That loud sound you heard yesterday was not another false ballistic missile alert, but the noise of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. rolling over in his grave as Rep. Mia Love (R-UT) very tepidly criticized Donald Trump on CNN’s State of the Union. Rep. Love had a look of absolute fear on her face, as […]
human-caused climate change
Posted inPolitical Animal
Exxon’s Long Con
At long last, have they no decency? Of course not. ExxonMobil—still reeling from reports that the company knew that its fossil fuels were fueling a climate crisis—is crying victim in court, claiming that mean environmentalists are targeting the company for destruction. Pardon me as I reach for the handkerchief: ExxonMobil is trying to turn the […]
Posted inPolitical Animal
The Downward Spiral
Now we know who was listening. Next Saturday, January 20, marks the first anniversary of You Know What, and there’s no need to trigger people with that dark memory. Next Saturday also marks the fifth anniversary of the beginning of Barack Obama’s second term as president. Obama was sworn in for a second term in […]
Posted inPolitical Animal
Future Fire and Fury: Trump’s Climate Instability
Fifteen years ago today, Senators John McCain and Joseph Lieberman introduced the Climate Stewardship Act, which would have implemented a federal cap-and-trade program to reduce carbon pollution. McCain and Lieberman were horrified by President George W. Bush’s refusal to take action on the climate crisis due to the influence of the fossil-fuel industry; that industry, […]
Posted inPolitical Animal
The Joan Walsh Fiasco Proves It: MSNBC Must Seriously Now Be Crazy
Serves ‘em right. The MSNBC executives who made the logic-free decision to get rid of progressive contributor Joan Walsh right before Christmas deserve the embarrassment they presumably feel after CNN immediately offered Walsh a position. Those now residing in the house Ted Turner built recognized that Walsh’s vision had value—something MSNBC officials apparently lost sight […]
Posted inPolitical Animal
Hot Takes: The Top Climate Stories of 2017
1. Puerto Rico: Donald Trump’s malignant neglect of the American territory in the aftermath of Hurricane Maria’s devastation is nothing short of a human-rights atrocity, and one of the most significant climate stories of the decade. 2. Paris pullout: Trump’s announcement of his plans to abandon the 2015 Paris climate agreement sparked an international backlash–and […]
Posted inPolitical Animal
Is Anti-Trump Climate Litigation the New Brown v. Board of Education?
We need not rehash my misgivings about the legal effort by adolescents and pre-adolescents in Oregon to force the Trump administration to implement policies to reduce carbon emissions; opinions on this lawsuit have hardened, and I don’t expect to change anyone’s minds one way or the other about the case. However, I did raise an […]
Posted inPolitical Animal
How Not to Save the Planet
Last year, I expressed misgivings about efforts by those concerned about the climate crisis to rely upon the “necessity defense” when prosecuted for acts of civil disobedience intended to raise awareness about America’s refusal to commit to an expedited transition away from fossil fuels. At the time, I was concerned that if climate hawks were […]
Posted inPolitical Animal
Sour Home Alabama: Roy Moore Remains the Odds-on Favorite to Be the State’s Next Senator
It doesn’t matter how many women come forward. It doesn’t matter how many Republicans say he should pull out of the race. It doesn’t matter how horrified the country as a whole is over the allegations. Roy Moore will not drop out of the special US Senate election scheduled to take place on December 12 […]
Posted inPolitical Animal
The Greatness We Had Then, The Madness We Have Now
I still remember how nervous I was. I spent the entire day anxious about something possibly going wrong in Ohio due to voter suppression. I was convinced that it would be over after one term, that the old GOP gang would get back together again, that the progress of the previous four years–especially on climate […]
