Poll: Should We Blame Exploding Trees or a Climate Arsonist for the West Coast Wildfires?

Are the current California (and Oregon and Washington) wildfires due to exploding trees and leaves?

 

Or are they being worsened by a climate arsonist in the White House?

POLL:
Which is a more likely root cause of the record-setting wildfires currently spreading across all the western United States? The #ClimateChange addressed in @JoeBiden's speech today or the #ExplodingTrees that you-know-who talked about?

— True Blue Liberal - #BidenHarris2020 (@TrueBlueLiberal) September 14, 2020

Another TBL Poll: How Will #MAGA Kill You?

If you die during the #MAGA years of @realDonaldTrump, which of the following is most likely to be the cause?

— True Blue Liberal (@TrueBlueLiberal) October 13, 2017

Or will it be a climate-change-induced weather catastrophe? Or black lung from all those new coal-fired power plants? Or getting hit by a Nazi-driven car because you had the temerity to engage in a peaceful protest? Or...?

POLL: The "Death Tax" or Deaths In Texas

Yesterday afternoon, while victims of Hurricane Harvey were still dying and being rescued by helicopters and boats in Texas, President Trump spoke in Missouri about the more pressing issue (for him) of tax reform.

This leads to a new Twitter poll.

POLL:
Which issue is closer to @realDonaldTrump's heart, repealing Estate Tax to help his kids or empathizing with Hurricane Harvey victims?

— True Blue Liberal (@TrueBlueLiberal) August 31, 2017

Some of my favorite signs from Saturday's Climate March in D.C.

Continuing a tradition that began here at trueblueliberal.org after the January 21st Women's March, here are a few of my favorite signs from the April 29th People's Climate March in D.C., for those of you who were in a different place in the long line of march ... or who avoided the 92°F temperatures and stayed at home ... or were marching in another city.

Waiting for the March to Begin.

One of many "There is no Planet B" signs.

Parachutes waiting to be deployed.

"Make Siberia Hot Again" (his Russian-accented pro-Trump spiel was  even
better than his sign and his uniform).

"Resist Hell & High Water"

"It's The Planet, Stupid!" and "There Is No Climate Change On This Flat Earth"

"Justice is what love looks like in public. -- Cornell West"

"Homeless. Thanks Trump."

"can't wait under 3 years & 265 days"
and
"Don't Trump On Me"

"Won't Somebody Please Think Of The Children? Stop Global Warming!"

"91° April 'Sad'!"

"Greenhouse gasbag"

"Sick & tired of greedy assholes destroying my home"

"Who Knew? (Everyone but you, Idiot!)"

"Enough Hot Air From Washington. Climate Change Is Real!"

Globe hats.

"Paid Protesters" as far as the eye could see up and down Pennsylvania Avenue.

Lorax giving the finger and "I can't take this heat -- or another 100 days of this asshole!"

Trumpty Dumpty[?], a JFK quote, and "Ivanka Lives Here Too"

"Mother Earth Says: Keep Your Hands Off My Body!"

"I can't believe I'm protesting for reality!"

Puppets of Trump and a corporate lobbyist passing by the National Archives building.

"He Has A Small Mind Too!"

"Welcome to Mar-A-Lagone!" (with Trump's D.C. Hotel tower in the background)

Giant inflatable cow promoting veganism as it passes Trump's D.C. Hotel.

"THIS IS OUR OM"

"Animal Agriculture Must End For Our Kids' Sake"

Birds taking flight at the corner of 14th and Pennsylvania.

"Lancaster Against Pipelines" and their quilt.

"Don't Worry
Jared Took
Earth Science
He's Got This"

Stilt walker turning from 15th St NW back onto Pennsylvania Avenue.

"The Only Toxic Waste We Should Be Dumping is Donald Trump"

Looking on the positive side of climate change, "At Least Mar-A-Lago Will Be Underwater!"

Red flags in front of the White House.

"Stop destroying our planet, it's where I keep all my stuff!"
and
"Keep the Earth Clean, it's not Uranus."

This guy.

Puppet and flags.

"people thinking the earth was flat never made it less round"
and
"3% of scientists say this march isn't happening"

Trees marching past the Eisenhower Executive Office Building.

I was obviously only able to see a small percentage of the signs and marchers on Saturday; I hope some of the many other people with cameras are posting photos and videos too.

Dow Chemical or Exxon: Which is more evil & destructive?

There are so many polls on Twitter and elsewhere on the internet where the questions are skewed or the results are otherwise known before the first respondent drags a cursor to a radio button. However, in the battle to decide which of two companies in the news this week, Dow Chemical or Exxon, is more odious, my gut tells me that this should end up in a 50%/50% tie.

Vote and spread the word so we can harness the wisdom of crowds.

Here's a tough poll that I expect to be close.
Which corporation is more evil and destructive, Dow Chemical or Exxon?

— True Blue Liberal (@TrueBlueLiberal) April 20, 2017

Tomorrow's Earth Day! Don't forget the March for Science tomorrow, and the People's Climate March next Saturday!

One more April Saturday in Washington, D.C.

Here's one update to the American Spring calendar I posted last week.

I saw a tweet from George Takei with a link to the Twitter page of @FIRE_THE_FOOL promoting their gathering on the National Mall on April Fools' Day (which falls conveniently on a Saturday this year, just like all these other anti-Trump actions).

Click to sign up for at least one or two, either in D.C. or at a local satellite location!

• April 1   Fire The Fool.
• April 15   Tax Day Marches.
• April 22   March for Science.
• April 29   People's Climate March.
• May 6   The Immigrants' March.

March For Science date has been set for April 22

So now we have a dilemma, or at least some of us do. I have already RSVP'd to travel 325 miles to the People's Climate March in D.C. on April 29; yesterday the organizers of the March for Science finally announced that their march date would be one Saturday earlier on April 22, which is a date with a ton of symbolic importance and historic significance, being Earth Day.

I'm not going to be the only one trying to choose between the two (I might be tempted to do the drive on both weekends if I weren't already committed to being in D.C. on May 6th as well). I just put up this quick 24-hour poll on Twitter to get some sense of where other people were leaning:

If you can only travel to D.C. for one, will it be the @ScienceMarchDC on Saturday 4/22 or the @Peoples_Climate March on Saturday 4/29?

— True Blue Liberal (@TrueBlueLiberal) February 2, 2017

Of course, if you live in or near Washington, D.C., you have no excuse not to be at both marches.

The People's Climate March is Saturday, April 29 in Washington D.C.

1970s Ecology Flag, Public Domain,

https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=2111203

Ignore my earlier posts from Tuesday and Wednesday of this week pushing for a massive Earth Day demonstration on April 22. The Sierra Club and other environmental organizations were way ahead of me, planning a People's Climate March for D.C. on the following weekend, April 29. When I asked, my local chapter of the Sierra Club responded that one reason they didn't choose Earth Day was because they knew of many other local environmental events scheduled for April 22 every year, events that they did not want to distract from or compete with. Also, April 29th is the day before Donald Trump's 100th day in office, a traditionally significant milestone in any president's first term.

So, please bookmark the People's Climate Movement homepage for updates. If Donald Trump hasn't cooked up his Reichstag Fire to suspend civil liberties before then, April 29th in D.C. should be at least as big as the Women's March. See you there.

~~~~~~~~
UPDATE 1/31/2017:
Here's a link to the Sierra Club's RSVP page: https://sierraclub.tfaforms.net/157

Climate Change circa 1958

Maybe if President Trump or President Cruz succeed in taking the nation back to their dream decade of the 1950s, we can rediscover this film about human-induced global warming produced by Frank Capra for "The Bell Telephone Hour" in 1958:

It's Winter, So It's Time Once More to Hear from Climate Scientist @realDonaldTrump

It's record cold all over the country and world - where the hell is global warming, we need some fast!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 8, 2015

The One Hurricane Video You Must See...

I'm sitting at home with my office and mass transit closed in advance of Hurricane Sandy's arrival in the New York area later today. I haven't had any trees come down on my power or cable lines yet, so I have the opportunity to watch a lot of daytime television, with non-stop storm updates on WABC, WNBC, and WCBS. There are the predictable number of weatherpeople in suits predicting storm tracks in front of satellite maps and field reporters in raincoats standing on boardwalks in Long Beach, NY and Long Branch, NJ, but the number of mentions of the possible role of climate change in relation to these storms I've heard is the same as the number of mentions of climate change I heard during the Presidential debates: Zero.
Both sides need to be criticized for sacrificing the environment on the altar of low gas prices, but no one (especially those soon to be affected by record storm surges) should forget how one of the candidates milked sea level rise for laughs during his convention speech:

Worse than the words are the way that Mitt Romney waits for the laughs and jeers from his audience of well-heeled white "Job Creators" (one of whom may be the next crony looking for a cushy job running FEMA, or dismantling the EPA, in a Romney administration).

Mitt Romney to Polar Bears: "Your Freeloading Days Are Over."

I didn't see Mitt Romney interviewed by David Gregory on Meet the Press yesterday, but I've now seen a few choice quotes. Just as the most memorable line from his convention speech (for me) was this one: "President Obama promised to begin to slow the rise of the oceans and to heal the planet. [GOP conventioneers snickering and jeering] My promise ... is to help you and your family. [cheers] ", the most jarring line from the Gregory interview I saw was this one:

"I’m not in this race to slow the rise of the oceans or to heal the planet. I’m in this race to help the American people." -- Mitt Romney, August 9, 2012

It's obviously a memorized and well-rehearsed talking point.

Fuck you polar bears. Fuck you planet. Fuck you grandkids.

It's not a photo or video or song that comes to my mind when I think of this shortsighted profit-driven anti-environmentalism. When I think of the world after the ravages of human-influenced climate change, it's these lines from Section V, "What The Thunder Said," in Eliot's "The Waste Land" that come to mind.

Here is no water but only rock
Rock and no water and the sandy road
The road winding above among the mountains
Which are mountains of rock without water
If there were water we should stop and drink	335
Amongst the rock one cannot stop or think
Sweat is dry and feet are in the sand
If there were only water amongst the rock
Dead mountain mouth of carious teeth that cannot spit
Here one can neither stand nor lie nor sit	340
There is not even silence in the mountains
But dry sterile thunder without rain
There is not even solitude in the mountains
But red sullen faces sneer and snarl
From doors of mud-cracked houses                                 If there were water	345
And no rock
If there were rock
And also water
And water
A spring	350
A pool among the rock
If there were the sound of water only
Not the cicada
And dry grass singing
But sound of water over a rock	355
Where the hermit-thrush sings in the pine trees
Drip drop drip drop drop drop drop
But there is no water