Part One:
THE FUTURE OF ENERGY
We rethink the future of energy with John Farrell, director of the Energy Democracy Initiative. Farrell describes how smaller-scale green energy projects can be more efficient than large centralized planning for a national electricity “grid.” Small local stands of solar panels can provide the energy needed to energize the homes and businesses in their area. Accordingly, most states do not have to look outside their borders in order to meet their electricity needs.
Democratizing the electricity system can also have economic advantages. Our country can and should support locally-owned renewable energy development. The next time Congress considers a COVID relief bill, it should include a provision to support 30 million solar rooftops. This way, we can help pull the country out of its public health emergency and, at the same time, take a step toward improving our energy future by beginning a transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy.
Part Two:
DONALD TRUMP’S WAR ON TRUTH.
We talk about Trump’s two streams of mendacity with Mel Goodman, professor of government at Johns Hopkins University and senior fellow at the Center for International Policy. First, Trump *denies* any facts that paint him in a bad light, calling them “fake news,” “witch hunts,” and “deep state” conspiracies. Just as damaging, he spreads *disinformation,* totally fabricating imaginary stories to demonize anyone who disagrees with him.
Most recent is Trump’s war on the federal government’s investigators and law enforcement officers: the FBI, CIA, Justice Department, and now the Inspectors General of a series of key government agencies. These watchdog officers are responsible for holding the government accountable for its actions. They have done their investigatory duty, and have identified corruption; agency abuses of their legal authority; and other wrongdoing in the Trump administration. The reward for daring to provide an objective assessment of the facts? “You’re fired.”
THE MEDIA IS NOT DOING ITS JOB OF POINTING OUT THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN TRUE FACTS AND TRUMP’S LIES?
We discuss how the mainstream media are failing to inform the public adequately about how Trump “shoots the messenger” whenever law enforcement tries to speak truth to power. Instead, the media actually *enhance* Pres. Trump’s propaganda campaigns. This same kind of free media – amplifying Trump’s fact-free ideas – was largely responsible for giving him the presidency in 2016.
Even the venerable New York Times – aka “the newspaper of record” – has fallen into the trap of amplifying Trump’s voice and failing to point out the unpleasant questions about the president’s credibility. Recently, The Times put on its front page – above the fold (a prime location for important news) a recitation of another Trump stunt, a fictional charge which Trump called “Obamagate.” Meanwhile, the same day, a very important article was relegated to an inside page (p. 9) – the story of Trump’s firing of the Inspector General at the Department of State, for the sole reason that the IG had begun an investigation into allegations of wrongdoing by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.
The purge of these experienced civil servants – and the lack of public accountability for the purges – will not only do short-term damage to the IGs’ important responsibilities on behalf of the American people, but it will do long-term damage to the essential activities of their departments and agencies. Going forward, the task of rehabilitating the federal government will be enormous and enormously expensive. The legitimate news media – the so-called “fourth branch of government” – must do a better job of giving the American people the objective truth, and pointing out the fictions when “the emperor has no clothes.”
