House Dem forces GOP to take recorded vote on Trump tax returns | TheHill

House Dem forces GOP to take recorded vote on Trump tax returns | TheHill 

And this is not so laudable for the GOP: supporting Trump in his evading to share his tax returns. No transparency, no showing credibility and being a stand up guy like his predecessors and precedent.

"Unpresidented" to use the term Trump coined and for which he seemingly will be remembered, with great shame for him and our country. Show some basic respect and class, and share your tax returns already, and let's deal with the truth.

Former President George W. Bush On 'Today Show': Free Press 'Indispensable' : NPR

Former President George W. Bush On 'Today Show': Free Press 'Indispensable' : NPR 



Well, this statement by George W. Bush is actually super on-point and resoundingly unassailable: ""I consider the media to be indispensable to democracy. We need an
independent media to hold people like me to account. Power can be very
addictive. And it can be corrosive. And it's important for the media to
call to account people who abuse their power, whether it be here or
elsewhere."



Kudos for W. Bush to out that out, and certainly that Trump should feel pretty out of his league not allowing an independent media to "hold him to account." 

William H. McRaven, a retired four-star admiral and former Navy SEAL, slammed President Trump’s characterization of the media as “the enemy of the American people,” calling that sentiment the “greatest threat to democracy” he’s ever seen.

Here This. "William H. McRaven, a retired four-star admiral and former Navy SEAL, slammed President Trump’s characterization of the media as “the enemy of the American people,” calling that sentiment the “greatest threat to democracy” he’s ever seen."

Standing Rock Sioux About to Get Overrun; Trump, Greed, a New Age of Belligerance

Here To many of us who have been fighting for environmental justice and for human rights to come before corporate greed and need, this is a dark time.

Much ink is being spilled recounting the efforts Donald Trump -- and his newly befriended zealots on the right wing and in fossil fuel industries -- are making to turn back time in America, but some words must be put down here as well.

We have a chance to take the high road. To avoid violence. To choose different energy sources that do not produce destruction and problems during extraction; that do not produce pollution, and property and human rights problems during transportation; that do not create pollution and health problems for humans at the burning and end-use stage of their energy life cycles.

Wind and solar pose few if any of those problems. And their source and end-use are as clean and endless as the wind and the sun.

But greedy people maintain the levers of power in their continuing investment in fossil fuels: owners and investors in tar sands and oil field property (now mostly multi-billion dollar companies), owners and investors in refineries and pipeline companies. The 'black snake' collectively as Native Americans often refer to it. It is a destructive and vile thing.

Greedy investors--including mainstream banks like Wells Fargo and Bank of America and 15 others--are putting the pedal to the metal here.

Trump and his administration have waved the start flag at the stalled process in North Dakota.
And innocent people, places and things are getting squashed: tribal leaders whose land was taken away where this pipeline is now scheduled to go, water rights and quality for local people, citizens concerned with their plight, citizens concerned with the expansion of the finite and destructive black snake--all are getting squashed.

The burning tee-pees are symbols of all of that.

There is elegance and simple morality in these people.

There is the cold disdain of the military industrial fist, hammering away again.

Thank you again Donald Trump and Wells Fargo et. al., for showing us a way that many... should we say most?.... good people do not want to go.

Thank you for showing us the opposite of the way we want things to work for our children and their planet.

Renewable energy draws increasing Republican support. That could shift climate politics. - Vox

Renewable energy draws increasing Republican support. That could shift climate politics. - Vox 



Life goes on... and progress is progress.

Scott Pruitt Breaks Hearts, and Probably Environmental Protection

Statement on Confirmation of Scott Pruitt as EPA Administrator<http://go.usa.gov/x9uUh>
SACRAMENTO – California Senate President Kevin de León (D-Los Angeles) issued the following statement reacting to today’s U.S. Senate confirmation of Scott Pruitt as Administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency:
“With the confirmation of the profoundly unfit Scott Pruitt – an unapologetic career mouthpiece of the fossil-fuel industry -- as head of our nation’s Environmental Protection Agency, this is a dark and ominous day for America’s commitment to clean air, clear water, children’s health, states’ rights, science-based solutions – and the national economy that depends on them.
“Republican Senator Susan Collins is right: Pruitt’s record and his vision for the EPA are inconsistent with the core mission of the agency -- to protect human health and our environment.
“Mr. Pruitt is a clear and present danger to our economic prosperity and the health of our children. He was appointed for one reason: to systematically dismantle our environmental protections when it comes to our water, air and wildlife. He made a career of defending corporate polluters and blocking environmental protections by litigating against the agency he now leads.
“California will not follow Trump’s destructive path. We’ve proven that you can protect the environment and grow jobs. We’ve delinked economic growth from greenhouse gas emissions and helped turn clean energy into a pillar of our economy that now supports over half a million jobs in our state.
“Our commitment to balancing quality of life and economic growth is a primary reason why California remains a magnet for immigrants from all over the world and will continue to be America’s capital of technological innovation.”

Trump Dimisses and Discounts Nearly ALL TRADITIONAL AMERICAN MEDIA OUTLETS

Here So, the news outlets we grew up with and trusted and continue to trust have angered and lost the faith of one Donald Trump? Quite good. This is the clearest sign that they are still doing an excellent and accurate job of telling the truth.

Donald J. Trump‏ @realDonaldTrump

The FAKE NEWS media (failing @nytimes, @NBCNews, @ABC, @CBS, @CNN) is not my enemy, it is the enemy of the American People!1:48 PM · Feb 17, 2017

Congress Can Uncover Trump's Tax Returns

Here And should. One estimate is that he is $50 billion in debt worldwide. One can guess where and to whom.... And what actions that might drive one to enact....

7 key take-aways from the court’s ruling against Trump’s immigration order

Here

“Instead, the Government has taken the position that the President’s decisions about immigration policy, particularly when motivated by national security concerns, are unreviewable, even if those actions potentially contravene constitutional rights and protections.... There is no precedent to support this claimed unreviewability, which runs contrary to the fundamental structure of our constitutional democracy.”

A Yale history professor's 20-point guide to defending democracy under a Trump presidency — Quartz

A Yale history professor's 20-point guide to defending democracy under a Trump presidency — Quartz