Tag Archives: Trump

Going to Extremes in 2020

Is it a coincidence that as the climate in which we live is thrown out of balance — becoming increasingly unpredictable and extreme — that by freakishly bad luck we happen to elect the most unpredictable and extreme president in memory? This is what dystopia really looks like to me: a government completely unable toContinue reading “Going to Extremes in 2020”

Performative Cruelty in the Presidency

The best essay on our very stable genius from last year, it is clear to me now, came from The Atlantic and Adam Serwer: The Cruelty is the Point. Let me quote the “nut graph” as they say in journalism, the simplest possible outline of the argument to be made in the piece. The crueltyContinue reading “Performative Cruelty in the Presidency”

2018 headline: “Finland’s president denies telling Trump that his country rakes its forests”

This is an actual headline on the homepage of the Washington Post this evening. To explain the misleading: Prez Trump said that the President of Finland told him that Finland had many forests but no problem with forest fires. “He called it a forest nation,” Trump said, “and they spent a lot of time onContinue reading “2018 headline: “Finland’s president denies telling Trump that his country rakes its forests””

Nerve gas for Ventura County, thanks to the Trump EPA

As Lily Tomlin has pointed out, “No matter how cynical you become, you can’t keep up.” Especially in these days of Donald Trump. Last week (was it only last week?) a meticulously sourced story in the New York Times by Eric Lipton (Why Has the EPA shifted on Toxic Chemicals? An Industry Insider Calls the Shots)Continue reading “Nerve gas for Ventura County, thanks to the Trump EPA”

Garrison Keiller on the piousness of climate activists

Humorists and contrarians so often seem to drink from the same well, as Garrison Keiller did this week in mocking Trump, Trump supporters, climate activists, Europeans, the Chinese, smokers, and himself in a column this week. No sensuous pleasure can compare to the thrill of righteousness, and when the poor schlump [Trump] stood in theContinue reading “Garrison Keiller on the piousness of climate activists”

Trump cites MIT climate study: MIT objects

Yesterday President Trump announced he is exiting the United States from the climate deal that the Obama administration pulled together against all odds with 190 nations from around the world. Trump justified the abrogation of the deal for several reasons, and cited an MIT study: Even if the Paris Agreement were implemented in full, withContinue reading “Trump cites MIT climate study: MIT objects”

Prez enraged by fake news of global cooling

The most amazing detail in a story today on Politico a story today on Politico is not that a piece of news sent President Trump into a rage. That seems — if reports of him shouting at CNN can be trusted — to happens on a daily basis. No, the shocking/appalling news is that 45Continue reading “Prez enraged by fake news of global cooling”

The madness of Trump’s “alternative facts”

A tsunami of derision has attached itself to the President Trump’s best explainer/apologizer KellyAnne Conway’s assertion last week that the President’s press secretary was offering alternative facts to explain the President’s obviously wrong belief regarding the (small) size of the crowd at his inauguration. Even some of the best coaches in professional basketball, led byContinue reading “The madness of Trump’s “alternative facts””