Stephan: Here is a good essay on what I see happening in the MAGAt press, and its equivalents around the world. The fact seems to be that about a third of people in this country simply can't deal with reality, and are rather nasty and hateful about it.
‘Sure, you want good things for the children of the world. But ultimately you will put yourchildren first.’ Credit: Johannes Eisele/AFP/Getty
Standing in front of the partial ruins of Rome’s Colosseum, Boris Johnson explained that a motive to tackle the climate crisis could be found in the fall of the Roman empire. Then, as now, he argued, the collapse of civilization hinged on the weakness of its borders.
“When the Roman empire fell, it was largely as a result of uncontrolled immigration – the empire could no longer control its borders, people came in from the east and all over the place,” the British prime minister said in an interviewon the eve of crucial UN climate talks in Scotland. Civilization can go into reverse as well as forwards, as Johnson told it, with Rome’s fate offering grave warning as to what could happen if global heating is not restrained.
This wrapping of ecological disaster with fears of rampant immigration is a narrative that has flourished in far-right fringe movements in Europe and the US and is now […]
Darryl Fears and Emily Guskin , - The Washington Post
Stephan: The MAGAts in Trump world, as this report describes, not only don't take climate change very seriously, they are actually less concerned than they were. You just can't fix stupid, so I predict that one of the trends causing the Great Schism to grow even stronger, will be the difference in how Red value states and Blue value states prepare to deal with climate change. The Red value states will botch it badly, and then cry out for the Blue states to bail them out.
Even as windstorms became more powerful, wildfires grew more deadly and rising seas made damaging floods more frequent, Americans’ views about the threat of global warming over the past few years remain largely unchanged, a Washington Post-ABC News poll finds.
A clearmajority of adults say that warming is a serious problem, but the share — 67 percent — is about the same as it was seven years ago, when alarms raised by climate scientists were less pronounced than they are now.
The poll, released Friday, also finds that the partisan divide over the issue has widened. The proportion of Democrats who see climate change as an existential threat rose by 11 points to 95 percent over seven years. The increase was driven partlyby Black Americans, who are now more likely to say the issue is very serious.
“I guess I worry about the future, and I worry about the effects that climate change will have on the planet overall. I’m confused as to why most people aren’t worried,” said Dorothy Gustave, 39, who is […]
Stephan: In my opinion, the way to deal with the deliberate actions of the anti-vaxxers that are destroying America's healthcare system with their arrogant stupidity is very simple. Tell those who are not vaccinated that if they contract Covid their medical costs will not be covered by their health insurance.
Every single physician and nurse I know is fed up with having to deal with nasty anti-vaxxers who contract Covid, as well as outraged by the fact that people with other dangerous conditions have been turned away from hospitalization for their situation, because the hospital staff is overworked and the hospital is overcrowded with the non-vaccinated.
The moment that broke Cassie Alexander came nine months into the pandemic. As an intensive-care-unit nurse of 14 years, Alexander had seen plenty of “Hellraiser stuff,” she told me. But when COVID-19 hit her Bay Area hospital, she witnessed “death on a scale I had never seen before.”
Last December, at the height of the winter surge, she cared for a patient who had caught the coronavirus after being pressured into a Thanksgiving dinner. Their lungs were so ruined that only a hand-pumped ventilation bag could supply enough oxygen. Alexander squeezed the bag every two seconds for 40 minutes straight to give the family time to say goodbye. Her hands cramped and blistered as the family screamed and prayed. When one of them said that a miracle might happen, Alexander found herself thinking, I am the miracle. I’m the only person keeping your loved one alive. (Cassie Alexander is a pseudonym that she has used when writing a book about these experiences. […]
Stephan: Here is some good news about plastic waste from the Biden administration, a reversal of the incompetent corruption of the Trump administration.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken speaks at an Oceans Plastics Event at United Nations Environment Program in Nairobi, Kenya, on Nov. 18, 2021. Credit: Andrew Harnik/ AFP/Getty
In stark contrast to the U.S. position under former President Donald Trump, the Biden administration on Thursday signaled support for developing a global treaty to tackle marine plastic pollution, winning swift applause from environmental campaigners.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken made the announcement while visiting the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) in Nairobi, Kenya, on the heels of the COP26 climate summit in Glasgow, Scotland earlier this month.
“It is encouraging to see the U.S. throwing its support behind a global plastic treaty,” said Greenpeace USA oceans campaign director John Hocevar. “Plastic pollution is one of the most pressing environmental challenges of our time, with the impacts growing more serious every day. Plastic is a global problem, and requires action and coordination at a global scale. As a major producer and exporter of plastic, the U.S. has a responsibility to take a leadership role.”
Stephan: In this essay Robert Reich states what, in my opinion, is the reality. Now we will see what Sinema and Manchin choose to do in the Senate.
New Orleans flooding Credit: Wikipedia
I’ve been implementing or teaching public policy for five decades (OMG has it really been that long?), and I never cease to be amazed at what occurs when the bean counters and columnists have at it.
You’re going to hear a lot in the next day or two about the Congressional Budget Office’s estimates of the cost of Biden’s Build Back Better plan, along with how much of it will be covered by proposed taxes. Beware. Putting aside the accuracy of these estimates, the exercise omits the cost of doing nothing.
Tackling climate change will be expensive, but doing nothing about climate change will cost far more. If we don’t adopt ambitious measures, untold numbers of lives will be lost and trillions will be spent coping with the consequences of our failure.
Expanding Medicare would be costly, but the price of not doing so will be in the stratosphere. The nation already pays more for health care per person and has worse health outcomes than any other advanced country. (It’s estimated that Medicare […]
