Day Against Denial

Checking in from recently cold Philadelphia! I was able to attend monday’s Day Against Denial march in downtown Philadelphia as part of 350.org’s concenrted nationwide efforts to draw attention to the inadequacy of many of Trump’s appointees for cabinet positions.

Joining a group of people outside Senator Robert Casey’s office at 2000 Market St, letters and speeches were delivered to the senator’s office before we marched towards city hall, then ended at Senator Patrick Toomey’s office on JFK Boulevard with more speeches and hopes to organize future events.

First among the demands of the group: much closer inspection of the numerous conflicts of interest facing Trump’s cabinet appointees.

• Rex Tillerson, CEO of ExxonMobil, for Secretary of State
• Ryan Zinke, Republican representative from Monatan, as Secretary of the Interior
• Rick Perry, former Texas governor, as Secretary of Energy.
• Rick Pruitt, Attorney general of Oklahoma, as director of the Environmental Protection Agency.

Long story short, these candidates are unqualified for these positions, and at worst (ahem, Mr. Pruitt), have actively tried to dismantle the agencies they are now being called on to lead. Besides

And so, having made our displeasure known, the march disbanded for the time being. Future projects include: revision of a proposed SEPTA natural gas power generation plant in Nicetown (preliminary findings: this plant is planned only to satisfy the natural gas merchants who occupy SEPTA board positions) and another divestment march, co-planned with People’s Climate Movement, for 29 April in Washington DC.