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In a new indictment, Special Counsel Jack Smith with the U.S. Dept. of Justice is working to hold former President Donald Trump accountable for election interference in 2020. In early July, the Supreme Court ruled that Trump could not be prosecuted for acts within the scope of his duties as president at the time.

Special Counsel Smith has revised the indictment to eliminate the illegal actions for which the Court held Trump was immune. Public Citizen co-president Lisa Gilbert said the Department of Justice is right to pursue accountability for the former president, because no one, including our highest elected officials, should be above the law.

“Former President Trump has persistently tried to evade accountability for election interference in connection with the 2020 election,” said Gilbert. “And now a fifth grand jury has indicted him. Because his outrageous efforts to overturn the election were not official acts, he is not immune from prosecution. Public Citizen applauds these actions by the Department of Justice to preserve our democracy.”

In this hallucinatory election year, how weird can things get? Weird. Among the lunatic slings and arrows being tossed at Dems in hopes something sticks: The claim Walz is a serial-lying, horse-semen-drinking Great Replacement zealot, Harris is a child-trafficking, sexually-servicing trans man named Kamal Aroush, and it'll all be okay if you buy fabric-bedecked trading cards from a grifting crackpot who wants to start a "Space National Guard." At this point sure, why not.

Because going low is the only thing today's GOP knows, Kamala Harris and Tim Walz have been targeted with a frenzied "avalanche of disinformation" since they were nominated. Unsurprisingly, they've quickly joined the ranks of other competent, high-profile figures hit by the same toxic stew - sexist, racist, transphobic, insane - like Michelle Obama, Brigitte Macron and, for Black "rabbis- drunk-on-Christian-blood" wingnut Candace Owens, anyone outside MAGA world. "It's not a coincidence that Justin Trudeau is gay!" Owens has ranted. "Obama: gay! Zelensky: gay! Macron: gay, married to a trans man who molested him as a child!" For Democrats in recent years - see Hillary Clinton in the nefarious "Pizzagate" - charges often include pedophile rings, cults, crimes, parties. Even Sleepy Joe's partaken, it seems. "Joe Biden and Kamala Harris are the number one traffickers of children, girls, into sex slavery on planet Earth," raves Stephen 'Goebbels' Miller, and if you cant believe him who can you believe.

Thus has Harris been accused of being a "prostitute for globalists," sleeping her way to the top herself or getting others to "service" said globalists. She's also been featured in fake photos with Jeffrey Epstein - arm in arm, canoodling on a beach etc - which totally makes sense given her history as a prosecutor whose fiery pursuit of those committing sex crimes largely "defined her career." Still, nothing prepared us for the newest QAnon bombshell - "MAJOR ALERT! ITS ALL COMING OUT!" - that Kamala Harris is actually a man named Kamal Aroush from Benghazi - conspiracy double dipping! - who "graduated" from Iraq in 1959 even though he/she was born in 1964 and got "higher training" in the UK. Irrefutable proof comes in a 2023 photo of Kamala/Kamal in a slinky dress with a very suspicious crease where a penis would be; it also shows "peculiarities in her teeth and hairline," indicating "a possible identity switch or disguise." And obviously there is no chance photos were in any way digitally doctored. Who would do that?

As a woman of color with grit to spare, Harris is an easy target for the haters; America's Amiable White Dad Tim Walz has been harder to nail. But they're trying. After his "legendary liar's" military record, they moved on to him as a zoophile who once drank horse semen and a Great Replacement fan who turned Minnesota's flag into Somalia's so he can "do the same to our country." He protected pedophiles (not), let undocumented migrants vote (ditto), lied about his dog Scout (LOL), said he got an award from the Chamber of Commerce when it was the Junior Chamber (typing error), and is what Tucker Carlson randomly called "a creeper." Twitter offered their own fact-check: He wore a crown declaring him "Burger King" but has no such title, he told students something would be on a test that wasn't, he was spotted drinking from a World’s Greatest Dad coffee mug but others have claimed that title, he bought a Happy Meal for his kids and they weren't, and "JUST IN: A 1/2" box wrench was seen in his metric wrench drawer."

With Vance (lamely) taking on Walz, it's fallen to Nasty Orange Guy to attack Harris. With his penchant for vitriol, racism, lies and fearmongering - a recent post shows a line of people of color walking a dirt road with, "If you’re a woman you can vote for Trump or wait until one of these monsters goes after you or your daughter" - it's come easy. A recent addition: His re-posting of the Kamala-is-a-man news: "IS KAMALA HARRIS, REAL NAME KAMAL AROUSH." But, losing and losing it, desperation and weirdness are taking over. He's "a better-looking person than Kamala," she's both a communist and a fascist (hmm), she's "dumb," she's "Comrade" or "Communist" Kamala, but the schoolyard taunts, "dick contests put into words," don't land. As Harris brilliantly mocks him, she ignites his greatest fear - being laughed at. "Ridicule makes him small," writes Michael Tomasky. "He tries to respond with ridicule of his own, but he is not a clever man. He’s a stupid man. He has no wit, (and) underneath the bluster and bullying he knows it."

He also can't help himself: Clowns gonna clown, grifters gonna grift. In "very exciting news," he's now hawking another series of tawdry, $99 "all new stunning Trump Digital Trading Cards...It's really something." If you buy 15 (for $1,485), you get "a beautiful physical trading card - "It's really, I think, quite something" - each with a scrap of the alleged suit he wore at his debate with Biden, representing "one of the most historic moments in 2024, and the impact it will have on years to come." Or buy 75 ($7,425), and get dinner at his crappy golf club. Or buy 5 and get a FREE pair of Trump Gold Low Top Never Surrender sneakers, purportedly sold out months ago, "FOR FREE ONLY $495!" Or keep scrolling and scrolling to many more frantic deals, sneakers, photos of him leering with blonde young things. In a Q&A, a query if any money goes to his campaign gets a "NO," nothing to do with politics. Because, duh, legal fees. And the dolts buying "are (new) friends of mine." Sure, let's make this sordid carnival barker president. BUY NOW!!

— (@)

The cringe keeps coming. This week, to mark three years since the Afghanistan withdrawal and an airport suicide bombing that killed 13 U.S. soldiers, Cadet Bone Spurs defied Arlington National Cemetery's rule against political activities to meet with relatives of one U.S. victim, prompting a "verbal and physical altercation" with his staff. Blustering on, he did a moronic thumbs-up photo op at the grave, and blamed Biden/Harris for "the collapse of American credibility and respect all around the world." (No, that would be you.) He ripped "stupid" Biden for leaving behind $85 billion of equipment ($7 billion), vowed to "get the resignations of every senior official (involved) at noon on his imaginary Inauguration Day because "you have to fire people when they do a bad job, like on The Apprentice,” told National Guard members - Fox chyron: "Trump will prevent World War 3" - the U.S. has no ammunition because "we gave it all away to different groups," proposed a "Space National Guard," and bragged he is "very good at using a telephone."

He also urged a year in prison for burning a U.S. flag - "They say, ‘Sir, that’s unconstitutional.’ We’ll make it constitutional" - and got indicted again for trying to steal an election by Jack Smith, who did a work-around of SCOTUS' immunity ruling to clarify treason wasn't part of his "official duties." As underlings pointlessly spent $50,000 on ads in Florida to improve his mood, he pointlessly visited the border wall where, sweating in his clown makeup, he touted spending $11 billion to add 400 feet to a largely abandoned wall that thousands of people have dug under, climbed over, sawed through, skirted - but he mistakenly chose a spot built by Obama, not him. He later raved online, "Great patriots who work their hearts out to have a Strong and Powerfulnnz Border (are) harassed by Border Czar Kamala Harris, who wants the". "Kamalas Harris is a man Named Kamal Aroush, Osama Bin Laden is CIA operative Tim Osman, who Barack Obama is either related to or actually is," wrote one MAGA sage. "Our world is just one big elaborate ongoing joke on the rest of us." Dude, we hear you.

Dinner at Trump Golf Course is a prize for buying cardsScreenshot from Trump Cards promotional video

Today, the Biden-Harris administration announced hundreds of millions of dollars in grants to build electric vehicle chargers across the country. Funded by the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act of 2021, the grants will support almost 10,000 chargers across 29 states, eight Tribal nations, and the District of Columbia, including 10 fast-charging hubs along major highway corridors.

The awards support the Administration’s Justice40 Initiative, which aims for 40 percent of the overall benefits of federal investments to flow to disadvantaged communities, with over half of the funding going to sites located in disadvantaged communities.

According to the Administration, the number of EV chargers in the U.S. is now over 192,000, nearly double from 2021.

In response to today’s announcement, Jesse Piedfort, deputy director of the Sierra Club’s Clean Transportation for All campaign, released the following statement:

“To see the Biden-Harris administration’s dedication to clean energy and clean vehicles, all we have to do is follow the money. Expanding access to electric vehicle charging across the nation – especially in rural and Tribal communities and along highway corridors – is so important as the EV industry grows and we build the infrastructure to support the necessary transition to pollution-free vehicles. The milestone of almost 200,000 public chargers is a win for public health, a livable planet, and healthy communities.”

Last week, the Department of Justice and eight other states sued software company RealPage for its alleged efforts to decrease competition among landlords and collude on prices in the rental housing market. The legal complaint filed includes shocking new details that confirm what many have suspected: RealPage’s algorithm has fueled high rent prices. You can read the full complaint here.

Groundwork Collaborative’s Executive Director Lindsay Owens released the following statement in reaction to the complaint:

“RealPage has been inflating rents by effectively stifling competition throughout the country. The lawsuit shows their efforts were flagrant, far-reaching, and deliberate. If RealPage is not stopped, it will soon be in more markets, driving up rent for more families.
“It’s time to shut it down.”

Email press@groundworkcollaborative.org to speak with one of Groundwork’s experts about algorithmic pricing.

KEY DETAILS ABOUT REALPAGE

• RealPage’s tactics were not restricted to software. They held in-person meetings where users of the software, corporate landlords in most cases, heard lectures about the need to “push up new and renewal pricing.”
  
• While pricing recommendations by RealPage were not binding, any rejection of a recommendation was escalated to an employee within RealPage. Afterwards, a “pricing advisor” would reach out to property managers and landlords to push them to take the recommendation.
  
• A team of RealPage staff place tens of thousands of calls every week to landlords across the country to gather nonpublic information on rent prices, occupancy rates, lease terms, and more.
  
• RealPage software includes an “auto accept” feature so its recommendations for property managers are not ignored or rejected.
  
• RealPage uses a price floor for rentals using nonpublic information so none of their users drive prices down.
  
• Maurice Stucke, a law professor at the University of Tennessee, estimates that 30 to 60 percent of multifamily-building units are priced using RealPage in more than 40 housing markets across the country.

Today, the Sunrise Movement unveiled a massive youth voter engagement program, aiming to connect with over 1.5 million young voters about the stakes of this election for climate change. The group will use a combination of face-to-face, phone, and digital methods to urge young voters to vote for Harris and stop a 2nd Trump Presidency. In addition to traditional voter contact, Sunrise will employ protest and viral social media content to reach young voters.

Sunrise is kicking off voter engagement tomorrow with a mass phonebank featuring climate movement leaders including, DNC Climate Council Chair Michelle Deatrick and Green New Deal Network Executive Director Kaniela Ing.

“Young climate voters could decide this election,” said Sunrise Communications Director, Stevie O’Hanlon. “The Harris-Walz ticket means millions more young voters are tuning in and considering voting. We’re going all-out to reach those voters and mobilize our generation to defeat Trump this November. And — it’s why we will continue to urge the Harris campaign to put forward a bold vision that will energize young voters.”

Polls indicate that support from young voters and climate voters is a significant factor in Harris's improved standing over Biden. A recent poll by Hart Research showed that climate change is the area where voters trust Harris the most compared to Trump. Sunrise’s voter contact strategy focuses on this, with an emphasis on young, climate-minded voters in Arizona, Pennsylvania, and Michigan.

“We have 6 years to stop the climate crisis and save our generation. That means fighting to defeat Donald Trump this November and taking to task any politician doing Big Oil’s bidding,” said Sunrise Campaign Director Kidus Girma. “Kamala Harris is our best path to defeating Big Oil’s favorite henchman. Harris must put out a climate plan that meets the scale of the crisis and the timeline our planet is on. Young people are ready to put in the work. Harris, put out a plan that electrifies us—we’re fighting to make it happen.”

Their unconscionable silence on Gaza still festers. But the lofty, boisterous, eloquent DNC was still both gratifying and revealing of the chasm between Democrats and the mean-spirited, blundering MAGA world of "that hateful man," a dystopian pit where family love is "weird," Coach Walz is a Chinese spy - Tiananmen Tim! - J.D. Vance is a cringey horror and a blithering felon calls "Comrade Kamala" a moron. "What kind of America do we want?" asks a Harris ad. Not their dark, daft, cruel, reptilian one, thanks.

The joyful good will of this week's convention was perhaps most evident in their jubilant roll call, which stood in sharp contrast to the GOP's funereal, fear-mongering, consistently cruel event. Along with the multitude of grinning women of color, some of its highlights: Spike Lee front and center in New York's do-the-right-thing delegation, raucous Georgia delegates voting "in the spirit of (the much-missed John Lewis') good trouble," and Tennessee's beaming, rousing pastor, state rep and social justice advocate Justin Pearson declaring, "The movement for justice rooted in love is strong in Tennessee," where women, kids, those pushed down "will be lifted up," and "we believe justice will roll down like water, and righteousness like an ever-running stream."

There was also powerful rhetoric from two Obamas. Almost exactly 20 years after a soaring keynote in which he praised his parents' “faith in the possibilities of this nation - in no other country on earth is my story even possible," Barack echoed America's "central story, that we are all created equal...connected as one people." In a newly eyes-wide-open change, he also decried "a 78-year-old billionaire who hasn’t stopped whining...who sees power as a means to his end (to) put 'other' people in their place - an act that has gotten pretty stale." He made a dick joke, then got serious: "We do not need four more years of bluster and bumbling and chaos. We have seen that movie before, and we all know the sequel is usually worse. America is ready for a better story."

A fiery Michelle likewise both cited the belief that "you do unto others, you love thy neighbor," and blasted an entitled grifter who "demeans and cheapens our politics (by) demonizing others," which "only makes us small." “No one has a monopoly on what it means to be an American. No one,” she said. "Most of us will never be afforded (the) grace of failing forward...If we bankrupt a business (or) choke in a crisis, we don't have the luxury of whining or cheating others...We don't get to change the rules so we always win. We put our heads down. We get to work. In America, we do something." In a great, wry, final taunt, she mused of the man who spent years maligning her, "Who’s going to tell him the job he’s currently seeking might just be one of those ‘Black jobs’?”

Other Dems piled on to decry what Charlie Pierce calls "a vulgar talking yam," the voice of "an unappeasable vengeance in the land." SNL's Kenan Thompson hauled in the massive Project 205 to warn against "a document that could kill a small animal and democracy at the same time." Oprah Winfrey described a neighborly, non-MAGA country where, "When a house is on fire, we don’t ask about the owner’s race or religion (or) wonder who their partner is. We just try to do the best we can to save them, and if the place (belongs) to a childless cat lady, we try to get the cat out too.” Hakeem Jeffries likened Trump to an old boyfriend you broke up with who won't go away: "Bro, we broke up with you for a reason." Pete Buttigieg called for an uplifting politics, but "darkness is what they are selling."

We need no further proof than the latest, lowest insanity being sent out into the world by an ever-uglier, wackier Trump: A video parody of Alanis Morisette's song Ironic, from Nazi pro-trump "Dilly Meme Team," starring Kamala Harris and titled Moronic. LOL. Get it?!? It features a swirling montage of...something. There are images of black guys in jail, Hunter Biden, Hunter and Joe, with Obama in charge. They are all awash in scary red fists, a hammer and sickle, a statue of Stalin, and marching/dancing Kamala is just like him, but more of a ho. They are accompanied by lyrics: "It's like jail/full of black inmates/no free ride/she will incarcerate/and she never thought/just giggles....Isn't it moronic? Don't you think/ a little too moronic?" Yes.

— (@)

And so it goes. Trump is still weird, ugly, dangerous, idiotically wildly ill-informed: He persists in arguing tariffs, charges on imported goods, are paid by countries producing them: “It’s a tax on a country that’s ripping us off and stealing our jobs." Glumly speaking to a handful of silent, stony cops in Michigan, purportedly about crime, he claimed, "You can't walk across the street to get a loaf of bread, you get shot, you get mugged, you get raped, whatever it may be. You've seen it, I've seen it." In his fever dreams. Democrats "just have it out for the police, nobody knows why," he said of prosecutor and A.G. Harris' "pro-crime, anti-police record." He added, "She repeatedly wants to defund police, and you know it never goes away when you're a defunder...That's where her spirit is."

In a middle-of-the-night post, he blasted "highly overrated Jewish governor" Josh Shapiro, who refuses to acknowledge "I am the best friend that Israel and the Jewish people ever had" (and) it's not even close." (He is also 12 years old.) He claimed five people were killed at DNC protests. He says "we're very close to a third world war." He babbles "every American was safer under President Trump (when) I sat behind that beautiful Resolute desk." But Biden is copying him: "Guys are copying me. They thought the words were beautiful. Republicans were copying me because they happened to be right. Any of you guys want to copy me." Also, he's hosting a J6 Awards Gala next month at one of his crappy golf courses to honor the "peaceful J6 hostages."

Meanwhile, House goon James Comer, having finished trying to impeach Biden and issuing a long report that found no crimes, has moved on to smear America's Dad, corn-dog booster and Minnesota Nice teacher and coach Tim Walz as a Manchurian-Candidate-type Chinese agent who is maybe being "groomed" - More grooming! We're gonna be so neat! - to give China "a foothold in our government" because at 25 Walz taught in China for a year and later led students on multiple trips there. Comer told the FBI the House is investigating Walz' "extensive engagement" with China which "raises questions" about his decision-making, especially given he might have "ideology": "This is a guy that really has embraced China’s view of the world" - like it's the government's job to help people out of poverty - and "this is serious business!"

Comer gets pretty much everything wrong - "If you look at his background, especially when he ran for attorney general," he says of Walz, who never did 'cause he's not a lawyer - but the witless, paranoid "usual suspects" chimed in anyway. Tom Cotton: Walz "owes the American people an explanation." Marco Rubio: This is how Beijing "grooms future American leaders (to) allow China to steal our jobs & flood America with drugs.” Ron Johnson thinks it's "very strange" the Walz' married on June 4 - which nobody ever does - the anniversary of Tiananmen Square. In fact, Walz has been a vocal critic of Chinese human rights abuses. But when he met with the Dalai Lama, he says they mostly "talked about humility, patience and compassion. I try to embody these values every day in my work."

- YouTube www.youtube.com

J.D. Vance, of course, not so much. After the stirring speeches of Obamas et al, there was the wooden fake hillbilly in North Carolina trying to make a speech to a handful of zealots without putting his foot in what turns out to be a consistently Nazi mouth. Utilizing all his political savvy, he called North Korean Supreme Leader Kim Jong Un fat - ""Let's just say he doesn't miss a whole lotta meals," smirked the chubby white boy - to tell what he inexplicably seemed to think was an endearing story about Orange Cheato making a snide remark to Jong Un. "Trump stands there, and insults him," he smiles to unexpected silence. "So it means something to have a president who's not afraid to go into hostile territory, tell some jokes and actually engage in diplomacy." Umm.

Rushing through more baffled silence, he yammered about criticism of Trump's tweets with an incomprehensible segue: "Mean tweets and world peace has a pretty nice ring to it." Then he launched into babbling sycophancy - "This is a lifetime opportunity to re-elect a man who's proven he's too big for the deep state bureaucracy, he's too tough for the tyrants all over the world, he was too strong even for an assassin's bullet" - and conspiracy: "They (sic) couldn't beat him at the ballot box, so they tried to bankrupt him," when "they" failed they tried to impeach him (failed), tried to put him in prison (ditto) "and they even tried to kill him." Per Julia Louis-Dreyfus at the DNC, "they" were probably highly intelligent, capable women, aka "a coven of semi-menstruating witches."

In Wisconsin, Vance made sure to smear both Tim Walz and Chicago, which he called "the murder capital of America thanks to very failed Democrat leadership," though it's not and has a lower murder rate than both Cleveland and Cincinnati in Vance's own state. His "little theory" about the DNC being held in Chicago: "Tim Walz has been going around saying that he served in war, so (now) he could actually accurately say that he visited a combat zone." Among many others, former Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot has his icky number: "A nice thing about not being mayor anymore is I don't care who hears me tell this clown to STFU." She joins the TikToker who held a J.D. Vance mock make-up tutorial "because who says gender-affirming care is only for the left?"

After a painful, pointlessly hostile "joke" aimed at reporters - To deli owner: "You have any food you really don’t like? We’ll take some and feed it to the journalists on the plane" - he did it again Thursday at a Georgia presser. "If it's a fake news anchor, I'd appreciate y'all just letting them ask their question," he "joked" to a small crowd. "It's okay, we can run them out of town after." The event ended with a blaring, baffling Guns 'N Roses Live and Let Die: "When you got a job to do you got to do it well." Then the hillbilly man of the people went to a donut shop and made an excruciating effort to have a normal chat with workers that consisted of asking each one, "How long have you worked here?" and each time dully responding, "OK." Live and let die indeed.

— (@)

Back at the DNC, the weirdness and darkness lifted with the acceptance speech of plain-speaking, savvy coach and "son of the Nebraska plains" Tim Walz. In his pep talk - "It’s the fourth quarter, we’re on offense, and we’ve got the ball" - he said "neighbor" 7 times, "school" 8 times, "freedom" 9 times. He touted free school lunches: "While other states were banning books from their schools, we were banishing kids’ hunger from ours." He opened up about his and his wife Gwen's gratitude for access to IVF treatments after years of struggling to start a family "because this is a big part of what this election is about - freedom." A longtime hunter, he boasted he's "a better shot than most Republicans in Congress, and I've got the trophies to prove it."

His grinning, beefy former state championship football team came out to cheer for him; one member praised Coach Walz as the kind of guy who'd pull you out of a snowbank, which he knew because Walz once pulled him out of a snowbank. When he finished speaking, Walz walked off stage to one of his favorite songs, Neil Young's Rockin‘ in the Free World. (Young personally allowed the campaign to use the song; when the Trump campaign had earlier used it, Young sued them.) Before he left the stage, in the evening's most memorable coda, he looked straight at his family in the audience and declared, with shining eyes, "Hope, Gus and Gwen, you are my entire world, and I love you." His tearful son Gus, overcome with love, stood up and shouted, "That's my dad!"

To the normal world, it was a deeply moving moment, a familial coming together of a father and son who clearly, deeply love each other. But to the malevolent denizens of the party of alleged Christian, family values, it was "pathetic," "embarrassing," "weird" to see Walz' "stupid crying son" and “blubbering bitch boy" honor his father. "You raised your kid to be a puffy beta male," sneered MAGA goon Mike Crispi. "Does Barron Trump cry? Nope...That's the types (sic) of values I want leading this country." From radio host Jay Weber: "If the Walzs represent today's American man, this country is screwed." And from (single, childless) Ann Coulter, who once griped about having to watch 9/11 widows "marinate in their exquisite personal agony," "Talk about weird..."

Talk about monstrous. Some backed down, slightly, once they learned the Walz' had openly talked about Gus being neurodivergent, with a non-verbal learning disorder, anxiety and ADHD, conditions they call his "secret power," which "millions of Americans also have." But it was too late for the monsters to even remotely redeem themselves. "I can see why a child loving their parents would feel foreign to you," Rick Wilson told Coulter, musing she "will die alone, and forensic pathologists will discover her withered corpse is nothing but Marlboro reds and box wine." Added a Jesuit priest, "90% of the Christian life is: Don’t be mean." Even God joined in: "Thou shalt not say a single goddamn unkind word about Gus Waltz." And so did, memorably, profanely, TikToker "Rubyshoo."

— (@)

Many of the DNC speeches, it was gladly noted, sought to reclaim "the roots of American democracy," with its symbols and its hopeful theme of rising from humble beginnings, working through darkness and coming into light. At one after-party, Haitian-born rapper Wyclef Jean played a ripping Star Spangled Banner like Hendrix at Woodstock before proclaiming, "I’m the best of the American dream." Part of that recovery meant taking on a tattered "patriotic" mantle the right-wing has long and wrongly claimed for itself. "Fighting the climate crisis is patriotic," declared Maxwell Frost, Generation Z’s first Congressman. "And unlike Donald Trump, our patriotism is more than some damn slogan on a hat. It's about giving a damn about the people who live in this country."

Often, the rage at Trump and the devastation he wrought was palpable. Al Sharpton on a grifter intent only on "making himself richer and sowing division to get that done": "In November, we’re gonna show him when Blacks do their jobs." "Harris understands what our military is for - to defend us from foreign enemies," said former Defense Secretary Leon Panetta. "It is not to threaten Americans, and it sure as hell isn't to put immigrants in camps." Soon, said an impassioned Yusef Salaam, one of the exonerated Central Park Five and now a New York Council member, "We will finally say goodbye to that hateful man." He went on, "We will say what I said after 7 long years of wrongful incarceration: Free at last, free at last, thank God almighty, we are free at last."

"The character of the people we put into leadership will determine what that government does," said Harris in her acceptance speech. Trump "is an unserious man," she noted, but the consequences of giving him power are deadly serious: "Just imagine Donald Trump with no guardrails." She went on to highlight "what's happening in our country because of Donald Trump," and what could lie ahead. He and his allies would limit access to birth control, ban medication abortion, enact a nationwide abortion ban with or without Congressional approval. "And get this, get this," she said. "He plans to create a national anti-abortion coordinator and force states to report on women’s miscarriages and abortions. Simply put - they are out of their minds."

With his odds shrinking, that's truer than ever. After Harris' speech, he called Fox to jabber about her fictional misdeeds, so rattled he kept hitting his beeping phone buttons. Asked about his strategy to win back voters drawn to her, he sputtered, "She’s not having success. I’m having success." Pundits say Harris and Walz will likely continue to rise in the polls. They are looking and sounding good, not least in a fabulous, Jeffrey-Wright-narrated, prosecutor-vs-felon-themed ad featuring Beyoncé's thunderous Freedom; she gave them permission but sent Trump a cease-and-desist letter. "Are you ready to make your voice heard?" asks Harris in the soaring ad. "When we fight, we win." If she can summon the critical strength to stop killing and maiming children in Gaza, we will.

The U.S. District Court for the Western District of Louisiana permanently blocked the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and Department of Justice (DOJ) from enforcing disparate impact regulations under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act in the state, a move that stops the federal government from addressing disparate harm in project permitting, compliance and enforcement of environmental laws, as well as provision of basic services such as sewage, drinking water and health services.

The ruling, issued on August 22nd, makes permanent a preliminary injunction and represents a significant setback for civil rights and environmental justice in Louisiana. Although the ruling is limited to Louisiana, it may embolden other states to seek similar exceptions and create a chilling effect on civil rights enforcement by other federal agencies.

“Louisiana has given industrial polluters open license to poison Black and brown communities for generations, only to now have one court give it a permanent free pass to abandon its responsibilities,” said Earthjustice Vice President for Healthy Communities Patrice Simms. “Louisiana’s residents, its environmental justice communities, deserve the same Title VI protections as the rest of the nation.”

The ruling comes as EPA unveiled new Title VI guidance to ensure that state and local government entities receiving federal funding put safeguards in place that prevent discrimination in their programs and activities. The guidance still applies in Louisiana but recognizes it does not apply to disparate and cumulative impacts. Title VI prohibits federal grants recipients from discriminating based on race, color, or national origin.

In January 2022, Earthjustice filed a complaint on behalf of St. John the Baptist Parish residents asking the EPA to investigate whether Louisiana agencies had violated Title VI of the Civil Rights Act by failing to protect Black communities from disproportionate environmental harm.

In May of 2023, Attorney General of Louisiana Jeff Landry (now governor) sued EPA to stop the federal government from investigating civil rights complaints by communities of color subjected to disproportionate harm. Nearly a month later, the EPA closed the years-long civil rights investigation in St. John — a historically Black community with some of the highest cancer rates from toxic air pollution in the country — without relief to its residents. Oral arguments in Louisiana’s lawsuit took place on January 9th and the Court issued a preliminary injunction in late January.

Today, Public Citizen released a new report revealing that the cryptocurrency sector is exploiting the Citizens United ruling to an unprecedented degree, dwarfing direct corporate spending by Big Oil and other corporate sectors in the 2024 elections.

“That cryptocurrency companies like Coinbase and Ripple are able to spend over a hundred million dollars to silence crypto’s critics and elevate its backers embodies everything that is wrong with the Supreme Court’s disastrous Citizens United decision,” said Rick Claypool, research director at Public Citizen and author of the report. “Corporations can’t vote. But the sole reason crypto is a hot-button topic in this election cycle is that crypto businesses are spending eye-popping sums to make themselves impossible to ignore.”

Top findings of the report, which analyzes federal election data provided by OpenSecrets.org, include:

• Crypto corporations are by far the dominant corporate political spenders in 2024 as nearly half (48%) of all corporate money contributed during this year’s elections ($248 million so far) came from crypto backers.
• Direct corporate election spending at this scale is unprecedented. Crypto corporations’ total spending in the past three election cycles – $129 million – already amounts to 15% of all known corporate contributions since the Supreme Court’s 2010 ruling in Citizens United.
• Since Citizens United, the crypto corporations are now second in total election-related spending, trailing only fossil fuel corporations, which have spent $176 million over the past 14 years, including $73 million from Koch Industries.
• The crypto sector’s Fairshake PAC and its affiliates have received nearly $114 million directly from corporate backers, far more than any other outside spender this cycle.
• Fairshake’s corporate backing is unprecedented. Though unlimited corporate contributions have been enabled since 2010 by Citizens United, this newcomer is already second only to the super PAC dedicated to electing Republicans to the U.S. Senate in terms of corporate money received. That super PAC, the Senate Leadership Fund, has received nearly $119 million directly from corporations over the past 14 years, largely from fossil fuel corporations but including many other sectors, including crypto, tobacco, and for-profit prisons.

“All this spending is a concern not just because the crypto companies may be able to buy deregulation,” Claypool added. “This direct spending by crypto corporations is shattering a longstanding norm – and is likely to set a precedent for vastly more direct spending by corporations in upcoming elections.”

On the electric first night of the DNC, it was moving to see fervent crowds wave "We (Love) Joe" signs as Biden passed the torch to Kamala Harris. But it was maddening to see them use the same signs to frantically, surreally block a "Stop Arming Israel" banner unfurled by Ceasefire Delegates, a handful of the nation's over 740,000 uncommitted voters who argue that, morally and electorally, Harris must heed them because, '"Never again' means 'never again, for anyone, anywhere, ever."

Over 20,000 delegates have packed the Democratic National Convention at Chicago’s United Center, where on Monday night Hillary Clinton, Bernie Sanders, the Obamas and other big Dem names gave uplifting speeches to cheering crowds. Recalling the carnage of Jan. 6 and the malignant force behind it, Jamie Raskin blasted "the sore loser who does not know how to take no for an answer from American voters, American courts or American women." Pastor and Sen. Raphael Warnock, whose speech Fox News (sic) astoundingly blocked along with other speakers of color, asserted, "A vote is a kind of prayer for the world we desire for ourselves and our children, and our prayers are stronger when we pray together." Hillary Clinton praised Harris for coming "so close" to breaking "the highest, hardest glass ceiling...once and for all." Michigan state Sen. Mallory McMorrow hauled onstage a copy of the massive, evil Project 2025, declaring, "Whatever you think it might be, it’s so much worse."

Among issues, abortion rights was one clear focus, with a Texas woman who couldn't get an abortion despite life-threatening pregnancy complications insisting Americans "need to vote as if lives depend on it, because they do." But the ongoing genocide in Gaza that has spawned so much death and despair was barely mentioned, other than Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez praising Harris for "working tirelessly to secure a ceasefire (and) bring hostages home." It wasn't enough for many, including 30 Ceasefire Delegates elected by primary voters in multiple states including Wisconsin, Washington, Minnesota, New Jersey, Oregon and Pennsylvania. While vastly outnumbered by over 4,000 delegates pledged to Harris, they represent an estimated 740,000 uncommitted voters, including over 100,000 in Michigan and thousands protesting outside, part of a national grassroots movement insisting Harris must "turn the page" on Israel and mandate a ceasefire and arms embargo before they can, in good conscience, vote for her.

Months ago, the Uncommitted National Movement made several demands of Dem leaders, one of which bore fruit Monday with a first-ever panel discussion on Palestinian human rights. It included James Zogby, founder of the Arab American Institute; Dr. Tanya Haj-Hassan, a pediatric intensive care physician with Doctors Without Borders who treated patients in Gaza; and Minnesota A.G. Keith Ellison, the first Muslim elected to Congress, a longtime Palestinian advocate and a vocal supporter of Tim Walz, with whom he's worked on high-profile criminal cases including the murder of George Floyd. But uncommitted organizers still want the convention to feature two Palestinian American speakers on the main stage, and have floated the names of several candidates; they haven't heard back yet. Some are "cautiously optimistic" Harris will ultimately change policy on Gaza, and those who've met with her call her "incredibly empathetic." Still, they reiterate, "That is not enough..Palestinian children can't eat words."

At the convention, uncommitted delegates, many of them Jewish, attended "Ceasefire delegate training" and thoughtfully tried to explain their dilemma. "No one wants to see Trump win - we are an anti-fascist movement," said one. "We are doing what we can to save the Democratic Party." Also, "Unity is great, but (it) can’t come at the cost of Palestinian lives." Several said they' support Harris/Walz, "but we have to vote our conscience." Citing the need for concrete action, Uncommitted’s Abbas Alawieh noted even if Harris "feels differently in her heart, that’s not going to win back voters. We need a plan, we need to know how the killing is going to stop." With speaking slots open to family members of Hamas hostages, he clarified, “We in no way want to take away their time to speak about their pain"; they just seek to hold Democrats to a platform vowing, "Israelis and Palestinians are equally valued by this party." Said Alawieh, "We're hoping, if we’re going to uplift one community’s pain, we’re not silencing another."

— (@)

In many ways, the convention was stirring - its exuberance, its glad signs of hope in a populace emerging from an orange national nightmare, the renewed power and clarity of Joe Biden as he told the crowd, "I love my job, but I love my country more." He and others got so much applause - his arrival met with a four-minute ovation the event ran over an hour behind schedule and had to scrap James Taylor. Biden relished the affection of the crowd chanting "Thank You Joe" and "We love you," readily trashed Trump - "He promised infrastructure every week for four years and never built a damn thing" - again denounced the white supremacy at Charlottesville - "Hate has no safe harbor here" - and boasted, "We've had one of the most extraordinary four years of progress, and when I say 'we,' I mean Kamala and me." But not everyone was so enthused; Muslim delegates reported being stopped by DNC security who roughly removed Palestinian flags from their bags or refused them entry until they left them behind.

It was a hint of the ugliness to come. As Biden declared, "You cannot say you love your country only when you win," a few ceasefire delegates who'd "penetrated the tightly controlled, hermetically sealed Hollywood coronation show" unfurled a banner in the colors of the Palestinian flag that read, "Stop Arming Israel." Cue the instant Zionist insanity when anyone, Jewish or no, tries to challenge Israel. In a surreal spectacle, Dems who allegedly support diversity, equality and free speech rose up in arms and signs to freak right out. Urged by frantic DNC workers, "Guys!! Signs up!!" people rushed to hoist once-benign "We Love Joe" signs high to block the unseemly sight of a righteous demand the U.S. stop funding the slaughter of thousands of children in Gaza. One patriot started hitting hijab-wearing Nadia Ahmad on the head with his "Joe" sign; one stubbornly held a "USA" sign upside-down in front of a camera filming the action. Two guys in suits finally pulled down the banner. People around them cheered. Just WTF.

The frenetic denial of the blood-soaked reality of a party-approved genocide stood in sharp, shameful contrast to Liano Sharon, a plainspoken Michigan delegate escorted off the floor for the crime of holding up a banner denouncing genocide. (Sharon appears in a longer version of the action here.) A Jew, he noted the Democratic platform calls for "a quote/unquote 'Jewish state,' which means an ethno-nationalist state." He added that the essence of such a state, of Zionism itself, comes down to "who gets to kill who with impunity." Like many of his comrades, he hopes to vote for Harris/Walz. But with over 700,000 uncommitted Dem voters, ignoring the need for an arms embargo against the mass murder of children could become "electorally, a win-or-lose issue." Above all, he cites the Jewish command to "be wise in deeds," and true to the tenets of his faith: "It matters to me so much because I'm a Jew, and I was always brought up to believe that 'never again' means 'never again for anyone, anywhere, ever, period.'"

“Gam zu l'tova." - Hebrew for, "This too is for the good."

In response to a reported backroom deal between California lawmakers and Google that would terminate the California Journalism Preservation Act (CJPA) and create a privately-funded “AI Accelerator,” the American Economic Liberties Project released the following statement.

“This backroom deal is bad for journalists, publishers, and all Californians, which is why state lawmakers including Governor Newsom should reject it and proceed through a transparent legislative process,” said Lee Hepner, Senior Legal Counsel at the American Economic Liberties Project. “The fact that a journalism preservation bill may be replaced with a Google-funded AI Accelerator is not just absurd policy, it’s horrendous politics. That this AI deal is reportedly close to being finalized and we still don’t know the details speaks volumes about who is driving the decision-making process in Sacramento — and it’s not the journalists, publishers, or newsrooms who have had their industry hollowed out by Google’s monopoly.”

The CJPA sought to rebalance the unequal relationship between tech platforms and news organizations by enabling publishers and workers to receive a portion of the profits tech platforms make selling ads against the work of journalists. The draft deal between California lawmakers and Google abandons the CJPA framework, provides nominal, insufficient funding for news outlets, rejects basic labor protections, and creates a Google-funded “AI Accelerator.” At present, there are no public details about the purpose or terms of the alleged AI deal. Concerns about the impact of artificial intelligence to journalists, content creators, and workers, and the threat that Big Tech incumbents will exploit chokepoints to control the future of AI innovation are well known.

During a previous attempt to move AB 886 through the California State Assembly, Google and Facebook threatened to remove news links from their online platforms across the entire state, echoing similar threats levied at Australia and Canada during their deliberation of similar bills. Australia and Canada both adopted versions of the policy that have largely proven successful. The proposed deal between CA lawmakers and Google would amount to less than half the $74 million Google agreed to give Canadian newsrooms for their bill, even though California’s economy is 2.5 times the size of Canada’s economy.

The timing of this deal is especially insulting considering that on August 5, a federal court found Google in violation of federal antitrust laws in the matter of U.S. v. Google (the Google Search case). Furthermore, the Department of Justice’s antitrust case against Google’s advertising technology monopoly is set to go to trial on Sept. 9th. Despite a promising case from the DOJ in the adtech trial, antitrust cases take time and immense resources. Legislation would provide immediate and needed relief to working journalists, which is why it’s crucial that enforcement and legislative efforts go hand in hand to address Big Tech’s undue power over the industry.

Learn more about Economic Liberties here.

Today, CODEPINK, along with other pro-Palestine activists, disrupted Governor Tim Walz during the Democratic National Convention’s Women’s Caucus, delivering a powerful message: "Gaza is a feminist issue."

You can access photos and videos of the disruption here. (please credit CODEPINK)

During the disruption, activists highlighted the intrinsicconnection between feminist values and the anti-war movement, drawing attention to the ongoing genocide in Gaza. The activists condemned the bipartisan support for Israel’s actions, which they argue are fundamentally opposed to feminist principles.

"Palestine is a feminist issue. All feminists should support an arms embargo on Gaza," said co-founder CODEPINK Medea Benjamin. "Our brothers and sisters in Palestine are not 'collateral damage'—they are victims of a war machine that is inherently anti-feminist and destructive. No one should be allowed to claim feminism while supporting genocide.” she continued.

CODEPINK emphasized the severe humanitarian crisis in Gaza, where over 183 women give birth without painkillers daily, and the majority of the 40,000 Palestinians killed by Israel are women and children. "Israel is starving children in Gaza," declared CODEPINK co-founder Jodie Evans.

CODEPINK and allied groups remain committed to exposing what they see as the hypocrisy of Western feminism that turns a blind eye to the suffering of Palestinian women and children. They vow to hold those responsible for the ongoing genocide in Gaza accountable.

Updated findings from Data Desk, commissioned by Oil Change International, Behind the Barrel: New Insights into the Countries and Companies Behind Israel’s Fuel Supply, reveal continued and expanded oil supply fueling Israel’s ongoing genocide of the Palestinian people. Building on data released in March, countries and companies continue to fuel Israel’s war machine, despite the International Court of Justice’s (ICJ) opinion from January, stating Israel is plausibly committing genocide and Palestinians in Gaza have plausible rights under the Genocide Convention and from July, stating the occupation of Palestinian territory is unlawful. This updated analysis highlights the ongoing complicity of these countries and companies. As more and more Palestinians are killed in bombings and pressure intensifies on global leaders, including US presidential candidates, to end the genocide, these suppliers continue to enable the violence.

Key Findings:

• Corporate Involvement: Investor-owned and private oil companies are complicit through their operations and ownership stakes in projects supplying oil to Israel. These companies collectively supply 66% of oil to Israel, and six major international oil companies (including Chevron (8%), BP (8%) ExxonMobil (6%), Shell (5%), Eni (4%), and TotalEnergies (5%) are responsible for over half of that (35%). According to some legal scholars, these companies could be held liable for complicity in acts of genocide, given the ICJ ruling.
• US Military Aid: The US continues to be a key supplier of JP8 Jet Fuel to Israel, crucial for its military operations. The shipments are coming from the Valero refinery in Corpus Christi, Texas. This supply chain is particularly controversial in the context of the US election, where continued military aid for Israel is under scrutiny. In early August, the US-registered Overseas Santorini, one of the key tankers involved in supplying US jet fuel, docked in Israel’s Ashkelon port, facing increased protest from communities and activists en route.
• ICJ ruling: 65 shipments of crude oil and refined petroleum products have been delivered to Israel from October 21, 2023 to July 12, 2024. 35 of these (54%) departed their origin port after the January 26, 2024 International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruling that Palestinians in Gaza have plausible rights under the Genocide convention.
• Azerbaijan: COP29 host Azerbaijan remains the leading supplier, providing 28% of the crude oil supply via the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) pipeline, majority owned and operated by BP. The Azeri oil is loaded onto tankers in the Turkish port of Ceyhan for export to Israel.
• European Connections: Italy, Albania and Greece have joined the list of supplying countries, sending shipments of crude and refined petroleum products. Cyprus and Greece are also implicated in providing transshipment services.
• Increased African Supplies: Gabon remains a major supplier of crude oil to Israel, with additional shipments now coming from Nigeria and Congo-Brazzaville.
• Brazil: Brazilian crude oil has made up 9% of the supply since the war started. Brazil also sent a tanker of fuel oil to Israel that arrived in April. As a significant oil supplier to Israel, Brazilian President Lula, who has been highly critical of Israel’s actions, has the opportunity to help bring about a ceasefire by pursuing an oil embargo.

Recent ICJ rulings have condemned the ongoing violence and called for an immediate halt to all military aid fueling the genocide. These companies and countries could be held complicit in this genocide under the Genocide Convention according to some legal experts.This legal backdrop underscores the urgent need for countries and companies to cease their involvement in oil supplies to Israel.

As the US gears up for the 2024 elections, the issue of Israeli military support and its implications on ethnic cleansing and the ongoing occupation are increasingly in the spotlight. The current US administration must decide whether to continue supporting actions that contribute to genocide or to heed the call for justice and peace

Palestinian groups and their allies have called for an energy and arms embargo and are demanding governments and companies cease all fuel and arms shipments to Israel until it ends the genocide and its regime of apartheid against the Palestinian people. Specifically, the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions movement calls for a boycott of Chevron. Countries, as well as oil and gas companies, must be held to account for their role in perpetuating violence and human rights abuses. Colombia has set a strong precedent and issued an embargo on coal exports to Israel until the ICJ ruling is upheld. Colombian coal makes up over 50% of Israel’s coal imports.

Statements:

Lorne Stockman, Oil Change International Research Director:
“Despite the ICJ’s ruling condemning the unlawful occupation of Palestinian territory, countries and companies continue to supply oil that fuels Israel’s military aggression. This ongoing complicity reveals a blatant disregard for international law and human rights, as they prioritize profit over justice and peace.”

Dr. Irene Pietropaoli, Senior Fellow in Business and Human Rights, British Institute of International and Comparative Law, is the author of Obligations of Third States and Corporations to Prevent and Punish Genocide in Gaza expert legal opinion, said:
“Independently from home State regulation, companies that sell oil and fuel and other military supply to the government of Israel have their own responsibility to respect human rights and abide by international humanitarian law and international criminal law, as recognized in the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights ‘over and above compliance with national laws and regulations’. Corporations supplying jet fuel and oil to Israel may be providing material support to the military, aware of its foreseeable harmful effects, and therefore risk complicity in war crimes, genocide, and other crimes under international law.”

Abeer Butmeh, Coordinator at PENGON (Palestinian Environmental NGOs Network)
“The current genocide in Gaza, against Gazan people and Palestinian environment, targeting intensively all elements of life in Gaza, is fueled by some of the world’s most profitable fossil fuel companies. These countries and corporations must be held accountable for potential violations of international law. As they are putting themselves in a hook of the war crimes and genocide by supplying oil to Israeli armed forces that deliberately make Gaza not habitable any more.”

Mahmoud Nawajaa, General Coordinator, Palestinian BDS Movement
“It is unconscionable that in the midst of Israel’s genocide against 2.3 million Palestinians in Gaza governments that publicly condemn the genocide and support Palestinian rights as stipulated in international law continue business as usual with apartheid Israel, supplying it with energy and profiting from its crimes. The BDS movement calls for escalating grassroots and civil society pressure to make those hypocritical governments stop their complicity in Israel’s mass murder and starvation of Palestinians and, simultaneously, to hold accountable the companies complicit in these egregious crimes, such as Chevron, BP, ExxonMobil, Shell, Eni, and Total Energies.”

Mohammed Usrof, co-founder of Climate Alliance for Palestine, said:
“Since the last report, our suffering has deepend. I lost 21 members of my family in March, uncles and aunts and cousins. Families torn apart and memories and dreams shattered by the occupation’s genocidal actions. The findings in this report are both a painful reminder and a call to action to put an end to this misery. The complicity of international corporations and governments in fueling Israel’s war machine is not just a violation of human rights—it is a betrayal of our shared humanity. For decades, we have watched as Arab states have been divided, their unity fractured by the very forces that colonize our lands and oppress our people. It is time for a realignment, for Arab states to unite with Palestine’s liberation at the center of our collective struggle. This is not just about oil or borders; it is about justice, dignity, and the very essence of who we are as a people.”

David Tong, Industry Campaign Manager, Oil Change International, said:
“By deciding to keep supplying fuel to Israel despite the ICJ’s rulings that Israel’s occupation of Gaza is unlawful and that Israel’s actions may have violated the Genocide Convention, big oil companies are showing once again that they value profits above human rights and a safe climate. Every day that Chevron, BP, Exxon, Shell, Eni, and TotalEnergies provide fuel to Israel these companies expose themselves to potential legal action for their complicity in genocidal acts against civilians in Gaza.”

Mark Muenster, a Corpus Christi, TX, resident and organizer, said:
“As a member of the Corpus Christi community, I am upset and disgusted that our local refinery, Valero, is supplying jet fuel to Israel, directly contributing to the ongoing genocide recognized by the ICJ. Not only does Valero pollute our air and water, but it also depletes our resources, especially during our current drought conditions, pushing us towards stage 3 water restrictions. It is horrifying to think that our region’s resources are fueling such atrocities, and the US government’s complicity through continued military aid is unacceptable.”

Lydia de Leeuw, Strategic Litigation Lead, SOMO (The Centre for Research on Multinational Corporations) said:
“Israel’s army relies almost exclusively on imported crude oil and fuel to keep its military operations going. This means that third states and corporations play a critical role in facilitating Israel’s illegal occupation and atrocity crimes against the Palestinian people. Corporate executives may face legal liability for their material support to war crimes and genocide. Imposing sanctions to stop the energy supply that fuels Israel’s atrocities is a legal imperative for third states, and a matter of life and death for the Palestinians.

Nicole Oliveira, Executive Director of the Arayara Institute, said:
“Brazil has a political global responsibility not only to reduce oil production to stop fueling the climate chaos, but also to avoid fueling conflicts. Our actions carry significant weight, and Brazil’s role in the global energy landscape can either exacerbate turmoil or be leveraged to advocate for peace and environmental sustainability.”

Today, Earthjustice and its clients are expressing profound disappointment following Governor Gavin Newsom’s decision not to sign Senate Bill 674, the Refinery Pollution Reduction and Transparency Act. The bill, authored by Senate Majority Leader Gonzalez (D – Long Beach), aimed to establish critical air monitoring standards and transparency measures for refineries, protecting the health and safety of those living near these industrial sites. SB 674 would have required refineries to promptly notify the public when emissions exceed safe thresholds, conduct quarterly reporting, provide real-time air quality data, and perform independent third-party audits. In addition, the bill mandated that root-cause analyses be completed within 24 hours of any incident, with all findings and corrective actions disclosed to the public within 14 days.

“For years, vulnerable communities have been pleading for transparency and protection from the toxic emissions that refineries spew into their homes, schools, and neighborhoods,” said Oscar Espino-Padron, senior attorney at Earthjustice’s Community Partnerships Program. “Governor Newsom’s decision not to sign SB 674 is a disappointing blow to these communities and a missed opportunity to enact meaningful change that could have saved lives and improved public health. This setback will not deter our efforts and we will keep pushing for the transparency and safeguards that our communities deserve.”

The failure to enact SB 674 leaves in place the status quo, where loopholes and insufficient monitoring continue to endanger the health of Californians living near refineries. Environmental justice communities have long endured the hazardous and sometimes deadly effects of nearby refineries, which often malfunction, and emit toxic chemicals like ammonia, formaldehyde, and benzene.

"Governor Newsom's decision not to sign SB 674 is a setback for communities like mine in West Long Beach and Carson, who have been fighting for clean air and transparency for decades," said Jan Victor Andasan, community organizer at East Yard Communities for Environmental Justice. "SB 674 was a crucial step in understanding and addressing the toxic air pollution that fenceline communities have been breathing for years. This decision leaves us vulnerable, but our fight for environmental justice is far from over. We will continue to demand the protection and transparency our communities deserve."

As a surging Harris/Walz team draws ecstatic crowds, the GOP's "giant weirdos" are flailing, name-calling, spewing "a firehose of cray-cray" and working hard to alienate every woman in America. After Trump claimed a Harris crowd of 15,000 "DIDN’T EXIST," fellow-fascist Elon Musk threw him a two-hour lifeline on X. It did not go well: tech glitches, slurred lies, banal bunk. Facts owe. The GOP is a crazy-town "clown car hitting a brick wall." Been there, done that, not going back.

Their indignant protests notwithstanding - name-calling is unacceptable! - Republicans really have gotten head-swivelingly weird. Most of us already know this, but if you need more proof, here's MAGA at its most delusional: See-Sheep-Surrender cranks from the Daily Show, The Good Liars, a drunk "college-means-devil-worshipping, baby-blood drinking Dems" Roseanne, and a blessed-be-the-fruit Rep who wants us to return to a misgynistic Gilead. Meanwhile, malignant, money-grubbing "lawmakers" like Ted Cancun, trying to avoid revealing "ideas" like killing Social Security and Medicare, can only shriek about Kamala taking away their steaks, cheeseburgers, plastic straws or gas engines - "Why does he think anyone wants any of his crap?" - and House "leaders" like James Comer can only propose more sham "investigations" into the cost to Medicaid of Kamala personally sending "an open invitation to the world" to "unload all these illegals" into our pristine country. Just what the ever loving fuck: Idiot Yahoos 'R Us.

Little wonder, then, that even vaguely sane Republicans are deserting the raving, sinking ship of "chowderheads" in droves. They've launched a Republicans for Harris: "Conservatives believe in the Constitution, not a 'man’s' ego. You’re better than Trump." Over 200,000 "faithful, compassionate evangelicals exercising our God-given citizenship" have signed a pledge with Evangelicals for Harris to "reaffirm who (we) are" and vote for someone who "better reflects Christian values"; their first ad features Trump, queried if he's ever asked God for forgiveness for his sins, mugging, "I don't bring God into that picture," and the stark judgment, “Is there any greater denial of Christ (than) to say ‘I do not need His forgiveness?’'’ Dozens of his former staff and Cabinet members have declined to endorse him - some have also called him "a moron" - and even some of his Nazi supporters have publicly revoked their support and declared a "groyper war" against what they see as a demented old man headed for a "catastrophic loss."

In a floundering campaign where even the signs betray their incompetence - seeming to endorse Kamala or tell Trump he's fired - bumbling, lying, wooden J.V. Vance, a creepy weirdo and "insufferable, dead-eyed climber (with) moral malleability," isn't helping. Here, too, signs expose voters' repugnance for him: "Childless Cat Ladies for Kamala," "Ohio Hillbillies for Harris," "Sofa So Bad for Vance," and, in Manhattan with a sinister, double-chinned image of the guy who says reproductive choice is a "snake strangling the American family," "Your Body, My Choice." Among Vance's dystopian views: The country's low birth rate has "made many elites sociopaths," childless journalists are "psychotic," women in violent marriages should stay in them, Americans with children should get more votes than childless people "in New York or San Francisco," law enforcement should have access to women's health care records - all deemed hysterical" by Chelsea Handler: "Listen up, you wingnut elegy. I know a couch fucker when I see one."

Awful new reveals keep coming. Like Vance is a menstrual surveillance freak: He's one of eight GOP senators, along with some Freedom Caucus goons, who support surveillance of women's menstrual records by state law enforcement agencies. An anti-LGBTQ zealot who opposes abortion rights, marriage equality and IVF, he introduced a "Protect Children's Innocence Act" to charge with a felony doctors who provide health care to trans kids - though he does, evidently, like to dress in drag. Newly unearthed audio also reveals him agreeing that grandmothers helping raise kids is "the whole purpose of the postmenopausal female" - like his mother-in-law did for him, which is "this weird unadvertised feature of marrying an Indian woman," which is "the most transgressive thing I've done" against hyper--liberal (ideas) that are the root of our political problem." America: "What are females for?" and "Childless cat ladies and postmenopausal females: ASSEMBLE." Outraged, many - pols, nurses, CEOS, Margaret Atwood - did.

With an unhinged Trump largely MIA on the campaign trail as his advisers struggle to hinge him back to reality, it's fallen to the feckless Vance to do his job. Alas, he's proven...not great, with many cringe moments. Lacking charisma, experience, policy ideas or a self to call his own, he's sunk to endless lying, swiftboating Walz, trashing Harris while either pretending she's been president or forgetting she wasn't, stalking their rallies because he can't get his own crowds, coming up with lame retorts to Trump sins like befriending Nazis - "the thing I like (is) he will talk to anybody" - and, preposterously, denouncing Dems as name-calling bullies. One response: "Crooked Hillary, Crazy Nancy, Sleepy Joe, Coco Chow, Lyin' Ted, Rod DeSanctimonious, Birdbrain Nikki, Gavin Newscum, Pencil Neck Schiff, Pocahontas and Kamabla would all like a word." Still, he keeps going lower in his grotesque brown-nosing: Boldly ignoring Mr. Bone Spurs' lifelong moral, marital, political and constitutional crimes, he just praised him as "always faithful."

— (@)

Trump, meanwhile, is unraveling. Mercifully, he's mostly golfing, only rarely popping up to rant online, spout "bat-guano-crazy" lies in bonkers pressers, attack or threaten to sue the Times, the government, Georgia et al, and slam a successful former prosecutor, A.G. and senator as "too dumb to debate," "a crazy person," "a bumbling communist lunatic," "a socialist lunatic," "a bitch," and "real garbage" - this, from an old guy in clown makeup and manifest cognitive decline. Increasingly, the world he inhabits bears little resemblance to the real one. Despite his dystopian accounts of a decrepit country awash in violent crime, the economy is thriving and most cities have seen a big drop in crime, including on a southern border with some of the lowest crime rates. His portrayals of "the migrants Harris let in" - they've taken "over 100%" of new jobs created, they're "tough," "mean," "raping our women" - are ugly fiction; some theorize he's so stupid he's confused "asking for asylum" with the "insane asylums" he yawps they've come from.

The hero who "took a bullet for democracy" has angrily rejected the suggestion of his own FBI director Christopher Wray, who should resign for “LYING TO CONGRESS," that his close call came from a teleprompter shard: "It was (a) bullet that hit my ear, and hit it hard." He recovered fast enough to launch the new book Save America - $99, $499 signed - featuring bloodied, defiant photos from the event he stole from AP's Evan Vucci. He's also hawking $299, "limited-edition" FIGHT FIGHT FIGHT High-Tops with the same "iconic image (to) honor his unwavering determination and bravery," much like his $299 Never Surrender Low Tops. So all good on the grifting. But his judgment's iffy: He's waving to imaginary crowds, flying around in Jeffrey Epstein's (badly vetted) old plane, and frequently summoning "the late great Hannibal Lecter," a fictional cannibal-killer - because, his spokesman explains, "he's an inspiring and gifted storyteller, and referencing pop culture is (why) he can successfully connect with voters." LOL.

In truth, many argue with overpowering evidence, Trump's crazy-pants antics and word salad keep getting worse as his fortunes decline, and his mental health should be much more recognized and discussed than it is, notwithstanding the absurd, obsessive probing of Biden's lapses. "Trump is a deeply unwell man, a deeply psychologically disturbed individual," says George Conway, who says he's "been yammering about this" for years. "If he was a member of your family, you'd be staging an intervention." Conway cites the same narcissistic, sociopathic traits that have marked authoritarians through history, and the inevitable, "final implosion we're seeing now, like Hitler moving around divisions that didn't exist in the Fuhrer bunker in the last 10 days of the war." Of Trump - who regularly makes crackpot claims like he's done more for "the Blacks" than anyone since Honest Abe and "I’m doing really well in the Presidential Race, leading in almost all of the REAL Polls," Conway says, "He. has. completely. lost. it."

Among his recent "true Captain Queeg" moments: Claiming a larger crowd at Jan. 6 than Martin Luther King Jr. for his “I Have A Dream" speech in D.C. King’s speech to 250,000 led to the Civil Rights Act; Trump's speech to 53,000 led to an insurrection. The Borowitz Report duly cited the "huge crowd" of voices Trump hears inside his head: “I have maybe millions of voices, all talking at the same time. How many voices does Kamala have? Maybe one, if she’s lucky...There are people in there from countries you’ve never heard of." There was also his batty charge Harris used AI to invent 15,000 people greeting her in Michigan. “Nobody was there," Trump raved. "This is the way the Democrats win Elections, by CHEATING.” He added, "She "should be disqualified because the creation of a fake image is ELECTION INTERFERENCE. Anyone who does that will cheat at ANYTHING!" And he should know. On the myth of the great man humbled by his brush with death, one wrote, "Wow! Such an uplifting message! Keep talking, dotard."

Implausibly, he does in fact keep talking, regardless of the wrangling efforts of harried advisers. It turns out many of the odd cultural references he pulls from his murky swamp of a battered mind - Hannibal, his lumpy clothes, the retro music he chooses, noticeably the Village People's disco hit YMCA, which despite its "hanging out with all the boys having fun" he hasn't yet figured out is a gay anthem - date from the 1980s, "the last time any of his shit functioned." Biographer Tim O'Brien calls Trump "a crypt keeper for the 1980s," when "anybody who matters even pretended they respected him. That’s when he got his picture on Playboy and Time covers. That’s why he thinks New York is a crime-infested murder show. Because, in his brain, it’s the ‘80s outside." That's also why he's been blasted or sued for copyright infringement by so many, mostly earlier musicians - Queen, Springsteen, Aerosmith, Leonard Cohen, Rolling Stones, George Harrison and 30 more - they have their own pissed-off page on Wikipedia.

He's currently being sued by both Celine Dion for hilariously, cluelessly using her ode to a sinking ship from the Titanic movie - a wry Dion: "Really, THAT song?" - and the family of late soul singer Isaac Hayes for using his 1966 Hold On, I’m Comin' without permission. Lawyers say Trump owes them $3 million, a heavily discounted fee given he's been "willfully and brazenly engaged in copyright infringement," despite their complaints, since 2022. Unsurprisingly, musicians' fury at a slimy Trump echoes many others'. Neil Young: "You are a disgrace to my country." Johnny Marr: "Consider this shit shut right down right now.” Michael Stipe: "Do not use our music (for) your moronic charade of a campaign." They could add to their call for redress the moronic charade of his compiled "dancing" - stiff-as-a-board, tiny fists clenched, blank stare, malevolent: "It’s rare to see someone dancing with a scowl on their face" - shown at the RNC convention to his enthused, irony-free clones and fans. Conrad: "The horror! The horror!"

— (@)

And it keeps coming. Monday's babbling "biggest interview in history" with Elon Musk - "the two worst people in America" - swiftly devolved into "the incoherent in full pursuit of the unendurable," a "surprisingly dull meeting of two planet-sized egos plagued by technical glitches that only showcased Trump’s inability to complete a sentence." Trump trumpeted the X event with a plea for money - "We're calling on TEN MILLION Patriots to donate ANY AMOUNT" - and an operatic ad with Nazi marching music: "They're not coming after me, they're coming after you. Justice will be done." But first there was 42 minutes of silence broken only by "Muzakesque hold tunes," a tech debacle that for sure had nothing to do with Musk having promptly fired 80% of his workers, or "almost everyone who knew what they were doing." Trump later: "You're the greatest cutter." Still, many suggested it's maybe not a great idea to put in charge of Mars space trips or nuclear arsenals people who can't figure out how to run a live-stream in 2024.

The Harris/Waltz campaign was quick to mock the spectacle of two muted "self-obsessed rich guys, or whatever that was." They also posted Trump's snide blast of DeSantis' earlier "complete failure to launch" when the same thing happened to him in what one pundit called "another Musk trainwreck - the guy is like the Zodiac Killer of campaigns." Though Musk claimed he'd run multiple tech tests earlier, the sound when it finally came on was so weird, with Trump slurring and lisping, that social media dubbed him "Daffy Cuck" and #DentureDon. Still, many argued the "banal chatter" of a dysfunctional "dumpster fire" of "toxic masculinity and breathtaking mendacity," like "sitting with two drunks at a bar trying to set the world to rights" as Musk snickered, kowtowed and guffawed through Trump's unchecked rambling - Trump: "I know Putin, President Xi, Kim Jon Un, all of them." "Yeah, cool," gushed Musk, whose platform is banned in North Korea - made them crave the prior, peaceful 40 minutes of wallpaper music.

The two-hour babble: 60 million immigrants invading, Harris destroyed San Francisco, California, the sun, "they just took (Biden) out back (and) basically shot him," 35 states will do as well as Norway with no Dept. of Education, Russia defeated Napoleon - "It’s very unfair" - and, in "the dumbest climate conversation of all time," there'll be "more waterfront property - not a biggie." Pontificated Musk, "We’re at a fork in the road of the destiny of civilization." Then he asked fans for highlights he didn't have, and claimed 73 million listeners. Print media said it was a few hundred thousand. Trump, who measures his worth in numbers - ratings, buildings, money - said they "broke every record with many millions of people." But they seemed prickly, defensive. When the EU warned Musk of fines for violating their social media law on misinformation, he replied, "TAKE A BIG STEP BACK AND LITERALLY, F*CK YOUR OWN FACE!” When a reporter asked Trump aides about the lisp, he was told, "Must be your shitty hearing." Worse for the unloved boy whose greatest fear is being laughed at, a long-lost SNL video mysteriously resurfaced. Hellspawn, indeed.

— (@)

This week, the weird guys kept yammering. A small crowd came to hear clumsy Vance in Michigan: "It's a little hot today but it's a beautiful state." He emitted a crock of ugly bullshit: "Kamala's green energy scams," tens of millions of illegals, no more steak, she "forced Americans to buy EVs made in China - it's the carburators that suffer," she "pretends to stand for normal people," she's "laughing and dancing while Americans lose their children to fentanyl," she's "been in charge of the government (sic) for almost 4 years and hasn't done a damn thing." Trump is likewise in "his happy place" - bravado, vindictiveness, insults, lies. In one golf course presser that "did him no favors," he told at least 162 lies in 64 minutes, what Pete Buttigieg called "the Olympics of lying." At a small rally in North Carolina, he did his "greatest hits of weirdness" while holding Tic Tocs in each hand. Mild Walz will usher in World War lll: "We've never been this close." Kamala, with "the laugh of a crazy person," is "the worst vice president in history."

Then, a dutiful half-pivot to economics: “They say it’s the most important subject." But first, Kamala on the cover of Time: "She was a totally disrespected person six weeks ago." Then windmills as a couple wants to watch teevee: "I'm sorry darling, we can't, the wind isn't blowing." COVID: "We never got the credit we deserved, with all the things we did, the outfits." Insulin: "$35 insulin. I did that." (NOT). Then - pivot! - high prices, fake facts: "Car insurance is up like 82%," empty promises: "We will rapidly drive prices down and make America affordable again (with) a person named President Donald J. Trump. Do you know him? He’s a nice gentleman. Your incomes will soar, your savings will grow..." Then another golf club, more bombast - "The wind is ruining everything!" "You'll be thrown into a communist system where everyone gets health care," he's "entitled" to insult his opponent - from "meanderings into the muck his mania," his "laundry list of increasingly bizarre claims that (push) the envelope in new and astonishing ways."

His "campaign," it is widely agreed, has "entered the please-shut-up phase" with its "manic, boastful, untruthful, aggrieved, abusive, obsessive, random, ignorant, tedious, bitchy" discord, all born of his fragile ego and sick need for attention. Thus did a fabulist who from the start portrayed a fictional America of chaos and "carnage” then forge it, denying the trauma, damage and loss it inflicted. "His campaign is yesterday," said one sage, with his solipsistic phobias and tiresome grievances; Harris/Walz is tomorrow. Calm, smart, joyful, capable and leading in most swing states, they are greeted by euphoric crowds hungry to heal, come together, move past the wreckage born of his "savage incompetence." "Dear White Christians," wrote pastor John Pavlovitz too long ago to those who mistook Trump's evil for good. "Now you get to be brave, and leave behind supposed people of faith who betray (virtue) for a bag of coins or a SCOTUS seat...It's time to admit that this was all a horrible mistake." Socialist lunatics, onward.

On Thursday, a coalition of more than three-dozen civil-rights, consumer-rights and journalism organizations released a letter calling on news outlets to accurately and unapologetically report on U.S. elections and the state of our democracy. Led by Free Press, the coalition also includes Hearken, Media Matters for America, MediaJustice, the National Hispanic Media Coalition and PEN America.

Media coverage can invite public engagement and robust participation in the democratic process. It can also be manipulated to promote falsehoods for political gain and to silence dissent. “Democratic backsliding is rising around the world and the media must take the related threats seriously and place protection of democracy over their own bottom lines,” the letter reads. The letter describes six best practices the media should adhere to during moments of crisis, violence and threats to U.S. democracy.

Free Press Senior Counsel and Director of Digital Justice and Civil Rights Nora Benavidez said:

“Now is the time for news outlets to rise to the occasion: They must refuse to cover politics with soundbites that place profit over people’s understanding of the ways in which our basic rights are at risk — including the freedom journalists and the media themselves cherish. Left unchecked by the press, the rhetoric and actions of authoritarian leaders delegitimize the democratic process. Political leaders are dehumanizing minority groups, flouting the rule of law, and supporting violence or retribution against critics. Communities deserve to learn about the stakes facing our country and the implications of rising autocracy on all of our lives.

“As so many hardworking journalists cover the threats to our democracy this election season, all news outlets must hold themselves to the highest pro-democracy standards. Clearly call a lie a lie. If a political candidate, party or other influential platform applauds illegal activity or rejects the rule of law, reporters and other media professionals must take these threats seriously as they are overt attacks on a functional democracy.”

More than 40 civil society organizations, including Public Knowledge, Vote.org, AFL-CIO, and the National Organization for Women, wrote a letter to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) urging adoption of the agency’s proposal to ensure transparency in the use of AI-generated content in political advertisements on TV and radio.

The groups expressed specific concern about deepfakes which can deceive voters in the leadup to the election, and called for the adoption of measures that required disclosures of AI-generated content on political advertising.

“Evidence now abounds of the significant and deceptive impact that AI-generated content can have,” said the letter in highlighting the magnitude of the problem, adding: “The proposed disclosure requirements are a natural and common-sense extension of the FCC's existing mandates to ensure transparency in broadcasting in general and in political advertising on radio and TV in particular.”

In the letter, the groups “urge the FCC to adopt these rules promptly.”

Read the letter and see the full list of signatories here.

The Medicare program provides critical health care coverage for more than 67 million older Americans. However, the authoritarian playbook known as Project 2025 puts this coverage at risk. Project 2025 includes plans to make Medicare Advantage (MA)—privatized Medicare—the default option for all Medicare enrollees, pushing the United States toward a future of fully privatized Medicare. A new Center for American Progress article examines the threat Project 2025 poses to Medicare enrollees and the solvency of the Medicare trust fund. Some key takeaways from the article include:

• If implemented, Project 2025 would lead to a multibillion-dollar annual giveaway to corporations at the expense of Medicare enrollees and taxpayers, and at the expense of Medicare’s financial sustainability.
• Medicare Advantage costs the Medicare program 22 percent more per enrollee than traditional Medicare.
• If Project 2025’s plan to make MA the default option were to expand the proportion of Medicare beneficiaries in MA to 75 percent—up from its current enrollment level of 51 percent—CAP estimates that wasteful spending could approach an eye-popping $2 trillion over 10 years.
• Making Medicare Advantage the default option would restrict more Medicare enrollees’ options over which doctors and hospitals they can receive care from.

“Project 2025’s plan to make Medicare Advantage the default option would give corporations even more power and strip doctors and patients of the freedom to make decisions about what care enrollees can or cannot receive,” said Brian Keyser, research associate for Health Policy at CAP and co-author of the analysis. “Project 2025’s plan makes it clear—its priority is to help boost profit-driven corporations’ bottom lines at the expense of Medicare enrollees’ access to care and the future solvency of Medicare.”

Read the article: “Project 2025’s Medicare Changes Would Restrict Older Americans’ Access to Care and Imperil the Program’s Financial Health” by Brian Keyser and Andrea Ducas

Today, the Biden-Harris administration unveiled the final negotiated prices for the Inflation Reduction Act’s historic Medicare negotiation program. In 2026, seniors and other Medicare Part D enrollees are expected to save $1.5 billion in out-of-pocket costs for prescription drugs, with Medicare itself saving $6 billion when compared to 2023 totals. The program offers critical savings for millions of seniors with prescriptions from everything from heart failure to blood clots. “

This is a transformative victory for millions of seniors and other patients who rely on Medicare for affordable access to life-saving medications. Big Pharma CEOs and their army of lobbyists spared no expense to defend a system rigged in their favor, prioritizing profits and price gouging over people’s health. The Biden-Harris administration has made the well-being of millions of Americans the priority, taking a decisive step towards lowering costs for millions.” —Accountable.US Executive Director Tony Carrk

$93.5 Billion in Profits. The big drug companies that produce the ten drugs subject to Medicare negotiation under the Inflation Reduction Act brought in $93.5 billion in profits last year.

$400 Million. Big pharma has been fighting for years to block Medicare negotiation. The industry spent nearly $400 million on lobbying in 2022 alone – not including their campaign contributions and public misinformation campaigns.

$500,000. Since its passage, the industry has doubled down on tactics to rollback, rescind, or repeal the law to protect their profits, with PhRMA—the largest pharmaceutical trade group—even going as far as to give $530,000 in donations to right-wing fringe organizations intimately involved with Project 2025. Among the Accountable.US findings, first reported by Rolling Stone, Project 2025 advisory board members—including FreedomWorks, American Commitment, ALEC and others—have fought against expanded voter access, while often parroting the Big Lie that the 2020 presidential election was stolen.

9. The number of lawsuits Big Pharma and their allies have filed to block Medicare’s ability to lower costs for seniors. Despite industry efforts, federal courtrooms across the country have upheld Medicare’s authority to negotiate lower prices for seniors and other patients. Recently, New Jersey District Court Judge Zahid Quraishi rejected Novo Nordisk’s challenge to the Inflation Reduction Act, marking the sixth time a federal court sided with the Biden-Harris administration. Last week, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s case against the program was tossed out due to lack of standing.

Earlier this week, government watchdog Accountable.US released a damning new report detailing the patent exploitation tactics used by the manufacturers of the first 10 drugs subject to Medicare negotiation. [READ THE FULL REPORT].

Today’s announcement follows recent national polling showing strong support for the Biden-Harris administration’s efforts to lower prescription drug prices and stand up to big drug companies.

Chesapeake Climate Action Network and Public Citizen delivered a letter to the Department of Justice (DOJ) demanding that it hold oil and gas companies accountable for fueling climate-driven disasters such as floods, fires, hurricanes, and extreme heat that have destroyed property and taken innocent lives. The letter, signed by more than 10,000 people across the country, including more than 1,000 individuals who have survived climate-fueled disasters, demands that DOJ investigate Big Oil for knowingly fueling dangerous climate change and intentionally misleading the public about its role.

The delivery of this letter represents a growing push for justice for the survivors of fossil-fueled climate disasters. Seven states, thirty-five municipalities, and the District of Columbia are crafting significant legislation or suing the oil and gas industry. This movement extends beyond the United States. In Europe, climate survivors brought the first criminal suit against Big Oil, and there are numerous civil suits across the continent.

As early as the 1950s, the fossil fuel industry knew that burning fossil fuels would contribute to climate change. Instead of working to prevent this existential threat, Big Oil continues to sabotage climate solutions, lobby against aggressive climate action, and spend billions of dollars to deceive the public.

Quotes:

“The 2018 Camp Fire burned down my family home in Paradise, took the lives of 84 neighbors, and left hundreds of families displaced for years. Now my friends are going through the unthinkable once again as another record breaking fire sweeps through Butte County. This year’s Park Fire is the 4th largest wildfire in California history. Let’s be clear, the fingerprints of the fossil fuel industry are all over it. The industry continues to ignore the catastrophic consequences of burning fossil fuels, which heats our atmosphere and increases the scale and frequency of disasters. The Department of Justice needs to hold the fossil fuel industry accountable now.” — Allen Myers, former resident of Paradise California and board member at Regenerating Paradise

“I’m a single mom of three who used all my savings to realize my dream of opening my clothing store and flower shop. The floods took everything. Rebuilding is a long road: everyone thinks the floodwaters recede and that’s it, you’re done. That couldn’t be further from the truth. But we have to keep going! I like to joke that I pay my bills with optimism. “Can I pay that in three installments” is basically my most asked question these days. The hardest is watching what it’s like for my kids. They are retraumatized every time there’s a flood warning. In fact, the whole community feels that way. And sometimes I have to make choices no parent should have to make – last month, I chose between groceries and sending my son to hockey camp. I just couldn’t tell him no. So I was hungry, but I’m still here. Meanwhile the rich oil execs get to keep making piles of money. It’s wrong. They’ve got to be held accountable and help rebuild the communities that have been impacted.” — Jenny Sebold, survivor of the Great Vermont Flood of 2023, Montpelier, VT

“Climate-induced disasters, such as tornadoes and hurricanes, caused by fossil fuel companies’ pollution and negligence cannot go unnoticed any longer. It’s unfair for myself, a single mom of six, and others in my community to continuously have to fight for clean air and clean water, care for sick children who are being poisoned by industry, and mourn the loss of loved ones dying from cancer daily all while these industries continue to pollute. As if that’s not enough we are also the ones most impacted by the disasters having to constantly evacuate and rebuild. We are tired of being resilient. It is high time we hold these companies accountable for their actions and demand that they pay for the climate crimes they have committed. We must make polluters pay for the damage they have caused to our environment and communities. They’ve caused this mess and they need to pay to mitigate it.” — Roishetta Ozane, founder, director, and chief executive officer of the Vessel Project of Louisiana and a survivor of hurricanes, fires, tornadoes, and pollution on the U.S. Gulf Coast

“Climate catastrophes are not natural disasters—they are crimes perpetrated by the fossil fuel industry. The human toll has been unimaginable, destroying entire communities, wrecking businesses that families built from the ground-up, and stealing lives. Climate survivors and their allies have had enough, and our message to the Justice Department is clear: investigate the fossil fuel industry and make polluters pay. Big Oil has been sacrificing our health and safety to line their pockets for over half a century. Survivors of climate crimes deserve justice no less than the victims of homicide, arson, assault and battery, armed robbery, and other felonies.” — Clara Vondrich, Senior Policy Counsel, Public Citizen

“Climate disaster survivors know who is responsible for their suffering. For decades, Big Oil lobbied against aggressive climate action, all while knowing how fossil fuels would drive extreme weather, deadly heat waves, floods and fire. As climate change increasingly and continuously disrupts weather patterns around the world, the number of climate survivors will also grow and languish for justice. The government has the moral responsibility to protect and defend its citizens, and the letter demands that the Department of Justice act on this obligation.” – Gabrielle Walton, Federal Campaigns Associate, Chesapeake Climate Action Network

A new study released today by Energy Innovation, a non-partisan energy and climate policy organization, details the devastating effects the policies found within the 900-page conservative playbook would have on our environment and public health.

The report shows that by 2030, compared to currently enacted policy, Project 2025 would result in 1.7 million jobs lost, $320 billion in reduced GDP, more than 2,000 premature deaths from exposure to air pollution, and CO2 emissions of 4,920 MMT.

Project 2025’s framework includes repeal of most provisions of the Inflation Reduction Act and Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, including clean electricity tax credits, zero emission vehicle tax credits, advanced energy manufacturing tax credits, and energy efficiency standards. Project 2025 would also increase oil and gas production and LNG exports, stop EPA from regulating power plant GHGs, and roll back vehicle fuel economy standards.

According to Energy Innovation, this would "more than roll back all the reductions achieved through the historic climate action achieved over the past few years” and would put the United States’ 2030 and 2050 climate targets out of reach.

In response, Sierra Club Executive Director Ben Jealous released the following statement:

“Project 2025 would be an unmitigated disaster for the climate, for our economy, and for the life and livelihood of families across the country. This extreme agenda would not only pollute our clean air and safe drinking water, it will deal a crushing blow to our growing green energy economy, killing good middle class jobs and undoing the monumental gains we’ve made in the past few years. The Sierra Club has fought hard for the progress we’ve made towards a clean and sustainable future. The fight isn’t over and we’re not going back.”