Month: September 2017

The US government of Breitbart

by digby

US Taxpayers are paying for this amateurish, Breitbart-level bullshit from their government:

News Releases from Headquarters› Office of the Administrator (AO)

EPA Response To The AP’s Misleading Story
09/03/2017

Good afternoon –

Yesterday, the Associated Press’ Michael Biesecker wrote an incredibly misleading story about toxic land sites that are under water.

Despite reporting from the comfort of Washington, Biesecker had the audacity to imply that agencies aren’t being responsive to the devastating effects of Hurricane Harvey. Not only is this inaccurate, but it creates panic and politicizes the hard work of first responders who are actually in the affected area.

Here’s the truth: through aerial imaging, EPA has already conducted initial assessments at 41 Superfund sites – 28 of those sites show no damage, and 13 have experienced flooding. This was left out of the original story, along with the fact that EPA and state agencies worked with responsible parties to secure Superfund sites before the hurricane hit. Leaving out this critical information is misleading.

Administrator Pruitt already visited Southeast Texas and is in constant contact with local, state and county officials. And EPA, has a team of experts imbedded with other local, state and federal authorities, on the ground responding to Harvey – none of which Biesecker included in his story.

Unfortunately, the Associated Press’ Michael Biesecker has a history of not letting the facts get in the way of his story. Earlier this summer, he made-up a meeting that Administrator Pruitt had, and then deliberately discarded information that refuted his inaccurate story – ultimately prompting a nation-wide correction. Additionally, the Oklahoman took him to task for sensationalized reporting.
Correction: EPA-Dow Chemical story
Associated Press Engulfed in CNN-Level Scandal as It Covers Up Invention of Imaginary Pruitt Meeting

If you’re reporting on this misleading story then below is a statement from the EPA.

“Once again, in an attempt to mislead Americans, the Associated Press is cherry-picking facts, as EPA is monitoring Superfund sites around Houston and we have a team of experts on the ground working with our state and local counterparts responding to Hurricane Harvey. Anything to the contrary is yellow journalism.” – EPA Associate Administrator, Liz Bowman

BACKGROUND …

The Hill reports EPA finds 13 Superfund sites possibly damaged after Harvey. “The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) said Saturday that 13 Superfund sites have been flooded or could be facing damage as a result of Hurricane Harvey. The agency said that two of the sites, which are areas that are polluted with hazardous material and require extensive cleanup, had been inspected and do not require immediate cleanup. Eleven sites have proven to be inaccessible for response teams, however the agency said teams are in place to inspect the areas once flooding from the storm subsides. In total, the EPA said that it had conducted initial assessments at 41 Superfund sites in impacted areas using ‘aerial images’ and contact with with those responsible for regular cleanup activities.” (The Hill, 09/02/17)

In June, the editorial board at the Oklahoman reminded their readers of the sensationalized reporting that comes from the Associated Press’ Michael Biesecker. “The disdain that some in the media have for President Trump and members of his administration is evident regularly. Recent coverage related to EPA administrator Scott Pruitt provides an example of interest to locals because of Pruitt’s Oklahoma ties. … An Associated Press story from Washington last week about emails Pruitt sent and received as attorney general did what it could to further establish Pruitt as a minion for the oil and gas industry — which environmentalists see as dead set on ruining the earth as we know it. The AP, a wire service used by media outlets around the world including The Oklahoman, said the emails ‘underscore just how closely’ Pruitt ‘coordinated with fossil fuel companies’ as Oklahoma’s AG, ‘a position in which he frequently sued to block federal efforts to curb planet-warming carbon emissions.’ That’s quite an opening paragraph. Pruitt didn’t just work with energy companies while attorney general — he worked ‘closely’ with ‘fossil fuel companies’ (the ultimate bogey men) to essentially keep global warming from abating. … The fact Pruitt regularly corresponded and dealt with energy industry officials as attorney general of a state where energy is the No. 1 industry should not be surprising nor should it, by itself, be considered nefarious.”

Clearly, we don’t have an EPA anymore. We have a Trump propaganda arm where it used to be.

I hope someone is telling people in Houston to stay out of that water and take precautions. And let’s hope the state or someone else is monitoring the clean-up and its aftereffects. The EPA certainly isn’t going to do the job right.

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Nobody is worse than Trump

by digby

He is a violent, cretinous narcissist and his cabinet is filled with Goldman Sachs greedheads and government slashing zealots. His foreign policy is incoherent and national security is totally in the hands of generals. And then there are the theocrats who are getting every last thing they want from their beloved pussy grabbing, sexual predator.

Peter Montgomery surveys the success of the Religious Right under Trump:

Read on for the details. The banning and purge of trangender people from the military is just the tip of the iceberg. It is truly alarming.

Religious right leaders have a hard time believing their good fortune. They talk about how often they’re at the White House. The Christian Broadcasting Network rivals Fox in its adulation of Trump. Trump’s silence during LGBTQ Pride month did not go unnoticed or unappreciated. On the rare issues on which Christian conservatives been disappointed—decisions not to immediately relocate the American Embassy to Jerusalem or pursue broad religious exemptions from laws protecting LGBTQ people from discrimination, the president has told them to be more patient.

Sometimes it’s hard to figure out who’s using religion more cynically, Trump or his right-wing religious boosters. Trump’s evangelical advisers have been sticking with him even as corporate CEOs started walking away after Trump gave political cover to white nationalists. As long as President Trump is giving them what they want, the religious right continues to explain away his dishonesty, cruelty, and recklessness, and even portrays his political opponents as enemies of God. “Values voters,” indeed.

If Trump leaves office before the end of his term and Pence become president it will be terrible because all Republicans are terrible. But it would be a mistake to think that the White House would be any more theocratically powerful than it is under this deviant libertine.

Trump has no moral compass so he’s just as fine with letting them do whatever they want, just as he is with the KKK and Nazis, the NRA and rogue police. Pence will be tainted with Trump regardless so if he becomes president, while the media will happily sing his hosannas as “a grownup,” at this point he’s so tainted by his association that he will have diminished power and would be unlikely to win election on his own.

But what’s most important about this is the complete breakdown of any pretense that these “Values Voters” have any moral core or are in any way sincere in their beliefs. They are nothing more than a political faction looking for power and they are willing to use any means necessary to achieve it. Let’s not ever be confused again or allow the media to use them as some kind of symbol of morality in our politics.

They are beyond hypocrites. They are simply frauds.

Look at this disgusting show of cloying obsequiousness from Friday. It’s enough to make me lose my lunch:

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Calling up the vigilantes

by digby

Read this and tell me what it sounds like to you:

Saturday, August 26, 2017, Alabama Attorney General candidate Sam McLure spoke to the Alabama Constitution Party at their summer meeting in Prattville’s Islamorada Fish Company Restaurant at Bass Pro Shop.

McLure said, “Silence in the face of evil is itself evil: God will not hold us guiltless. Not to speak is to speak. Not to act is to act. (Dietrich Bonhoeffer a German pastor and theologian who was killed in 1945 for opposing Nazi Germany). If you are not willing to die for your political beliefs then get another hobby. Thievery and murder are the order of the day. Tyranny is not the greatest enemy of freedom, apathy is. I long for the day when Alabamians are more concerned about being on the wrong side of eternity rather than being on the wrong side of history.”

McLure referenced the Mel Gibson movie: “Braveheart” in which William Wallace leads Scottish rebels in a grassroots movement for freedom.

McLure said that he would die to protect his neighbor from murder, to protect his neighbor from theft, and to protect religious liberty. “We have to fight like our lives depend on it, because our neighbors’ children’s lives do depend on it.”

The conservative adoption attorney has submitted several opinion pieces to the Alabama Political Reporter.

“McLure said that for a politician to say that he is Pro-Life but that he can do nothing about abortions because Roe v. Wade is the law of the land is a farce and a cop out. We have been manipulated by politicians who claim they are Pro-Life but don’t do anything about it. The Roe versus Wade ruling barred the State from protecting the lives of children.”

McLure denounced Gloria Grey, who he said “makes $2 million a year to convince parents to kill their children. She owns the abortion clinic in Tuscaloosa. Since Roe v. Wade in 1972, over 500,000 Alabama children have been killed by abortion, 16 a day.” The adoption attorney in his first run for office, said that if a Pro-Life Governor, backed by a Pro-Life Attorney General and Legislature shut down abortion in the State, there is nothing anyone could do to stop it. “Sure Judge Myron Thompson would rule it unconstitutional but who would enforce it? Would President Trump intervene with troops? I don’t think so. They could cut off Federal funding,” but McLure doubted that they would. “The Second Amendment provides ‘for a well regulated militia.’ Where is Alabama’s militia? The armed people of Alabama are the militia and they would prevent a Federal officer from moving against a Pro-Life Alabama Governor who ended abortion in the State. You must be willing to die for your political beliefs and to protect your neighbor’s lives.”

McLure was one of the attorneys involved in the same sex marriage case representing API (the Alabama Policy Institute) and the State of Alabama in a fight against what he called an over reach by the Federal government.

McLure said that, “Apathy is the greatest enemy of freedom because we love our bread and circuses, more than what really matters. I love college football but it is a distraction. I am willing to give up my Netflix, I am willing to give up my hunting trip, I am willing to give up my football tickets. We should be willing to lay down our purse, lay down our blood, our prestige, our personal wealth for our political beliefs. I am talking real crazy here? No, I am not. I am talking the Constitution here.”

No, he’s talking crazy. There are more of these people out there than we wan to believe.

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R.I.P. Walter Becker

by digby

A sad day. He was a musical genius — and also a very intelligent, droll human being. He will be missed by his family, his friends and everyone who loved Steely Dan.

‪Walter Becker, you changed my life with your mystical music and guitar playing. You are so loved and I feel for your partner Donald Fagan and your fam. ‬ ‪Straight to the stars…. My friend. You were every one of them, shining bright in my soul Showing us all what was really possible. You are loved  RIP

A post shared by Ryan Adams (@misterryanadams) on Sep 3, 2017 at 10:01am PDT

RIP Walter Becker. He made beautiful music and seemed like a genuine weirdo. https://t.co/ppqpemqxCC

— nick kroll (@nickkroll) September 3, 2017

rest in peace WALTER BECKER, one half of the team i aspire to everytime I sit down at a piano. thank you for your unparalleled contribution

— Mark Ronson (@MarkRonson) September 3, 2017

RIP Walter Becker.
Travel Safe back home to the stars of which your soul arose.
We love and miss you. XO pic.twitter.com/U6rsOREMRI

— Ryan Adams (@TheRyanAdams) September 3, 2017

Walter Becker made so much great iconic music that I connected to when I was younger and still do now. #respect

— Ben Stiller (@RedHourBen) September 3, 2017

Labor Day in a Gilded Age of shrinking paychecks
by Tom Sullivan

Public domain image from the Lattimer Massacre.

Workers are the Rodney Dangerfields of this economic terror the financial empire has constructed. An afterthought. Collateral damage. A necessary evil to the sainted “job creators.” As in the last Gilded Age, as Twain put it, “Some men worship rank, some worship heroes, some worship power, some worship God, & over these ideals they dispute & cannot unite–but they all worship money.” Those without it should have worked harder, planned better, and saved more. Sadly there is no new Twain to properly satirize this new Gilded Age. Save, perhaps, for the president who personifies it.

It is Labor Day weekend. Not that America celebrates labor, mind you. And not everyone gets to celebrate. But both those who do and do not have organized labor to thank for their holiday pay.

Laura Clawson highlights at Daily Kos an AFL-CIO survey and reminds readers:

And by the way, if you’ve ever wondered how relevant unions are today, if you were tempted by the Republican argument that they won all the important battles in past decades and aren’t needed today, check this out:

Union members polled are much more likely to receive Labor Day off and overtime pay compared with their nonunion counterparts. While 78% of all working people polled have Labor Day off, 85% of union members do. Furthermore, 66% of union members receive overtime for working on Labor Day, compared with 38% of nonunion members. Seventy-nine percent (79%) of union members enjoy access to paid vacation, compared with 68% of nonunion members. Finally, 75% of union members have access to paid sick leave, compared with only 64% of nonunion members.

Memory is an evanescent thing. How we who enjoy holiday weekends arrived here is the stuff of misty legend which, if forgotten, leaves us at risk of confirming Santayana’s lesson about repeating history.

Slate’s Matthew Dessem recalls the Lattimer Massacre from the early days of union organizing:

On Sept. 10, 1897, Luzerne County Sheriff James F. Martin and an armed posse of as many as 150 men opened fire on a group of striking Slavic and German mine workers in Lattimer, Pennsylvania, killing 19 and injuring between 17 and 49 more. The strikers were unarmed, and many were shot in the back as they fled. Even in 1897, police had already figured out how to use racism to get away with murder: In a statement to the Washington Post explaining what happened, Sheriff Martin used the word “foreigners” five times—“infuriated foreigners” twice!—and portrayed the unarmed men as bestial and impervious to reason.

And, aw shucks, Martin hated giving that order, but the foreigners just forced his hand, “[T]he strikers were violating the laws of the Commonwealth, and flatly refused to obey the proclamation that I read to them. They instead insisted on doing violence and disobeying the laws.”

That a majority were shot in the back as they fled came up in the trial in which the sheriff and his officers were acquitted.

Today things are different. A white nurse, for example — Alex Wubbels, in particular — might simply be arrested, manhandled, handcuffed, then released for not complying with a police order (an illegal one, in this case.) But it is not clear in this moment whether America is moving away from or back towards the days of Lattimer. Nevertheless, nurses unions stand with Wubbels. As well as the American Civil Liberties Union, a union of a different kind.

That workers are an afterthought in this economy is a point Betsy Rader makes in the Washington Post. Rader is an employment lawyer running for Congress as a Democrat in Ohio’s 14th District. She takes to task fellow Yale Law School graduate J.D. Vance for his “Hillbilly Elegy” published last year. She too grew up poor, in a family of five living on $6,000 a year. But she takes away a different lesson than Vance who sees the working poor as reaping the rewards of their own bad choices and profligacy. “We spend our way into the poorhouse…. Thrift is inimical to our being,” he writes.

Rader responds angrily:

Who is this “we” of whom he speaks? Vance’s statements don’t describe the family in which I grew up, and they don’t describe the families I meet who are struggling to make it in America today. I know that my family lived on $6,000 per year because as children, we sat down with pen and paper to help find a way for us to live on that amount. My mom couldn’t even qualify for a credit card, much less live on credit. She bought our clothes at discount stores.

Thrift was not inimical to our being; it was the very essence of our being.

With lines like “We choose not to work when we should be looking for jobs,” Vance’s sweeping stereotypes are shark bait for conservative policymakers. They feed into the mythology that the undeserving poor make bad choices and are to blame for their own poverty, so taxpayer money should not be wasted on programs to help lift people out of poverty. Now these inaccurate and dangerous generalizations have been made required college reading.

Most poor people work, she writes. Most people on Medicaid work. They work in jobs “that don’t pay them enough to live on.” Rader acknowledges the help she got in rising out of poverty. From the public school guidance counselor, from government loans, etc. More of that is needed but not forthcoming. The president’s promises are just that.

This Labor Day weekend, Washington’s pooh-bahs are fixated on giving tax cuts to wealthy patrons, the kind that 100 years ago enlisted law enforcement to crack down on workers who demanded better wages and working conditions. Their biggest concern is not helping struggling American workers, but that the sitting president won’t last long enough in office to deliver their wish list.

Rader’s only mistake her is in her framing. Jobs don’t pay too little. Employers pay too little.

* * * * * * * *

Request a copy of For The Win, my county-level election mechanics primer, at tom.bluecentury at gmail.

What happened on the tarmac?

by digby

That’s from Josh Marshall who goes on to issue all the necessary disclaimers that this doesn’t constitute proof of anything. But he suspects this had something to do with that letter and I would too. And Kushner is right in the middle of everything. One has to wonder why he was as anxious to fire Comey as Trump was.

But then he was meeting with a lot of Russians and his family needs a lot of money…

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GOP spinning like a top now that it’s their disaster

by digby

When Katrina ravaged an American city that was underwater, Republicans felt it was necessary to stick to their “principles” about government spending. Of course, the face of Katrina was black people and it was a Democratic state and they could blame it all on them so, you know. And when Hurricane Sandy hit they voted against aid. Of course the president was a black person and he was Democrat and the storm hit big blue states and they could blame it all on them so, you know.

Today, it’s their own state that’s in desperate need and although many of the people within it happen to be black people, it’s a Republican state, a Republican congress and a Republican president so … you know:

Texas lawmaker got into a contentious back and forth with CNN host Victor Blackwell Saturday morning when he was forced to defend his decision to vote against aid for Hurricane Sandy survivors in light of asking for federal help for flood-ravaged Texas.

Speaking by phone with the CNN host, Rep. Randy Weber (R-TX) made a pitch for billions in federal aid for Texas for what he termed, “The single largest flooding disaster in the United States history.”

Host Blackwell immediately brought up previous natural disasters saying, “Hurricane Sandy was $60 billion and Katrina was $120 billion just to give people a point of reference here. Let me ask you about your vote, which I’m sure you’ve discussed before, but I don’t want ask about your vote against the Superstorm Sandy package.”

“I want to ask you about an amendment. In 2013, you voted to tie the spending to an offset to a 1.63 percent discretionary spending across the board — spending to the $17 billion that was going to the people in New York and New Jersey, Connecticut and Pennsylvania, the people who needed it most,” Blackwell stated before asking why Weber was not asking the same for Texas.

“There a time to have that discussion, you are looking at September the 30th looming, that will remain to be seen,” Weber countered. “I’m not an appropriator, we will have that discussion with the appropriators, I certainly want to be on top of all of our spending. Do we need an offset? Any time you have an emergency in your own family, something comes up, you have to say, well I’m going to have to tighten the belt and do this and the other.”

“I’ll ask you again the direct question, you said that in 2013 through your vote that the $17 billion for the Sandy aid should be offset by the 1.63 percent across the board discretionary budget cut,” Blackwell pushed. “Do you think — or should in this case — there should be an offset for the people of Texas who now need billions of dollars?”

With Weber insisting that “Congress spends too much money,” but unwilling to say he would tie aid to an offset he added, ” If you want to call principle the fact that congress has to get on top of spending,” Blackwell pulled him up.

“Was it a principled vote,” Blackwell asked. ” Did you vote for an offset based on principles”?

“Define principles,” Weber shot back.

“That you believe that any additional emergency funds should be paid for and not borrowed from — or added to the deficit, let’s say that,” Blackwell attempted.

“Well, whenever possible,” Weber retorted. “But both you and I know there are times when it is not possible. We have to be extremely, extremely cautious and do everything we can to tighten our belt when we need to.”

Uh huh.

Now don’t anyone get it into their heads that this means they won’t be able to pull the same thing the next time a disaster strikes a Blue state or  a Democrats is the White House now that they’ve shown themselves to be total hypocrites.

They don’t care about hypocrisy. It’s only a weapon to be used against their enemies. They will roll their eyes and ignore the charge if we bring it up. They always do.

Hypocrisy is a useless argument for liberals in American politics. Fuggedaboudit.

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No Trump bump from the storm

by digby

He’s been stuck at 34%. his low point, for the past three days. It looks like he won’t get the benefit of the doubt even with photo-ops and a decent early government response.

But then who would expect him to be good at a time like this? This requires real leadership skills and he doesn’t have that. He just plays a boss on a reality TV series. Now it takes place in the White House.

This happened, people. Really.

by digby

Trump yells “my hands are too big!”

Not sure who he is talking to. pic.twitter.com/XpRsbRlhCc

— Judd Legum (@JuddLegum) September 2, 2017

Also this:

“Things are working out well,” says @POTUS on visit to storm shelter. “Families happy. As tough as this was, it’s been a wonderful thing.” pic.twitter.com/gLvF3rd0B3

— Mark Knoller (@markknoller) September 2, 2017

He also said “have a wonderful time” to the storm victims.

The King among his people

by digby

As we watch Trump try to be human down in Houston today, remember this  quote from the campaign trail:

Don’t forget that when I ran in the primaries, when I was in the primaries, everyone said you can’t do that in New Hampshire, you can’t do that. You have to go and meet little groups, you have to see – cause I did big rallies, 3-4-5K people would come…and they said, wait a minute, Trump can never make it, because that’s not the way you deal with New Hampshire, you have to go to people’s living rooms, have dinner, have tea, have a good time. I think if they ever saw me sitting in their living room they’d lose total respect for me. They’d say, I’ve got Trump in my living room, this is weird.