January 27, 2017


News and Views


THE FOLLOWING ARTICLE IS ONE OF TWO OR THREE SEPARATE BUT SIMILAR SCARES OCCURRING IMMEDIATELY AFTER THE TRUMP INAUGURATION. I DO BELIEVE THAT MUCH OF THIS PROBLEM IS THAT TRUMP HAS SAID SUCH OUTRAGEOUS THINGS, AND DONE SOME ALSO, SO THAT THOSE OF US WHO HAVE A TOTALLY DIFFERENT WORLDVIEW FROM EVEN THE ORDINARY REPUBLICAN (MUCH LESS A RABBLE-ROUSING, CONTROL FREAK WHO REGULARLY SPEAKS BEFORE HE THINKS, AND DISDAINS THOSE WHO ARE NOT FROM HIS ECONOMIC BRACKET), SIMPLY DO NOT TRUST HIS 1)JUDGMENT, 2)ETHICAL FRAMEWORK, 3)ABILITY TO REFRAIN FROM THE DESIRE TO BECOME THE FIRST TRUE TYRANT EVER TO MAKE IT INTO THE PRESIDENCY. THAT’S WHY SUCH THINGS MAKE US NERVOUS AND ANGRY. THE LAST TIME I FELT THIS WAY ABOUT A PRESIDENT WAS RICHARD NIXON. I DIDN’T LIKE REAGAN, BUT I DIDN’T FEAR HIM AS I DO THIS MAN.


https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-politics/wp/2017/01/24/usda-science-researchers-ordered-to-stop-publishing-news-releases-other-documents/?utm_term=.85f9f15f7f8c&wpisrc=nl_politics-pm&wpmm=1

USDA scrambles to ease concerns after researchers were ordered to stop publishing news releases
By Jose A. DelReal
January 24 at 6:42 PM


Employees of the scientific research arm at the Agriculture Department were ordered Monday to cease publication of “outward facing” documents and news releases, raising concerns that the Trump administration was seeking to influence distribution of their findings.

Department officials scrambled to clarify the memo Tuesday afternoon, after intense public scrutiny and media requests, stating that the Agricultural Research Service (ARS) had not “blacked out public information” and adding that scientific articles published through professional peer-reviewed journals have not been banned. Such a decree would have conflicted with established scientific integrity standards and previous media guidance “encouraging, but not requiring, USDA scientists to communicate with the media about their scientific findings.”

The memo's shortness and terse language seems to have exacerbated the confusion: “Starting immediately and until further notice, ARS will not release any public-facing documents. This includes, but is not limited to, news releases, photos, fact sheets, news feeds, and social media content,” wrote ARS chief Sharon Drumm in an email to employees.

The ARS guidance was not issued in coordination with other offices at the USDA, department officials said, and partially contradicted a department-wide memo that went out on the same day. The USDA-wide memo, issued by the department's acting deputy administrator, Michael Young, was intended to offer guidance on “interim procedures” until a new secretary takes over USDA.

Young stressed during a phone call with reporters Tuesday evening that his guidance does not place a gag order on publication to scientific journals, does not place a blanket freeze on press releases, or prohibit food safety announcements.

“The ARS guidance was not reviewed by me. I would not have put that kind of guidance out. My guidance has to do with policy-related announcement and that sort of thing,” Young said during a phone call with reporters early Tuesday evening. “I had my memo drafted before the ARS memo, I was not a part of it.”

Young’s memo, a copy of which was given to The Washington Post, emphasizes that press releases and policy statements must be routed through the office of the secretary for approval: “In order for the Department to deliver unified, consistent messages, it's important for the Office of the Secretary to be consulted on media inquiries and proposed response to questions related to legislation, budgets, policy issues, and regulations,” said the memo. “Policy-related statements should not be made to the press without notifying and consulting the Office of the Secretary. That includes press releases and on and off the record conversations.”

Young stressed that he is a “career official,” not a partisan appointee, and said that the memo he issued closely mirrored one sent at the beginning of the Obama administration. He also said he shared the memo with Trump transition official Sam Clovis before issuing it.

“This is really just formalizing again what is fairly standard practice within the department. I just felt like, yeah, I want to be cautious because I don’t want any surprises on my watch. I was trying to avoid any surprises,” he said.

The Agricultural Research Service employs thousands of in-house scientists, maintains scores of research locations around the country and boasts a $1 billion budget. It is tasked with conducting research to “develop and transfer solutions to agricultural problems of high national priority,” according to the USDA. That research focuses on topics such as food safety, nutrition, animal and crop production, and agricultural sustainability.

Research publicized on the USDA's website this month includes papers such as “Helping Arizona Wheat Growers Maximize Resources” and “Test Uses Novel Antibodies to Detect Shiga Toxins.”

The “public-facing documents” memo Monday, which was first reported by BuzzFeed, raised fears that the new Trump administration was attempting to filter articles about ongoing scientific research being conducted by ARS.

The ARS sought to ease those concerns Tuesday afternoon. Young also said Tuesday evening that he had spoken with ARS and suggested he might support clarifying or rescinding the research agency’s confusing guidance.

“As the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s chief scientific in-house research agency, ARS values and is committed to maintaining the free flow of information between our scientists and the American public as we strive to find solutions to agricultural problems affecting America,” ARS said in a statement to The Post Tuesday afternoon, seeking to clarify the scope of the memo.

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[Trump picks Sonny Perdue for agriculture secretary]

USDA and ARS have issued media guidance in the past. Under the Obama administration, guidance published in 2013 stipulated that USDA employees should clear any “media inquiries on topics that are sensitive” with public affairs staffers. That media guidance, which appeared to have been last updated in 2016, also urges them to communicate with supervisors about “any instances where they feel public affairs or communications staff is stifling their ability to communicate about their work.”

The USDA does not yet have a permanent department head. Former Georgia governor Sonny Perdue was nominated by President Trump to head the USDA last week but has not yet begun the confirmation process. The congressional committee overseeing his hearing has not given guidance on when his hearing will take place, pending his submission of necessary paperwork.

Trump's Transition: Who is Sonny Perdue? Play Video 2:11

President-elect Donald Trump has tapped Sonny Perdue as Agriculture Secretary, rounding out his Cabinet-level picks. (Victoria Walker/The Washington Post)

Read more:

Trump administration tells EPA to freeze all grants, contracts

Interior Department reactivates Twitter accounts after shutdown following inauguration

Climate change has big implications for farmers. Will Sonny Perdue get that?



https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/energy-environment/wp/2017/01/23/trump-administration-tells-epa-to-freeze-all-grants-contracts/?tid=a_inl&utm_term=.cb0fbe17ffe4

Trump administration tells EPA to freeze all grants, contracts
By Brady Dennis and Juliet Eilperin
January 24 at 6:15 PM

Photograph -- The headquarters of the Environmental Protection Agency in Washington. (Matt McClain/ The Washington Post)


The Trump administration has instructed officials at the Environmental Protection Agency to freeze its grants and contracts, a move that could affect everything from state-led climate research to localized efforts to improve air and water quality to environmental justice projects aimed at helping poor communities.

An email went out to employees in the agency’s Office of Acquisition Management within hours of President Trump’s swearing-in on Friday.

“New EPA administration has asked that all contract and grant awards be temporarily suspended, effective immediately,” read the email, which was shared with The Washington Post. “Until we receive further clarification, which we hope to have soon, please construe this to include task orders and work assignments.”

According to its website, each year the EPA awards more than $4 billion in funding for grants and other assistance agreements. For now, it appears, that funding is on hold, casting a cloud of uncertainty over one of the agency’s core functions, as well as over the scientists, state and local officials, universities and Native American tribes that often benefit from the grants.

Trump signs orders on TPP, federal hiring freeze, 'Mexico City policy' Play Video1:23

“EPA staff have been reviewing grants and contracts information with the incoming transition team,” an agency spokesperson said in an email Tuesday. “Pursuant to that review, the agency is continuing to award the environmental program grants and state revolving loan fund grants to the states and tribes; and we are working to quickly address issues related to other categories of grants.” The agency said the goal is to complete the grants and contracts review by the close of business Friday.

It is unclear whether the move by the incoming administration was related to President Trump’s order Monday that federal agencies halt hiring in all areas on the executive branch except for the military, national security and public safety, which also curbed contracting as a way of compensating for the freeze. “Contracting outside the Government to circumvent the intent of this memorandum shall not be permitted,” the memorandum states.

[Trump’s regulatory freeze halts four Obama rules aimed at promoting greater energy efficiency]

Administration officials inserted the language in an apparent attempt to curb the growth in federal contracts that arose during previous freezes imposed under Presidents Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan. But the total halt in contracts and grants for a single agency appeared to go beyond that specific provision, which applied solely to contracting activities in response to the halt in hiring.

Myron Ebell, who oversaw the EPA transition for the new administration, told ProPublica on Monday that the freezing of grants and contracts was not unprecedented.

“They’re trying to freeze things to make sure nothing happens they don’t want to have happen, so any regulations going forward, contracts, grants, hires, they want to make sure to look at them first,” said Ebell, director of the Center for Energy and Environment at the Competitive Enterprise Institute, an industry-backed group that has long sought to slash the authority of the EPA.

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“This may be a little wider than some previous administrations, but it’s very similar to what others have done,” he told the publication.

But not in recent history has such a blanket freeze taken place, and one employee told ProPublica he did not recall anything like it in nearly a decade with the agency.

The move is likely to increase anxieties inside an already tense agency. Ebell and other transition officials have made little secret about their goal of greatly reducing the EPA’s footprint and regulatory reach. Trump has repeatedly criticized the EPA for what he calls a string of onerous, expensive regulations that are hampering businesses. And his nominee to run the agency, Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt, has repeatedly sued the EPA over the years, challenging its legal authority to regulate everything from mercury pollution to various wetlands and waterways to carbon emissions from power plants.

See what President Trump has been doing since his inauguration
View Photos The new president met with business leaders the day after swearing in senior members of his White House staff.

Read more:

Trump names Scott Pruitt, Oklahoma attorney general suing EPA on climate change, to head the EPA
Meet the man Donald Trump is counting on to scale back the EPA
Trump freezes hiring of many federal workers

Brady Dennis is a national reporter for The Washington Post, focusing on the environment and public health issues. Follow @brady_dennis
Juliet Eilperin is The Washington Post's senior national affairs correspondent. She is the author of two books—one on sharks, and another on Congress, not to be confused with each other—and has worked for the Post since 1998. Follow @eilperin



http://www.nbcnews.com/news/weather/officials-beg-trump-send-help-after-storms-kill-20-across-n711071?cid=eml_nnn_20170123

NEWS JAN 23 2017, 6:34 PM ET
Officials Beg Trump to Send Help After Storms Kill 20 Across South
by ALEX JOHNSON and DANIELLA SILVA

Video -- At Least 20 Killed as Tornadoes, Severe Storms Hit Southeastern U.S. 2:02

Desperate officials pleaded with President Donald Trump to send federal assistance Monday after at least 20 people were killed by storms and tornadoes that caused devastation authorities likened to the impact of a nuclear blast.

Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant said he had dispatched a letter to Trump pleading for help after four people were killed in his state. He said more 1,000 homes were damaged in Hattiesburg and surrounding Forrest County alone — 239 of which were obliterated.

Play Cleanup in Southeast Continues as Northeast Prepares for Nor'easter Facebook Twitter Google Plus Embed
Cleanup in Southeast Continues as Northeast Prepares for Nor'easter 1:15

In Dougherty County, Georgia, where four people were killed, county commission Chairman Chris Cohilas said Monday that he has been "begging FEMA for boots on the ground," referring to the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

Play Drone Video Shows Aftermath of Deadly Storm in Albany, Georgia Facebook Twitter Google Plus Embed
Drone Video Shows Aftermath of Deadly Storm in Albany, Georgia 1:12

"I'm asking President Trump to cut through the red tape and get people on the damned ground here," he said.

In addition to the 19 people confirmed to have died in central and South Georgia and in Mississippi, a 20th person was confirmed Monday to have been killed in northern Florida over the weekend.

Related: Up to 20 Dead After Tornadoes, Thunderstorms Batter Southeast

Shayne Morgan, emergency management director in Columbia County, told NBC News that an unidentified person was struck by a tree that fell during the height of the storm. The victim died at a hospital, Morgan said Monday.

Image: Mississippi tornado damage
Shanise McMorris grieves Monday on the slab of her home in Hattiesburg, Mississippi, which was flattened by a tornado Saturday. Rogelio V. Solis / AP

Across the South, 50 unconfirmed tornadoes were reported from Thursday to Sunday as four severe storms moved south from Georgia and Mississippi into the Florida Panhandle, said Frank Giannasca, a senior meteorologist at The Weather Channel.

The worst of the damage was in Georgia, particularly in Dougherty and Cook counties. Seven deaths were reported in Cook County, where a tornado demolished a mobile home park in Adel, NBC station WLTV reported.

"If you were to see it today, it's like a war zone," Adel Mayor Buddy Duke said at a news conference early Monday evening, his voice cracking with emotion.

Play Daughter Remembers 'Weather Nut' Father Killed in Ga. Tornado Facebook Twitter Google Plus Embed
Daughter Remembers 'Weather Nut' Father Killed in Ga. Tornado 2:19

"I've never seen the outpouring of love and support in any community that I've seen in the last day and a half," he said. "We're going to rebuild, and we'll be back."

Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal expanded a state of emergency from seven counties to 16 on Monday afternoon and extended the order through Jan. 30.

"The cleanup is expected to take weeks in some of these locations," said Danielle Banks, a meteorologist for The Weather Channel. And "it could be days before they're able to complete searches for more victims."

In Dougherty County, "it looks like a nuclear bomb went off," Cohilas said Sunday.

Monday, Cohilas said a search was under way for a missing toddler who was swept away in rushing storm waters. But after four days of round-the-clock emergency operations, "we have exhausted every asset we have," he said.

"The damage that we've suffered in our community is immeasurable," he said. "Our people are suffering. They have no food, no home, no warmth, no hope."

IMAGE: Georgia mobile home park damage
Most of the 200 homes at the Paradise Village mobile home park in Albany, Georgia, were destroyed. Albany Police Department

Most of the 200 homes at the Paradise Village mobile home park in Albany were destroyed, Ross Piercy, the property manager, told NBC station WALB. About a dozen were completely washed away and can't be found, he said.

"It just hurts," Piercy said. "It hurts my heart to see how many people have nothing left."

Lasheree Richardson, 35, of Albany, told NBC News that she felt her house shake and heard her windows shatter as the storm passed through.

"I heard my neighbor scream, and it made me rush into the closet," where a neighbor who'd walked a mile and a half found her, she said.

"She was happy I was OK. Once she saw what was around, it was a blessing," Richardson said.

Alex Johnson ALEX JOHNSON TWITTERFACEBOOKGOOGLE PLUS
DANIELLA SILVA TWITTEREMAIL










THIS CBS ARTICLE ON SUPREME COURT PICKS IS OVERLY LONG, BUT IT IS FULL OF INFORMATION AND SPECULATION. READ IT ON YOUR OWN IF YOU ARE INTERESTED.

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/trump-supreme-court-justice-pick-narrows-to-two-names/

Trump Supreme Court justice pick narrows to two names
CBS NEWS
By Major Garrett, Jan Crawford and Adam Aigner-Treworgy
January 24, 2017, 6:11 PM



SEE NEXT, A COMMENT FROM THE PROGRESSIVE LEFT, ALAN GRAYSON. I’VE PUT IT HERE BECAUSE IT SUMS UP HOW I FEEL ABOUT THIS WHOLE ELECTION OF 2016. I MET HIM AT A LOCAL MEET AND GREET A FEW MONTHS AGO, AND WAS IMPRESSED. HE IS TOO LARGE FOR MY TASTES, 6’4” AND EASILY 250 POUNDS, WITH HEAVY FACIAL BONES AND THE KIND OF ENERGY THAT IS A LITTLE SCARY, BUT HE IS LIKE BERNIE – A TRUE PROGRESSIVE AND A FIGHTER.

“Not a two-year-long dental appointment without anesthesia, with the pain so awful that it brings the entire tearful country to the verge of a national nervous breakdown.”



https://mg.mail.yahoo.com/neo/launch?.rand=5m22q55742o9a#81889074
Alan Grayson for Senate
alangrayson@graysonforcongress.com

"In France They Kiss on Main Street"

Dear Lucy,

The Socialists in France are conducting a Presidential Primary this week. The first round was held last Sunday. Remarkably, the candidate who espoused the policies that people believed would improve their lives actually won that first round.

Imagine that.

Notably absent was any discussion of the grabbing of private parts, or the use of private e-mail servers. There was, however, a robust discussion of the right to privacy (or as it is called in Europe, “the right to be left alone.”)

Also a no-show was any debate about whether the candidates had paid taxes, or how much money they had received from speaking engagements. There was, however, a vigorous debate about how much the rich should pay in taxes, how much pay French workers should receive for their work, and what their working hours should be.

The campaign was mercifully brief. The first-round winner declared his candidacy five months ago, but the campaign really didn’t get underway until the incumbent President announced, just last month, that he would not be running for reelection.

The first poll after the candidates qualified for the ballot, earlier this month, showed former Prime Minister Manuel Valls with a large lead over former Industrial Renewal Minister Arnaud Montebourg and former Education Minister (for four months) Benoit Hamon:

Manuel Valls 43%
Arnaud Montebourg 25%
Benoit Hamon 22%
Others 10%

There were three nationally televised debates, all in one week (Jan. 12, 15 and 19). During the debates, the candidates propounded the following agendas:

Valls - ?
Montebourg - ?
Hamon – extend Social Security to everyone, at $950/mo.; reduce the work week to 32 hours; legalize marijuana.
Hamon won the first round of voting:
Benoit Hamon 36%
Manuel Valls 31%
Arnaud Montebourg 17%
Others 16%

Montebourg immediately endorsed Hamon for the second round of votes, happening this Sunday.

(By the way, please excuse the non sequitur, but Hamon’s Wikipedia page features a picture of Hamon with Bernie Sanders.)

So in less than three weeks, Hamon soared from third place to first place. What was his secret? He sketched out for ordinary people what he could do and would do, as President, to make their lives better. He convinced them that he actually would fight to make these things happen. And his audience, understanding the opportunity that comes with choosing a national leader, demanded substance from the candidates.

“Duh,” you say. Isn’t that what elections are all about?

“As if,” I say. Is that what our Presidential election just looked like – no, what it felt like – to you?

Elections ought to be a celebration – a celebration of our democratic opportunity to choose leaders who will take action to improve our lives. Not a two-year-long dental appointment without anesthesia, with the pain so awful that it brings the entire tearful country to the verge of a national nervous breakdown.

I understand that it is not politically popular to praise the French, as John Kerry learned in 2004. Oh, I know -- they did help us during the Revolutionary War, and we fought side by side with them in World War I and World War II, but then les hexagones refused to join us in the war in Iraq. That prompted my former employer, the U.S. House of Representatives, to re-designate the French fries served in our cafeteria as “freedom fries.” Hah – that showed them! (That, plus the 250,000+ American troops who returned from Iraq with permanent brain abnormalities.)

But let us give credit where credit is due. The current Socialist Presidential Primary demonstrates that the French know what elections are all about. Elections don’t have to be painful. In fact, they shouldn’t be. For the French, at least, politics is l’amour (love), not cheap display.

If you think that elections should be an exhilarating contest of ideas, not a debilitating sh*tstorm, then click here to show your support >>

Courage,
Alan Grayson

“In France they kiss on Main Street,
‘Amour,’ mama, not cheap display.
And we were rolling, rolling, rock n’ rollin.”
- Joni Mitchell, “In France They Kiss on Main Street” (1975).


https://www.yahoo.com/music/madonna-banned-radio-station-lack-162615818.html

Madonna Banned by Radio Station for Lack of ‘Patriotism’
James Hibberd
Entertainment Weekly
January 25, 2017

Photograph -- Madonna banned by radio station for lack of ‘patriotism’

A Texas radio station has a message for Madonna: Don’t preach about Trump.

Texarkana’s Hits 105 posted a message on its Facebook page alerting its listeners that they’re dumping the Material Girl’s songs “indefinitely” due to comments they found rather immaterial to being a pop star.

General Manager Terry Thomas released a statement explaining why Madonna’s tracks will no longer be among their 50 minutes of commercial-free hits from the ’60s, ’70s and ’80s: “Banning all Madonna songs at HITS 105 is not a matter of politics, it’s a matter of patriotism. It just feels wrong to us to be playing Madonna songs and paying her royalties when the artist has shown un-American sentiments. If all stations playing Madonna took their lead from us, that would send a powerful economic message to Madonna.”

Specifically, the station referenced Madonna’s “f-bombs” during her Women’s March on Washington speech last Saturday and this line that’s generated plenty of controversy: “Yes, I’m angry. Yes, I am outraged. Yes, I have thought an awful lot about blowing up the White House.”

Madonna has since clarified the comments, writing on Instagram: “I am not a violent person, I do not promote violence and it’s important people hear and understand my speech in its entirety rather than one phrase taken wildly out of context … the only way to change things for the better is to do it with love.”

For more news videos visit Yahoo View, available now on iOS and Android.
#news#madonna


FOR SEVERAL ARTICLES ON THE SUPPOSEDLY “ILLEGAL” VOTING OF 2016, GO TO BLOG CALLED “MILLIONS OF NON-CITIZENS VOTED IN 2016.”


THE FOLLOWING “BADLANDS” ARTICLE IS ABOUT HOW SEVERAL PEOPLE IN CIVILIZED, PEACE-LOVING GOVERNMENT DEPARTMENTS SPOKE THEIR MIND AND WERE IMMEDIATELY SILENCED. THAT DOESN’T MAKE ME FEEL GOOD AT ALL ABOUT TRUMP OR THIS EVER-EVOLVING NEW REPUBLICAN PARTY. WILL THEIR NEW POWER BE SO EXHILARATING THAT THEY WILL FOLLOW TRUMP OVER A CLIFF? THIS ARTICLE SHOWS REASON NUMBER 50 FOR WHY I REALLY DON’T LIKE REPUBLICANS!! THEY LIKE BAD THINGS AND DESPISE GOOD THINGS.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XyUDP1ZvIsk


http://www.cbsnews.com/news/badlands-national-park-twitter-goes-rogue-starts-tweeting-facts-about-the-environment/
Badlands National Park Twitter account goes rogue, starts tweeting scientific facts
By CHRISTINA CAPATIDES CBS NEWS
January 24, 2017, 5:28 PM

Image -- The recent posts by Badlands National Park in South Dakota. @BADLANDSNPS/TWITTER

Just days after The National Park Service (NPS) was forced to shut down its Twitter activity over two retweets the Department of the Interior deemed inconsistent with the agency’s mission, the Twitter account for Badlands National Park in South Dakota seems to have gone rogue, tweeting numerous scientific facts about climate change that have since been deleted.

The first tweet about climate science came at 11:40 a.m. local time Tuesday. It said: “The pre-industrial concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere was 280 parts per million (ppm). As of December 2016, 404.93 ppm.”

screen-shot-2017-01-24-at-4-08-58-pm.png

@BADLANDSNPS/TWITTER
Just moments later, the same account tweeted, “Today, the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is higher than at any time in the last 650,000 years” — with the hashtag “#climate” added for good measure.

screen-shot-2017-01-24-at-4-07-28-pm.png

@BADLANDSNPS/TWITTER
Then, at 12:25 p.m., the next tweet said: “Flipside of the atmosphere; ocean acidity has increased 30% since the Industrial Revolution. ‘Ocean Acidification’ #climate #carboncycle”

screen-shot-2017-01-24-at-4-07-16-pm.png

@BADLANDSNPS/TWITTER
Claudia Koerner, a reporter for BuzzFeed News, said the National Park Service told her the tweets came from a former employee and the account had been “compromised.”

View image on Twitter
View image on Twitter
Follow
Claudia Koerner ✔ @ClaudiaKoerner
The National Park Service tells me those @BadlandsNPS tweets were from a former employee and the account was “compromised."
8:03 PM - 24 Jan 2017
739 739 Retweets 655 655 likes

The messages were short-lived. As of 5:35 p.m., all the tweets posted in images above were deleted. In response to that action, Democratic National Committee press secretary Adrienne Watson released the following statement: “Vladimir Putin would be proud.”

This comes as the Trump administration has instituted a temporary media blackout at the Environmental Protection Agency, causing the EPA’s social media accounts to fall silent after Friday’s Inauguration Day.


Play VIDEO -- Scientists, environmentalists brace for Trump presidency

The EPA’s final tweet before the social media blackout simply reads, “@GinaEPA shares a report about actions taken by the agency under the Clean Air Act during the last eight years,” with a link to a blog post by now-former Obama EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy.

While the main National Parks Service Twitter account is now back up and tweeting, its posts since the temporary halt at that agency have remained largely innocuous: benign tweets about new research libraries, sled dogs in Denali and the motivational power of the mountains. Those posts seem certain not to rub the Trump administration the wrong way. Badlands’ posts on the carbon cycle and climate change, however, seem to have proven otherwise.

President Trump has, in the past, tweeted that he believes climate change is a hoax perpetrated by China. During their confirmation hearings, however, several of Trump’s Cabinet nominees disagreed with that notion, including ExxonMobil chief executive Rex Tillerson and Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt, Trump’s choice to take over the EPA.

Follow
Donald J. Trump ✔ @realDonaldTrump
The concept of global warming was created by and for the Chinese in order to make U.S. manufacturing non-competitive.
2:15 PM - 6 Nov 2012
104,928 104,928 Retweets 66,925 66,925 likes

On Monday, White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer answered a question from the Huffington Post’s Jennifer Bendery on climate change — specifically, about the fact that 2016 was the hottest year on record and how President Trump plans to deal with that fact — by saying, “He’s going to meet with his team and figure out what policies are best for the environment. One of the things he talked about during the campaign is there’s a balance, and he’s trying to make sure we use our resources appropriately, that we maximize things to make sure that we don’t do so at the detriment of economic growth and job creation.”



http://www.cbsnews.com/news/robert-gates-former-defense-secretary-still-concerned-president-trump-russia-stance/

Robert Gates "concerned" Trump is unwilling to criticize Russians
CBS NEWS
January 24, 2017, 7:02 AM

Former CIA Director and Defense Secretary Robert Gates was highly critical of President Trump during the campaign, calling him “unfit to be commander in chief.” But Gates said he is heartened by Mr. Trump’s Cabinet picks. It was Gates who suggested that the president consider Rex Tillerson as secretary of state.

In an interview on Charlie Rose’s PBS show, Gates expressed unease about Mr. Trump’s stance toward Russia.

“I am concerned about the president’s apparent unwillingness to criticize the Russians,” Gates said. “He’s acknowledged that the Russians were behind the hacking. But in terms of Russia’s aggressiveness, its meddling, its interventionism, its general bullying and thuggery, those are real. That’s real behavior.”

“What does [Mr. Trump] say when somebody of your credibility says to him, ‘you got it wrong about Russia’?” Rose asked Gates.

“I told him the same thing that I said in the Senate hearing introducing Rex Tillerson for his nomination hearing. I said, ‘Your administration is going to have to thread the needle and figure out how, on the one hand, to push back against Putin’s aggressiveness and meddling and interventionism, and at the same time, stop a continuing downward spiral in the U.S.-Russian relationship that is potentially quite dangerous.’ But they’ve got to do both sides of it. They’ve got to thread the needle, and there has to be some pushback.”

“What does that mean, ‘thread the needle’?” Rose asked.

“You’ve got to figure out a policy that does both. You can’t just be accommodating to Russia, look for deals with Russia,” Gates said. “You also have to be willing to push back against Putin because he is a guy who, he has the old line used about Premier Khrushchev, ‘What’s mine [is] mine and what’s yours is negotiable.’”




http://www.cbsnews.com/news/president-trump-tweets-chicago-gun-violence-send-in-the-feds/

Trump tweets about Chicago gun violence, threatens to "send in the Feds"
CBS/AP
January 24, 2017, 11:43 PM

Photograph -- U.S. President Donald Trump speaks while signing executive orders at the White House in Washington Jan. 24, 2017. REUTERS/KEVIN LAMARQUE

WASHINGTON -- Chicago’s gun violence is the latest focus of President Donald Trump’s tweets.

In a post on Tuesday night, Trump said that if Chicago can’t reduce its homicide figures, he will “send in the Feds!” He described the violence as “carnage.”

Follow
Donald J. Trump ✔ @realDonaldTrump
If Chicago doesn't fix the horrible "carnage" going on, 228 shootings in 2017 with 42 killings (up 24% from 2016), I will send in the Feds!
9:25 PM - 24 Jan 2017
36,374 36,374 Retweets 117,179 117,179 likes

Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel acknowledged his own frustration with Chicago’s crime rate Monday, but also criticized Trump for worrying about the size of the crowd at his inauguration.

In early January, the Chicago Police Department said in a statement that 2016 witnessed “an unacceptable rise in violence.” There were 762 murders, 3,550 shooting incidents and 4,331 shooting victims in the year alone, the department said.

Mr. Trump’s tweet on Tuesday night was posted moments before he tweeted about a “big day” Wednesday.

“Big day planned on NATIONAL SECURITY tomorrow,” he tweeted. “Among many other things, we will build the wall!”

Two administration officials told the Associated Press that President Trump will begin rolling out executive actions on immigration Wednesday, beginning with steps to tighten border security -- including his proposed wall along the U.S.-Mexico border -- and other domestic immigration enforcement measures.


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JAN 26 OVERFLOW NEWS

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/madeleine-albright-says-shes-ready-to-register-as-muslim-in-solidarity/

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/president-trump-executive-order-mexican-border-wall-impact/

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/vermont-town-ready-for-refugees-may-no-longer-receive-them-after-donald-trump-order/

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http://www.cbsnews.com/news/miami-changes-course-pulls-sanctuary-status-one-day-after-trumps-crackdown/

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http://www.cbsnews.com/news/trumps-speech-at-gop-retreat-in-philadelphia-live-updates/

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http://www.cbsnews.com/news/was-donald-trumps-official-potus-account-registered-with-a-gmail-address/

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/mark-morgan-border-patrol-chief-out-trump-border-wall-decree/