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1. Scott Braddock,
We discuss the shootings in El Paso, Texas and Dayton, Ohio. Many people were shocked in the country and Texas. Lt. Governor Dan Patrick had received a briefing about who had committed this act in El Paso, but announced that “Antifa should stay out of Texas” He also blamed video games, and mental health. Dallas (where shooter came from) is about an 8 or 9 hour drive from El Paso. Arnie pointed out that when white males act this way, it is a mental health problem, though when anyone else commits a violent act, they are called terrorist. Mental health services in Texas are poor. The ‘manifesto’ the shooter her put out on the web echoed Trump spoke about ‘ Hispanic invaders’, and laughed when someone in his audience shouted that those people should be shot. Juaquin Castro put out a list of businesses and individuals had contributed to Trump, something that upset some Republicans, who claimed that he had “doxxed” these individuals. This was already public information. Scalia himself voiced the idea that this should be so. The idea of “money is speech” was upheld by the Supreme Court. Contributors are able to also hide their contributions by giving ‘dark money’ through organizations who do not reveal individuals’ names.
“Empower Texans”, a far-right wing group, has been connected to Texas speaker of the house, with a goal of defeating moderate Republican lawmakers, and replacing them with more right-wing members. The speaker has apologized for meeting with Empower Texas, though it is unclear that what effect this will have on the Texas House. A special committee has been created to investigate this.
Interlude music: Tia Blake, “Plastic Jesus”, cover of Paul Newman song.
2. Sharon Lerner, from “The Intercept” wrote “Waste Only: How the Plastics Industry is fighting to Keep Polluting the World.”
We discuss how plastics are being marketed and how plastic waste is not going away. Plastic does not disintegrate or biodegrade, just turns into smaller pieces that end up in air, water, and are consumed by animals and people. Bottled beverages, such as soft drinks, milk, etc used to be bottled in refillable bottles, but are now in single-use bottles that are discarded, and do not degrade. Recycling plastic has not been very successful. The Plastics industry has focused on convincing the population, especially children, on what is called plastic recycling. But this is not realistic. The APBA (American Progressive Bag Alliance) touts recycling, but promotes legislation that preempts plastic bag bans. The public is becoming aware (see “Plastic China”, a video that can be streamed), of what ‘recycling’ is. It is now obvious that this is just a way to make plastic disappear from the US, but reappear in the rest of the world, the recipient of waste from the US. Now that many of these countries no longer accept this waste, the US will have to deal with it. 150,000,000 tons of plastic (expected shortly) will surpass all weight of all the fish in the sea. Plastic is a product of the petroleum industry. Many plastics are also coated with other chemicals that are toxic. Black-colored plastics are especially dangerous. In effect, humans are becoming the test animals for many chemicals.
