Food for Thought, and a Digestive

Both from the Washington Post:

To beat President Trump, you have to learn to think like his supporters

The euphemisms I refuse to use in 2018

Sarah Kendzior on Twitter summarizes Sen. Warner's Red line

Sarah Kendzior:

All Dems and GOP must unambiguously say that any effort to shut down Mueller probe would be a gross abuse of power. This is a red line.

Many of the same people attacking Mueller's appointment today praised him months ago.

Our intel committee uncovered numerous, troubling high-level engagements between the Trump campaign and Russian affiliates.

The national security threat we face demands we rise above partisan differences. We should all want to know the truth about what happened in the election, and know it as quickly as possible

POTUS's track record is a source of concern. Most people thought he wouldn't fire Comey and he did. Firing Mueller would cause a constitutional crisis.

I had hoped I'd never have to make these speech, but these are troubling times. We must all speak up -- before it's too late.

Sen Warner's speech on the Mueller probe felt more like a warning to the US public than to Trump: brace yourself for a crisis even worse than our current one, and don't fall for spin

EPA says Superfund Task Force left no records

Blessed are the scum, for they shall envelop the earth. Scott Pruitt's secretive, unaccountable EPA is re-defining what it means to be a public servant. EPA says Superfund Task Force left no records | News | santafenewmexican.com:

The task force in June issued a nearly three dozen-page report containing 42 detailed recommendations, all of which Pruitt immediately adopted. The advocacy group Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, known as PEER, quickly filed a Freedom of Information Act request seeking a long list of documents related to the development of Pruitt’s plan.

“Task force members were all volunteers from EPA staff with no selection criteria,” Johnny Walker, a Justice Department lawyer representing EPA, wrote to PEER last month. “The Task Force recommendations were intended to provide guidance to EPA staff. As such, there was no plan for public review and comment on the recommendations.”

The task force was led by Albert “Kell” Kelly, whom Pruitt hired at EPA as a senior adviser at an annual salary of $172,100. Kelly was previously the chairman of Tulsa-based SpiritBank, where he worked as an executive for 34 years.

The Associated Press reported in August that Kelly was barred by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation from working for any U.S. financial institution after officials determined he violated laws or regulations, leading to a financial loss for his bank.

U.S. Sen. Martin Heinrich: Why hinder a rapidly growing industry?

Why hinder a rapidly growing industry? | Albuquerque Journal:

Only a little more than 1 percent of the hundreds of thousands of American solar workers manufacture solar panels or modules. Even within solar manufacturing as a whole, approximately 20 times more American workers work for companies like New Mexico’s Unirac that manufacture other equipment used to produce solar power. Those companies have warned that they may have to lay off employees if the United States imposes costly tariffs or quotas on imported panels.

I’m on Trump’s voter fraud commission. I’m suing it to find out what it’s doing. - The Washington Post

I’m on Trump’s voter fraud commission. I’m suing it to find out what it’s doing. - The Washington Post:

Instead, the commission is cloaking itself in secrecy, completely contrary to federal law. Recommendations for changes in public policy — whether you agree with them or not — ought to come through an open, public discussion where any American can weigh in.

the memo wasn’t written by staff — it was written by individuals who were later named to the commission but who were working outside of government at the time. The letter went out immediately after our first conference call, indicating that Kobach’s data-gathering effort was underway before the commission formed. But no one told members of the commission that; I learned about it from the press.

Strangely, [Kobach's] charges had less to do with how voters in New Hampshire had conducted themselves than with the structure of the state’s election laws, which Kobach apparently dislikes.

The commission was established by executive order under the auspices of the Federal Advisory Commission Act (FACA), which requires notice of our public meetings, disclosure of our work product and the opportunity for public participation. FACA was written precisely so Americans would know what the government is doing and what it is considering, so we could participate in that process.

Without transparency about the commission’s actions, how can you find out if a policy is being developed that may require you to have a Real ID-compliant driver’s license to vote? Or whether you’ll have to prove American citizenship at the polls? How will you know about proposed changes to voter registration deadlines or new restrictions on absentee balloting?

Of course, this is politics. But remember, we as American citizens are supposed to own the process.