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Who is in charge of the executive branch of government?

That's the only question you need to answer in order to understand the controversy over President Trump ordering certain federal agencies' Twitter accounts to stop making pronouncements in the government's name. Presumably, this restriction will last only until the agencies' new directors and secretaries are in place. Or maybe not. (Frankly, very few government social media accounts are probably worth the cost of running them, but that's for another day.)

Earlier today, the Badlands National Park's official Twitter feed sent out four tweets about climate change. They were subsequently deleted.

We can argue all day over whether this has anything to do with the Park Service's mission, or its mission at that particular park (it doesn't), but this was pretty obviously an effort to test the limits of the person who ultimately controls that account as of Friday. The Constitution tells us who that is:

The executive Power shall be vested in a President of the United States of America.

The Park Service is an executive branch agency. It has no pretense to independence from the president's authority. And in fact, our constitutional system depends on such agencies obeying the competent authority. They don't get to have a life of their own outside of what the Congress permits and the president demands. Elected officials make these decisions this is what democracy looks like.

This account is a lot like the Twitter account of any other business or organization. It exists in order to disseminate the policy message of the organization and its rightful leadership in this case, Trump Forest Service. It's not for employees to use to disseminate their own messages. As the libertarian @Popehat blog's Twitter feed eloquently put it:

Also from the Washington Examiner

"Turns out you're just like all the rest selfish and spineless."

01/26/17 11:13 PM

And the answer to that is no, in case you were wondering.

Top Story

A month into 2017 and Republicans haven't repealed Obamacare and Koskinen still has his job.

01/26/17 5:01 PM

Read the original here:
Is Trump 'censoring' federal agency accounts? - Washington Examiner (blog)

On Tuesday, Badlands National Park posted facts regarding climate change on its Twitter account, then deleted them. The tweets were retweeted thousands of times before being deleted, and earned approval as defiance of the Trump administration. USA TODAY

This composite color full-disk visible image is from 1:07 p.m. ET on Jan. 15, 2017, and was created using several of the 16 spectral channels available on the GOES-16 Advanced Baseline Imager (ABI) instrument. The image shows North and South America and the surrounding oceans. GOES-16 observes Earth from an equatorial view approximately 22,300 miles high, creating full disk images like these, extending from the coast of West Africa, to Guam, and everything in between.(Photo: National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration)

SEATTLE The nation's top group of weather and climate professionals sounded the alarm Wednesday about scientific freedom of expression, aftertheWhite House issued a gag order on some federal employees' social media posts.

"The ability of scientists to present their findings to the scientific community, policy makers, the media, and the public without censorship, intimidationor political interference is imperative," the American Meteorological Society said at its annual meeting.

"These principles matter most and at the same time are most vulnerable to violation precisely when science has its greatest bearing on society," the statement added, noting how weather and climate greatly impact a wide range ofissues, such as public health and safety, environmental protectionand national security.

USA TODAY

EPA 'pause' on public communications fuels wider alarm about openness

The declaration came as controversy and uncertainty swirlover how federal agencies such as the Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Department of the Interior will communicate with the public about climate change and other environmental issues under Trump, who has often called climate change a hoax.

Adirective this week ordered employees at the EPA to halt all external communications and posts on social media. AndtheInterior Departmenttemporarily shut down its Twitter account after aNational Park Serviceemployee retweeted side-by-side photos of the crowds that gathered in 2009 on the National Mall forPresident Obamas first inaugural and the much smaller number whocame to witness Trumps swearing-in.

USA TODAY

Government Twitter accounts have slowed since Trump took office

On Tuesday, the Park Service'sBadlands National Parkposted several tweets that made a forceful case about the hazards of climate change, but the posts were deleted by the end of the day.

Scott Pruitt,Trumps choice to run the EPA,said in last week's Senate confirmation hearings that he believes climate change is real.However, Pruitt would not say that human activityis the primary cause of climate change, as the majority of scientists conclude.

USA TODAY

EPA nominee Pruitt contradicts Trump claim that climate change is a hoax

While the future of the EPA freeze on communications remains unclear, those atthe National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the federal government's top agency that deals with climate and weather issues, may have a better outlook.

That agency is a branch of the U.S. Department of Commerce, where Trump has tapped Wilbur Ross for its new head. At his Senate confirmation hearing last week, Ross saidhe has no intention of instructing his employees to fudge or hide information on the science behind rising global temperatures.

"I support the dissemination of valid information to the public, Ross told Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla.No valid information should be concealed," he said."I have great respect for the scientific quality of NOAA (and) I think the communication of factual information and data is very, very important.

Beyond researching and keeping tabs on the Earth's atmosphere and oceans, NOAA also oversees the crucial National Weather Service. The American Meteorological Society is comprised ofmore than 13,000 members, including researchers, scientists, broadcasters, educatorsand other professionals.

Contributing: Ledyard King, USA TODAY

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Censorship, political meddling has no place in science, weather group says - USA TODAY

Published on January 25th, 2017 | by Joshua S Hill

January 25th, 2017 by Joshua S Hill

Donald Trump has put to rest any doubts that he would be a terrible President for the US environment this week, by freezing all EPA grant funding programs and literally censoring the agency and its employees, declaring environmentalism out of control, and reviving the controversial Keystone XL and Dakota Access oil pipelines.

So, that bodes well

In a meeting Tuesday with automotive executives, Donald Trump informed them that he will halt unnecessary environmental regulations, making it easier for General Motors, Ford, and Fiat Chrysler to build plants in the United States.

In doing so, Donald Trump informed the executives that I am, to a large extent, an environmentalist. I believe in it, but its out of control.

It has also been reported that Donald Trumps administration has imposed a freeze on the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), halting all its grant programs which provide critical funding for research, development of former industrial sites, and air quality monitoring, among other things.

The freeze is almost certainly one-of-a-kind, and sources inside the EPA have expressed their surprise and shock at the move.

As of the moment, it is unclear whether the freeze is indefinite or temporary, however one source quoted byThe Huffington Post said that a review of all grants would be completed by Friday.

Numerous reports have also revealed that the Trump administration has clamped down on the free exchange of information from several agencies, including the EPA, Department of Agriculture, National Institutes of Health, Department of Health and Human Services, and Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. Specifically,The Huffington Post received the following memo which explains the draconian measures that have suddenly been implemented:

I just returned from a briefing for Communication Directors where the following information was provided. These restrictions are effective immediately and will remain in place until further direction is received from the new Administrations Beach Team. Please review this material and share with all appropriate individuals in your organization. If anyone on your staff receives a press inquiry of any kind, it must be referred to me so I can coordinate with the appropriate individuals in OPA.

I will provide updates to this information as soon as I receive it.

The EPA is also scrambling to save its climate change page from its website, after being ordered to remove the climate change page entirely.If the website goes dark, years of work we have done on climate change will disappear, one of the EPA staffers told Reuters, who also informed Reuters that some of the EPAs employees had begun trying to save some of the information housed on its website, while also trying to convince the Trump administration to preserve at least parts of the website.

Further censorship action has been revealed as the Badlands National Park Twitter account found itself the source of plenty of attention. The National Park Service Twitter account had already been briefly suspended following its publication of accurate information regarding the size of this years Inauguration crowd. On Tuesday, the Badlands National Park Twitter account posted several Tweets reporting scientifically accurate information, which have since been taken down.

Unsurprisingly, this bevy of censorship has not gone unnoticed.

These actions will stem the free flow of information and have a chilling effect on staff in these agencies, said Sam Adams, US Director, World Resources Institute. This flies in the face of effective policymaking which requires an open exchange of ideas, supported by the best science and evidence available. Curtailing communications from these agencies will hinder their ability to provide clean air and water and protect peoples health across the country. The administration should lift these bans as soon as possible and ensure that the role of science is respected within our government agencies.

Finally, to top off a surreal day, President Trump signed executive orders which would begin a renegotiating process of the highly disputed Keystone XL and Dakota Access oil pipelines.

This is with regard to the construction of the Keystone pipeline, something thats been in dispute and its subject to renegotiation by us, said Donald Trump as he signed the executive orders. Were going to renegotiate some of the terms and if theyd like, well see if we can get that pipeline built.

So that bodes well

Buy a cool T-shirt or mug in the CleanTechnica store! Keep up to date with all the hottest cleantech news by subscribing to our (free) cleantech newsletter, or keep an eye on sector-specific news by getting our (also free) solar energy newsletter, electric vehicle newsletter, or wind energy newsletter.

Tags: Badlands National Park, censorship, Dakota, Dakota Access, Donald Trump, Environmental Protection Agency, EPA, keystone, Keystone XL, trump, united states, US

Joshua S Hill I'm a Christian, a nerd, a geek, and I believe that we're pretty quickly directing planet-Earth into hell in a handbasket! I also write for Fantasy Book Review (.co.uk), and can be found writing articles for a variety of other sites. Check me out at about.me for more.

Excerpt from:
Trump's War On Environment Begins Anew With Censorship, Halting EPA Funding, & Revitalizing Keystone XL ... - CleanTechnica

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Liberal journalists and celebrities praised the Badlands National Parks brief moment of defiance against the Trump administration Tuesday when it published a series of tweets related to global warming.

When Badlands tweets were taken down, journalists and actors decried the fascist Trump administration for censoring scientific facts.

Well, it turned out none of that was true. The National Park Service put out a statement claiming a former employee compromised its official Twitter account. The Park Service also said the Trump administration did not tell them to remove the tweets, and that it did it on its own.

So, much for a defiant agency.

But the Park Service statement came out after sensational media headlines. The Washington Post wrote For a few hours, Badlands National Park was bad to the bone in defiance of Trump.

The Verge reported, Badlands National Park stands up to Trump administration by tweeting facts. Some journalists took to Twitter to vent their frustration with fascism in America.

Badlands National Parks Twitter account published a series messages about the level of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, claiming the greenhouse gas increased ocean acidity since pre-industrial times.

The tweets seemed out of line with the National Park Services mission, especially since Badlands National Park is in landlocked South Dakota and wouldnt be affected by ocean acidification.

The NPS preserves unimpaired the natural and cultural resources and values of the National Park System for the enjoyment, education, and inspiration of this and future generations, according to its website.

New York Magazine tied the compromised Badlands tweets to a Trump administration gag order for the Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Department of Agriculture on talking to the press and putting out officials statements and documents.

With new rules like this in place, wheres the public going to get its scientific information? NY Magazine asked, unironically.

The tweets also came after at least two other government social media accounts were used to share posts critical of President Trump. The National Park Service retweeted a New York Times post showing how much smaller Trumps inauguration crow was than President Obamas in 2008. The Parks Service also shared an Esquire.com article claiming mentions of climate change were scrubbed from Whitehouse.gov.

The Parks Service temporarily suspended its Twitter activity before apologizing Saturday.

Then the National Hurricane Center shared a Facebook post from Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders critical of Trump. NHC issued an apology before deleting that as well.

So, when a rogue former Badlands National Park started tweeting about global warming, then took them down, celebrities went wild.

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Excerpt from:
Journos, Celebrities Falsely Claim 'Fascism,' 'Censorship' After National Park Tweets Taken Offline - Daily Caller

Less than three months into his new post as culture and Islamic guidance minister, Reza Salehi Amiri boasted about banning ten films from entering the Tehran Fajr International Film Festival, in line with the policies of the supreme leader, on January 19, 2017.

For the first time, we cut out films with feminist and inappropriate themes and supported 30 films made by young directors about the sacred defense (Iran-Iraq War), he said during a meeting with Ayatollah Nasser Makarem Shirazi, a senior Qom-based theologian.

Amiri did not name the films, but the Campaign for Human Rights in Iran has learned that they included productions by directors who focused in part on controversial topics like the hijab, which the Islamic Republic forces all women to cover their hair with in public, and domestic violence.

Some directors who had their films banned have responded angrily to the ban by decrying the governments repeated interference with their artistic process.

I will no longer make any films where women are wearing headscarves in a private space or in front of strangers, saidveteran Iranian director Kianoush Ayari, via a statement on his website on January 8, after learning that his latest film, Kanape (Canopy), was rejected even after he tried to pacify censors by showing four actresses wearing wigs to avoid religious objections to their shaved heads.

Im in this situation because of my commitment to realism, he added.

Tahmineh Milani, one of Irans leading female directors, also blamed the censors.

The truth is that my film deals with the subject of domestic violence, which is very important to me and my husband, and thats why it was not accepted by the festivals selection committee, she wrote on her Instagram page.Thats the only reason.

I hope when its released in cinemas, it will help reduce domestic violence, she added. We believe it deserved to be supported, but that didnt happen.

Salehi took over the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance in November 2016 after the resignation of his predecessor, Ali Jannati, who fought many political battles with hardline conservatives over censorship and cultural issues.

Excerpt from:
Prominent Iranian Directors Decry Censorship After Minister Bans Films From Tehran Fajr Festival - International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran