Can A 'Verification Of Work' Change Slow The Bitcoin Speculative Frenzy And Conserve Energy?

                                   Bitcoin mining operation in central New York

The recent news that the leader  of El Salvador has made bitcoin the national currency is yet more evidence the pandemic has forced human brains off the rails.  That and the other news Bajans as well as Cubans and others in the Caribbean have now been tempted to jump into the crypto currency craze.  Making us wonder if they have any faint conception of the downside risks of holding an unstable ersatz currency prized by all manner of criminals.  (Bitcoin was created in 2009 as a novel way to pay for things without central bank or government oversight. It's the go to exchange medium for those inhabiting the 'dark web'.)

In truth, the very existence of a "coin" that- in order to be created -  requires vast fossil fuel energy to be consumed  (by using immensely powerful computers to solve ever more complex puzzles) shows we have gone through the looking glass as it were.  It also confirms again there is no stopping hubristic citizens from walking off existential cliffs.  Last year in a column in The Financial Times  Brendan Greely went so far as to assert:  

Both the code and the culture of bit-coin are designed, over the long term, to drive it out of circulation. This leaves hodlers stuck with a collective action problem. Sell, or change the code, and your asset drops in value, becoming more useful as money. Hodl, and keep the code, and your asset appreciates. Monetary culture is monetary policy. Diamond hands are Gresham hands.

Can this be true?  Yes, it can and doubters are invited to do their own research. Oh, and to remind readers "Gresham's law" - to which he refers - is that bad money drives out good.   Still, many bitcoin obsessives, hodlers and simple admirers, or ordinary investors (like too many Bajans) may not even care. 'Hell', they will argue, 'you take your risks going into a casino anytime and who knows when the next stock crash may be.'  True, but casino gaming and stock investing is not quite the same as holding a stash of Benjamins in government -backed 3-month Treasury bills,  whose yield just went up 0.46% (cf.  'Start Getting Fatter Gains On Your Cash' Jason Zweig, WSJ, April 23-24, p. B5).  

But the less noticed side is the grievous fossil fuel energy consumption just to create one bitcoin.  To refresh memories, bitcoin mining is currently consuming billions of gigawatts each year in its endless number-crunching. (Since each bitcoin created requires gigantic computing power in solving arcane puzzles or problems.) Specifically the amount of power consumed by the number-crunching is equal to about 5.1 gW a year or equal to all of the total consumed by Sweden.   

Since my last posts in May last year, on Bitcoin's energy consumption and pollution aspects, a company in rural Montana has been working hard to make it less energy intensive.  This follows the cryptocurrency industry being under increased pressure to rein in the environmental impacts - from its massive electricity consumption. To that end the Montana company (Marathon Digital Holdings)  made the decision to pack up its computers (the actual "miners") and relocate them to a wind farm in Texas.  In the words of company CEO Fred Thiel, quoted in a Denver Post piece Sunday: 

"For us it came down to the fact we don't want to be operating on fossil fuels." 

 Fair enough.  But is wind energy intense enough to enable the relocated computers to crack the draconian math problems needed to create multiple bitcoins?  See e.g. 

💰💰 What is BITCOIN, The maths behind bockchain and cryptocurrencies 🤑 - YouTube

 

Marathon Digital may aspire to less intensive use of fossil fuel energy but many economists (and environmentalists) have warned that as the digital currency grows in price - and with it more speculative frenzy- the process of mining will become increasingly energy-intensive and potentially unsustainable. The bitcoin investors at the end of it all may just have to admit this currency isn't worth it in terms of the damage inflicted on the planet.  

The way bitcoin mining by computer works now, all the computers connected to the bitcoin network are in a race to solve complex mathematical calculations that basically verify the transactions.  The winner in any given race earns newly minted bitcoins as a reward. Currently, when a machine solves the given puzzle, the owner gets 6.25 bitcoins, worth about $260,000 total.  (The system is calibrated to release 6.25 bitcoins every ten minutes).  The process now may not be perfect but it does achieve the primary goal of verifying and recording the successful solutions, transactions.  For comparison, when invented it was possible to solve the bitcoin puzzles using a home computer.  That is no longer the case and often supercomputers are needed and these consume a lot more energy. (The amount of energy used to solve the puzzles grows as more computers join the effort to solve them, and that translated into more difficult puzzles  - which need even more energy to solve to get bitcoin.) 

Marathon Digital currently has about 37,000 mining computers and hopes to have 199,000 online by early next year. Can wind power alone provide what's needed to get the job done? This is hard to believe given the Cambridge Bitcoin Electricity Consumption Index estimated about 109 terawatt hours were used by bitcoin mining last year. All of this energy went to what is called "proof of work" verification.  Meanwhile, the current usage rate works out to about 143 terawatt hours a full year. (Cambridge's estimate doesn't include the energy consumed to generate other crypto currencies.) 

Elon Musk, who recently bought out Twitter-   with cockeyed perceptions of "free speech"-   is at least using some of his own speech to call out the industry's exorbitant energy use to create bitcoin - and no longer taking it as payment. That's a good sign and one suggesting he believes FT's Brendan Greely's take. Then there are others like NY governor Kathy Hochul who want the government to step in with regulation. (Hochul is being pressured to declare a moratorium on the proof of work/ mining method, and to deny an air quality permit for a project at a retrofitted coal fired plant I'd posted on last year, near Seneca Lake.  (Yet another activist judge entered with a ruling that the project would not impact the air or water. Well, one wonders exactly what chemical engineering degrees the guy has to justify that take.)  

But I tend to stand with Yvonne Taylor, Vice president of Seneca Lake Guardians who recently declared to the local press: "Repowering or expanding coal and gas plants to make fake money in the middle of a climate crisis is literally insane."

Ann Hedges, of the Montana Environmental Information Center, is on the same page, saying: "The crypto currency industry needs to find a way to reduce its energy demand and needs to be regulated. That's all there is to it. This is unsustainable."  

Which is really a no brainer given any given energy industry - from coal to oil and natural gas- is also regulated in this country.  Given the bitcoin miners also impact the environment they also need regulation, even if it means a drop in the price of bitcoin. So is the solution to go to wind energy, like Marathon Digital has, or is it to change to proof of stake verification which is implicitly less demanding than proof of work? 

In the case of the latter, digital currency transfers are assigned to computers as opposed to having them each compete with the others to solve recondite math puzzles.  The upside is the groups that employ proof of stake methods are more likely to get the work and rewards in more bitcoin.  The other major advantage is that far less electricity is consumed since there is no longer computer competition to solve bitcoin problems - each computer burning up megajoules of energy in number crunching. However, critics argue proof of stake blockchains are less secure.  

On the other positive side, some companies retaining proof of work procedures acknowledge the problem of their excess energy use and are committed to achieving net zero emissions by 2030.  That implies no greenhouse gases added to the atmosphere from bitcoin mining and to that end they have signed a Crypto Climate Accord modeled after the Paris Climate Agreement.

Will it work? We can't say for sure at this point, but Marathon Digital is one of those companies pinning its hopes for bitcoin creation on tapping into renewable excess energy from solar and wind farms in Texas. Indeed, two companies - Blockstream Mining and Block - have already broken ground in Texas on a small, off the grid operation using Tesla solar panels and batteries.

It will be interesting to see if this "green-based" operation can work, especially given Marathon Digital's goal of 199,000 miners online by next year. In the words of Adam Back, CEO of Blockstream: 

"This is a step to proving our thesis that bitcoin mining can fund zero emission power infrastructure."

Maybe, but the proof is in the actual achievement and only time will tell.

See Also:

Cryptocurrency Firms Push Back Against Proposal to Police Treasury Markets

Excerpt:

A Securities and Exchange Commission proposal intended to make Treasury markets more resilient has sparked a backlash from cryptocurrency companies, which say it could increase legal risks for so-called decentralized finance, or DeFi, platforms.

The rule, proposed by the SEC in January, would expand the agency’s definition of an exchange to include a broader array of communication systems that enable prospective buyers and sellers of securities to find each other. Such entities would have to register with the SEC either as exchanges akin to the New York Stock Exchange, or as a category of broker-dealers called alternative trading systems, or ATSs, which perform exchange-like functions but face lighter regulations.

And:

• Bitcoin - A Climate Damaging Form Of Ersatz Money Which Needs To Be Torpedoed...

And:

• Yet More Reasons To Get Rid Of Bitcoin - And Other Cryptocurrencies...

French Come To Their Senses Sunday - Will Americans Also See The Autocrats At THEIR Door In The Midterms?

                  McCarthy wants to be House Speaker but can't tell the truth about Trump

 "As Republicans prepare for a possible return to power amid rising hopes of winning the House and the Senate in the November elections, they are laying the groundwork for a spate of investigations of the Democrats.  That includes making Hunter Biden and his business dealings a central target of their investigative and oversight efforts."  - Denver Post, p. A8,  GOP Prepares for Revenge'

The Far Right's latest challenge to global common sense and democracy is now history with Marine Le Pen's  loss Sunday to Emmanuel Macron in the French election. See e.g.

France’s Macron wins second term as president, holding off Le Pen’s far-right threat

 At stake was continued membership in NATO and likely any further trans-Atlantic cooperation in the Ukraine conflict, as well as issues from immigration to inflation.  But a collective exhale could be heard as Macron won vs. the radical autocrat Le Pen -  an unabashed Putin & Trump- lover.  However, as a WaPo editorial noted, Macron’s win was a "negative" one.  reflecting not so much voter enthusiasm for but voter rejection of Le Pen.  Look I get negative voting, but hey - it's better than the alternative! There's a role for it in the currently callaloo mix of political disinfo, conspiracy ideation and hysteria.  

Le Pen, like Trump and  Hungary's Viktor Orban, is a nationalist and autocrat who was sullied by her Putin adoration and long-standing anti-immigrant bigotry.  Sensible French voters could see the writing on the wall and the wolf ...errrr autocrat, at the door, and knew the dire repercussions if they let her in. They chose not to allow her into power,  so voted Macron-  not out of any devotion to the latter but rather preservation of French freedom and European cohesion.

But hold strain, this is only a first trial.  Another test for democracy (vs. autocracy)  - perhaps even bigger - will arrive with the American midterms on Nov. 8th.  It's wake up time, though too many Americans don't want to hear it. Inflation is torching their bank accounts and new Covid subvariants are emerging.   But they need to  hear it - and see it- with vastly more on the line including probability of a Trump resurrection after insurrection in 2024 - should Reeps take the House. Granted Americans are in a malaise and misery over inflation. But this is not the time for a national pity party leading to awful choices of autocrats over democracy in eight months. Especially, even absent a pity party, too many believe  the "opposition" offers the better chance for  improved economics,  governance or both.

As an antidote, many on the fence may need a timely reminder who the good guys are.  They ought to pay attention to Mallory McMorrow who blasted a Reepo Michigan state Senator's lie that she desired to “groom and sexualize kindergartners.”.  This was in a powerful speech last week. This is how damned low the Reep vermin are prepared to go to incite their base to the polls in November and grab unearned power. As Jennifer Rubin wrote in her Sunday Washington Post column:

"The attack on McMorrow echoed common rhetoric among MAGA cultists, including the despicable attack on Ketanji Brown Jackson from Republican senators that the soon-to-be justice is “soft” on child pornographers. But McMorrow refused to let it slide."

The "pedo" trope - along with the Biden "soft on Putin" bunkum and inflation blaming, are both being used by the GOP autocrats (and their media)  in cynical and sometimes subtle ways for a power grab.. It's no secret, after all, that they yearn to get back to power, specially in the House.  To that end they hope there are enough distracted, dumb or somnolent voters to hand it to them.  There they can have a stone liar (Kevin McCarthy) as Speaker to allow an array of misbegotten, baseless "investigations" and even an effort to "impeach" Joe Biden.  Among the related efforts is one to slime all of Biden's nominees with the pedo slander, as reported by New Yorker reporter Jane Mayer, e.g.

The Slime Machine Targeting Dozens of Biden Nominees | The New Yorker

The autocrats are at the door, and American brains are getting soft and sapped - from inflation to the horrors of Ukraine- and let's not forget new Covid subvariants lurking (BA.2, BA 2.12, BA 2.12.1  etc.) . Too many (especially independents) are becoming more and more vulnerable to the GOP cult ploys, even as the next CPAC is planned in Hungary next month. Why? Why Hungary?  Well because it is the cradle of the new "soft autocracy" that Republicans are drooling over, because they believe it will fly with stressed out, fatigued Americans. 

As quoted in the WSJ (April 23-24, p. A4) the GOP claims "the Democrats are out of touch with the electorate" and Americans are buying this claptrap.  The autocratic spinners - who worship the ground Hungary's Viktor Orban tramples- believes voters are also tired of democracy.  Else, why vote for this bunch of a reprobates at all?

The tweet heard around the world - from Rob Reiner  last week: "A Vote for Republicans is a vote to destroy democracy" is still making waves.  Some originally believed it was histrionic, but realized on reflection it isn't. It shocked Lawrence O'Donnell, but he quickly had to admit it was true, despite being simple, e.g.

Lawrence: 'Is A Vote For Republicans A Vote To Destroy Democracy?’ - YouTube

Any citizen of normal intelligence and familiar with recent history would have to concur. Never mind we may not wish the tweet to be true, it is today - in this era of Trump, Josh Hawley, Lauren Boebert, Matt Gaetz, and Marjorie Taylor Green.

Orban’s  recent victory in Hungary has provided the go- to template for Republicans to impose an autocratic state on the U.S.  With 90% of the vote processed, Mr. Orban in March had won a majority of the votes, according to official results, and the coalition led by his nationalist Fidesz party was on track to win 135 of 199 seats in parliament. His opponent, a staunchly conservative small-town mayor, Peter Marki-Zay, failed to win even his own district.  The main reason for Orban prevailing?; The opposition was split into too many separate parties, and earlier gerrymandering of districts benefited Orban.

Now the GOP-Trump cult is convinced it can also win using Orban's template. Basically to exploit voters' inflation pain and their ongoing misery and malaise from the pandemic to vote against their own interests and our democratic system.  In the words of former Obama administration Attorney General Eric Holder:

 “The insurrection, the gerrymandering, the voter suppression, the attacks on professional election officials—all of this puts our democracy at risk to a degree we have not seen since the Civil War. That’s how serious this is.” 

Holder isn't alone. Author Ruth Ben-Ghiat in her book Strongmen: Mussolini to the Present, sounded the most immediate warning on the April 4 ALL In,  about how too many are sleepwalking into an autocracy.  After noting the nature of Orban's rigged, non-competitive "democracy" Chris Hayes asked the author about its relevance to the U.S. scene.  She responded the thing to note is Orban did what all autocrats do to preserve power, "he domesticated the media."  The other aspect is "His gerrymandering and other trickery to make more districts favorable to his party familiar to people who follow the GOP" thus ensuring no surprises at election time.  It's no surprise to GOP monitors because it is the exact same template Repukes are using here in the U.S.

The end result is it "gives Orban not guaranteed success but it makes it difficult for others to prevail."

When asked by Hayes what she thinks of the American Right looking to Orban's Hungary (as at CPAC next month) as their model Ben-Ghiat replied:  

"You know the GOP lawmakers falling all over themselves to congratulate him are like kids looking in a toy store screaming 'I want that!', 'I want electoral autocracy.!'  

Adding:

"And that's just what they're pursuing, including the anti-LGBTQ, and anti- critical race education policies.  And Carlson talks about Orban defending family policies but doesn't mention 300 churches have been closed in Hungary because they're not aligned with Orban.  He's prevailing right now because he's the palatable autocrat, not Putin."

When we visited Hungary in Sept. 2015 we could discern the reach and power of Orban even then. On assorted day trips we found Hungarians with whom we spoke were reluctant to discuss any politics, period. Even asking a brief history on how Orban came to power drew blank stares, often hostile ones, and mute responses.

 The $64 question now:  Why are so many American conservatives fascinated by Orban and his version of autocracy in Hungary?  Last Wednesday in a spot on CBS Mornings, Jordan Klepper - who attended the last CPAC - provided answers, e.g.

Watch CBS Mornings: Daily Show's Jordan Klepper visits Hungary - Full show on CBS

 This was also after Klepper taking a 'discovery'  trip to Hungary - paid for by the CBS' honchos- where he beheld the same sort of brain rot affecting too many Americans at work.  I.e. Biden "stole" the 2020 election from Trump and was therefore a "fake president".   One delusional, bedazzled Trumper in a cowboy hat told Klepper: "When I see leaders in other countries talking like Trump it inspires me!"  Hey, Sparky, do cowpies on an open barbecue pit also inspire you? Sheesh.

Then there was the consensus among the Hungarians interviewed who affirmed they loved both Trump and Orban because they were both "bad boys"- and got the media riled up.  In other words, these Hungarians were trolls like the Big Lie believers in the U.S.  

When asked by anchor Gayle King about how easily it would be for us to slide from democracy to Orban-style autocracy Klepper didn't hesitate: "Just orchestrate what he has over there: gerrymandering, strict voting limitation laws, strict control of the media - or powerful state propaganda arms to discredit it."

This was reinforced by autocracy specialist Ruth Ben- Ghiat in her ALL In appearance.   As she observed, Orban’s victory gives him four more years in power and more opportunities to consolidate his autocracy, while also setting up some enormous fights for Europe.  Meanwhile, in his Mother Jones piece 'The Coming Coup' Ari Berman warns:

Georgia is a microcosm of the extreme tactics Republicans are using across the country to entrench power in advance of the midterms. What can appear as a series of seemingly disconnected state-level skirmishes is in fact part of an insidious national strategy that goes far beyond previous efforts to suppress and undermine Democratic influence. Fueled by the Big Lie, this effort picks up where last year’s insurrection left off by putting in place the pieces to steal future elections by systematically taking over every aspect of the voting process.

Over the course of 2021, 19 states passed 34 laws making it harder to vote—the greatest rollback of voting access since the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Those changes include more than a dozen GOP-controlled states passing new provisions to interfere with impartial election administration, while Trump and his allies aggressively recruit “Stop the Steal”–inspired candidates to take over key election positions like secretary of state offices and local election boards in major battleground states.

“What we’re seeing is a multifaceted, multilevel attack on American democracy,” says Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold, chair of the Democratic Association of Secretaries of State..... 

And make no mistake, if Republicans prevail in rigging the 2022 election, they’ll be even more emboldened in 2024, especially if Trump is on the ballot. The lies of a stolen election propagated by Trump—and exploited by Republican lawmakers who know better—are now being used to lay the groundwork to sabotage elections for real.

This also shows the menacing similarity to what Orban is doing in Hungary. It shows clearly, undeniably the path on which the GOP-Trump cult wants to take us and why we now have to imagine the unimaginable: that the Trump cult - if given power - could knock us out of the democratic orbit.  There is no longer any doubt: A vote for a Republican IS a vote to destroy democracy. It's not histrionic, it's not hysterical or an exaggeration, it's a goddamned fact and we ignore it at our peril come November.

See Also:

New York Times | Republicans

Sorry, New York Times: Republicans Aren't "Concerned" About Democracy — They Want to Destroy It

by Amanda Marcotte | April 22, 2022 - 6:37am | permalink

— from Salon

And:

Democrats

Take the Gloves Off

by Mel Gurtov | April 25, 2022 - 6:03am | permalink

Excerpt:

Many of you have no doubt watched a video of Michigan state senator Mallory McMorrow’s forthright response to a far-right colleague’s attempt to paint her as a “groomer” for the LGBTQ community and a supporter of pedophilia.

The larger import of McMorrow’s courageous pushback should not be lost: Democrats need to respond, with controlled anger and potent language, to the deliberate lies and bullying the far right is using these days to win power.

And:

Conservatives and the Right

The Conspiracy Theorists and Right-Wing Hucksters Behind the Canadian Trucker Convoy Now Revealed

by Bill Berkowitz | April 25, 2022 - 5:56am | permalink

And:

Donald Trump | Kevin McCarthy

Kevin McCarthy Caught on Tape: Trump Won't Forgive Him This Time

by Heather Digby Parton | April 24, 2022 - 6:47am | permalink

— from Salon

And:

Donald Trump | Kevin McCarthy | Republicans

Kevin McCarthy's Anti-democratic Demise: How Donald Trump Successfully Sabotaged the Modern GOP

by Amanda Marcotte | April 23, 2022 - 7:50am | permalink

— from Salon

And:

Fascism | Republicans

DeSantis’ Attack on Disney Shows how Fascism Progresses Toward the Later Stages of Tyranny

by Thom Hartmann | April 23, 2022 - 7:39am | permalink

— from The Hartmann Report

 

A More Do-Able Project For Earth Day Than Containing CO2 From Cars: Taming The Plastic Plague

 

Seal pup nearly strangled by plastic waste.

                   

Humans produce roughly our own weight in plastics each year. How much actually ends up in the oceans is still a matter of debate but scientists in one study have estimated between 4.8 and 12.7  million metric tonnes (in 2010 alone).   Three- fourths of the plastic waste on Earth comes from uncollected litter,  the  leaked from assorted dump sites over the years.  Most of the drastic increase between 1950  and 2015  has been documented in the Journal  Science Advances, i.e.

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/318567844_Production_use_and_fate_of_all_plastics_ever_made

The scourge of plastic proliferation and its adverse effects on sea life has only become more widespread since that paper.  We now know that seal strangulation has reached epic proportions.  Also, the strangulation process is slow and painful.  Do a quick Google search i.e. "seals strangled by plastic" and you will bring up hundreds of images of the critters with plastic bags, plastic waste etc. wrapped around their necks and bodies. As the pups grow, however, the plastic doesn't expand to accommodate the growth. No, it tightens around their necks,  flippers and mouths - strangling them or choking them into gruesome deaths.

But what isn't visible often affects these sea animals even worse. Thus, after ingesting pounds of nearly invisible microplastics,  seals may suffer for months before they die a ghastly death as the chemicals build up in their bodies.

And seals aren't the only creatures affected by our plastic habits.  In recent years, record numbers of dead dolphins have washed up on our shores.  Biologists from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission  have cut open the stomach of one juvenile dolphin to determine the cause of death: a balloon and two plastic bags. This is one example, but not a one off, many more instances of plastics ingestion have been uncovered to reveal the problem is massive.   Also, the bigger the animal the greater the plastic mass found inside.

One whale was found with 88 pounds of plastic in its body. Another, in Indonesia, was found with a flip-flop in its stomach.  Evidently, when whales swim through the water swallowing krill they ingest scads of plastic as well. The whales and dolphins that don't die from entanglement die from ingestion and the build up of toxic chemicals in their bodies.

Sea birds are also affected, and nearly 80 percent have been found with plastic in their stomach.  The plastic fills their stomachs to the point they are unable to eat any more.  Those that survive the immediate ingestion develop kidney problems from the chemical effects and have chicks that are smaller, with shorter wings and bills.   Today, about one third of all albatross chicks are dying from plastic ingestion. 

Humans also are not immune to the effects of plastic, especially those of us who fancy seafood. Those of us who like to eat tuna, salmon, cod - say up to three times a   week -  will generally consume up to 11,000 plastic particles a year - according to a Sierra Club study. It's in our food, our water and even the sea salt we like for seasoning.  The chemical effects of this plastic consumption are many and can range from kidney, urinary and gastric problems to cancer, including of the liver, stomach. One Consumer Reports study e.g.

Plastic Products Contain Toxic Chemicals - Consumer Reports

 

detected more than one thousand chemicals in plastics of which 80 percent were unknown.

Watch what you eat all you want, and even become a vegetarian - but you cannot escape the plastic scourge.  Until we solve the plastic crisis you will be eating petro chemicals and be susceptible to the harm that comes with them.

But the tackling of the plastic problem may be the one thing, with multiple concrete steps, we can do to improve the Earth for its inhabitants in a timely manner. Some of the steps would include:

-  Pushing to get disposable plastics out of state, local and national parks.

- Getting state and local governments to do more to halt plastic bag dispensing in large supermarkets.

- Supporting counties, cities and states across the nation in their efforts to successfully enact laws to significantly reduce single use plastics.  This would include bans on: polystyrene foodware, bags, balloons, water bottles, and retail sale of tobacco product plastics.

-  Support the Break Free From Plastic Pollution Act of 2021.

Each step taken by enough individuals can finally make the planet at least safer from the viewpoint of less plastic - even if we must still contend with rising CO2. In the case of the latter, I had hoped the inflation at the gas pump would entice Americans to take it as an opportunity to reduce fossil fuel consumption. But instead too many are calling for Biden to release more strategic reserves and for states to eliminate gasoline taxes to make it cheaper. (Employers could also help by lessening the need for commutes, especially long ones - by allowing more to work from home.)

No one, it seems, is ready to dump fossil-fuel guzzling cars to save the planet and the humans on it.  But maybe, just maybe. we can do something now to at least control the plastic spread and toxic effects.

See Also:

Environmental Policy

Climate Collapse and Adaptation

by Thomas Neuburger | April 20, 2022 - 5:25am | permalink

— from God's Spies

And:

Environmental Policy

Earth Day: Enemies and Opportunities

by Robert Jensen | April 20, 2022 - 5:12am | permalink

And:

Climate Justice

To Help the Environment, Look to Women

by Veronika Perková | April 21, 2022 - 5:19am | permalink

— from YES! Magazine

The Latest Russian ICBM Launch: Why Is It Named "SATAN II"?

 

      "This set of human scum named a missile after me.  How delightful!"

Leave it to the Russkies to scare the Bejeezus out of half the planet by launching an ICBM called "SATAN II".  This in a climate of fear as the Ukraine war rages on but Russia  went ahead anyway and tested its new Inter- Continental Ballistic Missile (ICBM) RS-28 Sarmat on Wednesday.  The Russian President said the test would make Russia’s enemies “think twice”.   He isn't exaggerating.

The RS-28 Sarmat (NATO name Satan-II) is reported to be able to carry ten or more warheads and decoys and has the capability of firing over either of the earth’s poles with a range of 11,000 to 18,000 km. It is expected to pose a significant challenge to the ground-and-satellite-based radar tracking systems of the western powers, particularly the USA.  This is especially if each separate warhead is hypersonic-powered itself, as some Western missile experts conjecture.

On Wednesday, it was launched from Plesetsk in North West Russia with the intended target in the Kamchatka peninsula almost 6,000 km away. As per Russian news reports, the missile will have at least five more launches in 2022 before being inducted into the Russian military. Prior to the actual launch, a dummy missile test also took place. Computer simulated missile launches were also done multiple times and some of them were also shared publicly. This was the first test launch of the ICMB Sarmat after having been delayed earlier in 2021. For reasons not known to the public, the test was pushed to December 2021 and then to April 2022.

The ten warheads are Multiple Independently-Targetable Re-entry Vehicles and each has a blast yield of .75 megaton, enough to incinerate most of NYC, L.A., Miami or D.C. The RS Sarmat will also be the first Russian missile which can carry smaller hypersonic boost-glide vehicles. These are maneuverable and hard to intercept. The upgraded electronic counter measures, guidance systems and alternative warhead carrying capacity makes the RS-28 Sarmat ICBM more lethal than the R-36M Voyevoda ICBMs (NATO name Satan) currently in service in Russia.  

Some reports say that while the height and weight of Sarmat ICBM is the same as in the older one, it has more speed and high throw weight. However, the Sarmat is a liquid- fuelled missile as compared to US ICBMs which have moved on to solid fuel systems. Regardless of the different propulsion system, the Sarmat is supposed to pose a significant threat to the US Missile Defense Systems.

According to a report by news agency TASS, the Sarmat is named after nomadic tribes that roamed the steppes of present-day Southern Russia, Ukraine and Kazakhstan in the early medieval period. According to Encyclopedia Britannica: “Sarmatians were highly developed in horsemanship and warfare.” It goes on to say that the administrative capabilities and political expertise of Sarmatians contributed to their gaining widespread influence and by the 5th century BC they held control of the land between the Urals and the Don River. “In the 4th century they crossed the Don and conquered the Scythians, replacing them as rulers of almost all of southern Russia by the 2nd century,” it adds.

This leaves the question of why NATO has named this line of ICBM, "SATAN".  Most likely this is on account of the multiple, independent (MIRV) warhead capability and use of decoys - that can be used to divert and confuse any interception efforts.  But if hypersonically powered the latest version of MIRVs will truly merit the monicker "Satan". 

New Report: Trumper Conservatives "Feel Blamed, Shamed And Ostracized" - Hmmmm...I Wonder Why

 

                                       "Waaaah!  Da librul media is mekkin' me cry!"

"Calling these folks 'conservatives' is a huge misnomer given their actions are antithetical to democracy.  Perhaps that is why they are blamed, shamed and ostracized. Please give us back GOP Classic."  - John W. Thomas in letter to Denver Post, 4/24, p. 3D

"The US isn’t one country. The more we believe it is, the less sense our politics makes. By insisting on “the truth” when the truth is diametric from “the truth,” we end up doing a helluva lot more work. We end up doing all kinds of mental acrobatics to make sure “the truth” is true.

Once we drop the idea of America being one country, things make more sense. We do less work, too, because on seeing the US isn’t one country, the source of our problems – our national problems – becomes clearer. That source is the politics of the American south."=  John Stoehr, Alternet,  How the American South Is Punishing Crimes of Thought and Restricting Freedom of Movement

In their Sunday Denver Post column ('Conservatives Feel Blamed, Shamed, Ostracized', p. 1D, Perspectives) Doron Taussig and Anthony M. Nadler bemoan how assorted conservatives they interviewed feel misunderstood and cast as "pariahs".  Well, one wonders what planet these two have been living on the past two plus years, because it sure hasn't been this one.  That is the only explanation for how they get the perceptions of this faction of fools so wrong. By which I mean bestowing on their opinions way too much gravitas, and for an academic paper at that.  

The two columnists and researchers (out of Ursinus College- a small liberal arts school in PA)  insist it needs to be reckoned with because conservatives' trust in media "is low and dropping", oh, and "much of the American Right is hostile toward the press."  Anyone figure out how these two might be connected?  Come on now, this is not a Mensa admissions question.  At the forefront of response we would have that this faction inhabits a different universe, a different reality - from the one the rest of us live in.  Which explains why the content we see as facts emerges as fiction to them, or let's just say it, "fake news."  That, plus the fact these unfortunates are constantly brainwashed by FOX News, to which they are addicted. 

 The two authors are correct that "the alienation of conservatives from journalism presents a problem for a society where people are supposed to gov ern themselves using shared information".  But let's be frank,  the very media universe in which these conservatives dwell is at odds with the reality the normal citizens of this nation experience.  Must I give examples?  OK, let's start with this entry:

Republicans | Ukraine

Ukraine: Republican Disinformation

by Bob Burnett | April 18, 2022 - 6:37am | permalink

This is but one piece among a string recently of how FOX home boy Tucker Carlson has been singing the praises of Putin even as he's been laying waste to Ukrainian cities like Kharkev and Mariupol.  So we on the side of reality are wrong for backing news - like in the NY Times and WaPo - that rightly castigates Putin? Give me a break.  Need more proof?  Try out this one:

Watch: Disturbing Fox News Clip Captures Trump Boasting about His Relationship with Putin as Network Shows Body Bags in Ukraine

And this one here, which puts the kibosh on the assorted Concervative claims they are being "marginalized" by the mainstream media. 

Media

The Real Reason CBS News Hired Mick Mulvaney (and Musk's Latest Escapade)

by Robert Reich | April 15, 2022 - 6:49am | permalink

— from Robert Reich's Blog

How can that be when CBS hired one of the biggest pro- Trump blowhards who even referred to Covid as “media hoax”   designed to bring down Trump.  Which coincidentally is exactly what these delirious conservo dimwits - many or most - believe.   And we are supposed to feel sorry for them?  Thus you might understand my indignation and even rage when I read this choice codswallop:

"Our interviewees expressed animosity toward the press. But they were not primarily upset that the media got facts wrong nor even that journalists push a liberal policy agenda."  

 Get facts wrong?  Give me a break. Trump Repuke conservos wouldn't recognize a fact if it bit them in the ass.  The only thing evidently matched by the columinists- interviewers is their cluelessness in talking to the asswit Trumpers.  At least Comedy Central top star Jordan Klepper (yesterday) was shown to have kept his wits about him when questioning autocrat lovers in Hungary and at CPAC.  E.g.

Watch CBS Mornings: Daily Show's Jordan Klepper visits Hungary - Full show on CBS

Give Klepper an A when he confronts the douche in the cowboy hat and asks him why he's so enthralled by the likes of Orban.  He says: "He's a guy who talks like Trump and that inspires me!"  Inspires you? Does a fried cow pie crackling over a TX barbecue also "inspire" you?  But the Ursinus duo seem to take everything said by the Trumpers they encounter seriously.  As when they asked one: 

"Why did the press continue to sound the alarm over Covid-19 with similar fervor after Biden was inaugurated?"    

Apart from the fact this was a leading question - almost begging the Trumper to spew garbage, we see this lame answer:

"I wish I knew.  That's the ultimate question I don't have an answer for.  There's no reason I can see, statistically, legitimately, factually for keeping up that narrative now."

Huh?  Is this dolt not even remotely aware of the variants that emerged and kept piling up bodies like cordwood, especially in the moronic red states which refused vaccinations?  E.g.

Virus mutations add urgency to vaccination effort as experts warn of long battle ahead

Red America Owns The Libs? Nope, The Virus Owns Red America But It's Too Dumb To Get It (brane-space.blogspot.com)

The two interviewers from Ursinus ought to have been ashamed to ask such a dumb question which almost anticipated the spiel of ignorance that issued from the Trumper's pie hole.  After Biden's inquguration? What does that have to do with the times of virus mutation or variant emergence?  In other words: "Since Biden and the press were hyping the virus to take down Trump, didn't y'all find it funny it didn't stop after he got inaugurated?"  That's the real question the two dunderheads asked.  This is followed by the genius deduction:

"The views of the 25 people interviewed we did find consistent with the key themes in the conservative media, including the general notion of anti-conservative animus and the specific story line that Covid 19 was overhyped to bring down Trump."  

Of course the views and themes meshed, you dimwits! That's given that the Covid overhype bunkum is 'Big Lie 2'. second only to No. 1 - that Trump really won in 2020.  Are the mainstream news media outlets part of liberal institutions dedicated to making conservatives into pariahs?  Not at all. They are totally doing  that to themselves, the centrist (not liberal) media is simply reporting it, from the Jan. 6th insurrection to the extolling of the likes of Vladimir Putin and Viktor Orban.  As well as spreading QAnon horse manure that the Dems are all pedophiles and new Supreme Court Justice  Ketanji Brown Jackson is "pro-pedophile".  In other words, if the shoe of the pariah fits, wear it, like you all love to do anyway to piss off the libs.  

As for the Ursinus writers, they appear to be as lost at sea as their interview subjects. When I read twaddle like: 

"If there's a chance of improving the situation journalists will need to develop strategies for challenging these emotionally powerful stories that portray professional news media as disdainful of conservatives and their communities. Journalists may not see conservative estrangement as their fault, but if their goal is to inform a wide swath of the public they will need to convince more of the public that in fact is their goal."

Obviously, but the trouble is that a firm segment of Trump's cult will NEVER be convinced that is their goal. That's because these Trumper misfits inhabit an alternative reality of craziness, lies and humbug.  "Emotionally powerful stories"?  How about powerfully, brainwashed memes and toxic lies and brain rot?   In other words, these conservative kooks and "pariahs" have chosen to live in an alternative universe of lies, bunkum and conspiracy ideations. 

It isn't the job of professional journalists, or bloggers or anyone else to try to get to the root of the disturbed mental states governing these forlorn people. They need to address that themselves, and maybe get on a de-programming schedule, as most cult followers (like those at Jonestown) had to do.  

See Also:

America Has Surrendered to Fox

by Jason Sattler | February 11, 2022 - 9:11am | permalink

— from Alternet

And:

Fox News

Fox News Dangerously Declares War on Teachers: Calls for Violence, Accusations of ‘Inclination’ to Pedophilia

by David Badash | April 12, 2022 - 7:37am | permalink

— from The New Civil Rights Movement

And:

Donald Trump

Watch: Disturbing Fox News Clip Captures Trump Boasting about His Relationship with Putin as Network Shows Body Bags in Ukraine

by Meaghan Ellis | April 15, 2022 - 7:38am | permalink

— from Alternet

And:

Conservatives and the Right

Birds Aren’t Real: How a Mock Conspiracy Theory Caught on with the Far Right

by Alex Henderson | April 19, 2022 - 6:57am | permalink

— from Alternet

And:

Republicans | Ukraine

Ukraine: Republican Disinformation

by Bob Burnett | April 18, 2022 - 6:37am | permalink