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babylonsister
babylonsister's Journal
babylonsister's Journal
July 2, 2019
The Alt-Right’s Tactical Cruelty
The so-called alt-right is characterized not only by its ideology, but also by the cruelty of its tactics. Trump and his allies embrace those tactics.
6:00 AM ET
Conor Friedersdorf
Staff writer at The Atlantic
snip//
As he sees it, the alt-right’s core tactic is inflicting pain for political ends, “often in the way that is the most personal.” Is the Republican Party influenced by the alt-right? “Yes,” French said. “Cruelty as a tactic is now a part of the playbook on the right.”
For anyone who doubts that Trump, the Republican Party’s leader, has a cruel streak, read up on his past. If you doubt that Trumpism has that same streak, read Adam Serwer’s “The Cruelty Is the Point,” where Serwer writes:
I don’t know whether this is proof that the alt-right has influenced the Republican Party or the conservative movement. Perhaps Trump’s cruelty would have influenced the right even if the alt-right didn’t exist. But I agree with French that the alt-right is characterized not only by its ideology, but also by the cruelty of its tactics, and that Trump and his allies embrace those tactics, whether coincidentally or because the alt-right is an influential, if small, part of their coalition.
Neither explanation is exonerating.
The Alt-Right's Tactical Cruelty
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2019/07/alt-right-tactics/593035/The Alt-Right’s Tactical Cruelty
The so-called alt-right is characterized not only by its ideology, but also by the cruelty of its tactics. Trump and his allies embrace those tactics.
6:00 AM ET
Conor Friedersdorf
Staff writer at The Atlantic
snip//
My family is a multiracial family.
My youngest daughter was adopted from Ethiopia. When I criticized Donald Trump, alt-right figures took pictures of my daughter, who was 7 years old at the time, and Photoshopped her face into gas chambers … I was deployed to Iraq for a year. They said that the reason my daughter is black is that my wife was repeatedly having sex with black men. They filled her Twitter feed with black porn. They found her blog and filled it with pictures of dead and dying African Americans. They issued death threats. They hacked into phone calls with my wife and my elderly father-in-law screaming obscenities.
My youngest daughter was adopted from Ethiopia. When I criticized Donald Trump, alt-right figures took pictures of my daughter, who was 7 years old at the time, and Photoshopped her face into gas chambers … I was deployed to Iraq for a year. They said that the reason my daughter is black is that my wife was repeatedly having sex with black men. They filled her Twitter feed with black porn. They found her blog and filled it with pictures of dead and dying African Americans. They issued death threats. They hacked into phone calls with my wife and my elderly father-in-law screaming obscenities.
As he sees it, the alt-right’s core tactic is inflicting pain for political ends, “often in the way that is the most personal.” Is the Republican Party influenced by the alt-right? “Yes,” French said. “Cruelty as a tactic is now a part of the playbook on the right.”
For anyone who doubts that Trump, the Republican Party’s leader, has a cruel streak, read up on his past. If you doubt that Trumpism has that same streak, read Adam Serwer’s “The Cruelty Is the Point,” where Serwer writes:
We can hear the spectacle of cruel laughter throughout the Trump era. There were the border-patrol agents cracking up at the crying immigrant children separated from their families, and the Trump adviser who delighted white supremacists when he mocked a child with Down syndrome who was separated from her mother. There were the police who laughed uproariously when the president encouraged them to abuse suspects, and the Fox News hosts mocking a survivor of the Pulse Nightclub massacre (and in the process inundating him with threats), the survivors of sexual assault protesting to Senator Jeff Flake, the women who said the president had sexually assaulted them, and the teen survivors of the Parkland school shooting.
There was the president mocking Puerto Rican accents shortly after thousands were killed and tens of thousands displaced by Hurricane Maria, the black athletes protesting unjustified killings by the police, the women of the #MeToo movement who have come forward with stories of sexual abuse, and the disabled reporter whose crime was reporting on Trump truthfully. It is not just that the perpetrators of this cruelty enjoy it; it is that they enjoy it with one another. Their shared laughter at the suffering of others is an adhesive that binds them to one another, and to Trump.
There was the president mocking Puerto Rican accents shortly after thousands were killed and tens of thousands displaced by Hurricane Maria, the black athletes protesting unjustified killings by the police, the women of the #MeToo movement who have come forward with stories of sexual abuse, and the disabled reporter whose crime was reporting on Trump truthfully. It is not just that the perpetrators of this cruelty enjoy it; it is that they enjoy it with one another. Their shared laughter at the suffering of others is an adhesive that binds them to one another, and to Trump.
I don’t know whether this is proof that the alt-right has influenced the Republican Party or the conservative movement. Perhaps Trump’s cruelty would have influenced the right even if the alt-right didn’t exist. But I agree with French that the alt-right is characterized not only by its ideology, but also by the cruelty of its tactics, and that Trump and his allies embrace those tactics, whether coincidentally or because the alt-right is an influential, if small, part of their coalition.
Neither explanation is exonerating.
July 2, 2019
Bette Midler: "I am so ashamed."
https://twitter.com/BetteMidler/status/1146050944347582464
July 2, 2019
Donald Trump's July 4 spectacle just keeps getting more and more absurd
Chris Cillizza
Updated 11:58 AM ET, Tue July 2, 2019
snip//
There's a reason that no president before Trump has turned July 4 into, well, what Trump is turning it into. And that reason isn't that they didn't love America enough or understand what makes this country great.
Instead, they understood that there is a very fine line between patriotism and nationalism. (FWIW: Patriotism is, according to Merriam Webster, a "love for or devotion to one's country." Nationalism is a "sense of national consciousness exalting one nation above all others and placing primary emphasis on promotion of its culture and interests as opposed to those of other nations or supranational groups."
Everyone draws that line differently. But I return to the fact that lots of past presidents -- Republicans and Democrats -- have had the chance to do something like Trump is planning on July 4 and taken a pass, choosing instead to keep the day entirely devoid of any sort of political statement. Was that unpatriotic? Or was it a recognition that putting tanks and other military equipment in and around Washington, DC sends the wrong sort of message to both our allies and our enemies?
The parading of military has long been the stuff of dictators and authoritarian regimes -- from Iran to North Korea to Russia. The leaders -- military and civilian -- in the United States have avoided that sort of thing because, well, the strongest guy in the gym doesn't need to go around telling everyone how strong he is. It's understood. Yes, we have massive military might. But we also believe in diplomacy, avoiding military conflicts at all costs and using force as only a last resort.
Trump doesn't seem to grasp that nuance. Or he grasps it and either doesn't care or doesn't agree.
Either way, the images coming out of Washington, DC, on Thursday night will send a very different message to the country and the world than ever before on July 4. Trump knows that -- and is thrilled about it. I'm not so sure the rest of us should be.
Donald Trump's July 4 spectacle just keeps getting more and more absurd
https://www.cnn.com/2019/07/02/politics/donald-trump-july-4/index.html?fbclid=IwAR2ixchUu2LXILW71p_n1okAUYfe0Z2yqoLRiUdZ26GRTinZhebs04b1OUADonald Trump's July 4 spectacle just keeps getting more and more absurd
Chris Cillizza
Updated 11:58 AM ET, Tue July 2, 2019
snip//
There's a reason that no president before Trump has turned July 4 into, well, what Trump is turning it into. And that reason isn't that they didn't love America enough or understand what makes this country great.
Instead, they understood that there is a very fine line between patriotism and nationalism. (FWIW: Patriotism is, according to Merriam Webster, a "love for or devotion to one's country." Nationalism is a "sense of national consciousness exalting one nation above all others and placing primary emphasis on promotion of its culture and interests as opposed to those of other nations or supranational groups."
Everyone draws that line differently. But I return to the fact that lots of past presidents -- Republicans and Democrats -- have had the chance to do something like Trump is planning on July 4 and taken a pass, choosing instead to keep the day entirely devoid of any sort of political statement. Was that unpatriotic? Or was it a recognition that putting tanks and other military equipment in and around Washington, DC sends the wrong sort of message to both our allies and our enemies?
The parading of military has long been the stuff of dictators and authoritarian regimes -- from Iran to North Korea to Russia. The leaders -- military and civilian -- in the United States have avoided that sort of thing because, well, the strongest guy in the gym doesn't need to go around telling everyone how strong he is. It's understood. Yes, we have massive military might. But we also believe in diplomacy, avoiding military conflicts at all costs and using force as only a last resort.
Trump doesn't seem to grasp that nuance. Or he grasps it and either doesn't care or doesn't agree.
Either way, the images coming out of Washington, DC, on Thursday night will send a very different message to the country and the world than ever before on July 4. Trump knows that -- and is thrilled about it. I'm not so sure the rest of us should be.
July 2, 2019
Quote of the Day
July 2, 2019 at 8:13 am EDT By Taegan Goddard
"...Well, mission accomplished."
https://politicalwire.com/2019/07/02/quote-of-the-day-2285/Quote of the Day
July 2, 2019 at 8:13 am EDT By Taegan Goddard
“We’re sitting here and in one week the President of the United States has had a credible rape charge against him and that didn’t make the front page of The New York Times when it first came out. In a typical week five or six things like that happen. Offenses to democracy, offenses to the truth and it’s all done cynically. Remember that word we all used to use at the beginning? ‘We have to be very careful of normalizing Donald Trump?’ Well, mission accomplished.”
— New Yorker editor David Remnick, on the Axe Files with David Axelrod podcast.
— New Yorker editor David Remnick, on the Axe Files with David Axelrod podcast.
July 2, 2019
https://politicalwire.com/2019/07/02/trump-slaps-tariffs-on-solar-panels/
Trump Slaps Tariffs on Solar Panels
July 2, 2019 at 10:28 am EDT By Taegan Goddard
Trump Slaps Tariffs on Solar Panels
https://politicalwire.com/2019/07/02/trump-slaps-tariffs-on-solar-panels/
Trump Slaps Tariffs on Solar Panels
July 2, 2019 at 10:28 am EDT By Taegan Goddard
“In the biggest blow he’s dealt to the renewable energy industry yet, President Trump decided on Monday to slap tariffs on imported solar panels,” Time reports.
“The U.S. will impose duties of as much as 30 percent on solar equipment made abroad, a move that threatens to handicap a $28 billion industry that relies on parts made abroad for 80 percent of its supply.
”
“The U.S. will impose duties of as much as 30 percent on solar equipment made abroad, a move that threatens to handicap a $28 billion industry that relies on parts made abroad for 80 percent of its supply.
July 2, 2019
Center for American Progress Puts ThinkProgress Up for Sale
News site launched during the Bush years is running millions of dollars short. Its parent think tank says it will consider the editorial leanings of prospective owners.
Sam Stein
Politics Editor
Updated 07.01.19 6:49PM ET / Published 07.01.19 4:10PM ET
exclusive
ThinkProgress, the flagship news site of the Democratic think tank Center for American Progress, is up for sale.
Staff were informed on Monday afternoon that the site would be sold off and a CAP official told The Daily Beast that the organization would begin looking for prospective buyers for the website, which has come under severe financial strains during the Trump era.
Launched 14 years ago during the height of the Bush administration, ThinkProgress made a name for itself over time as an unapologetically progressive source of news and a launching pad for several major progressive luminaries. But the site, which is editorially independent from CAP, has struggled in recent years as advertising revenues have dried up and traffic has dipped. According to internal documents previously reviewed by The Daily Beast, the site was facing a $3 million gulf between revenues and expenses in 2019, with $350,000 of it made up by a shortfall in ad revenue and nearly $180,000 of it coming from a drop in expected online contributions.
more...
https://www.thedailybeast.com/center-for-american-progress-puts-think-progress-up-for-sale?ref=home2
Center for American Progress Puts ThinkProgress Up for Sale
Center for American Progress Puts ThinkProgress Up for Sale
News site launched during the Bush years is running millions of dollars short. Its parent think tank says it will consider the editorial leanings of prospective owners.
Sam Stein
Politics Editor
Updated 07.01.19 6:49PM ET / Published 07.01.19 4:10PM ET
exclusive
ThinkProgress, the flagship news site of the Democratic think tank Center for American Progress, is up for sale.
Staff were informed on Monday afternoon that the site would be sold off and a CAP official told The Daily Beast that the organization would begin looking for prospective buyers for the website, which has come under severe financial strains during the Trump era.
“Unfortunately, like so many other news outlets that have relied on advertising to fund its work, ThinkProgress has seen a significant drop in revenue in recent years, along with other financial strains. In addition, events over the last few years have underscored the divergent missions of American Progress and ThinkProgress,” said Navin Nayak, executive director of the Center for American Progress Action Fund.
“For all of these reasons, we announced to the ThinkProgress staff today that we are searching for a new publisher for the news site. This is a tough decision since ThinkProgress has been a part of CAP Action almost since its founding. While ThinkProgress' financial challenges are unsustainable for an organization like CAP Action, we are hopeful that there are publishers who would be better able to support ThinkProgress' mission and better positioned to maximize the significant value ThinkProgress has built up.”
“For all of these reasons, we announced to the ThinkProgress staff today that we are searching for a new publisher for the news site. This is a tough decision since ThinkProgress has been a part of CAP Action almost since its founding. While ThinkProgress' financial challenges are unsustainable for an organization like CAP Action, we are hopeful that there are publishers who would be better able to support ThinkProgress' mission and better positioned to maximize the significant value ThinkProgress has built up.”
Launched 14 years ago during the height of the Bush administration, ThinkProgress made a name for itself over time as an unapologetically progressive source of news and a launching pad for several major progressive luminaries. But the site, which is editorially independent from CAP, has struggled in recent years as advertising revenues have dried up and traffic has dipped. According to internal documents previously reviewed by The Daily Beast, the site was facing a $3 million gulf between revenues and expenses in 2019, with $350,000 of it made up by a shortfall in ad revenue and nearly $180,000 of it coming from a drop in expected online contributions.
more...
https://www.thedailybeast.com/center-for-american-progress-puts-think-progress-up-for-sale?ref=home2
July 2, 2019
KA-BOOM
Ivanka’s North Korea Photobombs Perplex White House Officials
Multiple officials in Washington were caught off guard by the news that Ivanka Trump had found her way into a conversation with North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un.
Erin Banco
National Security Reporter
Asawin Suebsaeng
White House Reporter
Updated 07.02.19 3:00AM ET / Published 07.01.19
9:19PM ET
snip//
The meeting in the DMZ seemed to spur a new sense of frustration in Washington on Monday, this time directed in particular at the first daughter, who was also present—front and center—at the G20 summit in Hamburg. She provided a video readout about the conversations Trump had with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and took photo-ops with attendees.
“Ivanka has participated in previous bilateral meetings, and on behalf of the White House at past G20 summits,” said Garrett Marquis, a spokesperson for the National Security Council. “Issues of women’s empowerment are central to the president’s national security and women’s peace and security strategies.”
Photos and video footage from the conference emerged over the weekend, showing Ivanka mingling with some of the top world leaders, inserting herself into conversations with veterans of the foreign policy world. The internet erupted, and lawmakers took to social media.
https://twitter.com/AOC/status/1145164720242118656
One senior administration official told The Daily Beast that the Trump team often tries to find roles for Ivanka on travels overseas because she is a talented spokesperson. But it is unclear what Ivanka was doing in North Korea beyond the purely ceremonial. Two senior administration officials and one former one said they do not consider the president’s daughter a significant player on major foreign policy initiatives, including on the Koreas, though they all acknowledged that President Trump will at least solicit her advice for gut checks on any manner of foreign policy and national security decision: striking other countries, climate agreements, and so on.
more...
https://www.thedailybeast.com/ivanka-trumps-north-korea-photobombs-perplex-white-house-officials?ref=home2
Ivanka's North Korea Photobombs Perplex White House Officials
KA-BOOM
Ivanka’s North Korea Photobombs Perplex White House Officials
Multiple officials in Washington were caught off guard by the news that Ivanka Trump had found her way into a conversation with North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un.
Erin Banco
National Security Reporter
Asawin Suebsaeng
White House Reporter
Updated 07.02.19 3:00AM ET / Published 07.01.19
9:19PM ET
snip//
The meeting in the DMZ seemed to spur a new sense of frustration in Washington on Monday, this time directed in particular at the first daughter, who was also present—front and center—at the G20 summit in Hamburg. She provided a video readout about the conversations Trump had with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and took photo-ops with attendees.
“Ivanka has participated in previous bilateral meetings, and on behalf of the White House at past G20 summits,” said Garrett Marquis, a spokesperson for the National Security Council. “Issues of women’s empowerment are central to the president’s national security and women’s peace and security strategies.”
Photos and video footage from the conference emerged over the weekend, showing Ivanka mingling with some of the top world leaders, inserting herself into conversations with veterans of the foreign policy world. The internet erupted, and lawmakers took to social media.
“It may be shocking to some, but being someone’s daughter actually isn’t a career qualification,” Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) said on Twitter. “It hurts our diplomatic standing when the President phones it in & the world moves on.”
https://twitter.com/AOC/status/1145164720242118656
One senior administration official told The Daily Beast that the Trump team often tries to find roles for Ivanka on travels overseas because she is a talented spokesperson. But it is unclear what Ivanka was doing in North Korea beyond the purely ceremonial. Two senior administration officials and one former one said they do not consider the president’s daughter a significant player on major foreign policy initiatives, including on the Koreas, though they all acknowledged that President Trump will at least solicit her advice for gut checks on any manner of foreign policy and national security decision: striking other countries, climate agreements, and so on.
more...
https://www.thedailybeast.com/ivanka-trumps-north-korea-photobombs-perplex-white-house-officials?ref=home2
July 2, 2019
'Irresponsible': Cost of Donald Trump's July 4 Military Parade Blasted by National Park Advocacy Group
By Jason Lemon On 7/1/19 at 12:00 PM EDT
President Donald Trump's decision to transform the annual Fourth of July celebration into a larger event including armored military vehicles stationed along the National Mall in Washington, D.C. has drawn criticism from National Park advocacy groups warning against the exorbitant cost.
Although the total cost of the Independence Day event is not yet known, it comes at a time when the National Park Service faces a backlog of some $11 billion in maintenance. The Trump administration has also repeatedly called for cutting the National Park Service's budget, while also moving to eliminate key environmental protections for the lands set aside for conservation.
more...
https://www.newsweek.com/irresponsible-cost-donald-trump-jul-4-military-parade-1446858?utm_source=GoogleNewsstandUS&utm_medium=Feed&utm_campaign=Partnerships&fbclid=IwAR0R-kQ8iTfZxya_oHhxSl82LEyDkunCWgVz7ti7f_C_iyXhGIMudl6xr4Q
'Irresponsible': Cost of Donald Trump's July 4 Military Parade Blasted by National Park Advocacy Gr
'Irresponsible': Cost of Donald Trump's July 4 Military Parade Blasted by National Park Advocacy Group
By Jason Lemon On 7/1/19 at 12:00 PM EDT
President Donald Trump's decision to transform the annual Fourth of July celebration into a larger event including armored military vehicles stationed along the National Mall in Washington, D.C. has drawn criticism from National Park advocacy groups warning against the exorbitant cost.
"It's irresponsible to ask the National Park Service to absorb the costs of an additional and political event when there are so many unmet needs in the parks," Phil Francis, chair of the Coalition to Protect America's National Parks, which represents current, former and retired Park Service employees and volunteers, said in a statement to The Washington Post.
"The men and women of the National Park Service have been asked to do more with less for too long," he continued. "Funds should be directed to the agency's highest needs such as operation of the parks and the maintenance backlog and should not be directed to support political objectives."
"The men and women of the National Park Service have been asked to do more with less for too long," he continued. "Funds should be directed to the agency's highest needs such as operation of the parks and the maintenance backlog and should not be directed to support political objectives."
Although the total cost of the Independence Day event is not yet known, it comes at a time when the National Park Service faces a backlog of some $11 billion in maintenance. The Trump administration has also repeatedly called for cutting the National Park Service's budget, while also moving to eliminate key environmental protections for the lands set aside for conservation.
more...
https://www.newsweek.com/irresponsible-cost-donald-trump-jul-4-military-parade-1446858?utm_source=GoogleNewsstandUS&utm_medium=Feed&utm_campaign=Partnerships&fbclid=IwAR0R-kQ8iTfZxya_oHhxSl82LEyDkunCWgVz7ti7f_C_iyXhGIMudl6xr4Q
July 1, 2019
Posted on Mon, Jul 1st, 2019 by Jason Easley
The House Expands Investigation Into Ivanka Trump Email Crimes
The House Oversight Committee is expanding its investigation into the Trump administration’s email crimes and failure to comply with federal record-keeping laws.
According to a release from the House Oversight Committee:
Read the letter @ link:
Ivanka Trump has been illegally using private email for years
It is known that Ivanka Trump spent all of 2017 sending hundreds of illegal emails from the White House. Trump immediately blamed Hilary Clinton for his daughter’s email scandal, and the Trump administration has been stonewalling the investigation since before Democrats took back the House.
House Oversight Democrats are expanding their investigation in response to the Trump administration complying with no requests over the previous six months.
Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner broke the law.
With the state of New York breathing down their necks, the last thing the Trumps needed was another investigation into their illegal behavior.
The House Expands Investigation Into Ivanka Trump Email Crimes
https://www.politicususa.com/2019/07/01/ivanka-trump-email-investigation.htmlPosted on Mon, Jul 1st, 2019 by Jason Easley
The House Expands Investigation Into Ivanka Trump Email Crimes
The House Oversight Committee is expanding its investigation into the Trump administration’s email crimes and failure to comply with federal record-keeping laws.
According to a release from the House Oversight Committee:
After hearing no response for months, Cummings wrote again to the White House on March 21, 2019, conveying more troubling information about apparent violations of the Presidential Records Act by Jared Kushner, Ivanka Trump, Steve Bannon, and K.T. McFarland.
In addition, the report issued by Special Counsel Robert Mueller stated that Mr. Bannon admitted that “he regularly used his personal Blackberry and personal email for work-related communications (including those with [Erik] Prince), and he took no steps to preserve these work communications.”
The purpose of this investigation is to determine why White House officials used non-official email accounts, texting services, and encrypted applications for official business; why they failed to forward records sent or received on non-official accounts to their official accounts within 20 days as required by federal law; whether there were specific topics that White House officials sought to conceal; and whether legislative changes should be made to prevent similar violations in the future.
In addition, the report issued by Special Counsel Robert Mueller stated that Mr. Bannon admitted that “he regularly used his personal Blackberry and personal email for work-related communications (including those with [Erik] Prince), and he took no steps to preserve these work communications.”
The purpose of this investigation is to determine why White House officials used non-official email accounts, texting services, and encrypted applications for official business; why they failed to forward records sent or received on non-official accounts to their official accounts within 20 days as required by federal law; whether there were specific topics that White House officials sought to conceal; and whether legislative changes should be made to prevent similar violations in the future.
Read the letter @ link:
Ivanka Trump has been illegally using private email for years
It is known that Ivanka Trump spent all of 2017 sending hundreds of illegal emails from the White House. Trump immediately blamed Hilary Clinton for his daughter’s email scandal, and the Trump administration has been stonewalling the investigation since before Democrats took back the House.
House Oversight Democrats are expanding their investigation in response to the Trump administration complying with no requests over the previous six months.
Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner broke the law.
With the state of New York breathing down their necks, the last thing the Trumps needed was another investigation into their illegal behavior.
July 1, 2019
June 30, 2019 9:00AM ET
The Democrats’ Radical Agenda
Play it safe or go bold? In the race to beat Trump, party leaders are rolling out revolutionary policies for the first time in a generation
By Tim Dickinson
For the 2020 election, Democrats are proposing policies of sweep and ambition not seen since the New Deal or the Great Society. Ideas that would have seemed radical even five years ago — publicly funded college, a Green New Deal, Medicare for All — are now at the top of many candidates’ platforms.
Most intriguing: As once-fringe ideas enter the mainstream debate, they are proving popular. “Medicare for All is supported by at least 55 percent of the public,” says Sean McElwee, a co-founder of the progressive think tank Data for Progress. “So why is that treated as an extreme position?” By offering visionary reforms for a defective democracy, a foundering middle class, the climate crisis and a system rigged for the wealthiest, progressives hope to inspire an electorate whose anger helped propel a strongman like Donald Trump to power.
These are moonshot ideas, to be sure, impossible to pass unless Democrats reclaim both the White House and the Senate. (Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has vowed to be the “Grim Reaper” for these plans if the GOP holds the chamber.) And with price tags often soaring into the trillions — with a “t” — these proposals face resistance from America’s wealthiest, whose taxes would be hiked to pay for them, as well as centrist Democrats who fear tacking too far left might fumble one of the most consequential elections in the nation’s history.
Below, we examine a half-dozen of the Democrats’ edgiest ideas, underscoring what they could achieve, how much they might cost, and the obstacles they face.
A GREEN NEW DEAL
The Problem It Solves: The world has about a decade to arrest greenhouse-gas emissions to avoid catastrophic climate change, including the collapse of ice sheets that would raise sea levels, displacing as many as 200 million people by the end of the century.
Prominent Backers: Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Sen. Ed Markey rolled out the Green New Deal in February, calling for massive investments to quit carbon and create economic opportunities for America’s most disadvantaged communities. While 2020 candidates from Bernie Sanders to Amy Klobuchar are backing the GND, to varying degrees, Jay Inslee has offered the most detailed plan. He would invest $3 trillion in federal funds to drive $9 trillion in economy-wide investment, creating 8 million jobs, and he promises 100 percent clean electricity and zero emissions from new cars and buildings within a decade.
Biggest Obstacle: A Green New Deal would be cheaper than adapting to submerged cities or waves of climate refugees. But spending trillions to decarbonize America is anathema to a Republican Party subsidized by the fossil-fuel industry, which has waged a four-decade disinformation campaign — including $1 billion spent globally on deceptive lobbying and PR since the Paris Agreement. Some top Democrats have also questioned the GND, with Nancy Pelosi dismissing it as “the green dream or whatever,” and others promoting a more moderate solution, like a carbon tax.
more...
https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-features/2020-election-democrat-platform-848304/
The Democrats' Radical Agenda
June 30, 2019 9:00AM ET
The Democrats’ Radical Agenda
Play it safe or go bold? In the race to beat Trump, party leaders are rolling out revolutionary policies for the first time in a generation
By Tim Dickinson
For the 2020 election, Democrats are proposing policies of sweep and ambition not seen since the New Deal or the Great Society. Ideas that would have seemed radical even five years ago — publicly funded college, a Green New Deal, Medicare for All — are now at the top of many candidates’ platforms.
Most intriguing: As once-fringe ideas enter the mainstream debate, they are proving popular. “Medicare for All is supported by at least 55 percent of the public,” says Sean McElwee, a co-founder of the progressive think tank Data for Progress. “So why is that treated as an extreme position?” By offering visionary reforms for a defective democracy, a foundering middle class, the climate crisis and a system rigged for the wealthiest, progressives hope to inspire an electorate whose anger helped propel a strongman like Donald Trump to power.
These are moonshot ideas, to be sure, impossible to pass unless Democrats reclaim both the White House and the Senate. (Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has vowed to be the “Grim Reaper” for these plans if the GOP holds the chamber.) And with price tags often soaring into the trillions — with a “t” — these proposals face resistance from America’s wealthiest, whose taxes would be hiked to pay for them, as well as centrist Democrats who fear tacking too far left might fumble one of the most consequential elections in the nation’s history.
Below, we examine a half-dozen of the Democrats’ edgiest ideas, underscoring what they could achieve, how much they might cost, and the obstacles they face.
A GREEN NEW DEAL
The Problem It Solves: The world has about a decade to arrest greenhouse-gas emissions to avoid catastrophic climate change, including the collapse of ice sheets that would raise sea levels, displacing as many as 200 million people by the end of the century.
Prominent Backers: Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Sen. Ed Markey rolled out the Green New Deal in February, calling for massive investments to quit carbon and create economic opportunities for America’s most disadvantaged communities. While 2020 candidates from Bernie Sanders to Amy Klobuchar are backing the GND, to varying degrees, Jay Inslee has offered the most detailed plan. He would invest $3 trillion in federal funds to drive $9 trillion in economy-wide investment, creating 8 million jobs, and he promises 100 percent clean electricity and zero emissions from new cars and buildings within a decade.
Biggest Obstacle: A Green New Deal would be cheaper than adapting to submerged cities or waves of climate refugees. But spending trillions to decarbonize America is anathema to a Republican Party subsidized by the fossil-fuel industry, which has waged a four-decade disinformation campaign — including $1 billion spent globally on deceptive lobbying and PR since the Paris Agreement. Some top Democrats have also questioned the GND, with Nancy Pelosi dismissing it as “the green dream or whatever,” and others promoting a more moderate solution, like a carbon tax.
more...
https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-features/2020-election-democrat-platform-848304/
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