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Overnight News Digest for August 31 (We just won ALASKA!) [1]
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Date: 2022-08-31
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Excuse me for getting a little bit maudlin, but I’ve worked a LOT of races over the years that we’ve lost by a hair (and a bunch that we’ve lost by a butt-ton.). Last week I was thrilled that Pat Ryan held NY 19, but sad that Allesandra Biaggi, my state Senator, wasn’t able to knock out Patrick Maloney in NY 17. (And we won’t even talk about the night of November 8, 2016, when my fiancée and I joined the crowd at the Javits Center for the Hillary Clinton victory party… and an hour later joined the dazed in disbelieving crowd wandering back out of the convention center into the neighboring streets in search of desperately needed alcohol).
Which is a long way of saying that, by god we won it tonight! For the first time in 50 years we have a Democratic Representative heading to Washington from the great state of Alaska, and she’s a native woman!
Democrat Mary Peltola is the apparent winner of Alaska’s special U.S. House race and is set to become the first Alaska Native in Congress, after votes were tabulated Wednesday in the state’s first ranked choice election. Peltola topped Republican former Gov. Sarah Palin after ballots were tallied and votes for third-place GOP candidate Nick Begich III were redistributed to his supporters’ second choices. Peltola, a Yup’ik former state lawmaker who calls Bethel home, is now slated to be the first woman to hold Alaska’s lone U.S. House seat. It is an outcome largely seen as an upset. Peltola would be the first Democrat to join Alaska’s three-person congressional delegation since U.S. Sen. Mark Begich lost reelection in 2014. And she defeated two Republicans to do so. Combined, Palin and Begich, nephew of Mark Begich and grandson of former U.S. Rep. Nick Begich, commanded nearly 60% of first-place votes.
And yes, that means that while 50% of Begich’s first-place voters went with Republican firebrand Palin, another 50% considered her far too rank to choose her as an alternative. And that speaks volumes of where we may end up in the mid-terms.
And it’s not just Alaska natives who are pretty darned pleased about it...
x Celebrate with me: Democrat Mary Petola, an Alaskan Yup’ik Native — has defeated Republican Sarah Palin in a special election. — Lakota Man (@LakotaMan1) September 1, 2022
At a time when all the pundits STILL insist the GOP is favored to take Congress (but not the Senate anymore, they’ve blown that chance), here’s yet another data point to throw in their smug faces.
Even if Trump isn’t indicted (and let’s face it, we are probably never going to be blessed with THAT dance party), he is going to dangle around the necks of GOP candidates this November like a bouffant orange albatross, only heavier.
So let’s put in the work, people! We know that MAGA hats are going to show up — let’s make damn sure our team shows up, too!
x Check out this Daily Kos site with a comprehensive list of activities you participate in to get out the vote and help us improve the outcome of the November midterm elections.
https://t.co/V0smH6VyYy — Meteor_Blades (@Meteor_Blades) August 29, 2022
And here are some races you can help out with:
x Winning feels good, right? Let's win some more! Here are the competitive Democratic House midterm candidates you should go support right now:
https://t.co/1Uua5Lnaaq — Palmer Report (@PalmerReport) September 1, 2022
You know what happens when we organize, and we fight? We WIN!
In news so literally breaking that I don’t have a story to link to, just tweets, California has finally, finally passed SB 1137, a little bill that says OIL COMPANIES CAN’T DRILL NEXT TO HOUSES AND SCHOOLS. Because yeah, they’ve been doing that.
As Dan Bacher has been tirelessly documenting her at DailyKos, while California has a lot to be proud of on the environmental front, it also is one of the biggest oil drilling states in the US, and oozy oil money has been buying off the California State Legislature for years and years. Which has meant things like… oil companies can drill almost anywhere, and if children have to breathe in toxic chemicals every day, well, that’s a price oil companies are willing to not pay, sorry, that’s on you (mostly brown) folks in frontline communities. Sorry!
But no longer. it was a near thing, but the CA State Senate finally passed the bill late tonight, and sent it to Newsom’s desk.
x HUGE shout out to all the frontline organizers who made this happen!🎉
All the toxic tours, CalGEM workshops, legislative pushes, community meetings and 1:1s to build the power it takes to win. It's truly incredible & historic. This is your moment. What a victory!🌻 #YESonSB1137
https://t.co/lg0zCoVYz1 — Jason Pfeifle (@JasonPfeifle) September 1, 2022
In other news, do you remember the story from one month ago, about the sit-in at Schumer’s office, only this time it wasn’t Extinction Rebellion or Sunrise Movement, it was Congressional Staffers protesting lack of movement on a climate bill?
Of course, they were all arrested (unlike the Jan 6 insurrectionistas, who were all allowed to just walk away).
Well, today their charges were all thrown out. Free to get back to work on the next round of climate legislation.
x NEW: one month ago, six Hill staff were arrested in Leader Schumer’s office demanding immediate climate policy.
Because of organizing and work of thousands, major climate investments have since been made.
And today, our case has been DROPPED!!! pic.twitter.com/sERqV4fnbB — Saul (@saaaauuull) August 31, 2022
Solar and clean energy News
The US currently cranks out 11 gigawatts of solar, which is pretty damn good.
Thanks to the Inflation Reduction Act, that’s expected to double in the next three years!
First Solar will invest $1 billion to build a new 3.5-gigawatt solar module factory in the Southeast, the company said Tuesday. Meanwhile, it will expand its existing manufacturing capacity in Ohio by 0.9 gigawatts. Those expansions, plus an already-planned factory coming online in Ohio next year, mean the company will be able to produce more than 10 gigawatts of solar panels each year by 2025. Manufacturers will be eligible for a generous credit of 11 to 18 cents per watt for a solar module manufactured in a U.S.-based vertically integrated plant. Subsidies will apply across the solar value chain of polysilicon feedstock, thin-film or crystalline PV cells, wafers and modules, and will cover about half the cost of a solar module — a significant subsidy that will make U.S. manufacturing much more competitive. Those credits, now locked in for a decade, have fundamentally changed the calculus for building new domestic factories versus investing in overseas expansion. First Solar didn’t get the new tariffs it wanted (at least not yet); instead it got incentives that are poised to drive a nation-leading industrial expansion.
The energy startup SPARKZ said Tuesday it will locate an electric battery factory in northern West Virginia. The batteries will be built at a 482,000-square-foot (4.5-hectare) plant in Taylor County off U.S. Route 50 near Bridgeport, the company said in a statement. The plant, which eventually will employ 350 workers, originally was a glass factory that ceased operations in 2009. The plant will produce cobalt-free batteries, an effort to bring down the cost of U.S. lithium-ion battery production. The Democratic Republic of Congo has historically been the top producer of cobalt worldwide, with most mines controlled by Chinese companies. x United Mine Workers has an agreement for laid-off coal miners to be the first production workers at this West Virginia battery plant.
https://t.co/WSf9K7TMiD — Lee Harris (@leee_harris) August 31, 2022
Go figure — cutting, or even eliminating, fares on public transit makes it work better, and cuts greenhouse gas emissions. Bloomberg — Germany’s Ultra-Cheap Train Ticket Saved 1.8 Million Tons of CO2 Germany’s three-month experiment with super-cheap public transport reduced carbon dioxide emissions equivalent to powering about 350,000 homes for a year. The 9-euro ($9) monthly ticket, which allows nationwide travel on regional trains, subways, trams and buses, prevented 1.8 million tons of CO2 because commuters didn’t use their cars as much, according to the VDV public-transport lobby. We’re dead. We’re so very, very, very dead
Covid is not only not going away, but everyone who thought they had a mild case may only have experienced the tip of the viral iceberg.
Not only is covid NOT just a “mild cold”, it is causing long-term cardio-vascular effects as well as debilitating effects on the brain.
And I’m going to keep posting these stories until people snap out of denial and start at LEAST masking up in public.
x Wow. Americans now die younger than Chinese. And that is probably never changing again pic.twitter.com/NJM6aY7NUS — XR Cambridge (@xr_cambridge) August 31, 2022
x We need to prepare for large increases in cardiovascular, neurological & mental health disorders in countries affected by the #SARSCoV2 #pandemic
https://t.co/9Lx0320Qy4 — Soumya Swaminathan (@doctorsoumya) August 30, 2022
The Harvard Gazette — Race still a factor in air pollution exposure
Certain groups in the U.S. — Blacks, Asians, Hispanics, Latinos, and low-income populations — are being exposed to higher levels of dangerous fine particulate air pollution (PM2.5) than other groups, according to new research from Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. … Previous research has shown that racial and ethnic minorities and lower-income groups in the U.S. are at higher risk of premature death from exposure to PM2.5 air pollution than other population and income groups. It’s also been shown that there are disparities in exposure to air pollution among these groups. ...The researchers found that areas of the U.S. where the white and Native American populations are overrepresented have been consistently exposed to average PM2.5 levels that are lower than those in areas where Black, Asian, and Hispanic or Latino populations are overrepresented.
Climate Chaos
As parts of the world recover from devastating floods, Jackson, MS is without water. Not just the rivers dried up — there’s no water in the pipes. No water to shower with, no water to cook with, no water to put out fires, no water to drink.
As many as 180,000 people in Jackson, Mississippi will not have access to safe running water for the foreseeable future, state officials said Monday night—the latest manifestation of a longstanding crisis in which the city’s residents have been made to suffer the consequences of chronically underfunded infrastructure, compounded by a worsening climate emergency. ...Reeves, a Republican who has refused to prioritize upgrading Jackson’s failing infrastructure throughout his two years in office, declared a state of emergency and announced, “We need to provide water for up to 180,000 people for an unknown period of time.” ...While the recent flooding—an example of the kind of event that scientists have long warned will become more common and intense due to planet-heating emissions—has made the situation worse, “we didn’t get to this total crisis point overnight,” journalist Ashton Pittman wrote Monday on social media.
Who’s on the job? Not the GOP who’s been running the state.
Instead, it’s POTUS who is working on getting them potable water...
x This morning, @POTUS called Mayor Lumumba of Jackson, MS to hear firsthand from the Mayor about the urgent situation with access to clean and safe water. They discussed emergency response efforts underway, including support from FEMA, EPA, and the Army Corps. — Ashley Williams (@ashwilliams46) August 31, 2022
x Mississippi doesn't have drinkable water. Texas doesn't have a working power grid. Florida doesn't have enough teachers.
This is what happens when Republican leaders focus more on banning abortion, punishing LGBT teachers and suppressing votes than serving their constituents. — Brian Tyler Cohen (@briantylercohen) August 30, 2022
Are you nervous yet? You should be
x Gulf Stream at its weakest in over 1,000 years
enhanced melting of the Greenland Ice Sheet add fresh water to the surface ocean.
This reduces the salinity and density of the water, inhibiting the sinking and thus weakening the flow of the AMOC.
https://t.co/gAxJfDAP0p pic.twitter.com/ijwhHZd2aG — GO GREEN (@ECOWARRIORSS) August 30, 2022
Other news
State funding cuts are especially devastating since 86 percent of higher education direct spending comes at the state level. But Dervin Fergus, a professor at Ohio State University, makes a strong argument in the Washington Post that the crisis started not with the states, but with the federal government of President Ronald Reagan, backed by a conservative Congress. ,,,Burying students in debt wasn’t an accident caused by some sort of technical policy mistake. It was a deliberate choice made by conservatives who saw the advancement of the young as a danger to supposedly natural and virtuous hierarchies of class, age, and, by implication, gender and race. A world in which students were entitled to education was a world in which lots of people might see themselves as entitled to lots of things — freedom, self-government, happiness, meaningful work. Student debt keeps students (and not just students) in their place. You can see this thinking in much of the opposition to student loan debt forgiveness. Indiana House Representative Jim Banks presented the argument in its crudest form when he tweeted that “Student loan forgiveness undermines one of our military’s greatest recruitment tools at a time of dangerously low enlistments.”
And in case you weren’t aware…
x So, I’ve been watching to see if Kamala was going to get her credit, but apparently she isn’t.
Folks realize almost the entire student loan forgiveness plan was adopted from her campaign for POTUS, right?
She was also a major catalyst on the Hill for passing the IRA. — Angry Staffer 🌻 (@Angry_Staffer) August 30, 2022
And Finally — It’s that Deja Vu all over again…
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