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BeyondGeography

BeyondGeography's Journal
BeyondGeography's Journal
January 15, 2020

Charles Pierce wonders if Sanders attracts the Democratic equivalent of the incel boys

Wednesday was a very good day to stay off the electric Twitter machine if you could arrange it. The Democratic debate on Tuesday night was decidedly cool and low-key, but the takes coming off it are flash-boiling the lakes of Naboo. Most of these are coming from supporters of varying degrees of anonymity attached to Senator Professor Warren and Bernie Sanders. There was the predictably idiotic concentration on—and overreaction to—a short episode at the end of the debate, when Warren and Sanders seemed to have an angry moment in the presence of Tom Steyer. The continuing barrage rivals only moderator Wolf Blitzer’s obvious lust for a fight between candidates and a war in the Middle East.

..Because Biden skated as thoroughly as he did, and because the other three leading candidates performed with surpassing ennui, the Warren-Sanders business is going to be what people take away from Tuesday night. I have no idea what was said during the famous conversation about whether a woman can be elected president. But the response from the Sanders supporters, especially on the electric Twitter machine, has been so hysterically over the top—Responding with snake emojis? That’s only the oldest misogynistic smear of all time, going all the way back to Genesis.—that it does make me wonder whether or not there’s something in that campaign that attracts the Democratic equivalent of the incel boys. I hope it stops soon, but I doubt that it will.

If the Sanders people want to go down in history as the campaign that kneecapped two talented, accomplished women, that’s their decision. I thought Warren recovered nicely with her bit about how she and Klobuchar were the only two people on the stage who’d never lost an election. Other than that, the debate was little more than a reminder that starting this process off in Iowa is no way to elect a president of this whole country...

https://www.esquire.com/news-politics/politics/a30530883/elizabeth-warren-bernie-sanders-feud-democratic-debate-joe-biden-skates/
January 13, 2020

Ocean temperatures hit record high as rate of heating accelerates

Source: The Guardian

The heat in the world’s oceans reached a new record level in 2019, showing “irrefutable and accelerating” heating of the planet...The new analysis shows the past five years are the top five warmest years recorded in the ocean and the past 10 years are also the top 10 years on record. The amount of heat being added to the oceans is equivalent to every person on the planet running 100 microwave ovens all day and all night.

... The analysis, published in the journal Advances In Atmospheric Sciences, uses ocean data from every available source. Most data is from the 3,800 free-drifting Argo floats dispersed across the oceans, but also from torpedo-like bathythermographs dropped from ships in the past.

The results show heat increasing at an accelerating rate as greenhouse gases accumulate in the atmosphere. The rate from 1987 to 2019 is four and a half times faster than that from 1955 to 1986. The vast majority of oceans regions are showing an increase in thermal energy.

... Dan Smale, at the Marine Biological Association in the UK, and not part of the analysis team, said the methods used are state of the art and the data is the best available. “For me, the take-home message is that the heat content of the upper layers of the global ocean, particularly to 300 metre depth, is rapidly increasing, and will continue to increase as the oceans suck up more heat from the atmosphere,” he said.

Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/jan/13/ocean-temperatures-hit-record-high-as-rate-of-heating-accelerates?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

January 11, 2020

The playful nerdiness of Warren's dancing is actually one of the shrewdest weapons in her arsenal

If you find Elizabeth Warren's adorable goofball dancing 'inauthentic', ask yourself why

I often think about sexism in politics the same way I think about how inhaling New York City air is bad for my lungs. The pollution is so revoltingly pervasive, calling it out seems futile to the point of ridiculousness. But then, every once in a while, there is an example of gender bias that is so egregious, it reveals the odorless carcinogens poisoning the air. It only makes sense that the most recent addition to the mass grave of canaries in the coal mine of the Democratic primary would be Elizabeth Warren dancing.

... Dancing is a pure expression of personality. Devoid of the political, explicit reactions to Warren’s movement on stage makes for something like a Yanny v. Laurel indicator of whether the observer might be predisposed to frequencies of distrusting women.

...In the interest of transparency, I should tell you that I paid $10 to RSVP to the rally at King’s Theater, and that I have been excited about Warren’s candidacy since I got to interview her during Rise Up For Roe two summers ago (when she stepped up to fight Brett Kavanaugh’s nomination to the Supreme Court in August 2018, before the nation met Christine Blasey Ford). In the interest of transparency, I should tell you that my heart beats for that brilliant goofball running on big, structural change and the belief that the best bet for democracy is inspiring the public to participate in it. In the interest of transparency, I should tell you that I am sick of accepting that the sexist default of political scrutiny is “just the way things are.”

The playful nerdiness of Warren’s dancing is one of the shrewdest weapons in her arsenal. Warren’s decades of experience studying and then fighting the causes of bankruptcy make her confidently authoritative to an extent that is typically unacceptable for female candidates. Instead of protecting herself with defensiveness, she insists on her right to ambition using an endless firehose of joy. Her apparently infinite energy sends up a forcefield that shock-absorbs the barrage of hatred unleashed on all women vying for power, forcing the stealthy undercurrents of sexism to expose themselves for what they truly are. To the toxic forces viciously devouring female ambition, Elizabeth Warren shrugs, and says, “Welp,” with perfect comedic timing...

https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/elizabeth-warren-dance-video-brooklyn-rally-ny-campaign-a9279176.html?fbclid=IwAR1MXHZOSwTnZA5xVmAjeHqSnXq1-d6WE10xwQVEZJnDDhyngS_oBCHU7S8
January 10, 2020

Majority of Americans favor wealth tax on very rich: Reuters/Ipsos poll

WASHINGTON/NEW YORK (Reuters) - The idea of imposing a wealth tax on the richest Americans has elicited sharply divergent views across a spectrum of politicians, with President Donald Trump branding it socialist and progressive Democratic presidential contenders Senators Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders prominently endorsing it.

But it may have broad public support, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll that found nearly two-thirds of respondents agree that the very rich should pay more.

Among the 4,441 respondents to the poll, 64% strongly or somewhat agreed that “the very rich should contribute an extra share of their total wealth each year to support public programs” - the essence of a wealth tax. Results were similar across gender, race and household income. While support among Democrats was stronger, at 77%, a majority of Republicans, 53%, also agreed with the idea.

... The results may reflect how the economic changes of the past roughly 20 years, from globalization to the financial crisis, have shaped attitudes about economic policy.

According to polling by Gallup, concerns about the rich paying too little actually declined through the 1990s and early 2000s, a relative boom period for the United States. But the concerns have been climbing since the crisis years of 2007 to 2009, from 55% to more than 60% as of 2016...

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-election-inequality-poll/majority-of-americans-favor-wealth-tax-on-very-rich-reuters-ipsos-poll-idUSKBN1Z9141

January 9, 2020

Sviatoslav Richter - Grieg Piano Concerto, 3rd Movement



This is just a snippet, complete with an interruption that you Norwegian (I think) speakers will understand. An odd clip, but it’s rare footage of Richter playing with utmost intensity at Bergen in 1968. He was one of the greats, and, for many, the best ever.
January 6, 2020

Spartanburg SC Mayor Junie White endorses Sen. Warren

Spartanburg Mayor Junie White has endorsed Sen. Elizabeth Warren to be the Democratic Party's presidential nominee.

Although polls show former Vice President Joe Biden with a more-than 2-1 lead over the second and third highest favorites Warren and Bernie Sanders in South Carolina, the Democratic mayor said Sunday he believes Warren has the best chance at defeating Republican President Donald Trump in November.

"I just think she is the right candidate," White said. "She's a very independent woman, very smart woman. I like her ideas. (Trump) is going to be hard to beat, but she has a very good chance."

The South Carolina Democratic primary will be Saturday, Feb. 29. It is the fourth nominating contest in the Democratic presidential primaries...

https://www.goupstate.com/news/20200106/spartanburg-mayor-white-makes-presidential-candidate-endorsement
January 6, 2020

Democrat Elizabeth Warren plans Flatbush rally with Julian Castro

FLATBUSH — Democratic presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren plans to bask in a recent big-ticket endorsement at a Brooklyn rally on Tuesday. She'll appear onstage at the Kings Theater alongside former primary rival Julián Castro.

When the doors open for the event at 5 p.m., spectators will not only see Warren — a leading candidate in a crowded, if narrowing, Democratic primary — but also one of Castro's first public appearances since he dropped out of the presidential race last week.

Castro, a former Obama administration housing chief and mayor of San Antonio, endorsed Warren in an online video posted Monday. He issued a statement which called Warren, a U.S. senator for Massachusetts, "the most qualified, best-equipped candidate to win the nomination" and defeat President Donald Trump, a Republican.

Warren's and Castro's joint appearance will briefly bring the up-for-grabs Democratic race to a grand stage in Brooklyn. The Kings Theater at 1027 Flatbush Avenue is on the National Register of Historic Places.

The event will begin at 7 p.m. More information can be found at Warren's website.

https://patch.com/new-york/ditmaspark/democrat-elizabeth-warren-plans-flatbush-rally-julian-castro

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