This truly is a climate emergency, and every day that goes by without significant action further endangers the future of almost all life on Earth, including us...
All mirth aside, almost 2,000 years ago humanity received a prophetic warning that this "day" would come: "the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything done in it will be laid bare." (2 Peter 3:10). As recently as a few years ago, I've reminded people of this warning, and yet people don't want to hear it. I guess that's why it's coming is compared to a thief; even though we've had ample warning, most people insist it can't be so, and continue with their everyday lives.
Preophecies are purposefully vague, because they can be interpreted anyway one wishes.
Nostradmus said somethng about a Hister, which cultists interpret as Hitler. End time nuts,of the Abrahamic religions, have forecasted the end times since the wild eyed missioinaries were shouting in the market places of the Roman Empire about an end times, and declaring every king, emperor or what not to be the antichrist, only now with Trump have they fell silent.
Religious beliefs may provide salve for the "soul" (comfort for the mind, or justification for "I told you so" But "holy scriptures" were written by men, not gods, for the purpose of providing an external justification for controlling people.; Word Controlled Humans.
Although I am of the inclination, that the anthropegene will be short lived and that humans have done it to themselves. One thing is wrong with Peter 3:10 and that is the heavens will disappear with a roar (those people in that age, though that the heavens or sky were part of the Earth, and they are not going to disappear with a roar, and the elements will be destroyed by fire. LOL. The elements, earth, wind, air and fire are going to be destroyed by fire. Fire will destroy itself.
They also believed that their god and the souls of departed lived in the sky, floating on clouds, and that hell was as the Egyptians and Mayans believe, the underworld, and it occasionally spit out fire and brimstone (lava and sulphur) when god was pissed.
While at it, someone please tell me where heaven and hell are located. The early Christians thought it was the sky. Heaven is just another word for sky. The Latin "Lords prayer" starts with "Padre nuestro en el cielo" (Cielo is Latin for sky.By the time the bible was written in English, they realized that saying "Our father in the sky" was patently ridiculous so they used the old Saxon Old English heofon, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch hemel and German Himmel .
If heaven is the sky above us then it has to be noisy place with all of he airtraffic, I've flown through the heavens tens of thousands of miles and haven't seen anything yet, nor have I in my 200 parachute jumps.
Now if heaven is another dimension, then maybe the UFO's are dead ancestors coming back to check up. (LOL).
Being destructive is easier than being constructive. The more unevolved are jealous and insecure of the more evolved and systematically have killed off the more evolved over thousands of years. Just ask the billionaires of today who they fear most, journalists and intellectuals or gun nuts. After all, we did start out unevolved. In other words, the irrational parasites succeeded in destroying the world, while denying they were and are doing it now. Now they expect their supernatural force to come and save them. It is not going to happen. The ungrateful lunatics have fouled their own nest. It is a little too early to say mirthly, "I told you so"! Any truly rational thinker thousands of years ago would have come to the conclusion that the human race would be doomed if they did not evolve and the churches tried their best to keep the human race from evolving in order to prosper off of human suffering instead of serving God and ending human suffering! You better hope the left wingers come up with a solution because for darn sure the right wingers aren't going to.
The shallow thinking people who are addicted to stress and drama, will like that at first. But after a short while, they will be screaming, "WHERE IS MY MOMMIE"!
When I say that, I am referring to the steady drumbeat from scientists and educators over the last 50 years. And I am apoplectic that we have done so little.
Some others see it as foretold in religious documents and rejoice.
I have come to realize that this religious, selfish zealots are lost. Rational discussion of the facts will not reach them.
You're wrong in giving a blanket statement that all who choose to believe a "religious document" are rejoicing - it would be inhumane to rejoice as we watch the life work of so many go up in flames. If some do rejoice, then I agree with you that they're "lost". I'm not sure what saddens me more - to watch people's lives go up in flames (or washed away in floods), or the realization that we have been warned and chose not to listen to those warnings.
I did not say all. I know many practicing Christians and Jews who are as disturbed as I am that we as a species have been poor stewards of our precious earth.
Pardone me maverick but Sky 777 did not say all. Sky said: "I have come to realize that this religious, selfish zealots are lost. Rational discussion of the facts will not reach them."
Just like a man to pick up the word "all" and miss the point. The point of what I said was Sky 777's linking "some", "any", "all", whomever might choose to believe in a religious document are not rejoicing. That was the point William.
No Dear the problem is you. There was no point, because you interjected the word that had global meaning, and SKY didn't say that. Sky mistyped when they said this, instead of these, these would have made it more specific, but you grabbed SKY's comment to launch your own Jihad, and yes these evangelical, end times fanatics are rejoicing.
I understand the dynamics here. SKY's comment evoked a reaction, because you identified with them, haze comes over the eyes when one perceives an attack against their beliefs, because beliefs are what constitute our ego. Just like Memories, memories make us human, without memories, we are corpses.
Now I have an issue with you. You are apparently hostile towards men, as you start out with "Just like man". You don't know me, my screen name might even be a pseudonym.
It appears, not an accusation because I don't live inside your head, But you appear, to me, to live in a dichotomous world, where there are only good and bad, men and women, and in your world all religious believers are good, because you are one, and men and women are all the same, if a man this, or that, and the same with women.
There are men who are more "female" than "male" and vice versa for women, then there are the gender non conforming, but give them a label (a name) then you can pigeon hole them, and be done with them.
For instance based on your screen name I thought that you were a male, but your recent posts have disabused me of that ideation.
I feel suddenly surrounded by women. Reminds me growing up with three sisters and arguing all the time. I had to learn debating skills to survive. If I had three brothers I'd probably be as dumb as a rock, don't get me wrong, I'm not saying I'm not.
I offer the notion that they are NOT ignoring the issue. They, or rather their paymasters, are already taking significant action. It is just a matter of the big money being divided, roughly, into two camps. One, we can call the Trilateralists (National Democrat Party leadership -- you know who they are, "enlightened" Wall St / high tech billionaires, etc.) are trying to take a softer approach to the coming collapse. The other, funded by the extraction industry money, is focused upon a full blown fascist solution.
Both have agreed on the need to militarize police departments here in the USA and in West Europe/Japan. Have you looked at the law enforcement budgets and how they are stockpiling crowd control materials and high powered weaponry?
Europe is already reacting to the pressure of migrating people moving west and north. Can we check off each EU country as it falls to a right-wing cabal?
We are witnessing the kabuki playing out on America's southern border.
It will only get worse. Especially when Florida sinks into the sea and what is left of it and the Southwest runs out of fresh water.
I can envision the pick up trucks and SUVs of MAGA faithful lined up on I-95 coming North where there is still water.
I fear the American people will be kept distracted by super-bowls, golf, and fights over who gets to pee in which bathroom, until the big money has sucked the planet dry and they retreat to fortresses in the Rockies (check out the rush to buy property in the Northwest mountains).
Sounds accurate. Similar situation is occurring in the U.K.; the wealthy few who live and profit from the financial center around London, and who control the government, don't give a rat's ass for the seniors, the homeless, the unemployed in the more rural areas. They're overcome with greed and lust for status symbols. Hard to see the value of democracy when people resort to such selfish behavior.
Did you know that the Financial District of London is Sovereign, and when the King or Queen shows up, they do so in street clothes and the Mayor of the Financial District shows up in an ermine and sable robe with his own sceptre.
Here is what happened. Charles II was an inveterate gambler, and had a stable of mistresses, he was most enamored of Barbara Villiers, a cousin of George Villiers who has been the "favorite" of James I.
He squandered the treasury on his habits, and was soon bankrupt. He borrowed money from the East India Company, and their condition was that he grant them a monopoly charter as the Bank of England. He soon squandered that loan as well, so he went begging to the Bank of England now. They demanded collateral in the form of the Crown Jewels, including the Globe and Scepter, which are the symbols of sovereignty. Meaning that the Bank of England was now the sovereign. The Crown Jewels were recreated centuries later, but they are not the originals, thus not the symbol of sovereignty, and the "Royals" are only an artifice now, having lost all powers, except those left them in display.
The can't have the PM approaching ""The City" for recognition, as it exposes the whole game, and The City doesn't want public acknowldegement that they, not the Royals, are sovereign.
Also the Bank of England, shortly after opening it's doors had a run on the banks gold, of which it had little or nothing.. Flummoxed and scared that they would be bankrupt (that's where the word comes from, rupturing of the bank, they hired the foremost aclchemist of the realm. a man known as Isaac Newton..
Isaac was made Warden of the Mint, and with a famous man, which the public thought could change base metal into gold, the run was brought to a halt.
By the way Charlie gifted Henry VIII's castle, Nonesuch, which he built for Katherine Howard, he cuckolded him and got beheaded in return, to Barbara Villiers.
Barbara Villiers t hen sold it stone by stone, till there was nothing left.
Laughs, you just dated yourself, with the mention the Trilateralists. I haven't heard that word since Reagan. In fact Reagan ran against the Trilateral Commission and the Council on Foreign relations, and the first thing he did was appoint Casper Weinberger, a Trilateralist, as Sec of Defense, and other CFR members to his cabinet and the stupid Republican voters, turned a blind eye, because of his racism and anti union promises. Which he fulfilled by firing Air Traffic Controllers
The Commission is still operating. If you visit NYC i will take you to their offices in mid-town. My Asian Studies prof in grad school quit the university and went to work for them, which I found amusing. Of course, as you indicate, they are a derivative group of the Council on Foreign Relations. This team has changed very little over the years.
The other guys are continuously changing their name, roster, and approach. Now, I think they are described as alt right with various other front operations. Tthe names change because the front guys don't last very long.
One example is how Lynn Cheney is going after Trump and his loony tune right movement. She hates him for running down her father's legacy.
The 'Donald' never resists telling the new right how wrong the Iraq war was. He is forever peeing on her father's team about these mistakes and running down the previous iteration of right wing in America (I think it was COMMITTEE FOR THE PRESENT DANGER... or maybe that was before... I can't always keep up.)
Just as an aside, in this game of the two teams, part of the deal with allowing serious right wing guys to take the White House has consistently been that they appoint a Trilateralist to run foreign policy. Whether , it's Reagan, 'W' , or Trump, these populist crowd pleasing clowns are so hopelessly outclassed on the global stage.
Thanks I had no idea. Appreciate the update. Dick Cheney's legacy is like being exposed to plutonium, and Liz, such a hero to some on the left,is every bit as bad as the Trump cult
Soft fascism vs hard fascism is no choice. Except would you rather be flayed or boiled alive?
The enemy of your enemy is not your friend, it is a temporary alliance, and if you get sucked in, then you wind up like the Native Americans who were beguiled into forming an alliance with the French, then the British, then the U.S. Cavalry. A scout one day, their victim the next.
"Life is like a path...and we all have to walk the path... As we walk...we'll find experiences like little scraps of paper in front of us along the way. We must pick up those pieces of scrap paper and put them in our pocket... Then, one day, we will have enough scraps of papers to put together and see what they say... Read the information and take it to heart."
--Uncle Frank Davis (quoting his mother), PAWNEE
The Creator designed us to learn by trial and error. The path of life we walk is very wide. Everything on the path is sacred - what we do right is sacred - but our mistakes are also sacred. This is the Creator's way of teaching spiritual people. To criticize ourselves when we make mistakes is not part of the spiritual path. To criticize mistakes is not the Indian way. To learn from our mistakes is the Indian way. The definition of a spiritual person is someone who makes 30-50 mistakes each day and talks to the Creator after each one to see what to do next time. This is the way of the Warrior.
Today let me see my mistakes as a positive process. Let me learn the aha's of life... Awaken my awareness so I can see the great learning that You, my Creator, have designed for my life.
I do like this Ginger. The problem is that my, or someone else's, 30-50 mistakes per day add up, and they create consequences. This is the main message of Thom's article today. While he does point out a few of those mistakes, and applies them to individuals, the truth is that the consequences from continually making mistakes day after day, even covering up mistakes in some cases, is catching up with the human race. We can only hope that articles like this will wake people the hell up; jar them into seeing that our human race is all interconnected, and that we need to change our ways - not tomorrow - today.
It is not cute television to watch a sea lion climb out of boiling water onto a surfboard
3. billboards should be plastered with photos of dolphin, whales, sea lions, fish beach themselves because the ocean contains not enough oxygen for them.
4. Who is still mowing their lawns??!
5. How many reading substack planted a tree, flowering bush, but bird and butterfly seed this week,
Join the neighborhood coalition to no more mow, birdbath every other house, condo or apartment?
6. How many of us have urged along with AUDUBON :: urbanites unite lights out urban night?
7. What towns, cities, locales have mandatory feral dog and cat wooden watering stations? You don't see one? MAKE ONE! Make 20 – – get all the teenagers in the area area to each make 10, then placed it.
8. Judeo Christian prophecy is not Nostradamus nor any of other crackpot in history. What was made in 24 hours and prophesied to be 2000 years prior?
In what age has Israel been a thorn in the side of the world? Not 200 years ago. Not 500 years ago. But today after yesterday? Not one prophecy not one from Jewish scripture and Judeo Christian scripture has failed to be realized.
Oh ye of little faith: one can get down on one knee and look up at the same time plant fertilizer bee and butterfly shrubs, collect acid rain for watering mind you not for drinking.... and as Tom urged GET ON BIDEN'S ARSE! Call daily to the GOP.
urge the irresponsible media to stop sounding stupid by asking
"when will this heat wave lift"...
DEMAND commentators stop calling this a heat wave //it is a heat CONDITION --IT IS NOT GOING TO GO AWAY ---SO STOP ASKING NBC ABC CBS MSNBC CNN FOX
Humans are the most destructive species ever. We are greedy, selfish and arrogant. However, humans with all their faults are the only ones who can stop destruction of our planet. We got ourselves into this mess and we need to get ourselves out. The Bible is irrelevant at this point, at least to me.
It's important that the US act on climate change, but as the #1 hydrocarbon producer you (and very nation) need to LEAVE IT IN THE GROUND. Nothing else matters. But as you may hvae noticed nobody with any power is even talking about how we achieve that. And it won't come about by demand reduction alone. Whenever someone asks why we are not acting on climate change I think back to the greatest political quote of all time made by some forgotten american politician: "What have future generations ever done for me?". For the current generation in power its: "I'm gonna die before it gets bad. So long and thanks for all the fish!". We have to leave it in the ground.
As long as we prop up Democrats and allow them to use climate change as a campaign issue. Biden's Inflation Reduction Act spends a paltry 15% of what we spend on our climate killing military, and its green energy initiatives are offset by guarantees for permitting of more oil and gas drilling and exploration, similar to Obama increasing wind and solar but then sucking more oil out of the ground than any previous president (and bragging about it). While of course I do my part to contribute to the modulation of climate change and support the few Democrats who don't take corporate PAC money (which leaves them largely impotent to combat climate change in any meaningful way), I believe our inaction over the past 5 decades and minimalist/incremental neoliberal approach to it today have left us in a downward spiral that might be slowed but cannot be stopped. Serious leaders like Bernie Sanders and AOC are cast aside by the Democratic Party as socialist and radical, while MSNBC liberals pretend that Biden's half measures will have anything but a negligible effect as we intend to strip mine our way out of climate catastrophe. Spending a trillion a year on the military is a bipartisan contribution to climate catastrophe and mass migrations that only one member of Congress will speak against as the Democratic Party becomes the party of imperialist war (with your assistance Thom). https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/jul/24/the-pentagon-doesnt-need-886bn-i-oppose-this-bloated-defense-budget
How about a simple answer to the simple question Thom poses in the title?
How long? As long as they can receive tainted money directly or indirectly from corporations whose fiscal well-being depends on continued use of fossil fuels.
It's not just our military spending as much as the pollution it generates here, and making other militaries compete, causing even more pollution. It's the wars, invasions, rebellions, etc. making so much pollution that electric cars can never make up for it all. Energy generated by manufacture of the war machine from mining to deployment is incredible and the news gotten by the public is non existent compared to the "thank you for your service" stuff my Vietnam vet brothers get reminding them of their naivete upon going there. They fought for the war machine industry, period.
WE NEED TO DETERMINE WHAT IS NEED AND WHAT IS GREED. It will definitely take what you have suggested, all the President's tools and more.
Time is up and a conservative approach will kill us and most life on the planet. That's my message to the White House and Congress.
There's a Guardian article from Saturday titled "G20 countries fail to reach agreement on cutting fossil fuels". Here's a quote: "Saudi Arabia, Russia, China, South Africa and Indonesia are all known to oppose the goal of tripling renewable energy capacity this decade."
The President must use whatever leverage he has to change their minds.
First thing, the human race needs to put up a . I read out where Mars is, there is a place, that humans could build a sunscreen to protect the Earth. It will cost trillions of dollars, but in my opinion, there is no other alternative? The private sector, namely the oil company's worldwide, have used capitalism to destroy the world.
Sounds like a plan a human would come up with - use even more energy and create more pollution to build a "sunscreen". Thanks for giving us a laugh; there's so much gloom and doom right now.
Maverick, it is going to take a human to get us out of this mess. Of course we could leave it up to the right wing crazies. If we stop all oil production, will all starve. If we continue polluting we will all suffocate. This is why I am pro-choice at this point in time. What is your solution? The clock is running and it already says it's too late! I wanted zero population growth, 60 years ago. Requiring all vehicles to get 50 miles per gallon, would help a little, but could add a lot more suffering. Don't criticize others unless you have a better plan. What's yours?
If I were American, my plan would be to vote for Marianne Williamson - boy, do we need her wisdom. I say we as a global population; we all could use such wisdom. Just listened to her talk in Chicago, and that woman puts all the other candidates to shame. She's a Roosevelt student, and welcomes the criticisms the corporate elites gave him in his day. Sounded to me like she can handle it. Of course, the elites might do the unthinkable, in order to get rid of her, if she garners too much of a following, but she seems to accept that as one of the hazards of running outside the Democratic fold.
I totally agree, but with a good percentage of our population waiting for the Rapture, I fear nothing will be done.
All mirth aside, almost 2,000 years ago humanity received a prophetic warning that this "day" would come: "the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything done in it will be laid bare." (2 Peter 3:10). As recently as a few years ago, I've reminded people of this warning, and yet people don't want to hear it. I guess that's why it's coming is compared to a thief; even though we've had ample warning, most people insist it can't be so, and continue with their everyday lives.
Preophecies are purposefully vague, because they can be interpreted anyway one wishes.
Nostradmus said somethng about a Hister, which cultists interpret as Hitler. End time nuts,of the Abrahamic religions, have forecasted the end times since the wild eyed missioinaries were shouting in the market places of the Roman Empire about an end times, and declaring every king, emperor or what not to be the antichrist, only now with Trump have they fell silent.
Religious beliefs may provide salve for the "soul" (comfort for the mind, or justification for "I told you so" But "holy scriptures" were written by men, not gods, for the purpose of providing an external justification for controlling people.; Word Controlled Humans.
Although I am of the inclination, that the anthropegene will be short lived and that humans have done it to themselves. One thing is wrong with Peter 3:10 and that is the heavens will disappear with a roar (those people in that age, though that the heavens or sky were part of the Earth, and they are not going to disappear with a roar, and the elements will be destroyed by fire. LOL. The elements, earth, wind, air and fire are going to be destroyed by fire. Fire will destroy itself.
They also believed that their god and the souls of departed lived in the sky, floating on clouds, and that hell was as the Egyptians and Mayans believe, the underworld, and it occasionally spit out fire and brimstone (lava and sulphur) when god was pissed.
While at it, someone please tell me where heaven and hell are located. The early Christians thought it was the sky. Heaven is just another word for sky. The Latin "Lords prayer" starts with "Padre nuestro en el cielo" (Cielo is Latin for sky.By the time the bible was written in English, they realized that saying "Our father in the sky" was patently ridiculous so they used the old Saxon Old English heofon, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch hemel and German Himmel .
If heaven is the sky above us then it has to be noisy place with all of he airtraffic, I've flown through the heavens tens of thousands of miles and haven't seen anything yet, nor have I in my 200 parachute jumps.
Now if heaven is another dimension, then maybe the UFO's are dead ancestors coming back to check up. (LOL).
Maybe heaven is just the absence of strife and pain. And hell is a total absence of peace for eternity.
Maybe, ‘we reap what we sow’.
LOL. if so then we were born in hell, live in hell and will die in hell.
Being destructive is easier than being constructive. The more unevolved are jealous and insecure of the more evolved and systematically have killed off the more evolved over thousands of years. Just ask the billionaires of today who they fear most, journalists and intellectuals or gun nuts. After all, we did start out unevolved. In other words, the irrational parasites succeeded in destroying the world, while denying they were and are doing it now. Now they expect their supernatural force to come and save them. It is not going to happen. The ungrateful lunatics have fouled their own nest. It is a little too early to say mirthly, "I told you so"! Any truly rational thinker thousands of years ago would have come to the conclusion that the human race would be doomed if they did not evolve and the churches tried their best to keep the human race from evolving in order to prosper off of human suffering instead of serving God and ending human suffering! You better hope the left wingers come up with a solution because for darn sure the right wingers aren't going to.
Well Bob, things are just getting warmed up. Soon, as a true Canuck, I'll be asking you to hold my beer, and say "hang on, get ready for a wild ride!"
The shallow thinking people who are addicted to stress and drama, will like that at first. But after a short while, they will be screaming, "WHERE IS MY MOMMIE"!
It has all been foretold.
When I say that, I am referring to the steady drumbeat from scientists and educators over the last 50 years. And I am apoplectic that we have done so little.
Some others see it as foretold in religious documents and rejoice.
I have come to realize that this religious, selfish zealots are lost. Rational discussion of the facts will not reach them.
You're wrong in giving a blanket statement that all who choose to believe a "religious document" are rejoicing - it would be inhumane to rejoice as we watch the life work of so many go up in flames. If some do rejoice, then I agree with you that they're "lost". I'm not sure what saddens me more - to watch people's lives go up in flames (or washed away in floods), or the realization that we have been warned and chose not to listen to those warnings.
I did not say all. I know many practicing Christians and Jews who are as disturbed as I am that we as a species have been poor stewards of our precious earth.
Pardone me maverick but Sky 777 did not say all. Sky said: "I have come to realize that this religious, selfish zealots are lost. Rational discussion of the facts will not reach them."
Any reason you inserted all into that comment?
Thank you.
De nada. :)
Just like a man to pick up the word "all" and miss the point. The point of what I said was Sky 777's linking "some", "any", "all", whomever might choose to believe in a religious document are not rejoicing. That was the point William.
No Dear the problem is you. There was no point, because you interjected the word that had global meaning, and SKY didn't say that. Sky mistyped when they said this, instead of these, these would have made it more specific, but you grabbed SKY's comment to launch your own Jihad, and yes these evangelical, end times fanatics are rejoicing.
I understand the dynamics here. SKY's comment evoked a reaction, because you identified with them, haze comes over the eyes when one perceives an attack against their beliefs, because beliefs are what constitute our ego. Just like Memories, memories make us human, without memories, we are corpses.
Now I have an issue with you. You are apparently hostile towards men, as you start out with "Just like man". You don't know me, my screen name might even be a pseudonym.
It appears, not an accusation because I don't live inside your head, But you appear, to me, to live in a dichotomous world, where there are only good and bad, men and women, and in your world all religious believers are good, because you are one, and men and women are all the same, if a man this, or that, and the same with women.
There are men who are more "female" than "male" and vice versa for women, then there are the gender non conforming, but give them a label (a name) then you can pigeon hole them, and be done with them.
For instance based on your screen name I thought that you were a male, but your recent posts have disabused me of that ideation.
I feel suddenly surrounded by women. Reminds me growing up with three sisters and arguing all the time. I had to learn debating skills to survive. If I had three brothers I'd probably be as dumb as a rock, don't get me wrong, I'm not saying I'm not.
LOL. I understand what you are saying, I grew up in a single mother household with two sisters.
There is no debating, with them they were always right, even when wrong.
Good training when dealing with some folk..
Canada is on fire too. There are over 300 forest fires in BC alone. The stores of drinking water in the snow-topped mountains are gone.
Over 400 was the latest I heard, 23 of which are "out of control". No rain in the forecast either.
I offer the notion that they are NOT ignoring the issue. They, or rather their paymasters, are already taking significant action. It is just a matter of the big money being divided, roughly, into two camps. One, we can call the Trilateralists (National Democrat Party leadership -- you know who they are, "enlightened" Wall St / high tech billionaires, etc.) are trying to take a softer approach to the coming collapse. The other, funded by the extraction industry money, is focused upon a full blown fascist solution.
Both have agreed on the need to militarize police departments here in the USA and in West Europe/Japan. Have you looked at the law enforcement budgets and how they are stockpiling crowd control materials and high powered weaponry?
Europe is already reacting to the pressure of migrating people moving west and north. Can we check off each EU country as it falls to a right-wing cabal?
We are witnessing the kabuki playing out on America's southern border.
It will only get worse. Especially when Florida sinks into the sea and what is left of it and the Southwest runs out of fresh water.
I can envision the pick up trucks and SUVs of MAGA faithful lined up on I-95 coming North where there is still water.
I fear the American people will be kept distracted by super-bowls, golf, and fights over who gets to pee in which bathroom, until the big money has sucked the planet dry and they retreat to fortresses in the Rockies (check out the rush to buy property in the Northwest mountains).
Sounds accurate. Similar situation is occurring in the U.K.; the wealthy few who live and profit from the financial center around London, and who control the government, don't give a rat's ass for the seniors, the homeless, the unemployed in the more rural areas. They're overcome with greed and lust for status symbols. Hard to see the value of democracy when people resort to such selfish behavior.
Did you know that the Financial District of London is Sovereign, and when the King or Queen shows up, they do so in street clothes and the Mayor of the Financial District shows up in an ermine and sable robe with his own sceptre.
Here is what happened. Charles II was an inveterate gambler, and had a stable of mistresses, he was most enamored of Barbara Villiers, a cousin of George Villiers who has been the "favorite" of James I.
He squandered the treasury on his habits, and was soon bankrupt. He borrowed money from the East India Company, and their condition was that he grant them a monopoly charter as the Bank of England. He soon squandered that loan as well, so he went begging to the Bank of England now. They demanded collateral in the form of the Crown Jewels, including the Globe and Scepter, which are the symbols of sovereignty. Meaning that the Bank of England was now the sovereign. The Crown Jewels were recreated centuries later, but they are not the originals, thus not the symbol of sovereignty, and the "Royals" are only an artifice now, having lost all powers, except those left them in display.
The can't have the PM approaching ""The City" for recognition, as it exposes the whole game, and The City doesn't want public acknowldegement that they, not the Royals, are sovereign.
Also the Bank of England, shortly after opening it's doors had a run on the banks gold, of which it had little or nothing.. Flummoxed and scared that they would be bankrupt (that's where the word comes from, rupturing of the bank, they hired the foremost aclchemist of the realm. a man known as Isaac Newton..
Isaac was made Warden of the Mint, and with a famous man, which the public thought could change base metal into gold, the run was brought to a halt.
By the way Charlie gifted Henry VIII's castle, Nonesuch, which he built for Katherine Howard, he cuckolded him and got beheaded in return, to Barbara Villiers.
Barbara Villiers t hen sold it stone by stone, till there was nothing left.
Laughs, you just dated yourself, with the mention the Trilateralists. I haven't heard that word since Reagan. In fact Reagan ran against the Trilateral Commission and the Council on Foreign relations, and the first thing he did was appoint Casper Weinberger, a Trilateralist, as Sec of Defense, and other CFR members to his cabinet and the stupid Republican voters, turned a blind eye, because of his racism and anti union promises. Which he fulfilled by firing Air Traffic Controllers
William,
The Commission is still operating. If you visit NYC i will take you to their offices in mid-town. My Asian Studies prof in grad school quit the university and went to work for them, which I found amusing. Of course, as you indicate, they are a derivative group of the Council on Foreign Relations. This team has changed very little over the years.
The other guys are continuously changing their name, roster, and approach. Now, I think they are described as alt right with various other front operations. Tthe names change because the front guys don't last very long.
One example is how Lynn Cheney is going after Trump and his loony tune right movement. She hates him for running down her father's legacy.
The 'Donald' never resists telling the new right how wrong the Iraq war was. He is forever peeing on her father's team about these mistakes and running down the previous iteration of right wing in America (I think it was COMMITTEE FOR THE PRESENT DANGER... or maybe that was before... I can't always keep up.)
Just as an aside, in this game of the two teams, part of the deal with allowing serious right wing guys to take the White House has consistently been that they appoint a Trilateralist to run foreign policy. Whether , it's Reagan, 'W' , or Trump, these populist crowd pleasing clowns are so hopelessly outclassed on the global stage.
D.
Thanks I had no idea. Appreciate the update. Dick Cheney's legacy is like being exposed to plutonium, and Liz, such a hero to some on the left,is every bit as bad as the Trump cult
Soft fascism vs hard fascism is no choice. Except would you rather be flayed or boiled alive?
The enemy of your enemy is not your friend, it is a temporary alliance, and if you get sucked in, then you wind up like the Native Americans who were beguiled into forming an alliance with the French, then the British, then the U.S. Cavalry. A scout one day, their victim the next.
Yes, we should encourage their eating each other and then get out of the way.
D.
Native American
"Life is like a path...and we all have to walk the path... As we walk...we'll find experiences like little scraps of paper in front of us along the way. We must pick up those pieces of scrap paper and put them in our pocket... Then, one day, we will have enough scraps of papers to put together and see what they say... Read the information and take it to heart."
--Uncle Frank Davis (quoting his mother), PAWNEE
The Creator designed us to learn by trial and error. The path of life we walk is very wide. Everything on the path is sacred - what we do right is sacred - but our mistakes are also sacred. This is the Creator's way of teaching spiritual people. To criticize ourselves when we make mistakes is not part of the spiritual path. To criticize mistakes is not the Indian way. To learn from our mistakes is the Indian way. The definition of a spiritual person is someone who makes 30-50 mistakes each day and talks to the Creator after each one to see what to do next time. This is the way of the Warrior.
Today let me see my mistakes as a positive process. Let me learn the aha's of life... Awaken my awareness so I can see the great learning that You, my Creator, have designed for my life.
I do like this Ginger. The problem is that my, or someone else's, 30-50 mistakes per day add up, and they create consequences. This is the main message of Thom's article today. While he does point out a few of those mistakes, and applies them to individuals, the truth is that the consequences from continually making mistakes day after day, even covering up mistakes in some cases, is catching up with the human race. We can only hope that articles like this will wake people the hell up; jar them into seeing that our human race is all interconnected, and that we need to change our ways - not tomorrow - today.
Let’s hope. I get these Native American readings every day and feel that rather than my 2 cents, let’s listen to the ancients.
1. so sorry Tom we do not have 10 years
2. please note WILDLIFE burning,
It is not cute television to watch a sea lion climb out of boiling water onto a surfboard
3. billboards should be plastered with photos of dolphin, whales, sea lions, fish beach themselves because the ocean contains not enough oxygen for them.
4. Who is still mowing their lawns??!
5. How many reading substack planted a tree, flowering bush, but bird and butterfly seed this week,
Join the neighborhood coalition to no more mow, birdbath every other house, condo or apartment?
6. How many of us have urged along with AUDUBON :: urbanites unite lights out urban night?
7. What towns, cities, locales have mandatory feral dog and cat wooden watering stations? You don't see one? MAKE ONE! Make 20 – – get all the teenagers in the area area to each make 10, then placed it.
8. Judeo Christian prophecy is not Nostradamus nor any of other crackpot in history. What was made in 24 hours and prophesied to be 2000 years prior?
In what age has Israel been a thorn in the side of the world? Not 200 years ago. Not 500 years ago. But today after yesterday? Not one prophecy not one from Jewish scripture and Judeo Christian scripture has failed to be realized.
Oh ye of little faith: one can get down on one knee and look up at the same time plant fertilizer bee and butterfly shrubs, collect acid rain for watering mind you not for drinking.... and as Tom urged GET ON BIDEN'S ARSE! Call daily to the GOP.
urge the irresponsible media to stop sounding stupid by asking
"when will this heat wave lift"...
DEMAND commentators stop calling this a heat wave //it is a heat CONDITION --IT IS NOT GOING TO GO AWAY ---SO STOP ASKING NBC ABC CBS MSNBC CNN FOX
!❗️❗️
8 9 10: Keep those lawsuits coming kids
Humans are the most destructive species ever. We are greedy, selfish and arrogant. However, humans with all their faults are the only ones who can stop destruction of our planet. We got ourselves into this mess and we need to get ourselves out. The Bible is irrelevant at this point, at least to me.
It's important that the US act on climate change, but as the #1 hydrocarbon producer you (and very nation) need to LEAVE IT IN THE GROUND. Nothing else matters. But as you may hvae noticed nobody with any power is even talking about how we achieve that. And it won't come about by demand reduction alone. Whenever someone asks why we are not acting on climate change I think back to the greatest political quote of all time made by some forgotten american politician: "What have future generations ever done for me?". For the current generation in power its: "I'm gonna die before it gets bad. So long and thanks for all the fish!". We have to leave it in the ground.
I'm 65 so guilty as charged.
As long as we prop up Democrats and allow them to use climate change as a campaign issue. Biden's Inflation Reduction Act spends a paltry 15% of what we spend on our climate killing military, and its green energy initiatives are offset by guarantees for permitting of more oil and gas drilling and exploration, similar to Obama increasing wind and solar but then sucking more oil out of the ground than any previous president (and bragging about it). While of course I do my part to contribute to the modulation of climate change and support the few Democrats who don't take corporate PAC money (which leaves them largely impotent to combat climate change in any meaningful way), I believe our inaction over the past 5 decades and minimalist/incremental neoliberal approach to it today have left us in a downward spiral that might be slowed but cannot be stopped. Serious leaders like Bernie Sanders and AOC are cast aside by the Democratic Party as socialist and radical, while MSNBC liberals pretend that Biden's half measures will have anything but a negligible effect as we intend to strip mine our way out of climate catastrophe. Spending a trillion a year on the military is a bipartisan contribution to climate catastrophe and mass migrations that only one member of Congress will speak against as the Democratic Party becomes the party of imperialist war (with your assistance Thom). https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/jul/24/the-pentagon-doesnt-need-886bn-i-oppose-this-bloated-defense-budget
How about a simple answer to the simple question Thom poses in the title?
How long? As long as they can receive tainted money directly or indirectly from corporations whose fiscal well-being depends on continued use of fossil fuels.
It's not just our military spending as much as the pollution it generates here, and making other militaries compete, causing even more pollution. It's the wars, invasions, rebellions, etc. making so much pollution that electric cars can never make up for it all. Energy generated by manufacture of the war machine from mining to deployment is incredible and the news gotten by the public is non existent compared to the "thank you for your service" stuff my Vietnam vet brothers get reminding them of their naivete upon going there. They fought for the war machine industry, period.
WE NEED TO DETERMINE WHAT IS NEED AND WHAT IS GREED. It will definitely take what you have suggested, all the President's tools and more.
Time is up and a conservative approach will kill us and most life on the planet. That's my message to the White House and Congress.
There's a Guardian article from Saturday titled "G20 countries fail to reach agreement on cutting fossil fuels". Here's a quote: "Saudi Arabia, Russia, China, South Africa and Indonesia are all known to oppose the goal of tripling renewable energy capacity this decade."
The President must use whatever leverage he has to change their minds.
First thing, the human race needs to put up a . I read out where Mars is, there is a place, that humans could build a sunscreen to protect the Earth. It will cost trillions of dollars, but in my opinion, there is no other alternative? The private sector, namely the oil company's worldwide, have used capitalism to destroy the world.
Sounds like a plan a human would come up with - use even more energy and create more pollution to build a "sunscreen". Thanks for giving us a laugh; there's so much gloom and doom right now.
Maverick, it is going to take a human to get us out of this mess. Of course we could leave it up to the right wing crazies. If we stop all oil production, will all starve. If we continue polluting we will all suffocate. This is why I am pro-choice at this point in time. What is your solution? The clock is running and it already says it's too late! I wanted zero population growth, 60 years ago. Requiring all vehicles to get 50 miles per gallon, would help a little, but could add a lot more suffering. Don't criticize others unless you have a better plan. What's yours?
If I were American, my plan would be to vote for Marianne Williamson - boy, do we need her wisdom. I say we as a global population; we all could use such wisdom. Just listened to her talk in Chicago, and that woman puts all the other candidates to shame. She's a Roosevelt student, and welcomes the criticisms the corporate elites gave him in his day. Sounded to me like she can handle it. Of course, the elites might do the unthinkable, in order to get rid of her, if she garners too much of a following, but she seems to accept that as one of the hazards of running outside the Democratic fold.
First I heard of her. She is other than Biden, and not Republican, that is good enough for me. Also an author, which means she actually can think!