The courts have said: no sweeping regulation re: climate from the EPA. The Congress has said: no new money for climate-related projects.

There’s still an opening here. The Congress doesn’t just deal with budget matters, they pass laws. If the law doesn’t violate the Constitution, it’s in.

So: pass a law that embodies the regulation that the administration is not permitted to write off its own bat. For example: pass a law that sets the mileage standard for cars and trucks. No new money, not in violation of the constitution.

Oh. Such a law would not pass, because Republicans won’t vote for it. So, next order of business, flip the Senate or find a way to emancipate Repubs from the tyranny of having to do as they’re told against their better judgement.

I determined that federal action on climate wasn’t possible at the start of the last Republican administration, and switched focus to state law. We’ve done a lot here (WA, CA, OR, BC) in the last six years. It won’t be enough.

The courts have said: no sweeping regulation re: climate from the EPA. The Congress has said: no new money for climate-related projects.

There’s still an opening here. The Congress doesn’t just deal with budget matters, they pass laws. If the law doesn’t violate the Constitution, it’s in.

So: pass a law that embodies the regulation that the administration is not permitted to write off its own bat. For example: pass a law that sets the mileage standard for cars and trucks. No new money, not in violation of the constitution.

Oh. Such a law would not pass, because Republicans won’t vote for it. So, next order of business, flip the Senate or find a way to emancipate Repubs from the tyranny of having to do as they’re told against their better judgement.

I determined that federal action on climate wasn’t possible at the start of the last Republican administration, and switched focus to state law. We’ve done a lot here (WA, CA, OR, BC) in the last six years. It won’t be enough.

The Swerve
— Read on pluralistic.net/2022/07/05/grab-the-wheel/

Kinda where I’m at right now.

This clever and compelling collection of essays sings the praises of 10 thrilling artists whose work has been excluded from the classical canon
— Read on www.theguardian.com/books/2022/jul/04/sound-within-sound-by-kate-molleson-review-a-challenge-to-the-gatekeepers-of-classical-music

Looks like a good read.

The Supreme Court just said: no constitutional right to privacy, it’s up to the people’s representatives to decide what is and isn’t allowed. So, if you feel strongly about the issue, VOTE. Make it clear that you will only vote for someone who declares that abortion is a woman’s choice, regardless of the rest of their agenda.

Same with guns. If this is the issue you care about most strongly, make it clear that you will only vote for someone who will make it all but impossible to own a gun, and will go to work to put language in the constitution to make clear there is no right to own a firearm or carry one in public.

The Court is unelected. They will be there for a while. However, your State representatives can only exercise the power you give them. Of the People, by the People, for the People. These guys aren’t kings. VOTE!!

I’m noticing I have started to have a visceral reaction to reading phrases like “in order to address the problem, we must do …” or “the [govenment|business leaders|the public] must [change|fix|…]”.

The group or person to whom this imperative is addressed hasn’t done anything like what they’re being instructed to do thus far for a variety of reasons (even if, perhaps especially if, the group being addressed is “us”). Perhaps that’s because they have a vested interest in the status quo. Perhaps because they don’t see the issue the writer has identified as a problem. Perhaps they just can’t be bothered.

Whatever. A strident “must” demand isn’t going to get you where you want to go.

www.nytimes.com/2022/05/15/world/australia/covid-deaths.html

I hate to rag on about this again, but here it is in an article about the disparity in Covid outcomes between Australia (and New Zealand) and the US, and it locates the root cause in the culture of trust in the former countries and its lack in the latter. People ask me from time to time what the difference between NZ and the US is, and this is what I tell them. I illustrate it with the story of the stolen canoe carrier from the first weeks of my being here, and how I came to understand the problem. And so, it’s not just a cultural annoyance, it’s responsible for millions of deaths. And maybe the eventual disintegration of the society.

If elites don’t learn to swallow their pride, nihilism will swallow us all.
— Read on americandreaming.substack.com/p/the-people-are-morons-but-we-must

Source: Pluralistic: 22 Apr 2022 – Pluralistic: Daily links from Cory Doctorow

Another on-the-mark Doctorow column.  Particularly liked the “why we need regulation” section that links our inability to know everything about the stuff we do and use to do it with the need for a verifiably independent truth-discovery process.

youtube.com/watch

Like my daddy used to play