Summations Only

It's everywhere this administration has its fingers, and those fingers are everywhere. Thank God for the courts. Court Nixes Federal Approval For Cadiz Pipeline To Suck Water Out Of The Mojave To Sell

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A federal court has ruled that an environmental review exemption by the Trump administration for a pipeline to extract water from the Mojave Desert is illegal.

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The 43-mile pipeline planned by Cadiz Inc. would cut through Mojave Trails National Monument and other public lands in Southern California to suck groundwater out of the desert aquifer and sell to cities. It would pump an estimated 16 billion gallons a year from the fragile desert ecosystem.

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Judge George Wu of the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California ruled Thursday that the federal Bureau of Land Management failed to provide sufficient evidence for its 2017 decision to reverse its own 2015 decision requiring an environmental review for the pipeline. A full review could take at least a year and could open up Cadiz to even more litigation.

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Cadiz, citing an obscure 1873 law, had argued it had a right to build the pipeline within a railroad right-of-way without environmental review as long as the water had a rail-related use. Cadiz claimed that some water would be used by another party to operate a steam-powered train.

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Ready? Wait for it...

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The Obama administration rejected the argument and ordered a full environmental review. That decision was reversed by the Trump administration following the appointment of David Bernhardt, a former lobbyist for Cadiz, as deputy interior secretary. He’s now secretary of the interior.

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To get a high position in an agency you have to be implacably opposed to the mission of that agency.

Apropos of my last sentence above: Exclusive: Leaked Trump vetting docs

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Nearly 100 internal Trump transition vetting documents leaked to "Axios on HBO" identify a host of "red flags" about officials who went on to get some of the most powerful jobs in the U.S. government.

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Why it matters: The massive trove, and the story behind it, sheds light on the slap-dash way President Trump filled his cabinet and administration, and foreshadowed future scandals that beset his government.

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I think Marc's jumping around so it's difficult to follow. That claim refers not to donations to the Foundation, rather it's unspecified (of course) valuable campaign information she might have received from foreigners, since thinking about running for office is the same as running an active campaign as a registered candidate.

Might be true, but not yet established in court.

Name six. White supremacists hail him as a white supremacist. They should know. Former Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke declared last year that Carlson is one of “the voices we have in the media on our side.”Ever hear of the Daily Stormer? The most well known neo-Nazi white supremacist site on the Internet? Neo-Nazi Tucker Carlson Sends Zionist Neocon Bastard Ralph Peters to a Lampshade Manufacturing Facility
Tucker Carlson RUTHLESSLY RAMS Atheist Whore Into an INDUSTRIAL WOODCHIPER Over Disagreement on Benches
RACE WAR: Tucker BTFOs Little Benji With FACTS, LAWGIC and NATIONALISM!Ugh. I need a shower.

A somewhat interesting question, but not relevant to the fact that Russia interfered in our election on Trump's side, and will do so again bigger and better in 2020. You're not looking very hard. Message 2940 contains the summary of two Senate reports and links to the full reports.And of course it's trivial to find much more. Assessing Russian Activities and Intentions in Recent US Elections is a report issued by DNI summarizing the conclusions of the FBI, CIA, and NSA and authorized by those agencies.

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This report is a declassified version of a highly classified assessment. This document’s conclusions are identical to the highly classified assessment, but this document does not include the full supporting information, including specific intelligence on key elements of the influence campaign. Given the redactions, we made minor edits purely for readability and flow.

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We did not make an assessment of the impact that Russian activities had on the outcome of the 2016 election. The US Intelligence Community is charged with monitoring and assessing the intentions, capabilities, and actions of foreign actors; it does not analyze US political processes or US public opinion.

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Key Judgments

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Russian efforts to influence the 2016 US presidential election represent the most recent expression of Moscow’s longstanding desire to undermine the US-led liberal democratic order, but these activities demonstrated a significant escalation in directness, level of activity, and scope of effort compared to previous operations.
We assess Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered an influence campaign in 2016 aimed at the US presidential election. Russia’s goals were to undermine public faith in the US democratic process, denigrate Secretary Clinton, and harm her electability and potential presidency. We further assess Putin and the Russian Government developed a clear preference for President-elect Trump. We have high confidence in these judgments.

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• We also assess Putin and the Russian Government aspired to help President-elect Trump’s election chances when possible by discrediting Secretary Clinton and publicly contrasting her unfavorably to him. All three agencies agree with this judgment. CIA and FBI have high confidence in this judgment; NSA has moderate confidence.
• Moscow’s approach evolved over the course of the campaign based on Russia’s understanding of the electoral prospects of the two main candidates. When it appeared to Moscow that Secretary Clinton was likely to win the election, the Russian influence campaign began to focus more on undermining her future presidency.
• Further information has come to light since Election Day that, when combined with Russian behavior since early November 2016, increases our confidence in our assessments of Russian motivations and goals.

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Moscow’s influence campaign followed a Russian messaging strategy that blends covert intelligence operations”such as cyber activity”with overt efforts by Russian Government agencies, state-funded media, third-party intermediaries, and paid social media users or “trolls.” Russia, like its Soviet predecessor, has a history of conducting covert influence campaigns focused on US presidential elections that have used intelligence officers and agents and press placements to disparage candidates perceived as hostile to the Kremlin.

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• Russia’s intelligence services conducted cyber operations against targets associated with the 2016 US presidential election, including targets associated with both major US political parties.
• We assess with high confidence that Russian military intelligence (General Staff Main Intelligence Directorate or GRU) used the Guccifer 2.0 persona and DCLeaks.com to release US victim data obtained in cyber operations publicly and in exclusives to media outlets and relayed material to WikiLeaks.
• Russian intelligence obtained and maintained access to elements of multiple US state or local electoral boards. DHS assesses that the types of systems Russian actors targeted or compromised were not involved in vote tallying.
  
• Russia’s state-run propaganda machine contributed to the influence campaign by serving as a platform for Kremlin messaging to Russian and international audiences.

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We assess Moscow will apply lessons learned from its Putin-ordered campaign aimed at the US presidential election to future influence efforts worldwide, including against US allies and their election processes.

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We assess with high confidence that Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered an influence campaign in 2016 aimed at the US presidential election, the consistent goals of which were to undermine public faith in the US democratic process, denigrate Secretary Clinton, and harm her electability and potential presidency. We further assess Putin and the Russian Government developed a clear preference for President-elect Trump. When it appeared to Moscow that Secretary Clinton was likely to win the election, the Russian influence campaign then focused on undermining her expected presidency.

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{Emphasis in original}Want more details, read the three linked reports.It's scary to look outside that right-wing bubble, amirite?Edited by JonF, : No reason given.Edited by JonF, : No reason given.

Yes, that was a major factor. I think they also preferred an illiterate ignorant egomaniac who's easily manipulated over an experienced and knowledgeable professional.

He definitely doesn't want any record of his interactions with Russians. Illegal, sure, but IOIYAR.

Message 2958 reminds us that suspension of sanctions, in particular the Magnitsky Act were a large portion of what Russia wanted.Edited by JonF, : No reason given.Edited by JonF, : No reason given.

DOJ urges definitive ruling from SCOTUS on census citizenship question

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In a two-page letter to the high court, Solicitor General Noel Francisco essentially invited the justices to shut down the pending lawsuits by declaring that Ross’ decision was lawful and that further inquiry into the motives for the decision is unnecessary.

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“The Fourth Circuit’s order underscores the need for this court to address the equal-protection claim and the immateriality of the Hofeller files in its disposition of the above-captioned case so that the lawfulness of the secretary’s decision can be fully and finally resolved,” Francisco wrote. He said the government needs a quick and clear decision by the end of this month in order to finalize the print version of the census forms for use next year.

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However, late Tuesday night, civil rights groups fired back in a letter to the Supreme Court, arguing that the Trump administration is trying to short-circuit the normal judicial process by having the justices rule on something that hasn’t been formally presented to them.

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“The Solicitor General’s request would require this Court to render an improper advisory opinion on issues that have not been briefed or argued before this Court, relating to cases that are not before this Court, based on a trial record that is not before this Court,” wrote Denise Hulett of the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund, or MALDEF, and Niyati Shah of Asian Americans Advancing Justice.

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They also disputed the government’s claims of urgency, noting that the Census Bureau’s chief scientist testified that with additional resources the questionnaire could be finalized as late as October.

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(emphasis added)

With new ”imposed contract,’ Trump’s EPA tries to neuter worker rights

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The Trump administration continued its attacks on federal workers this week with a new “agreement” that would kneecap the power of unions representing EPA employees.

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The development, as watchdog group Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER) noted Wednesday, is a new “Master Collective Bargaining Agreement” between the federal agency and the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE). Far from an agreement, said PEER, the document is really an “edict.”

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It was not the result of negotiations.

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“In the Trump world, there is no bargaining, only ultimatums,” said PEER executive director Tim Whitehouse, a former EPA enforcement attorney.

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The 75-page agreement (pdf) lays out a number of changes that would limit the union’s ability to help employees. As noted by PEER, the new terms would, among other things, require the union to vacate its office space; deprive employees of union grievance and arbitration for terminations, discipline, lay-offs, and a host of other adverse actions; slash the amount and scope of time union officials could spend assisting employees; and deprive union access to websites, agency intranet, and even bulletin boards in communicating with its members.

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“Not only is the Trump White House waging war on environmental protection, rolling back regulations, and gutting enforcement, but is targeting the dedicated professionals laboring through very difficult circumstances within EPA,” said PEER Pacific director Jeff Ruch.

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ETA Blatantly illegal, of course; a contract signed under duress is not valid. But laws don't apply to Republicans. Edited by JonF, : No reason given.

What did David Duke say? What did you read on my links?Yes, the white supremacists hail Tucker Carlson as a brother in arms. Got any quotes of him repudiating white supremacist supporters? Edited by JonF, : No reason given.

. There are loonburgers with suspicions. I have no reason to suspect any wrongdoing.If you have links to evidence go ahead and post them. I've seen lots of right-wing innuendo and libel and I'm not expecting anything different from you.

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If that were true, they could end all the mistrust of themselves by announcing that if they can get one more round of background checks, registration, licensing and training, THEN THEY'D STOP with more calls for gun control in the future. It could be in the form of a new Constitutional amendment. "No more calls for gun control". But they'll never do that. Because they advocate incrementalism.

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Such an amendment would never pass. And the ammosexuals would shit bricks.Times change. If someone comes up with an automatic equivalent of a bump stock you want it to be impossible to regulate it. It will get better with a government of any size that places the welfare of its citizens above the greed of the 1% and rapacious corporations. How soon they forget. The reasons why matter.
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Obama passed a stimulus which wasn't quite as effective as was hoped, but it did get us out of Bush's worst recession since the Great Depression.Trump passed a humungous tax break for the wealthy and corporations, claiming increased revenue would pay for it and the effects would "trickle down" to the general populace. Neither happened. It didn't happen for Reagan, it didn't happen for W, it didn't happen for Scott Walker, it didn't happen for Bobby Jindal, it really really didn't happen for Sam Brownback (hailed as the perfect test bed for supply side economicsl, and now it hasn't worked for Trump. But next time for sure, right? Personally, I think saving the economy from a disastrous recession is a good thing and throwing money at the rich and corporations only to explode the debt further is a bad thing.Not all corporations and rich people are rapacious some of them want to be taxed more for the general welfare. Edited by Admin, : Fix first quoted section.

Message 2964: Message 2958 reminds us that suspension of sanctions, in particular the Magnitsky Act were a large portion of what Russia wanted.Edited by JonF, : No reason given.

Remember why the sanctions were imposed? Remember that the latest round was passed by a Republican Senate and House, and Trump signed them into law but delayed imposing them as long as he possibly could. It's Democratc policy to hold Russia responsible for their actions. Is it Republic policy to suck up to murderous dictators and alienate our friends, or is that just Trump?