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EPA drops rule requiring mining companies to have money to clean up pollution
President Donald Trump's administration announced Friday that it won't require mining companies to prove they have the financial wherewithal to clean up their pollution, despite an industry legacy of abandoned mines that have fouled waterways across the U.S.
Proselytizing Public School Official: ‘I’ll Stop When Someone Makes Me Stop’
It’s been over half a century since the Supreme Court first ruled that public schools cannot impose prayer on students.
Betsy DeVos – Extreme Image Makeover as Champion of Special-Needs Children
It was almost like she expected us all to forget who she actually is and her own sordid history with these kinds of children.
Trump judicial nominee fumbles basic questions about the law
Nomination hearings for U.S. district judges tend to be dry affairs that offer little in the way of mass entertainment — in other words, they’re not typically the stuff of viral videos.
Roy Moore Longs for Theocracy in Non-Concession Speech
Last night, Roy Moore reiterated that he wasn’t conceding his Senate race in Alabama to Democrat Doug Jones just yet before reminding us why he had no business ever going to Congress even before the molestation scandal came to light.
Betsy DeVos is forcing scammed students to repay loans for meaningless degrees
Every year, students concede to the rising cost of college tuition in hopes they’ll land a big enough salary after graduation to pay off whatever debt they incurred along the way.
http://www.wired.co.uk/article/katherine-hayhoe-climate-change-clean-energy-interview
Sorry, Pocket didn't save an excerpt for this link.
'Plan A Protest, Lose Your House' Bill, SB 1142, Killed by Arizona House
Some good news from the Arizona Legislature: SB 1142, the bill that would have allowed protest organizers to be prosecuted for racketeering if a demonstration turned violent, is effectively dead. House Speaker J.D.
Hatch claims poor people don’t deserve government help because “they won’t help themselves”
Senator Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) is defending a children’s health care program he helped create, but if the federal deficit balloons by at least $1 trillion as predicted under the Republican tax plan he’s authored and shepherded through the Senate, programs for the elderly and the poor will likely
The Internet Is Dying. Repealing Net Neutrality Hastens That Death.
The internet is dying. Sure, technically, the internet still works. Pull up Facebook on your phone and you will still see your second cousin’s baby pictures. But that isn’t really the internet.
This City Hall, brought to you by Amazon
There’s rising worry that corporations are taking over America. But after reviewing a slew of the bids by cities and states wooing Amazon’s massive second headquarters, I don’t think “takeover” quite captures what’s going on.
A woman approached The Post with dramatic — and false — tale about Roy Moore. She appears to be part of undercover sting operation.
A woman who falsely claimed to The Washington Post that Roy Moore, the Republican U.S. Senate candidate in Alabama, impregnated her as a teenager appears to work with an organization that uses deceptive tactics to secretly record conversations in an effort to embarrass its targets.
While honoring Native American veterans, Trump lobs his favorite Native American insult
The “code talkers” were Native American soldiers who were deployed during the world wars to send messages between units using a nearly uncrackable code: their native languages.
The US Department of the Interior’s new four-year strategic plan calls for maximizing fossil fuel extraction from public lands
A leaked draft of the US Department of Interior’s four-year strategic plan calls for massive fossil fuel extraction from public lands, with no mention of climate change impacts. The document was leaked to Adam Federman, a reporting fellow with the Investigative Fund at the Nation Institute.
If Roy Moore Isn't Rock Bottom for Republicans, What the Hell Is?
When the news that Alabama Senate candidate and longtime conservative raconteur Roy Moore was accused of molesting a 14-year-old girl when he was 32, we braced for the inevitable pushback from those on the right who would defend him.
How Jeff Sessions Plans to End Medical Marijuana Before the Year Is Over
Tears streamed down Claudia Jendron's face as her doctor patted her hand. "This is going to work," the doctor said. Eight years ago, a spinal-fusion-gone-wrong left Jendron—a 66-year-old resident of Rochester, New York—ailing.
Republicans Are Laser-Targeting Enemies in Their Tax Bill
The plan would impose a 1.4 percent excise tax on college endowments at private universities….double the standard individual tax deduction, meaning much weaker incentives for charitable contributions to colleges….end student loan interest rate deductions….
While eyes are on Russia, Sessions dramatically reshapes the Justice Department
For more than five hours, Attorney General Jeff Sessions sat in a hearing room on Capitol Hill this month, fending off inquiries on Washington’s two favorite topics: President Trump and Russia.
Repulsive pastor defends Roy Moore: There something about the purity of young girls
Anti-gay, anti-choice pseudo-Christian Pastor “Flip” Benham likes to defend accused child molester Roy Moore by conjuring up new reasons why it was okay for Moore to pursue and sexually abuse teenage girls. The latest excuse given to Moore by a pastor suggests Moore had not choice.
Op-Ed: I’m on the FCC. Please stop us from killing net neutrality
Right now, you can go online and connect with friends, watch videos and read the news. There’s a good chance you are reading this online right now. We do much more on the internet than consume content, however. Increasingly, the internet is also where we create.
Investigation of fake net neutrality foes has been stymied by the FCC, New York attorney general says
The reports started trickling out in May, in the weeks after the Federal Communications Commission had begun soliciting public comments on a proposal to repeal net neutrality rules that govern the flow of information on the Internet.
Roy Moore Wraps Himself in Religiosity as He Behaves Immorally
Great disappointments. Among the more confusing aspects of the uniquely confusing 2016 election cycle was the unfailing kinship evangelical Republicans displayed toward Donald Trump, a man who not only did not share their ostensible values but so frequently offended them.
I've spent months covering Republican tax policy. This bill is way worse than I expected.
I’m not the target audience for the Republican tax bill.
How Right-Wing Trolls Used Images of Domestic Violence in Attempt to Discredit Opponents
Harrowing images of women, children, and animals, all portrayed as the victims of domestic violence, were used as part of a campaign that hatched on 4chan’s infamous /Pol/ board before spreading to a number of other platforms, writes Storyful’s Padraic Ryan.
Betsy DeVos’s Title IX Rollback Is a Victory for Men’s-Rights Groups
If you’re still wondering whether or not our bear-obsessed education secretary Betsy DeVos has any idea what she’s doing, her speech today on Title IX and campus rape offers a pretty clear answer. That answer, by the way, is no.
Pittenger asks: Why aren’t liberals condemning Black Lives Matter and others?
Rep. Robert Pittenger, a Republican congressman from North Carolina, said Tuesday President Donald Trump is getting unfairly blasted for his comments about the deadly Charlottesville rally, arguing that liberals haven’t condemned Black Lives Matter and other groups for their “hate and violence.
Maybe Americans don’t need fast home Internet service, FCC suggests
Americans might not need a fast home Internet connection, the Federal Communications Commission suggests in a new document. Instead, mobile Internet via a smartphone might be all people need. The suggestion comes in the FCC's annual inquiry into broadband availability.
The Susan Rice Unmasking Story Is A Perfect Case Study Of The New Pro-Trump Propaganda Ecosystem
For most of the last decade, the flow of misinformation was often easy to track in media, with right-wing media often forcing mainstream outlets to follow the stories and tone they favored.
I am an Arctic researcher. Donald Trump is deleting my citations
As an Arctic researcher, I’m used to gaps in data. Just over 1% of US Arctic waters have been surveyed to modern standards. In truth, some of the maps we use today haven’t been updated since the second world war.
Trump moves decisively to wipe out Obama’s climate-change record
President Trump on Tuesday took the most significant step yet in obliterating his predecessor’s environmental record, instructing federal regulators to rewrite key rules curbing U.S. carbon emissions.
Trump to drop climate change from environmental reviews: Bloomberg
President Donald Trump is set to sign an order to greatly reduce the role climate change plays in decision making across the U.S. government, Bloomberg reported, citing a person familiar with the administration's plan.
The cult of ignorance in the United States : Anti-intellectualism and the "dumbing down" of America
There is a growing and disturbing trend of anti-intellectual elitism in American culture. It's the dismissal of science, the arts, and humanities and their replacement by entertainment, self-righteousness, ignorance, and deliberate gullibility.
Words in the Age of Trump
This post originally appeared at The Nation. Let’s start with the words “in the age of Trump.” The phrase currently has more than 17 million Google hits, compared to (and this should cheer POTUS) only 6.6 million for “in the age of Obama.
Trump signs bill undoing Obama coal mining rule
The bill quashes the Office of Surface Mining's Stream Protection Rule, a regulation to protect waterways from coal mining waste that officials finalized in December. The legislation is the second Trump has signed into law ending an Obama-era environmental regulation.
President Trump Rambles Through His Proto-Fascist And Scripted Attack On Press
DONALD TRUMP: I'm making this presentation directly to the American people with the media present, which is an honor to have you this morning, because many of our nation's reporters and folks will not tell you the truth and will not treat the wonderful people of our country with the respect that
Idaho lawmakers vote to remove climate information from science curriculum
Last week, the Idaho House Education Committee voted to approve new statewide science standards for K-12 education for the first time since 2001.
Black History Month speech transcripts: Trump vs. Obama
President Donald J. Trump on Feb. 1, 2017: Well, the election, it came out really well. Next time we'll triple the number or quadruple it. We want to get it over 51, right? At least 51.
First Amendment Defense Act Would Be ‘Devastating’ for LGBTQ Americans
Earlier this month, Senator Ted Cruz of Texas and Senator Mike Lee of Utah, through his spokesperson, told Buzzfeed they plan to reintroduce an embattled bill that barely gained a House hearing in 2015.
N.C. man told police he went to D.C. pizzeria with gun to investigate conspiracy theory
A North Carolina man was arrested Sunday after he walked into a popular pizza restaurant in Northwest Washington carrying an assault rifle and fired one or more shots, D.C. police said.
Trump’s lies have a purpose. They are an assault on democracy.
All politicians lie. In a democracy, they usually tell lies to achieve a particular result: Maybe they want to conceal information that would damage their reputations, or take credit for something they had nothing to do with.
Post-Truth Nation
By now countless journalists, academics, and luminaries have expressed serious concern over the election of Donald Trump. To put it simply, the only ones celebrating his victory are the KKK, Russia, ISIS, and American conservatives.
Facebook fake-news writer: ‘I think Donald Trump is in the White House because of me’
What do the Amish lobby, gay wedding vans and the ban of the national anthem have in common? For starters, they’re all make-believe — and invented by the same man.
Ted Cruz’s Father: "The Bible Tells You Exactly Who To Vote For"
Texas Sen. Ted Cruz’s father, Rev. Rafael Cruz, has voting advice for Christians nationwide who find themselves unable to decide at the ballot box.
America dumbs down
The U.S. is being overrun by a wave of anti-science, anti-intellectual thinking. Has the most powerful nation on Earth lost its mind? South Carolina’s state beverage is milk. Its insect is the praying mantis.