alanjjohnstone
Forum Replies Created
-
Posts
-
Colin Powell endorses Biden but that doesn’t come as a surprise since he endorsed Hillary Clinton in 2016
Bijou, a bit caution has to be taken with that stat about golf courses and housing land-use.
<i>”the estimate that was used in the calculations for land occupied by golf courses is overstated.”</i>
https://www.ft.com/content/79772697-54e4-32c9-96d7-5c1110270eb2
But of course we are not full up. And since you focus on Scotland, the Scottish government recognises it is under-populated and seeks more immigrants.
(there may be some difficulty in accessing the article since it is behind a pay-wall and might not want to register to get the limited free read but I have the article saved if anybody wants it posted)
Some may have read of the mounted female police officer who was attacked and thrown off her horse. It wasn’t true. In a cavalry charge down the street she collided with a traffic light.
Follow up
The head of the center-left Meretz Party, Nitzan Horowitz, addressed the huge rally, saying, “Annexation is a war crime, a crime against humanity and against peace, a crime against democracy, a crime that will cost us blood.”
It was the biggest demonstration by the Israeli left wing in many years, and was remarkable for its mixed character, with both Jewish and Palestinian Israelis coming out.
I take nothing for certain in American politics.
Trump’s base has remained fairly consistent over the years.
His party is gerrymandering the voting districts and blocking postal votes, tactics which would favour him.
The question, though, will the Democratic Party get its people out of the house to actually vote. Is a Biden presidency sufficient motivation?
The Scottish UBI experiment is postponed
a leaked memo instructed ministers to have “no specific policy” on animal welfare in US trade talks.
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2020/jun/06/uk-accused-u-turn-animal-welfare-us-trade-talks
I think a round of happy clapping should be given to the two of them.
I have found them extremely useful.
Moves to urge the expulsion of the police unions from the AFL-CIO
I should have included how many high-profile ex-military officers are distancing themselves from Trump and they are usually the more conservative-minded members of the Establishment.
Even the US Marine Corps has now banned the display of confederate flags,
Albeit small gestures which may not sway Ozy’s position but they are promising signs
“Couldn’t people dispense with certain fruits and vegetables to begin with, in favour of local produce?”
Germany enacts high ecological impacts on other countries by importing their foodstuffs and animal fodder, according to a pilot study compiled by University of Kassel and Thünen Institute scientists. The authors defined five environmental ‘footprints’ caused by Germany’s consumption of home-grown produce, as well as imports, including fish, as well as its exports — measuring biomass, land and water usage and climate impacts…Germany’s agricultural footprint from locally-grown produce was put at just over 10 million hectares (24.7 million acres), extrapolating by the authors from baseline 2015 data.
Foreign foodstuffs imported into Germany caused a far heavier footprint, around 35 million hectares — more than triple the impact of its domestic farm-forestry sectors, in terms of production, processing, through to retailing and even catering….Kassel professor Stefan Bringezu said especially significant was how Germany’s demand for foodstuffs, fodder and bioenergy supplies abroad had added to “conversion” of primal forests and moorlands into croplands in recent decades.
60% of Germany’s cereals usage goes into animal fodder, for example, dairy and pork production, and only 17% of cereals are consumed directly as foodstuffs, such as flour, by human consumers. A third of all plant oils and fats in Germany were used in the energy sector while another 28% flowed into the so-called manufactured oleochemical products.
Germany “theoretically” had land enough to be 90% self-sufficient, instead of being the “third-largest” foodstuff importer… agriculture in Germany was focused on meat and dairy production that currently occupied “two-thirds of the agricultural area, while fruit and vegetables grow on only one percent.”
https://www.dw.com/en/germanys-food-imports-leave-massive-footprint-abroad-study/a-53708515
Just a reminder that opposition to Israeli government policy is not anti-semitism
Thousands of Israelis demonstrated on Saturday against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s plan to extend sovereignty over parts of the occupied West Bank, de-facto annexation of land that the Palestinians seek for a state… the demonstrators gathered under the banner “no to annexation, no to occupation, yes to peace and democracy.”
Jonathon Porritt, one of the UK’s prominent environmentalists, places his faith in capitalism as the solution to climate change.
We can agree with him when he says, “Firstly, there really is no technological impediment to ultra-low carbon, high-quality life in the near future,” he says. “Just genuinely none. All the technologies are available.”
But when it comes to his understanding of economics, he explains:
“Secondly, there’s no shortage of capital. We’ve seen that when the world wants to marshall its energy to make something happen we are capable of doing astonishing things, and there is a wall of capital available to invest in long-term prosperity for nations.”
It is not the amount of capital that interests capitalists, it is the rate of profit, what is their return on investment and how long will it take to recoup that investment.
Porritt goes on to tell us of “…the sea change in attitudes from big businesses — a group which over previous decades has hardly enjoyed the strongest alliance with the climate movement.
“There’s big acceptance in the business community that this has got to change. Almost the whole of the businesses community is saying ‘seize hold of this opportunity because it won’t come back again’. And that is brilliant.” He adds: “Pretty much all the companies you’d see as reasonably responsible partners to wealth creation in this country have absolutely got the message that we need to do it and the sooner we do it the better — because then we can plan for it and do it cost effectively. What they’re worried about is government leaving it until it’s too late and then, guess what, it costs an arm and a leg. So I’m very heartened by that.”
It is interesting that we do seem to have a split of opinion among the ruling class.
Businesses, among them 50 of America’s largest corporations, have issued supportive statements of BlackLivesMatter, NFL have apologised for its ban on taking to the knee for their footballers, a Seattle federal judge has prohibited the use of tear-gas type agents, mayors and governors across America have voiced sympathy for the George Floyd protests. Even in the UK police have been given permission to take the knee in solidarity. I’m sure a google search would come up with many more examples of this newly found solidarity sentiment within the Establishment.
This is indeed a change of attitude which is to be welcomed by anti-racists. But it is for they to determine if it is genuinely sincere and not just paying lip-service, gesture politics, because many are going to be up for re-election come November, as the presidential election also involves many other elections at the same time. But as we said about apartheid South Africa, it is in the interest of some of the capitalist class to end racial prejudice. While on the other hand, identity politics, including race, remains a tool of divide and rule, and will persist as a weapon for other capitalists.
In August there is planned a massive march in Washington DC. Wouldn’t it be our own act of solidarity if we could help finance American comrades to attend, if they wish to, paying travel and lodging expenses. I’m not sure if funding leaflets is feasible — too many marching and too few distributing but we could provide video gear and have them do vox populi interviews in a way that presents our case and see what the people say to it. Just a wild thought as I have seen it done quite effectively elsewhere.
The sad case of the power of the union and police solidarity
The entire 57-member Emergency Response Team of the Buffalo Police Department has resigned after two members of the unit were suspended for pushing a 75-year-old to the ground during the George Floyd protests
Buffalo Police Benevolent Association President John Evans said the officers were “simply doing their job” and the man “slipped” during the interaction
“these officers were simply following orders”
