Report typos and corrections to: corrections@rawstory.com.
Stories Chosen For You
WSJ editorial warns Trump's 'chaotic and self-serving brand of politics' is crippling the GOP
August 08, 2022
Taking notice of the growing evidence that the Republican Party is on the way to blowing its chance to take control of the U.S, Senate in the November midterms, the editorial board of the conservative Wall Street Journal laid the blame squarely at the feet of Donald Trump.
Recent polling has shown that not only could Democrats hold onto seats that the Republican leadership thought they might claim in the midterms, but now Republicans are also looking at the possibility of losing seats in Pennsylvania and Ohio currently held by Republicans.
According to the editors, Trump's obsession with his 2020 presidential loss as well as his constant attention-grabbing antics are dragging the party down.
Those problems, they maintained, along with a slate of Trump-endorsed candidates burdened with considerable baggage, has led the editors to come to the conclusion that the Democrats will hold power in the Senate until 2024 -- and possibly beyond.
RELATED: Brutal ad against Herschel Walker shows his ex-wife recounting horrific story of abuse
"The tide of public opinion could still sweep one or all of these GOP candidates to victory. This is probably the best national mood for Republicans since 2010, given inflation, falling real wages, U.S. adversaries on the march, chaos at the border, and President Biden’s deep unpopularity. Democratic incumbents and Mr. Ryan in Ohio have all voted with Mr. Biden’s preferences more than 90% of the time," they wrote. "But candidate quality also matters, and this year’s GOP nominees are revealing the downside of Mr. Trump’s meddling in primaries. The former President’s priority is always personal—whether candidates show enough fealty to him and to his claim of a stolen 2020 election. That self-preoccupation cost the two special Georgia elections in January 2021 as Mr. Trump’s war on his own party leaders reduced GOP turnout."
Noting that the "stakes are high" for GOP dominance in November, they expressed concern that retirement or death on the Supreme Court could change the balance of power with a second Biden appointee.
"What if Joe Biden can nominate a replacement in 2024?" they worried before concluding, "There’s no denying Mr. Trump’s influence with millions of GOP voters. But his chaotic and self-serving brand of politics cost Republicans the House in 2018, the White House in 2020 and the Senate in 2021. It could cost them the Senate again in November."
You can read more here -- subscription is required.
CONTINUE READING
Show less
Alex Jones warns Steve Bannon: 'Obama and his people' could stage terror attack before midterms
August 08, 2022
Conspiracy theorist Alex Jones warned right-wing podcast host Steve Bannon that "Obama and his people" could stage a terrorist attack before the midterm elections.
Jones made the prediction during a Monday appearance on Bannon's War Room: Pandemic podcast.
"Are you concerned about the Nov. 8 elections?" Bannon wondered. "Are you seeing things out there that are concerning you as to whether we'll have a free and fair election?"
Jones replied: "I'm worried that the Biden controllers, the third administration of Obama -- I'm worried that Obama and his people may provocateur some type of big terror attack. They might launch a cyber attack and blame it on the Russians. They might start a major war."
READ MORE: Brutal ad against Herschel Walker shows his ex-wife recounting horrific story of abuse
"I mean, they're going to have an October surprise or a group of October surprises," he added. "You can bet your bottom dollar on it."
Watch the video below from Real America's Voice.
CONTINUE READING
Show less
After 'historic' US climate bill, scientists urge global action
August 08, 2022
Scientists on Monday welcomed the passing of US President Joe Biden's "historic" climate bill while calling for other major emitters -- namely the European Union -- to follow suit and implement ambitious plans to slash emissions.
The bill, which would see an unprecedented $370 billion invested in cutting US emissions 40 percent by 2030, should provide a launchpad for green investment and kickstart a transition towards renewable energy in the world's largest emitter.
It passed the Senate on Sunday night after months of arduous negotiations and only after a number of tax and energy provisions were tacked on to Biden's original proposal.
Michael Pahle, from the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, said the bill was particularly relevant to EU lawmakers, who he said were on the verge of adopting "the world's most ambitious climate policy" in the form of the bloc's "Fit for 55" plan.
"The EU's policy can only succeed -- economically and politically -- when major emitters and trade partners take similar action," he told AFP.
"Especially in face of the changing geopolitical landscape, US-EU cooperation is key and the bill an important enabling factor."
The EU initiative -- which envisages a 55-percent emissions fall by 2030 -- has no set budget as yet.
But a recent assessment found member states would need to spend an 350 billion euros more each year than they did between 2011-2020 in order to hit the climate and energy targets.
Simon Lewis, professor of global chance science at University College London, said the US bill showed how lawmakers can advance climate legislation while responding to voters' short-term concern over fuel price inflation.
"It's really important that the world's largest economy is investing in climate and doing it as part of a package to generate jobs and a new, cleaner, greener economy," Lewis told AFP.
"Part of that is a package tackling inflation. I think that shows the world how to get climate policy passed, by hitching it to things that really matter to ordinary people, to make sure it's part of an overarching package to make life better for people."
'Massive increase'
The independent Rhodium Group think tank said the "historic and important" bill -- officially the Inflation Reduction Act -- would reduce US emissions by at least 31 percent by 2040, compared with 2005 levels.
However it said that with favorable macroeconomic conditions including increasingly high fossil fuel prices and cheap renewables, a 44-percent emissions drop was possible.
"The cost of living is here partly because we didn't get out of fossil fuels early enough," said Lewis.
"This bill means is that the transition away from fossil fuels is about to speed up."
Eric Beinhocker, director of the Institute of New Economic Thinking at the Oxford Martin School, said the bill would lead to a "massive increase" in clean technology and would drive the cost of renewables down even further.
"This is particularly important when the world is suffering not just from the climate effects of fossil fuels but also from their skyrocketing costs," he told AFP.
The legislation provides millions to help conserve forests and billions in tax credits to some of the country's worst-polluting industries to accelerate their transition to greener tech.
It almost didn't happen, however, with the bill delayed for months after Democrat Joe Manchin blocked Biden's more expensive Build Back Better infrastructure plan.
Pahle said that a failure by the US to agree an ambitious emissions cutting plan would have been a "major drawback on the viability of the Paris Agreement".
The 2015 accord enjoins nations to work to limit global temperature rises to "well below" two degrees celsius above pre-industrial levels and envisages a safer 1.5C heating cap.
With a little over 1.1C of warming so far, Earth is already being buffeted by extreme weather such as drought and storms supercharged by rising temperatures.
Just the start
Although acknowledging that the bill represented progress, scientists were quick to stress that it was far from perfect.
Michael Mann, director of Penn State's Center for Science, Sustainability and the Media, said the bill's commitment to build new gas pipelines was "a step backwards".
"It's difficult to reconcile a promise to decarbonize our economy with a commitment to new fossil fuel infrastructure," he said.
Radhika Khosla, from the University of Oxford's Smith School, said that only action on a global scale could achieve the emissions cuts necessary to stave off the worst impacts of global heating.
"The effects of climate change are being felt by all of us," she said.
"This summer alone parts of the globe as disparate as China, the UK and Tunisia all saw record-breaking, deadly heatwaves.
"Lasting change will require ambitious action from all of us as well," she told AFP.
© 2022 AFP
CONTINUE READING
Show less
Copyright © 2022 Raw Story Media, Inc. PO Box 21050, Washington, D.C. 20009 | Masthead | Privacy Policy | For corrections or concerns, please email corrections@rawstory.com.
{{ post.roar_specific_data.api_data.analytics }}