Monday, October 21, 2019

Hunting Season

Disturbing thoughts? Everyone gets 'em. What sticks?

Recently I was greatly surprised to learn The Righteous Brothers ain't brothers ("You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin'" ... "Unchained Melody" / theme from Ghost). Perhaps I'd not really thought about it before.

That sadly ain't worst-case:
Trump reportedly solicited foreign help to crush US political opponents. Surely opportunists everywhere now grasp the corrosive suggestion = Cripple Trump Enemy & Gain Advantage. 

Trump will reward those who undermine his opposition.

Sunday, October 20, 2019

Bums Who Worked for TRUMP

Disenchanted Trump Team appointee James Mattis now snipes at his former boss after two years as US Defense Secretary.

Today's embittered soundbites don't rehabilitate Mattis.

Dozens of Bums profited from Evil and now claim Regret.

Look beyond Trump family feuds & recognize Mattis as an enabler & scumbag opportunist.


Friday, October 11, 2019

Fuck Columbus

FAQ Columbus            by Genki

Columbus sailed the ocean blue
The trip brought pain & insult too.

They labeled each non-Christian "savage"
Deceit permitted, homes to ravage

Resources stolen, corruptly "borrowed"
Aggressive theft & murder followed

We're taught perverted history:
Before Your "New World" -- mystery...

First Nations raped, survival hellish
Yet mock the dispossessed with relish.

Resist extractive financiers!
Who'd sell our skins for souvenirs.

Communities not yet rebounded
Can't celebrate the mess he founded

We victims still seek crime review
Since fourteen hundred ninety-two.


Thursday, October 10, 2019

Sudden Sayōnara (Nuclear Stupidity)

さようなら (Sayōnara) is Japanese for Goodbye.

Too many people in Japan are essentially captive - not only to natural disasters, but to continuing stupidity that should be criminal. Visitors expecting Rugby World Cup or Tokyo Olympic adventures must also recognize threats: typhoon, earthquake, fires, tsunami, flooding, diseases, stupidity...

Consider the continuing fallout from the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake & tsunami -- a high-cost super-disaster not yet over.

The TEPCO (東京電力 Tokyo Electric Power Company) nuclear accident at their Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant in Ōkuma, Fukushima Prefecture was preventable: Significant human error was largely responsible (link). The Onagawa Nuclear Power Plant (女川原子力発電所) was closer to the earthquake epicenter, exposed to similar stresses, yet shutdown successfully (different operator = Tohoku Electric Power Company). Somehow, TEPCO escaped justice & has evaded responsibility to wholly pay for ongoing fallout. "Fukushima" is a damaged brand outside the TEPCO service area. The local governments and towns that allowed TEPCO reactor construction are depopulated due to mandatory evacuation (Fukushim'sa nuclear plants are outside TEPCO's service area). In the worst-hit Red Zone, TEPCO uses euphemism: "Difficult-to-return zone, 帰還困難区域" = Death Zone. Nobody speaks of corruption. 

People still need to move around the damaged region. The Fukushima Nukeway (link) is a portion of the Jōban Expressway (常磐自動車道) passing through the irradiated zone. Fourteen months after opening, disaster struck during Japan's Golden Week travels (4 May 2016): a car collided head-on with a bus in the radiation danger zone (link). The 40 bus passengers, including children, waited two hours without masks on the radiation-zone roadside for treatment / rescue; the car passengers died at the spot. 

Problems are widespread everywhere, but you likely don't hear the worst of Japan's embarrassments. Typhoon Hagibis (台風19号) hit Japan this week, and killed 75+ people. Does that number include the Fukushima lady dropped 40 meters during helicopter rescue (link)? At least one Tokyo evacuation center turned away homeless people during the storm -- which is surely unkind but also life-threatening (two such people survived, link). Many people in Japan now criticize such incidents, but it's too little, too late. Nobody criticized bureaucracy when the suffering were turned away, and now one homeless person is confirmed dead.


There's been insufficient global attention to Japan's improper storage of contaminated nuclear waste from TEPCO's Fukushima nuclear disaster. Do YOU know about the bad storage conditions, and that unknown quantities of once-collected radioactive waste now pollute the wider environment? (link to article here) Welcome to the Land of Rising Radiation.

he lesson here is simple: Japan can't take care of you. Enjoy the beautiful countryside, great people, rich culture, but beware of Japan's many repeated disasters. You must PREPARE - or prepare to die. 





 

Wednesday, October 09, 2019

America Bombs Hawai'i

Many Hawaiian cultural properties on lands under control of the US military are by definition under threat

Damage from the extensive test-bombing at Pohakuloa is not independently monitored.

US Army Garrison Pōhakuloa consists of more than 133,000 acres (the size of Guam). Most land was "appropriated" under presidential Executive Order # 11167, but 22,971 acres are leased by the Federal Government to 16 Aug 2029 (they paid $1 for 65 years, and trash the land).