tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31501300506439322792024-03-19T06:11:54.398-07:00The White Rabbit NewsFAIR USE NOTICE: This blog may contain copyrighted material.Such<br>material is made available for educational purposes, to advance<br>understanding of human rights, democracy, scientific, moral,ethical,<br>and social justice issues, etc. This constitutes a ’fair use’of any such<br>copyrighted material as provided for in Title 17 U.S.C. section 107 of<br>the US Copyright Law. This material is distributed without profit.the white rabbithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04882877192764933813noreply@blogger.comBlogger3241125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3150130050643932279.post-41314432252157200172017-06-15T16:50:00.003-07:002017-06-15T16:50:53.439-07:00Trump Administration Quietly Rolls Back Civil Rights Efforts Across Federal Government<a href="https://www.propublica.org/article/trump-administration-rolls-back-civil-rights-efforts-federal-government">Go to Original</a><br />
By <span style="background-color: white; font-family: ff-meta-serif-web-pro, Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: italic;"> </span><a href="http://www.propublica.org/site/author/jessica_huseman/" style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 0px; color: #2262cc; font-family: ff-meta-serif-web-pro, Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: italic; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: 1; margin: 0px; outline: dotted 1px; padding: 0px; position: relative; vertical-align: baseline;" title="View Jessica Huseman's other articles">Jessica Huseman</a><span style="background-color: white; font-family: ff-meta-serif-web-pro, Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: italic;"> and </span><a href="http://www.propublica.org/site/author/annie_waldman/" style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 0px; color: #2262cc; font-family: ff-meta-serif-web-pro, Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: italic; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: 1; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative; text-decoration-line: none; vertical-align: baseline;" title="View Annie Waldman's other articles">Annie Waldman</a><br />
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For decades, the Department of Justice has used court-enforced agreements to protect civil rights, successfully desegregating school systems, reforming police departments, ensuring access for the disabled and defending the religious.</div>
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Now, under Attorney General Jeff Sessions, the DOJ appears to be turning away from this storied tool, called consent decrees. Top officials in the DOJ civil rights division have issued verbal instructions through the ranks to seek settlements without consent decrees — which would result in no continuing court oversight.</div>
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The move is just one part of a move by the Trump administration to limit federal civil rights enforcement. Other departments have scaled back the power of their internal divisions that monitor such abuses. In a previously unreported development, the Education Department last week reversed an Obama-era reform that broadened the agency’s approach to protecting rights of students. The Labor Department and the Environmental Protection Agency <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-administration-plans-to-minimize-civil-rights-efforts-in-agencies/2017/05/29/922fc1b2-39a7-11e7-a058-ddbb23c75d82_story.html" style="background: transparent; border: 0px; color: #2262cc; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: 1; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative; text-decoration-line: none; vertical-align: baseline;">have also announced</a> sweeping cuts to their enforcement.</div>
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“At best, this administration believes that civil rights enforcement is superfluous and can be easily cut. At worst, it really is part of a systematic agenda to roll back civil rights,” said Vanita Gupta, the former acting head of the DOJ’s civil rights division under President Barack Obama.</div>
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Consent decrees have not been abandoned entirely by the DOJ, a person with knowledge of the instructions said. Instead, there is a presumption against their use — attorneys should default to using settlements without court oversight unless there is an unavoidable reason for a consent decree. The instructions came from the civil rights division’s office of acting Assistant Attorney General Tom Wheeler and Deputy Assistant Attorney General John Gore. There is no written policy guidance.</div>
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Devin O’Malley, a spokesperson for the DOJ, declined to comment for this story.</div>
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Consent decrees can be a powerful tool, and spell out specific steps that must be taken to remedy the harm. These are agreed to by both parties and signed off on by a judge, whom the parties can appear before again if the terms are not being met. Though critics say the DOJ sometimes does not enforce consent decrees well enough, they are more powerful than settlements that aren’t overseen by a judge and have no built-in enforcement mechanism.</div>
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Such settlements have “far fewer teeth to ensure adequate enforcement,” Gupta said.</div>
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Consent decrees often require agencies or municipalities to take expensive steps toward reform. Local leaders and agency heads then can point to the binding court authority when requesting budget increases to ensure reforms. Without consent decrees, many localities or government departments would simply never make such comprehensive changes, said William Yeomans, who spent 26 years at the DOJ, mostly in the civil rights division.</div>
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“They are key to civil rights enforcement,” he said. “That’s why Sessions and his ilk don’t like them.”</div>
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Some, however, believe the Obama administration relied on consent decrees too often and sometimes took advantage of vulnerable cities unable to effectively defend themselves against a well-resourced DOJ.</div>
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“I think a recalibration would be welcome,” said Richard Epstein, a professor at New York University School of Law and a fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford, adding that consent decrees should be used in cases where clear, systemic issues of discrimination exist.</div>
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Though it’s too early to see how widespread the effect of the changes will be, the Justice Department appears to be adhering to the directive already.</div>
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On May 30, the DOJ announced Bernards Township in New Jersey had agreed to pay $3.25 million to settle an accusation it denied zoning approval for a local Islamic group to build a mosque. Staff attorneys at the U.S. attorney’s office in New Jersey initially sought to resolve the case with a consent decree, according to a spokesperson for Bernards Township. But because of the DOJ’s new stance, the terms were changed after the township protested, according to a person familiar with the matter. A spokesperson for the New Jersey U.S. attorney’s office declined comment.</div>
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Sessions has long been a public critic of consent decrees. As a senator, <a href="https://www.alabamapolicy.org/wp-content/uploads/API-Research-Consent-Decrees.pdf" style="background: transparent; border: 0px; color: #2262cc; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: 1; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative; text-decoration-line: none; vertical-align: baseline;">he wrote</a> they “constitute an end run around the democratic process.” He lambasted local agencies that seek them out as a way to inflate their budgets, a “particularly offensive” use of consent decrees that took decision-making power from legislatures.</div>
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On March 31, Sessions <a href="https://www.justice.gov/opa/press-release/file/954916/download" style="background: transparent; border: 0px; color: #2262cc; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: 1; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative; text-decoration-line: none; vertical-align: baseline;">ordered</a> a sweeping review of all consent decrees with troubled police departments nationwide to ensure they were in line with the Trump administration’s law-and-order goals. Days before, the DOJ had asked a judge to postpone a hearing on a consent decree with the Baltimore Police Department that had been arranged during the last days of the Obama administration. The judge <a href="http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/baltimore-city/bs-md-ci-consent-decree-approved-20170407-story.html" style="background: transparent; border: 0px; color: #2262cc; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: 1; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative; text-decoration-line: none; vertical-align: baseline;">denied</a> that request, and the consent decree has <a href="http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/baltimore-city/doj-report/bs-md-ci-consent-decree-teams-20170614-story.html" style="background: transparent; border: 0px; color: #2262cc; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: 1; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative; text-decoration-line: none; vertical-align: baseline;">moved forward</a>.</div>
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The DOJ has already come under fire from critics for altering its approach to voting rights cases. After nearly six years of litigation over Texas’ voter ID law — which Obama DOJ attorneys said was written to intentionally discriminate against minority voters and had such a discriminatory effect — the Trump DOJ abruptly <a href="https://www.propublica.org/article/justice-department-changes-position-on-texas-discriminatory-voter-id-law" style="background: transparent; border: 0px; color: #2262cc; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: 1; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative; text-decoration-line: none; vertical-align: baseline;">withdrew its intent claims</a> in late February.</div>
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Attorneys who worked on the case for years were barely consulted about the change — many weren’t consulted at all, according to two former DOJ officials with knowledge of the matter. Gore wrote the filing changing the DOJ’s position largely by himself and asked the attorneys who’d been involved in the case for years to sign it to show continuity. Not all of the attorneys fell in line. Avner Shapiro — who has been a prosecutor in the civil rights division for more than 20 years — left his name off the filings written by Gore. Shapiro was particularly involved in developing the DOJ’s argument that Texas had intentionally discriminated against minorities in crafting its voter ID legislation.</div>
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“That’s the ultimate act of rebellion,” Yeomans, the former civil rights division prosecutor, said. A rare act, removing one’s name from a legal filing is one of the few ways career attorneys can express public disagreement with an administration.</div>
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Gore has no history of bringing civil rights cases. A former partner at the law firm Jones Day, he has instead defended states against claims of racial gerrymandering and represented North Carolina when the state was sued over its controversial “bathroom bill,” which requires transgender people to use the facility that matched their birth gender.</div>
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All of the internal changes at the DOJ have left attorneys and staff with “a great deal of fear and uncertainty,” said Yeomans. While he says the lawyers there would like to stay at the department, they fear Sessions’ priorities will have devastating impact on their work.</div>
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The DOJ’s civil rights office is not alone in fearing rollbacks in enforcement. Across federal departments, the Trump administration has made moves to diminish the power of civil rights divisions.</div>
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The Department of Education has laid out plans to loosen requirements on investigations into civil rights complaints, according to an <a href="https://www.propublica.org/documents/item/3863019-doc00742420170609111824.html" style="background: transparent; border: 0px; color: #2262cc; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: 1; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative; text-decoration-line: none; vertical-align: baseline;">internal memo</a> sent to staff on June 8 and obtained by ProPublica.</div>
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Under the Obama administration, the department’s office for civil rights applied an expansive approach to investigations. Individual complaints related to complex issues such as school discipline, sexual violence and harassment, equal access to educational resources, or racism at a single school might have prompted broader probes to determine whether the allegations were part of a pattern of discrimination or harassment.</div>
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The new memo, sent by Candice Jackson, the acting assistant secretary for civil rights, to regional directors at the department’s civil rights office, trims this approach. Jackson was <a href="https://www.ed.gov/news/press-releases/us-secretary-education-announces-chief-staff-and-additional-staff-hires" style="background: transparent; border: 0px; color: #2262cc; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: 1; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative; text-decoration-line: none; vertical-align: baseline;">appointed</a> deputy assistant secretary for the office in April and will remain as the acting head of the office until the Senate confirms a full-time assistant secretary. Trump has not publicly nominated anyone for the role yet.</div>
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The office will apply the broader approach “only” if the original allegations raise systemic concerns or the investigative team argues for it, Jackson wrote in the memo.</div>
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As part of the new approach, the Education Department will no longer require civil rights investigators to obtain three years of complaint data from a specific school or district to assess compliance with civil rights law.</div>
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Critics contend the Obama administration’s probes were <a href="https://www.nsba.org/sites/default/files/file/21_FINAL_Boyce_Reeves_Silverman_OCR_Paper.pdf" style="background: transparent; border: 0px; color: #2262cc; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: 1; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative; text-decoration-line: none; vertical-align: baseline;">onerous</a>. The office “did such a thorough review of everything that the investigations were demanding and very expensive” for schools, said Boston College American politics professor R. Shep Melnick, adding that the new approach could take some regulatory pressure off schools and districts.</div>
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But some civil rights leaders believe the change could undermine the office’s mission. This narrowing of the department’s investigations “is stunning to me and dangerous,” said Catherine Lhamon, who <a href="http://www.usccr.gov/about/bio/Lhamon.php" style="background: transparent; border: 0px; color: #2262cc; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: 1; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative; text-decoration-line: none; vertical-align: baseline;">led</a> the Education Department’s civil rights office from August 2013 until January 2017 and currently chairs the United States Commission on Civil Rights. “It’s important to take an expansive view of the potential for harm because if you look only at the most recent year, you won’t necessarily see the pattern,” said Lhamon.</div>
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The department’s new directive also gives more autonomy to regional offices, no longer requiring oversight or review of some cases by department headquarters, according to the memo.</div>
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The Education Department did not respond to ProPublica’s request for comment.</div>
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Education Secretary Betsy DeVos has also proposed <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-administration-plans-to-minimize-civil-rights-efforts-in-agencies/2017/05/29/922fc1b2-39a7-11e7-a058-ddbb23c75d82_story.html" style="background: transparent; border: 0px; color: #2262cc; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: 1; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative; text-decoration-line: none; vertical-align: baseline;">cutting</a> over 40 positions from the civil rights office. With reduced staff, the office will have to “make difficult choices, including cutting back on initiating proactive investigations,” according to the department’s <a href="https://www2.ed.gov/about/overview/budget/budget18/justifications/z-ocr.pdf" style="background: transparent; border: 0px; color: #2262cc; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: 1; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative; text-decoration-line: none; vertical-align: baseline;">proposed budget</a>.</div>
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Elsewhere, Trump administration appointees have launched similar initiatives. In its 2018 fiscal plan, <a href="https://www.dol.gov/sites/default/files/CBJ-2018-V2-10.pdf" style="background: transparent; border: 0px; color: #2262cc; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: 1; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative; text-decoration-line: none; vertical-align: baseline;">the Labor Department</a> has proposed dissolving the office that handles discrimination complaints. Similarly, new leadership at the Environmental Protection Agency has proposed entirely eliminating the environmental justice program, which addresses concerns that almost exclusively impact minority communities. The Washington Post <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/energy-environment/wp/2017/03/09/epas-environmental-justice-leader-steps-down-amid-white-house-plans-to-dismantle-program/?utm_term=.bb810cd82d85" style="background: transparent; border: 0px; color: #2262cc; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: 1; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative; text-decoration-line: none; vertical-align: baseline;">reports</a> the plan transfers all environmental justice work to the <a href="https://www.epa.gov/aboutepa/about-office-policy-op" style="background: transparent; border: 0px; color: #2262cc; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: 1; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative; text-decoration-line: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Office of Policy</a>, which provides policy and regulatory guidance across the agency.</div>
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Mustafa Ali, a former EPA senior adviser and assistant associate administrator for environmental justice who served more than 20 years, quit the agency in protest days before the plan was announced. In his resignation letter, widely circulated in the media, Ali suggested the new leadership was abandoning “those who need our help most.”</div>
the white rabbithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04882877192764933813noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3150130050643932279.post-29484833689463422472017-06-15T16:49:00.002-07:002017-06-15T16:49:31.846-07:00Here's the PR Firm Behind 'Your Energy America' Front Group Pushing Atlantic Coast Pipeline<a href="https://www.desmogblog.com/2017/06/14/your-energy-america-ddc-advocacy-atlantic-coast-pipeline">Go to Original</a><br />
<span style="font-family: "Open Sans", sans-serif; font-size: 14.3px;">By </span><a href="https://www.desmogblog.com/user/7018" style="color: black; font-family: "Open Sans", sans-serif; font-size: 14.3px; outline: 0px; text-decoration-line: none;">Steve Horn</a><br />
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“<strong><a href="https://www.desmogblog.com/your-energy-america" style="color: #3399cc; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">Your Energy America</a></strong>” is a newly formed front group pushing Dominion Energy's Atlantic Coast natural gas pipeline. By tracing hosting information for the group's website, DeSmog has found evidence pointing to the <span class="caps" style="font-size: 0.9em;">PR</span> firm behind the group: <span class="caps" style="font-size: 0.9em;">DDC</span> Advocacy, which has known ties to the Republican Party. </div>
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Short for Democracy, Data <span class="amp">&</span> Communications, <span class="caps" style="font-size: 0.9em;">DDC</span>'s founding partner, chairman, and <span class="caps" style="font-size: 0.9em;">CEO</span>, <span class="caps" style="font-size: 0.9em;">B.R.</span> McConnon in the past “has acted as a key contact and spokesperson for [<a href="https://www.desmogblog.com/sites/beta.desmogblog.com/files/BR%20McConnon%20LinkedIn.pdf" style="color: #3399cc; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">National Federation </a><a href="https://www.desmogblog.com/sites/beta.desmogblog.com/files/BR%20McConnon%20LinkedIn.pdf" style="color: #3399cc; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">for</a><a href="https://www.desmogblog.com/sites/beta.desmogblog.com/files/BR%20McConnon%20LinkedIn.pdf" style="color: #3399cc; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank"> Independent Business</a>],” according to his LinkedIn. <span class="caps" style="font-size: 0.9em;">NFIB</span> <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/National_Federation_of_Independent_Business#Ties_to_the_Koch_Brothers" style="color: #3399cc; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">takes funding</a> from <a href="https://www.desmogblog.com/koch-industries-inc" style="color: #3399cc; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">Koch Industries</a> and other major corporate interests, and McConnon <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20081009082009/http://www.democracydata.com/web/page/665/sectionid/554/pagelevel/3/parentid/591/interior.asp" style="color: #3399cc; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">began his career</a> as a policy analyst for the Koch-founded Citizens for a Sound Economy, the precursor to <a href="https://www.desmogblog.com/americans-for-prosperity" style="color: #3399cc; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">Americans for Prosperity</a>. </div>
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“Your Energy” was launched<a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/natural-gas-pipeline-your-energy-virginia_us_593afeb1e4b0240268793e8d" style="color: #3399cc; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank"> in the heat</a> of the Virginia gubernatorial primary races and is run by the <a href="https://www.desmogblog.com/directory/vocabulary/2519" style="color: #3399cc; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">American Gas Association</a>. The race for Virginia's highest office recently saw Democratic Party candidate Ralph Northam and <span class="caps" style="font-size: 0.9em;">GOP</span>candidate Ed Gillespie come out ahead as their parties' nominees for the looming November election.</div>
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Dominion's Atlantic Coast pipeline, slated to run from West Virginia to North Carolina and slice through western Virginia, <a href="https://theintercept.com/2017/06/12/virginia-governor-race-perriello-northam-pipeline-dominion/" style="color: #3399cc; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">serves as a key issue</a> in the race, with both Northam and Gillespie coming out in support of the pipeline. <a href="https://thinkprogress.org/natural-gas-front-group-comes-to-virginia-f9013d32ce81" style="color: #3399cc; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">According to ThinkProgress</a>, “During the primary, Northam and his <span class="caps" style="font-size: 0.9em;">PAC</span> received $109,283.30 from Dominion’s executives, board members, lobbyist, and <span class="caps" style="font-size: 0.9em;">PAC</span>,” while Gilespie received $43,125.</div>
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<a href="https://www.yourenergyvirginia.com/" style="color: #3399cc; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">Your Energy Virginia</a>, an offshoot of Your Energy America, whose website is also hosted by <span class="caps" style="font-size: 0.9em;">DDC</span>, <a href="https://www.desmogblog.com/sites/beta.desmogblog.com/files/2017%20Energy%20%26%20Sustainability%20Conference%20%E2%80%93%20Virginia%20Chamber%20of%20Commerce.pdf" style="color: #3399cc; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">served as a sponsor</a> for the Virginia Chamber of Commerce’s 2017 Energy and Sustainability Conference held in May. Dominion served as the lead sponsor for that convening, which featured a keynote address by Virginia's Democratic Governor, Terry McAuliffe.</div>
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A source who requested anonymity and attended the Chamber of Commerce event told DeSmog, he saw <a href="https://www.desmogblog.com/sites/beta.desmogblog.com/files/Ryan%20Lowry%20_%20LinkedIn.pdf" style="color: #3399cc; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">Ryan Lowry</a>, <span class="caps" style="font-size: 0.9em;">DDC</span>’s Vice President of Client Relations, wearing a Your Energy Virginia name badge at the event. <span class="caps" style="font-size: 0.9em;">DDC</span> has played a pioneering role in pushing web-centric “<a href="https://www.desmogblog.com/astroturf-the-only-grass-that-withstands-toxic-friends-of-science" style="color: #3399cc; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">astroturf</a>” public relations campaigns, which it calls “grassroots.”</div>
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“The firm was among the first to try to use technology for grassroots advocacy,” Jim Gianiny, <span class="caps" style="font-size: 0.9em;">DDC</span>'s president, <a href="https://personaldemocracy.com/company-reviews-2010/ddc-advocacy" style="color: #3399cc; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">said in 2010 interview</a> with the Personal Democracy Forum. “The firm built up a consulting and grassroots advocacy practice around its technology to become the full-service issue advocacy firm that we are today.”</div>
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<strong>Related: Check out <a href="https://www.desmogblog.com/your-energy-america" style="color: #3399cc; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">DeSmog's research profile on Your Energy America</a></strong></div>
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Koch, American Petroleum Institute Clients of <span class="caps" style="font-size: 0.9em;">DDC</span></h3>
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<span class="caps" style="font-size: 0.9em;">DDC</span> is an <a href="http://www.eei.org/about/members/associates/Pages/AlphabeticalListing.aspx?cid=B62A2455-C752-4B2D-AFD7-5FE02B643775" style="color: #3399cc; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">Associate Member</a> of <a href="https://www.desmogblog.com/edison-electric-institute" style="color: #3399cc; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">Edison Electric Institute</a> (<span class="caps" style="font-size: 0.9em;">EEI</span>), a lobbying and advocacy wing of the electric utilities industry which has paid <span class="caps" style="font-size: 0.9em;">DDC</span> over $1.8 million to do public relations work since 2012, according to <span class="caps" style="font-size: 0.9em;">U.S.</span> Internal Revenue Services (<span class="caps" style="font-size: 0.9em;">IRS</span>) tax forms. According to a<a href="https://d35brb9zkkbdsd.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/090827_ddc_domains_3.pdf" style="color: #3399cc; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank"> list of web domains</a> hosted by <span class="caps" style="font-size: 0.9em;">DDC</span> and <a href="https://thinkprogress.org/exclusive-health-insurance-lobbys-stealth-astroturf-campaign-revealed-b4e963544c0b" style="color: #3399cc; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">obtained by ThinkProgress</a> in 2009, the Koch Industries political affairs committee, KochPAC — as well as several tobacco companies — have websites hosted by <span class="caps" style="font-size: 0.9em;">DDC</span>.</div>
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“We’re strategic partners and problem solvers for your most complex public affairs issues,” <a href="http://ddcpublicaffairs.com/solutions/#sthash.KxCVGZI7.dpuf" style="color: #3399cc; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank"><span class="caps" style="font-size: 0.9em;">DDC</span> says on its website</a>. “We offer the most innovative digital tools, technology and data to help you get the results you need, when and where you need them.”</div>
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A <a href="https://www.desmogblog.com/sites/beta.desmogblog.com/files/DDC%20Client%20List.pdf" style="color: #3399cc; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">2007 client list</a> tracked down by DeSmog shows that <span class="caps" style="font-size: 0.9em;">DDC</span> has also worked with companies such as <span class="caps" style="font-size: 0.9em;">BP</span>, Dominion, Edison Electric, Southern California Edison, the <a href="https://www.desmogblog.com/us-chamber-commerce" style="color: #3399cc; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank"><span class="caps" style="font-size: 0.9em;">U.S.</span> Chamber of Commerce</a>, San Diego Gas <span class="amp">&</span> Electric, News Corp (owner of Fox News), and others. On its website, a <span class="caps" style="font-size: 0.9em;">DDC</span> case study page also <a href="https://www.desmogblog.com/sites/beta.desmogblog.com/files/API%20Case%20Study%20-%20DDC%20Public%20Affairs.pdf" style="color: #3399cc; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">says it did the digital work</a> for the <a href="https://www.desmogblog.com/american-petroleum-institute" style="color: #3399cc; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">American Petroleum Institute</a>'s <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Energy_Citizens" style="color: #3399cc; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">Energy Citizens</a> campaign to promote <a href="https://www.desmogblog.com/fracking-the-future/" style="color: #3399cc; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">hydraulic fracturing (“fracking”)</a> in the <a href="https://www.desmogblog.com/directory/vocabulary/5401" style="color: #3399cc; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">Marcellus Shale</a>.</div>
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“<span class="caps" style="font-size: 0.9em;">DDC</span> has actively partnered with the American Petroleum Institute (<span class="caps" style="font-size: 0.9em;">API</span>) for years, designing, executing, and managing all facets of their key national advocacy program,” <a href="https://www.desmogblog.com/sites/beta.desmogblog.com/files/API%20Case%20Study%20-%20DDC%20Public%20Affairs.pdf" style="color: #3399cc; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">explains the profile</a>.</div>
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“<span class="caps" style="font-size: 0.9em;">DDC</span> was tasked with creating an on-the-ground campaign focused on raising the profile of Energy Citizens in support of natural gas production from the 'Marcellus Shale' formation in Pennsylvania. This was the first time a consumer-based advocacy group would collaborate with other local landowners, small businesses, and industry groups to support natural gas development from the Marcellus Shale site; conveying positions to government officials, the media, and the broader public; as well as building organizational momentum.”</div>
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In the “Energy Citizens” Marcellus campaign, <span class="caps" style="font-size: 0.9em;">DDC</span> said it helped to convene two roundtable meetings with local congressional representatives, get 170 letters of support published and sent to Pennsylvania's Marcellus Shale Commission, and recruited over 2,300 people to take up the cause.</div>
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According to <span class="caps" style="font-size: 0.9em;">IRS</span> tax filings reviewed by DeSmog, <span class="caps" style="font-size: 0.9em;">API</span> paid <span class="caps" style="font-size: 0.9em;">DDC</span> $29.3 million for its work between 2011 and 2015.</div>
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Tobacco, Bush Ties To <span class="caps" style="font-size: 0.9em;">DDC</span></h3>
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<span class="caps" style="font-size: 0.9em;">DDC</span> also has its own political action committee named <a href="https://www.fec.gov/data/committee/C00417758/" style="color: #3399cc; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank"><span class="caps" style="font-size: 0.9em;">DDC</span> <span class="caps" style="font-size: 0.9em;">PAC</span></a>, which has <a href="http://docquery.fec.gov/cgi-bin/com_supopp/C00417758/" style="color: #3399cc; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">given thousands of dollars</a> in campaign contributions exclusively to Republican Party candidates. The Guardian <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/society/2013/jun/07/tobacco-firm-stealth-marketing-plain-packaging" style="color: #3399cc; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">reported in 2013</a> that <span class="caps" style="font-size: 0.9em;">DDC</span> was working for Phillip Morris on a website trying to fend off efforts to mandate plain packaging for the tobacco industry.</div>
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In 2011, <a href="http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20110907006285/en/DDC-Advocacy-Acquires-BlueFront-Strategies" style="color: #3399cc; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank"><span class="caps" style="font-size: 0.9em;">DDC</span> acquired the firm</a> BlueFront Strategies, which was at the time owned and founded by <a href="https://www.desmogblog.com/sites/beta.desmogblog.com/files/Sara%20Fagen%20LinkedIn.pdf" style="color: #3399cc; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">Sara Fagen</a>, who served as White House political director for President George W. Bush and as a top strategist to the 2004 Bush re-election campaign. Fagen, who served as a <a href="https://theintercept.com/2016/02/25/tv-pundits-praise-hillary-clinton-on-air-fail-to-disclose-financial-ties-to-her-campaign/" style="color: #3399cc; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">fundraiser and did data work</a> for Jeb Bush's short-lived 2016 presidential run, now works as a partner at <span class="caps" style="font-size: 0.9em;">DDC</span>. Her husband, Joel Fagen, works for Fox News.</div>
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Corporate Get Out the Vote</h3>
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The day before the June 13 gubernatorial primary election in Virginia, The Intercept's Ryan Grim reported that Dominion had <a href="https://theintercept.com/2017/06/12/virginia-governor-race-perriello-northam-pipeline-dominion/" style="color: #3399cc; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">done an internal push</a> of its employees to go to the polls and vote for Northam. <span class="caps" style="font-size: 0.9em;">DDC</span> has actually done this sort of thing before, according to a 2012 article by Lee Fang published in The Nation, which pointed to a similar effort to urge Koch Industries employees to get out the vote for Republican Party presidential nominee Mitt Romney.</div>
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“<span class="caps" style="font-size: 0.9em;">DDC</span> Advocacy is part of a cottage industry of Beltway consultants who specialize in helping businesses activate their employees and customers into mini lobbyists,” <a href="https://www.thenation.com/article/your-boss-going-mine-your-vote-more-corporations-step-coercion/" style="color: #3399cc; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">reported Fang</a>. “It's not clear if <span class="caps" style="font-size: 0.9em;">DDC</span> Advocacy is replicating the type of explicit candidate endorsements pioneered by Koch for these other companies.”</div>
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Dominion itself has a get-out-the-vote website, DominionEnergyAction.com, which is hosted by the firm Charles River Associates. Charles River's clients <a href="http://charlesryan.com/energy.aspx" style="color: #3399cc; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">have included</a> Dominion, American Petroleum Institute, Independent Oil and Gas Association of West Virginia, Peabody Energy, and others.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8aFPXuiz5zwzSRSIgZvDdE7boly1l-Ebe5cKE2rh_jbpClaOZUfwJQqLDKbNzvANC7nspxLlw2t_I_CVD_c3GXnxvI1-EIozYwJwTgvfGZw4ydcLN91wVQchOlHuYm2Zy9SVJfGmCt-u4/s1600/Screen+Shot+2017-06-14+at+5.23.26+PM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="798" data-original-width="1092" height="233" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8aFPXuiz5zwzSRSIgZvDdE7boly1l-Ebe5cKE2rh_jbpClaOZUfwJQqLDKbNzvANC7nspxLlw2t_I_CVD_c3GXnxvI1-EIozYwJwTgvfGZw4ydcLN91wVQchOlHuYm2Zy9SVJfGmCt-u4/s320/Screen+Shot+2017-06-14+at+5.23.26+PM.png" width="320" /></a></div>
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Sara Fagen, then named <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Sara_Taylor" style="color: #3399cc; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">Sara Taylor</a> and a <a href="https://thinkprogress.org/former-rove-aide-sara-taylor-becomes-msnbc-pundit-76b3232f5a63" style="color: #3399cc; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">key aide</a> to Bush chief of staff and campaign chief <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karl_Rove" style="color: #3399cc; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">Karl Rove</a>, was credited by The Washington Post as a “<a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/27/AR2007052700896.html" style="color: #3399cc; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">microtargetting</a><a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/27/AR2007052700896.html" style="color: #3399cc; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank"> guru</a>” who in 2004 “was among those who helped use sophisticated analysis of consumer data to enable the Bush campaign to target potential voters even when they resided in Democratic-leaning voting districts.” <span class="caps" style="font-size: 0.9em;">DDC</span> <a href="http://docquery.fec.gov/cgi-bin/forms/C00489856/826428/se" style="color: #3399cc; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">spent over $4 million</a> on various get-out-the-vote techniques in 2012 on behalf of Republican Party presidential candidate Romney, according to <span class="caps" style="font-size: 0.9em;">U.S.</span> Federal Election Commission data, which does not require <span class="caps" style="font-size: 0.9em;">DDC</span> to disclose who paid the firm to do the work.</div>
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Getting out the vote is one thing, but creating the veneer of a grassroots movement in support of pipelines is another related, but albeit distinct, thing altogether. What they share in common: a need for the appearance of everyday people working together as a means to an end.</div>
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<span class="dquo" style="margin-left: 0px;">“</span>The fossil fuel industry craves its own grassroots movement, and they really are having a hard time not appearing to be the thugs that they are,” <a href="https://climateinvestigations.nationbuilder.com/who_we_are" style="color: #3399cc; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">Kert Davies</a>, executive director of the Climate Investigations Center, <a href="https://thinkprogress.org/natural-gas-front-group-comes-to-virginia-f9013d32ce81" style="color: #3399cc; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">recently told ThinkProgress</a> of Your Energy America. “In most cases, our communities are an obstacle for these companies to get through so that they can make money.”</div>
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<span class="caps" style="font-size: 0.9em;">DDC</span> representatives did not respond to a request for comment.</div>
the white rabbithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04882877192764933813noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3150130050643932279.post-61482451907347490872017-06-15T16:46:00.003-07:002017-06-15T16:46:23.075-07:00Prominent GOP Senate chairman wants Trump to pay Obamacare subsidies<a href="http://www.mcclatchydc.com/news/politics-government/article156365249.html">Go to Original</a><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "McClatchy Sans Cond", "Roboto Condensed Medium", HelveticaNeue-CondensedBold, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-transform: uppercase;">BY TONY PUGH</span><br />
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Sen. Lamar Alexander Thursday became the second prominent Republican in a week to recommend that the Trump administration reimburse Obamacare insurers for $9 billion the companies will pay this year to help low-income plan members pay for coverage.</div>
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The Affordable Care Act requires individual insurers to provide the financial assistance, known as cost-sharing subsidies, to help pay deductibles, coinsurance and other out-of-pocket costs for enrollees with incomes below 250 percent of the federal poverty level.</div>
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The Trump administration has, so far, <a href="http://www.mcclatchydc.com/news/nation-world/national/article154655989.html" style="background: 0px 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #428bca; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank" title="">refused to provide the money</a>, thinking it will prompt congressional Democrats to negotiate with Republicans on legislation to repeal the Affordable Care Act.</div>
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But without the reimbursements, Obamacare insurers are having difficulty setting their 2018 premiums as federal and state rate-filing deadlines rapidly approach. Experts say marketplace premiums would spike up to 20 percent next year if the money is withheld. Other insurers would likely exit the individual market entirely.</div>
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On Thursday, during a subcommittee hearing of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions, Alexander, who chairs the HELP committee, told Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price that the Trump administration should pay the subsidies this year.</div>
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“And we should probably go ahead and do it through 2019,” Alexander continued…“The payments will help to avoid the real possibility that millions of Americans will literally have zero options for insurance in the individual market in 2018.”</div>
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Tennessee has been one of the nation’s most troubled individual insurance markets as prominent carriers like Humana, UnitedHealthcare and Blue Cross Blue Shield of Tennessee have left entirely or pulled out of most large urban markets.</div>
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Last week, Rep. Kevin Brady, R-Texas, Chairman of the influential House Ways and Means Committee, called on Congress to okay<span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 700;"> </span>the money as well, citing the need to stabilize insurance markets.</div>
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Price said the payments are under review by the Trump administration, but because they are the subject of an ongoing lawsuit, he could not comment on the administration’s plans. He noted, however, that President Trump’s budget proposal “reflects the continuation of the (subsidy) payments until litigation is resolved.”</div>
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The lawsuit, brought by House Republicans against HHS during the Obama administration, claims the payments are illegal because they aren’t authorized by Congress through the proper legislative process.</div>
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U.S. District Court Judge Rosemary Collyer ruled in favor of Republicans. She ordered the payments be stopped, but suspended the order while the Obama administration appealed. The appeal, inherited by the Trump administration, has been put on hold.</div>
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Both Brady and Alexander feel Obamacare is crumbling under its own weight due to high costs and a lack of young, healthy enrollees. But their recommendations to fund the subsidies indicate that Republicans are mindful of the potential election-year chaos that would ensue if the subsidies weren’t paid.</div>
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“As a part of a transition from a collapsing market to a stable market, I believe Republicans will need to do some things temporarily that we don’t want to do in the long-term,” Alexander said of the subsidy payments</div>
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A host of groups representing hospitals, patients and care providers have urged the Trump administration to continue the payments. So has America’s Health Insurance Plans, the industry’s main trade group.</div>
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In an e-mail statement, Kristine Grow, AHIP’s senior vice president for communications, said she appreciates “that policymakers recognize how essential it is to stabilize the individual market. Supporting CSR funding and other stabilization programs will help ensure stability and choice for Americans who buy their own insurance.”</div>
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the white rabbithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04882877192764933813noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3150130050643932279.post-31523576973111051382017-06-15T16:45:00.005-07:002017-06-15T16:45:36.438-07:00TRUMP OFFICIALS OVERSEEING HEALTH CARE OVERHAUL PREVIOUSLY LOBBIED FOR HEALTH INSURANCE FIRMS<a href="https://theintercept.com/2017/06/15/hhs-trump-health-care-insurance-lobbyists-aca-repeal/">Go to Original</a><br />
By <a class="PostByline-link" data-reactid=".ti.1.0.0.2.0.1.0.1.1.2.$58" href="https://theintercept.com/staff/leefang/" rel="author" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #6653ff; font-family: TIActuBetaMono-Regular_web, Consolas, "Andale Mono", monospace; font-size: 14px; outline: 0px; text-decoration-line: none;">Lee Fang</a><br />
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Several senior Health and Human Services Administration appointees previously worked for insurers seeking to influence the consumer regulations mandated by the ACA, according to new political appointee financial disclosures obtained by The Intercept. The appointees work closely under HHS Secretary Tom Price — a former member of Congress and longtime ACA opponent who has <a href="http://www.cnbc.com/2017/05/16/trumps-health-chief-pushes-waivers-for-states-from-obamacare-rules.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #6653ff; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;">pushed</a> his old colleagues on the Hill to repeal the ACA.</div>
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<a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/3864692-Hargan-Eric-D-final278.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #6653ff; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;">Eric Hargan</a>, the nominee for deputy secretary at HHS, and <a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/3864695-StannardNE278e.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #6653ff; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;">Paula Stannard</a>, Price’s senior counselor, previously worked in the lobbying and government affairs departments of their respective law firms, Greenberg Traurig and Alston & Bird. Hargan and Stannard both disclosed serving health insurance giant UnitedHealth as a client.</div>
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UnitedHealth, which prompted worries about the ACA’s tenability when it exited most of the health exchanges that underpin President Barack Obama’s signature health care reform law, has <a href="https://soprweb.senate.gov/index.cfm?event=getFilingDetails&filingID=C00D86EB-9F3F-4626-B00E-E4C7358D07C2&filingTypeID=51" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #6653ff; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;">lobbied</a> the federal government on a number of issues. The group targeted its work in Washington at ACA policies dealing with mandating insurers cover a series of basic medical services known as essential health benefits; limits on how much insurance prices can differ between age groups; and the health insurance industry taxes. All these policies are in Republicans’ sights as they move to repeal Obama’s reforms.</div>
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Hargan is but one of several top HHS appointees with health insurance industry ties.</div>
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HHS Associate Deputy Secretary for Health Reform <a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/3864693-RPateNE278e.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #6653ff; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;">Randolph Wayne Pate</a> previously worked as the vice president for public policy for Health Care Services Corporation, an insurance company that operates Blue Cross Blue Shield plans in five states. In recent months, Pate’s previous employer has <a href="https://soprweb.senate.gov/index.cfm?event=getFilingDetails&filingID=449F2C88-1C73-41EF-AB43-995DF3EB5151&filingTypeID=51" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #6653ff; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;">lobbied</a> on bills to provide waivers for health insurance companies to duck costly consumer mandates, such as prohibiting discrimination over age.</div>
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Price’s Chief of Staff <a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/3864696-LLeggittNE278e.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #6653ff; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;">Lance Leggitt</a> listed 40 previous health care-related clients as a partner of the law firm Baker, Donelson, Bearman, Caldwell & Berkowitz. Leggitt served as the chair of the federal health care practice of the firm, which lobbies for the insurer Aetna and the Pharmaceutical Research & Manufacturers of America, a trade group. Leggitt disclosed being paid $801,008 in compensation.</div>
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<a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/3864694-KLenihanNE278e.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #6653ff; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;">Keagan Lenihan</a>, who serves as a senior counselor to Price, previously worked as a top lobbyist for McKesson Specialty Health, the largest distributor of drugs and other health care products in the country. As recently as last year, Lenihan attempted to influence lawmakers on “pharmacy reimbursement issues and implementation of the Affordable Care Act,” according to disclosures.</div>
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McKesson has faced accusations that it ignored warning signs and distributed dangerous opioids to pill mills, worsening the drug overdose crisis. In January, the firm paid a record <a href="https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/mckesson-agrees-pay-record-150-million-settlement-failure-report-suspicious-orders" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #6653ff; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;">$150 million</a> settlement for failure to report suspicious orders of controlled substances, including oxycodone and hydrocodone pills.</div>
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The Intercept reached out to HHS for comment on the appointees’ past ties to health care industries and their lobbying, but did not receive a response.</div>
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Private health care interests, particularly health insurers, have worked closely with Republican leaders to shape the next iteration of health reform. House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., attended a fundraiser <a href="https://theintercept.com/2017/03/09/paul-ryan-fundraised-with-health-insurance-lobbying-firm-just-before-his-powerpoint/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #6653ff; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;">hosted</a> by health insurance lobbyists just before appearing to explain his party’s approach to repealing and replacing the ACA. The major provisions of the plan passed by House Republicans includes a major tax cut for insurers, along with an option for states to opt-out of consumer protections — proposals <a href="https://theintercept.com/2017/03/10/gop-repeal-strategy/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #6653ff; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;">demanded</a> by health insurance companies.</div>
the white rabbithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04882877192764933813noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3150130050643932279.post-6755002442249610532017-06-15T16:44:00.004-07:002017-06-15T16:44:41.422-07:00Special counsel is investigating Jared Kushner’s business dealings<a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/special-counsel-is-investigating-jared-kushners-business-dealings/2017/06/15/5d9a32c6-51f2-11e7-91eb-9611861a988f_story.html?hpid=hp_hp-top-table-main_kushner-710pm%3Ahomepage%2Fstory&utm_term=.4f93405229c9">Go to Original</a><br />
<span style="color: #111111; font-family: FranklinITCProBold, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">By </span><a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/people/sari-horwitz/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1955a5; font-family: FranklinITCProBold, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; text-decoration-line: none;">Sari Horwitz</a><span style="color: #111111; font-family: FranklinITCProBold, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">, </span><a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/people/matt-zapotosky/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1955a5; font-family: FranklinITCProBold, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; text-decoration-line: none;">Matt Zapotosky</a><span style="color: #111111; font-family: FranklinITCProBold, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"> and </span><a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/people/adam-entous/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #5a5a5a; cursor: pointer !important; font-family: FranklinITCProBold, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; outline: 0px; text-decoration-line: none;">Adam Entous</a><br />
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Special Counsel Robert S. Mueller is investigating the finances and business dealings of Jared Kushner, President Trump’s son-in-law and adviser, as part of the probe into Russia’s interference in the 2016 presidential election, according to officials familiar with the matter.</div>
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FBI agents and federal prosecutors have also been examining the financial dealings of other Trump associates, including former national security adviser Michael Flynn, former campaign chairman Paul Manafort and Carter Page, who was listed as a foreign policy adviser for the campaign.</div>
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The Washington Post had earlier reported that investigators were scrutinizing separate meetings that Kushner held with Russians in December — first with Russian ambassador Sergey Kislyak and then with Sergey Gorkov, the head of a state-owned Russian development bank. At the time of that report it was not clear that the FBI was investigating Kushner’s business dealings.</div>
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The officials who described the financial focus of the investigation spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly.</div>
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At the December meeting with Kislyak, <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/russian-ambassador-told-moscow-that-kushner-wanted-secret-communications-channel-with-kremlin/2017/05/26/520a14b4-422d-11e7-9869-bac8b446820a_story.html?tid=a_inl&utm_term=.0f25b5ab999f" shape="rect" style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(213, 213, 213); box-sizing: border-box; color: #1955a5; font-size: inherit; line-height: 1.8em; margin-bottom: 18px; text-decoration-line: none; zoom: 1;" title="www.washingtonpost.com">Kushner suggested establishing a secure communications line</a>between Trump officials and the Kremlin at a Russian diplomatic facility, according to U.S. officials who reviewed intelligence reports describing Kislyak’s account.</div>
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The White House has said the subsequent meeting with the banker was a pre-inauguration diplomatic encounter, unrelated to business matters. The Russian bank, <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/explanations-for-kushners-meeting-with-head-of-kremlin-linked-bank-dont-match-up/2017/06/01/dd1bdbb0-460a-11e7-bcde-624ad94170ab_story.html?utm_term=.7e0668cc1678" shape="rect" style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(213, 213, 213); box-sizing: border-box; color: #1955a5; font-size: inherit; line-height: 1.8em; margin-bottom: 18px; text-decoration-line: none; zoom: 1;" title="www.washingtonpost.com">Vnesheconombank</a>, which has been the subject of U.S. sanctions following Russia’s annexation of Crimea, has said the session was held for business reasons because of Kushner’s role as head of his family’s real estate company. The meeting occurred as Kushner’s company had been seeking financing for its troubled $1.8 billion purchase of an office building on Fifth Avenue in New York, and it could raise questions about whether Kushner’s personal financial interests were colliding with his impending role as a public official.</div>
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Mueller’s investigation is still in a relatively early phase, and it is unclear if any criminal charges will be brought when it is complete.</div>
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“We do not know what this report refers to,” said Jamie Gorelick, a lawyer for Kushner. “It would be standard practice for the Special Counsel to examine financial records to look for anything related to Russia. Mr. Kushner previously volunteered to share with Congress what he knows about Russia-related matters. He will do the same if he is contacted in connection with any other inquiry.”</div>
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Kushner has agreed to discuss his Russian contacts with the Senate Intelligence Committee, which is conducting one of several investigations into Russian meddling in the 2016 election.</div>
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Kushner rarely speaks publicly about role in the White House, but he has become a major figure in the administration with a sprawling list of policy responsibilities that includes Canada and Mexico, China, and peace in the Middle East.</div>
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Peter Carr, a spokesman for Mueller, declined to comment for this story, but said “that the Special Counsel’s Office has undertaken stringent controls to prohibit unauthorized disclosures and will deal severely with any member who engages in this conduct.”</div>
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Mueller, who was appointed as special counsel by Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein on May 17, is investigating possible coordination between the Kremlin and the Trump campaign to influence the 2016 presidential election, and related matters. The inquiry has expanded to include an examination of whether Trump attempted to obstruct justice, The Post reported Wednesday.</div>
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Trump on Thursday tweeted that the investigation was “the single greatest WITCH HUNT in American political history - led by some very bad and conflicted people!”</div>
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Trump also compared his position to the investigation of Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server in another tweet.</div>
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“Crooked H destroyed phones w/ hammer, ‘bleached’ emails, & had husband meet w/AG days before she was cleared- & they talk about obstruction?” he wrote.</div>
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After Trump fired FBI Director James B. Comey, Trump said that Comey had told him three times that he was not under investigation. Comey confirmed that in his testimony before the Senate Intelligence Committee last week. The first time he told Trump was in his first meeting with the president before the inauguration on Jan. 6.</div>
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Before he met with the president, Comey gathered his leadership team at the FBI to discuss with them whether he should be prepared to assure then-President-elect Trump that the FBI was not investigating him personally.</div>
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Comey testified that not everyone on his FBI team agreed he should. Comey did not name the dissenter, but The Washington Post has learned it was FBI General Counsel James A. Baker. Comey testified that the member of his leadership team said that although it was true at the moment that Trump was not under investigation, it was possible that could change.</div>
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“His concern was, because we’re looking at the potential — again, that’s the subject of the investigation — coordination between the campaign and Russia, because it was President Trump — President-elect Trump’s campaign, this person’s view was, inevitably, his behavior, his conduct will fall within the scope of that work,” Comey said.</div>
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“And so he was reluctant to make the statement that I made,” Comey said.</div>
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Baker’s views didn’t change, even as Comey told Trump a second and third time that he was not being investigated.</div>
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“His view was still that it...could be misleading, because the nature of the investigation was such that it might well touch — obviously, it would touch the campaign, and the person at the head of the campaign would be the candidate. And so that was his view throughout,” Comey said.</div>
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Baker declined to comment.</div>
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In the days following Trump’s firing of Comey on May 9 and before Mueller’s appointment, the obstruction-of-justice investigation of the president began, according to people familiar with the matter.</div>
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Discussing the firing of Comey, Trump said in an interview with NBC, “In fact, when I decided to just do it, I said to myself, I said, ‘You know, this Russia thing with Trump and Russia is a made up story, it’s an excuse by the Democrats for having lost an election that they should have won.’”</div>
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Comey took notes after each of his nine meetings or phone calls with Trump, including one alone with the president in the Oval Office on Feb. 14, the day after Flynn was forced to resign. Comey testified that Trump said to him, “I hope you can let this go. The president has denied that he told Comey to drop the Flynn investigation.</div>
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Comey told lawmakers he gave notes he had taken after that meeting and his other eight meetings or phone calls he had with Trump to Mueller.</div>
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Two senior intelligence officials, Daniel Coats, the current director of national intelligence, and Mike Rogers, the head of the National Security Agency, agreed to be interviewed by Mueller as early as this week.</div>
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Trump spoke to Coats and Rogers about the Russia investigation, according to officials. Coats told associates that Trump asked him whether he could intervene with Comey to get the FBI to back off its focus on Flynn, the officials said. Coats later told lawmakers he never felt pressured to intervene.</div>
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Trump later telephoned Coats and Rogers to separately ask them to issue public statements denying that there was any evidence of coordination between Trump’s campaign and Russian officials. Coats and Rogers refused to comply with the president’s requests, officials said.</div>
the white rabbithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04882877192764933813noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3150130050643932279.post-74434569485679752322017-06-15T16:42:00.003-07:002017-06-15T16:42:39.868-07:00Trump Versus Comey: The Politics of Loyalty and Lying<a href="http://www.truth-out.org/opinion/item/40944-trump-versus-comey-the-politics-of-loyalty-and-lying">Go to Original</a><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #9c162e; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: italic;">By </span><a href="http://www.truth-out.org/author/itemlist/user/44709" style="background-color: white; color: #9c162e; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: italic; outline-offset: -2px; outline: 0px;">Henry A. Giroux</a><br />
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Donald Trump's firing of James Comey as the director of the FBI has caused a firestorm around the country but for the wrong reasons. Rather than framing Trump's actions as another example of the unravelling of a lawless and crooked government, the mainstream press has largely focused on the question of whether Trump or Comey is lying. Even worse, the debate in some quarters has degenerated into the personal question of whose "side" one is on regarding the testimony.</div>
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Testifying before a Senate Intelligence Committee, Comey claimed that in meetings with the president, Trump had not only asked him if he wanted to keep his job but had also demanded what amounted to a loyalty pledge from him. Comey saw these interventions as an attempt by Trump to develop a patronage relationship with him and viewed them as part of a larger attempt to derail an FBI investigation into National Security Adviser Michael Flynn's links to Russia. What Comey implied but did not state directly is that Trump wanted to turn the FBI into the loyal arm and accomplished agent of corrupt political power. In other words, without making a direct allegation, Comey <a href="http://www.truth-out.org/news/item/40899-comey-bolsters-case-for-obstruction-of-justice-case-by-trump" style="color: #9c162e; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">laid out a case for charging Trump with the crime of obstruction of justice</a>. That case is further bolstered by the revelation that Trump is now <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/12/us/politics/robert-mueller-trump.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&clickSource=story-heading&module=b-lede-package-region&region=top-news&WT.nav=top-news" style="color: #9c162e; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">reportedly considering whether to fire Robert S. Mueller III</a>, the special counsel who was appointed to investigate whether Trump's campaign colluded with Russian officials. Even Mitch McConnell, the Senate majority leader and Paul Ryan, the Speaker of the House, have publicly stated that this is a bad idea. What many people miss is that rumors of Trump's possible firing of Mueller are nothing more than part of a politics of diversion -- one which constantly shifts the terms of the debate about Trump's trampling on the rights of the American people and his willingness to divert serious questions about his acts of collusion and obstruction of justice.</div>
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Expressing a blatant contempt for the truth, Trump tweeted that Comey's testimony had vindicated him and that Comey was a liar and a leaker. Of course, Trump made no mention of the fact that Comey leaked non-classified information because he did not trust anyone at the Department of Justice, especially since it was led by Trump's crony, Jeff Sessions. Since Trump is a serial liar, there is a certain irony in Trump accusing Comey of lying. As Mehdi Hasan, appearing on Democracy Now!, <a href="https://www.democracynow.org/2017/6/9/is_the_president_a_serial_fabricator" style="color: #9c162e; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">observes</a>:</div>
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From a political point of view, we know that one of the biggest flaws in Donald Trump's presidency, his candidacy, his ability to be president, is that he's a serial fabricator. Now you have the former top law enforcement officer of this country going in front of the Senate, under oath, saying he -- that, you know, "Those are lies, plain and simple," he said, referring to Trump's description of his firing. He said, "I was worried he would lie." He says, "I was worried about the nature of the man." … And there was a quite funny tweet that went viral last night, which said, you know, "Trump is saying he's a liar. Comey is saying Trump's a liar. Well, who do you believe? Do you believe an FBI director who served under two -- who served under three presidents from two parties? Or do you believe the guy who said Obama was born in Kenya?" And, you know, that's what faces us today.</div>
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Needless to say, given the FBI's history, Comey being a highly respected director of the FBI -- let alone a Republican -- does not support the fact that Comey is less likely to lie. But one cannot miss the irony in Trump's attempt to smear Comey as cowardly by accusing him of lying, given the fact that Trump is a serial liar who has unapologetically declared war not just on the truth but also on critical thought itself. Trump cannot be trusted because he not only infects political discourse with a language of hate, bigotry and lies, but also because he has allowed an ideology built on the use of disinformation to take over the White House. Under the Trump administration, the truth is distorted for ideological, political and commercial reasons. Lying has become an industry and tool of power. All administrations and governments lie, but under Trump lying has become normalized. It is a calling card for corruption and lawlessness, one that provides the foundation for authoritarianism.</div>
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Trump is a salesman and a bully. He constantly assumes the macho swagger of a used car salesman from a TV commercial while at the same time, as Rebecca Solnit observes, he bullies facts and truths as well as friends and acquaintances. He is obsessed with power and prides himself on the language of command, loyalty and humiliation. He appears fixated on the fear that the United States could still act on the memory, if not the ghosts, of a real democracy.</div>
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Asha Rangappa, a former FBI agent writing in the Washington Post, argues that one of the most revelatory moments in the Senate Intelligence Committee hearing took place when Comey revealed that in nine conversations with Trump either directly or by phone, Trump focused exclusively on whether the investigation into the Russian matter was affecting him personally. <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/posteverything/wp/2017/06/10/i-was-an-fbi-agent-trumps-lack-of-concern-about-russian-hacking-shocks-me/?utm_term=.575618aa2b4a" style="color: #9c162e; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">She writes</a>:</div>
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As a former FBI counterintelligence agent, what I saw as the most explosive aspect of the testimony didn't involve any legal violation of the U.S. code or questions about whether Comey had broken established Department of Justice protocols. Instead, it was the prima facie evidence that Comey presented that Trump appears unwilling to uphold his oath "to preserve, protect, and defend" the country -- which puts the security of our nation and its democracy at stake. In the nine times Trump met with or called Comey, it was always to discuss how the investigation into Russia's election interference was affecting him personally, rather than the security of the country. He apparently cared little about understanding either the magnitude of the Russian intelligence threat, or how the FBI might be able to prevent another attack in future elections…. This … underscores Trump's disregard for his fundamental duty, which is to ensure the security of the nation, its government and its citizens from foreign enemies.</div>
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A democracy cannot exist without informed citizens and public spheres and educational apparatuses that uphold standards of truth, honesty, evidence, facts and justice. Under Trump, disinformation masquerading as news -- often via his Twitter account -- has become a weapon for legitimating ignorance and civic illiteracy. Not only has Trump lied repeatedly, he has also attacked the critical media, claimed journalists are enemies of the American people and argued that the media is the opposition party. There is more at stake here than the threat of censorship or the normalization of lying; there is also an attack on long-valued sources of information and the public spheres that produce them. Trump's government has become a powerful disimagination machine in which the distinction between fact and fiction, reality and fantasy are erased.</div>
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Trump has democratized the flow of disinformation, and in doing so, has aligned himself with a culture of immediacy, sensationalism and theater where thoughtful reading, informed judgments and a respect for the facts disappear. He propagates fiction disguised as "news" as a way to discredit facts, if not thinking itself. This practice operates in the service of violence because it infantilizes and depoliticizes the wider public creating what Viktor Frankl has called in a different context, "<a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=9fmOAAAAQBAJ&pg=PT162&lpg=PT162&dq=:%25reductionism+has+become+the+mask+of+nihilism;&source=bl&ots=bm8IOGXIll&sig=3HgwctYb4S0H0xnPcmX_QJ8Hdww&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjq5Jfmr7zUAhVn44MKHYOADOYQ6AEIKzAA#v=onepage&q=%3A%25reductionism%20has%20become%20the%20mask%20of%20nihilism%3B&f=false" style="color: #9c162e; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">the mask of nihilism</a>." Trump capitalizes on a digital culture of immediacy and short attention spans in which complexity collapses in a barrage of tweets and the need for a narrative that offers a sense of consistency and a respite from fear.</div>
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Trump's attack on Comey goes beyond a personal insult and act of egregious lying, as well as, in all likelihood, an <a href="http://www.truth-out.org/news/item/40899-comey-bolsters-case-for-obstruction-of-justice-case-by-trump" style="color: #9c162e; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">obstruction of justice</a>. It is also a register of his attempt to discredit criticism and the shared public reality among institutions that is central to a democracy. The dissolution of public goods and the public sphere has been underway since the late 1970s, and Trump capitalizes on that in an attempt to both depoliticize and bind the American people through a kind of dystopian legitimacy in which words no longer matter and anything can be said. He works to undermine the capacity for truth telling and political speech itself. Under the Trump regime, consistent narratives rooted in forms of civic illiteracy and a deep distrust of the truth and the ethical imagination have become the glue of authoritarian power. All of this is reinforced by a disdain for measured arguments, an embrace of the spectacle and an alignment with a banal theater of celebrity culture. In this context, rumors are more important than truth telling. Indeed, in this theater of the absurd, society loses its safeguards against lies, corruption and authoritarianism. In a culture of short attention spans, Trump provides a tsunami of misrepresentations and values in which thinking is done by others, power is exercised by a ruling elite, and people are urged to cease narrating their own experiences and give up their ability to govern rather than be governed. Trump offers his followers a world in which nothing is connected, destabilized perceptions reinforce a politics that turns lethal and community becomes dystopian -- unconnected to any viable democratic reality.</div>
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Roger Berkowitz, in a brilliant analysis of Trump and his followers that draws upon the work of Hannah Arendt, argues in the LA Review of Books that Trump's supporters don't care about his lies or his disdain for facts. They rely on him for a consistent narrative of a reality in which they are a part. Berkowitz's piece is worth citing at length. <a href="https://lareviewofbooks.org/article/arendt-matters-revisiting-origins-totalitarianism/" style="color: #9c162e; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">He writes</a>:</div>
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The reason fact-checking is ineffective today -- at least in convincing those who are members of movements -- is that the mobilized members of a movement are confounded by a world resistant to their wishes and prefer the promise of a consistent alternate world to reality. When Donald Trump says he's going to build a wall to protect our borders, he is not making a factual statement that an actual wall will actually protect our borders; he is signaling a politically incorrect willingness to put America first. When he says that there was massive voter fraud or boasts about the size of his inauguration crowd, he is not speaking about actual facts, but is insisting that his election was legitimate. 'What convinces masses are not facts, and not even invented facts, but only the consistency of the system of which they are presumably part.' Leaders of these mass totalitarian movements do not need to believe in the truth of their lies and ideological clichés. The point of their fabrications is not to establish facts, but to create a coherent fictional reality. What a movement demands of its leaders is the articulation of a consistent narrative combined with the ability to abolish the capacity for distinguishing between truth and falsehood, between reality and fiction.</div>
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As important as the Trump-Comey affair is, it runs the risk of both exacerbating the transformation of politics into theater and reinforcing what <a href="http://www.commondreams.org/views/2017/03/17/management-unleashed-insanity" style="color: #9c162e; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">Todd Gitlin refers to</a> as Trump's support for an "apocalyptic nationalism, the point of which is to belong, not to believe. You belong by affirming. To win, you don't need reasons anymore, only power." Trump values loyalty over integrity. He lies, in part, to test the loyalty of those who both follow him and align themselves with his power. The Trump-Comey affair must be understood within a broader attack on the fundamentals of education, critical modes of agency and democracy itself. This is especially important at a time when the United States is no longer a functioning democracy and is in the presence of what Zygmunt Bauman and Leonidas Donskis refer to in their book Liquid Evil as "the emergence of modern barbarity." Trump's discourse of lies, misrepresentations and fakery makes it all the more urgent for us to acknowledge that education is at the center of politics because it is crucial in the struggle over consciousness, values, identity and agency. Ignorance in the service of education targets the darkness and reinforces and thrives on civic illiteracy. Trump's disinformation machine is about more than lying. It is about using all of the tools and resources for education to create a dystopia in which authoritarianism exercises the raw power of ignorance and control.</div>
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Artists, educators, young people, journalists and others need to make the virtue of truth-telling visible again. We need to connect democracy with a notion of truth-telling and consciousness that is on the side of economic and political justice, and democracy itself. If we are all going to fight for and with the most marginalized people, there must be a broader understanding of their needs. We need to create narratives and platforms in which those who have been deemed disposable can identify themselves and the conditions through which power and oppression bear down on their lives.</div>
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This is not an easy task, but nothing less than justice, democracy and the planet itself are at risk.</div>
the white rabbithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04882877192764933813noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3150130050643932279.post-78559789384792399432017-06-15T16:41:00.003-07:002017-06-15T16:41:32.633-07:00Lobbyist for Russian interests says he attended dinners hosted by Sessions<span style="background-color: white; color: #767676; font-family: "Guardian Egyptian Web", "Guardian Text Egyptian Web", Georgia, serif; font-size: 18px; font-variant-ligatures: common-ligatures;">Richard Burt contradicts Jeff Sessions’ testimony that he didn’t believe he had contacts with lobbyists working for Russian interests during Trump’s campaign</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: "Guardian Text Egyptian Web", Georgia, serif; font-variant-ligatures: common-ligatures;">An American lobbyist for Russian interests who helped craft an important foreign policy speech for Donald Trump has confirmed that he attended two dinners hosted by Jeff Sessions during the 2016 campaign, apparently </span><a class="u-underline" data-link-name="in body link" href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/jun/13/jeff-sessions-russia-collusion-senate-testimony" style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border-bottom: 0.0625rem solid rgb(220, 220, 220); color: #005689; cursor: pointer; font-family: "Guardian Text Egyptian Web", Georgia, serif; font-variant-ligatures: common-ligatures; text-decoration-line: none !important; touch-action: manipulation; transition: border-color 0.15s ease-out;">contradicting the attorney general’s sworn testimony</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: "Guardian Text Egyptian Web", Georgia, serif; font-variant-ligatures: common-ligatures;"> given this week.</span><br />
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Sessions testified under oath on Tuesday that he did not believe he had any contacts with lobbyists working for Russian interests over the course of Trump’s campaign. But Richard Burt, a former ambassador to Germany during the Reagan administration, who has represented Russian interests in Washington, told the Guardian that he could confirm previous media reports that stated he had contacts with Sessions at the time.</div>
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“I did attend two dinners with groups of former Republican foreign policy officials and Senator Sessions,” Burt said.</div>
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Asked whether Sessions was unfamiliar with Burt’s role as a lobbyist for Russian interests – a fact that is disclosed in public records – or had any reason to be confused about the issue, Burt told the Guardian that he did not know.</div>
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Several media reports published before Trump’s election in November noted that Burt advised then candidate Trump on his first major foreign policy speech, a role that brought him into contact with Sessions personally.</div>
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Burt, who previously served on the advisory board of Alfa Capital Partners, a private equity fund where Russia’s Alfa Bank was an investor and last year was lobbying on behalf of a pipeline company that is now controlled by Gazprom, Russia’s state-controlled energy conglomerate, first told <a class="u-underline" data-link-name="in body link" href="http://www.politico.com/story/2016/10/donald-trump-campaign-lobbyist-russian-pipeline-229264" style="background: transparent; border-bottom: 0.0625rem solid rgb(220, 220, 220); color: #005689; cursor: pointer; text-decoration-line: none !important; touch-action: manipulation; transition: border-color 0.15s ease-out;">Politico in October</a> that he had been invited to two dinners that were hosted by Sessions last summer, at the height of the presidential campaign.</div>
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Sessions, a former senator for Alabama who was chairman of the Trump campaign’s national security committee, reportedly invited Burt so that he could discuss issues of national security and foreign policy.</div>
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When John McCain, the Republican senator from Arizona who is a frequent critic of Trump and Russian president Vladimir Putin, <a class="u-underline" data-link-name="in body link" href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/live/2017/jun/13/jeff-sessions-testimony-russia-contacts-live" style="background: transparent; border-bottom: 0.0625rem solid rgb(220, 220, 220); color: #005689; cursor: pointer; text-decoration-line: none !important; touch-action: manipulation; transition: border-color 0.15s ease-out;">asked Sessions</a> in a hearing this week before the Senate intelligence committee about whether the attorney general had ever had “any contacts with any representative, including any American lobbyist or agent of any Russian company” during the 2016 campaign, Sessions said he did not.</div>
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“I don’t believe so,” Sessions said.</div>
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Other outlets, including the <a class="u-underline" data-link-name="in body link" href="http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2016/09/26/president-trumps-first-term" style="background: transparent; border-bottom: 0.0625rem solid rgb(220, 220, 220); color: #005689; cursor: pointer; text-decoration-line: none !important; touch-action: manipulation; transition: border-color 0.15s ease-out;">New Yorker magazine</a> and Reuters, also reported last year that Burt had contributed his views to Trump’s speech. When NPR interviewed Burt in May 2016 about the talk, he said he was “asked to provide a draft for that speech, and parts of that draft survived into the final [version]”.</div>
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The speech, delivered on 27 April 2016 at the Mayflower Hotel, was attended by <a class="u-underline" data-link-name="in body link" href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/mar/03/sergey-kislyak-russian-ambassador-profile-donald-trump" style="background: transparent; border-bottom: 0.0625rem solid rgb(220, 220, 220); color: #005689; cursor: pointer; text-decoration-line: none !important; touch-action: manipulation; transition: border-color 0.15s ease-out;">Russian ambassador Sergey Kislyak </a>and is now at the heart of new questions about Sessions’ personal dealings with Russian officials. Sessions recused himself from oversight of the FBI’s investigation into possible collusion between the Kremlin and the Trump campaign in March after it emerged that he <a class="u-underline" data-link-name="in body link" href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/mar/02/jeff-sessions-calls-for-resignation-claims-lies-russia" style="background: transparent; border-bottom: 0.0625rem solid rgb(220, 220, 220); color: #005689; cursor: pointer; text-decoration-line: none !important; touch-action: manipulation; transition: border-color 0.15s ease-out;">held two undisclosed meetings</a> with the Russian ambassador last year.</div>
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In his explosive testimony before Congress earlier this month, former FBI director James Comey, who was fired by Trump, suggested that he had known that Sessions would eventually have to recuse himself from the <a class="u-underline" data-component="auto-linked-tag" data-link-name="auto-linked-tag" href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/russia" style="background: transparent; border-bottom: 0.0625rem solid rgb(220, 220, 220); color: #005689; cursor: pointer; text-decoration-line: none !important; touch-action: manipulation; transition: border-color 0.15s ease-out;">Russia</a> probe, but declined to explain the details in public.</div>
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Questions directed at Sessions by lawmakers days later – after they had privately been briefed by Comey – suggested it related to a third alleged encounter with Kislyak that had not been disclosed, this time at the Mayflower Hotel speech. In his confirmation hearing, Sessions had told lawmakers under oath that he had never had communication with Russian officials.</div>
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This week, in the latest hearing, Sessions said he may have “possibly” had an “encounter” with the Russian ambassador during a reception at the Mayflower, but could not recall any specific conversations.</div>
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The speech was hosted by the Center for the National Interest, a Washington thinktank. Burt sits on the group’s board of directors.</div>
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While Burt has not played a central role in the FBI and congressional investigation, Sessions’ response about his dealings with American lobbyists – which appears to contradict previous reports that Burt and Sessions communicated during the campaign – could invite more scrutiny of the attorney general’s testimony.</div>
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It is also possible that Sessions was not fully aware of Burt’s lobbying history, although Burt’s affiliation with Russian interests is fairly well known in Washington circles.</div>
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The former ambassador is managing director of the Europe and Eurasia practice at McLarty Associates. In that role, he’s served as a lobbyist for the New European Pipeline AG, the company behind Nord Stream II. At the time the work started, Gazprom, the Russian state-owned oil company, owned a 50% stake, but it now owns the entire entity. The pipeline, which is seen as making <a class="u-underline" data-component="auto-linked-tag" data-link-name="auto-linked-tag" href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/europe-news" style="background: transparent; border-bottom: 0.0625rem solid rgb(220, 220, 220); color: #005689; cursor: pointer; text-decoration-line: none !important; touch-action: manipulation; transition: border-color 0.15s ease-out;">Europe</a> more dependent on Russian energy exports, was opposed by the Obama administration.</div>
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Burt also serves on the board of <a class="u-underline" data-link-name="in body link" href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/feb/16/deutsche-bank-examined-trump-account-for-russia-links" style="background: transparent; border-bottom: 0.0625rem solid rgb(220, 220, 220); color: #005689; cursor: pointer; text-decoration-line: none !important; touch-action: manipulation; transition: border-color 0.15s ease-out;">Deutsche Bank</a>’s closed-end fund group, according to his online biography.</div>
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The former ambassador and lobbyist appears to have recently sought to downplay his role in helping Trump to formulate the Mayflower speech, telling the Daily Beast earlier this year that he had transmitted his counsel through a third party intermediary.</div>
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In the speech, Trump said an “easing of tensions and improved relations with Russia – from a position of strength – is possible” and that “common sense says this cycle of hostility must end”.</div>
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The Department of Justice did not respond to a request for comment.</div>
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Asked about Burt and the exchange between McCain and Sessions, Carter Page, another former foreign policy adviser to Trump’s campaign and a central figure in the Russia investigation, said he found “the entire line of questioning to be near the pinnacle of witch hunt tactics”.</div>
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“In the grand scheme of things, the severe civil rights abuses by Clinton-Obama-Comey regime carried out against myself and other supporters of the Trump campaign in their illegal attempts to influence the 2016 election will help clarify how irrelevant all these petty side-questions are,” he said.</div>
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Page added that he was writing a book on his experience and that he was “still in discussions” with publishers.</div>
the white rabbithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04882877192764933813noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3150130050643932279.post-4903281673950293292017-06-15T16:39:00.002-07:002017-06-15T16:39:39.422-07:00Amid Trump Chaos, Republicans Keep Their Eyes on the Big Prize: The Courts<a href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/2017/06/15/amid-trump-chaos-republicans-keep-their-eyes-big-prize-courts">Go to Original</a><br />
By <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/author/jake-johnson-staff-writer" rel="nofollow" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; box-sizing: border-box; color: #336699; font-family: "Source Sans Pro", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 17px; outline: 0px; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">Jake Johnson</a><br />
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While the Trump administration remains embroiled in <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/2017/06/15/trump-was-previously-not-under-investigation-now-he-reportedly" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; box-sizing: border-box; color: #336699; text-decoration-line: none;">scandals of its own making</a> and continues to blunder forward seemingly without direction, Republicans have their collective gaze fixed on a prize they have coveted for years: complete domination of the judiciary.</div>
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This goal, thanks to years of obstructionism, may be just on the horizon.</div>
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"Control the Supreme Court, stack the judiciary, and you can <a class="u-underline" href="http://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.php?isbn=9780674517820" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; box-sizing: border-box; color: #336699; text-decoration-line: none;">stop the progressive movement</a>, no matter how popular it is, no matter how much legislative power it has, for decades." <br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />—Corey Robin</div>
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As <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">Esquire</em>'s Charles Pierce <a href="http://www.esquire.com/news-politics/politics/news/a55650/trump-judicial-nominees/" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; box-sizing: border-box; color: #336699; text-decoration-line: none;">notes</a>, President Trump has effectively "subcontracted the job of picking judges to the Federalist Society, the Heritage Foundation, and various other wingnut intellectual chop shops." Three of the finalists—Kevin Newsom, Damien Schiff, and John Bush—sat before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Wednesday for their confirmation hearings, which were scarcely mentioned by the press.</div>
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Much of the questioning, as NPR's Nina Totenberg <a href="http://www.npr.org/2017/06/15/533014228/senators-grill-trump-judicial-nominees-on-provocative-blog-posts" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; box-sizing: border-box; color: #336699; text-decoration-line: none;">reported</a>, ultimately centered around blog posts two of the nominees—Bush and Schiff—had written throughout their careers.</div>
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"Among the posts Bush said he now regrets is one that equated the U.S. Supreme Court's 1857 <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">Dred Scott</em> decision, which upheld slavery, with the Court's 1973 <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">Roe v. Wade</em> decision legalizing abortion," Totenberg noted.</div>
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Schiff has a similarly tinged history, Totenberg added, "challenging everything from environmental regulations, to health and safety laws, to gay rights laws."</div>
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Since the hearings came to a close on Wednesday, commentators have expressed alarm about how little attention the fact that individuals with such records could soon fill the ranks of the judiciary is receiving from the media and the Democratic Party.</div>
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"Wednesday's confirmation hearing for three of President Donald Trump’s judicial nominees may lack the intrigue of James Comey’s blockbuster testimony," <a href="http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2017/06/14/trump-judicial-nominees-civil-rights-newsom-bush-schiff-215253" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; box-sizing: border-box; color: #336699; text-decoration-line: none;">wrote</a> <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">Politico</em>'s Kyle Barry, "but for anyone who cares about the integrity and independence of America's courts, the stakes could hardly be higher."</div>
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Barry continued:</div>
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Trump's initial nominees to fill more than 120 lower court vacancies—many of which exist only because the Republican Senate refused to act on the qualified nominations put forth by President Barack Obama—foretell a Trump-stacked judiciary that would clear the way for constitutionally suspect executive actions, shield corporate wrongdoers from accountability, and imperil the civil rights of all Americans.</div>
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Political theorist and author Corey Robin, in an piece for the <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">Guardian</em> on Thursday, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/jun/15/trump-stack-judiciary-years-republicans" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; box-sizing: border-box; color: #336699; text-decoration-line: none;">expressed similar urgency</a>, arguing "elite sectors" of the Republican Party have remained faithful to Trump only because of the leverage he gives them to stack the courts in their favor.</div>
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"Trump has gotten one supreme court appointment, he may well get more, and he's <a class="u-underline" href="https://newrepublic.com/article/143227/trumps-judicial-picks-keeping-republicans-happyand-quiet" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; box-sizing: border-box; color: #336699; text-decoration-line: none;">moved more quickly on lower-court appointments than Obama did</a><span class="u-underline" style="box-sizing: border-box;">,</span><span class="u-underline" style="box-sizing: border-box;">" Robin wrote</span><a class="u-underline" href="https://newrepublic.com/article/143227/trumps-judicial-picks-keeping-republicans-happyand-quiet" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; box-sizing: border-box; color: #336699; text-decoration-line: none;">. </a><a class="u-underline" href="https://newrepublic.com/article/143227/trumps-judicial-picks-keeping-republicans-happyand-quiet" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; box-sizing: border-box; color: #336699; text-decoration-line: none;">"</a>The <a class="u-underline" href="http://press.princeton.edu/titles/8643.html" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; box-sizing: border-box; color: #336699; text-decoration-line: none;">legal arm of the conservative movement</a> is probably the best organized, most far-reaching and far-seeing sector of the right. They truly are playing—and have been playing—the long game."</div>
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If progressives don't respond quickly with a similarly organized and long-term approach, Robin warned, the results could be disastrous, potentially hindering civil rights and dealing a vicious blow to workers and the environment.</div>
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"Control the Supreme Court, stack the judiciary, and you can <a class="u-underline" href="http://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.php?isbn=9780674517820" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; box-sizing: border-box; color: #336699; text-decoration-line: none;">stop the progressive movement</a>, no matter how popular it is, no matter how much legislative power it has, for decades."</div>
the white rabbithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04882877192764933813noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3150130050643932279.post-12206960354901189772017-06-15T16:38:00.000-07:002017-06-15T16:38:01.407-07:00An open-ended Afghan war can serve ‘America First’<a href="http://www.atimes.com/open-ended-afghan-war-can-serve-america-first/">Go to Original</a><br />
<span style="background-color: whitesmoke; color: #007cd7; font-family: "Soleil W01", helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">By </span><a class="name" href="http://www.atimes.com/author/m-k-bhadrakumar/" style="background-color: whitesmoke; border: 0px; font-family: "Soleil W01", helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-weight: 600; letter-spacing: 0.05rem; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; text-transform: uppercase; vertical-align: baseline;" title="M.K. Bhadrakumar">M.K. BHADRAKUMAR</a><br />
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U<span style="background-color: whitesmoke; color: #252d3c; font-family: "Abril Text W01", georgia, times, serif; font-size: 17px;">S President Donald Trump’s reported decision to delegate the Afghan war to Defense Secretary James Mattis reflects smart thinking.</span><br />
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The POTUS doesn’t have a military mind – unlike his predecessor Barack Obama. The decision to delegate the war to the Pentagon generals should have been taken by Obama eight years ago when the war party comprising then Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Defense Secretary Robert Gates (plus the top brass) hustled him into sanctioning the famous “surge”.</div>
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Had he done that, once it transpired that the “surge” was getting nowhere, circa 2012, Obama could have taken matters into his own hands and wound up the war. Instead, he took the job as commander-in-chief seriously and over-strategized the war. Senator John McCain says Obama is responsible for the failure of the war.</div>
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Now, Trump’s decision puts the onus entirely on the Pentagon. Mattis claimed during testimony before the Senate Armed Services Committee on Tuesday, the “Taliban had a good year last year; they are trying to have a good one this year. Right now I believe the enemy is surging. We are not winning in Afghanistan right now. We will correct this as soon as possible.”</div>
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What he implied was that there are still ways of snatching victory from the jaws of defeat. According to AFP, Mattis’s remarks prompted Trump to hand over to him the authority to set troop levels in Afghanistan.</div>
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Indeed, why should Trump prevent Mattis from winning the Afghan war? It is a safe bet, too. The Pottery Barn rule expects Mattis to own the responsibility for the war.</div>
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So, the big question is: Does Mattis have a winning strategy? Mattis promised to return to the lawmakers by mid-July with one. However, he disclosed his mind just enough to trigger misgivings.</div>
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Mattis said, “We’re taking a regional approach to this. We’re looking at everything from the situation between India and Pakistan, Pakistan and Afghanistan; obviously Iran and that whole South Asia area.”</div>
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He essentially underscored that the Trump administration’s Afghan policy would factor in the impact of the tensions between India and Pakistan on the situation in Afghanistan. That’s a proposition that will go down well in Pakistan.</div>
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Of course, it is not a terribly original idea. It had occurred to Obama, too, initially, while appointing Richard Holbrooke as his administration’s special representative in 2009. But then, New Delhi threw tantrums, Obama retracted, and Holbrooke ended up merely as “AfPak” man – instead of “AfPakIn”.</div>
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Indeed, India and Pakistan are incapable (or unwilling) of behaving responsibly. At the recent summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization at Astana (June 8-9), the two prime ministers couldn’t even bring themselves to have a 15-minute conversation.</div>
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Meanwhile, the situation in the Indian state of Jammu & Kashmir, which Pakistan regards as the core issue, remains explosive. The resulting India-Pakistan tensions, in turn, have spilled over to the Afghan turf. Pakistan fears that Kabul and Delhi have embarked upon a covert project across the Durand Line to destabilize it.</div>
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Pakistan’s expectation will be that the Trump administration should mediate a solution to the Kashmir dispute. It will see hope in Mattis’s words.</div>
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But then, the possibility of Delhi agreeing to US mediation to settle Kashmir is zero. The Hindu nationalists claim that the only thing to be discussed is the vacation of parts of Kashmir that are under Pakistani control.</div>
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Clearly, Mattis’s “regional approach” is a non-starter – unless Trump can persuade Prime Minister Modi otherwise when they meet in the White House on June 26. But Trump lacks the leverage to force Modi, and Russia will not allow the US to muzzle India. Doesn’t all this occur to Mattis’s erudite mind?</div>
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Meanwhile, new fault lines have appeared on the Afghan political landscape. On the one hand, Pashtun nationalism is on the ascendancy and a dramatic realignment of forces along tribal lines is under way. On the other hand, the inevitable ethnic backlash has also begun. Such undercurrents have a history of acquiring demonic fury in the Hindu Kush.</div>
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To be sure, US intelligence is clued in on the churnings in the sub-soil of Afghan tribal politics since the peace deal was concluded with the Mujahideen leader Gulbuddin Hekmatyar. Earlier this week, Kabul’s garrison commander and police chief – both Pashtuns – have been suspended and a state minister – a Tajik (a “Panjshiri” to boot) – has resigned.</div>
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Mattis would realize that the old battle lines that he knew as the brigadier general of the 1st Marine Expeditionary Brigade who was given command of Task Force 58 to move into southern Afghanistan in November 2001 – or as the head of the US Central Command in 2009 – may not hold good today.</div>
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Mattis has bought time till July to watch how the fuming Afghan volcano behaves. But US lawmakers cannot be held at bay for long. They are in a hurry to know what’s in it for Academi, Northrop Grumman, CACI, Lockheed Martin, or Raytheon – and IBM, a company not generally known as a defense contractor but was the largest beneficiary of a Pentagon program to stabilize Afghanistan by facilitating private investment in its vast mineral wealth.</div>
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In last week’s Breitbart News Sunday radio program, Blackwater founder and former US Navy SEAL Erik Prince made a tantalizing proposition:</div>
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“I say go back to the model that worked, for a couple of hundred years in the region, by the East India Company, which used professional Western soldiers who were contracted and lived with and trained with and, when necessary, fought with their local counterparts… The more we’ve gone into a conventional approach in Afghanistan, the more we are losing.”</div>
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Prince’s recommendation will appeal to any shrewd business – or military – mind. That was indeed the way an open-ended British occupation of India became possible, at affordable costs, which eventually transformed as the jewel in Queen Victoria’s crown.</div>
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All in all, Trump’s decision to detach himself from Mattis’s conduct of the war appears to stem from a sober assessment.</div>
the white rabbithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04882877192764933813noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3150130050643932279.post-90207557835084318062017-06-15T16:36:00.004-07:002017-06-15T16:36:52.005-07:00Lawsuit Accuses Private Prison Company of Illegally Funding a Trump Super-PAC<h3 class="dek" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Calluna, serif; font-weight: 400; margin-bottom: 0px; text-align: center;">
Did it influence Trump’s pro-private prison policy?</h3>
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<a href="http://www.motherjones.com/crime-justice/2017/06/lawsuit-accuses-private-prison-company-of-illegally-funding-a-trump-super-pac/">Go to Original</a><br />
By <a href="http://www.motherjones.com/author/samantha-michaels/" style="background-color: white; background-image: none; background-position: 0px 90%; box-sizing: border-box; color: black; font-family: Mallory, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-weight: bold; letter-spacing: 2px; text-align: center; text-decoration-line: none; text-transform: uppercase;" title="Posts by Samantha Michaels">SAMANTHA MICHAELS</a><br />
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<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-sHUMh-0jpSA/WUMYtpJpowI/AAAAAAAAB2w/AG6siHTKIrUTR9WzQNnlGaZ-lgOcE5yjwCLcBGAs/s1600/geo.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="556" data-original-width="990" height="179" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-sHUMh-0jpSA/WUMYtpJpowI/AAAAAAAAB2w/AG6siHTKIrUTR9WzQNnlGaZ-lgOcE5yjwCLcBGAs/s320/geo.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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It’s no secret that President Donald Trump has been very good for private prison executives. After the Justice Department announced earlier this year that it would continue using private lockups—a reversal of an Obama policy announced in 2016—prison companies’ <a href="http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2017/02/department-justice-just-announced-it-will-start-using-private-prisons-again/" style="background-color: transparent; background-image: url("/wp-content/themes/motherjones/css/../img/orange-border.png"); background-position: 0px 90%; background-repeat: repeat-x; box-sizing: border-box; color: black; text-decoration-line: none; text-shadow: rgb(255, 255, 255) -1px 0px 0px, rgb(255, 255, 255) 0px 1px 0px, rgb(255, 255, 255) 1px 0px 0px, rgb(255, 255, 255) 0px -1px 0px, rgb(255, 255, 255) -1px -1px 0px, rgb(255, 255, 255) 1px 1px 0px, rgb(255, 255, 255) 1px -1px 0px, rgb(255, 255, 255) -1px 1px 0px;">stock prices soared</a>. Now, a campaign finance watchdog is suing to figure out whether one of these prison companies influenced the Trump administration’s policy reversal by donating large sums to a pro-Trump super-PAC during the 2016 presidential campaign.</div>
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In August and November, GEO Group, the country’s biggest private prison company, donated a total of $225,000 through a subsidiary to a pro-Trump super-PAC, <a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/pacs/pacgave2.php?cmte=C00618876&cycle=2016" style="background-color: transparent; background-image: url("/wp-content/themes/motherjones/css/../img/orange-border.png"); background-position: 0px 90%; background-repeat: repeat-x; box-sizing: border-box; color: black; text-decoration-line: none; text-shadow: rgb(255, 255, 255) -1px 0px 0px, rgb(255, 255, 255) 0px 1px 0px, rgb(255, 255, 255) 1px 0px 0px, rgb(255, 255, 255) 0px -1px 0px, rgb(255, 255, 255) -1px -1px 0px, rgb(255, 255, 255) 1px 1px 0px, rgb(255, 255, 255) 1px -1px 0px, rgb(255, 255, 255) -1px 1px 0px;">according to campaign disclosures</a>. The super-PAC, Rebuilding America Now, had been heartily endorsed by the Trump team; Mike Pence <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-politics/wp/2016/07/21/trump-reverses-his-opposition-to-super-pacs-and-is-now-willing-to-headline-events-for-a-big-money-group/?utm_term=.cacc52066163" style="background-color: transparent; background-image: url("/wp-content/themes/motherjones/css/../img/orange-border.png"); background-position: 0px 90%; background-repeat: repeat-x; box-sizing: border-box; color: black; text-decoration-line: none; text-shadow: rgb(255, 255, 255) -1px 0px 0px, rgb(255, 255, 255) 0px 1px 0px, rgb(255, 255, 255) 1px 0px 0px, rgb(255, 255, 255) 0px -1px 0px, rgb(255, 255, 255) -1px -1px 0px, rgb(255, 255, 255) 1px 1px 0px, rgb(255, 255, 255) 1px -1px 0px, rgb(255, 255, 255) -1px 1px 0px;">said</a> contributions to the group would be “one of the best ways to stop Hillary Clinton and help elect Donald Trump our next president.” But according to <a href="http://www.campaignlegalcenter.org/document/clc-v-department-justice-us-district-court-district-columbia-complaint-injunctive-relief" style="background-color: transparent; background-image: url("/wp-content/themes/motherjones/css/../img/orange-border.png"); background-position: 0px 90%; background-repeat: repeat-x; box-sizing: border-box; color: black; text-decoration-line: none; text-shadow: rgb(255, 255, 255) -1px 0px 0px, rgb(255, 255, 255) 0px 1px 0px, rgb(255, 255, 255) 1px 0px 0px, rgb(255, 255, 255) 0px -1px 0px, rgb(255, 255, 255) -1px -1px 0px, rgb(255, 255, 255) 1px 1px 0px, rgb(255, 255, 255) 1px -1px 0px, rgb(255, 255, 255) -1px 1px 0px;">a lawsuit</a> filed Thursday by the Campaign Legal Center, the prison company’s decision to fund the super-PAC allegedly violated federal law, which prohibits government contractors from making political contributions.</div>
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GEO Corrections Holdings made a donation of $100,000 on August 19, just one day after the Obama administration <a href="http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2016/08/department-justice-plans-end-private-prison/" style="background-color: transparent; background-image: url("/wp-content/themes/motherjones/css/../img/orange-border.png"); background-position: 0px 90%; background-repeat: repeat-x; box-sizing: border-box; color: black; text-decoration-line: none; text-shadow: rgb(255, 255, 255) -1px 0px 0px, rgb(255, 255, 255) 0px 1px 0px, rgb(255, 255, 255) 1px 0px 0px, rgb(255, 255, 255) 0px -1px 0px, rgb(255, 255, 255) -1px -1px 0px, rgb(255, 255, 255) 1px 1px 0px, rgb(255, 255, 255) 1px -1px 0px, rgb(255, 255, 255) -1px 1px 0px;">announced</a> that it would phase out its use of private prisons because of their high rates of violence. In November, before Election Day, the GEO subsidiary made another donation to Rebuilding America Now.</div>
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After Trump’s inauguration, Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced that the Justice Department would continue its relationship with private prisons. The following month, GEO won a <a href="https://www.usnews.com/news/best-states/texas/articles/2017-04-13/texas-getting-first-immigrant-lockup-built-under-trump" style="background-color: transparent; background-image: url("/wp-content/themes/motherjones/css/../img/orange-border.png"); background-position: 0px 90%; background-repeat: repeat-x; box-sizing: border-box; color: black; text-decoration-line: none; text-shadow: rgb(255, 255, 255) -1px 0px 0px, rgb(255, 255, 255) 0px 1px 0px, rgb(255, 255, 255) 1px 0px 0px, rgb(255, 255, 255) 0px -1px 0px, rgb(255, 255, 255) -1px -1px 0px, rgb(255, 255, 255) 1px 1px 0px, rgb(255, 255, 255) 1px -1px 0px, rgb(255, 255, 255) -1px 1px 0px;">$110 million contract</a> to build a federal immigrant detention center in Texas.</div>
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In its lawsuit, the Campaign Legal Center is asking the Justice Department to turn over documents related to the administration’s decision to keep working with private prisons. In particular, the nonprofit watchdog is seeking records that might shed light on whether the administration’s decision was influenced by GEO contributions to the pro-Trump super-PAC. The Campaign Legal Center filed a Freedom of Information Act request for these records more than three months ago. But the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel has delayed the fulfillment of the request, according to the lawsuit, which seeks to speed up the disclosure process.</div>
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“GEO made illegal contributions to influence the election, and now DOJ is refusing to release the documents that might show whether the Administration rewarded GEO for its illegal spending,” Adav Noti, a senior director at the Campaign Legal Center and a former associate general counsel for policy at the Federal Election Commission, said in a statement.</div>
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GEO Group denies the allegation that its contributions broke campaign finance laws. “These are absolutely baseless and meritless allegations. All of our company’s contributions have been fully compliant with all applicable laws,” the company said in a statement to <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">Mother Jones</em>. It defended its $110 million contract to build an immigrant detention facility in Texas. “The contract we were awarded by the Department of Homeland Security, not the Department of Justice, was part of a competitive procurement process which was initiated by the Obama Administration in 2015.” It also noted that the Federal Bureau of Prisons has worked with private prison companies since the 1990s.</div>
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GEO <a href="http://www.thedailybeast.com/did-private-prison-contractor-illegally-boost-trump" style="background-color: transparent; background-image: url("/wp-content/themes/motherjones/css/../img/orange-border.png"); background-position: 0px 90%; background-repeat: repeat-x; box-sizing: border-box; color: black; text-decoration-line: none; text-shadow: rgb(255, 255, 255) -1px 0px 0px, rgb(255, 255, 255) 0px 1px 0px, rgb(255, 255, 255) 1px 0px 0px, rgb(255, 255, 255) 0px -1px 0px, rgb(255, 255, 255) -1px -1px 0px, rgb(255, 255, 255) 1px 1px 0px, rgb(255, 255, 255) 1px -1px 0px, rgb(255, 255, 255) -1px 1px 0px;">noted</a> in December that its subsidiary’s super-PAC donations were legal because its subsidiary “is a non-contracting legal entity and has no contracts with any federal agency.” However, a <a href="https://www.usaspending.gov/Pages/AdvancedSearch.aspx?k=GEO%20CORRECTIONS%20HOLDINGS%2C%20INC%2E" style="background-color: transparent; background-image: url("/wp-content/themes/motherjones/css/../img/orange-border.png"); background-position: 0px 90%; background-repeat: repeat-x; box-sizing: border-box; color: black; text-decoration-line: none; text-shadow: rgb(255, 255, 255) -1px 0px 0px, rgb(255, 255, 255) 0px 1px 0px, rgb(255, 255, 255) 1px 0px 0px, rgb(255, 255, 255) 0px -1px 0px, rgb(255, 255, 255) -1px -1px 0px, rgb(255, 255, 255) 1px 1px 0px, rgb(255, 255, 255) 1px -1px 0px, rgb(255, 255, 255) -1px 1px 0px;">page on USASpending.gov</a>, a government website, suggests the subsidiary did receive funds from a federal contract in the past. A spokesman for the GEO Group told <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">Mother Jones</em> that the information on the USASpending.gov page was incorrect and “GEO Corrections Holdings has never held any federal contracts.” The Federal Election Commission has yet to weigh in on the matter.</div>
the white rabbithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04882877192764933813noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3150130050643932279.post-38162388276886392492017-06-15T16:35:00.002-07:002017-06-15T16:35:27.576-07:00Hawaii Governor says he is 'looking forward' to Trump's travel ban going to Supreme Court<span style="background-color: white; color: #281e1e; font-family: "Fira Sans"; font-size: 20px;">'Hawaii is a very special place. We are a community of minorities. Our legacy is that we have welcomed wave after wave of immigrants to our state'</span><br />
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<a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/trump-travel-ban-muslim-countries-supreme-court-hawaii-governor-looking-forward-comments-a7789966.html">Go to Original</a><br />
By <span itemprop="name" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #888888; font-family: "Fira Sans", Helvetica, Arial; font-size: 14px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/author/clark-mindock" itemprop="sameAs" style="background: 0px 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #940c19; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none;" title="Clark Mindock">Clark Mindock</a></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #888888; font-family: "Fira Sans", Helvetica, Arial; font-size: 14px;"> </span><br />
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The Governor of Hawaii is looking forward to the seemingly inevitable Supreme Court showdown between his state’s Attorney General and <a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/topic/DonaldTrump" style="background: 0px 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #ec1a2e; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none;">Donald Trump</a>’s administration over the President’s controversial travel ban.</div>
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That contest became a virtual certainty just this week when the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a freeze originating in Hawaii on Mr Trump’s proposed ban. Governor David Ige says that the diversity in his state is something to be celebrated – not curtailed – and that his state government is willing to push back against the isolationist impulses coming out of the White House.</div>
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“Hawaii is a very special place. We are a community of minorities. Our legacy is that we have welcomed wave after wave of immigrants to our state, and they have all contributed greatly to the sense of community,” Mr Ige told <em style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">The Independent</em>.</div>
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The court decisions over the travel ban have clearly upset the President, with his administration already on its second attempt to halt incoming travel from several predominantly Muslim countries. The executive order would prohibit incoming travellers from Yemen, Syria, Sudan, Somalia, Iran and Libya for 90 days and all refugees for 120 days while the US government reviews vetting procedure looking for possible improvements. </div>
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As for the Hawaiian islands, they have an <a href="http://immigrationtounitedstates.org/541-hawaii.html" rel="nofollow" style="background: 0px 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #ec1a2e; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">extensive history of immigration</a> that has contributed to the rich cultural diversity there. It is one of just four US states where residents of European ancestry don’t add up to a majority, and many of the residents there descend from Asian settlers who came to work on sugarcane plantations starting in the late 19th and early 20th century. Even today, <a href="https://www.americanimmigrationcouncil.org/research/new-americans-hawaii" rel="nofollow" style="background: 0px 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #ec1a2e; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">more than</a> one in six residents in the state are immigrants, providing billions of dollars in tax revenue and more than $31bn (£24bn) in consumer purchasing power.</div>
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Located in the central Pacific, Hawaii is geographically distant from the US, but houses the military base that fell victim to the largest military attack on American soil in history. Even after those Pearl Harbour attacks by Japan – which served as a catalyst for the US to join the Second World War – the state refrained from joining American mainland countries in widespread detainment of Japanese immigrants there. Just 1 per cent of the island state’s Japanese-origin population ended up in internment camps during that war.</div>
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It is with that backdrop that Mr Ige's administration decided to push back against the travel ban Mr Trump has championed as a means of boosting American security. Aspects of that ban that appear overtly aimed at specific nationalities and religions don’t vibe with politicians in a state that is perhaps best known for its laid back surfing culture, colourful leis, and beautiful beaches.</div>
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“Certainly we felt compelled to take a stand against the executive order which, to us, is clearly focused on national origin and religious basis”, Mr Ige said.</div>
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The 9th Circuit Court decision this week affirms the decision by a federal judge in Hawaii to temporarily block Mr Trump’s travel ban just before it was to be implemented.</div>
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Mr Trump has said the ban is in the security interests of the US, but in their ruling the 9th Circuit Court went against the ban on statutory grounds, saying that the President had exceeded the authority Congress had granted his office to make national security judgements.</div>
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An earlier decision by the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals blocking the ban said that the executive order violated the First Amendment’s religious protections. The judge in that case <a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/trump-muslim-ban-block-upheld-4th-appeals-court-travel-immigration-latest-a7756291.html" style="background: 0px 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #ec1a2e; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none;">wrote</a> that the federal government’s argument for the travel ban “drops of religious intolerance, animus, and discrimination”.</div>
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Mr Trump has also not seemingly helped himself with tweets about the proposed bans. One in particular, sent in response to the London Bridge terror attack earlier this month, said: “That’s right, we need a TRAVEL BAN for certain DANGEROUS countries,” Mr Trump wrote, “not some politically correct term that won’t help us protect our people!”.</div>
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The President has repeatedly called on the Supreme Court to reinstate his travel ban – and faced a awkward moment on Thursday in visiting the court to for the investiture of new Justice Neil Gorsuch, whose Senate confirmation in April was his first major accomplishment. Mr Trump was due to speak to the Supreme Court justices before the event, as former presidents have traditionally done.</div>
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The Trump administration has moved to amend the start date of the travel ban – which was introduced in March – with the 90-day limit having been set to expire on Wednesday. The White House have said that the start dates would not start until the court injunctions are lifted. The Supreme Court has also recently given the Trump administration more time to file papers responding to the 9th Circuit Court ruling, possibly delaying any decision.</div>
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As for Mr Ige, he said he wouldn’t mind if the nation’s highest court hear arguments from his state on the matter of the ban.</div>
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“We look forward to the Supreme Court taking up the issue, we are committed”, he said. “We do believe that it has an impact on our community, and we wanted to make certain that the most important tenants of the Constitution are upheld.”</div>
the white rabbithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04882877192764933813noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3150130050643932279.post-67960751173028101092017-06-15T16:33:00.004-07:002017-06-15T16:33:46.780-07:00Hawaii Considers Radical Idea to Make Life in Paradise a Little Easier<h3 class="dek" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Calluna, serif; font-weight: 400; margin-bottom: 0px; text-align: center;">
A new bill enshrines the right to ”basic financial security.”</h3>
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<a href="http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2017/06/hawaii-considers-radical-idea-to-make-life-in-paradise-a-little-easier-universal-basic-income/">Go to Original</a><br />
By <a href="http://www.motherjones.com/author/josh-harkinson/" style="background-color: white; background-image: none; background-position: 0px 90%; box-sizing: border-box; color: black; font-family: Mallory, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-weight: bold; letter-spacing: 2px; text-align: center; text-decoration-line: none; text-transform: uppercase;" title="Posts by Josh Harkinson">JOSH HARKINSON</a><br />
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Hawaii has become the first state in the country to officially start exploring a means to provide its residents with a guaranteed basic income. The bill, passed recently by both houses of the state legislature in a unanimous vote, declares that all Hawaiians “deserve basic financial security” and directs state agencies to analyze “universal basic income” and similar policy options. <span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 700;"> </span></div>
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“As innovation and automation and inequality disrupt our economy, we want to make sure that everybody benefits and nobody is left behind,” the author of the bill, state Rep. Chris Lee of Kaliua, told <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">Mother Jones</em>. “It’s past time that we had a serious talk about not just tweaking our economic policies but having a new discussion from the ground up about what our values and priorities are.”</div>
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Though Alaska has, since 1976, provided its residents with <a href="https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/only-state-free-money-alaska" style="background-color: transparent; background-image: url("/wp-content/themes/motherjones/css/../img/orange-border.png"); background-position: 0px 90%; background-repeat: repeat-x; box-sizing: border-box; color: black; text-decoration-line: none; text-shadow: rgb(255, 255, 255) -1px 0px 0px, rgb(255, 255, 255) 0px 1px 0px, rgb(255, 255, 255) 1px 0px 0px, rgb(255, 255, 255) 0px -1px 0px, rgb(255, 255, 255) -1px -1px 0px, rgb(255, 255, 255) 1px 1px 0px, rgb(255, 255, 255) 1px -1px 0px, rgb(255, 255, 255) -1px 1px 0px;">a stipend</a> funded by oil revenues, Hawaii is the first state to formally consider the idea of offering its residents a basic income sufficient to cover living expenses. Enacted in early May, the resolution, Lee says, was motivated by Hawaii’s sky-high<span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 700;"> </span>cost of living—<a href="https://www.missourieconomy.org/indicators/cost_of_living/" style="background-color: transparent; background-image: url("/wp-content/themes/motherjones/css/../img/orange-border.png"); background-position: 0px 90%; background-repeat: repeat-x; box-sizing: border-box; color: black; text-decoration-line: none; text-shadow: rgb(255, 255, 255) -1px 0px 0px, rgb(255, 255, 255) 0px 1px 0px, rgb(255, 255, 255) 1px 0px 0px, rgb(255, 255, 255) 0px -1px 0px, rgb(255, 255, 255) -1px -1px 0px, rgb(255, 255, 255) 1px 1px 0px, rgb(255, 255, 255) 1px -1px 0px, rgb(255, 255, 255) -1px 1px 0px;">the highest in the country</a>—and its<span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 700;"> </span>heavy reliance on low-paid service industry jobs.</div>
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The text of the measure<span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 700;"> </span>focuses heavily on the potential impact of job-killing technological change in Hawaii, citing factors such as the development of self-driving autonomous vehicles, automated grocery store checkout lines, e-commerce, and 3-D printers. Hawaii has a very limited manufacturing and tech sector, the lawmaker says, making the state and its service-focused economy particularly vulnerable to disruption.</div>
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“There has been a discussion for a long time about how do we build an economy where everybody can afford to live here and survive,” Lee says. </div>
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The idea of universal basic income, or UBI, has also been gaining traction in parts of California, albeit yet not on a state-wide level. The proposition has taken particular hold<span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 700;"> </span>in Silicon Valley, as tech leaders look to address concerns about their industry’s displacement of blue-collar workers. Early last year, the San Francisco tech incubator Y-Combinator <a href="https://blog.ycombinator.com/basic-income/" style="background-color: transparent; background-image: url("/wp-content/themes/motherjones/css/../img/orange-border.png"); background-position: 0px 90%; background-repeat: repeat-x; box-sizing: border-box; color: black; text-decoration-line: none; text-shadow: rgb(255, 255, 255) -1px 0px 0px, rgb(255, 255, 255) 0px 1px 0px, rgb(255, 255, 255) 1px 0px 0px, rgb(255, 255, 255) 0px -1px 0px, rgb(255, 255, 255) -1px -1px 0px, rgb(255, 255, 255) 1px 1px 0px, rgb(255, 255, 255) 1px -1px 0px, rgb(255, 255, 255) -1px 1px 0px;">began rolling out</a> a UBI pilot project in Oakland and is now <a href="http://www.sfexaminer.com/y-combinator-needs-make-universal-basic-income-experiment-oakland-public-transparent/" style="background-color: transparent; background-image: url("/wp-content/themes/motherjones/css/../img/orange-border.png"); background-position: 0px 90%; background-repeat: repeat-x; box-sizing: border-box; color: black; text-decoration-line: none; text-shadow: rgb(255, 255, 255) -1px 0px 0px, rgb(255, 255, 255) 0px 1px 0px, rgb(255, 255, 255) 1px 0px 0px, rgb(255, 255, 255) 0px -1px 0px, rgb(255, 255, 255) -1px -1px 0px, rgb(255, 255, 255) 1px 1px 0px, rgb(255, 255, 255) 1px -1px 0px, rgb(255, 255, 255) -1px 1px 0px;">giving</a> 100 local families around $1,500 a month. In October, Facebook co-founder Chris Hughes and others launched the <a href="http://economicsecurityproject.org/" style="background-color: transparent; background-image: url("/wp-content/themes/motherjones/css/../img/orange-border.png"); background-position: 0px 90%; background-repeat: repeat-x; box-sizing: border-box; color: black; text-decoration-line: none; text-shadow: rgb(255, 255, 255) -1px 0px 0px, rgb(255, 255, 255) 0px 1px 0px, rgb(255, 255, 255) 1px 0px 0px, rgb(255, 255, 255) 0px -1px 0px, rgb(255, 255, 255) -1px -1px 0px, rgb(255, 255, 255) 1px 1px 0px, rgb(255, 255, 255) 1px -1px 0px, rgb(255, 255, 255) -1px 1px 0px;">Economic Security Project</a>, a $10-million fund aimed at researching and promoting UBI. In March, freshman Democratic Congressman Ro Khanna of Silicon Valley<span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 700;"> </span><a href="https://www.wired.com/2017/03/silicon-valley-lawmakers-1-trillion-plan-save-trump-country/" style="background-color: transparent; background-image: url("/wp-content/themes/motherjones/css/../img/orange-border.png"); background-position: 0px 90%; background-repeat: repeat-x; box-sizing: border-box; color: black; text-decoration-line: none; text-shadow: rgb(255, 255, 255) -1px 0px 0px, rgb(255, 255, 255) 0px 1px 0px, rgb(255, 255, 255) 1px 0px 0px, rgb(255, 255, 255) 0px -1px 0px, rgb(255, 255, 255) -1px -1px 0px, rgb(255, 255, 255) 1px 1px 0px, rgb(255, 255, 255) 1px -1px 0px, rgb(255, 255, 255) -1px 1px 0px;">proposed</a> $1-trillion earned income tax credit for working families—a move heralded as <a href="https://medium.com/the-ferenstein-wire/a-step-towards-basic-income-analysis-of-a-proposed-congressional-bill-86df03847dc7" style="background-color: transparent; background-image: url("/wp-content/themes/motherjones/css/../img/orange-border.png"); background-position: 0px 90%; background-repeat: repeat-x; box-sizing: border-box; color: black; text-decoration-line: none; text-shadow: rgb(255, 255, 255) -1px 0px 0px, rgb(255, 255, 255) 0px 1px 0px, rgb(255, 255, 255) 1px 0px 0px, rgb(255, 255, 255) 0px -1px 0px, rgb(255, 255, 255) -1px -1px 0px, rgb(255, 255, 255) 1px 1px 0px, rgb(255, 255, 255) 1px -1px 0px, rgb(255, 255, 255) -1px 1px 0px;">a major step toward UBI</a>. And the nonprofit <a href="http://goldenstateopportunity.org/" style="background-color: transparent; background-image: url("/wp-content/themes/motherjones/css/../img/orange-border.png"); background-position: 0px 90%; background-repeat: repeat-x; box-sizing: border-box; color: black; text-decoration-line: none; text-shadow: rgb(255, 255, 255) -1px 0px 0px, rgb(255, 255, 255) 0px 1px 0px, rgb(255, 255, 255) 1px 0px 0px, rgb(255, 255, 255) 0px -1px 0px, rgb(255, 255, 255) -1px -1px 0px, rgb(255, 255, 255) 1px 1px 0px, rgb(255, 255, 255) 1px -1px 0px, rgb(255, 255, 255) -1px 1px 0px;">Golden State Opportunity Foundation</a> is pushing to expand access to California’s state earned income tax credit in this year’s budget. </div>
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The concept has attracted the support of some well-known labor, social justice, and academic leaders, such as former Service Employees International Union president Andy Stern, Black Lives Matter co-founder Alicia Garza, and former US Labor Secretary Robert Reich. “As artificial intelligence takes over more and more good jobs, a larger percentage of the workforce will be pushed into low-wage work,” Reich, a UC Berkeley public policy professor and former Secretary of Labor under Bill Clinton, told <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">Mother Jones</em>. “They are going to need some universal minimum in order to ensure that everybody has at least what they need to avoid dire poverty.” </div>
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While<span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 700;"> </span>the Hawaii bill is now on the books, it still has a long way to go before UBI becomes a reality. Now, a “basic economic security working group” will be drafted and will include leaders from government, business, organized labor, and academia. The group will assess Hawaii’s exposure to “disruptive innovation” and submit studies on UBI and similarly sweeping programs to the legislature. “There is definitely a recognition that beyond just talking about basic income that things need to change,” Lee says. “We need to take proactive action to chart a stable path forward for our economy and all of our residents.”</div>
the white rabbithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04882877192764933813noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3150130050643932279.post-13050826165960162512017-06-15T16:32:00.001-07:002017-06-15T16:32:17.224-07:00If Trump Tries to Fire Mueller, It Might Be Up to This Woman<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Lato, sans-serif; font-size: 22px; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">Associate Attorney General Rachel Brand may soon face a historic decision.</span><br />
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<a href="http://www.alternet.org/will-woman-help-fire-special-prosecutor-robert-mueller">Go to Original</a><br />
<em style="background-color: white; font-family: Lato, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">By</em><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Lato, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"> </span><em style="background-color: white; font-family: Lato, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><a href="http://www.alternet.org/authors/jefferson-morley-0" style="color: #f1602c; font-weight: bold; text-decoration-line: none;">Jefferson Morley</a></em><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5nF8bc3GR9ZTfVr8Bpl2IjHlPmGAqJ35pO1i4RF0ChU08WakkTxeeYe6x7iL9ZocSRQTwjxogKeiIFRvNpl2Zi6DbZWXhPDGy0U0Oty1pDJpNOiKgeG4QtBnJTdptUFrr-hnLrn5laKbn/s1600/170522-asg_brand_swearing_in-m-32_0.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="240" data-original-width="310" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5nF8bc3GR9ZTfVr8Bpl2IjHlPmGAqJ35pO1i4RF0ChU08WakkTxeeYe6x7iL9ZocSRQTwjxogKeiIFRvNpl2Zi6DbZWXhPDGy0U0Oty1pDJpNOiKgeG4QtBnJTdptUFrr-hnLrn5laKbn/s1600/170522-asg_brand_swearing_in-m-32_0.jpg" /></a></div>
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On Monday, I predicted Trump would soon begin <a href="http://www.alternet.org/news-amp-politics/trump-allies-resurrecting-dick-cheney-presidential-power-theory" style="color: #f1602c; text-decoration-line: none;">talking about</a> firing special prosecutor Robert Mueller. Within hours NewsMax publisher Christopher Ruddy told PBS NewsHour that the president was considering <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-politics/wp/2017/06/12/trump-friend-floats-possibility-of-firing-special-counsel-in-russian-probe" style="color: #f1602c; text-decoration-line: none;">exactly that possibility</a>.</div>
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On Wednesday, the <em>New York Times</em> reported that Trump had genuinely contemplated trying to get rid of the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/13/us/politics/robert-mueller-special-counsel-trump.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&clickSource=story-heading&module=first-column-region&region=top-news&WT.nav=top-news&_r=0" style="color: #f1602c; text-decoration-line: none;">independent counsel</a>, only to have aides talk him out of it. The<em>Times</em> added:</div>
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But people close to Mr. Trump say he is so volatile they cannot be sure that he will not change his mind about Mr. Mueller if he finds out anything to lead him to believe the investigation has been compromised. </div>
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Now that the Washington Post is reporting that multiple senior officials say that Mueller is investigating Trump for <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/special-counsel-is-investigating-trump-for-possible-obstruction-of-justice/2017/06/14/9ce02506-5131-11e7-b064-828ba60fbb98_story.html?hpid=hp_hp-top-table-main_no-name%3Ahomepage%2Fstory&utm_term=.cca1b435cbca" style="color: #f1602c; text-decoration-line: none;">possible obstruction of justice</a>, Trump's volatility will be tested. Given the <a href="http://www.alternet.org/comey-strengthens-case-trump-obstructed-justice" style="color: #f1602c; text-decoration-line: none;">credible testimony</a> of former FBI director James Comey and the <a href="http://www.alternet.org/news-amp-politics/trump-allies-resurrecting-dick-cheney-presidential-power-theory" style="color: #f1602c; text-decoration-line: none;">high-powered legal team</a> assembled by Mueller, Trump is right to view the special prosecutor's investigation as a dire threat to his presidency.</div>
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<strong>Waiting for the Crazy</strong></div>
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Phillip Bump of the <em>Washington Post</em> says firing Mueller would be "<a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/politics/wp/2017/06/13/how-trump-could-fire-the-special-counsel-if-he-were-foolish-enough-to-try/?" style="color: #f1602c; text-decoration-line: none;">foolish</a>." Harvard law professor Jack Goldsmith, a conservative, calls it a "<a href="https://www.lawfareblog.com/if-trump-fires-mueller-or-orders-his-firing" style="color: #f1602c; text-decoration-line: none;">crazy scenario</a>."</div>
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But since Washington under Trump experiences foolish and crazy scenarios on a regular basis, it is fair, if not necessary, to ask what will happen if and when the crazy comes to pass.</div>
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What may well happen is that Rachel Brand, a little-known conservative lawyer who now serves as associate attorney general of the United States, will face a momentous political decision.</div>
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How she could wind up helping Trump fire Mueller is a complicated story.</div>
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<strong>Chain of Command</strong></div>
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According to the law that created the special prosecutor position, only the attorney general or a responsible Justice Department has that authority to dismiss an independent counsel.</div>
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Since Attorney General Jeff Sessions has recused himself from Russia matters (with one <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/watchdog-group-alleges-sessions-violated-recusal-rule-in-firing-of-comey/2017/05/12/f30370da-374d-11e7-b412-62beef8121f7_story.html?utm_term=.dd95ff64f167" style="color: #f1602c; text-decoration-line: none;">huge exception</a>), the decision falls to Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, then a series of senior DOJ officials. The chain of command was set by a <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2017/03/31/presidential-executive-order-providing-order-succession-within" style="color: #f1602c; text-decoration-line: none;">little-noticed</a> executive order issued by Trump on March 31, <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2017/03/31/presidential-executive-order-providing-order-succession-within" style="color: #f1602c; text-decoration-line: none;">"providing an order of succession in the Justice Department."</a></div>
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In addition, if Trump wants to fire Mueller, he would have to certify that Mueller’s actions had created “good cause” for his removal.</div>
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Asked Tuesday what he would do if Trump ordered him to fire Mueller, <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/jeff-sessions-set-to-testify-this-afternoon-before-senate-intelligence-committee/2017/06/13/" style="color: #f1602c; text-decoration-line: none;">Rosenstein said</a> he had not seen any evidence of “good cause” for dismissal and asserted Mueller’s independence would be protected.</div>
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“I’m not going to follow any orders unless I believe those are lawful and appropriate orders,” he said.</div>
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A month ago, Rosenstein "<a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/rosenstein-comes-to-the-rescue-of-the-cowardly-republicans/2017/05/17/07f5e2c6-3b44-11e7-9e48-c4f199710b69_story.html?utm_term=.a94ee77df0e3" style="color: #f1602c; text-decoration-line: none;">trashed the reputation</a> he had built over the years as a fair-minded and above-the-fray prosecutor by allowing Trump to use him as cover for Trump’s own decision to sack FBI Director James Comey," wrote the <em>Post's</em> Dana Milbank. Only Rosenstein's appointment of Mueller on May 17 "redeemed his reputation, preserved the justice system, pulled American politics back from the brink."</div>
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To approve the firing of Mueller, Rosenstein would have to repudiate his decision to hire him, which seems unlikely.</div>
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“I <a href="https://www.justsecurity.org/42044/trump-lawfully-fire-mueller/" style="color: #f1602c; text-decoration-line: none;">can’t imagine</a> Rosenstein agreeing to act on the basis of a conclusion that the 'good cause' standard has been met,” wrote Marty Lederman, former Justice Department official and founding editor of the Just Security blog.</div>
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If Rosenstein is fired or resigns, Trump’s <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2017/03/31/presidential-executive-order-providing-order-succession-within" style="color: #f1602c; text-decoration-line: none;">March 31 executive order</a> designates the associate attorney general, as the top ranking official in the department, namely Rachel Brand.</div>
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<strong>What Would Brand Do?</strong></div>
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Brand is much more likely to carry out Trump’s orders, at least judging by her record.</div>
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Confirmed by the Senate on May 18, Brand has <a href="http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2017/05/18/rachel-brand-confirmed-as-3-at-justice-dept/" style="color: #f1602c; text-decoration-line: none;">impeccable conservative credentials</a>, according to Breitbart News. A 1998 graduate of Harvard Law School, she is a member of the Federalist Society, the influential conservative legal network. She clerked for Justice Charles Fried, a leading conservative jurist, on the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court and for Justice Anthony Kennedy on the U.S. Supreme Court.</div>
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Brand has been politically active on behalf of Republican presidents. During the Bush administration, she <a href="http://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/sdut-us-sotomayor-preparation-071009-2009jul10-story.html" style="color: #f1602c; text-decoration-line: none;">helped prepare</a> Supreme Court nominees Samuel Alito and John Roberts for Senate confirmation.</div>
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She has a reputation for bipartisanship, which could help her in time of controversy. President Obama appointed her to the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board, an independent agency that seeks to protect civil liberties and privacy in the so-called “war on terrorism.”</div>
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She has the esteem of more liberal colleagues. Lederman predicts Brand would reject any Trump order to fire Mueller.</div>
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“If Trump removes Rosenstein, the new acting AG would be associate AG Rachel Brand, another excellent and principled official who is also very unlikely to play along with such a plan," Lederman wrote.</div>
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Kate Martin, a <a href="https://www.americanprogress.org/about/staff/martin-kate/bio/" style="color: #f1602c; text-decoration-line: none;">senior fellow</a> at the liberal Center for American Progress, who saw Brand in action at the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board, disagrees.</div>
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“My dealings with Rachel on issues surrounding national security surveillance leave me concerned that her views on the lack of restraint on executive power would lead her to agree to a request from this president that should be rejected,” Martin said in a phone interview with AlterNet.</div>
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<strong>Bork, the Role Model</strong></div>
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In a speech at a Federalist Society conference in February 2015, Brand argued that in the context of national security, the president must be able to exercise his “power with the <a href="https://www.judiciary.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/Brand%20Responses%20to%20Feinstein%20QFRs.pdf" style="color: #f1602c; text-decoration-line: none;">nimbleness and flexibility</a> required to predict and respond to a very wide array of foreign threats.”</div>
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Thus Brand may be sympathetic to the arguments of White House lawyer Jay Sekulow. When asked about the possibility of firing Mueller, Sekulow's first response was to assert that President Trump is a “unitary executive.” The concept of a unitary executive, advocated by former Vice President Dick Cheney, holds that the president has virtually unlimited powers in the area of national security that cannot be curbed by the courts or the Congress.</div>
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One reason Republicans lawmakers sought to <a href="https://www.usnews.com/news/politics/articles/2017-06-13/trump-shouldnt-fire-robert-mueller-gop-lawmakers-say" style="color: #f1602c; text-decoration-line: none;">dissuade Trump</a> from firing Mueller was the memory of the so-called "<a href="https://www.vox.com/2017/6/12/15788530/trump-firing-robert-mueller" style="color: #f1602c; text-decoration-line: none;">Saturday Night Massacre</a>" in 1973.</div>
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When President Nixon wanted to fire Watergate special prosecutor Archibald Cox in October 1973, Attorney General Elliot Richardson and his top two deputies refused to carry out his order and were fired. The task of dismissing the special prosecutor fell to the fourth ranking official in the department, an opinionated former Yale Law School professor named Robert Bork. He was willing to carry out Nixon’s order, and Cox was gone.</div>
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The Saturday Night Massacre slowed the Watergate investigation while devastating Nixon’s credibility. Democrats advocating Nixon's impeachment, politically isolated up until that point, were emboldened. Congressional Republicans, previously loyal to Nixon, began to abandon him. Ten months later, on the brink of impeachment and conviction, Nixon resigned.</div>
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Bork went on to become a conservative hero, not the least for his refusal to abandon Nixon. In the 1980s, President Reagan named him to a federal judgeship and in 1987, nominated him for the Supreme Court. When the U.S. Senate <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/1987/10/24/politics/24REAG.html?pagewanted=all" style="color: #f1602c; text-decoration-line: none;">rejected his nomination</a> because of his extreme positions on civil rights and abortion, Bork became a martyr of the American right and a role model for conservative legal activists.</div>
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Is Rachel Brand another Robert Bork? I suspect we may find out sooner rather than later.</div>
the white rabbithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04882877192764933813noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3150130050643932279.post-25204799828196284542017-06-14T19:51:00.002-07:002017-06-14T19:51:25.722-07:00Wealthy Oahu Neighborhoods Benefit From Program Meant To Help Poor Communities<span style="font-family: proxima-nova, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 23px;">A oft-criticized federal immigrant investor program designed to create jobs in distressed areas is instead targeting thriving places like Kakaako and Ala Moana.</span><br />
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<a href="http://www.civilbeat.org/2017/06/incentive-targets-rich-areas-but-mostly-ignores-poor-ones/">Go to Original</a><br />
<span class="prefix" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: proxima-nova, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">By</span><span style="font-family: proxima-nova, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"> </span><span class="authors" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: proxima-nova, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"><span class="author" itemprop="author" itemscope="" itemtype="http://schema.org/Person" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span itemprop="name" style="border: none; box-sizing: border-box; outline: none;"><a href="http://www.civilbeat.org/author/stewartyerton/" itemprop="url" rel="author" style="border: none; box-sizing: border-box; outline: none;">Stewart Yerton</a></span></span></span><br />
<span class="authors" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: proxima-nova, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"><span class="author" itemprop="author" itemscope="" itemtype="http://schema.org/Person" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><br /></span></span>
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No one was more surprised than Hiroki Shuto to hear that his new Sky Men’s Grooming Salon — where the barber chairs are plush, the stylists wear crisp shirts and vests, and a basic cut runs $45 — was located in an area that state and federal officials have tagged as distressed.</div>
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The burgeoning <a href="http://gawker.com/this-is-the-williamsburg-of-your-city-a-map-of-hip-ame-1460243062" style="border: none; box-sizing: border-box; color: #013167; outline: none;">hipster hotspot</a> of Kakaako, with <a href="https://dbedt.hawaii.gov/hcda/files/2013/01/HCDAAnnualReport2016-FINAL.pdf" style="border: none; box-sizing: border-box; color: #013167; outline: none;">1,625 new condo units finished in 2016</a> and 1,840 more on the way, offered a prime location for the high-end barber shop. Shuto said he had a “golden opportunity” to lease ground floor space in the Halekauwila Place development, which is half a block from a planned Honolulu rail stop and across from another retail and condo project underway.</div>
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It might seem like the last place to need incentives to attract investment.</div>
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But that’s not the case, according to some state and federal officials. The area around Shuto’s business is designated so economically distressed that it qualifies as a “targeted investment area” under the federal government’s <a href="https://www.uscis.gov/eb-5" style="border: none; box-sizing: border-box; color: #013167; outline: none;">EB-5 Immigrant Investor Program</a>, which is designed to spur foreign investment to create jobs in the U.S.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpmKh5jSC8Q_aJkhM7GDEWU14Wgr3_D8YPbMRgnEyFsezttAAsvWaSK6zHiOJN_XGryn9iGLWo2QHMXI2OfndJhQhjmGvM4HNVeCIkKqv-rcaAu15gNWQg8VzAxdXu3ykViQjcC1osJAwK/s1600/stewart-photos-5-640x482.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="482" data-original-width="640" height="241" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpmKh5jSC8Q_aJkhM7GDEWU14Wgr3_D8YPbMRgnEyFsezttAAsvWaSK6zHiOJN_XGryn9iGLWo2QHMXI2OfndJhQhjmGvM4HNVeCIkKqv-rcaAu15gNWQg8VzAxdXu3ykViQjcC1osJAwK/s320/stewart-photos-5-640x482.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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A parcel across Halekauwila Street from Shuto’s shop has been certified as an EB-5 targeted employment area, and so has Stanford Carr’s <a href="http://www.keauhouplace.com/" style="border: none; box-sizing: border-box; color: #013167; outline: none;">Keauhou Place</a> across Keawe Street.</div>
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Carr said he has not used EB-5 financing for the $170 million project, which he said was financed by a consortium of local banks including Finance Factors, First Hawaiian Bank, Bank of Hawaii, American Savings Bank, Central Pacific Bank, and Hawaiian National Bank. In fact, Carr said he had not even sought certification to designate his development as a targeted investment area.</div>
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But a letter obtained from the Hawaii Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism shows that the state certified the site of the development, 500 Keawe Street, as a targeted employment area under the EB-5 program. The letter, signed by Mary Alice Evans for DBEDT Director Luis Salaveria and dated May 8, 2015, was addressed to Richard Marquard of the New York-based <a href="http://lcpgroup.com/eb5/" style="border: none; box-sizing: border-box; color: #013167; outline: none;">LCP Group</a>, which runs a Hawaii EB-5 center.</div>
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Kakaako being distressed was news to Shuto, who is also president of the Waikiki Sand Villa Hotel. He said he knew about the EB-5 program but thought it was designed to bring investment to areas that “are not doing well.”</div>
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“I don’t think this is a place that’s not doing well,” he said.</div>
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Kakaako isn’t the only thriving hotspot tapped as a distressed targeted employment area. A <a href="http://www.eb5-circ.com/eb5intro_us.html" style="border: none; box-sizing: border-box; color: #013167; outline: none;">project in bustling Ala Moana</a>, where the unemployment rate is less than 1 percent, also has been targeted for a jobs boost from foreign investors. So has the <a href="http://koolina.com/" style="border: none; box-sizing: border-box; color: #013167; outline: none;">Ko Olina</a> resort, where the Four Seasons recently opened its <a href="http://www.fourseasons.com/oahu/" style="border: none; box-sizing: border-box; color: #013167; outline: none;">first property on Oahu</a>. Recent census data pegged Ko Olina’s unemployment rate at 2.5 percent.</div>
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Federal regulators seem to have had enough.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9SRfLwmGf6qw9l4ktkk-M0NXvjelisGpKq07OZACKNS9j7OgIWB6-KrZj4JZ3mrGoKChOErJ6IAOmHEYpbQ_4PsrKtwPYt5swqYnVgCDIb5TiTCeYrFAcxPbigMspwcVt_nbi15XYbAV-/s1600/stewart-photos-3-400x267.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="267" data-original-width="400" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9SRfLwmGf6qw9l4ktkk-M0NXvjelisGpKq07OZACKNS9j7OgIWB6-KrZj4JZ3mrGoKChOErJ6IAOmHEYpbQ_4PsrKtwPYt5swqYnVgCDIb5TiTCeYrFAcxPbigMspwcVt_nbi15XYbAV-/s320/stewart-photos-3-400x267.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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The Department of Homeland Security, which administers the EB-5 program, has <a href="https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2017/01/13/2017-00447/eb-5-immigrant-investor-program-modernization" style="border: none; box-sizing: border-box; color: #013167; outline: none;">proposed regulations</a> to close the loophole that lets developers and state governments define vibrant places as distressed.</div>
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Business interests like the U.S. Chamber of Commerce are pushing back. Meanwhile, places like Kakaako, Ala Moana and Ko Olina remain targeted for investment.</div>
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The EB-5 program encourages foreign investment by providing a <a href="https://www.usimmigrationsupport.org/form-i-551-greencard.html" style="border: none; box-sizing: border-box; color: #013167; outline: none;">permanent resident document</a> known as a green card to foreign nationals who invest in qualifying businesses. To get a green card, investors generally must put $1 million in a jobs-creating U.S. business. But the amount is lowered to $500,000 for investments in businesses in targeted employment areas, where the unemployment rate is at least 150 percent of the national rate.</div>
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The loophole involves how the program designates target employment areas. Developers can create oddly shaped, gerrymandered districts that link their project’s immediate, thriving vicinity to faraway distressed places with high unemployment.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5cFl4l6QhvIe8-NrcC4nLShKSqKKcJ-dois1d_D6CJuHy3cbyF2SkAZ0p6zzPcXS6QjhtR-bPG9ymSxFPWyxk2j7gZkXhW2VJDynHVT-DF79UcyAhZPneQFt1drhgC7G5sLx3sd524xT0/s1600/Screen-Shot-2017-06-12-at-3.11.11-PM-640x486.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="486" data-original-width="640" height="243" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5cFl4l6QhvIe8-NrcC4nLShKSqKKcJ-dois1d_D6CJuHy3cbyF2SkAZ0p6zzPcXS6QjhtR-bPG9ymSxFPWyxk2j7gZkXhW2VJDynHVT-DF79UcyAhZPneQFt1drhgC7G5sLx3sd524xT0/s320/Screen-Shot-2017-06-12-at-3.11.11-PM-640x486.png" width="320" /></a></div>
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As long as the gerrymandered area’s census tracts are contiguous and the combined area’s unemployment rate averages out to 150 percent of the national rate, the state government can certify the district as a targeted employment area. Some of the state-certified districts on Oahu stretch more than 30 miles from the edge of Waikiki to places that are genuinely distressed.</div>
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That’s why a project like the proposed Hawaii City Plaza qualifies. In the proposed luxury condo tower’s neighborhood, you can find everything from discount Hawaiian souvenirs at Wal-Mart, to shabu shabu and fancy pastries at the new <a href="http://www.honolulumagazine.com/Honolulu-Magazine/April-2016/Honolulus-Best-Kept-Secret-is-Out-the-808-Center/" style="border: none; box-sizing: border-box; color: #013167; outline: none;">808 Center</a> on Rycroft Street, to luxury electric cars from the Tesla showroom in <a href="https://www.alamoanacenter.com/en.html" style="border: none; box-sizing: border-box; color: #013167; outline: none;">Ala Moana Center</a>.</div>
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You can also find a job. Wal-Mart is hiring. So is Domino’s Pizza on Keeaumoku Street. Fancy retailers also need help – and say it’s hard to find.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3pz-dcHYG2i7tZuoACDR1DOeDJlAFWo7YPngSnX9Tqldh_6mywmSM7FPEf_RdBSRBunyZXQC1VNAGgO7RaaHf93OvrWlJjRhf2ZDiR0oN4LLkp7Rtkh4VGukbMcQU_HaxhAEpwpj5Ajbd/s1600/Walmart-Hiring-Keeaumoku-640x390.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="390" data-original-width="640" height="195" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3pz-dcHYG2i7tZuoACDR1DOeDJlAFWo7YPngSnX9Tqldh_6mywmSM7FPEf_RdBSRBunyZXQC1VNAGgO7RaaHf93OvrWlJjRhf2ZDiR0oN4LLkp7Rtkh4VGukbMcQU_HaxhAEpwpj5Ajbd/s320/Walmart-Hiring-Keeaumoku-640x390.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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“The unemployment rate is really low in this area,” said Yayoi Akana, marketing and business development manager at Ala Moana Center’s <a href="http://www.kitchoan.com/" style="border: none; box-sizing: border-box; color: #013167; outline: none;">Minamoto Kichoan</a>, which sells gourmet Japanese treats like maccha tea mochi and jellied mango, delicately wrapped and boxed. “It’s hard to find people for us as a retail store.”</div>
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The shop has a “we are hiring” sign in the window and has been looking for one or two part-time workers for a month, she said. But competition for labor is stiff.</div>
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“You can see a lot of places around here are hiring,” she said.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjg4cwQaJiYXh8FrbLyUTsvQS_X9vfJX-hOZHiKoMVN6nsEYsoqID2hL41HlaNqk2VxmvKIwmK3ZjUJSxNUX2iefxEMRgmnuSY586CAJjqhQ4UtkjGxcvIEk7kFAgaK90a0jjTjpecqLTYc/s1600/Stewart-pics-file-1-640x377.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="377" data-original-width="640" height="188" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjg4cwQaJiYXh8FrbLyUTsvQS_X9vfJX-hOZHiKoMVN6nsEYsoqID2hL41HlaNqk2VxmvKIwmK3ZjUJSxNUX2iefxEMRgmnuSY586CAJjqhQ4UtkjGxcvIEk7kFAgaK90a0jjTjpecqLTYc/s320/Stewart-pics-file-1-640x377.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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The unemployment rate in Hawaii City Plaza’s census tract was 0.8 percent in 2015. But the site qualified as a targeted employment area because it is part of a larger area that stretches to the high unemployment areas of Oahu’s west side.</div>
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Hawaii City Plaza <a href="http://www.civilbeat.org/2017/05/immigrant-investor-project-gets-rocky-reception-from-city-council/" style="border: none; box-sizing: border-box; color: #013167; outline: none;">has come under fire</a> from Honolulu City Council members who say the developer has revealed he has sold 60 of his 163 residential units to buyers from China — a move council critics say runs counter to development policy in a city suffering a housing shortage.</div>
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Jay Fang, the developer, has said the 60 Chinese investors are EB-5 investors who have ponied up $30 million to build the project and are not necessarily condo unit buyers.</div>
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But the council critics have not questioned the bustling neighborhood’s designation as a distressed target area.</div>
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Eugene Tian, the Hawaii state economist, said his office approves sites as target areas if they meet the federal criteria: the census tracts have to be contiguous, and the area’s unemployment rate has to be 150 percent of the national average.</div>
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Tian said it’s common for target areas to stretch westward to Waianae and beyond because those places typically have the highest unemployment rate. “Without linking to Waianae, it is difficult to form a (targeted employment area),” he said. He once turned down a site in Manoa because it could not meet the criteria, Tian said.</div>
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The targeted employment area designation is “a pure statistical function,” Tian said. “It has nothing to do with economic development.”</div>
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Documents obtained from Tian’s office through a public records request show numerous sites the state has certified as targeted employment areas. The letters do not show whether foreign investors have invested in the projects.</div>
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Carr questioned why the state had certified his project as a targeted employment area when he did not request the designation; Marquard, an executive with New York-based <a href="http://lcpgroup.com/eb5/" style="border: none; box-sizing: border-box; color: #013167; outline: none;">LCP Group</a>, an EB-5 investment firm which obtained the certification for 500 Keawe Street, did not return calls.</div>
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Calls placed to the number listed for Kenneth Kai Chang, developer of a <a href="http://www.bizjournals.com/pacific/news/2016/11/28/430-unit-high-rise-condo-planned-for-kakaako-food.html" style="border: none; box-sizing: border-box; color: #013167; outline: none;">proposed condo</a> project at 615 Keawe and 690 Halekauwila streets, across from Sky barber shop, were not answered. Calls to Jianjie Ji and 900 Investments, which obtained a targeted employment area certification for a single-family housing development in Mililani, were not returned.</div>
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Sweetie Nelson, a spokeswoman for Ko Olina’s development and management company, <a href="http://www.theresortgroup.com/" style="border: none; box-sizing: border-box; color: #013167; outline: none;">The Resort Group</a>, said Ko Olina has no plans to enroll in the program. Nelson said she did not know why The Resort Group’s chief executive, Jeffrey Stone, had asked the State of Hawaii in August 2016 to confirm that Ko Olina was certified as an EB-5 targeted employment area. She said Stone’s letter was “a general program inquiry.”</div>
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Cathelijne Sieber, the agent listed for Paradise Retirement Hawaii and PRW Hawaii, a Kalakaua home health care and retirement home company that has received EB-5 targeted employment area certification for sites on Kalakaua Avenue near the Hawaii Convention Center, was not available for comment and did not return emails.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyHqMnw2WgdLVpL0PT9BLqA4yBCEk0WION2zmBTIu1dU1OZyQWFY4oVvqw_NpFZ6gikGufnQT20DTq7Cj0X9fBuNPNaV6iPJ0kXZ3W4p4l2JNJQ3WF_4XgOQ-Xfg2BK1UmJV1v_ddrrugO/s1600/Screen-Shot-2017-06-12-at-5.55.49-PM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="818" data-original-width="638" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyHqMnw2WgdLVpL0PT9BLqA4yBCEk0WION2zmBTIu1dU1OZyQWFY4oVvqw_NpFZ6gikGufnQT20DTq7Cj0X9fBuNPNaV6iPJ0kXZ3W4p4l2JNJQ3WF_4XgOQ-Xfg2BK1UmJV1v_ddrrugO/s320/Screen-Shot-2017-06-12-at-5.55.49-PM.png" width="249" /></a></div>
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The EB-5 program came under scrutiny nationally in April after revelations that the family of Jared Kushner, President Donald Trump’s son-in-law and policy adviser, had <a href="http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-kushner-eb5-20170508-htmlstory.html" style="border: none; box-sizing: border-box; color: #013167; outline: none;">used the program for a luxury development in New Jersey</a>. Kushner’s sister, Nicole Meyer, was criticized for mentioning her brother’s ties to the White House while trying to attract <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/06/world/asia/jared-kushner-sister-nicole-meyer-china-investors.html" style="border: none; box-sizing: border-box; color: #013167; outline: none;">$150 million from Chinese investors</a>.</div>
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Targeted employment areas are supposed to provide an exception to the general provision that requires investors to invest at least $1 million. But in practice, almost no one actually invests $1 million. The Department of Homeland Security, which administers the program, says 97 percent of all EB-5 petitions filed in 2015 involved investments at the lower level for target areas.</div>
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Proposed Regulations Would Prevent Gerrymandering</h2>
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The department is trying to change that. In <a href="https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2017/01/13/2017-00447/eb-5-immigrant-investor-program-modernization" style="border: none; box-sizing: border-box; color: #013167; outline: none;">proposed regulations</a> published in January, the Obama Administration was pointed in its criticism of the current system of creating targeted employment areas.</div>
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“The deference to state determinations provided by current regulations has resulted in the acceptance of some (targeted employment areas) that consist of areas of relative economic prosperity linked to areas with lower employment, and some (targeted employment areas) that have been criticized as ‘gerrymandered,’” the Department of Homeland Security wrote. The department added the result was target areas “resembling a chain-shape or other contorted shape.”</div>
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The proposed rules would let developers propose target areas including a project’s census tract and adjacent tracts surrounding it. Homeland Security, not state governments, would certify the areas. The standard investment would increase to $1.8 million, while the amount for target areas would be $1.35 million.</div>
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The <a href="https://www.regulations.gov/document?D=USCIS-2016-0006-0267" style="border: none; box-sizing: border-box; color: #013167; outline: none;">U.S. Chamber of Commerce</a> has submitted public comments opposed to changing the investment amounts and the method for defining target areas. The <a href="https://www.regulations.gov/document?D=USCIS-2016-0006-0264" style="border: none; box-sizing: border-box; color: #013167; outline: none;">National Association of Home Builders</a> also has opposed the changes.</div>
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U.S. Sen. Brian Schatz told Civil Beat he doesn’t think the program in general has met the spirit of the law. “It is not what the authors of the EB-5 (law) envisioned,” Schatz said.</div>
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At the same time, Schatz said, when it comes to targeted employment areas it might make sense to look at where workers are coming from.</div>
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Despite the family connection to the infamous EB-5 deal in New Jersey, the Trump administration has acknowledged the program is flawed.</div>
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“There are serious concerns held by the administration regarding the EB-5 visa program, in part because it is not being used as it was primarily intended,” Michael Short, a White House spokesman, told <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2017/04/27/on-friday-congress-could-make-it-a-lot-harder-for-rich-people-to-move-to-the-u-s/?utm_term=.f804b67d7598" style="border: none; box-sizing: border-box; color: #013167; outline: none;">The Washington Post</a>. “The administration is continuing to evaluate reforms to the program, which we believe is in need of substantial repair.”</div>
the white rabbithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04882877192764933813noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3150130050643932279.post-60343153208727191512017-06-14T19:48:00.002-07:002017-06-14T19:48:28.241-07:00EPA May Reverse Ban Of Deadly Paint-Removing ChemicalThere Have Been More than 50 Deaths Since 1980 from a Common Ingredient in Household Paint Strippers<br />
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<a href="https://www.dcreport.org/2017/06/13/epa-may-kill-ban-of-deadly-paint-removing-chemical/">Go to Original</a><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #111111; font-family: "PT Serif", "times new roman", times, serif; font-size: 16px; font-variant-caps: small-caps; font-weight: bold;">By Sarah Okeson</span><br />
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The sweet-smelling solvent <a href="https://pubchem.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/compound/dichloromethane#section=Top" style="background-color: transparent; color: #21aaff; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s linear;">methylene chloride,</a> commonly used in paint strippers, can <a href="http://www.cpwr.com/sites/default/files/publications/Stripping%20Paint_web_2.pdf" style="background-color: transparent; color: #21aaff; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s linear;">kill in minutes,</a> but our government has left the chemical largely unregulated for decades.</div>
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Trump’s Environmental Protection Agency may be trying to kill or water down a <a href="https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2017/01/19/2017-01222/methylene-chloride-and-n-methylpyrrolidone-regulation-of-certain-uses-under-tsca-section-6a" style="background-color: transparent; color: #21aaff; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s linear;">proposed regulation</a> published on the last full day of the administration of former President Barack Obama that would ban most uses of the chemical in paint strippers.</div>
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“In our view, a ban on methylene chloride in paint stripping products is long overdue, said Lindsay McCormick of the <a href="https://www.edf.org/" style="background-color: transparent; color: #21aaff; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s linear;">Environmental Defense Fund.</a> <a href="https://www.bna.com/bathtub-refinishers-deaths-n73014452979/" style="background-color: transparent; color: #21aaff; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s linear;">“It is literally a matter of life and death.”</a></div>
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Deaths from the chemical have been documented since 1947 when four men were <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/niosh/pdfs/76-138b.pdf" style="background-color: transparent; color: #21aaff; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s linear;">overcome,</a> and one died. The solvent, which can be <a href="https://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/mmg/mmg.asp?id=230&tid=42" style="background-color: transparent; color: #21aaff; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s linear;">inhaled or absorbed through the skin,</a> can cause <a href="https://www.osha.gov/dts/hazardalerts/methylene_chloride_hazard_alert.html" style="background-color: transparent; color: #21aaff; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s linear;">heart attacks</a> and turns into carbon monoxide in the body.</div>
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The solvent can only be used safely with a respirator and special gloves and is especially dangerous in confined spaces such as bathrooms or basements.</div>
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Since 1980, <a href="https://www.publicintegrity.org/2015/09/21/17991/common-solvent-keeps-killing-workers-consumers" style="background-color: transparent; color: #21aaff; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s linear;">more than 50 accidental deaths</a> in the United States have been linked to methylene chloride, including possibly the death in April of <a href="http://www.tennessean.com/story/news/local/cheatham/2017/05/04/community-raises-funds-support-hartley-family-after-son-dies-work-accident/101283588/" style="background-color: transparent; color: #21aaff; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s linear;">Kevin Hartley, 21,</a> of Ashland City, Tenn., who was using chemicals to help strip old finish from bathtubs.</div>
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<span style="font-size: 20px;"><strong>ACTION BOX / <em>What you can do about it</em></strong></span></div>
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Tell EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt your thoughts via his <a href="https://www.facebook.com/EPAScottPruitt/" style="background-color: transparent; color: #21aaff; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s linear;">Facebook</a> and <a href="https://twitter.com/epascottpruitt?lang=en" style="background-color: transparent; color: #21aaff; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s linear;">Twitter</a> sites. His email is <a href="mailto:Pruitt.scott@Epa.gov" style="background-color: transparent; color: #21aaff; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s linear;">Pruitt.scott@Epa.gov</a></div>
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<img alt="" class="size-medium wp-image-5263 alignright lazyloaded" data-lazy-sizes="(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" data-lazy-src="https://ui6lfrrydp-flywheel.netdna-ssl.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/methylene-chloride-300x300.gif" data-lazy-srcset="https://ui6lfrrydp-flywheel.netdna-ssl.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/methylene-chloride-300x300.gif 300w, https://ui6lfrrydp-flywheel.netdna-ssl.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/methylene-chloride-150x150.gif 150w, https://ui6lfrrydp-flywheel.netdna-ssl.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/methylene-chloride-400x400.gif 400w" height="300" sizes="(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" src="https://ui6lfrrydp-flywheel.netdna-ssl.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/methylene-chloride-300x300.gif" srcset="https://ui6lfrrydp-flywheel.netdna-ssl.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/methylene-chloride-300x300.gif 300w, https://ui6lfrrydp-flywheel.netdna-ssl.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/methylene-chloride-150x150.gif 150w, https://ui6lfrrydp-flywheel.netdna-ssl.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/methylene-chloride-400x400.gif 400w" style="border: 0px; display: inline; float: right; height: auto; margin: 0.4em 0px 1.6em 1.6em; max-width: 100%;" width="300" />His phone number is 202-564-4700.</div>
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Write him at:</div>
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EPA Headquarters<br />William Jefferson Clinton Building<br />1200 Pennsylvania Avenue, N. W.<br /><em><strong>Mail Code: </strong></em>1101A<br />Washington, DC 20460</div>
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Contact your<a href="http://www.house.gov/representatives/" style="background-color: transparent; color: #21aaff; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s linear;"> representative </a>and <a href="https://www.senate.gov/senators/contact/" style="background-color: transparent; color: #21aaff; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s linear;">senators</a>.</div>
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The <a href="https://www.edf.org/" style="background-color: transparent; color: #21aaff; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s linear;">Environmental Defense Fund,</a> which supports stronger regulations on methylene chloride, can be reached at 800-684-3322 or at 1875 Connecticut Ave., NW, Suite 600, Washington, DC 20009.</div>
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The European Union prohibited methylene chloride paint strippers from general use in 2011.</div>
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The Consumer Product Safety Commission <a href="https://casetext.com/case/cfa-v-us-consumer-product-safety-comn" style="background-color: transparent; color: #21aaff; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s linear;">denied a 1985 petition</a> to ban the chemical in household products and rejected requests by California and Washington state officials in 2012 to consider stiffer regulation. The commission voted June 2 to include stronger language on household products containing the solvent.</div>
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The <a href="http://www.hsia.org/" style="background-color: transparent; color: #21aaff; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s linear;">Halogenated Solvents Industry Alliance</a> has pushed back against tougher regulation, calling it overreach. The organization spent<a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/lobby/clientsum.php?id=D000064785&year=2017" style="background-color: transparent; color: #21aaff; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s linear;"> $60,00 on federal lobbying in 2016 and $10,000 so far this year.</a></div>
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Attorney W. Caffey Norman called the proposed EPA ban a “blatant and raw power grab.”</div>
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EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt has previously sided with industry over the safety of people in our country. He overruled the agency’s own scientists to keep the pesticide <a href="http://www.motherjones.com/environment/2017/05/california-farm-workers-just-got-poisoned-nasty-pesticide-greenlghted-trump" style="background-color: transparent; color: #21aaff; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s linear;">chlorpyrifos</a> on the market despite evidence that it lowers children’s IQs</div>
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Methylene chloride is in paint removers on home improvement store shelves of companies such as Ace Hardware, Home Depot and Lowe’s. An estimated 1.3 million consumers use products with methylene chloride every year, and more than 30,000 people use them at work.</div>
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The fatality numbers linked to the solvent are likely an undercount because federal investigations frequently miss people who are self-employed.</div>
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“Everybody knows it’s a bad chemical, and yet nobody does anything,” said Katy Wolf, director of <a href="http://www.irta.us/" style="background-color: transparent; color: #21aaff; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s linear;">Institute for Research and Technical Assistance</a> in California.</div>
the white rabbithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04882877192764933813noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3150130050643932279.post-9422513185319469842017-06-14T19:47:00.001-07:002017-06-14T19:47:18.365-07:00Open letter to party leaders on climate change and the UK economy<a href="http://www.theecologist.org/News/news_analysis/2989043/open_letter_to_party_leaders_on_climate_change_and_the_uk_economy.html">Go to Original</a><br />
By <span style="background-color: white; color: #737373; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">Dr Stuart Parkinson & Dr Philip Webber, Scientists for Global Responsibility</span><br />
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<h2 class="intro" style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 8px; padding: 0px;">
In an open letter to the UK's political party leaders, Scientists for Global Responsibility urge those politicians to take the global threat of climate change seriously and to exploit science and technology to create jobs, tackle fuel poverty, and reduce local air pollution</h2>
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We urge you to unite around a common cause - tackling climate change - as a way of helping to provide major economic, social and environmental benefits at this time of uncertainty</div>
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In the wake of the inconclusive general election result and bearing in mindthe forthcoming Brexit negotiations, we are writing to leaders of UKparliamentary parties to urge you to unite around a common cause - tackling climate change - as a way of helping to provide major economic, social and environmental benefits at this time of uncertainty.</div>
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Not only does there continue to be there very strong scientific evidence on the urgency of this global threat, but measures to tackle it offer major opportunities to exploit science and technology to create jobs, tackle fuel poverty, reduce local air pollution and provide many other co-benefits for British society.</div>
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The UK could now capitalise on the renewed international commitment to tackling climate change in the wake of the ill-informed decision of President Trump to withdraw the USA from the Paris Agreement.</div>
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We have noted the widespread commitment to tackling climate change in the party manifestos. While there is some diversity in the approaches, there are many common factors. Hence, as a priority, we urge strong support for:</div>
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<li style="margin: 0px 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px;">Home energy conservation programmes. These will both reduce carbon emissions and help to tackle fuel poverty, which is estimated to be responsible for nearly 8,000 UK deaths a year. [1]</li>
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<li style="margin: 0px 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px;">Renewable energy projects - especially wind, solar, marine and biogas technologies and community-led projects. With costs for many of these falling rapidly, the potential economic and employment benefits are very large [2] - and government opinion polling shows these technologies are especially popular. [3]</li>
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<li style="margin: 0px 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px;">Energy storage technologies, including batteries, power-to-gas systems, and pumped hydro storage. Many of these technologies are already rapidly falling in cost, and they have enormous potential to complement the variable renewable energy sources. [4] Electric vehicles will play a key role here and their widespread adoption will help to reduce the number of UK deaths attributable to outdoor air pollution, currently estimated at 40,000 per year. [5]<div style="margin-bottom: 10px; padding: 0px;">
<br style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><strong style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Additional Recommendations:</strong></div>
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We further recommend the following additional actions, which we strongly</div>
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believe will complement those above:</div>
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<li style="margin: 0px 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px;">End subsidies for fossil fuels, especially for unconventional sources like shale gas. The growth of a large-scale shale gas industry in this country is likely to seriously undermine Britain's climate targets, as the Committee on Climate Change has warned. [6] Furthermore, the technique of hydraulic fracturing (or ‘fracking') is not popular with the British public, [7] partly as it creates significant risks for the local environment.</li>
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<br /></div>
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<li style="margin: 0px 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px;">End new commitments to nuclear power stations. These create unique and unresolved economic, security, environmental and safety risks.</li>
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Finally, we urge you to use any political influence you have in the USA to try to convince President Trump that climate change is a serious threat to his country as well as the world, and that his government needs to change course. Indeed, his failure to support cleaner industries in his own country is very likely to have a negative impact on the economy there.</div>
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We would be interested to hear your thoughts on our recommendations.</div>
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Yours sincerely</div>
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<div style="margin-bottom: 10px; padding: 0px;">
<strong style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">These Authors</strong></div>
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Dr Stuart Parkinson is Executive Director and Dr Philip Webber</div>
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is Chair of Scientists for Global Responsibility</div>
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<br /></div>
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<strong style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">This open letter has been sent to the following politicians:</strong></div>
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Theresa May MP, Conservative Party</div>
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Jeremy Corbyn MP, Labour Party</div>
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Tim Farron MP, Liberal Democrats</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 10px; padding: 0px;">
Nicola Sturgeon MSP, Scottish National Party</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 10px; padding: 0px;">
Arlene Forster MLA, Democratic Unionist Party</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 10px; padding: 0px;">
Michelle O'Brien MLA, Sinn Fein</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 10px; padding: 0px;">
Leanne Wood AM, Plaid Cymru</div>
<span class="hide4Print" style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"></span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px;"></span><span class="bodycontents" style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"></span><br />
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Caroline Lucas MP, Green Party</div>
the white rabbithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04882877192764933813noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3150130050643932279.post-15935872180125786642017-06-14T19:46:00.002-07:002017-06-14T19:46:23.678-07:00Koch Convention to Rewrite Constitution Runs Into Roadblocks<a href="http://www.truth-out.org/news/item/40928-koch-convention-to-rewrite-constitution-runs-into-roadblocks">Go to Original</a><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #9c162e; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: italic;">By </span><a href="http://www.truth-out.org/author/itemlist/user/52950" style="background-color: white; color: #9c162e; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: italic; outline-offset: -2px; outline: 0px;">Arn Pearson</a><br />
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This year's legislative season saw a strong push in the states from right-wing groups, bankrolled by the Koch brothers and other ultra-conservative <a href="http://www.prwatch.org/news/2017/03/13229/koch-brothers-bankroll-constitutional-convention" style="color: #9c162e; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">billionaires</a>, hoping to convene a national constitutional convention in order to inject rigid fiscal constraints into our country's founding document. Advocates of a federal "balanced budget amendment" (BBA) picked up two more states, Wyoming and Arizona, in their drive to win the 34 resolutions needed to bypass Congress and convene a convention to propose changes to the US Constitution.</div>
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That momentum, however, was blunted by surprisingly successful campaigns to rescind convention calls in three states, New Mexico, Maryland, and Nevada. As a result, BBA proponents now claim 27 states in their column, down from 28 at the beginning of the year.</div>
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Two steps forward and three steps back... from the brink of a political experiment untried since 1787.</div>
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Under Article V of the Constitution, amendments can be proposed either by two-thirds of both the House and Senate, or through a convention called for by two-thirds of state legislatures (currently 34 states). After adoption at a convention, any amendment must be ratified by three-fourths of the states (currently 38 states) before it can become part of the Constitution.</div>
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While amendments proposed by Congress have been adopted 17 times since the Constitution's ratification, a constitutional convention has never been called. Critics of this approach, from the Left and the Right, are concerned about <a data-external="true" href="http://www.cbpp.org/research/states-likely-could-not-control-constitutional-convention-on-balanced-budget-amendment-or" style="color: #9c162e; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">how such a convention would play out</a> in this era of massive political spending by billionaires and corporations, especially since there is nothing in Article V limiting the scope of a convention once called.</div>
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<strong>BBA Momentum Stalls</strong></div>
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Backers of a balanced budget amendment convention set their sights on at least seven red states this year, but of those, Wisconsin is the only one still in play, with an Assembly vote scheduled for June 14. Growing opposition resulted in the hard-fought defeat of a BBA resolution in Idaho and the tabling of a similar measure in Kentucky.</div>
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More than <a data-external="true" href="http://www.commoncause.org/issues/more-democracy-reforms/constitutional-convention/constitutional-rights-and.pdf" style="color: #9c162e; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">200 organizations</a>, including the Center for Media and Democracy, signed onto a letter in April 2017 denouncing an Article V convention at this time as "a dangerous threat to the US Constitution, our democracy, and our civil rights and liberties."</div>
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In addition, three legislatures rescinded prior convention calls, following Delaware's lead last year. As a result, the number of states with BBA convention calls has dropped by one; passage in Wisconsin would make the year a wash.</div>
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The groups behind the convention drive are disappointed but undeterred, and have targeted at least seven states for 2018, (Kentucky, Maine, Minnesota, Montana, South Carolina, Virginia, and Washington).</div>
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"With tremendous momentum led by ALEC and other arch-conservative organizations, we started 2017 expecting to see Article V resolutions pass in many states," said Common Cause campaign strategist Jay Riestenberg. "Instead, in this dangerous period of divisive politics, we saw bi-partisan cooperation in several states to protect the Constitution."</div>
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"While three states took action to protect our Constitution by rescinding Article V convention resolutions, wealthy special interest groups are still dangerously close to calling a convention that would put everyone's constitutional rights and protections up for grabs," Riestenberg said.</div>
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All of the bills are closely tailored to model measures being promoted by the <a href="http://www.prwatch.org/news/2017/03/13229/koch-brothers-bankroll-constitutional-convention" style="color: #9c162e; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">Koch-backed</a> American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) and Balanced Budget Amendment Task Force. Funded and controlled by large corporations, including Koch Industries, ExxonMobil, telecom, and tobacco companies, ALEC has supported a BBA since 1995 and renewed its push for a constitutional convention in recent years, publishing an Article V convention handbook for legislators and hosting numerous strategy sessions.</div>
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BBA advocates cite "common sense" concerns about "fiscal responsibility," but the rhetoric masks the outright hostility that the Kochs and other billionaire backers have for key federal programs like Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, and for the regulatory infrastructure that protects consumers and the environment. Prominent economists warn that such an austerity amendment -- which would constrain discretionary spending but not tax giveaways for corporations and the wealthy -- would have catastrophic results during economic downturns and cripple the federal government's ability to aid states as they deal with the severe impacts of climate change.</div>
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<strong>More Radical Measures Gain Momentum</strong></div>
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Meanwhile, a faction of the Article V convention crowd seeking a much more radical rewrite of the Constitution made significant gains in 2017. The "Convention of States" (COS) project, run by the Texas-based Citizens for Self Governance, introduced wide-ranging resolutions calling for a broad convention to limit the powers of the federal government in 24 states and won passage in four, Arizona, Missouri, <a data-external="true" href="https://www.congress.gov/crec/2017/04/25/CREC-2017-04-25-pt1-PgS2527.pdf" style="color: #9c162e; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">North Dakota</a>, and Texas.</div>
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COS, whose <a data-external="true" href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/3525760-Citizens-for-Self-Governance-2015-Form-990.html" style="color: #9c162e; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">budget</a> more than tripled between 2011 and 2015 to $5.7 million, now has a total of 12 states behind its more unlikely, but more dangerous, approach. The group, founded by Tea Party Patriots founder Mark Meckler and Koch-tied dark money man <a data-external="true" href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Eric_O%27Keefe" style="color: #9c162e; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">Eric O'Keefe</a>, has received major support from the Koch-linked Donors Trust and backing from ALEC, which has adopted COS's proposal as a "model" bill. It seeks a constitutional convention to pass any number of amendments designed to limit the powers of the federal government, adopt term limits, and allow states to opt-out of regulations and even Supreme Court decisions they do not like.</div>
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The COS strategy, if successful, would radically revise the Constitution's structure of state and federal power sharing in a way that goes to the heart of what it means to be "united states." Most of the states that have passed Convention of State resolutions are in the deep south, prompting some critics to call it the "New Confederacy."</div>
the white rabbithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04882877192764933813noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3150130050643932279.post-17743396911979168722017-06-14T19:45:00.002-07:002017-06-14T19:45:33.931-07:00US and Qatar seal $12bn deal for F-15 fighter jets<h2 class="standfirst" style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 0px; color: #888888; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 32px; font-style: italic; font-weight: 400; line-height: 1.3; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
Contract is the latest in a series of mixed messages from the US as it attempts to navigate the Gulf diplomatic crisis.</h2>
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<a href="http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2017/06/qatar-seal-12bn-deal-15-fighter-jets-170614221327980.html">Go to Original</a><br />
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Washington and Doha have signed an agreement for the purchase of F-15 fighter jets with an initial cost of $12bn, as US President Donald Trump's administration attempts to navigate an ongoing diplomatic crisis in the Gulf.</div>
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The aircraft purchase was completed by Qatari Minister of Defence Khalid Al Attiyah and his US counterpart Jim Mattis in Washington DC on Wednesday, according to Qatar News Agency (QNA).</div>
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Attiyah said the agreement underscores the "longstanding commitment of the state of Qatar in jointly working with our friends and allies in the United States in advancing our military cooperation for closer strategic collaboration in our fight to counter violent extremism and promote peace and stability in our region and beyond". </div>
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The deal is "yet another step in advancing our strategic and cooperative defence relationship with the United States, and we look forward to continuing our joint military efforts with our partners here in the US", said <span style="background: transparent; border: 0px; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Attiyah</span>. </div>
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The sale "will give Qatar a state-of-the-art capability and increase security cooperation and interoperability between the United States and Qatar", the Defence Department said in a statement.</div>
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The weapon transfer comes just weeks after Trump<a href="http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2017/05/saudi-arabia-sign-arms-deals-worth-110bn-170520141943494.html" style="background: transparent; color: rgb(0, 80, 121) !important; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; vertical-align: bottom;" target="_self"> signed a deal</a> with Saudi Arabia for almost $110bn in US arms. </div>
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It also comes amid a diplomatic row between a Saudi-led bloc of nations and Qatar. </div>
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Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates (UAE), and Bahrain and a number of other countries <a href="http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2017/06/saudi-arabia-uae-egypt-bahrain-cut-ties-qatar-170605031700062.html" style="background: transparent; color: rgb(0, 80, 121) !important; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; vertical-align: bottom;" target="_self">severed relations</a> with Qatar earlier this month, accusing it of supporting armed groups and Iran - allegations Qatar has repeatedly rejected.</div>
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Riyadh also closed its border with Qatar, the only land border the emirate has. In addition, the closure of Saudi, Bahraini, and Emirati airspace to Qatar-owned flights has caused major import and travel disruptions.</div>
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As the Saudi-led bloc moved against Qatar, the US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson's attempts to remain neutral were overshadowed by a series of heavy-handed tweets from Trump, in which he accused Qatar of supporting "terror".</div>
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The US stance amid the Gulf's diplomatic rift was thrown into further confusion last week when Tillerson called on Saudi Arabia to<a href="http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2017/06/rex-tillerson-urges-easing-blockade-qatar-170609175257950.html" style="background: transparent; color: rgb(0, 80, 121) !important; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; vertical-align: bottom;" target="_self">ease the blockade</a> on Qatar.</div>
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The US' top diplomat has since attempted to mediate between the two sides, and on Tuesday the State Department said efforts to resolve the crisis were "<a href="http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2017/06/saudi-arabia-jubeir-qatar-blockade-170613172005563.html" style="background: transparent; color: rgb(0, 80, 121) !important; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; vertical-align: bottom;" target="_self">trending in a positive direction</a>".</div>
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On Wednesday, Rex Tillerson - in testimony before the House Committee on Foreign Relations - said it was <a href="http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2017/06/tillerson-blacklisting-muslim-brotherhood-problematic-170614193311591.html" style="background: transparent; color: rgb(0, 80, 121) !important; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; vertical-align: bottom;" target="_self">problematic</a> to list the entirety of the Muslim Brotherhood - one of the "extremist" groups the Saudi-led block has accused Qatar of supporting - as "terrorists".</div>
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<strong style="background: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">US Navy vessels arrive in Qatar</strong></h2>
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In another development, two US Navy vessels arrived in Doha on Wednesday for a joint exercise with Qatar's fleet.</div>
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The American boats arrived at Hamad Port south of Doha "to participate in a joint exercise with the Qatari Emiri Navy," according to a Ministry of Defence statement posted on QNA.</div>
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The crews of the two vessels were received by Qatari navy officers.</div>
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It was unclear if the arrival of the two warships was planned before the Gulf rift or if was a sign of support from the Pentagon.</div>
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Qatar hosts the biggest US military base in the Middle East with 11,000 troops deployed to or assigned to Al-Udeid Air Base. More than 100 aircraft operate from there.</div>
the white rabbithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04882877192764933813noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3150130050643932279.post-64138213049629673352017-06-14T19:43:00.005-07:002017-06-14T19:43:59.126-07:00Yellen Doubles Down on Bet Hot Job Market Stokes Inflation<ul class="abstract" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(221, 221, 221); border-bottom-style: dotted; border-image: initial; border-left-color: initial; border-left-style: initial; border-right-color: initial; border-right-style: initial; border-top-color: rgb(221, 221, 221); border-top-style: dotted; border-width: 2px 0px; font-family: BWHaasText-55Roman, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: 20px; list-style: none; margin: 0px; max-width: 720px; padding: 20px 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
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Fed chief counsels against overreacting to recent price data</div>
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Economists caution her gamble hinges on a 60-year-old theory</div>
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<a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-06-14/yellen-doubles-down-on-bet-hot-job-market-to-stoke-inflation">Go to Original</a><br />
By <span style="color: #fb8e1e; font-family: BWHaasHead-75Bold, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-variant-caps: inherit; font-variant-ligatures: inherit; font-weight: inherit;">Rich Miller</span><br />
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Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen is pressing ahead with plans to normalize monetary policy, betting that the ongoing strength of the labor market will ultimately prevail over the recent weakness in inflation.</div>
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In a press conference on Wednesday after the Fed raised interest rates for the second time in 2017, Yellen played down a softening of price pressures in the last few months and voiced confidence the central bank was on course to hit its 2 percent inflation goal.</div>
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"It’s important not to overreact to a few readings, and data on inflation can be noisy," she told reporters.</div>
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The decision to push forward on normalization -- the Fed also provided further <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-06-14/addendum-to-the-policy-normalization-principles-plans-text" itemprop="StoryLink" itemscope="itemscope" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(251, 142, 30); border-bottom-style: solid; border-image: initial; border-left-color: initial; border-left-style: initial; border-right-color: initial; border-right-style: initial; border-top-color: initial; border-top-style: initial; border-width: 0px 0px 1px; color: #3c3c3c; font-family: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank" title="Addendum to the Policy Normalization Principles, Plans: Text">details</a>of its plan to begin reducing its balance sheet this year -- is not without its perils. If Yellen is wrong and inflation stays low, the Fed is in danger of having companies and consumers conclude that the central bank is not serious about hitting its price goal.</div>
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“The risk is that the Fed is too complacent on inflation and more than just transitory factors are keeping it from rising, and that the Fed is too confident about labor market improvement transitioning to wages and inflation," said Michael Gapen, chief U.S. economist at Barclays Plc in New York.</div>
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Labor Specialist</h3>
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A noted labor economist, Yellen is pinning her hopes on an ever-tightening job market eventually lifting wages and inflation -- a relationship quantified in the so-called Phillips Curve that was first developed almost 60 years ago. At 4.3 percent in May, the unemployment rate is below the level that policy makers reckon is sustainable in the long-run.</div>
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“We continue to feel that with a strong labor market and with a labor market that’s continuing to strengthen, the conditions are in place for inflation to move up," Yellen said.</div>
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Inflation in recent months, though, has been slowing, not quickening. The Fed’s favorite price gauge was 1.7 percent higher in April than a year ago, down from 1.9 percent in March and 2.1 percent in February. And it probably took another leg down last month, based on separate consumer price data released on Wednesday.</div>
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‘One-Off’ Factors</h3>
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Yellen attributed much of the recent weakness to“one-off” factors such as a steep decline in mobile-phone costs and a drop in prescription drug prices.</div>
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Investors don’t seem to be buying that explanation. They’ve trimmed odds for a third rate hike this year to less than 50 percent -- in spite of policy makers’ reiteration of those plans on Wednesday.</div>
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“There’s a lot of skepticism on Wall Street,” said Scott Anderson, chief economist at Bank of the West in San Francisco. “You look at market inflation expectations, and they’re moving in the opposite direction that the Fed wants them to move.”</div>
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For their part, economists began to pull forward their calls for a balance-sheet decision after Wednesday’s meeting. Economists at Citigroup Inc. joined those at Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Morgan Stanley in looking for an announcement in September on when the wind-down begins. NatWest economists also moved up to September.</div>
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In a separate statement on Wednesday, the Fed spelled out the details of its plan to allow the balance sheet to shrink by gradually rolling off a fixed amount of assets on a monthly basis. The initial cap will be set at $10 billion a month: $6 billion from Treasuries and $4 billion from mortgage-backed securities.</div>
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The caps will increase every three months by $6 billion for Treasuries until they reach $30 billion and $4 billion for MBS until they reach $20 billion.</div>
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Officials didn’t reveal how large the portfolio might be when finished, nor the exact timing of when the process will begin this year, though Yellen told reporters it could get underway “relatively soon” if the economy performs as expected.</div>
the white rabbithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04882877192764933813noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3150130050643932279.post-89225798068555777552017-06-14T19:42:00.004-07:002017-06-14T19:42:38.759-07:00Dakota Access pipeline: judge rules environmental survey was inadequate<span style="background-color: white; color: #767676; font-family: "Guardian Egyptian Web", "Guardian Text Egyptian Web", Georgia, serif; font-size: 18px; font-variant-ligatures: common-ligatures;">In what’s being hailed a ‘significant victory’ for pipeline’s opponents, a judge said he would consider whether operations must halt until assessment is redone</span><br />
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<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/jun/14/dakota-access-pipeline-environmental-study-inadequate">Go to Original</a><br />
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A federal judge has handed a lifeline to efforts to block the <a class="u-underline" data-link-name="in body link" href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/dakota-access-pipeline" style="background: transparent; border-bottom: 0.0625rem solid rgb(220, 220, 220); color: #005689; cursor: pointer; text-decoration-line: none !important; touch-action: manipulation; transition: border-color 0.15s ease-out;">Dakota Access pipeline</a>, ruling Wednesday that the US Army Corps of Engineers did not adequately consider the possible impacts of an oil spill where the pipeline passes under the Missouri River. </div>
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US district judge James Boasberg said in a 91-page decision that the corps failed to take into account how a spill might affect “fishing rights, hunting rights, or environmental justice, or the degree to which the pipeline’s effects are likely to be highly controversial”.</div>
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The judge said the army must redo its environmental analysis in certain sections and he would consider later whether the pipeline must halt operations in the meantime. A status conference is scheduled for next week.</div>
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Dave Archambault II, chairman of the Standing Rock Sioux tribe, which has led opposition to the pipeline, called it “a significant victory”.</div>
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The pipeline developer Energy Transfer Partners (ETP) announced earlier this month that it started shipping oil to customers. ETP maintains that the 1,200-mile pipeline is safe, but the Standing Rock Cheyenne River, Yankton and Oglala Sioux tribes in the Dakotas fear environmental harm.</div>
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ETP spokeswoman Vicki Granado did not immediately return email and phone messages seeking comment on Boasberg’s ruling. A spokeswoman for the US Department of Justice, Nicole Navas Oxman, said the department was reviewing the ruling.</div>
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The decision marks “an important turning point”, said Jan Hasselman, attorney for the nonprofit Earthjustice, which is representing the tribes in the lawsuit.</div>
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“Until now, the rights of the Standing Rock Sioux tribe have been disregarded by builders of the <a class="u-underline" data-component="auto-linked-tag" data-link-name="auto-linked-tag" href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/dakota-access-pipeline" style="background: transparent; border-bottom: 0.0625rem solid rgb(220, 220, 220); color: #005689; cursor: pointer; text-decoration-line: none !important; touch-action: manipulation; transition: border-color 0.15s ease-out;">Dakota Access pipeline</a> and the Trump administration ... prompting a well-deserved global outcry,” Hasselman said.</div>
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The project led to months of demonstrations near the Standing Rock reservation and hundreds of protesters were arrested. The protests died off with the clearing of the main encampment in February and the completion of the pipeline.</div>
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Boasberg rejected two earlier complaints by the tribes. One was that the construction threatened sites of cultural and historical significance and the other was that the presence of oil in the pipeline under Lake Oahe would desecrate sacred waters and make it impossible for the tribes to freely exercise their religious beliefs.</div>
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“Now that the court has rejected these two lines of attack, Standing Rock and Cheyenne River here take their third shot, this time zeroing in DAPL’s environmental impact,” Boasberg wrote. He added later, “This volley meets with some degree of success.”</div>
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The corps originally declined to issue an easement for drilling and earlier this year launched a full environmental study of the Lake Oahe crossing, which it said would take up to two years to complete. Boasberg, the federal judge, had rejected an ETP request to stop the study.</div>
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“As we all know, elections have consequences, and the government’s position on the easement shifted significantly once President Trump assumed office on January 20, 2017,” Boasberg wrote in Wednesday’s ruling.</div>
the white rabbithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04882877192764933813noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3150130050643932279.post-34706722617910281792017-06-14T19:41:00.001-07:002017-06-14T19:41:14.028-07:00Blood on the tracks of the New Silk Roads<h2 class="underline" style="background-color: whitesmoke; border: 0px; clear: both; color: #252d3c; font-family: "Tablet Gothic W01", helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-weight: 200; line-height: 24px; margin: 0px 0px 22px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
Qatar chaos sends ripples of economic anxiety across the region</h2>
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<a href="http://www.atimes.com/article/blood-tracks-new-silk-roads/">Go to Original</a><br />
<span style="background-color: whitesmoke; color: #007cd7; font-family: "Soleil W01", helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">By </span><a class="name" href="http://www.atimes.com/writer/pepe-escobar/" style="background-color: whitesmoke; border: 0px; font-family: "Soleil W01", helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-weight: 600; letter-spacing: 0.05rem; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; text-transform: uppercase; vertical-align: baseline;" title="Pepe Escobar">PEPE ESCOBAR</a><br />
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C<span style="background-color: whitesmoke; color: #252d3c; font-family: "Abril Text W01", georgia, times, serif; font-size: 17px;">hina’s cardinal foreign policy imperative is to refrain from interfering abroad while advancing the proverbial good relations with key political actors – even when they may be at each other’s throats.</span><br />
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Still, it’s nothing but gut-wrenching for Beijing to watch the current, unpredictable, Saudi-Qatari standoff. There’s no endgame in sight, as <a href="https://sputniknews.com/politics/201706121054558854-qatarcrisis-resolution-scenarios/" style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; color: #007cd7; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; vertical-align: baseline;">plausible scenarios</a> include even regime change and a seismic geopolitical shift in Southwest Asia – what a Western-centric view calls the Middle East.</div>
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And blood on the tracks in Southwest Asia cannot but translate into major trouble ahead for the New Silk Roads, now rebranded Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).</div>
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When he said, on the record, “I decided … the time had come to call on Qatar to end its funding [of terrorism]”, President Trump essentially took credit for the Saudi/UAE-orchestrated excommunication of Doha, the aftermath of his now notorious <a href="https://sputniknews.com/columnists/201706071054403757-trump-sword-dance-wahhabi-war/" style="border: 0px; color: #007cd7; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; vertical-align: baseline;">sword dance</a> in Riyadh.</div>
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Trump’s senior staff though maintains that Qatar never came up in discussions with the Saudis. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, former Exxon-Mobil CEO and a certified old Middle East hand, has done his best to defuse the drama – conscious there would be no reason for Qatar to continue hosting Al Udeid Air Base and Centcom to a hostile superpower.</div>
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Meanwhile, Russia – the Beltway’s favorite evil entity – is getting closer and closer to Qatar, ever since the <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/us-russia-rosneft-privatisation-idUSKBN13Z0QB" style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; color: #007cd7; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; vertical-align: baseline;">game-changing acquisition</a> in early December by the Qatar Investment Authority (QIA) of 19.5% of the crown energy giant Rosneft.</div>
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That translates into an economic/political alliance of the world’s top two gas exporters; and that explains why Doha – still holding a permanent office at NATO’s HQ – has abruptly thrown its “moderate rebels” in Syria under the (economic) bus.</div>
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Russia and China are bound by a complex, multi-vector strategic partnership. Beijing, privileging economic interests, takes a pragmatic view and is never inclined to play a political role. As the world’s biggest manufacturer and exporter, Beijing’s motto is crystal clear: Make Trade, Not War.</div>
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But what if Southwest Asia is mired in the foreseeable future in a permanent pre-war footing?</div>
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China and BRI’s best pal Iran</h3>
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China is Qatar’s top trading partner. Beijing was actively negotiating a free trade agreement with the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) before the current standoff. Moving forward, a possible scenario is Qatar even pulling out of the GCC.</div>
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Qatar is also China’s second-largest source of liquefied natural gas (LNG), while Saudi Arabia is China’s third-largest source of oil. Since 2010 China is ahead of the US as the biggest exporter to Southwest Asia while solidifying its position as the top importer of Southwest Asia energy.</div>
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When King Salman recently visited Beijing, the House of Saud ecstatically spun a “Sino-Saudi strategic partnership” based on the signing of deals worth $65 billion. The partnership, in fact, hinges on a five-year Saudi Arabia-China security cooperation <a href="https://international.thenewslens.com/article/63033" style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; color: #007cd7; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; vertical-align: baseline;">agreement</a> that includes counter-terrorism and joint military drills. Much will have to do with keeping the profitable Red Sea-Gulf of Aden corridor free of political turmoil.</div>
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Of course, eyebrows may be raised over the fact that Saudi Arabia’s Wahhabism is the ideological matrix of Salafi-jihadism threatening not only Southwest Asia and the West but also China itself.</div>
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The New Silk Roads/BRI imply a key role for the GCC – in a mutual investment, trademark Chinese “win-win” way. In an ideal world, the Saudi “Vision 2030” modernizing plan breathlessly being sold by Warrior Prince Mohammed Bin Salman (MBS) could, in theory, even reign in the appeal of Salafi-jihadism of the Daesh variety all across Southwest Asia.</div>
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What the Iranophobic MBS seems not to understand is that Beijing actually privileges its BRI-based economic relationship with Tehran.</div>
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Early last year, when President Xi Jinping visited Tehran, he and President Rouhani pledged to raise Chinese-Iranian bilateral trade to a whopping $600 billion in 10 years, most of it related to BRI expansion.</div>
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China and Iran have been doing <a href="http://www.atimes.com/article/the-time-to-invest-in-iran-is-now/" style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; color: #007cd7; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; vertical-align: baseline;">serious business</a>. For over a year now, direct China-Iran cargo trains have been crossing Central Asia in only 12 days. That’s just the appetizer for high-speed rail connectivity spanning the arc from China to Turkey via Iran in the early 2020s.</div>
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And in a (distant?) future, a pacified Syria will also be configured as a BRI node; before the war, Syrian merchants were a top fixture in the trading-in-small-goods Silk Road running from the Levant to Yiwu in eastern China.</div>
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BRI does Turkey, Egypt and Israel</h3>
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China’s Maritime Silk Road is not about a threatening “string of pearls” – but mostly about port infrastructure, built by Chinese companies, configuring key BRI stops from the Indian Ocean via the Red Sea and Suez all the way to Piraeus port in the Greek Mediterranean. Piraeus is owned and operated by China’s COSCO since August 2016; this upgraded, modern container hub for trade between East Asia and the West is already the fastest-growing port in Europe.</div>
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For his part, Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has already made it clear that Turkey’s national interests involve “the Suez Canal, the adjacent seas, and from there extending to the Indian Ocean.” As much as Ankara has set up a base in Qatar – with soldiers now flowing in – it has also established a Turkish-Saudi Strategic Cooperation Council.</div>
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Ankara may have been slowly and surely engaged in a strategic pivoting to Russia – as in the go-ahead for Turkish Stream. Yet that also qualifies as a pivot to China – <a href="http://www.china.org.cn/opinion/2017-03/22/content_40485240.htm" style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; color: #007cd7; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; vertical-align: baseline;">expected to develop</a>, bumps included, in all key areas, from membership of the Asia Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) to membership of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO).</div>
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Both Turkey and Iran – a possible full member of the SCO as early as next year – are actively supporting Qatar in the current standoff, including via regular food shipments. That shows once again how Beijing simply cannot allow itself to be dragged politically into what is essentially the vicious, intractable Iran-Saudi regional power war. Once again; BRI trumps everything.</div>
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Egypt poses an extra problem. It aligns with Riyadh in the current standoff; after all Field Marshall President Al-Sisi depends on the House of Saud “largesse”.</div>
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In Egypt, the new Singapore-sized capital east of Cairo is essentially being <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/us-egypt-china-financing-idUSKCN12328A" style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; color: #007cd7; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; vertical-align: baseline;">financed</a> by Chinese investment; $35 billion by the end of last year, and counting. Extra bonuses include Beijing facilitating currency swap deals – providing a much-needed boost to the Egyptian economy. Ahmed Darwish, chairman of the Suez Canal Economic Zone, has nothing but praise to the top investor in the <a href="http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/News/12938.aspx" style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; color: #007cd7; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Suez Canal Corridor</a>, which happens to be Beijing.</div>
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And then there’s the budding <a href="http://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy-defence/article/2080922/free-trade-and-top-tech-what-china-wants-israel" style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; color: #007cd7; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Israeli-Chinese connection</a>. Israel backs the Saudi-UAE anti-Qatar blitzkrieg essentially as yet another proxy war front against Iran.</div>
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China is bidding to build the Red-Med high-speed rail connecting the Red Sea to the Mediterranean. If the proverbial sea of containers can be accommodated near Eilat, the Chinese will be able to transship cargo via the Red-Med railway directly to Piraeus – an alternative route adding to the already Chinese-involved Suez Canal Corridor.</div>
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Connectivity is frantic on all fronts. Shanghai International Port Group is running Haifa port. China Harbor Engineering will build a new $876 million port in Ashdod. Israel is already China’s top supplier of advanced agricultural technology – as in water desalination, aquaculture and cattle farming, for instance. Beijing wants more biomedical, clean energy and telecom technology Israeli imports. And the clincher is Israel’s imminent membership of the AIIB.</div>
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It’s fair to argue that from now on everything that happens across Southwest Asia will be conditioned by, and interlocked with, BRI’s land-sea superhighway emporium from East Asia and Southeast Asia to southeastern Europe.</div>
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Focused on BRI’s comprehensive drive for multipolarization, “inclusive” globalization 2.0, and the rapid spread of information technology, the last thing Beijing needs is a throwback to the past; a foolish, manufactured standoff as the new front in an existential proxy war between the House of Saud and Iran, and with Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Egypt and Israel pitted against Qatar, Turkey, Iran – and Russia.</div>
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Talk about sleepless nights in the Zhongnanhai these days.</div>
the white rabbithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04882877192764933813noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3150130050643932279.post-31695905090551172842017-06-14T19:38:00.005-07:002017-06-14T19:38:55.872-07:005 Officials Charged With Involuntary Manslaughter in Flint Water Crisis<h3 class="dek" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Calluna, serif; font-weight: 400; margin-bottom: 0px; text-align: center;">
Michigan attorney general files the most serious charges yet against current and former government officials in Flint case.</h3>
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<a href="http://www.motherjones.com/environment/2017/06/flint-water-crisis-involuntary-manslaughter/">Go to Original</a><br />
By <a href="http://www.motherjones.com/author/nathalie-baptiste/" style="background-color: white; background-image: none; background-position: 0px 90%; box-sizing: border-box; color: black; font-family: Mallory, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-weight: bold; letter-spacing: 2px; text-align: center; text-decoration-line: none; text-transform: uppercase;" title="Posts by Nathalie Baptiste">NATHALIE BAPTISTE</a><br />
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Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette on Wednesday charged five current and former government officials with involuntary manslaughter for their alleged role in the Flint Water Crisis. Among them was Nick Lyon, the current head of the Michigan’s Department of Health and Human Services, and Darnell Earley, the former emergency manager of Flint. Also charged were former City of Flint Water Department manager Howard Croft, Michigan Department of Environmental Quality drinking water chief Liane Shekter-Smith, and water supervisor Stephen Busch.</div>
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In Michigan, involuntary manslaughter carries a possible prison sentence of up to 15 years.</div>
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Lyon is the <a href="http://www.npr.org/2017/06/14/532902398/michigan-health-chief-charged-with-involuntary-manslaughter-for-flint-water-cris" style="background-color: transparent; background-image: url("/wp-content/themes/motherjones/css/../img/orange-border.png"); background-position: 0px 90%; background-repeat: repeat-x; box-sizing: border-box; color: black; text-decoration-line: none; text-shadow: rgb(255, 255, 255) -1px 0px 0px, rgb(255, 255, 255) 0px 1px 0px, rgb(255, 255, 255) 1px 0px 0px, rgb(255, 255, 255) 0px -1px 0px, rgb(255, 255, 255) -1px -1px 0px, rgb(255, 255, 255) 1px 1px 0px, rgb(255, 255, 255) 1px -1px 0px, rgb(255, 255, 255) -1px 1px 0px;">highest-ranking official</a> in Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder’s (R) administration to be charged with a crime. In addition, the state’s chief medical officer, Dr. Eden Wells, was charged with obstruction of justice “related to an alleged attempt to stop an investigation into the health crisis in Flint and later misleading investigators as to her actions,” according to a press release from Schuette’s office. Before Wednesday’s charges were announced, other criminal charges had already been filed against <a href="http://www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/flint-water-crisis/2016/12/20/schuette-flint-water-charges/95644964/" style="background-color: transparent; background-image: url("/wp-content/themes/motherjones/css/../img/orange-border.png"); background-position: 0px 90%; background-repeat: repeat-x; box-sizing: border-box; color: black; text-decoration-line: none; text-shadow: rgb(255, 255, 255) -1px 0px 0px, rgb(255, 255, 255) 0px 1px 0px, rgb(255, 255, 255) 1px 0px 0px, rgb(255, 255, 255) 0px -1px 0px, rgb(255, 255, 255) -1px -1px 0px, rgb(255, 255, 255) 1px 1px 0px, rgb(255, 255, 255) 1px -1px 0px, rgb(255, 255, 255) -1px 1px 0px;">13 state and local officials</a>, including Earley and Croft.</div>
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In charging documents, Schuette accused Lyon and the other defendants charged with involuntary manslaughter of <a href="http://www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/flint-water-crisis/2017/06/14/charges-flint-water-crisis-nick-lyon/395267001/" style="background-color: transparent; background-image: url("/wp-content/themes/motherjones/css/../img/orange-border.png"); background-position: 0px 90%; background-repeat: repeat-x; box-sizing: border-box; color: black; text-decoration-line: none; text-shadow: rgb(255, 255, 255) -1px 0px 0px, rgb(255, 255, 255) 0px 1px 0px, rgb(255, 255, 255) 1px 0px 0px, rgb(255, 255, 255) 0px -1px 0px, rgb(255, 255, 255) -1px -1px 0px, rgb(255, 255, 255) 1px 1px 0px, rgb(255, 255, 255) 1px -1px 0px, rgb(255, 255, 255) -1px 1px 0px;">causing 2015 the death</a> of Robert Skidmore, after failing to alert the public to the deadly outbreak of Legionnaires’ Disease, which is believed to have been caused by Flint’s contaminated water. </div>
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In 2014, emergency city managers appointed by Snyder <a href="http://www.motherjones.com/environment/2016/01/flint-lead-water-crisis-timeline/" style="background-color: transparent; background-image: url("/wp-content/themes/motherjones/css/../img/orange-border.png"); background-position: 0px 90%; background-repeat: repeat-x; box-sizing: border-box; color: black; text-decoration-line: none; text-shadow: rgb(255, 255, 255) -1px 0px 0px, rgb(255, 255, 255) 0px 1px 0px, rgb(255, 255, 255) 1px 0px 0px, rgb(255, 255, 255) 0px -1px 0px, rgb(255, 255, 255) -1px -1px 0px, rgb(255, 255, 255) 1px 1px 0px, rgb(255, 255, 255) 1px -1px 0px, rgb(255, 255, 255) -1px 1px 0px;">switched the city’s water source</a> to the Flint River in order to cut costs. Because it had not been treated properly, river water began leaching lead from old lead pipes in residential homes across the city. Almost immediately, residents began complaining about the smell and the rashes it gave them from bathing in it. Doctors reported elevated lead levels in Flint children; lead poisoning can lead to a number of health problems, including learning disabilities.</div>
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Experts also concluded that an outbreak of <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/legionella/about/causes-transmission.html" style="background-color: transparent; background-image: url("/wp-content/themes/motherjones/css/../img/orange-border.png"); background-position: 0px 90%; background-repeat: repeat-x; box-sizing: border-box; color: black; text-decoration-line: none; text-shadow: rgb(255, 255, 255) -1px 0px 0px, rgb(255, 255, 255) 0px 1px 0px, rgb(255, 255, 255) 1px 0px 0px, rgb(255, 255, 255) 0px -1px 0px, rgb(255, 255, 255) -1px -1px 0px, rgb(255, 255, 255) 1px 1px 0px, rgb(255, 255, 255) 1px -1px 0px, rgb(255, 255, 255) -1px 1px 0px;">Legionnaires’ Disease</a>, an illness caused by a type of bacteria found in contaminated water systems, <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2017/03/30/health/legionnaires-disease-flint-water-crisis-study/index.html" style="background-color: transparent; background-image: url("/wp-content/themes/motherjones/css/../img/orange-border.png"); background-position: 0px 90%; background-repeat: repeat-x; box-sizing: border-box; color: black; text-decoration-line: none; text-shadow: rgb(255, 255, 255) -1px 0px 0px, rgb(255, 255, 255) 0px 1px 0px, rgb(255, 255, 255) 1px 0px 0px, rgb(255, 255, 255) 0px -1px 0px, rgb(255, 255, 255) -1px -1px 0px, rgb(255, 255, 255) 1px 1px 0px, rgb(255, 255, 255) 1px -1px 0px, rgb(255, 255, 255) -1px 1px 0px;">was likely linked </a>to the city water supply. Symptoms include shortness of breath, headache, and fever. People over the age of 50 or people with chronic lung disease are at an <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/legionella/about/causes-transmission.html" style="background-color: transparent; background-image: url("/wp-content/themes/motherjones/css/../img/orange-border.png"); background-position: 0px 90%; background-repeat: repeat-x; box-sizing: border-box; color: black; text-decoration-line: none; text-shadow: rgb(255, 255, 255) -1px 0px 0px, rgb(255, 255, 255) 0px 1px 0px, rgb(255, 255, 255) 1px 0px 0px, rgb(255, 255, 255) 0px -1px 0px, rgb(255, 255, 255) -1px -1px 0px, rgb(255, 255, 255) 1px 1px 0px, rgb(255, 255, 255) 1px -1px 0px, rgb(255, 255, 255) -1px 1px 0px;">increased risk</a> of getting sick.</div>
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Between June 2014 and November 2015, at least 87 residents of Genesee County, which includes Flint, <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2016/01/13/health/flint-michigan-water-crisis/index.html" style="background-color: transparent; background-image: url("/wp-content/themes/motherjones/css/../img/orange-border.png"); background-position: 0px 90%; background-repeat: repeat-x; box-sizing: border-box; color: black; text-decoration-line: none; text-shadow: rgb(255, 255, 255) -1px 0px 0px, rgb(255, 255, 255) 0px 1px 0px, rgb(255, 255, 255) 1px 0px 0px, rgb(255, 255, 255) 0px -1px 0px, rgb(255, 255, 255) -1px -1px 0px, rgb(255, 255, 255) 1px 1px 0px, rgb(255, 255, 255) 1px -1px 0px, rgb(255, 255, 255) -1px 1px 0px;">contracted Legionnaires’ Disease</a>. Only 6-13 cases were reported between 2009 to 2013. In 2016, Lyon said that not all the cases were linked to the water crisis, because not every patient was exposed to Flint water.</div>
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At least <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2017/03/30/health/legionnaires-disease-flint-water-crisis-study/index.html" style="background-color: transparent; background-image: url("/wp-content/themes/motherjones/css/../img/orange-border.png"); background-position: 0px 90%; background-repeat: repeat-x; box-sizing: border-box; color: black; text-decoration-line: none; text-shadow: rgb(255, 255, 255) -1px 0px 0px, rgb(255, 255, 255) 0px 1px 0px, rgb(255, 255, 255) 1px 0px 0px, rgb(255, 255, 255) 0px -1px 0px, rgb(255, 255, 255) -1px -1px 0px, rgb(255, 255, 255) 1px 1px 0px, rgb(255, 255, 255) 1px -1px 0px, rgb(255, 255, 255) -1px 1px 0px;">12 people</a> have died from the disease since 2014 in Genessee County.</div>
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<em style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 700;">Update, 2:02 p.m.: </span></em>In a statement Gov. Rick Snyder said he remained confident in the defendants:</div>
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Nick Lyon has been a strong leader at the Department of Health and Human Services for the past several years and remains completely committed to Flint’s recovery. Director Lyon and Dr. Eden Wells, like every other person who has been charged with a crime by Bill Schuette, are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.<span style="background-color: transparent;"> </span></div>
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Some state employees were charged over a year ago and have been suspended from work since that time. They still have not had their day in court. That is not justice for Flint nor for those who have been charged. Director Lyon and Dr. Wells have been and continue to be instrumental in Flint’s recovery. They have my full faith and confidence, and will remain on duty at DHHS.</div>
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<em style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 700;">Update, 5:11 p.m.:</span> </em>One of Darnell Earley’s lawyers released a statement calling the latest charges “false” and “excessive”:</div>
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The new charge announced today against Mr. Earley is extremely disappointing, false, and excessive. The events it is connected with occurred 11 months after Mr. Earley left the Emergency Manager position in Flint. While the death of Mr. Skidmore is tragic, Mr. Earley was in no way responsible for his death. To be sure, the charges brought against Mr. Earley are completely misguided and cannot be substantiated by the government. As we have contended all along, we will continue to vigorously defend Mr. Earley, his actions and his reputation, and remain confident that he will be eventually vindicated.</div>
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the white rabbithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04882877192764933813noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3150130050643932279.post-60805135483416191212017-06-14T19:37:00.001-07:002017-06-14T19:37:08.269-07:00Federal Ethics Czar: Steve Bannon Violated White House Ethics Rules<h3 class="dek" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Calluna, serif; font-weight: 400; margin-bottom: 0px; text-align: center;">
The clash between Walter Shaub and the Trump administration continues.</h3>
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<a href="http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2017/06/federal-ethics-czar-steve-bannon-violated-white-house-ethics-rules/">Go to Original</a><br />
By <a href="http://www.motherjones.com/author/russ-choma/" style="background-color: white; background-image: none; background-position: 0px 90%; box-sizing: border-box; color: black; font-family: Mallory, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-weight: bold; letter-spacing: 2px; text-align: center; text-decoration-line: none; text-transform: uppercase;" title="Posts by Russ Choma">RUSS CHOMA</a><br />
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Last month, when the Trump administration released the ethics waivers it had granted top White House staffers, one stood out. It “retroactively” allowed senior officials to communicate with news organizations that had employed them. The waiver seemed clearly aimed at White House strategist Steve Bannon, the former executive chairman of <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">Breitbart</em>.</div>
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President Donald Trump banned his top appointees for at least two years from interacting or communicating in any significant way with their former employers, under an executive order he signed shortly after taking office. But from the outset of the Trump administration, there were reports that Bannon was in contact with his former <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">Breitbart</em> colleagues. In March, watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington <a href="https://www.citizensforethics.org/press-release/crew-bannon-ethics-pledge-investigation-needed-breitbart-contacts/" style="background-color: transparent; background-image: url("/wp-content/themes/motherjones/css/../img/orange-border.png"); background-position: 0px 90%; background-repeat: repeat-x; box-sizing: border-box; color: black; text-decoration-line: none; text-shadow: rgb(255, 255, 255) -1px 0px 0px, rgb(255, 255, 255) 0px 1px 0px, rgb(255, 255, 255) 1px 0px 0px, rgb(255, 255, 255) 0px -1px 0px, rgb(255, 255, 255) -1px -1px 0px, rgb(255, 255, 255) 1px 1px 0px, rgb(255, 255, 255) 1px -1px 0px, rgb(255, 255, 255) -1px 1px 0px;">filed a complaint</a> with White House Counsel Don McGahn about Bannon’s continued relationship with <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">Breitbart</em>.</div>
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Several Democratic senators, including Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, sent a letter last month to Walter Shaub, director of the Office of Government Ethics, asking for more information on which ethics rules apply to Bannon. Shaub responded on Wednesday, putting in writing his concerns about the waiver covering Bannon.</div>
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First of all, Shaub <a href="https://oge.gov/web/OGE.nsf/All%20Documents/4CC6A36259C2DF878525813F0051F98D/$FILE/Letter%20from%20OGE%20Director%20W%20Shaub%206-13-17.pdf#page=6" style="background-color: transparent; background-image: url("/wp-content/themes/motherjones/css/../img/orange-border.png"); background-position: 0px 90%; background-repeat: repeat-x; box-sizing: border-box; color: black; text-decoration-line: none; text-shadow: rgb(255, 255, 255) -1px 0px 0px, rgb(255, 255, 255) 0px 1px 0px, rgb(255, 255, 255) 1px 0px 0px, rgb(255, 255, 255) 0px -1px 0px, rgb(255, 255, 255) -1px -1px 0px, rgb(255, 255, 255) 1px 1px 0px, rgb(255, 255, 255) 1px -1px 0px, rgb(255, 255, 255) -1px 1px 0px;">noted</a>, the waiver is neither signed nor dated. A signature is a basic requirement for the waiver to be in effect, Shaub wrote, citing Trump’s own executive order. Second, Shaub said, the whole concept of a retroactive waiver misses the point of the system.</div>
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“The putative retroactivity is inconsistent with the very concept of a waiver, which is to take decisions regarding the appropriateness of an employee’s participation in covered matters out of the employee’s hands,” Shaub wrote. “By engaging in a prohibited matter at a time when the appointee does not possess a waiver, the appointee violates the rule. Although the White House may later decide that such a violation does not warrant disciplinary action, the subsequent issuance of a waiver would not change the fact that a violation occurred.”</div>
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Shaub and the Office of Government Ethics are limited in their ability to enforce any punishment for violating the rules, since they were imposed by the administration itself. But Shaub told the senators that he would be asking the White House for an explanation and would follow up with a report.</div>
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Shaub’s full letter, which also details which ethics rules apply to Bannon, can be read below:</div>
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<a href="http://www.documentcloud.org/documents/3866048-Letter-From-OGE-Director-W-Shaub-6-13-17.html#document/p1">http://www.documentcloud.org/documents/3866048-Letter-From-OGE-Director-W-Shaub-6-13-17.html#document/p1</a></div>
the white rabbithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04882877192764933813noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3150130050643932279.post-12577618443568680002017-06-14T19:19:00.004-07:002017-06-14T19:19:46.319-07:00Special counsel is investigating Trump for possible obstruction of justice, officials say<a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/special-counsel-is-investigating-trump-for-possible-obstruction-of-justice/2017/06/14/9ce02506-5131-11e7-b064-828ba60fbb98_story.html?hpid=hp_hp-top-table-main_trumpmueller625pm%3Ahomepage%2Fstory&utm_term=.ddfc265e939d">Go to Original</a><br />
<span style="color: #111111; font-family: FranklinITCProBold, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">By </span><a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/people/devlin-barrett" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1955a5; font-family: FranklinITCProBold, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; text-decoration-line: none;">Devlin Barrett</a><span style="color: #111111; font-family: FranklinITCProBold, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">, </span><a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/people/adam-entous/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1955a5; font-family: FranklinITCProBold, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; text-decoration-line: none;">Adam Entous</a><span style="color: #111111; font-family: FranklinITCProBold, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">, </span><a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/people/ellen-nakashima/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1955a5; font-family: FranklinITCProBold, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; text-decoration-line: none;">Ellen Nakashima</a><span style="color: #111111; font-family: FranklinITCProBold, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"> and </span><a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/people/sari-horwitz/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1955a5; cursor: pointer !important; font-family: FranklinITCProBold, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; outline: 0px; text-decoration-line: none;">Sari Horwitz</a><br />
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The special counsel overseeing the investigation into Russia’s role in the 2016 election is interviewing senior intelligence officials as part of a widening probe that now includes an examination of whether President Trump attempted to obstruct justice, officials said.</div>
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The move by special counsel <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/deputy-attorney-general-appoints-special-counsel-to-oversee-probe-of-russian-interference-in-election/2017/05/17/302c1774-3b49-11e7-8854-21f359183e8c_story.html?tid=ptv_rellink&utm_term=.91a2f6dcc3d8" shape="rect" style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(213, 213, 213); box-sizing: border-box; color: #1955a5; font-size: inherit; line-height: 1.8em; margin-bottom: 18px; text-decoration-line: none; zoom: 1;" title="www.washingtonpost.com">Robert S. Mueller III</a> to investigate Trump’s conduct marks a major turning point in the nearly year-old FBI investigation, which until recently focused on Russian meddling during the presidential campaign and on whether there was any coordination between the Trump campaign and the Kremlin. Investigators have also been looking for any evidence of possible financial crimes among Trump associates, officials said.</div>
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Trump had received private assurances from then-FBI Director James B. Comey starting in January that he was not personally under investigation. Officials say that changed shortly after Comey’s firing.</div>
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Five people briefed on the requests, speaking on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the matter publicly, said that Daniel Coats, the current director of national intelligence, Mike Rogers, head of the National Security Agency, and Rogers’s recently departed deputy, Richard Ledgett, agreed to be interviewed by Mueller’s investigators as early as this week. The investigation has been cloaked in secrecy, and it is unclear how many others have been questioned by the FBI.</div>
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The NSA said in a statement that it will “fully cooperate with the special counsel” and declined to comment further. The office of the director of national intelligence and Ledgett declined to comment.</div>
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The White House now refers all questions about the Russia investigation to Trump’s personal attorney, Marc Kasowitz.</div>
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“The FBI leak of information regarding the president is outrageous, inexcusable and illegal,” said Mark Corallo, a spokesman for Kasowitz.</div>
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The officials said Coats, Rogers and Ledgett would appear voluntarily, though it remains unclear whether they will describe in full their conversations with Trump and other top officials or will be directed by the White House to invoke executive privilege. It is doubtful that the White House could ultimately use executive privilege to try to block them from speaking to Mueller’s investigators. Experts point out that the Supreme Court ruled during the Watergate scandal that officials cannot use privilege to withhold evidence in criminal prosecutions.</div>
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The obstruction-of-justice investigation of the president began days <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/comey-misstated-key-clinton-email-evidence-at-hearing-say-people-close-to-investigation/2017/05/09/074c1c7e-34bd-11e7-b373-418f6849a004_story.html?utm_term=.244356026cdf" shape="rect" style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(213, 213, 213); box-sizing: border-box; color: #1955a5; font-size: inherit; line-height: 1.8em; margin-bottom: 18px; text-decoration-line: none; zoom: 1;" title="www.washingtonpost.com">after Comey was fired on May 9</a>, according to people familiar with the matter. Mueller’s office has taken up that work, and the preliminary interviews scheduled with intelligence officials indicate that his team is actively pursuing potential witnesses inside and outside the government.</div>
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The interviews suggest that Mueller sees the question of attempted obstruction of justice as more than just a “he said, he said” dispute between the president and the fired FBI director, an official said.</div>
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Investigating Trump for possible crimes is a complicated affair, even if convincing evidence of a crime were found. The Justice Department has long held that it would not be appropriate to indict a sitting president. Instead, experts say, the onus would be on Congress to review any findings of criminal misconduct and then decide whether to initiate impeachment proceedings.</div>
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<a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/fbi-director-to-testify-on-russian-interference-in-the-presidential-election/2017/03/20/cdea86ca-0ce2-11e7-9d5a-a83e627dc120_story.html?utm_term=.e992721a2af3" shape="rect" style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(213, 213, 213); box-sizing: border-box; color: #1955a5; font-size: inherit; line-height: 1.8em; margin-bottom: 18px; text-decoration-line: none; zoom: 1;" title="www.washingtonpost.com">Comey confirmed publicly</a> in congressional testimony on March 20 that the bureau was investigating possible coordination between the Trump campaign and the Russians.</div>
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Comey’s statement before the House Intelligence Committee upset Trump, who has repeatedly denied that any coordination with the Russians took place. Trump had wanted Comey to disclose publicly that he was not personally under investigation, but the FBI director refused to do so.</div>
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Soon after, Trump spoke to Coats and Rogers about the Russia investigation.</div>
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Officials said one of the exchanges of potential interest to Mueller took place on March 22, less than a week after Coats was confirmed by the Senate to serve as the nation’s top intelligence official.</div>
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Coats was attending a briefing at the White House with officials from several other government agencies. When the briefing ended, <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/top-intelligence-official-told-associates-trump-asked-him-if-he-could-intervene-with-comey-to-get-fbi-to-back-off-flynn/2017/06/06/cc879f14-4ace-11e7-9669-250d0b15f83b_story.html?utm_term=.4955f41c2f4a" shape="rect" style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(213, 213, 213); box-sizing: border-box; color: #1955a5; font-size: inherit; line-height: 1.8em; margin-bottom: 18px; text-decoration-line: none; zoom: 1;" title="www.washingtonpost.com">as The Washington Post previously reported</a>, Trump asked everyone to leave the room except for Coats and CIA Director Mike Pompeo.</div>
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Coats told associates that Trump had asked him whether Coats could intervene with Comey to get the bureau to back off its focus on former national security adviser Michael Flynn in its Russia probe, according to officials. Coats later told lawmakers that he never felt pressured to intervene.</div>
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A day or two after the March 22 meeting, Trump telephoned Coats and Rogers to <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/trump-asked-intelligence-chiefs-to-push-back-against-fbi-collusion-probe-after-comey-revealed-its-existence/2017/05/22/394933bc-3f10-11e7-9869-bac8b446820a_story.html?tid=a_inl&utm_term=.bab79f10f848" shape="rect" style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(213, 213, 213); box-sizing: border-box; color: #1955a5; font-size: inherit; line-height: 1.8em; margin-bottom: 18px; text-decoration-line: none; zoom: 1;" title="www.washingtonpost.com">separately ask them to issue public statements denying the existence of any evidence of coordination</a> between his campaign and the Russian government.</div>
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Coats and Rogers refused to comply with the president’s requests, officials said.</div>
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It is unclear whether Ledgett had direct contact with Trump or other top officials about the Russia probe, but he wrote an internal NSA memo documenting the president’s phone call with Rogers, according to officials.</div>
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As part of the probe, the special counsel has also gathered <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/notes-made-by-former-fbi-director-comey-say-trump-pressured-him-to-end-flynn-probe/2017/05/16/52351a38-3a80-11e7-9e48-c4f199710b69_story.html?utm_term=.6e548713792c" shape="rect" style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(213, 213, 213); box-sizing: border-box; color: #1955a5; font-size: inherit; line-height: 1.8em; margin-bottom: 18px; text-decoration-line: none; zoom: 1;" title="www.washingtonpost.com">Comey’s written accounts of his conversations with Trump</a>. The president has accused Comey of lying about those encounters.</div>
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Mueller is overseeing a host of investigations involving people who are or were in Trump’s orbit, people familiar with the probe said. The investigation is examining possible contacts with Russian operatives as well as any suspicious financial activity related to those individuals.</div>
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Last week, <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/comey-testimony-trump-senate-hearing/2017/06/07/afadf87c-4bd0-11e7-bc1b-fddbd8359dee_story.html?utm_term=.7c610e78ac13" shape="rect" style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(213, 213, 213); box-sizing: border-box; color: #1955a5; font-size: inherit; line-height: 1.8em; margin-bottom: 18px; text-decoration-line: none; zoom: 1;" title="www.washingtonpost.com">Comey told the Senate Intelligence Committee</a> that he had informed Trump that there was no investigation of the president’s personal conduct, at least while he was leading the FBI.</div>
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Comey’s carefully worded comments, and those of Andrew McCabe, who took over as acting FBI director, suggested to some officials that an investigation of Trump for attempted obstruction may have been launched after Comey’s departure, particularly in light of Trump’s alleged statements regarding Flynn.</div>
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“I took it as a very disturbing thing, very concerning, but that’s a conclusion I’m sure the special counsel will work towards, to try and understand what the intention was there, and whether that’s an offense,” Comey testified last week.</div>
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Mueller has not publicly discussed his work, and a spokesman for the special counsel declined to comment.</div>
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Accounts by Comey and other officials of their conversations with the president could become central pieces of evidence if Mueller decides to pursue an obstruction case.</div>
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Investigators will also look for any statements the president may have made publicly and privately to people outside the government about his reasons for firing Comey and his concerns about the Russia probe and other related investigations, people familiar with the matter said.</div>
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Comey testified before the Senate Intelligence Committee last week that he was certain his firing was due to the president’s concerns about the Russia probe, rather than over his handling of a now-closed FBI investigation into Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server as secretary of state, as the White House had initially asserted. “It’s my judgment that I was fired because of the Russia investigation,” Comey said. “I was fired, in some way, to change — or the endeavor was to change the way the Russia investigation was being conducted.”</div>
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The fired FBI director said ultimately it was up to Mueller to make a determination whether the president crossed a legal line.</div>
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In addition to describing his interactions with the president, Comey told the Intelligence Committee that while he was FBI director he told Trump on three occasions that he was not under investigation as part of a counterintelligence probe looking at Russian meddling in the election.</div>
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Republican lawmakers seized on Comey’s testimony to point out that Trump was not in the FBI’s crosshairs when Comey led the bureau.</div>
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After Comey’s testimony, in which he acknowledged telling Trump that he was not under investigation, Trump tweeted that he felt “total and complete vindication.” It is unclear whether McCabe, Comey’s successor, has informed Trump of the change in the scope of the probe.</div>
the white rabbithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04882877192764933813noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3150130050643932279.post-79658906436754255502017-06-13T19:57:00.000-07:002017-06-13T19:57:05.086-07:00How TV Cultivates Authoritarianism – And Helped Elect Trump<span style="font-family: proxima-nova, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 23px;">Television tends to distill complex issues into simpler forms, while the use of violence as an approach to solving problems is glorified.</span><br />
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<a href="http://www.civilbeat.org/2017/06/how-tv-cultivates-authoritarianism-and-helped-elect-trump/">Go to Original</a><br />
<span class="prefix" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: proxima-nova, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">By</span><span style="font-family: proxima-nova, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"> </span><span class="authors" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: proxima-nova, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"><span class="author" itemprop="author" itemscope="" itemtype="http://schema.org/Person" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><a href="http://www.civilbeat.org/author/james-shanahan/" itemprop="url" rel="author" style="border: none; box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;">James Shanahan</a> and </span></span><span itemprop="name" style="border: none; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: proxima-nova, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; outline: none;"><a href="http://www.civilbeat.org/author/michael-morgan/" itemprop="url" rel="author" style="border: none; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: proxima-nova, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; outline: none;">Michael Morgan</a></span><br />
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-IBLD_Z3xQug/WUCj5hIHLwI/AAAAAAAAB0E/AVUD8wj-97oTePpWmYtb5fapAhNqxkLXACLcBGAs/s1600/Screen-Shot-2016-09-07-at-10.41.34-AM-640x456.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="456" data-original-width="640" height="228" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-IBLD_Z3xQug/WUCj5hIHLwI/AAAAAAAAB0E/AVUD8wj-97oTePpWmYtb5fapAhNqxkLXACLcBGAs/s320/Screen-Shot-2016-09-07-at-10.41.34-AM-640x456.png" width="320" /></a></div>
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Many gallons of ink (and megabytes of electronic text) have been devoted to explaining the surprise victory of Donald Trump.<br />
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Reasons range from white working-class resentment, to FBI Director James Comey’s decision to reopen the Hillary Clinton email investigation, to low turnout. All likely played some role. It would be a mistake to think the election turned on one single factor.<br />
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However, a study we conducted during the campaign – just published in the Journal of Communication – suggests an additional factor that should be added into the mix: television.<br />
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We’re not talking about cable news or the billions in free media given to Trump or political advertising.<br />
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Rather, we’re talking about regular, everyday television – the sitcoms, cop shows, workplace dramas and reality TV series that most heavy viewers consume for at least several hours a day – and the effect this might have on your political leanings.<br />
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An Authoritarian Ethos</h2>
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<a href="http://www.oxfordbibliographies.com/view/document/obo-9780199756841/obo-9780199756841-0019.xml" style="border: none; box-sizing: border-box; color: #013167; outline: none;">Studies from the past 40 years</a> have shown that regular, heavy exposure to television can shape your views on violence, gender, science, health, religion, minorities and more.</div>
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Meanwhile, 20 years ago, we conducted <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1460-2466.1991.tb02294.x/full" style="border: none; box-sizing: border-box; color: #013167; outline: none;">studies</a> in the U.S. and Argentina that found that the more you watch television, the more likely you’ll embrace authoritarian tendencies and perspectives. Heavy American and Argentinian television viewers have a greater sense of fear, anxiety and mistrust. They value conformity, see the “other” as a threat and are uncomfortable with diversity.</div>
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There’s probably a reason for this. Gender, ethnic and racial stereotypes <a href="http://www.motherjones.com/media/2012/11/geena-davis-institute-women-girls-are-stereotyped-sexualized-hollywood/" style="border: none; box-sizing: border-box; color: #013167; outline: none;">continue to be prevalent</a> <a href="https://www.thoughtco.com/common-racial-stereotypes-in-movies-television-2834718" style="border: none; box-sizing: border-box; color: #013167; outline: none;">in many shows</a>. Television tends to distill complex issues into simpler forms, while the use of violence as an approach to solving problems is glorified. Many fictional programs, from “Hawaii Five-0” to “The Flash,” feature <a href="http://www.medialit.org/reading-room/tv-violence-and-art-asking-wrong-question" style="border: none; box-sizing: border-box; color: #013167; outline: none;">formulaic violence</a>, with a brave hero who protects people from danger and restores the rightful order of things.</div>
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In short, television programs often feature an authoritarian ethos when it comes to how characters are valued and how problems are solved.</div>
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Viewing Habits And Trump Support</h2>
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Given this, we were intrigued when, during the campaign, <a href="http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2016/01/donald-trump-2016-authoritarian-213533" style="border: none; box-sizing: border-box; color: #013167; outline: none;">we saw studies suggesting</a> that holding authoritarian values was a powerful predictor of support for Trump.</div>
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We wondered: If watching television contributes to authoritarianism, and if authoritarianism is a driving force behind support for Trump, then might television viewing – indirectly, by way of cultivating authoritarianism – contribute to support for Trump?</div>
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About two months before the party conventions were held, we conducted an online national survey with over 1,000 adults. We asked people about their preferred candidate. (At the time, the candidates in the race were Clinton, Sanders and Trump.)</div>
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We then questioned them about their television viewing habits – how they consumed it, and how much time they spent watching.</div>
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We also asked a series of questions used by political scientists to measure a person’s authoritarian tendencies – specifically, which qualities are more important for a child to have: independence or respect for their elders; curiosity or good manners; self-reliance or obedience; being considerate or being well-behaved. (In each pair, the second answer is considered to reflect more authoritarian values.)</div>
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Confirming our own earlier studies, heavy viewers scored higher on the authoritarian scale. And confirming others’ studies, more authoritarian respondents strongly leaned toward Trump.</div>
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More importantly, we also found that authoritarianism “mediated” the effect of watching a lot of television on support for Trump. That is, heavy viewing and authoritarianism, taken together in sequence, had a significant relationship with preference for Trump. This was unaffected by gender, age, education, political ideology, race and news viewing.</div>
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We’re not the first to note that entertainment can have political consequences. In a Slate article shortly after the election, writer David Canfield <a href="http://www.slate.com/blogs/browbeat/2016/11/29/how_cbs_s_2016_shows_catered_to_trump_s_america.html" style="border: none; box-sizing: border-box; color: #013167; outline: none;">argued</a> that prime-time television is filled with programming that is “xenophobic,” “fearmongering,” “billionaire-boosting” and “science-rejecting.” What we think of as “harmless prime-time escapism,” he continued, actually “reinforces the exclusionary agenda put forth by the Trump campaign.” Our data reveal that this was not simply speculation.</div>
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None of this means that television played the decisive role in the triumph of Donald Trump. But Trump offered a persona that fit perfectly with the authoritarian mindset nurtured by television.</div>
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<img alt="The Conversation" data-lazy-loaded="true" height="1" src="https://counter.theconversation.edu.au/content/78981/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" style="box-sizing: border-box; display: inline; margin-bottom: 0px; max-width: 100%; vertical-align: middle;" width="1" />What we think of as “mere entertainment” can have a very real effect on American politics.</div>
the white rabbithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04882877192764933813noreply@blogger.com0