Kissinger Is Dead

PRESENTED BY ASHES TO ASHES

The 28th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP28) officially launched this morning in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. Here’s the webcast page.

One of the open questions for these climate talks, in addition to what agreements, if any, will be found on methane, loss and damage, carbon markets, and international carbon taxes, is which world leaders will use the COP 28 stage to honor a genocidal war criminal, and which will use it to condemn him, as Henry Kissinger is now, finally, dead.

Despite—or because because of—his propensity for genocide, lies, and the persecution of his political enemies, Kissinger was long fêted by the New York cocktail circuit. Hillary Clinton decided to run the second time for the presidency as she spent Christmas 2014 with the Kissingers, as she and Bill did every year at Oscar de la Renta’s Dominican Republic retreat. But that, of course, didn’t keep the Beltway Butcher from advising Donald Trump during the 2016 primary and in the White House as well.

Thursday includes two Republican-led hearings on the mining industry, under the “critical minerals” rubric. At 10 am, the House Science Committee holds a hearing on the role of federal research in establishing a robust U.S. supply chain of critical minerals and materials The all-male panel includes DOE oil and gas official Ryan Peay, the mining-industry-funded Stanford mining engineer Jef Caers, rare-earth miner and former Trump DOE official Drew Horn, solar-energy supply-chain scientist Dustin Mulvaney, and chemical process CEO Tom Baroody. And at 2 pm, there is a House Oversight and Government Reform subcommittee hearing on safety and security in the critical mineral supply chain.

Other Thursday 10 am hearings:

• A Senate Energy and Natural Resources hearing on advanced nuclear reactor commercialization;

• A House Natural Resources subcommittee hearing on the bipartisan Expanding Public Lands Outdoor Recreation Experiences Act, with witnesses from the National Forest System, the National Park Service, lobbyists for outdoor recreation industry, and rock climber Sasha DiGiulian and mountaineer Luis Benitez; and

• A Senate Agriculture nomination hearing for former Virginia agriculture secretary Dr. Basil Gooden to be Undersecretary of Rural Development, and Republican lobbyist Summer Mersinger to be reappointed to the Commodities Future Trading Commission.

Thursday’s other 2 pm hearings include a House Science oversight subcommittee hearing attacking the Biden administration’s proposed Disclosure of Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Climate-Related Financial Risk rule. In particular, this hearing will feature testimony from White House Council on Environmental Quality Chief Sustainability Officer Andrew Mayock, who will be pressed on the administration’s crafting of the rule to use the privately-backed Science Based Targets Initiative organization as the overseer of corporate compliance with the rule. Republicans will, without irony, question why a private organization with extensive ties to industry should be trusted with ensuring compliance to climate targets for industry.²

Also at 2 pm, a House Foreign Affairs hearing on border security, Trump style, with white nationalists Chad Wolf of the ecofascist America First Policy Institute and Gene Hamilton of Stephen Miller’s America First Legal, worthy successors to Kissinger’s legacy of ethnic cleansing and callousness toward the most helpless people in the world.

In contrast, here’s an Ash-throated Flycatcher:

And a Trogon caught by Ash Ponders: 

And the Argyle Street Ash Tree:

Not all ashes are bitter.

Hearings on the Hill:

• 10 AM: Senate Energy and Natural Resources
  Opportunities and Challenges Associated with Advanced Nuclear Reactor Commercialization

• 10 AM: Federal Lands
  House Natural Resources
  Expanding Public Lands Outdoor Recreation Experiences Act

• 10 AM: Senate Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry
  Nomination of Basil Gooden to be Undersecretary of Rural Development, and Reappointment of Summer Mersinger as CFTC Commissioner

• 10 AM: House Science, Space, and Technology
  The Role of Federal Research in Establishing a Robust U.S. Supply Chain of Critical Minerals and Materials

• 2 PM: House Foreign Affairs
  Border Security: In Defense of Eco-Fascism

• 2 PM: House Science, Space, and Technology
  Environment
  Investigations and Oversight
  CEQ Testimony on Proposed Disclosure of Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Climate-Related Financial Risk Rule

• 2 PM: House Oversight and Government Reform
  Economic Growth, Energy Policy, and Regulatory Affairs
  Digging Deeper: Ensuring Safety and Security in the Critical Mineral Supply Chain

Climate Action Today:

• 12 AM: United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change
  COP 28: Day One

Thanks for subscribing and spreading the word. If you’ve got job listings, event listings, or other hot news, I want to hear it. Connect with me—@[email protected], threads.net/@climatebrad, and @climatebrad.hillheat.com on BlueSky. I abandoned the Elon Musk neo-Nazi dumpster fire that once was Twitter about a year ago. It’s never too late to get out.

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