Thursday, January 30, 2020

WATCHING THE IMPEACHMENT
TWO DAYS OF Q & A
WHERE ONE SIDE ANSWERS QUESTIONS ABOUT THE OTHER SIDE PUT TO IT BY THEIR OWN SENATORS

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PITY THE PETTY POTUS

President Donald Trump signs USMCA trade deal WITHOUT DEMOCRATS

NAFTA TOO 
By

Jan. 29 (UPI) -- President Donald Trump signed the new North American trade deal Wednesday in a ceremony that excluded Democrats involved in the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement.
About 400 farmers, union representatives and company CEOs attended the event on the South Lawn of the White House. House Democrats who were instrumental in obtaining broad bipartisan support to secure the agreement were absent.
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Warren proposes criminal penalties for election disinformation
By Danielle Haynes


Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., promised her presidential campaign won't knowingly involve itself in spreading false information or doctored images. Photo by Pete Marovich/UPI | License Photo

Jan. 29 (UPI) -- Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Elizabeth Warren on Wednesday proposed implementing criminal and civil penalties for spreading election-related disinformation.

She laid out multiple ways she, as president, would work to stop the spread of false information online, specifically on social media. The plan comes after multiple U.S. intelligence agencies and special counsel Robert Mueller determined Russia attempted to interfere in the 2016 U.S. presidential election, mostly through the use of social media.

"As the 2020 election approaches, Russian disinformation is not the only threat we face online," Warren said in a news release. "The same tactics employed by the Russian government are just as easily accessible to domestic groups seeking to promote or oppose candidates and political or social issues."

Earlier this month, the elections czar of the Office of the Director of National Intelligence warned that Russia won't be the only concern in the 2020 election -- China, Iran, North Korea and non-state "hacktivists" will also target American voters. Shelby Pierson said this year's efforts will be more sophisticated.

Among the key elements in her plan is to hold technology companies -- Facebook, Twitter, Google, TikTok and Reddit -- responsible for their roles in spreading disinformation. She called on each to take steps to fight false information by working with the government to share resources, clearly label state-created content, alert users to disinformation campaigns, create consequences for accounts that interfere with voting and open up data for research purposes.

Warren also called for clear consequences for those responsible for spreading disinformation.

"In both the 2016 and 2018 elections, online disinformation sought to depress voter turnout by telling people they could vote via text, giving people the wrong date for election day, and more," Warren said. "I will push for new laws that impose tough civil and criminal penalties for knowingly disseminating this kind of information, which has the explicit purpose of undermining the basic right to vote."

For her own part, Warren promised her campaign won't knowingly spread false information or doctored images, promote content from fraudulent online accounts or allow staff or surrogates to do so.

"The stakes of this election are too high -- we need to fight the spread of false information that disempowers voters and undermines democracy. I'll do my part -- and I'm calling on my fellow candidates and big tech companies to do their part too."

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THE BRONFMAN SISTERS
Former Nxivm members accuse leadership of psychological, financial abuse
By Daniel Uria

Jan. 29 (UPI) -- A federal lawsuit in New York accuses Nxivm founder Keith Raniere of conducting illegal psychological experiments on members and operating as a pyramid scheme.

The lawsuit was filed by more than 80 alleged victims who said they experienced physical, emotional and financial abuse at the hands of Raniere and 14 other associates of the purported self-help group.

Nxivm programs involved two components including "a self-esteem eroding curriculum designed to break down students' resistance to Raniere's and Nancy Salzman's radical reframing of ethics, morality and gender roles and relations among other things," according to the lawsuit.

The second component involved "an inherently dangerous form of psychotherapy called 'Exploration of Meaning' (EM), which was administered by so-called EM Practitioners (EMPs), all of whom were unqualified to practice psychoanalysis, psychology or mental health counseling."

Some Nxivm members were subjected to illegal procedures including a "human fright experiment" where they were "subjected to scenes of escalating violence including actual, extremely graphic footage of the brutal beheading and dismemberment of five women in Mexico," after being told they would watch a video of a talk from Raniere.

The lawsuit also details allegations of fraud, stating that Nxivm's leaders drew from "methods used in pyramid schemes" to take people's money and make it "physically and psychologically difficult, and in some cases impossible, to leave the coercive community."

Plaintiffs alleged that more than 16,000 people took Nxivm courses but fewer than 100 ever saw earnings from its businesses and fewer than 25 received substantial earnings within Nxivm.

"Most of the earnings were received by the small group collectively known within the organization as the 'Inner Circle," the lawsuit states.

Raniere, 58, was convicted on one count each of racketeering, racketeering conspiracy, wire fraud conspiracy, forced labor conspiracy, sex trafficking, sex trafficking conspiracy and attempted sex trafficking in a lawsuit that said he conducted a scheme to force women into a sexual slavery cult.

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Trump Administration Rolls Back Clean Water Protections ...


Sep 12, 2019 - WASHINGTON — The Trump administration on Thursday announced the repeal of a major Obama-era clean water regulation that had placed ...

Trump finalizes repeal of Obama-era clean water rule

Sep 12, 2019 - The Trump administration on Thursday announced a legal repeal of a major Obama-era clean water regulation that limited the amount of ... The clean water rollback is the latest in a string of moves by the administration to ..


WOTUS, WOTUS, everywhere - The White House rolls back a ...


https://www.economist.com › united-states › 2018/12/13 › the-white-house...


Dec 13, 2018 - Donald Trump's Environmental Protection Agency is not keen on protecting the environment. ... The White House rolls back a rule on polluting wetlands ... “Dirty Water”, a song from that era about the repellent Charles river, remains ... Richard Nixon signed the original Clean Water Act. George H.W. Bush's .Image result for EPA TOXIC SPILL OF GOLD MINE..
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ENVIRONMENTAL POLLUTION AGENCY
14 states sue EPA over chemical safety rule rollback
By Darryl Coote

Remains of a fertilizer plant and other buildings smolder 
after the plant exploded in West, Texas, on April 17, 2013. 
Photo by Larry W. Smith/EPA

Jan. 29 (UPI) -- Attorney generals of 14 states, Washington, D.C., and the city of Philadelphia sued the Trump administration's Environmental Protection Agency on Wednesday for rolling back Obama-era safety regulations adopted to protect against disasters at chemical plants.

Late last year, the Trump administration nixed rules requiring companies to publicly disclose information about the chemicals they store at their facilities and other safeguards, such as outside audits and analyses of safer technology.

Known as the Chemical Disaster Rule, it was put in place to prevent harm caused by accidents after 15 people were killed in an explosion at a Texas fertilizer plant in 2013.

The Trump administration argued the safeguards were a regulatory burden on businesses and were unnecessary as arson was ruled as the cause of the Texas plant explosion.

RELATED Trump administration proposes further rollbacks of school lunch standardsThe lawsuit was filed in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia by New York Attorney General Letitia James with the attorney generals of the District of Columbia, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, New Mexico, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, Wisconsin and the city of Philadelphia.

"The Trump EPA is gutting critical safeguards against explosions, fires poisonous gas releases and other accidents at these facilities, putting New Yorkers in harm's way," said James said in a statement. "I am taking this fight to the courts because every New Yorker deserves to live in a safe and healthy environment."

She said more than 9 million New Yorkers will be affected by the rollback as they live within the so-called vulnerability zone of facilities covered by the regulations where a worst-case release of chemicals could harm them.

RELATED Appeals court strikes down EPA refinery waivers of biofuel blending requirements

The lawsuit follows one filed in December by a coalition of environmental groups by Earth Justice against the rollback.

"By killing these critical protections, millions of people living near chemical facilities in the United States are put in harm's way," the coalition said in a statement. "We are fighting for the lives and safety of our families and workers. Our lives are more valuable than the bottom line of a few chemical barons."

 Image result for EPA TOXIC SPILL OF GOLD MINE
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Oil Sands Investment Set for First Gain Since 2014 Crash
IT HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH KENNEY, HIS TAX CUTS OR UCP AND ITS SERVICE CUTS AUSTERITY FOR ALBERTANS TAX GIVEAWAY TO BIG OIL Kevin Orland Bloomberg January 30, 2020



(Bloomberg) -- Investment in Canada’s oil-sands is forecast to grow for the first time since prices crashed in 2014.

Capital spending in the the world’s third-largest crude reserves is projected to rise 8.4% to C$11.6 billion ($8.8 billion) this year, according to the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers, the industry’s main lobbying group.

The forecast signals a tentative return of optimism to the oil sands, where pipeline bottlenecks and environmental opposition made expansion difficult even after oil prices rebounded in recent years. CAPP attributes the expected gain to tax cuts implemented by Alberta’s new government, an easing of the province’s output limits and efforts in neighboring Saskatchewan to boost output.

“It has been a tough five years, and Canada has not fared well at a time when global demand continues to rise,” CAPP Chief Executive Officer Tim McMillan said in an interview. “It has taken some hard work, especially at the provincial level, to change the global view and put Canada back in a position where it can start to attract appropriate levels of capital again.”

Expenditures for Canada’s oil and natural gas sector as a whole may increase 5.4% to C$37 billion. Outside the oil sands, spending is projected to rise 4.1% to C$25.4 billion.

The additional C$2 billion in capital spending this year will create or sustain about 11,800 direct and indirect jobs across Canada, the organization projected. About 8,100 of those jobs will be in Alberta, which has struggled with elevated unemployment since the 2014 price crash.

Even with this year’s increase, the industry is still a long way from its headiest days. The projected oil-sands spending for 2020 is about one-third of the peak of C$33.9 billion in 2014, according to CAPP figures.

“In business terms, the spending increase is important enough to recognize,” McMillan said. “But just as important, it’s the changing of the trajectory from consistently losing capital investment to turning that around.”

©2020 Bloomberg L.P.
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