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In response to the announcement from Canada's Harper Government of their Intended Nationally Determined Contribution for greenhouse gas reductions ahead of UN climate talks in Paris, David Turnbull, Campaigns Director of Oil Change International released the following statement:
In response to the announcement from Canada's Harper Government of their Intended Nationally Determined Contribution for greenhouse gas reductions ahead of UN climate talks in Paris, David Turnbull, Campaigns Director of Oil Change International released the following statement:
"Anyone who has paid attention to the Harper Government through the years should know better than to take them at their word on addressing climate change. One has to look no further than what is not included in these targets -- the tar sands -- to understand where their priorities lie. If Harper were half as concerned about climate as he is about unchecked development of the tar sands, the world would be a safer - and cooler - place."
Oil Change International is a research, communications, and advocacy organization focused on exposing the true costs of fossil fuels and facilitating the ongoing transition to clean energy.
(202) 518-9029'Our legacy of resistance & building never ends'
Tens of thousands of Americans converged on Washington Saturday to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, a turning point in the 1960s U.S. civil rights movement at which Martin Luther King Jr gave his galvanizing "I have a dream" speech.
Organizers say today's march was not a commemoration but a continuation of the demands made in 1963.
Martin Luther King Jr.'s only grandchild Yolanda Renee King, 15, told the gathering that if she could speak to her grandfather today, she would say, "I am sorry we still have to be here to rededicate ourselves to finishing your work."
"Sixty years ago, Dr. King urged us to struggle against the triple evils of racism, poverty, and bigotry," she said. "Today, racism is still with us. Poverty is still with us. And now gun violence has come for our places of worship, our schools, and our shopping centers."
"When people say my generation is cynical, we say cynicism is a luxury we cannot afford," she said. "I believe that my generation will be defined by action, not apathy."
“We have made progress, over the last 60 years, since Dr. King led the March on Washington,” said Alphonso David, president and CEO of the Global Black Economic Forum. “Have we reached the mountaintop? Not by a longshot.”
'Why Democrats must ignore the corporate wing of the party and instead put forward a bold agenda'
US Sen. Bernie Sanders returned to New Hampshire Saturday to deliver a speech entitled “The Agenda America Needs” at Saint Anselm College’s New Hampshire Institute of Politics.
“I have always believed that good public policy is good politics,” Sanders said in a statement before the speech. “The American people are increasingly disgusted at the growing levels of income and wealth inequality in our country and the rampant corporate greed we are seeing.”
“We invited him, but he’s coming here for a reason,” New Hampshire Institute of Politics executive director Neil Levesque told the Concord Monitor. “I think it opens the door for a lot of other sorts of thoughts about whether or not Biden’s going to be the nominee, whether or not Biden is going to be running in next year’s presidential election.”
I’m LIVE in N.H. to give a major address on why Democrats must ignore the corporate wing of the party and instead put forward a bold agenda.
(The audio improves after the first few minutes}
"The first Republican debate was nothing but a race to the bottom," said the head of Data for Progress. "Major candidates succeeded in turning off Independent voters and failed to offer voters a positive vision."
Polling results released Friday in the wake of the first 2024 Republican presidential debate this week show that majorities of Independent voters and those across the political spectrum disagree with key GOP positions addressed during the event.
While former U.S. President Donald Trump, the GOP front-runner, skippedFox's debate, eight candidates participated: North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum, former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson, former Vice President Mike Pence, entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, and U.S. Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina.
The progressive think tank Data for Progress found that 67% of all likely voters—including 85% of Democrats, 67% of Independents, and 49% of Republicans—oppose shutting down the U.S. Department of Education, a plan backed by Burgum, DeSantis, Pence, and Ramaswamy.
Meanwhile, Christie and Scott have taken aim at organized educators, with the senator declaring on the debate stage Wednesday that "the only way we change education in this nation is to break the backs of the teachers unions."
But, as Data for Progress found, that position is unpopular with voters, with 58% of respondents—including 78% of Democrats, 54% of Independents, and 39% of Republicans—saying they oppose breaking up teachers unions.
The group further found that majorities of voters oppose requiring citizens to pass a poll test before voting, sending U.S. military forces into Mexico to fight drug cartels, and pardoning Trump for any criminal charges against him.
Trump—who recorded an interview with former Fox host Tucker Carlson as counterprogramming to the debate—faces 91 charges in four ongoing cases. He was first indicted in April, related to the Manhattan district attorney's investigation of alleged hush money payments during the 2016 election cycle.
The former president is also facing federal charges related to a pair of probes led by Special Counsel Jack Smith, one regarding classified documents, and another stemming from his efforts to overturn the last presidential election. Trump's failed attempt to reverse his 2020 loss is also the subject of the Fulton County, Georgia case, for which he was booked on Thursday.
Wednesday night, all candidates but Christie and Hutchinson signaled they would support Trump if he is selected as the party's 2024 nominee, even if he is convicted of a crime, and some are even willing to consider or issue a pardon. Data for Progress found that 52% of voters—including 83% of Democrats, 53% of Independents, and 17% of Republicans—would oppose such a pardon.
As Common Dreamsreported Thursday, during the debate, several candidates expressed support for various forced-pregnancy policies, including a federal abortion ban. A plurality of all voters surveyed, 48%, told Data for Progress they would not support a 15-week national abortion ban; that included 70% of Democrats, 47% of Independents, and 25% of Republicans.
"The first Republican debate was nothing but a race to the bottom. Major candidates succeeded in turning off Independent voters and failed to offer voters a positive vision for what the future of America could look like," Data for Progress executive director Danielle Deiseroth said in a statement.
"Rather than rolling back the progress made during the Biden administration, voters would rather see our country promote clean energy production, expand Medicare and Medicaid, and increase taxes on corporations and the wealthy," Deiseroth added.
Specifically, 77% of all voters—including 93% of Democrats, 76% of Independents, and 62% of Republicans—support expanding the production of clean energy in the United States, according to the poll. Similarly, 72% support addressing climate change.
Additionally, Data for Progress found, 93% support lowering prescription drug prices, 88% support holding Big Tech accountable to the law, 84% support increasing access to affordable housing, 76% support expanding Medicaid and Medicare to more people, and 75% support tax hikes for corporations and the rich.
Democratic President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris are seeking reelection and—with only a few longshot presidential challengers—are expected to face the GOP candidates next year.
Harris said that during Wednesday's debate, "one by one, each extremist Republican candidate laid out a vision for an America that is less fair, less free, and less safe. These candidates want to raise costs for working families in order to benefit special interests and the ultrawealthy. To gut Social Security and Medicare. To strip fundamental rights and basic freedoms from millions of people. And to reverse the Bidenomics strategy that has helped create 13 million jobs, the strongest two years of small business creation in history, and record-low unemployment."
"President Biden and I will continue to grow the economy from the bottom up and the middle out and build a nation in which all people can truly thrive," she pledged. "We are laser-focused on finishing the job we've started: to create good jobs, lower costs, fix America's roads and bridges, create a clean energy economy, protect a woman's right to make decisions about her own body, keep our children safe from gun violence, and make sure all Americans can dream about their future with ambition and aspiration."