{"id":138302,"date":"2019-03-14T18:59:22","date_gmt":"2019-03-15T00:59:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/?p=138302"},"modified":"2019-03-14T18:59:22","modified_gmt":"2019-03-15T00:59:22","slug":"its-like-sometimes-they-dont-even-bother-to-pretend-they-arent-comic-book-villains","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2019\/03\/14\/its-like-sometimes-they-dont-even-bother-to-pretend-they-arent-comic-book-villains.html","title":{"rendered":"It&#8217;s like sometimes they don&#8217;t even bother to pretend they aren&#8217;t comic book villains"},"content":{"rendered":"<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">It&#39;s like sometimes they don&#39;t even bother to pretend they aren&#39;t comic book villains. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/wskAKRvxRe\">https:\/\/t.co\/wskAKRvxRe<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Dave Hill (@Three_Star_Dave) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Three_Star_Dave\/status\/1106213140226670592?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">March 14, 2019<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<blockquote><p>A top US official told a group of fossil fuel industry leaders that the Trump administration will soon issue a proposal making large portions of the Atlantic available for oil and gas development, and said that it is easier to work on such priorities because Donald Trump is skilled at sowing \u201cabsolutely thrilling\u201d distractions, according to records of a meeting obtained by the Guardian.<\/p>\n<p>Joe Balash, the assistant secretary for land and minerals management, was speaking to companies in the oil exploration business at a meeting of the International Association of Geophysical Contractors, or IAGC, last month.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Why, yes, let&#8217;s absolutely &#8220;drill, baby, drill&#8221; all along the Atlantic seaboard (except Florida, through special concession to its politically sensitive barely-tilting-GOP population). What could possibly go wrong?<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_138305\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-138305\" style=\"width: 500px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/oil-spill-gulf-of-mexico-from-deepwater-horizon.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-138305 size-full\" title=\"oil-spill-gulf-of-mexico-from-deepwater-horizon\" src=\"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/oil-spill-gulf-of-mexico-from-deepwater-horizon.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"374\" srcset=\"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/oil-spill-gulf-of-mexico-from-deepwater-horizon.jpg 500w, https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/oil-spill-gulf-of-mexico-from-deepwater-horizon-150x112.jpg 150w, https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/oil-spill-gulf-of-mexico-from-deepwater-horizon-300x224.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 500px) 85vw, 500px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-138305\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">A reminder of what could go wrong, courtesy of the Deepwater Horizon disaster<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Just as interesting was this bit, which I guess was the sort of thing one says behind not-quite-closed doors:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\u201cOne of the things that I have found absolutely thrilling in working for this administration,\u201d said Balash,\u201cis the president has a knack for keeping the attention of the media and the public focused somewhere else while we do all the work that needs to be done on behalf of the American people.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Which raises the question of whether Trump does outrageous stuff and folk who want to operate without the &#8220;attention of the public&#8221; take advantage of it to scurry out under his cover? Or is Trump intentionally playing the media and public to allow these folk to do their own thing without that &#8220;attention.&#8221;?<\/p>\n<p>In either case, it&#8217;s clear the Trump Administration focus is on cranking up American oil production as much as possible, which should make some large oil firms quite happy indeed.<\/p>\n<p><em>Do you want to know more?<\/em>\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/environment\/2019\/mar\/14\/offshore-drilling-trump-official-reveals-plan-and-distractions-delight?CMP=edit_2221\">US official reveals Atlantic drilling plan while hailing Trump\u2019s ability to distract public | Environment | The Guardian<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>With gleeful commentary about what a fine distraction the President is<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":138305,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[78,748,131,63,374,1071],"tags":[1798,723],"class_list":["post-138302","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-tweets","category-weather-and-climate-change","category-energy","category-environment","category-money-politics","category-trump","tag-drillbabydrill","tag-nt"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/oil-spill-gulf-of-mexico-from-deepwater-horizon.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":132627,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2017\/01\/24\/trump-restarts-the-dapl-and-keystone-xl-pipelines.html","url_meta":{"origin":138302,"position":0},"title":"Trump restarts the DAPL and Keystone XL pipelines","author":"***Dave","date":"Tue 24-Jan-17 9:52am","format":false,"excerpt":"Because of course he is. The tar sands must flow, and if they flow across and\/or into water supplies and aquifers, well, that's all part of Making America Oily Again.Trump once had a financial stake in DAPL[1], but it seems he sold off his stock in the various companies involved.,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;~PlusPosts&quot;","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":133521,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2017\/05\/20\/even-oil-companies-are-on-board-with-the-paris-agreement-will-trump-be.html","url_meta":{"origin":138302,"position":1},"title":"Even oil companies are on board with the Paris Agreement. Will Trump be?","author":"***Dave","date":"Sat 20-May-17 5:21pm","format":false,"excerpt":"Large global businesses fear one thing worse than legal restrictions on their business: uncertainty about the future. Having a known and understood framework for climate change issues is of value to global energy companies because it helps them direct their business and spending. Plus, y'know, not having civilization collapse due\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;~PlusPosts&quot;","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":131279,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2016\/08\/15\/donald-trump-tries-to-get-serious-on-foreign-policy.html","url_meta":{"origin":138302,"position":2},"title":"Donald Trump tries to get serious on foreign policy","author":"***Dave","date":"Mon 15-Aug-16 11:04pm","format":false,"excerpt":"He didn't mock any disabled people or toss many scandalous one-liners around, but his War on Terror speech is long on retreaded ideas and short on recognition of practical application.So, for example, he wants to have \"extreme vetting\" of immigrants from problematic areas of the world. This is to stop\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;~PlusPosts&quot;","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":133658,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2017\/06\/12\/because-of-course-trump-would-nominate-this-guy.html","url_meta":{"origin":138302,"position":3},"title":"Because of course Trump would nominate this guy","author":"***Dave","date":"Mon 12-Jun-17 8:20am","format":false,"excerpt":"Since if he's going to select someone to serve as the top environmental lawyer in the Justice Dept., why wouldn't Trump pick someone \"who has repeatedly challenged the scientific foundations of U.S. climate policy and was part of a legal team that represented BP in lawsuits stemming from the nation's\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;~PlusPosts&quot;","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":135783,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2018\/01\/09\/everyone-gets-offshore-oil-drilling-except-seems-florida.html","url_meta":{"origin":138302,"position":4},"title":"Everyone gets offshore oil drilling &#8230; except, it seems, Florida","author":"***Dave","date":"Tue 9-Jan-18 8:55pm","format":false,"excerpt":"After Trump's Interior Secretary Zinke announced that pretty much everywhere would now be open to offshore oil drilling (and it was also announced that a bunch of regulations put in place around offshore drilling in the aftermath of the BP oil disaster a few years back), there was a lot\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;~PlusPosts&quot;","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/unnamed-42.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":132624,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2017\/01\/24\/the-insecure-president.html","url_meta":{"origin":138302,"position":5},"title":"The Insecure President","author":"***Dave","date":"Tue 24-Jan-17 6:48am","format":false,"excerpt":"This isn't making a big public speech, or an off the cuff tweet. This is taking the opportunity to meet with leaders of Congress, in private, for the first time ... and kicking things off with a lengthy discussion of how he Really, Truly, Absolutely Won the Popular Vote (except\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;~PlusPosts&quot;","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/138302","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=138302"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/138302\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":138306,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/138302\/revisions\/138306"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/138305"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=138302"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=138302"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=138302"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}