leicsmac

Mangione pleads not guilty to state and federal murder charges. Will the Trump-influenced Justice Dept be so daft to push the death penalty so much that he definitely gets it if found guilty, and make him a martyr to his cause?

This is a superb listen.

I emphatically agree. But that transition will either act in a way that is reasonable to people, or in a way that busts up their lives. The abrupt way, unless someone comes up with a miracle option that can be utilised right away, tends to be more the latter than the former.

I'd have to look up numbers to really talk further on this one. But prefacing that, drawing down somewhat on consumption, recycling and transitioning to more sustainable options are, I think, all facets of the possible solution.

If that's true, then we're not in for good time because the only thing that will stop people using such things that make they lives easier is either a sustainable item that makes it easier still (and is of equal or lesser cost) or disaster. Which one of those is much more likely? Let us hope that you're wrong.

A related question: in a democracy where the people choose to elect a religious ethnonationalist to have nuclear release authority, exactly who's fault is it if that nutter then chooses to make a few million (or more) people instantly make an urgent appointment with his deity?

On the above topic:

And the timing for such added aggression really couldn't be worse.

I know I really wish that I had better news to report, but these are apparently the times we live in...

That's a damn shame, been there before myself so know what you mean. Speaking personally I think it's rather obvious where behaving like animals (which, when it comes down to it, is what realpolitik is) leads us.

Depends whether or not one thinks Putin would just have accepted stopping at those regions and, again and more widely, whether such behaviour should be considered acceptable or dismissed just as "the way things are" anyway. Edit: AFAIC realpolitik should absolutely be dreaded and challenged wherever possible because, quite frankly, long term it's nothing more than death-worshipping self interest.

Certainly not, but they do begin - and perpetuate - on the lack thereof, which means it might not be the best idea to accept such simply as a "fact of life" or somesuch. Not really a comment on your take on this matter in particular, just a general observation.

I guess we'll find out. It seems to be an unfortunate historical fact, however, that war often comes about in spite of people's appetite for it.

https://phys.org/news/2025-04-world-trigger-multiple-climate-action.html https://phys.org/news/2025-04-atmospheric-shifts-patagonian-glacier-loss.html https://phys.org/news/2025-04-hot-cold-sudden-flips-temperature.html Signor, play "I Don't Want To Set The World On Fire" by The Ink Spots, please.

And so we arrive at yet another situation where cynical "Might Makes Right" realpolitik threatens to destroy the lives of a great many people. Would be nice for our species to grow beyond the idea, tbh.

You could be right to be honest, the real thing will be to see where we are in a few years time. That being said, the response from the usual print media suspects was predictable to pretty much anyone.

Perhaps because they can see rather clearly that picking a side on this highly charged matter doesn't actually give them anything politically. And all the time social inequality is getting larger, biodiversity is dropping, and vital resources are becoming more scarce.

*Looks at today's front pages* Yep. It was a mistake.

I remember reading that Kyoto (Japan's ancient capital) was only spared from the target list because a high ranking US politician had spent his honeymoon there. Also, if a third bomb had been used, the likely target would indeed have been Tokyo. And it's not even the spectacular method of wrecking people's lives that's the only, or even the biggest problem with Trump - it's the everyday little things that he's done, is doing and will do that make the world a worse place for everyone except himself and a very small demographic.

And/or utilise more advanced tech for the job, which carries its own attendant worries and problems. As you say, it's tricky. It's just rather unfortunate that those who saw and pointed out exactly what he was a long time ago weren't listened to. Now almost everyone is paying the price, and I fear that price has only just begun to come due.

I'm reasonably sure that people are already being set up for "accidents" if this administration can't get the legal system to do its dirty work for them.

I doubt that there will be any slowdown whatsoever in global average temperature increase with that factor as a variable by itself.

At least the policy advocated for at PMQ's doesn't (the vast majority of the time) actually threaten a great many human lives in direct opposition to scientific fact. The same sadly cannot be said of the current US administration.

The funny thing about scientific laws and the Earth that works by them is that they remain true whether a human believes them or not. And their consequences will happen in spite of the ridiculous denial of it. And all the time some very decent people are wondering with more than a little fear about what might happen from here.

In other news, Trump putting the world economy at risk of global recession. Quelle surprise.