The major disruptor of Earth’s basic operating systems is fossil fuel carbon dioxide emissions. Making the fossil fuel industry pay a carbon pollution fee is the most effective way to stop those emissions, spur energy innovation, and turn toward safety.
The supercharged greenhouse gas disrupting Earth’s operating systems is methane, which the fossil fuel industry leaks, copiously. A methane pollution fee will virtually eliminate that leakage, fast. And we’ll be safer and healthier.
By 2050, oceans will have more plastic waste than living fish. Disposable plastic items use virtually no recycled plastic. To change that path, a plastics pollution fee can give recycling a boost and industry an incentive and seas a future.
We have the chance to do all three in reconciliation and change the dangerous trajectory of the Earth. Or we can let the polluters keep calling the shots. We need to pass all three, now.
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When a citizen is charged in an indictment, the indictment should confine itself to the offense charged. An indictment is a precise tool of prosecution, not an opportunity for a novella. nytimes.com/2021/09/30/us/…
DOJ’s Justice Manual instructs that “prosecutors should remain sensitive to the privacy & reputation interests of uncharged third-parties,” and extends that caution even to unindicted co-conspirators.
Uncharged, easily identified, and in a federal indictment is a tough place for these scientists to be put. Not parties to the criminal case, they have no forum to answer in.
I checked. I made seven trips to Afghanistan, the first when the accommodations for us were modified shipping containers. Others were there a lot more, and gave much more; some gave all.
As we look back, I see the fatal day as when we dropped the ball in Afghanistan to pivot to the misbegotten Bush war in Iraq.
We had popularity, momentum and success in Afghanistan then, and if we had set wise parameters for stepping back, the outcome could have been different. We would not have left a little America behind, but that should never have been our goal there.
We need to consider the downside of “interagency process” operating at the speed of bureaucracy, not speed of reality. We need to consider when “whole of government” becomes “hole of government” and process consumes initiative.
We need to consider what process has done to leadership and accountability — when everyone has a piece of the decision accountability evaporates. This is a problem across government right now, not limited to this debacle or to these agencies.
The bipartisan infrastructure deal will create millions of jobs, protect wages & worker conditions & invest in American manufacturing. Pair this with an even bolder reconciliation package & you have a historic deal. But… what exactly is in the bill?
The bipartisan infrastructure bill will deliver for Rhode Islanders. I helped craft the section that will send Rhode Island federal funding to repair highways, roads, and bridges. The bill also sends our state much-needed funding for broadband internet.
On climate/oceans, all eyes are on reconciliation, but this bill does have some wins. A few priorities of mine that will receive funding:
1⃣ My National Oceans & Coastal Security Fund
2⃣ Transportation infrastructure resiliency
3⃣ Grant program established by my SOS 2.0 bill
.@axios has a good summary of IPCC climate report. This is bad. Bad. Enough bulls**t from fossil fuel industry, pretending it supports action while hiding its obstruction funding. Start by telling the truth about your political dirty work. axios.com/un-climate-rep…
Enough bulls**t from Republicans hip deep in fossil fuel money, whose home state universities warn about this, but who will blockade anything serious.
Enough bulls**t from corporate America, spouting greenwash while refusing to switch on its immensely powerful political apparatus to do anything on climate. Not ONE major trade association is activated.