For people who want to know more about this, as opposed to repeating CCP propaganda (and, BTW, labor conditions are bad throughout the Chinese economy; the Uyghur slaves are exceptionally poorly treated, but China as a whole is entirely failing its Communist ideology), here's an extensive report: https://www.shu.ac.uk/-/media/.... Here's a summary article: https://foreignpolicy.com/2022... (paywall, sorry.) A blog post based on some of the material can be read here: https://adviceunasked.blogspot..., and if you want to see a bibliography, look here: https://adviceunasked.blogspot....

Always with the whataboutism. It's CCP propaganda, you know, and before that it was Soviet propaganda.

But—China has made slavery central to its electrotech export economy. That's not something any other country has done, as far as I know.

I should say, "fossil fuel money." If an effective mitigation program is put into practice, remaining fossil fuel reserves will become valueless and that is some $11-$14 *trillion*.

https://www.theguardian.com/en...

"Tuesday’s global average temperature was calculated by a model that uses data from weather stations, ships, ocean buoys and satellites, Paulo Ceppi, a climate scientist at London’s Grantham Institute, explained in an email Wednesday."

"Instrument-based global temperature records go back to the mid-19th century, but for temperatures before that, scientists are dependent on proxy data captured through evidence left in tree rings and ice cores. “These data tell us that it hasn’t been this warm since at least 125,000 years ago, which was the previous interglacial,” Ceppi said, referring to a period of unusual warmth between two ice ages."

– https://www.washingtonpost.com...

Progressives overwhelmingly support your program; it's conservatives that reject it because money is making the decisions. But, also, energy independence in Europe is not going to be enough; there have to be solutions that engage the entire world.

An overwhelming majority of people in high-income countries believe and are willing to undertake steps to mitigate climate change. See, for instance, here: https://www.pewresearch.org/gl.... Unfortunately, the same survey shows that a somewhat lesser minority believe that we're doing a good job of dealing with climate change.

If we had an actual democracy or republic or whatever, the public would be better informed and action would have been underway for decades. As it is, the fossil fuel industry owns the legislatures and nothing has been done.

BTW, are you a voter?

All currency holdings, trad or crypto, are speculative. What the devil is Miami going to do when it suffers losses from its highly volatile cryptocurrency?

"Anvisa, the Brazilian drug agency, said that every single lot of the Ad5 Gamaleya shot that they have data on appears to still have replication-competent adenovirus in it." – Derek Lowe, https://blogs.sciencemag.org/p.... The article gives an extended account of why this is Bad.

Also, this from Lowe on the conduct of Russia in response to this rejection, "I mentioned the Twitter response to the Brazilian rejection of the Gamaleya vaccine. I believe that the official blue-check-marked “Sputnik V” Twitter account is run by the Russian Direct Investment Fund, the sovereign-wealth part of the Russian state that is in charge of rolling out the vaccine to different countries. In that case, the Russian Sovereign Wealth Fund needs to clean up its act. [...] Here’s a tweet from earlier today, all about how countries that are 'independent enough' to not only use 'Western' vaccines but also the Russian and Chinese ones are doing better in the pandemic. [...] These claims are bullshit. Posting them is a disgrace. [...] What we’re seeing here is a deliberate attempt by the backers of the Sputnik-V vaccine to smear the competition, Pfizer especially. It’s not enough if they succeed – others must fail. This is a vile, destructive tactic that will do nothing but harm, and anyone who actually gave a damn about global health would have nothing to do with it." – https://blogs.sciencemag.org/p...

Feels like the old USSR is back.

Someone missed the opportunity for a headline: "Newsom Shoots Bullet Train."

More seriously, the first high-speed rail line in the world, the TÅkaidÅ Shinkansen between Tokyo and Osaka, began operation in 1964. It runs approximately the distance between San Francisco and Los Angeles.

A good analytical piece on the history and problems of the California project comes from David Dayen; you can read it here: https://prospect.org/article/c.... Does anyone else feel like they're living in a technological backwater?

This is a major structure, nearly 200 feet high, and it's an ecologically unique site which probably ought to be left alone to preserve biodiversity – this apart from the respect for the people to whom it is sacred.

In 100 years, likely we will regret the loss, at least if there is a human civilization left to do the regretting.

Uber isn't making a profit, as far as anyone outside the firm can tell. Naturally they are seeking new lines of business.

buildings, trees

I don't worry about that. I worry about specific credible threats to particular people or groups. Those are illegal. Arguably incitement to stochastic terrorism – trolling for the violent – is a credible threat. In a large enough population you can find someone willing to attack just about anyone for just about any crazy reason. (For instance, the Pizzagate conspiracy theorists trolled up Edgar M. Welch, who fired on – one cannot make this up – the Comet Ping Pong pizzeria with a semi-automatic rifle because of specious claims it was the center of a child-abuse ring.)

But in any event, It is Valve's right to say what they distribute or publish, barring specific law to the contrary.

There is no legal requirement on a distributor to carry all content. Valve is not a common carrier. There is still less requirement on a publisher to accept all books. To use a slippery analogy, your local bookstore is not required to carry porn, nor is John Walker Publishing (a made up name) required to accept it. This is just Valve trying to avoid criticism and, perhaps, threats from terrorists.

It would be possible; Puerto Rico is far enough south that it could use solar energy for many of its needs right now. What is needed is funding and political will.