Document DDvZdnZV2dkyayvxQ4N5naqeo

Message From: Sent: To: Subject: Americans for Limited Government [media@limitgov.org] 4/6/2018 1:30:37 PM Abboud, Michael [/o=ExchangeLabs/ou=Exchange Administrative Group (FYDIBOHF23SPDLT)/cn=Recipients/cn=b6f5af791al842fladcc088cbf9ed3ce-Abboud, Mic] Environmental radicals go all out against Scott Pruitt If Russia is the enemy, why are these environmental groups being funded by Russia? April 6, 2018 Permission to republish original op-eds and cartoons granted. Environmental radicals go all out against Scott Pruitt If you've been paying attention to the news lately, you know there is a concerted effort to get Scott Pruitt fired. He has been a constant target of the left, but the recent announcement about ending "secret science" in the EPA has sent the radical environmentalists crazy. Who is doing this, and where are they getting the money? Dehumanizing Trump and his supporters is dangerous -- and is becoming normalized Ask yourself: Do you own a "Make America Great Again" hat? Would you think twice before putting it on and walking down a city street today? If you answer the latter in the affirmative, congratulations, you too are a victim of political intimidation. The real danger is that this demonization of Trump, his supporters, conservatives and others is that it could be generating true believers, who no longer see their opponents as fellow Americans. The model for civil service reform could be what has happened at the VA Just three years ago, the Department of Veteran Affairs (VA) was one of the most scandal-ridden agencies in the federal government. Today, the VA is working efficiently and effectively to follow through on their mission of caring for our nation's veterans. The difference is simple, an administration invested in draining the swamp came together with a Congress willing to dismantle wasteful bureaucracies and finally hold employees accountable for their actions. Now, other agencies are ready to do the same, and they must restore American trust in the system. Breitbart News Tonight Radio: Americans for Limited Government President Rick Manning defends Trump approach on trade with China Americans for Limited Government President Rick Manning discusses the ongoing trade issues with China in the following clip from Breitbart News Radio on Sirius XM. Sierra Club v. EPA 18cv3472 NDCA Tier 7 ED 002061 00003521-00001 Environmental radicals go ail out against Scott Pruitt By Printus LeBlanc If you've been paying attention to the news lately, you know there is a concerted effort to get Trump administration Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt fired. He has been a constant target of the left, but the recent announcement about ending "secret science" in the EPA has sent the radical environmentalists crazy. Who is doing this, and where are they getting the money? The attacks have been fast and furious against Pruitt. One of the first complaints flung at Pruitt was about the cost of his air travel. The administrator took a trip to Italy to meet with his European counterparts in June of 2017. The left is apparently upset that it cost slightly over $30,000 for the security detail to accompany Pruitt. What most of the mainstream media is not telling the people is that since Scott Pruitt assumed the EPA Administrator post he has received four times the threats against himself and his family than the previous EPA Administrator received. The extra security and first-class seating are needed to protect Mr. Pruitt. If the radical environmentalists don't like the cost, they should stop threatening him. Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.l.) even dared to complain about the EPA's spending on the Pruitt detail stating the amount is, "excessive or inappropriate and whether it detracts from the agency's ability to investigate environmental crimes." Maybe if the Senator from Rhode Island would speak to the radical environmentalists about their threats to Mr. Pruitt's safety the EPA would not have to spend so much. I bet he never complains about security costs for the Senate. Sierra Club v. EPA 18cv3472 NDCA Tier 7 ED 002061 00003521-00002 Another complaint centered around Pruitt renting a room from a friend at $50 per night, before he found a place for his family to join him. It is only a story because the friend happens to be married to a lobbyist for an energy company. The ERA'S chief ethics counsel Justina Fugh cleared the stay stating, "the arrangement wasn't an ethics issue because Pruitt paid rent." A quick search on craigslist will verify that $50 per night is the market price for a room. One of the critical groups leading the charge against Mr. Pruitt is the Environmental Integrity Project (EIP). The radical group was founded in 2002 by Eric Schaeffer, a former disgruntled EPA employee. EIP is dedicated to ending the fossil fuel economy. Seems like a typical radical environmental group, until the funding comes to light. EIP has received over $700,000 from a group known as the Energy Foundation. A 2014 Senate report called the Energy Foundation a "pass through." It is an organization that receives tens of millions from other charities and foundations to dole out to groups that can do the activist work the donors are not allowed to do. It is one of these main funders of the Energy Foundation that raises eyebrows. The Sea Change Foundation is a San Francisco based group that has given tens of millions to the Energy Foundation. The Sea Change Foundation gets their money from a variety of funders, but $23 million came from Klein Ltd out of Bermuda. Klein Ltd is interesting because according to a report exploring the link between environmental groups and the Kremlin, "Klein Ltd. is a corporation that `only exists on paper' and is based out of a Bermuda law firm called Wakefield Quin." Wakefield Quin is a law firm tied to Russian oligarchs Leonid Reiman and Mickail Fridman (two close allies of Russian President Vladimir Putin), along with Russian state-owned oil giant Rosneft. Because of Bermuda secrecy laws, this is where the trail of foreign cash ends. This begs the question, are firms connected to Russia funding the radical environmental movement? This would make sense considering the success Scott Pruitt has had in enacting President Trump's energy policies. The Trump energy policies scare radical environmentalists and Russia to death. Russia profits financially and geopolitically when energy prices are high. Oil and gas revenue make up a sizable portion of Russian government revenue and they cannot be happy the U S. is moving towards energy dominance. An energy dominant America, embodied by policies that end the war on coal, as well as supporting drilling and fracking, do not allow environmentalists to get to push unproven, unreliable green policies. The USSR was famous for using radical leftists as "useful idiots" in the Cold War, and now it looks like the more things change the more they stay the same. Clearly, the claims being levied against Scott Pruitt are petty at best. The left simply hates him (yes hates, just look at the threats) and will do anything to stop him and push their radical agenda, even if they have taken Russian money in the past to cripple U S. energy production. The President has already voiced support for Pruitt, and he should be praised for ignoring these baseless attacks from people that want him to fail. Printus LeBlanc is a contributing editor at Americans for Limited Government. Dehumanizing Trump and his supporters is dangerous -- and is becoming normaiized Sierra Club v. EPA 18cv3472 NDCA Tier 7 ED 002061 00003521-00003 By Robert Romano One of the most evil aspects of Nazi ideology was the dehumanization of its opponents: the Jews, communists, Poles, Gypsies, gays and so forth. It was a necessary precondition, psychologically, for what ultimately became mass murder. But it takes other forms, too, that are harder to spot. We may use them ourselves occasionally in considering political opponents and not even realize it. The effect, though, is no less dehumanizing. A very recent example of the dehumanization of conservatives came against Sen. Ted Cruz, who was confronted by activist Tammy Talpas over his support for repealing Obamacare, "If you force me into a high-risk pool, you will either bankrupt me or kill me. I take these threats of medical aggression personally and seriously, and I can assure you I'm not the only Texan who does. My question is: Will you pledge to submit to a DNA test to prove that you're human?" The implication, of course, is that if you support repealing Obamacare, you lack human compassion. You're less than human. This is a rather mild form, yet still pretty common, of dehumanization tactics by the left. It has also been used to legitimize forms of political violence. U S. Senator Kamala Harris (D-Calif.), said to be a serious contender for the Democratic nomination in 2020, when asked a silly question by Ellen DeGeneres on television of who she'd rather be stuck in an elevator with, President Trump, Sierra Club v. EPA 18cv3472 NDCA Tier 7 ED 002061 00003521-00004 Attorney General Jeff Sessions or Vice President Mike Pence, joked, "Does one of us have to come out alive?" Now potential political violence against the President and those in his administration has become a punchline on daytime talk shows. Last year, other forms of political violence described against the President included portraying the assassination of President Donald Trump in Shakespeare's "Julius Caesar," or Kathy Griffin's depicted decapitation of Trump. President Trump himself has been repeatedly portrayed as a modern-day Hitler. If you support him, you must be a Nazi. "Dilbert" creator Scott Adams has written often on the dangers of this Hitlerization of our politics. The "punch a Nazi" campaign itself was a somewhat ironic twist of history, insofar as the dehumanizing tactic since World War II has become to portray one's opponents as Nazi monsters, in this case Trump supporters, who are similarly bereft of the right to live without fear of violence. To be clear, neither Trump nor his supporters are Nazis. They are being portrayed as Nazis by the left, which makes it easier, psychologically, to deck one on the street. Ask yourself: Do you own a "Make America Great Again" hat? Would you think twice before putting it on and walking down a city street today? If you answer the latter in the affirmative, congratulations, you too are a victim of political intimidation. There is little wonder why this demonization led to violent riots in San Jose and Chicago during the election campaign with Trump supporters being physically assaulted. Then there was the attempted assassination of U S. Rep. Steve Scalise, Sen. Rand Paul and other Republicans at a Congressional baseball game practice in June 2017 by James Hodgkinson, a radicalized nut who thought President Trump colluded with the Russians to steal the election. This dehumanization also legitimizes using the color of law to prosecute one's political opponents, for example with Special Counsel Robert Mueller's prosecution of Trump campaign officials as somehow being foreign agents in league with Russia. In a recent Saturday Night Live skit portraying Mueller, Becca K. played by Cecily Strong, representing Democrats, is devastated to learn that President Donald Trump might not be prosecuted by Mueller. But, Kate McKinnon, depicting Mueller, offers a consolation prize: "If it makes you feel any better, the Kush is cooked," referring to the President's son-in-law Jared Kushner as potentially being the target of prosecution. In short, they might not be able to get the President, but destroying the First Family will have to do. That'll show him and everyone else what the conseguences of opposition are. Similarly, any communication by Trump with Russia -- principal among the President's Article II constitutional power to conduct foreign affairs -- is viewed as tantamount to treason. This has manifested itself even at the White House, where almost every diplomatic visit or call with Russia instantly leaks and then is criminalized by media outlets. Most recently President Trump's conversation with Russian President Vladimir Putin calling for talks on preventing another nuclear arms race -- you know, which might prevent a nuclear war -- was leaked and again used to portray the President as a foreign agent. This, despite a long history of Sierra Club v. EPA 18cv3472 NDCA Tier 7 ED 002061 00003521-00005 American presidents since John F. Kennedy and Nikita Khrushchev installed the red telephone after the Cuban Missile Crisis, who engaged with talks with Russia first on strategic arms limitations and then eventually, reductions. Elsewhere, this dehumanization has resulted in opponents of gun control measures -- which really amount to gun confiscation -- by the March for our Lives movement being accused of complicity in the murdering of children by Nikolas Cruz. Surviving Parkland student Cameron Kasky told Sen. Marco Rubio, at the CNN forum on Feb. 21, "Senator Rubio, it's hard to look at you and not look down the barrel of an AR-15 and not look at Nikolas Cruz." Disagree with them, and you support mass murder. You're an accomplice. The dehumanization of the opposition can even be used to delegitimize reasonable discourse itself. There was the push to "unfriend" Trump supporters on Facebook. Actor Robert De Niro's reaction to the success of the new Roseanne show, said to be pro-Trump (perhaps insofar as it's not antiTrump), was to suggest it wasn't worth discussing, "We're at a point... where it's beyond trying to see another person's point of view." In 2016, De Niro blatantly used the dehumanizing tactic, calling Trump a "dog" who he'd like to "punch in the face." Mind you, this is not merely about the animalization of the opposition, portraying opponents in the guise of animals or other creatures, often quite common for example in political cartoons. That's not what we're talking about here. When combined with some of the other elements described above, fed by a genuine belief that the opponent truly is less than human, then yes, the animalization of political enemies -- which was absolutely used by the Nazis -- can become a potent weapon. Couple it with, say, a call to violence or use it to portray entire groups or races of people as subhuman, and you've probably crossed that line. That's plenty of examples. They are by no means exhaustive. And dehumanization is not merely the province of the left, but recently it has become increasingly prevalent with gathering support in the mainstream. It should be alarming. But it isn't. The Ted Cruz story where he's supposed to take a DNA test to prove he's human was shared tens of thousands of times as it was reported across media outlets almost as an afterthought. Maybe you saw it on your Facebook feed this week. It's just a joke, right? The question perhaps we should ask is what impact this might be having on the nation at large? Because it appears that it is really beginning to take its toll. Recall, not only can dehumanization be used to legitimize political violence, in its most extreme form, in Germany, after years of endless state-run propaganda, it was channeled toward the destruction of millions of people. Right now, we're clearly not there yet in this country. But when one half of the nation starts to believe the other half is no longer worthy of rights or even basic respect, the country is in trouble. Sierra Club v. EPA 18cv3472 NDCA Tier 7 ED 002061 00003521-00006 There are consequences for this tactic, which on the surface may appear to simply serve a partisan agenda. Something to agitate supporters in preparation of the next round of elections. But underneath, it seems to bear all the hallmarks of pure hatred. This is not how you win elections. It's how you create social discord. The real danger is that this demonization of Trump, his supporters, conservatives and others is that it could be generating true believers, who no longer see their opponents as fellow Americans -- and perhaps not even from the same species. Robert Romano is the Vice President of Public Policy at Americans for Limited Government. The model for civil service reform could be how the VA is being reformed by making it so civil servants can be fired By Natalia Castro Just three years ago, the Department of Veteran Affairs (VA) was one of the most scandal-ridden agencies in the federal government. Today, the VA is working efficiently and effectively to follow through on their mission of caring for our nation's veterans. The difference is simple, an Sierra Club v. EPA 18cv3472 NDCA Tier 7 ED 002061 00003521-00007 administration invested in draining the swamp came together with a Congress willing to dismantle wasteful bureaucracies and finally hold employees accountable for their actions. Now, other agencies are ready to do the same, and they must restore American trust in the system. Nearly four years ago, the VA was known for two things: harboring corrupt employees and providing veterans with inadequate care. Under the Obama Administration, long wait times left veterans without care for months on end. A Government Accountability Office report from April 2016 found mismanagement and disorganization amongst VA employees caused new veterans to wait three to eight weeks for medical care; many patients failed to receive any care at all. Despite this, a bureaucratic system which rewards longevity rather than efficiency, allowed the problems to persist. John Cooper, a spokesman for Concerned Veterans for America, told the Washington Times of April 2018, "It has taken the VA two years to propose firing three senior leaders responsible for the Phoenix VA scandal, which led to nearly 300 veteran dying waiting for care." But this is not the VA in 2018 because of concerted efforts from members of Congress and the current administration. Florida Senator Marco Rubio led an initiative in the Senate to increase employee accountability through the VA Accountability and Whistleblower Protection Act. As Rubio explained in May 2017 to Fox News, "Today, there will be a hearing on my bill, the veterans accountability bill that will give the VA secretary the power to fire bad employees. People caught, for example, watching pornography while on the job, et cetera. And that bill is going to pass out of that committee, and I believe it's going to pass out of the full Senate with bipartisan support and it will pass the House, it already has, and it will be headed to the president's desk." And it did. And in the second half of 2017, the VA Accountability Report showed firings rose by 60 percent. Finally, the VA was able to hold workers accountable for failing veterans. Similarly, the VA has become the first agency to post information regarding disciplinary action online, while maintaining protections for whistleblowers. But the VA is not the only agency known for bureaucratic waste and inefficiency. Across executive agencies, protectionist policies prevent disciplinary action from being brought against career employees. This creates negative workplace environments and allows inefficiencies to plague our entire government. Rep. Barry Loudermilk (R-Ga.) introduced H.R. 559, The Modern Employment Reform, Improvement, and Transformation Act or MERIT Act of 2017. The legislation does several things to model federal employee dismissal after private sector employee dismissal: Increase agency management's power to remove poor employees Expedite timelines; 7- 21 days' notice of action; simple presentation of cause with employees given opportunity to respond Sierra Club v. EPA 18cv3472 NDCA Tier 7 ED 002061 00003521-00008  Retain employee right to appeal to the Merit Systems Protection Board Cap appeal decision time at 30 days, after which the dismissal is upheld, unless declared otherwise Require that if the 3--day deadline is not met, MSPB must report to Congress and the oversight committees in the House and Senate and explain non-compliance Uphold whistleblower protections The bill has over 50 cosponsors and has recently caught the eye of former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich. In highlighting actions Republicans in Congress can take to ensure they hold the House and gain seats in the Senate, Speaker Gingrich said of the MERIT Act, "Implementing this program should be common sense to most Americans. Most people know that if they act inappropriately at work or ignore their duties, they are going to get fired. In fact, 89 percent of people who participated in a telephone town hall with Rep. Loudermilk agreed that government employees should be held to the same employment standards as they are at their jobs." Speaker Gingrich continued, "At the same time, this is a tough idea for Democrats to oppose. It would be very entertaining to see Democratic candidates nationwide try to explain to voters why federal employees, who are paid with taxpayer dollars, should receive extraordinary protection from being terminated for breaking rules and slacking off while they are supposed to be doing the peoples' work." Government inefficiency does not just waste money; it risks lives. Congress and the President took a significant step in draining the swamp when they drained the VA of corrupt career employees, but now the mission must continue. Congress should continue the work of the VA Accountability and Whistleblower Protection Act by expanding it with the Rep. Loudermilk's MERIT Act. It is a win-win situation for Republicans in Congress, they get to vote with the taxpayers and the opposition gets to show the people who they really stand with. Natalia Castro is a contributing editor at Americans for Limited Government. 'um.. OFF THE PRESS Breitbart News Tonight Radio: Americans for Limited Government President Rick Hanning defends Trump approach on trade with China ALG Editor's Note: Americans for Limited Government President Rick Manning defends the Trump approach to trade with China including the U S. tariffs in the following clip from Breitbart News Radio on Sirius XM: Sierra Club v. EPA 18cv3472 NDCA Tier 7 ED 002061 00003521-00009 Click here to listen to the full interview. Americansfor Limited Government 10332 Main Street # 326None Fairfax Virginia 22030 United States This email is intended for abboud.michael@epa.gov. Update your preferences or Unsubscribe Sierra Club v. EPA 18cv3472 NDCA Tier 7 ED 002061 00003521-00010