Warmer temperatures and longer growing seasons are causing plants to produce more pollen, and this increased pollen load is contributing to longer and more intense allergy seasons.
An international crisis. Trump uses the excuse to declare martial law in the USA.
He suspends civilian legal processes. Commander in Chief Trump and the U.S. Military are in charge.
It could happen.
The martial law concept in the United States is closely tied with the right of habeas corpus, which is in essence the right to a hearing on lawful imprisonment, or more broadly, the supervision of law enforcement by the judiciary.
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem on Wednesday lent some support to calls to suspend habeas corpus as part of the administration’s immigration crackdown after aide Stephen Miller said the White House was considering the idea.
We know Trump wants to be a Royal like murdering dictator-for-life MBS in Saudi Arabia.
Trump’s first international visit?
To the nation of bin Laden. 15 of the 19 terrorists in 911 were from Saudi Arabia.
Is this really America First? It looks like Trump First.
You know Elon Musk would be 100% supportive of declaring martial law. He’s already openly emulating Hitler who did exactly this in Germany ➙ February 28, 1933, effectively suspended many constitutional rights, creating a state of emergency and giving the Nazis significant control.
Here’s the best discussion on this issue, I’ve seen. Timothy Snyder is an American historian who’s an expert in Tyranny.
If I was editing, I would have cut the length of the novel in half. Many threads did not contribute to the plot resolution.
I Am Pilgrim (2015) is the debut novel by former journalist and screenwriter Terry Hayes. …
“Pilgrim” is an American former intelligence agent known as the “Rider of the Blue” who later writes a book on forensic pathology. …
The “Saracen” is a Saudi who becomes radicalized by watching his father’s beheading. He later trains as a doctor and fights in the Soviet–Afghan War.
Pilgrim is recalled to the intelligence community who have detected a threat involving the Saracen, who has created a vaccine-resistant strain of the variola major virus. Smallpox.
Smallpox is estimated to have killed up to 300 million people in the 20th century and around 500 million people in the last 100 years of its existence.
Inoculation for smallpox appears to have started in China around the 1500s. In 1796, Edward Jenner introduced the modern smallpox vaccine.
unvaccinated and vaccinated twins
Officially, 2 live samples of variola major virus remain, one in the United States at the CDC in Atlanta, and one at the Vector Institute in Koltsovo, Russia.
Between 65 and 80% of survivors are marked with deep pitted scars (pockmarks), most prominent on the face.
I’m not smart enough to explain his thinking — but here’s a ChatGPT summary of the non-fiction tomb.
Main Focus: Nexus explores the intersection of technology, human evolution, and the future of societies, emphasizing the merging of biological and digital realms.
Technological Convergence: Harari examines how advancements in genetic engineering, artificial intelligence, and biotechnology are changing humanity’s relationship with itself and the world.
Human Enhancement: A central theme is the idea that humans may soon be able to enhance their biological and mental capacities through technology, leading to “post-human” forms of existence.
Ethical Implications: The book raises questions about the ethics of altering human biology, creating artificial life, and the consequences of tampering with the essence of what it means to be human.
Social and Economic Impact: Harari discusses how these technological advancements could lead to social divides, with some individuals or groups gaining access to powerful enhancements while others are left behind.
Surveillance and Control: A significant concern is the potential for increased surveillance and control over individuals’ minds and bodies, both by governments and corporations.
Evolution of Consciousness: Harari reflects on how human consciousness may evolve or change in response to these new technologies, as well as the philosophical questions surrounding free will and identity.
End of Homo Sapiens: The book suggests that humanity might be on the verge of an epochal shift, where Homo sapiens could be replaced by a new, technologically-enhanced species—either through natural evolution or deliberate engineering.
Uncertainty of the Future: Harari emphasizes the unpredictability of the future, acknowledging that the developments discussed could lead to both utopian and dystopian outcomes.
The American economy might never have been stronger relative to the rest of the world than in 2024.
BUT more and more of that money is going to the very rich. If that continues, you can project the States will be come some kind of oligarchy. Perhaps even a totalitarian state.
The Economist still ranks the USA as a ‘flawed democracy‘ in their annual Democracy Index. Only 29th on the list of democracies.
The full democracies 2023:
Norway
New Zealand
Iceland
Sweden
Finland
Denmark
Ireland
Switzerland
Netherlands
Taiwan
Luxembourg
Germany
Canada
Australia
Uruguay
Japan
Costa Rica
United Kingdom
I want to live in a full democracy where it’s easiest to get rid of leaders the majority don’t want. As Churchill said: “democracy is the worst form of government – except for all the others that have been tried.”
The full democracies tend to have a smaller gap between rich and poor.
Russians can’t get rid of Putin. Ali Hosseini Khamenei has been the leader of Iran since 1989. Iranians can’t get rid of him.
Americans should be wondering whether they can get rid of Musk or Trump.
It’s obvious that the top 1% buy American politicians who vote in their interest. This chart is from 2014. Things are much worse in 2024.
For most people, Instagram and TikTok are the most entertaining. I don’t much look at either.
If you want to avoid POLITICS, Meta (Instagram, Facebook, Threads) has definitely reduced the emphasis on political arguments. In Canada, a bonus for using Facebook is that news links are banned.
I haven’t quit Twitter — surprisingly — as my own feeds focused on Gymnastics and Hiking are still good. If I click on Following and avoid For You, the stream is valuable. Of course I quickly block anything I don’t like.
I post today as many of the people online I trust and respect are migrating to Bluesky.
Looking more for VIDEO than anything else, these are the sites I use most:
I hate advertising. Facebook doesn’t offer paid ad-free feeds, so I use ad blockers.
I hate Elon Musk and refuse to send him even one penny. So use ad blockers.
I use WhatsApp only for small group communication. It’s excellent. Messenger, as well, only for communication with very few people.
I’ll check Reddit once in a while if I’m looking for something specific.
Mastodon could be my favourite, but it’s not caught on with the people I want to follow.
LinkedIn should be best of all. But I’ve never seen much value for my purposes.
I never signed up for Snapchat. Hikers are mostly on Instagram. Gymnastics coaches mostly on Twitter.
I’ll try Bluesky. But I’m worried it will never grow big enough.
If desperate, I’ll create a browser bookmark folder and open all these social media sites simultaneously to check the latest news in Gymnastics and Hiking. OR … could I use an A.I. client to do that for me?
Acceptance about who you are. And being tolerant of others to be who they want to be.
I was quite charmed by the warm welcome Harper got dropping into a random Oklahoma biker bar. (You can still smoke in Oklahoma bars?)
Face to face, people are most often welcoming and open minded. Even rednecks in country bars.
Since 2020, right wing politicians have been attacking the rights of transgender people — simply as a way to motivate their most deplorable voters. Very few of those haters have ever once had an encounter with a trans person.
Considered and attempted suicide rate of transgender people in the United States
from 2000 to 2022, with a forecast from 2023 to 2030
Right wing politicians and influencers like Musk and J. K. Rowling are partially responsible for those suicides.
I admire Will Ferrell trying to bring trans folks some hope with this movie.
I’d to do the same if any of my friends announced they were transitioning.
It’s a complicated process. And different for every single person.
Recall one of Trump’s worst appointees — billionaire donor Betsy DeVos?
She wanted to disband public schools, giving those tax dollars to parents to spend on whatever they want ➙ school choice, school voucher programs, or charter schools, for example.
Those are programs used mostly by the rich.
IF you want to send your children to Muslim school, Jewish school, Christian school, or SPORT school — great! So long as they meet minimum standards, your child should be credentialed.
That decided … should the taxpayer subsidize your special education?
My short answer is NO.
Like health care, IF you want special treatment, pay for it yourself.
Government should ensure that BASIC education and health care are made available to EVERYONE.
PUBLIC SCHOOLS and PUBLIC HEALTH CARE.
If you choose to have the Mayo Clinic treat you for cancer, pay for it yourself.
That’s my short answer.
My longer answer is that governments with plenty of money should be allowed to subsidize special education IF it doesn’t lower the quality of public school.
The best discussion I’ve heard on this was on my favourite PODCAST ➙ ON THE MEDIA.
As an example, here’s the GOP nominee for the top job running public schools in North Carolina. An $11 billion budget.
In the past she’s called for executing top Democrats. Endorsed QAnon and other conspiracy theories. Anti-Muslim. Anti-LBGTQ.
She marched for Trump on Jan. 6th.
Michele Morrow is about as rightwing kooky as they get.
No educational experience other than homeschooling her own kids.
The party of family values. The Republican nominee to oversee all public schools in North Carolina wants to execute Democrats, promotes QAnon, and is a conspiracy theorist. (Video: CNN) pic.twitter.com/tsx4vMMjyz
Davis compares cultures quickly and easily, looking for lessons for us who haven’t lived with Amazon tribes for years.
Of the thousand key point, one really struck me. His discussion of how the British — on arrival — could not understand the Australian aborigines.
These are and were a people with no notion of linear time.
Theirs was one of the great experiments in human thought. The notion that the world existed as a perfect whole, and that the singular duty of humanity was to maintain through ritual activity the land precisely as it existed when the Rainbow Serpent embarked on the journey of creation.
… But in life there is only the Dreaming, in which every thought, every plant and animal, are inextricably linked as a single impulse, the inspiration of the first dawning.
Had humanity followed this track, it is true that we would have never placed a man on the moon.
But we would most certainly not be speaking of our capacity to compromise the life support of the planet. I have never in all of my travels been so moved by a vision of another possibility, born literally 55,000 years ago.
the number of people older than 80 is expected to increase sixfold by 2100
while being less productive, seniors also consume substantially more public resources
USA already spends 40% of total tax dollars on people 65 and up
China, Japan, Germany, Italy, Greece, Portugal, and many Eastern European nations are shrinking in 2023. Researchers project the global population will peak in 2064.
Net population growth requires a fertility rate slightly greater than two births per woman. America’s fertility rate is 1.8; the average for high income countries. And dropping.
It’s increasingly difficult for young people to be able to afford to get married, buy a house, and have kids.
The obvious solution is to increase immigration of young people. Galloway feels increased immigration still won’t be enough to solve the problem.
Rick McCharles 