Monthly Story for August 2024

“Hot Enough for Ya?”

“Hot Enough for Ya?”
By Alan Smithee, June 3, 2025

The Economic Preservation Act of 2025 will soon go into effect. As is now common in this era where any random idea can be written as a law, passed through the Republican Congress to get Trump’s rubber stamp, the wording of the law is so nebulous that what is illegal will basically be left up to the Trump packed courts to decide what is illegal. The sponsors of the Act, (Representative Johnson, R-Utah, and Senator Gaber, R-Mississippi) say it will bring accountability to anyone, especially news outlets, who say things that negatively affect businesses, thus hurting the economy. But as pointed out by the many opponents of the Act, the law will apply even if what is said is demonstrably factual.

While the supporters say the Act is to protect businesses from slander from “anti-capitalist activists,” its real purpose is to protect oil companies from the facts of their involvement in climate change. Saying that burning fossil fuels causes climate change might lead some people to either limit their fossil fuel usage or to find an alternative, hurting the profits of oil companies, forcing them to cut back on their campaign donations to politicians. Therefore, such statements are now illegal and can result in a $1000 fine and even jail time for those who tell the truth. And since the wording of the law is so vague, even mentioning the weather is rather hot could – by an overzealous judge – be construed as promoting climate change and thus hurting oil company profits.

While the huge campaign donations to the sponsors from fossil fuel companies – in 2024 Representative Johnson received $49 million while Senator Gaber received $265 million – point to the real motives behind the law, there will be other corporate beneficiaries. If a news agency reports on a school shooting, that might hurt gun sales. Report that a company raises their prices “to offset inflation” while simultaneously giving their CEO a multibillion-dollar bonus, people might boycott them. Even boycotting for political reasons a company that gave millions of dollars in campaign donations to a hated politician, could – and probably will – be seen as breaking the law.

The climate crises will only get worse as those who fight to fix it are silenced. But something the CEOs of fossil fuel companies and the politicians who work for them fail to realize, is we are all on the same Earth-ship, and there aren’t any lifeboats. A rising tide could lift all of us, but a sinking ship will take all of us.