On Thursday, Nashville Mayor Megan Barry issued a statement criticizing President Trump’s withdrawal from the Paris Climate Agreement, which, in effect, declared that as mayor she will not be bound by Article 1, Section 10 of the United States Constitution, which prohibits state governments specifically, and metropolitan governments within states by extension, from entering “into any treaty, alliance, or confederation.”
“The United States of America should be a global leader in addressing the dire impact of climate change on our civilization, and it is very disappointing that President Trump does not see that. As a member of the Global Covenant of Mayors for Climate and Energy, I am committed to meeting the goals of the Paris Agreement by reducing our greenhouse gas emissions, and working with corporations and citizens to do the same, even if the President is not. There’s too much at stake for cities not to lead on this issue, and Nashville will,” Barry said in the statement.
“In 2016, Mayor Barry formed the Livable Nashville Committee, comprised of leaders from Nashville’s public, private, environmental, academic, and philanthropic sectors, and charged its members with developing a shared vision for protecting and enhancing Nashville’s livability and environmental quality. Draft recommendations, which include reductions in greenhouse gas emissions, are available to review,” the statement added.
Barry emphasized her statement with this tweet:
If @POTUS won’t lead on Climate Change, cities must. Working w/ @Mayor4Climate to do just that. #ParisAgreement https://t.co/KurB7iYZPP
— Megan Barry (@MayorMeganBarry) June 1, 2017
The Global Covenant of Mayors, to which Mayor Barry has pledged her allegiance, “is an international alliance of cities and local governments with a shared long-term vision of promoting and supporting voluntary action to combat climate change and move to a low emission, resilient society,” according to its website.
The Global Covenant of Mayors for Climate & Energy formally brings together the Compact of Mayors and the European Union’s Covenant of Mayors, the world’s two primary initiatives of cities and local governments to advance their transition to a low emission and climate resilient economy, and to demonstrate their global impact.
The Compact of Mayors was a global coalition of mayors and city officials pledging to reduce local greenhouse gas emissions, enhance resilience to climate change, and to track their progress transparently. The Compact was launched in September of 2014 by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and his Special Envoy for Cities and Climate Change, Michael R. Bloomberg. The Compact was activated under the leadership of the global city networks — C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group (C40), ICLEI – Local Governments for Sustainability (ICLEI) and the United Cities and Local Governments (UCLG) — and with support from UN-Habitat, the UN’s lead agency on urban issues.
Created in 2008 to implement the EU’s 2020 climate and energy targets, the Covenant of Mayors has firm commitments of over 6800 cities in 58 countries resulting in Action Plans with an investment of over €110 billion.
Like a number of liberal mayors of cities around the United States, mostly Democrats, Barry also signed the “Statement from The Climate Mayors in Response to President Trump’s Withdrawal from the Paris Climate Agreement,” released on the same day.
The President’s denial of global warming is getting a cold reception from America’s cities.
As 187 US Mayors representing 52 million Americans, we will adopt, honor, and uphold the commitments to the goals enshrined in the Paris Agreement. We will intensify efforts to meet each of our cities’ current climate goals, push for new action to meet the 1.5 degrees Celsius target, and work together to create a 21st century clean energy economy.
We will continue to lead. We are increasing investments in renewable energy and energy efficiency. We will buy and create more demand for electric cars and trucks. We will increase our efforts to cut greenhouse gas emissions, create a clean energy economy, and stand for environmental justice. And if the President wants to break the promises made to our allies enshrined in the historic Paris Agreement, we’ll build and strengthen relationships around the world to protect the planet from devastating climate risks.
The world cannot wait — and neither will we.
Two other mayors of Tennessee cities, Madeline Rogero of Knoxville and Andy Berke of Chattanooga, have joined Barry as signators on the “Climate Mayors” statement.
In effect, these “Climate Mayors” declared their own foreign policy, in direct opposition to the duly elected President of the United States, who, unlike them, has the constitutional authority to determine the country’s foreign policy.
Constitutional law experts around the country have stated that such declarations are in direct violation of Article 1, Section 10 of the Constitution of the United States.
“The fact that the sun rose again this morning was less predictable than the media-Democrat hysteria over President Trump’s entirely reasonable decision to pull the United States out of the Paris Convention on climate change. The decision was clearly right on the merits: The pact, which would do nothing meaningful to address global temperatures, is an exercise in progressive preening, touted by hypocrites who zip to and from climate confabs in their private jets — the kind of “Do as I say, not as I do” lovers of humanity (but loathers of people) who never take one plane when two are available,” former assistant U.S. Attorney Andrew McCarthy wrote at National Review on Friday.
President Trump’s decision should have been obvious and indisputable, not momentous. That it was not is a measure of detachment from our constitutional moorings.
The Paris Convention is a treaty. Under the Constitution, a treaty does not become law binding on the United States unless the president submits it to the Senate, obtains two-thirds approval there, and then ratifies the treaty. (Contrary to popular belief, the Senate does not ratify treaties; the president does the ratifying, but only if the Senate has consented.) That never happened to the climate agreement. It never had a chance of happening. . .
The Left’s objective was to impose the Paris agreement without making Democratic office-seekers accountable for it. That is exactly what the Constitution is designed to prevent.
Several Democratic governors also decided to oppose the President’s foreign policy, by forming “The United States Climate Alliance.”
“In response to President Trump’s decision to withdraw from the Paris Climate Agreement, New York Governor Andrew M. Cuomo, California Governor Edmund G. Brown Jr., and Washington State Governor Jay R. Inslee today announced the formation of the United States Climate Alliance, a coalition that will convene U.S. states committed to upholding the Paris Climate Agreement and taking aggressive action on climate change,” they said in a statement released on Thursday:
“The White House’s reckless decision to withdraw from the Paris Climate Agreement has devastating repercussions not only for the United States, but for our planet. This administration is abdicating its leadership and taking a backseat to other countries in the global fight against climate change,” said Governor Cuomo. “New York State is committed to meeting the standards set forth in the Paris Accord regardless of Washington’s irresponsible actions. We will not ignore the science and reality of climate change which is why I am also signing an Executive Order confirming New York’s leadership role in protecting our citizens, our environment, and our planet.”
New York, California, and Washington, representing over one-fifth of U.S. Gross Domestic Product, are committed to achieving the U.S. goal of reducing emissions 26-28 percent from 2005 levels and meeting or exceeding the targets of the federal Clean Power Plan.
“The President has already said climate change is a hoax, which is the exact opposite of virtually all scientific and worldwide opinion,” said Governor Brown. “I don’t believe fighting reality is a good strategy – not for America, not for anybody. If the President is going to be AWOL in this profoundly important human endeavor, then California and other states will step up.”
“I am proud to stand with other governors as we make sure that the inaction in D.C. is met by an equal force of action from the states,” said Governor Inslee. “Today’s announcement by the president leaves the full responsibility of climate action on states and cities throughout our nation. While the president’s actions are a shameful rebuke to the work needed to protect our planet for our children and grandchildren, states have been and will continue to step up.”
“With input from all participants, the U.S. Climate Alliance will also act as a forum to sustain and strengthen existing climate programs, promote the sharing of information and best practices, and implement new programs to reduce carbon emissions from all sectors of the economy,” the statement concluded.
[…] Barry’s commitment to “meeting the goals of the Paris [climate] Agreement” aligns with the “City Resilience […]
Another list leftist snowflake in a government position..
What a waste of good air…
Peddle your crap in Paris…
Not as smart as you portray yourself to be.
I am glad we are no longer in the agreement. However, as stupid as she may be, this mayor is not breaking the law. And it makes us look dumb if we can’t read between the lines. She didn’t sign any treaty. All she said was she was going to pursue the goals of the Paris agreement. She certainly has a right to pursue those goals. And her constituents have a right to vote her out of office if they don’t like it. And I certainly hope they do.
Though Barry goes against the Constitution, she is a symptom of the problem in Nashville–the people put her in office, and they can take her out of office. Where are the people of Nashville, speaking up and taking the steps to remove her from office? Are the people of Nashville all talk, or are they taking a stand against this false ideology–remove her from office–by the vote of the people!
Dr. K.
As in most big cities…
Wow…what an embarrassment this woman is for Nashville and the State…please stop before you make this even worse.
You took an oath to uphold the Constitution.Now you have violated your oath of office!
This traitor need some jail time and a copy of the U.S. Constitution!
I agree! All that goes against the constitution should have consequences!
This liberal policy maker should be made an example of and removed from office then prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.
I don’t agree with her politics but she sure is cute !!!
Hope fully you’ll be voted out of office in the next election…so sad that the climate change propaganda brainwashed you as it has many of are young people.
I totally agree with you. Nashville needs a shake up in their Mayor’s Office! Y’all need to make it happen. Don’t become another Memphis!! Good Luck! 🍀🍀
As much as I love the south and I think they were right, someone needs to remind this idiot socialist that the south tried this once before. And they lost.
Socialism isn’t too popular except in Nashville
Any junior constitutional attorney would prove her ignorance. Wait she has already done so….
WHOA…I ALMOST HAD MY HUSBAND CONVINCED TO MOVE TO TENNESSEE TO RETIRE. AFTER SEEING THIS HE SAID NO WAY / NO HOW! TOO BAD, I REALLY WANTED TO LIVE THERE, GUT I AGREE WITH HIM BASED ON THESE THREE ARROGANT BUREAUCRATS.
This is Nashville. Come to Knoxville.
Art,
You obviously did not read the article.
[Two other mayors of Tennessee cities, Madeline Rogero of Knoxville and Andy Berke of Chattanooga, have joined Barry as signators on the “Climate Mayors” statement.]
Your mayor agrees with the idiot from Nashville.
Have to agree with you on that. Such a beautiful state. But if run by arrogant self absorbed fools, it is not a state to live in.
Damn FOOL!!!!!!!!!
This is an example of the NEO-SECESSIONISTS. The first attempt at secession ended badly… just sayin’.
Just another libertard . Proud to say I did not vote for her
So are you claiming Nashville is going to fund the Paris deal, because that’s all president Trump stopped
These people are just stupid. Sorry that sounds like a democrat reply. How else can you say it? No respect to our president’s office or to our country.
So she’s going to take a billion or so dollars from Nashville’s tax coffers and give it away to another undeserving country? Sounds an awful lot like a plot to stealing from the city to me. Is that what Nashville voted for? Fraud and corruption?
What an idiot. These Dems think they can override the constitution and the POTUS. I hope this piece of crap gets booted out of office.
She might want to check and see if her decision will result in a violation of the LOGAN Act ….it won’t be just losing her job it would be serious jail time ……
Read the UN agenda 21. Start at local government to meet their agenda of one world government
She said s the leader of the ANTIFA party in Tennessee !!!!!
Why do people keep voting for these Democratic Marxist Progressive Communists. And then can’t figure out why out Government is do corrupt and our country failing. It’s called the Progressive disease. If you want a better country, stop voting for Communists. They are killing America and Freedom. This one is probably getting paid by George Soros, to sell out her country.
[…] H/T tennesseestar […]
re you kidding me. The Constitution is for Amdtica . Good luck Nashville. What a waste of money. Paris is not putting in a dime. They and Obama is still looking to rip off America. The European Countries are not putting in money. They want a Billions dollars from America to pay for it all. Why don’t you exberts Che k things out. Thank God Obama gone thank god Hillary did not win. American would h e nothing left. We would have more homeless then e er. With jobs and money going to the Muslims.c. Trump did the right thing. He knew it was bad.
If they want it so much have Soros fund the whole damn thing!!!
That blonde airhead is a traitor and an enemy to America…she needs to be arrested and thrown under the prison…
You’re an idiot. You don’t need to enter into an agreement to help your environment. That’s just something a foreign country invented to make money off of morons who fall for it. Instead of giving Paris money you can better use those funds to help your own climatic change or environment. That’s the problem with fools you think money solves everything donating to someone else’s cause instead of your own. That money can be better used to hire agents to hold corporations who are known to pollute more from their factories accountable and force them to regulate pollution emissions, help boost recycle programs, hire more beach cleaners, etc. Use your brain instead of letting others do it for you.
They don’t need to enter into any sort of treaty or agreement to meet the goals of the Paris Accords. They can just implement whatever regulations they want on their own without the Federal government’s help or involvement. That’s not unconstitutional at all; in fact it’s the very definition of federalism. Let the states that want to virtue-signal do so and the states that want to have jobs and an economy do so as well.
good job nashville-ya got yourselves a real idiot to lead you,roflmao
The Paris agreement set reduction goals for emissions at 26 to 28 percent by year 2025. You can imagine what that will do to her city. One study found the agreement increased electricity costs for a family of four between 13 and 20 percent annually. The study also projected American families would see over $20,000 of lost income by year 2035. Again, scale that down to the city level. The cost to the individual taxpayer really isn’t known. One example, Luxembourg, supposedly contributes
$94 per person. Oh, wait, that’s pledged not paid. Contributions to the various funds are “subject to availability.” Not matter, I’m sure the mayor will contribute at least at the level of Luxembourg.
What an IDIOT. I hope someone sends her all these comments.
More leftist idiots…
So, if the Constitution does not apply to Nashville then I say a bunch of conservatives should move there and begin taking over the city council with subsequent acts to ban gay marriage, ban blacks and women from voting and require a written test in order to vote.
That seems reasonable, right? I mean, if the Constitution does not apply then we can even shut down the speech of idiot liberals!
She may learn the hard lesson California is about to learn! Let the rich liberals support their own convictions. One , does not a Nation make!
So then I suppose you’ve instructed your police not to issue summons or arrest people who are not obeying the laws in Nashville because they don’t believe they are bound by them.
How did this nut job get the job of mayor….with her intelligence her job should be dancing on a pole in a Nashville strip club.
HAHAHA what a DUMB ASS she is. The Constitution applies in every State if you like it or not. Your state ratified it so yes DUMMY it does.
Mayor Megan Barry. It’s a shame that people like you lie to the good people of Tennessee why don’t you just be straight up with every body in this country there is no global warming.Its Cern a machine in Switzerland that is destroying are world then you tell the good people you have the same machine in Tennessee well there you go don’t you feal better now be good sport and shut them down or face the wrath of God.
Why is this wacko not living in Commiefornia with many of the OTHER eco-fascist libtards who have that same “save the Earth” mindset? She needs to be replaced ASAP! This is downright unconstitutional. The rise in the cult-like believers of “humans causing climate change” is just shocking. These little Hitlers are moving us closer to Agenda 21 and 3rd world country status more every day.
This mayor seems to be just another horribly stupid blonde liberal leftist bimbo who carries her one working brain cell in her rectum. There godless Democrats are going to have a very rude awakening soon, especially when all Federal Funds are cut off and they turn their cities and states into 3rd world sewers! The intelligent Conservatives of Nashville will straighten this dumb bimbo out! She will be replaced soon.
She is another ignorant, liberal wacko who will end up in trouble and out of a job. She is in the same intelligence category as Susan Rice. They may end up roommates on skid row.
[…] Mr Americana, Overpasses News Desk June 8th, 2017 Overpasses For America VIA TENNESSEE STAR […]
Well lets see…everything I’ve read American only country that was to put any funds into the kitty…so tax payers saving here…stop federal funds from going to these cities, counties, states….again tax payers saving money…and there are many scientists, over half, saying global warming scares are nonsense that it’s a natural order of nature…other wise..what planes, automobiles, hairspray, factories and so on we’re here when global warming happened to the dinosaurs…we have volcanoes that erupted causing more gas emissions then anything ever…what they want..poor enough cement in to seal…LOL…yea right like that could ever happen..
Ignoring for a moment that the Constitution is the law of the land and that a mayor is not exempt from it, It is clear that this woman, like so many others have failed to think things through for themselves.
President Trump decided not to support the Paris Accords, at this time, because they are badly framed and will cost the United States millions of dollars without any significant purpose. We can all do our part domestically to not just reach the 3% reduction of greenhouse gasses encouraged by the accords, but to exceed that goal. And we can do it without giving away money.
Good Lord! Please tell Mis Berry to read the United States Constitution. I see an 8×10 cell in a Federal prison just right for her. Can Y’all say, RECALL!!
Can’t wait for one of these leftists to claim that “the Constitutional restrictions are on STATES, not CITIES!” Ok, then CITIES can coin money, pass ex post facto laws, and grant titles of nobility. Oh, guess they’re already doing the latter!
Its seriously funny to make a comment about the Constitution, that applies to every state in the union, including cities like Nashville, and she apparently thinks she’s above Federal Law. She’s as bad as the politicians, in Illinois. She still cant make a move without a vote, on anything she does, unless she gets crooked council members to jump aboard. But then that Climate Agreement, deals with countries signing it. Not some idiot in a mayor’s office in some state located in America. She is failing on so many levels.
Mayor Barry,,
Pay attention to the staggering growth right here in NASHVILLE! How about creating and signing the Nashville accord to create a light rail system for commuters to downtown from suburbs?
Great idea. Creates jobs, cuts emissions, and gives reliable transportation to those without it. But there’s a problem….space to build it?
Mayor Barry is too big for her Nashville britches.
I see…..so the mayor is a law unto herself, is she?
Tell you what, mayor Barry…..since you’re so freaked out over climate change, then why dont YOU throw a trillion dollars of your OWN money into the bottomless pit, and reduce the temperature by .02 degrees? I’m certain China and India will appreciate your efforts while they continue to pollute unabated, since they have a few years before having to go along with the plan.
Or, here’s an even better idea…..why don’t you go back to school and try again, since you obviously never learned that the earth goes through periods of fluctuation in it’s climate that have nothing whatsoever to do with human activity. After all, every volcanic eruption (an average of 50 a year) puts over 10,000 times more greenhouse gasses into the atmosphere than the entire industrial period of mankind’s existence. And they’ve been doing this for millions of years. And gee….the earth still isn’t a lifeless oven.
Think about it, then please get off the climate panic plane, and come back down to reality land with the rest of us.
Like the mayors office has anything to do with the Environmental efforts, She’d be best off dealing with the rising crime rates in Nashville. Just another CA liberal spreading her Anti-American hate here in Nashville. I bet Nashvilleians didn’t know what they were in for with this one.
SHE SO DAM STUPID IT’S UNREAL. WE HAVE A DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL HERE IN TENNESSEE THAT SET ALL THE LIMITS. IT IS NOT CONTROLED BY CALIFORNIA LIBTARDS.
Megan Barry is ANTI-AMERICAN!!!..She was NOT elected to force her personal.opinions on the voters!!!!Her term in office will be SHORT LIVED!!!