The Weird Times
Inner Monologues and Desultory Reporting from Outer Spaces
The Weird Times: Issue 72, September 26, 2021 (V2 #20)
It doesn’t matter how you vote. What’s important is who counts.—Joseph Stalin
“Is there no virtue among us? If there be not, we are in a wretched situation.”— James Madison
Democracy will not come
Today, this year
Nor ever
Through compromise and fear. —from “Democracy,” by Langston Hughes
Red Alert: Democracy in crisis
“The fever has not broken,” said Benjamin Ginsberg, an elections lawyer who has represented past Republican presidential nominees. “If anything, it’s spreading. People I knew as rational and principled feel they have to say our elections are not reliable because polls show that is the ante for contested Republican primaries and motivating the base in general elections. California recall results aside, it comes at the expense of the principle that our leaders should not make allegations that corrode American democracy without any credible evidence.” (Politico)
“The profound disagreement between the Republicans and the Democrats over the role of government has led to a profound crisis in our democracy. Democrats’ argument that the government should work for ordinary Americans is popular, so popular that Republicans have apparently given up convincing voters their way is better. Through voter suppression, gerrymandering, the filibuster, and the Electoral College, and now with new election laws in 18 states, they have guaranteed that they will retain control no matter what voters actually want. Their determination to keep Democrats from power has made them abandon democracy.”—Heather Cox Richardson, Letters from an American, 9/25/21
Opinion: Our constitutional crisis is already here, Robert Kagan, Washington Post, 9/23/21
“The United States is heading into its greatest political and constitutional crisis since the Civil War, with a reasonable chance over the next three to four years of incidents of mass violence, a breakdown of federal authority, and the division of the country into warring red and blue enclaves. The warning signs may be obscured by the distractions of politics, the pandemic, the economy and global crises, and by wishful thinking and denial. But about these things there should be no doubt:
First, Donald Trump will be the Republican candidate for president in 2024. The hope and expectation that he would fade in visibility and influence have been delusional. He enjoys mammoth leads in the polls; he is building a massive campaign war chest; and at this moment the Democratic ticket looks vulnerable. Barring health problems, he is running.
Second, Trump and his Republican allies are actively preparing to ensure his victory by whatever means necessary. Trump’s charges of fraud in the 2020 election are now primarily aimed at establishing the predicate to challenge future election results that do not go his way. Some Republican candidates have already begun preparing to declare fraud in 2022, just as Larry Elder tried meekly to do in the California recall contest.”
The Deepening Menace Of Trump: The more we learn, the worse it gets. The emergency is far from over, Andrew Sullivan, The Weekly Dish, 9/24/21
“One precedent has already been set: the use of violence to prevent a transfer of power. The lesson being learned in the GOP is not that this was an eternally shameful endeavor; but that it was tragically insufficient. Next time, they’ll do it right.”
A Dangerous Time in Our Country’s History, Marc Elias, Democracy Docket, 9/24/21
“As James Madison said, “If men were angels, no government would be necessary. If angels were to govern men, neither external nor internal controls on government would be necessary.” Unfortunately, there are no angels among Republican Party leadership. Until we see a recommitment by the Grand Old Party to the ideals of liberal democracy, these controls are more critical than ever.”
I met a man
I met a man whose tragedy
was greater than anything
I could imagine
he lives with trauma so deep
it sings through his pores
now he abides
through trauma into the present
through trauma into forever
We talked about the mysteries of life
how the not knowing allows us
to create ourselves anew
to find in mystery some shred of meaning
some hope for a becoming
not to be undone and not
to understand ever
the how or the why
but understand that we
are one with it all
the mystery and the pain
—David Wilk
We can do better
Young global climate strikers vow change is coming – from the streets: Mass youth protests to hit more than 1,400 locations weeks before Cop26 climate summit, Damian Carrington, The Guardian, 9/24/21
“The global north should be developing climate policies that have at their core climate justice and accountability to the most affected people and areas,” said Valentina Ruas, from Brazil. “Instead, they continue to exploit vulnerable communities and recklessly extract fossil fuel, while bragging about their insignificant emission reduction plans.”.
Tom DeLonge Was Never Crazy: The divisive front man on why Angels & Airwaves is still the future, dicking around with Blink-182, and vindication, Brady Gerber, Vulture, 9/24/21
“I kind of have a general feeling that people just don’t understand me, period. They thought I was crazy when I left Blink. They thought I was crazy when I said I was working with people in the government. Then the people in the government came forward;In 2019, the U.S. Navy confirmed that a series of mysterious and widely shared videos supposedly showing UAPs were real. Those videos were originally published by DeLonge’s company, To the Stars, with the New York Times. This past summer, the Pentagon released its highly anticipated report regarding UAPs to Congress. they thought we were all crazy until we got the government to admit that UFOs are real. Now people are like, “Fuck. Maybe he’s not so crazy.” I’m just used to people thinking that I am because I’m always thinking much further down the line. It takes people a little bit of time to catch up. All I hope is that people start to go, “I really like what this guy does. He’s doing it authentically. He’s always pushing me to open my mind even more, but at a bare minimum, it’s all fucking cool.””
Jonathan Franzen: ‘I just write it like I see it and that gets me in trouble’ Lisa Allardice, The Guardian, 9/25/21
“It was finally time to give up any ambition whatsoever to satirically comment on the present age.” So he took refuge in the past. “Going to my office seven days a week and spending six hours in an era that wasn’t this one made it a lot easier to survive the last two years of Trump.”
How a team of musicologists and computer scientists completed Beethoven’s unfinished 10th Symphony, Ahmed Elgammal, The Conversation, 9/24/21
“At one point, one of the music experts on the team said that the AI reminded him of an eager music student who practices every day, learns, and becomes better and better.
Now that student, having taken the baton from Beethoven, is ready to present the 10th Symphony to the world.” Listen here.
Why Blues Singer Bessie Smith’s Bewitching Narratives Remain Eerily Relevant, Jackie Kay, Lithub, 9/23/21
“There are some people whose voices ring out across the centuries, who, even after they have gone, possess a strange ability to still be effortlessly here. Bessie’s voice has that quality. Unsettled most of her life, she still unsettles. Try to imagine asking her about anything that is going on today, from the floods, to the climate crisis, to the coronavirus, to the Black Lives Matter movement, to the Me Too movement, to the refugee crisis, and you would find an answer in her rich and resonant blues narratives.”
St. Louis Blues, Bessie Smith
“I got them Saint Louis Blues; just as blue as I can be
He's got a heart like a rock cast in the sea
Or else he wouldn't have gone so far from me” —lyrics by W.C. Handy
A River Reawakened: Ten Years of Rewilding the Elwha Watershed, Jessica Plumb, Orion Magazine
“The single biggest question surrounding Elwha Dam removal was: Would the fish return, after a hundred-year absence? Fish numbers have increased steadily since the dams came down, and by 2019 Elwha Chinook numbered well over 7,000 adults.”
Climate optimism of the will: Don't mope. Fight and win, Noah Smith, Noahpinion, 9/24/21
“So yeah, I’m not going to tell young climate activists that things are going well. The planet is in a very tough spot. But what I am going to tell young climate activists is that despite their pessimism of the intellect, they should embrace optimism of the will. Not only does despair ultimately not help anything, but it’s increasingly unwarranted — yes, things are tough right now, but recent developments mean that the climate has more of a fighting chance than it has in recent memory. And the reason is that unlike the discouraged climate activists, can-do types in science, business and government have been rolling up their sleeves and fighting the good fight.”
How an Ancient Irrigation Method Makes Sustainable Life Possible in the Southwest, Time-proven acequia irrigation systems already in use in New Mexico make it possible for people to thrive in arid regions, Erika Schelby, Independent Media Institute, 9/21/21
Jane Goodall launches effort in support of planting 1 trillion trees by 2030, MongaBay, 9/23/21
#SeeYouInCourt: Climate litigation heats up: With politicians failing to take climate action, activists from Asia to South America to Europe are taking governments and polluters to court in a last-ditch bid to reduce emissions — and global heating, Stuart Braun, DW.com, 9/23/21
New Report Shows How Indigenous Nations Respond To Climate Change, Melissa Sevigny, KNAU.org, 9/23/21
“Indigenous nations are at the frontlines of climate change, but they’re also leaders in how to adapt to changing weather conditions and transition to renewable energy. That’s the conclusion of a new report published by the Institute of Tribal Environmental Professionals at Northern Arizona University.”
THE EAST BAY IS TRADITIONAL LISJAN OHLONE LAND.
Sogorea Te’ Land Trust cultivates rematriation.
Sogorea Te’ calls on us all to heal and transform the legacies of colonization, genocide, and patriarchy and to do the work our ancestors and future generations are calling us to do. Shuumi Means Gift in Chochenyo. The Shuumi Land Tax is an invitation to support the vital work of the Sogorea Te’ Land Trust, a small step towards acknowledging the history of genocide on this land and contributing to its healing.
(Ed Note: this is a model any city or town could follow. Very cool.)
New fund aims to bring more people into the climate conversation: The Ohio Climate Justice Fund wants to ensure that the voices of Black, Indigenous, and people of color are heard, YCC Team, Yale Climate Connections, 9/24/21
Minneapolis project demonstrates a way to make solar arrays affordable: The program is installing solar on 24 properties in North Minneapolis, a primarily low-income, Black community, YCC Team, Yale Climate Connections, 9/23/21
California’s Water Crisis is Real. What Are the Solutions? The potential remedies for the state’s drought-related problems are diverse, complicated and divisive, Steve Appleford, Capital and Main, 9/20/21
“The potential remedies for the state’s many drought-related problems come from all directions and are far more complicated than simply throwing money at major capital investment. As beneficial as new water infrastructure would be (while also creating thousands of new jobs), water experts say it must be part of a larger effort that includes better management of existing water supply, with rainwater harvesting, recycled water and changes to outdoor landscaping and farming.”
Clean Energy: A spiritual call to action: It is time to embrace climate change as a moral and spiritual challenge of unparalleled import, Rev. Dr. Wayne M. Weathers, Pennsylvania Capital-Star, 9/20/21
“The longer we wait to face this great invisible sin of our time, the more irreparable damage will be done.”
The lessons for British Columbia in Alaska’s epic Bristol Bay sockeye run: The world’s most abundant sockeye fishery is teeming with 10 million more fish than anticipated this year. Experts on both sides of the U.S.-Canada border are wondering if the six uninterrupted river basins of the Bristol Bay watershed — free of fish farms and hatcheries but currently threatened by the proposed Pebble mine — might hold key insights for salmon populations dwindling all across the province of B.C., Sarah Cox, The Narwhal, 9/18/21
Here’s a Sneak Peek at the Far-Out Future of Space Travel: As NASA develops plans for exploring the moon and Mars, the agency is seeking cutting-edge research that could turn science fiction into reality, Ramin Skibba, Wired, 9/22/21
“All of the concepts that are awarded are pushing the edge of our understanding, and they really allow us to take science fiction and make it science fact.”
The fall of Facebook, Mark Hurst, Creative Good, 9/23/21
“September 2021, then, brings the fall of Facebook: both the inauguration of a new fall season of profits and growth for the monstrous agglomeration, and the revelation of an accelerating, terrifying descent by Facebook’s leaders into what can only be called madness.”
Eat the rich! Why millennials and generation Z have turned their backs on capitalism, Owen Jones, The Guardian, 9/20/21
“There is no rational reason, of course, for the young to defend this economic system.”
Can the economy afford NOT to fight climate change? Some say the economic costs of fighting climate change are too high, but a new study shows the economic cost of doing nothing could be 15 times higher than current estimates, Dana Nuccitelli, Yale Climate Connections, 9/19/21
Birds and Bees will save us
Flowers can feel when bees are near and emit more scent, scientists find: The effect of a tiny electrical charge emitted by bees on petals was previously unknown, Joe Pinkstone, The Telegraph, 9/23/21
“Bees release a tiny electrical charge when they come into contact with petals and experts think that this allows them to carry more pollen, making them more effective as a pollinator.
However, it was not previously known what impact the tiny sparks had on the plants.”
Colombia’s new strategy elevates conservation beyond its borders: The new National Strategy for the Conservation of Birds, ENCA 2021/2030, addresses the critical needs of birds over the next decade and puts Colombia one step ahead in the conservation of its unique natural heritage, Comite Directivo ENCA 2030, Audubon, 9/23/21
A Little Bird With a Big Story to Tell, Mark Flaherty, CapeandIslands.org, 9/22/21
“…yesterday a young birder named Alex Burdo made a rare discovery, right in his own yard, of one of the handful of species in the world that can claim the title of “longest migration”, in this case of any songbird. The non-descript little bird with these bragging rights is the Northern Wheatear, and boy do they have a migration story to tell….When you factor in body size, the wheatear flies further, further even than even the famously peripatetic Arctic Tern and its 25,000-mile annual round trip.”
Cathedral bells ring out as New Zealand welcomes godwits after longest migration: City of Nelson welcomes arrival of migratory bird after 10,000km of non-stop flight from the Arctic, Eva Corlett, The Guardian, 9/22/21
“Eastern bar-tail godwits, or kuaka in Māori, landed on Motueka sandspit at the top of the South Island on Tuesday, where they rested following the 10,000km (6,200 miles) non-stop flight from the Arctic, RNZ reported.”
New Tool Maps Birds, Fish In Offshore Wind Areas, Colin A. Young, WBUR, 9/23/21
“While federal and state officials eagerly pursue a rapid and significant deployment of offshore wind turbines to generate cleaner power along the East Coast, scientists and advocates on Wednesday unveiled a new mapping tool designed to give developers, regulators and the public a better sense of the natural resources below the surface in the neighborhood of proposed wind projects.”
Many birds flocked to cities during COVID-19 lockdowns: Some species quickly responded to lower levels of human activity, but whether their return to urban areas is good for them—or not—remains unclear, Elizabeth Anne Browne, National Geographic, 9/22/21
Desert teamwork explains global pattern of co-operation in birds, University of Exeter, Science Daily, 9/22/21
“The new study, by a research team at the University of Exeter, shows that families with more helpers successfully raise more chicks in dry conditions.”
Wondrous Miscellania
Oldest human footprints in North America found in New Mexico, Christina Larson, AP News, 9/25/21
“Fossilized footprints discovered in New Mexico indicate that early humans were walking across North America around 23,000 years ago, researchers reported Thursday.”
The new population bomb: For the first time, humanity is on the verge of long-term decline, Kazuo Yanase, Yohei Matsuo, Eugene Lang, Eri Sugiura, Nikkei Asia, 9/23/21
(Ed. Note: as predicted by Jonas Salk and Jonathan Salk in 1979 in A New Reality: Human Evolution for a Sustainable Future).
A new way to solve the ‘hardest of the hard’ computer problems: Scientists develop the next generation of reservoir computing, A relatively new type of computing that mimics the way the human brain works was already transforming how scientists could tackle some of the most difficult information processing problems, Ohio State University, Science Daily, 9/21/21
Your Lawn is an ‘Ecological Deadzone.’ The Case for Replacing it with Native Plants, Kara Holsopple, Allegheny Front, 9/17/21
“We humans are part of nature. We depend on the life support systems that nature delivers us every day, but the way we landscape excludes nature and pretends that we are separate from nature. Lawn doesn’t do any of the things that we need every landscape to do, and there are four of them I always talk about: sequester carbon, manage the watershed, support a food web and support pollinators.”
The Long-Lost Tale of an 18th-Century Tsunami, as Told by Trees: Local evidence of the cataclysm has literally washed away over the years. But Oregon’s Douglas firs may have recorded clues deep in their tree rings, Max G. Levy, Wired, 9/23/21
Eileen Myles on Following Joan Mitchell’s Path Through New York City “Manhattan Island is pretty much shimmer all day long,” Eileen Myles, Lithub, 9/23/21
“Does painting tell the truth. Poetry doesn’t, I’ll say that.”
$3.5 trillion for jobs and families is cheap. Pass it. Lucian Truscott IV, Newsletter, 9/22/21
And another thing that matters to all of us who read and write: it’s Banned Books Week!
Protect the Freedom to Read: A Banned Books Reading List from Pen America
Keep the peace. Stay vigilant. Don’t let go of what matters. Best wishes to all. And love — David