Political Irony

First, two quotes from former ambassador Nikki Haley. I can visualize her talking out of both sides of her mouth simultaneously.

Putin knows it’s costly, and he knows he can’t do it. This is him leveraging to see what he can get. He doesn’t want to expand… I don’t think Russia wants to go to war.

— In an interview with Brian Kilmeade on January 26, 2022

When an evil dictator thug says they’re going to do something, we need to believe them. Putin said he was going to take Ukraine, and he is.

— in an interview with Dave Rubin on March 7, 2022 (just 40 days later)

Either way, I’m sure the GOP will blame everything on the Democrats. After all, they are already doing crazier things. For example, on a UFC podcast Donald Trump was asked how he sees the war in Ukraine unfolding, and he went off on a rant about windmills and “green energy”. Seriously.

Speaking of people who seem morally unbalanced, giving a speech to Republicans last weekend, North Carolina Congressperson Madison Cawthorn seemed to blame the invasion of Ukraine on (wait for it), Ukraine president Volodymyr Zelenskyy and “woke ideologies”:

Remember that Zelenskyy is a thug. Remember that the Ukrainian government is incredibly corrupt and is incredibly evil and has been pushing woke ideologies.

This is also a pretty stupid thing to say, as 61% of Republicans have a favorable opinion of Zelenskyy, compared to 6% with an unfavorable opinion. In fact, the North Carolina house just passed a resolution in support of Ukraine (unanimously, 112-0) put forward by the GOP House Speaker.

Vladimir Putin is being blasted by almost all of the countries of the world, including people in Russia. But here in the US there are a few (seemingly insane) people who are cheering Putin on in his invasion of Ukraine. And ironically, Joe Biden’s popularity ratings have jumped up 8% since his State-of-the-Union address, where he condemned Putin. Even Republicans think that Biden is doing a good job supporting Ukraine. That can’t be good news for Putin’s useful idiots in the US.

Sometimes, you just can’t make this stuff up. Here is the first section of a model bill produced by the American Legislative Exchange Council.

• 1) fossil fuels currently supply more than 80% of the world’s primary energy, and the U.S. Energy Information Administration still projects global consumption of fossil fuels to increase steadily at least through 2050;
• 2) restricting the supply of fossil fuels, without an immediate substitute for those fuels, only serves to raise prices on energy consumers, profoundly impacting the poorest among us;
• 3) denying financing to American and European fossil energy producers, who are among the most socially and environmentally responsible companies in the world, only serves to support hostile nations and less responsible producers;
• 4) banks are increasingly denying financing to creditworthy fossil energy companies solely for the purpose of decarbonizing their lending portfolios and marketing their environmental credentials, to the detriment of potential returns for their shareholders;
• 5) institutional investors are divesting from fossil energy companies and pressuring corporations to commit to the goal of the Paris Agreement to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to zero by 2050;
• 6) large investment firms are colluding to force fossil energy companies to cannibalize their existing businesses and direct time and attention away from increasing shareholder returns;
• 7) corporations are boycotting fossil energy companies by refusing to provide them with products or services; and
• 8) it is in the social and financial interest of energy producing states to combat attacks on their key industries and employees.

Of course they are doing this to help the poor! And did you know that our fossil fuel companies, including oil companies whose tankers create massive spills, and gas companies that do fracking, “are among the most socially and environmentally responsible companies in the world”? Who knew?

These selfless companies need protection against discrimination! This must be why we already heavily subsidize them with tax breaks and other corporate welfare to the tune of around $20 billion per year.