Saturday insanity roundup

A major difficulty with blogging nowadays is that there is just too much to write about. But I did come up with a theme that will let me put a few items together. I'm not exactly sure what to call it, but it's broadly about that river in Egypt. First let's consider Brexit and Boris Johnson's latest. Leaving the EU was never going to be anything but bad for the UK economy but they did finally make a deal that would have spared the British people the worst. But now the governing Tories have reneged. Their motivation is not entirely clear, but it has to do with the intractable problem of the Ireland-Northern Ireland border, which for reasons of both history and the future has to remain open. But it is also a border between the EU and Britain, which has to be closed for Brexit to be a reality. 

What will happen, however, if the Irish border is closed, is first, that the EU will declare the agreement invalid and there will be no trade deal between Britain and the EU. That will destroy the British economy, leading to massive unemployment and even shortages of food and medicine. Second, it will lead to the breakup of the United Kingdom, with Scotland almost certain to leave and possibly Northern Ireland as well. BoJo may have much in common with a certain orange clown, but one important difference is that BoJo is not an idiot. He knows this. So what's his end game?

Then there are the apocalyptic fires in the west, which are a predictable and indeed well-predicted consequence of climate change caused by human activity, most importantly burning of fossil fuel. The fire seasons have been getting longer and more intense for the past few years, culminating in this unprecedented catastrophe. Elsewhere around the planet, other places can no longer sustain the human population, including for example Guatemala which has caused a refugee crisis on our own southern border and the catastrophe in Syria and elsewhere in southwest Asia and Africa which has driven a massive flow of refugees toward Europe. Again, what was supposed to be the end game of climate change denial? The people worst affected by these fires are in rural and semi-rural areas where the people vote Republican. The destruction of Lake Charles by a historically powerful hurricane destroyed the homes and livelihoods of Trump voters, as will the coming inundation of the Florida coast. Again, what is the end game for them?

Then there is the overarching question of the future of the Republican party. What is their plan for 2021 and beyond? I'd really like to know.

Again, what is supposed to be the endgame? Reality has a liberal bias, and it reality always wins in the end.