London wakes up to the grim realities of heat wave hell

CBS News

London wakes up to the grim realities of heat wave hell

CBS News – July 20, 2022

London — Some European nations were still battling their worst wildfires in decades Wednesday as the U.K. woke up to relief after its hottest day on record. As CBS News correspondent Ramy Inocencio reports, flames have torn through tinder dry brush in an area covering thousands of miles from Greece to Portugal.

The widespread heat wave that fueled those flames stretched all the way up to Scotland on Tuesday, delivering record-high temperatures in towns and cities across Britain and leaving Londoners shocked to see their town hit by the same kind of bushfires they’ve grown accustomed to watching on the news.

Charred ground and gutted homes in the British capital were testament to the fact that even the stereotypically damp and dreary U.K., where umbrellas and overcoats are more commonplace than air-conditioners, cannot escape the consequences of a rapidly warming climate.

Houses destroyed in a major fire in Wennington, Greater London, England, are seen on July 20, 2022. Fires broke out across London amid record-breaking heat the previous day. / Credit: Chris Ratcliffe/Bloomberg/Getty
Houses destroyed in a major fire in Wennington, Greater London, England, are seen on July 20, 2022. Fires broke out across London amid record-breaking heat the previous day. / Credit: Chris Ratcliffe/Bloomberg/Getty

Rare wildfires burned and billowed across London on Tuesday as much of England endured 100-plus-degree heat. A new temperature record was set in the town of Coningsby, in eastern England, at 40.3 Celsius, which is over 104 degrees Fahrenheit.

As much of the country has gone a month or more with barely a drop of rain, the scorching temperatures were all it took to ignite matchstick-dry grass and brush in back yards and along highways.

The London Fire Brigade worked its busiest day since World War II, with firefighters responding to more than 2,600 calls and fighting 12 fires simultaneously at one point, according to Mayor Sadiq Khan.

At least 41 properties were destroyed by the fires in London, the mayor said, and 16 firefighters were treated for smoke inhalation or other injuries.

Dee Ncube and her family fled their burning neighborhood in the capital, leaving everything behind. She told Inocencio the only time she’d seen anything like it was in movies or on TV.

“We’ve got nothing, everything’s gone,” Timothy Stock, whose home was among those lost to the flames in the village of Wennington, in Greater London, told CBS News partner network BBC News.

Government cabinet minister Kit Malthouse told other members of Britain’s parliament on Wednesday that 13 people died amid the heat wave after “getting into difficulty in rivers, reservoirs and lakes while swimming in recent days — seven of them teenage boys.”

But while many Londoners were shocked by the extreme heat, people who study the Earth’s changing climate were not.

“This is it, right? This is the climate change that we’ve been promised by scientists,” Dr. Michal Nachmany, a climate policy expert at the London School of Economics, told CBS News. “This level of extreme weather is life threatening, and we really want to make sure that people are not under any illusion that this is serious, and this is here to stay.”

Climate campaigners were also keen to stress Tuesday’s extremes as a warning of danger ahead, and a call to action.

Demonstrators from a protest group called “Just Stop Oil” climbed onto metal framework for signs over the M25, one of Britain’s busiest highways, which encircles London, causing a long traffic backup Wednesday morning.

The group said it was sorry about the disruption for morning commuters, but it declared the M25 “a site of civil resistance,” and warned there would be more protests in the coming days. “This is the moment when climate inaction is truly revealed in all its murderous glory for everyone to see: as an elite-driven death project that will extinguish all life if we let it,” the group said in a statement, announcing its action and demand that the U.K. government stop investing in fossil fuel extraction.

Other countries further south were still battling major blazes on Wednesday that erupted last week. Thousands have died and tens of thousands have been evacuated.

Firefighters in southwest France were still battling twin blazes that cover ground twice the size of Paris for a ninth straight day on Wednesday, but weather conditions improved there overnight, too, and officials said they were gaining control.

“Our assessment is generally positive. The situation improved overnight,” local fire service spokesman Arnaud Mendousse told reporters, according to The Associated Press. President Emmanuel Macron was set to visit the hard-hit Gironde region on Wednesday, where the fires have driven about 37,000 people from their homes. Spain and Portugal were still recording new deaths from the extreme heat and fires, with the toll already well over 1,000.

Spain’s Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said Wednesday that “more than 500 people died because of such high temperatures” over the last week or so in his country, citing a statistical analysis by a public health institute.

“I ask citizens to exercise extreme caution,” said Sanchez, adding that the “climate emergency is a reality.”

A wildfire burns near a house in Ntrafi, Athens, Greece, July 19, 2022. / Credit: COSTAS BALTAS/REUTERS
A wildfire burns near a house in Ntrafi, Athens, Greece, July 19, 2022. / Credit: COSTAS BALTAS/REUTERS

Further west, police in Greece ran door to door, shouting at residents to flee just north of Athens as a fire approached.

Evacuations continued in Italy, also, where fires were still growing and temperatures haven’t yet started to ease.

While the worst of the heat wave appeared to be over for much of Western Europe, with temperatures dropping dramatically overnight from the north of Britain to the south of France, climate experts and campaigners were desperate to get the point across that while this week has been an exception, these exceptions are expected to become more common — and get even hotter.

Ukrainian forces strike key bridge in Russia-occupied south

Independent

Ukrainian forces strike key bridge in Russia-occupied south

Via AP news wire – July 20, 2022

Russia Ukraine War (Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved)
Russia Ukraine War (Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved)

Ukrainian forces have struck and seriously damaged a bridge that is key for supplying Russian troops in southern Ukraine, a regional official said Wednesday.

Kirill Stremousov, deputy head of the Moscow-backed temporary administration for the Russia-controlled southern Kherson region, said the Ukrainian military struck the bridge across the Dnipro River with missiles Wednesday, scoring 11 hits.

He said in remarks carried by the Interfax news agency that the bridge sustained serious damage but it wasn’t closed for traffic.

Stremousov said that the Ukrainian forces used the U.S.-supplied HIMARS multiple rocket launchers to strike the bridge, adding that some of them were intercepted by Russian air defenses.

Wednesday’s shelling of the Antonivskyi Bridge was the second in as many days. It was lightly damaged by Ukrainian shelling a day earlier, according to the Moscow-backed authorities in Kherson.

Early in the war, Russian troops quickly overtook the Kherson region just north of the Crimean Peninsula that Russia annexed in 2014. They have faced Ukrainian counterattacks, but have largely held their ground.

The 1.4-kilometer (0.9-mile) bridge is the main one across the Dnieper River, and if it’s made unusable it would be hard for the Russian military to keep supplying its forces in the region amid repeated Ukrainian attacks.

The British Defense Ministry said Wednesday that the bridge was likely still usable after the Ukrainian strikes, but it is a “key vulnerability for Russian Forces,.”

“It is one of only two road crossing points over the Dnieper by which Russia can supply or withdraw its forces in the territory it has occupied west of the river,” it added. “Control of Dnieper crossings is likely to become a key factor in the outcome of fighting in the region.”

The Ukrainian attacks on the bridge in Kherson come as the bulk of the Russian forces are stuck in the fighting in Ukraine’s eastern industrial heartland of Donbas where they have made slow gains facing fierce Ukrainian resistance.

Russia’s ground advance has slowed, in part because Ukraine is using more effective U.S. weapons and in part because of what Russian President Vladimir Putin has called an “operational pause.” Russia has been focusing more on aerial bombardment using long-range missiles.

Ukrainian officials voiced hope that Kyiv could drain the Russian military resources in the fight for Donbas and then launch a counteroffensive to reclaim control of the Kherson region and parts of the Zaporizhzhia region that the Russians seized early in the war.

With indications that Ukraine is planning counterattacks to retake occupied areas, the Russian military in recent weeks has targeted the Black Sea port of Odesa and parts of southern Ukraine where its troops captured cities earlier in the war.

Kherson — site of a major ship-building industry at the confluence of the Dnieper River and the Black Sea near Russian-annexed Crimea — is one of several areas a U.S. government spokesman said Russia is trying to annex. Following months of local rumors and announcements about a Russian referendum, White House national security council spokesman John Kirby said Tuesday that U.S. intelligence officials have amassed “ample” new evidence that Russia is looking formally to annex additional Ukraine territory and could hold a “sham” public vote as soon as September. Russia is eyeing Kherson as well as the entirety of the Luhansk and Donetsk oblasts.

“Russia is laying the groundwork to annex Ukrainian territory that it controls in direct violation of Ukraine sovereignty,” Kirby said in Washington.

Kirby also said the White House is expected to announce more military aid for Ukraine later this week. The aid is expected to include more HIMARS systems, a critical weapon Ukrainian forces have been using with success in their fight to repel Russian troops.

Direct hit! Pop song sings the praises of Himars, the rocket that has the Russians on the hop

The Telegraph

Direct hit! Pop song sings the praises of Himars, the rocket that has the Russians on the hop

Nataliya Vasilyeva – July 19, 2022

Ukrainian officials have credited Western arms supplies, including the Himars, for 'stabilising' the situation on the front line
Ukrainian officials have credited Western arms supplies, including the Himars, for ‘stabilising’ the situation on the front line

The invaluable contribution of US-made artillery launchers in Ukraine has been immortalised in a pop song in yet another creative tribute to Western-supplied weapons.

Ukrainians have lauded the Himars artillery units for several recent successful attacks on Russian targets, including killing several high-ranking officers.

Now a music video has emerged featuring footage of the rockets being fired while a deep baritone sings about its battlefield successes.

“Hi-Mars! Our trusted ally from America is here. Do you want to meet him?”

“He’s channeling all of our anger. He’s sending rocket after rocket on our treacherous enemies. Hi-Mars! La la la la.”

The song was written by Taras Borovko, who previously wrote a similar song glorifying the Turkish-made combat drone Bayraktar TB2 that went viral online.

It goes on to deride the Russian army while Ukrainian troops are seen firing more salvoes.

“The occupiers are concocting their plans at the HQ/Then they hear the bang! Hi-Mars!”

Ukraine’s commander-in-chief on Tuesday credited Western arms supplies for “stabilising” the situation on the front almost five months into the war.

“An important factor contributing to our holding our defence lines and positions is the timely arrival of the M142 Himars, delivering targeted strikes against enemy command posts, ammunition and fuel deposits,” General Valeriy Zaluzhny said in a statement after a phone call with the chairman of the US Joints Chiefs of Staff.

Ukrainian activists have created countless memes about weaponry to boost morale and rally the population in the face of Russia’s devastating invasion.

In another example of Western-made weapons turning into pop icons, a Canadian marketer in March created an image of the Virgin Mary cradling a US-made Javelin anti-tank missile that he dubbed “Saint Javelin”.

Saint Javelin - Getty Images
Saint Javelin – Getty Images

The Canadian man has since raised over $1 million for relief efforts in Ukraine by selling “Saint Javelin” stickers and sweatshirts.

In arguably the best-known meme, a Ukrainian officer was caught in a recorded radio conversation rebuffing an invitation from the crew of a Russian warship to surrender the garrison of Snake Island in the Black Sea.

Ukraine’s national postal service has since issued stamps with “Russia warship, go f— yourself!” while some Ukrainian officials were spotted wearing T-shirts with the catchphrase.

U.S. to send four more HIMARS to Ukraine

Reuters

U.S. to send four more HIMARS to Ukraine

Idrees Ali – July 20, 2022

FILE PHOTO: U.S. military forces fire a High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS) rocket during the annual Philippines-US live fire amphibious landing exercise (PHIBLEX) at Crow Valley in Capas, Tarlac province, north of Manila
 U.S. military forces fire a High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS) rocket during the annual Philippines-US live fire amphibious landing exercise (PHIBLEX) at Crow Valley in Capas, Tarlac province, north of Manila
Hershel "Woody" Williams lies in honor, in Washington
Hershel “Woody” Williams lies in honor, in Washington

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The United States will send four more high mobility artillery rocket systems (HIMARS) to Ukraine, U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said on Wednesday, in the latest military package to help it defend itself against Russian forces.

Russia’s Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu earlier this week ordered generals to prioritize destroying Ukraine’s long-range missiles and artillery after Western-supplied weapons were used to strike Russian supply lines.

Nearly five months since President Vladimir Putin ordered the invasion, Russian forces are grinding through the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine and occupy around a fifth of the country.

“(We) will keep finding innovative ways to sustain our long-term support for the brave men and women of the Ukrainian armed forces and we will tailor our assistance to ensure that Ukraine has the technology, the ammunition and the sheer firepower to defend itself,” Austin said at the start of a virtual meeting with allies on Ukraine.

The West has supplied Ukraine with longer-range heavy artillery and multiple launch rocket systems so it can hold out despite Russian artillery supremacy in numbers and ammunition.

Ukraine says it has carried out successful strikes on 30 Russian logistics and ammunitions hubs, using several multiple launch rocket systems recently supplied by the West.

In a press conference after the meeting, Chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff General Mark Milley said Ukraine had used HIMARS to hit Russian command and control nodes, logistic network and air defense sites within Ukraine.

About 200 Ukrainian forces had been trained on the HIMARS and none of the systems had been destroyed by Russian forces, Milley said.

He added an issue would be the rate of ammunition being used by Ukrainian forces, though there would be no impact on the readiness of the United States in the next couple of months at the current rate.

Milley said the Donbas region had not been lost by Ukrainians yet and described it as a “grinding war of attrition.”

HIMARS have a longer range and are more precise than the Soviet-era artillery that Ukraine has had in its arsenal.

Austin said the new package would also include rounds for Multiple Launch Rocket Systems as well as artillery munitions.

The latest package would bring the total number of HIMARS the United States has provided to Ukraine to 16.

The United States has provided $8 billion in security assistance since the war began, including $2.2 billion in the last month.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Wednesday that Moscow’s military “tasks” in Ukraine now went beyond the eastern Donbas region, in the clearest acknowledgment yet that it has expanded its war goals.

Austin said Lavrov’s comments appeared to be aimed at the Russian population.

“That’s not a surprise to any of us or anybody in Europe or anybody around the globe, I think he’s talking to the people in Russia who have been ill informed throughout,” Austin told reporters.

The United States and allies are starting to examine possible training for Ukrainian pilots as part of a project to help build a future Ukrainian air force, Air Force Chief of Staff General Charles “CQ” Brown told Reuters.

A number of different options were being looked at on helping Ukrainian troops, including training for pilots, but no decision had been made, Milley said.

(Reporting by Idrees Ali; Additional reporting by Kanishka Singh and Mike Stone; Editing by Andrew Heavens, Andrew Cawthorne and Grant McCool)

One Russian warplane downed, 200 more soldiers liquidated, reports General Staff

The New Voice of Ukraine

One Russian warplane downed, 200 more soldiers liquidated, reports General Staff

July 20, 2022

Russian invading forces in Ukraine
Russian invading forces in Ukraine

The invaders suffered the greatest losses during the day on the Bakhmut axis.

Read also: Russia resorts to calling up prisoners to make up for military personnel losses – UK MoD

The Russian military also lost almost 11,000 pieces of equipment, including:

  • Tanks — 1,700 (+9)
  • Armored fighting vehicles — 3,905 (+13)
  • Artillery systems — 856 (+5)
  • Multiple launch rocket systems — 250 (+2)
  • Air defense systems — 113 (+0)
  • Warplanes — 221 (+1)
  • Helicopters — 188 (+0)
  • UAV operational-tactical level — 703 (+10)
  • Cruise missiles — 167 (+1)
  • Warships/boats — 15 (+0)
  • Motor vehicles and fuel tankers — 2,775 (+8)
  • Specialized military equipment — 70 (+0).

Russia invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24. July 20 is the 147th day of full-scale war. Russian forces initially tried to advance from the north, east, and south, shelling peaceful cities throughout Ukraine using artillery and bombing them from the air.

Read also: Russians burning bodies to hide extent of losses in Kherson, says intelligence

During this time, the Kremlin has changed the goals of its war in Ukraine several times. After the failed operation to seize Kyiv and then the retreat of its troops from Kyiv, Chernihiv, and Sumy oblasts, Russian forces concentrated on fighting for the territories of Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts, which were under Ukrainian governmental control before the full-scale Russian invasion.

Kherson remains the only provincial capital under Russian control. Russian forces maintain their hold on parts of Zaporizhzhia, Kherson, and Kharkiv oblasts.

Read also: Russians suffering huge losses as Ukrainian army holds them back in Donbas — Luhansk governor

In some areas, Ukrainian troops are launching counteroffensives, and the Russian army is suffering losses.

Insubordination and drunkenness are rampant in Russian units General Staff report

Ukrayinska Pravda

Insubordination and drunkenness are rampant in Russian units General Staff report

Anastasiia Kalatur – July 20, 2022

The command of the Northern Fleet of the Russian Federation is carrying out preventive measures due to the very low level of military discipline in the units, and drunkenness and insubordination against the orders of commanders are rampant.

Source: General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine as of 06.00 on 20 July

Details: There is a shortage of ammunition, food and water in units of the Russian forces.

There are no significant changes in the Russian occupying forces’ activity on the Volyn, Polissia, and Sivershchyna fronts. Russian soldiers hit the areas of Mykolaivka in Chernihiv Oblast, and Volfyne, Yastrubyne and Pavlivka in Sumy Oblast, using tube and rocket artillery.

On the Kharkiv front, the invaders have fired at the areas of the settlements of Mospanove, Petrivka, Ruski Tyshky, Bazaliivka, Pechenihy, Tsyrkuny, Pytomnyk, Dementiivka, Korobochkyne and Prudianka.

On the Sloviansk front, shelling from tanks and artillery was recorded near Dolyna, Krasnopillia, Kostiantynivka, Chepil, Husarivka and Adamivka.

On the Donetsk front, the aggressor shelled the areas of settlements of Kramatorsk, Siversk, Serebrianka, Hryhorivka, Verkhnokamianske, Spirne, Ivano-Darivka, using tube and rocket artillery. They also carried out an airstrike near Verkhnokamianske.  Russian soldiers are leading an assault in the area of Ivano-Darivka, hostilities continue.

On the Bakhmut front, the occupiers are conducting combat operations to create conditions for an attack on Bakhmut and to seize the territory of the Vuhlehirska power station. Shelling was carried out from tube and rocket artillery and tanks in the areas of the settlements of Berestove, Bilohorivka, Yakovlivka, Pokrovske, Soledar, Bakhmutske, Bakhmut, Vesela Dolyna, and Kodema. The Russian forces carried out airstrikes on Berestove, Yakovlivka, Bakhmut, Vershyna, New-York and Pokrovske.

Fighting continues in the area of the settlements of Berestove, Vershyna and Novoluhanske.

On the Avdiivka, Novopavlivka, and Zaporizhzhia fronts, there was shelling in the areas of the settlements of Novobakhmutivka, Vuhledar, Novopil, Poltavka, Huliaipole, Kamianske, and a number of others. The Russian invaders launched an airstrike near Avdiivka. Russian soldiers conducted reconnaissance-in-force near Novoselivka Druha and advanced towards Mykilske, but they had no success and retreated.

On the Pivdennyi Buh front, the Russian army maintains a high intensity of reconnaissance with drones. There are three Kalibr cruise missile carriers in the Black Sea area outside the naval bases. Reciprocal shelling from tube, rocket artillery and tanks continues along the entire front line. The Russian forces launched missile and air strikes in the area of ​​Murakhivka.

Justice Thomas’ lusterless tenure began with a lie. It keeps getting worse.

The Columbus Dispatch

Justice Thomas’ lusterless tenure began with a lie. It keeps getting worse. |Opinion

Michael M. Lederman – July 19, 2022

Abortion-rights protesters demonstrate near the home of Associate Justice Clarence Thomas in Fairfax Station, Va. on June 24, 2022, after the Supreme Court opinion in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization overturned the landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade decision that established a constitutional right to abortions.
Abortion-rights protesters demonstrate near the home of Associate Justice Clarence Thomas in Fairfax Station, Va. on June 24, 2022, after the Supreme Court opinion in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization overturned the landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade decision that established a constitutional right to abortions.

Dr. Michael M. Lederman is professor of medicine (emeritus) and biomedical ethics at Case Western Reserve University. He is editor-in-chief of the scientific journal Pathogens and Immunity.

Clarence Thomas should not be on the Supreme Court.

He was approved to sit on the court by a timid Democrat majority Senate that was afraid to conclude that this Black man had sexually harassed a colleague, Anita Hill.

More: Petition calls for impeachment of Chatham’s Clarence Thomas. Can you impeach a Supreme Court justice?

The truth of the matter is undetermined but to my eye and in the eyes of many, Professor Anita Hill (and two other women) were telling us the truth and Judge Thomas was lying.

Clarence Thomas, then a Supreme Court nominee, testifies before the Senate Judiciary Committee during his 1991 confirmation hearing.
Clarence Thomas, then a Supreme Court nominee, testifies before the Senate Judiciary Committee during his 1991 confirmation hearing.

A terrible start for a Supreme Court justice and it did not get any better. His tenure on the Supreme Court has been lusterless. For many years, he would not even write an opinion and his writings have been largely pedestrian or extremist.

Law professor Anita Hill testifies before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Capitol hill Oct. 11, 1991. In a 1994 book titled " Strange Justice, The selling of Clarence Thomas," written by two Wall Street Journal reporters, the authors revealed that Thomas' volatile Supreme Court confirmation hearings raise fresh questions about his denial that he had talked dirty to Hill while she worked for him as an aide at two government agencies in the 1980s.
Law professor Anita Hill testifies before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Capitol hill Oct. 11, 1991. In a 1994 book titled ” Strange Justice, The selling of Clarence Thomas,” written by two Wall Street Journal reporters, the authors revealed that Thomas’ volatile Supreme Court confirmation hearings raise fresh questions about his denial that he had talked dirty to Hill while she worked for him as an aide at two government agencies in the 1980s.

His wife – Virginia “Ginni” Thomas, a refugee from an 80’s cult –  is a danger to America who has placed Justice Thomas proximate to sedition. Ginni Thomas has worked relentlessly to undermine the outcome of the 2020 presidential election using lies and misrepresentations to urge electors to resist the legitimate transition of government.

More: Clarence Thomas’ wife asks Anita Hill for apology

This is an embarrassment to the court.

But even worse is Clarence Thomas’s refusal to recuse himself from deliberations that address this very election.

Most recently, Thomas delivered the majority opinion in New York State Rifle and Pistol Association v. Bruen, finding that the right to carry concealed handguns in public for the purpose of self-defense is protected by the Second Amendment to the Constitution.

Michael M. Lederman, M.D., is professor of medicine (emeritus) and biomedical ethics at Case Western Reserve University. He is editor-in-chief of the scientific journal Pathogens and Immunity.
Michael M. Lederman, M.D., is professor of medicine (emeritus) and biomedical ethics at Case Western Reserve University. He is editor-in-chief of the scientific journal Pathogens and Immunity.

More: How to submit guest opinion columns to the Columbus Dispatch

Justice Thomas (and other conservative justices) deliberately misunderstand the Second Amendment. None of the other nine amendments to the Constitution that comprise the Bill of Rights requires justification; those are self-evident and fundamental.

The Second Amendment alone has an explanatory introduction: “A well-regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free state,” the Amendment begins, “the right of the people to keep and bear Arms shall not be infringed.”

Nowhere in the Amendment is self-defense mentioned.

More: Supreme Court justices don’t have a code of ethics. Hundreds of judges say that’s a problem

If the framers of Bill of Rights understood that that the right to keep and bear arms was fundamental, why was this unique introduction even warranted?

In the 2008 Heller decision, the unique importance of this introduction is simply ignored as nearly accidental and a labyrinth of decisions is used to link the Amendment to the use of arms in activities such as self-defense. When applied to the original words of the  framers, this is sophistry.

Thomas is marinated in conflicts of interest that render impartiality risible. He has been a headliner for the Eagle Forum (an anti-abortion organization) and the conservative Council for National Policy.

He gave a keynote speech at a fundraiser for the conservative Manhattan Institute and has a longstanding relationship with the Heritage Foundation.

Supreme Court Associate Justice Clarence Thomas, left and his wife Virginia Thomas, right, on Feb. 20, 2016. Virginia Thomas sent weeks of text messages imploring White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows to act to overturn the 2020 presidential election, according to copies of the messages obtained by The Washington Post and CBS News.
Supreme Court Associate Justice Clarence Thomas, left and his wife Virginia Thomas, right, on Feb. 20, 2016. Virginia Thomas sent weeks of text messages imploring White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows to act to overturn the 2020 presidential election, according to copies of the messages obtained by The Washington Post and CBS News.

His wife has prominent roles in a number of conservative activist organizations and she was actively engaged in promoting the Jan. 6, 2021, Ellipse rally that ultimately resulted in the violent assault on the Capitol. Mrs. Thomas has given at least $13,000 to support Republicans seeking elected office.

More: What ties does Ginni Thomas, the Supreme Court justice’s wife, have to Jan. 6?

Apparently, Thomas’ colleagues have been unable or unwilling to get Thomas to recuse himself when conflicted.

His service on the court offers a compelling argument for term limits, if not impeachment.

Dr. Michael M. Lederman is professor of medicine (emeritus) and biomedical ethics at Case Western Reserve University. He is editor-in-chief of the scientific journal Pathogens and Immunity.

How not to solve the climate change problem

The Conversation

How not to solve the climate change problem

Kevin Trenberth, Scholar, NCAR; Univ. of Auckland – July 19, 2022

This direct air capture plant in Iceland was designed to capture 4,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide per year. <a href=
This direct air capture plant in Iceland was designed to capture 4,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide per year. Climeworks 2021 via AP Photos

When politicians talk about reaching “net zero” emissions, they’re often counting on trees or technology that can pull carbon dioxide out of the air. What they don’t mention is just how much these proposals or geoengineering would cost to allow the world to continue burning fossil fuels.

There are many proposals for removing carbon dioxide, but most make differences only at the edges, and carbon dioxide concentrations in the atmosphere have continued to increase relentlessly, even through the pandemic.

I’ve been working on climate change for over four decades. Let’s take a minute to come to grips with some of the rhetoric around climate change and clear the air, so to speak.

What’s causing climate change?

As has been well established now for several decades, the global climate is changing, and that change is caused by human activities.

When fossil fuels are burned for energy or used in transportation, they release carbon dioxide – a greenhouse gas that is the main cause of global heating. Carbon dioxide stays in the atmosphere for centuries. As more carbon dioxide is added, its increasing concentration acts like a blanket, trapping energy near Earth’s surface that would otherwise escape into space.

When the amount of energy arriving from the Sun exceeds the amount of energy radiating back into space, the climate heats up. Some of that energy increases temperatures, and some increases evaporation and fuels storms and rains.

How the greenhouse effect works. <a href=
How the greenhouse effect works. EPA

Because of these changes in atmospheric composition, the planet has warmed by an estimated 1.1 degrees Celsius (2 F) since about 1880 and is well on the way to 1.5 C (2.7 F), which was highlighted as a goal not to be crossed if possible by the Paris Agreement. With the global heating and gradual increases in temperature have come increases in all kinds of weather and climate extremes, from flooding to drought and heat waves, that cause huge damage, disruption and loss of life.

Studies shows that global carbon dioxide emissions will need to reach net-zero carbon emissions by midcentury to have a chance of limiting warming to even 2 C (3.6 F).

Currently, the main source of carbon dioxide is China. But accumulated emissions matter most, and the United States leads, closely followed by Europe, China and others.

Estimated shares of carbon dioxide emissions from fossil fuels in 2018 compared with cumulative emissions over time, based on data released by BP. Kevin Trenberth, Author provided
Estimated shares of carbon dioxide emissions from fossil fuels in 2018 compared with cumulative emissions over time, based on data released by BP. Kevin Trenberth, Author provided
What works to slow climate change?

Modern society needs energy, but it does not have to be from fossil fuels.

Studies show that the most effective way to address the climate change problem is to decarbonize the economies of the world’s nations. This means sharply increasing use of renewable energy – solar and wind cost less than new fossil fuel plants in much of the world today – and the use of electric vehicles.

Unfortunately, this changeover to renewables has been slow, due in large part to the the huge and expensive infrastructure related to fossil fuels, along with the vast amount of dollars that can buy influence with politicians.

What doesn’t work?

Instead of drastically cutting emissions, companies and politicians have grasped at alternatives. These include geoengineeringcarbon capture and storage, including “direct air capture”; and planting trees.

Here’s the issue:

Geoengineering often means “solar radiation management,” which aims to emulate a volcano and add particulates to the stratosphere to reflect incoming solar radiation back to space and produce a cooling. It might partially work, but it could have concerning side effects.

The global warming problem is not sunshine, but rather that infrared radiation emitted from Earth is being trapped by greenhouse gases. Between the incoming solar and outgoing radiation is the whole weather and climate system and the hydrological cycle. Sudden changes in these particles or poor distribution could have dramatic effects.

Some methods of solar radiation management that have been proposed. <a href=
Some methods of solar radiation management that have been proposed. Chelsea Thompson, NOAA/CIRES

The last major volcanic eruption, of Mt. Pinatubo in 1991, sent enough sulfur dioxide and particulates into the stratosphere that it produced modest cooling, but it also caused a loss of precipitation over land. It cooled the land more than the ocean so that monsoon rains moved offshore, and longer term it slowed the water cycle.

Carbon capture and storage has been researched and tried for well over a decade but has sizable costs. Only about a dozen industrial plants in the U.S. currently capture their carbon emissions, and most of it is used to enhance drilling for oil.

Direct air capture – technology that can pull carbon dioxide out of the air – is being developed in several places. It uses a lot of energy, though, and while that could potentially be dealt with by using renewable energy, it’s still energy intensive.

Boris Johnson, then mayor of London, plants a tree in 2008. <a href=
Boris Johnson, then mayor of London, plants a tree in 2008. Peter Macdiarmid/Getty Images

Planting trees is often embraced as a solution for offsetting corporate greenhouse gas emissions. Trees and vegetation take up carbon dioxide though photosynthesis and produce wood and other plant material. It’s relatively cheap.

But trees aren’t permanent. Leaves, twigs and dead trees decay. Forests burn. Recent studies show that the risks to trees from stress, wildfires, drought and insects as temperatures rise will also be larger than expected.

How much does all this cost?

Scientists have been measuring carbon dioxide at Mauna Loa, Hawaii, since 1958 and elsewhere. The average annual increase in carbon dioxide concentration has accelerated, from about 1 part per million by volume per year in the 1960s to 1.5 in the 1990s, to 2.5 in recent years since 2010.

This relentless increase, through the pandemic and in spite of efforts in many countries to cut emissions, shows how enormous the problem is.

Carbon dioxide concentrations at Mauna Loa, Hawaii. The monthly mean, in red, rises and falls with the growing seasons. The black line is adjusted for the average seasonal cycle. <a href=
Carbon dioxide concentrations at Mauna Loa, Hawaii. The monthly mean, in red, rises and falls with the growing seasons. The black line is adjusted for the average seasonal cycle. Kevin Trenberth, based on NOAA dataCC BY-ND

Usually carbon removal is discussed in terms of mass, measured in megatons – millions of metric tons – of carbon dioxide per year, not in parts per million of volume. The mass of the atmosphere is about 5.5×10¹⁵ metric tons, but as carbon dioxide (molecular weight 42) is heavier than air (molecular weight about 29), 1 part per million by volume of carbon dioxide is about 7.8 billion metric tons.

According to the World Resources Institute, the range of costs for direct air capture vary between US$250 and $600 per metric ton of carbon dioxide removed today, depending on the technology, energy source and scale of deployment. Even if costs fell to $100 per metric ton, the cost of reducing the atmospheric concentrations of carbon dioxide by 1 part per million is around $780 billion.

Keep in mind that the carbon dioxide concentration in the atmosphere has risen from about 280 parts per million before the industrial era to around 420 today, and it is currently rising at more than 2 parts per million per year.

Tree restoration on one-third to two-thirds of suitable acres is estimated to be able to remove about 7.4 gigatons of carbon dioxide by 2050 without displacing agricultural land, by WRI’s calculations. That would be more than any other pathway. This might sound like a lot, but 7 gigatons of carbon dioxide is 7 billion metric tons, and so this is less than 1 part per million by volume. The cost is estimated to be up to $50 per metric ton. So even with trees, the cost to remove 1 part per million by volume could be as much as $390 billion.

Geoengineering is also expensive.

So for hundreds of billions of dollars, the best prospect with these strategies is a tiny dent of 1 part per million by volume in the carbon dioxide concentration.

This arithmetic highlights the tremendous need to cut emissions. There is no viable workaround.

This article is republished from The Conversation, a nonprofit news site dedicated to sharing ideas from academic experts. It was written by: Kevin TrenberthUniversity of Auckland.

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Kevin Trenberth does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

House Democrats tout bill to add four seats to Supreme Court

The Hill

House Democrats tout bill to add four seats to Supreme Court

Julia Mueller – July 18, 2022

A group of House Democrats called for legislation on Monday that would add four seats to the Supreme Court, lamenting a “ultra right-wing” branch that just overturned the Roe v. Wade decision on abortion rights.

The eight lawmakers cited recent Supreme Court decisions that rolled back Miranda rights, threw out a New York gun control law and allowed religion to surface in schools — as well as the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health decision that overturned the right to abortion in Roe — in saying there was a need to add new justices to the court.

Rep. Hank Johnson (D-Ga.), the lead sponsor of the 2021 Judiciary Act, called the current makeup “a Supreme Court at crisis with itself and with our democracy” where “basic freedoms are under assault” from the 6-3 conservative supermajority on the bench.

The Supreme Court isn’t susceptible to the popular vote the way Congress is, Johnson said, and it has used that fact to amass power. “It’s making decisions that usurp the power of the legislative and executive branches,” he said.

Facing Republican opposition and some Democratic skepticism, the bill has little chance of becoming law, but it illustrates the deep anger among progressive Democrats about the court’s direction under three conservative justices nominated by former President Trump: Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett.

Those three justices have radically altered the direction of the court, which now has twice as many conservative justices as liberal ones. Kavanaugh replaced Justice Anthony Kennedy, a previous swing vote who had been nominated to the court by a Republican, while Barrett replaced liberal Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

Adding to Democratic anger, a GOP Senate blocked former President Obama’s last nominee to the court, Merrick Garland, who is now the attorney general. Gorsuch ended up being nominated to the court in place of Garland.

Introduced last year, the Judiciary Act has not progressed in Congress.

Some Democrats wary of the proposal are concerned that expansion would open the court up for Republicans to push more of their nominees into the openings.

“The nightmare scenario of GOP court-packing is already upon us,” said Rep. Mondaire Jones (D-N.Y.). “That’s how they got this far-right 6-3 majority in the first place.”

Lawmakers at Monday’s press conference, hosted by the Take Back the Court Action Fund, blamed Trump and the conservative legal movement for enabling a partisan court.

Republican politicians made controlling the judicial branch part of their platform, said Rep. Mark Takano (D-Calif.), adding that the court has “gone rogue” and “become a radical institution.”

The lawmakers also emphasized that the longevity of the lifelong terms the sitting justices are now serving makes action to expand the court more urgent.

Of 72-year-old conservative Justice Samuel Alito, Johnson said, “You can see the gleam in his eye as he thinks about what he wants to do to decimate the rights of people and put us back in the Dark Ages.”

Trump-nominated Gorsuch, Barrett and Kavanaugh, in their 50s, are “gonna be there for a while,” Johnson said.

Congress has changed the number of seats on the nation’s highest court seven times in the nation’s history. The new proposal would bring the total seat count to 13, meaning a decision from the court would need a 7-6 majority rather than the present 5-4.

Reps. Andy Levin (D-Mich.), Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.), Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-N.J.), Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.) and Sheila Jackson Lee (D-Texas) were also at the conference, along with Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.), who sponsored the bill in the Senate, and a handful of progressive activists.

Political analyst urges U.S. to allow Ukraine to bomb Crimean bridge

The New Voice of Ukraine

Political analyst urges U.S. to allow Ukraine to bomb Crimean bridge

July 18, 2022

Crimean bridge
Crimean bridge

“They are trying to make sure that everything is confined to the territory of Ukraine so that [the strikes] do not go beyond its territory,” he said.

“These stupid talks about not shooting at Russian territory…. And regard-ing HIMARS, and everything else. Why have such conversations? Russia, therefore, will bomb the territory of Ukraine, threatening to bomb Poland as well… Have you made Ukraine whipping boys?”

Read also: Revered Ukrainian general on possibility of striking Crimean Bridge

Yunus believes that Ukraine should be allowed to strike at the Kerch bridge with weapons provided by Washington.

“If you give [Ukraine] HIMARS, why do you then say ‘shoot at 70 km, but don’t shoot at 300?” Yunus wondered.

“You give them what they need, bare your teeth and then we’ll see how Russia will behave. Give Ukraine the opportunity to bomb the Crimean Bridge. This can be done within one day. The West has all the military-technical capabilities for this. As soon as the Crimean Bridge is bombed, you will see how the Kremlin’s rhetoric will rapidly change”.

The Kerch Strait bridge is an illegally built bridge across the Kerch Strait that connects Russia with the peninsula it occupied in 2014. Through it, the aggressor country transfers its troops and equipment to the territory of Crimea, and then to the south of Ukraine.

Read also: Kremlin reacts to Ukrainian official saying Russia’s bridge to Crimea might be attacked

Major General of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Dmytro Marchenko, who from the first days led the defense of Mykolaiv and the oblast, said that the bridge would be the number one target for the defenders of Ukraine after receiving the promised Western weapons.

Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council Oleksiy Danilov told Radio NV back in April that Ukraine would hit the Kerch Strait bridge if such an opportunity arose.

Later, Danilov said that the occupiers were getting “tense” because of the weapons that Ukraine received from Western partners, and therefore strengthened the defenses of the bridge.

Ukraine received the first American multiple launch rocket system HIMARS, which can hit targets at a distance of 300 km, at the end of June.

But U.S. President Joe Biden highlighted that the United States would not send missile systems to Ukraine that could reach the territory of Russia. Later, the State Department clarified that Washington is not supplying long-range missiles “for use outside the battlefield in Ukraine.”

U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine, Bridget Brink, stressed that the Ukrainian side will decide for itself what targets to use the HIMARS systems on.