The showboats on Fox News and other MAGA outlets are riling up the GQP simpletons over comments made by Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas on Fox News and MSNBC’s Morning Joe after he correctly pointed out that increasing migration is occurring worldwide due to the increasing intensity of climate change on vulnerable populations and the consequential disruption of society as a result.
The interviews of the Secretary were conducted over the past few days and will surely be fodder for the Congressional Republicans when their kangaroo impeachment hearing begins on Wednesday.
As far as I can tell, only right-wing media has covered the pile-on of Mayorkas issue of record-breaking heat, sea level rise, and rainfall distribution pattern disruption as the cause of global warming impacts on human beings from Alaska to Guatemala. Where are MSNBC and CNN? They could connect the dots, and yet they don’t.
Bower: Climate change is a threat multiplier – it can exacerbate economic insecurity or political instability, which in turn may lead to migration. In the “dry corridor” of Central America, for example, climate change extremes such as droughts may hinder crop production. Without a consistent source of food or income, a farmer may seek other livelihood opportunities in a nearby city or further north. When combined with poverty or violence, a drought may make the perilous journey north seem to be a more promising adaptation or survival strategy.
Of course, Republicans couldn’t care less about the crisis at the US Border. They see an opportunity to divide the nation over the issue. It’s good politics for them but disastrous for climate victims.
Prove it, you may be thinking. Exhibit A and B.
From Business Insider:
"Let me tell you, I'm not willing to do too damn much right now to help a Democrat and to help Joe Biden's approval rating," Republican Rep. Troy Nehls of Texas told CNN this week. "I will not help the Democrats try to improve this man's dismal approval ratings. I'm not going to do it. Why would I?"
At least he’s honest on the issue.
Paul Rodman on the show at the Texas border starring Mike Johnson:
Speaker Mike Johnson took no fewer than 60 of his House GOP colleagues on a trip to the southern border this week, enacting a ritual that is both familiar and pointless. The playbook is rife with cliches: Don outdoor-rated clothing (tactical pockets are a bonus); nod gravely while speaking to Border Patrol agents; gaze determinedly into Mexico; and hold a press conference to repeat words such as “crisis” and “open borders” dozens of times. That’s what you call leadership.
Republicans treat these jaunts to the border as accomplishments in themselves, far more meaningful than any legislative response. The same holds true for their main immigration “solution” in Washington: moving to impeach Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas. Not because Mayorkas has committed any malfeasance but because … well … they haven’t quite been able to say why they want to impeach him, other than the fact that it’s a good excuse to shout about the border some more.
Given this toxic stew of silliness and bad faith with which Republicans approach a complicated policy issue that they claim to care about above all others, you’d think the White House and congressional Democrats would be roasting them mercilessly. They’d be telling the public that only one party is serious about immigration, and it isn’t the one that shouts the loudest about it.
But they are not, and neither is the media.
As I wrote at the beginning, I have only found videos on Twitter from right-wingers. Below are two of them that share videos on the topic.
Eric Adams sues for $700 million from Texas bus companies in latest move against Gov. Abbott
NEW YORK — Mayor Eric Adams is suing 17 Texas charter bus companies in his latest move to thwart Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s policy of busing thousands of migrants from his state’s border to New York City.
The lawsuit seeks $708 million to cover the costs of caring for migrants transported to the city, the mayor said.
“New York City has and will always do our part to manage this humanitarian crisis, but we cannot bear the costs of reckless political ploys from the state of Texas alone,” Adams said in a video accompanying the announcement. “Texas Governor Abbott’s continued use of migrants as political pawns is not only chaotic and inhumane but makes clear he puts politics over people.”
snip
The move comes a week after Adams announced an executive order restricting how charter buses can drop off migrants in the city. In it, he required bus companies to notify his administration 32 hours in advance and drop off migrants only between 8:30 a.m. and 12 p.m. on weekdays at a specific Manhattan location.
From David Cohen’s Decline of the Empire:
If you want to know how late Stone Age humans might have behaved in the 21st century, look in the mirror, read a newspaper, watch TV, or browse the internet. They were us, and we are them.Middle-class fear of green policies fuels rise of far-right, Colombia’s Petro warns
Middle-class fears of losing a high standard of living because of green policies is driving the rise of the far right across the world, the president of Colombia has warned.
In a wide-ranging interview with the Guardian at the Cop28 UN climate summit, Gustavo Petro, Colombia’s first leftwing president, said the world had to find carbon-free ways of being prosperous, and that his country’s rich biodiversity would be the basis of its wealth after phasing out fossil fuels.
The South American country has joined an alliance of states calling for a fossil fuel non-proliferation treaty, with Petro saying he was trying prevent the “omnicide of planet Earth”.
The 63-year-old former guerrilla fighter, who won power in 2022, said Brazil needed to “transform its mindset” on the Amazon to prevent its destruction. Petro has disagreeed with the Brazilian president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, over the role of oil exploration in the world’s largest rainforest, which Petro has sought to rule out.
He said conserving the Amazon rainforest was a fundamental part of global climate action and that its importance was well understood by Colombians.
