The unimportant news thread

[AnotherSpin]

You clearly don't know your history.  Europe lost primacy in the Great War, ceding not only economic supremacy to the US (which occurred in 1890), but also de facto financial market supremacy as the erstwhile European "Great" Powers had to pay back American lenders. 

The op-ed is sloppily done, as is typical in the corporate press.  The headline should have been "Europe's Continued Decline Accelerates, Bringing Complete Subservience to the US Closer", and the content really should have been more happily servile in tone.  It really is quite delightful to watch the continued decline, which even you acknowledge is real.

If one looks one the wealthiest countries by century it's easy to see who dominated several centuries ago, and it wasn't Europe, much less America.

[Todd]

If one looks one the wealthiest countries by century it's easy to see who dominated several centuries ago, and it wasn't Europe, much less America.

Great powers rise and great powers fall.  A couple books have been written about it.

[AnotherSpin]

Great powers rise and great powers fall.  A couple books have been written about it.

No books needed to see that all things come and go, no thing stays unchanged.

[Todd]

From ICN: Carbon Offsets to Reduce Deforestation Are Significantly Overestimating Their Impact, a New Study Finds

A study in six countries across three continents finds that most carbon offsets aimed at avoiding deforestation are failing to keep forests standing or cut atmospheric greenhouse gases.

[DavidW]

I really think that this is the important bit that sums up the article as a whole:

Still, Jones added that overall, carbon offsets have a limited capacity for tackling climate change. Drastically reducing emissions is imperative for climate mitigation, while carbon offsets can have the negative impact of giving people moral license to continue business-as-usual emissions, she said, with companies problematically claiming "net zero" emissions based on carbon offset programs while continuing to emit greenhouse gasses.

Reducing deforestation is critical for combating climate change, as is reducing emissions, so a model that trades one for the other won't be wholly effective, Jones said. Offsetting does not reduce the need for urgent climate actions like the minimization of emissions, forest restoration and remediation, and conservation, she said.

[Todd]

I really think that this is the important bit that sums up the article as a whole:

Effectively reducing emissions requires some type of effective taxation (eg, a coordinated carbon tax) and reforestation requires massive wealth and income transfers from high-income economies to developing economies, as in trillions of dollars over decades.  (This would have to be part of an overall package of "ecological equity" policies.)  The policy solutions are well known, they are just politically impossible.  Expect (much) more greenwashing, continued deforestation, and increases in greenhouse gas emissions into at least mid-century.  As such, one can expect an uptick in sensationalist press coverage of natural disasters.  Natural disasters will continue to intensify for at least the rest of this century using best available data and models.  Current projections of 83 million excess deaths by the end of the century due to climate changes are probably way too low. 

In other words, it's too late to adopt policies that will result in demonstrable improvements in climate change in the lifetimes of most people currently considering the topic.  That makes it a harder sell politically.  Protecting notional grandchildren and great-grandchildren is not the motivator some people think it is.

[DavidW]

Sadly I really think that is the complete truth of it.  That won't stop certain newspapers from trying to create hysteria and guilt of private citizens that are not the main contributor to carbon emissions.

[Pohjolas Daughter]

I ran across this article earlier today.  It really makes you wonder about people.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-66628465

High-altitude heist shocks Switzerland

"Thieves in Switzerland have conquered one of the country's most challenging protected climbing routes.
They ascended to an altitude of 2,350m and traversed gorges on narrow steel cables - all to rob a collection box.
The box belongs to a local climbing club, which maintains Switzerland's longest protected climbing route on the Gemmi pass above Leukerbad village.
What has caused the biggest shock is that the donation box is accessible only to the most experienced climbers."

There's more to the story at the link above.

[Dry Brett Kavanaugh]

'I witnessed the best of America': remembering the March on Washington 60 years on.


https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/aug/26/march-on-washington-60-anniversary-martin-luther-king-civil-rights

[Karl Henning]

I really think that this is the important bit that sums up the article as a whole:

Thanks. That was worth reading. 

[Karl Henning]

I ran across this article earlier today.  It really makes you wonder about people.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-66628465

High-altitude heist shocks Switzerland

"Thieves in Switzerland have conquered one of the country's most challenging protected climbing routes.
They ascended to an altitude of 2,350m and traversed gorges on narrow steel cables - all to rob a collection box.
The box belongs to a local climbing club, which maintains Switzerland's longest protected climbing route on the Gemmi pass above Leukerbad village.
What has caused the biggest shock is that the donation box is accessible only to the most experienced climbers."

There's more to the story at the link above.

Wow!

[Todd]

Sunflower field owners ask visitors to stop taking nude photos

[LKB]

I ran across this article earlier today.  It really makes you wonder about people.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-66628465

High-altitude heist shocks Switzerland

"Thieves in Switzerland have conquered one of the country's most challenging protected climbing routes.
They ascended to an altitude of 2,350m and traversed gorges on narrow steel cables - all to rob a collection box.
The box belongs to a local climbing club, which maintains Switzerland's longest protected climbing route on the Gemmi pass above Leukerbad village.
What has caused the biggest shock is that the donation box is accessible only to the most experienced climbers."

There's more to the story at the link above.

That's a lot of trouble for a one-time heist which probably didn't amount to a huge sum. Boredom probably wouldn't provide sufficient motivation, perhaps the club angered someone into a desire for vengeance...

[Dry Brett Kavanaugh]

President Biden spent August trying to escape Washington.


https://www.cnn.com/2023/08/27/politics/biden-summer-vacation-maui-ukraine-2024-election/index.html

[Karl Henning]

 Japan launches XRISM, an uncrewed orbital probe that will measure incoming X-rays that originated from deep space

[Pohjolas Daughter]

Japan launches XRISM, an uncrewed orbital probe that will measure incoming X-rays that originated from deep space

Sounds quite interesting!

[LKB]

President Biden spent August trying to escape Washington.


https://www.cnn.com/2023/08/27/politics/biden-summer-vacation-maui-ukraine-2024-election/index.html

And yet, some people say he has cognitive issues...

[Karl Henning]

And yet, some people say he has cognitive issues...

Exactly!

[KevinP]

Meanwhile, Chicago's Fine Arts Building is losing its historic elevators. Worse: the new ones are going to be automatic, with buttons you have to press yourself and everything!


https://chicago.suntimes.com/entertainment-and-culture/2023/8/28/23848226/fine-arts-building-manual-elevators-will-be-replaced

[T. D.]

https://www.cnbc.com/2023/08/30/judge-orders-default-judgment-sanctions-against-rudy-giuliani-in-election-workers-lawsuit.html

Cue the melting hair dye and whoopee cushion.