How Bad Is It?
About eight years ago I provided a post with the title "It's Even Worse Than It Looks." It copied the title of a recently published book which answered the question posed above. A few years later, a new edition of the book appeared with a cover proclaiming, It's Even Worse Than It Was. A few might want to quibble about the indefinite "It's", so I will say, Things Have Gotten Even Worse Than They Were Then. Proof is offered.
The Republican nominee for the Superintendent of Public Schools in North Carolina disagreed with the suggestion that Barack Obama be sent to Guantánamo Bay for treason. She offered a better idea (note, she is not a Proud Boy, just a good ol' GOP mom):
I prefer a Pay Per View of him in front of the firing squad. I do not want to waste another dime on supporting his life. We could make some money back from televising his death.
She also called for the killing of then-President Elect Joe Biden. We live in an age of both misinformation and disinformation, so I will offer supporting sources, which some of you may distrust: "One Purple State is 'Testing the Outer Limits of MAGAism,", Thomas B. Edsall, New York Times, Mar.27, 2024 and, "GOP Nominee to Run North Carolina Public Schools Called for Violence Against Democrats, Including Executing Obama and Biden," Andrew Kaczynski and Em Steck, CNN, March 15, 2024.
The Canadian Drought
Canada is not much noticed south of here, but appeared recently in this headline: "World News: Drought Hampers Canada Push To Become a Hydro Superpower --- About 70% of the Country is Suffering from Abnormally Dry Weather Conditions," Vipal Monga, The Wall Street Journal, March 28, 2024. It may be the case that this publication is more concerned about Nestlé's stock price than thirsty Canadians.
The Canadian province of Quebec has big plans of becoming the "battery of the U.S. northeast" by feeding power generated from its dams and other hydro plants to millions of people in Vermont, Massachusetts and New York state. But dry conditions that have affected energy output worldwide are forcing one of the world's largest hydropower producers to cut exports....
But drought conditions extending from the west coast to the east are so bad that rivers and lakes in parts of Canada are drying up....
While one bad year shouldn't cause too much concern, the north often has periods of persistent drought, and climate change could make those periods much worse, threatening the sustainability of Quebec's hydro supply, Boucher said. "The past is becoming less of a good analog for what is going to occur in the future," he said.
The impact threatens to undermine Canada's reputation as a stable provider of clean and sustainable energy, and risks derailing the nation's efforts to cut greenhouse-gas emissions....
The province of British Columbia, Canada's second-largest hydro producer, has been in a drought since the middle of 2022. Water levels in the giant reserves in the northern and southeastern regions of British Columbia have fallen because there has been less snow in the winter and less rain in the spring, forcing the province to conserve water, said a spokesman for BC Hydro, the provincial utility.
Scam Alert!
Another disconcerting headline is this one from the U.S. Federal Trade Commission: "As Nationwide Fraud Losses Top $10 Billion in 2023, FTC Steps Up Efforts to Protect the Public: Investment Scams Lead in Reported Losses at More Than $4.6 Billion," Feb. 9, 2024. You also probably received yesterday, an alert from Amazon which notes that, "In 2023, we initiated takedown of more than 40,000 phishing websites and 10,000 phone numbers impersonating Amazon. However, the fight against scammers is never over."
A picture is worth a billion words:
Quotes Worth Quoting
For Husbands: Notice Your Wife's New Glasses or Hair Cut:
In The Spokesman-Review of Spokane, Wash., Ammi Midstokke reacted to the latest compliment from her husband. “I was struck by a realization: Either I am perfect or my husband enjoys the relative peace that reigns when we both pretend I am,” she wrote.
On Politics: This title and brief summary will save you from having to read all of the polls between now an November:
"The Meme-ification of American Politics," Clare Malone, The Atlantic, Jan.25, 2024
"Why more and more voters will be forming opinions in the 2024 election based on a funny video that their cousin’s husband’s sister shared in the group chat."
On The Culture Wars and Cancel Culture: If you are older and accused of becoming more conservative, keep this quotation in mind and reply that, you are not more conservative, but just continuing to be reasonable:
"That is why cancel culture is so worrisome: not because it reflects the familiar political divide between left and right, but because it reflects a generational war between old and young, a war between liberals and illiberals across parties. Liberals in my generation are surprised, and not a little uncomfortable, to find themselves opposing illiberals to their left and supporting conservatives to their right, sharing concern about cancel culture’s methods and the take-no-prisoners ideology that justifies them."
That is from this review:
- “The Ghost of Joe McCarthy: Why Universities Have Surrendered on Free Speech Again,” Carol Tavris, Times Literary Supplement, Feb. 9, 2024.
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