The main purpose of this ongoing blog will be to track global extreme or record temperatures related to climate change. Any reports I see of ETs will be listed below the main topic of the day. I’ll refer to extreme or record temperatures as ETs (not extraterrestrials).😜
Main Topic: Honoring Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Marked by a Fight Against Trump’s Authoritarianism
Dear Diary. This has always been a special day in my book because Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. made his home in my hometown of Atlanta. The King Center is located here as are many historic buildings in association with Dr. King such as Ebenezer Baptist Church and his home from the 1960s. Here is what I wrote last year when I started to have a negative attitude about the future of our society because of Trump’s second inauguration with links to posts from many of my prior MLK day posts. Man, the past year has definitely spiraled downward because of Trump:
Dr. King continues to roll over in his grave because Trump and his acolytes are trashing our democracy via racist ICE raids and continued disparaging of minorities by his MAGA followers. Its cringe worthy to note that we might not have a free and fair election in this year due to the rise of fascistic autocracy. And oh yes, our NATO alliance and world peace in general is threatened because of saber rattling over Greenland.
Dr. King like Jesus would say that you would know them by how they treat the least of these, and immigrants are the lowest group on the societal totem pole these days. Next are minorities like trans people and homosexuals, of which I am a member. Trans people have been harassed more than usual in the past year. Being a true Christian, Dr. King would be appealed at what Christian Nationalists are trying to do to this country.
As far as climate justice goes, Trump has done all predicted by yours truly from a year ago and then some. Trump removed the U.S. from the climate Paris Accords. The Environmental Protection Agency, which has been paired down, no longer considers carbon to be an air pollutant because of Trump. Fossil Fuel interests continue to be free to run roughshod over poor people living across the Gulf Coast where facilities like refineries are polluting neighborhoods. Those seeking justice and compensation for carbon pollution are getting stopped in their tracks from a Trump packed court system. Don’t forget that Trump tilted the Supreme Court toward fascistic conservative injustice via right wing appointments during his first term. He is likely to cement a conservative Supreme Court with a couple more young appointees during his second term to replace Judge Thomas and Judge Alito, who are currently in their 70s.
As long as I am able, I will report on changes to our society affected by climate going forward through Trump’s second term.
This year I am reposting some thoughts from Conor Lab to commemorate this particular MLK Day:
An MLK sermon to lift our spirits. – Conor Lamb
And a speech to the teachers’ union.
Jan 19, 2026
This weekend I was invited to address members of PSEA, a Pennsylvania teachers’ union. My sister is a member and my grandfather voted for their existence when he was in the legislature, so it was a special invitation for me. The remarks below acknowledge something I had hard time identifying with when I was in Congress: the sense of despair, the feeling of being up against a brick wall, that a lot of people are feeling now. The lack of hope. When you’re running for and trying to hold a contested seat like I did, it helps to stay positive. As a citizen, it’s harder for me to find the positive angle, but still the work must get done. In the excerpt below I talk about the sermon from Reverend King that always lifts my spirit. Have a great MLK Day!
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When I last spoke to you it was 2022, and I felt a lot more optimistic. We had just beaten Trump in 2020. It seemed like we turned a corner. . . . And then we got 2024. It was like what we accomplished just didn’t matter in people’s eyes.
Of course, I learned in my own race that what you do in Washington doesn’t always resonate even inside your own party. The guy who won that year – we don’t need to say his name – he now attacks the same people who supported him. He was always a mirage. But it’s harder and harder to tell the difference between what’s real and what isn’t anymore, isn’t it?
Being out of office has made me think more about the role of a citizen, the role we all have. Does it ever feel to you like we’re citizens of a different country now than the one we were raised in? Like we’re in a hall of mirrors?
I think all the time about how in 2009, not that long ago, I went to basic training for the Marines. I knew there would be shouting and sleep deprivation but I didn’t know about the enormous amount of time we would spend just talking about the concept of integrity. There was an official Marine Corps definition, something like “the quality of being honest and having strong moral principles.” We were told over and over integrity was something every leader has to have, above all else.
And now, like you, every day I see a president with no integrity. Dishonesty is his defining trait. He’s filled his administration and in his party with people who don’t have the integrity to challenge him or stop him. I’ll admit this is depressing for me. It’s disorienting. It’s like being up against a brick wall.
None of us know if this can be changed. If our efforts to change it will be “worth it.” But we take it on faith. Since you last saw me, I became a part-time teacher. My main class is called “Faith and Democracy.”
With MLK Day coming up I thought I’d mention that one of the most important things in my class is a sermon called “But if not” that Reverend King gave in 1967. The year is important because by 1967 you’d think he’d be happy with the results of his work. He got the Civil Rights Act passed in 1964 and the Voting Rights Act in 1965. But by 1967, he was traveling all around the country and seeing how racism and poverty were still so widespread. I think he felt like a failure at times.
The sermon is around 23 minutes long and it’s on YouTube. It always cures what ails me. The title “But if not” refers to the Old Testament story of three men who are taken prisoner because they won’t bow down to a king. They’re threatened with being thrown into a fiery furnace, but they say they know God can save them from the furnace if they refuse to bow. Then comes the important part. They say, we know that He can save us, but if not – if we are not saved – we still refuse to bow.
That’s faith. We used to talk about hope in politics (2008), but this is faith. And I don’t only mean religious faith. The Marine Corps motto is Semper Fidelis, “always faithful.” It implies there’s something about our country to be faithful to.
Something made you dedicate your lives to the idea of an education for every child, no matter who they are. For the veterans in the room, something filled you up the moment you raised your right hand and committed your life to the defense of the Constitution. No one asked if they individually would make the difference.
We’re up against people who don’t hesitate, they just act. An ICE agent commits a homicide on camera, for all of us to see. The same day, Stephen Miller and others are out there saying we didn’t see that. They want to prosecute the widow instead of the officer! We are, in fact, up against a brick wall. They’re determined to convince people this democracy can’t work – because of crime, or fraud, or immigrants, or stolen elections – so they can take our democracy away. That’s what’s going on.
So really the only question is, are we more determined than they are? Do we want this democracy to work more than they want it to fail? If we do, the feeling of hopelessness is a passing stage, and our faith can carry us through.
I don’t say this lightly. I believe the country that JD Vance and Stephen Miller would turn us into has no need for your services. They simply don’t believe that all of us are created equal. With that view why would you have excellent public schools? The people with inherited wealth don’t need them. The might-makes-right people don’t want them.
You and your union are better positioned than almost anyone to help people see what is really at stake here. Do not ever doubt your ability to connect with people based on your example of public service. They will see your faith. They will see it’s not just about the union, that you have volunteered to be a lifeline for the children you serve. Those children need you and they need all of us. That’s why we’re in this together. Thank you.
Here are some “ETs” recorded from around the planet the last couple of days, their consequences, and some extreme temperature outlooks, as well as any extreme precipitation reports:
(None so far today)
Here is More Climate News from Monday:
(As usual, this will be a fluid post in which more information gets added during the day as it crosses my radar, crediting all who have put it on-line. Items will be archived on this site for posterity. In most instances click on the pictures of each tweet to see each article. The most noteworthy items will be listed first.)