We’ve had a busy week. Consider that Trump spent the week exposing how mentally unfit he is for office by attacking NATO and threatening to invade Greenland and carping about not getting the Noble Piece Price and it’s the government of Norway’s fault and that the 2020 election was stolen. The Epstein files haven’t been released. ICE is openly and wantonly violating the Fourth Amendment by invading people’s homes without a warrant. And Jack Smith reminded us that Trump is a felon who tried to overturn the 2020 election because he lost and stole secret government documents.

Still, there was time to read other news. Admittedly, some of these were read last week. But, still these are interesting and pertinent enough to deserve to be brought to wider attention.

Burning Plastic for Cooking and Heating

I’ve lived in developing countries for nearly thirty years and was always aware that lots of plastic was being burned, but I never put it together that it was being used utilitarian purposes. There was always severe litter. There is no trash pick up or very limited garbage service, so refuse goes on the ground. It is everywhere. But, people in cities, especially, burn trash and plastic to cook food and heat homes despite the noxious fumes because they have few choices. Very sobering, and something we can fix. We can do better with renewable energy.

Global study reveals widespread burning of plastic for heating and cooking

The Big Ugly Bill Speeds Up Social Security Insolvency

Republicans are not only going to bankrupt the entire country, they are coming for our seniors, too. Remember that it was FDR and LBJ who lifted our seniors out of poverty with their social safety net programs. Republicans have been gunning for senior citizens ever since. They finally have them in their sites.

The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget estimates that the insolvency’ of Social Security will occur a year earlier in 2032 due to the reduced tax revenue from the One Big Ugly Bill. The article also notes that we arrived in this situation because no Congress or President would address the problem. They would just kick the can down the road as they say. Now, we’re desperate enough that we’re going to have delay retirement and maybe find another revenue stream.

Experts believe Washington ‘must break its promise on Social Security’ to protect it from ‘imminent insolvency‘

Fossil Fuels Companies Intent on Destroying the Climate

The headline says it all, Half of World’s CO2 Emissions Come From Just 32 Fossil Fuel Firms, Study Shows. So, Trump and a handful of people can become 500 billionaires before the climate is no longer able to support the lives of eight billion people and millions have to die every year in climate disasters, we have to continue using fossil fuels, fouling the environment, and worsening the impact of the climate crisis.

That’s the international oligarchy that we are now living under.

China’s Hallucinatory Mushrooms are on the Menu

I lived in China for four years and visited Yunnan several times. Why didn’t I know this? The Lanmaoa asiatica grows there naturally and abundantly, so it is one of the regions traditional foods. Here’s the trick, though. If the mushrooms are undercooked, then the consumer will experience visual hallucinations. They have to be cooked thoroughly kinda like pork used to be. Here’s the next trick, though. Everyone has the same hallucinations. Everyone who eats the undercooked mushrooms sees tiny elf-like people coming in under the doors, climbing up the furniture, appearing in trees. Wild. Who knew. Why aren’t we growing them here?

They saw them on their dishes when eating’: The mushroom making people hallucinate dozens of tiny humans

These are my stories from the last couple of weeks. Let me know what yours were or what you think about these in the comments.

Image Attribution

This image was found on Aturo Flores Flickr page using a Creative Commons search.