‘Let’s build a climate Wall of Shame’
Nate Loewentheil in The New York Times
America needs a “climate memorial,” says Nate Loewentheil. Carve the “names of public figures actively denying” climate change deep in the stone. When greenhouse gas emissions “wreak their full havoc on the climate,” people will deserve to know the names of those who, faced with an “urgent crisis,” put politics and profit above “Earth and humanity’s place on it.” Vulnerable states like Florida and Louisiana deserve their own memorials. Just put them “well above sea level.”
‘Biden impeachment inquiry is political improv’
Joe Perticone in The Bulwark
The House Republicans leading the effort to impeach President Joe Biden aren’t letting anything as pesky as the truth get in their way, says Joe Perticone. The Justice Department just charged FBI informant Alexander Smirnov with lying when he told agents “Biden had sought bribes from Ukrainian officials while serving as Barack Obama’s vice president.” This destroyed the “core argument” in the GOP’s case, but the impeachment crew is “continuing the spin” as if “nothing has changed.”
‘Judge Engoron’s inflation of Trump’s “ill-gotten gains” is the real financial fraud’
Joseph Lobue at The Federalist
The New York judge who ruled former President Donald Trump had to cough up $355 million of “ill-gotten gains” is the one really guilty of fraud, says Joseph Lobue in The Federalist. Judge Arthur Engoron “grossly” inflated what Trump could have gained by overestimating the value of his company’s real estate to get loans with lower interest rates, but more risk for Trump’s company. Besides, banks aren’t helpless “little guys.” They lent Trump money with open eyes.
‘Don’t buy Putin’s bluff. The West can outspend him.’
Bloomberg editorial board
Vladimir Putin pretends Russia’s economy is so strong he can “prosecute the war in Ukraine indefinitely,” says the Bloomberg editorial board. “He’s bluffing. His aggression is costing him dearly.” Since 2021, Russia’s military spending has jumped from 3.6% of GDP to 7.1%. Moscow had a budget surplus before the invasion but now it’s financially strapped. The West should exploit “Putin’s economic vulnerability” by tightening sanctions and arming Ukraine to force him to “end the bloodshed.”