Our Fool-on-the-Hill this week is another repeat offender, although this time his foolishness could have been a matter of life or death. This Vox opener says it pretty much all: "Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell had already left for the weekend. Senate leadership, rather than sticking around, opted to return next week, prompting an apparent delay in their consideration of this legislation as states and medical providers grapple with an influx of coronavirus cases." In other words #MoscowMitchMcTraitor does it again: threatens the nation and its people by stalling legislation.
His Malignancy The Mad King did his part also to endanger everyone here in the U.S. starting years ago when he ditched Obama era protections and preparedness for pandemics just like COVID-19. Then, when it came to us, His Malignancy proceeded to bury the needle on the bullshit meter well into March, further raising the risk to all of us. The NY Times points out: "By early March, experts already were arguing for aggressive measures to slow the virus’s spread and avoid overwhelming the medical system. The presidential bully pulpit could have focused people on the need to change their behavior in a way that no private citizen could have. Trump could have specifically encouraged older people — at most risk from the virus — to be careful. Once again, he chose not to take action....On March 7, he said, “I’m not concerned at all.” On March 10, he promised: “It will go away. Just stay calm. It will go away.” We guess it goes without saying we wish he would go away. But no, it was more important to him to bail out Big Oil and continue his assault on the planet than to do the right thing. Sadly, we don't have the time to spotlight all the stupid, mean, narcissistic, hateful and insane remarks His Malignancy has made over the past few months regarding this extreme crisis. The Mad King's obvious dereliction of duty should have triggered the 25th Amendment to the United States Constitution. It's safe to assume his enablers and toadies in the Cabinet never even thought to do it. On the other hand, the people themselves could have marched en mass on the White House and occupied the entire area by the hundreds of thousands until he abdicated or fled to Mar a Logo but now, with this convenient pandemic, no more than a handful of folks standing 6 feet apart are allowed on the streets.
Enough. On to that other EMERGENCY! Just in case everyone forgot......"It's the Climate Crisis, Stupid!" If you won't believe us, listen to Your Government......from last year?? We really are fucked.
You don't think so? Try this. In any case, lots of our allies are sounding the alarm about the alarm.
Why don't we mobilize like this (or way better please) for the Climate Crisis?? And this from Grist: "The coronavirus pandemic is changing everything — including the quality of the air we breathe." Sadly, improvements in our approach to the climate in congress aren't going all that well given legislation addressing the Climate Crisis has been put off due to COVID-19 activity.
Our Enviro Show Quote of the Week is very much in keeping with the times. So strap yourself in for a brief journey in the Wayback Machine:
“What’s true of all the evils in the world is true of plague as well. It helps men [and women] to rise above themselves.”
― The Plague
After our conversation with Karl we take you to the Bus Stop Billboard:
April Cyber Action on the proposed Weymouth Compressor Station. "OSHA has issued a letter to Enbridge after our many complaints to FERC and to OSHA regarding the continued construction during this time of pandemic. Using these talking points (Word | PDF) or your own, submit your comment to FERC using their “Ecomment” portal online. For a step-by-step guide on how to submit comments to FERC, click here. We strongly encourage writing your comment in a Word document first, then copying and pasting your comment into the FERC ecomment box online because the FERC website often crashes.
Sunday April 5, 4-6 pm. Extinction Rebellion WMass general meeting will continue to work together via email, Zoom, and calls. At this time, we are planning to have our April General Meeting via Zoom (a free video conference platform). If you need assistance figuring out how to use Zoom, please reply to this email and we will assist you. This next period will give us a chance to build the community partnerships we have begun to forge, to form collaborations and alliances across our region, to delve more deeply into the work we are developing together, and to mobilize around the reality that this pandemic is woven into the fabric of the climate crisis and of XR. Click to join, or call in at 646-876-9923, meeting ID 556 388 985.
Wednesday, April 8, noon-1 pm. AN UPDATE FROM TICKREPORT. Join us for updates from TickReport at UMass Amherst. This update includes the status of the lab during the COVID-19 response, summary data of the current Spring tick season in Massachusetts and beyond, and based on prior year's data, forecasts of what we may expect for tick activity in the coming weeks. Speaker: Dr. Stephen Rich, UMass Laboratory of Medical Zoology. Preregistration is required to access the webinar. Register for “An Update from TickReport” at:https://attendee.
April 22 at 3 p.m. there will be a climate march from the Brattleboro town common to the corner of Elliot and Main streets. One of the groups that's organizing the march has a web site at www.350Vermont.org
Saturday, May 9, 1 – 3pm. Endangered Species Parade! Pulaski Park Northampton, MA.
Join
Extinction Rebellion WMass May 9 from 1:00-3:00 (rain date May 10) in
Northampton, MA as we gather in honor of all species affected by our
climate crisis. Parade with lovingly created animal puppets, masks,
costumes, headdresses, etc. Dance, march, in roars or in silence, melody
and dissonance: A non speech, non violent Animal Uprising. We are
offering animal puppet and mask workshops. Look for workshop dates
throughout March and April. Go to: https://www.facebook.com/pg/XRwmass
Stay safe and remember to listen to your Mother, OK?
Stay safe and remember to listen to your Mother, OK?
