The Banter Brief: Stupendously Good News (Sort Of)

Welcome to The Banter Brief — your regular rundown of the most important stories of the week!:

1. Most important story of the week

(pictured above: huge crowds protest outside the Greek Parliament in Athens. Image via NRP)

Today, students are holding massive climate protests around the world. From Washington DC to Islamabad, London, Athens, and Accra, huge crowds have amassed to urge leaders to stop the wholesale destruction of the planet. With CO2 levels rising to unprecedented rates due to human activity, we have a very, very short amount of time to reverse course until irreversible damage is done to the earth’s atmosphere. This is no longer debatable — it is scientific fact grounded in hard evidence that is almost unanimously accepted by the world’s leading climate scientists, ecologists, and biologists.

The protests come after Greta Thunberg, the Swedish 16-year-old activist arrived in America to speak to Congress about the gravity of the situation.

"I am submitting this report as my testimony because I don't want you to listen to me, I want you to listen to the scientists," she said. "And I want you to unite behind the science. And then I want you to take real action."

It is worth noting that these global protests are unprecedented in human history — a sign that we might finally be waking up to the reality of catastrophic climate change. But as Thunberg reminded Congress, now is the time to act.

2. Poll Analysis

We’re sort of on repeat here, but the polls continue to look extremely bad for Donald Trump. This week, a Fox News poll (let’s repeat that: a Fox News poll) shows Trump losing to every leading Democrat. Via Newsweek:

The latest Fox News poll about the 2020 election shows President Donald Trump losing to every Democratic frontrunner including Joe Biden, Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren. The survey, which was conducted from September 15 to September 17, found that Biden had a double-digit lead on Trump. The former vice president had 52 percent support among voters, while Trump garnered just 38 percent support. These results were similar to a Fox poll conducted in early August, which showed Biden with 50 percent support compared to Trump's 38 percent.

And what about the swing states? Not good either. The ground is now shifting in Arizona, previously a given for Republicans. Democrats have been making serious gains on the ground in Arizona in recent months, and given Trump’s numbers are plummeting in every other swing state, his allies should be extremely concerned.

3. Quote of the Week

"No, actually I didn't. I asked the Ukraine to investigate the allegations that there was interference in the election of 2016 by the Ukrainians for the benefit of Hillary Clinton, for which there is already a court finding”

- Rudy Giuliani answering CNN’s Chris Cuomo as to whether he asked Ukraine to investigate Joe Biden. Moments later, Cuomo asked the question again, to which Giuliani replied: “Of course I did.”

4. What to Watch on Netflix

‘The Spy’

Sacha Baron Cohen stars in this thriller series about notorious spy Eli Cohen, an Israeli Mossad agent who infiltrated the highest levels of Syrian government in the 1960’s. It’s rather odd to watch Cohen not being funny, but you quickly forget that he made his name trying to kidnap Pamela Anderson and simulating gay sex in a cage fight in Arkansas. His portrayal of Eli Cohen is nuanced, powerful, and entirely believable. Cohen’s real story is a gripping one, and the Netflix commissioned show definitely does it justice. It is a slick, well paced thriller that tells the very human story behind one of the greatest feats in espionage history, and one of Israel’s most venerated citizens. The Spy has been criticized for being Israeli propaganda — and to a certain degree it is — but it is a true story and an important one whichever way you look at it.

5. Good News

As the planet veers towards climate catastrophe, some truly inspiring news has emerged that should give us a lot of hope for the future. The alternative energy industry, namely solar and wind, is apparently now “so cheap that the handouts they once needed are disappearing,” reported Bloomberg. “The developments have profound implications for the push to phase out fossil fuels and slow the onset of climate change,” the report continued. “Electricity generation and heating account for 25% of global greenhouse gases. As wind and solar demonstrate they can compete on their own against coal- and natural gas-fired plants, the economic and political arguments in favor of carbon-free power become harder and harder to refute.”

Does your house run on renewable energy? If not, most people can now switch through their energy provider. It’s a simple process that likely won’t cost you any more than you are already paying. That means we can all do our bit to ensure we have a habitable planet for future generations to live on.

See you next week!

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Subscriber Only posts this week:

Want To Beat Trump? Start Listening To Republicans, Not Democrats - Ben Cohen has a controversial theory on how Trump can be beaten in 2020.

Don’t Feed The Republican Trolls: Democrats Are Investigating Trump And It Has To Be Legitimate - Bob Cesca on the need for Democrats to behave like grownups.

You Should Be Very Afraid Of What ICE Is Turning Into - Justin Rosario on the alarming militarization of the police and security state in America.