Fiddling as the World Burns, Selling Out Ukraine, and the Keystone Kops Embarrassed

A few comments on a story we all are living – consistent and wide-spread weather extremes like we have not seen in our lifetime – and two others that may be lost in the weeds. If you are so inclined, leave a comment, and if you find my work of interest, please share with others who may also.

CLIMATE CHANGE FUELS FLOODS, FIRES, AND RECORD HEAT; GOP HOUSE FIDDLES

Torrential rains and flooding; wildfires raging out of control and affecting air across the continent; tornadoes wreaking havoc nearly daily; unprecedented heat domes bringing temperatures of 116 to Las Vegas and in excess of 110 for two weeks straight in Phoenix….and Republicans in the House try to strip the climate change mitigation provisions contained in the landmark Inflation Reduction Act. They would strip that law’s tax credits for carbon sequestration, for clean hydrogen, for sustainable aviation fuel, for renewable electricity production and investment in electric vehicles.

You don’t hear them denying that human activity has changed the climate as much anymore – they just don’t want to try to do anything about it. And to get those climate action rollbacks there is talk they may again threaten or try to shut the government down: “Lawmakers also included in the Fiscal Responsibility Act a provision that would automatically avoid a shutdown by funding agencies at 1% less than their fiscal 2023 allocations, but the provision would only kick in on Jan. 1.” (Current funding is set to expire Sept. 30, leaving open the possibility for a fall shutdown. – Government Executive, June 14, 2023)

Follow this one closely.

SOME IN GOP BELIEVE IN CHAMPIONING DEMOCRACY – ABROAD ANYWAY

“Five House Republican-backed initiatives to curtail aid to Ukraine using the annual Pentagon policy bill were shot down Thursday afternoon in votes that saw a consensus from both sides of the aisle to keep money flowing to Kyiv. The Ukraine-related amendments to the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) would have effectively limited or rolled back U.S. involvement in Ukraine, but a majority of Republicans joined Democrats in opposition to the proposals.” – The Hill, 7/13/23

Two of the House members seeking to curtail aid to Ukraine were…Marjorie Taylor Greene and Matt Gaetz. Surprise, surprise, as Gomer Pyle woulda said. Still, Greene’s resolution got 89 votes and Gaetz’s got 70 – virtually all of them Republicans.

GOP’S “VERY CREDIBLE WITNESS” INDICTED

As most of you know, Jim Jordan – one of the kingpins of the Jan. 6 insurrection - is “leading” a sham subcommittee trying to accuse government institutions of “weaponizing the government against conservatives.” His supposed “whistleblowers “ have either not appeared or been unmasked as frauds.

Less visible has been his colleague James Comer’s  (R-KY) “leadership” of the House Oversight Committee. Comer is hell-bent on investigating non-existent “Biden family corruption.” This is a blatant attempt to use the “Benghazi method” to tarnish a Democrat. And sort of like Trump was trying to do when he asked the “favor” of President Zelensky.

Well, it was just a couple of weeks ago that Comer admitted that he’d “lost track of the whereabouts” of one of his key “witnesses. He told Maria Bartiromo on FOX “news” that: "Well, unfortunately, we can't track down the informant. We're hopeful that the informant is still there. The whistleblower knows the informant. The whistleblower is very credible."

Alas, that witness turned up this week in an indictment filed by in Federal court by the Southern District of New York. A character named Gal Luft, who is currently on the run, having jumped bail. The charges? They include arms trafficking, sanctions violations and acting as an unregistered agent for China. According to reporting in the New York Times: “‘He subverted foreign agent registration laws in the United States to seek to promote Chinese policies,’” said Damian Williams, the top federal prosecutor in Manhattan, adding: ‘He acted as a broker in deals for dangerous weapons and Iranian oil, and he told multiple lies about his crimes to law enforcement.’… prosecutors painted a portrait of Mr. Luft, who split his time between Israel and Washington, as an unscrupulous political fixer working for China who made much of his cash as a back-channel arms and oil broker.“[1]

…and this was Comer’s “very credible witness.” Think on that.

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[1] The G.O.P. Backed Him on Hunter Biden Claims. Now He Has Been Indicted. https://www.nytimes.com/2023/07/11/us/politics/gal-luft-hunter-biden-indictment-justice-department.html