Senate Democrats passed the American Rescue Plan to ensure Rhode Islanders get the comprehensive help they need during the pandemic. Here’s what it does:

The mistakes I have urged that we must not repeat are: failing to look back when you must; failing to address the toxic flood of dark money into our politics; failing to use or even give an honest look at obvious legal tools at our disposal; and now, the final one, just walking away from an important fight.

God bless Nancy Pelosi and her team, particularly Henry Waxman and Ed Markey, for getting the “cap and trade” climate bill passed by the House in 2009. It was a serious climate bill, the only serious climate bill ever passed by either…

Another missed climate opportunity in the Obama administration came from DOJ. It is well documented that the fossil fuel climate denial apparatus was developed from the tobacco industry’s scheme to deny its own product’s dangers. The tobacco denial operation’s people, organizations and tactics were taken up by the fossil fuel industry and switched over to climate denial. Consider the likelihood that there is a legitimate field of study comprising expertise in how tobacco is not actually bad for your health and how fossil fuel emissions don’t actually damage the planet’s climate. …

Congress has failed to act on climate change because of dark money, the weapon of choice of the fossil fuel industry used to obstruct climate progress and destroy climate bipartisanship. Another mistake made in the last administration was to let dark money loose in our system.

The dark money issue arose after five Republican Justices used the 2010 Citizens United decision to set unlimited special-interest money loose in our elections. Able to spend unlimited money, big donors now saw an urgent need for anonymous spending, to hide their identities and thus their motives. …

Joe Biden and Kamala Harris accomplished what we Democrats yearned for over four long dark years: they defeated the most dangerous and destructive president in modern history. Now they face the task of building back, better. It is an enormous challenge that will require support and honest counsel from fellow Democrats, as well as an honest assessment of past mistakes.

Democrats, including us progressives, possess some unhelpful traits. We can be a herd of cats. We can fixate on process and rules, while our opponents amass power. We can create purity-testing circular firing squads, splintering over differences in ways that…

I am grateful to be safe after Wednesday’s terrorist attack on the Capitol. Thank you to all those who asked. I know that many of you are interested in what it was like being in the Capitol during the siege, so I want to share my experience and takeaways.

At first, the crowd seemed like a normal group of protestors. Then I watched as the group begin to rush in like water through a broken dam.

Senators were evacuated to a nearby building where we waited until Capitol Police gained control over the Capitol and restored order. …

Dear Friends,

Thank you for joining me virtually at the eleventh annual Rhode Island Energy, Environment & Oceans Leaders Day. Despite the challenges this year has posed, we were able to adapt to the circumstances and come together for an inspiring and successful event. Our audience, speakers, and panelists contributed to a dialogue on emerging policy solutions, and I greatly appreciate the passion and expertise each of you brought to the table.

This year, we welcomed guests with backgrounds in environmental activism, federal policymaking, and international climate strategy. The conversations we had can be the start of greater change, and…

To put it mildly, I am not the sort of person who provokes infatuation. I know, surprise, right? :-) I’m just not the type. Pretty dull, I confess. So the recent infatuation with me at the WSJ Polluter Page is, well . . . weird.

See their last two editorials for context:

To make matters weirder, by the time of the second editorial I had already answered all of their questions.

If I’m not the infatuating type, something else must be provoking them.

Perhaps the Senate court capture report?

My testimony to the House Judiciary Committee?

Or all my…