It’s painful to see how leaders ignore objective facts and science, but for those of us in Afghanistan,this lack of responsibility is nothing new. As an Afghan ally who stood alongside US forces and was abandoned by this current administration, I’ve seen what happens when politicians care more about short-term goals than truth, loyalty, and human lives.
That is very true. It also makes me very angry. I am so heartbroken about the way our politicians have broken their promise to bring you here to have shelter from the country that might destroy you
The truth is we should not be broken hearted but accept it is our responsibility to control who gets elected. They work for us. Call Congress and express your demands every day no matter what side of the fence the official may fall. It generates energy on the floor. It is very much like for us when at work on the days our manager or their manager is present. Stay present or they will run the country into the ground. This is just like a business, but it is our business and as such all that happens is our responsibility. Engage! For our children! https://indivisible.org/actions/senate-oppose-clayton-nomination/?akid=126446.4440309.dF48WP&rd=1&t=11&utm_medium=newsletter_20260727&utm_source=email
Yes, we must stop critisizing Mr. Trump, but find ways to win the midterm election and minimize the damage till then. There is no guarantee that the midterm will take place.
I missed where it is inferred I suggested we stop criticizing Trump. It is our civic duty to be loud and heard. I said we need to get into action. There should be outrage and a sense of urgency. No time for grief -- for that to me is surrender. I wish everyone the best and please know I'm crying most of the day -- but my nature is to push back and fight no matter the threat.
I am also afraid, but I feel in my gut this willingness to die for our children. I'm 75 and will be volunteering at the polls. Heck I was almost run down by a Trump supporter who aimed his truck at the group I was standing next to protesting in front of a Town Hall in a sleepy suburban town south of Boston. It's dangerous out there. Keep a sharp eye and take care of each other.
Of course, we are all lamenting we are here in this place and time but look at what is positive. Without this reason to ban together we would not know each other. Our individual worlds have grown exponentially with our connection. There is so much to celebrate and we are not powerless. We are in fact when united more powerful than an atomic bomb -- heck 100 atomic bombs!
The enemy has shown their flank which is their fear of a united American people. This is blatantly made clear given their trillions invested to divide us. They are trembling with fear. Let's show them they need to be afraid, very afraid. In fact, run away and save yourselves you low life cowards. You all belong in jail. You are treasons and corrupt.
That was Hiro, not you, who said we should stop criticizing Trump. Of course Hiro meant it as stop wasting energy yakking about Trump and get involved in a project that will remove him from power.
I ask each of us to look in the mirror and see the hero reflected there. Americans have independence in our DNA. Immigrants are here pinning to contribute and as with each generation work so their children can join us in defending our democracy. I am no less heroic than anyone else. Each of us has unique gifts to offer at this time. Mine happens to be writing but I am no more courageous or strong than my fellow Americans and I am humbled to be with you on the right side of history.
The world believes in America. The world sees what has happened here and we are not entirely victims but authors of our own fate -- that facility exists going forward as well as looking backward. I believe in the magnificence of Americans. It is not "Pollyanna" but based on facts. We are more powerful than any threat if we unite. Each of us is a single unit with enormous power when we step out and link arms and stand shoulder to shoulder and take care of each other. Nothing can stop us.
I welcome this crisis for it has brought on a long delayed forced maturity that will in the end save and strengthen our democracy. We who were born in these times must stand up and respond to the times we were born into. Many came before us. It is our turn. www.indivisible.org
Just for the record, I'm one of an apparently very small group of voters who does NOT think we should all be on the phone to Congress every day of our lives. Weighing in now and then is one thing - constant nattering is another. Also, doesn't seem to be that effective, and definitely not foolproof. We have SOME absolutely terrible people in government at the moment, and if the actual GOOD, WISE folks we managed to get elected are unaware of what's going on right in front of them without reading/listening to thousands of their constituents' thoughts on every matter under the sun, there's little hope. It should NOT be like days when "their manager is present." The workers should be working hard when on the job, not just when the manager (babysitter???) is on site. Frequent and compulsory [for the officer] face-to-face townhall meetings would be a more effective way for voters to register expectations, concerns, and demands. IMHO.
Holding up elected officials as our "leaders" and our saviors is a form of fantasy, naivety and magical thinking. I nurture a different mindset which is one of mature responsibility. We are the ones in charge of the protection and growth of our democracy and empowered to do so.
And no one is coming to save us. It is we the people united who will save us. The proof of this is reflected in history but also in the fact our enemy has invested trillions to divide us. This very act reveals their flank which is an overwhelming fear of a united American people.
Engage! Look for work! Each single person when part of the whole makes the difference and changes the course of history. Start here and now! Indivisible is asking us today to call Congress. The platform provided (see below) makes it easy to get done.
Engage! Don't project onto their non-response. Also make that call no matter what side of the issues your officials land. The main purpose of all these acts of civic duty is keeping up the pressure. Pressure breaks pipes. The amount of pressure is directly influenced by the number of participants.
We need every single one of us. Our democracy needs you. Our children need you.
What Prof. Krugman seems unable to admit is that our troubles are the result of the very system that supports and even personifies. For decades we were ruled by the respectable elites who did such a consistent job of oppressing us and discrediting themselves that in our desperation we turned to the maniacs who are now in charge.
If you want to see ultimate causes, you should look in the mirror, Prof. Krugman.
The fact that everyday Americans stand with us gives me hope to keep seeking justice. Sadly, the current US government abandoned us when we needed them most.
I continue to hope, perhaps foolishly, that I'll live to see the end of this regime and that the U.S. may return as speedily as possible to its position as a defender, not a destroyer, of human rights. I'm not stupid enough not to know that the U.S. has always had a very fraught relation with human rights in regard to its own practices, but we were moving in the direction of justice when people who hate Blacks, immigrants, and women voted to re-elect a rapist felon.
I am an Independent and not a low information voter and do not lean "R" -- generalizations are harmful as they are part of the divisiveness we have suffered which was not by chance by intentional.
Trillions were invested to divide us. It is not the first time in history. Many have come before us. I am not sobbing if it happens to be my turn. I embrace it! And if you look at how much is being spent to divide us not for nothing it literally shines a light on what they fear.
Our enemy is terrified of the power we hold united. Each of us is one person and can stay in one place and bemoan and express shame and sorrow or join with others to change the future our children will inherit.
It is absolutely possible and in fact absolutely inevitable this is within our reach for the power we hold united is formidable. Our enemy is terrified of us uniting.
I'm age 75 and will do everything I can to protect our children from the plans at hand. Action is the key. Action. I am as depressed as anyone, but I respond with action.
I am volunteering at the polls and join my local tribe doing the work united on the ground as well as donate to every single campaign across the country where brave and inspired and well qualified candidates are turning down corporate money bravely taking on MAGA.
I think the way Afghans loyal to the ideals of the West have been abandoned by particularly but not only by the Americans is despicable. The UK can be blamed for the last plane leaving Afghanistan being filled with the pets of those who had already escaped, rather than with loyal Afghans, but in mitigation we were largely dependent on US transport and defence. Trump couldn't get out fast enough, and just as with all his enterprises the idea of thoughtful planning never entered his head. Even the British, who fool ourselves there is a "Special Relationship" (felt only by our politicians it seems) were surprised by the swiftness of the unravelling which was damagingly hasty. My sympathy lies with people like you and the other Abandoned Afghan Allies, but sadly counts for little in practical terms. Good luck my friend.
We have managed to put in place a regime that beats eunuchs in that none of them has balls. There is actually a study showing monkeys with the smallest balls scream the loudest. Hegseth and Trump and the entire lot of them are screamers.
I just bought the book "Not Our Problem", which is about our abandonment of our Afghan allies. But so far, I haven't been able to bring myself to read it.
In case you forgot trump signed the treaty abandoning the Afghan people. Of course trump touted his success and did nothing to help prepare Biden had only a few months to prepare.
Trump's paw prints are on all that could have gone better if he was never born. It is the era of Trump 10+ years. It is not just a cold, or congestion or even a fever. It has been exhausting never ending explosive diarrhea splashing into every corner of the world affecting every single life on the planet no to speak of the planet itself.
Trump is the human equivalent of a pandemic targeting humanity. But we the people are the anecdote. Take heart and look in the mirror and say UNITED WE HAVE MORE POWER THAN ANY POWER KNOWN TO MANKIND! Then have your good cry, splash water on your beautiful American face and join those who are already out there doing the heavy lifting.
It is a cure for despair to connect with others. We are nothing alone other than the energy we can bring to a people united and present. Start here: WWW.INDIVISIBLE.ORG
I knew a teacher who excaped the massacre of teachers when Mao took over in China.
He escaped to another location (in China), and was overlooked while many of his fellow teachers were dragged in the streets and killed by pro-communist mobs.
I am not surprised that many Afghans who cooperated with the NATO forces could manage to hide, while the Taliban took control. It would still be dangerous for them.
Don't speak without knowing the full picture, and don't judge so quickly. Do you know what the ruling U.S. regime did to their Afghan allies and how they betrayed them? Do you know what kind of life Afghan allies are living now or what their fate has been? Please, do some research on the situation of Afghan allies first, and then come judge. Thank you.
Who is 'John Doe'? Having hidden his or her idenity, questions the identity of 'Abondoned Afghan Ally'. It is understandable to be curious about who each of them is, but neither have been forthcoming.
If "Abandoned Afghan Ally" is truly what he claims to be, posting more details of his situation would probably get him killed. I can't say the same for "John Doe."
The US's record concering its committments to democracy as written in the Declaration of Independence, The U.S. Constitution, The Bill of Rights, The Gettysburgh Address, and The Reconstruction Amendments (13th, 14th, 15th) compared to its goverment's policies, actions, positions, and 'rule of law' is quite a story. Whoever the "Abandoned Afghan Ally' may be, he or she brought our attention to a signifiant aspect of American history. Trump and his gang, The Republican and Democratic Parties, The Supreme Court, many of the tech billionaires as well as major corporations... have played their parts, although 'the story' began at the country's birth.
I have no desire to know whether John Doe is the (type of) person he claims to be, if he made any such claim. I do have a desire to know about 'Abandoned Afghan Ally', so the issues he raised are pertinent to me, while any issues raised about John Doe are not even in the slightest.
The deflection didn't help. Addressing the issue head on would be preferred. Something like "Well, you can believe me or not, your choice. If I proved my bona fides I'd be more likely to be found out and killed. Something you seem to be able to appreciate even in your skepticism. So, I can't help you any more than that."
The filthy rich have plans. Elon thinks he can escape to Mars. Others are building what they believe are self-sustaining compounds on distant lands or even underground. These people are just as amoral as Drumpf.
And a bit nutty to boot! Some of what they fear most would be less threatening if the wealth that they have accrued were used to better the world. Enjoy the fruits of your labor but use some of the excess to better the world that we all share.
that's exactly what I think every time I see the millions of 💲 spent on tv ads - that money could resolve so many issues: Arrest & prosecute trump & every murderer in DHS. Limit campaign$contributions & Time: 1 month MAX. Write or expand definitive ethical laws with Teeth & don't leave out supreme court. Get guns off our streets & make gun/ammo manufacturers liable for Every Murder/injury commited by their creations. Pay teachers nurses police firefighters EMTs a living wage. Increase Fed Minimum wage. Eliminate DHS & give their budget to Public Education & start teaching Civics again. Reinstate protections for Federal workers and reestablish separations between the Executive and all the cabinets. Retrieve & reallocate the Billions of Our Tax Dollars stolen by magas & trumps. Create a viable path to Citizenship. Release ALL the DHS prisoners and put DHS murderers in their camps. That's a good start.
yes, and more than a bit nutty. Look at "Anti-Christ" Thiel; what a focking schmuck. And Musk with his wealth could easily cover the costs of USAID and make the world so much better. These people are nefarious freaks
Don’t forget their yachts. The rich will put to sea as they search for ports not ablaze. As for climate change the world will burn. We need not die to meet the devil and his fiery domain. The living will experience hell on the face of this earth. As for willful ignorance, many in this administration and MAGA followers believe Jesus is coming any time now. Humanities greatest blind spot is the thought that our intelligence set us apart for all other living things. Via our intelligence we would defy death, we could rise to a god like plane. Sadly our intelligence is but a notch above tooth and claw. Musk will not make it to Mars, like his rich buddies he will have to settle for a bunker.
It already is. We seem to have forgotten the devastating wildfires in Australia and North Africa a couple of years ago, and those in Greece, southern France and the mountains of Portugal, not to mention the ones in Far Eastern Siberian Taiga forests. They were terrifying. Each year is worse than the previous year and the orange lump of blubber still refuses to admit that global warming is causing real destruction and loss of life on every continent except Antarctica.
With a monster high pressure system forming over half the U.S. this week. Saw a BBC interview with 2 climate scientists who said there is strong evidence the warming atmosphere is causing the jet stream to weaken and even become locked.
It can mean when a high-pressure dome forms it stays in place much longer and intensifies. We're seeing it in Western Europe with wildfires burning even in Britain and Scotland.
The supply lines of the wealthy are long and deep. What they need to survive this is not survival bunkers or L4 space stations, but a light touch on the earth, passive homes and subsistence farming. That is, reduce their reliance on others and consumption of resources. The problem with great quantities of money is it makes possible and encourages the opposite, the maximum consumption of resources, and the most reliance on people. They may think they can buy their way out of this one, but their lifestyle is far more reliant on the success of society to support it than would be a humble way of living.
There are currently 90 huge wildfires in the USA with more popping up daily. We live near the 101,420 acre Aspen Fire which has burned for a month. The article is right on target FIRE NOT ICE.
I grew up in a world where living well with family, friends, and jobs was valued. My parents cooked our food at home. It was nutritious. They kept us kids away from sugars in soda and candy. We learned the sugar in them harmed our bodies and our teeth. My parents worked to have a good, but not crazy expensive, home. Our society was that way, although some people were addicted to expensive homes, eating out, and being better than the Joneses. Now our entire society is addicted to money--as much as can be had. Our employers have lost their minds where money is concerned. Nothing matters to them but profits. Our entire fiscal system revolves around profit. It is the only thing of value in this system. Eating nutritious food made at home is for fools, according to this culture. What isn't crazy is buying food filled with salt and sugar and almost no nutrition. Yes, it is massively expensive. It takes two jobs just to live now. We have lost our minds as a culture and we are paying for it with obese and unhealthy bodies, and massive health bills. We are paying for it with shorter lives. We have to live on anti-obese and anti-diabetes drugs. They have become our nicotine addiction. They get more expensive every day. Their makers love that. We are destroying our planet to fuel such industrialist's extractions. Trump helps them do this everyday. Say goodbye to our protected lands in the USA and everywhere else. Industrialists are sucking our money out as fast as possible. They intend to have greater profits how often? The planet is burning. Money money money is our sickness, it is our addiction. It has hurt every aspect of our lives. It is time to stop this addiction.
I am poor. I have been most of my life. I have not worked two shitty jobs though. I have had many times when affording food was difficult--now is one of those times. I came from a lower middle class family who worked their way to a middle middle class life. They got there in late mid life. They are dead now. I was born white, which was more helpful in this society than can be imagined if you aren't born in that group, even if you are poor. I am deeply in student debt to get the degree many people insist I don't deserve, and the people I studied with thought my class and age were not sufficient to do well getting a job, but they were willing to take my money and the money of people who were willing to lend to me at high interest rates. I do carry that burden. It sucks to be poor no matter who you are. I have cooked my own meals all my life. I have found ways for that type of food to be much much cheaper than buying out. But, again, I was a white woman, which has helped me. As for one's looks, that is absolutely a factor in how other people treat you as a human being and it is evil. No one should have to cope with this behavior from others, and one should not be judged badly because one is poor. Well-off and moderately well off white people adore money in the same way industrialists do and they buy for many reasons because they can. I do believe they are contributing to the addiction to money and position that is rife in their culture. If it helps you to imagine I am some well off white person who doesn't understand being poor, I am sorry. I don't fit your bill. I also don't fit the bill of the well-off nor anyone who has taught me over the years. Occasionally I can be experienced as a person with feelings. I cherish those folks, regardless of the class they come from. I wish you well.
Don't forget that Mar's gravity is only 38% of Earth's. You could ask AI (what is known or recorded, so this will be faulty in those regards) if humans can live on Mars successfully and if they can bear children on Mars (recall, Musk cares nothing about humans, their survival, and nothing at all about women, except to replicate him, because he is perfect). Here is the answer you get about other humans living on Mars and bearing children:
Yes, it is theoretically possible for humans to live on Mars, but it requires advanced life-support technology because the planet is fundamentally hostile to human life.To survive, humans must live inside pressurized, climate-controlled habitats—potentially built underground or inside lava tubes—to block intense space radiation, maintain oxygen levels, and stay warm in freezing temperatures.
However, when it comes to gestating and bearing a baby on Mars, scientists warn that it is an incredibly high-risk scenario. Since human reproduction evolved entirely under Earth’s conditions, attempting a pregnancy on Mars introduces major biological and medical hurdles:
Severe Radiation RisksCellular damage:
Mars lacks a thick atmosphere and a strong magnetic field. Cosmic rays and solar radiation can damage DNA in sperm and egg cells, lowering the chances of successful fertilization.
Developmental harm: If fertilization does happen, radiation can stop fetal cells from replicating correctly. This can cause miscarriage, restricted growth, severe brain and organ malformations, or childhood cancer.
Gravity and Delivery Complications
Placental issues: Animal studies suggest that lower gravity can impair how an embryo implants in the uterus and how the placenta functions.
Physical strain on the mother: Carrying a baby and giving birth requires immense physical and bone strength. Because Mars' low gravity constantly weakens human bones and muscles, pregnancy could cause severe physical trauma to the mother's skeletal system.
Dangerous medical procedures: Medical care will be severely restricted. If a woman needs an emergency C-section, performing surgery in a low-gravity environment is highly dangerous because bodily fluids and blood behave differently, making contamination and bleeding harder to control.
The Immune System DilemmaDouble suppression: A woman’s immune system is naturally suppressed during pregnancy so her body does not reject the fetus. Because low-gravity environments also suppress the immune system, a pregnant woman on Mars would be highly vulnerable to life-threatening infections.
Permanent Earth Exclusion for the Child
Altered development: A baby developing in 38% gravity will grow differently than an Earth-born child. Their bones, muscles, circulatory system, and inner-ear balance mechanisms will adapt entirely to Mars.
Inability to visit Earth: Because of these permanent developmental changes, the child's body would likely be too weak to ever handle Earth’s gravity. Stepping onto Earth would instantly make them feel three times heavier, potentially causing their bones to fracture and their heart and lungs to fail under the strain.
Because of these extreme risks, space agencies and private space settlement concepts strongly advise early settlers against trying to become pregnant.
This is a great explanation of the biological hurdles facing colonization of Mars. The technological and economic hurdles are even more daunting. The cost and logistics to support a few tens of people are daunting. Hundreds if not thousands of flights required to transport machinery and supplies to build a self-supporting sustainable environment. Flights taking six to nine months every two years. This is all stuff of sci-fi fantasy. We'd be much better off dealing with climate change on earth at a fraction of the cost of creating a martian colony.
Well, the idea has always been to "terraform" Mars and turn it into a habitable planet. That idea predates Musk. My understanding is that this is theoretically possible, but my feeling is it's not going to happen.
Insanity will prevail on Mars. Our DNA is programmed to love the sound of running water, a clear blue sky, and, well, breathing. Life on Mars, a great oxymoron, will be brutal.
You’re probably right, and it would take hundreds of years. The old science fiction novels all had Mars inhabitants living in domed cities (I was an avid reader). There were even some stories of an Earth that had become a planet wide desert where people had to live in tightly controlled domed cities, where of course, populations were not allowed to grow.
Right. Heinlein said the greatest failure was this - they predicted television and they predicted travel to the moon, but nobody predicted that the first moon landing would be televised.
in Ray Bradbury's " Martian Chronicles", mans' first missions to mars were not successful, because the Martians kept killing the astronauts! But after a while, the Martians just moved to another part of the planet.
My favorite part of the novel was when Americans began to settle on Mars and create little suburbs, just like they'd lived in on earth!. Then, of course, they sent the Priests and ministers to Mars to convert the Martians,! i remember laughing out loud at that chapter!
No, I read a serious book about this years ago. The author was scientifically trained. It is theoretically possible to do it, apparently. But I don't think the resources or the will are there to attempt it. Anyway, I'm not saying it's a good idea, even in theory.
Nor do we have all of the technology to make it happen yet. It’s not just is it possible, but also do we know how, do we have the ability to get the materials there, do we have ability to construct said technology once there, and so on. The cost and ability to do so would also be astronomical and incredibly difficult.
And the other thing about this idea, whether it’s Mars or the moon or space stations, is that it doesn’t solve the problem of how we destroyed our perfectly good (lovely) planet. It will just happen again.
All that and the tiny number of people who could ever get there. When I was young and full of dreams, I thought it was a wonderful and exciting thing, but the more I thought about it, the more I realized that’s all it ever was—a dream.
It's easier to built a habitation orbiting Mars than to live on its surface. A few science fiction stories feature a shipyard in orbit around Mars utilizing materials mined from the Asteroid Belt; this is more likely and more useful than a town on the Martian surface.
I'm not talking science fiction. I read a nonfiction book (sorry, can't remember the title) that talked about a process to "terraform" Mars so that it could be habitable for humans. The idea was presented as scientifically possible, and as I recall the author was knowledgeable and not a crank. I'm not a scientist and I'm also not saying it would be a good idea.
If humans could terraform Mars, then we more easily could make Earth into a paradise again.
Sorry you doubt that I'm knowledgeable and consider me a crank. I studied architecture and cosmology and a few other pertinent topics at advanced levels. I've designed a habitation for Antarctica. I have a master land use plan for Sol System.
I guess they are assuming their AI robots will do the terraforming once all the scientists move to Europe and Asia. They are hoping all the other unworthy American humans will be dead by then or turned into drooling drunk cage fighters. Kinda amazing the plan both calls for the demise of unimportant citizens and unlimited propagation without survival safety nets. Baffling.
Elon no longer plans to escape to Mars. Meanwhile he is contributing greatly to the unliveablity of the Texas community where he has his Space company and company community.
Apparently, the bunkers are fueled by diesel and require air from outdoors. These could be blocked. They are swirtching to lithium batteries briefly charged by the diesel. still an issue but more briefly. Waste management, food supply, med staff, OR, drugs, maintenance staff, armory, rules enforcement are all issues.
As amoral and, apparently, as stupid, if they think they (or their children) can simply escape the impact of climate change. Or that they won't be affected when they or their children get sick and - whoops! - those cancer treatments that had been in the works don't actually exist as they'd been defunded by this gov't and the scientists working on them have gone to the EU or China....
This is Professor Krugman at his most serious, most exasperated, and angriest. The time for moderation and conciliation is long gone; we are burning, we are dying, and our governments are failing.
The universe is 13.8 billion years old. Humanity is a mere blip on that cosmic scale. The universe cares not whether homo sapiens survives as a species.
Now that it’s 40 years past the time when I had these kinds of conversations with my white blue collar coworkers, I can say Professor Krugman was spot on when he said “But this is all hatred of basically anything that involves hard thinking”. They refused to do any monthly budget planning because it would mean giving up the trip to the bar and poker machine on the way home from work, and they prioritized entertainment above all else. This was also the criterion they used for voting.
If I could draw (I can't. All my drawings look like a third grader's work.) I would make a political drawing of a couple of (outer space) aliens examining the ruins of an Earth city. The caption:
"And they destroyed the whole planet in just 5,000 years! Amazing!)
We (humanity) are a disease on this planet. If she is to survive, we cannot. This just seems evident to me. There are humans who can see what needs to be done and who would try and create a more equal world - surely all the money being hoarded by the billionaires would go along way to help others - but just look at the history of humans. We would rather hate than love; kill, rather than recognise our common humanity; pit us against one another, than live in harmony. We do not deserve this beautiful, unique planet Earth. She will be better off without us.
Sad but so true. I try not to be a downer, I really do. However, Mother Nature will do us in unless we start taking care of our planet. It may be too late, but one never knows what’s around the corner. 1st we must get rid of Trump and his entire cabinet, and get big money out of politics. That’s the 1st 2 things we need to do.
As a matter of fact, the IPCC reports have warned about wildfires as much as floods and droughts for the past twenty years, fires are mentioned literally hundreds of times in their reports. They did miss the dangers of smoke, however, until that began to actually damage health over large areas. (This was not the UN actually, the IPCC is an independent intergovernmental body, appointed by governments but endorsed and administered by the UN)
A quibble: the timeline for scientific alarm goes back much further than 20 years. Bell Laboratories aired TV specials on the issue in 1958. The combined work of scientists in 1824 and 1856 figured out the atmosphere would warm with carbon dioxide spawn into it and it wouldn’t be good for the planet. Apparently the scientist in 1856, Eunice Foote, was a woman so that could explain why it was the issue was dismissed for so many decades.
The IPCC and COP are performative governmental sponsored entities which seek to downplay and conceal the true nature of the climate crisis. Cloaked in the secrecy of backroom negotiations and deals, the IPCC is the show the public is meant to consume rather than the information provided by actual climate scientists. Each year, the resulting IPCC "report" is censored, rewritten and softened by myriad governmental and fossil fuel attendees so as to blunt the impact of what is really happening. "Don't believe what you see and experience, believe what we tell you in our manipulated and controlled report."
It's true that the IPCC reports' summary statements must be approved even by, say, Saudi Arabia -- so it's important and valuable that even so, they point to a disastrous future as the most likely outcome. The facts are just too plain to whitewash. Moreover, digging into the detailed text of the reports you find ample information that less likely but still entirely plausible outcomes could be existentially catastrophic for our civilization. The big problem is not the IPCC statements, but how they are reported by the media and addressed by influencers including politicians. This is where the power of the fossil fuel industry does its main work.
No--IPCC has an excellent 35 year record for accuracy. It is the InterGOVERNMENTAL Panel on Climate Change, so of course it will take a conservative view.
The very first international consensus report forecasting climate change, the 1990 IPCC assessment, was spot on. Look up the comparisons, it's worth the time.
It really should be a criterion to get a vote for any and all political office - the person must say that the climate crisis is a serious problem, and that Biden won the 2020 election. We have the topls to reduce fossil fuel burning. We have reasonably priced solar, ev and battery. Just like the Ukranians and the Iranians do not need expensive solutions, as they fight for their lives. The technology is there - it requires leadership, commitment. It's amazing that a handful of billionaires with fossil fuel business interests are destroying our planet. Before George Bush, we had consensus, and now we have a nihilistic faction saying anything to lead this maga coalition and all of us to the cliff.
Overwhelming existential problems all at once. Seems greed,
greed, and greed are the culprits. I’m sad for kids and babies and animals. I’m contemptuous of Big Oil, the men inside the war machine, and ignorant, arrogant people with money and power. The last is reprehensible.
The thought I keep worrying about is that, after all, millions of Americans voted for this, many knowingly. Many millions are still all in, knowingly. Has the preponderance of American people become worthless jerks, caring about nothing but their own slovenly pleasure? Has desire for the good, thirst for knowledge, concern for humanity, as well as honor and honesty and decency--have they all seeped out of America, to be replaced by lazy, stupid, languid uselessness? What future awaits us as a county?
Mr. Krugman: I’m not sure they even really have the concept that there is objective reality. And they certainly hate anybody who tries to argue that what they’re saying is objectively, empirically not true."
That describes their followers, not just the perpetrators of all this crap. In other words, they don't see what we see.
And that's by design. Destroy people's sense of reality, of what is true or not; make them doubt everything, and you have what is happening now.
I live in MAGA land. Some are actually awful people, but I see most of them as "marks". Trump has been an effective con man all his life, and if that's all he was, it wouldn't be so bad, but he's got smart, rich, fanatical people behind him.
Yes, that's the way propaganda works. It first must "tenderize" the minds of people to make them pliable and then install the false narratives, even multiple false narratives that conflict with each other, but it does the job of making people passove and unable to resist. The propaganda of capitalism itself is the worst. It makes people accept the class slavery of the working class spending our lives in servitude to the capitalist class, and destroys the potential of international class solidarity by making the people of the imperial core so dumbed down and unable to think that it's like talking to a fence post.
I remember back in the early 2010s, when a whole bunch of far right identity politics websites showed up all at once. Now one could argue that was 'authentic' and spontaneous, but I don't think it was.
I think the 'mark' comment is spot on in MAGA land and that some very devious analysts as agents of either capital or foreign interests began the process of 'tenderizing' their brains 5-6 years before Donald first ran for president. They segmented the far right into political 'wedge' issues using browsing data, and built sites around those issues as a means to implement their plan.
Alex Jones is a good example and was likely a gateway for them. The result, though, is long term for the rabid 20% who still support him
Very astute, though I cast a wider frame and call nearly all mainstream media including most of academia as the curators of the general climate that confuses people and obfuscates reality, even down to Hanna Arendt and Democracy Now and NPR and the BBC and New York Times. The whole kit and kaboodle.
I'm certainly not extensively or deeply read on the subject, and this is probably old hat, but I think of society as being -- among other things -- a set of interlocking dispute resolution mechanisms. I would grant that raw force probably came first, "Do as I say or I will hurt you." But others have been added along the way. There are religious dispute resolution mechanisms, political dispute resolution mechanisms, legal and financial dispute resolution mechanisms, and possibly the latest to evolve, scientific dispute resolution mechanisms. And of them all, surely this last is the least ambiguous, the most objective, and the most unamenable (I think) to force. That's what chaps these guys. They want to be able to say "Stop saying that, or I will hurt you, physically, financially or otherwise." But science, famously, doesn't care. You can force individuals to emit the proper words of obeisance, but the proper application of the scientific method famously isn't swayed by this tactic. "Nevertheless, it moves."
I used to wonder why people would say "You think you're better 'n me" when presented clear evidence that what they were saying (Young Earth, Relativity is Wrong, etc.) That was a while ago. I've long since come to the realization that what they were really saying was that people like me had the better argument by far but they'd be damned if they were going to give us the satisfaction of saying we were right all along, ineluctably so. What they were really saying was that if it wasn't for pesky niceties like the law, they could pound pencil necks like me into the ground, and deservedly so for -- this is the way they really think -- making them look like fools.
So long as they (the Proles) continued to work and breed, their other activities were without importance. Left to themselves, like cattle turned loose upon the plains of Argentina, they had reverted to a style of life that appeared to be natural to them, a sort of ancestral pattern...Heavy physical work, the care of home and children, petty quarrels with neighbors, films, football, beer and above all, gambling filled up the horizon of their minds. To keep them in control was not difficult. George Orwell, 1984
Please remember that most people are not lazy, stupid MAGAs.
Some are merely ignorant.
Others are uninformed.
We still have a chance to save our democracy.
The only "good" thing about Trump is that he is hammering everyone, including his own voters, with his tariffs and wars and corruption and just one bad decision after another.
Many of his voters have expressed non-enthusiasm for Republican candidates in the mid-terms.
Not sure if this falls within "merely ignorant" or "uninformed," but the most salient factor in whether or not someone is a MAGAt is their level of racism - the more racist, the more likely to support Trump. Now, I agree that racism is ignorant - but it's also hateful. And, as we have seen over many, many, years - it makes people impervious to the lure of policies that might make their lives better - b/c they're so afraid that those policies also might improve the lives of POC.
That does seem to be the case. The traditional GOP was mainly about lowest-possible taxes and deregulation. That wasn't working very well for them until they managed to co-opt whites in the lower half of the economic hierarchy to be against "welfare" initiatives that would benefit them on the basis that it would also help "those people." There were a lot of government benefits that were popular after WWII that were basically for whites only. As soon as those benefits stopped being discriminatory, they became "communist." Nixon picked up the mantle from George Wallace and Reagan put a sunny face on it. Southerner Bill Clinton famously said "the era of big government is over," not because it was, but because he knew how to get votes. Romney got caught when he didn't think cameras were rolling denigrating 47% of Americans as irresponsible takers who don't contribute anything. That is the traditional GOP. Nixon and Reagan and Trump were able to attract enough racists into the fold to win, even though most of them are in that 47%, of whom Romney said "my job is not to worry about those people." He forgot that first you have to get their votes, mainly by playing the race card.
"Desire for the good, thirst for knowledge, concern for humanity, as well as honor and honesty and decency" have clearly been abandoned by 30-40 percent of U.S. voters in favor of MAGA Christian Nationalism.
"Lazy, stupid, languid uselessness" covers the 'undecided' and 'non-' voters.
Rather itis a "preponderance of stupidity". According to the election analysts Trump was returned, at the last election, by black Americans and Latinos as much as white voters. Stupidity is not ethnically linked nor is selfishness.
That is not true. He did get a higher percentage of black and hispanic votes in the most recent election than in the earlier ones, but still low percentages in all three. Those stats should be easy to find.
They don’t see, don’t want to see, and/or don’t care because it doesn’t seem to directly affect them yet (though it does!). Americans are terribly self focused, having gotten noticeably more so over the past decade. Many can’t even pull together to care about their hyper local community. Of course it’s no surprise they don’t look at the wider world and think uh oh how do we address this, what is my part. And amongst a certain subset, they live by victim mentality, so they may never do anything more than look for who to blame for their circumstances, the earth, whatever, doing little or nothing in their own life in terms of change.
Scott, it has been dumb to be smart and smart to be dumb for decades. There’s been a dumbing down that I’ve watched my now 50 something year-old children experience their whole lives.
The US people are so highly propagandized that they don't know the most basic things about the world situation, and there is no viable choice for them because both parties are completely puppets of the capitalist class.
Empires fall. I wonder if we are the first humans to experience it and recognize it, at the same time? This time is different; our “empire” is taking down the whole world
I suppose that those people who voted for this are also those who have no interest in science and research or ability to understand it. Depth isn't their strong suit.
And they have proved once and for all, that low intellect is not a deal breaker when it comes to accumulating great wealth. All that seems to be required is a head start (already possess some wealth) and inexhaustible, insatiable greed.
Yes. Scandinavian countries are considered free-market capitalist economies. But they use heavy progressive taxation and robust welfare systems to redistribute wealth, and they maintain transparent, regulated political financing.
But excessive money in politics is due to excessive wealth, which is due to a flaw in INSUFFICIENTLY CONSTRAINED market capitalism. It behaves like the game MONOPOLY!!
In a fair ongoing game, any participant with more money is probabilistically likely to gain even more (They can take high risk/high reward chances that would bankrupt poorer players); just having more $$ means they are less likely to go broke which means, WITHOUT SOME MEANS TO CONTROL THIS TENDENCY, market economies will create oligopolies and aristocracy.
Markets are useful, but must be retrained.
The obvious answer is to build in some means of taxing great wealth that prevents accumulation beyond some level, and make it impossible to remove.
Yep. The political spectrum now must shift from left vs right to ultra wealthy vs everyone else. The ultra wealthy want to divide us with culture wars to distract us, while they run away with the dough. They are buying up lame-stream media and social media platforms to control the narrative in an attempt to keep us divided.
Yesterday it was 105 in Minnesota! Yes, July is hot and humid in Minnesota, but this is off the charts. The smoke has subsided for now….hundreds of thousands of people in France and Spain are being evacuated….fire, indeed…and Drump fiddles on….
"Fiddles" is hardly the word for it! That suggests more ability than he's demonstrating lately. Losing the Iran War is driving him crazy. Did you see all the crap he posted yesterday? (As reported, as I don't read TS.)
All these bizarre fantasy AI videos of him saving George Washington, him posing with JFK in front of the White House, him driving a PT boat, him looming over the world as a "Guardian".
Truly insane stuff, like a little boy's musings after he's been scolded by his parents while he sulks in his room. He's clearly assuaging his ego, and it's insane! What is it going to take for the legacy media - for Congress and Republicans in general - to SAY this is insane??
It is interesting that a high proportion of the Chinese leadership were trained as Engineers and Scientists. It's probably directly related to how fast China has been developing as a Technological power.
Certainly, as someone that trained as an Engineer myself, it pains me to see the complete lack of understanding of Science and Technology amongst the political leadership here in the UK.
You can be as decent and well meaning a politician as you want, but without either an understanding of Science and Technology - or at least the willingness to educate oneself on the basics (perhaps to the level of being able to read an understand the likes of the New Scientist or Scientific American), I fail to see how one can make educated decisions about the strategic direction our highly technological societies must take.
Doing PPE at Oxford or Cambridge (or the American equivalent) and leaving the Technology to the Tech Bros. has got us to where we are today. Its not good enough.
I would give almost anything to hear one journalist, just one journalist, ask Trump, Whiskey Pete, 'Lil Marco, or Karoline Leavett to define the 'Scientific Method.'
I agree. My own family is “engineers all the way down” and as the only girl, I was steered in a different direction (marriage and children), but I was always interested in science and technology and am horrified at how “anti” my fellow Brits are. One of my brothers once remarked to me, while trying to hire machinists for his small company, that “engineer” seemed to be a dirty word to them. It makes me so angry.
I grew up in Africa. Engineers were at the same social standing as Doctors and Lawyers. It was a shock to me when I came back to the UK and encountered this attitude here. I think it has had a lot to do with our decline as a manufacturing nation.
You’re right about that. The engineering company that one of my brothers worked for—well established, highly respected, with several branches and plants—was bought out in the late eighties by an American hedge fund company that wanted the land. They shut down the entire operation. My brother ended up starting his own company (he is a hands-on engineer, as was our dad) and acquired a lot of the machinery from the plant. He’s still working with it, making one-off parts for vintage cars. That’s not the only British engineering company that’s been gutted due to lack of government support. We used to be renowned for our engineers!
I recommend a book that my book club recently read, called "Breakneck: China's Quest to Engineer the Future" by Dan Wang, where he talks about China being run by engineers, while the US is run by lawyers. We do not agree with all of his conclusions, but we felt that he taught us a lot about how things work in China that is crucial to understanding what is going on with trade.
As for the tech bros. A lot of them pay other people to do the R and D.
And in the absence of that, because probably a variety of backgrounds is best, then one should have the humility and integrity to seek out, listen to, converse with those who are experts in relevant fields. And everyone should leave their arrogance at the door. No one should operate like they are the smartest person in the room.
Talking with conservatives about climate change is always enlightening because the degree of straw-grasping they have to do is just terrifying. Obviously there's just straight-up denialism. But there are many who cannot deny their own lived experiences that, yes, the climate is indeed changing and getting warmer. So they grasp at:
The data is faked by greedy scientists and the UN, who are being paid by [unknown] to fake the data.
This is all part of a natural 10,000-year sun-planet cycle.
This is all due to internal forces within the Earth.
This is part of a conspiracy to force one-world government on us.
Greenhouse gases are all fake! The REAL culprit is [fill in environmental thing].
Every conservative I know who is grasping these straws is also firmly in the covid denialist camp. How they survive so disconnected from reality, I do not know.
I live in Colorado, where I grew up without air conditioners. We sometimes had hot spells but it always cooled off at night and we could keep the house cool by closing the windows during the day and opening them at night.
I’m sleepless right now because it’s 77 degrees at 4:30 in the morning. It’s been in the 90s (often upper 90s, yesterday 100) for the entire month of July. And it hasn’t rained, following a winter without snow. This year’s wildfires haven’t been as bad as some years, but they’re bad enough. It’s like all the dystopian climate change science fiction is coming true.
The weather report for the Twin Cities where I live says sunny skies and (yet another) 90 + day. Instead we are shrouded in heavy air with very little visability. It’s not wildfire smoke or fog. It’s because our dew point matches our temperature. (80 and 80 at 6:00 in the morning). As a senior, I can’t recall this ever happening before. But unusual weather like this is now the norm. And my U.S. Rep Tom Emmer says, in response to my email to him about the terrible air quality here due to wildfires, Trump is taking care of it by imposing more tariffs on Canada to punish them for not taking care of their forests. Such idiocy!
I remember Kurt Vonnegut wrote something about our planet that, "We could have saved it, but we were too damned cheap." Not sure if cheap is the right word. Maybe greedy and intellectually lazy.
Egberto Willes on his radio show, "Egberto Off the Record" out of Texas, just explained that we could have solved or diminished climate change if it weren't that we are a capitalist country and couldn't figure out how to do it within the system, beginning with President Carter.
I think 'capitalism' is something of a red herring in this predicament, if only because capitalism seeks to commodify anything and everything and externalities like 'clean air,' 'clean water,' 'waste disposal,' could all be commodified, provided there was a will to do so and a shared sense of objective reality anchored in the Scientific Method.
My own villain in this set piece is not capitalism per se, but anti-intellectualism, denying that anthropomorphic climate change is even a thing.
Capitalism fuels anti-intellectualism because it's a system of class servitude of the many to the few, so it needs to muddy the waters of rational thought because it's indefensible rationally, and covering up the ecological destruction it has wrought for the profits of the capitalists to be as big as possible is part of the domain of its propaganda. Capitalist propaganda has dumbed down the US people to an unbelievable extent, and even those who seem to be intellectuals are off the trail of truth and into weeds planted there intentionally to distract us all. But there is an objective reality and we can stay on track with the right discipline.
I'll have to think more closely about what you posit (about capitalism fueling anti-intellectualism). Certainly feudalism and, before that, slavery were just as combustible a fuel for anti-intellectualism as capitalism. I suppose there is some truth to what you argue, if only because capitalism and capitalists, with only a few exceptions like Engels and Lenin, remain implacable foes of Scientific Socialism (aka "Marxism") which, to my mind, epitomizes the heights of intellect.
Yes, I would say that any system of exploitation has a tendency against genuine intellectualism and also a tendency to create pseudo-intellectualism to fill the void and act as a decoy.
Trump and the tyrants who have gone before him want ignorant, obedient citizens who will buy the lies and not question them. Science must go. Intellectuals must go. Organized trade unions must go. Any thing that will challenge the tyrant must be squashed and discredited. Ignorance and obedience are fodder for the corrupt regime. Same old play book.
Exactly. Hardly new that fascists hate intellectual endeavors and promote lies and crude myths. Nazis with their blond Aryans and Hegseth with his testosterone shots...
Climate Change is not even on the radar for issues for the 2026 midterm elections. Candidates, even liberal ones don't mention it except for somewhere buried on their websites. It is a SIN! As Pope Francis said years ago, this issue is not political but a moral one.
It’s terrible, Vandermeer. We have lived in the high desert of two western states for going on 30 years and have finally had enough. The wildfire risk here in southern California is so great, that most home insurance companies have pulled out of the state completely. We lost our carrier last year and are now paying 40 percent more for a premium with a much higher deductible. Of course the new company is gouging us but we have no other options. We are retired seniors, in our late sixties and childless. We are scared of losing our home in a wildfire and ending up with nothing. After what happened in Los Angeles last year, we realized it’s time to sell up and flee to a cooler area with access to water … if we can afford it! 😱
Hi Punkette, I lived in the Los Angeles hills (Sherman Oaks) years ago and it was difficult to get home insurance because of the fire risk. It broke my heart to see what happened in SoCal last year.
Thanks, Ann. We are thinking about it. I visited Oregon several times in the 90s and love it there. Such a beautiful state, especially the coastline. Hope it hasn’t changed too much.
Professor Krugman, You are doing much with your column to dissect the awful realities of our current administration and the way their policies benefit only the few oligarchs and sycophants at the top. Even more important, I believe, is your primer on income inequality and what it brings about. Others, like Robert Reich, Heather Cox Richardson, Sheldon Whitehouse, etc., have warned about the toxic effects of extreme wealth on a democracy struggling to use the old rules of law to counteract a truly malevolent group wielding all aspects of government power. But your conversations with Gabriel Zucman and subsequent posts lay out the problem in analytic terms and provide a political guidebook to solve our societal problem. A wealth tax - such as California’s Prop 40 - is the camel’s nose in the oligarch’s tent. Keep proposing rational solutions to our current state of degradation. I believe the t-rump crowd will provide continued motivation to build political will to enact them into law. A Wealth tax is an idea whose time has come,
I wanted to point out that my husband and child are in Chicago and there the pollution was coming from both the Canadian and the Minnesotan wild fires. The Minnesotan supposedly contributed more to the Chicago pollution than the Canadian, but who knows.
I am safely in Northern Germany, and we are not having wild fires here. The warming and fires is why I appreciate the rainy days. The wetter things are, the less fire prone. I have solar on my roof, but have been thinking about greening it where there are no panels. My city often has rain and sun in the same day, and I can live with that. Everyone has good rainwear. We also are a biking city so people have rain pants too. Our drinking water is good quality and tastes good. No filters are needed.
Most people when they retire look for a place that is less expensive. We did that. We also wanted cooler summers and warmer winters than Chicago. We wanted cleaner air, and fewer wildfires, good transportation network, and a bike friendly culture. We also wanted a political climate that we would feel a part of. This we have achieved. I would love to advise people when thinking of retirement that they should be considering climate effects as much as possible when choosing a place. Not a place that is perpetually sunny, but a place that is positioned and willing to do what it takes to go into the future reducing dependence on fossil fuels and climate change and where they are less likely to be hit with fires, floods or extreme temperatures.
Here in the U.K., we’ve had three heatwaves already, and another one is about to descend on us. They aren’t nearly as extreme as the heatwaves around the Mediterranean, but our homes weren’t built for hot weather and hardly anyone has air conditioning, so old people, small children and disabled people are in danger. I have read a couple of stories about the Rhine water levels being so low that shipping has been affected, but that is more a result of the lack of rain in the alps to the south.
Not to frighten you, but if/when the Gulf Stream/conveyor belt slows or reverses, the UK will be among the hardest hit.
Practically no one in the US is taking this as an imminent threat--which it is. I am only one person, but I am trying…Shame on us. Hopefully we can begin to mount a political movement here.
Youre right—I’ve been following this phenomenon ever since I first heard about it. It is really alarming. If I remember correctly, there was an article about it not so long ago in The Guardian.
I would like Princeton and Harvard to explain Hegseth, particularly Princeton. He has hardly made that school look good. I cannot be the only one who knows very bright people who have gone through there, so how does one explain him?
It’s painful to see how leaders ignore objective facts and science, but for those of us in Afghanistan,this lack of responsibility is nothing new. As an Afghan ally who stood alongside US forces and was abandoned by this current administration, I’ve seen what happens when politicians care more about short-term goals than truth, loyalty, and human lives.
That is very true. It also makes me very angry. I am so heartbroken about the way our politicians have broken their promise to bring you here to have shelter from the country that might destroy you
Yes exactly 💯
The truth is we should not be broken hearted but accept it is our responsibility to control who gets elected. They work for us. Call Congress and express your demands every day no matter what side of the fence the official may fall. It generates energy on the floor. It is very much like for us when at work on the days our manager or their manager is present. Stay present or they will run the country into the ground. This is just like a business, but it is our business and as such all that happens is our responsibility. Engage! For our children! https://indivisible.org/actions/senate-oppose-clayton-nomination/?akid=126446.4440309.dF48WP&rd=1&t=11&utm_medium=newsletter_20260727&utm_source=email
Yes, we must stop critisizing Mr. Trump, but find ways to win the midterm election and minimize the damage till then. There is no guarantee that the midterm will take place.
I missed where it is inferred I suggested we stop criticizing Trump. It is our civic duty to be loud and heard. I said we need to get into action. There should be outrage and a sense of urgency. No time for grief -- for that to me is surrender. I wish everyone the best and please know I'm crying most of the day -- but my nature is to push back and fight no matter the threat.
I am also afraid, but I feel in my gut this willingness to die for our children. I'm 75 and will be volunteering at the polls. Heck I was almost run down by a Trump supporter who aimed his truck at the group I was standing next to protesting in front of a Town Hall in a sleepy suburban town south of Boston. It's dangerous out there. Keep a sharp eye and take care of each other.
Of course, we are all lamenting we are here in this place and time but look at what is positive. Without this reason to ban together we would not know each other. Our individual worlds have grown exponentially with our connection. There is so much to celebrate and we are not powerless. We are in fact when united more powerful than an atomic bomb -- heck 100 atomic bombs!
The enemy has shown their flank which is their fear of a united American people. This is blatantly made clear given their trillions invested to divide us. They are trembling with fear. Let's show them they need to be afraid, very afraid. In fact, run away and save yourselves you low life cowards. You all belong in jail. You are treasons and corrupt.
The trials are something I hope to see. ENGAGE! www.indivisible.org
You are a soldier of American Democracy.
That was Hiro, not you, who said we should stop criticizing Trump. Of course Hiro meant it as stop wasting energy yakking about Trump and get involved in a project that will remove him from power.
A citizen like you will gather and protect American democracy this November. HCR will write a new chapter of the civil war in America - no guns.
I ask each of us to look in the mirror and see the hero reflected there. Americans have independence in our DNA. Immigrants are here pinning to contribute and as with each generation work so their children can join us in defending our democracy. I am no less heroic than anyone else. Each of us has unique gifts to offer at this time. Mine happens to be writing but I am no more courageous or strong than my fellow Americans and I am humbled to be with you on the right side of history.
The world believes in America. The world sees what has happened here and we are not entirely victims but authors of our own fate -- that facility exists going forward as well as looking backward. I believe in the magnificence of Americans. It is not "Pollyanna" but based on facts. We are more powerful than any threat if we unite. Each of us is a single unit with enormous power when we step out and link arms and stand shoulder to shoulder and take care of each other. Nothing can stop us.
The midterms will take place! We the people must each find something to do up until that time. United we are powerful. INDIVISIBLE! ENGAGE!
Agreed
They wouldn’t listen and I gave up trying, Maybe others will be more successful than I have. I did get through to my daughter and my husband though.
But those "devotees" do not read these comments.
This^^^ is our only hope. It's good to see more and more people starting to get engaged.
I welcome this crisis for it has brought on a long delayed forced maturity that will in the end save and strengthen our democracy. We who were born in these times must stand up and respond to the times we were born into. Many came before us. It is our turn. www.indivisible.org
Just for the record, I'm one of an apparently very small group of voters who does NOT think we should all be on the phone to Congress every day of our lives. Weighing in now and then is one thing - constant nattering is another. Also, doesn't seem to be that effective, and definitely not foolproof. We have SOME absolutely terrible people in government at the moment, and if the actual GOOD, WISE folks we managed to get elected are unaware of what's going on right in front of them without reading/listening to thousands of their constituents' thoughts on every matter under the sun, there's little hope. It should NOT be like days when "their manager is present." The workers should be working hard when on the job, not just when the manager (babysitter???) is on site. Frequent and compulsory [for the officer] face-to-face townhall meetings would be a more effective way for voters to register expectations, concerns, and demands. IMHO.
Obviously they do not care
Broken promises from our government have been a trademark starting with the Native Americans and continuing today.
Well, duplicity has been a human specialty for millenia.
Holding up elected officials as our "leaders" and our saviors is a form of fantasy, naivety and magical thinking. I nurture a different mindset which is one of mature responsibility. We are the ones in charge of the protection and growth of our democracy and empowered to do so.
And no one is coming to save us. It is we the people united who will save us. The proof of this is reflected in history but also in the fact our enemy has invested trillions to divide us. This very act reveals their flank which is an overwhelming fear of a united American people.
Engage! Look for work! Each single person when part of the whole makes the difference and changes the course of history. Start here and now! Indivisible is asking us today to call Congress. The platform provided (see below) makes it easy to get done.
Engage! Don't project onto their non-response. Also make that call no matter what side of the issues your officials land. The main purpose of all these acts of civic duty is keeping up the pressure. Pressure breaks pipes. The amount of pressure is directly influenced by the number of participants.
We need every single one of us. Our democracy needs you. Our children need you.
https://indivisible.org/actions/senate-oppose-clayton-nomination/?akid=126446.4440309.dF48WP&rd=1&t=11&utm_medium=newsletter_20260727&utm_source=email
What Prof. Krugman seems unable to admit is that our troubles are the result of the very system that supports and even personifies. For decades we were ruled by the respectable elites who did such a consistent job of oppressing us and discrediting themselves that in our desperation we turned to the maniacs who are now in charge.
If you want to see ultimate causes, you should look in the mirror, Prof. Krugman.
If I could leave, I would.
no doubt
I cannot tell you how ashamed I am at how this nation, in which I had faith for perhaps too long, treats its best friends and allies.
The fact that everyday Americans stand with us gives me hope to keep seeking justice. Sadly, the current US government abandoned us when we needed them most.
I continue to hope, perhaps foolishly, that I'll live to see the end of this regime and that the U.S. may return as speedily as possible to its position as a defender, not a destroyer, of human rights. I'm not stupid enough not to know that the U.S. has always had a very fraught relation with human rights in regard to its own practices, but we were moving in the direction of justice when people who hate Blacks, immigrants, and women voted to re-elect a rapist felon.
the back slide avalanche is disheartening at best. Like you, I hope to see the turn around, in the meantime giving up is not an option.
the back slide avalanche is disheartening at best. Like you, I hope to see the turn around, in the meantime giving up is not an option.
The abandonment of our Afghani allies is horrifying and shameful. Are you in correspondence with any officers or others who are trying to help?
They did everything for us to pave the way so we could come to the US, but President Trump suspended everything
I am so sorry for this betrayal
Along with the 89 million voters who didn't bother to show up!
I stand corrected
that is an important consideration
I am an Independent and not a low information voter and do not lean "R" -- generalizations are harmful as they are part of the divisiveness we have suffered which was not by chance by intentional.
Trillions were invested to divide us. It is not the first time in history. Many have come before us. I am not sobbing if it happens to be my turn. I embrace it! And if you look at how much is being spent to divide us not for nothing it literally shines a light on what they fear.
Our enemy is terrified of the power we hold united. Each of us is one person and can stay in one place and bemoan and express shame and sorrow or join with others to change the future our children will inherit.
It is absolutely possible and in fact absolutely inevitable this is within our reach for the power we hold united is formidable. Our enemy is terrified of us uniting.
I'm age 75 and will do everything I can to protect our children from the plans at hand. Action is the key. Action. I am as depressed as anyone, but I respond with action.
I am volunteering at the polls and join my local tribe doing the work united on the ground as well as donate to every single campaign across the country where brave and inspired and well qualified candidates are turning down corporate money bravely taking on MAGA.
ENGAGE! WWW.INDIVISIBLE.ORG
I read that 30% of our voters did not bother to vote.
I think that they did anything they wanted
I think the way Afghans loyal to the ideals of the West have been abandoned by particularly but not only by the Americans is despicable. The UK can be blamed for the last plane leaving Afghanistan being filled with the pets of those who had already escaped, rather than with loyal Afghans, but in mitigation we were largely dependent on US transport and defence. Trump couldn't get out fast enough, and just as with all his enterprises the idea of thoughtful planning never entered his head. Even the British, who fool ourselves there is a "Special Relationship" (felt only by our politicians it seems) were surprised by the swiftness of the unravelling which was damagingly hasty. My sympathy lies with people like you and the other Abandoned Afghan Allies, but sadly counts for little in practical terms. Good luck my friend.
You have my apology. It was and remains a national disgrace. It is a symptom of the transactional kleptocracy our government has become.
There was a time in ancient times that generals were eunuchs-took away the temptation for setting up a ruling line.
We have managed to put in place a regime that beats eunuchs in that none of them has balls. There is actually a study showing monkeys with the smallest balls scream the loudest. Hegseth and Trump and the entire lot of them are screamers.
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/y9rlvgC2IQk
I just bought the book "Not Our Problem", which is about our abandonment of our Afghan allies. But so far, I haven't been able to bring myself to read it.
You think that the previous (Biden) administration also abandoned you, right? Or am I misremembering your previous comments on the US in Afghanistan?
In case you forgot trump signed the treaty abandoning the Afghan people. Of course trump touted his success and did nothing to help prepare Biden had only a few months to prepare.
I haven't forgotten and you're right. I just wanted to know what Abandoned Afghan Ally thought.
Thank you so much
Trump's paw prints are on all that could have gone better if he was never born. It is the era of Trump 10+ years. It is not just a cold, or congestion or even a fever. It has been exhausting never ending explosive diarrhea splashing into every corner of the world affecting every single life on the planet no to speak of the planet itself.
Trump is the human equivalent of a pandemic targeting humanity. But we the people are the anecdote. Take heart and look in the mirror and say UNITED WE HAVE MORE POWER THAN ANY POWER KNOWN TO MANKIND! Then have your good cry, splash water on your beautiful American face and join those who are already out there doing the heavy lifting.
It is a cure for despair to connect with others. We are nothing alone other than the energy we can bring to a people united and present. Start here: WWW.INDIVISIBLE.ORG
Thank you. Bless you and keep you safe and blessed.
They are not our leaders but elected officials whom we choose and must keep an eagle eye on every second of every hour of every day. May I ask everyone to respond to INDIVISIBLE request put out today for all of us to call Congress. The platform makes it easy to get done. Our children deserve adults who will take on this blatant coup. Thank you for them! https://indivisible.org/actions/senate-oppose-clayton-nomination/?akid=126446.4440309.dF48WP&rd=1&t=11&utm_medium=newsletter_20260727&utm_source=email
I knew a teacher who excaped the massacre of teachers when Mao took over in China.
He escaped to another location (in China), and was overlooked while many of his fellow teachers were dragged in the streets and killed by pro-communist mobs.
I am not surprised that many Afghans who cooperated with the NATO forces could manage to hide, while the Taliban took control. It would still be dangerous for them.
Don't speak without knowing the full picture, and don't judge so quickly. Do you know what the ruling U.S. regime did to their Afghan allies and how they betrayed them? Do you know what kind of life Afghan allies are living now or what their fate has been? Please, do some research on the situation of Afghan allies first, and then come judge. Thank you.
He's not saying the Afghans weren't betrayed. He's questioning whether you are one of them, and you deflected.
Who is 'John Doe'? Having hidden his or her idenity, questions the identity of 'Abondoned Afghan Ally'. It is understandable to be curious about who each of them is, but neither have been forthcoming.
If "Abandoned Afghan Ally" is truly what he claims to be, posting more details of his situation would probably get him killed. I can't say the same for "John Doe."
The US's record concering its committments to democracy as written in the Declaration of Independence, The U.S. Constitution, The Bill of Rights, The Gettysburgh Address, and The Reconstruction Amendments (13th, 14th, 15th) compared to its goverment's policies, actions, positions, and 'rule of law' is quite a story. Whoever the "Abandoned Afghan Ally' may be, he or she brought our attention to a signifiant aspect of American history. Trump and his gang, The Republican and Democratic Parties, The Supreme Court, many of the tech billionaires as well as major corporations... have played their parts, although 'the story' began at the country's birth.
I have no desire to know whether John Doe is the (type of) person he claims to be, if he made any such claim. I do have a desire to know about 'Abandoned Afghan Ally', so the issues he raised are pertinent to me, while any issues raised about John Doe are not even in the slightest.
The deflection didn't help. Addressing the issue head on would be preferred. Something like "Well, you can believe me or not, your choice. If I proved my bona fides I'd be more likely to be found out and killed. Something you seem to be able to appreciate even in your skepticism. So, I can't help you any more than that."
The filthy rich have plans. Elon thinks he can escape to Mars. Others are building what they believe are self-sustaining compounds on distant lands or even underground. These people are just as amoral as Drumpf.
And a bit nutty to boot! Some of what they fear most would be less threatening if the wealth that they have accrued were used to better the world. Enjoy the fruits of your labor but use some of the excess to better the world that we all share.
that's exactly what I think every time I see the millions of 💲 spent on tv ads - that money could resolve so many issues: Arrest & prosecute trump & every murderer in DHS. Limit campaign$contributions & Time: 1 month MAX. Write or expand definitive ethical laws with Teeth & don't leave out supreme court. Get guns off our streets & make gun/ammo manufacturers liable for Every Murder/injury commited by their creations. Pay teachers nurses police firefighters EMTs a living wage. Increase Fed Minimum wage. Eliminate DHS & give their budget to Public Education & start teaching Civics again. Reinstate protections for Federal workers and reestablish separations between the Executive and all the cabinets. Retrieve & reallocate the Billions of Our Tax Dollars stolen by magas & trumps. Create a viable path to Citizenship. Release ALL the DHS prisoners and put DHS murderers in their camps. That's a good start.
they think there IS a plan(et) B....
yes, and more than a bit nutty. Look at "Anti-Christ" Thiel; what a focking schmuck. And Musk with his wealth could easily cover the costs of USAID and make the world so much better. These people are nefarious freaks
Don’t forget their yachts. The rich will put to sea as they search for ports not ablaze. As for climate change the world will burn. We need not die to meet the devil and his fiery domain. The living will experience hell on the face of this earth. As for willful ignorance, many in this administration and MAGA followers believe Jesus is coming any time now. Humanities greatest blind spot is the thought that our intelligence set us apart for all other living things. Via our intelligence we would defy death, we could rise to a god like plane. Sadly our intelligence is but a notch above tooth and claw. Musk will not make it to Mars, like his rich buddies he will have to settle for a bunker.
It already is. We seem to have forgotten the devastating wildfires in Australia and North Africa a couple of years ago, and those in Greece, southern France and the mountains of Portugal, not to mention the ones in Far Eastern Siberian Taiga forests. They were terrifying. Each year is worse than the previous year and the orange lump of blubber still refuses to admit that global warming is causing real destruction and loss of life on every continent except Antarctica.
The American west is burning.
With a monster high pressure system forming over half the U.S. this week. Saw a BBC interview with 2 climate scientists who said there is strong evidence the warming atmosphere is causing the jet stream to weaken and even become locked.
It can mean when a high-pressure dome forms it stays in place much longer and intensifies. We're seeing it in Western Europe with wildfires burning even in Britain and Scotland.
Antarctica too! Ice.
The Amazon and western US, too.
The supply lines of the wealthy are long and deep. What they need to survive this is not survival bunkers or L4 space stations, but a light touch on the earth, passive homes and subsistence farming. That is, reduce their reliance on others and consumption of resources. The problem with great quantities of money is it makes possible and encourages the opposite, the maximum consumption of resources, and the most reliance on people. They may think they can buy their way out of this one, but their lifestyle is far more reliant on the success of society to support it than would be a humble way of living.
Absolutely true!
Why do I have the horrible feeling that it is too late?
I hope it isn’t but fear it is.
There are currently 90 huge wildfires in the USA with more popping up daily. We live near the 101,420 acre Aspen Fire which has burned for a month. The article is right on target FIRE NOT ICE.
not even excluding Antarctica. The ice shelves are melting and penguins losing their perches ...
“The thin veneer of Civilization….”
Yachts need fuel and lots of it. They wll be adrift in a "Lord of the Flies" scenario as will the bunkers.
Many yachts are wind-powered. All such do have auxiliary engines, but they can do without other fuel. Bezos' yacht is a sailor, for example.
Depending on the timing, "Water World" and "Lord of the Flies" will be just two chapters of the bloody book.
Not to mention hurricanes and typhoons.
Indeed. Provision of supplies will be an issue
If only Jesus would strike down the money lenders.
Again
And of course, the federal dent can spiral out of the stratosphere because the rapture will come before any debts need to be repaid!
I grew up in a world where living well with family, friends, and jobs was valued. My parents cooked our food at home. It was nutritious. They kept us kids away from sugars in soda and candy. We learned the sugar in them harmed our bodies and our teeth. My parents worked to have a good, but not crazy expensive, home. Our society was that way, although some people were addicted to expensive homes, eating out, and being better than the Joneses. Now our entire society is addicted to money--as much as can be had. Our employers have lost their minds where money is concerned. Nothing matters to them but profits. Our entire fiscal system revolves around profit. It is the only thing of value in this system. Eating nutritious food made at home is for fools, according to this culture. What isn't crazy is buying food filled with salt and sugar and almost no nutrition. Yes, it is massively expensive. It takes two jobs just to live now. We have lost our minds as a culture and we are paying for it with obese and unhealthy bodies, and massive health bills. We are paying for it with shorter lives. We have to live on anti-obese and anti-diabetes drugs. They have become our nicotine addiction. They get more expensive every day. Their makers love that. We are destroying our planet to fuel such industrialist's extractions. Trump helps them do this everyday. Say goodbye to our protected lands in the USA and everywhere else. Industrialists are sucking our money out as fast as possible. They intend to have greater profits how often? The planet is burning. Money money money is our sickness, it is our addiction. It has hurt every aspect of our lives. It is time to stop this addiction.
I am poor. I have been most of my life. I have not worked two shitty jobs though. I have had many times when affording food was difficult--now is one of those times. I came from a lower middle class family who worked their way to a middle middle class life. They got there in late mid life. They are dead now. I was born white, which was more helpful in this society than can be imagined if you aren't born in that group, even if you are poor. I am deeply in student debt to get the degree many people insist I don't deserve, and the people I studied with thought my class and age were not sufficient to do well getting a job, but they were willing to take my money and the money of people who were willing to lend to me at high interest rates. I do carry that burden. It sucks to be poor no matter who you are. I have cooked my own meals all my life. I have found ways for that type of food to be much much cheaper than buying out. But, again, I was a white woman, which has helped me. As for one's looks, that is absolutely a factor in how other people treat you as a human being and it is evil. No one should have to cope with this behavior from others, and one should not be judged badly because one is poor. Well-off and moderately well off white people adore money in the same way industrialists do and they buy for many reasons because they can. I do believe they are contributing to the addiction to money and position that is rife in their culture. If it helps you to imagine I am some well off white person who doesn't understand being poor, I am sorry. I don't fit your bill. I also don't fit the bill of the well-off nor anyone who has taught me over the years. Occasionally I can be experienced as a person with feelings. I cherish those folks, regardless of the class they come from. I wish you well.
Hotter weather=>
more energy in atmosphere=>
Bigger Hurricanes to sink bigger yachts.
Funny thing about the broligarchy: they seem to think they're immune from climate change and peasant revolutions.
Good luck wirh growing tomatoes on that barren cosmic lump that we call Mars.(
And enjoy all the freedom there
But stay inside the little bubble of warmed air. Outside you have a near-vacuum and freezing temperature.
Exactly!
Don't forget that Mar's gravity is only 38% of Earth's. You could ask AI (what is known or recorded, so this will be faulty in those regards) if humans can live on Mars successfully and if they can bear children on Mars (recall, Musk cares nothing about humans, their survival, and nothing at all about women, except to replicate him, because he is perfect). Here is the answer you get about other humans living on Mars and bearing children:
Yes, it is theoretically possible for humans to live on Mars, but it requires advanced life-support technology because the planet is fundamentally hostile to human life.To survive, humans must live inside pressurized, climate-controlled habitats—potentially built underground or inside lava tubes—to block intense space radiation, maintain oxygen levels, and stay warm in freezing temperatures.
However, when it comes to gestating and bearing a baby on Mars, scientists warn that it is an incredibly high-risk scenario. Since human reproduction evolved entirely under Earth’s conditions, attempting a pregnancy on Mars introduces major biological and medical hurdles:
Severe Radiation RisksCellular damage:
Mars lacks a thick atmosphere and a strong magnetic field. Cosmic rays and solar radiation can damage DNA in sperm and egg cells, lowering the chances of successful fertilization.
Developmental harm: If fertilization does happen, radiation can stop fetal cells from replicating correctly. This can cause miscarriage, restricted growth, severe brain and organ malformations, or childhood cancer.
Gravity and Delivery Complications
Placental issues: Animal studies suggest that lower gravity can impair how an embryo implants in the uterus and how the placenta functions.
Physical strain on the mother: Carrying a baby and giving birth requires immense physical and bone strength. Because Mars' low gravity constantly weakens human bones and muscles, pregnancy could cause severe physical trauma to the mother's skeletal system.
Dangerous medical procedures: Medical care will be severely restricted. If a woman needs an emergency C-section, performing surgery in a low-gravity environment is highly dangerous because bodily fluids and blood behave differently, making contamination and bleeding harder to control.
The Immune System DilemmaDouble suppression: A woman’s immune system is naturally suppressed during pregnancy so her body does not reject the fetus. Because low-gravity environments also suppress the immune system, a pregnant woman on Mars would be highly vulnerable to life-threatening infections.
Permanent Earth Exclusion for the Child
Altered development: A baby developing in 38% gravity will grow differently than an Earth-born child. Their bones, muscles, circulatory system, and inner-ear balance mechanisms will adapt entirely to Mars.
Inability to visit Earth: Because of these permanent developmental changes, the child's body would likely be too weak to ever handle Earth’s gravity. Stepping onto Earth would instantly make them feel three times heavier, potentially causing their bones to fracture and their heart and lungs to fail under the strain.
Because of these extreme risks, space agencies and private space settlement concepts strongly advise early settlers against trying to become pregnant.
does not sound as if AI is hallucinating on these points. The hallucinations are all on the part of those who would 'settle' Mars.
Agreed.
This is a great explanation of the biological hurdles facing colonization of Mars. The technological and economic hurdles are even more daunting. The cost and logistics to support a few tens of people are daunting. Hundreds if not thousands of flights required to transport machinery and supplies to build a self-supporting sustainable environment. Flights taking six to nine months every two years. This is all stuff of sci-fi fantasy. We'd be much better off dealing with climate change on earth at a fraction of the cost of creating a martian colony.
A review of what is known by summary topic is helpful.
Except for his transexual daughter. She is courageous.
Well, the idea has always been to "terraform" Mars and turn it into a habitable planet. That idea predates Musk. My understanding is that this is theoretically possible, but my feeling is it's not going to happen.
Insanity will prevail on Mars. Our DNA is programmed to love the sound of running water, a clear blue sky, and, well, breathing. Life on Mars, a great oxymoron, will be brutal.
Hobbesian. Nasty, brutish and short.
You’re probably right, and it would take hundreds of years. The old science fiction novels all had Mars inhabitants living in domed cities (I was an avid reader). There were even some stories of an Earth that had become a planet wide desert where people had to live in tightly controlled domed cities, where of course, populations were not allowed to grow.
Sci fi has always had a side hustle of future predicting. And pretty good at it, too.
Right. Heinlein said the greatest failure was this - they predicted television and they predicted travel to the moon, but nobody predicted that the first moon landing would be televised.
Musk unfortunately confused Amazing Science Fiction with Popular Mechanics and figured he could build those cities.
in Ray Bradbury's " Martian Chronicles", mans' first missions to mars were not successful, because the Martians kept killing the astronauts! But after a while, the Martians just moved to another part of the planet.
My favorite part of the novel was when Americans began to settle on Mars and create little suburbs, just like they'd lived in on earth!. Then, of course, they sent the Priests and ministers to Mars to convert the Martians,! i remember laughing out loud at that chapter!
Actually, all of Bradbury's Martians died due to disease caused by exposure to humans. Just like H.G. Wells' Martians and many native Americans did.
Not just your feeling. Science Fiction is not Science!
No, I read a serious book about this years ago. The author was scientifically trained. It is theoretically possible to do it, apparently. But I don't think the resources or the will are there to attempt it. Anyway, I'm not saying it's a good idea, even in theory.
Nor do we have all of the technology to make it happen yet. It’s not just is it possible, but also do we know how, do we have the ability to get the materials there, do we have ability to construct said technology once there, and so on. The cost and ability to do so would also be astronomical and incredibly difficult.
And the other thing about this idea, whether it’s Mars or the moon or space stations, is that it doesn’t solve the problem of how we destroyed our perfectly good (lovely) planet. It will just happen again.
I agree with you.
All that and the tiny number of people who could ever get there. When I was young and full of dreams, I thought it was a wonderful and exciting thing, but the more I thought about it, the more I realized that’s all it ever was—a dream.
Most of the best variety was/is written by Scientists.
It's easier to built a habitation orbiting Mars than to live on its surface. A few science fiction stories feature a shipyard in orbit around Mars utilizing materials mined from the Asteroid Belt; this is more likely and more useful than a town on the Martian surface.
I'm not talking science fiction. I read a nonfiction book (sorry, can't remember the title) that talked about a process to "terraform" Mars so that it could be habitable for humans. The idea was presented as scientifically possible, and as I recall the author was knowledgeable and not a crank. I'm not a scientist and I'm also not saying it would be a good idea.
If humans could terraform Mars, then we more easily could make Earth into a paradise again.
Sorry you doubt that I'm knowledgeable and consider me a crank. I studied architecture and cosmology and a few other pertinent topics at advanced levels. I've designed a habitation for Antarctica. I have a master land use plan for Sol System.
I don't think you're a crank. My use of the word "crank" in my comment had nothing at all to do with you.
I guess they are assuming their AI robots will do the terraforming once all the scientists move to Europe and Asia. They are hoping all the other unworthy American humans will be dead by then or turned into drooling drunk cage fighters. Kinda amazing the plan both calls for the demise of unimportant citizens and unlimited propagation without survival safety nets. Baffling.
Yeah, after we colonize the Gobi Desert and Antarctica, we can look at much more hostile enviroments like Mars, our Moon, and L5.
Terraforming Mars is a pipe dream.
The moral imperative of *staying here* and *geoengineering Earth* is well explained by Neil deGrasse Tyson:
https://youtube.com/shorts/5D-0xrhwbR8
Elon no longer plans to escape to Mars. Meanwhile he is contributing greatly to the unliveablity of the Texas community where he has his Space company and company community.
The obscenely rich have a naive expectation that their bunker staff won’t turn against them.
A lot of Roman emperors were killed by their bodyguards.
Apparently, the bunkers are fueled by diesel and require air from outdoors. These could be blocked. They are swirtching to lithium batteries briefly charged by the diesel. still an issue but more briefly. Waste management, food supply, med staff, OR, drugs, maintenance staff, armory, rules enforcement are all issues.
For supposedly smart people, they seem pretty dumb. There are so many points of failure.
I AGREE! They know exactly what they are doing! And it does not bode well for 99.9% of us on the Planet!
As amoral and, apparently, as stupid, if they think they (or their children) can simply escape the impact of climate change. Or that they won't be affected when they or their children get sick and - whoops! - those cancer treatments that had been in the works don't actually exist as they'd been defunded by this gov't and the scientists working on them have gone to the EU or China....
Hubris
yup.
And as delusional.
And just as stupid.
K didn't post a musical theme, but I think "Stairway to Heaven" is appropriate:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ly6ZhQVnVow
"There's a lady who's sure all that glitters is gold
And she's buying a stairway to Heaven
When she gets there, she knows if the stores are all closed
With a word, she can get what she came for."
This is Professor Krugman at his most serious, most exasperated, and angriest. The time for moderation and conciliation is long gone; we are burning, we are dying, and our governments are failing.
The universe is 13.8 billion years old. Humanity is a mere blip on that cosmic scale. The universe cares not whether homo sapiens survives as a species.
Cold comfort for those of us who do care about the future of the human race, and the rest of our fellow travelers here on our planet.
True. However, the real mystery is why so much of humanity cares not if it survives, and the only solution they offer is having more babies.
Science has had that figured out for many decades. Read "The Selfish Gene" by Richard Dawkins.
I have read it and our genes are at as much risk as the rest of life on the planet and their selfishness is not serving them well.
All true. I don’t believe he claimed the genes had any foresight, just that they are selfish.
It’s a good time to be old.
If you worry about HC, food, bills due last week, what happens in 50 years is not on the radar of the hoi polloi
Now that it’s 40 years past the time when I had these kinds of conversations with my white blue collar coworkers, I can say Professor Krugman was spot on when he said “But this is all hatred of basically anything that involves hard thinking”. They refused to do any monthly budget planning because it would mean giving up the trip to the bar and poker machine on the way home from work, and they prioritized entertainment above all else. This was also the criterion they used for voting.
If I could draw (I can't. All my drawings look like a third grader's work.) I would make a political drawing of a couple of (outer space) aliens examining the ruins of an Earth city. The caption:
"And they destroyed the whole planet in just 5,000 years! Amazing!)
Feel free to steal the idea if you can draw.
We (humanity) are a disease on this planet. If she is to survive, we cannot. This just seems evident to me. There are humans who can see what needs to be done and who would try and create a more equal world - surely all the money being hoarded by the billionaires would go along way to help others - but just look at the history of humans. We would rather hate than love; kill, rather than recognise our common humanity; pit us against one another, than live in harmony. We do not deserve this beautiful, unique planet Earth. She will be better off without us.
Sad but so true. I try not to be a downer, I really do. However, Mother Nature will do us in unless we start taking care of our planet. It may be too late, but one never knows what’s around the corner. 1st we must get rid of Trump and his entire cabinet, and get big money out of politics. That’s the 1st 2 things we need to do.
As a matter of fact, the IPCC reports have warned about wildfires as much as floods and droughts for the past twenty years, fires are mentioned literally hundreds of times in their reports. They did miss the dangers of smoke, however, until that began to actually damage health over large areas. (This was not the UN actually, the IPCC is an independent intergovernmental body, appointed by governments but endorsed and administered by the UN)
A quibble: the timeline for scientific alarm goes back much further than 20 years. Bell Laboratories aired TV specials on the issue in 1958. The combined work of scientists in 1824 and 1856 figured out the atmosphere would warm with carbon dioxide spawn into it and it wouldn’t be good for the planet. Apparently the scientist in 1856, Eunice Foote, was a woman so that could explain why it was the issue was dismissed for so many decades.
The IPCC and COP are performative governmental sponsored entities which seek to downplay and conceal the true nature of the climate crisis. Cloaked in the secrecy of backroom negotiations and deals, the IPCC is the show the public is meant to consume rather than the information provided by actual climate scientists. Each year, the resulting IPCC "report" is censored, rewritten and softened by myriad governmental and fossil fuel attendees so as to blunt the impact of what is really happening. "Don't believe what you see and experience, believe what we tell you in our manipulated and controlled report."
It's true that the IPCC reports' summary statements must be approved even by, say, Saudi Arabia -- so it's important and valuable that even so, they point to a disastrous future as the most likely outcome. The facts are just too plain to whitewash. Moreover, digging into the detailed text of the reports you find ample information that less likely but still entirely plausible outcomes could be existentially catastrophic for our civilization. The big problem is not the IPCC statements, but how they are reported by the media and addressed by influencers including politicians. This is where the power of the fossil fuel industry does its main work.
This is a very good study and should scare everyone into action (LOL).
https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.1809600115
No--IPCC has an excellent 35 year record for accuracy. It is the InterGOVERNMENTAL Panel on Climate Change, so of course it will take a conservative view.
The very first international consensus report forecasting climate change, the 1990 IPCC assessment, was spot on. Look up the comparisons, it's worth the time.
It really should be a criterion to get a vote for any and all political office - the person must say that the climate crisis is a serious problem, and that Biden won the 2020 election. We have the topls to reduce fossil fuel burning. We have reasonably priced solar, ev and battery. Just like the Ukranians and the Iranians do not need expensive solutions, as they fight for their lives. The technology is there - it requires leadership, commitment. It's amazing that a handful of billionaires with fossil fuel business interests are destroying our planet. Before George Bush, we had consensus, and now we have a nihilistic faction saying anything to lead this maga coalition and all of us to the cliff.
Good comment. I'd change just one word:
"OVER the cliff".
Overwhelming existential problems all at once. Seems greed,
greed, and greed are the culprits. I’m sad for kids and babies and animals. I’m contemptuous of Big Oil, the men inside the war machine, and ignorant, arrogant people with money and power. The last is reprehensible.
The thought I keep worrying about is that, after all, millions of Americans voted for this, many knowingly. Many millions are still all in, knowingly. Has the preponderance of American people become worthless jerks, caring about nothing but their own slovenly pleasure? Has desire for the good, thirst for knowledge, concern for humanity, as well as honor and honesty and decency--have they all seeped out of America, to be replaced by lazy, stupid, languid uselessness? What future awaits us as a county?
Mr. Krugman: I’m not sure they even really have the concept that there is objective reality. And they certainly hate anybody who tries to argue that what they’re saying is objectively, empirically not true."
That describes their followers, not just the perpetrators of all this crap. In other words, they don't see what we see.
And that's by design. Destroy people's sense of reality, of what is true or not; make them doubt everything, and you have what is happening now.
I live in MAGA land. Some are actually awful people, but I see most of them as "marks". Trump has been an effective con man all his life, and if that's all he was, it wouldn't be so bad, but he's got smart, rich, fanatical people behind him.
Yes, that's the way propaganda works. It first must "tenderize" the minds of people to make them pliable and then install the false narratives, even multiple false narratives that conflict with each other, but it does the job of making people passove and unable to resist. The propaganda of capitalism itself is the worst. It makes people accept the class slavery of the working class spending our lives in servitude to the capitalist class, and destroys the potential of international class solidarity by making the people of the imperial core so dumbed down and unable to think that it's like talking to a fence post.
I remember back in the early 2010s, when a whole bunch of far right identity politics websites showed up all at once. Now one could argue that was 'authentic' and spontaneous, but I don't think it was.
I think the 'mark' comment is spot on in MAGA land and that some very devious analysts as agents of either capital or foreign interests began the process of 'tenderizing' their brains 5-6 years before Donald first ran for president. They segmented the far right into political 'wedge' issues using browsing data, and built sites around those issues as a means to implement their plan.
Alex Jones is a good example and was likely a gateway for them. The result, though, is long term for the rabid 20% who still support him
Very astute, though I cast a wider frame and call nearly all mainstream media including most of academia as the curators of the general climate that confuses people and obfuscates reality, even down to Hanna Arendt and Democracy Now and NPR and the BBC and New York Times. The whole kit and kaboodle.
I'm certainly not extensively or deeply read on the subject, and this is probably old hat, but I think of society as being -- among other things -- a set of interlocking dispute resolution mechanisms. I would grant that raw force probably came first, "Do as I say or I will hurt you." But others have been added along the way. There are religious dispute resolution mechanisms, political dispute resolution mechanisms, legal and financial dispute resolution mechanisms, and possibly the latest to evolve, scientific dispute resolution mechanisms. And of them all, surely this last is the least ambiguous, the most objective, and the most unamenable (I think) to force. That's what chaps these guys. They want to be able to say "Stop saying that, or I will hurt you, physically, financially or otherwise." But science, famously, doesn't care. You can force individuals to emit the proper words of obeisance, but the proper application of the scientific method famously isn't swayed by this tactic. "Nevertheless, it moves."
I used to wonder why people would say "You think you're better 'n me" when presented clear evidence that what they were saying (Young Earth, Relativity is Wrong, etc.) That was a while ago. I've long since come to the realization that what they were really saying was that people like me had the better argument by far but they'd be damned if they were going to give us the satisfaction of saying we were right all along, ineluctably so. What they were really saying was that if it wasn't for pesky niceties like the law, they could pound pencil necks like me into the ground, and deservedly so for -- this is the way they really think -- making them look like fools.
Science is a method of discerning the way things are,
So long as they (the Proles) continued to work and breed, their other activities were without importance. Left to themselves, like cattle turned loose upon the plains of Argentina, they had reverted to a style of life that appeared to be natural to them, a sort of ancestral pattern...Heavy physical work, the care of home and children, petty quarrels with neighbors, films, football, beer and above all, gambling filled up the horizon of their minds. To keep them in control was not difficult. George Orwell, 1984
Good point.
Dehumanization of learning and the mixing of facts, lies and fantasy on the internet contributes to this confusion
Please remember that most people are not lazy, stupid MAGAs.
Some are merely ignorant.
Others are uninformed.
We still have a chance to save our democracy.
The only "good" thing about Trump is that he is hammering everyone, including his own voters, with his tariffs and wars and corruption and just one bad decision after another.
Many of his voters have expressed non-enthusiasm for Republican candidates in the mid-terms.
https://gelliottmorris.substack.com/p/2026-07-22-midterm-enthusiasm-gap-july-poll?r=33sgk&utm_campaign=post-expanded-share&utm_medium=web
Not sure if this falls within "merely ignorant" or "uninformed," but the most salient factor in whether or not someone is a MAGAt is their level of racism - the more racist, the more likely to support Trump. Now, I agree that racism is ignorant - but it's also hateful. And, as we have seen over many, many, years - it makes people impervious to the lure of policies that might make their lives better - b/c they're so afraid that those policies also might improve the lives of POC.
Agreed. Not all MAGAts are racist, but all racists are MAGAts.
That does seem to be the case. The traditional GOP was mainly about lowest-possible taxes and deregulation. That wasn't working very well for them until they managed to co-opt whites in the lower half of the economic hierarchy to be against "welfare" initiatives that would benefit them on the basis that it would also help "those people." There were a lot of government benefits that were popular after WWII that were basically for whites only. As soon as those benefits stopped being discriminatory, they became "communist." Nixon picked up the mantle from George Wallace and Reagan put a sunny face on it. Southerner Bill Clinton famously said "the era of big government is over," not because it was, but because he knew how to get votes. Romney got caught when he didn't think cameras were rolling denigrating 47% of Americans as irresponsible takers who don't contribute anything. That is the traditional GOP. Nixon and Reagan and Trump were able to attract enough racists into the fold to win, even though most of them are in that 47%, of whom Romney said "my job is not to worry about those people." He forgot that first you have to get their votes, mainly by playing the race card.
Hear, hear!!
"Desire for the good, thirst for knowledge, concern for humanity, as well as honor and honesty and decency" have clearly been abandoned by 30-40 percent of U.S. voters in favor of MAGA Christian Nationalism.
"Lazy, stupid, languid uselessness" covers the 'undecided' and 'non-' voters.
As B Franklin would say, we couldn't keep it.
..it’s “preponderance of white Americans” - that’s the part of America that voted three times for this bs.
Rather itis a "preponderance of stupidity". According to the election analysts Trump was returned, at the last election, by black Americans and Latinos as much as white voters. Stupidity is not ethnically linked nor is selfishness.
Let's not disparage black Americans. 83% of them voted for Harris in 2024.
Too many of them still voted for Trump and too many did not vote. I stand by my statement.
..."as much as" is just clearly un-true
That is not true. He did get a higher percentage of black and hispanic votes in the most recent election than in the earlier ones, but still low percentages in all three. Those stats should be easy to find.
Future? The future is now. The world is burning & we are building more pipelines.
They don’t see, don’t want to see, and/or don’t care because it doesn’t seem to directly affect them yet (though it does!). Americans are terribly self focused, having gotten noticeably more so over the past decade. Many can’t even pull together to care about their hyper local community. Of course it’s no surprise they don’t look at the wider world and think uh oh how do we address this, what is my part. And amongst a certain subset, they live by victim mentality, so they may never do anything more than look for who to blame for their circumstances, the earth, whatever, doing little or nothing in their own life in terms of change.
Scott, it has been dumb to be smart and smart to be dumb for decades. There’s been a dumbing down that I’ve watched my now 50 something year-old children experience their whole lives.
It’s called corruption. Somewhere sometime the rats got into the pantry when we weren’t paying attention. It’s that simple.
The US people are so highly propagandized that they don't know the most basic things about the world situation, and there is no viable choice for them because both parties are completely puppets of the capitalist class.
Empires fall. I wonder if we are the first humans to experience it and recognize it, at the same time? This time is different; our “empire” is taking down the whole world
I suppose that those people who voted for this are also those who have no interest in science and research or ability to understand it. Depth isn't their strong suit.
We can still breathe take a breath things can still change!
time is running out especially when our world is accelerating the change in the wrong direction
But they will not change for the better unless you make the effort to change them in that direction.
Things are always changing minute to minute
Money in politics is the root of this evil...
And they have proved once and for all, that low intellect is not a deal breaker when it comes to accumulating great wealth. All that seems to be required is a head start (already possess some wealth) and inexhaustible, insatiable greed.
And combined with retrograde religion.
Religion is excellent stuff for keeping common people quiet. Religion is what keeps the poor from murdering the rich. Napoleon Bonaparte
Money in politics is capitalism.
Actually their are many capitalist countries that put strict limits on money in politics as well as limits on capital accumulation.
What ones are they that come to mind? Do you mean Norway and Denmark and such?
Yes. Scandinavian countries are considered free-market capitalist economies. But they use heavy progressive taxation and robust welfare systems to redistribute wealth, and they maintain transparent, regulated political financing.
I assume that they also do not let the capitalists buy their politicians, which I think was /@sageradachowsky’s point.
But excessive money in politics is due to excessive wealth, which is due to a flaw in INSUFFICIENTLY CONSTRAINED market capitalism. It behaves like the game MONOPOLY!!
In a fair ongoing game, any participant with more money is probabilistically likely to gain even more (They can take high risk/high reward chances that would bankrupt poorer players); just having more $$ means they are less likely to go broke which means, WITHOUT SOME MEANS TO CONTROL THIS TENDENCY, market economies will create oligopolies and aristocracy.
Markets are useful, but must be retrained.
The obvious answer is to build in some means of taxing great wealth that prevents accumulation beyond some level, and make it impossible to remove.
https://bsky.app/profile/datadrivenfp.bsky.social/post/3mji2jyh6s223
Yep. The political spectrum now must shift from left vs right to ultra wealthy vs everyone else. The ultra wealthy want to divide us with culture wars to distract us, while they run away with the dough. They are buying up lame-stream media and social media platforms to control the narrative in an attempt to keep us divided.
Yesterday it was 105 in Minnesota! Yes, July is hot and humid in Minnesota, but this is off the charts. The smoke has subsided for now….hundreds of thousands of people in France and Spain are being evacuated….fire, indeed…and Drump fiddles on….
"Fiddles" is hardly the word for it! That suggests more ability than he's demonstrating lately. Losing the Iran War is driving him crazy. Did you see all the crap he posted yesterday? (As reported, as I don't read TS.)
All these bizarre fantasy AI videos of him saving George Washington, him posing with JFK in front of the White House, him driving a PT boat, him looming over the world as a "Guardian".
Truly insane stuff, like a little boy's musings after he's been scolded by his parents while he sulks in his room. He's clearly assuaging his ego, and it's insane! What is it going to take for the legacy media - for Congress and Republicans in general - to SAY this is insane??
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/trump-ai-slop-posts_n_6a66d0d0e4b00feba845ef63?origin=home-latest-news-unit
Posting that drivel to PO the left and let the magas think that they own the libs. And it works
That is Natalie Harp his childish-mentality assistant, who posts that drivel to keep the baby entertained.
It is interesting that a high proportion of the Chinese leadership were trained as Engineers and Scientists. It's probably directly related to how fast China has been developing as a Technological power.
Certainly, as someone that trained as an Engineer myself, it pains me to see the complete lack of understanding of Science and Technology amongst the political leadership here in the UK.
You can be as decent and well meaning a politician as you want, but without either an understanding of Science and Technology - or at least the willingness to educate oneself on the basics (perhaps to the level of being able to read an understand the likes of the New Scientist or Scientific American), I fail to see how one can make educated decisions about the strategic direction our highly technological societies must take.
Doing PPE at Oxford or Cambridge (or the American equivalent) and leaving the Technology to the Tech Bros. has got us to where we are today. Its not good enough.
I would give almost anything to hear one journalist, just one journalist, ask Trump, Whiskey Pete, 'Lil Marco, or Karoline Leavett to define the 'Scientific Method.'
I agree. My own family is “engineers all the way down” and as the only girl, I was steered in a different direction (marriage and children), but I was always interested in science and technology and am horrified at how “anti” my fellow Brits are. One of my brothers once remarked to me, while trying to hire machinists for his small company, that “engineer” seemed to be a dirty word to them. It makes me so angry.
I grew up in Africa. Engineers were at the same social standing as Doctors and Lawyers. It was a shock to me when I came back to the UK and encountered this attitude here. I think it has had a lot to do with our decline as a manufacturing nation.
You’re right about that. The engineering company that one of my brothers worked for—well established, highly respected, with several branches and plants—was bought out in the late eighties by an American hedge fund company that wanted the land. They shut down the entire operation. My brother ended up starting his own company (he is a hands-on engineer, as was our dad) and acquired a lot of the machinery from the plant. He’s still working with it, making one-off parts for vintage cars. That’s not the only British engineering company that’s been gutted due to lack of government support. We used to be renowned for our engineers!
I recommend a book that my book club recently read, called "Breakneck: China's Quest to Engineer the Future" by Dan Wang, where he talks about China being run by engineers, while the US is run by lawyers. We do not agree with all of his conclusions, but we felt that he taught us a lot about how things work in China that is crucial to understanding what is going on with trade.
As for the tech bros. A lot of them pay other people to do the R and D.
And in the absence of that, because probably a variety of backgrounds is best, then one should have the humility and integrity to seek out, listen to, converse with those who are experts in relevant fields. And everyone should leave their arrogance at the door. No one should operate like they are the smartest person in the room.
Hear, hear!!
I observe the same scientific illiteracy in the majority of German politicians, especially the ruling party and AfD nazis.
Talking with conservatives about climate change is always enlightening because the degree of straw-grasping they have to do is just terrifying. Obviously there's just straight-up denialism. But there are many who cannot deny their own lived experiences that, yes, the climate is indeed changing and getting warmer. So they grasp at:
The data is faked by greedy scientists and the UN, who are being paid by [unknown] to fake the data.
This is all part of a natural 10,000-year sun-planet cycle.
This is all due to internal forces within the Earth.
This is part of a conspiracy to force one-world government on us.
Greenhouse gases are all fake! The REAL culprit is [fill in environmental thing].
Every conservative I know who is grasping these straws is also firmly in the covid denialist camp. How they survive so disconnected from reality, I do not know.
"I don't know how but it's Biden's fault. "
Don't forget Hillary's emails.
And Hunter’s laptop.🤪🇬🇧
Lol.
don't forget BOs tan suit
I agree. Many people on the right seem to know nothing about scientific realities, and sadly, these are the people currently running our country.
I live in Colorado, where I grew up without air conditioners. We sometimes had hot spells but it always cooled off at night and we could keep the house cool by closing the windows during the day and opening them at night.
I’m sleepless right now because it’s 77 degrees at 4:30 in the morning. It’s been in the 90s (often upper 90s, yesterday 100) for the entire month of July. And it hasn’t rained, following a winter without snow. This year’s wildfires haven’t been as bad as some years, but they’re bad enough. It’s like all the dystopian climate change science fiction is coming true.
The weather report for the Twin Cities where I live says sunny skies and (yet another) 90 + day. Instead we are shrouded in heavy air with very little visability. It’s not wildfire smoke or fog. It’s because our dew point matches our temperature. (80 and 80 at 6:00 in the morning). As a senior, I can’t recall this ever happening before. But unusual weather like this is now the norm. And my U.S. Rep Tom Emmer says, in response to my email to him about the terrible air quality here due to wildfires, Trump is taking care of it by imposing more tariffs on Canada to punish them for not taking care of their forests. Such idiocy!
I remember Kurt Vonnegut wrote something about our planet that, "We could have saved it, but we were too damned cheap." Not sure if cheap is the right word. Maybe greedy and intellectually lazy.
Egberto Willes on his radio show, "Egberto Off the Record" out of Texas, just explained that we could have solved or diminished climate change if it weren't that we are a capitalist country and couldn't figure out how to do it within the system, beginning with President Carter.
I think 'capitalism' is something of a red herring in this predicament, if only because capitalism seeks to commodify anything and everything and externalities like 'clean air,' 'clean water,' 'waste disposal,' could all be commodified, provided there was a will to do so and a shared sense of objective reality anchored in the Scientific Method.
My own villain in this set piece is not capitalism per se, but anti-intellectualism, denying that anthropomorphic climate change is even a thing.
Capitalism fuels anti-intellectualism because it's a system of class servitude of the many to the few, so it needs to muddy the waters of rational thought because it's indefensible rationally, and covering up the ecological destruction it has wrought for the profits of the capitalists to be as big as possible is part of the domain of its propaganda. Capitalist propaganda has dumbed down the US people to an unbelievable extent, and even those who seem to be intellectuals are off the trail of truth and into weeds planted there intentionally to distract us all. But there is an objective reality and we can stay on track with the right discipline.
I'll have to think more closely about what you posit (about capitalism fueling anti-intellectualism). Certainly feudalism and, before that, slavery were just as combustible a fuel for anti-intellectualism as capitalism. I suppose there is some truth to what you argue, if only because capitalism and capitalists, with only a few exceptions like Engels and Lenin, remain implacable foes of Scientific Socialism (aka "Marxism") which, to my mind, epitomizes the heights of intellect.
Yes, I would say that any system of exploitation has a tendency against genuine intellectualism and also a tendency to create pseudo-intellectualism to fill the void and act as a decoy.
Yes. Capitalism is a social relation. If capitalists had to take account of climate science, that would change the relation.
If people cannot write well, they cannot think well, and if they cannot think well, others will do their thinking for them. George Orwell
👆🎯
Good point.
Carter tried, he put solar panels on the white house, which Reagan being the dipstick he was immediately had torn off.
He was a very perceptive writer. I had all of his books in my collection.
Trump and the tyrants who have gone before him want ignorant, obedient citizens who will buy the lies and not question them. Science must go. Intellectuals must go. Organized trade unions must go. Any thing that will challenge the tyrant must be squashed and discredited. Ignorance and obedience are fodder for the corrupt regime. Same old play book.
Exactly. Hardly new that fascists hate intellectual endeavors and promote lies and crude myths. Nazis with their blond Aryans and Hegseth with his testosterone shots...
Most truly ignorant people are afraid of what they DON’T know.
Climate Change is not even on the radar for issues for the 2026 midterm elections. Candidates, even liberal ones don't mention it except for somewhere buried on their websites. It is a SIN! As Pope Francis said years ago, this issue is not political but a moral one.
I saw a blip the other day that Dem candidates have been advised not to bring up climate change. Nuts! A huge tactical error, IMHO.
so understandable but also so very sad. It's just the planet we all have to live on. Thanks Punkette.
It’s terrible, Vandermeer. We have lived in the high desert of two western states for going on 30 years and have finally had enough. The wildfire risk here in southern California is so great, that most home insurance companies have pulled out of the state completely. We lost our carrier last year and are now paying 40 percent more for a premium with a much higher deductible. Of course the new company is gouging us but we have no other options. We are retired seniors, in our late sixties and childless. We are scared of losing our home in a wildfire and ending up with nothing. After what happened in Los Angeles last year, we realized it’s time to sell up and flee to a cooler area with access to water … if we can afford it! 😱
Hi Punkette, I lived in the Los Angeles hills (Sherman Oaks) years ago and it was difficult to get home insurance because of the fire risk. It broke my heart to see what happened in SoCal last year.
Try the Oregon coast.
Yes, my sister lives on the Oregon coast... seems as if fire danger is more on the eastern side.
Thanks, good to know. The Oregon coast is gorgeous. Just need to be close to a larger city for services (especially medical).
Thanks, Ann. We are thinking about it. I visited Oregon several times in the 90s and love it there. Such a beautiful state, especially the coastline. Hope it hasn’t changed too much.
It’s much too early to be making that assessment.
Professor Krugman, You are doing much with your column to dissect the awful realities of our current administration and the way their policies benefit only the few oligarchs and sycophants at the top. Even more important, I believe, is your primer on income inequality and what it brings about. Others, like Robert Reich, Heather Cox Richardson, Sheldon Whitehouse, etc., have warned about the toxic effects of extreme wealth on a democracy struggling to use the old rules of law to counteract a truly malevolent group wielding all aspects of government power. But your conversations with Gabriel Zucman and subsequent posts lay out the problem in analytic terms and provide a political guidebook to solve our societal problem. A wealth tax - such as California’s Prop 40 - is the camel’s nose in the oligarch’s tent. Keep proposing rational solutions to our current state of degradation. I believe the t-rump crowd will provide continued motivation to build political will to enact them into law. A Wealth tax is an idea whose time has come,
LONGGGGGG overdue!
Joanna, Robert Reich has been giving detailed analysis on how we got here and what needs to be done for many years. I suggest you go to his substack.
David, I’ve been following his posts and lectures for years. For most of that time, he was a voice crying in the universe
Lack of critical thinking is the issue. Folks are being fed easily checked, internally inconsistent lies yet they lap them up. Scary to watch.
I wanted to point out that my husband and child are in Chicago and there the pollution was coming from both the Canadian and the Minnesotan wild fires. The Minnesotan supposedly contributed more to the Chicago pollution than the Canadian, but who knows.
I am safely in Northern Germany, and we are not having wild fires here. The warming and fires is why I appreciate the rainy days. The wetter things are, the less fire prone. I have solar on my roof, but have been thinking about greening it where there are no panels. My city often has rain and sun in the same day, and I can live with that. Everyone has good rainwear. We also are a biking city so people have rain pants too. Our drinking water is good quality and tastes good. No filters are needed.
Most people when they retire look for a place that is less expensive. We did that. We also wanted cooler summers and warmer winters than Chicago. We wanted cleaner air, and fewer wildfires, good transportation network, and a bike friendly culture. We also wanted a political climate that we would feel a part of. This we have achieved. I would love to advise people when thinking of retirement that they should be considering climate effects as much as possible when choosing a place. Not a place that is perpetually sunny, but a place that is positioned and willing to do what it takes to go into the future reducing dependence on fossil fuels and climate change and where they are less likely to be hit with fires, floods or extreme temperatures.
Here in the U.K., we’ve had three heatwaves already, and another one is about to descend on us. They aren’t nearly as extreme as the heatwaves around the Mediterranean, but our homes weren’t built for hot weather and hardly anyone has air conditioning, so old people, small children and disabled people are in danger. I have read a couple of stories about the Rhine water levels being so low that shipping has been affected, but that is more a result of the lack of rain in the alps to the south.
Not to frighten you, but if/when the Gulf Stream/conveyor belt slows or reverses, the UK will be among the hardest hit.
Practically no one in the US is taking this as an imminent threat--which it is. I am only one person, but I am trying…Shame on us. Hopefully we can begin to mount a political movement here.
Youre right—I’ve been following this phenomenon ever since I first heard about it. It is really alarming. If I remember correctly, there was an article about it not so long ago in The Guardian.
I would like Princeton and Harvard to explain Hegseth, particularly Princeton. He has hardly made that school look good. I cannot be the only one who knows very bright people who have gone through there, so how does one explain him?
I think he went to Princeton on a basketball scholarship.
I certainly can’t have been intelligence.