US Politics

[خره مينه لګته وي]

A man passes security fence placed in preparation of inauguration of president-elect Donald Trump on Tuesday in Washington,DC (AFP/Brendon Smialowski)


WASHINGTON: Metal detectors, roadblocks, thousands of security officers — some with heavy automatic weapons — and barricades of metal and sand trucks have descended on Washington, DC in preparation for Donald Trump’s inauguration on Friday as the 45th US president.

Washington Mobilizes 42,500-Strong Security Force for Inaugural (2009)

As many of its own locals fled the week of presidential festivities, Trump tweeted Tuesday: “The people are pouring into Washington in record numbers. Bikers for Trump are on their way. It will be a great Thursday, Friday and Saturday!”

His inauguration is already standing out in its security measures, attendance and expectations.
The ceremony will miss the Hollywood presence, with stars such as Scarlett Johansson, Julianne Moore and Amy Schumer opting out and participating in protests the day after.

The historic event is also being met by an unprecedented boycott from more than 40 House Democrats, who are making a statement against Trump’s rhetoric and ongoing Twitter storm against Congressman and civil rights icon John Lewis.

The event will also be shrouded by massive protests by Trump’s opponents who have started arriving into DC, with some planning disruptions and street blockages during inauguration day.

DC as a security fortress, Around 3,200 police officers are preparing to take charge of downtown’s security on inauguration day, with a budget exceeding $110 million to safeguard the nation’s capital and Pennsylvania Avenue, which Trump will take from the Capitol building to the White House.

Mike Litterst, spokesperson for the National Park Service, told Arab News: “The final preparations are taking place to secure the whole area from the Lincoln Memorial to Lafayette Park.”

Trump and Vice President-elect Mike Pence will take part in a “Make America Great Again!” welcome concert at the Lincoln Memorial Thursday, on the eve of the inauguration.

Also on Thursday, Trump and Pence are expected to visit Arlington National Cemetery to lay a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.

The security plans involve more than 30 organizations, says Litterst, including the police, the Secret Service and Department of Homeland Security. Of particular focus are the protests; some have already begun nightly in DC this week, and will culminate in “The Million March” for women’s groups on Saturday. The Park Service is expecting around 400,000 protesters to take part in Saturday’s march from 28 groups.

For the inauguration itself, 900,000 people are expected to attend, higher than the attendance for George W. Bush’s inauguration but lower than Barack Obama’s record 1.8 million attendees in 2009.

While the larger protests are designed to be peaceful and organized, a group called DisruptJ20 is planning disruptions and blockages during the inauguration itself and for the parade.

“The idea is to shut down access to the parade as much as possible and slowing it down to a crawl,” DisruptJ20 organizer Legba Carrefour told NBC News.

“Then there’s the broader goal of shutting down the entire city around it, and creating a sense of paralysis that creates a headline that says, ‘Trump’s inauguration creates chaos,’” he added, although the security grid and restricted access could make such a task extremely complicated.

A divided country The security scene around the inauguration, and the charged rhetoric from both Trump and his opponents — some have called his election “illegitimate” — speaks to a deeper divide in US society and politics.

Staffers at the Sofitel and the May Flower hotels, situated a few blocks away from the White House, told Arab News that they are taking extra security measures inside and outside the hotel to avoid clashes between Trump supporters and protesters.

A more visible security presence is seen in the lobbies of major DC upscale hotels, with a few installing metal detectors or hiring private security for the whole week.

Polls released on the eve of the inauguration show Trump with historically low approval ratings.
In a poll conducted by the Washington Post and ABC, his favorability is only 40 percent, compared with 79 percent for outgoing President Barack Obama in 2009.

A CNN-ORC poll gives Trump a 53 percent unfavorability rating, also unseen in recent US history.
These numbers will not stop Trump from taking the oath of office on Friday, administered by Chief Justice John Roberts, as the Marines band plays “Hail to the Chief” followed by the firing of a 21-gun salute.

However, the divide poses a big challenge for Trump in constraining his political capital and ability to build bridges with Democrats.


http://www.arabnews.com/node/1040586/world

 

[خره مينه لګته وي]

WASHINGTON: Donald Trump wants a “great relationship” with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, a member of his transition team said, after the US president-elect sparked anger with criticism of her and NATO.

Anthony Scaramucci, a hedge-fund investor who is representing the Trump team at the World Economic Forum in Davos, said the next US president was a “man of peace” who “recognizes the importance of the long-term alliances that we have got with Europe.”

But he acknowledged that Trump is also seeking to build bridges with Russian President Vladimir Putin, moving on from hostilities over the war in Syria, Ukraine and allegations of state-sponsored cyberattacks.
“He wants to have a great relationship with Angela Merkel as he does with President Putin,” Scaramucci said in Davos, where 3,000 members of the political and business elite are gathered for annual talks.

“I do not see him as somebody who wants to have a bad relationship with people and he certainly does not view Europe as weak.

“In the next six months, in the next year, the relationship between the US and Europe will be stronger than ever,” Scaramucci said.

But he added: “I think he said something that you guys should listen to — that we have to make sure that our structures, our alliances or charters are in preparation for the 21st and 22nd century, not the 20th century.”
Trump unleashed a volley of attacks on Europe in a hard-hitting interview with two European newspapers on Sunday, branding NATO “obsolete” and saying more countries would leave the European Union after Britain.
The Republican billionaire also criticized Merkel’s “catastrophic” decision to open Germany’s borders to hundreds of thousands of refugees and migrants.


Backlash in Europe

Despite a backlash in Europe over the comments, Scaramucci said the interview reflected Trump’s “authenticity,” adding: “You should find this refreshing and not alarming. He is open with his views.”

The senior adviser to Trump also said his comments about the NATO being “obsolete” reflect how the world has changed, but should not be interpreted as meaning that it needs to be consigned to history.

“NATO is working but there are things about it that need to change and there are parts of it that are, in the words of Trump, ‘obsolete’,” Scaramucci said.

Scaramucci also said that the US wanted to have a “phenomenal relationship” with China.
He said the focus should now be on finding common cause with Russia.

“Let us try to find a way to get along better (with Russia). We need to focus less on combating Communism and more on rejecting radical Islam,” he said.

Trump’s comments about countries needing to pay their way in NATO reflected his background as a businessman and property developer and made sense, Scaramucci said.

Scaramucci also said the US wanted to create more symmetry in trade agreements and have a “phenomenal relationship” with China, calling on Beijing to “reach now toward us and allow us to create this symmetry.”

Addressing concerns which have been raised about the way Trump has communicated his ideas and thoughts so far, Scaramucci said people should not be worried or alarmed by his tweets.


‘Reaganesque’ speech

Trump’s inauguration speech would be “Reaganesque,” he added, in reference to former US President Ronald Reagan.

As for his own business interests, Scaramucci said he had signed a deal for the sale of his Skybridge hedge fund.

European officials say they expect Trump to hear about the importance of the US-European alliance not only from diplomats and generals, but from fellow businessmen who recognize the need for close ties with the world’s biggest trading bloc.

Trump “would be well-advised to ask his international American companies how much sense it makes to operate in a single market in Europe. Then perhaps a sense of understanding would prevail,” said Johannes Hahn, the European Commissioner in charge of the bloc’s future expansion.

Still, despite the reassurance Europeans take from Trump’s cabinet picks, one EU diplomat said the conclusion in Brussels was that they were dealing with “a big unknown” in Trump himself. “Whatever Tillerson, Mattis and others say, it is not necessarily the new administration’s policy.”


Valuable lesson

French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault said Europe could learn a valuable lesson from a skeptical Washington: European countries need to stick together to defend themselves.

“The best way to defend Europe, that’s what Mr. Trump is inviting us to do, is to remain united, is to stand together and not forget that the strength of Europeans is their unity,” Ayrault said.

Behind the scenes, European officials say they are still confident that the architecture of the Western security alliance will survive a Trump presidency.

Many say they have taken heart from the more conventional foreign policy positions described by Trump’s picks for defense secretary and secretary of state, Gen. James Mattis and Exxon-Mobil ex-CEO Rex Tillerson, at confirmation hearings.

They also point to the strong support for NATO and the firm line on Russia expressed by senators from Trump’s Republican Party during the questioning.

Ultimately, they expect the post-World War II Western alliance to withstand a more skeptical approach from the White House, thanks to deep institutional understanding of its benefits on both sides of the Atlantic.
A stepped-up schedule of summits and meetings will give early chances to clear the air.

“We are working on the basis that Trump will listen to Mattis, Tillerson and foreign policy Republicans,” said a senior EU diplomat involved in foreign policy planning in Brussels.



http://www.arabnews.com/node/1040541/world

 

[Hindustani78]

http://www.arabnews.com/node/1040576/world

WASHINGTON: At his swearing-in on Friday, Donald Trump will stand before a crowd of thousands and place his hand on his own Bible and, symbolically, on that used by Abraham Lincoln 156 years before.

The president-election’s inauguration committee on Tuesday announced that Trump would be sworn by Chief Justice John Roberts, using two books.

The first — embossed with his name — was given to Trump by his mother when he graduated from New York’s Sunday Church Primary School in 1955.

Trump will also place his hand on the same Bible used by Lincoln at his first inauguration ceremony in 1861.
“President-elect Trump is humbled to place his hand on Bibles that hold special meaning both to his family and to our country,” said Trump’s pointman for the inauguration ceremony Tom Barrack.

The Lincoln Bible was also used by US President Barack Obama when he was sworn in as president in 2009 and then again after re-election in 2013.

 

[RabzonKhan]

Trump, for a change, has made the right choice, Gen Mattis is the right man for the job, he knows what is going on in the Middle East (Link)….what the Russian are up to, and how important it is to win the Afghan war.

He is rightly called, a warrior, scholar and straight shooter.

Told you so,

During confirmation hearing, General Mattis testified that Russia remains the principal threat faced by the United States, taking a much harder line than Trump.

Mattis said Russia, China and Islamist militants were presenting the biggest challenge to the U.S.-led world order since World War Two, and called for Congress to lift spending caps undermining military readiness.

"I'm all for engagement but we also have to recognize reality in what Russia is up to," Mattis said, adding there were a "decreasing number of areas" where the United States might cooperate with Moscow.

Asked about the main threats to U.S. interests, Mattis said: "I would consider the principle threats to start with Russia."

Sen. McCain asked, what do you think we ought to do about Russia, Gen. Mattis? Do you think we ought to maybe have sanctions against Russia all basically set by as we have for the last couple years and watched their aggression, by the way, including their precision guided weapons against hospital in Aleppo, the list goes on and on of their etrocities that have been committed by Putin while we again try a reset. I have watched three Presidents commit themselves to new relationships with Putin, all three have been and abysmal failure. Should we ignore the lesson of history, what should we be doing?

Gen. Mattis reply, Chairman, history is not the straitjacket but I have never found a better guide for the way ahead than studying the history. We have a long list of times we have tried to engage positively with Russia. We have a relatively short list of successes in that regard. And I think right now the most important thing is that we recognize the reality of what we deal with, Mr. Putin and we recognize that he is trying to break the North Atlantic alliance. Link

He's just trolling the media, toying with them.

Yeah, in other words, the incoming President of a superpower is a troll, right? As a foreigner, you most probably don’t care, but his early morning twitter tantrums are raising concerns at home and abroad.

skipping briefings is no biggie when he's surrounded by people who are getting briefed daily, not like he can do anything till he takes office anyway, so for now he's busy building a cabinet.

Actually, the early briefing is very important, the whole idea of the early briefings to the elected President before the transition is as a way of deepening his understanding of national security threats facing the nation and it is extremely valuable to have before he steps into the White House.

Even though, VP Pence was regularly getting briefings, but it had not stopped Trump from disgracefully and ignorantly criticizing our intelligence community. It was only after he met intelligence community face to face that Trump accepted their assertion that Russia was deeply involved in undermining our election process.

reducing tensions between the worlds two foremost military and nuclear superpowers, seems to me he has a pretty good grasp of important international issues.

No one in their right mind is opposed to more cooperation between the two countries, but the question is, at what cost, should we ignore their interference in our elections and their aggression in Europe?! And I always wonder, when it comes to Russia, why Trump always talks like little red riding hood, where all his bravado goes, why is he so scared of Putin, what is he hiding.

By calling NATO “obsolete”, criticizing European Community and Germany, trying to demoralize our intelligence community, does not seem like the man knows **** about international issues.

amazing how the democrats have now become the party of war and keep pushing a false terrorist narrative on Syria while Trump makes peace.

That’s not true, If you have the time watch the confirmation hearing of Trump’s most important nominees, when it comes to Russia, it’s a bipartisan viewpoint.


Defense Secretary Confirmation Hearing General James Mattis (Retired) Link

Secretary of State Confirmation Hearing Rex Tillerson. Link

Central Intelligence Agency Director Confirmation Hearing Mike Pompeo. Link

We should be thankful that US is a republic and not a democracy. Democracy to me means mob rule. I can only imagine what damage Trump would cause in a parliamentary system.

The USA is a republic and a democracy: Link Link

 

[LA se Karachi]

Poll: Trump will take office as most unpopular president in at least 4 decades

By Dan Balz and Scott Clement


After a tumultuous campaign and transition, President-elect Donald Trump will take the oath of office Friday as the least-popular incoming president in at least four decades, but a majority of Americans nevertheless express optimism that he will be able to fulfill campaign pledges to boost the economy and deal with threats of terrorism, according to a Washington Post-ABC News poll.

Amid controversy and calls for additional investigations into possible Russian interference in the election, most Americans disapprove of Trump’s response to the hacking and other activities. But they are divided on the question of whether the president-elect has been too friendly toward Russia or taken the right approach in his public comments and posture.

On ethical matters, a bare majority say the steps Trump and his attorney outlined last week to turn over control of his sprawling business enterprise to his children create adequate separation while he serves as president. But the public is split almost evenly on whether he and his family are fully complying with federal ethics laws, and an overwhelming majority say he should release his federal tax returns, which he has long declined to do.

[ Read full Post-ABC poll results ]

The Post-ABC survey offers a starting point and a measuring stick for a Trump presidency. As in the campaign, Trump is a polarizing figure who generates great enthusiasm among those who support him and deep hostility among those who do not. Attitudes toward Trump, along with deep partisan divisions that predated his candidacy, provide the backdrop for Friday’s ceremonies at the Capitol and the opening days of the 45th president’s tenure.

On the eve of his inauguration, 44 percent of Americans say they believe Trump is qualified to serve as president, compared with 52 percent who say he is not. The good news for Trump is that the 52 percent figure is the lowest since he became a candidate.

Trump will enter the Oval Office on Friday with his image upside down. Just 40 percent say they have a favorable impression of him, and 54 percent view him unfavorably — with 41 percent saying they have a strongly unfavorable impression of him. That is starkly different from current views of President Obama, whose favorable rating is at 61 percent.

Compared with other presidents, Trump’s handling of the transition has been judged harshly by respondents. As with his favorable rating, 40 percent say they approve and 54 percent disapprove. In comparison, roughly 8 in 10 approved of the way Obama and former presidents Bill Clinton and George H.W. Bush handled their transitions. And about 7 in 10 approved of the way former president George W. Bush handled his, even though it came amid the rancorous 37-day recount of ballots in Florida and a controversial Supreme Court decision that helped put him in the Oval Office.

Independents have not rallied behind Trump, a change from what has consistently been the case for past presidents. But another reason for Trump’s lower-than-average numbers is that some segments of his political base are less enthusiastic than might be expected. Only 56 percent of conservatives give him positive marks on the transition, and only 62 percent say they have a favorable impression of him.

The transition has been dominated by the intelligence community’s report that concluded the Russians were responsible for hacking the Democratic National Committee and the private email of John Podesta, Hillary Clinton’s campaign chairman, with the goal of helping Trump.

The Post-ABC poll finds that 64 percent of Americans believe that Russia was responsible for hacking Clinton campaign emails, and 45 percent think that was intended to boost Trump. More than 8 in 10 Democrats polled say the Russians were responsible, with three-quarters of all Democrats saying they believe that Moscow sought to undermine Clinton and aid Trump. Not quite half of the Republicans polled say the Russians were behind what happened, with about 1 in 5 saying they think the goal was to help the president-elect.

There are similar partisan divisions on Trump’s approach to the Russians. More than 2 in 3 Democrats say he is being too cozy in his treatment of Russia, while 3 in 4 Republicans say his posture has been about right — that from a party whose leaders have historically shown significant hostility toward that country.

On individual issues, however, the picture is strikingly different. Trump’s campaign slogan, “Make America Great Again,” has generated hope among many Americans that on economic issues at least he will be able to do just that.

Roughly 6 in 10 say they expect the New York businessman to do an excellent or good job in handling the economy and creating jobs. He has said repeatedly that both will be top priorities of his presidency. At the same time, he has stressed his determination to defeat the Islamic State and protect the country from threats of terrorism. The Post-ABC survey found that 56 percent of Americans say they think he will do a good or excellent job on that front.

On other issues, the outlook is less positive. The public appears about evenly divided on whether Trump will do well or not well in his nominations to the Supreme Court. Half of all Americans express optimism about how he will handle the federal budget deficit and help the middle class. Slightly more than half have negative views about how he would handle an international crisis and whether he can improve the health-care system.

His lowest ratings come on two areas that have been controversial since he first announced his candidacy in the summer of 2015: race relations and handling issues of concern to women.

Fifty-seven percent of Americans say they do not think he will do a good job on race relations. Those opinions came on a weekend in which Trump clashed with Rep. John Lewis (D-Ga.), the civil rights icon who had told NBC’s Chuck Todd that he did not regard Trump as a legitimate president because of Russian interference in the election.

Meanwhile, just over 6 in 10 say they do not think he will do a good job dealing with issues of special concern to women.

Trump’s policy agenda draws mixed assessments in terms of support or opposition. On immigration, for example, 6 in 10 Americans oppose his call for building a wall on the U.S.-Mexican border, one of the signature initiatives of his campaign. But over 7 in 10 support his call to deport roughly 2 million undocumented immigrants who have been convicted of a crime, a continuation of Obama administration policy but with a faster pace of deportations.

Majorities oppose his campaign recommendation to ban most Muslims who are not U.S. citizens from entering the country or the possibility of having the United States withdraw from the international treaty addressing climate change. A plurality of Americans say they oppose withdrawing from the nuclear agreement with Iran.

Americans are closely divided on repealing the Affordable Care Act, with 46 percent in support and 47 percent opposed, according to the survey. Two-thirds of repeal supporters say this should not occur before a replacement is created.

Where Trump finds support is on some of his economic initiatives. The Post-ABC poll finds small majorities support both his call to renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement and taking punitive action against companies that shift jobs from the United States to other countries. On taxes, majorities of Americans support cuts for the middle class and those with lower incomes and oppose cuts for higher-income taxpayers, while the public is split about evenly over cutting business taxes.

One pattern first seen during the presidential campaign continues to shape attitudes as Trump prepares to become president: a division among white Americans based on levels of education. In general on questions in the new poll, whites without college degrees expressed considerably more support for Trump than whites with college degrees.


Emily Guskin contributed to this report.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/poli...3375f271c9c_story.html?utm_term=.18b6d73e472a

 

[CBU-105]

Yeah, in other words, the incoming President of a superpower is a troll, right? As a foreigner, you most probably don’t care, but his early morning twitter tantrums are raising concerns at home and abroad.

No, he's a genius, which is why he'll be President of the United States of 'Murrica tomorrow. Trump is not going to be bullied by the media.

As a foreigner, I'm mostly concerned about how he handles your foreign policy, and I absolutely love what he's said so far on the big issues and conflicts concerning the world.

His early morning/late night tweets are not 'tantrums', that's how he manipulates the news cycle, and the mainstream media fall for it every-single-time, it's quite hilarious to see him toy with them.

Actually, the early briefing is very important, the whole idea of the early briefings to the elected President before the transition is as a way of deepening his understanding of national security threats facing the nation and it is extremely valuable to have before he steps into the White House.

Even though, VP Pence was regularly getting briefings, but it had not stopped Trump from disgracefully and ignorantly criticizing our intelligence community. It was only after he met intelligence community face to face that Trump accepted their assertion that Russia was deeply involved in undermining our election process.

He's gone after some of the leadership in the intelligence community, the anti Trump the partisan hacks, not your undercover agents all over the world. I thought he made a great point about the Iraq wmd fiasco.

No one in their right mind is opposed to more cooperation between the two countries, but the question is, at what cost, should we ignore their interference in our elections and their aggression in Europe?! And I always wonder, when it comes to Russia, why Trump always talks like little red riding hood, where all his bravado goes, why is he so scared of Putin, what is he hiding.

By calling NATO “obsolete”, criticizing European Community and Germany, trying to demoralize our intelligence community, does not seem like the man knows **** about international issues.

I don't think he's scared of Putin, he's just beginning a process of rapprochement with Russia, and that is a good thing for the world.

He wants his NATO partners to pay their fair share, I don't see too much wrong in that.

Russian aggression in Ukraine ? I thought that was legit, the Obama admin and the CIA orchestrated a coup to oust the legitimate (no matter how corrupt) Yanukovych government in Ukraine. Trump knows the score "the people of Crimea, want to be with Russia"

His anti EU stance is also great, he's making the idea of the sovereign nation state great again.

So far he's promising to bring the 'hope and change' that Obama failed so miserably to deliver on.

Tomorrow the fairy tale ends and his real work begins, let's see how he does, be open minded and give him a chance, he's not as bad as you (and a lot of other people) are making him out to be.

Poll: Trump will take office as most unpopular president in at least 4 decades

https://twitter.com/x/status/821344302651555840

 

[LA se Karachi]

https://twitter.com/x/status/821344302651555840

All pollsters are showing this. They have been ever since he entered the Presidential race. He is disliked by most people, if you lived here you would know. But some people will only see what they want to see.

 

[CBU-105]

All pollsters are showing this. They have been ever since he entered the Presidential race. He is disliked by most people, if you lived here you would know. But some people will only see what they want to see.

In LA ? probably.

all I see is that he won, big league.

 

[LA se Karachi]

In LA ? probably.

all I see is that he won, big league.

No, all across the country. And if you consider receiving almost 3 million fewer votes than a strongly-disliked Hillary Clinton as winning "big league", there's not much more I can say.


Hillary received 65,844,954 votes (48%) to Trump's 62,979,879 votes (46%).

People don't like him. They never did.

 

[CBU-105]

No, all across the country. And if you consider receiving almost 3 million fewer votes than a strongly-disliked Hillary Clinton as winning "big league", there's not much more I can say.


Hillary received 65,844,954 votes (48%) to Trump's 62,979,879 votes (46%).

304 to 227 in the electoral college, and that's the one that mattered. Trumped her by a solid 77

People don't like him. They never did.

some of you lot, true.

Don't you want him to do well ? He'll bring back yer jerbs and everything

All I ever wanted from the start was to see a Trump-Putin tag team vs ISIS and co. It begins in T-2 days, can't wait.

 

[LA se Karachi]

304 to 227 in the electoral college, and that's the one that mattered. Trumped her by a solid 77

True, though he won a few pivotal states by very close margins. But yes, he won the Electoral College and will be the next President of the United States. I don't dispute that, obviously.

some of you lot, true.

Most of us, by roughly a 55-40% margin.

Don't you want him to do well ?

I do, but his tweeting tantrums and actions after winning the election show that he won't, it seems.

He'll bring back yer jerbs and everything

I doubt it. He doesn't support any policies that would accomplish that.

However, there are plenty of jobs in America. The problem is that they don't pay enough. Income gains in this country have been quite concentrated at the very top (huge gains) over the past 35 years. Meanwhile, income for the bottom 90% has decreased slightly. Trump hasn't even committed to raising the minimum wage, and tax-payers continue to subsidize low-wage workers on welfare and the multi-billion dollar corporations that they work for.

All I ever wanted from the start was to see a Trump-Putin tag team vs ISIS and co. It begins in T-2 days, can't wait.

Good luck with that....

 

[Zibago]

Trump EPA pick: still 'some debate' over human role in climate change


At Senate confirmation hearing to lead Environmental Protection Agency, Scott Pruitt defends his relationship with fossil fuel industry

• Scott Pruitt confirmation hearing: the key points

Scott Pruitt testifies on Capitol Hill. The Oklahoma attorney general has sued the EPA 14 times over regulations. Photograph: Aaron P. Bernstein/Getty Images
Oliver Milman in New York


Wednesday 18 January 2017 20.15 GMTLast modified on Wednesday 18 January 2017 20.33 GMT

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Scott Pruitt, Donald Trump’s pick to lead the US Environmental Protection Agency, has claimed there is still “some debate” over the role of human activity in climate change and has defended his relationship with the fossil fuel industry during a combative Senate confirmation hearing.

Pruitt, the Oklahoma attorney general, has sued the agency he is now set to lead 14 times over the EPA’s smog, mercury and other pollution regulations. Several of these cases are still ongoing and Pruitt said he would recuse himself in dealing with these cases if instructed to do so by the EPA’s ethics board.

In testy exchanges with senators including Bernie Sanders and Ed Markey, Pruitt said there was “some debate” over how much influence human activity has upon the climate but rejected the president-elect’s claim that climate change is a “hoax”. Pruitt also said the EPA had a “very important role” in regulating carbon dioxide.

“Science tells us that the climate is changing and that human activity in some manner impacts that change,” he said. “The ability to measure with precision the degree and extent of that impact and what to do about it are subject to continuing debate and dialogue ... so it should be.”

Last year was the warmest on record, scientists announced on Wednesday, with Nasa and Noaa both stressing the primary driver of the warming trend is the burning of fossil fuels and other human activity. Of the 17 hottest years on record, 16 have occurred this century.

Pruitt also seemed uncertain over how much lead can be safely ingested by children, in the wake of the toxic water crisis in Flint, Michigan. “I don’t know,” Pruitt said. “I’ve not looked at the scientific research on that. That’s not something I’ve reviewed nor know about.” The EPA itself states that any amount of lead consumption can be harmful.

Democrats on the Senate committee on environment and public works questioned Pruitt over his repeated challenges to the agency he now seeks to head, as well as his ties to the fossil fuel industry. The oil giant Exxon and coal firm Murray Energy have both given the maximum allowable amount of money to Pruitt, with the Oklahoma attorney general siding with donors 13 times in court cases against the EPA.

One Oklahoma firm, Devon Energy, even drafted a letter for Pruitt that he sent on to the EPA in 2011 under his letterhead with minimal alterations. The letter criticized federal regulations on greenhouse gas emissions from oil and gas producers. A boom in gas fracking activity in Oklahoma has contributed to a surge in earthquakes in the state.

Questioned over this letter by Democrat Jeff Merkley, Pruitt said: “I was representing the interests of the state. It was protecting the interests of the state, it wasn’t sent on behalf of any one company. It was particular to an industry – there’s an oil and gas industry that is vibrant and vital to the state.”

In his opening statement, Pruitt said: “We must reject as a nation the false paradigm that if you’re pro-energy you’re anti-environment and that if you’re pro-environment you’re anti-energy. In this nation we can grow our economy, harvest the resources God has blessed us with as well as being good stewards of the land, air of water by which we’ve been favored.”

Pruitt said he wanted a better partnership with the states, which he said had been subject to “duress and punishment” from the EPA. He said the states had the “resources and expertise” to safeguard America’s environment but accepted that pollution does cross state lines.

Republicans on the committee backed Pruitt, with Senator James Inhofe, who once brought a snowball to the senate floor in an attempt to disprove global warming, citing Pruitt’s fighting of “federal overreach” as praiseworthy. Fellow Republican attorney generals from other states have also supported Pruitt’s nomination.

However, Christine Todd Whitman, who was EPA administrator under George W Bush, warned there may be “war” within the agency unless Pruitt adopted a more conciliatory posture.

“I wish he hadn’t been nominated,” Whitman, a Republican, told Guardian US. “Mother Nature doesn’t care about states’ rights. You need some area of federal oversight to protect human health and the environment. You can’t just turn it back to the states; most of them don’t have the budget to do the scientific research.

“I think this new administration will try to back down some of the regulations and slow down enforcement of the regulations they don’t like. They will starve the agency for money.

“I would hope that Scott Pruitt will understand how important and complicated the EPA is once he gets in there but EPA people are assuming it will be a war. That won’t be pretty for anyone. Unless he makes real strides to outreach and respect the mission, it will be war.”

Thirteen former state EPA chiefs have urged the Senate to reject Pruitt, citing his “deeply troubling” position on climate change and his repeated courtroom challenges to EPA clean air and water standards.

“Rather than EPA acting as our partner in state-led efforts to ensure clean air and water for our residents, we fear that an EPA under Mr Pruitt would undermine the rules that help to make sure that our state regulations are successful,” the group wrote in a letter to the environment and public works committee.

More than 170 environment groups, including the Sierra Club and the Clean Air Task Force, have written a separate missive to senators decrying Pruitt’s views that “run counter to the EPA’s critical mission to protect our health and the environment”. The letter also calls for the Senate to reject the Oklahoma attorney general.

Pruitt is the “worst nominee ever tapped to lead the US Environmental Protection Agency”, according to Rhea Suh, president of the Natural Resources Defense Council.

“He doesn’t have a single environmental achievement to his name, doesn’t believe in the agency’s mission, and has made a career out of suing the EPA to try to block it from doing its job as the guardian of our environment and health,” she added.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news...-change-debate-confirmation-hearing?CMP=fb_gu
Trump has surrounded himself with American Mian Manshas
@The Sandman @The Eagle @PaklovesTurkiye @Hell hound @Moonlight @Farah Sohail

 

[The Eagle]

Trump has surrounded himself with American Mian Manshas

They have been doing the same to others, seems like time has come to avenge the past..... Interesting times ahead and yeah, I mean not very peaceful that we can only hope as when corporate becomes priority than the need and people, we see a transition that claims many lives or even states...... Let's hope for the peace and humanity..... Not just this EPA picks but he has done many surprises in other selections as well that are mostly related with money/business and has nothing to do with ground realities...he sees everything with earning, business or money....

 

[Hell hound]

Trump has surrounded himself with American Mian Manshas

trump himself is american mian mansha

 

[Zibago]

Anti-Trump protest in New York ahead of oath-taking
January 20, 2017

By: Samaa Web Desk

Published in Global

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New York: A-list celebrities joined several thousand protesters on the streets of New York on Thursday night to demonstrate against Donald Trump on the eve of the incoming Republican president's inauguration.

Hollywood actors Robert de Niro and Alec Baldwin, Oscar-winning director Michael Moore and singer Cher were among those who joined the noisy gathering close to the Trump International Hotel on Central Park South.

A crowd of several thousand people thronged Columbus Circle and Central Park West, the boulevard outside the five-star hotel.

"Fight Trump every day" and "justice and civil rights for all," read placards at the rally in the president-elect's hometown, where a majority of people voted for his Democratic rival Hillary Clinton in last year's election.

Baldwin, who lampoons Trump in a regular slot on comedy TV show "Saturday Night Live" to rave reviews and repeated Twitter drubbings from the thin-skinned Republican billionaire, took to the podium to do his Trump impression.

"Are we going to have 100 days of resistance?" he said, revving up the crowd and switching to his regular voice. "Fantastic!" he hollered.

"He does not rule with a mandate," Moore said in reference to Clinton's win of the popular vote and Americans who voted for independent candidates.

"We are the majority. Don't give up. I won't give up," he said.

"He will not last four years."

De Niro also sought to inspire the crowd to not waver in their convictions.

"Whatever happens, we Americans, we New Yorkers, we patriots, will stand united for our rights and for the rights of our fellow citizens," he said.

Mayor Bill de Blasio, a Democrat, issued a rallying cry for progressive politics and urged Americans across the country to rise up and make their objections to the incoming administration heard.

"Donald Trump always liked to say he built a movement, well now it's time for us to build our movement and that starts tonight and it's all over the country, tonight, tomorrow and in the days to come," de Blasio said.

He championed universal healthcare, protecting the world from climate change and preserving rights gained under the outgoing Barack Obama administration.

"Look at the thousands here tonight and that is only the beginning," he added.

A poll released by Quinnipiac University said 46 percent of New York voters want to mayor to try to get along with the president-elect while 45 percent believe he should be a national leader against Trump's policies.

Graphic designer Patrick Mavros, a member of the crowd, said it was a demonstration against the Trump administration and what his cabinet -- predominantly white, wealthy and male -- stands for.

"Anywhere from LGBT rights to women's rights to Muslim rights. I think it's a symbol that people will not be standing idly and let them get away with what they want. We will be watching and hold them accountable," he told AFP.

"We are here because we feel we're going to lose all these gains from the past 50 years -- civil rights, freedom of speech, healthcare, women's rights, world peace, you name it," said Carol Bay, a therapist attending with her wife.

"We're going to lose it all because they've been asking to take them back for all these years," she said in reference to Republicans. - AFP
https://www.samaa.tv/international/2017/01/anti-trump-protest-new-york-oath-taking-us/