Two days ago, Mitch McConnell announced that he was going to violate his oath to do "impartial justice" in Donald Trump's impeachment trial. He was, he said, coordinating everything he did with Mr. Trump's defence lawyer. He went further. He did not, he said, expect any Republican senator to vote to convict Trump. It was a bald admission of the utter corruption of the modern Republican Party -- a party which is hell bent on dooming the American republic and the planet. Paul Krugman writes:
A new federal report finds that climate change in the Arctic is accelerating, matching what used to be considered worst-case scenarios. And there are indications that Arctic warming may be turning into a self-reinforcing spiral, as the thawing tundra itself releases vast quantities of greenhouse gases.
Catastrophic sea-level rise, heat waves that make major population centers uninhabitable, and more are now looking more likely than not, and sooner rather than later.
One factor stands out above all others: the fanatical opposition of America’s Republicans, who are the world’s only major climate-denialist party. Because of this opposition, the United States hasn’t just failed to provide the kind of leadership that would have been essential to global action, it has become a force against action.
As I’ve written in the past, climate denial was in many ways the crucible for Trumpism. Long before the cries of “fake news,” Republicans were refusing to accept science that contradicted their prejudices. Long before Republicans began attributing every negative development to the machinations of the “deep state,” they were insisting that global warming was a gigantic hoax perpetrated by a vast global cabal of corrupt scientists.
And, as always, it's instructive to follow the money:
In the current cycle Republicans have received 97 percent of political contributions from the coal industry, 88 percent from oil and gas. And this doesn’t even count the wing nut welfare offered by institutions supported by the Koch brothers and other fossil-fuel moguls.
However, I don’t believe that it’s just about the money. My sense is that right-wingers believe, probably correctly, that there’s a sort of halo effect surrounding any form of public action. Once you accept that we need policies to protect the environment, you’re more likely to accept the idea that we should have policies to ensure access to health care, child care, and more. So the government must be prevented from doing anything good, lest it legitimize a broader progressive agenda.
Still, whatever the short-term political incentives, it takes a special kind of depravity to respond to those incentives by denying facts, embracing insane conspiracy theories and putting the very future of civilization at risk.
There used to be some Republicans who believed in climate science:
There used to be at least some Republicans with principles; as recently as 2008 Senator John McCain co-sponsored serious climate-change legislation. But those people have either experienced total moral collapse (hello, Senator Graham) or left the party.
And there used to be some Republicans -- like the party's founder, Abraham Lincoln -- who believed in justice. But those people -- and those days -- have long gone.
Image: NBC News
8 comments:
Sadly, too many ordinary Americans have also embraced the depravity that is the Republican Party, Owen. Makes you wonder about what's in the water they drink and the educational system they have been betrayed by.
I left Montreal to do my teacher training at the University of North Carolina, Lorne. The professors there repeatedly said that there could be no democracy without a strong public education system. Obviously, something has gone terribly wrong.
Some knob gobblers can't tell when a simple blowjob would suffice. Think of how Lindsey Graham with only a hint of sheepishness is rationalizing his turnabout on Trump: "When you lose, accept it." That's right. He's telling you straight, "I'm an asslicker. What of it? Works for me." That's his sickening reality. That's his truth. You'd think that he was living in a dictatorship.
And he soon may well be, John.
Its all really quite simple. those that control the money in the U.S.A. aren't going to die because of climate change. It may inconvience them a tad, but that is about it. Many of the billionaires have purchased hundreds of thousands of acres inland in the U.S.A. One American billionaire has purchased the largest ranch in B.C., and several more. It made the Vancouver Sun, today, Saturday 14 Dec. because he has tried to bar people from accessing public waters surrounded by his private land. He lost the court case. He wants to preserve all that fresh water and fish for himself and his immediate family, in my opinion. He is now going to appeal the court case. He most likely moved to Canada because extensive tracks of land are still available and are in areas where there are few people and the land is at a higher elevation. I drove through these area back in the 1970s on occasion and if you're looking for an area to retreat to, this is it, lakes, streams, decent climate, defensible, etc.
what many of these politicians don't understand, is once they have done the bidding of the billionaires, they will dump them. They will serve no further purpose. by that time their private militaries will be in place to protect their land and water. the rest of the population can die.
John B.: Lindsay Graham's "turn about" most likely has something to do with his private life. An Alabama blog, Legal Schnauzer has lots to write about him and Jeff Sessions, along with "Judge" Pryor, who dtrump attempted to appoint to the the Supreme Court--he was one the short list. then Legal Schnauzer carried the pictures of Pryor when he advertised on a gay porn site, Bad Puppy, from back in his university days. When people aren't truthful about their lives they can be blackmailed. We saw how dtrump had his lawyers pay off women who he hadn't told the world about.
Americans will have only them selves to blame when the flooding gets worse along with the fires, etc. They voted these politicians into office. At some point people have to take responsibility for their own actions. the first action these people might want to take is vote for politicians who support them and their efforts to stay alive.
Americans have a me first attitude. I can get by. If you're not getting by there is something wrong with you. As we saw when the Republicans were having their nomination meetings and debates, some in the audience were just fine with others dying due to a lack of health care. Infant mortality is rising in the U.S.A. There are South American and Caribean countries which do better with this. The number of deaths are increasing also for women who give birth.
It is not until people start dying at an accelerated rate, like more than 50K a year from guns and another 50K a year from drunk driving and all those drug deaths. When a few million of their fellow citizens have died due to climate change perhaps, things will change, but I'm not holding out hope. Flint, Michigan still doesn't have decent water. by that time it will be too late because their democracy will be gone.
As long as the billionaire class has a "get away" they won't care about the rest of the citizens in their own country, so the rest of the world can forget about any changes in the U.S.A. when it comes to climate change.
.. I commented on another Indy Blog recently re the CPC, It was in no way favorable whatsover. Few informed Candians are unaware of the close even fawning relationship of the CPC to the GOP, though I suspect 'fawning' does not come close to the damning truth and fact. A relatively recent detailed analysis was accomplished by Ms Amy MacPherson, a truly noteworthy Canadian in my view. Mound will recall my even earlier mentions of her efforts.. independent even forensic level journalism. I follow her on Twitter.
She was intrigued by the odd pathway of how the infamous first 'blackface' photo and yearbook somehow arrived in the hands of CBC. She seems non partisan to the nth degree, but her instincts, curiosity and capability are astonishing.
The process of tracing the yearbook, its 'discovery' or better said, its mysterious reception by an unsung, green as grass, innocuous & junior American newsperson revealed how intense the American GOP connection is to diehard CPC partisans. The US/Canada border seems stunningly transparent to what anyone would call 'right wing political & partisan ideology'. In fact it seems there is no border, nada, none.. the donated money flows freely.
The number of American or dual citizenship, or Canadian nationals in America, just involved or connected or 9 degrees of seperation - just in regard to the yearbook's pathway was truly astonishing. A who's who of well to do enablers or patrons, donors became clear. At some point, Ms MacPherson had surgically extracted the pathway.. and began to expand on the who and why of the entire story. Personally I found it sickening to read. Dispiriting, almost.. no actually frightening to realize how diseased ethically, how smug, how powerful such people are.
Once we accept that American 'politics' (if politics is the correct term) is to a great extent just two ideological 'Brands' duking it out for power & wealth - we can look here in Canada at the same phenomena, the same result, the same pathetic reality.. that our vote in reality is already captured, caged.. by people, forces we really can barely grasp.
As we watch the backflips and contortions of the poisoned American Senate.. the convoluted routes to successfully avoid Democracy or Honesty or Public Service - why not just look at the 'Conservative' Party's funding leadership and see the spin, evasion, the run for cover of getting rid of Andrew Scheer. The layers of approval or dismissal or no power to dismiss Van Vugt for committing funds, seemingly without the knowlege of the Fund Board.. That board is led by Stephen Harper & now looks like a manipulated slush fund & a coverup all married to a spin job. That's a menage a trois in my book. One version holds that only Scheer could dismiss Van Vugt.. There's a WoWser !!
Jason Kenney's complicated design for his War Room to ensure its operation, appointed officers and its 30 million taxpayer dollar budget are impregnable to Freedom of Information requests is a stunning development. Where does such contrivance, insult and preposterous partisan ideology stem from. I suspect this is standard practice in the USA.
Can we assume Stephen Harper is now considering if he has the opportunity to take out the Liberal Government Of Canada ? Payback or Payoff ? How does the brain trust of Trudeau and Butts view such a reality ? Did we meek, polite Canadians actually think the toxic Trump / GOP cesspool would not slop all over us ? Infect not only our Environment, but our Government and diseased stumbling, ethically broken political parties ?
The wealthy have the government they want, e.a.f. -- because they paid for it.
It's been clear for quite ahile that the modern Conservative Party are northern Republicans, sal. John A. Macdonald is somewhere -- fulminating.
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