November 27, 2020

Climate 'apocalypse' fears stopping people having children - study

(Guardian UK) People worried about the climate crisis are deciding not to have children because of fears that their offspring would have to struggle through a climate apocalypse, according to the first academic study of the issue.

The researchers surveyed 600 people aged 27 to 45 who were already factoring climate concerns into their reproductive choices and found 96% were very or extremely concerned about the wellbeing of their potential future children in a climate-changed world. One 27-year-old woman said: “I feel like I can’t in good conscience bring a child into this world and force them to try and survive what may be apocalyptic conditions.”

These views were based on very pessimistic assessments of the impact of global heating on the world, the researchers said. One respondent, for example, said it would “rival world war one in its sheer terror”. The research also found that some people who were already parents expressed regret over having their children.

Having a child also potentially means that person going on to produce a lifetime of carbon emissions that contribute to the climate emergency, but only 60% of those surveyed were very concerned about this carbon footprint. ............(more)

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/nov/27/climate-apocalypse-fears-stopping-people-having-children-study

November 27, 2020

Cleaning up Trump's mess: The job begins Day One. Biden is ready

Cleaning up Trump's mess: The job begins Day One. Biden is ready
That bad taste is already starting to fade, isn't it? Biden can deal with some of the worst stuff right away

By LUCIAN K. TRUSCOTT IV
NOVEMBER 27, 2020 1:01PM


(Salon) You don't have to be overly optimistic about the coming Biden administration to know that we will never see "My Pillow guy" in the White House again. We had to read about the pathetic SOB last week when he and former TV star Ricky Schroeder, of all people, were reported to have put up the $2 million bail to spring teenage Rambo Kyle Rittenhouse from jail, where he was confined after being indicted for homicide in Kenosha, Wisconsin. But I think we can be assured that the Trumpazoid bedding manufacturer has darkened the door of the White House for the last time.

I think we can be assured that we will not see the foreign minister of Russia welcomed into the White House along with the Russian ambassador and given a tour of the Oval Office, along with a smattering of top-secret information that exposes intelligence sources and methods and damages our allies.

If a Saudi prince orders the murder of a Washington Post columnist, the new president of the United States won't be on the phone to him facilitating deals for F-35 fighters and greasing the rails for American companies to get cut-rate oil deals.

The White House press corps, and American journalists in general, will no longer be referred to as "enemies of the state."

....(snip)....

He hasn't announced his plans for his first day in office, but if I were to guess, I'd bet that President Joe Biden and his team will move directly into the West Wing after the inauguration and begin to execute a long list of reversals of Trump policies and executive orders. He has said that he will immediately sign an order rejoining the Paris climate accords. He will order a repeal of Trump's restrictions on travel from several majority-Muslim countries. He will immediately issue an order reinstating the DACA program, allowing undocumented people brought here as children by their parents to remain in the country. And he will immediately order that the United States rejoins the World Health Organization. ...........(more)

https://www.salon.com/2020/11/27/cleaning-up-trumps-mess-the-job-begins-day-one-biden-is-ready/

November 27, 2020

This Thanksgiving holiday, we "celebrate" America's departure from reality

This Thanksgiving holiday, we "celebrate" America's departure from reality
Donald Trump's delusions and conspiracy theories are only one aspect of a distinctive American bias against reality

By DAVID MASCIOTRA
NOVEMBER 26, 2020 11:00AM


(Salon) On this holiday, millions of Americans are gathering around a homemade feast of comfort food, basking in the warmth of familial love and giving each other a potentially life-threatening virus. One week ago, Erin Burnett asked during the lead segment of her nightly talk show on CNN, "The CDC is warning Americans not to travel or gather in large groups for Thanksgiving. Will they listen?"

Any fool could have answered the question: No. Millions of travelers have moved through the airports to greet their loved ones, perhaps with gestures of physical affection, all but coughing in each other's faces. One cannot help but wonder how many families will share napkins as they debate the efficacy of masks as protection against COVID-19.

A pandemic is dangerous, frightening and chaotic enough in the best circumstances. Throw in a population given to superstition, hatred of experts as diabolical elites and hostility toward science, and reasons to give thanks — other than the ability to breathe without the aid of a ventilator — will rapidly diminish.

....(snip)....

Yet a baffling and terrifying amount of Americans act as if the virus is not real, or at least does not present a threat to them and their loved ones. A nurse in South Dakota, Jodi Doering, has told the surreal horror story of patients denying that COVID-19 exists, up until the moment that they die from it.

While I cannot report anything so extreme, I can say that I've had conversations with several people — all of them college-educated professionals — who repeat the following claims as if they are self-evident: 1) COVID death numbers are significantly inflated, because hospitals make more money from treating those patients; 2) China created the coronavirus in a lab as a biological weapon (this is one particularly incoherent, because even if true it would not negate the danger of the virus); 3) only the elderly die from COVID so we don't have to worry about it (if this were true, it would make adherents to that belief sociopathic, not reasonable); 4) the only way to beat back the pandemic is through herd immunity. ..............(more)

https://www.salon.com/2020/11/26/this-thanksgiving-holiday-we-celebrate-americas-departure-from-reality/

November 26, 2020

Ricky Schroeder, snowflake.

Actor Ricky Schroder called cops on Sunday over angry social media posts aimed at the “Silver Spoons” child star after he helped bail out Kyle Rittenhouse, the teen gunman accused of killing two people during a Kenosha, Wisconsin protest, TMZ reported.

The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department confirmed to HuffPost Tuesday that Schroder reached out after “one person’s comments contained language that Mr. Schroder felt threatened by.”

“The comments reviewed by Sheriff’s personnel did not meet the criteria of Criminal Threats as defined by the Penal Code, but a Suspicious Circumstances report was taken,” a spokesperson wrote in an email. “Lost Hills Station Detective Bureau is investigating the incident and will continue monitoring for criminal acts.” ........(more)

https://www.huffp.st/fGAGrC4

November 26, 2020

Disney to lay off more than 30,000 workers in first half of 2021

The Walt Disney Company has announced that it will lay off 32,000 employees amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

The figure is an increase from the 28,000 previously announced by the company, and primarily includes employees from its theme parks in the US, according to Reuters.

In a SEC filing on Wednesday, Disney wrote: “Due to the current climate, including Covid-19 impacts, and changing environment in which we are operating, the company has generated efficiencies in its staffing, including limiting hiring to critical business roles, furloughs and reductions-in-force.

“As part of these actions, the employment of approximately 32,000 employees primarily at Parks, Experiences and Products will terminate in the first half of fiscal 2021.” ..........(more)

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/disney-lay-off-workers-coronavirus-pandemic-b1762170.html

November 26, 2020

Florida man loses pants, boxers in wild Wawa fight

https://twitter.com/KFCBarstool/status/1331001172291891205?s=20


This fight was anything but briefs.

A droopy-drawered pugilist didn’t let losing his pants stop him from wrestling his adversary in a minutes-long caught-on-camera gas-station brawl.

Video shot in a Wawa in — where else? — Florida shows the bedraggled boxer with his sweatpants around his ankles wailing on his rival in a reflective vest.

The video, posted online Monday, captures one man with a safety vest repeatedly punching another man, who is on the ground with his sweatpants around his thighs.

“Gentlemen, gentlemen please,” an employee can be heard saying. ..........(more)

https://nypost.com/2020/11/24/florida-man-loses-pants-boxers-in-wild-wawa-fight/

November 26, 2020

'All we could do was run': the strange story of Gerald, the turkey who terrorized a city

(Guardian UK) The turkey locked eyes with her from across the park.

Like many Oaklanders, sixteen-year-old Jojo Thompson had heard plenty of stories about Gerald, the “feisty” turkey harassing visitors in the city’s rose garden. But before visiting the seven-acre public park with a friend on a recent October afternoon, she thought the tales had been exaggerated.

After seeing the agitated turkey closing in on some people nearby, Thompson and her friend took refuge behind a tree. But they weren’t safe for long – Gerald soon had the teens in his sight. The bird started stalking them, menacingly, Thompson recalled, then chased them up the hill and out of the park. She lost both her shoes in the process.


Jojo Thompson filmed her escape from Gerald in Oakland’s rose garden.
“I had heard of his attacks, but I never thought it would happen to me,” Thompson said. “All we could do was run.” ...........(more)

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/nov/25/oakland-turkey-gerald-attack-rose-garden

November 26, 2020

Happy Thanksgiving DU. Remember that next year.....

..... there will be fewer turkeys.

November 26, 2020

Trump may believe otherwise, but he's a huge bore. His followers' unbreakable loyalty is what's so..

(Salon) Are we addicted to Donald Trump? It's a question that's haunting journalists and political commentators, most of whom hate Trump but cannot deny that his name drives traffic and ratings. Even though Trump lost the election and Joe Biden will be the next president, Trump continues to be the big attention draw for political websites and cable news networks.

Part of that is completely understandable. Trump is still big news. He literally spent the past few weeks attempting a coup. While he failed, that doesn't change the history-making fact that he even tried, or that he got so much support. Certainly Biden, whose main activity is finding boring-but-competent people to staff his administration, can't compete with that, and there's no real indication that he wants to. (Unlike Trump, Biden views governing as a job and not just an opportunity to get attention.)

But there is no doubt that the media remains flatly fascinated with Trump, in no small part because, as Salon's Andrew O'Hehir argued Monday, "our readers and viewers have enabled and encouraged us at every step" and stories about Trump "outperform every other category of reporting, commentary or analysis we can possibly offer."

....(snip)....

Bump's own numbers show this. Prior to his presidential campaign, Trump wasn't an object of widespread fascination, no matter how much he hustled for attention. Ratings for his reality show were in the toilet and most people didn't think about him at all. It was only when Trump started to get support from everyday voters that he became the focal point of American politics.

The reason that Trump captures so much attention, year in and year out, is because of his followers. How did this two-bit moron who can barely read manage to attract a loyal following — one that has apparently grown from the 63 million people voted for him in 2016 to the 74 million who turned out in 2020? These people adore him, so much so that a quarter-million Americans dead and millions more unemployed only made them more determined to give it all up for the orange guy in an ill-fitting suit who wants to end democracy as we know it. It's a legitimately fascinating mystery. .............(more)

https://www.salon.com/2020/11/25/trump-isnt-the-reason-we-cant-quit-trump--the-obsession-is-really-about-his-followers/

November 25, 2020

'Flat-out sabotage' underway as Mnuchin tries to put $455 billion in COVID $$ out of Biden's reach

Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin is under fire for attempting to undermine the incoming Biden administration’s response to the Covid-19 pandemic on his way out the door after his department confirmed Tuesday that it intends to place $455 billion in unspent coronavirus relief funds into an account that requires congressional authorization to access.

Bloomberg reported that the funds, which Congress allocated to the Federal Reserve in March for emergency lending programs to assist local governments and struggling businesses, will be put in the Treasury Department’s General Fund following Mnuchin’s widely condemned decision last week to cut off the relief programs at the end of the year.

“As the economy backslides amid skyrocketing Covid-19 cases, Secretary Mnuchin is engaged in economic sabotage, and trying to tie the Biden administration’s hands.”
—Sen. Ron Wyden

Mnuchin requested that the funds be reallocated by the currently divided Congress, and the Fed has agreed to cooperate with the outgoing treasury secretary’s move. ...........(more)

https://www.rawstory.com/2020/11/flat-out-sabotage-already-underway-as-mnuchin-tries-to-put-455-billion-in-funds-out-of-biden-teams-reach/?