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Greetings Earthlings. There's another kind of Environmental Justice and it happens in courtrooms. Meg Sheehan, co-founder of Community Land & Water Coalition returns to the show as we discuss a recent court victory regarding AD Makepeace's sand mines on Federal Road in Carver, MA. She will also talk about legislation H918 & H948 on Beacon Hill. As usual we will also introduce you to this week's Fool-on-the-Hill and Those Whose Brains Were small as well as our "....or the Week" offerings and more, but first it's time for.........Revenge of the Critters! Caught on Camera: Pod of Orcas Ram Boats again; that sinking feeling.
This week's Fool-on-the-Hill is another return loser, Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C. who authored a resolution to strip Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar of her committee assignments after she criticized Charlie Kirk’s past “words and actions” immediately after his shooting. In addition to retaliating against Omar, Mace has been tweeting nonstop about the Kirk assassination, specifically calling for the firings of individual educators at universities and other schools who have criticized Kirk on social media. Mace has also offered a resolution to have Kirk lie in honor in the Capitol Rotunda. Really? This Fool never passes up an opportunity to draw attention to herself......even negative attention.
Our reporting for "Their Brains Were Small and They Died" finds political right wing dinosaurs dying but also, in true dino fashion, fighting amongst themselves for a place in the jungle. Some of the strangest behavior spilled into the rally-like memorial held for the assassinated white nationalist, Charlie Kirk last week. We appreciate nasty battle scenes amongst the dinosaurs as well as moments like this: The President "used his speech at the memorial service for conservative activist Kirk... to continue obscuring Kirk’s long record of hateful and bigoted comments and views. Other speakers were also a part of the process of using what was billed as a memorial service instead as a political rally for the right. “He was a missionary with a noble spirit and a great, great purpose. He did not hate his opponents, he wanted the best for them,” His Malignancy said. “That’s where I disagreed with Charlie, I hate my opponent.” Wait, I thought "the haters" were on the Left?
Then comes our Doublespeak of the Week slithering out in time to be captured by the folks on Pod Save America: First the Mad King's FCC chair leans on ABC & Disney to sanction Jimmy Kimmel for his remarks on-air regarding MAGA trash talk while AG Pam Bondi says she will prosecute "Hate Speech" (while her DOJ skates on thin ice). Then Pod Save ran the tape of His Malignancy's Inauguration speech in which he stated “After years and years of illegal and unconstitutional federal efforts to restrict free expression, I also will sign an executive order to immediately stop all government censorship and bring back free speech to America.” Remember "Cancel Culture"? That was MAGA's fake accusation about The Left censoring rightwing speech and beliefs. Always playing the victim, they ran the free speech flag up the pole at every opportunity. Post-Kirk assasination time finds MAGA throwing constitutional guaranteed free speech under the bus. Last week was Doublespeak Week, enough bullshit for everyone! Push back HERE.
We have Breaking News! This from Public Citizen:
WASHINGTON, D.C. 9/25/25 — Today, President Trump signed a new presidential memorandum targeting left-leaning organizations and their donors. Robert Weissman, co-president of Public Citizen, issued the following statement in response to the news:
“The Trump-announced presidential memo is an “all of government” witch hunt against [his] political adversaries. While the details remain to be disclosed, it threatens criminal and civil investigations against nonprofits based on their point of view. What is really happening is this: The administration is conjuring vast, imaginary conspiracies as a thinly veiled ruse to crack down on its political opponents, based on their viewpoints. The... project is dangerous, utterly askew from constitutional values and profoundly unAmerican. [It] aims to intimidate and silence his political opponents. But the majority of Americans oppose Trump’s authoritarianism and we will not be intimidated.” Stay tuned......and Push Back HERE.
Speaking of free speech, guess who had an #EpicFail at the UN during Climate Week? That would be His Malignancy The Mad King who apparently put his madness on full display for all the world to see. It wasn't the usual ominous threats he reserves for anyone who opposes his fascist fantasies, but according to Bill McKibben, ".. it was definitely the dumbest speech that delegates have ever had to listen to—as the shots of them looking on in stony disbelief as Trump vented about broken escalators, MAGA hats, and his general greatness for nearly an hour (ignoring the 15 minute time limit respected by the mere mortals that rule other nations). “Everyone says I should get the Nobel Peace Prize,” he explained helpfully. Just to give you a flavor of his address, he devoted a considerable section to describing the floor treatments he would have provided for the UN if he’d won some contract long ago." But wait, would you like a side of corruption to go with that self-parody? "Enter the Trump Gold Card—not a credit card but a new pathway to immigration, offering wealthy foreigners a fast track to permanent residency in the United States. Launched on Friday by executive order alongside a restrictive new update to the H-1B program, the Trump Gold Card offers potential immigrants [possibly just white ones] a trade: In exchange for $1 million plus processing fees, the government will give you an EB-1 or EB-2 visa. The administration is hoping to add an even more exclusive tier in the form of the $5 million Trump Platinum Card, which would give recipients 270 days’ residency in the U.S. with no tax on non-U.S. income." America.....on SALE TODAY!! Getting back to the ominous: "Immigrant advocacy organizations and activists are bracing for a crackdown from the federal government following threats from the.....administration to root out and criminally prosecute non-profit groups it believes are sympathetic to...ready? 'leftwing' politics." The Guardian piece continues, "Over the last week, JD Vance described civil rights groups as a “domestic terror movement”, while Stephen Miller, suspected vampire and the architect of the US president’s mass deportation agenda, vowed that the administration would hold nonprofits, including immigrant-rights and police-reform organizations, “criminally liable” for what he baselessly described as “coordinated attacks” on Ice agents." In closing, did you know over 1 million of your fellow citizens have signed a petition to have His Malignancy impeached?
So, last week was Climate Week at the UN and around the planet. You could almost hear the cry: "It's the Climate Crisis, Stupid!" bounce off the the Three MAGA Monkeys who see, hear & speak no evil (too busy performing it, we guess). Also, Sun Day took place...well, on Sunday and that was also celebrated around the world. While His Malignancy and his MAGA minions continue trashing the Earth at every opportunity people who actually care about life on the planet came together once again to try and do something about it. The Mad King sent no one but showed up to make a fool of himself (see above). And some good news from the AP: "A federal judge ruled Monday that a nearly completed Revolution Wind offshore project halted by the administration can resume, dealing President Donald Trump a setback in his ongoing effort to restrict the fledgling industry." Take that, Your Malignancy! And this, "There is stronger evidence than ever that greenhouse gases are bad for us, the nation’s leading scientific advisory body said yesterday. Yet [the] President has proposed to cancel the government’s 16-year-old finding that carbon dioxide emissions endanger public health. Doing so would mean the Environmental Protection Agency could no longer limit emissions from cars or power plants." 😠 Finally, Grist tells us: "In a new report, scientists warn that we’ve crossed yet another “planetary boundary,” a threshold that keeps Earth’s systems hospitable to life — a sort of global resilience that allows the planet to absorb shocks. This time, it’s the relentless acidification of the seas that’s crossed into dangerous territory, threatening all manner of marine life, including the organisms at the base of the food web. Of the nine total planetary boundaries, this is the seventh that’s been breached." Sorry guys, it gives us no pleasure to remind you we've been warning everyone on the show about this for over 20 years. 😟
Time for our Critter of the Week mental health break. This one about a favorite at costume parties or on Halloween, the Bumble Bee. The Xerces Society is all about Invertebrates and they tell us, "Bumble bees, key pollinators of crops and wildflowers across the country and essential for a healthy environment, are declining at an alarming rate. Bee biologists discovered that several previously common species are now absent from much of their former territory. Creating, protecting and restoring habitat is a very important way to conserve the populations of bees that remain. The causes of these declines are not fully understood, but likely playing a role are: loss or fragmentation of habitat, pesticide use, overgrazing, competition with honey bees, climate change, low genetic diversity, and perhaps most significant of all, the introduction of nonnative pathogens. Regardless of the ultimate cause of bumble bee declines, surviving populations need high quality habitat to persist. Protecting, restoring, enhancing, and creating new bumble bee habitat is the best way to conserve populations of these indispensable animals and hopefully reverse population trends." What we need to know is HERE.
In The Enviro Show Echo Chamber we are wondering if it's just a fluke that a study on forests failing in the Climate Crisis was conducted by Wake Forest University?? "The destruction of the forests is a threat to our entire global ecosystem. The forests in the Amazon and Andes help reduce carbon pollution and are also the home of many diverse plants and animals. Unfortunately, this is not the only news that suggests there are reasons to be concerned about the health of our forests. A UN biodiversity summit declared 38% of the world's trees are at risk of extinction. Another report suggested that trees are losing their natural ability to store carbon because of their disrupted ecosystems." This is the last thing us in the forest & tree protection community need to hear. The Takers (most of whom deny the climate emergency even exists) will obviously use the study as yet another reason to clearcut the planet. How about a drastic reduction in CO2 emissions, guys? Wake up! Hello??
After our interview with Meg it's on to the Bus Stop Billboard:
Weekly. Here's what appears to be Indivisible Northampton — Swing Left Western Mass's complete daily listing of all the pro-democracy events in WMass: https://in-slwm.org/wp-content/uploads/Calendar/cal.html
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