Musings from Jay (blog site permanently frozen 11/05/2024 morning)

I had written earlier that my blogging will soon stop.  https://jaykasi.blogspot.com/2024/05/the-end-of-my-essay-writing-is-not-far.html My blogging career is now over. Goodbye, and thank you all for reading my essays.  The blog site will remain intact untouched (unless I get kicked out of blogspot.com for some reason).  I have put out probes to gauge two things.  Is anybody willing to take on access and packaging and distribution of my climate change info in some form? As I said it has value beyond my blogs.  Is there interest in the climate change activist or educator community for my services as a science writer writing about climate change science only? I don't charge to help the children of the world!! My interest is citizen education and awareness of the science. Any future content produced will be outside these blogs. If nothing emerges for more work on climate science writing or rollout, I will be doing socializing, relaxed reading, interacting with...

  Wrote earlier but just added.  I will share with you my assessment of Trump.   I don't think Trump is directly "controlled" by anyone, but he has "deals" with people/orgs. He also has a circle of advisors, and I think he is susceptible to manipulation and possibly vulnerable to blackmail (example things in his history are Stormy Daniels, E Jean Carroll, Access Hollywood. What else?). Also, I think he will not hesitate to make a deal with anyone if it benefits him . I think his decisions are primarily gut feelings , more than arrived at after careful deliberation. Some people say he is a fascist . (I read Kamala and John Kelly saying that and Mark Milley reportedly said it too). I don't know that for sure. But the methods he uses to gain power and collect the loyalty of people - I have never seen before used in American politics. Also, very concerning are Trump's mental stability and age . Lastly, project 2025 blueprints by his people are very con...

This is a speculative essay and not a factual essay. It projects into the future and explores some potential scenarios. I live in Hawaii. The US projects power in the Pacific from Hawaii and Guam. If there is a war with China or North Korea, Hawaii is a prime target. So, this is obviously of concern to me. I will focus on China here. These days, my interest in China is only as a source of threat to Hawaii. I had written some narrow essays on Israel and Ukraine. I had not really written an essay on the larger geopolitical landscape. However, I briefly touched on it in one essay. Here it is: https://jaykasi.blogspot.com/2024/06/the-five-key-challenges-for-us-in-future.html I also wrote about the rule based world order. The two essays on globalism adds to that. Here is the essay on rule based world order:  https://jaykasi.blogspot.com/2024/06/power-in-us-and-renewables.html Here is the Israel essay: https://jaykasi.blogspot.com/2024/08/my-views-on-context-of-israel-hamas-war.html ...

It is interesting that Harris has changed horses. At one time she had talked about banning fracking and penalizing emissions but not anymore. While it is crucial to figure out a safe non disruptive way to transition to a future economy that emits much less, her change is quite startling. There is little talk of climate change on the campaign trail. So, what gives? What is my take?  Biden locked in a lot of gains with the decade-long bills he got congress to pass including the inflation reduction act and turbo charging nuclear power use in US. These initiatives include funding for a variety of climate initiatives, and I have small writeups on the key ones further below.   Many states are also making good progress with renewables. Also, EPA rules to cut power plant emissions, and EPA rules to cut methane emissions have been formed and they have not been blocked by the supreme court. Also, some actions have been locked in for emissions from agriculture. These are the ...

A number of factual sections are from Chat GPT.   I will share the legal foundation in my view (first amendment and campaign finance laws) to which we can trace some of the dislocations in our politics and campaign systems.  Campaign and political speech are protected under the First Amendment in the U.S., but there are several constraints and regulations that apply: Defamation: False statements that harm a person's reputation can lead to civil lawsuits. Incitement to Violence: Speech that incites imminent lawless action is not protected. Obscenity: Speech that is deemed obscene (lacking serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value) can be regulated. Electioneering Communications: Certain regulations govern the timing and funding of campaign advertisements, especially those that directly advocate for a candidate. Campaign Finance Laws: Restrictions on contributions to campaigns and the disclosure of funding sources aim to prevent corruption and ensure tr...