DL Open Thread: Friday, May 10, 2024
Let Your Grass Grow. Not that kind of grass. Anybody who’s driven past my yard knows why I draw inspiration from this piece:
Your vibrant green lawn may look lush, but it’s actually an ecological wasteland.
“The idea for that ideal lawn is that nothing else can live in it,” said David Mizejewski, a naturalist with the National Wildlife Federation, a nonprofit conservation organization. “It’s like a dense, eternally green carpet.”
But let your grass grow a few inches, and some of that wildlife starts coming back. This is the idea behind the “no mow” movement, a push across the United States and Britain to stop the use of herbicides, pesticides and gas-guzzling mowers during the month of May.
I urge you to read this. Not (merely) on behalf of slovenly lawns, but on behalf of sustainable ecosystems.
Florida Cops Do What Florida Cops (And Plenty Of Cops Elsewhere) Do. Enter the wrong apartment, kill Black man:
Senior Airman Roger Fortson, a 23-year-old U.S. service member, was fatally shot on May 3 after the Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office claimed a deputy responding to a call about a disturbance in progress “reacted in self-defense after he encountered a 23-year-old man armed with a gun.”
Turns out there was no domestic disturbance. Police spokesman doesn’t anyone jumping to conclusions:
“At this time, we humbly ask for our community’s patience as we work to understand the facts that resulted in this tragic event,” Aden said.
Last week when the sheriff’s office said the deputy reacted in self-defense after encountering an armed man, the office did not offer details on what kind of disturbance deputies were responding to or who called them.
The sheriff’s office also declined to immediately identify the responding deputies or their races. Officials said earlier this week that the Florida Department of Law Enforcement and the local State Attorney’s Office will investigate the shooting.
Oh, the cops and a state attorney from Okaloosa County will investigate. At least we know that that will be transparent and above-board. I’m calling it: No officer is going to jail for killing an innocent black man.
‘For $1 Billion, I’ll Give You’…freedom from all those pesky green initiatives. Thus saieth President Poopy-Pants to Petroleum Environmental Despoilers. (Which one smells worse? I report, you decide.) Hey, corporations are people. Those who try to live on this planet are mere afterthoughts:
Former President Donald Trump is more than happy to fulfill the oil and gas industry’s wish list if he’s reelected — but he has an asking price.
Trump reportedly solicited top oil and gas executives to give $1 billion for his campaign to return to the White House, vowing in return to undo many of President Joe Biden’s green energy policies if he is elected in November.
Trump hosted the country’s top fossil fuel CEOs at his Mar-a-Lago club in Florida last month when he “stunned” executives with the ask, according to The Washington Post. The $1 billion sum would ultimately be a “deal” for the fossil fuel industry, Trump reportedly told the executives, because of the money they would save with him in office. An anonymous industry source told the Post that Trump is likely to get some funds.
The oil and fossil fuel industry has long made its alliances with the Republican Party, which generally supports and promotes fossil fuels. Ahead of the 2024 election, the industry has been drawing up “ready-to-sign” executive orders for Trump if he wins the presidency, aimed at expanding natural gas exports and increasing offshore oil leases, Politico reported this week.
BTW, if you search The Google, you will find several incidents where Trump allegedly, um, expelled matter from his fecal cavity while in the middle of something important. Including a meeting with Turkish despot Erdogan, and during a ’60 Minutes’ interview, among others. Those poor Secret Service agents–whipsawed from Trump Stench to Biden’s attack dogs. Give ’em a raise.
Climate-Friendly Beef? Until cows start burping oxygen, I don’t think it’s happening. How does the USDA approve such a label?:
In late 2022, Tyson—one of the country’s “big four” meat packers—applied to the US Department of Agriculture, seeking a “climate friendly” label for its Brazen Beef brand. The production of Brazen Beef, the label claims, achieves a “10 percent greenhouse gas reduction.” Soon after, the USDA approved the label.
Immediately, environmental groups questioned the claim and petitioned the agency to stop using it, citing livestock’s significant greenhouse gas emissions and the growing pile of research that documents them. These groups and journalism outlets, including Inside Climate News, have asked the agency for the data it used to support its rubber-stamping of Tyson’s label but have essentially gotten nowhere.
“There are lots of misleading claims on food, but it’s hard to imagine a claim that’s more misleading than ‘climate friendly’ beef,” said Scott Faber, a senior vice president at the Environmental Working Group (EWG). “It’s like putting a cancer-free label on a cigarette. There’s no worse food choice for the climate than beef.”
A USDA spokesperson told Inside Climate News it can only rely on a third-party verification company to substantiate a label claim and could not provide the data Tyson submitted for its review.
Well. That certainly seems like an adequate exercise in due diligence. Merely a reminder that the USDA exists to promote, not to regulate, US agriculture.
What do you want to talk about?
If we’re gonna use nom de plumes, (or are they noms de plume), let’s not make ’em dirty. OK?
Good thing you don’t have an HOA!
Did you intend the double-entendre, or, um, did it just manifest itself innocently?
Definitely innocently! I was referring to your yard, and how HOAs frown on nonconformity!
Figured. My question says a lot more about me (in an unflattering way) than it says about you.
For $1 Billion, I’ll Give You’…freedom from all those pesky green initiatives.
His self-centeredness and transparency are superpowers. They truly set him apart from all other politicians who need to constantly balance the concerns of various groups and try to make all of that balancing seem principled.
I just looked up the betting markets (IEM) for old time’s sake and Biden appears to be crushing Trump on popular vote, but Trump holds a slight lead in the EC.