I generally avoid talking politics on this blog. There are a number of reasons for this, not least of which is my desire not to enter into the kind of pointless ‘debates‘ on politics which are so common in these days of social media. A place where reason, facts and on occasion just actually considering the other point of view for a fraction of a second, seems to be beyond so many people on both sides of the political divide.

Which is not to say I shy away from political discussions elsewhere. I have firm opinions on almost everything and no compunction against expressing my views. I just don’t want my blog to be one of the places where I do this, at least not directly, though I am sure regular blog readers will have picked up on my green liberalism libertarianism.

For clarity, my liberalism is not the American definition of liberalism, and yes it is possible to be a left-leaning liberal and a libertarian… (that’s one of those debates I have gotten into way too often on the internet with people who equate MAKING A POINT IN UPPER CASE, with being irrefutably correct. The Upper Case brigade also seem to be the ones least likely to actually consider any opinion other than their own for a fraction of a second. Funny that…).

But anyway, as I say, I avoid politics on my blog for the most part. I tend to consider Humanity one big dysfunctional family which occasionally needs a counselling session, so while I may make posts about ecology, the environment and other interest of mine, such as the continuation of life on earth… I seldom make these posts actually political, save in the broadest of terms… But then I read this on the BBC this morning…

So to clarify, we have reached the point in human history, and in politics, where the BBC, which is one of the most reputable news agencies on the planet, (yes you can disagree with this statement, but you’re missing the point if that’s what you focus on… ). The BBC decides it needs to run a news story stating that dropping atomic bombs on hurricanes is perhaps not altogether a good idea…

And why are they doing this? Why indeed does the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration feel this is something that needs to be clarified? Because the current president of the United States of America, reportedly, inquired if it was a possible solution to the problem of hurricanes… (An idea that originated in the 1950’s when atomic power was both less understood and considered to be nothing short of wonderous.)

Now, I should point out here that the President has since denied making such inquiries… But then again he would, considering the reaction to the original story. But that’s only to be expected and beside the point.

The point here is this. Whether the president denies this or not. If in fact, it is not even true in the slightest, and his denial is entirely genuine. The fact is, due to what seems like an ever spiralling list of crazy things to come out of the white house, the first reaction to the news that Trump inquired about using nukes to deal with hurricanes wasn’t a feeling of shock, or disbelief. No one, even for a second, thought it was some form of satire, no one thought it was a joke, no one even thought it could be a politically motivated smear or a misrepresentation of the truth…

No, the first reaction was, ‘Yep, sounds about right…’

So this is where we are now. Living in a world where the amazon is on fire, the ice caps are melting, and no one, but no one, is surprised that the ‘leader’ of the free world was considering chucking a nuke into a hurricane…

And somewhere, out there on the internet, right now, at this very moment, someone is defending this situation and the president, and doing so IN UPPER CASE!!!!