Thread : In the news today

[Tenjen]

Paris accords take 4-5 years to get out of, unless he burns bridges with the EU in another spot which will cause dire trade issues.

[Don Alexander]

Ya know, when I first read "wasps' nests" I thought it meant absolutely literal paper wasps' nests with the wasps still inside.

Guess that needs to be the new Internet Challenge.

[Searcher]

Please Don, don't give people any ideas. The next thing you know, we will have reports of young women doing just that.

[Artemisia]

Searcher, I know you were being sarcastic, but right now, Texas, Oklahoma and Florida are facing intense droughts the way California did recently, and they really aren't predicting that many intense hurricanes for this season (opinions differ, but the max noted is 5 for Cat 3 and above and the likelihood is 4 based on an average of the different opinions [it's actually 3.75]) and no one has predicted where they will form or where they will hit unless it's your local meteorologists doing so, but that's kind of par for the course as the local stations tend to try to drum up fear so that people take the storms seriously. Additionally, the person I take the most seriously on this subject is a climate archaeologist by the name of Dr. Brian Fagan. I've been reading his work now for decades. He had some fascinating insights into the collapse of the Southwest's climatological patterns in the centuries prior to the 1600's.

Also, while Trump may be pulling out of the Paris Accords, which are completely voluntary anyway, Michael Bloomberg and a few others have noted that industry doesn't care what Trump does, and most of them are going to work towards the goals laid down in the Paris Accords anyway since both coal and oil have been cost prohibitive when it comes to the economics of both industries. In fact, China has noted that coal isn't worth enough to bother with either and is quickly moving away from fossil fuels. In fact, many of Trump's actions are going to have a negative impact on the economy and shift innovation out of the US when it comes to renewable and 'green' energy sectors all in the name of saving a handful of jobs which will be replaced by automation or be priced out of existence within the next decade. The problem right now is those who cling to the 19th Century instead of angling to get retraining and bring in new industry. Basically, the US is facing a similar crossroads as the UK did in the 1980's, and we can either invest in retraining and new industries or we can force a lot of people to live off the government for the rest of their lives. Now, if I was someone in industry, I'd want to invest in retraining so that I had a qualified workforce...

[Searcher]

I have absolutely no problem if private industry wants to go green. In fact, I say go for it!
I have a problem with a bunch of people who sit around and have no first hand knowledge of running a business that they have to do X and only X regardless of the price of doing X or else face such punitive damages that they will be forced to go out of business. I also have a problem with subsidies, industries should not be on the government roles to such extent that they can only do X because the government pays them. Money for researcher to make X more efficient = no problem. Money for researcher to find another solution = great!

There is too much mixing of business and government, has been longer then I been alive, and all I am saying it is time to start cutting those cords.

And yes, I know all about these wildfires in Florida, some days it is hard for me to breath with all the smoke in the air, I can actually taste the smoke sometimes. But you know what, weather cycles change. Who knows, California could go five years without a drought and Florida could get so wet during the summer we have no more fires. The Universe does what it wants, it doesn't care about what we want.

[Adamas]

Ugh, please don't remind me of getting smoke from the fires in the Carolinas last year. Three days of not being able to see 100 feet and dealing with animals freaking out because of smoke from fires a couple hundred miles away.

[yiraheerai]

And the series of large fires in the Texas panhandle that covered SE NM even though the winds SHOULD HAVE carried it to OK.

[Retiarius]

Adam West, the original TV Batman and voice of the mayor of Quahog on The Family Guy, died Friday (June 9, 2017) in Los Angeles at the age of 88.
I shall to the Batusi in his honor.

[Lokitsu]

[Tenjen]

Dad came in early yesterday and told me :\

That show was part of the earliest memories of my childhood

['J']

[Lokitsu]

The Michigan Attorney General is charging five Flint Michigan officials with involuntary manslaughter.
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/14/us/f ... .html?_r=0

[Artemisia]

Excellent...oh, and the FBI has opened an investigation into whether or not Trump committed obstruction of justice by firing Comey, and Muller's followed suit.

It was once said that it isn't the crime that gets you, it's the cover up.

[yiraheerai]

I know the whole year's been like this but DAMN the last few days. On top of the investigations there was a bombing in China, flooding in India, an landslide in Bangledesh, a horrible fire in London and THREE mass shootings in the US. I think the world needs a hug y'all.

[Error of Logic]

Just so long as it doesn't finally get sick of us and shrugs us off into the merciless void....