*president trump is seriously dangerous*

[seemslikeadream]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eQwkVgl6eHw

As Trump Reboots Pipeline Expansion, An Unexpected Delay Emerges

January 28, 20179:00 AM ET
MARIE CUSICK

Just as President Trump takes power promising to ramp up oil and gas production, a sudden resignation in a key agency threatens to put such projects on hold across the United States.

On Thursday, Norman Bay, one of just three current members of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), said he would resign effective Feb. 3, even though his term isn't up until next year. His announcement came shortly after Trump decided Bay's fellow commissioner, Cheryl LaFleur, would serve as the Commission's new chair.

"I think [Bay] was perhaps disappointed that Commissioner LaFleur was elevated above him," says Carolyn Elefant, an energy lawyer who represents landowners negotiating with pipeline companies. After Bay's abrupt decision, Elefant says she's "heard in some FERC circles he's being criticized for that."

The resignation could mean costly delays for some major pipeline projects. The independent agency oversees the interstate transmission of electricity, natural gas and oil. It's supposed to have five commissioners, but Bay's departure leaves FERC with just two — not enough for the required quorum to make decisions. Some projects that have been through years of regulatory review and were nearing the finish line could now be in limbo for months.

That includes new multibillion dollar transmission pipelines intended to alleviate a glut of natural gas in the Appalachian basin. If approved, they will supply markets including the East Coast, Midwest, Gulf Coast and Canada.

It's unclear what impact the FERC delay might have on the Keystone and Dakota Access pipelines, which Mr. Trump aimed to green light through executive actions this past week.

Williams Partners' Atlantic Sunrise pipeline is among those awaiting final word from FERC. The pipeline would ship gas from northeastern Pennsylvania southward and connect into a larger network of existing lines.

"The president clearly recognizes that natural gas infrastructure is critical to U.S. economic growth, job creation and expanding the American manufacturing base," says Williams spokesman Chris Stockton in an email. "We believe this administration will prioritize filling the commission's vacancies so that critical natural gas infrastructure projects like Atlantic Sunrise can be approved."

The project has faced intense criticism from local opponents, who recently built encampments and are working with activists who participated in the protests against the Dakota Access oil pipeline.

On Friday the Interstate Natural Gas Association of America, a trade group representing pipeline operators, sent Trump a letter urging him to act quickly to fill the vacancy.

"The most significant barrier to building this infrastructure is often the permitting and approval process," wrote INGAA president Donald Santa. "We must have a functioning FERC to move forward with building this critical energy infrastructure."

Even if the president chooses someone quickly, the process will likely take several months — the appointment requires Senate confirmation. Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), chair of the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, says she will make it a top priority.

"After next week, FERC will need a full complement of commissioners as soon as possible so that it can tackle the important work on its busy docket," Murkowski said in a statement. "The senate's challenge will be to promptly consider, without undue delay, FERC nominations once they are received."

In the meantime the agency's Acting Chairman Cheryl LaFleur says the next few days before Bay leaves will be busy ones.

"The commission is working to get as many orders out as we can in the time we have left with a quorum," she says. "I am confident that, with the strong team we have here at the commission, we can continue to do our important work."

This story is from StateImpact Pennsylvania, a collaboration between WITF and WHYY covering the fiscal and environmental impact of Pennsylvania's energy economy
http://www.npr.org/2017/01/28/512096744 ... ay-emerges

Unknown number of U.S. permanent residents stuck overseas as a result of Trump's immigration ban
http://www.latimes.com/politics/washing ... story.html

Contractor files $2 million lawsuit against Trump for unpaid bills
http://thehill.com/homenews/administrat ... paid-bills

[justdrew]

worth reading...

http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2017/01/james-f-on-hatred-in-our-divided-nation-anger-at-flyover-country.html

[seemslikeadream]

You can smell it coming like folks down here can smell a tornado or like mothers smell death on its way and snatch their children off the front porch.

[seemslikeadream]

Why is Russia so happy with Trump?

The Russian ruling elite is hoping it would be able to negotiate a new world order with Trump.

Russia was one of the few countries to celebrate Donald Trump's inauguration, writes Kurilla [EPA/Anatoly Maltsev]Russia was one of the few countries to celebrate Donald Trump's inauguration, writes Kurilla [EPA/Anatoly Maltsev]
byIvan Kurilla
Ivan Kurilla is Professor of History at the European University in St Petersburg.

The inauguration of Donald J Trump as the 45th President of the United States caused anger, anxiety, and demonstrations across the world. Few were the countries that celebrated the event. Unsurprisingly, Russia was one of those few (Israel being another).

Both the elites and the ordinary people in Russia greeted the new US president, and even some in the political opposition saw the potential for positive developments under his administration.

The reason for Russia's warm welcome of President Trump had nothing to do with claims in the US media that he was "a Kremlin agent" or that "Russian hackers" helped him win the election. It had much more to do with expectations among the elites, the ordinary people, and even the intelligentsia, of a new direction in US-Russian relations that would de-escalate internal and external tensions and favour their interests.

Negotiating a new world order

Many times during the past decade Russian President Vladimir Putin and his subordinates claimed that the world order that emerged after the collapse of the socialist camp and the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991 was not only unjust but also illegitimate.

There were no new foundational documents and institutions to replace those created at the end of World War II with the Yalta Conference. In the eyes of the Russian leadership, no country signed any obligation to consider the United States the only superpower and therefore nobody should comply with its leadership.

This logic explains the confrontations over Ukraine and Syria. For the Kremlin, both were used to demonstrate that there are "red lines" and that there is a need for a new world order. Russian foreign policy analysts have repeatedly claimed that the new US president might be ready to negotiate the creation of a new system of international relations to replace Yalta and the current unipolar model.

The "new Yalta" would redistribute spheres of responsibility to recognised great powers. The Kremlin, of course, sees Russia as one of them (alongside with the US, China, and perhaps Europe).

Among the ruling elite, there is also a much more modest expectation from Trump concerning matters of self-interest. Since at least 2014, after the annexation of Crimea and Russian support to the anti-Kiev rebels in Eastern Ukraine, many members of the ruling class experienced the effects of sanctions targeting them. With Trump in the White House, they expect the sanctions to be lifted, if he indeed wants to start a new chapter in Russian-US relations.

A sigh of relief

Ordinary Russians were also pleased with Trump's victory. Part of the people's joy we can blame on the extensively flattering coverage of his campaign and victory in the Russian media, but there were also very concrete reasons for it.

One is, again, hope for lifting of the economic sanctions. Ironically enough, ordinary Russians are actually suffering much more from the "counter-sanctions" on trade imposed by the Russian government on the EU and the US, which effectively raised the prices of basic goods and eliminated some types of quality foodstuffs from grocery stores.

Still, with this new stage in the Russian-US relations, those counter-sanctions could be lifted as well. But even if the sanctions remain in place, improving relations with the US does come as a relief for the Russian people. The confrontations of the past two years encouraged not only patriotic feelings among Russians, but also feelings of anxiety. In the early fall of 2016, discussions in the Russian public space about the possibility of war with the US started for the first time since the Cold War. Trump's victory was perceived as a sign that at least there will be no war.

America is foe no more

The opposition intelligentsia in Russia is mostly sympathetic to their US peers, the Democrats, in academia and the NGO community, and they also despise Donald Trump's politics and style.

But even the opposition took a breath of relief with Trump's victory. The fact is that since the winter protests of 2011-2012 against the rigged elections and the return of Putin to the presidency, the Russian regime has used the strategy of smearing its critics by accusing them of links to "evil American influences".


WATCH: Outrage in Russia as MPs back domestic violence bill (2:14)

That led to a legal, political, and media pressure on activists, many of whom have emigrated since 2012, and on independent civil society organisations which were subject to restrictions by a new "foreign agents" law. Thus, hostile relations with the US were instrumental in subduing the independent civil society. Nobody knows whether the regime will cease using this approach, but it would make sense to do so after America stops being a foe.

Even within the more radical opposition that would call such a consideration a "Stockholm syndrome", there are some hopes that President Trump will prove to be a more difficult partner for Putin. This faction considered Barack Obama's foreign policy a failure, not because it alienated Putin and imposed sanctions, but because that policy did not bring the desired results. They claim that Obama's perceived "weakness" encouraged Putin to adopt more aggressive policies both at home and abroad, and they hope Trump will be a "tough Republican" keeping Putin quiet.

Time will tell what direction US-Russian relations will embark on. But if history is to have any predictive value, we should not be too optimistic. Both George W Bush and Barack Obama started their presidencies with rapprochement between the two countries - Bush looked into Putin's eyes and saw his soul, while Obama was eager for a "reset" policy. Both ended their second terms at a low point in relations (with the Russia-Georgia war in 2008 and with Syria and the hacking scandal in 2016, respectively).

Will this pattern be repeated with President Trump; will we witness a honeymoon for a year or two and the return to hostility in the longer term? The probability is high, but nothing is for sure.

After all, we know that the Trump presidency will be over in 2020 or 2024, but don't know when the Putin presidency will end. It may happen before Trump's term expires. And that would definitely open a new chapter in the troubled Russian-US relations.
http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinio ... 39696.html

[Luther Blissett]

Off to the airport now.

And while all this is happening, we're missing out on resisting the fact that Bannon has just joined the National Security Council, amongst a few dozen other acts. This overt planning of overwhelming the masses makes resistance damn near impossible.

Time to start that new Paris Commune.

[kelley]

Time to start that new Paris Commune.

assuming that'd be someplace in california

[kelley]

a calexit?

inextricably linked to DNC primary shennaigans that threw the state to clinton

funny sometimes how shit can work out:


http://www.latimes.com/business/hiltzik ... story.html


Should California secede? How the State is Politically Out of Step with the Rest of the Country
Michael Hiltzik Contact Reporter

November 29, 2016

Not since 2010 has California felt itself politically so out of step with the times. That year the state resisted the nationwide wave of anti-incumbent, anti-regulation and anti-big government voting to elect Jerry Brown as governor, ease the passage of big-money state budgets and turn away a challenge to its pioneering greenhouse gas regulations.

This election day, California voters tightened gun control, extended taxes on the rich, hiked cigarette taxes, legalized marijuana, boosted multilingual education — and of course provided Hillary Clinton with all of her winning margin of 2 million popular votes, and then some, in her losing campaign for president.

etc etc etc

[seemslikeadream]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ki9ppdl ... freload=10

Gallup: Trump Net Approval Rating Drops 8 Points In First Week In Office
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/g ... s-week-one

Prevent Donald Trump from making a State Visit to the United Kingdom.

Donald Trump should be allowed to enter the UK in his capacity as head of the US Government, but he should not be invited to make an official State Visit because it would cause embarrassment to Her Majesty the Queen.

Sign this petition
439,780 signatures

In total there are 111 users online :: 2 registered, 4 hidden and 105 guests (based on users active over the past 5 minutes)

[NeonLX]

If California secedes, I hope to claim residency there by virtue of the fact that I was born in LA.

[liminalOyster]

Somebody with aptitude and conviction should buy the FAKE NEWS and failing @nytimes and either run it correctly or let it fold with dignity!

https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/sta ... 7857995776

[semper occultus]

..isn't the white nationalist plan to divvy up the US into regional ethno-states..

[Wombaticus Rex]

..isn't the white nationalist plan to divvy up the US into regional ethno-states..

Quite so, and Californians who think they are somehow threatening or spiting the Trump administration will -- hopefully! -- have some second thoughts once they realize that Bannon & Co will be glad to hand them all the rope they need for that.

If California's electoral votes were withdrawn, the Democrats wouldn't win the White House again for at least a decade. The only downside is the loss of tax revenue, but California is not exactly holding any other cards...

...unless they're considering joining Mexico.

[barracuda]

Quite so, and Californians who think they are somehow threatening or spiting the Trump administration will -- hopefully! -- have some second thoughts once they realize that Bannon & Co will be glad to hand them all the rope they need for that.

The movement to leave the US has been alive here in many forms before Donald Trump became a swamp thing in the executive branch, e.g. Cascadian independence movement.

If California's electoral votes were withdrawn, the Democrats wouldn't win the White House again for at least a decade.

Still holding out hope for the Democrats as an oppositional party? That notion is rapidly becoming quaint as Aunt Josie's antimacassar.

The only downside is the loss of tax revenue, but California is not exactly holding any other cards...

...unless they're considering joining Mexico.

You see it as a threat, many of us view it as a vision. I would have thought a man from the Vermont Republic would recognize that.

[Wombaticus Rex]

Sure, I recognize it: Vermont secession is even stupider than California's bid. I know those people, I've gone to their conferences and listened to them and talked to them. Nice guys, and it's all guys, but stupid. Numbers ain't here and never will be, in any sense.

I'm aware that there have been previous movements in Cali, and you're aware that the current conversation is purely a reaction to the election of Donald Trump to the Presidency.

And I don't see California secession as a threat at all. Get 'er done, bud.

Do you take me for a Democrat or something?

[barracuda]

Do you take me for a Democrat or something?

No, I assumed you to be a marsupial monarchist.