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Greetings Earthlings. We keep running across vague references to all the energy Artificial Intelligence (AI) uses and how bad it is for the climate but not much data. With that in mind we thought we'd share this short video investigative report from Business Insider for real world details. It seems AI may not be so intelligent after all. As always, we will bring on this week's Fool-on-the-Hill and "Those Whose Brains Were small" along with the ongoing reminder that "It's the Climate Crisis, Stupid!" and our disturbing collection "....of the Week" entries, but first it's time for.....Revenge of the Critters! A little bit of pre-Halloween fear here folks "A recent CDC report shows an alarming rise in drug-resistant "nightmare bacteria" in the U.S. Between 2019 and 2023"
Our Doublespeak of the Week belongs to one of the worst of the worst when it comes to being two-faced. Yes, it's none other than Repugnican Rep Josh Hawley, he of the infamous J6 raised fist in support of the insurrection that later found him running for his life in the riot. Here it is: "I call on the House to quickly pass this legislation [the Big B.S.Bill] and send it to [the] President's desk,” said Hawley via his news release. “But let me be clear, I will continue to do everything in my power to reverse future cuts to Medicaid. If Republicans want to be the party of the working class, we cannot cut health insurance for working people.” Yes, the bill in question is all about cuts to Medicaid and beyond.
This week's Fool-on-the-Hill is another repeat offender, His-not-so-holiness, Speaker of the House Mike Johnson who was challenged by Massachusetts Senator Ed Markey for not swearing in newly elected member Adelita Grijalva: “Speaker Johnson: Stop delaying her swearing in. Stop hiding the Epstein files. And start doing your job..” Grijalva is on record in "support for forcing a vote on a measure requiring the US Department of Justice to release its files on deceased sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, who was friends with [the] Republican President" Yes, the ever so sanctimonious Mike Johnson makes a fool of himself almost daily on The Hill by kicking the Ten Commandments under the bus but we can't seem to get enough of his sins. You? Pushback HERE.
Time for our "Their Brains Were Small and They Died" segment and about time we bunched the entire MAGA horde of dinosaurs into one vile pile. Let's start with this “We took the freedom of speech away,” [the] President boasted in his opening remarks at his “antifa roundtable” recently. Of course, there is no real group called "Antifa" though most of your grandparents were anti-fascists and for good reason; if it wasn't for them you'd be speaking German right now. That said, if you haven't figured it out yet most of the rabble in the White House actually are fascists and knowing that, feel compelled to try and repress and punish anyone who speaks truth to power. We have a pushback Action Link HERE for that lot. The worst of the worst is a dino who even looks the part. Read "Inside Stephen Miller’s Secret Plan to Normalize Trump’s Dictator Rule" in The New Republic if you have the stomach. It should be no surprise that "Miller appears to want Trump to invoke the Insurrection Act", in his twisted little mind it's like the Reichstag is burning. The good news is such schemes might not work and, of course, some day they'll all be gone. Here's another Action Link for good measure.
Speaking of good news, How about our Critter of the Week? What with Halloween just around the corner how about we honor the often maligned Black Cat? Cats.com tells us: "One cat breed only comes in black—the pantheresque Bombay Cat. Many other popular Cat breeds that come in a variety of colors come in black, whether solid or black with white markings. There are more than 20 different.. Cat breeds.." and some of them may be all black or not. Furthermore, "One study examined this so-called “black cat bias” and found that people think Cats with black coloring are less friendly and more aggressive than Cats of other colors. The study also found that people are simply superstitious—black Cats have a long history of being associated with bad luck, bad omens, and witchcraft. Black Cat lovers will tell you that all this is, of course, absolutely untrue." That said, more than a few witches still have black Feline friends.
So much for the often maligned, let's move on to the justly maligned, His Malignancy The Mad King.....but wait, we have #NoKings here in the USA! Yes, it's true but this guy in the Oval Office needs some convincing he and his ilk can't pull stunts like this we talked about in our last show. You may recall His Malignancy "released National Security Presidential Memorandum-7 (NSPM-7), titled “Countering Domestic Terrorism and Organized Political Violence.” NSPM-7 contains broad and vague language that could allow government agencies to monitor or penalize individuals and groups based on their beliefs rather than their actions." By the time you read this the #NoKings 2.0 actions will have captured headlines around the world and served to pump up the movement so much that some may believe it will soon be over for MAGA. Nah! Fascists don't fold so easily and it takes ALL OF US and the courts to put them in their place. For instance, His Malignancy is leaning on our institutions of higher learning to sign loyalty oaths; sadly some of them have caved to it, others? Not so much. Also , Project 2025 author, Russell Vought is circumventing the law and the role of Congress as a coequal branch of the federal government. He's His Malignancy's dark brain and must be forced out. The Prez and his evil clown show continue occupying our cities and threatening more of the same. On October 1, the MAGA freakshow "started a government shutdown. They refused to negotiate with Democrats to write a funding package that protects Americans' health and the climate and holds the...administration accountable for illegally blocking federal funds for our communities", all in Blue States of course. As expected, these so-call authoritarians (Fascists to be more accurate) are now talking about "Heritage Americans" out loud. Sounds like Nazi Volksgenosse from here! "Papers, please"? Not if we can help it: Stand Up/Fight Back!
All that AND we still must remind the Takers that "It's the Climate Crisis, Stupid!". Really?? Yes, and just now this report on forest destruction drops in time to note: " 'Efforts to protect forests don’t stand a chance as long as our economic system keeps rewarding quick profits from forest destruction,' said....a partner at Climate Focus. “To truly tackle deforestation, leaders must work collectively to implement bold, binding reforms that will transform the system that still generously rewards forest loss.” If only the powers that be here in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts would realize it. The Guardian news story goes on: "A separate report released by Global Witness found that banks have made $26bn from financing deforesting companies since the Paris agreement was signed in 2015 – averaging around $7m every day." It goes without saying His Malignancy is 100% onboard with trashing forests: “We are freeing up our forests so we are allowed to take down trees and make a lot of money. We have massive forests. We just aren’t allowed to use them because of the environmental lunatics who stopped us.” Please feel free to give the prototypical greed freak a piece of your mind via the U.S. Congress HERE. We guess The Mad King et al missed the recent memo: "Heat-trapping carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere jumped by the highest amount on record last year, soaring to a level not seen in human civilization and “turbo-charging” the Earth’s climate and causing more extreme weather, the United Nations weather agency said."
In the Enviro Show Echo chamber we go from "Good Old Intelligence" to a total lack of intelligence. How about micro radioactive nukes replacing old-school generators literally spread across the map by the Pentagon. What could possibly go wrong! And this: Speaking of nukes, how about Gov. Healey's nuclear dream of new nukes here in Massachusetts?? Go to Nukebusters site, watch the video, then Take Action. No Nukes!
Call today: House 617-722-2030 — Senate 617-722-1572
Tell them: Re: H.4144—Keep Democracy Alive! Remove Section 45!
Our Quote of the Week comes from one of the founders of AI:
On to our Bus Stop Billboard:
Weekly. Here's what appears to be Indivisible Northampton — Swing Left Western Mass's complete daily listing of all the pro-democracy events in WMass: https://in-slwm.org/wp-content/uploads/Calendar/cal.html And This: Western Mass General Strike is hosting drop-in sessions on Wednesdays, 6:00-8:00 p.m. at the Hadley Public Library for conversation and networking around general strikes and other forms of economic resistance. The next one is on Oct. 22! We also invite you to our general meeting on Tuesday, Nov. 4, 7-8:30, online. If you would like to get involved in organizing prior to that, contact us at wmgeneralstrike@proton.me.