As the Democratic National Convention continues its week-long stay in Philadelphia, accusations of Russian hacking continue to cloud the proceedings. At this point, it seems likely that Russia is responsible. What’s less clear is what that will mean going forward. — Wired
****
Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin, for a long time now, have aligned their statements and political actions. As it becomes more and more certain that Russia hacked into Democratic National Committee emails in what appears to be a weaponized information warfare attack on the U.S. electoral process, one has to seriously consider the notion that Trump stands to substantially benefit from such an act of international cyber-aggression.
When asked in December about the killing of journalists under Vladimir Putin, the Republican presidential candidate, who just the day before had called Putin “brilliant” and “a strong leader”, reluctantly admitted that such atrocities under Putin might possibly be a bad thing.
(Russia is one of the largest oil and gas producers in the world. As a state, it has put very little effort into developing renewable energy. Instead, it has focused an amazing attempt to militarily control and exploit an expanding range of Arctic oil and gas sources. Russia’s claimed greenhouse gas emissions reduction goals are rife with distortions and cherry picking, and the state is a well-known persecutor of environmentalists and climate change action advocates. What could a climate-change denier and fossil-fuel energy dominance advocate like Trump possibly have in common with Putin’s Russia? Image source: EIA.)
Trump went on to backhandedly defend Putin’s alleged poll-rigging and positively compared Russia, which is rated worse than Sudan and Iraq when it comes to press freedoms, to the United States. Implied was not only a kind of admiration in Trump of Putin, but for the kinds of oppressive political activities that denigrate the foundations of democracy itself.
This noted tendency to defend the political strongman is especially salient when you consider the fact that Putin has held growing autocratic power over a Russia now falling down the dark hole of ever-worsening human rights abuses and political persecution by various means for the past 16 years and shown all of the worst kinds of contempt for the electoral process. All of this served to highlight Trump’s callous disregard for a free press — one of the foundations of democracy here in the U.S.
Various astounded and befuddled Republicans, including the likes of George Will and Mitt Romney, showed a modicum of morality and quickly condemned Trump’s admiration for Putin. And CNN, though not as tonally taken aback as MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough, noted the existence of a strange “bromance” between Trump and Putin.
Russian Petro-State Authoritarian and Trump Have a Lot in Common
Whether it’s an autocrat profiting from draconian laws, intimidation and human rights abuses in Russia or a corrupt billionaire rigging the game against struggling students for monetary gain in the U.S., it would appear that both Trump and Putin have quite a lot in common. And though political and economic bullying may seem the most obvious, there’s a deeper alignment here that we should not entirely ignore.
(Fracking wastelands like these would be expanded by a Trump energy policy which would broaden and extend fossil fuel dependence, setting us on a path toward increasingly more violent and harmful changes to the global climate. Russian fossil-fuel development policies run along similar lines. Trump fails to acknowledge climate change as a threat and has nominated a climate-change denier to sit as his energy adviser. Image source: Greenpeace.)
At issue is the fact that Russia is a state that has unwisely and irresponsibly bet a large share of its economic fortune on fossil fuel exploration and extraction. U.S. policies aimed at mitigating human-caused climate change by reducing fossil-fuel burning and increasing renewable energy access would, by extension, erode Russia’s fossil-fuel based economic model. Russian plans for using oil and gas as a lever to exert political influence over Europe and China also fades in a world that rapidly adopts renewable energy.
Hillary Clinton and a Democratic Party invigorated by Bernie Sanders have come to, more and more strongly, support the kind of needed action in the face of rapidly worsening human-caused warming. Donald Trump and the Republicans who support him are climate-change skeptics or deniers. Trump’s policies call for vastly expanded fracking, removal of supports for renewable energy like Obama’s Clean Power Plan, and an increasing dependence on and production of oil and gas. Such retrograde policies would set the U.S. back on a terribly damaging business-as-usual carbon-emissions path and secure the dominance of the kinds of polluting fuels that Putin’s Russia has irresponsibly bet its economic future upon.
Russian Hacking of the DNC in Context
Such an alignment of interests cannot be ignored, and nor should Trump’s and Putin’s mutual overtures or Trump’s defense of Putin’s various and noted abuses of power. It is in this context that the hacking of DNC emails, much like the hacking and misrepresentation of climate scientist emails over recent years, has occurred.
(NOAA’s red marble view of what business-as-usual fossil-fuel emissions looks like: a world sweltering beneath devastating global heat. Under energy policies supported by those like Trump and Putin, the world is bound to get to that wretched and wrecked state. Image source: NOAA.)
In this case, Trump’s alignment with Putin is concurrent with what appears to be an active effort of information warfare against the United States. Wired Magazine notes:
If the allegations do prove correct, this is an unprecedented step for Russia. Hacking is nothing new, but publicizing documents to attempt to sway an election certainly is. Putin would clearly prefer a Trump presidency. The billionaire Republican candidate is a longtime admirer of Putin’s, and has publicly stated that he wouldn’t necessarily defend NATO allies against a Russian invasion. To top it all off, Trump’s campaign manager, Paul Manafort, formerly worked as an advisor to Viktor Yanukovych, the Russian-backed President of Ukraine before he was ousted in 2014.
In addition, Trump’s own belligerence on the subject may well be crossing the line into an ongoing association with, and support of, an entity conducting harmful espionage operations against the U.S. government and its political leaders, and against the integrity of the process of establishing such a government. Wired, in a recent update:
In a press conference Wednesday, Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump invited Russia to retrieve “missing” emails from Hillary Clinton’s campaign and release them. Cybersecurity experts described the remarks as “unprecedented” and “possibly illegal.”
If even only some of this bears out and if the obvious alignments and motivations between Trump and the international fossil fuel establishment prove to be part of the motivator (pretty clear motive and pattern of behavior here folks), then it looks like the climate wars — which have been a vicious political and media undercurrent for years now — just went hot.
Links/Attribution/Statements
Here’s What We Know about the Russia DNC Hack
Spy Agency Consensus Grows — It Looks Like the Russians Hacked the DNC
Think of Russia as a Petrostate
The Hockey Stick and the Climate Wars
climatehawk1
/ July 27, 2016Tweeting.
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Nancy
/ July 27, 2016How can Trump receive a top secret military clearance, which would be required to be the President of the United States? This is a very serious issue and I’m sure high-level security people in Washington are looking into it. And would his wife be able to pass a security check? I doubt it.
If Trump thinks Putin is his friend, he is in for a really ‘yuge’ surprise!
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robertscribbler
/ July 27, 2016This guy’s getting national security briefings and behaving in such a way.
“The only thing necessary for evil to triumph in the world is for good men (and women) to do nothing.” Just couldn’t, in good conscience, hold fire on this one. This guy is already a disaster. As president, it would be unthinkable.
I’m urging a full repeat, fire for effect against this guy. His presidency would be catastrophic for the US and the world.
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Colorado Bob
/ July 27, 2016The mind reels.
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Bill H
/ July 27, 2016Here’s some street art from Lithuania that ought to be going viral in the U.S.:
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/jul/25/russia-dnc-hack-vladimir-putin-donald-trump-us-election
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robertscribbler
/ July 27, 2016Great and highly representative bit of art there, Bill.
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Colorado Bob
/ July 27, 2016I posted this on the last thread, and have been stewing over it ever since, but it bares repeating here –
An extremely crisp shot of the Russian Tundra on fire.
Terra/MODIS
2016/208
07/26/2016
06:05 UTC
Fires and smoke in central Russia
Please look at the cluster of “New Fires” in the upper left corner. All those pinholes all burning together. I’ve been watching this block for days, and those are new fires.
I think that this is the finger print of “dry lighting” hitting an area that has “trampoline tundra”. Think about it, the tundra doesn’t have to really dry out anymore to burn. In fact it’s better if the top is still wet, it wouldn’t behaved the way, as we saw in those clips last week . But the gas layer just under turf, would go up
Remember this “trampoline tundra”. was rock hard all year round just a few year ago. For thousands , and thousands of years, and it was found on an island way north of the these fires. In the Arctic Ocean.
So 2 new things are at work :
A. Dry lighting in the Arctic.
B. The tundra is so dense , and thick on the top that it is acting like seal to trap gases as the thaw works it’s way down into the Earth.
What we saw with the methane blowouts , was the big sister , these fires are the little sisters.
Some day soon, some jackass in the Arctic is going light a cigarette , and 10 square miles of gas is gonna up all at once.
The roof of the world is truly on fire
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dtlange
/ July 27, 2016Bob, I’m curious.
How do you mean ” In fact it’s better if the top is still wet”?
Conductivity to wet ground — or something else?
Thx
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Griffin
/ July 27, 2016Hi Robert. I see that you are making a very good argument that Trump is an unacceptable as a choice.
Please allow me to offer some additional reasoning. The following web page from Reddit should be sufficient to shine the light on just how much of a lunatic we have here. It’s even worse than most people think.
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Colorado Bob
/ July 27, 2016http://media.gettyimages.com/photos/benito-mussolini-il-duce-italian-fascist-dictator-addressing-fascist-picture-id113634153
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Colorado Bob
/ July 27, 2016Trump is not Hitler , he’s Mussolini , he’s gonna make the trains run on time.
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Cate
/ July 27, 2016Agreed, CB. The Donald is a pure Mussolini-style clown.
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robertscribbler
/ July 27, 2016Hell of a comment there, Griff. Very illuminating set of links.
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Mulga Mumblebrain
/ July 28, 2016Fair enough-Trump is mad, but so too is Hillary. You have a VERY poor choice. The Republican Platform is evil insanity and a recipe for ecological catastrophe, and on the strength of that alone one would have to vote for Clinton, although she will govern differently from how she has campaigned, like Obama.
However the frenzy of hatred against Putin is very misguided. He is not just massively popular in Russia, but also in Europe and elsewhere, particularly for standing up to the USA. The black propaganda against him impresses no-one familiar with the history of Western MSM lying and hate-mongering. There is NO chance of replacing Putin with another puppet like Yeltsin, and the sane course would be detente. not driving NATO to Russia’s borders and organising fascist coups in Ukraine.
Russia has few alternatives at present but reliance on fossil fuels, a situation exacerbated by US economic warfare and sanctions. Putin would be overthrown if it pauperised the public again by renouncing that patrimony. In a peaceful world, where the USA, (the greatest cyber-snooper of ALL as Snowden showed), was not determined to destroy Russia and China, we might have some chance of international co-operation, but as both Conventions showed. Americans are more comfortable proclaiming their ‘Greatness’, the absolute Right ‘to lead’, and shouting USA! USA! USA!
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Ryan in New England
/ July 28, 2016Thanks for that, Griffin
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Abel Adamski
/ July 30, 2016From the comments under the linked article
“Fascism should more properly be called corporatism, since it is the merger of state and corporate power.” – Benito Mussolini, often considered the father of fascism.
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Griffin
/ July 27, 2016Oh boy , I am sorry for the long link. Please delete. I thought i was only providing a hyperlink.
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Colorado Bob
/ July 27, 2016I love every key stroke , leave it.
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June
/ July 28, 2016agreed!
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Suzanne
/ July 29, 2016Leave it…we need to never forget…Hair Trump is a national security risk to our country…but more importantly….a threat to our planet.
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islandraider
/ July 27, 2016The Orange Vulgarian, aka Cheeto Jesus.
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Colorado Bob
/ July 27, 2016The guy who made the trains on Time. After he and is friends killed 70 million people –
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Colorado Bob
/ July 27, 2016Those that forget the past are doomed to repeat it.
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Colorado Bob
/ July 27, 2016A word about the Russians, they were the last major power on Earth to get rid of slavery. But It never stopped there. Peter the Great made every prince in Moscow cut his beard.
They hated him for it. He had taken a tour to Holland. He saw the future, they hated him for it.
Their population is shrinking , their men are drunks. Russia is on it’s way to another Failed state.
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Mulga Mumblebrain
/ July 28, 2016Bob, you are out of date. Putin has stabilised Russia and reversed its decline. Mindless hatred of Russia is not what a world that requires international co-operation needs. The Russians are actually quite fine fellows, and Putin’s is the most liberal and ‘democratic’ regime that has existed there.
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Suzanne
/ July 29, 2016I am sorry…but I disagree. Putin has been interfering with other nations politics with the goal to “destabilize” Europe…for his own means. It has been his goal for 15 years…to destroy the West from within…and to get back the Baltic States. He has robbed his people..for his own means and wealth….he has murdered journalists..and others who have spoken out against him. He has demonized the LGBT communities in Russia.
Putin is a demagogue…and is hardly “democratic” regime.
He tries to put “lipstick on a pig”…to try to appear more democratic…but it like Trump…an illusion.
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Colorado Bob
/ July 27, 2016LikeLike
Colorado Bob
/ July 27, 2016He had a much better hat.
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Colorado Bob
/ July 27, 2016Drop the eagle and claws, Write…………….. Make Italy Great Again.
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Colorado Bob
/ July 27, 2016Once upon a time I could do this. Now, I’m old fool just pointing at facts.
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Colorado Bob
/ July 27, 2016The real theme song this week –
Van Halen- Runnin’ with the Devil
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Colorado Bob
/ July 27, 2016Betty Davis –
Getting old is not for sissies.
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Colorado Bob
/ July 27, 2016I was in a van going up Echo Junction to work We were hauling ass. To screw mother Earth and take rape of her treasures.
Flirtin’ with Disaster- Molly Hatchet
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Colorado Bob
/ July 27, 2016We’re all going to hell in basket, one is clean. It’s a very big boat , and we’re all in it.
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Colorado Bob
/ July 27, 2016Sorry, Bucket, We’re Going to Hell on a Bucket. not a crappy basket .
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Colorado Bob
/ July 27, 2016LikeLike
Griffin
/ July 27, 2016Lamar is still on his witch hunt. Disgraceful.
Texas GOP Rep. Lamar Smith said he was disappointed that New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman and Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey refused to comply with subpoenas he issued two weeks ago.
In an escalating political fight over global warming, Smith is pursuing records from the two Democrats, along with nine environmental, scientific and philanthropic organizations. Schneiderman and Healey say Congress lacks authority over them.
Smith said Wednesday their noncompliance “only raises additional questions” and said “the committee will consider using all tools at its disposal to further its investigation.”
http://www.apnewsarchive.com/2016/House-Science-Committee-Chairman-Smith-is-threatening-further-action-after-the-New-York-and-Massachusetts-attorneys-general-refused-to-comply-with-subpoenas-seeking-records-about-their-p/id-173cde269e6049eaaa68b83196c22aa8
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Colorado Bob
/ July 27, 2016Congress has no cops..
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Colorado Bob
/ July 27, 2016They can huff, and puff but the AG’s in the states, can say screw you.
Federalism .
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June
/ July 28, 2016The McCarthy of climate change
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Mulga Mumblebrain
/ July 28, 2016One of the McCarthys.
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Colorado Bob
/ July 27, 2016Grateful Dead – Fire On The Mountain (Studio Version)
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Shawn Redmond
/ July 27, 2016Forgive me for asking but would you military leaders blindly follow such madness?
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Colorado Bob
/ July 27, 2016Hitler, invaded Russia without heavy coats. Neapolitan did the exact same thing.
So the answer is yes.
If your going to invade Russia, Bring your heavy coats.
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Mulga Mumblebrain
/ July 28, 2016Monty’s first Military Law-don’t invade Russia. Did the Neapolitans bring pizza?
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dtlange
/ July 27, 2016– Take a look 1.0 :
The interior of the Mezhyhirya, the private residence of ousted Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych,
– dailymail.co.uk
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dtlange
/ July 27, 2016– Take a look 2.0 :
Inside Donald and Melania Trump’s Manhattan Apartment Mansion
– idesignarch.com
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Cate
/ July 28, 2016Sooo—money can’t buy love…happiness….or taste. 😀
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Mulga Mumblebrain
/ July 28, 2016All the Ukrainian oligarchs are immensely corrupt. Yanukovitch WAS democratically elected, and WAS overthrown by a US-organised Colour Revolution and fascist putsch.
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John Christian Lønningdal
/ July 28, 2016I see you have been brainwashed by Putins propagandamachine. Wake up! Russia has invaded annexed parts of a sovereign country. Through his state driven media he is blasting the Russian people with war propaganda that Nato is about to ivade them. Poor people must be scared to death there now. The reason why Putin doesn’t like Nato is because they are there to defend borders and Putin wants to draw his own borders.
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utoutback
/ July 28, 2016Thanks.
I know that politics is a great part of the climate change debate, but we are straying a little far afield when we start defending Putin & Russia and knocking US foreign policy here. Let’s stick to focusing on why the Republican machine is in the pocket of Big FF interests.
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Mulga Mumblebrain
/ July 29, 2016John Christian-I’ve been brainwashed by no-one but myself. I won’t go into details of why I believe you are wrong, but just repeat my salient point, that is that belligerence towards Russia not only threatens nuclear war, but also subverts the global co-operation required to address the ecological crisis of crises. Putin is not going anywhere, is massively supported inside Russia and would only be replaced by someone to his Right. Not a happy prospect.
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John Christian Lønningdal
/ July 29, 2016The German people were massively in support of Hitler as well by creating an enemy and putting blame. Putin is using his propaganda machine and control of the country to create ideas in his peoples head just like Hitler did. With it you can shape people to whatever means and make them believe anything. I feel Putin is trying to build some kind of Empire and Nationalist feeling in the Russian people while relying heavily on one source of income, fossil fuels, both will fail in the end as we are living in a global community today so if you want to progress as a country you need trade. The only way I feel Russia can get back on the global arena is by leaving Crimea and restoring the borders as they were, or they will suffer a slow painful stagnation as a nation.
What is worrying is that Russians still don’t know what Nato is, it’s a defence coalition that is there to keep nations from invading eachother as there will be a Nato response if a Nato country ia attacked. That Putin is putting the lives of all of us in danger by playing “chicken” with Nato shows us all that he is a sad excuse for a leader, brinking on being a psychopat. As Sting once said, “I hope the Russians love their children too”, as Putin has effectively re-ignited a new cold war with his annexation of Crimea and funding thugs in neighbouring lands. The Russians can do better.
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Mulga Mumblebrain
/ July 31, 2016John Christian, I despair. If you think Putin is supported in Russia, massively, just because of ‘brainwashing’, then you are utterly incorrect, and the ‘Putin is Hitler’ tripe is, in my opinion, sheer lunacy. And if you can turn the US support for a regime change operation in Kiev, culminating in a neo-Nazi putsch to throw out an elected President, followed by atrocities in Odessa and eastern Ukraine by those very fascists, as Putin’s fault, well polite words fail me. And the Crimeans, Russians for centuries until 1954, voted to re-join Russia, just as numerous other groups have voted for secession over the years. And NATO being driven to Russia’s borders, in contempt of promises made to Gorbachev that it would NOT happen, and ‘missile defence’ systems (still ludicrously described as defense against Iran)installed there, is ‘defensive’ only in Cloud Cuckoo Land. As I said above, such ruthless aggression, demonisation of Russia worse than during the Cold War, and propaganda that totally inverts reality all presage nuclear war.
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John Christian Lønningdal
/ July 31, 2016As I said, you have been brainwashed by Putin’s propaganda. You reiterate the same words the Russian state media uses whenever it talks about Ukraine, fascist this, fascist that. It’s nonsense. You have been sold a lie about ethnic clensing of Russians in Ukraine by the state media. The reason for the Maidan uprising was because the Ukrainian people (who are a majority in their own sovereign country, which includes Crimea) was sick and tired of the puppet regime controlled by Putin. He could have left office peacefully but instead had russian forces starting to snipe protesters in cold blood. That is blood on Putins hands and will be until he is in his grave (may it be sooner than later).
Nato is building rocket defence because they have no idea what Putin’s next move is, if he starts to lob nuclear weapons at least we have a chance at taking out a lot of them. It also backs up as defence in case Putin decides to arm a middle eastern country with nuclear capabilities (including Iran which Russia is hard at work helping the regime). Same thing with Assad, while Russia should have helped out taking out ISIS they are in fact helping Assads regimes ethnic cleansing of his own people that oppose the regime, a conflict that started because in the midst of a climate crisis (drought) the people in Syria needed help and instead got shot at by Syrian government forces when they started to protest (and Assad had sold a lot of the food stores to other countries instead of helping his own people).
As I have said before, with state controlled propaganda you can shape peoples minds as you see fit, and the first example of a propaganda machine being installed is the removal and persecution of the free press as well as the removal of real democratic elections, locally or globally. Putin and Medvedev elections have been rigged since Putin’s first period and while I don’t like the US two-party system it is at least a tad better than the two dictator-regime that Russia has. The Putin/Medvedev swap game is a classic example of how a maniac leader operates, he has to try to play by the book, hence its supposedly “democratic” votes and laws being upheld, just like his “green men” invading Crimea and telling the world its not them… its the mind of a small child in a room with a broken vase telling his parent “it wasnt me”… And then coming out saying it was them after all giving medals to the soldiers of the invasion force.
The moment Russia invaded Ukraine was the moment the world stopped trusting Russia, which even has a state driven system for doping athletes because Russia is trying to build a proud nation where good athletes with gold medals is needed. Instead they have made a joke out of all the Russian athletes to the point where they are being blocked from entering the Olympics.
You can Putin a great leader? He is likely the worst leader we have seen for a long time and one that threaten world peace. I’d also like to remind ou that Crimea is still a part of Ukraine, Russias annexation has not been accepted by the worlds coutries. Putin can start by leaving Crimea and pull out his forces from Ukraine, then we can all try to make peace again. Shame on Russia for making the world fear nuclear armageddon again! Shame on Russia for making me worry about my childrens future when I should be worrying about fixing the climate problems we are facing.
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Greg
/ July 27, 2016Climate change front and center right now at DEM convention. Sigourney Weaver, a great film and now Gov. Jerry Brown. Trumps words used against him well here.
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Suzanne
/ July 29, 2016Saw it…it was great. I wish it had been on in prime time.
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Colorado Bob
/ July 27, 2016The interior of the Mezhyhirya, the private residence of ousted Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych,
Trumps manger worked for this guy.
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dtlange
/ July 27, 2016Affirmative. That’s why I posted it.
Thx
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Colorado Bob
/ July 27, 2016Some one needs to tell the coal miners about this.
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dtlange
/ July 28, 2016Peabody Energy (St. Louis)
metaldesignsystems.com
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dtlange
/ July 27, 2016– I checked AirNow — Unhealthy ozone is most prevalent except for some regions with wildfire smoke Pm.
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dtlange
/ July 28, 2016LikeLike
dtlange
/ July 28, 2016– Ice/no ice:
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dtlange
/ July 28, 2016SE Asia weather:
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Robert In New Orleans
/ July 28, 2016America’s Shadow: The Real Secret of Donald J. Trump
By Deepak Chopra, MD
There’s a powerful way to explain the rise of Donald Trump that most commentators have missed entirely or undervalued. The standard line describes Trump as a bizarre anomaly. Beginning as an improbable celebrity candidate, he has defied all the conventional rules of politics, which should have been fatal. Instead Trump has swept all before him on the Republican side. Possessing a “genius” for grabbing the limelight, he continues to dominate the scene in ways no previous politician ever has in modern times—so the conventional view goes.
But in reality Trump isn’t bizarre or anomalous. He stands for something universal, something right before our eyes. It’s an aspect of the human psyche that we feel embarrassed and ashamed of, which makes it our collective secret. Going back a century in the field of depth psychology, the secret side of human nature acquired a special name: the shadow.
The shadow compounds all the dark impulses—hatred, aggression, sadism, selfishness, jealousy, resentment, sexual transgression—that are hidden out of sight. The name originated with Carl Jung, but its basic origin came from Freud’s insight that our psyches are dualistic, sharply divided between the conscious and unconscious. The rise of civilization is a tribute to how well we obey our conscious mind and suppress our unconscious side. But what hides in the shadows will out.
When it does, societies that look well-ordered and rational, fair and just, cultured and refined, suddenly erupt in horrible displays of everything they are not about: violence, prejudice, chaos, and ungovernable irrationality. In fact, the tragic irony is that the worst eruptions of the shadow occur in societies that on the surface have the least to worry about. This explains why all of Europe, at the height of settled, civilized behavior, threw itself into the inferno of World War I.
If Trump is the latest expression of the shadow, he isn’t a bizarre anomaly, which would be true if normal, rational values are your only standard of measure. Turn the coin over, making the unconscious your standard of measure, and he is absolutely typical. When the shadow breaks out, what’s wrong is right. Being transgressive feels like a relief, because suddenly the collective psyche can gambol in forbidden fields. When Trump indulges in rampant bad behavior and at the same time says to his riotous audiences, “This is fun, isn’t it?” he’s expressing in public our ashamed impulse to stop obeying the rules.
But the fun of world War I, which almost gleefully sent young men off to fight, quickly turned to horror, and the shadow closed an insidious trap. Once released, it is very hard to force the shadow back into its underground bunker. The Republican party has kept the shadow on a slow simmer for decades, ever since Nixon discovered how to make hay form Southern racism, law-and-order aggression against minorities, and us-versus-them attitudes to the Vietnam anti-war movement. In order to make themselves feel unashamed, the good people on the right found figureheads after Nixon who exuded respectability. The irony is that as with civilized societies that seem the least likely to allow the shadow to run free, the more benign a Reagan or Bush acted, the stronger the shadow became behind the facade.
Trump has stripped away the facade, intoxicated by the “fun” of letting his demons run and discovering to his surprise (much as Nixon did) that millions of people roared with approval. Yet by comparison, Nixon retained relative control over the forces he unleashed, while Trump may be riding a tiger—that part of the story has yet to play itself out.
If the shadow refuses to go back underground, which is always the case, what outcomes can we anticipate over the next six months? The present situation finds us trapped between denial and disaster. Denial is when you ignore the shadow; disaster is when you totally surrender to it. Without being at either extreme, right now many Americans feel the unsettling symptom of being out of control. Trump glorifies being out of control, and until this outbreak runs its course—which no one can predict—he will remain immune to all the normal constraints.
What to do in the meantime? A few things come to mind.
1.See Trumpism for what it is, a confrontation with the shadow.
2.Instead of demonizing him, acknowledge that the shadow is in everyone and always has been.
3.At the same time, realize that the shadow never wins in the end.
4.Find every opening to reinforce the value of returning to right and reason in your own life.
5.Don’t fight the shadow with the shadow, which means not stooping to play by Trump’s nihilistic rules—he will always be willing to go lower than you are willing to go.
America has been fortunate in our ability to let off steam and recognize that we have demons. In the Great Depression bank robbers became folk heroes, but nobody suggested electing Bonnie and Clyde president. The rational constraints that allow for human evolution have been successful for millennia, as the higher brain became dominant over the lower brain. That dominance still holds good, no matter how close we flirt with the primitive areas of the mind. Trump represents something authentic in human nature, and in troubled times he’s the bad boy who becomes a folk hero. No one can predict if his Wrong=Right stance will carry him to the White House. The contest with our own shadow isn’t over yet
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Sheri
/ July 28, 2016Wow, I agree with this approach. Trump represents something that is in the American psyche but wr don’t want to acknowledge it. He would not be where he is if he wasn’t part of us Americans. But we can choose how to act when we acknowledge the reality.
Sheri
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Mulga Mumblebrain
/ July 28, 2016Monsters from the Id, eh. And Clinton’s shadow, seen in her destruction of Libya and disgusting celebrating of Gaddafi’s ghastly death (and in numerous other places)and Obama’s, seen in his personal selection of those to be obliterated by drone-missiles, what of those ‘shadows’? Trump’s evil genius is in letting his out to roam free, and those falling for his poison know full well that you DO NOT rise to the top in Western politics without entering the Shadowland, and staying there. Of course, if only because of the insane, omnicidal, Republican Platform, Trump must not win, and we’ll all have our fingers crossed concerning Clinton.
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Robert in New Orleans
/ July 28, 2016Actual Image of the Monster from the ID
https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=images&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwi2yJjErpbOAhXJLSYKHZi2CMIQjRwIBw&url=https%3A%2F%2Fdavallone.tumblr.com%2Fpost%2F125863268306%2Fmonsters-from-the-id&psig=AFQjCNHg2eptjjosgyw10weCurZpgjhGEA&ust=1469800936453858
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PlazaRed
/ July 28, 2016From the point of view of a non US, North American with zero knowledge of how the place is run. Am I right or wrong in thinking that the person with the most votes wins?
Is it possible in the USA for a person without a majority of the votes to become the President?
Surly the votes story so far must have put this Trump person in the place of the presidential candidate by him getting the most votes from somewhere?
If this Trump chap is to be stopped then surly he must get the least votes, are there only 2 candidates in this competion?
Apologies for not really understanding USA political systems.
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climatehawk1 (@climatehawk1)
/ July 28, 2016“From the point of view of a non US, North American with zero knowledge of how the place is run. Am I right or wrong in thinking that the person with the most votes wins?”
Right.
“Is it possible in the USA for a person without a majority of the votes to become the President?”
Yes. All that is needed is a plurality, which is to say, more votes than any other candidate.
“Surly the votes story so far must have put this Trump person in the place of the presidential candidate by him getting the most votes from somewhere?”
Yes. However, this happened during a series of primary (preliminary) elections in which he was running against as many as 17 other candidates at once. That makes it possible for a candidate to be nominated with a relatively small percentage of the vote compared with a general (final) election.
“If this Trump chap is to be stopped then surly he must get the least votes, are there only 2 candidates in this competion?”
There are many candidates, but only two with a chance of winning: the candidates selected by the two major parties.
“Apologies for not really understanding USA political systems.”
No problem. Our system in full detail is very complicated, confusing, and antiquated (MHO), and it’s quite different from a parliamentary system.
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climatehawk1 (@climatehawk1)
/ July 28, 2016And having said that, I need to qualify–not just a plurality–the winner must carry a majority of the “electoral vote.” Each state has a certain number of electoral votes, one for each of that state’s Senators and Representatives in Congress (the District of Columbia also gets 3 electoral votes). The candidate finishing first in each state gets all of that state’s electoral votes. There are 538 electoral votes in all, and a candidate must receive 270 to win. If no candidate gets 270 or more, the election is “thrown” into the House of Representatives, with each state’s Representatives (as a group) getting 1 vote.
The electoral-vote wrinkle means that a candidate may get the most votes (as Gore did in 2000), but lose the electoral vote (he did) and the election. This has happened 4 times, and is (again MHO) a truly stupid and perverse outcome.
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dtlange
/ July 28, 2016– Sorry, but Chopra must get paid by word-count as he puts so many layers of dark fable fantasies on so many social and psychological manifestations of American politics 2016.
It’s lubricated by a little too many Freudian-isms.
You might flesh out your understanding by reading Tilman Allert’s ‘The Hitler Salute: On the Meaning of a Gesture’
“… The Hitler Salute offers new insight into how the Third Reich’s rituals of consent paved the way for the wholesale erosion of social morality.”
The salute is only the focal point but it is a society’s condition that fosters acceptance of the breakdown of all manner of civility and rationality that drives the narrative.
Another source may be Wilhelm Reich’s 1933 ‘Mass Psychology of Fascism’ for some useful insights. This is a bit wordy and multifaceted but has value.
DT
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dtlange
/ July 28, 2016– A little here from 2010.
(It was a long time ago, 1968-69, that I read the book.)
Wilhelm Reich and the Tea Party
by Stuart Jeanne Bramhall
Email
As a long time progressive, I am very alarmed to see low income Americans flock to the reactionary Tea Party and Patriot movement and the ultra conservative candidates they support. Especially after similar trends in 1980, 1994 and 2000 installed ultra-conservative Republican governments that enacted legislation that significantly worsened the economic standing of the political base that put them into office. It raises a question I have struggled with for three decades now – why the New Right is so successful in engaging the working poor. Surely this is a group that should be supporting progressive candidates and policies that offer genuine solutions to their economic difficulties.
I recently picked up Wilhelm Reich’s 1933 Mass Psychology of Fascism for the first time in thirty years. I was amazed to rediscover…
http://www.counterpunch.org/2010/08/06/wilhelm-reich-and-the-tea-party/
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Ken Provost
/ July 28, 2016I don’t buy the whole idea that Putin’s behind the leak until I see better evidence from sources other than the DNC, the New York Times, US and British Intelligence, etc. Sounds like just the kind of distraction Hillary and her minions would concoct to distract the US public from the DNC shenanigans regarding Bernie’s campaign.
In any case, I understand completely if Putin “trusts” the unpredictable Donald over the ENTIRELY predictable Hillary on the subject of foreign policy and relations with Russia in particular.
Mind you, I think Trump would be terrible for the US (I’m voting for Jill Stein), but I understand Putin thinking that Hillary would be terrible for Russia. As for interfering in a foreign election, I don’t believe the US has a leg to stand on there…..
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mlparrish
/ July 28, 2016OT, but wet bulb coming uncomfortably close in the US. Per Arctic News:
http://arctic-news.blogspot.com/
“. . . on the border of Missouri and Arkansas, just within Missouri . . . ” “On July 24, 2016, 21:00 UTC, it was 98.7°F or 37.1°C . . . Because humidity at the time was 72% and wind speed was 2 mph or 3 km/h, it felt like it was 140.4°F or 60.2°C.”
“The above combination of 37.1°C at 72% at a pressure of 1013 hPa translates in a wet bulb temperature of 32.43°C. Had humidity risen to 87% while temperature remained at 37.1°C, the wet bulb temperature would have risen above 35°C. Alternatively, had the temperature risen to 39.9°C while humidity remained at 72%, the wet bulb temperature would also have risen above 35°C.”
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Keith Antonysen
/ July 28, 2016Various US political parties rated as far as climate change is concerned:
http://climatestate.com/2016/07/27/rated-environmental-and-climate-issues-in-the-2016-elections/
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dtlange
/ July 28, 2016” Disgraceful Lamar is still on his witch hunt.”
Sea Level Rise a Big Issue for Military in Hampton Roads, Science Says
The Virginian-Pilot | Jul 27, 2016 | by Joanne Kimberlin
The latest scientific conclusion echoes others: It’s likely that sea level rise will eventually swallow huge swaths of Hampton Roads’ military installations, according to the Union of Concerned Scientists in a report scheduled for release today.
But if congressional Republicans have their way, the military will be blocked from doing anything about it.
Tacked on to defense spending bills passed by the House of Representatives: amendments forbidding the Pentagon from using federal dollars to study climate change or plan for its impacts.
Supporters say they want the military focused on enemies such as the Islamic State group, not rising seas
…
http://www.military.com/daily-news/2016/07/27/sea-level-rise-big-issue-military-hampton-roads-science-says.html
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dtlange
/ July 28, 2016” Disgraceful Lamar”
‘Study: Naval Academy could face over 6 feet of sea level rise by 2100’
High tides could flood Naval Academy fixtures like Bancroft Hall on a daily basis by 2100, according to a study on sea level rise released today.
“Military bases and personnel protect the country from external threats,” the report states. “With rising seas, they find themselves on an unanticipated front line.”
The paper, published by the Union of Concerned Scientists — a nonprofit research organization based in Cambridge, Massachusetts — reviewed the impacts of rising seas on 18 military installations.
It states the academy can expect more frequent and extensive tidal flooding, intensified storm-driven flooding and loss of land.
Researchers considered “intermediate” and “highest” scenarios, based on potential melting rates of polar ice sheets, to predict possible water levels, the report states. They estimate between 4 and 6 1/2 feet of sea level rise at the academy by 2100.
– baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/anne-arundel/annapolis/ph-ac-cn-usna
http://www.trbimg.com/img-5798256e/turbine/bs-cgth-ac-cn-usna-sea-level-0727-jpg-20160726/650/650×366
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dtlange
/ July 28, 2016– Just 1 foot or 15 cm or a few years (or less) will be a ‘big deal’…
http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/anne-arundel/annapolis/ph-ac-cn-usna-sea-level-0727-20160727-story.html
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dtlange
/ July 28, 2016Florida Issues @FloridaIssues 6h6 hours ago
Sea Level Rise Threatens Florida Military Installations, Study Finds
https://o.twimg.com/2/proxy.jpg?t=HBhoaHR0cDovL3MzLmFtYXpvbmF3cy5jb20vd21mZWltYWdlcy93cC1jb250ZW50L3VwbG9hZHMvMjAxNi8wNy8yNjExNDUzNS9zZWEtbGV2ZWwtcmlzZS12aWEtbmFzYS5qcGc_dz02NDAU1gcUgAQcFIQGFJQDAAAWABIA&s=v1gfWb2I2ogwfY7R1aaZikH8jkwzEruMLdJxy5hYPJs
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dtlange
/ July 28, 2016– Union of Concerned Scientists
Military bases at risk
18 military installations are included in this analysis. Each location’s changing exposure to flooding is projected through the end of the century:
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dtlange
/ July 28, 2016http://www.ucsusa.org/global-warming/global-warming-impacts/sea-level-rise-flooding-us-military-bases?utm_source=tw&utm_medium=tw&utm_campaign=tw#.V5menaJWiSo
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dtlange
/ July 28, 2016Correction:
“Just 1 foot or 15 cm OVER a few years (or less)…”
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Shawn Redmond
/ July 28, 2016DT 15cm is only 6 inches!
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dtlange
/ July 28, 2016“Shawn Redmond / July 28, 2016
DT 15cm is only 6 inches!”
– Right, Shawn. 15 cm doesn’t equal 1 foot. My mistake.
But with rapid SLR possible with all global ice melting under continual fossil fuel assault something more assertive, or even ‘alarming’, than mm over decades needs to in the current lexicon.
The sea level is rising much faster than our reactions and protective measures.
Thx
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Shawn Redmond
/ July 28, 2016Not to worry DT I’ve had 40 years of practice with conversion and I still mess it up. When I’m doing estimates on architectural drawings everything is metric so I have two tapes, one I call my Greek tape and one with Imperial measure so I don’t make a costly mistake.
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dtlange
/ July 28, 2016Very good. 🙂
“I have two tapes, one I call my Greek tape and one with Imperial measure so I don’t make a costly mistake.”
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Jay M
/ July 29, 2016I know spending in theory starts in the house, but couldn’t the Commander in Chief override this? This is the Rubicon aspect of this election, these sort of relationships are bound to be broken when reality overtakes climate change denial ideology?
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dtlange
/ July 29, 2016– Perhaps a Presidential Executive Order:
‘Article II, Section 1 of the Constitution… grants to the President the “executive Power.” Section 3 of Article II further directs the President to “take Care that the Laws be faithfully executed.”
Executive Orders (EOs) are legally binding orders given by the President, acting as the head of the Executive Branch, to Federal Administrative Agencies. Executive Orders are generally used to direct federal agencies and officials in their execution of congressionally established laws or policies. However, in many instances they have been used to guide agencies in directions contrary to congressional intent.
Not all EOs are created equal. Proclamations, for example, are a special type of Executive Order that are generally ceremonial or symbolic, such as when the President declares National Take Your Child To Work Day. Another subset of Executive Orders are those concerned with national security or defense issues. These have generally been known as National Security Directives. Under the Clinton Administration, they have been termed “Presidential Decision Directives.”
Executive Orders do not require Congressional approval to take effect but they have the same legal weight as laws passed by Congress. The President’s source of authority to issue Executive Orders can be found in the Article II, Section 1 of the Constitution which grants to the President the “executive Power.” Section 3 of Article II further directs the President to “take Care that the Laws be faithfully executed.” To implement or execute the laws of the land, Presidents give direction and guidance to Executive Branch agencies and departments, often in the form of Executive Orders.
http://www.thisnation.com/question/040.html
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dtlange
/ July 28, 2016– Oh, Lamar…
– One of the things on my ‘to do list’ for myself is a detailed and thorough analysis/expose’ of what I see to be the obvious seditious behavior of the GOP lead Congress.
No kidding, I mean ‘seditious’ too. And in a real-time sense.
They have hobbled, sabotaged, or vandalized the workings of the President, the Supreme Court, any manner of protective and proactive government agencies to an unparalleled degree.
This has happened in plain sight. I really doubt that I am over reaching here either.
I would post it on my own blog.
– But first a tip that I’m also doing something a bit like Michael E. Mann’s graphic and to the point, ‘Hockey Stick’.
Mine uses another ‘game’ though — shuffle board — of the kind usually found in USA taverns etc.
It should prove to be quite visual. 🙂
– Oh, Lamar…
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Ryan in New England
/ July 28, 2016A very important piece, Robert. Thank you for addressing the catastrophic implications of a Trump presidency, and why it will be so devastating to not only the US, but the future of the entire planet. These are crazy times we find ourselves in. If you told me 20 years ago that in 2016 we would not only still be ignoring climate change but about to elect the most unqualified, ignorant, delusional narcissist in the world as president I would never have believed you.
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Ryan in New England
/ July 28, 2016What frightens me the most is not that Trump’s supporters are ignorant and gullible enough to actually fall for his act, but that the Republican party itself has moved to a position that can’t be argued against with logic, facts and reasoning skills. His supporters cannot be moved from their position by any logical argument. No matter how devastating the scandal, or how reliable the source, Trump’s fans simply love him more. Everything out of his mouth is a lie, but you simply can’t convince his rabid base that anything he says is BS.
For those who missed Newt Gingrich’s at the RNC, I recommend watching it. It sets a horrifying precedent. When confronted with the FBI’s own crime statistics, Newt dismisses them as “liberal statistics” and asserts that what he says is equally true, even though his statement contradicts observable reality. The Republicans have been creating their own reality for years regarding certain topics, particularly climate change, but now it seems they have completely given up on pretending to reside in real world. Newt says he prefers feelings over facts, and when the voters don’t know anything besides what they feel, there’s no way to prove a position is correct or win an argument.
I think Trump brought the Republicans to this point. He lies so frequently and so blatantly, and the press never calls him out on any of it, that the Republicans feel comfortable simply making things up. They feel confident enough to dismiss facts and hard data and assert the opposite is true, with no evidence whatsoever. I feel we have witnessed a very dangerous and significant change.
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Ryan in New England
/ July 28, 2016This is a great summary of the RNC, and has the Newt Gingrich interview that I referenced above. I highly recommend watching this clip if you haven’t already seen it. If you only want to see Newt’s assertion that feelings are more important than facts, skip to the 6 min mark.
Welcome to 1984
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Ryan in New England
/ July 28, 2016Gingrich, “The current view is that liberals have this whole set of statistics that theoretically may be correct…”
Republicans have officially taken a position against objective, observable reality.
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June
/ July 28, 2016And this will be the biggest challenge for the Democrats. They (sadly) can’t win by just being rational. It isn’t about issues really. They can’t turn around the hatred and bigotry that has been unleashed by saying it is wrong. I don’t think most people want to feel that way, they would rather feel positive, but there is little hope for change the way the system is structured. Bernie had a vision that was energizing a lot of people. Clinton feels that having a vision is unrealistic. She will not win by saying things are basically good but she’ll make them better. A lot of people are too disillusioned to believe that. She needs to listen to Bernie and Warren and give people a reason to reject Trump’s expression of Jung’s shadow (I liked Deepak Chopra’s take). “When they go low, we go high” has to be more than just a slogan. It has to have substance, or mob mentality may be strong enough to win ( especially with all the successful voter suppression efforts by Republicans…but that’s a different rant).
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Mulga Mumblebrain
/ July 31, 2016Trump’s bigotry and hatred is terrifying, but Clinton, too, has her irrational antipathies. In my opinion, her equation of Putin with Hitler is deranged, her aggression against China is madness, her groveling to Israel and contempt for the Palestinians is loathsome and her openly expressed desire o ‘obliterate’ Iran and attack the Syrian Government and its Russian allies is suicidaly reckless. So I see your choice as between a domestic madman and a foreign affairs mad-woman. I’d vote for Jill Stein myself.
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dtlange
/ July 28, 2016Remember too that the MSM laid the carpet for Trump walk/prance upon. It couldn’t have happened without their very active participation.
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June
/ July 28, 2016Absolutely right.
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Cate
/ July 28, 2016Meanwhile, back at the carbon face— 🙂
Gaia may well have her own mechanism for carbon draw-down and temperature control. Is anyone surprised? We live on an amazing planet. The kicker is, this “thermostat” works on a geological time-scale. Nevertheless, we can still learn from it….
http://news.yale.edu/2016/07/25/new-evidence-long-term-planetary-thermostat-remove-excess-co2
“Scientists working in the North Atlantic have found the clearest geologic evidence yet of a planetary thermostat that counteracts the warming cause by massive amounts of greenhouse gas by absorbing CO2 into the rocky sediments of the Earth itself.
The researchers said they analyzed ocean floor sediment off the coast of Newfoundland to confirm a sudden release and subsequent removal of CO2 that occurred 56 million years ago during the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM). That event, in which thousands of petagrams of carbon were released into the atmosphere and ocean in just a few thousand years, is considered by many researchers to be the closest ancient analogue to today’s rise in atmospheric carbon levels.”
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Cate
/ July 28, 2016Sea-level rise: the models are proved right.
Just as predicted, sea level is actually falling near glacier-melt areas (Alaska, Antarctica, Greenland), which means seas will be rising “at a much higher pace than global mean in the farfield”. Much more in the article—recommended reading.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/energy-environment/wp/2016/07/27/a-stunning-prediction-of-climate-science-and-basic-physics-may-now-be-coming-true/
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Greg
/ July 28, 2016Cate, thank you for this. Really shows up dramatically after 2008.
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Ailsa
/ July 28, 2016The Answer
Then what is the answer? Not to be deluded by dreams.
To know that great civilisations have broken down into violence,
and their tyrants come, many times before.
When open violence appears, to avoid it with honor or choose
the least ugly faction; these evils are essential.
To keep one’s own integrity, be merciful and uncorrupted
and not wish for evil; and not be duped
By dreams of universal justice or happiness. These dreams will
not be fulfilled.
To know this, and know that however ugly the parts appear
the whole remains beautiful. A severed hand
Is an ugly thing and man dissevered from the earth and stars
and his history … for contemplation or in fact …
Often appears atrociously ugly. Integrity is wholeness,
the greatest beauty is
Organic wholeness, the wholeness of life and things, the divine beauty
of the universe. Love that, not man
Apart from that, or else you will share man’s pitiful confusions,
or drown in despair when his days darken.
Robinson Jeffers, 1935
found at http://dark-mountain.net/blog/the-height-and-the-drop/
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DaveW
/ July 28, 2016Item from the Phillippines through the Guardian:
World’s largest carbon producers face landmark human rights case
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Abel Adamski
/ July 28, 2016https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/jul/28/i-spend-my-time-writing-about-the-economy-but-the-climate-data-hits-me-right-in-the-gut
I spend my time writing about the economy, but the climate data hits me right in the gut
And he isn’t even across the burning roof of the world
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LCarey
/ July 28, 2016Robert, the situation with Trump and Russia is much more ominous than the leaked DNC emails. Josh Marshall at Talking Points Memo has a whole series of recent posts pointing out that (i) it appears that Russian oligarchs have invested tens if not hundreds of millions of dollars in Trump projects (usually via offshore conduits) – his son admitted a couple of years ago that the Trump organization has many Russian investors, (ii) in the last year Trump’s debt has nearly doubled to over $600 million, (iii) his foreign policy advisors include people with large direct financial interests in Russia, (iv) the Trump team was completed uninterested in the RNC Platform drafting process at the convention – except for the plank regarding aid to Ukraine, which they scotched, and (v) if Trump released his tax returns, the extent of his indebtedness to Russian interests would be revealed. It is possible that Russian actors literally own Trump. If true, this is an unprecedented and horrifying situation with a national politician in the US, let alone a presidential candidate, leading in the polls if the election were held today.
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/trump-putin-yes-it-s-really-a-thing
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/what-this-is-really-about
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/why-did-trump-dodge-the-russia-question
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robertscribbler
/ July 29, 2016Thanks for the added clairity, LCarey. We’ve got to do everything we can to make sure this guy isn’t elected.
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Exposing the Big Game
/ July 28, 2016Reblogged this on Exposing the Big Game.
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dtlange
/ July 28, 2016– Re-posting w/o double links, Robert.
Please delete the double.
– Bob, you might check this out:
Forest Service warns of snapping trees in northern Idaho
Associated Press | 0 comments
COEUR D’ALENE, Idaho (AP) — Large fir trees in northern Idaho forests are supporting so many cones that they are in danger of snapping.
The Coeur d’Alene Press reports that U.S. Forest Service officials believe last year’s weather extremes caused the excessive cone load at the top of the grand fir trees. The agency has issued a public safety warning about the toppling trees.
http://www.theeagle.com/news/nation/forest-service-warns-of-snapping-trees-in-northern-idaho/article_715d057e-9497-516e-8226-a8c189ca44f0.html
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dtlange
/ July 28, 2016LikeLike
Greg
/ July 28, 2016Timely piece here. What concerns me deeply is that much of the He Who Shall Not Be Named rise can be attributed to extensive free press coverage of his every word. Simply put, he is gold for getting eyeballs on your media which means advertising dollars and/or increased circulation. Who doesn’t love a spectacle? Trouble is he is now a true oil filled train wreck. How long will the press ride this velociraptor? Will they ride it until just before the election? or carry it through because a presidency would be even more exciting to cover? They have a tremendous responsibility and power and, so far, haven’t lived up to it — similarly to covering climate change (which they don’t see as a money maker). Blogs like this help but will it be too little, too late? We depend, it seems, on his words to ultimately fail him and lead to a tremendous backlash. Stay tuned.
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Greg
/ July 28, 2016Some months ago Hawkins released a beautiful visual to show the temperature rise since the Industrial Revolution. That graphic has now been augmented by new ones to visualize how serious our CO2 emissions are:
http://openclimatedata.net/climate-spirals/from-emissions-to-global-warming-line-chart/
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Greg
/ July 28, 2016http://openclimatedata.net/climate-spirals/carbon-budget/
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Greg
/ July 28, 2016http://openclimatedata.net/climate-spirals/concentration/
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Josh
/ July 28, 2016Wow that is a really great (and scary) set of visualizations!
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dtlange
/ July 28, 2016A very good display, indeed.
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Greg
/ July 28, 2016This Smoky Mountains imagery shows the benefit of air pollution rules that must be protected and enhanced.Long-distance views have steadily improved since the 1990s, when state and federal rules began limiting pollutants released by power plants, motor vehicles and industries.
http://www.charlotteobserver.com/news/local/1yx7ff/picture92217737/ALTERNATES/FREE_960/Visibility%20-%20Smoky%20Mtns
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Robert in New Orleans
/ July 28, 2016FDA temporarily halts blood donation in two Florida counties over Zika fears
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/to-your-health/wp/2016/07/28/fda-temporarily-halts-blood-donation-in-two-florida-counties-over-zika-fears/#comments
So when does the migration of young people (who want to be parents) out of the South begin?
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dtlange
/ July 28, 2016USA – SW – NM
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dtlange
/ July 28, 2016VS:
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climatehawk1 (@climatehawk1)
/ July 28, 2016Retweeted with boilerplate comment added: “#Climate change means more and more flash #flooding–a warmer atmosphere holds more moisture.”
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dtlange
/ July 28, 2016Good one…
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dtlange
/ July 28, 2016– These recent storms have been tracking more towards Hawaiian Islands.
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dtlange
/ July 28, 2016LikeLike
dtlange
/ July 28, 2016LikeLike
dtlange
/ July 28, 2016Trees/air pollution:
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dtlange
/ July 28, 2016– It also shows how easily we numerically write off human lives, and the health of our children.
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June
/ July 28, 2016North Atlantic anomaly +.76C
North Pacific +.64C
Northern Hemisphere +.70C
And looking at the Arctic…speaks for itself
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June
/ July 28, 2016An article about our Maine Puffins.
Voices: A bird’s-eye view of climate change
http://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/voices/2016/07/27/voices-puffins-climate-change-audubon-birds/87522316/
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June
/ July 28, 2016A link to the Seal Island Puffin Cam
http://explore.org/live-cams/player/puffin-loafing-ledge-cam
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Griffin
/ July 28, 2016That anomaly map. If that does not scream emergency to you then I really need to adopt your way of thinking so I can enjoy this ride. I simply cannot get over how much (aptly) blood red surrounds the Arctic. Frickin scary.
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dtlange
/ July 28, 2016Yes. I see the Barents Sea and the Gulf of Alaska are a bit warm.
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Colorado Bob
/ July 28, 2016Terra/MODIS
2016/210
07/28/2016
02:45 UTC
Flooding in eastern China
(false color)
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Colorado Bob
/ July 28, 2016Not Reality TV by James Cameron
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Colorado Bob
/ July 28, 2016180,000 forgotten photos reveal the future of Greenland’s ice
To tell whether the island’s glacial cap will melt away any time soon, researchers are poring over old pictures and drawings for clues to its past behaviour.
http://www.nature.com/news/180-000-forgotten-photos-reveal-the-future-of-greenland-s-ice-1.20335
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Colorado Bob
/ July 28, 2016LikeLike
Griffin
/ July 28, 2016It’s a long way off but this scenario would not be good for China.
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Griffin
/ July 28, 2016Something tells me that this occurring during a vicious heatwave is not coincidental.
“13 people are hospitalized and 1,200 reindeer are dead on the tundra in Yamalo-Nenets autonomous region in what could be the largest natural anthrax outbreak in modern Russia.”
http://thebarentsobserver.com/arctic/2016/07/urgent-evacuation-reindeer-herders-arctic-anthrax-outbreak-zone
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dtlange
/ July 28, 2016Here’s a bit of possibly relevant info:
Page last updated: September 1, 2015
Content source:
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
National Center for Emerging and Zoonotic Infectious Diseases (NCEZID)
What is anthrax?
Anthrax is a serious infectious disease caused by gram-positive, rod-shaped bacteria known as Bacillus anthracis. Anthrax can be found naturally in soil and commonly affects domestic and wild animals around the world.
…
How do animals get infected with anthrax?
Domestic and wild animals such as cattle, sheep, goats, antelope, and deer can become infected when they breathe in or ingest spores in contaminated soil, plants, or water.
…
Where is anthrax found?
Anthrax is most common in agricultural regions of Central and South America, sub-Saharan Africa, central and southwestern Asia, southern and eastern Europe, and the Caribbean.
[I don’t see mention of the Yamal/Nenets region. Anyone?]
https://www.cdc.gov/anthrax/basics/
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dtlange
/ July 28, 2016– Valley Fever: A side note related to any warming/drying conditions in the US SW as these conditions are likely rapidly expanding.
– A few years ago in AZ my breathing problems caused me to get tested for TB and Valley Fever. Both were negative.
It turns out that past intensive radiation therapy scarred the bronchial tubes in one of my lungs was the cause. The tubes can get sticky and scar tissue is very rough, so they may get stuck and not open — that’s when bacteria thrives in this warm moist environment.
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‘Valley fever is a fungal respiratory disease that can be devastating. Learning about valley fever can help you and your doctor recognize the symptoms early.’
Valley fever, also called coccidioidomycosis, is an infection caused by the fungus Coccidioides. People can get valley fever by breathing in the microscopic fungal spores from the air, although most people who breathe in the spores don’t get sick.
…
Valley fever is caused by a fungus that lives in the environment.
The fungus that causes valley fever, Coccidioides, lives in soil and dust in the southwestern United States (including Arizona, California, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah, and Texas), and parts of Mexico, Central America, and South America.1-6 The fungus was also recently found in south-central Washington state.
-National Center for Emerging and Zoonotic Infectious Diseases, Division of Foodborne, Waterborne, and Environmental Diseases
[Soil shaken by earthquakes can also release VF spores in the air.]
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dtlange
/ July 28, 2016http://www.cdc.gov/features/valley-fever-10-things/
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Spike
/ July 29, 2016The spores are able to survive in harsh conditions for decades or even centuries. My guess is that it’s plausible some may be coming out of cryo-preservation.
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dtlange
/ July 28, 2016LikeLike
John Allen
/ July 28, 2016I’ll refrain from the politics and the state of Russia except to say Russia has the last of easily extracted oil. It could be a tempting target for the US’s addiction to oil. A looming possible battle that won’t be won by the way; launched by greedy barons eyeing the prize as a fox eyes a fat chicken guarded by large guard dogs. It just might be too tempting to resist. Enough allegorical metaphor. The picture of Earth in 2100 is what should alarm everyone that has a stake in the future, such as children,(I have none), because 8 degrees C is extinction level heat. There won’t be the ability to grow food and the oceans will die. Then there will be a few million year punctuation before the carbon cycle is readjusted and new life will begin anew to evolve as nature sees fit. Gaia will survive, humans and most other life won’t and time’s short to effect needed change. So vote carefully this time because a lot is at stake and as far as I can tell time’s running very short indeed.
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Kalypso
/ July 29, 2016Off Topic…
The Western Atlantic Ocean is primed for rapid hurricane intensification… There is more heat energy in the Gulf and Caribbean than in 2005.
Weather Underground meteorologists Jeff Masters and Bob Henson noted the heat content even exceeds what was available during the 2005 hurricane season, which produced Katrina and Wilma, whose pressure dropped to the lowest on record in the Atlantic Basin. “This year’s high levels of ocean heat content in the Atlantic increases the odds of dangerous rapidly-intensifying major hurricanes if the other conditions needed for intensification are present,” they wrote.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/capital-weather-gang/wp/2016/07/27/the-tropical-atlantic-ocean-is-toasty-warm-so-where-are-all-the-storms/
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seal in the Selkirks
/ July 29, 2016Robert Scribbler, if nothing I reply to is going to be posted please have the courtesy to inform me that you won’t allow my comments so I don’t waste my time typing them. You have my email address and it will take only a few seconds.
After posting today and then later I thought that I perhaps struck the wrong key or something since it didn’t come up in regards to other posters comments, I re-typed and posted again and that hasn’t show up, either. If you followed the links I provided in it you might have gained knowledge you haven’t read yet.
I have been sending quarterly compilations of climate science reports to friends and family for 16 years (along with other topics including politics) and they have always valued my insights. My reading level is a 300 page book (or equivalent in separate articles) per day and my retention rate is extremely high. If you do not value other points of view especially when politics meets climate collapse, oh well.
Trump and Hillary, two peas in a pod when it comes to climate collapse. And Bernie was the true ‘lesser evil’ vote. Neither of these two losers are going to do a damned thing except business as usual and continue W Bush/Obama’s neocon fossil fuel Drill Baby Drill policies. I hate being proven correct about such things but I’ve got a very good track record over the last 30 years of soothsaying according to those that read what I send and then follow that with seeing just what comes next. I have been called a ‘Cassandra’ due to such dismal projections into the future that come about.
I would appreciate your response either way.
seal
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dtlange
/ July 29, 2016Was WikiLeaks Whistleblower the Murdered DNC Staffer?
The source for the WikiLeaks-exposed DNC emails was reportedly a DNC staffer.
Wikileaks says their source for #DNCleak was a DNC staffer. Was it Seth Rich who got murdered last week?
— Corporatocrazy (@Corporatocrazy) July 25, 2016
Earlier this month, 27-year-old DNC voter expansion data director Seth Rich was shot twice in the back and killed as he walked to his home in Washington, D.C. The killer did not take Rich’s wallet or cell phone.
Rich’s father, 68-year-old Joel Rich, said in an interview with The Washington Post that his son’s killing was “a waste.” “He wanted to make a difference,” Joel Rich said. “Politics was in his blood.”
http://wearechange.org/was-wikileaks-whistleblower-the-murdered-dnc-staffer/
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Spike
/ July 29, 2016Came out of the deep freeze that Anthrax it is thought
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Sammy
/ July 29, 2016was just about to post this, you beat me to it 😉
very concerning indeed…
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humanistruth
/ July 30, 2016I sent this letter to The Guardian’s editor. Please consider sending a similar one to other editors.
In U.S. Press Coverage of the Climate Crisis: A Damning Betrayal of Public Trust, Ross Gelbspan makes the point that that biggest commercial enterprise in history has intimidated mainstream US media from making the connection between weather extremes and climate change.
If elected, Trump intends to “open up those libel laws” in order to sue papers which disagree with him.
The media has been responsible for Trump’s elevation through free coverage and implicit denial of climate change by refusing to connect weather disaster trends to climate change, and only covering climate change when it’s part of politics.
Our existential crisis is no longer slowly-unfolding irreversible climate chaos. If we hand a sociopathic bully our nuclear arsenal to “negotiate” with the rest of the world, we’ll see global thermonuclear war.
There may not be an apparent solution to climate change, but there is one to Trump’s attack on journalism. Editors must coordinate a push-back, making the story of their courage to tell climate change truth the meta-story. Making those fossil-fuel powered threats against them and their institutions the real news.
Editors must choose between risking their careers now or their lives, families, and everything they hold dear within a year. Trump’s feet are planted on plausible denial of climate change. If news media summon the courage to routinely connect weather trend changes to climate change, that rotten plank will collapse under his feet. The key story isn’t just about politics or climate change, it’s the story about how dangerous it is for a newsroom to tell the most important news in human history. The critical story is meta-news, news about telling news. Let viewers identify with editors, in their fight for our survival.
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