Skip to content Skip to footer
|

We’re Prepared to Accept an Apology From Exxon & Lawmakers…

Oklahoma Republican freshman Congressman demands an apology from Obama for the president’s support of climate change research.

What do the oil, gas and coal industries get when they invest big bucks in a freshman Congressman?
They get the likes of Jim Bridenstine.
On the House floor Tuesday, the Oklahoma Republican freshman Congressman demanded that President Obama apologize to all Oklahomans for allocating federal funding to climate change research.
In his demand for a presidential apology, Bridenstine said that, “Here is what we absolutely know. We know that Oklahoma will have tornadoes when the cold jet stream meets the warm Gulf air, and we also know that this President spends 30 times as much money on global warming research as he does on weather forecasting and warning. For this gross misallocation, the people of Oklahoma are ready to accept the President’s apology and I intend to submit legislation to fix this.”
Now, it’s one thing if you genuinely believe that climate change and global warming aren’t real. Everyone is entitled to their personal beliefs.
But, it’s a whole other thing if you’re denouncing climate change because you’re being paid to do so, and in the case of Congressman Bridenstine, it appears to be the latter.
As the website OpenSecrets.org points out, Bridenstine has received thousands in campaign donations from some not so climate-change friendly groups.
During the 2012 campaign cycle, Bridenstine received thousands from ExxonMobil, Latshaw Drilling, WPX energy, Chesapeake Energy, Devon Energy and Koch Industries. All were in his top twenty donors.
So, it really shouldn’t come as a surprise that Bridenstine is opposed to climate change research, because that would be bad for his owners…er…donors.
But Bridenstine isn’t alone.
Many of Washington’s top climate-change denying lawmakers are also getting thousands in campaign donations from the oil, gas and coal industries.
For example, there’s Congressman Lamar Smith, who is ironically a member of the House Science, Space and Technology Committee.
During the 2012 election cycle, Smith received thousands from Valero Energy and Koch Industries, and his second largest career donor industry, just after retired rich people, is oil and gas at over a half-million dollars.
Then there’s Senator Tom Coburn, one of the Senate’s top climate-change deniers.
The Center for Responsive Politics says that during the 2012 election cycle, he received thousands from Koch Industries, ExxonMobil, and Chevron. And his top career donors include Anadarko Petroleum, Conoco Phillips, and Koch Industries.
Unlike Congressman Bridenstine, Congressman Smith and Senator Coburn haven’t officially asked President Obama to apologize for funding climate change research, but there’s still plenty of time for those demands to come.
In the meantime, I’m prepared to accept a few apologies of my own.
I’m prepared to accept an apology from big oil companies like ExxonMobil and Koch Industries that are actively buying off our politicians and funding phony science and misinformation campaigns.
I’m prepared to accept an apology from the barons of the fossil fuel industry for being some of the biggest players in the climate change denial nonsense in this country.
And I’m prepared to accept an apology from lawmakers like Congressmen Bridenstine and Smith, and Senator Coburn, who are taking thousands of dollars in donations in turn for turning a blind eye to the biggest threat our planet has ever faced.
And along with those apologies, these guys should have the common decency to wear the logos of the corporations that own them, the way NASCAR drivers do.
Truthout Is Preparing to Meet Trump’s Agenda With Resistance at Every Turn

Dear Truthout Community,

If you feel rage, despondency, confusion and deep fear today, you are not alone. We’re feeling it too. We are heartsick. Facing down Trump’s fascist agenda, we are desperately worried about the most vulnerable people among us, including our loved ones and everyone in the Truthout community, and our minds are racing a million miles a minute to try to map out all that needs to be done.

We must give ourselves space to grieve and feel our fear, feel our rage, and keep in the forefront of our mind the stark truth that millions of real human lives are on the line. And simultaneously, we’ve got to get to work, take stock of our resources, and prepare to throw ourselves full force into the movement.

Journalism is a linchpin of that movement. Even as we are reeling, we’re summoning up all the energy we can to face down what’s coming, because we know that one of the sharpest weapons against fascism is publishing the truth.

There are many terrifying planks to the Trump agenda, and we plan to devote ourselves to reporting thoroughly on each one and, crucially, covering the movements resisting them. We also recognize that Trump is a dire threat to journalism itself, and that we must take this seriously from the outset.

Last week, the four of us sat down to have some hard but necessary conversations about Truthout under a Trump presidency. How would we defend our publication from an avalanche of far right lawsuits that seek to bankrupt us? How would we keep our reporters safe if they need to cover outbreaks of political violence, or if they are targeted by authorities? How will we urgently produce the practical analysis, tools and movement coverage that you need right now — breaking through our normal routines to meet a terrifying moment in ways that best serve you?

It will be a tough, scary four years to produce social justice-driven journalism. We need to deliver news, strategy, liberatory ideas, tools and movement-sparking solutions with a force that we never have had to before. And at the same time, we desperately need to protect our ability to do so.

We know this is such a painful moment and donations may understandably be the last thing on your mind. But we must ask for your support, which is needed in a new and urgent way.

We promise we will kick into an even higher gear to give you truthful news that cuts against the disinformation and vitriol and hate and violence. We promise to publish analyses that will serve the needs of the movements we all rely on to survive the next four years, and even build for the future. We promise to be responsive, to recognize you as members of our community with a vital stake and voice in this work.

Please dig deep if you can, but a donation of any amount will be a truly meaningful and tangible action in this cataclysmic historical moment.

We’re with you. Let’s do all we can to move forward together.

With love, rage, and solidarity,

Maya, Negin, Saima, and Ziggy