Yesterday Elizabeth Warren had a Town Hall in Ft. Wayne, IN, deep red goose-stepping territory of the Republican Reich.  If I had a complete video, clip, I would share it, but I do have four outtakes from the meeting.  In my opinion, her performance was stellar. but I suggest you take the time to watch and see what you think.

At the very end of Sen. Elizabeth Warren’s MSNBC town hall on Wednesday night, host Chris Hayes asked Warren about all the people who say they like her, but are worried she couldn’t beat President Donald Trump in the general election.

Warren, and many of the other women candidates running in 2020, have been getting this question a lot lately: about whether or not they are “electable.” Warren’s response? Political conventional wisdom about presidents is often wrong.

“I remember when people said Barack Obama couldn’t be elected,” Warren responded. “I remember when people said Donald Trump couldn’t be elected. And here we are.”

Warren has a point; during this time in 2016, political pundits were treating Trump’s campaign as a joke, and talking about Jeb Bush as the frontrunner. And before he was elected president, Obama was a one-term senator from Illinois who was going up against Hillary Clinton. Fast forward to 2020, and the current frontrunner is Obama’s vice president, Joe Biden — the candidate voters and pundits so far view as the most “electable” to beat Trump… [emphasis added]

Inserted from <Vox>

Here are the clips.

Elizabeth Warren Proves She’s A Fighter

Can Elizabeth Warren Turn The Rust Belt Blue?

Despite Donald Trump’s Promises, Midwest Jobs Leave For Mexico

Elizabeth Warren: Unions Will Rebuild America’s Middle Class

See what I mean?

RESIST!!

This year, I shall not attack Democratic Candidates.  However, when the behavior or a position of a Democratic candidate falls short of what I believe the party needs, I will say so with no attack intended.  Joe Biden recently unveiled his climate change plan.  It has two problems.  First, segments of it appear to be plagiarized.  Second, and far more important, the plan reflects the policies of the fossil fuel industry.

Sections of the former vice president’s plan, noted an observant climate campaigner, “looked like the type of thing the coal industry, trade groups, and coal companies themselves say.

Almost immediately after releasing a climate plan Tuesday that green groups slammed as woefully inadequate in part due to its embrace of industry-backed proposals such as “carbon capture,” presumptive 2020 Democratic frontrunner Joe Biden faced accusations of plagiarizing language from a number of sources, including a coalition consisting of major fossil fuel companies…

Josh Nelson, vice president of the progressive organization CREDO Mobile, was the first to highlight possible instances of plagiarism in Biden’s plan, noting on Twitter that the section “about carbon capture and sequestration includes language that is remarkably similar to items published previously by the Blue Green Alliance and the Carbon Capture Coalition”—two organizations backed by major fossil fuel companies and labor unions.

“Membership of the Carbon Capture Coalition, where some of Biden’s language seems to have originated, includes Shell, Peabody Energy, Arch Coal, and Cloud Peak Energy.”

—Josh Nelson, CREDO Mobil…  [emphasis added]

Inserted from <Raw Story>

On the issue of plagiarism, I don’t consider it a big deal.  In all probability it was prepared by an aide, and Biden didn’t know.  He has updated it with proper citations.

Biden’s support for CCS is far more ominous.  There is a reason that there are no large scale CCS plants anywhere in the world.  Such a facility would require so much extra fuel and energy to operate that to do so would be cost prohibitive, a probable increase of up 60% or more.  That makes CCS the pie in the sky for the fossil fuel industry, an excuse to keep on pumping carbon as long as fools believe it’s coming real soon now.

Joe Biden has apparently been taken in, as I do not believe that he would intentionally feed corporate criminal bullshit to American voters.  Nevertheless, he is doing so. If he wins the Democratic nomination, I will support him.  However, I believe this position disqualifies him as a viable candidate for the Democratic nomination, and urge you support others.

RESIST!!

Climate Change is one of those frustrating issues, in which everything we do to fight it doesn’t seem to be enough.  Then some wonderful kids stepped in.  Four years ago Kelsey Juliana, a young woman here in Oregon, organized 21 kids from eight to nineteen years olds to sue the federal government over climate change.  Today’s hearing before the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, here in Portland, will determine whether this important case will go to trial.

On June 4, 2019, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals will hear oral arguments in Juliana v. United States to determine whether the case will proceed to trial in district court in Oregon. Nearly 4 years ago, 21 children and adolescents between 8 and 19 years of age, including Kelsey Juliana from Oregon, filed suit against the federal government, charging that the government’s inaction on addressing climate change violated their constitutional right to life, liberty, and property. To date, no such lawsuit against the federal government has succeeded in the United States, despite a sharp increase in the number of similar suits filed by young people, municipalities, and state governments. Indeed, none of these lawsuits has gone to trial.

As the Juliana plaintiffs argue — and we agree — climate change is the greatest public health emergency of our time and is particularly harmful to fetuses, infants, children, and adolescents.  The adverse effects of continued emissions of carbon dioxide and fossil-fuel–related pollutants threaten children’s right to a healthy existence in a safe, stable environment. It is for this reason that we, together with nearly 80 scientists and physicians and 15 health organizations including the American Academy of Pediatrics, submitted an amicus brief to help educate the Ninth Circuit about this extraordinary threat.  More frequent and longer heat waves, increasing intensity of extreme weather events such as droughts and wildfires, worsening infectious-disease exposures, food and water insecurity, and air pollution from fossil-fuel burning all threaten to destabilize our public health and health care infrastructure…  [emphasis added]

Inserted from <New England Journal of Medicine>

Here’s a video plug for the case.

The action is sponsored by Our Children’s Trust.

Kudos to them all.  Oregon leads the way!

RESIST!!