On His Way Out the Door, Scott Pruitt Says a Final ‘ You’ to the Environment
According to The New York Times:
The decision to benefit the makers of super polluting freight trucks followed what the newspaper described as
In the final hours of Scott Pruitt’s tenure as administrator,
the Environmental Protection Agency moved on Friday to effectively
grant a loophole that will allow a major increase in the manufacturing of a diesel freight truck
that produces as much as 55 times the air pollution
as trucks that have modern emissions controls.
“intense lobbying” by manufacturers, and the
two people to blame are Pruitt and new acting EPA administrator Andrew Wheeler.
https://splinternews.com/on-his-way-...fuc-1827417240
Pruitt, Wheeler, Repugs and all you Repug voters
"To make a glider, companies typically combine a new truck body and cab with a salvaged powertrain.
The vintage of the reused engine is important:
Many of them date to before 2010,
when the EPA tightened emissions standards for pollutants
such as nitrogen oxide and particulate matter emitted by heavy duty diesel engines."
https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-...missions-rules
Repugs and Repug voters are some sicko mother ers
Trump’s Border Patrol was just busted committing acts of unprecedented aggression against Canada
Border Patrol agents have been boarding and searching Canadian fishing vessels in search of illegal migrants. At least ten boats from New Brunswick have been boarded by the president’s jack-booted thugs in the past two weeks.
the boardings took place in international waters, outside of the Border Patrol’s jurisdiction and potentially in violation of international law.
Observers from both nations were mystified and infuriated by the boardings, especially the obviously contrived excuse that they were searching for “illegal immigrants.”
the Gulf of Maine is not a major route for illegal immigrants sneaking into the United States. If anything, people are sneaking the other way. They’re trying to get out of the U.S. and into Canada to claim asylum”
“I guess the comment on the street would be:
‘Typical American bullies,’ ” he said.
“They’re not happy about it, and they don’t think (the Americans) have any business doing this.”
Cook said he’s never before seen border patrol agents in the area,
where the U.S. Coast Guard typically patrols.
He said he had
no idea why American authorities are suddenly flexing their muscles.
https://washingtonpress.com/2018/07/...gainst-canada/
U.S. Opposition to Breast-Feeding Resolution Stuns World Health Officials
The $70 billion infant formula industry,
dominated by a handful of American and European companies,
has seen sales flatten in wealthy countries in recent years.
Based on decades of research,
the resolution says that mother’s milk is healthiest for children and countries should strive to limit the inaccurate or misleading marketing of breast milk subs utes.
Then the United States delegation, embracing the interests of infant formula manufacturers, upended the deliberations.
American officials sought to water down the resolution by
removing language that called on governments to “protect, promote and support breast-feeding” and
another passage that called on policymakers
to restrict the promotion of food products that many experts say can have deleterious effects on young children.
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/08/h...er=rss&emc=rss
The oligarchy and its profits from $70B of their synthetic is more important than mother's milk.
hamburgers more important than wolves, oligarchy $Bs profits more important than ANYTHING, EVERYTHING
Interior Department is OK with killing off endangered red wolves
Wildlife Service wants to drastically shrink their tiny habitat, let hunters and farmers shoot if they stray
Red wolves, once found across the eastern United States, are now perhaps the most endangered mammal on the planet, rarer than world’s 2,000 Bengal tigers in the wild and more than 1,500 giant pandas.
“The Trump administration’s Fish and Wildlife Service is declaring open season to kill the last of America’s red wolves, which are on the verge of extinction,”
North Carolina’s junior senator, Thom Tillis, a Republican, has tried to have the animals, declared extinct in the wild in 1980, pronounced extinct for the second time.The ING Confederacy.
“I think it makes the most sense to shut the program down to figure out how to do it right and build some credibility with the landowners,” Tillis said in 2016.
The wolves have killed just five livestock since 1997: goats, chickens and a hog.
But their existence is resented
https://www.salon.com/2018/07/08/int...olves_partner/
Last edited by boutons_deux; 07-08-2018 at 08:19 AM.
Trump State Department official defends racism, nationalism, and xenophobia
deputy assistant secretary for refugees and migration Andrew Veprek not only defended nationalism,
he claimed that le for Donald Trump while “softening language” on racism.
Donald Trump has withdrawn the US from the UN Council on Human Rights Council after the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights called Trump’s family separation policy "unconscionable."
Veprek also pushed to soften language about fighting racism and about racism in politics in his proposed amendments
to a UN Human Rights Council resolution led "The Incompatibility between Democracy and Racism" that is
adopted without a vote, with much of the same language, every few years.
Veprek argued that it’s not the responsibility of national leaders to speak out against hate speech.
And he defended the term
xenophobia as being “malleable.”
Presumably meaning that what used to be considered irrational hatred and fear of foreigners … is the new normal.
it was clear that Veprek thought the complaints about racism, nationalism, and xenophobia were “aimed at the Trump administration,”
but the do ents have actually been in use for several years.
It’s just that Trump’s policies so easily fit those terms.
Veprek was moved to his current position in April despite a lack of experience.
Senate Democrats wrote Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on May 1 to say the appointment was
"the equivalent of placing a lieutenant colonel into a one-star general position."
But it’s clear that Veprek has all the qualities to represent Trump around the world.
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/201...and-xenophobia
Fighting Resolution to Restrict Baby Formula Sales and Promote Breastfeeding, Trump Officials Threatened Funding Cuts
"What happened was tantamount to blackmail, with the U.S. holding the world hostage and trying to overturn nearly 40 years of consensus on best way to protect infant and young child health."
U.S. representatives appeared to put the interests of the $70 billion baby food industry ahead of those of parents and children—and pressured other countries to do the same.
American officials, led by Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar,
attempted to strongarm Ecuadorean delegates out of introducing a resolution to encourage and
support breastfeeding and urge governments to restrict misleading marketing claims about baby formula.
While not all women are able to or choose to breastfeed, decades of research have shown that breastfeeding carries health benefits for babies and mothers, as well as saving money for families.
American delegates threatened the smaller nation with cuts to military aid and reduced trade deals if they went forward with the proposal.
The U.S. also threatened the Assembly with cuts to funding for the World Health Organization.
"We were astonished, appalled, and also saddened,"
After several other Latin American and African countries declined to introduce the measure, fearing retaliation,
Russia successfully proposed the measure without facing threats from the U.S.
the latest evidence of the Trump administration's top priority—serving corporate interests, even at the expense of public health.
https://www.commondreams.org/news/2018/07/08/fighting-resolution-restrict-baby-formula-sales-and-promote-breastfeeding-trump
"In the end, the Americans’ efforts were mostly unsuccessful.
It was the Russians who ultimately stepped in to introduce the measure — and the Americans did not threaten them.
And this:
A Russian delegate said the decision to introduce the breast-feeding resolution was a matter of principle.
“We’re not trying to be a hero here,
but we feel that it is wrong when a big country tries to push around some very small countries,
especially on an issue that is really important for the rest of the world,” said the delegate,
who asked not to be identified because he was not authorized to speak to the media.
How did this administration take something as basic, as natural, as healthy, as plain ol’ normal as breastfeeding and
turn it into an issue where sources request anonymity because they fear retaliation …
and also make the election-interfering, dissident-murdering Russian government the heroes of the tale?"
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2018/7/8/1778903/-A-key-line-in-the-head-spinning-breastfeeding-story?detail=emaildkre
Trash denies US opposition to WHO breastfeeding resolution
According to the Times report on Sunday based on interviews with dozens of meeting participants, US negotiators in Geneva objected to the resolution encouraging breastfeeding around the world and allegedly resorted to intimidation tactics to bully other countries into dropping it.
American officials allegedly sought to remove the language pushing for global government support of breastfeeding practices and attacked countries that were in favour of it.
Ecuador had planned to introduce the bill, but according to the newspaper, backed out after they were threatened with punishing trade measures and the withdrawal of US military aid.
Officials also reportedly threatened to cut US aid to the WHO - over $118m (£89m) this year, which amounts to roughly 15% of the organisation's annual budget.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-44772686
If Pootin is pro-breast, Trash is pro-breast, which complements his pro-pussy-grabbing.
Repug witch-hunts as Repug MISgovernance
Green-baiting lawmakers are accusing environmentalists of doubling as ‘foreign agents’
Two congressional committees led by prominent Republicans are looking into whether some U.S. environmental groups are acting on behalf of foreign countries.
these efforts may mark the start of an attack on free speech that discourages efforts to improve American environmental policies.
The probe
News of this investigation broke when
Rep. Rob Bishop, who chairs the House Committee on Natural Resources, and
Rep. Bruce Westerman, who leads the Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations,
formally notified the Natural Resources Defense Council of their concerns in early June.
Their letter
accused the NRDC, one of the nation’s biggest environmental groups,
of criticizing U.S. environmental policies
while engaging in “self-censorship” regarding China and the “ruling Chinese Communist Party.”
If it is acting as an agent for Chinese interests,
the lawmakers said, the group should register as such as required by law.
Their letter also requested information related to the group’s disclosure policies.
Bishop and Westerman sent the
Center for Biological Diversity a similar query pertaining to that environmentalist group’s advocacy regarding the U.S. military base in Okinawa, Japan.
And the two Republicans have asked the Pentagon for
details and do ents regarding the nonprofits suing the military on environmental grounds.
The lawmakers acknowledged that these lawsuits may “represent sincere and justified concerns about the effect of federal actions on the environment.”
But they also speculated that
“foreign adversaries” can perhaps leverage these legal actions to “reduce U.S. defense capabilities.”
https://theconversation.com/green-baiting-lawmakers-are-accusing-environmentalists-of-doubling-as-foreign-agents-98924
Repugs figuring out ways to dump more on their hole of un able America
Bill Shine’s wife attacked ‘stupid’ women in the military for being sexually assaulted: ‘What did you expect?’
President Donald Trump hired former Fox News executive, Bill Shine, as his assistant to the deputy chief of staff for communications.
Bill Shine’s wife, Darla Shine, has made headlines after tweeting racist remarks.
Her bigotry doesn’t end on Twitter, CNN dug up comments she made about vaccinations, sexual assault, and women in the military. She made these comments in the early 2000s during a radio show she hosted.
“There was just a story with these girls, these women who are upset that they are sexually harassed in the military.
What do you think is going to happen when you go on a submarine for 12 months with 4,000 horny soldiers?
I hate to say it, but it’s true. They should not even be allowed.”
https://www.rawstory.com/2018/07/bil...e+Raw+Story%29
Trash attracts the maggot people
I bet this was no accident, but Repug racist kakistocracy wanting antiquity sites vandalized into worthlessness so the lands could be opened to exploitation
Federal officials divulge secret info about Native American artifacts
The report exposed ruins spanning 13,000 years of Native American history to vandalism and looting
Federal officials mistakenly published confidential information on locations and descriptions of about 900 ancient cliff dwellings, spiritual structures, rock art panels and other Native American antiquities in Utah.
the BLM violated federal regulations that prohibit publicly sharing information about antiquities.
“If you were a pot hunter wanting to work in southeastern Utah and knew about the lease process, that would have been a gold mine for you.”
Archaeologists in Utah have relied on BLM secrecy to protect dance circles sprinkled with shards of ancient black-on-white pottery, circular Navajo structures known as hogans and points for tools used by Paleoindians to hunt mammoths.
“They went to a level with this report that was very unusual in terms of listing site numbers and descriptions by parcel that I haven’t seen before.”
keeping the information they provide secret is paramount to protecting these sites.
Looters download such information and sell it.
“Archaeological resources are in danger of intentional and unintentional impacts from people who take from archaeological sites, loot archaeological sites, graffiti archaeological sites, or inadvertently trample, break, or touch archaeological sites and materials.”
https://www.salon.com/2018/07/15/oops-federal-officials-divulge-secret-info-about-native-american-artifacts_partner/
Repugs up everything they touch
Last edited by boutons_deux; 07-15-2018 at 08:39 AM.
HHS Plans to Delete 20 Years of Critical Medical Guidelines Next Week
Experts say the database of carefully curated medical guidelines is one of a kind, used constantly by medical professionals, and on July 16 will ‘go dark’ due to budget cuts.
The Trump Administration is planning to eliminate a vast trove of medical guidelines that for nearly 20 years has been a critical resource for doctors, researchers and others in the medical community.
the NGC is perhaps the most important repository of evidence-based research available.
“Guideline.gov was our go-to source, and there is nothing else like it in the world,”
“AHRQ agrees that guidelines play an important role in clinical decision making,
but hard decisions
had to be made about how to use the resources at our disposal,”
The operating budget for the NGC last year was $1.2 million,
https://www.thedailybeast.com/hhs-pl...ines-next-week
Who loves DARK MONEY more than the Repugs?
Repugs working hard to solidify the oligarchy's coup d'etat
Treasury Dept. Eases Donor Disclosure Rules For Some Tax-Exempt Groups
The change benefits groups that spend millions of dollars on political ads, such as the
U.S. Chamber of Commerce and
an organization tied to the billionaire Koch brothers.
Treasury Department officials portrayed the changes as important free-speech
and privacy protections for donors,
while also preserving government transparency.
But critics see the easing of disclosure requirements as
opening the door to more dark money in political campaigns.
https://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/treasury-department-lifts-donor-disclosure-requirements-tax-exempt-groups?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_c ampaign=Feed%3A+tpm-news+%28TPMNews%29
Now that the NRA has been shown to have been compromised by Pootin, as a conduit for Russian $Ms, Mnuchin rushes to NRA's rescue.
NRA and some other nonprofits will no longer need to identify their donors to the IRS
Some nonprofit groups will no longer have to give the IRS the names of donors who give them $5,000 or more.
Among the groups that will no longer have to report donors are the National Rifle Association, various chambers of commerce, and groups focused on particular issues, such as Americans for Prosperity, which has been closely associated with the Koch brothers.
But the ruling also applies to groups like the NAACP, labor unions and volunteer fire departments.
It was a long-sought goal of some of those groups -- particularly on the right.
https://www.cnn.com/2018/07/17/politics/treasury-irs-donor-lists/index.html
the oligarchy's autocracy continues corrupting America to the bone
Pruitt’s EPA Cedes Pesticide Oversight to Agriculture Department
Internal Environmental Protection Agency do ents show that Administrator
Scott Pruitt has effectively relinquished the EPA’s oversight of pesticide safety to the Department of Agriculture,
said Scott Faber, EWG’s senior vice president of government affairs.
More than 700 pages of emails and other records show that
Pruitt and other EPA officials consulted closely with agribusiness interests and top officials at the USDA on the decision not to ban chlorpyrifos,
a neurotoxic pesticide that has been shown to harm children’s brains at even very low levels,
according to The New York Times.
In response to the Times report, the EPA issued a statement Monday maintaining that
Pruitt relied on the “USDA’s scientific concerns with methodology used by the previous administration”
to go against the agency’s own scientists who had pushed for a full ban of the pesticide.
The emails, on page 301, show that
top political appointees made edits to the chlorpyrifos pe ion as it awaited Pruitt’s signature, in order to reverse the ban of the pesticide recommended by career EPA scientists.
The EPA’s authority to restrict or ban the use of a pesticide falls under the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act.
Under the law, the EPA is not required to get approval from the USDA or any other agency before it takes action on a particular pesticide.
https://www.ewg.org/release/pruitt-s...t#.W09vaNJKiUk
Coal lobbyist-turned-EPA chief Andrew Wheeler's first act as administrator is to roll back standards on coal ash disposal
Acting EPA chief Andrew Wheeler, a former coal lobbyist, just signed his first major regulatory amendment —
making it easier for corporations to discard coal ash however they see fit.
The Environmental Protection Agency on Wednesday finalized a rule that rolls back standards for disposing of the toxic ash produced by burning coal, The Hillreports.
The amendment backpedals on regulations put in place by the Obama administration, which mandated strict federal standards for coal ash disposal in 2015.
In a statement, the EPA said relaxing the standards would save $31.4 million a year in regulatory costs, as states are given authority to loosen or waive requirements for companies.
http://theweek.com/speedreads/785538/coal-lobbyistturnedepa-chief-andrew-wheelers-first-act-administrator-roll-back-standards-coal-ash-disposal
Oligarchy is gonna infect us, pollute us, kill us all, for profit
Interior watchdog investigating Zinke's role in land deal
internal watchdog has launched an investigation into
a real estate deal involving a foundation started by Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke in Montana and
several developers, including
Halliburton Chairman David Lesar.
The probe will look into whether Zinke violated conflict of interest laws.
The real estate deal involved his wife, Lola Zinke,
signing an agreement allowing developers, including Lesar,
to build a parking lot for a redevelopment project
that could raise the value of land Zinke owned nearby, Politico reports.
Critics say Zinke and his family
shouldn't be involved in any business deals
with anyone connected to oil and gas,
as Zinke is one of the chief regulators overseeing those industries.
http://theweek.com/speedreads/785646/interior-watchdog-investigating-zinkes-role-land-deal
The Corruption Will Be UnPresidented
Repug kakistocracy letting BigFinance rape consumers
U.S. consumer watchdog
The U.S. consumer finance
watchdog
ordered an Alabama-based payday lender on Thursday to return $500,000 to borrowers who were overcharged, a fine that people familiar with the matter said
was only a third of what the prior Obama-era head of the agency had sought.
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-u...e=domesticNews
White House Targets Home Healthcare Workers
The Trump administration is continuing its war against unions by trying to
make it harder for lowly paid home healthcare workers to pay union dues.
The workers, whose hourly pay is about $10.50 to about $12, can have their union dues taken out of their paychecks from Medicaid.
Third-party payments, which sometimes include union dues, are currently allowed in 11 states, including California, Illinois, Missouri and New Jersey, but a proposed federal rule would end that.
“This proposed rule is intended to ensure that providers receive their complete payment,
and any cir stances in which a state does divert part of a provider’s payment must clearly be allowed under the law,”
An estimated 90% of home health aides make less than $31,000 a year with a median annual pay of about $23,100.
http://www.nationalmemo.com/white-ho...hcare-workers/
Trump's Department of Energy Neuters Nuclear Oversight Safety Board
Under a new order from the Energy Department,
a nuclear safety board will have to fight for information about and access to nuclear laboratories.
The Trump administration has quietly taken steps that may
inhibit independent oversight of its most high-risk nuclear facilities,
including some buildings at Los Alamos National Laboratory, a Department of Energy do ent shows.
An order published on the department’s website in mid-May outlines new limits on the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board — including
preventing the board from accessing sensitive information,
imposing additional legal hurdles on board staff, and
mandating that Energy Department officials speak “with one voice” when communicating with the board.
https://www.alternet.org/trumps-depa...t-safety-board
The propaganda is working: Trump voters call MS-13 a 'serious' threat to U.S., but it ain't so
Donald Trump's support is based on racism. And the racism is based on Republican conspiracy theories. And those conspiracy theories are now, thanks to White House propaganda, taking root within his racist, gullible base.
A majority of people who voted for President Donald Trump consider criminal gang MS-13 a threat to the United States,
a new poll finds, indicating the Trump administration may be succeeding in inflating the perception of the gang’s national risk.
Specifically,
85 percent of Trump voters call MS-13 a "very" or "somewhat" serious threat to the United States, and
roughly half of them are worried MS-13 is going to target them or their families personally,
Everything else is a hoax.
The vision of a paramilitary en y known as "MS-13" capturing and losing American towns,
the notion that this violent but scattered group is a meaningful presence on the border in any capacity, and
all the rest of it
is a hoax crafted by white nationalists in the White House and racist online circles
to justify an explicitly racist crackdown on innocent refugees.that is a testament to the power of the white nationalist propaganda machine whirring away within the White House walls.
For all the hype in the governor’s race,
MS-13 has been associated with three murders in Virginia this year, and
two of the victims were MS-13 members themselves.
To put that into perspective,
there were 480 homicides in Virginia in 2016, and
nine Virginians died in traffic accidents over Fourth of July weekend alone.
Peddling such obvious propaganda should itself render someone unfit for office, but
we have fallen a very long way from any imaginary time when we demanded our top national leaders be, at the very least, truthful.
Perhaps branding the Republican Party a hate group would jostle some of the beltway’s conscience, however.
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/201...ut-it-ain-t-so
Law That Saved the Bald Eagle Could Be Vastly Reworked
The Interior Department on Thursday proposed the most sweeping set of changes in decades to the Endangered Species Act,
the law that brought the bald eagle and the Yellowstone grizzly bear back from the edge of extinction but which Republicans say is bersome and
restricts economic development.
One change, for instance, would eliminate longstanding language that prohibits considering economic factors when deciding whether or not a species should be protected.
make it more difficult to shield species like the Atlantic sturgeon that are considered “threatened,” which is the category one level beneath the most serious one, “endangered.”
could set the stage for new clashes over offshore drilling and
also could help smooth the path for projects like oil and gas drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.
the 1973 law had not seen major changes in 30 years and
described the proposals as streamlining and improving the regulatory process.
“Together these rules will be very protective and enhance the conservation of the species,”
“These proposals would slam a wrecking ball into the most crucial protections for our most endangered wildlife,”
a broader pattern of regulatory moves in the Trump administration aimed at reducing cost and other burdens for businesses, particularly the energy business.
Environmentalists expressed concern the changes will gut protections for the country’s most threatened species and weaken the agency’s ability to address climate change. The changes, they contended, are
part of a broader effort by the Trump administration to dismantle ecosystem protections and
disregard science when making decisions about the environment.
In its 40-year existence, the act “has successfully kept 99 percent of listed species from going extinct,”
this administration is working to further imperil the more than 1,600 threatened and endangered species.”
give the government greater leeway to play down climate change in judging whether a plant or animal is at risk of extinction.
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/19/c...t-changes.html
Jeff Sessions repeats 'lock her up' chant by students
The US Attorney General was speaking to a conservative student group when a "lock her up" chant broke out.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/world-us-canada-44944442/jeff-sessions-repeats-lock-her-up-chant-by-students
tiny people, tiny brains, perfectly tone-deaf, classless Confederate racist, misogynist trash
Exclusive: White House stops announcing calls with foreign leaders
The White House has suspended the practice of publishing public summaries of President Donald Trump's phone calls with world leaders, two sources with knowledge of the situation tell CNN,
bringing an end to a common exercise from Republican and Democratic administrations.
It's unclear if the suspension is temporary or permanent.
A White House spokesman declined to comment.
Official descriptions of the President's calls with foreign leaders -- termed "readouts" in Washington parlance -- offer administrations the chance to characterize in their own terms the diplomacy conducted at the highest levels between countries.
While news is rarely contained in the rote, often dry descriptions,
they do offer the only official account that a phone call took place. Readouts are still released internally.
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
The White House confirmed that the calls took place after they were reported by foreign media,
by halting the practice of issuing readouts, the White House loses "the action forcing event of an announced phone call."
"I think they lose the public diplomacy aspect of a presidential phone call,"
https://edition.cnn.com/2018/07/24/p...use/index.html
So USA finds about Trash's WH from foreign news sources.
Given the corruption and criminality of the WH/Trash kakistocracy, I assume the secrecy is nefarious, until proven otherwise.
iow, NO ing benefit of the doubt
Last edited by boutons_deux; 07-25-2018 at 06:52 AM.
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