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

boutons_deux

01-24-2017, 06:37 PM

Trump’s federal hiring freeze will kneecap veterans more than perhaps any other group (http://www.dailykos.com/stories/2017/1/24/1624520/-Trump-s-federal-hiring-freeze-will-kneecap-veterans-more-than-maybe-any-other-group)

Federal hiring has been significantly outpaced "in recent years" by the increase in civilian hiring—rising only about 3 percent (https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/CES9091000001) from 2014 to 2016, compared to a 4.9 percent jump in civilian workers. Christopher Ingraham writes (https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2017/01/23/the-trump-administration-just-told-a-whopper-about-the-size-of-the-federal-workforce/?utm_term=.4f783d251feb):

As a share of the total civilian workforce, in percentage terms, the federal workforce is smaller than it's been in nearly 70 years. [...]
There's considerable doubt about the efficacy of hiring freezes as a federal management tool. A 1982 Government Accountability Office report (http://www.gao.gov/products/FPCD-82-21) found that “governmentwide hiring freezes, regardless of how well they are managed, are not an effective means of controlling federal employment.” The report found that hiring freezes up until that point had “disrupted agency operations and, in some cases, increased costs to the government.”

But the dirty little secret of Trump’s freeze is that it stands to hurt veterans perhaps more than any other demographic.

Vets made up about 44 percent (https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/powerpost/wp/2016/11/14/veterans-continue-to-get-jobs-in-the-federal-government/?utm_term=.a7f9fdd979f1) of nonmilitary full-time federal hires in 2015, after the Obama administration focused specifically on putting veterans back to work.

The largest share of veterans joined the Air Force, where they made up 62.1 percent of new employees in nonseasonal, permanent full-time jobs in fiscal 2015, according to federal data (https://www.fedshirevets.gov/hire/hrp/reports/EmploymentOfVets-FY15.pdf) released late last week.

Veterans also were well-represented at other agencies, from the

Transportation Department (55 percent) to the Social Security Administration (39.3 percent).

They made up 46.4 percent of new hires at the State Department and

39.2 percent at the Labor Department.

Additionally, one agency that will behit hardest by the freeze (http://www.nbcwashington.com/news/politics/Trump-Freezes-Hiring-by-Federal-Government-411547505.html) is the VA, says Randy Erwin, president of National Federation of Federal Employees.

Trump, in July 2016 (http://www.military.com/daily-news/2016/07/22/criticizing-clinton-trump-vows-to-defeat-the-barbarians-of-isis.html):

"We will take care of our great veterans like they have never been taken care of before." :lol

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2017/01/24/1624520/-Trump-s-federal-hiring-freeze-will-kneecap-veterans-more-than-maybe-any-other-group?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+dailykos%2Findex+%28Daily+Kos %29

Thread

01-24-2017, 06:39 PM

It's a piss pot organization, and a vessel for the redistribution of American wealth.

Sure, it was cute & quaint in grade school, but, no more. It should be disbanded here and that property/buildings used for the... "average Americans. They always save us in times of strife." - Charles Schumer

boutons_deux

01-24-2017, 06:40 PM

Trump’s federal hiring freeze will make the swamp swampier

Past hiring freezes have only increased government costs and made its work less transparent.

past experience shows that across-the-board government hiring freezes don’t reduce the workforce or save money. On the contrary, they often increase costs while making the government’s work less accountable to the public.

The non-partisan Government Accountability Office concluded as much in 1982. In a report released at that time that looked back at four previous freezes, it found, “Government-wide hiring freezes have not been an effective means of controlling Federal employment.”

Because freezes were doled out equally, regardless of each agency’s workload, agencies had to find other ways to get their work done?—?and many turned to contractors, which aren’t subject to the same transparency regulations as the government workforce. That includes disclosure laws like the Freedom of Information Act and the Federal Register Act that make information on what employees do available to the public.

https://thinkprogress.org/trump-federal-hiring-freeze-48eaad78d65e#.gbnpq3po0

iow, Federal hiring freeze is another way to fuck up/privatize govt, and transfer taxpayers' $Bs to private contractors.

boutons_deux

01-24-2017, 06:46 PM

One of Trump's First Moves--The End Of "An Open Internet" (http://www.dailykos.com/stories/2017/1/20/1622924/-The-Orange-Swindler-s-First-Priority-Ending-Net-Neutrality)

Trump has tapped net neutrality foe Ajit Pai (https://www.engadget.com/2017/01/20/net-neutrality-foe-ajit-pai-fcc-chairman/) to become Chairman of the FCC, the agency responsible for enforcing and promulgating rules that assure an open Internet. His appointment, like many Federal appointments, will not require initial Senate approval (although he will need to be reconfirmed by the
Republican-dominated Senate in 2017).

Why is this important? Because as head of the FCC, that agency will now be dominated by officials opposed to the idea of an “open Internet:”

Net neutrality is the idea that your Internet provider must treat all Web traffic equally. A court decision in January struck down FCC rules meant to ensure that Internet providers do not discriminate by blocking or slowing certain content.

That decision opened the door (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/01/15/internet-without-net-neutrality-_n_4604385.html?utm_hp_ref=net-neutrality) for Internet providers like Comcast and Verizon to cut deals with content providers, which would pay to stream their content in an Internet “fast lane.”

What does that mean (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/04/24/net-neutrality_n_5206510.html), in English?

First off, the web could get more expensive. The impact on the average Internet user will likely not be felt right away. But over time, websites would probably pass on to consumers the costs of paying for high-speed access, according to Harold Feld, a senior vice president at the consumer group Public Knowledge.

In addition, it could become difficult to view certain websites owned by companies that can’t afford to pay for access to an Internet fast lane, Feld said.

On top of Internet users potentially paying more, they would also be more confused, Feld said. Under the proposed rules, people would need to make sense of a fragmented Internet landscape where the time it takes to load an online video would depend on whether that website paid extra to their Internet provider. Consumers may start choosing their Internet providers based on which websites they like to visit.

Why is Trump doing this, aside from his general penchant for doing as much harm as possible in the name of “deregulation?” Well it’s entirely possible—even likely--that Trump is too stupid to understand the implications of what he’s doing,

but catering to the class of corporate Telecom CEO’s (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Net_neutrality) that have sucked up to the Republican Party in their efforts to impose more fees on the American people under the guise of “economic interests” and “encouraging investment.”

Among corporations, opponents include AT&T (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AT%26T), Verizon (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Verizon), IBM (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IBM), Intel (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intel), Cisco (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cisco), Nokia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nokia), Qualcomm (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qualcomm), Broadcom (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Broadcom), Juniper (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juniper), dLink (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DLink), Wintel (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wintel), Alcatel-Lucent (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alcatel-Lucent), Corning (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corning,_Inc.), Panasonic (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panasonic), Ericsson (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ericsson), and others.

Pai claims that supporters of “net neutrality" are “hysterical,“

and that there is not a “shred of evidence” that Internet content would be compromised by rescinding the rules.

Before joining the FCC Pai worked as an attorney for Verizon.

http://www.dailykos.com/stories/2017/1/20/1622924/-The-Orange-Swindler-s-First-Priority-Ending-Net-Neutrality?detail=email&link_id=2&can_id=4217e8eb109c68bd0c2e4143dd2d8c15&source=email-evangelical-christian-quits-over-obamacare-i-discovered-i-could-no-longer-believe-any-of-it&email_referrer=evangelical-christian-quits-over-obamacare-i-discovered-i-could-no-longer-believe-any-of-it&email_subject=evangelical-christian-quits-over-obamacare-i-discovered-i-could-no-longer-believe-any-of-it

boutons_deux

01-24-2017, 07:04 PM

Trump Sends Aides To Government-Funded Broadcaster Voice Of America

President Donald Trump has dispatched two former campaign aides to work with Voice of America, a government-funded news outlet that broadcasts U.S. News outside of the country,

, the two aides will work “to ensure an open, transparent and seamless transition of the BBG to the Trump Administration,” per an email from BBG CEO John Lansing obtained by Politico.

Trump's decision to dispatch aides to the Broadcasting Board of Governors also comes after Voice of America came under fire for tweets about White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer's Saturday press conference during which he made false claims about the size of inauguration crowds.

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/trump-aides-voice-america

:lol the BBG,etc will make sure that any "news" about Pootin and Russia will be ONLY positive. :lol

Thread

01-24-2017, 07:47 PM

Clipper Nation

01-24-2017, 07:52 PM

http://i.imgur.com/mxRL37r.jpg

Dirk Oneanddoneski

01-24-2017, 08:26 PM

http://i.imgur.com/HaJBBLA.jpg

boutons_deux

01-24-2017, 09:49 PM

Tiny, minuscule little men, dickless, trivial wimps, every oneTrump administration deletes government’s official apology to LGBTQ community for past discrimination
http://www.rawstory.com/2017/01/trump-administration-deletes-governments-official-apology-to-lgbtq-community-for-past-discrimination/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+TheRawStory+%28The+Raw+Story% 29

boutons_deux

01-24-2017, 10:03 PM

Trump Didn’t Just Reinstate the Global Gag Rule. He Massively Expanded It.
signed an executive order banning foreign nongovernmental organizations that receive certain kinds of American aid from counseling health clients about abortion or advocating for abortion law liberalization.
it eventually emerged, hadn’t simply revived the so-called global gag rule. Quietly, with so little publicity that activists weren’t aware until someone saw the new language in a tweeted image,

Trump’s version of the global gag rule expands the policy to all global health funding. According to Ehlers, the

new rule means that rather than impacting $600 million in U.S. foreign aid, the global gag rule will affect $9.5 billion.

Organizations working on AIDS, malaria, or maternal and child health will have to make sure that none of their programs involves so much as an abortion referral.

“If they’re giving advice to women on what to do if they’re pregnant and HIV positive, giving them all the options that exist, they cannot now receive money from the U.S.”

“Although applying the global gag rule to PEPFAR’s programs ill affects millions of men as well,” since HIV/AIDS programs that treat entire communities could face defunding.

http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/politics/2017/01/trump_s_global_gag_rule_is_even_worse_than_it_seem ed.html

Trash has no idea of the pain, suffering, DEATH he's causing by implemeting Christian Sharia

boutons_deux

01-24-2017, 10:06 PM

The EPA is getting an “absolute hammering” from the Trump administration.

A leaked copy (https://www.axios.com/axios-am-2207230091.html) of the Trump team’s plan for the EPA (https://www.axios.com/trumpworld-prepares-to-hammer-the-epa-2209021483.html) calls for

slashing its budget,

“terminating climate programs,”

ending auto fuel-economy standards, and

executing “major reforms of the agency’s use of science and economics.”

The Trump administration has frozen EPA’s grants and contracts (https://www.propublica.org/article/trump-administration-imposes-freeze-on-epa-grants-and-contracts), cutting off funding for everything from cleanup of toxic sites to testing of air quality.
EPA employees have been ordered not to share information via social media, press releases, or new website content

A new team (http://www.eenews.net/stories/1060048813) that Trump has put in place to shift the agency’s direction includes three former researchers from Koch-funded think tanks, one former mining lobbyist, and a number of people who have argued against climate action, according to Reuters (http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump-epa-transition-idUSKBN15803O). And Trump is poised to issue executive orders to weaken pollution rules and cut agency budgets,

http://grist.org/briefly/the-epa-is-getting-an-absolute-hammering-from-the-trump-administration/

CosmicCowboy

01-24-2017, 10:39 PM

Boos meltdown is just glorious.

boutons_deux

01-25-2017, 02:03 PM

FEMA Under Trump Fails To Help After Tornados Devastate S.E. The Incompetence Is Showing Already. (http://www.dailykos.com/stories/2017/1/24/1624651/-FEMA-Under-Trump-Fails-To-Help-South-After-Severe-Storm-Damage-His-Incompetence-Is-Showing-Already)

Officials Beg Trump to Send Help After Storms Kill 20 Across South

Desperate officials pleaded with President Donald Trump to send federal assistance Monday after at least 20 people were killed by storms and tornadoes that caused devastation authorities likened to the impact of a nuclear blast.

Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant said he had dispatched a letter to Trump pleading for help after four people were killed in his state. He said more 1,000 homes were damaged in Hattiesburg and surrounding Forrest County alone — 239 of which were obliterated.

In Dougherty County, Georgia, where four people were killed, county commission Chairman Chris Cohilas said Monday that he has been "begging FEMA for boots on the ground," referring to the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

"I'm asking President Trump to cut through the red tape and get people on the damned ground here," he said.

In addition to the 19 people confirmed to have died in central and south Georgia and in Mississippi, a 20th person was confirmed Monday to have been killed in northern Florida over the weekend.

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2017/01/24/1624651/-FEMA-Under-Trump-Fails-To-Help-South-After-Severe-Storm-Damage-His-Incompetence-Is-Showing-Already?detail=email&link_id=3&can_id=4217e8eb109c68bd0c2e4143dd2d8c15&source=email-trumps-mentally-ill-says-paul-krugman-2&email_referrer=trumps-mentally-ill-says-paul-krugman-2&email_subject=trumps-mentally-ill-says-paul-krugman

:lol red/slave states elected Trash, and as I infallibly predicted, now get SCREWED by Trash.

boutons_deux

01-25-2017, 05:59 PM

Trump to publish weekly list of alleged ‘alien’ crimes in attempt to shame sanctuary cities
http://www.rawstory.com/2017/01/trump-to-publish-weekly-list-of-alleged-alien-crimes-in-attempt-to-shame-sanctuary-cities/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+TheRawStory+%28The+Raw+Story% 29

and why throw knitter and Chuchos in there, too? Try to hame entire races and ethnic groups for not being Euro-Americans.

Clipper Nation

01-25-2017, 06:13 PM

You are the only one making it about race with your thinly-veiled slurs.

boutons_deux

01-25-2017, 06:28 PM

White House Distances Itself from 'Black Site' Order After Outrage

Press Secretary Sean Spicer says he has 'no idea' where controversial document, which considers reinstating secret CIA prisons, came from :lol

http://www.commondreams.org/news/2017/01/25/white-house-distances-itself-black-site-order-after-outrage

Sure, Sean, we can count on your truth-telling.

Now that you're fully initiated, accepted as a reliable, loyal gang member into Trash's mafia for your loyalty-testing "murderous hit" on truth last Saturday, we know we can count on you for the straight skinny.

boutons_deux

01-25-2017, 07:38 PM

boutons_deux

01-25-2017, 07:42 PM

Given the kind of misogynist insanities from the Repugs, I would not be surprised it some red/slave state proposing something like this. Pootin's Russia, loved by Repugs and their voters

Domestic violence: Russia MPs back law cutting penalty

A Russian bill to decriminalise some forms of domestic violence has moved a step closer to becoming law.

The lower house of parliament, the Duma, overwhelming approved the proposal after a second reading.

First time offenders who cause less serious injuries could face fines or community service rather than prison, under the plans.

But campaigners said the bill would mean the "exoneration of tyrants in the home".

MPs voted 358 to two in favour of the proposals, with one abstention. The bill, dubbed the "slapping law" by some Russian media outlets, will now have a third reading.

It will also need the approval of the upper house and President Vladimir Putin before becoming law.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said it was important to distinguish between "family relations" and repeated incidents of violence.

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-38745827

No doubt that Russia's Child Protective Services are as wonderful, impeccable as Texas' CPS.

CosmicCowboy

01-25-2017, 07:49 PM

#meltdown

:lmao

mavsfan1000

01-26-2017, 03:25 AM

No doubt. A President that doesn't pull the race card and wants what is best for ALL Americans will naturally improve race relations. Maybe not instantly. Obama's damage isn't easily reversible.

spurraider21

01-26-2017, 03:29 AM

REPORT: Trump Administration Mandates EPA Studies Undergo Political Review Before Public Release

the administration will now mandate that all studies and data from EPA scientists need to be reviewed by political staff before they can be publicly released.

The Trump team also stated that this mandate will extend to anything placed on the agency’s official website, which would include information surrounding climate change.

(On Inauguration Day, all references to climate change (http://www.mediaite.com/online/new-white-house-website-scrubs-all-references-to-climate-change/) were scrubbed from the official White House site.)

Speaking to the AP, Trump transition team spokesman Doug Ericksen said no decision has been made about what will be taken down, but they’ll be reviewing everything.

“We’re taking a look at everything on a case-by-case basis, including the web page and whether climate stuff will be taken down,” Erickson said in an interview with The Associated Press.

“Obviously with a new administration coming in, the transition time, we’ll be taking a look at the web pages and the Facebook pages and everything else involved here at EPA.”

During his press briefing today, White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer stated that the White House did not direct the EPA to place a communications freeze (http://www.mediaite.com/online/sean-spicer-says-federal-agency-directive-to-stop-tweeting-didnt-come-from-white-house/)within the agency, explaining that

the directive released to the press did not come directly from the Trump Administration. :lol

http://www.mediaite.com/online/report-trump-administration-mandates-epa-studies-undergo-political-review-before-public-release/

Ministry of Truth

They walked back their claims already

Ericksen clarified his earlier statements he made to The Associated Press, which reported that the Trump administration was mandating that any studies or data from EPA scientists undergo review by political appointees before they can be released to the public. He said he was speaking about existing scientific information on the EPA website that is under review by members of the Trump administration's transition team.

He said new work by the agency's scientists is subject to the same "temporary hold" as other kinds of public releases, which he said would likely be lifted by Friday. He said there was no mandate to subject studies or data to political review.
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2017/01/25/us/politics/ap-us-trump-agencies-crackdown.html

boutons_deux

01-26-2017, 07:44 AM

science under review by fucking political whores paid by BigCorp/BigOil is sure to deliver really, really good "science".

Review? It was bad, wrong science?

C R A P I F I C A T I O N by the corporatocracy. Profits over truth.

boutons_deux

01-26-2017, 08:19 AM

Felony Charges for Journalists Arrested at Inauguration Protests Raise Fears for Press Freedom

At least six journalists were charged with felony rioting after they were arrested (https://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2017/01/22/us/politics/ap-us-trump-inauguration-arrests.html)while covering the violent protests that took place just blocks from President Trump’s inauguration parade in Washington on Friday,

The charges against the journalists — Evan Engel (https://twitter.com/evanengel/status/823692147337678848), Alexander Rubinstein (https://twitter.com/AlexR_DC), Jack Keller, Matthew Hopard (https://twitter.com/StopMotionsolo/status/822492267873259520), Shay Horse (https://twitter.com/HuntedHorse/status/824060821177253888) and Aaron Cantu — have been denounced by organizations dedicated to press freedom. All of those arrested have denied participating in the violence.

“These felony charges are bizarre and essentially unheard of when it comes to journalists here in America who were simply doing their job,” said Suzanne Nossel, the executive director of Pen America. “They weren’t even in the wrong place at the wrong time. They were in the right place.”

“Our concern is that these arrests could send a chilling message to journalists that cover future protests,”

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/25/business/media/journalists-arrested-trump-inauguration.html?mwrsm=Facebook

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

The DC Police Chief Behind the Inauguration Crackdown Has a Disgraceful History

Peter Newsham was implicated in a mass arrest and abuse scandal more than a decade ago.

The crackdown, which was overseen by acting Metropolitan Police Department Chief Peter Newsham, echoes another mass arrest that Newsham ordered as assistant police chief in 2002, in which hundreds of people were indiscriminately kettled and hogtied, forcing (https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/crime/in-settlement-us-park-police-agree-to-change-arrest-policies-in-protests/2015/06/22/20b0080a-15f3-11e5-9ddc-e3353542100c_story.html?utm_term=.349e12d79b12) the government to eventually pay out millions of dollars in settlements.

More than 200 people arrested in Friday’s sweep face felony riot charges punishable by up to 10 years in prison. The arrestees have had their phones and cameras confiscated as evidence, according to (http://www.alternet.org/trumps-america-felony-riot-charges-against-inauguration-protesters-signal-dangerous-wave-repression) Jeffrey Light, a Washington, D.C.-based lawyer who filed the class-action lawsuit Friday on behalf those detained. The lawsuit, which was emailed to AlterNet, names Newsham, as well as “John Doe” Metropolitan Police Department and Park Police officers.

“Without warning and without any dispersal order, the police officers kettled all of the plaintiffs,” states the lawsuit, which notes that “members of the media, attorneys, legal observers and medics” were among those rounded up.

In his former role as assistant police chief, Newsham oversaw a violent crackdown on a “People’s Strike” protest against the World Bank and International Monetary Fund more than a decade ago.

“On the morning of September 27, 2002, the D.C. Police Department, working with the U.S. Park Police encircled Pershing Park, refused to allow anyone to leave and then arrested and hog-tied peaceful demonstrators, tourists, passers-by, and legal observers. Many were bound wrist-to-ankle on a police gym floor for upwards of 24 hours,”

http://www.alternet.org/dc-police-chief-behind-inauguration-crackdown-has-disgraceful-history

As DC is run by the Repug Congress, I'm sure the Repugs will straighten this mess out. Mess straightening is what Repugs do best.

Reck

01-26-2017, 08:23 AM

Clipper Nation (http://www.spurstalk.com/forums/member.php?u=28500) pic of that dude is fucked up.

Specially since Barron is an austistic himself. LOL

UNT Eagles 2016

01-28-2017, 06:57 AM

https://encrypted-tbn2.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcRhcbcxXau3dprFNcZ4-yzE8mSUhj6UgJRTPEe9LeYV7WxRpWJM2w

boutons_deux

01-30-2017, 02:24 PM

Trump’s ‘Two-Out, One-In’ Executive Order on Regulations Is Radical, Unworkable and Dangerous

Today, President Donald Trump signed (http://www.cnbc.com/2017/01/30/trump-set-to-sign-executive-order-aiming-to-slash-regulations.html) an executive order with the goal of repealing two public protections for every new one issued.

The order also establishes a process for setting an annual cap on federal regulations, which the Trump administration intends to set at $0,

It will result in immediate and lasting damage to our government’s ability to save lives, protect our environment, police Wall Street, keep consumers safe and fight discrimination. It will fundamentally change our government’s role from one of protecting the public to protecting corporate profits, and will lead to a dangerous new era of deregulation and corporate “self-regulation.”

The public will feel the impacts of this harmful EO right away. Upcoming regulations to update lead safety standards in drinking water, prohibit payday lenders from praying on consumers with unconscionable interest rates and remove unsafe chemicals from the marketplace under the new Toxic Substances Control Act are just a few of the vital new measures that will be shelved until corporate special interests identify public protections for the Trump administration to repeal.

this unprecedented and untested measure will gut the enforcement of wildly popular and successful laws including the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act, the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, the Food Safety Modernization Act, the Pipeline Safety Act and many more.

Americans will once again have to pay the price for the consequences of corporate recklessness, greed and lawbreaking.

This EO is just the next and most arbitrary attack in a litany of attacks against public protections.

http://www.commondreams.org/newswire/2017/01/30/trumps-two-out-one-executive-order-regulations-radical-unworkable-and-dangerous

boutons_deux

01-30-2017, 07:57 PM

Republicans Take First Steps To Kill Five Obama-Era Regulations

House Republicans on Monday began the process of killing five Obama-era rules on corruption, the environment, labor, and guns under the first real test of the Congressional Review Act,

Earlier this month it passed bills to limit regulatory agencies and Republican President Donald Trump is cutting regulation through executive orders.

Under the law, Congress can use simple majority votes to stop recent regulations in their tracks. Timing in the law means any rules enacted after May 31 are eligible for axing.

The House Rules Committee was expected on Monday evening to send to the full chamber a measure axing three regulations enacted under former President Barack Obama, a Democrat. They were the Stream Protection Rule, the Securities and Exchange Commission’s “resource extraction rule,” and the Social Security Administration’s expanded background checks on disabled gun buyers.

On Tuesday it will send another measure overturning rules on methane and federal contractors.

The Interior Department took years to craft the stream rule, hoping to prevent coal-mining waste from contaminating water sources in areas near mountain-top removal mining sites.

requires companies such as Exxon Mobil Corp to state publicly how much they pay governments in taxes and other fees.

http://www.nationalmemo.com/republicans-kill-obama-regulations/

boutons_deux

01-30-2017, 08:03 PM

Trump punks media, fools them into reporting he kept a promise he actually just broke

, signed an executive order intended to cut federal regulation. Many news outlets reported that it fulfilled his campaign promise to, on his first day in office, immediately pursue “a requirement that for every new federal regulation, two existing regulations must be eliminated.”

Yet the Executive Order does not reflect the pursuit of his actual promise. It does not actually require that two regulations actually be repealed, only that agency heads identify “at least two prior regulations” for elimination.

“There’s a lot of theater, and really bad theater, associated with this Executive Order, which is one reason to view it as snake oil that fundamentally fails to fulfill a campaign promise even if it intends to do so,”

“It seeks to ration the American people’s health and safety by forcing agencies to arbitrarily drop rules, even if those regulations prevent illnesses, reduce exposure to toxic chemicals, or decrease the number of deaths and serious injuries in the workplace,”

“I can’t help but marvel that at a ceremony surrounded by small business owners, the phrase ‘small business’ is not used once in the order,”

“One of the most pernicious features is of this Executive Order is this new regulatory cost budget, which is clearly intended to deter new regulations,”

“But the problem for the Trump administration is that obligations in federal law trump President Trump. He cannot just direct agencies to violate federal law or starve enforcement of law with a gimmicky regulatory budget.”

“The overall impression is this Executive Order is marked by strident hostility for federal protections for Americans,” Walke said.

“The way it’s carried out though, is nearly as chaotic as the other Executive Orders he’s signed. Foremost, despite his claim this would eliminate two regulations for one new regulation,

it’s cynical snake oil for his base.”

https://thinkprogress.org/trump-punks-media-fools-them-into-reporting-he-kept-a-promise-he-actually-just-broke-abba92991b33#.ft7fz8apo

boutons_deux

01-30-2017, 08:29 PM

Federally Recognized Tribes Should Brace For Possible Termination Policy Under Trump

Federally recognized Alaska Native and American Indian tribes should brace for the worst, including the possibility that Congress may move to terminate federally recognized tribes.

The termination era of 1953 to 1968 involved Congress stripping tribes of their lands and criminal jurisdiction. The policy was thinly disguised as an attempt to lift American Indians and Alaska Natives out of poverty by assimilating them into mainstream society. However the real goal was to privatize and ransack American Indian and Alaska Native lands.
From the American Indian Relief Council:

From 1953-1964 109 tribes were terminated and federal responsibility and jurisdiction was turned over to state governments.

Approximately 2,500,000 acres of trust land was removed from protected status and 12,000 Native Americans lost tribal affiliation.

The lands were sold to non-Indians the tribes lost official recognition by the U.S. government….

Public Law 280 which was passed in 1953 turned power over to state governments to enforce most of the regular criminal laws on reservations as they were doing in other parts of the state.

American Indian reservations are federally owned lands held “in trust (https://www.1tribal.com/2014/04/native-american-trust-lands/)” for tribes. The “vast untapped domestic energy reserves” referred to in Saglutupiaġataq’s energy plan are largely within American Indian reservations. These lands would need to be sold or leased to private sector corporations by the federal government in order for development to proceed. But first, tribal jurisdiction over those lands would need to be terminated by Congress and vested in states.

The termination era of 1953 to 1968 shows us that tribal lands and thus tribal governments, peoples, and cultures remain vulnerable to the whims of Congress.

http://countercurrentnews.com/2017/01/federally-recognized-tribes-should-brace-for-possible-termination-policy-under-trump/

boutons_deux

02-02-2017, 10:01 PM

Republicans just repealed law blocking mentally ill from owning guns

The House of Representatives have just rolled back (http://thehill.com/regulation/317634-house-republicans-block-obama-era-gun-rule) a regulation from the Obama administration, which kept people with severe mental illnesses (ex. schizophrenia or severe anxiety) from owning guns.

The House voted 235-180, declaring it a victory for the second amendment. :lol

http://usuncut.com/news/republicans-just-repealed-law-blocking-mentally-ill-owning-guns/

boutons_deux

02-02-2017, 10:05 PM

House Votes To Roll Back Obama Rule On Background Checks For Gun Ownership

The Republican-controlled Congress on Thursday scrapped Obama-era rules on the environment and guns, counting on a new ally in the White House, President Donald Trump, to reverse years of regulation.

In the House, the issue was an Obama rule extending background checks for disabled Social Security recipients mentally incapable of managing their own affairs. The vote was 235-180.

Under the rule, the Social Security Administration would provide information to the gun-buying background check system on recipients with a mental disorder so severe they cannot work and need someone to handle their benefits. The rule, finalized in December, affects an estimated 75,000 beneficiaries.

Republican lawmakers criticized the regulation for reinforcing a negative stereotype that people with a mental disorder are dangerous.

"There is no evidence suggesting that those receiving disability benefits from the Social Security Administration are a threat to public safety,"

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/house-votes-roll-back-gun-control?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+tpm-news+%28TPMNews%29

... but when a white shooter goes off, Repugs say it's because he's mentally ill. Gotta keep guns out of the hands of the mentally ill :lol

boutons_deux

02-03-2017, 12:43 PM

Trump will roll back Obama rule that protected retirees from getting bilked by their advisers

Trump also plans to sign an executive order paving the way to dismantle financial regulations.

https://thinkprogress.org/trump-executive-orders-wall-street-bc0d65ccc5f8#.e6c0349pf

Criminal BigFinance ALWAYS gets what it wants, eventually. And what it wants is to loot America, fleece Americans.

boutons_deux

02-03-2017, 12:45 PM

Repugs criminalizing, punishing dissent

Activists erupt as Minnesota House Committee votes to punish protesters (http://www.dailykos.com/stories/2017/2/2/1629219/--Shame-on-you-Activists-erupt-as-Minnesota-House-Committee-votes-to-punish-protesters)

Last week, Minnesota’s House Committee voted to punish protestors by making protestors have to pay the law enforcement costs of covering a protest. (http://www.twincities.com/2017/01/24/minnesota-house-committee-approves-bill-that-would-charge-protesters/)

While all but one speaker decried the bill as an attempt to intimidate protesters and curb First Amendment rights, in the end the bill passed out of the committee with a 9-6 split along party lines — with every Republican on the committee voting for it, and every Democrat against.

The bill’s 27 authors, all Republicans including House Speaker Kurt Daudt, also include eight members of the committee to which it was referred: the House public safety committee, chaired by Rep. Tony Cornish, R-Vernon Center, who is also listed as an author.

http://www.dailykos.com/stories/2017/2/2/1629219/--Shame-on-you-Activists-erupt-as-Minnesota-House-Committee-votes-to-punish-protesters?detail=email&link_id=2&can_id=4217e8eb109c68bd0c2e4143dd2d8c15&source=email-trump-has-another-new-plan-that-was-used-by-the-nazis-against-jews-in-the-1930s&email_referrer=trump-has-another-new-plan-that-was-used-by-the-nazis-against-jews-in-the-1930s&email_subject=trump-has-another-new-plan-that-was-used-by-the-nazis-against-jews-in-the-1930s

Repugs are the fascist, authoritarian party.

Would anybody be surprised if Trash declared martial and every Repug approved?

boutons_deux

02-03-2017, 12:51 PM

House Votes To Roll Back Obama Rule On Background Checks For Gun Ownership

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/house-votes-roll-back-gun-control?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+tpm-news+%28TPMNews%29

boutons_deux

02-03-2017, 12:53 PM

Republicans just repealed law blocking mentally ill from owning guns

The House of Representatives have just rolled back (http://thehill.com/regulation/317634-house-republicans-block-obama-era-gun-rule) a regulation from the Obama administration,

which kept people with severe mental illnesses (ex. schizophrenia or severe anxiety) from owning guns.

The House voted 235-180,

http://usuncut.com/news/republicans-just-repealed-law-blocking-mentally-ill-owning-guns/

It was couple years ago that NRA was reacting to white guys shooting up the country saying guns had to be denied to the mentally ill. :lol

boutons_deux

02-03-2017, 01:05 PM

Trump to inherit more than 100 court vacancies, plans to reshape judiciary

The estimated 103 judicial vacancies that President Obama is expected to hand over to Trump in the Jan. 20 transition of power is nearly double the 54 openings Obama found eight years ago following George W. Bush’s presidency.

Confirmation of Obama’s judicial nominees slowed to a crawl after Republicans took control of the Senate in 2015. Obama White House officials blame Senate Republicans for what they characterize as an unprecedented level of obstruction in blocking the Democratic president’s court picks.

The result is a multitude of openings throughout the federal circuit and district courts that will allow the new Republican president to quickly make a wide array of lifetime appointments.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-to-inherit-more-than-100-court-vacancies-plans-to-reshape-judiciary/2016/12/25/d190dd18-c928-11e6-85b5-76616a33048d_story.html?utm_term=.89d41e554578

They will all be VRWC stooges, pro-big-business, anti-citizen, anti-environment, anti-women, anti-minority, pro-Christian-Sharia

Thread

02-03-2017, 06:54 PM

boutons_deux

02-05-2017, 08:15 AM

Trump’s uninhabitable world: The EPA starts to remove Obama-era information from its site

Federal climate plans, tribal assistance programs and references to international cooperation have been stricken

A mention of carbon pollution as a cause of climate change has also been removed and adaptation has been emphasized, indicating an attempt to separate the cause of climate change from the response.

There have been extensive revisions made to the EPA’s climate collaboration page, including removing language about carbon pollution.

Putting the web page changes together with Trump’s statements dismissing climate change gives a clearer picture of his vision of “America First (http://www.climatecentral.org/news/trump-picks-strident-foe-of-epa-20949).” It likely signals that the United States will be stepping back from addressing global climate change. And by removing the information, it could give Trump and Scott Pruitt (http://www.climatecentral.org/news/trump-picks-strident-foe-of-epa-20949), his nominee to head the EPA, more leeway to decimate funding for programs they see as incompatible with “America First.”

removing references to Obama-era projects such as the Climate Action Plan (http://www.climatecentral.org/news/qa-breaking-down-key-features-of-obamas-climate-plan-16154) and other federal roadmaps to address climate change. The international partnership page also lost a paragraph affirming the U.S. commitment to the United Nations climate negotiations (http://www.climatecentral.org/news/landmark-paris-climate-pact-take-effect-30-days-20766).

“They’re mostly scrubbing it of anything that has a hint of Obama,”

http://www.salon.com/2017/02/05/trumps-uninhabitable-world-the-epa-has-started-to-remove-obama-era-information-from-its-site_partner/

destroying, defunding EPA to "pay for" tax cuts for the wealthy

Thread

02-05-2017, 08:21 AM

boutons_deux

02-05-2017, 08:21 AM

"I got on the subway in Manhattan tonight and found a Swastika on every advertisement and every window. The train was silent as everyone stared at each other, uncomfortable and unsure what to do.

One guy got up and said, "Hand sanitizer gets rid of Sharpie. We need alcohol." He found some tissues and got to work.

I've never seen so many people simultaneously reach into their bags and pockets looking for tissues and Purel. Within about two minutes, all the Nazi symbolism was gone.

Nazi symbolism. On a public train. In New York City. In 2017.

"I guess this is Trump's America," said one passenger. No sir, it's not. Not tonight and not ever. Not as long as stubborn New Yorkers have anything to say about it."

https://scontent-dft4-2.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/16472826_1279925198727329_1365010301030641222_n.jp g?oh=49617567fcc3d922f222322ea4dc11fa&oe=59136560

https://scontent-dft4-2.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/16387236_1279925418727307_2083944158586594804_n.jp g?oh=47e9837ac832cf176532b92df761c6e3&oe=593FCCB0

https://scontent-dft4-2.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/16425723_1279925422060640_2015916064355186411_n.jp g?oh=ffa327868001ca3a946ccf686f1bd0e4&oe=594A7CD2

https://www.facebook.com/gregoryalocke?hc_ref=NEWSFEED

Manhattan knows Trump, voted against him 90-10.

Trash's "America The Hateful Ugly"

Thread

02-05-2017, 08:22 AM

"I got on the subway in Manhattan tonight and found a Swastika on every advertisement and every window. The train was silent as everyone stared at each other, uncomfortable and unsure what to do.

One guy got up and said, "Hand sanitizer gets rid of Sharpie. We need alcohol." He found some tissues and got to work.

I've never seen so many people simultaneously reach into their bags and pockets looking for tissues and Purel. Within about two minutes, all the Nazi symbolism was gone.
Nazi symbolism. On a public train. In New York City. In 2017.

"I guess this is Trump's America," said one passenger. No sir, it's not. Not tonight and not ever. Not as long as stubborn New Yorkers have anything to say about it."

https://scontent-dft4-2.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/16472826_1279925198727329_1365010301030641222_n.jp g?oh=49617567fcc3d922f222322ea4dc11fa&oe=59136560

https://scontent-dft4-2.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/16387236_1279925418727307_2083944158586594804_n.jp g?oh=47e9837ac832cf176532b92df761c6e3&oe=593FCCB0

https://scontent-dft4-2.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/16425723_1279925422060640_2015916064355186411_n.jp g?oh=ffa327868001ca3a946ccf686f1bd0e4&oe=594A7CD2

https://www.facebook.com/gregoryalocke?hc_ref=NEWSFEED

Manhattan knows Trump, voted against him 90-10.

That's what so sweet about the Electoral College. Doesn't matter a bit. Just one less bell to answer, like CA..

boutons_deux

02-05-2017, 08:43 AM

The scary implications of Trump’s Prayer Breakfast speech: Destroying the line between church and state would be terrible for LGBT people

Trump may have kept his anti-LGBT executive order sheathed, but the Johnson Amendment may now be in play

Lambda Legal, the national LGBT legal advocacy organization, speculated that Trump would announce signature of the document, whichThe Nation (https://www.thenation.com/article/leaked-draft-of-trumps-religious-freedom-order-reveals-sweeping-plans-to-legalize-discrimination/) leaked earlier this week,

his team told NBC News (http://www.nbcnews.com/feature/nbc-out/white-house-lgbtq-executive-order-isn-t-plan-time-n714421) that introducing the anti-LGBT memorandum is “not the plan at this time.”

Trump used the event to outline his support for repeal of the Johnson Amendment, a 1954 law that keeps pastors from openly advocating for political candidates from the pulpit.

"I will get rid of and totally destroy the Johnson Amendment and allow our representatives of faith to speak freely and without fear of retribution. . . . Freedom of religion is a sacred right, but it is also a right under threat all around us, and the world is under serious, serious threat in so many different ways.”

Even though there are just a handful of cases in which a religious group’s political advocacy has been challenged by the IRS, Americans widely support the law. LifeWay, a religious research organization, found that 79 percent of U.S. citizens don’t believe “pastors [should] publicly endorse political candidates during a church service.”

Under the law, religious groups are allowed to discuss political issues, if not actually endorse candidates. They are also permitted to participate in politics and keep their nonprofit status, which exempts them from paying federal taxes. Current IRS guidelines stipulate that churches are allowed to spend no more than 20 percent of their operating budget on political organizing and advocacy.

Lifting those guidelines would erode the separation of church and state as we know it, allowing churches to effectively operate as America’s most powerful Super PACs.

http://www.salon.com/2017/02/04/the-scary-implications-of-trumps-prayer-breakfast-speech-destroying-the-line-between-church-and-state-would-be-terrible-for-lgbt-people/

Most Christians are too stupid, too scared to take stands against their "perfect" preachers. In fact Christianity is one of the main reasons so 10Ms are dumbed down, deny science and accept Bible fantasies as literally the "truth" of cosmology, history.

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

WHY IS CHURCH ATTENDANCE DECLINING – EVEN AMONG COMMITTED CHRISTIANS?

http://sixseeds.patheos.com/churchformen/2016/03/why-is-church-attendance-declining-even-among-christians/

boutons_deux

02-05-2017, 09:00 AM

FCC Taps Brakes on Expansion of Broadband Subsidies

Program for phone and wireless bills was expanded to include broadband services last year

The Federal Communications Commission on Friday scaled back a program that provides discounts on broadband service for some low-income Americans, saying nine smaller firms would no longer enjoy subsidies for home internet users.

The agency said Friday that halting the nine additions would boost the program’s integrity by giving staffers more time to consider waste-fighting measures. :lol

https://www.wsj.com/articles/fcc-taps-brakes-on-expansion-of-broadband-subsidies-1486170004

... just because they can. Nothing but a stupid power play explained with LIES

boutons_deux

02-05-2017, 09:36 AM

Trash as "outsider", "white working class savior", gonna drain the swamp, shake up DC. Trash voters are so fucking stupid, gullible, conned

BigFinance will get EVERYTHING they ask for, with NO regulatory enforcement.

'Spectacular Betrayal' as Trump Hands Economy 'Back Over to Wall Street'

'The Wall Street bankers against whom Trump ran are making policy now,'

Trump signed executive orders Friday "establish[ing] a framework for scaling back the 2010 Dodd-Frank financial-overhaul law" and rolling back an Obama-era regulation requiring advisers on retirement accounts (http://www.commondreams.org/views/2016/04/30/when-bad-financial-advice-pushes-seniors-poverty) to work in the best interests of their clients (http://www.commondreams.org/news/2016/05/24/warren-incensed-gop-effort-gut-financial-protections-retirees). That rule was set to go into effect in April.

"Wall Street titan Goldman Sachs seems to be taking over financial regulation in the United States, trying to make it easier for them and other big banks like Wells Fargo to steal from their customers and destabilize the economy."
—Lisa Donner, Americans for Financial Reform

Trump signed the orders after meeting with (https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-02-03/trump-to-halt-obama-fiduciary-rule-order-dodd-frank-review) bank CEOs.

"The worst job-destroying economic crisis since the Great Depression was directly caused by deregulation and regulatory failure," he said.

"Now the president who ran on a jobs-creation platform announces that he aims to slash the modest measures put in place to prevent a recurrence of the crisis.

If Trump succeeds in rolling back Dodd-Frank rules he will rush the country straightforward into another job-killing financial crisis.

This may be the most spectacular betrayal yet by the president of his voters, as he shunts aside their concerns and pushes forward the agenda of his cronies and the well-connected."

http://www.commondreams.org/news/2017/02/03/spectacular-betrayal-trump-hands-economy-back-over-wall-street

:lol

TeyshaBlue

02-05-2017, 09:57 AM

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y64/teyshablue/spam_zpstptkj6ij.jpg (http://s3.photobucket.com/user/teyshablue/media/spam_zpstptkj6ij.jpg.html)http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y64/teyshablue/spam_zpstptkj6ij.jpg (http://s3.photobucket.com/user/teyshablue/media/spam_zpstptkj6ij.jpg.html)http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y64/teyshablue/spam_zpstptkj6ij.jpg (http://s3.photobucket.com/user/teyshablue/media/spam_zpstptkj6ij.jpg.html)http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y64/teyshablue/spam_zpstptkj6ij.jpg (http://s3.photobucket.com/user/teyshablue/media/spam_zpstptkj6ij.jpg.html)http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y64/teyshablue/spam_zpstptkj6ij.jpg (http://s3.photobucket.com/user/teyshablue/media/spam_zpstptkj6ij.jpg.html)

boutons_deux

02-05-2017, 10:31 AM

F A C T S
eat orange shit, TB :lol

TeyshaBlue

02-05-2017, 11:43 AM

boutons_deux

02-05-2017, 12:06 PM

Access Denied: DOL Fiduciary Rule Taken Off Line

http://ritholtz.com/2017/02/accessdenied/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+TheBigPicture+%28The+Big+Pict ure%29

BigFinance will be able to continue to fleece Americans out of $Bs

boutons_deux

02-05-2017, 02:05 PM

Why did the USDA shut down an online animal abuse database?

An online database containing thousands of records documenting animal abuse in research labs, puppy mills, zoos, and elsewhere suddenly disappeared from the United States Department of Agriculture website on Friday, reportedly because of privacy concerns.

"There has been tremendous pushback (http://www.cnn.com/2017/02/04/us/usda-animal-abuse-database/) from the industries that exploit animals because the information in that database was used to publicize and expose the abuse of animals," Michael Budkie, the executive director of Stop Animal Exploitation NOW!, told CNN.

"Essentially this is going to help labs and animal dealers and animal breeders who break the law to remain undetected and out of the public eye, because it will slow down the process of obtaining information."

http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/2017/0205/Why-did-the-USDA-shut-down-an-online-animal-abuse-database

boutons_deux

02-06-2017, 03:03 PM

Killing the Environmental Protection Agency (http://www.dailykos.com/stories/2017/2/5/1628767/-Killing-the-Environmental-Protection-Agency)

epublican plans for the EPA are so terrifying. First, there is H.J. Res 46 (https://www.npca.org/articles/1462-house-moves-to-encourage-drilling-in-national-parks?utm_source=facebook&utm_campaign=pressrelease&utm_medium=socialmedia#sm.000j930s514vtfmqwn715c1z k1ub7), which ...

… seeks to repeal updates to the National Park Service’s “9B” rules. The rules require detailed planning and set safety standards for oil and gas drilling inside the more than 40 national parks that have “split estate” ownership, where the federal government owns the surface but not the subsurface mineral rights.

Want to protect the Yellowstone River from an oil spill? Sorry about that. Because H.J. Res 46 would allow ...

… drilling [to] occur in national parks with little more than bare-minimum state regulations. The Park Service will have essentially no authority over oil and gas development proposed inside national parks. Leaks and spills could go unpunished without NPS authority to enforce safety standards.

But wait—there’s more.

Congress is set to repeal President Obama’s stream rule (http://thehill.com/regulation/energy-environment/317193-house-to-repeal-obama-coal-rule-wednesday), which prevents the coal industry from polluting water sources near mines.

You can read the entire rule (https://www.osmre.gov/programs/rcm/streamprotectionrule.shtm) here. In short, it is there to make sure we have clean drinking water—a pretty important thing in just about anyone’s eyes. It’s up there with clean air, as far as necessities go. The reason Congress wants to repeal the stream rule?

Rep. Bill Johnson (R-Ohio) called it “one of the most onerous regulations that has come out of the Obama administration.”

“Tomorrow, we’re turning the page on Obama’s war on coal,” said Rep. Evan Jenkins (R-W.Va.).

“There is nothing about ‘protection’ in this rule,” he added. “This was the death mill to coal. It came from an ideologically driven administration. It didn’t care about streams. It wanted to do one thing: kill coal.”

It should be noted that

Rep. Johnson’s No. 3 campaign donor (https://www.opensecrets.org/politicians/contrib.php?cycle=2014&cid=N00032088) is Murray Energy (http://www.murrayenergycorp.com/),

which bills itself as the “Largest Underground Coal Mining Company in America.”

If the name sounds familiar, maybe it’s because Murray Energy has been fined—a lot—for labor violations (http://wvpublic.org/post/murray-pay-33-million-fines),
for campaign finance violations (http://www.cleveland.com/open/index.ssf/2015/10/murray_energy_to_pay_5000_pena.html), and
for environmental violations (http://powersource.post-gazette.com/powersource/companies/2015/09/14/Murray-Energy-PFBC-agree-2-5-million-settlement-related-to-2009-Dunkard-Creek-fish-kill/stories/201509140173).

The truth is that regulations are not killing coal, and coal mining jobs will never come back.
he current administration wants to cut the EPA by two-thirds (https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/powerpost/wp/2017/01/30/trump-transition-leaders-goal-is-two-thirds-cut-in-epa-employees/?utm_term=.58e88922c01a).

[Myron] Ebell has suggested

cutting the EPA workforce to 5,000, about a two-thirds reduction, over the next four years.

The agency’s budget of $8.1 billion would be sliced in half under his prescription, which he emphasized is his own and not necessarily Trump’s.

“My own personal view is that the EPA would be better served if it were a much leaner organization that had substantial cuts,” he said in an interview.

Ebell is director of the Center for Energy and Environment at the Competitive Enterprise Institute, a small-government think tank where he pushes the notion of “global warming alarmism” and against the science that says it’s a crisis.

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2017/02/05/1628767/-Killing-the-Environmental-Protection-Agency?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+dailykos%2Findex+%28Daily+Kos %29

Thread

02-06-2017, 03:11 PM

Killing the Environmental Protection Agency (http://www.dailykos.com/stories/2017/2/5/1628767/-Killing-the-Environmental-Protection-Agency)

epublican plans for the EPA are so terrifying. First, there is H.J. Res 46 (https://www.npca.org/articles/1462-house-moves-to-encourage-drilling-in-national-parks?utm_source=facebook&utm_campaign=pressrelease&utm_medium=socialmedia#sm.000j930s514vtfmqwn715c1z k1ub7), which ...

… seeks to repeal updates to the National Park Service’s “9B” rules. The rules require detailed planning and set safety standards for oil and gas drilling inside the more than 40 national parks that have “split estate” ownership, where the federal government owns the surface but not the subsurface mineral rights.

Want to protect the Yellowstone River from an oil spill? Sorry about that. Because H.J. Res 46 would allow ...

… drilling [to] occur in national parks with little more than bare-minimum state regulations. The Park Service will have essentially no authority over oil and gas development proposed inside national parks. Leaks and spills could go unpunished without NPS authority to enforce safety standards.

But wait—there’s more.

Congress is set to repeal President Obama’s stream rule (http://thehill.com/regulation/energy-environment/317193-house-to-repeal-obama-coal-rule-wednesday), which prevents the coal industry from polluting water sources near mines.
You can read the entire rule (https://www.osmre.gov/programs/rcm/streamprotectionrule.shtm) here. In short, it is there to make sure we have clean drinking water—a pretty important thing in just about anyone’s eyes. It’s up there with clean air, as far as necessities go. The reason Congress wants to repeal the stream rule?

Rep. Bill Johnson (R-Ohio) called it “one of the most onerous regulations that has come out of the Obama administration.”

“Tomorrow, we’re turning the page on Obama’s war on coal,” said Rep. Evan Jenkins (R-W.Va.).

“There is nothing about ‘protection’ in this rule,” he added. “This was the death mill to coal. It came from an ideologically driven administration. It didn’t care about streams. It wanted to do one thing: kill coal.”

It should be noted that

Rep. Johnson’s No. 3 campaign donor (https://www.opensecrets.org/politicians/contrib.php?cycle=2014&cid=N00032088) is Murray Energy (http://www.murrayenergycorp.com/),

which bills itself as the “Largest Underground Coal Mining Company in America.”

If the name sounds familiar, maybe it’s because Murray Energy has been fined—a lot—for labor violations (http://wvpublic.org/post/murray-pay-33-million-fines),
for campaign finance violations (http://www.cleveland.com/open/index.ssf/2015/10/murray_energy_to_pay_5000_pena.html), and
for environmental violations (http://powersource.post-gazette.com/powersource/companies/2015/09/14/Murray-Energy-PFBC-agree-2-5-million-settlement-related-to-2009-Dunkard-Creek-fish-kill/stories/201509140173).

The truth is that regulations are not killing coal, and coal mining jobs will never come back.
he current administration wants to cut the EPA by two-thirds (https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/powerpost/wp/2017/01/30/trump-transition-leaders-goal-is-two-thirds-cut-in-epa-employees/?utm_term=.58e88922c01a).

[Myron] Ebell has suggested

cutting the EPA workforce to 5,000, about a two-thirds reduction, over the next four years.

The agency’s budget of $8.1 billion would be sliced in half under his prescription, which he emphasized is his own and not necessarily Trump’s.

“My own personal view is that the EPA would be better served if it were a much leaner organization that had substantial cuts,” he said in an interview.

Ebell is director of the Center for Energy and Environment at the Competitive Enterprise Institute, a small-government think tank where he pushes the notion of “global warming alarmism” and against the science that says it’s a crisis.

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2017/02/05/1628767/-Killing-the-Environmental-Protection-Agency?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+dailykos%2Findex+%28Daily+Kos %29

Good! It nothing but an unadulterated pile of shit and a means to redistribute the nation's wealth.

boutons_deux

02-06-2017, 03:13 PM

Photo: F. Carter Smith/Bloomberg/Getty Images

REPUBLICANS ARE USING BIG TOBACCO’S SECRET SCIENCE PLAYBOOK TO GUT HEALTH RULES (https://theintercept.com/2017/02/05/republicans-want-to-make-the-epa-great-again-by-gutting-health-regulations/)

MUCH OF THE COUNTRY has been watching in horror as Donald Trump has made good on his promises to eviscerate the Environmental Protection Agency —

delaying 30 regulations (https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2017/01/26/2017-01822/delay-of-effective-date-for-30-final-regulations-published-by-the-environmental-protection-agency),

severely limiting the information staffers can release, and

installing Scott Pruitt as the agency’s administrator to destroy the agency from within.

But even those keeping their eyes on the EPA may have missed a quieter attack on environmental protections now being launched in Congress.

the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology (https://science.house.gov/about/members) is expected to hold a hearing on a bill to undermine health regulations that is based on a strategy cooked up by tobacco industry strategists more than two decades ago. At what Republicans on the committee have dubbed the “Making EPA Great Again (https://science.house.gov/legislation/hearings)” hearing, lawmakers are likely to discuss the Secret Science Reform Act, a bill that would

limit the EPA to using only data that can be replicated or made available for “independent analysis.”

But because health research often contains confidential personal information that is illegal to share, the bill

would prevent the EPA from using many of the best scientific studies.

It would also prohibit using studies of one-time events, such as the Gulf oil spill or the effect of a partial ban of chlorpyrifos (https://theintercept.com/2017/01/14/dow-chemical-wants-farmers-to-keep-using-a-pesticide-linked-to-autism-and-adhd/) on children, which fueled the EPA’s decision to eliminate all agricultural uses of the pesticide, because these events — and thus the studies of them — can’t be repeated.

Although it is nominally about transparency, the bill leaves intact protections (https://theintercept.com/2016/03/03/how-dupont-concealed-the-dangers-of-the-new-teflon-toxin/) that

allow industry to keep much of its own inner workings and skewed research secret from the public,

while delegitimizing studies done by researchers with no vested interest in their outcome.

chief witness ....

Jeffrey Holmstead, who has has worked to block the EPA’s efforts to limit mercury pollution while representing coal companies including Duke Energy, Progress Energy, and Southern Company.

Meanwhile, Lamar Smith, the Texas Republican chair of the House Science Committee who has been zealously promoting the“secret science” bill, is also in the pocket of the energy companies.

https://theintercept.com/2017/02/05/republicans-want-to-make-the-epa-great-again-by-gutting-health-regulations/

ElNono

02-08-2017, 04:50 AM

lol bolded colors nobody reads

boutons_deux

02-09-2017, 06:56 PM

GOP/Alt-Right Convergence

College Republicans at Central Michigan University handed out Valentine's Day cards mocking Jews (http://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/college-republicans-sorry-hitler-valentines-card) who died in the Holocaust.

"my love 4 u burns like 6,000 jews" ... really.

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/gop-alt-right-convergence?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+tpm-news+%28TPMNews%29

Staunch Catholic Steve Bannon rejoices, like his anti-Semitic Catholic buddy Mel Gibson.

spurraider21

02-09-2017, 07:19 PM

lol bolded colors nobody reads:lmao tbh

boutons_deux

02-09-2017, 07:40 PM

Clinic Violence Increased Following Planned Parenthood Smear Campaign

Anti-choice protests happening around the country Saturday taking place amid increased hostility

Ahead of anti-choice protests set to take place Saturday at Planned Parenthood clinics across the country, the Feminist Majority Foundation has released a new report showing violence and threats of violence against abortion providers has dramatically increased in the last two years.

"This weekend, Planned Parenthood is the target," foundation president Ellie Smeal said (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/planned-parenthood-violence_us_589c9cf6e4b04061313bff15?c9rdmknqxrabm aemi) of planned actions demanding the defunding of Planned Parenthood.

"The public must be aware that this is no ordinary protesting... This hostile climate at women's health clinics and towards health care workers is accompanied by an increase in severe violence and threats."

http://www.commondreams.org/news/2017/02/09/clinic-violence-increased-following-planned-parenthood-smear-campaign

I'm sure Trash and Sessions will go after the violent pro-birth assholes, just like Trash, Bannon, Sessions will step up surveillance on their white nationalist supremacist supporters.

boutons_deux

02-09-2017, 07:45 PM

“Hey snowflake, this is what a Trump America looks like”: Four Trump supporters assault gay man outside his DC home

A gay man walking his dog in downtown Washington was violently assaulted by several men who proclaimed their support for Donald Trump while doing so.

Robert Richard Brice Kohler told DC Metro Police that on February 1, he was walking near Logan Circle with his dog, Pepper, when four men suddenly started beating him and throwing objects at him.

One of the assailants reportedly shouted (http://www.washingtonblade.com/2017/02/08/trump-supporters-assault-d-c-gay-man-report/), “Hey, snowflake! This is what a Trump America looks like, faggot!”

Two of the four assailants were white males who were wearing red “Make America Great Again” trucker caps, which was the universal symbol of Trump’s presidential campaign.

http://usuncut.com/news/trump-supporters-assault-gay-man/

boutons_deux

02-10-2017, 02:18 PM

Trump’s USDA could be a disaster for farms and forests

U.S. food security, forest health, and the ability of farmers to respond to climate change are all at risk if President’s Trump’s pick to lead the U.S. Department of Agriculture brings climate change skepticism to the agency, agricultural researchers and environmental law experts say.

That concern takes root not only in Trump’s own statements scoffing at climate policy, but also in the words and actions of his nominee for agriculture secretary — former Georgia Gov. Sonny Perdue, who in 2007 resorted to prayer as a strategy to deal with a severe drought Georgia was enduring.

“Snowstorms, hurricanes, and tornadoes have been around since the beginning of time, but now they want us to accept that all of it is the result of climate change,” Perdue, whose Senate confirmation hearing has not yet been scheduled, wrote in a 2014 National Review column (http://www.nationalreview.com/article/377495/common-core-blame-game-sonny-perdue). “It’s become a running joke among the public, and liberals have lost all credibility when it comes to climate science because their arguments have become so ridiculous and so obviously disconnected from reality.”

Responding to climate change is a key mission of the USDA, which is America’s chief supporter of agriculture research, forestry, and rural development. The agency funds millions of dollars of research at land grant universities across the country such as Cornell, Clemson, and Texas A&M to help farmers learn the risks they face from a world that has been largely warmed by pollution from carbon emissions.

The agriculture industry is responsible for about 10 percent (https://www.epa.gov/ghgemissions/sources-greenhouse-gas-emissions) of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions causing climate change. If confirmed, the decisions Perdue will make will influence whether farms shrink their carbon footprint and how farms and forests are managed to respond to climate-related disasters.

The USDA’s climate programs extend far beyond farms. As America’s largest forest manager, Perdue will determine the direction of the science conducted by the U.S. Forest Service and whether some of America’s most carbon-dense and diverse forests are clear-cut for timber harvesting or managed to sustain and blunt the impacts of climate change.

“Just about every activity that the USDA regulates is likely to impact climate policy,”

“It will be a travesty if USDA cuts back on its support of climate change research and education.”

At particular risk are the USDA’s 10 regional climate hubs (https://www.climatehubs.oce.usda.gov/),

The Obama administration established the hubs in 2014 to coordinate with land grant universities to help private farmers, ranchers, and forest managers adapt to climate change.

It is unlikely Cornell will get additional funding to work with the hub,” Chatrchyan said. “The hub has told us they will be looking to university partners to carry this work if the hubs are disbanded.”

The USDA also provides scientists at land grant universities with small research grants.

if the USDA shuts off that funding, it would be a huge setback for farmers and the research that supports them.

The USDA manages 193 million acres (https://www.fs.fed.us/documents/USFS_An_Overview_0106MJS.pdf) of national forest and grasslands, including the rainforests of Oregon, Washington, and Alaska. Those forests act as large “carbon sinks” (http://www.climatecentral.org/news/forests-and-oceans-help-store-carbon-but-are-vulnerable-to-climate-change) because they store more carbon from the atmosphere in tree trunks, roots, and soil than any other type of forest in the country

“The tone of the administration one week on the ground, they want to go back to the old days when public lands were viewed as commodity producers for private gain.”

Ryan Zinke, whose Interior Department is in charge of more federal land than any other, spoke of forests and fossil fuels the agency manages as “assets” to be harvested or extracted.

“The U.S. Forest Service is like a big ship slowly turning,” he said. “It took them 30 years to reach this new vision of the forest as something more than logs on a stump.”

http://grist.org/article/trumps-usda-could-be-a-disaster-for-farms-and-forests/

boutons_deux

02-10-2017, 02:23 PM

Animal Welfare Reports and Abuse Data Wiped From USDA Website (http://gizmodo.com/usda-wipes-animal-welfare-reports-from-its-website-1791999259)

Animal rights advocates are angry over the United States Department of Agriculture’s sudden decision to remove the publicly available (https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/animalia/wp/2017/02/03/the-usda-abruptly-removes-animal-welfare-information-from-its-website/?utm_term=.c1b407b6145e) results of inspection reports about animal treatment at research laboratories and private facilities. The agency says the data will only be available through Freedom of Information Act requests.

The USDA released a statement (https://acis.aphis.edc.usda.gov/ords/f?p=116:1:829539441582:::::) on Friday that points to court rulings and privacy laws :lol LIES

The reports apply to 7813 facilities that keep animals covered by the law (https://www.aphis.usda.gov/animal_welfare/downloads/List-of-Licensees-and-Registrants-12292016.xls). Roughly 1200 of these are research labs, which are often housed at major academic centers or run by government agencies themselves, including the National Institutes of Health, the Food and Drug Administration, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Although the act covers animals like dogs and chimpanzees, it does not cover rodents like laboratory mice.

USDA inspectors routinely visit facilities and upload inspection reports like this one (http://www.sciencemag.org/sites/default/files/documents/UW%20Madison-%20USDA%20inspection%20report%202016.pdf) to the agency website several months later. Labs, companies, and others covered by the act are also required to file annual censuses like this one (http://www.sciencemag.org/sites/default/files/documents/Zablocki%20VAMC%202016%20annual%20report.pdf) cataloging the number and kinds of animals in their care.

Inspection reports contain little, if any, personal information about individuals.

“Claiming ‘privacy’ is a smokescreen to unjustifiably evade critical transparency about government operations.”

http://gizmodo.com/usda-wipes-animal-welfare-reports-from-its-website-1791999259?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+gizmodo%2Ffull+%28Gizmodo%29

Nobody will be surprised if USDA simply stops inspecting 7183 facilities. "privacy!" :lol

Rampant crapification for profit.

boutons_deux

02-10-2017, 02:27 PM

Price Confirmation Could Spark Reproductive Health Care Rollbacks

Price’s confirmation offers a life-jacket to the so-called fast-track Affordable Care Act repeal process treading water in the Republican-controlled Congress.

reshape the nation’s health-care landscape, limiting access to contraceptives and abortion care.

Price believes “there’s not one” woman who can’t afford birth control (https://rewire.news/article/2016/11/21/trump-top-hhs-pick-thinks-theres-not-one-woman-who-cant-afford/) and belongs to a fringe anti-choice medical association (https://rewire.news/article/2016/12/01/trumps-hhs-pick-member-group-falsely-linking-abortion-cancer/) that promotes the false link between abortion and breast cancer, among advancing other medically and scientifically unsupported positions on vaccinations and HIV.

Price may be eyeing the birth control benefit (https://rewire.news/article/2016/11/22/20-million-lose-access-care-under-trump-administration/), a signature benefit of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) requiring employer-sponsored health insurance plans to cover contraceptives and contraceptive counseling as preventive care with no cost to the consumer. He wouldn’t commit to ensuring coverage of all 18 Food and Drug Administration-approved contraceptive methods (http://kff.org/womens-health-policy/issue-brief/minimum-contraceptive-coverage-requirements-clarified-by-hhs-guidance/) during his contentious initial confirmation hearing (https://rewire.news/article/2017/01/18/democrats-receipts-prices-reproductive-health-discrimination/).

To ax the birth control benefit, all Price would have to do is issue an HHS directive (http://www.vox.com/2016/11/10/13578550/trump-obamacare-birth-control-iuds) declassifying contraceptives as preventive care.

Price opposes abortion rights as much as the contraceptives that reduce abortion rates.

congressional Republicans won’t replace the ACA’s birth control benefit (https://rewire.news/article/2017/02/03/house-budget-chair-republicans-wont-replace-obamacare-birth-control-benefit/) if they succeed in unraveling President Obama’s health-care reform law.

The new HHS secretary disregarded the impact of cutting off federal funds to Planned Parenthood (https://rewire.news/article/2017/01/24/trumps-hhs-pick-disregards-impact-defunding-planned-parenthood/), testifying during his second confirmation hearing that he didn’t believe the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office’s finding that almost 400,000 people could lose access to care. He repeatedly voted (https://tomprice.house.gov/search/node/abortion) to defund Planned Parenthood during his tenure in Congress.

https://rewire.news/article/2017/02/10/price-confirmation-spark-reproductive-health-care-rollbacks/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+rhrealitycheck+%28RH+Reality+ Check%29

For Repugs, women are only good for both for fucking and for fucking over.

boutons_deux

02-10-2017, 02:31 PM

Price's Confirmation is Body Blow to Nation's Health: Physician Leader

“The Senate’s confirmation of Tom Price as health secretary is a body blow to the health and welfare of all Americans. According to this week’s Monmouth University poll (https://www.monmouth.edu/polling-institute/reports/MonmouthPoll_US_020717/), Americans' top concern today is with their mounting health care costs, more so than their job security, taxes or other household bills. With Price at the helm of HHS, this concern is only going to escalate.

"Price’s vision (https://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/29/us/tom-price-trump-health-secretary.html?_r=2) for reforming U.S. health care would result in millions of Americans losing their existing health insurance coverage, and millions more having to make do with bare-bones policies that offer little to no meaningful protection.

He can also be expected to push

high-deductible health plans, which already result in millions of people forgoing needed care, and

to undermine Medicare,

the Medicaid program and

safety-net hospitals.

"If Price's policies come to pass, the free-market ideologues who supported them will no longer be able to hide behind false promises like ‘universal access.’

The results will be laid bare for everyone to see, and elected officials will have to answer to the poor, working-class, elderly, and chronically ill Americans who will suffer needlessly as a result.

Studies show that about 43,000 (https://www.washingtonpost.com/posteverything/wp/2017/01/23/repealing-the-affordable-care-act-will-kill-more-than-43000-people-annually/?utm_term=.89d438fb4563) people will die each year if such policies are implemented.

"Congress urgently needs to reverse course and embrace the obvious solution: an improved Medicare for all."

http://www.commondreams.org/newswire/2017/02/10/prices-confirmation-body-blow-nations-health-physician-leader

boutons_deux

02-10-2017, 02:44 PM

No doubt, racist Sessions will prioritize stopping this "lawlessness"

Illegal Debt Collectors Prey On Victims’ Doubts To Collect Money They Don’t Owe

One victim tells CBS Chicago that she was duped out of $30,000 by three debt collection companies, including one that was owned by Macwan and another allegedly owned by one of Macwan’s relatives.

The woman recalls receiving many phone calls from debt collection agencies informing her that she owed between $7,000 and $9,000. She ultimately paid the debts, believing they were incurred by her ex-husband before they were divorced.

https://consumerist.com/2017/02/10/illegal-debt-collectors-prey-on-victims-doubts-to-collect-money-they-dont-owe/

boutons_deux

02-11-2017, 05:11 PM

Democratic senators demand to know why Betsy DeVos took down website for disabled students

http://2d0yaz2jiom3c6vy7e7e5svk.wpengine.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/Trump-Kovaleski-screencap-800x430.png

Washington’s two U.S. Senators Maria Cantwell (D) and Patty Murray (D) have demanded to know why the Department of Education has deactivated a website dedicated to empowering and assisting students with disabilities and their families.

“The Department’s failure to keep this critical resource operational makes it harder for parents, educators, and administrators to find the resources they need to implement this federal law and protect the rights of children with disabilities,” they said.

The IDEA website was set up under Pres. George W. Bush’s Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings so that “educators, advocates and parents could get a ‘one-stop’ explanation on the federal Individuals with Disabilities Act (IDEA), as well as know their rights under the disability law,” said SeattlePI.com. (http://www.seattlepi.com/local/politics/article/A-disability-website-disappears-Murray-10924413.php)

Cantwell and Murray’s statement continued, “The website has provided accessible and informative summaries of the law, training materials, sample educational forms, presentations for the public, and so many other user-friendly resources.”

The web address now redirects users to a site that “lacks much of the information previously available.”

http://www.rawstory.com/2017/02/democratic-senators-demand-to-know-why-betsy-devos-took-down-website-for-disabled-students/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+TheRawStory+%28The+Raw+Story% 29

boutons_deux

02-11-2017, 05:21 PM

DeVos Sees Public Education As A Biblical Battlefield

She is a doctrinaire right-winger (http://www.nationalmemo.com/trump-train-evangelicals/) who means to destroy public education, replacing it with a system of religious schools that serve the middle class and the wealthy. Implacably hostile to the public commons, she would rip apart a core asset of our democracy.

Her defenders insist that all DeVos wants is to ensure an excellent education for every child and to rescue those who are stuck in failing schools. They point to her advocacy for “school choice” as proof that she would give poor parents an opportunity to send their children to high-performing schools outside their neighborhoods.

But “school choice” is a deceptive term. It encompasses support for charters, public schools that, at their best, break away from the hidebound techniques of traditional public schools to boost the achievement of even students from modest backgrounds.

But DeVos’ advocacy for for-profit charter schools in Michigan (most of the nation’s charter schools are nonprofit) hasn’t helped students. It has only enriched charter school operators.

The term “school choice” also encompasses vouchers, which subvert tax dollars to support private schools.

In those states where vouchers have gained a toehold, the programs usually work by providing parents with a grant, funded by taxpayer dollars, to send their children to any school they choose.

As it turns out, though, most of them don’t serve the poorest households because the grants aren’t large enough. Vouchers average from $2,000 to $5,000.

Parochial school tuition averages around $7,000 a year, while nonreligious private schools tend to be much higher. Where would the poorest kids get the rest of the money?

She’s a member of an ultraconservative Calvinist sect that believes in “predestination” — God has already decided who is going to heaven before we are born — and worships private enterprise.

Speaking to The Gathering, an annual meeting of super-wealthy conservative Christians in 2001, DeVos compared “the system of education in the country” to a biblical battlefield where Israelites fought the Philistines,

she means to push vouchers, which would starve public schools of desperately needed funds, to advance her right-wing religious views. Nothing is more dangerous to liberal democratic values than that.

http://www.nationalmemo.com/devos-biblical-battlefield/

boutons_deux

02-11-2017, 10:53 PM

Trump Administration Strips LGBTQ Rights Just Days After Sessions Confirmation

After only three weeks of this new administration, the fears of the LGBTQ community are becoming a reality.

In a legal brief (http://apps.washingtonpost.com/g/documents/politics/motion-to-withdraw-motion-for-stay/2329/) submitted Friday, the Trump administration withdrew from an objection filed by the previous White House which sought to protect these students from being discriminated against.As the Huffington Post reported (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/justice-department-transgender-students-bathroom-rights_us_589f366fe4b094a129eb752b) on Saturday:

A back-and-forth started in August with a Texas court order that barred the Obama administration from instructing states on how to accommodate transgender students, in response to a lawsuit filed by a dozen states that opposed the guidance.

The Obama administration objected to that injunction, saying that it flew in the face of rights given by Title IX.

On Friday, the Justice Department withdrew the government’s objection on behalf of the Trump administration.

In other words, the Justice Department no longer objects to schools discriminating against their LGBTQ
students.

http://www.politicususa.com/2017/02/11/justice-department-takes-shot-lgbtq-rights-days-sessions-confirmation.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+politicususa%2FfJAl+%28Politi cus+USA+%29

Fucking red/slave state Bible humping haters.

boutons_deux

02-11-2017, 11:00 PM

Here's y'all's fellow classy Trash supporters, video included

Milk Chugging Is The Hot New Trend Sweeping The Aryan Nation

https://img.wonkette.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/hitler-got-milk.jpg

we have Nazis demonstrating their “racial purity and superiority” by drinking gallons of milk, in order to show off how totally not lactose intolerant they are.

One such incident occurred last Friday night, when a bunch of Neo-Nazis gathered shirtless before the camera to shout racial obscenities… and chug gallons of milk.

Why are they drinking all that milk? Why, to show off their glorious racial superiority and purity, of course! Also because they are gross. While not as gross as being an actual Nazi, chugging milk is maybe one of the most nauseating things imaginable.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dTy6f_HyuQU

As Jack Smith IV explains at Mic, (https://mic.com/articles/168188/milk-nazis-white-supremacists-creamy-pseudo-science-trump-shia-labeouf#.ulqPnuvQI) the Neo-Nazis believe that because lactose intolerance is less common among people of Northern European descent, that drinking a bunch of milk is a great way to show off the fact that they are super great at being white people.

This belief is particularly popular on 4chan, where all the internet’s smartest Nazis hang.

http://wonkette.com/612581/milk-chugging-is-the-hot-new-trend-sweeping-the-aryan-nation

boutons_deux

02-12-2017, 12:27 PM

http://assets.nydailynews.com/polopoly_fs/1.2970314.1486894661!/img/httpImage/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/article_1200/article-kkk-1-0211.jpg

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/kkk-leader-found-dead-missouri-river-missing-article-1.2970339

boutons_deux

02-12-2017, 12:41 PM

Department of Education Quotes Famous Civil Rights Activist, Spells His Name Wrong (http://gizmodo.com/department-of-education-quotes-famous-civil-rights-acti-1792271629)

https://i.kinja-img.com/gawker-media/image/upload/s--et4k0N33--/c_scale,fl_progressive,q_80,w_800/frh522mpcuq0dwmedchk.jpg

https://i.kinja-img.com/gawker-media/image/upload/s--n04rWOy---/c_scale,fl_progressive,q_80,w_800/hc9vytesmqma62bcojxa.jpg

http://gizmodo.com/department-of-education-quotes-famous-civil-rights-acti-1792271629?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+gizmodo%2Ffull+%28Gizmodo%29

:lol

Splits

02-12-2017, 12:55 PM

boutons_deux

02-12-2017, 12:58 PM

Is our children learning?

this ignorant Dept of Ed bitch to too busy "putting food on her family"

Splits

02-12-2017, 12:59 PM

:lmao

https://i.kinja-img.com/gawker-media/image/upload/ucul1f70vnvkaeclp3uv.jpg

boutons_deux

02-12-2017, 09:42 PM

The party of ignorant twits tweets

The Republican Party’s twitter account is celebrating Lincoln’s birthday with a fake quote

If you search online you will find plenty of places quoting these lines and attributing them to Abraham Lincoln.

But they curiously tend to lack specific citations of where he said this.

That’s because, according to Quote Investigator (http://quoteinvestigator.com/2012/07/14/life-years-count/), there is “no substantive evidence that Lincoln used this expression.”

http://www.vox.com/2017/2/12/14591880/gop-lincoln-birthday

boutons_deux

02-14-2017, 01:47 PM

With Trump in the limelight, Congress has been quietly working to undo Obama-era regulations

Many of the proposals come from a wish list compiled by the powerful Koch brothers’ network, designed to loosen federal rules on the energy industry, Wall Street and other businesses aligned to the industrialists.

A top priority of the National Rifle Assn. (http://www.latimes.com/topic/crime-law-justice/national-rifle-association-of-america-ORCIG000080-topic.html), for example, would halt a rule requiring background checks for gun buyers who have a mental health condition for which they receive Social Security disability benefits.

One rolls back mountaintop coal mining regulations that would have updated 30-year-old rules on downstream pollution.

Another halts a previous bipartisan effort that sought to stem overseas corruption by requiring U.S. companies to disclose payments to foreign governments.

“That’s how to protect American workers and businesses, defend the Constitution, and turn words into actions.” :lol :lol

‘This is a job-killing rule and we’re going to bring back coal by killing this rule,’” she said. “But the coal industry, especially in Central Appalachia, has been on decline.... You can’t change market demand with a stream rule.”

What has been striking about the legislative activity ... the speed at which the bills are being approved in Congress.

That’s in large part thanks to the assistance of the Koch network.

Freedom Partners and Americans for Prosperity, another Koch-aligned group, got to work late last year on an early agenda — its “Roadmap to Repeal” — for Congress.

focused Republicans on a little-known procedural tool — the Congressional Review Act — that allows Congress to disapprove of new regulations within a short time frame after the rules are issued.

halt new regulations on flares used to burn off methane gas. It is backed by the oil industry.

to undo regulations that eased drug testing requirements for recipients of unemployment benefits and ensured federal funds were not blocked for family planning clinics.

“Donald Trump’s victory was not, in fact, anything close to a mandate for an agenda for the corporate gun lobby,” said Dan Gross, president of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence. “This is not going to be the cakewalk that they thought it was going to be.”

http://www.latimes.com/politics/la-na-pol-congress-legislative-frenzy-20170214-story.html

BigCorp operating their private CORPORATOCRACY, through the Repug whores, for profit and CRAPIFICATION of America.

boutons_deux

02-14-2017, 01:56 PM

Free Speech Restrictions Leave Federal Workers Anxious About Challenging Trump
Recent internal memos on how and when federal employees can speak their minds has left those frustrated by President Trump in murky waters, according to advocates.

For climate scientists at the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) or rogue members of the National Park Service, this uncertainty around their ability to speak without fear of reprisal is causing confusion and despair as the Trump administration assumes control and attempts to assert its version of the facts,

you have a chief executive who is somewhat thin-skinned, and that may trickle down through his appointees," who could punish employees for actions perceived as dissent.

"level of mutual mistrust" between civil servants who staff federal agencies as nonpartisan workers and President Trump, who promised on the campaign trail to gut agencies like the EPA, and announced a hiring freeze for many agencies shortly after taking office.

"The hiring freeze was not an economic measure but an effort to drain the swamp, as if [federal employees] are a malignant force and, if you can bleed them off, then government will be better," Ruch said. "And a lot of this could be offensive to some of these career civil servants."

"Federal employees who depart from the official talking points enter murky waters," Ruch said. "Unlike White House staff, who are merely counseled about clear ethics violations (https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/conway-may-have-broken-key-ethics-rule-by-touting-ivanka-trumps-products-experts-say/2017/02/09/fd1cc64a-eeda-11e6-b4ff-ac2cf509efe5_story.html?utm_term=.6059c10ce92f), public employees trying to educate the public about the consequences of Trump initiatives may be targeted for discipline or removal."

"Sean Spicer said, 'Get with the program or get out',"

http://www.truth-out.org/news/item/39469-free-speech-restrictions-leave-federal-workers-anxious-about-challenging-trump

Congress may not be able to fire someone easily and quickly, but they reduce their salary to $1.

boutons_deux

02-14-2017, 02:19 PM

Congress's New Bill Could Stop You From Getting Emergency Contraception

This month the House introduced The Conscience Protection Act, a bill which is meant to add additional protection for those who religiously object to abortion and birth control by allowing them to file civil suits against those they believe are "discriminating" against them by punishing them when they do not offer care.

"The Conscience Protection Act would protect health care providers from federal, state, and local abortion mandates if they conscientiously object to assisting with abortions," explains CNA News (http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/this-proposed-law-would-protect-doctors-who-object-to-abortion-48387/). "It would also protect religious employers from having to cover elective abortions in their health plans, and establishes a 'right of action' for all entities if they believe their religious beliefs on the matter are violated."

the Conscience Protection Act will 'enable health care professionals and organizations to serve by their core convictions without coercion,'

things can get really scary.

For sexual assault survivors who go to a hospital for a rape kit, finding out that the medical practitioner in charge -- or even the entire hospital itself -- refuses to offer emergency contraception means that the risk for pregnancy will increase dramatically, since the medicine needs to be taken within days to be most effective.

And yes, hospitals will deny the medicine, even to those who have been raped.

A new report from Wisconsin uncovered that 22 hospitals were not giving emergency contraception information and medication to those who came in reporting sexual assault.

http://www.truth-out.org/news/item/39471-congress-s-new-bill-could-stop-you-from-getting-emergency-contraception

Rape is God's gift of love to you, darlin'

boutons_deux

02-14-2017, 02:23 PM

FCC Commissioner Thinks Ultra-Fast Broadband Just a 'Novelty'

One of the hallmarks of Tom Wheeler's FCC was a renewed focus on competition at higher broadband speeds. It's one of the reasons the last FCC bumped the standard definition of broadband (https://www.techdirt.com/blog/netneutrality/articles/20150108/08234729632/fcc-to-raise-minimum-broadband-definition-to-25-mbps-further-highlighting-nations-pathetic-lack-broadband-competition.shtml) from a measly 4 Mbps down, 1 Mbps up, to 25 Mbps down, and 3 Mbps up.

large broadband providers (and the politicians paid to love them) quickly threw a hissy fit (https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20160122/05203433402/senators-whine-about-fccs-25-mbps-broadband-standard-insist-nobody-needs-that-much-bandwidth.shtml), insisting that nobody really needs that much bandwidth. This idea that you don't really need faster speeds falls in line with the industry's (and again, many politicians') ongoing refusal to acknowledge that the broadband market isn't all that competitive. After all, if you admit there's a problem, then you've admitted that somebody may just have to fix it.

FCC Commissioner Mike O'Rielly is squarely on the side of industry on this subject, having voted down the FCC's higher 25 Mbps benchmark. Even though 25 Mbps is a far from radical benchmark, and 3 Mbps upstream remains a bit of a joke, O'Rielly's dissent (https://apps.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/FCC-15-10A7.pdf) (pdf), made his disdain for faster speeds (and the technologies that will use them) abundantly clear:

"To justify setting the new benchmark at 25/3, as opposed to the current 4/1 or even 10/1 as several commenters suggested, the Report notes that 4K TV requires 25 Mbps. But 4K TV is still relatively new and is not expected to be widely adopted for years to come. While the statute directs us to look at “advanced” telecommunications capability, this stretches the concept to an untenable extreme. Some people, for example, believe, probably incorrectly, that we are on the path to interplanetary teleportation. Should we include the estimated bandwidth for that as well? "

Chortle! Guffaw! Of course 4K is here now, the streaming of which is already being hamstrung by ISP usage caps, even on ultra-fast connections. Now on the agency's majority, O'Rielly last week again proclaimed that the sector really needs to stop focusing on this whole ultra-fast broadband thing, since faster speeds are really just a novelty (http://www.fiercetelecom.com/telecom/fcc-s-o-rielly-ultra-fast-broadband-cannot-drive-our-policy-decisions):

"The outcry for things like ultrahigh-speed service in certain areas means longer waits for those who have no access or still rely on dialup service, as providers rush to serve the denser and more profitable areas that seek upgrades to this level,” O’Rielly said. “Today, ultrafast residential service is a novelty and good for marketing, but the tiny percentage of people using it cannot drive our policy decisions."

Of course, that's not really true.

https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20170206/07454836644/fcc-commissioner-thinks-ultra-fast-broadband-just-novelty.shtml

So thank to the Repug FCC, Americans can't have really high-speed internet at reasonable prices, as exists in other countries, because the network companies want to pocket the profits rather than invest.

boutons_deux

02-14-2017, 02:25 PM

GOP-dominated state legislatures are back in session — working hard to take away women’s rights

From coast to coast, Republican state legislators go on the attack against women's rights and needs

http://www.salon.com/2017/02/14/gop-dominated-state-legislatures-are-back-in-session-working-hard-to-take-away-womens-rights/

Fuck Christian Sharia, as misogynist as Muslim Sharia

boutons_deux

02-14-2017, 08:36 PM

Federal disaster budget on the chopping block (http://www.dailykos.com/stories/2017/2/14/1633277/-Federal-disaster-budget-on-the-chopping-block)

The proposal to cut disaster aid was part of a lengthy report released last year by the Heritage Foundation.

Dubbed a Blueprint for Balance (http://thf-reports.s3.amazonaws.com/2016/BlueprintforBalance.pdf), the document argued that the federal government can save $10.5 trillion over the next decade by slashing funds for some programs and eliminating others. [...]

The Heritage Foundation is extremely influential in the world of conservative politics, and the Trump administration appears ready to lean on the think tank for policy ideas.

Donald Trump's transition team (http://www.cnn.com/2016/12/06/politics/donald-trump-heritage-foundation-transition/) was stacked with advisers from Heritage, and the organization helped the president compile a list (https://www.donaldjtrump.com/press-releases/donald-j.-trump-adds-to-list-of-potential-supreme-court-justice-picks) of potential Supreme Court picks.

The Hill (http://thehill.com/policy/finance/314991-trump-team-prepares-dramatic-cuts)reported in January that a series of massive budget cuts being considered by the Trump administration "hew closely" to the Heritage budget blueprint.

Emergency or disaster declarations by a president currently prompt FEMA to help locales rebuild and provide immediate public health relief for up 75 percent of the costs.

But if the Heritage budget is implemented, state and local governments would have to pony up 75 percent of the costs, up to $5 billion.

If the cost of an individual disaster tops $5 billion, the federal government's share would gradually increase, reaching 75 percent only if the damage exceeds $20 billion.

The proposal would also completely eliminate FEMA's fire grants, which subsidize local fire departments.

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2017/02/15/1633277/-Federal-disaster-budget-on-the-chopping-block?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+dailykos%2Findex+%28Daily+Kos %29

VCRC stink tank degrading America.

boutons_deux

02-15-2017, 01:09 PM

Senate Votes To Block Rule Stopping Mentally Ill People From Buying Guns

The Republican-led Senate has voted to block an Obama-era regulation that would prevent an estimated 75,000 people with mental disorders from being able to purchase a firearm.

The 57 to 43 vote to revoke the regulation now sends the measure to President Donald Trump, who is expected to sign it.

The Obama administration rule strengthened the federal background check system by requiring the Social Security Administration to include the names of beneficiaries with mental impairments who also have a third party to manage their benefits.

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/senate-votes-block-rule-guns-mentall-impaired?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+tpm-news+%28TPMNews%29

boutons_deux

02-15-2017, 01:24 PM

New Oklahoma Bill: Men Must Give Permission For Abortions

http://www.nationalmemo.com/oklahoma-bill-men-must-give-permission-for-abortions/

Repugs and Christian Taliban really degrade and HATE women

boutons_deux

02-16-2017, 01:04 PM

An Extreme Right-Winger for Trump’s Budget Head

Mulvaney, a steely-eyed tea partier from South Carolina, was first elected to Congress in 2010. He co-founded (http://www.cnbc.com/2016/12/17/trumps-pick-for-budget-director-has-urged-big-spending-cuts.html) the extremist “Freedom Caucus” that forced Republican House Speaker John Boehner from power and has pressured his successor, Paul Ryan, to adopt even more conservative positions.

(Both Boehner and Ryan were well to the right of mainstream opinion on economic issues, according to polls (http://www.populistmajority.com/) — but that wasn’t enough for Mulvaney.)

The “Cut, Cap and Balance” Act Mulvaney supported in 2011 was, at its heart, an attempt to limit government’s role in American life. Its provisions would have forced reductions in everything from antipoverty programs to public safety and the national defense.

Medicare is also in Mulvaney’s sights. He once said (http://talkingpointsmemo.com/dc/trump-pick-for-omb-director-wants-to-end-medicare-as-we-know-it), “We have to end Medicare as we know it.”

Mulvaney supports (https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2017/01/24/budget-nominee-mulvaney-to-face-questions-about-trumps-plan-for-tax-cuts-and-spending/?utm_term=.5b22eb30893d) means-testing Medicare benefits, a costly move that would save very little money unless the cutoff for eligibility was lowered to include a significant number of middle-class recipients.

Mulvaney hasn’t been trying to get millionaires to pay their fair share for Social Security.

Instead, he’s been busy trying to cut benefits for everyone else, saying, “You have to raise the retirement age, lower a pay-out, change the reimbursement system.”

Mulvaney supports (https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2017/01/24/budget-nominee-mulvaney-to-face-questions-about-trumps-plan-for-tax-cuts-and-spending/?utm_term=.5b22eb30893d) raising the Social Security retirement age to 70 (it’s already scheduled to rise to 67 from 65), a position he reiterated in his recent Senate testimony (https://www.c-span.org/video/?c4656635/mick-mulvaney-wants-raise-social-security-retirement-age-70).

Financial Illiteracy

As OMB Director, it would be Mulvaney’s responsibility to explain the financial implications of budget choices to the president. That makes Mulvaney’s habit of describing Social Security as a “Ponzi scheme (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/trump-mick-mulvaney-social-security_us_58877846e4b096b4a234a4a0)” especially disturbing. It reveals a basic lack of financial literacy.

The term “Ponzi scheme” has a clear definition (http://www.dictionary.com/browse/ponzi), one that bears no relationship to social insurance programs like Social Security.

Mulvaney’s insistence on using the term “also reveals a deep hostility to Social Security, which should worry every American.

Mulvaney also said (http://talkingpointsmemo.com/dc/trump-pick-for-omb-director-wants-to-end-medicare-as-we-know-it) “we will never, ever balance the budget until we change entitlements.” (“Entitlements” is a preferred Republican term for Medicare and Social Security, presumably because it subtly conveys a sense of unearned privilege. More on that subject here (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/rj-eskow/entitlement-reform-is-a-e_b_828544.html).)

This statement also betrays a certain lack of fiscal knowledge, since Social Security is forbidden by law from contributing to federal deficits.

Tough on Seniors, Even Tougher on Senior Women

Social Security benefits are low by international standards (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/rj-eskow/a-vision-for-social-secur_b_3349314.html), which means that the benefit cuts Mulvaney backs would be a blow for many of the seniors, disabled, and children who receive its benefits.

Social Security currently pays (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/rj-eskow/a-vision-for-social-secur_b_3349314.html) an average of $17,106 to men, and $13,150 to women, over the age of 65. Benefit cuts, especially when combined with cuts to Medicare, would hit seniors hard. They would be especially hard on women, since they already receive less in benefits than men.

http://www.commondreams.org/views/2017/02/16/big-day-trumps-budget-pick-social-security-and-millionaires

Just another way Trash is disavowing his campaign promise not to touch Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security.

Repugs will FUCK ALL THEM UP, screwing Americans.

Thread

02-16-2017, 02:36 PM

boutons_deux

02-16-2017, 03:05 PM

Stands to reason. It's "our" beating heart just as much as it's the woman's.

Where is the OK bill to force men, under pain of imprisonment, to pay for the kid until the kid is 18?

Thread

02-16-2017, 03:20 PM

Where is the OK bill to force men, under pain of imprisonment, to pay for the kid until the kid is 18?

At least I'm off your (to ignore list).

boutons_deux

02-16-2017, 04:25 PM

EPA knows Pruitt is gonna fuck up the EPA real bad

The EPA posted a backup of its website dated just before inauguration day

https://thinkprogress.org/trump-russia-fake-news-media-low-life-leakers-9e298956ecad#.n803i5dr1

boutons_deux

02-16-2017, 04:42 PM

Republicans Are About to Nuke the FCC’s Broadband Privacy Rules

It’s part of a broad GOP effort to roll back regulations across the US economy.

Republicans in Congress are preparing to blow up federal rules protecting consumers from broadband privacy abuses, and there's virtually nothing Democrats can do to stop them.

Sen. Jeff Flake, the Arizona Republican, plans to use a rare legislative vehicle called the Congressional Review Act (http://rulesatrisk.org/cra-about/) (CRA) to roll back the Federal Communications Commission's broadband privacy regulations, he told Politico on Wednesday (http://www.politico.com/tipsheets/morning-tech/2017/02/flake-working-on-cra-to-undo-fcc-broadband-privacy-rules-218757).

The CRA allows Congress to nullify recent regulations (http://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/what-congressional-review-act-180962031/) with a simple majority vote, and Flake has reportedly lined up at least 12 co-sponsors. Importantly, the CRA process would block the FCC from issuing "substantially similar" regulations in the future. In other words, forget about FCC broadband privacy protections for the foreseeable future.

Rep. Marsha Blackburn, the Tennessee Republican who has received colossal sums of campaign cash from the telecom industry (https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/why-marsha-blackburns-rise-is-bad-news-for-net-neutrality-and-science?utm_source=mbtwitter), is reportedly taking the lead (http://www.politico.com/tipsheets/morning-tech/2017/02/flake-working-on-cra-to-undo-fcc-broadband-privacy-rules-218757) on the privacy roll-back in the House. Blackburn was recently tapped to lead a key Congressional subcommittee with broad jurisdiction over cable, phone, and internet issues.

The Republican effort is part of a comprehensive campaign to dismantle regulatory safeguards (https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/heres-how-republicans-want-to-kill-net-neutrality-climate-and-labor-rules?utm_source=mbtwitter) across broad swaths of the US economy, including rules protecting the environment, internet freedom, and consumer safety and labor rights.

https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/republicans-are-about-to-nuke-the-fccs-broadband-privacy-rules

C R A P I F I C A T I O N, indeed.

boutons_deux

02-16-2017, 07:07 PM

Congressman looks forward to his armed militia pals attending town hall to counter women protesters (http://www.dailykos.com/stories/2017/2/16/1634356/-Congressman-looks-forward-to-his-armed-militia-pals-attending-town-hall-to-counter-women-protesters)

http://images.dailykos.com/images/366936/story_image/GettyImages-630881014.jpg?1487254700

Fresh from introducing a bill to terminate the Environmental Protection Agency (http://www.dailykos.com/story/2017/02/15/1634007/-The-Environmental-Protection-Agency-shall-terminate-on-December-31-2018), Congressman Matt Gaetz is headed home to northern Florida during recess week. He plans to hold two town hall constituent events, as is tradition during recess week.

The local Democratic Women’s Club is planning to attend his lunchtime visit to Grover T's BBQ for Gaetz's open forum. (http://www.pnj.com/story/news/politics/2017/02/07/matt-gaetz-dissenters-welcome-open-gaetz-day/97597994/)

Gaetz says all are welcome, but he and his friends are clearly trying to intimidate the constituents who just want an open dialogue with their elected representative. Earlier in the week Gaetz tweeted this:

(https://twitter.com/mattgaetz)https://pbs.twimg.com/profile_images/784856186411778048/FF4d-ics_normal.jpgMatt Gaetz @mattgaetz (https://twitter.com/mattgaetz)

Can't wait to see my #Bikers4Trump (https://twitter.com/hashtag/Bikers4Trump?src=hash) friends!!! https://twitter.com/bernade88105031/status/831310359797579780 … (https://t.co/9MUTbL1z3f)
7:16 PM - 13 Feb 2017 (https://twitter.com/mattgaetz/status/831311190257176576)

Guess he thinks those tough bikers are going to protect him from all the mothers and grandmothers

coming to have a word with him about the environment, civil rights, and the Affordable Care Act.

A Florida militia leader, Geoff Ross, put out a call that is clearly meant to threaten and/or intimidate the women who may show up.

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2017/02/16/1634356/-Congressman-looks-forward-to-his-armed-militia-pals-attending-town-hall-to-counter-women-protesters?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+dailykos%2Findex+%28Daily+Kos %29

boutons_deux

02-18-2017, 02:01 PM

Michael Savage: Armed Militia Members Should Rally Outside Schumer’s House

On Wednesday (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xyNl--iURcw), radio host Michael Savage dedicated his program to attacking Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y.

Savage blamed Schumer for the resignation of Mike Flynn, President Trump’s national security adviser who stepped down this week after it became clear that he misled administration officials about his conversations with Russia’s U.S. ambassador.

http://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/michael-savage-armed-militia-members-should-rally-outside-schumers-house/

... and if he were an imam telling Muslims to arm and gather outside of Bitch McConnell's house?

boutons_deux

02-18-2017, 02:02 PM

Lethal injection drugs are scarce. Arizona wants its death row inmates to bring their own.

Now Arizona has responded with a new — and some say bizarre — solution to this quandary:

Death row inmates can bring their own execution drugs.

The state’s manual for execution procedures (https://corrections.az.gov/sites/default/files/policies/700/0710_011117.pdf), which was revised last month, says attorneys of death row inmates, or others acting on their behalf, can obtain pentobarbital or sodium Pentothal and give them to the state to ensure a smooth execution.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-nation/wp/2017/02/18/lethal-injection-drugs-are-scarce-arizona-wants-its-death-row-inmates-to-bring-their-own/?tid=hybrid_collaborative_2_na&utm_term=.aeaa4fe81c35

boutons_deux

02-18-2017, 02:12 PM

Republicans Vote to Allow Killing of Wolves and Bears on Refuges in Alaska

The US Fish and Wildlife Service rule prohibits controversial methods like gassing dens and shooting cubs.

The latest casualty of the Congressional Review Act could be a US Fish and Wildlife Service rule (https://www.fws.gov/alaska/nwr/ak_nwr_pr.htm) that prohibits the wholesale killing of predators on wildlife refuges in Alaska. Already, the CRA has been used to overturn (https://insideclimatenews.org/news/16022017/coal-mining-environment-stream-rule-donald-trump-mussels-species) stream protections and fossil fuel industry transparency.

Until September of last year, it was entirely legal for hunters to bait bears and wolves, to poison them, to shoot them from helicopters, and even to gas dens full of cubs—all an attempt to inflate moose and caribou populations, which are prized game for trophy hunters.

Then, amid growing public concern (https://www.adn.com/opinions/2016/12/16/alaskas-intensive-game-management-isnt-working/), the USFWS finalized a rule prohibiting the Alaska Board of Game's "intensive predator management" practices, as they were called, from being used on national wildlife refuges—public lands in the US set aside to conserve plants and wildlife.

The USFWS, tasked with taking care of these federally owned wildlife refuges, argued that their job is to maintain the natural diversity of these lands and that doing so means supporting (https://www.nap.edu/download/5791#) viable populations of apex predators—key components of a healthy ecosystem.

"Intensive predator management," said then-USFWS Director Dan Ashe in a Huffington Post op-ed (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/keep-public-lands-public-and-the-wildlife-they-protect_us_57a237bce4b0456cb7e1485c), "is purportedly aimed at increasing populations of caribou and moose but defies modern science of predator-prey relationships."

Congressional Republicans, led by Don Young from Alaska, assert that the rule is a power grab by the federal government and it takes away the state's right to manage game within its borders.

Young and other Republicans say that the rule is illegal because it violates the Alaska National Interest Land Conservation Act (https://www.fws.gov/laws/lawsdigest/alaskcn.html), which allows rural Alaskans to continue commercial and subsistence hunting on the approximately 76 million acres of wildlife refuges within its borders.

Conservationists, Democrats, and the USFWS counter that ANILCA is exactly why the rule must stay in effect. The first purpose for all refuges under ANILCA, argued (https://www.fws.gov/news/ShowNews.cfm?ref=u.s.-fish-and-wildlife-service-publishes-final-rule-for-alaska-national-&_ID=35756) the federal agency, is to "conserve fish and wildlife populations and habitats in their natural diversity."

That includes predators.

With a swipe of the Congressional Review Act, which allows Congress to void a rule within 60 congressional days of its implementation, the rule protecting predators on wildlife refuges in Alaska could be overturned. Once that happens, a law like it cannot be brought forth by the USFWS ever again.

https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/alaska-fish-and-wildlife-service-refuge-hunting-republicans

Will Repugs do it? "states rights" argument is used against knitters, Mexicans, why wolves and bears?

boutons_deux

02-18-2017, 02:31 PM

Sidelined State Department preparing for a second purge (http://www.dailykos.com/stories/2017/2/17/1634981/-Sidelined-State-Department-preparing-for-a-second-purge)

Secretary of State is generally thought of as the most important position in the cabinet, but in the Trump regime, the whole department is held in contempt. (https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/feb/16/rex-tillerson-state-department-sidelined-by-white-house?CMP=share_btn_tw)

Senior state department officials who would normally be called to the White House for their views on key policy issues, are not being asked their opinion. They have resorted to asking foreign diplomats, who now have better access to President Trump’s immediate circle of advisers, what new decisions are imminent.
The public voice of the state department has fallen silent. There has not been a daily press briefing, the customary channel for voicing US views and policy on world events, since January.

This is, after all, a regime which believes diplomacy is something to laugh about, and diplomats don't know what they are doing. After all, if they're so good at deals, why aren't they all billionaires? The State Department has already survived one purge of top leadership.

The move left Tillerson with a huge hole at the State Department after the departure of the officials, who had a combined 150 years of institutional experience.

Now Trump and Tillerson are demonstrating their continued disdain with a “shake up” that looks like the start of a deeper purge. (http://www.cnn.com/2017/02/17/politics/tillerson-state-department-shakeup/index.html)

Secretary of State Rex Tillerson has reassigned a majority of the staff meant to work most closely with the top US diplomat in what career officials at the State Department fear is the start of a major reorganization.

is it De-Clintonization?

The reorganization includes getting rid of two offices.

One of these, an internal budget and planning office, was created by Hillary Clinton, so it's not surprising that Trump would target it for destruction.

The other happens to be a counselor, also brought on board by Clinton.

Considering Trump's tendency to carry even the slightest grudge to illogical extremes, his whole State Department shunning could come in large part just because Clinton once sat there.

The staff positions are filled by career foreign service officers and civil servants as opposed to political appointees who serve at the will of the President. The career postings come with a start and end date that traditionally transcend any change in administration.

But [State Department Counselor Kristie Kenney]’s, ouster and that of other staff on the seventh floor, where Tillerson sits, were described as abrupt and much sooner than expected.

The unusual move has left career employees on edge about Tillerson's reorganization of the entire agency and what it might mean for policy making.

Trump has also demonstrated that he views everyone in Washington not one of “his people” as a potential threat.

****** Abrams, Tillerson's top choice to be his deputy, was rejected by Trump after the President learned that the former deputy national security adviser had criticized him during the campaign. No replacement has yet been named.

Diplomacy doesn't matter … unless it's diplomacy about Trump.

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2017/02/17/1634981/-Sidelined-State-Department-preparing-for-a-second-purge?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+dailykos%2Findex+%28Daily+Kos %29

Trash's govt is all about loyalty to Trash, not about experience, not competence, nor years, decades, of apolitical dedication to govt service.

boutons_deux

02-18-2017, 02:33 PM

The Trump Administration’s Lies About Voter Fraud Will Lead to Massive Voter Suppression

Twenty-one states are now considering new laws to make it harder to vote.

https://www.thenation.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/Voting_2017_Map_R.png

https://www.thenation.com/article/the-trump-administrations-lies-about-voter-fraud-will-lead-to-massive-voter-suppression/

boutons_deux

02-18-2017, 02:37 PM

Dissent and free assembly criminalized in the American oligarchical, militarized police state.

Where Protests Flourish, Anti-Protest Bills Follow

http://www.commondreams.org/views/2017/02/18/where-protests-flourish-anti-protest-bills-follow

boutons_deux

02-18-2017, 02:42 PM

Can the U.S. promote fair housing? Not if Republicans have anything to do with it
(http://www.dailykos.com/stories/2017/2/17/1634861/-Can-the-U-S-promote-fair-housing-Not-if-Republicans-have-anything-to-do-with-it)
According to Republicans, telling communities that if they want federal money, they have to tackle racial disparities:

… is essentially the federal involvement meddling in local zoning issues. Some, including Trump’s pick for the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Ben Carson, go further and call this “social engineering.” Rep. Paul Gosar (R-AZ) said (https://gosar.house.gov/press-release/rep-gosar-new-hud-fair-housing-regulation-obama%E2%80%99s-biggest-overreach-yet) this was President Obama forcing "his utopian ideology on American communities."

So Gosar, along with Republican Sens. Mike Lee and Marco Rubio, introduced a bill (https://www.congress.gov/bill/115th-congress/senate-bill/103/text?q=%7B%22search%22:%5B%22S.103%22%5D%7D&r=1), dubbed

the Local Zoning Decisions Protection Act of 2017, that would roll back President Obama’s legacy on fair housing. Then it bars any similar rules from being created in the future.

Not only that, the bill as currently written would make sure

“no Federal funds may be used to design, build, maintain, utilize, or provide access to a Federal database of geospatial information on community racial disparities or disparities in access to affordable housing.”

It’s a mandate for ignorance.
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2017/02/17/1634861/-Can-the-U-S-promote-fair-housing-Not-if-Republicans-have-anything-to-do-with-it?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+dailykos%2Findex+%28Daily+Kos %29

boutons_deux

02-19-2017, 02:08 PM

Utah Republican argues against equal pay for women: It's 'bad for families' and society
http://www.sfgate.com/politics/article/Utah-Republican-argues-against-equal-pay-for-10943930.php

yawn, Repugs, Christian Taliban are misogynist assholes.

boutons_deux

02-20-2017, 10:24 PM

chickenshits

Most Texans in Congress not planning in-person town halls over recess

Few of the 38 Texans in Congress plan on reaching out to constituents at in-person public forums during this congressional recess,

conference call-style events, constituents can speak to their representatives under more controlled conditions, where aides can filter questions and thousands can tune in at the same time.

https://www.texastribune.org/2017/02/20/texas-representatives-hold-back-person-town-halls-recess/

boutons_deux

02-20-2017, 10:27 PM

Repug misogynist/Christian Sharia news

Michigan GOP Attacks Reproductive Health-Care Funds in Latest Anti-Choice Campaign

Michigan Republicans want to defund several independent clinics and local Planned Parenthood affiliates, which provide critical health services other than abortion care

to prohibit the state from allocating “funds through grants or contracts for educational and other programs and services” to health-care organizations that provide abortion care.

The measures would prevent partnerships with several independent clinics and local Planned Parenthood affiliates, which provide critical health services other than abortion care, such as Pap smears and STI testing.

https://rewire.news/article/2017/02/20/michigan-gop-attacks-reproductive-health-care-funds-latest-anti-choice-campaign/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+rhrealitycheck+%28RH+Reality+ Check%29

boutons_deux

02-20-2017, 11:04 PM

p/e dumbing down Texas Monthly

New editor in chief takes Texas Monthly in a ‘lifestyle’ direction

Tim Taliaferro, who took over after the sale of the magazine to Genesis Park LP, tells CJR it would be foolish to walk away from the history of the magazine, but he hopes to

focus on growing the lifestyle vertical because “lifestyle sells Texas Monthly better.” He added,

“Literary circles have a bias against lifestyle, but lifestyle is an important part of the magazine, including travel and food.”

The change has alums and current staffers worried about the potential for layoffs and the future of the magazine as a home for ambitious journalism and celebrated writing. Several top journalists have left, and others are updating resumes.

Texas Monthly bears the tagline “The National Magazine of Texas”–and it has lived up to the billing. Since its founding in 1973, the magazine has won 13 national magazine awards (http://www.texasmonthly.com/national-magazine-awards/) for public interest, politics, feature writing, and general excellence.

http://www.cjr.org/business_of_news/texas-monthly-lifestyle-editor.php

Dumbed down, yet again more redundnat "travel and food", sells better. Quality writing sucks, right?

"growing the lifestyle vertical" crapified verbiage right there :lol

boutons_deux

02-20-2017, 11:27 PM

Jeb Hensarling: Trickle Downer of the Week

FEBRUARY 16, 2017

Wall Street’s favorite congressman wants to gut consumer protection

http://prospect.org/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/ap_17033685723866.jpg?itok=GTe1pf_Y

House Financial Services Committee Chairman Jeb Hensarling, whose Wall Street deregulation bill—the

Financial CHOICE Act :lol

—forms the GOP’s blueprint for winding back Dodd-Frank. In a memo obtained by The New York Times last week, Hensarling outlined his plan (https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/09/us/politics/consumer-financial-protection-bureau-republicans.html?partner=rss&emc=rss&_r=0) to eviscerate the CFPB’s power.

the Texas congressman called the CFPB a “rogue, unconstitutional” agency.

“I want to protect consumers from the Orwellian-named Consumer Finance Protection Bureau :lol

—that’s the most important thing we want to do,”

CFPB ... it has recovered a reported $11.7 billion (https://www.cfpbmonitor.com/2016/07/25/cfpb-touts-initiatives-in-fact-sheets/) for more than 27 million consumers and cracked down on predatory practices in the auto, student, home loan, banking, and credit card industries, with a series of rulemakings and enforcement actions.

Hensarling’s plan calls for drastically weakening the bureau’s director by allowing the president to fire without cause, and

undercuts the agency by scaling back enforcement authority,

limiting its ability to promulgate rules, and

completely repealing its consumer complaint system.

Trump’s top economic advisor Gary Cohn said that Obama’s fiduciary rule limits consumer choice (http://prospect.org/article/gary-cohn-trickle-downer-week) by providing only “healthy” retirement options. :lol

In the same spirit, Hensarling wants you to believe that consumer protection laws are hurting the average American. :lol

“The greatest way to protect consumers is to ensure that we have competitive, innovative, vibrant credit markets and in many respects, CFPB has hurt them,” he said in the Bloomberg interview.

“This current unconstitutional rogue agency has got to be reformed.” :lol

http://prospect.org/article/jeb-hensarling-trickle-downer-week

goddam, TX Repugs are truly shitty, stinky, craven whores. echoes of Phil Gramm and financial deregulation.

boutons_deux

02-20-2017, 11:31 PM

The Newt Gingrich time bomb Republicans are using to destroy everything good (http://www.dailykos.com/stories/2017/2/20/1635966/-The-Newt-Gingrich-time-bomb-Republicans-are-using-to-destroy-everything-good)

It took the current crop of Republicans to realize the destructive intent Newt Gingrich had for American government. Back in 1996, when he was speaker of the House, Gingrich got the Congressional Review Act passed. This law gives Congress the chance to undo any regulation finalized in the last 60 legislative days. It also means the rules can never be reinstated

By hardly ever showing up to work, they extended their 60-day legislative window dramatically.

In the last month, the House has pushed through 13 “resolutions of disapproval” reversing Obama-era regulations, including

a Labor Department rule (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/republicans-are-about-to-erase-one-of-obamas-major-workplace-protections_us_5894caf8e4b09bd304bb359c) blocking contractors that have repeatedly violated workplace standards from receiving new contracts.

The Senate is expected to take up that measure soon, and the House is also eyeing other Labor Department regulations that qualify for CRA action.What makes passing a disapproval resolution under the CRA so easy is that you only need a simple majority to do it, meaning Democrats in the Senate can’t use a filibuster to stop it. […]

In the first few weeks of the Trump administration, Congress has passed CRAs

undoing a Social Security Administration rule (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/republicans-gun-control-mentally-ill-obama-rule_us_5893e15be4b04061313629d3) meant to keep mentally ill people from buying guns, and

a Securities and Exchange Commission rule requiring oil, gas and mining companies to disclose their payments to foreign governments. […]

Environmental advocates have been some of the loudest opponents the CRA.

Republicans have already targeted three Interior Department regulations;

Trump signed (http://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/319938-trump-signs-bill-undoing-obama-coal-mining-rule) a bill undoing regulations to protect waterways (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/stream-protection-rule-coal_us_5891385fe4b02772c4ea2a31) from from coal mining operations on Thursday.

Two other bills targeting rules from the Interior Department's Bureau of Land Management are expected to come up for a vote in the Senate when lawmakers return on Feb. 27.

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2017/02/20/1635966/-The-Newt-Gingrich-time-bomb-Republicans-are-using-to-destroy-everything-good?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+dailykos%2Findex+%28Daily+Kos %29

Repugs FUCK UP everything they touch, MISgovernance is their blind faith.

boutons_deux

02-20-2017, 11:36 PM

Anti-Semite Bannon running the show

Attacks On The Jewish Community Spike As Trump Continues Ignoring Anti-Semitism

There has still been no condemnation offered directly from Trump,

despite his willingness to express outrage over things that don't exist,

like widespread voter fraud and fake terrorist attacks.

, a total of 11 Jewish community centers received bomb threats on Monday alone – the latest in a series of incidents that have taken place over the past several weeks.

the bomb threats come “in the aftermath of three waves of bomb threats in January (Jan. 9, Jan. 18, and Jan. 31), resulting in, through today, 69 incidents at 54 JCCs in 27 states and one Canadian province in total.”

Fox News reported (http://www.foxnews.com/us/2017/02/20/dozens-headstones-damaged-at-jewish-cemetery-near-st-louis.html) another incident in St. Louis in which more than 100 tombstones were damaged at a Jewish cemetery.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/C5JR_-7UYAAOres.jpg

“Anti-Semitic hate crimes comprise the largest portion of religiously motivated attacks in the United States,” the Huffington Post reported (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/trump-administration-anti-semitism_us_58ab3f7be4b0a855d1d8b074) on Monday. “In New York City alone, such attacks have more than doubled already in 2017.”

http://www.politicususa.com/2017/02/20/attacks-jewish-community-spike-trump-continues-ignore-anti-semitism.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+politicususa%2FfJAl+%28Politi cus+USA+%29

Trash/Bannon priority is only Islamic terrorism, not even looking at white supremacist terrorism.

boutons_deux

02-21-2017, 06:21 PM

Department of Homeland Security officially spreading lies about immigrant crime

No, undocumented immigrants don’t “routinely victimize Americans.”

A Department of Homeland Security memo authored by Secretary John Kelly asserts that “criminal aliens routinely victimize Americans and other legal residents.”

The memo, entitled “Enforcement of the Immigration Laws to Serve the National Interest (http://www.mcclatchydc.com/news/politics-government/white-house/article133607784.ece/BINARY/DHS%20enforcement%20of%20immigration%20laws),” creates a new federal office meant to work with those victims.

“Accordingly, I am establishing the Victims of Immigration Crime Engagement (VOICE) Office within the Office of the Director of ICE, which will create a programmatic liaison between ICE and the known victims of crimes committed by removable aliens,” Kelly writes. “To that end, I direct the Director of ICE to immediately reallocate any and all resources that are currently used to advocate on behalf of illegal aliens to the new VOICE Office, and to immediately terminate the provision of such outreach or advocacy services to illegal aliens.”

But Homeland Security’s new VOICE office is based on a false premise. Data indicates undocumented immigrants are no more likely to commit crimes than American citizens, and are actually less likely to be criminals in some cases.

The literature is summarized in a 2015 Cato Institute report entitled, “Immigration and Crime — What the Research Says (https://www.cato.org/blog/immigration-crime-what-research-says).” Here are some key findings from studies cited in the report.

— One study found that “roughly 1.6 percent of immigrant males 18–39 are incarcerated, compared to 3.3 percent of the native-born.” The study found the disparity in census data spanning three decades — from 1980 to 2010.

— Another found that the phased rollout of the Secure Communities (S-COMM) immigration enforcement program didn’t reduce crime in affected communities. S-COMM “led to no meaningful reduction in the FBI index crime rate,” researchers found. If undocumented immigrants were more likely to commit criminal acts, you’d expect to see crime rates decrease as undocumented immigrants were removed from communities. That wasn’t the case.

— Another study “looked at 159 cities at three dates between 1980 and 2000 and found that crime rates and levels of immigration are not correlated,” the CATO report says, summarizing the findings.

— Another “looked at a sample of 150 Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSAs) and found that levels of recent immigration had a statistically significant negative effect on homicide rates but no effect on property crime rates.” Yet another study found that an influx of immigrants is actually correlated with decreases in homicide and robbery rates.

— A study that looked looked at 103 different MSAs from 1994–2004 found that “the weight of the evidence suggests that immigration is not associated with increased levels of crime. To the extent that a relationship does exist, research often finds a negative effect of immigration on levels of crime, in general, and on homicide in particular.”

https://thinkprogress.org/homeland-security-immigrant-crime-c6419040a020#.oeh3nmw4g

goddam, you and ALL Repugs are nasty, lying, bad-faith sons of bitches.

boutons_deux

02-21-2017, 06:26 PM

Mass deportation is coming: Trump’s Homeland Security Department lays out game plan to expel large numbers of immigrants

Trump administration outlines its aggressive strategy to deport as many undocumented immigrants as possible

his order on immigration law enforcement (https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2017/01/25/presidential-executive-order-enhancing-public-safety-interior-united) will have the biggest impact on immigrants already living in the U.S. The Department of Homeland Security just released a series (https://www.dhs.gov/sites/default/files/publications/17_0220_S1_Enforcement-of-the-Immigration-Laws-to-Serve-the-National-Interest.pdf) of memos (https://www.dhs.gov/sites/default/files/publications/17_0220_S1_Implementing-the-Presidents-Border-Security-Immigration-Enforcement-Improvement-Policies.pdf) laying out how it plans to implement the Trump administration’s aggressive strategy for mass deportation of undocumented immigrants.

Despite the president’s insistence that “criminals (http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2016/nov/15/donald-trump/trump-misleads-number-criminal-immigrants-illegall/)” will be the focus of his deportation policy, both his executive order and the Homeland Security memoranda make clear that pretty much any undocumented immigrant detained by authorities will be subject to removal from the country.

The Department of Homeland Security states that undocumented immigrants who have “committed acts which constitute a chargeable criminal offense” will be prioritized. As The New York Times wrote (https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/26/us/trump-immigration-deportation.html) in January, this is an expansive designation that

encompasses “anyone the authorities believe has broken any type of law — regardless of whether that person has been charged with a crime.”

The department’s guidance also states that undocumented immigrants who “pose a risk to public safety or national security” in the judgment of an immigration officer should be prioritized for removal. That nebulous phrasing puts

immense power in the hands of individual immigration enforcement agents to determine who is kicked out of the country.

Above all, the memos indicate that the policy of the Trump administration will be to remove as many undocumented immigrants as it can in the shortest amount of time allowable.

http://www.salon.com/2017/02/21/mass-deportation-is-coming-trumps-dhs-lays-out-game-plan-to-expel-large-numbers-of-immigrants/

And what about JOBS for the Trash's economically distressed voters? nothing, yet? what's the delay?

boutons_deux

02-21-2017, 06:30 PM

Republicans Moving Fast to Block Retirement Security

Congressional Republicans have set out to undo an Obama administration rule that makes it easier for states and cities to expand retirement options for private-sector workers.

On February 15, the U.S. House of Representatives voted 231-193—one Texas Democrat voted for and three Republicans voted against—to take a step backward on retirement security.

And, in the first weeks of March, the Senate will take up the question of whether to rescind a late-in-the-game Obama Department of Labor rule—“Savings Arrangements Established by States for Non-Governmental Employees”—that provides legal support to cities and states that enacted or are considering plans to provide retirement accounts to private-sector workers, the majority of whom do not have a retirement plan at work.

If Republicans succeed in rolling back the DOL regulations,

they will destroy the best chance 63 million American workers have to get access to a retirement plan

http://prospect.org/article/republicans-moving-fast-block-retirement-security

mavsfan1000

02-22-2017, 02:33 AM

Delete this thread as well.

spurraider21

02-22-2017, 02:55 AM

Delete this thread as well.

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

mavsfan1000

02-22-2017, 06:16 AM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sXQkXXBqj_U
http://www.breitbart.com/tech/2017/02/21/the-ultimate-safe-space-fake-news-site-reports-on-world-as-though-hillary-won/?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social

spurraider21

02-22-2017, 11:46 AM

Calling parody fake news :rollin

boutons_deux

02-22-2017, 04:41 PM

Iowa Lawmaker Will End Universities’ Liberal Bias With This One Weird Unconstitutional Trick

https://img.wonkette.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/u-of-Iowa.jpg

The legislation proposes that a

“person shall not be hired as a professor or instructor member of the faculty at such an institution if the person’s political party affiliation on the date of hire would cause the percentage of faculty belonging to one political party to exceed by ten percent the percentage of faculty belonging to the other political party.”

The Secretary of State’s office would be directed to provide voter registration lists to the colleges so that new job applicants’ party affiliation could be checked before the hiring process gets underway.

Graciously, Chelgren allows for people registered as No Party to slip through the process without facing the litmus test.

http://wonkette.com/613240/iowa-lawmaker-will-end-universities-liberal-bias-with-this-one-weird-unconstitutional-trick

boutons_deux

02-22-2017, 06:14 PM

Jeff Sessions Is in Charge of Enforcing the Violence Against Women Act, and Victims' Advocates Are Worried

Violence Against Women Act,

78 senators voted in favor, and just 22 were opposed.

In the latter camp was Jeff Sessions, an Alabama Republican who had told CNN (http://www.cnn.com/2012/03/15/politics/senate-vawa-accusations/),

"Fundamentally, you can't vote [for] a piece of legislation you don't think is sound."

Sessions' opposition to the expanded VAWA has some advocates

worried that his Justice Department will not prioritize protections for victims

—particularly victims who belong to marginalized groups, given Sessions' longstanding hardline conservative views on immigration, LGBT equality, and civil rights issues.

He has voted against other measures that aim to protect some of the same groups covered by VAWA. LGBT groups are especially concerned, noting that

Sessions supported (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/jeff-sessions-lgbt-rights_us_58346cd9e4b030997bc1524f) a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage and

ardently opposed (http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2016/11/jeff-sessions-hate-crime-law) a 2009 hate crimes bill that expanded protections for LGBT people and rape victims.

One day after Sessions assumed office, the Justice Department withdrew (http://www.washingtonblade.com/2017/02/10/doj-withdraws-request-halt-order-trans-student-protections/) its legal defense of an Obama-era directive protecting transgender children in schools.

Sessions was asked about the controversial 2005 Access Hollywood video that showed Trump bragging about grabbing women's genitals without their consent. "I don't characterize that as sexual assault,"

http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2017/02/sessions-justice-department-violence-against-women-act-enforcement

Crapification, indeed.

boutons_deux

02-23-2017, 06:19 AM

Automakers Call on E.P.A. Chief to Ease Fuel-Efficiency Standards

President Trump has vowed to roll back regulations on business, and automakers are wasting no time in pushing his administration to make good on the promise.

Two lobbying groups representing auto manufacturers have written letters urging the new head of the Environmental Protection Agency (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/e/environmental_protection_agency/index.html?inline=nyt-org), Scott Pruitt, to reverse a decision last month (https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/13/business/fuel-economy-standards.html) by the Obama administration to move forward with tougher fuel-economy standards that carmakers are supposed to meet by 2025.

Environmentalists said the lobbying groups overstated the difficulty and cost of reaching the 2025 targets, which require an average fuel-economy rating of 54.5 miles per gallon across a company’s entire fleet sold in the United States. That number is based on a complicated formula, and automakers estimate it is the equivalent of about 40 miles per gallon in real-world driving.

“An increasing number of cars achieve the goal now,”

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/22/business/energy-environment/automakers-pruitt-mileage-rules.html?partner=rss&emc=rss

Car mfrs will spend a lot more on switching to electric (the Bolt is providing range of ove 200 mi for some drivers) than they will improving gas mileage. The car mfr lobbying groups are reflexively LYING, but LIES are what Trash and the Repugs live on.

boutons_deux

02-23-2017, 06:29 AM

Thousands of emails between Trump’s EPA chief and Big Oil just came out — here are the most insane revelations

In 2014, Pruitt directly copied complaints about EPA regulations on fracking from Devon Energy executives (https://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/07/us/politics/energy-firms-in-secretive-alliance-with-attorneys-general.html?_r=0) and pasted them to Oklahoma Attorney General letterhead. Continental Resources executive Harold Hamm served as the chairman of Pruitt’s re-election campaign, which brought in hundreds of thousands of dollars (http://www.followthemoney.org/entity-details?eid=6583668&default=candidate) from the oil and gas industry.

AFPM told Pruitt that despite their desire to challenge EPA regulations like the renewable fuel standard program and ozone regulations, Pruitt should instead challenge the rules on their behalf, arguing the complaint would be seen as “more credible coming from a state.”

AG Pruitt proceeded to file challenges to both regulations in an official state letter to Lisa Jackson, who was the administrator of the EPA under President Obama.
Pruitt spoke at the group’s 2013 board meeting in Oklahoma City in a session sponsored by Koch Industries called “Embracing American Energy Opportunities: From Wellheads to Pipelines.”

The emails described Pruitt’s speech as focusing on “state primacy in oil and gas regulation and the EPA’s sue & settle modus operandi.”

Pruitt defended his ties to the industry he is tasked with regulating, saying, “I believe that we as a nation can be both pro-energy and -jobs, and pro-environment. We don’t have to choose between the two.” :lol

http://usuncut.com/politics/scott-pruitt-epa-fossil/

EPA is gonna be kneecapped, and polluted with BigCarbon apparatchiks, rather than career professionals and scientists.

boutons_deux

02-23-2017, 06:33 AM

EMAILS REVEAL EPA CHIEF SCOTT PRUITT’S DIRTY DEALINGS WITH OIL AND GAS INDUSTRY (https://theintercept.com/2017/02/22/emails-reveal-epa-chief-scott-pruitts-dirty-dealings-with-oil-and-gas-industry/)

The 7,500 documents reveal a new example of oil and gas industry operatives drafting and editing text Pruitt submitted to a federal agency, and they show how Oklahoma Gas & Electric and American Electric Power, both of which contributed to Pruitt’s election campaigns, reviewed documents pertaining to at least one rule affecting utility rates.

The emails also show employees’ attempts to make the work of the attorney general’s office confidential. “Don’t forget to take our name off our appearance,” reads one email from Oklahoma Assistant Attorney General Nicole King. Another email sent to three people in the attorney general’s office reads, “As you will see there is some confidential and highly sensitive confidential information. I am working on a confidentiality agreement based on what the Commission has been approving.”

In keeping with this effort to keep Pruitt’s communications private, the Oklahoma Attorney General’s Office still has not released all the emails the Center for Media and Democracy first requested more than two years ago.

Even after Oklahoma Judge Aletia Haynes Timmons criticized the office for its

“abject failure” to follow the open records law, the AG’s office withheld an unspecified number of documents on the grounds that they were privileged. Many of those that it did release were redacted.

Judge Timmons ruled that the attorney general’s office has to supply additional records by February 27.

https://theintercept.com/2017/02/22/emails-reveal-epa-chief-scott-pruitts-dirty-dealings-with-oil-and-gas-industry/

boutons_deux

02-25-2017, 07:47 AM

Instead of Russia, Rep. Jason Chaffetz launches investigation of new National Park (seriously) (http://www.dailykos.com/stories/2017/2/22/1636596/-Instead-of-Russia-Rep-Jason-Chaffetz-launches-investigation-of-new-National-Park-seriously)

When President Barack Obama designated Bears Ears in Utah a National Monument he ruffled some feathers. (http://www.dailykos.com/story/2016/12/29/1615331/-President-Obama-designates-two-more-nat-l-monuments-infuriating-right-wingers-in-Utah-and-elsewhere)

Utah Republicans like Sen. Orrin Hatch made their usual statements about executive overreach and other such things that they would subsequently walk back the moment Donald Trump took office.

America’s Renfield, Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-UT) has been working to get this decision reversed. (http://www.dailykos.com/story/2017/2/8/1631464/-Utah-Republican-who-wants-to-kill-Bears-Ears-Nat-l-Monument-gets-no-clear-support-from-Trump)

The chair of the House Oversight committee hasn’t been able to find the strength or time to investigate the clearly alarming conflicts of interest between Trump or any number of Trump’s cabinet and foreign leaders, but he knows how badly he wants to sell off public land.

"I want to know if there was communication and were they being truthful with the governor and the delegation."

http://www.dailykos.com/stories/2017/2/22/1636596/-Instead-of-Russia-Rep-Jason-Chaffetz-launches-investigation-of-new-National-Park-seriously?detail=email&link_id=7&can_id=4217e8eb109c68bd0c2e4143dd2d8c15&source=email-yes-trumps-aide-really-did-throw-white-power-sign-4&email_referrer=yes-trumps-aide-really-did-throw-white-power-sign-4&email_subject=yes-trumps-aide-really-did-throw-white-power-sign

boutons_deux

02-25-2017, 07:48 AM

Yes, Trump's Aide Really Did Throw "White Power" Sign (http://www.dailykos.com/stories/2017/2/21/1636419/-Yes-Trump-s-Aide-Really-Did-Throw-White-Power-Sign)

http://images.dailykos.com/images/369236/story_image/untitled_%287%29.png?1487731900

http://www.dailykos.com/stories/2017/2/21/1636419/-Yes-Trump-s-Aide-Really-Did-Throw-White-Power-Sign?detail=email&link_id=1&can_id=4217e8eb109c68bd0c2e4143dd2d8c15&source=email-yes-trumps-aide-really-did-throw-white-power-sign-4&email_referrer=yes-trumps-aide-really-did-throw-white-power-sign-4&email_subject=yes-trumps-aide-really-did-throw-white-power-sign

boutons_deux

02-27-2017, 05:24 PM

racist Sessions greenlights voter suppression

Justice Department Changes Position on Texas’ Discriminatory Voter ID Law

https://www.propublica.org/article/justice-department-changes-position-on-texas-discriminatory-voter-id-law

boutons_deux

02-27-2017, 06:54 PM

TX Christian Taliban news

Texas Lawmakers Advance Bill That Would Allow Doctors to Lie to Pregnant Women
http://www.sacurrent.com/the-daily/archives/2017/02/27/texas-lawmakers-advance-bill-that-would-allow-doctors-to-lie-to-pregnant-women

boutons_deux

03-02-2017, 12:22 PM

having permitted poisoing of water for 100M Americans, the Repugs aren't done crapifying the environment

White House eyes plan to cut EPA staff by one-fifth, eliminating key programs

Its annual budget would drop from $8.2 billion a year to $6.1 billion. And because much of that funding already goes to states and localities in the form of grants, such cuts could have an even more significant effect on the EPA’s core functions.

As proposed, the EPA’s staff would be slashed from its current level of 15,000 to 12,000. Grants to states, as well as its air and water programs, would be cut by 30 percent. The massive Chesapeake Bay cleanup project would receive only $5 million in the next fiscal year, down from its current $73 million.
In addition, 38 separate programs would be eliminated entirely. Grants to clean up brownfields, or abandoned industrial sites, would be gone. Also zeroed out: the radon program, climate change initiatives and funding for Alaskan native villages.

https://img.washingtonpost.com/news/energy-environment/wp-content/uploads/sites/43/2017/03/2300brownfields.jpg

The agency’s Office of Research and Development could lose up to 42 percent of its budget, according to an individual apprised of the administration’s plans. And the document eliminates funding altogether for the office’s “contribution to the U.S. Global Change Research Program,” a climate initiative that President George H.W. Bush launched in 1989.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/energy-environment/wp/2017/03/01/white-house-proposes-cutting-epa-staff-by-one-fifth-eliminating-key-programs/?utm_term=.6fd7040d0c22

boutons_deux

03-02-2017, 12:56 PM

F.C.C., in Potential Sign of the Future, Halts New Data Security Rules

The Federal Communications Commission (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/f/federal_communications_commission/index.html?inline=nyt-org) on Wednesday halted new government rules related to data security from taking effect this week, in a potential prelude to a broader repeal of privacy protections for users of high-speed internet (https://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/28/technology/fcc-tightens-privacy-rules-for-broadband-providers.html).

The rules, which were to take effect on Thursday, required high-speed internet providers like AT&T and Comcast to secure their customers’ data against hacking and other unauthorized uses.

Mr. Pai, in a sign that

additional swipes at privacy rules may be in store, also said the commission should not be engaged in any policing of broadband providers over online privacy.

The commission has moved swiftly to dismantle those regulations since Mr. Pai’s appointment as chairman in January.

The agency has closed an investigation into claims that internet service providers may have been violating net neutrality (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/subjects/n/net_neutrality/index.html?inline=nyt-classifier) provisions ensuring equal access to all websites, and has pledged to revoke the regulatory classification of broadband service under which it is treated like a telephone-style utility.

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/01/technology/fcc-data-security-rules.html?partner=rss&emc=rss&_r=0

Repugs fucking up Internet and allowing Internet users' privacy to be raped.

boutons_deux

03-03-2017, 07:29 AM

Western asshole clowns

https://twitter.com/BSEEgov/status/837304092355604480/photo/1?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw

I expect wolves, bears, eagles to be slaughtered for fun and dick measuring.

boutons_deux

03-03-2017, 07:42 AM

Sessions’ Sermon On the Dangers of Legal Marijuana Is a Pack of Lies

Jeff Sessions told so many lies about non-existent dangers associated with legal recreational marijuana that it likely made his audience's heads spin

On Tuesday when Trump’s religious attorney general and head of the Department of Justice, ‘Sermon’ Sessions, stood in front of several state attorneys general to fear monger about the non-existent dangers of legal marijuana,

he told so many easily disproved lies that even a Trump-era journalist was taken aback.

Sessions told (http://www.rawstory.com/2017/02/attorney-general-jeff-sessions-theres-a-lot-of-violence-thats-coming-from-legalized-pot/#.WLXlAzjZu14.facebook) the assembled states’ top law enforcement officers that in states where voters approved legalizing the use of recreational marijuana that

voters were responsible for a horrendous spike in violence,

more young people were smoking bud, and that

he was sick and tired of reading and hearing about cannabis’ being an effective means of reducing opioid use, addiction, and deaths.

religious clauses in the 1st Amendment were not only “unhistorical,” he stated (http://www.politicususa.com/2017/01/19/jeff-sessions-believes-amendment-separation-clause-unconstitutional.html) matter-of-factly and with great conviction that those religious clauses created by the Constitution’s framers and Founding Fathers were patently unconstitutional.

Sessions had the temerity to tell the assembled attorneys general that if voters really wanted to change state laws decriminalizing marijuana use for recreation, then they should go the polls and vote to change the laws. :lol

First, there has not been a spike in violence associated with legalized weed because being strictly regulated

Plus, the few states that have legalized marijuana have had a significant impact (http://time.com/3801889/us-legalization-marijuana-trade/) on drug cartels’ business of bringing the weed across the border to sell on the streets because there were no other ‘distributors’ available.

Sessions also lied and said that since decriminalizing the weed, the states that did so have seen an alarming spike in teens using marijuana;

As far as the “experts” Sessions failed to cite on this lie, since he specifically cited the state of

Colorado, two years’ worth of statistics (https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2016/12/21/one-of-the-greatest-fears-about-legalizing-marijuana-has-so-far-failed-to-happen/?utm_term=.7e495e6d8267) show that marijuana use among teens and young adults has declined by a whopping 21 percent.

Sessions made a specific point of lying about marijuana being valuable to combat the deadly opioid scourge plaguing the nation.

There are studies (http://www.thecannabist.co/2017/03/01/sessions-marijuana-opioid-research/74584/) after reports (http://bigstory.ap.org/article/b236c70a2c5b4e26b659421015c319f0/could-marijuana-help-treat-painkiller-and-heroin-addiction) after statistics (http://www.drugfree.org/news-service/opioid-addiction-treated-medical-marijuana-massachusetts/) and even more reports (http://drugabuse.com/legalizing-marijuana-decreases-fatal-opiate-overdoses/) proving that yes indeed, marijuana is extremely valuable and effective in fighting the opioid epidemic including addiction, traffic fatalities, and deadly overdoses just to name a few.

It is apparent that Sessions’ sermon about the non-existent dangers of voters decriminalizing recreational marijuana is most certainly driven by his evangelicalism, and

his need to pander to the pharmaceutical industry that cannot stand the idea that a common weed is combatting their highly-profitable opioid business.

His veiled threat to use the DOJ to pursue and punish states that decriminalized the weed is contrary to his and Republicans claim that states have the right to make their own laws,

http://www.politicususa.com/2017/03/02/sessions-sermon-dangers-legal-marijuana-pack-lies.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+politicususa%2FfJAl+%28Politi cus+USA+%29

Pastor Sessions is nothing but a bullshitting LIAR, just like Trash

boutons_deux

03-03-2017, 12:20 PM

Polluters starting, just starting, to get free reign to pollute

EPA Drops Request for Methane Information from Oil and Gas Industry

Companies are no longer required to provide information about onshore equipment and controls that could reduce emissions of greenhouse gases

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/epa-drops-request-for-methane-information-from-oil-and-gas-industry/

boutons_deux

03-03-2017, 12:21 PM

Trash and his job creating LIE

White House Exempts Keystone XL Pipeline From “Buy American” Mandate

https://consumerist.com/2017/03/03/white-house-exempts-keystone-xl-pipeline-from-buy-american-mandate/

boutons_deux

03-03-2017, 01:05 PM

State GOP Wants Victims of Gun Violence To Prove They Did Not Deserve To Be Shot

A Florida Republican believes the prosecutor should have to prove why the victim of a stand-your-ground shooting didn’t deserve to be shot.

Take the case of Curtis Reeves.

Reeves is a retired police officer currently on trial in Florida for shooting and killing 43-year-old Chad Oulson at a Florida movie theater. Oulson’s wife was also injured.

All this over Oulson using a cell phone during the previews and later, throwing popcorn at Reeves.

Reeves is claiming self-defense under Florida’s stand your ground law.

In testimony (http://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/news-columns-blogs/fred-grimm/article136079958.html#storylink=cpy), Reeves said,

“I realized I was in a life-or-death struggle. He was no longer a loudmouth. He was now a very definite threat. I would have to take decisive action if I wanted to survive this thing.”

As the Miami Herald’s (http://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/news-columns-blogs/fred-grimm/article136079958.html#storylink=cpy) Fred Grimm notes, Reeve’s “burden” is low.“

Under the statute, it doesn’t matter if Oulson had been an actual, real-life threat. Reeves only needs to convince Barthle that in his mind, Oulson was about to do him grievous bodily harm.”Yet, Republican state Senator Rob Bradley believes the law has it wrong.

Under Bradley’s idea of justice, Reeves shouldn’t have the burden of proving he acted in self-defense. Rather,

the prosecutor should have to prove why Oulson and his wife, who was also injured, didn’t deserve to be shot.

That’s what a law that Bradley proposed (http://www.apnewsarchive.com/2017/Florida-s-stand-your-ground-law-has-been-a-source-of-contention-for-years-and-now-some-lawmakers-want-to-provide-even-more-protection-to-people-who-invoke-it/id-8b30599a883a46ca95027f7cde0f94fd) amounts to.

He offered the convenient rational that this is about preserving the principle that that state has the burden of proof in criminal law “from the beginning of the case to the end.”

Critics argue this law would require the state to convict the defendant twice – and in reality, the burden is shifted to the victim’s family – not the state.

http://www.politicususa.com/2017/03/03/state-gop-wants-victims-of-gun-violence-to-prove-they-did-not-deserve-to-be-shot.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+politicususa%2FfJAl+%28Politi cus+USA+%29

Shot dead by a sicko cop for using cellphone and throwing mortally dangerous popcorn! :lol

How Repug civilization rolls in slave state FL.

boutons_deux

03-03-2017, 01:56 PM

Following Trash's ecample, Repugs intimidate the press, Repugs being unconditional lovers of America

House Intelligence chair tells press to be 'careful': 'Do you want us to investigate you?' (http://www.dailykos.com/stories/2017/3/2/1639479/-House-Intelligence-chair-tells-press-to-be-careful-Do-you-want-us-to-investigate-you)

House Intelligence Committee Chairman—and Trump transition team member (https://www.dailykos.com/story/2017/2/14/1633641/-House-intelligence-chair-rolls-over-for-Trump-rules-out-investigating-Russia-connections)—Rep. David Nunes (R-CA) gave a press gaggle Thursday a not so subtle warning to the press about pursuing the Trump-Russia connections.

I'm sure some of you are in contact with the Russian embassy so be careful what you ask for here, because if we get —if we start getting transcripts of any of you or other Americans talking to the press, then we can,

do you want us to conduct an investigation on you or other Americans because you were talking to the Russian embassy?

I just think we need to be careful.

This is the Nunes who said (http://thehill.com/policy/national-security/intelligence/319323-intel-chair-on-flynn-reports-nothing-there) that there was "a lot of nothing" in the reports of National Security Advisor Mike Flynn's calls with the Russian ambassador weeks before the Trump administration was a thing. And after Flynn was forced to resign over "a lot of nothing":

Yeah, that’s not how this works. Congress doesn’t declare "executive privilege" on behalf of the executive branch. The branch it’s Congress’s duty to oversee.

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2017/03/02/1639479/-House-Intelligence-chair-tells-press-to-be-careful-Do-you-want-us-to-investigate-you?detail=email&link_id=3&can_id=4217e8eb109c68bd0c2e4143dd2d8c15&source=email-tom-hanks-fuels-the-white-house-press-corps-with-a-gift-and-a-message-about-the-american-way&email_referrer=tom-hanks-fuels-the-white-house-press-corps-with-a-gift-and-a-message-about-the-american-way&email_subject=tom-hanks-fuels-the-white-house-press-corps-with-a-gift-and-a-message-about-the-american-way

boutons_deux

03-03-2017, 02:18 PM

GOP congressman: Women should celebrate that they get to listen to Trump, not that they won suffrage (http://www.dailykos.com/stories/2017/3/2/1639566/-GOP-congressman-Women-should-celebrate-that-they-get-to-listen-to-Trump-not-that-they-won-suffrage)

GOP Rep. Kevin Cramer, allegedly Mitch McConnell's top recruit to take on Democratic Sen. Heidi Heitkamp in Northa Dakota next year, is really, really not helping his cause. During a "radio town hall" Wednesday morning, Cramer decided what the world truly needs is more men commenting on how their women colleagues dress professionally (http://www.politico.com/story/2017/03/kevin-cramer-democratic-women-white-pantsuits-235578):

"But by the way, did you notice how poorly several of them were dressed as well?

It is a syndrome.

There is no question, there is a disease associated with the notion that a bunch of women would wear bad-looking white pantsuits in solidarity with Hillary Clinton to celebrate her loss.

You cannot get that weird."

"But at the same time, they looked silly.

I don't buy their argument that it was a celebration of suffrage.

I think they should be celebrating the fact that there were women members of Congress sitting in a joint session,

listening to the President of the United States on equal footing as a co-equal branch—

and sort of get over this notion that somehow we have to be offended all the time."

http://www.dailykos.com/stories/2017/3/2/1639566/-GOP-congressman-Women-should-celebrate-that-they-get-to-listen-to-Trump-not-that-they-won-suffrage?detail=email&link_id=9&can_id=4217e8eb109c68bd0c2e4143dd2d8c15&source=email-tom-hanks-fuels-the-white-house-press-corps-with-a-gift-and-a-message-about-the-american-way&email_referrer=tom-hanks-fuels-the-white-house-press-corps-with-a-gift-and-a-message-about-the-american-way&email_subject=tom-hanks-fuels-the-white-house-press-corps-with-a-gift-and-a-message-about-the-american-way

Repugs! sexist pigs, "offending women all the time" :lol

Thread

03-03-2017, 02:41 PM

boutons_deux

03-04-2017, 07:32 AM

Trump administration considering separating women, children at Mexico border

Women and children crossing together illegally into the United States could be separated by U.S. authorities under a proposal being considered by the Department of Homeland Security,

Part of the reason for the proposal is to deter mothers from migrating to the United States with their children

The policy shift would allow the government to keep parents in custody while they contest deportation or wait for asylum hearings. Children would be put into protective custody with the Department of Health and Human Services, in the "least restrictive setting" until they can be taken into the care of a U.S. relative or state-sponsored guardian

Currently, families contesting deportation or applying for asylum are generally released from detention quickly and allowed to remain in the United States until their cases are resolved. A federal appeals court ruling bars prolonged child detention.

"With safety in mind, :lol :lol

the Department of Homeland Security continually explores options that may discourage those from even beginning the journey,"

About 54,000 children and their guardians were apprehended between Oct. 1, 2016, and Jan. 31, 2017, more than double the number caught over the same time period a year earlier.

mmigrant rights advocates have argued that Central America's violent and impoverished conditions force mothers to immigrate to the United States and that they should be given asylum status.

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-immigration-children-idUSKBN16A2ES

Repugs caused Central American countries to become violent, lawless, failed states. Racist, xenophobe Trash is denying political asylum to women and children fleeing failed states created by St Ronnie and the Repugs.

Thread

03-04-2017, 07:36 AM

boutons_deux

03-04-2017, 05:22 PM

DOJ halts review of Memphis Police Department (http://www.dailykos.com/stories/2017/3/3/1639835/-DOJ-halts-review-of-Memphis-Police-Department)

Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland and Police Director Michael Rallings invited the COPS program to Memphis "for a collaborative review of both community-oriented policing and the use of deadly force," city spokeswoman Ursula Madden said.

"We haven't yet signed an agreement, but we do expect a formal announcement in partnership with the DOJ tomorrow," she said.

U.S. Attorney Edward L. Stanton III mentioned a reform initiative in September at an announcement that a federal review of the fatal shooting of Darrius Stewart concluded with insufficient evidence to support charges against former Memphis police Officer Connor Schilling.

Something has changed (http://www.commercialappeal.com/story/news/crime/2017/03/03/justice-department-halts-federal-review-memphis-police-department/98687558/?from=global&sessionKey=&autologin=):

The U.S. Department of Justice said Friday that it has ended its federal review process of the Memphis Police Department.
“The Department of Justice’s COPS Office will no longer proceed with the collaborative reform process with the City of Memphis and Memphis Police Department,'' Justice Department officials said in a news release Friday morning.

In case anyone is wondering:

It is not known why the review process was halted.

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2017/03/03/1639835/-DOJ-halts-review-of-Memphis-Police-Department?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+dailykos%2Findex+%28Daily+Kos %29

Repug DoJ won't investigate any Fergusons, etc. Repug "law and order" means brutalizing, locking up, killing knitters.

boutons_deux

03-05-2017, 05:22 PM

Looks like Great Lake states that voted for Trump are losing their Great Lakes restoration project

President Donald Trump and Republicans plan on obliterating the EPA’s budget this coming year (http://www.dailykos.com/story/2017/3/2/1639551/-Trump-budget-proposal-would-cut-the-EPA-budget-to-the-inflation-adjusted-spending-power-of-1971), many of the people who voted for him might be getting a rude awakening.

States like Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin enjoy the waters of the Great Lakes, and the EPA is one of those agencies that tries to ensure that those lakes can be enjoyable for generations to come. (http://www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/2017/03/02/great-lakes-restoration-gets-drastic-cuts-early-white-house-proposal/98659286/)

The National Association of Clean Air Agencies confirmed for the Free Press late Thursday that an initial proposal from the White House Office of Management and Budget calls for the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative to be cut from $300 million a year to about $10 million.

would decimate a program that has helped pay to restore wetlands and improve water quality across the Upper Midwest.

Michigan, Wisconsin, Ohio and Pennsylvania — Great Lakes states that backed Trump in the election last year — have all received funding under the initiative, which many lawmakers of both parties in the region have steadfastly supported even when other Republicans have moved to reduce it.

http://m.dailykos.com/stories/2017/3/3/1639777/-Looks-like-Great-Lake-states-that-voted-for-Trump-are-losing-their-Great-Lakes-restoration-project?detail=email&link_id=9&can_id=4217e8eb109c68bd0c2e4143dd2d8c15&source=email-angry-trump-removes-priebus-and-bannon-from-air-force-one-manifest&email_referrer=angry-trump-removes-priebus-and-bannon-from-air-force-one-manifest&email_subject=angry-trump-removes-priebus-and-bannon-from-air-force-one-manifest

boutons_deux

03-05-2017, 05:23 PM

Sikh community asks for hate-crime probe after man is told ‘go back to your own country’ and shot

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-nation/wp/2017/03/04/go-back-to-your-own-country-sikh-man-shot-in-his-driveway-in-suspected-hate-crime/?utm_term=.10ea9552b293&wpisrc=nl_most-draw7&wpmm=1

boutons_deux

03-06-2017, 12:22 AM

TOTAL CRAP, LIKE TRASH AND ALL OF HIS ADVISORS

‘You Stupid Stupid B*tch’: Roger Stone Goes On Profane Twitter Freak Out

http://static01.mediaite.com/med/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/Roger-Stone-e1478120182308-1-650x443.jpg

Roger Stone @RogerJStoneJr (https://twitter.com/RogerJStoneJr)

@yashar (https://twitter.com/yashar) go fuck yourself, u talentless asswipe
11:18 PM - 4 Mar 2017 (https://twitter.com/RogerJStoneJr/status/838257386850676738)

Roger Stone @RogerJStoneJr (https://twitter.com/RogerJStoneJr)

Really? @ananavarro (https://twitter.com/ananavarro) is fat, stupid and fucking Al Cardenas http://time.com/collection-pos (https://t.co/psEHE7etuv)…
11:20 PM - 4 Mar 2017 (https://twitter.com/RogerJStoneJr/status/838257916641566720)

http://www.mediaite.com/online/you-stupid-stupid-btch-roger-stone-goes-on-profane-twitter-freak-out/

boutons_deux

03-06-2017, 02:27 PM

Schmuck a l’orange budget proposes $1.3 billion in cuts to Coast Guard (http://www.dailykos.com/stories/2017/3/6/1640672/-Schmuck-a-l-orange-budget-proposes-1-3-billion-in-cuts-to-Coast-Guard)

President Donald Trump's proposed budget guidance is asking for $1.3 billion (http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/trumps-budget-proposes-1.3-billion-in-cuts-to-coast-guard/article/2616285) in funding cuts to the U.S. Coast Guard at a time when the service is doing more than ever, and is already severely under-resourced.

Trump's budget would cancel a $500 million ship that is already in production, and would likely hit other areas of the Guard, which specializes in interdicting drugs, human trafficking, and keeping a close eye on what Russia is doing in the Arctic.
…
In addition to its operations targeting drug smugglers and human traffickers, the Coast Guard has been in and out of the Arctic region with its ice-breaking ships, especially as Russia attempts to claim parts of the region, and its rich resources, for itself.

The Arctic, which has roughly 13% of the world's oil and about one-third of its natural gas, could potentially turn into a South China Sea-like situation.

That's because, like China has done with its creation of artificial islands in that region to gain control of shipping lanes, Russia and its fleet of 40 icebreakers (http://foxtrotalpha.jalopnik.com/russias-icebreakers-make-it-king-of-the-arctic-and-amer-1791664539) has exerted itself in the Arctic to become the dominant player.

What other CG activities are at risk by this short sighted FUBAR administration? Non Homeland Security missions (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Coast_Guard#Non-homeland_security_missions) include:

Ice operations (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Icebreaker), including the International Ice Patrol (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Ice_Patrol)
Living marine resources (fisheries (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fishery) law enforcement)
Marine environmental protection (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marine_environmental_protection)
Marine safety (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marine_safety_%28USCG%29)
Aids to navigation (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Navigation_aid)
Search and rescue (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Search_and_rescue)

The CG also engages in scientific research support including climate science

http://www.dailykos.com/stories/2017/3/6/1640672/-Schmuck-a-l-orange-budget-proposes-1-3-billion-in-cuts-to-Coast-Guard

boutons_deux

03-08-2017, 03:29 PM

Paul Ryan brags about gutting Planned Parenthood on International Women’s Day

http://2d0yaz2jiom3c6vy7e7e5svk.wpengine.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/paul_ryan-800x430.jpg

“This is what we’ve been dreaming about doing,” the House Speaker told reporters. It’s a “conservative wish list,” the speaker said. Ryan then ticked off parts of the legislation that should thrill conservatives, before concluding that it gets

“Washington out of the business of being a nanny state.”

“It ends funding to Planned Parenthood

and sends money to community centers,” :lol

Ryan boasted.

What the bill actually does is stop federal Medicaid reimbursements to Planned Parenthood—that means stripping the organization of millions in federal funds.

As Vox pointed (http://www.vox.com/identities/2017/3/6/14836998/obamacare-repeal-replace-bill-defund-planned-parenthood) out, that would hit poor women the hardest but impact anyone that relies on Planned Parenthood’s services if clinics are forced to close as a result.

http://www.rawstory.com/2017/03/paul-ryan-brags-about-gutting-planned-parenthood-on-international-womens-day/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+TheRawStory+%28The+Raw+Story% 29

Pope Franky should excommunicate this sociopathic asshole.

boutons_deux

03-23-2017, 02:31 PM

SENATE REPUBLICANS ARE PREPARING TO KILL INTERNET PRIVACY

The G.O.P. wants to let your Internet service provider sell your browsing history to third parties—without asking first.

Recode reports (http://www.recode.net/2017/3/22/15025396/senate-congress-fcc-obama-privacy-rules) that Congress could imminently vote to roll back privacy rules imposed during the end of Obama’s tenure as president.

Last year, the Federal Communications Commission, under the direction of former Democratic chairman Tom Wheeler,

mandated that broadband providers get their customers’ permission before selling or giving their data to advertisers and other third parties.

Senate Republicans are now set to vote Thursday to scrap the rule.

http://www.vanityfair.com/news/2017/03/senate-republicans-are-preparing-to-kill-internet-privacy (http://www.vanityfair.com/news/2017/03/senate-republicans-are-preparing-to-kill-internet-privacy)

Repugs fucking America and Americans, unfuckable.

boutons_deux

03-24-2017, 09:58 AM

Trump appoints leading opponent of LGBT civil rights to lead civil rights office

President Donald Trump appointed Roger Severino, a leading anti-LGBT activist, to lead the Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Civil Rights. In doing so, Trump potentially gives Severino an opportunity to dismantle civil rights protections he criticized as a staffer at the conservative Heritage Foundation.

In 2016, for example, Severino co-authored a Heritage report criticizing proposed Obama administration rules preventing discrimination against transgender patients within the health care system. Protecting trans people against such discrimination, Severino warned, would “penalize medical professionals and health care organizations that, as a matter of faith, moral conviction, or professional medical judgment, believe that maleness and femaleness are biological realities to be respected and affirmed, not altered or treated as diseases.”

Similarly, in 2007, Severino published a law review article entitled “Or for Poorer? How Same-Sex Marriage Threatens Religious Liberty,” where he claimed that marriage equality would lead to “both government compulsion of religious institutions to provide financial or other support for same-sex married couples and government withdrawal of public benefits from those institutions that oppose same-sex marriage.”

As the head of the HHS civil rights office, Severino will not only be able to push from within the department to dismantle existing protections for LGBT Americans,

he could also potentially push for special rights for anti-LGBT employers and health providers

— such as regulations explicitly permitting these employers and providers to engage in discrimination if they believe that their faith requires them to do so.

https://thinkprogress.org/trump-appoints-leading-opponent-of-lgbt-civil-rights-to-lead-civil-rights-office-8d3d624c08b8#.1wfvtkc8d

Fuck Christian Taliban and Christian Sharia.

boutons_deux

03-25-2017, 09:32 AM

Why Does Trump Want to Stop Investigating Chemical Accidents?

Eliminating a critical agency that costs as much as four Mar-a-Lago trips. :lol

https://www.thenation.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/westtexas-fertilizer-rtr-img.jpg?scale=896&compress=80

It’s a safe assumption that most Americans have not heard of the US Chemical Safety Board.

Donald Trump is certainly banking on that, since he proposed scrapping it in his recent budget proposal.

But if the small agency is indeed defunded, the results could be catastrophic—and we might be left wondering, as the bodies are counted after some large chemical disaster, why nobody was angry when the CSB went away.

Modeled after the National Transportation Safety Board, which famously investigates plane crashes and explains to everyone what happened, the CSB choppers into chemical plants after a serious accident, particularly when dangerous chemicals were released or workers were killed.

The engineers at CSB do a detailed, sometimes years-long process audit of what went wrong, and then puts out a report.

(If you want to get lost in a fascinating YouTube rabbit hole, check out the CSB’s channel (https://www.youtube.com/user/USCSB), which has developed a small cult following for its well-produced explanations of complex chemical accidents.)

“There are things that American industry does that would make accidents like Bhopal look small,”

(https://www.thenation.com/article/why-does-trump-want-to-stop-investigating-chemical-accidents/)https://www.thenation.com/article/why-does-trump-want-to-stop-investigating-chemical-accidents/
BigChem is poisoning, sickening, killing us all and the environment.

West, TX anyone?

A small but critical step in Bannon's "deconstruction of the administrative state" aka DESTRUCTION

boutons_deux

03-25-2017, 10:12 AM

And some of us thought MJ White, Holder were were conflicted? :lol

Trump’s SEC Nominee Has a Major Conflict-of-Interest Problem

Jay Clayton is tied to big banks and corporations—and that could hold up fraud enforcement.

He served as Goldman Sachs’s lawyer during the Wall Street bailout (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/trump-jay-clayton-sec_us_58d17924e4b0ec9d29e00c7d), allowing it to emerge from the financial crisis relatively unscathed.

He helped deliver failed investment bank Bear Stearns (https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/companies/trump-choice-clayton-to-bring-deal-making-ipo-experience-to-sec/ar-BBxTLPq) to JPMorgan Chase and other failed investment bank Lehman Brothers (https://www.wsj.com/articles/president-elect-trump-to-nominate-jay-clayton-securities-and-exchange-commission-chairman-1483545999) to Barclays.

He defended Ally Financial (http://www.housingwire.com/articles/38873-trump-picks-top-wall-street-lawyer-jay-clayton-to-chair-sec) in its foreclosure fraud settlement with the government and

represented Deutsche Bank in its “mirror trade (http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2016/08/29/deutsche-banks-10-billion-scandal)” Russian oligarch money laundering scandal.

He was the lawyer of record with mortgage servicer Ocwen during a scandal so distasteful the CEO was forced to resign (https://newrepublic.com/article/120625/ocwen-ceo-william-erbey-finally-wall-st-exec-forced-resign).

Oh yeah, also his wife is a broker at Goldman Sachs. (She reportedly plans to step down (https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-03-22/trump-sec-pick-set-for-contentious-reunion-with-elizabeth-warren) upon Clayton’s confirmation.)

Matt Taibbi rightly suggested (http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/features/trump-pick-jay-clayton-to-be-most-conflicted-sec-chair-ever-w459289) that Clayton would be “the most conflicted SEC Chair ever,” and given the history of SEC chairs, that’s saying a lot.
Clayton’s non-bank clients raise more alarm.

They include

Valeant, the scandal-ridden pharmaceutical company, and

Volkswagen, which deceived the public by cheating-diesel emissions tests.

According to Public Citizen (http://www.citizen.org/documents/Senate%20Banking%20Committee%20questions%20re%20WM B%20and%20Clayton%20March%2020%202017.pdf), Clayton’s family gets millions of dollars in annual dividends from a private company named

WMB Holdings,

some of which Clayton plans to retain even if confirmed. This company and its affiliated partners (Delaware Trust Co and CSC)

are conduits (http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/features/taibbi-trump-sec-pick-jay-clayton-connected-to-mysterious-firm-w473168) for creating shell corporations and other sketchy vehicles used in tax evasion and money laundering.

Public Citizen found apparent links between these companies and Mossack Fonseca, the notorious Panamanian law firm at the center of the Panama Papers scandal.

https://www.thenation.com/article/donald-trumps-rise-has-coincided-with-an-explosion-of-hate-groups/ (https://www.thenation.com/article/donald-trumps-rise-has-coincided-with-an-explosion-of-hate-groups/)

hold up enforcement? how about PREVENT! :lol

Preet Bharara was going after Wall St and Fox News execs, he got fired after Trash promised not to replace him.

boutons_deux

03-25-2017, 11:48 AM

Trump To America: “Do Not Worry,” I Will Not Stop Trying To Take Health Care Away

Trump is publicly rooting for the failure of a law that has helped millions of Americans.
After failing to pass a deeply unpopular health care plan that would’ve been a catastrophe for millions of Americans, Donald Trump told the American people on Saturday not to worry, he wasn’t going to stop trying.

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

ObamaCare will explode and we will all get together and piece together a great healthcare plan for THE PEOPLE. Do not worry!
9:37 AM - 25 Mar 2017 (https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/845645916732358656)

http://www.politicususa.com/2017/03/25/trump-america-do-worry-stop-health-care.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+politicususa%2FfJAl+%28Politi cus+USA+%29

As ALWAYS, Trash is LYING

Repugs don't GIVE A SHIT about citizens' welfare/health care, only about unending tax cuts for the oligarchy.

boutons_deux

03-25-2017, 12:21 PM

Defense budget is nothing but redistribution of wealth from taxpayers to BigCorp

Trump’s Military Buildup Promises Little For The Working Grunts

Once again, the big money goes for the fancy weapons, while the troops carry old rifles.

The USS Gerald R. Ford, the new aircraft carrier President Donald Trump (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/topic/donald-trump) praised recently, is costing some $13 billion to build.

That doesn’t count the airplanes.

It’s the most expensive naval vessel in history, and it will fit easily into the “massive” military buildup Trump has demanded.

But at Camp Lejeune, the sprawling Marine Corps base where the working-class military lives, trains and deploys, there’s not enough money for Cpl. Edward L. Kiser, an anti-tank gunner, to train properly.

Kiser, a 20-year-old from Butler, Pennsylvania, needs to be proficient at firing TOW missiles in the desperate heat of battle to kill enemy tanks about to overrun his position.

“I’ve been in the Marine Corps two years, and I’ve only shot the thing one time,” said Kiser.

The U.S. soldiers and Marines confronting the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria are facing so-called “rag-tag” fighters equipped with tiny surveillance and attack drones (https://www.armed-services.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/Votel_03-09-17.pdf), which let those forces hunt down Americans and kill them from the sky.

Americans have neither. Again, no money for that.

the initial numbers suggest those who really benefit will be the ones who always benefit: the big defense contractors and their enablers at the Pentagon and Congress.

The last people to see that flood of spending will be the ones most likely to fight and die: the grunts.

Not included in those plans:

money for the best infantry weapons,

the safest troop-lift helicopters,

the most protective lightweight body armor.

Instead, grunts will have to settle for budget leftovers with antiquated rifles, helicopters built for their grandfathers during the Vietnam War and communications gear that is overweight and unreliable.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/trump-military-budget-grunts_us_58d0459ae4b0be71dcf74bdd?6nfh1p10fj93vj9 k9&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=The%20Morning%20Email%20032417&utm_content=The%20Morning%20Email%20032417+CID_59f a47f77e837c63252fce046a55d472&utm_source=Email%20marketing%20software&utm_term=HuffPost&

Any you suckered, adored vets have countering facts?

boutons_deux

03-25-2017, 01:07 PM

White Supremacists Are Now Targeting High Schools

According to one white nationalist leader, "students are perfectly primed for a push towards racial consciousness.”

http://www.alternet.org/sites/default/files/styles/story_image/public/story_images/4126186099_01eb73007d_z.jpg?itok=inw-9Dsc

In addition to the more than 100 incidents at college campuses across the United States, white supremacists have targeted at least four high schools in recruitment drives so far in 2017, according to the Anti-Defamation League (https://www.adl.org/blog/white-supremacists-targeting-high-school-with-fliers) (ADL).

The report is the latest to raise concern about a surge in incidents of hate, which have included multiple waves of bomb threats targeting Jewish Community Centers as well as threats and arson attacks against mosques.

“It is widely understood that the election of Donald Trump is a sign of rising white consciousness,” Taylor wrote on his website shortly after Trump’s inauguration in January. “Now is the time to press our advantage in every way possible.”

The post also included a call to arms for followers, including instructions to put up posters, particularly targeting students.

“Attractive posters placed in high-traffic areas—and that also include URLs of established white-advocacy organizations—can not only draw attention to our movement but also cause a tremendous media stir. Students are perfectly primed for a push towards racial consciousness.”

http://www.alternet.org/right-wing/white-supremacists-targeting-high-schools

Trash's / Repugs' AmeriKKKa

boutons_deux

03-26-2017, 10:35 PM

Trump presented German leader Angela Merkel a printed 'invoice' for what he thinks they owe Nato (http://www.dailykos.com/stories/2017/3/26/1647448/-Trump-presented-German-leader-Angela-Merkel-a-printed-invoice-for-what-he-thinks-they-owe-Nato)

The current sitting president is an idiot manchild.

On a related note:

During last weekend's meeting between Idiot Manchild and German leader Angela Merkel,

the idiot manchild allegedly handed Merkel a printed "bill" for roughly 370 billion Euros,

the amount Donald Trump thinks Germany "owes" Nato (http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/donald-trump-angela-merkel-nato-bill-defence-ignore-usa-germany-spending-a7650636.html).

The US President is said to have had an “invoice” printed out outlining the sum estimated by his aides as covering Germany’s unpaid contributions for defence. [...]But the bill has been backdated even further to 2002, the year Mrs Merkel’s predecessor, Gerhard Schröder, pledged to spend more on defence.

Mr Trump reportedly instructed aides to calculate how much German spending fell below two per cent over the past 12 years, then added interest.

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2017/03/26/1647448/-Trump-presented-German-leader-Angela-Merkel-a-printed-invoice-for-what-he-thinks-they-owe-Nato?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+dailykos%2Findex+%28Daily+Kos %29

Merkel should say: "So sue me"

DMX7

03-26-2017, 10:41 PM

boutons_deux

03-27-2017, 07:33 AM

Canada's largest school board will end class trips to the U.S. due to Trump's travel restrictions

http://www.latimes.com/world/la-fg-canada-travel-20170324-story.html?utm_source=Today%27s+Headlines&utm_campaign=a56de3abb6-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2016_12_12&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_b04355194f-a56de3abb6-80027601#

boutons_deux

03-28-2017, 06:50 PM

Trump signs bills reversing Obama regulations

President Trump rolled back more Obama-era regulations Monday, signing four bills that reverse rules on education, land use and federal purchasing.

Promising to "remove every job-killing regulation we can find," :lol Trump said even more regulation-cutting bills were on the way.

The resolutions of disapproval reached the president's desk through the Congressional Review Act, a rarely used tool that allows Congress to fast-track a bills to reverse regulations. Before Trump, the law had been used successfully only once in its 21-year history.

Trump has now signed a total of seven, a pace that has surprised even experts. "There are several that weren't on my radar at all,"

Previous bills have

reversed Obama regulations banning Social Security recipients with a mental impairment from buying a firearm (http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2017/02/28/trump-sign-bill-blocking-obama-gun-rule/98484106/), :lol

restricting the dumping of mining waste (http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2017/02/02/stream-protection-rule-reverse-mcconnell-paul-yarmuth-trump/97413470/) in streams and rivers, :lol and

requiring energy companies to disclose how much they're paying foreign governments (http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/2017/02/14/trump-scraps-dodd-frank-rule-resource-extraction-disclosure/97912600/) :lol

In fact, now half of all bills Trump has signed so far have been these regulation-killing resolutions.

The rules canceled by Trump's pen include:

► The "Fair Pay and Safe Workplaces" rule, which barred companies from receiving federal contracts if they had a history of violating wage, labor or workplace safety laws. That regulation, derided by critics as the "blacklisting" rule, was already held up in court.

"The rule simply made it too easy for trial lawyers to go after American companies and American workers who contract with the federal government," White House press secretary Sean Spicer said.

President Obama had pushed the rule through an executive order in 2014. But with the rule wiped off the books, Trump then signed an executive order revoking Obama's order and directing agencies to rescind any policies implementing it.

► A Bureau of Land Management rule known as "Planning 2.0," that gave the federal government a bigger role in land use decisions. The rule was opposed by the energy industry.

► Two regulations on measuring school performance and teacher training under the Every Student Succeeds Act, a law Obama signed in 2015 with bipartisan support.

Trump's action effectively precludes federal action on any of those rules, since the administration is now barred from issuing any new rule that is "substantially similar" to the ones that were just overturned.

That's one reason Congress has used the Congressional Review Act so sparingly in the past. Dudley said this Congress clearly has an appetite to cut even some more obscure regulations. "If there's a really focused group that is interested in this regulation and doesn’t like it, Congress might take it up," she said.

http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/msn/trump-signs-bills-reversing-obama-regulations/ar-BByUdCo

Americans gonna be SO SICKENED, impovershed by Trash's "winning"

Repugs FUCK UP everything they touch. Pro-Business, Pro-pollution, ANTI-citizen.

boutons_deux

03-28-2017, 10:30 PM

Colbert torches GOP’s ‘clean coal’ push: ‘It sounds like an oxymoron but so does President Trump’

http://www.rawstory.com/2017/03/colbert-torches-gops-clean-coal-push-it-sounds-like-an-oxymoron-but-so-does-president-trump/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+TheRawStory+%28The+Raw+Story% 29

boutons_deux

03-29-2017, 10:28 AM

Danger, Yogi: Republicans Intentionally Make It Legal to Hunt Hibernating Animals

The NRA-backed bill overturns an Obama-era regulation meant to protect biodiversity in Alaska's wildlife refuges.

Republicans in Congress passed a bill to repeal a set of Alaska’s wildlife regulations to favor a specific group of citizens: sport and trophy hunters. Republicans have

allowed for shooting of hibernating bears with cubs;

using airplanes to scout and shoot grizzly bears; and

baiting and trapping bears with steel-jawed, leghold traps on federally owned land in Alaska.

http://www.alternet.org/news-amp-politics/republicans-kill-hibernating-animals

boutons_deux

03-29-2017, 11:49 PM

FCC to halt expansion of broadband subsidies for poor people

Pai won't approve new applications, drops court defense of Lifeline broadband order.

https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2017/03/fcc-to-halt-expansion-of-broadband-subsidies-for-poor-people/

AaronY

03-29-2017, 11:51 PM

boutons_deux

03-30-2017, 12:06 AM

Republicans Ax Worker Protections Against Wage Theft

“By repealing these protections, Mr. Trump and congressional Republicans let contractors with even the worst track records off the hook–a punch in the gut to workers, taxpayers, and law-abiding businesses," said Christine Owens, executive director of the National Employment Law Project

An Obama-era rule requiring federal contractors to disclose violations of worker safety and wage laws when bidding on contracts is the latest casualty of the Trump administration.

President Donald Trump signed a joint resolution (https://www.congress.gov/115/bills/hjres37/BILLS-115hjres37enr.pdf) Monday nullifying the Fair Pay and Safe Workplaces rule (https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2014/08/05/2014-18561/fair-pay-and-safe-workplaces).

Issued by the Obama administration in 2014, the rule was designed to safeguard workers by making sure federal contracts didn’t go to companies that habitually violate labor laws by unlawfully failing to pay overtime and minimum wages, denying lunch breaks, or forcing employees to work off the clock.

The Trump administration and congressional Republicans rolled back the Obama-era regulation after business groups, including the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, complained in a letter (http://www.pscouncil.org/Downloads/documents/Coalition%20letter%20on%20CRA%20Disapproval%20of%2 0Fair%20Pay%2002-01-17.pdf) to Congress last month that the Fair Pay and Safe Workplaces rule “tie[s] up law-abiding employers in red tape,” amounting to “blacklisting” for certain contractors.

Labor advocates and Democrats said Trump is ignoring the need for safe and fair workplaces by siding with corporations.

https://rewire.news/article/2017/03/28/republicans-ax-job-killing-worker-protections-wage-theft/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+rhrealitycheck+%28RH+Reality+ Check%29

boutons_deux

03-30-2017, 06:36 AM

He's just getting started

E.P.A. Chief, Rejecting Agency’s Science, Chooses Not to Ban Insecticide

Scott Pruitt, the head of the Environmental Protection Agency (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/e/environmental_protection_agency/index.html?inline=nyt-org), moved late on Wednesday to reject the scientific conclusion of the agency’s own chemical safety experts (https://www.epa.gov/ingredients-used-pesticide-products/revised-human-health-risk-assessment-chlorpyrifos) who under the Obama administration recommended that one of the nation’s most widely used insecticides be permanently banned at farms nationwide because of the harm it potentially causes children and farm workers.

The chemical was banned in 2000 for use in most household settings (http://www.nytimes.com/2000/06/09/us/epa-citing-risks-to-children-signs-accord-to-limit-insecticide.html), but still today is used at about 40,000 farms on about 50 different types of crops, ranging from almonds to apples.

Late last year, and based in part on research conducted (https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/observations/common-pesticide-disturbs-the-brains-of-children/) at Columbia University, E.P.A. scientists concluded that exposure to the chemical that has been in use since 1965 was potentially causing significant health consequences.

They included learning and memory declines, particularly among farm workers and young children who may be exposed through drinking water and other sources.

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/29/us/politics/epa-insecticide-chlorpyrifos.html?partner=rss&emc=rss&_r=0

"needs more study" :lol

Saving bees? they're gone

taking lead, etc out of the water of 100s communities that equal or exceed Flint? fuck no. poison those brains for life.

pgardn

03-30-2017, 08:16 AM

And yet you focus on GMOs...

This is why people like you ruin the studies on really bad stuff.
Wolf, Wolf, wolf, strike 3.

rjv

03-30-2017, 09:15 AM

our corporate oligarchy has officially evolved into a kleptocracy.

boutons_deux

03-30-2017, 09:30 AM

And yet you focus on GMOs...

This is why people like you ruin the studies on really bad stuff.
Wolf, Wolf, wolf, strike 3.

just another SHIT-ASSED take by our resident shit-assed taker.

boutons_deux

03-30-2017, 12:39 PM

our corporate oligarchy has officially evolved into a kleptocracy.

... was done YEARS ago.

boutons_deux

03-30-2017, 12:51 PM

Kansas governor vetoes Medicaid expansion, leaving 150,000 poor residents uncovered

http://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2017/3/30/15123242/kansas-medicaid-expansion-veto

pgardn

03-30-2017, 02:18 PM

just another SHIT-ASSED take by our resident shit-assed taker.

Oh...

BigShitAssTakers.

Recognizing BigPiecesofShit...

boutons_deux

03-30-2017, 02:41 PM

Trump is poised to gut online privacy, and his most devoted trolls are very unhappy

Anonymous internet trolls are worried.

Of all the constituencies that supported Donald Trump last November—working class white voters; anti-establishmentarians; the Ku Klux Klan—perhaps none displayed more unwavering, unyielding loyalty than his army of online trolls.

You know the ones: the Pepe-loving, hashtag-tweeting deplorables.

They weaponized memes the way political operatives typically weaponize phone banks, and their effectiveness was rewarded by the loving embrace of Donald Trump himself, who bent over backwards to engage with the internet’s most vile users.

Even as some voters began expressing remorse for entrusting a misogynistic failed businessman with improving their health care and saving jobs, Trump’s army of trolls—on 4chan, on gab.ai, and, most notably, on the r/The_Donald subreddit—remained steadfast.

At least, until this week.

For a group of people whose cretinous online behavior is predicated on remaining largely anonymous, such a disruption would be unwelcome to say the least. And the fact that the Trump administration has vowed to sign such a bill into law has proven to be a very triggering turn of events.

Now, users in Donald Trump’s online safe spaces are cycling through all seven stages of grief.

Shock:

This is an attack against freedom. I want to make my own decisions about my life, not others, and that includes my private info as well. this is total bs, the house giving in to the business “establishment”, Pres Trump should stop this!!!!!

Denial:

I’m completely against this bill. Trump would never put something this idiotic through though. It’s all Paul Ryan and his cooperate shills.

Anger:

Trump needs to VETO this shit. This shit wreaks of swamp water and is definitely not part of MAGA.

Bargaining:

This is big, I’m very disappointed in it, it’s one of my top issues. But immigration, budget cuts, repealing Obamacare (and NOT getting in Ryancare), and Draining The Swamp are bigger, especially in aggregate.

Pain:

This bill will not be vetoed…Oh fuck me. Shit man.

Depression:

“So what do we do if Trump doesn’t veto? Do we still support him?”

And finally, acceptance:

“Hey man, this is deregulation! This is what Trump promised, it’s what he campaigned on.”

But this is Donald Trump we’re talking about, a scam artist who bilked hundreds of people by creating a fraudulent university atop a charter of “trust me, I got this.”

Is it any wonder, then, that some Trump supporters still assume the president knows what he’s doing, :lol even when all the evidence suggests otherwise?

“Can’t help it, but getting rid of Obama-sneaky BS is a good thing,” writes another Breitbart commenter. “That scoundrel had to be up to something censorious, anti-freedom or something similar.”

https://thinkprogress.org/gutting-online-privacy-trump-9f1f58f43a37

:lol

boutons_deux

03-30-2017, 03:30 PM

‘Change Libel Laws?’ Trump Slams New York Times and Threatens Media in New Tweet

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

The failing @nytimes (https://twitter.com/nytimes) has disgraced the media world. Gotten me wrong for two solid years. Change libel laws? http://nypost.com/2017/03/27/the-new-york-times-ongoing-dishonesty-only-helps-trump/amp/ … (https://t.co/QIqLgvYLLi)

the president is revisiting the idea of loosening libel laws.

While on the campaign trail (http://www.mediaite.com/tv/trump-promises-to-loosen-libel-laws-so-itll-be-easier-for-him-to-sue-newspapers/), Trump suggested it would make it easier for him to sue newspapers who wrote unfavorable coverage of him.

Trump is known for threatening lawsuits and sometimes following through against entities who do things he doesn’t like.

http://www.mediaite.com/online/change-libel-laws-trump-slams-new-york-times-and-threatens-media-in-new-tweet/

Bully can't fight his own fights, throws money at, hides behind lawyers.

pgardn

03-30-2017, 06:33 PM

http://www.politico.com/story/2017/03/donald-trump-new-york-times-libel-laws-236694

The Donald will probably have his people figure out a way to make taxpayers provide the funding if he launches lawsuits. The guy is just solidly transfixed on specific topics. It's like someone has messed with his hair, it's that bad.

Obessive compulsive disorder enabled by $ it seems.

Did Obama pick up Breitbart every morning just to get enraged?

boutons_deux

04-03-2017, 02:21 PM

Donald Trump Jr. pal and another US businessman asked security council to lift Venezuela sanctions

http://2d0yaz2jiom3c6vy7e7e5svk.wpengine.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/a56.jpg

Two businessmen with ties to the Trump family met with former national security adviser Michael Flynn and White House chief strategist Steve Bannon several times to discuss lifting sanctions on Venezuela.

Newly revealed documents show Texas financier Gentry Beach and international investor Wade Habboush met with Flynn five days before he resigned over his contacts with the Russian ambassador,

http://www.rawstory.com/2017/04/donald-trump-jr-pal-and-another-us-businessman-asked-security-council-to-lift-venezuela-sanctions-report/

The corruption will be unpresidented

boutons_deux

04-03-2017, 02:27 PM

East Chicago lead crisis highlights risk of proposed EPA cuts

“I thought we had regulations in place to protect us from pollution like this.”

In July, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) sent her a letter that said the soil in her front and back yards contained high concentrations of lead and arsenic. Officials from the EPA had taken soil samples more than a year previously, but Jimenez hadn’t heard from them since.

“I was angry and confused,” Jimenez said. “I thought we had regulations in place to protect us from pollution like this.”

Jimenez lives in East Chicago about a mile from the USS Lead smelting facility, now an EPA Superfund site. Lead pollution has endangered families, slashed property values and forced some residents to evacuate their homes. Locals have criticized the EPA for not addressing the problem sooner, and they are worried about President Trump’s proposed cuts to the agency’s budget.

Jimenez said that, based on data from the county assessor, the value of their home dropped in half after the area was labeled a Superfund site in 2009. Her home is one of 120 the EPA named for a round of cleanups this spring.

Since finding lead and arsenic concentrations in the soil, EPA officials have has gone door to door warning children not to play in the dirt. Some 20 percent of children under the age of seven living in the western part of the Superfund site had high levels of lead in their blood.

Research shows that there is no safe level of lead in the blood. Exposure to even small amounts of lead can cause irreversible brain damage, leading to lower IQ.

The risks are especially high for children and pregnant women. Miscarriage, behavioral abnormalities and cancer have all been linked to lead or arsenic exposure.

the EPA faces drastic cuts to programs that protect communities from toxic waste. Trump’s proposed budget includes a 42 percent cut to the cleanup of industrial pollution and a 23 percent cut to enforcement.

“States don’t have the funding to do testing or move people,” said Watkins. “It’s very scary to think budget cuts could leave this up to the states, and the EPA could be removed entirely.”

The proposed cuts threaten to further erode trust in the agency. “The EPA permitted the pollution that led to this crisis under their existing authority,” said local artist and activist Frank Thomas. “A weaker EPA is not the solution.”

https://thinkprogress.org/east-chicago-lead-crisis-highlights-risk-of-proposed-epa-cuts-2a2296fc334

As the new DNC chair recently said, "The Repugs don't give a shit about people"

boutons_deux

04-03-2017, 04:37 PM

'A dire collapse of hope' (http://www.dailykos.com/stories/2017/4/2/1648658/--A-dire-collapse-of-hope)

our current opiate epidemic has passed that gruesome marker, racking up 52,404 deaths. Today, opioid-related deaths outnumber those resulting from car accidents or guns.

these are “deaths of despair,” and combined with deaths from alcohol and suicide they have resulted in an alarming increase in the mortality rate of white, non-Hispanic Americans in mid-life.

To be more exact, Case and Deaton found that middle-aged, non-Hispanic Americans without a college degree experience a significantly higher mortality rate than those in advanced countries like the United Kingdom or Germany.

While everyone else in the United States is getting healthier and living longer, it’s that segment of whites who accounted (https://psmag.com/what-s-eating-white-america-445d850979b6#.zermfl2xl) for “half a million deaths” between 1999 and 2013.

To scientists, the sudden die-off in middle-of-the-road white Americans constitutes (https://psmag.com/what-s-eating-white-america-445d850979b6#.zermfl2xl)

a phenomenon “unprecedented in the annals of public health among developed nations”

with the exception of the post-U.S.S.R. deaths of Russian males and, in some ways, the first shock waves of the AIDs crisis in the early 1980s.

The causes of the increase in mortality and morbidity among white, non-Hispanics (WNH) seem to be equal parts economic inequality, with its accompanying lack of economic progress among WNH, and the opiod epidemic that has spread across the nation.

The increase in mortality among WNH is centered mostly among those lacking higher education and appears to have few geographical restrictions.

Joseph Stiglitz lays much of the blame (https://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/lower-life-expectancy-white-americans-by-joseph-e--stiglitz-2015-12) for the increase in deaths from suicide, drugs, and alcoholism on our growing economic inequality, and on the high price we, as a nation, pay for medical care which, for too long, has put it out of the reach of those who need it most.

Stiglitz also mentions the increase in mortality that occurred in Russia after the dissolution of the USSR.

http://images.dailykos.com/images/383849/large/Slide1.jpg?1490888705

The declining health of middle-aged white Americans may also shed light on the intensity of the political reaction taking place on the right today.

The role of suicide, drugs, and alcohol in the white midlife mortality reversal is

a signal of heightened desperation among a population in measurable decline.

We are not talking merely about “status anxiety” due to rising immigrant populations and changing racial and gender relations. Nor are we talking only about stagnation in wages as if the problem were merely one of take-home pay. The phenomenon Case and Deaton have identified

suggests a dire collapse of hope, and that same collapse may be propelling support for more radical political change.

Much of that support is now going to Republican candidates, notably Donald Trump.

Whether Democrats can compete effectively for that support on the basis of substantive economic and social policies will crucially affect the country’s political future.

http://www.dailykos.com/stories/2017/4/2/1648658/--A-dire-collapse-of-hope?detail=email&link_id=1&can_id=4217e8eb109c68bd0c2e4143dd2d8c15&source=email-a-dire-collapse-of-hope&email_referrer=a-dire-collapse-of-hope&email_subject=a-dire-collapse-of-hope

"support is now going to Republican candidates" who as Congressionals, put together a MASS MURDER AHCA plan.

America the beautifully CRAPIFIED

boutons_deux

04-03-2017, 05:56 PM

Repug FCC promoting fucking CHOICE!

FCC limits order on Charter extending broadband service

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-charter-idUSKBN1751LQ?feedType=RSS&feedName=domesticNews

Ajit Pai SUCKS at similes.

Comcast is so bad, Charter would have to work hard to be as bad or worse. Maybe they are are.

boutons_deux

04-03-2017, 09:49 PM

FCC Chairman Furthers Network Industry Monopoly over Video Services

An investigation launched by the FCC on January 17, 2017 concluded that AT&T and Verizon were in violation of the Open Internet Order and the Telecommunications Act of 1996 for providing favorable pricing for their zero-rate service to their in-house content providers. The service allowed providers like AT&T’s DirecTV to be accessed free of charge by the consumer, while other providers would have to pay a premium to offer their content for free through these networks.

On February 3, new FCC chairman, former Verizon lawyer, Ajit Pai rescinded the investigation, in favor of the zero rate programs.

In order to stay competitive with AT&T and Verizon’s free content, third party content creators must also deliver theirs for free to the consumer.

AT&T and Verizon currently own over 67 per cent of the United States network market, forcing

most third parties to distribute their content through them.

As most of them cannot pay the premiums charged by these networks, they must charge the consumer to view their content.

The consumer will then gravitate to the free content delivered by the networks,

effectively beginning the monopolization of the video distribution industry.

On March 1, 2017, both Verizon and AT&T announced they are going to expand their zero-rate services to encompass more of their own content. This will affect anyone who watches US video content, as independent content creators die off.

http://projectcensored.org/fcc-chairman-furthers-network-industry-monopoly-video-services/

"free market"! :lol Repug fuck consumers, innovations, small businesses at every chance

boutons_deux

04-04-2017, 09:54 AM

Even Trump Voters Hate This Bill He Just Signed

The GOP measure erasing broadband privacy protections is even more unpopular than the party’s failed plan to repeal Obamacare.

WASHINGTON ― President Donald Trump (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/news/donald-trump/) signed a bill (http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/327107-trump-signs-internet-privacy-repeal) on Monday that repeals rules that would have banned telecom and cable companies from sharing customers’ personal information, including web browsing history, without their consent.

But the vast majority of Americans—including Trump supporters—don’t think internet service providers should be allowed to share customers’ sensitive data without their permission at all, according to a HuffPost/YouGov survey (http://big.assets.huffingtonpost.com/tabs_HP_Online_Privacy_20170330.pdf) published Monday.

Prior to the president signing the bill into law,

nearly three-fourths of Republicans and Democrats said they wanted him to veto it.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/trump-online-privacy-poll_us_58e295e7e4b0f4a923b0d94a?trj&

yet again confirming the Princton oligarchy paper: Repugs pander to the preference of their BigDonor, while ignoring the preferences of their voters 99% of the time.

btw, no dog-and-pony watch-me show by Trash who signed the bill with nobody around.

boutons_deux

04-04-2017, 09:55 AM

Trump’s Expected Pick To Lead The Army Sponsored Anti-LGBTQ Bill In Tennessee

It’s a big change from President Barack Obama’s Army secretary, who was the first openly gay person to hold the job.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/mark-green-army-secretary_us_58e27116e4b0b3918c8549c1

He's probably warriors-will-be-warriors pro-rape, too.

boutons_deux

04-04-2017, 10:00 AM

Donald Trump Defunds Global Maternal Health Organization

Last year the funding helped prevent an estimated 10,000 maternal deaths and 100,000 unsafe abortions.

Trump’s administration halted all U.S. grants to the United Nations Population Fund, an international humanitarian aid organization that provides reproductive health care and works to end child marriage and female genital cutting in more than 150 countries.

The State Department invoked the 1985 Kemp-Kasten Amendment (http://www.lifenews.com/2017/01/24/president-donald-trump-defunds-unfpa-which-promotes-abortions-worldwide/), which he said will ensure that “U.S. taxpayer dollars do not fund organizations or programs that support or participate in the management of a program of coercive abortion or involuntary sterilization.”

The UNFPA does not provide or promote abortions. The organization works in China to make reproductive health program voluntary and rights-based and has advocated against the country’s one-child policy. The Trump administration did not explain exactly how it determined that the UNFPA violated any U.S. law.

Trump’s move will pull $76 million from the UNFPA ― about 7 percent of its budget. In 2016, the funding provided access to contraceptives to 800,000 people around the world and prevented an estimated 100,000 unsafe abortions and 10,000 maternal deaths, according to the organization.

At the Zaatari refugee camp in Jordan, for instance, UNFPA-supported health providers have managed to deliver more than 7,000 babies without a single maternal death.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/trump-defunds-un-population-fund_us_58de8cece4b0b3918c831b79

Trash doesn't GAF about women's health, or abortions.

He's throwing bones with this, and the GAG rule, to satisfy Christian Taliban who are pro-birth, not pro-life, and of course, misogynist, like all Repugs and their supporters.

boutons_deux

04-04-2017, 11:01 AM

Donald Trump’s donation to the National Park Service is nothing more than a publicity stunt

In order for the president to make up for his proposed $1.6 billion budget cuts to the Interior Department, which will almost certainly hinder the everyday “maintenance of national parks and historic sites, (https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/politics/trump-presidential-budget-2018-proposal/?utm_term=.f7b9cd8e383b#dept-22)” he would need to donate roughly his next 20,425 paychecks,

the proposed budget 12 percent cuts to the Interior Department stand to eliminate funding for 49 National Heritage Areas. It would also substantially decrease funding for public land acquisition offices.

http://www.salon.com/2017/04/04/donald-trumps-donation-to-the-national-park-service-is-nothing-more-than-a-publicity-stunt/

Like all Repugs, Trash insults his supporters' limited intelligence, but that's appropriate, because they are fucking stupid to believe his non-stop bullshit.

boutons_deux

04-06-2017, 12:58 PM

What Jeff Sessions’ Police Review Means for Federal Reform

For nearly 25 years, the federal government has been investigating police departments for patterns of unconstitutional policing, and compelling them to reform through court-enforced agreements.

Now, in one of his first acts as attorney general, Jeff Sessions seems poised to

abandon the only tool that the federal government has to force structural change in troubled departments.
“It is not the responsibility of the federal government to manage non-federal law enforcement agencies,”

Sessions said he wanted to ensure the agreements don’t conflict with the Trump administration’s priorities, which include protecting the public, promoting officer safety, morale and public respect for their work;

and respecting civil rights. :lol From a life-long RACIST from AL :lol

He added that the “misdeeds of individual bad actors” shouldn’t be used to undermine officers or agencies, and that local departments were best placed to implement best policing practices.

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/article/sessions-police-review-means-for-federal-reform/

Repugs fucking America, Americans in to unfuckability.

Sessions will gut the DoJ civil rights division like dubya did, no enforcement of civil rights, esp not for knitters, Mexicans.

Sessions LIES about isolated rotten cops. Entire depts, plus the DAs, prosecutors are systemically colluding, corrupt, murderous, untouchable.

boutons_deux

04-07-2017, 06:45 PM

From a newsletter

Donald Trump’s budget director Mick Mulvaney recently declared climate change science research “a waste of your money.” Moments ago, the Environmental Protection Agency acted on that radical vision.

Bloomberg is reporting that climate denier Scott Pruitt's EPA is eliminating its programs designed to help states cope with the catastrophic efforts of climate change.

After issuing an executive order to dismantle President Obama’s climate action legacy, Donald Trump is now going after climate preparedness, leaving the most vulnerable areas without critical funds.

Today’s news is the latest front in Trump’s war on science. From pushing an unprecedented 31% cut to the EPA’s budget to censoring science from an agency office’s mission statement, Trump and Pruitt are rolling back decades of progress.

And just last week, Trump’s appointees ignored the EPA’s scientists to rubber stamp a controversial pesticide.

Christine Todd Whitman, the first EPA administrator under President George W. Bush, called this agenda to undermine the EPA “a threat to the health and well-being of all Americans.”
===============

A vast majority of Human-Americans PREFER environmental defense, while Corporate-Americans want to destroy the environment for profit.

boutons_deux

04-07-2017, 07:02 PM

Vanita Gupta and Corey Stoughton at The New York Times write—Don’t Let Jeff Sessions Undermine Police Reform (https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/05/opinion/dont-let-jeff-sessions-undermine-police-reform.html?ref=opinion):

Attorney General Jeff Sessions recently ordered a review of federal agreements with a number of local law enforcement agencies aimed at reforming troubled departments.

As a first step, the Justice Department on Monday asked (https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/03/us/justice-department-jeff-sessions-baltimore-police.html?_r=0)a judge to delay a consent decree (https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/03/us/justice-department-jeff-sessions-baltimore-police.html?_r=0) that would overhaul Baltimore’s police force.

On its face, Mr. Sessions’s (https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/3535148-Consentdecreebaltimore.html)order (https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/3535148-Consentdecreebaltimore.html) simply asks whether the consent decrees promote public safety, support officers, respect local control and are warranted.

But underlying the order is the Trump administration’s belief that efforts to align police practices with the Constitution have compromised public safety and thrown police officers under the bus.

This couldn’t be farther from the truth.

http://www.dailykos.com/stories/2017/4/6/1650601/-Abbreviated-pundit-round-up-Trump-s-vulgar-misogyny-helped-him-Sessions-undermines-police-reform?detail=email&link_id=7&can_id=4217e8eb109c68bd0c2e4143dd2d8c15&source=email-read-the-vengeful-note-trump-sent-the-cnn-chief-after-they-released-the-pssy-grabbing-tape-2&email_referrer=read-the-vengeful-note-trump-sent-the-cnn-chief-after-they-released-the-pssy-grabbing-tape-2&email_subject=read-the-vengeful-note-trump-sent-the-cnn-chief-after-they-released-the-pssy-grabbing-tape

A Federal judge blocked life-long racist Sessions' attempt to kill Baltimore agreed-to consent degree, which is why Repugs want pollute the Federal judgeship with extreme right wing activist assholes.

boutons_deux

04-07-2017, 07:15 PM

life-long racist Sessions will try to shut most or all of this:

Fixing the Force (http://apps.frontline.org/fixingtheforce/?linkId=36274484)

Since 1994, the Justice Department has had the power to investigate (http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/article/inside-20-years-of-federal-police-probes/) law enforcement agencies nationwide for a pattern or practice of civil-rights violations.

Federal officials can then compel departments with systemic problems to enter agreements to reform.

Explore the investigations by location, date, allegation or status, then click for more details about each case.

http://apps.frontline.org/fixingtheforce/?linkId=36274484

"law and order" in Repugs/right-wing pie-holes has always meant harass, abuse, brutalize, lockup, fuck over, shoot the knitters.

boutons_deux

04-10-2017, 11:55 AM

Sessions orders Justice Dept. to end forensic science commission, suspend review policy

Attorney General Jeff Sessions will end a Justice Department partnership with independent scientists to raise forensic science standards and has suspended an expanded review of FBI testimony across several techniques that have come under question, saying a new strategy will be set by an in-house team of law enforcement advisers.

In a statement Monday (http://apps.washingtonpost.com/g/documents/local/justice-department-to-seek-public-comment-on-forensic-sciences/2403/), Sessions said he would not renew the National Commission on Forensic Science, a roughly 30-member advisory panel of scientists, judges, crime lab leaders, prosecutors and defense lawyers chartered by the Obama administration in 2013.

A path to meet needs of overburdened crime labs will be set by a yet-to-be named senior forensic adviser and an internal department crime task force,

https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/public-safety/sessions-orders-justice-dept-to-end-forensic-science-commission-suspend-review-policy/2017/04/10/2dada0ca-1c96-11e7-9887-1a5314b56a08_story.html?utm_term=.01b42e0176b4&wpisrc=nl_most-draw7&wpmm=1

Racist Sessions kicking the knitter in the balls, to the detriment of "justice"

and of course, the Sessions' internal DoJ forensics people will be politicized, underfunded jokers.

boutons_deux

04-10-2017, 01:49 PM

Scientists Fear Climate Data Gap as Trump Aims at Satellites

Among the sweeping cuts in the Trump administration’s 53-page budget blueprint (https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/03/16/us/politics/document-Trump-2018-Budget.html) released last month, one paragraph stood out to climate researchers.

It proposed eliminating four of NASA (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/n/national_aeronautics_and_space_administration/index.html?inline=nyt-org)’s climate science missions, including instruments to study clouds, small airborne particles, the flow of carbon dioxide and other elements of the atmosphere and oceans.

The blueprint is as much a political document as a fiscal plan, in this case designed to send a message that the administration intends to pursue a long-sought goal of some conservatives: to clamp down on NASA’s study of Earth (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/science/topics/earth_planet/index.html?inline=nyt-classifier) rather than space.

But Congress may have other ideas, especially since the projects are not very costly.

The savings from eliminating the earth science programs, which include the missions, would total $102 million out of a proposed agency budget of $19 billion.

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/10/climate/trump-nasa-satellites-global-warming-data.html?partner=rss&emc=rss

boutons_deux

04-10-2017, 11:48 PM

What’s at Stake in Trump’s Proposed E.P.A. Cuts

President Trump’s proposed cuts to the E.P.A. include, clockwise from top left,

reductions to the Superfund program, which is cleaning the Gowanus Canal in Brooklyn;

the monitoring of public water systems like the one in Flint, Mich.; and

cuts to vehicle tests and certifications, which would affect automakers like Fiat/Chrysler.

The proposal calls for added security for Scott Pruitt, :lol the agency’s new administrator, bottom left.

The Trump administration’s proposed cuts to the Environmental Protection Agency budget are deep and wide-ranging.

It seeks to shrink spending by 31 percent, to $5.7 billion from $8.1 billion, and

to eliminate a quarter of the agency’s 15,000 jobs.

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/10/climate/trump-epa-budget-cuts.html?partner=rss&emc=rss (https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/10/climate/trump-epa-budget-cuts.html?partner=rss&emc=rss)

My guess is the Repugs will approve all of it. Destroying the EPA and the environment, killing Ms of people is 1%/VRWC/BigCorp strategy

boutons_deux

04-10-2017, 11:53 PM

Spicer is a piece of crap

Sean Spicer Contradicts Various Trump Cabinet Members by Referring to ‘Allies, Like Russia’

Our ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley says (http://www.mediaite.com/online/we-cannot-trust-russia-nikki-haley-says-trump-should-take-election-interference-seriously/) we can’t trust Russia.

After an attack in Syria, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said (http://www.mediaite.com/online/tillerson-russia-complicit-or-simply-incompetent-in-preventing-syrias-chemical-gas-attack/) Russia was either complicit or incompetent.

New National Security Advisor H. R. McMaster reportedly (https://www.aol.com/article/news/2017/02/22/mcmaster-differs-from-trump-on-russia-other-key-issues/21719299/) sees Russia as an adversary.

Sean Spicer calling Russia one of our “allies” :lol

http://www.mediaite.com/online/sean-spicer-contradicts-various-trump-cabinet-members-by-referring-to-allies-like-russia/

Trash making sure everybody's got the memo, on the same page :lol Trash truly an excellent executive. :lol

boutons_deux

04-11-2017, 10:58 AM

"Last year, President Obama's Labor Secretary successfully issued the "Fiduciary Rule."

This rule requires (http://click.actionnetwork.org/mpss/c/2AA/ni0YAA/t.26e/qbgqc87RQvG4h2T2qZex9A/h2/zR1J7iRW-2BzS6i1Q9SLTfweDE-2BbgldW-2BANtuAug6jAsTIMYNsKEzQLwjHITvviwKoKl6xEBuUc94kPZJ wLkoF01hD-2BLyyaS9J3VNt-2BtvO6KBkA5lSleVTpvoL2L-2Bg8P-2Fyv8Nwl6ApRjsRnwHwlEFLAbY4s76ZM4gwKRBUvWiVx-2Bw98ZFssPNdK7RiwPScQoN8NARjcejbMKfKAJyGcEbdsAObJk noCM-2FiKsktRMj1ogP85U5qtfbeiteDTzJ3ZcPWmjIdzZChEp9qwvv 9ND-2FTUfkvBv-2FPDZ2iWu2nKPZ5t8hX-2BqGykU5t90HOgcPD1GgDmAPlsX0epBAMWc8C3mYuOHRcY3Tuo GghtH-2BCmToD-2Fz6INwpRZ3jLZ0NrdCo8DuH6x-2BxumxptPd6YkTp7DzzPh9pou3hCezpwIwXOUwclmuXtHxnUef-2FAGQo2qy10-2BqgT) financial advisers to give you investment advice that is in your best interest, instead of steering you to investments that might give them kickbacks. It was slated to go into effect yesterday.

However, the Trump Administration—and Republicans in Congress—have sided with Wall Street to stop the Fiduciary Rule rule before it goes into effect.

It is now idefinitely delayed (http://click.actionnetwork.org/mpss/c/2AA/ni0YAA/t.26e/qbgqc87RQvG4h2T2qZex9A/h3/zR1J7iRW-2BzS6i1Q9SLTfweDE-2BbgldW-2BANtuAug6jAsTIMYNsKEzQLwjHITvviwKoKl6xEBuUc94kPZJ wLkoF01hD-2BLyyaS9J3VNt-2BtvO6KBkA5lSleVTpvoL2L-2Bg8P-2Fyv8Nwl6ApRjsRnwHwlEFLAbY4s76ZM4gwKRBUvWiVx-2BwXVh9Zbeg4qadtJIq3otmx1wska2Le0ZLK1Dja5P9n-2FI3b-2BzfuRa8E6uKPG4QbPHbyLUuqS7powDak-2BTdYUBLTJoLi-2FHkr-2BSyQINdUUfotPbc4-2BITSxfQ1O3hUWaW-2Bvcr8BNPx5rZ5HowZftKwLnoZOfztFcMv4OpwM7QOQGujjUns QdYKSgg52d3IRFz8VyKa4DZNs8QudceyYHhEwYKGLEn1-2Bgpmiy4SsP-2FMx3TEc-2FTqIIZ4Yq7C0FUD48ew4xA1bfzAezuD96cCOvSl-2FLxk).

Without the rule, current and future retirees stand to lose $17 BILLION each year to unscrupulous advisors. "

And Social Security is gonna get defunded by Repugs removing the withholding of SS from paychecks.

Crapification, indeed, unending and unstoppable.

boutons_deux

04-11-2017, 11:37 AM

Reporters, It’s Time To Investigate DeVos’ Department Of Education

http://www.nationalmemo.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/DeVos-1-668x501.jpeg

numerous media outlets published deep-dive investigations (https://mediamatters.org/research/2017/01/17/when-journalists-investigated-trumps-nominee-education-secretary-they-found-scores-unanswered/215034) into DeVos’ background, significant political contributions, potential conflicts of interest, far-right ideology, and negative influence on Michigan policies.

“DeVos takes press questions at events only occasionally, has yet to grant a formal interview with a major national education reporter, and heads a department that only intermittently provides answers in a timely manner – through a spokesperson whose name reporters are forbidden to use. The agency has even struggled to put out her weekly schedule in advance of public events.”

many of the temporary staffers in the Education Department are

veterans of the right-wing think tank echo chamber (https://mediamatters.org/research/2016/04/27/here-are-corporations-and-right-wing-funders-backing-education-reform-movement/210054) on “education reform,” and some have anti-LGBTQ and anti-black track records. Like DeVos, almost none have spent significant time as educators.

Journalists have already begun identifying new members of the Education Department staff — beachhead or otherwise — whose backgrounds raise strong conflict-of-interest questions (https://www.help.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/2017.03.30%20Letter%20to%20Secretary%20DeVos%20re% 20Eitel.pdf).

In March, The New York Timesreported (https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/17/business/education-for-profit-robert-eitel.html) that Robert Eitel, a vice president for regulatory legal services at for-profit college operator Bridgepoint Education Inc., is on leave from the position to work as a special assistant to Secretary DeVos.

Ethics experts told the Times that Eitel’s connections to Bridgepoint, in particular his legal work while the company faced several government investigations, could “bump up against federal rules involving conflicts of interest and impartiality.”

Eitel was recently granted written permission (https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/right-turn/wp/2017/03/21/trump-does-his-hires-no-favors-the-ordeal-of-an-ethical-public-servant/?utm_term=.d072ffd1814d) from ethics officials to work on regulations specifically affecting student loan repayment; under his legal leadership, Bridgepoint paid out “a settlement of more than $30 million over deceptive student lending (https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/17/business/education-for-profit-robert-eitel.html).”

Another early member of DeVos’ staff, Taylor Hansen, also has significant financial ties to the for-profit higher education world; he’s both a for-profit college lobbyist (https://www.propublica.org/article/for-profit-colleges-gain-beachhead-in-trump-administration) and the son of the former CEO of a student loan guarantee agency (https://www.insidehighered.com/quicktakes/2017/03/21/usa-funds-ties-education-department-adviser). As Bloomberg News reports, Hansen resigned (https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-03-20/betsy-devos-hands-victory-to-loan-firm-tied-to-adviser-who-just-quit) from his role at the Education Department in mid-March, just one day after the department announced a reversal on an Obama-era directive related to fees that loan guarantee agencies can charge some students who default on their loans. The change, Bloomberg explained,

“is almost certain to hand … a victory” — and possibly $15 million in additional revenue — to the company that, until very recently, was operated by Hansen’s father.

Jerry Falwell Jr. is the son of televangelist Jerry Falwell Sr. and the president of Liberty University, a Christian college in Virginia founded by Falwell Sr. in 1971. He has also been tapped

to head a “task force on higher education (https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/answer-sheet/wp/2017/02/23/evangelical-leader-falwell-it-was-steve-bannons-idea-that-i-lead-education-task-force/?utm_term=.79d3bcee6693)” in the Trump administration, reportedly at the insistence (https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/answer-sheet/wp/2017/02/23/evangelical-leader-falwell-it-was-steve-bannons-idea-that-i-lead-education-task-force/?utm_term=.fe38bec3e828) of senior White House official and former Breitbart.com executive Stephen Bannon.

Falwell Jr. has encouraged students to carry concealed weapons on campus in order to “end those Muslims (http://www.chronicle.com/blogs/ticker/liberty-u-president-urges-students-to-carry-concealed-weapons-on-campus/107155),” and

defended (https://mediamatters.org/research/2016/10/13/pro-trump-spin-cable-news-goes-rails/213821) President Donald Trump’s 2005 comments boasting about sexually assaulting women.

Liberty University also offers insight into Falwell Jr.’s leadership and priorities — the school is closely tied (http://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/plenty-of-anti-lgbt-speakers-at-trumps-convention/) to the Liberty Counsel, an anti-LGBTQ (https://www.splcenter.org/fighting-hate/intelligence-report/2017/active-hate-groups-2016) hate group (https://www.splcenter.org/fighting-hate/extremist-files/group/liberty-counsel), hosts (http://www.advocate.com/religion/2016/7/25/jerry-falwell-jr-i-agree-trumps-lgbt-platform-100-percent) extremist groups and individuals for campus events, and

prohibits (http://www.liberty.edu/media/1210/Student_Honor_Code.pdf) “sexual relations outside of a biblically ordained marriage between a natural-born man and a natural-born woman.”
Little information has come to light about Falwell’s plans for the higher education task force, but reports (http://www.cnn.com/2017/02/02/politics/jerry-falwell-jr-donald-trump-education-task-force/) indicate that

he is “particularly interested in curbing rules that require schools to investigate campus sexual assault under Title IX, a federal law that bans discrimination in education.”

The vast majority of “beachhead” officials within the Education Department have close connections to the right-wing “education reform” media echo chamber (https://mediamatters.org/research/2016/04/27/here-are-corporations-and-right-wing-funders-backing-education-reform-movement/210054) bankrolled by billionaires and private corporations — but little to no experience in the classroom.

http://www.nationalmemo.com/reporters-it-s-time-investigate-devos-department-education/

Crapification, wide and deep under corrupt Christian Taliban deVos

boutons_deux

04-11-2017, 08:13 PM

Trump’s Policies Are Already Making Workplaces More Toxic

The “wellbeing of America and the American worker is my North Star,” President Donald Trump trumpeted at a recent White House event (https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2017/03/31/remarks-president-trump-et-al-signing-trade-executive-orders).

But the Trump administration’s policies are already adversely affecting workers’ health by undermining occupational illness prevention—including for cancers, musculoskeletal disorders and respiratory diseases that afflict hundreds of thousands of U.S. workers.

“It couldn’t get much worse in terms of the federal government’s role in preventing the number of occupational illnesses and diseases,”

We weren’t doing this terribly well under a reasonably friendly administration so all bets are it’s now going to fall completely apart.”

Occupational fatalities remain a grave problem in the United States. In 2015, 4,836 people died on the job (https://www.bls.gov/iif/).

Yet the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) estimates that approximately ten times more (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12704620) Americans die per year from occupational diseases.

Of the 2,905,900 non-fatal workplace injuries and illnesses (https://www.bls.gov/iif/) the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) catalogued in 2015, about 187,900 were job-related illnesses (http://bit.ly/2nutBC5).

This number, like all official records of occupational illness, is considered a significant undercount (http://bit.ly/2kKVqYw).

Among other omissions, including very small workplaces and self-employed workers, these numbers don’t include work-related illnesses diagnosed after someone left a job or fully account for chronic conditions.

http://inthesetimes.com/working/entry/20056/trumps_policies_are_already_making_workplaces_more _toxic/

America the Beautiful Paragon of SocioEconomic Darwinism

boutons_deux

04-11-2017, 08:15 PM

Graves of Arizona farm workers vandalized with swastika, racist slurs (http://www.dailykos.com/stories/2017/4/11/1652216/-Graves-of-Arizona-farm-workers-vandalized-with-swastikas-racist-slurs)

http://images.dailykos.com/images/387995/story_image/Screen_Shot_2017-04-07_at_2.06.58_PM.png?1491928486

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2017/04/11/1652216/-Graves-of-Arizona-farm-workers-vandalized-with-swastikas-racist-slurs?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+dailykos%2Findex+%28Daily+Kos %29

boutons_deux

04-11-2017, 08:18 PM

Jeff Sessions Announces a New Crackdown on Immigrants and "Filth"

"This is the Trash era."

announce a new get-tough approach to immigration enforcement, directing federal prosecutors to pursue harsher charges against undocumented immigrants. "For those that continue to seek improper and illegal entry into this country,"

Sessions said nonviolent immigrants who enter the country illegally for a second time will no longer be charged with a misdemeanor—they'll be charged with a felony.

He also recommended that prosecutors charge "criminal aliens" with document fraud and aggravated identity theft, which carries a two-year minimum sentence.

Sessions also targeted gangs and cartels "that turn cities and suburbs into war zones, that rape and kill innocent citizens and who profit by smuggling poison and other human beings across our borders."

Invoking unusually severe language in the written version of his announcement, Sessions proclaimed, "It is here, on this sliver of land, where we first take our stand against this filth."

In contrast to the dire picture Sessions painted, crime rates in American border cities have been dropping (https://www.newamerica.org/weekly/112/crime-rates-are-lower-on-the-border/) for at least (https://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/washington/2011-07-15-border-violence-arizona_n.htm) five years.

Even after a year of increased violent crime (https://www.texastribune.org/2014/12/17/el-paso-still-safe-despite-murders-lawmakers-say/)—which officials said had nothing to do with cartels or spillover violence—

El Paso, Texas, is among the safest of its size in the nation.

http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2017/04/attorney-general-jeff-sessions-immigration

boutons_deux

04-11-2017, 08:22 PM

New Bill Could Kill PACE Financing if Approved,

Just as PACE programs have started to grow up (https://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/read/PACE-financiers-grabble-with-consumer-protections), they’re getting hit with federal legislation that, if passed, could cripple future growth.

By many measures, the programs, which are sponsored by state and local governments, are among the most successful energy-efficiency financing tools in U.S. history. However, the industry has also been hit with major concerns about a lack of consumer protections and accountability over energy savings. PACE providers have been actively seeking (https://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/read/PACE-financiers-grabble-with-consumer-protections) to address those issues this year, particularly in California, where the bulk of the programs operate.

Now the industry will also have to defend itself against federal legislation, which is using consumer protections as its calling card.

Last week (https://www.cotton.senate.gov/?p=press_release&id=653) Senator Tom Cotton, a Republican from Arkansas, introduced the Protecting Americans From Credit Exploitation (PACE) Act (https://www.congress.gov/bill/115th-congress/senate-bill/838), which requires PACE issuers to follow the same regulations and disclosures as banks and mortgage lenders. It would do so by subjecting PACE financing to the Truth in Lending Act that requires certain disclosures for mortgages.

Cotton said in a statement that the legislation seeks to “protect Americans from credit exploitation,” and will “reduce the advantage that PACE loan sharks have over hard-working Americans.”

Cotton was joined by former presidential candidate Senator Marco Rubio, a Republican from Florida, and Senator John Boozman, a Republican from Arkansas.

the change would “jeopardize the fundamental and unique attributes of PACE,” and would “undermine existing robust consumer protection standards.”

https://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/read/new-bill-could-kill-pace-financing-if-approved-industry-warns?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+GTM_Solar+%28GTM+Solar%29

boutons_deux

04-11-2017, 08:23 PM

Louisiana lawmaker asks Trump for funding help to keep racist monuments in New Orleans (http://www.dailykos.com/stories/2017/4/11/1652175/-Louisiana-lawmaker-asks-Trump-for-funding-help-to-keep-racist-monuments-in-New-Orleans)

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2017/04/11/1652175/-Louisiana-lawmaker-asks-Trump-for-funding-help-to-keep-racist-monuments-in-New-Orleans?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+dailykos%2Findex+%28Daily+Kos %29

Slave states! What's not to love?

boutons_deux

04-11-2017, 08:26 PM

Idaho Governor Says Cops Matter More Than The Public Or Its Representatives, Vetoes Forfeiture Reform Bill

State legislators had successfully pushed through an asset forfeiture (https://www.techdirt.com/blog/?tag=asset+forfeiture) reform bill with overwhelming support, but Governor Butch Otter vetoed it on April 6th

A 58-10 vote sent it to the governor's desk over the concerns of law enforcement, who apparently felt that law enforcement via asset forfeiture wouldjust be too difficult if some form of actual due process was recognized (http://magicvalley.com/news/local/govt-and-politics/house-oks-forfeiture-reform-rejects-heroin-murder-bill/article_24cc0dc2-952f-5604-b248-12ebf4654b71.html).

Governor Otter. His veto statement (https://assets.documentcloud.org/documents/3549315/april6vetoes.pdf) [PDF] makes the dubious assertion that Idaho law enforcement has never abused the process.

Otter also cited "public safety" as a reason for vetoing the reform bill. Somehow, seizing cash but letting suspected criminals go free makes us safer.

[T]here is a legitimate public safety concern associated with allowing those charged with drug crimes to keep money, cars and other civil assets that may be connected with those crimes. Not the least of these concerns is the potential for evidence to disappear or be tampered with.

https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20170410/10463937117/idaho-governor-says-cops-matter-more-than-public-representatives-vetoes-forfeiture-reform-bill.shtml

boutons_deux

04-11-2017, 08:29 PM

Education Secretary DeVos Withdraws Protections For Student Loan Borrowers

Relatively new federal guidelines (https://consumerist.com/2016/07/20/new-rules-aim-to-improve-customer-service-enhance-protections-on-federal-student-loans/)intended to to make the student loan repayment process more accurate and transparent have

all been rescinded today by Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos —

a move that consumer advocates says removes accountability for debt collectors and loan servicers.

https://consumerist.com/2017/04/11/education-secretary-devos-withdraws-protections-for-student-loan-borrowers/

boutons_deux

04-11-2017, 08:32 PM

Trump Targets the Legal Services Corporation

Another presidential assault on the courts and poor people—and another critical institution heedlessly threatened.

Beyond

eliminating the Corporation for Public Broadcasting,

the endowments for the arts and humanities, and

other extreme Heritage Foundation-inspired dismantling,

President Donald Trump’s budget blueprint (http://www.npr.org/2017/03/16/520379061/read-president-trumps-budget-blueprint) for the coming fiscal year

puts on the chopping block America’s core ideals of basic fairness and equal access to justice.

wiping out all federal financing for the 43-year-old Legal Services Corporation (LSC),

the publicly funded but independently run nonprofit that is the largest source of support for high-quality civil legal assistance to low-income Americans—and

a fundamental expression of the nation’s commitment to equal justice under law

http://prospect.org/article/trump-targets-legal-services-corporation

boutons_deux

04-11-2017, 08:33 PM

North Carolina House Bill Would Redefine Marriage As Only Heterosexual

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/north-carolina-house-republicans-marriage-bill?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+tpm-news+%28TPMNews%29

Racist, bigoted, Christian Sharia slave states! What's not to love?

boutons_deux

04-11-2017, 08:38 PM

Trump Drug Czar Nominee: Tough on Colombian Peasants, Not So Tough on Big Pharma

Marino is a former prosecutor now in his third term in the House, and will step down from the Congress to take up his new position. His rural congressional district has seen rising concern about heroin and opioids, and he serves on the House bipartisan committee combating the opioid epidemic.

He has authored two recent successful drug policy bills, but both have their critics.

the law is touted as aiming at "kingpins," but observers (http://extract.suntimes.com/news/10/153/19836/new-united-states-drug-war-policy-expands-extradition-transnational-drug-trafficking-act) south of the border have argued that the law "targets people on the lowest rungs of the trafficking ladder, i.e. Colombia's coca farmers."

Marino was also an author and key supporter of the 2016 Ensuring Patient Access and Effective Drug Enforcement Act (https://www.congress.gov/bill/114th-congress/senate-bill/483/text), which supporters characterized as balancing the needs of patients, the pharmaceutical industry, and law enforcement, but which critics describe (https://www.washingtonpost.com/investigations/the-dea-slowed-enforcement-while-the-opioid-epidemic-grew-out-of-control/2016/10/22/aea2bf8e-7f71-11e6-8d13-d7c704ef9fd9_story.html?utm_term=.37c95211b0a9) as a means of

undercutting the DEA's ability to hold pharmaceutical drug distributors accountable for the diversion of large amounts of opioid pain relievers.

"It is my understanding that Joe Rannazzisi, a senior DEA official, has publicly accused we sponsors of the bill of, quote, 'supporting criminals,' unquote,” Marino said (https://www.washingtonpost.com/investigations/the-dea-slowed-enforcement-while-the-opioid-epidemic-grew-out-of-control/2016/10/22/aea2bf8e-7f71-11e6-8d13-d7c704ef9fd9_story.html?utm_term=.37c95211b0a9). “This offends me immensely."

A week later, Marino and Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) demanded that the Justice Department Office of the Inspector General investigate Rannazzis for "intimidating" members of Congress.

Marino is will be the sort of drug czar who is tough on Colombian peasant farmers, but not so tough on major US pharmaceutical opioid manufacturers.

http://www.alternet.org/drugs/trump-drug-czar-nominess-tough-colombian-peasants-not-big-pharma

boutons_deux

04-12-2017, 10:30 AM

Trump Made It a Lot Easier for Oil Companies to Drill in National Parks

Some of our most iconic national parks—the Great Sand Dunes, the Everglades, and the Grand Tetons—are in danger of becoming the newest hotspots for oil and gas drilling in United States.

In late March, President Trump signed his 19th executive order, titled "Promoting Energy Independence and Economic Growth," (https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2017/03/28/presidential-executive-order-promoting-energy-independence-and-economi-1) which in addition to rolling back a number of Obama-era climate polices may also make it easier for energy companies to drill in America's national parks.

Buried in the 2,300-word executive order is a sentence directing the Secretary of the Interior, Ryan Zinke, to

review the rules which regulate oil and gas drilling in national parks and to repeal, suspend, or rescind them if they are found inconsistent with the president's energy goals.

http://www.motherjones.com/environment/2017/04/national-parks-oil-gas-drilling

boutons_deux

04-12-2017, 03:07 PM

the secretary of transportation, Elaine Chao, put on hold (https://skift.com/2017/03/03/trump-administration-backs-airlines-in-rollback-of-proposed-bag-fee-disclosures/) a much-needed Obama-era proposal (https://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/FR-2017-01-19/pdf/2017-00904.pdf) to require airlines to more clearly disclose extra fees for things like baggage.

She delayed for a year another rule (https://www.usatoday.com/story/travel/flights/todayinthesky/2017/03/20/dot-postpones-airline-reports-bags-wheelchairs/99407866/) to require companies to disclose information about the mishandling of wheelchairs and motorized scooters for disabled passengers.

https://mobile.nytimes.com/2017/04/11/opinion/fear-of-flying-for-good-reason.html

boutons_deux

04-12-2017, 03:43 PM

The government shutdown threats are coming from inside the White House! (http://www.dailykos.com/stories/2017/4/12/1652567/-The-government-shut-down-threats-are-coming-from-inside-the-White-House)

http://images.dailykos.com/images/340974/story_image/AP481397102551.jpg?1482178239

Mulvaney is reprising his role as a Freedom Caucus maniac to agitate for a government shutdown (https://secure.politico.com/story/2017/04/sanctuary-cities-crackdown-government-shutdown-237121) over sanctuary cities.

Mick Mulvaney, Trump’s director of the Office of Management and Budget, is pressing lawmakers to include language to restrict federal funding grants for cities that do not enforce federal immigration policies.

The goal is to bring the House Freedom Caucus on board with a government funding bill, according to Capitol Hill Republicans—or at least show that the administration is courting the support of the hard-right and pushing GOP leaders to adopt Trump's priorities.

But the effort by Mulvaney, a former conservative congressman from South Carolina, threatens to disrupt bipartisan negotiations on funding the government.

Democrats are already calling a request for border wall money a "poison pill" that would shut down the government.

An attempt to block liberal cities from receiving federal funds if they ignore immigration guidance would similarly cause Democrats to flee.

The budget bill will need Democratic votes to pass—at least eight in the Senate, but probably in the House as well.

You can take the maniac out of the House, but you can't take the Freedom Party out of the maniac.

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2017/04/12/1652567/-The-government-shut-down-threats-are-coming-from-inside-the-White-House?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+dailykos%2Findex+%28Daily+Kos %29

boutons_deux

04-12-2017, 04:17 PM

Keystone Kops Shutzstaffel news

'Incompetent' ICE halts mistake-riddled reports that aimed to shame sanctuary cities (http://www.dailykos.com/stories/2017/4/12/1652558/--Incompetent-ICE-halts-reports-shaming-sanctuary-cities-because-they-were-filled-with-mistakes)

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2017/04/12/1652558/--Incompetent-ICE-halts-reports-shaming-sanctuary-cities-because-they-were-filled-with-mistakes?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+dailykos%2Findex+%28Daily+Kos %29

boutons_deux

04-12-2017, 04:30 PM

Trash just killed 10Ks of jobs, exports

U.S. dollar drops sharply after Trump calls it 'too strong'

http://money.cnn.com/2017/04/12/news/economy/us-dollar-donald-trump-wsj/

boutons_deux

04-13-2017, 11:12 AM

Democrats Condemn Climate Change Skeptics for Targeting Teachers

Three top Democrats have urged a libertarian think tank to stop mailing climate change skeptical classroom materials to teachers across America.

?the Heartland Institute said it has no intention of desisting:

It has continued to send books and DVDs rejecting the human role in global warming to public school science teachers in all 50 states. Heartland project manager Lennie Jarratt said packages are also being distributed to science teachers at private and charter schools and to college professors.

An initial batch of 25,000 books was mailed out in early March, and two additional batches have been sent since, Jarratt said. In total, he said, more than 200,000 packages will be sent, with the goal of getting the materials into the hands of every science teacher in the country.

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/article/democrats-condemn-climate-change-skeptics-for-targeting-teachers/?utm_source=FBPAGE&utm_medium=social&utm_term=20170412&utm_content=858194811&linkId=36446489

HI is propaganda tool of BigCarbon, BigCorp

http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Heartland_Institute

easy to see why VRWC/Repugs/Trash plan to defund 100% CPB, PBS, NPR, as sources of truth.

boutons_deux

04-13-2017, 12:30 PM

boutons_deux

04-13-2017, 12:48 PM

Trump administration moving quickly to build up nationwide deportation Shutzstaffel

he railed against the dangers posed by illegal immigration. :lol

the agency has already found 33,000 more detention beds to house undocumented immigrants, opened discussions with dozens of local police forces that could be empowered with enforcement authority and identified where construction of Trump’s border wall could begin.

speed up the hiring of hundreds of new Customs and Border Patrol officers, including ending polygraph and physical fitness tests in some cases,

many lawmakers are already balking (https://www.washingtonpost.com/powerpost/republicans-skeptical-about-paying-for-wall-as-trump-prepares-to-release-budget/2017/03/15/dd2b5848-099b-11e7-b77c-0047d15a24e0_story.html?utm_term=.8f43bb6114ab) at approving billions in spending on the wall and additional border security measures.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-administration-moving-quickly-to-build-up-nationwide-deportation-force/2017/04/12/7a7f59c2-1f87-11e7-be2a-3a1fb24d4671_story.html?utm_term=.288f8c6ad6dd&wpisrc=nl_most-draw7&wpmm=1

Like the TSA and sheriff's depts, DHS, as employer of last resort, gonna be hiring fat-fuck losers

boutons_deux

04-13-2017, 09:57 PM

EPA chief gets it backward: It's Trump, not Obama, who offers a false choice on jobs vs. environment (http://www.dailykos.com/stories/2017/4/13/1652875/-EPA-chief-gets-it-backward-It-s-Trump-not-Obama-who-offers-a-false-choice-on-jobs-vs-environment)

“The president has sent a clear message that the last eight years, where we had to choose between jobs and the environment — those days are over.” [...]

“Two weeks ago we were at the EPA, joined by 40 or so coal miners from Pennsylvania. They were emotional about it because the war on coal ended; the war on fossil fuels ended,” Pruitt said.

“And this false choice between jobs and growth and the environment, we have rejected that,” he added.

Pruitt is right about one thing. The idea that we must pick between protecting the environment and having good jobs is, most definitely, a “false choice.

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2017/04/13/1652875/-EPA-chief-gets-it-backward-It-s-Trump-not-Obama-who-offers-a-false-choice-on-jobs-vs-environment?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+dailykos%2Findex+%28Daily+Kos %29

Pruitt, just another piece of lying shit and BigOil whore from Oklahoma.

boutons_deux

04-14-2017, 09:56 AM

Pruitt will guarantee that no more EPA people will do studies like this one

Chemicals Found in Many U.S. Streams: Study

Tests for more than 700 chemicals in 38 waterways turned up surprising combinations with unknown effects

The mixture of pollutants in many U.S. streams are more complicated and potentially more dangerous than previously thought,

Researchers checked for 719 organic chemicals in water samples from 38 streams across the United States

Every stream -- even those in wild and uninhabited areas -- had at least one of the chemicals and some had as many as 162,

The detected chemicals included: insecticides and herbicides, along with byproducts from their degradation; antibacterials such as triclosan; and medications such as antihistamines and the diabetes drug metformin.
Some of the chemicals were often detected together in streams.

https://medlineplus.gov/news/fullstory_164608.html

What Pruitt keeps us from knowing can't hurt us, right?

boutons_deux

04-14-2017, 09:58 AM

Betsy DeVos Pitches Voucher Schools at Only Public School Protesters Can't Get To: A Military Base

DeVos promotes privatization at military bases, religious schools and charter schools.

http://www.alternet.org/education/betsy-devos-has-go-military-base-pitch-voucher-schools

VRWC crapifying public education to enrich capitalists

Chucho

04-14-2017, 10:39 AM

Trump Gives States The Okay To Defund Planned Parenthood

He overturned Barack Obama’s rule protecting the family planning provide

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/trump-states-defund-planned-parenthood_us_58e2ac55e4b03a26a3652d3a?utm_medium= email&utm_campaign=Trump%20Gives%20States%20The%20Okay%2 0To%20Defund%20Planned%20Parenthood&utm_content=Trump%20Gives%20States%20The%20Okay%20 To%20Defund%20Planned%20Parenthood+CID_50c7d6655b7 aa9ccd5019229a3ec78e9&utm_source=Email%20marketing%20software&utm_term=Read%20More&%20Gives%20States%20The%20Okay%20To%20Defund%20Pla nned%20Parenthood

Good.
Planned Parenthood should never have made it past the civil rights movement tbh. Black genocide centers are unAmerican to say the least. Let alone, pregnancy clinics for idiots that don't know what happens if you jizz in some ovaries are not full service health care providers as the Left tries to position it as.

If you want your pills, get them through your ACA. If you can't afford rubbers, or pills, you really can't afford sex if the potential of having a kid kills you and then you will have to kill the kid.

#POTUSgettingResults

boutons_deux

04-14-2017, 12:29 PM

Donald Trash says no money for Head Start, but plenty to ramp up his deportation force (http://www.dailykos.com/stories/2017/4/12/1652601/-Donald-Trump-says-no-money-for-Head-Start-but-plenty-to-ramp-up-his-deportation-force)

These plans could be held up by the prohibitive costs outlined in the internal report and resistance in Congress where many lawmakers arealready balking (https://www.washingtonpost.com/powerpost/republicans-skeptical-about-paying-for-wall-as-trump-prepares-to-release-budget/2017/03/15/dd2b5848-099b-11e7-b77c-0047d15a24e0_story.html?utm_term=.8f43bb6114ab)at approving billions in spending on the wall and additional border security

http://www.dailykos.com/stories/2017/4/12/1652601/-Donald-Trump-says-no-money-for-Head-Start-but-plenty-to-ramp-up-his-deportation-force?detail=email&link_id=13&can_id=4217e8eb109c68bd0c2e4143dd2d8c15&source=email-cnn-commentator-compares-donald-trump-to-mlk-jr-and-the-response-was-standing-ovation-worthy&email_referrer=cnn-commentator-compares-donald-trump-to-mlk-jr-and-the-response-was-standing-ovation-worthy&email_subject=cnn-commentator-compares-donald-trump-to-mlk-jr-and-the-response-was-standing-ovation-worthy

boutons_deux

04-14-2017, 12:57 PM

DeVos Fights Scourge of Discrimination

Betsy DeVos finds lawyer who decried discrimination against white people and puts her in charge of (http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/candice-jackson-education-department-civil-rights-office-anti-white-discrimination) the Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights.

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/devos-fights-scourge-of-discrimination?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+tpm-news+%28TPMNews%29

boutons_deux

04-14-2017, 01:14 PM

White House Announces it Will Not Disclose Visitor Logs

“grave national security risks and privacy concerns.”

http://www.mediaite.com/online/white-house-announces-it-will-not-disclose-visitor-logs/

:lol

boutons_deux

04-14-2017, 01:20 PM

the racist, bigoted PRICK from AL in action

Dropping Suit, Trump's DOJ Continues 'Abandoning Transgender Americans'

Justice Dept. on Friday withdraws suit against North Carolina over anti-LGBTQ law

https://www.commondreams.org/news/2017/04/14/dropping-suit-trumps-doj-continues-abandoning-transgender-americans

... because Christ HATES faggots, the Bible says so.

boutons_deux

04-14-2017, 01:43 PM

Censorship at the Border Threatens Free Speech Everywhere
the Trump administration, under the rubric of “extreme vetting,” is considering taking a further step (https://www.wsj.com/articles/trump-administration-considers-far-reaching-steps-for-extreme-vetting-1491303602) by mandating that non-citizens disclose their social media handles and passwords and answer questions about ideology as a condition of admission to the country.

The aim is to empower consular and border officials to ensure that would-be visitors to the United States embrace American values, a concept that the Trump administration has not defined.

Secretary of Homeland Security John Kelly defended the idea in congressional testimony (https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/05/us/politics/john-kelly-homeland-security-border-wall-mexico.html) last week.

“If they don’t cooperate,” he said of aspiring visitors, “they can go back.”

https://www.commondreams.org/views/2017/04/14/censorship-border-threatens-free-speech-everywhere

Repug America is one nasty place.

boutons_deux

04-14-2017, 02:51 PM

Stay classy, Repugs, and country down-home

US governor unveils dung on budget plan

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-39603371

boutons_deux

04-15-2017, 06:54 AM

‘Nobody’s got to use the Internet’: GOP’s Sensenbrenner calls Internet optional as FCC readies to limit broadband

http://2d0yaz2jiom3c6vy7e7e5svk.wpengine.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/Rep.-Jim-Sensenbrenner-YouTube.png

As Republican lawmakers continue to defend their decision to vote to roll back a set of broadband privacy rules (http://www.ibtimes.com/internet-privacy-vote-congress-decides-kill-rules-preventing-isps-collecting-selling-2516770) that would have required internet service providers to ask for permission before collecting user data,

the Federal Communications Commission is readying more drastic changes to the regulatory oversight of the internet.

http://www.rawstory.com/2017/04/nobodys-got-to-use-the-internet-gops-sensenbrenner-calls-internet-optional-as-fcc-readies-to-limit-broadband/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+TheRawStory+%28The+Raw+Story% 29

Repug WHORES paid to fuck up shit for the gouging profits of BigCorp

boutons_deux

04-15-2017, 10:56 AM

...

boutons_deux

04-17-2017, 05:13 AM

Trump nominated another person to lead an agency they once worked to eliminate

Former Rep. Scott Garrett called the Ex-Im bank “corporate welfare.”

On Friday afternoon, the White House announced (https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2017/04/14/president-donald-j-trump-announces-intent-nominate-personnel-key) that Donald Trump would nominate former Rep. Scott Garrett (R-NJ) to be president of the Export-Import Bank, which he tried to kill two years ago. Garrett called the government bank, whose mission is to boost American exports, a “corporate welfare program.”

Garrett, a founding member of the archconservative House Freedom Kockus, said (https://www.c-span.org/video/?c4666284/scott-garrett-export-import-bank)

the bank “embodies the corruption of the free enterprise system.”

It’s another example of the White House selecting people to run agencies they have worked to kill

https://thinkprogress.org/ex-im-bank-is-corporate-welfare-of-course-ill-lead-it-d00d2d554bb

boutons_deux

04-17-2017, 05:17 AM

A genuine jackass is now the White House 'women's issues' lead. Women should vote their identity (http://www.dailykos.com/stories/2017/4/14/1653240/-A-Genuine-JackA-s-Is-Now-The-White-House-Women-s-Issues-Lead-Women-Should-Vote-Their-Identity)

http://images.dailykos.com/images/365946/story_image/160327103842-donald-trump-melania-trump-tweet-stephen-miller-sotu-00000000-large-169.jpg?1487037167

As if women weren’t having a hard enough time in America, white nationalist Stephen Miller is now the White House ‘point person’ on women’s issues.

The 31-year-old speechwriter [Stephen Miller] is now working closely with Kushner’s Office of American Innovation, as well as on family leave, child care and women’s issues with Kushner’s wife, Ivanka Trump, according to several people involved.

The only public knowledge we have of Stephen Miller’s thoughts about women’s issues is a 2005 op ed he wrote (http://www.dukechronicle.com/article/2005/11/sorry-feminists) while still in college explaining that the reason women are paid less than men is because women don’t work as hard and don’t get the right jobs...like plumbing and sewer cleaning.

The problem with feminist theory lies with what kind of equality feminists are demanding. Women already have equal rights in this country. They enjoy all the same protections and liberties as men. What feminists demand now is equal results. Case in point: correcting the pay gap.

Feminists love to proclaim that women make only 76 cents for every dollar a man makes. These unequal results, they argue, are proof-positive of widespread gender discrimination. What they don't tell you is that, amazingly, this figure isn't adjusted for hours worked. The pay gap gets a lot smaller when you account for the fact that women work about only 85 percent as many hours as men and are responsible for only 10 percent of all overtime worked.

Women also choose lower-paying professions. Educated women are far more likely than educated men to go into service fields such as teaching and social working-admirable professions but ones that don't pay nearly as well as careers in business.

Men sacrifice much as well. Whether it's plumbing toilets, cleaning up sewers or picking up garbage, men tend to do all the dirty work in society. Naturally, the pay for these professions is given a boost because few people are willing to do them.

Men do the lion's share of the hazardous work, as well. From construction to late-night road repairs to policing the streets, the male work force puts itself in much more danger. Of all work-related deaths in a given year, about 95 percent are men. These high-strain and high-risk jobs pay better than careers requiring similar education but with fewer hazards.

There are still more factors to explain the pay gap-women are less likely to ask for a raise than men, women entered the work force more recently and are less credentialed, women are less likely to work night shifts, many women take off several years after having a child and so on-but the point is that the pay gap has virtually nothing to do with gender discrimination. Sorry, feminists. Hate to break this good news to you.

he is now the White House point person on issues affecting half of the US population.

And. This. Is. Why. Women. Should. Always. Vote. Their. Identity. Lord knows men do.

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2017/04/15/1653240/-A-Genuine-JackA-s-Is-Now-The-White-House-Women-s-Issues-Lead-Women-Should-Vote-Their-Identity?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+dailykos%2Findex+%28Daily+Kos %29

boutons_deux

04-17-2017, 05:38 AM

Opinion: Trump Wants Churches To Be Taxpayer-Funded Republican Super PACs

Repealing the Johnson Amendment will create a loophole in campaign disclosure laws

Trump intends on making American taxpayers subsidize and support evangelical efforts to politicize their pulpits and elect more religious Republicans, while taking unearned entitlements that number in the hundreds-of-billions of taxpayer dollars.

In 2013 the number was estimated (https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=13&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwiHnsnp4KfTAhUnhlQKHWT3DCAQFghaMAw&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.washingtonpost.com%2Fnews%2F wonk%2Fwp%2F2013%2F08%2F22%2Fyou-give-religions-more-than-82-5-billion-a-year%2F&usg=AFQjCNH2Pmz6lPVFzFdChRf7zf-0HqgCvQ&sig2=Jzad-nCn2jPywbXvZ3oI4A&bvm=bv.152479541,d.cGw) to be about $82.5 billion annually; it has certainly increased over the past four years.

For an idea of how much (http://www.cnn.com/2017/03/16/politics/meals-on-wheels-trump-budget-blueprint/) that robs the people, since the Meals on Wheels program began in 1974, “The federal government has spent over $150 billion on this grant since its inception.”

Trump had pledged to abolish the Johnson Amendment (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johnson_Amendment) that bans churches from campaigning for Republicans from the pulpit while enjoying tax exemptions costing taxpayers well over tens-of-billions of dollars every year.

insert the “repeal” in a storied tax reform plan.

Trump will give the religious right free reign to continue robbing billions more from taxpayers to campaign for Republicans who perpetually complain about other Americans getting “free stuff” as justification to cut social programs to save money.

As remuneration to the religious right for helping Russia elect him, Trump will fulfill his vow to totally destroy the Johnson Amendment; a move opponents and this author know will “effectively turn churches into Republican super PACs.”

The move was applauded by evangelicals, particularly chairman of the Faith and Freedom Coalition, Ralph Reed, who claims abolishing the Johnson Amendment was every evangelical’s highest priority in helping elect Trump.

he chairman of the House Ways and Means committee, Kevin Brady (R-TX) pledged in February to insert abolition of the Johnson Amendment in any tax reform legislation.

Brady said:“Places of worship across America need to be free to practice their faith without worrying about Washington or the IRS targeting their religious freedom. So in our tax reform we’re going to repeal the damaging effects of the [60 year old] Johnson Amendment once and for all.”

at the unconstitutional National Prayer Breakfast and told the faithful precisely what they came to hear:“I will get rid of and totally destroy the Johnson Amendment and allow our representatives of faith to speak freely and without fear of retribution. I will do that, remember.”

http://www.politicususa.com/2017/04/16/trump-churches-taxpayer-funded-republican-super-pacs.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+politicususa%2FfJAl+%28Politi cus+USA+%29

More proof that Christian "pastors", evangelicals are venal grifters. Their highest value is their wealth, not Christ.

boutons_deux

04-17-2017, 11:33 AM

Energy Star ratings are cheap, effective and popular. Why does Trump want to kill them?

Coommercial real estate giant CBRE is always on alert for shifts in federal government policy that might impact its vast property management and investment business.But the Los Angeles-based Fortune 500 company never anticipated an effort to eliminate

a voluntary, cost-effective (https://www.ioes.ucla.edu/article/green-building-programs-show-big-results-big-buildings/) initiative that has saved its customers millions of dollars and had almost no critics.

In a reflection of how much influence a handful of free-market think tanks wield over the White House,

the Trump administration has decided the immensely popular Energy Star program must go.

The fight centers on the Environmental Protection Agency (http://www.latimes.com/topic/environmental-issues/u.s.-environmental-protection-agency-ORGOV000048-topic.html)’s 25-year-old effort to boost efficiency in products and services by encouraging companies to compete for coveted, government-issued labels that certify a product or property meets high standards

Functioning like a government seal of approval, the Energy Star program costs taxpayers a pittance and is widely beloved by the 16,000 companies and organizations that participate.

Now it is fast becoming a test case of how committed the Trump administration is to pursuing

the agenda of once-fringe groups seeking to slash government programs wherever they can.
“Never in my wildest thoughts have I considered something like this,”

emerged after Trump placed Myron Ebell, a prominent climate skeptic, in charge of his EPA transition team.

Ebell has been one of the most visible critics of voluntary government energy efficiency programs like Energy Star.
“The EPA is meant to improve environmental quality,” said Ebell, director of environmental initiatives at the

Competitive Enterprise Institute, a libertarian think tank on the forefront of disputing the scientific consensus on climate change, as well as the health impacts of tobacco.

Ebell has been one of the most visible critics of voluntary government energy efficiency programs like Energy Star.

http://www.latimes.com/politics/la-na-pol-trump-energy-star-20170412-story.html

Repugs implement extreme VRWC ideology, fucking everything within reach.

boutons_deux

04-17-2017, 03:16 PM

Holy shit

John Kelly says weed is ‘not a factor’ in the drug war
http://2d0yaz2jiom3c6vy7e7e5svk.wpengine.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/Marine_Corps_Gen._John_F._Kelly_commander_of_U.S._ Southern_Command_discusses_the_latest_developments _in_his_commands_efforts_to_stem_the_flow_of_drugs _from_South_and_Central_America_while_briefing_rep orters_140313-D-NI589-035c.jpg

http://www.rawstory.com/2017/04/john-kelly-says-weed-is-not-a-factor-in-the-drug-war/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+TheRawStory+%28The+Raw+Story% 29

Sessions doesn't agree, will go after blacks and browns more than ever for possessing mj, go after mj pharmacies, etc, etc.

boutons_deux

04-17-2017, 03:18 PM

Texas bathroom bill targeting trans people would also strip rights for veterans, elderly and pregnant women

A bill sponsored by Texas state House Republicans aims to nullify anti-discriminations protections for transgender people who use public bathrooms, but the bill would also have the unintended consequence of endangering the bathroom rights of the elderly, disabled veterans and pregnant women.

“It’s a one-sided proposition in that it forbids a city from protecting someone from discrimination but it doesn’t forbid a city from discriminating against a person,” Southern Methodist University constitutional professor Dale Carpenter told the paper.

“It is very rare, if not unprecedented, to see actual language in a statute prohibiting classes of persons from being protected from discrimination.” :lol This fucking Christian Taliban Texas

http://www.rawstory.com/2017/04/texas-bathroom-bill-targeting-trans-people-would-also-strip-rights-for-veterans-elderly-and-pregnant-women/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+TheRawStory+%28The+Raw+Story% 29

boutons_deux

04-18-2017, 05:26 PM

Sessions "got to" Kelly after he made a rational statement about mj, Sessions put him on the same page

DHS' Kelly, Changing Course: Marijuana Is 'A Potentially Dangerous Gateway Drug'

Two days after saying that marijuana was “not a factor” in the in the drug war, the Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security warned that it was “a potentially dangerous gateway drug” and said his agency would pursue the enforcement of laws against it.

In an interview (http://www.nbcnews.com/meet-the-press/video/full-kelly-interview-visa-overstays-are-a-big-problem-for-immigration-enforcement-922041923875) with NBC’s Chuck Todd Sunday, DHS Secretary John Kelly said that marijuana was “not a factor” in the drug war (methamphetamines, cocaine and heroin were, he said). He seemed to change his tone Tuesday in a speech at George Washington University, according to a copy of prepared remarks provided by DHS.

(now that Sessions has bitch slapped my sycophantic ass...)

“And let me be clear about marijuana. It is a potentially dangerous gateway drug :lol

that frequently leads to the use of harder drugs,” Kelly said, adding: “Its use and possession is against federal law and until the law is changed by the U.S. Congress we in DHS are sworn to uphold all the laws on the books.”

“DHS personnel will continue to investigate marijuana’s illegal pathways along the network into the U.S., its distribution within the homeland, and will arrest those involved in the drug trade according to federal law,” he continued. “CBP will continue to search for marijuana at sea, air and land ports of entry and when found take similar appropriate action.”

And marijuana possession, distribution and convictions thereof, Kelly said, would be considered “essential elements” for ICE “as they build their deportation / removal apprehension packages for targeted operations against illegal aliens. They have done this in the past, are doing it today, and will do it in the future.”

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/kelly-marijuana-potentially-dangerous-gateway-drug-dhs?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+tpm-news+%28TPMNews%29

boutons_deux

04-19-2017, 09:37 AM

Energy secretary targets wind, solar after overseeing renewables explosion as Texas governor

U.S. Energy Secretary Rick Perry didn’t mention renewable energy by name. But his request for the Department of Energy (DOE) to investigate how federal subsidies boost one form of energy at the expense of baseload generation was clearly meant as a swipe at wind and solar energy resources.

In an April 14 memo to his chief of staff, a copy of which DOE provided to ThinkProgress, Perry directed the agency to look at the extent to which “continued regulatory burdens, as well as mandates and tax and subsidy policies, are responsible for forcing the premature retirement of baseload power plants.”[/COLOR]

https://thinkprogress.org/energy-secretary-throws-bone-to-coal-nukes-with-review-of-wind-solar-subsidies-be58bc5af9f1

Jimmy Ricky is too fucking ignorant, stupid to even think about "baseload", but he corrupt enough to do whatever BigCarbon dictates.

boutons_deux

04-19-2017, 09:39 AM

Trump Has Okayed a Pesticide That Terrifies These Families

Under Barack Obama, the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) proposed an agricultural ban on chlorpyrifos,

one pesticide widely used in her region, based on the growing body of research (https://www.regulations.gov/document?D=EPA-HQ-OPP-2015-0653-0454) documenting the risks for farm workers and communities, including links to brain damage in children.

Donald Trump's administration, however, has rejected (https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/29/us/politics/epa-insecticide-chlorpyrifos.html?_r=0) the science, announcing a reversal of the ban.

That means that despite recent victories for families and environmentalists who have fought (https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2017/apr/05/environmentalists-sue-epa-pesticide-chlorpyrifos) for more than a decade for protections from the insecticide, widespread use will continue in California, where a majority of the fruits and nuts in the US are grown.

http://www.motherjones.com/environment/2017/04/slow-death-families-fear-pesticide-poisoning-after-trump-reverses-ban

Repugs fucking America and Americans.

boutons_deux

04-19-2017, 09:44 AM

Scott Pruitt's New Plan for the EPA Will Destroy Towns Like This One

Scott Pruitt announced a #Back2Basics (https://www.epa.gov/newsreleases/epa-launches-back-basics-agenda-pennsylvania-coal-mine) campaign that proposes returning the EPA to its supposed roots: protecting the environment, spurring job growth, and not burdening industry with rules and regulations. :lol

federal oversight is not on the EPA's new agenda.

Pruitt criticized (http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/politics/bs-md-pruitt-chesapeake-20170126-story.html) the Chesapeake Bay cleanup plan as "federal overreach" during his Senate confirmation hearing. In his many lawsuits filed against the EPA when he served as attorney general of Oklahoma, he alleged that the EPA "had acted in excess of the authority granted to it by Congress."

One of the specific priorities (https://www.epa.gov/newsreleases/epa-launches-back-basics-agenda-pennsylvania-coal-mine) in #Back2Basics is

"clearing the backlog of new chemicals" waiting approval from the agency so companies can "innovate and create jobs." :lol

After the White House solicited policy advice from industry leaders on which regulations were impeding their businesses and which should get the ax, nearly half (https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/epa-emerges-as-major-target-after-trump-solicits-policy-advice-from-industry/2017/04/16/87a8a55a-205d-11e7-ad74-3a742a6e93a7_story.html?tid=sm_tw&utm_term=.fffb69a1f258) of the 168 submitted comments targeted the EPA. A typical example is from a chemical manufacturing company in Newark, New Jersey, which claims it is being hamstrung (http://file///Users/nbaptiste/Downloads/2017_03_31_-_Troy_Comments.pdf) by the EPA's Superfund program. Forty-eight of those comments related to the Clean Air Act and 29 to the Clean Water Act. Before environmental laws, no legal avenue (http://www.motherjones.com/environment/2017/03/cities-epa-clean-air-water-pollution-trash) existed to stop companies from polluting the land and water.

http://www.motherjones.com/environment/2017/04/scott-pruitt-new-epa-agenda-east-chicago

Repugs are mortally pro-business, anti-health, anti-human, anti-environment, exactly as paid to do by their BigDonor corporatocracy.

boutons_deux

04-19-2017, 10:56 AM

Trump’s EPA is reconsidering a rule that limits mercury from power plants

The EPA has asked a court to delay oral arguments — where it was supposed to defend the rule.

https://thinkprogress.org/mats-delay-pruitt-trump-5c9ad958b44f

Mercury, It's Good For Ya

boutons_deux

04-19-2017, 11:04 AM

EPA moves to block Obama’s methane rule for oil and gas wells “American businesses should have the opportunity to review new requirements, assess economic impacts and report back, before those new requirements are finalized.” :lol

http://fuelfix.com/blog/2017/04/19/epa-moves-to-block-obamas-methane-rule-for-oil-and-gas-wells/

If BigCorp profits would be reduced, then fuck the environment.

boutons_deux

04-19-2017, 11:09 AM

U.S. consumers could suffer from Dodd-Frank, CFPB changes: property site

Massive changes to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau - or the financial reform law that established it - could hurt U.S. mortgage borrowers who use the agency to fight erroneous charges and foreclosures,

the CFPB after the 2007-09 financial crisis to protect individuals from fraud and bad lending, with an eye to cutting it down. Meanwhile, Congress is considering legislation to radically reorganize the CFPB in a way that many bureau supporters say would defang it.

"That could be a blow for thousands of mortgage borrowers who have used the CFPB’s dispute resolution to act as an intermediary in their cases,"

borrowers in housing markets hardest hit by the mortgage crisis and those in expensive areas rely heavily on the CFPB for help in dealing with their loans.

Even though members of the armed services only represent 1.2 percent of the working age population, they made up 5 percent of all mortgage complaints. In the same vein, people 62 or older represented 10 percent of complaints.

That was a high proportion given that roughly 80 percent of Americans own their own homes by the time they turn 65,

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-consumer-housing-idUSKBN17L0BB?feedType=RSS&feedName=politicsNews&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Reuters%2FPoliticsNews+%28Reu ters+Politics+News%29

could? :lol

Repugs gonna destroy CFPB and unleash BigFinace to fleece and rape Human-Americans.

boutons_deux

04-19-2017, 12:32 PM

EPA to drop 3,000 jobs as Upper Midwest gets its reward for helping Trump (http://www.dailykos.com/stories/2017/4/18/1654032/-EPA-to-drop-3-000-jobs-as-Upper-Midwest-gets-its-reward-for-helping-Trump)

Under the administration’s plan, 3,000 EPA employees nationwide would lose their jobs. Closing the Chicago office, and eliminating its 1,000 positions, would help accomplish that goal.

Trump’s budget plan would slash the Environmental Protection Agency’s budget by nearly a third, including reductions for the agency’s enforcement and compliance office and ending the $300 million-a-year Great Lakes Restoration Initiative, among other regional efforts.

Trump’s budget director, Mick Mulvaney, said that decisions had been based on whether you could ask “a single mom in Detroit to pay for these programs.” Apparently those single moms aren’t concerned about the health of their children.

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2017/04/18/1654032/-EPA-to-drop-3-000-jobs-as-Upper-Midwest-gets-its-reward-for-helping-Trump?detail=email&link_id=10&can_id=4217e8eb109c68bd0c2e4143dd2d8c15&source=email-trump-hits-lowest-approval-rating-ever-as-per-new-pew-poll&email_referrer=trump-hits-lowest-approval-rating-ever-as-per-new-pew-poll&email_subject=trump-hits-lowest-approval-rating-ever-as-per-new-pew-poll

Mulvaney is one the nastiest of Trash's nasties.

boutons_deux

04-19-2017, 03:32 PM

Energy Secretary Rick Perry orders study on electric grid, appoints known renewable-hating skeptic to write it

Energy Secretary Rick Perry has ordered a study of the US electric grid, complaining that it is “losing its diversity” even as it adds wind, solar, geothermal and fancy new batteries.

Even though this has created thousands of jobs in new industries, he says the opposite

"But excessive regulation isn't the only issue facing the grid," Fisher continued.

"Other policies undermine our electric system by subsidizing unreliable sources of power like wind and solar, which provided around 4 percent of our electricity generation last year.

Subsidizing unreliable generation while wiping out reliable sources is a huge gamble — a real-time experiment to see whether or not we can keep the lights on."

(http://www.treehugger.com/environmental-policy/energy-secretary-rick-perry-orders-study-electric-grid-appoints-known-renewable-hating-skeptic-write-it.html)http://www.treehugger.com/environmental-policy/energy-secretary-rick-perry-orders-study-electric-grid-appoints-known-renewable-hating-skeptic-write-it.html

boutons_deux

04-20-2017, 04:57 PM

As Congress Preps To Scrap Prepaid Card Protections, Lawsuit Seeks Release Of Emails Between Lawmakers & Lobbyists

Congress is set to consider a fast-tracked proposal that would nullify (https://consumerist.com/2017/02/03/congress-trying-to-roll-back-consumer-protections-for-prepaid-cards/)a slew of new protections (https://consumerist.com/2016/10/05/new-prepaid-debit-card-rules-add-protections-improve-transparency-take-effect-oct-2017/)for the millions of Americans who use prepaid debit cards.

With the clock ticking down to that vote, a lawsuit is trying to compel the release of any communications about these rules between industry lobbyists, lawmakers, and federal regulators.

https://consumerist.com/2017/04/18/as-congress-preps-to-scrap-prepaid-card-protections-lawsuit-seeks-release-of-emails-between-lawmakers-lobbyists/

boutons_deux

04-20-2017, 04:58 PM

Another TURD floating around in the Repug cesspool trying to bully the media

‘Better watch your ass’: Twitter locks Roger Stone’s account for threatening Media Matters staffer

http://www.rawstory.com/2017/04/better-watch-your-ass-twitter-locks-roger-stones-account-for-threatening-media-matters-staffer/

boutons_deux

04-20-2017, 05:02 PM

Everything Ajit Pai Has Fucked Up in the Last Three Months (http://gizmodo.com/everything-ajit-pai-has-fucked-up-in-the-last-three-mon-1794499353)

https://i.kinja-img.com/gawker-media/image/upload/s--cvCLpJOM--/c_scale,fl_progressive,q_80,w_800/bni3porkau2gbr5n0rnq.jpg

The Federal Communications Commission voted (http://thehill.com/policy/technology/329718-fcc-votes-to-deregulate-business-data-services) today to eliminate price caps on broadband services for businesses, schools, libraries, and hospitals, known as Business Data Services (BDS).

Making it harder for the poor to get broadband

In March, Pai announced (http://gizmodo.com/fcc-takes-a-hatchet-to-program-providing-broadband-inte-1793813005) he would direct the FCC to eliminate the federal designation process for broadband providers under the LifeLine program, which provides subsidized phone and internet access for the poor. Doing so makes it incredibly hard for broadband providers to sign up for the program, which was only expanded to broadband last year; there are currently no states that actually have this approval process in place.

While his big secret plan (http://gizmodo.com/the-republican-plan-to-kill-the-open-internet-1794228758#_ga=1.79821271.1515351446.1484667015) to repeal net neutrality regulations is still a big secret, Pai has already acted to erode some net neutrality principles. In February, Pai dropped (http://gizmodo.com/trumps-new-fcc-chair-is-screwing-everything-up-as-fast-1791982230) an investigation started by Obama’s FCC into “zero-rating” deals, where carriers don’t count certain content towards customers’ data caps.

Under Obama, the FCC had pushed prisons to lower the rates prisoners pay for phone calls. Pai reversed (https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/public-safety/fcc-made-a-case-for-limiting-cost-of-prison-phone-calls-not-anymore/2017/02/04/9306fbf8-e97c-11e6-b82f-687d6e6a3e7c_story.html?utm_term=.5e82b1a135cb) that policy, instructing the commission not to defend that policy, with the deputy general counsel saying the majority “does not believe that the agency has the authority to cap intrastate rates.”

he blocked (http://gizmodo.com/fcc-picks-worst-day-possible-to-block-rules-protecting-1792720994#_ga=1.12751735.1515351446.1484667015) the implementation of a rule that would have required internet service providers to take “reasonable measures” to secure customers’ data, part of the larger package of privacy rules that Congress voted to erase. Pai, finding the notion of reasonable measures unreasonable, blocked the rule.

The dingus tweeted (http://gizmodo.com/trumps-fcc-chair-praises-amazon-prime-possibly-violati-1792540826) about how much he loved Amazon Prime, possibly violating an ethics rule preventing government employees from promoting any product or service. What an idiot.

http://gizmodo.com/everything-ajit-pai-has-fucked-up-in-the-last-three-mon-1794499353?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+gizmodo%2Ffull+%28Gizmodo%29

boutons_deux

04-20-2017, 05:11 PM

Prepaid Card Users in Every State Could Lose Protections

About 23 million Americans (http://www.pewtrusts.org/~/media/assets/2015/06/bankingonprepaidreport.pdf) and 1 in 10 (https://www.economicinclusion.gov/surveys/2015household/documents/2015_FDIC_Unbanked_HH_Survey_Report.pdf) households use prepaid debit cards, and more than $270 billion in payments (https://www.federalreserve.gov/newsevents/press/other/2016-payments-study-20161222.pdf) was made on them in 2015—yet this Congress may choose to gut protections for them.

Next on the potential chopping block in the House (https://www.congress.gov/bill/115th-congress/house-joint-resolution/73) and Senate (https://www.congress.gov/bill/115th-congress/senate-joint-resolution/19): a comprehensive rule by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, or CFPB. Finalized last fall, this rule would govern all prepaid debit cards for the first time starting later this year.

In every state, thousands—or in some cases, millions—of households at all income levels manage their money on these cards.

According to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation’s 2015 National Survey of Unbanked and Underbanked Households (https://www.economicinclusion.gov/surveys/2015household/documents/2015_FDIC_Unbanked_HH_Survey_Appendix.pdf), 11 percent of households earning less than $50,000 reported using these cards in the past year, but so did 8.5 percent of higher-income households.

For financially vulnerable Americans, these cards are even more popular: The survey found that 27 percent of households without bank accounts use these cards, and people dealing with volatile incomes or unemployment also use these cards more frequently.

most significantly, the rule addresses risky overdraft practices on cards that tack on fees and trap consumers in debt. It sets requirements for borrowing on prepaid cards that are similar to those for credit cards to make sure this is a meaningful choice, not a debt trap.

“The Bureau’s commitment to a well-tailored and effective regulation, and its extensive collaboration across the prepaid industry, will result in a framework for prepaid accounts that is both beneficial to consumers and practicable for providers.”

That’s why the attempt to kill the rule in Congress is so dangerous.

The Congressional Review Act does not just eliminate regulations. It also blocks government agencies from introducing any substantially similar rules (https://fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/R43992.pdf) in the future.

This means that the CFPB would not get another chance to write rules governing prepaid cards even as the market continues to grow.

https://www.americanprogress.org/issues/economy/news/2017/04/20/430669/prepaid-card-users-every-state-lose-protections/

And Repug Bill Clinton, along with other VRWC shit he signed, signed the CRA in 1996.

boutons_deux

04-21-2017, 12:14 PM

SCHOOLS NEED GODDAMN INTERNET

The tradition of depriving public schools of resources, one crumb at a time, continues under Trump’s FCC.

On Thursday morning, the FCC voted to deregulate (https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/trumps-fcc-to-vote-to-allow-broadband-rate-hikes-for-schools-and-libraries?utm_source=mbtwitter) the $45 billion Business Data Services market,

removing price caps on business-to-business broadband sales.

There had been a limit on what companies like Verizon and AT&T could charge for so-called “special access lines (https://www.fcc.gov/general/special-access-data-collection-overview-0).”

The price caps were designed to keep phone and, later, broadband, access cheap for community institutions like schools, hospitals, libraries, and small businesses.

Now, there will be no limit.

A spokesperson for the trade association Incompas, which advocates for competition among communications providers, told

The Outline that the

increase is expected to be at least 25 percent across the board.

https://theoutline.com/post/1419/schools-need-goddamn-internet

Repugs' deregulating is meant to expose taxpayers to MAXIMUM FLEECING by BigCorp.

boutons_deux

04-21-2017, 04:06 PM

Justice Department targets 9 jurisdictions in escalating crackdown on 'sanctuary cities'

http://static1.businessinsider.com/image/58cc177d112f703d328b49b8-2000/ap17074597283241.jpg

The Department of Justice on Friday sent letters to nine so-called "sanctuary" jurisdictions, threatening to withhold grant funding unless they prove that they are complying with federal law.

Recipients must certify compliance before June 30 in order to receive certain grants for the fiscal year 2016,

Recipients of the letters reportedly included New York City, Chicago, New Orleans, Philadelphia, Las Vegas, Milwaukee, the state of California, Miami-Dade County, and Cook County, Illinois.

"Many of these jurisdictions are also crumbling under the weight of illegal immigration and violent crime," :lol

Under a 1996 federal law, 8 USC Section 1373 (https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/8/1373), jurisdictions cannot prohibit local officials from withholding that information from federal authorities.

Jurisdictions with "sanctuary" policies say they already follow that law, and the 2016 report did not find that any of the cities it reviewed had explicitly violated Section 1373.

http://www.businessinsider.com/doj-targets-9-jurisdictions-in-escalating-crackdown-on-sanctuary-cities-2017-4

Another BIG WIN for Trash and his RACIST AG / DoJ. :lol

boutons_deux

05-01-2017, 02:32 PM

After Leading the Nation in Renewable Energy, Rick Perry Targets Solar and Wind Power

Wind and solar have combined with natural gas to produce virtually all the nation’s major new electrical capacity; coal and nuclear are economically less competitive

First, it is noteworthy that as governor, Perry supervised expansion of Texas’ wildly successful Competitive Renewable Energy Zones. It was an initiative that spurred the construction (http://www.mysanantonio.com/opinion/commentary/article/Texas-can-remain-a-leader-in-clean-energy-11074309.php) of electric transmission lines to connect with renewable energy facilities.

That initiative took great advantage of wind and solar, and energy storage facilities as a preferred option for sustained power grid reliability; options

he now says “have destroyed jobs and economic growth, and threaten to undercut the performance of the grid.”
Perry’s sudden reversal is due to being tasked by Trump as Energy Secretary to start “prioritizing fossil fuels [coal] and nuclear energy over renewables.”

http://www.politicususa.com/2017/04/23/leading-nation-renewable-energy-rick-perry-targets-solar-wind-power.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+politicususa%2FfJAl+%28Politi cus+USA+%29

Jimmy Ricky, just another ignorant fuckoff from TX working as a Useful Idiot whore.

boutons_deux

05-01-2017, 02:50 PM

Rick Perry called out for ‘thinly disguised’ attempt to undermine renewable energy

Former Koch-funded think tank official selected to lead DOE study.

request for the grid reliability study

“a thinly disguised attempt to promote less economic electric generation technologies, such as coal and nuclear, at the expense of cost-competitive wind and solar power.”

The study appears intended to

blame wind and solar power for the financial difficulties facing coal and nuclear generators and suggest that renewable energy resources threaten the reliability of the grid,

McCormack was vice president of political and external affairs at the Edison Electric Institute (EEI), a major trade group for investor-owned electric utilities.

In this position, McCormack worked with the states to change net metering policies and push for fixed charge increases on electric bills, “part of a larger effort by EEI to attack distributed renewable energy like rooftop solar power,”

The Energy Department selected (https://www.eenews.net/greenwire/2017/04/19/stories/1060053297) Travis Fisher, a political appointee, to lead the grid study.

Fisher worked as an economist for the right-wing Institute for Energy Research (IER) for three years before joining DOE in March.

IER bills itself (https://www.bloomberg.com/politics/articles/2017-01-05/tiny-group-of-tesla-skeptics-emerges-as-trump-energy-powerhouse) as as

a free-market group that fights regulations it sees distorting the energy market and restricting the use of coal, oil, and natural gas in favor of lower-emission wind and solar power.
The senators questioned why Fisher, “a former official with the Koch Brothers-funded Institute for Energy Research”

https://thinkprogress.org/senators-attack-doe-grid-study-6d09434fa84a

Repugs and unstoppable oligarchy fucking America deeper into unfuckability.

Spurminator

05-01-2017, 02:51 PM

Don't even know why I bother clicking...

http://i.imgur.com/3wxD39O.png

boutons_deux

05-01-2017, 03:05 PM

Trump Ministry of Environment Issues Climate Newspeak: ‘Content Related to Climate Is Under Review’

Washington Post (https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/energy-environment/wp/2017/04/28/epa-website-removes-climate-science-site-from-public-view-after-two-decades/?utm_term=.623384434b70): EPA Website Removes Climate Science Site From Public View After Two Decades

The Environmental Protection Agency announced Friday evening :lol

that its website would be “undergoing changes” to better represent the new direction the agency is taking, triggering the

removal of several agency websites containing detailed climate data and scientific information.
One of the websites that appeared to be gone had been cited to challenge statements made by the EPA’s new administrator, Scott Pruitt. Another provided detailed information on the previous administration’s Clean Power Plan, including fact sheets about greenhouse gas emissions on the state and local levels and how different demographic groups were affected by such emissions.

The changes came less than 24 hours before thousands of protesters were set to march in Washington and around the country in support of political action to push back against the Trump administration’s rollbacks of former president Barack Obama’s climate policies.

https://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/read/Trump-Ministry-of-Environment-Issues-Climate-Newspeak?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+GTM_Solar+%28GTM+Solar%29 (https://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/read/Trump-Ministry-of-Environment-Issues-Climate-Newspeak?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+GTM_Solar+%28GTM+Solar%29)

Oligarchy's hatchet men chopping up govt

boutons_deux

05-01-2017, 03:11 PM

Bible-humping Christian Sharia news

Trump’s Latest Health Pick Thinks IUDs Kill Babies

Mike Pence speaking at a pro-life rally (https://tonic.vice.com/en_us/article/mike-pence-kellyanne-conway-to-speak-at-march-for-life), to Trump hiring a health policy aide who has argued that birth control (https://www.statnews.com/2017/01/05/katy-talento-trump-health-policy/) can "break your uterus for good,"

latest appointee, a staunch anti-abortionist who thinks IUDs cause abortions, is perhaps the most concerning, because she'll be bringing her anti-science views to a position charged with providing health information to the public.

Meet Charmaine Yoest.

a career anti-abortion lobbyist,

Yoest has spent her career lobbying for abortion and birth control restrictions with anti-abortion groups such as the Family Research Council, Americans United for Life, and American Values (these groups also support anti-LGBT agendas, it's worth noting). On its website, Americans United for Life boasts that Yoest (http://www.aul.org/what-people-are-saying-about-charmaine-yoest/) is

"public enemy number one to many in the pro-abortion community."

her personal belief about abortion, it's her anti-science, anti-evidence perspective.

Yoest has stated that (http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/04/magazine/charmaine-yoests-cheerful-war-on-abortion.html) she believes intrauterine devices—little t-shaped contraceptive devices that are inserted into the uterus to prevent pregnancy—have "life-ending properties."

Along with not being a medical term, this is straight-up incorrect: IUDs prevent a pregnancy from occurring in the first place,

she believes abortions cause breast cancer

She's clearly stated beliefs that disregard science and evidence.

https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/trumps-latest-health-pick-thinks-iuds-kill-babies (https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/trumps-latest-health-pick-thinks-iuds-kill-babies)

boutons_deux

05-01-2017, 03:32 PM

Trump wants to kill the Energy Star program. Guess what his motive might be?

Trump's properties tend to receive low Energy Star ratings. The most recent scores from 2015 reveal that 11 of his 15 skyscrapers in New York, Chicago and San Francisco are less energy efficient than most comparable buildings.

On a scale of 1 to 100 for energy efficiency, Manhattan's old Mayfair Hotel, which Trump converted into condos, rated a 1.

But none of this could matter if the administration has its way.

It has proposed cutting all funding to the Energy Star Program, run by the Environmental Protection Agency.

http://m.dailykos.com/stories/2017/4/29/1656896/-Trump-wants-to-kill-the-Energy-Star-program-Guess-what-his-motive-might-be?detail=emaildkre&link_id=2&can_id=4217e8eb109c68bd0c2e4143dd2d8c15&source=email-new-york-times&email_referrer=new-york-times&email_subject=new-york-times

boutons_deux

05-01-2017, 03:38 PM

After 100 days of Trump, middle America has suffered — bigly

With our democracy increasingly hijacked by big individual and corporate donors, our elections have become the mechanism in which the economically powerful convert their money into political power.

Neither party has been immune from the toxic pull of big money because this is now the system.

the assumption that our country is governed by a set of democratic principles in which our highest elected officials serve our public interest has been demonstrably and epically shattered.

unraveling (https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/03/business/dealbook/trump-congress-financial-regulations.html) Dodd-Frank rules designed to protect the American people from a repeat of the Great Recession;

repealing a host of EPA regulations designed to fight climate change (http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2017/03/28/trump-signs-executive-order-rolling-back-obama-era-energy-regs.html) and protect our air and water (http://www.cnn.com/2017/02/16/politics/scott-pruitt-donald-trump-white-house-regulations/); and

repealing Internet privacy protections (https://theintercept.com/2017/04/13/telecom-cash-isp/) that Big Telecom clamored for.

Trump has also repealed rules designed to protect worker safety and

rescinded a rule that would have given 4 million workers (https://www.bna.com/trump-freezes-overtime-n73014450151/)access to overtime pay.

So far middle- and working-class Americans have lost — big-time.

In fact, it’s hard to find a day when the Trump administration wasn’t changing policy at the behest of corporate interests and billionaire big donors.

And what makes this plutocratic administration so mind-bendingly appalling is that

it was built around a great political con, in what is likely to be viewed by history as the nation’s greatest political heist.

Donald Trump (http://thehill.com/people/donald-trump) campaigned against the very kind of leadership he has embodied since taking the oath of office.

He campaigned to serve the interests of “the forgotten men and women” of this country, then swiftly forgot them himself and

followed the lead of big business,

proposing tax cuts for corporations and the wealthy,

deregulation that enriches industries and harms ordinary people and

government spending cuts to a whole host of agencies and programs that actually serve the very people he claimed were forgotten by previous administrations.

Donald Trump is the product of a deeply unhealthy political system, created by decades of conservative jurisprudence by the Supreme Court that has slowly and steadily morphed our democracy into a plutocracy.

http://thehill.com/blogs/pundits-blog/the-administration/330914-after-100-days-of-trump-middle-america-has-suffered

America is FUCKED and irreversibly UNFUCKABLE

spurraider21

05-01-2017, 07:08 PM

Don't even know why I bother clicking...

http://i.imgur.com/3wxD39O.pngthat's a move i've considered making

worthwhile?

Spurminator

05-01-2017, 08:36 PM

that's a move i've considered making

worthwhile?

Totally. Only thing that sucks is you still get notifications if they reply to you, and "hidden" messages still take up space. But definitely an improvement.

spurraider21

05-01-2017, 08:51 PM

Totally. Only thing that sucks is you still get notifications if they reply to you, and "hidden" messages still take up space. But definitely an improvement.i already get that with UNT, and he is well aware of the fact that i ignore his comments

boutons_deux

05-02-2017, 05:57 AM

Trump Takes Aim at School Lunch Guidelines and a Girls’ Education Program

Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue announced that school meals would no longer have to meet some requirements connected with Mrs. Obama’s initiative to combat childhood obesity by overhauling the nation’s school menus.

“Just because children would rather eat heavily salted, processed foods at school doesn’t mean they should,” said Ken Cook, president of the Environmental Working Group.

“The president’s fondness for Big Macs and KFC is well known, but we shouldn’t let Colonel Sanders and McDonald’s run the school cafeteria.”

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/01/us/politics/nutrition-rules-school-lunches-michelle-obama.html

boutons_deux

05-03-2017, 09:21 AM

https://img.wonkette.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/devos-fake-smile.jpg

Repugs noticed your $200M purchasing of their notice.

boutons_deux

05-03-2017, 09:29 AM

Betsy DeVos To Give Graduation Speech At Historically Black University, Proving No One Has Yet Suffered Enough

Secretary of Education :lol Betsy DeVos :lol

who would like all Americans to send their children to the school of their choice as long as it makes a buck for someone,

has been invited to give the commencement speech (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/betsy-devos-commencement-bethune-cookman_us_59089390e4b02655f840c065) this year at Bethune-Cookman University,

the university explained how all this happened:

Much like Dr. Bethune, Founder of Bethune-Cookman University, Secretary DeVos deems the importance of opportunity and hope for students to receive an exceptional education experience.

Her mission to empower parents and students :lol :lol :lol

resonates with the history and legacy of Dr. Bethune. B-CU President, Dr. Edison O. Jackson expressed, “Bethune-Cookman University is a school built on the legacy and the transformation of students.

Dr. Bethune’s love for students started with five little girls and grew to over 250 students during her time as university president.”

“The legacy of Dr. Bethune is that she was not constrained by political ideology, but worked across all parties to support B-CU,” he explained.

https://wonkette.com/616522/betsy-devos-to-give-graduation-speech-at-historically-black-university-proving-no-one-has-yet-suffered-enough

boutons_deux

05-03-2017, 10:13 AM

Here's protectionist Trash trashing Dem California

U.S. ends ban on importing Argentine lemons, angering California citrus growers

California produces more than 90% of the lemons grown in the U.S. — 1.5 billion pounds last year — and competes with imports from Chile and Mexico, according to the USDA.

Chile and Mexico account for about 94% of lemon imports to the U.S., which have more than doubled in dollar value in the last five years, according to the USDA.

The USDA has predicted that Argentina probably would knock Chile out of competition for market share in the U.S., but

Nelsen predicted a long price war that would cost California growers hundreds of millions of dollars.

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-lemons-argentina-20170502-story.html

boutons_deux

05-03-2017, 11:04 AM

Ivanka Trump’s New Book Exploits and Cheapens Feminism

In her world, the possibilities for working women are endless—so long as they have full-time household help.

It’s a sign of how perilous and debased American life has become that people are putting faith in Ivanka Trump, creator of a line of mediocre synthetic workwear, to head off fascism.

It’s tempting to hope that she’s secretly appalled by her father’s reactionary politics, since before his catastrophic rise, she seemed a standard Manhattan liberal.

it’s a mistake to imagine too much daylight between her and her father

they’re on the same side, engaged in the same project of self-glorification and personal enrichment. Both exploit and cheapen what they touch. In his case, America. In hers, feminism.

a celebration of the unlimited possibilities open to working women when they have full-time household help.

“I had already taken a first step towards reimagining the options available to modern, self-purchasing :lol WTF? women when in 2007 I launched my fine jewelry collection.” :lol

Beneath the inspirational quotes from Oprah and the Dalai Lama and the you-go-girl cheerleading,

the message of Women Who Work is that people get what they deserve.

Her worldview, it turns out, is not so different from her father’s. Both see society through the lens of quasi-mystical corporate self-help, the sort pioneered by Norman Vincent Peale, author of The Power of Positive Thinking (http://www.amazon.com/dp/8122204120/?tag=slatmaga-20) and a major influence (http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2015/10/donald-trump-2016-norman-vincent-peale-213220) on Donald Trump.

In their schema, success is proof of virtue and people are to blame for their own misfortune.

Some women who worked for Ivanka were surprised to see her present herself as a crusader for women’s work-life integration. In October, Marissa Velez Kraxberger, former creative director at Ivanka Trump’s company, wrote (https://www.facebook.com/marissa.kraxberger/posts/10154514620731635) on Facebook about how she and her team

had to fight “long and hard” to get Ivanka to agree to grant eight weeks of maternity leave.

The day before Women Who Work was published, Donald Trump appointed (http://www.slate.com/blogs/xx_factor/2017/05/02/trump_will_tap_teresa_manning_a_woman_who_thinks_b irth_control_doesn_t_work.html) an anti-abortion activist who has said “contraception doesn’t work” to oversee the country’s only federal family planning program.

If anything proves that Ivanka Trump is her father’s daughter, it is that she has the audacity to present herself as a champion of women’s ambition and equality while serving in his administration.

Her refusal to acknowledge any contradiction between her feminism, however superficial it is, and her father’s reactionary politics almost feels like gaslighting.

http://www.slate.com/articles/double_x/doublex/2017/05/ivanka_trump_s_new_book_women_who_work_exploits_an d_cheapens_feminism.html

The Trashy nut falls directly under the Trashy tree.

Chucho

05-03-2017, 04:19 PM

boutons_deux

05-03-2017, 11:32 PM

When a Dem and knitter retires, THEN the corrupt, whore-out Repugs want to block speechifying

Wall Street-Owned GOP Threatening To Take Obama’s Retirement Money Because Of $400K Speech

Even when Barack Obama isn't in the White House, Republicans in Congress are trying to bring him down.

Last year, then-president Barack Obama vetoed a bill that would have curbed the pensions of former presidents if they took outside income of $400,000 or more.

So now that former president Barack Obama has decided to accept $400,000 for an upcoming Wall Street speech, the sponsors of that bill say they’ll reintroduce that bill in hopes that President Trump will sign it.“

The Obama hypocrisy on this issue is revealing,” said Rep. Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee and sponsor of the 2016 bill.

“His veto was very self-serving.”Chaffetz and Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, the sponsor of the companion Senate bill, say they will re-introduce the Presidential Allowance Modernization Act this month.

Like just about every other president in modern history, Obama plans to give paid speeches after he’s out of office.

His upcoming speech to Wall Street likely won’t be the last in what will probably be a long list of post-presidency speeches to various organizations.

Why do Republicans suddenly feel that presidents should now be punished for delivering paid speeches just because it’s Obama who’s doing it?

http://www.politicususa.com/2017/05/03/wall-street-owned-gop-threatening-obamas-pension-400k-speech.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+politicususa%2FfJAl+%28Politi cus+USA+%29

But Repugs will exclude any limits on their pensions when they retire and make $Ms lobbying?

or are the racist Repug only attacking knitters?