November 26, 2018--National Climate Assessment

I for one want to thank the Trump administration for the sensitivity they showed by not publishing the latest "National Climate Assessment" until the day after Thanksgiving. 

By then at least half the turkey and stuffing I consumed had been digested and reading the report on only a half-full stomach kept me from you-know-what.

The work of 13 governmental entities, now Trump-led science and environmental entities, it is about as pessimistic and depressing as anything on the subject that I have encountered.

There is nothing to feel good about, almost nothing hopeful, and with Trump president for at least another two years, since, catering to his base, he will not agree to do anything that can slow down the doomsday climate clock, truly scary.

Half joking, when there has been a dire UN report or others by groups of concerned scientists, learning more about the unrelenting cataclysmic consequences of climate change, I have quipped, "Well, at least I'm old enough to be dead by then." 

In fact I will be, but now saying this is no longer just a quip.

Evidence of the potential political power of last Friday's release of the National Assessment is the fact that Trump attempted to bury it by having it published on the quietest news day of the year. When everyone is sleeping late, fighting off gastritis, watching football, or shopping  So there was nothing "sensitive" about circulating the report right after Thanksgiving. 

The administration's hope was that by today when things get ginned up again, along with Ivanka's emails, the results of the midterm elections, and Trump's spat with Chief Justice Roberts, it will already be old news. Which to Trump is almost as useful as labelling something threatening as fake news.

But the report about the climate got Rona and me talking more broadly about science. Particularly wondering why so many Americans, including pandering conservative political leaders, do not, as the press puts it, believe in science. "Believe" as if science is something theological. By this it is meant that these people, among other things, do not believe, as opposed to mobilizing actual facts, in evolution, cosmology, or any imputation that humans are contributing to global warming and the resulting storms and massive forest fires.

Some of this lack of belief is in fact theological. Many who do not believe in science believe that we are moving rapidly to Armageddon. A time when the world and all humans will come to the End. 

A striking number do not see these cataclysms to be undesirable but in fact, via highly-selective and distorted interpretations of the Bible, they welcome the eventual Second Coming of Christ and the ultimate Last Judgement when these folks expect they will be ushered into Heaven. 

Thus, the last thing they want is any interference in this divine plan. Particularly by governments or the "deep state," which to many is the work of the Antichrist.

Then there are others who reject science because of their lack of science literacy. They feel excluded from its methods and lessons because, sadly, they know almost nothing about science. Baffled and frustrated by relativity and quantum mechanics, which is understandable, they are even essentially untutored when it comes to knowing anything about Newton's more approachable universe.

Science, then, also contributes to the great educational and cultural divide that separates Americans by educational attainment, culture, and socioeconomics. To passionately reject science is one response by those who have been labeled deplorables or, in fear and ignorance, some claim, cling to guns and God.

And then, ever suspicious of liberals' alleged push to have big government intrude more and more in people's lives, limiting their freedom, many conservative extremists see environmental science as conspiring to tell Americans how to live. From what kind of cars to drive to forcing people to give up incandescent light bulbs. It gets that specific.

And so here we are with many of us feeling fortunate that we will have passed on well before an actual, non-millennialist End. 

But what then about our children and grandchildren? 

Put pushing back against these anti-science forces at the top of your political to-do list. I know it's a long list but . . .

October 3, 2106--Armageddon

It surprised me the other morning when Jack said that we are approaching Armageddon.

He's as solid a citizen as there is, totally rational, totally secular, totally progressive. He of all people was talking this way?

It might have been a response to what Joe said. Joe, a Trump supporter from even before Donald formally announced he was running for president.

"I'm for him," he responded when I challenged him at that time, "because he knows how to get things done." This before the full extent of how he actually "gets things done" was well known.

On Thursday Joe said, "If Trump loses the election, or even if he wins, I predict there will be a civil war within 20 years."

"Are you being serious?" I asked, "Or just wanting to be provocative now that your boy is on the path to defeat?"

"I'm being serious. There's so much dissension, so many angry people on all sides, race relations are heading for an explosion. And then there are all those rich people while everyone else is struggling and falling behind."

That's when Jack said that about Armageddon.

"You agree with Joe?" I was incredulous. This is the first time Jack agreed with him about anything, You think we're headed for a civil war?"

Jack who was sending money to Bernie before Hillary won the nomination and since then has been a fervent supporter of hers was being serious, which caused me to be concerned. Not about him but about the possibility of what they both were predicted.

"You talking Armageddon because of what Joe said about race and economic inequality?"

"Basically yes. And of course they're related. On a collision course."

"This feels very pessimistic. You tend, as most liberals, to be optimistic because as a liberal you think things can be improved by human intervention. Including by governments."

"In general that's true. But even progressives are fed up with governments. Yes, there are some things that are working well. For me, at my age, that includes Medicare. Though I know it among other things is bankrupting the country. When the due-bills arrive, that's when Joe's prediction will come true. When the money runs out and people don't get their medical care or Social Security. Then, watch out."

"He's right," Joe jumped back in, surprised to find Jack agreeing to anything he had to say. "It may be a trivial example, but have you driven on the roads lately?"

"Obviously. Even to get here to the diner."

"Didn't you tell me that because of the condition of the roads you had to get your tires aligned three times in eight months? And that you had to replace all four tires after a year and a half? Michelins? How much did all that set you back?"

"For all of it," Rona said, "more than a thousand."

"Who is responsible for the roads?" Joe asked.

"I guess the county."

"And what is the county?" Not waiting for me to answer he said, "Government that's what it is. Government."

"Your point?"

"Among other reasons, that's contributing to making people crazy. Fortunately for you you can come up with the thousand, but for a lot of folks, including right here, that's a month's take-home pay. And then, like it or not, agreeing with me or not, when they see people with food stamps and subsidized heat, and all that, the resentment builds and will, as I said, boil over when things get scarcer and more unequal. Civil war, pure and simple."

"Armageddon pure and simple," Jack chimed in not smiling so I knew he was being serious.

When later in the day I told another, even more progressive friend about this, he pulled me close to him and whispered, almost  as a non sequitur, "We never should have sent troops to Iraq or anywhere else in that region. What we should have done, what we should do, is announce that anyone that attacks Israel will get nuked."

Incredulous, I said, "Nuked? That would lead to Armageddon, wouldn't it?"

He thought for a moment, shrugged, and said,"That's where we're we headed anyway so . . ."

April 23, 2015--The Rapture

Here's why we have to hope Michele Bachmann has a seat in the Republican clown car. Yes, we'll have The Donald and perhaps Herman Cain, but without her things will not be the same.

Here's why.

The Huffington Post reported the other day that in a radio interview with Jan Markell, host of End Times, the former congresswoman predicted that the Rapture is very near and it's all Barack Obama's fault.

The Rapture, as you know, is something many messianic Christians believe will mark the beginning of the End Times, Armageddon, the rule of the Antichrist, the destruction of nonbelievers, and after 1,000 years of violent suffering, the Second Coming of Christ, the Last Judgement, and God's eternal kingdom.

All this is Obama's fault?

I know some on the delusional fringe have called him the Antichrist, though with Hillary Clinton emerging as a possible president, some are now seeing her in that role. (Ironically, on these eschatological matters they appear to be able to view things in more gender neutral ways than most other issues.)

Bachmann laid out the case against Obama--it is all about his Middle East policies, especially his alleged mistreatment of Israel. She said: "If you look at the president's rhetoric, and if you look at his actions, everything he has done has been to cut the legs out of Israel and lift up the agenda of radical Islam." And thus because of him, “We need to realize how close this [countdown to End Time] clock is getting to the midnight hour.”

What she didn't spell out, but which is understood by Millennialists, is the requirement that all Jews return to Greater Israel, convert to Christianity, and through those actions set in motion the events that will lead to the Rapture and all that follows.

Those Jews who do not convert, alas, will be slaughtered. This unique role assigned to the Jews is why those who believe this are such strong supporters of Israel. It is not because Israel is the lone western democracy in the region. It is because of what the Jews and Israel must do to help bring about the ultimate Second Coming.

But here's what I do not understand--

Why, if these events are foretold and, to these believers, will intimately lead to Christ's return, the Last Judgement, their salvation, and the eternal Kingdom of God, why are Obama's polices, which are supposedly advancing their unfolding, a bad thing? Shouldn't Bachmann and those like her feel hopeful and thankful about what Obama is helping to bring about? Is the Rapture, which his policies are supposedly advancing, a bad thing or a good thing?

As I understand the Millennialists, the Rapture is a very much a good thing since it not only is the initial indication that End Times are coming but also true believers (and I assume this includes Michele and her pray-away-the-gay husband) would be Raptured. That is, at the very beginning of The End, they will be whisked up to heaven, leaving all and everything behind, including their neatly-stacked clothing and jewlery.

So I am confused--if Obama is playing such a crucial role in all of this, instead of excoriating him, shouldn't Bachmann and her co-believers be expressing their appreciation for all he is doing?

You see, then, why I am so eager for her to make another run at the presidency. It is only during the debates that all of this will get straightened out. Minimally, it would also be good for a few laughs.