No Apparent Danger: The Book Every Volcano Monitoring Skeptic Should Read Right Now

Image shows cover of No Apparent Danger

This book made me incredibly angry*, and it’s one of the most important books I’ve ever read. If I had tons of money, I’d give a copy to literally everyone. Should you buy this book? Yes.

Do you know anyone who’s skeptical about the necessity of monitoring volcanoes? Send them this book and let them know their opinions won’t be entertained until they’ve read it in full.

Do you know anyone who’s thinking of becoming a volcanologist? They need a copy.

If you read it yourself, you need to be prepared.

Continue reading “No Apparent Danger: The Book Every Volcano Monitoring Skeptic Should Read Right Now”

No Apparent Danger: The Book Every Volcano Monitoring Skeptic Should Read Right Now
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ICE Raids: How to Do Your Part

ICE is going raiding! It’s important that we good US residents help them do a really good job. Here is a list of tips that most of us can use to ensure everything goes smoothly and safely as possible.

1. Don’t open the door! What if they inadvertently enter your home or vehicle illegally and get in trouble? For their safety, speak to them through the window.

2. Ask for their identification, including badge numbers, so that you can be sure they’re not being impersonated (SO embarrassing for a government agency!) and so that you can prove they were there, just following orders, like they’re supposed to.

3. Make sure they have their paperwork in order! Ask to see their warrant, and if they don’t have one, protect them from disciplinary action and/or lawsuits by asking them to get a warrant before searching your car or your house. If they present a warrant, ensure it was issued by a court, signed by a judge, and is for the correct property and/or person.

4. If you’re with someone who isn’t familiar with United States law, let them know how important legal paperwork and procedure is so they don’t inadvertently ruin the career of an ICE agent by letting them bend or break the law. We definitely wouldn’t want that!

5. Look over all documents carefully, and consult a lawyer if you’d like to double check them, just to be sure they’re perfectly accurate. This will help ICE ensure they don’t detain people using the wrong paperwork, which is really embarrassing in court!

6. Document document document! Even if the ICE agents aren’t speaking directly to you, make sure you document them following orders like the good government employees they are. Photos and videos are great for catching them in heroic action, but if your phone might scare them too much, just write everything down as soon as you can.

7. Study photos and other materials they want you to look at carefully. Just because none of us are or know any illegal people doesn’t mean we can’t try our best to help! Take as much time as you need to make sure you don’t overlook something that may be of use to ICE.

8. If the ICE agents seem like they’re about to do something without crossing every possible t and dotting absolutely every i, or if they are making you uncomfortable in any way, insist on speaking with their supervisor. If you’re a US citizen deficient in melanin, this is an especially safe and effective way to ensure that ICE does everything right.

9. When in doubt, reach out! There are many local and national organizations that can help with questions and concerns about immigration raids. See the resources below.

Together, we can all ensure that ICE agents do their very best. Sure, it means they probably won’t be able to separate as many immigrant families as they’re striving for, but don’t you think that quality trumps quantity? Sure it does!

Here are some links to some good resources, and an article showing some of these techniques in action. Most of these are written from the point of view of protecting immigrants, but remember, every time you employ these techniques, you’re protecting an ICE agent from committing a moral atrocity, or at the very least assisting them with staying within the confines of the law, which is sure to help them when they’re facing charges in international criminal courts. Everybody wins!

ACLU Texas: How to Protect Yourself During an Immigration Raid

ACLU: KNOW YOUR RIGHTS: Immigrants’ Rights, Dreamers (DACA, 100 Mile Border Zone, Enforcement at the Airport

ICE Raid Resources

Washington Post: An activist used a legal argument to stop an ICE arrest. He says others should do the same.

Newsweek: ICE Knocked, But Most Did Not Answer As Nationwide Raids Began

Huffpost: What To Do During ICE Stops

ICE Raids: How to Do Your Part

Fireworks, Horror, and a Few Glimmers of Hope

Agent Orange busily goes about turning America into a cheap tin dictatorship, complete with totalitarian military parades for a holiday that’s supposed to be about liberty from tyranny. America isn’t great right now (unless you think kids in cages and treating homeless people like vermin is great, which apparently evangelical Christians and white supremacists do).

It’s hard to celebrate. It’s hard to do anything but stare in horror at the ever-worsening news.

But I’ve got an article about the geology of fireworks here, and some pretty fireworks photos, so let us have something a little bright to keep the despair company.

Green, blue, and red fireworks burst over a river at night
Colin Knowles (CC BY-SA 2.0)

For all those “America is a Christian nation!” screamers you’re likely to encounter over this holiday, I’ve got the perfect counterpoint. America, you see, can easily be shown to actually have been founded on Islamic values. Look:

The fundamentalist Christians have entered the Declaration of Independence into evidence. That means it’s fair game to further examine this document for clues. In fact, let’s take another look at that second sentence, specifically:

…with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.

“Unalienable Rights”. That’s an interesting concept. Where did it come from? The phrase is more commonly referred to as “inalienable rights”, about which Wikipedia says:

The idea that certain rights are inalienable was found in early Islamic law and jurisprudence, which denied a ruler “the right to take away from his subjects certain rights which inhere in his or her person as a human being.” [emphasis added]

That’s right. This most basic of concepts, declared as “self-evident” in our founding document, is based on Islamic law!

A pastel band of fireworks explodes in a dark sky, looking like a balloon bouquet
Anna-Louise (Pexels)

Heads are absolutely going to explode. You will have enormous fun.

It turns out Portland cops are liars and antifa are not putting cement in milkshakes. The lie may actually backfire on the people perpetuating it for once. This definitely calls for a celebration.

Magenta, cyan, and orange fireworks explode in a dark-blue cloudy sky. Silhouettes of two women celebrate on a slope.
Max Pixel

And keep some fireworks handy for Friday, because it looks like this federal judge is about to unload some righteous fury in court due to Agent Orange’s impulsive decision to spit in the court’s face over the census:

U.S. District Judge George Hazel is now giving the administration until Friday to decide whether it will enter into a written agreement that confirms it will no longer pursue including a citizenship question on census forms, plaintiffs’ attorneys Denise Hulett of the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund and Shankar Duraiswamy of Covington & Burling tell NPR. If the administration does not enter the agreement, the judge is prepared to start reconsidering recently resurrected discrimination and conspiracy allegations against the administration’s decision to add the question.

Remember: this country was founded by imperfect assholes, but they gave us a strong framework to build on, and we can and will fight back against this outrageous encroachment on democracy and human decency. We still have courts, a Constitution, a ballot box, and a lot of irate leftist citizens who’ve studied resistance movements worldwide. Gather your strength and resist in any and every way you can.

Fireworks, Horror, and a Few Glimmers of Hope