#Scott Pruitt

[dadsinsuits]

Scott Pruitt

[everythingbutresolved]

May I present you...

MY HOT PRIEST MONSIGNOR:

Your hot priest:

My hot priest:

We are not…

I was going to say “we are not the same,” but yeah.

we’re basically the same.

[mostlysignssomeportents]

The FTC has Big Pharma’s number

On November 27, I'm appearing at the Toronto Metro Reference Library with Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen.

On November 29, I'm at NYC's Strand Books with my novel The Lost Cause, a solarpunk tale of hope and danger that Rebecca Solnit called "completely delightful."

The most consistent bright spot in the dark swirl of US politics is the competence of the Biden Administration's progressive enforcers: people like Rohit Chopra, Jonathan Kanter and Lina Khan, who keep demonstrating just how far a good administrator can go. Anyone can have a vision, but knowing how to execute is the difference between hot air and real change:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/10/23/getting-stuff-done/#praxis

Take a minute to contrast Biden's administrators with Trump's: Trump's administrators had an ideological vision just as surely as Biden's do, and Trump himself had a much more pronounced and explicit ideology than Biden, whose governance style is much more about balancing the Democratic Party's blocs than bringing about a specific set of policies:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/03/06/personnel-are-policy/#janice-eberly

But whatever clarity of vision the Trump administration brought to DC was completely undermined by its incompetence (thankfully!). Apart from one gigantic tax break, Trump couldn't get stuff done. He couldn't deliver, because he'd lose his temper or speak out of turn:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/11/14/when-youve-lost-the-fedsoc/#anti-buster-buster

And his administrators followed his lead. Scott Pruitt was appointed to run the EPA after a career spent suing the agency. It could have been the realization of his life's dream to dismantle environmental law in America and open the floodgates for unlimited, wildly profitable corporate pollution and pillaging. But the dream died because he kept getting embroiled in absurd scandals – like the time he sent his staffers out to drive around all night looking for a good deal on a used mattress:

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/politics-news/epa-s-pruitt-told-aide-obtain-old-mattress-trump-hotel-n879836

Or his insistence on installing a CIA-style "Sensitive Compartmented Information Facility" (SCIF) so he could play super-spy while reading memos:

https://www.cnn.com/2018/04/26/politics/epa-administrator-scott-pruitt-sound-proof-booth-scif/index.html

Or the time he sent his security detail to the Ritz-Carlton to demand that they supply him lots of little bottles of his favorite hand-cream:

https://www.vox.com/2018/6/7/17439044/scott-pruitt-ritz-carlton-moisturizing-lotion

There were other examples in the Trump administration, but Priutt is such a good case-study. He's like a guy who spent his whole life training to compete in the Olympics, and finally got a shot, only to be disqualified for ordering too much room-service in the Olympic Village. Priutt was wildly ambitious, but he was profoundly undisciplined – and wildly incompetent.

Compare that with Biden's progressive enforcers and agency heads, who showed up on the first day of work with an encyclopedic knowledge of their administrative powers, and detailed plans for using them to transform the lives of the American people for the better:

https://pluralistic.net/2022/10/18/administrative-competence/#i-know-stuff

The Biden administration's competence translates into action, getting stuff done. Maybe that shouldn't surprise us, given the difference between the stories that reactionaries and progressives tell about where change comes from.

In reactionary science fiction, we enter the realm of the "Competent Man" story. Think of a Heinlein hero, who is "able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyse a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly."

In Competent Man stories, a unitary hero steps into the breach and solves the problem – if not single-handedly, then as the leader of others, whose lesser competence is a base metal that the Competent Man hammers into a tempered blade:

https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Creator/RobertAHeinlein

Contrast this with a progressive tale, like, say, Kim Stanley Robinson's Ministry For the Future, where the Competent Man is replaced by the Competent Administration, in which people of goodwill and technical competence figure out how to join forces to create population-scale architectures of participation that allow every person to contribute their skills and perspective:

https://pluralistic.net/2020/12/03/ministry-for-the-future/#ksr

The right's whole ideology insists that the world can only be saved by Competent Men. As Corey Robin writes in The Reactionary Mind, the unifying factor that binds together conservative factions from monarchists to racists to Christian Dominionists is the belief that a few of us are born to rule, and the rest to be ruled over:

https://pluralistic.net/2020/05/25/mafia-logic/#mafia-logic

The Reaganite insistence that governments are, by their very nature, incompetent and malign ("The nine most terrifying words in the English language are, 'I’m from the government, and I’m here to help'"), means that conservatives deny the possibility of a Competent Administration.

When conservatives take office and proceed to bungle the most basic elements of administration, they're fulfilling their own campaign narrative, which starts with "We must dismantle the government because it is bad at everything." Conservatives who govern badly prove their own point, which explains a lot about the UK Tory Party's long run of governmental failure and electoral success:

https://apnews.com/article/uk-suella-braverman-fired-cabinet-shuffle-7ea6c89306a427cc70fba75bc386be79

There's a small mercy in the fact that so many of the most ideologically odious and extreme conservative governments are so technically incompetent in governing, and thus accomplish so little of their agendas.

But the inverse – the incredible competence of the best progressive administrators – is nothing short of a delight to witness. Here's the latest example to cross my path: the FTC has intervened in a lawsuit over generic insulin pricing, on an issue that is incredibly technically specific and also fantastically important:

https://www.fiercepharma.com/pharma/ftc-blasts-pharmas-abuse-fda-patent-system-sanofi-mylans-insulin-monopoly-lawsuit

The underlying case is before the FDA, and it concerns the dirty tricks that pharma giant Sanofi used to keep Mylan from making a generic version of Mylan's Lantus insulin after its patent expired.

There's an explicit bargain in patents: inventors can enlist the government to punish their rivals for copying their ideas, but in exchange, the government demands that the inventor has to describe how the invention works in a detailed patent filing, and when the patent expires, 20 years later, rivals can use the patent application as instructions for freely copying and selling the invention. In other words: you get 20 years of exclusive rights in return for facilitating your competitors' copying and selling your invention when the 20 years are up.

Pharma doesn't like this, naturally: not content with 20 years of exclusivity, they want the government to step in and punish their competitors forever. In service to that end, pharma companies have perfected a process called evergreening, where they dribble out ancillary patents after their initial filing, covering minor reformulations, delivery systems, or new uses.

Evergreening got a moment in the public eye earlier this year, with John Green's viral campaign to shame Johnson & Johnson out of using evergreening to restrict poor countries' access to TB medication:

https://armandalegshow.com/episode/john-green-part-1/

The story of pharma is that it commands gigantic profits, but it invests those profits into medicines that save our lives. The reality is that most of the key underlying pharma research is publicly funded (by Competent Administrators who apportion funding to promising scientific inquiry). Pharma companies' most inventive genius is devoted to inventing new evergreening tactics:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/10/19/solid-tumors/#t-cell-receptors

That's where the FTC comes in, in this Sanofi-Mylan case. To facilitate the production of generic, off-patent drugs, the FDA maintains a database called the "Orange Book," where pharma companies are asked to enumerate all the ancillary patents associated with a product whose patent is expiring. That way, generics manufacturers who make their own version of these public domain drugs and therapeutics don't accidentally stumble over one of those later patents – say, by replicating a delivery system or special coating that is still in patent.

This is where the endless, satanic inventiveness of the pharma sector comes in. You see, US law provides for triple damages for "willful patent infringement." If you are a generics manufacturer eyeing up a drug whose patent is about to expire and you are notified that some other patents might be implicated in your plans, you must ensure that you don't accidentally infringe one of those patents, or face business-destroying statutory damages.

So pharma companies stuff the Orange Book full of irrelevant patent claims they say may be implicated in a generic manufacture program. Each of these claims has to be carefully evaluated, both by a scientific team and a legal team, because patents are deliberately obfuscated in the hopes of tricking an inattentive patent examiner into granting patents for unpatentable "inventions":

https://blueironip.com/patents-that-hide-the-ball/

What's more, when a pharma giant notifies the FDA that it has ancillary patents that are relevant to the Orange Book, this triggers a 30-month delay before a generic can be marketed – adding 2.5 years to the 20 year patent term. That delay is sometimes enough to cause a manufacturer to abandon plans to market a generic drug – so the delay isn't 2.5 years, it's infinite.

This is a highly technical, highly consequential form of evergreening. It's obscure as hell, and requires a deep understanding of patent obfuscation, ancillary patent filings, generic pharma industry practice, and the FDA's administrative procedures.

Sanofi's Orange Book entry for Lantus insulin listed 50 related patent claims. Of these, 48 were invalidated through "inter partes" review (basically the Patent Office decided they shouldn't have allowed these claims to be included on a patent). Neither of the remaining two claims were found to be relevant to the manufacture of generic Lantus.

This is where the FTC's filing comes in: their amicus brief doesn't take a position whether Sanofi's Orange Book entries were fraudulent, but they do ask the FDA to intervene to prevent Orange Book stuffing because "improper listings can cause significant harm to competition and consumers."

This is the kind of boring, technical, important stuff that excellent administrators can do. The FTC's brief is notice to the FDA that it should amend its procedures to ban (and punish) Orange Book abuse. That will make it possible for you, a person who needs medicine, to get that medicine more cheaply and quickly. In America's pay-for-use privatized healthcare hellscape, this could be a life-or-death matter.

There's plenty of things the Biden administration is getting very, very badly wrong, but we shouldn't lose sight of how its progressive wing is making real, lasting change for the better. Competent Administrations are the true peoples' champions. They beat Competent Men every time.

If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this post to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/11/23/everorangeing/#taste-the-rainbow

[uboat53]

Cabinet Endorsements

One thing that's flown a bit below the radar in this election is that former cabinet members haven't been acting like they usually do. Normally, former cabinet members will automatically endorse their former boss for re-election, but Trump's have not been doing that.

This is of particular interest because, while we, the voters, get to see the President give speeches and the like, we don't actually work with him. Presumably a cabinet member is someone who agrees with the president and who the president trusts and who gets to work closely with the president, so their opinion of the president is an important benchmark.

With that in mind, let's take a look at the 44 former cabinet members of the Donald J. Trump administration and the 2 former cabinet members of the Joseph R. Biden administration. I'll put an (E) next to the ones that have endorsed their former boss, an (H) next to the ones who haven't yet, and an (R) next to the ones who have outright refused to do so.

Cabinet Members of the Donald J. Trump Administration (R) VP Mike Pence (H) Sec. State Rex Tillerson (H) Sec. State/CIA Director Mike Pompeo (E) Sec. Treasury Steven Mnuchin (R) Sec. Defense James Mattis (H) Sec. Defense Patrick Shanahan (nominated) (R) Sec. Defense Mark Esper (H) Sec. Defense Christopher Miller (acting) (H) AG Jeff Sessions (R) AG William Barr (H) AG Jeffrey Rosen (acting) (E) Sec. Interior Ryan Zinke (H) Sec. Interior David Bernhardt (H) Sec. Agriculture Sonny Perdue (E) Sec. Commerce Wilbur Ross (H) Sec. Labor Andrew Puzder (nominated) (H) Sec. Labor Alex Acosta (H) Sec. Labor Eugene Scalia (H) Sec. HHS Tom Price (H) Sec. HHS Alex Azar (H) Sec. HHS Pete Gaynor (E) Sec. HUD Ben Carson (H) Sec. Transporation Elaine Chao (H) Sec. Transportation Steven Bradbury (acting) (H) Sec. Energy Rick Perry (H) Sec. Energy Dan Brouillette (H) Sec. Education Besty DeVos (H) Sec. Education Mick Zais (acting) (H) Sec. VA David Shulkin (E) Sec. VA Ronny Jackson (nominated) (H) Sec. VA Robert Wilkie (R) Sec. HS John Kelly (H) Sec. HS Kirstjen Nielsen (H) Sec. HS Chad Wolf (nominated) (E) US Trade Rep. Robert Lighthizer (H) DNI Dan Coats (H) DNI John Ratcliffe (H) UN Ambassador Nikki Haley (H) OMB Directory Mick Mulvaney (E) OMB Director Russel Vought (H) CIA Director Gina Haspel (H) EPA Admin. Scott Pruitt (H) EPA Admin. Andrew Wheeler (H) SBA Admin. Linda McMahon (H) SBA Admin. Jovita Caranza

Cabinet Members of the Joseph R. Biden Administration (E) Sec. Labor Marty Walsh (E) OMB Director Neera Tanden (nominated) (H) Office of Science and Tech. Director Eric Lander

The first thing we notice, obviously, is that there are a whole lot more former Trump cabinet members. This is partially because Biden is still in office so his 23 current cabinet members are not counted (it'd be a huge surprise if they didn't endorse him and they probably wouldn't still be working for him if they didn't), but it's also because Trump had way above average turnover for cabinet officials, 19 in the first four years not including the 5 who resigned due to his handling of the 2020 election results (not included because Biden hasn't reached that point in his first term yet), while Biden has had far below average turnover, only 3 so far.

So a lot more people shuffling in and out of the Trump administration, but we also notice a ton more H's than E's there. Heck, there's almost as many R's among Trump's people as there are E's (5 to 7). Meanwhile, Biden's shooting 2 for 3 and the third one hasn't (at least not that I could find) ruled out endorsing him.

Keep in mind, endorsing the nominee of your party is pretty much the bare minimum that any party operative needs to do. Imagine if you applied for a job somewhere, the first question was "do you think this company should be in business", and you answered "no". You probably wouldn't be getting a job there. In other words, refusing to endorse has some big consequences for the people doing it, not just costing them a job in the potential next Republican presidency, but locking them out of the party entirely, and yet a good deal of the people who worked for Trump disliked working with him so much that they're doing it anyways.

As I said, this tends to fly below the radar because it's kind of a formulaic ritual; of course members of the President's party who are closely tied to him are going to endorse him for re-election! That's why you should pay attention now that most of the people who've worked with Trump aren't doing so. It says something, something big.

[dailyanarchistposts]

Dismantling Progress and Protection

In 2016, Oxfam announced that world’s 62 richest billionaires held as much wealth as the poorest half of the world’s population. In 2017, this number decreased significantly to just eight people because new information came to light showing that poverty in China and India are much worse than previously thought, widening the gap between the ultra-wealthy elite and the bottom 50 percent. While this information is certainly beyond troubling, capitalism largely continues its path of destruction without being disturbed itself.

A slew of hurricanes hitting the Caribbean in 2017 made the world pause to consider the dangers of climate chaos. Many of the conversations that took place as a result of the back-to-back destruction wrought by hurricanes Irma, Jose and Maria focused on the threat of a disturbed environment. Under President Trump, these threats are only further exacerbated. As someone who campaigned on rejuvenating the coal industry and who has actively worked to transform climate denialist sentiments into government policy, Trump is one of the worst presidents anyone could hope for at a time of pressing climate disaster. With regard to the aforementioned “deconstruction” of the regulatory state that Banon spoke of, Trump accomplished major strides at the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Under the regressive guidance of Scott Pruitt, a long-time fossil fuel defender, the EPA has seen absurd government moves to destabilize the very purposes of the agency itself in favor of corporate interests.

Pruitt built his career off of suing the EPA as attorney general for the state of Oklahoma. Under Trump, he can now secure his ultimate favor to corporate interests by dismantling the state agency altogether. Everything is up for grabs and the agency has become increasingly secretive about its agenda. The New York Times reported complaints of career EPA employees working under Pruitt, explaining that “they no longer can count on easy access to the floor where his office is,” as well as doors being “frequently locked.” It has even been said that “employees have to have an escort to gain entrance” to Mr. Pruitt’s quarters, as well as some being told not bring cell phones or take notes in meetings. The Washington Post recently reported that the EPA spent almost $25,000.00 to soundproof his work area. For a state agency tasked with protecting the environment, the actions being carried out sound more in line with that of federal law enforcement or intelligence at the FBI or CIA.

The example of Pruitt is one of many hinting at an increasingly restructured state, in which right-wing corporate forces that once fought regulation now become the regulator themselves, showing how the will of capital will always fulfill itself in this system. At the same time, as the trifecta of terrible storms hit the Caribbean and the Southern US coastline, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) displayed a similar lack of social concern. In response to the lackluster response of the authorities, local communities were left to fend for themselves, with only a few celebrity figures tasking themselves with taking action. At a very emotional press conference, Mayor Carmen Cruz of San Juan compared the neglect taking place to genocide and shed tears demanding more help for US citizens in Puerto Rico: “we are dying here. And I cannot fathom the thought that the greatest nation in the world cannot figure out logistics for a small island of 100 miles by 35 miles long.”

[denimbex1986]

'...GLAAD Media Award-nominated queer romantic drama All of Us Strangers is now available to stream on Hulu! Directed by gay filmmaker Andrew Haigh, the critically-acclaimed film centers on the fledgling relationship between lonely screenwriter Adam (gay actor Andrew Scott) and his mysterious neighbor Harry (Paul Mescal). When Adam finds himself drawn back to the suburban town where he grew up, his parents appear to be living just as they were on the day they died 30 years ago. Watch All of Us Strangers on the big or small screen today!...'

[porterdavis]

He is a sitting member of Congress.

He and Scott Pruitt are head-and-head for the most criminal investigations. Trump certainly surrounded himself with a rogue's gallery of grifters.

[siansfashion]

The Great Gatsby 

Set in 1922, 4 years after the end of the Great War F. Scott Fitzgerald's novel reflects the ways in that conflict had transformed American society.

By 1925, when Fitzgerald published The Great Gatsby, flappers were out in full force. This was completed with their hair in a bob, shorter skirts and cigarettes in their mouths whilst they danced the Charleston.

Just as Gatsby's shifty business partner, Meyer Wolfsheim, was based on a real-life New York gangster Arnold Rothstein, widely believed to have fixed the 1919 World Series, the growing crime and corruption of the Prohibition era is strongly reflected in The Great Gatsby.

Harvard Referencing

PRUITT, S. (2018) 8 Ways 'The Great Gatsby' Captures the Roaring Twenties. [Online] Available from: https://www.history.com/news/great-gatsby-roaring-twenties-fitzgerald-dark-side. [Accessed: 8th December 2022].

F. Scott Fitzgerald. (1925). The Great Gatsby. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons. p.208.

[destielshipper88]

Identity (2003)

This is one of those movies I wish I could watch again for the first time because the plot twist is *chefs kiss. It's a pretty star studded cast, even for back then and I always love when they can bring these talented individuals together and make something great without anyone overshadowing everyone else. I will always recommend for people to watch this movie at least once.

Starring: John Cusack, Ray Liotta, Amanda Peet, Pruitt Taylor Vince, John C. McGinley, Alfred Molina, Clea DuVall, Rebecca De Mornay, Jake Busey, William Lee Scott, and others

wait guys. reblog this and tell me what the last movie you watched was. bonus points if you add a short review <333

[darkmaga-returns]

This week Scott is joined by Patrick and returning guest comedian Dalton Pruitt to discuss the iconic 1990 schizoid simulator film "Jacob's Ladder" starring Tim Robbins. This psychological horror/drama plays out a metaphysical narrative that straddles genres and reality itself in its exploration of the themes of Vietnam PTSD, MK ULTRA mind experimentation, latent mental illness and life and death.

[oklahomapartisan]

Sexual Tension Between Balkman, Cargill Approaching Dangerous Levels

OKLAHOMA CITY (OP) – On Tuesday, legislators were told of the rising sexual tension between Rep. Thad Balkman, R-Norman, and Rep. Lance Cargill, R-Harrah. The two representatives are frequent collaborators, often issuing joint press releases and addressing the media together. Most recently, the dynamic duo issued a press release calling on the Oklahoma Democratic Party to cancel a gay marriage event and “endorse efforts to amend the state constitution to prohibit gay marriage.” “They’re always together, talking about Oklahoma values and capital gains tax cuts,” said House staffer Gordon MacRae,

“It’s so obvious, everyone in the Capitol knows it.”

Former House page Gloria Grahame was more direct, “I wish they’d just kiss already.” While most at the Capitol agree that Balkman and Cargill would make a good couple, the rising tension is not without danger, said Oklahoma fire marshal Robert Doke.

“Whenever Balkman and Cargill get together, the sparks start flying. And when you’ve got a Capitol surrounded by oil wells, flying sparks is not something you want to deal with,”

said Doke. To ease some of the tension between the two, Doke suggested having a House staffer hose them down between particularly intense caucus sessions. Sen. Scott Pruitt, R-Broken Arrow, has also offered to chaperone the two to ensure that everything remains copacetic.

[nonfer]

S5 E7: Crisis Pregnancy Centers, Scott Pruitt & Hungary Election: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver

27,346 views Sep 15, 2024 Season 5, episode 7. April 8th, 2018

screen circa noonish on 9/20/2024:

[asr24news]

EPA fires staffer who approved report downplaying threats to Scott Pruitt

Donec sollicitudin molestie malesuada. Curabitur aliquet quam id dui posuere blandit. Vivamus magna justo, lacinia eget consectetur sed, convallis at tellus. Nulla quis lorem ut libero malesuada feugiat. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Donec rutrum congue leo eget malesuada. Cras ultricies ligula sed magna dictum porta. Vestibulum ac diam sit amet quam vehicula elementum…

[mostlysignssomeportents]

This day in history

I’m at the HowTheLightGetsIn festival in HAY-ON-WYE with my novel Red Team Blues:

Today (May 28), 1130AM: The AI Enigma

Tomorrow (May 29), 12PM: Danger and Desire at the Frontier

I’m at OXFORD’s Blackwell’s tomorrow night (May 29) at 7:30PM with Tim Harford.

Then it’s Nottingham, Manchester, London, Edinburgh, and Berlin!

#20yrsago HaidaBucks versus Starbucks https://memex.craphound.com/2003/05/29/haidabucks-versus-starbucks/

#10yrsago Reality check on the 3D printing hype-cycle https://www.wired.com/opinion/2013/05/an-insiders-view-of-the-hype-and-realities-of-3-d-printing/

#10yrsago Texas to pass landmark email privacy law https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2013/05/unprecedented-e-mail-privacy-bill-sent-to-texas-governors-desk/

#10yrsago UK film industry requisitions cops for massive raid on suspected pirate, get to question him at police station https://torrentfreak.com/five-undercover-police-cars-sent-to-arrest-single-alleged-movie-pirate-130525/

#10yrsago Hemispherical Earth cake with crust, mantle and core https://cakecrumbs.livejournal.com/55884.html

#10yrsago Legal analysis of the conclusion to Dark Knight Rises http://lawandthemultiverse.com/2013/05/27/guest-post-end-dark-knight-rises/

#10yrsago Singapore to individually license websites, require a $50K bond against bad taste https://web.archive.org/web/20130607052042/https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/singapore/news-websites-to-be-individually-license/690226.html

#10yrsago Canadian PM Steven Harper mercilessly grilled over corruption in his office, senate, government and party https://www.joeydevilla.com/2013/05/29/in-which-thomas-mulcair-takes-the-prime-minister-behind-the-shed-for-a-much-needed-spanking/

#10yrsago RIP, Jack Vance https://www.jackvance.com/jackvance_05262013/

#10yrsago EFF files formal objection against DRM’s inclusion in HTML5 https://www.eff.org/pages/drm/w3c-formal-objection-html-wg

#10yrsago Survivorship bias and electronic publishing: practically no one is making any money https://web.archive.org/web/20130607203005/https://tobiasbuckell.com/2013/05/27/survivorship-bias-why-90-of-the-advice-about-writing-is-bullshit-right-now/

#5yrsago Scott Pruitt’s EPA has opened secret backchannels to the climate denial industry to find “scientists” and other “experts” https://apnews.com/article/north-america-ap-top-news-environment-climate-change-politics-64cd37b0503440c0b92e6ca075f87dd4

#5yrsago Garbage In, Garbage Out: machine learning has not repealed the iron law of computer science https://memex.craphound.com/2018/05/29/garbage-in-garbage-out-machine-learning-has-not-repealed-the-iron-law-of-computer-science/

Catch me on tour with Red Team Blues in Hay-on-Wye, Oxford, Manchester, Nottingham, London, and Berlin!

[ulkaralakbarova]

During a snowy winter in the small fictional town of Knight’s Ridge, Massachusetts, a group of lifelong buddies hang out, drink and struggle to connect with the women who affect their decisions, dreams and desires. Credits: TheMovieDb. Film Cast: Willie Conway: Timothy Hutton Tommy “Birdman” Rowland: Matt Dillon Michael “Mo” Morris: Noah Emmerich Tracy Stover: Annabeth Gish Darian Smalls: Lauren Holly Andera: Uma Thurman Sharon Cassidy: Mira Sorvino Paul Kirkwood: Michael Rapaport Gina Barrisano: Rosie O’Donnell Stanley “Stinky” Womack: Pruitt Taylor Vince Kev: Max Perlich Jan: Martha Plimpton Marty: Natalie Portman Sarah Morris: Anne Bobby Dick Conway: Richard Bright Steve Rossmore: Sam Robards Bobby Conway: David Arquette Victor: Adam LeFevre Frank Womack: John Carroll Lynch Peter the Eater: Tom Gibis Lead Singer, Afghan Whigs: Greg Dulli Ticket Agent: John Scurti Irv: Frank Anello Sharon’s Mother: Camille D’Ambrose Kristen Rossmore: Sarah Katz Chip: Martin Ruben Waitress at Moonlight Mile: Allison Levine Bartender: Earl R. Burt Michael Morris, Jr.: Trent Nicholas Thompson Cheryl Morris: Nicole Ranallo Reunion Classmate #1: Joyce Lacey Coffee Shop Waitress: Anne W. Erickson Drinker #1: Oliver Osterberg Drinker #2: Sterling Robson Bar Owner: Herbie Ade Bowler (uncredited): Tammara Melloy Woman on the Street (uncredited): Lori J. Ness High School Alumna (uncredited): Rachel Oliva Male Nurse (uncredited): Tomas Settell Film Crew: Director: Ted Demme Associate Producer: Scott Rosenberg Executive Producer: Cathy Konrad Executive Producer: Bob Weinstein Executive Producer: Harvey Weinstein Producer: Cary Woods Original Music Composer: Dave Stewart Director of Photography: Adam Kimmel Editor: Jeffrey Wolf Casting: Margery Simkin Script Supervisor: Wendy Lee Roberts Costume Design: Lucy W. Corrigan Music Supervisor: Amanda Scheer-Demme Music Editor: Todd Kasow Production Sound Mixer: James Thornton Boom Operator: William G. Flick Sound Re-Recording Mixer: Peter Waggoner Supervising Sound Editor: Stuart Levy Production Coordinator: Teresa M. Yarbrough Production Design: Dan Davis Set Decoration: Tracey A. Doyle Art Direction: Peter Rogness Co-Producer: Alan C. Blomquist Associate Producer: Joel Stillerman Executive In Charge Of Production: Meryl Poster Art Department Coordinator: Kit Barrett Stunt Coordinator: Peter Bucossi Still Photographer: Lorey Sebastian Still Photographer: Peter Iovino Assistant Costume Designer: Trina Mrnak Key Hair Stylist: Deborah Ann Piper Hairstylist: Roxanne Wightman Makeup Artist: Cindy J. Williams Dialogue Editor: Magdaline Volaitis ADR Editor: Kenton Jakub Property Master: Martin Lasowitz Stunts: Denney Pierce Movie Reviews:

[illionoisprelawland-blog]

The United States And Environmental Law

By Zuri Cofer, The University Chicago Class of 2025

October 7, 2023

Since 2016, forty-three million children have been displaced by extreme floods, storms, droughts, and wildfires [1]. Many of these children are from developing countries that lack the proper infrastructure to combat the globe’s rising temperatures and changing climates—countries that have had little impact at the climate crisis at large, compared to the United States who has contributed more than 509 GtCO2 since 1850 and is responsible for the largest share of historical emissions, about 20% of the global total, as of 2019 [2]. 

However, in the context of American environmental discourse, this statistic is not new. The United States has historically passed and defended legislation that values the interests of partisan politics, oftentimes at the expense of climate regulation, environmental prosperity, and those affected by environmental decline. For example, between 2017 and 2018, the Environmental Protection Agency was run under Scott Pruitt, a fossil fuel-backed politician who had sued the agency 14 times [3]. Pruitt’s EPA oversaw an 85% reduction in the money corporations spend on pollution-controlling equipment and remediation as well as advocated for the repeal of the Clean Power Plan which would have presumed to yield 3,600 additional premature deaths, 90,000 asthma attacks in children, and 300,000 missed workdays and schooldays each year [4]. 

Another example of the intertwined relationship between partisan interest and environmental policy is the decade of sharply rising oil prices beginning around 2000. The issue of America’s oil supply was taken up by the right, which sought the relaxation of environmental controls to allow increased domestic production—a campaign supported by the populist, anti-Arab claim, unsupported by any evidence, that this would reduce America’s dependence on “Arab oil,” despite Arab countries supplying the United States with less than nine percent of its oil consumption [5]. This stance not only was damaging from an environmental standpoint as increased domestic production meant more drilling, but also from a social one as anti-Arab sentiment was already prevalent in the United States following 9/11. 

Political and economic interests are core values of the United States government, therefore maintaining a position of environmentalism from a governmental standpoint is difficult, given that environment conscious policy is often perceived as less economically prosperous, and at times, socially progressive.

In fact, of the twelve 2024 presidential candidates, interests vary as few candidates have concrete plans to solve the climate crisis, and some others have gone as far to denounce the concept entirely. There also are contradictions, for example, President Biden has invested billions into green infrastructure and renewable energy since obtaining his position in 2020, but has also approved the Willow Project, a massive decades long oil drilling venture in Alaska, in order to avoid steep fines and a lawsuit from Conoco had he halted the project entirely [6][7]. 

Despite the Biden Administration being relatively environmentally conscious, the Willow Project demonstrates that money is still at the center of environment policy and political intent. The area where the project is planned to take place is projected to hold up to 600 million barrels of oil and despite the massive impact this project could have on the environment, the cost of a lawsuit did not outweigh the cost on the environment. The Biden Administration's decision is arguably understandable; however it displays how the environment ranks below economic gain, or rather, the absence of economic loss.   

In an era of global warming and partisan politics, environmental policy in the United States has depended on the interests of the sitting government as well as the government’s relationship with corporations and large companies. When considering environmental legislation, one must also consider capital gain as it is a core factor in political and economic success. 

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[1] https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/2024-presidential-candidates-stand-climate-change/story?id=103313379

[2] https://www.carbonbrief.org/analysis-which-countries-are-historically-responsible-for-climate-change/

[3] Malin, Stephanie. 2018. “Developing Deeply Intersectional Environmental Justice Scholarship” in Environmental Sociology

[4] https://www.americanprogress.org/article/scott-pruitts-culture-corruption-will-cost-americans-hundreds-billions-dollars-per-year/

[5] Mitchell, Timothy. 2011. “Conclusion: No More Counting on Oil” in Carbon Democracy: Political Power in the Age of Oil.

[6] https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/2024-presidential-candidates-stand-climate-change/story?id=103313379

[7] https://www.cnn.com/2023/03/14/politics/willow-project-oil-alaska-explained-climate/index.html