Earth Day 2021: Earth Day to May Day

As yours truly blogged at Independent Political Report, ecosocialists within the Green Party have it exactly correct: Earth Day to May Day is the only way to look at April 20. Per Albert Einstein's famous comment about insanity, we cannot truly and fully address climate change within the same capitalist system that has foisted climate change on our planet in the first place.

At the same time, many libertarians in Green clothing, like nutter William Pounds and his ilk, hate this. They hate anything with a whiff of socialism. And, as libertarians, they hate anything with a whiff of the regulatory state, which is also needed. Voluntary collectives, especially when the European idea of "libertarian" that's behind "libertarian socialism" is twisted into the American idea of libertarianism, can't do it. And, many of them, like Chad Wilson, have other problems.

The Green Party is going to crack up anyway, between the Howie-haters / Jesse Ventura cultists (and Dario Hunter fellow travelers), on one hand, and so-called "trans activists" ("trans" by itself is not a word except as the first word in the name of an old GM car or an old airline, and "transgender" is not "transsexual") demanding everybody run them up the flagpole and salute them while booting the Georgia Green Party on the other. (None of this should be taken as implying that I agree with everything some Georgia GP representatives have stated, either on this issue or other issues.)

But, with or without party alignment, I can still fight for ecosocialism on Earth Day. (The SPUSA has its own bits of "trans activism" problems from what I've heard.)

We want pot! We want it legal! We want it now!

As Texas is now semi-surrounded by New Mexico's legalization of recreational marijuana, Oklahoma still looking at ersatz full legalization, and Arkansas having medical legalization, per my updated blog post about that, Pew Research says 91 percent of Merika wants at least medical legalization, and 60 percent want the full meal deal.

Related, to a degree? The NYT explains the backdrop of state laws banning hanging air fresheners from mirrors. It notes that's why Daunte Wright was stopped in Minnesota — the law is often a pretext wedge.

That said, I'd like to see a state learn from both booze and tobacco and legalize it, but only with labeling and with THC-prorated taxes.

By the first, I mean, just like cigs have to list tar and nicotine, pot has to list THC, AND it has to list it versus "ditch weed."

By the second, I mean that 20 percent THC would be taxed as much as twice as much as 10 percent THC. I'd even be open to putting a cap on max THC.

Coronavirus Week 54: Gaslighting in the name of science

The idea that surface contamination is a major factor in coronavirus transmission had been fading long before the CDC officially said: It largely taint so.

So, how did we get here?

At the Atlantic, Derek Thompson talks a bit about how some scientists had vested professional interest in the surface transmission area. So much so that they were engaging in gaslighting on the issue. Yes, gaslighting.

Zeynep Tufekci has the details, in a long read.

But, as with Fauci's Platonic noble lies, "we" really shouldn't be surprised. Scientists are human and pretending otherwise is the first step of engaging in scientism.

The NYT says we need to stop overworrying about COVID variants, at least as long as we're already vaccinated.

A pair of medical ethics professors says Johnson and Johnson vaccines never should have been paused.

As several states have dropped mask mandates and others consider it, Oregon may extend its version.

Lisa Gray highlights the work of a Houston woman who has helped over 500 people get vaccine appointments.

The rise of the nones and politics as the new religion

The rise of the "Nones" in America doesn't mean a decline in belief, per this from the Atlantic:

"(W)hat was once religious belief has now been channeled into political belief."

That said, there is no "god-shaped hole." There IS, rather, a "god-belief-shaped hole." The idea of a "god-shaped hole" is Augustinian bullshit.

The "nones" may indeed, per the SJW division of liberals (who are NOT leftists) may act in ways the second link states. But, with people acting like there is one, that may happen.

On the right, as the Religious Right had made the church politics in a way that the Black church really had not (and, in some ways, was forced to), with tied with the rise of Trumpism. So, they're already prepared for that.

What this will mean for the future? SJWs versus a more secularized version of the Religious Right, or the Religious White? A (non-lethal, we hope?) version of the Thirty Years War?

 

What the Atlantic really misses is that politics and religion in America both smack too much of tribalism in many cases, and that the Nones are just bringing a liberal tribalism to the political table. 

It also misses, per this great Politico piece about political activism in the Gilded Age, that politics as ersatz religion ain't necessarily new.

The reality of small-town values, part 1

Many White folk whose parents, or more likely, grandparents, lived in small towns are now moving back to them, as they become less isolated, and are now really exurban areas near growing metropolitan areas like the Dallas-Fort Worth Metromess.

They cite "better schools" and "small-town values" as reasons why.

I'll tackle "better schools" later. Let's look at some "small-town values" issues first.

First, income inequality can be as bad in a small town, even one of under 5,000, as in a big city. If just a few people are lucky to have oil wells, like many a small town in Texas, that's how it happens. Plus, the income inequality is in your face. Bill Gates' lakeside mansion may be half an hour away from downtown Seattle. The oil-funded 5,000 square foot rural mansion is next door, or nearly so.

And, that classism can pop up at school. At a small town school district, everybody's at the same high school and in the same class, and the rich kids can wave it in others' faces.

But, small town people are so honest, right?

Erm, three car burglaries in a month, with all of them involving cash and/or gunz that neighbors likely knew to look for.

Small town folks not paying what they should pay on the honor system for the local newspaper? Personally experience that one.

And, of course, in a small town that's not truly multi-ethnic, there's small-town racism. 

And, that is separate from the partially parallel issue of small-town insularity.

Texas progressives roundup: more on voting and Abbott Blackout

Per the header, those issues continue to lead the Texas Legislature's plate. (That said, there's plenty of other stupidity in the Lege, and plenty of lost opportunities on bills not considered.)

With that, let's dig in.

R.G. Ratcliffe says SB7 is a continuation of the Abbott-Whitley attempted voter purge of 2019.

Off the Kuff analyzes the big Senate and House voter suppression bills.

The Texas Civil Rights Project reminds us that there are other, smaller but still malicious voter suppression bills to watch out for. 

Progress Texas highlights the efforts to put pressure on the Legislature to reject voter suppression.

The Lege still refuses to require the RRC to require weatherization. My legiscritter, Drew Springer, protested at first on the Senate side, but then willingly accepted signing off on Charles Schwertner's head fake. I guess Drew really fell for the oil and gas bidness PR head fake. Meanwhile, ERCOT claims it has sovereign immunity from lawsuits, even though it's a private entity. Given some past history with the Texas Supremes, that may not play out legally. At the same link, ERCOT's insurer is claiming that this is legally NOT an act of god and that it should therefore be off the hook.

SocraticGadfly says that with new legislation on the table in Oklahoma and passed in New Mexico, Texas faces new pressure to liberalize its marijuana laws.

Stace is riding for Alzheimer's Research. Read about it, and, if you can, make a donation!

Emily Eby personally points out all of the bad things in voter suppression bill SB7.

Charles Luke opines against the proposed ban on local governments hiring lobbyists at the Legislature.

Judd Legum and Tesnim Zekeria get Honorary Texan status for the week for their deconstruction of Dan Patrick.

National

RIP to America's best attorney general at least since World War II, Ramsey Clark.

The NYT editorial board doesn't quite say the US should remove ALL Trumpian sanctions as part of restoring the Iran deal, but it comes close.

Yes, it's time to replace the 1953 Panmunjom cease-fire with an actual Korean peace treaty.

David Sirota's team thinks the DSA Roseys are actual socialists.