bucolic_frolic
bucolic_frolic's JournalWhy Clinton Might Pick Tom Vilsack For Veep
Source: Huffington Post
CLEVELAND ― Hillary Clinton’s camp is focusing on Tom Vilsack as a potential running mate, but not because he is the former governor of Iowa or the longest-serving secretary of agriculture in half a century.
It’s because Vilsack, in his own mind, remains a son of the place of his birth and upbringing ― Pittsburgh. He maintains close ties there, and is a typically impassioned member of the Pittsburgh diaspora of emigrants created by the collapse of the local steel-based economy in the 1970s.
An orphan who was left almost literally on the doorstep of the Sister of Charity’s Roselia Founding Home in 1950, Vilsack was educated in local schools and steeped in Pittsburgh culture before leaving the city for good after graduating from Hamilton College.
A Roman Catholic whose father was of Eastern European stock ― the staple of working-class white Pittsburgh ― Vilsack grew up an ardent fan of the Pirates and the Steelers and remains focused on them with the kind of emotion and obsessive detail that only the locals fully understand and appreciate.
Read more: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/hillary-clinton-tom-vilsack_us_57910f5fe4b0fc06ec5c20b9?section=
I can swallow hard on the Monsanto angle, but in resume, personability, intellect,
life story, Vilsack would be quite a VP heavyweight.
Sources: Trump considering top fracking mogul Harold Hamm as energy secretary
Source: Reuters via Philadelphia Inquirer
CLEVELAND (Reuters) - Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump is considering nominating Oklahoma oil and gas mogul Harold Hamm as energy secretary if elected to the White House on Nov. 8, according to four sources close to Trump's campaign.
The chief executive of Continental Resources would be the first U.S. energy secretary drawn directly from the oil and gas industry since the cabinet position was created in 1977, a move that would jolt environmental advocates but bolster Trump's pro-drilling energy platform.
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Trump, who has yet to make any announcements about his prospective cabinet, has already surrounded himself with strong advocates of traditional energy sources like oil, gas, and coal and has promised to gut environmental regulations to boost drilling and mining if elected.
He tapped U.S. Congressman Kevin Cramer of North Dakota, a climate skeptic and drilling advocate, to help draw up his campaign energy platform, and picked Indiana Governor Mike Pence, also a climate skeptic, as his running mate.
Read more: http://www.philly.com/philly/news/politics/presidential/20160721_Reuters_Report_tagreuterscom2016newsmlKCN10100Z_Exclusive__Trump_considering_top_fracking_mogul_Harold_Hamm_as_energy_secretary___sources.html
Cheney's Energy Task Force on Steroids!
The end of history is upon us.
Exclusive: Trump could seek new law to purge government of Obama appointees
Source: Reuters via Philadelphia Inquirer
There was no immediate comment from the American Federation of Government Employees, which is the largest federal employee union in the United States.
Christie also told the gathering that changing the leadership of the Environmental Protection Agency, long a target of Republicans concerned about over regulation, would be a top priority for Trump should he win in November.
Trump has previously vowed to eliminate the EPA and roll back some of America's most ambitious environmental policies, actions that he says would revive the U.S. oil and coal industries and bolster national security.
Christie added that the Trump team wants to let businesspeople serve in government part time without having to give up their jobs in the private sector. Trump frequently says he is better equipped to be president because of his business experience.
Read more: http://www.philly.com/philly/news/politics/presidential/20160720_Reuters_Report_tagreuterscom2016newsmlKCN10003A_Exclusive__Trump_could_seek_new_law_to_purge_government_of_Obama_appointees.html
This is a really big deal. We have Civil Service for a reason, to find dedicated public
servants who excel in their careers. Previously the Spoils System flushed appointees
with each administration's demise. Purging the government of appointees is sort of
akin to Party Purges in the Soviet Union. The Progressive Era pre and post Robber
Baron fought for a Civil Service System.
Why do we have to upturn everything to suit Christie, and Trump, and Big Business?
There are lots of pieces of America working very well, thank you very much.
The targeting of Hillary Clinton suggests a vicious campaign ahead
The Republicans have shown how they want to take on the Democratic frontrunner, by framing her as a criminal. The result will be relentless negativity
The result will be a relentlessly negative campaign from now until November, with both candidates depicting the other as the greater evil. And if talk of evil, rather than the merely criminal, sounds excessive, consider Tuesday’s closing speech by one of Trump’s former fellow candidates, Ben Carson. He suggested Clinton was a devotee of a man, the long-ago radical Saul Alinsky, who had once praised … Lucifer. Yes: Hillary Clinton was just one degree of separation away from Satan. If this is what the Republicans are saying about their Democratic opponent in July, imagine what they’ll be saying come November.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/jul/20/republicans-target-hillary-clinton-vicious-campaign-us-elections
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This is Willie Horton on Steroids. We have to go negative on Trump. Images of him in handcuffs.
Whatever it takes.
GOP Platform Proposes To Get Rid Of National Parks And National Forests
Disposal of national parks, wilderness, forests, and other public lands is not the only way the GOP platform addresses conservation issues. Delegates also approved an amendment aimed at curbing the Antiquities Act of 1906, a law which has protected national monuments ranging from the Statue of Liberty to the Grand Canyon. The amendment requires “the approval of the state where the national monument is designated or a national park is proposed,” which would severely limit the President’s ability to protect at-risk places.
The delegates also passed language specifying that the Republican Party believes that the sage grouse, prairie chicken, and the gray wolf should be exempt from the protections of the Endangered Species Act. This not only gets into the weeds of local issues, but cuts corners in scientific species and conservation management regulations.
Party delegates will vote to adopt the draft document at the Republican National Convention in Cleveland next week.
http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2016/07/15/3798652/gop-platform-national-parks/
Trump unveils new 'TP' Pence campaign logo
Source: Politico
An interlocking blue T and P (for Trump and Pence), with the T going through the white space in the P, appears to the left of four red stripes and three white stripes, imitating the American flag.
Below the logo is Trump's name, in its usual font and blue color, and Pence's name below in slightly smaller type, and in red.
Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2016/07/trump-vp-pick-mike-spence-logo-225612
Looks to me like an auger going into a toilet bowl
GOP Senator: Don’t Tell Me I Shouldn’t Be Concerned About Trump
Source: Huffington Post
“Don’t sit here and tell me, Steve, that I have no reason to be concerned about Donald Trump,” Lee added.
Lee explained there was “no possibility” he’d vote for Clinton, and Trump could certainly still win his vote. But first, Lee said he’d need to believe the businessman would be “a vigorous defender for the U.S. Constitution.”
“I would like some assurances ... that he’s not going to be an autocrat, that he’s not going to be an authoritarian, that he’s not somebody who’s going to abuse a document that I have sworn to uphold and defend and protect,” Lee said.
“I’m sorry, Sir, but that is not an unreasonable demand.”
Read more: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/mike-lee-donald-trump_us_5774907ae4b0bd4b0b139646
Unbelievable. If you have to ASK for a candidate for President to declare
his support for the U.S. Constitution and assure in essence that he won't
be a dictator, you have a candidate who is totally unsuited for the nation's
highest office.
To even ask these questions, is to answer them.
Donald Trump Compares Trade Deal To Rape
Source: Reuters through Huffington Post
Trump criticized the North American Free Trade Agreement as a U.S. job killer, saying he would be willing to scrap the pact if Canada and Mexico were unwilling to budge. He also tried to link Democratic rival Hillary Clinton to the deal on the eve of a meeting in Ottawa of the “three amigos,” the leaders of the three NAFTA signatories: the United States, Mexico and Canada.
....
But Trump has broken with Republican Party orthodoxy in criticizing trade deals, and has threatened to slap tariffs on Mexican and Chinese imports. His rhetoric has drawn criticism from many economists, who say such practices could spark trade wars.
As Trump spoke, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, which is usually in sync with prominent Republicans on trade policy, said on Twitter: “Under Trump’s trade plans, we would see higher prices, fewer jobs, and a weaker economy.”
Read more: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/donald-trump-trade_us_5773230ae4b0eb90355cd21d?section=
Oh good! Republicans are talking about rape again. This usually has legs
and they do themselves a lot of harm.
Trump appeared in front of bales of recycled aluminum. Perhaps he's trying
to erase the Nazi Golf Ball motif that accompanied his golf course speech in
Scotland?
Top U.S. labor leader blasts Trump on trade in dueling speech
Source: Reuters via Philadelphia Inquirer
AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka - a top ally of Democratic presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton - said at a trade conference in Washington that, at Trump campaign stops in the Rust Belt states of Ohio and Pennsylvania, voters should expect to hear "crocodile tears about lost jobs and shuttered factories."
"Trump embodies everything that is wrong with our current trade policy. He has consistently sent American jobs overseas to line his own pockets," Trumka said, apparently referring to Trump-branded products such as suits and ties that are made abroad.
Trumka's rebuke occurred just hours before the New York businessman was slated to make a speech attacking Clinton's record on trade, followed by a stop in Ohio.
Read more: was the gatekeeper on a lot of things were other justices kow-towing? was the intellectual force of his arguments so persuasive? I think he enjoyed his job and made them laugh, which means they went along with him. Only RBG seemed able to disagree with his methods
Trump Eyes Executive Orders to Sidestep Congressional Gridlock
Source: Bloomberg
Donald Trump may be one of Barack Obama's toughest critics, but when it comes to the president's use of executive orders to circumvent Congress, the Republican sees him as a role model.
Trump has already promised to be as aggressive as President Obama on executive orders on a wide range of issues. Early in his campaign, for instance, he vowed to use the power of the pen to give all cop killers the death penalty. More recently, in his response to the shooting death of 49 people inside an Orlando gay club this month, he pledged to use executive power to implement one of his signature proposals: A temporary ban on Muslim immigration (even though the shooter was born in New York).
"The immigration laws of the United States give the president powers to suspend entry into the country of any class of persons," Trump said June 16, two days after the shooting. "I will use this power to protect the American people."
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• Cancel the Paris climate accord and stop paying U.S. tax dollars into UN global warming programs: During a May 26 speech in North Dakota, Trump said he would yank U.S. support from the Paris agreement to slash carbon dioxide emissions that 195 nations endorsed last December. There isn't much Trump could do to kill the accord itself. The deal isn't a treaty, and it doesn't require Senate ratification. Instead, it goes into force automatically when at least 55 parties, accounting for 55 percent of global emissions, have ratified the pact. Still, under Trump, the U.S. could sit out future United Nations negotiations designed to deepen carbon cuts over time. And because individual country commitments are voluntary, Trump could easily walk away from the U.S. pledges at the cost of alienating other world leaders. The most vulnerable aspect of the accord is Obama's commitment to deliver $3 billion into a United Nations fund to help developing countries adapt to rising seas and other effects of a rapidly changing climate. The idea already faces stiff resistance from Republicans on Capitol Hill, so if Trump's State Department refused to cut checks to the UN fund, lawmakers aren't likely to fight him on it.
Read more: http://finance.yahoo.com/news/trump-eyes-executive-orders-sidestep-090004300.html
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Extensive article that shows the scope of policies but ignores the damage that radicalism can do.
Bloomberg seems trying to mainstream Trump, and we must push back on every issue that he
espouses. If you don't call them on it, they can define you or gain some advantage by appearing
middle of the road, which we all know he is not.
The GOP are definitely playing to the meme that there is little difference between the two parties,
or that HRC and Trump are corporatists with little difference. Don't let them sell this snake oil!!
It's a long article, with 8 points that Trump has made. Three journalists wrote it. You must say,
Bloomberg pieces are always well written and meaty.
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