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The “Citizenship” art project has become mired on the Weser River in Germany.

Of all potential casualties of climate change, I don’t believe anyone thought art would be one of them.  While much of the Northern Hemisphere struggles through one of the hottest summers on record, Europe seems especially hard hit.  Hundreds have died and thousands have become sick, as major cities mark record high temperatures where centralized air conditioning isn’t common in most homes.  That’s on top of raging wildfires and severe droughts.

Amidst the chaos, a floating project headed down the Weser River towards Documenta – an art festival held every five years in Kassel, Germany – had to stop because the water level is too low.  The project, called “Citizenship”, is a barge created from the upside-down former roof of the Zentrum für Kunst und Urbanistik, the headquarters of the Berlin-based art collective KUNSTrePUBLIK. It was supposed to travel from Berlin to Kassel over the course of 60 days, during which the boat would make scheduled stops to host events such as concerts, workshops, and “cooking evenings.”  The boat is powered without fossil fuels and instead moves using sustainable propulsion, a pedal, and rowing systems, as well as “external traction from rowing clubs and swimming teams.”

Meanwhile in England, both the Victoria and Albert Museum and the British Museum closed some exhibitions (or at least limited hours) citing “hazardous working conditions due to the unprecedented heat”.  Officials moved some “temperature-sensitive” items from galleries to “cool storage until the extreme conditions dissipate”.

In Belgium, federal museums have been made free to people 65 years of age and older during the heatwave.  Secretary of State for Scientific Policy Thomas Dermine noted, “Their spaces, which are effectively public spaces, must be made fully available to vulnerable people in the event of extreme weather events.”

The heat is set to intensify in Scandinavia and Eastern Europe, before relenting next week.

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Worst Quotes of the Week – July 23, 2022

“The way the Constitution set up for you to advance that position is to convince your fellow citizens, and if you succeeded in convincing your fellow citizens, then your state would change the laws to reflect those views.  In Obergefell, the court said, ‘No, we know better than you guys do, and now every state must, must sanction and permit gay marriage.’  I think that decision was clearly wrong when it was decided.  It was the court overreaching.”

Sen. Ted Cruz, on the 2015 Obergefell vs. Hodges Supreme Court decision that legalized same-sex marriage

He added, “Obergefell, like Roe v. Wade, ignored two centuries of our nation’s history.  Marriage was always an issue that was left to the states.  We saw states before Obergefell, some states were moving to allow gay marriage; other states were moving to allow civil partnerships.  There were different standards that the states were adopting.”

“Without carbon dioxide, we die.  Carbon dioxide is not a pollutant.  The federal government doesn’t even have regulatory authority to regulate it.  It’s not a pollutant.  What is it? It is oxygen for plants.  In essence, plants use carbon dioxide to create oxygen for you and me.  Remember, we used to like the Amazon; we used to like trees; we used to like all those things.  Well, they suck up our carbon dioxide and push out oxygen.”

Mark Levin, offering his view of the environment, while criticizing President Joe Biden’s energy policies

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Next!

“First they came for the Communists
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a Communist

Then they came for the Socialists
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a Socialist

Then they came for the trade unionists
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a trade unionist

Then they came for the Jews
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a Jew

Then they came for me
And there was no one left
To speak out for me.”

Martin Niemöller

We’re still in shock here in the U.S.  In just a matter of weeks, the conservative majority on the U.S. Supreme Court undid decade’s worth of progressive social reforms.  The reversal of Roe vs. Wade last month garnered the most attention, but they didn’t stop with that.

In Vega vs. Tekoh, the High Court ruled that a violation of Miranda rights doesn’t provide a basis for civil damages.  The original Miranda vs. Arizona decision ensured people accused of criminal behavior have the right to legal counsel and to remain silent in the face of police interrogation.  Miranda was decided in line with the U.S. Constitution’s Fifth Amendment, which had already established certain guidelines for addressing criminal procedures.  The Vega ruling now ensures that law enforcement can act with impunity.  I suspect it’s a response to the vitriolic reactions to high-profile police killings over the past…well, several decades; the ‘Black Lives Matter’ protests and all that.  In Vega, the SCOTUS majority noted that, if the original Miranda court intended to create a constitutional right versus a prophylactic rule, it would have definitively declared that immediately upon deciding Miranda.  The 1966 Court knew how to use its words, the current Court essentially declared, and those words used were not “constitutional right.”  See how verbiage can be twisted so easily by academics?

In West Virginia vs. the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the Court undercut the latter’s efforts to regulate greenhouse gases.  SCOTUS agreed with Republican-led states and energy companies that the 1970 Clean Air Act gave the EPA too much power over carbon emissions.  The decision was also a strike back against the 2015 Clean Power Plan – an Obama-era policy that targeted adverse climate change.  To environmentalists, it wasn’t surprising that energy conglomerates were adamant in reversing the CPP, as well as the CAA.  But the West Virginia ruling falls in line with the belief of conservatives that climate change is a hoax.  That’s why energy companies overwhelmingly support Republican candidates.  I have to note West Virginia is a top coal producer.  It also ranks as one of the poorest states in the union.

In his statement regarding the Dobbs ruling, Justice Clarence Thomas suggested the Court should revisit other high-profile rulings, including Griswold vs. Connecticut, which declared the legal usage of contraceptives; Lawrence vs. Texas, which struck down anti-sodomy laws; and Obergefell vs. Hodges, which legalized same-sex marriage.  Curiously, he didn’t call for a review of Brown vs. Topeka Board of Education, which declared that racial segregation in schools was unconstitutional or Loving vs. Virginia, which legalized interracial marriage.  I guess this is because overturning these decisions would impact Thomas, a Negro married to a White chick.  It’s amazing how some people have no problems enacting laws that wouldn’t affect them personally.

In the 1983 film “The Star Chamber”, Michael Douglas portrays a relatively young judge who becomes engaged with a group of other jurists who find the legal system has gone awry in favor of criminals and decide to enact vigilante justice to right those perceived wrongs.  They hire assassins to kill certain criminals who have escaped incarceration.  The movie is replete with scenes where highly articulate lawyers help defendants get out of trouble.  In one early scene, Hal Holbrook’s character tells Douglas, “Someone has hidden justice inside the law.”  It’s an attempt to justify the group’s brutal actions.

That’s how I often view the legal system.  Charismatic lawyers prancing around even the most heinous of crimes with carefully-crafted verbiage; a kind of Tolkien-style language only they understand, but something the rest of us have to deal with toiling away in the trenches of reality.  I certainly don’t recommend assassination as a viable resolution to our nation’s political ills.  That’s where the treasured right of voting comes into play.  People need to take their voting rights seriously and understand the significance of not voting.  We’ve seen the fruits of voter apathy in my home state of Texas.  In recent years, the right to vote has come under fire from conservatives.  As with many other rights, this isn’t a surprise.  Conservatives have always tried to suppress voting.  You know…the way totalitarian regimes like Russia have.  I’ve noted more than once that the (fair and legitimate) elections of Barack Obama prompted (mostly White) conservatives to launch their assault on the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.  During their convention last month, the Texas Republican Party called for repeal of the 1965 Voting Rights Act, which guarantees the right to vote regardless of race.  They did this because…well, because that’s what conservatives do – at least here in the U.S.  They were quick to abolish fascism in Europe during World War II, but weren’t so eager to do the same at home.

With this in mind, I wonder if many conservative queers who voted for the likes of George W. Bush and Ted Cruz are satisfied with their decisions.  Along with many mainstream right-wingers, some are ecstatic that Roe was overturned.  But now, I hate to see their reactions at the thought of reversing Lawrence or Obergefell.  But the neo-Nazi clowns who have targeted the so-called “liberal agenda” for years are coming for their faggot asses next!  I just hope they’ll be happy sitting in their designer closets polishing their Ronald Reagan Glee Club pins.

If anyone in the U.S. believes democracy is functioning just perfectly and nothing is wrong, they need to consider this: five of the current justices on the Supreme Court were chosen by presidents who did NOT win the popular vote.  George W. Bush didn’t really win the 2000 presidential election and he barely won the 2004 election; yet he was able to appoint two justices – Samuel Alito and John Roberts.  Donald Trump certainly didn’t win the 2016 presidential election (perhaps the most corrupt in U.S. history), but he was able to appoint three justices to the Court: Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney-Barrett.  Gorsuch’s selection came because Republicans refused to grant President Obama’s nominee, Merrick Garland, the decency of a hearing upon the death of Antonin Scalia in 2016; claiming it was an election year and the next president should choose the nominee.  However, Barrett’s nomination came after the death of Ruth Bader Ginsberg in 2020.  The same band of Republicans who denied Garland a hearing rammed through Barrett’s confirmation without hesitation.

I don’t know if most Americans fully comprehend the significance of the Dobbs decision that overturned Roe.  It could lead to much worse.  But this is what happens when people don’t bother to vote in even the most mundane of elections.  Liberals seem especially reticent to take local races seriously.  I can only recommend everyone concerned about our democracy to make that concerted effort to vote.  I understand how many people feel their votes don’t count, particularly after the 2000 and 2016 presidential elections and all the corruption involved in both.

Yet, democracy is not a natural form of governing.  Humanity is more likely to construct an oligarchy-style system.  In worse case settings, totalitarianism can take root, as it almost did with Donald Trump in the White House.  People need to be wary of the current U.S. Supreme Court and its fascist leanings, disguised as social conservatism.  (Then again, fascism and conservatism are pretty much the same ideology.)

It’s starting with the Roe reversal.  Unless we place more moderates into public office, it will only get worse.

Bottom image: Michael de Adder

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Best Quotes of the Week – February 12, 2022

“The extremists have gone off the rails and chosen to endorse violence as ‘legitimate political discourse.’”

U.S. Rep Colin Allred, on a Republican Party resolution that downplays the January 6, 2021 attack on Capitol Hill as “legitimate political discourse”

“Throwing plastic into the sea is criminal. It kills biodiversity; it kills the Earth; it kills everything.”

Pope Francis, during an interview on Italy’s RAI

He added: “Looking after creation is an education (process) in which we must engage.”  He also cited a song by Brazilian singer Roberto Carlos in which a boy asks his father why “the river no longer sings” and the father responds that “we finished it off”.

Francis also reiterated some key themes of his papacy, condemning excessive spending on armaments, defending the rights of migrants, and condemning ideological rigidity by conservatives in the Church.

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Stupidest Quote of the Week – June 12, 2021

“I was informed by the past director of NASA that they have found that the moon’s orbit is changing slightly and so has the Earth’s orbit around the sun.  Is there anything that the national Forest Service or [Bureau of Land Management] can do to change the course of the moon’s orbit or the Earth’s orbit around the sun?  Obviously, that would have profound effects on our climate.”

Rep. Louie Gohmert, to Jennifer Eberlien, associate deputy chief of the U.S. Forest Service, during a congressional hearing on climate change

Eberlien responded, “I would have to follow up with you on that one, Mr. Gohmert.”

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Political Cartoon of the Week – June 5, 2021

Khalil Bendib

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Funniest Quote of the Week – April 24, 2021

“It’s vital for all of us to show that this is not all about some expensive politically correct, green act of bunny-hugging, or however you want to put it… This is about growth and jobs, and I think the [US] president was absolutely right to stress that.”

Prime Minister Boris Johnson, during a virtual world summit on climate change

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Best Quotes of the Week – February 20, 2021

“This is what you get when people who don’t believe in government are running your government. . . . They’d like to spend more time on Hannity talking about the Green New Deal and wind turbines than they would in trying to help those who desperately need it right now.”

Beto O’Rourke, on this week’s ice storms in Texas

“Just put it in people’s arms.  We don’t want any doses to go to waste. Period.”

Dr. Hasan Gokal, a Houston doctor with the Harris County Public Health Department who was charged with stealing ten doses of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine for rushing to administer them before expiration

“It’s essentially a question of how much insurance you want to buy.  What makes this problem even harder is that we’re now in a world where, especially with climate change, the past is no longer a good guide to the future.  We have to get much better at preparing for the unexpected.”

Jesse Jenkins, an energy systems engineer at Princeton University, on the Texas ice storm crisis

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Best Quotes of the Week – January 30, 2021

“We see with our own eyes. We know it in our bones. It is time to act.”

President Joe Biden, upon signing executive orders to make the U.S. energy-independent and stop the use of fossil fuels to combat climate change

“I am happy to work with Republicans on this issue where there’s common ground, but you almost had me murdered 3 weeks ago, so you can sit this one out.  Happy to work with almost any other GOP that aren’t trying to get me killed.  In the meantime if you want to help, you can resign.”

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, criticizing Sen. Ted Cruz over the January 6 Capitol Hill riots

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Photos of the Week – September 12, 2020

“The debate is over, around climate change.  This is a climate damn emergency. This is real and it’s happening.”

California Governor Gavin Newsom

Annual wildfires in California and much of the western United States have become even more fierce in recent years.  Whether or not you believe in climate change, it’s obvious something dramatic is happening to the region’s normal weather patterns.  The recent spate of fires have produced dramatically colorful skies of red and orange; something that would be the envy of any artist or photographer.  Then, when you realize what caused those array of colors, the horror of it all becomes more real.

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