Tag: nominee

Trump’s Pick to Head Interior Dept Already Recused Himself 26 Times for Oil Industry Lobbying

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EVERYONE showed up to protest this creep! — Sarah Silbiger/NY Times

❝ After years of effort, scientists at the Fish and Wildlife Service had a moment of celebration as they wrapped up a comprehensive analysis of the threat that three widely used pesticides present to hundreds of endangered species, like the kit fox and the seaside sparrow…

Their analysis found that two of the pesticides, malathion and chlorpyrifos, were so toxic that they “jeopardize the continued existence” of more than 1,200 endangered birds, fish and other animals and plants, a conclusion that could lead to tighter restrictions on use of the chemicals.

❝ But just before the team planned to make its findings public in November 2017, something unexpected happened: Top political appointees of the Interior Department, which oversees the Fish and Wildlife Service, blocked the release and set in motion a new process intended to apply a much narrower standard to determine the risks from the pesticides.

❝ Leading that intervention was David Bernhardt, then the deputy secretary of the interior and a former lobbyist and oil-industry lawyer. In October 2017, he abruptly summoned staff members to the first of a rapid series of meetings in which the Fish and Wildlife Service was directed to take the new approach, one that pesticide makers and users had lobbied intensively to promote.

Now, this creep is the Fake President’s nominee to head the Dept. of Interior. He’s already been the fox in the henhouse. Now, Trump wants to put him in charge of killing off everything outside the henhouse – including endangered foxes.

Hillary answers question at campaign stop — bunches knickers of every Republican in USA

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Hillary at campaign stop, Decorah, Iowa — Doug Mills/The New York Times

❝Hillary Clinton is sometimes asked what kind of people she would want to put on the Supreme Court – but not who. During a campaign event here in northeast Iowa on Tuesday, one attendee had a nominee in mind: President Obama. Would she name him?

Laughing with apparent delight as the audience cheered, Mrs. Clinton said: “Wow, what a great idea. Nobody has ever suggested that to me. Wow. I love that.”

❝She then repeated “wow” again, as if giving herself an extra second to think of a good answer, considering that she has been praising Mr. Obama’s agenda and leadership repeatedly on the campaign trail recently.

“He may have a few other things to do, but I tell you, that’s a great idea,” Mrs. Clinton said — not quite committing but certainly not dismissing the notion.

Every Republican operative, activist and pimp in the country instantly spent a number of minutes in cardiac arrest. After reviving, they immediately called their favorite fundraiser and asked “How can we nominate someone electable from this outhouse of candidates?”

Senate approves Elena Kagan for high court

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Daylife/Getty Images used by permission

Solicitor General Elena Kagan was easily confirmed today as the next associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, completing the 50-year-old native New Yorker’s climb to the peak of the American legal profession.

The 63-37 vote was more than enough to blunt any possibility of a last-minute Republican delay or filibuster. Opposition during three days of Senate floor debate was relatively subdued…

Her brisk confirmation was a political victory for President Barack Obama — who placed Justice Sonia Sotomayor on the high court last year — and for Senate Democrats…

Democrats argued that Kagan possesses the intelligence and professional background necessary to be a force on the high court. They said they hope she will help counter what many on the left contend are excessively conservative court rulings that defy the will of Congress while hurting individual workers and voters…

Conservative opposition to Kagan failed to resonate this election year, a stark contrast to the heated Supreme Court confirmation battles of John Roberts and Samuel Alito in 2005. Television and radio ads from advocacy groups were few, and serious grassroots outrage never materialized.

Kagan was born in Manhattan in 1960, one of three children of a lawyer father and schoolteacher mother. She graduated from Harvard Law School and served in a prestigious Supreme Court clerkship with the late Justice Thurgood Marshall.

Among the cases she will confront in her first term beginning in October will be disputes over protests at military funerals, state bans on violent video games, and the death penalty. High-profile appeals that may reach the court in the next couple of years include Arizona’s sweeping immigration reform law and California’s ban on same-sex marriage.

Republicans will continue to count on the conservative majority on the Supreme Court to play their lapdog role in opposition to any progressive advances in American law.