Good morning from my office stuffed between two stadiums in SODO. (That’s “South Downtown” Seattle for you uninitiated and uninformed — you should know this, you will be tested on it…)
Were you aware the world is coming to an end?
If you look at the headlines on Drudge, this is kind of the impression you will get. Los Angeles is on fire
(It’s all Gavin Newsome’s fault for not raking the leaves in the forest, dontcha know…)
The arm-chair critics are out in droves blaming everyone and everything BUT the actual fact that all this talk about “climate change” is actually real and that the entire west coast of the US has been under a severe drought for several years now. Yes, even here in rain-drenched Seattle, we are in the middle of a twenty-year drought.
This is Keechelus Lake, which is where Seattle gets its water. Located off I-90 going over Snoqualmie Pass In the Spring, after much of the snow melts, you are likely to see a lot of water there. By the end of Summer, not so much, as you can see in the lower image.
But for the past few years, there hasn’t been much of a snow pack in the mountains, and today this is pretty much what things look like.
Typically, about this time of the year it would be rather cold outside. Temperatures would normally be in the low-30s, if not lower. We’d be on the verge of snow, and if not snow, it would most likely be raining.
Today it’s going to be in the mid-40s and partly sunny.
Just for shits and giggles, I thought I would Google the current snowpack in the Washington Cascades. This is what Gemini AI says:
The damn thing’s WOKE, I tells ya…
Well, I’ve got about four hours of shit to do in a two-hour window, so lemme get this task out of the way so I can get on to setting up a television studio in one of the conference rooms.
Please tell me this is a joke
China mulls sale of TikTok in US to Musk
Beijing is reportedly mulling the sale of TikTok’s US operations to Elon Musk ahead of a Sunday deadline by Washington for the app’s Chinese owners to divest themselves of the business or face it being banned.
According to Bloomberg and The Wall Street Journal, the proposal is part of a broader discussion among Chinese officials over how to deal with US President-elect Donald Trump’s incoming administration, with ties to Musk — an ally of Trump’s but also a billionaire somewhat dependent on China given Tesla has production facilities in the country — among the factors.
Combining TikTok’s US operations with Musk’s X social-media platform could boost the latter’s ad sales, and the video-sharing platform’s trove of content could also strengthen his AI efforts.
MY TAKE:
I find myself living in a really strange time where I am in agreement with Steve “Three-shirts” Bannon and his assessment that Elon Musk is a dangerous ‘toddler’ and is flexing too much power.
I mean, it’s already a given that wealth is power. Rich people have been somewhat quietly influencing world leaders since the beginning of world leaders for sale. Some leaders are cheap yet over-valued, while others are all about the Benjamins. Elon Musk found an opportunity to buy himself a president who doesn’t really care about anything else but how to turn a buck for himself. If that means prostituting himself out to the richest john on “The Stroll” then we are going to see a lot of transactional actions that will no doubt piss off the MAGA crowd.
But look, Elon Musk already bought Xitter and made even more of a mess of things. Now he wants to buy TikTok?
So there are other video platforms, right?
AMERICANS are flocking to a Chinese-owned app called RedNote as an alternative to TikTok in the face of the impending shutdown of the beloved platform.
TikTok could be banned in the US this week unless its company sells it within the week or the Supreme Court intervenes.
As fears over the approaching ban grow, American users have downloaded another app to help offset the loss.
RedNote rose to the top of the app store on Monday as the most downloaded app in America.
The app, called Xiaohongshu in Chinese, is a platform for sharing short-form videos similar to TikTok.
Some social media users were quick to show their excitement for RedNote among the surge of TikTok users jumping ship.
[…]
RedNote’s content is mostly in Chinese because the app is owned by a Chinese company.
TikTok’s Chinese parent company, ByteDance, must sell the beloved app to a government-approved buyer by January 19 or face a ban due to national security concerns.
The decision has sparked controversy due to the platform’s wild popularity.
About 170 million people in the US use TikTok, which is roughly half of the country’s population.
MY TAKE:
So what’s wrong with YouTube or FaceCrack videos? Is there something about the Chinese platforms that make them more desirable than YouTube?
Time to start shaking in our boots…
Trump unbound: America braces for wild, dark comeback
Buckle up: Donald Trump returns to the White House next week for a second term that promises to be even more volatile — and hard-line — than his roller-coaster first presidency.
Buoyed by his historic political comeback, the billionaire Republican has shown no sign of changing the bombastic style that shook the United States and the world from 2017 to 2021.
“If you liked Trump One, you’re going to love Trump Two,” Peter Loge, the director of George Washington University’s School of Media and Public Affairs, told AFP.
For all the talk of a more disciplined Trump, the 78-year-old — who will become the oldest person ever sworn in on January 20 — appears to be much the same mercurial figure as last time around.
Before even setting foot back in the Oval Office, he has spoken of a new “golden age” even as he vows retribution against opponents and the media, and pledges the mass deportation of illegal migrants.
Trump has also set off alarm bells around the globe, issuing outlandish territorial threats against US allies and stoking fears that he will throw Ukraine under the bus to win a peace deal with Russia.
“Trump’s character is fundamentally the same,” said David Greenberg, professor of history and journalism at Rutgers University.
What we can expect to see is more of the unexpected.”
– New normal –
But if anything, Trump 2.0 is set to be even more powerful, and more extreme.
A Trump presidency shocked many in 2016, but is now the new normal. Big tech and big business have rallied behind the man they largely shunned in his first term.
Crucially Elon Musk, the world’s richest man and boss of the increasingly right-wing X social media platform, is at Trump’s side.
“Everybody wants to be my friend,” the president-elect said in December.
Many of the guardrails around Trump four years ago are gone, with diehard loyalists replacing the so-called “adults in the room” who tried to moderate his worst instincts.
MY TAKE:
As stupid as much of the first Trump administration was, we somehow got through it without killing of a million or so people.
Oh wait… That did happen.
But Trump didn’t cause the pandemic. Did some people die because of shit that he said and did? Yep. More than a few, actually. But can you blame Trump for that?
NOPE. How can you blame one person for the stupidity of others? Do you blindly follow the advice of a leader that you already know has a tendency to be … well, an idiot at times?
Q-Anon comes to mind here.
Anyone can spout out stupid shit — look at me right now. Should you be hanging on every word I am saying right now? Well, if you are an idiot, then sure. Go for it. But if you like to think of yourself as an ‘independent thinker’, then you probably should do some of your own research, looking for the story from ALL angles, not just mine or not just yours.
Look, I’m not going to shit you here; I firmly believe that Trump will continue to be a disaster to himself and the country, but since that is what the country wanted, then who am I to stand in the way? The best I can do is keep a wary eye out and try and keep out of the way of the destruction as much as I can. I somehow survived the first four years and if I don’t survive the second four years, then it will only be because I didn’t get out of the way fast enough.
Do I think that things will get better once Trump is gone for good?
Fuck no.
The election of Donald Trump (twice) is just a symptom of what is and has been wrong in this country since … Nixon. I don’t see anything changing for the better any time soon.
But then, maybe that’s just how things are supposed to be, and we are all just asking for too much.
The Dynamic Duo: Fatman and Bobbin’
Will White House be big enough for Trump — and Musk?
Donald Trump will be the one taking the presidential oath next week, but in some respects, billionaire Elon Musk might as well place his hand on the Bible too.
In an unprecedented relationship for modern US history, Trump will be heading into the White House shadowed by an advisor who is not only the world’s richest person but matches the incoming president in terms of wild ambition, hard-right politics, and media influence.
Will the Oval Office be big enough for two outsized personalities, let alone the mountain of conflicts of interest trailing Musk?
It’s a political marriage that was sealed by Musk’s bankrolling of Trump’s third tilt at the US presidency.
The duo have an extraordinary collective power over messaging, with Musk turning his X social media platform into a haven for right-wingers and Trump enjoying friendly coverage from an entire conservative media ecosystem.
They also share a love for provocative theatrics.
“Like Trump, Musk recognizes the value of getting attention for saying and doing things that some people see as outrageous… he likes challenging norms,” said Margaret O’Mara, a history professor at the University of Washington.
Musk has made quite the impact with the once and future president, according to Peter Loge, director of George Washington University’s School of Media and Public Affairs.
“Elon Musk is rich, and brash, and he is constantly reminding Donald Trump how wonderful Donald Trump is — which are all things Donald Trump likes,” Loge said.
MY TAKE:
Zager and Evans “In the Year 2525” comes to mind
When is the end for humankind? Whether it’s by a nuclear holocaust, a result of exceeding a critical climate threshold, at the hands of artificial intelligence-powered robots, or the “Don’t Look Up” asteroid, the question plagues our thoughts, our research, and our Facebook rants.
Now, one theorist warns that the human civilization of 8.2 billion people is at a critical junction: teetering between what he forecasts will be authoritarian collapse and superabundance.
“Industrial civilisation is facing ‘inevitable’ decline as it is replaced by what could turn out to be a far more advanced ‘postmaterialist’ civilisation based on distributed superabundant clean energy. The main challenge is that industrial civilisation is facing such rapid decline that this could derail the emergence of a new and superior ‘life-cycle’ for the human species”, Dr. Nafeez Ahmed, the bestselling author and journalist who is a distinguished fellow at the UK-based Schumacher Institute for Sustainable Systems, said in a statement.
Ahmed, who has spoken at United Nations summits in recent years, is the author of the paper which was recently published in the journal Foresight.
Gaya Herrington, vice president at Schneider Electric who was not involved in the research, told The Independent that she agrees with all of Ahmed’s big points.
MY TAKE:
So this is when the Octopi take over? Never could trust those things…
Who decided this? Nobody asked me…
Keeping the thermostat between these temperatures is best for seniors’ brains
BOSTON — That perfect thermostat setting might be more important than you think, especially at grandma and grandpa’s house. A new study finds that indoor temperature significantly affects older adults’ ability to concentrate, even in their own homes where they control the climate. The research suggests that as climate change brings more extreme temperatures, elderly individuals may face increased cognitive challenges unless their indoor environments are properly regulated.
Researchers at the Hinda and Arthur Marcus Institute for Aging Research, the research arm of Hebrew SeniorLife affiliated with Harvard Medical School, conducted a year-long study monitoring 47 community-dwelling adults aged 65 and older. The study tracked both their home temperatures and their self-reported ability to maintain attention throughout the day. What they discovered was a clear U-shaped relationship between room temperature and cognitive function. In other words, attention spans were optimal within a specific temperature range and declined when rooms became either too hot or too cold.
The sweet spot for cognitive function appeared to be between 20-24°C (68-75°F). When temperatures deviated from this range by just 4°C (7°F) in either direction, participants were twice as likely to report difficulty maintaining attention on tasks. This finding is particularly concerning given that many older adults live on fixed incomes and may struggle to maintain optimal indoor temperatures, especially during extreme weather events.
MY TAKE:
I tend to like my Hunker-Bunker right around 67-68. But sometimes even that is a bit warm. Before we installed our geothermal heat pumps, the humidity inside in the Winter would make 74° F feel like 60.
Now 74° F is way too warm for me.
Everyone is anti-something
Nearly Half of Adults Worldwide Hold Antisemitic Views, Survey Finds
Antisemitism has surged, especially among the young, as the Holocaust fades from collective memory
Around half of adults across the world hold antisemitic beliefs and deny the historic facts of the Holocaust, according to the latest edition of the largest global study of anti-Jewish attitudes by the Anti-Defamation League, a New York-based advocacy group.
The study surveyed more than 58,000 adults from 103 countries and territories representing 94% of the world’s adult population, and found that 46% of them—or around 2.2 billion people—display antisemitic attitudes. A fifth of the respondents haven’t heard of the Holocaust, during which six million Jews were killed, while 21% believe it has either been exaggerated by historians or it never happened.
According to the survey, known as Global 100, the level of antisemitism in the global adult population has more than doubled since it was launched in 2014.
The report is the latest among a number of surveys charting a steep rise in antisemitism across the globe, including violent offenses, with some data showing a surge in anti-Jewish sentiment after the Oct. 7, 2023 Hamas-led attack on Israel, and Israel’s subsequent invasions of Gaza and Lebanon.
In Europe, the European Union’s executive body reported in October that “the conflicts in the Middle East have led to levels of antisemitism” unprecedented since the founding of the bloc decades ago.
In November, Israeli soccer fans were chased and beaten by crowds in the Netherlands, with the prosecutor saying the unrest was triggered by the situation in Gaza. In Germany, government officials and Jewish community leaders often warn Jews to hide their identity in public to avoid being assaulted on the street.
“The fact that nearly half of the global population has elevated antisemitic sentiments tells us we are in nothing short of a global emergency,“ said Jonathan A. Greenblatt, the ADL chief executive. “This is a virus that has spread, it is accelerating and intensifying.”
MY TAKE:
We used to have a National Brotherhood week in this country. There’s a really interesting history of WHY we had it, and how it was popular enough that it actually brought us all together to fight in WWII and the Cold War afterwards.
FROM THE ARTICLE:
Brotherhood Week had its roots in rising anti-immigrant, anti-Catholic and anti-Jewish sentiment in the 1920s.
To counter that narrative, a group formed in 1927 called the National Conference for Christians and Jews, with the aim of combating the hatred and intolerance they saw around them — specifically religious intolerance. The NCCJ came up with an idea for a traveling roadshow called the “Tolerance Trio” — essentially, a priest, a minister and a rabbi.
“They would travel the country, rent out halls and talk about the stereotypes of Jews being overly interested in money and Catholics wanting to overturn democracy,” says Kevin Schultz, a professor of history and religious studies at the University of Illinois at Chicago. “They would make jokes, and it was entertainment. People would learn how false these stereotypes were. And they would preach tolerance.”
====
Or, you may remember Tom Lehrer singing “National Brotherhood Week”:
Is anyone actually SURPRISED about this?
U.S. Deaths Expected to Outpace Births Within the Decade
A new report from the Congressional Budget Office lowers expected immigration, fertility and population growth
The Congressional Budget Office forecast sharply lower population growth in the U.S. over the next three decades than it projected one year ago, reflecting lower rates of immigration and fertility.
As a result of the changes, deaths are expected to exceed births in 2033, seven years earlier than the nonpartisan agency projected a year ago. Immigration is also projected to fall, and as a result the populace is likely to be older and smaller in 2054 than previously expected. That would have important implications for everything from economic growth to fiscal policy.
In an annual demographic outlook, released Monday, the CBO raised its population estimate for 2025 to 350 million from 346 million, but lowered its estimate for 2054 to 372 million, 11 million fewer than a year ago. That means the population is projected to grow 6.3% over the next three decades instead of 10.5%.
“Without immigration, the population would shrink beginning in 2033, in part because fertility rates are projected to remain too low for a generation to replace itself,” the CBO said.
Less expected immigration and lower fertility rates were behind the long-term changes to the CBO’s outlook, which draws data from a variety of government sources and reflects the laws and policies that were in place as of Nov. 15.
Restrictions at the southern border imposed by the Biden administration in June caused net immigration—the difference between people coming into the U.S. and people leaving—to fall short of the CBO’s initial projections for last year.
Because the effects of those executive actions are expected to continue, the CBO reduced its cumulative net-immigration forecast for the 2024-28 period to 8.6 million from 9.9 million. Over the longer term, the CBO expects immigration to add about 1.1 million people to the U.S. population a year, about 42,000 fewer than it projected a year ago.
MY TAKE:
The “Baby Boomer” generation was the largest generation in history. Soldiers came back from WWII and the Korean War and they got their GI benefits that put them through school, get married, buy a house and crank out their 2.2 kids. 5-6 kids if you were one of those godless Catholics.
The point is, a shitload of us were born, each of us taking up space and resources. Bigger schools and more of them were built. As we grew older and started moving out into the world, more roads were built with more homes and businesses. More programs were created to service the greater number of people in the world.
But as a generation, we didn’t reproduce like rabbits. Less children were born, less need for all those schools were needed. Each subsequent generation was smaller than the Boomers that came before them, and when it came time for those Boomers to retire and collect Social Security, the less money was available because there weren’t as many paying into the system.
The Tl:dr version is that the largest generation is now dying off.
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It isn’t just the largest generation dying, because the fertility rate is clearly declining as well. It is a well-known demographic trend that the wealthier a society becomes, the less children it produces (putting a lie to all those Millenials and Gen Zers who say they don’t have children because they ‘can’t afford it’ in this economy; the real reason is they don’t want to impact their own selfish DINK lifestyles. But that is a whole other topic).
The fact is that if Republicans really believe their Great Replacement theories, they should be doing everything possible to incentivize having children; because if the fertility rate does not rise, we HAVE to increase immigration. A shrinking population of youth cannot economically support a larger class of elderly.
That expanded child tax credit that Democrats had in their party platform? Republicans should be passing it right now.