#Trump policy

[political-us]

A federal judge on Wednesday blocked the Trump administration from drastically cutting medical research funding that many scientists say will endanger patients and cost jobs.

“The new National Institutes of Health policy would strip research groups of hundreds of millions of dollars to cover so-called indirect expenses of studying Alzheimer’s, cancer, heart disease and a host of other illnesses — anything from clinical trials of new treatments to basic lab research that is the foundation for discoveries.

Separate lawsuits filed by a group of 22 states plus organizations representing universities, hospitals and research institutions nationwide sued to stop the cuts, saying they would cause “irreparable harm.”

U.S. District Judge Angel Kelley in Boston had temporarily blocked the cuts last month. Wednesday, she filed a preliminary injunction that puts the cuts on hold for longer, while the suits proceed.”

[liberty1776]

Scott Ritter: Will Trump bring peace or chaos to Middle East?

[finnhuckery]

[pcttrailsidereader]

Project 2025, Trump, and the Department of the Interior

The topic of public lands rarely surfaces in the questions posed in presidential and vice-presidential debates. It is difficult to know how either the Trump or the Harris administration will approach public lands apart from how the first Trump administration dealt with the issue and, assuming that Harris shares some of the philosophy of Joe Biden, how the last four years have unfolded.

In this post, I intend to look at the Trump record as well as the roadmap laid out by Project 2025, the policy white paper written by conservatives and a number of former Trump staffers. Between 2016 - 2020, the Trump administration systematically reduced the emphasis on climate change, re-examined a handful of wilderness and protected land designations, relocated the BLM headquarters from Washington, D.C. to Grand Junction, Colorado (the Biden administration returned the headquarters to Washington, D.C.), and supported oil and mineral extraction and reduced regulation. He also signed the Great American Outdoors Act which has pumped significant funding (billions!) back into public lands. The GAOA also provided annual funding to the decades-old Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF). These are two very positive initiatives in support of public lands.

Project 2025 has several thrusts as it relates to the Department of the Interior. Based upon the 2016 - 2020 record, these areas of emphasis seem to be in line with Trump priorities:

1) Departmental overhaul

The Department of the Interior encompasses nine bureaus, each with distinct missions ranging from managing national parks to overseeing energy resources. Project 2025 proposes several administrative and structural changes. One of the first major proposals is to again return BLM headquarters back to the American West from Washington, D.C. This move, combined with the implementation of Trump's Schedule F proposal aimed at increasing accountability in hiring and firing federal employees, suggests a significant shift in the DOI's operational dynamics.

2) Energy production and resource extraction

The energy section of the chapter was written by Kathleen Sgamma of the Western Energy Alliance, an oil and gas industry group; Dan Kish of the Institute for Energy Research, a think tank long skeptical of human-caused climate change; and Katie Tubb of the Heritage Foundation. The authors set the tone of the section, titled “Restoring American Energy Dominance,” with this passage:

“Given the dire adverse national impact of Biden’s war on fossil fuels, no other initiative is as important for the DOI under a conservative President than the restoration of the department’s historic role managing the nation’s vast storehouse of hydrocarbons, much of which is yet to be discovered.”

The energy section calls for rolling back Biden-era executive orders and reinstating Trump-era policies that favor oil and gas development. Specific proposals include expanding onshore and offshore oil and gas lease sales, restarting the federal coal leasing program, and reversing protections for areas like the White River National Forest in Colorado.

This aggressive push toward fossil fuel development raises environmental and economic concerns. Critics argue that such policies could undermine efforts to combat climate change and protect public lands from overexploitation.

3) Regulatory and policy reforms

Project 2025 also targets regulatory frameworks like the National Environmental Policy Act, seeking to streamline environmental reviews and permitting processes while eliminating climate reviews for federally funded projects. The document proposes reinstating Trump-era limitations on the Endangered Species Act and the Migratory Bird Treaty Act, which could lead to reduced protections for vulnerable species.

Further, the project aims to revoke President Joe Biden’s 30-by-30 plan, which aims to conserve 30 percent of U.S. lands and waters by 2030, and seeks the repeal of the Antiquities Act of 1906, potentially opening up national monuments to commercial activities.

4) Implications for Indigenous lands

The document outlines plans to facilitate fossil fuel and mineral development on Indian lands and overhaul the Bureau of Indian Education. These proposals, combined with securing the nation's borders to protect tribal lands, suggest a significant shift in how the federal government interacts with Native American tribes.

5) A critical examination

Project 2025 presents a vision for the Department of the Interior that aligns closely with the priorities of the Trump administration. While Project 2025 presents a bold vision for the department, its potential impacts on public lands, environmental protections and Indigenous rights demand critical scrutiny. Proponents argue that these changes are necessary for economic growth and national security, but the emphasis on deregulation and resource extraction raises concerns about long-term sustainability and the balance between economic development and conservation. As voters and policymakers consider these proposals, it is essential to weigh the long-term consequences for America's natural heritage and the principles of conservation that have guided the DOI for over a century.

The sweeping changes proposed in Project 2025 underscore a broader ideological battle over the role of government in managing natural resources and protecting the environment. As these plans come under public and political scrutiny, the stakes for America's public lands and natural heritage could not be higher. The next administration's approach to these issues will shape the nation's environmental and energy policies for years to come.

In a future post, I will take a look at the Biden record and any statements that Harris has made on the topic.

It is imperative that those of us who use and love the land, make our voices heard by voting!

[beauty-funny-trippy]

Rachel Maddow looks at a string of peculiar behaviors by Donald Trump, and his administration's policies, and wonders — since those policies are bad for the U.S., who are they good for? The obvious answer: Putin The obvious conclusion: Trump is a traitor.

[fuck-u-maga]

[comfymoth]

i’m mad this is my most liked post right now so look at my cat instead lol

[in4newz]

[political-us]

[rithikap12]

today is an important day to remember this poem 💙

[liberty1776]

I have criticized Donald Trump countless times for his pattern of promising, bloviating, then backing off. Or more often flip flopping. I coined the term the Trumpenstein Project to explain his befuddling behavior. He talked the talk, but never walked the walk. All toupee and no cattle. Well, now he can’t stop walking. Trump 2.0 has unleashed a series of often fine looking executive orders in his first month back in office. Super model executive orders. He abolished birth right citizenship. He withdrew the U.S. from the WHO. He rolled back any recognition of the transgender lunacy. He declared an … Continue reading →

[finnhuckery]

Homan - Trump’s homeland security secretary in 2018 when they separated 5000 children from their parents:

Homan has since promised to reenter the government if Trump is reelected and to “run the biggest deportation force this country has ever seen.” “They ain’t seen shit yet,” Homan said over the summer. “Wait until 2025.”

[onlytiktoks]

[contemplatingoutlander]

It’s not the hypocrisy that bothers me; it’s the stupidity. We’re all shocked — shocked! — that President Trump and his team don’t actually care about protecting classified information or federal record retention laws. But we knew that already. What’s much worse is that top Trump administration officials put our troops in jeopardy by sharing military plans on a commercial messaging app and unwittingly invited a journalist into the chat. That’s dangerous. And it’s just dumb. This is the latest in a string of self-inflicted wounds by the new administration that are squandering America’s strength and threatening our national security. Firing hundreds of federal workers charged with protecting our nation’s nuclear weapons is also dumb. So is shutting down efforts to fight pandemics just as a deadly Ebola outbreak is spreading in Africa. It makes no sense to purge talented generals, diplomats and spies at a time when rivals like China and Russia are trying to expand their global reach. In a dangerous and complex world, it’s not enough to be strong. You must also be smart. As secretary of state during the Obama administration, I argued for smart power, integrating the hard power of our military with the soft power of our diplomacy, development assistance, economic might and cultural influence. None of those tools can do the job alone. Together, they make America a superpower. The Trump approach is dumb power. Instead of a strong America using all our strengths to lead the world and confront our adversaries, Mr. Trump’s America will be increasingly blind and blundering, feeble and friendless.

FINALLY, a major Democratic leader speaks up and trashes Trump's reign of stupidity and cruelty!

And of course, it's a woman: Hillary Clinton, who must be appalled at how easily Trump has dismissed "Signalgate," which was far worse than anything Clinton did with her "emails."

This is a gift 🎁 link, so there is no paywall. Enjoy!

[fuck-u-maga]