#Just like how Democrats have raised Police budgets and cut back on police oversight to look “tough on crime” for “suburban moderates”

[plethoraworldatlas]

Immigrants helped build this country, a fact no amount of racism or xenophobia can erase. Immigrants, including children, work in fields and factories, driving our economy. A group of immigrant men were working late last Tuesday night, filling potholes on Baltimore’s Francis Scott Key Bridge.

At 1:27 am, the Dali, a massive cargo vessel, 948-feet long and laden with roughly 4,700 shipping containers, lost power and rammed into the bridge, causing it to collapse. Two survived the disaster, six died. Only two of their bodies have been recovered from the cold, murky water of the Patapsco River.

Their tragic deaths occurred as increased immigrant arrivals are being exploited by former President Donald Trump and his right-wing extremist allies to foment division and to boost Trump’s presidential campaign. Just hours after the bridge collapse, FoxNews host Maria Bartiromo, interviewing Florida Republican Senator Rick Scott, attempted to link the maritime disaster to immigrants at the U.S.’ southern border:

“I want to understand the threats or the potential threats that this country is facing right now given the wide open border, the fact that we don’t know who is in the country. The FBI is looking… to ensure there was no foul play.”

“While we’re being talked about as like this invading horde that’s coming to destroy the country, what does this story actually show us? That immigrants are filling our potholes at night so that we can have a smooth drive to work in the morning.”

This is the same dog-whistle racism that Trump invoked in 2015, launching his first campaign: “When Mexico sends its people…They’re bringing drugs. They’re bringing crime. They’re rapists.” Trump continues his white supremacist ranting, saying at a recent Ohio campaign rally, “I don’t know if you call them people… These are animals and we have to stop it.”

Maximillian Alvarez, editor-in-chief of the Baltimore-based Real News Network, interviewed coworkers of the deceased. He said on the Democracy Now! news hour, “While we’re being talked about as like this invading horde that’s coming to destroy the country, what does this story actually show us? That immigrants are filling our potholes at night so that we can have a smooth drive to work in the morning.”

The six who died while working on the Key Bridge were hardworking men, from Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador.

Miguel Luna was a welder, a 49-year-old father and grandfather, a native of the Usulután Department in El Salvador, ravaged by the U.S.-backed Salvadoran military and paramilitaries in the 1980s. He played on the professional soccer team in the town of Berlin in his home region. His widow, Maria del Carmen, owns a food truck. Miguel was a beloved member of his community.

Miguel and another victim of the collapse, Maynor Suazo Sandoval, were members of CASA, an immigrant rights non-profit founded in 1986 to build solidarity with those impacted by the U.S.-backed violence in Central America. CASA wrote, “Maynor migrated from Honduras over 17 years ago, and he alongside his brother Carlos were active members in the activist committee of Owings Mills… Carlos said ‘He was always so full of joy, and brought so much humor to our family.’ He was a husband, and father of two.”

Details are still emerging of the other named victims, Alejandro Hernandez Fuentes, 35, of Mexico and Dorlian Ronial Castillo Cabrera, 26, of Guatemala. Their bodies were found inside a pickup truck, submerged in the river. Two more victims, also reportedly from Mexico and Guatemala, remain unnamed by their respective governments.

Details are still emerging of the other named victims, Alejandro Hernandez Fuentes, 35, of Mexico and Dorlian Ronial Castillo Cabrera, 26, of Guatemala. Their bodies were found inside a pickup truck, submerged in the river. Two more victims, also reportedly from Mexico and Guatemala, remain unnamed by their respective governments.

Millions of enslaved people also built this country, a point worth remembering as we mourn the immigrant laborers on the Key Bridge. The bridge was named after Francis Scott Key since, while watching the British navy bombard Fort McHenry in 1814, not far from where the bridge was built in the 1970s, Key wrote the poem that would become the national anthem. His poem has four stanzas, the first made famous as “The Star Spangled Banner.” Key was a slave owner, and denounced those who fled enslavement in 1814 to fight against the United States, for the British, who promised them freedom in return.

“No refuge could save the hireling and slave, From the terror of flight or the gloom of the grave,” Key wrote in his poem, words left out of the national anthem, but which nevertheless noticeably rhyme with “Land of the free and home of the brave.” This should be considered by those tasked with naming the replacement bridge.

The lives of Miguel and the five other workers have been cut short, but the hatred of immigrants, sadly, is alive, well and growing this election year. Pledges from President Joe Biden to quickly open Baltimore’s port to commerce parallel campaign rhetoric on both sides to “shut down” the southern border to people seeking asylum.

“Immigrants like Miguel are building bridges to connect communities, not building walls to divide them,” CASA wrote, eulogizing Miguel Luna. Let those words inspire an embrace of immigrant communities, an anthem we can all rally around.

#us politics #biden administration #immigrant rights #immigration #immigrants #migrants #Migrant labor #baltimore #baltimore bridge collapse #Just like how Democrats have raised Police budgets and cut back on police oversight to look “tough on crime” for “suburban moderates” #They want to look “tough on immigration” #This is the price of that; Immigrants being treated as disposable and dying and being called “not even human” to no protest from Dems #vote uncommitted #racism

[takebackthedream]

Mulvaney's In, Bankers Win, and Trump Shafts Americans Again by Richard Eskow

A Trump-appointed judge has issued his ruling. Mick Mulvaney – the Tea Party Congressman turned Trump apparatchik – will run the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. The political extremist who once said the CFPB was “extremely frightening,” who called it “a joke… in a sick, sad kind of way”  and said he would “like to get rid of it,” is now its Acting Director.

Mulvaney didn’t wait for the judge’s ruling before taking the helm. He showed up at the office bearing doughnuts for the staff.

Were the condemned being served their last meal?

A quick review of the CFPB website on Monday showed that he had already placed himself at the top of the org chart:

  On his first day on the job, Mulvaney froze all hiring and rule-making, bringing the bureau’s critical work to an effective standstill. The banks had won the first round. And Trump proved once again that, when it comes to fighting for working Americans, he’s just another fast-talking huckster.

The Bad Banker’s Friend

Donald Trump was hostile to the CFPB from the start, and he said this as he shoehorned Mulvaney into the director’s chair (in a tweet, naturally):

“The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, or CFPB, has been a total disaster as run by the previous Administrations pick. Financial Institutions have been devastated and unable to properly serve the public. We will bring it back to life!”

Devastated? Wrong as usual, Mr. President. The CFPB began operations on July 21, 2011. Over the last five years, Bank of America stock has risen more than 180 percent. JPMorgan Chase’s stock has risen more than 145 percent. Citigroup’s has gone up more than 109 percent. Wells Fargo’s is up more than 67 percent. None of these too-big-to-fail banks has suffered financially, despite committing the largest corporate crime wave in human history.

And now, Trump and Mulvaney plan to lift another burden from their shoulders.  It’s good to be kings … of fraud. But then, Trump’s been fighting for bad bankers from the beginning of his presidency – that is, when he isn’t appointing them to senior positions in his administration.

Meet the Director

Who is Mick Mulvaney? He’s Wall Street’s flunky, a tool of the serial fraudsters who nearly brought down the global economy.  Mulvaney took the lead in blocking an ethics investigation into the use of ex-lobbyists by the Trump administration, a move one Bush Administration ethics official called “unprecedented and extremely troubling.”

Throughout the Obama years, Mulvaney insisted he was a hardliner on government deficits. He embraced his role as leader of the “shutdown caucus” that was willing to bring government to a halt rather than increase the nation’s debt. He nearly derailed relief efforts for Hurricane Sandy victims with an amendment that would have blocked any expenditures that weren’t offset by spending cuts elsewhere.

Then, as Donald Trump’s Budget Director, Mulvaney embraced a package of tax cuts for the rich and for corporations that increases the deficit by $1.5 trillion, justifying it with fringe economic ideas incubated in the far right.

That’s a pretty convenient conversion. But no such conversion awaits Mulvaney at the CFPB.  He hated it then and, as recent comments have demonstrated, he hates it now.

Wrong From the Start

When the CFPB was created, Congressional Republicans immediately went on the attack. Sen. Richard Shelby attacked the bureau with a counter-proposal that would have forced regulators to “determine the economic impacts of proposed rule-makings, including their effects on growth and net job creation.”

Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell said at the time, “We’re simply not going to … confirm (Cordray) or anybody else to this agency that shouldn’t exist in its current form.” In 2013 McConnell remarked, “If I had my way, we wouldn’t have the [CFPB] at all.” And in 2014 he said in secretly-recorded comments that Republicans would “definitely” defund the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which he called “the biggest part of the Dodd/Frank bill.”

Representative Spencer Bacchus was more candid then his Republican colleagues , telling a  witness before the Financial Services Committee: “In Washington, the view is that the banks are to be regulated, and my view is that Washington and the regulators are there to serve the banks.”

Shelby, Trump, Mulvaney, and other bank-servile Republicans never mention the cost of deregulation. The lack of bank regulations resulted in 8 million lost American jobs, when bank fraud and mismanagement led to the 2008 crisis. That ultimately cost each American household between $50,000 and $120,000, according to a study by the Dallas Federal Reserve.

But then, those costs are borne by the people, not the privileged few. So what do they care?

Campaign of Fear

As of this writing, the CFPB’s home page explains its mission in consumer-friendly language, with options such as, “Submit a complaint,” “Get answers to money questions,” and “Reach your financial goals.”

The bureau’s considerable accomplishments are also listed there:

“$11.9 billion in relief to consumers from our enforcement actions”; “29 million+ consumers will receive relief because of our actions”; or, “97% of consumers get timely replies when we send their complaints to companies.”

It’s hardly the stuff of totalitarianism. But to hear Mick Mulvaney and his fellow Republicans speak of it, you’d think it was filled with proto-fascist bureaucrats run amok. They’ve attacked the bureau with a campaign of fear.

Mulvaney himself said of the CFPB, “It’s a wonderful example of how a bureaucracy will function if it has no accountability to anybody,” and that the bureau’s director was “essentially a one-person dictator.” That language might have been dictated by the Consumer Banking Association, which said recently that “the CFPB’s current governing structure is a dictatorship, period.”

The Real World

In reality, the CFPB operates under strict rules and limits.  As the Consumer Federation of America notes, it “faces far more oversight of and constraints on its activities than any other banking regulator.”

The CFPB’s oversight and constraints include: semi-annual testimony and annual reports for Congress; annual audits; mandated evaluations of its rules’ effect on small business, including cost-benefit analysis; appeals processes and judicial review of its actions; the ability of other regulators to veto its decisions; and, a capped budget.

These rules came in for some criticism at the time, because they limited the CFPB’s authority. Eighteen former members of the Federal Reserve’s Consumer Advisory Council (CAC) issued a letter in 2010 calling a fully independent Consumer Financial Protection Agency. Instead the agency was officially downgraded to a bureau and placed within the Federal Reserve system, an idea that the former CAC members had specifically rejected.

Nevertheless, the bureau has racked up an impressive series of accomplishments. In addition to its work educating consumers, the bureau has played a key role in bringing illegal bank behavior to light and holding them accountable.  For example, it played a critical role in disclosing that Wells Fargo committed two million felonies by illegally opening millions of phony bank accounts for its customers – a practice that was encouraged at the highest levels of the organization.

Why Shouldn’t Trump Pick His Own People?

What Trump did in placing Mulvaney at the Bureau will seem reasonable to a lot of people.  Why shouldn’t the president be able to hire the people he wants?  Actually, there are very good reasons why some positions come with fixed terms, and with strict rules about hiring, Senate confirmation, and replacement of senior officials. It’s important to insulate some positions from partisan political pressure, to protect them from exactly the kind of behavior we are seeing from Republicans today.

The double appointment of Mulvaney as both CFPB Director and head of the Office of Management and Budget raises additional concerns about conflicts, salaries, blurring of institutional roles, and ethics. (Remember, Mulvaney already has a tarnished record in that area.)

Sen. Elizabeth Warren, the architect of the CFPB, has written an excellent letter to Mulvaney and Trump’s White House lawyer asking them to address these and other concerns.

They Live to Serve

Mulvaney is part of a Trump economic team that includes Gary Cohn and Steven Mnuchin, two of the most predatory bankers in the country. instead of going to jail, those two bankers now go to work every day setting financial policy for the rest of us.

It’s like letting the town gangsters hire the chief of police.

Now that Team Trump has succeeded in overriding the independence of this regulator, it’s undoubtedly preparing to target others. The underlying problem is the role of money in politics. As long as big campaign contributors call the shots, reform is always going to be endangered by people like Trump,  McConnell, and Mulvaney. This is one battle in the struggle to regain democratic control of the country’s democratic institutions.

It turns out that Rep. Bacchus was right, at least as long as people like these are in charge: Washington really is there to serve the banks. And Mick Mulvaney is there to bring the doughnuts.

[manitobafinancials]

The drug industry is pretty much coasting

In this Thursday, April 20, 2017, photo, Jeff Bacon shows some of the medication he takes for chronic back pain, in Hampden, Maine. AP WASHINGTON Less than six months ago, President Trump stood at a podium and roiled the pharmaceutical industry with an emphatic declaration that its executives are getting away with murder. If Congress has its way, the same president will soon sign into law a massive package that is at the top of the industrys wish list: a reauthorization of drug makers funding agreements with the Food and Drug Administration. At least so far, the powerful pharmaceutical industry has managed to keep the package that is speeding toward Trumps desk free of any controversial policy changes that could threaten the industrys business model as well as any partisan add-ons that could jeopardize its smooth, overwhelmingly bipartisan trip through the policymaking process. That progress is a testament to an often-overlooked truth in Washington these days: Despite frustration over high drug pricesand partisan brawling over health care legislation, the pharmaceutical industry has been carrying on with business as usual, scoring some early legislative victories, and reminding lawmakers why it is one of the most influential groups on Capitol Hill. At the same time, an executive order on drug prices being crafted by the White House may prove far more favorable to industry than Trumps campaign rhetoric would have suggested, according to documents obtained by Kaiser Health News. The industrys recent successes are the result in no small part of its shrewd and penetrating advocacy strategy and, of course, the money it puts into that effort. Druglobbyists are on the job every minute, every day, Rep. Peter Welch (D-Vt.), whos gone up against the industry more than once, told STAT. They fight hard, lobby hard. They know how to play the game, they play it aggressively, and they play it well. The industrysmain trade group, the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, spent a staggering $7.9 million in just the first three months of this year the most it has spent in a single quarter since 2008. That bought drug makers an army of more than 85 lobbyists both internally and at nearly two dozen outside firms. Outside firms pay some of those PhRMA dues, but often spend more on their own efforts the 10 largest pharmaceutical companies that lobby in the U.S. together dropped more than $20 million in just the first three months of 2017. That spending doesnt count campaign donations, either. The website OpenSecrets, maintained by the Center for Responsive Politics, estimates the industry gave about $27.9 million to candidates on both sides of the aisle during the 2016 cycle. A spokeswoman for PhRMA declined tocomment on the industrys lobbying strategies or the user fees process. The user fee reauthorization bill before Congress, which spells out how much branded and generic drug companies and medical device manufacturers pay to support their product reviews at the FDA, traditionally receives bipartisan backing. The overwhelming bulk of the package is hammered out between industry representatives, including generic and biosimilar companies, and the FDA itself, earning a blessing from both only after several years of work. On top of that, theres a key deadline looming. Republican leaders atop both key committees are quick to say that the user fees get done so quickly because if they dont, the FDA must begin sending layoff notices to thousands of employees.

U.S. President Donald Trump meets with pharmaceutical industry representatives at the White House in Washington, U.S. on January 31, 2017. Reuters/Yuri Gripas But this year in particular, there were ample opportunities for the process to get derailed. The Trump administration, for example, pushed for the industry to pay a far larger share of the FDAs budget through the user fee process. Congressional leaders declined to reopen the agreement. Some lawmakers, too, looked at the process as an opportunity to attach policy changes that might otherwise be too controversial to make it into law. Again and again during the markups, however, proposals opposed by the industry were dropped. Amendments allowing the importation of drugs from Canada a largely Democratic ask fell flat in both chambers thanks to objections from scores of each sponsors colleagues. Less political amendments failed, too, including one that would have kept branded manufacturers from using certain strategies to delay generic drug launches or another that would encourage pediatric studies in cancer drugs. PhRMA has raised concerns with both. Not everyone sees the pharma-friendly outcome as a reflection of the industrys advocacy prowess. The last thing I would want to do is credit pharmas brilliant lobbying with the fact that user fee bills are moving through Congress. For the most part, these issues have always been bipartisan, said Dean Rosen, a Mehlman Castagnetti lobbyist. They know theyve got to get them done. To me, the bigger issue is not how pharma played this. Its that those things have always been bipartisan, and they have a deadline. The legislation must still pass both chambers of Congress before it heads to Trumps desk, and several congressional aides and lobbyists suggested those upcoming debates might prove more contentious. Still, the comity stands in stark contrast to nearly every other congressional conversation on health care policy recently. A hearing about arcane but essential Medicare payments, which must also be addressed this year, devolved into a partisan fighting over the Republican effort to repeal and replace Obamacare. Leaders have only recently scheduled a hearing to discuss a reauthorization of the Childrens Health Insurance Program, a traditionally bipartisan effort for which a deadline also looms. Theres no committee vote on the issue in sight or even a draft of the legislation. Theres been remarkable ability to walk and chew gum at the same time, and to do the [user fee agreements] in a bipartisan way, and to even dance around some of the more sensitive issues. Theyve managed to keep it pretty civil, said Billy Wynne, a longtime health care lobbyist for Thorn Run Partners. The industry has seen its share of small victories, too, even amid the partisan whirlpool that has otherwise consumed Washington. Republicans on the House Energy and Commerce Committee, for example, used a recent oversight letter to echo the pharmaceutical industrys longtime concerns with a controversial drug discount program that largely benefits hospitals. That inquiry may lead to a congressional hearing one likely to be far better for pharmaceutical companies than hospitals, Republican committee leaders told STAT. Earlier this year, during a relatively open amendment process on the Senate floor, lawmakers defeated another importation amendment. Democrats never even brought up an even riskier amendment that would have allowed Medicare to negotiate drug prices a proposal Trump has raised and the industry has long opposed.

FILE PHOTO - EpiPen auto-injection epinephrine pens manufactured by Mylan NV pharmaceutical company Thomson Reuters Increasing scrutiny into rising prescription drug prices remains the industrys biggest vulnerability in Washington. PhRMA has launched an overhaul of its membership criteria to expel bad actors, a kind of self-policing it hopes will improve its image amid outcry over price hikes at companies like Marathon Pharmaceuticals or Mylan, the maker of EpiPen. The industry has also worked hard to focuspolicymakers on pricing issues with other parts of the supply chain, like pharmacy benefit managers or insurers newly focused on high-deductible plans. For now, federal policymakers have yet to train their sights on the issue in a serious way. A looming executive order may turn out to be a more limited effort focused on industry-friendly policies like value-based contracting for drug purchases, according to sources and thereport from Kaiser Health News. It took a full six months into Trumps tenure before any major congressional committee tackled the issue in a public hearing. Even that hearing, in the Senate health committee lastweek, focused just as much on the broader Obamacare reform debate as it did the issue at hand. A White House spokesman didnt comment on the executive order, but emphasized that the president still plans to streamline the drug approval process, cut regulatory impediments to the industry, and lower drug prices. There are small signs, however, that the industrys power is waning at least a little among usually chummy lawmakers. Though the Senate hearing was not a slugfest, Chairman Lamar Alexander of Tennessee has promised at least two more hearings highlighting drug pricing in the coming months. Republican leaders on the House Energy and Commerce Committee, too, pledged late last week to hold their own examination of the issue. This is where Donald Trump calling out the pharmaceutical industry for overcharging, saying he would support price negotiation and importation, has changed it somewhat, Welch said. The question is, wheres the follow-through? Thats what we need. If President Trump put some real focus on this, that would change things. It would force members to deal directly with these issues. read more http://www.businessinsider.com/drug-industry-congress-2017-6?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=referral

[nothingman]

New directives will limit the Department of Justice’s use of enforcement tools and more.

For decades, the Department of Justice has used court-enforced agreements to protect civil rights, successfully desegregating school systems, reforming police departments, ensuring access for the disabled and defending the religious.

Now, under Attorney General Jeff Sessions, the DOJ appears to be turning away from this storied tool, called consent decrees. Top officials in the DOJ civil rights division have issued verbal instructions through the ranks to seek settlements without consent decrees — which would result in no continuing court oversight.

The move is just one part of a move by the Trump administration to limit federal civil rights enforcement. Other departments have scaled back the power of their internal divisions that monitor such abuses. In a previously unreported development, the Education Department last week reversed an Obama-era reform that broadened the agency’s approach to protecting rights of students. The Labor Department and the Environmental Protection Agency have also announced sweeping cuts to their enforcement.

“At best, this administration believes that civil rights enforcement is superfluous and can be easily cut. At worst, it really is part of a systematic agenda to roll back civil rights,” said Vanita Gupta, the former acting head of the DOJ’s civil rights division under President Barack Obama.

Consent decrees have not been abandoned entirely by the DOJ, a person with knowledge of the instructions said. Instead, there is a presumption against their use — attorneys should default to using settlements without court oversight unless there is an unavoidable reason for a consent decree. The instructions came from the civil rights division’s office of acting Assistant Attorney General Tom Wheeler and Deputy Assistant Attorney General John Gore. There is no written policy guidance.

Devin O’Malley, a spokesperson for the DOJ, declined to comment for this story.

Consent decrees can be a powerful tool, and spell out specific steps that must be taken to remedy the harm. These are agreed to by both parties and signed off on by a judge, whom the parties can appear before again if the terms are not being met. Though critics say the DOJ sometimes does not enforce consent decrees well enough, they are more powerful than settlements that aren’t overseen by a judge and have no built-in enforcement mechanism.

Such settlements have “far fewer teeth to ensure adequate enforcement,” Gupta said.

Consent decrees often require agencies or municipalities to take expensive steps toward reform. Local leaders and agency heads then can point to the binding court authority when requesting budget increases to ensure reforms. Without consent decrees, many localities or government departments would simply never make such comprehensive changes, said William Yeomans, who spent 26 years at the DOJ, mostly in the civil rights division.

“They are key to civil rights enforcement,” he said. “That’s why Sessions and his ilk don’t like them.”

Some, however, believe the Obama administration relied on consent decrees too often and sometimes took advantage of vulnerable cities unable to effectively defend themselves against a well-resourced DOJ.

“I think a recalibration would be welcome,” said Richard Epstein, a professor at New York University School of Law and a fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford, adding that consent decrees should be used in cases where clear, systemic issues of discrimination exist.

Though it’s too early to see how widespread the effect of the changes will be, the Justice Department appears to be adhering to the directive already.

On May 30, the DOJ announced Bernards Township in New Jersey had agreed to pay $3.25 million to settle an accusation it denied zoning approval for a local Islamic group to build a mosque. Staff attorneys at the U.S. attorney’s office in New Jersey initially sought to resolve the case with a consent decree, according to a spokesperson for Bernards Township. But because of the DOJ’s new stance, the terms were changed after the township protested, according to a person familiar with the matter. A spokesperson for the New Jersey U.S. attorney’s office declined comment.

Sessions has long been a public critic of consent decrees. As a senator, he wrote they “constitute an end run around the democratic process.” He lambasted local agencies that seek them out as a way to inflate their budgets, a “particularly offensive” use of consent decrees that took decision-making power from legislatures.

On March 31, Sessions ordered a sweeping review of all consent decrees with troubled police departments nationwide to ensure they were in line with the Trump administration’s law-and-order goals. Days before, the DOJ had asked a judge to postpone a hearing on a consent decree with the Baltimore Police Department that had been arranged during the last days of the Obama administration. The judge denied that request, and the consent decree has moved forward.

The DOJ has already come under fire from critics for altering its approach to voting rights cases. After nearly six years of litigation over Texas’ voter ID law — which Obama DOJ attorneys said was written to intentionally discriminate against minority voters and had such a discriminatory effect — the Trump DOJ abruptly withdrew its intent claims in late February.

Attorneys who worked on the case for years were barely consulted about the change — many weren’t consulted at all, according to two former DOJ officials with knowledge of the matter. Gore wrote the filing changing the DOJ’s position largely by himself and asked the attorneys who’d been involved in the case for years to sign it to show continuity. Not all of the attorneys fell in line. Avner Shapiro — who has been a prosecutor in the civil rights division for more than 20 years — left his name off the filings written by Gore. Shapiro was particularly involved in developing the DOJ’s argument that Texas had intentionally discriminated against minorities in crafting its voter ID legislation.

“That’s the ultimate act of rebellion,” Yeomans, the former civil rights division prosecutor, said. A rare act, removing one’s name from a legal filing is one of the few ways career attorneys can express public disagreement with an administration.

Gore has no history of bringing civil rights cases. A former partner at the law firm Jones Day, he has instead defended states against claims of racial gerrymandering and represented North Carolina when the state was sued over its controversial “bathroom bill,” which requires transgender people to use the facility that matched their birth gender.

All of the internal changes at the DOJ have left attorneys and staff with “a great deal of fear and uncertainty,” said Yeomans. While he says the lawyers there would like to stay at the department, they fear Sessions’ priorities will have devastating impact on their work.

The DOJ’s civil rights office is not alone in fearing rollbacks in enforcement. Across federal departments, the Trump administration has made moves to diminish the power of civil rights divisions.

The Department of Education has laid out plans to loosen requirements on investigations into civil rights complaints, according to an internal memo sent to staff on June 8 and obtained by ProPublica.

Under the Obama administration, the department’s office for civil rights applied an expansive approach to investigations. Individual complaints related to complex issues such as school discipline, sexual violence and harassment, equal access to educational resources, or racism at a single school might have prompted broader probes to determine whether the allegations were part of a pattern of discrimination or harassment.

The new memo, sent by Candice Jackson, the acting assistant secretary for civil rights, to regional directors at the department’s civil rights office, trims this approach. Jackson was appointed deputy assistant secretary for the office in April and will remain as the acting head of the office until the Senate confirms a full-time assistant secretary. Trump has not publicly nominated anyone for the role yet.

The office will apply the broader approach “only” if the original allegations raise systemic concerns or the investigative team argues for it, Jackson wrote in the memo.

As part of the new approach, the Education Department will no longer require civil rights investigators to obtain three years of complaint data from a specific school or district to assess compliance with civil rights law.

Critics contend the Obama administration’s probes were onerous. The office “did such a thorough review of everything that the investigations were demanding and very expensive” for schools, said Boston College American politics professor R. Shep Melnick, adding that the new approach could take some regulatory pressure off schools and districts.

But some civil rights leaders believe the change could undermine the office’s mission. This narrowing of the department’s investigations “is stunning to me and dangerous,” said Catherine Lhamon, who led the Education Department’s civil rights office from August 2013 until January 2017 and currently chairs the United States Commission on Civil Rights. “It’s important to take an expansive view of the potential for harm because if you look only at the most recent year, you won’t necessarily see the pattern,” said Lhamon.

The department’s new directive also gives more autonomy to regional offices, no longer requiring oversight or review of some cases by department headquarters, according to the memo.

The Education Department did not respond to ProPublica’s request for comment.

Education Secretary Betsy DeVos has also proposed cutting over 40 positions from the civil rights office. With reduced staff, the office will have to “make difficult choices, including cutting back on initiating proactive investigations,” according to the department’s proposed budget.

Elsewhere, Trump administration appointees have launched similar initiatives. In its 2018 fiscal plan, the Labor Department has proposed dissolving the office that handles discrimination complaints. Similarly, new leadership at the Environmental Protection Agency has proposed entirely eliminating the environmental justice program, which addresses concerns that almost exclusively impact minority communities. The Washington Post reports the plan transfers all environmental justice work to the Office of Policy, which provides policy and regulatory guidance across the agency.

Mustafa Ali, a former EPA senior adviser and assistant associate administrator for environmental justice who served more than 20 years, quit the agency in protest days before the plan was announced. In his resignation letter, widely circulated in the media, Ali suggested the new leadership was abandoning “those who need our help most.”

Ryan Gabrielson contributed to this report.

This content is licensed under a Creative Commons agreement.

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[studentofrhetoric-blog]

Part 1, Tuesday, March 28th, 2017

International News:

--- "Satellite imagery of North Korea's main nuclear test site taken over the weekend indicates that Pyongyang could be in the final stages of preparations for a sixth nuclear test, a U.S. think tank reported on Tuesday. Washington-based 38 North, a website that monitors North Korea, said the images from Saturday showed the continued presence of vehicles and trailers at the Punggye-ri test site and signs that communications cables may have been laid to a test tunnel. Water was also being pumped out and was draining downhill "presumably to keep the tunnel dry for monitoring or communications equipment," it said. "The combination of these factors strongly suggests that test preparations are well under way, including the installation of instrumentation. The imagery, however, does not provide any definitive evidence of either a nuclear device or the timing of a test." A lack of activity elsewhere at the site "may mean that test preparations are in their final stages," the report said, although it added: "Since North Korea knows the world is watching and is capable of deception, caution should be used before declaring that a nuclear test is imminent.""

Source: http://www.reuters.com/article/us-northkorea-nuclear-report-idUSKBN16Z274?il=0

--- "The Scottish parliament on Tuesday backed a bid to hold a new independence referendum in 2018 or 2019, but the British government immediately rejected the proposal. The stand-off further complicates the United Kingdom's political situation just as years of daunting negotiations on the terms of its exit from the European Union are about to begin...The Scottish legislature in Edinburgh voted by a majority of 69 to 59 to give First Minister Nicola Sturgeon a mandate to formally seek permission from the British parliament in London to prepare for a referendum in late 2018 or early 2019."

Source: http://www.reuters.com/article/us-britain-eu-scotland-idUSKBN16Z2AD?il=0

Domestic & International News:

--- "United Nations chief Antonio Guterres has appointed former South Carolina Governor David Beasley to run the Rome-based World Food Programme (WFP), at a time when U.S. President Donald Trump has proposed slashing funding for the world body and its agencies. Beasley will replace another American, Ertharin Cousin, who has been the WFP executive director since 2012. Washington was the top contributor to WFP in 2016 with $2 billion, a third of the agency's budget."

Source: http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-un-idUSKBN16Z2O8?il=0

--- "Ash Carter, who until January was U.S. defense secretary, said on Tuesday he did not see major changes in the campaign against Islamic State since President Donald Trump took office, amid accusations the U.S. military may be relaxing rules protecting civilians. "I don't see overall major changes and I certainly hope they stay on the path that we set because I think that's the right path," Carter said at a forum at Harvard University, in his first public address since leaving the post. Carter declined to speculate about the investigation into an explosion in Mosul believed to have killed scores of civilians, even as he stressed the importance of probes of such incidents. The U.S. military has acknowledged a possible role in the incident but also says Islamic State could be to blame."

Source: http://www.reuters.com/article/us-mideast-crisis-iraq-carter-idUSKBN16Z31L?il=0

--- "The U.S. Senate on Tuesday overwhelmingly backed the expansion of NATO to allow Montenegro to join the alliance, hoping to send a message that the United States will push back against Russian efforts to increase its influence in Europe. The long-delayed vote was 97-2 in favor of Montenegro's accession to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. That was well above the two-thirds majority needed in the 100-member Senate to ratify Montenegro's membership. There was no immediate confirmation of whether President Donald Trump would formally deposit the instrument of ratification, the last step in the U.S. ratification process."

Source: http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-nato-montenegro-idUSKBN16Z2UG?il=0

Domestic News:

--- "A Republican-controlled committee of lawmakers approved a bill on Tuesday to allow a congressional audit of Federal Reserve monetary policy, a proposal Fed policymakers have opposed and which faces an uncertain path to final approval. Democrats uniformly spoke against the proposal during a meeting of the House of Representatives Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, suggesting the bill would face stronger resistance than in the past. "We should not in any way hinder their independence," said Representative Carolyn Maloney, a New York Democrat, echoing the sentiment of Fed policymakers who say they could come under political pressure to avoid making unpopular decisions such as raising interest rates to slow growth and control inflation. The next step for the bill would be a floor vote by the entire House, where Republicans hold a solid majority. Republican President Donald Trump expressed support for audits of the U.S. central bank during his election campaign, but it remained unclear whether the White House would back the proposal."

Source: http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-fed-congress-idUSKBN16Z2GJ?il=0

--- "U.S. President Donald Trump told a group of senators on Tuesday that he expected lawmakers would be able to reach a deal on healthcare, without offering specifics on how they would do it or what had changed since a healthcare reform bill was pulled last week for insufficient support. "I have no doubt that that's going to happen very quickly," Trump said at a bipartisan reception held for senators and their spouses at the White House."

Source: http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump-obamacare-idUSKBN16Z34Z?il=0

--- "Leaders of the largest police union in the United States have warned President Donald Trump that he could endanger public safety if he follows through with cuts in federal grants to immigrant "sanctuary cities," the union's director told Reuters after a White House meeting. In a move that concerned the Fraternal Order of Police, one of Trump's biggest supporters in the 2016 election campaign, U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions said on Monday that the Justice Department would restrict grants to jurisdictions that do not cooperate with federal immigration authorities...The Justice Department plans to restrict sanctuary cities from using grants from the department's Office of Justice Programs and Community Oriented Policing Services, both of which send grant money to local and state police departments. Pasco said the union does not support the policies of sanctuary cities, but its executives are concerned that cuts in funding could hurt police departments in those areas. Trump told the group that the policy on sanctuary cities was a work in progress and that he would work with the union to make sure public safety would not be affected, Pasco said."

Source: http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-immigration-sanctuary-police-idUSKBN16Z34D?il=0

--- "Officials from so-called sanctuary cities met in New York on Tuesday to discuss their response to threats from the Trump administration to cut off some funding to cities and states that fail to assist federal authorities in arresting illegal immigrants...Tuesday's meeting in New York marked the second straight day of brainstorming on the immigration issue by leaders of some of America's biggest urban centers. Public officials, liberal activists and academics from around the country shared information on a host of issues. Topics discussed included when and how to challenge requests from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to hold illegal immigrants under arrest, for separate local offenses. Attendees came from California, Texas, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Connecticut, Washington State and elsewhere."

Source: http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-immigration-sanctuary-idUSKBN16Z2M4?il=0

--- "The Kansas Senate gave final approval on Tuesday to a bill expanding eligibility for Medicaid under the federal Affordable Care Act (ACA) even though the measure faces a likely veto by Republican Governor Sam Brownback. The 25-14 Senate vote followed the House's 81-44 passage of the bill last month, with the vote totals falling short of veto-proof margins in both Republican-controlled chambers."

Source: http://www.reuters.com/article/us-kansas-medicaid-idUSKBN170019?il=0

--- "The U.S. House voted on Tuesday 215-205 to repeal regulations requiring internet service providers to do more to protect customers' privacy than websites like Alphabet Inc's Google or Facebook Inc. The White House said earlier Tuesday that President Donald Trump strongly supports the repeal of the rules approved by the Federal Communications Commission in October under then-President Barack Obama. Under the rules, internet providers would need to obtain consumer consent before using precise geolocation, financial information, health information, children's information and web browsing history for advertising and marketing. Last week, the Senate voted 50-48 to reverse the rules in a win for AT&T Inc, Comcast Corp and Verizon Communications Inc. The White House in its statement said internet providers would need to obtain affirmative "opt-in" consent from consumers to use and share certain information, but noted that websites are not required to get the same consent. "This results in rules that apply very different regulatory regimes based on the identity of the online actor," the White House said."

Source: http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-internet-idUSKBN16Z2JI?il=0

--- "For years the national political organizations of both Democratic and Republican state attorneys general observed an agreement not to target the other party's incumbent office-holders in elections. That hands-off stance ended this month when Republican AGs voted to abandon the agreement and spend money to help unseat Democrats in other states, according to the Republican Attorneys General Association. The decision has not been previously reported. The move comes as Democratic attorneys general in states across the country have assumed lead roles in opposing some of Republican President Donald Trump's policies. State AGs in Washington and Hawaii successfully sued to block Trump's executive orders restricting travel from some Muslim-majority countries, and California's attorney general has pledged to defend the state's environmental standards. Republican attorneys general who supported the change reasoned that AGs should join other national political campaigns which target incumbents, two sources familiar with the closed door process said. Additionally, a desire by some to roll back same-sex marriage and the potential for increased corporate contributions played a role in the decision, said the sources, who requested anonymity to discuss the deliberations. The so-called 'incumbency rule' observed by the state attorneys' party fundraising arms reflected a rare bit of bipartisanship in the polarized environment of U.S. politics, aimed at promoting cooperation across state lines on issues of common interest, such as consumer protection."

Source: http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-politics-republican-ags-exclusive-idUSKBN16Z1A5?il=0

--- "A Republican-controlled congressional panel rejected a bid by Democrats on Tuesday to obtain President Donald Trump's tax returns, despite warnings that Trump's business holdings could pose conflicts of interest as Congress turns to tax reform. At a sometimes fiery 2-1/2-hour hearing that careened from lawmaker concerns over political corruption and national security to privacy rights and tax accounting, the House Ways and Means Committee voted 24-16 along party lines to oppose a Democratic resolution that sought the release of 10 years of Trump's tax returns to the House of Representatives. While the hearing was under way, House Republicans separately turned back a Democratic attempt to force a floor vote on Trump's tax returns. Committee Republicans accused Democrats of using the tax-writing committee for political grandstanding. "This resolution is a procedural tool being utilized – and I think, abused – for obvious political purposes," panel Chairman Kevin Brady said.   Democrats said they were exercising proper congressional oversight and accused Republicans of protecting Trump."

Source: http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump-taxreturns-idUSKBN16Z332?il=0

--- "President Donald Trump on Tuesday signed an order to undo Obama-era climate change regulations, keeping a campaign promise to support the coal industry and calling into question U.S. support for an international deal to fight global warming. Flanked by coal miners and coal company executives, Trump proclaimed his "Energy Independence" executive order at the headquarters of the Environmental Protection Agency. The move drew swift backlash from a coalition of 23 states and local governments, as well as environmental groups, which called the decree a threat to public health and vowed to fight it in court. The order's main target is former President Barack Obama's Clean Power Plan, which required states to slash carbon emissions from power plants - a key factor in the United States' ability to meet its commitments under a climate change accord reached by nearly 200 countries in Paris in 2015. Trump's decree also reverses a ban on coal leasing on federal lands, undoes rules to curb methane emissions from oil and gas production and reduces the weight of climate change and carbon emissions in policy and infrastructure permitting decisions. Carbon dioxide and methane are two of the main greenhouse gases blamed by scientists for heating the earth. "I am taking historic steps to lift restrictions on American energy, to reverse government intrusion and to cancel job-killing regulations," Trump said at the EPA."

Source: http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump-energy-idUSKBN16Z1L6?il=0

--- "President Donald Trump's call for $1.5 billion this year to help build a wall along the border with Mexico could be in jeopardy as fellow Republicans in Congress weigh delaying a decision on the request. Republican Senator Roy Blunt, a member of his party's leadership, told reporters on Tuesday that money for the wall likely would not be coupled with a spending bill that must pass by April 28 to avoid shutting down federal agencies whose funding expires then. Blunt said the must-do funding "comes together better" without Trump's additional request for the border wall and military programs and could be considered "at a later time." Democrats are threatening to block the bill funding federal agencies from April 29 to Sept. 30, the end of the current fiscal year, if money for the border wall is included. They object to one of Trump's premier 2016 campaign promises, saying it is poorly planned and that there are other border security measures already constructed or under consideration. When he ran for president, Trump pledged Mexico would pay to build the wall, designed to keep illegal immigrants and drugs from entering the United States. The Mexican government has said it will not do so. The initiative has also faced resistance among Republicans, including lawmakers representing some border towns. The federal government would have to purchase land in many locations in order to construct the edifice, which could make construction costs soar."

Source: http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-immigration-wall-idUSKBN16Z31R?il=0

--- "The impact of the new Trump administration's effect on the economy remains too uncertain for the U.S. Federal Reserve to react or begin recasting its outlook, Fed Governor Jerome Powell said on Tuesday. Asked about the collapse of the healthcare bill last week, Powell said that uncertainty about "the scope, the timing and the contents" of President Donald Trump's policies were making it difficult for Fed policymakers to assess what they might mean. "It is difficult to incorporate effects from policy when it is so uncertain what the policy may be. So I don't incorporate any effects for now," Powell said. "Until things become clearer, it is difficult to assess." Since Trump's election, Fed officials have debated how his campaign promises may change an economy many policymakers feel is on a sturdy course. Depending on how those policies are designed and when and if they are approved, the programs Trump promised during the campaign - tax cuts, massive infrastructure spending, tough trade rules, tighter limits on immigration - could boost growth, lead to higher inflation, or throw the global economy into a trade war."

Source: http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-fed-powell-idUSKBN16Z2YF?il=0

--- "Ford Motor Co on Tuesday said it would invest $1.2 billion in three Michigan facilities and create 130 jobs in projects largely in line with a previous agreement with the United Auto Workers union, hours after U.S. President Donald Trump touted a "major investment" by the automaker on Twitter. In January, Ford scrapped plans to build a $1.6 billion car factory in Mexico and instead added 700 jobs in Michigan following Trumps criticism that centered on trade and investing in America. Ford said on Tuesday it would spend $850 million on a planned upgrade of a plant in Wayne, Michigan, for the Ford Bronco, an SUV model, and the Ford Ranger - a mid-size pickup truck. The company will also invest $150 million and create 130 or retain jobs at an engine plant in Romeo. Both projects were part of 2015 negotiations with the UAW, when Ford said it would invest $9 billion in U.S. plants over four years. Ford also said it would invest $200 million in a data center in Flat Rock to support advances in vehicle connectivity and future developments in autonomous vehicles, but it will not result in any new hourly jobs. The move comes at a time when U.S. new car and truck sales are at an all-time high and investors are watching closely for signs of a possible downturn in the highly-cyclical industry...The announcement by Ford on Tuesday comes less than two weeks after Trump visited Detroit to promise more auto jobs for Michigan and other Midwestern U.S. states. Trump pounced on Ford's announcement before the company could release its plans on Tuesday. "Major investment to be made in three Michigan plants," Trump posted on Twitter early Tuesday. "Car companies coming back to U.S. JOBS! JOBS! JOBS!" Trump has at times promoted job announcements at the White House that had been previously planned or announced. Last week he praised an investment decision by Charter Communications Inc that the company announced before he was elected."

Source: http://www.reuters.com/article/us-autos-ford-jobs-idUSKBN16Z19M?il=0

--- "U.S. Democratic Senator Claire McCaskill sought on Tuesday details from the nation's top opioid drugmakers on their sales and marketing practices, as lawmakers step up efforts to tackle the country's deadly opioid crisis. The Missouri senator's investigation comes amid an epidemic of opioid addiction, with 91 Americans dying everyday as a result of overdose, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. "This epidemic is the direct result of a calculated sales and marketing strategy major opioid manufacturers have allegedly pursued over the past 20 years to expand their market share," McCaskill, the top Democrat on the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, wrote in a letter to the drugmakers. McCaskill asked Johnson & Johnson, Mylan NV, Purdue Pharma, Insys Therapeutics Inc and Depomed Inc for internal estimates of the risk of abuse, addiction and overdose of opioids."

Source: http://www.reuters.com/article/us-opioids-probe-senator-idUSKBN16Z2EL?il=0

--- "U.S. House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes said on Tuesday he will not divulge - even to other members of his panel - who gave him intelligence reports that indicated President Donald Trump and his associates may have been ensnared in incidental intelligence collection. Asked by an ABC News reporter whether he would inform the other committee members about who gave him the reports he viewed on the White House grounds last week, Nunes said: "We will never reveal those sources and methods.""

Source: http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump-russia-nunes-idUSKBN16Z2TZ?il=0

#international affairs #domestic affairs #trump administration #source: reuters