A Vermin Responds

I have bemoaned obfuscating, moderate, "consensus"-type rhetoric and the drift to boring, centrist accomodation. So now that the gloves are coming off and a resurgent fascism speaks loud and clear, am I happier? Sure. The old labor song asks "which side are you on?". There is no more fence to sit on. Time to choose. And the sooner the better,IMO. In his latest tirade,Trump called for an effort to "root out the communists, Marxists,(and without irony, fascists) and the radical left thugs..." subverting the "American Dream". Prior to the mid-term elections I was critical of Kali Akuno for believing a fascist uprising was imminent, and I still think Trump's rhetoric is hyperbolic and that only a small minority would be inspired to act on it (as opposed to chuckle and wave flags), but it definitely is a sign of the times. In the past this language was code for kill the Jews but now it includes Black Lives Matter, DSA, "cultural Marxists", antifa etc, etc... Liberals are up in arms for this attack on pluralism, or decency or normal standards or whatever values they hold dear, no matter how illusionary. But you don't see them rushing to defend socialists. Count me as one of the "radical-left thugs", the "vermin" being targeted for my suggestions that obscene inequality, failing states, insane debt at every level and collapsing ecosystems point to capitalism's dismal record. Liberals tend to mount the same attack on socialists, just couched in more "acceptable" terms. I could go on- hollow Kubuki theatre of "democracy", mass global migration, lowered life expectancy, growing enui, endless war, yada yada. The evidence is damning and inescapable. This attack in effect is a defense of a capitalist political economy of which Trump himself is a perfect exemplar. It is characterized by financialization, luxury rentals, corruption and state capture. We'll just have to see if witch trials are next.

More Oblivious Disconnect

Conservative columnist Ross Douthout was mocking liberal malaise over the state of the planet, claiming we lived in the best of times. His point of reference was WWII, a rather low bar. But even given that horror, can conservatives like Ross be oblivious to what an article in today's Times describes as " a global migration movement driven by tens of millions of people displaced because of war, persecution, climate change, violence and human rights abuses, according to the United Nations?" You might think that plus obscene inequality and mass extinction and government dysfunction and global pandemics and yada yada might be reason for young people to be disillushioned. But for Ross they are whiners who don't appreciate how good they have it. The other striking disconnect was listening to tech guru Sam Altmand of Chat GP fame also saying "we are headed for the best world" one of vast "material abundance",via advanced technology. He saw our species having few issues adapting to the rapid change, given a little sober regulation and an "itterative" process of introducing artificial intelligence, that is, one baby step at a time. But of course "steps" look different to different people. I could not disagree more strongly. An add on the back of Scientific American magazine says: "Our world is trying to tell us something." Some people listen but do not hear, they look but they do not see. They are so inculcated with and embedded in the logics of capital, modernity and progress they can't begin to imagine there might be other logics. They are so convinced they are the smartest people in the room, they ignore the ancient lessons and wisdom. It's called oblivious.

Plant -Based Diets

A deer eats a plant that humans can't. It's called grass.They convert that plant into protein. It's called meat. The deer have a specialized stomach which has evolved along with the ecosystem in which they live. So do humans. We have co-evolved along with deer. We could just let the grass grow and die un-utilized. Millions and mllions of acres of it. Or else humans could learn to graze and incorporate grass into our diets. Or we could just let people not get enough protein. Or we could utilize the grass by eating ungulates as we have done as a species for millenia. If you eat an ungulate you have a "plant-based diet", it just went through a conversion process. I personally think it's great that people are turning away from industrial meat production and wish to eat more plants. But beware of industrial plant production, with all its toxic, unsustainable inputs. The point being, it is the way production is organized, the form it takes, that is the problem. In Iowa they grow corn for ethanol and cow food and that plant production is ruining the planet. And creating Trump loving Evangelicals.

The Playbook

I just finished an article on Znet about a non-violent direct action in Washington DC to halt the construction of new gas line infrastructure. First off Znet epitomizes the Playbook, promoting the same writers writing the same articles they have written for thirty or more years. Michaqel Albert writes the same pleas for funding, Kathey Kelly , Stephen Shalom, all the same old same old. The article about the DC action described the Playbook to a T. Gather activists and make a plan for "disruption". Do the NVCD traing and the art build, the pvc pipes, the lock-down techniques etc. Have the action, have five people get arrested, do the jail solidaity event followed by "de-brief". Have a celebration, go home and write an article and prepare to do the exact same thing. Again and again. Oh, I forgot the chants and signs. Drums. At the de-brief they discuss what worked, what didn't and what to do better next time. Do they ever ask about the definition of insanity? If your metric for success is the reduction of greenhouse gasses, how is that working out? Stale is not appealing. Sclerotic is boring. At least the right-wing is being creative, blowing up government, destroying propriety, getting some laughs. It's idiotic and doesn't lead anywhere because it is all reactive, but at least it is entertaining. Imagine if the Left could be that creative and also have a plan that is fresh!

Gas, oil and Coal

As we keep being reminded, The Lord Market shall determine our fate. From the NYTImes Nov.9 Climate Forward article: "This year’s talks are taking place in the United Arab Emirates, overseen by the chief executive of the state oil company, who expects production to expand “as long as the market demands it.”" All bow to God Market. As the Norwegian government, a major oil exporter makes clear, phasing out fossil fuel “will have to come from the demand side,” not “political decisions to cut the supply side.” It is here that the illusion of "the political" is revealed. While most people still use the word, it has been hollowed out. A conservative Montana politician has the slogan "More Action, Less Politics". Like so many things, they get the problem ( lack of power to make change) but they fail to understand the reason why it exists or how to fix it. Another piece in the Times makes this claim: "President Biden has made it a major goal to move away from fossil fuels, the leading source of the emissions dangerously warming the planet." You can say he has "declared" it a major goal, but a journalist shouldn't repeat the propaganda. They should report on the problem he and any politician runs up against, this from another Times article: "Last month, a coalition of major industries, including mining, oil and gas, manufacturing, and timber, sent a letter to the White House chief of staff, Jeffrey D. Zients, warning that “no room would be left for new economic development” in many areas if the E.P.A. went ahead with a standard as tough as it was contemplating, endangering the manufacturing recovery that President Biden had pushed with laws funding climate action and infrastructure investment."

Language Games

As the media struggles to not offend readers in its descriptions violence, it walks a language tightrope. So far the bias clearly remains in favor of Israel/ Jewish/ Zionist victimhood. For instance, there is an obligation with every article to always reference the Oct. 7 "slaughter" or "massacre" of Israeli citizens. But the Israeli missles sent into Gaza merely "kill" Palestinian citizens. Obviously, to "slaughter" is something uncivilized, barbarians do, while "killing" is how all brave soldiers win righteous wars. The other aspect of this narrative ploy is to suggest Hamas uses innocents as "human shields" so that the blame for their deaths falls on them. That Israel put settlers on the edge of or in Palestinian territory, putting them in grave danger, is never mentioned. Of course both governments are guilty of atrocities and both populations can share that guilt. There is plenty of religious fanaticism to go around, Islamism and Zionism being two sides of the same ethno-state coin. That fact is a hard pill for the media to swallow. It is also hard for the Left and Right, whose supporters often want a good vs evil narrative. You won't see Zionism mentioned, because people might want to learn the history. You won't hear political Islam mentioned much either. We can talk about just and unjust, one state or two, but there are no white hats. Like pretty much everything now, it is "hold your nose and choose". Meanwhile, The Ukrainian Offensive has stalled and despite Nikki Haley's best efforts, the American public is bored and doesn't want to support yet another loser. Sorry. Other conflicts around the world are just the price of doing business.

Jeff Is Perplexed

Here is NYTimes economic strategy columnist Jeff Somers: "It’s a perplexing state of affairs. The evidence that carbon emissions are warming the planet is persuasive. Yet the stock market, which is supposed to be forward-looking, is treating alternative energy companies with disdain and big oil companies with respect." Jeff doesn't get why the oil majors would risk stranding all those assets but concludes by saying markets always get things right eventually. As he waits patiently perplexed for rationality to kick in, he must avert his gaze from the suffering and extinction and misery and chaos. Like Jeff, all the people in my community use market signals to dictate their behavior which is why they have all been buying brand new pick up trucks, the biggest fossil fuel consuming ones they can find. As for investing advice, Jeff only understands the logic of profit: "Pouring money into unprofitable ventures isn’t a good strategy unless those ventures ultimately generate a great deal of cash." Even having admitted that we are experiencing total market failure, his faith in his God is unshaken. What if there is a disconnect between survival and profit, Jeff? What if price has nothing to do with cost? This speech by Galileo in the play by Bertold Brecht says it all: "The movements of the heavenly bodies have become more comprehensible, but the peoples are as far as ever from calculating the moves of their rulers."

Rules of Engagement

Why the hilarious pretense that war has rules? We keep hearing about "war crimes" as if the Geneva Convention is some sacred text. The kubuki theater has this or that side talking about civilian casualties, about massacres, about the rules around bombing cities and such. Please. Can't we just admit we are a species of savage warriors, always have been, and that little has changed but the technology of death. The former head of Israel's National Security Council comes close to candid when he says "there is no such thing as innocent Palestinian civilians." When the US bombed German and Japanese cities in WWII they acknowledged the same thing and after the Korean War the gloves really came off. Ask any citizen of Hanoi or Mosul. That's why we can say there is no such thing as an innocent Israeli citizen. By the so-called logic of the good general, if the citizens are complicit - and here he refers to German citizen support for Nazis (of course), then they are valid targets. Each and every one because bombs don't discriminate and soldiers only rarely. And there can be no denying Israeli citizens voted for the current government. On U.S. media like Fox News, the bloodlust for "terrorists" rages 24/ 7. The NY Times is trying to be objective,reporting the horror and the various reactions to the horror. Biden wants the Evangelical vote so talks out of both sides of his ancient, mumbling mouth. Why anyone believes in the rules of engagement anymore is a total mystery to me.

Shipping News

Shipping contributes approximately 3% of global greenhouse gas emissions but it is hard to power those gigantic ships with clean fuel. Danish firm Maersk is trying out green methanol made from biostock but it isn't really scalable or competitive. But of course only God, the Market, can decide what gets selected. “There has to be an economic mechanism by which you level the playing field so that people are incentivized and not punished for using low-carbon fuels,” said John Butler, the chief executive of the World Shipping Council, which represents container carriers including Maersk. No one is suggesting the possibility of less shipping. Not moving stuff thousands of miles around the globe.Because Capital flows would be restricted. God would be angry. Another crucial commodity that is hard to "green" is steel. In Great Britian they want to shutter blast furnaces and build electric arc furnaces which are far less polluting if the electricity comes from wind and solar. "Electrification would also appeal to customers that increasingly want to purchase greener steel to lower the carbon footprint of their products. “Demand is there right now for low-emission steel,” said James Campbell, an analyst at CRU Group, a consulting firm." Again, we must obey the Law of Supply and Demand. Anything else would be to go against God.