It was quite a week last week—Kavanaugh slid into to the Supreme Court, perhaps sealing the fate for decades of important progressive court cases. A week in which victims of sexual abuse were ridiculed, called an angry mob. A week in which Tyndall Air Force Base was all but destroyed by a hurricane made severe because of unusually warm Gulf water. Most importantly for this president—a week in which Kanye West dropped the F bomb in the same Oval Office once occupied by Abraham Lincoln. Cool! Then there was that big wonky report which culminated three years of scientific research written and peer reviewed by scientists throughout the world. It predicted increasing severity of droughts, wildfires; food shortages that by 2030 could make millions more immigrants. Yikes! In between rallies Trump took a few minutes to comment on this report. It was given to me and I want to look at who drew it because I can give you reports that aren’t so good. But I will be looking at it. Absolutely. In contrast, Kanye West story got lots of press. Many Americans are mesmerized by Trump’s current claim that Democrats are dangerous, unfit to govern. He repeated that mantra at the 30th rally he’s attended since becoming president, his fans again shouting Lock her up. Lock who up? Hillary? Feinstein? Dr. Blasey Ford? All women who tell the truth? It gets confusing.

The International Governmental Panel on Climate Change has issued a dire warning that we must work to reduce our net greenhouse emissions to net zero by 2050 to avert the kind of planetary injury that could doom even human beings. This information, if true, is no fun. Boasting works, lying is easy, and ignoring one of the most important documents to surface in years will hopefully make that bad news go away.

Bruce Poliquin now tries to sound like Trump both in style and substance, even though he never admitted he would vote for him in 2016. Parroting the reckless style of this Administration, he recently debated Jared Golden and constantly called him Liar! Radical socialist—in hopes to evoke knee jerk responses of anyone preferring a Celebrity Apprentice approach to governance. But back to that IPCC report. Bruce was no doubt relieved that the debate moderator never even mentioned climate change. If he had, Poliquin would have ridiculed it, dismissed it, changed the subject. But Jared Golden would have addressed it in some detail, having thought about it and been advised by people who know the facts. Poliquin’s obvious response to that answer would have been Liar! Radical socialist!

Re-electing Bruce Poliquin is as dangerous as supporting this president.

Beverly Roxby lives in Belfast