THERE IS MORE THAN ONE IMPORTANT COURT CASE TAKING PLACE IN OUR COUNTRY.
It’s about life and death, too. Don’t ignore it, and let the rest of the country know what's happening. Spread the word. Our young people have brought it to court.
‘A Landmark Youth Climate Trial Begins in Montana’
THERE IS MORE THAN ONE IMPORTANT COURT CASE TAKING PLACE IN OUR COUNTRY.
It’s about life and death, too. Don’t ignore it, and let the rest of the country know what's happening. Spread the word. Our young people have brought it to court.
‘A Landmark Youth Climate Trial Begins in Montana’
By Mike Baker
Reporting from Helena, Mont.
‘Sixteen young people argue that the state is robbing their future by embracing policies that contribute to climate change.’
‘A landmark climate change trial opened on Monday in Montana, where a group of young people are contending that the state’s embrace of fossil fuels is destroying pristine environments, upending cultural traditions and robbing young residents of a healthy future.’
‘The case, more than a decade in the making, is the first of a series of similar challenges pending in various states as part of an effort to increase pressure on policymakers to take more urgent action on emissions.’
‘Rikki Held, 22, a plaintiff who was among the first witnesses to testify on Monday, described how her family’s 3,000-acre ranch in eastern Montana had been threatened by droughts, wildfires and extreme weather, including heat waves and floods. At times she grew tearful talking about working through those conditions while trying to maintain the family’s livelihood.’
“I know that climate change is a global issue, but Montana needs to take responsibility for our part of that,” Ms. Held said. “You can’t just blow it off and do nothing about it.”
‘The case revolves around the contention from 16 young residents — who range in age from 5 to 22 — that the state government has failed to live up to its constitutional mandate to “maintain and improve a clean and healthful environment in Montana for present and future generations.”
‘State leaders have fought the accusations, calling the proceedings a show trial and a’ “gross injustice.”
“Montana’s emissions are simply too minuscule to make any difference,” Michael Russell, an assistant attorney general, said during the state’s opening statement. “Climate change is a global issue that effectively relegates Montana’s role to that of a spectator.”
‘The two-week trial in a courtroom in Lewis and Clark County will feature both the accounts of young people dealing with climate change and the testimony of climate experts. At the end, Judge Kathy Seeley will be asked by the plaintiffs to declare that the state’s support for the fossil fuel industry is unconstitutional.’
‘Environmental advocates believe such a finding could put pressure on government leaders in Montana and elsewhere to take action on curbing emissions. They are also hopeful that the judge could order the state to consider climate impacts when approving new projects.’
‘The effects of a warming climate are already spreading across Montana, including shrinking glaciers at Glacier National Park and a lengthening wildfire season that threatens the state’s treasured outdoor pastimes. The plaintiffs in the case have said that the state’s inaction on climate change threatens their ability to access clean water, sustain family ranches or continue hunting traditions.’
“Montana’s warming climate will have cascading environmental and economic impacts,” ‘Roger Sullivan, a lawyer for the young residents, said in opening statements.’
‘The young people have personally experienced daunting signs of the future, not only the smoke from wildfires but also the flooding at Yellowstone National Park.’
‘Julia Olson, the executive director of Our Children’s Trust, the environmental nonprofit that helped bring the Montana lawsuit, said the case had the potential to set a new course for a healthier and more prosperous future for the generations to come. Many of the young plaintiffs planned to testify.’ (NYTimes) See gifted article below.
“Montana’s emissions are simply too minuscule to make any difference,” Michael Russell, an assistant attorney general, said during the state’s opening statement. “Climate change is a global issue that effectively relegates Montana’s role to that of a spectator.”
A formal statement of irresponsibility.
There ARE no spectators of climate change. We are all witnesses and all victims -- except for the usual gangsters and war profiteers who promote the chaos and destruction on which they thrive.
It takes ALL of us! It starts at home, then in the community, county, state, country, continent and then the world. Some of us have more power to effect change/take action, but each of us can do our part and pay attention & support those who strive to make a difference on a wider scale. Of course this is easier to say being in a first world country were fewer of us are scrambling just to find food and shelter, so we have a bigger burden to shoulder & should be doing so.
AMEN Barbara! We ALL have the power to do SOMETHING to abate climate change and not sit as spectators to the death throes of habitability of our planet.
Each can work to no longer drive internal combustion engine cars, trucks, motor cycles, RVs, motorboats, 3 or 4-wheelers. We can decline to fly across country or to transoceanic destinations. We can change how we cook our meals or heat our homes with gas, oil, coal or wood. We can buy locally-grown food. We can stop eating meat and seek out lower environmental-impact diets. We can opt for renewable energy sources. We can forgo the pleasures of buying or building homes in environmentally sensitive areas of wildfires or flooding. One can help those who have made their livings selling and developing these anti-environmental occupations to find more environmentally friendly occupations. It is a vanishingly rare situation in which one can do nothing to reduce the damage to our environment. NO-ONE is a spectator!
Sounds utopian. You must live in a city where an ev will get you around comfortably. Some of us live in rural areas, where distances are a factor. If an ev vehicle were available like the brand spanking new ICE work truck I just bought at the price I paid, I would own one. I think I'm further north than you are.
Ed, I too am rural. Public transportation exists, but is not really helpful for my needs. Indeed, before I retired I looked into taking the bus to work….problem is based on the schedule, I’d arrive late & have to leave early! I would love to be able to afford more efficient appliances, etc. but, alas, cannot.
I believe a multiplicity of circumstances got us into this fix, and it will take a multiplicity of solutions to get us out, or at least get by. There is no one size fits all, but there are things we can do individually and in concert that make a difference. In concert we can stop sacrificing the common weal to please narcissistic billionaires. We had been there and done that in the Gilded Age, and the 20th Century, while not the "good old days" (nor has everything that has happened since been a retreat) there was greater attention to expanding the common good, including social and emerging environmental responsibility. Nixon created the EPA and St. Reagan tried to shut it down, naming Watt to run Interior. We have know about the impact of fossil fuels for decades and still kick remediation down the road.
All the “minuscule” impacts across the country add up to a huge, far-reaching impact across the globe. That “minuscule” could be an excuse for no action is so short sighted in the big picture!
Perhaps its not so much a matter of the ego being large as it is that it's all that is there to fill the interior space. "My whims are all that matters; others be damned".
The point is, I repeat, that (as Jung found when observing Hitler) there is no human being at home. Any such was shoved from the nest early on by the parasitic demon that filled the vacuum.
We're saying the same thing but expressing it differently. And "my whims" are a side-effect of "I am ALL -- nothing else exists, nothing else matters".
Many thanks, Fern, for reminding me of this incredible effort by these young people of Montana. I hope they win their case, for themselves and the country.
Win the case for all of us. Let's follow it and the other cases being brought in various states. This is an important part of the CLIMATE CHANGE MOVEMENT.
Thanks for pointing this out, Fern. We have an article in our local paper, Indianapolis Star, (from the AP) regarding this protest in Montana. I was heartened to see it, realizing that the young people in Montana are finding their voice and putting their feet on the ground! "Montana ranked among the highest states for the percentage of total economic contributions by the natural gas and oil industry, generating $6.3 billion toward the state’s gross domestic product—including $3.2 billion added to total labor income." You can see why the deputy attorney general made his comment!
Thank you so much for sharing this very important information! Made me think of the Lorax.... Dr. Seuss — 'I am the Lorax. I speak for the trees. I speak for the trees for the trees have no tongues.' 💚
The horrors have only begun, and we are all already paying, but it is the children, it is those who are young today, it is their offspring who are going to have to face the worst. And it won't just be the physical climate, it will be human chaos, with drought and water supplies disappearing, extreme overheating and sometimes the opposite, population movements on an unimaginable scale.
Those obstructing the necessary changes must be shaken until they wake up and act -- or kicked out of the way.
And our sacrosanct ideology, holy, holy, holy all-seeing, omnipotent markets and all that utterly imaginary crap can help no one in the face of this very real situation, it is already fight or flight.
All that the imbeciles can see or think of is "politics" and political movements, but the way we're headed, they and we -- above all our posterity, rich and poor, will soon be swept away unless our thought-free comfort addicts can be awoken and goaded into action -- or pushed aside.
We had a similar case tried here in Australia and our courts found (on appeal) that our government environment minister DID NOT have a duty of care to our youngsters over the environment.
It’s an absolute joke IMO. They just keep passing the buck on to the next generation without seemingly a care.
Pretty sure the only “duty” they believe they have is to inflate the bank accounts of their oil, gas, and mining donors at the expense of the planet... because that seems to be all they actually care about doing.
Kylie I fear it is not just the donor class, it is ALL OF US who don't want to shed our aspirations to "the good life" with all the accoutrements we have grown to associate with that life: A beautiful home with a great view, abundant travel opportunities via car, truck, RV, or airplane. All of us who don't want to change our lifelong habits of diet, recreation and general expectations of life. We need to act differently, we need to BE different!
Let's give some credit to those who take incredible risks of capital to develop and bring to market natural resources that make modern life possible. But, as Gouverneur Morris wrote in the Preamble our highest aspiration is to "Secure the blessings of liberty for ourselves and our posterity."
This however, takes a much greater capacity for foresight and good judgment than what are education system currently delivers. We should be investing in rigorously resolvable means to identify and nurture these skills in our society.
Incredible risks of capital? Not here in Australia they don’t. We are the epitome of privatise the profit and socialise the losses. Our government subsidises the investor class in pretty much everything they do at the expense of the rest of us.
That's what happens when political parties don't vet their candidates and just act a fund raisers. We need candidates with demonstrated foresight not compliance and identity politics.
Y'know Aaron, I don't give a fig newton for the "incredible risks." "Natural Resources" is the operative phrase here. Just what entitles a bunch of entrepreneurs the right to endless wealth and exploitation of a natural resource? One that is heavily subsidized by the government they love to hate? To wiggle out of taxes for the sake of yachts and such? Time to seriously press back on these raiders of natural resources who profit at the public's expense.
True, GOP gives tax breaks to people that buy Supreme Court Justices with perks, and turn around an borrow money from them instead of expecting them to pay their fair share of taxes. But here's the thing. A majority of people don't have the sense to be in the virtuous cycle of saving and investing in anything. We still love them, but don't want them making decisions regarding ourselves or our posterity.
…with at least two sides of your mouth, you always come down against the vulnerable and lord over with a touch of know it all domination and pity in your voice.
If Australian politics is remotely like American politics, politicians' life blood is re-election, the route to which far too often is based on who can raise the most money. There are SO MANY citizens as well as politicians whose income is based on industries whose net effect is causing harm to the environment.
How does that negate my point? There is now literal legal precedent in Australia setting the standard for the current and future environment minsters at zilch. The ALP sure seems to think the status quo should be upheld, even after we voted for them to turnaround nine years of neglect and deliberate malfeasance instead of opening more coal and gas projects.
Fern McBride, thank you. Climate is the critical issue of our time. While the repubs are attempting to take down our Democracy and definitely smokescreening critical issues, the coming generation of lawmakers and voters are in a race to save this planet. “Montana’s warming climate will have cascading environmental and economic impacts,” ‘Roger Sullivan, a lawyer for the young residents, said in opening statements.’” They are connecting to movements worldwide that have been ignored by USA repubs. Greta Thunberg, Swedish climate activist who called for worldwide Climate Strikes for young people is now a high school graduate and will hand the “sign” to other activists and continue as an adult. She has been joined by young people all over the world and criticized by TFG and other world leaders who are threatened by a activists who are literally actively working to save the planet.
Thanks, Irenie. Climate change and saving democracy are the two biggies, imho, right now. Biden's got the world on his shoulders but hopefully the younger generation will help to lift the burden and turn out in big numbers in Nov. 2024. (Although I love Biden's courage and what he has accomplished, I hope he can pass the torch to a younger candidate who can carry on his work.)
Thank you! I must have missed this article, because I have been glued to the screen, looking at the National Security Disaster in tRumps bathroom and Ballroom!
The evidence seen in the indictment has been shockingly unnerving. A gut punch and then realizing that the orange monster has no limits to his pathological need for revenge. We need a team of ethical mental health folks to screen out the monsters from the political process and prevent the masses from being charmed by a killer.
Thank you for this. Montana is near and dear to my heart as we have a family cabin on Hebgen Lake outside of West Yellowstone. We also have a brand new granddaughter in Missoula, Montana south of Glacier. Montana has some of the most incredible natural beauty of any state in our nation. I am so proud of what these young people are doing. Some of the most environmentally active people in Montana are ranchers. Some of the most reactionary conservatives like Tucker Carlson and Rupert Murdock also have property (think estates) there. This should be followed closely.
THERE IS MORE THAN ONE IMPORTANT COURT CASE TAKING PLACE IN OUR COUNTRY.
It’s about life and death, too. Don’t ignore it, and let the rest of the country know what's happening. Spread the word. Our young people have brought it to court.
‘A Landmark Youth Climate Trial Begins in Montana’
By Mike Baker
Reporting from Helena, Mont.
‘Sixteen young people argue that the state is robbing their future by embracing policies that contribute to climate change.’
‘A landmark climate change trial opened on Monday in Montana, where a group of young people are contending that the state’s embrace of fossil fuels is destroying pristine environments, upending cultural traditions and robbing young residents of a healthy future.’
‘The case, more than a decade in the making, is the first of a series of similar challenges pending in various states as part of an effort to increase pressure on policymakers to take more urgent action on emissions.’
‘Rikki Held, 22, a plaintiff who was among the first witnesses to testify on Monday, described how her family’s 3,000-acre ranch in eastern Montana had been threatened by droughts, wildfires and extreme weather, including heat waves and floods. At times she grew tearful talking about working through those conditions while trying to maintain the family’s livelihood.’
“I know that climate change is a global issue, but Montana needs to take responsibility for our part of that,” Ms. Held said. “You can’t just blow it off and do nothing about it.”
‘The case revolves around the contention from 16 young residents — who range in age from 5 to 22 — that the state government has failed to live up to its constitutional mandate to “maintain and improve a clean and healthful environment in Montana for present and future generations.”
‘State leaders have fought the accusations, calling the proceedings a show trial and a’ “gross injustice.”
“Montana’s emissions are simply too minuscule to make any difference,” Michael Russell, an assistant attorney general, said during the state’s opening statement. “Climate change is a global issue that effectively relegates Montana’s role to that of a spectator.”
‘The two-week trial in a courtroom in Lewis and Clark County will feature both the accounts of young people dealing with climate change and the testimony of climate experts. At the end, Judge Kathy Seeley will be asked by the plaintiffs to declare that the state’s support for the fossil fuel industry is unconstitutional.’
‘Environmental advocates believe such a finding could put pressure on government leaders in Montana and elsewhere to take action on curbing emissions. They are also hopeful that the judge could order the state to consider climate impacts when approving new projects.’
‘The effects of a warming climate are already spreading across Montana, including shrinking glaciers at Glacier National Park and a lengthening wildfire season that threatens the state’s treasured outdoor pastimes. The plaintiffs in the case have said that the state’s inaction on climate change threatens their ability to access clean water, sustain family ranches or continue hunting traditions.’
“Montana’s warming climate will have cascading environmental and economic impacts,” ‘Roger Sullivan, a lawyer for the young residents, said in opening statements.’
‘The young people have personally experienced daunting signs of the future, not only the smoke from wildfires but also the flooding at Yellowstone National Park.’
‘Julia Olson, the executive director of Our Children’s Trust, the environmental nonprofit that helped bring the Montana lawsuit, said the case had the potential to set a new course for a healthier and more prosperous future for the generations to come. Many of the young plaintiffs planned to testify.’ (NYTimes) See gifted article below.
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/06/12/us/montana-youth-climate-trial.html?unlocked_article_code=fZPqY0wGVQv9-EU5E450FTGXXmBos-t3xc2742CViE2bsFq-cbEjsA7QbWdGoMJo8C0sJoXk-KvnUoh1ETDMNfc6bBkiyg6bZ607Ns0ayjr1RxTwtVwsUdMJntlvo5CWEp6DF6PhE8zVOZyGCQ3_KWypoUf3lmz1H7d6CrldSs5shuR82xLMET3piftJjPO_KpcHytSXd9xoHBXaXiR13O9_kDYkAiQoJqhv8B0f0TDykMl-9MRzmzpjoRRsD5hGPGVKh--ZHIgD6961qNhocn2PgA4-p_KGTMno917WAF3fBF3XaPY4sFYJ7TJqupT3UOHcaa8V4URM5f0smDS3mg&smid=url-share
“Montana’s emissions are simply too minuscule to make any difference,” Michael Russell, an assistant attorney general, said during the state’s opening statement. “Climate change is a global issue that effectively relegates Montana’s role to that of a spectator.”
A formal statement of irresponsibility.
There ARE no spectators of climate change. We are all witnesses and all victims -- except for the usual gangsters and war profiteers who promote the chaos and destruction on which they thrive.
Cancers on the body politic.
Skin cancer for the planet.
It takes ALL of us! It starts at home, then in the community, county, state, country, continent and then the world. Some of us have more power to effect change/take action, but each of us can do our part and pay attention & support those who strive to make a difference on a wider scale. Of course this is easier to say being in a first world country were fewer of us are scrambling just to find food and shelter, so we have a bigger burden to shoulder & should be doing so.
AMEN Barbara! We ALL have the power to do SOMETHING to abate climate change and not sit as spectators to the death throes of habitability of our planet.
Each can work to no longer drive internal combustion engine cars, trucks, motor cycles, RVs, motorboats, 3 or 4-wheelers. We can decline to fly across country or to transoceanic destinations. We can change how we cook our meals or heat our homes with gas, oil, coal or wood. We can buy locally-grown food. We can stop eating meat and seek out lower environmental-impact diets. We can opt for renewable energy sources. We can forgo the pleasures of buying or building homes in environmentally sensitive areas of wildfires or flooding. One can help those who have made their livings selling and developing these anti-environmental occupations to find more environmentally friendly occupations. It is a vanishingly rare situation in which one can do nothing to reduce the damage to our environment. NO-ONE is a spectator!
Sounds utopian. You must live in a city where an ev will get you around comfortably. Some of us live in rural areas, where distances are a factor. If an ev vehicle were available like the brand spanking new ICE work truck I just bought at the price I paid, I would own one. I think I'm further north than you are.
Ed, I too am rural. Public transportation exists, but is not really helpful for my needs. Indeed, before I retired I looked into taking the bus to work….problem is based on the schedule, I’d arrive late & have to leave early! I would love to be able to afford more efficient appliances, etc. but, alas, cannot.
I believe a multiplicity of circumstances got us into this fix, and it will take a multiplicity of solutions to get us out, or at least get by. There is no one size fits all, but there are things we can do individually and in concert that make a difference. In concert we can stop sacrificing the common weal to please narcissistic billionaires. We had been there and done that in the Gilded Age, and the 20th Century, while not the "good old days" (nor has everything that has happened since been a retreat) there was greater attention to expanding the common good, including social and emerging environmental responsibility. Nixon created the EPA and St. Reagan tried to shut it down, naming Watt to run Interior. We have know about the impact of fossil fuels for decades and still kick remediation down the road.
Peter B., so well said: “A formal statement of irresponsibility.”
I guess Michael Russell can use the word "spectator" as his resume.
Another little Nero, fiddling while the world burns.
Spectators, innocent bystanders: bullshit.
With a capital B.
All the “minuscule” impacts across the country add up to a huge, far-reaching impact across the globe. That “minuscule” could be an excuse for no action is so short sighted in the big picture!
Small mind, small picture.
But outsize ego to compensate.
As for their Fuehrer, seeing that no one was at home and the door was wide open, a cosmic monster came in to squat...
Perhaps its not so much a matter of the ego being large as it is that it's all that is there to fill the interior space. "My whims are all that matters; others be damned".
I should have said "id".
The point is, I repeat, that (as Jung found when observing Hitler) there is no human being at home. Any such was shoved from the nest early on by the parasitic demon that filled the vacuum.
We're saying the same thing but expressing it differently. And "my whims" are a side-effect of "I am ALL -- nothing else exists, nothing else matters".
A black hole in (almost) human guise.
I should have added that Montana's transit role gives it a climate impact quite out of proportion to the state's population.
We are now seeing the oil and coal extractive industries for what they really are: vampire outfits.
Many thanks, Fern, for reminding me of this incredible effort by these young people of Montana. I hope they win their case, for themselves and the country.
Win the case for all of us. Let's follow it and the other cases being brought in various states. This is an important part of the CLIMATE CHANGE MOVEMENT.
Thanks for pointing this out, Fern. We have an article in our local paper, Indianapolis Star, (from the AP) regarding this protest in Montana. I was heartened to see it, realizing that the young people in Montana are finding their voice and putting their feet on the ground! "Montana ranked among the highest states for the percentage of total economic contributions by the natural gas and oil industry, generating $6.3 billion toward the state’s gross domestic product—including $3.2 billion added to total labor income." You can see why the deputy attorney general made his comment!
Thank you so much for sharing this very important information! Made me think of the Lorax.... Dr. Seuss — 'I am the Lorax. I speak for the trees. I speak for the trees for the trees have no tongues.' 💚
We have these going on in Oregon as well:
https://apnews.com/article/youth-climate-lawsuit-trial-oregon-7ad2fa18f5276f12c64c0ce775aba2f6
https://crag.org/chernaik-v-brown/
The horrors have only begun, and we are all already paying, but it is the children, it is those who are young today, it is their offspring who are going to have to face the worst. And it won't just be the physical climate, it will be human chaos, with drought and water supplies disappearing, extreme overheating and sometimes the opposite, population movements on an unimaginable scale.
Those obstructing the necessary changes must be shaken until they wake up and act -- or kicked out of the way.
And our sacrosanct ideology, holy, holy, holy all-seeing, omnipotent markets and all that utterly imaginary crap can help no one in the face of this very real situation, it is already fight or flight.
All that the imbeciles can see or think of is "politics" and political movements, but the way we're headed, they and we -- above all our posterity, rich and poor, will soon be swept away unless our thought-free comfort addicts can be awoken and goaded into action -- or pushed aside.
Excellent news, Ally. Thanks for sharing...morning!
Yes!
Yes, thank you, Fern. Supporting Senator Tester with small donations as I can. Now hoping this suit will be a boost for his candidacy.
We had a similar case tried here in Australia and our courts found (on appeal) that our government environment minister DID NOT have a duty of care to our youngsters over the environment.
It’s an absolute joke IMO. They just keep passing the buck on to the next generation without seemingly a care.
https://amp.theguardian.com/australia-news/2022/mar/15/sussan-ley-does-not-have-duty-of-care-to-protect-young-from-climate-crisis-appeal-court-rules
"Joke" is far too kind a word. What duties DOES an environmental minister have? What duties does anyone have?
Pretty sure the only “duty” they believe they have is to inflate the bank accounts of their oil, gas, and mining donors at the expense of the planet... because that seems to be all they actually care about doing.
Kylie I fear it is not just the donor class, it is ALL OF US who don't want to shed our aspirations to "the good life" with all the accoutrements we have grown to associate with that life: A beautiful home with a great view, abundant travel opportunities via car, truck, RV, or airplane. All of us who don't want to change our lifelong habits of diet, recreation and general expectations of life. We need to act differently, we need to BE different!
Let's give some credit to those who take incredible risks of capital to develop and bring to market natural resources that make modern life possible. But, as Gouverneur Morris wrote in the Preamble our highest aspiration is to "Secure the blessings of liberty for ourselves and our posterity."
This however, takes a much greater capacity for foresight and good judgment than what are education system currently delivers. We should be investing in rigorously resolvable means to identify and nurture these skills in our society.
I'm sure all systems engineers do not think alike. Who exactly would you like us to give credit to; the CEOs of Saudi Arabian Oil Co. ( Saudi Aramco)
China Petroleum & Chemical Corp. ( SNPMF)
PetroChina Co. Ltd.
Exxon Mobil Corp. ( XOM)
Shell PLC (SHEL)
Tota lEnergies SE (TTE)
Chevron Corp.
BP PLC (BP) ?
Cap your POV with, 'Secure the blessings of liberty for ourselves and our posterity'. What a tagline for the fossil fuel sector!
Rex Tillerson was a better President of Exxon than Secretary of State but he was right when he called Trump a "Moron".
How polite of Tillerson.
Incredible risks of capital? Not here in Australia they don’t. We are the epitome of privatise the profit and socialise the losses. Our government subsidises the investor class in pretty much everything they do at the expense of the rest of us.
That's what happens when political parties don't vet their candidates and just act a fund raisers. We need candidates with demonstrated foresight not compliance and identity politics.
Hmmmm….sounds a lot like the USA.
Y'know Aaron, I don't give a fig newton for the "incredible risks." "Natural Resources" is the operative phrase here. Just what entitles a bunch of entrepreneurs the right to endless wealth and exploitation of a natural resource? One that is heavily subsidized by the government they love to hate? To wiggle out of taxes for the sake of yachts and such? Time to seriously press back on these raiders of natural resources who profit at the public's expense.
Reminds me of 1970's commercial by Texas oilman Eddie Childs "if you don't have an oil well, get one"
https://georgeslaughter.com/2018/01/11/texana-thursday-if-you-dont-have-an-oil-well-get-one/
True, GOP gives tax breaks to people that buy Supreme Court Justices with perks, and turn around an borrow money from them instead of expecting them to pay their fair share of taxes. But here's the thing. A majority of people don't have the sense to be in the virtuous cycle of saving and investing in anything. We still love them, but don't want them making decisions regarding ourselves or our posterity.
…with at least two sides of your mouth, you always come down against the vulnerable and lord over with a touch of know it all domination and pity in your voice.
If Australian politics is remotely like American politics, politicians' life blood is re-election, the route to which far too often is based on who can raise the most money. There are SO MANY citizens as well as politicians whose income is based on industries whose net effect is causing harm to the environment.
That was then. Now her party's in Opposition.
How does that negate my point? There is now literal legal precedent in Australia setting the standard for the current and future environment minsters at zilch. The ALP sure seems to think the status quo should be upheld, even after we voted for them to turnaround nine years of neglect and deliberate malfeasance instead of opening more coal and gas projects.
Fern McBride, thank you. Climate is the critical issue of our time. While the repubs are attempting to take down our Democracy and definitely smokescreening critical issues, the coming generation of lawmakers and voters are in a race to save this planet. “Montana’s warming climate will have cascading environmental and economic impacts,” ‘Roger Sullivan, a lawyer for the young residents, said in opening statements.’” They are connecting to movements worldwide that have been ignored by USA repubs. Greta Thunberg, Swedish climate activist who called for worldwide Climate Strikes for young people is now a high school graduate and will hand the “sign” to other activists and continue as an adult. She has been joined by young people all over the world and criticized by TFG and other world leaders who are threatened by a activists who are literally actively working to save the planet.
https://www.cnbc.com/2023/06/09/greta-thunberg-climate-activist-takes-part-in-her-final-school-strike.html
Thanks, Irenie. Climate change and saving democracy are the two biggies, imho, right now. Biden's got the world on his shoulders but hopefully the younger generation will help to lift the burden and turn out in big numbers in Nov. 2024. (Although I love Biden's courage and what he has accomplished, I hope he can pass the torch to a younger candidate who can carry on his work.)
Thank you! I must have missed this article, because I have been glued to the screen, looking at the National Security Disaster in tRumps bathroom and Ballroom!
The evidence seen in the indictment has been shockingly unnerving. A gut punch and then realizing that the orange monster has no limits to his pathological need for revenge. We need a team of ethical mental health folks to screen out the monsters from the political process and prevent the masses from being charmed by a killer.
This is support for Senator Jon Tester, our Senate farmer! You go, young people!!!
Thank you for this. Montana is near and dear to my heart as we have a family cabin on Hebgen Lake outside of West Yellowstone. We also have a brand new granddaughter in Missoula, Montana south of Glacier. Montana has some of the most incredible natural beauty of any state in our nation. I am so proud of what these young people are doing. Some of the most environmentally active people in Montana are ranchers. Some of the most reactionary conservatives like Tucker Carlson and Rupert Murdock also have property (think estates) there. This should be followed closely.
May they make it all the way to the SCOTUs just for visibility, and for making the oily-garchs pee their pants.
Gracias Fern 👏👏👏👏👏
UNIDO!