Categories
Daily Journal Politics

Climate Change

I know, a light subject right?

Q: is the climate changing?

A: yes

Q: how?

A: It’s getting more extreme, and it’s getting a little warmer.

Q: should i be concerned?

A: yes, but more important is being informed. informed on a fact-based level, meaning the details of the thing described are irrefutable.

  • The earth rotated today (we’d all be abundantly aware if it hadn’t).
  • Greenland’s ice sheet is melting faster than anytime in 12,000 years.

Things like that.

Conjecture and assertions are not welcome at this point.

The climate is changing, that is irrefutable (evidence)

  • Global Temperature Rise
  • Ocean warming
  • Shrinking Ice Sheets
  • Glacial Retreat
  • Decreased Snow Cover
  • Sea Level Rise
  • and more…

So it’s definitely happening. But why?

I don’t think anyone definitely knows why.

Did all the exhaust from those carburetor cars from 1886 to somewhere in the 70’s or 80’s help?

No, they did not, but you knew that.

reeljerc: “Hey, I surfed River Jettys in Huntington Beach in the early 70’s, when OC companies were using the Santa Ana River has their own personal hazardous waste dump.

Many a time we came across big brown clumps or whatever the hell it was, while paddling hard to catch set coming in.”

The earth is really fricking old. Most of us were not around for the first 4 billion years. And while I’m a fan of science, I mean a huge fan, how old things are and what happened during those years is a guess.

A very good guess, but a guess just the same.

We, as humans, may have some freaky cellular granular genetic memory thing going on. But we still don’t know what happened before we got here.

So in the 4 billion years before the arrival of humans, it’s possible similar atmospheric events took place.

It could very well be that the current atmospheric shift is simply an organic, natural occurrence in the evolution of this planet. And the damage our industrial age inflicted is/was minor.

But that doesn’t change the undeniable fact that things are going to change. Ice is melting, sea level is rising. The coastlines the planet enjoys today are in flux. We (those of us that are still breathing) may not suffer the imminent changes afoot, but if you have spawn, well…

Make a plan. Geological changes will happen over the course of many years, with any luck, but it’s still worth figuring out today. It makes sense to have a plan.

You may have a friend or family member who completely disavows the idea of Climate Change, but probably because this has become a political issue.

It may be a manufactured political issue, but it’s happening.

And the carbon emissions we are contributing is not helping. That’s a fact.

So, why not do something to lessen blow?

Fossil fuels and coal are finite resources.

One day, they will be gone.

Are you thinking to yourself, “won’t happen in my lifetime”?

What about your grandkids? Not that you care, but here’s the thing;

If we can improve a most obvious condition, that will only help, not hurt…what’s the deal? Why not?

 

 

 

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Daily Journal

I don’t know Joe Biden

I don’t.

Never met the man.

Vote for him in 2020?

Yes.

Why?

Because he’s a smart, caring guy who knows how the game is played.

Really?

He’s on the good side of history. Have there been mistakes? Many. Many.  He’s in it for the public at large, not just himself.

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Daily Journal

Fake News

The internet is dangerous.

Anybody with internet access can pretty much create any kind of website and have an instant platform to say anything.

Whether it’s true or otherwise.

And if they’re SEO adept, can actually get eyes.

No fact-checking, no vetting, no editors, just sweaty fingers on a plastic keyboard projecting into the cyber-universe.

And because it shows up in your search results, you believe it.

We have trusted newspapers and  broadcast news because that has been the standard. At least for the Boomers.

For me…Walter Cronkite.

No opinions, no leanings, no conjecture.

Just the facts.

But the advent of the internet has subjugated the facts.

And now anyone can say anything, and be believed.

Algorithm evolution has only compounded the problem.

Your personal search results are a product of the searches you have made and the keywords you used.

In an effort to bring you relevant information, you are also subjected to websites that may or may not be reputable.

The search results do not vet, do not fact check, do not verify anything.

It’s up to you.

It’s really easy to want to believe a post/article that speaks to your beliefs.

It’s a little harder to vet. Or at least, it’s a little more time consuming to verify the source of the information.

Especially if you want to believe it.

Please do.

The internet has changed how we communicate.

Which is actually a good thing.

We have access to people we’d never had access to before.

We can actually interact with them.

That’s a good thing.

I’ve had conversations with people all over the world because of the internet.

Learning about other cultures and then having the opportunity to interact, to converse, is amazing.

And, you have to be smart about it.

There is very little in place to protect you against bad actors, or those whose aim is to profit from your ignorance.

YouTube player

 

 

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Daily Journal

Basketball saved my life

More than once…

Taught me skill

Taught me teamwork

Taught me sportsmanship

Taught me humility

Taught me intuitiveness

Taught me respect

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Daily Journal

Trump Watch: Monday, July 8, 2019 – UK Ambassador

Trump tweets incessantly

A constant barrage. Why do you think? (please leave thoughts in comments).

Why does the president of the United States of America feel the need to tweet so much?

Donald J. Trump? @realDonaldTrump

I have been very critical about the way the U.K. and Prime Minister Theresa May handled Brexit. What a mess she and her representatives have created. I told her how it should be done, but she decided to go another way. I do not know the Ambassador, but he is not liked or well….

34.7K people are talking about this

Donald J. Trump? @realDonaldTrump

….thought of within the U.S. We will no longer deal with him. The good news for the wonderful United Kingdom is that they will soon have a new Prime Minister. While I thoroughly enjoyed the magnificent State Visit last month, it was the Queen who I was most impressed with!

Trump read the derogatory leaked statements about him and his administration, and returned with unfounded personal attacks.
That’s his goto.
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Daily Journal

My Son

I died today. Okay, I didn’t, but if I had, it’d be cool.

My kids are doing alright, got to spend time with all of them recently. So it’s cool.

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Daily Journal

Abortion

Abortion is not a Federal decision, or a State decision, it’s a personal family decision.

Crimes are crimes and should be treated as such, but personal decisions, personal, sometimes life and death decisions, should be weighed by the family first.

In cases that only affect the family.

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Daily Journal

Sperm donor Valentine

Two and a half years — your age when we met.

Your mom (my high school obsession) called me on Superbowl Sunday 1989.

We set a date to meet, but as would happen repeatedly the following 20 years, drama intervened and we convened days earlier in front of a liquor store on La Paz road in Mission Viejo. She’d driven up from San Diego after attacking your grandmother with a shoe, more on that later, but this isn’t about her.

You were in the backseat.

After a few months, we all moved in together in Huntington Beach, and your mom and I married a couple years later.

I think it’s wonderful that you remember your sperm donor so fondly.

Those times when he:

brushed the knots out of your hair (because you’re mom didn’t have the patience)

held you during the night terrors until you were 4

changed your wetted underwear and bed sheets

provided a home, food to eat and your own bed

taught you that there’s nothing you can’t overcome, especially homework that time when you were giving up, crying on the kitchen table because you didn’t get it, and then you did

video taped every one of your school shows

took you to the emergency room at all hours, regardless

bought the albuterol, amoxicillin, claritol and all the other meds prescribed to keep you breathing

encouraged you to follow your dream

objectively gave you kudos where deserved, and offered constructive criticism where needed

warned you about Sean, let you make that mistake, on your own, anyway, but always watching (yes, there’s things you don’t know)

paid for car insurance, bought you a car, bought you a phone, paid for your phone and usage, even when you upgraded without asking. but that’s just money.

paid for two semesters at the University of Hawaii

Took you back and forth to work, at whatever job, whenever, when asked.

Showed up at your door with the uhaul at 5am, with the contents of your storage unit, already packed, for the Dec. 10 combo garage sale we had planned. In which you made out pretty well, including the meatball sandwich from Lucci’s, while we were making deliveries after a long day.


Oh wait, that wasn’t the sperm donor. that was me.

Categories
Daily Journal

Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde

Me during the day. Me at night

figuratively and literally

During the day, I prefer being anonymous.

Neutral color clothes, no eye contact

swift, direct movements

later, vodka brings the swagger and the attitude

Largely reserved and staying under the radar in public

Apparently I prefer to speak out at night, apparently there are times I can’t contain myself, because I’m apt to first check facebook comments in the morning and am often surprised at what I said

damn

I meant it at the time. No issue there.

Actually, there isn’t anything I’ve said that I regretted.

But there have been times when I regretted that I didn’t monitor the conversation well enough.

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Daily Journal

Voter Fraud v1

Donald Trump: (interview with The Daily Caller – 11/14/2018)

“The Republicans don’t win and that’s because of potentially illegal votes, which is what I’ve been saying for a long time. I have no doubt about it. And I’ve seen it, I’ve had friends talk about it when people get in line that have absolutely no right to vote and they go around in circles. Sometimes they go to their car, put on a different hat, put on a different shirt, come in and vote again. Nobody takes anything. It’s really a disgrace what’s going on.

The disgrace is that, voter ID. If you buy, you know, a box of cereal, if you do anything, you have a voter ID.”

———————————-

I have voted in every election, as long as I can remember.

I have always had to verify my name and address. Including a signature next to my name.

Is this scenario possible?

I do not know what the laws are in other states.