You may have noticed that in recent weeks, the Biden administration has been rolling out a hell of a lot of new regulations. Earlier this month it was big student loan reforms and a massive improvement in how public lands are managed, then this week we had better pay and working conditions for working Americans, minimum staffing ratios for nursing homes, and even improved service on airlines.

That’s not only because it’s an election year, though Joe & Kamala certainly do like to point out that where the Other Guy rages (and wants to raise inflation!) they’ve been busy making Americans’ lives better. But the bigger reason is that the administration wants to get new rules finalized prior to May, to keep them from being tossed out in the next Congress via the Congressional Review Act, which Donald Trump and his cronies used to reverse a bunch of Barack Obama’s environmental regulations.

. . . The requirement that coal plants find a way to eliminate 90 percent of their emissions by 2032 effectively accelerates the end of coal for power generation, which was inevitable anyway. Roughly 70 percent of US coal plants have already closed, and last year, coal generated only 16 percent of electric power, a new record low. In addition to the emissions rule, three other final rules also impose strict new limits on mercury, coal ash, and pollution of wastewater, to put an end to the environmental degradation caused by coal.

. . . The other option, obviously, would be for utilities to meet coming demand with renewables, as administration officials pointed out when previewing the new rule. Thanks to the IRA’s hundreds of billions of dollars in incentives, carbon-free power generation, including battery storage, already beats the cost of building new gas plants. Going forward, the administration is confident renewables will be the far more cost-effective and reliable way to meet increasing demand by 2032, when the emissions limits fully kick in.

  • juicy@lemmy.today
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    6 months ago

    Genocide Joe is better than Obama or Clinton were? That’s a hot take

    • treefrog@lemm.ee
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      6 months ago

      And Clinton did as much to swell the prison industrial complex as Reagan and Nixon, while also using his office to make sexual advances on an intern.

      Plus, both Obama and Clinton would have done the same shit with Israel. Both are party line progressives and we see where the party line has been.

      • pjwestin@lemmy.world
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        6 months ago

        Clinton was very invested in creating Israelis-Palestinian peace, I don’t think he would have been as passive on the Palestinian death toll as Biden was at the beginning of the conflict. Obama was willing to go up against Netanyahu when he wanted something (like the Iran Nuclear Deal), so I think it’s likely he would have also had a stronger response to the Israeli genocide, as long as it was politically expedient for him. On most issues, I think Biden has actually been better than the (admittedly very low) expectations I have for the Democratic party, but I think he’s actually worse than his party’s predecessors on Israel.

      • juicy@lemmy.today
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        6 months ago

        Plus, both Obama and Clinton would have done the same shit with Israel. Both are party line progressives and we see where the party line has been.

        That’s just not true. Biden is the most rabidly pro-Israel president we’ve ever had – since before Reagan for sure.

        • Tinidril@midwest.social
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          6 months ago

          He’s actually been tougher on Israel than any US president since Reagan. That’s not saying much, but it’s sadly true. He has been against the move into Gaza from the start, and has used a lot of diplomatic pressure (though not enough by my estimation). His administration is the only reason Rafah doesn’t already look like the rest of Gaza. The idea that the US could yank Israel’s leash and stop the invasion of Gaza in it’s tracks is ignorant.

          All the ranting people did to get a ceasefire from the UN was ill-conceved because when they “won” the ceasefire was issued and summarily ignored. (Like anyone familiar with foreign policy knew it would be). What the Biden administration has been working towards is a peace, not a ceasefire, and that requires sustained involvement, not removing US influence entirely to make a point.

          There are signals from both sides and other nations in the region that peace might actually be achieved soon, and it has been “Genocide Joe” working on it all along while the virtue signalling squad lost their shit.

          • juicy@lemmy.today
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            6 months ago

            You can’t actually believe that. Biden refused to publically criticize Israel until February, four months into the genocide, when he said Israel’s actions were “over the top.” And even then, the flow of weapons has yet to even slow. Even Ronald Reagan withheld weapons from Israel when they got out of line.

            • Tinidril@midwest.social
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              6 months ago

              I think putting the appearance of virtue ahead of actual virtue is a problem, no matter who does it. Anyways, the entire right wing suit of bad ideas is almost entirely virtue signalling.

            • Cryophilia@lemmy.world
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              6 months ago

              We invented that phrase, Republicans just stole it and tried to use it (badly). They can’t come up with anything new. Even The Cheeto’s favorite phrase “witch hunt” was stolen from Democrats criticizing the Republican attacks on the Clintons.

              • Ensign_Crab@lemmy.world
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                6 months ago

                The phrase is much older than the Clintons’ problems with Republicans. Allusions to Salem are at least as old as McCarthyism.

                • Cryophilia@lemmy.world
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                  6 months ago

                  Thanks, Captain Pedantry

                  Republicans still adopted it after that instance because they’re too stupid to have read it before then.

                  • Ensign_Crab@lemmy.world
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                    6 months ago

                    Thanks, Captain Pedantry

                    You’re welcome, citizen! I’m glad I could inform you that things happened before the Clintons.

    • ours@lemmy.world
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      6 months ago

      Obama preferred to bomb civilians directly rather than by proxy (CIA drone assassination program).

      Still, all far better than Trump. Like Trump wouldn’t have bent over Israel pressure himself.