Extreme Weather is Here

Has Mother Nature gotten your attention yet?

This summer, Phoenix Arizona recorded over 100 days with temperatures above 100 degrees Fahrenheit.

Scientific American reports that over the last two summers, worldwide temperatures were the highest ever recorded in two thousand years. (They can determine this from examining tree rings, somehow.) The average temperature for this year was 62.2 Fahrenheit or 16.8 Celsius, which exceeded the high set in 2023 by a small one-tenth. Fifteen countries across the world recorded their highest-ever temperatures. Western Australia and Antarctica also set records for heat.

The article further notes:

“Though global and national temperature records offer clear signs of how much excess heat greenhouse, gases have trapped in the atmosphere, real people do not live in average temperatures. Such measurements can mask wide regional variations and extremes. In the US Southwest, successive summer heat domes created one of the hottest places on the planet: 

The planet will continue to blast through heat records until humans stop producing greenhouse gases, says Andrew Dessler, a climate scientist at Texas A&M University. With renewable energy now cheaper than fossil fuels, the largest hurdle to meaningful action is not technological but political, he says. This means “the solution is in our grasp,” Dessler emphasizes. Greenhouse gas emissions have held steady over the past decade, at least preventing further acceleration of warming.”

The Paris Accords, in 2016, made it a goal to keep global temperature rise under 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels. The world is knocking at that door now and many expect that level to be exceeded in the next decade unless more countries move away from reliance on fossil fuels. Changes will not be abrupt but will come in spurts as the oceans, where much weather develops, react to the warmer temperatures. Extreme weather events such as those spurred on by El Nino years in the Western Hemisphere will become more prominent and severe.

According to the National Weather Service, “El Nino can affect our weather significantly. The warmer waters cause the Pacific jet stream to move south of its neutral position. With this shift, areas in the northern US and Canada are dryer and warmer than usual. But in the US Gulf Coast and the Southeast, these periods are wetter than usual and have increased flooding.”

La Nina years act as a contrast to El Nino years, as they shift the jet stream northward, resulting in warmer weather for the southern regions and cooler and wetter conditions for the northern areas. La Nina can lead to years with more severe hurricanes. These systems occur irregularly and can last from one year to several years. Whatever block they are in, the US will feel the effects of these phenomena. El Nino ended last Spring, so we are now in a La Nina year.

On September 19, 2024, the Washington Post reported in an article titled:

How rising global heat connects catastrophic floods on four continents

Within weeks, catastrophic floods swept across four continents.

 

Typhoons triggered landslides across Southeast Asia and inundated Shanghai. A slow-moving storm, unusual for this time of year, sent a deluge over Central Europe. Months of floods wore on in northern and central Africa as rain continued to fall on landscapes that are normally more arid. And in the United States, a tropical system too disorganized to become a named storm nonetheless poured historic rainfall on the Carolinas, with more than 20 inches landing in some spots.

 

In Asia, Typhoon Yagi became the year’s most intense super typhoon before making landfall in China on Sept. 6 and northern Vietnam on Sept. 7 and bringing torrential rains into Laos and Myanmar, where it converged with monsoon rains to trigger landslides that buried entire villages. The storm killed dozens in the Philippines and Thailand, and nearly 300 people each in Vietnam and Myanmar.

 

In Europe, a similar contrast was fueling rain that has lingered over the continent for nearly a week. After Arctic air plunged southward to meet Mediterranean warmth, catastrophic floods, and heavy snow inundated parts of Austria, the Czech Republic, Germany, Hungary, Poland, Romania, and Slovakia. At least 19 people died and thousands were forced to vacate their homes in Central and Eastern Europe.

 Each of these pieces preceded the arrival of Hurricane Helene last week.

Devastating rainfalls preceded and followed Helene’s path northward over the already saturated ground. Helene came ashore as a Category 4/5 storm with winds over 140 miles per hour and a six-to-eight-foot storm surge along Florida’s Gulf Coast. Barrier islands and coastal communities, far from the eye, were in many cases obliterated. As the storm left Florida it was downgraded to a tropical depression. However, that did not prevent it from dropping 12 inches of rain over a few days in Atlanta, Georgia, and nearly twice as much over eastern Tennessee and Western North Carolina. This storm traveled north as far as southern Ohio, creating unprecedented destruction with severe flooding in its wake. The speed of this storm, with its accompanying winds and torrential downpours, broke many existing weather records. The famous Masters Golf Course in Augusta suffered major storm damage. Many roads in western South Carolina became impassable because of water and tree damage.

In Tennessee and North Carolina, Interstates I-40 and I-26 had portions ripped out by cascading waters. The towns of Chimney Rock, Black Mountain and Boone came close to obliteration. In Asheville, a city of 95,000 residents, the Swannanoa, and French Broad Rivers overflowed into many areas along their banks, inundating areas such as Biltmore Village and the Riverside arts districts. The water plant, overtopped by flooding, could not function, which resulted in Warren Wilson College, located outside the city, being isolated and losing access to clean water. At one point during the height of the storm, more than 2.5 million people in the south were without power and/or cell service.

Video of destruction in Asheville can be found here and here.

In Tennessee, patients had to be rescued from the roof of a hospital as flooding waters entered its lower levels. Nearby dams such as the Waterville Dam and the Nolichucky Dam threatened to overflow, but survived the onslaught.

 As of Sunday evening, the death toll from this storm stands at 89, but as waters recede, death totals are expected to climb.

President Biden issued emergency declarations for the affected areas and FEMA is already providing services to the places they can reach. FEMA, and the the power company for much of the area, Duke Energy, pre-positioned supplies and work crews in the Florida panhandle, but not further north as they did not expect the furious strength of Helene to expand that far.

Property damage from this one storm is expected to reach as high as 26 Billion, while the estimated economic damage over months can be calculated by losses in the tourism business, integral for much of the area, the costs for resettling the large numbers of residents, and reorganizing commercial and governmental services. Some put those totals over time to exceed 100 Billion dollars. Some Gulf Coast residents, having experienced three major storms in recent years, can no longer buy or afford insurance, which makes mortgages increasingly more difficult to obtain. Resilience is endemic in coastal communities, but families can only take so much. In coastal North Carolina, along the Outer Banks, the town of Rodanthe has seen seven houses reclaimed by sea waters in the last four years.

So how long should the Federal government rebuild such communities that are subject to periodic disasters? In North Carolina, the Park Service is buying up some coastal homes in areas of severe erosion, but it does not have funds to continue forever. I favor restricting all building in areas close to the sea, as sea level rise will not reverse. Some communities require homes to be built on stilts, but, as we have seen, waters can undermine those supports.

So, is this storm a wake-up call? I hope so. How can we, as regular folks, contribute to the slowing of Global Climate Change? Well, not all of us can afford to trade in for an electronic car, or even a hybrid one. But maybe we could make fewer trips and combine our errands into one outing. If we cannot place solar panels on our apartments, maybe we could work to conserve energy in our homes. We could grow produce or buy from local providers and farmers markets. If offered in our area, we could compost food waste for local repurposing. Small steps add up. Remember the mantra: Reduce, reuse, recycle.

Just thought you should also look at these “reforms” proposed in :

Mandate for Change (the 2025 Project) on page 378. I noted just a few of those reforms. The Heritage Foundation, many Republicans, and previous staffers from the DJT White House worked on this document and some are now working on his campaign. He cannot disown it no matter how much he tries to backtrack. He would dismantle many of our recent reforms.

“End the focus on climate change and green subsidies.)

Mission/Overview The Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy traces its roots to the Energy Policy and Conservation Act of 1975,42 but most of its programs today are rooted in the Energy Policy Act of 2005.43 Under the Biden Administration, EERE’s mission is “to accelerate the research, development, demonstration, and deployment of technologies and solutions to equitably transition America to net zero greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions economy-wide by no later than 2050” and “ensure [that] the clean energy economy benefits all Americans.”44 The office is made up of three “pillars”: energy efficiency, renewable energy, and sustainable transportation.

Under the Biden Administration, EERE is a conduit for taxpayer dollars to fund progressive policies, including decarbonization of the economy and renewable resources. EERE has focused on reducing carbon dioxide emissions to the exclusion of other statutorily defined requirements such as energy security and cost. For example, EERE’s five programmatic priorities during the Biden Administration are all focused on decarbonization of the electricity sector, the industrial sector, transportation, buildings, and the agricultural sector.45 l Eliminate energy efficiency standards for appliances. Pursuant to the Energy Policy and Conservation Act of 1975 as amended, the agency is required to set and periodically tighten energy and/or water efficiency standards for nearly all kinds of commercial and household appliances, including air conditioners, furnaces, water heaters, stoves, clothes washers and dryers, refrigerators, dishwashers, light bulbs, and showerheads. Current law and regulations reduce consumer choice, drive up costs for consumer appliances, and emphasize energy efficiency to the exclusion of other important factors, such as cycle time and repairability.

Budget EERE was funded at slightly more than $2.8 billion in FY 2021, and DOE requested slightly more than $4.0 billion for FY 2023.47 Congress needs to rescind the appropriated monies that EERE has not spent and begin fresh with new appropriations..”

We have an election on November 5^th. Please vote early if you can; this date is only 37 days away. Get your friends to vote. If our world, clean air, clean water, food access, and safe global temperatures are important to you, speak up and act. Involve others. Make a plan to vote and bring friends.

Before I close, I must say words of condolence to those who have lost their homes, their livelihood, or loved ones in this storm. I hope this trauma will soon ease.

Til next week – Peace.

School Daze

Do you remember the rhyme-

“School days, school days,

Good old Golden Rule Days,

Readin’ and writin’ and ‘rithmatic

Taught to the time of a hickory stick?”

So, since it is September and the start of new school years across the nation, I thought I would look at the school days of my youth. Those times are as far removed from today’s educational programs as the slates the pupils used during the Colonial period or in one-room schools. Today students use technology routinely and easily adapt to the computer earning now prevalent. In my day, practices were different.

As a senior, but not quite a relic yet, I have memories of vastly different school days from my childhood education in a town close to Boston. I thought it might be interesting to share some of my experiences from those days. Classrooms then typically held around thirty students. The teacher wrote classwork assignments on chalkboards. At the end of the day, someone would be assigned the job of cleaning the chalkboards and clapping the chalk dust from the erasers. (Nobody considered the perils, then, of chalk dust.)

In my town, there was no grade for kindergarten, students started school right into first grade. I walked to my school, a few blocks away from home, attended the morning session, went home for lunch, and returned for the afternoon. (Of course, our mothers or someone was expected to be at home.) This all seems quaint now. After a bitterly cold winter with heavy snow, the town changed to single sessions, and that remained the norm throughout the rest of my education.

Dress codes were simple; girls could wear skirts or dresses, never pants. If it was freezing or snowing, they could wear leggings under their skirts. Boys could wear corduroy or cotton trousers, but not jeans, or dungarees, as they were called then. Sneakers were only for older children when they played sports or had gym class.

We were taught penmanship, usually in the third grade, when we learned cursive writing. I seem to remember the Palmer method, where one had to keep the arm off the desk and use sweeping hand motions as we dipped our pen into an inkwell set in our desks. The pens left splotches if the students were not careful with the dipping. This often meant that one had to start over with a clean piece of paper. These were not simple tasks for small hands. Contrast that with today’s practices, which no longer teach cursive as students and teachers, used to computers, do not see a need for it.

We also learned the multiplication tables by rote in the early grades. Later in English studies, teachers showed us how to diagram sentences as we used the parts of speech. Such lessons are no longer taught and are considered unnecessary.

Elementary school teachers, most frequently, were women. Teachers could be married and have children, but had to step down if they were visibly pregnant. (I never understood the rationale for this policy – it is not as if the students did not live in homes where new brothers or sisters arrived at intervals.) Of course, they too wore dresses or skirts, except when they taught gym classes.

During that age of nuclear threats, we learned to duck and cover, which meant during drills we were to crawl under our desks and not look at the windows, which presumably might have a blinding blast. We did not know then, if that blast was that close, that we would be incinerated.

Each class day began with the Pledge of Allegiance to the flag. Originally, not all states used the same pledge as it was not universal until World War ll, when patriotism was promoted more to support the war effort. The words “under God” were not part of the pledge in those days. Although religion was not integral to my early public school days, it became more so later. Various religious groups, especially the organizations of Catholic Bishops and the Knights of Columbus, lobbied for this pledge change. It became law when President Eisenhower signed the bill to add the phrase in 1954. Two years later, the words “In God we Trust “ were added to the country’s motto and even later to currency. These were reactive moves to combat the threat of communism, considered prominent during that era of McCarthyism and the House UnAmerican Activities Committee.

Subsequently, if my memory is correct, student readings from the Old Testament were added to the morning’s opening day rituals. Then, over the years, various groups petitioned against these routines in public schools. Jehovah’s Witnesses wanted their members to be excused from the pledge, while The Society of Friends (Quakers) requested that its members stand, but not pledge to the flag. This religion also has a testimony against the swearing of oaths. In 1962, using the reasoning of the Establishment Clause of the Constitution, the Supreme Court in Engle vs. Vitale ruled against the recitation of a school-sponsored prayer in public schools. Later, courts prohibited Bible reading, as schools were deemed secular. Displays of the Ten Commandments were also prohibited after a suit brought by the State of Kentucky. (Stone v. Graham) Teachers, however, could teach portions of the Christian Bible in comparative religion classes for older students.

Today, in a country as diverse as ours, religion in public schools remains another divisive issue when world cultures are considered. Yet, despite the claims of some, America was not formed as a Christian nation. The founders made specific efforts to keep religion and government apart. Many came from families that fled to this New World to escape religious persecution. The Pilgrims, Puritans, Quakers, and French Huguenots all arrived hoping for religious freedom. Catholics, Protestants, and Lutherans mostly came later, but sought the same freedom to worship, or not, options. Enslaved African populations brought with them religious practices from their homelands.

Religious groups continue to push this button amid their desire to let this Conservative majority court strike these precedent-setting rulings down. Recent rulings supporting merchants who refuse to serve gay couples and coach prayers at football games are peeling away the prohibitions formerly enacted. States that now mandate displays of the Ten Commandments in classrooms are doing so in defiance of established laws. Schools that allow students to attend Christian Bible classes in the school day, but during free periods, even if held off campus, are also skirting the law. These practices do not consider the coercive nature and the pressures placed on parents or children who might not go along or who have differing beliefs. They do not respect the child who is Jewish, Muslim, or Hindu, for example, who does not know how to step back when their teacher asks them to join such groups. There are no reasons for these classes to take place during the mandated classroom hours, apart from the logistics of having a captive audience easily swept in and becoming the camel’s nose under the tent.

According to a study done in 2023 by PRRI, White Christians comprise 41% of our populace, and “no religious affiliation” is 27%. Christians of color (Black, Hispanic, Native American, and Asian Christians) total around 25% while religions such as Jewish, Buddhist, Muslim, and Hindu are among the remaining 6%. Basically, then, as these stats show, about one-third of the US population are not members of a white Christian demographic.

PRRI notes a more in-depth portrait below.

“The majority of both major political parties identify as Christian. However, Republicans (84%) are 25 percentage points more likely than Democrats (59%) to do so. The biggest difference in the religious makeup of self-identified Republicans and Democrats is the proportion of white Christians, compared with Christians of color and the religiously unaffiliated. Seven in ten Republicans (70%) identify as white and Christian, compared with just 24% of Democrats. Among Republicans, 30% are white evangelical Protestants, 20% are white mainline/non-evangelical Protestants, and 17% are white Catholics. Among Democrats, those numbers fall to 4%, 10%, and 10%, respectively.”

“By contrast, 16% of Democrats are Black Protestants and 11% are Hispanic Catholics, compared with just 1% and 5%, respectively, among Republicans. Similar shares of Republicans (4%) and Democrats (3%) identify as Hispanic Protestant. Democrats (33%) are nearly three times as likely as Republicans (12%) to identify as religiously unaffiliated.”

There is an old saying that ‘your rights end where my nose begins’. While we all may practice our beliefs; no one should interfere with that freedom; however, no one should try to force you into their belief system.

My America respects all beliefs and stays away from those who hate, denigrate, or taunt others. Is your America celebrating our nation’s diversity and moving forward like mine? Let’s make that happen!

Til next week- Peace!

Saddened, but not Surprised

 

“They’re eating your cats and dogs!” This was the slur against the immigrant Haitians brought here initially by employers looking to staff the manufacturing needs of a small town in Ohio called Springfield. PBS profiled the town and its issues here. According to the program, over 700,000 Haitians fled their troubled country for the US in recent years and were granted temporary work visas. The influx in Springfield alone numbers over twelve to fifteen thousand people who arrived over the last half-dozen years. Of course, in a mid-western town of mostly white residents, the French or Crole-speaking Haitians, only some of whom also speak English, stand out. The city has struggled to provide necessary services for them but is working to assist their assimilation. And, contrary to other reports, the crime rate has not increased. This community did not heed the notoriety provided by this pet-stealing rumor, which has been denied by local authorities and the Ohio Governor, Mike De Wine.

If you watched the debate, cable news, or looked at Facebook feeds, this topic was prominent across multiple media sources and promoted on X. Initially, cable reports repeated the rumor, then it was magnified by VP candidate J. D. Vance, and embellished on the debate stage and in campaign speeches by the Republican nominee. Why is this such a big deal? Because, to the right, rumors such as this meet their goals of creating divisions, striking fear of others different from oneself, and making immigrants the scapegoats for all they perceive as wrong with our country.

Shouldn’t we expect our leaders to be better than this? I believe they should try to elevate our discussions considering how, by working together, we can make this a better and more prosperous country for all of us. You know the saying, “a rising tide lifts all boats.”

But, instead, we hear again the same tired playbook used when DJT came down the escalator denigrating Mexicans and others at the borders. And, when he took office, it was the same refrain used when he set up the now rescinded Muslim bans.

Just a few weeks ago, it was used against Venezuelans in Aurora, Colorado who were attacked by gangs from their country. And contrary to reports, they were not taking over apartment buildings; the issue instead was more about a slumlord who did not want his complex condemned and some local crimes. Because of the continued violence and suppression in their country, Venezuelans can apply for temporary protected status (TPS), visas, and asylum with certain restrictions.

(Since both Republican candidates have been in government, they should each have known about these regulations and should not have demagogued them.)

According to Denverite:

“Aurora Police acknowledged recently they have received complaints of stolen rent at three affected apartment complexes. Police also said on Wednesday that they have identified and arrested several of the gang’s members.”

“There has been a lot of misleading information shared about what is happening in our city,” city spokesperson Luby said. “Aurora is a safe community. Media have conflated and considerably exaggerated incidents that are isolated to a handful of problem properties alone. Mayor Mike Johnston told 9NEWS’ Kyle Clark that the presence is much less significant than that of American street gangs like the Bloods or the Crips. Both gangs have been tied to acts of violence in both cities for decades and continue to have a strong presence in the metro area.”

And, according to the New York Times,

“Before Springfield, Ohio, before the misinformation about devoured pets and the memes of Mr. Trump rescuing ducks and kittens, there was Aurora, pop. 404,219, supposedly overrun by the violent Venezuelan street gang, Tren de Aragua. Those claims became a cause célèbre for the right-wing media, and ultimately a key focus of Mr. Trump’s anti-immigration repertoire as he escalated his attacks on immigrants as part of his campaign’s effort to capitalize on voter concerns about the southern border crisis.

But the story has taken on a life of its own. Mr. Trump placed Aurora front and center on Friday in his plans for mass deportations if elected.

“We’re going to have the largest deportation in the history of our country,” Mr. Trump said at a news conference at Trump National Golf Club in Rancho Palos Verdes, Calif. “And we’re going to start with Springfield and Aurora.”

There have already been real-world consequences to the fear-mongering, exaggerations, and outright lies spreading on the internet and the campaign trail about the situation. Last month, the city shut down one of the buildings, Fitzsimons Place apartments, at the center of the controversy, emptying it of nearly 200 inhabitants — many, but not all, of them migrants and recent arrivals. City officials and police officers arrived at 7 a.m. Aug. 7, the first day of school, to announce that the residents of 1568 Nome Street had six days to clear out.”

 

I noticed a cartoon in the Washington Post by Joel Pett this week which you can see here. It shows a migrant family with a caption that says:

 

(Undocumented migrant voting schemes)

 

“Let’s abandon our families, blow all of our money, sneak into the US, then commit a crime that will get us all sent back.”

 

I think this shows the absurdity of the claims that President Biden let in immigrants to get them on the voting rolls and the measures that the Republicans are trying to pass in Congress forbidding immigrants from voting. The United States has long required that proof of citizenship be required for all Federal elections. What should, instead, be looked at in my opinion, is the expanded voter suppression in many southern states, purging of voter rolls, refusal to re-enroll former felons and voter intimidation. Just last week it was reported that police in Florida were being sent to the homes of people who signed to petition the abortion rights measure for the November ballot and validate their signatures. That should not be the procedure for petition signers.

 

One of our most precious rights is the right to freely and secretly cast our ballots. Continuing to sow doubts about this process undermines our democracy. Face it, the fewer people who cast knowledgeable ballots, the more victories for those who want to win by subterfuge, and lies. So, distorting the process, and suppressing the vote are tactics that have been used before; it is said that some officials are going to refuse to allow the legal certification of votes and some states will go to court and challenge the results, delaying a final tally. So, put on your seatbelts, this might be a rocky ride. But, I hope our process will be strong enough to survive any challenges and that the Supreme Court will not be the decision-makers. And, if the vote is as lopsided as it should be, there should be no doubt about the results.

 

Absentee ballots will be mailed out soon in many states. Since deadlines are fluid from year to year, get yours returned right away, using a drop box if possible over mailing. As we get closer to Election Day, the claims above will probably seem miniscule, so brace yourselves for much worse. Because of the Electoral College, this election most likely will be close. If, despite years of propaganda, all concerned Americans take a deep look and get out there and vote, we will choose a candidate who cares about us and not just himself.

 

“Til next week-Peace!