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Mr. Scorpio
Mr. Scorpio's Journal
Mr. Scorpio's Journal
December 11, 2016
Pending gag orders, perhaps? Trump's Administration looks to be as transparent as a concert slab.
Trump team memo on climate change alarms Energy Department staff
By Timothy Gardner | WASHINGTON
President-elect Donald Trump's Energy Department transition team sent the agency a memo this week asking for the names of people who have worked on climate change and the professional society memberships of lab workers, alarming employees and advisors.
The memo sent to the Energy Department on Tuesday and seen by Reuters on Friday, contains 74 questions including a request for a list of all department employees and contractors who attended the annual global climate talks hosted by the United Nations within the last five years.
It asked for a list of all department employees or contractors who have attended any meetings on the social cost of carbon, a measurement that federal agencies use to weigh the costs and benefits of new energy and environment regulations. It also asked for all publications written by employees at the department's 17 national laboratories for the past three years.
"This feels like the first draft of an eventual political enemies list," said a Department of Energy employee, who asked not to be identified because he feared a reprisal by the Trump transition team.
"When Donald Trump said he wanted to drain the swamp it apparently was just to make room for witch hunts and it's starting here at the DOE and our 17 national labs," the employee said.
Trump transition team officials declined to comment on the memo, which was first reported by Bloomberg.
Republican Trump, a New York businessman and former reality TV star who has never previously held public office, said during his election campaign that climate change was a hoax perpetrated by China to damage U.S. manufacturing. He said he would rip up last year's landmark global climate deal struck in Paris that was signed by Democratic President Barack Obama.
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump-climate-idUSKBN13Y2R6
President-elect Donald Trump's Energy Department transition team sent the agency a memo this week asking for the names of people who have worked on climate change and the professional society memberships of lab workers, alarming employees and advisors.
The memo sent to the Energy Department on Tuesday and seen by Reuters on Friday, contains 74 questions including a request for a list of all department employees and contractors who attended the annual global climate talks hosted by the United Nations within the last five years.
It asked for a list of all department employees or contractors who have attended any meetings on the social cost of carbon, a measurement that federal agencies use to weigh the costs and benefits of new energy and environment regulations. It also asked for all publications written by employees at the department's 17 national laboratories for the past three years.
"This feels like the first draft of an eventual political enemies list," said a Department of Energy employee, who asked not to be identified because he feared a reprisal by the Trump transition team.
"When Donald Trump said he wanted to drain the swamp it apparently was just to make room for witch hunts and it's starting here at the DOE and our 17 national labs," the employee said.
Trump transition team officials declined to comment on the memo, which was first reported by Bloomberg.
Republican Trump, a New York businessman and former reality TV star who has never previously held public office, said during his election campaign that climate change was a hoax perpetrated by China to damage U.S. manufacturing. He said he would rip up last year's landmark global climate deal struck in Paris that was signed by Democratic President Barack Obama.
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump-climate-idUSKBN13Y2R6
Pending gag orders, perhaps? Trump's Administration looks to be as transparent as a concert slab.
December 6, 2016
Gawd, Pence's smirking face just showed up on Dead Intern...
I had the sound down but that smirking was too much to take. Thank goodness for ST:TNG on BBC-AM
December 5, 2016
The worst part of this isn't that Trump's incompetent. We've had incompetent presidents before and we've gotten through their times in office. But what sets Trump apart from every single one of his incompetent predecessors is that he literally has no idea just how incompetent he truly really is.
Past incompetent presidents (as well as quite a few competent ones) had the good sense to draw upon best practices, institutional memory and a long history of established policies that are above partisan and petty politics. Also, these same predecessors all valued public service above personal gain. They all had an inkling what constituted conflicts of interest, even though some of them dabbled in them.
Trump, on the other hand, doesn't understand any of these time honored concepts at all. He doesn't even understand America and our role in the world. He's simply doesn't understand how ill-prepared and incompetent he is to be President of the United States. No one will tell him, and if they did he wouldn't listen and he's going to go out of his way to NOT acknowledge the fact of expertise and competence where it exists.
For the next four years, The White House will be one huge Dunning-Kruger experiment in action. Like a giant petri dish of it right there on Penn. Av. Thanks to all of the idiots, bigots, sexist pigs and ill-tempered assholes who voted for this Cheetos-Tinged fraud, we are ALL fucked. Because most of them are just as bad with it as he is.
And may the Flying Spaghetti Monster have mercy on all of our souls.
What we're in store for...
http://www.rawstory.com/2016/12/trump-antagonizes-china-in-latest-ill-advised-twitter-rant/The worst part of this isn't that Trump's incompetent. We've had incompetent presidents before and we've gotten through their times in office. But what sets Trump apart from every single one of his incompetent predecessors is that he literally has no idea just how incompetent he truly really is.
Past incompetent presidents (as well as quite a few competent ones) had the good sense to draw upon best practices, institutional memory and a long history of established policies that are above partisan and petty politics. Also, these same predecessors all valued public service above personal gain. They all had an inkling what constituted conflicts of interest, even though some of them dabbled in them.
Trump, on the other hand, doesn't understand any of these time honored concepts at all. He doesn't even understand America and our role in the world. He's simply doesn't understand how ill-prepared and incompetent he is to be President of the United States. No one will tell him, and if they did he wouldn't listen and he's going to go out of his way to NOT acknowledge the fact of expertise and competence where it exists.
For the next four years, The White House will be one huge Dunning-Kruger experiment in action. Like a giant petri dish of it right there on Penn. Av. Thanks to all of the idiots, bigots, sexist pigs and ill-tempered assholes who voted for this Cheetos-Tinged fraud, we are ALL fucked. Because most of them are just as bad with it as he is.
And may the Flying Spaghetti Monster have mercy on all of our souls.
December 2, 2016
I can't believe that I've been put into the position of rooting for Lindsey Graham...
Graham preparing 'Dreamers' bill
By SEUNG MIN KIM 11/30/16 04:31 PM EST Updated 11/30/16 04:32 PM EST
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) is readying legislation that would extend legal protections for previously undocumented immigrants who came here as children — benefits granted under a 2012 directive from President Barack Obama that are at risk with the incoming Trump administration.
On the campaign trail, Donald Trump vowed to revoke Obama’s executive actions on immigration, including one that has shielded more than 740,000 young undocumented immigrants from being deported and gave them permits to work legally. With Trump’s surprise election earlier this year, Democrats on Capitol Hill and immigrant advocates have been urging the President-elect to back off those threats.
But should Trump follow through on that promise, some key lawmakers on Capitol Hill want to make sure those protections stay in place for the immigrants who willingly gave personal information to the federal government and went through background checks. One big fear among advocates is that the Trump administration could use that personal information to track down the immigrants to deport them.
“The worst outcome is to repeal the legal status that these kids have,” Graham said Wednesday. “Whether you agree with them having it or not, they’ve come out of the shadows.”
Graham said he is working with both Democrats and Republicans, and named Sen. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.) as one GOP supporter of the forthcoming legislation. While lawmakers are discussing the proposal now, actual legislation won’t be rolled out until the new Congress next year, Graham said. A spokesman for Flake said the senator is discussing "potential paths forward" in dealing with the DACA issue with several colleagues.
http://www.politico.com/story/2016/11/lindsey-graham-dreamers-bill-immigration-232017
By SEUNG MIN KIM 11/30/16 04:31 PM EST Updated 11/30/16 04:32 PM EST
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) is readying legislation that would extend legal protections for previously undocumented immigrants who came here as children — benefits granted under a 2012 directive from President Barack Obama that are at risk with the incoming Trump administration.
On the campaign trail, Donald Trump vowed to revoke Obama’s executive actions on immigration, including one that has shielded more than 740,000 young undocumented immigrants from being deported and gave them permits to work legally. With Trump’s surprise election earlier this year, Democrats on Capitol Hill and immigrant advocates have been urging the President-elect to back off those threats.
But should Trump follow through on that promise, some key lawmakers on Capitol Hill want to make sure those protections stay in place for the immigrants who willingly gave personal information to the federal government and went through background checks. One big fear among advocates is that the Trump administration could use that personal information to track down the immigrants to deport them.
“The worst outcome is to repeal the legal status that these kids have,” Graham said Wednesday. “Whether you agree with them having it or not, they’ve come out of the shadows.”
Graham said he is working with both Democrats and Republicans, and named Sen. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.) as one GOP supporter of the forthcoming legislation. While lawmakers are discussing the proposal now, actual legislation won’t be rolled out until the new Congress next year, Graham said. A spokesman for Flake said the senator is discussing "potential paths forward" in dealing with the DACA issue with several colleagues.
http://www.politico.com/story/2016/11/lindsey-graham-dreamers-bill-immigration-232017
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