The Weird Times

Inner Monologues and Desultory Reporting from Outer Spaces

Nov 14, 2021

The Weird Times: Issue 79, November 14, 2021 (V2 #27)

Moby Dick was first published in the US on November 14, 1851.

‘Terrifying for American democracy’: is Trump planning for a 2024 coup? Republicans are vying for critical positions in many states – from which they could launch a far more effective power-grab than Trump’s 2020 effort, Ed Pilkington, The Guardian, 11/14/21: “What could be construed as an anti-democratic scramble for power at any cost is taking place right now in jurisdictions across the country. Republican leaders loyal to Trump are vying to control election administrations in key states in ways that could drastically distort the outcome of the presidential race in 2024.”

Wyoming Rep. Liz Cheney: (Americans are) “confronting a domestic threat that we’ve never faced before: a former president who's attempting to unravel the foundations of our Constitutional Republic, aided by political leaders who have made themselves willing hostages to this dangerous and irrational man….

In this time of testing, will we do our duty? Will we do what we must? Will we defend our Constitution? Will we stand for truth? Will we put duty to our oath above partisan politics? Or will we look away from the danger, ignore the threat, embrace the lies and enable the liar? There is no gray area when it comes to that question. When it comes to this moment, there is no middle ground.”

“Unfortunately, when it comes to books, politicians’ attention is like mold: Once it gets a foothold, it’s very destructive and almost impossible to get rid of. People who care about literature need to be ready when the torch-bearing villagers arrive to cleanse the school library with the white fire of their righteousness,” Ron Charles, Washington Post, 11/5/21

“I am a shadow…”

I am a shadow crossing ice
I am rusting knife in the water
I am pear tree bitten by frost
I uphold the mountain with my hand
My feet are cut by glass
I walk in the windy forest after dark
I am wrapped in a gold cloud
I whistle thru my teeth
I lose my hat

My eyes are fed to eagles & my jaw
is locked with silver wire
I have burned often and my bones are soup
I am stone giant statue on a cliff

I am mad as a blizzard
I stare out of broken cupboards

—from Loba, Diane DiPrima

Diane DiPrima – reading at Indian Valley Colleges, Novato, California, June 2, 1976

The Ongoing Saga of Our Destruction

The Red-Pilling of Loudon County, Matt Taibbi, TK News, 11/3/21: “These white-collar, highly educated voters, the kind of people who get their shots, don’t watch wrestling, and send their kids to Harvard and Princeton, are the Democratic Party’s base. It took something pretty weird and intense to drive them to defection, and don’t trust anyone who tries to explain it in a tweet. This one really is a long story, and a wild one at that.”

Letters from an American, Heather Cox Richardson, 11/1/21: “Today, in a remarkable op-ed in The American Conservative, Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL) called “corporate America... the instrument of anti-American ideologies.” He accused Wall Street of “devoting hundreds of billions of dollars to advance corporate propaganda” that promotes Marxist tactics. Rubio wants to “require that the leadership of large companies be subject to strict scrutiny and legal liability when they abuse their corporate privilege by pushing wasteful, anti-American nonsense.””

These maps show how Republicans are blatantly rigging elections: Our visual guide to see how gerrymandering allows Republicans to virtually guarantee their re-election, Andrew Witherspoon, Sam Levine, The Guardian, 11/12/21

Right-wing operatives deploy massive network of fake local news sites to weaponize CRT, Judd Legum, Tesnim Zekeria, Rebecca Crosby, Popular Information, 11/8/21: “West Nova News appears to be a standard local news website. It is not. Rather it is part of a massive network of websites linked to "conservative businessman Brian Timpone." There are more than 1300 sites currently in the network, including at least 28 that operate in Virginia.”

The murder trial that wasn't: Kyle Rittenhouse is being hailed as a right-wing Republican hero. The only question now is what office will he run for? Lucian Truscott IV, Newsletter, 11/11/21 “If an unsavory chickenshit white boy can commit murder on the streets of an American city and get away with it because a jury is convinced of what amounts to the rightness of his, and the judge’s politics, we are doomed.”

Silent Earth: Averting the insect apocalypse: As insects become more scarce, our world will slowly grind to a halt, for it cannot function without them, Dave Goulson, Environmental Health News, 11/12/21: “Estimates vary and are imprecise, but it seems likely that insects have declined in abundance by 75% or more in the last 50 years.”

2.2 Million At-Home COVID-19 Tests Just Got Recalled for Potential False Positives: Read this if you have rapid tests at home, Colleen Stinchcombe, Self, 11/11/21

‘I think we should throw those books in a fire’: Movement builds on right to target books, Aaron Blake, Washington Post, 11/10/21

Are people lying more since the rise of social media and smartphones? David Markowitz, The Conversation, 11/8/21

Covid misinformation spreads because so many Americans are awful at math: Two-step calculations are hard enough for some, but assessing vaccine effectiveness requires multiple steps, James Surowieki, Washington Post, 11/12/21 (Ed. Note: Which is worse, ignorance or stupidity?)

Tucker Carlson Is Stirring Up Hatred of America: His new documentary is designed to sow mistrust of the country’s most important institutions, Anne Applebaum, The Atlantic, 11/2/21

Depression-era program left some New England communities more vulnerable to sea-level rise: Federal ditch-digging projects drained salt marshes, which absorb water and buffer coastal communities from waves, YCC Team, Yale Climate Connections, 11/10/21

How concentrated corporate power makes inflation worse, Judd Legum, Popular Information, 11/10/21: “Inflation is a complex phenomenon. Supply chain disruptions, increased labor costs, and surging demand all play a role. But one factor driving inflation is seldom discussed: mega-corporations with massive market power.”

Facebook’s Climate Misinformation Problem Is Getting Bigger: In the last year, interactions with climate misinformation posts have increased nearly 77 percent, a new study finds, Kari Paul, Undark, 11/10/21

The Weather Aboveground has issued its Port Huron Statement, and it's a doozy: Claremont Institute wargame election scenario is a lesson plan for a violent right-wing coup, Lucian Truscott IV, Newsletter, 11/9/21

There is Some Good News

Missing teen rescued after making a hand gesture she learned from TikTok to signal for help, Amanda Jackson, CNN, 11/8/21

Why We Need to Rethink Afro-Indigenous History in the United States: Settler Colonialism, the Horrors of the Slave Trade, and the Forming of Black Identity, Kyle T. Mays, LitHub, 11/11/21: “What if we remembered that those Africans forced to come to the British colony of Virginia were, actually, Indigenous people? How would that help us think differently about early Atlantic encounters between Indigenous peoples from the African continent and those in North America, and beyond?”

Inflation is real; now it's up to the Fed: Biden's spending policies aren't going to affect inflation much one way or the other, Noah Smith, Noahpinion, 11/10/21 “But if inflation expectations spiral out of control, the alternative — doing nothing and allowing the spiral to continue — would be just as bad for Democrats and much worse for the country.”

Inflation Is Up, But the Inflation Truthers Are Still Wrong, John Aziz, Noahpinion, 11/13/21: “The inflation truthers, their numbers buoyed by the addition of newly-blooded Bitcoiners don’t just predict hyperinflation. They want hyperinflation to happen, because they think that the fiat monetary system collapsing will be beneficial to them.”

Four-Day Commute to Work Via Kayak, Jason Kottke, Kottke.org, 11/11/21: “Adventurer Beau Miles has been focused recently on exploring near where he lives rather than in far-flung locales. He’s walked 56 miles to work a couple of times, adventuring and foraging along the way and recently posted a video of him commuting to work in a kayak. It took him four days.”

The symbolism of burning books is stark. But in 2021, symbolism is all it is, Philip Bump, Washington Post, 11/11/21: “It’s the bonfire that’s the point, not the fuel.” (Ed. Note: that it is ludicrous does not make it any less potent or dangerous. It’s like the death threats that are now thrown around so easily – the point is to instill fear, chill speech, drive out dissent. It works.)

Americans Want Significant Change to the Political System, Marc Elias, Democracy Docket, 11/11/21: “Upwards of 85% of respondents say there is a need for major changes, including 42% who say our political system needs to be completely reformed. This sentiment holds true across party lines, with both 88% of Democrats and Democratic-leaning Independents and 83% of Republican and Republican-leaning Independents in support of change.”

Thin-film, high-frequency antenna array offers new flexibility for wireless communications, Molly Sharlach, Princeton Engineering, 11/2/21

The Case for Nationalizing American Fuel Industries—Right Now: The Dire Action Required to Address the Climate Crisis, Stan Cox, LitHub, 11/10/21

Georgia farmers experiment with new crops as the climate changes: Warmer winters are making it more difficult to grow the state’s traditional peaches and blueberries, YCC Team, Yale Climate Connections, 11/5/21

The Future of Food Shopping Might Be Plastic-Free: A new partnership between the nation’s largest grocery chain and a reusable packaging company could be a sign that waste-reduction efforts are finally moving past the pandemic-induced plastics boom, Rachel Cernansky, Civil Eats, 11/10/21

New book delves into 300 years that changed humanity … and the planet: Alice Bell’s 'Our Biggest Experiment' is an epic history of a crisis three centuries in the making: ‘We’ve inherited an almighty mess,’ Michael Svoboda, Yale Climate Connections, 11/3/21

New Mexico’s Delicate Dance to Become a Center of U.S. Hydrogen Production: The state’s governor needs to sell environmentalists, the fossil fuel sector and the public on the green-ish energy source, Jerry Redfern, Capital and Main, 11/10/21

Federal judge gives final approval to $626.25M settlement in Flint water crisis, Paul Egan, Detroit Free Press, 11/10/21

Renewable energy in the U.S. nearly quadrupled in the past decade, report finds, Tik Root, Washington Post, 11/9/21

First Nations in Ontario could receive billions in back-rent after court ruling: A treaty reimburses Indigenous communities for wealth extracted from their lands but payment has remained at C$4 a year since 1874, Leyland Cecco, The Guardian, 11/11/21

Make extreme wealth extinct: it’s the only way to avoid climate breakdown, Pandering to the rich has got us into this mess. The correlation between wealth and polluting behaviour could not be clearer, George Monbiot, The Guardian, 11/10/21

In the Arid Southwest, Growing Seeds for Climate Resiliency: High Desert Seed specializes in seed crops that thrive in desert ecosystems—while preserving stories, flavor, and food sovereignty, Jonnah Perkins, Civil Eats, 11/8/21

‘No one knew they existed’: wild heirs of lost British honeybee found at Blenheim: The ‘ecotype’, thought to have been wiped out by disease and invasive species, is thriving in the estate’s ancient woodlands, Donna Ferguson, The Guardian, 11/7/21

Can younger generations spur corporations to divest from fossil fuels? Youth activists in Seattle call out banks and insurance companies for fueling the climate crisis, Sarah Sax, High Country News, 11/4/21

How the Democrats Go on the Offensive: Voting against roads, bridges, kids, moms, grandmas, and grandpas should come with a price, Harold Meyerson, American Prospect, 11/9/21

It’s a fairytale that world governments will fix our climate crisis. It’s up to us: Thank climate activists for the fact that any progress was made in Glasgow. Unless we push hard, powerful interests don’t budge, Bill McKibben, The Guardian, 11/12/21: “The planet is out of its comfort zone; we had best be even further out of ours.”

What next? 22 emerging technologies to watch in 2022: New ideas can emerge seemingly overnight, Science & Technology correspondents, The Economist, 11/8/21

Mysterious car parked on same Italian street for 47 years becomes tourist attraction: Angelo Fregolent, now 94, parked his Lancia Fulvia 1962 outside the newsagent he ran with his wife, Bertilla Modolo, in Conegliano in 1974 - the couple then retired and left the car there and it has since become a local landmark, Alahna Kindred, The Mirror, 11/1/21

Science. Birds. Science.

Some songbirds now migrate east to west. Climate change may play a role: A dramatic shift in some Richard’s pipits’ winter plans might be linked to a warming Europe, Jake Buehler, Science News, 11/9/21

New Peruvian bird discovered: The vivid yellow Inti tanager, Sarah White, Phys Org, 11/11/21

New class of drug reverses paralysis in mice, Issam Ahmed, Yahoo News, 11/11/21

Newly developed compound may enable sustainable, cost-effective, large-scale energy storage, Beijing Institute of Technology Press, Eurekalert, 11/12/21

Sequencing whole genomes helps diagnose far more rare diseases, study shows, Andrew Joseph, StatNews, 11/10/21

Covid-resistant people point way to universal coronavirus vaccine, Michael LePage, New Scientist, 11/10/21

The Brain Can Recall and Reawaken Past Immune Responses: The brain not only helps to regulate immune responses, but also stores and retrieves “memories” of them, Esther Landhuis, Quanta Magazine, 11/8/21

The earth’s secret miracle weapon is not a plant or an animal: it’s fungi, Without fungi we don’t have bread, chocolate, cheese, soy sauce, beer or wine. They are also crucial to protecting our climate, Giuliani Furci, The Guardian, 11/10/21

New species of big-nosed dinosaur discovered by retired doctor: Nasal bone distinguishes herbivore Brighstoneus simmondsi, whose skull was found on the Isle of Wight, Hannah Devlin, The Guardian, 11/11/21

Climate-Driven Extinction Made Mammals' Teeth Less Weird: Fossils show how species diversity—and dental diversity—suddenly collapsed 30 million years ago, suggesting a link between climate, diet, and survival, Max G. Levy, Wired, 11/2/21

Vermont Hay Season Is Shifting Earlier, But Nesting Birds Are Staying Put: Because of warming temperatures, farmers harvest hay earlier in the year than they did two decades ago, placing songbird nests in balers' paths, Jesse Kathan, Audubon, 11/1/21

So, gather up your jackets, move it to the exits
I hope you have found a friend
Closing time, every new beginning
Comes from some other beginning's end, yeah

—from “Closing Time,” sung by Semisonic, written by Dan Wilson