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Now, the dawning of the Age of Trump it may become irresistible for an Energy Company operating in Texas not to shed its Green business.
Posted on Sustainabilitank.info on April 8th, 2017
By DIANE CARDWELL and ALEXANDRA STEVENSON – The New York Times – April 7, 2017.
Barry Smitherman in 2013, when he was chairman of the Texas Railroad Commission, which largely regulates the oil and gas industry. Now on the board of the energy giant NRG, he has called global warming a hoax.
But now, the company finds its strategy challenged from within.
Activist hedge-fund investors, intent on extracting value from NRG assets, have installed two directors on the board who, in one potential approach, would push to sell off some of the company's renewable-power projects, raising questions about how it would meet its clean-energy goals.
It is but the latest skirmish in NRG's long struggle to make several kinds of energy products — conventional and renewable, large-scale and decentralized — profitable under one corporate umbrella.
How Producing Clean Power Turned Out to Be a Messy Business AUG. 13, 2016
NRG Shifts Focus Away From Empowering Consumers JUNE 3, 2016
Elliott Management Appoints Jonathan Pollock as Co-Chief Executive NOV. 23, 2015
And that has drawn the attention of New York City's comptroller, Scott M. Stringer, who oversees the city's pension funds that are shareholders in NRG. On Friday, he filed a letter with the Securities and Exchange Commission urging shareholders to oust Mr. Smitherman at their annual meeting on April 27, 2016:
"In light of Mr. Smitherman's stated views on climate change, which are incompatible with NRG's disclosed business strategy and risks, we question his ability to act in the best interests of NRG and its shareholders," Mr. Stringer wrote in the letter. "Additionally, we believe his role on the board sends a demoralizing message to the many NRG employees responsible for implementing the company's existing business strategy and managing its risks."
Mr. Smitherman did not return an email or phone call seeking comment about his views and how the board shake-up might affect NRG's long-term strategies and goals.
The conflict has its roots in efforts led by Elliott Management, a multibillion-dollar hedge fund run by Paul E. Singer, and Bluescape Energy Partners, run by C. John Wilder, a former executive at the Texas utility TXU who has been credited with its turnaround.
Under Mr. Singer, an early titan of the hedge-fund industry who has also made a name for himself as a top Republican donor, Elliott has been known for its no-holds-barred approach to taking on companies and governments over its investments around the world.
As an activist investor, Elliott quietly builds up equity stakes in companies until it has a big enough position to start rattling the cages of a company's management. In South Korea, Elliott became the first investor to publicly spar with Samsung, a conglomerate run by one of the country's most powerful corporate dynasties. In Argentina, Elliott was pilloried in the local press as a "vulture" investor for waging a decade-long battle with the government over its defaulted debt.
In its investment in NRG, Elliott has so far remained largely behind the scenes. But in an emailed statement on Thursday, Elliott said that if a buyer in the market were willing to pay a premium for some of NRG's renewables businesses, "it may be a good decision for NRG and its shareholders to crystallize that value."
Most of the company's power plants run on fossil fuels like coal and natural gas, but it has extensive wind and solar farms, including several unfinished projects it bought last year from SunEdison, which had gone bankrupt. Earlier this year, the company reported a loss of $891 million for 2016, largely because of low natural gas prices, down from a $6.4 billion loss the year before.
As for investor concerns about the appointment of Mr. Smitherman, Elliott pointed to the fact that Mr. Smitherman had extensive knowledge of the Texas regulatory landscape. NRG is one of the largest energy suppliers in Texas, and some of its assets in the state could be considered for sale, requiring extensive knowledge of the regulatory hurdles.
Photo: Mauricio Guiterrez, chief executive of NRG, at its headquarters in Princeton, N.J. The building, opened last year, is described by the company as an "ultra-green" building emphasizing renewable energy technology. Credit Bryan Anselm for The New York Times
"At NRG, the debate is not over clean versus conventional generation," Mr. O'Looney said. "The debate is simply over who is the best long-term owner of individual assets and fleets of assets that currently reside inside the broader NRG portfolio."
Mr. Smitherman, an ally of Rick Perry, the energy secretary and former Texas governor, was chairman of the Texas Public Utility Commission, where he helped usher in the high-voltage transmission lines that spurred the development of a robust wind industry. He then ran the state Railroad Commission, which largely regulates the oil and gas industries.
It was not until around 2013, when he announced his candidacy for state attorney general, that Mr. Smitherman began publicly questioning climate science and global warming, according to energy experts in Texas. He appears to still support the development of renewable energy, writing in The Dallas Morning News in December about how beneficial Texas wind power development had been to the state.
NRG has reeled in recent years as it has sought to transform itself from a conventional-energy giant into a leader in the clean-energy economy.
"NRG is caught between what we consider the next generation of power supply and the status quo," said Travis Miller, an energy and utilities analyst at Morningstar. "The move toward renewable energy and gas generation is a trend that won't stop anytime soon so every power generator is trying to develop a strategy where they can benefit from the transition period."
David Crane, a former chief executive, had tried to do that by transforming the company into the Google of green energy, investing in big renewable-energy projects and buying small start-ups to help capture emerging markets like rooftop solar, electric-vehicle charging and home automation. But the company pulled back from those ambitions as a combination of low oil and gas prices and the threat of rising interest rates led to turbulence in the energy markets and skittishness among renewable-energy investors and the company's stock tumbled. Despite an elaborate reorganization aimed at cutting costs, reducing debt and better aligning the businesses with investors, Mr. Crane was pushed out in 2015, and replaced by Mauricio Gutierrez, the executive vice president and chief operating officer.
The company, for instance, recently re-signed the Business Backs Low Carbon pledge organized by Ceres, an advocacy group.
In January, Elliott and Bluescape announced that they had each bought a large stake in NRG and were teaming up to put pressure on the company to make changes to its business. NRG was "deeply undervalued" and could be worth more if its management undertook "operational and financial improvements" as well as "strategic initiatives," Elliott said at the time in a filing to the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Elliott said that Mr. Wilder and his team had "directly relevant experience in effectuating such improvements," adding that they were in a dialogue with the board.
By February, NRG announced that it had struck an agreement with Elliott, which owned 6.9 percent of the company's stock, and Bluescape, which had 2.5 percent, to replace two outgoing directors and appoint Mr. Wilder and Mr. Smitherman.
NRG also agreed to undertake a business review of the different parts of the company, including examining "potential portfolio and/or asset de-consolidations."
Twenty eight years since Exxon Valdez and the Trump people want to make money by spilling some more.
Posted on Sustainabilitank.info on March 25th, 2017
By Franz Matzner, Natural Resources Defense Council
Twenty eight years ago today the world experienced a massive wake-up call on the hazards and harms of oil spills when the Exxon Valdez oil tanker split open and poured oil into Alaskan waters.
At the time, images of oil coated wildlife and a devastated ecosystem in one of the world's most delicate, iconic and majestic environments drew global attention. Today, oil still lurks under the surface of Prince William Sound, impairing wildlife and human lives.
Eleven years later, BP's Deepwater Horizon oil rig exploded, killing 11 workers and spreading millions of gallons of crude throughout the Gulf of Mexico.
Gulf communities are still trying to recover from this devastating blow to local economies and human health. Years of legal challenge and delay by the oil industry meant those least able to absorb the blow to their way of life abandoned and foundering.
In the aftermath of the BP disaster, a non-partisan, blue ribbon commission was established to provide recommendations to mitigate the risk of future events, providing hope to communities already exposed to oil drilling that finally their voices would be heard.
Despite these consensus proposals, adequate safety reforms have never been formulated, let alone implemented and even the progress that has been made is at risk.
As I write, crude oil is flowing into the Mississippi and a gas leak in Alaska's Cook Inlet is ongoing—and has been for more than three months. Sea ice is making repairs impossible, underscoring again the unique challenges of oil and gas exploration in Alaska's frozen and tumultuous waters.
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But it's not just the major, headline dominating spills that are degrading our environment and impacting human health. Wired reported in December that there are about 30,000 oil spills per year in U.S. waters, most of which are in the Gulf of Mexico. It's being killed, literally, by a thousand cuts. Nor are spills the only concern. Ongoing operations produce other pollutants, including toxic metals and carcinogens, that are dumped into the ocean. A toxic mix of metals, fluids and other drilling bi-products harm marine ecosystems and are suspected in increasing mercury levels in some fish populations. To say nothing of the infrastructure development that can rip apart habitats and the industries that rely on them.
Adding insult to injury, the agencies responsible for managing our publicly owned ocean resources have been identified by the Government Accountability Office as "high risk." The Government Accountability Office is a nonpartisan "congressional watchdog" that seeks to identify performance issues and inefficiencies in the federal government. Its high risk designation, granted to the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement in 2016, indicates that the agency charged with limiting offshore oil spills is not doing its job effectively. Just this week, in fact, the Government Accountability Office released a report expanding on its findings about the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement. And the House Oversight committee held a hearing on oil well safety, which focused on that report and further exposed the lack of meaningful safety measures as well as the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement's significant lack of staffing and resources.
Fortunately, at the close of the previous administration, bold actions were taken to preserve and protect large swaths of our Arctic and Atlantic oceans from future oil disasters. These decisions came in direct response to the broad and unwavering call from all corners of the country to stop the expansion of oil drilling into these public waters and recognized that the rapid growth of clean energy means there is simply no need to expose our still oil-free beaches, local economies and climate to the inherent harms of offshore drilling.
This victory is something that should be built on. Yet the Trump administration's oil cabinet and its allies in Congress have instead launched a systematic attack to do precisely the opposite, opening the door for these vital oceans owned by all American's to be sold and exploited at the behest of select private oil companies.
The very first piece of legislation signed by President Trump was a gift to Exxon and global despots, designed to make it easier for oil, gas and coal companies to bribe foreign governments without accountability.
The Trump "starvation" budget would axe funding to the already beleaguered and under resourced agencies tasked with managing oil drilling safety risks, effectively taking what few cops are left off the beat.
And to complete the package, legislation is being proposed in the House and Senate that would open the door to a radical expansion of offshore drilling. One proposal would overturn recently finalized drilling safety standards specifically designed to meet recommendations made by the Oil Spill Commission.
Draft legislation being circulated by Rep. Bratt (R-VA) and another bill introduced by Sen. Cassidy (R-LA) would remove current permanent protections in the Arctic Ocean, along the Atlantic coast and in Alaska's Bristol Bay, bar any future President from providing such protections and gut the underlying law that ensures public input into how public resources are utilized.
Extreme by any measure, these legislative proposals should be rejected, even by those who do not oppose offshore drilling. It is simply unconscionable to discount the documented safety, environmental and health risks that come with offshore drilling and to put in place a system designed to exclude the coastal residents most in harm's way, flout the science of climate change and flatly reject the basic principles of responsible management of our public lands and oceans.
Fortunately, across the country millions of concerned citizens, communities, businesses and local residents are ready to stand strong against this attempt to rob future generations of our pristine beaches, healthy oceans and a stable climate.
Urge your Members of Congress to oppose Big Oil's plan to bring Big Spills back to our beaches. Ask them to instead cosponsor legislation to protect our oceans, communities and climate. You can reach your Representative and Senators through the Capitol switchboard, at (202) 224-3121.
Trump&Ryan defeated on Obamacare – no Trump-no-care. Now California picks the fight against Trump-back-to-oil-pollution in-your-face.
Posted on Sustainabilitank.info on March 24th, 2017
Ryan: We came close but we didn't have enough votes so for now Obamacare stays the law of the land. Republicans will move on to other items on the agenda.
By CHRIS MEGERIAN
Wielding the same authority created decades ago to fight smog, California regulators on Friday moved forward with tough new pollution-reduction requirements for automakers selling cars in the state.
The rules set escalating targets for reducing greenhouse gas emissions from 2022 through 2025, and officials are planning tougher steps after that. There's also a requirement for automakers to sell more zero-emission vehicles in the state, with a goal of 1 million on the road by 2025.
The decision to push ahead with cuts to greenhouse gas emissions came even as President Trump has begun rolling back federal rules intended to battle global warming over the next several years.
California has a long history of pushing the envelope to reduce tailpipe pollution, and the latest move signals the state is prepared to do battle with Trump's White House.
"We're going to press on," Mary Nichols, California's top emissions regulator, said during a meeting of the Air Resources Board in Riverside.
The state's rules on greenhouse gases were written in partnership with former President Obama's administration, creating a single national standard for new vehicles.
But with Trump in the White House and conservatives in charge of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, state and federal regulators have started drifting in separate directions. The divergence could reignite historic conflicts that once raged in Sacramento, Washington and Detroit.
Mary Nichols chairs the Air Resources Board meeting held in Riverside.
"We should all be getting back to work on this," John Bozzella, who advocates for international car companies at the Assn. of Global Automakers, said at Friday's hearing.
ALSO SEE IN THE ORIGINAL: Historical photos of pollution in California
Over the years they've shown little hesitance about setting higher benchmarks for emissions, steps that often eventually become federal requirements. The rules approved Friday could force automakers to build more efficient engines, use increasingly lightweight materials and develop more electric vehicles.
Ann Carlson, an environmental law professor at UCLA, said negotiations still could resolve disagreements and preserve a single national standard.
And if they don't?
"The other possibility is it's full-out war," Carlson said.
War over vehicle rules would not be new for California, where thick smog decades ago made tougher regulations a necessity. In Los Angeles, motorcycle riders wore gas masks and children were kept inside during school recess.
Highlights from California's emissions regulations
Source: Los Angeles Times reporting
"My eyes would sting. Sometimes you couldn't see a block," said Tom Quinn, who was appointed to lead the Air Resources Board when Gov. Jerry Brown took office for his first term in 1975. One of his fellow board members was Nichols, who returned to the agency in 2007 and remains in charge today.
The board quickly ran into opposition from automakers, who said higher standards would be impossible to meet. Quinn remembers turning to Bob Sawyer, another board member and a mechanical engineering professor, during a break in a meeting.
"I said, 'Bob, what's going to happen? They insist they can't sell cars,' " Quinn recalled. "Bob said, 'They're lying.' "
The board passed the rules, Quinn said, and "of course they sold cars."
Sometimes regulators clamped down on individual manufacturers, barring sales of certain cars or instituting financial penalties. Regulators issued a $328,400 fine, the largest at the time, against Chrysler for violating smog rules. A company representative dropped off a check at Quinn's house on a weekend.
The state's clout has only grown since then. An update to federal law in 1990 allowed other states to adopt California's higher standards; New York and Massachusetts are among the dozen that have taken that step.
"California has set itself as an example, and other states are following behind," said Michael Harley, an Irvine-based automotive analyst at Kelley Blue Book. "We don't have a 'rogue state' syndrome."
The latest round of battles began in 2002, when California enacted the country's first rules for greenhouse gases from tailpipes to fight global warming.
Fran Pavley, the former lawmaker who wrote the legislation, recalled bitter opposition.
"One person threatened to come over with a baseball bat," she said of a threat to her office. "This got really, really heated."
Automakers sued the state, and President George W. Bush's administration rejected California's request for a waiver to move forward with the regulations, the only time such a request has been turned down.
A potential legal battle dissipated, however, once Obama took office. His administration granted California's waiver and worked toward a single national policy for reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
High gas prices and political pressure to reduce the country's reliance on foreign oil — not to mention Obama's desire to address climate change — led to additional fuel efficiency regulations finalized in 2012.
It was a period of relative harmony, but the circumstances that fostered cooperation and ambitious national regulations no longer exist. With gas prices lower, consumers have proved more interested in pickup trucks and sport utility vehicles than hybrids and electric cars.
Automakers argue that Obama improperly rushed to finalize the rules before he left office, and Trump does not share California's commitment to fighting climate change.
The unraveling consensus on vehicle regulations has concerned advocates.
"There's no reason for environmentalists, automakers and conservatives to risk a nuclear war over these rules, which will result in zero progress for all sides," said Robbie Diamond, who leads Securing America's Future Energy, a group of business and former military leaders that wants less dependence on foreign oil.
Now that California has recommitted itself to reducing greenhouse gas emissions, the next steps are up to Trump. If the administration's review leads to only slight changes, automakers might be able to balance California and federal regulations without much trouble.
"They could just shuffle cars around," Harley said, ensuring the mix of vehicles available for sale meet California's benchmarks. Consumers here already buy more electric cars and fewer pickup trucks than national averages.
But there's still the potential for a dramatic change, or even an unprecedented legal assault on California's cherished ability to set higher standards. Although automakers insisted they weren't calling that into question, Nichols expressed skepticism about their commitment because they asked Trump to review federal rules.
"What were you thinking when you threw yourself upon the mercy of the Trump administration?" she said.
At this point, state leaders seem unwilling to yield to any pressure on regulating emissions.
"I don't like to say anything is nonnegotiable," said Brown on Monday during a visit to Washington.
But to fight climate change, he said, "we have to intensify, not fall back."
Downtown Los Angeles' tallest buildings rise above a blanket of smog in October 1973. (Fitzgerald Whitney / Los Angeles Times)
Trump wants to shelve fuel mileage rules, inviting a fight with California
Trump's EPA pick poised to survive Senate fight, but his brewing battle with California will be harder to win
'Hello, Bob': President Trump called my cellphone a Washington Post correspondent, to say that the health-care bill was dead.
Trump on health care bill: 'We couldn't quite get there'
President Trump addressed his plan to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act, saying he will let Obamacare "explode," before taking questions from the media on March 24 at the White House. (The Washington Post)
By Robert (Bob) Costa March 24 at 5:59 PM
Instead, it was the president calling from the Oval Office. His voice was even, his tone muted. He did not bury the lead.
"Hello, Bob," Trump began. "So, we just pulled it."
Trump was speaking, of course, of the Republican plan to overhaul the Affordable Care Act, a plan that had been languishing for days amid unrest throughout the party as the president and his allies courted members and pushed for a vote.
Before I could ask a question, Trump plunged into his explanation of the politics of deciding to call off a vote on a bill he had been touting.
The many ups and downs of the GOP health-care battle Play Video3:56
"We couldn't get one Democratic vote, and we were a little bit shy, very little, but it was still a little bit shy, so we pulled it," Trump said.
Trump said he would not put the bill on the floor in the coming weeks. He is willing to wait and watch the current law continue and, in his view, encounter problems. And he believes that Democrats will eventually want to work with him on some kind of legislative fix to Obamacare, although he did not say when that would be.
[House Republican leaders abruptly pull their rewrite of the nation's health-care law]
"As you know, I've been saying for years that the best thing is to let Obamacare explode and then go make a deal with the Democrats and have one unified deal. And they will come to us; we won't have to come to them," he said. "After Obamacare explodes."
"The beauty," Trump continued, "is that they own Obamacare. So when it explodes, they come to us, and we make one beautiful deal for the people."
My question for the president: Are you really willing to wait to reengage on health care until the Democrats come and ask for your help?
"Sure," Trump said. "I never said I was going to repeal and replace in the first 61 days" — contradicting his own statements and that of his own adviser, Kellyanne Conway, who told CNN in November that the then-president-elect was contemplating convening a special session on Inauguration Day to begin the process of repealing the Affordable Care Act.
Turning to an aide, Trump asked, "How many days is it now? Whatever." He laughed.
Trump returned to the theme of blaming the Democrats.
"Hey, we could have done this," he said. "But we couldn't get one Democrat vote, not one. So that means they own Obamacare and when that explodes, they will come to us wanting to save whatever is left, and we'll make a real deal."
There was little evidence that either Trump or House Republicans made a serious effort to reach out to Democrats.
Still, I wondered, why not whip some more votes this weekend and come back next week to the House with a revised piece of legislation?
"Well," Trump said, "we could do that, too. But we didn't do that. It's always possible, but we pulled it."
Trump brought up the vote count. "We were close," he said.
How close?
"I would say within anywhere from five to 12 votes," Trump said — although widespread reports indicated that at least three dozen Republicans opposed the measure.
[There were at least three dozen Republicans opposed to the health-care bill
That must have hurt after all of his attempts to rally Republicans, I said. He made calls, had people over to the White House, invited House members on Air Force One. He may not have loved the bill, but he embraced the negotiations.
"You're right," Trump said. "I'm a team player, but I've also said the best thing politically is to let Obamacare explode."
Trump said he made the decision to pull the bill after meeting Friday at the White House with House Speaker Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.).
Was that a tense, tough conversation with Ryan, I asked?
"No, not tough," Trump said. "It's just life. We had great support among most Republicans but no Democratic votes. Zero. Not one."
I mentioned to Trump that some of his allies were frustrated with Ryan. Did he share those frustrations, and would he be able to work with Ryan moving forward on plans to cut taxes and build an infrastructure package?
He then repeated the phrase: "I don't blame Paul. He worked very hard on this."
And again.
"I don't blame Paul at all."
As he waits for Democrats, I asked, what's next on health care, if anything, policy-wise?
"Time will tell. Obamacare is in for some rough days. You understand that. It's in for some rough, rough days," Trump said.
"I'll fix it as it explodes," he said. "They're going to come to ask for help. They're going to have to. Here's the good news: Health care is now totally the property of the Democrats."
Speaking of premium increases, Trump said: "When people get a 200 percent increase next year or a 100 percent or 70 percent, that's their fault."
He returned again to a partisan line on the turn of events.
"To be honest, the biggest losers today are Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer," Trump said of the House minority leader and the Senate minority leader. "Because now they own the disaster known as Obamacare."
Okay, I asked, they may own it, in his view, but he will at some point be tasked with shaping whatever comes forward as a partial replacement. What will that be? What kind of policy could he support?
"Oh, lots of things can happen," Trump said. "But the best would be if we could all get together and do a real health-care bill that would be good for the people, and that could very well happen."
Does Trump regret starting his agenda this year with health care?
"No, I don't," he said. "But in a way I'm glad I got it out of the way."
"Look, I'm a team player," Trump said of the Republican Party. "I've played this team. I've played with the team. And they just fell a little bit short, and it's very hard when you need almost 100 percent of the votes and we have no votes, zero, from the Democrats. It's unheard of."
What happened with the House Freedom Caucus, the hard-line conservatives he had wooed over and over again?
"Ah, that's the big question," Trump said with a slight chuckle. "Don't know. I have a good relationship with them, but I couldn't get them. They just wouldn't do it."
Trump alluded to long-running, simmering dramas on Capitol Hill, which he said had little to do with him, as a reason the Freedom Caucus could not back the bill.
"Years of hatred and distrust," he said. "Long before me."
Was Trump saying, perhaps, that the inability of Ryan and his team to work well with that caucus was part of why talks stalled?
"Well, look, you can say what you want," Trump said. "But there are years of problems, great hatred and distrust, and, you know, I came into the middle of it."
"I think they made a mistake, but that's okay," Trump said of the Freedom Caucus.
As we wrapped up, I tried to get some clarity. The president was blaming the Democrats and was willing to let the law "explode." Yet he also seemed to be teasing the possibility of doing something bipartisan down the road, a fresh start at some point.
I asked: Would working on a bipartisan health-care deal a year from now be something he would find more agreeable than whipping the hard right?
"A lot of people might say that," Trump said, laughing. "We'll end up with a better health-care plan. A great plan. And you wouldn't need the Freedom Caucus."
What about the moderates, the Tuesday Group?
"They were great," Trump said. "They were really great."
He turned once more to the Democrats.
"They own it," he said.
"You've said that," I told him.
"This is a process," Trump concluded, "and it's going to work out very well. I was a team player, and I had an obligation to go along with this."
As Trump tried to hang up the phone and get back to work, I asked him to reflect, if at all possible, on lessons learned. He's a few months into his presidency, and he had to pull a bill that he had invested time and energy into passing.
What was on his mind?
"Just another day," Trump said, flatly. "Just another day in paradise, okay?"
He paused.
"Take care."
Read more at PowerPost
Posted on Sustainabilitank.info on March 11th, 2017
9 Mar, 2017 14:09
After winning a Cypriot government tender, Exxon Mobile has expressed interest in bidding for Israeli natural gas tenders.
Israeli Minister of National Infrastructure, Energy and Water Resources Yuval Steinitz met last week with senior executives from Exxon Mobil and Royal Dutch Shell during his visit to the US. The minister's associates say that while Royal Dutch Shell will probably not take part in the new tender for oil and gas exploration licenses in Israeli waters, the Exxon Mobil executives came equipped with a great deal of relevant information, and expressed interest in the tender.
The reason is allegedly the announcement two days ago that Exxon had won a tender for oil and gas exploration in Block 10 in Cyprus as part of a consortium with Qatar Petroleum. A group composed of Italian company ENI and Total, and ENI by itself, won the concession for two other blocks in the tender.
In a fourth block already held by Total, the company asked the Cypriot government for permission to add ENI as a 50% partner in the license, because the block is located only six kilometers away from the Egyptian Zohr gas reservoir discovered by ENI. Total expects ENI's extensive knowledge of the geology in the area to be of use in finding gas in Cyprus.
Steinitz's associates say that since Exxon is starting to prepare for activity in a nearby area, the company believes that it is likely to prove worthwhile to develop parallel activity in Israel, and to use the same transportation infrastructure to export gas discovered in both countries to Europe.
Steinetz went to Europe early this week, and flew from there to New York and Houston for a week of meetings with energy concerns. In Rome, he met with his Italian counterpart, and held meetings in New York with the Barclays, Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs, and JP Morgan investments banks, as well as with a group of private investors organized by the Royal Bank of Canada (RBC). In Houston, he took part in the CERAweek energy conference, and held meetings with energy companies.
SustainabiliTank, sorry for the Trump Administration's definitive efforts to undo the Obama Administration's great successes in decreasing the place of oil in the global energy markets,
Posted on Sustainabilitank.info on February 24th, 2017
Kury Bayer was Board Director at the World Bank (2002/2004) and Board Director at the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (2008/12). Since then consultant, columnist and member of think-tanks. He also runs a blog.
Kurt Bayer's Commentary – GLOBAL ECONOMIC POLICY
During his campaign, US president Trump had promised to dry out the swamp in Washington, D.C. (Austrians will remember the former President Kirchschläger's announcement, "die sauren Wiesen Österreichs auszutrocknen"). And then, during the week that the new Secretary of State, Rex Tillerson, was confirmed by the Senate, the House of Representatives voted to abolish the "Publish what you pay" rule, which required listed US gas and oil companies to publish in their annual reports all payments made to foreign governments, be they royalties, fees, bonuses, taxes and any other payments, project by project, country by country.
This rule was part of the Dodd-Frank Act (Section 1504), enacted after long consultation in 2010 as part of the lessons learned from the financial crisis.
It is noteworthy that Mr. Tillerson, former CEO of Exxon-Mobil, had vigorously lobbied against this rule.
Has he now been given a swampy "inaugural dowry" by his president?
With the original provision, the US had become the leading country to attempt to weed out the endemic corruption enabled by the international hydro-carbon firms to the benefit of the decisionmakers in oil and gas-rich countries.
We know that many of the prime ministers and their ministers in oil-rich countries have become exceedingly rich, while their populations starve.
The Financial Times on Feb. 23, 2017 cites the example of Equatorial Guinea (with ExxonMobil the dominant producer), where per-capita income for the country as a whole has risen to
Similar conditions reign all over the world. While "Publish-as-you-pay" may not be the silver bullet against corruption, it was an important first step and has been followed by Canada, Norway and the EU (EU Transparency Directive 2013). A number of international oil companies have begun to report, others were to follow.
Of course, by now we know that the Trump administration (with or without Mr. Tillerson) is partial to the oil, gas and coal industry. His decisions on reversing the existing bans on the Keystone pipeline, on the Dakota access line, on coal mining is only topped by his appointment (and the Senate's confirmation) of Mr. Pruitt, the former Oklohoma attorney general, who has 12 lawsuits against his new agency under his belt, and who during his hearing did not agree that hydro-carbons and coal cause climate change.
So, in his first 100 days, President Trump has struck significant blows against world-wide corruption in one of the worst offending sectors, and against the environment, whose protection he (and Congress) have entrusted to a fox in the henhouse.
ExxonMobil will be grateful, as will be a number of dictators and autocrats in many of the oil and gas producing countries.
Thursday February 23, 2017, 8:30PM = Columbia Law School, Sabin Climate Change Law Center = presentations on the Trump Era. Also, the unraveling new EPA head's ties to oil and coal.
Posted on Sustainabilitank.info on February 23rd, 2017
Thursday, February 23, 2017, 7 – 8:30 pm
This event is open to the public. Registration is not required.
Donald Trump came to office promising sweeping changes to the US's traditional trade and investment policies. Such shifts on trade and investment could offer an opportunity to align these policies with action on climate change. On the other hand, Trump's priorities, particularly with respect to developing domestic fossil fuels, signal that trade policies will head in the opposite direction. This panel will discuss how trade and investment policy may be reconciled with climate change imperatives and commitments, the trade risks the Trump administration's climate policies present, and how the United States Trade Representative might approach these issues in new trade and investment (re)negotiations. This event is co-organized with the Sabin Center for Climate Change Law and the Environmental Law Society at Columbia Law School.
Moderator: Michael Gerrard, Director, Sabin Center for Climate Change Law, Columbia Law School
Ben Beachy, Senior Policy Advisor, Responsible Trade Program, Sierra Club
Silvia Maciunas, Senior Research Fellow, Center for International Governance Innovation
Dalindyebo Shabalala, Visiting Assistant Professor, Case Western Reserve University, School of Law, and Director of the Institute on Traditional Knowledge and Intellectual Property.
The Washington Post Evening Edition – February 22, 2017
The emails highlight an often-chummy relationship between Pruitt's office and Devon Energy, a major oil and gas exploration and production company based in Oklahoma City. The correspondence makes clear that top officials at the company met often with Pruitt or people who worked for him. Devon representatives also helped draft — and redraft — letters for Pruitt to sign and send to federal officials in an effort to stave off new regulations.
"Any suggestions?" a deputy solicitor general in Pruitt's office wrote to a Devon executive in early May 2013, including a draft of a letter the office was planning to send to the EPA regarding proposed regulations of methane emissions.
"Here you go," the executive, Bill Whitsitt replied. "Please note that you could use just the red changes, or both red and blue (the latter being some further improvements from one of our experts) or none."
"I sent the letter today," the deputy solicitor general wrote the following day. "Thanks for all your help on this."
The emails show that Pruitt and his office were in touch with a network of conservative groups, many of which in the past have received backing from billionaire brothers Charles G. and David H. Koch, the libertarian owners of Koch Industries, a major oil company. The documents detail not only how Pruitt's office at times coordinated with industry officials to fight unwanted regulations from Washington, but also how he was a highly sought-after speaker at conferences and other gatherings for groups such as the American Legislative Exchange Council, which works with corporate interests and state legislators to shape key pieces of legislation.
In one example, Pruitt was a speaker at an ALEC conference on May 3, 2013, in Oklahoma City. He was part of a panel called, "Embracing American Energy Opportunities: From Wellheads to Pipelines." The event also featured a reception at the Petroleum Club and a luncheon sponsored by Koch Industries.
The Oklahoma attorney general's office handed over the batch of emails — nearly 7,000 pages in all — this week in order to meet a deadline set by a judge who ordered the documents' release following more than two years of effort by CMD, a liberal watchdog organization. The group had sued to compel the state to release the documents under public records laws. (The emails can be viewed here.)
[Pruitt to EPA employees: 'We don't have to choose' between jobs and the environment]
Though the emails show Pruitt's ties with a wide range of fossil fuel interests and conservative political groups, they show a particularly friendly working relationship with officials Devon. Much of the correspondence revolves around arranging speaking engagements, obtaining contact information for people at the federal Office of Management and Budget and coordinating letter-writing efforts.
At one point, Pruitt's then-chief of staff, Melissa Houston, wrote in a Jan. 9, 2013, email to Whitsitt, Devon's vice president for public affairs: "You are so amazingly helpful!!! Thank you so much!!!"
In another email chain on March 21, 2013, Whitsitt wrote to Pruitt's office offering a draft of a letter that state attorneys general might sign and send to the then-acting EPA administrator regarding limits on methane emissions. Devon, which has substantial shale gas and shale oil drilling operations, would have been affected by the rule.
"Attached is a potential first-cut draft of a letter a (bipartisan if possible?) group of AGs might send to the acting EPA administrator and some others in the Administration in response to the NE states' notice of intent to sue for more E&P emission regulation," Whitsitt wrote. "It would be a shot across the bow, warning EPA not to not go down a negotiated-rulemaking or wink-at-a sue-and-settle tee-up process."
s chief of staff replied: "Thanks Bill — we will take a look and start working on a draft."
In a Nov. 8, 2013, email, Houston asked the Devon VP of public and government affairs, Allen Wright, to take her, her sons and her father to see Devon Tower, a skyscraper in downtown Oklahoma City. Wright asked a colleague to escort her and her family to "50" — apparently the top of the 50-story tower.
In another case, Pruitt received a thankful email from Stuart Solomon, the president and chief operating officer of the Public Service Company of Oklahoma, a utility that's part of the larger power company American Electric Power. The email came as the company hailed a 2014 decision by the EPA to back off of an attempt to impose a federal plan on Oklahoma for its compliance with the agency's regional haze rule, and instead accept a plan offered by the state. Pruitt had sued the EPA over its federal plan – which, according to a press release from Solomon's company, "would have cost the utility and its customers about $650 million more in additional near-term investments than the state plan."
"Scott, I wanted to tell you personally how much I appreciate your efforts to pave the way for a state solution to meeting the RHR challenge," said Solomon. "Your lawsuit against EPA, and your encouragement of our efforts to settle this issue in a way that benefits the state, were instrumental in giving us the time and the opportunity to develop a revised state plan."
The emails' release comes just days after Pruitt was confirmed as the EPA's new leader. Senate Democrats and environmental groups made a last-minute push to delay his confirmation vote last week, contending that lawmakers — and the public — ought to be able to review his correspondence with industry officials before putting him in charge of safeguarding the nation's environment. Republicans forged ahead anyway, and Pruitt was confirmed by a 52-to-46 vote.
In a statement Tuesday, the Oklahoma attorney general's office said it "went above and beyond what is required under the Open Records Act and produced thousands of additional documents that, but for the Court's order, would typically be considered records" outside the scope of the act. "This broad disclosure should provide affirmation that, despite politically motivated allegations, the Office of the Attorney General remains fully committed to the letter and spirit of the Open Records Act," spokesman Lincoln Ferguson said.
Pruitt's office at EPA did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Wednesday.
Environmental groups on Wednesday were quick to criticize Pruitt, arguing that the emails showed once again his penchant for putting the interests of industry over the health of ordinary citizens.
"This is Scott Pruitt's mission statement: attack environmental safeguards, protect industrial polluters and let the public pay the price," Rhea Suh, president of the Natural Resources Defense Council, said in a statement. "These emails tell us that he's in league with the very industries we've now entrusted him to police. He so deeply imbedded himself with energy companies that they described Pruitt and his allies as 'fossil energy AGs,' a badge of dishonor for a public guardian if ever there were one."
The Oklahoma attorney general's office withheld some documents as exempted or privileged and has asked Judge Aletia Haynes Timmons to review whether they should be released, according to the Center for Media and Democracy. Timmons also ordered Pruitt's former office to hand over records related to five outstanding records requests by early next week.
After unsuccessfully seeking the release of Pruitt's correspondence with fossil-fuel representatives under public records laws, the center filed suit over his refusal to turn over the documents and requested the expedited hearing that led to Timmons's order on Thursday. In her ruling, the judge said there had been "an abject failure to provide prompt and reasonable access to documents requested."
Pruitt sued the EPA more than a dozen times during the Obama administration, challenging the agency's authority to regulate toxic mercury pollution, smog, carbon emissions from power plants and the quality of wetlands and other waters. During his tenure in Oklahoma, he dismantled a specialized environmental protection unit that had existed under his Democratic predecessor and established a "federalism unit" to combat what he called "unwarranted regulation and systematic overreach" by Washington.
On Tuesday, Pruitt addressed EPA employees for the first time as their new boss. He spoke of stepping back from the aggressive regulations of recent years and said there need not be a contradiction between environmental protection and energy production or job creation.
"We as an agency and we as a nation can be both pro-energy and jobs and pro-environment," he said. "We don't have to choose between the two."
Chris Mooney and Juliet Eilperin contributed to this report. This post has been updated.
Further articles with relevance:
Hundreds of current, former EPA employees urge Senate to reject Trump's nominee for the agency
The West's largest coal-fired power plant is closing. Not even Trump can save it.
Trump EPA official juggles two jobs in two Washingtons, and it hasn't gone well
The Greatest Disaster that Trump may submit to the future of America is by his filling the Supreme Court with the likes of Thomas and Alito. See what the two stood for in a case about bigotry in courts of Texas..
Posted on Sustainabilitank.info on February 22nd, 2017
Washington (CNN) The Supreme Court ruled Wednesday in favor of a death row inmate in Texas whose own lawyers introduced evidence at trial that he was more likely to be dangerous in the future because he is black.
In a 6-2 ruling, Chief Justice John Roberts wrote the majority opinion holding that Buck has "demonstrated both ineffective assistance of counsel" and has an "entitlement to relief."
"But our holding on prejudice makes clear that Buck may have been sentenced to death in part because of his race. As an initial matter, this is a disturbing departure from a basic premise of our criminal justice system: Our law punishes people for what they do, not who they are," Roberts wrote.
Roberts sent the case back down to the lower court for further proceedings.
The case comes at a time of racial unrest in the criminal justice system.
It also comes as two justices, Stephen Breyer and Ruth Bader Ginsburg, have argued the court should take another look at the constitutionality of the death penalty. They questioned, in part, whether the penalty was being applied arbitrarily throughout the country.
At oral arguments, several justices had expressed concern about the testimony introduced in the case.
"What occurred at the penalty phase of this trial is indefensible," said Justice Samuel Alito, who called the testimony "bizarre."
"What competent counsel would put that evidence before a jury?" Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg asked.
Justice Stephen Breyer questioned whether there was "some good reason" Buck shouldn't be able to reopen his case.
His lawyers argued that "no constitutional rule is more important than the dictate that race must play no role in a criminal sentence, much less a capital sentence."
The legal issue before the court was whether Buck's case meets the "extraordinary circumstances" test justifying the reopening of his sentencing.
At the heart of the matter was the testimony provided by Dr. Walter Quijano, one of two psychologists retained by the defense. Quijano testified that the fact that Buck was black "increased the probability" that he would commit future acts of criminal violence. In Texas, so-called "future dangerousness" must be established before a death sentence is rendered.
They said such prejudicial evidence is the "epitome of ineffective assistance of counsel."
Texas Solicitor General Scott Keller drew a distinction in court between Buck's case and the others because it was the defense itself who called Quijano and elicited race-related testimony on direct examination.
In the opinion, Roberts emphasized the unusual circumstances of Buck's case suggesting that it might not impact other death row inmates.
In court, Keller addressed the circumstances surrounding Buck's crime, including the fact that he murdered his ex-girlfriend, Gardner, in front of her children.
Keller pointed to the fact that he also shot his stepsister at point-blank range and shot another man through the heart.
But he was cut off, as the justices circled back to the race-based testimony.
Keller also argued that Quijano's testimony played a limited role at trial, and that other evidence of his future dangerousness came from the brutality of the murders, Buck's lack of remorse after he was apprehended as well as the testimony of another ex-girlfriend.
A group called the National Black Law Students Association, however, filed a brief in support of Buck emphasizing how the group believes the case impacts race relations today.
California's new legislative session begins with a message: We're ready to fight Trump. California braces by tapping former U.S. Atty. General Eric Holder for legal counsel to fight the Trump Presidency.
Posted on Sustainabilitank.info on January 4th, 2017
California is destined to be the anti-Trump like Texas was the anti-Obama.
California braces for a Trump presidency by tapping former U.S. Atty. General Eric Holder for legal counsel.
By Melanie MasonMelanie Mason, Contact Reporter based in Sacramento, The Los Angeles Times.
"He will be our lead litigator, and he will have a legal team of expert lawyers on the issues of climate change, women and civil rights, the environment, immigration, voting rights — to name just a few," Senate leader Kevin de León (D-Los Angeles) said in an interview.
Such a task typically falls to the state attorney general. On Tuesday, Gov. Jerry Brown formally nominated Democratic Rep. Xavier Becerra to replace former Atty. Gen. Kamala Harris, who now serves in the U.S. Senate. Becerra, whose nomination hearings in the Legislature begin next week, is expected to be easily confirmed.
But De León and Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon began contemplating hiring outside legal counsel for the Legislature almost immediately after Trump's election, in hopes of protecting existing state policies that are at odds with the president-elect's stated positions.
"While we don't yet know the harmful proposals the next administration will put forward, thanks to Donald Trump's campaign, cabinet appointments and Twitter feed, we do have an idea of what we will be dealing with," Rendon said in a statement.
"The Covington team will be an important resource as we work with the governor and the attorney general to protect Californians," he added.
The two legislative leaders have taken an unabashedly combative posture against Trump.
De León said the additional counsel would offer "more legal firepower" that would complement and bring additional heft to the state attorney general's efforts.
Bringing on outside counsel is not unprecedented for the Legislature. The state Senate hired special counsel for a select committee investigating price manipulation in the wholesale energy market by Enron in the early 2000s. The Senate also sought outside counsel to sort through the federal investigation of former Democratic state Sen. Ron Calderon, who later pleaded guilty to corruption charges.
But it is far more unorthodox for both houses to join together in retaining counsel in a preemptive bid to prepare for as-yet-unknown litigation and policy-making at the federal level. Much of the arrangement remains murky, including how Holder's efforts will differ from or align with Becerra's.
Also unclear: the price tag. Aides to legislative leaders declined to specify how much Covington & Burling's services will cost the state, citing still-unfinished contracts, but said the payment would come out of both chambers' operating budgets and would not require additional state funds.
"I am honored that the legislature chose Covington to serve as its legal advisor as it considers how to respond to potential changes in federal law that could impact California's residents and policy priorities," Holder said in a statement provided by De León's office.
"I am confident that our expertise across a wide array of federal legal and regulatory issues will be a great resource for the legislature."
Holder, a close friend of President Obama, left the Justice Department in 2015. As one of the most liberal figures in the Obama administration, his tenure was defined by a focus on civil rights and criminal justice reform and was marked by a tumultuous relationship with Congress and scandal stemming from the failed gun-trafficking operation known as Fast and Furious.
Representing California lawmakers against Trump won't be Holder's sole foray into politics in the coming years. He is also overseeing a Democratic campaign focused on redistricting, the process of redrawing political maps that, in recent years, has tilted state legislative and congressional landscapes in the Republicans' favor.
Follow @melmason on Twitter for the latest on California politics.
California is itching to take on Trump. Here are the prominent figures leading the charge.
California's new legislative session begins with a message: We're ready to fight Trump.
Presidents G. W. Bush and Ronald Reagan, and Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.) found out fast that it did not pay to fight the public on the environment and energy – finds "The Hill" – and says it will be tough for Trump to undo Obama.
Posted on Sustainabilitank.info on December 31st, 2016
President-elect Donald Trump's energy agenda is shaping up to be a years-long effort to undo President Obama's policies.
Supporters of Trump and industries that have opposed Obama's regulatory actions say turning back the clock is the most important thing the president-elect can do to help businesses succeed.
But it won't be easy to undo many of the energy and climate regulations that Obama has put in place.
Under federal law, reversing major regulations requires a time-consuming process that can drag on for months and sometimes years. And even after new rules are issued, they can be challenged in court — something environmental groups are already vowing to do.
The Obama administration, meanwhile, has in recent weeks added to Trump's list of targets by issuing a new coal-mining regulation and offshore drilling bans in the Arctic and Atlantic oceans.
Obama also created controversial national monuments in Utah and Nevada that Republicans are pushing Trump to repeal, something Obama says is not in Trump's power to do.
"Some actions they will be able to do in relatively short order. Other major rules will take time to meet the burden of regulatory process," said Scott Segal, a lobbyist at Bracewell who represents numerous energy companies.
"The next administration needs to be careful, transparent and follow the rule of law, or else they'll have potential trouble in front of a reviewing court," Segal said. "Because there's no doubt that the environmental community would sue to prevent these actions."
Still, much of Obama's environmental agenda was enacted through executive actions, which are within Trump's power to quickly reverse.
The Republican Congress can also help undo some of Obama's recent rules by using the Congressional Review Act, which provides for the expedited repeal of regulations.
"The Obama administration has done a lot unilaterally, and the silver lining of that is that it can be undone unilaterally," said Nick Loris, an economist at the conservative Heritage Foundation.
What seems clear is that Trump is dedicated to the fight.
While Trump has given a few nods to the green movement — Trump met separately with climate activists Al Gore and Leonardo DiCaprio after the election — his Cabinet picks are vocal critics of Obama's agenda.
Trump's selections include Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt (R) to lead the Environmental Protection Agency, Montana Rep. Ryan Zinke (R) to lead the Interior Department and former Texas Gov. Rick Perry (R) to lead the Energy Department.
William Yeatman, a senior fellow at the conservative Competitive Enterprise Institute, said an aggressive fight against Obama's policies is a welcome change and something to be expected when the White House changes hands.
"It is not uncommon whenever there's a change of party, given how much policy emanates from the executive branch these days, for recension to be of the order for the incoming president," he said. "When policy emanates from the executive, and there's a change in the executive, policy is supposed to reflect that."
During the campaign, Trump ran in part on an aggressive deregulatory plan, saying in September that he would pursue "the elimination of all unnecessary regulations and a temporary moratorium on new regulations not compelled by Congress or public safety."
Trump has specifically pledged to undo the Clean Power Plan, the Waters of the United States rule, Interior's stream protection rule and the moratorium on new coal-mining leases on federal land.
He's also promised to stop all payments to international climate efforts, to pull the United States out of the Paris climate agreement, and to open more federal land and water to oil and natural gas drilling.
The Trump transition website promises that the next administration "will unleash an energy revolution that will transform us into a net energy exporter, leading to the creation of millions of new jobs, while protecting the country's most valuable resources — our clean air, clean water, and natural habitats."
Environmentalists and other Trump opponents say many of Obama's actions are popular with the public and should be preserved. They accuse the Republican of focusing solely on reversing Obama, rather than putting forward energy and environmental plans of his own.
"If President-elect Trump decides to go in the direction that it appears he is, trying to undermine a full range of environmental protections, weakening or eliminating a move to a clean-energy economy, there will be a very strong reaction," said David Goldston, director of government affairs at the Natural Resources Defense Council.
Goldston compared Trump's plans to those of presidents George W. Bush and Ronald Reagan, as well as that of former Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.). All three came to power with broad deregulatory promises but failed to overcome opposition, he said.
"There was a strong vocal backlash, and they eventually decided this was not worth their effort. And we expect that to be the case again," he said.
James Goodwin, a senior policy analyst at the Center for Progressive Reform, said he is optimistic that the country will continue to move toward clean energy sources like wind and solar, no matter what Trump does.
"There's only so much you can do with policy that's going to change the way we're headed," he said.
Posted on Sustainabilitank.info on January 23rd, 2016
2016 Elections, Climate Change, Climate Desk, Science, Top Stories
By Jeremy Schulman of Mother Jones
Update, 1/21/2016: With an epic blizzard expected to bury Washington, DC, this weekend, and an epic caucus night quickly approaching in Iowa, I decided to revisit this post. It remains true that winter storms and cold weather are in no way inconsistent with global warming. But I can no longer stand by my assertion that Donald Trump is "probably not going to run for president." As Rick Perry would say: Oops.
Snow is falling across the Northeast, and millions of people are preparing for a massive blizzard. Due to the extreme winter conditions, my colleague at Climate Desk has issued the following advisory:
Tim McDonnell Verified account
PSA: Big snowstorm ? (IS NOT) proof global warming is a hoax.
It may seem obvious to you that the existence of extreme winter weather doesn't negate the scientific fact that humans are warming the planet. But that's probably because you aren't a climate change denier who's contemplating a run for the GOP presidential nomination.
Last year, for example, Sen. Ted Cruz (Texas) weighed in on the issue. "It is really freezing in DC," Cruz said during a speech on energy policy, according to Talking Points Memo. "I have to admit I was surprised. Al Gore told us this wouldn't happen!" Cruz said the same thing a month earlier, according to Slate: "It's cold!…Al Gore told me this wouldn't happen."
And former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee on his Fox News show, negated global warming as well after a major blizzard back in December 20, 2009.
Which brings us to a couple of Republicans who are probably not going to run for president but who have nevertheless generated headlines recently by suggesting they might. Here's Donald Trump, during a cold snap last year:
Donald J. Trump @realDonaldTrump
This very expensive GLOBAL WARMING bullshit has got to stop. Our planet is freezing, record low temps,and our GW scientists are stuck in ice
And then there is a Facebook post of January 12, 2012, from former Gov. Sarah Palin, citing extremely cold winter temperatures in her home state of Alaska.
Palin Facebook
If you're a regular Climate affectionado, you already know why all this is wrong. You understand the difference between individual weather events and long-term climate trends. You probably even know that according to the National Climate Assessment, winter precipitation is expected to increase in the northeastern United States as a result of climate change. But if you're a Republican who wants to be president, please pay close attention to the following video:
to get his – lease look at – www.motherjones.com/environment/2…
also, if you want updates on the effects of the blizzard – CNN.com – BreakingNews at mail.cnn.com
OIL WAS ONCE AT $100/barrel – IS NOW at $30 and with FURTHER IRAN EXPORTS COMING IN NOW COULD IT GO DOWN FURTHER to $10? What will US Republican Congress try to do?
Posted on Sustainabilitank.info on January 17th, 2016
Investing Guide – CNNMONEY
by Matt Egan @mattmegan5 January 14, 2016: 1:37 PM ET
America's once-booming oil industry is suddenly in deep financial trouble.
The fallout is already being felt in oil-rich states like Texas, Oklahoma and North Dakota, where home foreclosure rates are spiking and economic growth is slowing.
"It is time to send out an S.O.S., before it's too late," John Kilduff, founding partner of energy hedge fund Again Capital, wrote in a recent CNBC column. In the Kilduff dictionary, by the way, S.O.S. stands for "Save Our Shale" industry.
Kilduff fears Saudi Arabia's strategy of flooding the world with oil to put pressure on high-cost producers in the U.S. will kill America's shale business.
"While we are laughing our way to the gasoline pump now, we are heading back down the road to dependence on OPEC and foreign oil," he wrote.
Greg Valliere, chief strategist at Horizon Investments, thinks an oil bailout could become the next big issue in Congress.
"It makes sense in theory, but they'd need some pretty impenetrable body armor to take this on," she said.
Related: Falling oil means rising foreclosures in these states
To be sure, it's early days for the idea of a federal rescue. A spokesman for the American Petroleum Institute told CNNMoney he hadn't heard of the idea before.
Buddy Clark, a 33-year veteran in the energy finance space, doubts these ideas would be game changers.
"The problem with most of these companies is they are overlevered. Adding federal money doesn't help the equation," said Clark, a partner at the Houston law firm Haynes and Boone.
He also doubts whether fiercely independent producers in places like Texas would even accept federal aid.
Related: $10 oil: Crazy idea or the real floor beneath the oil crash?
THEN ALSO ENVIRONMENTAL GROUPS WOULD BE ENRAGED: Can President Obama would help oil producers he just referred to as "dirty energy" in his State of the Union address?
"It's an outrageous proposal. We would oppose it, obviously," said Athan Manuel, an official from the Sierra Club.
Related: Solar energy jobs double in 5 years
Job losses keep mounting
One idea that Kilduff proposed may generate more sympathy: give oil workers enhanced unemployment benefits or temporary government jobs as caretakers of the oilfields.
The pink slips will continue to fly as pain in the oil patch builds. Last year, 42 North American oil companies filed for bankruptcy, according to a list compiled by Haynes and Boone.
CNNMoney (New York) First published January 14, 2016: 1:37 PM ET
It was not Exxon alone, in the 1980's The American Petroleum Institute had a "CO2 and Climate Task Force" and Texaco was most progressive – asking API develop ground rules for energy release of fuels and the cleanup of fuels as they relate to CO2 creation."
Posted on Sustainabilitank.info on December 26th, 2015
By Lauren McCauley, Common Dreams
26 December 2015
It wasn't just Exxon that knew fossil fuels were cooking the planet.
New investigative reporting by Neela Banerjee with Inside Climate News revealed on Tuesday that scientists and engineers from nearly every major U.S. and multinational oil and gas company may have for decades known about the impacts of carbon emissions on the climate.
Between 1979 and 1983, the American Petroleum Institute (API), the industry's most powerful lobby group, ran a task force for fossil fuel companies to "monitor and share climate research," according to internal documents obtained by Inside Climate News.
According to the reporting:
Like Exxon, the companies also expressed a willingness to understand the links between their product, greater CO2 concentrations and the climate, the papers reveal. Some corporations ran their own research units as well, although they were smaller and less ambitious than Exxon's and focused on climate modeling, said James J. Nelson, the former director of the task force.
"It was a fact-finding task force," Nelson said in an interview. "We wanted to look at emerging science, the implications of it and where improvements could be made, if possible, to reduce emissions."
The "CO2 and Climate Task Force," which changed in 1980 its name to the "Climate and Energy Task Force," included researchers from Exxon, Mobil, Chevron, Amoco, Phillips, Texaco, Shell, Sunoco and Sohio, among others.
One memo by an Exxon task force representative pointed to 1979 "background paper on CO2," which "predicted when the first clear effects of climate change might be felt," noting that the concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere was rising steadily.
"In his conclusions section, Laurmann estimated that the amount of CO2 in the atmosphere would double in 2038, which he said would likely lead to a 2.5 degrees Celsius rise in global average temperatures with 'major economic consequences,'" Banerjee reports. He then told the task force that models showed a 5 degrees Celsius rise by 2067, with 'globally catastrophic effects,'" Banerjee reports.
Bruce S. Bailey of Texaco offered "for consideration" the idea that "an overall goal of the Task Force should be to help develop ground rules for energy release of fuels and the cleanup of fuels as they relate to CO2 creation," according to the minutes of a meeting on Feb. 29, 1980.
The minutes also show that the task force discussed a "potential area" for research and development that called for it to "'Investigate the Market Penetration Requirements of Introducing a New Energy Source into World Wide Use.' This would include the technical implications of energy source changeover, research timing and requirements."
"Yet," Banerjee notes, "by the 1990s, it was clear that API had opted for a markedly different approach to the threat of climate change."
The lobby group teamed up with Exxon and others to form the Global Climate Coalition (GCC), which successfully lobbied the U.S. to withdraw from the Kyoto Protocol.
The damning revelations are the latest in an ongoing investigation into what the fossil fuel industry knew about climate change and then suppressed for decades—all while continuing to profit from the planet's destruction.
Reports that Exxon, specifically, lied about climate change were published early October in the Los Angeles Times, mirroring a separate but similar investigation by Inside Climate News in September. Those findings set off a storm of outrage, including a probe by the New York Attorney General.
Nelson, a former head of the API task force, told Banerjee that with the growing powers of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in the early 1980's, API decided to shift gears.
"They took the environmental unit and put it into the political department, which was primarily lobbyists," he said. "They weren't focused on doing research or on improving the oil industry's impact on pollution. They were less interested in pushing the envelope of science and more interested in how to make it more advantageous politically or economically for the oil industry. That's not meant as a criticism. It's just a fact of life."
The Flury of very recent Travel between Russia, Iran, Saudi Arabia, the US, and Syria shows that the Iran Deal has in it an opening on Syria – but nobody has yet had the courage to print that this has to do with the PRICE OF OIL.
Posted on Sustainabilitank.info on August 25th, 2015
We react here to the New York Times Editorial of August 24, 2015 that seemingly wants us to believe that Putin and the Ayatollahs found religion when they heard that 250,000 Arabs were killed in Syria. Really – why should they care?
Let us suggest that "THE DEAL" has turned the interest of Iran to revive its International Banking if the Sanctions are removed – and that is the real driving force that eventually can bring Putin and the Ayatollahs to the table IN EXCHANGE FOR A SAUDI AND THE OTHER GULF STATES OIL EXPORTERS PROMISE TO REDUCE THEIR EXPORTS OF OIL.
YES – the US and the Europeans are driven by humanitarian concepts – the Russians and the Iranians think of the PRICE OF OIL that hit them hard in their economies. The US and the Europeans enjoyed the lowering of the price of oil – based on the high supply figures and a decreasing demand that resulted from GREEN ACTIVITIES – higher efficiency and alternate sources of energy.
FOX NEWS, in preparing for the first showing of 17 candidates proved once more that they are the partisan outlet of the Republican Party and not a true media.
Posted on Sustainabilitank.info on August 7th, 2015
The Republican Party of the USA is the guardian of Corporate America in effect it is owned by the corporations and we heard this from last night's stage at the Cleveland Ohio Arena – the future home of the Republican National Convention that will be called to nominate the party's candidate for the 2016 Presidential elections. We heard this from Donald Trump who said in the open that he gives money to any candidate just for the asking – he gave also to some of the others on that stage. He even gave to the foundation of the Clintons – that is how he owns them. Hillary came to his wedding – she had to – she got his money.
All the Senators on the stage are corporate owned he established. That explains many things. He thinks he would be the best President to save the country from this oppression from banks and Wall Street because he is one of those that know the system from the inside and he knew how to work with them to his advantage which he demonstrated in his corporations that went through four bankruptcies without himself ever have gone bankrupt.
The real problem with the US is this tremendous debt – in major part owed to China. He feels he is qualified to handle this issue more then any of those Corporate owned other competitors – he even is not promising to back any of them if they if they are nominated – he is savvy. Ever heard such a rebellion and ever figured that he is on solid ground in this rebellion?
THERE WERE NO REAL QUESTIONS ABOUT THE ECONOMY, ENERGY INDEPENDENCE, THE COMING GLOBAL CLIMATE CHANGE DISASTERS OR ANY OTHER REAL QUESTION ABOUT MATTERS OF GLOBAL CONCERNS. Instead we heard a question about if the candidate is getting his orders from God and innumerable attacks on Obamacare and the agreement with Iran.
My wife wrote me from Vienna that it is good Fox News cannot be seen live on local TV – so the locals do not see the US in all its political backwardness.
But, what is worse, seemingly no effort was made to open up the show to the non-initiated even here in the US. For example, in Manhattan NY it is known that Channel 5 is Fox News – but they did not show there – they moved it instead to one of their side channels 43 or 44. This while on Channel five they announced that they will give a summary of the first debate at 6 PM – and they did not do even that. I attest to it that mind-numbbing programs went on at least till 8:30 PM. Even I lost because of this the first debate before I found their whereabouts.
But, despite this Republican Leadership clear positioning as roadblock to American Progress, this show was NOT a total loss.
The only other true discovery on those two panels was Dr. Benjamin Solomon "Ben" Carson, Sr. (born September 18, 1951) he is an American author, political pundit, and retired Johns Hopkins neurosurgeon. On May 4, 2015, Carson announced he was running for the Republican nomination in the 2016 Presidential election at a rally in Detroit, his hometown.
Carson was the first surgeon to successfully separate conjoined twins joined at the head. In 2008, he was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President George W. Bush.
After delivering a widely publicized speech at the 2013 National Prayer Breakfast, he became a popular conservative figure in political media for his views on social and political issues.
He was the one true intellectual on the panels and on the main panel the only non-lily-white person. In effect he is black and the right-wing counterpart to President Obama. He speaks slowly and each word is a thought out pearl. He was fifth on the ingoing list.
At some point he showed impatience and noted to the moderators that they do not direct questions to him. When he got a chance he said that color of skin is not the man and as a neurosurgeon he worked with the real man. Finally, his parting sentences noted that he is the only one on the panel who knows to separate Siamese twins and to remove half brain – but seemingly in Washington he was beaten to it.
I believe that whoever becomes next President – Democrat or Republican – ought to bring in Dr. Carson as a Consultant.
Our own evaluation of the results:
We believe that THE ONE TO WIN IN CLEVELAND NEXT TIME – the real decision making event – WILL NOT BE TRUMP, BUSH, OR WALKER –
For further evaluation – please read what we mainly got from CNN – the true MEDIA winner from evaluating last nights panels.
CNN ARTICLE FRIDAY, August 7, 2015 – that is built on the FOX NEWS HELD REPUBLICAN DEBATE that THE FOX was not able to review by themselves.
(CNN)CNN Opinion asked a range of contributors to give their take on the first Republican Party debate of the 2016 presidential campaign, and to pick their biggest winners and losers from the night. The opinions expressed in these commentaries are solely their own.
Donald Trump may ultimately wind up damaging Republican chances next November but yesterday he gave the GOP presidential candidates a huge gift: his presence generated the biggest, most attentive opening day audience in American politics. Each of the 17 candidates had a chance to audition before a massive number of voters, not to mention donors and journalists. (The debate had a record 24 million viewers, according to Nielsen.)
As a group, the candidates generally rose to the occasion. Yes, there was still too much ideological rigidity, too many canned answers and too little attention to ways that technology and globalization are reshaping the United States. But with nine sitting or former governors and five sitting or former Senators among the candidates, the GOP could showcase plenty of talent.
For my money, there were two candidates who helped themselves the most. One was Governor John Kasich of Ohio: while sticking to conservative principles, he gave voice to common sense Midwestern values as well as a moral commitment to Americans living in the shadows. In effect, he tapped into some of the same anger that Trump has understood but turned it in a warm, positive direction.
The other big winner was Carly Fiorina whose performance in the afternoon debate was universally acclaimed in the press and social media. The GOP ought to hope that she moves up the polls so that women can see at least one representative on center stage — and in her case, one who is articulate, sophisticated and strong.
As for Trump himself, the old rules would say he hurt himself last night, especially with opening answers that came across as narcissistic and boorish. But with so much free floating anger and frustration in today's politics, the old rules aren't as powerful as they once were. Who knows? He could deliver yet another big audience when CNN hosts a second round of debates in September.
David Gergen is a senior political analyst for CNN and has been a White House adviser to four presidents. A graduate of Harvard Law School, he is a professor of public service and co-director of the Center for Public Leadership at The Harvard Kennedy School. Follow him on Twitter: @david_gergen. The opinions expressed in this commentary are his.
Dan Pfeiffer: The debate was Trumped
This was the Donald's debate. He dominated the discussion, he was the focus of the moderators, social media traffic spiked every time he opened his mouth. Other than Rand Paul (who is apparently still running for President), all of his fellow candidates went out of their way to avoid stoking his ire. Two years after the RNC's post-election autopsy declared that the only path to victory is a more inclusive tone, Trump has pushed the party further to the right on immigration than it has ever been before. Smart professionals in the Republican Party cringed at every mention of illegals, deportations and walls being built.
Trump may have hurt himself or helped himself, no one really knows because he defies all the traditional rules of politics (he probably hurt himself a lot). But his effect on the field is clear. This is Donald Trump's party and all the other candidates just seem glad to be invited.
Winner: Marco Rubio. On a night of very uneven performances, Rubio showed flashes of why Democrats fear him most. He has had a tough few months, losing a lot of altitude and momentum, and basically disappearing from the discussion, but he gave Republicans a reason to remember his name tonight.
Loser: Jeb Bush. After several bad weeks, Jeb Bush could really have used a good night. He didn't have it. Bush, like Huntsman in '12 and Dukakis in '88, seems to shrink under the klieg lights. He was nervous, halting, and just painfully uninspiring. Politics in our polarized age is about motivation and Bush gave no indication that he could motivate anyone to get out of bed and vote on a rainy day in November.
No one outshines Donald Trump at GOP debate
Dan Pfeiffer is a former senior adviser to President Barack Obama and served in the White House in a variety of roles, including communications director.
Tara Setmayer: It's all about relatability
Clear, concise, and a command of the issues. No, I'm not talking about the Donald or Jeb Bush (who terribly underperformed by the way). I'm referring to Florida Senator Marco Rubio. Although he was the youngest contender on the debate stage, he certainly came across as the adult in the room. On a night filled with plenty of zingers and testy exchanges, Rubio was able to rise above the bickering and overly produced bravado. He was prepared, comfortable and most importantly, relatable.
The spats on stage between Trump and Bush, Chris Christie and Rand Paul may have made for an entertaining spectacle, but none of that is worth a grain of political salt if voters cannot relate to you. The relatability factor sunk Romney in 2012 and is one of Hillary Clinton's biggest vulnerabilities heading into 2016. In contrast, Senator Rubio's own authentic life story as the son of Cuban immigrant parents, one a bartender, the other a maid, rising up from nothing to become a senator and stand on stage as the possible next President of the United States, represents the very essence of the American dream for anyone who believes in the limitless opportunities this country provides.
In one of Rubio's strongest and most memorable lines of the night, he said: "Who is Hillary Clinton to lecture me about living paycheck to paycheck … who is Hillary Clinton to lecture me about repaying students loans?" Exactly.
If Rubio ends up the nominee, imagine the contrast on the debate stage a year from now between Clinton and Rubio. One represents the future, the other a relic of yesteryear. That's a matchup the Clinton camp surely hopes to avoid and justifiably so.
Bush on the other hand had a disappointing performance. He came across as unsure, defensive and aloof. If Jeb comes across like that again in the upcoming CNN debate in September, watch for supporters on the fence between Bush and Rubio begin to move toward the junior senator from Florida.
Thursday's winner: Marco Rubio
The loser: Jeb Bush
Breakout performance: Carly Fiorina
Tara Setmayer is former communication's director for Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, R-California, and a CNN political commentator.
Mel Robbins: Trump won.
The first GOP debate is over and Trump is still winning. He dominated the polls leading into the debate. He dominated the pre-debate commentary. He was the only candidate the press greeted when he arrived in Ohio. And most importantly, the rest of the field wasn't that memorable. Yes Trump's shtick works best when he's on the campaign trail, not the debate stage but Trump didn't do too much damage. At least not enough to knock him from his lead. Plus, Fox pounded him with "gotcha' questions – like – "when did you become a Republican" yet Trump stood firm. He won the night because even despite ridiculous assertions like " building a big beautiful door" in the wall he'd build fencing off Mexico, he managed to hold his lead among nine other GOP candidates.
Keep in mind, timing is essential in a campaign. And, at this stage in the race, the public is not yet focused on the election. We're focused on paying bills, the end of summer, the start of school, basically – everything but the election. So Trump grabbed our attention early and even though Rubio, Christie and Kasich had a good night, Trump still was more memorable; which means at this stage in the race he won; for now.
Loser: Women
Fox pushed an anti-choice agenda over and over and over – and the candidates took the baton and ran with it. From Scott Walker and the imaginary fetus he kept cradling as he talked about his anti-choice views, to Jeb Bush bragging about creating a pro-life culture in Florida despite his state's record on rising births to unwed mothers to Huckabee pushing for a personhood amendment. Women, women's health and a woman's ability to make decisions about her body without men and the government interfering – were under attack.
When men control women's bodies and our health decisions, every woman loses. And women lost tonight as these 10 men lectured America about what they'd do to limit our control over our bodies if they were president. When Carly Fiorina was asked about Jeb Bush's quote (which he's repudiated) that he was "not sure we need half a billion dollars for women's health issues," she said it was a "foolish" thing to say. Actually, it's not foolish, it's downright scary.
Mel Robbins is a CNN commentator, legal analyst, best-selling author and keynote speaker. In 2014, she was named outstanding news talk-radio host by the Gracie Awards.
William Howell: Debaters run from race issue
For two hours, the top 10 Republican candidates held forth on the Fourth Amendment rights of unborn children, the imperatives of regulatory reform, the various manifestations of weakness shown by the Obama-Clinton foreign policy of the past six years, the need for a stronger military and simpler tax code, and the merits of a wall (or is it a fence?) along the U.S.-Mexican border.
Hardly a mention was made of race. Ben Carson brought it up only to dismiss its significance. No one confronted the violence, poverty, and incarceration rates that plague black and Hispanic communities. With the exception of Rand Paul's last-minute shout out to Ferguson and Detroit, the candidates turned away from the bubbling cauldron of anger and alienation—expressed intermittently in resistance and deviance—that has captured national headlines for the last year.
At the 92nd minute, Fox anchor Megyn Kelly asked Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker about the Black Lives Matter movement. He responded with some abbreviated thoughts on the importance of police training. And there, the issue dropped flat, and the station cut to commercial.
Repeatedly, the panel of moderators needled candidates for their perceived weaknesses in an expected showdown with Hillary Clinton in the general election.
Newsflash: For a party that has failed to win a majority of the popular vote in 5 of the past 6 presidential elections, in a country where whites' share of the electorate is shrinking, Republicans had better find a way to talk about race.
Winner: Marco Rubio. Cool, level-headed and sharp.
Loser: Donald Trump. Unable to command the stage, held in check by debate protocols and vacuous, this one blustered to audience boos
William Howell is the Sydney Stein professor in American politics at the University of Chicago.
With Donald Trump occupying center stage at the first presidential primary debate, the other nine contenders had to look for ways to interject their own ideas or to try to avoid taking a direct hit from the front runner. The task wasn't easy.
From calling for a big wall to solve our broken immigration system to repealing Obamacare without an alternative, some of the candidates took up a lot of unnecessary room on that debate stage, especially when you consider how much they overlap, at least policy-wise. While they offered muted versions of conservative policies, Donald Trump, though, was the one who was saying those things right out loud.
It's a bunch of guys saying the exact same thing, and trying to impress people with how well they say it. This wasn't a debate, it was an audition to remain viable until the next debate or forum.
Biggest losers: Rand Paul and Chris Christie for their bitter clash over NSA surveillance and terrorism. They offered testosterone with a bit of Tabasco.
Donna Brazile, a CNN contributor and a Democratic strategist, is vice chairwoman for voter registration and participation for the Democratic National Committee. A nationally syndicated columnist, she is an adjunct professor at Georgetown University and author of "Cooking With Grease: Stirring the Pots in America."
Buck Sexton: Paul showed up ready to fight
There was no clear standout in the big 10 GOP debate Thursday night, but several candidates turned in strong performances. Marco Rubio showed the polish and policy knowledge you would expect. Same for Ted Cruz, whose biggest obstacle may be over-eloquence, if there is such a thing. Chris Christie hit his stride on entitlements, and showed some glimmers of the swagger that made him a household name.
The biggest surprise of the night came from Rand Paul, who showed up ready to fight. The usually laid-back libertarian came out fiery, getting into squabbles with Donald Trump and Christie (winning the latter exchange). If nothing else, Senator Paul reminded America that he's still in this thing in a meaningful way.
The rest of the candidates weren't strong enough to move the needle in their favor. Scott Walker was just OK. Ben Carson came off as he is — an entirely likable, accomplished professional, but he still didn't get much airtime. John Kasich, Mike Huckabee and Jeb Bush were not memorable — and Bush in particular affirmed his politics as usual persona.
Trump is in his own category here. If you didn't like Trump as a candidate before Thursday night, he did nothing to change your mind. Refusing to pledge his support for the GOP set the tone — and then he admitted on national television that he is an avowed crony capitalist. Of course, none of this will faze Trump's most ardent supporters, but tonight solidified that he has no chance of winning over the rest of the GOP.
So, the winners tonight? Rubio, Cruz, Paul and Christie
The losers: Bush, Trump, Huckabee and Carson
Buck Sexton is a political commentator for CNN and host of "The Buck Sexton Show" on the Blaze. He was previously a CIA counterterrorism analyst.
On Thursday, we were treated to not one, but two episodes of the summer's newest reality show. Some will blame Donald Trump for transforming the race into a reality show. And those people would be right. But Fox News also did a great deal to add the reality show feel. First off, they only picked the top 10 contestants, I mean candidates, for the big show. Nothing says you are in the loser debate like staring out at 20,000 empty seat, as the seven other candidates were left to do. And before the debate Fox News' Chris Wallace even promised someone would hand Trump a "fat juicy ball" of a question with which to attack Jeb Bush to see if the former Florida governor could take it. Fox News should just have gone full reality with celebrity judges and a gong.
So, who were the big winners and losers from the two debates? In terms of not meeting or fulfilling expectations, it would have been Ben Carson, Jeb Bush and Donald Trump. Trump especially so in that he didn't offer details on policies, he lashed out, and seemed uncomfortable with the audience turning against him. The winner, at least in terms of might see their poll numbers improve, are likely to be Ohio Gov. John Kasich and Carly Fiorina.
But the bottom line is that the race now seems more wide open than ever.
Dean Obeidallah, a former attorney, is the host of SiriusXM's weekly program "The Dean Obeidallah Show." He is a columnist for The Daily Beast and editor of the politics blog The Dean's Report. He's also the co-director of the documentary "The Muslims Are Coming!" Follow him @TheDeansreport.
Maria Cardona: Bluster, bravado, no specifics
First things first: She may not have been part of the 10-man "main event" GOP debate, but make no mistake: It was Carly Fiorina, hands down, who shone most Thursday, during the earlier, so-called "happy hour" debate. The second-tier debate, held at 5 p.m. Thursday, proved to be more substantive and let lesser-known candidates like Ms. Fiorina stand out.
The prime time debate, on the other hand, brought us more of the same from every candidate: bluster, bravado, and no specifics from Donald Trump; Chris Christie and Rand Paul yelling at each other over the Patriot Ac;, attacks on Hillary Clinton and Planned Parenthood all around (is Planned Parenthood running for president?), and criticisms of everything President Obama has done on foreign policy with scant suggestion from any of them about how they would do anything differently.
Donald Trump did not look like a serious candidate, compared with others on stage. But he has struck a chord with Republicans, so likely did no harm to his front runner status and in fact may have satisfied GOP voters for continuing to be a thorn in the side of the Republican establishment. John Kasich may have done himself some good too, taking advantage of his home court advantage and underscoring his accomplishments in Ohio. Scott Walker? Flat, as was Jeb Bush. But Marco Rubio showed flashes of passion, especially on the issue of abortion.
Tonight's debate likely did not do much to change the standing of these candidates among Republican voters. However, the group underscored to women, minorities, young people, and middle class families why GOP policies would take the country back to a time when women were told what to do with their bodies, where walls, language and different cultures cut people off from the promise of America, and where your future was more determined by how rich you were and not how hard you were determined to work.
Winners: Carly Fiorina, John Kasich — and Hillary Clinton for all of the fodder the candidates gave her for the general election campaign.
Loser: Jeb Bush
Maria Cardona is a political commentator for CNN, a Democratic strategist and principal at the Dewey Square Group. She is a former senior adviser to Hillary Clinton and was communications director for the Democratic National Committee. She also is a former communications director of the Immigration and Naturalization Service.
Julian Zelizer: This is no way to pick a candidate
Welcome to the world of reality political television. While it is a good thing that an unusually large number of people seemed excited to gather Around their television sets and computer screens to watch Thursday night's Republican debate, and the earlier "happy hour" debate, the importance of these contests is not a good sign for American democracy.
For sure, we were able to see whether candidates had the capacity to throw a good punch and deliver a catchy a quip. In the early debate, Carly Fiorina delivered some good lines about Donald Trump ("I didn't get a call from Bill Clinton") as well as Jeb Bush ("it is foolish to say that women's health isn't a priority"). And later, the top 10 candidates rose to the occasion as well, with lines that are sure to make the rounds on YouTube. Donald Trump delivered one about Rosie O'Donnell and political correctness that generated some excitement, while Jeb Bush demonstrated his wonkish qualities, though he certainly didn't do enough to excite worried supporters. Rand Paul and Chris Christie had a heated interaction about government surveillance that showed both still have things to say.
Simply by taking up so much time, Donald Trump comes out of this debate continuing to be the center of attention, and all of the other candidates trying to take on Bush will feel frustrated in that they will probably have to continue to deal with Trump for more time to come.
But does all this tell us much about how any of these candidates would do as president? Ultimately, this is what voters need to know. At best, though, we get to judge how they will perform in the already stilted atmosphere of general election debates. That's about it.
The debates have already skewed the decision process by creating two tiers of candidates based on national polls. And the format of the debate itself offered no time for substantive answers. The incentives in the debates are all for body language and making punchy statements. To be sure, there were some useful moments as the candidates talked about immigration, surveillance and other big issues of the day. But the benefits are limited.
Unfortunately, these debates have become the way we measure the people who are running — opinions are formed, buzz is generated, predictions are made, all on the basis of a stilted event that resembles prime time talent shows like "American Idol." In fact, we are only a step away from having people call into a national number to vote off the candidate they like least. It's no wonder than Donald Trump, the former star of The Apprentice, looked so comfortable on the stage and drew much of the attention.
Who was the biggest loser? American democracy. This is no way to pick who will run for president. Democracy deserves a more serious conversation.
Julian Zelizer is a professor of history and public affairs at Princeton University and a New America fellow. He is the author of "The Fierce Urgency of Now: Lyndon Johnson, Congress, and the Battle for the Great Society" and co-editor of a new book, "Medicare and Medicaid at 50: America's Entitlement Programs in the Age of Affordable Care."
Carly Fiorina won the first debate. Easily. Implicitly criticizing Donald Trump and explicitly criticizing Hillary Clinton, Fiorina pressed GOP voters to give her their consideration. Fiorina will see a significant poll bounce in response — she even received applause when one of her comments was replayed during the primetime debate! Fiorina's closest competitor in that debate was Rick Perry.
In terms of the major candidates in the second debate, Marco Rubio will win favor for his statements on abortion and American exceptionalism. Jeb Bush was strongest when defending education reforms in pursuit of social mobility, but largely played it safe. New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie showed spark by challenging Rand Paul on national security and Mike Huckabee on entitlements. Ted Cruz was quiet, but recovered with a powerful concluding statement. Ohio Gov. John Kasich was confident — thriving off his supporters in the hall. Donald Trump, meanwhile, doubled down on his populist disdain, but struggled when pushed. And Kentucky Senator Rand Paul also struggled to find his voice.
The winner? I'd say Scott Walker, with Rubio and Kasich close behind. Walker received a tough question on Wisconsin's economy but responded confidently. He was also impressive on foreign policy — an area where he's previously been considered weak.
Thursday's winner: Carly Fiorina and Scott Walker
The night's loser? Rand Paul
Carly Fiorina shines in first GOP debate
Tom Rogan writes for National Review and is a panelist on The McLaughlin Group. He tweets @TomRtweets. His homepage is www.tomroganthinks.com.
Watching the GOP debate tonight was something of a surreal experience because it offered a window into the mindset of the Republican base. This was a debate in which Donald Trump asserted that "no one was talking about immigration." This was a debate in which 10 men, all of whom purport to be against big government, confidently discussed how they would regulate women's bodies. This was a debate in which Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio denounced Obamacare — even though they both signed their families up for coverage.
But what was notable about this debate was what went unsaid. There was no discussion of the Voting Rights Act on its 50th anniversary. There was no discussion of U.S.-Cuba policy, Nor of Puerto Rico's debt crisis. Most glaringly, for all the talk about illegal immigration, there was no discussion about what to do with the 11 million undocumented people who are already here.
One of the most potent social movements today, "Black Lives Matter," merited exactly one question — to Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker. The entire discussion lasted less than a minute. Ironically, a movie trailer for the upcoming "Straight Outta Compton" film addressed police brutality in communities of color more than tonight's debate did.
The Fox hosts certainly showed no hesitation to challenge Trump. Yet, despite his thin-as-paper responses, their continued focus on him may have served to elevate his stature. Trump was his usual blustery self and did not serve up any huge drama — which might have the effect of extending the life of his candidacy.
Ultimately, the big winner of the night was John Kasich. He introduced himself to the nation as rational, reasonable and able to hold his ground in a competitive field.
The big loser was Scott Walker. As someone in the top tier of candidates, he did not seize the moment to advance his candidacy. Indeed, his statements seemed canned and he rarely exceeded his allotted time.
Raul A. Reyes is an attorney and member of the USA Today board of contributors. Follow him @RaulAReyes.
Karlyn Bowman: Debate not a plus for GOP
There was much talent on the stage tonight, but we didn't get to hear much of it. Perhaps it was impossible with 10 candidates on the stage, perhaps it was the circus like atmosphere of the first hour, perhaps it was Donald Trump the showman, perhaps it was the Fox hosts' desire to play gotcha journalism. Regardless, this debate was not a plus for the GOP and the party needs to rethink these cattle calls. Trump and Jeb Bush may be the front runners in the polls, but Marco Rubio and Scott Walker did well.
Most of the candidates had at least one good line or an engaging back and forth with another candidate. Ben Carson had a terrific closing statement. I doubt this debate changed much. Trump is still a wild card, but I doubt the other candidates' standing in the polls will change much.
Karlyn Bowman is a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute where she studies public opinion.
also by Gloria Borger
It's always fun to be courted as part of the gender gap. That's when the pols start to talk about family, health care, education and security. We hear about so-called women's issues nonstop. We see candidates' wives tell us their husbands are really human, loving and fab dads. Translation: If we love them, you can too.
Why all the fuss? Because at some point in the last few decades, campaigns figured out that women vote in higher numbers — and not necessarily like the men in their lives. Sometimes, yes. But not always, not by any means. In fact, the influence can often go the other way. What's more, women are no monolith: Mitt Romney won with married women in 2012 by 7 points, for instance. Yet Barack Obama won with women overall by 11 points. In order to win this time, a GOP candidate has to do better.
Enter Donald Trump. He just loves women. At least that's what he tells us. And women, of course, just love him. Not quite sure what the evidence is there, except for Trump's involvement with Miss Universe or his declaration in one of his books that "I love women."
Well, not so much with debate moderator Megyn Kelly, it seems, after she asked Trump about his assorted rants against women he clearly doesn't love as "fat pigs, dogs, slobs and disgusting animals." His answer was an effort to cleverly deflect with some rhetoric about how neither he nor the country has time to be "politically correct." Even if that's true, how does the ever-so-busy Trump have the time to constantly tweet his insults? Seems like he has a lot of time to be politically incorrect.
In a final coup de grace, Trump went after Kelly, allowing as to how he had been "nice to" her (for which she should be grateful, I presume?), but then theorized that maybe he ought not to be. Whoa. An untweeted threat? The real, live audience booed. He tried to back off from the bluster, but there it was.
Oh, and by the way, no candidate stepped up debate night to agree that Trump's insults about women were offensive. Maybe it was the rules that kept them silent? Or maybe it was that Carly Fiorina, the only woman in the GOP field, had been offstage, relegated to the first (I-didn't-have-enough-support-to-make-it into-the-big-boy) debate?
By Friday morning, Trump's official account retweeted a tweet that referred to Kelly — an accomplished anchor, lawyer and mother — as a "bimbo." Awfully presidential, wouldn't you say?
So here's where we are: Clearly, Republicans know they need more women to vote for them if they are going to win the presidency. Second obvious point: With Hillary Clinton running for president, the gender gap could turn into a gender wave. And not just because Clinton is a woman — women don't automatically vote for women (see: Hillary Clinton, circa 2008 campaign) — but because Republicans, at least so far, have made a mess of it.
It's not that it's a premeditated "war on women" as the Democratic Party apparatus likes to dub it; it's more of a head-scratching, did-you-just-say-that process of flubs that slowly seeps into the ether. Jeb Bush stepped in it when he said, "I'm not sure we need half a billion dollars for women's health issues." Or that, while most Republicans oppose same-sex marriage, 58% of women support it. And in the last campaign, for instance, Republicans found themselves debating the issue of birth control, on the defensive after Senate candidate Todd Aiken spoke of "legitimate rape" and cringed in pain when Romney bragged he had "binders full of women" to choose from for potential statehouse jobs.
After 2012, Republicans even decided to hold seminars for GOP candidates about how to talk to women. Guess they left Trump off the list.
Generally, authenticity in politics is a great thing. We don't see enough of it, to be sure. But that doesn't mean that when you see it, you automatically have to like it. And in Trump's case, count women as skeptical. A recent CBS News poll of registered voters shows that 62% of women have an unfavorable view of Trump. Among Republican women, he does somewhat better, but he's still underwater: 42% have an unfavorable view of him; 38% like him.
In Trump's book "The Art of the Comeback," he waxes on about les girls: "There's nothing I love more than women, but they are really a lot different than portrayed. They are far worse than men, far more aggressive, and boy, can they be smart. Let's give credit where credit is due, and let's salute women for their tremendous power, which most men are afraid to admit they have."
If Trump says it, then it must be true.
By Mark Preston, CNN
Updated 12:50 AM ET, Fri August 7, 2015
(CNN)Carly Fiorina was one of the biggest winners Thursday night without even stepping on the prime-time stage.
The California businesswoman didn't meet the eligibility criteria to participate in the marque event, but her strong performance at the 5 p.m. debate for second-tier candidates lingered throughout the evening.
She did make an appearance at the later forum — she was featured in back-to-back video clips about Iran that helped set up a question in the debate.
The first of them showed a moment from the earlier event in which one of her opponents, Rick Perry, turned to her while seeking to explain his position on the nuclear deal.
"I will tell you one thing," Perry said, "I would a whole lot rather (have) had Carly Fiorina over there doing our negotiation than John Kerry. Maybe we would've gotten a deal where we didn't give everything away."
READ: Donald Trump roils GOP presidential debate
The compliment from the former Texas governor came about 50 minutes into the first Republican debate of the 2016 election — an acknowledgment from at least one of Fiorina's rivals that she is a sharp, skilled negotiator.
When the final question was asked and answered in this first debate, it was clear that Fiorina stood out. Social media users and many commentators emphatically declared her the winner.
At this moment in the campaign, seven GOP candidates are fighting for relevancy, respect and their political futures. The "Republican Seven," of which Fiorina is one, failed to make the cut for the main debate — the event that will feature Donald Trump at center stage.
For the seven lower-tier Republicans, there was no prime-time television exposure, no opportunities to compare and contrast themselves with former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush and Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, and no audience in the arena to watch them make the case as to why they should be the next commander-in-chief.
One of these seven Republicans needed a homerun to differentiate themselves from the other six and show why they deserve to be in the top 10 at the next debate at the Reagan Library in California.
The former Hewlett Packard CEO, who is sitting at between 1% to 2% in the national polls, did just that by demonstrating a sharp knowledge of the issues as she stood shoulder to shoulder on a stage of former and current U.S. senators and governors.
Fiorina has an interesting story to tell and she let the viewers know that she did not begin her business career in a large corner office.
"I started as a secretary and became ultimately the chief executive of the largest technology company in the world, almost $90 billion in over 150 countries," she said. "I know personally how extraordinary and unique this nation is."
Does it sound familiar? A certain brash New Yorker has been dominating the political headlines of late by talking up his business acumen and how it has prepared him to be president. When asked by the moderator to explain why Trump is getting all of the attention, Fiorina was able to deliver a jab at the real estate mogul over his ties to the Clintons.
After acknowledging that Trump has hit a vein of anger in the American electorate, she pivoted and made a play for Republican primary voters. "I would just ask, what are the principles by which he will govern?" she said.
It is a question many Republicans, especially establishment Republicans, are wondering.
And for all of her talk, Fiorina is a political insider. Yet she does not carry the inside-the-Beltway stigma. On Thursday night, she deftly discussed her business accomplishments and governing philosophy while emphasizing her worldly connections and steely approach to pressing issues.
"On Day One in the Oval Office, I would make two phone calls," she said. "The first one would be to my good friend, Bibi Netanyahu, to reassure him we will stand with the State of Israel.
READ: CNN fact checks the 2016 Republican debates
"The second will be to the supreme leader of Iran. He might not take my phone call, but he would get the message, and the message is this: Until you open every nuclear and every military facility to full, open, anytime, anywhere, for real inspections, we are going to make it as difficult as possible for you to move money around the global financial system."
Fiorina ended the night by playing again to Republican primary voters looking for a candidate who can defeat Hillary Clinton in November 2016.
"We need a nominee who is going to throw every punch, not pull punches, and someone who cannot stumble before he even gets into the ring," she said.
Clearly, Fiorina did not stumble, but it remains to be seen if her performance has caused enough GOP primary voters to reconsider her current standing in the race.
Even if they do, any budding Fiorina boomlet would have to overcome some stark realities. She needs to increase her name recognition, but she doesn't appear to have the cash to do so. Her campaign has raised very little hard money — only $1.4 million — and her super PAC has had minimal success catching high-dollar donors.
And by flirting with invisibility in the polls, Fiorina hasn't incurred the wrath of opposition research or had her resume thoroughly vetted. But that could soon change.
and from the left – from the Campaign for America's Future – www.OURFUTURE.org
The GOP Debate is What Oligarchy Looks Like.
Posted on Sustainabilitank.info on July 10th, 2015
09 July 15
And Scott Walker would like to tell us what to do with that time we used to call a weekend.
t has been three generations since any member of the extended Bush clan of Kennebunkport has done any actual physical labor so, if we're being charitable, we can assume that Jeb (!) wouldn't recognize real work if you handed him a shovel and pointed him toward a ditch. Nonetheless, he would like you to know that you are not working as hard as you should work if you want to be as successful as, well, him.
"My aspiration for the country and I believe we can achieve it, is 4 percent growth as far as the eye can see. Which means we have to be a lot more productive, workforce participation has to rise from its all-time modern lows. It means that people need to work longer hours and, through their productivity, gain more income for their families. That's the only way we're going to get out of this rut that we're in."
Holy Jesus H. Christ on a furlough, there's your "47 percent" moment for this cycle. What is it with this guy and with that other Florida Man, Marco Rubio? Is the sun so bright that neither of them sees the rakes until it's too late? Every legitimate survey demonstrates that Americans are working longer hours for wages that pretty much have remained flat for 30 years while most of the country's wealth was being shoved up to that level of the economy wherein reside Jeb (!) and his family of entitled layabouts. This is pure Romneyism in action. This one statement should kill his campaign. It should be hung around his neck like a dead raccoon until the last ballot of the 2016 election is cast. If it's not, it's only because some people will do anything to keep this guy viable because he allegedly is more "serious" than many of the other presidential candidates. Those people are wrong.
Meanwhile, Scott Walker, the goggle-eyed homunculus hired by Koch Industries to manage their midwest subsidiary formerly known as the state of Wisconsin, is preparing to announce his candidacy for president next week by signing a Superfund site of a state budget that includes a provision that—and I am not kidding here—does away with the concept of the weekend.
Of course, this merely allows an "employee" to "opt out" of the requirement that he be given one day of rest every seven, and I am sure that the state's employers will do nothing to "encourage" their employees to take advantage of their newfound freedom to be worked to death. This is pure Lochnerism in action, of course. Nobody can say they don't have a jobs plan anyway.
In US courts – Now new claims by Zacarias Moussaoui, a convicted former member of Al Qaeda, that had contact with the Saudi Arabian government in the prelude to Sept. 11, points his finger at three Important Princes – business partners with the Bushes. The US Government will have now to release those 28 pages of the original inquiry.
Posted on Sustainabilitank.info on February 5th, 2015
Following up on last week's news:
WASHINGTON — A still-classified section of the investigation by congressional intelligence committees into the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks has taken on an almost mythic quality over the past 13 years — 28 pages that examine crucial support given the hijackers and that by all accounts implicate prominent Saudis in financing terrorism.
Now new claims by Zacarias Moussaoui, a convicted former member of Al Qaeda, that he had high-level contact with officials of the Saudi Arabian government in the prelude to Sept. 11 have brought renewed attention to the inquiry's withheld findings, which lawmakers and relatives of those killed in the attacks have tried unsuccessfully to declassify.
Mr. Graham has repeatedly said it shows that Saudi Arabia was complicit in the Sept. 11 attacks. "The 28 pages primarily relate to who financed 9/11, and they point a very strong finger at Saudi Arabia as being the principal financier," Mr. Graham said last month as he pressed for the pages to be made public.
Relatives of those killed on Sept. 11 as well as plaintiffs in a federal lawsuit against Saudi Arabia have also demanded that the pages be made public, seeing them as the vital link that they believe connects an important ally of the United States to the deadly attacks. They say the pages, Part 4 of the report, could also help in determining the source of current funding for terrorist activities.
"If we stop funding of terrorism and hold those people accountable, wouldn't it make a dent in the financing of terrorism today?" asked William Doyle, whose son, Joseph, was killed in the World Trade Center. Mr. Doyle said that President Obama personally assured him after the death of Osama bin Laden that he would declassify that section of the report.
"Saudi Arabia has long been considered the primary source of Al Qaeda funding, but we have found no evidence that the Saudi government as an institution or senior Saudi officials individually funded the organization," the commission said in its July 2004 report. It did note, however, the "likelihood that charities with significant Saudi government sponsorship diverted funds to Al Qaeda."
Mr. Zelikow pointed to the more thorough investigation undertaken by the commission.
"Those involved in the preparation of the famous 28 pages joined the staff of the 9/11 Commission and participated in the follow-up investigation of all the leads that had been developed earlier," he said Wednesday. "In doing so, they were aided by a larger team with more members, more powers and for the first time actually conducted interviews of relevant people both in this country and in Saudi Arabia."
"And what we found is reflected in the commission report," he said.
The Saudi government has also said it favored making the 28 pages public because that would make it easier to refute what it said were unfounded allegations. The embassy said Wednesday that it stood by that position
Representative Walter B. Jones, a North Carolina Republican pushing for the release of Part 4, said the Moussaoui claims might give momentum to the declassification effort. He said he was approached Wednesday on the House floor by lawmakers inquiring how to view the 28 pages.
"There may have been a level of participation by some Muslim country that is not commensurate with today," he said.
Advocates of releasing the document have been frustrated by Mr. Obama, noting that Democrats were much more aggressive in pushing for its disclosure when Mr. Bush was president.
Mr. Doyle and Kristen Breitweiser, whose husband, Ronald, was killed on Sept. 11 in the World Trade Center, say the president assured them during separate meetings with families of the victims of the attack that he saw no reason the document should be withheld.
Mr. Doyle said he encouraged Mr. Obama at a meeting in May 2011 with surviving family members to follow through on a pledge he made two years earlier to Ms. Breitweiser. "He said: 'Bill, I know about the pages. I promise I am going to get them released,' " Mr. Doyle recounted.
The White House said it was responding to the calls to consider releasing the material.
"This administration, in response to a congressional request, last year asked the intelligence community to conduct a classification review of this material," said Edward C. Price, a spokesman for the National Security Council. "We did so in keeping with the standard procedure for determining whether classified information can be publicly released without jeopardizing national security. That process is ongoing."
Saudi Princes' Deep Ties to the West:
— Prince Turki al-Faisal, 69, is another of the king's nephews. He replaced Prince Bandar as the Saudi ambassador in Washington in 2005 and served in that post for two years. He was the head of Saudi intelligence from 1977 until Aug. 31, 2001, and managed Riyadh's relations with Osama bin Laden and Mullah Muhammad Omar of the Taliban.
In an interview in 2005, he said the accusation contained in a lawsuit, later dismissed, that he provided support to Al Qaeda "was kind of a slap in the face."
— Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, at 59 is a grandson of Saudi Arabia's founder, King Abdulaziz, and is chairman of the Kingdom Holding Company and the wealthiest member of the royal family. (The rapper Busta Rhymes namechecks Prince Alwaleed in the 2008 song "Arab Money.") He owns Rotana, the Arab world's largest entertainment company, and holds significant investments in Citigroup, TimeWarner, Twitter and Apple, among other companies. He had a large stake in News Corporation until Tuesday, when his company sold $188 million worth of its shares, according to Financial Times.
Some of the Comments:
Tangential it may be, judging from the comments written about this thus far the former First Lady Barbara Bush is right when she said the…
President Obama should release these classified documents. Not only is it the right thing to do, it will guarantee that no Bush will ever…
Didn't Saudis fly out of the country one day after 9/11 when all planes were grounded, and yet no outcries.
Some in the GOP Congress had ties with the White Supremacist Ku Klux Klan. Steve Scalise is third ranking Republican and sided with Louisiana Grand Wizard David Duke. Having reported on this cost investigative journalist Lamar White Jr. his internet connection.
Posted on Sustainabilitank.info on January 23rd, 2015
Blogger Who Uncovered GOP Leader's White Supremacist Ties Had Home Internet Lines Cut.
By Aaron Sankin, The Daily Dot, 23 January 2015
Earlier this month, Lamar White, Jr. woke up to discover his Internet connection wasn't working. He had just gotten a new cable box installed at his Dallas, Texas, home and figured his lines should still be in ship shape because it hadn't been long since they were last checked.
Rather than just assume he had crappy Internet service, like you or I might, he thought his home computer system was on the receiving end of a denial of service attack. White, you see, is something of a major figure in the political media. And there are a good many people who may want revenge for the things he's dug up.
Last month, the Louisiana native and current Southern Methodist University law student, set off a firestorm in Washington when a post on his personal blog revealed that House Majority Whip Steve Scalise, the third most powerful Republican in the House of Representatives, was a featured speaker at a white nationalist conference put on by former Ku Klux Klan Grand Wizard David Duke.
While Scalise retained his leadership position after conservatives from around the country quickly circled the wagons, the story has generated headlines for nearly a month—even causing a new round of controversy when left-leaning news outlets started making a fuss over Scalise's multiple votes against making Martin Luther King Day a federal holiday. Nevertheless, when the cable guy came a few days later, and the first thing he asked after looking at White's Internet connection was, "Do you have any enemies?" White couldn't help but be more than a little surprised.
"I don't have any scorned ex-girlfriends," White recalled saying with a laugh. "Everyone I know in Dallas seems to like me."
"[The cable guy] said that whatever had happened to me was the result of someone invading my backyard and using a power tool to cut the line," he recalled. "There's no conceivable way this could have happened on its own or been done by an animal. It wasn't just that they cut it, they also tugged at the line [after it was severed]."
White was naturally pretty freaked out. He has since upped both his physical and online security. He's replaced the security equipment on his house, changed all his passwords, and enabled two-factor authentication on every online account he could.
"I don't think it was anybody associated in Steve Scalise's office," White insisted, adding that he's not the type of person who tends to lean toward conspiracy theories. "I respect the folks that have spoken out in his favor. I think he has a lot of explaining to do. But I absolutely, unequivocally, do not think that he is in any way connected."
"This just shows you the nastiness of some of the people who are associated with the white nationalist movement," he added.
Even so, the direct attack surprised him. While the Scalise scoop certainly brought a lot of attention, it didn't come with a significant amount of hostility directed against him personally. Some conservatives have attempted to poke holes in his narrative, but the focus of nearly all opposition was primarily the story rather than White himself.
White knows the difference first-hand because it stood in contrast to another media flap in which White was recently at the center. In the midst of last year's race for Texas governor, White attended a campaign rally in support of gubernatorial candidate Wendy Davis. Just prior to the event, an advertisement released by Davis raised eyebrows nationally for attacking how her Republican opponent, Greg Abbott, was being hypocritical for aggressively pushing tort reform after earning millions in a lawsuit when part of an oak tree fell on him, paralyzing him for life from the waist down. The ad was slammed as being insensitive to Abbott's disability, and Davis responded with a event featuring a number of her disabled supporters—including White, who has cerebral palsy.
Some on the right blasted Davis for using White as a campaign "prop." White naturally fired back with the line, "I am a human being, not a campaign prop," which created another round of headlines.
He said that the criticism he received after that incident was far more vicious and personal in nature than what he experienced after publishing the Scalise story.
White first came to the story through a tip from a woman named Gilda Reed. A Democrat, Reed had lost a congressional election against Scalise in 2008. She had mentioned to White, who regularly does investigative journalism about Louisiana politics, about a connection between Scalise and David Duke.
Despite being the highest-profile Ku Klux Klan member in generations, Duke was a serious political force in Louisiana for many years. In 1991, he won 60 percent of the state's white vote in an attempt to beat Edwin Edwards in the race for governor.
White started digging. He sat down at his computer and did a simple Google search for "David Duke Steve Scalise." Within a few seconds, he came across a series of posts on the infamous white supremacist forum Stormfront.org (slogan: "Every month is white history month") indicating that Scalise had attended a conference put on by European-American Unity and Rights Organization (EURO), a group founded by Duke to promote white civil rights, while Scalise was a Louisiana state legislator.
A post on Stormfront, which has since been removed but is still accessible via the Internet Archive's invaluable Wayback Machine, noted that Scalise spoke to the group regarding the "gross mismanagement of tax revenue."
In addition to plans to implement tactical strategies that were discussed, the meeting was productive locally as State Representative, Steve Scalise, discussed ways to oversee gross mismanagement of tax revenue or "slush funds" that have little or no accountability. Representative Scalise brought into sharp focus the dire circumstances pervasive in many important, under-funded needs of the community at the expense of graft within the Housing and Urban Development Fund, an apparent give-away to a selective group based on race.
A second post, which is still up on Stormfront's site, noted:
It was just announced that Rep. Steve Scalise, R-Jefferson will enter the race in the 1st Congressional District. Those that attended the EURO conference in New Orleans will recall that Scalise was a speaker, offering his support for issues that are of concern to us. I suppose if Duke does not make the election for whatever reason, this gentleman would be a good alternative.
Scalise has admitted that he spoke to the group, but maintains that he was there to exclusively speak about economic issues and was unaware of the organization's ties to the white supremacist movement. "I didn't know who all of these groups were, and I detest any kind of hate group," the lawmaker told the New Orleans Times-Picayune. "For anyone to suggest that I was involved with a group like that is insulting and ludicrous."
The tie between Scalise and EURO was there for anyone to find. White just happened to be the first person to Google precisely the right thing at precisely the right time. Of course, the axe swings both ways—the Internet is likely the tool whoever cut his cable used to discovered where White lives.
"It might not be the Klan or the white nationalists, it could just be a random person who found my address and didn't like what I was posting," he said. "I understand my address is public record. If someone wants to find where you live, they can find where you live, no matter who you are. I'm really not intimidated by that.
+12 # Billy Bob 2015-01-23 11:57
" 'I understand my address is public record. If someone wants to find where you live, they can find where you live, no matter who you are. I'm really not intimidated by that.' "
-Well, White's a hell of a lot braver than I am. I AM intimidated by that. I DO have scorned ex-girlfriends I'd like to keep in my past. I DO have children I'd like to protect from psychopaths. I DO fear for my "security" in a world where everyone seems to know personal information about everybody.
Your address and phone number were always, traditionally, public record, but I question the wisdom of that, in this day and age. In the past, there were never so many tools that could be used to destroy your life, simply through access to public information. I see no real reason why we shouldn't be allowed at least some privacy, EVEN about our address and phone number.
Sorry, but one more thought:
If everyone can find everyone's phone number and address, what's stopping all of us from just dropping in Billy Joel? I'm just picking on him because I'd like to meet him, so, what's stopping me? Could we all just decide to pay a visit to Bill O'Reilly?
My guess is, um, NO.
My guess is that there IS a way for someone famous to stay private. Am I wrong? If not, what is it? I'd like some privacy, please.
+2 # Banichi 2015-01-23 13:26
So yes, privacy does have a price…but if you are important enough, who can discover your information is a pretty small group, apparently.
All US Big City Mayors line up behind Obama in his Imigration Executive Actions planned to take the country where the Republican Congress does not want to go – Sanity in matters of old-time non-legal alliens who helped build the new American improving economy that Republicans do not acknowledge.
Posted on Sustainabilitank.info on January 23rd, 2015
Thw Washington Post Politics: U.S. mayors to file legal brief in support of Obama's immigration executive actions.
By David Nakamura January 23, 2015
A group of big-city mayors led by New York's Bill de Blasio and Los Angeles's Eric Garcetti announced plans Friday to file a legal brief supporting President Obama's executive actions on immigration, which are being challenged in federal court by 25 states. D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser is among those who signed onto the brief.
The brief will argue that "the public interest across the country is served clearly and overwhelmingly by implementing immigration reform by executive action," the mayors said in a statement. They made the announcement at the U.S. Conference of Mayors, which is taking place in Washington.
Obama announced in November that he would use his executive powers to protect as many as 4 million illegal immigrants from deportation and make other changes to border control policies designed to focus federal resources on violent and repeat criminals. The president said he acted after Congress failed to approve a comprehensive immigration reform bill last summer.
But Republicans have challenged the actions, calling them unconstitutional. The lawsuit from 25 states, led by Texas, argues that the "unilateral suspension of the Nation's immigration laws is unlawful."
The mayors of Atlanta, Baltimore, Chicago, Houston, Denver and San Francisco also joined the brief in support of Obama's actions. So far 28 mayors in all have signed on.
The Obama administration says new rules to significantly loosen the U.S. trade embargo against Cuba and open up the communist island to greater American travel will go into effect Friday.
90% of American blacks voted Democrat but nevertheless one Haitian Mormon woman from white Utah and two Southern black men got elected on Republican tickets.
Posted on Sustainabilitank.info on November 9th, 2014
As GOP Swept Congress, Black Republicans Took Home Historic Wins.
The Republican Party made historic gains during this week's midterm elections. Among their victories were three wins by black Republicans, who seem to be building momentum for diversifying the GOP ranks.
Mia Love — who is Mormon and Haitian-American — is one of those three, and Republicans in Utah's 4th District will be sending her to Congress next year.
"Many of the naysayers out there said that Utah would never elect a black, Republican, LDS woman to Congress," Love told a crowd on Tuesday. "And guess what? Not only did we do it, we were the first to do it!"
Another big winner was Tim Scott, who was appointed to the Senate in 2012, but won a full term in his own right on Tuesday. He's now South Carolina's first elected black senator, and the South's first since Reconstruction.
Texas also celebrated a historic win in Will Hurd, a former CIA officer who is the first black Republican from Texas ever to win a U.S. Congressional seat.
"It's a start," says Michael Steele, the former chairman of the Republican National Committee. "And yeah, I want more. You know, I want to get to the point where it's not notable."
Steele, the first black chairman of the RNC, is notable himself. He says these rising stars will follow the lead of former representatives Allen West and J.C. Watts, who, like other black Republicans, faced suspicion from many black voters.
"You still have to deal with the stereotype that somehow if you're a black Republican, you're not a real black person," he says.
But Steele adds there are also legitimate questions about his party's commitment to racial diversity.
"White folks get excited when they see, 'Oh, got a black candidate running for office!' " he says. "OK, that's great. But what are you doing to get them elected? It's not just enough to have the face on the ballot."
Amy Holmes, a former speech writer for Republican Sen. Bill Frist and an anchor on the TheBlaze.com, says this newly-elected group represents an important part of the post-Obama era of politics.
"I think President Obama's election in 2008 inspired a lot of African-American politicians, including on the right," Holmes says.
Holmes points out these candidates also succeeded in places where black voters did not make up the majority.
"The old conventional wisdom has been that an African-American politician has to run from a majority African-American district," she says. "Well, these three candidates prove that's not true."
Why Did Black Voters Flee The Republican Party In The 1960s?
But the relationship between the GOP and black voters has to change as U.S. racial demographics continue to shift, according to Lenny McAllister, a former Republican candidate for Congress and the host of The McAllister Minute on the American Urban Radio Network.
Early exit polls show almost 90 percent of black voters supported Democrats on Tuesday, and McAllister says that allegiance to the Democratic Party diminishes black political power.
"We cannot continue to only access half of the political process," McAllister says. "We need Republicans and Democrats being actively and efficiently responsive to our needs."
McAllister admits it will take more than these three winners for Republicans to earn the trust of black voters. But he says we shouldn't forget how a young senator from Illinois beat the odds to become America's first black president.
"The impossible happens in America, and if we're going to open up the doors to what's possible for more Americans, we have to take on this fight now," he says.
The US Petroleum Industry Climate Deniers found new backing in old papers by what was the joint Russian-Ukrainian Academies of Science Institute of the Physics of the Earth – an old theory that Petroleum Is Not of Biological Fossil Origin but of Deep Abiotic Origin.
Posted on Sustainabilitank.info on October 25th, 2014
We received the following and are posting it as we are open to any exchange of ideas – specially when the subject is theories.
An introduction to the modern petroleum science, and to the Russian-Ukrainian theory of deep, abiotic petroleum origins.
Russian Academy of Sciences – Joint Institute of The Physics of the Earth.
Gas Resources Corporation, 11811 North Freeway, Houston, TX 77060, U.S.A.
The following articles take up, from different perspectives, the modern Russian-Ukrainian theory of deep, abiotic petroleum origins. Because that subject is one of which most persons outside the former U.S.S.R. are not familiar, a short synopsis of it and of its provenance and history, are given now.
1. The essence of the modern Russian-Ukrainian theory of deep, abiotic petroleum origins.
The modern Russian-Ukrainian theory of deep, abiotic petroleum origins is an extensive body of scientific knowledge which covers the subjects of the chemical genesis of the hydrocarbon molecules which comprise natural petroleum, the physical processes which occasion their terrestrial concentration, the dynamical processes of the movement of that material into geological reservoirs of petroleum, and the location and economic production of petroleum. The modern Russian-Ukrainian theory of deep, abiotic petroleum origins recognizes that petroleum is a primordial material of deep origin which has been erupted into the crust of the Earth. In short, and bluntly, petroleum is not a "fossil fuel" and has no intrinsic connection with dead dinosaurs (or any other biological detritus) "in the sediments" (or anywhere else).
The modern Russian-Ukrainian theory of petroleum is based upon rigorous scientific reasoning, consistent with the laws of physics and chemistry, as well as upon extensive geological observation, and rests squarely in the mainstream of modern physics and chemistry, from which it draws its provenance. Much of the modern Russian theory of deep, abiotic petroleum genesis developed from the sciences of chemistry and thermodynamics, and accordingly the modern theory has steadfastly held as a central tenet that the generation of hydrocarbons must conform to the general laws of chemical thermodynamics, – as must likewise all matter. In such respect, modern Russian-Ukrainian petroleum science contrasts strongly to what are too often passed off as "theories" in the field of geology in Britain and the U.S.A.
As will be shown explicitly in a following articles, petroleum has no intrinsic association with biological material. The only hydrocarbon molecules which are exceptions to this point are methane, the hydrocarbon alkane specie of lowest chemical potential of all hydrocarbons, and to a lesser extent, ethene, the alkene of the lowest chemical potential of its homologous molecular series. Only methane is thermodynamically stable in the pressure and temperature regime of the near-surface crust of the Earth and accordingly can be generated there spontaneously, as is indeed observed for phenomena such as swamp gas or sewer gas. However, methane is practically the sole hydrocarbon molecule possessing such thermodynamic characteristic in that thermodynamic regime; almost all other reduced hydrocarbon molecules excepting only the lightest ones, are high pressure polymorphs of the hydrogen-carbon system. Spontaneous genesis of the heavier hydrocarbons which comprise natural petroleum occurs only in multi-kilobar regimes of high pressures, as is shown in a following article.
2. The historical beginnings of petroleum science, – with a touch of irony.
The history of petroleum science might be considered to have begun in the year 1757 when the great Russian scholar Mikhailo V. Lomonosov enunciated the hypothesis that oil might originate from biological detritus. Applying the rudimentary powers of observation and the necessarily limited analytical skills available in his time, Lomonosov hypothesized that "… 'rock oil' [crude oil, or petroleum] originated as the minute bodies of dead marine and other animals which were buried in the sediments and which, over the passage of a great duration of time under the influence of heat and pressure, transformed into 'rock oil'." Such was the descriptive science practiced in the eighteenth century by Lomonosov and Linnaeus.
The scientists who first rejected Lomonsov's hypothesis, at the beginning of the nineteenth century, were the famous German naturalist and geologist Alexander von Humboldt and the French chemist and thermodynamicist Louis Joseph Gay-Lussac who together enunciated the proposition that oil is a primordial material erupted from great depth, and is unconnected with any biological matter near the surface of the Earth.
Thus both ideas were delivered with powerful pedigrees: the wrong biological notion having been put forward by the greatest Russian scientist of his time; and the abiotic proposition approximately a half century later by, respectively, two of the greatest German and French scientists.
Historically, the first scientific repudiation Lomonosov's hypothesis of a biological origin of petroleum came from chemists and thermodynamicists. With the nascent development of chemistry during the nineteenth century, and following particularly the enunciation of the second law of thermodynamics by Clausius in 1850, Lomonosov's biological hypothesis came inevitably under attack.
During the last quarter of the nineteenth century, the great Russian chemist Dmitri Mendeleev also examined and rejected Lomonosov's hypothesis of a biological origin for petroleum. In contrast to Berthelot who had made no suggestion as to where or how petroleum might have come, Mendeleev stated clearly that petroleum is a primordial material which has erupted from great depth. With extraordinary perception, Mendeleev hypothesized the existence of geological structures which he called "deep faults," and correctly identified such as the locus of weakness in the crust of the Earth via which petroleum would travel from the depths. After he made that hypothesis, Mendeleev was abusively criticized by the geologists of his time, for the notion of deep faults was then unknown. Today, of course, an understanding of plate tectonics would be unimaginable without recognition of deep faults.
3. The enunciation and development of modern petroleum science.
The impetus for development of modern petroleum science came shortly after the end of World War II, and was impelled by recognition by the government of the (then) U.S.S.R. of the crucial necessity of petroleum in modern warfare. In 1947, the U.S.S.R. had (as its petroleum "experts" then estimated) very limited petroleum reserves, of which the largest were the oil fields in the region of the Abseron peninsula, near the Caspian city Baku in the present country of Azerbaijan. At that time, the oil fields near Baku were considered to be "depleting" and "nearing exhaustion." During World War II, the Soviets had occupied the two northern provinces of Iran; in 1946, the British government had forced them out. By 1947, the Soviets realized that the American, British, and French were not going to allow them to operate in the middle east, nor in the petroleum producing areas of Africa, nor Indonesia, nor Burma, nor Malaysia, nor anywhere in the far east, nor in Latin America. The government of the Soviet Union recognized then that new petroleum reserves would have to be discovered and developed within the U.S.S.R.
During the first decade of its existence, the modern theory of petroleum origins was the subject of great contention and controversy. Between the years 1951 and 1965, with the leadership of Kudryavtsev and Porfir'yev, increasing numbers of geologists published articles demonstrating the failures and inconsistencies inherent in the old "biogenic origin" hypothesis. With the passing of the first decade of the modern theory, the failure of the previous, eighteenth century hypothesis of an origin of petroleum from biological detritus in the near-surface sediments had been thoroughly demonstrated, the hypothesis of Lomonosov discredited, and the modern theory firmly established.
An important point to be recognized is that the modern Russian-Ukrainian theory of abiotic petroleum origins was, initially, a geologists' theory. Kudryavtsev, Kropotkin, Dolenko, Porfir'yev and the developers of the modern theory of petroleum were all geologists. Their arguments were necessarily those of geologists, developed from many observations, and much data, organized into a pattern, and argued by persuasion.
3. The organization of these papers.
The papers collected on the following public-access pages of this web site are organized into several categories and sub-categories: The principle categories are the Scientific Publications; the Economic Publications; and the Political and Sociological Essays. The organization of the following papers does not follow the historical development of the modern Russian-Ukrainian theory of deep, abiotic petroleum origins but instead orders them according to the different aspects of modern petroleum science. A number of these papers were delivered at the International Conference on the Production of Petroleum from the Crystalline Basement, held in Kazan, Russia, June 2001, in celebration of the half-century commemoration of the enunciation of that theory by Nikolai Kudryavtsev.
3.1. The scientific and technical papers.
The Scientific Publications are further divided into two sets of articles dealing, first, with the rigorous scientific foundations upon which rests the modern Russian-Ukrainian theory of deep, abiotic petroleum origins, and, second, with applications of modern petroleum science to petroleum exploration and production.
In the first subsection are several published articles concerned directly with the statistical thermodynamics of the evolution of the hydrocarbon molecules and the origins of petroleum. The first paper in this section reviews the constraints of irreversibility upon the evolution of the hydrogen-carbon [H-C] system as determined by the second law of thermodynamics. In this article, the formalism of modern thermodynamics is applied freely, and the prohibition of spontaneous genesis of hydrocarbons heavier than methane in the regimes of temperature and pressure of the near-surface crust of the Earth is easily noted. A following paper reviews, and refutes, the claims for "evidence"[sic] for a biological origin of petroleum (commonly asserted in typical British and American textbooks on petroleum geology), – e.g., the "biomarkers," the observation of optical activity, the slight differences in the abundances of linear molecules with odd (or even) numbers of carbon atoms, the presence of porphyrins, etc. The claims for each (as evidence of a biotic connection for petroleum) are refuted, with unchallenged evidence published in first-rank scientific journals often as long as thirty or forty years ago. The continued, egregious claims of such as "evidence" of a biological origin of petroleum are acknowledged to be fraudulent. A recent paper describes very recent analysis of the thermodynamic stability of the hydrogen-carbon system in circumstances most favorable to the evolution of hydrocarbons, and shows that the hydrocarbons which comprise natural petroleum cannot evolve spontaneously at pressures less than approximately 30 kbar, which pressures correspond to the depths of the mantle of the Earth. In the second instance, this paper describes experimental demonstration of the foregoing theoretical predictions, whereby laboratory-pure solid marble (CaCO3), iron oxide (FeO), wet with triple-distilled water, are subjected to pressures up to 50 kbar and temperatures to 2000 C. With no contribution of either hydrocarbons or biological detritus, the CaCO3-FeO-H2O system spontaneously generates, at the high pressures predicted theoretically, the suite of hydrocarbons characteristic of natural petroleum.
3.2 The economic publications.
The second main group of papers deals with the important issues connected with the economic consequences of modern Russian petroleum science. In these papers are reviewed both some of the pseudo-economic fables (e.g., "the human race is going to run out of natural petroleum") which have been traditionally connected with the error that petroleum is some sort of "fossil fuel," for reason (supposedly) of having evolved from biological detritus, – albeit in violation of the laws of chemical thermodynamics.
3.3 The political and sociological essays.
The third main group of papers deals with diverse sociological and political aspects which have involved the modern Russian-Ukrainian theory of deep, abiotic petroleum origins, and which have too often obstructed persons, and governments, in the U.S.A. from learning it. In this section, are examples of some of the published efforts to misrepresent modern Russian petroleum science.
The modern Russian-Ukrainian theory of deep, abiotic petroleum origins is extraordinary in almost every way, including the bizarre circumstance that it has been the object of probably the most daring attempt of plagiarism in modern science. The attempted plagiarism of modern Russian petroleum science is reviewed also in this section.
reference: gasresources.net – specifically www.gasresources.net