Trump Administration

What Brett Kavanaugh On Supreme Court Could Mean For Climate Regulations

September 5, 2018 Marianne Lavelle, Insideclimatenews.org Educate! Climate Change, Regulation, Supreme Court, Trump Administration

In his dozen years on the federal appeals court that hears the most disputes over government regulatory power, Judge Brett Kavanaugh has compiled an extensive record of skepticism toward the government's powers to act on climate change. In particular, while Kavanaugh has repeatedly voiced the belief that global warming is a serious problem, he has challenged the argument that Congress has given the Environmental Protection Agency authority to do something about it. That means the 53-year-old jurist, if approved by the Senate to fill the vacancy left by Justice Anthony Kennedy, could harden the high court for the next generation as a blockade to climate action that isn't explicitly mandated by Congress. Though Kennedy was hardly a reliable vote for environmental protection, he was the pivotal vote in Massachusetts v. EPA, the 5-4 decision that in 2007 established that greenhouse gases were a pollutant that fit "well within" the EPA's authority to regulate under the Clean Air Act.

Media Organizations Concerned About Confirmation Of U.S. Circuit Court Judge Brett Kavanaugh

September 5, 2018 Free Press. Resist! Media, Supreme Court, Trump Administration

We, the undersigned 24 organizations working in the public interest to protect net neutrality, write to express our strong concerns about the potential confirmation of U.S. Circuit Court Judge Brett Kavanaugh to the United States Supreme Court. Judge Kavanaugh’s confirmation to the nation’s highest court could jeopardize protections for the rights of all Americans to freely navigate the internet and express themselves online. The United States Telecom Association. v. FCC case upheld the FCC’s 2015 Net Neutrality rules in all respects. But Judge Kavanaugh dissented when the case came before him, betraying his commitment to protect the alleged rights of the big cable and phone companies that provide broadband internet access rather than the communications rights of everyone in America who relies on an open internet.

‘I Came To Put My Body On The Line’: Both Inside And Outside Hearing, Women Lead Fight Against Kavanaugh Confirmation

September 5, 2018 By Julia Conley, Commondreams.org Resist! Supreme Court, Trump Administration

Before being taken away from the hearing room, Shaunna Thomas, executive director of the women's advocacy group UltraViolet, told the committee, "Senators, on behalf of the millions of women across the country whose rights will be stripped by a Kavanaugh court, I demand you reject this nomination." Kavanaugh is widely seen as the key to completing Trump's campaign pledge to overturn Roe vs. Wade, the 1973 decision which affirmed that American women have the right to abortion care. While running for president in 2016, Trump told Fox Newsthat if he won, the reversal of the decision would "happen automatically in my opinion because I am putting pro-life justices on the court." Last year, Kavanaugh praised former Supreme Court Justice William Rehnquist's dissent in the Roe case and as a sitting federal judge ruled against a young immigrant held in U.S. custody who wanted to obtain an abortion, delaying her care.

Trump Regime To Formally Reject Palestinians’ Right Of Return

August 28, 2018 By Stephen Lendman, Stephenlendman.org Educate! Occupation, Palestine, Trump Administration

According to the body, “there are few, if any, circumstances in which deprivation of the right to enter one’s own country could be reasonable.” Adopted near the end of Israel’s 1948 war, UN Resolution 194 resolved that Palestinian “refugees wishing to return to their homes and live at peace with their neighbors should be permitted to do so at the earliest practicable date, and that compensation should be paid for the property of those choosing not to return and for loss of or damage to property which, under principles of international law or equity, should be made good by the Governments or authorities responsible” – Article 11. In May 1949, UN Resolution 273 granted Israel UN membership conditional on accepting and implementing UN Resolutions 181 (partitioning Mandatory Palestine into Jewish and Arab states) and 194, granting Palestinians their universally recognized right of return.

Scoring Trump’s Tax Cuts So Far: $280K For Rich Lawmakers, Pennies For Working People

August 24, 2018 By Kayla Kitson, Otherwords.org Educate! New Economy, Taxes, Trump Administration

The Trump-GOP tax law was sold as a boon for the middle class. But many months after its passage, there are no signs that working Americans are getting the pay raise they were promised. The Trump administration claimed the corporate tax cuts would eventually lead to wage increases of up to $9,000 a year for ordinary workers. But so far, workers’ wages remain stagnant. Tracking by Americans for Tax Fairness shows that only about 400 out of America’s 5.9 million employers have announced any wage increases or one-time bonuses related to the tax cuts. That’s about 0.007 percent. In fact, real wages have actually declined since last year after accounting for higher gas prices, prescription drug prices, and other rising costs. If that weren’t bad enough, Trump and the GOP now want to come after the services that working families rely on.

Will The Real John Brennan Please Stand Up?

August 22, 2018 Philip Giraldi, Unz.com Educate! CIA, FBI, Trump Administration, US Imperialism

The battle between many former intelligence chiefs and the White House is becoming a gift that keeps on giving to the mass media, which is characteristically deeply immersed in Trump derangement syndrome in attacking the president for his having stripped former CIA Director John Brennan of his security clearance. One of the most ludicrous claims, cited in the Washington Post on Sunday, was that the Trump move was intended to “stifle free speech.” While I am quite prepared to believe a lot of things about the serial maladroit moves and explanations coming out of the White House, how one equates removing Brennan’s security clearance to compromising his ability to speak freely escapes me.

5 Ways Trump’s Clean Power Rollback Strips Away Health, Climate Protections

August 22, 2018 John H. Cushman Jr., Insideclimatenews.org Educate! Clean Energy, Climate Change, health, pollution, Trump Administration

The Trump administration has proposed to replace the nation's landmark climate regulations with a watered-down version that would do next to nothing to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from power plants and wouldn't even set a specific national goal. If the new plan survives legal challenges, it would fulfill a campaign pledge to abort the Obama-era Clean Power Plan. And in combination with the freezing of automotive emissions standards announced a few weeks ago, it would gut any attempt to achieve through federal regulations the goals of the Paris climate agreement, which the Trump administration has also renounced. Given that the new rule does not challenge the finding that greenhouse gas pollution from coal-fired power plants causes global warming and endangers people and the planet, nor court rulings that the Clean Air Act requires the Environmental Protection Agency to bring it under control, the proposal is breathtaking in its embrace of apathy.

How Much Damage are Trump’s Solar Tariffs Doing to the U.S. Industry?

August 21, 2018 Dan Gearino, Insideclimatenews.org Educate! New Economy, Solar Energy, Tariffs, Trump Administration

The tariffs on imported solar panels imposed by the Trump administration six months ago have done little to dampen the booming solar market in the United States. Company executives and industry analysts say that the effects of the tariffs—increased prices for installations that could depress demand for solar projects and lead to thousands of job losses—have largely been cancelled out by other factors. Many developers had stockpiled cheap panels in anticipation of the import fees. China slowed the pace of domestic installations, creating a surplus of cheap panels that could spill into global markets. And U.S. consumers have a big incentive to install solar panels in the next 18 months, before U.S. tax incentives begin to phase out. So far, there's not enough data to tell how much the import fees are altering project costs, although it is clear that there has not been a dramatic shift.

So What Will The Sanctioned Supergroup Do?

August 20, 2018 Pepe Escobar, Atimes.com Educate! Inter-Imperialist Rivalry, Ruling Class, Trump Administration

Those were the days, during the Cold War 1960s and 1970s, when the earth was actually ruled by rock supergroups – from Cream and Led Zeppelin to Yes and Emerson, Lake & Palmer. Welcome back my friends to the show that never ends – and the post-truth geopolitical remix of the supergroup. Meet The Sanctioned; a multinational band starring multi-instrumentalists Vladimir Putin (Russia), Xi Jinping (China), Hassan Rouhani (Iran) and Recep Tayyip Erdogan (Turkey). As the whole rock universe knows, The Sanctioned run the relentless risk of being outshined – in the form of multi-layered sanctions – by undisputed glitter solo act Donald Trump (US). The two real virtuosos in the band relish playing in perfect synch. Putin may indulge only the occasional Jimmy Page solo (as in Caspian-launched missiles against Daesh in Syria); he’s more like Keith Emerson invoking the Russian classical composer Mussorgsky.

Manufacturing Consent For War On Iran: Pompeo’s New Iran Action Group

August 18, 2018 Trita Parsi, Informationclearinghouse.info Educate! Iran, Regime Change, Trump Administration, US Imperialism, Wars and Militarism

August 16, 2018 "Information Clearing House" - I wanted to share with you a few thoughts on the announcement of Mike Pompeo’s new Iran Action Group at the State Department. As if the parallels were not strong enough to the regime-change policy on Iraq, the announcement comes almost exactly on the anniversary of the CIA-led coup against Iran’s elected Prime Minister Mohammad Mossadegh in 1953. One thing stood out from Pompeo’s presser: As usual, it was heavy on accusations and demands, and rather empty on substance. In fact, it was not clear what exactly the group would be doing beyond what already has been announced. But there are reasons to believe that this is an important development. Fissures exist within the Trump administration between Trump himself (who likely does want to pivot to diplomacy with Iran as he did on North Korea) and members of his team (John Bolton, Pompeo and Brian Hook)...

The Trump-Media Logrolling

August 17, 2018 Osama Husseini, Husseini.posthaven.com Educate! Media, Trump Administration

Today, hundreds of newspapers, at the initiative of the Boston Globe, are purporting to stand up for a free press against Trump's rhetoric. Today also marks exactly one month since I was dragged out of the July 16 Trump-Putin news conference in Helsinki and locked up until the middle of the night. As laid in my cell, I chuckled at the notion that the city was full of billboards proclaiming Finland was the "land of free press". So, I've grown an especially high sensitivity to both goonish behavior toward journalists trying to ask tough questions -- and to those professing they are defending a free press when they are actually engaging in a marketing campaign. As some have noted, the editorials today will likely help Trump whip up support among his base against a monolithic media.

Federal Court Overrules Trump And Calls For Full Environmental Review Of Keystone XL In Nebraska

August 17, 2018 Staff, Nokxlpromise.org Resist! Courts, Keystone XL, Nebraska, Pipelines, Trump Administration

Lower Brule, SD — Today, a federal court ruled the State Department must conduct an environmental review of the Keystone XL pipeline route in Nebraska. Last November, the Nebraska Public Service Commission (PSC) approved a “Mainline Alternative” route for the pipeline through the state. Tribes and landowners have since challenged the PSC decision. The federal court ruling is a strong affirmation of their claims and an impediment to the TransCanada corporation pipeline. In one of his first acts in office, President Trump revived the Keystone XL pipeline, previously scrapped by President Obama due to serious environmental, climate and legal concerns. Communities across the country have taken to the streets to protest the decision, and more than 17,000 people have signed the “Promise to Protect,” committing to action along the proposed route for Keystone XL if called upon by Indigenous leaders.

Afghanistan: US Losing Its Longest War Despite Trump Escalation

August 16, 2018 F. Michael Maloof, Rt.com Educate! Afghanistan, Trump Administration, US Imperialism, Wars and Militarism

The latest conflicting reports about whether or not the Taliban has taken the strategic city of Ghazni between the Afghan capital of Kabul and Kandahar reflect the dilemma and difficulties that the American forces face today. The concerns come despite the firepower and technology that the US has applied against an insurgent force, which has taken over more than 50 percent of the country. This is despite America having almost completely driven out the Taliban when it first invaded Afghanistan in late 2001. The battle for Ghazni and indeed the effort to defeat the Taliban in remote areas of the country suggest that, notwithstanding the intelligence, technology and communications capabilities at its disposal, the US is losing the battle to secure the country.

Why Native Americans Struggle To Protect Their Sacred Places

August 16, 2018 Rosalyn R. LaPier, theconversation.com Resist! Indigenous Peoples, Land, Trump Administration

Forty years ago the U.S. Congress passed the American Indian Religious Freedom Act so that Native Americans could practice their faith freely and that access to their sacred sites would be protected. This came after a 500-year-long history of conquest and coercive conversion to Christianity had forced Native Americans from their homelands. Today, their religious practice is threatened all over again. On Dec. 4, 2017, the Trump administration reduced the Bears Ears National Monument, an area sacred to Native Americans in Utah, by over 1 million acres. Bears Ears Monument is only one example of the conflict over places of religious value. Many other such sacred sites are being viewed as potential areas for development, threatening the free practice of Native American faith.

Turning Space Into A War Zone

August 15, 2018 Karl Grossman, Counterpunch.org Educate! Nuclear Weapons, Space, Trump Administration, US Imperialism

The Trump administration is pushing hard on its scheme to create a Space Force. Last week Vice President Pence, chairman of a newly reconstituted National Space Council, in a speech at the Pentagon declared: “The time has come to write the next great chapter in the history of our armed forces, to prepare for the next battlefield.” Pence claimed—falsely: “Our adversaries have transformed space into a warfighting domain already and the United States will not shrink from the challenge.”n Trump, who in June announced he was “directing the Department of Defense and Pentagon to immediately begin the process necessary to establish a Space Force as the sixth branch of the armed forces,” following Pence’s address Thursday promptly tweeted: “Space Force all the way!”

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