Cabbage News Network Week # -5

[kmusser]

Stickied until the inauguration: Status of cabinet picks: http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2016/us/politics/donald-trump-administration.html - updates from last week include Secretary of State, Energy, Interior, White House Counsel, ambassador to Israel

Last week

• Bipartisan board overseeing Voice of America and related stations to be dissolved and replaced by a president appointed CEO. (source, WP explanation)

Friday 12/9

• Trump team collecting names of climate scientists (source) DoE says FU

Monday 12/12

• Insults between DJT and China continue (source).
  
• via twitter, DJT delays promised press conference on finances, restates that he'll leave business to children (who are on the transition team), but not do a blind trust

Tuesday 12/13

• In depth Newsweek piece connects DJT's foreign policy calls and his international business interests (source)
  
• DJT wants to fire NATO official (source).
  
• Scientists are copying their data to non-government computers so that the administration can't delete it (source and yes, I've done likewise).
  
• DJT threatens the careers of any electors that defect (source)

Wednesday 12/14

• NYTimes in depth article on the Russian hacking, if you are unsure of what exactly was hacked, how, and how we know it was Russia, read this (source).
  

Thursday 12/15

• GOP Freedom Caucus release a hit list of specific regulations they are targeting to get rid of (source, go directly to the list - I won't lie to you, it's pretty horrifying, the WP article only scratches the surface and missed little things like removing Net Neutrality - I have my paraphrasing of the full list at the bottom of this post).
  
• Not really related to Trump/Pence, but in NC the GOP is stripping the governor's office of much of its power since a democrat won said office. (source)
  
• DJT tweets continued denial of Russian involvement in the election
  
• DJT wants to create "safe zones" in Syria, unclear what he means by that

Friday 12/16

• Congressman floats idea of national surveillance program targeting Muslims after meeting with Trump (source)
  
• China seizes U.S. vessel in South China Sea (source)

Non-U.S. news

• Aleppo has fallen to the Syrian government, before the civil war Aleppo was Syria's largest city, its loss is a major blow to the Syrian rebels and a big win for Assad and Putin.

Map of the week:

• The Internet, 1973

Note this is my paraphrasing and I may very well be wrong in some of my interpretations, in most cases I did not read the relevant regulation in too much depth, with that in mind, things the GOP would like to get rid of:

nutrition standards for school lunches
environmental regulations for national forests
food safety inspections
conservation easements
rural broadband subsidies
labeling requirements for veterinary medicine
conservation requirements for agricultural subsidies
organic food certification
environmental regulations for USDA
labeling requirements for meat
wetlands regulations
renewable energy subsidies
DoD environmental research
DoD requirement for contractors to obey labor laws
student loan subsidies
student loan forgiveness programs
dept of ed gainful employment program
non-discrimination requirements on schools
energy standards for appliances
energy standards for construction
alternative fuel subsidies
labeling requirements for food
any regulation on tobacco
medicare/medicaid emergency preparedness requirements
non-discrimination requirements for health care providers
exemptions for work requirements to receive welfare
minimal coverage requirements for health care plans
non-discrimination requirements for HHS Title X services
Child Care and Development Fund
lots of medicare related requirements I don't really understand, think they are mostly eliminating standards health care providers must meet in order to be a medicare provider, plus some removing restrictions on what they can charge
protections for human subjects of health research
confidentiality of substance use health records
FDA program for protecting food supply from terrorism
FDA maintenance of list of products withdrawn from the market
citizen input in FDA new drug approvals
Head Start
labeling requirements for drugs
non-discrimination requirements for FDA health programs
building codes for health care facilities
State Health Insurance Assistance Program
restrictions on state and local law enforcing immigration law
Electronic Visa Update System
amnesty for granted under the Visa Waiver program
amnesty for immigrant children
Provisional Waiver Program
Extensions of H-1B and other temporary visas
assistance with naturalization fees
removal of Secure Communities deportation program (yes that's a double negative)
DHS/ICE Priority Enforcement Program
amnesty for those seeking enrollment in the U.S. military
White House Task Force on New Americans
L-1b intra-company transfers to the U.S.
protections for victims of human trafficking
many more immigration-related policies stemming from Obama's November 2014 executive orders intending to streamline the immigration process and prioritize criminals over families in deportations
Fiduciary rule (requirement that financial advisors put clients interest above their own)
Joint Employer Standard (rule that makes contractees/franchisees partially responsible for their outsourced work)
Overtime
minimum wage for Federal contractors
requirements to sometimes treat independent contractors as employees
requirements for financial info filed on retirement plans
Davis-Bacon Act (requires Federally funded contracts pay at least the prevailing wage)
OSHA Silica rule
OSHA tracking of workplace injuries
sick leave for Federal contractors
requirement for Federal contractors to keep wages in pace with inflation
Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act
restrictions on drilling for oil and gas on the continental shelf
restrictions on drilling for oil and gas in National Wildlife Refuges
restrictions on migratory bird hunting
Dept of Interior data collection on air quality
restriction on coal mining on BLM lands
FAA drone registration
FAA noise restrictions on supersonic flights
restrictions on hours for truck drivers
most training requirements for truck drivers
requirement for trucks to have speed limiting devices
DOT database of drug/alcohol violations by CDL holders
standards for natural gas pipelines
DOT performance management system (a highway safety assessment program)
requirement for public transportation agencies to have safety plans
requirement for airports to have safety plans
lighting/marking requirements for agricultural equipment
Paris Climate Agreement
Office of Global Climate Change
requirement for international development work to be climate resilient
directive that Federal agencies consider climate change related impacts in their policies
State Dept positions of deputy secretary for management and resources, under secretary for civilian security, democracy, and human rights, special envoy for climate change
Bureau of Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs
U.S. embassy in Tel Aviv (i.e. move it to Jerusalem)
removal of Mexico City Policy (Federal funding forbidden to foreign NGOs that provide abortion services)
contributions to U.N. Green Climate Fund
carbon pollution standards for electric utilities
air quality standards for ozone
emission and fuel standards for cars and trucks
renewable fuel standard (the requirement for gas to contain a percentage of renewable fuel)
risk assessment of triazines (i.e. stop studying risks of the herbicide atrazine)
Clean Air Interstate Rule
emission standards for boat engines
Regional Haze Program (program for reducing air pollution in national parks and wilderness areas)
EPA Chesapeake Bay restoration and protection efforts
EPA Ocean, Coasts, and Great Lakes restoration and protection efforts
directive that Federal agencies strive for sustainability
EPA emergency preparedness
standards for landfills
standards for oil and natural gas wells
standards for the clay, brick, and tile industries
standards for wood furnaces, hvac systems
fact that greenhouse gas emissions may endanger public health (good luck with that)
Overseas Private Investment Corporation
Export-Import Bank of the United States
restrictions on shipping alcohol across state lines (hey, one I support!)
IRS reporting requirements for foreign corporations
requirement for banks to have recovery plans
restrictions on bank fees
liquidity/risk funding ratio requirements for banks
margin and capital requirements for swap entities (part of the Dodd-Frank act)
record keeping requirements for FDIC payouts for failed banks
Estate tax
Net Neutrality
Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection
Credit Union business loan regulations
debt requirements for large banks
requirement for public housing to be smoke free
ADA requirements for cars
many SEC disclosure requirements
commodity futures trading margin and clearing requirements for interest rate swaps
requirement for financial advisors to have business continuity plans
National First Responders Day

and finally, for all agencies, a freeze on any new rules until Trump appointed agency head is in place

Comments

[acroyear70.livejournal.com]

A friend who live-blogged most of the primary and election debates wrote the following yesterday:

Facebook memories has reminded me that on this day last year, there was a GOP debate, wherein all the Republican candidates spent a lot of time talking tough about how we needed to get tough with Russia. They said this to huge Republican applause from their Republican audience. John Kasich said we need to "punch Russia in the nose." Republicans really seemed to like that line.

So here we are one year later, with news that Russia most likely interfered with our election in order to get the Republican candidate elected, and naturally, as you might imagine, Republicans nationwide are up in arms expressing their outrage and demanding that we get to the bottom of this potential scandal as quickly as possible, using whatever means possible. And so help them, if it turns out that Russia DID interfere with our election, and that the Trump camp DOES have a Russian connection, there will be hell to pay!

Right? I mean, I haven't been following super closely, but I assume that Republicans are up in arms about this and calling for an urgent special investigation on this, right? Because we can't let Russia, who needs to be punched in its Russian nose, get away with trying to subvert American democracy, right? Gotta find out what they're up to and punch that shit right in the nose, right?

Right?

[kmusser]

There are a few that are (namely Graham and McCain), but yeah, a big "ho-hum" from the majority.

[acroyear70.livejournal.com]

realization hit (mentally/verbally describing what had previously been just a feeling).

A while ago, McConnell and Ryan had both stated they'd set up committees to look into the situation.

2 days later, McConnell says there will be no investigation. The standard media and democratic response was "pure partisanship, as always".

I now know why that didn't seem right.

We know from some of the stories from the agencies that the DNC wasn't the only set hacked. The RNC says they weren't cracked, but you don't need to crack the RNC to get a hold of questionable content. You just need to crack the server of a recipient of the emails, as we saw with the FBI req to get a warrant for the emails in question on the Friday before the election - they weren't DNC or Hillary, just someone who had received email from her for professional and personal reasons, over the years.

So it isn't party politics as such that caused McConnell to back down.

I have no doubt in my mind, in those 2 days between positions, he got a phone call or an email.

From the Russians.

They have stuff on both parties. Up til now, they only went public (through wikileaks) of the DNC-damaging stuff, esp after tampering with some of them.

But Nobody should doubt they don't have stuff on the Republicans as well.

They are blackmailing them into silence and support.

which makes the current situation in Turkey (and Trump's pledge to stop supporting NATO) all the more dangerous.