Trump’s EPA to close research center that protects public health

Stephan:  The contempt the Trump administration has for the citizens of the United States is historically significant. There is no precedent in our nation's history, for a government that actively works against the wellbeing of its population to the benefit of the small community of the uber-rich. This report is a classic example illustrating what I mean. At this point the only  hope I see for America are the graduating high school seniors of the class of 2018, many of whom will be eligible to vote, and who seem fired up to do so. These young people are the one who will live in the world climate change is creating and, according to the polls I see, they are quite properly freaked out about what is happening.

Scott Pruitt explaining the elimination of the program that funds research into environmental impacts on communities.
Credit: Pete Marovich

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) plans to eliminate its National Center for Environmental Research (NCER), a department that funds research into environmental impacts on communities. (emphasis added)

The center, tasked with distributing “grants to test the effects of chemical exposure on adults and children,” will be shuttered amid a reorganization at the agency as part of EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt’s goal of creating more efficiency at the agency.

Most of the EPA’s grants come out of the NCER, a division of the agency’s Office of Research and Development. Last October, Pruitt ordered that scientists who have received EPA grants from the NCER and other programs at the agency won’t be allowed to serve on the agency’s advisory boards. Critics of the policy change denounced the move as a poorly disguised attempt to push out experts at odds with industry.The NCER’s most prominent program is called Science to Achieve Results, or STAR, which was created in 1995. […]

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Why Are Conservatives So Obsessed With Gun Rights Anyway?

Stephan:  Although only a few scholars focus on it (check out my papers on Academia.edu filed under my name or go to www.explorejournal.com) the factual reality is that the Republican Party is less a political party and more a psychophysical fear cult. That is the people who align with this demographic do not arrive at their affiliation by intellectual analysis; instead they are driven by psychophysical emotional issues. Here is one assessment of this process.

Why has support for gun rights become a hallmark of the Republican Party? There is nothing inevitable about the combination of economic and foreign policy conservatism with social conservatism. As late as the mid-1980s, conservative icons including Ronald Reagan supported gun control measures such as the Brady bill and a ban on assault weapons. Support for gun control legislation actually increased among Republicans in the 1980s. Unambiguous support for gun “rights” didn’t appear in the Republican Party platform until 1988. Even the National Rifle Association did not become fanatically opposed to any and all gun regulations until the late 1970s.

During his 2008 primary campaign against Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama famously proposed a crude psychological explanation for why traditionally Democratic-leaning groups of voters were being drawn to Republican positions on social issues. Industrial jobs had disappeared from the small towns of Pennsylvania and the Midwest, he noted, and Republicans and Democrats alike had failed to address the distress of these communities. So, he said, it’s not surprising that “they get bitter, they cling […]

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Trump is driving Indian tech students away from American universities

Stephan:  The anti-immigrant climate in the U.S. does not go unnoticed by potential immigrants and that has very detrimental long term implications for innovation and business health in America. Here's the story of just Indians, who have played such a large role in IT.

Fewer Indians are attending graduate school in the U.S.
Credit: Reuters/Keith Bedford

The Donald Trump administration’s protectionist rhetoric seems to have put off Indian students.

The number of Indian students enrolling for graduate-level programmes in computer science and engineering in the US declined by 21%, or 18,590, in 2017 compared to the previous year, according to a recent report (pdf) by the National Foundation for American Policy (NFAP), a Virginia-based non-profit public policy research organisation. The report is based on data from the US department of homeland security.

This took a toll on the overall number of international students enrolling with US colleges, which fell by 4% in 2017, the report said.

“Indian graduate students completing degrees in science and engineering at US universities are a major source of talent for US companies,” NFAP said in its report. If the trend continues, it could have a profound negative impact on students, universities, companies, and the US economy, the report said. “The US government policy, such as the Trump administration’s announced plans to […]

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Sessions announces investigation into ‘anti-Trump bias’ within the DOJ

Stephan:  One of the hallmarks of authoritarian governments is purges, you can see them happening in  Turkey or the Philippines.  As this story lays out, we are gearing up to see them in the U.S..

Republican Attorney General Jeff Sessions

Attorney General Jeff Sessions on Tuesday announced that the Justice Department’s inspector general will investigate the circumstances that led to a former Trump campaign aide’s surveillance.

The Wall Street Journal reported that Sessions made the remarks about the investigation at a press conference when answering a question about a GOP memo that alleged abuses in the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court warrants obtained to surveil one-time Trump adviser Carter Page.

The memo, commissioned by House Intelligence Committee Chairman and known Trump ally Devin Nunes, alleged the DOJ and FBI abused their surveillance powers when obtaining FISA warrants for Page, further speculating that an anti-Trump dossier from 2016 was the main reason for obtaining the warrants. The bureau, however, first obtained FISA warrants to surveil Page in 2014, when they suspected he had been compromised by Kremlin operatives.

“We believe the Department of Justice must adhere to the highest standards in the FISA court, and yes it will be investigated, and I think that’s just the appropriate thing,” Sessions said. “The inspector general will […]

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Koch Document Reveals Laundry List of Policy Victories Extracted From the Trump Administration

Stephan:  Donald Trump is a grifter, has been a grifter all his life, and has made corruption a hallmark of his administration. Everyday, if you look, you find stories of the vast corruption of his administration, which is not to say that corruption was not already rampant, simply that it has been taken up to a level never before seen in the United States. Consider just the Koch brothers.

Credit:radio.foxnews.com

In the Backdrop of a chaotic first year of Donald Trump’s presidency, the conservative Koch brothers have won victory after victory in their bid to reshape American government to their interests.

Documents obtained by The Intercept and Documented show that the network of wealthy donors led by billionaire industrialists Charles and David Koch have taken credit for a laundry list of policy achievements extracted from the Trump administration and their allies in Congress.

The donors have pumped campaign contributions not only to GOP lawmakers, but also to an array of third-party organizations that have pressured officials to act swiftly to roll back limits on pollution, approve new pipeline projects, and extend the largest set of upper-income tax breaks in generations.

“This year, thanks in part to research and outreach efforts across institutions, we have seen progress on many regulatory priorities this Network has championed for years,” the memo notes. The document highlights environmental issues that the Koch brothers have long worked to undo, such as the EPA Clean Power Plan, which is currently under the process of being formally repealed, and Trump’s withdrawal from the Paris Climate […]

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