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Rolla Peace News September 14, 2024 |
Dear Friends:Editor's notes:In this newsletter is: 1. THE MISFIT MATHEMATICIAN (Tom's column, http://tomsager.org) a) A Cowardly Way of Fighting b) On Eating Cats c) Election Meddling d) Gaza: the Atrocities Never End e) Climate Catastrophe Highlights A Cowardly Way of Fighting Modern warfare can be such a cowardly enterprise. You drop bombs from the sky on people who have no means to fight back. Where is the honor in that? If you are wealthy, you fight a proxy war. You arm others to fight your wars for you, while you cheer them on. Where is the honor in that? Nicolas J. B. Davies points out that humans have a natural aversion to killing other humans. They have to be trained to overcome this aversion. Even so, many will not fire at an enemy, even when they are in danger themselves. Our proxy wars in the Ukraine and Historic Palestine are not going well. Ukraine has all but lost the war against Russia. Palestinian guerrillas have held out and fought back for almost a year, and show no sign of folding, in spite of Israel's vast superiority, with US weapons which the guerrillas totally lack. So what's next? Artificial Intelligence. No need to fight and risk your life. A computer will do it for you, and likely lacks any scruples about killing humans. Fred Saberhagen, in his science fiction genre berserker stories, postulates an artificial intelligence that plies the galaxy with a single directive: Destroy all biological life. That, indeed, may be our future. On Eating Cats You hand in your ticket and you go watch the geekIn the above verse, “geek” refers to a carnival worker who makes his living eating disgusting things for the entertainment of carnival goers. To my knowledge, there are only two reasons why a person would eat a cat: To my knowledge, there are no verified instances of Haitians eating cats in Springfield, Ohio. However, Christopher Rufo has offered $5,000 for a verified instance of cat eating in Springfield, Ohio.1. They are paid to do it. Nevertheless, one in 11 people in the world today goes hungry. In Gaza, Israeli policy is to forcibly starve over two million people. Agriculture has been severely degraded due to climate change and destructive agricultural practices. I suspect that unless we turn this around, there will be a lot more people eating cats in the future. Election Meddling Vladimir Putin has endorsed Kamala Harris for president. Likely, Putin is aware that his endorsement would be considered in a negative light in the United States. Perhaps, he's secretly hoping that Trump wins. The White House has asked Putin not to meddle in US elections. Keep your preferences to yourself, whatever they may be. Well, what about AIPAC, The American Israel Public Affairs Committee? They have spent over $100 million influencing US elections in 2024, including millions to defeat ceasefire proponents Cori Bush and Jamaal Bowman. I wonder why the White House hasn't asked AIPAC to keep its money to itself and stop meddling in US elections. The United States has a long history of meddling in foreign elections. It not only endorses candidates in Venezuela, it funds them to the hilt. In The Ukraine, it supported the overthrow of the democratically-elected government in 2014, which has led to the disaster The Ukraine now faces. Gaza: the Atrocities Never End Israel dropped three Biden Bombs, 2,000 pound made in the USA bombs, on a tent city full of refugees in Gaza, incinerating many. Whatever the final outcome of this massacre, Israel will be known for decades throughout the world as a country of cruel, brutal people. And the United States will be known as a country that entertains itself by supporting and encouraging cruelty and brutality. Some Climate Catastrophe Highlights Global Temperatures Rising: With August 2024, we now have 15 months in a row with temperature anomalies higher then any previous month with that same name, respectively. The 12-month running average of global temperature anomalies is now, according to NOAA, 1.50°C above the 1850-1900 baseline. CO2 Concentrations Rising: The 12-month running average of CO2 concentrations in the atmosphere has reached 423.43 ppm, up from 423.16 ppm last month. Money Won't Protect You From Climate Change: Billionaire Mike Lynch's 180 foot yacht sank off the coast of Sicily in a freak storm, made more likely by climate change, drowning him, his daughter and four others. This is the first case that I am aware of, of the death of a billionaire with climate change as a probable contributing factor. Dubai Suffers Double Climate Disasters: This year Dubai suffered from two climate disasters. First, a storm that dumped a whole year's worth of rain on the city in one day. Next, a heat wave that brought wet-bulb temperatures (a combination of heat and humidity) that surpassed 60°C. Humans cannot survive long in this level of heat and humidity. Artificial Intelligence: Artificial Intelligence, like cryptocurrency mining, is energy intensive, requiring large quantities of computer power, adding to global warming. We might be better off putting all these resources into our schools and developing human intelligence instead. Many more recent climate highlights are listed here. Rolla Peace News is distributed by email once a week on Tuesdays (except on rare occasions) and is posted on the web at http://tomsager.org (click on Rollaites for Peace: near the top of rightmost column).Wage peace, Tom yushasager (at) yahoo.com |