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3/2/18

 

Border wall work begins in downtown Calexico

The federal government began work Wednesday to replace a section of border wall in California, the first wall contract awarded in the Trump administration outside of eight prototypes that were built last year in San Diego.

Customs and Border Protection is replacing a little more than two miles in downtown Calexico, a sliver of the president's plan for a "big, beautiful wall" with Mexico.

A barrier built in the 1990s from recycled metal scraps and landing mat will be torn down for bollard-style posts that are 30 feet high, significantly taller than existing walls.

The administration is seeking $18 billion to extend the wall. Efforts to pay for it as part of a broader immigration package that would include granting legal status for people who came to the county as young children failed in the Senate last week.

In November, SWF Constructors of Omaha, Neb., won a contract for $18 million to replace the wall in Calexico, about 120 miles east of San Diego. It encompasses an area bisected by the New River, where smugglers are known to guide people through polluted waters. The project, which includes a bridge over the river, is expected to take 300 days.
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The administration cleared the way for construction in September by waiving dozens of environmental and other reviews in Calexico. A 2005 law exempted it from environmental reviews if the Homeland Security secretary deems a wall to be in national security interests.

The Trump administration also has issued waivers to build in San Diego and Santa Teresa, N.M. George W. Bush's administration issued the previous five waivers, allowing the government to quickly extend the wall to nearly one-third of the border without legal challenges that can block construction or cause major delays.

The state of California and major environmental advocacy groups have sued the administration over the waivers, saying its authority expired. U.S. District Judge Gonzalo Curiel, who was taunted by Trump during the presidential campaign for his handling of fraud allegations against the now-defunct Trump University, is expected to rule soon on whether to allow the border wall lawsuit to go forward.

 

Now how is Pedro Piperez going to pick a peck of pickled peppers?

 

Coal industry mired in decline despite Trump pledges

 

A long post is worth reading when the poster composes it himself. Thank you for this excellent essay.

 

Trump Shrinks Federal Bureaucracy by 16000

The diminishing federal footprint comes after Trump promised in last year’s campaign to “cut so much your head will spin,” and it reverses a boost in hiring under President Barack Obama. The falloff has been driven by an exodus of civil servants, a diminished corps of political appointees and an effective hiring freeze.

Even though Congress did not pass a new budget in his first year, the drastic spending cuts Trump laid out in the spring — which would slash more than 30 percent of funding at some agencies — also has triggered a spending slowdown, according to officials at multiple departments.

 

Trump Administration Aims to Gut Clean Water Standards to Help Out Coal Power Plants



The changes would extend how long the over 400 coal-fired power plants across the country can maintain unlined coal ash ponds and allow states to determine how frequently they would test disposal sites for groundwater contamination.

EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt championed the rule changes as a way of promoting federalism.

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“Today’s coal ash proposal embodies EPA’s commitment to our state partners by providing them with the ability to incorporate flexibilities into their coal ash permit programs based on the needs of their states,” Pruitt said in a statement announcing the changes.

Pruitt went on to boast that the proposed changes "would save the regulated community between $31 million and $100 million per year."


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“This is the second biggest toxic pollution threat in our country, and we need to clean it up—not make things easier for polluters,” Earthjustice attorney Lisa Evans said in a statement. “People living near more than a thousand toxic coal ash sites are at risk. They face contaminated drinking water, toxic dust in the air, and serious health threats just because the EPA is choosing to side with polluters over the public.”


GettyImages-691271708
President Donald Trump listens while EPA chief Scott Pruitt speaks after announcing the US will withdraw from the Paris accord in the Rose Garden of the White House June 1, 2017 in Washington, DC. On Thursday, Pruitt announced the watchdog agency would loosen its clean water standards for coal ash disposal. Getty Images " data-reactid="31" style="margin-bottom: 1em; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 18px;">President Donald Trump listens while EPA chief Scott Pruitt speaks after announcing the US will withdraw from the Paris accord in the Rose Garden of the White House June 1, 2017 in Washington, DC. On Thursday, Pruitt announced the watchdog agency would loosen its clean water standards for coal ash disposal.Getty Images


Multiple scientific studies have demonstrated that coal ash—which contains carcinogenic substances like arsenic, lead, and selenium—has a demonstrable adverse effect on surrounding communities and the environment. An EPA study from 2010 showed that "people living within one mile of unlined coal ash ponds can have a 1 in 50 risk of cancer—more than 2,000 times higher than what the EPA considers acceptable," as cited by Sierra Club. The study also shows that living within a mile of a wet coal ash storage pond is as hazardous as smoking a pack of cigarettes a day.

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Many industry trade groups have come out in support of the changes, celebrating Pruitt's role in lessening the federal government's role in overseeing coal-fired power plants." data-reactid="34" style="margin-bottom: 1em; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 18px;">Particularly at risk are the over 1.5 million children who live near coal ash disposal sites across the country, as coal ash has been shown to increase the risk of children developing learning disabilities, birth defects, asthma, and cancer.

Many industry trade groups have come out in support of the changes, celebrating Pruitt's role in lessening the federal government's role in overseeing coal-fired power plants.


The Washington Post in a statement.

Frank Holleman, a senior lawyer at the Southern Environmental Law Center, countered by highlighting the dangers posed by coal ash and decried the administration's efforts to protect Americans from carcinogen.

“Coal ash is polluting rivers, lakes and wells across America, but President Trump’s EPA is trying to weaken the standards that are supposed to protect Americans from this toxic threat,” Holleman said in a statement. “These proposals will weaken rules that protect our groundwater from arsenic and mercury and continue to extend the use of unlined, leaking coal ash pits next to our waterways. America’s families and clean water deserve better.”

The EPA said it will accept public comment on the proposed changes for 45 days. It then “plans to move quickly to take final action after the close of the comment period.”

 

There is no low Trump won't sink to in order to line his own pockets.

‘This is grift’: Internet flays Trump for ordering presidential seal on his golf course tee markers

 

and now a recording is released of cheeto saying that chinas dictator had the right idea suspending all presidential elections and making himself -resident for life aka king or dictator
that we should do the same
IE that trump should make himself president for life
hhhmmmm wasnt there some kurfuffle about another president that doing that except he never said anything about it at all and now we get a ommpa loompa that says it and im betting its gonna be laughed off as fake news by the sheeple

 

It was a fucking joke, you dipshit.






No need to answer the question. I KNOW the answer.

 

And if President Obama had ever said anything like that the PR hacks and Trump supporters would be screaming for civil war instead of trying to distract and deflect. They would be flat freaking out. But when Trump wants to become a dictator they think its great. He's already putting the Presidential Seal on his fucking golf courses. Because Trump thinks he owns the country already and its just another one of his properties.

 

Trump supporters on a porn forum. "Yes we totally support Trump's efforts to outlaw porn and agree pornography is a major public health problem and all porn sites on the internet need to be shut down. And we have always believed that for all the time we have been on this porn forum." Bunch of non-fucking phony hypocrites.

Trump names notorious anti-porn crusader who wants stripper registry to Health Department

 

Since you put that in quotes, I'm assuming you can point out who said it and where, that is, if it wasn't just you making shit up.

 

See this? Now he even has to let the TDSers know when he's telling a joke so there's less chance of flooding due to rapid snowflake meltdown.

 

The Trump administration’s North Korea policy is working. The fact that Kim wants to come to the table and he has his hat in hand speaks volumes....

 

Kellyanne Conway Violated Hatch Act Law Twice, Trump To Decide Disciplinary Action: Office Of Special Counsel

Kellyanne Conway violated a federal law prohibiting government employees from engaging in political activity in their official capacity, the U.S. Office of Special Counsel announced on Tuesday.

The office also sent an investigative report, concluding that Conway violated the Hatch Act, to the president for disciplinary action.


Trump reportedly is the one who had given Conway personal approval to criticize Jones.

In the second violation, on December 6, Conway appeared on CNN’s “New Day” show, and encouraged voters to support Moore instead of Jones in the race.

“Both instances constituted prohibited political activity under the Hatch Act and occurred after Conway received significant training on Hatch Act prohibitions,” the office stated in a press release.

Trump eventually endorsed Moore, who lost to Jones in mid-December.