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With Max Kintner

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Readings that Grab Me …


Note: Some of these citations will be paygated.  Some NYT and WaPo links that would otherwise be paygated may be accessible from this page.  I will annotate the primary thesis and primary points of some of them, but with such a limited staff (just me) who all have a full-time day job, that's not always going to happen 

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29 March 2023: The Guardian: “Italy-sized chunk of Gulf of Mexico to be auctioned off by the US for oil drilling.”

I have not read this yet, and will withhold judgment … for the moment just pointing out that I feel absolutely certain that Biden does not want to auction off any size chunk of land anywhere in the Gulf of Mexico or anywhere else for oil.  I will be very surprised if one of two things – or both – are not apparent as this story unfolds.  1) That the Trump administration, or even the Obama or W Bush administration actually put this auction in motion, and stopping at this point would involve the second point, which is 2) that this action consists of political ballast that Joe thinks needs to be thrown overboard in order to navigate dire political straits.  Call it Scylla and Charybdis or moral/political cowardice, but in any event one of those rocks that could sink his 2024 run.  That won't satisfy many environmentalists – including me – who believe that environmental collapse is the wildcard that could destroy the world.  On the other hand, the damage must be weighed against what would happen if Biden loses the election to Trump or some other Trumpian cyclops.