Badlands Journal
Social, Economic, and Environmental Justice
We are always feel honored when Felix Smith sends us another of his thoughtful essays. Thanks, Felix -- blj
If Trump Walks, Our Democracy could be Doomed
by
Felix E. Smith
The proble3m in Shasta County this article fails to mention is the state of the logging industry, now denied insurance and annually assaulted with more and more violent fires. Mills have been consolidated, there is less work in the woods, and these appear to be more permanent than the typical cycles of past decades. People must be very nervous about fire, not just in the woods but on the outskirts of Redding and nearby towns, which have already had one wildfire. Shasta County is a very unhappy place right now because it is ecologically and economically very threatened.
You can argue that senior facilities in the Coachella Valley are not ecologically sound or even healthy, given the temperatures around Palm Sprimgs and Indio in the summertime, and, speaking as a resident of such a facility, I would agree with you but I came down here for family reasons. But, if hydroelectric power from Glen Canyon is interrupted, I can guarantee that some lives will end without air-conditioning in Southern California. -- blj
7-16-22
Informed Comment
Climate: Scientists Stunned to Find Atlantic Plankton 90% Gone; Marine Life, our Oxygen Imperiled
JUAN COLE
https://www.juancole.com/2022/07/scientists-atlantic-imperiled.html
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Mark Howarth, writing in the stalwart weekly from Dundee, Scotland, The Sunday Post, has a blockbuster scoop.
Mike Pompeo, former director of the CIA and secretary of state under Trump, wants to lead us in the Holy Crusade of Real White People against Russia. China, India, Brazil, South Africa and the Global South.
Asia Times/Settimani News
A tale of two wars
Both sides think they’re winners, needn’t give in – but battlefield and European home front are separate wars
By FRANCESCO SISCI
JULY 13, 2022
It may be a tale of two wars going in parallel. So far, they have not met but eventually they will meet and prove one side or the other right.
The first version of the war is the Russian one.
7-6-22
Politico
The Southwest is bone dry. Now, a key water source is at risk.
Climate change and worsening drought have driven water stores to dangerous lows. Now the federal government is telling states to drastically cut back.
By LARA KORTE
https://www.politico.com/news/2022/07/06/colorado-river-drought-californ...
Drought in the San Joaquin
Bill Hatch, 2022
I am restless here at night
In the hot night lonely,
Slow, soft, slight continual blows,
And the absence of a Delta breeze
Irritates my heart.
The fat earth
Is no good without water
No good without water.
Hot wind blows at night
Round the corners of sheds
Barns houses fences
Dust enters our bodies.
But the fat earth
Is no good without water.
Funeral drums for the Durango rubble
Cesar Vallejo
Trans. Bill Hatch
Father Dust who rises from Spain,
God save you, free you, crown you,
Father Dust, who ascends from the soul.
Father Dust, who rises from the fire,
God save you, trace you, enthrone you.
Father Dust, who is in the heavens.
Father Dust, great-grandson of smoke,
God save you and may you ascend to infinity,
Father Dust, great-grandson of smoke.
I would not ordinarily post an article this long but in this case it is worth it because it is the summary of an analysis of the world economic situation, with political and social consequences, that is the empirically based rational shadow of American society's craven, lunatic aggression against its own poor and working class and what it perceives as weak opponents and economic victims abroad.