Tag Archives: national

Never Trump Delegates Have One Last Chance to Stand Up to Trump

by AngelinaMcAlexan Posted on July 19, 2016

Mother Jones

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After their revolt was crushed at the Republican National Convention on Monday, Never Trump delegates are planning one final push to deny Donald Trump the nomination on Tuesday in Cleveland. There’s little likelihood of success—and the effort may be nothing more than symbolic—but it appears the movement will go down swinging.

On Tuesday evening, the convention will be gaveled into session for the roll call of the states, when the delegates’ votes will be counted in order to officially make Trump the nominee. According to Kendal Unruh, a Colorado delegate and a leader of the dump Trump effort, her movement will use this final procedural vote to stage their last stand.

During the roll call of the states, the head of each delegation will declare his or her states’ vote breakdown. But delegates who are bound under convention rules to vote for Trump—but who personally oppose him—plan to register their dissent at this time using a specific parliamentary procedure.

“There’s a process that you use,” Unruh explained. “You have to actually directly challenge at the microphone to the chairman and say a specific phrase or they are going to call it out of order.” She declined to state the phrase, citing strategic reasons.

Technically, delegates bound to Trump by their state party rules must vote for him. But Unruh contends that there is nothing a state can do, and little the national party or state parties can do, to sanction rank and file delegates if they want to challenge this rule individually and vote their conscience. They are unlikely to stop Trump from reaching the 1,237 votes necessary to officially become the nominee, but the televised show of dissent will be an embarrassment to the Trump campaign and tarnish the image of unity the Republican National Committee is struggling to project this week.

The lingering tensions within the GOP were on full display on Monday, when Unruh and her allies made their first attempt to derail Trump’s nomination, briefly sparking chaos on the convention floor. That revolt failed after Republican National Committee officials and Trump aides persuaded delegates to abandon the anti-Trump delegates’ plan—an effort that Unruh claimed RNC chairman Reince Priebus was personally involved in.

After Tuesday’s vote making Trump’s nomination official, the Never Trump effort will finally be out of procedural weapons to use against Trump. But Unruh says that won’t stop them from planning more symbolic shows of opposition to Trump in Cleveland. “We have to hold them accountable for how they’ve treated us,” she said of the Trump campaign and the RNC. “There’s still ways to show discontent, and that’s what we’re discussing.”

“We’re dealing with a narcissist,” she continued. “There’s one thing he’s really gonna hate and that is people trying to embarrass him and not pay attention to him.”

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Never Trump Delegates Have One Last Chance to Stand Up to Trump

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This Photo of Ohio Cops Posing with Black Lives Matter Protesters in Cleveland Is Awesome

by Soon9014mxz Posted on July 18, 2016

Mother Jones

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In the blazing sun of Cleveland Public Square, under the 125-foot-tall Civil War Soldiers’ and Sailors’ monument, an awesome thing just happened—something that defies some peoples’ expectations of what would take place at the Republican National Convention.

Two Ohio cops accepted an invitation to briefly join a group Black Lives Matter protesters—mainly from New York City—in front of a big black-and-white “Cleveland” sign. They stood and posed for photos. The protesters laughed, then raised their fists. The cops smiled, and the scene ended with mutual camaraderie.

The moment occurred amid escalating tensions between law enforcement and protesters nationwide. Earlier this month, two black men, Alton Sterling and Philando Castile, were killed by police in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and Falcon Heights, Minnesota—the latest in a series of controversial police shootings.

On Sunday, three police officers were shot and killed and three others were injured during a gun attack in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, an incident that occurred just 10 days after an ambush of Dallas police killed five officers and injured nine people.

“Sometimes these photos can look a bit cheesy,” I told one of the Cleveland protesters, Elhadj Bah, a 29-year-old political consultant from New York. “Why did you do that? What’s the point?”

“The key is to work together with everybody, law enforcement and all of that stuff. It’s not creating division or hatred,” Bah said. “Maybe we can all work together?”

“It changes their perception,” Bah added.

I couldn’t chase down the cops in the photo in time to get their reactions (or their names.) They were quickly lost to the milling crowds of Trumpians, protesters, musicians, and reporters. If you can identify them, let me know.

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This Photo of Ohio Cops Posing with Black Lives Matter Protesters in Cleveland Is Awesome

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Don’t Let Individual Polls Fool You. Donald Trump Is Still Well Behind Hillary Clinton.

by ChelseyJenkin Posted on July 17, 2016

Mother Jones

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I get asked frequently whether I’m worried about this election. Of course I am. It’s a blot on our country that a man like Donald Trump has even won a major-party nomination, and it’s possible he could even win the presidency. Who wouldn’t be worried about that?

But am I especially worried because the national polls are within four or five points and sometimes even moving in Trump’s direction? Nope. This is an election with no incumbent running. There have been six of these in the postwar era, and the average margin of victory is about 4 percentage points. That’s just the way they go, and we shouldn’t be surprised that this one is running about the same. The fact that Trump is even closer in some polls is also entirely normal. If he’s truly four points behind, you’d expect a range of about 0-8 percentage points in different polls. And the fact that he’s sometimes closer and sometimes farther behind is also normal. External events will affect these things. Put this all together, and you’d expect individual polls to range anywhere from Trump ahead by two points to behind by ten points.

And that’s pretty much what we’re seeing right now. Trump could win, and that’s hardly cause for cheer. But he’s been steadily behind Hillary Clinton by 4-6 points for the past month, and the fact that individual polls sometimes show the race closer is nothing to get extra jittery about. Ordinary jitters are quite enough.

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Don’t Let Individual Polls Fool You. Donald Trump Is Still Well Behind Hillary Clinton.

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Paying Farmers to Go Organic, Even Before the Crops Come In

by Myrna Posted on July 14, 2016

Demand for organic crops so outstrips the supply that some food brands are underwriting farmers’ arduous and costly transition to organic production. View this article:  Paying Farmers to Go Organic, Even Before the Crops Come In ; ; ;

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Paying Farmers to Go Organic, Even Before the Crops Come In

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Remembering a ‘Keystone’ Ecologist, Robert Paine

by Myrna Posted on July 14, 2016

A biologist who turned sustained tide pool studies into an enduring ecological concept is remembered. Excerpt from:  Remembering a ‘Keystone’ Ecologist, Robert Paine ; ; ;

Original article – 

Remembering a ‘Keystone’ Ecologist, Robert Paine

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You Can Pack Heat at the Republican Convention But Leave Your Nunchucks at Home

by GiselleBqo Posted on July 13, 2016

Mother Jones

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The Republican National Convention kicks off in Cleveland on Monday and, despite earlier reports to the contrary, the city’s police department says it’s ready. A key question for law enforcement is what the effect of the state’s open-carry law will be, especially in the wake of the murder of five police officers in Dallas, where people exercising their right to carry weapons legally were mistakenly treated as suspects and complicated the response for police officers.

Given the history of violence between protesters and supporters of the prospective GOP nominee at campaign events, some Trump delegates told Mother Jones’ Pema Levy that they’re bringing their guns to the event to protect themselves. The city of Cleveland had previously released a list of prohibited items for the area around the convention, including water guns, gas masks, swords, and nunchucks.

Cleveland Police Chief Calvin Williams said Wednesday at a press conference that his department is ready. Speaking with reporters, Williams said his officers are experienced and can handle crowds that include people who are openly armed.

“We’ve done this before,” he said. “This is not the first time the city of Cleveland will see people open carry. We’ve had people with assault rifles, and you name it, and groups of people. We’ve handled it before.”

The police will be armed with all sorts of weapons and equipment purchased with a $50 million federal grant specifically for the convention, but protesters and the general public are limited in what they can bring within the convention’s 1.75-mile “event zone,” the area around downtown Cleveland where much of the convention activity will take place. Guns are fine, with a permit, but there are a lot of things that are off-limits.

Here’s the list of weapon-like items prohibited within the event zone during the convention:

Lumber larger than two inches wide and a quarter-inch thick
Metal, plastic, or other “hard materials” more than three-quarters of an inch thick
Air rifles and pistols
Paintball guns
Blasting caps
Switchblades or automatic knives
Knives with blades longer than two and a half inches
A cestus
Billy clubs
Blackjacks
Swords and or sabers
Hatchets/axes
Slingshots
BB and pellet guns
“Metal knuckles”
Nunchucks
Mace, pepper sprays, or other irritants
Iron buckles
Axe handles, shovels, “or other instrumentality used to cause property or personal damage”
Explosives/fireworks
Sound amplification equipment
Drones
Containers of bodily fluids
Aerosol cans
Umbrellas with metal tips
Water guns and/or water cannons
Rope, chain, cable, or strapping longer than six feet
Glass bottles (empty or not)
Locks
Gas masks “or similar device designed to filter all air breathed by the wearer in an attempt to protect the respiratory tract and/or face against irritating or noxious gasses or other materials”

So, to recap: Guns are cool, but leave your swords, hatchets, and cestuses at home.

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You Can Pack Heat at the Republican Convention But Leave Your Nunchucks at Home

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Phosphorus pollution poses a major threat to the world’s lakes

by Myrna Posted on July 13, 2016

Humans dump millions of tons of phosphorus into lakes every year, and it’s destroying their ecosystems. From: Phosphorus pollution poses a major threat to the world’s lakes ; ; ;

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Phosphorus pollution poses a major threat to the world’s lakes

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After 300 Years of Collecting, Nearly 12,000 Amazon Tree Species Are Found

by Myrna Posted on July 13, 2016

Researchers analyzed hundreds of thousands of samples in digitized museum collections to produce an estimate of species in the South American rain forest. Originally from:   After 300 Years of Collecting, Nearly 12,000 Amazon Tree Species Are Found ; ; ;

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After 300 Years of Collecting, Nearly 12,000 Amazon Tree Species Are Found

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Republican platform declares coal is clean

by EstelaWJWvzqh Posted on July 12, 2016

HEADDESK

Republican platform declares coal is clean

By on Jul 11, 2016Share

The Republican platform committee met in Cleveland the week before the Republican National Convention to hammer out the party’s policies in a Trump era. Not to be outdone by Democrats, who approved the party’s strongest platform language yet on climate change this weekend, Republicans have gone as far as possible in the other direction — by endorsing coal as clean.

After a unanimous vote on Monday, the RNC’s draft platform officially declares coal “an abundant, clean, affordable, reliable domestic energy resource.”

David Barton, a delegate from Texas, proposed the single-word edit to the RNC’s already-glowing list of adjectives on coal in its platform draft. “I would insert the adjective ‘clean’ along with coal, particularly because the technology we have now,” was Barton’s reasoning. (You can watch a clip of the vote on C-SPAN).

For years the coal industry — and at one point, even President Obama — promoted the idea of “clean coal,” that expensive and imperfect carbon-capture-and-storage technology could someday make coal less terrible. But there’s no way it is clean.

The RNC language just happens to reflect the same talking points favored by the lobby group, American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity (ACCCE), which on its website calls coal “an affordable, abundant and increasingly clean domestic energy resource that is vital to providing reliable low-cost electricity.”

The RNC copied most of that language correctly, give or take a few words.

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Republican platform declares coal is clean

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Sanders’ final win: Climate action in the Democratic platform

by JosetteShockley Posted on July 11, 2016

Sanders’ final win: Climate action in the Democratic platform

By on Jul 11, 2016 10:01 amShare

Pushed left by backers of Senator Bernie Sanders, Democratic leaders adopted a draft platform over the weekend that commits the party to a more aggressive stance on climate change — more aggressive, in some areas, than the positions of the party’s presumptive nominee.

Appointees of Sanders and Hillary Clinton met in Orlando to hammer out the party’s policy goals in advance of the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia later this month, where the platform will be formally adopted by delegates.

The negotiating sessions went past midnight and were described by committee members as the most contentious in decades, due to Sanders’ stronger-than-expected showing in the primaries, which resulted in the party giving him unusual influence over the platform. The draft language agreed to Sunday morning includes an endorsement to support “every tool available to reduce emissions now,” which most significantly includes an endorsement for pricing carbon. “Democrats believe that carbon dioxide, methane and other greenhouse gases should be priced to reflect their negative externalities, and to accelerate the transition to a clean energy economy and help meet our climate goals,” the draft reads.

A carbon tax was part of Sanders’ big push on climate policy during the primary race, while Clinton has resisted calling for anything that can be misconstrued as a tax hike in an election year.

Putting a price  on carbon isn’t controversial policy if you’re talking to an economist. But Clinton’s campaign has justified keeping its distance by saying climate change “is too important to wait for climate deniers in Congress to pass comprehensive climate legislation,” i.e., a carbon tax.

Clinton will be sticking to that reasoning regardless of what the party platform says. “Her plan is clearly articulated on her website,” Clinton Energy Policy Adviser Trevor Houser said this weekend, according to the Associated Press. “It’s not her plan.” The campaign did not return a request for comment.

That indicates the limited reach of the party platform. Although it’s designed to articulate the positions of the party as a whole, individual politicians — even the party’s standard-bearer — aren’t bound to it. But Sanders has indicated that one of his main goals is to push the party as a whole toward more dramatic action on issues like climate change, and the platform provides the best articulation yet of that direction.

The draft platform hammered out over the weekend includes a few other small nods to Sanders’ climate positions. It marks the official death among Democrats of the once-popular talking point that natural gas can be “a bridge fuel” to renewables. The platform now pits clean energy against gas, by incentivizing wind, solar, and renewables over new natural gas-fired power plants.

The draft also reflects a change in the left’s thinking after President Obama’s rejection of the Keystone XL pipeline last year, stating that Democrats should “ensure federal actions don’t ‘significantly exacerbate’ global warming” before supporting new infrastructure projects.

Progressive Democrats hardly got everything they wanted, particularly on the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal, which Obama strongly supports over the objections of many environmentalists, and a nationwide ban on fracking. The platform committee settled on Clinton’s proposal to regulate fracking’s methane emissions and impact on water quality, instead of calling for the Sanders-preferred nationwide ban.

Despite some mixed outcomes, Sanders feels he has won enough in the party’s platform to finally take himself out of the running for the Oval. He’s expected to endorse Clinton on Tuesday.

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Sanders’ final win: Climate action in the Democratic platform

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