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Big Oil Pushed To Kill Bill That Would Have Made Them Pay for Wildfire Disasters (Maria)
The author writes, “In the year preceding the devastating Los Angeles county wildfires, big oil fiercely lobbied to kill a “polluter pay” bill that moved through the California senate and would have forced major fossil fuel companies to help cover the costs of climate disasters. Fossil-fuel industry lobbying in California spiked to record levels during the 2023-24 legislative session, and the polluter pay bill was among the most targeted pieces of legislation, a Guardian review of state lobby filings found. … The measure would have required the state’s largest carbon polluters to pay into a fund that would be used to prevent disasters or help cover cleanup efforts. The effort to thwart it leaves taxpayers for now shouldering much of the cost of catastrophes in part fueled by big oil’s pollution.”
President-Elect Trump’s Short Coattails (Gerry)
The authors write, “In 2024, Americans in eight key states had the opportunity to vote in both a competitive U.S. Senate race and in the presidential contest between President-elect Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris. While he carried each of those states, many of Trump’s supporters either cast what some call ‘bullet ballots,’ voting only for Trump and no down-ballot candidates, or they split their tickets by voting for the Democratic Senate candidate as well as Trump. This pattern may have cost the Republicans four additional Senate seats in the upcoming 120th Congress.”
Zelenskyy Offers Ukraine’s Help To Fight California Wildfires After Trump Jr. Post (Mili)
From The Guardian: “Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said Ukraine is ready to assist those affected by the devastating wildfires in California, with 150 Ukrainian firefighters ready to go. The offer by the Ukrainian president comes three days after Donald Trump Jr, son of US president-elect Donald Trump, responded to the Los Angeles wildfires by appearing to blame Ukraine on social media. ‘Oh look of course the LA fire department donated a bunch of their supplies to Ukraine,’ Trump Jr said in a post on X on 8 January. If deployed, Ukrainian firefighters would join those sent by Canada and Mexico, who have already converged on the Los Angeles area to help fire departments from around the state, even as Trump has threatened to levy tariffs against both countries.”
Meta Tells Brazil It’s Only Axing Fact Checkers in USA (DonkeyHotey)
The author writes, “Meta has told the Brazilian government that it doesn’t yet have to worry about the end of fact checkers in its country because it is only removing them in the United States for the time being. Brazilian publication Globo reports that Meta, the parent company of Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp, told Brazil’s Office of the Attorney General that its planned content moderation changes are only occurring in the US.”
Heat Is Claiming Mexico’s Young People (Laura)
From Inside Climate News: “Elderly people are at high risk from extreme heat. But in one of the fastest-warming countries in the Americas, the worst rates of heat deaths are hitting young adults and children.”
Tooth Decay Rose in Canadian Cities Without Fluoride. RFK Wants This for the US (Reader Jim)
From Truthout: “On November 27, 2024, the City of Montreal announced that it would no longer add fluoride to drinking water at two of the city’s water treatment plants, Pointe-Claire and Dorval. They processed just 5 percent of the city’s drinking water and were among the very few locations in the province that still fluorinated its water in Quebec. The vast majority of the province (99 percent) does not put fluoride in its water. Fluoride has long been accepted as the most efficient way to ensure a base-level access to improved dental health for the whole of a population. Even so, curiously absent in the announcement made by the City of Montreal regarding its decision to end fluoridation is any mention of health.”
Dutch Delve Into Family Pasts as the Names of Accused Nazi Collaborators Released (Reader Jim)
The author writes, “On Dutch Openness Day, this year’s release of secret documents from state archives suddenly left Peter Baas with fundamental questions about his father’s stature as a World War II resistance fighter. While many were cleaning up the mess from New Year’s Eve fireworks on Jan. 1, hundreds of thousands of others in the Netherlands looked for their relatives in a new database containing the names of some 425,000 people investigated for collaboration with the Nazis from 1940-45. Some looked out of curiosity, others out of concern.”
