Global

Is Nuclear Winter a Climate Issue?

Thirty-five years after the start of the nuclear age with the first explosion of an atomic bomb, I visited the expanse of desert known as the Nevada Test Site, an hour’s drive northwest of Las Vegas. A pair of officials from the Department of Energy took me on a tour. They explained that nuclear tests were absolutely necessary. “Nuclear weapons are like automobiles,” one told me. “Ford doesn’t put a new automobile out on the highway until they’ve gone through a lengthy test process, driving hundreds of thousands of miles.”

 By then, in 1980, several hundred underground nuclear blasts had already occurred in Nevada, after the 1963 Limited Test Ban Treaty required that atomic testing take place below the earth’s surface. Previously, about 100 nuclear warheads had been set off above ground at that test site, sending mushroom clouds aloft and endangering with radiation exposure not just nearby soldiers but downwind civilians as well.

The four-man Fatah squad who helped free 7,000 Palestinian prisoners

On September 4, 1982, during the Israeli invasion of Lebanon, the Bahmdoun abduction operation was a military operation carried out by Fatah, the main constituent organization of the PLO. A Palestinian 4-man squad infiltrated the IDF-held mountainous area near north Bhamdoun, in central Lebanon and attack and IDF observation point, capturing the entire 8- men IDF soldiers from the newly formed Nahal Brigade unit. Four of the IDF soldiers were on active duty, while the remaining four were resting or sleeping. They were all captured without firing a single bullet, according to Wikipedia.  This provided the Palestinian side with plenty of leverage in two POW exchanges with Israel which free about 7000 Palestinian and Lebanese prisoners held at Ansar prison camp. A four-man squad of Fatah fighter from the elite Al-Jarmaq battalion, led by commander Eisa Hajjo, were selected for the mission. They were dress in uniform similar to those worn by Israeli-allied Lebanese Forces fighter and also carried the same ty of gun (East German AK-47s).  The attack took place on the afternoon of 4 September 1982, after a period of observation of IDF routines.

The administration’s attempts to delegitimize science, especially climate-related science

We expected the worst environmental outcomes when Trump ran for and won re-election in November. Unfortunately, Trump and his administration are doing what we expected, though not totally.

At the time of the election in November 2024, I wrote this about Trump’s environmental policies 

“One of Trump’s signature slogans is ‘drill baby drill,’ which means, as he has told us, his upcoming government, once installed after January 20,2025, will (1) increase government support for fossil fuels, (2) reduce support for solar, wind, and geothermal, (3) encourage more export of fracked natural gas, (4) eviscerate or close the Environmental Protection Agency, (5) open up public land to drilling; and (6) serve as a discouraging international model for other countries to follow (https://vitalissuesbobsheak.wordpress.com/wp-admin/post.php?post=4795&action=edit).

Cashing in on Menopause

Drugmakers want drugs that people take for decades (which is why they don't develop antibiotics, taken for a measly 10 days.)

Pharma's top revenue streams include kids with ADHD (remaining on drugs until adulthood), people "living with mental illness," the obese and diabetic, those "at risk" of cardiovascular disease (who will take statins), and women.

Until 2003, approximately 61 million US women took hormone replacement therapy (HRT) for the "disease" of menopause, once called simple aging. Drugmakers increased the take by moving the "start date" for menopause ahead ten years through inventing the term "perimenopause." Then the wheels fell of the menopause franchise.

Remonetizing Menopause

When HRT was found to increase the risk of breast cancer by 26 percent, heart attacks by 29 percent, stroke by 41 percent and to double the risk of blood clots, millions of women quit. For a while, "hormone" was even a dirty word.

But Pharma could not let millions of women be non-customers.

Grassroots Democracy In Waldport, Oregon; Homelessness; GA Nuke Election Theft; Nukes On Fire

Our great poet laureate MIMI GERMAN kicks us off with her usual genius at the GREEP zoom #225 from Monday, June 2, 2025.

Mimi additionally fills us in on the astounding fight for real grassroots democracy in the allegoric & all-too-real “Mayberry” on the Oregon coast.

Homelessness advocate SUSIE SHANNON gives us a full & powerful report on the horrific Budget Bill’s ugly assault on the tragically unhoused.

Minnesota’s KARLA SAND questions the role of Medicaid qualifiers for elder citizens.

From DR. NANCY NIPARKO we get a unique medical perspective on the horrendous impacts of being unhoused.

We hear from MIKE HERSH that his blog on Trump reminds us that FDR had Eleanor & Frances Perkins at his back.

From Georgia we hear from the great RAY MCCLENDON about a critical upcoming utility commission election in the Peach State.

PSC candidate DANIEL BLACKMAN tells us first hand about the challenges of running for election amidst some of the most corrupt electoral realities anywhere.

Legendary Pacifica activist MYLA RESON asks what we can do to help Daniel help save Georgia’s electricity grid.

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