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WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden will pledge to cut U.S. greenhouse gas emissions at least in half by 2030 as he convenes a virtual climate summit with 40 world leaders, according to three people with knowledge of the White House plans. The 50% target would nearly double America’s previous commitment and help the Biden administration prod other countries for ambitious emissions cuts as well. The proposal would require dramatic changes in the power and transportation sectors, including significant increases in renewable energy such as wind and solar power and steep cuts in emissions from fossil fuels such as coal and oil. The nonbinding but symbolically important pledge is a key element of the two-day summit, which begins Thursday when world leaders gather online to share strategies to combat climate change. China announced on Wednesday that President Xi Jinping will participate. China is the world’s largest carbon polluter, with the U.S. second. The U.S. emissions target has been … [Read more...] about AP sources: Biden to pledge halving greenhouse gases by 2030

Defense lawyers have a saying: “If the law is against you, pound on the facts; if the facts are against you, pound on the table.” For military defense lawyers, there is a slight modification: “Before you pound on the table, pound on the chain of command.” Why? Because in the military, leaders are accountable for the failures of their subordinates and military juries are the harshest critics of their colleagues whose leadership failures contribute to misconduct. Indeed, the Vanessa Guillen disappearance at Fort Hood, Texas, and its subsequent fallout, is a prime and recent example of how failures at low levels of the military result in accountability at high levels. With all the public attention focused on police reforms, as a former military officer and lawyer I find it perplexing why leadership accountability is not the central focus of this dialogue. How did a former police officer such as Derek Chauvin get to the point where he felt it was appropriate, as the prosecutor in … [Read more...] about Leadership and accountability: A military lesson for police reform

Apple and Google’s market power over digital app stores will be in the hot seat Wednesday at the Senate Judiciary antitrust subcommittee’s hearing on app store fairness. The Silicon Valley giants have come under fire over their app stores’ policies, especially over the 15 to 30 percent fees they collect from app developers. Without alternatives to the Google and Apple stores on the companies’ products, developers are largely reliant on the systems they’re critical of to reach consumers. As Congress continues to weigh the market power of the companies, their controversial app store policies have prompted proposed state legislation to allow apps to circumvent the fees, as well as a key court case between Epic Games and Apple that is set to go to trial next month. ADVERTISEMENT “The abusive practices in the App Store are blatantly anti-competitive,” Mark Cooper, director of research at the Consumer Federation of America, told The Hill. “The platform operators and … [Read more...] about Big Tech set to defend app stores in antitrust hearing

Representative Maxine Waters (D-CA) said Tuesday on MSNBC’s “The ReidOut” that her “more confrontational” comments were meant as non-violent protest like the tactics used in the Civil Rights Movement. Last weekend in Minneapolis, Waters said, “We’ve got to stay active, get more active, more confrontational, make sure that they know we mean business.” On police reform legislation, Waters said, “It’s not going to be that easy passed out of this bill in the United States Senate. That is why I say to the young people, you have to keep your activism up. It’s not going to go away because elected officials sit and think, ‘Well, let me see, this is wrong, I’ve got to take care of this.’ Oftentimes, we’re too safe in what we do, and we don’t want to make any waves. That’s why it’s so important to have activism. That’s what the Civil Rights Movement was all about. It was about activism. It was about confrontation.” She continued, “As a matter of fact, I went back and did some research on … [Read more...] about Maxine Waters: ‘More Confrontational’ Meant as ‘Nonviolent’ — I Was Talking About Civil Rights Tactics

State Lawmakers in Florida are poised to reject legislation that would put in place a law to protect female athletes from competing against biological men who consider themselves transgender, according to Politico . The bill specifically would athletes must participate in K-12 and college sports according to their biological sex. “Ding dong the witch is dead,” Democrat Sen. Janet Cruz tweeted ahead of the expected vote. ”Rip Transgender bill.” Ding dong the witch is dead. Rip Transgender bill! pic.twitter.com/RYYMzbBuqe — Janet Cruz (@SenJanetCruz) April 20, 2021 The Politico report said: The issue was magnified last week when the NCAA put states like Florida on notice just before the Florida House voted for the measure, warning that locations that don’t treat all student athletes with “dignity and respect” could be ineligible to host future championship games. A top Senate panel on Tuesday put off considering the ban, a move that signals the upper chamber … [Read more...] about Report: Florida’s Transgender Sports Ban Expected to Fail in GOP-Controlled Senate