The Paragon of Animals

“What a piece of work is a man, How noble in reason, how infinite in faculty, In form and moving how express and admirable, In action how like an Angel, In apprehension how like a god, The beauty of the world, The paragon of animals.”

And it is thanks to the paragon of animals that the world propels itself to the ultimate catastrofuck.

ABC News online reports ‘The World Meteorological Organization’s State of the Global Climate report confirms 2023 broke every single climate indicator. The UN agency’s annual State of the Global Climate report confirmed it wasn’t just the hottest year on record, ocean heat reached its highest level since records began, global mean sea level also reached a record high and Antarctic sea ice reached a record low.’

And a heatwave cooking Brazil has set new records with Rio de Janeiro’s heat index hitting 62.3 degrees Celsius, the highest since the Rio Alert weather system began keeping such records in 2014.

Meanwhile, while the world stands idly by, Israel’s murderous reign of expansionism continues with impunity.

The Guardian reports ‘Israeli restrictions on the entry of humanitarian aid into Gaza may amount to the war crime of deliberate starvation, the UN has said, as the White House called for unimpeded access for aid to the coastal strip.”

But, like our own cowardly government, the US government remains merely “concerned”, and 'an agreement between US congressional leaders and the White House on a bill funding military, State Department and other government programmes will continue to block UNRWA (The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East) funding for another feckin’ year!'

At least 31,819 Palestinians have been killed and 73,934 injured in Israeli attacks on Gaza since October 7. The death toll in Israel from Hamas’s October 7 attack stands at 1,139 with dozens taken captive.

Apparently if you went to one funeral a day for the children killed in Gaza it would take you 41 years to attend every funeral.

And after two miserable years, the Russia/Ukraine war remains at a gruesome stalemate. It’s a war of attrition now and I suspect Russia will last longer as Czar Putin just keeps feeding Russian conscripts into the meat grinder while Zelensky is lowering the age and criteria for conscription because Ukraine is running out of troops. But it is no surprise that Putin won the recent “elections” with an overwhelming majority. Hard to lose when there are no opponents.

And as we all very well know, even here on our own turf, a “win” is a win, no matter how slim, tawdry or questionable.

“What is this quintessence of dust?”