What’s a worse TV programming idea than six straight hours of Democratic campaigners talking climate change? Honestly, I’m not sure. But this is the fresh hell that CNN has planned for America this Wednesday night. And while, sure, you can choose not to tune in to this particular political pageantry, there’s no avoiding its fallout, as Democratic 2020 candidates compete to outdo each other with grand regulatory plans.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren (Mass.) wants a plan similar to the “Green New Deal” proposed by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D–N.Y.) and company. It would entail an initial $3 trillion investment over 10 years. That’s the same price tag we see for Sen. Cory Booker’s (N.J.) plan, which includes $50 billion for an Environmental Justice Fund and a promise to plant 100 million trees.
Julián Castro’s plan would cost $10 trillion and includes a plank to dismantle “environmental racism,” which is:
a type of discrimination where communities of color and low-income communities are forced to live in close proximity to environmentally hazardous or degraded environments, such as hazardous waste sites or pollution. To that end, Castro said he’d propose new civil rights bills like requiring all federal actions be reviewed for environmental and health impacts on low-income and marginalized communities.
Joe Biden’s plan is cheap in comparison, at a projected $1.6 trillion.
Biden, Booker, Castro, and Warren will all appear as part of the CNN climate extravaganza starting tonight at 5 p.m. EDT, along with Pete Buttigieg, Sen. Kamala Harris (Calif.), Sen. Amy Klobuchar (Minn.), Beto O’Rourke, Sen. Bernie Sanders (Vt.), and Andrew Yang.
“Most candidates have the goal of achieving net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, although some aim to accelerate by a few years to 2040 or 2045,” notes CBS News. “Many candidates also hope to cut emissions by half by 2030 and get to net-zero emissions for electricity by that year,” and all have vowed to rejoin the Paris Climate Accords.
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FREE MINDS
An update on the Hong Kong protests:
BREAKING Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam to announce formal withdrawal of the extradition bill.
What took her almost 3 month to do so? Over 1,100 ppl arrested, hundreds of tear gas used, rubber bullets, and the city completely plunged into an abyss https://t.co/ELFUpYfgmu
— Phila Siu (Bobby) (@phila_siu) September 4, 2019
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FREE MARKETS
How occupational licensing impedes criminal justice reform. “Across the country, more than 10,000 regulations restrict people with criminal records from obtaining occupational licenses, according to a database developed by the American Bar Association.” The Washington Post details how these laws—pushed as ways to protect public safety—are an unnecessary, crony capitalist mess that is thwarting efforts at rehabilitation for the formerly incarcerated.
QUICK HITS
Congratulations to “online disinformation” alarmists who gave implicit approval to this new Pentagon initiative to “detect malicious intent and prevent viral fake news from polarizing society” https://t.co/LDQcNld55y
— Michael Tracey (@mtracey) September 3, 2019
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- “Law enforcement authorities, like everyone else, are required to use their real names on Facebook, and we make this policy clear,” a Facebook spokeswoman told the Associated Press in response to queries about Homeland Security agents creating fake accounts.
- Klobuchar is seeking to boost her pathetically unviable presidential campaign by getting in on the “Big Tech” bashing popular among Republican nationalists and Democratic populists alike.
- American support for school choice is growing.
- Another $3.6 billion is being diverted from U.S. Department of Defense projects to pay for Trump’s border wall.
- Michigan is banning flavored e-cigarettes.
Good time to re-up this excellent piece https://t.co/BLPcY79SG7
— Kat “please pre-order A TRICK OF LIGHT” Rosenfield (@katrosenfield) September 4, 2019
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- New North Carolina legislative districts are “significantly tainted in that they unconstitutionally deprive every citizen of the right to elections for members of the General Assembly conducted freely and honestly to ascertain, fairly and truthfully, the will of the People,” a state court just ruled.
- Justin Amash stands alone.
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