Bill Owens

China’s exports are surging, and there is a strong likelihood that there will be a backlash on a worldwide basis. We are certainly hearing it from Mr. Trump who wants to increase tariffs but other countries including those in Europe and South Asia are all likely to lose jobs which will cause them to take action.

The only conclusion that can be drawn from the date established by the Supreme Court to hear the immunity claim is a deliberate attempt to interfere with the criminal proceedings in which Mr. Trump is a Defendant. The six far right members of the Court knew the most effective way to protect Mr. Trump was to hear the case on a delayed basis, issue an opinion on a delayed basis and effectively stop any of the federal trials from proceeding before the election. Then the ultimate hypocrisy was Justice Coney Barrett saying that the unanimous vote in the Colorado ballet case should give Americans comfort in their fairness. She is clearly a hypocrite and thinks she is fooling the public when, in fact, the only thing she is doing is feeding the Trump fans and frustrating the rest of us.

Scientists are warning that the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation or AMOC, the system of ocean currents which acts like a conveyor belt helping to regulate and redistribute heat and cool water is weakening as the climate warms and could potentially suffer a dangerous and abrupt collapse. Obviously, this would have world-wide consequences. This is another piece of troubling information that continues to be ignored by our Republican friends and other climate change deniers. For those of us living on the east coast of the United States abutting the Atlantic Ocean, this may pose more of an issue than we may understand at this juncture.

Former New York Congressman Bill Owens discusses the events of the past week.

Former New York Congressman Bill Owens discusses the events of the past week

Former New York Congressman Bill Owens discusses the events of the past week

Sardines have now been declared a product with enormous health benefits, including some surprising ones like preventing hair loss. We have long known that the oils in this fish, whether canned in those oils or not, is very beneficial. There are a number of you out there who don’t like the look nor the smell, but remember what your mother said “it is good for you”.

Scientists have discovered something they have identified as plasty stones, a new type of sedimentary rock that is part plastic and part rock which has been found on at least five continents and in eleven countries. This is another example of how plastic which has been found floating in our oceans can morph into other parts of our ecology. The plasty stones present a unique challenge because they could be seen by fish as algae and ingested which could have dramatic negative effects on our ocean ecology, and obviously on the fish who eat the rocks.

It appears that inflation has declined more than originally anticipated as we came to the end of November. There have been significant declines in almost every category of goods which shows the success of the Biden administration’s programs.

Scientists have reported the discovery of the oldest black hole in the universe which developed 470,000,000 years after the big bang making it about 132 billion years old. When you get to those numbers, a few hundred million, or even a few billion seems inconsequential. What will this tell us? It will give us more insight into the development of the universe, which adds to our growing knowledge base, and may well lead to other types of scientific discoveries. At worst, it’s incredibly interesting.