RSN: Jeff Cohen | We Need to Ask Many Questions of Our Nation's Mainstream Media. Here Are Just a Few.

22 January 20

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22 January 20 It's Live on the HomePage Now: Reader Supported News BLOOD FROM STONES - Never been this hard to raise enough money to address the organization’s basic operating costs. Reinventing the process on the fly to come up with new ways to get through. This is not money we “want to have,” this is money we have to have to meet the organization’s financial obligations. Seriously. / Marc Ash, Founder Reader Supported News Sure, I'll make a donation! RSN: Jeff Cohen | We Need to Ask Many Questions of Our Nation's Mainstream Media. Here Are Just a Few.

Democratic debate in Des Moines, Iowa on Jan. 14, 2020. (photo: AP)

We Need to Ask Many Questions of Our Nation's Mainstream Media. Here Are Just a Few.

By Jeff Cohen, Reader Supported News

22 January 20

hy don’t you refer to our current healthcare system as a “corporate-run system?” 

At Democratic presidential debates and elsewhere, network TV journalists have aggressively challenged the notion of “abolishing private health insurance” — without discussing what health insurance companies actually contribute to healthcare beyond bureaucracy and profiteering. At last June’s debate, NBC’s Lester Holt asked candidates to raise their hands if they would “abolish private insurance in favor of a government-run plan.” Over and over, when mainstream journalists refer to Medicare for All — wherein the government would be the provider of health insurance, while doctors and hospitals remain private — they mislabel it “government-run healthcare” or a “government-run system.” Yet they never call our current system “corporate-run healthcare.” 

2. Why don’t you provide actual data on the public’s attitudes toward health insurance firms? 

A 2016 Harris poll found deep disdain for health insurance companies, with only 16 percent believing that these firms put patients over profits. In a 2018 Forbes article on “The Top 5 Industries Most Hated by Customers,” the health insurance industry was ranked fourth (after cable TV, internet providers and wireless phone) — based on American Customer Satisfaction Index rankings. Yet at Democratic debates, we’ve repeatedly heard from journalists about the millions of US consumers who supposedly relish private insurance. While I’ve yet to meet one of those satisfied customers, it’s a mantra from media outlets (which are often sponsored by health insurers). More to the point: I’ve yet to meet anyone who would refuse a plan with more complete coverage at less cost to him or her: “No, I want my beloved Aetna!” 

3. Why do you so rarely care about the views of unions … unless they’re in conflict with environmentalists? 

For more than 30 years, the media watch group FAIR has documented that the views and voices of labor unions have been marginalized by mainstream media. An exception occurred at the CNN-hosted presidential debate last week, when Bernie Sanders explained his reasons for opposing NAFTA 2.0. (Below is from the transcript.) 

SANDERS: Every major environmental organization has said no to this new trade agreement because it does not even have the phrase “climate change” in it …

PANELIST: But, Senator Sanders, to be clear, the AFL-CIO supports this deal. Are you unwilling to compromise?

4. Why do you also invoke unions to cast doubt on Medicare for All? 

While presidential debate panelists (and corporate Democrats like Joe Biden) have frequently brought up union-negotiated health benefits as an argument against Medicare for All, they rarely mention how US unions have sacrificed wage gains and other benefits to stave off employer cuts to their healthcare. As flight attendants’ union president Sara Nelson told Politico: “When we’re able to hang on to the health plan we have, that’s considered a massive win. But it’s a huge drag on our bargaining. So our message is: Get it off the table.” As Biden admitted last week, attaching health insurance to a job (whether unionized or not) is an iffy proposition for any worker. 

5. Why do you interrogate politicians over the price tags of social programs but not war? 

CNN devoted the first portion of last week’s debate to war, military deployment and foreign conflict — but not one of the 25 questions from CNN journalists asked about the price tag of endless war and militarism. This despite the fact that roughly 57 percent of federal discretionary spending goes to the military and Trump keeps lavishing more money on the military than the Pentagon asks for. When it comes to war spending, mainstream journalists don’t ask: “Can our country afford it?” 

After CNN’s debate turned from war to progressive proposals for social programs benefitting the vast majority of the public, panelists turned from lapdogs to watchdogs on the issue of cost. Sanders was asked, “Don’t voters deserve to see a price tag [on Medicare for All]?” and “How would you keep your plans from bankrupting the country?” To pound home the bias visually, CNN’s banners across the bottom of the screen blared: “QUESTION: Does Sanders owe voters an explanation of how much his health care plan will cost them and the country?” And the absurd: “QUESTION: Sanders’ proposals would double federal spending over a decade; how will he avoid bankrupting the country?” There were no banners about military price tags. 

6. Why do you probe the costs of reform while sidestepping the higher price tags of the status quo? 

Despite CNN’s grandstanding claims that Sanders has not provided a price tag on his health plan, he repeatedly says that Medicare for All will cost $30 trillion or a bit more over 10 years. And he immediately adds another assertion that has provoked little media interest or rebuttal — that persisting with the status quo will cost far more, according to federal government sources, perhaps $50 trillion or more. The higher cost is due to corporate profits, executive pay, bureaucracy, etc. Bias is stark when journalists obsess on the estimated cost of reform while ignoring the estimated cost of the status quo. It’s media propaganda by omission. Similarly, conservative media have savaged the jobs-creating Green New Deal proposal – which, indeed, will cost trillions — without acknowledging the far higher price tag of continuing the status quo. 

7. Why do you ignore the 2016 presidential result in your incessant punditry on which Democrats are electable in 2020? 

I’m unaware of a single serious analyst who asserts with a straight face that Hillary Clinton lost to a faux-populist in 2016 because voters perceived her as “too far left” or “too radical.” But she obviously did lose votes because she was seen as too status quo, too cozy with the corporate establishment. In key swing states, Clinton failed to energize voters of color, lost young voters to third parties, and lost working-class whites who’d voted for Obama and Sanders. Democrats have been defeated in six presidential elections since the Reagan era, but one would be hard-pressed to find a single defeat attributable to far-leftism. 

Establishment journalists seem intent on ignoring this history as they cover Sanders and Elizabeth Warren. Over the last year, corporate outlets have continuously portrayed progressive reforms as scarily left-wing, in the face of polls showing they are broadly popular (not just with Democrats) — such reforms as increasing taxes on the rich (a new Reuters poll found most Republicans favor a wealth tax); free public college and cancelling student debt; Medicare for All; and the Green New Deal. News articles matter-of-factly denigrate these popular proposals as “shoot-the-moon policy ideas” (Washington Post) that may push the Democratic Party “over a liberal cliff” (New York Times). I sometimes wonder if the computer keyboards in certain newsrooms — besides letter and number keys — have a single key that spits out the 8-word phrase: “too far left to win a general election.” 

Unfortunately, many Democratic voters in Iowa, New Hampshire and elsewhere are unduly influenced by mainstream media, despite the punditocracy’s awful track record in 2016 and earlier on predicting who’s “electable” in a general election. 

Elite journalists regularly quote their “expert” sources in the Democratic establishment who express worries that if Bernie Sanders wins the nomination, he’ll lose badly in November.  

Or do those who own or run corporate media (and corporate Democrats) have a different worry — that Sanders will win the general election, shake up the system, and take away some of their wealth and power? 

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Jeff Cohen was an associate professor of journalism at Ithaca College and founder of the media watch group FAIR. In 2011, he co-founded the online activism group RootsAction.org. He is the author of Cable News Confidential: My Misadventures in Corporate Media.

Reader Supported News is the Publication of Origin for this work. Permission to republish is freely granted with credit and a link back to Reader Supported News.

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POLITICO MASSACHUSETTS PLAYBOOK: PATRICK’s Bay State swing — BAKER to roll out budget plan — NEAL says infrastructure bill could happen

PATRICK’s Bay State swing — BAKER to roll out budget plan — NEAL says infrastructure bill could happen

BY STEPHANIE MURRAY GOOD MORNING, MASSACHUSETTS. PATRICK'S BAY STATE SWING — With the Iowa and New Hampshire contests looming, Deval Patrick will rally his supporters at the Prince Hall Grand Lodge in Dorchester tonight. The event comes days after the former governor announced six additions to his Massachusetts campaign team. Patrick's national campaign is based here in the Bay State, but adding a Massachusetts state director, among other staffers, is a sign Patrick is preparing for his longshot bid to last through Super Tuesday. That's when Massachusetts and a host of other states vote on March 3. While he's received a warm reception in the press in recent days — the Washington Post urged voters to give him a chance in an editorial last week — Patrick has had a more difficult time with actual voters. A Boston Globe/Suffolk University poll released on Tuesday showed Patrick is polling at 0.6 percent among New Hampshire voters, and there are only three weeks to go until the primary. Patrick raised $2.2 million for his campaign in the last quarter of the year — he joined the race in November and had around six weeks left in the quarter to raise cash before the reporting period closed. For comparison, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders says he raised $34.5 million, and Sen. Elizabeth Warren reported raising $21.2 million. But Patrick has been buoyed by the Reason to Believe PAC, a political action committee that's spending big bucks on television ads in New Hampshire and South Carolina on his behalf. The super PAC made a $2 million ad buy earlier this month. Have a tip, story, suggestion, birthday, anniversary, new job, or any other nugget for the Playbook? Get in touch: smurray@politico.com. TODAY — Gov. Charlie Baker and Lt. Gov. Karyn Polito speak at a Veterans' Service Officers Legislative Luncheon hosted by House Speaker Robert DeLeo. Baker and Polito announce their fiscal 2021 budget proposal. Polito speaks at the MetroWest Foundation's launch of the Impact MetroWest initiative, and chairs a meeting of the Governor's Council. Boston Mayor Marty Walsh travels to Washington, D.C. for the U.S. Conference of Mayors winter meeting. Sen. Ed Markey is a guest on WGBH's "Morning Edition." Rep. Katherine Clark tours the Woburn Head Start program. DATELINE BEACON HILL - "In State of the Commonwealth speech, Baker presses for more aggressive climate action, more money for T," by Matt Stout, Boston Globe: "Governor Charlie Baker on Tuesday pledged more aggressive action in tackling climate change and the region's transportation woes, using his State of the Commonwealth address to press for increased MBTA funding, quicker cuts to greenhouse gas emissions, and stronger support for a hotly debated carbon pact. Addressing lawmakers and a television audience, the second-term Republican laced his 35-minute speech with new initiatives and attempts to rally the Democratic-led Legislature behind many of his biggest priorities." - "Super PAC with ties to Baker keeps cruising," by Bruce Mohl, CommonWealth Magazine: "A SUPER PAC with close ties to Gov. Charlie Baker is continuing to raise money at a fairly rapid pace, easily replacing funds over the last two months that were spent last year to support a number of candidates in municipal elections. The Massachusetts Majority PAC, which supports Republicans and Democrats, is a new fundraising mechanism for Baker now that he and the state Republican Party are at odds over how to raise money and the merits of President Trump. Baker and the PAC cannot coordinate their activities, but it's clear the governor is supportive of the PAC. Some have suggested he's trying to create a new political party." - "DeLeo Takes Pass on Rent Control, Housing Fees," by Michael P. Norton, State House News Service: "House Speaker Robert DeLeo declined over the weekend to say how he feels about rent control and new fees on higher-priced housing transactions, ideas that are being pushed on Beacon Hill as potential solutions to the state's housing affordability problem. "Not at this point, I'm not weighing in," DeLeo said during an appearance Sunday on WCVB's "On the Record." Analysts and lawmakers have for years cautioned that the state is up against a "housing crisis," an assessment DeLeo also used during the interview." - "Film tax credit gets support from city and town officials," by Christian M. Wade, The Salem News: "City and town leaders are pressing lawmakers to make permanent a popular, yet controversial subsidy that doles out tens of millions of dollars worth of tax credits to Hollywood studios. They're pushing for approval of a bipartisan proposal, backed by more than 100 lawmakers, that would lift a Jan. 1, 2023, expiration date on the film tax credit. Under the program, the state issues tax credits to partially cover expenses for the production of movies, TV shows, documentaries and commercials filmed in Massachusetts." FROM THE HUB - "Children may not have a place in Boston's future, report cautions," by Tim Logan, Boston Globe: "Boston has added a lot of people in recent decades, but the number of school-age children has dropped dramatically. That's the thrust of a study set to be released Wednesday by the Boston Foundation that highlights the dwindling number of children — particularly middle class children — in an otherwise-growing and thriving city. Since 2000, according to the report, the population of school-age children in Boston has fallen by nearly 10,000 — down about one-tenth — even as the city as a whole has added 10 times that many people. Reasons, researchers say, range from the high cost of housing to the perception that the city's public school system is inferior. For some families, it boils down to a preference to raise their children in roomier suburbs." PRIMARY SOURCES - "Planned Parenthood Action Fund Endorses Ed Markey for U.S. Senate on the Eve of 47th Anniversary of Roe v. Wade Supreme Court," from the Markey campaign: "Ed Markey and Planned Parenthood acting president and CEO Alexis McGill Johnson announced that the Planned Parenthood Action Fund, the political advocacy arm of the largest reproductive health care provider in the country, is endorsing Markey for re-election to the United States Senate." - "Three candidates file for special Taunton state rep election," by Ted Nesi and Eli Sherman, WPRI: "Two Democrats and a Republican have submitted nomination papers to compete in an upcoming special election for the legislative seat left open by newly inaugurated Taunton Mayor Shaunna O'Connell. Democrat Carol Doherty, a school committee member, and Republican Kelly Dooner, a national committeewoman, both of Taunton, filed paperwork to run for the Third Bristol district in the House of Representatives ahead of Tuesday's deadline, according to the city's Registrar of Voters. In Easton, Muzammil Nazir also filed nomination papers to run as a Democrat, according to the town clerk there." DAY IN COURT - "Lawyers say at least 10 Iranian students deported in last year," by Sarah Betancourt, CommonWealth Magazine: "AN IRANIAN STUDENT enrolled at Northeastern University who was deported from Logan Airport on Martin Luther King Jr. Day is hardly the first to end up sent home after arriving here. Mohammad Shahab Dehghani Hossein Abadi was deported on Monday night despite a federal judge's order that he remain in Customs and Border Protection custody and not be deported as his case was being considered. Abadi had been visiting family in Iran and arrived in Boston with a valid F-1 student visa after going through a renewal process." - "Lawyers offer dueling portraits of parents suing Boston Children's Hospital," by Kay Lazar, Boston Globe: "Justina Pelletier's lawyer on Tuesday painted a perplexing and harrowing picture of complex medical problems Pelletier faced from her very first breaths. Born premature, and having suffered a stroke during or just after birth, her lawyer said, she has been plagued by pain and severe gastrointestinal problems all her life. But an attorney for Boston Children's Hospital told a Suffolk Superior Court jury that Pelletier's parents overmedicalized her care and were "very resistant" to doctors' suggestions that psychological issues were at the root of her condition and that she needed psychiatric care." - "Inyoung You manslaughter-by-texting defense wants to fight back in the press," by Sean Philip Cotter, Boston Herald: "Inyoung You's defense team wants permission to take their fight to the front pages as her attorney pushes to be able to share text messages with the media in the controversial texting-suicide manslaughter case. Steven Kim, You's attorney, spent the 21-year-old's Tuesday court appearance railing against District Attorney Rachael Rollins and the active protective order introduced by her office that forbids You's attorneys from giving the text messages between You and her then-boyfriend, Alexander Urtula, to the public relations firm they've hired in the high-profile manslaughter-by-text case." WARREN REPORT - "Warren campaign hires pair of top Castro aides," by Alex Thompson, POLITICO: "Elizabeth Warren has hired two senior officials from Julián Castro's presidential campaign: campaign manager Maya Rupert and political director Natalie Montelongo, a Warren official told POLITICO Tuesday. Rupert, who previously was a senior policy adviser for Castro at the Department of Housing and Urban Development and before that worked at the National Center for Lesbian Rights, will be a senior adviser and serve as a campaign surrogate. Montelongo, who previously worked at the ACLU and in Nevada and Colorado during Hillary Clinton's 2016 campaign, will be a senior strategist focusing on political and constituency outreach along with the campaign's surrogate program." PATRICK PRIMARY - "Deval Patrick rolls out foreign policy agenda as he struggles with voters," by Lisa Kashinsky, Boston Herald: "Longshot Democratic presidential hopeful Deval Patrick made his foreign policy pitch Tuesday, but political strategists say his time would be better spent reaching voters when he is failing to even register in polls. "No one has been asking, 'Where does Deval Patrick stand on foreign policy?' " said UMass Lowell professor and former political operative John Cluverius. "The question they're asking is, 'Who is Deval Patrick?' " Democratic strategist Scott Ferson said, "Deval Patrick is so far away from being nominated, he should be devoting more time knocking on doors in New Hampshire." - LOL: "Contrarian 'New York Times' Travel Section Breaks With Paper To Endorse Deval Patrick For Democratic Nomination," via the Onion. Link. FROM THE DELEGATION - Top progressives, DCCC reach ceasefire over 'blacklist,'" by Ally Mutnick, Sarah Ferris and Heather Caygle: "Top liberals have reached a détente with the House Democratic campaign arm in a dispute over a policy that inhibits primary challengers to incumbents — a move intended to unify Democrats in this year's battle to protect their majority and defeat President Donald Trump. More than a third of all Democrats hadn't paid dues as of December 2019, according to a campaign report obtained by POLITICO. That list included progressives like Pocan, Jayapal and Khanna, some of whom have since contributed to DCCC or say they plan to this year. Three other prominent liberal Democrats, Reps. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.), Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.) and Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.), also did not pay dues as of December." - "Group presses for investigation of Trahan's funds," by Christian M. Wade, Eagle-Tribune: "A watchdog group says U.S. Rep. Lori Trahan "knowingly and willfully violated federal law" by loaning money to her campaign ahead of the 2018 election. In a new filing to the Federal Election Commission, the Campaign Legal Center says an investigation by the House Ethics Committee suggests Trahan illegally tapped hundreds of thousands of dollars of her husband's money for her campaign and falsely reported the contributions as personal loans. The Washington, D.C.-based center filed a complaint with the FEC a year ago. Since then, it says, the House ethics probe has poked holes in Trahan's defense." - "After Trade Deal, Neal Says Infrastructure Bill 'Doable,'" by Matt Murphy, State House News Service: "U.S. Rep. Richard Neal, the chair of the chief tax writing committee in the House, met with Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin last week following the final passage of US-Canada-Mexico trade deal to discuss moving forward with a infrastructure bill, and continues to believe it might be possible to work with the White House on highway funding. Neal, who was at the State House Tuesday night for Gov. Charlie Baker's State of the Commonwealth address, said he plans to meet with Mnuchin again next week when he returns to Washington, which is currently in the throes of an impeachment trial in the Senate ." TRUMPACHUSETTS - "'History is testing us,' Congressman Jim McGovern says of impeachment of President Donald Trump," by Benjamin Kail, MassLive.com: "Rep. Jim McGovern, who kicked off the House impeachment proceedings with a resolution establishing hearing rules, argues Trump and his backers on Capitol Hill will face tougher judges in history books than they do at raucous campaign rallies. "History is testing us," McGovern said in a recent roundtable discussion with reporters in Worcester. "I fear that some of my colleagues, especially in the Senate right now, are failing that test." A Democrat who chairs the House Rules Committee, McGovern said even if the president is not convicted and removed from office by the Republican-controlled Senate, history will not look favorably on Trump." MARIJUANA IN MASSACHUSETTS - "Marijuana applicants get Cannabis Control Commission's ear, with forum set Thursday," by Susan Spencer, Telegram & Gazette: "Marijuana retail license applicant Leah Cooke Daniels of Boston might not have intended to spark a movement when she interrupted the Cannabis Control Commission's first public business meeting in Worcester Dec. 19, demanding action on her priority application. But after the ruckus that closed that meeting early, as well as the next meeting on Jan. 9, commissioners set up an applicant forum from 1 to 5 p.m. Thursday at Union Station, to discuss applicants' experience with the licensing process and related concerns." ABOVE THE FOLD — Herald: "CALL OF THE WILD," — Globe: "Iranian student just latest to be sent away at Logan," "Partisan acrimony dominates battle on impeachment rules," "Divisive primary in 2016 looms over Democrats' spat." IT'S NOT EASY BEING GREEN - "Don't celebrate yet: Clean energy jobs have slipped in Mass." by Jon Chesto, Boston Globe: "The latest tally of the state's clean-energy economy might seem like reason to celebrate. Nearly 112,000 jobs in 2019. Three percent of the state's total workforce. Nine straight years of growth. Keep that champagne on ice, folks. This measurement of the clean-tech sector is more somber than it looks at first glance: Job growth in the state has been decelerating for the past four years. The 1 percent increase in clean-energy workers last year represented the smallest rise since the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center first started tracking these numbers nine years ago." FROM THE 413 - "With top MGM Springfield executives out after low gaming revenue, where does casino go under Chris Kelley?" by Jim Kinney, Springfield Republican: "The ouster of MGM Springfield President and Chief Operating Officer Michael Mathis and Vice-president and Chief Financial Officer Courtney Wenleder on Tuesday followed a record-low gross gambling revenue for December and months of disappointing results for the 17-month-old, $95 million resort. MGM Resorts International's move of Mathis from Springfield — where he'd worked since 2014 preparing for the casino's construction and August 2018 opening — may be a reaction to gambling revenues that have been about half the pre-opening projections, employment levels that are not at the 3,000 jobs MGM promised and commercial development around the 17-acre MGM property that seems never to have taken off." - "Northampton Board of Health snuffs out proposed tobacco restrictions," by Elise Linscott, MassLive.com: "The Board of Health decided not to move forward with regulations that would have restricted cigarettes from being sold in convenience stores after hearing from a number of vendors and their supporters Thursday night. The board also said they want to see how effective the state's new flavored vape and tobacco ban will be at curbing youth tobacco and nicotine use, which Gov. Charlie Baker passed in November. At that time, the board was originally considering a vote on the proposed restrictions." MEDIA MATTERS - "Reporter Steph Solis to take over State House coverage for MassLive," by Noah R. Bombard, MassLive.com: "MassLive is pleased to announce that reporter Steph Solis will be taking over coverage of the Massachusetts State House for the news organization. Solis joined MassLive in March 2019 and has covered immigration issues for MassLive as well as in-depth coverage of the state's gaming industry." TRANSITIONS - Hema Sarang-Sieminski, formerly of the Victim Rights Law Center, joins Jane Doe Inc., the Massachusetts Coalition Against Sexual and Domestic Violence, as policy director. - Eileen O'Connor of Keyser Public Strategies was appointed as the first executive director of the Boston Bulldogs Running Club. HAPPY BIRTHDAY - to Duxbury state Rep. Josh Cutler, Ipswich state Rep. Bradford Hill, Business Wire account executive Sarah Mattero, Carson McGrath and Stephen Glick, who is 73. Gail Shalan is 3-0 DID THE HOME TEAM WIN? Yes! The Bruins beat the Golden Knights 3-2. FOR YOUR COMMUTE: WHATEVER FLOATS YOUR VOTE - On this week's Horse Race podcast, hosts Steve Koczela and Stephanie Murray talk about the recent Democratic presidential debate, and where things stand in Iowa for the 2020 hopefuls. Liberty Square Group founder Scott Ferson joins to talk about the Welcome Party, a group that's reaching out to independent voters in New Hampshire. Later, Evan Fulchuk of Voter Choice Massachusetts talks about ranked choice voting and how it could impact the Bay State. Subscribe and listen on iTunes and Sound Cloud. Want to make an impact? POLITICO Massachusetts has a variety of solutions available for partners looking to reach and activate the most influential people in the Bay State. Have a petition you want signed? A cause you're promoting? Seeking to increase brand awareness among this key audience? Share your message with our influential readers to foster engagement and drive action. Contact Jesse Shapiro to find out how: jshapiro@politico.com.   Follow us on Twitter Stephanie Murray @StephMurr_Jour   Subscribe to the POLITICO Playbook family Playbook  |  Playbook PM  |  California Playbook  |  Florida Playbook  |  Illinois Playbook  |  Massachusetts Playbook  |  New Jersey Playbook  |  New York Playbook  |  Brussels Playbook  |  London Playbook View all our politics and policy newsletters FOLLOW US

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FOCUS: Is Joe Biden a Climate Radical Now?

20 January 20

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A Steep Decline in Donations and Funding

We are reacting to a substantial drop-off in the number and size of donations. That equates to a significant slashing of RSN’s budget. Yes we have to address that. No choice.

The readership remains strong. That’s a good thing. If a reasonable number of the people coming to RSN donate we will be fine. So far for this month that hasn’t happened.

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19 January 20 It's Live on the HomePage Now: Reader Supported News IMMEDIATE AND URGENT REQUEST FOR CONTRIBUTIONS - We have absolutely no chance of finishing this funding drive at this pace. Further we have no chance of running the organization at the current funding level. During the course of this drive roughly one out of every thousand visitors to the site have contributed. That will not work. By comparison, had it been one out of every one hundred the funding drive would be complete now. In earnest. / Marc Ash, Founder Reader Supported News Sure, I'll make a donation! FOCUS: Is Joe Biden a Climate Radical Now? Kate Aronoff, The New Republic Aronoff writes: "Joe Biden may have stumbled into supporting one of the most radical climate proposals of the primary." Calling for emissions-related sanctions is far cry from Obama-era policies. oe Biden may have stumbled into supporting one of the most radical climate proposals of the primary. The moment came in an interview, published Friday, with members of The New York Times’ Editorial Board, which has been conducting a series of sit-downs with Democratic primary candidates. After a rambling discussion of the recently-passed U.S. Mexico-Canada Agreement’s (USMCA) enforcement mechanisms (“I’ve not read them yet. O.K.?” Biden responded), New York Times writer Binyamin Appelbaum asked Biden if he thought “Democrats should vote for an agreement that does not affirm the Paris accord and does not contain any binding commitments to deal with climate change.” In essence, he was asking whether Democrats should vote for a deal like the USMCA, which many Democrats supported this past week in the Senate and Joe Biden backed on the campaign trail. “Look,” Biden answered vaguely, “it’s like saying would you sign an agreement with Turkey on a base closure because it didn’t have that in it? It depends on if it’s related to climate. Absolutely they should be part of it.” He pointed to China. “China, in fact, in their ‘Belt and Road’ proposal is in fact exporting more dirty coal around the world and is subsidizing more than anybody in the world.” That’s not all true. While China is by far the world’s largest greenhouse gas emitter and dominant coal producer, Australia is its top coal exporter. The United States is fourth. China is ninth. What Biden was likely referring to was China’s generous state subsidies for coal and large-scale financing of coal-fired power plants across multiple continents. Fact-checks aside, Biden then tottered into an interesting, innovative thought that bears roughly zero resemblance to the trade agreement he was presumably defending: [W]hat we should be saying to them is, you keep your agreement on the climate accord, which you signed up to. If you don’t, you will pay a price for it. You will not be able to sell product here. And organize the world to make sure that no, they couldn’t sell product anywhere. To make sure that they in fact have a requirement to stick to what they committed to. When Appelbaum noted that Canada is a major fossil fuel exporter too, Biden remained resolute on this apparent proposal for sanctions on anyone not meeting Paris Agreement commitments: “That’s what we should be doing to everybody in the world.” What about the United States? Were Biden’s principle of climate sanctions applied for all fossil fuels out of step with Paris Agreement goals (to which Biden pledged to recommit), such a rule would almost certainly place a major damper on U.S. fossil fuel production. While this isn’t completely out of step with the policies outlined on Biden’s website, he hasn’t previously discussed many of the details of this part of his platform. Emphasizing the need to stop China in particular from “subsidizing coal exports and outsourcing carbon pollution,” Biden’s stated platform pledges to make any bilateral U.S.-China climate agreement contingent on their cutting fossil fuel subsidies and lowering the carbon footprint of Belt and Road projects. He would also impose border adjustment fees on carbon-intensive goods, preventing “other nations” from “undermining our climate efforts.” Laudably, Biden’s platform further calls for eliminating fossil fuel subsidies across the G20. Yet experts say living up to the Paris goals will require more direct policies to stanch America’s domestic fossil fuel production, much of it destined for export. The Production Gap Report released this year by the UN Environment Program, Stockholm Environmental Institute, and several other research bodies finds that the world’s governments are on track to produce 50 percent more fossil fuels than is consistent with capping warming at 1.5 degrees Celsius, and 120 percent more than is consistent with a 2-degree rise. Another report by Oil Change International found that the U.S. is set to account for 60 percent of the global increase in oil and gas production between now and 2030—drilling plainly incompatible with the Paris Agreement’s goals of keeping warming “well below” 2 degrees Celsius. The Times interview also represents a big departure from policies Biden has been associated with prior to the current election cycle. Domestic crude oil production increased by 77 percent during Biden’s time as Vice President, and the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) projects that it’ll reach record highs through 2021. That’s due in no small part to the lifting of the crude oil export ban under the Obama administration in 2015, which boosted the fossil fuel industry by opening up expansive new markets for its products. “I’m glad to see Biden acknowledge trade in fossil fuels as a climate issue. There is some promise in using trade measures to bring fossil fuel production in line with climate limits. And of course that is not limited to coal from China, or oil from Canada,” Stockholm Environmental Institute US Senior Scientist Peter Erickson wrote to me in an email. “Shouldn’t that same logic be applied to oil and gas exports from the U.S.?” Were Biden to faithfully follow his commitment to the Paris goals and plan as outlined to the Times, he would push for not only a rapid, managed decline of the fossil fuel industry, but the creation of a binding international trade regime with the power to materially discipline any nation—including the U.S.—failing to scale back emissions and carbon-intensive exports. This would be a game-changer in American foreign policy, essentially upending the world order as we know it in the interest of building a low-carbon world. It would also be a far cry from his old boss’s approach. At a Shell and Chevron-sponsored gala last year for Rice University’s Baker Institute in Houston, Obama happily took credit for inconsistencies in his administration’s handling of climate issues. He said he was “extraordinarily proud of the Paris Accords” before bragging about how much oil his administration helped extract. “You wouldn’t always know it, but it went up every year I was president,” he exclaimed, referring to domestic oil production. “That whole, suddenly America’s like the biggest oil producer and the biggest gas—that was me, people.” READ MORE Contribute to RSN Update My Monthly Donation