Archive

ProPublica and The Atlantic have published a joint story, accusing the Trump administration of erasing climate change data from an educational site: Child’s Play: Team Trump Rewrites a Department of Energy Website for Kids The site is “Energy Kids” about energy and the science.  It’s been running for decades, and it’s won several international awards.  And now all the discussions about environmental impacts are gone....

I love the first meaning of a ‘meme’ as an idea that swims in our collective consciousness. They survive if you think about them. They propagate if you share it with someone else, who then remembers it. A good meme punches your buttons, and is easily spread — communicated — to other people. I know it’s not a new idea. My favorite recent example was...

Unsurprisingly, Scott Pruitt was confirmed for the EPA today on a mostly party-line vote.  He’ll arrive in office with a ready-made scandal waiting in the wings. By court order, he has to release potentially damning correspondence that he’s been illegally withholding for years.

Trump held a long press conference today that was notably surreal. I’m not point to a highlight (lowlight?), but it’s telling. This was right after being asked about whether he’d meet with the Congressional Black Caucus (he didn’t recognize the name and appeared uncertain about who they were). He asked the (black) reporter if she knew them, and if she’d set something up. (more…)

Last night, a court ordered Oklahoma state Attorney General (and Trump EPA nominee) Scott Pruitt to release thousands of emails from the time he was acting in ways that appeared deeply corrupted by the oil industry. Those emails have been illegally withheld for two years. District Court Judge Aletia Timmons gave Pruitt until Tuesday to release the emails and records of state meetings. The Senate...

Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed, to me . . . – Emma Lazarus (1849-1885) “The New Colossus” I was reading LookingTowardPortugal just now. It’s a good blog by a friend who writes better than I do (not a high bar, I know). He started his...