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rick santorum
CNN's Anderson Cooper Cancels Segment With Climate Report Author to Give Rick Santorum More Air Time
After being interviewed for Anderson Cooper 360°, Katharine Hayhoe’s interview about the latest national report on climate change never aired
Nov 29, 2018
Katharine Hayhoe, the director of the Texas Tech Climate Science Center, has been vocal about the Trump administration's shameful response to its own recent report on climate change. In part, that's because she helped write it.
Hayhoe co-authored the report with federal scientists from 13 different agencies, who concluded that the U.S. will warm at least three to six more degrees by the end of the century unless fossil fuel use is reduced significantly. The report also warns that sea level rise will result in mass migration and details how global warming has greatly exacerbated wildfires in the U.S.
Someone who is so well-placed to rebut the lies being put out by the White House about its report would seem like an ideal person for cable news shows to feature. But cable news is, well, cable news. That could explain why a recent segment Hayhoe taped for CNN's Anderson Cooper 360 didn't air during the show's initial broadcast, and instead got bumped online. The show did, however, find time to air more climate-denying commentary from far-right former-senator-turned-CNN-commentator Rick Santorum. Priorities, right?
Hayhoe told Common Dreams in an interview that she had flown to Palm Springs to give a TED Talk when CNN asked her to go to a studio for the interview. The idea was to have her dispute recent claims made by Santorum on CNN that climate change scientists are "driven by money." Hayhoe said CNN insisted on her coming in physically, rather than conducting a Skype interview like she had just done on New Day. The network even sent a car for her. Despite only having a two-hour window before an audio-visual check with TED, Hayhoe agreed, with the hope of fact-checking Santorum on the same network that aired his inaccuracies.
Yet instead of airing Hayhoe's interview on TV, CNN allowed Santorum to repeat on the lie that climate scientists are in it for the money, while acknowledging "a crisis". Santorum told Cooper, "There would be no chair of the head of climate studies at every university in America if we didn't have a crisis. These people make money because there's a crisis."
Santorum became a CNN senior political commentator in January 2017 and is paid to regularly espouse right-wing views, only occasionally disagreeing with the Republican line. Media Matters for America pointed out that, while Hayhoe was not paid anything for her participation in the creation of the National Climate Assessment, Santorum received $763,331 in Senate campaign contributions from the oil and gas industry between 1995 to 2007. Santorum also serves as a consultant for Consol, a gas and coal company in Pennsylvania.
"I did [the interview with Cooper] because I thought it was so important," Hayhoe told Common Dreams. "I understand breaking news and this is absolutely not the first time this has happened... The kicker is that they gave more airtime to Rick Santorum instead. That was really the issue... I understand if something doesn't fit in the program and you have to put it on later, but to say a climate scientist is on clearing the air and fact checking previous statements made on CNN--there's no time for that but there is time for that same person to get on and provide further disinformation that was the problem... Why give somebody more air to say more false statements if you really are a news program and you care about factual accuracy?"
Hayhoe went on to explain that interviews she was meant to conduct for All In with Chris Hayes in the past had also been canceled three times, "once when I was literally in a chair with that earpiece in my ear." In July of this year, Hayes actually tweeted that climate change was a "palpable ratings killer," when explaining why one of her segments had been dropped for a breaking news story.
The idea that an issue of such global and national significance--which played a role in California's deadliest wildfire on record, as well as the worst hurricanes the country has ever seen--could be dependent on ratings and replaced with outright climate denial should be of great concern to cable news audiences. But it's also nothing new.
Media Matters reported that, in 2017, news shows failed to link major weather events to climate change, but focused instead devoted its climate coverage to actions of the Trump White House. And while wildfires devastated California, the media watchdog group found that, in over 100 segments from those same networks, only 3.7 percent referenced climate change as playing a role.
In 2016, Media Matters reported that CNN gave almost five times as much airtime to ads for the American Petroleum Institute as it did to record-breaking temperatures in 2015 and early 2016. This didn't study didn't even include ads for Koch Industries that also aired during that time. When told about these last numbers, Hayhoe said, "You know what ad came on before my segment online? It was an ad for Shell."
About the idea that climate change was a "ratings killer," Hayhoe told Common Dreams that she felt Hayes' pain and appreciated his honesty, but did have suggestions as to how to make climate change interesting to the public. She took issue with the negative nature of the news in general, but highlighted the extreme nature of climate change in terms of scope and negativity in particular.
Fear and panic and despair is not going to fix this thing," she said. "Those are emotions that give us enough adrenaline to outrun the bear, but after that, it's just debilitating."
Instead, she believes the news could cover some of the positive steps being taken to address climate change, what she calls "rational hope." She pointed to a number of instances in which small projects are being implemented to help transform our global fossil fuel-based society, including: a town in Texas that relies on 100% wind and solar energy, a Chinese wind company that's hiring former coal miners in Wyoming to be technicians, a solar power firm manufacturer in San Antonio retraining unemployed oil workers, the bipartisan Climate Solutions Caucus in congress, and a 17-year-old creating algae biofuel in her bedroom. Hayhoe also underscored the fact that the latest National Climate Assessment actually does describe some of the initiatives being undertaken to reduce emissions.
"If you start going out and looking for these stories, you realize that we could fix this thing," Hayhoe said. "That's not a ratings killer. That makes you feel like wow, I didn't know that. That's great. Tell me more."
When asked why cable news seems to neglect climate change, Max Boykoff, director of the Center for Science and Technology Policy Research, told Common Dreams that part of the issue with climate change reporting is that it can seem like a long-term, distant threat, which can easily be overtaken by "whiplash journalism."
At the International Collective on Environment, Culture and Politics, Boykoff and others monitor 74 media sources in 38 countries about climate change coverage. Boykoff, said, "Often times people may think that this isn't something that needs to be dealt with right now by me. Part of a larger conversation is important work that needs to be done to reframe the ways we're considering how climate change is impacting us here in our daily lives and now in the present."
Common Dreams asked Hayhoe what she would say in her ideal cable news interview, to which she responded, "Climate change is right here right now affecting all of us and the more carbon we produce, the more serious the impact, but our future is in our hands. The choices that we make today will have a profound impact on the consequences that we experience over the next few decades and the rest of the century. We can avoid the most dangerous impacts if we act now and--this is really important because it's that rational hope--by doing so, we will create a better world for all of us where energy is abundant, where we have cleaner air and water, and a stable economy. It's a world that we want to live in and that's what fixing climate change is going to do for us."
We have reached out to both CNN and MSNBC about the Hayhoe's experience and will update this article if we hear back. Hayhoe's segment from Anderson Cooper 360deg can be found below:
CD Editor's note: This post has been updated from in an earlier version to include extensive new comment from Katharine Hayhoe.
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Rick Santorum Slammed for Suggesting Students Learn CPR Instead of Demanding Politicians Pass Reforms
The former Republican presidential candidate was rebuffed on CNN after he accused Parkland students of "looking to someone else to solve their problem"—by asking their elected representatives to represent their constituents' best interests
Mar 25, 2018
A day after hundeds of thousands of gun control advocates assembled across the U.S. and on every continent except Antarctica, former Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum demonstrated the refusal of many in Washington to confront gun violence with common-sense legislation, by dismissing reforms proposed by students and suggesting they learn CPR in case their schools are attacked.
"How about kids, instead of looking to someone else to solve their problem, do something about maybe taking CPR classes or trying to deal with situations that when there is a violent shooter that you can actually respond to that," Santorum said during a panel discussion on CNN's "State of the Union."
"I've got a kid who's going to be in high school next year," fellow CNN commentator Van Jones responded. "If his main way to survive high school is learning CPR so when his friends get shot--that to me, we've gone too far."
Host Brianna Keilar reminded the former Pennsylvania senator that the action-minded survivors of last month's school shooting in Parkland, Fla., have begun the nationwide #NeverAgain movement, organizing protests and engaging with their elected representatives in recent weeks--and could hardly be accused of sitting back and demanding that others solve their problems.
Watch:
On social media, other critics were less diplomatic than Jones.
With his suggestion, Santorum added his name to a growing list of gun rights advocates who have insisted in the wake of recent mass shootings that stricter regulations on gun ownership are not the solution to gun violence.
President Donald Trump and a number of Republican lawmakers urged states to arm teachers after last month's shooting in Parkland, Florida, which gave way to the student-led #NeverAgain movement. After 58 people were killed in the deadliest mass shooting in U.S. history in Las Vegas last fall, Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.) advised Americans to "get small" in the event of such an attack.
At Saturday's demonstration, students warned politicians who have accepted donations from gun lobbying groups like the NRA that if they don't take action to pass reforms--such as raising the minimum age for gun purchasers and banning high-capacity ammunition magazines and military-style semi-automatic weapons--young people will take action by voting them out of office.
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'Off the Charts' Violence Against Muslims Ravaging US Communities
New data confirms anecdotes of rising Islamophobic violence reflect nationwide trend
Dec 18, 2015
From an attack on a hijab-wearing sixth grader in the Bronx to the arson of a mosque near Palm Springs, reports of hate crimes targeting Muslims are more than troubling anecdotes but rather reflect a measurable nationwide rise in Islamophobic violence, according to two separate studies released this week.
Researchers with the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism at California State University (CSU) found that anti-Muslim hate crimes have tripled in the wake of the Paris and San Bernardino attacks.
According to The New York Times, which obtained the study ahead of its public release, there has been an average of 12.6 "suspected hate crimes" against U.S. Muslims per month for the past several years. But since the Paris attacks in mid-November, that monthly number has climbed to 38 attacks that are "anti-Islamic in nature."
Such crimes include arson and vandalism of mosques, shootings, and death threats.
"We are seeing an unbelievably toxic, anti-Muslim environment in our society that is being encouraged and exploited by public figures like Donald Trump, Ben Carson, Rick Santorum, and others."
--Ibrahim Hooper, Council on American-Islamic Relations.
"The terrorist attacks, coupled with the ubiquity of these anti-Muslim stereotypes seeping into the mainstream, have emboldened people to act upon this fear and anger," CSU researcher Brian Levin told Times reporter Eric Lichtblau.
While the researchers said the attacks have not quite reached the levels seen in the immediate aftermath of the September 11th, 2001 attacks, they identified similarities in the climate, including attacks on Sikh people falsely believed to be Muslim.
The university's data corroborates a report released this week by the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), which noted a severe rise in attacks on mosques, including vandalism, destruction, and intimidation.
CAIR said the 29 documented attacks on Mosques in 2015 is the highest annual number the advocacy organization has recorded since it began keeping track in 2009. The group noted that "November 2015 was the most significant spike, with a total of 17 mosque incidents, with all but 2 of those incidents occurring in the wake of the November 13 Paris terror attacks."
These attacks are not happening in a vacuum.
"We are seeing an unbelievably toxic, anti-Muslim environment in our society that is being encouraged and exploited by public figures like Donald Trump, Ben Carson, Rick Santorum, and others," Ibrahim Hooper, a spokesperson for CAIR, told Common Dreams. "This is leading to fresh incidents of hate crimes nationwide."
Hooper described the violence as "off the charts," adding: "I don't think we've seen the end of it."
Fresh incidents this week underscore the trends highlighted in both reports.
All schools in Augusta County, Virginia, were closed on Friday after a world geography class taught a lesson on Arabic calligraphy--which then prompted a racist and Islamophobic backlash.
And in Grand Rapids, Michigan, this week, a Sikh store clerk was reportedly called a "terrorist" and then shot in the face by an individual demanding money from the register.
Over the past month, people across the United States have staged rallies, vigils, and speak-outs against rising Islamophobic violence, including a mobilization in New York under the banner of "Human Rights Trump Oppression." Large numbers are expected to gather at a demonstration on Friday in San Francisco, organized by the Arab Organizing and Resource Center, calling for the "upholding of the dignity of communities."
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Christian Extremism Plagues World, Too
Where does this incredible smugness come from? Last week at the Values Voter Summit, former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum told an ostensibly Christian, very pro-war-with-Islam crowd that, though it took a millennium or two, Christianity was officially not as bad as the forces of "radical Islam."
Proving that irony is his middle name, Mr. Santorum contrasted the tolerance for religious and ideological differences one finds in the West against the lack of such freedoms in Islamic states as proof of the superiority of our values over theirs.
Oct 04, 2014
Where does this incredible smugness come from? Last week at the Values Voter Summit, former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum told an ostensibly Christian, very pro-war-with-Islam crowd that, though it took a millennium or two, Christianity was officially not as bad as the forces of "radical Islam."
Proving that irony is his middle name, Mr. Santorum contrasted the tolerance for religious and ideological differences one finds in the West against the lack of such freedoms in Islamic states as proof of the superiority of our values over theirs.
Mr. Santorum, who came in second during the 2012 Republican presidential nomination race and whom many believe is positioning himself for another run in 2016, said there is "a fundamental foundational problem in Islam of embracing issues of freedom of conscience and religious persecution."
Never mind the very inconvenient fact that Mr. Santorum has already gone on record describing the separation of church and state in this country as a liberal distortion of the founders' intentions. When you look at Mr. Santorum's positions on birth control, gay marriage and whether the Supreme Court's decision to strike down sodomy laws is correct, his newfound devotion to "freedom of conscience" sounds a teeny bit hollow.
But the comment that returned Mr. Santorum to the headlines played to the crowd's overweening sense of self-righteousness: "Christendom [once] expanded by the sword, that doesn't happen anymore," he said. "You don't have any Baptist ministers going on jihad."
What a line, right? Finally, a quip that neatly separates the forces of light (The West/Christianity) from the forces of darkness (Islam). Finally, a distillation of history that is irrefutable in the face of the barbarism of the Islamic State.
Who would argue, Mr. Santorum seemed to be saying, that compared to ISIS/ISIL/Islamic State, the most dangerous Christian fundamentalist militia member would be laughed out of the Terror Olympics for showing up with only one or two abortion doctors' scalps under his belt?
This is what this line of argument boils down to: Because our tribe is no longer currently engaged in religious wars in Europe, Inquisitions, expelling Jews from Western countries, condoning slavery, committing genocide of aboriginal people or forcing Muslims to "convert or die" (sorry, Ann Coulter), we have it all over them.
"Lord, thank you for making us righteous Westerners with a Christian conscience and a secular democracy and not like those brutish Muslims over there," we say in smug defiance of our very long and bloody history.
And while it is technically true that you won't find American Baptists going on jihads, you will find them and other denominational ministers advising, say, the Uganda government on how best to keep its homosexual population in line, up to and including the death penalty as prescribed in Deuteronomy and Leviticus.
While persecution based on sexual identity pales next to what the Islamic State would do to those who don't adhere to its ideological/religious line, it really is a difference of scale and degree of oppression. If you're the victim of either one, you're none too happy about it, though I'm sure most would rather take their chances with Christian fascism.
I knew a lot of fellow Christians in the 1980s who wanted to see Old Testament biblical law imposed eventually on all of American civil society. Fortunately, their fantasy went nowhere, though it still echoes in the fringier regions of the Republican/Tea Party coalition. I'm sure folks with those views applauded Mr. Santorum's quip the most enthusiastically.
Another reason I found Mr. Santorum's statement odd is that it completely ignored the recent history of Christian jihads. Orthodox Christians didn't exactly turn the other cheek in Bosnia. The "troubles" between Protestants and Catholics in Northern Ireland ended only recently after decades of bloodshed. OK, no "Baptists" in either group, but plenty of Christians are walking around with blood on their hands.
This is obviously not exclusive to Christians or Muslims. Buddhists, Hindus and Muslims have had wars in Asia, too. Before there were any religions, humans had what Nietzsche called a "Will to Power." Cruelty, whether religiously inspired or not, is what humans do.
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Rick Santorum Thinks Pregnancy Through Rape is God's Gift? Seriously?
As a lapsed Catholic turned atheist, a staunch feminist and someone who has a strong general aversion to sleazy, disingenuous men, I was shocked yesterday to find myself feeling something like respect for Rick Santorum, Pope Benedict XVI and Piers Morgan all in the space of three minutes.
Jan 24, 2012
As a lapsed Catholic turned atheist, a staunch feminist and someone who has a strong general aversion to sleazy, disingenuous men, I was shocked yesterday to find myself feeling something like respect for Rick Santorum, Pope Benedict XVI and Piers Morgan all in the space of three minutes.
The three minutes in question are a clip from Morgan's interview with Santorum on the former's CNN talk show. In it, Santorum declares that even if his own daughter were raped - a hypothetical scenario both men manage to discuss with remarkable calm - the Roman Catholic presidential candidate would maintain his adamantly pro-life position regarding abortion.
I sincerely feel a tiny, grudging mote of respect for that degree of consistency. As anti-choice zealots go, those who will take the "baby killer" argument to its extreme appeal to me slightly more than those who can say with a straight face that abortion is murder, except when the woman didn't want to have sex.
Of course, that's the beginning and the end of my respect for Santorum, who had the gall to tell Morgan that his opposition to legal abortion is "not a matter of religious values". He insists that it's founded on his interpretation of the US constitution, as opposed to his interpretation of the teachings of Jesus Christ: "[L]ife begins at conception and persons are covered by the constitution, and because human life is the same as a person, to me it was a pretty simple deduction to make that that's what the constitution clearly intended to protect."
Hang on, I need a moment. Reading those words just gave me a bad flashback to tutoring hopeless freshman composition students in a university writing lab.
We're to believe that Santorum's desire to overturn Roe v Wade is "not a matter of religious values", yet, when discussing a hypothetical pregnancy by rape just moments later, he says: "I believe and I think that the right approach is to accept this horribly created, in the sense of rape, but nevertheless, in a very broken way, a gift of human life, and accept what God is giving to you." ("In the sense of rape." Deep breaths, Kate.) "Gift from God," "person under the law" - why quibble about semantic differences? The point is: Life! Glorious life! Santorum will defend it!
And here's where my blip of respect for Morgan comes along. "I know that your position is - correct me if I'm wrong - that you believe in the sanctity and the innocence of life. How do you equate that with supporting the death penalty?" he asks. Boo-yah! I dearly wish more American reporters would put that question to self-styled "pro-life" candidates who evince little interest in the sanctity of human life ex utero.
That brings us to my smidgen of respect for Pope Benedict XVI - and for that matter, John Paul II before him - for making it clear that Catholic doctrine, in a moment of convergence with common sense, holds that a pro-life position contraindicates revenge-killing born people. "It cannot be overemphasized that the right to life must be recognised in all its fullness," Pope Benedict said in 2009, praising the abolition of the death penalty in Mexico. So at least in that one respect, Santorum can truthfully say that his political intentions are not based on his professed religious values.
Still, if you can't even speak for a whole minute on a political issue without invoking "God's will" as a supporting argument, you have no business running for president of a country whose constitution actually - no weasel words or tortured logic necessary to make this case - enshrines freedom of religion. That alone should be enough to make any American who truly loves liberty and the vision of the "founding fathers" lose all respect for Rick Santorum as a politician.
But if you're not persuaded by that, just try remembering that he said becoming pregnant by a rapist is a gift from God. Out loud. With a camera on him. And he wants to be president of a country that has women in it.
What does this man have to do to get drummed out of the race?
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