Satellite Animation Sees Irma Move Through Florida
"Satellite Animation Sees Irma Move Through Florida" NASA

Relief Charity From the Rich Is Worthless Monetarily and Morally: What is needed is that they pay their taxes. The checks of kindness that were sent to Texas, and will be sent to Florida (which has been hit by what will certainly become the costliest hurricane in history) are insulting. This class of Americans use loopholes to hide cash from the public, hoard trillions in tax havens, and spend millions on politicians who promise to lower taxes. They also spend millions on politicians who deny the climate is changing. And after all the damage is done by an extreme weather event, they want to send a few pennies to the victims of climate change. The nerve of these people. And as if this insult were not enough, big donors are deified in headlines.

Scientists have in the past repeatedly warned the public about the dangerous hurricanes we are now experiencing. The science of their increased intensity is even easy for a God-fearing Texan to understand. But politicians bought by the billionaire/millionaire class have made it impossible to take any kind of action, and they are gutting government agencies that manage disaster relief. Fuck them and their sham of Christian charity. They must act like they belong to a society and pay their fair share.

The Damage From Irma Is Estimated at $190 billion: That's a full one percent of the GDP. Let's put this in perspective: One storm will cost the US one percent of what its economy produces in a year. The cost of Harvey is estimated to be $100 billion. And so we have in under a month the combined destruction of an economy nearly size of Norway. And there is another hurricane coming, Jose. And scientists warn that this is just beginning of a global-level transformation of the climate. What will happen to Florida in the process? It will have to be nationalized. This might sound a bit alarmist, but the cost of these disasters is only going up, and we can expect a lot of the capital in Florida's insurance markets to flee. Who will support this red state when the market is gone? The government.

The EPA Is Rushing to Repeal: Obama's Clean Power Plan, which imposes limits on the gases that are warming our seas.


Now Is Not the Time to Talk About Climate Change: Says the head of the EPA. But apparently it's a good time to talk about tax cuts.

Amazon Disciplines Seattle: And the city is a total mess after the surprise licking. The newspaper doing much of the crying and howling for the city is, of course, the Seattle Times. It fears that "Amazon’s HQ bombshell" will kill our "housing and development boom," and its editorial board wants this whupping to be a mighty lesson for it's anti-business "civic leaders." As our city sniffles in a corner, other cities are trying to get into the front of Amazon's HQ line. Portland is elbowing Vancouver, and Vancouver is shoving San Jose, and San Jose is tripping over Kansas City—you get the picture. There is no shame in this neoliberal game. Amazon could have simply done a Boeing and announced its final decision on the new location. But that would not have provided the spectacle of suffering and groveling ("State officials gauging how to attract Amazon’s interest for new HQ").

"Washington State to [Only] spend $1M on Electric-vehicle Charging Stations": The Seattle Times headline was missing a very important word.

16-Year-Old Alaskan Boy to Be Tried As an Adult: Sadly, he lives in a society that would rather toss children into prisons rather than ban guns and properly fund schools. The story: A Fairbanks boy robbed a couple at gunpoint last Monday. He was arrested and will be charged as an adult: "first-degree armed robbery, third-degree assault, fourth-degree theft and fifth-degree weapons misconduct." What must be seen is the connection between this cruel case and the teen demonized last week for allegedly starting Oregon's catastrophic Columbia Gorge wildfire. It's nothing but American individualism gone mad.

Young Man Ejected From Convertible: The last moments of his life were spent flying through the air. He died on the scene, which is in Renton.

From the History of the Losers: