The right-wing media and climate change But what do we have here in Orange County? Editorial page writer Susan Shelley ([email protected], please write to her) at the Orange County Register ridicules Thungren and what she calls “climate change hysteria.” Climate hysteria drives the extinction of common sense
Our young activists are under fire Greta Thungren, the 16 year old climate activist from Sweden, is now getting headlines here in the U.S. just as she did in Europe. Her plea is simple: the older generation has plundered the world and provided a gloomy future for the younger generation. It is time for everyone, especially young people, to act. Don’t just talk, act like your house is on fire, she pleads. Indeed, she has inspired many. In San Diego, a high school student wrote this Op-Ed for the San Diego Union Tribune. Commentary: Greta Thunberg inspired me to be a climate activist. Now I want to inspire others.
Frances Crow passes away at age 100 One of the heroes of the last century passed away in August at age 100. What an amazing story about this Quaker activist woman who dedicated her life to anti-war activism. She convinced a B-52 pilot to become a conscientious objector. She refused to pay war taxes and the government responded by subtracting 15% of her social security. She helped get Amy Goodman’s Democracy Now! on college radio stations. At age 92 she chained herself to the front gate of Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant. Read about this truly inspirational woman: Frances Crowe | Americans Who Tell The Truth
What do mass killers have in common? A disturbing answer: a hatred of women. A Common Trait Among Mass Killers: Hatred Toward Women
Teen Climate Activist Crosses the Atlantic Remember Greta Thunberg, the 16 year old Swedish girl who sparked a global youth movement to battle climate change? She started by picketing the Swedish parliament and eventually won a nomination for the Nobel Peace Prize. She has been invited to address UN climate talk meetings in September but she refuses to fly because of the enormous carbon footprint of jet planes. On Aug. 14 she climbed aboard a sailboat in Plymouth, England to cross the Atlantic headed for New York. Bully for her, a teenager who confronts the current generation which is trashing the hopes of future generations.
Greta Thunberg Sets Sail for U.N. Climate Talks
Climate Rocks Europe and the Arctic Speaking of climate change, NOAA announced that global temperatures in July were the highest on record. Many in Europe suffered waves of 100+ days and even the nuclear power plants were forced to shut down because cooling water was too hot to do its job. My, how fragile and unreliable those nuclear power plants are! By the end of the summer, global heat will melt about 440 billion tons of Greenland’s giant ice sheets. Scientists calculate that this amount of water could flood the state of Pennsylvania with more than a foot of water. What are they finding under the ice in the Arctic? Plastic. The journal
Science just reported that the most pristine location on Earth has astonishingly high concentrations of plastic. Scientists say that by 2050 the world will be dumping 3.4 billion metric tons of plastic, most of it ending up in the oceans.
Microplastic in the atmosphere is making its way to the pristine Arctic
Other Clever Ways to Torture Don Trump Gail Collins has a bunch of suggestions, for example start a rumor that Trump can’t draw a crowd.
Opinion | How to Torture Trump In another column entitled “Trump Goes Godly,” Collins jokes about the man who thinks he is a miracle. After all, didn’t Trump himself say, “I am the chosen one!”
Opinion | Trump Goes Godly
Trump’s Fake Crowds Trump is desperate for crowds. In Pittsburg, workers were coerced into attending a Trump rally or else get their pay docked. Workers at the Royal Dutch Steel plant were told that “anything viewed as resistance” would not be tolerated. To add insult to injury, the workers had to stand and listen to Trump attack labor unions.
Trump’s Pittsburgh Speech Was a Paying Gig for the Audience
Donald Trump Apologizes Some say that Trump never apologizes. Not true. Here is a sample: “Sorry losers and haters, but my I.Q. is one of the highest and you all know it!” Here are other apologies:
I’m sorry, by Donald Trump
See the Innards of an Assault Rifle When it comes to mass shootings, military arms are the most deadly weapons used. Strictly speaking, they are illegal but gun manufacturers regularly tinker with AR-15s to circumvent laws and make them pass as “sporting rifles.” See how the gun manufacturers play this game:
When Lawmakers Try to Ban Assault Weapons, Gunmakers Adapt
What about the Death Penalty? Speaking of killing people, read this thoughtful perspective. It is all about desire for revenge, nothing to do with deterrence (which has been proven not to work):
Opinion | When We Kill
The Realities of Radiation Monitoring After every major radiation release incident in history, authorities have moved quickly to shut down (rather than expand) what the public knows. That is what happened in Chernobyl, Three Mile Island, Fukushima, and recently in Russia. As soon as they deteced radiation, authorities shut down the monitoring. When it happened, authorities ignored the incident, then denied it. Then they covered it up after which they lied about it and then trivialized it. They started a plan to evacuate people, but then cancelled it because protecting people is less important than protecting the perception that radiation is harmless. Expect this to happen here when the big accident occurs. After all, we have now become a nuclear waste dump for the indefinite future. Authorities here are resisting real-time publicly accessible monitoring. They have already dismantled warning sirens. As the radiation from Russia now spreads over Norway, read the double talk about protecting people from radiation exposure: Norway detects radioactive iodine days after explosion in Russia
What Do Animals Think About? About 98% of our DNA is shared with our closest evolutionary relative, the chimp. Read about Sarah, one of the smartest chimps. She recently died in her late 50’s.
Opinion | The World’s Smartest Chimp Has Died
