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Wednesday, October 09, 2024

Tom Nichols: Last November, during a symposium at Mount Vernon on democracy, John Kelly, the retired Marine Corps general who served as Donald Trump's second chief of staff, spoke about George Washington's historic accomplishments - his leadership and victory in the Revolutionary War, his vision of what an American president should be. And then Kelly offered a simple, three-word summary of Washington's most important contribution to the nation he liberated. "He went home," Kelly said. read more


As Hurricane Milton exploded from a Category 1 storm into a Category 5 storm over the course of 12 hours yesterday, climate scientists and meteorologists were stunned. In a way, Milton is exactly the type of storm that scientists have been warning could happen; Michael Wehner, a climate scientist at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, in California, called it shocking but not surprising. read more


Tuesday, October 08, 2024

The number of migrants crossing into the U.S. illegally at the southern border reached the lowest point of President Biden's administration in September. U.S. Border Patrol agents recorded nearly 54,000 apprehensions of migrants who crossed into the country between legal entry points along the border with Mexico, a smaller figure than the previous Biden-era low in July, when Border Patrol processed roughly 56,000 migrants who crossed the border without authorization. read more


In the aftermath of a propane explosion in 2021, Marcella Townsend spent more than six weeks in an induced coma in a burn trauma unit. She had second- and third-degree burns over most of her body, and her face had become unrecognizable. Searching for a way to help her, surgeons turned to a rarely utilized tool: human placenta. They carefully applied a thin layer of the donated organ to her face. She still has scars from grafts elsewhere on her body, but the 47-year-old's face, she said, "looks exactly like it did before." read more


Steve Benen - Vice President Kamala Harris criticized former President Donald Trump on Monday over false claims he has made talking about disaster relief for victims of Hurricane Helene. "It's extraordinarily irresponsible," the Democratic nominee said, adding in reference to Trump, "It's about him; it's not about you." read more


Comments

Coomondolt doesn't understand word usage either. Ivanka never denied the account in the book. "Without merit" is not a denial, it's a qualification. If she said that the events "never happened," that's a denial.

The definition of merit is as follows: character or conduct deserving reward, honor, or esteem. www.merriam-webster.com

Actually, after reading the definition of merit again, Ivanka practically confirmed the rape account. Her response was that "the story was without merit" and of course there's no "merit" in a story of anyone forcibly attacking their wife. The rest of her message is almost an apology for her allegedly having mentioned it in the first place, because she lists the actual meritorious things she felt that Donald did during the course of their relationship.

And her mentioning that the time of the event in question was one of "high tension" again is a confirmation and excuse for what Donald did.

And if the account were false, Donald would have sued his own biographer for libel. And no one who follows Trump's penchant for lawfare would ever think anything differently.

The message was unambiguous. After leaving the White House, Kelly had described Trump as a "person that has no idea what America stands for and has no idea what America is all about." At Mount Vernon, he was making a clear point: People who are mad for power are a mortal threat to democracy. They may hold different titles - even President - but at heart they are tyrants, and all tyrants share the same trait: They never voluntarily cede power.

Forty-four men have succeeded Washington so far. Some became titans; others finished their terms without distinction; a few ended their service to the nation in ignominy. But each of them knew that the day would come when it would be their duty and honor to return the presidency to the people.

All but one, that is.

Donald Trump and his authoritarian political movement represent an existential threat to every ideal that Washington cherished and encouraged in his new nation. They are the incarnation of Washington's misgivings about populism, partisanship, and the "spirit of revenge" that Washington lamented as the animating force of party politics. Washington feared that, amid constant political warfare, some citizens would come to "seek security and repose in the absolute power of an individual," and that eventually a demagogue would exploit that sentiment.

Today, America stands at such a moment. A vengeful and emotionally unstable former president - a convicted felon, an insurrectionist, an admirer of foreign dictators, a racist and a misogynist - desires to return to office as an autocrat. Trump has left no doubt about his intentions; he practically shouts them every chance he gets. His deepest motives are to salve his ego, punish his enemies, and place himself above the law. Should he regain the Oval Office, he may well bring with him the experience and the means to complete the authoritarian project that he began in his first term.

Not much to add, Nichols has it all laid out perfectly. Now, if only those patriotic Americans who know better will do the right thing come election day, this nation can be rid of the most divisive malignant interloper into domestic political life this country has ever known.

A hurricane forms from multiple variables, and in Milton, the variables have come together to form a nightmare. The storm is gaining considerable energy thanks to high sea-surface temperatures in the Gulf of Mexico, which is far hotter than usual. And that energy translates into higher wind speeds. Milton is also taking up moisture from the very humid atmosphere, which, as a rule, can hold 7 percent more water vapor for every degree-Celsius increase in temperature. Plus, the air is highly unstable and can therefore rise more easily, which allows the hurricane to form and maintain its shape. And thanks to La Nia, there isn't much wind shear - the wind's speed and direction are fairly uniform at different elevations - "so the storm can stay nice and vertically stacked," Kim Wood, an atmospheric scientist at the University of Arizona, told me. "All of that combined is making the storm more efficient at using the energy available." In other words, the storm very efficiently became a major danger.

That perfect combination - of hot seas, humid air, and little wind shear - is being aided by Milton's path through the Gulf of Mexico's western part, which hasn't seen much major storm activity yet this season. Wind speeds inside Milton picked up by about 90 miles an hour in a single day, intensifying faster than any other storm on record besides Hurricanes Wilma in 2005 and Felix in 2007. Climate scientists have worried for a while now that climate change could produce storms that intensify faster and reach higher peak intensities, given an extra boost by climate change. Milton is doing just that.

Only after Milton passes will scientists try to account for the ways that climate change made it more horrific than it might otherwise have been - perhaps still a major storm, but not so intense and so fast that it stopped a veteran meteorologist cold. And the world is expected to keep warming dramatically over the coming century; storms such as Milton are a preview of the types that will become more common.

The human stories lurking behind all the science tell that many people who looked at Florida as paradise are saying that Milton is their last call if indeed it upturns their lives yet again in the aftermath of Irma and Helene. As it is now, entire regions hit by hurricanes years ago still haven't fully rebuilt and are again facing imminent destruction of what's left.

I don't think people are seeing what appears to be obvious: If these types of superstorms continue to target the Florida peninsula at the frequency we're currently experiencing, millions will have no recourse but to relocate out of state because the cost of property/flood insurance and the continual cycle of rebuilding/storm, rebuilding/storm will make living there unaffordable for the non-wealthy.

Musk is a real weirdo.

Musk has Asperger's and if you understand that, his behaviors make sense in context.

#40

I had a quick discussion with a neighbor while we were walking our dogs. I mentioned that I can't believe anyone can't see the evidence of man-caused factors driving the extreme weather events we're experiencing. I referenced that the waters in the Gulf are 86 degrees currently when their historical average on the same date has been 78. First thing out of his mouth was that we've had extreme hurricanes before, and it really kind of shocked me. I'm 65 years old and there's never been back-to-back landfalling Category 4-5 storms hit the US only 2 weeks apart, and almost in the exact same places. I've also never seen multiple hurricanes go from tropical storms to Cat 4/5 in 24-36 hours as storms are doing today.

I don't understand why people think their subjective opinions carry more truth than objective math and science. Researchers who warned us of our warming planet and how our weather events would become more extreme were not then and are not now articulating a political view. They're articulating what math, science, research and data tell them.

And with today's unprecedented entrance of storm preparedness and response into the cauldron of partisan politics, there's no denial of why skepticism has found a home in the Republican Party. It's just another way to falsely discredit hardworking Americans trying their best to educate and protect people facing the prospect of weather disrupting lives that have taken decades to build and wiping them away in a matter of minutes due to extreme weather events.

#6 continued

Under the LA declaration, the Biden-Harris administration has secured unprecedented cooperation to curb irregular migration. Today, for example, Mexico is doing more to stem irregular migration to the United States than it has ever done before. The administration also created alternatives to irregular migration so that individuals fleeing Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Venezuela - the primary sources of instability in the hemisphere - could come to the United States in a sponsored, orderly fashion and be able to legally work shortly after arrival so as to contribute to U.S. prosperity and enhance stability in their home countries without delay.

Critically, the LA declaration built on successful migrant integration efforts in Latin America and spurred multiple countries to create new temporary legal status programs for migrants in order to stabilize these populations and to provide an alternative to migrating further. In May 2024, countries such as Ecuador, Colombia, and Costa Rica at the third ministerial meeting on the LA declaration announced regularization programs for various irregular migrant populations - building on the nearly 2 million Venezuelans who had already been provided status in Colombia alone. Today, more than 80 percent of those displaced in Latin America and the Caribbean have found a home in the region and have not proceeded to the U.S.-Mexico border.

www.americanprogress.org

This is what happens when adults and not partisan bomb throwers put the work in to change the complete dynamics of hemispheric migration through multi-national cooperation, NOT wasting money on physical border barriers that can be quickly overcome unless they have continual monitoring by hundreds, if not thousands, of personnel.

Neither her or Joe ever wanted to do anything to curb the influx of illegal immigrants until housing started getting scarce and people began to notice the change in the demographics in the cities.

Imbecile says what?

Know Why Border Migration Has Slowed? the LA Declaration

The Biden-Harris administration, working closely with partners across the Americas, has taken multiple steps over the past few years to address the historic levels of irregular migration in the Western Hemisphere. These layered efforts to mitigate, manage, and order migration have, in recent months, led to fewer encounters between ports of entry at the U.S.-Mexico border than there were in 2019 during the comparable time period.

From 2014 to 2020, increases in irregular migration to the United States were driven primarily by displacement from the Northern Triangle countries; migration was again on the rise in early 2021 as countries came out of peak pandemic shutdowns. As a result, the Biden-Harris administration focused its initial efforts there. Saddled with deeply unreliable partner governments in all three countries, Vice President Harris chose to emphasize cooperation with civil society and the private sector through the creation of the Partnership for Central America (PCA).

To repeat:
Try reading objective sources sometimes and you might learn what happens here on Earth 1 when competent officials put in the international work to correct immigration issues instead of simply running before tv cameras and demagoguing them.

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