But what's your take, Heegie gabeesie?!!??!?

That was interesting, but depressing. I'm not sure I had a take either.

My take is that its important to support refugees who come from horrible situations like being stuck in-between Boko Haram and ISIS.

Taub mentions only climate change.

Since the paper is gated, I can only read the abstract, but perhaps the water diversions that are responsible for 30% of the shrinkage of Lake Chad are themselves indirectly caused by climate change. Presumably those diversions were done by people who were short on water, as most of the Sahel has been for some decades now. Unless we do something to arrest and reverse climate change there will be more and more of this all over the arid and semi-arid parts of the world. (Of course other parts will be flooded...)

My take is that we can probably reverse climate change more easily than we can bring modern standards of governance to Chad, and Chad is only one of many places that are going get much worse to live in as the Earth continues to heat up. The people who live in those places are going to want to leave, and will fight for the last crumbs in those places, and will fight for access to new places where they can live comparatively better lives. I am not optimistic about the timeline we are on. (Anyone else watching The Man in the High Castle?)

If you just click the little "PDF" button, you should be able to read the article.

4: 50%. The irrigation schemes were prompted by the drought in the 1970s. I didn't dig into the anthropogenic contribution there; we do know though that the lake has been cycling wet and dry for millenia (cool paper). My point was that lake shrinkage is in large part the result of government policy in Chad and Nigeria. They responded to drought with dams that had very predictable catastrophic effects downstream (not just in the lake but on the floodplains of its tributaries). The FAO (PDF) reckons for Nigeria

The economic value of production from the wetlands is very large, many times greater than that of all the irrigation schemes for which the inflowing rivers are dammed, diverted and their waters used.

Like the Aral Sea, but less dedication to destroying things the the commies managed.

|| I thought the Comey transcript was an interesting enough long read. For someone not planning to buy his book. |>

|| I thought the Comey transcript was an interesting enough long read. For someone not planning to buy his book. |>

My take is that we can probably reverse climate change more easily than we can bring modern standards of governance to Chad

In that case Chad is truly fucked.

9 I overheard my parents making a lot out of how many times he said "I don't recall" or similar during his testimony. I haven't read it but I figure there were a lot of questions set up to elicit just such an answer since I'm not granting that the Republicans on the committee are acting in good faith.

11 I'm curious to hear Charley's views.

I want to hear how views on Chad.

how s/b his

I don't have any views on Chad the country, but people named Chad disproportionately suck. As a name "Chad" is in a class with "Dirk" or "Biff," where just learning the person's name serves as notice of likely forthcoming dickish behavior. The upside is, if you meet one of the nice Chads, they're usually extra nice, almost as if to make up for all the asshole Chads out there.

You do know that makes you sound like an incel, right?

It's all they've got.

They asked a bunch of questions about details that a normal person wouldn't remember, and many of his I don't knows were 'I don't remember anyone telling me about that when I was Director, but I've since read about it in the press." Others were in reaction to hypotheticals, and were kind of 'well I don't know what I would have done, because it depends on more context than you're giving me.' I thought he was quite forthcoming.

The Republican obsession with Strozk and Page is beyond pathetic. If they had any self awareness, Comey's 'you know if Strozk actually wanted to do Trump in, he could easily have done so' would have made an impression. But no, their job is to reinforce the Idiot's narrative.

The bad faith of Trumpkins -- people proud to claim Trump didn't know this that or the other -- knows no bounds.

17.2 That's what I figured, thanks.

I've decided, just now, that we English speakers should pronounce Chad the country the same way we pronounce shad the roe-bearing fish.

تشاد‎

Come the revolution, the lampposts will be festooned with hanging Chads.

[ill-tempered for reasons immaterial to this conversation]

16 I never understood how incels picked the name "Chad" to denote an archetypal ladies man when it's always been a stand in for the archetypal WASP.

I have a take now. Assuming all the ways in which fucked up places are fucked up are due to western interference is a form of western chauvinism.

I never understood how incels picked the name "Chad" to denote an archetypal ladies man when it's always been a stand in for the archetypal WASP.

I like to think it's from Living in Oblivion.

22: Yes! Much more elegant than my formulation. Also self-flagellating in a way a person named Chad might call virtue-signalling.

22: It's an international form of Murc's Law.

19. Just what I would expect from a person named "carp."

Maybe a bunch of Californians frustrated by the slow pace of their own dam removal, can buy some Toyota trucks, get some guns at Walmart, and form a militia to fix the lake in Chad.

I am legitimately disappointed by lack of Toyota Wars.

Ford trucks have an aluminum frame, making for a lighter truck that has a greater range and more ability to climb dunes.

I guess having an RPG is probably crucial. I don't know if those are available in California Walmarts.

SLIMY UNPATRIOTIC CIA!!!

||
Jesus H F Christ on a crispy toasted cheezit
||
[Because with this government you never get to]
|>

Does California have militias that want to remove dams?

Not yet. Just environments who are half assing things.