I get it. We’re exceptional. In the history of humanity there’s never been anything like us, here, today. We’re all but invincible, masters of all we survey. We tend to look at the world as one giant civilization. Perhaps that’s because we’re a collection of civilizations all integrated through
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The Disaffected Lib: California Under the Gun, Again
Triple digit temperatures, high winds and low humidity are returning to California over the weekend and could ignite a second wave of wildfires across the state. Red flag warnings have been issued across northern California from Saturday through Monday. “Even if you live on the coast or in the city, you’re
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: NDP Lead in BC. Will It Hold?
Premier John Horgan is the hands-down favourite party leader in British Columbia with a 17-point lead over Liberal leader, Andrew Wilkinson. On a party basis the lead narrows to 44 per cent NDP and the Liberals at 37 per cent. Housing, poverty and homelessness are the top concern for the
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: Krugman Looks at Trump, Sees the Ghost of Joseph Stalin
In his latest column, Paul Krugman sees troubling hints of a terrible dictator in president Donald Trump. Like Stalin, he sees vast, implausible conspiracies everywhere — anarchists somehow in control of major cities, radical leftists somehow controlling Joe Biden, secret anti-Trump cabals throughout the federal government. It’s also notable that
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: That’s No Answer. We Can’t Choose Between Climate and Covid.
In some ways the resurgent Covid-19 pandemic seems more urgent than the breakdown of our planet’s climate. Perhaps that’s because we’re doing way more about the virus than we are to tackle the larger, truly existential threat. Climate breakdown doesn’t have us wearing masks, social distancing, washing our hands
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: Climate Scientists’ Worst Nightmare – Four More Years of Trump
The idea of Donald Trump winning a second term terrifies a lot of people, especially climate scientists. Climate change is only part of their worries. From the MIT Technology Review: Daniel Schrag has spent most of his life working on climate change. He studied the planet’s ancient warming periods early
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: Are We Collectively "Holding Our Breath"?
The American elections are barely five weeks off and the tension is palpable. People are on edge, worried about what lies in store for the United States and the rest of the world after the ballots are counted. There’s even a name for it, “election stress disorder” and several
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: Obama’s National Security Advisor Warns Social Division America’s Greatest National Security Threat
Former US National Security Advisor, Susan B. Rice, writes in The New York Times that America today finds itself facing many threats but, in her view, the worst of all is social division, the breakdown of social cohesion, which magnifies the others. According to the recently released, highly respected Chicago
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: I Don’t See the Border Opening Anytime Soon
Donald Trump is shameless when it comes to praising his response to the Covid-19 epidemic. On the campaign trail he depicts his personal failures as an amazing success story, the envy of the rest of the world. He’s banging the American exceptionalism drum for all it’s worth. That’s not to
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: "Twice as Bad" – What Does That Even Mean?
The New York Times has published a ‘state of the climate’ piece based on interviews with interviews with two dozen leading American climate scientists. The consensus is that the changes that we’re experiencing – the wildfires, severe storm events, devastating droughts and floods – they’re here to stay. There’s no
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: Mueller Bunted. He Was Never Swinging For the Stands.
You probably already suspected that the Mueller report fell far short of what had been expected. Among Mueller’s team of lawyers there was one who terrified Trump’s legal team – Andrew Weissmann. His book, “Where Law Ends: Inside the Mueller Investigation” is scheduled for release next Tuesday. Weissmann says Mueller’s
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: Eat the Rich – Episode 3
As if the rich need to give us another reason to despise them. This just in. The richest one per cent are responsible for greenhouse gas emissions double that of the bottom 50 per cent. The report, compiled by Oxfam and the Stockholm Environment Institute, warned that rampant overconsumption and the rich
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: Playing Dominoes With the Earth
“Everyone who studies tipping point cascades agrees on two key points. The first is that it is crucial not to become disheartened by the magnitude of the risks; it is still possible to avoid knocking over the dominoes. Second, we should not wait for precise knowledge of exactly where the
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: How Dangerous Have Our Governments Become?
“The squeaky wheel gets the grease.” If there was ever an area where that adage is unhelpful it is probably climate change. Yet it remains our governments’ standard operating procedure and we may pay dearly for that. Climate change scares the hell out of most of us but that is
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: Another Chance to Rig Justice in America, Perhaps for Decades
Senate majority leader, Mitch McConnell, is a man on a mission. With less than two months remaining before Americans choose their next president and the balance in the House and Senate the Republicans have one more chance to ideologically groom the United States Supreme Court. The death of justice Ruth
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: What Is the Role of Politics In an Increasingly Unstable World?
The Holocene has given way to the Anthropocene. Exactly when and how it happened is the subject of endless debate but it has happened. The economic paradigm of the past 40 years, neoliberalism, has proven – beyond doubt – that there is life after death. It has long since outlived
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: "An Apprehension of an Ending"
I’m not convinced that we’re watching the end but I’m not confident that what’s playing out before us and our lethargy, even indifference to it, admit of some other future. Guardian Australia writer, Brigid Delaney, weighs in on North America’s record wildfire season We too have seen the orange afternoon
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: Nowhere to Run To, Baby. Nowhere to Hide. America Comes to Grip With Climate Breakdown.
Some Americans are beginning to ask, “is it time for me to leave?” They’re rethinking the choices they made on where they wanted to live, decisions that now seem unfortunate. The New York Times has a long but riveting read from Abrahm Lustgarten, an environmental scribe for ProPublica that questions
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: Not Even One? Biodiversity Targets Unmet.
In 2010 the world community agreed that action was urgently needed to slow the loss of biodiversity, a growing risk to humanity itself. Following meetings in Aichi, Japan, 20 targets were identified for action over the following decade. It was declared the “United Nations Decade on Biodiversity,” 2011-2020. The Decade
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: The Bats in Donald Trump’s Belfry
There are many bats in Donald Trump’s belfry, some perhaps even more deranged than the lunatic in chief himself. Trump has the loosest connection with reality. At times it rivals his tenuous relationship with truth. He combines malignant narcissisms with the instincts of a compulsive grifter, a sneak thief. Trump
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