Eric Lipton and Benjamin Weiser, Reporters - The New York Times
Stephan: As the election is upon us, I decided to take one last look for my readers at the astonishing criminality and corruption of Donald Trump and the people he chooses to have around him. It is absolutely gobsmacking, unlike anything in American history. Really. There is nothing even close. We'll start with this which in my opinion, by itself, ought to be impeachable.
The Justice Department eventually charged Halkbank, a state-owned Turkish bank, with money laundering, fraud and conspiracy to violate sanctions against Iran. Credit: The New York Times
WASHINGTON — Geoffrey S. Berman was outraged.
The top federal prosecutor in Manhattan, Mr. Berman had traveled to Washington in June 2019 to discuss a particularly delicate case with Attorney General William P. Barr and some of his top aides: a criminal investigation into Halkbank, a state-owned Turkish bank suspected of violating U.S. sanctions law by funneling billions of dollars of gold and cash to Iran.
For months, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey had been pressing President Trump to quash the investigation, which threatened not only the bank but potentially members of Mr. Erdogan’s family and political party. When Mr. Berman sat down with Mr. Barr, he was stunned to be presented with a settlement proposal that would give Mr. Erdogan a key concession.
Mr. Barr pressed Mr. Berman to allow the bank to avoid an indictment by paying a fine and acknowledging some wrongdoing. In addition, the Justice Department would […]
Stephan: The civilian nuclear power industry was created back in the 1950s so that General Electric and Westinghouse could have a steady supply of men and women who could build such reactors for the nuclear powered naval vessels and submarines which were part of what was called the Trident Strategy to defend America in the Cold War. Civilian reactor construction gave the corporations involved with nuclear power enough profit to stay in the game. As a power source nuclear power is, and always has been a financial disaster. It will cost countless billions, for instance, to deal with the lethal waste created by this technology. Remember Fukushima and Chernobyl.
Yet Trump, to help his corporate backers is going to give this dying industry over a billion dollars of your money. Here is the story.
A new study raises serious doubts about the low carbon emissions claimed by proponents of nuclear power. Credit: Zhongguo/E+/Getty
The nuclear power industry may be getting a new lease on life, thanks to a $1.4 billion taxpayer subsidy from the Trump administration.
The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) in August approved the design of a new kind of nuclear power reactor invented by NuScale Power, a startup company with offices in Corvallis and Portland, Oregon.
The new design is called a “small modular reactor” (SMR). The approval of the SMR design does not mean construction can begin; nevertheless, it is a significant step toward NuScale’s goal: to deploy up to 1,682 small (60-megawatt) reactors across the U.S. and beyond starting in 2023, essentially reviving the moribund nuclear power industry.
Successful deployment of 1,682 60-megawatt SMRs in the U.S. would more than double domestic nuclear power capacity, which currently stands at about 98,000 megawatts. Globally, nuclear power is in decline; in 1996, it produced 17.5 percent of global electricity, but today only 10 percent. In the U.S., only one new nuclear plant has started operating […]
Stephan: This is the corruption that has now infected the Supreme Court. Clarence Thomas is less a supreme court associate justice and more a political operative, and his wife... well, read and weep for your country's corrupted judiciary, and understand why we rank 19th in the world for a fair and honorable justice system.
Clarence and Ginni Thomas Credit: Medium
When President George H.W. Bush, with the help of the U.S. Senate, replaced Justice Thurgood Marshall with Justice Clarence Thomas on the Supreme Court in 1991, a common talking point among Republicans was that Bush showed his social conscience by picking another African-American. But Bush 41 replaced a liberal justice with one of the most far-right social conservatives the High Court has had in the last 30 years — and Justice Thomas’ wife, Republican activist Ginni Thomas, is equally far to the right. Recently, Ginny Thomas has been going out of her way to smear former Vice President Joe Biden, but according to the Associated Press, she hasn’t bothered to vet her information.
The AP’s Mark Sherman explains, “The wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas is using her Facebook page to amplify unsubstantiated claims of corruption by Joe Biden. Ginni Thomas, a long-time conservative activist, asked her more than 10,000 followers Monday to consider sharing a link focused on alleged corruption by the Democratic nominee for president […]
Stephan: For years now I have been tracking a horrible trend: Donald Trump's blatant degradation of the environment and the destruction of America's system of national parks, and forests. Here is the latest depredation. A whole range of studies, particularly in Yellowstone have proven that wolves are essential to the land's ecosystem. Yet to garner the support of cattle ranchers, hunters, and the timber industry, Trump has removed the protection of the wolves.
A female gray wolf and two of the three pups born in 2017 were captured by a remote camera in the wilds of Lassen National Forest in Northern California. Credit: U.S. Forest Service/AP
The Trump administration announced Thursday that it is stripping gray wolves of their Endangered Species Act protections in the Lower 48 states, ignoring an outcry from conservation groups and scientists who say the animals will be slaughtered as a result and might not survive.
Under a final rule expected to go into effect early next week, Interior Department Secretary David Bernhardt said state wildlife agencies will assume control of managing an estimated 6,000 wolves, mostly in three Midwestern states — Michigan, Wisconsin and Minnesota. About 1,800 gray wolves are present in other states such as Oregon, California and Washington.
“Today’s action reflects the Trump Administration’s continued commitment to species conservation based on the parameters of the law and the best scientific and commercial data available,” Bernhardt said in a statement. “After more than 45 years as a listed species, the gray wolf has exceeded […]
Stephan: It is the blatant criminality and corruption of the Trump administration that is so breathtaking. They don't even bother the hide it. It is my personal view that in the first week after Biden is elected Louis DeJoy should be arrested, indicted, convicted and sent to prison for what he has done to the postal service and American democracy.
Meanwhile do not trust USPS to get your ballot in on time. Take it personally to an official ballot box, or to the clerk overseeing the election in your county or city. Make sure your vote counts, and vote.
Stacks of boxes mail are seen at the U.S. Post Office (Justin Sullivan/Getty
The U.S. Postal Service (USPS) argued that there is no “constitutional right” to timely mail delivery after its own data showed that on-time delivery times had plummeted ahead of Election Day.
The Department of Justice, which is defending the USPS in a lawsuit brought by New York and other states over changes ordered by Postmaster General Louis DeJoy, a top donor to President Donald Trump, argued that the mail slowdown cannot be unlawful because there is no guarantee in the Constitution of timely mail delivery, Bloomberg News reported.
The states’ argument “assumes that because the plaintiff states crafted their election laws with the expectation that USPS will provide a certain level of service, they now have a constitutional right to expect that level of service,” the DOJ said in a court filing, adding that the Elections Clause of the Constitution “does not shield states from any and all external circumstances that may impact state elections.”
The filing came after New York Attorney General Letitia James warned that the USPS […]
