Bill Walker

Postcard from California: Plastics ‘recycling’ – out of sight, out of mind By Bill Walker Last year California shipped more than 156 million pounds of plastic waste to poor countries, with almost three-fourths sent to Mexico and another 44 million pounds sent to developing ...

Developing countries are banning shipments of plastic waste from the US. Will California respond by cracking down on plastics at their source, or just find another dumping ground? My latest Postcard from California for The New Lede.

Postcard from California: Despite strict regulations, the state still has the nation’s dirtiest air In the years after World War II, the smog in Los Angeles was so thick that at times people could see no farther than three blocks. Despite efforts to limit emissions from power plants and oil refiner...

Trump wants to take away California’s right to set its own clean air regulations That would be a disaster for public health. My latest Postcard from California for The New Lede.

A Ticking Clock on American Freedom It’s later than you think, but it’s not too late.

“You think you can wait and see, and keep democracy intact? Wanna bet? “

Opinion | The Donald Trump Leap of Faith (Gift Article) Angels for sale. Only $1,000.

I’m a nonbeliever who in my youth identified as an evangelical. I have struggled to understand why so many today’s evangelicals love Trump. This is the best analysis I’ve found. Longish but well worth it.

www.nytimes.com/2025/04/03/o...

Postcard from California: Trump vs. the delta smelt The most powerful man in the world is waging war on a tiny, almost extinct fish. The fish is the minnow-like delta smelt, less than three inches long with a lifespan of only a year. Its sole natural ...

The most powerful man in the world is waging war on a 3-inch fish. My latest Postcard from California for The New Lede.

www.thenewlede.org/2025/04/post...

The day many feared would soon come is already here, with the White House openly defying direct orders from federal judges on deportation. I take us through what happened and why the stakes have been upped considerably once again in my piece: open.substack.com/pub/statusku...

Postcard from California: Chemical warning labels are everywhere – and they’re working By Bill Walker A driver entering an enclosed parking garage in California is greeted by a 20-by-20-inch sign declaring in 72-point type: WARNING: Breathing the air in this parking garage can expose ...

www.thenewlede.org/2025/03/post...

Californians may pay little mind to the state’s ubiquitous cancer warning signs, but they’re driving companies to use safer chemicals. My latest Postcard from California for The New Lede.

BP to Slash Green Spending, Pivot Back to Oil The struggling British energy company has seen its rivals streak ahead after it bet big on clean energy.

www.wsj.com/business/ene...

5 years ago, when BP pledged to go carbon “net-zero” by 2050, I called them on it in a blog post. They responded: “There’s no turning back!” Well, this just happened.

In Trump’s Washington, a Moscow-Like Chill Takes Hold (Gift Article) A new administration’s efforts to pressure the news media, punish political opponents and tame the nation’s tycoons evoke the early days of President Vladimir V. Putin’s reign in Russia.

www.nytimes.com/2025/02/26/u...

The better analogue for what’s happening in America is not Hitler’s Germany but Putin’s Russia.

Exclusive | How the Trumps Turned an Election Victory Into a Cash Bonanza The first lady’s documentary deal with Amazon, the president’s legal settlements and other transactions near $80 million so far, with the Trump library a major beneficiary.

www.wsj.com/politics/ele...

The grift is the point.

Three Big Lessons for the Democrats in 2025 Economics, culture, and media. Economics, culture, and media. Economics, culture, and media. Got it?

newrepublic.com/article/1909...

“Democrats need to tell voters a compelling story about why their lives are hard, and why they, the Democrats, will make things better.”

Trump Brutally Mocked for Letting President Elon Musk Steal Spotlight Donald Trump sat hunched over his desk while Elon Musk did all the talking.

newrepublic.com/post/191448/...

“The least someone could have done was give Trump a coloring book and some crayons to keep busy while President Musk answered questions.”

US inflation heats up to 3% for first time since June | CNN Business It’s not just eggs. Many commonly purchased goods and services got more expensive in January, driving inflation in the wrong direction and to its highest rate since June of last year.

www.cnn.com/2025/02/12/b...

“When I win, I will immediately bring prices down, starting on Day One.”

You are not powerless, and he is not unstoppable. Look at, and learn from, the funding freeze and how quickly he was forced to surrender.

No, people who sat out the election (for all the good reasons you stated) aren’t villains. But I and many other Harris voters weren’t so much backing the Dems as desperately
trying to hold off the fascist disaster that was so clearly coming.

Tired of people excusing MAGA voters of being deceived into thinking their votes would just bring prices down. Maybe some did. But others acted of their own free will and made a choice. Even if they can’t articulate what facism is, they wanted it and chose it.

Postcard from California: The long-term public health toll of the LA fires By Bill Walker The horrific fires that incinerated more than 40,000 acres in Southern California last month were still burning when newly-inaugurated President Trump flew in to view the devastation. At a Jan. 24 press briefing with local officials, he groused that he had heard people who lost their homes would not be allowed to rebuild for up to 18 months. Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass pointed out that, first, burned lots had to be cleared of hazardous waste. “The most important thing is for people to be safe,” she said. “What's hazardous waste?” Trump retorted. “You're going to have to define that. Are we going to go through a whole series of questions on determining what's hazardous waste? I just think you have to allow people to go on their site and start the process tonight." Despite what Trump may think, federal regulators have established clear definitions of hazardous waste. When the Palisades and Eaton fires consumed more than 16,000 homes and other structures in the Los Angeles area, they left behind over 4.25 million tons of it. While the fires have been contained, exposure to dangerous toxins in that lingering waste and in the smoke that choked the region for more than three weeks will, over time, claim many more victims than the 29 lives lost in the flames. Heat, drought and the Santa Ana winds were the fires’ direct causes, but scientists say conditions were made worse by climate change. Park Williams, a hydroclimatologist at the University of California at Los Angeles, told NPR: “These fires are very likely more intense and dangerous … because of global warming." US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) workers in hazmat gear are racing against a Trump-ordered Feb. 25 deadline to inspect each burn site and perform an initial cleanup. "We have to move five times the speed based on the directives we are getting," an EPA official told Reuters. "Normally, this takes months."

www.thenewlede.org/2025/02/post...

The Los Angeles fires took 29 lives, but over time the smoke and the hazardous waste left behind will claim thousands more. My latest Postcard from California for The New Lede.

When someone expresses genuine regret voting for Trump, the best thing we can do is welcome them into the fold. We're not gonna get anywhere with ridiculous gatekeeping and pettiness. Let's offer folks an off-ramp into the coalition of reasonable adults.

Jimmy Kimmel: Trump’s next tough negotiating tactic: “Force France to give us the Statue of Liberty.”

This is what it sounds like when you’ve forgotten you’re supposed to be the party of the working class ready to fight against the capture of our government by an authoritarian kleptocracy backed by oligarchs hellbent on leaving regular Americans behind. www.nytimes.com/2025/02/02/u...

Primary Every Democrat It’s exhausting to watch poll-tested, donor-beholden congressional Democrats continue to be too old, too cloistered, and too bumbling to do anything as the government burns.

newrepublic.com/article/1909...

“… someone, somewhere needs to fight for something. To stand for something. To match the anger, fear, and sadness we all feel.”

After serving as ambassador to Hungary, David Pressman: “Most alarming is just how easy it is to control people. It doesn’t take secret police, guns or gulags. If overwhelm the media ecosystem with lies, the cost of engaging in public debate becomes an existential one.” (NYT Magazine.)

YouTube video by The Lookout Rebuilding and Malibu Fire History

www.youtube.com/watch?v=KIWz...

Malibu has burned 9 times in 90 years. Yet Calif. wants to make it easier to rebuild. Fire expert Zeke Lunder: “Crazy. Just crazy.”

Opinion | Trump Has Something He Would Like to Bring to Your Attention (Gift Article) Attention is the fuel of American politics, and Trump knows it

www.nytimes.com/2025/01/26/o...

@As powerful as money is in politics, attention is even more so. We have largely failed to regulate the role of money in politics. For attention, the problem is worse — and we have not even begun to attempt solutions.”

Opinion | Lessons on Authoritarianism From Around the World (Gift Article) Tyranny doesn’t happen overnight. Take it from the people who missed the first signs.

www.nytimes.com/2025/01/22/o...

Bishop Asks Trump to ‘Have Mercy’ on Immigrants and Gay Children (Gift Article) The direct appeal to President Trump on the first full day of his term was a remarkable moment at a National Cathedral event that traditionally has not been political.

www.nytimes.com/2025/01/21/u...

Good for her. But begging the ruler to show mercy? We’re back in the days of feudalism

Not shocked. Not awed. Sad and defiant.

to recap:
— Trump was *for* the TikTok ban
— which the GOP Congress passed
— and the GOP Supreme Court upheld
— and even though Biden said he wouldn't enforce the ban, TikTok shut down anyway
— so that Trump could "save" it
— and the media fell for it
we really do live in the dumbest fucking country

We elected arsonists whose mission is to burn down effective government. There will be real victims almost immediately. We must support them.