"The kids are not ok"

Today I went to give a climate talk at my old high school in Geneva — and was given a masterclass in our failings. This is the story of a day that shook me up.

I have given climate talks at high schools before. In 2019, I was invited by the first Geneva climate strikers to go around the high schools on the morning of their first strike. I went, with a friend, racing on our bikes from school to school to school, as many as we could reach during the morning. Back then, the mood was electric, excited, engaged. The students had taken control of the agenda: they were going to put the concerns and needs of their generation front and centre. They were going to get things moving. There were lots of questions on climate science, projections, impacts, actions. Everyone was excited to take part, to learn.

Fast forward three years (and a pandemic) later, and the mood could not have been more different. I sensed it as I was speaking, a general muttering in the auditorium full of 16–17-year-olds, that sometimes ebbed a bit, but never really went away. I thought the students might be bored by the specific aspects I was talking about. Sources of emissions, trends, specific impact probabilities, types of mitigation actions … I raced through the topics, hoping to reach one they would be interested in. And at the end, during the Q&A, it finally came out.

https://jksteinberger.medium.com/the-kids-are-not-ok-c518fffb475

We need to give them more hope and direction for actions

over the anti-gay bigotry the right is pushing. Endless tweets from the worst possible people.

The conservatives attacking her with gross lies and distortions and their anti-gay bigotry makes me so incredibly angry.

I won't link to their crap but here is one of the few decent tweets I saw about her comments and emotional response.

https://twitter.com/MarkRuffalo/status/1516772417854652424?s=20&t=PRuCdfPLB4B8PfNjgf89Tw

Why do Americans love it so much? It really is a problem.

Is it just a matter of it being more easy to access and they get used to it over time or is there something deeper about it?

Frightening! Fascism at work.

Civil rights groups have filed a lawsuit against political canvassers, some of them armed, who pounded on voters’ doors in Colorado with questions about what they claimed was a rigged presidential election.

Interrogating residents about baseless claims of election fraud and photographing their homes amounted to a “voter intimidation campaign” in violation of the post-Civil War Ku Klux Klan Act, alleges the suit filed in U.S District Court in Colorado by the NAACP, the Colorado League of Women Voters of Colorado and Mi Familia Vota.

The suit accuses the U.S. Election Integrity Plan, which organized the canvassers, and three of its leaders of violating the Voting Rights Act through “intimidating, threatening and coercive conduct,” often in neighborhoods with a high number of people of color. It asks the court to declare the canvassing intimidation and harassment, and to order it stopped.

The canvassers often display badges, the lawsuit says, and are encouraged to carry weapons. They confront voters “for allegedly casting fraudulent ballots” and take photos of people’s homes, according to the suit.
The group uses such tactics across Colorado and in several other states, the suit says. It was founded by supporters of former President Donald Trump after he lost the 2020 election and began spreading his widely debunked lies about election fraud. Funders, according to the suit, include MyPillow guy Mike Lindell, a prominent promoter of Trump’s bogus claims.

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/colorado-voter-intimidation-lawsuit-naacp_n_62396cb5e4b009ab92fc9673?ncid=NEWSSTAND0001

Worth a laugh: Giuliani Says ‘Genius’ Trump Threatened To Blow Up Putin’s ‘Gold Bubbles’

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/giuliani-trump-putin-gold-bubbles_n_6237fd5fe4b046c938dd76bc?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter

https://twitter.com/RachelBitecofer/status/1504503949092540432

Great responses to the tweet too

I ALLUDED TO THIS in my earlier post on my list of military analysts. We’re seeing lots of imagery of downed plans, shattered tanks, captured tanks, often with detailed information about where and how they were destroyed. But that flood of information often leaves us — even if we don’t know it — unclear on the big picture. This thread notes that many of us are getting an incomplete view of the situation in Ukraine because Ukraine’s (and its supporters’) social media efforts have been so effective. The issue here isn’t deception or misinformation, though there’s certainly some of that. It’s that the supporters of Ukraine are doing a very effective job surfacing imagery every time the Ukrainian army scores a tactical victory — destroying a tank, shooting down a plane. And we’re seeing much less of the fact that Russia is continuing to make progress on the ground — just slowly. Maybe very slowly. But they are making progress.

As the thread I noted puts it, “the view of the war that we are getting from expertly curated UKR IO is giving a lot of folks an impression of not only RUS incompetence but also UKR dominance.” The account’s judgment is that if Russia is willing to endure the battlefield casualties and the full weight of the economic sanctions they can probably eventually conquer Ukraine. Whether that’s an accurate prediction is way above my pay grade. It’s hard to get this balance just right. I think the point is that the Ukrainian military is wildly over-performing and the Russian military is beset by a level of logistics breakdown that appears to be stunning to the most knowledgable people. But don’t go from the mix of over-performance and under-performance to the idea that Ukraine is winning in purely military terms or that Russia can’t slog it out.

(snip)

But one thing that comes up again and again in war reportage out of Ukraine are individuals and regions that were generally more aligned toward Russia doing an about face toward a Ukrainian nationalism that is deeply anti-Russian and generally looking to Europe for protection. Some of this is likely a version of a rally-around-the-flag effect. And while bombs are falling there’s probably little public room for public expressions of anything but antipathy toward Russia. But it’s hard to believe the ferocity and intensity of this onslaught won’t be a defining experience for a generation of Ukrainians. War on your own territory will do that.

It is another example of something you see in every dimension of this. As outsiders to Great Russian nationalism it’s hard for Americans to evaluate the importance that Vladimir Putin and many other Russians attach to reuniting Ukraine with Russia. But even though Russia may still win this war, it’s hard to imagine a greater strategic catastrophe either economically or militarily. If Russia conquers Ukraine it seems likely to be a restive and hostile population that will be hard to control or hold. Fighting a domestic insurrection will only further drive Ukraine into eventual economic union and military alliance with the rest of Europe. The NordStream 2 gas pipeline project that seemed like an inevitable has already be ditched and the company behind it has filed for bankruptcy. It’s not impossible to imagine a Russian climbdown or withdrawal that would include removing many of the sanctions that are crippling the Russian economy. But it’s difficult to imagine a return of the pipeline project any time soon or maybe ever. Meanwhile, far from resetting or upending the post-Cold War security regime in Europe, Putin has put it on steroids. The key NATO member states are pledging dramatic increases in military spending and falling over themselves to reinforce NATO’s eastern frontier. The future that is coming into view is pretty dark for everyone. But it’s a nightmare scenario for Russia.

https://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/a-ukraine-miscellany

https://twitter.com/ChristopherJM/status/1498707856178167808?s=20&t=OQvl5mWd9PxkZdqEyEF4Hw

https://twitter.com/ZelenskyyUa/status/1498697538085568514?s=20&t=OQvl5mWd9PxkZdqEyEF4Hw

This piece addresses something that I've been curious and frustrated about for a long time-- why Trump hasn't been prosecuted for the Mueller report obstruction counts-- is really important and worth a read.

TL;DR-- Bill Barr screwed it all up & he also interfered with the prosecution of other crimes by Trump. Barr did this in a way that makes it very difficult for the DOJ to revisit those charges.

Also John Durham continues to blow smoke around and screw up the prosecution of other Trump-related crimes.

https://www.emptywheel.net/2022/02/10/on-unrealistic-expectations-for-mueller-report-obstruction-charges/

G.O.P. Declares Jan. 6 Attack ‘Legitimate Political Discourse’

The Republican National Committee voted to censure Representatives Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger for participating in the inquiry into the deadly riot at the Capitol.

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/02/04/us/politics/republicans-jan-6-cheney-censure.html?smid=tw-nytimes&smtyp=cur

We've learned that Trump...
* fully intended to "overturn" the 2020 election
* wanted to seize voting machines
* wants to pardon 1/6 rioters and cop beaters

The Republican National Committee's response? To punish the only two Republicans who think this has no place in their party-- they censored Cheney and Kinzinger.

UNFUCKINGBELIEVABLE.

Or maybe it is all too believable for this party of traitors.