What A Day: Let's make a (green new) deal

BY PRIYANKA ARIBINDI & CROOKED MEDIA

Tuesday, June 4, 2019

—Smash Mouth commenting on Boston’s “Straight Pride Parade”

WHAT'S THE (GREEN NEW) DEAL?

Today, Democratic presidential candidates Joe Biden and Elizabeth Warren released detailed climate proposals. They joined a number of other 2020 Democrats who’ve either supported the Green New Deal resolution or introduced plans of their own. Most candidates have also pledged to rejoin the Paris Climate Accord as soon as they take office.

Here are the highlights from the field’s most significant climate proposals so far:

Inslee: The most detailed and ambitious plan of any Democratic candidate. Inslee would invest $3 trillion over 10 years to achieve 100% clean power by 2030 and net-zero carbon emissions by 2045. He also proposed a “G.I. Bill” that would help workers and communities most affected by the transition away from fossil fuels.

Warren: A sponsor of the Green New Deal resolution, Warren also introduced a $2 trillion “Green Manufacturing Plan” centered around three pledges: 1) $400 billion in funding for clean energy research and development over the next 10 years, 2) a $1.5 trillion government commitment to buy clean, renewable, American-made energy products, and 3) a $100 billion “Green Marshall Plan” to aid poorer countries that will suffer the worst effects of rising global temperatures.

Biden: A $1.7 trillion proposal to reach net-zero carbon emissions by 2050 that includes a $400 billion investment in clean energy research innovation. Biden would also end fossil fuel subsidies and ban oil and gas permits on public lands, and says that his plan embraces the Green New Deal “framework.”

O’Rourke: A $1.5 trillion plan that would halve carbon emissions by 2030 and reach net-zero emissions by 2050. O’Rourke would also stop new oil and gas drilling on public lands, eliminate fossil fuel subsidies, tax polluters, and offer help to workers and communities impacted by the transition away from fossil fuels.

Just in time: Today we also learned that in May, the Earth’s carbon dioxide level reached its highest level in human history, jumping at the second-fastest rate of increase of any year on record.

Kids could save our asses: A group of 21 young people who’ve sued the federal government in order to force action on climate change are back in court today to argue their case. The lawsuit says that the plaintiffs could be deprived of their “rights to life, liberty, property, and public trust resources by federal government acts that knowingly destroy, danger, and impair the unalienable climate system that nature endows.”

Julián Castro became the first presidential candidate to release a plan to overhaul American policing on Monday. His plan aims to end “over-aggressive policing” that disproportionately targets people of color. It would also enforce accountability and create better relationships between police departments and the communities they operate within. To do so, the plan:

Restricts use of deadly force and demilitarizes police forces by eliminating armored vehicles and high-caliber rifles
Supports oversight and accountability for officers by lowering the standards required to prosecute officers for misconduct, and creating national conduct standards
De-prioritizes minor offenses
Ends stop-and-frisk

His plan glaringly leaves out what the proper punishment will be if he becomes President but gets his twin brother to fill in for him some days so he can go to the movies, but other than that it’s pretty good!

Republican senators claim they have a veto-proof majority to block Trump’s attempt to impose tariffs on Mexican imports. The threat comes just hours after Trump said Congress would be “foolish” to try and stop him. Now let’s see if they actually call his bluff. Hope springs eternal?

The House finally passed a $19.1 billion disaster relief bill on Monday, after it was held up three separate times by three different House Republicans. Before that, it was delayed by Trump’s objections to providing funds to Puerto Rico, which he eventually dropped. The bill was passed by the Senate last month, and now goes to Trump for his signature, which he normally writes in crayon

A federal judge rejected a House lawsuit to stop Trump from using emergency powers to build his border wall. House Democrats argued that because Congress voted against authorizing the money, Trump’s plan to go around them violated the Constitution’s Appropriations Clause. The judge disagreed, saying that the Constitution doesn’t give the House the ability to sue over a funding fight.

The White House blocked former officials Hope Hicks and Annie Donaldson from complying with subpoenas and turning over White House documents to the House Judiciary Committee.

Ex-Parkland school resource officer Scot Peterson was arrested on charges of child neglect and culpable negligence in connection with the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School that killed 17. An investigation found that Peterson “refused to investigate the source of gunshots, ...retreated during the active shooting while victims were being shot, and directed other law enforcement who arrived on scene to remain 500 feet away from the building.” But we thought a good guy with a gun was the solution?

Today is the 30-year anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre, when hundreds of pro-democracy protesters in Beijing were killed in a crackdown by China’s communist government. The anniversary was recognized everywhere except in China because the Chinese government censors all mention of it (the semi-autonomous city of Hong Kong is the only place on Chinese soil where commemorations were held).

A three-year long inquiry by the Canadian government called the deaths in recent decades of over 1,200 aboriginal women and girls in Canada a “national genocide.” It blamed the violence against them on “long-standing discrimination against indigenous people and Canada’s failure to protect them,” and singled out Canadian police for stereotyping and victim-blaming indigenous women and girls who went missing.

The Trump administration banned cruises to Cuba starting Wednesday as part of its attempts to cut off a major source of the country’s income. Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin said the restrictions came because Cuba supports adversaries like Venezuela. This is a step in the right direction of formally banning all cruises because they are disgusting cesspools (jk, this is very shitty and will hurt the Cuban people)

According to Forbes, Jay-Z is the first rapper to become a billionaire. In addition to his music, his investments in real estate, art, alcohol, tech companies, and his own companies Tidal and Roc Nation took him over the $1B mark. Crazy that you can do so much but still go down as the idiot who cheated on Beyoncé.