Month: April 2024

Closing Thought–18Apr24

It is April and the gov of Mississippi signed a statement that no one told the media about…..when was the last time a governor of any state did not want PR for his ‘good work’?

Tater Reeves just signed a proclamation celebrating the Confederacy and slavery…..

In the year of our lord 2024, the Confederate States of America are still being honored in Mississippi. 

Continuing a decades-old annual tradition, Governor Tate Reeves declared April as “Confederate Heritage Month,” the Beauvoir museum in Biloxi announced on Facebook Friday. The site is the historic home of Confederate President Jefferson Davis. 

The tradition dates back to 1993 but isn’t publicized by any Mississippi state official or government agency. The only organization that regularly does so is the Sons of Confederate Veterans, or SCV, who first requested the proclamation 31 years ago.  The SCV owns and operates the Beauvoir museum, promoting the “Lost Cause” myth of the Civil War that downplays the role of slavery and white supremacy in causing the war.

Reeves’s record on race and Civil War history is checkered. As a student at Millsaps College in his youth, Reeves was part of a fraternity that threw Confederate-themed parties where members wore blackface. The governor says he never wore blackface while in the fraternity. 

In 2020, he signed a law retiring Mississippi’s state flag, which honored the Confederate flag, but criticized Black Lives Matter protesters at the same time. And Reeves has also denied the existence of systemic racism in the United States. 

Mississippi is the only state that has dedicated a month to honoring the Confederacy in the last three years, although six other Southern states have done so historically. Mississippi will also recognize Confederate Memorial Day on April 27, as state law requires. But those seeking to protest against these policies will have a tough time: The Supreme Court just effectively abolished protests in Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas.

(newrepublic.com)

There you have it….the New South looks a lot like the Old South….at least in the case of racist Mississippi.

If you hate brown people then Mississippi is the place for you.

A state that pretends that the Civil War was something noble….when in fact it was solely about slavery…..period.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

We Don’t Want No Stinking Dictator

We can say a lot of things about the upcoming election…..for me it is a contest between Tweedle-dum and Tweedle-dummer….on one side we have a person that spews hatred and bias and on the other we have a spineless tool that makes promises only to work on them just before an election….so for me this election is a lose-lose scenario.

Beyond my personal opinion a dictatorship looms and many Americans say they do not want such and all the while they are helping create the thing they do not want.

Whether a glass is half full or half empty is a matter of perspective. The same can be said about the half of Americans who oppose the idea of allowing presidents to rule unilaterally—an exercise of monarchical power favored by only a fifth of us. I like to look on the bright side, so I take it as a win that those opposing unrestrained executive power far outnumber those who favor it. Still, it would be better if, in a republic established two and a half centuries ago, more than half the population would commit to the proposition that turning the country into a dictatorship would be bad.

“About half of the public think it would be a bad idea if the next president is able to act on important policy issues without the approval of Congress or the courts,” the AP-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research reports of the results of a survey of 1,282 adults conducted March 21-25. “Only 21% think it would be a good thing, and about 30% think it’s neither good nor bad.”

In the poll, 48 percent overall oppose unilateral presidential rule, including 58 percent of Democrats and 45 percent of Republicans. The 21 percent favoring the idea include 17 percent of Democrats and 26 percent of Republicans. Support for unrestrained executive power rises to 39 percent among Democrats in the case of a Biden win in November, and to 57 percent of Republicans if Trump wins.

Interestingly, the AP-NORC results are nearly identical to those found by the University of Virginia’s Center for Politics in 2021. At the time, pollsters reported “roughly 2 in 10 Trump and Biden voters strongly agree it would be better if a ‘President could take needed actions without being constrained by Congress or courts.'” Among Biden voters, 22 percent strongly agreed with the idea, compared to 19 percent of Trump voters (over 40 percent of both at least “somewhat agreed” with the idea of an unrestrained presidency).

Americans Don’t Want a Dictatorship, but They’re Creating One Anyway

Maybe it is time to take a hard look at your political priorities….the thing that you dislike the most may be the very thing you are helping create.

Just a lowly observation….

Pay Attention!

Be Smart!

Learn Stuff!

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Speaker Continues To Play With Fire

I see that since the Speaker has saved our home appliances he has decide to cave to the warhawks and piss away more taxpayer cash on these damn wars…..

Here are those all important home appliance bills….

  • Hands Off Our Home Appliances Act

  • Liberty in Laundry Act

  • Clothes Dryers Reliability Act

  • Refrigerator Freedom Act

  • Affordable Air Conditioning Act

  • Stop Unaffordable Dishwasher Standards Act

I know I feel better knowing this is happening.

Now that all is safe with our home appliances the Speaker decided to chance it and go for the money needed for our proxy wars (arms industry is happy now)…..

Speaker Mike Johnson’s four-pronged foreign aid package has become five bills, and his job could depend on what happens with the reworked legislation. On Wednesday, Johnson told his Republican caucus that the House will stay in session until it votes Saturday evening on the package with stalled aid for Israel and Ukraine as its centerpiece, the New York Times reports. Success is not certain, nor is his continued tenure in the speakership. Two of Johnson’s members have threatened to file a motion to vacate, which could result in his removal, if he puts aid to Ukraine to a floor vote.

Johnson became emotional Wednesday evening when asked about his decision by a reporter, per the Washington Post. “If I operated out of fear over a motion to vacate, I would never be able to do my job,” Johnson said. “I can make a selfish decision and do something that’s different. But I’m doing here what I believe to be the right thing,” he added. Johnson will need Democrats’ support to pass the bills, and he won the backing of the most influential one. President Biden strongly endorsed the package on Wednesday. “I will sign this into law immediately to send a message to the world: We stand with our friends, and we won’t let Iran or Russia succeed,” Biden said.

Here’s how the bills break down:

  • Cost: The total is $95.3 billion, per the AP, same as the Senate approved in February, though the packages aren’t identical; Johnson added some provisions to appeal to GOP opponents of Ukraine aid.
  • Ukraine: More than one-third of the $61 billion would go toward replenishing weapons and ammunition systems for the US military, Republicans said. And $13.8 billion would buy weapons from the US. Johnson’s bill has $9 billion in forgivable loans; the president could set the terms or cancel the loans.
  • Israel: Aid to Israel and humanitarian relief to people in Gaza account for $26 billion, and $4 billion would go to restock Israel’s missile defenses.
  • Indo-Pacific: About $8 billion is intended to deter China’s aggression in the region.
  • Assorted: The fourth bill satisfied a Republican wish list of foreign policy priorities. The final wording wasn’t released yet, per the AP.
  • The border: The fifth piece is intended to satisfy GOP demands to strengthen security at the southern US border. It might not have worked. “Every true conservative America First patriot in the House should vote against the rule for this borrowed foreign aid bill with no border security,” Rep. Bob Good, the chairman of the Freedom Caucus, posted on social media.

Did he put his gig as Speaker on the line?

The Freedom idiots will be gunning for him and that should stall anything happening in the House for the rest of the year.

But we will hardly notice for the House does very little actual work….just slapping retaliation on the Dems in this Congress that is.

That tight rope that Johnson is trying to walk is getting a lot of slack in it….will he survive?

This theater of the absurd is just too fascinating to ignore (at least for me).

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

GOP And The Workers

It always amazes me just how strong Repubs can be with the workers….and yet the GOP goes out of its way to screw the worker as often as possible.

Since about 1960 the GOP has been on a vendetta against the working class….and it just keeps getting worse.

It is 2024 and yet the workers have to put up with policies from the 1920s…..

But not to worry the GOP has plans for the working class….

Recently, you may have noticed that the hot weather is getting ever hotter. Every year the United States swelters under warmer temperatures and longer periods of sustained heat. In fact, each of the last nine months — May 2023 through February 2024 — set a world record for heat. As I’m writing this, March still has a couple of days to go, but likely as not, it, too, will set a record.

Such heat poses increasing health hazards for many groups: the old, the very young, those of us who don’t have access to air conditioning. One group, however, is at particular risk: people whose jobs require lengthy exposure to heat. Numbers from the Bureau of Labor Statistics show that about 40 workers died of heat exposure between 2011 and 2021, although, as CNN reports, that’s probably a significant undercount. In February 2024, responding to this growing threat, a coalition of 10 state attorneys general petitioned the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) to implement “a nationwide extreme heat emergency standard” to protect workers from the kinds of dangers that last year killed, among others, construction workers, farm workers, factory workers, and at least one employee who was laboring in an unairconditioned area of a warehouse in Memphis, Tennessee.

Facing the threat of overweening government interference from OSHA or state regulators, two brave Republican-run state governments have stepped in to protect employers from just such dangerous oversight. Florida and Texas have both passed laws prohibiting localities from mandating protections like rest breaks for, or even having to provide drinking water to, workers in extreme heat situations. Seriously, Florida and Texas have made it illegal for local cities to protect their workers from the direct effects of climate change. Apparently, being “woke” includes an absurd desire not to see workers die of heat exhaustion.

And those state laws are very much in keeping with the plans that the national right-wing has for workers, should the wholly-owned Trump subsidiary that is today’s Republican Party take control of the federal government this November.

https://www.counterpunch.org/2024/04/11/republicans-have-plans-for-working-people/

This is only a couple of states but I look for it to appear in most Red States in the next 4 years or so.

If you work hard for a living why on earth would you vote for this band of thugs?

Just wondering.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Is The Speaker Playing With Fire?

The Speaker of the House is trying to work a deal where Ukraine can get their hush money (stop the bitching and moaning)….but his efforts are making him a target for the band of idiots that like disrupting Congress by going to war with the Speaker.

Johnson is playing with fire…..

It’s a sign of how complicated the politics of Congress are at the moment: House Speaker Mike Johnson will try to pass four different bills this week designed to send billions in aid to Ukraine, Israel, and Taiwan—all while trying to keep his job as speaker.

  • The four bills: Johnson will introduce separate bills on aid to Ukraine, aid to Israel, aid to Taiwan, and a fourth one that contains a range of measures favored by the GOP such as banning TikTok, reports the Washington Post. One main goal of this “convoluted” strategy is to decouple the Ukraine and Israel components.
  • The challenges: There are many. First, Johnson “would need near-unanimous support from his own conference” even to bring the package to the floor, and it’s “far from certain” he has that, per Politico. If he clears that hurdle, success hinges “on a complicated mix of bipartisan coalitions that support different pieces, given resistance among hard-right Republicans to Ukraine funding and among left-wing Democrats to unfettered aid to Israel,” per the New York Times.
  • His speakership: Marjorie Taylor Greene has threatened to trigger a vote on ousting Johnson if he moves ahead with Ukraine aid, and she called this new plan “another wrong direction” for Johnson, reports CBS News. In response, Johnson said: “I don’t spend my time worrying about motions to vacate.” In making the case for the aid, he said: “We have terrorists and tyrants and terrible leaders around the world like Putin and Xi and in Iran, and they’re watching to see if America will stand up for its allies and our interests around the globe—and we will.” Ukraine, for example, has said it is quickly running out of military supplies, per the Post.
  • Deeper dive: All in all, this is a “gigantic gamble” by Johnson, as laid out in a detailed analysis at Punchbowl News. The plan has the potential to “blow up in his face,” reads the piece. “If the vote count starts to flag or hardliners rise up in opposition, there might be a movement to force Johnson to back away from this plan. Yet for Johnson, this scheme is the best of a lot of bad options.”

He is making few friends in the Freedom Caucus, the very ones that lead the charge to get rid of McCarthy…..and one more has joined the call….

Marjorie Taylor Greene is no longer the only Republican ready to remove Mike Johnson as House speaker. Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky said Tuesday he was on board, reports Politico. In fact, Massie asked Johnson to resign in a closed-door GOP session, and Johnson refused, per the Hill. Last month, Greene filed a “motion to vacate” the speaker’s post, though she hasn’t said when she might trigger an actual vote. She and others in the House Freedom Caucus accuse Johnson of working too closely with Democrats on several policy issues, and his decision to call a vote on aid to Ukraine further angered them.

Johnson: “I am not resigning and it is in my view an absurd notion that someone would bring a vacate motion when we are simply trying to do our job,” Johnson told reporters after the meeting, per the Wall Street Journal.

  • Massie: “The motion is going to get called, OK? Does anybody doubt that?” Massie told reporters. “And then he’s gonna lose more votes than Kevin McCarthy. And I have told him this in private, like weeks ago.” Massie reportedly told Johnson in the meeting, “You’re not going to be speaker much longer,” and Axios says many attendees booed his remarks.
  • Democrats: Should Greene call a vote, Johnson would almost certainly need the backing of Democrats to remain in his post, and some have said in recent weeks they would protect him if he brings Ukraine aid up for a vote, per the Hill.

As if the House could not get more dysfunctional these idiots have to waste even more time and energy.

Is this in the best interest of the nation?

I say no!

What say you?

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Closing Thought–16Apr24

I remember the day when people strive to reach the middle class….that meant that all was well and your family could progress along with a descent living and such.

These days we have excellent news….the markets are doing relatively good, wages are up and jobs are there for the taking….and all this means the middle class is flourishing, right?

On paper and in the economic news all indicators are good or so we are told daily…..but how true is the picture that the media paints nightly?

Prices!

While some indicators are looking good (if you are an investor) the reality is that prices are killing the middle class.

A new study shows just how bad it can get….in 5 years there are essentials that the middle class may not be able to afford.

ABC News has just reported that “Consumer prices rose 3.5% in March compared to a year ago, accelerating markedly from the previous month and reversing some of the progress achieved in a two-year fight to cool inflation, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data showed.”

While gasoline and housing continue to remain high, “Core inflation — a closely watched measure that strips out volatile food and energy prices — increased 3.8% over the year ending in March, holding steady from the previous month, the data showed.”

These numbers, which not everyone understands, affect the average American who, no matter the reason, is faced with increasingly high prices, stagnant wages, and basic needs spiraling out of reach. America’s middle class is being squeezed, and what used to be the hallmark of the American middle class and the American dream is becoming increasingly unaffordable. If things don’t change, the average middle-class American won’t be able to afford these things in the next 5 years.

5 Things the Middle Class Won’t Be Able To Afford in 5 Years Due to Inflation

And the government does NOTHING!

Basically we will let the markets decide who eats and who does not.

Is this what you signed up for?

Congress spends all their time working on BS situations while the people of this country slowly die of inaction.

For once the people nee4d to start thinking about the country and not some far flung personality that is all mouth or all promises and no action.

Your neighbor needs you to pay attention.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Ukraine Is Jealous!

The aid package for Ukraine in their struggle with the Russian invasion is stalled in Congress and yet any and all aid to Israel seems to get the fast track…..and Ukraine is fighting the green-eyed monster of jealousy on Israel’s success.

Ukrainian officials have expressed envy over the US’s response to an Iranian drone and missile attack on Israel that came in retaliation for the Israeli bombing of Iran’s consulate in Syria.

The US, the UK, France, and Jordan all intervened to help intercept Iranian drones and missiles. “The whole world saw that Israel was not alone in this defense — the threat in the sky was also being eliminated by its allies,” Zelensky said.

The attack on Israel came as Russia has stepped up its missile and drone attacks on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure, which Moscow said was a response to Ukrainian attacks on oil refineries inside Russian territory. Ukraine has suffered serious blows in the strikes as it’s running low on air defenses, and Russia’s intelligence continues to improve.

“When Ukraine says that its allies should not turn a blind eye to Russian missiles and drones, it means action is needed — a bold one,” Zelensky said. “It is not rhetoric that protects the sky, it is not opinions that curb the production of missiles and drones for terror.”

…

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba acknowledged that the US and NATO wouldn’t directly intervene but called for more military aid. “Even if you cannot act the way you act in Israel, give us what we need, and we will do the rest of the job,” he said.

The $60 billion President Biden is seeking to fuel the proxy war in Ukraine still hasn’t passed through Congress. House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) said he would work on getting more military aid to Israel this week, and the White House has said that it would only support legislation that also included spending for Ukraine and Taiwan.

(antiwar.com)

The problem is simple….Ukraine does not have the agents with cash to bribe their way to success as Israel does.

Until they, Ukraine, start greasing the right palms they will always be look for solutions.

Cash is what it is….the oil that keeps the gears of Congress working…..the more cash spread around the better the results….and that is at ALL levels from the chief to the little reps….money will help Ukraine prevail.

Just so you know the Congress instead of taking up cash for Ukraine spent their time working on laws that govern home appliances….time well spent.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Closing thought–15Apr24

Today is tax day….get your paperwork in or pay the penalty….what better day to inform my readers about where some of their tax dollars go.

I bitch about the massive amount of money thrown at the War Department….well I do this for good reason….as you will soon realize….

The average U.S. taxpayer was forced to contribute more to militarized programs than to Medicare and Medicaid combined in 2023, according to a new analysis released Tuesday by the National Priorities Project.

Published ahead of Tax Day, the analysis sheds light on the extent to which the federal income tax dollars of ordinary Americans are fueling “militarism and its support systems” such as the Pentagon, which currently accounts for roughly half of the federal government’s total discretionary budget.

“Overall, in 2023, the average taxpayer contributed $5,109 for militarism and its support systems—including war and the Pentagon, veterans’ programs, deportations and border militarization, and federal spending on policing and prisons,” according to NPP, which is a project of the Institute for Policy Studies.

By comparison, the typical U.S. taxpayer contributed $4,308 to Medicare and Medicaid, $346 to K-12 education, $516 to nutrition assistance for low-income Americans, and $58 to diplomacy-related programs.

“Right now, millions of Americans are struggling to stay afloat—it’s become so expensive to live, eat, and have a home. Yet, instead of addressing the cost-of-living crisis or funding measures to address our communities’ needs, this year $5,109 of the average American’s taxpayer dollars went to fund the military and its support systems,” said Alliyah Lusuegro, NPP’s outreach coordinator and a co-author of the new analysis.

https://www.commondreams.org/news/us-taxpayers-funding-militarism

The Pentagon gets a budget that is pushing one trillion dollars and programs to help the American people scrambles for the crumbs that Congress gives them.

I wish the American people cared where their money goes….instead they fall for every lie the government tells them that is in their best interest….that is such bullsh*t!

This country always has enough money to piss away on some new weapon system but little to nothing for hungry children….why is that?

But I will keep bitching and complaining for it is what I do.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Here We Go! Once Again Into The Breach?

While most of us were trying to enjoy our weekend the whole fabric of the Middle East is unraveling….

After years of trying to provoke a response from Iran Israel has manage to get that act and in turn will most likely involve the US.

So here we go again….ass deep in the Middle East….our forays into the region accomplished two things….the death of Saddam and the creation of ISIS (more to come on this later)….

It began amazing enough on April Fools Day….with an Israeli airstrike….

Israeli airstrike leveled an Iranian consulate building that’s next to the Iranian embassy in the Syrian capital of Damascus, marking a significant escalation in Israeli attacks on Iranians in the region.

At least seven people were killed in the strike, including Gen. Mohammad Reza Zahedi, a senior commander in Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). Iran has confirmed the death of Zahedi, who oversaw the IRGC’s Quds Force operations in Syria and Lebanon and is vowing a harsh response.

Then the war of words began….the threats the chest thumping….

Twelve days after the chest thumping….

Iranian commandos have seized a cargo vessel with reported ties to an Israeli billionaire, taking control of the ship as it sailed near the Strait of Hormuz. The incident took place amid soaring tensions between Tehran and Tel Aviv, after Israeli forces bombed an Iranian diplomatic compound in Syria earlier this month.

The Portuguese-flagged container vessel, MSC Aries, was boarded by troops with the elite Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) on Saturday. The seizure occurred some 50 miles off the coast of the United Arab Emirates and was confirmed by a statement from the ship’s operator, MSC. It noted that 25 crewmen were on board at the time.

Iranian state media reported that the ship was under IRGC control and being “directed back to Iranian territorial waters,” though did not specify for what purpose. The ship is reportedly owned in part by Zodiac Maritime, a company operated by Israeli-born billionaire Eyal Ofer.

(antiwar.com)

Then late Saturday the horrible news flashed across my desk….

The Iranian military fired a massive barrage of drones and missiles targeting sites in Israel, with Tehran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) saying the attack was retaliation for a deadly Israeli strike on the Iranian consulate in Damascus.

The attack was announced on Saturday afternoon in an IRGC statement carried by Iranian state media, which said that “dozens” of UAVs and missiles were “fired at the occupied territories and positions of the Zionist regime.” The elite military unit claimed to have struck “important military targets,” though shared few details about the results of the operation.

…

While the military claimed “most” of the Iranian projectiles had been intercepted by allied states even before reaching Israeli airspace, it acknowledged “minor damage to the infrastructure” of an unspecified military base in southern Israel, as well as “a few injuries.”

(antiwar.com)

What to do…what to do?

US officials have yet to announce any military response, congressional sources told the Daily Mail the Pentagon planned to deploy multiple warships carrying some 2,500 Marines to the Eastern Mediterranean. Washington has made similar shows of force throughout the ongoing war in Gaza, stationing aircraft carriers and other naval assets in the region since last October.

When asked whether Washington would directly intervene in hostilities between Israel and Iran during a press briefing earlier this week, Pentagon spokesman Patrick Ryder declined to “get into hypotheticals,” only citing the US’ “ironclad commitment to Israel’s security.”

This is what those idiot warhawks like Sen. Cotton have been praying for….an excuse.

This is the trap that Israel laid many years ago it has just slowly developed….my money is on Biden walking into that dead end with eyes wide open (or should I say wallet wide open?)

The fallout has started….

Iran has conducted its much-anticipated revenge attack against Israel by firing hundreds of drones and missiles, nearly all of which were intercepted. The big question: Now what? How Israel responds could determine whether the situation escalates into a wider regional war, and an intense diplomatic push was underway.

  • The attack: Iran’s volley of an estimated 300 drones and missiles was unprecedented because it is believed to be the nation’s first-ever direct attack on Israel, reports the New York Times. However, Israel says it intercepted 99% of them with the help of the US and other nations, per the AP.
  • he US: President Biden said he will meet with G7 leaders on Sunday to coordinate “a united diplomatic response” to Iran’s attack, per USA Today. As the AP sees it, the language of the statement suggests the White House is trying to head off “a broader military conflict.” Biden also spoke with Israel’s Benjamin Netanyahu on Saturday, and the Times suggests the call helped ward off an immediate retaliatory strike.
  • Iran warns: Tehran warned that if Israel retaliated, its response would be “much larger.” Iran also warned the US not to get involved in any Israeli military response or it would attack American bases. Meanwhile, Israel’s war cabinet was to meet later Sunday, and Israel’s defense minister, Yoav Gallant, warned the confrontation was “not over yet.”
  • Nine nations: The BBC counts at least nine nations involved in the first round, a sign of how protracted the situation is. Projectiles were fired from Iran, Iraq, Syria, and Yemen, while they were shot down by (or with help from) forces from Israel, the US, the UK, France, and Jordan. France, for example, provided tech support, including radar, reports the Washington Post.
  • A few landed: A relative handful of missiles landed in Israel, causing minor damage to an Israeli military base, per the Wall Street Journal. Israel also says a young girl was injured.

I am sorry but this, if it comes to a heavier response should be between Israel and Iran….the US should stay out of this situation completely.

Update…

President Biden told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that the US wouldn’t join Israel in any offensive action against Iran, multiple media outlets have reported.

I would applaud Biden’s statement if it we not bullsh*t….it is called ‘electioneering’….we are involved and we need to back away.

The US does not need another Middle East excursion….they seem to never pan out for us.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Decaf Drinkers Beware!

It is another Sunday and a day where I try to be informative…..so today instead of history it will be an FYI.

I admit it I love a good cup of coffee…..when my blood pressure went high my doctor said I needed to cut out salt (no problem for I use very little salt) and to cut my coffee drinking….so under his advice I went to decaf, I would rather drink urinal water then this stuff and then Sue got me some half-caf, better than decaf but still lacked taste….for you see I drink my coffee straight….no milk, no sugar, no flavors of any sort….so taste is important to me….after about a month I chanced it and went back to real coffee (actually Sue got it for me for she was tired of my ‘bitchiness’).

Now that I have given you my diatribe of coffee maybe it is time for me to get to the point……

So if you are a drinker of decaf coffee you might want to pay attention….

For fans of decaffeinated coffee, we have some bad news.

The not-so-buzzy version of coffee can harbor a chemical that can cause cancer, CNN reports, which has health and environmental activists pushing to have the substance banned for its use in making decaf coffee.

Methylene chloride is the substance in question and it’s used by coffee roasters to remove caffeine from coffee beans. It’s also utilized as a solvent in various manufacturing and commercial processes, but the federal government banned its use as a paint stripper in 2019 and is now considering an almost complete kibosh on its use for consumers and industry except in limited settings.

The reason? Short-term exposure to the chemical, research shows, can harm your central nervous system. And being exposed to the chemical for a longer period can induce liver and lung cancers, as well as liver damage more generally.

https://futurism.com/neoscope/decaf-coffee-cancer

My taste buds saved me from this worry….and I thank them.

As long as I have you here and interested….

Is there a coffee apocalypse coming?

When Henri Kunz was growing up in West Germany in the 1980s, he used to drink an instant coffee substitute called Caro, a blend of barley, chicory root, and rye roasted to approximate the deep color and invigorating flavor of real coffee. “We kids drank it,” Kunz remembered recently. “It had no caffeine, but it tasted like coffee.”

As an adult, Kunz loves real coffee. But he also believes that its days are numbered. Climate change is expected to shift the areas where coffee can grow, with some researchers estimating that the most suitable land for coffee will shrink by more than half by 2050 and that hotter temperatures will make the plants more vulnerable to pests, blight, and other threats. At the same time, demand for coffee is growing, as upwardly mobile people in traditionally tea-drinking countries in Asia develop a taste for java.

“The difference between demand and supply will go like that,” Kunz put it during a Zoom interview, crossing his arms in front of his chest to form an X, like the “no-good” emoji. Small farmers could face crop failures just as millions of new people develop a daily habit, potentially sending coffee prices soaring to levels that only the wealthy will be able to afford.

To stave off the looming threats, some agricultural scientists are hard at work breeding climate-resilient, high-yield varieties of coffee. Kunz, the founder and chair of a “flavor engineering” company called Stem, thinks he can solve many of these problems by growing coffee cells in a laboratory instead of on a tree. A number of other entrepreneurs are taking a look at coffee substitutes of yore, like the barley beverage Kunz grew up drinking, with the aim of using sustainable ingredients to solve coffee’s environmental problems—and adding caffeine to reproduce its signature jolt.

https://slate.com/human-interest/2024/04/coffee-cup-best-bean-brand-climate.html

Damn climate change!

I shall continue to drink that magical brew until my last breath or until I can longer afford it whichever comes first.

A little FYI for my readers….have a marvelous Sunday and as always….Be Well and Be Safe….

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”