The new “forever war”

There were any number of ways for the president to stop the escalation spiral and negotiate with Iran. At every turn, he chose conflict. The days that follow may provide Congress, and the American people, our last best hope at halting a new American war in the Middle East that should have been utterly avoidable.
Did Trump Just Sign Up to His Own ‘Forever War’?

The list

Here is a list of Trump’s accomplishments so far:

ACTION	WHY?
Redo NAFTA	Other presidents created it.
Leave Paris climate agreement	Obama supported it.
Dismantle Affordable Care Act	It’s Obama-Care!
Criticize NATO	Obama supported NATO.
Leave New START treaty	Obama wanted to stay.
Support Russia	Obama won without Russia’s help.
Cancel Iran agreement	Obama created it.
Be nice to North Korea	No other president could.
Turn back on Cuba (again)	Obama opened the door.

Boris and friends

Boris Johnson is all about LEAVE making GB great again. But no mention of climate change, Scotland still wanting to REMAIN or that there WILL be customs checks between Britain and Ireland.

And Australia’s idiot PM:
Scott Morrison returns from holiday and signals no change to climate policy despite bushfires crisis

And alt-right friends in the U.S.:
Democrats are concerned that impeachment will not chasten the president, and that the 2020 election won’t be free of foreign influence because (1) Trump will invite meddling and (2) he and his allies continue to promote Russian propaganda.
Trump promotes Putin’s take on a “far-fetched” impeachment process

Why bother?

Why bother discussing anything serious on Facebook. All people care about is:
* cute pet or kid pictures (I have a plant and no kids.)
* them sitting with their grand kids (I have no kids.)
* pictures of their vacation (I can see better in a travel guide.)
* pictures of past family gatherings – OK, this I like!
* little or no political posts
* I “like” and comment a lot but many people don’t give ANY feedback!
I often unfriend them, to see if they even notice. They usually don’t.

Are people really this stupid?

Three phrases jumped out at me in this article from Nov. 4, 2017 –
From Miami to Shanghai: 3C of warming will leave world cities below sea level
Government official in Osaka, Japan
“In the past our response was focused on reducing the causes of global warming, but given that climate change is inevitable, we are now discussing how to respond to the natural disasters that will follow.”
UK Environmental Agency
“We’re conscious that climate change is happening and perhaps faster than expected so we are trying to mitigate and adapt to protect people and property. We can’t stop it, but we can reduce the risk.”

* Inevitable?
* Happening perhaps faster than expected?
* We can’t stop it?

Surely, they have drank the Kool-Aid. Are people really this stupid?

Supertrees

These 3 supertrees can protect us from climate collapse.
But can we protect them?

Brazil nut, stilt mangrove, and Afrormosia are just three species in three wildly diverse and important ecosystems. But they all make remarkable contributions to the communities around them — and to those of us continents away. As new science has revealed, we are much more dependent on these parts of the world than we might think.

Stairs vs. elevator

Quote of the day: “Markets go up in stairs and then on the way down, it’s an elevator.”
Read Reuters article

Trump’s legacy

He is so worried about his legacy. What legacy? Here is the top 10 list:
1. Lie like a rug at every turn.
2. Remind his wife that he cheated on her.
3. Start trade wars, disrupt the world order.
4. Deny climate change, pull out of Paris Agreement.
5. Attack the E.U., NATO and all that is good in the world.
6. Give weirdos like Steve Bannon, Steven Miller and Peter Navarro something to.
7. Give alt-right and white supremacists a poster boy.
8. Give praise to dictators and clowns (Boris Johnson).
9. Give Evangelists a president “sent from God.”
10. Piss off Iran and the Palestinians.

Well, at least Twitter is happy!

Addiction – from an expert

I used to go to 12-step meetings and found the stories fascinating. This article is very enlightening:
Addiction is a response to emotional pain
The author ends with this gem: “Instead of asking ‘What is wrong with you?’, we should ask ‘What happened to you?'”

Syria Policy Change

Trump has now officially given up on Syria. Only time will tell if he was right. My money is on ISIS!
What Trump Actually Gets Right About Syria