In late-December, and again in late-June, I noted that if Paul Ryan’s worst nightmare comes true, and Democrats regain control of the House and Senate on November 8 thanks to Donald Trump’s hot mess of a presidential campaign, there will be a full-court press by progressives and climate activists to take care of the biggest […]
global warming
Posted inPolitical Animal
The Path of the Sociopath
They did it while Louisiana drowned. They didn’t give a damn about how many people had lost their lives, or how many people will lose their lives if we don’t transition as quickly as possible away from fossil fuels. They couldn’t care less about the health impacts of carbon pollution, and the fact that it […]
Posted inPolitical Animal
The Day the GOP Stood Still
Rarely is New York Times columnist Paul Krugman wrong in his political or economic conclusions; the man makes an error about as infrequently as Halley’s Comet is visible from Earth. However, there was one tiny flaw in his July 18 post about the GOP’s march towards mania. Krugman correctly noted that he was one of […]
Posted inPolitical Animal
Kaine is Able
While I anticipated that Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton would select a running mate more admired by the progressive wing of the party, I have no grievance with her selection of Virginia Senator Tim Kaine as her partner. Yes, there will be wailing and gnashing of teeth in some quarters because Caine is viewed as […]
Posted inPolitical Animal
A Taxing Effort
Will Congress actually pass carbon-pricing legislation by December 31, 2017? This ambitious goal is not as far-fetched as it may seem—especially if Donald Trump damages the Republican Party so severely that the GOP actually loses both houses of Congress (also not a far-fetched prospect). Having said that, the final version of a carbon-pricing bill may […]
Posted inPolitical Animal
Emotional Rescue
Are progressives and Democrats overestimating just how many conservatives and Republicans will support Donald Trump in the privacy of the voting booth? Yes, as Salon’s Heather Digby Parton has observed, it is profoundly disturbing to see conservatives and Republicans falling in line behind Trump merely because of political tribalism. Yet the general election is still […]
Posted inMagazine
Apocalypse Later
By chance, two bits of writing on the Antarctic ice shelf recently crossed my desk on the same day. One was a galley of The Heat Is On, a new book by veteran journalist Ross Gelbspan. It begins by asserting that the vast astral ice field may soon topple into the ocean, raising sea levels […]
