"Progressives" are anti-human, the opposite of environmentalists. They gave Sri Lanka a high ESG score because it collapsed from nitrogen caps on farming. South Africa has rolling blackouts that are lauded for reducing carbon emissions. New Jersey is slaughtering whales off its coast for wind turbine farms.
Progressives also refuse to accept progress. The refusal to entertain the possibility that things have improved is literally built into their worldview, which is predicated on the notion that the present must always be compared to unrealized and often unattainable standards (“End racism!”) that are kept intentionally vague and rarely delineated so as to always have a reason to be dissatisfied with the status quo. It’s profoundly ironic that for all their talk about striving for progress, they’re incapable of acknowledging it because they see it as a threat to future progress.
Fekin insane. But may be a good opportunity to write a novel by candlelight about the cult, and pray to God that common sense doesn't need too much carbon.
South Africa? Heck, we're having intentional power shutdowns in California, and if the governor continues to have his way, rolling blackouts and brownouts will become (again) the norm.
It is a sign of decline. Anyone with eyes open will see that.
In the same day, Gov Nuisance announced his plan to ban the sale of all but EVs in a dozen years, and his office sent an urgent alert telling CA residents NOT to run their AC in the middle of a heat wave because if everyone does it would cause massive power failures. EV charging is about 2 to 4 times the daily KW hours of AC. If Newsom has his way, clearly, we're in deep trouble and our power utilities will collapse.
Meanwhile on planet Unicorn, the solution is "simple": we need "renewables" and in a dozen years we'll go from 90% fossil fuels (much of it clean and abundant natural gas) to magical "renewables" and so the problem is solved. The only barrier to this solution is, well, math.
Run the numbers and it doesn't work. Look deeper and it gets worse.
A good friend of mine moved from Oklahoma to California decades ago, settled first in Hollywood. Which my friend described as like a bowl of granola: what ain't fruit or nuts are flakes. This now describes politics at the state level. Nothing against fruit or nuts, mind you, great additions to any meal or social gathering. Just not a good foundation for environmental or economic policy ;-)
Speaking of SA I saw this on CNN News (it was a pop up, as I, like most, would never actually read their misinformation / disinformation)... the word I am looking for here is delusional.
they also agree that nuclear war for the neocons' world project is good, like a huge rolling black out and nuke winter will be good for the planet. more ice for polar bears.
"Environmentalists," like "leftists," is a term that no longer has a precise definition. Those who call themselves progressive, also say they align with environmentalism.
“Environmentalism” = Neo-paganism. Humans must be sacrificed to appease the gods of forest, river, sea, animals and elements and to atone for their sins against the gods. Everything must be protected except Humans.
I question the Anti-Grocery Baggers? You make the point: Is your dog's poop better just left in the woods, on the hiking path? How about in your backyard? How about your neighbors front yard, right between his Mailbox and Creeping Bantis? It's going to decompose - right?
Is the poop better where it fell? In a plastic bag in the landfill? In a biodegradable bag in the landfill?
I think weighing of the net benefit of differing Dog Poop Disposal methodologies is difficult.
What do you have against "experts"? If we didn't continue to fund "studies" some of the laptop brigade might be under-employed. An as everyone knows, under-employment leads to the unthinkable - you know, like being forced to work for a living.
My favorite is the hiking trail bag of dog poop, festering in its little baggie greenhouse on the side of trail while squirrels and coyote and deer cavort and shit all over the environs. The human never comes back and to pick those bags up -- they have signaled their virtue, throwing it away just seems like work.
We use a Homer bucket (orange Home Depot bucket) to stash the dog poop we scoop up next to the little trash can porch. We call it The Poop Deck. True story.
So I think I could run this study. I have plenty of data.
This is disturbing because you can easily imagine a group of people acting this way. A bunch of weirdos disliked it so much they barraged Shirley Jackson with hate mail.
Notice that the "winner" only speaks up at the end.
There’s no free streaming of the following available as of this moment, but that can always change. I highly recommend the 1975 movie The Wicker Man. I saw it as a teen when it came out. Also full of dread and unease. Can still see parts of the movie in my minds eye. Insert shudder here.
Amazing how both of these speak to the current timeline. What was old is now new again.
Side note: Shirley Jackson also penned The Haunting of Hill House. The original b&w movie based on her book is called The Haunting (released in 1963) and it remains one of my very favorite scary movies of all time. Many scenes of that movie are etched in my mind.
Netflix’s adaptation, while greatly deviating from the original, was also well done, imho.
The Lottery was filmed back in the seventies, I think, as part of a marvellous series of films of short stories. I used to use them in the classroom. Fantastic collection. Kids loved The Lottery and it was a brilliant source for discussion and writing.
No kidding? I can see how that would work as a great exercise in the classroom. My mind was thinking of all sorts of questions as I read it yesterday.
Do you recall any of the other short stories that were part of this classroom material?
There used to be all kinds of interesting (and some very strange and weird) classroom short films. Rifftrax and MST3K showcase a lot of them on their programming. Of course they are looking at them to make humour out of it all, but there are many that are truly very interesting and wholesome.
I Just lifted this comment from a SimComm commenter... “recent real headline by the New York Times, “Is it Safe to go outside? How to navigate this cruel summer.” Thought it was parody.”
It’s JULY people! Always the hottest month, didn’t we learn that in 7th Grade science? More people die from the cold than from the heat. I tortured myself last night and watched the NBC Nightly News... their weather map went from neon pink to orange to red to burgundy... with pulsating “ waves”... “ brutal temperatures ravaging the country”..... actually this summer average temps no higher than last year or the year before.... Rant over.
My sis lives in Vermont where they just has that big flood. “All I know is our climate is screwed. It’s REALLY hot down there isn’t it”. We live in North Carolina. The summers and winters have gotten progressively milder since we moved here in 2011. I’m sure at some point the pendulum will swing back the other way as it always does. Just don’t tell my award winning, science teacher sister.
One who gets 100k grants every year. She proclaimed on Facebook that she was being sentenced to death when she had to return to classroom teaching. Almost a year after all of Europe was doing just that. Funny how the woketards idolize Europe. But not on Covid. They have no clue how many countries have banned the jabs for under 50 if not altogether.
Do you mind me asking how old your sister is? I’m just so dumbfounded by the number of paranoid germaphobes there are… so someone with a basic understanding of science usually has at least a modicum of common sense!
She was 49 at the time she proclaimed her inevitable death sentence. No comorbidities. Outdoors all the time so she should have good Vit D levels. But sweet uncle Fraudci said we were all gonna die!!!!!!!!!
Can't you just hear the conversations happening in the green room? "We have to come up with scarier descriptions, people! 'Extreme' isn't enough. 'Boiling' makes people think their tea is ready. Come on, think. I've got it. 'Deadly'! Every report on the weather needs to include the word 'deadly', preferably multiple times."
Seriously! If you wish to get a full grasp on the power of words, turn on Lester Holt, close your eyes and simply listen. It’s really appalling. I think they have a required number of adverbs and adjectives!
The term that got me was this past winter’s “bomb cyclone” (which we used to call a “ big blizzard”). It’s like they’re sitting in a back room somewhere with a bunch of blunts, trying to come up with the most terrifying, extremist vocabulary possible... “Naw, man, let’s use something more war-like, more apocalyptic”...
I checked the weather records for our area for the last 150 years. Interestingly, summers were hot, and winters were cold - every single year! Amazing.
I was born in Fort Worth, TX 71 years ago, the youngest of four. We lived in a very small three bedroom house… my parents would have a block of ice delivered, put it in a kitty pool and put a fan behind it. My siblings slept on cots in front of this set up.
Notice also that the last paragraph of every article on anything weather related is a template of talking points about climate change. I was trying to find information about the fires on Corfu, where the Durrells lived and the Durrell Society is located, plus the house they lived in. Incessant pulsing of magenta, really insulting to one's intelligence, plus the obligatory drinking game level of repetition. Now they are saying those fires are arson, so what is that about?
I have no idea if there is weather manipulation going on. But after the GoF thing, I wouldn’t put it past “them” to do this to turbocharge “anthropogenic global warming “
"I have no idea if there is weather manipulation going on."
It's not the weather they're manipulating. I'm not sure that can even be done.
But it's the DATA that they're manipulating - the gathering, the throwing out of perceived outliers, the presentation, the way that they measure it now as compared to just a few years ago, and even altering old data to make the current temps seem warmer by comparison.
There is no global weather manipulation occurring, but there is most certainly data and media manipulation. It's the same nonsense that was exposed by COVID: denigration of anyone that doesn't accept the preferred narrative, corruption of science, and a corporate media that act as propagandists, not journalists.
Back in the sixties the USA and USSR conducted high altitude nuclear weapons tests. What could possibly have gone wrong? Who knows what effects these had on climate.
You WIN with this comment!! I hope El Gato sees it! The NYTIMES chose a picture of an elderly woman in Rome in her apartment where “ she has no air conditioning “...it’s effing Europe... no one has air conditioning! ...well, Klaus Schwab does....
As an electrical engineer, anyone who talks about lifting a country out of poverty with intermittent energy sources (wind and solar) and not utilizing baseload power (oil, gas, coal, hydro, and nuclear) should not be taken seriously. Industrial facilities need power 24/7 to keep operations moving and they cannot be turned off with the flick of a switch. Look at any industrial facility or hospital and you will find all critical systems backed by either a diesel or natural gas generator. No plant or hospital is erecting a solar farm or wind farm to provide critical power to loads that rely on it for human safety. Imagine if you had a family member in the hospital that will die if the next day is overcast and cloudy - that would be madness.
Thanks for all you do, Gato. The humor and cat memes help too.
My woketard mama refuses to look at anything that I send her Covid related. However, I did get her to bite on an article from the Guardian about how lockdowns would starve millions of 3rd world children to death. Her response “well that’s just the 3rd world”. The compassion is overwhelming. As long as she “feels safe” in rural New Hampshire, let them eat cake indeed. And the truckers and people like my family who support them “need to find somewhere else to live”. Because those expert mitigation efforts were such a smashing success. Sparring with these people makes my brain cry.
I always was the black sheep. The Scamdemic just gave me the opportunity to ramp it up a thousand notches. Everyone writes me off as a moron. Been happening my whole life. I know exactly who’s going to have the last laugh though. MSLSD and WaPo can destroy any brain…😜
Being a woman makes you more susceptible to fear based propaganda. Facts. They also love being little dictators based on because I said. Obviously on the bell curve...but much more susceptible mean.
The environmentalism of the 1970s is NOT the environmentalism of the 2020s.
Al Gore is to green energy as Bill Gates is to vaccines and public health. It's a great big money maker for the already wealthy. Full stop.
None of the "green solutions" they are trying to shove onto everyone will ever provide enough energy. Wind, solar, heat pumps- none of these will ever provide the needed energy at scale, they are supplemental only. The nuke plant nearest me was taken offline and decomissioned before the pandemic and I just recently heard of another one in Pensylvania going the same way.
Think of all you have heard and keep hearing about the sorry state of the electrical grid in the US. How old it is and how desperately needs to be upgraded, etc and etc. Now imagine what would happen if even just half the population were to come home every evening and plug in their electric car to charge. The whole concept is a joke. Even better, go look into what making batteries for electric cars does to the environment.
It's all just a big money making flim-flam for people who need more money like you need another hole in your head. It has absolutely NOTHING to do with the environment.
Environmentalism was always a cult. Their good intentions were turned in destructive directions. The solution to base load electricity is nuclear power, but instead of embracing it they conflated reactors with nuclear weapons and spread fear. They file lawsuit after lawsuit opposing construction of nuclear power plants, delaying construction for years and driving up the cost. The threat of lawsuits and exaggerated fears of accidents raises the price of insurance for the plants. Environmentalists then point to the expense of building a nuclear power plant as a reason to oppose nuclear power. Of course they also oppose recycling of used nuclear fuel which would reduce costs, improve efficiency and reduce the amount of waste. They also oppose nuclear waste storage facilities, forcing the plants to keep the used fuel on site, increasing risk and cost. And they demand the shutdown and dismantling of perfectly functional plants like the ones in Germany or the plant in Seabrook, NH that was completed but never started, wasting billions. It's criminally insane.
We can do it without nuclear plants. Too many very expensive problems with nukes. And too many very REAL and horrific problems if something goes wrong. Sorry, but it was 3 Mile Island that doomed nuclear power in the US at least. And then more recently there was Fukushima in Japan. No thanks, I'd rather use candles.
Edit- Then of course there's Chernobyl. LOL! They'll never sell nuke plants to anyone now.
The newer designs are much safer. TMI, Chernobyl and Fukushima were all old, 2nd-gen plants being operated years past their design life.
But nuclear is more expensive, and there will always be the waste issue, though it too can be managed. France generates something like 80% of its electricity with nukes, and nobody considers France a 3d-world country. Fortunately for the Germans, France is still able to export a significant amount of surplus electricity, much of it to Germany.
How timely is this Substack - 2 minutes ago I was searching for biodegradable dog poop bags. Sounds silly, I know, but someone brought it to my attention (because it had never crossed my mind) that picking up dog poop and placing it in plastic bags is detrimental to the environment. It's funny how we don't think of these small things - or at least I didn't, and I consider myself an environmentalist. I am trying to become more aware.
“Plastic doesn’t degrade.” Oh ya? Leave some plastic in the Texas sun for a couple of years and see how that works out. I have the feeling that it degrades in the ground too, but who can untangle the lies from the truth.
It's the plastic bags that are detrimental to the environment. Dog poop as it degrades will release methane, yes, but that's irrespective of the plastic bag. Who knows, maybe the WEF/WHO are going to start culling the dog population, like they want to do to cows!!!!
Dogs are closer to God than we are. They have the capacity to love others more than they love themselves, which is a trait usually not found in man. WEF/WHO can go to hell. They want my dogs? Come and take them. They better make sure their life insurance premiums are paid up.
I’ve actually thought about that.. I mean pets really are an extravagance.... but honestly, it’s all so stupid. They’re charging 10 cents for a plastic grocery bag here... in a grocery store that has plastic bags for your produce, bread, rolls, butcher and deli selections.. then hard plastic for cold cuts, cheese, snacks, frozen entrees, six pack holders, etc etc... grocery bags are a drop in the bucket and dog poop bags even smaller. It’s stoooopid.
They’re already seeding the idea of having pets is selfish in light of saving our planet from evil climate changes. I’ve seen a few articles over the past 2 or 3 years in the brainwashing media. Pretty sure they’ll start ramping that hysteria up soon.
I was shocked to learn that this happened during WW2 in England. So many pets were turned in to be euthanized, all for the war effort. Maybe they’ll use the war in Ukraine to make it a patriotic selling point again somehow.
"it’s poor countries that strip and slash/burn them....
Rich country don't do this."
Rich countries "do this," but only in parts of their country inhabited by poor people.🤢
That being said, when the environmental movement was captured by "sustainability grifters" their predatory intentions shifted to commodifying every aspect of the natural environment, as a way to revitalize a limited neoliberal economy.
These desperados will stop at nothing when they fantasize about the money hence power such a venture will yield.
Thus MSM and social media platforms are once again deployed to terrorize populations, not about the scamdemic or the Ukraine mess, but this time about climate change.😵💫
Are you getting tired of these pyschopathic shenanigans? Well start saying "no" and stop complying.🤨
“That being said, when the environmental movement was captured by "sustainability grifters" their predatory intentions shifted to commodifying every aspect of the natural environment, as a way to revitalize a limited neoliberal economy.”
You put this so brilliantly, especially in referring to them as “sustainability grifters.” That’s really the crux of what we’re witnessing.
I have worked as an environmental engineer/ consultant since 1987 and before that as a nuclear engineer for several years. I wish I could explain the magnitude and counterproductiveness of the absurdities enshrined in federal and state environmental regulations. Much of it is "how many angels can dance on the head of a pin" nonsense. Meanwhile, real solutions like monetary incentives for habitat preservation are ignored and the same government that tells you that miniscule concentrations of endocrine disruptors are one of the greatest environmental hazards we face is telling you to that it is A-OK to inject these same compounds into children's veins at concentrations thousands of times higher.
"Eat first, poetry later" is a timeless aphorism. I do think, however, that the wealthy too have their blind eye to their personal impacts on the environment, as seen on the tarmacs at the various "eco" summits around the world. Unless you feel the private jets' global hopping is less of an issue, more of a distraction, than we're led to believe.
Thank you. I am an environmentalist as well. One of my fields was environmental toxicology. I am actually embarrassed to say these days. I also like wacky colored hair but won’t do anymore (not that that really matters, it was a phase).
Also an environmental professional who has spent the recent decades watching in horror as the climate change zealots and “environmental justice” people co-opted the environmental movement. There is a Substack for environmental professionals (and other people into rational environmental protection too) that is excellent: https://envmental.substack.com
"putting a little more plant food into the atmosphere"
Yes, why exactly are we supposed to be worried about the substance that makes plants grow? And why is the solution not just to plant more plants rather than to reduce carbon dioxide? And more plants equals more food for humans, right? How is that a bad thing?
"you cannot fix the environment by keeping poor people poor and “green energy for the 3rd world” is just a nasty new way to say 'let them eat cake.' ”
Ha yes. It was hilarious, the attempt to introduce solar cookers to places like Pakistan. Instead of an hour to cook the pullao in the traditional way, it took six...
...and electricity outages--common in the worst of the hot season and the worst of the cold season (houses built to repel heat are horribly cold and damp in even moderately cold weather)--kill the poor in droves. You try being a peasant woman trying to keep herself awake all night to hand-fan away the mosquitoes and heat from her frail babies when the juice gets cut off.
"Progressives" are anti-human, the opposite of environmentalists. They gave Sri Lanka a high ESG score because it collapsed from nitrogen caps on farming. South Africa has rolling blackouts that are lauded for reducing carbon emissions. New Jersey is slaughtering whales off its coast for wind turbine farms.
Calculate your ESG score here: https://yuribezmenov.substack.com/p/how-to-raise-your-esg-score
Progressives also refuse to accept progress. The refusal to entertain the possibility that things have improved is literally built into their worldview, which is predicated on the notion that the present must always be compared to unrealized and often unattainable standards (“End racism!”) that are kept intentionally vague and rarely delineated so as to always have a reason to be dissatisfied with the status quo. It’s profoundly ironic that for all their talk about striving for progress, they’re incapable of acknowledging it because they see it as a threat to future progress.
https://euphoricrecall.substack.com/p/why-progressives-cant-accept-progress
They only love the progress of self-righteousness.
The real problem is Progressives will never be satisfied. Simply by definition they can’t or they would cease to have a reason to exist.
"South Africa has rolling blackouts that are lauded for reducing carbon emissions."
"We have to Blackout for Two Weeks to, you know, Flatten The Curve."
Fekin insane. But may be a good opportunity to write a novel by candlelight about the cult, and pray to God that common sense doesn't need too much carbon.
Being human thingumajig, common sense needs just right quantity of carbon, somewhere in the area of one fifth body mass 😉
And as with that mysterious ailment 19, Old Man Blackout he just keep rollin' along. Aint corruption a wonderful thing...
South Africa? Heck, we're having intentional power shutdowns in California, and if the governor continues to have his way, rolling blackouts and brownouts will become (again) the norm.
As The Cat says, if you're prosperous, you have to have power. This is a sign that CA is not prospering.
It is a sign of decline. Anyone with eyes open will see that.
In the same day, Gov Nuisance announced his plan to ban the sale of all but EVs in a dozen years, and his office sent an urgent alert telling CA residents NOT to run their AC in the middle of a heat wave because if everyone does it would cause massive power failures. EV charging is about 2 to 4 times the daily KW hours of AC. If Newsom has his way, clearly, we're in deep trouble and our power utilities will collapse.
Meanwhile on planet Unicorn, the solution is "simple": we need "renewables" and in a dozen years we'll go from 90% fossil fuels (much of it clean and abundant natural gas) to magical "renewables" and so the problem is solved. The only barrier to this solution is, well, math.
Run the numbers and it doesn't work. Look deeper and it gets worse.
A good friend of mine moved from Oklahoma to California decades ago, settled first in Hollywood. Which my friend described as like a bowl of granola: what ain't fruit or nuts are flakes. This now describes politics at the state level. Nothing against fruit or nuts, mind you, great additions to any meal or social gathering. Just not a good foundation for environmental or economic policy ;-)
"The only barrier to this solution is, well, math."
Yeah *sigh* That and understanding how Socialism works. Or, well, doesn't work.
“If socialists understood economics they wouldn't be socialists.”
- Friedrich Hayek
Wypipo don season dey carbon.
😂
Speaking of SA I saw this on CNN News (it was a pop up, as I, like most, would never actually read their misinformation / disinformation)... the word I am looking for here is delusional.
https://www.msn.com/en-ca/news/world/4-6-billion-plant-in-south-africa-will-make-the-fuel-of-the-future/ar-AA135xrS?ocid=msedgntp&cvid=d5a4cf5716c34391a7413c8fc36f8d4b&ei=15
Oh, boy...
Ugh!
they also agree that nuclear war for the neocons' world project is good, like a huge rolling black out and nuke winter will be good for the planet. more ice for polar bears.
progressives could see 80% less humans as okay!
progress.
I don't doubt it, but where did you see that about them agreeing that nuclear war is good?
"Environmentalists," like "leftists," is a term that no longer has a precise definition. Those who call themselves progressive, also say they align with environmentalism.
Usually the labels are the very thing they harm or impede. They will start referring to themselves as truth speakers.
Truth speakers, but not truth seekers.
Similar to being a "liberal"...which now means the oppositie: not to let live, but to control.
Exactly. Use the word for the opposite of what it means. Nuts.
Maybe they mean progressive like cancer.
For a thoroughgoing deconstruction of climate-change alarmism, you might like this post in The Menelaus Gambit: https://ernestdlieberman.substack.com/p/climate-change-alarmists-ignore-how
“Environmentalism” = Neo-paganism. Humans must be sacrificed to appease the gods of forest, river, sea, animals and elements and to atone for their sins against the gods. Everything must be protected except Humans.
If a bear shits in the woods, it's part of the balance of nature. If a human does so, it's polluting the ground water.
And dogs?
I question the Anti-Grocery Baggers? You make the point: Is your dog's poop better just left in the woods, on the hiking path? How about in your backyard? How about your neighbors front yard, right between his Mailbox and Creeping Bantis? It's going to decompose - right?
Is the poop better where it fell? In a plastic bag in the landfill? In a biodegradable bag in the landfill?
I think weighing of the net benefit of differing Dog Poop Disposal methodologies is difficult.
We need a taxpayer funded study to figure this out. 🤪
Aaaaarrrrgghh!
What do you have against "experts"? If we didn't continue to fund "studies" some of the laptop brigade might be under-employed. An as everyone knows, under-employment leads to the unthinkable - you know, like being forced to work for a living.
Tell them to ‘learn to plumb’. We need more plumbers.
"They expect results."
https://youtu.be/4394VCS7POE
My favorite is the hiking trail bag of dog poop, festering in its little baggie greenhouse on the side of trail while squirrels and coyote and deer cavort and shit all over the environs. The human never comes back and to pick those bags up -- they have signaled their virtue, throwing it away just seems like work.
Signalling is the most important part.
Congress can do a 17 year investigation to figure this out...just saying.
We use a Homer bucket (orange Home Depot bucket) to stash the dog poop we scoop up next to the little trash can porch. We call it The Poop Deck. True story.
So I think I could run this study. I have plenty of data.
But when we still lived with bears in the woods, our shit was cleaner.
The Covid injections seemed like a human sacrifice ritual. They were trying to groom us all.
"We'll give you back a few freedoms or basic needs if you allow yourself and others to be experimented on or to let us kill a random few of you."
"I got the shot and didn't die. Quit being selfish by whining about your injury or fear it will kill you. Who cares?"
A book that goes into ritual, which I really enjoyed was 911 as Mass Satanic Ritual by SK Bain. Creepy but definitely eye-opening.
No kidding. Many are volunteering to become their Wicker Man. Absolute insanity.
Not me or mine. They can get bent.
They hope it will be someone else. Ever read "The Lottery" by Shirley Jackson?
All communists think they are the ones with a dacha and the BMW not the body in the ditch.
Communist wannabes always think they'll be the one holding the whip.
And they desire that.
I suspect that for many would-be totalitarians, "holding the whip" is their ONLY goal - the driver of every thought, evrry word, every action.
And they wind up very disappointed. Not enough room at the top.
Yeah. And the real Communists need all of them, those that will be the first with their backs to the wall, to start Teh Revolution.
And much to their chagrin, they ultimately end up in chains just like everyone else.
What's "The Lottery" about? I'm guessing you don't want to win that kind of lottery...
Let's just say it's a bit of a hollow victory.
This is disturbing because you can easily imagine a group of people acting this way. A bunch of weirdos disliked it so much they barraged Shirley Jackson with hate mail.
Notice that the "winner" only speaks up at the end.
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1948/06/26/the-lottery
IIRC another bunch of weirdos wanted to know where the town was so they could go and watch next time.
Good grief!
People seem not to grasp that your turn comes next in systems of tyranny and oppression.
Bwahaha.
They could record it to post on TikTok.
I found a free pdf of The Lottery online. It’s a quick read. There are a few typos but they don’t hinder the readability.
I remember now why just hearing the name of this work brought up a feeling of unease in me.
https://sites.middlebury.edu/individualandthesociety/files/2019/09/jackson_lottery.pdf
There’s no free streaming of the following available as of this moment, but that can always change. I highly recommend the 1975 movie The Wicker Man. I saw it as a teen when it came out. Also full of dread and unease. Can still see parts of the movie in my minds eye. Insert shudder here.
Amazing how both of these speak to the current timeline. What was old is now new again.
Side note: Shirley Jackson also penned The Haunting of Hill House. The original b&w movie based on her book is called The Haunting (released in 1963) and it remains one of my very favorite scary movies of all time. Many scenes of that movie are etched in my mind.
Netflix’s adaptation, while greatly deviating from the original, was also well done, imho.
The Lottery was filmed back in the seventies, I think, as part of a marvellous series of films of short stories. I used to use them in the classroom. Fantastic collection. Kids loved The Lottery and it was a brilliant source for discussion and writing.
No kidding? I can see how that would work as a great exercise in the classroom. My mind was thinking of all sorts of questions as I read it yesterday.
Do you recall any of the other short stories that were part of this classroom material?
There used to be all kinds of interesting (and some very strange and weird) classroom short films. Rifftrax and MST3K showcase a lot of them on their programming. Of course they are looking at them to make humour out of it all, but there are many that are truly very interesting and wholesome.
Most of her short stories are upbeat and cheerful. She also wrote humorous essays about family life that are more like Erma Bombeck than Steven King.
I need to delve deeper into her works. Based on just my knowledge of those 2 stories I would never have guessed upbeat and cheerful from her.
Years ago in school, so I don’t recall any details. Sounds like something I need to revisit!
I found a free pdf of the story online. Posted a link in a new comment below.
Forget what a punch that short story packed.
I hear you Nana...the true definition of insanity indeed.
Neo-Molloch
Amen!
I Just lifted this comment from a SimComm commenter... “recent real headline by the New York Times, “Is it Safe to go outside? How to navigate this cruel summer.” Thought it was parody.”
It’s JULY people! Always the hottest month, didn’t we learn that in 7th Grade science? More people die from the cold than from the heat. I tortured myself last night and watched the NBC Nightly News... their weather map went from neon pink to orange to red to burgundy... with pulsating “ waves”... “ brutal temperatures ravaging the country”..... actually this summer average temps no higher than last year or the year before.... Rant over.
My sis lives in Vermont where they just has that big flood. “All I know is our climate is screwed. It’s REALLY hot down there isn’t it”. We live in North Carolina. The summers and winters have gotten progressively milder since we moved here in 2011. I’m sure at some point the pendulum will swing back the other way as it always does. Just don’t tell my award winning, science teacher sister.
Frightening.
It is, especially if she's a science teacher.
One who gets 100k grants every year. She proclaimed on Facebook that she was being sentenced to death when she had to return to classroom teaching. Almost a year after all of Europe was doing just that. Funny how the woketards idolize Europe. But not on Covid. They have no clue how many countries have banned the jabs for under 50 if not altogether.
Do you mind me asking how old your sister is? I’m just so dumbfounded by the number of paranoid germaphobes there are… so someone with a basic understanding of science usually has at least a modicum of common sense!
She was 49 at the time she proclaimed her inevitable death sentence. No comorbidities. Outdoors all the time so she should have good Vit D levels. But sweet uncle Fraudci said we were all gonna die!!!!!!!!!
Can't you just hear the conversations happening in the green room? "We have to come up with scarier descriptions, people! 'Extreme' isn't enough. 'Boiling' makes people think their tea is ready. Come on, think. I've got it. 'Deadly'! Every report on the weather needs to include the word 'deadly', preferably multiple times."
Seriously! If you wish to get a full grasp on the power of words, turn on Lester Holt, close your eyes and simply listen. It’s really appalling. I think they have a required number of adverbs and adjectives!
Well, to be fair, they whined and used extreme adjectives last year and the year before, too.
I quit paying any attention to the news about a decade ago when I heard an unmowed lawn described as a "travesty." 🙄
The term that got me was this past winter’s “bomb cyclone” (which we used to call a “ big blizzard”). It’s like they’re sitting in a back room somewhere with a bunch of blunts, trying to come up with the most terrifying, extremist vocabulary possible... “Naw, man, let’s use something more war-like, more apocalyptic”...
And Polar Vortex…..
"used extreme adjectives"
I find this humorous.
My husband read me that headline and I thought it was the Babylon Bee 🤣
Or The Onion
I checked the weather records for our area for the last 150 years. Interestingly, summers were hot, and winters were cold - every single year! Amazing.
I was born in Fort Worth, TX 71 years ago, the youngest of four. We lived in a very small three bedroom house… my parents would have a block of ice delivered, put it in a kitty pool and put a fan behind it. My siblings slept on cots in front of this set up.
Notice also that the last paragraph of every article on anything weather related is a template of talking points about climate change. I was trying to find information about the fires on Corfu, where the Durrells lived and the Durrell Society is located, plus the house they lived in. Incessant pulsing of magenta, really insulting to one's intelligence, plus the obligatory drinking game level of repetition. Now they are saying those fires are arson, so what is that about?
I loved that show, especially the earlier episodes. So that lovely old home burned down? That a shame, especially if it was a firebug.
Good grief, that really was pure torture. I could never do it.
Climate is indeed the new Covid: the same mix of lack of critical thinking, alarmism, hypocrisy, and authoritarian impulses.
I have no idea if there is weather manipulation going on. But after the GoF thing, I wouldn’t put it past “them” to do this to turbocharge “anthropogenic global warming “
"I have no idea if there is weather manipulation going on."
It's not the weather they're manipulating. I'm not sure that can even be done.
But it's the DATA that they're manipulating - the gathering, the throwing out of perceived outliers, the presentation, the way that they measure it now as compared to just a few years ago, and even altering old data to make the current temps seem warmer by comparison.
There is no global weather manipulation occurring, but there is most certainly data and media manipulation. It's the same nonsense that was exposed by COVID: denigration of anyone that doesn't accept the preferred narrative, corruption of science, and a corporate media that act as propagandists, not journalists.
Have a look at <geoengineeringwatch.org> Their film "The Darkening" has some interesting points.
Our friends in Calgary told us that there has been seeding of clouds for decades.
In the SF realm, Ben Bova's "The Weathermakers" was a good introduction.
Back in the sixties the USA and USSR conducted high altitude nuclear weapons tests. What could possibly have gone wrong? Who knows what effects these had on climate.
You WIN with this comment!! I hope El Gato sees it! The NYTIMES chose a picture of an elderly woman in Rome in her apartment where “ she has no air conditioning “...it’s effing Europe... no one has air conditioning! ...well, Klaus Schwab does....
Covid was the trial-run for upcoming climate lockdowns and restrictions.
Allow me to summarize the thrust of the green movement
Last year Biden went to Bali. And I guess a few other world leaders showed up too
They offered these leaders the use of electric carz, to show how green everyone is
The charging stations for the electric cars
Were not hooked up to the grid, couldn't handle it
The charging stations were planted right in front of shipping container sized diesel generators
But it's ok
Because the diesel generators had these nice banners covering them with proclamations about clean air or green energy or something
so we all get to feel good, and in the end isn't that all that really matters?
Nailed it. Results are racist. But strike a pose and vogue baby.
Results are the brain child of bigoted patriarchal imperialists, just like showing up on time and math
Indeed. I need some blackface so I can fail the teachers exam ten times and get a million dollar reward for being dimmer than a second grader.
As an electrical engineer, anyone who talks about lifting a country out of poverty with intermittent energy sources (wind and solar) and not utilizing baseload power (oil, gas, coal, hydro, and nuclear) should not be taken seriously. Industrial facilities need power 24/7 to keep operations moving and they cannot be turned off with the flick of a switch. Look at any industrial facility or hospital and you will find all critical systems backed by either a diesel or natural gas generator. No plant or hospital is erecting a solar farm or wind farm to provide critical power to loads that rely on it for human safety. Imagine if you had a family member in the hospital that will die if the next day is overcast and cloudy - that would be madness.
Thanks for all you do, Gato. The humor and cat memes help too.
Fortunately, hydro is renewable. And don't forget about geothermal as well.
My woketard mama refuses to look at anything that I send her Covid related. However, I did get her to bite on an article from the Guardian about how lockdowns would starve millions of 3rd world children to death. Her response “well that’s just the 3rd world”. The compassion is overwhelming. As long as she “feels safe” in rural New Hampshire, let them eat cake indeed. And the truckers and people like my family who support them “need to find somewhere else to live”. Because those expert mitigation efforts were such a smashing success. Sparring with these people makes my brain cry.
So true. Their compassion seems to end at the tip of their nose.
Your mother, your sister... how did you turn out so normal???😝
I always was the black sheep. The Scamdemic just gave me the opportunity to ramp it up a thousand notches. Everyone writes me off as a moron. Been happening my whole life. I know exactly who’s going to have the last laugh though. MSLSD and WaPo can destroy any brain…😜
Being a woman makes you more susceptible to fear based propaganda. Facts. They also love being little dictators based on because I said. Obviously on the bell curve...but much more susceptible mean.
True and why so many mothers were maniacal about getting their kids vaxxed.
The environmentalism of the 1970s is NOT the environmentalism of the 2020s.
Al Gore is to green energy as Bill Gates is to vaccines and public health. It's a great big money maker for the already wealthy. Full stop.
None of the "green solutions" they are trying to shove onto everyone will ever provide enough energy. Wind, solar, heat pumps- none of these will ever provide the needed energy at scale, they are supplemental only. The nuke plant nearest me was taken offline and decomissioned before the pandemic and I just recently heard of another one in Pensylvania going the same way.
Think of all you have heard and keep hearing about the sorry state of the electrical grid in the US. How old it is and how desperately needs to be upgraded, etc and etc. Now imagine what would happen if even just half the population were to come home every evening and plug in their electric car to charge. The whole concept is a joke. Even better, go look into what making batteries for electric cars does to the environment.
It's all just a big money making flim-flam for people who need more money like you need another hole in your head. It has absolutely NOTHING to do with the environment.
Environmentalism was always a cult. Their good intentions were turned in destructive directions. The solution to base load electricity is nuclear power, but instead of embracing it they conflated reactors with nuclear weapons and spread fear. They file lawsuit after lawsuit opposing construction of nuclear power plants, delaying construction for years and driving up the cost. The threat of lawsuits and exaggerated fears of accidents raises the price of insurance for the plants. Environmentalists then point to the expense of building a nuclear power plant as a reason to oppose nuclear power. Of course they also oppose recycling of used nuclear fuel which would reduce costs, improve efficiency and reduce the amount of waste. They also oppose nuclear waste storage facilities, forcing the plants to keep the used fuel on site, increasing risk and cost. And they demand the shutdown and dismantling of perfectly functional plants like the ones in Germany or the plant in Seabrook, NH that was completed but never started, wasting billions. It's criminally insane.
We can do it without nuclear plants. Too many very expensive problems with nukes. And too many very REAL and horrific problems if something goes wrong. Sorry, but it was 3 Mile Island that doomed nuclear power in the US at least. And then more recently there was Fukushima in Japan. No thanks, I'd rather use candles.
Edit- Then of course there's Chernobyl. LOL! They'll never sell nuke plants to anyone now.
The newer designs are much safer. TMI, Chernobyl and Fukushima were all old, 2nd-gen plants being operated years past their design life.
But nuclear is more expensive, and there will always be the waste issue, though it too can be managed. France generates something like 80% of its electricity with nukes, and nobody considers France a 3d-world country. Fortunately for the Germans, France is still able to export a significant amount of surplus electricity, much of it to Germany.
How timely is this Substack - 2 minutes ago I was searching for biodegradable dog poop bags. Sounds silly, I know, but someone brought it to my attention (because it had never crossed my mind) that picking up dog poop and placing it in plastic bags is detrimental to the environment. It's funny how we don't think of these small things - or at least I didn't, and I consider myself an environmentalist. I am trying to become more aware.
“Plastic doesn’t degrade.” Oh ya? Leave some plastic in the Texas sun for a couple of years and see how that works out. I have the feeling that it degrades in the ground too, but who can untangle the lies from the truth.
"detrimental to the environment"
I think 'detrimental' is a bit strong.
So, if you put the poop in a biodegradable bag, THEN throw it in the landfill, the methane in the bag is released in the landfill.
Is this good for the environment? I'm not really sure.
It's the plastic bags that are detrimental to the environment. Dog poop as it degrades will release methane, yes, but that's irrespective of the plastic bag. Who knows, maybe the WEF/WHO are going to start culling the dog population, like they want to do to cows!!!!
They will 100% say in the future that owning pets is "selfish" for the environment. They're already saying the same thing about children.
Dogs are closer to God than we are. They have the capacity to love others more than they love themselves, which is a trait usually not found in man. WEF/WHO can go to hell. They want my dogs? Come and take them. They better make sure their life insurance premiums are paid up.
I’ve actually thought about that.. I mean pets really are an extravagance.... but honestly, it’s all so stupid. They’re charging 10 cents for a plastic grocery bag here... in a grocery store that has plastic bags for your produce, bread, rolls, butcher and deli selections.. then hard plastic for cold cuts, cheese, snacks, frozen entrees, six pack holders, etc etc... grocery bags are a drop in the bucket and dog poop bags even smaller. It’s stoooopid.
Juice bottles, soda bottles, berry containers, etc etc etc
During COVID, I did hear that China was culling dogs. Cos, Covid and all.
"It's the plastic bags that are detrimental to the environment."
I didn't say it was the bag or the poop. I'm questioning whether the Degree of Bad Stuff, by either mechanism, is significant, even in the cumulative.
They’re already seeding the idea of having pets is selfish in light of saving our planet from evil climate changes. I’ve seen a few articles over the past 2 or 3 years in the brainwashing media. Pretty sure they’ll start ramping that hysteria up soon.
I was shocked to learn that this happened during WW2 in England. So many pets were turned in to be euthanized, all for the war effort. Maybe they’ll use the war in Ukraine to make it a patriotic selling point again somehow.
"it’s poor countries that strip and slash/burn them....
Rich country don't do this."
Rich countries "do this," but only in parts of their country inhabited by poor people.🤢
That being said, when the environmental movement was captured by "sustainability grifters" their predatory intentions shifted to commodifying every aspect of the natural environment, as a way to revitalize a limited neoliberal economy.
These desperados will stop at nothing when they fantasize about the money hence power such a venture will yield.
Thus MSM and social media platforms are once again deployed to terrorize populations, not about the scamdemic or the Ukraine mess, but this time about climate change.😵💫
Are you getting tired of these pyschopathic shenanigans? Well start saying "no" and stop complying.🤨
“That being said, when the environmental movement was captured by "sustainability grifters" their predatory intentions shifted to commodifying every aspect of the natural environment, as a way to revitalize a limited neoliberal economy.”
You put this so brilliantly, especially in referring to them as “sustainability grifters.” That’s really the crux of what we’re witnessing.
I have worked as an environmental engineer/ consultant since 1987 and before that as a nuclear engineer for several years. I wish I could explain the magnitude and counterproductiveness of the absurdities enshrined in federal and state environmental regulations. Much of it is "how many angels can dance on the head of a pin" nonsense. Meanwhile, real solutions like monetary incentives for habitat preservation are ignored and the same government that tells you that miniscule concentrations of endocrine disruptors are one of the greatest environmental hazards we face is telling you to that it is A-OK to inject these same compounds into children's veins at concentrations thousands of times higher.
Purrfect! Surely one of the most important pieces you’ve posted.
"Eat first, poetry later" is a timeless aphorism. I do think, however, that the wealthy too have their blind eye to their personal impacts on the environment, as seen on the tarmacs at the various "eco" summits around the world. Unless you feel the private jets' global hopping is less of an issue, more of a distraction, than we're led to believe.
Thank you. I am an environmentalist as well. One of my fields was environmental toxicology. I am actually embarrassed to say these days. I also like wacky colored hair but won’t do anymore (not that that really matters, it was a phase).
Also an environmental professional who has spent the recent decades watching in horror as the climate change zealots and “environmental justice” people co-opted the environmental movement. There is a Substack for environmental professionals (and other people into rational environmental protection too) that is excellent: https://envmental.substack.com
"putting a little more plant food into the atmosphere"
Yes, why exactly are we supposed to be worried about the substance that makes plants grow? And why is the solution not just to plant more plants rather than to reduce carbon dioxide? And more plants equals more food for humans, right? How is that a bad thing?
Actually, the solution is to cut down acres of trees to make room for solar panels.
"you cannot fix the environment by keeping poor people poor and “green energy for the 3rd world” is just a nasty new way to say 'let them eat cake.' ”
Ha yes. It was hilarious, the attempt to introduce solar cookers to places like Pakistan. Instead of an hour to cook the pullao in the traditional way, it took six...
...and electricity outages--common in the worst of the hot season and the worst of the cold season (houses built to repel heat are horribly cold and damp in even moderately cold weather)--kill the poor in droves. You try being a peasant woman trying to keep herself awake all night to hand-fan away the mosquitoes and heat from her frail babies when the juice gets cut off.