A terrible but iconic moment in history is when the followers of Jim Jones all committed collective suicide by drinking the poisoned Kool Aid to die with their worshiped leader, Jim Jones. Astonishingly, some Trump worshipers seem to have taken Donald Trump's advice to get disinfectants inside their bodies and there are reports of people ingesting Lysol and Clorox.
I expect this is a very few number of people, but if your only source of info is to listen to and believe Donald Trump, you put yourself in a very vulnerable situation, because our president seems to have a very wobbly grasp on reality. Thus he speculates that something that can actually kill you might be good for you.
He lies endlessly and compulsively. And it seems to be worse than that, he seems to literally inhabit a fantasy world of his own ego driven make believe that can be remarkably dangerous to all of us, but especially to those who seem to worship him uncritically.
Don’t drink the Kool Aid.
Monday, April 27, 2020
Monday, April 20, 2020
Is fracking dead in the U.S.?
I didn't realize it but apparently the huge fracking industry providing oil from the U.S. has long been built upon a shaky financial foundation. Financial reporter, Bethany McLean, writes:
"...the dream was always an illusion, and its collapse was already underway. That’s because oil fracking has never been financially viable. America’s energy independence was built on an industry that is the very definition of dependent — dependent on investors to keeping pouring billions upon billions in capital into money-losing companies to fund their drilling. Investors were willing to do this only as long as oil prices, which are not under America’s control, were high — and when they believed that one day, profits would materialize.
Today, the price of oil dropped to less than a dollar a barrel. No demand during the coronavirus pandemic, so the bottom literally dropped out of the oil market.
Someday, the demand will return and oil prices will go up. But, if fracking was not truly economical before the virus, why would it become economical later? How many frackers will be able to sustain the crisis and hope for a better future?
I can't say I am unhappy about the possibility of the end of fracking in America. It seems very environmentally suspect. And there are many other sources of oil to be had. Who knows, this oil crisis may end up being an economical spur to non-hydrocarbon energy and transportation. I have long thought that the smartest kids in MIT, Stanford, Cal Tech, etc, were hard at work developing green energy. Maybe there can be a real influx of moneys to help that along.
"...the dream was always an illusion, and its collapse was already underway. That’s because oil fracking has never been financially viable. America’s energy independence was built on an industry that is the very definition of dependent — dependent on investors to keeping pouring billions upon billions in capital into money-losing companies to fund their drilling. Investors were willing to do this only as long as oil prices, which are not under America’s control, were high — and when they believed that one day, profits would materialize.
Even before the coronavirus crisis, the spigot was drying up. Now, it has been shut off."
Today, the price of oil dropped to less than a dollar a barrel. No demand during the coronavirus pandemic, so the bottom literally dropped out of the oil market.
Someday, the demand will return and oil prices will go up. But, if fracking was not truly economical before the virus, why would it become economical later? How many frackers will be able to sustain the crisis and hope for a better future?
I can't say I am unhappy about the possibility of the end of fracking in America. It seems very environmentally suspect. And there are many other sources of oil to be had. Who knows, this oil crisis may end up being an economical spur to non-hydrocarbon energy and transportation. I have long thought that the smartest kids in MIT, Stanford, Cal Tech, etc, were hard at work developing green energy. Maybe there can be a real influx of moneys to help that along.
Monday, April 13, 2020
Test - Trace - Isolate - to buy time to develop the vaccines
As best as I can tell in my readings, the best path forward is to test, trace, and isolate.
Tests. We need millions of tests. If we can go back to work, and be tested as we enter our workplaces, we can know who is safe to enter the workplace. And the testing would have to be given on a regular basis since we can become infected and spread the virus for up to 14 days even if we don't exhibit any symptoms.
If we are found to be carrying the virus then we isolate - go back to our homes and ride out the disease, working with the doctors and health system.
Once we know we are infected we can work with the professionals to contact all that we have come into contact with so that they can be tested. Those who are not infected have a clean bill of health to work and circulate. Those who discover they are infected become isolated themselves.
It is not like we don't know how to deal with a pandemic. We did so successfully in the past - from HIV to SARS to Swine Flu to Ebola, and in the more distant past - polio, measles, mumps, etc.
What we don't have is a Federal Government that knows what to do. Correction, we used to have a Federal Government that knew what to do but this Federal Government fired and forced out the scientists and experts because this government is run by the "instincts" of a profoundly ignorant president who simply cannot rely on experts or anyone that knows more than he does because his astonishingly idiotic ego thinks he knows more than the experts. And this president is supported by a Republican Party that has spent half a century disdaining, disempowering, and dismissing as much of the government expertise as they could get away with. (Taxed Enough Already - right?) Well, how is that working out?
Plus, of course, this president is literally incapable of thinking about anybody other than himself, and is someone who is literally incapable of caring or compassion.
But, there are others, mostly outside of the Federal Government who so know what to do and I expect them to do it.
What we need to do is test, trace, and isolate while the most vital work of all, creating an effective vaccine, can put this disease on the ash heap of history along with so many highly contagious diseases have been with good vaccines in the past, such as polio, measles, mumps, whooping cough, pneumococcal disease, tetanus, menengoccal disease, hepatitis B, chicken pox, diptheria, etc. It is hard for us to imagine how deadly airborne and waterborne diseases where before vaccinations because they are mostly gone from the world. The Coronavirus can join that list of defeated diseases as well, but we need time to develop that vaccines.
Tests. We need millions of tests. If we can go back to work, and be tested as we enter our workplaces, we can know who is safe to enter the workplace. And the testing would have to be given on a regular basis since we can become infected and spread the virus for up to 14 days even if we don't exhibit any symptoms.
If we are found to be carrying the virus then we isolate - go back to our homes and ride out the disease, working with the doctors and health system.
Once we know we are infected we can work with the professionals to contact all that we have come into contact with so that they can be tested. Those who are not infected have a clean bill of health to work and circulate. Those who discover they are infected become isolated themselves.
It is not like we don't know how to deal with a pandemic. We did so successfully in the past - from HIV to SARS to Swine Flu to Ebola, and in the more distant past - polio, measles, mumps, etc.
What we don't have is a Federal Government that knows what to do. Correction, we used to have a Federal Government that knew what to do but this Federal Government fired and forced out the scientists and experts because this government is run by the "instincts" of a profoundly ignorant president who simply cannot rely on experts or anyone that knows more than he does because his astonishingly idiotic ego thinks he knows more than the experts. And this president is supported by a Republican Party that has spent half a century disdaining, disempowering, and dismissing as much of the government expertise as they could get away with. (Taxed Enough Already - right?) Well, how is that working out?
Plus, of course, this president is literally incapable of thinking about anybody other than himself, and is someone who is literally incapable of caring or compassion.
But, there are others, mostly outside of the Federal Government who so know what to do and I expect them to do it.
What we need to do is test, trace, and isolate while the most vital work of all, creating an effective vaccine, can put this disease on the ash heap of history along with so many highly contagious diseases have been with good vaccines in the past, such as polio, measles, mumps, whooping cough, pneumococcal disease, tetanus, menengoccal disease, hepatitis B, chicken pox, diptheria, etc. It is hard for us to imagine how deadly airborne and waterborne diseases where before vaccinations because they are mostly gone from the world. The Coronavirus can join that list of defeated diseases as well, but we need time to develop that vaccines.
Sunday, April 12, 2020
An Easter message
Although I am no longer a Christian, I am deeply moved by the message of Easter. It is the message of Rising from the Dead - rising from the ashes and being born anew. This is the ancient story of the Phoenix. And is seems so appropriate to our current story of dealing with the coronavirus pandemic. May this pandemic, which has the country and the world in the grips of tragedy, be a story of rising from the ashes, stronger, healed, casting off those parts of ourselves and our societies that don't work, and stepping into a newer and better and more spiritually evolved version of ourselves, our nation, and our world.
Let today be a turning point. Let the rising from the ashes begin.
Happy Easter......
Let today be a turning point. Let the rising from the ashes begin.
Happy Easter......
Monday, April 6, 2020
Thank you Queen Elizabeth
Britain's 93 year old monarch gave an address to her country that I found very inspiring.
"....“I hope in the years to come everyone will be able to take pride in how they responded to this challenge. And those who come after us will say the Britons of this generation were as strong as any. That the attributes of self-discipline, of quiet good-humoured resolve and of fellow-feeling still characterise this country. The pride in who we are is not a part of our past, it defines our present and our future. .... We should take comfort that while we may have more still to endure, better days will return: we will be with our friends again; we will be with our families again; we will meet again. But for now, I send my thanks and warmest good wishes to you all."
Dignity, resolve, character. Did I mention Dignity?
May we all be able to "take pride in how we are responding" to this challenge.
Thank you Queen Elizabeth....
"....“I hope in the years to come everyone will be able to take pride in how they responded to this challenge. And those who come after us will say the Britons of this generation were as strong as any. That the attributes of self-discipline, of quiet good-humoured resolve and of fellow-feeling still characterise this country. The pride in who we are is not a part of our past, it defines our present and our future. .... We should take comfort that while we may have more still to endure, better days will return: we will be with our friends again; we will be with our families again; we will meet again. But for now, I send my thanks and warmest good wishes to you all."
Dignity, resolve, character. Did I mention Dignity?
May we all be able to "take pride in how we are responding" to this challenge.
Thank you Queen Elizabeth....
Friday, April 3, 2020
Is Fox News killing its followers?
Tragically, many right wingers are acting as if the COVID-19 pandemic isn't much of a threat. This is contrary to the news around the country and around the world. Why? Fox News, Rush Limbaugh, right wing radio, evangelical preachers, etc. are telling the Trump faithful that it is all an over-hyped story designed to unseat their hero, Trump. So, Trump Country is has not been staying home as a show of solidarity for how much they love Trump and how much they dismiss actual news.
I am lucky to be in California where our Democratic governor called for us to shelter in place over two weeks ago. The happy result is that we are flattening the curve of the spread of the virus and we have a decent chance of not overwhelming our medical system. Still a long, long way to go but we are on the right track.
The red states are not so lucky. Most of their governors have been downplaying this pandemic. Too many of their people are not social distancing nor sheltering in place. Why? They aren't getting the actual news. They decided long ago that the actual news was fake and they are in a right wing media bubble that feeds them ideology rather than news. And they are in even more trouble than the rest of us, I fear.
The New York Times shows a map of who has not been staying home - Trump County has not been staying home. I am sorry for that.
I can't figure out how to paste that map into this post, but you can click through to see it here
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/04/02/us/coronavirus-social-distancing.html
I am lucky to be in California where our Democratic governor called for us to shelter in place over two weeks ago. The happy result is that we are flattening the curve of the spread of the virus and we have a decent chance of not overwhelming our medical system. Still a long, long way to go but we are on the right track.
The red states are not so lucky. Most of their governors have been downplaying this pandemic. Too many of their people are not social distancing nor sheltering in place. Why? They aren't getting the actual news. They decided long ago that the actual news was fake and they are in a right wing media bubble that feeds them ideology rather than news. And they are in even more trouble than the rest of us, I fear.
The New York Times shows a map of who has not been staying home - Trump County has not been staying home. I am sorry for that.
I can't figure out how to paste that map into this post, but you can click through to see it here
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/04/02/us/coronavirus-social-distancing.html
Wednesday, April 1, 2020
Large structural issues in America and the world
The COVID-19 virus is exacerbating two fundamental structural problems in America and the world.
First, we are facing an increasingly alarming inequality of income between the upper and lower levels of society. The Middle Class has been in the process of being hollowed out for decades now, and is getting worse. This is being shown in tragic relief by the viral pandemic we are all going though. We have known for a few years now that 40% of Americans don't have $400 for an emergency without having to borrow it or sell something. Well, we are in that emergency now for many of them.
Andrew Yang, failed candidate for the Democratic nomination for president, highlighted a major contributing factor to this dangerous inequality spread - the relentless progression of technology that is eliminating jobs, and could end up eliminating the very idea of jobs and careers themselves. Artificial Intelligence is exploding exponentially and could eliminate everything from truck drivers to doctors in a time frame much shorter than we can imagine. If so, how do we survive? What new paradigm is needed for humanity to continue in relative harmony?
The problem is that when the poverty becomes too widespread, very painful things can happen. When the economic inequality became too extreme in France, the French Revolution of 1789 ended up with the French aristocracy having their heads chopped off by the guillotine. And when the economic inequality in Russia became too extreme in 1917 the Russian Revolution ended up with the Tsar and his family being shot. I don't expect bloody revolution in America, but some big changes can happen here and around the world if we are unable to flatten the curve of the spread of the virus and are not able to give needed financial and health aid to all Americans.
The second major structural problem we face is the inability to effectively respond to the ever more alarming climate change being caused by our economies. California and Australia are seeing terrible fire storm seasons. The rest of the country is seeing floods, blizzards, hurricanes etc. that are far outside of normal. And time is only making these things worse. I have real hopes that the smartest young scientists and engineers are working on coming up with new technologies of producing energy and transportation that are environmentally friendly, but political forces are entrenched and destructive.
These are structural issues and I don't have an answer, but answers are coming, and my hope and vision is that those answers are not violent. A dear friend has suggested that the future will have the emergence of those qualities that only humans can contribute - creativity. I would add to that - the human touch and compassion. This is where my hopes and dreams go for now.
First, we are facing an increasingly alarming inequality of income between the upper and lower levels of society. The Middle Class has been in the process of being hollowed out for decades now, and is getting worse. This is being shown in tragic relief by the viral pandemic we are all going though. We have known for a few years now that 40% of Americans don't have $400 for an emergency without having to borrow it or sell something. Well, we are in that emergency now for many of them.
Andrew Yang, failed candidate for the Democratic nomination for president, highlighted a major contributing factor to this dangerous inequality spread - the relentless progression of technology that is eliminating jobs, and could end up eliminating the very idea of jobs and careers themselves. Artificial Intelligence is exploding exponentially and could eliminate everything from truck drivers to doctors in a time frame much shorter than we can imagine. If so, how do we survive? What new paradigm is needed for humanity to continue in relative harmony?
The problem is that when the poverty becomes too widespread, very painful things can happen. When the economic inequality became too extreme in France, the French Revolution of 1789 ended up with the French aristocracy having their heads chopped off by the guillotine. And when the economic inequality in Russia became too extreme in 1917 the Russian Revolution ended up with the Tsar and his family being shot. I don't expect bloody revolution in America, but some big changes can happen here and around the world if we are unable to flatten the curve of the spread of the virus and are not able to give needed financial and health aid to all Americans.
The second major structural problem we face is the inability to effectively respond to the ever more alarming climate change being caused by our economies. California and Australia are seeing terrible fire storm seasons. The rest of the country is seeing floods, blizzards, hurricanes etc. that are far outside of normal. And time is only making these things worse. I have real hopes that the smartest young scientists and engineers are working on coming up with new technologies of producing energy and transportation that are environmentally friendly, but political forces are entrenched and destructive.
These are structural issues and I don't have an answer, but answers are coming, and my hope and vision is that those answers are not violent. A dear friend has suggested that the future will have the emergence of those qualities that only humans can contribute - creativity. I would add to that - the human touch and compassion. This is where my hopes and dreams go for now.
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