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Scott Pruitt Resigns as EPA Administrator (cnbc.com)
Scott Pruitt's polarizing tenure as head of the Environmental Protection Agency has come to an end. From a report: President Donald Trump tweeted on Thursday that he has accepted Pruitt's resignation. Trump said that the agency's deputy administrator, Andrew Wheeler, will become the acting head of EPA. The departure follows months of scrutiny that gathered momentum following reports that Pruitt had rented a Capitol Hill condominium linked to an energy lobbyist on favorable terms. The revelation exacerbated concerns about the high cost of Pruitt's travel and security detail and triggered a flood of allegations that Pruitt fostered a culture of workplace retaliation, wasteful spending and self-dealing at EPA. The steady flow of negative news stories prompted multiple government investigators to open several inquiries into Pruitt. His EPA now faces about a dozen probes into its spending, ethics and policy decisions. In a statement, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) said, "Good." Further reading: Judge Orders EPA To Produce Science Behind Pruitt's Climate Claims
Just sayin
Trump is the swamp. He's done nothing but appoint rich, unqualified morons to head various things.
They've all proven to know nothing at all about the stuff they're in charge of, and mostly are just looking to enrich themselves. And they lie in public just as much as he does (like about $31K dining sets they claim they don't remember approving).
Trump and his idiot cronies are really just sticking their fingers in the pie and giving themselves all sorts of perks, and this includes his shit-stain of a family.
Anybody who thought an asshole billionaire would be doing anything but making life better for his asshole billionaire friends was a fool from the get go.
Just remember, America ... when this clown is done being in office, the damage he's done to your international relationships won't be easily fixed. We sure as fuck won't be rushing to make nice with you.
... but the EPA needs to be curtailed in every way. Trump gave him a chance because he's a known EPA-hater, but he turned out to be in it for the money. Maybe the next guy can actually change things at EPA. Suck on that lefties.
I firmly believe that many of Trump's base are his base not because they like Trump so much, but because they hated Obama and all Democrats and used their ballots for revenge, and to hell what it did to the Country, let it all burn to the ground so far as they're concerned; it's the ugly underside of having a democratic republic, nothing prevents people from abusing their right to vote in such a way that they use it to cause damage just out of spite. I also firmly believe that many of Trump's supporters are in so deep now that they don't think they can do and about-face without losing everything, so they continue to hold their noses, and that members of the GOP who are suddenly retiring from office are doing so because they can't hold their noses anymore, but aren't going to 'sell out' their own party (although ironically, they did exactly that by supporting Trump as a candidate).
So far as 2020 goes: If you want to help, you've got to convince people you know who are Independents to register as Democrat, even if it's just an expedient, and if you know any Republicans who also just can't hold their noses any longer against how much Trump and the GOP stink, get them to do the same. It's what I saw I had to do, and it's probably the only way to get him out of office in 2020 (unless Mueller turns up something even the GOP can't ignore). People will say you're asking them to be traitors to their principles, but desperate times call for desperate measures; tell them that at least this way they can help get a viable Democratic candidate on the ballot who isn't Hillary Clinton (because she's a guaranteed loss).
I'm a U.S. citizen, live in the U.S., and wish the U.S. eventually will have a healthy government again.
Go ahead and find me a poor politician, I'll wait.
Only the State obtains its revenue by coercion. - Murray Rothbard
Too many of the articles seem to be things designed to "engage" people, and aren't terribly informative. And by "engage" I mean get people to start arguing.
The last of the vestigial TRUE Republicans are dying or retiring. The brand has been hijacked.
Agreed. I'm not a kid, far from it, and I clearly remember that while you didn't necessarily agree with what the GOP did, they at least believed in family and had a sense of basic decency. Doesn't seem to the case anymore, now it just seems to be extremists catering to other extremists.
Gee, do you suppose it would deter the hijackers like Scott Pruitt if someone would lock up their kids? You know, the old collective responsibility thing.
What I'd actually do is get their wives in front of a camera for an interview and find out what they really think of all this. The crowning achievement here would be to get Melania Trump to disagree with her own husband on all of this, and do it publicly; sadly that won't ever happen, so I'd be happy enough to have Sessions' own wife, or adult daughter, speak out against these 'policies'. But yeah, having someone, say, kidnap Sessions' kids, just to prove a point? That'd be powerful. Not hurt them in any way, of course, and not even demand any ransom; treat them like royalty, keep them for a week or two, then they show up unharmed on the doorstep of th DoJ, with a note from the kidnappers: "How does it feel to not know where your children are, Mister Sessions?"
Not to distract from your main point about his successor, which is good, I want to criticize your use of the term "Conservative types" with a capital C.
Nobody is a more rabid environmentalist than the hunter who wants to protect their land or the fisherman who wants to protect their livelihood. These people are typically conservatives. Conservatives are about preservation and good stewardship. The Republican party does not define what it is to be conservative, and environmentalism is not a liberal or conservative philosophy.
The Republican party has cognitive dissonance over environmentalism because the party has entrenched big-business interests with very short-term thinking. They have vocally pushed the false story that environmental policy is anti-business.
Toyota made a fortune off environmentally friendly cars. When George W Bush told America that raising fuel economy would cost "millions" of jobs, Toyota bet on the technology anyway. When gas prices rose Americans bought fuel-efficient cars bolstering Toyota. The American auto makers were either buying engines from Toyota or licensing their patents. Environmental tech paid off.
When the US government used thermal imaging to inspect for leaks in large ships, big shipping companies objected. But once they realized that cutting down on engine leaks would save them money, they started enforcing the emissions laws themselves because it was profitable.
Conservatives know that investing in environmental technology is often economically productive. Less fuel consumption means less dependency on foreign resources, less damage to American land and resources, and more technological innovation and leadership.
Instead of offering a platform you give "dirty tactics" (your words) and meanderings about washing machines with divisive rhetoric (with us or against us)?
Welp, I am sold. Who needs a platform when you have "dirty tactics" and insane rants! #bluewave for real.
Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you; The state of the democratic party. Why give a platform when you can rant insanely assuming people think exactly like you!
I'm sorry, but you are kidding yourself. You are in denial.
Fishermen who want to protect their livelihood? Those same fishermen who trawled fish out of the oceans to the point of collapse?
It may be a matter of semantics, but today's "Conservatives" are about 2 things: authoritarianism and "I've got mine, fuck you". The conservatives of which you speak don't exist, or, if they exist, they don't call themselves "Conservatives" (big or little C, it doesn't matter).
Today's conservatives are defined by regressive social policies, and, in many cases, outright racism.
The real "Libtards" are the Libertarians!
Trump is standing up to the world
Yeah! Those fucking Canadians have had it too easy for too long, what with them always helping us!
You're just mad because you want to see America fail.
This makes me sad because I believe that many Trump supporters actually believe things like this about people who disagree with them. There are way too many people in this country who think they have a monopoly on love for their country.
"Our two-party system is like a bowl of shit looking at itself in a mirror." - Lewis Black
or get Democrats to all re-register as Republican for 2020
Or maybe actual progressives need to form their own party, actual small-government conservatives need to form their own party, and let the "Democrats" and "Republicans" twist in the wind wondering why no one likes them any more.
"Our two-party system is like a bowl of shit looking at itself in a mirror." - Lewis Black
What's really sad is that something like Watergate would not fell the president today but be used as an excuse to cut into journalist freedoms.
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
What the fuck dude?
The economy is positively booming with unemployment at its lowest level since the 1960s. Economists are worried about a breakout in inflation on account of companies having to increase wages so much to attract workers.
Trump isn't doing an okay job, he's doing a fantastic job and is actually delivering on his campaign promises. You're just worried that his approval ratings are steadily increasing as more and more people come to realise what a good job he's doing.
Far simple, just tackle those corrupt idiots weaknesses. They are psychopaths driven by their ego and lusts, put them under the spot light to deny them their lusts and just insult the crap out of them at every opportunity, they will never feel shame but being publicly ridiculed makes them burn. That and expose everyone of the deceptions, scams and simply keep poking their plots and schemes until they fall apart. Next level shun those than refuse to shun them (they then have to rely on each other, worse than it sounds as they are all disingenuous back stabber all too happy to stab each other in the back to get ahead).
Without us they fail and with them we fail, interesting that.
Chaos - everything, everywhere, everywhen
I clearly remember that while you didn't necessarily agree with what the GOP did, they at least believed in family and had a sense of basic decency.
It is a true sign of how far we have come when we get nostalgic about the good ole' days of Dick Nixon.
More like Barry Goldwater. Nixon was definitely a crook who deserved more than what he got.
The problem of casting a wide net is that Nixon did not represent the GOP as a whole. And when the Republicans at the time became convinced of his crimes, they were ready to boot his ass out of office.
The difference is that today's Republicnas are the very definition of cowardice, and will not stand up to the man who now defines their ideology, so it will be up to the American people to elect politicians who have a backbone.
The shepherds did so well protecting the flock that the sheep no longer believed that wolves existed.
The problem with your thinking here. The truth is Trump is actually doing a good job as president. I know so many people around here are so badly infected with TDS that they can't see that. One more piece of news too, unless Trump decides not to run in 2020 he is going to win a second term by a land slide.
You are welcome for these unpopular but undisputed truths.
I read at +2. If your post doesn't reach that level I will not see or respond to it.
Please explain what Nixon did wrong.
Recently...
FBI put spies into an opposition campaign of the current president.
FBI illegally used FISA to wiretap a campaign
FBI might have (refuses to answer) paid Russians for opposition research to help a campaign.
FBI/DOJ tanked an investigation because the person they were investigating was the one they wanted to win.
The IRS targeted individuals/groups based on political views.
I keep looking for what Nixon did, but come up with an office break in coverup. I'm not seeing how that would even make the news at this point when the entire intelligence agencies, FBI, DOJ were used to throw an election abusing their power and then refusing to come clean under Congressional subpoenas. Nixon also talked about using the IRS to target people, but Obama actually DID it.
It appears the DNC are the cowards that are using "national security" to hide what actions they took to attempt to throw an election. I find it interesting that EVERY attempt to make the elections more fair is met by screaming by the DNC.
The last of the vestigial TRUE Republicans are dying or retiring. The brand has been hijacked.
They're mirroring the Democrats then, because they've totally exited the building. They've recently moved more far left than the republicans have moved far right.
Cue the name calling and insults, but here are the simple facts:
* 25 years ago or less, all the leading democrats declared illegal immigration was bad and needed to stop; you can find the videos of Bill Clinton and Barrack Obama stating this all over the 'net; now many democrats are openly calling for "open borders" and the abolishment of ICE, and those numbers are growing.
* Democratic leaders were generally against gay marriage until about 8 - 10 years ago (again, videos are out there), now it's simply evil to suggest otherwise.
* All democrats just 10 years ago would have loudly denounced socialism, and feigned offense at the very accusation; today it's "the new face of the party".
They've done a 180 on all those counts. Republicans as a whole still pretty much hold the same ideals they did 30 years ago. But to "progressives", those ideals are all "bigoted, privileged, homophobic, sexist, racist, and xenophobic".
Let's look at what is probably the most telling and meaningful metric of public social attitude: television. Things on television today are far, far, far more risque than they were 20 years ago or more; subjects once taboo are now commonplace, and the language restrictions are all but gone. Society as a whole has moved left. From that perspective, it might seem as the Right is moving more right but in actuality they're pretty much standing still for the most part. After all, it's in the name, conservatism.. meaning resistant to change.
That all said, I'm fine with Pruitt hitting the road, he was a jackass. Now if we can just get rid of Ajit.
Look back up at my post, now look back down, you're on the Internet. Now look back up. I'm a signature.