5/3/21: The Biden administration continues to make clear: For the next four
years the U.S. will join the battle against climate change. The first step was to reenter the Paris Climate Accord. The second was the
president’s decision to hold a virtual summit regarding the crisis, involving forty world
leaders. The third was to reinstitute rules to control methane admissions – controls put in place
under Mr. Obama. Those rules were swept aside by Mr. Trump, who, in his
profound ignorance, did more harm with his climate policies and idiot rhetoric
than any human in the history of the world.
This week, as noted by The New York Times, the EPA
announced an important fourth step. New proposals to regulate
hydrofluorocarbons, or HFCs, “a class of man-made chemicals that are thousands
of times more potent than carbon dioxide at warming the planet,” were
announced.
The move is also the first time
the federal government has set national limits on HFCs, which were used to
replace ozone-depleting chlorofluorocarbons in the 1980s but have
turned out to be a significant driver of global warming. More than a dozen
states have either banned HFCs or are formulating some restrictions.
Meanwhile,
the forces of ignorance – that is, Republican leaders and their right-wing
media allies – remain strong. Struggling to find ways to damage President Biden,
they have tried fake rage.
We’ve
seen this before. Don’t have a healthcare plan? Attack Obamacare and insist
there will be “death panels” for granny. Other scare tactics in recent years have
included, the “War on Christmas,” which involved liberals beating up people who
dared go caroling, the “War on Wedding Cake,” with gays ruining marriage by
getting married, the “War on Coal,” which was going to reduce us all to
lighting homes with tallow candles, the “War on Potties,” involving transgender
folks standing around watching us pee, and now, the “War on Hamburgers.”
Since two-thirds of Americans believe government
should do more to address climate change – because they are not ill-informed dimwits
like Rejected-President Trump – and since Republicans have no plan – it was time
again for Scary Stories: Chapter XX. On one recent show
Fox News claimed that Biden’s climate requirements
would “cut 90% of red meat” from the American diet,” to a “max four pounds per
year,” or “one burger per month.”
“To meet the Biden
Green New Deal targets,” Larry Kudlow, of Fox Business said, “America has to –
get this – America has to stop eating meat. No burger on July 4. No steaks on
the barbecue.”
You could almost hear his viewers loading their
guns at the news – and not even noticing that the Democrats had never actually
come for those guns, or anything else, including poor granny.
Politico gave these kinds of claims the worst possible “Pants on Fire”
rating.
As for this blogger, he cannot resist noting that
when Kudlow was working as a White House advisor in the last administration, he
insisted in February 2020 that Team Trump had the coronavirus almost totally under control.
____________________
“We have it contained…I won’t say airtight, but
it’s pretty close to airtight.”
Larry Kudlow
____________________
Nice
call, Larry, you dolt.
*
IN
OTHER goofy, right-wing news, Tucker Carlson goes on another one of his nightly rants, yowling that if anyone
sees children wearing masks outdoors, they should call the police.
Carlson’s
point has something to do with the fact that outdoors, most of us are
relatively safe from COVID-19 or even the flu. But for some reason we should be
furious if parents try to be extra careful, regarding their kids. Forcing
children to wear masks outside, he grumbles, “should be illegal.” He adds that
if you see these youngsters, “Your response when you see children wearing masks
as they play should be no different than your response if you see someone
beat a kid in Walmart.” You should call the police. Or you should call
child protective services.
He went
on to say, of people in masks,
They’re
the aggressors. It’s our job to brush them back and restore the society we were
born in. So the next time you see someone in a mask on the sidewalk or on the
bike path, do not hesitate. Ask politely but firmly, “Would you please take off
your mask? Science shows there is no reason for you to be wearing it. Your mask
is making me uncomfortable.”
And on
this day, May 3, another 467 Americans die from COVID-19. Tucker doesn’t care about that.
He
wants to save the hamburgers.
