September, 24 2020, 12:00am EDT
350 Action Endorses Biden-Harris Campaign for Presidency
WASHINGTON
Today, 350 Action endorsed former Vice President Joe Biden for President of the United States, and Senator Kamala Harris for Vice President, ahead of the first presidential debate next Tuesday. Through this endorsement, we are signaling a strong and certain stance on the need for a President that will double down on addressing the compound crisis we are facing of climate disasters, COVID-19, economic, health and racial injustice. With less than a decade to tackle the climate crisis, we need a change in leadership that can move forward bold climate action.
350 Action North America Director Tamara Toles O'Laughlin gave the following response:
"With 40 days until the election, this is our chance to change the trajectory of history. Vice President Joe Biden and Senator Kamala Harris are running on the strongest climate platform of any presidential ticket, ever. We are confident that they will meet the scale of the climate crisis, and respond to the compounding crises of COVID-19, a failed economy, and systemic racism.
"In the primaries, we pushed the Biden campaign hard for people and the planet. And with time and relentless pressure, we have seen the campaign take up the demands of our movement. We believe that Biden and Harris can continue to be pushed towards an aggressive climate agenda. The fingerprints of long standing environmental justice, community leaders, energy justice advocates and youth pushing for change are all over Biden's climate plan. Together we will continue to demand a swift end to fossil fuel subsidies; hold fossil fuel companies accountable; transition to a 100% clean energy economy, and achieve real gains on net zero emissions by 2035. We will hold the administration to these promises and commit to working with them to make bold climate action a reality.
"The stakes are clear and present. The planet cannot withstand four more years of Trump. For the sake of our democracy, we must seize this moment to make every vote count and elect leaders who will rebuild a framework that is accountable to science and justice."
350 Action Executive Director May Boeve gave the following response:
"We are faced with the election of our lifetime and the outcome will have considerable impacts for the United States and the world. With scientists saying we have eight years to avert the worst impacts of the climate crisis, we are endorsing Biden and Harris because they are best positioned to make the United States a global leader on climate action.
"Joe Biden has a long history of championing the U.S. at home and abroad and has been a leader in foreign policy. He, along with Kamala Harris, are prepared to show up on the international stage to tackle the climate breakdown we face, and seize opportunities to build a world rooted in just recovery and real action. The Biden team has a significant opportunity to put forward a collaborative approach to global relations, grounded in science-based and ambitious policy to tackle the climate crisis.
"In the last four years, we've seen the intensification of climate impacts across the U.S., including devastating wildfires, hurricanes, floods, and droughts. This crisis has been further exacerbated by four years of federal climate rollbacks that have set us back significantly. Biden and Harris must reverse the current administration's dismantling of climate policies and set in place a robust climate agenda that phases us off fossil fuels.
"By endorsing Biden and Harris, we are setting the stage for leaders who are willing to be challenged by people power to build strong climate action plans. We are invested in leadership that listens and learns from those most impacted by the climate crisis. Biden and Harris are the right people for that job, and we will spend the next forty days and beyond championing their leadership to secure the future we deserve."
350 Action is the independent political action arm of the non-profit, non-partisan climate justice group 350.org.
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'Authoritarianism in Action': Trump Orders DOJ Probe of Democratic Donation Platform ActBlue
Rep. Jamie Raskin called Trump's memorandum "the kind of edict you'd expect from a power-mad dictator in a Banana Republic."
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U.S. President Donald Trump on Thursday launched his latest attack on political opponents by directing the Justice Department to investigate ActBlue, a critical fundraising platform for Democrats and progressive organizations.
The order came in the form of a memorandum that the president signed shortly before heading to his Virginia golf course for a $1 million-per-plate fundraiser for MAGA Inc., a pro-Trump super PAC that has been accused of receiving illegal straw-donor contributions.
In his memorandum, Trump raised "concerns" about straw donations—when a donor makes a contribution through another person or entity—and directed U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi to "investigate allegations regarding the unlawful use of online fundraising platforms to make 'straw' or 'dummy' contributions or foreign contributions to political candidates and committees, and to take all appropriate actions to enforce the law."
Trump's memorandum cites a recent report from House Republicans accusing ActBlue of "a lack of commitment to stopping fraud." ActBlue and House Democrats rejected the GOP findings at the time, calling the document "less of a report and more of a desperate effort to change the subject."
"This president, with his approval ratings underwater and sinking like a stone, is desperately seeking to undermine his political opposition by cutting off their access to funding."
Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.), the top Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee, said Thursday that Trump's broadside against ActBlue marks a similar attempt to divert attention from the president's own corruption.
"Donald Trump pocketed millions of dollars in unlawful payments from foreign governments during his first term, his administration shut down a probe into whether his campaign received an illegal and urgent $10 million bribe from Egypt, and foreign nationals are spending millions on Trump-owned cryptocurrencies right now in apparent hopes of buying their way out of federal criminal investigations through undisclosed payments," Raskin said in a statement.
"The Trump administration has also systematically dismantled crime-fighting efforts at the Department of Justice aimed at foreign corruption of our politics and actually announced its indifference to violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act," he continued. "So it's rich indeed for Americans to read now that Trump has launched a big initiative to 'crack down on foreign influence' in American politics with one purpose—crippling the fundraising platform of his political opponents."
"Today's presidential decree targeting the campaign infrastructure of the Democratic Party with precisely zero evidence of wrongdoing is the kind of edict you'd expect from a power-mad dictator in a Banana Republic. This president, with his approval ratings underwater and sinking like a stone, is desperately seeking to undermine his political opposition by cutting off their access to funding."
Since its inception in 2004, ActBlue has raised nearly $17 billion through its platform, and it is widely used by Democratic candidates and progressive groups, including organizations critical of the Democratic leadership such as Justice Democrats. (Common Dreams is among the organizations that use ActBlue to process donations.)
According to ActBlue, nearly 15 million Democratic donors have saved their payment information on the platform.
In a statement, ActBlue said that "today's escalation by the White House is blatantly unlawful and needs to be seen for what it is: Donald Trump's latest front in his campaign to stamp out all political, electoral, and ideological opposition."
"ActBlue will immediately pursue all legal avenues to protect and defend itself," the organization added.
Ken Martin, chair of the Democratic National Committee, called Trump's investigation order "authoritarianism in action." In a joint statement, Martin and the heads of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, and Democratic Governors Association said that "Trump's memorandum targeting ActBlue is designed to undermine democratic participation—and it's no wonder why."
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Amid global calls for a ban on deep-sea mining to protect marine ecosystems, U.S. President Donald Trump on Thursday signed an executive order to advance the risky practice and "restore American dominance in offshore critical minerals and resources."
"The broad order avoids a direct confrontation with the United Nations-backed International Seabed Authority and seeks essentially to jump-start the mining of U.S. waters as part of a push to offset China's sweeping control of the critical minerals industry," notedReuters, which had previewed the measure aimed at attaining nickel, cobalt, copper, manganese, titanium, and rare earth elements.
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"Authorizing deep-sea mining outside international law is like lighting a match in a room full of dynamite—it threatens ecosystems, global cooperation, and U.S. credibility all at once."
Deep-sea mining is opposed by over 30 countries as well as academics and advocacy groups worldwide. Among them is Greenpeace USA, whose campaigner Arlo Hemphill said Thursday that "authorizing deep-sea mining outside international law is like lighting a match in a room full of dynamite—it threatens ecosystems, global cooperation, and U.S. credibility all at once."
"We condemn this administration's attempt to launch this destructive industry on the high seas in the Pacific by bypassing the United Nations process," Hemphill declared. "This is an insult to multilateralism and a slap in the face to all the countries and millions of people around the world who oppose this dangerous industry."
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No exaggeration, deep sea mining could cause the massive collapse of the entire deep sea ecosystem and food chain. This is an existential risk to every person on this planet. www.nytimes.com/2025/04/24/c...
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— Alejandra Caraballo (@esqueer.net) April 24, 2025 at 5:54 PM
Ocean Conservancy vice president for external affairs Jeff Watters also blasted the move, saying that "this executive order flies in the face of NOAA's mission. NOAA is charged with protecting, not imperiling, the ocean and its economic benefits, including fishing and tourism; and scientists agree that deep-sea mining is a deeply dangerous endeavor for our ocean and all of us who depend on it."
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He highlighted that "NOAA is already being threatened by this administration's unprecedented cuts. NOAA is the eyes and ears for our water and air. NOAA provides Americans with accessible and accurate weather forecasts; it tracks hurricanes and tsunamis; it responds to oil spills; it keeps seafood on the table; and so much more. Forcing the agency to carry out deep-sea mining permitting while these essential services are slashed will only harm our ocean and our country."
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As The New York Timesreported:
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