The official Thread for Trash/Repug CRAPICATION of America, the planet

[boutons_deux]

For People With Disabilities, Trump’s First Year Has Threatened Nearly Every Facet of Life

"Instead of doing what it needed to fix gaps, the current administration is doing what it can to widen them."

his first year in office has made that clear: It has been marked by incessant and unprecedented assaults on the rights of people from historically marginalized communities, including people with disabilities.

Trump once had a child with a disability removed from one of his campaign rallies.

his first year has followed that pattern: It has threatened nearly every facet of life for people with disabilities.

Rebecca Cokley, senior fellow at the Center for American Progress, agreed, saying Trump’s first year has “been chaotic and exhausting and feels like we are drinking from a flamethrower.”

“We are in a constant state of pivoting from one fight to the next and when we have a chance to take a breath on disability issues, they’re back attacking women’s issues, and vice versa.”

One of the main attacks on autonomy for people with disabilities was Republicans’ fight against the Affordable Care Act (ACA), egged on by the president.

each attempt by the GOP to repeal the ACA included significant cuts to Medicaid. This threatened not only health care for people with disabilities, but also access to necessary supports that enable us to live in our communities. Medicaid is the primary health insurer of children and adults with disabilities.

Medicaid work requirements will likely harm people with disabilities and will result in fewer disabled people receiving Medicaid.

cuts to other services aimed at low-income people that would likely target people with disabilities. “I’m not a policy expert, but I have a feeling there will be an accelerated and coordinated attack to dismantle various safety programs in the name of ‘reform,'”

Congress is considering the ADA Education and Reform Act of 2017 (HR 620), sponsored by Rep. Ted Poe (R-TX).

Despite its name, if passed, this legislation will impose significant barriers to enforcing the ADA and will likely decrease compliance by businesses.

The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), the federal agency responsible for overseeing enforcement of the ADA and other civil rights laws, has also taken steps to weaken the ADA.

withdrawal of a 2016 do ent that required states to promote opportunities for people with disabilities to engage in integrated and meaningful employment.

, the DOJ officially withdrew pending regulations that explained how the ADA applies to websites

drastic cuts to funding and staff for offices that enforce civil rights at the DOJ, the U.S. Department of Education (DOE) and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). These proposed budget cuts unmistakably demonstrate that enforcing civil rights laws—including those that protect people with disabilities—is not a priority of the Trump administration.

Students with disabilities were also not safe from attacks by the U.S. Department of Education. Even before becoming DOE secretary, Betsy DeVos demonstrated her lack of concern for disabled students

the DOE withdrew 72 guidance do ents that detailed the rights of students with disabilities. Currently, DeVos is contemplating rescinding an Obama-era guidance aimed at ensuring that school discipline policies do not discriminate against students of color as well as disabled students.

the GOP passed—and Trump signed into law—the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017,

The bill includes massive cuts to Medicare and other safety-net programs and eliminates tax incentives for small businesses to modify their facilities to ensure accessibility for people with disabilities.

Moreover, because the law includes a repeal of the ACA’s individual mandate, health insurance premiums will undoubtedly climb, leaving them unaffordable for many—including people with disabilities.

“Trump’s cruelty toward disabled people trying to access the American dream has been relentless, and it’s been hard,”

https://rewire.news/article/2018/01/...4acd-111083417

[boutons_deux]

Women would lose $4.6 billion in earned tips if the administration’s ‘tip stealing’ rule is finalized

Overall, workers would lose $5.8 billion

The Department of Labor (DOL) has proposed a rule that would make it legal for employers to pocket their workers’ tips,

as long as they pay those workers at least the minimum wage.

The proposed rule rescinds portions of longstanding DOL regulations that prohibit employers from taking tips.

We estimate that if the rule is finalized, every year workers will lose $5.8 billion in tips, as tips are shifted from workers to employers.2Of the $5.8 billion, nearly 80 percent—$4.6 billion—would be taken from women who are working in tipped jobs.

http://www.epi.org/publication/women-would-lose-4-6-billion-in-earned-tips-if-the-administrations-tip-stealing-rule-is-finalized-overall-tipped-workers-would-lose-5-8-billion/?utm_source=Economic+Policy+Ins ute&utm_campaign =247e73caaf-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2018_01_19&utm_medium=email&utm_ter m=0_e7c5826c50-247e73caaf-59312805&mc_cid=247e73caaf&mc_eid=3f6f7e5a76

all y'all rightwingassholes, this is the "pro-business" party, ng over all employees with suppressed/stolen wagees, esp low-wage employees.

[boutons_deux]

Trash’s 24-year-old drug policy appointee was let go at law firm after he ‘just didn’t show’

had been let go from a job at a law firm because he repeatedly missed work, a partner at the firm said.

While in college, late in 2014 or early in 2015, Taylor Weyeneth began working as a legal assistant at the New York firm O’Dwyer & Bernstien. He was “discharged” in August 2015, partner Brian O’Dwyer said in an interview.

“We were very disappointed in what happened,” O’Dwyer said.

He said that he hired Weyeneth in part because both men were involved in the same fraternity, and that

the firm invested time training him for what was expected to be a longer relationship. Instead, he said, Weyeneth “just didn’t show.”

https://www.washingtonpost.com/inves...nl_most&wpmm=1

Trash hires "The Very Best People" for his Exec's KAKISTOCRACY

[boutons_deux]

Trash is job killer, killing 10Ks solar jobs and companies

Trump hits solar imports with tariff but still concedes millions of jobs to China

White House policies will kill clean energy jobs in the near term and long term.

President Donald Trump decided to slap a 30 percent tariff on imported solar cells and panels

the new tariff is only the latest in a series of efforts by the White House to

slow the installation of renewable energy in this country in favor of fossil fuels — a strategy that kills jobs in both the near term and long term.

decision may cost the fast-growing industry — which currently employees over 260,000 people, primarily in the installation business — some 23,000 jobs this year, and cause billions of dollars in solar investments to be canceled or delayed.

the White House is conceding that this is a very rapidly growing industry and that smart domestic policies can be used to achieve global leadership — at the very time

the Administration is doing everything it can to undermine U.S. leadership in clean energy.

Trump’s anti-renewable policies include:

gutting the budget for clean energy,

working to gut the EPA’s Clean Power Plan,

withdrawing from the Paris climate agreement, and even

trying to get federal regulators to raise consumer energy bills in order to subsidize coal and nuclear power plants.

can’t revive the domestic solar manufacturing industry in this country.

Prices are dropping way too fast here and abroad for a modest, short-term “fix” to help.

https://thinkprogress.org/trump-sola...-decb0e7b4000/


https://energy.gov/eere/solar/how-hire-veterans-solar-energy

==============================

How about ing up the US wind turbine industry with a big tariff on imported wind turbines?

U.S. Imports

As part of their global business strategies, wind turbine manufacturers continue to source a significant share of components outside the United States.75 Imports of wind-powered generating sets, the main wind category covering fully assembled wind turbines and including other components such as blades and hubs when they are imported with the nacelle, grew from $482.5 million in 2005 to a peak of $2.5 billion in 2008. I

In 2011, Denmark was the leading source of wind-powered generating sets, making up more than half (55%) of all imports into the United States. Italy, Germany, and Spain combined accounted for another 40% (see Figure 5). China and India accounted for 2% and 1% of imports, respectively, in 2011.

It appears that South Korean wind turbine manufacturers like Samsung, Hyosung, and Unison have ambitions to become leading exporters to the U.S. market and other global markets.

https://hub.globalccsins ute.com/p...try/us-imports

After Jack Welch screwed up GE, killing its industrial capacity to turn it into a financial company, GE is hurting badly in a booming stock market. Where's Trash's America First protectionism?

[boutons_deux]

Trash Blows Off Dozens Of Environmental Protections To Accelerate Border Wall Construction

It's bad enough that Trump is pushing an inhumane immigration policy that the vast majority of Americans don't support. Worse, he's doing it at the expense of our environment

Homeland Security Secretary Kirsten Nielsen listed the

rules the administration is waiving in order to speed up the construction project,

which the public doesn’t want and experts say we don’t even need.

The waiver excludes rules from major laws including

the National Environment Policy Act,

the Endangered Species Act,

the Clean Water Act,

the National Historic Preservation Act and

the Antiquities Act, among others.

The notice claims that the “El Paso Sector is an area of high illegal entry,” citing its proximity to the city of Ciudad of Juarez, and will allow for vehicle barriers to be replaced with bollard wall for 20 miles on the border.“

The Secretary of Homeland Security has determined, pursuant to law, that it is necessary to waive certain laws, regulations and other legal requirements in order to ensure the expeditious construction of barriers and roads in the vicinity of the international land border of the United States near the Santa Teresa Land Port of Entry in the state of New Mexico,” the waiver reads.

The Hill adds that one environmental organization – the Center for Biological Diversity – is considering taking legal action against the administration.

http://www.politicususa.com/2018/01/22/trump-blows-off-dozens-of-environmental-protections-border-wall-project.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed &utm_campaign=Feed%3A+politicususa%2FfJAl+%28Polit icus+USA+%29

[boutons_deux]

NSA DELETES “HONESTY” AND “OPENNESS” FROM CORE VALUES

https://theintercept.com/2018/01/24/nsa-core-values-honesty-deleted/

[boutons_deux]

Senate votes to confirm Alex Azar as health secretary

“Mr. Azar’s nomination is a perfect encapsulation of the president’s broken promises on prescription drugs and healthcare overall,”


https://www.rawstory.com/2018/01/sen...e+Raw+Story%29

==============


Trump's HHS Pick Has History Of Price Gouging


Americans for Tax Fairness Report Shows that Eli Lilly Price Gouged and Tax Dodged While Alex Azar Was U.S. Division President

https://www.commondreams.org/newswir...-price-gouging


Azar also supports ing up Medicaid

... more Repug voluntary manslaughter and grinding down the poor

[boutons_deux]

Trump hired another recent college graduate — this one will oversee all US trade

criticized for putting forward a collection of underqualified appointees.

Now, a new report from the Daily Beast outlines the rise of a top official in the Office of the United States Trade Representative,

a deputy chief of staff who was less than three years out of college when hired.

he listed his Eagle Scout experience among his leadership skills.

https://www.rawstory.com/2018/01/tru...e+Raw+Story%29

[boutons_deux]

Betsy DeVos Seeking To Weaken Oversight That Exposed Sex Abuser Larry Nassar

le IX was the key to exposing Larry Nassar, the former Olympic gymnastics doctor and serial sexual abuser at Michigan State University, who was sentenced this week to 40 to 175 years, in part based on testimony from 156 of his young victims.

Betsy DeVos, Donald Trump’s secretary of education, is trying to change and weaken le IX, effectively aiding other serial predators like Nassar.

Under DeVos, the Department of Education is scaling back investigations at the Office of Civil Rights.

It was an investigation by the Office of Civil Rights that revealed Nassar and triggered his prosecution.

As investigators try to deal with an influx of cases, DeVos is advocating for less enforcement, with stricter standards of proof in cases involving sexual violence, making it that much more difficult to hold abusers accountable.

Under President Barack Obama, the Education Department instructed schools to use the “preponderance of evidence” — the lowest standard — in sexual violence cases. DeVos, however, has issued directives requiring schools to use “clear and convincing evidence” in such cases instead.

the new guidelines have created a “chilling effect” for survivors to come forward.

http://www.nationalmemo.com/betsy-de...-larry-nassar/

[boutons_deux]

Kockistan autocrat news

Wisconsin Republicans fire top state officials as payback for investigating Gov. Scott Walker

Wisconsin Republicans voted Tuesday to remove the state’s top election and ethics officials, despite looming state and federal elections.

Led by Republicans in a vote along party lines,

the state Senate voted to

oust Ethics Administrator Brian Bell and Elections Administrator Michael Haas

from their respective roles by denying to confirm them on a permanent basis.

Both men did not get a customary public hearing before the vote.

The state's Republican-held Supreme Court preemptively shuttered that Walker probe, and

Republicans have in these last several years dedicated themselves to retribution against individuals connected to it. T

https://www.dailykos.com/stories/1735938

[boutons_deux]

Ex-ambassador appalled that Trump has given security clearances to felons and foreign agents




Former U.S. ambassador to Russia Michael McFaul told MSNBC on Wednesday that he has “no idea how” President Donald Trump’s administration has given out security clearances to foreign agents and people convicted of felonies.

MSNBC national security and justice correspondent Julia Ainsley said that officials she spoke to from previous administrations said that

applicants with these types of “red flags” on their records would never have been given clearance to view state secrets or any kind of classified do ents.

“They would have been dismissed, especially if they were found to have lied,” Ainsley said, “as many of these people were who we saw in the report today.”

really surprising that somebody as senior as

Jared Kushner — who sits two doors down from the Oval Office — still does not have a proper security clearance.”

President Trump’s son-in-law has had to resubmit his request for a security clearance multiple times

to add disclosures about meetings with foreign agents and officials

as well as to make clarifications regarding financial disclosures.

https://www.rawstory.com/2018/01/ex-...e+Raw+Story%29

[boutons_deux]

A modern land run? Trump move opens Utah to mining claims under 1872 law

U.S. President Donald Trump’s decision to withdraw federal protections from millions of acres of Utah wilderness will reopen much of the iconic terrain to gold, silver, copper, and uranium land claims under a Wild West-era mining law, according to federal officials.

Starting at 6 a.m. on Feb. 2 – the moment Trump’s proclamation reducing the size of the Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monuments takes effect – private citizens and companies will be allowed to stake claims for hard rock mining in a process governed by the General Mining Law of 1872, according to the U.S. Bureau of Land Management.

The process for staking a claim remains much as it did during the Gold Rush:

A prospector hammers four poles into the ground corresponding to the four points of a parcel that can be as big as 20 acres, and attaches a written description of the claim onto one of them.

A prospector then has 30 days to record the claim at the local BLM office.

“We’re working on getting information and new monument maps ready for people interested in claims,”

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-u...2F+Top+News%29

[spurraider21]

Should be renamed Official Thread of Boutons crapification of SpursTalk

[boutons_deux]

Trash's AmeriKKKa

1 Neo-Nazi Group. 5 Murders In 8 Months.

The Atomwaffen Division has emerged as one of the most disturbing and volatile hate groups in America.

An 18-year-old in Florida allegedly shoots and kills two of his roommates.

A 21-year-old, also in Florida, plots to bomb synagogues and a nuclear power plant.

A 17-year-old in Virginia allegedly shoots and kills his girlfriend’s parents.

And a 20-year-old in California allegedly stabs a gay Jewish college student 20 times, burying him in a shallow grave.

All of these young white men had connections to the Atomwaffen Division,

a well-armed neo-Nazi group

enamored with Charles Manson and Adolf Hitler whose members harbor grand and

demented delusions of fighting a “race war” and overthrowing the U.S. government.

Their alleged crimes all occurred in just the last eight months, most recently in January,

adding to fears that an emboldened American white supremacist movement is growing more violent by the day.

White supremacists, after all, murdered twice as many people in 2017 as they did the year before,

https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry...gEmail__020118

[boutons_deux]

The national monuments slashed by Trump will officially be open to mining on Friday

Trump's unprecedented attack on public lands is already benefiting extractive industry.


At 9 a.m. EST Friday, the extractive industry will gain drilling and mining access to previously protected American land,

Trump took an unprecedented step for a U.S. president in December — signing a proclamation that dramatically reduced the size of two national monuments. Bears Ears National Monument was cut by more than 85 percent and Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument was reduced by half.

This resulted in the largest elimination of protected areas in U.S. history.

The move put tens of thousands of Native American sacred sites at risk, along with key wildlife habitat, and areas used for outdoor recreation.

While the longer-term fate of Trump’s likely illegal action will play out in the courts, also buried in his December proclamation was a provision that on February 2, 2018, the areas excluded from the monuments would become open to private mineral companies to begin staking mining and drilling claims.

“We’re working on getting information and new monument maps ready for people interested in claims,”

https://thinkprogress.org/trump-nati...-bc92ca54db29/

Assume some big Canadian resource extractors make claims and start extracting, then Trash loses in court and the public lands go back to being off-limits to extraction.

The Canucks would use ISDS to extract $100Ms if not $Bs from US taxpayers.

[boutons_deux]

the oligarchic "pro business / anti-labor" kakistrocray's Ministy of Truth at work

DOL scrubs economic analysis that showed its tip pooling rule would be terrible for workers

DOL did not provide an estimate of the amount of tips that would be shifted from workers to employers as a result of the rule—

even though they were required, as a part of the rulemaking process,

to assess all quantifiable costs and benefits to the fullest extent possible.

DOL claimed they could not do an analysis.

https://www.epi.org/press/dol-scrubs-economic-analysis-that-showed-its-tip-pooling-rule-would-be-terrible-for-workers/?utm_source=Economic+Policy+Ins ute&utm_campaign =b001b0ff9a-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2018_02_02&utm_medium=email&utm_ter m=0_e7c5826c50-b001b0ff9a-59312805&mc_cid=b001b0ff9a&mc_eid=3f6f7e5a76

"could not"

how about "would not"

[boutons_deux]

Pruitt is destroying the EPA on orders for the oligarchy, and all the Repugs agree

EPA DIVISION THAT STUDIES THE HEALTH RISKS OF TOXIC CHEMICALS IS IN A FIGHT FOR ITS LIFE — AGAINST THE EPA

https://theintercept.com/2018/02/03/...xic-chemicals/

[boutons_deux]

Schools now function as zero-tolerance police states manned by ignorant, vindictive, chicken staff

Teacher on Leave After Allegedly Assaulting Student Who Refused to Stand for Pledge of Allegiance

https://www.commondreams.org/news/20...dge-allegiance

[boutons_deux]

Equifax Gave Mulvaney Thousands, Now He’s Putting the CFPB’s Investigation “On Ice”


Latest example of CFPB “acting director” Mick Mulvaney making changes at CFPB that benefit his campaign contributors.

Mick Mulvaney, “acting director” of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB),

“has pulled back from a full-scale probe of how Equifax Inc. failed to protect the personal data of millions of consumers

, according to people familiar with the matter.”

In what is fast becoming a disturbing trend,

Mulvaney has thousands of dollars in campaign contributions from Equifax and thousands more from other credit bureaus overseen by the CFPB.

Mulvaney has taken at least $5,000 in campaign cash from Equifax Inc.’s political action committee (PAC).

He also received $6,000 from the PAC of Experian, another credit reporting bureau.

[Equifax Inc. Political Action Committee to Mulvaney for Congress, Federal Election Commission, Accessed 02/05/18; Experian North America, Inc. Political Action Committee to Mulvaney for Congress, Federal Election Commission, accessed 02/05/18.]


PART OF A DISTURBING PATERN:


Mulvaney Delays Implementation of Rule Protecting Prepaid Cardholders:

Last week, the Mulvaney-run CFPB announced a year-long delay to a new rule that would have ultimately protected 23 million American prepaid cardholders who use such products for everything from hourly wages to Social Security benefits. Mulvaney has received at least $13,000 in campaign contributions from prepaid card companies.


Mulvaney Drops CFPB Case Against Predatory Lender:

In January, the Mulvaney-run Consumer Bureau dropped its case against World Acceptance Corporation, a predatory lender accused of “breaking federal laws in how it markets and offers its loans.” Mulvaney has received $4,500 in campaign contributions from the company.


Mulvaney Begins Gutting CFPB’s Anti-Discrimination Efforts:

In December, the Mulvaney-run Bureau declared its intent to “reconsider” mortgage data reporting requirements that helped the CFPB identify discrimination. The move was called “a significant win” by the Credit Union National Association (CUNA) which also lobbied on the issue. Mulvaney has received $30,000 in campaign cash from CUNA over the years.

• 
  

https://www.commondreams.org/newswire/2018/02/05/equifax-gave-mulvaney-thousands-now-hes-putting-cfpbs-investigation-ice


Blatantly obvious now why Trash's OMB director also got directorship of CFPB

This is how the oligarchy buys protection and exemption from investigation, prosecution.

And look how how minuscule, in the few $1000s, are the purchases are of Mulvaney-for-sale.

[boutons_deux]

<sub>Kellyanne Conway’s ‘Opioid Cabinet’ Reportedly Freezing Out Drug Crisis Experts

Conway “has taken control of the opioids agenda, quietly freezing out drug policy professionals and relying instead on political staff to address a lethal crisis claiming about 175 lives a day.”

“The main response so far has been

to call for a border wall and

to promise a ‘just say no’ campaign.”

Trump is expected to gut the Office of National Drug Control Policy, proposing a 95 percent budget cut.

Politico reported that “he hasn’t named a permanent director for the office, and the chief of staff was sacked in December.”

Even more alarming:</sub>

<sub>For months, the office’s top political appointee was a 24-year-old Trump campaign staffer with no relevant qualifications.

Its senior leadership consists of a skeleton crew of three political appointees, down from nine a year ago.</sub>

<sub>the “upheaval in the drug policy office illustrates the Trump administration’s inconsistency in creating a real vision on the opioids crisis.”

https://www.mediaite.com/weird/kelly...risis-experts/

175 drugged dead Americans per day, Trump cuts NDCP by 95%, but if one illegal alien runs over 1 American, Trash tweets he wants $25B for a wall.</sub>

[boutons_deux]

500M to 1B birds, ducks, other flying stuff perishes in fracking ponds, and as many killed by domestic and feral cats, but you rightwingnutjob assholes whine about a few birds dying over concentrated thermal solar plants.

Wildlife officials stunned and outraged after the Trump administration guts the Migratory Bird Act

From Audubon:

In December, the Department of the Interior released an interpretation of the Migratory Bird Treaty Act that eliminates its ability to hold industries accountable for bird deaths.

Reversing decades of practice by administrations under both political parties, this legal opinion drastically limits the law and puts hundreds of species of birds at greater risk.

This attack on the Migratory Bird Treaty Act comes at a time when

we are celebrating the Year of the Bird, honoring the one-hundredth anniversary of this visionary law.

Passed in 1918 with leadership from Audubon and chapters across the nation, the MBTA protects nearly all of our country’s native birds from being killed without a permit.

For decades, the law has been applied to protect birds from industrial impacts as well.

Millions of birds die from preventable causes such as oil waste pits, oil spills, electric transmission lines, and more.

The MBTA provides a critical incentive for industries to implement common sense practices that save birds’ lives. It also ensures that responsible parties are held accountable for events that kill significant numbers of birds.

For instance, if this interpretation had been in place after the Gulf oil spill, BP would have been off the hook for killing one million birds and would not have been required to pay a $100 million fine that is helping restore bird habitat.

Wildlife officials agree. Seventeen conservation experts who have formerly worked for the Department of the Interior, both Democratic and Republican alike, have banded together to send a public plea to Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke to reconsider these disastrous actions.

https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2018/2/6/1739258/-Wildlife-officials-stunned-and-outraged-after-the-Trump-administration-guts-the-Migratory-Bird-Act

Repug retrograde MISgovernance, all them and y'all Repug voters to .

[boutons_deux]

EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt’s First Class Habit Costing Taxpayers Thousands

The agency often cites unspecified security reasons for the premium bookings.

costing American taxpayers thousands of dollars more than equivalent seats in coach, The Washington Post reported on Sunday.

Several such flights last June cost more than $90,000 in total, including an hour-and-a-half trip between Washington D.C. and New York booked first class for $1,641, the outlet noted,

Pruitt regularly travels with a large contingent of aides, but they’re usually booked in coach. It’s unclear if members of his security detail fly in first class with him.

Pruitt’s trips amounted to an effort “to further positive environmental outcomes and achieve tangible environmental results.”

federal regulations mandate government employees “consider the least expensive class of travel”

. The EPA pays for Pruitt to have an extensive, 24/7 security detail at a cost of nearly $2 million a year, excluding costs like travel.

no previous head of the agency had ever had a full-time detail.

In July, he was booked on two round-trip tickets to Alabama and Georgia that totaled more than $4,600.

Pruitt’s use of military and private flights are currently under investigation by the EPA’s inspector general

after the Post reported last September that the administrator took four such flights costing taxpayers more than $58,000.

He is also under investigation over frequent trips to his home state of Oklahoma.

https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry...gEmail__021218


==============


EPA chief Scott Pruitt says he has to fly first class because a 'toxic' political environment puts him in danger

http://www.businessinsider.com/epa-c...flights-2018-2

The Best, Most Corrupt People, like rotted-fish-head Trash himself.

[boutons_deux]

Lawsuit Challenges Trump Administration's Refusal to Release Records on Pesticide Harms to Endangered Wildlife

The Center for Biological Diversity sued the Trump administration today for illegally withholding public records do enting the widespread harm to endangered species posed by chlorpyrifos and two other pesticides, diazinon and malathion.

The Fish and Wildlife Service had committed to releasing its analysis of that research for public comment by May 2017 and to finalize the do ents by December 2017. But last year,

shortly after donating $1 million to Trump's inauguration, Dow Chemical asked federal agencies not to finalize the legally required assessments

that are crucial to establishing common-sense measures to reduce the pesticides' harm to endangered species.

The EPA’s initial analysis of the three pesticides, released in 2016, found that

97 percent of the more than 1,800 animals and plants protected under the Endangered Species Act are likely to be harmed by malathion and chlorpyrifos.

Another 78 percent are likely to be hurt by the pesticide diazinon.

the finalization of those assessments has stalled in the wake the request by

Dow, which over the past six years has donated $11 million to congressional campaigns and political action committees.

Over the same period the company has spent an additional $75 million lobbying Congress.

“All the evidence suggests Dow pays and the Trump administration plays,” said Parent.

“The agencies are concealing scientific analyses likely to show chlorpyrifos and other pesticides are jeopardizing the very existence of our most imperiled wildlife.”

https://www.commondreams.org/newswir...esticide-harms

The oligarchy dictates govt policy for profit, no matter who or what else gets screwed, Repugs and their voters are ing s.

But even red states are trying to fight back against being poisoned by BigChem

https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2017/11/arkansas-moves-to-ban-monsantos-blockbuster-herbicide/

[boutons_deux]

The Veteran Affairs secretary’s Euro trip scandal, explained

A report scrutinizes David Shulkin’s Wimbledon tickets and his wife’s pricey airfare.


Yet another Trump administration official is facing ethics questions after an inspector general’s report found that Veterans Affairs Secretary

David Shulkin improperly accepted Wimbledon tickets, and that

his chief of staff misled officials about Shulkin’s wife’s travel to Europe last summer.

The inspector general’s findings, released Wednesday, revealed that

Shulkin’s trip to London and Copenhagen in July — which included Shulkin’s wife, three VA staffers, and six members of the secretary’s security detail —

involved “personal time for sightseeing and

other unofficial activities” such as a

visit to Westminster Abbey and

not one, but two river cruises on the Thames and the Nyhavn Canal in Copenhagen.

Shulkin justified the travel as in support of the VA’s mission.

https://www.vox.com/2018/2/14/17013046/david-shulkin-veteran-affairs-euro-trip-scandal-travel-trump

Repugs/oligarchy's self-granted "mission" is to steal from taxpayers, is why Repug voters elect Repugs, to be fleeced, looted, stolen from.

[boutons_deux]

Trump Keeps Loophole That Allows Trucks To Vastly Exceed Emission Standards

Former President Barack Obama tried to close an absurd loophole in federal law that would allow certain trucks to vastly (and we mean vastly) exceed emission standards.

Current President Donald Trump—thanks to political gamesmanship and potentially shoddy academic work—is keeping the loophole alive.

the sale of the trucks, known as “gliders,”

because—as the Times puts it—

“they are manufactured without engines and are later retrofitted with the rebuilt ones.”

The loophole has been condemned from a vast array of businesses, including Volvo, trucking company Navistar, and UPS:

Gliders are popular among small trucking companies and individual truck owners, who say

they cannot afford to buy or operate vehicles with new engines and modern emissions controls.
The trucks, which Fitzgerald claims burn less fuel per mile and are cheaper to repair, have been on the market since at least the 1970s.

But after the federal government moved to force improvements in truck emissions, with standards that were first enacted during the Clinton administration and took full effect by 2010,

gliders became a way for trucking companies to legally skirt the rules.

The trucks are cheaper to operate, the Times reports, but they “spew 40 to 55 times the air pollution of other new trucks,

https://jalopnik.com/trump-keeps-loo...+%28Gizmodo%29

If you can't afford a pollution-reduced engine, then your business model sucks, just like businesses that can't afford any wages except poverty wages.