Political Animal

The GOP’s Turn to Fake Science Should Have Consequences

by Martin Longman May 8, 2017January 9, 2022

The GOP is filling government with fake scientists who will give them a fake scientific consensus.

Political Animal

Casualties of War

by D.R. Tucker April 16, 2017January 9, 2022

Forty years ago this Tuesday, President Jimmy Carter nailed it going away in a nationally televised address. The energy crisis has not yet overwhelmed us, but it will if we do not act quickly. It’s a problem that we will not be able to solve in the next few years, and it’s likely to get […]

Political Animal

Ridding Washington of Pests

by D.R. Tucker April 1, 2017January 9, 2022

Some pro-lifer that Scott Pruitt is, eh? The new head of the Environmental Protection Agency refused Wednesday to ban a commonly used pesticide that the Obama administration had sought to outlaw based on mounting concerns about its risks to human health. The chemical compound chlorpyrifos, also known as Lorsban, has been used by farmers for […]

Political Animal

The Glaring Omissions in Trump’s Climate Rule

by Nancy LeTourneau March 28, 2017January 9, 2022

The most important part of Trump’s new rules is what isn’t included.

Political Animal

House of (Human-Caused) Horrors

by D.R. Tucker March 19, 2017January 9, 2022

It could never happen now, but could it happen again two years from now? It was ten years ago today that then-NASA scientist James Hansen testified in front of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform regarding the George W. Bush administration’s assault on climate science. In his written testimony, Hansen observed: There is […]

Political Animal

Antisocial Media: The Threat of Trump on Twitter

by D.R. Tucker March 18, 2017January 9, 2022

So what madness will he come up with next? It has been two weeks since he accused the former President of illegally wiretapping Trump Tower–an allegation he refused to retract yesterday during his news conference with German Chancellor Angela Merkel. Two weeks and no evidence. However, to his supporters, he doesn’t need any evidence; his […]

Political Animal

What the Right Did to Carter, The Left Must Do to Trump

by D.R. Tucker March 6, 2017January 9, 2022

You can’t deny the strategy worked. Yesterday, I reaffirmed by 2015 call for progressives to be as vigorous in their defense of President Obama’s legacy as right-wingers are in their defense of President Reagan’s legacy. In that 2015 piece, I noted: [November 4, 2015] marks the thirty-fifth anniversary of Reagan’s victory over President Jimmy Carter. […]

Political Animal

Marching is Good. Voting is Better.

by D.R. Tucker March 5, 2017January 9, 2022

I bow to no one in my respect for former EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy, but she missed the mark somewhat in her analysis of the Office of Management and Budget’s proposed evisceration of the Environmental Protection Agency: This budget is a fantasy if the administration believes it will preserve EPA’s mission to protect public health,” […]

Political Animal

The Maine Non-Event: Don’t Believe the Hype About Senator Collins

by D.R. Tucker March 4, 2017January 9, 2022

Last week, I noted that self-styled “non-Trump” Republicans will try to blame “guilt by association” if they lose their seats in 2018–a crocodile-tear excuse, considering the fact that these Republicans had the option of leaving the party the moment Trump won the GOP nomination; these men and women could have easily declared back then that […]