Новости за 12.01.2022

On Wednesday, the nonprofit Risk Management Association announced it had corralled 19 banks into joining the RMA Climate Risk Consortium, with the goal of developing “standards for banks to integrate climate risk management throughout their operations, preparing the industry to help economies transition to a low-carbon future.” Altogether, members of the consortium have furnished $765.7 billion to fossil fuel projects since the Paris Agreement was brokered in 2015. Speaking to The Wall Street Journal about the announcement... Читать дальше...

When the New York Times tweeted its first story in October about the elevated levels of lead in the drinking water of Benton Harbor, Michigan, it noted the similarities to “nearby Flint.” It was a typical bit of the publication’s coastal myopia: Benton Harbor is about as far from Flint as the Times’ offices are from Providence, Rhode Island. But it’s hard to blame the paper for the geographic error, considering it’s not a categorical one.

Last year, the International Energy Agency (IEA) declared that capping warming at 1.5 degrees Celsius means no new coal, oil or gas development. The Biden administration, which says it’s committed to capping warming at 1.5 degrees, is behaving as though there were an asterisk on that statement: no new fossil fuel development, except when it serves America’s geopolitical interests.  

Many lawmakers in Congress appear to have made the same new year’s resolution: to rewrite the Electoral Count Act of 1887, or ECA. Democrats have floated reforms to the law that governs the quadrennial task of counting and recording the votes of Electoral College since last year’s attack on the Capitol, which put the ECA’s workings under a harsh spotlight. More recently, and perhaps surprisingly, a growing number of conservative lawmakers and commentators are calling for reforms as well.

For many years, officials of the U.S. government, the paid-off lobbyists whispering in their ears, and their Western partners made some interesting claims about the country Kazakhstan. In their telling, the former Soviet republic was an “island of stability”—a potential partner in a slew of foreign policy endeavors. This month, however, whatever illusory stability the country once enjoyed came apart at the seams. But the United States and its Western partners shouldn’t mourn the wreckage of this grand delusion for too long... Читать дальше...

In September 2021, The Wall Street Journal ran a short but disturbing story about an incident at a Boeing facility in San Antonio, where the company is developing new jets to serve as Air Force One—a vehicle the company has described as “effectively an airborne seat of government” that is of the “highest national priority.” According to the Journal, the company found two empty “miniature bottles of tequila” on one of the planes. Both Boeing and the government said what you would expect—that they... Читать дальше...

On Tuesday afternoon, President Joe Biden employed the bully pulpit—ostensibly one of the most powerful instruments in the executive toolbox—to press the Senate to pass voting rights legislation as soon as possible, in order to counteract a spate of measures that are either being enacted or considered in Republican-led states that may suppress voter turnout, as well as to fulfill a key campaign promise while Democrats still hold the majority in Congress.

On Tuesday, Rochelle Walensky, the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, wore two masks as she testified before the Senate on the government’s response to emerging variants of Covid-19. Seated next to her was Anthony Fauci, the country’s top infectious disease expert and the face many Americans associate with sound pandemic policy, without any mask at all. It was a relatively small divergence but a potent one, considering that the CDC is under fire for confusing messaging... Читать дальше...