06 August 20
The Funding Model of This Organization is Risky for Sure
One is not required to pay before reaping the benefits. It's a bit like going to a coffee shop and only paying if you feel energized by the coffee/pastries. But who doesn't? From all the news groups and sources I read, this one is selective, relevant, and professional. The articles that RSN posts are timely and poignant. The funding model is that one pays voluntarily for what one values and benefits from. What could be more democratic than that? Please support this organization. The more of us who do, the less it costs each.
Mary, RSN Reader-Supporter
Marc Ash
Founder, Reader Supported News
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05 August 20
It's Live on the HomePage Now:
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Charles Pierce | As This Presidency* Unravels, the Looting Will Begin in Earnest
Charles Pierce, Esquire
Pierce writes: "I have an awful feeling that, as this administration* begins to feel its time slipping away, the smash-and-grab is going to begin in earnest."
We’re going to keep an eye on what it might be smuggling out under its coat on the way out the door.
(The natural extension of this, of course, is that, if the president* actually loses in November, the year will end with an orgy of outright looting.) Out in North Dakota, the affiliated tribes of the Mandan, Hidatsa, and Arikara Nation have taken the Department of the Interior to court, because it is the position of those tribes that the administration* is trying to swipe the rights and royalties to mineral deposits on the Fort Berthold reservation. From the AP:
The memo filed May 26 by Daniel Jorjani, solicitor for the department, said a historical review shows the state is the legal owner of submerged lands beneath the river where it flows through the Fort Berthold Reservation. The tribes argue that three previous federal opinions dating back to 1936 have confirmed their ownership of the Missouri River riverbed, including a 2017 memo by former solicitor Hilary Tompkins.
Gee, a potential profit center protected by an Obama administration memo? That’s the ultimate twofer for this pack o’ thieves, who wouldn’t abide by a treaty even if they believed in them, which they don’t.
At stake is more than $100 million in unpaid royalties and future payments certain to come from oil drilling beneath the river, which was dammed by the federal government in the 1950s, flooding more than a tenth of the 1,500-square-mile (3,885-square-kilometer) reservation to create Lake Sakakawea.
The issue now sits with Judge Amy Berman Jackson, the U.S. District Court judge who’s handled many of the legal cases involving the inmates of Camp Runamuck, including matters involving Paul Manafort and Roger Stone. Last week, Jackson froze all oil and gas royalty payments deriving from the disputed land until this all gets sorted out. Few people are more familiar with the high-handed attitude of this administration* toward laws, regulations, and norms than is Judge Jackson, so the tribes may have a shot here. As things get worse for this presidency*, we’re going to keep an eye on what it might be smuggling out under its coat on the way out the door.
Sens. Jeff Merkley and Bernie Sanders have teamed up to propose regulation that would tackle private use of facial recognition. (photo: Chip Somodevilla/Getty)
Jeff Merkley and Bernie Sanders Have a Plan to Protect You From Facial Recognition
Rebecca Heilweil, Recode
Excerpt: "New legislation would require that companies get your consent before taking your biometric data."
READ MORE
Nika Cotton opened her own shop, Soulcentritea, just weeks ago. When public schools shut down in the spring, Cotton had no one to watch her young children who are 8 and 10. So she quit her job in social work - and lost her health insurance - in order to start her own business. (photo: Alex Smith/KCUR)
Missouri Votes to Expand Medicaid Over Objections of State's Republican Leaders
Jason Hancock, The Kansas City Star
Hancock writes: "Missouri became the 38th state to expand Medicaid eligibility on Tuesday, with voters shrugging off Republican opposition to narrowly approve a constitutional amendment providing health coverage to more than 200,000 uninsured Missourians."
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US rep. Rashida Tlaib. (photo: Rebecca Cook/Reuters)
Progressive Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib Defeats Primary Challenger in 'Squad' Win
Michael Martina, Reuters
Martina writes: "U.S. Representative Rashida Tlaib, one of the most visible progressive Democrats in Congress, claimed victory Wednesday in the Democratic primary election against challenger Detroit City Council President Brenda Jones."
READ MORE
A helicopter puts out a fire at the scene of an explosion at the port of Lebanon's capital Beirut. (photo: AFP)
Beirut's Amonium Nitrate Explosion Came From Confiscated 'Floating Bomb' in 2013
Andrew Roth, Guardian UK
Roth writes: "The ammonium nitrate is believed to have fueled the devastating explosion that has left more than 100 dead in Beirut."
READ MORE
Bolivian coup leader Jeanine Anez Chavez. (photo: Marco Bello/Reuters)
Bolivians Are in Revolt Against Their Illegitimate Coup Regime
Thomas Field, Jacobin
Excerpt: "Nine months after the right-wing coup that ousted Bolivian president Evo Morales, elections still have not been held and popular discontent with the coup regime is boiling over. Democracy must be restored, no matter what the golpistas and their allies in Washington want."
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US Bureau of Land Management acting director William 'Perry' Pendley. (photo: Matthew Brown/AP)
Trump's Nominee to Oversee Federal Lands Has 50 Conflicts of Interest
Linnaea Honl-Stuenkel, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington
Honl-Stuenkel writes: "William Perry Pendley, President Trump's nominee to lead the Bureau of Land Management, has said that the government should sell federal lands, denied climate change, wants to weaken the Endangered Species Act and has sued BLM and the Interior Department repeatedly over the course of his career."
His history of litigation against the agency that Trump has finally nominated him to lead—after nearly a year as its acting head—generated a list of potential conflicts of interest that is literally 17 pages long. With so many conflicts, what is left for Pendley to do as head of BLM?
When he initially joined the agency, which administers 245 million acres of federal lands and 30% of the country’s minerals, Pendley issued a 17-page list of 57 potential conflicts that he had to recuse from, including his former employer, the Mountain States Legal foundation (MSLF), his book publisher, and initially the Washington Examiner where he was a frequent blog contributor. Seven of those recusals have expired, and 50 are still in effect. The majority of the conflicts stem from clients that he represented at MSLF, including several airline and helicopter companies, the Petroleum Association of Wyoming, the American Exploration & Mining Association, the National Mining Association and the Colorado, Utah, Idaho, Montana and Wyoming Farm Bureau Federations.
Of course Pendley should not be allowed to work on matters related to his former employer, but recusing becomes a lot more complicated when his former employer has sued BLM and it’s parent agency the Department of Interior so frequently, and on behalf of so many clients, that Pendley’s work could be severely restricted. Not only that, but his past work has also conflicted Pendley out of party matters related to two major trade groups that would seek to influence BLM. It is hard to imagine how he could administer federal lands and minerals if he couldn’t make decisions related to multiple mining trade associations, five state’s farm bureau federations, or ideally any of the issues that his former employer has sued on.
But perhaps appointing a BLM director who is conflicted out of so much of the agency’s work is actually the point.
Pendley put his antagonistic attitude towards federal regulations and ownership of land into action as president of MSLF, where he worked until December 2018. In July 2019, he was appointed as the acting director of BLM. During the Trump administration alone, MSLF has been involved in at least six lawsuits challenging Interior and BLM actions or policies. MSLF is involved in four active lawsuits against Pendley’s boss, Interior Secretary Berhnardt, one against Interior itself and one against the Interior Board of Land Appeals. In addition, MSLF has intervened in two lawsuits advocating the reduction of the size of Grand Staircase Escalante and Bears Ears National Monuments. MSLF also intervened in a lawsuit against the United States to advocate for the rollback of grizzly bear protections. Most of these lawsuits involving Interior are attempts to increase private access to federal land for oil and gas and ranching companies.
Trump’s Interior Department has moved to put into place several of the policies that MSLF supports, which shows just how much overlap there could be between Pendley’s past work and the post that he’s been nominated to fill. The Endangered Species Act has been severely weakened, grizzly bears can now be hunted with donuts soaked in bacon grease, sage grouse habitat protections were loosened to pave the way for more oil and gas drilling and BLM is considering leasing land to oil and gas companies within half a mile of national monuments. And just a few weeks ago, the Trump administration overturned an environmental regulation in order to speed up the approval of oil and gas pipeline projects. As BLM Director, would Pendley have been conflicted out of all of that?
To understand Pendley’s perspective on the job he has been nominated for, look no further than the titles of two of his books: War on the West: Government Tyranny on America’s Great Frontier and Warriors for the West: Fighting Bureaucrats, Radical Groups, and Liberal Judges on America’s Frontier.
As the book titles hint, Pendley has long been advocating to reduce government ownership of public lands. In 2013, he called the federal government “a terrible landlord and worse neighbor.” Pendley first worked at the Interior Department under President Reagan, when he got in trouble for his involvement in leasing public land to coal companies far under market rate in order to maximize the amount of federal land being leased to companies.
Four decades later, Pendley’s crusade has advanced to the next level. This summer, BLM is forging ahead with moving its headquarters from Washington, DC to Grand Junction, Colorado, despite a scathing GAO report saying that the move was not justified. Pendley has vigorously defended the move in several op-eds. Half of the BLM staff asked to move have left the agency instead of moving across the country. Then-acting White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney said last year that such relocations are a “wonderful way” to shed government employees.
Pendley is not the first Trump appointee to work against the agency he was appointed to lead. Former acting head of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) Mick Mulvaney sponsored legislation to get rid of the agency. Rick Perry said he thought the US should abolish the Energy Department. Scott Pruitt sued the EPA 13 times and advocated against its existence. They all ended up leading those agencies. All of them have since left. Pruitt and Perry have both returned to the industry they came from.
With Pendley at the helm of BLM, not only have BLM employees had to contend with an agency leader at odds with the agency and its mission, but they have had to navigate Pendley’s absurdly long list of conflicts. Before bringing certain issues to Pendley’s attention, he asked in a note to staff that they consult his list of conflicts. Since that list includes several western states’ farm bureau federations, two of the major mining trade groups and his former employer that is involved in several ongoing lawsuits that are challenging the Interior Department or BLM’s function, it’s easy to imagine that his conflicts could become a real roadblock to agency action.
Pendley also has a financial arrangement with MSLF worth between $250,001 and $500,000 that entitles him to receive fixed annual payments for life beginning in 2025. Although he must recuse from particular matters that would affect the ability or willingness of MSLF to provide this, the agreement links his financial future with MSLF, which raises serious ethical questions given his ability to sign policy that could easily help any number of MSLF’s clients.
This financial entanglement should cause Pendley to be even more careful to avoid conflicts. Instead, the new ethics agreement submitted with his nomination actually omits language from his earlier ethics agreement requiring his recusal from “issues, decisions, and actions” related to MSLF, focusing only on “particular matters” in which MSLF is a party or represents a client. The legal standard for recusals is whether or not his involvement would cause a reasonable person to question his impartiality. Because of MSLF’s continuing litigation against BLM, and his long history of suing the agency, it is hard to imagine that a reasonable person would trust Pendley to leave all that at the door. During his confirmation hearing, Pendley might commit to recuse from anything in which he has taken a litigation position on behalf of MSLF and confirm that his earlier recusals still stand. But in doing so, he may create a situation where it is impossible for him to do his job. And that would put anyone voting for his confirmation between a rock and a hard place.
As Congress evaluates his tenure and the Senate considers his nomination, it must scrutinize not just his vision for ending government protection of public lands, but also his conflicts of interest. That might take a while.
