)
Interesting, but doesn’t it seem that each year both asks and answers questions? (more…)
As a reader commented: Newark is one of the cities that has already been doing the work of defunding by building up social services and changing police culture. Great progress, but still a long way to go.
Exactly right. The word “defund” was a terrible choice, but once one understands what it actually means, virtually anyone would be in favor of it.
Do you have a crazy but unarmed guy running through the street naked? An eight-year-old acting up in school? A potential suicide? You don’t need a guy with a gun; you need someone with good communication skills, trained for that ad hoc purpose–and a cell phone to call 911 if somehow the matter gets out of hand and force is ultimately required.
Anyone who believes that tiny, robotically driven, electrically powered mowers are the future of lawn care can plunk down $100K and buy a franchise. On the other hand, anyone who, like me, sees this as preposterous, would do well to stay away, far away.
Over the coming 15 years or so, the citizens of Earth will experience great change. From the standpoint of the energy and transportation sectors, that will mean decarbonization, both in our grid-mix and in our automobiles.
The years between 2030 and 2035 are the endpoints that a number of the states here at home and many countries in the EU have designated as the last date at which new gas- and diesel-powered cars can be sold. (more…)
From Ars Technica:
With the days counting down to the inauguration of President-elect Joe Biden, the Trump administration has been undertaking a series of actions that will make it more difficult for its replacements to reverse any of its policies or pursue new ones. This is especially true in the area of environmental regulations, where both the Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of Interior have recently issued decisions….The EPA has finally pushed through a new rule that could severely limit the ability of the agency to establish future regulations. (more…)
From this:
BREAKING: ANOTHER OF TRUMP’S PAID LIARS BITES THE DUST: Cleta Mitchell, a lawyer who assisted “President” Trump on the January 2 call when Trump pressured Georgia officials to “find” him votes to steal the election, has resigned from her law firm, hours after her law firm publicly called her out for the “concerning” call.
Always good to see justice done. Have to wonder what she’ll do with the rest of her career–certainly not working for any respectable law firm.
It’s amazing how many lives Trump has ruined. The people who have anything to do with him get exactly what they deserve.
So as to avoid the Biden inauguration, it was rumored that Trump wanted to be at his golf resort in Scotland on January 20th. Nothing doing, says the Scottish government.
This would have been a poor choice in any case, given the UK’s extradition treaty with the United States.
We can all see that Trump is burning the country (and the rest of the world) to the ground as he leaves office, yet his ploy of leasing the Arctic refuge is probably not going to work. That’s because of:
The low price of crude,
The high cost of drilling and transportation, and
The immense PR damage that will accrue to whatever oil company that takes this on.
It’s likely that Trump will have to invent a new scourge to inflict on Planet Earth.
As the United States approaches the showdown associated with the presidency, we all need to keep in mind that there are no scenarios in which Trump concedes defeat and leaves with even the slightest bit of grace. (more…)
All corporate polluters have one thing in common, and that’s true whether we’re talking about plastics, CO2 emissions, or toxic waste: our society gives them permission to use our skies and waterways as their own private sewers.
I’m sure that Coca-Cola isn’t proud of the fact that they’re ruining our planet and our children’s future, but they made $8.9 billion last year on $37.2 billion in revenues. That’s a lot of incentive to continue business as usual, and zero incentive to look for alternatives. In fact, given corporate law in the United States, the executive team has a fiduciary responsibility to Coke’s shareholders to maximize profits, and would expose itself to great liability if it did otherwise. As a civilization, we get what we reward.
Want this tragedy to cease? It’s as simple as a stroke of the pen. Just force corporate polluters to pay the costs of cleaning up the mess they’re making. All this would be gone by tomorrow morning.
