New value system needed

Good interview at TRNN with climate scientist Will Steffen.


My comment:

"All of these [efforts to mitigate climate change] need to be underpinned by new value systems that value stabilizing the earth's systems as the highest priority that any economy must strive for." 

This should be the take home message of every economics course/lecture from now on. Economics and the values of economics must be defined beyond goods/services and financial return. My preferred definition of economies are self-organizing and self-sustaining systems of production, distribution and consumption of goods and services that promote the well-being of all participants. Capitalism would not be an acceptable primary economic system under this definition because it is not self-sustaining... using fossil fuels will eventually degrade the environment to the point where it cannot sustain human life as we know it. Placing profit and 'economic growth' above all else is the source of climate change, income inequality, health care crisis and many other social ills. But economies are human made social constructs; humans made/make them, humans can reshape them.

When lies are/aren't lies?

Every schoolchild has heard the thought experiment: If a tree falls in a forest and no one is around to hear it,does it make a sound?

I was thinking about this with regards to 'POTUS' DJT's incessant lying. With any lie, there are two participants - the liar and the recipient. Does the intent of the liar or perception of the recipient change the value or intent of the lie? For the U.S., this is not merely a thought experiment. The answer will have broad and long lasting implications for the future of the country, especially in regards to Constitutional rights, freedom of press/speech and transparency.

If a lie is told by someone without the intent of lying, is it a lie? [American press tends to say no. The intent of the liar is more relevant than correcting the lie for the sake of viewers.]

If every pronouncement is presumed to be a lie, is it a lie? [In some respects, this is fiction... But we are currently living under a president who seemingly cannot utter a truthful statement.]

Why not?

DJT is apparently considering pulling out of NATA. 

My comment:

DJT's strategy to "Make America Great Again" is to attack the *real* pillars of American exceptionalism (tolerance, melting pot, economic mobility, reliable ally) and bolster the *very worst* of its character (nativism, hubris, racism, militarism, religiosity - to shield everything, class structure).

BTW, although my observation is written from the perspective of an American progressive, I do not think nation-states are the best way to organize societies - I don't actually believe in 'American exceptionalism'.

A Trump metaphor

This came to my mind when I read a C&L post:

Trump and his peeps are the dung beetles of today's culture. They are burrowing deep into the middens of history and recycling its least humanistic ideas for modern consumption. As receptacles of the rejected, middens are repositories of death and disease. The Resistance has the crucial role of defending the U.S. and the larger global community from the toxins unearthed by DJT & Co. Ideally, his influence can be contained, destroyed and if possible, immunized against.

response:

Dung beetles have a constructive purpose . . . GOParasites don't.

my response:

Indeed, dung beetles recycle organic matter from organic waste back into the ecosystem. DJT & peeps are recycling the worst tendencies of humanity. Everyone needs to heed the words of Martin Niemöller: 

First they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a Socialist.
Then they came for the Trade Unionists, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a Trade Unionist.
Then they came for the Jews [asylum seekers], and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a Jew [an asylum seeker].
Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me.

How do the GWB and DJT administrations differ?

Based on the economic/social 'shocks' described by Naomi Klein in The Shock Doctrine:

GWB had the 'civility' to wait for economic/social 'shocks' to occur before triggering his anti-democratic agenda. In particular, September 11 to change the balance of power in the Middle East and any number of domestic power grabs.

Every incident of DJT operating outside of 'normality' is DJT throwing bombs to purposefully manufacture economic/social 'shocks': travel ban, trade wars, 'good people on both sides', Dropping Paris Climate Agreement, dropping Iran Nuclear Deal, meeting Kim Jong-un, splintering asylum seeking families... As this is happening, DJT's Cabinet and the Republican Congress are destroying consumer/environmental protection, civil rights protection, and stacking the courts against democratic governance. And that's only the start.

posted as comment as C&L

Sarah Huckabee Sanders, respectfully

A few days after White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders got a lot of flack for defending the DJT policy of separating children from parents of asylum seekers at the southern border, she and her family decide to dine at the Red Hen restaurant in Lexington, Va (~180 miles from D.C.). The owner of the restaurant did not want to serve her and asked them to leave. Her twitter response:

Last night I was told by the owner of Red Hen in Lexington, VA to leave because I work for @POTUS and I politely left. Her actions say far more about her than about me. I always do my best to treat people, including those I disagree with, respectfully and will continue to do so

— Sarah Sanders (@PressSec) June 23, 2018

My comment:

"...Her actions say far more about her than about me. I always do my best to treat people, including those I disagree with, respectfully and will continue to do so"
— Sarah Sanders

The manager did treat you respectfully - you and your group were verbally asked to leave-together. You were not forcibly separated from your children by strangers and sent to different parts of the country without any means of contact or reunification.

Confounds the Science

All too true. Watch it on YouTube.

CONFOUNDS THE SCIENCE
(Written by Don Caron – Music by Simon & Garfunkel)

Hello darkness my old friend.
It’s time for him to tweet again,
but first he’ll have to check in with fox news
‘cause that’s the only place he gets his clues.
That’s how things get planted in his brain,
where they remain,
and it confounds the science.

The problem is he’s not alone.
He tweets to people on his phone
that global warming is a giant hoax
perpetuated by the liberal folks,
and he hires people that all think the same,
that play his game
and it confounds the science.

When he talks to crowds of four
he sees ten thousand maybe more,
believing they all think he’s god on earth
and was the product of a virgin birth
and if you disagree you’re the victim of fake news
or feminist shrews
and it confounds the science.

“Fools,” says he, “you do not know
it makes me smart from so much dough.
I know exactly where the problems are.”
But his solutions are beyond bizarre
‘cause his words never quite a sentence make
and thus he spake
and it confounds the science.

No limits on pollution now.
There’s not a thing we don’t allow.
Dump the garbage in the waterway.
Spray the toxins where your children play.
All the signs say that life on the planet is headed for a downward fall.
Go to the mall,
and continue to confound the science.

Copyright 2017 Parody Project