Climate Update: Political & Global - Opinions to go Online

Of all seemingly unlikely places to be inundated by flood waters: Washington, D.C. But how ironic—or maybe karmic—that the combination of an aging stormwater system and climate change would overlap in the hub of Republican climate-change denial.
In case you missed it on Fox or Breitbart, this just in: (A fossil-fueled EPA and a denier-in-chief notwithstanding,) we’re apparently making serious progress on the climate front. Really. “The president’s policies of competition and innovation have already produced significant carbon emission declines here in the United States, while also kicking off an energy revolution.” That revolting spin was courtesy of Sarah Matthews, deputy press secretary for the Trump campaign, reminding vulnerable voters not to be dissuaded by a deregulation mantra, relaxed vehicle-mileage standards or the Paris Climate Agreement withdrawal.
Frankly, the best way to get Republicans to buy in on climate change—given that an existential threat to the planet and this country is just not nearly enough—is to keep characterizing it as a threat to national security. That buzzword resonates, especially the specter of immigrants fleeting what were once habitable parts of the planet.
“God’s trust for this nation.”—That was actor Jon Voight’s take on what a 2020 Trump re-election would mean. I miss the “Midnight Cowboy” version of Voight.
“I’ve known Jeff (Epstein) for 15 years. Terrific guy. … It’s been said that he likes beautiful women as much as I do, and many of them are on the younger side.” Donald Trump, 2002.
So, retired Republican House Speaker Paul Ryan has called out Trump because “he didn’t know anything about government” and Ryan found himself wanting to “scold him all the time.” Speaking of “scolding,” that’s also what Ryan deserves for not having enough guts to have taken advantage of his Speaker forum to speak out more for his country—rather than becoming a sniveling enabler for his party and Trump.
“Paul Ryan was a terrible Speaker.”—Donald Trump.
We have another, altogether unsurprising, leaked quote from Kim Darroch, Britain’s ex-ambassador to the Trump Administration. He has labeled America’s, OK Trump’s, withdrawal from the Iran nuclear deal as “diplomatic vandalism.” In short, asserted Darroch, Trump pulled out because “it was Obama’s deal.” Would that it didn’t ring so narcissistically true.
Have you ever said—or heard others you respect say: “I hate that man”? We know whom we’re talking about. It’s typically followed by a self-rebuke, uttered or not, because we hate that we would “hate.” It diminishes us. The new normal is brutal. I hate it.

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