Things That Piss Me Off Tuesday - shut up Drake, the bees are dying edition

I'm still not in a place to write about the verdict, and I'm not sure that I will ever get there. I am still too angry, and what actually transpired in court is just a part of it. The reactions of some people in the wake of the decision have bothered me far more than the ruling itself.

If you're looking for me to do a legal analysis of the case, I'm not sure it's happening...mostly because if you want to be technical, the system down in Florida worked exactly as it was intended to. Allowed to conceal a weapon, allowed to patrol neighborhood watch with that weapon and given the seemingly absolute right to self defense, Zimmerman was acquitted because of the laws in Florida.

Laws can be wrong, just as the actions that may fit within their scope can be. Just because something is legal doesn't make it right. Laws can be wrong, and they can be unfairly applied. Anyway, that's already more than I had intended to say, so I will stop and talk about other things, because contrary to what the media wants you to believe, there are other things happening in the world aside from this case.

Drake and his big ignorant mouth
Drake has a song out now with J. Cole, which contains the following lyric, I'm artistic, you n*****s is autistic, retarded. 

Ignoring the fact that they can't seem to understand the simple requirement of subject/verb agreement here, this group of words is offensive for more than a few reasons.

Drake personifies the misplaced egomania rampant in the music industry, for sure. He even once proclaimed that he was the first person to rap and sing. Which is cute. He's 26 by the way, and there are rappers who were dropping rhymes and singing when he was still in diapers.

This is far from his first controversy, but now he's going after all the people in the world who already have to deal with being on the spectrum on a daily basis and the false assumptions others make about them. Perpetuating the idea that autism is somehow related to intelligence, which it is not, then using the "r" word as a comparison just makes him look like an ignorant asshole.

Get over yourself, Drake.

This is bad. Real bad.
Bees are dying all over the world. By the millions. Entire colonies, gone. It's happening with more and more frequency, in every corner of the globe.

Colony collapse disorder is the leading cause of losses of up to a third of the colonies each year. What's the big deal, you may be thinking? Bees sting people. That hurts, right???

They also are the primary pollinators for most of the crops grown in the world. Without them, farming as we know it may cease to exist. Last time I checked, food was fairly important for survival.


The reason for the deaths are complicated and numerous, but the one that the most scientists attribute to the rapid declines, the one human-caused and preventable? Pesticides.

Not surprisingly, the scientists studying this in Europe have attributed it to the use of pesticides, and the governments have taken steps to eliminate and eradicate the toxic chemicals. The US...hmm, not so sure they are the cause. I'm sure that has absolutely nothing to do with the multi billion dollar pesticide industry or their influence on funding studies or swaying elected officials. Totally. That has nothing to do with it.

Speaking of the environment...
Exxon still hasn't paid all the fines for the Valdez spill. You know, the spill that happened 25 years ago. They still owe $92 million, and all said will have paid out a little over $1.1 billion. Nevermind that the clean-up actually cost over $2 billion.

We'll pick up the rest of the tab for your mistake, giant multinational corporation. No problem.

Also, the world is sinking. As sea levels rise, island nations are increasingly threatened. What those who deny the idea of global warming don't seem to understand is that the rise in waters isn't just going to affect those micronations far, far away. It will affect us all.

Parts of the city of Venice are now underwater for up to a third of the year. We all know what happened to NYC last year when Sandy hit. Storms get stronger, bigger. Droughts worse, longer. Severe storms more powerful.

Even though 97% of scientists agree on the fact that global warming is real, and that humans have contributed to it, there is still a sizable chunk of people, mostly here in the United States, who insist that it's a hoax. 

Denial isn't just a river in Egypt my friends.