Get ready for a renewed fight to keep climate change research and policy that reflects facts front and center in the US. Donald Trump shows every sign of being a climate change contrarian. It really isn’t a conspiracy created by the Chinese as he claimed during his run for the Oval Office, and his lead person on the issue is a well known climate change denier.
The climate and clean energy budget could be in peril, though. Trump has called climate change a hoax created by the Chinese and has vowed to end the Paris Agreement (though on Tuesday, he softened that on both those stances in a meeting with New York Times reporters). In a video statement released on Monday, he said he would “cancel job-killing restrictions on the production of American energy, including shale energy and clean coal, creating many millions of high-paying jobs." That could be a reference to his stated goal to rescind the Clean Power Plan and Environmental Protection Agency rules.
The EPA transition team leader is Myron Ebell, a climate denier from the Competitive Enterprise Institute. On Monday, the transition team announced that Thomas Pyle, a former Koch brothers lobbyist, would head up the Energy Department transition and Doug Domenech, who runs Fueling Freedom, a group that aims to “explain the forgotten moral case for fossil fuels," would head the Interior Department efforts.
The stark fact is that the incoming US leader is well known for distorting the facts and outright lying when it suits him. This is an insane approach to take with an issue that will eventual control whether there is a human civilization on the planet and possibly a species.
Starting to see why having a probable psychopath in the Oval Office isn't a good thing at all.
Get ready for a renewed fight to keep climate change research and policy that reflects facts front and center in the US. Donald Trump shows every sign of being a climate change contrarian. It really isn't a conspiracy created by the Chinese as he claimed during his run for the Oval Office, and his lead person on the issue is a well known climate change denier.
http://www.salon.com/2016/11/23/politicizing-climate-change-donald-trumps-budget-could-cut-climate-funding-for-nasa-other-federal-departments/
The climate and clean energy budget could be in peril, though. Trump has called climate change a hoax created by the Chinese and has vowed to end the Paris Agreement (though on Tuesday, he softened that on both those stances in a meeting with New York Times reporters). In a video statement released on Monday, he said he would “cancel job-killing restrictions on the production of American energy, including shale energy and clean coal, creating many millions of high-paying jobs." That could be a reference to his stated goal to rescind the Clean Power Plan and Environmental Protection Agency rules.
The EPA transition team leader is Myron Ebell, a climate denier from the Competitive Enterprise Institute. On Monday, the transition team announced that Thomas Pyle, a former Koch brothers lobbyist, would head up the Energy Department transition and Doug Domenech, who runs Fueling Freedom, a group that aims to “explain the forgotten moral case for fossil fuels," would head the Interior Department efforts.
The stark fact is that the incoming US leader is well known for distorting the facts and outright lying when it suits him. This is an insane approach to take with an issue that will eventual control whether there is a human civilization on the planet and possibly a species.
Starting to see why having a probable psychopath in the Oval Office isn't a good thing at all.
I'm afraid from early indication, nope. Still soundly asleep over here.
How's life on your side of the border?
Trump’s shadow transition team
The Heritage Foundation has emerged as a driving force as Trump tries to staff up the federal government.
By KATIE GLUECK 11/22/16
http://www.politico.com/story/2016/11/trump-transition-heritage-foundation-231722
A year ago, the political arm of the conservative Heritage Foundation dismissed Donald Trump as a big-government enthusiast and left-wing sympathizer.
Now, the Heritage Foundation has emerged as one of the most influential forces shaping President-elect Donald Trump’s transition team, embedding the veteran Washington group into the operation of a candidate who ran loudly against the Beltway.
Part gatekeeper, part brain trust and part boots on the ground, Heritage is both a major presence on the transition team itself and a crucial conduit between Trump’s orbit and the once-skeptical conservative leaders who ultimately helped get him elected.
Heritage is “absolutely the fulcrum, and essential to staffing the administration with people who reflect Trump’s commitments across the board," said Marjorie Dannenfelser, head of Susan B. Anthony List, a prominent group that opposes abortion rights. “I can say it’s been a source of great confidence during the election to know that principled people were planning for a Trump administration."
Three sources from different conservative groups said that Heritage employees have been soliciting, stockpiling and vetting résumés for months with an eye on stacking Trump’s administration with conservative appointees across the government. One source described the efforts as a “shadow transition team" and “an effort to have the right kind of people in there."
A spokesman for the Heritage Foundation didn’t respond to requests for comment. Spokespeople for the Trump campaign also did not respond to requests for comment. ...
Heritage Foundation
http://www.desmogblog.com/heritage-foundation
Background
The Heritage Foundation was founded in 1973 by Paul Weyrich to “formulate and promote conservative public policies based on the principles of free enterprise, limited government, individual freedom, traditional American values, and a strong national defense." [1]
The Heritage Foundation has been a fervent opponent of the Kyoto protocol and its online database of “policy experts"(www.policyexperts.org) includes many climate change skeptics such as Patrick Michaels, Sallie Baliunas, Thomas Gale Moore, Robert Balling, and Fred Singer. [2], [3]
The Heritage Foundation has had considerable influence over Republican politicians. It is estimated that two-thirds of the policy recommendations it made in 1981 were adopted by the Reagan Administration. The Heritage Foundation has been described as “the most effective media operation in American politics." [4], [5]
Jim DeMint, former South Carolina Republican Senator, became Heritage Foundation president in 2013. According to The New York Times, this marked a shift in the foundation: “Long known as an incubator for policy ideas and the embodiment of the party establishment, it has become more of a political organization feeding off the rising populism of the Tea Party movement." [6]
Heritage is a former member of the Cooler Heads Coalition (as of 2004). [7] Thomas A. Roe, a member of the board of trustees of the Heritage Foundation, founded the State Policy Network in 1991 as a way to promote conservative policies at the state level.
It was also behind the right-wing news website Townhall.com. In 2005, Townhall.com split from The Heritage Foundation “in order to expand the scope of Townhall.com's mission to inform, empower and mobilize citizens for political change." In 2006, it was acquired by Salem Communications. [8] ...
Meet The Climate Denial Machine
Blog ››› November 28, 2012 3:16 PM EST ››› JILL FITZSIMMONS
http://mediamatters.org/blog/2012/11/28/meet-the-climate-denial-machine/191545
Despite the overwhelming consensus among climate experts that human activity is contributing to rising global temperatures, 66 percent of Americans incorrectly believe there is "a lot of disagreement among scientists about whether or not global warming is happening." The conservative media has fueled this confusion by distorting scientific research, hyping faux-scandals, and giving voice to groups funded by industries that have a financial interest in blocking action on climate change. Meanwhile, mainstream media outlets have shied away from the "controversy" over climate change and have failed to press U.S. policymakers on how they will address this global threat. When climate change is discussed, mainstream outlets sometimes strive for a false balance that elevates marginal voices and enables them to sow doubt about the science even in the face of mounting evidence.
Here, Media Matters looks at how conservative media outlets give industry-funded "experts" a platform, creating a polarized misunderstanding of climate science.
Heartland Institute And James Taylor
Competitive Enterprise Institute
Chris Horner And The American Tradition Institute
Manhattan Institute And Robert Bryce
Heritage Foundation
Cato Institute And Patrick Michaels
American Enterprise Institute
Marc Morano
Anthony Watts
Steve Milloy
Joe Bastardi
Matt Ridley
Larry Bell
The Heritage Foundation
Koch Industries Climate Denial Front Group
http://www.greenpeace.org/usa/global-warming/climate-deniers/front-groups/the-heritage-foundation/
$5,712,845 from Koch foundations, 1997-2014
The Heritage Foundation is a 501c3 nonprofit think tank that is well known in the U.S. policy world. It was founded in 1973 by the late Joseph Coors (the founder of Coors Brewing) and the late Paul Weyrich. Weyrich played a historic role in transforming wealthy people and businesses into major political influencers, famously proclaiming, “I don’t want everybody to vote. Elections are not won by a majority of people. They never have been from the beginning of our country, and they are not now. As a matter of fact our leverage in the elections quite candidly goes up as the voting populace goes down."
Trump is basically placing the vast conservative echo chamber in office in America even so more than it was already. There’s little doubt that the American political system has become the captive of the incredibly cynical 1% as they play not just with all our lives but whether or not there will even be a human future.
The only reason the US doesn’t stage another 1776 is the incredible amount of time and money spent to confuse Americans about who is really screwing them to the wall.
Hint… it’s the people with all the money and all the power now. If the US had a real electoral system any longer there’s no way a douchebag like Trump would have got past the opening gate.
Welcome to an America run by and for predators like the Kochs.
Trump denies climate change for the same reason all right wing capitalists deny it. If climate change is seen to be caused by humans, there will be calls to cut back on greenhouse gasses, which would cut into their profit-making plans. They might actually have to spend money to cut down on pollution, which would cut down on profits. Science doesn’t matter, only profits matter. If hundreds of thousands of people sicken and die from pollution, oh well! It’s a small price to pay for the good life. To right wing capitalists climate change is a liberal plot against capitalism that must be stamped out.
Trump wants to end all climate change research at NASA. Science doesn’t matter. Profits matter. If you don’t like the answers science gives, get rid of the science. Easy Peasey.
Trump denies climate change for the same reason all right wing capitalists deny it. If climate change is seen to be caused by humans, there will be calls to cut back on greenhouse gasses, which would cut into their profit-making plans. They might actually have to spend money to cut down on pollution, which would cut down on profits. Science doesn't matter, only profits matter. If hundreds of thousands of people sicken and die from pollution, oh well! It's a small price to pay for the good life. To right wing capitalists climate change is a liberal plot against capitalism that must be stamped out.
Trump wants to end all climate change research at NASA. Science doesn't matter. Profits matter. If you don't like the answers science gives, get rid of the science. Easy Peasey.
Pretty much.
The whole capitalism house of cards is entirely based on the exploitation of "cheap" fossil fuels, no other source of energy allows the kind of monopoly that has been around since the late 1880s. True change to a fossil fuel free world would also overturn the structure that allows the 1% to exist.
So in a very real sense the rich are fighting for their existence as rich and Trump is just one more tool they're going to use no matter the cost.
…until the Chinese take the reigns, profit-wise, and start making vast profits on supporting climate change by creating wind turbines and other technologies. The difference is, the Chinese think in terms of decades, whereas Western capitalists focus on short-term greed only.
Trump denies climate change for the same reason all right wing capitalists deny it. If climate change is seen to be caused by humans, there will be calls to cut back on greenhouse gasses, which would cut into their profit-making plans. They might actually have to spend money to cut down on pollution, which would cut down on profits. Science doesn't matter, only profits matter. If hundreds of thousands of people sicken and die from pollution, oh well! It's a small price to pay for the good life. To right wing capitalists climate change is a liberal plot against capitalism that must be stamped out.
Trump wants to end all climate change research at NASA. Science doesn't matter. Profits matter. If you don't like the answers science gives, get rid of the science. Easy Peasey.
Pretty much.
The whole capitalism house of cards is entirely based on the exploitation of "cheap" fossil fuels, no other source of energy allows the kind of monopoly that has been around since the late 1880s. True change to a fossil fuel free world would also overturn the structure that allows the 1% to exist.
So in a very real sense the rich are fighting for their existence as rich and Trump is just one more tool they're going to use no matter the cost.
It's not new. Trump didn't invent capitalist greed, he has just taken advantage of it, and now he wants to create an economic climate that provides ever more opportinities for greed. The nation be damned.
...until the Chinese take the reigns, profit-wise, and start making vast profits on supporting climate change by creating wind turbines and other technologies. The difference is, the Chinese think in terms of decades, whereas Western capitalists focus on short-term greed only.
It amazes me the sorts of people who get so impressed with China. Those clods are making it up as they go along and doing a pretty shit job for the future too . . . If that's who you're looking for to stabilize anyone, I think we are lost.
Okay I know we are lost.
The Unreal, Eerie Emptiness of China’s ‘Ghost Cities’
https://www.wired.com/2016/02/kai-caemmerer-unborn-cities/
China's credit binge increases risk of banking crisis, says watchdog
The Bank for International Settlements says the signs point to a problem in the next three years as debt hits 255% of GDP
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2016/sep/18/central-bankers-group-bis-stark-warning-world-economy
Chinese Environmental Problems are Taking a Serious Turn for Worse
http://journal-neo.org/2016/01/16/chinese-environmental-problems-are-taking-a-serious-turn-for-worse/
A Communist/Capitalist society…what could go wrong with that.
The idea that the Chinese ruling class - otherwise known as the elite of the communist party - know what they’re doing was disproved decades ago with things like the Great Leap Forward and Cultural Revolution, they made it clear they didn’t give a damn about human or any other life. And then a few decades ago in a certain square they made it clear they’re not interested in open and representative government. Now they’re turning China into a wasteland in a mad rush to reproduce the worst aspects of western culture. The greed factor with no thought of future generations.
An entire culture that was made slave decades ago to a long disproved ideology isn’t going to lead us anywhere, any real chance of a future is going to come from people across the globe asserting their rights to life and future against the interests of the tiny percentage of wealthy who are in an insane competition with each other to reach the status of trillionaire before the whole thing is torn violently apart.
Can anyone tell me what the difference between capitalist greed and communist dictatorship greed is? Arent they the same thing and don’t both kinds of greed hurt ordinary people and the environment similarly?
Can anyone tell me what the difference between capitalist greed and communist dictatorship greed is? Arent they the same thing and don't both kinds of greed hurt ordinary people and the environment similarly?
Communism as defined by the original western thinkers was supposed to be a humane antidote to the excesses of capitalism which left millions in virtual slavery. But genuine communism has never really been applied, at its heart it's democratic not dictatorial. So the Chinese communist party has never really been communist, it's just another ruthless opportunistic faction that no longer even has the cloak of working for the people.
The wealth gap in China is already the greatest in the world and growing and many party officials there are rapidly looting the country's wealth and destroying its ecological foundation in the process. It's an example of the worst possible outcome, not the best. And instead of learning from it here in the west we're instead enabling it as part of the ideology of endless economic growth at any expense. Whether social or ecological.
Can anyone tell me what the difference between capitalist greed and communist dictatorship greed is? Arent they the same thing and don't both kinds of greed hurt ordinary people and the environment similarly?
Oh, oh, I know the answer. :wow:
In the Communistic system man ruthlessly exploits his fellow man. In the Capitalistic system, it's exactly the other way around.