Environmental Protection Agency

Doug Mastriano, Pennsylvania Republican Gubernatorial Nominee, Clear And Present Danger!

Doug Mastriano, the Republican nominee for Governor of Pennsylvania, is seen as a clear and present danger, were he to be elected.

He is an extreme far right winger, promoting Christian nationalism, the idea that there is no separation of church and state, and he has embraced Q-Anon conspiracy theories.

Additionally, he was involved in the US Capitol Insurrection on January 6, 2021, and breached US Capitol police barriers, although claiming not being involved in assault and destruction.

He is Isamophobic, antisemitic, and homophobic, and has promoted September 11 conspiracy theories in the past.

Mastriano comes across as unhinged, and nine Pennsylvania Republicans have repudiated him as too extremist for them to support him, after he won the gubernatorial nomination with only 40 percent of the vote against multiple candidates more moderate than he is in his views.

He has only been a Pennsylvania State Senator since mid 2019, having spent his career in the military, reaching the level of Colonel in the US Army.

He opposed removal of Confederate monuments, and has been a bitter critic of COVID 19 Policies, including opposing masking, and promoting drug treatments that are shown to be sham.

Mastriano has made clear that if elected, he would appoint a Secretary of State who would only accept that the Republican Presidential nominee in 2024 won the state’s electoral votes, no matter what the popular vote demonstrates.

He is against any exceptions for abortion, including rape, incest, and life of the mother; and supports gun rights without restrictions; and is a major critic of the Environmental Protection Agency regulations.

Also, Mastriano has said his governorship, if elected, would be much more right wing conservative than Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, calling him an “amateur”!

Democratic nominee, state Attorney General Josh Shapiro leads in polls, but every effort to prevent this right wing extremist from being elected must be mounted, as Mastriano’s election would be disastrous for Pennsylvania and American politics!

Joe Biden Must NOT Appoint Mitch McConnell Lackey To Federal District Court Lifetime Appointment!

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell is the single most significant figure to have brought about the horrendous extreme right wing Supreme Court, which has reversed abortion rights, extended gun rights, and undermined the Environmental Protection Agency in recent Court decisions.

Now, there is evidence that President Biden was ready to appoint a Mitch McConnell lackey, Chad Meredith, to a Federal District Court Judgeship for the Eastern District of Kentucky, but the Court’s decision in Dobbs V. Jackson Women’s Health Organization caused a delay in that announced appointment.

The Democratic Governor of Kentucky, Andy Beshear, has publicly complained at the idea of picking Chad Meredith, who is described as a version of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas on the abortion issue and so many others, and many other Democrats are protesting the idea of his appointment, supposedly to insure that McConnell does not block other Biden nominations in the last two years of his term in office.

Biden should rescind any such deal, as Mitch McConnell is unreliable, manipulative, deceitful, and making any so called deal with him is like dealing with the devil!

If Biden allows this nomination, he will lose the support of many Democrats and undermine his own Presidency, and this author and blogger will be furious with him, and wonder if it is time to move on and look elsewhere for the Democratic Presidential nomination contest in 2024!

Supreme Court Declares War On Environmental Protection Agency

Republican President Richard Nixon signed into law the creation of the Environmental Protection Agency in 1970, and goes down as one of the best environmental Presidents.

Fifty years later, the Right Wing Extremist Supreme Court has declared war on the EPA, and it indicates the beginning of a direct attack on the “Administrative” state and the “Regulatory” state for the long term.

With the growing global warming and climate change crisis worldwide, the United States is being prevented from curbing carbon pollution from coal and oil.

This is short term and long term suicide for the US and the planet, and can only be curbed, as things stand, by adding members to the Court under a Democratic President.

We are in a constitutional crisis with an extremist, runaway Court out of control, and promoting only what is good for the wealthy upper class, while the middle and lower classes will face the dangers of the damage the Supreme Court is engaged in!

Right Wing And Republicans Gone Mad: The Threat To Destroy Modern Times!

It is becoming very clear that right wing conservatism and Republicans have gone mad, as they wish to destroy modern times, and the advancements of the New Deal, Great Society, Warren Supreme Court, and promotion of change under Barack Obama and Joe Biden!

If they had their way, and it is becoming more likely, we would see women’s rights, civil rights of racial minorities, gay and lesbian rights, and privacy rights of the past generations being erased!

And corporate domination over workers’ rights would be worse, and agencies designed to make America a better place, such as the Environmental Protection Agency and the Consumer Product Safety Commission, would be denied the ability to do their work, or even maybe be eradicated!

And the role of evangelical religion would grow ever more rapidly, despite the fact that the majority of the nation is far less religious over time than it has been in the past!

It is difficult to be optimistic about the future in a nation which has gone into reverse on so many issues, both within Congress and in the federal judiciary, due to appointments by former Republican Presidents, including George W. Bush and Donald Trump!

Earth Day Celebrated For 53rd Year Since Inception In 1970 By Wisconsin Senator Gaylord Nelson

Today is the 53rd Earth Day, first occurring in 1970 when Democratic Senator Gaylord Nelson of Wisconsin promoted the first national celebration of the significance of the environment.

President Richard Nixon, however, joined in promoting the concept, and signed into law the creation of the Environmental Protection Agency the same year.

And Nixon stands out as regarded as the second greatest environmental President after Theodore Roosevelt.

He encouraged and signed into law numerous pieces of legislation, primarily promoted by Democrats, but as a Republican President, despite his many shortcomings, Nixon advocated the importance of the environment.

And ironically, Nixon died on the 25th Earth Day on April 22, 1994!

Donald Trump Presidency Far Worse Than Richard Nixon Presidency, Which Had Positive Developments

The Presidency of Richard Nixon has long been understood to have been the most dangerous time of Presidential abuse in American history, but now with Donald Trump out of office, it is clear that the 45th President was much more abusive, and much more negative, than the 37th President a half century ago!

Nixon was involved in many illegal actions, culminating in the Watergate Scandal, but more more than just that scandal, and he was facing impeachment and removal from office had he not resigned.

But Nixon also made some major advancements in domestic policy making, signing into law Democratic initiatives that he could have vetoed, and would not have become law, including;

The Environmental Protection Agency
The Consumer Product Safety Commission
Occupational Safety and Health Administration
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

He also supported Affirmative Action, and appointed Associate Justice Harry Blackmun to the Supreme Court, and also, in foreign policy, opened up to mainland China, and accomplished the Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty with the Soviet Union.

Even though Nixon’s negatives, causing more indictments and convictions than any President, were major in other actions, he ranks in the mid to low 20s in ranking among Presidential scholars for his positive initiatives.

Donald Trump ranks near the bottom of listings of Presidents, and was ever more lawless, with many revelations yet to come, and he also set out to destroy much of the Nixon domestic accomplishments. And the fact that he was impeached twice, and lost the popular vote massively twice, adds to his negatives!

So Donald Trump elevates Richard Nixon, and even Presidents seen as primarily disasters, including George W. Bush!

Earth Day Creation (1970) And Richard Nixon Passing (1994) On 25th Celebration of Earth Day!

On April 22, 1970, President Richard Nixon declared the first Earth Day, an initiative begun by Wisconsin Democratic Senator Gaylord Nelson and others, but picked up by Nixon, one of his brighter moments, along with the creation of the Environmental Protection Agency by executive order later in the year 1970.

This is the 52nd Earth Day, and now President Joe Biden is promoting a massive effort against Global Warming and Climate Change, but sadly, most Republicans in Congress are coming out against it, making the fight against the threats to the planet ever more difficult.

Ironically, Nixon died on this day in 1994, the 25th Earth Day, and 24 years after its inception.

Science And Medicine Organizations And Agencies Declare War On Donald Trump

The New England Journal Of Medicine, The Scientific American, Nature Magazine, and Science Magazine (American Association for the Advancement of Science)—all major scientific journals—have declared war on President Donald Trump, as he has repudiated and ignored science and the environment, not just in the COVID 19 Pandemic, but also by his known ignorance and rejection of science and medicine.

Nobel Laureates, and the National Academy of Sciences and National Academy of Medicine have also denounced the refusal of the federal government to listen to scientists and doctors.

And there is clear cut high levels of dissatisfaction in other government agencies, including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Institutes of Health, National Science Foundation, Food and Drug Administration, Environmental Protection Agency, and the US Geological Survey.

25 Years Since Richard Nixon Death On Earth Day

It is now a quarter century since President Richard Nixon died, ironically on Earth Day, April 22, 1994.

Nixon has been rightly criticized and attacked for the Watergate Scandal and related illegal actions, which led to his impeachment by the House Judiciary Committee, before his resignation when the Supreme Court ordered he hand over the Watergate tapes to the Special Prosecutor, Leon Jaworski.

But historians regard Nixon as the second best Environmental President of modern times, just behind Theodore Roosevelt, and ahead of Jimmy Carter, as he went along with the Democratic Congress in promoting the creation of the Environmental Protection Agency in 1970, and could have prevented it by a presidential veto.

Many might say that other Presidents belong that high up in the rankings, including Franklin D. Roosevelt, Barack Obama, Bill Clinton, and John F. Kennedy, and Obama’s involvement is still being evaluated as to where he should rank in the listings.

One thing for sure, other than TR and Nixon, no Republican President ranks high, except in the damage done, as for instance, particularly with Ronald Reagan, Warren G. Harding, and more than either of them, Donald Trump.

“Pampered, Spoiled Brat” Ready To Commit Symbolic “Reichstag Fire” Action Of Declaring National Emergency That Does Not Exist To Seize Power: Beginning Of End Of Trump Presidency

Donald Trump is about to abuse power in a way that no one can doubt the danger and the threat that he represents.

A non-existent national emergency at the US-Mexico border is about to be used as the excuse for committing a “Reichstag Fire” action by a man who inherited $200 million from his father, and is as Joe Scarborough said this morning, a “pampered, spoiled brat” who acts like a toddler in office, and is clearly mentally deranged and demented, and is a threat to the United States population and the Constitution.

Complicit in this abuse are Republicans in Congress, including Lindsey Graham, Mitch McConnell, Kevin McCarthy, Steve King, and all of the House Freedom Caucus members, as well as Fox News Channel and its talk show hosts, including Tucker Carlson, Sean Hannity, Laura Ingraham, Judge Jeanine Pirro, and Michelle Malkin, and talk radio hosts, including Rush Limbaugh, Mark Levin, Michael Savage, and rabble rousers such as Ann Coulter.

It is clear that Donald Trump is out to destroy the federal government and its agencies, after setting out to destroy the news media, law enforcement and intelligence and national security agencies, and undermining the judiciary with unqualified, incompetent and corrupt appointees to the federal courts. He will not be satisfied until he has finished the job of helping Vladimir Putin destroy America’s relationship with its allies, and undermine America’s domestic policy, and sow racial, religious, and ethnic hatred, and promote anti women and anti gay policies, in the name of white male supremacy.

At a time when federal workers are struggling to survive without paychecks; when people in Puerto Rico and in California are in need of national emergency support for natural disasters in the name of hurricanes and forest fires; when we have dire need for promotion of infrastructure spending, health care, education, and so many other needs, Donald Trump is declaring war on American democracy.

Donald Trump must be stopped from his abuse of power, and it is assured that the courts will rule against him, and the Congress will expose his human rights crimes against immigrants and children, and his nasty, mean spirited lack of empathy for human suffering.

The man is a cancer on the American system of government, and the crime of collusion with Russia will be further exposed when Michael Cohen testifies before Congress in February.

Meanwhile, if Donald Trump declares the equivalent of martial law to protect himself, mass demonstrations and demands for his removal from office must begin, as we face the greatest constitutional crisis since the Civil War, much worse than the Watergate Crisis under Richard Nixon.

May responsible conservative writers and commentators have joined liberals in denouncing the authoritarian bent of Donald Trump, much closer to Fascism than many realize.

We are likely to see crises arise, in such agencies as air traffic control, Transportation Security Administration, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the Secret Service, the Federal Courts, the Internal Revenue Service, the Food and Drug Administration, the Environmental Protection Agency, and many other agencies. All are part of the protective nature of our federal agencies which are now crippled, as we have a longer government shutdown than ever before in American history.

The office of the American Presidency has reached a stage of being an Imperial Presidency run amuck, much worse than Richard Nixon represented, and Donald Trump must be stopped in his abuse of power for the survival of constitutional government, and sooner, rather than later.