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350 Action On Climate Coverage at Nevada Democratic Debate
After months of campaigning by climate organizers, climate was a main line of questioning for candidates in Wednesday night's debate, dwarfing the amount of time devoted to the issue in previous debates.
WASHINGTON
After months of campaigning by climate organizers, climate was a main line of questioning for candidates in Wednesday night's debate, dwarfing the amount of time devoted to the issue in previous debates. In Nevada, home to a long-standing fight over water rights from corporate pipeline owners, candidates faced off about issues from a national fracking ban to climate accountability from fossil fuel CEOs. The Democratic candidates' appeared to share the opinion that climate change poses an "existential threat," although vastly differed on timelines and solutions, as they have during the entire election season. Some notable moments included Senator Bernie Sanders' push for a Green New Deal, Senator Elizabeth Warren's reminder that climate change disproportionately impacts communities of color, and former Vice President Biden's concession that fossil fuel polluters must pay for the climate crisis.
The following is a statement from 350 Action's North America Director Tamara Toles O'Laughlin:
"The specificity of answers candidates provided on climate issues in last night's debate are a testament to the perseverance of the climate movement whose demands now define the threshold of a progressive platform for the Presidency. From Sanders reminder that a Green New Deal would protect, workers, and create millions of new jobs transitioned from fossil fuels to renewable energy to Warren's willing engagement on environmental justice, and her understanding of climate vulnerability as an issue of disproportionate impacts for Black, Indigenous and communities of color, we hear our chants and demands in the candidates boldness and clarity.
"Former Vice President Biden's concession that oil and gas CEOs must pay for the climate crisis was also a major win for the climate movement that has pushed accountability with him for on the campaign trail for months.
"We welcome candidate consensus on the existential threat of climate inaction and are puzzled by the bizarre array of false solutions in responses from the laggards. Senator Klobuchar and Michael Bloomberg's claims that fracked gas is a 'transition fuel' flies in the face of all logic and signals how they would resist the truth of rural and urban communities alike, if elected.
"There is no such thing as an oil and gas transition, beyond a firm rejection that starts now. Much like Donald Trump's efforts to rebrand natural gas as "freedom gas," any effort to cast oil and gas extraction as temporary is out of touch with reality and signals stubborn addiction to fossil fuels against any viable plans for reducing emissions. Klobuchar has signed the No Fossil Fuel Money pledge and should know better. Mayor Bloomberg, who advocates for the end of coal, shows lack of foresight in signaling support for short sighted replacements in their stead.
"While Mayor Buttigieg was right in claiming that this election will have a pivotal role in reducing planetary warming, his timeline for action by 2050 is too slow to make him a serious climate champion."
350 Action is the independent political action arm of the non-profit, non-partisan climate justice group 350.org.
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Some critics of the Trump administration are reacting with horror to revelations that US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has been serving as the de facto ruler of Venezuela.
According to a Saturday report in The New York Times, Rubio for the last several months has been acting informally as the "viceroy" of Venezuela ever since its recognized president, Nicolás Maduro, was abducted by the American military in January and brought to the US to face charges related to "narco-terrorism."
The Times' sources revealed that Rubio "effectively controls Venezuela’s finances, the distribution of its natural resources, and its government" and "is deeply involved in the country’s day-to-day operations," while maintaining regular contact with acting Venezuelan President Delcy Rodríguez.
Under current arrangements, the US Treasury Department takes in revenue from Venezuela's exports, including its petroleum, and then disperses the money back to the country through its private banks with strict conditions set by Rubio over what it can be spent on.
In explaining the system, the Times likened it to "parents handing out allowances to children," adding that it gives Rubio "immense leverage over... Rodríguez, who depends on the money to pay workers and prop up the national currency."
Elizabeth Saunders, professor of political science at Columbia University, described Rubio's power over Venezuela as "insane," as well as "derelict, unconscionable, and impeachable."
"The secretary of state's time is scarce, valuable, and not outsourcable," Saunders emphasized.
Orlando J. Pérez, professor of Political Science at the University of North Texas at Dallas, said the Times report made a mockery of Rubio's professed claims to want to bring democracy back to Venezuela.
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Rep. Ro Khanna this week was detained by a group of Israeli settlers whom he described as "hoodlums... with machine guns" while making a visit to a Palestinian village in the occupied West Bank.
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Israeli police arrived on the scene and arrested four settlers who were allegedly responsible for the attacks, CNN reported.
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The Trump administration on Friday escalated its war with the press by subpoenaing several reporters at The New York Times days after the paper published a story on Wednesday that detailed security concerns about the luxury jet the Qatari government gave to President Donald Trump.
According to the Times, the subpoenas are attempting to force reporters to testify before a federal grand jury in Manhattan on Wednesday next week, a move that the paper describes as an "extraordinary escalation in President Trump’s efforts to threaten and intimidate independent news organizations."
The issued subpoenas do not specifically name the Times' reporting on the Qatari jet as the reason for the grand jury probe, although they were given to all four journalists—Tyler Pager, Julian Barnes, Eric Schmitt, and Eric Lipton—who reported the story.
Additionally, the Times noted, a senior official at the FBI had asked the paper to hold off publishing its story on the jet before it came out on Wednesday, citing unspecified national security concerns about its content.
David McCraw, the top attorney representing the Times' newsroom, denounced the subpoenas as an attack on the freedom of the press.
"The appearance of federal law enforcement agents on the doorstep of news reporters should shock the conscience of any American who believes in the Constitution and the press freedom it protects," said McGraw. “This brazen act should be seen as nothing more than an attempt to prevent the public from knowing what is happening in their country by intimidating journalists from doing their jobs."
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Fox News chief national security correspondent Jennifer Griffin also denounced the Trump administration for trying to drag reporters into a grand jury investigation.
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