Jake Johnson at Common Dreams writes—Environmentalists Slam 'Climate Criminal' Rex Tillerson for Spreading More Lies During Testimony in Exxon Trial:
Environmentalists on Wednesday accused former Secretary of State Rex Tillerson—who served as CEO of ExxonMobil from 2006 to 2016—of continuing to lie about the fossil fuel giant's approach to climate change during his testimony in the historic New York v. Exxon trial.
The landmark securities fraud case, brought by New York Attorney General Letitia James, alleges that Exxon knowingly deceived shareholders about the financial costs of the climate crisis.
Tillerson denied that charge during his testimony, insisting that Exxon knew the climate crisis "was a real issue" and took it seriously.
"We would be misinforming ourselves," Tillerson said when asked if Exxon had an incentive to downplay the costs of climate change.
Lindsay Meiman, senior regional communications specialist at 350.org, strongly rejected Tillerson's account.
"Just now, at the New York County Supreme Court, former Exxon CEO Rex Tillerson spewed more deception claiming Exxon executives took the risks of climate change seriously, yet, in the same breath, denied the need to keep fossil fuels in the ground," Meiman wrote in an email to supporters.
"Absurdly, during his tenure at Exxon, Rex had a secret alias: Wayne Tracker," said Meiman. "Tillerson used his Wayne Tracker pseudonym to communicate all things related to climate change. He then left his Exxon post to serve as Trump's Secretary of State before getting the boot from the increasingly oily and corrupt administration. This guy is as shady as it gets."
Tillerson was not asked about the "Wayne Tracker" alias during his testimony.
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(Betsy Connolly, a veterinarian, tweeted that when they are frightened, horses seek out their herd mates, even if it means running into a burning barn. “Horses live by a code: Stronger together.”)
BLAST FROM THE PAST
At Daily Kos on this date in 2009—On the difficulty of keeping ducks in a row:
Why has it historically been so tough to keep House progressives standing strong and using the leverage of their voting bloc to extract concessions on important legislation the way Blue Dogs have been able to?
Part of the reason is that progressive elected officials occupy a portion of the political spectrum that generally leaves them insulated from most accountability to progressive voters. In other words, they're protected to some degree by the "where else are they gonna go?" factor.
That's why progressive grassroots activists have come to expect their elected officials to eventually and in most every case, end up making the "best deal we could get" argument in support of their ultimate abandonment of principles clearly stated in the earlier stages of the process.
On today’s Kagro in the Morning show: Still more deposition testimony today, as Republicans surrender their low ground on Vindman. Greg Dworkin reminds us that primaries are still a thing & Joan McCarter says so are actual elections. Plus her reminder that another shutdown still looms.
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