We are going into a new Cold War. I don’t agree with everything in this article, in the conservative Wall Street Journal, but I am using it in SR to make the fundamental point. The democracies and the autocracies of the world are facing off against one another. But this isn’t going to be like the last Cold War. Russia was never the super power most Americans once believed it to be, and now it is basically a vassal of China. The big difference, in my opinion, is that China is not looking for a war. They are looking to become the leading nation in the world, and are, and have been, watching the United States decline. They have a long view and are building roads, ports, and towns throughout the world to make themselves the most powerful economy in the world. Frankly, I don’t think either U.S. political party or the Congress really comprehends what is happening.
The coalescing partnership of autocracies led by China and Russia will impose strategic choices on Western democracies, no matter who wins the U.S. presidential election.
Can the U.S. and its allies deter all these rivals—including Iran and North Korea—at the same time, given the decay in the West’s military-industrial base and the unwillingness of voters to spend dramatically more on defense?
And if not, should, and could, an accommodation be sought with one of the rival great powers? If so, which one—and at what cost?
The current moment is uniquely complicated, with multiple crises around the world increasingly interconnected. Bloody wars in Ukraine and the Middle East are showing no signs of abating, Iran is contemplating a military response against Israel, China is engaging in low-level sea clashes with the Philippines and intimidating Taiwan, and North Korea is ramping up provocations against South Korea.
Retired Army Lt. Gen. Keith Kellogg, who served in senior national-security roles in the Trump White House, compared the state of the world to a game of whack-a-mole—with all the moles now up. “Because the crises erupt at the same time, […]
Whaling is evil, and incredibly stupid. Whales are a major part of the oceans’ ecosystem and Earth’s matrix of life. The only way, I see it ending is if every individual human makes the personal decision not to eat whale. If there is no money in it, the whaling industry will wither away.
Sperm whal. Credit: Valery Hache / AFP
The detention in Greenland of anti-whaling campaigner Paul Watson pending possible extradition to Japan has turned the spotlight on the widely condemned practice of hunting whales.
A 1986 moratorium on commercial whaling allowed numbers to recover following centuries of hunting that decimated the population to near-extinction.
Today three countries still permit the practice — Japan, Norway and Iceland.
Beyond the moral case against whaling, as made in campaigns such Watson’s, what is the science driving the arguments both for and against the practice?
– ‘Scientific’ whaling? –
In 2019 Japan quit the International Whaling Commission moratorium and resumed commercial whaling inside its territorial waters and exclusive economic zone.
Before this, Japan had been pursuing “scientific research” whaling since 1987, arguing some data could only be collected from dead carcasses.
But the evidence to support the claim was thin, Paul Rodhouse, fellow of the Marine Biological Association in Britain, told AFP.
“There seems to be very little justification for scientific whaling and […]
Casey Tolan, Isabelle Chapman and Nelli Black, Senior Writer | Producer CNN Investigates | Senior Producer for CNN's Investigations Unit - CNN
Stephan:
I don’t think, and can find no example in doing research, that anyone has ever seen running for president basically use the campaign process as a way to personally enrich themselves. But that, as this article describes in detail, is exactly what criminal Trump is doing. Whether he wins of loses he is going to personally enrich himself by tens of millions of dollars. It is a despicable distortion of the U.S. democratic election system. It is all a huge scam to Trump; he is milking both the rich and the poor.
Late last year, former President Donald Trump announced his endorsement of car dealership owner Bernie Moreno for Ohio’s Senate seat – elevating an untested candidate who’d never held public office over several other more prominent Republicans.
Two days later, Moreno’s campaign spent about $17,000 at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort, and then followed up by spending an additional $79,000 the next month – making him one of the Florida club’s top political spenders.
He wasn’t alone. With glitzy Mar-a-Lago fundraisers, stays at Trump’s hotels, and flights on the former president’s private jet, Republican candidates and political groups are on track to spend more on Trump’s businesses this year than any year since 2016, according to a CNN analysis of federal campaign finance data.
Trump himself has been the biggest spender, both this year and over the last decade. Between his three presidential campaigns, Trump and associated political groups have funneled more than $28 million in campaign donations to his businesses – helping convert the enthusiasm of his political supporters into personal profit.
Other Republicans have followed suit, spending millions […]
I just had two personal experiences being charged for two subscriptions I cancelled over a year ago. It took me a total of two hours to get this sorted out, so this story definitely caught my attention. You have probably had similar experiences. We seem to have entered the age of scamming. We get about five scam calls or requests to sign up for something on our landline every day. So tthis story is personal and I thank Biden for what he has done.
President Biden at the White House. Credit: Al Drago / Bloomberg / Getty
The Biden administration on Monday outlined new proposals to make it easier for Americans to cancel unwanted subscriptions.
Why it matters: The initiatives are a part of a broader effort by the administration to eliminate the “unnecessary headaches and hassles” that consumers face, including by getting rid of junk fees.
“Americans know these practices well: it’s being forced to wait on hold just to get the refund we’re owed; the hoops and hurdles to cancel a gym membership or subscription; the unnecessary complications of dealing with health insurance companies; the requirements to do in-person or by mail what could easily be done with a couple of clicks online,” according to a White House fact sheet out Monday.
State of play: Several federal agencies are proposing rules that would combat “corporate tricks and scams like excessive paperwork, long wait times, and more” that companies use to stall consumers […]
Here is some more good news. Finally, someone has invented a way to get rid of non-compostable plastic bags. I hope this spreads and is embraced in the United States. Chemical plastic bags, as I am sure you know, have become a huge problem.
Mohammed Azhar Mohiuddin with eco-friendly plastic bags. Credit: BioReform
An Indian entrepreneur is using sugar, cellulose, and corn fibers to make a plastic-like carrier bag for small Indian businesses.
His company Bio Reform has already replaced 6 million plastic bags in the checkout counters of stores all over India.
Based in Hyderabad, Mohammed Azhar Mohiuddin first got the idea during the general mayhem that arose during the pandemic. Mohiuddin was looking at global environmental issues with the hope of finding one his entrepreneurial spirit had the capacity to tackle.
He would eventually settle on plastic use, the overreliance on it in society, and the dangers of plastic contamination in the form of microplastic particles. Specifically, he wanted to find an alternative to one of the most common plastic products used today: the plastic shopping bag.
Mohiuddin saw the largest brands substituting plastic ones for those made of paper or even jute, but for medium and small businesses that power the majority of the Indian economy, the small increase in costs from using biodegradable bags was too prohibitive.
DELPHINE FARMER AND MJ RICHES, Professor of Chemistry at Colorado State University. - Atlas Obscura
Stephan:
Gradually, slowly, science is beginning to understand that all living beings have a measure of consciousness. Here is the latest research making this point. What all this research is telling us is that We live in a matrix of consciousness and all consciousnesses are interconnected and interdependent.
Trees and other plants can’t escape wildfire smoke. Credit: Patrick T. Fallon / AFP / AFP / Getty / Conversation
When wildfire smoke is in the air, doctors urge people to stay indoors to avoid breathing in harmful particles and gases. But what happens to trees and other plants that can’t escape from the smoke? They respond a bit like us, it turns out: Some trees essentially shut their windows and doors and hold their breath.
As atmospheric and chemical scientists, we study the air quality and ecological effects of wildfire smoke and other pollutants. In a study that started quite by accident when smoke overwhelmed our research site in Colorado, we were able to watch in real time how the leaves of living pine trees responded.
Plants have pores on the surface of their leaves called stomata. These pores are much like our mouths, except that while we inhale oxygen and exhale carbon dioxide, plants inhale carbon dioxide and exhale oxygen.
