Hundreds take shelter at Virgil Mills Elementary School ahead of Hurricane Milton, in Palmetto, Florida on October 9, 2024.

 (Photo: Lokman Vural Elibol/Anadolu via Getty Images)

'Big Oil's Reckless Conduct' Caused Milton—And Now They Should Pay, Say Advocates

"The failure by our political class to deal with this completely solvable issue is staggering and shameful," wrote one journalist.

As Hurricane Milton's 145 mile-per-hour winds began closing in on Southwest Florida on Wednesday and people crowded into makeshift shelters across the state, climate advocates and other observers said the life-threatening storm and massive disruption to millions of people's lives should make Americans "furious" at those who have helped make extreme weather more frequent and dangerous.

As Nathan J. Robinson wrote in Current Affairs, climate scientists and meteorologists have unequivocally told oil companies and policymakers that fossil fuel extraction is causing planetary heating, which has led to higher temperatures in oceans and bodies of water including the Gulf of Mexico, where the rapidly strengthening hurricane formed.

But despite the knowledge that fossil fuel giants like ExxonMobil and Shell had decades ago that drilling for oil and gas would cause "violent weather" and "potentially catastrophic events," the industry's profits have only grown as the U.S. has continued to subsidize their pollution-causing activities.

"The failure by our political class to deal with this completely solvable issue is staggering and shameful," wrote Robinson. "Many of them have children and grandchildren. Presumably they would like their descendants to inherit a world worth living in. And they could make that happen. Unfortunately, it would require challenging the power and profits of some of America's most influential corporations."

In the Substack newsletter Heated, Arielle Samuelson explained on Wednesday how fossil fuel extraction and planetary heating "mutated" Hurricane Milton, which stunned weather experts this week as its wind speeds grew at a record-breaking pace, from 60 miles per hour to 180 miles per hour in just 36 hours.

It was the second time in recent weeks that a hurricane in the region has intensified quickly; areas that are expected to take a direct hit from Milton are still overwhelmed by the destruction left by Hurricane Helene.

Hot temperatures in the planets' oceans and gulfs fuels hurricanes, and as Samuelson noted, scientists say the "extremely hot" Gulf of Mexico "was made far more likely by heat-trapping pollutants from the fossil fuel, agriculture, chemical, and cement industries."

She continued:

In the past two weeks, ocean temperatures in the Gulf of Mexico were about 30-31° Celsius (86-88°F)—about 1 to 2° Celsius above average. The climate crisis made these extraordinarily high ocean temperatures at least 400 to 800 times more likely over the past two weeks, according to a rapid attribution study from Climate Central.

[...]

The science is also extremely clear that heat-trapping pollution causes sea-level rise and heavier rainfall, both of which make hurricanes more dangerous. Rainfall rates for tropical cyclones are expected to rise with the planet's temperature, causing deadly flash floods like those found in Asheville, North Carolina. Sea level rise also means that coastal communities, and communities further inland, are more likely to be flooded during a storm.

That's an objectively scary reality. But we know the primary source of greenhouse gas pollution, scientists note, so we also know how to slow the problem.

The lingering destruction of Helene and the impending landfall of Milton come, noted Fossil Fuel Media director Jamie Henn, weeks after three Democrats in Congress introduced legislation to require fossil fuel companies and oil refiners that do business in the U.S. to pay into a $1 trillion Polluters Pay Climate Fund, with their contributions based on a percentage of their global emissions.

The fund would be used to finance climate adaptation and other efforts to confront the impacts of the climate crisis.

In a press briefing on Wednesday, President Joe Biden noted how the damage done by Helene and the rapidly evolving news about Milton has left overwhelmed Americans vulnerable to misinformation, with some urging them to direct their anger at the White House or the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).

Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump has made baseless claims that FEMA funds were spent on funding for immigrant shelters, while U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) wrote on social media that an unnamed "they" can control the weather and suggested the federal government is deliberately keeping emergency aid from people in states controlled by Republicans.

As fossil fuel firms and political leaders march "us toward the tipping points," wrote Robinson, "many people won't understand what is happening to them."

"In a chaotic information environment filled with endless falsehoods, they'll conclude that the president is manipulating the weather, or FEMA is trying to kill people," he wrote. "The real story, however, is straightforward: We have a political class that is vastly more committed to sending weapons to war criminals than funding emergency management, and which will not acknowledge the basic facts of the problem (and the known solutions) because some large economic actors benefit in the short run from the destruction of the planet."

"Truly, it's revolting," he added. "What an absolute disgrace our failure to deal with climate change is."

Candice Fortin, U.S. campaigns manager for 350.org, said that fossil fuel executives and the politicians that support them have "blood on their hands" and called on Biden to unequivocally stand on the side of hurricane victims by declaring a climate emergency.

"This is a climate emergency," said Fortin. "Every time we repeat that, countless more lives have been lost or upended by the fossil fuel industry. How many more times will it take? We call on President Biden to use his executive power to declare a climate emergency so we can finally protect frontline communities."

At Newsweek, organizer and attorney Aaron Regunberg wrote that oil companies' contributions to the climate emergency have been compounded by their vast efforts to spread misinformation and hide their knowledge that fossil fuel extraction was heating the planet.

Exxon CEO Darren Woods, he wrote, pushed for a surge in the company's extractive activities while "overseeing a substantial portion of the company's climate deception efforts," and received $198.9 million for his "climate crimes" from 2015-23, as well as owning Exxon shares worth $371.1 million.

"Regular people are paying the ultimate price for this sociopathic greed," wrote Regunberg. "The families made homeless, the wives and husbands and parents and children who lost loved ones to Helene—these victims deserve justice no less than victims of street-level crimes, and the companies and corporate executives responsible for their pain and suffering deserve criminal punishment at least as much as, if not far more than, the average street-level offender."

"Climate victims have paid so much for Big Oil's reckless conduct," he added. "It's time to make the polluters pay."

COMMON DREAMS

POLITICO Nightly: Tim Walz, according to the people he beat

 

By Liz Crampton Minnesota Governor Tim Walz speaks to a gathered crowd of supporters during a campaign rally on Sept. 5 in Erie, Pennsylvania. | Jeff Swensen/Getty Images MINNESOTA NOT-SO-NICE — Tim Walz talks. A lot. That’s the shared observation from the Minnesota Republicans who challenged the Democratic vice presidential nominee throughout a political career that dates back nearly two decades. Walz’s tendency to opine at length, often using folksy language playing up his working-class, Midwestern roots, made him a popular figure in Democratic politics — and endlessly frustrated the Republicans who faced off against him in debates. For JD Vance, who will debate him on Tuesday evening, those experiences are a cautionary tale. The Ohio senator is up against a seasoned debater who isn’t easily pinned down and who’s never lost an election. Vance, on the other hand, has less than two years in the Senate and relatively few debates under his belt. It’s one reason Polymarket, one of the largest online prediction markets, gives Walz a 70 percent chance of winning the debate. “He kinda takes the oxygen out of the room,” said Randy Demmer, who ran against Walz in a 2010 congressional race and lost. “He talks a stream — if you get him going, he keeps talking. He has a tendency to talk around issues, and quite frankly, it’s hard to get a good idea of what he said.” “I call him ‘Word Salad Walz’ because he’ll talk and talk and talk and talk and when he gets flustered he talks really, really fast,” said Greg Peppin, who ran former Rep. Jim Hagedorn’s congressional campaigns against Walz in 2014 and 2016. Hagedorn later flipped the district in 2018 when Walz declined to run for reelection and pursued the governorship instead. Some of Walz’s Republican rivals were so confounded that they dispensed with the Minnesota Nice approach when describing him. “The guy is totally dishonest, you can’t trust anything he says,” said Allen Quist, whom Walz beat in 2012 by more than 15 points. “That was the main difficulty I had in running against the guy, he would make things up as he went on.” “He’s just going to say whatever is politically expedient, whether it’s true or not,” Quist said. To help Vance prepare, Republicans brought in a fellow Minnesotan, GOP House Majority Whip Tom Emmer, to stand in for Walz during debate preparations. Emmer, who served in Congress with Walz, explained on Sunday that his role was getting Vance accustomed to Walz’s style. “I spent the last month just going back, all of his old stuff, to get his phrases down, his mannerisms, that sort of thing,” Emmer said. “My job was to be able to play Tim Walz so JD Vance knows what he’s going to see.” Expect to see Vance bring up the main attack line against Walz that has existed in Minnesota GOP circles since the dawn of his foray into politics: That the governor is a political chameleon and it’s difficult to discern what he truly stands for. Republicans go after Walz for flip flopping on gun rights, pointing to the National Rifle Association changing its rating of Walz from an ‘A’ to an ‘F.’ For his part, Walz has said that he backs Second Amendment rights but also supports background checks and red-flag policies, which he says are necessary to keep kids safe in schools. “He’s a San Francisco liberal,” Peppin said. “The only difference between him and Gavin Newsom is Gavin Newsom has better hair.” The comparison to the California governor, who is a frequent punching bag for Republicans, is a familiar part of GOP messaging against Walz. Emmer has described his home state governor as “Gavin Newsom in a flannel shirt ,” an attempt to portray Walz as being far more liberal than he presents. Yet throughout his trajectory as a moderate-turned-progressive Democrat, Walz has defeated seven Republicans — in some races, by double-digit margins. But in others, he barely squeaked by, including when he was reelected to Congress for the final time in 2016 by just over 2,500 votes. In the run-up to Tuesday’s debate, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg has played the role of Vance, a fellow Midwesterner, in Walz’s debate prep. Buttigieg also acted as Vice President Mike Pence in Kamala Harris’ mock debate sessions in 2020. “To his credit, Walz has been able to maneuver political pitfalls,” said Marty Seifert, former GOP state House leader. “The greatest policy criticism is waiting too long to call out the National Guard when the riots were going on day after day in Minneapolis. A huge, record breaking surplus was entirely spent and taxes raised on top of that, and social policies like having tampons provided in boy’s restrooms in schools, are not viewed as mainstream. But he’s quick on his feet, affable and knows his audiences well.” Welcome to POLITICO Nightly. Reach out with news, tips and ideas at nightly@politico.com . Or contact tonight’s author at lcrampton@politico.com or on X (formerly known as Twitter) at @liz_crampton . ON THE HOME FRONT — POLITICO inks a partnership with Capitol AI to bring new AI features to POLITICO Pro. Subscribers later this year will be able to “create custom reports seamlessly by locating, organizing, and integrating our extensive library of political and policy reporting, intelligence, and analysis,” POLITICO EVP Rachel Loeffler said. What'd I Miss? — Ryan Routh pleads not guilty in alleged Trump assassination attempt: Ryan Routh, the man charged with an attempted assassination against former President Donald Trump, pleaded not guilty in federal court today. The arraignment in West Palm Beach lasted just three minutes as Routh’s attorney, Kristy Militello, entered the plea on his behalf to all five counts against him. She waived the reading of the charges and said the defense wanted a trial. — California bans legacy admissions at all colleges: It will soon be illegal for public and private universities in California to consider an applicant’s relationship to alumni or donors when deciding whether to admit them. Gov. Gavin Newsom today signed a ban on the practice known as legacy admissions, a change that will affect prestigious institutions including Stanford University and the University of Southern California. California’s law, which will take effect Sept. 1, 2025, is the nation’s fifth legacy admissions ban, but only the second that will apply to private colleges. — Biden: Congress ‘may have to’ come back to approve disaster funding: President Joe Biden said today he may ask Congress to return early from its preelection recess to pass supplemental disaster money to address the “broad and devastating impacts” of Hurricane Helene. “That is something I may have to request,” Biden said in brief remarks at the White House. He said he did not yet know how much money he would request and said “no decision has been made yet.” Biden also said he expects to travel to North Carolina as soon as Wednesday or Thursday, once a presidential visit would not be disruptive to the rescue and recovery effort. Nightly Road to 2024 GOP VOTE BY MAIL LAGS — In the past two election cycles, Republicans have been far less eager to vote by mail than Democrats — and their candidates have suffered because of it. This year, Republicans made Pennsylvania their target for flipping the trend, pledging more than $10 million to persuade G.O.P. voters there to vote by mail in the November election. Early data from the secretary of state’s office shows that they still have a long way to go , reports the New York Times. As of today, Democrats in the state had requested about 881,000 mail ballots, and Republicans had requested 373,000, less than half of the Democratic total and only about a quarter of the total mail ballots requested in the state. POLITICAL STORM — As Kamala Harris traveled back to Washington to be briefed on the Hurricane Helene aftermath, Donald Trump descended on a swing-state community ravaged by the storm today — and couldn’t resist his impulse to make the trip political . Standing before piles of bricks blown off a furniture store in Valdosta, Georgia, Trump repeated his false claim that President Joe Biden wouldn’t get on the phone with the state’s Republican governor — despite Gov. Brian Kemp saying he had spoken to the president a day earlier and appreciated the federal help his state has received. AROUND THE WORLD National Rally party leader Marine Le Pen answers a question after the second round of the legislative election July 7, 2024. | Louise Delmotte/AP ON TRIAL — Polls suggest French far-right leader Marine Le Pen is closer than ever to winning the presidency. But a trial that begins today could upend her political future . Le Pen, her National Rally party, and 26 other individuals — including current and former French lawmakers and MEPs are accused of embezzling European Parliament funds through what prosecutors called a “system” to award contracts for parliamentary assistants to individuals who mostly worked on party operations rather than European Union affairs in violation of EU rules. The alleged scheme took place between 2004 and 2016. Le Pen has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing. The stakes are enormous for the three-time presidential candidate. If found guilty after the two-month trial, she could face a maximum sentence of 10 years behind bars and a fine of as high as €1 million. While a prison term of that length is unlikely, she also faces a possible five-year ban on running for public office that would prevent her from standing in the 2027 presidential election. Le Pen has already said that she plans on running in that contest. A recent poll found that, if the presidential election were to be held today, Le Pen could receive up to 40 percent of the vote in the first round, depending on who ran against her. Le Pen scored a little over 23 percent in the last presidential race and went on to lose the runoff with 41 percent of the vote. Nightly Number Over 90,000 The number of Georgia residents forced to shelter in place today after a weekend fire that sent a massive plume of smoke into the air and led to complaints of a chemical smell and haze across some of metro Atlanta. RADAR SWEEP COPYRIGHTING RHYTHM — No matter how much you know about reggaeton, it’s likely that you are familiar with that unmistakable two-bar loop: boom ch-boom-chick. That sound is colloquially known as a dembow riddim, one of the most recognizable rhythmic patterns of a genre that has reshaped all of pop music in the last decade, writes Isabelia Herrera for Pitchfork . That loop is now the cornerstone of a landmark copyright lawsuit that argues some of reggaeton’s biggest stars have infringed on the copyright to the song “Fish Market.” If the plaintiffs win, artists would no longer be able to use one of reggaeton’s well-known rhythmic foundations without licensing it first — which could diminish the centrality of the genre’s signature rhythmic patterns and change the sound of reggaeton as we know it. Parting Image On this date in 1971: Japanese students hurl flaming Molotov cocktails at police, from a barricaded area they have built at the site of a proposed new airport, 60 miles from Tokyo. Fifty-two hundred leftist students and farmers opposed to the building of the airport fought pitched battles with police; three police were killed and many injured. | Toichi Sakakibara/AP Did someone forward this email to you?  Sign up here .   Follow us on Twitter Charlie Mahtesian @PoliticoCharlie Calder McHugh @calder_mchugh   Follow us

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New York Mayor Eric Adams Indicted

Joyce Vance Sep 27

Tonight, my thoughts are with people in Florida who are in Helene’s path as it comes ashore as an “extremely dangerous” category 4 Hurricane. 750,000 homes in Florida are already without power as I’m writing this tonight.

Although there are reports that Special Counsel Jack Smith has filed his opening brief on presidential immunity with Judge Chutkan, as of now, nothing is publicly available. PACER, the federal courts online filing system, which is how lawyers access pleadings in cases, shows no entries. You can see that there are no entries at all for today, September 26. I’ll keep an eye on that and, although we’re expecting a heavily redacted document, we’ll take a look at what’s there as soon as it becomes available.

The 57-page, five-count federal indictment against New York City Mayor Eric Adams was unsealed this morning. It is comprehensive. The specifics range from more than $10 million in matching public campaign funds Adams received using straw donors to free and discounted luxury travel. Flight upgrades alone were valued in excess of $100,000. Adams did not disclose any of them. Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito would be proud. The alleged grift began while Adams was an elected official in Brooklyn and has continued during his time as mayor.

You can read the full indictment here.

Southern District of New York U.S. Attorney Damian Williams was careful to note that the charges in the indictment are allegations and defendants are innocent until proven guilty. But it doesn’t look great for Adams. In fact, some folks have complained about Williams’ painstaking care and the fact that he hasn’t moved on to other cases. That he chose to go on this one suggests that he evaluated the evidence and charges carefully and believes they will succeed. No U.S. Attorney files a case like this unless they are confident it is strong.

The indictment starts with a section labeled “overview,” which continues for 48 and one-half pages. It’s a comprehensive assessment of the criminal conduct that forms the basis for the five criminal charges that follow:

• Conspiracy to commit wire fraud, soliciting and accepting campaign contributions from foreign nationals, and federal programs bribery

• Wire Fraud

• Two counts of solicitation of a contribution by a foreign national

• Bribery

Public officials are required to disclose gifts they accept. The public has a right to know that impartial officials are performing their duties. If they are receiving gifts or favors from an entity that could bring influence to bear on them, the public has the right to know that. That’s why public officials fill out annual disclosure forms. But it doesn’t seem to have mattered to Adams, who took more than $100k in luxury trips, none of it disclosed.

Then there’s the building for the Turkish Consulate. Adams’ Turkish friends wanted it open in time for a visit from Erdogan, Turkey’s president, but the building didn’t pass muster under New York Fire Department standards. It flunked the tests so badly that they concluded it was unsafe. Adams pressured them to let the building open nonetheless, which they ultimately did, believing they’d lose their jobs if they didn’t go along.

The indictment is also full of details about efforts to cover up the crime by Adams and his associates, even when they knew they were under investigation. Like this:

Nothing says “I’m guilty” like trying to destroy evidence.

Whether all of the folks whose conduct is referenced in the indictment are cooperating—Adams is the only defendant named in the indictment—remains to be seen, but it’s clear from the allegations contained in the indictment that prosecutors have access to at least some information only participants in Adams’ crimes could have told them about.

It’s entirely possible that this indictment won’t be the final word on the charges the mayor faces. Prosecutors could still have deal offers on the table with some of Adams’ co-conspirators and witnesses who can provide investigators with information about additional crimes, and participants often emerge only after the target is charged. The indictment could be superseded in the future to add additional defendants or charges.

Jumaane Williams, the New York City Public Advocate, would become mayor by operation of law if Adams were to resign, but as of tonight, Adams continues to maintain vigorously that he will remain in office.

Public corruption cases are challenging to prosecute. Anyone who tells you they are easy has never tried one. And the Supreme Court has made them even more difficult over the past couple of decades by narrowing the types of conduct that qualify for prosecution under federal statutes, notoriously reversing convictions for defendants like Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell and top Chris Christie aides involved in the Bridgegate Scandal, and reversing some of the convictions a jury imposed on Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich. But prosecutors do not indict these cases cavalierly, and it’s almost a certainty that this indictment was flyspecked for accuracy by top prosecutors in the Southern District to ensure they were confident they could both obtain a conviction and sustain it on appeal, the conditions federal prosecutors must satisfy before they can bring an indictment.

Adams, who maintains his innocence, is due to be arraigned Friday morning, according to reports. He will enter a plea of not guilty, and the magistrate judge will decide then, or perhaps at a separate hearing shortly after, whether he will be permitted to remain out on bond. That seems likely since Adams wasn’t arrested at the time the indictment was announced.

Donald Trump tried to add Adams to the political witch hunt victims column today, saying he had predicted Adams would be indicted when Adams began complaining about migrants last year. “You take a look at what they do, these are dirty players. These are bad people,” the Washington Post reported Trump said at a news conference, although he acknowledged he was unfamiliar with the details of the indictment. No word on whether Adams welcomes Trump’s embrace.

This morning, as he announced the indictment, U.S. Attorney Williams called Adams’ crimes a “Grave breach of Public Trust,” saying, “We allege that these are bright red lines and the mayor crossed them again and again. For years.”

Williams referenced the obligation of prosecutors to pursue cases without fear or favor. Then he said something that will have resonated deeply with every current and former federal prosecutor, and especially people who have endured Trump’s claims—lies, all of them—that DOJ is biased against him. Williams said that his office was “not focused on right or left. Only on right or wrong.” “That,” Williams said, “is our duty, and we will fulfill it.”

That’s what we are entitled to expect from DOJ as citizens in a rule of law country. Honor, hard work, decency, and fidelity to the law.

We’re in this together,

Joyce