Bits n’ pieces from east, west and beyond

East, west or beyond, sooner or later events elsewhere may have a local impact. A recent sampling:

A ProPublica report has documented Secretary of State Anthony Blinken’s willful disregard for his own agency’s findings that Israel has been deliberately creating famine in Gaza. 

Ignoring the findings is in defiance of American law regulating arms sales to human rights abusers.

Nitazenes, a potentially deadly synthetic opioid, which has been implicated in overdose deaths, is now on the world stage. According to the Guardian, with the Taliban’s banning of Afghanistan’s poppy production, there’s a heroin shortage on the illicit drug market. Nitazenes may be a cheap and easy fill-in.

Last Sunday presidential candidate Kamala Harris said, if elected, she would double the resources for the Dept. Of Justice to further cut the flow of fentanyl into the U.S., Newsweek reported. CNN said fellow candidate Donald Trump falsely stated Harris wants to legalize fentanyl “right away.”

Trump recently promised to lower grocery prices. The conservative Cato Institute called his plan “deranged,” particularly restricting food imports and using tariffs. In The Atlantic Cato writers said “if you wish grocery stores were more expensive and offered less variety, then you’ll love his tariff proposal.”

The Dept. of Justice has sued Visa for antitrust violations, which they say impacts “the price of nearly everything,” the Guardian wrote. Visa processes 60% of debit transactions. AG Merrick Garland says Visa has “unlawfully amassed the power to extract fees that far exceed” what it could charge in a competitive market; those elevated fee costs are passed from merchants and banks to consumers.

CBS reported that Florida’s Hurricane Ian in 2022 was made worse by insurance companies deliberately short-changing policy holders. A whistleblower recalled assessing one home as needing $231,368 for repairs; the homeowners received a mere $15,000. The adjuster learned many claims had been altered, but his signature remained to make it appear to be a legitimate claim.

The recent damage from Hurricane Helene was summed up by President Joe Biden as “stunning.” Before the storm even moved in last week, the Biden Administration arranged for federal resources to be ready, various media reported. 

Virginia’s governor said he was “incredibly appreciative of the [federal] rapid response and cooperation.” FEMA quickly supplied Starlink satellite to North Carolina. 

Georgia’s governor was told by Biden to “call him directly” if he needs anything more. And South Carolina’s governor said the federal assistance “is helping us well, they’re embedded with us.”

The deadly devastation from Hurricane Helene impacted North and South Carolina, Florida, Georgia, Tennessee and Virginia, and is expected to have a total cost of between $95 billion and $110 billion, according to a preliminary estimate from AccuWeather.

The massive storm was made worse by global heating, generated from warmer-than-normal Gulf waters. Hurricanes used to primarily cause wind damage, but, The Guardian noted, FEMA says more water damage is now part of the hurricane scenario due to climate change.

Expenses from climate change are expected to be $38 trillion annually by 2050, Reuters has reported. That includes damage to farming, infrastructure, productivity and health. Of note, North Carolina and Florida have dragged their feet on climate change: in 2012 North Carolina “outlawed” climate change; this year Florida erased most references to climate change from state law.

Perspective on climate change costs: one trillion is 1,000 billion. Currently $1 trillion is 1% of the world’s GDP, according to the book How to Save the World for Just a Trillion Dollars, The Ten Biggest Problems We Can Actually Fix, by Rowan Hooper. $1 Trillion is what the U.S. spends every 18 months on the military. In 2008 lawmakers found $4.5 trillion to ease the U.S. financial crash. And in 2020 Congress approved $2.2 trillion for mitigating the impact of Covid.

So when Hooper refers to a mere trillion for battling climate change, we see the resources could materialize. He suggests using $1 trillion this way: $860 billion invested in clean renewable energy, $50 billion for developing the hydrogen economy; $20 billion for low-carbon rail infrastructure; $5 billion for electric vehicle incentives; $5 billion for nuclear fusion; $30 billion for modular nuclear power; $10 billion for carbon-zero building incentives and $20 billion for decarbonization of industrial processes.

Hooper says the removal of fossil fuel subsidies alone would cut global emissions by 25% and slash premature pollution deaths by 50%. An IMF report shows, worldwide, oil companies get $5.4 trillion in subsidies every year; in the U.S. it is $646 billion.

Some conservative interests oppose addressing climate change: the authors of the notorious Project 2025 decry what they call the “climate change alarm industry,” but working on climate change had been good for the economy, which historian Heather C. Richardson points out is “booming” in part due to climate change initiatives begun under the Inflation Reduction Act.

Blast from the past: In the Middle Ages punishment for theft included cutting off hands. It did not create a theft-free society. The practice today is found in a handful of non-democratic countries.