Archive for the ‘Obama’ Category

EPA head suggests rollback of Obama-era rules may begin next week – USA TODAY

Scott Pruitt, President Trump's pick for EPA administrator.(Photo: Zach Gibson, AFP/Getty Images)

WASHINGTON The new head of the Environmental Protection Agency suggested to a gathering of conservative Republicans on Saturday that the agency could begin as early as next week the process ofrolling back some of the federal regulations put in place by the Obama administration.

"The future aint what it used to be" at the EPA,Scott Pruitt said during an address at the Conservative Political Action Conference, or CPAC.

Pruitt, who started at the agency Tuesday,did not specifically indicate what rulesPresident Trump's administration will target immediately. But he cited a controversial clean water rule as an example of a regulation that wenttoo far.

The regulation known as the Waters of the United States Rule andadopted by the Obama administration expands the definition of waters subject to the jurisdiction of the EPA under the Clean Water Act.

Critics charge the rule so broadly expands the federal governments authority that it would be able to regulate ditches and small bodies of water. The EPA finalized the rule in May 2015 but it has been blocked by a federal appeals court pending further legal challenges.

Congress voted last year to overturn the rule by invoking a rarely used law known as the Congressional Review Act. But President Obama vetoed that resolution.

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In his CPAC address, Pruitt, who as Oklahoma attorney general sued the EPA 14 times, said people who want to eliminate the agency are "justified" for such attitudes because of the regulatory overreach by the Obama administration.

"People across this country look at the EPA like they look at the IRS," he said. "I hope to be able to change that."

Under his leadership, Pruitt said, the EPA would pay close attention to the rule-making process to ensureany new rules do not go beyond what is allowed under federal law.

Executive agencies only have the power that Congress has given them, he said. They cant make it up as they go. They cant fill in the blank.

One of his top priorities, he said, will be providing businesses with regulatory certainty.

Were going to provide certainty by living within the framework that Congress has passed, he said. Obama-era regulations that dontfit within that framework will be rolled back,Pruitt added.

Pruitt also promised to work with the states as partners, not adversaries on issues such as clean air and water.

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EPA head suggests rollback of Obama-era rules may begin next week - USA TODAY

Analyst warns Obama now undermining Democrats – WND.com

An analyst is warning that Barack Obama, through his political organization and its army of 30,000 operatives, posesa threat to his ownDemocratic Party, says a report in Joseph Farahs G2 Bulletin.

The analysis comes from Martin Armstrong, whose Armstrong Economics provides commentary on a wide range of issues extending beyond economics, including history, global warming, real estateand world events.

Obama has circumvented the Democrats with [Organizing for America] and has established a clandestine unaccountable political party taking money from questionable people, he writes.

There are many Democrats at the state level who are starting to see OFA as an organization independent of the Democratic Party itself, which [is] trying to undermine Trump, yet may in fact undermine the Democratic Party itself.

OFA was set up when Obama began his first run for the White House, ran through his presidency and continues now that hes out of office.

Obama is behind the effort to derail and block the Trump administration on everything. However, Obama may be sowing the seeds of the destruction of the Democratic Party altogether. Those who think Obama is not behind this coup are blinded by their bias, he writes. To agree with this statement DOES NOT mean the Republicans are saints just look at John McCain if you need reassurance. John McCain voted to tax the Internet.

However,he says, Obama is deliberately trying to create an uprising and is side-stepping the Democratic Party himself because they will not agree with his agenda.

Hedge Funds and Hollywood are assisting him so there is money and propaganda on his side. ABC is among the worst in the mainstream media, which is a total disgrace for Disney. The show the View openly states that not one person voted for Trump and all they do is bash Republicans. You are hard pressed to find a more bias[ed] show spouting out propaganda from the agenda on ABC.

He says its all being organized and directed through OFA not the Democratic Party.

The civil war brewing within the Democrats is pitting the state level against the feds and particularly OFA. How this plays out will be extremely interesting.

He points out that there already have been reports, in several publications, that state level Democrats are starting to revolt against the Washington elite and that includes Obamas covert machine behind creating civil unrest.

I have reported that normally a presidents fund is shut down after they leave office. Here, Obama has taken a house in Washington, built a wall around it at taxpayers expense, and turned it into his bunker to obstruct anything that Trump tries to do.

For the rest of this report, and more, please go to Joseph Farahs G2 Bulletin.

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Analyst warns Obama now undermining Democrats - WND.com

Obama, Democratic ‘super group’ unite to end gerrymandering, win state races, reclaim majorities – Fox News

Former President Obama and other top Democrats are focusing efforts on state-level races and ending the reconfiguring of voting districts through the politically-laden process known as gerrymandering -- a combined effort to end Trump-ism and help their party regain control of Congress and legislatures across the country.

Obama indicated before leaving the White House last fall that his short-term, post-presidency focus will be on General Assembly races and redistricting after the 2020 Census.

And 2016 presidential candidate former Maryland Gov. Martin OMalley has become the most recent high-profile Democrat to take up the cause.

America needs non-partisan redistricting commissions, OMalley said at Boston College Law School, where hes now a visiting professor. This simple reform must become the new norm of American democracy. How can we expect people to vote if their voice has been carved into irrelevance by a political map ahead of time?

An early test for Democrats trying to win state-level races and stopping the Trump wave arrives this weekend.

Delaware is holding a special election for an open state Senate seat that will decided whether Democrats keep their roughly 40-year hold on the chamber.

"If we lose, a new Republican majority will take power and rubber-stamp every single one of Trump's hateful policies," the Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee said in a recent fundraising letter. "They'll grind all our progress to a halt."

Voting districts are redrawn after a federal Census to reflect the changes in population and other demographic.

Much of the redistricting across the country is done by the political party that controls the state legislature.

However, critics argue the process, known as gerrymandering, has run amok, with the majority party drawing districts in crazy-quilt patterns to help protect incumbents and their party win more races.

Theres one district in Virginia where you have to take a boat on the James River to get to another part, Jared Leopold, spokesman for the Democratic National Redistricting Committee, told Fox News.

The tax-exempt group is leading Washington Democrats major effort to erase the majorities Republicans have in Congress and statehouses across the country.

The Republicans wave election of 2010 handed them the House majority and control of 20 additional state House and Senate chambers, giving the party broad authority in redrawing district maps after the Census that year.

Twenty-three legislatures are primarily responsible for that task. And the situation has only helped Republicans retain their seats and add to 2010 gains.

Leopold cited three main objectives: help Democrats win more races in the next few election cycles to put them in a better situation before redistricting in 2020, embark on legal efforts to undo some of the more egregious redistricting after the 2010 Census and push ballot initiatives that will lead to fair maps.

He described the NDRC as a super group that brings together the efforts of the Democratic Governors Association, the Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee and House Majority PAC.

The groups chairman is former Attorney General Eric Holder, whose support, along with Obamas, will give the group bonda fides and fundraising clout.

"We heard a lot in this past election about rigged systems, Holder said last month in announcing the groups start. But I want to say the biggest rigged system in America is gerrymandering.

However, the group is not championing non-partisan redistricting commissions, as O'Malley and others are.

OMalley, who is continuing efforts to lead the partys progressive wing, has also made clear that his call to end gerrymander speaks directly to what he fears is a rising, anti-immigrant sentiment and other policies associated with Republican President Trump.

I want to speak with you today about the immediate challenges facing our nation, said OMalley, who also equates Trumps beliefs and polices to fascism. We must frame a principled opposition to Trump-ism.

Beyond the Delaware contest, the real bellwether races will start next year in Virginia, North Carolina and New Jersey.

Virginia, a battleground state that has voted Democrat the past three presidential elections, next year is having state House races and a gubernatorial contest to replace outgoing Democratic Gov. Terry McAuliffe.

The governors race already has heavyweights from both parties including Democratic Rep. Tom Perriello. The Republican slate includes Corey Stewart, an immigration hawk and former Trump campaigner, and Ed Gillespie, a former Republican National Committee chairman who nearly upset Virginia Democratic Sen. Mark Warner in 2014.

Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee spokeswoman Carolyn Fiddler told Fox News that the Democrats recent efforts are a smart refocus of efforts, more than a reckoning and that related fundraising has been astronomical.

She also said Trumps victory has indeed sparked a lot of interest -- from potential canvassers to candidates. But it has also crystalized some social and political priorities for people in ways they had not before.

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Obama, Democratic 'super group' unite to end gerrymandering, win state races, reclaim majorities - Fox News

Obama devotees in France hoping for an ‘OBAMA17’ presidential …

Some Barack Obama devotees in France aren't happy with the homegrown contenders vying for the country's presidency, so they're hoping that the former U.S. president will step in and run for office this spring.

"Obama17" posters have been spotted plastered across Paris, urging citizens to visit a website and sign a petition to persuade Obama to enter the race. The goal is to get 1 million people to sign the petition.

Why Obama? "Because he has the best resume in the world for the job," reads the website, which is in no way connected to Obama.

While this all sounds good, there is one problem. The French president needs to be, well, French. And Obama is not.

The website also says Obama could be an antidote to the popularity of right-wing parties in the country.

"At a time when France is about to vote massively for the extreme right, we can still give a lesson of democracy to the planet by electing a French president, a foreigner," reads the website in French.

A spokesperson for the group told ABC News Thursday morning, "We started dreaming about this idea two months before the end of Obama's presidency. We dreamed about this possibility to vote for someone we really admire, someone who could lead us to project ourselves in a bright future. Then we thought, whether it's possible or not, whether or not he is French, we have to do this for real, to give French people hope ... Vive la Republique. Vive Obama. Vive la France and the USA."

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Obama devotees in France hoping for an 'OBAMA17' presidential ...

Yes we can… elect Obama president of France? – CNN

"It's totally crazy, but the cool thing is that once you get past that, you start thinking that maybe it's possible. Who cares that he's not French? He's Barack Obama," one of the campaign organizers told CNN.

They've launched a website and they put up 500 posters of Obama around Paris last weekend, said the organizer. He asked to be identified only as Antoine.

Yes, it's a joke, he admits -- but one with a serious purpose.

"We want to show that people are fed up with the politicians here. People are tired about it and they like this joke. It gives people a little fun amid all these scandals," he said.

French voters go to the polls April 23 in the first round of voting for a new president. If no one gets more than 50% of the vote, the top two finishers go to a runoff on May 7.

Polls suggest that Marine Le Pen, the leader of the far-right National Front party, will top the field in the first round, but won't get the absolute majority a candidate needs to win outright.

Antoine isn't a fan of the frontrunner.

"We are so fed up with what Marine Le Pen is doing, and with the fact that we weren't able to find a candidate to vote for, only one to vote against," said Antoine. "We started talking about that and it came up that Obama is free -- so why not hire him?"

Antoine knows there's not much chance Obama will play along with his joke.

But he says people have been getting in touch with serious suggestions -- for example, how to get around the problem that Obama isn't French.

"We've had some funny emails from lawyers telling us how it could be possible. He would have to be naturalized by the president of the French Assembly," Antoine said.

It's not clear whether Obama is aware of the project, but Antoine is hopeful.

"I think if Barack Obama answers this, there will be a huge amount of reaction. I think he might like this kind of thing," said Antoine. "People in France would get crazy, especially young people. But he won't say yes to our proposal."

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Yes we can... elect Obama president of France? - CNN