I have the town hall on now and will report in with snippets I see.
Please help me out with snippets of your own as I can’t watch it all!
I have the town hall on now and will report in with snippets I see.
Please help me out with snippets of your own as I can’t watch it all!
You may have heard about David Gilmour (Pink Floyd guitarist) auctioning off his most famous guitars the other day so he could donate the money to a group called ClientEarth. He raised over $21 million.
I am pleased to announce that all the proceeds from the #GilmourGuitars Sale at @ChristiesInc in New York tomorrow will be donated to the charity @ClientEarth. (1/5) pic.twitter.com/uFJ1CvA6QK
— David Gilmour (@davidgilmour) June 19, 2019
Gilmour revealed that the money from the auction would benefit ClientEarth, which funds environmental lawyers and experts in the fight against climate change. “The global climate crisis is the greatest challenge that humanity will ever face, and we are within a few years of the effects of global warming being irreversible,” he said in a statement. “We need a civilized world that goes on for all our grandchildren and beyond in which these guitars can be played and songs can be sung.”
https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/david-gilmour-guitars-christies-charity-auction-850597/
But, I’ve just learned that a so-called Democratic think tank is working against that ‘fight’.
Phil Goldberg, PPI’s director of its Center for Civil Justice, is leading the charge.
For over a year, PPI’s website has been showcasing Goldberg’s work attacking climate litigation, which he calls “copycat climate suits.” Goldberg is a former lobbyist for coal giant Peabody Energy, which his law firm still represents.
And while Goldberg’s bio on PPI’s website lists him as a partner in the corporate law firm Shook, Hardy & Bacon, there’s no mention of his hiring earlier this year by the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM) to serve as special counsel in its fight against climate litigation. NAM’s Manufacturers’ Accountability Project, which it launched in 2017, targets climate lawsuits against the manufacturing industry’s energy sector.
PPI stands for Progressive Policy Institute.
PPI’s website also does not disclose Goldberg’s recent work for Grow America’s Infrastructure Now (GAIN), a front group funded by several oil and gas trade associations. In a report for GAIN titled “Vigilante Regulation,” Goldberg, along with two other Shook, Hardy & Bacon attorneys, detail how tort law can be employed to stem what the authors call “anti-pipeline activism.”
It’s just plain freaky that a hired gun for the fossil fuel industry would pretend to be neutral or, shockingly, even perhaps ‘progressive’ under the guise of PPI, which has a good reputation as a think tank,” said Denise Antolini, an associate dean at the University of Hawai’i-Manoa’s School of Law.
So many sharks in the water..I mean front groups, to store in the brain!
Goldberg previously served as an adviser to the Civil Justice Task Force of the “corporate bill mill,” the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), where he published reports against state-led climate lawsuits in the group’s publication Inside ALEC.
ALEC!
How in the world can PPI get away with calling itself ‘progressive’ when the director of its Center for Civil Justice has done work for ALEC??
Aha, here’s how:
PPI’s website, which greets its visitors with the banner “radically pragmatic,” does not publicize its funding sources. But the group’s funding seems to come at least in part through its parent organization, the Third Way Foundation, whose tax forms states it is “doing business as the Progressive Policy Institute.”
I hope Gilmour’s beautiful guitars help with much needed funds to counter groups like PPI!
PPI and others’ pushback against climate litigation will only intensify, predicts Robert Brulle, a sociology professor at Drexel University, who studies environmental movements and climate science disinformation campaigns.
“As these cases move toward discovery and eventual trial, the architects of the campaign to obstruct climate action, such as the National Association of Manufacturers, are gearing up for a long battle in the courts,” he said.
https://truthout.org/articles/a-democratic-think-tank-is-promoting-pushback-against-climate-lawsuits/
I’m cool with Bernie calling Third Way out. They say they welcome the attention, but I suspect they’d prefer to be operating in the dark.
Thanks for all the attention, Senator Sanders.
But you're wrong. Your campaign is an existential threat b/c an avowed Dem Socialist is likely to lose to Trump.
Still, if you win the nomination, we will strongly support you. B/C Trump is an existential threat to our republic.
— Third Way (@ThirdWayTweet) June 22, 2019
I, for one, only believe the last eight words of the above tweet. That’s what con artists do, they mix a lot of lies in with a little truth. They need to be called out at every turn.
This showed up on my twitter feed just now as a ‘Promoted’ tweet. Now, I don’t tend to squander any love on Bloomberg, Steyer, or Soros, but I was curious enough to look up this group, Power The Future, and look at what I found on the group’s timeline: Hmmm, I thought, something seems off. Here is the linked story: Beto O’Rourke to major Democratic super PAC donor: “Thanks, but no thanks” Tom Steyer, one of the biggest Democratic donors in the country, openly mulled spending on O’Rourke’s behalf via his environmental super PAC, NextGen America. Wait, is it..possible that O’Rourke said, “Thanks, but no thanks” for … Continue reading →
Good Morning Birdies! I’ll start with a bit of Bernie news, then all of us can pitch in with other progressive news or excerpts to interesting things we’ve seen around the Net. Last night, MIC news reported that Bernie has come out against a new energy bill that supports fracking and continues to uplift the Oil & Gas Industry. From the article: With the Senate focused on health care reform, a little-noticed bill that could increase America’s production of fossil fuels may see a vote on the Senate floor as soon as next week. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) does not plan to … Continue reading →
As we follow what’s happening on the ground as indigenous people and others from all over join the Standing Rock Sioux in opposition to the Dakota Access Pipeline, it’s easy to forget to ask where the money’s coming from. As it turns out (and I’m sorry to say), the largest chunks of the money behind DAPL come from California, in particular hedge funds in the San Francisco Bay Area. Journaiist Will Parrish, writing for the North Bay Bohemian, digs up a whole lot of surprises about the “Bay Area investment [that] fuels America’s tracking boom — and the pipeline protests” … Continue reading →
Are you on Twitter? The NoDAPL Water Protectors are asking for help to create a Twitter Storm climaxing during the debate, asking why they are not talking about the Dakota Access Pipeline and the need to protect our water. Here’s the text of their request on Facebook, from Noelle Garcia. She explains what a Twitter storm is, why they want to create it, and what to include in your Tweet (including samples of what to say): noelle garcia to International Days of Prayer and Action with Standing Rock The American Indian Center of Chicago is asking people to share plans to start … Continue reading →
Food and Water Watch executive director Wenonah Hauter says the people need to tell the Democratic establishment that it’s too late for incremental changes to address the climate crisis:
Via Politico: Sanders Threatens A Platform Fight Over TPP & Fracking Bernie Sanders has one big demand when the Democratic National Committee’s full platform committee meets in Orlando on Friday: Put the party on record as strongly opposing the Trans-Pacific Partnership. When the 187-member panel considers amendments to the draft platform hammered out by the 15-person drafting committee, Sanders’ allies will look to push a long list of policy tweaks: a carbon tax, a ban on fracking, and language promising to expand Medicare. Opposing the TPP — the sweeping 12-nation trade deal negotiated by the Obama administration — is the … Continue reading →