Doug Norlen

Greens challenge Trump’s $4.7B loan for Mozambique LNG project The project’s opponents argue the Export-Import Bank lacked a quorum to approve the loan and failed to consider environmental or security risks.

There are legal procedures and processes in place to ensure the U.S. Export-Import Bank does not waste taxpayer dollars on risky projects plagued by violent insurgencies. Yet EXIM Bank – like the rest of the Trump admin – believes that it can operate outside the law.

www.eenews.net/articles/gre...

New digs for a few days

Rs1.79 billion approved for Reko Diq security | The Express Tribune The funds are intended to ensure the smooth operation of the Reko Diq project.

Under Trump, the US Government's EXIM Bank wants to provide over $1bn for the massive Reko Diq gold and copper mine in Pakistan, in the volatile region bordering Afghanistan and Iran. What could possibly go wrong?https://tribune.com.pk/story/2535906/rs179-billion-approved-for-reko-diq-security

Looks like Tesla stock

What say you, @ianpgary.bsky.social ?

Fentanyl Traffickers, U.S. Adversaries Biggest Winners in New Treasury Proposal Treasury’s proposal contradicts decades of evidence that sanctions evaders, tax cheats, and fentanyl traffickers rely on anonymous U.S. companies to stash dirty money in the U.S.

Could the Trump Administration's move to exempt 99% of entities reporting under the bipartisan Corporate Transparency Act be a smoke screen to hide their own money laundering? thefactcoalition.org/fentanyl-tra...

Export-Import Bank Set to Approve Disastrous Mozambique LNG The U.S. Export-Import Bank is scheduled to approve nearly $5 billion for Mozambique LNG, despite numerous human rights scandals.

foe.org/news/exim-ap...

US swings behind TotalEnergies’ vast Mozambique gas project Trump administration frees up $4.7bn loan to French company that was frozen since 2021

While Trump/Musk slash domestic environmental protections and threaten Social Security, Medicare & Medicaid, the federal EXIM Bank just approved nearly $5 billion for an environmentally disastrous human rights debacle LNG project in Mozambique
www.ft.com/content/b440...

Big crowd outside Tesla dealership on 4th St in Berkeley protesting the Trump/Musk coup.

Sign reads “Be a Patriot. Take Down Tesla”

Big rowdy crowd at the Tesla dealership in Berkeley California saying NO to fascism and oligarchy #PeoplePower #TeslaTakedown #StopTheCoup

Should have used Elmer's Glue rather than Elmo's Glue

Protesting the Musk Rat

Excellent article linking DOGE's assault on USAID to the likely benefit to the US Development Finance Corporation

Bad news for repairs at major Eskom power station Between March and June 2025, Eskom will have to make do without some of the Kusile units that contributed significantly to the end of load-shedding.

Half the desulphurization units don't work on the US EXIM Bank financed Kusile coal plant in South Africa. The Centre for Environmental Rights estimates this will result in 670 excess deaths, 3,000 asthma emergency room visits, and 1,400 pre-term births.
mybroadband.co.za/news/energy/...

Big Tech’s false solution to ever increasing greenhouse gas emissions? You guessed it, carbon credits “It’s problematic to trade forest carbon for fossil fuel emissions.”

Another great post by @reddmonitor.bsky.social showing the tight web of links between pro-offsetting conservationists, big finance & big polluters: a timber company owned by a bank founded by a Conservation Int'l board member is selling Microsoft offsets from covering savanna with eucalypts

Well would you look at that.

Oh the shade!

LNG exports will cost consumers and the climate: U.S. Department of Energy If the U.S. allows its liquefied natural gas (LNG) exports to grow, unrestrained, there will be significant costs to both consumers and the climate, according to a new government report.

"An October analysis from U.K.-based Carbon Tracker found global markets for #LNG are likely to be oversupplied by the end of the decade, and B.C. LNG production is expected to ramp up at precisely the same time global production plateaus"

I'm usually meh on the latest medical treatment breakthrough but I'm willing to take a chance on this:

"Scientists have claimed eating a few pieces of dark chocolate five times a week while avoiding milk chocolate has been linked to a reduced risk of type 2 diabetes."
www.msn.com/en-ca/health...

Led by Rep. Jim McGovern, 34 Congressional Leaders Urge President Biden: Pardon Environmental Lawyer Steven Donziger

It's TIME, Biden- #PardonDonziger! 34 MOCs incl Sens Whitehouse & Sanders join letter led by McGovern & endorsed by leading #humanrights orgs incl@amnesty.org Greenpeace @publiccitizen.bsky.social @ran-org.bsky.social @foeus.bsky.social. Chevron poisoned the Amazon mcgovern.house.gov/news/documen...

Indeed!
No deal today but another meeting called for next Monday. Sounds like South Korea is still a problem. So close...

Fulsome post

"In the coming years...[G]overnments could face hundreds of billions of dollars in ISDS claims over phaseouts of oil, gas and coal projects, according to one estimate. Disputes over wind and solar projects are sure to rise, too. "

We must protect Social Security!!!

Pass it on…

This winter there are at least two migratory burrowing owls in the "protected" NE corner of Cesar Chavez Park in Berkeley. One is rather reclusive, while this one comes out most evenings. She/he doesn't seem to be bothered by the squirrel.

Whodunit?

My phone exploded today with warnings left and right!

Paul Atkins, nominated today to serve as SEC chair, was a key voice (along with the Chamber, API and others) for the "materiality" loophole in the climate risk disclosure rule. corpgov.law.harvard.edu/2022/07/01/t...

The ICJ’s Advisory Opinion on Climate Change: What Happens Now? - Climate Law Blog Climate change litigation has finally reached the world’s highest court. On March 29, 2023, the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) adopted a resolution requesting an advisory opinion from the Inte...

Tomorrow, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) will begin historic hearings on the legal obligations of governments under international law for #climate action. #Vanuatu is leading a group of states and NGOs seeking the #ICJ opinion.
blogs.law.columbia.edu/climatechang...

It's a cult

Set of six wool socks for under ten bucks