Links are at the end.
Yr. editors looked far and wide but couldn’t find the obvious analogical headline, so we took it upon ourselves.
Democrats outspend Republicans two-to-one in Georgia Senate runoff ad wars
That’s from Fox, who don’t need a link from this tiny newsletter to get by; they were just the only outlet we could find headlining the money differential. As of December 5, the two campaigns and their outside supporters had spent $57 million and $27 million respectively during the four weeks(!) of the runoff, with the Warnock campaign on its own matching the total Republican output. This is to say that even with an excellent get-out-the-vote campaign trumping Georgia’s vote suppression apparatus, an enormous money advantage, the Senate no longer in doubt, and a morally, emotionally and intellectually crippled opponent, Warnock won by 3%, which is a comfortable but obviously not overwhelming margin.
Georgia is not ‘purple.’ Republicans won’t always run a horrible defective human handpicked by another horrible defective human.
Trade unionists contemplate a general strike
Rank and file leaders among rail workers are reaching out to their counterparts in other unions to discuss a general strike backing the workers who rejected the forced contract settlement imposed by Congress. Other issues under discussion include how to remove the artificial barriers to forming a single union representing all trades so that in future, a general strike would simply be a strike. More on this soon.
Effect of Abandoned Housing Interventions on Gun Violence, Perceptions of Safety, and Substance Use in Black Neighborhoods
Question Do structural interventions to abandoned houses lead to improvements in health and safety in low-income, Black neighborhoods?
Findings In this citywide cluster randomized controlled trial of 63 clusters containing 258 abandoned houses and 172 participants, abandoned houses that were remediated showed substantial drops in nearby weapons violations (−8.43%), gun assaults (−13.12%), and to a lesser extent shootings (−6.96%). Substance-related outcomes were not reliably affected by the interventions, and no effect of either intervention was found for perceptions of safety or time outside for nearby residents.
Meaning Abandoned house remediation was directly linked to reduced gun violence and may be considered in efforts to create safe and healthy communities.1
This study published in the JAMA Internal Medicine journal looked at the results of small-scale interventions in neighborhoods with abandoned homes, and found significant benefits to it. Imagine what eliminating joblessness and poverty would do.
The lesson here is that throwing money at a problem can help address it. Whodathunk. The link to the study should include a guest access key to make it readable by one and all.
After COP27, all signs point to world blowing past the 1.5 degrees global warming limit
We’ve been harping on the bad news about climate change, and about fossil fuel company plans to get as much of the dirty stuff out of the ground and into the air as they can before some larger force stops them.
Since the Paris climate agreement was signed in 2015, countries have made some progress in their pledges to reduce emissions, but at a pace that is way too slow to keep warming below 1.5 C. Carbon dioxide emissions are still rising, as are carbon dioxide concentrations in the atmosphere.
A recent report by the United Nations Environment Program highlights the shortfalls. The world is on track to produce 58 gigatons of carbon dioxide-equivalent greenhouse gas emissions in 2030 – more than twice where it should be for the path to 1.5 C. The result would be an average global temperature increase of 2.7 C (4.9 F) in this century, nearly double the 1.5 C target.
Given the gap between countries’ actual commitments and the emissions cuts required to keep temperatures to 1.5 C, it appears practically impossible to stay within the 1.5 C goal.
Global emissions aren’t close to plateauing, and with the amount of carbon dioxide already in the atmosphere, it is very likely that the world will reach the 1.5 C warming level within the next five to 10 years.2
We saw a surge of climate change reporting in the weeks immediately preceding and following this year’s United Nations Climate Change Conference, but it has since subsided. One reason, we suspect, is that the news from the conference, also called COP27 (Conference of the Parties), was if not unrelievedly bleak at least—well really, it was unrelievedly bleak.
At this point, nothing short of an extraordinary and unprecedented effort to cut emissions will save the 1.5 C goal. We know what can be done – the question is whether people are ready for a radical and immediate change of the actions that lead to climate change, primarily a transformation away from a fossil fuel-based energy system.
We mentioned a few days ago a study finding that current and projected major fossil fuel projects will equal or exceed that 58 gigatons of CO2 emissions — and produce large amounts of methane — without any other contributions to it.3 At present national governments across the world lack the will to stop these projects (certainly our own does), and other, less powerful groups may have the will but lack the means.
We’re kinda tired of writing about this stuff, so going forward we’ll focus more on how to make one another more comfortable as we head toward the conflagration. But never fear, we’ll not shy away from notable news of the apocalypse as it arises.
Lou Reed, “Ecstasy;” Alabama 3, “Step 13;” Albert Lee, “Tearing It Up;” oh wait we’re done.
That, comrades, is all we got, and it is sufficient unto the day. Take care, be well.