"Corporations are people," said Mitt Romney in 2011, famously, but if they are, they seem to have an impressive degree of impunity.
The big picture: Just like people, corporations display impressive instincts for self-enrichment and self-preservation, even when they're not-for-profits. They're not holding themselves to account, but — unlike real people — no one else seems to be holding them accountable either.
Asked by Chris Wallace on "Fox News Sunday" whether President Trump would submit to a sit-down interview with special counsel Robert Mueller, Trump's attorney Rudy Giuliani responded, "Good luck ... over my dead body."
The big picture: Giuliani's return to the Sunday morning talk shows reflected what appear to be Trump's newest strategies for attempting to manage his escalating legal exposure. Those include painting prosecutors as biased against the president, downplaying issues like "collusion" or campaign finance violations as non-criminal or civil matters, and claiming witnesses like Michael Flynn and Michael Cohen can't be trusted or were coerced into pleading guilty.
California's transit buses are going green, the Associated Press reports, after the California Air Resources Board unanimously decided that all new buses have to be carbon-free by 2029, and that all old buses will be "phased out by 2040."
Details: This is the first mandate of its kind in the U.S., per the AP. 40% of California's greenhouse emissions come from the transportation sector, and the move is meant to "drastically" reduce those emissions in order for the state to meet its climate change goals.
KATOWICE, Poland — World leaders wrapped up prolonged and difficult talks here late Saturday with agreement on guidelines aimed at implementing the 2015 Paris climate pact.
Why it matters: Failure to reach a deal on the so-called rulebook at these annual United Nations talks would have been a major setback for the 2015 pact that's already under strain by the planned U.S. withdrawal and other forces.
The U.S. military views climate change as a threat multiplier, one that is likely to worsen already existing weaknesses of government and poverty.
Why it matters: Internal and external climate displacement is already occurring. Depending how quickly and significantly temperatures rise, the specter of climate migration and refugee flows looms large by midcentury.
In an effort to prevent future wildfires, California utility Pacific Gas & Electric Co. is requesting a rate increase of almost $2 billion from its customers, CNN reports.
The big picture: The fires that ravaged the state in November were the most destructive ever seen in California. The company is being accused "of negligence and poor maintenance of electrical infrastructure" in a new class action lawsuit, per CNN, which also blames PG&E for the recent deadly Camp Fire. PG&E power lines were linked to 16 of last year's wildfires, Axios' Courtenay Brown reports.
