Thank you, Thom for the cogent piece on nationalizing the fossil fuel industry. We need more ideas like it. And thank you for the paragraph on the headlines, citing the Climate CRISIS. It's not just America, it's the entire world. I give us 5-7 years, tops. And by the way, that's what a lot of Climate scientists are saying, rather quietly, too. Greenland Ice Sheet? Gone by 2030; that's the latest estimate. And some ice geologists think that the massive ice sheets could implode and create a catastrophic rise in sea level, in one event. As for the others? Clarence Thomas is .... Oh, who cares? Nothing is changing on that front.
ExxonMobil's own scientists accurately predicted future global warming in reports dating back to the late 1970s and early 1980s, despite the company publicly continuing for years to cast doubt on climate science and lobby against climate action, according to a new analysis.
Skeptics and cynics are labeled pessimists, especially by liberals, who need to see the world through rose colored glasses, but they are really realists, who see the future through past performance of humans, and a realistic as opposed to wishful thinking of human behavior. Such as they are not going to give up their luxuries, and conveniences, and they are avaricious, to the point of hoarding..never enough.
The person with a cluttered house which you can’t walk in, is no different than the plutocrat with 2 mansions, his own jet, and a super garage full of classic and expensive modern cars. There are people who collect Lamborghinis like they were postage stamps. Look at Jay Leno’s garage. He’s not called a hoarder because he is rich and famous.
They are having fun while the sun shines, but their need to accumulate, an addiction, their greedy acquisition of things and money start as a means to prove that they are an Alpha, and impress and warn their peers, that they too have status, and are able to defend what they have from others of their kind.
Just like male and female Alphas of a wolf pack, snip at the legs, threaten and intimidate others in their pack, to keep them in their place. Heck you see this behavior in all subcultures, be it chefs, sports, politics. Gordon Ramseys productions are an example. A team of Alphas, torture and berate betas, gammas, deltas who aspire to be an Alpha. Exception Hell’s Kitchen, he is the only Alpha.
Having fun when the sun shines, is all too human. Thus so many splurge excess income on chasing frivolities, never thinking of the day when they will no longer have exces income, and quite possibly be reduced to living off family and hopefully the government, but Social Security, if you qualify, only provides a subsistence level income, and that if you don’t live in a city like NY. At least there you can save money on transportation.
All this verbage because I am a pessimist (realist). I know quite a bit about the history of the species, how empires build and collapse, how human activity is driven by the need to acquire things, status, and the means to obtain enough wealth and power to advance and protect their own personal Empire, be it a single wide and a submissive spouse, or a nation.
A decade ago we watched as the warming earth was approaching 350 ppm of polluting gases, now it is at over 400 ppm, and Gaia’s temperature is feverish and has risen 1.5 degrees Celsius and we are headed pell mell towards the end of the short lived anthropocene.
Climate scientists are saying that it is actually too late to reverse the trend, even if we managed to halt the expansion, it is too late, the cycle has started. An ice free arctic, which because of the albido effect, is in itself contributing to global wasming, and the collapse of the glaciers on Greenland and elsewheres.
Even the antartic ice is melting and moving, and I am not mentioning the Antarctic ise that is sitting on the water, as it is already displacing the water which it will beome when it melts (like ice cubes in a glass)
In the past 30 years, scientists have observed an intensification of the waves, coinciding with increased global warming. More waviness in the jet stream means that rain and wind remain in a region longer than if the jet stream simply traveled due east with no detours.
Why did the jet stream change?
Climate change and the jet stream
Rising global temperatures from global warming are affecting the jet stream and, in turn, the weather. Because the Earth's polar regions are warming more quickly than the rest of the world, the temperature contrast that drives jet streams has decreased.
We can see the result with the heat dome, which right wing America ignores, because the fossil fuel industry is supporting candidates and a party, which when told to jump, asks only how high.
And there is the desalination of the Atlantic conveyor belt, and it’s gulf stream which used to warm Europe, England and the East coast of America The fresh water released by the Greenland glaciers is desalinating the current and disrupting it. Look for harsher and longer wintes.
Red states are pummeled with record breaking hurricanes in numbers and F force. Yet the ignorant press on, only concerned a bout “woke”
They are more concerned about something they call woke, than their own lives and future.
My pessimism says that nothing will change the vector of global warming, that it will not reverse, even if we went into full stop today, and devoted trillions into carbon sequestration (carbon is only part of the problem, methane is just as bad, and global warming is causing explosions in the arctic of Russia, Alaska and Canada ,as warming releases huge pockets of methane in the tundra, and underwater.
The only thing we can do is plan for our own future, if the entire world’s vehicle transportation was electrified, it still would not stop or impede the trend.
Gloom and doom, yes, but considering the history of mankind and the unchangeable human nature.
Nothing will change. The rest below is TL:DR
The executives, shareholders and boards of the corporations, not just the fossil fuel industry, but those dependent on it, live and continue to live in denial, accumulating enough wealth, they hope, that will insulate them from the dystopian future that is barreling towards them.
Having been to Jay Leno's garage (geek heaven), he is not a hoarder, and is a collector, because what he has is organized and cared for, which is the difference between a collector and a hoarder. Having dealt with the issue of hoarding with a person I loved, I really wish idiots like you who have no fucking clue what you're talking about would quit parading your ignorance on the topic. Ignorance by people like you is why the issue remains as hidden as it is and attempts to help those afflicted with the disorder are so unsuccessful. I really hate it when morons like you claim you're on my side, as the entire rest of your post clearly demonstrates you are - though I am certain you think of yourself as a genius. Which you're not.
Hello Thom, Your life plan based on the talented author John D. MacDonald’s Travis McGee character made me laugh out loud. We have used Travis’ taking retirement a piece at a time as an underlying structure for our lives too. When we watched the MAGA Thumpkins weekenders begin to overrun our north FL coastal village with their golf carts and confederate flags, we decided it was time to leave old FL behind after thirty plus years of spending winters there. We sold and now stay in Massachusetts where MAGAs are rare but not extinct yet. We feel sorry for our Floridian friends who have become victims of retirees moving south and ruining the old Florida charm an Southern hospitality - if you were white and not poor that we enjoyed but pretended was not entrenched in racism.
I wish somebody could explain why neither party has introduced a law much less a constitutional amendment (better) that ends "Citizens United." Citizens United is a malignant cancer that is killing democracy. The fascists love it because it is disrupting government services like schools and regulation enforcement - not to mention the courts - just like Hitler did to enable him to seize power so quickly. The GOP is sabotaging America in order to impose oligarchic rule (aka fascist dictatorship).
Two of the most important things that Mr. Biden ran on was so-called "police reform" and student debt forgiveness. I am a single parent and my child just completed her undergraduate work at a prestigious private university. Luckily, we are not straddled with enormous debt, but it is still considerable. How a country penalizes education and learning is unfathomable as well as being despicable. No wonder that same country lets its citizens die due to privatized health care; an equally unfathomable and despicable act. The "Supremes" need their asses kicked. Sans Dianna Ross
As for "police reform" though it amounts to social origami because I can fold a piece of paper into a dog or a crane it remains a piece of paper. Policing in the United States must be re-invented, not reformed. Having said that reform would have, perhaps, been a stepping stone to reinvention. The fact that nothing, absolutely nothing substantive has been done on this front is pathetic; whoever is at fault.
Thom, I was watching Johnathan Capehart and a quote from Eli Crane of Arizona said. “ he now says Black people are Colored people Thom. Saying the quite part out loud, Thom. They want to take us back. Talking about Amendment about military spending. Thom.
I put in "Write an article about air activity in the Korean War in the voice of TCinLA" and ChatGPT knew less about the Korean War than the average American (which is close to Absolutely Nothing). I on the other hand have written three best-selling books on the topic.
RE: “ ... I’m just hoping the number of people who get left behind ... (like those #Teamsters of old) ... can land on their feet if things go the way they look they’re going.” Sorry, #Thom. Well-wishes aside, an #AI run #GPT-5 will even cook you breakfast! So, expecting to survive a business that #AI will undoubtedly learn to `disintermediate` will be a “tough sled”. My suggestion is you learn how to code in #Python fast!
Even Landscape printing isn't enough to print this post. Disappointed. The gist of the article is good and I agree with it. America could do a whole lot if the autocratic repubs could be set aside. They block anything that would help our country. It will take a lot of hard work to keep our democracy and get anything done. I haven't lost hope. Ruthie B
RE: “Full student loan forgiveness for around 800,000 Americans.” ... How does that work out? Do you just skim off the TOP the 800,000 count Americans that hold the most student loan debt? Or, do you include only those students that have paid into the system religiously for a period of Twenty (20) years yet still have an outstanding principle balance (due to the doubling and tripling of the interest rate charged on student loans up from the standard 3% FIXED interest rate with NO “interest on the interest” allowed of yesteryear).
The hard right-wingers only learn when it lands on their doorstep, and it has. The writing on the wall is the high-water mark from the flood that just ruined their homes and businesses. The hair on fire moment is when the forest burns in Canada and the smoke from it chokes the people trying to breathe in New York and not just in the "Blue" city.
I watch C-Span and apparently the members of this Congress watch the news and the weather reports. Yesterday the right side of the aisle was saying "We all want clean air and water!". Swell, you got WOKE---the hard way!
Just a few years back the weather guy or gal would hedge and now you can usually depend on them telling the truth. Amen.
Limited time, limited choices, sketchy outcomes, but for future generations, we must keep trying. We help "fix" the failing car industry by a similar plan. When you know better, you should do better.
TCinLA, i could not agree more with your comments on Mr. Farrar.
He puts fingers to letters a dribble comes out. However if we based intelligence on word volume regardless of import then the man would certainly be a master of sorts!
I get your point, but by your own admission, a collector is a hoarder, up scale maybe, but the motivation is the same.
I'm a discarder, anything I haven't used in 6 months is only taking up space. My spouse is a constrained hoarder, but I'm changing her, she won't throw anything away that she thinks she might use Our garage is full of tools, like table saws, which she only used once (she is the handyman and proficient at almost everything from sewing and cooking, baking to carpentry, electricity, plumbing and drywall.
I have a different concept of hoarding than you, much broader obviously, and admittedly it is,by our different views a matter of semantics.
Thank you, Thom for the cogent piece on nationalizing the fossil fuel industry. We need more ideas like it. And thank you for the paragraph on the headlines, citing the Climate CRISIS. It's not just America, it's the entire world. I give us 5-7 years, tops. And by the way, that's what a lot of Climate scientists are saying, rather quietly, too. Greenland Ice Sheet? Gone by 2030; that's the latest estimate. And some ice geologists think that the massive ice sheets could implode and create a catastrophic rise in sea level, in one event. As for the others? Clarence Thomas is .... Oh, who cares? Nothing is changing on that front.
ExxonMobil's own scientists accurately predicted future global warming in reports dating back to the late 1970s and early 1980s, despite the company publicly continuing for years to cast doubt on climate science and lobby against climate action, according to a new analysis.
Skeptics and cynics are labeled pessimists, especially by liberals, who need to see the world through rose colored glasses, but they are really realists, who see the future through past performance of humans, and a realistic as opposed to wishful thinking of human behavior. Such as they are not going to give up their luxuries, and conveniences, and they are avaricious, to the point of hoarding..never enough.
The person with a cluttered house which you can’t walk in, is no different than the plutocrat with 2 mansions, his own jet, and a super garage full of classic and expensive modern cars. There are people who collect Lamborghinis like they were postage stamps. Look at Jay Leno’s garage. He’s not called a hoarder because he is rich and famous.
They are having fun while the sun shines, but their need to accumulate, an addiction, their greedy acquisition of things and money start as a means to prove that they are an Alpha, and impress and warn their peers, that they too have status, and are able to defend what they have from others of their kind.
Just like male and female Alphas of a wolf pack, snip at the legs, threaten and intimidate others in their pack, to keep them in their place. Heck you see this behavior in all subcultures, be it chefs, sports, politics. Gordon Ramseys productions are an example. A team of Alphas, torture and berate betas, gammas, deltas who aspire to be an Alpha. Exception Hell’s Kitchen, he is the only Alpha.
Having fun when the sun shines, is all too human. Thus so many splurge excess income on chasing frivolities, never thinking of the day when they will no longer have exces income, and quite possibly be reduced to living off family and hopefully the government, but Social Security, if you qualify, only provides a subsistence level income, and that if you don’t live in a city like NY. At least there you can save money on transportation.
All this verbage because I am a pessimist (realist). I know quite a bit about the history of the species, how empires build and collapse, how human activity is driven by the need to acquire things, status, and the means to obtain enough wealth and power to advance and protect their own personal Empire, be it a single wide and a submissive spouse, or a nation.
A decade ago we watched as the warming earth was approaching 350 ppm of polluting gases, now it is at over 400 ppm, and Gaia’s temperature is feverish and has risen 1.5 degrees Celsius and we are headed pell mell towards the end of the short lived anthropocene.
Climate scientists are saying that it is actually too late to reverse the trend, even if we managed to halt the expansion, it is too late, the cycle has started. An ice free arctic, which because of the albido effect, is in itself contributing to global wasming, and the collapse of the glaciers on Greenland and elsewheres.
Even the antartic ice is melting and moving, and I am not mentioning the Antarctic ise that is sitting on the water, as it is already displacing the water which it will beome when it melts (like ice cubes in a glass)
In the past 30 years, scientists have observed an intensification of the waves, coinciding with increased global warming. More waviness in the jet stream means that rain and wind remain in a region longer than if the jet stream simply traveled due east with no detours.
Why did the jet stream change?
Climate change and the jet stream
Rising global temperatures from global warming are affecting the jet stream and, in turn, the weather. Because the Earth's polar regions are warming more quickly than the rest of the world, the temperature contrast that drives jet streams has decreased.
We can see the result with the heat dome, which right wing America ignores, because the fossil fuel industry is supporting candidates and a party, which when told to jump, asks only how high.
And there is the desalination of the Atlantic conveyor belt, and it’s gulf stream which used to warm Europe, England and the East coast of America The fresh water released by the Greenland glaciers is desalinating the current and disrupting it. Look for harsher and longer wintes.
Red states are pummeled with record breaking hurricanes in numbers and F force. Yet the ignorant press on, only concerned a bout “woke”
They are more concerned about something they call woke, than their own lives and future.
My pessimism says that nothing will change the vector of global warming, that it will not reverse, even if we went into full stop today, and devoted trillions into carbon sequestration (carbon is only part of the problem, methane is just as bad, and global warming is causing explosions in the arctic of Russia, Alaska and Canada ,as warming releases huge pockets of methane in the tundra, and underwater.
The only thing we can do is plan for our own future, if the entire world’s vehicle transportation was electrified, it still would not stop or impede the trend.
Gloom and doom, yes, but considering the history of mankind and the unchangeable human nature.
Nothing will change. The rest below is TL:DR
The executives, shareholders and boards of the corporations, not just the fossil fuel industry, but those dependent on it, live and continue to live in denial, accumulating enough wealth, they hope, that will insulate them from the dystopian future that is barreling towards them.
Having been to Jay Leno's garage (geek heaven), he is not a hoarder, and is a collector, because what he has is organized and cared for, which is the difference between a collector and a hoarder. Having dealt with the issue of hoarding with a person I loved, I really wish idiots like you who have no fucking clue what you're talking about would quit parading your ignorance on the topic. Ignorance by people like you is why the issue remains as hidden as it is and attempts to help those afflicted with the disorder are so unsuccessful. I really hate it when morons like you claim you're on my side, as the entire rest of your post clearly demonstrates you are - though I am certain you think of yourself as a genius. Which you're not.
Sadly, the Big Sort will accelerate some already drastic trends.
Overall, red states rank lowest for the hood things and highest for the bad things.
Red state voters will get angrier and angrier and continue to blame blue states and their voters for red state problems.
One thing you don't hear....blue state citizens blaming red states or their citizens for their problems.
Hello Thom, Your life plan based on the talented author John D. MacDonald’s Travis McGee character made me laugh out loud. We have used Travis’ taking retirement a piece at a time as an underlying structure for our lives too. When we watched the MAGA Thumpkins weekenders begin to overrun our north FL coastal village with their golf carts and confederate flags, we decided it was time to leave old FL behind after thirty plus years of spending winters there. We sold and now stay in Massachusetts where MAGAs are rare but not extinct yet. We feel sorry for our Floridian friends who have become victims of retirees moving south and ruining the old Florida charm an Southern hospitality - if you were white and not poor that we enjoyed but pretended was not entrenched in racism.
Great to meet a fellow JDM fan! He's one of the best writers of the 20th century, IMHO; our generation's Hemmingway, and gets far too little credit...
I wish somebody could explain why neither party has introduced a law much less a constitutional amendment (better) that ends "Citizens United." Citizens United is a malignant cancer that is killing democracy. The fascists love it because it is disrupting government services like schools and regulation enforcement - not to mention the courts - just like Hitler did to enable him to seize power so quickly. The GOP is sabotaging America in order to impose oligarchic rule (aka fascist dictatorship).
Two of the most important things that Mr. Biden ran on was so-called "police reform" and student debt forgiveness. I am a single parent and my child just completed her undergraduate work at a prestigious private university. Luckily, we are not straddled with enormous debt, but it is still considerable. How a country penalizes education and learning is unfathomable as well as being despicable. No wonder that same country lets its citizens die due to privatized health care; an equally unfathomable and despicable act. The "Supremes" need their asses kicked. Sans Dianna Ross
As for "police reform" though it amounts to social origami because I can fold a piece of paper into a dog or a crane it remains a piece of paper. Policing in the United States must be re-invented, not reformed. Having said that reform would have, perhaps, been a stepping stone to reinvention. The fact that nothing, absolutely nothing substantive has been done on this front is pathetic; whoever is at fault.
Thom, I was watching Johnathan Capehart and a quote from Eli Crane of Arizona said. “ he now says Black people are Colored people Thom. Saying the quite part out loud, Thom. They want to take us back. Talking about Amendment about military spending. Thom.
I put in "Write an article about air activity in the Korean War in the voice of TCinLA" and ChatGPT knew less about the Korean War than the average American (which is close to Absolutely Nothing). I on the other hand have written three best-selling books on the topic.
RE: “ ... I’m just hoping the number of people who get left behind ... (like those #Teamsters of old) ... can land on their feet if things go the way they look they’re going.” Sorry, #Thom. Well-wishes aside, an #AI run #GPT-5 will even cook you breakfast! So, expecting to survive a business that #AI will undoubtedly learn to `disintermediate` will be a “tough sled”. My suggestion is you learn how to code in #Python fast!
Even Landscape printing isn't enough to print this post. Disappointed. The gist of the article is good and I agree with it. America could do a whole lot if the autocratic repubs could be set aside. They block anything that would help our country. It will take a lot of hard work to keep our democracy and get anything done. I haven't lost hope. Ruthie B
RE: “Full student loan forgiveness for around 800,000 Americans.” ... How does that work out? Do you just skim off the TOP the 800,000 count Americans that hold the most student loan debt? Or, do you include only those students that have paid into the system religiously for a period of Twenty (20) years yet still have an outstanding principle balance (due to the doubling and tripling of the interest rate charged on student loans up from the standard 3% FIXED interest rate with NO “interest on the interest” allowed of yesteryear).
The hard right-wingers only learn when it lands on their doorstep, and it has. The writing on the wall is the high-water mark from the flood that just ruined their homes and businesses. The hair on fire moment is when the forest burns in Canada and the smoke from it chokes the people trying to breathe in New York and not just in the "Blue" city.
I watch C-Span and apparently the members of this Congress watch the news and the weather reports. Yesterday the right side of the aisle was saying "We all want clean air and water!". Swell, you got WOKE---the hard way!
Just a few years back the weather guy or gal would hedge and now you can usually depend on them telling the truth. Amen.
Limited time, limited choices, sketchy outcomes, but for future generations, we must keep trying. We help "fix" the failing car industry by a similar plan. When you know better, you should do better.
Follow the money that fossil fuel billionaires give to Red State Senators who insist on denying global warming - AND - the real-time extreme weather conditions in their states. Who do these Republicans really represent - their voters or billionaire fossil fuel donors? https://thedemlabs.org/2023/07/15/climate-collusion-how-fossil-fuel-donations-manipulate-republican-stance-on-global-warming/
TCinLA, i could not agree more with your comments on Mr. Farrar.
He puts fingers to letters a dribble comes out. However if we based intelligence on word volume regardless of import then the man would certainly be a master of sorts!
Always find your work educational and entertaining Thom. I love the idea of nationalizing the fossil fuel industry!
I get your point, but by your own admission, a collector is a hoarder, up scale maybe, but the motivation is the same.
I'm a discarder, anything I haven't used in 6 months is only taking up space. My spouse is a constrained hoarder, but I'm changing her, she won't throw anything away that she thinks she might use Our garage is full of tools, like table saws, which she only used once (she is the handyman and proficient at almost everything from sewing and cooking, baking to carpentry, electricity, plumbing and drywall.
I have a different concept of hoarding than you, much broader obviously, and admittedly it is,by our different views a matter of semantics.
Very, interesting week Thom.