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

[boutons_deux]

the oligarchy/Capital gets more power over, becomes less challengeable by Labor

Top Republicans Just Filed A Bill To Eviscerate The National Labor Relations Board

Now, with Republicans in control of Congress and the White House, a gaggle of the most conservative members of the U.S. Senate have introduced a bill (https://www.scribd.com/document/354305279/Sen-Lee-Introduces-National-Labor-Relations-Board-Reform-Bill#from_embed)to defang the NLRB forever.

The sponsors, all Republicans (http://thehill.com/regulation/legislation/343021-cruz-offers-bill-to-weaken-labor-boards-power), are Senators Mike Lee of Utah, Ted Cruz of Texas, James Lankford of Oklahoma, Tom Cotton of Arkansas, Luther Strange of Alabama and Marco Rubio of Florida.



What these right wing activists are calling the “Protecting American Jobs Act” :lol

would strip the NLRB of its power to prosecute and to act as a judge in labor disputes.

It would

transfer the power to hear labor disputes to the already overcrowded federal courts, which would raise the legal cost of any action
and ensure it would take a long time to be settled.

The NLRB would still be allowed to conduct investigations of labor disputes but it would not be allowed to prosecute or judge them. It would be like a cat with its teeth and nails removed.

http://washingtonjournal.com/2017/07/20/top-republicans-just-filed-bill-eviscerate-national-labor-relations-board/

[boutons_deux]

http://www.motherjones.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/20170721-samclovis.jpg?w=829

Clovis even more morbidly obese than Christie.

Just yet another ignorant, anti-science, anti-self-health-care, incompetent political hack asshole to insult, disrespect professional govt employees and degrade, fuckup USDA.

[boutons_deux]

Trump administration seeks to sidestep border wall environmental study

The U.S. Customs and Border Patrol plans to use a 2005 anti-terror law to sidestep an environmental impact study for a section of President Donald

Trump's border wall that will pass through a Texas national refuge for endangered ocelots

, according to two government sources familiar with the matter.

Trump's 2018 budget proposal calls for 32 miles (51 km) of new border wall in the Rio Grande Valley Sector of the U.S.-Mexico border,

where the 2,000-acre Santa Ana National Wildlife Refuge is located.

The area near the southern tip of Texas is home to 400 species of birds as well as a dwindling population of federally protected ocelots. Only about 50 ocelots remain in the United States, according to the Fish and Wildlife Service.

The sources said CBP officials had informed them CBP would rely on exemptions provided to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security under the Real ID Act, a law created on recommendations from the 9/11 Commission, so

they can start building the section of wall without waiting for the years-long environmental study.
Environmental impact studies are generally required under federal law whenever a proposal is made to build on public lands, including national forests, wildlife refuges and land managed by the Bureau of Land Management.

The Real ID Act also allows the secretary of Homeland Security to exempt CBP from adhering to the Endangered Species Act, which the sources said would otherwise make the wall's construction inside the refuge impossible due to the presence of the ocelots.

The sources asked not to be named because they are not authorized to speak publicly on the matter.

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump-borderwall-environment-idUSKBN1A62OL?feedType=RSS&feedName=domesticNews

So FUCK nature, FUCK the law, FUCK UP everything the Repugs touch.

[boutons_deux]

Farmworkers Protest EPA’s Pesticide Ruling

Trump’s Environmental Protection Agency to rebuff the advice of its own scientists to ban the brain-damaging pesticide chlorpyrifos has prompted protests from California’s farm worker communities, now demanding an immediate statewide ban of the dangerous chemical.

A delegation delivered more than 167,000 petition signatures along with a letter signed by 75 organizations representing hundreds of thousands of Californians.

The petition was also co-signed by

Care2,
Center for Biological Diversity,
Center for Environmental Health,
Center for Food Safety,
Courage Campaign,
CREDO,
Friends of the Earth, and
Pesticide Action Network.

EPA scientists have documented that

chlorpyrifos can cause serious and profound neurological and respiratory damage, as well as developmental delays, autism and IQ loss for children — even in very small doses,

https://consortiumnews.com/2017/07/22/farmworkers-protest-epas-pesticide-ruling/

of course, the "EPA scientists" have all been purged, then Trash as added an obese, ignorant greasebag as chief scientist at USDA.

[boutons_deux]

Kushner still selling $500,000 visas to Chinese investors as program meant to help poor is subverted (https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2017/7/21/1682718/-Kushner-still-selling-500k-visas-to-Chinese-investors-as-program-meant-to-help-poor-is-subverted)

Far from being shut down, the scheme is still going on, and Jared Kushner is more deeply involved than ever (http://www.cnn.com/2017/07/20/politics/draft-kushner-visas/index.html).


Jared Kushner's status as a top aide to President Donald Trump was used to lure Chinese investors to his family's New Jersey development, even after his family's company apologized for mentioning his name during a sales pitch in May, CNN has found.


Kushner is selling entry into the United States for people that invest in his buildings. And it’s working.


References to Kushner are part of online promotions by two businesses that are working with Kushner Companies to find Chinese investors willing to invest in the 1 Journal Square development in exchange for a US visa. …

The promotions are aimed at bringing in investors who pay at least $500,000 apiece and in exchange get US visas, and potentially green cards, for themselves and their families if the development meets certain criteria.

The deals are part of a legal US government program called EB-5, which grants up to 10,000 immigrant visas per year.


That program, in turn, is part of the extremely loose set of regulations intended to funnel foreign investments into real estate development. That’s great for developers, but often not so great for home buyers in the U.S. who find that their competition extends far beyond (http://www.cnbc.com/2016/07/06/foreign-buyers-flood-us-real-estate-but-buy-cheaper-homes.html) families in the same neighborhood.

Real estate developers have often used the program to develop luxury properties (https://www.wsj.com/articles/developer-seeks-eb-5-funding-for-luxury-new-york-tower-1466536687), especially when analysis leads U.S. banks to believe those properties aren’t a good fit for the markets where they’re being built.

The original intent of the EB-5 visa program was to promote investments into poor neighborhoods. :lol

But, like so many other loopholes, ultra-wealthy developers have hijacked the program to build gold-plated palaces.

A block south of Central Park in Manhattan, construction crews are working on the base of what is poised to be the tallest apartment building in the country and the latest condominium tower to cater to the super rich.

It is also poised to be the latest skyscraper to benefit from a provision of a federal immigration program meant to aid distressed neighborhoods and rural areas, offering a striking example of what lawmakers and critics have called a widespread abuse of the program known as EB-5.


That tower off Central Park is being built by Extell Development, another of the large New York development firms. But it’s a prime example of how EB-5 visas have come to be a benefit to developers like Trump and Kushner—and turned into a weapon against the
people they were designed to help.

Kushner’s 1 Journal Square development in Jersey City is currently wrangling with local authorities who have pulled away from providing the 30-year tax abatement (http://www.nj.com/hudson/index.ssf/2017/05/kushner_flap_is_latest_wrinkle_for_troubled_journa .html)that Jared and Company want.

That fight has put the $821 million tower in jeopardy. But it hasn’t stopped Kushner’s firm from peddling the building in China.

A former White House ethics expert tells CNN the EB-5 program already raises a potential government-backed quid pro quo -- favorable immigration status in exchange for investment dollars. And he says any use of the President's son-in-law as a marketing tool is ethically unacceptable.


To which you can expect Trump’s team to respond as they have to every other ethical issue: So what?

https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2017/7/21/1682718/-Kushner-still-selling-500k-visas-to-Chinese-investors-as-program-meant-to-help-poor-is-subverted?detail=emaildkre

I bet the lobbyists who wrote and sold EB-5 as a program to develop poor areas absolutely knew it would be used by developers for luxury developments.

[boutons_deux]

Trump's DOJ gears up for crackdown on marijuana

President Trump’s Task Force on Crime Reduction and Public Safety, led by Sessions, is expected to release a report next week that criminal justice reform advocates fear will link marijuana to violent crime and recommend tougher sentences for those caught growing, selling and smoking the plant.

Sessions sent a letter in May asking congressional leaders to do away with an amendment to the DOJ budget prohibiting the agency from using federal funds to prevent states "from implementing their own State laws that authorize the use, distribution, possession or cultivation of medical marijuana."

“I believe it would be unwise for Congress to restrict the discretion of the Department to fund prosecutions, particularly in the midst of an historic drug epidemic and potentially long-term uptick in violent crime,” said the letter from Sessions, first obtained by Massroots.com and verified by The Washington Post.

As for the task force, Sessions said another subcommittee would “explore our use of asset forfeiture and make recommendations on any improvements needed to legal authorities, policies, and training to most effectively attack the financial infrastructure of criminal organizations.”

On Wednesday, Sessions reportedly re-established a controversial criminal asset seizure program ahead of the committee’s recommendations.

The Trump administration is readying for a crackdown on marijuana users under Attorney General Jeff Sessions (http://thehill.com/people/jeff-sessions).

President Trump’s Task Force on Crime Reduction and Public Safety, led by Sessions, is expected to release a report next week that criminal justice reform advocates fear will link marijuana to violent crime and recommend tougher sentences for those caught growing, selling and smoking the plant.

Sessions sent a memo in April updating the U.S. Attorney’s Offices and Department of Justice Department (DOJ) component heads on the work of the task force, which he said would be accomplished through various subcommittees. In the memo, Sessions said he has asked for initial recommendations no later than July 27.

“Task Force subcommittees will also undertake a review of existing policies in the areas of charging, sentencing, and marijuana to ensure consistency with the Department's overall strategy on reducing violent crime and with Administration goals and priorities,” he wrote. Criminal justice reform advocates fear Sessions’s memo signals stricter enforcement is ahead.

“The task force revolves around reducing violent crime and Sessions and other DOJ officials have been out there over the last month and explicitly the last couple of weeks talking about how immigration and marijuana increases violent crime,” said Inimai Chettiar, director of the Brennan Center's Justice Program.

“We’re worried there’s going to be something in the recommendations that is either saying that that’s true or recommending action be taken based on that
being true.”

Sessions sent a letter in May asking congressional leaders to do away with an amendment to the DOJ budget prohibiting the agency from using federal funds to prevent states "from implementing their own State laws that authorize the use, distribution, possession or cultivation of medical marijuana."

“I believe it would be unwise for Congress to restrict the discretion of the Department to fund prosecutions, particularly in the midst of an historic drug epidemic and potentially long-term uptick in violent crime,” said the letter from Sessions, first obtained by Massroots.com and verified by The Washington Post.

As for the task force, Sessions said another subcommittee would “explore our use of asset forfeiture and make recommendations on any improvements needed to legal authorities, policies, and training to most effectively attack the financial infrastructure of criminal organizations.”

On Wednesday, Sessions reportedly re-established a controversial criminal asset seizure program ahead of the committee’s recommendations.
Local law enforcement leaders say a crackdown appears to be next, though they argue there’s no need for it.

“From a practitioner’s point of view, marijuana is not a drug that doesn’t have some danger to it, but it’s not the drug that’s driving violent crime in America,”

http://thehill.com/regulation/administration/343218-trumps-doj-gears-up-for-crackdown-on-marijuana

Life long AL Confederate racist Sessions gonna big him 100Ks of black and brown pot heads.

[spurraider21]

important priorities

[boutons_deux]

important priorities

white male supremacy has been a Repug racist priority for 50 years.

Nixon's War on Drugs targeted blacks, because they're black, and hippies, because resisted the VN war.

[boutons_deux]

As Trump wages war on legal marijuana, military veterans side with pot

The 2 million-member American Legion last spring got involved in a big way by launching a campaign to reduce marijuana restrictions that, it says, hurt veterans and may aggravate a suicide epidemic.

The move reflects the changing politics of marijuana and of a conservative, century-old veterans service organization facing new challenges as its
membership grows with those who served in Iraq and Afghanistan.

http://www.latimes.com/politics/la-na-pol-pot-veterans-201707-story.html#nws=mcnewsletter

I suppose Trash and Little Jeffie have no plan to stop the CIA trafficking cocaine and heroin.

[boutons_deux]

Sessions was hired as slave state racist, and he's delivering

Sessions sets limits on U.S. federal funding for sanctuary cities

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-justice-immigration-idUSKBN1AA2RB?feedType=RSS&feedName=topNews&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+reuters%2FtopNews+%28News+%2F +US+%2F+Top+News%29

[boutons_deux]

House Vote on CFPB Forced Arbitration Rule a Victory for Big Banks and Predatory Lenders


AFR Condemns House Vote to Roll Back CFPB Rule Curbing Forced Arbitration\


“Members of Congress who voted to roll back this rule have thrown in their lot with Wall Street banks and predatory lenders,

who all want to be able to rip off their customers, and

then use forced arbitration as their get-out-of-jail-free card,

so they can keep profiting from illegal actions,”

“They voted for denying Americans the right to take a bank to court if they have been defrauded.”

voters were asked in a recent poll (http://ourfinancialsecurity.org/2017/07/afrcrl-polling-memo-fifth-consecutive-year-broad-backing-cfpb-wall-street-reform/) if the rule helps hold companies accountable, or whether it encourages frivolous lawsuits.

Sixty-six percent of those surveyed approved of the rule,

with 77 percent of Democrats,

68 percent of Independents and

55 percent of Republicans in favor.

Support was broadly consistent across regions.

http://ourfinancialsecurity.org/2017/07/afr-statement-house-vote-cfpb-forced-arbitration-rule-victory-big-banks-predatory-lenders/

Reflexively, Repug ignore citizens' preferences, even their own voters' preferences, to spread their cheeks for BigFinance checks.

[boutons_deux]

ICE agent anonymously speaks out: 'We seem to be targeting the most vulnerable, not the worst' (https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2017/7/25/1683837/-ICE-agent-anonymously-speaks-out-We-seem-to-be-targeting-the-most-vulnerable-not-the-worst)


https://images.dailykos.com/images/385287/story_image/GettyImages-492659230.jpg?1491242947

The agent, who has worked in federal immigration enforcement since the Clinton Administration, has been unsettled by the new order at ICE.

During the campaign, many rank-and-file agents publicly cheered Trump’s pledge to deport more immigrants, and, since Inauguration Day, the Administration has explicitly encouraged them to pursue the undocumented as aggressively as possible.

“We’re going to get sued,” the agent told me at one point.

“You have guys who are doing whatever they want in the field, going after whoever they want.”

At first, the agent spoke to me on the condition that I not publish anything about our conversations. But that has changed. Increasingly angry about the direction in which ICEis moving,

“We used to look at things through the totality of the circumstances when it came to a removal order—that’s out the window,”

People say, ‘Well, they put themselves in this position because they came illegally.’ I totally understand that. But you have to remember that our job is not to judge. The problem is that now there are lots of people who feel free to feel contempt.”


“I don’t see the point in it,” the agent said.

“The plan is to take them back into custody, and then figure it out. I don’t understand it. We’re doing it because we can, and it bothers the hell out of me.”

The agent went on,

“The whole idea is targeting kids.

I know that technically they meet the legal definition of being adults. Fine.

We’re not doing what we tell people we do.

If you look next month, or at the end of this month, at the people in custody, it’s people who’ve been here for years. They’re supposed to be in high school.”


The agent was especially concerned about a new policy that

allows ICE to investigate cases of immigrants who may have paid smugglers to bring their children or relatives into the country.

ICE considers these family members guilty of placing children “directly in harm’s way,” as one spokeswoman recently put it, and

the agency will hold them “accountable for their role in these conspiracies.”

“We seem to be targeting the most vulnerable people, not the worst.”

The agent also believes that the policy will make it harder for the government to handle unaccompanied children who show up at the border.

“You’re going to have kids stuck in detention because parents are too scared of being prosecuted to want to pick them up!” the agent said.


https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2017/7/25/1683837/-ICE-agent-anonymously-speaks-out-We-seem-to-be-targeting-the-most-vulnerable-not-the-worst?detail=emaildkre

Trash "bad hombres"? :lol just another TRASH LIE

[boutons_deux]

Trump’s Energy Secretary Just Got Humiliated By Russian Pranksters

U.S. Secretary of Energy Rick Perry, who oversees America’s nuclear stockpile among his many duties, spent 22 minutes on the phone (https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/energy-environment/wp/2017/07/25/rick-perry-thought-he-was-talking-to-a-world-leader-about-pig-manure-it-was-a-prank-call/?utm_term=.0decdb291da6)recently with two Russian prankers while he thought he was talking to the president of the Ukraine.

http://washingtonjournal.com/2017/07/26/trumps-energy-secretary-just-got-humiliated-russian-pranksters/

[boutons_deux]

Trash protecting BigCorp criminal tax evaders

U.S. government delays Obama earnings-stripping rule deadline

- The U.S. government on Friday gave companies an extra year to comply with an Obama-era regulation meant to crack down on corporations that try to minimize their U.S. tax bills by shifting profits abroad to countries with lower tax rates.

The regulation, known in corporate tax circles as the "385 rule," is intended to combat a tax-avoidance technique called earnings-stripping, in which multinational corporations transfer taxable income from a U.S. subsidiary to a foreign affiliate in the guise of tax-deductible interest payments on internal debt.

The rule, which Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin is now reviewing as part of the Trump administration's push for deregulation, seeks to eliminate the incentive for earnings-stripping by reclassifying certain loans as equity under Section 385 of the U.S. tax code.

The change converts tax-deductible interest payments employed by the schemes into taxable stock dividends.

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-tax-corporations-idUSKBN1AD2LA?feedType=RSS&feedName=topNews&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+reuters%2FtopNews+%28News+%2F +US+%2F+Top+News%29

Trash and predatory BigFinance asshole Mnuchin will kill this rule

[boutons_deux]

Of course Trash supports a crapified internet

Trump Net Neutrality: White House Offers Support For FCC Plan To End Protections

The White House offered its support Tuesday to the proposal of Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai to do away with Obama-era net neutrality protections.

“We support the FCC chair’s efforts to review and consider rolling back these rules and believe that the best way to get fair rules for everyone is for Congress to take action and create regulatory and economic certainty,”

The “Restoring Internet Order” plan, :lol :lol :lol :lol

proposed by Donald Trump appointee Ajit Pai, received nearly 10 million comments in total including 4.7 million in the last 30 days.

http://www.ibtimes.com/trump-net-neutrality-white-house-offers-support-fcc-plan-end-protections-2567446

The oligarchy always get its laws and regs passed (or removed) when the Repug whores are in power.

[Blake]

You dont have the minimal idea of what an straw man argument is.

:lol that's rich

[Mikeanaro]

:lol that's rich
This is richer

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DF10grYXoAAeCix.jpg:large

[Blake]

That red herring is just as rich as your poor understanding of strawmen

[boutons_deux]

Sally Yates Just Alerted The American People To Trump’s Tyrannical Takeover Of The Justice Department

“President Trump’s actions appear aimed at destroying the fundamental independence of the Justice Department,” Yates writes in a New York Times op-ed (https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/28/opinion/sally-yates-protect-the-justice-department-from-president-trump.html?_r=0)published today.

“All the while,he’s ripping the blindfold off Lady Justice and attempting to turn the department into a sword to seek vengeance against his perceived enemies and a shield to protect himselfand his allies.”

“The president is attempting to dismantle the rule of law,” says the former U.S Attorney and Deputy Director of the Justice Department, “destroy the time-honored independence of the Justice Department, and undermine the career men and women who are devoted to seeking justice day in and day out, regardless of which political party is in power.”

“At its core,” writes Yates, “the President’s complaint is that he doesn’t have a political ally at the Justice Department to protect him from the Russia investigation.

And he is apparently trying to bully Mr. Sessions into resigning so he can put someone in place who will.”


“In short, no one at the White House should have anything to do with the decisions about whom or what to investigate or prosecute. Period.”





“We must do more than rubberneck as we drive past this car crash,” concludes Yates.

“We all have a responsibility to protect our Justice Department’s ability to do its job free from interference.

The very foundation of our justice system – the rule of law – depends on it.”



her warning implies an even larger threat.

Trump’s heroes are dictators and authoritarian leaders who take control of the justice system – both prosecutors and the courts- to get their way, just as they try to destroy a free press and discourage anyone from voting who is not guaranteed to support their position.




http://washingtonjournal.com/2017/07/28/sally-yates-just-alerted-american-people-trumps-tyrannical-takeover-justice-department/



https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/28/opinion/sally-yates-protect-the-justice-department-from-president-trump.html?_r=0

[boutons_deux]

Senate Advances Bill Undermining Trump Administration's Energy Research Cuts


The Senate Appropriations Committee moved to sustain funding for energy research and development,
breaking with the president and House of Representatives


Last week, the powerful Senate Appropriations Committee approved the fiscal year 2018 Energy and Water Appropriations Bill (https://www.appropriations.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/FY2018%20Energy%20and%20Water%20Development%20Appr opriations%20Act%20-%20S16091.pdf), which establishes funding levels for energy and water research, development, and infrastructure.

The bill provides (https://www.appropriations.senate.gov/news/majority/senate-fy2018-energy-and-water-development-appropriations-bill-advances) $38.4 billion to fund U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) programs, critical infrastructure projects administered by the Army Corps of Engineers and Bureau of Reclamation, and related agencies.

The bill is $629 million above the fiscal year 2017 enacted level and a whopping $4.1 billion above the President’s request — which cut some DOE programs by as much as 70 percent. The bill was approved 30-1.

First, it not only restores but increases funding for the Advanced Research Projects Agency – Energy (ARPA-E), which funds high-risk, high-reward research with the potential to achieve breakthroughs in U.S. energy competiveness.

While the President’s budget request and the House appropriations bill both

aimed to zero-out and eliminate ARPA-E,

the Senate bill increases its funding by $24 million versus fiscal year 2017 levels.

The Senate bill’s second major break from the President and the House is its relatively high funding levels for the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE).

The Senate bill funds EERE at $1.94 billion, roughly $153 million below fiscal year 2017 levels. This cut pales in comparison to the President’s proposed cut of $1.45 billion (70 percent) or the House’s cut of $986 million (47 percent).

https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/plugged-in/senate-advances-bill-undermining-trump-administrations-energy-research-cuts/

Will the House Repug Freedom Kockus succeed in destroying DoE? That's their goal.

[boutons_deux]

The Office of Environmental Justice Is on the Chopping Block -- Can Democrats Save It?

This tiny corner of the EPA was established 24 years ago to advocate for minorities and the poor, populations most likely to face the consequences of pollution and least able to advocate for themselves.

It does so by acting as a middleman, connecting vulnerable communities with those who can help them. It heads a group that advises EPA officials about injustices and another that brings together representatives from other federal agencies and the White House to swap proposals.

Trump's budget proposal would effectively eliminate the office and the $2 million it takes to operate it.

with the Office of Environmental Justice's fate in doubt, it's become achingly apparent that well before Trump, those who purported to champion environmental justice -- primarily Democratic legislators and presidents -- did little to codify the progress and programs related to it, even when they were best positioned politically to do so.

Trump Takes Aim

Six months into the Trump administration, environmental regulation and enforcement is in broad retreat.

Changes at the EPA have

made it easier to dump coal-mining waste in waterways,

spew greenhouse gasses into the atmosphere and

spray a pesticide that has been found to damage the developing brains of children.

Attorney General Jeff Sessions has banned (https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/attorney-general-jeff-sessions-ends-third-party-settlement-practice) settlements in cases that allowed companies to fund (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/jeff-sessions-kills-doj-settlement-practice-that-funded-community-organizations_us_59371177e4b0aba888b989e4) community projects not directly related to their violations. For example, when

Harley Davidson was cited for selling equipment that polluted the air, it agreed to give $3 million

to an American Lung Association program to help people replace wood stoves with cleaner appliances -- a move toward clean air that was unrelated to motorcycles, but would've helped low-income homeowners. Last week (https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2017/07/20/trump-doj-gives-harley-davidson-3-million-discount-on-obama-era-pollution-fine/?utm_term=.f3c129013008),

the Department of Justice said it didn't have to pay.

You weaken policy development when you don't have an Office of Environmental Justice to play a role in that space.

"You're placing communities' health at risk, and most people don't get that,"

Pruitt "I agree that it is important that all Americans be treated equally under the law," :lol

he said in written responses to questions raised during his confirmation hearing, "including the environmental laws." :lol

http://www.truth-out.org/news/item/41430-the-office-of-environmental-justice-is-on-the-chopping-block-can-democrats-save-it

[boutons_deux]

Leaked Kushner Tape Just Confirmed Our Worst Fears On His “Job” Securing Middle East Peace

Yesterday, White House advisor and Presidential son-in-law Jared Kushner delivered a closed door speech to a group of Republican Congressional interns who were warned against recording the off-the-record speech.

Today, seven and a half minutes of leaked audio were published :lol

by WIRED (https://www.wired.com/story/jared-kushner-middle-east)from the session (below) in which Kushner discusses his approach to solving the Middle East conflict.

Kushner begins his remarks about the Middle East by reassuring everyone that he has researched the topic and history extensively, and says “what I’ve determined from looking at it is that not a whole lot has been accomplished over the last 40 or 50 years we’ve been doing this.”

, offering all the insight of a high school sophomore trying to fill a 1,000-word essay on a book he hasn’t read.
He then admits that, after his exhaustive research into the Middle East’s past, he is ready to cast the history and its potential lessons aside.

http://washingtonjournal.com/2017/08/01/leaked-kushner-tape-just-confirmed-worst-fears-job-securing-middle-east-peace/

He and his airbrain wifey are worth $100Ms, mostly inherited, but are DUMB AS SHIT

[boutons_deux]

Paul Ryan's border wall commercial is as god-awful as he is (https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2017/8/1/1686021/-Paul-Ryan-s-border-wall-commercial-is-as-god-awful-as-he-is)

https://images.dailykos.com/images/431211/story_image/Screen_Shot_2017-08-01_at_9.06.37_AM.png?1501603607


It wasn’t that long ago when Speaker Paul Ryan dismissed the idea of a massive wall (https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-12-05/speaker-ryan-says-not-planning-to-wall-off-entire-mexican-border)along the entirety of the U.S/Mexico border, so maybe now after this

early-2000s-dance-party-meets-an-Axe-body-spray-wearing-Wisconsin-cowboy-at-Crossfit

commercial promoting Donald Trump’s ineffective and immoral wall (https://twitter.com/jorge_aguilarDC/status/892400400363642880) that actual border Republicans don’t really want anyway (https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-03-15/house-republicans-take-their-own-path-on-trump-s-border-wall) and is opposed by over half of Americans according to Rasmussen (http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/current_events/immigration/july_2017/most_voters_say_no_to_border_wall),

we can dispel once and for all with this fiction that Paul Ryan has any spine whatsoever and will never stand by anything from three seconds ago, including his own words:

https://twitter.com/SpeakerRyan/status/892378735512563712 :lol

We can establish the fact that basically only Ryan is less popular (http://thehill.com/homenews/house/330316-poll-disapproval-growing-of-paul-ryan-gop-congress) than Trump and his godforsaken wall.

https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2017/8/1/1686021/-Paul-Ryan-s-border-wall-commercial-is-as-god-awful-as-he-is

[boutons_deux]

Poll: 'Scary' Number of Republicans Support Court-Ordered Press Censorship

45 percent of Republicans favor giving courts the power to shutter "biased" media outlets

To the question "do you favor or oppose permitting the courts to shut down news media outlets for publishing or broadcasting stories that are biased or inaccurate?" 45 percent of Republican respondents said they would support giving courts such powers. A mere 20 percent of Republicans said they oppose the idea.

The poll also found:



55 percent of Republicans support allowing courts to fine media outlets for publishing stories that are deemed "biased" or "inaccurate."
By contrast, only 12 percent of Republicans oppose giving courts the power to fine media outlets for "bias."
71 percent of Republicans trust Trump more than the Washington Post and the New York Times.


Analysts argued that these results clearly indicate that Trump's hatred of the media is moving

more Republicans to view freedom of the press as an obstacle to be overcome, rather than as a necessity.

https://www.commondreams.org/news/2017/08/01/poll-scary-number-republicans-support-court-ordered-press-censorship

[boutons_deux]

Trash's military junta / Goldman-Sacks govt continues to take shape

https://twitter.com/chrisgeidner/status/892428950349246464

[boutons_deux]

Paul Ryan's border wall commercial is as god-awful as he is (https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2017/8/1/1686021/-Paul-Ryan-s-border-wall-commercial-is-as-god-awful-as-he-is)

commercial promoting Donald Trump’s ineffective and immoral wall (https://twitter.com/jorge_aguilarDC/status/892400400363642880) that actual border Republicans don’t really want anyway (https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-03-15/house-republicans-take-their-own-path-on-trump-s-border-wall) and is opposed by over half of Americans according to Rasmussen (http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/current_events/immigration/july_2017/most_voters_say_no_to_border_wall),



https://pbs.twimg.com/profile_images/878715837259153410/LQ0QNz2y_normal.jpgRandy Bryce
✔@IronStache (https://twitter.com/IronStache)

.@SpeakerRyan (https://twitter.com/SpeakerRyan) can just ask me what it's like to get behind an M60 while defending our country in a chopper. I did it for real - not photo op
2:27 PM - Aug 1, 2017 (https://twitter.com/IronStache/status/892466938198315008)

[boutons_deux]

Texas’ War on Local Control is Part of National Trend

Local officials in Texas’ big cities are awfully isolated these days. The Texas Legislature is attacking local control with the kind of zeal it usually reserves for criminals, and the governor has even refused to meet with some urban mayors. But the fight between red states and blue cities isn’t unique to the Lone Star State.

“Texas is getting up there, but state interference is increasingly a national phenomenon,” said Brian Beach, legal director for the Partnership for Working Families. “Governor Abbott has shown, I think, a willingness to pursue some of the more extreme versions.

… But unfortunately, even if he succeeded, Texas would not be alone in adopting those more extreme measures.”

The agenda of the special session (https://www.texasobserver.org/never-say-sine-die/) of the Texas Legislature, now underway, includes a raft of legislation that would pre-empt cities and counties from establishing their own policies.

The measures target everything from property taxes to bathrooms (https://www.texasobserver.org/bathroom-bills-get-second-life-in-special-session/) to trees (https://www.texasobserver.org/texas-legislatures-chainsaw-massacre/).

The state’s most infamous pre-emption measure is its “sanctuary cities” ban (https://www.texasobserver.org/need-know-sb-4-legal-battle/), set to go into effect September 1, but even that legislation isn’t as unusual as Texans might think.

Three other states — Georgia, Indiana and Mississippi — all passed “sanctuary” legislation this year, and at least 21 bills were filed in states around the country, according to Michael Bare, a policy analyst with Grassroots Change, a nonprofit that tracks pre-emption legislation (https://grassrootschange.net/preemption-watch/).

They were part of at least 140 total pre-emption bills filed this year, Bare said.

“These laws, which are corporate-backed state power grabs, are happening in places all over the country,”

state lawmakers have increasingly adopted it to push back against progressive local policies.

“States became one-stop shops,” said Alfano. “They can come in at the state level and take power away from local officials.”

In Missouri and Iowa this year, governors signed laws that would undo minimum wage increases passed by cities, catapulting workers back into poverty.

Last year, Ohio managed to pre-empt wage hikes before Cleveland could pass one, and

Arizona signed a law to deprive cities of essential funding if they’re found in conflict with any state laws.

https://www.texasobserver.org/texas-war-local-control/

Repugs in control? non-stop, widespread, authoritarian CRAPIFICATION

[boutons_deux]

Think Tank Led By Man Who Warned High Schooler’s Clock Was ‘Half A Bomb’ Says It’s Advising White House On Qatar Crisis

A new think tank led by men associated for years with conspiracy theories about Muslims is now advising the White House on an ongoing dispute between Qatar,

Reaboi has warned (http://www.breitbart.com/national-security/2011/02/15/frank-gaffney-david-horowitz-confront-suhail-khan-on-sean-hannitys-show/) of “the infiltration of the conservative movement” by GOP figures who ask the party to consider American Muslims’ concerns and see Islamophobia as real.“the sheer amount of money being allocated by Congress to fund what is essentially an invasion of the third-world in the form of refugees and illegal aliens [which] is outright treasonous.”

Hanson has described the Orlando shooting (http://www.breitbart.com/video/2016/06/12/center-for-security-policys-hanson-orlando-shooting-completely-in-keeping-with-totalitarian-islamic-code-shariah/) as “in keeping with totalitarian Islamic code” and suggested (https://theintercept.com/2015/09/18/prominent-anti-muslim-group-says-ahmed-mohameds-clock-resembles-ied-trigger-produced-iranians/) that

a homemade clock brought to a school by a 14-year-old American Muslim “was half a bomb.”

all three men spent time working at the Center for Security Policy, an organization whose founder, Frank Gaffney, has

claimed President Barack Obama was a Muslim (http://www.politico.com/blogs/donald-trump-administration/2016/11/gaffney-denies-nyt-wsj-reports-that-hes-a-trump-adviser-231504) and that

Gen. David Petraeus submitted (https://thinkprogress.org/frank-gaffney-accuses-general-david-petraeus-of-submission-to-sharia-law-f4aa6cab9078) to Islamic Sharia law.

Reaboi was true to form, blasting national security adviser H.R. McMaster and Defense Secretary Jim Mattis for their faith in experienced, conventional experts,

“the national security smart set” would try to hinder Trump’s agenda, and that Secretary of State Rex Tillerson is failing to carry out Trump’s vision by urging caution with regard to Qatar.

the president reassert himself, because I think that he’s begun to see that some of the people that he’s brought on don’t necessarily share his priorities and his vision,” Reaboi told HuffPost, adding that any president “deserves and requires” people who can “carry out his vision.”

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/think-tank-led-by-man-who-warned-high-schoolers-clock-was-half-a-bomb-claims-its-advising-white-house-on-qatar-crisis_us_5980e768e4b02b36343e9920?utm_medium=emai l&utm_campaign=__TheMorningEmail__080217&utm_content=__TheMorningEmail__080217+CID_85c7604a ec3e96566061ec6feb1cfa43&utm_source=Email%20marketing%20software&utm_term=HuffPost&ncid=newsltushpmgnews__TheMorningEmail__080217

This is probably Bannon's influence, pushing his apocalyptic clash of Christian vs Muslim civilizations (Muslims got oil so ...)

Trash has a "vision"? :lol Sicko Trash doesn't even have a fully functioning brain, so I'd sat tgat his vision is paranoid hallucination

oh, wait, Trash did have a vision of 100s of Muslims in NJ celebrating on 9/11. :lol

[boutons_deux]

In fully Repug-crapified America, there won't be much if any prosecution of govt or BigCrop crimes

http://www.truth-out.org/media/k2/items/cache/3f14017cd3dd3bca43e6163b0ec897ab_L.jpg

[boutons_deux]

Trash's ethics guy is ANTI-ETHICS :lol

New Ethics Chief Has Fought to Roll Back Restrictions
https://static01.nyt.com/images/2017/07/27/us/27dc-ethics/27dc-ethics-blog427.jpg

David J. Apol, named by President Trump last week as the new head of the Office of Government Ethics, has repeatedly clashed with colleagues over his career at the agency as he sought to roll back or loosen ethics requirements on federal employees, including those in the White House,

his former colleagues said. Mr. Apol has argued that the agency is often too rigid in interpreting conflict-of-interest laws,

Mr. Apol suggested that Derek T. Kan, then a general manager (http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump-transportation-idUSKBN17901S) at Lyft (http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump-transportation-idUSKBN17901S), the car-sharing service, should not be required to sell his vested stock options in the company before he accepted a job at the Department of Transportation as the head of policy (https://www.congress.gov/nomination/115th-congress/458).

many policy matters now before the Department of Transportation could affect Lyft’s financial fate — including possible actions related to self-driving cars and the car-sharing industry.

he proudly acknowledged that he had frequently raised questions about how the agency interprets federal ethics laws that govern the activity of 2.7 million federal employees in more than 130 executive agencies, including the White House.

Mr. Apol has advocated consulting with the White House before he issues certain policies

“Moves like this jeopardize O.G.E.’s independence,”

Mr. Apol had argued that a former government official, who had helped oversee the issuance or management of a government contract, should be allowed to take a job with the company that won the contract and then interact with his former colleagues, despite a ban on lobbying by former agency officials.

Dave had a tendency toward idiosyncratic legal interpretations that frequently were more permissive than O.G.E. orthodoxy.”

worried that with Mr. Apol in charge, decades’ worth of ethics rulings might be revised in a way that will make it easier for Mr. Trump and members of his administration to bend federal ethics rules.

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/26/us/politics/david-apol-office-of-government-ethics-trump.html

The crapifying corruption will be UnPresidented

[boutons_deux]

Stephen Miller Dismisses Famous Statue of Liberty Poem: It Was ‘Added Later’

Miller, however, didn’t spend long on this argument, not deeming the poem, that was in fact added to the statue 17 years after it opened, not relevant to the debate of immigration.

“The Statue of Liberty is a symbol of liberty and lightening the world, of American liberty lighting the world.

The poem that you’re referring to was added later;

it’s not actually an original part of the Statue of Liberty.”


Acosta fired back saying that what Miller was doing “sounds like some national park revisionism.”

https://www.mediaite.com/online/stephen-miller-dismisses-famous-statue-of-liberty-poem-it-was-added-later/

[boutons_deux]

‘Screech’s older and racist brother.’: Trump aide Stephen Miller gets mocked over immigration meltdown

“Stephen Miller proves that if you don’t want your new immigration plan to be called racist, don’t let it be presented by a creepy racist,” actor John Fugelsang tweeted (https://twitter.com/JohnFugelsang/status/892836300012871681).

“Poor Stephen Miller is getting very upset,” another user wrote. (https://twitter.com/jbreisblatt/status/892827986684235776) “Its really hard when the facts, data and truth are not on your side Stephen.”

Britni Danielle (https://twitter.com/BritniDWrites)
(https://twitter.com/BritniDWrites)✔@BritniDWrites (https://twitter.com/BritniDWrites)

Stephen Miller is what white nationalism looks like in 2017. It's not KKK rallies & hoods, it's well-spoken, educated bigots in suits.
2:40 PM - Aug 2, 2017 (https://twitter.com/BritniDWrites/status/892832483183480833)


Sam Stein (https://twitter.com/samstein)
(https://twitter.com/samstein)✔@samstein (https://twitter.com/samstein)

stephen miller, santa monica native and duke grad, accusing people of elitism.
2:23 PM - Aug 2, 2017 (https://twitter.com/samstein/status/892828324472532992)


James Poniewozik (https://twitter.com/poniewozik)
(https://twitter.com/poniewozik)✔@poniewozik (https://twitter.com/poniewozik)

About time someone like Stephen Miller had the political genius to take on the very overrated Statue of Liberty, who everybody hates
2:35 PM - Aug 2, 2017 (https://twitter.com/poniewozik/status/892831319113248768)


Bill Wilson @wtwesq (https://twitter.com/wtwesq)

New MAGA Plan:
1) Tweet a lot more
2) Put Stephen Miller in front of camera more often
3) Wait for the Federal marshals to arrive
3:21 PM - Aug 2, 2017 (https://twitter.com/wtwesq/status/892842826547044354)


Alexandra Petri (https://twitter.com/petridishes)
(https://twitter.com/petridishes)✔@petridishes (https://twitter.com/petridishes)

so could we describe Stephen Miller as statue-wary
2:54 PM - Aug 2, 2017 (https://twitter.com/petridishes/status/892836006373855235)


Alexandra Petri (https://twitter.com/petridishes)
(https://twitter.com/petridishes)✔@petridishes (https://twitter.com/petridishes)

look the original constitution was just a blank page
-Stephen Miller soon probably
2:38 PM - Aug 2, 2017 (https://twitter.com/petridishes/status/892832048876060673)


andy lassner (https://twitter.com/andylassner)
(https://twitter.com/andylassner)✔@andylassner (https://twitter.com/andylassner)

Stephen Miller is maybe the single worst thing to come out of Los Angeles and we've had some bad shit come out of here.
2:41 PM - Aug 2, 2017 (https://twitter.com/andylassner/status/892832726176354304)


John Cook @johnjcook (https://twitter.com/johnjcook)

wow crazy quote from stephen miller at the podium “actually self-sucking is totally normal behavior and was practiced by nobility in ancien
2:50 PM - Aug 2, 2017 (https://twitter.com/johnjcook/status/892835083845021700)


Matt Fuller (https://twitter.com/MEPFuller)
(https://twitter.com/MEPFuller)✔@MEPFuller (https://twitter.com/MEPFuller)

Sometimes Stephen Miller forgets that he's at the White House podium in front of the nation and not Union Pub in front of Sessions staffers.
3:00 PM - Aug 2, 2017 (https://twitter.com/MEPFuller/status/892837609608806400)


Parker Molloy (https://twitter.com/ParkerMolloy)
(https://twitter.com/ParkerMolloy)✔@ParkerMolloy (https://twitter.com/ParkerMolloy)

Stephen Miller made it out of that briefing without calling anyone a "cuck," so there's at least that.
3:08 PM - Aug 2, 2017 (https://twitter.com/ParkerMolloy/status/892839440099495936)· Chicago, IL (https://twitter.com/search?q=place%3A1d9a5370a355ab0c)


Steve Redmond @sjredmond (https://twitter.com/sjredmond)

Just as I was wondering what the WH disaster of the day was going to be, in walks Stephen Miller. Back under the rock for you!
2:59 PM - Aug 2, 2017 (https://twitter.com/sjredmond/status/892837326677835776)


Donald J Orwell @DonaldJOrwell (https://twitter.com/DonaldJOrwell)

Spoiler for Stephen Miller: The Statue of Liberty is from another country and came to America, just like all of us but the Native Americans.
3:12 PM - Aug 2, 2017 (https://twitter.com/DonaldJOrwell/status/892840654107140096)


BlackFilmsonNetflix @blknetflix (https://twitter.com/blknetflix)

The fact they bought Stephen Miller out, means Trump really, really, really wants a distraction from Russia. #PressBriefing (https://twitter.com/hashtag/PressBriefing?src=hash)
1:57 PM - Aug 2, 2017 (https://twitter.com/blknetflix/status/892821668665675776)



https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DGP5N_aUQAASXbe.jpg:small (https://twitter.com/DesertWolfPS/status/892831175546290180/photo/1)


https://pbs.twimg.com/profile_images/378800000846063689/7c0bc612bf25fdb17d63b93154a548c4_normal.jpegDesert WolfPS @DesertWolfPS (https://twitter.com/DesertWolfPS)

Stephen Miller explaining Trump's new immigration policies
2:35 PM - Aug 2, 2017 (https://twitter.com/DesertWolfPS/status/892831175546290180)


http://www.rawstory.com/2017/08/screechs-older-and-racist-brother-trump-aide-stephen-miller-gets-mocked-over-immigration-meltdown/

[boutons_deux]

John Kelly is a nightmare in a uniform

Despite the respect he has from both parties, Trump's new chief of staff has a terrifying record.

Kelly’s record during his short tenure at Homeland Security showed that he was anything but a moderating influence on Trump’s worst instincts.

Kelly has supported (http://www.cnn.com/2017/04/21/politics/jeff-sessions-john-kelly-border-wall-cnntv/index.html) Trump's idea to build a wall on the Mexican border,

has floated the idea of requiring visitors to the country to turn over their social media passwords, and

has defended (https://www.dhs.gov/news/2017/06/07/oral-testimony-dhs-secretary-kelly-house-committee-homeland-security-hearing-titled) the administration’s travel ban.

As Julianne Hing wrote for The Nation (https://www.thenation.com/article/john-kellys-promotion-is-a-disaster-for-immigrants/) last week, Kelly turned Homeland Security into a “deportation machine,” inflicting “apprehension and fear” on immigrant communities.

Immigration arrests have increased 40 percent (http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump-immigration-idUSKCN18D2CA) since Trump’s inauguration, including

more than 10,000 “non-criminal arrests” of people whose only crime is being in the United States ( aka "bad hombres" :lol )

Kelly told CNN (http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2017/apr/23/john-kelly-homeland-security-chief-dreamers-arent-/) in April ... “If you are simply here illegally, we don’t really have the time to go after you,”

Kelly has suggested “expediting” (https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/in-memo-trump-administration-weighs-expanding-the-expedited-deportation-powers-of-dhs/2017/07/14/ce5f16b4-68ba-11e7-9928-22d00a47778f_story.html?utm_term=.e536743cbf95) removals by bypassing immigration courts altogether.

given what we know about what happens in countries that rely on the military to fill a void where credible political leadership has vanished, that should worry everyone.

https://theoutline.com/post/2042/john-kelly-is-a-nightmare-in-a-uniform?utm_source=NL

Maybe one day Genl Kelly with give a do a Genl Alexander Haig: "I'm in charge here" :lol

[boutons_deux]

Sessions is a dangerous, vindictive Napoleonic fool

Attorney general threatens to punish Stockton, San Bernardino and other 'sanctuary cities'

In another move to pressure cities into cooperating with immigration enforcement,

the U.S. Department of Justice (http://www.latimes.com/topic/crime-law-justice/u.s.-department-of-justice-ORGOV0000160-topic.html) threatened Thursday to withhold crime-fighting help from four cities — including two in California —

if they refuse to help federal agents target jail inmates suspected of being in the country illegally.

But the decision to publicly question San Bernardino and Stockton as well as Baltimore and Albuquerque

appeared poorly thought out. :lol That assumes ANY thought at all :lol

Perplexed officials in all four cities said they do not operate any jails. :lol

In two, officials said they have no sanctuary policies. :lol

http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-sanctuary-cities-funding-20170803-story.html#nws=mcnewsletter

That's tellin them, Jefferson Beauregard! The Racist South Will Fuck It Up Again!

The Trash Klown Kar keeps on rollin, and 3 more years.

[boutons_deux]

Nebraska State Patrol Forced Vaginal Exams Upon Female Recruits, Lawsuit Alleges

Women applying to join the Nebraska State Patrol were required to undergo vaginal and rectal exams that their male counterparts generally were not, according to a federal lawsuit that has prompted a criminal investigation.

For at least three years, female candidates were subjected to the sexually invasive exams by a male physician that was selected by the state patrol,

The state patrol had said the physical examination, which was allegedly performed by Dr. Stephen Haudrich of Lincoln,

checked for hernias in the women, :lol

Outside doctors have also said that the examination procedure is unnecessary to check for hernias.

“There would be no reason to look in the genital or anal area,”

a bit suspect,” :lol

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/female-recruits-face-pelvic-exams_us_59833bd7e4b06d4888749d73?11i&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=__TheMorningEmail__080417&utm_content=__TheMorningEmail__080417+CID_ced62264 5ce865a82ace321097eb4353&utm_source=Email%20marketing%20software&utm_term=HuffPost&ncid=newsltushpmgnews__TheMorningEmail__080417

Repub red state misogynist Sooper Troopers, as reliable as global warming

Now, let's the photos and vids of the examinations.

[boutons_deux]

Governor Who Switched Parties For Trump Owes Millions In Taxes After Deal With Russian Company

It was a nice photo-op for the West Virginia governor, but there seems to be more to the story than a simple change of heart.

“Jim Justice deceived the voters of West Virginia when he ran as a Democrat 8 months ago,” said DGA Executive Director Elisabeth Pearson.

“West Virginians have learned that they simply can’t trust Jim Justice. He will always put his financial interests above the needs of West Virginians.

“As Republicans have repeatedly said, Jim Justice owes millions of dollars in unpaid company taxes,

after a deal with a Russian coal company.

The debts have only worsened during Justice’s term as governor. I

f President Trump cut a deal, we hope it does not put U.S. taxpayers on the hook to bail out Jim Justice’s personal finances.”

it’s unclear if Republicans, who had previously criticized him for his financial dealings, will be as eager to do so.

After all, most GOP leaders in Washington have repeatedly turned a blind eye to Trump’s transgressions.In any event,

it’s no surprise that both men thought it was necessary to join teams at a time when each of them is under fire.

Unpaid taxes?

Sketchy financial dealings?

Ties to Russian companies?

It’s a match made in heaven.

http://www.politicususa.com/2017/08/03/governor-switched-parties-trump-owes-millions-taxes-deal-russian-company.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+politicususa%2FfJAl+%28Politi cus+USA+%29

[boutons_deux]

Trump impressed by Stephen Miller’s ‘Rainman’ skills and may have him replace Scaramucci

Miller “has a ‘Rainman’ ability to recall immigration statistics,” Allen noted.

Allen also reports that Trump “dug the performances” of Miller on TV.

“Steve Bannon likes the idea of Miller for the job, and Miller was the hero of the West Wing after he attacked Acosta as a ‘cosmopolitan’ for his views on immigration,” Allen reported.

“When Miller finished that press briefing, his colleagues high-fived him, according to Sebastian Gorka, a national-security aide who’s a favorite of the president’s for his over-the-top TV hits.”

“The super-key point: Trump cares primarily about how people perform on TV,”

http://www.rawstory.com/2017/08/trump-impressed-by-stephen-millers-rainman-skills-and-may-have-him-replace-scaramucci-report/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+TheRawStory+%28The+Raw+Story% 29

[boutons_deux]

Trash (Bannon, Miller, Gorka, Stone, Breitbart, alt-Reich) is on a mission to convert white resentment into a federal agency

Trump appointees with white power leanings are not just scaling back federal civil rights protections.

They are elevating the defense of white Americans across the government as the nation’s demographics become increasingly diverse.

This startling shift can be seen across many departments, from justice to education to environmental protection to labor.

It’s not just top appointees in policymaking posts who have long opposed (https://www.propublica.org/article/devos-candice-jackson-civil-rights-office-education-department) affirmative action and worked (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kris_Kobach#Immigration_lawsuits) to subvert equal rights for minorities;

it’s also emerging civil rights enforcement directives (https://www.commondreams.org/news/2017/08/02/new-doj-memo-shows-trump-intensifying-assault-civil-rights),

proposed budgets (https://www.propublica.org/article/trump-administration-rolls-back-civil-rights-efforts-federal-government) slashing civil rights lawyers and

announcements (https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/01/us/politics/trump-affirmative-action-universities.html)for new anti-minority agendas.

“This White House initiative represents a dangerous departure from policies and practices that help heal our nation’s racial divisions;

instead, it serves as a desperate appeal to the worst fears of those who consciously or subconsciously despise the increasing diversity and shifting power dynamic in America today,”

http://www.rawstory.com/2017/08/trump-is-on-a-mission-to-convert-white-resentment-into-a-federal-agency/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+TheRawStory+%28The+Raw+Story% 29

[boutons_deux]

Just another ignorant fuck, made ignorant and stupid by decades in the military?

New WH Chief of Staff Apparently Clueless About What the Constitution Says About the President (https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2017/8/4/1686914/-New-WHChief-of-Staff-Apparently-Clueless-About-What-the-Constitution-Says-About-the-President)

Kelly, apparently oblivious to what is actually contained in that “piece of paper,” then continued:


“So where did the oath come from? As the story goes it’s generally accurate as I understand it.

They were about to inaugurate our very first president, who’d never done that before, George Washington, in our first capital, New York City.

They were just about to go out and do it, and someone said, don’t we need an oath?

Because up until then they had been Englishmen and Englishmen and Englishwomen and had always taken their oath to the sovereign.

So they sat down and wrote up the oath that you generally are about to take and handed it to George Washington before he became President. The only thing he added to that oath was so help me God.”


Really? As George Washington was about to step out on the balcony to be inaugurated somebody suddenly thought,

“Oh shit, we need to have some kind of oath for him to take?”

But this is the ridiculous story that the new White House chief of staff actually believes is “generally accurate” — a story that would be hard to believe even

if the president’s oath weren’t right there in the freakin’ Constitution.

Not only did Kelly tell his completely insane story (which of course

also included the long-ago-debunked myth (http://religionnews.com/2013/01/18/so-help-me-god-isnt-in-official-presidential-oath/) that George Washington added the words “so help me God” to his oath)

at the commencement at one of our military service academies, but

his not knowing that the president’s oath is in the Constitution went completely unnoticed by every news organization that covered this commencement.

https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2017/8/4/1686914/-New-WHChief-of-Staff-Apparently-Clueless-About-What-the-Constitution-Says-About-the-President?detail=emaildkre

[boutons_deux]

Yet another ignorant little asshole, career racist, a little Napolean, with no personal authority, exploiting his positional authority.

Here’s why Jeff Sessions’s leak probe press conference was misleading

“This culture of leaking must stop,” Sessions said, echoing Trump’s increasingly bitter tweets.

Flanking Sessions were Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, the Director of National Intelligence, Daniel Coats, and William Evanina, head of the little-known National Counterintelligence and Security Center.

“Conspicuously absent,” The Washington Post noted (https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/attorney-general-says-justice-dept-has-tripled-the-number-of-leak-probes/2017/08/04/1a395064-791d-11e7-9eac-d56bd5568db8_story.html), “were representatives for the FBI, which generally investigates leaks.”

U.S. intelligence agencies are barred from criminal investigations of leaks (although they conduct their own internal probes).

“Only the FBI has jurisdiction to conduct that type of investigation,”

“Indeed, the entire intel establishment has no authority over leaks.“

The National Counterintelligence and Security Center (https://www.dni.gov/index.php/ncsc-home), says Marion “Spike” Bowman, a former deputy chief of the agency, is only a policy-making body and “has no powers other than persuasion” to get access to the progress of a leak investigation.

Coats, the Director of National Intelligence, who was featured at the Sessions press conference. It has “no investigative, subpoena or other powers,”

Sessions added a dark element to his Friday announcement, suggesting he might start issuing subpoenas to reporters.

The secret monitoring of media organizations could well accompany such investigations, history shows (http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/14/us/phone-records-of-journalists-of-the-associated-press-seized-by-us.html).

http://www.rawstory.com/2017/08/heres-why-jeff-sessionss-leak-probe-press-conference-was-misleading/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+TheRawStory+%28The+Raw+Story% 29

the tiny, fraudulent Wizard of Oz trying to intimidate the media, trying to hide the Trash shit show behind a curtain of fear.

[boutons_deux]

Bush’s Ethics Lawyer’s Reacts To Conway Wanting Lie Detectors At The White House To Stop Leaks

Richard W. Painter @RWPUSA (https://twitter.com/RWPUSA)

Kellyanne wants lie detectors in the White House?

Try one on the press secretary podium.

The place will light up like a disco!

7:27 PM - Aug 4, 2017 (https://twitter.com/RWPUSA/status/893629593999085568)

http://washingtonjournal.com/2017/08/05/bushs-ethics-lawyers-reacts-conway-wanting-lie-detectors-white-house-stop-leaks/ (http://washingtonjournal.com/2017/08/05/bushs-ethics-lawyers-reacts-conway-wanting-lie-detectors-white-house-stop-leaks/)

And on Trash's podiums :lol

[Thread]

^They've finally discovered a tunnel to the surface for Bush.

Glory b.

And what does he do? You'd think he'd lash back for being locked out in the rain since his "win?" Noooooooooooooooooo. Just as chipper and good natured as you'd expect of a retard.

[boutons_deux]

In latest ferocious video, NRA's Dana Loesch warns The New York Times: 'We're coming for you' (http://feeds.dailykos.com/~r/dailykos/index/~3/qe_wCeiGg7o/-In-latest-ferocious-video-NRA-s-Dana-Loesch-warns-The-New-York-Times-We-re-coming-for-you)

https://feeds.dailykos.com/~r/dailykos/index/~3/qe_wCeiGg7o/-In-latest-ferocious-video-NRA-s-Dana-Loesch-warns-The-New-York-Times-We-re-coming-for-you

There's plenty of you crazy gun fellators around to take this stupid bitch seriously.

[boutons_deux]

Jeff Sessions Marijuana Task Force Just Backfired ‘Big League’

According to AP:




“The Task Force, a group of prosecutors and federal law enforcement officials,

has come up with no new policy recommendations

to advance the attorney general’s aggressively anti-marijuana views.

The group’s report largely reiterates the current Justice Department policy on marijuana.”


Instead, AP has concluded after reviewing documents, the Task Force will be advising the Justice Department to “keep studying whether to change or rescind the Obama administration’s more hands-off approach to enforcement…”

Whoops.

http://washingtonjournal.com/2017/08/05/jeff-sessions-marijuana-task-force-just-backfired-big-league/

"Heckuva job, J-Beau"

You need to hire some more white male supremacists, xenophobes, jingoists, and Christian Taliban for DoJ, maybe some assholes from Liberty or Orifice Roberts "universities"

[boutons_deux]

Trash's life-long strategy of stiffing investors and suppliers being duplicated at Ditsy Devos' DoE

New Fears For Public Service Loan Forgiveness

Public Service Loan Forgiveness was created a decade ago. A 2016 blog post (https://blog.ed.gov/2016/06/qualify-public-service-loan-forgiveness/), which still appears on the official ed.gov website, describes it as a "broad, employment-based forgiveness program for federal student loans."

Anyone who works for the government or a nonprofit can have their loans erased after 10 years of on-time monthly payments,

Our previous reporting has showed that many people in the last 10 years made binding life decisions based on the promise of Public Service Loan Forgiveness.

They chose lower-paying jobs in the public sector, and enrolled in payment plans, as instructed, that left their loans piling up interest.

Ten years into their careers, if stuck with thousands of dollars in debt they hadn't planned on, many will have to forego buying a home or saving for retirement.

The department says it has taken no final action on any of those half a million PSLF applicants. It may have accepted their paperwork, the filing states, but those are only "interim, non-binding, individualized determinations."

In fact, the filing states that final eligibility for PSLF is decided only after those 10 years of payments:
"Once a borrower has made 120 qualifying payments, she may submit an application for PSLF."

"The expectations and financial well-being of thousands of dedicated public servants hang in the balance in this case,"

"In its new filing, the

Department of Education unfortunately reiterates that it has no intention of upholding promises made under the very program it created.

We find this position unfair and unlawful."

http://www.npr.org/2017/08/02/541126799/new-fears-for-public-service-loan-forgiveness?utm_source=npr_newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_content=20170806&utm_campaign=&utm_term=

[boutons_deux]

Trump Just Announced End Of Obama Rule Allowing Nursing Home Victims To Sue For Mistreatment

The Trump administration is preparing to eliminate protections that allow victims of alleged nursing home abuse to sue their caretakers.

The Hill is reporting today that (http://thehill.com/regulation/healthcare/345411-fight-over-right-to-sue-nursing-homes-heats-up), “The Centers for Medicare & Medicare Services (CMS) announced plans in June to do away with an Obama-era rule that prohibited nursing homes that accept Medicare or Medicaid funds from including language in their resident contracts requiring that disputes be settled by a third party rather than a court.”

contractually forcing patients to surrender their right to sue a nursing home can’t be good for seniors. Trump, however, doesn’t seem to care.

http://washingtonjournal.com/2017/08/06/trump-just-announced-end-obama-rule-allowing-nursing-home-victims-sue-mistreatment/

"a third party" I can guess who that would be :lol

same shit as forcing employees, customers into kangaroo court arbitration peopled by corporate lawyers.

[boutons_deux]

31 year old sicko asshole, been an asshole his whole life.

As a Jew, he probably won't ever have "come to Jesus" epiphany about his assholiness

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IqA_IgcQzpw

Read a good analogy by Josh Marshall:

The Darkness and the Rot

Eventually I sensed that Trump wasn’t inducing people’s self-destruction so much as he was acting like a divining rod,

revealing rot that existed already but was not apparent.

It may seem like an odd comparison.

But I’m reminded of the effect in the Pirates of the Caribbean movie series where the cursed pirates appear to be flesh and blood bodies.

But the moonlight reveals them as desiccated skeletons, animated but undead.

The rot was there but hidden.

Trump is the moonlight.

Perhaps better to say, to invert our metaphor,

Trump is the darkness.

the evangelical right political faction, which is distinct and different.

Nothing I have seen before has more clearly revealed this group’s moral rot than the adoration of Trump,

an unchurched hedonist with the moral compass of a predator

who is lauded and almost worshipped purely and

entirely because he produces political deliverables.

But it’s not just them. It’s a general malady.

Trump is exposing our collective rot.

The rotten flock to him.

And there’s so much rot to go around.

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/the-darkness-and-the-rot

[boutons_deux]

Trump administration refuses to close fossil fuel loophole, admits it will cost taxpayers millions

Expert contends Interior Department underestimates revenue losses to taxpayers.

The Trump administration’s decision not to close a loophole that allowed energy companies to sell coal, oil, and natural gas at significantly depressed prices will cost taxpayers $75 million per year, a fact the administration itself acknowledged in a Federal Register notice (https://s3.amazonaws.com/public-inspection.federalregister.gov/2017-16571.pdf) published Monday.

will be a net decrease in royalties as a result of the changes.

“They are hurting coal and oil and gas communities that need the revenue to diversify their communities and adjust to the changing energy realities,”

“The plan to repeal the ONRR rule… is an egregious handout to oil, gas, and coal companies, literally redirecting taxpayer resources into industry coffers,”

Critics applauded closing what they saw as a loophole allowing companies, mainly coal mining firms, to sell their product to subsidiaries or affiliates at deflated prices.

“This decision flies in the face of experts and government watchdogs (https://www.usnews.com/opinion/economic-intelligence/2015/06/24/taxpayers-shortchanged-by-low-blm-oil-royalty-rates) who agree that

a 12.5 percent royalty is excessively low, costing taxpayers, states, and the U.S. government much-needed revenues,”

Zimmerman wrote.

“In fact, the excessively low 12.5 percent royalty rate for onshore oil and gas production is a primary reason the

Interior Department has been flagged since 2011 by the Government Accountability Office (http://www.gao.gov/assets/690/685335.pdf) as a high-risk area vulnerable to fraud, waste, abuse, and mismanagement.”

https://thinkprogress.org/trump-coal-loophole-will-cost-taxpayers/

With an anti-environment asshole fraud like Zinke at Interior, "the corruption will be UnPresidented"

[boutons_deux]

Secrecy and Suspicion Surround Trump’s Deregulation Teams

ProPublica and The New York Times identify more possible conflicts of interest among appointees, as Democrats in Congress demand greater transparency from the White House.

When President Trump ordered federal agencies to form teams (https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2017/02/24/presidential-executive-order-enforcing-regulatory-reform-agenda) to dismantle government regulations, the Transportation Department turned to people with deep industry ties.

One appointee had previously lobbied the department on behalf of American Airlines. Another held executive roles for several electric and hybrid car companies regulated by the department. A third was a lawyer who represented United Airlines in regulatory matters.

The three appointees have been identified by ProPublica and The New York Times in a continuing effort to track members of the deregulation teams. The appointments, previously unreported, follow a pattern identified by the two news organizations:

By and large, the Trump administration has stacked the teams with political appointees, some of whom may be reviewing rules their former employers sought to weaken or kill.

A full vetting of industry connections has been difficult because some agencies have declined to provide information about the appointees — not even their names.

https://www.propublica.org/article/secrecy-and-suspicion-surround-trumps-deregulation-teams

Trash/Bannon/Repugs enabling the oligarchy to better fuck America and Americans.

[boutons_deux]

The RNC Just Hired A New Spokeswoman With A History Of Racism & Bigotry

their new spokeswoman, 29-year old Kayleigh McEnany – the same woman who is now running the White House’s official “Trump TV” news channel.

Twitter users immediately began digging through McEnany’s online past and found several instances of what would be extremely problematic statements for any decent human being.



McEnany has joked about “birtherism,” excused Donald Trump’s “grab her by the pussy” remarks, defended the flying of the Confederate flag, and propagated harmful transphobic myths.

http://washingtonjournal.com/2017/08/07/rnc-just-hired-new-spokeswoman-history-racism-bigotry/

iow, she's the prefect RNC spokesbitch, racist, LGBT hater, birther, approves sexual assault, pro-Confederacy

[boutons_deux]

Leaked Emails :lol :lol Just Revealed Trump’s Orwellian Tactics To Keep USDA From Stemming Climate Change

When there is a reference to efforts to reduce greenhouse gases,

the staff of the USDA has been instructed to refer to it as

ways to “build soil organic matter, increase nutrient efficiency,”

according to a report by The Guardian (https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2017/aug/07/usda-climate-change-language-censorship-emails)(UK).




“A missive from Bianca Moebius-Clune, director of soil health (USDA),” according to an internal memo obtained by The Guardian from the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS),

“lists terms that should be avoided by staff and those that should replace them.

‘Climate change’ is in the ‘avoid” category.”

“In her email to staff, dated 16 February this year,” adds The Guardian, “Moebius-Clune said the new language was given to her staff and suggests it be passed on.

She writes that, ‘We won’t change the modeling, just how we talk about it.”


She adds that “a colleague from USDA’s public affairs team gave advice to ‘tamp down on discretionary messaging right now.'”

http://washingtonjournal.com/2017/08/07/leaked-emails-just-revealed-trumps-orwellian-tactics-keep-usda-stemming-climate-change/

The Oligarchy's Repugs emulating the Ministry of Truth throughout govt.

Rick Scott/FL already forbade his FL govt to use words, phrase indicating global warming.

[boutons_deux]

US to relax rules protecting sage grouse, in win for oil drillers


http://2d0yaz2jiom3c6vy7e7e5svk.wpengine.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/Sage-Grouse-Youtube-1-800x430.jpg


http://www.rawstory.com/2017/08/us-to-relax-rules-protecting-sage-grouse-in-win-for-oil-drillers/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+TheRawStory+%28The+Raw+Story% 29

[boutons_deux]

Uninterested Trump Is Letting Business Executives Write Their Own Laws

While the law requires each group to have a fair and representative composition, Trump’s shadowy groups are loaded with business executives who often have a potential or very real conflict of interest in what they are doing.

Through the Justice Department, Trump is refusing to follow laws and guidelines on the degree of transparency under which these private groups must operate.


“What’s different now,” reports McClatchy news (http://www.mcclatchydc.com/news/politics-government/white-house/article165742592.html), “is that Trump aides more often state that

they do not need to abide by the Federal Advisory Committee Act (FACA) or

that the law doesn’t require as much information be disclosed as has been in the past”

Trump’s Justice Department says it is voluntarily abiding by the provision of FACA, but has made clear it does believe it needs to disclose the names of panel members, or announce future meetings in advance, or allow outsiders or the press to listen to the discussions.


The public interest group Food and Water Watch, (https://www.foodandwaterwatch.org/news/we-need-our-infrastructure-stay-public-thats-why-were-suing-trump) which filed the suit, charges the council acts behind closed doors, doesn’t do public reports as required and that both of the

co-chairs “stand to gain financially from the infrastructure deals they’re supposed to be crafting.”

“From the start,” charges Food and Water Watch, “we’ve been sure about one thing:

Trump’s infrastructure plan is nothing more than a corporate giveaway.

His administration is one of the most Wall Street friendly in history, and

if they’re going to spend any money on our roads, bridges and water systems, we know they’ll be expecting a large return on their investment.”

http://washingtonjournal.com/2017/08/07/uninterested-trump-letting-business-executives-write-laws/

America is fucked and unfuckable.

[SnakeBoy]

Trump Just Announced End Of Obama Rule Allowing Nursing Home Victims To Sue For Mistreatment

The Trump administration is preparing to eliminate protections that allow victims of alleged nursing home abuse to sue their caretakers.

The Hill is reporting today that (http://thehill.com/regulation/healthcare/345411-fight-over-right-to-sue-nursing-homes-heats-up), “The Centers for Medicare & Medicare Services (CMS) announced plans in June to do away with an Obama-era rule that prohibited nursing homes that accept Medicare or Medicaid funds from including language in their resident contracts requiring that disputes be settled by a third party rather than a court.”

contractually forcing patients to surrender their right to sue a nursing home can’t be good for seniors. Trump, however, doesn’t seem to care.

http://washingtonjournal.com/2017/08/06/trump-just-announced-end-obama-rule-allowing-nursing-home-victims-sue-mistreatment/

"a third party" I can guess who that would be :lol

same shit as forcing employees, customers into kangaroo court arbitration peopled by corporate lawyers.




Whelp there goes the nursing home vote

[SnakeBoy]

US to relax rules protecting sage grouse, in win for oil drillers


http://2d0yaz2jiom3c6vy7e7e5svk.wpengine.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/Sage-Grouse-Youtube-1-800x430.jpg

Whelp there goes the sage grouse vote
http://www.rawstory.com/2017/08/us-to-relax-rules-protecting-sage-grouse-in-win-for-oil-drillers/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+TheRawStory+%28The+Raw+Story% 29

Whelp there goes there the sage grouse vote

[boutons_deux]

LGBT haters encouraged by Trash's hateful speech

Oklahoma Man, Alleging Homophobic and Racial Slurs, Sues Town Officials After House Fire

They threatened him, they targeted him, and then they burned his house down and ran him out of town.

His garage had been set on fire, and the house burned to the ground. The mayor, his wife, and other town officials allegedly watched while firefighters a block away failed to respond until it was too late, court documents state.

“We were terrorized, murder threats were made against our seven year-old African-American son. Town officials conspired to run us out of office, all while local law enforcement ignored our pleas for help.

The incidents began last September, a month after Gamel-Medler, then the town clerk, brought his son to live with him in Hitchcock.

“What’s going to happen when your house burns down and we don’t send out the fire trucks?” said Meradith Norris, a town trustee, after learning Gamel-Medler had a Black son,

In early May, Gamel-Medler was working to clear an obstruction from the road when he says hewas assaulted by defendant Jonita Pauls Jacks, who tried to forcefully enterGamel-Medler’s truck,

called him a “f***ing queer,” and said,

“I’m going to grab your little boy,

rip his ****** head off, and

shit down his throat.”

When Gamel-Medler tried to file a police report, the deputy sheriff refused to take a report and characterized the incident as “free speech,”

https://rewire.news/article/2017/08/07/oklahoma-man-alleging-homophobic-racial-slurs-sues-town-officials-house-fire/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+rhrealitycheck+%28RH+Reality+ Check%29

This what all y'all Trash supporters voted for.

[boutons_deux]

Republican who said pipeline activists were waging ‘jihad’ confirmed to energy agency

With two confirmations, FERC finally has a quorum.

Robert Powelson, a member of the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission who made the accusation against pipeline opponents, and Neil Chatterjee, a senior energy policy adviser to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), were confirmed by unanimous consent.

“The Senate just gave about as much attention to pushing through these FERC nominees as FERC gives to the impacts of fossil fuel projects they approve: Zero. This is a shameful day in shameful times for the U.S. Senate,”

“The new wave of gas pipelines under FERC consideration would lock in dependence on fracked gas that we cannot afford to burn, while delaying our transition to clean energy,”

“Simply put, FERC exists as a rubber stamp for the profit-driven whims of the fossil fuel industry,”

“The Senate’s action to put FERC back in business gives a shameful green light to advance a future of poisoning, polluting dirty energy in America.”

https://thinkprogress.org/republican-who-said-pipeline-activists-were-waging-jihad-confirmed-to-energy-agency/

Repug FERC allowed Enron and El Paso Gas to rig the CA, etc energy markets.

Market rigging, anti-regulation, pollution, diseased/dead people/environment will again be UnPresidented.

[boutons_deux]

House Republican Cuts to Nutrition Assistance Would Harm Families in Every State

House Republicans’ fiscal year 2018 budget makes their priorities crystal clear—namely, delivering tax cuts to millionaires at the expense of America’s struggling working families.

Two-thirds (https://www.cbpp.org/research/food-assistance/chart-book-snap-helps-struggling-families-put-food-on-the-table#part2) of SNAP benefits go to children, seniors, and people with disabilities;

in 2015, SNAP lifted 4.6 million (https://www.census.gov/content/dam/Census/library/publications/2016/demo/p60-258.pdf) people, including 2 million (https://www.census.gov/content/dam/Census/library/publications/2016/demo/p60-258.pdf) children, out of poverty.

Despite SNAP’s modest benefits—which average only $1.39 (https://www.cbpp.org/research/food-assistance/chart-book-snap-helps-struggling-families-put-food-on-the-table#part2) per person per meal—the program’s effects extend far beyond helping families put food on the table.

Research shows that SNAP’s long-run positive impacts include improving health outcomes (http://www.nber.org/papers/w18535) for infants and new mothers and boosting kids’ educational attainment (https://www.cbpp.org/research/poverty-and-inequality/economic-security-programs-help-low-income-children-succeed-over).

The program is also a major engine of job creation, with every $1 billion spent on SNAP supporting (https://www.americanprogress.org/issues/poverty/news/2015/04/13/110861/proposed-congressional-cuts-to-nutrition-assistance-would-cost-jobs/) nearly 11,500 additional jobs.

House Republicans want to slash SNAP by a whopping $154 billion over 10 years. The bulk of this cut—roughly $141 billion—would occur between 2023 and 2027,

https://cdn.americanprogress.org/content/uploads/2017/08/08065714/HouseBudgetSNAPCuts_table.png
https://www.americanprogress.org/issues/poverty/news/2017/08/08/437168/house-republican-cuts-nutrition-assistance-harm-families-every-state/

[boutons_deux]

Trump Administration Denies Pacific Bluefin Tuna Endangered Species Act Protection

After 97 Percent Decline, Species Faces Extinction Without Help

Yesterday, the Trump administration rejected a petition (https://federalregister.gov/d/2017-16668) to protect imperiled Pacific bluefin tuna under the Endangered Species Act. This powerful apex predator, which commands top prices at fish auctions in Japan, has been overfished to less than 3 percent of its historic population.

Although the National Marine Fisheries Service announced in October 2016 (http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/news/press_releases/2016/bluefin-tuna-10-07-2016.html) that it was considering listing the Pacific bluefin, it has now concluded that protections aren’t warranted.

“If the paychecks of fishery managers and federal officials were tied to the status of this marvelous creature, they would have done the right thing,”

a luxury item on sushi menus.

One recent study (https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/energy-environment/wp/2016/09/14/what-the-sixth-extinction-will-look-like-in-the-oceans-the-largest-species-die-off-first/?utm_term=.640532e85e8c) found that bluefin and other large marine organisms are particularly vulnerable to the current mass extinction event; their loss would disrupt the ocean food web in unprecedented ways, and they need more protection to survive.

https://www.commondreams.org/newswire/2017/08/08/trump-administration-denies-pacific-bluefin-tuna-endangered-species-act

Such a Repug shitstorm at hurricane force. Fuck up everything and fuck it up forever.

[boutons_deux]

Trump Set To Turn Afghan War Over To Private Armies Run By Betsy DeVos’ Brother

A shocking new report from USAToday reveals (https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2017/08/08/war-afghanistan-trump-white-house-weighs-bold-plan-privatize/548004001/) that the White House is weighing turning over the war in Afghanistan to private military contractors.



The proposal to replace American military forces with 5,500 private contractors and a private air force of 90 planes is the brainchild of Erik Prince, the founder of notorious private military contractor group Blackwater, who just so happens to be the brother of Education Secretary Betsy DeVos.

The proposal is nothing less than a literal return to a for-profit colonial occupation – his words, not mine:

“We’ve fought for the last 15 years with the 1st Infantry Division model.

Now we should fight with an East India Company model, and do it much cheaper.

If you look back in history, the way the English operated India for 250 years, they had an army that was largely run by companies — and no English soldiers.

So cheap, very low cost” said Prince to FOX’s Tucker Carlson. (http://www.salon.com/2017/06/03/erik-princes-dark-plan-for-afghanistan-military-occupation-for-profit-not-security/)


The idea is that the occupation would be paid for by extracting mineral resources from Afghanistan,

http://washingtonjournal.com/2017/08/08/trump-set-turn-afghan-war-private-armies-run-betsy-devos-brother/

I'm sure Prince's mercernary pricks would also grab lots of Afghani heroin

[boutons_deux]

The VOTER Purges Are Coming

Jeff Sessions’ Justice Department just took a major stand against voting rights. It’s now up to the Supreme Court to protect the rolls.

Under Attorney General Jeff Sessions, the Department of Justice has switched sides in several key court battles, reversing positions the agency took during the Obama era. Already,

the DOJ has withdrawn its opposition (http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/jurisprudence/2017/02/a_federal_judge_looks_poised_to_fight_jeff_session s_doj_in_texas_voting.html) to Texas’ draconian voter ID law and to mandatory arbitration agreements (http://www.politico.com/story/2017/06/16/justice-department-supreme-court-labor-relations-board-239653) designed to thwart class actions.

Now the agency has made another about-face:

On Monday, it dropped its objections to Ohio’s voter purge procedures, which kick voters off the rolls for skipping elections.

The DOJ is now arguing that such maneuvers are perfectly legal.

The state purges voters from the rolls relentlessly, removing around 2 million (http://www.cincinnati.com/story/opinion/contributors/2016/10/24/registered-ohioans-votes-should-count/92426396/) people between 2011 and 2016—

with voters in

Democratic-leaning neighborhoods twice as likely (https://www.thenation.com/article/supreme-court-make-easier-states-purge-voters/) to be purged as those in Republican-leaning neighborhoods.

http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/jurisprudence/2017/08/jeff_sessions_doj_just_gave_states_the_green_light _to_purge_voter_rolls.html

[boutons_deux]

Is why the Repugs put an infamous, committed RACIST as US AG

The DOJ Is Chipping Away at the Civil Rights Act, One Amendment at a Time

Aug 8, 2017, 5:34pm Sofia Resnick (https://rewire.news/author/sofia-resnick/)
Already, the agency has taken a chisel to many of the provisions that make up the Civil Rights Act of 1964.


Title I—Voting Rights

This provision prohibits unequal application of voter registration requirements. It was amended in 1965, with the adoption of the Voting Rights Act, to ban literacy tests and other voting qualifications beyond citizenship.

In a direct attack on the Voting Rights Act (VRA), the Justice Department is defending a Texas voter ID law (https://www.brennancenter.org/legal-work/naacp-v-steen)that a federal appeals court last year found to be discriminatory against voters of color.

Title IV—Desegregation of Public Education

This provision encouraged the desegregation of public schools and explicitly prohibited public schools from denying entrance to or within their schools based on a student’s race, color, or national origin. The provision also authorized the U.S. attorney general to file lawsuits to enforce this act.

In the spring, the DOJ’s Civil Rights Division published a budget request outlining its agenda, which included a plan to review “regulatory materials” and the approximately 170 consent decrees entered into with school districts the DOJ had previously found to not be complying with federal desegregation laws.

Title V—Commission on Civil Rights

The Civil Rights Act of 1957 created this commission. The goal was to establish an independent fact-finding federal agency to keep track of how the federal government is enforcing and developing civil rights policy. Though it lacks the power to enforce civil rights laws, it can investigate any lack of enforcement.

At the moment, Sessions’ DOJ is not threatening this commission. But the commission is investigating the Trump administration’s enforcement of civil rights laws, among them Title IX of the Education Amendment Act of 1972.

Title VI—Nondiscrimination in Federally Assisted Programs

This provision bars discrimination based on race, color, or national origin, in all programs that receive federal funds, such as schools, hospitals, and city governments.

The DOJ’s aforementioned interest in revisiting affirmative action policies opens the potential for new threats to Title VI.


Title VII—Equal Employment Opportunity

This provision prevents employers from discriminating against prospective employees based on their race, color, religion, national origin or sex. “Sex,” as American Civil Liberties Union attorney Gillian Thomas puts it (http://www.latimes.com/opinion/op-ed/la-oe-0515-thomas-title-vii-evolution-20160515-story.html), was added to this part of the Civil Rights Act “at the last minute” by a Democratic U.S. House representative from Virginia. Thomas writes that historians believe Rep. Howard Smith opposed the Civil Rights Act but still pushed for this amendment, because he worried white women would be otherwise disadvantaged in the workplace.

What we have now is a fight over what “sex” in Title VII means, and if it includes sexual orientation and identity. The Trump administration has insisted it doesn’t (https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/27/us/politics/white-house-lgbt-rights-military-civil-rights-act.html).

https://rewire.news/article/2017/08/08/doj-chipping-away-civil-rights-act-one-amendment-time/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+rhrealitycheck+%28RH+Reality+ Check%29

Any of these coming before SCOTUS will be voted: 5 oligarchy/racist/Christian Sharia vs 4 progressive

[boutons_deux]

Here’s What Happened After Trump’s FCC Got To Oversee Inmates’ Phone Service

“Families unfortunately can expect that the government is going to continue to protect these companies.”

Ajit Pai, abandoned the Obama administration’s attempt (https://www.fcc.gov/document/fcc-takes-next-big-steps-reducing-inmate-calling-rates) to cap exorbitant rates and fees that companies charge for phone service in prisons and jails

Regular contact between inmates and family members can lower recidivism (https://www.prisonlegalnews.org/news/2014/apr/15/lowering-recidivism-through-family-communication/) and help with rehabilitation. And until the 1990s, inmates could make calls at about the same rates as other people, according to The New York Times (https://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/31/us/steep-costs-of-inmate-phone-calls-are-under-scrutiny.html). But over the next few decades, private phone providers sent rates and fees skyrocketing.

In October 2015, the FCC voted 3-2 (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/prison-phone-costs-fcc-obama_us_5628f5f0e4b0443bb562d907)to cap state and federal prison phone rates at 11 cents a minute, and jail rates at 14 to 22 cents a minute. The FCC also discouraged commissions, which Democrats have described as kickbacks (https://www.booker.senate.gov/?p=press_release&id=319) to prison operators.

Under Pai, the FCC changed course. One week before February oral argument in appeals court, the agency told the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit that it would no longer defend a key component of the Obama administration’s rule, namely, that the agency had the authority to cap in-state rates.

In June, the court struck down the the regulations on in-state calls (https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/13/technology/fcc-prison-phone-calls-regulations.html). Advocates see the Trump administration’s position as a key factor. The court’s decision “relied in large part on the fact that the FCC would not put forward a defense” for the agency’s authority to regulate in-state phone rates and fees,

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/heres-what-happened-after-trumps-fcc-got-to-oversee-inmate-phone-calls_us_598b6c83e4b0449ed5079bd4?ncid=inblnkushpm g00000009&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=__TheMorningEmail__081017&utm_content=__TheMorningEmail__081017+CID_d5ea1f84 2916de17544b5c56f2808fd2&utm_source=Email%20marketing%20software&utm_term=HuffPost&ncid=newsltushpmgnews__TheMorningEmail__081017

yawn, Repugs fucking Americans and America for profit, the basis of Repug politics.

[boutons_deux]

Washington Blade highlights the influence of hate groups on White House policy

Anti-LGBTQ extremists successfully lobbied for Trump to ban transgender people from the military.

Now they’re promising action on so-called “religious freedom” guidance.

Washington Blade’s Chris Johnson detailed the growing influence of anti-LGBTQ hate groups in setting federal policy,

“intense lobbying” by anti-LGBT lawmakers and hate groups such as FRC and Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) for Trump to sign a religious freedom executive order (https://www.thenation.com/article/leaked-draft-of-trumps-religious-freedom-order-reveals-sweeping-plans-to-legalize-discrimination/), a draft of which was leaked to The Nation in February.

Johnson added that although Trump hasn’t yet signed the order that the groups are floating --

which would “enable sweeping anti-LGBT discrimination in the name of ‘religious freedom’” --

he has empowered Attorney General Jeff Sessions “to issue guidance ensuring religious liberty.”

He noted that Perkins, speaking on his radio show last month, “said action would come soon” on religious freedom guidance.

In a speech to ADF, Sessions also promised (http://www.nbcnews.com/feature/nbc-out/jeff-sessions-tells-hate-group-doj-will-issue-religious-freedom-n782756) that the Justice Department is “finalizing” guidance on “federal religious liberty protections.”

https://www.mediamatters.org/blog/2017/08/10/washington-blade-highlights-influence-hate-groups-white-house-policy/217586?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+MediaMattersForAmerica-CountyFair+%28Media+Matters+for+America+-+Blog%29

Sessions probably hates queers as much as he hate knitters, Mexicans, pot heads.

[boutons_deux]

Trump Just Put His Daughter In Charge Of A Major Official American Delegation

Ivanka Trump’s prominence on the international stage is an embarrassment to the United States and a deeply cynical insult to women everywhere.

Her claims of being a feminist and a women’s rights activist are constantly undermined by

her failure to call out her father’s misogyny and

her continued exploitation of sweatshop labor in Asia.

Donald J. Trump (https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump)
(https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump)✔@realDonaldTrump (https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump)

.@IvankaTrump (https://twitter.com/IvankaTrump) will lead the U.S. delegation to India this fall, supporting women’s entrepreneurship globally.#GES2017 (https://twitter.com/hashtag/GES2017?src=hash)@narendramodi (https://twitter.com/narendramodi)
3:18 PM - Aug 10, 2017 (https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/895741164103639042)

The idea that Ivanka should be held up as a model for women’s entrepreneurship would be laughable were it not so offensive. She’s the heiress of a billionaire’s empire and has had everything handed to her. Her success is built on the exploitation of others.

http://washingtonjournal.com/2017/08/10/trump-just-put-daughter-charge-major-official-american-delegation/

[boutons_deux]

Hey America! Your internet is going to be so much better this January

The FCC also suggests defining "broadband internet" using the speeds offered by ISPs. In other words, rather than setting the bar at 25Mbps, the regulator will consider, say, 10Mbps as broadband because, hey, that's what folks pay for.

That simply hands control of what should be independent government requirements to the cable giants.

And another proposed change would see how the FCC measures the deployment of broadband access on a year-by-year basis rather than in terms of how close it is to a fixed goal. In other words, Comcast can say it has got 10 per cent more people onto broadband this year (amazing!) rather than have the FCC say it is still only at 24 per cent of its required goal. The difference is literally millions of Americans with slower internet access.

Why is the FCC doing this?

Back when Tom Wheeler was chairman of the FCC and there was a Democratic majority on its panel of commissioners, the watchdog decided to increase the benchmark of broadband from 4Mbps to 25Mbps.

The problem was that the jump exposed so how poorly Americans are being catered for in terms of fast internet access.

After the rule change, the 2016 Broadband Progress Report (https://www.fcc.gov/reports-research/reports/broadband-progress-reports/2016-broadband-progress-report) noted that 34 million Americans don't have access to any broadband providers.

And that the US was still massively behind other developed nations in terms of speed, roll-out and competition (16th out of 34 developed nations).

Worse, just three per cent of the country had a choice of three or more providers (the definition of real competition) for speeds of 25Mbps or higher.

https://www.theregister.co.uk/2017/08/10/hey_america_your_internet_is_going_to_be_so_much_b etter_this_january/

America, World Champions in Crapification by BigCorp for profit

[boutons_deux]

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DG5B-vlXUAAuP79.jpg

https://twitter.com/chelseahandler/status/895725975350247426

[boutons_deux]

Trump Just Put His Daughter In Charge Of A Major Official American Delegation

Ivanka Trump’s prominence on the international stage is an embarrassment to the United States and a deeply cynical insult to women everywhere.

Her claims of being a feminist and a women’s rights activist are constantly undermined by

her failure to call out her father’s misogyny and

her continued exploitation of sweatshop labor in Asia.

Donald J. Trump (https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump)
(https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump)✔@realDonaldTrump (https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump)

.@IvankaTrump (https://twitter.com/IvankaTrump) will lead the U.S. delegation to India this fall, supporting women’s entrepreneurship globally.#GES2017 (https://twitter.com/hashtag/GES2017?src=hash)@narendramodi (https://twitter.com/narendramodi)
3:18 PM - Aug 10, 2017 (https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/895741164103639042)

The idea that Ivanka should be held up as a model for women’s entrepreneurship would be laughable were it not so offensive. She’s the heiress of a billionaire’s empire and has had everything handed to her. Her success is built on the exploitation of others.

http://washingtonjournal.com/2017/08/10/trump-just-put-daughter-charge-major-official-american-delegation/




Ivanka?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Kv4F0D210A

[boutons_deux]

Trump Just Ordered A Real Estate Developer To Solve A Crisis No Former President Has Solved

Golden boy Jared Kushner is at it again. Trump’s pet senior advisor and son-in-law is taking another blind stab at solving the myriad, nuanced problems of the Middle East. His previous trip to the region yielded no tangible results and was immediately followed by an outbreak of violence at the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem.

As a refresher: Kushner is a former real estate developer with zero experience in diplomacy.

Naturally, this lack of experience means the kakocratic Trump regime has assigned him the mission of untangling the world’s most difficult, diplomatic Gordian Knot.

In an official statement, the Trump administration announced Kushner’s return to the Middle East:


The adventures of man-boy Jared are some of the most consistently absurd chapters of the Trump presidency.

A recently leaked transcript (https://www.wired.com/story/jared-kushner-middle-east/) showed just how confident Kushner is in his own abilities to achieve a lasting peace:

...

“So, what do we offer that’s unique? I don’t know… I’m sure everyone that’s tried this has been unique in some ways, but again we’re trying to follow very logically.

We’re thinking about what the right end state is, and we’re trying to work with the parties very quietly to see if there’s a solution.

And there may be no solution, but it’s one of the problem sets that the president asked us to focus on.

So we’re going to focus on it and try to come to the right conclusion in the near future.”

http://washingtonjournal.com/2017/08/11/trump-just-ordered-real-estate-developer-solve-crisis-no-former-president-solved/

And Trash gives the world another round of belly-busting laughter.

[boutons_deux]

Repugs and Christian Taliban, and Their Lord God Almighty who fucking HATES wimmen, DON'T WANT the SLUTS FUCKING

This is a Christian SHARIA implementation

Trump Just Shocked Federal Health Officials By Defunding A Successful Obama Program

The fingerprints of social conservatives and anti-abortion religious fanatics are all over a decision today by the Trump administration to suddenly cut short grant programs put in place by President Obama designed to lower the rate of out of wedlock teenage pregnancy.

The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) sent out notices to 81 institutions across the country that five-year grants for the Teen Pregnancy Prevention Program (TPPP) they already received and are successfully operating 44 programs in 39 states are going to end in June 2018, two years earlier than planned.


seeking something that was a “better fit for its priorities, but those were no specified.”

HHS spokesman Mark Vafiades told The Hill that the program was

cut short because there is little evidence it has had a positive impact. L I E He also said there is no funding for it in Trump’s budget proposal for fiscal 2018.

If they were actually interested in the truth, Trump’s HHS could have found support for the program in statistics provided by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention.

“In 2015,” reported the Center, (https://www.cdc.gov/teenpregnancy/about/index.htm) citing a 2017 report by the National Center for Health Statistics,

“a total of 229,715 babies were born to women aged 15-19 years, for a birth rate of 22.3 per 1,000 women in this age group.

This is another record low for U.S. teens and a drop of 8 percent from 2014.

Birth rates fell 9 percent for women aged 15-17 years and 7 percent for women aged 18-19 years.”

So if the programs are working, what is the real reason the HHS has put them on the chopping block with no advance warning or explanation?

The answer is that Trump and especially Vice President Mike Pence support abstinence-only sex education –

asking teens to give up all sex, rather than teaching them safe sex methods such as using condoms.

http://washingtonjournal.com/2017/08/11/trump-just-shocked-federal-health-officials-defunding-successful-obama-program/

[boutons_deux]

The Trump Administration Rolls Back Anti-Corruption Efforts in the Oil Industry

In February, in one of its first acts of lawmaking, the Trump Administration, with the Republican-controlled Congress, rescinded a pending Securities and Exchange Commission rule that would have required oil companies to disclose details of their payments to international governments in connection with oil and gas production.

The rule, which was mandated by a law co-sponsored by former Republican Senator Richard Lugar, of Indiana, and Democratic Senator Ben Cardin, of Maryland, was designed to combat bribery and corruption, especially in poor countries governed by kleptocrats.

Thirty other countries, including Canada and the members of the European Union, had already adopted similar requirements.

Yet the American Petroleum Institute and companies such as ExxonMobil, at the time when Secretary of State Rex Tillerson was still its C.E.O. (http://www.newyorker.com/news/daily-comment/rex-tillerson-is-still-acting-like-a-c-e-o), had lobbied against the rule.

They said that it was costly to implement and gave unfair advantage to overseas competitors to which it did not apply.

When Trump took power, the lobbyists got their way.

https://www.newyorker.com/news/daily-comment/the-trump-administration-rolls-back-anti-corruption-efforts-in-the-oil-industry?mbid=nl_TNY%20Template%20-%20With%20Photo%20(197)&CNDID=43758549&spMailingID=11677871&spUserID=MTQzNTk4NzA3ODYzS0&spJobID=1221021892&spReportId=MTIyMTAyMTg5MgS2

[boutons_deux]

We Don’t Need a Government That Sides With Businesses Over People With Disabilities

But right now, it's the government we have.

Last month, the DOJ dropped an appeal (https://www.ada.gov/richmond_sheriffs_complaint.html) in a disability rights case that could have had far-reaching and beneficial consequences related to workplace accommodations for individuals with disabilities.

It was clear when President Donald Trump tapped Jeff Sessions to be attorney general that Sessions would be terrible for vulnerable communities, such as LGBTQ (https://rewire.news/article/2017/07/12/sessions-talks-anti-lgbtq-group-behind-closed-doors/)individuals, immigrants (https://rewire.news/article/2017/04/13/more-immigration-extremists-enter-trump-administration/), and people with disabilities.

Sessions signaled this right away by making a 2018 budget request (https://rewire.news/article/2017/05/31/jeff-sessions-civil-rights-agenda-chills-former-doj-prosecutors/) for the DOJ’s civil rights division that cuts personnel and stops prioritizing things like investigations into police misconduct.

Under Sessions, the DOJ has also

stopped standing up for the rights of transgender students (http://www.cnn.com/2017/02/11/politics/justice-department-transgender-guidance-case/index.html), and it has decided to

go after colleges and universities that don’t admit enough white students (http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2017/08/sessions-and-the-far-rights-anti-affirmative-action-crusade.html).

It has also sided with Ohio (http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2017/08/trump-administration-on-the-right-to-vote-use-it-or-lose-it/) in the state’s attempts to aggressively purge voters from the rolls.

In this latest about-face, the DOJ asked the court to dismiss the case of United States v. Woody (http://law.justia.com/cases/federal/district-courts/virginia/vaedce/3:2016cv00127/339533/72/)—an especially odd move, considering the United States is the party that brought the case.

In 2016, the government filed the lawsuit on behalf of Emily Hall, a deputy sheriff in Richmond, Virginia.

Hall developed a severe heart condition that required her to get a pacemaker and internal defibrillator and rendered her unable to perform the normal duties of a deputy sheriff, because they were too physically strenuous.

After the sheriff’s office terminated her employment following her diagnosis,

the United States brought suit on her behalf. A federal district court in Virginia dismissed the case last year, granting judgment for the sheriff. The DOJ initially appealed the case, but has now dropped that appeal.

Under the Americans with Disabilities Act (https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/42/12111) (ADA), employers like the sheriff’s office have to provide “reasonable accommodation” to employees with a disability.

This includes reassignment to a vacant job—if one is available and the employee is qualified—if the employee’s disability means they can no longer perform the core functions of the job they currently hold.

https://rewire.news/article/2017/08/10/we-dont-need-a-government-that-sides-with-businesses-over-people-with-disabilities/

Under the Repugs' hatchet man racist Sessions, if you're not a straight, fully abled, white male, preferably an alt-Reich/KKK male,

well, FUCK YOU and FUCK your rights.

[boutons_deux]

Take a Look at Trump’s Energy Appointee’s Deleted Tweets About Blacks, Jews and Women (http://www.theroot.com/staywoke-take-a-look-at-trumps-energy-appointees-dele-1796377704)


https://i.kinja-img.com/gawker-media/image/upload/s--LYQjrjCc--/c_fit,fl_progressive,q_80,w_636/vqe2b0ergytzkcneezqs.png

https://i.kinja-img.com/gawker-media/image/upload/s--JQ1mjxAP--/c_fit,fl_progressive,q_80,w_636/yqskekhxew7grrikgfkd.png



https://i.kinja-img.com/gawker-media/image/upload/s---3bupuIB--/j3r6f6nfkz3aknnyppcp.png



https://i.kinja-img.com/gawker-media/image/upload/s--suGENMJa--/c_fit,fl_progressive,q_80,w_636/mgehdygks2d3l3btxxd6.png


https://i.kinja-img.com/gawker-media/image/upload/s--6LiUiuWY--/z8sqikmnwwui5nlbyptn.png

http://www.theroot.com/staywoke-take-a-look-at-trumps-energy-appointees-dele-1796377704

Trash's Exec is full of trash, like the White Supremacist House

[boutons_deux]

Trump’s DoJ Just Demanded Personal Info Of 1.3 Million Visitors To Anti-Trump Website

Trump’s Department of Justice has requested personal information on 1.3 million visitors to an anti-Trump website that was used to organize protests against the President,

Dreamhost, based out of Los Angeles, has apparently been working with the Department of Justice but has protested the government’s request as going “too far (http://thehill.com/policy/cybersecurity/346544-dreamhost-claims-doj-requesting-info-on-visitors-to-anti-trump-website) under the Constitution.” If the web hosting provider complied fully with the DoJ’s request, it would amount to

handing over 1.3 million visitor IP addresses, as well as (http://thehill.com/policy/cybersecurity/346544-dreamhost-claims-doj-requesting-info-on-visitors-to-anti-trump-website)

“names, addresses, telephone numbers and other identifiers,

e-mail addresses,

business information,

the length of service (including start date),

means and source of payment for services (including any credit card or bank account number), and

information about any domain name registration.”

The DoJ’s warrant alleged that this information is necessary because (http://thehill.com/policy/cybersecurity/346544-dreamhost-claims-doj-requesting-info-on-visitors-to-anti-trump-website) “authorities will seize any information constitution violations of D.C. code governing riots that involve individuals connected to the protests on Inauguration Day.”


“That information could be used to identify any individuals who used this site to exercise and express political speech protected under the Constitution’s First Amendment. That should be enough to set alarm bells off in anyone’s mind.”

“In essence, the Search Warrant not only aims to identify the political dissidents of the current administration, but attempts to identify and understand what content each of these dissidents viewed on the website.”


http://washingtonjournal.com/2017/08/14/trumps-doj-just-demanded-personal-info-1-3-million-visitors-anti-trump-website/ (http://washingtonjournal.com/2017/08/14/trumps-doj-just-demanded-personal-info-1-3-million-visitors-anti-trump-website/)

I bet RACIST Sessions is making this shit up, and doesn't bother with a "John Yoo" writing "torture memos"

Trash, Sessions, etc appear STILL to be REALLY PISSED about Inaugural Day dissenting demonstrators.

the militarized police/surveillance state increases its unstoppable control of the populace

[boutons_deux]

If TX wasn't crapified enough, Abbott and Patrick have bill that will preempt all local tree protecting ordinances.

Abbott personally has a complaint since Austin told him he couldn't cut down a tree on his lot. Kim-Jong Abbott gotta have his way, fuck everybody, fuck the environment.

[boutons_deux]

Jeff Sessions and the Resurgence of Civil-Asset Forfeiture


https://media.newyorker.com/photos/599303e2666a6a0ae0221b71/master/w_1626,c_limit/Stillman-Sessions-Return-Civil-Asset-Forfeiture.jpg

Sessions has rewritten major criminal-justice norms in ways that diverge sharply from prevailing sentiments in America, and in much of his own party.

In his first six months in office, Sessions

has reversed one policy phasing out federal private prisons and

another seeking to combat draconian federal-prison sentences.

He’s called for an inquiry into the link between marijuana and violent crime, and

compared the drug’s “life-wrecking” harms to those of heroin.

And last month, falling further out of step with many Republicans’ slow retreat from the war on drugs,

Sessions reclaimed one of that war’s most disquieting weapons: civil-asset forfeiture.

"we plan to develop policies to increase forfeitures,”

Since 2014, more than twenty states have passed civil-forfeiture reforms, with varying degrees of bite.

But Sessions’s order bucks this trend.

resuscitates a practice known as “federal adoption,”

which allows police and prosecutors to circumvent state restrictions on asset seizures by collaborating with federal authorities.

Through this partnership, state and local authorities turn their seizures over to federal colleagues, who “adopt” them for prosecution—ultimately returning up to eighty per cent of the assets to the originating cops or prosecutors to keep.

One result, often unaddressed in critiques of forfeiture, is the tacit encouragement of racial profiling and

targeting of property owners of color, who remain prime targets of the practice in much of the country.

I’ve examined at least three hundred civil-forfeiture cases over the last five years that involved no violent crime, and which did not implicate any alleged drug kingpins or sizable players in unlawful operations.

I’ve mostly found stories of small-fry folks accused, not convicted, of nonviolent offenses.

the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department uses civil forfeiture, finding that two-thirds of seizures were made in low-income and minority neighborhoods.

no right to a public defender.

the lack of due process inherent in civil forfeiture represents “the tyranny of what they’re doing to poor people.” “The people who are getting things taken from them, they’re low-wage people like me, and they can’t do anything about it,”

https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/jeff-sessions-and-the-resurgence-of-civil-asset-forfeiture?mbid=nl_TNY%20Template%20-%20With%20Photo%20(40)&CNDID=43758549&spMailingID=11710467&spUserID=MTQzNTk4NzA3ODYzS0&spJobID=1221458800&spReportId=MTIyMTQ1ODgwMAS2

racist kakistoscrat Sessions objective is to increase the targeting of knitters and Mexicans, and

preempt all states

that have tried to limit civil forfeitures

[boutons_deux]

‘He wants people to get fat’: Internet wonders why Trump nixed Obama-era WH bike share station

http://2d0yaz2jiom3c6vy7e7e5svk.wpengine.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/Bike-Share.jpg


President Donald Trump’s administration has removed a nine-slot Bikeshare station at the White House, The Washington Postreports (https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/obamas-administration-requested-a-bikeshare-station-on-white-house-grounds-trumps-administration-just-had-it-removed/2017/08/16/cabd8bec-82ac-11e7-ab27-1a21a8e006ab_story.html).

“It’s unclear why the White House wanted it removed,” The Post noted.

Capital Bikeshare users average saving $631 per year on personal travel cost (https://dc.curbed.com/2017/6/21/15847138/capital-bikeshare-cost-travel), meaning the removal of the 9-slot station could cost White House staff $5,679 in increased transportation expenditures.

Bill McKibben (https://twitter.com/billmckibben)
(https://twitter.com/billmckibben)&#10004 (https://twitter.com/billmckibben)BillMc (http://www.spurstalk.com/forums/member.php?u=16431)kibben

.Molly McKew (https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump&quot; realDonaldTrump[/URL] removes White House BikeShare station. Which did he hate more, bikes or sharing? <br /><br /><br />leslie (http://www.spurstalk.com/forums/member.php?u=498)[/B]Burrell75

Replying to @dcdutchiedude @bikeshare (https://twitter.com/_/status/897522344712962049)
Well.....cars are bad. But, there are some mighty fine cars out there. Bikes didn't have a permit.


Mitchy McConell (https://twitter.com/MitchMcConell)Mitch (http://www.spurstalk.com/forums/member.php?u=36270)McConell

Replying to @dcdutchiedude @bikeshare (https://twitter.com/_/status/897522344712962049)
No detail of @BarackObama (https://twitter.com/BarackObama) 's accomplishments is too small for Trump to want to erase from history, including this one. Wow.


Samuel Claiborne (https://twitter.com/SamuelClaiborne)Sam (http://www.spurstalk.com/forums/member.php?u=7024)uelClaiborne

Replying to (https://twitter.com/_/status/897917941970116608)BillMc (http://www.spurstalk.com/forums/member.php?u=16431)kibben real (http://www.spurstalk.com/forums/member.php?u=6855)DonaldTrump
Predictable: if there's a dick move to be made, Churlish #ManBoy (https://twitter.com/hashtag/ManBoy?src=hash) #Buffoon (https://twitter.com/hashtag/Buffoon?src=hash)
Eric Gibbs (https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump&quot; realDonaldTrump can be counted on. Petty vindictive whiny infant.<br /><br />[URL=&quot;https://twitter.com/ericwgibbs)Eric (http://www.spurstalk.com/forums/member.php?u=1419)wgibbs

Replying to (https://twitter.com/_/status/897917941970116608)BillMc (http://www.spurstalk.com/forums/member.php?u=16431)kibben and 2 others
he doesn't mind confederate monuments and racists who revere them, but bike stations gotta go


Analogbear @Analogbear (https://twitter.com/Analogbear)

I'm reminded of when Carter installed solar panels on the White House, and then Reagan promptly removed them...Pettiness for zero reason.


Stu Krupoff @stukrupoff (https://twitter.com/stukrupoff)

Replying to (https://twitter.com/_/status/897917941970116608)BillMc (http://www.spurstalk.com/forums/member.php?u=16431)kibben real (http://www.spurstalk.com/forums/member.php?u=6855)DonaldTrump
He wants people to drive, pollute and get fat. So evil.


http://www.rawstory.com/2017/08/he-wants-people-to-get-fat-internet-wonders-why-trump-nixed-obama-era-wh-bike-share-station/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+TheRawStory+%28The+Raw+Story% 29

Greasebag Trash,

(where's Trash's traditional Presidential annual medical checkup. Just another FUCK YOU, AMERICA)

rides around the golf course in a cart, and waddles to/from his cart and ball.

Trash is the anti-role model for ethics, morals, emotions, maturity, health, intellect, articulation.

No doubt Ms of sheeple are acting, consciously or unconsciously, worse in those areas by emulating Trash.

[boutons_deux]

Trump revoked an Obama rule that protected against flooding

He signed an executive order that, among other things, rescinds flood protections for federally funded buildings and infrastructure.

First reported by E&E News (https://www.eenews.net/greenwire/2017/08/15/stories/1060058803), Trump’s order undoes an Obama-era executive order (https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/the-press-office/2015/01/30/executive-order-establishing-federal-flood-risk-management-standard-and-) that required new public infrastructure projects — like subsidized housing, hospitals, and fire departments — to be built a few feet above the so-called “100-year floodplain,” (https://pubs.usgs.gov/fs/FS-229-96/) or the height at which there is a 1 percent chance you’ll experience an enormous flooding event.

The requirement accounts for future sea-level rise predicted by “the best-available and actionable science,” the order reads.

As the Washington Post noted (https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/energy-environment/wp/2015/01/30/in-major-shift-obama-administration-will-plan-for-rising-seas-in-all-federal-projects/?utm_term=.12cf694a5fd6) in 2015, Obama’s order was the first time the federal government took sea-level rise projections into account, instead of relying only on historical data.

http://grist.org/article/trump-revoked-an-obama-rule-that-protected-against-flooding/

[boutons_deux]

the shitbags that red/slave states elect. The FFs were terrified of true democracy, with reason.

House Republican embraces 5 conspiracy theories in one 20-minute interview

Rep. Kevin Cramer thinks universal health care leads to people stealing their neighbors' possessions

Rep. Kevin Cramer (R-ND)

Cramer said the “biggest obstacle” to economic growth is “all of this liberal activism”


Cramer said liberals are trying to scare business owners through “smashing their windows or burning their equipment”


Cramer said in an “entitlement culture… pretty soon you start believing that your neighbor’s stuff is your stuff”


Cramer didn’t object when the host said Hillary dressed like Chairman Mao


Cramer didn’t argue when the host said Obama “sells out” America so he can become U.N. Secretary General


https://thinkprogress.org/trump-cramer-conspiracy-theories-494f1bc90a68/

[BillMc]

‘He wants people to get fat’: Internet wonders why Trump nixed Obama-era WH bike share station

http://2d0yaz2jiom3c6vy7e7e5svk.wpengine.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/Bike-Share.jpg


President Donald Trump’s administration has removed a nine-slot Bikeshare station at the White House, The Washington Postreports (https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/obamas-administration-requested-a-bikeshare-station-on-white-house-grounds-trumps-administration-just-had-it-removed/2017/08/16/cabd8bec-82ac-11e7-ab27-1a21a8e006ab_story.html).

“It’s unclear why the White House wanted it removed,” The Post noted.

Capital Bikeshare users average saving $631 per year on personal travel cost (https://dc.curbed.com/2017/6/21/15847138/capital-bikeshare-cost-travel), meaning the removal of the 9-slot station could cost White House staff $5,679 in increased transportation expenditures.

Bill McKibben (https://twitter.com/billmckibben)
(https://twitter.com/billmckibben)&#10004 (https://twitter.com/billmckibben)BillMc (http://www.spurstalk.com/forums/member.php?u=16431)kibben

.Molly McKew (https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump&quot; realDonaldTrump[/URL] removes White House BikeShare station. Which did he hate more, bikes or sharing? <br /><br /><br />leslie (http://www.spurstalk.com/forums/member.php?u=498)[/B]Burrell75

Replying to @dcdutchiedude @bikeshare (https://twitter.com/_/status/897522344712962049)
Well.....cars are bad. But, there are some mighty fine cars out there. Bikes didn't have a permit.


Mitchy McConell (https://twitter.com/MitchMcConell)Mitch (http://www.spurstalk.com/forums/member.php?u=36270)McConell

Replying to @dcdutchiedude @bikeshare (https://twitter.com/_/status/897522344712962049)
No detail of @BarackObama (https://twitter.com/BarackObama) 's accomplishments is too small for Trump to want to erase from history, including this one. Wow.


Samuel Claiborne (https://twitter.com/SamuelClaiborne)Sam (http://www.spurstalk.com/forums/member.php?u=7024)uelClaiborne

Replying to (https://twitter.com/_/status/897917941970116608)BillMc (http://www.spurstalk.com/forums/member.php?u=16431)kibben real (http://www.spurstalk.com/forums/member.php?u=6855)DonaldTrump
Predictable: if there's a dick move to be made, Churlish #ManBoy (https://twitter.com/hashtag/ManBoy?src=hash) #Buffoon (https://twitter.com/hashtag/Buffoon?src=hash)
Eric Gibbs (https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump&quot; realDonaldTrump can be counted on. Petty vindictive whiny infant.<br /><br />[URL=&quot;https://twitter.com/ericwgibbs)Eric (http://www.spurstalk.com/forums/member.php?u=1419)wgibbs

Replying to (https://twitter.com/_/status/897917941970116608)BillMc (http://www.spurstalk.com/forums/member.php?u=16431)kibben and 2 others
he doesn't mind confederate monuments and racists who revere them, but bike stations gotta go


Analogbear @Analogbear (https://twitter.com/Analogbear)

I'm reminded of when Carter installed solar panels on the White House, and then Reagan promptly removed them...Pettiness for zero reason.


Stu Krupoff @stukrupoff (https://twitter.com/stukrupoff)

Replying to (https://twitter.com/_/status/897917941970116608)BillMc (http://www.spurstalk.com/forums/member.php?u=16431)kibben real (http://www.spurstalk.com/forums/member.php?u=6855)DonaldTrump
He wants people to drive, pollute and get fat. So evil.


http://www.rawstory.com/2017/08/he-wants-people-to-get-fat-internet-wonders-why-trump-nixed-obama-era-wh-bike-share-station/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+TheRawStory+%28The+Raw+Story% 29

Greasebag Trash, (where's Trash's traditional Presidential annual medical checkup. Just another FUCK YOU, AMERICA) rides around the golf course in a cart, and waddles to/from his cart and ball.

Trash is the anti-role model for ethics, morals, emotions, maturity, health, intellect, articulation.

No doubt Ms of sheeple are acting, consciously or unconsciously, worse in those areas by emulating Trash.



Every time you post Bill!cKibben ST alerts me I have a mention.

[boutons_deux]

Education Secretary Betsy DeVos Will Allow For-Profit Schools To Continue Offering Programs That Don’t Meet Standards

Earlier this year, Education Secretary Betsy DeVos revealed plans to “reset” (https://consumerist.com/2017/06/14/education-secretary-betsy-devos-resets-rules-on-for-profit-colleges/) the Gainful Employment rule (https://consumerist.com/2014/10/30/rule-aims-to-hold-for-profit-schools-accountable-for-grads-success-but-may-fall-short/) meant to hold for-profit colleges more accountable for the education they provide students. Today, she continued tearing apart the rule, announcing the intention to allow colleges to continue enrolling students in programs that run afoul of the regulation.

In a notice [PDF (https://consumermediallc.files.wordpress.com/2017/08/2017-17423.pdf)] published in the Federal Register today, the Department of Education announced that it would

“reduce the burden on institutions” by revamping the appeals process for colleges when their programs fail to meet the gainful employment standards for employment after graduation.
The Rule

Under the Gainful Employment rule [PDF (https://s3.amazonaws.com/public-inspection.federalregister.gov/2014-25594.pdf)], for-profit educators must demonstrate their former students are making a living wage after they graduate.

For-profit colleges are at risk of losing their federal aid should a typical graduate’s annual loan repayments exceed 20% of their discretionary income, or 8% of their total earnings. Discretionary income is defined as above 150% of the poverty line and applies to what can be put toward non-necessities.

So for example, say the typical recent graduate of a career education program earns $25,000. That student would need to average annual student loan payments less than $2,000, or the school would be at risk for losing federal financial aid.

https://consumerist.com/2017/08/17/education-secretary-betsy-devos-will-allow-for-profit-schools-to-continue-offering-programs-that-dont-meet-standards/

iow, taxpayers to keep subsidizing SHITTY fake colleges and enriching their investors, aka,

wealth transfer from taxpayers to Capitalists, with horribly indebted, unemployable/under-employable grads, with meangingless "diplomas", as collateral damage.

[boutons_deux]

A Texas Assistant Principal Wrote an Alt-Right Children's Book

Author Eric Hauser denies the book has racist themes. Source materials provided by his illustrator tell a different story.

The Adventures of Pepe and Pede :lol

A reader's interpretation of The Adventures of Pepe and Pede will depend on their working knowledge of alt-right memes.

Pepe the frog is a cartoon character created by artist Matt Furie that became an internet meme. During the 2016 US election cycle, the alt-right adopted him as a symbol and mixed him with fascist imagery (https://news.vice.com/story/pepe-the-frog-laid-to-rest-but-will-live-on-as-a-hate-symbol), and today both the Southern Poverty Law Center and Anti-Defamation League recognize Pepe as a hate symbol (https://www.splcenter.org/hatewatch/2016/09/28/pepe-joins-echoes-new-hate-symbols).

Online fans of Donald Trump refer to themselves as centipedes (https://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/20/opinion/sunday/reddit-and-the-god-emperor-of-the-internet.html).

Alkah is a bearded alligator, his name is one letter off from Allah—the Arabic word for God—and in this story, his minions are all beautiful pink creatures covered in icky black mud. In the book's illustrations, they look like women in burqas.

A few days after he released Pepe and Pede, principal Renee Koontz told the rest of the school staff that Hauser had just published his first book. The title immediately rattled at least one teacher, who told me about the meeting.

"That can't be what I thought I heard," teacher Chad Withers told Motherboard in a phone interview, recalling the moment he learned about the book.

Withers is the middle school's theater teacher and an 11-year veteran of Denton Independent School District (ISD), which includes Rodriguez Middle School.

He worried the book might be coded alt-right propaganda aimed at children, :lol

but he reserved judgment until he'd read the thing.

Once he had, he was horrified. "The book was worse than I thought," Withers said.

"The story itself is despicable, racist, and xenophobic. I was disgusted by it. I've never seen anything before that was so obviously targeted propaganda to children."

https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/vbbdz3/a-texas-assistant-principal-wrote-an-alt-right-childrens-book?utm_source=tonl

check the link to see the unlinkable images

Ms of Texans really really suck camel dick

[boutons_deux]

They snubbed Trump. But the Koch network has still exerted a surprising influence over the White House

Koch’s sprawling network of conservative advocacy groups has exerted surprising influence in the Trump administration, scoring some early accomplishments and pushing its priorities to the top of the White House agenda.

It started with the quick rollback of a dozen Obama-era environmental and labor regulations — a to-do list orchestrated by Koch-backed groups even before Trump was sworn into office.

By spring, the Koch-backed Concerned Veterans for America was instrumental in passage of the Veterans Affairs Accountability and Whistleblower Protection Act, a long-fought Koch effort to make it easier to fire employees at the beleaguered Veterans Affairs department, providing a blueprint for how to make an end-run around civil service protections that could be replicated across other federal departments.

In July, the Kochs celebrated the official demise of the border-adjustment tax, a tax-reform proposal backed by House Speaker Paul D. Ryan (http://www.latimes.com/topic/politics-government/government/paul-ryan-PEPLT005726-topic.html) that was bitterly opposed by many business groups,

“The vacuum in Trump not having his own network is filled by people who’ve been cultivated for years by the Koch network,”

Also helpful is a Republican-led Congress (http://www.latimes.com/topic/politics-government/government/u.s.-congress-ORGOV0000131-topic.html) made up of many lawmakers who depend on the network’s backing for reelection, and fear being attacked if they stray from the libertarian, small-government orthodoxy. Even without being active in the presidential race, the network spent $750 million during the 2016 election cycle, including $250 million on campaign ads, voter engagement and other efforts to advocate for issues and shape public opinion.
The early results show that Koch donors have remained a powerful force in politics

The network started attacking the GOP plan, running ads against specific House Republicans and criticizing the chairman of the Ways and Means Committee, Rep. Kevin Brady (http://www.latimes.com/topic/politics-government/government/kevin-brady-PEPLT000655-topic.html) of Texas, who spearheaded Ryan’s tax overhaul effort.

After months of intense campaigning by the Koch network — 10,000 phone calls to lawmaker offices and $2 million spent on tax-reform ads and advocacy overall — the proposal was shelved.

Last week, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin was featured at a Koch-backed event in Washington with Marc Short, the White House legislative director, about the administration’s tax plan moving forward. Short is a former aide to Pence and one-time president of Freedom Partners, a Koch-aligned group.

Through its vast array of think tanks, conservative groups and political operations, the network stitches together organizations around the Kochs’ libertarian-leaning small-government pursuits, funded by donations from more than 700 members who pay $100,000 annual dues to attend the summits.

“I think we’re really going to start doing some good, :lol

where we see it every day now,” Koch told those gathered under the evening sun.

https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/piercing-the-veil-of-secrecy-shrouding-the-trump-deal-in-the-republic-of-georgia?mbid=nl_TNY%20Template%20-%20With%20Photo%20(41)&CNDID=43758549&spMailingID=11719292&spUserID=MTQzNTk4NzA3ODYzS0&spJobID=1221564894&spReportId=MTIyMTU2NDg5NAS2

The Kock Bros network is unbeatable, as is the entire plutocratic, kleptocratic oligarchy, is why America is fucked and unfuckable, with the lower 80%, and the environment, in permanent, unstoppable decline.

[boutons_deux]

Just FUCK YOU, America.

We authoritarian, fascist oligarchists do whatever the fuck we want, we are above the law, morals, ethics, so just try to stop us

'Downright Unconstitutional': Gorsuch Slammed for Headlining Event at Trump Hotel

"Especially as many Trump decisions are likely soon to reach the court's docket, a healthy respect for public confidence in the court should have led Justice Gorsuch to demur."

Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch has reportedly agreed to headline (https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/17/us/politics/gorsuch-speech-trump-hotel-ethics.html) the "Defending Freedom Luncheon" next month at the Trump International Hotel, which is the subject of numerous lawsuits (https://www.citizensforethics.org/press-release/crew-v-trump-adds-new-plaintiff/) that could eventually reach the nation's highest court.

Legal experts immediately sounded alarm upon learning that Gorsuch is set to be the featured speaker at the event, which is hosted by the conservative group The Fund for American Studies.

"It's a terrible signal for this group to be holding their meeting at the Trump International Hotel and for a Supreme Court justice to legitimate it by attending," Stanford law professor Deborah L. Rhode told (https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/17/us/politics/gorsuch-speech-trump-hotel-ethics.html) the New York Times.

New York University ethics expert Stephen Gillers agreed, saying in an interview with the Times:

"At this highly divisive political moment, especially as many Trump decisions are likely soon to reach the court's docket, one just days later,

a healthy respect for public confidence in the court ( :lol These assholes don't GAF about the public confidence )

should have led Justice Gorsuch to demur."

https://www.commondreams.org/news/2017/08/18/downright-unconstitutional-gorsuch-slammed-headlining-event-trump-hotel

[boutons_deux]

Heard of rape insurance? Texas Republicans just made sure women will have to buy it for abortions (https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2017/8/18/1691222/-Heard-of-rape-insurance-Texas-Republicans-just-made-sure-women-will-have-to-buy-it-for-abortions)

Nicknamed the "rape insurance" bill for its cruel lack of exceptions for rape, incest, or fetal abnormalities, HB 214 mandates abortion coverage be removed from all private, state-offered, and Affordable Care Act insurance plans and sold as a separate — and unprecedentedly specific — policy.

What this means in theory is that people who want to be covered in the event that they need an abortion will have to purchase extra insurance for it.

In practice, it means insurance companies may simply stop covering the procedure altogether, the profitability of an "abortion-only" add-on being questionable at best.

As with many such laws, the state GOP's stated purpose is to "prevent those with moral, religious and philosophical objections from having to pay for the procedure."

"As a firm believer in Texas values :lol I am proud :lol to sign legislation that ensures no Texan is ever required to pay for a procedure that ends the life of an unborn child," said Governor Abbott in a press release.

"Under this new law Texans will not be forced to pay for elective abortions through their insurance plans."

https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2017/8/18/1691222/-Heard-of-rape-insurance-Texas-Republicans-just-made-sure-women-will-have-to-buy-it-for-abortions


Texas and Texans fucking suck

Repugs REGULATING private industry and vaginas.

[boutons_deux]

Again, the Repugs plan to do what the oligarchy (always) wants, not what citizens want

U.S. national monument review to test key land protection law

U.S. Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke will recommend on Aug. 24 whether to eliminate or shrink nearly two dozen national monuments,

Zinke is expected to recommend that at least some of the national monuments under review - which were all created since 1996 - be rescinded or shrunk in size,

Trump has argued that previous administrations "abused" their right to designate federally protected monuments under the 1906 Antiquities Act and put millions of acres of land - mainly in western states - off limits to drilling, mining, logging and other activity without adequate input from locals.

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-interior-monuments-idUSKCN1B00H7?feedType=RSS&feedName=politicsNews&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Reuters%2FPoliticsNews+%28Reu ters+Politics+News%29

[boutons_deux]

‘It’s a total mess’: GOP sheriffs reportedly under pressure from Trump to break the law

The White House is allegedly asking some sheriffs keep undocumented immigrants in local jails longer than is legally allowable under federal court rulings.

“If we violate the law by doing what they ask us to do,

we’re subjecting ourselves, no question, to civil liability and civil rights violations,”

Republican Sheriff Bob Gualtieri told Betsy Woodruff (http://www.thedailybeast.com/sheriff-trump-wants-us-to-break-the-law) of The Daily Beast.

The former attorney says that the White House has no understanding of the legal issues involved when Immigration and Customs Enforcement files “detainers” to hold undocumented immigrants until ICE can assume custody.

“My takeaway from that conversation with

Stephen Miller is that he was uninformed about this problem,”

Gualtieri said. “I think that there are certain admin officials who think that these warrants [detainers] solve the problem, and are saying, ‘What are you sheriffs doing? Why aren’t you cooperating?’”

“The current ICE detainer notion that sheriffs can and should hold alleged illegal aliens beyond the time that their local charges are adjudicated is in violation of their constitutional rights while in the United States of America, and ICE knows this,”

Republican Sheriff Richard Stanek, of Hennepin County, MN

“The U.S. courts have ruled against this notion time and time again

– the way forward for ICE and local Sheriffs in partnership to protect public safety is a solution that both provides for public safety while at the same time protecting an individual’s constitutional rights.”

http://www.rawstory.com/2017/08/its-a-total-mess-gop-sheriffs-reportedly-under-pressure-from-trump-to-break-the-law/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+TheRawStory+%28The+Raw+Story% 29

racist Bannon is gone, but racists Trash, Miller, Gorkkka remain

[boutons_deux]

Trump’s corporate infrastructure giveaway begins with air traffic control

The president signed a list of air traffic control “principles” in a fake bill signing.

President Donald Trump announced the first part of his infrastructure plan on Monday, which would privatize the air control system.

This week he plans to roll out the rest of his infrastructure agenda, which he said would invest $1 trillion in infrastructure.

The administration has released very few details about how it plans to invest in waterways and roads, and all of Trump’s policy statements (https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2017/05/09/all-of-trumps-campaign-statements-just-vanished-from-his-website-so-lets-remember-them/?utm_term=.3a0cd49f9ef6) have been removed from his campaign website.

But if his air traffic control announcement is any indication of where the rest of his infrastructure plan is headed,

it will be a massive giveaway to corporations and a departure from past infrastructure programs.

https://thinkprogress.org/trump-air-traffic-control-privatization-12556f2fb56e/

iow, making BigCorp a toll gatekeeper to air travel.

"You want to fly? Pay the piper his rentier capitalism profits (and we're not sorry the system we own is shitty)"

[boutons_deux]

Trump’s new energy regulatory head: We have to save coal to keep the country safe

The coal industry plays its "final card" in competition with natural gas and renewables.

The new head of the nation’s top energy regulatory agency cited “national security” as a reason to keep uneconomic coal and nuclear power plants running, a refrain that has become increasingly common among Trump administration officials.

generation, including our existing coal and nuclear fleet, need to be properly compensated to recognize the value they provide to the system.”

https://thinkprogress.org/trump-appointee-touts-coal-883ea5d3a96c/

Get ready to get fleeced for their lie of national security

[boutons_deux]

Another millionaire grifter pastor, a fraudulent Christian, spewing shit about Trash is God's tool, and Christian Supremacy is why God sent Trash to America

Trump’s Spiritual Adviser: Opposition To President Trump Is Opposition To God

Right-wing prepper pastor Jim Bakker interviewed televangelist Paula White, who is one of President Trump’s key spiritual advisers (http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/who-paula-white-trump-s-spiritual-adviser-praying-his-inauguration-n708036), on his television program today (https://jimbakkershow.com/video/the-esther-connection/), where she declared that opposition to the president is opposition to God and explicitly praised Trump for not sounding or acting presidential.

“Thank goodness,” she said. “In other words, he’s not a polished politician. In other words, he’s authentically—whether people like him or not,

he’s been raised up by God because God says that He raises up and places all people in places of authority.

It is God that raises up a king, it is God that sets one down and so when you fight against the plan of God, you’re fighting against the hand of God.”

Later in the broadcast, when

White declared that Christians “were sent here to take over,”

Bakker excitedly agreed, asserting

“that’s why we have the president we have!”

http://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/trumps-spiritual-adviser-opposition-to-president-trump-is-opposition-to-god/

Typical hackneyed, cliched formulaic cant from the grifter crowd.

[boutons_deux]

Interior Secretary Zinke’s Contradictory Pardon Process


U.S. Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke is playing games with our national parks and monuments,

treating them like contestants on a reality show, to be voted off one at time.

It is all part of a sham review (https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2017/04/26/presidential-executive-order-review-designations-under-antiquities-act) of 27 national monuments ordered by President Donald Trump this past April.

On August 24, Secretary Zinke is expected to make his final recommendations to President Trump, which could result in national monuments being closed or significantly altered.

Over the past several weeks, Zinke has “pardoned” several of the sites on his official review list.

So, let’s play along! The chart below identifies which monuments might clear Zinke’s publicly declared criteria for national monument status—and they all do.

https://cdn.americanprogress.org/content/uploads/2017/08/21073852/PardoningNationalMonuments-WEB-table11.png

https://www.americanprogress.org/issues/green/news/2017/08/21/437533/interior-secretary-zinkes-contradictory-pardon-process/

Zinke will reduce or close the parks as dictated by resource extractors and property developers.

[boutons_deux]

Trump 'Wave of Destruction' Continues With Decision to Disband Key Climate Panel

"Any organization that disagrees with Trump, gets cut. Business committees, arts, and now science."

Even as reports from federal agencies (https://www.commondreams.org/news/2017/08/10/denier-chief-trump-should-read-noaas-frightening-new-climate-report) demonstrate that the global climate scenario is becoming increasingly alarming,

President Donald Trump has decided to continue the "wave of destruction (https://twitter.com/Gettunoiu/status/899233433217638400)" his administration is inflicting on the environment—and on the agencies tasked with studying climate change—by

disbanding the federal advisory panel for the National Climate Assessment, which was tasked with helping government translate climate findings into plans for action.

As the Washington Post reported (https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/energy-environment/wp/2017/08/20/the-trump-administration-just-disbanded-a-federal-advisory-committee-on-climate-change/), the "charter for the 15-person Advisory Committee for the Sustained National Climate Assessment—which includes academics as well as local officials and corporate representatives—expires Sunday," and the Trump administration has decided the panel will not be renewed.

The Post continued:

The National Climate Assessment is supposed to be issued every four years but has come out only three times since passage of the 1990 law calling for such analysis.

The next one, due for release in 2018, already has become a contentious issue for the Trump administration.

Administration officials are currently reviewing a scientific report that is key to the final document.

Known as the

Climate Science Special Report, it was produced by scientists from 13 different federal agencies

and estimates that human activities were responsible for an increase in global temperatures of 1.1 to 1.3 degrees Fahrenheit from 1951 to 2010.


Recent reports have indicated that the Trump administration—more specifically

Scott Pruitt, head of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)—is taking direction from Big Oil (https://www.commondreams.org/news/2017/08/03/trumps-war-science-forces-federal-officials-consider-polluters-demands),

so the move to disband a key climate advisory board was not met with surprise by scientists and commentators.

https://www.commondreams.org/news/2017/08/20/trump-wave-destruction-continues-decision-disband-key-climate-panel#

The oligarchy fucking the planet for profit

[boutons_deux]

The Trump Administration Just Jeopardized The Lives Of Countless Coal Miners

What health effects will all the mining Trump wants to bring back to Coal Country have on miners and their families? Thanks to the President’s Interior Department, we may never know.

The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine were in the middle of conducting

a months-long study into a wide range of potential health risks related to increased surface mining.

Cancer risks, water pollution, and the effects of potential soil toxicity were just some of the real-world consequences researchers were examining.

Then on Monday, the National Academies released a statement saying the Trump administration had abruptly ordered them to

kill the study immediately.

“In an August 18 letter, the U.S. Department of the Interior’s Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement informed the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine that it should



cease all work on a study of the potential health risks for people living near surface coal mine sites in Central Appalachia.”


-- National Academies statement.

Mountaintop removal, which has occurred on at least 500 Appalachian mountains (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3226519/), has clogged streams and waterways with heavy metals such as selenium and manganese, which can be toxic in high concentrations. The dust kicked up by these explosions is also considered a hazard.

http://verifiedpolitics.com/trump-administration-just-jeopardized-lives-countless-coal-miners/

[boutons_deux]

Trash's greasebag of a science pick argued same-sexmarriage would lead to legalizing pedophilia (https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2017/8/21/1692088/-Trump-s-science-pick-argued-that-same-sex-marriage-would-lead-to-legalizing-pedophilia)

https://images.dailykos.com/images/426581/story_image/Screen_Shot_2017-07-20_at_9.40.23_AM.png?1500568854


Clovis said the science was still out but "as far as we know" being LGBT is choice. Clovis then concludes the protecting of LGBT people could mean that pedophilia would also be protected.

"Someone who engages in LGBT behavior -- I don't know what the science is on this, I think it's still out -- but as far as we know, LGBT behavior is a choice they make, Clovis says (https://youtu.be/Ep7vqWU8xAY) in a video obtained by CNN's KFile.

"So we're being asked to provide Constitutional protections for behavior, a choice in behavior as opposed to a primary characteristic." [...]

"There's no equivalency there between the civil rights issue associated between those protected classes and the civil rights of someone who engages in a particular behavior," continues Clovis.

"Follow the logic, :lol if you engage in a particular behavior, what also becomes protected?

If we protect LGBT behavior, what other behaviors are we going to protect? Are we going to protect pedophilia? :lol [...]

https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2017/8/21/1692088/-Trump-s-science-pick-argued-that-same-sex-marriage-would-lead-to-legalizing-pedophilia?detail=emaildkre

"follow the logic" :lol

[boutons_deux]

Oligarchy / BigFinance division hires Repug whores to enable BigFinance to pilfer $Bs from citizens

Another fiduciary rule delay would cost retirement savers $10.9 billion over 30 years

The Trump administration’s Department of Labor is actively working to weaken or rescind the “fiduciary” rule (the rule that requires financial advisers to act in the best interest of their clients).

The latest step in these efforts is a proposed 18 month delay (http://www.401kwire.com/downloads/Thrivent_v_DoL_notice_8-9-2017.pdf) of key provisions of the rule past their already-delayed implementation date of January 1st, 2018.

An additional 18-month delay would be enormously expensive to retirement savers. Previously (http://www.epi.org/publication/epi-comment-on-extending-the-applicability-date-of-portions-of-the-fiduciary-rule/), we estimated that the delays the department has already instituted under the new administration mean that retirement savers will lose $7.6 billion over the next 30 years.

Using the same methodology (http://www.epi.org/publication/methodology-for-estimating-losses-to-retirement-investors-of-partial-implementation-of-fiduciary-rule/), we estimate that an additional 18 months of delay of key provisions in the rule announced yesterday will cost retirement savers an additional $10.9 billion dollars over the next 30 years.

http://www.epi.org/publication/another-fiduciary-rule-delay-would-cost-retirement-savers-10-9-billion-over-30-years/?utm_source=Economic+Policy+Institute&utm_campaign=fca01deed3-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2017_08_22&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_e7c5826c50-fca01deed3-59312805&mc_cid=fca01deed3&mc_eid=3f6f7e5a76

[boutons_deux]

Taxpayers Just Wasted A Small Fortune On Tiffany Trump’s Luxury Vacation


http://occupydemocrats.com/wp-content/uploads/yacht.jpg

The Daily Mail alleges that (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4740690/Tiffany-Trump-s-Roman-holiday-cost-taxpayers-100K.html#ixzz4qWJCrSd7)“official government records show three payments were made by the State Department to a car rental agency in Rome on July 18 totaling

$117,489.44” for Tiffany and her mother, Marla Maples, and their Secret Service detail as they jetted around Italy.

“Federal records show that three separate payments in the amounts of $54,694.84, $39,188.64 and $23,605.96 were made on July 18 in Rome” continues the Daily Mail expose. (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4740690/Tiffany-Trump-s-Roman-holiday-cost-taxpayers-100K.html#ixzz4qWJCrSd7)



Trump and Maples spent two weeks zooming around the Italian countryside before jumping on a yacht for a cruise on the Tyrrhenian Sea.

http://occupydemocrats.com/2017/08/22/taxpayers-just-wasted-small-fortune-tiffany-trumps-luxury-vacation/

That's car rental only.

What about Secret Service travel and living expenses?

Probably a total $250K+ sucked out of taxpayers pockets.

That's about 6+ years total salary for 10Ms of Americans

[boutons_deux]

Repug FCC enabling BigNetwork to ignore poor (white) rural areas which are predominantly Repug counties.

This is exactly what rurual Repugs voted for. :lol

They ignorant rurals ideology is that govt is not supposed to protect American from BigCorp's shitty products.

So, "Let Us Be Screwed"

FCC Considers Smart Phones Broadband Deployment, That’s Laughable. (https://ilsr.org/fcc-considers-smart-phones-broadband-deployment-thats-laughable/)

Mobile Internet service, especially at speeds less than 25 Megabits per second (Mbps) download and 3 Mbps upload, is not equivalent to high-speed home Internet service.

On paper, the FCC statistics will show that rural America has sufficient Internet access, but the reality in the trenches will remain as it is today – poor connectivity in many rural communities.

A similar situation has already happened in Iowa, where the inclusion of satellite Internet service is now considered broadband access. The interactive FCC 2016 Broadband Deployment Map clearly shows that almost all of Iowa has high-speed Internet access via satellite. One can use satellite service to browse the web, but it has significant limitations, especially when uploading data.

https://ilsr.org/fcc-considers-smart-phones-broadband-deployment-thats-laughable/

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

Maybe Americans don’t need fast home Internet service, FCC suggests

By saying mobile is good enough, FCC could find that deployment problem is solved.

If the FCC finds that broadband isn't being deployed quickly enough to everyone, it is required by law to "take immediate action to accelerate deployment of such capability by removing barriers to infrastructure investment and by promoting competition in the telecommunications market."

But with Republican Ajit Pai now in charge, the FCC seems poised to change that policy by declaring that mobile broadband with speeds of 10Mbps downstream and 1Mbps upstream is all one needs. In doing so, the FCC could conclude that broadband is already being deployed to all Americans in a reasonable and timely fashion, and thus the commission could take fewer steps to promote deployment and competition.

This would also be the first time (https://apps.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DOC-337471A1.pdf) that the FCC has set a broadband speed standard for mobile;

at 10Mbps/1Mbps, it would be less than half as fast as the FCC's home broadband speed standard of 25Mbps/3Mbps.

But Pai has made it clear in previous years that he thinks mobile broadband can substitute for fixed connections. As far back as 2012, Pai's first year on the commission,

he criticized (https://apps.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/FCC-12-90A6.pdf) the then-Democratic majority for concluding that mobile Internet service can't replace home Internet. In 2012, Pai said:

[T]he Commission has consistently ignored in recent years the statute's direction that "advanced telecommunications capability" may be deployed "using any technology."

That instruction does not permit us to segregate fixed connections from mobile connections,

focusing on the former and neglecting the latter.

Instead, in making our statutory finding we should consider all broadband services meeting the statutory definition regardless of the technologies used to deploy them.


https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2017/08/maybe-americans-dont-need-fast-home-internet-service-fcc-suggests/

[boutons_deux]

Another day, another Trump official with ties to Holocaust denial and the pro-Nazi movement (https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2017/8/22/1692126/-Another-day-another-Trump-official-with-ties-to-Holocaust-denial-and-the-pro-Nazi-movement)

Earlier this year, President Donald Trump appointed Teresa Manning, a leading anti-abortion activist, to be a deputy assistant secretary at the Department of Health and Human Services.

The pick was controversial because Manning, formerly a legislative analyst at the conservative Family Research Council and a lobbyist for the National Right to Life Committee,

would be in charge of family planning policy, :lol

even though she has questioned the efficacy of contraception in preventing pregnancy and has said government should not play a role in family planning.

Her links to the Holocaust-denying right are direct.

In her anti-abortion role

she edited a 2003 book of essays by fellow anti-abortion activists.

One of those essays was by Joe Sobran,

who joined her onstage for a promotional event for the book. That

Joe Sobran was at the time well known throughout conservatism for his anti-Semitic writings and promotion of Holocaust deniers

was, apparently, not a deal breaker for Manning and her "pro-life" audience.

In her flattering introduction of Sobran, Manning neglected to mention that a few months earlier, in June 2002, he was a speaker at the 14th annual convention of the Institute for Historical Review. This is how the Southern Poverty Law Center has described the group: “Founded in 1978 by Willis Carto, a longtime anti-Semite,

the Institute for Historical Review (IHR) is a pseudo-academic organization that claims to seek ‘truth and accuracy in history,’ but whose real purpose is to promote Holocaust denial and defend Nazism.”

That there are still, in this millennium, people in America obsessed with defending the Nazis is remarkable.

It’s also remarkable how

Trump's team just happens to keep appointing figures from the far-right

with so many of the same marks on their resumes.

https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2017/8/22/1692126/-Another-day-another-Trump-official-with-ties-to-Holocaust-denial-and-the-pro-Nazi-movement?detail=emaildkre

in charge of family planning policy? :lol How about eugenics / sterilization / abortion only for Jews, blacks, Mexicans?

[boutons_deux]

A Trump Official Just Revealed Trump’s Plans Regarding Racist Sheriff Arpaio

President Trump has prepared formal pardon paperwork to keep America’s most racist law enforcement officer out of a federal jail.

Arizona’s Maricopa County finally booted Arpaio from the Sheriff’s office last year, but not before he cost taxpayers $70 million dollars (http://www.azcentral.com/story/news/local/phoenix/2017/08/17/taxpayer-tab-up-70-m-joe-arpaio-racial-profiling-case/576878001/) fighting a federal court case which found him guilty of criminal contempt of court.

Despite his half-hearted calls for “unity,” President Trump seems intent on appeasing his racist base and letting a man who ran a self-declared concentration camp for immigrant detainees walk free. (http://www.phoenixnewtimes.com/blogs/joe-arpaio-tent-city-a-concentration-camp-6500984)

One of the talking points is that

Arpaio served his country for 50 years in the military,

the Drug Enforcement Administration and

as Arizona’s Maricopa County sheriff, and

that it is not appropriate to send him to prison

for “enforcing the law” :lol

and “working to keep people safe.” :lol

It was Arpaio’s decision to harass people based on the color of their skin that drew Maricopa County into expensive litigation and a court monitor to end their discriminatory police practices.

President Trump called that “just doing his job” during his gaslighting rally last night, in which he tried to prove how tolerant he is by saying that “law and order” includes giving a literal “get out of jail free card” to the convicted cop who defied a court order and was punished for it.

President is more interested in giving out pardons to promote lawlessness, white nationalism and institutionalized racism than justice and the rule of law.

http://occupydemocrats.com/2017/08/23/trump-official-just-revealed-trumps-plans-regarding-racist-sheriff-arpaio/ (http://occupydemocrats.com/2017/08/23/trump-official-just-revealed-trumps-plans-regarding-racist-sheriff-arpaio/)

Trash's BULLHORN mesage to xenophobes, racists, cops and CBP, DHS, bubbas, shitkickers, rednecks:

go out get them Mexican and Mexican-lookin Americans.

[boutons_deux]

Did the Treasury secretary and his wife use a taxpayer jet to get to an eclipse watch party? (https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2017/8/23/1692686/-Did-the-Treasury-Secretary-and-his-wife-use-a-taxpayer-jet-to-get-to-an-eclipse-watch-party)

Using Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests, CREW is seeking more details about the trip: (https://www.citizensforethics.org/foia/august-23-2017-u-s-department-treasury-mnuchin/)

"On August 21, 2017, Secretary Mnuchin and his wife Louise Linton travelled to Lexington, Kentucky, purportedly for the Secretary to present remarks along with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell at a luncheon sponsored by the Louisville chamber of commerce, Greater Louisville Inc.

Afterward, Secretary Mnuchin and his wife “headed to Fort Know…to tour the bullion reserve at the Army post and view the eclipse.”
The requested records would shed light on the justification for Secretary Mnuchin’s use of a government plane, rather than a commercial flight, for

a trip that seems to have been planned around the solar eclipse and to enable the Secretary to secure a viewpoint in the path of the eclipse’s totality.

At a time of expected deep cuts to the federal budget,

the taxpayers have a significant interest in learning the extent to which Secretary Mnuchin has used government planes for travel in lieu of commercial planes,

and the justification for that use."

https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2017/8/23/1692686/-Did-the-Treasury-Secretary-and-his-wife-use-a-taxpayer-jet-to-get-to-an-eclipse-watch-party?detail=emaildkre (https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2017/8/23/1692686/-Did-the-Treasury-Secretary-and-his-wife-use-a-taxpayer-jet-to-get-to-an-eclipse-watch-party?detail=emaildkre)

[boutons_deux]

Did the Treasury secretary and his wife use a taxpayer jet to get to an eclipse watch party? (https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2017/8/23/1692686/-Did-the-Treasury-Secretary-and-his-wife-use-a-taxpayer-jet-to-get-to-an-eclipse-watch-party)

Using Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests, CREW is seeking more details about the trip: (https://www.citizensforethics.org/foia/august-23-2017-u-s-department-treasury-mnuchin/)

"On August 21, 2017, Secretary Mnuchin and his wife Louise Linton travelled to Lexington, Kentucky, purportedly for the Secretary to present remarks along with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell at a luncheon sponsored by the Louisville chamber of commerce, Greater Louisville Inc.

Afterward, Secretary Mnuchin and his wife “headed to Fort Know…to tour the bullion reserve at the Army post and view the eclipse.”
The requested records would shed light on the justification for Secretary Mnuchin’s use of a government plane, rather than a commercial flight, for

a trip that seems to have been planned around the solar eclipse and to enable the Secretary to secure a viewpoint in the path of the eclipse’s totality.

At a time of expected deep cuts to the federal budget,

the taxpayers have a significant interest in learning the extent to which Secretary Mnuchin has used government planes for travel in lieu of commercial planes,

and the justification for that use."

https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2017/8/23/1692686/-Did-the-Treasury-Secretary-and-his-wife-use-a-taxpayer-jet-to-get-to-an-eclipse-watch-party?detail=emaildkre (https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2017/8/23/1692686/-Did-the-Treasury-Secretary-and-his-wife-use-a-taxpayer-jet-to-get-to-an-eclipse-watch-party?detail=emaildkre)



in case y'all forgot, here's a clear indication of Repugs "family values"

With No Warning, House Republicans Vote to Gut Independent Ethics Office

House Republicans, overriding their top leaders, voted on Monday to significantly curtail the power of an independent ethics office

set up in 2008 in the aftermath of corruption scandals that sent three members of Congress to jail.

The move to effectively kill the Office of Congressional Ethics was not made public until late Monday,

when Representative Robert W. Goodlatte, Republican of Virginia and chairman of the House Judiciary Committee,

announced that the House Republican Conference had approved the change (https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/3249503-OCE-NEW-RULE.html).

There was no advance notice or debate on the measure.

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/02/us/politics/with-no-warning-house-republicans-vote-to-hobble-independent-ethics-office.html

No doubt, the grifter pastors on the politicized evangelical Christian Taliban right fully agree and support total Repug corruption.

[boutons_deux]

Trump Poised to Repeal Popular Federal Jobs Initiative, With Disproportionate Impact to Be Felt by Minorities (https://capitalandmain.com/trumps-program-repeal-will-kill-jobs-0824)

But with momentum on infrastructure (http://thehill.com/policy/transportation/345215-lacking-white-house-plan-senate-focuses-on-infrastructure) stuck in neutral, the administration this week is quietly moving ahead to repeal a two-year-old initiative dating from the Obama administration that

might be the only dynamic infrastructure and jobs program in existence at the federal level.

According to its August Significant Rulemaking Report (https://cms.dot.gov/regulations/august-2017-significant-rulemaking-report), the Department of Transportation (DOT) has set Friday as the termination date for

a program that has already enabled states and cities to create thousands of new, high-wage transportation and construction jobs in some of the nation’s most depressed local labor markets.

“Many of these jobs were finally addressing long-term unemployment — many, for people of color,”

said Angela Glover Blackwell, CEO of PolicyLink, an economic and social equity think tank. “This is yet another example of the

Trump administration not standing up for jobs for the nation’s most vulnerable.”

Madeline Janis, executive director of Jobs to Move America (JMA), a national coalition that has been at the center of leveraging public transit projects to generate opportunities for the unemployed, has been raising the alarm about the repeal.

She told Capital & Main that

she discovered it buried in the DOT rules change report almost by accident.
https://capitalandmain.com/trumps-program-repeal-will-kill-jobs-0824

Repugs, job creators! :lol

[boutons_deux]

TRUMP LABOR DEPARTMENT ANNOUNCES IT WILL HONOR RONALD REAGAN, THE MAN WHO BROKE AMERICAN LABOR (https://theintercept.com/2017/08/24/trump-labor-department-announces-it-will-honor-ronald-reagan-the-man-who-broke-american-labor/)

Secretary of Labor Alexander Acosta announced that the department’s first honoree under the Trump administration would be a former president: Ronald Reagan.

This marks perhaps the first time the Department of Labor has honored someone who openly and actively diminished the power of American labor unions.

Secretary of Labor Alexander Acosta announced that the department’s first honoree under the Trump administration would be a former president: Ronald Reagan.

his intervention (http://www.politico.com/story/2008/08/reagan-fires-11-000-striking-air-traffic-controllers-aug-5-1981-012292) into the Professional Air Traffic Controllers Organization strike in 1981 set the tone for a presidency that was more hostile to organized labor than any other since before World War II.

Reagan also appointed staunchly anti-union (http://articles.latimes.com/1987-12-08/business/fi-27276_1_nlrb-chairman) Donald Dotson to the head of the National Labor Relations Board. Dotson once equated (https://books.google.com/books?id=jqueBgAAQBAJ&pg=PA158&dq=ronald+reagan+NLRB&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwidwIvF2_DVAhUG2IMKHZehBJYQ6AEIKDAA#v=on epage&q=ronald%20reagan%20NLRB&f=false) collective bargaining with “labor monopoly, the destruction of individual freedom, and the destruction of the marketplace as the mechanism for determining the value of labor.”

https://theintercept.com/2017/08/24/trump-labor-department-announces-it-will-honor-ronald-reagan-the-man-who-broke-american-labor/

Honoring St Ronnie the Diseased is another Capitalist oligarchy FUCK ALL Y'ALL Laborers.

[boutons_deux]

Trump’s Border Patrol Just Revealed Plans To Exploit Hurricane Harvey To Trap Immigrantshttps://www.texastribune.org/2017/08/24/border-patrol-texas-checkpoints-remain-open-hurricane-harvey/

[Chucho]

Trump’s Border Patrol Just Revealed Plans To Exploit Hurricane Harvey To Trap Immigrants

https://www.texastribune.org/2017/08/24/border-patrol-texas-checkpoints-remain-open-hurricane-harvey/


And?

[boutons_deux]

Trump Was Just Asked If He Had A Message For The People Of Texas.

"good luck to everybody"

http://verifiedpolitics.com/trump-just-asked-message-people-texas-response-disgusting/

[boutons_deux]

The Man Who Bungled Bush’s Hurricane Katrina Response Just Made An Urgent Plea To Trump

http://verifiedpolitics.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/fema.jpg


“Mr. President, please take these comments with an open mind.

My comments are not meant to be critical,” he wrote in an op-ed for The Hill, understanding that the president’s short fuse is often ignited at the slightest critique.

“I simply want to alert you to the human and political pitfalls when an administration faces a potentially major natural or manmade disaster and doesn’t realize the bully pulpit makes the difference between a successful response and, frankly, a politically devastating response.”

Brown went on to explain the responsibilities of the president in disasters, telling him that the government response will not manage itself and needs a strong leader to empower individuals and teams at every level.

An extra challenge exists right now, Brown points out, because

Trump has failed to fill key positions responsible for emergency response:

“Mr. President, [acting FEMA Director] Long needs you to step up to the bully pulpit.

“Why?

“FEMA will need assistance from the Departments of Defense, Agriculture, Commerce, Energy, Health and Human Services, Housing and Urban Development, Transportation, Interior, Environmental Protection Agency and others.

Many of those departments and agencies do not have the political appointees to marshal the resources FEMA will need.

Now is not the time to debate why many of those offices are vacant.

Now is the time to realize they are vacant and step to the plate as Commander-in-Chief and rally your troops.”
In desperation to stop this president from repeating the mistakes of 12 years ago — or worse — Brown even made a naked appeal to Trump’s personal political ambitions:

“In a natural or manmade disaster, every minute of delay within the bureaucracy turns into hours and days of delay on the ground.

Nothing is more frustrating — and deadly — than when a FEMA administrator has to fight through a bureaucratic jungle to get the resources needed from other departments and agencies.

And if they’re on vacation, or there is no one in that policy or procurement office, you have a situation that can be deadly — literally and politically.”

http://verifiedpolitics.com/man-bungled-bushs-hurricane-katrina-response-just-made-urgent-plea-trump/

As Trash boards helicopter to pass his weekend at Camp David

One incompetent asshole to another incomptent asshole.

"Heckuva Job Brownie" will always be tatooed with his Katrina fuckup, and Trash will always be tatooed with Russian pee whores.

[boutons_deux]

EPA ends sponsorship of climate leadership program

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency will no longer sponsor an awards program honoring voluntary corporate actions to combat global warming, it announced on Friday, the agency’s latest move to undo Obama-era climate change programs.

Since 2012, the EPA has been the lead sponsor of the Climate Leadership Awards program and conference, which recognizes companies that reduce greenhouse gas emissions in their internal operations and supply chains.

In an email sent on Friday, the EPA announced it will no longer be involved in the awards or the conference.

Under Administrator Scott Pruitt, who has repeatedly expressed doubts about climate change, the EPA has moved to undo dozens of Obama-era climate regulations in what it says is an effort to ease the regulatory burden on energy and agriculture companies.

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-climatechange-epa-idUSKCN1B52PK?feedType=RSS&feedName=domesticNews

Pruitt is the cheapest, most toxic, slimiest whore to BigCarbon

[boutons_deux]

Trump pardons former Sheriff Joe Arpaio

Arpaio, who was a sheriff in Maricopa County, Arizona,

was found guilty of criminal contempt (http://www.cnn.com/2017/07/31/us/arpaio-found-guilty/index.html)

last month for disregarding a court order in a racial profiling case.

Arpaio's sentencing had been scheduled for October 5.

http://www.cnn.com/2017/08/25/politics/sheriff-joe-arpaio-donald-trump-pardon/index.html

Trash getting warmed up to pardon many of his accomplices.

[boutons_deux]

Trash screams out to his base

xenophobia, racism are still more important

than obeying the law, behind the LIE of "law and order"

[Thread]

Trump pardons former Sheriff Joe Arpaio

Arpaio, who was a sheriff in Maricopa County, Arizona,

was found guilty of criminal contempt (http://www.cnn.com/2017/07/31/us/arpaio-found-guilty/index.html)

last month for disregarding a court order in a racial profiling case.

Arpaio's sentencing had been scheduled for October 5.

http://www.cnn.com/2017/08/25/politics/sheriff-joe-arpaio-donald-trump-pardon/index.html

Trash getting warmed up to pardon many of his accomplices.




You god damn rights, Bouts. Soros thought it was over here in Arizona. He'd get a double dip. Two for one. Get rid of Joe and whilst the Messikan was in the voting booth he'd pull it twice. Once for Penzone and once for Fat Ass Hillary.

Uh, uh. He got Joe, albeit temporarily, Trump saw to that tonite. Put a stopper in that fuckin' bottle, daddy Bouts. You got shit. Nothing, nada, zip, zero.

Shit, they're still waitin' for 'em to call Arizona.:lmao:lmao:lmao:lmao:lmao:lmao:lmao:lmao:l mao

[boutons_deux]

Maher in fine form

https://www.facebook.com/OccupyDemocrats/videos/1667922033300844/

[Thread]

You god damn rights, Bouts. Soros thought it was over here in Arizona. He'd get a double dip. Two for one. Get rid of Joe and whilst the Messikan was in the voting booth he'd pull it twice. Once for Penzone and once for Fat Ass Hillary.

Uh, uh. He got Joe, albeit temporarily, Trump saw to that tonite. Put a stopper in that fuckin' bottle, daddy Bouts. You got shit. Nothing, nada, zip, zero.

Shit, they're still waitin' for 'em to call Arizona.:lmao:lmao:lmao:lmao:lmao:lmao:lmao:lmao:l mao

[boutons_deux]

Trumps’ Obsession With Dismantling Obama’s Legacy Just Put Millions Of Texans’ Lives At Risk

On the heels of Hurricane Sandy, one of the deadliest and costliest storms in United States history, Obama signed Executive Order 13653 (https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=3&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwjB_7SBiPjVAhXkiVQKHXh7APgQFggyMAI&url=https%3A%2F%2Fobamawhitehouse.archives.gov%2Ft he-press-office%2F2013%2F11%2F01%2Fexecutive-order-preparing-united-states-impacts-climate-change&usg=AFQjCNE7uBDIk_Q-eRcLrBfHjWERobTubg) in 2013, preparing the United States for the impacts of climate change.

This order comprised the federal government’s response to the rising effects of climate change and

“leverages lessons learned (https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=3&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwjwhOefi_jVAhWCslQKHQ8hCjoQFggzMAI&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.fhwa.dot.gov%2Fpublications% 2Fpublicroads%2F17janfeb%2F05.cfm&usg=AFQjCNEDE48MqikYSkm4pX04RyEL76KmoQ) from Hurricane Sandy and other recent storms, as well as future climate projections,

to develop feasible, cost-effective strategies to reduce and manage extreme weather vulnerabilities amid the uncertainties of a changing climate.”

Obama also diligently signed Executive Order 13690 (http://news.nationalgeographic.com/2017/03/how-trump-is-changing-science-environment/) on January 30, 2015, which “required that federally funded projects hew

to a Federal Flood Risk Management Standard,

to reduce the risk of future flood damage.

Specifically, the order required that

floodplains had to be based on the ‘best-available, actionable hydrologic and

hydraulic data and methods that integrate current and future changes in flooding based on climate science.’”



However, in his obsession with revoking any and all Obama-era laws,

Trump rescinded Executive Order 13653 (http://www.cnn.com/2017/03/27/politics/trump-climate-change-executive-order/index.html) in March. And he rescinded EO 13690 just two weeks ago.

While Hurricane Harvey has left Texas decimated, we have accurate “climate intelligence” and forecasting models to thank for warning Texans of the impending danger.

Trump, however, whether pandering to the fossil fuel industry or displaying the full effects of his ignorance, has proposed budget cuts that would cripple these systems (http://www.newsweek.com/harvey-approaches-trump-weather-cuts-loom-654844?amp=1).

It seeks to cut 26 percent from NOAA’s Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research,

which supports data collection, climate and science, as well as research into more accurate weather forecasting models.

The budget blueprint also would cut $513 million from NOAA’s satellite division (https://www.newscientist.com/article/2123641-deep-cuts-to-environmental-research-in-trumps-budget-proposal/),

the National Environmental Satellite, Data and Information Service, a 22 percent reduction.

Such cuts (http://www.csmonitor.com/Environment/2017/0304/Budget-cuts-to-NOAA-threaten-climate-monitoring-satellite-program) would cripple NOAA’s ability to keep afloat its satellites and data-gathering activities.

That would not only affect the military but any business that relies on data and governments that have to plan how to handle snowstorms and hurricanes.


http://verifiedpolitics.com/trumps-obsessi (http://verifiedpolitics.com/trumps-obsession-dismantling-obamas-legacy-just-put-millions-texans-lives-risk/)on-dismantling-obamas-legacy-just-put-millions-texans-lives-risk/ (http://verifiedpolitics.com/trumps-obsession-dismantling-obamas-legacy-just-put-millions-texans-lives-risk/)

Oligarchy and its Repugs whores willfully fuck up everything they touch, for profit.

[boutons_deux]

Capitalists and Heartland Inst want to use foreigners (sub-humans) as medical guinea pigs

Offshore rush for herpes vaccine roils debate over U.S. safety rules

Defying U.S. safety protections for human trials, an American university and a group of wealthy libertarians, including a prominent Donald Trump supporter, are backing the offshore testing of an experimental herpes vaccine.

The American businessmen, including Trump adviser Peter Thiel, invested $7 million in the ongoing vaccine research, according to the U.S. company behind it.

Southern Illinois University also trumpeted the research and the study's lead researcher, even though he did not rely on traditional U.S. safety oversight in the first trial, held on the Caribbean island of St. Kitts.

Neither the Food and Drug Administration nor a safety panel known as an institutional review board, or an "IRB," monitored the testing

"What they're doing is patently unethical,"

said Jonathan Zenilman, chief of Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center's Infectious Diseases Division. "There's a reason why researchers rely on these protections. People can die."

The risks are real. Experimental trials with live viruses could lead to infection if not handled properly or produce side effects in those already infected.

The push behind the vaccine is as much political as medical. President Trump has vowed to speed up the FDA's approval (https://www.fda.gov/NewsEvents/Newsroom/PressAnnouncements/ucm565148.htm) of some medicines.

FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb, who had deep financial ties to the pharmaceutical industry, slammed (http://www.nationalaffairs.com/publications/detail/changing-the-fdas-culture) the FDA before his confirmation for over-prioritizing consumer protection to the detriment of medical innovations.

conservative Heartland Institute, who is another investor in the vaccine

"What they're doing is patently unethical," said Jonathan Zenilman, chief of Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center's Infectious Diseases Division. "There's a reason why researchers rely on these protections. People can die."

https://www.news-medical.net/news/20170828/Offshore-rush-for-herpes-vaccine-roils-debate-over-US-safety-rules.aspx (https://www.news-medical.net/news/20170828/Offshore-rush-for-herpes-vaccine-roils-debate-over-US-safety-rules.aspx)

Capitalists, capitalism have no ethical, moral concerns, values. Only more money is the supreme value, no matter what the external costs, collateral damage

[boutons_deux]

An Obama Worker Safety Chief Just Blew The Lid Off Trump’s Scheme To Conceal Deaths

Another day, another Obama Administration policy undone for no apparent reason, other than because

it was an Obama Administration policy,

perhaps.

Politico reported Friday that (http://www.politico.com/story/2017/08/25/osha-worker-deaths-website-242034?cmpid=sf)

“The federal department charged with protecting workers erased data on workplace deaths from the home page of its website Friday — and

changed its policy to disclose fewer fatal accidents in the future.”
OSHA, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, memorialized workers killed on the job prominently above the fold on its home page.

The running list featured their names, the date of thier passing, and the cause of death.

“The list included every worker death reported to OSHA, regardless of whether the company was issued a citation,” Ian Kullgren of Politico states.

http://occupydemocrats.com/2017/08/25/obama-worker-safety-chief-just-blew-lid-off-trumps-scheme-conceal-deaths/

Oligarchy wants its dead employees hidden from the public.

[boutons_deux]

White House blocks Obama-era rule expanding pay data from companies

The Trump administration has blocked a rule requiring U.S. employers to report detailed pay data broken down by gender and race, echoing business groups by saying it would not have the intended effect of addressing wage gaps.

The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission adopted the requirements last year under President Barack Obama, saying the information was necessary to identify and address discriminatory wage gaps. But the White House Office of Management and Budget in a memo on Tuesday said the rule was burdensome to companies and could pose privacy and confidentiality issues.

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-trump-paydata-idUSKCN1BA21Y?feedType=RSS&feedName=topNews&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+reuters%2FtopNews+%28News+%2F +US+%2F+Top+News%29

The White (male supremacy) House

[boutons_deux]

Kellyanne Conway was asked to describe Trump's #1 trait (https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2017/8/30/1694627/-Watch-Kellyanne-Conway-tell-the-Christian-Broadcasting-Network-that-humility-is-Trump-s-top-trait)

https://images.dailykos.com/images/442958/story_image/kellyanne_copy_2.jpg?1504112710

Kellyanne Conway, adviser to the man who cannot even address an ongoing federal disaster like Hurricane Harvey without making it all about himself, actually went on a Christian news network and straight up had the nerve to tell Pat Robertson that

Donald Trump’s best characteristic is humility.

https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2017/8/30/1694627/-Watch-Kellyanne-Conway-tell-the-Christian-Broadcasting-Network-that-humility-is-Trump-s-top-trait

Mercers have provided Trash with The Best People

[boutons_deux]

Trump’s Connection To The Exploding Texas Chemical Plant Will Make Your Blood Boil

Arkema Inc., a Houston-area chemical plant that has been spewing “noxious” smoke and is widely expected to explode (https://www.cnbc.com/2017/08/30/arkema-ceo-no-way-to-potentially-stop-an-explosion.html), had

successfully lobbied the Trump administration and EPA administrator Scott Pruitt to strike down new safety regulations (http://www.ibtimes.com/political-capital/texas-republicans-helped-chemical-plant-exploded-lobby-against-safety-rules) for chemical plants

that would have targeted the Texas plant and gone into effect on March 14th.

After Trump took office, Arkema and its affiliated trade association, the American Chemistry Council, initiated (http://www.ibtimes.com/political-capital/texas-republicans-helped-chemical-plant-exploded-lobby-against-safety-rules) a “furious lobbying campaign” in an effort

to stop the Obama-era chemical plant safety rules from going into effect.

The industry, which has spent over $100 million supporting federal lawmakers in the last decade, received

backing on Capitol Hill by a slew of Republican Texas lawmakers, including Sen. John Cornyn, Rep. Joe Barton, Rep. Pete Olson, Rep. Pete Sessions, and Rep. Kevin Brady. Even Democratic lawmaker Gene Green joined in

on the effort after receiving donations to his campaign.

In a letter objecting to the EPA’s proposed rules, Arkema complained that the rules “will likely add significant new costs and burdens to the corporate audit process.”



It should be noted that the regulations were imposed after a West, Texas fertilizer plant exploded in 2013, leaving 15 people dead and injuring 200 more.

http://occupydemocrats.com/2017/08/31/trumps-connection-exploding-texas-chemical-plant-will-make-blood-boil/

aka, Bannon's insane, anarchic "destruction of the administrative state".

[boutons_deux]

http://occupydemocrats.com/wp-content/uploads/Trump-Clarke.jpg

Sheriff David Clarke Just Landed A Job In The Trump Administration

Fox News is reporting that the controversial lawman and conservative media darling will be joining the Trump Administration, although his role has not yet been defined.



According to (http://www.cnn.com/videos/politics/2017/05/17/david-clarke-milwaukee-sheriff-trump-administration-lead.cnn) Politico, “It’s unclear what job Clarke will take in the administration, but one of the sources said he’s expected to join the White House. Clarke likely won’t be offered a Senate-confirmed role because his nomination would face opposition from lawmakers on both sides of the aisle.”

As a Black conservative and unabashedly pro-police law man, Clarke is already the right wing media’s favorite person of color. He’s found steady work in recent years speaking against Black Lives Matter and defending law enforcement whenever there’s a controversial shooting involving African American victims.

He’s also been a reliable TV shill for Trump’s anti-immigration and anti-Muslim policies, and was an enthusiastic support of candidate Trump during the campaign.

But his chief qualification appears to be his frequent appearances on Fox News. That, and

blind loyalty, appears to be all it takes to land a job in the Trump administration.

http://occupydemocrats.com/2017/08/31/sheriff-david-clarke-just-landed-job-trump-administration/

Just another

FUCK YOU, America

All the Best, Donald J Trash

[boutons_deux]

A Republican Just Told A Black Attorney She ‘May Go Missing’ In Fight Over Confederate Statue


http://occupydemocrats.com/wp-content/uploads/spencer.jpg


http://occupydemocrats.com/2017/08/30/republican-just-told-black-attorney-may-go-missing-fight-confederate-statue-4/

[boutons_deux]

A Trump Official Just Resigned Over Controversial Insults Towards Obama’s Mother

William Bradford, the director of the Energy Department’s Office of Indian Energy, recently found himself in very hot water for online comments in which he called

President Obama’s mother a “fourth rate p&*n actress and w@!re,” in addition to

calling him a “Kenyan creampuff.” (http://www.cnn.com/2017/08/29/politics/kfile-bradford-online-commenting-account/index.html)

Bradford also questioned whether or not Obama’s birth certificate was real,

writing in one comment that “The ‘birth certificate’ released online 5 years ago is an obvious fake, and

every intellectually honest person knows that. :lol

It was probably created to cover up the fact that

his mother, Stanley Dunham, had an affair with Frank Davis and

tried to fool Obama Sr by having the baby in Kenya.”

“I was hacked!” defense :lol

http://occupydemocrats.com/2017/08/31/trump-official-just-resigned-controversial-insults-towards-obamas-mother/

All you Repugs are really some scumbag, shitty assholes

[boutons_deux]

President Trump's proposed budget cuts to fighting wildfires could be deadly for the Western U.S.

Congress is debating a White House proposal to

cut $300 million from the U.S. Forest Service's wildfire fighting initiatives and

$50 million from its wildfire prevention efforts — all on top of a

23% reduction (https://www.energy.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/2017/6/today-cantwell-questions-trump-administration-on-forest-service-budget) of federal funding for volunteer fire departments around the nation.

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/trump-2018-budget-cuts-fighting-wildfires-deadly-article-1.3318296

... because there is no need for firefighting:

https://www.fireweatheravalanche.org/fire/

Repugs fuck up America to enrich the oligarchy and thereby themselves.

[boutons_deux]

https://images.dailykos.com/images/438562/story_image/GOP_BigTentParty.jpg?1503173012

[boutons_deux]

Trump Administration Quietly Removes Sexual Assault Report from White House Website


Officials took down pages devoted to climate change and LGBT rights earlier this year.

http://www.alternet.org/right-wing/trump-administration-quietly-removes-sexual-assault-report-white-house-website

anti-AGW, anti-science, homophobia, pro-rape misogyny

[boutons_deux]

The Chief Of Trump’s ‘Voter Fraud’ Panel Just Admitted He’s Paid By America’s Top Alt-Right Website

The man who is in charge of President Trump’s voter suppression efforts just admitted that he is on the payroll of America’s biggest alt-right “news” website, Breitbart, at the same time that he’s gathering millions of records about American voters in his official witch hunt for the President.

Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach has access to a vast trove of national voter data in his role as the Trump Administration’s “voter fraud” czar.
Now that Breitbart News is paying him, presumably, he’s their primary official link to gain preferred access to information about the American electorate.
The KC Star reports (http://www.kansascity.com/news/politics-government/article170581152.html):




Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach is now a regular columnist on the far-right news site run by President Donald Trump’s former chief strategist.

Kobach, who also is running a private-sector law firm on top of his duties as secretary of state and serving on a presidential commission, said he writes his columns in his spare time — usually after dinner — and they do not interfere with his official duties.


Kris Kobach’s newest job is all the more disturbing because of Breitbart and its executive chairman Steve Bannon’s links to the mysterious big data (https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/trump-linked-data-firm-removes-state-dept-nato-logos-after-n788691)company Cambridge Analytica (CA). CA is owned by reclusive billionaire Robert Mercer (http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2017/03/27/the-reclusive-hedge-fund-tycoon-behind-the-trump-presidency) who was a major Trump backer, and Bannon has sat on its Board of Directors.

http://occupydemocrats.com/2017/09/01/chief-trumps-voter-fraud-panel-just-admitted-hes-paid-americas-top-alt-right-website/ (http://occupydemocrats.com/2017/09/01/chief-trumps-voter-fraud-panel-just-admitted-hes-paid-americas-top-alt-right-website/)

A Krazy Kris Kobach, aka KKK, is probably going to give US national voter data to Mercer's Cambridge Analytica,

which gives its voter, US citizen data ot Pootin's ARMY of hackers.

[boutons_deux]

EPA public affairs official given right to veto federal grants if they mention climate change

Scientists and university researchers who are seeking grants from the Environmental Protection Agency are unlikely to see any funding come their way if they mentions the dreaded double-C words: climate change.

According to the Washington Post (https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/epa-now-requires-political-aides-sign-off-for-agency-awards-grant-applications/2017/09/04/2fd707a0-88fd-11e7-a94f-3139abce39f5_story.html?utm_term=.356196ad7552), the EPA has given veto power over grants and awards to John Konkus, who goes by the title of Deputy Associate Administrator for Public Affairs.

The Post notes that the EPA doles out hundreds of millions of dollars in funding and that those dollars are, in essence, only given with the approval of Konkus now.

Konkus has reportedly told staffers that he is empowered to look for “the double C-word” — climate change — and warned grant officers that they not to be mentioned in funding solicitations.
The report states that Konkus has already canceled close to $2 million awarded to universities and nonprofit organizations.

http://www.rawstory.com/2017/09/epa-public-affairs-official-given-right-to-veto-federal-grants-if-they-mention-climate-change-report/

[boutons_deux]

French chemical company Arkema has an ally writing rules in the EPA

The French chemical company Arkema,

owner of a crippled Texas plant that was in flames Friday evening,

has a high-ranking ally at the Environmental Protection Agency:

former chemical industry lobbyist Nancy Beck,

who now works in the office that regulates the kinds of dangerous chemicals that,

together with sewage (http://www.latimes.com/nation/nationnow/la-na-houston-chemical-plant-20170831-story.html) and s (http://www.forbes.com/sites/ericmack/2017/08/31/hurricane-harvey-flood-houston-epa-superfund-pollution/#7e7515131857)uperfund sites (https://www.forbes.com/sites/ericmack/2017/08/31/hurricane-harvey-flood-houston-epa-superfund-pollution/#7e7515131857), have turned Houston area floodwaters into a contaminated stew (https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/31/us/houston-contaminated-floodwaters.html).


http://www.rawstory.com/2017/09/french-chemical-company-arkema-has-an-ally-writing-rules-in-the-epa/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+TheRawStory+%28The+Raw+Story% 29

[boutons_deux]

Trump Just Cut The Wages Of 4.2 Million Workers The Day After Labor Day

The U.S. Justice Department today said it will abandon efforts to appeal a ruling by a Texas judge (https://www.bna.com/texas-judge-kills-n73014463988/) that put on hold an order by President Obama that greatly increased the number of workers who should receive overtime pay by making it harder for corporations to pretend they are actually white collar supervisors who are exempt from wage rules.


https://pbs.twimg.com/profile_images/501449598963953665/JeeCPOBV_normal.jpegChris Opfer (https://twitter.com/ChrisOpfer)
(https://twitter.com/ChrisOpfer)✔@ChrisOpfer (https://twitter.com/ChrisOpfer)

Just In: Justice Department to drop appeal in overtime case.

Judge last week killed Obama rule to make 4 million overtime eligible.
9:54 AM - Sep 5, 2017 (https://twitter.com/ChrisOpfer/status/905081635233820672)


The impact is that with a shrug and a wink at the big companies,

Trump has slashed the wages for millions of workers,

and cost many of them payments due for work already done under the old rules which were enacted under President George W. Bush.

“The Obama overtime rule provided protections to workers who were listed in bogus salaried positons

in the service, retail, and other sectors of the economy as a way to avoid having to pay employees overtime,” reporter and lawyer Chris Opfer wrote for Bloomberg BNA.


President Obama pushed the rule when it became clear the Republican controlled Congress would never raise the minimum wage for those in economic terms who are at the bottom of the labor pool.


“President Obama raised wages for 4.2 million workers with this rule,” adds Opfer. “Donald Turmp will slice those wages so that the money can go back into the hands of corporations.”


http://occupydemocrats.com/2017/09/05/trump-just-cut-wages-4-2-million-workers-day-labor-day/ (http://occupydemocrats.com/2017/09/05/trump-just-cut-wages-4-2-million-workers-day-labor-day/)



How many of these 4.2 million SCREWED employees voted for Trash? :lol

[boutons_deux]

Climate-change skeptic lined up to run NASA in this Trump timeline

he does have a problem with one part of NASA's remit – keeping an eye on climate change.

he's firmly on the skeptical side of the climate change debate, as he said in 2013 when

he called on then-President Obama to apologize for funding climate science. :lol

"Global temperatures stopped rising 10 years ago," :lol

claimed Bridenstine, "Global temperature changes, when they exist, correlate with Sun output and ocean cycles."

https://www.theregister.co.uk/2017/09/05/trump_appoints_climate_change_skeptic_nasa/

Trash beefing up the oligarchy's kakistorcracy with a anti-science politician to manage science and scientists

[boutons_deux]

LGBTQ hater nominated to DoJ Civil Rights Division :lol

LGBTQ groups criticize Trump’s Justice Department pick

http://www.rawstory.com/2017/09/lgbtq-groups-criticize-trumps-justice-department-pick/

Repugs carrying out Bannon's (and their own) strategy to fuck up govt and Americans.

[boutons_deux]

'Putting Politics Before Science,' Trump's EPA Restricting Grants for Climate Research

A political appointee in charge of vetting grants has said he is "on the lookout for 'the double C-word'—climate change"

According to both career and political employees, Konkus has told staff that he is on the lookout for "the double C-word"—climate change—and repeatedly has instructed grant officers to eliminate references to the subject in solicitations.

Konkus, who officially works in the EPA's public affairs office, has canceled close to $2 million competitively awarded to universities and nonprofit organizations.

Although his review has primarily affected Obama administration priorities, it is the heavily Republican state of Alaska that has undergone the most scrutiny so far.

https://www.commondreams.org/news/2017/09/05/putting-politics-science-trumps-epa-restricting-grants-climate-research

[boutons_deux]

Alabama Republican Rep. Rogers DESTROYED Key Hurricane Monitoring Satellite (https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2017/9/6/1696633/-Alabama-Republican-Rep-Rogers-DESTROYED-Key-Hurricane-Monitoring-Satellite)


The US Air Force (USAF) has maintained a series of defense weather satellites with microwave imaging technology since the 1960’s.

most of the existing F series satellites have exceeded their design lifetime and no replacements are in sight because

Mike Rogers, chairman of the House Armed Services strategic forces subcommittee,

forced the Air Force to destroy the F-20 satellite which had already been built and was scheduled for launch.

Multiple satellite units had been built at the same time to save money on building them but storing the F-20 cost millions.

He eliminated funding for launch and for storage giving the Air Force no option but to destroy the satellite.

The premature failure of the F-19 satellite has created a potential situation where

there will be a dangerous gap in microwave satellite imaging capabilities because Mike Rogers destroyed the F-20.

(http://www.climatecentral.org/news/arctic-sea-ice-record-low-streak-21227)Mike Rogers asserted that the technology was obsolete but it provided a continuous record with the same kind of sensor of the long decline of sea ice extent in the Arctic.

“It's a real loss to have had the F20 dismantled, but Congress would not give the Air Force the funds to launch that sensor even though the instrument had already been built,” Julienne Stroeve (https://nsidc.org/research/bios/stroeve.html), a remote sensing expert at NSIDC, said.

The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency operates the fourth Arctic-monitoring satellite. That’s also approaching the end of its forecast five-year lifespan. Stroeve said NSIDC is working to integrate data from the Japanese satellite into their operations, “but even so there may still be a gap for a couple years.”

The European Space Agency is expected to launch an new satellite to monitor the region, but the launch isn’t on the docket until 2021.


Rogers seemed angry that the Air Force’s F satellite series was collecting key data that proved that dangerous warming was taking place in the Arctic.

He accused the Air Force of incompetence.

spacenews.com/… (http://spacenews.com/rogers-u-s-air-force-wasted-518-million-on-weather-satellite/)

During a House Armed Services Committee hearing on acquisition reform,

Rep. Mike Rogers (R-Ala.) said Congress had lost confidence in the Air Force’s ability to run its legacy weather satellite program.

Rogers chairs the House Armed Services strategic forces subcommittee, which provides oversight of military satellites. …

“We could have saved the Air Force and the Congress a lot of aggravation if we put a half of a billion dollars in a parking lot and just burned it,” he said. …

In the massive omnibus spending bill for fiscal year 2016,

lawmakers provided no funding for DMSP and

the bill denied $120 million of funding to launch DMSP-20 around 2018.

The combination effectively ended the program.

The Air Force had spent $518 million on the satellite, Rogers said.

Instead, he said, the money set aside for DMSP could have been spent on other national security priorities, but now

the satellite is “going in the trash. I presume it’s going to be made into razor blades.”



https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2017/9/6/1696633/-Alabama-Republican-Rep-Rogers-DESTROYED-Key-Hurricane-Monitoring-Satellite

Repugs crapify, destroy everything they touch, savings paid to tax cuts for 1%/BigCorp

[boutons_deux]

Christian Sharia misogynist bitch defending, enabling college rape culture and rapists

‘More of the Trump pro-rape agenda’: Internet torches DeVos for rewriting campus sexual assault rules

Education secretary Betsy DeVos on Thursday announced the department (http://www.rawstory.com/2017/09/us-education-secretary-betsy-devos-calls-for-an-overhaul-on-how-colleges-investigate-sexual-assault/) will rewrite Obama-era policy for investigating sexual assaults on college campuses.

DeVos, who met with men’s rights activists :lol

earlier this summer, promised the Trump administration’s approach to campus sexual assaults will be

“centered around equal opportunity and equal protection for all,” :lol ( "all" being all men, excludes all women :lol )

arguing too often the accused are not given a voice in college disciplinary proceedings.

News that DeVos—the education secretary appointed by a president who once famously bragged about committing sexual assault—is

actively working to roll back measures designed to protect victims of sexual assault

—enraged the Internet on Thursday.

http://www.rawstory.com/2017/09/trump-pro-rape-agenda-internet-torches-devos-over-plans-to-rewrite-rules-for-investigating-campus-sex-assaults/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+TheRawStory+%28The+Raw+Story% 29

[boutons_deux]

Hypocrite. But Funny.

Mick Mulvaney says (http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/mulvaney-trump-probably-is-annoyed-with-gop-leaders) Donald Trump is likely annoyed with Republican leaders over their inability to pass legislation.

And Mulvaney says he can understand because he is, too.

As a friend notes, this is almost comical hypocrisy.

Mulvaney may not be in the House anymore.

But as a founding member of the Freedom Caucus,

Mulvaney is ground zero for why Republicans are no longer able to act as a functioning caucus.

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/hypocrite-but-funny?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+tpm-news+%28TPMNews%29

The Freedom Kockus caused Boner to quit, and it wants Ryan gone so they can have one of their own nutcase extremists.

[boutons_deux]

Dreiband scumbag LIAR

"Eric Dreiband testified in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee in a packed hearing on Wednesday. He misled, obfuscated, and, in some cases,

outright lied to committee members during his hearing.

One particularly egregious example was when he insisted that he never opposed the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act,

even though he served as an expert witness testifying in opposition to the bill." ... from a newsletter.

[boutons_deux]

‘Should Dishwashers Be Fired ‘Cause They’re Gay?’ The Nominee to Lead DOJ’s Civil Rights Division Can’t Answer

Eric Dreiband said he'd be "zealous" in protecting civil rights, but

he's got a history of defending employers accused of workplace bias

Eric S. Dreiband—whom President Donald Trump has nominated to head the U.S. Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division—refused to tell the Senate Judiciary Committee whether or not the U.S. Constitution permits discrimination against LGBTQ people in the workplace or in schools.

his more recent work at the law firm Jones Day, where, as a partner, he has represented companies accused of varying types of employment discrimination (https://rewire.news/article/2017/06/30/trumps-civil-rights-division-pick-made-career-going-women-lgbt-rights/).

Dreiband used the word “zealous” multiple times to describe the type of enforcement he would apply to civil rights laws

But when asked specifically if he will protect people in the United States from employment discrimination based on their sexual orientation or gender identity—

something Attorney General

Jeff Sessions’ DOJ has asserted (https://www.vox.com/identities/2017/7/27/16049306/trump-sessions-justice-department-lgbtq) the Constitution is not designed to protect against—

Dreiband gave no such assurance.

https://rewire.news/article/2017/09/07/dishwashers-fired-theyre-gay-nominee-lead-dojs-civil-rights-division-cant-answer/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+rhrealitycheck+%28RH+Reality+ Check%29

If Repug/Sessions nominated this LGBT-hater/warrrior-on-Labor, esp after Sessions, like dubya, GUTTED the Civil Rights Division, be assured Dreiband will ZEALOUSLY NOT defend Labor against Capital.

[boutons_deux]

Misogynist Repug/white male supremacists/Devos plan to rape the victims of rape to protect the rapists

Leaked DOJ memo recommends making rape victims' sexual history fair play in campus hearings (https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2017/9/7/1696864/-Leaked-DOJ-memo-recommends-making-rape-victims-sexual-history-fair-play-in-campus-hearings)

At an event at George Mason University, Department of Education Secretary Betsy DeVos officially announced (http://www.theroot.com/betsy-devos-wants-to-rewrite-obama-era-campus-sexual-as-1802015426) the

beginning of rollbacks in protections for student survivors of sexual assault under Title IX.

a leaked memo courtesy of @ALT_USCIS (http://www.twitter.com/ALT_USCIS) on Twitter, which is run by self-proclaimed insiders at the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service.

In a Feb. 15, 2017 memo,

:lol only 3 FUCKING WEEKS after inauguration, the Repug WIMMEN HATERS sprung into enabling the destruction of rape victims.

from the Department of Justice to the deputy attorney general, the authors express concern about the consequences faced by students accused of sexual misconduct.

They list a few recommended changes in policy to shift even more favor on the side of the accused—one of which is particularly alarming.

• Every complainant’s sexual history, if relevant ???, may be introduced at the hearing.

Currently, questions about the complainant’s sexual history with anyone other than the accused perpetrator should not be permitted.


This recommendation is in direct contraction to rape shield laws (http://www.nolo.com/legal-encyclopedia/rape-shield-laws-protecting-sex-crime-victims.html),

which bar the defendant from bringing up the victim’s sexual past in sex crime cases.

In the 1970s some states created their own rape shield laws; 1994’s Violence Against Women Act (https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/sites/default/files/docs/vawa_factsheet.pdf) created a federal version.

Now the highest law enforcement agency in the land is pointedly recommending a policy that’d only serve to shame survivors who dare to report—and discourage others from speaking up in the process.

https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2017/9/7/1696864/-Leaked-DOJ-memo-recommends-making-rape-victims-sexual-history-fair-play-in-campus-hearings?detail=emaildkre

How about the FULL SEXUAL HISTORY of the accused rapist?

nah, hell no,

Boys Will Be Boys

Real Mean Rape Women (they asked for it, they really love it, etc, etc)

I expect "Every complainant’s sexual history, if relevant" will be used by EVERY lawyer to destroy the accuser EVERY TIME, "revelant" will be ALWAYS relevant for the defense.

[boutons_deux]

Here's an item you ST racists/KKK/white supremacists support enthusiastically

The (racist Jeff Sessions' ) Department of Justice Is Overseeing the Resegregation of American Schools

A major investigation reveals that white parents are leading a secession movement with dire consequences for black children.

“The media has twisted and turned this issue to make everyone think this is about race.” — Chris Orazine, Gardendale parent :lol

https://www.thenation.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/Segregation-on-the-Rise.jpghttps://www.thenation.com/article/the-department-of-justice-is-overseeing-the-resegregation-of-american-schools/?utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Weekly%2009082017&utm_term=weekly

[boutons_deux]

Trump Appellate Nominee Says Her Religion Supersedes the Constitution (https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2017/9/11/1697560/-Trump-Appellate-Nominee-Says-Her-Religion-Supersedes-the-Constitution)

https://images.dailykos.com/images/447509/story_image/Barrett2.png?1505097924

https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2017/9/11/1697560/-Trump-Appellate-Nominee-Says-Her-Religion-Supersedes-the-Constitution?detail=emaildkre2

[boutons_deux]

yawn, OF COURSE, Little Napolean Sessions wimp wants to play hard-ass Macho Man

WH Asks Congress To Permanently Reauthorize Surveillance Law

asked top congressional Republicans and Democrats to reauthorize a law that lets the U.S. government target foreign nationals outside the United States.

“We are writing to urge that the Congress promptly reauthorize, in clean and permanent form, Title VII of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act,” Sessions and Coats wrote in a letter

to House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI), Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY).

Sessions and Coats cited information gathered under Section 702 of the legislation, which they claimed “produces significant foreign intelligence that is vital to protect the nation against international terrorism and other threats.”

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/trump-administration-asks-congress-permanently-reauthorize-surveillance-law?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A%20tpm-news%20%28TPMNews%29


but no domestic surveillance of BigFinance / BigPharma / etc? Those are all MUCH BIGGER threats to Americans than foreign terrorists.

[boutons_deux]

Trump administration signals plans to defang retirement rule

The U.S. government will likely water down a key part of a landmark retirement rule,

lawyers for the Department of Labor said, signaling that the government will offer an out for brokerages that would have been subject to class action lawsuits.

Thrivent Financial, a Minneapolis-based asset manager, has asked a federal court in Minnesota to block an anti-arbitration provision in the government’s fiduciary rule.

The provision allows unhappy clients to sue their brokers, a first in an industry which has always required customer disputes be arbitrated.
In a brief filed last week, Labor Department lawyers wrote that their agency’s actions on the fiduciary rule “in the near future are likely to moot this case.”
“The department has stated its agreement with the plaintiff that the challenged provision is improper as applied to arbitration agreements,” the Labor Department said in its filing.

The Labor Department crafted the fiduciary rule during the administration of former President Barack Obama to require financial advisers to act in their customers’ best interests.

http://www.rawstory.com/2017/09/trump-administration-signals-plans-to-defang-retirement-rule/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+TheRawStory+%28The+Raw+Story% 29


Yep, Repugs fucking citizens, allowing BigFinance to steal retirements funds, and slamming the court house doors.

[boutons_deux]

Methodology for estimating losses to retirement investors of partial implementation of fiduciary rule

EPI estimates that the partial implementation of the fiduciary rule on June 9, 2017, without effective DOL enforcement, will cost workers saving for retirement between $2.0 billion and $5.9 billion dollars over the next 30 years,

with a middle estimate of $3.9 billion —

assuming the rule is implemented as currently scheduled on January 1, 2018.

Delaying DOL enforcement an additional 18 months (from January 1, 2018 to July 1, 2019)

would cost retirement savers an additional $5.5 billion to $16.3 billion over 30 years, with a middle estimate of $10.9 billion.

http://www.epi.org/publication/methodology-for-estimating-losses-to-retirement-investors-of-partial-implementation-of-fiduciary-rule-2/

[boutons_deux]

Paranoid Trump Endangers Lives By Ordering CDC Not To Share Data On Health With The Public

In a paranoid and bizarre move that could endanger public health, the Trump administration has ordered the CDC not to share basic data with the press.

In a paranoid and bizarre move that could endanger public health, the Trump administration has ordered the CDC not to share basic data with the press.Axios reported: (https://www.axios.com/vitals-2484160722.html)

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is trying to crack down on its employees’ conversations with the press,

according to an internal email obtained by Axios. The message — sent by public affairs officer Jeffrey Lancashire and dated Aug. 31 —

instructs all CDC employees not to speak to reporters, “even for a simple data-related question.”

On a micro level, the gag on the CDC reflects the basic paranoia of the Trump administration.

There is no harm that can come from journalists sharing data with the American people about potential diseases, epidemics, and the health of the country, so the request is bizarre, but when examined from a macro point of view the crackdown on public knowledge makes perfect sense.

Donald Trump and his administration don’t want the American people to know what their government is doing or not doing.

The Trump administration has scrubbed data on

education rights for students with disabilities, (http://www.politicususa.com/2017/02/11/trump-attacks-disabled-children-removing-disability-education-rights-website.html)

climate change data, (http://www.latimes.com/business/hiltzik/la-fi-hiltzik-epa-climate-20170501-story.html) and

is systemically going through information that the federal government used to share with the public and

either removing from websites or making agencies unavailable to the press.

http://www.politicususa.com/2017/09/12/paranoid-trump-endangers-lives-ordering-cdc-share-data-health-public.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+politicususa%2FfJAl+%28Politi cus+USA+%29

[boutons_deux]

Of course not

(Racist Sessions' Racist) Justice Department Will Not Charge Police Officers Involved In Freddie Gray’s Death

“It’s not surprising. Police officers still continue to get a free pass to killing black people,”

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/freddie-gray-police-justice-department_us_59b84862e4b0edff97175034?utm_medium= email&utm_campaign=__TheMorningEmail__091317&utm_content=__TheMorningEmail__091317+CID_8ae9224c b04952e317bbc747ded883b5&utm_source=Email%20marketing%20software&utm_term=will%20not%20be%20charging%20any%20police %20officers&ncid=newsltushpmgnews__TheMorningEmail__091317

[boutons_deux]

The Repugs' perverted, racist Lady Liberty says FUCK YOU

US Virgin Islands refusing entry to non-American Irma evacuees, survivors say

Authorities on US Virgin Islands reportedly turning away boats arriving from British Virgin Islands, facing devastation in hurricane’s aftermath

The US government is turning away people trying to flee the hurricane-devastated British Virgin Islands (https://www.theguardian.com/world/british-virgin-islands) for the nearby US Virgin Islands unless they are American citizens, refusing even those with US visitor visas

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/sep/12/us-british-virgin-islands-hurricane-irma-refused-entry

[boutons_deux]

Another crapfest of a deal in the Trash never-ending crapfest

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

https://pbs.twimg.com/profile_images/874276197357596672/kUuht00m_normal.jpgDonald J. Trump (https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump)
(https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump)✔@realDonaldTrump (https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump)

With Irma and Harvey devastation,

Tax Cuts and Tax Reform is needed more than ever before.

Go Congress, go!

7:36 AM - Sep 13, 2017 (https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/907946177022369792)



His priority is tax cuts for himself

[boutons_deux]

This is so-called Repug "governance" by socio/economic/biological Darwinism, in a "Christian" country chosen by God to fullfil the prosperity (for businesses) gospel

Will the US Weaken its Disability Laws?

House to Vote on Bill Protecting Businesses Over Persons with Disabilities

A bill that would very deliberately undermine the protections afforded under the Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA) could come to a vote in the US House of Representatives soon.

This is how the new bill would look:

If someone in, say, a wheelchair comes to a movie theater without a ramp or elevator, they would be required to give the business owner a written notice.

Then, the business owner would have two months to respond and another four months to take some steps to address the violation.

Only then, half a year later, could the person whose rights are at stake try to force the business to comply with the ADA and be held accountable.

This new bill would incentivize businesses dragging their feet to comply with the ADA’s accessibility obligations.

It would also act as a profound deterrent to people looking to enforce their rights under the ADA.

Already under existing law, the onus is mostly on them to trigger enforcement and accountability.

Under H.R. 620, that burden would be compounded by months of delay and new bureaucratic hurdles.

Many people would likely give up rather than put themselves through all that – and perhaps that’s exactly the point.
The United States has the obligation to ensure businesses do not discriminate against people with disabilities. Yet

H.R. 620 would actually create more obstacles for them to access justice.

https://www.hrw.org/news/2017/09/13/will-us-weaken-its-disability-laws (https://www.hrw.org/news/2017/09/13/will-us-weaken-its-disability-laws)

[boutons_deux]

Pruitt sickens Americans again

EPA Rewrites Rules Limiting Water Pollution from Coal Plants

Revised rule postpones compliance deadlines for critical pollution safeguards

Today, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced that it is taking further action to delay critical public health protections for cleaning up toxic water pollution from power plants.

EPA first began efforts to roll back the power plant wastewater standards in April, when EPA Administrator Scott

Pruitt suspended important limits on the amount of toxic pollutants such as arsenic, mercury, and lead that power plants are allowed to dump into our waters.

The EPA action announced today would make a two-year delay of those public health protections a new part of federal regulations.

During that two-year period, EPA intends to review the public health protections at industry’s request to consider further delaying and weakening them.

A coalition of public health and environmental groups, represented by Earthjustice, has been fighting in the courts to oppose the new EPA Administration’s attempts to delay and weaken the power plant toxic water rule.

“Coal-burning power plants are the number-one source of toxic water pollution in this country,”

said Earthjustice attorney Thomas Cmar.

“We know that this pollution can cause brain damage in children as well as cancer. Today’s action is a bold-faced gift to the coal industry at the expense of the health of families everywhere.”

https://www.commondreams.org/newswire/2017/09/13/epa-rewrites-rules-limiting-water-pollution-coal-plants

You Repug voters voted for more diseased, dying, dead Americans. Thanks!

[boutons_deux]

Repugs blue-slipped Obama's judicial nominees for 8 years,

NOW, of course, the Repugs want to kill blue-slip, so the Repugs can pack the Federal court system with oligarchy's pro-oligarchy, anti-citizen judges

McConnell calls for ending Senate tradition that gives Democrats with leverage on Trump's judicial nominees

http://www.businessinsider.com/mcconnell-blue-slip-trump-judge-nominations-democrats-2017-9

[boutons_deux]

Trump Order Resurfaces Debate about “Militarizing” Police


The White House lifted Obama’s ban on gear like tracked vehicles and grenade launchers, imposed after harsh police response to Ferguson protests


Pres. Donald Trump was swept into office largely due to campaign promises that he would dismantle a number of his predecessor’s signature programs.

Although his efforts to reverse Obama-era reforms to health care and immigration policy remain a very gradual work in progress,

Trump recently revoked a 2015 executive order limiting the availability of surplus military gear—

tracked vehicles,

grenade launchers,

bayonets

and certain other equipment—to state and local law enforcement agencies.

Trump’s August 28 executive order is “a big deal symbolically” because it reverses a big part of the approach to policing adopted during the Obama administration’s second term, says Michael White, a professor of criminology at Arizona State University.

The order “is another example of

this administration’s focus on getting tough on crime as opposed to the previous administration’s interest in community policing,”

White says.

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/trump-order-resurfaces-debate-about-militarizing-police/

Repugs bringing the USA's imperial foreign wars and imperial warriors with their warrior mentality and killer sicknesses back to USA and treating American citizens like terrorists.

[boutons_deux]

Next up, the animals: GOP moves to strip protections from endangered species

With the trophy-hunting Trumps in power, the Endangered Species Act is under attack from anti-environmental zealots

his week, Republicans on the House Natural Resources Committee are moving to advance five bills that a coalition of environmental groups (https://presspage-production-content.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/1963/oppositionletterforhouseesahearing7-19-17.pdf?10000), including the Sierra Club and the Natural Resources Defense Council, say

“threaten to undermine the Endangered Species Act and the species that benefit from its protections by prioritizing politics over science and undercutting citizens’ ability to help enforce the law.”

All these bills “serve the same purpose of undermining the law, weakening the law [and] disadvantaging species conservation, all under the guise of ‘modernizing and collaborating,'” said Jamie Rappaport Clark, the CEO of Defenders of Wildlife (http://www.defenders.org/).

“But it will only make the challenge of recovering species on the brink of extinction infinitely more difficult.”

Republicans often frame these attacks on the Endangered Species Act as an effort to improve the law. But the chair of the Natural Resources Committee, Rep. Rob Bishop, R-Utah, let the truth slip out in a congressional hearing last December.

“I would be happy to invalidate the Endangered Species Act,” Bishop said.

90 percent of voters saying they approve (https://earthjustice.org/news/press/2015/new-national-poll-finds-90-percent-of-american-voters-support-the-endangered-species-act) of the Endangered Species Act and

three-quarters saying that decisions (http://www.publicnewsservice.org/2015-07-08/endangered-species-and-wildlife/poll-shows-90-percent-support-endangered-species-act/a47044-1) about that protection should be made by scientists, not politicians.

http://www.salon.com/2017/09/13/next-up-the-animals-gop-moves-to-strip-protections-from-endangered-species/

Capitalists' greed TRUMPS all of nature, and capitalists' $Bs immunize politicians from public preferences

[boutons_deux]

Tin-pot dictator Trash and his hack assholes fucking over Americans.

I'm sure other Repugs will follow his destruction of custom, respect, norms, civility. They will think the Trash got away it, so everybody can.

Who is Trump meeting at Mar-a-Lago? White House refuses to release records

The White House says Freedom of Information Act requests don't apply to president's schedule

http://www.salon.com/2017/09/15/who-is-trump-meeting-at-mar-a-lago-white-house-refuses-to-release-records/

[boutons_deux]

DOJ changes excessive force program

http://2d0yaz2jiom3c6vy7e7e5svk.wpengine.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/cnn_sessions_160815a-800x430.jpg

The Department of Justice announced Friday :lol it would immediately enact “significant changes” to an Office of Community Oriented Policing Services initiative

to better support local law enforcement :lol

the alterations would “better align” with the principles Sessions laid out in a memo in March (https://www.justice.gov/opa/press-release/file/954916/download?utm_medium=email&utm_source=govdelivery).

In that memo, the former Alabama senator called for a review of all the department’s activities, which included “collaborative investigations and prosecutions, grant making, technical assistance and training,” among others while stating it was not up to the federal government to “manage” local law enforcement.

Sessions did state the preservation of civil rights was key to his department’s work :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol

the COPS office has spent more than $14 billion to aide local departments and some of its programs have included grants meant to improve relations between police and minorities.

the COPS office has spent more than $14 billion to aide local departments and some of its programs have included grants meant to improve relations between police and minorities.

provided police departments with the tools needed to advance practices against excessive force or biased policing. ”

http://www.rawstory.com/2017/09/doj-changes-excessive-force-program/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+TheRawStory+%28The+Raw+Story% 29

Sessions wants to free cops to abuse, brutalize, murder blacks and browns, while the DoJ does nothing

[boutons_deux]

Predatory, destructive OLIGARCHY may strip protections from 10 national monuments

The Trump (http://www.latimes.com/topic/politics-government/donald-trump-PEBSL000163-topic.html) administration’s plan for shrinking and diminishing protections at America’s national monuments appears far more expansive than previously reported, targeting 10 of the nation’s most ecologically sensitive landscapes and marine preserves.

would shrink the borders at half a dozen monuments and ocean preserves and open four others up for uses such as commercial fishing, logging and coal mining,

the impact on the West overall would be dramatic. The other monuments Zinke is proposing to shrink include Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante in Utah, which together encompass 3.2 million acres. Zinke is also urging a downsizing of the nearly 297,000-acre Gold Butte National Monument in Nevada.

the boundaries of the 584,000-square-mile Pacific Remote Islands Marine National Monument would be reduced so that commercial fishing could resume in the territory. The monument, which encompasses seven atolls and islands, is described by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service as “one of the last frontiers and havens for wildlife in the world.”

Zinke also wants commercial fishing to resume within the 13,451-square-mile Rose Atoll Marine National Monument near American Samoa, which the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration describes as “one of the most pristine atolls in the world.” Like Pacific Remote Islands, it provides refuge to a number of endangered and threatened species.

http://www.trbimg.com/img-59c069ee/turbine/la-1505782251-ww4nnezjto-snap-image/750/750x422

http://www.latimes.com/politics/la-na-pol-monuments-plan-20170918-story.html#nws=mcnewsletter

[boutons_deux]

While hurricanes struck, Scott Pruitt was up to some interesting activities

the regulatory power of the EPA should be undermined and

advocating that his agency be made smaller in size and scope,

be deprived of a robust budget and enforcement power, and shift focus to what he likes to call

“regulatory certainty” for polluting industries.

“The agency created by a Republican president 47 years ago to protect the environment and public health may end up doing neither under Mr. Pruitt’s direction,”

the EPA’s recent actions, including the EPA’s attack (https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/erik-wemple/wp/2017/09/07/what-prompted-the-epa-to-attack-an-ap-reporter-over-his-accurate-harvey-reporting/?utm_term=.cecae1342b66) on an AP reporter, “are only the latest manifestations of my fears.”

the EPA administrator has appeared in far-right media,

blasted the Obama administration and the mainstream media,

disparaged discussions about climate change, and

rolled back more regulations.

“At your direction, the political leadership of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is taking deliberate steps to thwart transparency,” the senators wrote.

you are taking measures to conceal your official actions.”

the EPA was not on the scene to survey the Houston area’s Superfund sites that were underwater and found seven sites flooded. (The EPA later estimated from aerial imagery that there were actually 13.) In response, the EPA put out a statement accusing (http://www.motherjones.com/environment/2017/09/this-epa-statement-reads-like-something-youd-find-in-breitbart/) one of the bylined reporters of inaccurate reporting because he was in Washington, D.C

he defended delaying a regulation (http://www.motherjones.com/environment/2017/09/if-you-think-the-government-will-do-something-about-chemical-explosions-in-the-wake-of-houston-think-again/) that lays out the specific information chemical companies like Arkema are required to provide first responders in the event of chemical explosions similar to the one in Houston.

Trump still gave the agency a shoutout in the aftermath of Harvey: “We’ve ended the EPA intrusion into your jobs and into your lives. And we’re refocusing the EPA on its core mission: clean air and clean water.” :lol :lol

Pruitt went after (http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/scott-pruitt-criticizes-obama-as-environmental-savior-moves-epa-away-from-climate-change/article/2634253) Barack Obama’s environmental record and his other adversaries:

Pruitt said. “Everyone looks at the Obama administration as being the environmental savior. Really? He was the environmental savior? He’s the gold standard, right? Well, he left us with more Superfund sites than when he came in. He had Gold King [the 2015 mine wastewater spill] and Flint, Michigan [drinking water crisis]. He tried to regulate CO2 twice and flunked twice. Struck out. So what’s so great about that record? I don’t know.”
He also took the opportunity to criticize (http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/scott-pruitt-criticizes-obama-as-environmental-savior-moves-epa-away-from-climate-change/article/2634253) Christine Todd Whitman, Bush’s EPA administrator

“Maybe Christine Todd Whitman likes the Obama administration,” Pruitt said. “Go ask her, I don’t know. [Obama] is the gold standard, right?”

“If Chancellor Merkel … really cares about reducing CO2 in this world, why is she going away from nuclear?” Pruitt asked. “It’s so hypocritical for countries to look at the United States and say, ‘You need to do more.’ Really? So, we’ve reduced our pollutants under the Clean Air Act [criteria pollutants and CO2].” :lol

EPA announced a two-year delay for a 2015 rule (https://www.epa.gov/eg/steam-electric-power-generating-effluent-guidelines-postponement-certain-compliance-dates) that set the first limit on toxic metals that can be discharged into wastewater from power plants. “Today’s final rule resets the clock for certain portions of the agency’s effluent guidelines for power plants, providing relief from the existing regulatory deadlines while the agency revisits some of the rule’s requirements,” Pruitt said

http://grist.org/article/while-hurricanes-struck-scott-pruitt-was-up-to-some-interesting-activities/

shittier air, shittier water, shittier land, more diseased and dying people, this what you you rightwing assholes vote for, right?

[boutons_deux]

Price’s private-jet travel breaks precedent


HHS secretary took chartered aircraft on five flights last week, while his predecessors would fly commercial.

https://static.politico.com/dims4/default/a2de9d5/2147483647/resize/1160x/quality/90/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fstatic.politico.com%2F7f%2Fe1%2F 938bb88c4e1689a446804857c97a%2F170919-tom-price-getty-1160.jpg


In a sharp departure from his predecessors, Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price last week took private jets on five separate flights for official business,

at a cost of tens of thousands of dollars more than commercial travel.
The secretary’s five flights, which were scheduled between Sept. 13 and Sept. 15, took him to a

resort in Maine where he participated in a Q&A discussion with a health care industry CEO :lol

and to community health centers in New Hampshire and Pennsylvania, according to internal HHS documents.



The travel by corporate-style jet comes at a time when other members of the Trump administration are under fire for travel expenditures, and breaks with the practices of Obama-era Secretaries Sylvia Mathews Burwell and Kathleen Sebelius, who flew commercially while in the continental United States.

http://www.politico.com/story/2017/09/19/tom-price-chartered-planes-flights-242908?ncid=newsltushpmgnews__TheMorningEmail__092 017

Fox and the rightwing hate media will be obsessing for month over the abuse, waste of taxpayer money.

[boutons_deux]

The BEST People

Do You Wish You Were Smarter?

Ben Carson's Discovery

Is Proven To Double Your IQ And Will Be Banned From The Public

In an interview with Bill O'Reilly, Ben Carson said that his brain is sharper than ever, :lol :lol :lol

more clear and focused and he credits a large part to using Advanced IQ (http://znznznznzn.com/path/out.php). :lol

Ben Carson went on to add "The brain is like a muscle, you got to work it out and use supplements just like body builders use, but for your brain, and that’s exactly

what I’ve been doing to enhance my mental capabilities". :lol

https://braininsidernewstoday.com/carson/advanced-iq/?c=.91&path=bc&adimg=347&pi_clickid=5f5e9573c15e46d290718e71a100599e&pi_creativeid=343341&sxid=9j9ru8u39tcw

You rightwingnutjobs are such marks for your trusted con men

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

How Alex Jones Uses Fear of the Government to Sell Diet Supplements

Alternative media mogul Alex Jones—one of the most prominent opponents of the New World Order, "scientific dictatorship," and the secret society that controls the police—has come a long way

He also seems to be doing a healthy business in dietary supplements.

"Infowars Life: Because there's a war on for your life," reads the tagline.

You need this because the government is poisoning the water.

https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/vv7zza/infowars-life

[boutons_deux]

Trump supporters just doxxed thousands of anti-racist protesters as part of a disturbing harassment campaign

Personal information belonging to thousands of anti-Trump and anti-racist protesters has been released by pro-Trump users on the 4chan message board,

The thread, which was posted on Thursday under the subject line “ANTIFA GETS DOXXED,” links to an organized Pastebin database full of information about the places of employment, home addresses, telephone numbers, emails and social media accounts of thousands of people involved in anti-Trump protests.

The Pastebin database, the report noted, has been making the rounds in pro-Trump circles online since at least April, when they released the information of roughly 3,000 people. Now, there are thousands more on the list, which has “easily tripled in size.”

The information appears to be gathered from a range of sources, including RefuseFascism.org, an organizing platform for anti-fascists, the BAMN pro-immigrant coalition and ShareBlue, a social publishing platform run by former Hillary Clinton staffer Peter Daou.

The text of the database claims that many of the “antifa” whose information they hacked are “predominantly school teachers, programmers and professors.”

They also claim many are associated with “a major Bolshevik organization,” likely referring to people associated with large socialist organizations like Democratic Socialists of America or the Party for Socialism and Liberation.

http://www.rawstory.com/2017/09/trump-supporters-just-doxxed-thousands-of-anti-racist-protesters-as-part-of-a-disturbing-harassment-campaign/

You Nazis, KKKers, racists, white male supremacist pussy grabbers are scumbags.

[boutons_deux]

Repugs, esp slave state Christian Taliban, The BEST People

http://verifiedpolitics.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/bus-1.jpg

[boutons_deux]

Some asshole here said ADA was the only good law passed by the Repugs in 40 years. :lol

The Quiet Attack on the ADA Making Its Way Through Congress

https://cdn.americanprogress.org/content/uploads/2017/09/22090814/AP_17135842114067-1040-1024x683.jpg

https://www.americanprogress.org/issues/disability/news/2017/09/22/439464/quiet-attack-ada-making-way-congress/

non-Euro-white? non-male? non-Christian? non-able?

Morally, ethically, traitorous, diseased Repugs' say : WE FUCK YOU

[boutons_deux]

Radical GOP-led Bill Promotes Killing of America's Threatened Wildlife

This shameful bill would allow trophy hunters to kill grizzly bears on public land—using silencers.

, the U.S. House Committee on Natural Resources passed the Sportsmen’s Heritage and Recreational Enhancement Act—the so-called SHARE Act—with votes coming only from Republican members of the committee.

a grab bag of shameful provisions aimed at

opening National Park Service lands to grizzly bear killing (https://blog.humanesociety.org/wayne/2017/09/alaska-lawmaker-plots-yet-another-assault-wolves-grizzlies-federal-lands.html?credit=blog_post_091517_idhome-page) (of all places, they should be protected on our “national preserves”),

poisoning wildlife with the use of lead tackle and ammunition (even though there are practical and affordable alternatives), and

promoting the killing of threatened species (e.g., wolves and polar bears).

at odds with common sense, but also with the unmistakable demographic patterns in the United States.

Just last week, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service released its periodic report on wildlife recreation (https://wsfrprograms.fws.gov/Subpages/NationalSurvey/nat_survey2016.pdf). Among other things, the report revealed that

the number of wildlife watchers is soaring (a 20 percent increase in the last five years to 86 million in 2016), while hunter numbers have declined by two million since 2011, when the agency last examined the question, to just 11.5 million.

Wildlife watchers outnumber sport hunters by a ratio of seven to one and spend $75.9 billion on their pursuits, as compared to $25.6 billion spent by hunters.

The Natural Resources Committee’s vote is really more about the wishes of the NRA and the Safari Club,

and not about helping hunters and fishermen, who get almost nothing from this boondoggle of a bill and who would be shocked by its anti-conservation provisions

unwind an NPS rule that forbids extreme hunting methods on lands that never were meant to be set aside for these purposes.

loosening restrictions on the baiting of migratory waterfowl and barring EPA restrictions on the use of lead-based fishing equipment.

SHARE also

handcuffs the departments of Interior and Agriculture by prohibiting either agency from regulating the use of lead-based ammunition, ammunition cartridges, or fishing tackle where such uses are allowed by the state where the hunting and fishing occurs.

a sweetheart deal to help 41 wealthy polar bear trophy hunters import the heads of rare polar bears they shot in Canada (https://blog.humanesociety.org/wayne/2016/12/polar-bears-crosshairs-denial-greed.html?credit=blog_post_091517_idhome-page).

give trophy hunters and commercial trappers priority access to the more than 100 million acres of congressionally designated “wilderness areas” across the nation. This provision weakens the core purpose of the Wilderness Act,

http://www.alternet.org/animal-rights/radical-gop-led-bill-promotes-killing-americas-threatened-species

Repugs fuck up everything they touch, because their BigDonor shield them from all accountability.

[boutons_deux]

EPA head met with a mining CEO -- and then pushed forward a controversial mining project

http://i2.cdn.cnn.com/cnnnext/dam/assets/170922172958-02-bristol-bay-alaska-restricted-exlarge-169.jpg

Within hours of meeting with a mining company CEO,

the new head of the US Environmental Protection Agency directed his staff to withdraw a plan to protect the watershed of Bristol Bay, Alaska,

one of the most valuable wild salmon fisheries on Earth, according to interviews and government emails obtained by CNN.

The meeting between EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt and Tom Collier, CEO of Pebble Limited Partnership, took place on May 1, Collier and his staff confirmed in an interview with CNN.

http://www.cnn.com/2017/09/22/politics/pebble-epa-bristol-bay-invs/?iid=ob_lockedrail_topeditorial

Repug kakistrocracy fucks up everything it touches.

[Killakobe81]

DOJ changes excessive force program

http://2d0yaz2jiom3c6vy7e7e5svk.wpengine.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/cnn_sessions_160815a-800x430.jpg

The Department of Justice announced Friday :lol it would immediately enact “significant changes” to an Office of Community Oriented Policing Services initiative

to better support local law enforcement :lol

the alterations would “better align” with the principles Sessions laid out in a memo in March (https://www.justice.gov/opa/press-release/file/954916/download?utm_medium=email&utm_source=govdelivery).

In that memo, the former Alabama senator called for a review of all the department’s activities, which included “collaborative investigations and prosecutions, grant making, technical assistance and training,” among others while stating it was not up to the federal government to “manage” local law enforcement.

Sessions did state the preservation of civil rights was key to his department’s work :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol

the COPS office has spent more than $14 billion to aide local departments and some of its programs have included grants meant to improve relations between police and minorities.

the COPS office has spent more than $14 billion to aide local departments and some of its programs have included grants meant to improve relations between police and minorities.

provided police departments with the tools needed to advance practices against excessive force or biased policing. ”

http://www.rawstory.com/2017/09/doj-changes-excessive-force-program/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+TheRawStory+%28The+Raw+Story% 29

Sessions wants to free cops to abuse, brutalize, murder blacks and browns, while the DoJ does nothing

hey great work informing/sharing havent read all but some good stuff

[boutons_deux]

Pruitt diverts EPA agents to protect him 24/7, instead of protecting YOU from pollution

Back in May, Coral Davenport and Eric Lipton at the New York Timesreported (https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2017/8/12/1688883/-Even-at-the-office-EPA-wrecking-Scott-Pruitt-goes-nowhere-without-at-armed-guard)how Environmental Protection Agency-hating EPA chief Scott Pruitt was instilling a sense of paranoia in the agency’s offices.

Among other things, they wrote that he required round-the-clock bodyguards to accompany him even when he was at EPA headquarters. Pruitt is the first chief in the EPA’s 47-year history to order bodyguards 24 hours a day.

Turns out—surprise!—that it’s not only true, but it also mucks up the core mission of the agency that Pruitt has said he wants the EPA to return to. Juliet Eilperin and Brady Dennis at The Washington Post report (https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/at-epa-guarding-the-chief-pulls-agents-from-pursuing-environmental-crimes/2017/09/19/7b7b8b6c-9ce0-11e7-8ea1-ed975285475e_story.html?tid=ss_tw&utm_term=.484fb68101cf)Wednesday:

Scott Pruitt’s round-the-clock personal security detail, which demands triple the manpower of his predecessors

at the Environmental Protection Agency, has prompted officials to rotate in special agents from around the country who otherwise would be investigating environmental crimes.

The EPA’s Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance has

summoned agents from various cities to serve two-week stints helping guard Pruitt in recent months.

And while hiring in many departments is frozen, the agency has sought an exception to hire additional full-time staff to protect Pruitt.


Instead of the half dozen people usually assigned to

EPA security details, Pruitt’s order requires 18.

This at an agency that has seen in recent years a 20 percent cut in its budget, which peaked at $10.3 billion in 2010.

Pruitt sought to cut another 31 percent in the fiscal 2018 budget, knocking it down from $8.1 billion to $5.65 billion.

This would have forced a staff reduction from 15,000 to less than 12,000.

http://redgreenandblue.org/2017/09/22/pruitt-diverts-epa-agents-protect-247-instead-protecting-pollution/

The polluting, voracious, predatory oligarchy really got their Best Asshole to screw up EPA and the country.

[boutons_deux]

Bitch McC stole a SCOTUS seat for Gorsuch, now corrupt Gorsuch returns the criminally corrupt favor

Justice Neil Gorsuch Accused of Campaigning for Senator Mitch McConnell

Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch has been accused of campaigning for Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell.

Lawyer and writer Jessica Pieklo leveled the accusation against Gorsuch in a series of Twitter updates yesterday. Her initial tweet reads,

“Neil Gorsuch is campaigning for Mitch McConnell which is totally appropriate for a member of SCOTUS.”

Pieklo, an adjunct law professor (https://www.linkedin.com/in/jessica-mason-pieklo-02a427a/) at Hamline University School of Law in Boulder, Colorado, followed up her initial tweet by wondering out loud whether Gorsuch might be “the most unethical Justice” in U.S. history:


(https://twitter.com/Hegemommy)
(https://twitter.com/Hegemommy)
Jessica Mason Pieklo (https://twitter.com/Hegemommy)
(https://twitter.com/Hegemommy)✔@Hegemommy (https://twitter.com/Hegemommy)

How could there POSSIBLY be an appearance of bias when Gorsuch is glad-handing with Kentucky Republicans.

Most unethical Justice yet? https://twitter.com/Hegemommy/status/911234443011960833 … (https://t.co/LoriZ8wItC)
9:24 AM - Sep 22, 2017 (https://twitter.com/Hegemommy/status/911234701142065154)



https://lawnewz.com/high-profile/justice-neil-gorsuch-accused-of-campaigning-for-senator-mitch-mcconnell/

Repugs don't even try to avoid the appearance of corruption.

[boutons_deux]

John Oliver blasts corporate mergers — starting with the ‘shitty’ company trying to buy HBO

https://www.rawstory.com/2017/09/john-oliver-blasts-corporate-mergers-starting-with-the-shtty-company-trying-to-buy-hbo/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+TheRawStory+%28The+Raw+Story% 29

The Trash/Repug FCC and DoJ going to get tough of corporate consolidation? :lol

[boutons_deux]

Zinke: ’30 Percent’ Of Interior Dept. Staffers Not Loyal To Him And Trump

Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke said Monday that nearly one-third of employees at his department are not loyal to him and President Donald Trump, adding that he is working to change the department’s regulatory culture to be more business friendly.

he lamented a government culture that prizes analysis over action, saying: “There’s too many ways in the present process for someone who doesn’t want to get (a regulatory action) done to put it a holding pattern.”

pursuing a major reorganization that would push much of the agency’s decision-making outside Washington and move several agencies, including the Bureau of Reclamation and Bureau of Land Management, to undetermined Western states.

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/zinke-interior-dept-staffers-not-loyal?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+tpm-news+%28TPMNews%29

Don't think, analyze. Life is simple: fuck up everything for business can fuck it up everything.

For Trash, Zinke, etc personal loyalty supercedes the law, regs, the Constitution.

America is fucked and unfuckable.

[boutons_deux]

How Donald Trump and Elaine Chao Sold Off Flood-Control Policy to the Highest Bidders

In mid-August, the administration moved to gut a necessary initiative to guarantee the flood resilience of infrastructure.

the Trump administration was thinking about and acting on flood-control policies.

Unfortunately, the president’s team was thinking about what corporate interests wanted, and acting on their behalf—even as specialists on flooding issues pleaded (https://thinkprogress.org/trump-rescinds-obama-era-flood-standards-c526704e98f5/) with the administration to do otherwise. On August 15,

Trump and his team overturned (https://www.colorlines.com/articles/trump-signs-executive-order-rolls-back-more-obama-era-environmental-rules) an Obama-administration rule requiring that infrastructure projects, including roads and bridges, be designed to withstand the consequences of climate change—such as rising sea levels.

politically influential real-estate developers and builders lobbied for overturning Obama’s order.

And they got their way, thanks in no small part to one of the industry’s most powerful allies in the administration, Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao (https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2016/dec/15/trump-cabinet-climate-change-deniers).

Since Trump took office on January 20,

Chao and other presidential appointees have rushed to sell off critical decisions to the highest bidders in a crony-capitalist frenzy the likes of which Washington has never before seen.

“This is climate science denial at its most dangerous,”

said (http://content.sierraclub.org/press-releases/2017/08/trump-threatens-schools-hospitals-and-communities-pouring-tax-dollars-rising) Sierra Club Executive Director Michael Brune in mid-August. He stressed that the administration’s moves were

“putting vulnerable communities, federal employees, and families at risk by throwing out any guarantee that our infrastructure will be safe.”

https://www.thenation.com/article/how-donald-trump-and-elaine-chao-bartered-flood-control-policy-to-the-highest-bidders/

[boutons_deux]

EPA spending on Scott Pruitt now includes a $25,000 ‘privacy booth’

Pruitt's travel and security detail are also under scrutiny, as EPA faces massive cutbacks across its budget.

the Washington Post reported that the EPA spent almost $25,000 on a secure phone booth inside his headquarters office,

The construction of a secure, soundproof communications booth in Pruitt’s office at the EPA’s headquarters building in Washington is a truly mind-boggling expenditure. According to the Washington Post, the EPA signed (https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/energy-environment/wp/2017/09/26/epa-spending-almost-25000-to-install-a-secure-phone-booth-for-scott-pruitt/?utm_term=.d559108d3766) a

$24,570 contract for a company to install a “privacy booth for the administrator.”

“While the price tag for Pruitt’s phone booth should outrage every taxpayer, it’s who he’s speaking with and what they’re plotting that should be the most concerning to the American people,”

Pruitt is “paranoid because he’s working against the EPA, it’s mission and its career scientists and staff who have dedicated themselves to protecting public health and the environment.”

administration’s proposal to cut the agency’s budget by 30 percent — or more than $2 billion — is by far the largest cut of any federal agency.

During the first three months of Pruitt’s tenure at the EPA,

the government spent more than $800,000 on security for him,

almost twice the cost (https://www.eenews.net/stories/1060056958) of security for each of his two predecessors — Gina McCarthy and Lisa Jackson.

In its budget request, the

EPA was looking (https://thinkprogress.org/scott-pruitt-epa-bodyguards-budget-32916d5ab162/) to add 10 full-time employees to protect the administrator.

Pruitt now has an 18-member security detail (https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/at-epa-guarding-the-chief-pulls-agents-from-pursuing-environmental-crimes/2017/09/19/7b7b8b6c-9ce0-11e7-8ea1-ed975285475e_story.html) made up of armed personnel who guard him 24 hours a day, seven days a week,

unprecedented for any previous EPA administration.

https://thinkprogress.org/scott-pruitt-expenditures-5c4733e52690/

[boutons_deux]

Trump budget goes after 50-year-old coastal protection program

Administration wants to eliminate Sea Grant, cut climate research programs.

eliminate a 50-year-old research program that has served as a leader on coastal adaptation.

The program, known as the National Sea Grant College Program (http://seagrant.noaa.gov/WhoWeAre.aspx), funds scientific research that benefits the fishing industry and coastal businesses.

In recent years, the program, which is part of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA),

has focused on climate change adaptation initiatives that will prepare coastal communities for the predicted impacts of climate change.

In prior years, the program has received $73 million per year. Under the Trump budget, the program will receive no funding at all.

https://thinkprogress.org/trump-seeks-to-eliminate-climate-adaptation-program-77e6d122dab0/

[boutons_deux]

Trump EPA cuts life-saving clean cookstove program because it mentions climate change

How many people will die because Trump appointees hate anything climate related?

Trump’s political appointees at the Environmental Protection Agency are killing grants and awards that mention “climate change,” no matter how effective the initiatives might be in cutting costs, creating jobs, and saving lives.

the EPA has taken the unprecedented step of “putting a political operative in charge of vetting” hundreds of millions of dollars in annual EPA grants,

“Konkus has told staff that he is on the lookout for ‘the double C-word’ — climate change,”

two of the awards the EPA’s leadership rescinded… supported the deployment of clean cookstoves in the developing world.”

Nearly three billion people in the developing world cook their meals on primitive indoor stoves fueled by crop waste, wood, coal and dung. Every year, according to

the United Nations, smoke from these stoves kills 1.9 million people, mostly women and children, from lung and heart diseases and low birth weight.

https://thinkprogress.org/trump-epa-kills-life-saving-grants-d40d53ab89ff/

EPA committing unstoppable voluntary manslaughter with no accountability

[boutons_deux]

'Chilling' New Rule Allows DHS to Monitor All Immigrants' Social Media Activity

Freedom of speech advocates denounce DHS's new "collect-it-all" approach

Freedom of speech advocates are calling a new Department of Homeland Security rule "chilling," as the department will begin collecting social media communications and data of all immigrants.

The rule, (https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2017/09/18/2017-19365/privacy-act-of-1974-system-of-records) added last week to the Privacy Act of 1974, would allow the DHS to gather "social media handles, aliases, associated identifiable information, and search results" of people with immigration files, as well as "publicly available information from the internet."

The American Civil Liberties Union issued a statement (https://www.aclu.org/news/aclu-comment-homeland-security-notice-immigrants-social-media-information)on the new rule on Tuesday.

"This Privacy Act notice makes clear that the government intends to retain the social media information of people who have immigrated to this country, singling out a huge group of people to maintain files on what they say," said Faiz Shakir, national political director of the ACLU.

"This would undoubtedly have a chilling effect on the free speech that's expressed every day on social media.

This collect-it-all approach is ineffective to protect national security and is one more example of the Trump administration's anti-immigrant agenda."




Permanent residents and naturalized citizens would also be subject to the new rule,

suggesting that DHS is planning to monitor the social media activity of any U.S. resident who was born outside of the U.S.

Anyone who communicates with immigrants on social media would also be affected.

The rule is set to go into effect on October 18,

https://www.commondreams.org/news/2017/09/27/chilling-new-rule-allows-dhs-monitor-all-immigrants-social-media-activity

[boutons_deux]

Zinke Seems To Carve Out Exception For Home State On Shrinking Monuments

https://dawm7kda6y2v0.cloudfront.net/uploads/2017/09/[email protected]

U.S. Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke has closely followed his boss’ playbook, encouraging mining and drilling on public lands and reducing the size of national monuments that President Donald Trump called a “massive land grab” by his Democratic predecessors.

Except, that is, in Montana.

In Zinke’s home state, the former congressman who has long harbored higher political ambitions is recommending Trump create a new national monument out of the forests bordering Glacier National Park, to the disappointment of a company that wants to drill for natural gas there.

A couple hundred miles away, where rocky bluffs line the Missouri River, he decided to leave intact a 590-square-mile (1,528-square-kilometer) monument that for 16 years has stirred the kind of impassioned local opposition that Zinke cited in justifying changes to monuments elsewhere.

And he wants to curb mining along Montana’s border with Yellowstone National Park. That could discourage development of two proposed mines that supporters say would offer higher paying jobs than tourism.

The decision was based on Zinke’s belief that “some places are too precious to mine,”

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/zinke-exception-for-montana-on-shrinking-monuments?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+tpm-news+%28TPMNews%29

[boutons_deux]

God told him not to, and God makes the rules, not man

Roy Moore Failed To Disclose Up To $150K Of Income On Ethics Form
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/report-roy-moore-failed-to-disclose-income-senate-ethics-form?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A%20tpm-news%20%28TPMNews%29

there will be no accountability, so these assholes will continue, flouting regs, laws, conventions, following the Trash crime family's and org's numerous examples.

[boutons_deux]

Bombshell: Tom Price's private flights have cost taxpayers over $1 million since May (https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2017/9/28/1702577/-Bombshell-Tom-Price-s-private-flights-have-cost-taxpayers-over-1-Million-since-May)

https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2017/9/28/1702577/-Bombshell-Tom-Price-s-private-flights-have-cost-taxpayers-over-1-Million-since-May

[boutons_deux]

Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke’s slandering of some 20,000 Federal employees (http://missoulian.com/news/state-and-regional/zinke-one-third-of-interior-employees-not-loyal-to-trump/article_e67045c9-2c00-5c44-ab3e-131e42eebb81.html?utm_content=buffer616db&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook.com&utm_campaign=LEEDCC):


I got 30 percent of the crew that’s not loyal to the flag.



Yes, Secretary Zinke said that 30 percent of the 70,000 Federal employees in the Department of Interior are in violation of their Oath (https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/5/3331):

in essence, asserting that they merit prosecution of disloyalty to the nation.

https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2017/9/26/1701696/--Have-you-no-sense-of-decency-sir-Trump-Cabinet-member-slanders-20-000-civil-servants?detail=emaildkre (https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2017/9/26/1701696/--Have-you-no-sense-of-decency-sir-Trump-Cabinet-member-slanders-20-000-civil-servants?detail=emaildkre)

the oligarchy/Repug shitstorm is unpresidented.

[boutons_deux]

Oligarchy paying Perry/Repugs for "picking losers and losers" in the free, open, competitive market

Rick Perry’s Energy Department plans to prop up coal plants with direct subsidies

In a blatant money-grab for the coal industry, Rick Perry’s Energy Department is pushing for direct subsidies to dirty, un-economical coal-fired power plants.

Perry calls it a matter of National Security (http://www.utilitydive.com/news/perry-doe-still-weighing-state-policy-intervention-for-gas-pipelines-grid/505811/). (what? what happened to BLM and immigrant scapegoats causing all white man's problems?)

Here’s the idea:



Baseload power is the generation that happens day-in and day-out, regardless of swings in demand (which vary widely from daytime peaks to nightime lows)
Baseload also tends to rely on nuclear plants (which can’t be started stopped very easily) and coal-fired plants (which can be switched on and off fairly quickly).
As renewable energy prices come down, there’s an incentive to run solar (as long as the sun shines) and wind (as long as the wind blows). Conveniently, these also generate a lot more during the day, during peak demand.
But but but… Coal! Nuclear! These sources tend to come from very expensive plants with huge sunk costs that are no longer cost-competitive. But it’s good to have them around just in case we need them, like during a heatwave.
So… subsidies!
Perry has filed a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NOPR) under the Federal Power Act (https://energy.gov/downloads/notice-proposed-rulemaking-grid-resiliency-pricing-rule), directing the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to “accurately price generation resources necessary to maintain reliability and resiliency” and provide for “recovery of costs of fuel-secure generation units frequently relied upon to make our grid reliable and resilient.”


UtilityDive describes how this would work:

Under the NOPR, generating units in wholesale power markets that have a 90-day fuel supply onsite would be eligible for “full recovery of costs.”

The plants must be able to provide ancillary and reliability services,

be compliant with environmental regulations, (:lol excluding air, land, water, pollution, coal ash, nuclear waste)

and not be subject to cost-of-service recovery by a state.

The rule requires power market operators to “establish just and reasonable rate tariffs for the recovery of costs and a fair rate of return.”


The NOPR does not mention specific generation technologies, but would give immediate assistance to coal, nuclear and hydroelectric generators, which all have multi-day fuel supplies onsite.

DOE draws on themes from the grid study to justify the rule, saying it is necessary to protect from “energy outages expected to result from the loss of this fuel-secure generation” and because of “recognition that organized markets do not pay generators for all the attributes they provide.”


All this comes out of the DOE’s grid study, which was supposed to prove that renewables made the grid more vulnerable,

but instead found they made the grid more stable (http://redgreenandblue.org/2017/06/03/solar-improves-grid-reliability-despite-perry-pruitt-trump-tell/).

It also came under fire for rewriting its conclusions to favor coal. (http://redgreenandblue.org/2017/08/24/grid-report-perry-cut-facts-left-fossil-fuel-propaganda/)


“Make no mistake, Perry is shamelessly trying to force electricity customers to pay billions of dollars to prop up old, dangerous, and uneconomic coal and nuclear plants… Perry is ignoring the fact that FERC is an independent agency tasked with listening to stakeholders to fix actual problems with the grid, not imaginary ones that only benefit a few uncompetitive industries – namely coal and nuclear.
“The Federal Power Act clearly states that FERC cannot favor one energy source over others in its rulemakings, and Perry’s ask – without evidence or common sense – seeks to prop up dangerous coal and nuclear plants that can no longer compete in the wholesale market. We are prepared to take to court any illegal rule that props up dirty fossil fuel plants or weakens clean energy’s market access.”


FERC’s independence is pretty much toast already.

The new Chairman is Neil Chatterjee, who before Trump appointed him to be the energy watchdog for the country

was the energy policy staffer for Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky. So… yeah, coal guy. :lol

http://redgreenandblue.org/2017/09/29/rick-perrys-energy-department-plans-prop-coal-plants-direct-subsidies/

Remember it was the Repug FERC that screwed CA so badly back in 2001.

[boutons_deux]

VA chief took in Wimbledon, river cruise on European work trip; wife’s expenses covered by taxpayers

https://www.washingtonpost.com/investigations/va-chief-took-in-wimbledon-river-cruise-on-european-work-trip/2017/09/29/c1f17046-a458-11e7-8c37-e1d99ad6aa22_story.html?undefined=&utm_term=.7ad0b341566e&wpisrc=nl_most&wpmm=1

Another corrupt official appointed by Trash. He's Trash's man at the VA.

[boutons_deux]

Bitchy Devos corrupting govt to enrich her corrupt for-profit college racketeers.

Veterans Agency Seeks to Scrap Ethics Law on For-Profit Colleges

The Department of Veterans Affairs is pushing to suspend a 50-year-old ethics law (https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2017/09/14/2017-19480/employees-whose-association-with-for-profit-educational-institutions-poses-no-detriment-to-veterans) that prevents employees from receiving money or owning a stake in for-profit colleges that pocket hundreds of millions of dollars in tuition paid through the G.I. Bill of Rights.

But veterans’ groups and ethics experts reject those arguments and say the department is abandoning protections for veterans and taxpayers. They worry that the effort is part of a larger rollback of federal safeguards (https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/12/business/education-department-for-profit-schools.html) that were instituted before President Trump took office to combat abuses and fraud by for-profit colleges.

Several officials who worked in the for-profit college industry and had criticized the Obama-era crackdown as excessive, for example, have

joined the Education Department (http://www.politico.com/story/2017/08/30/julian-schmoke-jr-trump-education-department-college-enforcement-242176), which administers and polices the federal student loan program and the industry.

the move seems like an

attempt by the executive branch to overrule the legislative branch.

“They are saying the statute is unreasonable, but that’s not for them to say,”

One concern of critics is that officials at the organization’s upper levels could be making decisions about a college in which they have a financial interest, like permitting a school with a record of abuses to recruit at military bases. (https://www.revealnews.org/blog/university-of-phoenix-gained-special-access-to-military-base-for-a-price/)

Another is that people advising veterans about their educational benefits could steer students to a particular school because they were on the payroll.

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/29/business/veterans-affairs-ethics.html?partner=rss&emc=rss

[boutons_deux]

(https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2017/9/29/1702785/-Open-thread-for-night-owls-Federal-enforcer-wants-Wall-Street-bankers-to-police-themselves):lol (https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2017/9/29/1702785/-Open-thread-for-night-owls-Federal-enforcer-wants-Wall-Street-bankers-to-police-themselves)
Federal enforcer wants Wall Street bankers to police themselves (https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2017/9/29/1702785/-Open-thread-for-night-owls-Federal-enforcer-wants-Wall-Street-bankers-to-police-themselves) :lol

James McDonald, the new enforcement chief at the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), an obscure US agency that oversees the $483 trillion (http://www.bis.org/publ/otc_hy1705.pdf) derivatives market.

In a Monday night speech (http://www.cftc.gov/PressRoom/SpeechesTestimony/opamcdonald092517) in New York City, McDonald announced a new initiative

to provide significant benefits to financial institutions :lol

that "self-report" crimes and cooperate with investigators.

In exchange, he said, companies might see civil penalties slashed, and in some instances, cases dropped altogether. :lol

"One goal in advancing our self-reporting and cooperation program is to bring ours in line with our law enforcement partners,"

including the Department of Justice, :lol

"Setting up an enforcement regime based on cooperation and compliance hurt the government's ability to conduct investigations on its own,"

Jesse Eisinger writes in his book (http://www.simonandschuster.com/books/The-Chickenshit-Club/Jesse-Eisinger/9781501121364)

The Chickenshit Club: Why the Justice Department Fails to Prosecute Executives.

"Prosecutorial skills erode.

The government has outsourced and privatized work—to the misbehaving corporations themselves."

https://www.dailykos.com/

:lol Repug MISgovernance.

The corruption will be unPresidented, and unProsecuted.

[boutons_deux]

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DK_Y_4FUIAASKF3.jpg:large

[boutons_deux]

As CHIP Expires Unrenewed, Congress Blows Chance to Save Healthcare for 9 Million Children

Officials predict California, Arizona, Minnesota, and North Carolina will run out of funding by December or early in January

https://www.commondreams.org/views/2017/10/01/chip-expires-unrenewed-congress-blows-chance-save-healthcare-9-million-children

[Chucho]

http://i.imgur.com/IqbgzTb.jpg

[boutons_deux]

Health and safety rules targeted as Trump begins to slash red tape

More than 1,500 accidents at chemical plants have been reported in the United States since 2007, and amendments to the Clean Air Act issued in the last days of former President Barack Obama's administration would have forced plants handling risky chemicals to coordinate emergency plans with local responders.

President Donald Trump’s administration suspended the regulations, placing them in a two-year review. Trade associations argued the new rules were inconsistent with Trump’s pledges to cut regulations and with his executive order issued in January requiring federal agencies to offset each new regulation with two deregulatory actions.The full scope of the effects of the two-for-one requirement will begin to emerge in late November, when the White House is expected to publish a list of regulations and deregulatory actions each agency has taken under the rule.A Reuters examination of rules published in the Federal Register, a U.S. government journal, shows that so far in 2017, agencies have proposed or finalized 25 deregulatory measures under the two-for-one requirement

The rollbacks will delay deadlines for farmers to comply with water quality requirements, speed up the approval process for natural gas exports, make it easier for public transportation projects to attract private financiers, and lift a rule that requires employers to disclose when they hire consultants to defeat union-organizing campaigns.

the measures being targeted were aimed at protecting the public against significant health and safety threats.

Industry groups, however, say many of the measures were onerous and unnecessary, and they are now using Trump’s push to cut red tape to urge agencies to delay, modify or undo rules they have long opposed.

the Department of Labor has proposed rolling back a rule protecting workers from beryllium, an industrial metal and known carcinogen. The department said the rollback would save the shipyard and construction sectors about $11 million annually.

would have required shipyard and construction companies to train and monitor workers to help them avoid dangerous levels of beryllium exposure. The rule “imposed complex and costly regulations on abrasive blasters, despite no evidence of any beryllium-related illness in the history of the industry,”

exposure to beryllium dust can lead to chronic beryllium disease, a debilitating and potentially fatal lung condition.

dozens of his colleagues have suffered from lung diseases associated with beryllium exposure. But blood tests to confirm the link cost hundreds of dollars and are not offered at most hospitals, so few can prove it,

beryllium exposure isn’t limited to workers: it leaves the worksite in clouds of blasting dust and the gritty coal slag that sticks to workers’ clothes and skin, which risks exposing others.

Trump, who said during his presidential campaign that 70 percent of federal agency regulations could be eliminated.

COAL RULE BITES DUST

the Interior Department rescinded Obama-era regulations that clarified how much oil, gas and coal companies should pay the federal government in royalties from mineral extraction on federal land.

The rule was aimed at stopping the practice of coal companies selling coal at below-market prices to their affiliated companies as a way to reduce royalty payments the companies owed

http://www.politicususa.com/2017/10/01/health-safety-rules-targeted-trump-begins-slash-red-tape.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+politicususa%2FfJAl+%28Politi cus+USA+%29

Repug whores will fuck anybody and anything to enrich their BigDonor

[Chucho]

http://i.imgur.com/IqbgzTb.jpg

[boutons_deux]

Trump Rolls Back Obama-Era Fuel Economy Standards

Trump said he was ordering the EPA to reopen a mid-term review of Corporate Average Fuel Economy, or CAFE,

standards that would require the industry to deliver a fleet average of at least 54.5 mpg by 2025.

Many — though not all — manufacturers have warned they cannot meet that target without raising vehicle prices beyond what consumers could afford,

https://www.nbcnews.com/business/autos/trump-rolls-back-obama-era-fuel-economy-standards-n734256

BigAuto LIES, and Trash accommodates

[Chucho]

http://i.imgur.com/IqbgzTb.jpg

[boutons_deux]

Corruption Exploding as Trump EPA Chief Meets Near-Daily With Those He’s Supposed to Regulate


Trump's Environmental Protection Agency chief Scott Pruitt meets near-daily with those he's supposed to be regulating, including top corporate executives and lobbyists, and almost no meetings with environmental groups or citizen groups.

The New York Times (https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/03/us/politics/epa-scott-pruitt-calendar-industries-coal-oil-environmentalists.html?) reported that Pruitt’s schedule shows “back-to-back meetings, briefing sessions and speaking engagements

almost daily with top corporate executives and lobbyists from all the major economic sectors that he regulates — and almost no meetings with environmental groups or consumer or public health advocates.

”Most of these “players have high-profile matters pending before the agency, with potentially hundreds of millions of dollars in regulatory costs at stake.”

Nothing to see here, folks. Just a swamp afillin’ at record pace.

http://www.politicususa.com/2017/10/03/trump-administration-swamp-corruption-epa-chief-hangs-supposed-regulating.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+politicususa%2FfJAl+%28Politi cus+USA+%29

[Chucho]

http://i.imgur.com/IqbgzTb.jpg

[boutons_deux]

Vice President Pence Touts “Success” in Gutting Public Health and Safety Protections

“This administration has swept away protections that took years to develop.

These critical safeguards were created based on the best available science and public input, but now they’re being quickly and carelessly deleted.

They’ve ignored the evidence and put the interests of industry lobbyists over public health and safety.

These changes will put Americans at risk, yet the president and vice president see this as an opportunity to take a victory lap.

“The rush to undo these rules has real, damaging consequences.

Communities near chemical facilities will have less information about the risks they face—raising the danger to families and first responders in the case of accidents like the recent Arkema explosion in Houston.

The pesticide chlorpyrifos will stay on the market despite evidence that it sickens farmworkers and harms brain development in children exposed to it.

Workers will be more likely to get serious illnesses from exposure to silica dust and beryllium on the job.

Parents will have less information about how much added sugar is in the food they buy for their families.

Without limits on pollutants like ozone, methane, carbon dioxide, heavy metals and mining waste, our air and our water will be dirtier and it will be much harder for us to manage the risks of climate change.

And today Vice President Pence promised to go even further in dismantling these safeguards.

“The vice president may tout it as an accomplishment that the administration has derailed so many public health and safety protections.

For the rest of us, though—particularly for low-income neighborhoods and communities of color—this is no victory.

It’s a willful failure by the administration to do its job protecting Americans.”

https://www.commondreams.org/newswire/2017/10/02/vice-president-pence-touts-success-gutting-public-health-and-safety-protections

[Chucho]

http://i.imgur.com/IqbgzTb.jpg

[boutons_deux]

Sessions Calls for ‘Recommitment’ to Free Speech on Campus, Diving Into Debate

“A national recommitment to free speech on campus and to ensuring First Amendment rights is long overdue,” Mr. Sessions said,

addressing an audience that included students wearing tape over their mouths in protest of the Trump administration.

“Protesters are now routinely shutting down speeches and debates across the country in an effort to silence voices that insufficiently conform with their views.”

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/26/us/politics/jeff-sessions-campus-free-speech-georgetown.html

O T O H ...

Sessions the Censor

The attorney general says he values free speech. In 1996, he tried to stop LGBTQ students from meeting at a public university.

In 1996, the then–attorney general of Alabama used the full power of his office to try to shut down an LGBTQ conference at the University of Alabama.

Sessions took his battle to court, asking a federal judge to let him block the conference altogether—or,

at the very least, silence students who wished to discuss LGBTQ issues.

He ultimately failed, but his campaign reveals a great deal about

his highly selective view of free expression.

http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/jurisprudence/2017/10/jeff_sessions_tried_to_stop_lgbtq_students_from_me eting_at_a_public_university.html (http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/jurisprudence/2017/10/jeff_sessions_tried_to_stop_lgbtq_students_from_me eting_at_a_public_university.html)

JBeau is nothing but the typical racist Repug piece of shit, just like all of you ST KKK/Nazis/racists

[boutons_deux]

THE U.S. VOTED AGAINST A U.N. RESOLUTION CONDEMNING DEATH PENALTY FOR LGBTQ PEOPLE (https://theintercept.com/2017/10/03/the-u-s-voted-against-a-u-n-resolution-condemning-death-penalty-for-lgbtq-people/)

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP’S administration is facing strong backlash from civil rights groups after voting against a U.N. resolution that condemns using death penalty to punish “consensual same-sex relations.”

The U.N. Human Rights Council approved the measure on Friday with a 27-13 vote, with seven countries abstaining.

The United States, led by Amb. Nikki Haley,

voted for an amendment to the resolution that said the death penalty was not necessarily a human rights violation,

and voted against amendments (http://ilga.org/downloads/HRC36_death_penalty_voting_resolution.pdf) urging countries to stop using experimental drugs in executions.

The Human Rights Campaign called (https://www.hrc.org/blog/trump-admin-votes-against-resolution-condemning-death-penalty-for-same-sex) the vote “beyond disgraceful,” and former Obama national security advisor Susan Rice took aim at Trump:




https://pbs.twimg.com/profile_images/820994657102376961/UtQGayW2_normal.jpgSusan Rice (https://twitter.com/AmbassadorRice)
(https://twitter.com/AmbassadorRice)✔@AmbassadorRice (https://twitter.com/AmbassadorRice)

Shame on US! I was proud to lead U.S. efforts at UN to protect LGBTQ people, back in the day when America stood for human rights for all https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/72x72/1f1fa-1f1f8.png

https://theintercept.com/2017/10/03/the-u-s-voted-against-a-u-n-resolution-condemning-death-penalty-for-lgbtq-people/

goddam, Repug/oligarchy America is FUCKING DEPLORABLE

[boutons_deux]

Anti-abortion congressman urged woman get an abortion

Rep. Tim Murphy, a Pennsylvania Republican with a staunchly anti-abortion voting record, urged a woman he was having an affair with to get an abortion, according to messages obtained (http://www.post-gazette.com/news/politics-nation/2017/10/03/rep-tim-Murphy-pro-life-sought-abortion-affair-shannon-edwards-susan-mosychuk-pennsylvania-chief-of-staff-congress-emails-texts/stories/201710030018) by the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

Murphy admitted to the affair in September, and texts reported on by the Post-Gazette showed the woman accused Murphy of hypocrisy in January after an anti-abortion message was posted to his Facebook account.

"You have zero issue posting your pro-life stance all over the place when you had no issue asking me to abort our unborn child just last week when we thought that was one of the options,"

http://edition.cnn.com/2017/10/03/politics/tim-murphy-abortion/index.html

[boutons_deux]

Repug kakistorcracy fucking up govt

Civil servants charge Trump is sidelining workers with expertise on climate change and environment

the reassignment slip Clement received in June stunned him. He was not only removed from his post as director of policy analysis, he was deposited into a new job auditing fossil fuel company leases.

Approximately 50 such slips went out to the department’s most experienced and highly paid managers.

Other recipients interviewed were just as puzzled as Clement. It seemed to them that they were getting moved for the sake of getting moved — often to jobs unrelated to their skills.

On Wednesday, Clement joined those who have quit in frustration.

Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke may have shed some light on his thinking last week when he told a petroleum industry group that he believes nearly a third of his workforce is disloyal to the Trump agenda. “I got 30% of the crew that's not loyal to the flag,”

The administration’s actions have signaled deep suspicion of many of the civil servants on the government payroll, particularly when their work has involved confronting climate change or enforcing the environmental protections and other regulations the White House is working to roll back.

Some reassignments have come after media on the right demanded them, as was the case of a high-level State Department staffer whose involvement in the Iran nuclear deal was highlighted by Breitbart. Scores more diplomats at the department have been largely idled by an administration projecting ambivalence about their work.

http://www.latimes.com/politics/la-na-pol-trump-civil-servants-201709-story.html#nws=mcnewsletter

The oligarchy/Repugs are dedicated to fucking up America, fucking up the govt.

career professionals quitting to be replaced by political hacks or not replaced at all

[boutons_deux]

TRUMP’S PICK FOR EPA SAFETY CHIEF ARGUED KIDS ARE LESS SENSITIVE TO TOXINS (https://theintercept.com/2017/10/03/epa-nominee-michael-dourson-toxic-chemicals/)

MICHAEL DOURSON, THE toxicologist who will be the subject of a confirmation hearing (https://www.epw.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/hearings?ID=37CC8314-16F1-4D4F-9A26-297EF3D8E49D) on Wednesday for what many consider the second most powerful post at the Environmental Protection Agency, has been hired by industry to consult on at least 30 of the chemicals he may be responsible for reviewing if he assumes office.

Dourson’s consulting company, Toxicology Excellence for Risk Assessment, or TERA (http://www.tera.org/), was paid by Dow Chemical, CropLife America, the American Chemistry Council, the American Petroleum Institute, Koch Industries, and other companies and industry groups to study dozens of chemicals. The

evaluations TERA produced consistently (http://blogs.edf.org/health/2017/09/22/proof-in-pudding-epa-toxics-nominee-dourson-has-consistently-recommended-safe-levels-for-chemicals-that-would-weaken-health-protections/) failed to recognize threats that were clear to scientists and regulators not on the companies’ payrolls.
If confirmed as director of the EPA’s Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention,

Dourson will be in a position to set safety levels for many of the same chemicals his company was paid to defend,

including nine pesticides scheduled (https://www.epa.gov/sites/production/files/2015-04/documents/fy15-fy17-regreview_schedule.pdf) for scrutiny and 20 industrial compounds that may be evaluated under the recently updated chemical safety law.

https://theintercept.com/2017/10/03/epa-nominee-michael-dourson-toxic-chemicals/

Just another whore and shill for the oligarchy, being placed to POISON, DEGRADE, FUCK AMERICA FOR PROFIT

[boutons_deux]

U.S. interior secretary raised political funds on government trip

The head of the U.S. Department of the Interior came under further scrutiny on Thursday amid a media report that he had attended a Republican fundraiser in March during a government trip to the Caribbean.

Politico, citing department travel records and other documents, said Ryan Zinke attended a Virgin Islands Republican Party fundraiser where donors paid up to $5,000 per couple for a photograph with the secretary.

The report comes as multiple investigations into the former one-term congressman’s travel while serving in the Trump administration were announced this week following various media reports on the subject.

On Monday, the Interior Department’s watchdog agency said it was probing Zinke’s travels after recent reports that he had used a private plane owned by an oil executive.

On Tuesday, the U.S. Office of Special Counsel said it was investigating whether he broke the law in June when he gave a speech to a professional hockey team owned by a political donor.

Other Cabinet members have also been scrutinized over their use of taxpayer money for more expensive private travel rather than less expensive commercial trips.

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-interior-zinke/u-s-interior-secretary-raised-political-funds-on-government-trip-report-idUSKBN1CA1LI?feedType=RSS&feedName=domesticNews

Repug kakistrocrats, at every opportunity, giving huge, fat middle fingers to America.

The corruption IS UnPresidented.

[boutons_deux]

JBeau implemting hated-filled Christian Sharia

Jeff Sessions: Transgender people not protected from workplace discrimination

Attorney General Jeff Sessions said that federal civil rights law does not protect transgender people from discrimination in the workplace, reversing an Obama administration policy issued nearly three years ago.

In a directive earlier this week to federal prosecutors across the country, Sessions said that the Justice Department would take the new position "in all pending and future matters.''

According to Sessions' memo, the prohibition on sex discrimination "encompasses discrimination between men and women but does not encompass discrimination based on gender identity, per se, including transgender status."

The directive effectively rolls back 2014 guidance provided by then-Attorney General Eric Holder, which stated that the "most straightforward reading" of the civil rights law also guards transgender workers from discrimination.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2017/10/05/jeff-sessions-transgender-people-not-protected-workplace-discrimination/735709001/

[boutons_deux]

Wisconsin Republicans launch new rollback of air, water protections

Republicans in the Wisconsin Legislature want to eliminate state protections for wetlands and air quality except when mandated by the federal government, saying they are costly for businesses.

About a million acres of wetlands could be left vulnerable and as many as 300 hazardous air pollutants could become unregulated under a pair of proposals circulating among lawmakers.

http://host.madison.com/wsj/news/local/govt-and-politics/wisconsin-republicans-launch-new-rollback-of-air-water-protections/article_81101a90-56a2-5841-aa7a-aef12037c77c.html

[boutons_deux]

Trump expected to decertify Iran nuclear deal

President Donald Trump is expected to announce soon that he will decertify the landmark international deal to curb Iran’s nuclear program, a senior administration official said on Thursday, in a step that potentially could cause the 2015 accord to unravel.

The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Trump is also expected to roll out a broader U.S. strategy on Iran that would be more confrontational. The Trump administration has frequently criticized Iran’s conduct in the Middle East.

Trump, who has called the pact an “embarrassment” and “the worst deal ever negotiated,” has been weighing whether it serves U.S. security interests as he faces an Oct. 15 deadline for certifying that Iran is complying with its terms.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-iran-nuclear-usa/trump-expected-to-decertify-iran-nuclear-deal-official-says-idUSKBN1CA2ID

People, including Trash's own staff, say Iran is fully complying with OBAMA's agreement, but it's an Obama legacy that must be destroyed, just because Trash can.

[boutons_deux]

white male Christian supremacist anti-Semites get paid to support Israel

(of course, the Christians love Israel as where they will be enraptured, but they just hate Jews)

U.S. withdraws from UNESCO, the U.N.’s cultural organization, citing anti-Israel bias

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-nation/wp/2017/10/12/u-s-withdraws-from-unesco-the-u-n-s-cultural-organization-citing-anti-israel-bias/?tid=sm_fb&utm_term=.f31b76a2966d

[boutons_deux]

I doubt that Trash, in his profound ignorance, even knew who Marino was, so which piece of Repug/oligarchy garbable really told Trash to nominate Marino

Trump says drug czar nominee Tom Marino is withdrawing after Washington Post/‘60 Minutes’ investigation

the lawmaker helped steer legislation through Congress (https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/2017/investigations/dea-drug-industry-congress/?utm_term=.6844c925ca94) that weakened the Drug Enforcement Administration’s ability to go after drug distributors, even as opioid-related deaths continue to rise.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-politics/wp/2017/10/17/trump-says-drug-czar-nominee-tom-marino-is-withdrawing-after-washington-post60-minutes-investigation/?undefined=&utm_term=.8fa5cfc3663b&wpisrc=nl_most&wpmm=1

another example of how Trash's insanity detracts from the real damage being executed behind the curtain by the oligarchy and their whore Repugs.

[boutons_deux]

Scott Pruitt's EPA Says Maybe More Radiation Exposure Wouldn't Be So Harmful (https://gizmodo.com/scott-pruitts-epa-says-maybe-more-radiation-exposure-wo-1819603938)

he’s trying to lower the bar for, uh, deadly radiation. In new guidelines (https://www.epa.gov/sites/production/files/2017-07/documents/pags_comm_tool_p9.pdf) for local officials published in September, the EPA advised that radiation exposure during disasters ten or more times higher than guidelines under Barack Obama’s administration is safe,

“radiation exposures of 5–10 rem (5,000–10,000 mrem or 50–100 mSv) usually result in no harmful health effects, because radiation below these levels is a minor contributor to our overall cancer risk.” :lol

the higher number as “really a huge amount of radiation... The position taken could readily unravel all radiation protection rules.”

https://gizmodo.com/scott-pruitts-epa-says-maybe-more-radiation-exposure-wo-1819603938?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+gizmodo%2Ffull+%28Gizmodo%29

[boutons_deux]

Sarah Huckabee Sanders Outed As White House Official Spreading Smears About Obama


Trump is using the Press Secretary and others to spread false stories about Obama (http://www.politicususa.com/2017/10/17/gutless-trump-launched-sleaziest-obama-record.html) to distract from the fact that Trump was playing golf as the bodies of four Green Berets who were ambushed in Niger arrived back in the United States.


Steven Perlberg (https://twitter.com/perlberg)
(https://twitter.com/perlberg)✔Per[/MENTION]lberg (https://twitter.com/perlberg)

Replying to Perlberg (https://twitter.com/_/status/920318522370248711)

Sarah Huckabee Sanders is an official confirming on background that Obama didn't call Kelly, per a person familiar (not at BuzzFeed News)
11:15 AM - Oct 17, 2017 (https://twitter.com/perlberg/status/920322337500729344)

It takes a person of low ethics to be a mouthpiece for Trump, and Huckabee Sanders has shown that she is at the bottom of the barrel.





http://www.politicususa.com/2017/10/17/sarah-huckabee-sanders-outed-white-house-official-spreading-smears-obama.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+politicususa%2FfJAl+%28Politi cus+USA+%29

[boutons_deux]

More of Bannon's / Oligarchy's "destruction of the administrative state"

Mr. Trump Outdoes Himself in Picking a Conflicted Regulator

President Trump has made a habit of filling important jobs with people dedicated to undermining the laws they’re supposed to administer while pampering the industries they’re supposed to regulate.

His nominee for the Environmental Protection Agency’s top clean air post, William Wehrum, is a retread from the George W. Bush administration with a deep doctrinal dislike of clean air regulations.

His choice to run (https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/13/climate/trump-environmental-advisor.html) the White House Council on Environmental Quality is borderline comical: Kathleen Hartnett White, a former Texas official who believes that the main greenhouse gas, carbon dioxide, is harmless.

Yet no nomination has been as brazen, as dangerous to public health and as deserving of Senate rejection as that of Michael Dourson (https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/19/science/epa-chemical-industry-dourson.html?_r=0) to run the E.P.A. office in charge of reviewing chemicals used in agriculture, industry and household products.

Mr. Dourson is a scientist for hire.

A toxicologist and a professor at the University of Cincinnati, he has a

long history of consulting for chemical companies and conducting studies paid for with industry money.

He frequently decided that the compounds he was evaluating were safe at exposure levels that are far more dangerous to public health than levels recommended by the E.P.A., the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and other agencies.

His nomination is enthusiastically endorsed by the chemical industry. :lol He's their serial-peforming WHORE

It horrifies environmental groups, public health advocates, firefighters and scientists and has

inspired many letters (http://www.ewg.org/planet-trump/2017/10/trump-chemical-safety-nominee-sparks-widespread-concern#.WeYx5RNSyEL) in opposition to the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, which may vote as early as Wednesday.

https://mobile.nytimes.com/2017/10/17/opinion/mr-trump-outdoes-himself-in-picking-a-conflicted-regulator.html?partner=rss&emc=rss&referer=

[boutons_deux]

ADA as the ONLY Repug law in 40 years that favored The People? :lol

Congress wants to make Americans with disabilities second-class citizens again
https://img.washingtonpost.com/rf/image_1484w/2010-2019/WashingtonPost/2017/10/17/Obituaries/Advance/Images/PHO-10Aug05-242554.jpg?uuid=QbKl0ByCEeGm-Eau8_2mug

the forces of discrimination are working hard to rebuild that wall.

Led by the hospitality and retail industries, special interests want to shift the burden of ADA compliance away from business owners and onto individuals with disabilities.

They’re backing a bill that has already passed the House Judiciary Committee, the so-called ADA Education and Reform Act (https://www.congress.gov/bill/115th-congress/house-bill/620), :lol

which would

reward businesses that fail to comply with the law.

The bill would

allow businesses to wait until they are notified of their failure to meet legal obligations

before they even have to start removing barriers that prevent Americans with disabilities from leading independent lives.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/congress-is-on-the-offensive-against-americans-with-disabilities/2017/10/17/f508069c-b359-11e7-9e58-e6288544af98_story.html?utm_term=.bcda13cbd223&wpisrc=nl_most&wpmm=1

goddam, you rightwingnutjobs are nasty, sociopathic pricks.

Screwing disabled people is another thing you voted for, right?

[boutons_deux]

Repug Christian Taliban's War on (poor) Women, War on Women having sex

Trump admin wants to slash birth control access and push ineffective ‘rhythm method’ for women

replace reliable birth control methods with "fertility awareness," a dubious family planning technique that

fails nearly a quarter (https://www.cdc.gov/reproductivehealth/contraception/unintendedpregnancy/pdf/family-planning-methods-2014.pdf) of women every year.

White House officials wrote that they intend to slash federal funding to the U.S. Agency for International Development's family planning budget and require "equal funding" for fertility awareness. The memo further specifies that fertility planning should be the sole birth control method made available to young girls.

https://www.rawstory.com/2017/10/trump-admin-wants-to-slash-birth-control-access-and-push-ineffective-rhythm-method-for-women-memo/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+TheRawStory+%28The+Raw+Story% 29

[boutons_deux]

Here's the Scouts intimidating kids to STFU and follows order like a Good German

Cub Scout Kicked Out After Asking State Senator a Tough Gun Control Question

http://www.slate.com/content/dam/slate/blogs/the_slatest/2017/10/22/cub_scout_kicked_out_of_den_after_asking_state_sen ator_a_tough_gun_control/screen_shot_20171022_at_3.40.54_pm.png.CROP.promo-xlarge2.40.54_pm.png

http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_slatest/2017/10/22/cub_scout_kicked_out_of_den_after_asking_state_sen ator_a_tough_gun_control.html

NRA gonna compensate that den master, keep up the good murderous work. Remember, More Guns Means More Gun Violence

[boutons_deux]

After Kelly smears himself with Trash's shit, US Military Academy shits on itself by honoring a war criminal

Why West Point’s Lauding of George W. Bush Is a Disgrace

His lies to push the Iraq War forward violate the academy’s own honor code. Why honor that?

If, however, you are a former president of the United States responsible for initiating two illegal wars of aggression, which

killed 7,000 U.S. servicemen (http://watson.brown.edu/costsofwar/costs/human/military) and

at least 210,000 civilians (http://watson.brown.edu/costsofwar/costs/human/civilians),

displaced more than 10 million people (http://watson.brown.edu/costsofwar/costs/human/refugees) from their homes,

condoned torture,

initiated a global drone assassination campaign, and

imprisoned people for years without substantive evidence or trial in Guantanamo Bay,

the punishment evidently is to be given the Thayer Award at West Point.

West Point is structurally incapable of adhering to its own honor code in practice.

Dishonesty, however, has a subtler aspect to it.

It leeches away whatever integrity the academy does possess beneath its granite foundation.

In that sense, the latest Thayer Award is an attempt to revise history by denying the illegality (https://www.theguardian.com/world/2004/sep/16/iraq.iraq) of Bush’s wars and absolving him of any accountability for them.
https://www.thenation.com/article/why-west-points-lauding-of-george-w-bush-is-a-disgrace/

[boutons_deux]

EPA cancels appearance of scientists at climate change event

The Environmental Protection Agency (https://www.epa.gov/) (EPA) has canceled the appearance of three scientists at an event on Monday in Rhode Island about a report, which deals in part with climate change (https://www.cbsnews.com/climate-change/).

The New York Times reports EPA spokesman John Konkus confirmed on Sunday that agency scientists would not be speaking at the event in Providence. Konkus did not provide an explanation.

The event is designed to draw attention to the health of Narragansett Bay, which forms New England's largest estuary.

A spokesman for Democratic U.S. Sen. Jack Reed of Rhode Island says the event will go on as planned and the report that EPA scientists helped work on will be released.

In a statement to The Associated Press Sunday night, Reed said "muzzling EPA scientists won't do anything to address climate change."

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/epa-cancels-appearance-of-scientists-climate-change-event-rhode-island/

[boutons_deux]

Trump’s Forecasting Downgrade


The system we have for warning people isn’t good enough.


the Trump administration’s climate denial and proposed cuts threaten these advances, spreading turmoil in the very agencies that can predict disasters better than ever.

The president’s budget proposal

would slash the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s budget (http://thebridge.agu.org/2017/05/31/noaa-cut-16-president-trumps-budget-request/) by 16 percent,

including 6 percent from the National Weather Service.

Besides hampering climate research, the cuts would jeopardize satellite programs (https://spacepolicyonline.com/news/gallaudet-noaa-satellite-programs-growing-at-unsustainable-rate/) and other forecasting tools — as well as threaten the jobs of forecasters themselves.

And they may undermine bipartisan legislation Trump himself signed earlier this year (https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/capital-weather-gang/wp/2017/04/04/congress-passes-comprehensive-weather-forecasting-and-research-bill/) that mandates key steps to improve the nation’s ability to predict disasters before they happen.

http://grist.org/article/life-saving-weather-forecasts-cost-donald-trump-wants-to-slash-them/

More voluntary homicide from the oligarchy's kakistocracy, so the oligarchy can have its tax cuts and tax holidays.

[boutons_deux]

Fucking slave state Christian supremacist rich bitch, Bible-humping pro-life :lol

Georgia Lawmaker’s Comments About Quarantine and HIV Show the Plague of Ignorance

In a lackluster apology, Rep. Betty Price says her comment, which suggested isolating people with HIV as a possible option, was just "provocative and rhetorical."

What She Said

Price’s comments were made during a meeting of the House Study Committee on Georgians’ Barriers to Access to Adequate Healthcare, of which she is a member.

Price (the wife of former U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price, who resigned (https://rewire.news/article/2017/09/29/price-ouster-isnt-end-anti-choice-hhs-leadership/) after a scandal over inappropriate use of taxpayer funds for travel)

was questioning Dr. Pascale Wortley, head of the state health department’s HIV epidemiology division, about the large number of Georgians with HIV who are not getting regular care.

She asked (http://www.ajc.com/news/state--regional-govt--politics/georgia-rep-betty-price-responds-critics-hiv-quarantine-query/rHxzr4KntU7XSaMXaozMSL/): “I don’t want to say the quarantine word, but I guess I just said it.”

She continued:

“Is there an ability, since I would guess that public dollars are expended heavily in prophylaxis and treatment of this condition?

So we have a public interest in curtailing the spread.

What would you advise, or are there any methods legally that we could do that would curtail the spread?”
And finally, she said:

“It seems to me it’s almost frightening, the number of people who are living that are potentially carriers.

Well they are carriers, with the potential to spread, whereas

in the past they died more readily and then at that point they are not posing a risk.

So we’ve got a huge population posing a risk if they are not in treatment.”

Though the idea of quarantines made most national headlines, the further

suggestion that it was better when HIV-positive people died quickly is far more offensive.

https://rewire.news/article/2017/10/23/georgia-lawmakers-comments-quarantine-hiv-ignorance/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+rhrealitycheck+%28RH+Reality+ Check%29

[boutons_deux]

TREASURY DEPARTMENT LAUNCHES ATTACK ON THE CONSUMER FINANCIAL PROTECTION BUREAU AHEAD OF VOTE (https://theintercept.com/2017/10/24/executive-branch-at-war-treasury-department-launches-attack-on-the-consumer-financial-protection-bureau/)


the Treasury Department on Monday launched an unusual attack (http://thehill.com/policy/finance/356691-treasury-opposes-consumer-bureau-arbitration-rule-in-new-report) on the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s arbitration rule,

relying heavily on a discredited industry theory that claims that trial lawyers routinely bully corporations into class-action settlements.

The Treasury released a 17-page report (https://www.treasury.gov/press-center/press-releases/Documents/10-23-17%20Analysis%20of%20CFPB%20arbitration%20rule.pdf ) arguing that the rule, which would prohibit companies from sticking language into financial contracts that prevent consumers from pursuing class-action lawsuits, will “impose extraordinary costs” on businesses without providing benefits from an increase in industry compliance.

Furthermore, the agency asserts that trial lawyers will enjoy a “large wealth transfer” if the rule is adopted.

The rule has gotten increased public attention after the Equifax breach, in which a forced arbitration clause played a role in stoking outrage at the company’s response.

Corporations, meanwhile, have also banded together (https://theintercept.com/2017/10/06/consumer-protection-arbitration-rule-lawsuit-equifax-wells-fargo/)— you might call it a “class action” — to block the CFPB rule and prevent consumers from the class action option themselves.

The Treasury deployed familiar arguments used by the industry and its mouthpieces. Claims that CFPB used misleading data and failed to recognize that consumers fare better in arbitration (which isn’t true (http://www.epi.org/publication/correcting-the-record-consumers-fare-better-under-class-actions-than-arbitration/)) come directly from a Koch-funded Mercatus Center study (https://www.mercatus.org/publication/consumer-financial-protection-bureau-arbitration-study-summary-critique), which the Treasury report cites.
But the Treasury’s biggest rhetorical weapon was a theory it called “blackmail settlements.”

https://theintercept.com/2017/10/24/executive-branch-at-war-treasury-department-launches-attack-on-the-consumer-financial-protection-bureau/

"divided we fall" and BigCorp militantly intends to keep their employees and customers divided, above all not "united we stand" in class action litigation.

So here we see an oligarchy billionaire at Treasury using the govt to enfeeble, attack citizens.

[SpursforSix]

TREASURY DEPARTMENT LAUNCHES ATTACK ON THE CONSUMER FINANCIAL PROTECTION BUREAU AHEAD OF VOTE (https://theintercept.com/2017/10/24/executive-branch-at-war-treasury-department-launches-attack-on-the-consumer-financial-protection-bureau/)


the Treasury Department on Monday launched an unusual attack (http://thehill.com/policy/finance/356691-treasury-opposes-consumer-bureau-arbitration-rule-in-new-report) on the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s arbitration rule,

relying heavily on a discredited industry theory that claims that trial lawyers routinely bully corporations into class-action settlements.

The Treasury released a 17-page report (https://www.treasury.gov/press-center/press-releases/Documents/10-23-17%20Analysis%20of%20CFPB%20arbitration%20rule.pdf ) arguing that the rule, which would prohibit companies from sticking language into financial contracts that prevent consumers from pursuing class-action lawsuits, will “impose extraordinary costs” on businesses without providing benefits from an increase in industry compliance.

Furthermore, the agency asserts that trial lawyers will enjoy a “large wealth transfer” if the rule is adopted.

The rule has gotten increased public attention after the Equifax breach, in which a forced arbitration clause played a role in stoking outrage at the company’s response.

Corporations, meanwhile, have also banded together (https://theintercept.com/2017/10/06/consumer-protection-arbitration-rule-lawsuit-equifax-wells-fargo/)— you might call it a “class action” — to block the CFPB rule and prevent consumers from the class action option themselves.

The Treasury deployed familiar arguments used by the industry and its mouthpieces. Claims that CFPB used misleading data and failed to recognize that consumers fare better in arbitration (which isn’t true (http://www.epi.org/publication/correcting-the-record-consumers-fare-better-under-class-actions-than-arbitration/)) come directly from a Koch-funded Mercatus Center study (https://www.mercatus.org/publication/consumer-financial-protection-bureau-arbitration-study-summary-critique), which the Treasury report cites.
But the Treasury’s biggest rhetorical weapon was a theory it called “blackmail settlements.”

https://theintercept.com/2017/10/24/executive-branch-at-war-treasury-department-launches-attack-on-the-consumer-financial-protection-bureau/

"divided we fall" and BigCorp militantly intends to keep their employees and customers divided, above all not "united we stand" in class action litigation.

So here we see an oligarchy billionaire at Treasury using the govt to enfeeble, attack citizens.







https://media.giphy.com/media/26Pl1JtKFACoE/giphy.gif

[boutons_deux]

Betsy DeVos was “confused” about protections for students with disabilities — so she scrapped dozens

The Trump administration is rolling back guidelines meant to protect students with disabilities

Education secretary Betsy DeVos (https://www.salon.com/topic/betsy-devos) quietly rescinded 72 policy guidelines on the rights of students with disabilities over the weekend, The Washington Post reported (https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/education/wp/2017/10/21/devos-rescinds-72-guidance-documents-outlining-rights-for-disabled-students/?utm_term=.4f0177470461).

When pressed by Democratic senators about during her confirmation (https://www.salon.com/2017/01/18/schooled-watch-senators-question-betsy-devos-qualifications-during-her-confirmation-hearings/) about The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), which dozens of the memos deleted by DeVos dealt with, the wealthy heiress and charter school advocate admitted that

she had "confused it." :lol (dumb rich bitch can't even speak idiomatic English) :lol
Devos' latest move comes as the Education Department seeks to follow through on President Donald Trump's executive order “to alleviate unnecessary regulatory burdens.” The presidential action launched a review by department officials into regulations pertaining to disabled students.

Overall, the documents at issue here — some of which had been in place since the 1980s, according to The Post — provided information about the rights of students with disabilities and explained how federal funds could be used for special education.

was another example of "disturbing actions taken by the Trump Administration to undermine civil rights for vulnerable Americans."

Trump's proposed policies thus far have been ruthless to Americans with disabilities.

The various iterations of the health care legislation he supported contained drastic Medicaid cuts that would have affected people with disabilities.

https://www.salon.com/2017/10/23/betsy-devos-was-confused-about-protections-for-students-with-disabilities-so-she-scrapped-dozens/

Fuck student borrowers, fuck public schools, fuck disabled students, what's up next?

[boutons_deux]

Eric Trump and Don Jr. Are Planning to Open 'Plantation-Style' Luxury Hotels in Poor Black Areas

“It shows he really doesn’t have a conscience. It’s about money."

The Trump brothers, Eric and Donald Jr. are investing in luxury resorts on one of the poorest corners in America as part of a program they’re calling an “American Idea.”

The actual “American Idea” is that the Trump Organization will be reopening two Comfort Inns and Rodeway Inns, but will bring them up to “Trump standards,”

Mississippi is desperately trying to attract tourism to a state known for being last in economic and education markers for success. They’re capitalizing on their best asset: it’s the birthplace of blues music.

There’s a concern that the black community won’t be willing to spend money in the Trump-owned hotels given accusations of racism surrounding the NFL player protests, Charlottesville, attacks on Rep. Frederica Wilson and history of propping up white supremacists.

“I think if the Trumps’ bottom-line profits for a hotel in the Mississippi Delta are predicated on black people coming and spending money, I think they are in serious trouble,”

https://www.alternet.org/news-amp-politics/trumps-opening-plantation-style-luxury-hotels-poor-black-areas (https://www.alternet.org/news-amp-politics/trumps-opening-plantation-style-luxury-hotels-poor-black-areas)

:)

[boutons_deux]

Pence Steps In To Repeal Consumer Rule After Graham And Kennedy Opposition

In a further rollback of Obama-era regulations, the Republican-led Senate voted narrowly to

repeal a banking rule that would have allowed consumers to join together to sue their bank or credit card company to resolve financial disputes.

Vice President Mike Pence cast the final vote late Tuesday to break a 50-50 tie.

The banking industry had been lobbying hard to roll back the regulation from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

The bureau had moved to ban most types of mandatory arbitration clauses found in the fine print of agreements consumers often enter into when opening a checking account or getting a credit card.
The vote reflects the effort of the Trump administration and congressional Republicans to undo regulations that the GOP argues harm the free market. The measure now moves to President Donald Trump’s desk for his signature.

White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said the president applauded the vote.

“The rule would harm our community banks and credit unions by opening the door to frivolous lawsuits by special interest trial lawyers,” :lol SHS is a piece of shit, like her grifter father.

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/pence-steps-in-repeal-consumer-rule?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+tpm-news+%28TPMNews%29

[boutons_deux]

Roy Moore: Marriage equality is worse than slavery and fighting climate change is a 'radical agenda' (https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2017/10/24/1709390/-Roy-Moore-Marriage-equality-is-worse-than-slavery-and-fighting-climate-change-is-a-radical-agenda)

https://images.dailykos.com/images/393928/story_image/GettyImages-2469910.jpg?1493232763

https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2017/10/24/1709390/-Roy-Moore-Marriage-equality-is-worse-than-slavery-and-fighting-climate-change-is-a-radical-agenda?detail=emaildkre

The Confederacy STILL shitting on America, the shtting aided, abetted, endorsed by slave/redstate so-called Christians.

[boutons_deux]

REPUG FCC to loosen TV, newspaper ownership rules

to rollback landmark media ownership regulations that prohibit owning a television station and newspaper in the same market and making it easier to acquire additional TV or radio stations, Chairman Ajit Pai said

criticized by Democrats who said it could usher in a new era of media consolidation.

bullshit lie alert:

“We must stop the federal government from intervening in the news business,” Pai told a congressional panel,noting that many newspapers have closed and many radio and TV stations are struggling.

Pai moved earlier this year to make it easier for some companies to own a larger number of local stations.

Pai said the marketplace no longer justifies the rules

Pai also proposes to make it easier for companies to own multiple TV and radio stations in the same market and he would allow two local stations among the top four in a market to petition the FCC to merge.

the proposal would make it easier for Sinclair Broadcast Group Inc (SBGI.O (http://www.reuters.com/finance/stocks/overview/SBGI.O)) to complete its $3.9 billion acquisition of Tribune Media Co (TRCO.N (http://www.reuters.com/finance/stocks/overview/TRCO.N)) with fewer divestitures.

The “disastrous proposal is tailor-made for Sinclair and other giant broadcast chains that push often slanted or cookie-cutter content over the public airwaves,”

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-sprint-corp-m-a-t-mobile-us/t-mobile-sprint-ready-board-committees-to-decide-on-merger-sources-idUSKBN1CU0FN?utm_campaign=trueAnthem:+Trending+Co ntent&utm_content=59f0e89404d30137fff73029

[boutons_deux]

Trump wants to cripple storm forecasting just when it’s getting good — and we need it most

As Hurricane Harvey roared toward the Texas coast in late August, weather models showed something that forecasters had never seen before:

predictions of four feet of rainfall in the Houston area over five days

— a year’s worth of rain in less than a week.“I’ve been doing this stuff for almost 50 years,” says Bill Read, a former director of the National Hurricane Center who lives in Houston.

“The rainfall amounts … I didn’t believe ‘em. 50-inch-plus rains — I’ve never seen a model forecast like that anywhere close to accurate.

“Lo and behold, we had it.”

That unbelievable-but-accurate rain forecast is just one example of the great leap forward in storm forecasting made possible by major improvements in instruments, satellite data, and computer model

The president’s budget proposal would slash the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s budget (https://thebridge.agu.org/2017/05/31/noaa-cut-16-president-trumps-budget-request/) by 16 percent, including 6 percent from the National Weather Service.

Here’s how far we’ve come in forecasting:

Three-day hurricane forecasts are now nearly as accurate (https://www.nhc.noaa.gov/verification/figs/ALtkerrtrd_noTD.jpg) as one-day forecasts were when Katrina struck 12 years ago.

Even routine, “will it rain this weekend?” forecasts are better today than you probably realize.

A 2015 paper (https://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v525/n7567/full/nature14956.html?foxtrotcallback=true) in the journal Nature called

the advancements a “quiet revolution,” both because they’ve gone relatively unnoticed by the general public, and because it’s been cheap.

The National Weather Service, an agency of the U.S. government, costs taxpayers about $3 per person each year (https://www.noaa.gov/weather).

https://www.rawstory.com/2017/10/trump-wants-to-cripple-storm-forecasting-just-when-its-getting-good-and-we-need-it-most/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+TheRawStory+%28The+Raw+Story% 29

[boutons_deux]

Why Roy Moore’s Law-School Professor Nicknamed Him Fruit Salad

George Thomas Wilson, a retired magazine-marketing and P.R. professional now living in New York City, has never forgotten his first criminal-law class, at the University of Alabama School of Law, in 1974.

It was taught by Clint McGee, who graduated from the law school himself, in 1940.

Early in the class, McGee called on one of Wilson’s classmates,

a United States Military Academy graduate named Roy Moore. :lol

“And, for the entire hour, McGee kept him standing and talking, standing and talking,” Wilson told me recently.

“Finally, at the end of the hour, McGee said to him,

‘Mr. Moore, I have been teaching in this school for thirty years, and

in all of that time you’re the most mixed-up person I’ve ever taught.

I’m going to call you Fruit Salad.”

https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/why-roy-moores-law-school-professor-nicknamed-him-fruit-salad

Moore is probably the next crapifying Repug Senator from Southern-crapified fucking AL.

[boutons_deux]

Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke has recommended the largest elimination of protections for public lands in U.S. history.

President Trump wants Congress to approve a budget that will cut the Land & Water Conservation Fund (LWCF) budget by 84%.

And the House of Representatives will be voting on H.R. 3990 that will strip the Antiquities Act

—an act that has helped protect iconic national monuments like the Grand Canyon and Bears Ears—down to worthless scraps.

... from a dailykos email, trust for public land

[boutons_deux]

Is the FCC purposefully screwing up US school broadband projects?

Schools across the United States are sounding the alarm on what looks suspiciously like an effort by the federal telecoms regulator to undermine efforts to build new broadband networks.

Under the e-rate program (https://www.fcc.gov/general/e-rate-schools-libraries-usf-program) run by the Federal Communications Commission, the FCC, schools that do not have access to a fiber network supplied by the main cable companies can apply for federal funds to build or lease such a network, and so supply much faster internet access to their students.

The issue is at the very heart of the so-called digital divide where people in remote or rural areas of America have limited internet access. FCC chairman Ajit Pai has repeatedly stated that bridging that divide is one of his key priorities.

However, an analysis of the more than 800 applications for "special construction" by a company that provides e-rate consulting services, Funds for Learning, has shown

an extraordinarily high failure rate of requests for funding, often for very minor reasons.

In 2016, for example, of 426 applications for special construction,

52 per cent of them were denied

by the organization that processes them on behalf of the FCC, the Universal Service Administrative Company (USAC).

Typically, the rate is around four per cent.

https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/?tab=cm#inbox/15f6067736d9533c

How many ways can the Repugs fuck up America? innumerable

[boutons_deux]

Another Fox hired to slaughter the hens

TRUMP’S IRS CHIEF SNUCK THROUGH WITH A UNANIMOUS VOTE IN A PRIVATE ROOM JUST OFF THE SENATE FLOOR (https://theintercept.com/2017/10/27/david-kautter-trumps-irs-chief-oversaw-accounting-firm-fined-for-illicitly-helping-wealthy-avoid-taxes/)

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP on Thursday named (https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-10-26/white-house-names-treasury-s-david-kautter-as-interim-irs-head) former Ernst & Young LLP executive David Kautter

Kautter served as the director of national tax practices at a time when his firm was engaged in a massive effort to assist wealthy clients with tax avoidance schemes.

Between 1999 and 2004, E&Y developed a team called Viper to devise

strategies for clients making more than $10 million from having to pay U.S. taxes.

The effort allowed some 200 wealthy clients to avoid taxes worth about $2 billion.

Kautter took on the director-level role in 2000, a period that coincided with the Viper deals.

In 2010, four of the individuals involved in the illegal tax-shelter scheme were sentenced to serve between 20 and 36 months in prison, though two of the sentences were later overturned (https://www.reuters.com/article/us-ernstandyoung-taxshelter-convictions/two-ex-ernst-partners-convictions-reversed-in-tax-case-idUSBRE8AT00T20121130). In 2013,

E&Y paid the IRS a $123 million (http://www.scmp.com/news/world/article/1177217/ernst-young-pay-us123m-fine-tax-avoidance) settlement relating to the scheme.

https://theintercept.com/2017/10/27/david-kautter-trumps-irs-chief-oversaw-accounting-firm-fined-for-illicitly-helping-wealthy-avoid-taxes/

$2B taxes unpaid, E&Y paid only $123M fine. :lol

[boutons_deux]

Borrowers In Student Loan Forgiveness Program Shocked To Learn Loans Won’t Be Forgiven

Department of Education’s Public Service Loan Forgiveness program (https://studentaid.ed.gov/sa/repay-loans/forgiveness-cancellation/public-service#track-eligibility) were expecting to see their student loan tab cleared. But that’s not happening for some borrowers after learning they were never actually enrolled in the programs, despite assurances from the companies servicing their debts.

The situation is a culmination of problems within the servicing industry and the complicated forgiveness program.

student loan servicers mishandling the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program.

in 2007 the government began offering a public service loan-forgiveness program that will forgive certain federal student loans for borrowers who work for government organizations and non-profit groups for 10 years and make 120 on-time monthly payments on their loans.

the man had followed the rules; making 120 on-time payments and working full-time as a teacher.
Instead, just two years before his debt was supposed to be forgiven, the man was informed that he hadn’t made a single eligible payment. That’s because he wasn’t enrolled in the correct program.


none of the payments the man had made counted toward forgiveness. He’d have to start all over.
The news was in contradiction to what servicers had been telling him. He tells The Times that he was told his loan was in “good status” by each company.

“There is going to be an enormous crush of borrowers who think they are eligible only to find that they are not,”

https://consumerist.com/2017/10/27/borrowers-in-student-loan-forgiveness-program-shocked-to-learn-loans-wont-be-forgiven/

complexity, opacity is how BigFinance steals money from Americans, just like BigHealthCare.

[boutons_deux]

HUD again blocks request, says Ben Carson's taxpayer-funded travel records aren't 'public interest' (https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2017/10/26/1710114/-HUD-again-blocks-request-says-Ben-Carson-s-taxpayer-funded-travel-records-aren-t-public-interest)

Claiming that the records are “not in the public interest,” the Department of Housing and Development has once again refused a FOIA (Freedom of Information Act) request to waive expensive fees in order to obtain HUD Secretary Ben Carson’s travel records.

Why? This is the third denial of this FOIA request from (https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2017/9/25/1701348/-Trump-admin-won-t-release-travel-records-for-Ben-Carson-saying-they-re-not-in-the-public-interest)the Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics (CREW) organization.

Given how freely other members of Trump’s cabinet have been with the usage of extremely expensive taxpayer-funded private jets,

you don’t have to be a brain surgeon to realize the

taxpayer-funded travel records of a government official are, in fact, in the public interest.

Especially

amid reports his wife and daughter travel everywhere with him. (http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2017/08/ben-carson-hud-secretary.html)

https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2017/10/26/1710114/-HUD-again-blocks-request,-says-Ben-Carsons-taxpayer-funded-travel-records-arent-public-interest??detail=emaildkre

Just another MIDDLE FINGER and FUCK YOU to taxpayers from the Repug kakistocracy.

[boutons_deux]

The Big Lebowski "Hates The Fucking Eagles, Man"

Inky dinky Zeenkee, too

Just the week after he was sworn in as Interior Secretary in March, Ryan Zinke did his part to demonstrate he was down with the new anti-regulation dynamic of the Trump administration by repealing a US Fish and Wildlife Service directive (http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-interior-zinke/new-interior-head-lifts-lead-ammunition-ban-in-nod-to-hunters-idUSKBN16930Z) Barack Obama tried to sneak past the American People on the day before Donald Trump was sworn in.

The lawless Kenyan dictator had signed an order banning the use of lead ammunition and lead fishing tackle on federally owned lands.

The greatest Freedom experts in US America, the

National Rifle Association, condemned Obama’s last-minute move to protect birds and fish from lead poisoning as Obama’s “final assault on gun owners’ and sportsmen’s rights,”

just like how he had earlier taken everyone’s guns away.

Well, damned if Zinke was going to let that tyranny stand, man, so

he not only rescinded that order, but also issued a secretarial order

to expand hunting and fishing on federal lands, so that hunters could blast all the lead into the environment they wanted to.
We’re sure it’s purely a coincidence, but today, NBC Washington reports (http://www.nbcwashington.com/news/local/Lead-Based-Ammunition-Sickening-Record-Number-of-Bald-Eagles-453560033.html)the Wildlife Center of Virginia has admitted

a record-setting 43rd bald eagle suffering from lead poisoning this year.

The raptors may be the national bird, but they’re disgustingly dependent on Big Government to protect them from stuff like DDT and lead contaminating their food supply, the damned takers.

Turns out that bald eagles and other animals, which haven’t even consulted with the NRA, can be poisoned by fragments of lead ammunition while scavenging animal carcasses.

Eagles can be killed by a lead fragment the size of a grain of rice.

The Wildlife Center seems to think that’s a problem, not merely the understandable price we must pay for Liberty:


Officials say nearly 70 percent of the eagles admitted had measurable amounts of lead in their blood.

Six had lead levels too high for the center’s in-house lead analyzer to measure […]

“When a harvested deer is ‘field dressed’ — the practice of removing the internal organs from animals harvested for human consumption – the gut piles that are left behind on the ground can contain extremely small fragments of lead ammunition,”

https://wonkette.com/624927/ryan-zinke-hates-the-fucking-eagles-man

[boutons_deux]

It's FUCKING AZ, again

CNN gives congressman a chance to walk back his anti-Semitic conspiracy, but he digs even deeper (https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2017/10/26/1710093/-CNN-gives-congressman-a-chance-to-walk-back-his-anti-Semitic-conspiracy-but-he-digs-even-deeper)

https://images.dailykos.com/images/457315/story_image/gosar2_copy.jpg?1507230702

In early October, Gosar sat for an interview with Vice News and

delivered an absolutely insane theory that George Soros, the billionaire who survived Nazi Germany-occupied Hungary as a Jewish teenager (https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2017/10/5/1704420/-AZ-congressman-floats-an-absolutely-insane-conspiracy-theory-about-who-is-funding-neo-Nazis-today),

is funding and organizing the modern Neo-Nazi movement in America, coordinating violent hate rallies in places like Charlottesville.

The anti-Semitic theory is so awful, so repulsive that Gosar’s seven siblings published an open letter publicly denouncing their brother. (https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2017/10/24/1709434/-Republican-congressman-s-seven-siblings-post-public-letter-denouncing-their-brother-s-racist-rant)

CNN caught up with Congressman Nut Job in a hallway of the House of Representatives and instead of walking back his comments, he dug deeper, doubling down, screeching CNN was “fake news” as he ran away, telling viewers to go to his website to see the evidence.

https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2017/10/26/1710093/-CNN-gives-congressman-a-chance-to-walk-back-his-anti-Semitic-conspiracy-but-he-digs-even-deeper

Ms of you Nazis, racists, bubbas, shitkickers, gun fellators, white MALE supremacists, Breitbart/WND readers believe him.

[boutons_deux]

Repugs' Criminal Insanity Continues, More BigCorp Foxes violating the hen house ...

https://cdn01.theintercept.com/wp-uploads/sites/1/2017/10/atv-accidents-donald-trump-product-safety-1509379625-article-header.jpg

TRUMP’S CONSUMER PRODUCT SAFETY NOMINEE DEFENDED DEADLY PRODUCTS (https://theintercept.com/2017/10/31/trump-consumer-product-safety-commission-dana-baiocco/)

DANA BAIOCCO, PRESIDENT Donald Trump’s pick to sit on the Consumer Product Safety Commission, made her name helping companies avoid responsibility for harmful products. A partner at law firm Jones Day,

Baiocco has represented big tobacco and

fought in court against asbestos workers who developed mesothelioma.

But the cases she’s litigated that may conflict most directly with the CPSC’s mission of protecting the public from dangerous products involve all-terrain vehicles. While the CPSC was leading a campaign over ATV safety, Baiocco was representing Yamaha in several suits over its two-person Rhino ATV.

Baiocco defended Yamaha in these cases on the grounds that the company didn’t have “sufficient knowledge or information to form a belief as to the truth of the allegations.”

Yamaha continued making and selling Rhinos — and riders continued to get pinned under them.

Baiocco’s appointment would put Republican appointments in the majority of the five-person commission, which could halt or reverse progress on a number of issues,

including restrictions on off-highway vehicles, a category that includes ATVs. “Industry very much wants the agency to abandon that rule-making,”

The commission is overseeing the recall of some 29 million Ikea dressers that tend to tip over and have been implicated in the deaths of children. Baiocco’s husband, Andrew Susko, has defended Ikea (http://www.philly.com/philly/news/politics/presidential/ethics-experts-trumps-pick-for-safety-commission-has-conflict-20171019.html) against claims that the company is responsible for those deaths.

https://theintercept.com/2017/10/31/trump-consumer-product-safety-commission-dana-baiocco/

[boutons_deux]

Facts don’t match Scott Pruitt’s vision, so Pruitt is changing the facts at the EPA

Pruitt’s manufactured reality is setting a dangerous precedent.

he has rolled back years of environmental regulations at the behest of industry, and has even set up an initiative to give industry lobbyists more of a say in how those industries are regulated (http://www.newsweek.com/epa-scott-pruitt-industry-lobbyists-environmental-protections-677174).

These moves are, by and large, extremely unpopular (https://www.vox.com/energy-and-environment/2017/8/14/16142150/scott-pruitt-epa-secrecy-republican).

What’s more, they are simply not backed by science, which could help explain why Pruitt’s next target at the EPA is the scientific advisory board meant to help guide the agency’s regulations. On Tuesday, in an unprecedented move, Pruitt announced that

no scientists who had received EPA funding would be eligible to serve on the agency’s Science Advisory Board,

which provides scientific and technical expertise regarding environmental regulations.

Pruitt’s changes will simply flood the agency with scientists representing regulated industries and conservative states, a shift that would help lend an air of scientific credibility to Pruitt’s anti-regulatory agenda.

“When he asks science advisers to weigh in on matters that will be of national importance — a pressing public health matter, for instance — he could be loading the science advisory boards with people who are sympathetic to his anti-science, politically-driven agency agenda.”

“Pruitt doesn’t want to support science or hear from anyone who is respected in the scientific community, because science makes clear that Pruitt‘s policies are disastrous for the health of our kids and our communities,”

his overarching goal: reshape the narrative around environmental regulation to support his agenda rather than the facts.

“He could

put cases before the Scientific Advisory Board that he really wants to make appear as though they have scientific credibility.

And if that scientific credibility comes from the EPA Scientific Advisory Board, that has a very different ring to it than if it was endorsed by the Heartland Institute or the American Chemical Society,”

the facts about climate change and environmental pollution are clear:

pollution kills (https://thinkprogress.org/global-pollution-kills-9-million-people-each-year-fabaab5a2002/),

climate change is driven by human-activity (https://thinkprogress.org/scientists-just-confirmed-the-scientific-consensus-on-climate-change-429da0095378/), and

atmospheric carbon dioxide levels continue to climb (https://thinkprogress.org/atmospheric-carbon-dioxide-record-high-2016-acc074685439/) as annual temperature records continue to be broken (https://thinkprogress.org/reporting-these-broken-temperature-records-is-probably-as-tiring-as-it-is-reading-about-them-93d8b76a9155/).

https://thinkprogress.org/scott-pruitt-manufactured-reality-bb6f22d45a9a/

You fucking Repugs have put Americans in mortal danger.

[boutons_deux]

And Texas provides some crap to Pruitt

TCEQ toxicologist, who has questioned ozone risks, appointed to EPA advisory board
https://www.texastribune.org/2017/10/31/texas-chief-toxicologist-history-lowering-clean-air-standards-appointe/

[boutons_deux]

RNC hired a Russian spy to create two Hillary Clinton dossiers (https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2017/10/31/1711387/-RNC-hired-a-Russian-spy-to-create-two-Hillary-Clinton-dossiers)

So Trump will undoubtedly be shocked by Politico reports that the RNC also spent money on opposition research. Very special opposition research (https://www.politico.com/story/2017/03/rnc-hillary-clinton-intelligence-firm-payments-236436).


As the general election was taking shape last summer, the Republican National Committee initiated a series of payments to a low-profile firm started by retired CIA officers that worked closely with an ex-Russian spy.


Note: Not a former British agent. A former Russian spy. The RNC at first insisted that the payments had “nothing to do with Russia.”

But RNC officials now acknowledge that most of the cash — $34,100 — went toward intelligence-style reports that sought to prove conflicts of interest between Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton’s tenure as secretary of state and her family’s foundation.


The research—the opposition research—attempted to find some connection between people who had donated to the Clinton Foundation and actions that Hillary Clinton took as secretary of state.

And what did they put together in their effort to bring down Hillary?

The firm produced two dossiers that tried to make the case that Clinton intervened in Bulgaria and Israel, respectively, on behalf of energy companies …



So the RNC directly paid a firm that employed a Russian spy. On the other side, the DNC hired a firm, which employed a British spy.

The “crime” the RNC was out to prove: Hillary Clinton may have helped an Israeli energy firm.


The crime the DNC uncovered in their efforts: Donald Trump acting as a front for Russian interests in the United States.



And the truth is that neither effort to uncover information was itself a crime.



https://www.dailykos.com/stories/1711387

[boutons_deux]

The clock is ticking on children's health program, 31 days after Republicans let it expire (https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2017/10/31/1711413/-The-clock-is-ticking-on-children-s-health-program-31-days-after-Republicans-let-it-expire)

Every single day that passes intensifies the looming crisis for children's health (https://www.cbpp.org/blog/without-new-federal-chip-funds-states-will-soon-cut-health-coverage-for-children).


States with separate CHIP programs (which enroll about 44 percent of kids with CHIP coverage nationwide) have begun preparing for when they exhaust their federal CHIP funding.

These states are contemplating freezing enrollment, scaling back eligibility, or ending their programs altogether, the Center for Children and Families reports.

States with CHIP-funded Medicaid expansions must continue coverage for their CHIP-eligible children but only at the state’s regular matching rate for federal Medicaid funding, which averages 57 percent across the states, well below the current average CHIP matching rate of 93 percent.)

Arizona, Colorado, Texas, Utah, and Virginia are among states with laws requiring them to close their CHIP programs if no federal funding is available.

And while these states won’t reach that point until December or January, they will soon have to send notices to families about the coming end of their CHIP program.

Even if the President and Congress eventually fund CHIP and these state actions are temporary, they can cause lasting damage to children.

Arizona froze enrollment in its CHIP program in 2009 and enrollment dropped by more than 60 percent in less than two years.

And North Carolina experienced a 30 percent enrollment drop when it implemented a freeze in 2001.


This has never been a controversial thing, making sure kids have health care, in Congress.

It has lately been a political football for Republicans, because that's what they do,

but we've never had a Congress—Republican or Democratic—incapable of taking care of this very basic thing.

https://www.dailykos.com/stories/1711413

You Repugs are real shitbags

[boutons_deux]

Roy Moore Stands by Assertion Keith Ellison Shouldn’t Sit in Congress Because He’s Muslimhttps://www.mediaite.com/tv/roy-moore-stands-by-assertion-keith-ellison-shouldnt-sit-in-congress-because-hes-muslim/

Alabama, the slave-state shithole that keeps on shitting on America.

[boutons_deux]

NASA nominee refuses to acknowledge climate science

https://www.rawstory.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/jimofficialfinal_1-847x485-800x430.jpg

Representative Jim Bridenstine, whom President Trump nominated as NASA administrator two months ago (https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/02/science/jim-bridenstine-nasa-trump.html?_r=0). During the hearing, as suspected, committee members took the opportunity to press the nominee on his beliefs about climate change.

Although NASA is most commonly associated with the spaceflight program, the agency's Earth science program is a huge portion of its work. This program plays a crucial role developing, launching and maintaining the satellites climate scientists rely on to understand what's happening in the atmosphere and on the ground.

his answers during the questioning proved somewhat slippery. "I believe carbon dioxide is a greenhouse gas, I believe that humans have contributed to carbon dioxide in the atmosphere,"

"But I do know that humans have contributed to global warming." He did concede that climate change is causing real, problematic impacts on the ground.

this response has become common among conservatives who don't want to be called out for questioning the idea of human-caused climate change but who also don't want to be held responsible for doing anything about it.

Bridenstine's nomination has drawn opposition based not only on concerns about how he would approach climate issues, but also from people like committee member Senator Bill Nelson, who believes that the NASA administrator should have a scientific background and technical training.

https://www.rawstory.com/2017/11/nasa-nominee-refuses-to-acknowledge-climate-science/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+TheRawStory+%28The+Raw+Story% 29

Bridenstine is lying (maybe the Repugs know it), like a John Roberts, to get approved then do the opposite what he said in his hearing, or he's telling the truth, and the Repugs won't approve him.

[boutons_deux]

Repugs doing another Priscilla Owen, packing the Federal judiciary with trash, esp white male Christian Sharia supremacy trash.

Republicans defend Trump court pick rated ‘not qualified’

https://www.rawstory.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/Leonard-Steven-Grasz-800x430.jpg

Senate Republicans mounted a concerted defense of one of President Donald Trump’s nominees to a federal appeals court on Wednesday, suggesting a nonpartisan lawyers’ group rating of Leonard Steven Grasz as “not qualified” for the bench was biased.

Negative assessments by the American Bar Association, which has been evaluating federal court picks for decades, are rare.

It last gave an appeals court nominee a rating of “not qualified” in 2006. That nominee was withdrawn.

The ABA’s 15-member standing committee on the federal judiciary voted unanimously on the poor rating for Grasz, with one member abstaining.

The report focused largely on Grasz’s advocacy on conservative social issues, :lol

including his opposition to abortion rights. :lol

“Many questioned whether Mr. Grasz would be able to detach himself from his deeply held social agenda,” :lol


Republican senators questioned the credibility of the process. :lol of course they did :lol

ABA, the largest lawyers group in the United States, says its judicial evaluations are non-partisan, taking into account experience, knowledge of the law and other factors, but not political or ideological views.

https://www.rawstory.com/2017/11/republicans-defend-trump-court-pick-rated-not-qualified/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+TheRawStory+%28The+Raw+Story% 29

[boutons_deux]

Gov’t won’t pursue talking car mandate

The Trump administration has quietly set aside plans to require new cars to be able to wirelessly talk to each other, auto industry officials said, jeopardizing one of the most promising technologies for preventing traffic deaths.

The Obama administration proposed last December that all new cars and light trucks come equipped with technology known as vehicle-to-vehicle communications, or V2V. It would enable vehicles to transmit their location, speed, direction and other information 10 times per second. That lets cars detect, for example, when another vehicle is about to run a red light or coming around a blind turn in time to prevent a crash.

has been dropped from the White House Office of Management and Budget’s list of regulations actively under consideration

Administration officials indicated their decision was based on several factors, including general wariness of imposing costly mandates on industry,

even though most automakers support requiring V2V

The Transportation Department estimates the technology has the potential to prevent or reduce the severity of up to 80 percent of collisions that don’t involve alcohol or drugs.

V2V was also expected to provide an extra layer of safety for self-driving cars

since it can detect even vehicles hidden by buildings or beyond the range of the sensors and cameras of autonomous vehicles.

And it was expected to ease traffic congestion since vehicles could communicate with traffic signals,

turning them green to prevent needless waiting, save fuel and reduce emissions.

V2V is one of the “most important tools” for reducing traffic fatalities,

strong opposition from the cable and tech industries,

https://apnews.com/9a605019eeba4ad2934741091105de42

httpshttps://apnews.com/9a605019eeba4ad2934741091105de42https://apnews.com/9a605019eeba4ad2934741091105de42://apnews.com/9a605019eeba4ad2934741091105de42

Repugs fuck up EVERYTHING they can.

[boutons_deux]

EPA Replaced Its Top Science Advisers Without Telling Them

The scientists accused EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt of giving industry-friendly researchers control and then defending his decision in doublespeak.


The Environmental Protection Agency (https://www.huffingtonpost.com/topic/epa) dismissed its top science counselors without telling them in advance,

On Tuesday, EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt announced (https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/epa-advisory-boards_us_59f8d140e4b046017faf692b) a new rule barring scientists who receive EPA research funding from serving on the agency’s three main advisory panels:

the Science Advisory Board (https://www.scienceboard.net/),

the Clean Air Scientific Advisory Committee (https://yosemite.epa.gov/sab/sabpeople.nsf/WebCommittees/CASAC) (CASAC) and

the Board of Scientific Counselors (https://www.epa.gov/bosc).

The move cleared the way for Pruitt to name industry-backed researchers to take control of the boards, which are meant to serve as a check on policies at the agency.

The head of the Science Advisory Board, Peter Thorne (https://now.uiowa.edu/2015/02/thorne-appointed-chair-epa-science-advisory-board), and the head of the Board of Scientific Counselors, Deborah Swackhamer, said they learned from news reporters that they had been replaced.

“This is really a destruction of the scientific integrity at EPA,” said Thorne, a University of Iowa professor of occupational and environmental health who has served as the head of the Science Advisory Board since 2015. “It’s disheartening to see.”

https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/epa-science-advisers-replaced_us_59fa2b75e4b0b0c7fa37bd17?utm_medium=em ail&utm_campaign=__TheMorningEmail__110217&utm_content=__TheMorningEmail__110217+CID_9f00bd81 541fbc69e7725a0a32cd9f5c&utm_source=Email%20marketing%20software&utm_term=HuffPost&ncid=newsltushpmgnews__TheMorningEmail__110217

Oligarchy hatchet man Pruitt slaughtering, corrupting the EPA.

[boutons_deux]

another ($200M expensive) scalp?

Education Officials Expect Betsy DeVos to Resign from Trump Administration


The secretary is reportedly frustrated by her lack of influence


"She can’t fill her senior staff slots," he said.

"Morale is terrible at the department."

DeVos was roundly criticized for her lack of basic knowledge about education policy during the confrimation hearing process.

She blames President Donald Trump's transition team, claiming she was "undercoached." :lol no, you're just a fucking Christian-stupid rich bitch

One doubts most nominees for education secretary need to be coached not to cite

grizzly bears (https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/betsy-devos-schools-might-need-guns-due-potential-grizzlies-n708261) as a reason for guns in schools.

"I’ll tell you, in Washington education circles, the conversation is already about the post-DeVos landscape, because the assumption is she won’t stay long,"

https://www.alternet.org/news-amp-politics/education-officials-expect-betsy-devos-resign-trump-administration

My fear is that she'll be replaced by someone much more effective at fucking up Dept of Education and students, while shovelling $Bs to for-profit scam "colleges"

[boutons_deux]

Rick Perry Must Resign for Latest Remarks

WASHINGTON - Today, Energy Secretary Rick Perry made heinous comments (http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/358386-rick-perry-fossil-fuels-will-help-prevent-sexual-assault) suggesting that

expanding fossil fuel development will decrease the incident of sexual assault.

https://www.commondreams.org/newswire/2017/11/02/rick-perry-must-resign-latest-remarks

[boutons_deux]

Incoming environment adviser thinks air is too clean

One of the new White House appointees to a critical environmental panel once said that the air these days is just too clean to promote good health.\

Robert Phalen, an air pollution researcher at the Irvine campus of the University of California, said in 2012 that children need to breathe irritants so that their bodies learn how to ward them off.

“Modern air,” he told (https://www.aaas.org/blog/member-spotlight/robert-phalen-tests-our-modern-air) the American Association for the Advancement of Science, “is a little too clean for optimum health.”


“The relative risks associated with modern [particulate matter] are very small and confounded by many factors,” Phalen wrote.

“Neither toxicology studies nor human clinical investigations have identified the components and/or characteristics of [particulate matter] that might be causing the health-effect associations.”

Phalen also received heat after he defended his use of dogs to test the effects of air pollution on lung health

https://www.rawstory.com/2017/11/incoming-environment-adviser-thinks-air-is-too-clean/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+TheRawStory+%28The+Raw+Story% 29

Repug fucking insanity as dictated by the polluting oligarchy

[boutons_deux]

Trash administration recommends lifting ban on uranium mining in Grand Canyon (https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2017/11/2/1712033/-Trump-administration-recommends-lifting-ban-on-uranium-mining-in-Grand-Canyon)

For 20 years, mining for uranium inside of the Grand Canyon has been banned. For that same amount of time, the Koch brothers have worked tirelessly to get the ban lifted (https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/apr/20/koch-brothers-grand-canyon-national-monument-plan-uranium).


Billionaire businessmen Charles and David Koch are channeling money into an Arizona-based organization that’s fighting a plan that would include a permanent ban on uranium mining around the Grand Canyon.


https://www.dailykos.com/stories/1712033

[Chucho]

Gotta make up the difference since Barry and Hilary like colluding with Russians to arm them further.

[boutons_deux]

Trump busted for claiming he will reduce drug prices while rolling back a policy that increases

The Trump administration on Thursday boldly reversed an Obama-era policy that supporters said had helped lower prices for some costly drugs.

The policy centers on so-called biosimilar drugs, which are highly similar versions of biologic drugs manufactured in living cells or microorganisms.

The Obama administration designed certain Medicare payments to encourage more price competition among those biosimilar drugs.

Trump's Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services will reverse that policy beginning Jan. 1, 2018.

https://www.rawstory.com/2017/11/trump-busted-for-claiming-he-will-reduce-drug-prices-while-rolling-back-a-policy-that-increases/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+TheRawStory+%28The+Raw+Story% 29

[boutons_deux]

Incoming environment adviser thinks air is too clean



UW study shows link between toxic air and psychological distress

There is little debate over the link between air pollution and the human respiratory system:

Research shows that dirty air can impair breathing and aggravate various lung diseases.

Other potential effects are being investigated, too, as scientists examine connections between toxic air and obesity, diabetes and dementia.

Now add to that list psychological distress, which University of Washington researchers have found is also associated with air pollution.

The higher the level of particulates in the air, the UW-led study showed, the greater the impact on mental health.

https://www.news-medical.net/news/20171102/UW-study-shows-link-between-toxic-air-and-psychological-distress.aspx

Repug MISgovernance is voluntary manslaughter.

[boutons_deux]

Vampire squid Capitalists draining wealth from Americans "freedom!"

Sen. Warren warns: Lender deal is a danger to student loan borrowers

Elizabeth Warren warned Wednesday that the nation’s largest student loan servicer has positioned itself to stealthily strip consumer protections from unwitting borrowers across the country.

she also said the loan servicer, Navient, should not be permitted to be a government contractor handling student loans on behalf of the U.S. Department of Education.

sounding an alarm about Navient’s recent acquisition (https://news.navient.com/news-releases/news-release-details/navient-announces-agreement-acquire-earnest-leading-financial) of online lender Earnest.

She said the transaction opened up the possibility that the company will try to boost its profits by selling debtors on refinancing their current federal student loans with the company’s own private loans —

the kind that she said to do not necessarily permit income-based repayment options.

“The fear is that Navient will do this because Navient can make money off it, but the difficulty for the people who have been shifted over is that they lose many of the protections that federal law gives to them on federal loans,”

“So long as a student holds a loan that is a federal student loan, there is a public service loan forgiveness loan program available, there are income driven repayment options, there is a borrower defense if the college cheated the student — there are protections put in place.

But those critical federal protections disappear if the loan is refinanced and taken private.

That could matter to many students whose loans, if Navient is successful, are shifted from being federal loans to loans that are held privately.”

As a contractor for the Department of Education, Navient services $300 billion (https://www.consumerfinance.gov/about-us/newsroom/cfpb-sues-nations-largest-student-loan-company-navient-failing-borrowers-every-stage-repayment/) worth of student loans for roughly 12 million Americans.

In recent weeks, the company has been unabashed about the potential upside of moving beyond just servicing loans, and into originating private student loans.

“We will add over $1 billion in new refi loans to our balance sheet this year, and I expect we will add more than $1.5 billion in new loans in 2018,” Navient CEO Jack Remondi told (https://finance.yahoo.com/news/edited-transcript-navi-earnings-conference-182058453.html) investors last month. “With Earnest, we’ll be a dominant originator of refi loans.”

Warren said the situation presents “a potentially serious conflict of interest: the company could be collecting monthly payments from federal student loan borrowers with one hand, and trying to get some of those same borrowers to trade in their federal loans for Navient/Earnest's private refinanced loans with the other hand.”

the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau filed a lawsuit (https://www.consumerfinance.gov/about-us/newsroom/cfpb-sues-nations-largest-student-loan-company-navient-failing-borrowers-every-stage-repayment/) earlier this year against the company.

The agency asserted that Navient “created obstacles to repayment by providing bad information, processing payments incorrectly, and failing to act when borrowers complained.”

The suit was followed up by separate state suits filed by attorneys general — including one in Pennsylvania, where the company is headquartered.

“They were charging people excessively high interest rates…and they failed to put struggling borrowers into repayment plans that that borrower could afford,”

“[They’ve] taken millions of people across our country, and made it harder for them to buy a home, made it harder for them to invest in their startup business, made it harder for them to go to the grocery store, go to the mall, and purchase goods and services and things in their area that they need.

These are things that ultimately harmed all of us as Americans, held all of us back, because of the corporate malfeasance that we witnessed here from Navient.”

https://www.rawstory.com/2017/11/sen-warren-warns-lender-deal-is-a-danger-to-student-loan-borrowers/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+TheRawStory+%28The+Raw+Story% 29

[boutons_deux]

Pruitt Names More Industry Insiders To EPA Science Boards

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/pruitt-names-more-industry-insiders-science-boards-epa?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+tpm-news+%28TPMNews%29

The oligarchy will be poisoning America for profit, paying huge dividends to Capitalists.

[boutons_deux]

Trump pick to gut labor protections moves forward in Senate (https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2017/11/4/1712312/-This-week-in-the-war-on-workers-Trump-pick-to-gut-labor-protections-moves-forward-in-Senate)

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has filed cloture for a key National Labor Relations Board role (https://twitter.com/josheidelson/status/926444410044321792), and, no surprise, Peter Robb is a management-side labor lawyer (https://twitter.com/ryanlcooper/status/926445272498081792) with extensive experience in fun stuff like:


… defending employers from

unfair labor practice charges,

age and sex discrimination charges,

class action age claims, and

wage/hour claims as well as

bringing suits against labor organizations.


In short, he’ll be implementing the NLRB’s anti-worker pivot under Trump. Don’t believe me? How about these predictions from the management side (http://www.law.com/insidecounsel/2017/09/19/peter-robb-trumps-pick-for-nlrb-general-counsel-is/?ref=nav&slreturn=20171003122637):

“Robb’s nomination and confirmation would set the stage for the board to reverse many of the pro-labor rulings issued by the Obama board,” lawyers from the management-focused firm Jackson Lewis wrote in a blog post in August (http://www.laborandcollectivebargaining.com/2017/08/articles/nlra/management-labor-attorney-considered-nlrb-general-counsel-nomination/).

As general counsel, Robb would be in a position to pick cases as “tests” for the new Republican majority to “reverse Obama-era decisions that business owners say tilt too favorably toward the union agenda,” Joseph Hess, a Barnes & Thornburg associate, wrote in a blog post in August (https://www.natlawreview.com/article/businesses-say-yes-to-robb-labor-board-s-top-lawyer).


https://www.dailykos.com/stories/1712312

NLRB to be ANTI-Labor, in the service oligarchy Capitalists.

War on Labor is over, Capitalists now mopping up.

[boutons_deux]

Incoming environment adviser thinks air is too clean

Robert Phalen, an air pollution researcher at the Irvine campus of the University of California, said in 2012 that children need to breathe irritants so that their bodies learn how to ward them off.

“Modern air,” he told (https://www.aaas.org/blog/member-spotlight/robert-phalen-tests-our-modern-air) the American Association for the Advancement of Science, “is a little too clean for optimum health.”


Here ya go, asshole, your target for America

Delhi residents panic as 'deadly smog' returns


https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/660/cpsprodpb/13FD2/production/_98647818_10335b64-6198-44ed-aea7-1d1c205e09dc.jpg

Panic has gripped the Indian capital, Delhi, as residents woke up to a blanket of thick grey smog on Tuesday.

Visibility is poor as pollution levels reached 30 times the World Health Organization's recommended limit (http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs313/en/) in some areas.

The Indian Medical Association (IMA) declared "a state of medical emergency" and urged the government to "make every possible effort to curb this menace".

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-41896676

A tell us how lead, heavy metals, x-icides in drinking water is required for good health.