| -Land of the Free |
| Minnesota faces federal lawsuit for offering illegal immigrants college tuition benefits denied to Americans |
| 2025-06-27 |
| [FoxNews] DOJ continues enforcement of Trump's executive orders ensuring taxpayer benefits aren't diverted to illegal aliens The Department of Justice (DOJ) filed a complaint challenging laws in Minnesota that provide free and reduced in-state tuition to illegal aliens, claiming the laws are unconstitutional. Under federal law, higher education institutions are prohibited from providing benefits to illegal aliens not offered to U.S. citizens. According to the DOJ, Minnesota’s laws unconstitutionally discriminate against U.S. citizens and are in direct conflict with federal law. "No state can be allowed to treat Americans like second-class citizens in their own country by offering financial benefits to illegal aliens," Attorney General Pam Bondi said. "The Department of Justice just won on this exact issue in Texas, and we look forward to taking this fight to Minnesota in order to protect the rights of American citizens first." By filing the lawsuit, the DOJ is demanding that Minnesota stop the enforcement of a law requiring public colleges and universities to provide in-state tuition rates and free tuition based on certain income circumstances to immigrants in the country illegally who maintain state residency. Federal law prohibits higher education facilities from providing education benefits to illegal immigrants, which are not offered to U.S. citizens. The lawsuit comes just weeks after the DOJ took actions against Texas for providing similar benefits to illegal immigrants. Both lawsuits have been filed in response to two executive orders signed by President Donald Trump since returning to the Oval Office in January. The executive orders were signed to ensure illegal immigrants cannot receive taxpayer benefits or preferential treatment. One of the orders, "Ending Taxpayer Subsidization of Open Borders," ordered all agencies to "ensure, to the maximum extent permitted by law, that no taxpayer-funded benefits go to unqualified aliens." The other order, "Protecting American Communities From Criminal Aliens," directs officials to "take appropriate action to stop the enforcement of State and local laws, regulations, policies, and practices favoring aliens over any groups of American citizens that are unlawful, preempted by Federal law, or otherwise unenforceable, including State laws that provide in-State higher education tuition to aliens but not to out-of-State American citizens." Ultimately, Texas complied with the DOJ and stopped enforcing the Texas Dream Act, which was originally introduced in February 2001. The legislation, signed by Gov. Rick Perry, a Republican, June 16, 2001, removed federal immigration status as a factor in determining eligibility to pay in-state tuition at Texas public colleges and universities for students who graduate from a Texas high school and who meet the minimum residency, academic and registration criteria. While the state immediately stopped enforcement, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) has since intervened. On Tuesday, the ACLU of Texas, alongside organizations like the Texas Civil Rights Project and Democracy Forward, filed a motion to intervene in the litigation to defend the constitutionality of the Texas Dream Act against the DOJ. The ACLU said the DOJ’s order was agreed to by Texas without proper process and creates "sweeping uncertainty" for students and colleges. "As students prepare to attend school in the fall, the failure of neither the DOJ nor the attorney general to defend the Texas Dream Act threatens their ability to afford tuition – and suddenly threatens their dreams of pursuing higher education," the ACLU said in a press release. "By moving to intervene, these groups and individuals hope to challenge this abusive litigation strategy and defend the Texas Dream Act, which has enabled a generation of Texans to grow their careers and become leaders in our communities." Related: Minnesota: 2025-06-26 Trump launches verbal attack on Rep. Ilhan Omar over criticism of military deployment Minnesota: 2025-06-24 ICE arrests 11 Iranian nationals in 48 hours as Trump slams Biden for letting 'sleeper cells' into US Minnesota: 2025-06-23 The Dragon's Hidden Hand: How Chinese Organized Crime Could Serve as a Fifth Column in America Related: Department of Justice: 2025-06-24 Is China Targeting The American Food Supply? Department of Justice: 2025-06-21 Now We Know Why the Minnesota Assassin Story Disappeared Overnight Department of Justice: 2025-06-21 Four plead guilty in massive bribery scheme at agency Democrats fought to protect from DOGE Related: ACLU: 2025-06-23 Mahmoud Khalil resumes his activism, appears at NYC rally slamming Iran strikes, backing Palestinians ACLU: 2025-06-21 US Judge orders Columbia University protester Mahmoud Khalil freed from detention ACLU: 2025-06-14 ASRA NOMANI: The $2.1 billion machine behind 'spontaneous' anti-Trump protests |
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| Caucasus/Russia/Central Asia |
| How Biden became the godfather of corruption in Ukraine |
| 2021-08-31 |
| Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited. by Dmitry Steshin Former Lieutenant Colonel of the SBU (Security Service of Ukraine) Vasily Prozorov, who has lived in Russia since 2019, has taken up research into the abyss of Ukrainian corruption. There was a whole book of material! On the eve of its release, he told kp.ru about a disease that endures the consciousness of the Ukrainian statehood. Vasily Nikolaevich Prozorov: Born on 06/29/1975 in the city of Berdyansk, Ukrainian SSR. Ex-employee of the Security Service of Ukraine, lieutenant colonel. Since 2014, after the coup d'etat on the Maidan, he collaborated with the Russian special services for reasons of principle. The head of the Investigation Center is Vasily Prozorov. Part of the materials of the book being prepared for publication has been published on the website of the Center in the public domain. TWO VARIETIES OF THEFT - AT ZELENSKY AND Poroshenko As you know, one of the official reasons for the Maidan was the allegedly incredible corruption of the past government. Of course, it did not go anywhere after 2014, but only grew and multiplied, continuing to spoil life in today's Ukraine. For example, the European Union says it does not take Ukraine into its membership because of its corruption. Maybe this is just a formal reason for the refusal? I asked Vasily Prozorov to estimate the scale. It turns out that there are two types of corruption, one worse than the other: "While studying Ukrainian corruption, I divided the post-Maid period into two parts: 'under Poroshenko' and 'under Zelensky.' What amazed me was that under Poroshenko, the level of corruption was off scale, but the stolen money remained in the country. Corrupt officials under Poroshenko did not separate themselves from Ukraine. It was a kind of 'pro-Ukrainian corruption,' people stealing money saw their future in Ukraine - oligarchs, businessmen, Rada deputies. Under Zelenskiy, everything turned 180 degrees, corruption became pro-Western. - Like this? - This is theft in the interests of other countries. Corruption in itself destroys the state, the social and political system, the economy, but when money is stolen in the interests of other countries. - There is a feeling that Ukraine has been "degreased" in recent years. The country left the USSR with a GDP at the level of Germany. It is clear that in the 90s all the former Soviet republics had a hard time, but Ukraine became the only one of them that never reached its 1991 level. - So, Ukraine is losing billions of dollars, I was amazed when I began to delve into it. The claims of the European Union are not empty, they have grounds. Moreover, corruption at all levels - from regional hospitals to the president himself. But I think that in Ukraine, too, they are right: the EU uses corruption as a reason for refusing to integrate. They are simply afraid to get involved with Ukraine. DO NOT FIGHT BUT CONTROL What can Europe fear with its well-oiled state machine? According to Prozorov, this corruption is systematic. In fact, this is an artificial model of state governance: - The European Union knows that corruption in Ukraine is systemic. Moreover, the West has created in Kiev a vertical of bodies controlling corruption - the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (hereinafter NABU. - Auth.), A specialized “anti-corruption” prosecutor's office and the Anti-Corruption Court. That is, the West has an operational investigation in Ukraine, and support for accusations in court - prosecutor's supervision, and the court itself, which is considering all these cases. - Tight bundle! Corruption should have been defeated long ago! - Yes, it is a closed, self-sufficient system. But what's the problem: it is completely controlled by Western countries! And then this system has undeclared opportunities - a body that fights against the system of corruption receives dirt on any official and civil servant. - That is, this is how the notorious "external control" of Ukraine works? - I will give an example of pro-Western corruption that is literally killing the country. There was such a Nikolai Martynenko, an oligarch, was engaged in nuclear energy. His firms collaborated with Rosatom and ensured the operation of Ukrainian nuclear power plants. Martynenko supported the Maidan, became one of the leaders of the "Popular Front" of Arseniy Yatsenyuk. It was even called the "Popular Front" purse. And here such a giant as Westinghouse from the USA lays an eye on the Ukrainian nuclear industry. Cases of corruption are quickly initiated, the oligarch is knocked out of business, from all spheres, he is even imprisoned for a while. As a result, Westinghouse enters Ukraine, and now it supplies TVEL (the main fuel cell in nuclear reactors - Ed.) For nuclear power plants, moreover, it is 30 percent more expensive than similar ones from Rosatom. The new Ukrainian government obediently signs contracts, and by 2025 60 percent of TVEL in the country will be from the United States. I think this is already a betrayal of the motherland. - This is really something innovative in public administration - externally controlled corruption. Like the Film "Aliens," but American, by the way. COLONIALISM 5.0 - Nobody denies the commercial interest of the USA in Ukraine. On the contrary, the Ukrainian authorities are very proud of cooperation with such a powerful country. But here in your book the scandalous story with the private gas production company "Burisma" is disclosed in detail. Where, by a strange coincidence, the son of the current American president ended up on the board of directors - Yes, it became known that Biden's son was paid from $3 million to $10 million dollars, such a form of bribe, and not only to the son, but also to the father. This is true. But against the background of the schemes that worked in the Ukrainian Naftogaz, corruption in Burisma is a trifle. And Vice President Joe Biden was directly involved in these schemes. - What were these schemes? - The loudest one is “reverse gas deliveries”. Gas is supplied to Europe via a Ukrainian pipeline, and then from Slovakia, Poland and Hungary is returned back through "gasket firms". - And his price is already different? - So different that, according to some estimates, from 2015 to 2020, about 2 billion dollars were pulled out of the pockets of Ukrainians. And this scheme was lobbied by Biden, who achieved the appointment of his assistant, Amos Hochstein, as a member of the supervisory board of Naftogaz with very broad powers, up to participation in resolving personnel issues and monitoring the execution of transactions. Without his personal involvement, the "Russian gas reverse" scam would not have materialized. - Now all the reasons for the US suffering over Nord Stream 2 are becoming clear. - What's interesting: when Zelensky came to power, he perfectly understood what kind of scheme it was. Representatives of the Trump administration, lawyer and politician Rudolph Giuliani, for example: they needed dirt on Biden for the presidential elections, immediately became frequent visitors to him . Zelenskiy and his advisers decided to drag out until the last moment, without taking sides. But in the event of Trump's victory, they were ready to rewrite this shop to other owners. US Energy Secretary Rick Perry came, held meetings with Zelensky. He urged him to replace the head of Naftogaz in order to appoint his own man. But Zelensky got out of it, remained "neither yours, nor ours." Unlike Poroshenko, who bet on Biden, and Trump won. - I see a new colonial system of the world, it works even without guns and landings on the coast. - Yes, this is no longer necessary, the money is taken away and so, and the competing enterprises are liquidated. GARBAGE ARMOR - There is probably also corruption in the Ukrainian defense industry - it is for special people who are not afraid of blood. It is already openly said that it is largely for this reason that Kiev needs the war in Donbass to last as long as possible. - I was picking schemes in Ukroboronprom. There were two such people, Sergei Pashinsky and Oleg Gladkovsky, under Poroshenko they were called "shadow kings of the defense industry." Pashinsky was a deputy and chairman of the Defense Committee of the Verkhovna Rada, and Gladkovsky was the deputy head of the National Security Council. They were spinning billion-dollar schemes. - Are there examples? - For the Ukrainian army, outdated BMP-1s, still Soviet ones, were purchased in Poland and the Czech Republic. They were bought through Cypriot and Polish firms at the price of scrap metal, 25,000 euros per unit. Moreover, the hull and the tower were delivered to Ukraine separately, according to some estimates, "Ukrooboronprom" paid about 170,000 euros for them. At the Zhytomyr armored plant for 30,000 euros they were collected, slightly modernized. They put up a connection and welded on the grilles from hits from a grenade launcher. As a result, one BMP-1 cost the budget 200 thousand euros. But! There is one detail: Ukrainian officials and the Ukrainian plant made money on this. The money as a whole remained in the country. Under Poroshenko. - And under Zelensky? - 2019, "Ukrooboronprom" is completely transferred under the control of the West. It was a raider takeover. They changed the leadership, announced a reform of the structure. Moreover, the plan for this reform was developed by the British Department of Defense! Then the Americans landed at all the enterprises of Ukroboronprom, analyzed and determined which industries are competitive with the West and which are not. And they took action. - What else did they consider a threat to their business? - The shipbuilding industry, inherited by Ukraine from the USSR. Three giant factories in the city of Nikolaev, capable of producing even aircraft carriers, with a hundred-year history, have gone bankrupt. The Black Sea shipbuilding plant was liquidated. And now Zelenskiy says he is going to strengthen the Ukrainian fleet by purchasing ships from the UK. - The sales market was completely squeezed out. MORTARS OF DEATH - There was also a story that profits for corrupt officials are more expensive than people's lives. Almost two dozen of their own crews were killed by the Ukrainian Molot mortars. - I was in rotation as deputy commander of the ATO (Anti-terrorist operation - as the war in Donbass was called in Kiev. - Ed.), And Colonel-General Mikhail Koval came to one closed meeting. And he said: "Nobody will give up Molotov, because this is our Ukrainian production, the Mayak plant in Kiev." - And what about the military? - They shrugged their shoulders, "Hammers" were accepted, but they did not use them. And when you start digging into this story, it turns out that the Hammers were lobbied by Mr. Pashinsky, and each mortar cost the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense 400,000 hryvnias (about 1 million rubles - Ed.). And the Mayak plant received only 150,000 for the mortar, the rest went to the gasket firms. Naturally, Mr. Pashinsky was interested in having as many of these mortars in the troops as possible. - And what was wrong with them, sorted it out? - According to my information, the guides in the barrels were made with a defect, therefore, when fired, the mortar burst, the mine went off in the barrel. - Have you punished someone? - No, all corruption scandals do not develop in Ukraine. There are no judgments and court decisions. Russia, which Ukraine loves to nod at, jails corrupt officials every week. With confiscation. There are no untouchables! And in Ukraine they are persecuted only for politics. It is not accepted for corruption. - What will happen to Ukraine if the state of affairs continues in the next decade? - This is my opinion, but I am afraid that Ukraine does not have this decade. And the future too. And it's not even about officials who steal and run away, but about quite prosaic things. For example, in the deterioration of infrastructure. I do not think that there will be an offensive in the Donbass in the fall, but the freezing Ukrainian cities are quite real. |
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| Home Front: Politix | |
| 'Disgusting' robocall accuses Texas candidate Wright of causing husband's death | |
| 2021-05-01 | |
Wright’s campaign reached out to the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Department of Justice on Friday after discovering robocalls baselessly alleging that she had "murdered" her husband, the late GOP Rep. Ron Wright. Wright is running in the special election to succeed Wright, who passed away in February after being diagnosed with coronavirus (aka COVID19 or Chinese Plague)  ...the twenty first century equivalent of bubonic plague, only instead of killing off a third of the population of Europe it kills 3.4 percent of those who notice they have it. It seems to be fond of the elderly, especially Iranian politicians and holy men...Wright aides say they found out about the robocalls on Friday morning, a day before Saturday's crowded all-party primary. "This is illegal, immoral, and wrong. There’s not a sewer too deep that some politicians won’t plumb," Wright said in a statement. A female voice begins the minute-long robocall by saying that Wright "murdered her husband," and that "she’s now running for Congress to cover it up." The robocalls do not have a "paid-for" attribution saying who is paying for the attacks. The robocall then claims that "according to confidential sources," Wright "obtained a $1 million life insurance policy on the life of her husband...six months before his death." It then says that Wright "tearfully confided in a nurse that she had purposely contracted the coronavirus." It adds that the hospital "has made a formal criminal referral to the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and they have now opened a formal criminal inquiry into the matter," before concluding: "It is clear that the voters of Texas’ 6th Congressional District deserve to know the truth about Susan Wright and her involvement in the death of her husband." Recipients of the calls say they are being made from a blocked number. In addition to reaching out to the FBI and the Department of Justice, the Wright campaign has been in touch with the Tarrant County Sheriff’s Department. "When we heard reports of this criminal smear of a voicemail attacking Susan, we immediately referred the matter to law enforcement and started cooperating with authorities," Matt Langston, a Wright campaign consultant, said in a statement. "Susan's opponents are desperate and resorting to disgusting gutter politics because they know she's the frontrunner. Wright has received the endorsement of former President Donald Trump ...Oh, noze! Not him!... , who appeared with her on a conference call earlier this week held by the anti-tax Club for Growth, which is also supporting her. She is running in a Republican field that includes businessman Michael Wood, former Trump administration official Brian Harrison, and retired pro wrestler Dan Rodimer. The race has been a relatively tame affair until now. The candidates have taken few direct shots at one another in their television ads, though the Club for Growth has been attacking GOP candidate Jake Ellzey, casting him as an anti-Trump Republican because he received a donation from Trump critic Bill Kristol. Ellzey said he was shocked to hear about the robocall while on the campaign trail with former Texas Gov. Rick Perry. "This is horrible," Ellzey said. "It's unbelievable that anybody would stoop so low.” | |
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| Economy |
| Rick Perry helps ailing Georgia nuclear plant with $3.7 billion in financing |
| 2019-03-23 |
 [Washington Examiner] Energy Secretary Rick Perry on Friday issued a $3.7 billion federally-backed loan guarantee to keep the Vogtle nuclear power plant under construction in Georgia afloat after years of cost overruns and project delays.Perry made the announcement after touring the site in Georgia with utility industry officials involved in the project, state regulators, and the governor of Georgia. He said the Vogtle project is "critically important" to the administration’s goal of revitalizing and expanding the U.S. nuclear industry. "A strong nuclear industry supports a reliable and resilient grid, and strengthens our energy and national security," he said. Perry also noted that Vogtle is an energy infrastructure project "with a massive scope employing thousands of workers" that is rebuilding a highly skilled nuclear workforce and supply chain for the future. But while Perry was touring the site, critics argued that the new financing places the taxpayer on the hook for $12 billion if the power plant flounders. Related: Zachs - Southern Co. (SO) Up 2.7% Since Last Earnings Report: Can It Continue? |
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| Filthy canopies and mussed my hair: The Funny Trump is back |
| 2018-06-27 |
[AMERICANTHINKER] Definitely read the AT article. It got me thinkin'... There I wuz, looking over the list of Publican presidential hopefuls. There were seventeen of them. Jeb! was one of them. Lindsey Graham was one. Carly Fiorina was one. Whatsisname, the governor of Ohio, who used to be a Publican, was one. Successful governors like Scott Walker and Rick Perry were there. There was a brain surgeon, fergoodnessake. They couldn't fit them all at one table. They had to argue in shifts.Trump, we were informed, had no chance, zip. He was a clown, way out of his league. He was doing it all for publicity. He mercilessly ripped his opponents apart or scared them off, one by one. He won. Then he went up against the Clinton machine, which was the political equivalent of going up against Guderian's divisions. Hollywood came out in a grease-painted and condescending crowd against him. His name was redone as Literally D.T. Hitler. He was racist, sexist, misogynist, he didn't wash behind his ears, he had little hands, wore a wig, he was orange, and his feet stank. Hillarity had a monotone speaking style, that would end in kind of a querulous yell on the last three words (listen to one of her speeches if you don't believe me). Literally D.T. has a sense of humor. He was gonna Make America Great Again. He told jokes. He made wisecracks. He needled his opponent to keep her off balance (look at the pictures of her falling, fainting, or staggering!) He told his audiences they were great, wonderful, unbelievable. We (not he) were gonna do great things together. Hillarity described his audience as Deplorables, which title they adopted, to The Donald's glee. The Dems sent goon squads to his rallies, trying to start riots. The press dismissed Trump and his Deplorables as nothing but uneducated (gasp!) White People®. He walked all over Hillarity in each debate. He ended one of them by promising to see her behind bars. Yep. He won. He was inaugurated. Within minutes (it may actually have been before the inauguration, I'm not sure) there were calls for his impeachment. He fixed the Obama economy, seemingly within twenty four hours. Dems howled at the moon and sicced Antifa on an unsympathetic nation. He signed executive orders repealing B.O.'s executive orders. He upended fixtures like NAFTA and the TTP. The Dems pushed for an Independent Counsel because there was no way he could have won without Russian collusion to hack the voting machines and to publicize the shady dealings of the Hillarity campaign, the DNC, the Clinton Foundation, Debbie Wasserman Schultz, and the whole damned crowd. Some dumbass (I think it was in the NY Times) wrote an op ed about how once Literally D.T. was impeached, through an improbable series of circumstances the nation and the world could have Hillarity as Madame President. November 4th came and went last year without Antifa rising in its wrath and deposing Trump. Trump put Scott Pruitt in to rein in the EPA. The Dems tore down statues of Confederate generals and called for Stone Mountain, Georgia, to be sand blasted. The unemployment rate -- across the board, white, black, Latino, and Athabaskan -- dropped to its lowest point since the last Whig administration. The Dems accuse Trump of ripping four-year-olds from their mothers' arms and eating them on the spot. A volcano erupted in Hawaii and that's Trump's fault too. NASA's making plans in case we're threatened by falling asteroids instead of prioritizing Moslem outreach. Mobs of Democrats chase down Publicans and holler at them when they're trying to eat enchiladas. Maybe it's just me, but I think I can understand why Trump has a senzayuma. Without it, he'd be overwhelmed. |
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| Home Front: Politix |
| Trump to propose merging Labor, Education departments, report says |
| 2018-06-21 |
  [Samuel Chamberlain | Fox News] The Trump administration will propose merging the Labor Department with the Education Department as part of a larger effort to reorganize the federal government, The Wall Street Journal reported late Wednesday. The formal announcement is planned for Thursday morning, but the Journal reports that any planned reorganization must be approved by Congress. The reported proposal is a revival of long-held conservative ambitions dating back at least two decades. In the 1990s, Republican lawmakers proposed merging the Education and Labor departments with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). The new agency would have been dubbed the Department of Education and Employment, but such plans never got off the ground. According to the Journal, the Education Department is one of the smallest agencies of the federal government, with approximately 3,900 employees. The paper reports that its workforce has shrunk by 10 percent as the result of a hiring freeze instituted by President Trump soon after he took office. The department was one of three government agencies Republican presidential candidate Rick Perry promised to eliminate during the 2012 campaign. The proposal was overshadowed when Perry, now the secretary of energy, forgot the name of one of the agencies during a televised debate. The Labor Department has a reported 15,000 employees and has a variety of responsibilities, including compiling employment statistics and enforcing federal wage laws. By way of the WSJ |
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| Home Front: Politix |
| Democrats Can’t Find Candidate to Run for Texas Governor |
| 2017-08-09 |
| [FREEBEACON] Texas Democrats are struggling to find a candidate to run against Republican Gov. Greg Abbott after losing every gubernatorial race in the state for nearly three decades. For months Democratic leaders have been searching for a high-powered candidate to run against Abbott but have been unable to find a suitable opponent to challenge the incumbent, the News Agency that Dare Not be Named reported Tuesday. This could spell trouble for the Democratic Party in Texas after losing the governor's race in 2010 and 2014 with two high-profile candidates. Former Houston Mayor and U.S. Energy Department official Bill White lost to then-Texas Gov. and current Secretary of Energy Rick Perry in 2010. Wendy Davis, the former Democratic state senator known for her 12-hour filibuster opposing anti-abortion measures, lost the 2014 election to Abbott by more than 20 points. |
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| Economy |
| POTUS' Ag Secretary Leading 22-Agency TF to Reignite Rural America, Protect Forgotten Man |
| 2017-06-17 |
| [Breitbart] In keeping with President Donald Trump’s executive order establishing the Interagency Task Force on Agriculture and Rural Prosperity, Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue launched the effort on Thursday along with representatives from 22 federal agencies that are taking on the wide-ranging initiative. The task force will work to find ways to increase jobs, housing and educational opportunities for America’s rural communities, and to remove obstacles, such as burdensome regulations, and to improve infrastructure and access to technology. The task force held its inaugural meeting in Washington, D.C., and attendees included Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Ben Carson, Secretary of Energy Rick Perry, Director of the White House Office of Management and Budget Mick Mulvaney, U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer, Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission Ajit Pai, and other government officials. "What we began here today is to lay a fertile seed bed in rural America, where good things can grow," Perdue said. He went on: |
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| Government |
| Energy Sec. Rick Perry spotted reading Drudge Report at airport |
| 2017-03-11 |
| [The Hill] Energy Secretary Rick Perry was spotted Friday reading the Drudge Report at an airport while waiting for a flight to Texas. A reporter who said he was on the same flight as Perry tweeted photos of Perry, one of which shows the former Texas governor reading the conservative news site run by Matt Drudge. The front page story on the site viewed by Perry appeared to be "GREAT AGAIN: +235,000," which links to a story about the latest jobs report that President Trump shared earlier in the day on Twitter. |
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| Government |
| Rick Perry confirmed as Energy secretary |
| 2017-03-03 |
| [USATODAY] The Senate has confirmed former Texas governor Rick Perry to serve as Energy secretary under President Trump. The vote was 62-37 on Thursday. Perry -- who once pledged to eliminate the department -- has repeatedly promised be an advocate for the agency and to protect the nation’s nuclear stockpile. Perry also has said he’d rely on federal scientists, including those who work on climate change. Perry has said he’ll work to develop American energy in all forms -- from oil, gas and nuclear power to renewable sources such as wind and solar power. Democrats say they accept Perry’s disavowal of his 2011 pledge to abolish the Energy Department. But they’re worried he may not stand up to GOP proposals to slash the department’s budget. |
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| Government |
| Abolish the Department of Energy |
| 2016-12-29 |
| [WASHINGTONEXAMINER] When former Texas governor Rick Perry ran for president in 2012, he promised he'd abolish the U.S. Department of Energy (at least when he could remember it). Liberals wrote this off as typical conservative stupidity. Why would anyone want to abolish the DOE? According to one liberal commentator, it was because the department "was established during  Jimmy Carter... the worst president ever. Maybe the second worst. The votes aren't all in yet... 's administration and it perhaps sounds like it might have something to do with solar panels." Jimmy Carter created it, all right, but solar panels were only a symptom of the real problem. The DOE was conceived in dark and pessimistic beliefs and forecasts that have proven totally wrong. As Obama might say, the DOE is on the wrong side of history. As it stands the department needs to either be rethought or retired. The original legislation justified a Department of Energy because, 1) we were rapidly running out of fossil fuels, especially oil and natural gas; 2) as a consequence of this we were becoming increasingly dependent on energy imports -- dependence that made us vulnerable to embargoes and political blackmail; and 3) so therefore we needed "a strong national [read government-directed] energy program." Even before fracking proved the dire warnings to be utterly wrong, we had for the most part taken care of our energy dependence. We significantly reduced any possible vulnerability to an embargo by diversifying our suppliers; over sixty countries were supplying us with oil in the 2000s. Our No. 1 supplier? Canada. Mexico also has been in the top five. This information makes "foreign oil," a bit less scary, no? Then again the fear of oil cartels was always overblown; from 1980 until the mid-2000s, oil importers like the U.S. thrived while the exporters were the ones who suffered because of excessive dependence on oil revenues. In the meantime, we've endured wasteful, panicked policies such as massive subsidies for the wind and solar power, and electric cars. Worst of all, Congress has saddled consumers with ethanol subsidies and mandates. These boondoggles cost us billions of dollars, and none of them are commercially viable in their own right. In fact, the DOE has produced no dramatic breakthroughs in energy technology despite 40 years of trying (and failing) to pick winners. |
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