Sunday, February 16, 2020
FOCUS: Paul Krugman | Bernie Sanders Isn't a Socialist. But He Plays One on TV.
16 February 20
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16 February 20
FOCUS: Paul Krugman | Bernie Sanders Isn't a Socialist. But He Plays One on TV.
Paul Krugman, The New York Times
Krugman writes: "Republicans have a long, disreputable history of conflating any attempt to improve American lives with the evils of 'socialism.'"
Paul Krugman, The New York Times
Krugman writes: "Republicans have a long, disreputable history of conflating any attempt to improve American lives with the evils of 'socialism.'"
EXCERPT:
When Medicare was first proposed, Ronald Reagan called it “socialized medicine,” and he declared that it would destroy our freedom. These days, if you call for something like universal child care, conservatives accuse you of wanting to turn America into the Soviet Union.
It’s a smarmy, dishonest political strategy, but it’s hard to deny that it has sometimes been effective. And now the front-runner for the Democratic presidential nomination — not an overwhelming front-runner, but clearly the person most likely at the moment to come out on top — is someone who plays right into that strategy, by declaring that he is indeed a socialist.
The thing is, Bernie Sanders isn’t actually a socialist in any normal sense of the term. He doesn’t want to nationalize our major industries and replace markets with central planning; he has expressed admiration, not for Venezuela, but for Denmark. He’s basically what Europeans would call a social democrat — and social democracies like Denmark are, in fact, quite nice places to live, with societies that are, if anything, freer than our own.
Dangerous Car Seats; Feds Failing to Fix Cars
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Since you last heard from us there’s been a lot of car safety news. More Kia vehicles are being recalled due to fire risk, the federal government granted a petition to allow an autonomous delivery robot on the streets, some Florida residents are learning about how often used cars are sold with unrepaired recalls, and we've spent some time on TV talking about how even the government is selling recalled cars these days! Here's what you need to know:
First The Evenflo Company found itself in the middle of a scandal this week after a ProPublica investigation revealed that, although they labeled their Big Kid car seats as "side-impact tested," they failed to inform parents that the results were disastrous and even fatal.
Source: ProPublica
“There’s nothing more precious than the lives of our children and nothing lower than deceiving parents into thinking a child car seat is safe for your son or daughter, when it isn’t. The federal government is eight years overdue to update its side crash test for child safety seats, and Evenflo appears even more overdue to find its conscience when it comes to marketing claims.” – Jason Levine, Executive Director
Read the whole story from ProPublica.
Second Tech company Nuro had it’s petition to begin testing its self-driving vehicle (with no people in it) on public roads approved by NHTSA. We had opposed this petition back in May, when we told NHTSA that Nuro's safety plan was not enough.
"We don't understand how NHTSA can possibly justify prioritizing this petition over the dozens of actual safety rules and enforcement actions that continue to lay fallow while they plow corporate selected ground," - Jason Levine, Executive Director
Read the full article from The Detroit News.
Third We attended the House Subcommittee on Consumer Protection and Commerce's hearing on "Autonomous Vehicles: Promises and Challenges of Evolving Automotive Technologies." We heard a lot of viewpoints, but not enough about average consumers and safety. Here’s what we had to say:
"The time for Congressional leadership that gives the best chance for the safe development of AV technology is now – before any more Americans have their lives upended, or prematurely lost, due to unregulated defective AV technology. Otherwise, today’s exaggerated ‘Full Self Driving’ claims by Tesla about vehicles which do not meet any such definition will soon seem tame." - The Center for Auto Safety Official Statement
Read the full statement and our letter to the subcommittee.
Finally The Federal government, through an agency called the General Services Administration (GSA) continues to sell cars that have been recalled for safety issues to the public, even after they were called out on it. Instead of fixing the recalled, dangerous vehicles before sale, they’ve decided to shift the responsibility to the consumer and disclose the recall in fine print, but disclosures don’t stop defects.
"These are things that are by definition serious. So the idea the federal government is saying 'Well now, consumer, I’ve told you this is dangerous. It’s on you' is the height of hypocrisy." - Jason Levine, Executive Director
Watch our interview on ABC 7 Washington, DC.
There are so many auto safety problems for us to tackle and we work tirelessly every day to hold car manufacturers and the government accountable. No matter the issue, your support makes it possible for us to improve safety for everyone on the road!
Sincerely,
Jason Levine
Executive Director
Executive Director
PS: By becoming a member now for less than $5 a month you can still receive your full 12 Safety Tune-Up Reports with customized safety information about the make, model, and year of your car!
Our Contact Information
Center for Auto Safety
1825 Connecticut Ave. NW
Suite 330
Washington, DC 20009
Suite 330
Washington, DC 20009
(202) 328-7700
David Rohde | Why Is William Barr Really Criticizing Donald Trump?
16 February 20
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You can believe your support matters here.
Marc Ash
Founder, Reader Supported News
If you would prefer to send a check:
Reader Supported News PO Box 2043 Citrus Hts CA 95611 |
16 February 20
David Rohde | Why Is William Barr Really Criticizing Donald Trump?
David Rohde, The New Yorker
Rohde writes: "With surprising ease, they have reversed half a century of precedent that was designed to curb corruption in the criminal-justice system, and earned the enmity of hundreds of former Justice Department officials and legal experts. Many of those officials were deeply skeptical of Barr's seeming rebuke of Trump in the ABC interview."
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David Rohde, The New Yorker
Rohde writes: "With surprising ease, they have reversed half a century of precedent that was designed to curb corruption in the criminal-justice system, and earned the enmity of hundreds of former Justice Department officials and legal experts. Many of those officials were deeply skeptical of Barr's seeming rebuke of Trump in the ABC interview."
READ MORE
Bernie Sanders. (photo: Scott Olson/Getty Images)
Bernie Sanders Is Leading the 2 Most Important States on Super Tuesday
Dylan Scott, Vox
Scott writes: "Sen. Bernie Sanders now holds critical polling leads in the 2020 Democratic primary: New surveys show him ahead in California and Texas, the biggest prizes in the upcoming Super Tuesday elections on March 3."
READ MORE
Dylan Scott, Vox
Scott writes: "Sen. Bernie Sanders now holds critical polling leads in the 2020 Democratic primary: New surveys show him ahead in California and Texas, the biggest prizes in the upcoming Super Tuesday elections on March 3."
READ MORE
US soldiers at a base in Iraq. Multiple rockets struck near the US embassy in Baghdad on 16 February. (photo: Ayman Henna/AFP/Getty Images)
Baghdad Explosions: Rockets Strike Near US Embassy in Iraq
Agence France-Presse
Excerpt: "Multiple rockets hit near the US embassy in Iraq's capital early on Sunday, an American military source said, the latest in a flurry of attacks against US assets in the country."
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Agence France-Presse
Excerpt: "Multiple rockets hit near the US embassy in Iraq's capital early on Sunday, an American military source said, the latest in a flurry of attacks against US assets in the country."
READ MORE
Speaking at the Munich Security Conference, Mark Zuckerberg said Facebook had been slow to understand the scale of foreign interference in elections. (photo: Philipp Guelland/EPA)
Mark Zuckerberg: Facebook Must Accept Some State Regulation
Patrick Wintour, Guardian UK
Wintour writes: "Facebook must accept some form of state regulation, acknowledging its status as a content provider somewhere between a newspaper and a telephone company, its co-founder Mark Zuckerberg has said."
READ MORE
Patrick Wintour, Guardian UK
Wintour writes: "Facebook must accept some form of state regulation, acknowledging its status as a content provider somewhere between a newspaper and a telephone company, its co-founder Mark Zuckerberg has said."
READ MORE
Activists gather in Washington to mark the anniversary of Roe v. Wade, the landmark 1973 Supreme Court decision that legalized abortion. (photo: Alex Wong/Getty Images)
Senate Republicans Want to Protect Babies 'Born Alive' After an Abortion. That Doesn't Happen.
Carter Sherman, VICE
Sherman writes: "Abortion politics are, to put it lightly, contentious. But in the coming weeks, the Senate will vote on what may be their third rail: abortions that occur late in pregnancy."
READ MORE
Carter Sherman, VICE
Sherman writes: "Abortion politics are, to put it lightly, contentious. But in the coming weeks, the Senate will vote on what may be their third rail: abortions that occur late in pregnancy."
READ MORE
Volodymyr Zelensky. (photo: Anastasia Vlasova/Getty Images)
Zelensky to Trump: Stop Saying My Country Is Corrupt
Blake Montgomery, The Daily Beast
Montgomery writes: "Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky said Saturday that president Trump was wrong to call Ukraine one of the most corrupt countries in the world. Speaking with CNN at the Munich Security Conference, Zelensky said that Trump's designation of Ukraine as the 'third-most corrupt country in the world' was 'not true.'"
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Blake Montgomery, The Daily Beast
Montgomery writes: "Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky said Saturday that president Trump was wrong to call Ukraine one of the most corrupt countries in the world. Speaking with CNN at the Munich Security Conference, Zelensky said that Trump's designation of Ukraine as the 'third-most corrupt country in the world' was 'not true.'"
READ MORE
Despite the industry's claims, oil and gas are far from being clean. (photo: Kanenori/Pixabay/The Wilderness Society)
New Report Details Impacts of Oil and Gas Development on Public Lands
Carla Ruas, EcoWatch
Ruas writes: "The American Petroleum Institute has rolled out a multibillion-dollar public relations campaign stating that oil and gas can help to solve climate change. The association is claiming that expanding the use of fossil fuels can lower climate emissions that are trapping heat on our planet."
Carla Ruas, EcoWatch
Ruas writes: "The American Petroleum Institute has rolled out a multibillion-dollar public relations campaign stating that oil and gas can help to solve climate change. The association is claiming that expanding the use of fossil fuels can lower climate emissions that are trapping heat on our planet."
If that sounds fishy, it's because it is.
The campaign, which includes online ads, airport displays and billboards, credits oil and gas for the recent dip of 2.1 percent in the U.S. climate emissions. It also pushes the false narrative that fossil fuels — especially natural gas — are the energy sources of the future.
Our new report, The Climate Report 2020: Greenhouse Gas Emissions from Public Lands, shows that couldn't be farther from the truth.
While climate emissions went down slightly in 2018, the decline has more to do with the country's shift away from coal, a notoriously dirty energy source. And although the gap left by coal has been partially filled by oil and gas, to say dirty energy can stave off climate change is just plain wrong.
Our experts found that on public lands alone, oil and gas development is set to generate a massive amount of climate emissions. Federal lands leased to the industry in the last three years could produce as much as 5.9 billion metric tonnes of greenhouse gases. That's more than half the emissions that China — the world's largest emitter — releases per year.
You won't see that number in the industry's advertisements.
The problem is that oil and gas are far from being clean energy sources. Even the most efficient natural gas plant still emits about half of the carbon dioxide emitted by a coal plant. That's still high considering the world needs to slash carbon emissions to avoid the worst effects of the climate crisis, according to the United Nations
Federal lands leased in the last three years could generate half of China's annual climate emissions.
That's not all. The extraction of natural gas also releases methane, widely known as a climate change accelerant. The gas is released in smaller quantities than carbon dioxide, but it's 87 times more powerful in trapping heat in the Earth's atmosphere.
It's clear that by investing in oil and natural gas instead of coal, we're just replacing one emissions problem with another.
It's also clear that oil and gas companies are not interested in solving climate change. For instance, methane leaks could be easily cut with cost-effective solutions. But the industry has done the opposite, spending heavily to block the passage of any regulations.
The Federal Government Has the Industry's Back
As fossil fuel companies attempt to rebrand themselves as "clean" to expand operations, the federal government has been giving them full support. So far, the Trump administration has offered 461 million acres of American public lands and waters for the development of oil and gas — an area technically bigger than the state of Alaska.
Catering public lands to fossil fuel extraction is highly irresponsible. They already contribute greatly to the climate change problem: Over 20 percent of total U.S. climate emissions come from oil, gas and coal extracted on those lands.
But from the very beginning, the Trump administration has managed public lands on behalf of corporate interests instead of the public. They have been offering sites to the industry at below-market rates and have purposely hidden the climate impact of fossil fuel developments.
As the world strives to solve the climate crisis, we seem to be going in the wrong direction. The results could be catastrophic — especially for lower-income and communities of color that are disproportionately impacted by extreme weather events including hurricanes, floods and wildfires.
The Real Solution: Healthy Lands
Instead of putting a band-aid on a bullet wound by investing in dirty energy to solve climate change, we need a long-term plan to reduce climate emissions.
We can start right here in our backyard: our shared public lands.
The federal government can easily reduce emissions stemming from public lands. They just have to reinstate limits on methane pollution, restrict the number of acres available for the oil and gas industry and charge a fair price for the land that is leased.
It gets better.
We can use this land to build responsible renewable energy projects such as wind turbines and solar panels. You know, the type that's actually clean. We can also foster natural carbon sinks—magical landscapes like the Tongass National Forest in Alaska that have the power to absorb carbon emissions. With this recipe, we can reach net-zero emissions on public lands and waters by 2030.
What's more, this approach is good for both the environment and people.
Less fossil fuel development on public lands will reduce air and visual pollution that so often burden local communities. Responsible renewable energy projects will put people to work. And healthy landscapes will strengthen climate resiliency for all and preserve our shared air, lands and waters.
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