…when the going gets tough…the tough get going?

The move is a familiar one — a prominent Republican gathering the courage to arrest his party’s drift toward Trumpism and then, when the next election comes around, heading for the exits.
[…]
Unlike other Trump critics who have opted to retire, Romney appeared to have had more than a fighting chance, had he opted to run again. Utah is an unusual state, deeply conservative but also with a large vein of Trump skepticism coursing through that conservatism. And Romney’s personal brand there — dating to his stewardship of the 2002 Salt Lake City Olympics — clearly gave him latitude that other Republicans have not enjoyed.
[…]
In an interview with longtime Washington Post politics correspondent Dan Balz, Romney played down the idea that he would get involved in supporting a 2024 candidate who is running against Trump. The reason: It would be counterproductive.

“I doubt my support will mean anything positive to any of the candidates at the finish line,” Romney said. “I’m not looking to get involved in that.”

And then, the most striking quote: “It’s pretty clear that the party is inclined to a populist demagogue message.”
[…]
Romney built on this point in an excerpt — published Wednesday shortly after his retirement announcement — from Atlantic writer McKay Coppins’s forthcoming book about him.
[…]
Flake would later reflect — in an op-ed published, of all days, on Jan. 6, 2021, hours before Capitol riot — that “the rise of a dangerous demagogue, and my party’s embrace of him,” ended his career.

…& much as I’m in principle prepared to be pleased at a man of romney’s age agreeing to step aside on the general principle that the old guard aren’t exactly up to the task before us…ceding the field to what you’ve identified as the problem seems…well

The problem is that those willing to try to push the party in that “right” direction keep leaving, often voluntarily or with a not-so-friendly nudge from GOP primary voters.

In addition to Flake’s retirement, Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) also retired in 2018. Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) died that year, shortly after he became the GOP’s preeminent Trump critic. Impeachment-backing senators Richard Burr of North Carolina, Patrick J. Toomey of Pennsylvania and Ben Sasse of Nebraska — three of the seven GOP votes to convict Trump after Jan. 6 — all retired or resigned within two years of that vote. Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.), Cheney’s colleague on the House Jan. 6 committee, retired. The only Republican impeachment backers who survived the 2022 election were the ones running under unusual systems that appeared to benefit middle-of-the-road candidates.

What’s left is a party devoid of prominent politicians truly making the case for a different course. And Romney’s exit, by virtue of his stature and his potential to hang around, is perhaps the most painful blow to that effort yet.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2023/09/13/mitt-romneys-startling-familiar-concession-demagogues-have-won/

…more by way of compounding it than diluting it…so…I guess he’ll have to look elsewhere for the pat on the back he seems to think he deserves…which…well…I guess you could say I feel conflicted…schadenfreude is a lot more satisfying when the people getting what’s coming to them doesn’t include all of us

But the inquiry Mr. McCarthy announced this week is not costless. He’s helping to create a new norm of tit-for-tat retaliation in which every president could face impeachment whenever the opposing party controls the House. In doing so, he’s cheapening a vital constitutional remedy that should be reserved for severe abuses of power, and he is wasting precious legislative time.
[…]
Mr. McCarthy claims that Republicans are just conducting oversight and that the impeachment inquiry is necessary to ascertain all the facts — including finding such evidence, if it exists. But there’s nothing this new effort will be able to access that the House judiciary, oversight and tax-writing committees couldn’t already get as part of their ongoing probes. Instead, this looks like an effort to muddy the waters as Mr. Trump faces criminal indictments in Florida, New York, Georgia and D.C.

One potential article of impeachment floated by Mr. McCarthy is obstruction of justice. The suggestion here is that Mr. Biden inappropriately meddled in the Justice Department’s investigation of his son to prevent him from facing more serious charges. But this is undercut by the reality that the president kept in place his predecessor’s U.S. attorney for Delaware, who has told the court he plans to file charges against Hunter Biden by the end of the month. Separately, the FBI agent overseeing the investigation into the president’s son disputes whistleblower claims that the prosecutor was stymied by the Justice Department.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2023/09/13/impeachment-inquiry-mccarthy-biden-unwarranted/

…because they have such principles about improper business practices

A far-right figure who is involved in a secretive invitation-only fraternal organization, whose founder has spoken of being at war with the US government, is also part-owner of an ammunition company that has contracts with the federal government and law enforcement, the Guardian can reveal.

Nathaniel Fischer – a venture capitalist, former Claremont Institute fellow and president of the Dallas lodge of the secretive Society for American Civic Renewal (SACR) – is also part-owner of Texas-based ammunition manufacturer S1 Armory, which trades as Stand 1 Armory.

A Guardian investigation has revealed that the company has current US federal government and law enforcement contracts, even though Fischer regularly promotes anti-government conspiracy theories on social media.
[…]
Fischer, 38, of Dallas, Texas, is also CEO of New Founding, described by him as a “venture fund for the American right”, which is now seeking wealthy investors for a venture fund that will power explicitly rightwing startups.

Filings with the Texas comptroller of public accounts and IRS indicate Fischer has been president of SACR’s Dallas lodge since its founding in 2021.

The Guardian reported last month that the secretive, invitation-only fraternal organization was founded by former shampoo magnate, Charles Haywood, who has mused on his website about his possible future as a “warlord” at the head of an “armed patronage network” which might engage in “more-or-less open warfare with the federal government” in a post-collapse US.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/sep/13/far-right-nate-fischer-ammunition-us-government-contract

…I forget if that made it into one of these

Heidi Beirich is co-founder of the Global Project on Hate and Extremism and an expert of the far right. She characterized the rhetoric on the website as “palingenetic ultranationalism”, a feature of fascism that proposes a revolution as a means of national rebirth.

…but I can remember the part where it made me think about the “villains” in coming to america with their hair-product fortune that left a patch like an oil stick on furniture it came in contact with

Haywood has become more active and prominent as a blogger and commentator on the far-right podcast circuit since selling his solely owned Indianapolis-based shampoo manufacturing company, Mansfield-King, to a competitor for an undisclosed price in September 2020.

On his personal website, The Worthy House, where he styles himself “Maximum Leader”, Haywood has written that the sale made him “rich beyond the dreams of avarice and looking to cause trouble”. Mansfield-King was reportedly “on track to do $45m in revenue” in the year before its sale.

He has featured on Claremont Institute podcasts like The American Mind and shows run by Claremont Institute staffers and alumni, like the New Founding podcast. He has also written for Claremont’s website, The American Mind.
[…]
The organization’s structure, aims and apparent secrecy are striking in the light of some of the ideas Haywood has promoted in articles on the Worthy House website.

One idea he has repeatedly raised on the website is that he might serve as a “warlord” at the head of an “armed patronage network” or “APN”, defined as an “organizing device in conditions where central authority has broken down” in which the warlord’s responsibility is “the short- and long-term protection, military and otherwise, of those who recognize his authority and act, in part, at his behest”.

The “possibilities involving violence” that APNs might face, Haywood writes include “more-or-less open warfare with the federal government, or some subset or remnant of it”.

Further on, Haywood writes: “At this moment I preside over what amounts to a extended, quite sizeable, compound, which when complete I like to say, accurately, will be impervious to anything but direct organized military attack”, adding that “it requires a group of men to make it work … what I call ‘shooters’ – say fifteen able-bodied, and adequately trained, men.”

These “shooters”, Haywood explains, “can operate my compound, both defensively and administratively”, meanwhile, “I have the personality, and skills, to lead such a group.”

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/aug/22/charles-haywood-claremont-institute-sacr-far-right

…never realized having more money than sense was a “skill”…but…standards aren’t exactly what they used to be

The Colombian coca market has collapsed. Why isn’t anyone buying the cocaine precursor? [Guardian]

…the devil you know is…you know…still a devil & all…but…the one you don’t?

‘It’s like smoking poison’: Sierra Leone’s youth battle addiction to a mystery drug [Guardian]

…but whatever these fuckwits are smoking

House Republicans on Wednesday failed to move forward on a procedural vote advancing a bill to fund the Defense Department after it became clear they did not have enough votes to secure its passage.

The usually noncontroversial step became tied up in a broader debate among the conference that threatens to derail negotiations over the budget as a Sept. 30 deadline to fund the government looms. Republican leaders Wednesday afternoon moved the scheduled vote off the House floor calendar, and it is unclear when the vote may happen.
[…]
The inability to move forward on a basic step to fund the government — the House’s top responsibility enshrined in the Constitution — offered an example of just how difficult it will be for McCarthy and the ideologically fractured Republican majority to find consensus, keep the government open and avert blame if a shutdown is triggered. The House has less than a dozen days in session before the Sept. 30 deadline.

…to quote a very dead but very white guy…”Had we but world enough and time,/This coyness, lady, were no crime”

House Republicans already had adjourned a day early in July after they couldn’t pass an agriculture funding bill — typically considered one of the least controversial appropriations bills — because of internal debates on policy that at times turned into shouting matches between lawmakers, according to multiple people familiar with the meetings who like others spoke on the condition of anonymity to detail tensions testing the conference.

It remains unclear when the House will consider the defense funding bill — or any appropriation bill. Given the myriad requests and leadership’s inability thus far to provide a top-line budget number, lawmakers had little insight into how Republicans break themselves from the logjam before the House leaves Washington for the weekend Thursday.

In addition to political opposition, several absences within the conference — including Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-La.), who is battling cancer — are making the math tricky for Republicans. Complicating it further is the expected retirement of Rep. Chris Stewart (R-Utah) later this week, which will bring the Republicans’ already razor-thin majority down to four. His replacement, generally expected to be a Republican, would not arrive in the House until late November.

McCarthy ignored questions about how he plans on overcoming the impasse Wednesday after devoting significant time to discussing Republicans’ impeachment inquiry into President Biden.

But at my back I always hear
Time’s wingèd chariot hurrying near;
And yonder all before us lie
Deserts of vast eternity.

Andrew Marvell – To his Coy Mistress

McCarthy’s ask of colleagues during Republicans’ weekly conference meeting Wednesday appeared to go unheard by a significant number of lawmakers. Several shook their heads no when the speaker urged his colleagues to be cognizant of the little time they have to address government funding and to help pass as many appropriation bills as possible, according to several people in attendance.

The Senate Appropriations Committee has approved all 12 of its bills with bipartisan support, and lawmakers are expected to approve three of them through the Senate next week. House Republicans have acknowledged that if they fail to pass a significant appropriations bill — or even more than one — they would concede the upper hand to the Senate in negotiations.

“We would have had some leverage had we been able to pass some bills, but others have different ideas,” said Rep. Mike Simpson (R-Idaho), who chairs an Appropriations subcommittee.

Asked whether the government is heading toward a shutdown, Simpson said, “Two weeks ago I would’ve said no. Now I don’t know.”

The standstill again exposed the divide among Republicans on procedure. After McCarthy was able to strike a deal with the White House on how to reduce some spending in exchange for raising the debt ceiling earlier this year, Freedom Caucus members balked at the speaker relying on Democrats to help clear a procedural hurdle and on final passage. In turn, 11 Republicans voted with Democrats against passing a rule that would have set parameters for debate of several noncontroversial bills a few days later, preventing the House from considering any legislation on the floor for a week.

To reopen the floor, McCarthy conceded to the far-right’s requests and directed the House Appropriations Committee to markup all 12 appropriation bills ignoring the parameters struck in the debt deal.

…I mean…a clear-eyed assessment of the fact that the inmates have taken over the asylum is not without some merit…but…I’m pretty sure you lose points if you say so in a letter of resignation that you leave on your desk when you “virtuously” wash your hands of a problem you’d otherwise clearly be responsible for doing something about…& doubly so if you weight the thing down by leaving the goddamn keys behind

Governing-minded Republicans and institutionalists in the House have grown routinely frustrated by colleagues blocking basic functions, privately airing those grievances in numerous luncheons across the Capitol on Wednesday. As it started to become clearer that far-right lawmakers would be pushing to attach more red-meat policies to funding bills, Republicans who helped clinch the majority, and who probably face difficult reelection fights began brainstorming how to go public and push back against their colleagues, according to multiple people familiar with their intentions. And those conversations have since jump-started, lawmakers and aides said.

…maybe it’s just me…though…I get the distinct impression it isn’t…but…it’s almost like if you’re in the business of performative bullshit…you seem to get the mistaken impression that the performance of bullshit is in fact the substance of your job…which is a problem when you have a position of substance in a system of government…because that shit isn’t just for show?

Some far-right lawmakers, including those in the Freedom Caucus, have warned that how McCarthy threads the delicate balance of their demands may result in a motion to vacate him from the speakership. Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) has said that if McCarthy were to cobble up a short-term extension that does not include a number of conservative demands, he would seek to remove him.

Yet more members in the Freedom Caucus consider McCarthy relying on Democrats more than Republicans to pass any bill as the ultimate failure of his leadership.

“That’s kind of the mentality that’s been created here, is that if you get Democratic votes on something, then it must be bad,” Simpson said.

House punts on Pentagon bill, an ominous sign as shutdown looms [WaPo]

…& you’ve probably lost control of your metaphor by the time you’re throwing red meat to the peanut gallery

To some degree, wrangling the rabble-rousers is always a feature of the speakership. Paul Ryan had to make his peace with the ultraconservative, ultradisruptive Freedom Caucusers who had essentially driven his predecessor, John Boehner, out of the job. And Nancy Pelosi had her share of tussles with the Democratic caucus’s left wing.

But Mr. McCarthy is in an especially ticklish position, in part because of his emaciated majority and in part because of the various promises and concessions he made to the hard-liners during the speaker’s race. (Multiple wing nuts on the Rules Committee? A return to allowing an individual member to force a vote to dethrone the speaker? Woof.)

Pretty much everyone acknowledges that this isn’t how Mr. McCarthy wanted the impeachment thing to go. As a political animal, he knows that a slipshod, nakedly partisan impeachment inquiry started without compelling evidence threatens the electoral fortunes of his members from more moderate areas — including the 18 who represent districts that went for Mr. Biden in 2020. The non-wingers don’t want to be mired in an impeachment circus heading into next year’s electoral scrum, and they most likely would not have voted to approve one.

But the moderates do not call the shots in this Republican conference. Which is why Mr. McCarthy executed a trademark flip-flop, unilaterally ordering up an investigation without a vote even though he had recently asserted that such a vote was required. This bit of hypocrisy promises to be awkward since, in January 2020, the Trump Justice Department ruled that impeachment investigations by the House are invalid without a formal authorization vote. But Mr. McCarthy is desperate to placate the wing nuts.
[…]
Mr. Gaetz went on to list the myriad ways in which Mr. McCarthy has vexed his right flank, including declining to hold a vote on term limits or on balanced budgets, failing to arrange a “full release” of the Jan. 6 tapes, refusing to get serious about slashing spending. Mr. Gaetz heaped special scorn upon the debt deal, charging Mr. McCarthy with “serving as the valet” to advance the president’s “spending agenda.”

This makes for a hefty (read: impossible) to-do list, and one can only assume Mr. Gaetz is willing to be flexible in his definition of “immediate.” But his basic message to the speaker was clearer than a shot of Stoli: We own you, buddy, so get busy making us happy. Or else.

Mr. McCarthy’s impeachment caper is just the most garish example of the impossible power dynamic he has saddled himself with. An arguably more pathetic case was the speed with which he backpedaled on the debt agreement that was by far his biggest leadership win. After the deal passed, Mr. McCarthy got to bask for only a few days in the glow of competence before a gaggle of outraged hard-liners, again fronted by Mr. Gaetz, shut down business on House floor in protest over the agreement.

For several days, the mutineers held the House hostage while they negotiated with Mr. McCarthy for … well, it’s hard to say for sure. But next thing you know, the speaker had effectively abandoned his own deal, embracing the nonsensical position that its spending levels were a ceiling rather than a target and that Republicans would be writing bills with lower limits. The House and Senate are expected to spend the next weeks or even months locked in a nasty fight over how to reconcile this mess.
[…]
Mr. McCarthy is a slippery enough operator that he may wriggle his way out of this jam. “Live to fight another day” seems to be his guiding principle. Which is probably the most he can hope for, since there appears to be no good way out of his toxic relationship with his hard-liners. They will never be satisfied. And he will always be under imminent threat of losing the job for which he long ago sold his soul.

So much stress and blame, so little real authority. It’s a wonder Mr. McCarthy even wants this lousy, thankless, increasingly hollow gig — or what he hopes to accomplish.

So much more satisfying to be someone like Mr. Gaetz. He doesn’t need to be the speaker. He has the speaker running scared.

Kevin McCarthy Faces His Puppet Master [NYT]

…I mean…maybe it really is lost on some true believers™…but…we get it

The Republicans’ impeachment inquiry into Biden is laughably cynical [Guardian]

…but…what isn’t?

Top tech leaders and experts convene in Washington for forum on AI safety [Guardian]

…uh huh

The second day of a landmark anti-monopoly trial against Google began on Wednesday with a protest from Apple against two numbers that the Justice Department mentioned in its opening statement the day before.

It underscored the tense confidentiality restrictions surrounding the trial, which transparency activists have decried as shrouding the dealings of one of the world’s most powerful companies in secrecy.
[…]
In the meantime, lots of details of Google’s business are likely to emerge under rules intended to preserve confidentiality of sensitive business information. On Wednesday morning, Ryan Travers, an attorney representing Apple, which is not a party to the antitrust case, complained that government attorneys may have violated those rules in regard to Apple. Travers said that two numbers mentioned in passing in the Justice Department’s opening statement might create a “misperception” that they came from Apple’s confidential information. “That would be a violation of the rules of engagement here,” he said.

Google attorney John Schmidtlein chimed in. “The remark that was made would leave the public with the impression that that number either came from them or from us.”
[…]
Significant portions of the evidence in the trial have been sealed as trade secrets, despite activists’ push for greater transparency in a trial that could affect how billions of people interact with the internet. The court set up a public telephone line for Tuesday’s opening statements, but the rest of the months-long trial, including Wednesday’s session, will be accessible only in person.
[…]
None of the lawyers specified what numbers were in question on Wednesday. The complaint appeared to refer to Dintzer saying, “In 2020, Google paid 4 to 7 billion dollars under the ISA,” on Tuesday morning, according to a court transcript. Dintzer was discussing the search giant’s Information Services Agreement, or ISA, with Apple, in which Google pays for its search engine to be the default on iPhones and other Apple devices.

Dintzer also said in his opening statement that Google pays more than $10 billion per year to device and browser makers to attain default status for its search engine. That broader statement did not draw objections from Google or Apple.
[…]
The Justice Department will have the next four weeks to present its case, question witnesses and present evidence. After that, the state attorneys general will have two weeks to make a supplementary case. Google will have three weeks starting Oct. 25 to make its defense.

A judgment in the case likely will not come until well into next year.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2023/09/13/google-apple-trial-secrecy/

…but…when the people supposedly wearing the trousers are

Google accused of spending billions to block rivals as landmark trial continues [Guardian]

…well

Taiwan tells Elon Musk it is ‘not for sale’ after latest China comments [Guardian]

…all mouth & no trousers

Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., said Wednesday that the Senate should investigate tech billionaire Elon Musk’s alleged role in thwarting a Ukrainian drone from attacking Russia’s naval fleet last year in the Black Sea.

“We need to investigate how this happened. What’s in those contracts that permits him to have this kind of power?” Warren said to reporters outside a forum about artificial intelligence on Capitol Hill that Musk participated in with other major tech CEOs.

Warren, who attended the event, which was closed to the public and press, said that it’s Congress’ responsibility to investigate what unfolded.

…I mean…not for nothing…but whether or not you believe his choice still constituted picking a side in a conflict with real life & death consequences he bears responsibility for directly by his own admission…where there’s a will there’s a way?

https://www.forbes.com/sites/craighooper/2023/09/13/why-ukraines-strike-on-sebastopol-naval-infrastructure-is-a-big-deal/

The U.S. military, she added, should also evaluate its contracts with SpaceX. The Pentagon announced in June that it had agreed to purchase Starlink satellite internet terminals from Musk’s SpaceX to be used in Ukraine amid its lengthy war with Russia.

“It is also the responsibility of the Department of Defense to go back and take a look at those contracts,” she said. “That kind of activity poses a danger to the United States, to Ukraine and to the rest of the world.”
[…]
“Foreign policy is made by the United States government, not by one billionaire,” she said. “The Congress needs to investigate what’s happened here and whether we have adequate tools to make sure that foreign policy is conducted by the government and not by one billionaire.”

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/elizabeth-warren-says-senate-investigate-elon-musks-role-thwarting-attack

…easier said & all

Experts call for global moratorium on efforts to geoengineer climate [Guardian]

…how does it go

Twitter chaos after Elon Musk takeover may have violated privacy order, DoJ alleges [Guardian]

…by any other name?

US behind more than a third of global oil and gas expansion plans, report finds [Guardian]

…would smell

In a recent report, researchers from the environmental nonprofit Oil Change International found that new fossil fuel projects could expand over the next few decades, particularly in the global north.

In the U.S., much of the projected growth was concentrated in fossil fuel hot spots such as the Permian Basin in Texas and New Mexico, and along the Gulf Coast. The researchers found that the U.S. accounted for more than one-third of projected global oil and gas expansion through 2050, the most of any nation, followed by Canada and Russia.

‘Peak oil’ could be on the horizon, but new fossil fuel projects are pushing ahead [NBC]

…I forget the rest

Antarctica may have entered ‘new regime’ of low sea ice as global warming ramps up [Guardian]

Eight catastrophic floods in 11 days: What’s behind intense rainfall around the world? [NBC]

Environmental activists killed at a rate of one every other day in 2022 – report [Guardian]

World Bank spent billions of dollars backing fossil fuels in 2022, study finds [Guardian]

US sets new record for billion-dollar climate disasters in single year [Guardian]

…ripe?

Earth’s life support systems have been so damaged that the planet is “well outside the safe operating space for humanity”, scientists have warned.

Their assessment found that six out of nine “planetary boundaries” had been broken because of human-caused pollution and destruction of the natural world. The planetary boundaries are the limits of key global systems – such as climate, water and wildlife diversity – beyond which their ability to maintain a healthy planet is in danger of failing.
[…]
The scientists said the “most worrying” finding was that all four of the biological boundaries, which cover the living world, were at, or close to, the highest risk level. The living world is particularly vital to the Earth as it provides resilience by compensating for some physical changes, for example, trees absorbing carbon dioxide pollution.

The planetary boundaries are not irreversible tipping points beyond which sudden and serious deterioration occurs, the scientists said. Instead, they are points after which the risks of fundamental changes in the Earth’s physical, biological and chemical life support systems rise significantly. The planetary boundaries were first devised in 2009 and updated in 2015, when only seven could be assessed.

Prof Johan Rockström, the then director of the Stockholm Resilience Centre who led the team that developed the boundaries framework, said: “Science and the world at large are really concerned over all the extreme climate events hitting societies across the planet. But what worries us, even more, is the rising signs of dwindling planetary resilience.”
[…]
The assessment, which was published in the journal Science Advances and was based on 2,000 studies, indicated that several planetary boundaries were passed long ago. The boundary for biosphere integrity, which includes the healthy functioning of ecosystems, was broken in the late 19th century, the researchers said, as destruction of the natural world decimated wildlife. The same destruction, particularly the razing of forests, means the boundary for land use was broken last century.

Climate models have suggest the safe boundary for climate change was surpassed in the late 1980s. For freshwater, a new metric involving both water in lakes and rivers and in soil, showed this boundary was crossed in the early 20th century.

Another boundary is the flow of nitrogen and phosphorus in the environment. These are vital for life but excessive use of fertilisers mean many waters are heavily polluted by these nutrients, which can lead to algal blooms and ocean dead zones. According to the UN Food and Agriculture Organization data, three times the safe level of nitrogen is added to fields every year.

The boundary for synthetic pollution, such as pesticides, plastics and nuclear waste, was shown to have been passed by a 2022 study. The Richardson-led analysis assessed air pollution for the first time, which affects plant growth and monsoon rains. It found air pollution has passed the planetary boundary in some regions such as south Asia and China, but not yet globally. Ocean acidification is also assessed as getting worse and being close to exceeding the safe boundary.
[…]
Prof Simon Lewis, at University College London and not part of the study team, said: “This is a strikingly gloomy update on an already alarming picture. The planet is entering a new and much less stable state – it couldn’t be a more stark warning of the need for deep structural changes to how we treat the environment.”

“The planetary boundaries concept is a heroic attempt to simplify the world, but it is probably too simplified to be of use in practically managing Earth,” he continued. “For example, the damage and suffering from limiting global heating to 1.6C using pro-development policies and major investments in adapting to climate change would be vastly less than the damage and suffering from limiting warming to 1.5C but doing this using policies that help the wealthy and disregard the poor. But the concept does work as a science-led parable of our times.”

A related assessment published in May examined planetary boundaries combined with social justice issues and found that six of these eight “Earth system boundaries” had been passed.

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/sep/13/earth-well-outside-safe-operating-space-for-humanity-scientists-find

…but sure…tell me again how you’re a single-issue voter holding a torch for the book burning league

Virginia library faces potential shutdown over funding after children’s books are challenged [NBC]

…& how your respect has to be earned

Trump embraces Putin’s sympathetic comments to claim political persecution [WaPo]

…& how what you don’t know can’t hurt you

In our blood: how the US allowed toxic chemicals to seep into our lives [Guardian]

…& the people at the top have your interests at heart

Tech giants hold huge sway in matters of war, life and death. That should concern us all [Guardian]

…just asking questions is all very well

‘When You Follow the Money, What Do You Find?’ and Other Questions About Trump

…some questions…tend to get people’s attention

Senate subpoenas Saudi’s $700bn sovereign wealth fund over US dealings [Guardian]

…& sometimes they’re even good questions

The excuses that various federal law enforcement agencies had about how they handled pre-J6 intelligence become even tougher to swallow when you realize Mitt Romney — nearly a couple of decades north of the FBI retirement age — had his finger on the pulse. https://t.co/CHtmppQK08 pic.twitter.com/OgtkUEAWwF

— Ryan J. Reilly (@ryanjreilly) September 13, 2023

…but…don’t blame mitch…none of us can beat back entropy in the long term…& he’s had a long term however you count it…well…actually…you know what…fuck that…blame mitch…blame all these assholes…whatever your idea is of the nation you’ve sworn to uphold…when you’re the threat & you’re willfully blind to that because it conflicts with your short-term interests…seniority isn’t exactly a staunch defense?

PENTAGON-FUNDED STUDY WARNS DEMENTIA AMONG U.S. OFFICIALS POSES NATIONAL SECURITY THREAT [the intercept]

…but then…not all defenses are equal

An Economic Case Against Environmental Doomsayers [NYT]

…probably depends on what you consider to be the bottom line

Who or what is to blame for Elon Musk? Famed biographer of intellectually muscular men Walter Isaacson’s dull, insight-free doorstop of a book casts a wide but porous net in search of an answer. Throughout the tome, Musk’s confidantes, co-workers, ex-wives and girlfriends present a DSM-5’s worth of psychiatric and other theories for the “demon moods” that darken the lives of his subordinates, and increasingly the rest of us, among them bipolar disorder, OCD, and the form of autism formerly known as Asperger’s. But the idea that any of these conditions are what makes Musk an “asshole” (another frequently used descriptor of him in the book), while also making him successful in his many pursuits, is an insult to all those affected by them who manage to change the world without leaving a trail of wounded people, failing social networks and general despair behind them. The answer then must lie elsewhere.
[…]
This wasn’t the first time I held Isaacson’s judgment in low regard. Vaccine sceptic Joe Rogan is “knowledgeable”. Musk’s humour – he took the “w” out of the Twitter sign in San Francisco because “tit” is so inherently funny – has “many levels”. Linda Yaccarino, Musk’s almost comically bumbling CEO of X-nee-Twitter is “wickedly smart”. The amount of time devoted to the points-of-view of Musk and his acolytes can’t help but distort the narrative in his favour, especially because Musk is the ultimate of unreliable narrators. “Elon didn’t just exaggerate, he made it up,” a former colleague tells us.

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2023/sep/13/elon-musk-by-walter-isaacson-review-arrested-development

…so I’ll give it a rest in a minute…no doubt to everyone’s relief…but…without pulling it all together into a whole other post as long as this one…I can not overstate how entirely fucking catastrophically poor the man’s understanding is not just of how twitter works but of basic fundamental concepts of best practice in tech…he’s not flying by the seat of his pants…he’s wiping his ass like a dog doing the butt-shuffle as though it’s some sort of alpha male way to mark his territory rather than the desperate flailing of a man so profoundly out of his depth that parts of his brain know he drowned a while back…so…if you have the inclination…check out the details of the time he decided he could just start unplugging server racks in a sacramento data centre…leave aside the petty details about how they had hardcoded references on which platform-wide services were dependent…or the part where…whether out of respect for user data or on the grounds of security where propitiatory stuff is concerned…usually you’d wipe those sorts of things before you transported them…or…you know…break them down so you aren’t trying to shift a whole rack…which isn’t designed to cope with a load that isn’t static in a physics sense…so risks breaking or otherwise damaging itself & the idiots trying to stick it in a U-haul & strap it down like a couch…I mean…sometimes people ship loaded racks of servers…but…generally speaking that’s a whole production…& the things themselves are swaddled in the sort of protective crate you’d have a hard time rattling them through…but tell me again how he’s an engineering genius who’s single-handedly going to wrestle humanity out of its electric cars & fling us to mars “planet X”

…tomorrow’s friday, though…so…we got that going for us?