Republican Party

Roads, Bridges and the Future of Civilization-Episodes-Trump on Earth Podcast

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Ep. 26: Roads, Bridges and the Future of Civilization-Episodes-Trump on Earth Podcast

As Congress pays out more than 36 billion dollars in disaster relief, the General Accounting Office recommends that the federal government find ways to minimize the economic impacts of climate change. President Obama started moving in that direction when he signed an executive order requiring infrastructure be designed to survive flooding and other consequences of climate change. Obama's order was never finalized, and President Trump issued an executive order of his own that pretty much undid it. So what's the danger if infrastructure policies do not consider the risks that are coming with climate change? 

I think Trump’s regulatory rolling back of cumulative impact in NEPA will be devastating

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I think Trump’s regulatory rolling back of cumulative impact in NEPA will be devastating. 🌎

Some of the things proposed by Trump are bad but this is devastatingly bad for our country. Looking at cumulative impacts of government policy is at the heart of the National Environmental Policy Act, ignoring it basically guts the law. We need to fully understand the impacts of government policies before moving forward, especially with large complicated projects. It’s always better to avoid impacts then try to fix them after the fact. 

NPR

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Trump Rule Would Overhaul Landmark Environmental Law : NPR

A key part of the administration's proposal centers on whether agencies must consider the cumulative environmental effects of things like pipelines, which have attracted protests by climate activists across the country.

Under the new limits, federal agencies would only need to consider effects that are "reasonably foreseeable" and have a "close causal relationship" to the project. That could mean simply the impact of building thepipeline.

NPR

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Stephanie Hofeller Shares Redistricting Files From Thomas Hofeller’s Hard Drives : NPR

More than a year after his death, a cache of computer files saved on the hard drives of Thomas Hofeller, a prominent Republican redistricting strategist, is becoming public.

Republican state lawmakers in North Carolina fought in court to keep copies of these maps, spreadsheets and other documents from entering the public record. But some files have already come to light in recent months through court filings and news reports.

They have been cited as evidence of gerrymandering that got political maps thrown out in North Carolina, and they have raised questions about Hofeller's role in the Trump administration's failed push for a census citizenship question.

Now more of the files are available online through a website called The Hofeller Files, where Hofeller's daughter, Stephanie Hofeller, published a link to her copy of the files on Sunday after first announcing her plans in a tweet last month.

How Did the Republican Party Get So Corrupt? – The Atlantic

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How Did the Republican Party Get So Corrupt? – The Atlantic

Today’s Republican Party has cornered itself with a base of ever older, whiter, more male, more rural, more conservative voters. Demography can take a long time to change—longer than in progressives’ dreams—but it isn’t on the Republicans’ side. They could have tried to expand; instead, they’ve hardened and walled themselves off. This is why, while voter fraud knows no party, only the Republican Party wildly overstates the risk so that it can pass laws (including right now in Wisconsin, with a bill that reduces early voting) to limit the franchise in ways that have a disparate partisan impact. This is why, when some Democrats in the New Jersey legislature proposed to enshrine gerrymandering in the state constitution, other Democrats, in New Jersey and around the country, objected.

Taking away democratic rights—extreme gerrymandering; blocking an elected president from nominating a Supreme Court justice; selectively paring voting rolls and polling places; creating spurious anti-fraud commissions; misusing the census to undercount the opposition; calling lame-duck legislative sessions to pass laws against the will of the voters—is the Republican Party’s main political strategy, and will be for years to come.

From the department of don’t poke the bear 🐻 in the the eye 👀

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From the department of don’t poke the bear 🐻 in the the eye 👀… 

I am thinking maybe I should gas up my truck ⛽ tonight when I go out and wash it and buy groceries. 🏪 While the experts see gas prices actually trending lower, we know the president hasn’t been on his best behavior in the Middle East lately. That’s what you get when you elect a professional con artist to the White House. 

Mitt Romney Has a Secret Twitter Account, and It Sure Looks Like It’s This One

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Mitt Romney Has a Secret Twitter Account, and It Sure Looks Like It’s This One

Earlier today, the Atlantic’s McKay Coppins published a lengthy profile on Mitt Romney, apparently part of Romney’s effort to set himself up as the noble Republican foil to an out-of-control president. These sorts of pieces, which are more about narrative setting than anything else, typically don’t contain a lot of new information, but this had one notable exception. About midway through, the usually guarded senator revealed that, just like fellow lone-voice-of reason-haver James Comey, he was the owner of a secret Twitter account.