July Zero Hour Newsletter

Fires, fears, and the emperor's new rocket.

This is Absolute Zero, a newsletter from Richard (RJ) Eskow and The Zero Hour. You are receiving it because you are on the Zero Hour mailing list. To update your email address or to stop receiving these emails, click here. There's no need to write a nasty reply (although you can if it would make your day better). Just click!

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Dear all,

This is the time of year that usually feels like “the summer doldrums.” But here in the DC area, anyway, traffic and general activity levels are way up as we (sort of? maybe?) emerge from the worst of the pandemic. Whatever the cause, it feels more like a summer spike.

Here’s the update from chez Zero Hour:

My writing:

My latest piece is “The Emperor’s New Rocket: Last Words on Branson’s Ride.” Hope you like it. Excerpt:

Branson's 50-mile-high flight didn't technically reach "space." But it was high enough to earn "astronaut wings" from the Federal Aviation Administration, which is probably all Branson cared out about. Those wings are the 21st century equivalent of the tiger's heads on the walls of minor officials in the British Raj. They're records of artificial conquest, papier- mâché trophies for people who dress their privilege in gilded uniforms and call it courage.

Even the name, "Virgin Galactic," is grandiose. The galaxy is a very large place, and Branson's outfit specializes in sub-orbital flight. It's like an ant walking from one leaf to the next and calling it an "interplanetary voyage."

This is (you should pardon the expression) the “zero hour” for aspects of the Biden infrastructure plan. I wrote this piece to defend the call for $400 billion in home care spending. The Republicans are insisting that home care isn’t “infrastructure,” so I explain why a) it is infrastructure, and b) they’re playing word games with people’s lives. But we’re going to need much more radical transformation of our major institutions to mitigate climate change. I wrote “Dead Heat: It Is Too Late to Leave” with that thought in mind.

Meanwhile, people are dying every minute in this country because of the political choices we make, which is why I wrote “Before You’re Done Reading This, Someone Will Die of Political Neglect.” Of course, some politicians are completely venal and know they’re killing the innocent. This piece was aimed more toward well-intentioned liberals who don’t think about the consequences of some of their choices.

For Eskow.substack.com, I wrote “The Most Important Line Robin DiAngelo Ever Wrote (and Which Everyone Missed),” “Juneteenth in Spacetime,” and my answers to Marcel Proust’s teenaged questionnaire.

If you like The Zero Hour, please consider sponsoring us on Patreon.

The Zero Hour:

Recent program highlights include former Labour Party chief and Prime Ministerial candidate Jeremy Corbyn on global left solidarity, Ben Norton on the real Cuba story, and Maj. Danny Sjursen (US Army-ret.) on the true history of the United States.

But all of our guests are terrific and highly informative. I don’t want to slight any of them. Our full list of interviews is available on our YouTube page; feel free to take a look.

That’s it for now. Thanks for reading and, as always, thanks for all you do –

Richard (RJ) Eskow

Managing Editor, Host/The Zero Hour

This is the newsletter for my writing, and for The Zero Hour program, available via cable and satellite television on Free Speech TV and syndicated nationally on broadcast radio. (It's also a podcast, available here.)