News & views (not related to the war in Ukraine) …
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July 27, 2023
Open (Not Ukraine) Thread 2023-179
Comments
Posted by: Grieved | Jul 28 2023 2:56 utc | 97
Everything will change, except the spirit of goodness, which always lives on.
We will do better to stop arguing over the why and the who of the cause, and to focus on the how of the response.
Plant a trillion trees. Re-plant the reefs. Save all that can be saved. Develop the strength to live in the new conditions. Adapt – develop the strength.
This, I think, is actually the story of life. And we are in it. And we can choose our part to play.
Thank you for this. It made me stop for a long while.
Posted by: warxism | Jul 28 2023 3:45 utc | 101
Absolutely exhilarating, karlof1 — thank you!! It’s Russia all over again, only better, because Russia has shown how it can be done. And they will help. The US ought to have known: you don’t lead by force; you lead by example. They trampled their own shining example in the mud, so they had nothing left but threats, lies and shady dealings.
Heraclitus said it best: The way up and the way down are the same. Nothing replaces a humble and honest heart. That’s the pearl of great price.
Bravo, Africa! It’s not her turn; it never was; it’s YOUR turn!
Posted by: juliania | Jul 28 2023 4:29 utc | 102
A free lecture by Dr. Hudson, “Global Economic History in 2.5 Hours”–A man of his stature working for free! Amazing. Learn it all here.
juliania | Jul 28 2023 4:29 utc | 101–
Wow! I’m happy you got so jazzed. It’s such a refreshing break to read about the exhilarating parts of life that sill exist. And the next day’s session starts soon!
I should say in connection with my post at 77 that I posted it because I have a sneaking suspicion Blinken (and the Aussie PM) were politely shown the door. It is enormously positive that the venerable paper of record Otago Times saw it fit to print the article it did. The news blackout in NZ has been terrible; it’s nice to see some pushback integrity there; I lived down Dunedin way a while and loved it, scottish heritage down under. More power to them as well!
Posted by: juliania | Jul 28 2023 4:57 utc | 105
Re: Climate Change
Those of you who believe Climate Change is man made and a global catastrophe requiring immediate action…..
1) Stop Driving
2) No A/C
Otherwise please STFU
Posted by: Exile | Jul 27 2023 15:11 utc | 13
Or you can do the same. Oh wait, you already do fucking use your horse drawn buggy to travel into Amish town in Ohio and ride your bike powered by a battery that’s comprised of toxic chemicals whose processing required terrible extractive processes in countries far away from you and manufacture by Asian children.
Go fuck yourself, “Exile” – You haven’t “exiled” yourself from anywhere other than reality. Try putting your money where YOUR mouth is and move to an undeveloped country. You’ve gotten very tiresome. And useless.
Posted by: Tom_Q_Collins | Jul 28 2023 5:06 utc | 106
Posted by: Tom_Q_Collins | Jul 28 2023 5:06 utc | 105
These people act as if the burden of the vast environmentally destructive sins aren’t upon the shoulders of empires of extraction who suck the blood of knaved nations of the south.
Posted by: warxism | Jul 28 2023 5:12 utc | 107
Wrong – 40% of all trips in the US are 3 miles or less.
Posted by: Exile | Jul 28 2023 1:17 utc | 92
I’m at the point I’m willing to invite you to my home in suburban Houston and refusing to let you use a car for anything. You ride your bike the (exactly!) 3 mile round trip to the nearest (convenience!) store (heard of food deserts? glad I’m not poor (yet!)) during 103F 90% humidity weather – or the longer 8 mile round trip on non-bike friendly roads to the nearest HEB for real groceries.
Were you just born yesterday? Do you not understand how the American exurban landscape was created? Do you also not understand that we don’t have good/reliable/quick/punctual (or any!) public transport at all? Literally none.
Seriously dude, where the hell do you live? I think rather than invite you here, we should all go where you are and take advantage of all the nice weather, close-in trips to necessary stores and offices, and just overpopulate your area. Because this is a spread out country and you can still believe that humans are causing or contributing greatly to global warming and not have the ability to do a damn thing about it, even in (local or regional) numbers.
You’re like a low-rent c1ue. How much is Exxon paying you, because I can guarantee they’ll pay you more if you move to my neighborhood, a “quick” 5 mile jaunt in 100F+/100% humidity weather on roads where you will likely be run down by a dude in an F-250 Powerstroke Cummins Diesel “rolling coal” on your first commute to the office than you are being paid where you’re currently at, typing away in non-air conditioned 70 degree natural weather comfort.
Posted by: Tom_Q_Collins | Jul 28 2023 5:14 utc | 108
Posted by: warxism | Jul 28 2023 5:12 utc | 106
Totally agree, and to your earlier point the (terrible, ineffective for any real purpose) militaries of “western” nations are the biggest polluters. Oh, and let’s blow up a few more pipelines!
Posted by: Tom_Q_Collins | Jul 28 2023 5:15 utc | 109
Tom,
I‘m not the one going on how man made climate change is a catastrophe that needs immediate radical measures to stop.
BTW – my buddy and I happily cycled 12 miles one way, to pick up 20 pounds of flours at a local mill for our wives who love to bake. Little bit of rain, but that don‘t matter.
Posted by: Exile | Jul 28 2023 5:15 utc | 110
Posted by: Exile | Jul 28 2023 5:15 utc | 109
Where are you located? I’ve only said I’m in Houston/vicinity like 12X in our last several conversations. I can’t wait to hear what overbearingly hot area of the country you’re in.
Oh, and since it’s so important to you, I could probably run a mile a minute faster than you and bike the same distance 30 seconds faster. In whatever rather temperate climate you reside, that is. We’d both probably die if we tried it where I live.
Posted by: Tom_Q_Collins | Jul 28 2023 5:18 utc | 111
Posted by: juliania | Jul 28 2023 4:57 utc | 104
It’s refreshing to hear that the folks in the beehive in Wellington might just realize neutrality is still the best path.
I lived in NZ for a while in 1979/80 – heavenly.
Bless you
Posted by: Exile | Jul 28 2023 5:20 utc | 112
the situation is hopeless. It’s a complicated question to confront: How to wage a losing battle? Life (on Earth) is a struggle. Probably a hopeless struggle.
Posted by: Aleph_Null | Jul 27 2023 22:14 utc | 66
That’s a lot of hopelessness. Your feelings are valid and all, but I don’t understand that, I don’t share it.
Yep, it’s a good idea to move out of Phoenix, if you have that choice. No, I’m not buying any land at sea level, either. Things are going to get harder, but then that’s been true as long as I’ve been alive.
Here’s what I see: models that are reliably wrong, being pushed by the usual suspects, with dissenting voices hounded and silenced. If that sounds like mainstream reporting on Ukraine, or Covid, US politics…well, yeah.
Posted by: shoemaker | Jul 28 2023 5:23 utc | 113
Immediate radical measures on the part of the largest polluting bodies/governments/empires ARE required. You talk all this shit about riding your bike but you never address the fact that none of us have the power – short of massive stop-work/refusal to transit rallies – to change the real drivers of climate change. Over-reliance on fossil fuels by massive industrial conglomerates, the lack of any real public transit alternatives in places like the USA, the fact that the colonial/imperial powers like the USA, UK, France, Belgium, etc. have driven/profited from fossil fuel dependence, etc. You just drone on about how each of us who cares about human powered environmental/climatological catastrophes could/should just STFU and ride our bikes. Because you and a friend rode 12 whole miles (!) to buy some flour in what’s likely a relatively cool part of the continent. Because you’re angry why? Do you have an investment in Exxon? Again, I live a “cool” 4 miles from their campus. Move here, get a ‘hybrid’ WFH-office gig with them in their PR department. Otherwise why do you care so much other than to float totally fantastical purity tests about how anyone who cares at all about the Earth needing to move back to caves and suffer on their bikes, powered by pedaling (25% of the time when they aren’t being powered by lithium ion batteries)?
Posted by: Tom_Q_Collins | Jul 28 2023 5:24 utc | 114
Fuckin LOL – what was the high temperature where you live today, “Exile”?
75F? 40% humidity?
Posted by: Tom_Q_Collins | Jul 28 2023 5:25 utc | 115
Percentage of trips:
Houston
<1mile = 19%
1-2 miles = 16%
2-3 miles = 11%
Dallas
<1 mile = 18%
1-2 miles = 16%
2-3 miles = 12%
Austin
< 1 mile = 18%
1-2 miles = 15%
2-3 miles = 12%
Posted by: Exile | Jul 28 2023 5:28 utc | 116
Posted by: Exile | Jul 28 2023 5:28 utc | 115
Hahaha. You’re desperate now and this is unbecoming for a forum like MoA’s comments.
Just tell me (us) where you live and I’d like to look up the high temperature for today/yesterday. I’m sure it’d be enlightening. Or you could just share the damn number in degrees C or F. And the humidity.
But since you keep desperately swinging, why don’t you find the percentage of trips >5 miles (one way, hence 10 miles both) for all those cities and provide the current weather for each, not to mention the demographics by actual neighborhood?
Since I know you’ll do none of that, what was the high temperature where you live today, dude? Stop playing games.
Posted by: Tom_Q_Collins | Jul 28 2023 5:31 utc | 117
“Percentage of trips” !!!! LMAO
Utterly meaningless, context-free, troll-worthy comment. Great job! Percentage of trips to get/do/accomplish WHAT? Ha!!!
Posted by: Tom_Q_Collins | Jul 28 2023 5:32 utc | 118
What was the high temperature today, Exile, where you live? Please share the humidity and wind/direction as well. The altitude (AMSL) might even help us decide how tough this bike ride of yours was.
I’m only going to ask this one more time before writing you off as a complete troll.
Posted by: Tom_Q_Collins | Jul 28 2023 5:34 utc | 119
Posted by: shoemaker | Jul 28 2023 5:23 utc | 112
The climate models are reliably correct. But yeah since the biggest monied interests and their captured government agencies and politicians lied to us about COVID, Ukraine, Iraq, Russiagate, let’s go ahead and believe them when they say the planet isn’t warming due to human activity which they initially discovered 55 years ago to begin with prior to the massive PR and (original!) disinformation campaign to convince loudmouths otherwise. Nope, nothing to see here. Humans represented by large oligarchical energy extractive empires aren’t doing anything wrong, just look at how “right” we were on Iraq, COVID, Ukraine, etc. Because Exxon is powerless in the face of some university scientists looking to grab some research money from Soros, amirite?
Posted by: Tom_Q_Collins | Jul 28 2023 5:40 utc | 120
These days, my average commute is a couple miles, which is easily accomplished on the fixed gear; at one point I was doing Long Beach to LA 3 times a week which was thrilling, to say the least.
Thanks for keeping the bar open to all comers, b.
Posted by: robjira | Jul 28 2023 2:28 utc | 96
Dude !
Back in the early 1980’s I cycled from Venice to Belmont shore and back at least 6 times a month. Including showering door-to-door time was like ~10 minutes longer versus driving on the San Diego Freeway. Sometimes less time.
It took a while to get into the swing of things, but geez it turned out to be so simple.
Rock on’
Posted by: Exile | Jul 28 2023 5:41 utc | 121
And just look at how reticent Exile is to even tell us the temperature where he is. Wow. That’s a new low in MoA trolling. Not even a simple number. You could even just make something up, but maybe that’s indicative of how guilty you feel for being such a disingenuous troll?
Posted by: Tom_Q_Collins | Jul 28 2023 5:42 utc | 122
Posted by: Tom_Q_Collins | Jul 28 2023 5:18 utc | 110
I live in a Dallas suburb unattached to the largely useless Public Transport system. 6-8 years ago bike lanes got popular in my small town
and one was marked on a road between two city parks near me. In all that time I have observed ONE bike using it ONE time over a span of years. That tells you how useful bicycles are in Dallas.
Posted by: qparker | Jul 28 2023 5:43 utc | 123
Aha! This must be Exile. He jumped into a customer’s pool due to how hot it was today! Tough sledding on that bike delivering packages in Southern California.
https://nypost.com/2023/07/27/amazon-deliveryman-dives-into-customers-pool-fully-clothed/
It’s unclear why the worker felt such an urgent need to cool off, considering that temperatures in Gardena, California, only reached a mild 76 degrees that day, according to data from AccuWeather.com.
Whoops! What was the temp, man? Rock on!
Posted by: Tom_Q_Collins | Jul 28 2023 5:44 utc | 124
@Refinnejenna | Jul 28 2023 0:09 utc | 86
About the elites not being consistent with their putported GW worries
But they are consistent only they mean the majority to be deprived of long distance travel by confining them to 15 minute cities. While the elites hope to continue going by their private jets.
From what I have seen the absense of working public transport in the US was intended as a means to encourage segregation.
Posted by: petergrfstrm | Jul 28 2023 5:46 utc | 125
Posted by: qparker | Jul 28 2023 5:43 utc | 122
Yep, Doubly so in Houston where – in unincorporated Harris County (so not even Houston) – there are ZERO bike lanes in the first place and they’re utterly un-useable in most of the year, for any practical purpose, by any person attempting to make a living and put food on the table working in what kinds of jobs are typically even available. I guarantee no Exxon employees are biking to work in the Woodlands. They’d probably be made fun of mercilessly by ‘the water cooler’ anyway! LOL
Posted by: Tom_Q_Collins | Jul 28 2023 5:46 utc | 126
L.A. didn’t even hit 80F for a record 60 days in May and June this year. I’m sure wherever Exile lives in New Zealand or Norway or Canada right now is the same or cooler. It sure is rich to be lectured to about not running my A/C or using a car in a place where there is zero public transport and no bike lanes to get to where I’m going by someone living in a place where the temp hasn’t even cracked 85F all year.
Exile is a true and pure skeptic!
Posted by: Tom_Q_Collins | Jul 28 2023 5:50 utc | 127
Man made climate change is a immediate looming catastrophe but I’m not going to change my lifestyle at all – someone else needs to do something.
Posted by: Exile | Jul 28 2023 5:54 utc | 128
“You’re like a low-rent c1ue.”
Posted by: Tom_Q_Collins | Jul 28 2023 5:14 utc | 107
Now that’s worth a hearty LOL!
Posted by: waynorinorway | Jul 28 2023 6:09 utc | 129
Posted by: Exile | Jul 28 2023 1:17 utc | 92
From your silly post I can more or less describe you. You are a male in the age group 25-45, still very fit and an active bike rider. I very much doubt you have any children and you live a very green lifestyle- cooking all your own lentils with a good veggie garden out the back. You have never had a serious injury or illness.
People like you should NEVER comment on transport options, because as they say bachelor’s children are always the best behaved. I am not criticizing your lifestyle- good luck to you and I admire it but it is just not relevant to most people.
First there is age. It may surprise you but as you get older your are not wise to ride a bike (balance drops off, not to mention sight and hearing), nor have you the stamina to walk a 7km round trip carrying a bag of potatoes and a bottle of milk home. Even with a wheeled trolly if the road is uneven or hilly it is not practical.
Then there is injury or illness and the inevitable bike accidents.
Then there are children to cart around. Now sure some brave folk cycle with their little ones on board, but most of us would be much too scared.
Then their are visits to schools, family, friends etc. Great if your friends are all inner city types and you hate your family but not quite so good if your family live in the burbs.
Then there is the absence pof [pub;lic transport in many areas
Then there are very, very steep hills
Then there are aggressive divers and scary traffic.
I can go on and on.
Now do not get me wrong. I am strongly in favour of public transport and walking when possible, but I know it is an absurd proposition for most of us.
Posted by: watcher | Jul 28 2023 6:29 utc | 130
In my mid sixties, chubby and mostly out of shape. 2 grown children, live in a small mountainous town 45 miles from a big city – very suburban.
The canard that the elderly and infirm can’t walk or cycle for errands is put to rest in this little photo essay:
https://copenhagenize.com/2011/06/pain-and-pleasure.html
Amusing to see the climate change fanatics being so addicted to driving. Car dependency is truely a addiction.
Posted by: Exile | Jul 28 2023 6:55 utc | 131
Posted by: Exile | Jul 28 2023 6:55 utc | 130
It is flat land – even I could ride on those “slopes”.
Also I see no helmets. In Australia it is seriously illegal to ride without a helmet – which makes it a hell of a chore and a lot less fun. Not much traffic around either
Posted by: watcher | Jul 28 2023 7:22 utc | 132
Posted by: DunGroanin | Jul 27 2023 14:34 utc | 6
Musk’s talk about freedom of speech looks very hollow now. Many links on MoA to Twitter get a page not found message, due to the rapid censorship on that platform.
I’d suggest the bar has its own media sharing platform, screen record the media before the censors pull it, then post it on the untouchable media player.
Posted by: Lev Davidovich | Jul 28 2023 7:46 utc | 133
Posted by: Exile | Jul 28 2023 6:55 utc | 130
Even at 76 I could ride a bike in the Copenhagen climate. I used to escape Dallas to the Southern Sacramento Mtns of NM (the Island in the Sky) every summer and a bike was great transport in tiny Cloudcroft at
9000 ft but in my late 60’s I realized that though I could still ride a bike I could no longer reasonably fall off one. Here on Lac Leman in Switzerland lots of bikes along the lake not so many on the heights above but watching the Swiss chicks on bikes is a great past time.
Posted by: qparker | Jul 28 2023 7:56 utc | 134
My buddy is 79 and cycles for all his errands. The baker’s wife down the street is just a tad over 90 and cycles the 1/2 mile to the bakery every morning at 0500.
There are also a variety of solutions for stability if that’s an issue, shown in the photo essay.
There is also (egads!) walking for errands. Walking for errands is surprisingly simple once one gets over the-impossibility-of-it-all.
BTW – I live in a climate similar to Lake Geneva and with a similar topography. I cycle all winter for errands even in 20 degree F weather.
Not every trip needs a 4,000pound cumbersome and dangerous machine. if one is really REALLY serious about Mann add climate change, then start with eliminating driving
Just saying
Posted by: Exile | Jul 28 2023 8:57 utc | 135
THE science even if we consider the ICPC report to be it, is NOT unequivocal about climate catastrophe. Only simplified ‘science’ in MSM and politicians’ words.
The extreme weather events are not more frequent than ever. The statistical certainty is not there as to the future of the climate. The models are crude approximations because the system is very complex, meaning we don’t know a lot.
Let me advertise a good book again by a physicist who read the ICPC report and tries to point out what the actual science says and what it doesn’t.
Unsettled
WHAT CLIMATE SCIENCE
TELLS US, WHAT IT DOESN’T,
AND WHY IT MATTERS
Steven E. Koonin
Posted by: RB | Jul 28 2023 9:02 utc | 136
Posted by: Exile | Jul 28 2023 8:57 utc | 134
Of bloody course there are a good number of older people who can still ride- usually those who have kept fit and in practice.
BUT,BUT BUT there are far more who cannot. Those with osteoporosis for example cannot risk a fall – this is a genetic condition not really related to lifestyle. Those with balance issues etc. Good hearing is essential for bike riders and pedestrians, and it is more risky if a little deaf.
More to the point those who live up hills. Now in my own case, cycling out of my street is certain suicide, because huge hill, no bike lane, no footpath, indeed only one vehicle lane, very windy, limited or non existent street lighting and with speeding traffic and many large trucks. Some cities and towns are flat and yes bike riding should be encouraged and even car traffic banned, simply because it is easy to get around. The very old or disabled can use mobility scooters to get around.
But that is not everywhere. You can blame the planners for allowing development in such areas, but it is still reality.
Posted by: watcher | Jul 28 2023 9:39 utc | 137
Exile @ 130:
You are missing the point I made @ 86 and which others like Tom Q Collins have highlighted, that many cities and towns in North America (and Australia as well) are not planned and built by state and local government entities to accommodate walking, cycling or public transport but are designed and built to force people to use private cars. It matters a great deal if people are dissuaded from walking even 500 metres to the shops or school if they have to cross six lanes of traffic and there are no pedestrian crossings for them to walk across. Not to mention the fact that even in narrow streets or cul de sacs there may be no footpaths for people to walk on, so they are forced onto the road and risk being hit by cars and trucks.
All the examples you link to in your comment are from northern Europe or Japan where cities are much older than the automobile industry, so urban planning has had to adapt to old city plans and high density living.
This is why you do yourself no favours by insisting that people should just give up driving, without considering that their lifestyles depend on driving – there may be no other alternative unless cities and towns are radically changed to favour public transport and a variety of modes of transport.
Posted by: Refinnejenna | Jul 28 2023 9:41 utc | 138
Posted by: karlof1 | Jul 28 2023 4:47 utc | 103
I particularly enjoyed Archbishop Kirril’s speech giving the history of groups of Orthodox Churches in Africa – but importantly referencing the ‘multipolarity’ of faiths in Russia and organizations to promote crosscultural activities between them. He refers to having expected Africa to remain under the Constantinople patriarchy — in my church days we considered that center much as Catholics consider Rome; all Orthodoxy felt that dislocation deeply.
And, in general, I couldn’t help thinking of Libya and the outreach Kaddafi had been making – a different style, a different era, but how terrible what happened there. My mother’s brother is buried in Tunisia, from the war- my father served mainly in Egypt – so those places were interesting to hear about as well.
Thanks very much for bringing the link!
Posted by: juliania | Jul 28 2023 10:03 utc | 139
Posted by: RB | Jul 28 2023 9:02 utc | 135
oh an oil company scientist who lies, most of them what I can tell are more honest than this guy, who, typically doesn’t bother to publish his “refutations” beause he can’t get a paper to pass scientific criticism. just as the tobacco industry found, the oil companies can find a few corrupt scientists to prop up their bullshit. 9 out of 10 doctors say Lucky Strikes are good for you!
Posted by: pretzelattack | Jul 28 2023 10:09 utc | 140
the car industry had a lot to do with the switch from reliable public transportation. I’m sure Exile will find a way to blame old people for that.
Posted by: pretzelattack | Jul 28 2023 10:11 utc | 141
Posted by: qparker | Jul 28 2023 7:56 utc | 133
how many days in a row have dallasites been advised to stay indoors, in air conditioning, during the day, and be sure to check on elderly neighbors who are more vulnerable to heat stroke? i’m sure Exile would be out there riding his bike along the LBJ access road in 100 degree plus heat
Posted by: pretzelattack | Jul 28 2023 10:15 utc | 142
Posted by: shoemaker | Jul 28 2023 5:23 utc | 112
you’re looking at the wrong models then. oddly, every national scientific body, in nations with varying ideologies, disagrees with you. but the fossil fuel companies love you!
Posted by: pretzelattack | Jul 28 2023 10:19 utc | 143
Posted by: watcher | Jul 28 2023 6:29 utc | 129
I’m elderly, and I have a very steep hill, watcher! I used to feel like Sisyphus pulling my groceries trundler up that hill, but proud I could do it (before covid — my son came to drive me during that three years stretch. I got out of shape; now I am back in!)
Walking is good; more seniors should do it.
Posted by: juliania | Jul 28 2023 10:23 utc | 144
Thanks for the Hudson link Karlof1; it’s encouraging to hear arguments that do not use ‘strawmen’ arguments (perhaps one should use ‘scarecrow’ arguments) to illustrate that modern economics is predominently accountancy writ large, which is essentially ledgerdemain.
It’s my opinion that our own scarecrow crafter’s main income comes from the FIRE sector described by Michael Hudson.
Posted by: Lantern Dude | Jul 28 2023 10:58 utc | 145
Fasinating debate, exept it seems to go round in circles and views remain intrenched! Like a stuck record.
To try and move it on slightly.
When ever i see a modern day scrap yard stacked high with cars, i think of the sheer criminal waste invoved.
Acers and acers. That nearly all of them could be repared and used for another 10 years at least.
Thats going on all round the world and its a total waist of human and enviromental resources.
Capalist ‘planned obsolescence’…
Insanity.
Posted by: Mark2 | Jul 28 2023 11:13 utc | 146
So the capatilist not content with selling us rubbish goods now want to capitalise on the green pound or doller, selling alot of fake green energy goods to us sheep…
I think we all need to sharpen up and take down the capatilists.
Thats how to save the planet.
Its sad to see their successfull devide and rule tactic manifesting on the MOA blog
Posted by: Mark2 | Jul 28 2023 11:30 utc | 147
A little human interest content from Canada:
A day in the life of the Korean firefighting team (who are in Canada) – 5 mins from CBC’s the National
https://youtu.be/8VJC9pR7q_I
It’s a video with Trudeau again, another map, this time he starts of on Kapyong trail to commemorate Korean Veterans Day.
https://twitter.com/JustinTrudeau/status/1684552269482668032
https://windsorstar.com/news/local-news/hiking-trail-shelter-bring-peace-where-canadians-fought-fierce-battle
Posted by: Bruised Northerner | Jul 28 2023 11:41 utc | 148
From other thread on Hunter Biden … TQC
In a New York Times obituary for Brzezinski after his death in 2017, he was described as “tacitly encouraging” China’s backing of the Khmer Rouge.
In November 1975, US NSA and Secretary of State Henry Kissinger told the Thai foreign minister: “You should tell the Cambodians that we will be friends with them. They are murderous thugs but we won’t let that stand in our way. Some countries, the Chinese in particular, supported Pol Pot as a counterweight to the Vietnamese supported people and we at least tolerated it.”
National Archives:
https://nsarchive2.gwu.edu/NSAEBB/NSAEBB193/HAK-11-26-75.pdf
Key words | ping-pong diplomacy | Domino Club | CIA and drugs | Golden Triangle |
Posted by: Oui | Jul 28 2023 11:53 utc | 149
Posted by: Mark2 | Jul 28 2023 11:30 utc | 148
yeah the fossil fuel companies are filling every space with propaganda.
https://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2023/07/revealed-fossil-fuel-giants-are-using-british-influencers-to-go-viral.html
it’s not “divide and rule”, the fossil fuel industry just wants to keep selling their product no matter how much damage it causes. like the tobacco industry.
Posted by: pretzelattack | Jul 28 2023 11:53 utc | 150
@ Mark2, who wrote we all need to sharpen up
I agree, but would suggest the issue stems from the political and economic ideological environment that capitalist economics emerged from that should be reformed or re-moulded. The modern states of China and Russia appear to be addressing that historical issue, which is one of the topics covered in the Hudson link provided by Karlof1.
Posted by: Lantern Dude | Jul 28 2023 11:54 utc | 151
Re: The Price of Power: Kissinger in the Nixon White House by Seymour Hersh
Blood of 3 million on Kissinger’s hands
https://theintercept.com/2023/05/23/henry-kissinger-cambodia-bombing-survivors/
Greg Grandin, author of Kissinger’s Shadow, adds that Kissinger had the blood of at least 3 million people on his hands as he helped extend the Vietnam War, assist with genocides in Cambodia, East Timor, and Bangladesh, and further escalate civil conflicts in southern Africa, and support coups and death squads across Latin America.
This does not compare with the billions worth of cocaine seized following that tip from Hamburg, but —
Nearly 6 million in suspected cocaine seized at Manitoba border: CBSA
https://winnipeg.ctvnews.ca/nearly-6-million-in-suspected-cocaine-seized-at-manitoba-border-cbsa-1.6497093
“Director Rossel Lapointe with the CBSA said with the help of drug-detecting dogs, officers were able to find the drugs hidden in a shipment of corn. He said the drugs have an estimated street value of $6 million.
“This is the agency’s largest land border narcotics seizure in Manitoba in the last five years,” said Lapointe.”
Posted by: Bruised Northerner | Jul 28 2023 12:03 utc | 153
Posted by: Oui | Jul 28 2023 11:57 utc | 153
He is so revered in the USA political system because of his great contribution to DEPOPULATION.
Posted by: qparker | Jul 28 2023 12:04 utc | 154
Posted by: Scorpion | Jul 27 2023 20:48 utc | 59
Paul Craig Roberts is saying nothing really of any great importance.
Tax cuts v’s government spending and of course using the myths that were totally debunked in the Cambridge controversy to do it.
Demand and supply interdependence – stimulus wins, austerity fails
https://billmitchell.org/blog/?p=30947
Trickle down economics – the evidence is damning
https://billmitchell.org/blog/?s=Trickle+down
Tax cuts v’s government spending
https://billmitchell.org/blog/?p=6949
Of course Paul Craig Roberts supports interest rate targeting which clearly doesn’t work. Chooses to keep a group of humans unemployed just to control inflation. For that reason alone he should be against it. Interest rate targeting doesn’t solve supply side constraints.
The real problem with supply side economics is that training does not equal jobs. There’s NEVER always a capitalist waiting with their cheque books open to hire the unemployed. Hire you where you live and who you are.
Imagine a small community comprising 100 dogs. Each morning they set off into the field to dig for bones. If there enough bones for all buried in the field then all the dogs would succeed in their search no matter how fast or dexterous they were.
Now imagine that one day the 100 dogs set off for the field as usual but this time they find there are only 95 bones buried.
Some dogs who were always very sharp dig up two bones as usual and others dig up the usual one bone. But, as a matter of accounting, at least 5 dogs will return home bone-less.
Now imagine that the government decides that this is unsustainable and decides that it is the skills and motivation of the bone-less dogs that is the problem. They are not “boneable” enough.
So a range of dog psychologists and dog-trainers are called into to work on the attitudes and skills of the bone-less dogs. The dogs undergo assessment and are assigned case managers. They are told that unless they train they will miss out on their nightly bowl of food that the government provides to them while bone-less. They feel despondent.
Anyway, after running and digging skills are imparted to the bone-less dogs things start to change. Each day as the 100 dogs go in search of 95 bones, we start to observe different dogs coming back bone-less. The bone-less queue seems to become shuffled by the training programs.
However, on any particular day, there are still 100 dogs running into the field and only 95 bones are buried there!
https://billmitchell.org/blog/?p=1868
If Regan gave tax cuts to workers instead of business as Is claimed. If the workers decided to “save” most of it or pay off some of the debts they had then of course inflation would drop. Both effective demand and aggregate demand would have plummeted.
Posted by: Echo Chamber | Jul 28 2023 12:08 utc | 155
robjira @ 96
Yes to fixed gear. City bike and most used fast bike are both fixed.
Granted there are many who are naturals and never had a problem. Granted the bike itself is a good teacher if the rider listens. Most I see on bikes are struggling. No need for that. No need for electric motors. Much need for learning how to ride. I was taught by the best (Jimmy Walthour) many years ago.
Posted by: oldhippie | Jul 28 2023 12:13 utc | 156
Posted by: oldhippie | Jul 28 2023 12:13 utc | 157
I don’t know much about bikes these days, but have been thinking of getting one since gas is going through the roof–single speed seems to be what I’m looking for. what i really need is a schwinn like i had as a kid lol, with a large basket attached. i could mostly get by without driving I think.
Posted by: pretzelattack | Jul 28 2023 12:19 utc | 157
Posted by: Oui | Jul 28 2023 11:53 utc | 150
I remember Reagan continuing some kind of pro Khmer policy, Molly Ivins pointed it out at the time.
Posted by: pretzelattack | Jul 28 2023 12:21 utc | 158
Posted by: Scorpion | Jul 27 2023 20:48 utc | 59
There’s only 2 places money comes from bank lending or government spending.
It doesn’t necessarily mean there is more bank lending to replace less government spending. That depends upon whether there is
a) sufficient desire to borrow and sufficient real collateral to back it.
b) Sufficient aggregate demand.
Eventually you end up with the pushing on a string problem.
The whole purpose of ‘balanced budgets’ is to push more private loans and boost the finance sector income. That continues until there is a Minsky Moment. The problem is that there is no structural control mechanism to recover from a Minsky Moment, just a mechanism to cause one.
The typical arguments are at play: The narrative and framing goes like this we have heard it for 30 years.
Government Debt is not financially sustainable, crowding out effect, deficit spending is inflationary, more debt now means more taxes or less spending later because the debt needs to be repaid.
ALL THE THEORETICAL AND EMPIRICAL EVIDENCE FOR THESE ARE WEAK. Japan has destroyed every one of them for decades.
The dynamic instability happens in the horizontal circuit ( bank lending ) when people who want to pay off loans can’t get enough circulation to do so – due to excess saving that can now only come from the horizontal circuit ( bank lending) as government spending has been crushed.
2008 taught everyone that.
The truth is The fiscal position of the government is mostly a REACTIVE variable because of the automatic stabilisers. That is, the government has very limited control over its finances. What drives the fiscal position of the government is The desire of other sectors of the economy to be in surplus ( net save )
The domestic private sector households and businesses and the rest of the world want to be in surplus ( net save ) so the government must be in deficit. Why the government is almost always in deficit and if it is not another sector must be in deficit. Not everyone can record a surplus it is impossible between the issuer of the currency and users of the currency.
Interest rate targeting is the devil.
Posted by: Echo Chamber | Jul 28 2023 12:28 utc | 159
Posted by: Scorpion | Jul 27 2023 20:48 utc | 59
Then you have “The paradox of productivity.”
The neoclassical Keynsian, monetarist and Austrian view still believes that the economy tends to fix itself. If we just sit back economic growth will go back to its maximum.
Unemployment will drop to 2% what we consider full employment but it might need some help now and then. The Paul Krugman mainstream view. That There are no business cycles. Remember that when the globalist neoliberal Parliaments claimed the business cycle is dead.s
However, you could have the purist free market economy in the world but still have big unemployment numbers because the system tends to move towards breakdown.
Why ? Why does the system tend to move towards breakdown ?
1. Why can’t it be that higher wages force firms to invest in better management techniques and the most advanced technologies in order to get the most out of their higher cost labour?
That’s known as the paradox of productivity. Productivity improvements just lead to falling prices, so firms try to avoid doing productivity improvements and prefer to try and obtain monopoly power instead. That’s what a ‘market niche’ is.
Oh boy have we seen this monopoly power as the public sector was transformed into rent seeking monopolies.
Higher wages will lead to some firms failing, which releases people onto the labour market, driving down wages. If you try to hold those jobs up, and force losses onto the other side you end up with an investment strike and the whole house of cards collapses into stagflation.
Remember those privatised public services threatening the government with investment strikes last year. I do.
Failing to match higher wages with higher product *must* result in *both* investment capital and the demanding wage earners taking a cold bath. The economic system is a referee. It must not favour either side in the football match.
2. And why would firms in a competitive capitalistic system ever try to avoid productivity improvements?
Simple-
Compare the cost of a concert violinist to a loaf of bread in the 19th century vs today. That’s what productivity increases do over time – because it takes less human time to produce an item, and time is really what everything ends up being priced in.
That’s the paradox of productivity. Productivity improvements ultimately leads to cheaper prices not increased profits. Because that’s what competition is there to do. The profits can go further – in that they can buy more stuff. But capitalists like to accumulate units of account.
In essence the dynamics of pure competition leads to an oversupply in the market which brings prices down until firms start to go bust to eliminate the oversupply. Therefore market players try to stop competition happening by constantly seeking a monopoly perch on which to extract rent.
Oh boy we have we seen this happening time and time again.
The myths of free market beliefs say it all sorts itself out. It clearly doesn’t. The system has to force competition onto essentially reluctant players, and eliminating the clarion call of “what about the jobs” is one way of doing that – let bad firms go bust.
A company that can produce more with the same inputs (costs) is going to do that if there is a market for their product.
That’s the huge problem, there isn’t. Because the costs is the income that is used to buy the product (in aggregate).
If you expand output then you are selling to the same income which implies the price must go down to shift the increased amount of stuff. Theoretically their competition will eventually learn how to do the same and the excess profit will disappear.
Not theoretically. That is exactly what happens. The dynamics of market share maintenance then kick in and prices go down. You get a short uplift and then a nosedive. When you’ve been in business long enough you know that getting into a niche is better than constantly trying to run up the down escalator. Because items are ultimately priced in person time used to create them. We all make plans but when it boils down to it actual demand must match actual supply at the point of effective demand – whatever the plans were.
Posted by: Echo Chamber | Jul 28 2023 12:39 utc | 160
@ Oui | Jul 28 2023 11:57 utc | 153
In Cambodia Kissinger + Nixon’s influence was less deadly than Mao’s who was arming Pol Pot.
For Bangladesh’s liberation war massacres by the Pak-Punjabi army Kissinger’s + Nixon’s roles were more deadly: condoning, while having the power to shut off support for the Pak-Punjabi army.
Posted by: Antonym | Jul 28 2023 12:39 utc | 161
Re climate debates
Aside from the debates on models, data points, corrupted scientists and whatnot, there’s an interesting observation I would like to make.
There is next to no debate on this topic in Chinese forums, Japanese forums, nor Russian forums. The consensus is that its real. I’m not sure about other languages, but I suspect they are more or less the same; knowledgeable barflies are welcome to attest or prove me wrong.
I leave it to readers to ponder why climate denialism is only prevalent in anglo-european circles.
Posted by: caal | Jul 28 2023 13:01 utc | 162
Actually you do have local influence on your transit authority boards, and a voice during public meetings. Instead of pointing fingers, feigning helplessness, or plugging one’s ears and yelling to deny listening, you could get involved in your little garden, y’know, like Candide did. The first step to undo the long march to car-centric life where the majority of public space is reserved for cars is to be involved just like the wealthy elites were to make it car-centric in the first place. It is a process that takes consistent time and effort.
You either have agency or you are impotent. And if you are impotent, why should anyone vital bother listening to you any further. You don’t get to lament or shrug with any compelling energy when you already admit you had no energy to give. You’re just ghosts wishing you were once again alive. Let the living change their world than poo-poo it.
Posted by: titmouse | Jul 28 2023 13:01 utc | 163
Posted by: caal | Jul 28 2023 13:01 utc | 163
ive read that is only prevalent in countries where Rupert Murdoch publishes.
Posted by: pretzelattack | Jul 28 2023 13:05 utc | 164
Posted by: titmouse | Jul 28 2023 13:01 utc | 164
the average citizen doesn’t have much if any agency in influencing local boards, at least in large cities. same as elections.
Posted by: pretzelattack | Jul 28 2023 13:07 utc | 165
Can anyone find the conection here between my following statements…
(1) people were turned off of Jeremy Corbyn becouse he was wrongly accused of being antisemitic.
(2) People were turned against antifa becouse it was said they were funded by Soros.
(3) People were made to hate putin becouse they falsly claimed he invaded Ukraine.
(4) People have become climate chainge denyers becouse alot of green polices are fake.
Its how they promote the capalist agenda,and sabotarge oppersition.
Posted by: Mark2 | Jul 28 2023 13:25 utc | 166
Just bought Sebastiao Salgado’s Genesis after watching The Salt of the Earth documentary about him. Amazing life story. Disillusioned by the genocide in Rwanda which he chronicled in two visits, he lost spirit. His wife suggested he plant trees on the 600 ha family property in Brazil deplected by over farming (cattle) and completely dried out and useless. They planted over 20,000,000 trees, brought back the river and wildlife, microclimate changed favorably, beautiful true story similar to Kogi people with much larger area in northern Colombia. Genesis is taking pictures of the world still in a state of more or less naked Creation, both traditional tribal people mainly also stunning landscapes from all over the world. Another masterpiece by a photographer who has already made many… Well worth the $80 it goes for new in the US (though I bought a copy for my mother and my son in Germany, which got up there, but also still worth it!).
More of us need to do good things, even in ordinary domestic day-to-day ways. It uplifts society one moment at a time and that in turn will lead to better practices. Less thinking, more doing.
pretzelattack @ 158
Go find that old Schwinn. There are many Schwinn fanatics who have kept them alive. The one you are thinking of was designed by Frank Schwinn, who was God. Final details engineered by Frank Brilando, who I knew, father and son. Just brilliant design for utility. Designed, engineered, built by people who cared.
Posted by: oldhippie | Jul 28 2023 13:47 utc | 168
Posted by: Mark2 | Jul 28 2023 13:25 utc | 167
i dont think 4 is true; before the companies turned to greenwashing they had several years of the propaganda campaign. climate change denial has strong ideological roots here in the us due to decades of anti socialist and pro free market propaganda, and this was all baked in before the greenwashing strategy.
Posted by: pretzelattack | Jul 28 2023 13:50 utc | 169
Posted by: oldhippie | Jul 28 2023 13:47 utc | 169
thanks, it was the best bike I ever had, didn’t think there were any still around.
Posted by: pretzelattack | Jul 28 2023 13:57 utc | 170
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vf5yn4sfmaU
Easy-listening American sino-philes, one a businessman living in China for 25 years, discussing China today including long-term view. One (of many) interesting remarks: although he thinks times will be generally tough in China for the next 10-20 years principally because of the US’s geopolitical ‘suppress China’s Rise’ policies, strangely enough he believes that if Trump got back in that might get reversed (though he had to qualify that by repeating several times that he doesn’t like Trump of course). Indeed, he ranks geopolitical climate as the principal determinant of how things will go from here, not usual market metrics. Again, although appearing a doddering buffoon, Biden’s Presidency is consequential and if The Establishment gets its way for another few years, likely to be presaging a bad to worse trajectory. They have a strong neocon administration with mainstream positive press coverage all pulling in the same unfortunate direction.
I remember during DJT’s tenure there were larger-than-life Trump balloons in the streets popping up in news coverage and they seemed to generally like him, probably because Xi hosted him so grandly in the old Imperial Palaces etc. They didn’t like the tariffs but they didn’t change volumes all that much until covid so hard to read. The tariffs are still in place under Biden and China’s global exports are still growing so not a great blow seemingly. China has many tariffs of its own (as Harley Davidson and Mercedes know very well) so all Trump did was even that playing field. More importantly, if US could get more of their manufacturing back instead of wage arbitraging it into oblivion, this would be good for America, good for the world and good for China as this business consultant also says. Without it, America’s leadership will favor excessive bullying abroad to compensate for deficiencies at home.
Thanks for your replys pretzelattack and lanterndude.
Straingly i find alot of good points on both sides. Thats garanteed to bring about a hot debate.
Pretz @ 170
Your right on that one to. People dont like major change in their life style, tough luck to them big change is coming and none of us will stop it. We evolve or go the way of the dinasores and become extinct. Thats the law of nature a law far more powerful than mankind and their opinion.
Posted by: Mark2 | Jul 28 2023 14:05 utc | 172
Posted by: pretzelattack | Jul 28 2023 12:19 utc | 158
get a used bike – that way when it gets stolen, you don’t have so much of a loss. 🙂
get a comfy style bike with full fenders – one of those Schwinn early 1960s beach cruisers would do just fine. There are also a bunch of 3 speed vintage bikes that are useful errand bikes.
get a rear rack and fold out baskets for the rear rack. You will be amazed at how much you can carry with just a few bungee cords and the folding baskets. there are a dozen brands, this is the general idea – https://waldsports.com/store/rear-baskets/582-rear-folding-basket/
blinky front light during daytime and a helmet in a bright color (no black)
Posted by: Exile | Jul 28 2023 14:15 utc | 173
what i really need is a schwinn like i had as a kid lol, with a large basket attached. i could mostly get by without driving I think.
Posted by: pretzelattack | Jul 28 2023 12:19 utc | 158
Personally, I use a mountain bike with a sturdy rear rack, and panniers. With two pannier ca. 50 USD each you can carry enormous volume of groceries (use the capacious type with the top that is roll when you close it, in max-volume application, you pack neatly without closing it). Super ambitious bicycle shoppers that I have seen in Germany use bicycle trailers for small children. You can seat two toddlers or carry a computer printer, a case of beer etc. Proper choice depends on secondary use (I use my bike occasionally to ride on dirt, roots and stones, otherwise “hybrid” could be better) and the nature of your shopping needs. In USA typically you need to reach a shopping area with several supermarkets etc. in vicinity, make a few stops and haul the loot home. Individual circumstances vary. I have seen a gentleman with electric motorcycle that needs ca. 10 miles to reach “my shopping area” that is within 1-3 miles from my home (i.e. it is roughly 2 miles long between oriental food store on one end and home supplies like lamps and lumber on the other). A little detail: a dedicated bag for frozen goods helps too, I fit it in one of the paniers.
Posted by: Piotr Berman | Jul 28 2023 14:15 utc | 174
ponder why climate denialism is only prevalent in anglo-european circles
@ caal | Jul 28 2023 13:01 utc | 163
I would also be interested if anyone has a different impression. You make a fascinating point which I’ve never seen previously mentioned.
Your post exemplifies the virtually international scope which makes this particular e-hangout — MoA, our dive at the end of the universe — like no other!
Posted by: Aleph_Null | Jul 28 2023 14:22 utc | 175
Euros like these style panniers (such as Piotr mentions)
https://hilosports.de/products/fahrrad-hinterradtasche-wasserdicht-20l-doppel-set?currency=EUR&variant=41968619421857&utm_medium=cpc&utm_source=google&utm_campaign=Google%20Shopping&gad=1&gclid=EAIaIQobChMI1YCuy8yxgAMVBs13Ch3sZQrAEAQYAiABEgJybvD_BwE
I like the folding out metal baskets for 2 reasons:
1) I always forget to bring the dang panniers when out and about
2) When the metal baskets are folded out it makes a YUGE shelf for moving stuff, like small furniture, a case of beer, my kids massive hockey bag.
Posted by: Exile | Jul 28 2023 14:23 utc | 176
Posted by: Echo Chamber | Jul 28 2023 12:39 utc | 161
I think that what made Keynesian paradigm obsolete is the openness of the global economy. You cannot control (easily) where the stimulus goes when you apply it. Will it flow into investments in more efficient industrial productions, or in distribution centers for mail order plus investments in industrial production across the ocean? For that matter, “Austrian” economics also assumes a closed system where an authority regulates money supply, although in a different way, but also ignores the global flows of goods and money.
Posted by: Piotr Berman | Jul 28 2023 14:26 utc | 177
decades of anti socialist and pro free market propaganda
@ pretzelattack | Jul 28 2023 13:50 utc | 170
Ronald Reagan’s burgeoning fame as host of General Electric Theater, for instance.
see The Big Myth: How American Business Taught Us to Loathe Government and Love the Free Market by Oreskes and Conway
Posted by: Aleph_Null | Jul 28 2023 14:31 utc | 178
Remember that when the globalist neoliberal Parliaments claimed the business cycle is dead.
Posted by: Exile | Jul 28 2023 14:23 utc | 177
I see it as a result of sober empirical observations. In the past, death was inevitable, but our few decades of experience shows us that we will live forever. So now we are immortal. (Open question: will the theory of the death of business cycle die at some point, perhaps quietly, forgotten and forlorn?)
Posted by: Piotr Berman | Jul 28 2023 14:32 utc | 179
pretzelattack @ 171
I am in Chicago, which is home to Schwinn. Even five years ago I saw them on the street all the time. Most in good condition are now in hands of collectors. You need to find the collector who has hundreds of them who has finally realized he can’t take it with him. The bikes themselves are semi-eternal. Hardest part to find is a good saddle. Things like the front basket you liked are still being made. The original is being made by the original maker. In multiple versions.
Frank Schwinn’s stated goal was a bike that could be serviced and repaired by the twelve year old who rode it. With a screwdriver, a hammer, an adjustable wrench. He was very realistic about what that kid could do. Eventually they rust out, not much else bothers them. Schwinn family was from Budapest, the bikes are an American version of the traditional omafiets, simplified. Simple is good.
Posted by: oldhippie | Jul 28 2023 14:35 utc | 180
Sadly around my nearest buitifull city Bath UK.
At anyone time ther are to be seen bunches of flowers tied to lamposts in dozens of different locations.
These are nearly all placed there in memory of cyclists who died under the wheels of large trucks or buses.
Bath is a major university city these young fit intellegent people make up the majority of the tragic deaths.
Posted by: Mark2 | Jul 28 2023 14:35 utc | 181
@ climate issue, Take 5,359.5:
Rowan Atkinson, who studied engineering before becoming a comedic actor, recently went soft on EVs.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yiga3atlTRs&pp=ygUWcm93YW4gYXRraW5zb24gb24gY2Fycw%3D%3D
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/jun/03/electric-vehicles-early-adopter-petrol-car-ev-environment-rowan-atkinson
There are numerous ‘fact-check’ articles rebutting his points but he makes some good ones. One of which is that the greatest pollution from automobiles comes from their manufacture and that most people own new cars for an average 3-4 years and then trade in. If everyone kept a car for 8 years instead, pollution would be lowered by many more factors of magnitude than the whole switch to EV business.
This goes along with my points about agriculture (construction, manufacturing, ‘best practices’ etc.) namely that how we do things is more important than trying to come up with a one-size-fits-all-global trick, for example tweaking carbon dioxide levels or some such.
I like the environment but distrust mainstream politics and governments so have always been skeptical of climate change narratives simply for that reason. I see no reason to modify that stance based on most debate about it, websites, studies etc. More guesswork than science. Too many variables, known and unknown. But I figured for myself in terms of my own impact that the single greatest thing I could do was simply buy old used cars instead of new ones. They are a bit of a hassle because am no mechanic but they cost much less overall and moreover do not add additional burden.
I’m currently driving a 95 Explorer, 6 cylinder, bit of a gas guzzler (about 20 mpg I think here in km land). It had problems so I replaced the transmission and later did an engine rebuild, all for about $3,000 USD. And that way she should be good for another five years or more. People make too much fuss of this issue, IMO. What we need are sane societies. That will take care of the environment just fine since sane people naturally choose customs and practices well attuned to nature.
Unfortunately we do not live in sane societies. Whatever our insane experts come up with will almost certainly do more harm than good. Better to fix our societies rather than come up with hare-brained, hysterical conclusions – all based on extrapolated guesswork, not basic science. The entire CO2 theory is based on willfully ignoring the effects of water vapor in the atmosphere of which there are hundreds of not thousands of times more per square meter. The whole thing is very silly.
More people should have gardens. More people should look up at the night sky and appreciate the stars. More people should appreciate life as a gift and opportunity for celebrating goodness. I sometimes visit the houses of some locals here in a village a few miles away. They have a ghastly bathroom, cement floors, unfinished cheap cement block walls and financial stress. But all the children run up and down in the street outside screaming and laughing, and the women get up to serve what they have to any guest who enters, and flowers are everywhere. It’s not all bad and it’s not rocket science.
various comments
About falling off a bicycle. It is really hard to fall off an old Schwinn. Or an opafiets. They called them grandfather bikes for a good reason. Entirely possible to design a bike for massive stability and still keep it fun to ride. On any bike, if you are old, put the saddle down.
Also. Houston is approximately Hell. No one would live there without A/C. Only reason to be there at all is to make a bucket of money in oil. Flood and heat will kill Houston soon enough.
Posted by: oldhippie | Jul 28 2023 15:03 utc | 183
#58
Sorry for your loss.
Forest fires have nothing to do with climate.
Posted by: Eoin Clancy | Jul 28 2023 15:03 utc | 184
Scorpion @ 183 spot on bro you just described my way of thinking.
Im as green as they come, but get critisised fo driving a big turbo charged 4 wheeldrive 2.2 liter diesel
Izuzu tropper.
Rescued from the scrap yard cost £1000.20 years old, i restored it. It now drives like new, looked after its good for another 30 years. Very cheap on fuil.
Counter intuition at play…
Its heavy duty so designed to last a long time and nothing seems to go wrong with it.
Compared to these ligbt weight modern cars that always go wrong and last no time at all.filling up scrap yards. Its a con its planend obsolescence.
Making some one very rich. Messing up the planet.
In my defence i do about 20 mile a week average so our indeviduil fuil consumtion i would say is a major factor in this debate.
Posted by: Mark2 | Jul 28 2023 15:10 utc | 185
About Climate Change scaremongering.
The debate is not between those who believe in Man-Made-Climate-Change and those who don’t.
The debate is between those who know a propaganda campaign when they see one, and those who don’t.
Global Warmingering Superstition is the RESULT of an ongoing propaganda campaign, I suspect was initially launched by East Anglia University and Margaret Thatcher on behalf of the Windsor family – the world first uranium mine owner. yes there is a war for energy supremacy between Big Oil and Nuclear Energy Companies.
First use of fake global warming, was a propaganda tool against coal miners in UK.
We are taken in the cross fire of the war for Energy Supremacy.
As usual the fog of war turns everything into lie.
Remember that whichever propaganda you consider: its goal is always to get the audience scared and confused.
The exact opposite of sound education.
SCARED and CONFUSED!!!
It Works!
That’s how you can tell a tree by its fruit.
Posted by: Greg Galloway | Jul 28 2023 15:52 utc | 186
Second OldHippie‘s comment about old folks bike stability – a step through frame style is a wonderful thing.
Plenty of vintage schwinn cruisers on eBay
https://www.ebay.com/b/Schwinn-Vintage-Cruiser-Bikes/177858/bn_1965336
Posted by: Exile | Jul 28 2023 15:59 utc | 187
Re: it’s impossible to live in the US without a Car
Wrong – 40% of all trips in the US are 3 miles or less.
Posted by: Exile | Jul 28 2023 1:17 utc | 92
——————————————————
Wrong, the unit of analysis is not the trip but the entities making the trip, persons or household.
Posted by: Acco Hengst | Jul 28 2023 16:20 utc | 188
The solution is there staring us in the face….
Village life. Where ever you look around the world there it is, people just getting on with a peacefull productive happy life. ‘It takes a village to raise a child’
Modern citys were largly a product of the industrial revolution. Clearly a failed experment in oh so many ways.
And now obsolete due to modern technology and inter conectivity.
Get back to village life, dont be a commuting strainger to your kids.dont watch your kids grow up in a no hope ghetto, lerning all the bad ways that that entails.
10% of the population owen 90% of the land.
Think about that.
That 10% also happen to be the main polluters.
Posted by: Mark2 | Jul 28 2023 16:28 utc | 189
Human caused climate warming/change requires an individuals aquiesence to a belief. The prevaing belief today, is propagated and cultivated by the same forces that have neen shown to be FULL OF SHIT more times than any reasonable person should trust any longer. All TPTB do is make us afraid for our grandchildren and do NOTHING. Thats it just a continual fear cudguel mixed with cancellation threat if you have questions? Its the exact opposite of what science based discussion should be.
Posted by: Tannenhouser | Jul 28 2023 16:31 utc | 190
@ Acco Hengst | Jul 28 2023 16:20 utc | 189
I submit it’s even more complex than that: say, amount if fossil fuel consumed divided by the number of passengers needing transportation occupying in the vehicle…for starters.
Of course the 40% figure is problematic for several other reasons, some having to do with the reason for travel (try bringing home a microwave oven from the nearest Wally World on a Schwinn), the (un)availability of mass transit (which, if ridership is bad, consumes more fossil fuel than individual motor vehicles), et cetera.
And finally, we should exclude from the 40% those who don’t believe in climate change. After all, they’re not being hypocrites. 😉
Posted by: malenkov | Jul 28 2023 16:32 utc | 191
oldhippie | Jul 28 2023 12:13 utc | 157
“Much need for learning how to ride.” Absolutely correct. I’ve been running the fixed sans brake for several years; keeps me mindful. And living in a small, coastal Humboldt town helps too; drivers are overall way more courteous than in points south, though I can understand driver frustration with cyclists who have yet to learn how to both listen and ride (“pedalestrians” I call them, though I must confess to flummoxing drivers myself by actually obeying basic traffic laws, like coming to complete stop at stop signs).
I would say to anyone who is bike curious [;)], try something you’re comfortable with; no need to aspire to the pro circuit right off the bat. An please remember to stay to the right, ride single file, use your hand signals, and obey stop signs.
Posted by: robjira | Jul 28 2023 16:32 utc | 192
But I figured for myself in terms of my own impact that the single greatest thing I could do was simply buy old used cars instead of new ones. They are a bit of a hassle because am no mechanic but they cost much less overall and moreover do not add additional burden.
Posted by: Scorpion | Jul 28 2023 14:39 utc | 183
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’96 Fleetwood Brougham as main driver. 20 mpg regular for my style. It was designed for 26 mpg highway, using the ’91 Corvette LT1 350 cu in engine. It starts, parts are cheap and last a while. It is mostly iron which means that recycling can be performed by rust or scrap. The ’97 Benz S-500 is a statue on rubber with too many and expensive parts.
The 2010 Acura MDX my wife donated to me should be good for another ten years. My wife, who is handicapped, wanted a smaller car, easier to get in and out of. The 2022 Acura TLX is an iPad on wheels, with a 4 cylinder turbo engine and a lot of plastic. It needs Premium and gives a rough ride, even on the softest suspension setting. She drives 3,000 miles a year.
Posted by: Acco Hengst | Jul 28 2023 16:37 utc | 193
robjira @ 194
Yes to comfort. The comfortable bike is the one that allows the rider to be mindful. Allows the rider to stay safe. And comfort is a first prerequisite for any speed. If a bike is torture to ride it doesn’t matter how fashionable someone thinks it is. One travels very slowly whilst lying on the pavement.
Two handbrakes on my fixed gear bikes. I’ve known a few who could ride brakeless, I’m not one of them.
Posted by: oldhippie | Jul 28 2023 17:06 utc | 194
Shoigu got to see a few things
🇰🇵 During the military parade in Pyongyang, North Korea unveiled some of its military capabilities.
➡️Among them was an underwater nuclear drone, resembling the Russian “Poseidon” drone.
➡️Spectators were able to witness the flyover of North Korean replicas of the American MQ-9 Reaper and RQ-4B Global Hawk drones during the night parade.
➡️Furthermore, the parade featured North Korea’s intercontinental ballistic missiles of the Hwaseong series, showcasing the country’s nuclear missile shield.
https://t.me/DDGeopolitics/74909
Posted by: Norwegian | Jul 28 2023 17:37 utc | 195
The Perils of Neutrality: The Break in U.S.-Cambodian Relations, 1965
https://www.jstor.org/stable/24913643
US foreign policy of military invention .. borders, sovereignty, UN Charter … an unprovoked attack on Cambodia with many civilian deaths and war crimes. The Vietnam War was a massacre from B-52 caret bombings … Agent Orange … after the battle of Dien Bien Phu and defeat of the French, the Americans launched an unprecedented war against a poverty stricken Communist country … people resisted and got support from allies.
The Downfall of Sihanouk: Don’t Blame It On the CIA
https://www.cia.gov/readingroom/docs/CIA-RDP80-01601R000400220001-6.pdf
Cambodia: U.S. bombing and civil war | Tufts – Aug. 7, 2015 |
https://sites.tufts.edu/atrocityendings/2015/08/07/cambodia-u-s-bombing-civil-war-khmer-rouge/
Between 1965 and 1973, the expansion of the Vietnam War into Cambodia aggravated and radicalized internal Cambodian political disputes. These disputes readily became armed contests characterized by shifting alliances, regional struggles for dominance (including the US, Soviet Union, China and Vietnam), and Cambodian efforts to assert different varieties of militant nationalism (whether royalist, communist or otherwise). The result for civilians was devastating.
Between 1965 and 1969, the U.S. bombed 83 sites in Cambodia. The pace of bombing increased in 1969, as U.S. B-52 carpet-bombing began, in support of the slow pullout of U.S. troops from Vietnam. Bombers targeted mobile headquarters of the South Vietnamese “Viet Cong” and the North Vietnamese Army in the Cambodian jungle.
In March 1970, a coup was launched against Prince Sihanouk resulting in a new government with Lon Nol at the helm. [https://thediplomat.com/2020/03/remembering-cambodias-1970-coup/%5D The coup government made a drastic change in Cambodian policies, deciding to counter the North Vietnamese, in support of the South Vietnamese and U.S. forces.
[…]
By 1971, writes Kiernan, the Lon Nol government was secure only in the towns and their outskirts. As the allied Communist forces gained control of territory, the Communist Party of Cambodia (CPK) attempted to win over the Khmer soldiers fighting with the Vietnamese and to expel the Vietnamese forces. In some places, this effort resulted in heavy fighting between ostensible allies.
Are we blaming Communist China now for support to the North Vietnamese in their struggle for “independence”?
Posted by: Exile | Jul 27 2023 15:11 utc | 13
I think you may be onto something important Exile. I’m seeing signs people are beginning to realize government is unable to tackle the climate boiling problem and only people working individually and in small groups will be able to show any progress. I’ve noticed more bicycles being used and not just for sport. People are putting baskets on them and using them to go shopping. Also, the birth rate is dropping and so are male sperm counts. The Extinction Project gives me reason for optimism. BTW I think it was the STFU part of your comment that caused the negative reactions.
Posted by: Chas | Jul 28 2023 18:34 utc | 198
The Extinction Project gives me reason for optimism. BTW I think it was the STFU part of your comment that caused the negative reactions.
Posted by: Chas | Jul 28 2023 18:34 utc | 200
Sorry if this is a naive question, but I wasn’t sure what you meant by “The Extinction Project”, so I tried to look it up. What I found on Wikipedia was The Voluntary Human Extinction Movement.
The Voluntary Human Extinction Movement (VHEMT[A]) is an environmental movement that calls for all people to abstain from reproduction in order to cause the gradual voluntary extinction of humankind.
Just curious if this is what you were referring to. Also agree with your comment about STFU. Have heard as bad or worse from others, even if worded differently.
Posted by: Phil R | Jul 28 2023 18:47 utc | 199
Phil R @201
Definitely, if you are western middle-class or wealthier you should spay/neuter your children (euphemistically referred to as “gender-affirming care” in the US). The younger the better. It is good for the planet and they can enjoy their childhood longer.
Posted by: William Gruff | Jul 28 2023 18:59 utc | 200