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redqueen
redqueen's Journal
redqueen's Journal
February 16, 2024
Feeling down today. We are up against billionaires (rant)
The kochs and the devoses and the waltons of the world keep chipping away at everything that gave working people half a chance. Meanwhile most of the people who are suffering because of their efforts have little to no idea how much of their suffering is caused by those billionaires let alone how bad it is.
Will it take another depression to get people to elect Dem supermajorities so we can once again fix all the things we fixed the last time the robber barons had things this fucked up?
Can someone maybe make a cartoon that explains this shit so people who seem not to get it will get a clue and fucking vote?
I'm seeing people I thought were smart get sucked in by stupid naderite accelerationist bullshit and it is making it hard not to despair.
One bright spot is seeing some of the right wing's recent lies falling apart. From the Hunter Biden bullshit to tucker kissing Putin's ass, it's all coming apart at the seams, so that's nice.
We still need those supermajorities though. I want to move to a swing state. I want a drink.
February 14, 2024
Last Week in the Republican Party
Not sure The Lincoln Project would be considered a liberal YouTuber but I didn't know where else to share this.
February 14, 2024
https://phys.org/news/2024-02-animal-based-foods-alternative-proteins.amp
Replacing animal-based foods with alternative proteins would unlock land for carbon removal, say researchers
The study showed even just a 30% reduction would be enough to allow for significant improvement.
Researchers report that replacing 50% of animal products with alternative proteins by 2050 could free up enough agricultural land to generate renewable energy equivalent in volume to today's coal-generated power while simultaneously removing substantial CO2 from the atmosphere.
The study, published in the journal One Earth, is based on a CO2-removal method known as "bioenergy with carbon capture and storage" (BECCS), which involves cultivating quickly growing crops whose biomass can then be stored permanently in geological formations or used as a feedstock to produce renewable energy.
...
"Animal-source foods use resources inefficiently because animals consume more food than they provide, and feeding the animals requires considerable land and water," write the researchers, led by environmental scientist Oscar Rueda of Leiden University. "We show that a protein transition could free up extensive resources for BECCS to achieve substantial energy and carbon-removal potentials."
To test how a dietary shift might augment carbon removal, the researchers estimated how much land would be freed up if humans replaced 10% to 100% of animal protein with plant-based or other alternative proteins. Then, they estimated the potential for using this land for biomass production while keeping sufficient land and water available to sustain ecosystems and meet global food and water needs.
...
The study, published in the journal One Earth, is based on a CO2-removal method known as "bioenergy with carbon capture and storage" (BECCS), which involves cultivating quickly growing crops whose biomass can then be stored permanently in geological formations or used as a feedstock to produce renewable energy.
...
"Animal-source foods use resources inefficiently because animals consume more food than they provide, and feeding the animals requires considerable land and water," write the researchers, led by environmental scientist Oscar Rueda of Leiden University. "We show that a protein transition could free up extensive resources for BECCS to achieve substantial energy and carbon-removal potentials."
To test how a dietary shift might augment carbon removal, the researchers estimated how much land would be freed up if humans replaced 10% to 100% of animal protein with plant-based or other alternative proteins. Then, they estimated the potential for using this land for biomass production while keeping sufficient land and water available to sustain ecosystems and meet global food and water needs.
...
https://phys.org/news/2024-02-animal-based-foods-alternative-proteins.amp
February 14, 2024
How was Biden's son investigated but Ivanka, Jared, and the Jan 6 plotters are still just ignored?
https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/exclusive-jan-6-organizers-met-congress-white-house-1245289/
How much longer do we have to wait?
https://twitter.com/jaybrigitte/status/1756361428955488538?s=20How was Biden's son investigated but Ivanka, Jared, and the Jan 6 plotters are still just ignored?
EXCLUSIVE: Jan. 6 Protest Organizers Say They Participated in ‘Dozens’ of Planning Meetings With Members of Congress and White House Staff
Two sources are communicating with House investigators and detailed a stunning series of allegations to Rolling Stone, including a promise of a “blanket pardon” from the Oval Office
Two sources are communicating with House investigators and detailed a stunning series of allegations to Rolling Stone, including a promise of a “blanket pardon” from the Oval Office
https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/exclusive-jan-6-organizers-met-congress-white-house-1245289/
February 13, 2024
Morning Joe used Jon Stewart's jokes to start a discussion
I don't normally watch TV news but I couldn't resist the thumbnail. Glad I watched - they compare the two honestly and thoroughly, which is as wonderful as it sounds.
Bonus: one person also mentions how tsf is going out and playing fat Elvis 😂
February 10, 2024
The Best of The Kind of Story We Need Right Now
I just love Seth Meyers - I hope you enjoy this as much as I did
February 9, 2024
https://www.cbsnews.com/amp/news/hawaii-supreme-court-quotes-the-wire-ruling-gun-rights/
Hawaii Supreme Court quotes "The Wire" in ruling on gun rights: "The thing about the old days, they the old days"
A ruling by Hawaii's high court saying that a man can be prosecuted for carrying a gun in public without a permit cites crime-drama TV series "The Wire" and invokes the "spirit of Aloha" in an apparent rebuke of a U.S. Supreme Court decision that expanded gun rights nationwide.
"The thing about the old days, they the old days," the unanimous Hawaii Supreme Court ruling issued Wednesday said, borrowing a quote from season four, episode three of the HBO series to express that the culture from the founding of the country shouldn't dictate contemporary life.
"As the world turns, it makes no sense for contemporary society to pledge allegiance to the founding era's culture, realities, laws, and understanding of the Constitution," the 53-page ruling says before citing the hit HBO show.
...
"We're seeing a lot of action and a lot of unpredictability when it comes to the Second Amendment after Bruen," Joseph Blocher, co-director of Duke University's Center for Firearms Law, told CBS News. "It's happening in a bunch of different directions, and the source of the change is the new methodology that the Supreme Court announced in the Bruen case because it instructs courts to evaluate the constitutionality of laws based solely on whether they are in some ill-defined sense consistent with historical tradition."
"The thing about the old days, they the old days," the unanimous Hawaii Supreme Court ruling issued Wednesday said, borrowing a quote from season four, episode three of the HBO series to express that the culture from the founding of the country shouldn't dictate contemporary life.
"As the world turns, it makes no sense for contemporary society to pledge allegiance to the founding era's culture, realities, laws, and understanding of the Constitution," the 53-page ruling says before citing the hit HBO show.
...
"We're seeing a lot of action and a lot of unpredictability when it comes to the Second Amendment after Bruen," Joseph Blocher, co-director of Duke University's Center for Firearms Law, told CBS News. "It's happening in a bunch of different directions, and the source of the change is the new methodology that the Supreme Court announced in the Bruen case because it instructs courts to evaluate the constitutionality of laws based solely on whether they are in some ill-defined sense consistent with historical tradition."
https://www.cbsnews.com/amp/news/hawaii-supreme-court-quotes-the-wire-ruling-gun-rights/
February 9, 2024
Gender-based heat map images show where men tend to look and where women tend to look on a path at night. Women focused significantly more on potential safety hazards—the periphery of the images—while men looked directly at focal points or their intended destination. Credit: Violence and Gender (2023). DOI: 10.1089/vio.2023.0027
...
Chaney and co-authors Alyssa Baer and Ida Tovar showed pictures of campus areas at four Utah universities—Utah Valley University, Westminster, Brigham Young University and University of Utah—to participants and asked them to click on areas in the photos that caught their attention. Women focused significantly more on potential safety hazards—the periphery of the images—while men looked directly at focal points or their intended destination.
"The resulting heat maps represent perhaps what people are thinking or feeling or doing as they are moving through these spaces," Chaney said. "Before we started the study, we expected to see some differences, but we didn't expect to see them so contrasting. It's really visually striking."
...
"Why can't we live in a world where women don't have to think about these things? It's heartbreaking to hear of things women close to me have dealt with," Chaney said. "It would be nice to work towards a world where there is no difference between the heat maps in these sets of images. That is the hope of the public health discipline."
https://phys.org/news/2024-02-visually-captures-hard-truth-home.amp
Study visually captures a hard truth: Walking home at night is not the same for women
This week from the Proving Things We Already Knew department
Gender-based heat map images show where men tend to look and where women tend to look on a path at night. Women focused significantly more on potential safety hazards—the periphery of the images—while men looked directly at focal points or their intended destination. Credit: Violence and Gender (2023). DOI: 10.1089/vio.2023.0027
...
Chaney and co-authors Alyssa Baer and Ida Tovar showed pictures of campus areas at four Utah universities—Utah Valley University, Westminster, Brigham Young University and University of Utah—to participants and asked them to click on areas in the photos that caught their attention. Women focused significantly more on potential safety hazards—the periphery of the images—while men looked directly at focal points or their intended destination.
"The resulting heat maps represent perhaps what people are thinking or feeling or doing as they are moving through these spaces," Chaney said. "Before we started the study, we expected to see some differences, but we didn't expect to see them so contrasting. It's really visually striking."
...
"Why can't we live in a world where women don't have to think about these things? It's heartbreaking to hear of things women close to me have dealt with," Chaney said. "It would be nice to work towards a world where there is no difference between the heat maps in these sets of images. That is the hope of the public health discipline."
https://phys.org/news/2024-02-visually-captures-hard-truth-home.amp
February 8, 2024
https://www.npr.org/2023/11/12/1212058889/migrants-u-s-southern-border-historic-numbers-why
We aren't helping ourselves by pretending this issue isn't an issue. All were doing is ensuring the right wins on this issue.
Fox news showed this last night.
?si=XK1VO_7tnTTUPVlj
And this is the most recent non right wing media reporting I can find on this issue
https://www.newsweek.com/how-many-migrants-are-crossing-border-1867407
We can't afford to just whistle past the graveyard and hope that voters who are struggling understand.
Yes, there is so a border crisis
I don't know why people want to pretend this isn't happening but it is.
It would be one thing if we spread the wealth around equally in this country and we could help these immigrants while also making sure citizens could get jobs that paid enough to afford housing, healthcare, etc. but that's not what we do.
Meanwhile we're telling people that what's happening isn't even happening - how is that going to help?
This is from NPR
Migrants are showing up at the U.S. southern border in historic numbers. Here's why
...
In the past year, the southwest border has received historic numbers of migrants. More than 2.4 million people. It's been record-breaking numbers for the past few years. San Diego alone has received more than 230,000 people this year. That's a 30% increase from the year before.
...
...
In the past year, the southwest border has received historic numbers of migrants. More than 2.4 million people. It's been record-breaking numbers for the past few years. San Diego alone has received more than 230,000 people this year. That's a 30% increase from the year before.
...
https://www.npr.org/2023/11/12/1212058889/migrants-u-s-southern-border-historic-numbers-why
We aren't helping ourselves by pretending this issue isn't an issue. All were doing is ensuring the right wins on this issue.
Fox news showed this last night.
?si=XK1VO_7tnTTUPVlj
And this is the most recent non right wing media reporting I can find on this issue
How Many Migrants Are Crossing the Border?
Migrant encounters across U.S. borders have exceeded 988,900 the past three months, following a record-setting number in fiscal year 2023.
As part of the current fiscal year that began in October, there were 309,114 migrant encounters that month, 308,669 in November and 371,036 in December. In December, about 300,000 migrants—nearly 10,000 per day—came into the U.S. through Mexico, including about 250,000 between ports of entry, according to Customs and Border Protection (CBP) data. Federal border agents encountered about 2.5 million migrants in total last year, surpassing the previous record high from the year before.
...
While numbers remained steady at about 241,000 and 242,000 migrant encounters in October and November, respectively, they shot up to about 302,000 in December.
In fiscal year 2021, southern border encounters increased every month between October and July. They ascended from about 71,000 in October to more than 213,000 by July, ultimately decreasing in August and even more so in September. The final total was about 1.734 million for the period.
...
Migrant encounters across U.S. borders have exceeded 988,900 the past three months, following a record-setting number in fiscal year 2023.
As part of the current fiscal year that began in October, there were 309,114 migrant encounters that month, 308,669 in November and 371,036 in December. In December, about 300,000 migrants—nearly 10,000 per day—came into the U.S. through Mexico, including about 250,000 between ports of entry, according to Customs and Border Protection (CBP) data. Federal border agents encountered about 2.5 million migrants in total last year, surpassing the previous record high from the year before.
...
While numbers remained steady at about 241,000 and 242,000 migrant encounters in October and November, respectively, they shot up to about 302,000 in December.
In fiscal year 2021, southern border encounters increased every month between October and July. They ascended from about 71,000 in October to more than 213,000 by July, ultimately decreasing in August and even more so in September. The final total was about 1.734 million for the period.
...
https://www.newsweek.com/how-many-migrants-are-crossing-border-1867407
We can't afford to just whistle past the graveyard and hope that voters who are struggling understand.
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