A superyacht has 1,500 times the emissions of a family car

Yesterday I had discussed whether and how the “insurrection” clause of the 14th Amendment might be used to keep the nasty guy off the ballot. The Constitution says it is to be done but there is no guidance on how to do it. Here’s a step. An Associated Press article posted on Daily Kos begins:

A liberal group on Wednesday filed a lawsuit to bar former President Donald Trump from the primary ballot in Colorado, arguing he is ineligible to run for the White House again under a rarely used clause in the U.S. Constitution aimed at candidates who have supported an “insurrection.” The lawsuit, citing the 14th Amendment, is likely the initial step in a legal challenge that seems destined for the U.S. Supreme Court. It was filed on behalf of six Republican and unaffiliated Colorado voters by the group Citizens for Ethics and Responsibility in Washington. It will jolt an already unsettled 2024 primary campaign that features the leading Republican candidate facing four separate criminal cases.

Another AP article on Kos, this one from Barcelona, reported that climate activists spraypainted superyachts, blocked private jets from taking off, and plugged holes in golf courses. It’s a part of a campaign against the super rich and their emissions-spewing lifestyles. This is in addition to the protests of oil and gas corporations and the banks that invest in them. A luxury lifestyle disproportionately contributes to the climate crisis. The richest 1% would be responsible for 16% of emissions by 2030. Most of that is from luxury travel. A superyacht can emit more than 1,500 times a typical family car each year. But some see this focus on the superrich as a distraction that benefits the oil companies. We should be regulating Big Oil so that everyone will shift away from carbon based energy. Others say this activism is ineffective. Better to use regulations, such as France banning private jets for short journeys. The activists say shame still works. A report of Biden’s Labor Day speech got lost in my browser tabs. The report is by AKALib of the Kos community and includes a video and transcript. Here’s a bit of what he said.

When the last guy was here, he looked at the world from Park Avenue. I look at it from Scranton, Pennsylvania. I look at it from Claymont, Delaware. Under my predecessor, ‘Infrastructure Week’ became a punchline. On my watch, infrastructure means a decade, and it’s a headline. ... Guess what? The great real-estate builder, the last guy here, he didn’t build a damn thing. ... Let me say it loud and clear: Wall Street didn’t build America. The middle class built America, and unions built the middle class. We’re still a country that believes in honesty and decency and integrity. We’re still a country that believes in hard work and giving everyone a fair shot because we’re still a country that believes that every one of us is created equal. We’re still the beacon of the free world. Not a joke.

Here’s a bit of AKALib’s summary:

It’s a simple uplifting unifying honest speech that appeals to the good senses of the American people. The humor and mockery of TFG is not back-handed; it is dignified and it is interlaced with simple facts.

I appreciate that dignity. “TFG” means “The Former Guy” though many have a substitute for that middle word. Last Friday Kos of Kos wrote that Ukraine is getting annoyed with the criticism over how it is handling the war. Kos reviewed some of that criticism and explains how most of it doesn’t make sense or is way off base. We know Russia’s response to criticism – arrest the critics. So...

Ukraine has turned away from Russian-style repression, toward Western-style freedom. Putting up with critics, even the dumbest ones, is part of the price of admission. And it’s fine; Ukraine will be okay.

Last Sunday Kos wrote that a lot of Russian propaganda sources and a lot of Russian supporters here in the US are again pushing the idea that it’s time for negotiations to end the war. The big reason always touted is peace. Too much killing has happened already. Many sources add an undertone of NATO wanting more Ukrainians to die. The reason for the call for negotiations happening now is, of course, Ukraine making serious headway into liberating the occupied land bridge between Russia and Crimea. Negotiations now would allow Russia to keep it.

But of course, a peace in which Ukrainians remain in occupied territory, to be raped, murdered, and subjugated by the Russian occupation, is no peace at all. That can’t be tolerated any more than if Jason Voorhes from the Friday the 13th franchise moved into their living room, and everyone said, “let him keep it, for peace!” ... In the meantime, Russia continues to strike civilian targets instead of military ones, reminding the world that it really doesn’t pay to negotiate with terrorists.

On Monday Kos discussed the progress Ukraine is making. The photo at the top shows an artillery gun with an anti-drone cope cage. It looks like a frame made out of pipe with mesh and chains hanging from the pipe with tree branches woven in. It is protection against suicide drones. Protecting from those drones is an increasing priority. Much of the progress Ukraine is making isn’t movement in the front line. It is in shaping the battlefield.

While big recent Ukrainian gains have slightly quelled the “Ukraine is advancing too slowly” kvetching, Ukraine is still mostly shaping the battlefield—that is, creating the conditions for future successes.

Shaping the battlefield includes such things as taking out the biggest guns and interrupting supplies, such as food, water, fuel, ammunition, (and toilet paper). Prevent that from arriving and soldiers are hungry and ineffective and vehicles can’t move. The balance of artillery power has shifted. Ukraine can pound Russian positions and nothing is hitting Ukrainian soldiers. On Tuesday RO37 of the Kos community reported that Ukraine has breached the second defensive line, the Surovikin Line, near Robotyne. For my interests, RO37 goes into too much detail. So I’ll leave it at the main point. Charles Jay of the Kos community related the story of a Russian helicopter pilot who defected to Ukraine with his helicopter. This happened last month and revealed later. The pilot, Maxim Kuzminov, didn’t want to be a part of the “genocide against the Ukrainian people.” He recognized the propagandist’s lies for what they were. He saw how unified the Ukrainian people had become. So he contact Ukrainian authorities. They guaranteed his safety and would give him an award. Before the plan could proceed Ukrainian intelligence secured the safety of his family. Then on a mission close to the border he acted. The other two on board could do nothing about it – they don’t carry guns and weren’t trained as pilots. Once he landed and greeted by the locals the other two ran for the border and were likely killed. Ukraine gained a great deal of intelligence from the helicopter. Defecting with it was part of the deal. Ukraine learned about Russian aviation security and communications, as well as soldier morale and psychology. Mark Sumner of Kos discussed the question of why is Ukraine appearing to focus most of its efforts on Robotyne. Sure, it’s the shortest route to the logistics hub of Tokmak, but that route is quite heavily defended. So isn’t there an easier route? Short answer: No. Attempts were made at several places along the line and the perception they were easier was an illusion. And at this spot progress is being made. In today’s update Kos discussed what’s going on around Robotyne now. Some of what he mentioned: Russia laid a huge number of mines in front of their first line of defense. That kept Ukraine’s progress slow. But that number meant Russia didn’t have as many mines to lay in front of the second line and even fewer before the other lines. Ukraine can move faster. As a matter of doctrine Russia was fighting in front of its trenches, rather than in them. Now that Ukraine has taken a trench or two they are using them as intended and doing a good job of keeping Russia from retaking them. And Ukraine continues to do a very good job eliminating Russian artillery. Michael Harriot tweeted a thread, now in Thread Reader, about the black view of the shooting by a white supremacist at a dollar store in Jacksonville Florida that killed three black people. Harriot was agreeing with Qasim Rashid who said, “Let’s be clear—this wasn’t a random terrorist attack, it was the inevitable predictable result of state sanctioned white supremacy.” The history of racism in Jacksonville includes the third largest urban fire, which happened in 1901. The fire department saved most of the white homes and let the black neighborhoods burn. That included two historically black colleges. That fire is why this area is called New Town. The year before the fire James Weldon Johnson wrote the tune for his brother Rosamond’s poem about surviving the racial terror of Reconstruction. Because of the fire JWJ moved to Harlem and helped start the Harlem Renaissance. That song, “Life Every Voice and Sing,” became the Black National Anthem. After the Great Depression and WWII the New Deal and GI Bill helped the white parts of town improve. But those benefits were denied in New Town. White supremacist laws meant it remained poor. And through time it became a “food desert,” too poor to support the modern supermarket. The dollar stores moved in. Dollar General, Dollar Tree, and Family Dollar are more common than churches and check cashing places. These dollar stores claim to be discount stores, but they actually have lower quality goods at premium prices. They appear cheaper because the packages are smaller. But this is where black people have to go to buy food. And it is part of systemic racism.

Instead of about what they did TO BLACK PEOPLE, we should be talking about what they do FOR WHITE PEOPLE THIS is white privilege. WHITE people got their fires put out which gave them real estate and land boosted by government handouts which gave them MORE equity in their homes schools which gave them MORE resources which gave them economic security. But here's the important part: BLACK PEOPLE PAID FOR WHITE PEOPLE'S STUFF. They paid taxes for fire departments and GI bills and federal subsidies and a good public education system and WHITE PEOPLE GOT IT. No one cares about how white people FEEL about Black people. We want our STUFF. If we just had our stuff, there would be no Black neighborhoods, so there'd be no redlining, which means there would be no food deserts, which means it wouldn't cost MORE to be Black