The Heat Is On #260
By Hank Silverberg
Are You Going To San Francisco?
No flowers in their hair and no free love-in there. But 20,000 world leaders and business leaders from two dozen countries are gathering in the City By The Bay this week for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit. Those attending will include President Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping, who will meet for a summit of their own on Wednesday.
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| (Courtesy City of San Francisco) |
The focus of the meeting will be international trade at a time when the global economy is shaky, climate change is in contention, and war rages in Ukraine and Gaza.
Thousands of protestors are also expected, though San Francisco police say they will be kept miles away from the Moscone Center where the summit is being held.
There will also be thousands of protestors made up of more than 100 grassroots groups. They will protest a lot of different issues, including worker's rights and the environment. There will be Vietnamese-Americans and Human Rights activists angry at China, and pro-Palestinian groups who object to the U.S. role in the Israel/Gaza war.
It will be interesting to see how this event is covered by the media, particularly how they report on the protests.
Court TV In The Age of Trumpism
Mark March 4, 2024 on your calendar. There may be a delay later, but right now that is the date on which Donald J. Trump will face federal charges that he conspired to interfere with certification of the election results which eventually led to the January 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol.
There could be lots of twists and turns before we get to March. One of the more interesting could be a trial on live television.
Although broadcasting trials in local and state courts has been common for years, it is still prohibited in federal courts under most circumstances.
In this case, several media outlets and Trump's defense team have requested cameras in the courtroom. The prosecution opposes it. The decision is up to U.S. District Court Judge Tanya Chutkan.
So the question is, should it be on TV or not?
But that was before the trial of O.J. Simpson became a circus in 1994.
In 2003 here in Virginia, I covered the two trials of snipers John Alan Muhammed and Lee Malvo for WTOP radio and at times CBS radio. Muhammed's trial lasted six weeks. There were cameras in the courtroom, but not live coverage. The public got to see more than it wanted as prosecutors and the defense went through meticulous details of the case, including 130 witnesses and 400 pieces of evidence. It was the same with the Malvo trial months later.
So what do we want at the Trump trial? The public needs to know why he has been charged, that it's not political and that there are serious legal issues involved. But a live trial will also give Trump a chance to grandstand, and to make his ridiculous claims of a stolen election again in a forum where millions could be watching. Trump has already attacked the prosecution for opposing TV cameras.
If it happens, some will call it a Soviet-style show trial. Others will be angry that Trump and his attorneys get to spout off lies again on live TV in a formal setting. The jury, which under most court rules, will never be shown on TV, will have to sort it all out knowing that the general public has seen everything they have, and that there's been daily play-by-play on the cable networks. But this time there will be video clips to show and take out of context.
I have always thought cameras in the courtroom are a great idea. But in this case, I am not so sure.
Hot, Hot, Hot!
If you were wondering why your air conditioning bill was higher this year and your heating bill is lower, there's a simple explanation. The last 12 months have been the warmest year on record world wide, and scientists believe it was the hottest 12 month period in the last 125,000 years.
Two reports published this past week show the average temperature world wide at 1.32 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels.
The research says 7.3 billion people, about 90% of the world's population, experienced at least 10 days of above average high temperatures, and in India at least 1.2 billion people (86%) had at least 30 days of above average high temperatures. In the United States it was 88 million people, or 26% of the population. Particularly hard hit were southern cities in the USA. Houston, Texas had the longest extreme heat streak of any major city on Earth.
Worldwide, only Iceland and Lesotho had cooler than average temperatures in the last 12 months.
Earlier this past week the European Union's Copernicus Climate Change Service said that 2023 is "virtually certain" to be the hottest year on record.
The recorded temperatures are dangerously close to the 1.5 degrees Celsius upswing that scientists agree will mean radical, possibly irreversible, changes in the Earth's climate that could lead to melting icecaps, disappearing islands and radical shoreline changes.
And the reports say the increasing temperatures are unlikely to subside if world-wide changes are not immediately made in current use of fossil fuels.
https://abc7chicago.com/hottest-12-months-2023-climate-change-weather-global-heat/14046290/
Follow-Up!
A brief follow-up on last week's story on the Beatles' new song, "Now and Then," which was produced with the help of Artificial Intelligence. It has reached number one on the UK charts this week, the first time the group has been there since 1969. It's the Fab Four's 18th number one hit. It only took 60 years to rack that up. (You will find a link to the video of the song in last week's blog.)
Dumbest Quote of The Week!
This week's dumb quotes come from the internal fight within the Republican party over taxes and spending. The new Speaker of The House, Mike Johnson, suggested a new way to prevent a government shutdown later this month. It would be a two-tier vote to split up spending by putting veteran's programs, transportation, housing, agriculture and energy in one bill extension through January 19, and all other agencies including Defense and State Departments in another bill extended until Feb 2. He said:
"This two-step continuing resolution is a necessary bill to place House Republicans in the best position to fight for conservative victories."
Really? It would not include funding for Israel, Ukraine and the U.S.-Mexican border, the three biggest issues of debate.
But the other Republicans will support this, right?
The second dumb quote comes from Texas Republican Chip Roy, a member of the so-called House Freedom Caucus who blasted Johnson's plan as:
"Pelosi level spending and policies for 75 days - for future 'promises."
The "Party of No" continues the same refrain to almost anything that hints of progress on Capitol Hill.
(Your comments and suggestions are welcome)
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