In this Our Changing Climate environmental video essay, I look at the environmental and social cost of the military and militarism. I narrow in on the United States military-industrial complex because it is by far the biggest military machine in the world. I look at how the military and the military-industrial complex is a massive polluter in terms of both emissions and chemical waste. In addition, the video looks at whether or not these environmental and monetary burdens caused by the military-industrial complex are justified. Have the multitude of wars the United States has wage been just, or are they manifestations of imperialism. Ultimately, the video connects environmental destruction with military imperialism and concludes that demilitarization is the only truly effective answer to the carbon footprint of the military.
Today, Dutch ANP news agency reports that the lockdown measures against the COVID-19 pandemic, including the curfew, are saving the lives of many common toads and other amphibians which are now on spring migration. The anti-coronavirus measures mean much less car traffic, especially after 9pm.
COVID-19 can affect the brain. New clues hint at how. Apr 27 2021 6:00 AM. Anxiety, depression and strokes can occur after infection, leaving experts to determine how the virus affects the brain: here.
This is a short-toed treecreeper video from Croatia.
This morning, in Gooilust nature reserve, a song thrush. And a great egret, a white stork couple clapping their bills, nuthatches and a short-toed treecreeper. Green woodpecker sound.
This 19 February 2021 video from the USA says about itself:
Northern Cardinals are perhaps the most conspicuous and familiar songbirds across their range in the eastern United States and Mexico. Let’s focus on what types of seeds and feeders are best to attract these year-round residents to the bounty of your backyard bird feeders.
This 18 February 2021 video from the USA says about itself:
New York governor Andrew Cuomo has been caught in a potential cover-up! John Iadarola and Ana Kasparian break it down on The Damage Report.
FBI PROBES CUOMO COVER-UP The FBI and the U.S. attorney’s office in Brooklyn, New York, have reportedly begun a preliminary investigation into how New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo and his coronavirus task force handled nursing home data during the COVID-19 pandemic. [HuffPost]
Almost a thousand soldiers in US military infected with Coronavirus. US Army chief said that soldiers would continue to train …General James McConville said that the army needs to be ready to go to war. General James McConville, Chief of Staff of US Army, said, “As this morning, we’ve had 992 soldiers from all three components test positive for the COVID 19 virus.”
U.S. TROOPS BLOW OFF COVID-19 RESTRICTIONS American officials have apologized to Irish leaders after U.S. military personnel ignored COVID-19 regulations when they landed at Shannon Airport late last month. The 48 service members, plus five crew members of the U.S. Navy C40A aircraft, skipped presenting required negative tests for COVID-19 when they landed. They then broke isolation during the night, leaving their Limerick hotel to buy food. [HuffPost]
CDC DIRECTOR: LATEST COVID DATA COULD SPELL TROUBLE New data about the spread of COVID-19 in the U.S. is extremely concerning, the leader of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention warned. “At this level of cases with variants spreading, we stand to completely lose the hard-earned ground we have gained,” Dr. Rochelle Walensky said, referencing emerging strains of the coronavirus that appear more transmissible, deadlier and more resistant to vaccines. [HuffPost]
This August 2020 video from the USA says about itself:
This 21-year-old went into organ failure after contracting COVID-19 — now he’s warning other young people to take the virus seriously (warning: distressing).
‘Recovery for tens of thousands means months of agony’
Months after their coronavirus infection, tens of thousands of Dutch people still have serious complaints, such as severe headaches, shortness of breath, anxiety attacks and heart complaints, the Algemeen Dagblad daily writes. Three quarters are women. “They are people who are fully engaged in life, often with a family,” says a lung specialist in the newspaper, “but now they all can’t cope anymore”.
The KNFG physiotherapy professional association estimates that physiotherapists treat approximately 28,000 former coronavirus patients. Of those, 54 percent are younger than 55 years.
I’ve been sick from COVID-19 for almost a year: here.
Some COVID-19 survivors face another foe: PTSD. About a third of very ill patients developed post-traumatic stress disorder in a small study: here.
Anti-Semitic hate crimes reached a five-year high in 2016. The next year, anti-Semitic incidents saw an unprecedented surge, and white supremacists marched through Charlottesville, Virginia chanting “Jews will not replace us.”
In 2018, the US witnessed the deadliest anti-Semitic attack in its history when a white supremacist opened fire at Pittsburgh’s Tree of Life synagogue. Then, in 2019, according to the Anti-Defamation League, anti-Semitic incidents reached an all-time high, eclipsing every previous year on record.
Anti-Semitism plays a unique role in the dangerous worldview of white supremacists. It is often coded into terms like “white genocide” and “replacement,” which stem from the conspiracy theory that Jews are trying to change the demographics of the US.
Fault Lines decodes anti-Semitic conspiracy theories and speaks with Jewish families and community leaders struggling to move forward from tragedy against the backdrop of accelerating attacks.
Translated from French monthly Rock & Folk, 132, its punk section Béret Punk, January 1978:
Born to Lou’s [an allusion to the Johnny Thunders song Born to lose]
The Lou’s, do you know them? Yes. They are a rock group. A good band, but most of all a real girl band. At last, the first band proposing an active program. A macho approach, strongly male-like accents. I liked to get to know more. And I met them at the place of Raphaëlle (guitar), near the Place de la Bastille.
An apartment without luxury. On the walls, posters of the Clash, Iggy Pop and Richard Hell. They are just back from a tour in England, as support band of the Clash. They have changed their soft T-shirts and jeans to clothes from London punk shops like Sex and Boy. Trousers with straps, extra-large knit sweaters. The London look.
‘Our first concert was in the theatre-restaurant Campagne-Première [in Paris]. To get that concert, we passed an audition, to see whether they wanted us. It was advertised in Libération daily as a free concert. 450 people came. We have been playing together for nine months. We had enormous problems getting somewhere to rehearse. At first, we went to a dance hall in the Marais neighbourhood. We had to get out because of noise. We landed in a sordid cellar where we froze. That did not last long as well. Then, we went here, Raphaëlle’s place. The amps and the drum kit in the apartment, that was terrible noise … the neighbours wanted to murder us. Then, in mid-December, we left London again. We have good contacts and a manager there. We managed to find two rooms. We will be able to work, rehearse and improve for four months. It’s good but it also requires big sacrifices. It’s badly paid but the lack of money does not hold us back. There are so many other advantages. The relationships in the music scene are not the same as in France. There is no real rivalry between bands. They all play in their own way, there is space for everyone. There, bands have the right to be just ordinary bands, while here, you are stuck in a permanent quality contest.
And then, in England the public is fantastic. The funniest thing is when they gob at you. That shows they love you. The band that has played best is the band most covered in spittle. Over there, the guys are impossible. When you talk to them about their gobbing, they open their mouths! It is disgusting. The concerts have nothing to do with the ones over here. With French audiences, you have the impression of playing at a fridge. Over there, the audiences move, they dance up and down, they move, they move massively’.
And then the Lou’s have just landed a nice contract with CBS. It opens up horizons.
The band consists of Sacha, drums; Raphaëlle, guitar; Toto, bass; and Popo, lead guitar.
‘Mainly Popo writes the songs. Then, we work together, insert special things. We sing in English. In French, it does not work. In a band like Bijou, the instruments sound excellent, but the lyrics don’t. Similarly with Téléphone. In French, it is difficult to avoid clichés. That starts either in the beginning or later. Only Higelin is an exception. Also, basically, only the chorus matters. It is the main thing which the people remember. What we want is music which connects people, which makes them jump into the air! We are just crazy girls. Crazy girls! And we tend to stay that. It is so boring to be intelligent. We are seen as a group of non-serious girls, it makes us laugh. Every time it happens, it makes us laugh.
When it was announced that we were the support band of the Clash during their UK tour, some pretended to know why. CBS had supposedly imposed that on the Clash. Or, they said, we had given in to the sexual wishes of the CBS manager. Or, again, the Lou’s musicians, one by one, had gone to toilets with all Clash members. Only one Clash member at a time? No, three Clash members at a time. They never considered that we might have become support band because of our musical quality. All that because we are a band of girls, and girl bands supposedly should not be taken seriously.’
Translated from Rock & Folk 143, 1978:
‘The Lou’s, Pamela Pop[o] and her bandmates, watch out, they bite! And after that, they laugh, because deep in their hearts, they nevertheless love us. ‘No Escape’, the sugary/acidic taste of the Seeds and 1960s punk. No need to run away, it’s better to stay and have fun with them.’
Dear Kitty. Some blog 