Monsters Aren't All Imaginary

Energy Department climate office bans use of phrase ‘climate change’

 A supervisor at the Energy Department's international climate office told staff this week not to use the phrases "climate change," "emissions reduction" or "Paris Agreement" in written memos, briefings or other written communication, sources have told POLITICO.

When I was little, sometimes I had very vivid nightmares; I'd wake up and be sure there were monsters in my room. I'd keep my eyes shut very, very tight until I was sure there were not, in fact, monsters in my room.

It worked - but only because the monsters weren't real.

Climate change, however, is real, and refusing to see the monster won't actually make it go away.

Pretty picture time!




Links!
  • Library Land
    • How celebrity deals are shutting children's authors out of their own trade  "One prize-winning writer, who didn’t want to be named, left her last publisher after a new media star received a huge advance for a ghostwritten novel that consequently bombed. 'The massive advances mean publishers put all their marketing into making these books work in order to earn back the investment,' she says. 'So when they fail, not only have they taken money for publicity that could have helped the rest of us, but there is no money left.'... Surely children’s books – which help form our outlook on life, which we carry into adulthood and old age – deserve better?" 
    • The History of the Bookmark: No More Dog Ears!  "In the current age of digitization, where paperback is transforming into e-books, one can even bookmark favourite web pages. But from classical bookmarkers (they became known as bookmarks much later) to the ones on the Internet today, this literary paraphernalia has a long history."
    • Today is Anna Sewell's birthday! She is the author of Black Beauty, which she wrote very shortly before her death. Although it's considered a children's book now, it wasn't meant to be - it was meant for those who work with horses, to hopefully instill some kindness in them. I read Black Beauty when I was a kid, though, and it kicked off The Great Horse Book Season that most readers go through at some point or other. 6 Anna Sewell Quotes that are full of Beauty 
  • Randomnesses
  • Health, Science, & Technology
    • Handcuffing Cities to Help Telecom Giants "Right now, plans are being implemented at the FCC and at least 17 state legislatures to block cities from constraining uses of their rights-of-way by private cellular companies for 5G deployments that — you guessed it — are coming any day now. In other words, if a city wants to set up a fair and competitive system that favors competitors, citizens, and long-range goals instead of the interests of a single big company—well, that would be illegal. This nationwide effort is aimed at, effectively, privatizing public rights of way."
    • VPNs Are Absolutely a Solution to a Policy Problem  Did you not go get a VPN when I told you to yesterday? Do it today. "Stop making your data so valuable, and stop relying on governments for self-protection that you can handle yourself. If it’s not the current administration that will repeal our protections, it will be the next one. And what then?
      The best form of protection is better data habits. Let us begin forming them, starting today." 
  • U.S. News
    • U.N. Peacekeeping Is a Good Deal  "The Trump administration's recently released 2018 federal budget outline could mean significant cuts to the $2.5 billion per year the U.S. contributes to United Nations peacekeeping operations. These costs savings would go toward increased U.S. military spending. In theory, this sounds like a good idea: Why should the U.S. spend taxpayer dollars on foreign peacekeepers when it could be using the money to increase the capabilities of its own military? The answer is that U.N. peacekeeping operations are generally successful and much more cost effective than using U.S. forces."
    • Maxine Waters Explains it All...Including That Impeachment Tweet  I like Waters; she's my latest political crush, y'all. "I could not remove myself from this debate about Trump. I could not abide his indecency. I could not live with the way he treated other people. When he undermined, mocked, and mimicked that disabled journalist, I thought, 'What mature grown man would do that?'..... And when he talked about grabbing women? Okay? I'm out to get him. I'm gonna see him out of office." Yeah, I love Aunt Maxine.
    • Beto O'Rourke to challenge Ted Cruz in Texas' 2018 Senate race "A Cruz-O'Rourke race would offer a stark ideological contrast; a staunch conservative and self-described Constitutionalist versus an unabashed liberal who supports recreational marijuana."
    • Christie’s Former Allies Get Prison Time for Bridgegate Roles  "...[Bridget Anne Kelly] continued to press her case, which she made during the trial, that she was tarred by Christie’s administration and that she told the governor a month before the lane closings about a planned traffic study. Outside the courthouse, Kelly, a divorced mother of four who had asked for probation, said: 'I want to assure my kids and everyone else that this fight is far from over. I will not allow myself to be the scapegoat in this case.'"
    • Donald Trump to meet with Xi Jinping at Mar-a-Lago Is there any real reason the President can't meet with foreign officials at the White House or Camp David? Seriously, these every-weekend trips are pissing me off.

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