Submarining the Chumph

Submarining the most hated POS in America, anyway they can. The war inside the Executive Branch cornholing Putin’s Bitch any way they can.

Federal employees have found ingenious ways to thwart Trump’s absurd anti-Obama agenda

Pundits have joked that President Donald Trump has a list of accomplishments from Barack Obama’s administration and is going through them one by one in efforts to destroy them. While the reality is probably less about Obama and more about progressive policies in general, the Trump administration has gone through a list of Obama-era accomplishments and attempted to undermine or end them.

In a Monday report, Bloomberg News revealed government employees are circumventing absurd Trump administration demands by simply renaming things.

The example Bloomberg highlighted is a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) opinion that climate change is real, it’s a serious problem and that it is man-made. Trump’s policy, however, vacillates between believing it isn’t real or that it’s a “hoax” perpetuated by the Chinese. Trump’s appointees at the Commerce Department have complained to the staff at NOAA, which it oversees, but they’ve never demanded changes to scientific findings, research or reports.

Some of the estimated two million staffers have managed to “obstruct, slow down or simply ignore” Trump.

“Everything coming out of NOAA does not reflect this administration,” retired lawyer David Schnare said. He worked for a think tank that is skeptical about climate change. “It reflects the last one.”

The same is happening at the Securities and Exchange Commission, where a report was released contradicting Trump’s position about banking regulations. Embassy staff at the State Department are maintaining programs that boost economies in developing nations, which is in opposition to Trump’s “America First” philosophy. Instead of it being about the economy of a third-world nation, they changed the label so that it’s about creating markets for U.S. exports.

Secretary of Energy Rick Perry commissioned a report on the dangers of putting energy onto the power grid from wind and solar energy. The published report proved the exact opposite. Pentagon staffers have outright refused to implement Trump’s policy of barring transgender soldiers from serving in the military. In November, they paid for one such gender-reassignment surgery for a soldier.

The General Services Administration (GSA) has a fleet of over 1,000 electric cars thanks to a 2011 program aimed at building “a 21st century clean energy economy.” That’s in conflict with the Trump administrations’ position on climate change as well. So, the GSA labeled it as a job creator.

“GSA recognizes that emerging technologies play a significant role in our mission to save taxpayer dollars, create jobs and stimulate economic growth in the United States; which is one reason we provide the federal fleet with vehicles that offer the latest and most efficient transportation technologies available, including electric vehicle (EV) technology,” the agency celebrating “National Drive Electric Week.”

The largest barrier to the White House being able to enforce their agenda from top to bottom is Trump’s inability to hire or appoint the necessary staffers and leaders. “Less than two-thirds as many appointments have been submitted and won Senate confirmation,” Bloomberg reported, comparing it to where the Obama administration was at the same time.

Even with appointments, however, there are millions of government employees who maintain their job regardless of who is in office.

“It’s an enormous challenge for a new president and administration to exert influence over the bureaucracy,” Vanderbilt political science professor David Lewis explained. “They know a lot more than the political appointees who come into the agencies. That gives them an advantage.”

While Trump will likely blame “the deep state” or partisan hacks in departments, the bureaucrats are far from it.

“The bureaucracy is generally resistant, no matter what the hell you’re trying to do,” said former Clinton and Obama transition head Leon Panetta. When a president begins as Trump did, admitting he plans to disrupt things, getting staff to implement such policies “is gonna take a hell of a lot longer.”

In the NOAA case, Trump appointees attacked the report “unacceptable” and “inflammatory.” The report was then leaked to the press, which makes it more difficult for staff to make any changes without the public noticing.

 

Scientists, Hackers, Gov’t Employees Back Up Gov’t Databases in Europe to Prevent Trump Destruction

Anyone who doesn’t believe this isn’t headed to insurrection – may want to take note of this. There has been a massive effort by Scientists, Government Worker, and Hackers to back up US Databases to European Servers in order to protect the data, starting the day after it was announced the Chumph “won” the presidency. Such effort goes far beyond what this article discusses – an an all out effort to protect information from the Chumph’s filthy racist scum.

So far, we can see that the Chumph has suborned some of Homeland Security’s TSA people. Specifically at Dulles Airport in Washington, DC – where TSA/Homeland Security refused the Legal orders of a Federal High Court in violation of the Constitution, and their charter. While officers from the same department carried out the Court Orders in the rest of the country. This is the beginning of a Constitutional Crisis, and with the Chumph doubling-down on his Executive Order is an Impeachable Offense which is a violation of his Oath of Office.

I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States.

 

 

Battling the Government Beast

In a number of jurisdictions around the country, local boards or councils have tried to raise money by obscenely increasing fines. In a local county, they actually increased the fine for a Parking Ticket from $25 to $300, and started aggressively enforcing. Local businesses took a hit, as a lot fewer people decided to visit the restaurants and shops in the area, and the local citizenry started raising hell.

So how do you fight back against the machine? Here is one guy’s solution.

 

CIA Dropped the Dime on Mandela’s Location During Apartheid

Turns out the CIA assisted in the capture of Nelson Mandela in 1962, providing the Apartheid Government his location. This led to Mandela being imprisoned at the infamous Robbins Island Prison for 27 years…

Gotta love the BBC Report about “no formal link to the CIA”…

Even the folks who work in CIA Headquarters have no “formal link” with the Agency. If everybody knew who the CIA people were…

They would make pretty crappy spies.

CIA GAVE TIP-OFF THAT LED TO NELSON MANDELA’S ARREST, FORMER AGENT SAYS

A CIA agent gave the tip-off to South African authorities that led to the arrest of Nelson Mandela during the apartheid era, according to a filmmaker’s interview with the agent on his deathbed.

British film director John Irvin’s interview with former CIA agent Donald Rickard about Mandela’s arrest in 1962 is to be used as part of Irvin’s new film, Mandela’s Gun, which is set to be screened at Cannes Film Festival this week.

“He could have incited a war in South Africa, the United States would have to get involved, grudgingly, and things could have gone to hell,” Rickard said, accordingly to The Sunday Times.

“We were teetering on the brink here and it had to be stopped, which meant Mandela had to be stopped. And I put a stop to it.”

Mandela’s arrest led to his infamous 27-year stint in incarceration on Robben Island before authorities released him in 1990. Police stopped Mandela at a roadblock while he posed as a chauffeur; Rickard said that he was the informer that gave authorities information of Mandela’s plans on the day of the arrest.

“I found out when he was coming down and how he was coming,” Rickard said. “That’s where I was involved and that’s where Mandela was caught.”

A friend and co-defendant of Mandela’s, Denis Goldberg, told The Sunday Times that the former South African president, the country’s first-ever black leader, “always knew” about the CIA’s role in his arrest but upon his release believed that it no longer mattered.

The South African government criticized the U.S. following the revelation and said that Washington is still working against the ruling African National Congress (ANC) party. “We have recently observed that there are efforts to undermine the democratically elected ANC government,” Zizi Kodwa told Fox News. “They never stopped operating here.”

Mandela’s Gun is about Mandela’s brief period as a rebel before his incarceration. Rickard died in 2015 and worked as a diplomat in South Africa, with no formal link to the CIA, according to the BBC. Mandela died at the age of 95 in 2013.

 

CWA Goes on Strike at Verizon

At least one of he major issues between the Communications Workers of America Union and Verizon is the company’s shipping of call center jobs to India.

Lowell McAdam, CEO at Verizon has come under fire from Bernie Sanders for corporate responsibility, As McAdam points out – the company, unlike others does pay taxes, and does invest in America –

His first accusation – that Verizon doesn’t pay its fair share of taxes – is just plain wrong. As our financial statements clearly show, we’ve paid more than $15.6 billion in taxes over the last two years – that’s a 35% tax rate in 2015, for anyone who’s counting. We’ve laid out the facts repeatedly and did so again yesterday (see “Sen. Sanders needs to get his facts straight” at Verizon.com/about/news). The senator has started to fudge his language – talking of taxes not paid in some unspecified “given year” – but that doesn’t make his contention any less false.

Sen. Sanders also claims that Verizon doesn’t use its profits to benefit America. Again, a look at the facts says otherwise. In the last two years, Verizon has invested some $35 billion in infrastructure — virtually all of it in the U.S. — and paid out more than $16 billion in dividends to the millions of average Americans who invest in our stock. In Sanders’s home state of Vermont alone, Verizon has invested more than $16 million in plant and equipment and pays close to $42 million a year to vendors and suppliers, many of them small and medium-sized businesses. Just yesterday, we announced a $300 million investment to bring fiber to the city of Boston, which will make it one of the most technologically advanced cities in the nation and expand broadband access for its residents. Boston’s Mayor Walsh is partnering with us on this initiative, calling it crucial for providing the foundation for future technology growth. We’re making significant investments in New York City, Philadelphia and other metro areas throughout our wireline footprint.

Verizon is one of the top 3 capital investors in all corporate America.

True. But missing the fact that the reassembly of “Ma Bell” into a three headed monopoly on both wired and wireless services hasn’t done the county much good in terms of stimulating development of new technologies and specifically in the area of development of new businesses. That isn’t all Verizon’s doing. They have had a lot of help with that from techno-ignorant clowns on the Hill, and a compliant FCC.

Despite the worst efforts of the conservative Reich  – at least one union still survives in the US.

And yes, BTx3 is a former member.

Bernie shakes hands with the Picket Line

Tens Of Thousands Of Verizon Workers Go On Strike

Nearly 40,000 workers at Verizon have gone on strike, objecting to, among other things, outsourcing and temporary location transfers.

The two unions representing Verizon workers say their employees have been without a contract since August. They call the walkout, which began at 6 a.m. ET Wednesday, “by far the largest work stoppage in the country in recent years.”

NPR’s Joel Rose tells our Newscast unit:

“The striking employees mostly work in Verizon’s wireline business — landline phone, video and Internet — on the East Coast.

“The company says it’s offering a 6 percent raise, but needs to make what it calls ‘critical changes to its legacy contracts’ to reduce health care costs and retirement benefits.”

The unions — the Communications Workers of America and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers — say Verizon has made billions in profits, while still looking to spend less on employee benefits, Joel says.

Other objections from the union include offshoring of jobs, increasing use of contract workers and Verizon’s request for the ability to give workers two-month assignments that would require relocating — what the unions call “family-busting transfers.”

Verizon, which accuses union leaders of “ignoring today’s digital realities,” said Wednesday that it had indicated a willingness to enter into mediation if the unions extended their strike deadline, but that the unions refused.

The telecom giant says it is ready to serve customers during the walkout; a strike readiness team has been preparing for more than a year, the company said in a statement.

Thousands of nonunion employees have been trained as fill-ins, and they will be reassigning employees from elsewhere in the U.S. and other units in the company.

 

The Battle at Mayonaise!

This one has been going on for about 2 years believe it or not. Some folks just take their Mayo more seriously than others. Of course with Southern favorite, Dukes moving north and gaining traction, Hellman’s, the largest Mayo brand in the US, is beginning to feel some pressure. A small company came up with the idea of Vegan Mayo…And that’s when the troops rallied, the cannons began to fire, as the stuff became so popular, Whole Foods couldn’t keep it in stock… Just another case of how big business can kill off the little guys, with government help.

And then there is the stereotype forwarded in the really bad “Undercover Brother” movie of years gone by that black folks don’t like mayo…

A Food Giant Wanted to Squash Eggless Mayo. It Just Lost.

In the great mayo wars of 2015, there is finally a winner.

For those who haven’t been following the scandal-filled sandwich spread controversy, a bit of background: It all began in 2013, when the egg-alternative food startup company Hampton Creek launched a vegan mayonnaise-like product called Just Mayo, which soon became Whole Foods’ most popular mayonnaise.

So popular was Just Mayo, in fact, that in November 2014, Unilever, parent company of market leader Hellmann’s, sued Hampton Creek for false advertising and unfair competition. The food giant argued that Just Mayo, because it contained no eggs, “damages the entire product category, which has strived for decades for a consistent definition of ‘mayonnaise’ that fits with consumer expectations.” Unilever dropped the lawsuit about a month later “as consumers heaped scorn on the company for what they viewed as a frivolous lawsuit,” the food industry news site Food Divereported.

Nevertheless, in August of this year the FDA ruled that Hampton Creek couldn’t call its product mayonnaise. “The use of the term ‘mayo’ in the product names and the image of an egg may be misleading to consumers because it may lead them to believe that the products are the standardized food, mayonnaise,” the FDA said in a statement.

Then, in September, internal emails from the American Egg Board surfaced. They showed that the industry group had tried to stop Whole Foods from selling Just Mayo—and that Egg Board members were really worked up over Hampton Creek. From the Guardian:

More than one member of the AEB made joking threats of violence against Hampton Creek’s founder, Josh Tetrick. “Can we pool our money and put a hit on him?” asked Mike Sencer, executive vice-president of AEB member organization Hidden Villa Ranch. Mitch Kanter, executive vice-president of the AEB, jokingly offered “to contact some of my old buddies in Brooklyn to pay Mr. Tetrick a visit.”

Egg Board CEO Joanne Ivy retired early in the wake of the episode.

While all that was going on, Hampton Creek was working with the FDA on a compromise, and today, the company announced that it will be allowed to keep the name Just Mayo, as long as it makes its eggless-ness even clearer on the product label. The AP’s Candice Choi reports:

The changes include making the words ‘egg-free’ larger and adding ‘Spread & Dressing.’ An image of an egg with a pea shoot inside will also be smaller.

Now, all this hoopla over a “spread and dressing” and its picture of a pea-shoot-bearing egg might seem ridiculous, but keep in mind that this business played out against the backdrop of a devastating avian flu outbreak that hobbled the egg industry. What’s more, in April two former egg industry executives were sentenced to jail time for their connection with a 2010 salmonella outbreak that is thought to have sickened as many as 56,000 people.

All those egg woes aside, there’s another reason behind egg purveyors’ massive freak-out: At least according to writer Rowan Jacobsen, unlike most other eggless mayonnaise products, Just Mayo actually tastes good.

 

Taxation Through Citation

Larry Lessig, here being interviewed by Cenk Uygur lays out the corrupt system of Civil fines… And while Ferguson may be the most exposed example, as we have seen in Biloxi and other areas, this isn’t just an isolated systemic-abuse problem.

 

Ted Cruz Gets Smacked Down by Fellow Republicans

This has been a long time coming…The Adults are moving to take control back.

Cruz sternly rebuked by GOP

Ted Cruz can’t even get a protest vote in the Senate anymore.

On Monday night, Cruz’s colleagues ignored his attempt to disrupt Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s efforts to fund the government without attacking Planned Parenthood. In an unusual rebuke, even fellow Republicans denied him a “sufficient second” that would have allowed him a roll call vote.

Then, his Republican colleagues loudly bellowed “no” when Cruz sought a voice vote, a second repudiation that showed how little support Cruz has: Just one other GOP senator — Utah’s Mike Lee — joined with Cruz as he was overruled by McConnell and his deputies.

It was the second time that Cruz had been denied a procedural courtesy that’s routinely granted to senators in both parties. The first came after he called McConnell a liar this summer.

 

How Conservatism Makes You Stupid

Christian victimhood is a favorite meme of the evangelical Christian right. To combat such, legislators have embarked on a pogrom to install Christian monuments on the grounds of, or in the courtrooms of the nation. The problem being, the Founding Fathers of the country, many of who themselves escaped, or were the descendants of those who escaped state sponsored religious persecution to come to America…

Weren’t about to let the same thing happen here.

As a child I can remember the family dinner conversation about Robert F, Kennedy’s candidacy. My father, being an educator and historian, who had been persecuted by McCarthy in the early 50’s demanded of his sons the ability to lucidly discuss current events and history at the table. Like a lot of educators I have known through the years, it was my Dad’s personal belief to maintain and improve family eugenics through education. Conversation de jour was the fact that Kennedy was a Catholic, and his opponents assault on his patriotism questioning whether he answer to the Pope…Or America.

Well…With the placement of the 10 Commandments on the Courthouse grounds or walls by evangelical right wingers – do they report to their very own denominational interpretation of God…Or the Republic?

And that Constitution thing…If you put the 10 Commandments up – then you have to put up something for every other religion…Like this:

Baphomet an Occult Demon Statue in Detroit

Atheists Join Hindus, Vegans, Satanists In Asking For State Capitol Monument

Arkansas recently approved a measure to build a statue of the Ten Commandments on the state capitol grounds.

When Arkansas lawmakers passed a bill this year calling for the creation of a privately funded Ten Commandments monument at the state Capitol building in Little Rock, they clarified in the legislation that the move shouldn’t be “construed to mean that the State of Arkansas favors any particular religion or denomination over others.”

Construction hasn’t yet begun on the tribute to Old Testament scripture — but already, a number of religious and secular groups have come forward to put the lawmakers’ claim to the test, demanding that they also be allowed to erect their own statues on the capitol grounds.

The latest request, submitted last month by the Freedom From Religion Foundation, a national group that advocates for the separation of church and state, calls upon Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson (R) and Arkansas Secretary of State, Mark Martin (R), to build a “no gods” monument that represents the “views of citizens who reject the biblical or religious perspective.”

In a letter, FFRF Co-Presidents Dan Barker and Annie Laurie Gaylor tell Hutchison and Martin that “most freethinkers find the Ten Commandments to epitomize the childishness, the vindictiveness, the sexism, the inflexibility and the inadequacies of the bible as a book of morals.” They then request that they be allowed to fund their own statue at the capitol, which would display the following text:

MAY REASON PREVAIL

There are no gods, no devils, no angels, no heaven or hell.
There is only our natural world.
Religion is but myth and superstition that hardens hearts and enslaves minds.

Freedom depends on freethinkers

KEEP STATE AND CHURCH SEPARATE

Presented (add date) to the State of Arkansas on behalf of the membership of the Freedom From Religion Foundation, in honor of the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

The FFRF’s proposal joins a list of similar requests from other groups, none of which have been approved. In August, the Nevada-based Universal Society of Hinduism received a rejection notice after asking for permission to build a tribute to the Hindu god Hanuman, a monkey-faced deity revered for his strength and skill as a linguist and grammarian.

Hanuman A Hindu God

The society’s president, Rajan Zed, told The Associated Press that he had apparently submitted his request to the wrong board, and must instead apply through the Arkansas General Assembly or submit an application to the Arkansas State Capitol Arts and Grounds Commission.

The FFRF appears to have copied the commission in its letter, which can be read in full below.

The Satanic Temple, a group known for taking a more in-your-face approach to the issue of separation of church and state, is also reportedly considering staking out some real estate on the Arkansas capitol grounds. The group nearly succeeded in placing a massive bronze statue of Baphomet, a satyr-like horned idol, outside the Oklahoma state capitol earlier this year — near a massive stone tablet of the Ten Commandments.

But the group was forced to move the monument to Detroit after the Oklahoma Supreme Court ruled that such religious displays, including the monument to the Ten Commandments, were unconstitutional.

What is good for the Goose…Is indeed good for the Gander.

 

An Open Letter From Actor Kirk Douglass – Apologize For Slavery!

This one really surprised me. Not because of who is saying it (Spartacus!) – but because of the timing.

Thank You for pointing that out, Mr. Douglas.

 

An Open Letter to All Those Who Would Be President

If you want my vote in November of 2016, I am asking you to do something right now.

America has never formally acknowledged and apologized for the unspeakable evil of slavery. So I am asking Republicans and Democrats alike to apologize to the American people. Our continued refusal to apologize for slavery still shames and divides our nation. It is past the time to heal.

I have lived a long time — 98 years — and I have seen many incredible things.

I remember the days when the Ku Klux Klan was very powerful. They burned crosses on lawns.

I remember when there were segregated drinking fountains and bathrooms.

I’ve even lived long enough to see a black man elected president — twice. Incredibly, he now lives in a house that was built by slaves.

I hope to live long enough to see one of the candidates promise an apology for slavery. We cannot erase our history, but we can pledge that hatred will be banished from our great land.

I look forward to your reply.

 

Rand Paul …Again

One of the things that should be required in this country as a condition to hold office is to pass you basic High School Government and Civics exam. I mean, if they can test poor people for drug use as a basis of receiving aid, then we ought to test all elected officials for intelligence, and a comprehensive understanding of how our systm of government works…

I mean, if you are too stupid to understand it, then by no means should you be allowed to serve.

That would eliminate a lot of problems in America.

Rand Paul: Majority Rule Gave Us Jim Crow, Japanese Internment

Senator Rand Paul, exercising his minority rights by conducting a filibuster on the US Senate floor…

Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) compared President Barack Obama winning elections to Jim Crow laws and Japanese internment on Thursday, arguing that they all grew out of “majority rule” thinking.

On the Fox News show “On The Record”, host Greta Van Susteren asked him about Obama. “He is quoted back in January 23rd, 2009, right when he became president first term. He said, ‘I won, so I think on that one I trump you.’ I mean, this is sort of — this has always been the viewpoint he has communicated to Republicans on the Hill,” she said.

Paul responded, “Well, you know, the danger to majority rule, to him sort of thinking, the majority voted for me now I’m the majority, I can do whatever I want and that there are no rules that restrain me — that’s what gave us Jim Crow. That’s what gave us the internment of the Japanese — that the majority said, ‘you don’t have individual rights and individual rights don’t come from your creator and they are not guaranteed by the constitution.’ Just whatever the majority wants.”

He went on, “There is a real danger to that viewpoint. It’s consistent with the progressive viewpoint. It’s been going on for 100 years. Progressives believe in majority rule, not constitutional rule. They don’t believe that rights are inherent to the individual. They think your rights are whatever the government says they are, whatever the majority says.”

But Paul’s comment that Jim Crow grew out of majority rule does not jibe with history. Blacks were absolute majorities in Louisiana, Mississippi and South Carolina — and made up more than 40 percent of the population in Alabama, Florida, Georgia and Virginia — during the 1880s, just after Jim Crow laws began. Presumably, if there was majority rule, then Jim Crow would not have been enacted.

Japanese internment began after then- President Franklin D. Roosevelt issued an executive order that the Supreme Court upheld in Korematsu v. United States.

 

Speaker Boehner – “Tea Party Has Lost All Credibility”

The internal battle for the Republican Party heats up. Republican House speaker , John Boehner hammers the Tea Party over their intransigence, and refusal to participate in a functional Government…

 

 

Beginning to look like the Adults are taking charge again…

 

What ‘s Open and Closed in a Government Shutdown

The following is a list of what will shut down tomorrow if and agreement is not reached on the debt ceiling… Something between 1.5 and 2 million people will be laid off.Only about 800,000 of that is Federal workers. The bulk of the layoffs will be in the 3 million or so federal contract workers, affecting small, medium and large companies. Estimated costs to taxpayers will be in the $50 million to $100 million a day range, not counting what happens in financial markets.

U.S. Postal Service – OPEN

Mail will continue to be delivered, as the U.S. Postal Service is an independent agency.MORE INFO

National parks – CLOSED

“Effective immediately upon a lapse in appropriations, the National Park Service will take all necessary steps to close and secure national park facilities and grounds.”MORE INFO

Passport offices – PROBABLY OPEN

“Consular operations domestically and overseas will remain 100% operational as long as there are sufficient fees to support operations. However, if a passport agency is located in a government building affected by a lapse in appropriations, the facility may become unsupported.”MORE INFO

National zoo, all Federal Facilities (National Aquarium, National Arboretum, National Archives, Smithsonian, National Gallery of Art    etc) – CLOSED

The Smithsonian-run National Zoo will close, and none of its live animal cameras will be broadcast, including the popular baby panda feed.MORE INFO

Social Security,  Medicare and Medicaid – OPEN

Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, and unemployment insurance — benefits considered mandatory spending — would be paid. But new applicants might not have their applications processed until the government reopened.MORE INFO

Equal Employment Opportunity Commission      – CLOSED

Export-Import Bank of the United States – CLOSED

Federal Communications Commission – CLOSED

FDIC Office of Inspector General – CLOSED

Federal Election Commission- CLOSED

Federal Labor Relations Authority – CLOSED

Federal Trade Commission – CLOSED

Millennium Challenge Corporation – CLOSED

National Science Foundation – CLOSED

U.S. courts – Open for 10 Days

Civilian military workers (Department of Defense) – CLOSED (About 800,000 will be furloughed)

Commodity Futures Trading Commission – CLOSED

Consumer Product Safety Commission – CLOSED

Department of Education – CLOSED

Department of Interior – CLOSED

Department of Justice – Partially CLOSED

Department of Labor – Partially CLOSED

Department of Commerce Partially CLOSED

Department of Energy – Partially CLOSED

Department of Transportation – Partially CLOSE

Department of Homeland Security – Partially CLOSED

Environmental Protection Agency – Partially CLOSED

Executive Office of the President – Partially CLOSED

General Services Administration – Partially CLOSED

U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development – Partially CLOSED

Treasury – Partially CLOSED

Small Business Administration – Partially CLOSED

Public schools – OPEN

While public schools will remain open, the U.S. Education Department will stop most of its operations. Among other things, payment of Pell Grants and Direct Student Loans could be delayed.MORE INFO

Government Contractors – Many Closed

Anyone with a T&M type contract will not be able to do work for the gvernment, Whether the companies decide to furlough workers is up to them. Even if a contract is fully funded, contractor employees might be in a jam if they work in a federal building that is closed or with federal workers who are furloughed because of the shutdown.MORE INFO

U.S. Capitol – CLOSED

Public tours of the U.S. Capitol will be suspended in the event of a government shutdown.MORE INFO

Federal courts – OPEN

According to Judge John D. Bates, director of the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts, federal courts could continue to operate for approximately two weeks with reserve funds.MORE INFO

Immigration procedures – PROBABLY OPEN

The Department of Homeland Security will no longer operate its E-Verify program, which means that businesses will not be able to check on the legal immigration status of prospective employees during the shutdown. Other fee-based immigration services should continue.MORE INFO

WIC program – CLOSED

The WIC program, which provides food to 8.9 million low-income women and children, would be out of money, its supporters say.MORE INFO

VA disability claims – CLOSED

All VA medical facilities would remain open for inpatient and outpatient care, but benefits programs overseen by the VA would probably be affected by a shutdown.MORE INFO

Federal prisons – OPEN

Federal prisons would be staffed. MORE INFO

SNAP – OPEN for 30 days

USDA said funding for Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits — formerly known as food stamps — will continue in October under authority granted by the 2009 stimulus bill.MORE INFO

Airports – OPEN

Air traffic controllers and baggage screeners are considered essential, so planes will fly.MORE INFO

IRS – PROBABLY CLOSED

Tax filers facing an Oct. 15 deadline would find the phone lines at the Internal Revenue Service dead.MORE INFO

Food inspectors – OPEN

Meat and poultry inspectors will keep working.MORE INFO

Patent and Trademark Office – OPEN

The Department of Commerce will maintain patent and trademark application processing during the shutdown.MORE INFO

Amtrak – OPEN

Amtrak officials have said trains will continue to run.MORE INFO

Congressional Budget Office – CLOSED

Merit Systems Protection Board – CLOSED

 

 

The Racism in Italy – It’s Not Just Spain

 

Italy Integration minister Cecile Kyenge, who was born in Democratic Republic of Congo

 

Wherever you have a “right wing” – You have racism. In this, the US is no different from Europe.

Bananas Thrown At Black Italian Minister, Cecile Kyenge, During Speech

Italy’s first black minister, a target of racist slurs since her appointment in April, has condemned a spectator who threw bananas towards her while she was making a speech at a party rally.

Integration minister Cecile Kyenge, who was born in Democratic Republic of Congo, has angered far-right groups with her campaign to make it easier for immigrants to gain Italian citizenship.

Shortly before the incident on Friday, members of the right-wing Forza Nuova group left mannequins covered in fake blood at the site of the rally in Cervia, central Italy, in protest against Kyenge’s proposal to make anyone born on Italian soil a citizen.

“Immigration kills,” was written on leaflets accompanying the dummies – a slogan Forza Nuova has previously used when referring to murders committed by immigrants in Italy.

Although the bananas missed the stage where Kyenge was speaking, she responded to the gesture on Twitter, calling it “sad” and a waste of food, considering the economic crisis.

“The courage and optimism to change things has to come above all from the bottom up to reach the institutions,” she added.

Kyenge has faced regular insults since becoming minister, often from other politicians. Earlier this month a senior parliamentarian in the anti-immigration Northern League party likened her to an orangutan and only apologised after a storm of criticism.

 

 

Haiti (Finally) Gets a New Prime Minister

The most powerful man in Haiti is not the President – it is the Prime Minister. Under the Haitian Constitution, the Prime Minister holds absolute control of the purse strings, appointment of members of the Cabinet, and control over lower level Government appointments.

In a battle reminiscent of Republicans holding up Democrat appointments in the US – the Haiti Senate has roadblocked President Martelly’s appointments to the Prime Minister position since President Martlelly took office in May. Two candidates have been outright rejected.

What this has meant for the country is that reconstruction of the major infrastructure has been at a complete standstill. There has been virtually no work done on any of the critical systems in the country, other than that done by the sheer guts and perspicacity of the local citizenry. Announcements of various projects, or international investments and aid have been largely symbolic, as since the resignation of the previous Prime Minister there has be no one in the Haitian Government with the authority to sign a contract on behalf of the Government of Haiti.

So the appointment and ratification by the Haitian Congress of Dr. Cornille is being greeted warmly by the international and local Haitian communities. Hopefully – nearly 2 years after the devastating earthquake.

Bill Clinton aide confirmed as Haitian prime minister

Haiti’s Senate confirmed the nomination of Garry Conille, an advisor to former US president Bill Clinton, to be the country’s prime minister.

Conille, a 45-year-old physician by training, was the third candidate put forward by President Michel Martelly for the post in a bid to end a three-month long impasse over the makeup of his fledgling government.

Seventeen senators voted in favor of Conille’s candidacy, three voted against it and nine abstained during the hours-long session.

Conille’s selection was approved by the lower house of parliament last month.

Senate president Rodolphe Joazile announced that the candidacy had been ratified, but Senator Joseph Lambert of the opposition UNITE party said the body had not given Conille a “blank check” and that he should also seek a vote of confidence from the two chambers of parliament.

The prime minister in Haiti is appointed by the president and mainly serves as cabinet chief.

Conille has been serving as chief of staff to Clinton who, as the UN special envoy for Haiti, is a key player in deciding how the impoverished country will spend millions of dollars in international reconstruction aid.

Conille was educated in Haiti and received graduate training in health administration at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill as a Fulbright scholar.

He has also worked as the United Nations Development Program’s (UNDP) resident representative for Niger.

Martelly, a popular former singer elected by a wide margin, was sworn in as president of Haiti on May 14 but has not yet put his government in place amid resistance from the opposition-dominated parliament.

Martelly vowed to “change Haiti” upon taking office, promising to restore order and confidence in a country struggling to emerge from one of the most destructive earthquakes of modern times.

Much of the capital was leveled in a 7.0-magnitude quake in January 2010 that killed more than 225,000 people and left one in seven homeless in a nation that was already the poorest in the Americas.

The pace of reconstruction has been painfully slow for hundreds of thousands of traumatized survivors who lost everything and are forced to live in squalid tent cities around the still-ruined capital.

UN aid chief Valerie Amos called for continued humanitarian assistance to Haiti on Thursday, stressing that it was still a country in crisis.

Visiting the country during a two-day evaluation mission, Amos said the 600,000 people still living in camps have urgent needs for basic food, water, sanitation and housing services.

The humanitarian situation has been further aggravated by a cholera epidemic that has killed more than 5,000 people, food insecurity for 4.5 million and an active hurricane season that has already destroyed homes and crops.