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Author Topic: Corruption in Government  (Read 71839 times)

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AGelbert

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Re: Corruption in Government
« Reply #285 on: February 21, 2017, 08:21:19 pm »
The Republican Tax Scam We've All Been Falling For  >:(


Thom talks about the web of lies republicans spread about the effects of taxes to get the American people to go along with their plan to redistribute all wealth upwards to the mega-rich.

http://www.thomhartmann.com/bigpicture/republican-tax-scam-weve-all-been-falling
He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. Matt 10:37

AGelbert

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Re: Corruption in Government
« Reply #286 on: February 22, 2017, 06:12:59 pm »
 
February 22, 2017

Rearranging Agency Deckchairs Begins on USS Trumptanic
 
Quote
Amidst swirling rumors of Executive Orders, newly minted EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt took the lectern on Tuesday in the Rachel Carson Green Room to address his new employees. His speech was the sort of bromide-laced sedative one would expect in an un-Trumped administration, which sadly made it nicer than anticipated. But still, to the EPA staffers, it was “condescending and hypocritical.”
 
 After thanking the career staffers, Pruitt’s 11-minute talk managed to discuss the importance of process and the rule of law (implying the agency flaunted it prior to his joining) and giving industry the certainty it needs, without ever mentioning public health or climate change. He also went through a version of the federalism spiel he used at his confirmation hearing, to give his pro-polluter perspective a sheen of respectability by couching it in noble-sounding but ultimate industry-forgiving legalese. But at least the feared Executive Orders to pull back on climate, water and other regulations and otherwise reform the EPA in Trump/Pruitt/Putin/Koch’s image failed to materialize. For now.
 
 Meanwhile, other agencies are still worrying about their future - especially NASA, which may soon be targeted by budget reauthorization bills which would cut its climate science and Earth monitoring budget and have it refocus entirely on space.
 
 We don’t know yet if Trump will sign the bill and reallocate resources to gut NASA’s climate work, but there’s little reason to believe he won’t. If he does, it sends the message that the administration and the GOP may not care that NASA is best suited to operate the many satellites necessary to gather information about our planet.
 
 Instead of doing the data collection work that keeps people here on Earth safe, NASA will be charged with focusing entirely on sending people to Mars. Presumably, our plan is to ruin that planet as well.
 
 Back here at home, journalists are continuing to poke and then prod at how closely Russia is working with Team Trump - particularly when it comes to the sanctions that, if lifted, would revive the $500 billion Exxon-Rosneft oil deal to drill in the Arctic. As a further sign of mutual goodwill, Russia has said it won’t push back if Trump decides to pull out of Paris, which is hardly surprising given Russia’s need for ice-free ports and the appeal of farming in Siberia.
 
 But for those worried about the fate of US climate action, the EPA and NASA, you might be reassured by remembering a little bit of modern history.
 
 NASA beat the Russians once.
 
 With our support, hopefully they can do it again.
 
 

He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. Matt 10:37

AGelbert

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Re: Corruption in Government
« Reply #287 on: February 23, 2017, 02:45:29 pm »

Emails Reveal EPA Chief Scott Pruitt’s Dirty Dealings With Oil and Gas Industry
Alleen Brown, Sharon Lerner

February 22 2017, 6:15 p.m.

Emails released Tuesday night illustrate the remarkably close relationship between EPA head Scott Pruitt and the oil and gas industry while he served as Oklahoma’s attorney general. The emails were made public as the result of a lawsuit and open records request by the Center for Media and Democracy only days after Pruitt was confirmed to lead an agency he has long fought to undermine.

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 contain thousands of references to and communications with the Oklahoma Council of Public Affairs, which has ties to ALEC, the conservative group that drafts “model” pro-business legislation. Pruitt’s office seemed to operate in conjunction with the council, which helped coordinate press for the attorney general and regularly released his blog posts on their newsletter, “Freedom Flash.” So after Pruitt appeared on Fox News in November 2013, for instance, OCPA’s Jonathan Small emailed Aaron Cooper, who was Pruitt’s director of public affairs, to tell him he was going to turn the video into a blog and “freedom flash it out.”

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.

Methane Regulation

On May 2, 2013, Scott Pruitt and 12 other attorneys general sent a letter to the EPA urging the agency to avoid regulating methane emissions. The emails released Tuesday make clear that Devon Energy had a hand in drafting the letter, which argued that voluntary industry efforts to restrict emissions were sufficient, that federal emissions estimates were inaccurate, and that regulating methane fell outside the purview of the law. The letter was meant to counter threats by northeastern states that they would file a lawsuit against the EPA for failing to regulate methane. “In sum,” the letter reads, “regulation of methane emissions from oil and gas facilities is not ‘appropriate’ under the analysis contemplated by [the Clean Air Act].”

William Whitsitt, vice president for public affairs at Devon, had reached out to Oklahoma’s solicitor general, Patrick Wyrick, less than two months before, on March 21, 2013, writing, “Attached is a potential first-cut draft of a letter a (bipartisan if possible?) group of AGs might send to the acting EPA administrator and some others in the Administration in response to the NE states’ notice of intent to sue for more E&P emission regulation.”

Two months later, on May 1, Deputy Solicitor General Clayton Eubanks reached out to the Devon vice president, asking him explicitly for input. “I would like to get the letter out in the morning,” he wrote. “Any suggestions?”

Whitsitt did indeed have suggestions, writing back, “Here you go. Please note that you could use just the red changes, or both red and blue (the latter being some further improvements from one of our experts) or none. Hope this helps.”

Attachments to Pruitt’s emails were not released, leaving it unclear whether the letter remained as unchanged by Pruitt’s office as an October 2011 Devon-drafted letter he signed that was published by the New York Times in a Pulitzer-winning 2014 series. A press release for the May 2 comment boasted about the success of that earlier letter.

“In October 2011, General Pruitt wrote a letter to the nation’s AGs alerting them to new inaccurate methods being used by the EPA to measure the amount of methane gas released into the atmosphere by conventional natural gas wells and unconventional wells used for hydraulic fracturing,” the 2013 release said. “Following the letter and other public comments of concern, the EPA declined to regulate methane emissions from oil and gas facilities, and instead remain within their role of the Clean Air Act to review state standards.”

In May 2016, the Obama administration’s EPA finally released a rule regulating methane emissions on new oil and gas equipment. Three months later, Pruitt joined a lawsuit fighting the rule.

The documents contain additional examples of the ways in which the oil and gas industry shaped Pruitt’s work as attorney general. On January 28, 2014, Stephanie Houle, who was then a staff attorney for the energy company OG&E, reached out to Pruitt’s office to note that “It has come to our attention that the filed PDF version” of the company’s comments on a rule affecting electricity providers “did not capture the revisions OG&E made in redline format. The attached word document should clearly indicate the changes.” While input from public utilities on rules that affect them isn’t necessarily problematic, it indicates a coziness that raises questions.

The emails record the attorney general’s staff setting up numerous meetings with energy company executives: arranging for Pruitt to have dinner at the Petroleum Club, responding to an invitation for dinner at the governor’s mansion with the board of ALEC, and dining time and again with employees of Devon Energy.

In an email, Devon Energy spokesperson John Porretto told The Intercept, “Our engagement with Scott Pruitt as Attorney General of Oklahoma is consistent — and proportionate — with our commitment to engage in conversations with policymakers on a broad range of matters,” adding, “We have a clear obligation to our shareholders and others to be involved in these discussions related to job growth, economic growth and domestic energy. It is important that we give full consideration to policymaker requests for information and expertise on industry issues. It would be indefensible for us to not be engaged in these important issues.”

Oklahoma, like the rest of the country and the world, is already experiencing catastrophic consequences of the kind of unrestrained energy production Pruitt promoted as attorney general. In the past eight years, earthquakes in the state have increased by some 4,000 percent, a change that researchers attribute to the injection of fracking wastewater into the earth. Temperatures and extreme weather events are also on the rise around the country and world.

Pruitt doesn’t seem concerned about how the consequences of his energy and environmental policy will affect the lives, health, and homes of the public at large. But after an unusually severe thunderstorm hit Tulsa in the early morning of 2013, Pruitt did seem concerned about his own house. According to an email his assistant Ashley Olmstead sent that day to Howard L. Ground, manager of governmental and environmental affairs for the Public Service Company of Oklahoma, “General Pruitt asked that I reach out and see if there is any timeline on when he and the surrounding area might begin to have their power restored,” Olmstead wrote, adding, “Hope you are well and that you are getting to spend time with your grandbaby!”

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

Agelbert NOTE: the Frackers KNOW the following. They just DON'T CARE!

In the year 2034:


Snake Oil: how fracking's false promise of plenty imperils our future

Paul Mobbs 20th March 2014

Money Quote:

Quote
Fracking is just another step on the fossil fuel treadmill, according to 'Snake Oil' by Richard Heinberg. High costs, diminishing returns and growing pollution will ultimately nail its future.

http://www.theecologist.org/reviews/2315910/snake_oil_how_frackings_false_promise_of_plenty_imperils_our_future.html

"Externalized" Costs Courtesy of the Fossil Fuel Industry as of 2010:




He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. Matt 10:37

AGelbert

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Re: Corruption in Government
« Reply #288 on: February 23, 2017, 09:17:21 pm »

As Tyrants Take Control of Democracies, They Typically Do 7 Things (Video)

Posted on Feb 22, 2017


http://www.truthdig.com/avbooth/item/tyrants_take_control_democracies_typically_7_things_video_20170222

He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. Matt 10:37

AGelbert

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Re: Corruption in Government
« Reply #289 on: February 24, 2017, 10:24:56 pm »
September 8, 2016

Agelbert NOTE: You really need to watch this, if you wish to understand Trump and the danger he represents to America.

David Cay Johnston, "The Making of Donald Trump"


He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. Matt 10:37

AGelbert

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Re: Corruption in Government
« Reply #290 on: February 25, 2017, 01:13:08 pm »
Quote
Has anyone who voted against Trump changed their mind and why? ???

Don Rolph

Don Rolph, lives in East Walpole, MA


Written Feb 12, 2017

I have indeed changed my mind on Trump since the election.

During the election I concluded that Trump would be very bad for the country and that he institute number of very problematic policies. It was going to be a long four years at least.

Since the election Trump has demonstrated not that he will be very bad for the country, but rather based on his first three weeks he will be catastrophic. It is increasingly clear that the Trump administration has no conception of how to govern, no understanding of how the government works, no understanding of our constitutional forms, and gets hung up on petty issues of no consequence to the detriment of critical issues. He is also arguably making the US at higher risk of terrorism and potentially conventional attack.

So yes I have changed my mind on Trump. He is not bad, he is catastrophic.


He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. Matt 10:37

AGelbert

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Re: Corruption in Government
« Reply #291 on: February 25, 2017, 05:15:35 pm »

Published on Feb 4, 2017


David Cay Johnston talked about this book The Making of Donald Trump, in which he takes a critical look at the 2016 Republican presidential nominee.

He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. Matt 10:37

AGelbert

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Re: Corruption in Government
« Reply #292 on: February 26, 2017, 04:07:29 pm »

As Calls Grow to Impeach Trump, Former Nixon Counsel John Dean Sees "Echoes of Watergate"
 Friday, February 24, 2017 

By Amy Goodman, Democracy Now! | Video Interview

http://www.truth-out.org/news/item/39613-as-calls-grow-to-impeach-trump-former-nixon-counsel-john-dean-sees-echoes-of-Watergate

Second part of video with John Dean:

John Dean: Trump Says Publicly What Nixon Said on Wiretap

 Friday, February 24, 2017 

By Amy Goodman, Demoracy Now! | Video Interview

http://www.truth-out.org/news/item/39615-john-dean-the-difference-between-trump-and-nixon-is-trump-says-publicly-what-nixon-said-on-wiretap
He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. Matt 10:37

AGelbert

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Re: Corruption in Government
« Reply #293 on: February 26, 2017, 06:26:01 pm »


3 Trump Targets: Here's What's at Stake

Feb. 25, 2017 02:46PM EST

Subscribe to EcoWatch's Top News of the day
 
Mary Anne Hitt

[Editor's note: President Trump signed another executive order on Friday aimed at eliminating regulations.]

The Washington Post has reported that the Trump administration may announce a number of executive orders in the coming days.

The rumored targets—the Clean Power Plan, the Clean Water Rule and the federal coal leasing moratorium—protect our air and water, save lives and take action to stop climate disruption. By the numbers, here's what's at stake if Trump  attacks these vital safeguards and reforms.

The Clean Power Plan

First Ever: On June 2, 2014, as part of President Obama's Climate Action Plan, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) proposed the Clean Power Plan, our nation's first-ever protections from carbon pollution from power plants. The plan puts states in the driver's seat to hasten their shift to clean energy and reduce carbon pollution. It will also help reduce other forms of dangerous air pollution, helping to keep our children healthier.

Three Times: The Clean Power Plan has a solid legal foundation in the Clean Air Act. On three separate occasions, the U.S. Supreme Court has upheld the EPA's authority and responsibility under the Clean Air Act to protect human health and welfare by limiting carbon pollution.

Up to 6,600:
The Clean Power Plan will lead to significant climate and public health benefits for all. The EPA has estimated that, by 2030, the Clean Power Plan will prevent 150,000 asthma attacks and up to 6,600 premature deaths annually.

$93 Billion:
The Clean Power Plan also provides great opportunities for economic growth and sustainable development. Investing in clean energy will create jobs and fuel economic growth in our country. The EPA estimates the Clean Power Plan will deliver annual benefits of up to $93 billion by 2030.

37 Percent: Fossil-fuel fired power plants are the largest source of carbon pollution in the U.S. and therefore a major contributor to climate change. Carbon emissions from power plants represent 37 percent of the total CO2 emissions emitted in the U.S.

97 Percent: 97 percent of all the generating capacity added in the U.S. in December 2016 was either wind or solar energy, according to SNL Energy.

The Clean Water Rule

In March 2014 the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the Army Corps of Engineers proposed a long-overdue Clean Water Act rule to end the confusion over which streams and wetlands are protected by the law.

The health of our nation's rivers, lakes and bays depends on the network of small streams and wetlands that flow into them. Here's what's at stake:

117 Million: The Clean Water rule provides protections for the drinking water sources for more than 117 million Americans. One in three Americans get drinking water from public systems that rely on headwater and seasonal streams.

20 million: The Clean Water rule also safeguards 20 million acres of wetlands that provide flood protection, recharge groundwater supplies, filter pollution and provide essential wildlife habitat.

Coal Leasing Moratorium: The Cost of Coal Under a Broken System

President Obama initiated a coal leasing moratorium on federal lands while the Department of the Interior reviewed the outdated coal leasing program, which has been shortchanging taxpayers while benefiting coal executives for decades.

Sorely in need of reform, under the outdated program the Department of the Interior has been issuing leases to coal companies on the cheap for coal on lands belonging to the American people, giving them a sweetheart deal that has flooded the market with subsidized coal at below-market prices, while damaging our climate and our public lands.

41 cents:
40 percent of all coal burned in the U.S. comes from our federal leases on public lands. Under the existing system, up to 90 percent of bids in the Powder River Basin received only a single bidder, resulting in sales far below what companies typically paid for on private lands. You could buy one ton of federal coal for less than a packet of M&Ms—just 41 cents.

~$28.9 billion:
Local taxpayers are not getting a fair return for the use of their public lands with royalty rates set unreasonably low. Under this system, American taxpayers are losing hundreds of millions of dollars each year, totaling an estimated $28.9 billion in revenues in the Powder River Basin alone over the 30 years since the federal government last overhauled its coal leasing program.

11 percent:
Mining and burning coal from public lands accounts for approximately 11 percent of annual U.S. greenhouse gas emissions.

Trump is rolling back critical public health and environmental standards so his buddies in the fossil fuel industry can continue to pad their pockets at our expense. The Sierra Club will be fighting these rollbacks every step of the way and Americans nationwide will continue to resist—join us.

http://www.ecowatch.com/trump-clean-power-plan-2282940807.html
He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. Matt 10:37

AGelbert

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Re: Corruption in Government
« Reply #294 on: March 01, 2017, 02:14:20 pm »
March 1, 2017
Bernie Sanders' Response To Trump's Speech To Congress

Sanders calls out Trump for going back on his campaign promises, lying about corporate tax rates, and continues his push for a single-payer healthcare system.




Heritage Foundation budget  cut percentages




He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. Matt 10:37

AGelbert

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Re: Corruption in Government
« Reply #295 on: March 01, 2017, 02:33:57 pm »


March 1, 2017

Ralph Nader on Trump's Speech to Congress

Ralph Nader tells Paul Jay that Trump's attack on the EPA and regulatory agencies will be a disaster.


http://therealnews.com/t2/story:18545:Ralph-Nader-on-Trump%27s-Speech-to-Congress
He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. Matt 10:37

AGelbert

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Re: Corruption in Government
« Reply #296 on: March 01, 2017, 05:10:54 pm »
Are the Republicans Looking for their Reichstag Fire Moment to Take Over?

Thom talks about how Hitler used a fire in the German parliament building to gain power and how the Trump administration may be looking to use a similar strategy.

[/b]


He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. Matt 10:37

AGelbert

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Re: Corruption in Government
« Reply #297 on: March 04, 2017, 03:08:37 pm »
Paving the way for a new progressive party?: Democratic Leaders are a Craven Bunch of Idiots Bent on Self-Destruction

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Posted on 03 March 2017


By Dave Lindorff

The Democratic Party leadership, both in the Democratic National Committee and in Congress, is full of bad ideas these days, and they’re risking disaster because of it.

After the November election fiasco, you’d think a party that left controlling the governments of just 13 states of the 50 states, compared to 32 for Republicans, and that has just lost every lever of power in Washington -- the White House, the Senate, the House and the Supreme Court -- would be rethinking its whole approach to reaching American voters and trying to figure out where it went wrong over the last several decades.

Instead we’re hearing a whole lot of the same old bad ideas, and some new ones that are even worse than bad.

Take Nancy Pelosi, the dinosaur representative from San Francisco who once was the House speaker, back when Democrats controlled that lower chamber of Congress. She says Democrats should “just wait” until Trump voters realize that they have been misled by their candidate, on the assumption that they will then flock to the Democratic Party in 2018.

Just wait? Doesn’t Pelosi get it yet? America’s working class -- black, hispanic and white -- has for years been “waiting” years in vain for the Democratic Party to come back to its roots and start helping them, instead of helping the toney entrepreneurs in Silicon Valley and the toney hedge-fund managers on Wall Street to get richerWait for what? Voters both independent and Democratic abandoned the Democratic Party in droves in November because they finally woke up and realized it had abandoned them, and that “just waiting” for them to come back to a party that betrayed them is not going to work at all.

As I’ve written, plenty of those “deplorables” who voted for Trump in states that used to be reliably Democratic first voted in the Democratic primary for Bernie Sanders, either as Democratic Party registrants or as independents. They only turned to Trump when the choice was Trump or Clinton, whom they recognized as corporatist Democratic party hack. Many have told pollsters and interviewers that they voted for Trump and the Republicans not because they liked them, but to “shake things up” because the Democrats have been ignoring their plight.

And then there’s the corrupt and self-destructive selection of former Obama Labor Secretary Tom Perez as the Democratic National Committee chair, replacing the corrupt Donna Brazile, who helped screw candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders out of the party’s nomination by, among other things, passing Hillary Clinton tips about questions CNN planned to ask in her primary debate with Sanders, before herself being chosen by the DNC to replace the disgraced prior chair, Rep. Debbie Wasserman-Schultz... 

For the rest of this article by DAVE LINDORFF in ThisCantBeHappening!, the uncompromised, collectively run, five-time Project Censored Award-winning online alternative new site, please go to: www.thiscantbehappening.net/node/3479

http://warisacrime.org/content/paving-way-new-progressive-party-democratic-leaders-are-craven-bunch-idiots-bent-self-destru










He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. Matt 10:37

AGelbert

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Re: Corruption in Government
« Reply #298 on: March 10, 2017, 12:46:33 pm »

March 7, 2017 | Rona Fried | Policy/Trends

War on Regulations Takes Off

Last week, Trump ordered supervisors installed in all federal agencies to carry out his “2 for 1” scheme to eviscerate big bad regulations that supposedly hold our economy back. Only regulations that cost industries $0 in 2017 can stay in place – forget any benefits of holding corporations accountable, such as saving lives, protecting human health, safeguarding fundamental rights, worker rights, environmental rights, and caring for wildlife and wildlands. And for any regulation that is put in place, two must be eliminated even if they are entirely unrelated.

“This fundamentally changes 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,” says Robert Weissman, President of Public Citizen, which is suing Donald J. Trump for the regulations assault.

But this is just the beginning. If the Midnight Rules Act, REINS Act and Regulatory Accountability Act pass, major items long on the Republican wish list will finally be fulfilled. The bills have passed in the House and now await Senate action.
◾Midnight Rule Relief Act allows Congress – in just one vote – to repeal all regulations passed over the past year.

◾REINS Act (Regulations From The Executive In Need of Scrutiny  ::)) gives Congress control over major new regulations, taking it out of the hands of professionals in federal agencies. For the first time, Congress would be in charge of approving regulations. If not approved within 70 days, the regulation dies and the agency is barred from taking it up again.

◾Regulatory Accountability Act  makes it very hard to set new regulations by bogging the process down with over 60 new steps. Until now, agencies balance costs and benefits when considering new rules, but this law requires them to choose the “least costly” option as opposed to the “most effective” option.

The House passed the REINS Act several times during Obama’s term, but it was stopped in the Senate. The House voted down Democrat amendments to exempt rules that affect veterans’ health care, nuclear reactor safety, transportation of hazardous materials, and the safety of products used by children under the age of 2, reports USA Today.

Read our article, REINS Act Would Increase Toxic Pollution

These bills “give Congress sweeping authority to substitute political judgement for scientific judgement. It gives Congress permission to ignore all the years of technical work and public comment used to develop public health, safety, and environmental protections, and simply dismantle all these vital safeguards in one fell swoop,” says Union of Concerned Scientists. It’s ironic, because federal agencies develop regulations at the behest of Congress in the laws they pass!

The REINS Act “could, in effect, impose a slow-motion government shutdown, and would replace a process based on expertise, rationality and openness with one characterized by political maneuvering, economic clout and secrecy. The public would be less protected, and the political system would be more abused. Indeed, it is hard to imagine a more far-reaching, fundamental and damaging shift in the way the government goes about its business of safeguarding the public,” says Natural Resources Defense Council.

Conservative think tank Competitive Enterprise Institute is helping out with a 193-page agenda with a long list of regulations to eliminate, and Rep. Meadows (R-NC) has offered a list of 232 regulations that can be repealed immediately.

And who did Trump put in charge of advising on which regulations to gut? Billioinairre corporate raider Carl Icahn. With $16.5 billion, Icahn has plenty of money to protect (and grow!).

Corporations are Thrilled   

Real estate developers, for example, are thrilled with the rollbacks. Eliminating the “Waters of the US” rule makes it much easier to build without worrying about protecting wetlands and the streams half of Americans rely on for their drinking water. When the Endangered Species Act is gone, that will take a big pain out of the way.

Environmental Protection   Agency

Federal contractors are thrilled that the House repealed Obama’s Fair Pay and Safe Workplaces executive order, which requires them to comply with worker health and safety laws before getting new contracts. 30% of the worst violators received $81 billion in federal contracts, according to a 2013 Senate report.  It affects the family of Rodney Bridgett, who was killed when a piece of heavy equipment crushed him and Calvin Bryant, crippled by a workplace explosion that killed 14 co-workers, for example. A vote in the Senate is imminent.

On the chopping block:

◾lead safety standards in drinking water

◾unsafe chemicals to be removed from the market under the Toxic Substances Control Act

◾gut enforcement of the Clean Air and Clean Water Acts

◾prohibit payday lenders from praying on consumers with high interest rates

◾gut Dodd-Frank Wall Street reform,  Consumer Protection Act, Food Safety Modernization Act, Pipeline Safety Act and many more.

◾gut food safety regulations, net neutrality rules that protect he Internet from monopolies, energy efficiency standards for appliances and vehicles, and of course, the Clean Power Plan that reduces emissions from power plants.

◾no more restrictions on oil drilling or coal mines on public land

◾no more standards for healthy school lunches

◾standards that protect health workers from exposure to infectious diseases

◾a rule to prevent mining equipment from crushing miners

◾rules that protect communities from oil trains from exploding

◾protections for endangered species

Visit rulesatrisk.org to keep up (if you can!) with the rules on the chopping block.


“It’s horrifying that even after the Wall Street crash, the massive BP oil spill and numerous other public health and safety disasters across the country due to a lack of strong regulations, Americans will once again have to pay the price for the consequences of corporate recklessness, greed and lawbreaking,” says Weissman.

“Congress totally lacks the technical competence to review these kinds of complex rules. Do we really want members of Congress deciding whether a chemical can safely be used in food packaging? Or the proper procedures for approving new drugs as safe and effective? Or setting the allowable safety standard for heavy metals in drinking water?,” asks Carl Pope, former Sierra Club president.

Say Goodbye to Class Action Lawsuits?


HR 985, which would make it almost impossible for citizens to join class action lawsuits – among the most effective tools for victims of corporate abuse – will soon get a vote. Think about the BP oil spill or Wells Fargo’s illegal bank accounts. HR 720, HR 725 and HR 732 would make it harder for victims of corporate wrongdoing to sue and hold them accountable.

How About a Rule that Requires the President to Reveal His Taxes?

Although the vast majority of Americans want Trump to reveal his taxes, House Republicans don’t like that rule either.  Every single one of them voted to block a resolution that would force Trump to do what all other presidents have done on their own volition.

The House Ways and Means Committee has the power to demand Trump’s taxes, but the full House voted it down when Rep. Pascrell (D-NJ) brought it to the floor.

http://www.sustainablebusiness.com/war-regulations-takes-off/

Agelbert NOTE: Message from the Trump Team to we-the-people:

 
He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. Matt 10:37

AGelbert

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Re: Corruption in Government
« Reply #299 on: March 11, 2017, 03:37:14 pm »

Our President Is Up to No Good

 Friday, March 10, 2017 

By Bill Moyers and Henry A. Giroux, Moyers & Company | Op-Ed

SNIPPET:

As Orwell often remarked, historical memory is dangerous to authoritarian regimes. In Orwell's Ministry of Truth, it is a crime to read history against the grain. In fact, history is falsified so as to render it useless both for understanding the conditions that shape the present and for remembering what should never be forgotten. As Orwell makes clear, this is precisely why tyrants consider historical memory dangerous; history can readily be put to use in identifying present-day abuses of power and corruption.


The Trump administration offered a pointed example of this Orwellian principle when it issued a statement regarding the observance of International Holocaust Remembrance Day.


In the statement, the White House refused to mention its Jewish victims, thus erasing them from a monstrous act directed against an entire people. Politico reported that the official White House "statement drew widespread criticism for overlooking the Jews' suffering, and was cheered by neo-Nazi website the Daily Stormer."

This act of erasure is but another example of the willingness of the Trump administration to empty language of any meaning, a practice that constitutes a flight from historical memory, ethics, justice and social responsibility.


Under such circumstances, government takes on the workings of a dis-imagination machine, characterized by an utter disregard for the truth that is often accompanied, as in Trump's case, by "primitive schoolyard taunts and threats." In this instance, Orwell's "Ignorance is Strength" materializes in the Trump administration's weaponized attempt not only to rewrite history, but also to obliterate it. Trump's contemptuous and boisterous claim that he loves the uneducated and his willingness to act on that assertion by flooding the media and the American public with an endless proliferation of peddled falsehoods reveal his contempt for intellect, reason and truth.

As the master of phony stories, Trump is not only at war with historical remembrance, science and rationality, he also wages a demolition campaign against democratic ideals by unapologetically embracing humiliation, racism and exclusion for those he labels as criminals, terrorists and losers, categories equated with Muslims, Mexicans, women, the disabled -- the list only grows. As John Wight observes, Trump's language of hate "is redolent of the demonization suffered by Jewish people in Germany in the 1930s, which echoes a warning from history."

All Governments Lie



Orwell's point about duplicitous language was that all governments lie. The rhetorical manipulation definitive of Orwellian language is not distinctive to the Trump administration, though it has taken on an unapologetic register in redefining it and deploying it with reckless abandon. The draconian use of lies, propaganda, misinformation and falsification has a long legacy in the United States, with other recent examples evident under the presidency of George W. Bush. Under the Bush-Cheney administration, for example, "doublethink" and "doublespeak" became normalized as state-sponsored torture was shamelessly renamed as "enhanced interrogation." Barbaric state practices such as sending prisoners to countries where there were no limits on torture were framed in the innocuous language of "rendition." Such language made a mockery of policy discourse and eroded public engagement. It also contributed to the transformation of institutions that were meant to limit human suffering and misfortune and protect citizens from the excesses of the market and state violence into something like their opposite.

But the attack on reason, dissent and truth itself finds its Orwellian apogee in Team Trump's endless proliferation of lies: including claims that China is responsible for climate change, former President Obama was not born in the United States and voter fraud prevented Trump from winning the popular vote for the presidency.

Such lies, big and small, don't function simply as mystification; they offer justification for aggressive immigration crackdowns, for effectively silencing the EPA and for upending Obamacare.


Too often the relentless fabrications serve to distract the press, focusing its energies on exposing the untrustworthiness of the person and not on the symbolic, legal and material violence that such pronouncements and harsh policies invariably unleash. 
http://www.truth-out.org/opinion/item/39750-our-president-is-up-to-no-good


He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. Matt 10:37

 

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