Paine's warning to the Very Online: "The wise, and the worthy, need not the triumph of a pamphlet"

Waiting an hour to hear an announcer on the radio tell you that your school was opening one hour late that morning because of snow.

“The most enthusiastic are among the least prepared and least sophisticated,” said one industry official familiar with the general responses the White House is receiving from a variety of businesses. “Anyone with a degree of international sophistication is taking a more measured approach.”

So let's check in with Trump's treasury secretary, who said Thursday that "the big oil companies who move slowly, who have corporate boards, are not interested."

Who is? "Independent oil companies and individuals, wildcatters..."

www.politico.com/news/2026/01...

In related news, "the White House scrambled to expand a meeting with oil executives because of skepticism from the top oil majors," James Bikales writes.

“The White House is moving down their list of oil and gas companies to call because the larger companies just aren’t interested,” one person said

Venezuela used to produce 3 million barrels of oil a day (decades ago).

Even if you got back to that pace, at current global oil prices (about $60 barrels/day) it takes over 1.5 years to recover $100B. And that's assuming zero costs.

Also, Trump keeps predicting prices will drop.

"European leaders essentially sort of pick their battles in this environment, and unfortunately, the UNFCCC process isn't their biggest priority right now," said Susi Dennison, senior fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations.

In contrast, his policies on issues like crypto really did turn on a dime after tech billionaires opened their wallets and the Trump family began to benefit personality.

But it also seems worth noting that the oil industry spent way less than $1B supporting Trump's campaign, and even way less than Elon Musk spent personally.

Not that they didn't want that Biden rules repealed, etc. They certainly did. But he was going to do all that stuff anyway.

There's a certain Godfather I feeling to this past week of Trump diplomatic moves: "Today I settled all family business."

youtu.be/lQhtzI2aVEU?...

Scientists say the Earth cannot afford many three- to four-decade-long intervals before governments seriously address their carbon pollution.

And in this case, we are talking about the world's largest economy, its largest oil and gas producer, and (for the moment) the sole military superpower.