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Trump Administration

White House’s Plans For Private Spies To Counter “Deep State” Enemies

December 7, 2017 Matthew Cole and Jeremy Scahill, theintercept.com , ,
By Matthew Cole and Jeremy Scahill for The Intercept - THE TRUMP ADMINISTRATION is considering a set of proposals developed by Blackwater founder Erik Prince and a retired CIA officer — with assistance from Oliver North, a key figure in the Iran-Contra scandal — to provide CIA Director Mike Pompeo and the White House with a global, private spy network that would circumvent official U.S. intelligence agencies, according to several current and former U.S. intelligence officials and others familiar with the proposals. The sources say the plans have been pitched to the White House as a means of countering “deep state” enemies in the intelligence community seeking to undermine Donald Trump’s presidency. The creation of such a program raises the possibility that the effort would be used to create an intelligence apparatus to justify the Trump administration’s political agenda. “Pompeo can’t trust the CIA bureaucracy, so we need to create this thing that reports just directly to him,” said a former senior U.S. intelligence official with firsthand knowledge of the proposals, in describing White House discussions. “It is a direct-action arm, totally off the books,” this person said, meaning the intelligence collected would not be shared with the rest of the CIA or the larger intelligence community. “The whole point is this is supposed to report to the president and Pompeo directly.”

Protest On Utah Capitol Day Before Trump Attack’s National Monuments

December 4, 2017 Staff, commondreams.org , ,
By Staff of Common Dreams - On Saturday, thousands of protesters angered by Trump's expected Monday attack on two national monuments in Utah rallied in Salt Lake City, just two days ahead of his visit. “Go Home Trump,” was the message spelled out by 113 protesters dressed in white jumpsuits. Artist Cat Palmer organized the protest Sunday on the south lawn of the Utah Capitol ahead of President Donald Trump’s Monday visit, in which he is expected to dramatically reduce the sizes of Bears Ears and Grand Escalante national monuments. “We don’t have somebody representing our voices right now, right? That’s a problem. Sometimes when we feel helpless we make art hoping our voices will be heard,” Palmer said. “It’s an outlet for people. It’s therapeutic, .... because we are feeling lost right now,” the Salt Lake City Tribune reports. On Saturday, thousands of protesters angered by Trump's expected Monday attack on two national monuments in Utah rallied in Salt Lake City, just two days ahead of his visit. The demonstrators denounced Trump's expected action, many chanting and holding signs with messages such as "Protect Wild Utah." Native American groups danced or formed drum circles.

Trump’s Health Nominee Implicated In Insulin Price-Gouging Scheme

November 29, 2017 Mike Ludwig, truth-out.org , , ,
By Mike Ludwig for Truthout - "That means that a significant number of people who already paid premiums for their health insurance then end up paying more than their insurer does for a medicine," Azar said, adding that some patients may go without medicine rather than pay high out-of-pocket costs to fill a prescription. Within months of Azar's speech, Eli Lilly and other big drug companies were hit with a barrage of lawsuits and government investigations questioning the rising price of insulin and other diabetes medications and accusing major manufacturers of price fixing. As Truthout has reported, Eli Lilly raised the price of Humalog, a fast-acting form of insulin, by 345 percent during Azar's eight-year tenure at the company. However, it was Azar's comments on rising drug prices and the plight of consumers that helped him become President Trump's latest nominee for health secretary. Azar served as deputy health secretary under the Bush administration, and the White House says his experience in both the public and private sectors makes him the perfect candidate for reining in drug prices at the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). Advocates say Azar's ideas for lowering drug costs could make an already confusing system even more opaque. They also warn that he engaged in the very reimbursement schemes he criticizes before leaving Eli Lilly earlier this year.

Seven Things You Can Do To Support The J20 Defendants

November 28, 2017 Staff, crimethinc.com , ,
By Staff of Crimeth Inc - The inauguration defendants aren’t an isolated case. The broad use of conspiracy allegations will have a massive impact on all movements for social justice. The government hopes to set a precedent they can use to threaten anyone with life-altering felony charges and prison time on the basis of political affiliations. If the prosecution wins by turning ordinary aspects of protest organizing into evidence of “conspiracy,” this will stifle dissent of all kinds. Trump came to power by denying the rights and humanity of Mexicans, Muslims, the LGBTQI community, and people of color while promising to intensify policing. He refuses to denounce avowed neo-Nazis even when they murder anti-racist protesters, yet he has made sure that the J20 defendants face the very worst that the law can deliver. His first day in office coincided with an immediate crackdown on political dissent not seen for decades. If you are a part of an organization, please publish a solidarity statement expressing support for the defendants. Now is the time for prominent activists and social justice figures to speak out. You can find an example of a solidarity statement here from the United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of America. Write your own! You can also sign a petition demanding that the charges be dismissed.

Justice, Clean Air And Water In The Age Of Trump

November 21, 2017 Oliver Milman, theguardian.com , , ,
By Oliver Milman for The Guardian - The Trump administration is peeling away rules designed to protect clean air and water, fueling a growing urgency around the struggle for environmental justice, say political leaders, academics and activists. The Trump administration’s dismantling of environmental regulations has intensified a growing civil rights battle over the deadly burden of pollution on minorities and low-income people. Black, Latino and disadvantaged people have long been disproportionately afflicted by toxins from industrial plants, cars, hazardous housing conditions and other sources. But political leaders, academics and activists spoke of a growing urgency around the struggle for environmental justice as the Trump administration peels away rules designed to protect clean air and water. “What we are seeing is the institutionalization of discrimination again, the thing we’ve fought for 40 years,” said Robert Bullard, an academic widely considered the father of the environmental justice movement. “There are people in fence-line communities who are now very worried. If the federal government doesn’t monitor and regulate, and gives the states a green light to do what they want, we are going to get more pollution, more people will get sick. There will be more deaths.” Activists and some in Congress now view the blight of pollution as a vast, largely overlooked civil rights issue that places an unbearable burden on people of color and low-income communities. Senator Cory Booker, a Democrat from New Jersey, recently said: “Civil rights have to include, fundamentally, the right to breathe your air, plant tomatoes in your soil. Civil rights is the right to drink your water. “If your children don’t have access to clean air and water, all the ideals we preach in this country are a lie. Environmental justice must be at the center of our activism in our fight to make real the promise of America.”

Is Trump Administration Planning A First Strike On North Korea?

November 20, 2017 Gareth Porter, truth-out.org , ,
By Gareth Porter for Truthout - Ever since the Trump administration began a few months ago to threaten a first strike against North Korea over its continued missile tests, the question of whether it is seriously ready to wage war has loomed over other crises in US foreign policy. The news media have avoided any serious effort to answer that question, for an obvious reason: The administration has an overriding interest in convincing the North Korean regime of Kim Jong-un that Trump would indeed order a first strike if the regime continues to test nuclear weapons and an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM). Therefore, most media have shied away from digging too deeply into the distinction between an actual policy of a first strike and a political ruse intended to put pressure on Pyongyang. The use of military threat for "diplomatic coercion" is such a basic tool of US policy in dealing with weaker adversaries that it is almost taken for granted in Washington. Even diplomats who have been deeply involved in negotiating with North Korea are supportive of using that threat as part of a broader diplomatic strategy. Robert Gallucci, the State Department official who negotiated the "Agreed Framework" with North Korean officials in 1994, noted in an email to Truthout, "We do want the North to understand that their actions could lead the US to a preventive strike -- wise or not."

The Press’s Pathological Refusal To Report ‘The President Lied’

November 18, 2017 Reed Richardson, fair.org , ,
By Reed Richardson for FAIR - It is a truism to say that everyone lies to someone. Since public officials entrusted with power in our democracy are no exception to this human trait—as historical research documents—it should be exceedingly acceptable to point out that all politicians, from your local city council right up to the White House, lie as well. The Framers afforded the press special constitutional protection in large part to ensure that such lies would not reach the public unchallenged. Tragically, one of the most honest rhetorical tools that journalists have in the fight for truth has been struck from the lingua franca of US journalists. Within the stilted framework of mainstream news “objectivity,” the simple act of calling out “lies” or “lying” by a politician—especially a president—is now taboo. It imputes impossible-to-determine motives to those accused, the thinking goes, so the use of these words to identify a documented falsehood is now considered controversial, partisan, inflammatory, unfair. Last fall, NPR editorial director Michael Oreskes constructed his own Orwellian logic to defend his news organization’s refusal to use “liar,” asserting that the word constitutes “an angry tone” of “editorializing” that “confirms opinions” (FAIR.org, 3/1/17). In January, Maggie Haberman, one of the New York Times’ preeminent political reporters, said much the same, claiming that her job was “showing when something untrue is said. Our job is not to say ‘lied.’”

Nurse Fights ‘Collective Punishment’ Of Trump Inauguration Protesters

November 16, 2017 Mark Hand, thinkprogress.org , , ,
By Mark Hand for Think Progress - Britt Lawson, a registered nurse from Pittsburgh, traveled to Washington in January to serve as a volunteer medic for a weekend of protest activities against president-elect Donald Trump. Lawson ended up spending most of the weekend incarcerated by the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD). She and more than 200 other people, including journalists and legal observers, were indiscriminately rounded up by police on inauguration day and thrown into jail. “I went to D.C. to use the skills I’ve learned as a nurse in order to support and care for folks standing up against what I view as a system of violence and oppression that will be made worse under a Trump administration,” Lawson said in an interview. In an unprecedented move, U.S. federal prosecutors turned what would have been a normal legal response to a protest — presenting charges to a court against specific protesters who engage in vandalism or violence — into a broader attack on dissent. They charged Lawson and her fellow arrestees — who have become known as the “J20” resistance — with several felonies that could send them to prison for more than 60 years. Out of the legal scramble, Lawson emerged as part of a group of seven defendants who will be first in line to have their cases heard in D.C. Superior Court. Under the current schedule, her trial will start Wednesday and is expected to last at least two weeks.

Trump’s HHS Pick Worked For Groups Suing To Hide Drug Pricing

November 15, 2017 Alex Kotch and Lydia O'neal, ibtimes.com , ,
By Alex Kotch and Lydia O'neal for International Business Times - Not only did Azar work at Eli Lilly for 10 years, the final five of which he was president, he was a board member of the Biotechnology Innovation Organization (BIO), the primary lobbying group for the biotech industry, of which Eli Lilly is a member. Azar left both positions in January to launch a biopharmaceutical and health care consulting firm, Seraphim Strategies LLC. Should he become HHS secretary, he’d be overseeing Eli Lilly and his former clients. Prior to joining Eli Lilly, Azar was deputy HHS secretary under President George W. Bush. The political strategies of Eli Lilly, BIO and another industry lobbying group, including efforts to fight drug pricing transparency and defend their patents in order to keep prices high, shed light on the pro-industry approach that Azar is likely to take as HHS director, should he be confirmed. In June, the Nevada state legislature passed a law to increase transparency in drug pricing, requiring companies to disclose information on manufacturing, marketing and advertising costs and profits for essential diabetes drugs. It also targets pharmacy benefit managers and aims to obtain information about confidential rebates. Eli Lilly is one of the biggest manufacturers of diabetes drugs and has come under intense criticism for consistently increasing the price of these drugs.

‘US People’s Delegation” Announces Its Platform At COP23

November 10, 2017 Staff, indigenousrising.org ,
By Staff of Indigenous Rising - While the Trump Administration Rolls Back Climate Protections, a “People’s Delegation” is at COP23 to Showcase What Climate Leadership Must Look Like. Bonn, Germany — Today, community and grassroots leaders from the United States announced their platform at COP23 called the “U.S. People’s Delegation” to counter the Trump Administration’s fossil fuel agenda and to hold US states, cities, businesses, and the public accountable to commitments to climate action. The platform, includes youth, Indigenous peoples, frontline communities, advocates, and policymakers who have come to Bonn with organizations from across the U.S. They have come together to show what climate leadership should look like. With the Trump Administration rolling back climate protections, expanding fossil fuel development, ramming through dirty infrastructure, and withdrawing the U.S. from its commitments to the Paris Climate Agreement, the People’s Delegation and the organizations involved are taking action to protect communities and isolate the Administration by demanding a fossil free future and real climate action on the local level. Among the demands are: A just and equitable transition to 100% renewable energy in all cities and states.

Noam Chomsky Diagnoses The Trump Era

November 10, 2017 Noam Chomsky and David , towardfreedom.com ,
By Noam Chomsky and David Barsamian for Toward Freedom - At one level, Trump’s antics ensure that attention is focused on him, and it makes little difference how. Who even remembers the charge that millions of illegal immigrants voted for Clinton, depriving the pathetic little man of his Grand Victory? Or the accusation that Obama had wiretapped Trump Tower? The claims themselves don’t really matter. It’s enough that attention is diverted from what is happening in the background. There, out of the spotlight, the most savage fringe of the Republican Party is carefully advancing policies designed to enrich their true constituency: the Constituency of private power and wealth, “the masters of mankind,” to borrow Adam Smith’s phrase. These policies will harm the irrelevant general population and devastate future generations, but that’s of little concern to the Republicans. They’ve been trying to push through similarly destructive legislation for years. Paul Ryan, for example, has long been advertising his ideal of virtually eliminating the federal government, apart from service to the Constituency—though in the past he’s wrapped his proposals in spreadsheets so they would look wonkish to commentators. Now, while attention is focused on Trump’s latest mad doings, the Ryan gang and the executive branch are ramming through legislation and orders that undermine workers’ rights, cripple consumer protections, and severely harm rural communities.

CIA Director Met Advocate Of Disputed DNC Hack Theory

November 10, 2017 Duncan Campbell and James Risen, theintercept.com , , ,
By Duncan Campbell and James Risen for The Intercept - CIA DIRECTOR MIKE Pompeo met late last month with a former U.S. intelligence official who has become an advocate for a disputed theory that the theft of the Democratic National Committee’s emails during the 2016 presidential campaign was an inside job, rather than a hack by Russian intelligence. Pompeo met on October 24 with William Binney, a former National Security Agency official-turned-whistleblower who co-authored an analysis published by a group of former intelligence officials that challenges the U.S. intelligence community’s official assessment that Russian intelligence was behind last year’s theft of data from DNC computers. Binney and the other former officials argue that the DNC data was “leaked,” not hacked, “by a person with physical access” to the DNC’s computer system. In an interview with The Intercept, Binney said Pompeo told him that President Donald Trump had urged the CIA director to meet with Binney to discuss his assessment that the DNC data theft was an inside job. During their hour-long meeting at CIA headquarters, Pompeo said Trump told him that if Pompeo “want[ed] to know the facts, he should talk to me,” Binney said. A senior intelligence source confirmed that Pompeo met with Binney to discuss his analysis, and that the CIA director held the meeting at Trump’s urging.

New Video: Defend J20 Resistance From State Repression

November 9, 2017 Staff, dcdirectactionnews.wordpress.com , ,
By Staff of DC Direct Action News - On January 20th, 200+ protesters were mass-arrested, detained, and now face 6 decades in prison. Their cell phones were confiscated and searched, their homes were raided, and their social media data was seized. The US Attorney’s Office is setting a repressive precedent for political expression under Donald Trump’s administration. It is incumbent upon anyone who values dissent to stand in solidarity with the defendents in this case. On January 20, 2017, tens of thousands of people converged in Washington, D.C. for the #DisruptJ20 protests to oppose the inauguration of Donald Trump. A combination of blockades, marches, and festive demonstrations shattered the spectacle of a peaceful transition of power, and made it clear around the world that people do not recognize Trump’s authority. What could have been a day signaling resignation and defeat became a moment of defiance and resistance. As such, the protests on J20 set a tone and precedent for the events that unfolded shortly after, including the notably successful, mass direct actions at airports against Trump’s Muslim ban, as well as ongoing resistance to deportations. While Trump and his alt-right footsoldiers have encountered few meaningful obstacles from liberal politicians in the halls of power, grassroots resistance has continued to prove a substantial force.

Koreans Around The World Say “No” To Warmongering Trump

November 7, 2017 Staff, zoominkorea.org , ,
By Staff of Zoom in Korea - Trump arrived in Japan late Saturday November 4 as part of his thirteen-day tour of Asia and is scheduled to arrive in South Korea on November 7. North Korea and the rising tensions on the Korean Peninsula will be at the top of his agenda for much of the trip. The White House announced just days ago that Trump could decide whether to re-list North Korea as a state sponsor of terrorism during his tour. “With Trump’s visit coming up, a nuclear aircraft carrier has been deployed near the Korean Peninsula, and the Moon Jae-in administration has been talking about imposing its own sanctions against North Korea as a welcome gift to Trump,” said Kim Chang-han of the newly-formed Minjung Party. “The current U.S.-South Korea alliance is based on South Korea’s subordination and is a war alliance that is far too dangerous.” In Japan, Zainichi Koreans protested in front of the U.S. Embassy in Tokyo on November 3. Among the groups protesting were Zainichi Koreans United for Democracy and Reunification (Han Tong Ryun) and the Zainichi Korean People’s National Solidarity Network. “Last month, the U.S. not only simulated the dropping of nuclear bombs but also flew B-1B strategic bombers in the air space of the Korean Peninsula,” noted Son Hyung-geun of Han Tong Ryun. He urged, “Let us abandon denial of the possibility of war and raise our voices with a sense of urgency against war, U.S. invasion of North Korea and Trump.”

Trump Continues Tradition Of President Waging War Wherever It Wants

November 7, 2017 Marjorie Cohn, truth-out.org , ,
By Marjorie Cohn for Truthout - Defense Secretary James Mattis and Secretary of State Rex Tillerson told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on October 30 that the Trump administration has all the legal authority it needs to kill people anywhere in the world. But just in case Congress wishes to update its old Authorization for the Use of Military Force (AUMF), Mattis and Tillerson told them how to do it: Write a blank check to the president. The October 4 killings of four US soldiers on a "routine training mission" in Niger brought the committee's hearing into sharper focus. It turns out the presence of these troops in Niger was unlawful. Mattis claimed the four dead US soldiers were just there on a train-and-advise mission. "I think it was reasonable to think they could go out there and train these [Niger] troops without the idea they're going into direct combat; but" he admitted, "that's not a complete answer. I need to wait until I get the investigation to fully appraise it." Derek Gannon, a former Green Beret, said, "[US military involvement in Africa] is called Low Intensity Irregular Warfare, yet technically, it's not considered war by the Pentagon. But," he added, "warfare is warfare to me." Mattis insisted that Title 10 of the US Code grants authority for train-and-advise missions anywhere in the world.
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