"But there's no climate change"

Does anyone remember this?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h0sxwGlTLWw

It aired in 1970.  I remember what a strong impact it had on me.  We used to go to Patapsco State Park in Maryland for picnics in the 60s-early 70s.  There were lovely trails through the woods, and one led down to a large waterfall.  The water spray felt so cool and the Patapsco River seemed so clear.  There was a swinging bridge that would take one from one side of the river to the other.  There were other splendid, seemingly untouched places to visit.   I remember my family went with another Deaf family to a remote area in Virginia, along the Potomac River.  The woods were lush and the river seemed safe to swim in then.  But that was in 1970, when I was 15.

After seeing that commercial, I began to notice litter along the sides of the roads.  People rolled their windows down and tossed their fast-food trash without a care in the world.  My brother and I would take short cuts through the woods near our home and we began to see empty cans (beer and soda), paper plates, napkins and once there was a tire.  People were so careless with the Earth.  It seemed like Earth would always be here and never die away.

Recently, Ted, my adult son and I began rewatching an old mini-series called Centennial.  It takes place in Colorado and spans a time from the mid-1700s to about the 1970s.  The story tells about how Centennial came to be over that period of time.  The scenes are absolutely breath taking.  We watched the two trappers paddle up and down the Platte River, meeting and trading with the various Native American tribes.  The Native Americans were one with nature, respecting and cherishing it.

I wonder if the Platte River is still there and, if it is, how choked with trash it’s become?

I remember distinctive seasons as a child and teenager.  Winters were cold and snowy from late November to early March.  Spring brought warmer, milder weather.  I could go outdoors and play wearing a jacket or a sweater.  Summers were hot but not unbearable.  In the heat of the afternoon, I would lie under a shaded tree and watch the clouds.  Fall arrived with school and the loveliest colors to the trees’ leaves.

In recent years, we seem to have gone from four seasons to two.  We’ve had long usually warm winters followed by a very brief break for spring, followed by an early, long, hot summer with uncomfortably high temperatures, followed by a brief break for fall and then another long winter. 

Changes to our environment started with Rachel Carson, who wrote a book called Silent Spring.  I didn’t read it until I was an adult and it was really eye-opening.  At the time the book was published, though, it was the early 1960s.  Scientists scoffed at and made fun of her.  Even though she was dragged through the mud, she still inspired President Kennedy to begin a department that became known as the Environmental Protection Agency.  What I remember most about Carson’s book is that everyone born after 1954 (me included) has DDT in their livers, a result of the over spraying of that chemical.  Planes used to fly overhead and freely dump the poison all over, even on kids playing outside.  Now it’s outlawed.

Her warnings haven’t stopped industries from polluting the air and water through the years with their toxic refuse.  Slowly, scientists began to realize the harm it was causing to people.  There were cancer clusters and other sicknesses in neighborhoods near the dump sites.  Restrictions were placed but then the dumping began in the ocean.

Well, the ocean is so vast, isn’t it?  What’s a little garbage here and there?  After years and years of it, we have ginormous garbage dumps in the oceans.  They affect the animals and birds that depend on the sea.  People are affected too.  How many times have beaches had to be closed because needles, medical waste, and e coli stuff have washed up on the beaches.  The bacteria comes not only from the garbage, it also comes from people pooping in the ocean with no care or thought for others.

We have raised the amount of carbon in the air so high it’s burned holes in the ozone layer that used to protect us from the sun’s radiation.  Now you have to have sunscreen lathered on constantly if you’re out in the sun for a prolonged period of time.  It’s not a good idea to sun bathe on the beach as I did in the 1970s and early 80s.

“But there’s no climate change!” That’s what the right-wing politicians like to say so that they can continue to receive financial support from Big Oil and coal companies and other polluting corporations.  There’s always been periods of extreme weather, droughts and flooding and dust storms, right?  Really, though, there’s been nothing like what’s happening now.

Read this: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2022/8/3/2114238/-The-mainstream-media-goes-there-humanity-should-prepare-themselves-for-the-climate-end-game

And the massive amounts of rain and flooding we’ve experienced recently?  We can expect more: https://theconversation.com/climate-change-is-intensifying-the-water-cycle-bringing-more-powerful-storms-and-flooding-heres-what-the-science-shows-187951?utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Science%20Editors%20Picks%20%20August%203%202022%20-%202365523592&utm_content=Science%20Editors%20Picks%20%20August%203%202022%20-%202365523592+CID_1fbce3942d4e494342bd88c280454f35&utm_source=campaign_monitor_us&utm_term=Climate%20change%20is%20intensifying%20the%20water%20cycle%20bringing%20more%20powerful%20storms%20and%20flooding%20%20heres%20what%20the%20science%20shows

Meanwhile, there are states out in the Midwest, south and west that are suffering with drought.  Sources of drinking water like Lake Mead are beginning to dry up.  Several states get their water from Lake Mead and other lakes, reservoirs, and dams.  What happens when there’s not enough to go around anymore?  Here in New Jersey, we’ve just learned that we have the beginnings of a drought and need to start conserving water.

Well, what about the polar caps?  They’re so frozen solid, they’ll be there forever no matter how warm it gets, right?  Well, check this out: https://theconversation.com/arctic-is-warming-nearly-four-times-faster-than-the-rest-of-the-world-new-research-188474?utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Daily%20Newsletter%20for%20August%2012%202022&utm_content=Daily%20Newsletter%20for%20August%2012%202022+CID_6b2c2ff2a9c5a4d1e8fe3bae52433825&utm_source=campaign_monitor_us&utm_term=Arctic%20is%20warming%20nearly%20four%20times%20faster%20than%20the%20rest%20of%20the%20world%20%20new%20research

Okay, but somehow we will learn to live with this, right, so why worry?  We won’t be around for when the earth finally gives up and burns up, so why worry?  Here’s two reasons:

Infectious diseases can increase because of climate change   https://www.huffpost.com/entry/climate-change-infectious-disease-paper_n_62dfeac9e4b03dbb991d9a9e?utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Morning%20Email%208-9-22&utm_term=us-morning-email Contaminated soil has been found in the south along the Mississippi and bay that’s made some people very ill.

There are old abandoned places of business that have contaminants in their buildings.  It’s not just superfund or landfills or other dump sites.  There are hundreds of undocumented businesses that could have toxic material in their buildings.  Flooding can bring those contaminants into our soil and our drinking water.  Ew.

The fact that Congress just passed the first major piece of legislation addressing climate change is a huge help.  Well, it was actually the Democrats that got the bill passed.  Every single Repub voted against it.  They vote against anything that could be beneficial for our country.  And they think they’re the patriots?

There are many ways to reduce our carbon footprint.  While the political parties and Big Oil fight over going green, we can recycle everything we can, bring reusable bags to pack our groceries and other purchases in, use trash cans instead of dropping junk in the parking lots or on park trails, or throwing them out the car window.  Everyone can do a little bit.  It’s not impossible if we all make an effort.  We may not be around when the Earth finally gives up and dies, but our grandchildren and great grandchildren will be.  Is that what we want for them?

Didn’t think it was coming so soon?  Well, it is.  We were warned.

 

 

 

https://twitter.com/andykimnj/status/1534689100506202115?s=21&t=gSa7cXa53PLeDRywN9iwdQ

https://www.webmd.com/add-adhd/ss/slideshow-stop-wasting-time?ecd=wnl_spr_080922&ctr=wnl-spr-080922_supportTop_title_1&mb=YYm2ySWN6wWuVccYKvWE%4033h2f7%40aGp%2Fm4Hmxq65iwU%3D

 

No, not here in America

I have so much to write about.  My head is spinning.   Originally, I was going to write about climate change.  The whole world is on fire and Mother Nature is very angry.

 

Other stuff keeps happening!   The FBI raided Mar-a-lago and retrieved 10-12 boxes of what may have been classified nuclear information.  tRump had his first wife buried on his golf course.  She was cremated and yet had a coffin so heavy it had to be carried by extra pall bearers.  Now I wonder what else was in that coffin.  It reminds me of Ocean’s 12, an old movie about a group of ex-soldiers plotting to raid several Las Vegas casinos.  They pulled it off but one of them died and the friends thought it was a good idea to put the money in the coffin.  The big twist was that the guy was cremated, coffin and all.   The whole tRump team and followers are reminding me of organized crime.  TFG is “the godfather”—the Don.  He was a hierarchy of people that serve different roles for him so that he doesn’t get his hands dirty.  They threaten anyone who is against them and willingly resort to violence to scare/silence the other parties.   So look now at what’s going on here.  You’ve got the “Teflon” Don still a large force in the GQP.  There aren’t enough of the true Republicans who will willingly cross him, especially since so many legislators, state AGs, and even regular employees have been threatened and harassed.  The whole January 6th committee have gotten death threats, particularly the two “traitors” Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger.  The GQP thugs and assorted morons have come out in strong support of the “Big Lie” and now, defunding the FBI.  That’s a retaliation tactic for the raid on tRump’s home.  Oh, and the judge who signed permission for the raid has been receiving death threats from tRump’s loyal white supremacist violent followers.   All of this is not only like organized crime families, it’s also the tactics of rising dictators.  TFG is practically in lockstep with Adolf Hitler, Benito Mussolini, Josef Stalin, Putin, and all the other current dictators of the world.  In a dictatorship, the rights of the people are wiped out.  People who resist or rebel are jailed or executed.  What the white supremacist extremist violent groups want is an all-white “Christian” country.  So what’s to happen to people of color or different religious beliefs or different sexual orientation?  I know:  we’ll have places like Auschwitz all over again if those people don’t escape first.   Do I sound hysterical?  My imagination running away with me?  Do you think, “No, this won’t happen in America!”  My answer is to do some reading and exploring of topics and don’t rely on just social media or friends.  Start with that Lewis Powell memo and then google topics like Christian nationalism.  Review European history from the 1930s to the declaration of WWII; learn about Hitler, Mussolini, and Stalin.   I used to be in that “No, this won’t happen in America” group until I got busy reading.  Now I realize how deeply in peril our democracy is.  It’s up to us to stand up and try to stop the overthrow.  The legislators aren’t going to do it.  They are too busy hating each other.  It has to be us, voting and speaking up.   Here is one of several pieces about former Justice Lewis Powell’s memo that set the Rethuglicans plotting: https://robertreich.substack.com/p/the-worst-memo-in-american-history?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email&utm_content=share   The actual memo: https://law2.wlu.edu/deptimages/Powell%20Archives/PowellMemorandumTypescript.pdf   Christian nationalism: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christian_nationalism a good place to start   White supremacy: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_supremacy Read other sources too!   White supremacist militaristic goups:  https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/mainstream-presence-of-proud-boys-other-extreme-groups-creates-mass-radicalization-fears   https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-features/all-american-extremism-guide-1361035/   Read, learn, vote.

GQP has become the face of white "Christian" nationalism

 White “Christian” nationalism has come out of hiding and we are learning it’s a lot more widespread than we ever thought possible.

We were under the impression that America was inclusive and welcoming to non-White Anglo Saxon Protestants (WASPs) too.  Sure, there was a lot of resentment and bigotry with every wave of immigrants that arrived here.  There was always a fear “they’re going to take my job away” and “they’re going to change our way of life.” It wasn’t just the immigrants.  When slaves were freed in 1863, whites had the very same “they’re going to take my job away” mentality.

Still, the illusion went, we worked through all that over the years.  Fifty odd years ago, civil rights laws were passed beginning with equality for people of color; then women’s rights; then rights for people with disabilities.  We were one happy family – most of the time.  We probably were aware that the KKK and neo-Nazi groups still existed but they weren’t such a big deal anymore, were they?

Then came 2016 and the former guy (TFG) won.  All through his campaigning, he proved himself to be a bullying liar who spoke hateful words that appealed to those groups of people.  He lost the popular vote but won more electoral votes than his opponent did.  Right from the day he was inaugurated, he spread hatred and dissention.  His inaugural speech focused on American “carnage”.  It was the most depressing, upsetting speech I’ve ever heard from a President.

Militant white supremacists were attracted to his message.  Right wing evangelical “Christians” liked what TFG was saying.  White supremacists and racists had been undercover for years, hiding their views from a disapproving public.  They communicated in closed groups on the internet, plotting, plotting, plotting.  They felt confident coming more out in the open when TFG said, after the clashes between Nazis/white supremacists and counter protesters in Charlottesville, Virginia five years ago, that both sides were very fine people.  Or something equally supportive of the white supremacists and Nazis.

There is a prevailing “Great Replacement Theory” that has a stronghold in the GQP (formerly respectable GOP) and white supremacy groups like Proud Boys, Oath Keepers, Three Per-Centers, and hundreds of other extreme right wing racist groups.  They believe that people of color are replacing white people in population (maybe they are, but is that such a bad thing?) and are changing our “traditional” ways of life.  Again, is that a bad thing?  It is, if one is afraid of losing power.  The lowest income white man feels superior to the wealthiest black man.  It’s no different from were before the Civil War.

In 2020, TFG told his lavishly devoted Proud Boys to “stand back and stand by.” What a clear message.  Don’t do anything at the moment but I will need you later.  First he had them attack the Michigan State House and attempt to kidnap/murder Gov. Whitmer.  This way, he could see that he could rely on them to do the same thing at the Capitol on January 6^th.

And who are most of these white supremacists and Nazis and militias?  Young white guys, at their macho best.  I don’t know how many are military or are cops but they’re all glued to these conspiracy websites that are recruiting them to their violent groups.  The Proud Boys and Oath Keepers may feel stung by TFG’s betrayal of them after the coup attempt.  That doesn’t matter.  There are hundreds of groups like them who would happily participate in another coup attempt after the mid-terms in November.

They are very dangerous, but so are the white “Christian” nationalists who have also begun spreading their tentacles throughout the GQP.  The politicians carrying “Christian” nationalism like a banner think the Founding Fathers didn’t intend to have church and state separate, apparently misunderstand or deliberately ignoring what they actually said about it.

“The government of the United States is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian religion.”
― John Adams

“Where the preamble declares that coercion is a departure from the plan of the holy author of our religion, an amendment was proposed, by inserting the word "Jesus Christ," so that it should read "a departure from the plan of Jesus Christ, the holy author of our religion." The insertion was rejected by a great majority, in proof that they meant to comprehend, within the mantle of it's protection, the Jew and the Gentile, the Christian and Mahometan, the Hindoo, and infidel of every denomination.”
― Thomas Jefferson, Autobiography of Thomas Jefferson

I beg you be persuaded that no one would be more zealous than myself to establish effectual barriers against the horrors of spiritual tyranny, and every species of religious persecution.

George Washington

 

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.

James Madison

 

And how about this quote from a famous Republican President?

Church and state are, and must remain, separate.

Ronald Reagan

 

I have a feeling that some of these legislators spouting off about “Christian” nationalism are really ignorant of history.  Specifically, I mean Rep. Boebert of Colorado who recently said that church should direct government.  She got that from other “Christian” nationalists who also happen to be racists, not from the Founding Fathers.  Then there’s the equally blockheaded Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia.  She’s proud to be a “Christian” nationalist and thinks the whole country should be too.  Um, hello?  Not all our citizens and residents are Christians.  There are other legislators like them.  What is disheartening is that I suppose these idiots are in Congress because the people who elected them are (a) incredibly ignorant or are (b) white supremacists too.

They’ve gotten themselves mixed up in violence in a couple of ways.  There’ve been a lot of attacks on doctors, nurses, assistants and guides of abortion clinics.  The “Christian” nationalists are rabidly and frothing at the mouth anti-abortion.  Their concern for “right to life” stops as soon as the baby is born, of course.  I think TFG was able to tap into the froth and mania of the far-right evangelicals with some of his rhetoric making them believe he’s with them.  After all, he had the National Guard violently disperse a peaceful crowd of protestors so that he could stand in front of a church and make a statement.  He waved an upside-down Bible around in the air above his head.  That should have told the believers something but apparently, they didn’t notice or just let it go that the POTUS couldn’t even hold a Bible right side up.

So now these groups, the militaristic white supremacist extremists and the entirely wrong-headed “Christian” nationalists are becoming more mainstream.  That really worries me.  I don’t think we should ever normalize them but that’s what happens in the mainstream.  I would like the nationalists to drop “Christian” from their names because they are not followers of New Testament Jesus.  The only Jesus they follow is Warrior Jesus of Revelation.  The big surprise, however, is that Warrior Jesus is going to be majorly pissed at them.