The man behind the curtain

Good Morning, OPAA! The sky is blue here in Orinda, and there are birds outside my window. Those two things are fact. And I want to talk about fact, and talk about bluster. Because those two things are not the same. There is a man in the oval office who is currently behaving like the King of Bluster. And this Bluster King is doing everything in his power to intimidate us. He is moving fast, he is moving aggressively, to demonstrate that he's in power and he can do as he likes.

But here's the truth. We are not yet a dictatorship, not in this country. And he may bluster away and sign Executive Orders to build damaging pipelines to fatten the pockets of his oil exec buddies, but that does not mean the pipelines will be built! There are many, many, many steps before a pipeline gets built. There is the US Army Corps of Engineers process, there is protest, there is lawsuits, and there is a very, very, very long construction schedule which allows time for our leaders to be elected out!

This article, by the very well written climate publication Grist, outlines some of those steps using Keystone as an example.

In the past two days, he has muzzled the scientists in the EPA and the scientists in the USDA, the very scientists who keep us safe, but that does not mean they will stay silent. Before he took office, there was a concerted movement among scientists to back up extraordinary amounts of climate data on non government computers, so that data could not be lost. And it will not be lost.

The Bluster King does not have a magic wand, and here in America we have principled, strong, amazing scientists and lawmakers, there are our First People, our university professors, principled business people, moms and dads. He has Congress behind him, and the Senate, but for two years only, and we have that whole time to show each and every rep that they will not remain in office if they stand against us, again and again. They may bluster with him, but we will stand, and they will fear for their positions.

So I'm saying to you this: Do not panic. Do not sit, watching Facebook, hour after hour to see the train wreck unfold. Because sometimes, much of the time, maybe even most of the time: that train wreck. It's smoke and mirrors. It's what he wants and what he's planned, but believe me, an order to build a wall does not equal an actual wall. An order to build a registry can not prevent 200 million Americans from registering themselves. We will stand, we will public comment, we will sue, we will defend, we will get creative, we will find ways, and we will do it together.

So this: the smoke and mirrors, the bluster, the fear mongering, the lie telling. Note it. Note it and do not panic. Plan. We'll do it together. But if we panic, if we bow to the fear, if we lash out and get distracted posting and posting to reflect all that smoke and all those mirrors back: we are playing into his hands. So post or twitter away- but with every "Congress did this" post, try, try to make sure you include information or questions - what will it take for this to actually become law? Who is an expert on this on our side? Where are our opportunities?

Because without that, we're just saying what the Bluster King wants us to say.