Politicky

[rain_gryphon]

So, that George Floyd guy? Wasted on methamphetamine, and a possibly lethal dose of fentanyl. And, if you can yell "I can't breathe", and yell it repeatedly, then you can breathe.

*****

Great topical quotes:

“Washington has not changed Donald Trump. Donald Trump has changed Washington.”

WRT the hurricane - "Hefty carbon taxes and prohibitive energy costs could have prevented this storm."

Comments

[pyesetz]

> "Hefty carbon taxes and prohibitive energy costs could have prevented this storm."

I think it is too late now for even prohibitive energy costs to have prevented this storm (and even if "prohibitive" takes us back to the Stone Age).  Global Warming is going to be with us for some decades to come; the die is cast.

[rain_gryphon]

Global Warming is going to be with us for some decades to come; the die is cast.

You may be correct in that particular. I have, however, seen precious little to convince me that global warming is anthrogenic, rather than natural.

In either case, it's foolish to try to fix it by limiting emissions. If it's natural, that's a pathetically inadequate tactic. We're many years, perhaps hundreds, away from being able to drive the global climate in that fashion.

If it *is* caused by greenhouse gasses, then we've already established that we lack the will to force either a low standard of living, or strict population control, on China, south Asia, and Africa. Every night on TV, in fact, I see commercials urging me to save the lives of African children.

And, in either case, we have yet to have a broad-ranging discussion of the benefits vs. the drawbacks of climate change. Most situations have winners and losers, and I think warming may well work out to the distinct benefit of the temperate-zone countries. Regardless, the discussion is important, and it can't happen while we're locked into a multilateral world-view. I'm hoping to perhaps see that addressed in Trump's second term.

Finally, as a kind of random factoid, Joe Biden remains the only politician of any standing to remark upon the need for population control WRT global warming. He popped out with that during the first Democratic Debate, and never said another word. I'm sure his handlers shut him up on that.