The Biden Presidency is underway.

[Calelari]

Or, y’know, ol’ Joe himself could suggest what climate mitigations he finds acceptable instead of leaving everyone guessing. That he doesn’t do so is rather suggestive.

[Strollen]

@Calelari

Or, y’know, ol’ Joe himself could suggest what climate mitigations he finds acceptable instead of leaving everyone guessing. That he doesn’t do so is rather suggestive.

You don’t go to war with the Senators you want…

[scottagibson]

@Strollen

A carbon tax is a way of raising money.

I think the major point of a carbon tax is to price in externalities, to make carbon-producing energy use reflect its real cost compared to alternatives. It incidentally raises money, too, which can be used to fund things, but even if they shredded the money it would still impact the cost to use those that energy and therefore create an incentive to use alternatives.

@Strollen

I’m just saying that rather than wringing our hands that Joe Manchin won’t support one particular (albeit important) climate change fix, find things that help the climate that he will support.

What makes you think there are any? It isn’t obvious to me that there are.

[RothdaTheTruculent]

Ok, I Lol’d at this:

Joe Manchin Every Day, Every Subject

[KevinC]

@Gordon_Cameron

I just find it interesting (I mean to say head-through-wall infuriating) that the issue of keeping Earth habitable is always the one that ends up getting kicked down the road. There always seems to be something more urgent, and I suspect there always will.

I think you’re right. The COVID pandemic taught me a lot about society, American society specifically. During a deadly plague, people will literally take up arms so as to not be inconvenienced by putting on a mask or not being able to hang out in a crowded bar. A plague was somehow politicized to the point where a significant percentage of the electorate was somehow pro virus as long as it meant they didn’t have to change their behavior in even the smallest and most trivial ways.

Climate change? Man. That’s gonna take lifestyle changes. It’s going to be expensive. It’s going to be a real collective effort, and all to stave off catastrophe years or decades or centuries down the road for a lot of people. People aren’t going to do shit. We flooded hospitals and died instead of putting on a mask, I think people will happily watch others die in actual floods so long as they get to keep rolling coal.

[Timex]

If you want to succeed in doing this stuff, then sell it not on the basis that it’s going to save the world, sell it on the basis that it’ll grow the economy and make jobs.

[scottagibson]

If we could fight climate change by invading countries of poor people, we would invade the shit out of countries of poor people. But if invading won’t work, then sorry, nothing we can do.

[Alstein]

I think we’ll solve it through invading the shit out of ourselves and setting back civilization 200 years.

[Canuck]

@Alstein

Part of me just holds out hope we’ll find a way to keep some parts of the world alive.

I was actually thinking about this the other day. I assume that by the end of the century, the US will invade Canada. I’m not even taking it personally, what would you expect when a country of 400 million people are living in a parched desert and directly above them are huge empty landmasses of newly arable land thanks to global warming?

[CraigM]

If you want to preempt that and stage a reverse invasion, I’ll be happy to join the National Healthcare Freedom Brigade. Better than housing members of Y’allquaeda.

[Alstein]

I’ve read that Canadian land is supposedly not going to be that great. The US can adjust cropwise in many areas, and should still produce a surplus of food. If the US gets food scarcity due to lack of production- the world is beyond fucked.

[Houngan]

Oddly, and take it as only that, here in the eastern Midwest, for lack of a better term, we seem to be getting the best of climate change. Definitely rainfall has gone up but by and large it’s going pretty good. Something to do with the Ohio river and the jet stream, I’m sure. I’ve occasionally shopped for houses in Cleveland as an escape route but maybe I’ll be good and dead before that’s necessary.

[KevinC]

@CraigM

I’ll be happy to join the National Healthcare Freedom Brigade

Do you have as pamphlet? I think I’m interested in signing up myself!

[Ephraim]

@Alstein

I’ve read that Canadian land is supposedly not going to be that great

I’d be interested in reading your source. My quick Googling found several articles, the most recent from 2020, saying the opposite and that Canada would most likely do very well agriculturally as the Earth’s climate warms.

[CraigM]

Well there is the whole region of the Canadian Shield which… may not be as prosperous as otherwise. Sure you have areas of the Northwest Territories and Nunavut that may do well, but much of the non arable land in Ontario or Quebec would remain so even with warming.

All that is speculative, mind you.

[Alstein]

I suspect that is what I"m thinking of

[Timex]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/voting-rights-manchin-senate/2021/10/20/caba5168-31a6-11ec-a1e5-07223c50280a_story.html

Well no shit.

[Papageno]

That’s probably paywalled, right? What’s the gist?

[CraigM]

Republicans filibustered the latest motion to put the Voting Rights legislation up for a vote, so it is up to Manchin.

Basically unless he is willing to carve out fillibuster exceptions, nothing will happen.

[Papageno]

Lovely. Well, 230-some years was a good run for a constitutional order, I guess. Figures it would be brought low by a couple of careerist fucks who won’t even do what they can to protect it, one old and one young-ish.

Or is Sinema onboard with a carveout for a new VRA?