(re-post from earlier this year)

Dwain Northey (Gen X)

Let’s talk science and some hard reality 71% of the earths surface is covered with water only about three percent of Earth’s water is freshwater. Of that, only about 1.2 percent can be used as drinking water; the rest is locked up in glaciers, ice caps, and permafrost, or buried deep in the ground. Most of our drinking water comes from rivers and streams. According to global census the worlds population is 8 billion a number that is mind blowing.

The reality is that the wars of the 21^st and 22^nd centuries (if we last that long) will not be over oil or land they will be over Water and the way we keep burning fossil fuels and heating the planet the amount of fresh water is going to be less. Yes we are, on a global level, trying to convert our power consumption to zero carb emitting sources but that is not going to change population growth or the finite amount of water on the planet.

As much as we need renewable energy we need to develop new technologies to desalinate water. Saudi Arabia and the UAE are building desalination plants, but they are currently dependent on fossil fuels for the energy to produce potable water which in a zero-carbon future is unsustainable. The other problem I see is the ability to transport the water over large distances, we need to develop a reverse river that not only moves the water but also pull the NaCl (salt) out of the water.

Theoretically salt can be removed through filtration and ultimately via rainout, which is a process of boiling water and collecting the stream which is fresh water. Universities should have their best and brightest trying to solve this problem and do it with renewable energy.

This is my non-engineer potential solution to develop the technology in North America.

Build a pipeline that runs from Baja California through the Sonoran Desert and create a Lake Meade size lake in Southern Arizona. Yes, I am aware that the path goes through Mexico but I see that as a positive not a negative because of the cooperation between both countries and the jobs it would generate on both sides of the boarder. The initial portion of the energy needed to push the water east would be provided threw wave energy then via pumping stations using a combination of wind and solar, both of which the desert has plenty. The pipes themselves would have charcoal and sediment micro filters that would gradually remove the salt from the sea water and near the end of the line rainout would be employed using solar to finalize the process.

I realize this a grand plan but think of the amount of good that could be created with this process. The pipeline itself would be roughly 220km long and realistically would require a pumping station every 15-20km , if it is 20km that is 11 pumping stations. At those stations there could be understandable run off areas. In brackish water sustainable Bamboo, Coconut Palms, and other plants that can be used for bio fuels can be grown as well as Hemp which has a variety of positive uses. Also fisheries could be developed to harvest tilapia and salmon as well as a number of other fish. The fish could feed thousands and Bamboo forests in the desert would create a carbon sink that would help to slow global heating.

If our best mind could develop this technology, we could export it all over the planet and in our own way terraform areas that are currently unsustainable.

In the Immortal words of John Lennon,

You may say I’m a dreamer
But I’m not the only one
I hope someday you’ll join us
And the world will be as one

Let’s get to work on this a build a better world for the next generation.

Lyle Northey (Silent/Boomer)

  The world turns and yet it seems to be turning inside out. Why do we need Donald Trump.? He is the P T Barnum of the age. His skill is to fool as many people as possible with the largest profit to self and the largest loss to go to burn the entire town down and that will be fine with his followers. His followers are calling for citizen arrest of the AG of NY and the Judge that is sitting the case in NY. If it were suggested that someone arrest Trump we would be hearing how we cannot do that sort of thing.

   He can talk shit about whatever he wants to and he has a 1st Amendment right to do so, but no one has a right to speak badly of him, or his followers. They keep falling back on the Constitution but they intend to do away with it once they have the power to do so. What are they going to put in place of the Constitution?

   The most recent speeches Trump has given have called those that have opposed him vermin, and this is very much in the vein of what was done to dehumanize segments of the population so that attacking and killing them was considered acceptable. This was very common with Hitler and the Jewish  “Problem” as he termed it. So we have fighting in the “Holy Land” and someone has to start making comments to bring up more racial tension.

   This year on Veteran’s day he gets up and says things about how vets need all the praise they can get and blah blah blah, out the other side of his mouth. This is the same dude that called them losers and asked what’s in it for them when visiting Arlington. Would not go to the Cemeteries in Europe, did not want disabled veterans at the White House, insulted families of fallen soldiers, and is now supposed to be the great benefactor of veterans, what a pile of crap.

   He has spent a lifetime lying to everyone about everything. Bragging when he has had nothing to brag about and generally being an asshole of the most magnificent kind. His day is coming and when the time comes to pay the piper all the blusters in the world is not going to help. He has attempted to overthrow an election so that he could stay in power and his ego has kept that lie going. All of the people that were in that soup have decided that they do not wish to spend the rest of their lives in a jail cell to appease Donald Trump and his oversized ego. Hopefully the voters of this nation will also decide that they do not want to spend anymore time listening to the ego of any man that so obviously has his head up his ass whether he hails from New York or Florida or wherever.

Dwain Northey (Gen X)

It seems that the 21st century has become full of tipping points especially in the last few years, Political, Economic, Climate, you name it we appear to be on the preface to catastrophe on multiple fronts.

In the first half of the 20th century, the world reeled from one shock to another: World War I, the Spanish flu, communist revolutions, a Great Depression characterized by rival trade blocs, and a global geopolitical crisis generated by the Axis powers that resulted in World War II.

The question is do we set ourselves up for trauma and drama at the onset of a new century, is this a historic pattern? The early 19^th century had America as a fledgling nation coming out of a Revolutionary War and the Great Expansion, so maybe it isn’t coincidence that every 100 years or so we find ourselves in some predicament.

The tipping point that I am most concerned about now besides the rise of authoritarians is the climate. The falsity that permeates the discussion of ‘climate change’, ‘global warming’ or whatever you want to call it is that we are killing the planet. Earth is estimated to be 4.54 billion years old, plus or minus about 50 million years. This planet has survived through a multitude of ice ages and heat ups, asteroid collisions and it is still here. We on the other hand are a minor blip in the history of this third planet that circles the star closest to us, the spinning water filled planet will be here with or without the pesky species that currently thinks itself to be master of all they survey. We are not killing the planet we are shortening the period of time that this spinning cosmic rock provides an environment that our fragile life forms can survive on it. If we want to continue to have a home, we, collectively, need to solve the problem we created.

Tipping points are possible at today’s global warming of just over 1 °C (1.8 °F) above preindustrial times, and highly probable above 2 °C (3.6 °F) of global warming. The geological record shows many abrupt changes that suggest tipping points may have been crossed in ancient times. Artificial intelligence models provide new evidence our planet will cross the global warming threshold of 1.5 degrees Celsius within 10 to 15 years. Even with low emissions, we could see 2 C of warming.

The potential future effects of global climate change include more frequent wildfires, longer periods of drought in some regions, and an increase in the wind intensity and rainfall from tropical cyclones. Future changes are expected to include a warmer atmosphere, a warmer and more acidic ocean, higher sea levels, and larger changes in precipitation patterns. Scientists predict that melting sea ice and glaciers, as well as the fact that warmer water expands in volume, could cause sea levels to rise as much as 3.61 feet by the end of the century, should we fail to curb emissions.

All this being said, the goal of creating renewable sources of energy is more urgent than ever. Mankind has proven itself to be resourceful, but in recent history has also proved itself to be lackadaisical because of our current level of comfort. When we had to fight to survive, we proved as a species to be industrious and inventive, the downside was that with every improvement we made it made us more comfortable and thus lazy because the struggle didn’t seem real. The struggle for our kids and grand kids is going to get real and really fast, we need to get out of our comfort zone and use the big brains that we brag about having and find a way to solve the problems that our parents and grandparents created unintentionally while they were trying to provide a better future for us.

Dwain Northey (Gen X)

The polarization of our political environment has become toxic and the reason that I can surmise for that is the words that are used and the emphasis or ignorance of context.

In 2016 Hilary Clinton called Trump and his fervent legions ‘A Basket of Deplorables’, we all remember that statement that to the MAGA minority was paramount a literal slap in the face. “How dare Clinton refer to a group as deplorable?”  The exact quote was, “You know, to just be grossly generalistic, you could put half of Trump’s supporters into what I call the basket of deplorables. Right? The racist, sexist, homophobic, xenophobic, Islamaphobic—you name it. And unfortunately there are people like that. And he has lifted them up.” The MAGA media did not specify the groups that Cliton was labeling as deplorable, their reporting was that all Trump supporters were Deplorable. Pure case of emphasizing the comment and ignoring the context. I don’t know about you, but the groups Clinton specified I believe are truly Deplorable and I am sure that I could throw a few more into the bucket.

Also, in 2016 when Hilary lost the Electoral College but won the popular vote, republicans told democrats that we should just get over it we lost. In 2020 Trump lost by a sizable margin in both the Electoral Collage and the popular vote the cry went out that the election was rigged and stolen and 3 years later we are still hearing about it. What happened to ‘you lost get over it’?

Snowflake is another word that has been bandied about Republicans calling anyone who disagrees with them Snowflakes. This is rich considering that the group telling everyone else they are snowflakes cries foul at the slightest mention of anything that bruises their delicate sensibilities, to include challenging their belief that everyone should have a gun (unless your black, Muslim or Hispanic), that democrats want to abort babies after they are born, or that the fetus has more rights than the woman carrying it. It is sacrilege to challenge them…

Now let’s talk about the language Trump is deliberately using in his stum speeches. Trump told a rally in New Hampshire on Saturday he would “root out the communists, Marxists, fascists and the radical left thugs that live like vermin within the confines of our country that lie and steal and cheat on elections.” This dangerous rhetoric is barely being mentioned and if you say something to a Trump supporter that immediately say, ‘1^st Amendment, he has a right to say it.’

I want to get this straight, when Hilary called specific groups Deplorable that was high treason, but Trump can label all democrats as vermin and that is his 1^st amendment right. Seems to me that that MAGA Mighty are the Snowflakes. Now why is the Verim comment triggering, some are asking. Well because the dehumanizing comment comes straight out of the authoritarian playbook. Hitler commonly referred to the Jewish people are Vermin and Mussolini use the same rhetoric in WWII. The practice of dehumanizing opposition is a common wartime method of subjugation of one’s perceived enemy, and that is exactly what the Mango Menace is attempting to achieve.

It is now surprise that when anyone, including media, points out the correlation to Hitler language in Trumps speeches are immediately labeled as Snowflakes.

I wish I was making this shit up… I really do.   

Dwain Northey (Gen X) repost from April 2023

A system of government by the whole population or all the eligible members of a state, typically through elected representatives.

Great concept, right? We tout ourselves to be a great Democracy but is that the honest truth. I thinks some of our population is really trying to live up to that lofty objective while in recent times its been a , my way or nothing, stalemate situation.

There are intellectuals out in the world that assert the democracy isn’t a viable system and has inherent flaws.

Disadvantages of Democracy

• Preference to Quantity. The focus is on quantity rather than quality. …
• Incompetency. Democracies are governed by incapable people. …
• Based on Unnatural Equality. Democracy is founded on equality. …
• Influenced Sides in Democracy. …
• Misuse of Resources. …
• Corruption. …
• Conflict of Choices. …
• Less Participation.

Arguments against democracy

• Changes in leaders contribute to instability.
• Just political conflict, no place for morality.
• Consulting more individuals contributes to delays.
• Ordinary people are unaware of what’s good for them.
• Contributes to corruption.

Looking at all these reasons many would conclude that the political system of democracy is a failed experiment and we should go back to having a Monarch or an Autocratic system where the best and brightest would make all the right decisions and everyone would be happy. Wow what a utopia that would be. (I say sarcastically)

In China that has a unitary executive that proclaimed himself President for life asserts that 91% see their government as trustworthy as compared to the U.S. where that number is only 38%. That seems insane on it face, the fact that the Chinese government leaves out is that that 91% was of  36,000 people polled in a country that has a population 1.14 billion people that is a .00000032% of their people. Not such a lofty number when you see it like that.

100% of polled think I am the greatest guy I ever… the poll was me and my dog. See how that doesn’t mean a damn thing.

Really the founding principle if any democracy is freedom.

• Thought
• Religion
• Self determination

The current U.S. republican party proclaims that they are the party of freedom, well unless they collectively disagree with your freedom or it offends them on some moral or theological level. So yes they believe in the freedom to enforce their philosophy and or morals on you but that freedom is one sided… sorry that doesn’t sound like a freedom or a democracy to me.

I am the first to admit that democracy is messy and frustrating at times, when there are to many cooks in the kitchen things always get messy. We have proved in the past that when pushed we can come together and do what is best for all not just some. As a nation some thing have to change for the will of the people to again be the standard because now there are to many entrenched life time politicians pulling the string and far to many of them are controlled by big monied interests.

Currently huge percentages of the population are for safe abortions, restricting certain types of weapons and ammunition, marriage equality, moving forward on clean energy, any number of things but there are 100 senators and 435 congress people that we have entrusted to push forward those things. Unfortunately to many of them are owned by corporate interest and are steeped in their personal ideology to care what the majority of the public that elected them want.

Go back to the foundation a government of the people and by the people, not the one that we have now that is controlled by the big donations of corporations. Take the church out of government as the founders intended and if the church insists on preaching political doctrine from the pulpit then they can contribute to the tax base instead of being a welfare recipient of it.

I truly believe that mankind can solve any problem that it faces even if we are the ones that created the problem. I believe that Americans can get back to a place that we can collectively govern ourselves and be an example to others that yearn to govern themselves. Democracy is messy but it is better than the alternative. You have the right to vote, the right to protest, the right to elect representatives that will stand up for what is best for this nation, and if you don’t see anyone who you believe can do it, guess what you have the right to run for office and be the change you desire. This is America you currently have all these rights please participate so that you don’t lose them.