Fake News

CNN's Jake Tapper had a special last night on Trump's lies and the dangers they present.  (I never watch TV any more and was reminded why. Christ, there were so many commercials, it seemed like commercial and show time had switched places.  Is that normal, or did advertisers think this was going to be an extra-high viewer event?)

One of the dangers was connected to Trump's climate lies.  If people quit believing what scientists are telling them, we are all in peril of our very lives.  With that in mind...

The concentration of climate-heating greenhouse gases has hit a record high, according to a report from the UN’s World Meteorological Organization.

The jumps in the key gases measured in 2018 were all above the average for the last decade, showing action on the climate emergency to date is having no effect in the atmosphere.

  The Guardian

And you know the Republican, corporate and Trump admin response: it's too late, so let's party.

The rise in concentration of greenhouses gases follows inevitably from the continued surge in global emissions, which was described as “brutal news” for 2018. The world’s scientists calculate that emissions must fall by half by 2030 to give a good chance of limiting global heating to 1.5C, beyond which hundreds of millions of people will suffer more heatwaves, droughts, floods and poverty.

[...]

Petteri Taalas, the WMO secretary-general, said: “There is no sign of a slowdown, let alone a decline, despite all the commitments under the Paris agreement on climate change. We need to increase the level of ambition for the sake of the future welfare of mankind.

[...]

Three-quarters of the emissions cuts pledged by countries under the Paris agreement of 2015 are “totally inadequate”, according to a comprehensive expert analysis published earlier in November, putting the world on a path to climate disaster.

Monday’s surprise move by General Motors, Toyota and other auto giants to back President Trump in his fight with California over pollution rules came after days of White House pressure to support one of the administration’s biggest efforts to weaken climate regulations.

  NYT

I wouldn't call that a surprise.

Previously, many automakers had indicated to California that they would not take a stand, according to Mary D. Nichols, chairwoman of California’s clean air regulator, the Air Resources Board.

Late last week, their stance quickly changed.

Andrew Olmem, a top policy aide to Mr. Trump, began calling car companies to push them to sign on to the administration’s effort in the courts to eliminate California’s right to set its own auto emissions rules on planet warming pollution, a power granted under the Clean Air Act of 1970. He was joined on the phone in some cases by Justice Department officials, according to a person familiar with the matter.

[...]

Carmakers have long feared that Mr. Trump might retaliate, either with tariffs or trade restrictions, if they didn’t support his effort to dismantle the rules, which were designed to fight climate change. After California struck its deal with [four automakers: Ford, Honda, Volkswagen and BMW], the administration and Justice Department pushed a series of unusual legal and policy moves against the state and those companies — including an antitrust investigation — that were widely perceived as retaliatory.

[...]

The split among the auto giants is far more consequential than simply the pursuit of divergent legal strategies among corporate competitors. “This is a huge rift. These vehicle manufacturers are splitting up in unique ways,” said Barry Rabe, a professor of public and environmental policy at the University of Michigan. “Imagine an administration unleashed in a second term to confront any industry that does not do the political bidding of the president,” he said.

[...]

The Trump administration and the Justice Department have also pursued a host of legal measures against California and the car companies that have sided with it.

Last month, for example, days after California filed its suit fighting the administration’s revocation of its emissions authority, the Justice Department opened its antitrust inquiry into the four automakers that had joined with California. The administration also sent a letter to the state threatening to withhold federal highway funds if it did not comply with certain Environmental Protection Agency demands. And last week, the Justice Department sued California over its effort to extend its climate change initiative into Canada.

We are being run by a crime syndicate.

In September, the administration revoked the legal authority of California and other states to set their own standards.

Because Republicans are so deeply committed to States rights.

Separately, the E.P.A. and Transportation Department are working on a new rule, which they expect to publish this winter, rolling back the national fuel economy standard to about 40 miles per gallon.

That crafting of that rule — which Trump administration officials had expected to unveil in May — has been plagued with confusion and delays, as many people familiar with the process say that Mr. Trump’s appointees are struggling to prepare a plan that can withstand legal challenges.

That's why you pack the courts, right Mitch?

Republicans, corporations and the Trump administration may well be right about one thing: It's too late.

But, we know that the corporations knew what was happening back when it wasn't too late. So maybe they should be sued and made to pay for all the efforts we can possibly make to at least attempt to avert the climate disaster every serious report says we're headed for.

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.