We now know that she was a Republican -- I knew it because this is where I live and we know all Elizabeth.
She's good at talk, she's not good at doing things and maybe nothing makes that more clear than her 'green' energy bill. Carl Beijer (Jacobin) explains:
Massachusetts senator and Democratic presidential hopeful Elizabeth Warren has rolled out a new proposal — the Defense Climate Resiliency and Readiness Act (DCRRA) — with the declaration that “our military can help lead the fight against climate change.” The proposal is actually a series of distinct initiatives that, in tandem, would create what she calls a “green military”: one that runs on clean energy, that monitors and reports on its environmental impacts, and one that remains “effective.”
So far, the response to Warren’s proposal has largely revolved around two debates. The first simply asks whether the bill would make meaningful progress in the fight against climate change. The second asks whether it is in some sense complicit in US militarism. Both of these debates, however, have remained gridlocked in an exchange of abstractions and truisms: “militarism is incompatible with ecosocialism,” “yes but we must be pragmatic,” etc.
Fortunately, both of these debates can be quickly resolved if we look at the specifics of the legislation. The language of the bill guarantees that it cannot succeed even on its own narrow terms — precisely because it includes loopholes that seek to preserve the US military’s dominant position in the world.
The bill’s problems stem from two key passages.
First, consider section six: “Climate Conscious Contracting of Department of Defense,” where Warren lays out her plan to bring the military-industrial complex to heel. “[I]f we’re serious about climate change,” she writes, “then industry also needs to have skin in the game.” In a Medium post last week, Warren explained how the scheme would work: contractors that haven’t achieved carbon neutrality would be charged a small fee, which would in turn be invested into a Energy and Climate Resiliency Fund. But buried in the bill, there’s a passage she doesn’t mention:
WAIVER: the Secretary of Defense may waive the requirements of this section . . . [if] he determines that market conditions for a product or service make it difficult for the Department to acquire that product or service and the waiver will accelerate the Department’s acquisition of the product or service.In other words: if someone in the government decides that “market conditions” (say, prices) are making it “too difficult” to buy that electric Humvee, he can just throw Warren’s entire scheme out the window. This is the military-industrial-complex loophole par excellence — it gives contractors direct cover to argue that Warren’s eco-fee would make production too expensive.
And that’s not the only way the private sector could wriggle out of the DCRRA’s eco-fee. Even if the waiver were removed entirely, capitalists have a standard strategy for dealing with this sort of fee: they simply raise their prices enough to offset it. Warren’s proposal is therefore unlikely to create the kind of market pressure on military contractors that could force them to change their energy consumption with the urgency that climate change demands.
Explain to me again how she's a 'progressive' hero? Oh, that's right, because the corporate press says she is.
This is C.I.'s "Iraq snapshot" for Wednesday:
Wednesday, May 22, 2019. War on Iran looms larger, the press has a
funny way of covering veterans (who they pretend isn't a veteran), Beto
O'Rourke holds a town hall, and more.
In the US there is a race taking place for the Democratic Party's presidential nomination. Among those seeking the nomination? Senator Elizabeth Warren.
In the US there is a race taking place for the Democratic Party's presidential nomination. Among those seeking the nomination? Senator Elizabeth Warren.
It’s been over 24 hours. No more spoiler alerts. Here’s why @AOC and I are officially on #TeamSansa now.
As war with Iran looms larger, Elziabeth takes time out from her GAME OF THRONES Tweeting to remember more pressing issues.
Not on my watch. I’m cosponsoring legislation to stop us from going to war with Iran. Congress must use its constitutional authority to stop @realDonaldTrump from dragging us into another forever war.
Americans are tired of reckless and endless wars. We saw what the disastrous Iraq War did. Thousands of servicemembers dead and wounded. America's reputation damaged abroad. Now @realDonaldTrump’s advisors are pushing Shock and Awe 2.0 – this time against Iran.
Barring her Tweeting about the May 29th return of ANIMAL KINGDOM on TNT, the senator may yet again Tweet against war on Iran. Seven days after her last Tweet on the subject, Elizabeth remembers Iran.
Senator Bernie Sanders is also seeking the Democratic Party's presidential nomination. Unlike Elizabeth, he didn't take a week off to prep for the GAME OF THRONES finale. No, he's been calling out the notion of war on Iran repeatedly.
This afternoon, I attended a Senate intelligence briefing where the Trump administration presented its policy on Iran. Without going into specifics, let me just say: If you think the war in Iraq was a disaster, in all likelihood a war with Iran would be far worse.
Someone else who has also been speaking out against war on Iran consistently is US House Rep Seth Moulton who is also seeking the nomination. Joe Garafoli (SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE) reports:
Rep. Seth Moulton sees a replay of the Iraq War when
he hears President Trump promising to strike Iran with "great force” in
response to reported threats from Tehran against U.S. personnel in the
Middle East.
“It’s frighteningly similar,” the Democratic presidential candidate told The Chronicle’s “It’s All Political” podcast.
“You have some of the same people — (National Security Adviser) John
Bolton — in the White House, agitating for war. And agitating with a
president who doesn’t have a lot of credibility to stop it because he
got out of serving himself, much like George W. Bush avoided going to
Vietnam.”
Bolton helped Bush build the public case for the 2003 Iraq invasion and has long advocated for regime change in Iran, too.
Seth is an Iraq War veteran as is US House Rep Tulsi Gabbard who is also running for the presidential nomination. More than any other candidate, she's been out front calling out a war on Iran.
War with Iran will be far more costly than the Iraq war. It will undermine our national security, and waste countless of lives and trillions of dollars. As president, I'll restore the Iran nuclear deal and de-escalate tensions. Join me and say #NoIranWar!
Intel officials & politicians led us into Iraq war. Now Trump’s using the same playbook to lead our country into war with Iran. The cost in lives & treasure will be infinitely greater than the wars in Iraq, Afghanistan, & Syria, and will undermine our ntnl security. #NoIranWar
Tulsi Gabbard Retweeted
Rep. Tulsi Gabbard says Trump is leading us down a dangerous path towards war with Iran: "They are setting the stage for a war with Iran that would prove to be far more costly, far more devastating and dangerous than anything that we saw in the Iraq War" abcn.ws/2LVbVQP
PRI's Bobby Bascomb (LIVING ON EARTH) reported on Tulsi yesterday:
Representative Gabbard spoke for about 45 minutes, mainly about the need to scale back military intervention abroad. She said there is a peace dividend to be had when we stop spending trillions of dollars on regime change. We should instead invest that money domestically, on health care, infrastructure and the environment.
“Every single one of us is paying the price for these wars,” Gabbard said. “And we see this every time we are told by politicians that there is just not enough money. There’s just not enough money to make sure that mothers and fathers and sons and daughters in places like Merrimack, New Hampshire, have clean water to drink. There’s just not enough money to make sure that we have safe roads and bridges to drive on.”
Gabbard grew up surfing and "having a deep appreciation for our environment." It wasn't something she had to be taught, she says. Environmental issues, especially water quality, inspired her to run for the State House of Hawaii at age 21 and still spur her to action. “Water is life. It is essential to everything else,” Gabbard says. “If we don't have clean water to drink, then we have nothing.”
Let's repeat something here: Tulsi Gabbard is an Iraq War veteran.
I'm about to not be kind. I've been biting my tongue. A number of people keep sending what they believe are must-reads to the public e-mail account hoping I'll highlight their work.
Tulsi is an Iraq War veteran.
So, for example, Aamer Madhani, when you write an article about veterans running for the presidential nomination who are calling out war on Iran? If you include Pete Buttigieg and Seth Moulton but don't even mention Tulsi?
You and your USA TODAY outlet look like extreme sexists and pigs.
Does the fact that Tulsi is a woman mean you don't think of her when you look at veterans?
What is your personal hang up? Whatever it is, you better address it and do so quickly, it's 2019 and there has been a huge increase in female veterans since the start of these never-ending wars. You erase all of them when you work to erase one of them. You should be ashamed of yourself.
As the threat of war on Iran looms, a new effort towards peace is undertaken. PRESS TV reports:
Iraqi Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi says his country is set to send delegations to the US and Iran to help “halt tension” between the two sides amid growing concerns over a military conflict as Washington ratchets up its belligerent rhetoric against Tehran and builds up its military presence in the region.
“Iraq has high-level contacts (with both parties), and its vision is very close to that of the European Union, which seeks to settle the crisis in the region,” Abdul Mahdi said at a weekly press briefing in the capital Baghdad on Tuesday.
So the country ripped apart by ongoing war is going to try to help make peace between the US and Iran?
Former US House Rep Beto O'Rourke is running for the Democratic Party's presidential nomination as well.
Beto says the U.S. has been in Iraq for "28 years and counting..." #CNNTownHall
We have had Troops there since 1991 under Bush Sr. The gulf war. Were we at war? No. But troops were there including my Friend Jeremy. Then we invaded the rest after 9/11 under Bush Jr. Unfortunately Jeremy along with my ex fiance died across the street from tower 1
Beto is correct about the 28 years and, as we've noted repeatedly, his math is the same that US generals appearing before Congress have used in their testimony. Some in the press are dishonest and try to attack him for that math though they looked the other way, year after year, when generals and even Secretaries of Defense used the same math when testifying to Congress.
Beto had a CNN town hall yesterday:
BASH: Thank you. Let's get back to the audience. Olivia Welter is a pharmacy student right here at Drake University and a supporter of Elizabeth Warren. Olivia? O'ROURKE: Hey, Olivia.
QUESTION: Yes, good evening. Welcome to Drake.
O'ROURKE: Thank you for having me.
QUESTION: My question for you is that recently several states have introduced and passed bills that legally prohibit those with uteruses from exercising their reproductive rights. What specific actions will you take to allow us to gain back our right to our own bodies?
(APPLAUSE)
O'ROURKE: Thank you. For so long, women have been leading this fight, shouldering the burden of making sure that their reproductive rights protected. It's time that all of us join them in this fight. As president, I will make sure that every nominee...
(APPLAUSE)
... to every federal bench, including the Supreme Court, understands and believes that the 1973 decision, Roe v. Wade, is the settled law of the land.
(APPLAUSE)
As president, I'll make sure that we do away with the gag rule which prevents providers from referring women to get the best reproductive healthcare that they can. We'll do away with the Hyde amendment, so that ensures that regardless of your income or your ZIP Code you are able to access a safe, legal abortion, and also the other services that are provided in family planning clinics, a cervical cancer screening, family planning help, in a state like mine, in Texas, where we have not expanded Medicaid or one like yours where you've privatized Medicaid to disastrous results, being able to get the health care that will keep women alive in the midst of a maternal mortality crisis that is three times as deadly for women of color.
And then I will work with our partners in Congress to make sure that by statute we prevent states from taking away the right that every woman should enjoy -- making her own decisions about her own body and having access to the healthcare that makes that possible. Thank you for asking.
(APPLAUSE)
BASH: You probably know there are efforts underway right now to boycott these states, to try to stop people from spending any money in states like Alabama that have passed restrictive measures on abortion. Do you support those boycotts? And how far should they go?
O'ROURKE: Here's an alternative solution that I'd like to pursue. There's an extraordinary organization in Texas called Annie's List, and it helps women run for political office, city council, state rep, state senator, U.S. Congress, senator, and president. More women in positions of power and public trust means better
results, not just on these policies, but just about any other policy that I can think of right now. So let's change the composition of these state legislatures so that we have people who better reflect the genius of those states and of this country and of our great democracy. That's the path that I want to take.
The following sites updated:
