Author Archives: LashawnJudy

Trump Wants More Control Over Intel Agencies

Mother Jones

Here’s a tidbit from the AP about how President Trump might “seize the reins” of the intelligence community:

Officials have expressed an interest in having more raw intelligence sent to the president for his daily briefings instead of an analysis of information compiled by the agencies, according to current and former U.S. officials. The change would have given his White House advisers more control about the assessments given to him and sidelined some of the conclusions made by intelligence professionals.

Trump seems like the kind of guy who could do his own analysis of raw intelligence. They should give it a try. What could go wrong?

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Trump Wants More Control Over Intel Agencies

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London is banning dangerous trucks — and that’s great news for cyclists.

The congressman accused the Securities and Exchange Commission Thursday of unfairly targeting the oil giant by investigating whether the company disclosed its financial risks from climate change and greenhouse gas regulations to investors.

In a letter to SEC Chair Mary Jo White, Smith demands that the commission provide his committee with documents related to the Exxon probe by Oct. 13.

Smith writes that the SEC has advanced “a prescriptive climate change orthodoxy that may chill further climate change research,” which seems odd for someone who doesn’t actually believe in climate change.

Still, it’s about what we’d expect from Smith, a recipient of $680,000 from oil and gas over his career.

Smith — who, ironically, is both a climate denier and the head of the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology — has used his position to aid Exxon before: He’s accused 17 state attorneys general of violating the corporation’s right to free speech by looking into allegations that Exxon has known about climate change for decades.

Why does Smith go to bat for Exxon repeatedly, despite risking political backlash? Gretchen Goldman, an analyst at Union of Concerned Scientists (one of the groups being targeted by Smith), has a theory.

“If you’re talking about climate change and doing anything to try to hold actors accountable, he wants to intimidate you.”

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London is banning dangerous trucks — and that’s great news for cyclists.

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Climate change is a multitrillion-dollar business opportunity, according to John Kerry

Climate change is a multitrillion-dollar business opportunity, according to John Kerry

By on 5 Apr 2016commentsShare

These days, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry is downright cheery about the economic prospects of addressing climate change. In a speech to a business-minded room at the Bloomberg New Energy Finance summit on Tuesday, Kerry insisted climate change presents an opportunity that could far surpass the tech boom of the 1990s: “This is a multitrillion-dollar market with billions of users worldwide.”

Acting on climate change isn’t just about preserving the planet for future generations, Kerry explained, but also recognizing “that clean energy is one of the greatest economic opportunities the world has ever seen.” We just need the right policies and governance to lead the way, according to Kerry. “There are opportunities literally everywhere you look.”

Kerry isn’t alone among Democrats who have increasingly framed climate change as a business opportunity. “This is the biggest new business opportunity in the history of the world,” former Vice President Al Gore said earlier this year. Ex-Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley liked to argue the same on the campaign trail during his brief run for president.

The positive messaging has less to do with the morals of climate change than it does with cold-hard cash to be made in transition to clean energy. But if it works to convince a few businesses to take the leap, then that’ll be progress.

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Climate change is a multitrillion-dollar business opportunity, according to John Kerry

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Need a fracking supporter? Hire a homeless person.

That’s fracked up!

Need a fracking supporter? Hire a homeless person.

16 Sep 2014 5:32 PM

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In bizarre energy industry news of the day, the North Carolina Energy Coalition seems to have brought in some homeless men to stand in as fracking supporters at a state hearing on developing fracking operations in the state.

The men were bussed 200 miles from Winston-Salem to Cullowhee, N.C., where the hearing took place, for the day.

From Asheville’s Citizen-Times:

“They were clueless,” said Bettie “Betsy” Ashby, a member of the Jackson County Coalition Against Fracking. “At least two of them I met definitely came from a homeless shelter. One of them even apologized to me and said, ‘I didn’t know they were trying to do this to me.’ One said, ‘I did it for the…’ and then he rubbed his fingers together like ‘for the money.’”

Several of the men were wearing turquoise shirts or hats that said “Shale Yes” on the front and “Energy Creates Jobs” and “N.C. Energy Coalition.com” on the back.

It’s not a new tactic: If you can’t find people who actually support your cause, just pay uninformed members of underprivileged groups to fake it!

What is the mission of the N.C. Energy Coalition, exactly? From the group’s website:

Our website will provide the facts about the offshore and onshore production processes, environmental issues and economic impacts with no political spin. The Coalition will not advocate on issues but instead, provide the facts to let the public, business community and elected officials decide for themselves.

The organization is also sponsored by the American Petroleum Institute.

Just this June, North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory (R) signed off on the legalization of fracking in the state. At the same time, the state also passed a bill that makes the disclosure of the ingredients in the chemical cocktail used in fracking punishable as a misdemeanor. (For what it’s worth, the originally proposed version of that bill would have made said disclosure a felony.)

I’d be interested, at the very least, to know if the N.C. Energy Coalition will help its paid protestors to get actual jobs at the state’s new fracking wells. Because that’s supposed to be the huge benefit of this “energy boom,” right? I guess a few bucks an hour and a bus ride to Cullowhee is a good place to start!

Source:
Did energy group bus homeless in to support fracking?

, Citizen-Times.

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Need a fracking supporter? Hire a homeless person.

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