When we look back on the Trump administration—and if the Kennedy administration was Camelot, what we’re suffering under now is most definitely Scamalot—we’ll give a round of applause to those journalists and media figures who disputed the disinformation and challenged the covfefe. However, some of these Fourth Estate figures deserve their props now—especially when they’ve […]
human-caused climate change
Posted inPolitical Animal
Generation Z Must Take the Media Back
It’s the only way to keep this moment–and this momentum–going. When the nationwide youth demonstrations against gun violence in the wake of the February 14 massacre in Parkland, Florida, began, I must admit that I actually had a cynical reaction: how many of these teenagers, I wondered, would abandon their social conscience twenty-five years from […]
Posted inPolitical Animal
Supreme Court Can’t Wait to Kill Youth Climate Lawsuit
Like death itself, the end can be delayed, but not escaped: A group of 21 youths who accuse the U.S. government of failing for decades to properly address climate change defeated the Trump administration’s attempt to keep the dispute out of court. The U.S. [Ninth] Court of Appeals in San Francisco ruled Wednesday that a […]
Posted inPolitical Animal
PBS Plans to Give Us a Progressive Talk Show, Too, Right?
We all know the sad saga of public television bending over backwards to appease right-wing interests and dull the Republican desire to put Big Bird in a skillet, but this is beyond ridiculous: As the Donald Trump administration mulls whacking its funding for PBS, the pubcaster said today that it is launching a conservative talk […]
Posted inPolitical Animal
A Pollution Problem for Patrick’s Presidential Push?
Is it over before it even begins? Deval Patrick, the former governor of Massachusetts who has largely shunned politics since leaving office and joining Bain Capital in 2015, is using some of his most direct language to date to acknowledge his interest in a presidential run in 2020. “It’s on my radar screen,” Patrick told […]
Posted inPolitical Animal
The Media is the Message
I didn’t think the Fox News Channel could give us anything funnier than Laura Ingraham’s desperate attempts to garner ratings by insulting LeBron James, but the news that Fox has given another unlistenable wingnut radio host, Mark Levin, his own show—which begins tonight—is more hilarious than Redd Foxx in his prime: As previously announced, the […]
Posted inPolitical Animal
The Spirit of ‘08
It could be the ultimate anniversary celebration. The 2018 midterm elections will be held just two days after the tenth anniversary of Barack Obama’s trailblazing victory over John McCain. The memory of that moment could well inspire two groups of voters: those who demanded hope and change a decade ago, and those who were too […]
Posted inPolitical Animal
The Perversity of Pruitt
30 years ago today, in a New Hampshire campaign appearance, Democratic Presidential candidate Michael Dukakis declared, “We need someone in the White House who understands that America should be the leader on international environmental questions.” Had Dukakis—who denounced Republican opponent George H. W. Bush as “a charter member of the environmental wrecking crew that went […]
Posted inPolitical Animal
Doing Things You Might Regret
As they used to say, the whole world is watching—and unfortunately, that includes the most reactionary elements of the world. This is why recent events in North Dakota bear close watching: An environmental activist from Seattle was sentenced Tuesday to serve one year in prison for targeting an oil pipeline in North Dakota. Michael Foster, […]
Posted inPolitical Animal
A Sad Way to Go
No one ever wants to speak ill of the dead, but what happens when the dead have spoken ill of themselves? John Coleman, the “Good Morning America” forecasting icon who co-founded The Weather Channel, died [last] Saturday. The 83-year-old Coleman, in his later years, may have become best known for championing skepticism about the human […]
