In 2013, a programmer named
Tom Murphy VII designed an AI that could teach itself to play Nintendo
Entertainment System games. Determined not to lose at Tetris, the AI simply pressed pause—and kept the game frozen.
“Truly, the only winning move is not to play,” observed Murphy.
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| La Défense, 2019 |
Not playing has begun in at
least two cities of the world: London and Paris, and although in Paris that bilious yellow color
means insurgency, in London it means cops, who made over 1,000 arrests this
week:
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| London cops arrest 1,000 rebels |
Organizers know that until
there is serious disruption as there is now in London, and in Paris when 14
enviro agencies joined the Gilet Jaunes at La Défense for 8 hours, blockading,
Total and Societe General, nothing serious can happen, and although Extinction
Rebellion made circulating in London impossible all week, with strategic
blockades stalling traffic from five key points, only a handful of insurgents
turned up here on Market Street in San Francisco where Extinction Rebellion-U.S.
held its artful debut on April 19. And
while four protesters glued themselves to buildings in Los Angeles, and in
Portland, 11 activists were arrested for building a garden across train tracks
to protest expansion of an oil terminal, these efforts, like pilot ants announcing a full bore invasion, are puny still,
compared to the scope of what is urgently needed.
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| Only 11% U.S. energy comes from renewables |
London and Paris are located
on the western tip of a tiny peninsula that puffed up people like to call
Europe, but which isn‘t even a continent, and of those four serious ones
remaining, with the possible exception of Australia, three have been dragging
their climate feet. Worldwide, there are 66 cities projected to have over 10
million inhabitants by 2030, and there are 467 cities of under 5 million; and
598 under one million, in other words a total of 1131 cities worldwide.
With 2 down, and 1129 cities to
go, not playing has begun in major cities in a tiny portion of the Earth. That’s
a start. But if in less than one year, the radical new cultural behavior we
need to see to stop climate collapse, let alone reverse it, doesn’t catch fire in
at least half these cities, the human race is toast and quite literally most of
the planet’s other living things are, too (‘Coming Mass Extinction Caused by Human Destruction
Could Wipe Out 1 Million Species Warns UN Draft Report).
Radical new cultural behavior
is the goal. What does it look like?
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| Nearly 50% of Germany's energy comes from renewables |
Where do you think Ford Bikes got their idea? David Rovic’s e-mail this week tells a simple story: while he lived in the Long Island suburbs as a teen ager, he rode a bike
everywhere he wanted to go, but no sooner had he passed his driving test, he
traded his good habits for a car. Oslo is now a car-free city, and guess what?
Pedestrians window shop. Business has gone up.
 |
The U. S. has been at war now
for a straight 17 years. One of its favorite motivators is what it likes to
call regime change (synonym for oil grab). In history's first,
activists are now occupying the Venezuelan embassy to prevent the U.S. from
illegally seizing a building that belongs to the oil-rich country of Venezuela,
whose duly elected government it is trying to overthrow.
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| Recognize some of your favorite people here? |
As a consumer of fossil
fuels, the U.S. is the Earth’s chief polluter, responsible for 17% of the
world’s carbon footprint. 93% of that carbon foot print comes from military
use. One year of peace would allow the
U.S. to drop its use of fossil fuel to not quite 20% of what it uses today.
That is why war, and the war
industry must be disrupted if the U.S. ever hopes to have a chance of surviving
the ravages of climate change such as floods, fires, drought, disease, human
migrations, and devastating storms. The Pentagon and all military bases
world-wide—one thousand of them—must be occupied and shut down if humanity is
to have so much as a prayer of surviving.
Not playing is the tactic,
and who can argue with a tactic sanctioned even by the Buddha. But even beyond a Not Playing Campaign, the scope of any effective effort to combat climate change would
have far to exceed even the U.S. World War II national effort, including cultivating
victory gardens to entirely reconfigure how food is grown and distributed, rationing
(now it would be called downsizing, or powering down), and drafting workers to
install solar panels on every single building, and the infrastructure to maintain it,
to cite just a few essential nation-wide mitigations.
Sign the petition demanding
that climate change questions must be in cluded in the upcoming presidential
debates.
Tell determined-to-be-fossils at the Democratic National Committee to add climate to the national discussion at:
Demand Congress protect vital environmental programs at https://www.paction.us/epa-budget-cuts/foe-action
Tell the U.S. State Department’s Office of Foreign Missions
that opposition leader Juan Guaidó has no legal right to take over the Venezuelan Embassy
in D.C. at
Donate to protect the Venezuelan Embassy at
Environment
Greta Thunberg advocates General Strike!!! to escalate fight
against world’s ‘Existential Crisis.’
In speech to parliament, Thunberg calls out UK for claiming
it lowered emissions while omitting from calculations major sources of carbon
pollution.
UN draft report warns ‘coming mass extinction’ caused by
human destruction capable of wiping out
1 million species.
New Zealand aims to be first with UN Declaration on Rights
of Indigenous Peoples Plan.
Federal Judge Brian Morris issues latest rebuke to #45 attack on public lands by stating that
Interior Department broke federal law when it lifted Obama moratorium on coal
mining on public lands.
More than 60 arrested in NYC near City Hall and Brooklyn
Bridge in solidarity with the London civil disobedience protests.
State of Washington passes 100% clean electricity.
Woman stages 17-day-long hunger strike to save southern
resident orcas from starvation.
Sanders vows to ban fracking, and all new fossil fuel
projects.
Maine’s Green New Deal bill first in nation to be backed by AFL-CIO.
Beyond Nuclear rings panic bell against bailouts for
dangerously old, embrittled Ohio nuclear reactors.
Majority of people in cities like Copenhagen and Amsterdam
get around either by bike or mass transit, highlighting U.S. need for better,
safer infrastructure like real bike lanes, especially in tunnels and on bridges.
At Extinction Rebellion’s huge People’s Assembly, UK rebels
discuss next moves.
Goldman Sachs European headquarters targeted by climate-collapse
activists.
N.Y.C. becomes first to cap climate emissions from high
rises and other large buildings. If one of world’s largest cities can address
fossil pollution in 2019, so can every other city in U.S. and world.
Following Hawaii decision, California, Oregon, N.Y. and
Connecticut weigh banning chlorpyrifos (such as autism causing Dursban and
Lorsban) even though the EPA won’t.
Bayer shareholders vote against board over Monsanto Merger.
Peace
Veteran sails for world peace while fighting cancer.
Sanders demands vote to override Trump veto on Yemen.
Going on three weeks, and with thanks from Venezuelan
government, activists occupy DC Venezuelan Embassy to protect it from
U.S.-supported coup, and illegal eviction.
Russia issues stern warning to U.S. over intent to invade
Venezuela.
Adam Smith, Armed Services chair, plots move to kill #45
plan for low-yield nuke.
500,000 people to form human chain along Korean DMZ.
Iran’s parliament approves bill labeling U.S. Army as
‘terrorist organization.’
Majority of Dem presidential candidates announce support for
re-entering Iran nuclear agreement.
Palestinians end prison hunger strike after Israeli
concessions.
Thousands of Moroccans call for release of jailed activists.
UN to launch global campaign against criminalization of
indigenous people.
In switcheroo, Pompeo tells truth: CIA lied, stole and cheated.
Duh!
Nordic Countries, listed among the happiest, already have
green new deal, and revel in it.
U.S. movement to build national support for Green New Deal
starts in Boston, ‘city of revolutions’.
In a non-fictionalizing of Powers' Overstory, human rights outlaws defend ancient California King Range
Mattole forest.
Immigration
FBI arrests leader of armed group stopping migrants at
gunpoint in New Mexico.
N.Y. becomes first state to block ICE from making courthouse
arrests without judicial warrants.
All 29 families accompanied to border to reunite with their
children by Families Belong Together released from Customs and Border Patrol
detention.
Colorado mulls expanding driver licenses for undocumented
immigrant residents.
In rebuke to #45, 50th U.S. community, a Massachusetts high
school, affirms ‘refugees welcome here’
with new resolution.
Labor
Yellow Vests demonstrate in Paris as Notre Dame donations
highlight wealth inequality.
Macron offers tax cut to French workers to quell their rage.
Deal to raise wages reached between Stop & Shop and 31,000
striking workers.
Domestic
Bowing to grassroots pressure, Warren proposal would wipe
out student debt, provide free college for all.
Washington State Senate passes missing and murdered
indigenous peoples bill.
Policymakers in California and Washington vie to form
nation’s second state-owned bank modeled on Bank of North Dakota.
Vote for Feasibility Study for a public bank of Oakland
wins.
Johns Hopkins students in second week of three protesting
ICE contracts and policing.
Deutsche Bank begins document turnover for N.Y. probe into
#45 business financing.
Sanders trumps #45 Wisconsin rally with “#45 lied to
Wisconsin Workers ad.
New census data shows elector less ‘white’ in 2018 midterm
compared to 2016! (no wonder we need to get rid of all those brown immigrants!)
Federal court rules Michigan GOP illegally rigged state and
congressional district maps to suppress Democratic votes, ordering lines
redrawn for 2020 elections.
Amid fears of federal attack on Roe vs. Wade, conservative
state Kansas Supreme Court guarantees abortion rights.
Federal judges in Washington and California block #45 title
X abortion rule.
In California, federal court bocks #45 implementation of gag
rule.
Philadelphia reformist prosecutor Larry Krasner finally
supports letting Mumia Abu-Jamal appeal go forward.
In case brought by Muslim school pathologist, Texas federal
court becomes third to strike down pro-Israel oath as unconstitutional. Duh!
Last year, after the #45 administration announced 2020
census would ask all households to record which family members are U.S.
citizens, within hours a lawsuit was filed. Eighteen states, 10 cities, four
counties, and the U.S. conference of Mayors are suing the U.S. Census Bureau
and the U.S. Department of Commerce over the proposed question.
Information about the misconduct record of 85,000 cops
nationwide is now available.
In landmark victory
for 1st Amendment, court strikes down Texas anti-BDS law.
Free Press
Australia to hold election rally and meetings in defense of
Assange.
NSA recommends ending spying on mass phone call data
collection program.
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