Trump took action today to prevent California from having fuel standards tougher than those of the federal government. This is a Republican who doesn’t believe in local or state control or in the Environmental Protection Agency l, created by President Nixon.
Conservatives conserve. Trump destroys and despoils.
The EPA had no official comment on the plan, which has been in the works for much of the last three years and is expected to be announced while Trump is in California for a campaign fundraising trip.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Repulsive.
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Whatever is stupid, regressive and destructive of the environment or to the body politic is A-OK with Trump and the GOP. Full steam (powered by dirty fossil fuels) ahead.
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Any suggestion that Trump is a conservative in any traditional sense is silly. Traditional conservatism both here and in Great Britain has gone to a sort of extremism that has not been seen since the days of the fascist rise in Europe in the 30s.
Eisenhower, Dirksen, Howard Baker, and Robert Taft bear no resemblance to these modern republicans. The move to the right has been so dramatic that it has emboldened white nationalism, packed the supreme court with extremists, and set the country on a course that will fundamentally change the body politic of the country if it is not arrested in the next election cycle.
My question is simple. How do traditional republicans like Tennessee’s Lamar Alexander sit on their hands and refrain from calling this debacle out for what it is? If they do not cross the line of party and start to support centrist causes, the center will become far to the left, certainly not what they desire. They sat around while traditional republicans voted for Trump, hoping he could be contained. Now that they know what he is doing, how can they just sit it out? This is the death of traditional conservatism.
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Japan’s science standards include “develop an appreciation for nature”.
I know NGSS “covers” human impact on the planet (using bad pedagogy, I fear) at the middle school level, but this is not the same as developing an appreciation for nature. Are our schools creating citizens who will really give a sh** if all the forests burn and the coral reefs die?
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“By revoking a special waiver the state has relied on for years to set its own standards, the administration will be saying that no state can impose more ambitious pollution controls than those adopted by the federal government.” Whaaaat?! Even with my one lousy course in business law, this sounds easily challenged, & doomed to defeat even by our “originalist” SCOTUS.
“the Department of Justice has launched an antitrust investigation into whether the automakers that reached the voluntary emissions agreement with the state violated federal competition law.” HUH? How does that even make sense? Fed dollars wasted on a frivolous investigation, thanks t-Rump.
“the admin’s long-held belief that only fed agencies have the power to set fuel economy and greenhouse gas emissions standards for cars”… again w/the denial of states’ rights. As usual w/our new-flavored Republicans, do as I say not as I do. States’ rights are only to be enforced on issues we like: school segregation, abortion, denial of church-state separation, etc
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In a couple hours, Trump is going to be a few blocks from me. It’s almost eighty degrees here on the Left Side, but my neighbors and I are spine shivering.
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Plato was born into a noble family nearly 2.500 years ago. He grew up in Athens. [He must have known people like Trump.]
“There are three classes of men; lovers of wisdom, lovers of honor, and lovers of gain.”
“The measure of a man is what he does with power.”
“The greatest wealth is to live content with little.”
“Good people do not need laws to tell them to act responsibly, while bad people will find a way around the laws”
“The price good men pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men.”
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A Washington Post-Kaiser Family Foundation poll released Friday found 66 percent of Americans oppose Trump’s plan to freeze fuel efficiency standards rather than enforce the Obama administration’s targets for 2025. A nearly identical 67 percent majority says they support state governments setting stricter fuel efficiency targets than the federal government.”
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This is off topic. I believe Pence is worried about losing his VP status and is bowing to Trump by staying at his golf club even though it was a 4 hour drive to the scheduled meetings.
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Pence’s recent stay at Trump International Golf Club in Doonbeg, Irelandcould have violated the emoluments clause in the Constitution. Democrats have asked for details like the cost of the stay, Secret Service protection, and comparable rates for hotels nearby as well as across the country in Dublin, where Pence held meetings with Irish officials and business leaders. Doonbeg is in County Clare on the west coast of Ireland, nearly a four-hour drive from most of Pence’s scheduled meetings in Dublin. According to an analysis by the government watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW), Pence’s stay cost taxpayers $599,454.36 in limousine service alone.
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