Rep. Trey Gowdy (R – South Carolina) announced his resignation today.
Pity. He was just about to crack the Benghazi case.
Folks may not know that Gowdy won his first primary victory against Bob Inglis, a very conservative, but unfortunately fact based patriot who ran into the Tea Party buzz saw when he acknowledged that climate change was man-made.
Let’s leave aside the questions about why so many republicans are deserting the ship right at this critical moment.
Question: With Gowdy gone, will Inglis try to regain his old seat?
“retired”…. kinda reminds me of the use of that word in the classic “The Pelican Brief” and the Supreme Court pro-enviro’s who were “retired”.
No wonder. Some rats are already leaving the ship. Do the US and A really need these right wingnut fascists? Or are they just what make the US and A? Meanwhile, the US and A have no significant party which would represent anything left of centre.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lb2ss7eceJo?rel=0&w=560&h=315%5D
At the end the US and A have elected a president whose posts are reminding one rather on a troll than on a sane person. Welcome to the “new normal”.
A vacancy on the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals, which has jurisdiction over South Carolina, opened up just one day before Gowdy announced his retirement.
“Whatever skills I may have are better utilized in a courtroom than in Congress, and I enjoy our justice system more than our political system.”
Here comes Gingerbaker to badmouth a carbon tax in 3, 2, 1
Well, Ginger ain’t here, so I’ll step in. There’s nothing wrong with a carbon tax.
As long as everyone knows it won’t help much to cut carbon in the time we have to do that relatively safely. Well, OK, since that will never happen, there is something wrong with a carbon tax. But sure go ahead and spend a couple of years getting one passed. Then take an hour off and get back to work doing something that will make a difference. The only carbon tax we can pass without a revolution is a weak enough one to not matter at all. The idea of course will be to raise the tax as we go. But 1. that’s unlikely to happen and 2. it’ll be too late by then to matter. And once a weak bill is passed that has no chance of saving civilization or the millions of threatened species, many people will think it’s all taken care of and will stop working on climate.
Without a revolution no strong enough tax will pass; with one, we can pass any number of better laws, part of a whole-society transformation like the US’s WWII mobilization. The US can nationalize the fossil fuel industry, mandate and coordinate a transition to renewables, permaculture and sustainable forestry and industry. But sure, go ahead and try to pass a tax.
Meanwhile: The climate system will heat well past 1.5 degrees Celsius (°C) and perhaps up to 2°C without any further fossil fuel emissions. That’s the conclusion to be drawn from new research which should also help demystify the rhetoric from the 2015 Paris climate talks of keeping warming to below 1.5°C . …
More => Quantifying our Faustian bargain with fossil fuels
Thank you so much, damned deniers, for fucking up the planet. We all should give you something in return.