Tar and Feathers

For 30 years, scientists have been telling us that using fossil fuels will bring on climate change and  huge swaths of physical and social destruction. The destruction is here now; we can see it. What should we do about the politicians who lied to us about global warming for 30 years?

Tar and feathers are out. We get tar from fossil fuel, and some would prefer to keep the feathers on live chickens. But what should we do with all those lying political money-grubbers?  They've done enormous damage. Will we shrug and move on? 

Rolling Disasters

It is now obvious to anyone with his or her own brainstem that climate change is on top of us and that climate change is an unending set of rolling disasters. 

California State Senator Mike McGuire and others are attempting to block the shipping by rail of vast bins of coal through Northern California. The coal would then be sold to China, who would burn it and make our life on this planet worse. 

Stopping coal is exactly what is needed. We must stop producing and selling fossil fuels. Few politicians are willing to take this problem on, because there is money to made by the Amerindians on whose reservation the coal will be dug, money to be made by the railroads, money to be made selling coal to China, etc. Money, money, money. For money many humans will sell bullets to their own firing squad. 

Remember McGuire. He and some others are trying to deal realistically with the awkward reality of global warming.

Cultural Genocide as Nation Building

Portugal, Spain, France and Great Britain entered the New World (with its developed civilizations) intent on cultural genocide. They systematically destroyed the indigenous nations they encountered, determined to rebuild them into European systems, something like America more recently attempted to do in Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan. Cultural genocide was and is the lasting core of European and American foreign policy.

People tend to be deeply attached to the culture that shaped them. Some are willing to die in defense of themselves and their culture. We have been losing wars. 

President Biden recently announced that we were getting out of the nation-building business at the core of our foreign policy. Cultural systems best change at their pace, not at our pace.

I hope that works out. But we have a giant two-party foreign policy caste, one that tames mere presidents. Lasting change in our policies may be hard to come by. 

Moderna

As a low ranking employee in several large organizations, I noticed many decades ago that the leaders at the top often have no clue about what is actually going on.  And today I read in my newspaper that top federal health officials have warned the White House that the plan to offer booster shots would at first have to be limited to people who got Pfizer vaccinations.

Like a constant line of people at my drugstore, I got a Moderna booster a week or two back. I hope it isn't too late to return it.

Spontaneous

"Spontaneous" is a film made just before the pandemic--the movie is known to others, but I just blundered onto it. On EPIX. I recorded the movie and watched it because the critics score was 97 and the audience rating was 67. Those are strange numbers.

I found it compelling, and my wife hated it and ignored it as best she could. Fair warning.

The first half of the film is a very dark rom-com about a class of high school seniors who begin to spontaneously explode, throwing buckets of blood around the classroom. 

The second half is humorless but compelling in its way, a symbolic exploration of the texture of life once you realize how uncertain life is. And no one can change that. Do you remember high school? Not everyone made it out alive. 

Texas

 Texas has become toxic for women. They should  leave. 

A Kafka-like new law in Texas encourages private citizens to punish nearly anyone who encounters a woman seeking an abortion. That puts everyone in danger. It's no longer safe to drive through Texas. 

My assumption is that most Texans can't leave the state immediately. Women and their friends have businesses and homes to sell, new jobs to find in the 49 more welcoming states and Puerto Rico, kith and kin to consider, etc.  For many, leaving Texas will take a lot of planning. Now is time to start the process. 

The Right Time To Leave Afghanistan

 I've seen complaints from the establishment caste that Biden pulled our troops out of Afghanistan too early, that we are an immature nation that lacks patience, etc. 

This was the wrong time to leave Afghanistan.  We should have left 20 years ago.

Two Heads Are Better

The Niners today have two starting quarterbacks (one of whom is already injured.)   

In the first NFL game I attended. both teams had two starting quarterbacks. The Washington Racial Slurs were led by Sammy Baugh, holder of most passing records at the time and also the team punter, and Eddie LeBaron, a short running quarterback who made jump passes briefly popular. The L.A. Rams were led by Bob Waterfield, married to Jane Russell and winner of a league title, and Norm Van Brocklin, who would later win a league title with another team.

These teams played two quarterbacks. The Rams, as I recall, used Waterfield in the first and third quarters and Van Brocklin in the second and fourth quarters. The offense was notable. Both quarterbacks ended up voted into the Hall of Fame.

So far the Niners seem to be playing their two starters by running them in and out according the situation. The results may be awesome.    

The Importance of Being a Man

Susan, my wife since 1965, had a biopsy done on her face recently. Probably nothing much. But she has to wear a bandage on her cheekbone. Accompanyiong her places has earned me dirty looks from several young women. One of them came up to us and asked her, "Are you all right?"

(on FB)