April, 30 2024, 02:01pm EDT
G7 Fail First Post COP28 Fossil Fuel Test
Today G7 climate, environment and energy ministers released a joint communique that falls short of carrying forward the ambition of the COP28 agreement to transition away from fossil fuels.
G7 countries represent 27% of global oil and gas production, and are responsible for nearly 48% of CO2 from new oil and gas production.
Oil Change International data shows between 2020 and 2022, the G7 provided USD $25.7 billion a year in international public finance for fossil fuels, compared to USD $10.3 billion for clean energy. Today’s communique reaffirmed the G7’s agreement to end this finance, but with no clear timeline.
This year’s G7 negotiations are at a historic time for climate politics. It is the first opportunity to reflect the landmark agreement from COP28 to phase out fossil fuels, and the last time the group of countries will meet before agreeing to a new climate finance goal and submitting updated climate plans to 2035. This is the last chance for this group of rich countries to align their plans with the agreed 1.5°C limit.
In response, Romain Ioualalen, Oil Change International Global Policy Campaign Manager, said:
“This was the first opportunity for the G7 to show they were taking the COP28 agreement seriously. They have failed.
“The G7 are falling far short of what’s needed to implement the COP28 agreement to phase out fossil fuels. They are not just delaying taking climate action – they are actively blocking a fair, fast, full, and funded phase out of fossil fuels. These leaders cannot say they’re committed to a livable climate, while slow walking coal phase out, endorsing expansion of fossil gas, failing to pledge new climate finance.
“While the G7 focuses on coal, it conveniently omits to stress that limiting warming to 1.5°C means they also need to end fossil fuel expansion at home, going fastest in phasing out existing production. They must end the billions of dollars in taxpayer finance still flowing to fossil fuel projects abroad and fund the buildout of affordable renewable energy on fair terms. If their oil and gas expansion plans are allowed to proceed, it would lock in climate chaos and an unlivable future.
Makiko Arima, Senior Finance Campaigner at Oil Change International said:
“At a time when we need to phase out fossil fuels, Japan is driving gas expansion across Asia and globally. Last month, Japan approved over $2.7 billion dollars in financing for new gas projects in Vietnam, Australia and Mexico, breaking its G7 promise to end public finance for overseas fossil fuel projects. Japan is especially active in promoting gas in Asia through the Asia Zero Emissions Community initiative, which is just greenwashing designed to benefit Japanese corporate interests. Committing to phase out coal is a step in the right direction, but the phase out must include technologies like co-firing ammonia at coal plants that prolong the use of coal, as well as other fossil fuels like gas to ensure it is 1.5 degree-aligned.”
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.
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Trump Tries to Backtrack After Signaling Support for Limits on Birth Control
"Donald Trump has repeatedly promised that state Republicans will have a blank check to pass extreme laws attacking every facet of reproductive care," one critic noted.
May 21, 2024
Reproductive freedom continues to dominate this year's contest for the White House and former U.S. President Donald Trump made clear Tuesday morning that his election would threaten access to not only abortion care but also contraceptives—even though the Republican later tried to walk back his remarks.
"Do you support any restrictions on a person's right to contraception?" Jon Delano at the Pittsburgh station KDKA asked Trump, who is expected to face Democratic President Joe Biden in November.
Trump responded: "We're looking at that, and I'm going to have a policy on that very shortly, and I think it's something that you'll find interesting... You will find it, I think, very smart. I think it's a smart decision. But we'll be releasing it very soon."
After Delano pointed out that Trump's response suggests he may support some restrictions, such as on the morning-after pill, the GOP candidate said that "things really do have a lot to do with the states, and some states are gonna have different policies than others. But I'm coming out, within a week or so, with a very comprehensive policy."
Politicoreported that Trump's campaign didn't respond to its request for comment and "KDKA declined to confirm... when the interview was recorded, but the Biden campaign released video of the exchange on Tuesday."
After the video started garnering attention, Trump said on his social media platform: "I HAVE NEVER, AND WILL NEVER ADVOCATE IMPOSING RESTRICTIONS ON BIRTH CONTROL, or other contraceptives. This is a Democrat fabricated lie, MISINFORMATION/DISINFORMATION, because they have nothing else to run on except FAILURE, POVERTY, AND DEATH. I DO NOT SUPPORT A BAN ON BIRTH CONTROL, AND NEITHER WILL THE REPUBLICAN PARTY!"
Trump has attempted to campaign on both sides of the reproductive freedom fight. Sometimes he has highlighted his role reversing the landmark abortion rights ruling Roe v. Wade: He appointed three of the six right-wing U.S. Supreme Court justices behind the majority opinion in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization.
Since that 2022 decision, the GOP has ramped up attacks on abortion rights, enacting total bans in 14 states and signaling support for federal restrictions. At times, Trump has tried to distance himself from laws he recognizes as a political risk while also saying last month that he would let states monitor pregnancies and prosecute anyone who violates an abortion ban.
Many warn Republicans won't stop at abortion. Jill Filipovic reported Monday for Time that "the obvious question is, what's next? Is contraception access also on the line? Many activists, lawyers, historians, and politicians who favor abortion rights and contraception access say yes."
The progressive advocacy group Stand Up America said Tuesday that "in the past few days, Trump floated the idea of a three-term presidency, posted a video calling for a 'unified Reich' if reelected, and said he's looking at restricting access to birth control. Take his words seriously. Trump is a major threat to our freedoms and democracy."
Democrats are seizing opportunites to spotlight Republican attacks on reproductive freedom in campaign messages.
Noting Trump's comments to KDKA, Sarafina Chitika, a spokesperson for Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris' campaign, said Tuesday that "women across the country are already suffering from Donald Trump's post-Roe nightmare, and if he wins a second term, it's clear he wants to go even further by restricting access to birth control and emergency contraceptives."
"It's not enough for Trump that women's lives are being put at risk, doctors are being threatened with jail time, and extreme bans are being enacted with no exceptions for rape or incest. He wants to rip away our freedom to access birth control too," Chitika added. "While Trump works overtime to roll back the clock and rip away women's freedoms, President Biden and Vice President Harris are fighting nonstop to protect access to birth control and women's right to make their own personal healthcare decisions."
The Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee (DLCC), which works to elect party members at the state level, also responded to Trump's interview with Delano.
"In 2024, the battle for power in the states has never been more crucial. Donald Trump has repeatedly promised that state Republicans will have a blank check to pass extreme laws attacking every facet of reproductive care, from undermining contraception and birth control access to denying abortion care," said DLCC national press secretary Sam Paisley. "To fully stop Trump's MAGA agenda, we must invest in building Democratic power in the states."
"State elections this year will determine the future of reproductive rights, and it has never been more important to elect Democratic majorities to state legislatures who will champion our rights, not legislate them away. This is our best defense against MAGA extremists hellbent on dragging states into the past," Paisley argued. "The DLCC is rallying to build Democratic power across the country, especially as we reach this crisis point around the fight for fundamental freedoms. It is no exaggeration to say this is the most important year in state legislative history."
In addition to supporting candidates at all levels who will defend and expand reproductive freedom, abortion rights advocates are working to advance ballot measures that will safeguard access to care in states including Arizona, Florida, Montana, and Nevada.
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'Ethical Nightmare': House Democrats Demand Alito Recuse From Trump Cases
"The fact of such a political statement at your home creates, at minimum, the appearance of improper political bias."
May 21, 2024
Citing recent reporting that an inverted American flag—an alleged symbol of the "Stop the Steal" election denialism stoked by former U.S. President Donald Trump—was flown at the home of Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito following January 6, 2021, 45 House Democrats on Tuesday demanded his recusal from all cases involving the right-wing insurrection or 2020 presidential contest.
Earlier this month, The New York Timesrevealed that the inverted flag flew in front of Alito's home in Alexandria, Virginia during the period between the January 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol by Trump supporters and the inauguration of President Joe Biden.
"It is incontrovertible that at the time the upside-down flag flew from your front lawn, 'Stop the Steal' activists had adopted the inverted flag as their symbol of protest. Their belief that widespread election fraud had thrown the election from former President Trump to then-President-Elect Biden has never been supported by any evidence," a letter signed by the Democrats states.
The lawmakers cite a section of the U.S. Flag Code—which is legally unenforceable—barring the display of inverted American flags "except as a signal of dire distress in instance of extreme danger to life or property."
"No such dire distress was in existence at the time the inverted flag flew from your front yard," the letter notes. "Indeed, your own public statement attempts to pass responsibility to your wife, but you nonetheless acknowledge that it was a political statement in support of Donald Trump's effort to overturn the 2020 election."
Alito told the Times he "had no involvement whatsoever in the flying of the flag," which he said "was briefly placed by Mrs. Alito in response to a neighbor's use of objectionable and personally insulting language on yard signs."
The lawmakers' letter continues:
Even if you had "no involvement" in the display yourself, the fact of such a political statement at your home creates, at minimum, the appearance of improper political bias. According to Canon 5 of the recently promulgated, non-binding, non-enforceable U.S. Supreme Court ethics guidelines, on which you are listed as a signatory, a justice "should refrain from political activity." In fact, the court's own employee guidelines explicitly prohibit public displays of political views—including yard signs and bumper stickers—because they create an appearance of a conflict of interest...
In Canon 3B, the guidelines declare that "a justice should disqualify himself or herself in a proceeding in which the justice's impartiality might reasonably be questioned, that is, where an unbiased and reasonable person who is aware of all relevant circumstances would doubt that the justice could fairly discharge his or her duties."
There are currently two cases related to January 6 and the 2020 election before the court. Trump v. United Statesconcerns the presumptive 2024 GOP nominee's claim he has absolute presidential immunity for any official acts—in this case, trying to subvert the 2020 election—while Fischer v. United States is about whether January 6 insurrections committed felony obstruction of an official proceeding.
"Sadly, you are now the second justice who has demonstrated at least an appearance of a conflict of interest related to the events surrounding the January 6 insurrection," the letter laments. "In the aftermath of the 2020 election, text messages revealed that Virginia 'Ginni' Thomas, the wife of Justice Clarence Thomas, was actively strategizing with the White House chief of staff about how to overturn the election results and attending the January 6 'Stop the Steal' rally—precisely the same underlying conduct charged in Trump and Fischer."
"Although Justice Thomas seemingly acknowledged this conflict of interest by recusing himself from the court's case related to Trump attorney John Eastman, he has shockingly refused to recuse himself from Trump and Fischer," the lawmakers noted.
"Undoubtedly, public trust and confidence in the Supreme Court is in shambles, which jeopardizes our democracy and the rule of law upon which it is based. And given that your decisions in Trump and Fischer will profoundly affect the future of a past and potentially future president, and of democracy itself, it is essential that the court attempt to bolster the public's trust in the integrity of the court," the letter to Alito states.
"In order to protect the legitimacy of the court's ultimate decision in these historic cases," it concludes, "it is clear that both you and Justice Thomas must recuse yourselves from participating any further in these, or any other cases, related to January 6 or the 2020 election."
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Israeli Scholar Sees Hope for Democratic Palestine 'To Replace This Apartheid State'
"We are seeing... important processes that are leading to the collapse of the Zionist project," said Ilan Pappé, following his interrogation in the U.S.
May 21, 2024
Israeli historian Ilan Pappé, a prominent anti-Zionist, expressed hope for a free, democratic Palestine in which Jewish and Arab people can coexist, during an interview on Tuesday with Democracy Now! following his interrogation by U.S. federal agents last week.
Pappé, director of the European Center for Palestine Studies at the University of Exeter in the United Kingdom, was interrogated by the agents for two hours about his views after arriving in Detroit on a flight from London on May 13. The agents took his phone away before returning it. Pappé initially said the Federal Bureau of Investigation had interrogated him but later clarified that he was not sure which U.S. federal agency the agents represented.
Pappé
cited the interrogation in Detroit as an example of the "sheer panic and desperation" of Israel and pro-Israel lobbies due to fear the country will become a "pariah state." The interrogation came amid crackdowns on pro-Palestine demonstrations on U.S. college campuses, as well as arrests of protestors and cancellations of pro-Palestine intellectual activity in Europe.
In Tuesday's interview, Pappé denounced Israel's historical policy toward Palestinians, declaring it to be clearsighted in its cruelty and intentional in its methods, as he has long done in his scholarly work, most notably in his 2007 book, The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine.
Referring to events in the late 1940s, he told Democracy Now! that "the Nakba is a bit of a misleading term, because it means, in Arabic, a 'catastrophe.' But really what the Palestinians suffered was not an actual catastrophe, but rather ethnic cleansing, which is a clear policy motivated by clear ideology."
"There is not one moment in the history of the Palestinians in Palestine, since the arrival of Zionism in Palestine, in which Palestinians are not potentially under danger of losing their home, their fields, their businesses, and their homeland," he added.
Pappé has argued that as ugly as that history may be, the current war in Gaza is even worse—a step up from ethnic cleansing to genocide, in his view. His forthcoming book, Lobbying for Zionism on Both Sides of the Atlantic, documents the influence of the pro-Zionist lobbyists in the U.S., the U.K., and elsewhere.
Despite that influence, Pappé said that he sees signs that the ideological hold of Zionism is weakening, and a freer, more democratic Palestine may be possible, tellingDemocracy Now!:
I think we are seeing processes, important processes, that are leading to the collapse of the Zionist project. Hopefully, the Palestinian national movement and anyone else involved in Israel and Palestine would be able to replace this apartheid state, this oppressive regime, with a democratic one for everyone who lives between the river and the sea and for all the Palestinians who were expelled from there since 1948 until today.
"I am really hopeful that there will be a different kind of life," he added, "for both Jews and Arabs between the river and the sea under a democratic, free Palestine."
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