#Secretary Bernhardt

[dis-plus-fanfic-reblog-writes]

Thank you @fandomxo00 for the tag. Sorry, it took me so long to post it. Thanks for your patience. ❤️❤️❤️

Actress/actor obsessions get to know you 🤣 ??

Do whatever and with who you want !!!

Tags: If you wanna take part go for it; if not then ignore xooo @winchesterfields67 @riley-phoenix @trenchcoatimpala @mrswhozeewhatsis @nuggetpool-hi @zatinx @nickelkeep @zepskies @impala-dreamer @valandrawrites @spnexploration @moosekateer13 @holylulusworld @anyreiart @queerwolf79 @malicmalicwriter

2 men that I never lost the obsession for......

Characters:

Duncan MacLeod—immortal Boy Scout

Methos— immortal man who has been everywhere and done everything

Actors:

Jensen Ackles—he oozes talent and has such a heart.

Hugh Jackman—I watched his stuff thanks to the X-men movie.

Runner-up:

Robert Downey, Jr.—I don’t know why. Just haven’t. I have yet to find a movie of his I didn’t like. I love him in the Singing Detective movie and Heart and Soul movie.

2 old character obsession that are nerds

Daniel Jackson (Stargate movie)

The 10th Doctor

2 age-appropriate obsessions (either at the time or now??)

Misha Collins—the more and more I learn about the man, the more I wish we could be friends. I’m not joking.

I can’t think of another one. Mine have rarely been age appropriate tbh >.>()

2 soulmate obsessions

(I’m not entirely certain what this means but here’s what I’m going with…)

Dean Winchester (Supernatural) — I basically ended up marrying an oddly close version of this character

The drag king chick from the l tv show, Bliss (played by Laura Evans)—this character was such an awakening for me. I have been obsessed with wanting to get a much more masculine wardrobe of vests and waistcoats with slacks.

2 obsessions that made you “gay” (you dont have to be a gay)

The drag king chick (actress Laura Evans) from the tv show, Bliss (The Marvellon, episode)

Isabeau from Lost Girl—you have to watch the show to understand. That show is how Supernatural should have been treated.

For the record: I’m pan (I like everyone no matter sex, gender, or identification)

Regrettable, questionable obsessions upon reflection or that I completely split on because of their actor!!

Regrettable obsessions—Legs (Foxfire movie), Lestat and Louis (Interview with the Vampire movie)

Questionable obsessions—Akasha (Queen of the Damned), Edward and Jacob (Twilight)

Obsessions that remind me I’m “gay”

Kaylee (Firefly/Serenity),

Amelia Pond (Doctor Who),

River Song (Doctor Who),

Inara (Firely/Serenity),

The Doctor from Doctor Who

Ones I totally forgot about

Characters:

E. Edward Grey (The Secretary) and Lloyd Dobler (Say Anything)

Actors:

Daniel Bernhardt (Siro in Mortal Kombat: Conquest tv show; an agent in the Matrix)

Chuck Norris

Ones that are specifically about the characters

Deadpool and Logan (the worst Wolverine) from the Deadpool and Wolverine movie,

Dean Winchester, Castiel, and Death (Supernatural the tv series),

Death (Sandman comic and tv show),

the Doctor (Doctor Who), Amelia Pond and River Song (Doctor Who)

[100gayicons]

Robert de Montesquiou was a heir of a wealthy French family. He is said to have worn baby clothes that were once owned by Napoleon’s son. His Wikipedia entry pulls no punches, describing him as “a "notorious homosexual" and "the most famous dandy in Paris” of the Belle Époque (1871–1914).

“Tall, black-haired, Kaiser-moustached, he cackled and screamed in weird attitudes, giggling in high soprano, hiding his teeth behind an exquisitely gloved hand. Montesquiou's homosexual tendencies were patently obvious... He had no affairs with women, although in 1876 he reportedly once slept with the great actress Sarah Bernhardt, after which he vomited for twenty-four hours.“

In 1885 he met Gabriel Yturri, who had recently immigrant from Argentina. The two soon began a long relationship, with Gabriel becoming Robert’s secretary, companion and lover.

Montesquiou participated in 1900 Summer Olympics, finished third in the hacks and hunter event (an equestrian competition).

Yturri died due to diabetes in 1905. Montesquiou published a collection of poems and intimate letters dedicated to his deceased partner. The content revealed to the public their intimate relationship.

When Montesquiou died in 1925 he was buried with Yturri at Cimetière des Gonards in the outskirts of Paris. The tomb features a statue of an angel holding a finger to its lips, as if to say “don’t ask, don’t tell”.

Montesquiou portrait by Giovanni Boldini hangs at the Musée d'Orsay in Paris.

[notwiselybuttoowell]

Trump has nominated a longtime oil and gas industry representative to oversee an agency that manages a quarter-billion acres of public land concentrated in western states.

Kathleen Sgamma, president of the Colorado-based oil industry trade group Western Energy Alliance, was named Bureau of Land Management director, a position with wide influence over lands used for energy production, grazing, recreation and other purposes. An MIT graduate, Sgamma has been a leading voice for the fossil fuel industry, calling for fewer drilling restrictions on public lands that produce about 10% of US oil and gas.

If confirmed by the Senate, she would be a key architect of Trump’s “drill, baby, drill” agenda alongside the interior secretary Doug Burgum, who leads the newly formed National Energy Council that Trump says will establish US “energy dominance” around the world. Trump has vowed to boost US oil and gas drilling and move away from Joe Biden’s focus on the climate crisis.

The former interior secretary David Bernhardt relocated the land bureau’s headquarters to Colorado during Trump’s first term, leading to a spike in employee resignations. The bureau went four years under Trump without a confirmed director.

The headquarters for the 10,000-person agency was moved back to Washington DC under Biden, who installed the Montana conservationist Tracy Stone-Manning at the bureau to lead his administration’s efforts to curb oil and gas production in the name of fighting the climate crisis.

Sgamma will be charged with reversing those policies, by putting into effect a series of orders issued last week by Burgum as part of Trump’s plan to sharply expand fossil fuel production.

Sgamma said on social media she was honored to be nominated.

She said she greatly respects the agency’s work to balance multiple uses for public lands – including energy, recreation, grazing and mining — with stewardship of the land. “I look forward to leading an agency that is key to the agenda of unleashing American energy while protecting the environment,” she wrote on LinkedIn.

But environmentalists warned that Sgamma would elevate corporate interests over protections for public land. “Kathleen Sgamma would be an unmitigated disaster for our public lands,” said Taylor McKinnon at the Center for Biological Diversity, adding that Sgamma has “breathtaking disdain for environmental laws, endangered species, recreation, or anything other than industry profit”.

Trump nominated Brian Nesvik to lead the US Fish and Wildlife Service, which also is under the interior department and helps recover imperiled species and protect their habitat.

Nesvik until last year led the Wyoming game and fish department, where he pushed to remove federal protections for grizzly bears. That would open the door to public hunting for the first time in decades after the animals bounced back from near-extinction last century in the northern US Rocky Mountains.

The Biden administration in its last days extended protections for more than 2,000 grizzly bears in and around Yellowstone and Glacier national parks, a move that was blasted by Republican officials in Wyoming, Idaho and Montana.

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Chris D'Angelo at HuffPost:

When it comes to the public’s ability to pry documents loose from federal agencies, Donald Trump’s supporters accept nothing less than full disclosure and have spent the past few years bombarding federal agencies with requests for records. But it seems overwhelmingly likely that posture will soon change ― right around noon on Jan. 20.

Take Trump-era Interior Secretary David Bernhardt, who is now a key member of the president-elect’s transition team and is widely expected to land another powerful administration post next year. In a May 2023 episode of the America First Policy Institute’s podcast, “The Tank,” Bernhardt bemoaned that left-wing organizations he’d “never heard of” had “inundated” federal agencies with Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests during Trump’s first term, “to the point that it created a lot of activity in terms of slowing down the agenda.” “Frankly, I think they were very effective,” he said. “They’re highly funded by non-disclosed entities, and that’s fine. I was even surprised to find that much of their activity is tax-deductible.” “I’m not suggesting it’s illegal, but what I am suggesting is that it is incredibly one-sided,” he added. “That one-sided effort meant that their voice was often the only voice in the echo chamber surrounding policies related to the administration.” Bernhardt’s condemnation of perceived political adversaries using the 1967 law as intended to shine light on the inner functions of government is ironic. As a longtime lobbyist for oil, gas, mining and agricultural interests, Bernhardt entered the Trump administration with so many potential conflicts of interest that he had to carry around a card listing his former clients. Under his watch, the Department of the Interior repeatedly meddled with FOIA, going as far as to withhold information about Bernhardt ahead of his confirmation hearing to take over as secretary after the departure of scandal-plagued Ryan Zinke. And over the last couple of years, right-wing organizations, including the America First Policy Institute — many of them tax-exempt nonprofits and led by former Trump administration officials — have swamped the Interior Department and other federal agencies with thousands of records requests, many of them targeted at specific employees. (Bernhardt is chair of AFPI’s Center for American Freedom.)

Leading that sleuthing effort is the Heritage Foundation, an influential right-wing organization that spearheaded Project 2025, the extreme-right policy blueprint that GOP operatives compiled to guide Trump in a second term. Mike Howell, a former Trump administration official and current executive director of Heritage’s Oversight Project, told ProPublica last month that the foundation has filed more than 50,000 FOIA requests since 2022. Many of those requests target specific career civil servants and seek communications that mention a variety of “culture war” topics, including climate change action and diversity, equity and inclusion efforts. Others target internal discussions about Trump.

[...] One employee in the FOIA office of a government agency told ProPublica that the right-wing effort has jammed up the FOIA queue to the point that it has severely affected the agency’s ability to keep up with requests. And ethics watchdogs expect that the fishing expedition is part of Project 2025’s authoritarian vision of dismantling federal agencies and replacing tens of thousands of career staff — so-called rogue bureaucrats — with Trump loyalists willing to advance right-wing policies.

[...] The Trump administration has a record of doing exactly what Howell takes issue with. During Trump’s first year in office, federal agencies set a new record for censoring and withholding government documents requested through FOIA, The Associated Press reported at the time. Trump’s Interior Department changed its FOIA policy to allow for political appointees to review public information requests prior to their release and at one point proposed new regulations to grant the agency the ability to reject “burdensome” records requests and impose monthly limits for individual requesters. In a 2020 report, the Interior Department’s internal watchdog concluded that political appointees blocked the public release of documents related to Bernhardt ahead of his confirmation hearing in March 2019.

[...] Trump and his allies are pledging, yet again, to dismantle the “deep state” bureaucracy that they claim is conspiring against them. That is likely to include dismantling federal offices they deem not essential to an agency’s core function, including those working on climate change and environmental justice. What they conveniently forget is that the people in government they view as the enemy are, by and large, simply carrying out the Biden administration’s agenda.

Donald Trump’s first term was a censorious mess with FOIA requests. His 2nd term will be much worse.

[rjzimmerman]

Excerpt from this story from Nation of Change:

Funded through the National Park Service’s Outdoor Recreation Legacy Partnership (ORLP) program, the Department of Interior announced $46.7 million in grants will be awarded to 10 projects in 8 states. The program, which was started in 2014, helps fund the creation or improvement of outdoor recreation spaces to economically disadvantaged communities.

This is the program's second round of grants this year after $58.3 million in grants were awarded to 14 projects in March.

“The Outdoor Recreation Legacy Partnership program has consistently remained one of the Interior Department’s most impactful programs investing in urban and disadvantaged communities,” Jackie Ostfeld, Campaign Director of Sierra Club’s Outdoors for All, said. “Over the past 10 years it has continued to provide grant funding to communities across the nation, bolstering existing parks and recreation opportunities, creating new ones for millions of people to enjoy.”

According to a press release from Sierra Club, the following project will be funded:

Cleveland, Ohio

The city will receive $461,332 to create two park areas, one with a playground, splash pad, game tables, and more. The other will have picnic tables and an open-use playfield.

Des Moines, Iowa

The city will receive $5,291,000 to add a playground, splash pad, open-air shelters, stormwater management, and more to Birdland Park and Marina.

Houston, Texas

The city will receive $10,000,000 to improve MacGregor Park, including updating existing infrastructure and sports amenities.

New Brunswick, New Jersey

The city will receive $2,041,770 to create a new park with a dog park, play areas, and shade trees.

Porterville, California

The city will receive $2,500,000 to create a new park on undeveloped land, including native drought-tolerant plants, sport courts, and solar lighting.

Raleigh, North Carolina

The city will receive $8,679,930 to develop and restore Smoky Hollow Park, including erosion control, park amenities, native meadows, and more.

“Grants from the Land and Water Conservation Fund are making access to recreational opportunities possible across the country,” David L. Bernhardt, Interior Secretary, said. “We look forward to working with our state and local partners to increase the considerable benefits derived from our local parks and outdoor recreation areas.”

The program provides matching grants, up to 50 percent of the total project costs, to “enable urban communities to create new outdoor recreation spaces, reinvigorate existing parks, and form connections between people and the outdoors,” according to National Park Service.

[eagletek]

Biden admin buckles to environmental groups, makes sudden reversal on key land decision

The Biden administration announced late Tuesday that it would reverse a Trump-era land swap deal facilitating the construction, in an Alaska wilderness area, of a potentially life-saving road opposed by environmental groups. The Department of the Interior (DOI) withdrew the land exchange — which had been finalized by former Interior Secretary David Bernhardt in 2019 and aggressively defended in…

[two-wheeled-therapy]

FINAL RIDE of  2020

As 2020 is finally coming to an end, I took today off as it looked like it was supposed to be the warmest, dry day left of the year.  Tomorrow, Christmas Eve is supposed to be warmer, but raining most of the day here in Virginia.  With a high of 48 predicted, I got ready to take my likely final ride of 2020.

It was 36 degrees when I pulled the bike out of the shed.  I thought that was going to be lowest temp of the day, but it was few degrees colder in the mountains where I was headed.  I threw my heated gear in the saddle bags in case I needed it, but I was dressed for the cold in my Under Armor Heat Gear, Duluth Trading Co, lined Fire Hose pants, and my cold weather boots and socks.  I put on my glove liners and my mid weight gloves as I wanted to test out both my new liners, and the hand guards I mounted on the bike.  Throughout the 218 miles I got in, my hands did get a little chilled along the way, but I think the combo did the trick as they never got really cold.  I never did put on any of my heated gear, even at 3,600 ft along Skyline Drive . . . Ahhh yes, Skyline Drive, let me tell you about my route.

I knew two things when I left the shed; 1) I wanted to ride on Skyline Drive, and 2) I wanted to put in around 200 miles for my final ride.  I made my route up as I went, and I think I did pretty darn good.  I headed out Pageland Drive and wiggled through the Manassas Battle Fields and up to Braddock Road before heading west towards US 15.  I was on 15 for a short time, like 200 yards, before I turned off for more back roads of Carolina Dr and out towards Mountain Rd to Waterfall Drive. 

Taking Waterfall, I saw the first signs of the recent snowfall, which had passed through late last week, but had melted by my house.  Riding through the shadows of the shaded road, I eased through all the curves selecting what looked like the driest line through the curves.  I did feel the bike slip a little on some icy patches, but avoided any sudden input on the controls and kept chugging along. 

I got on 55 in The Plains and followed that through Marshall, before turning off to take Crest Hill Road out into Flint Hill before I picked up Fodderstack Road and rode through Little Washington and on into Sperryville.  I was debating between stopping at the Griffin in Flint Hill and the Headmaster's Pub in Sperryville for lunch.  Ultimately, I chose Sperryville as it put me about 15 miles closer to Skyline Drive and I would be freshly “warmed” up before hitting the mountains.  I got into Sperryville just after noon, but the Pub was closed until 4:00 PM.  I knew of another place in town that was pretty good, so decided to check that out, but it just had carryout - F U Covid! I figured I would find something down the road, and if not I can afford to miss a meal every now and then.  I geared up and got ready to hit Skyline Drive. 

Just before starting up the mountain, I saw a new restaurant that was open with indoor seating.  God bless businesses like this that opened in spite of Covid.  I parked the bike and headed inside to this new establishment that was quickly filling up.  I ordered a BLT, Creamy Tomato soup, and a coffee.  All of the above were Delicious, and just what I needed to warm me, and fill me for the rest of my journey.  Sufficiently warmed and filled, I headed back out to my bike and rode 211 up the mountain to Skyline Drive.

Thank you U.S. Department of the Interior Secretary David Bernhardt!  In November of this year he issued a directive that gave all veterans free access to the Department’s properties.  Today that saved me the $25 motorcycle fee for Skyline Drive.  Basically Mr. Secretary, you bought me lunch today, so thank you, Sir! 

I knew as I headed up 211 that I made the right choice to come up and ride the Drive.  It was absolutely beautiful.  The mountains were still covered with snow, and the roads were lined by mostly undisturbed snow.  I saw a few deer along the way and also a couple of snowmen that people had made in some of the pull offs.  The air was crisp (in the lower 30′s) and clear and the views were spectacular.  Yes I made the right choice.  If this truly is the last ride of the year, it is a good one.

I stayed on the Drive to Route 33 and rode into Standardsville, then Madison before heading up US 29 towards home.  Once down from the mountains, it warmed up to the mid to upper 40′s as promised and I rode in comfort thanks to my gear and my new hand guards. 

Putting the bike away, I logged 218 miles for the day, bringing my yearly total to 8,018 miles.  After a very slow start, I was able to catch up and pass my goal of 7,500 miles.  This total brings me and my 2011 Kawasaki Voyager 1700 ABS to a  grand total of 91,226 miles.  She will turn 10 next year.  Next July will mark 10 years that we  have been together.  My goal has always been to ride 100,000 miles on her in 10 years.  That means I have my work cut out for myself next year . . . Fortunately, I also have a plan . ..  .

See you in the 2021 wind!

[democraticfuture]

David Bernhardt, the former oil lobbyist who has formally been Interior Secretary for like 2 days, is already under investigation by the National Archives (and Congress).

They think he's been destroying his schedules (as acting secretary) in violation of federal records keeping laws.

[sarcasticcynic]

When corruption scandals forced Scott Pruitt to resign as head of the Environmental Protection Agency, former coal lobbyist Andrew Wheeler stepped in to keep Trump’s anti-environment agenda running smoothly. Now that corruption scandals have forced Ryan Zinke to resign as Secretary of the Interior, former fossil fuels lobbyist David Bernhardt will be doing the same.

“Bernhardt was a fossil fuels and water industry lobbyist ... before he joined the Trump administration. ... Many of Bernhardt’s former clients are lobbying his department now.”

These include:

Cadiz Inc

Westlands Water District

Taylor Energy

Halliburton Energy Services

Targa Energy

Noble Energy

NRG Energy

Eni Petroleum

Sempra Energy

US Oil and Gas Association

Independent Petroleum Association of America

“Scientists say Bernhardt’s ties are problematic because he ignores research in favor of business. ... ‘They’re not going to let science hold them back. That’s the thing that is so hard for us to get our head around is that, really, they are completely disregarding science.’”

[chinxe]

Traditional Bedroom Bedroom - large traditional master dark wood floor bedroom idea with beige walls and no fireplace

[notwiselybuttoowell]

The billionaire governor of North Dakota – like most picks to lead the Department of the Interior, the largest landowner in the US west – comes from a western state. He is not a conspiracy theorist, he hasn’t been investigated for sex trafficking. Unlike the president-elect’s pick to lead the Department of Energy, he is not a fracking CEO.

“He’s not a lunatic,” said Patrick Donnelly, the great basin director for the Center for Biological Diversity. “He’s not someone wholly inappropriate for the job. But I fear the way his extractive agenda will play out in public lands.”

Over the next four years, Burgum is poised to radically remake the agency that oversees 500m acres (200m hectares) of public lands, including national parks and wildlife refuges. A former software executive and one-time climate pragmatist, Burgum has become closely enmeshed with oil and gas industry executives.

Burgum led the Trump campaign’s development of its energy policy. After Trump asked oil executives to steer $1bn toward his campaign, Burgum promised them Trump would halt Joe Biden’s “attack” on fossil fuels. As Trump makes good on his promise to “drill, baby, drill”, Burgum will be overseeing the department that expedites those drilling permits.

“There’s going to be an effort to get every ounce of fuel out of the ground and burn it,” said Daniel R Patterson, a former environmental protection specialist for the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), a division of interior, who filed a whistleblower complaint during the first Trump administration. “And if we do that, we’re burning ourselves.”

Burgum had long had an affinity for Teddy Roosevelt, the US president who established the national parks system and was a champion of the outdoors. Roosevelt was from New York, but had a special connection to the Dakotas, seeking solace in the region’s sweeping badlands.

The 26th president was also known for his machiavellian political philosophy. “Teddy Roosevelt encouraged America to speak softly and carry a big stick,” Burgum said at the Republican national convention in Milwaukee. “Energy dominance will be the big stick that President Trump will carry.”

In addition to managing the interior department, Trump has also tasked Burgum with serving as an “energy czar”, overseeing energy policy across the federal government at the helm of a new “national energy council”.

He will be, in essence, a fox guarding the henhouse – in a position to tear down environmental regulations, and ramp up extraction. “We’re going to see a hard turn, to almost complete hostility to conservation interests,” said Patterson.

With Burgum at the head of the department, Patterson added, “the direction from DC is going to be to permit as much resource exploitation as possible. And interior employees are going to be asked to push the boundaries of the law more.”

Burgum’s zeal for extraction – and his focus on ramping up oil and gas production – could make him more efficient and effective than Trump’s previous interior secretaries. Trump’s first interior leader, Ryan Zinke, racked up 18 ethics investigations in just under two years. His replacement David Bernhardt was also dogged by allegations of ethics violations – and was investigated for carrying on his work as an oil industry lobbyist even after he joined the administration.

Burgum’s relatively short political career has not been without scandal. During his short-lived presidential bid, he drew attention for offering $20 gift cards to people who would donate $1 to his campaign, so he would have enough individual donors to make the Republican primary debate stage. But until quite recently, Burgum was viewed as a relative moderate.

Initially, he was known for his bipartisanship and pragmatism. Tribal leaders in North Dakota have credited him with smoothing tenuous relationships between tribal and state governments, and though he urged the federal government to take quicker action to clear out protesters of the Dakota Access Pipeline, he advocated against using force after taking over as governor toward the end of the standoff.

He was never a progressive champion of climate action – but he promoted the same “all of the above” approach to energy that Democratic administration have supported, backing North Dakota’s powerful oil and gas industry while also encouraging the development of renewable energy infrastructure. In 2021, he set a goal that North Dakota would stop adding carbon dioxide to the atmosphere by 2030, becoming “carbon neutral” – advocating for a plan that retained the state’s fossil fuel industries while investing in carbon capture and storage technologies to offset emissions. At the time, environmental groups supported Burgum’s pledge, but noted the impracticality of relying on unproven carbon capture technology rather than a transition away from fossil fuels.

But in the past year and a half, Burgum underwent a Maga conversion, becoming one of Donald Trump’s closest advisers on energy policy, coordinating closely with oil industry executives.

[that-one-crazy-snape-girl]

Our public lands and our environment will be completely devastated by another 4 yrs of Trump and that's what scares me the most.

I swear if we have to deal with an illigally acting director of the BLM who thinks the way to deal with endangered species is to get rid of them before anyone notices, I will go assassinate fucking William Perry Pendley myself.

[rjzimmerman]

Karner Blue Butterfly. Credit: USFWS

Excerpt from this press release from the Center for Biological Diversity:

The Center for Biological Diversity sued the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service today for failing to adequately protect more than 1,500 species of wildlife and plants from the insecticide malathion — in violation of the Endangered Species Act.

Malathion is a neurotoxin and part of a dangerous class of old pesticides called organophosphates that have also been used as nerve agents in chemical warfare.

In 2022 the Service finalized its biological opinion on malathion, concluding that the pesticide does not pose an extinction risk to a single protected species of wildlife or plant in the United States. That blanket “no jeopardy” determination was a sharp contrast to its 2017 findings — from career scientists within the Service — that, on the contrary, malathion jeopardized the continued existence of 1,284 threatened and endangered species.

The 2017 scientific determination was abruptly reversed by then-Secretary of the Interior David Bernhardt during the previous administration, which then dramatically weakened the processes used to assess the potential effects of malathion at the request of the pesticide industry and delayed the finalization of the biological opinion by five years.

Critically, the 2022 document failed to include any specific conservation measures to protect more than 1,500 listed species from malathion.

“The Fish and Wildlife Service submitted to the pesticide industry’s demands and hung more than 1,500 endangered species out to dry by failing to rein in malathion use in their habitats,” said Lori Ann Burd, environmental health director at the Center for Biological Diversity. “Today these animals and plants continue to be harmed by one of the worst neurotoxic pesticides on the market, which can be sprayed in the last few homes of some of our most imperiled species. That includes nearly every endangered butterfly, beetle and dragonfly we have. We just can’t let this go on.”

In 2017 scientists within the Service determined that a single exposure to malathion “could be catastrophic” and that repeated use of the insecticide could eliminate entire populations of endangered species in particular areas. The scientists also expressed alarm at the harms to the 500 threatened and endangered plant species that depend on insect pollinators for their propagation.

[typhlonectes]

Don't Let the Trump Administration Privatize Our Campgrounds! 

BREAKING: A new proposal from an industry-aligned committee of the National Park Service would pave the way for privatizing our public lands by leasing national park campgrounds. Speak up to stop them!

Our national parks are meant to be enjoyed by all. Yet the Outdoor Recreation Advisory Committee -- a lobbyist-loaded advisory committee created by disgraced former Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke -- is attempting to sell off our park campgrounds to the highest bidder. Take action now!

They've proposed a plan to lease public campgrounds to private entities and open up sites for commercialized services, such as WiFi and food trucks, while increasing fees and limiting discounts for seniors.

This would pad the pockets of companies cozy with the Trump administration at the expense of families and individuals looking to visit our most beautiful spaces.

These corporations aren't in the campground management business for the public good -- they're in it to make a profit.

The proposal would most directly benefit private campground companies such as KOA and Delaware North, the latter of which recently hired the lobbying firm that current Secretary of the Interior, David Bernhardt, worked for and is owned by Trump donor Jeremy Jacobs. If these companies get their way, we could see our most cherished natural spaces turned into playgrounds for the wealthy.

We must keep our public lands accessible and affordable for all.

Demand the Department of the Interior and National Park Service reject this proposal!

[meret118]

On Wednesday, May 11, Porter appeared on MSNBC News where she offered details about the latest developments involving former Trump Secretary of the Interior, Ryan Zinke, former Deputy Secretary of the Interior, David Bernhardt, and real estate developer, Mike Ingram.