Author Archives: Denise Simon

AOC’S Green New Deal at $7 TRILLION

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The entire stock of all cows will have to die due to flatulence. Furthermore, no way Alexandria Ocasio Cortez wrote this alone, she has no clue what quantitative easing is, her method to pay for this deal by 2030. How will people travel to Hawaii when AOC grounds all airplanes? Has she calculated the cost of no airline travel to worldwide industry?

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Fights the Power | The Nation

BTW: The actual resolution that outlines the Green New Deal does not include the “unwilling to work” part, but the overview document, released by New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s office, does include the “unwilling” language. The overview entails the “nuts and bolts” of the plan. Ocasio-Cortez identifies as a democratic socialist.

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We will begin work immediately on Green New Deal bills to put the nuts and bolts on the plan described in this resolution (important to say so someone else can’t claim this mantle).

  • This is a massive transformation of our society with clear goals and a timeline.

 

*The Green New Deal resolution a 10-year plan to mobilize every aspect of American society at a scale not seen since World War 2 to achieve net-zero greenhouse gas emissions and create economic prosperity for all. It will:

§Move America to 100% clean and renewable energy

§Create millions of family supporting-wage, union jobs

§Ensure a just transition for all communities and workers to ensure economic security for people and communities that have historically relied on fossil fuel industries§Ensure justice and equity for front-line communities by prioritizing investment, training, climate and community resiliency, economic and environmental benefits in these communities.

§Build on FDR’s second bill of rights by guaranteeing:·

A job with a family-sustaining wage, family and medical leave, vacations, and retirement security·

High-quality education, including higher education and trade schools·

Clean air and water and access to nature· Healthy food· High-quality health care· Safe, affordable, adequate housing ·Economic environment free of monopolies ·Economic security for all who are unable or unwilling to work· There is no time to waste.

*IPCC Report said global emissions must be cut by by 40-60% by 2030. US is 20% of total emissions. We must get to 0 by 2030 and lead the world in a global Green New Deal.·Americans love a challenge. This is our moonshot.

*When JFK said we’d go to the by the end of the decade, people said impossible.

*If Eisenhower wanted to build the interstate highway system today, people would ask how we’d pay for it.

*When FDR called on America to build 185,000 planes to fight World War 2, every business leader, CEO, and general laughed at him. At the time, the U.S. had produced 3,000 planes in the last year. By the end of the war, we produced 300,000 planes. That’s what we are capable of if we have real leadership· This is massive investment in our economy and society, not expenditure.

*We invested 40-50% of GDP into our economy during World War 2 and created the greatest middle class the US has seen.

*The interstate highway system has returned more than $6 in economic productivity for every $1 it cost.

*This is massively expanding existing and building new industries at a rapid pace – growing our economy· The Green New Deal has momentum. o92 percent of Democrats and 64 percent of Republicans support the Green New Deal

*Nearly every major Democratic Presidential contender say they back the Green New deal including: Elizabeth Warren, Cory Booker, Kamala Harris, Jeff Merkeley, Julian Castro, Kirsten Gillibrand, Bernie Sanders, Tulsi Gabbard, and Jay Inslee.

*45 House Reps and 330+ groups backed the original resolution for a select committee

*Over 300 local and state politicians have called for a federal Green New Deal

*New Resolution has20 co-sponsors, about 30 groups (numbers will change by Thursday).

FAQ

Why 100% clean and renewable and not just 100% renewable? Are you saying we won’t transition off fossil fuels?

Yes, we are calling for a full transition off fossil fuels and zero greenhouse gases. Anyone who has read the resolution sees that we spell this out through a plan that calls for eliminating greenhouse gas emissions from every sector of the economy. Simply banning fossil fuels immediately won’t build the new economy to replace it – this is the plan to build that new economy and spells out how to do it technically. We do this through a huge mobilization to create the renewable energy economy as fast as possible. We set a goal to get to net-zero, rather than zero emissions, in 10 years because we aren’t sure that we’ll be able to fully get rid of farting cows and airplanes that fast, but we think we can ramp up renewable manufacturing and power production, retrofit every building in America, build the smart grid, overhaul transportation and agriculture, plant lots of trees and restore our ecosystem to get to net-zero.

Is nuclear a part of this?

A Green New Deal is a massive investment in renewable energy production and would not include creating new nuclear plants. It’s unclear if we will be able to decommission every nuclear plant within 10 years, but the plan is to transition off of nuclear and all fossil fuels as soon as possible. No one has put the full 10-year plan together yet, and if it is possible to get to fully 100% renewable in 10 years, we will do that.

Does this include a carbon tax?

The Green New Deal is a massive investment in the production of renewable energy industries and infrastructure. We cannot simply tax gas and expect workers to figure out another way to get to work unless we’ve first created a better, more affordable option. So we’re not ruling a carbon tax out, but a carbon tax would be a tiny part of a Green New Deal in the face of the gigantic expansion of our productive economy and would have to be preceded by first creating the solutions necessary so that workers and working class communities are not affected. While a carbon tax may be a part of the Green New Deal, it misses the point and would be off the table unless we create the clean, affordable options first. Does this include cap and trade?

 

The Green New Deal is about creating the renewable energy economy through a massive investment in our society and economy. Cap and trade assumes the existing market will solve this problem for us, and that’s simply not true. While cap and trade may be a tiny part of the larger Green New Deal plan to mobilize our economy, any cap and trade legislation will pale in comparison to the size of the mobilization and must recognize that existing legislation can incentivize companies to create toxic hot spots in frontline communities, so anything here must ensure that front-line communities are prioritized.

Does a GND ban all new fossil fuel infrastructure or nuclear power plants?

The Green New Deal makes new fossil fuel infrastructure or nuclear plants unnecessary. This is a massive mobilization of all our resources into renewable energies. It would simply not make sense to build new fossil fuel infrastructure because we will be creating a plan to reorient our entire economy to work off renewable energy. Simply banning fossil fuels and nuclear plants immediately won’t build the new economy to replace it – this is the plan to build that new economy and spells out how to do it technically.

Are you for CCUS?

We believe the right way to capture carbon is to plant trees and restore our natural ecosystems. CCUS technology to date has not proven effective.

How will you pay for it? The same way we paid for the New Deal, the 2008 bank bailout and extended quantitative easing programs. The same way we paid for World War II and all our current wars. The Federal Reserve can extend credit to power these projects and investments and new public banks can be created to extend credit. There is also space for the government to take an equity stake in projects to get a return on investment. At the end of the day, this is an investment in our economy that should grow our wealth as a nation, so the question isn’t how will we pay for it, but what will we do with our new shared prosperity.

Why do we need a sweeping Green New Deal investment program? Why can’t we just rely on regulations and taxes and the private sector to invest alone such as a carbon tax or a ban on fossil fuels?

  • The level of investment required is massive. Even if every billionaire and company came together and were willing to pour all the resources at their disposal into this investment, the aggregate value of the investments they could make would not be sufficient.
  • The speed of investment required will be massive. Even if all the billionaires and companies could make the investments required, they would not be able to pull together a coordinated response in the narrow window of time required to jump-start major new projects and major new economic sectors. Also, private companies are wary of making massive investments in unproven

research and technologies; the government, however, has the time horizon to be able to patiently make investments in new tech and R&D, without necessarily having a commercial outcome or application in mind at the time the investment is made. Major examples of government investments in “new” tech that subsequently spurred a boom in the private section include DARPA-projects, the creation of the internet – and, perhaps most recently, the government’s investment in Tesla.

  • Simply put, we don’t need to just stop doing some things we are doing (like using fossil fuels for energy needs); we also need to start doing new things (like overhauling whole industries or retrofitting all buildings to be energy efficient). Starting to do new things requires some upfront investment. In the same way that a company that is trying to change how it does business may need to make big upfront capital investments today in order to reap future benefits (for e.g., building a new factory to increase production or buying newhardware and software to totally modernize its IT system), a country that is trying to change how its economy works will need to make big investments today to jump-start and develop new projects and sectors to power the new economy.
  • Merely incentivizing the private sector doesn’t work – e.g. the tax incentives and subsidies given to wind and solar projects have been a valuable spur to growth in the US renewables industry but, even with such investment-promotion subsidies, the present level of such projects is simply inadequate to transition to a fully greenhouse gas neutral economy as quickly as needed.
  • Once again, we’re not saying that there isn’t a role for private sector investments; we’re just saying that the level of investment required will need every actor to pitch in and that the government is best placed to be the prime driver.

Resolution Summary

  • Created in consultation with multiple groups from environmental community, environmental justice community, and labor community
  • 5 goals in 10 years:

 

*Net-zero greenhouse gas emissions through a fair and just transition for all communities and workers

*Create millions of high-wage jobs and ensure prosperity and economic security for all

*Invest in infrastructure and industry to sustainably meet the challenges of the 21st century

*Clean air and water, climate and community resiliency, healthy food, access to nature, and a sustainable environment for all

*Promote justice and equity by stopping current, preventing future, and repairing historic oppression of front-line and vulnerable communities

  • National mobilization our economy through 14 infrastructure and industrial projects. Every project strives to remove greenhouse gas emissions and pollution from every sector of our economy:

*Build infrastructure to create resiliency against climate change-related disasters

*Repair and upgrade U.S. infrastructure. ASCE estimates this is $4.6 trillion at minimum.

*Meet 100% of power demand through clean and renewable energy sources

*Build energy-efficient, distributed smart grids and ensure affordable access to electricity

*Upgrade or replace every building in US for state-of-the-art energy efficiency

*Massively expand clean manufacturing (like solar panel factories, wind turbine factories, battery and storage manufacturing, energy efficient manufacturing components) and remove pollution and greenhouse gas emissions from manufacturing

*Work with farmers and ranchers to create a sustainable, pollution and greenhouse gas free, food system that ensures universal access to healthy food and expands independent family farming

*Totally overhaul transportation by massively expanding electric vehicle manufacturing, build charging stations everywhere, build out high-speed rail at a scale where air travel stops becoming necessary, create affordable public transit available to all, with goal to replace every combustion-engine vehicle

*Mitigate long-term health effects of climate change and pollution

*Remove greenhouse gases from our atmosphere and pollution through afforestation, preservation, and other methods of restoring our natural ecosystems

*Restore all our damaged and threatened ecosystems

*Clean up all the existing hazardous waste sites and abandoned sitesoIdentify new emission sources and create solutions to eliminate those emissions

*Make the US the leader in addressing climate change and share our technology, expertise and products with the rest of the world to bring about a global Green New Deal

 

  • Social and economic justice and security through 15 requirements:

 

*Massive federal investments and assistance to organizations and businesses participating in the green new deal and ensuring the public gets a return on that investment

*Ensure the environmental and social costs of emissions are taken into account

*Provide job training and education to all

*Invest in R&D of new clean and renewable energy technologies

*Doing direct investments in frontline and deindustrialized communities that would otherwise be hurt by the transition to prioritize economic benefits there

*Use democratic and participatory processes led by frontline and vulnerable communities to implement GND projects locally

*Insure that all GND jobs are union jobs that pay prevailing wages and hire local

*Guarantee a job with family-sustaining wages

*Protect right of all workers to unionize and organize

*Strengthen and enforce labor, workplace health and safety, antidiscrimination, and wage and hour standards

*Enact and enforce trade rules to stop the transfer of jobs and pollution overseas and grow domestic manufacturing

*Ensure public lands, waters, and oceans are protected and eminent domain is not abused

*Obtain free, prior, and informed consent of Indigenous peoples

*Ensure an economic environment free of monopolies and unfair competition

*Provide high-quality health care, housing, economic security, and clean-air, clean water, healthy food, and nature to all

Senator Sasse v. Congressman Schiff?

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Quid pro quo…

As Congressman Adam Schiff has announced a restart to all investigations into Trump’s business empire, Senator Sasse launched his own.

So, what is Senator Sasse doing?

Senate Judiciary Cmte. member Sasse says the US Justice Dept. has opened an investigation into allegations that dept. attorneys “may have committed professional misconduct in the manner in which the [Jeffrey] Epstein criminal matter was resolved.”

It seems as the Mueller team investigation is in the last lap, Adam Schiff has postured to own a political tribunal where the Mueller operation did not go.

Could it be that the interim AG at the Justice Department has laid the groundwork for the soon to be confirmed AG, Bob Barr to begin to right some previous wrongs and Jeffrey Epstein is the first of many?

The Office of Professional Responsibility has launched a probe into how Jeffrey Epstein got his plea deal. It is all going to get nasty.

As a primer:

On a muggy October morning in 2007, Miami’s top federal prosecutor, Alexander Acosta, had a breakfast appointment with a former colleague, Washington, D.C., attorney Jay Lefkowitz.

It was an unusual meeting for the then-38-year-old prosecutor, a rising Republican star who had served in several White House posts before being named U.S. attorney in Miami by President George W. Bush.

Instead of meeting at the prosecutor’s Miami headquarters, the two men — both with professional roots in the prestigious Washington law firm of Kirkland & Ellis — convened at the Marriott in West Palm Beach, about 70 miles away. For Lefkowitz, 44, a U.S. special envoy to North Korea and corporate lawyer, the meeting was critical.

His client, Palm Beach multimillionaire Jeffrey Epstein, 54, was accused of assembling a large, cult-like network of underage girls — with the help of young female recruiters — to coerce into having sex acts behind the walls of his opulent waterfront mansion as often as three times a day, the Town of Palm Beach police found. Go here for the full story published by the Miami Herald last November.

Political warfare is here and will remain until 2020. This is how things go inside the Beltway….sigh

 

You Pay TSA Fees, What Does the Govt do with Them?

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(We should be asking the same question for all the other fees we pay like on our cell phone bills, cable bills or power bills)

Security Fee Chart TSA website

Billions in TSA 9/11 Security Fees Diverted by Congress for Other Causes

Money to sustain the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) continuously flowed into the government’s coffers via a special security fee collected from every passenger, yet Congress didn’t release the funds during the shutdown. Known as the September 11 Security Fee, air carriers collect $5.60 per one-way trip and $11.20 round trip to help fund the TSA. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) reports an average daily air passenger flow of 2.6 million, which translates into $14.5 million per day in TSA fees. That amounts to more than $507 million collected during the 35-day government shutdown yet the agency’s 51,000 employees didn’t get paid, igniting an onslaught of hardship stories in the media. What happened to the money? Why didn’t Congress release it even though House Speaker Nancy Pelosi claims “Our nation’s leaders have no greater responsibility than ensuring the safety and security of the American people.”

The truth is Congress has for years diverted billions of dollars in September 11 Security Fees and used the money for other causes not related to air security. This predates the recent government shutdown and indicates where the “safety and security of the American people” sits on the congressional list of priorities. In 2001 the TSA fee was $2.50 per passenger, but Congress increased it to the current $5.60 in 2013 and restructured the payment plan so that around $13 billion of the TSA fees would go to “deficit reduction” and other government sectors. Under the revamp, created by the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2013, the revenue collected from passengers gets deposited in the general fund of the U.S. Treasury and a chunk of the money is used for other matters. The original statute enacted after the worst terrorist attack on American soil specifically required that the revenue from the passenger security fee be dedicated to providing civil aviation security services. The Budget Act amended it to require that a portion of money, $12.63 billion generated over 10 years, is deposited in the general fund as “offsetting receipts for the Federal budget.”

Redirecting passenger security fees naturally caused a ruckus in the airline industry, which has repeatedly demanded that Congress stop the practice. Using the TSA’s budget for functions not related to aviation security has caused a multitude of problems, including excessive screening lines and a failure to align TSA staff and equipment with passenger volumes by location, according to the industry’s trade organization, Airlines for America (A4A). In a letter to a U.S. Senator, the group’s president writes that if Congress wants to take constructive and well-justified action, it would immediately put the diverted billions, paid by airline passengers, where it belongs. In Congressional testimony last summer, the group’s senior vice president revealed that in 2017 alone special taxes on airlines and their customers totaled over $24 billion—more than $66 million per day. “Stop the annual practice of diverting passenger security fee revenue,” the airline official, Sharon Pinkerton, told the House Homeland Security Committee.

If the TSA, created after the 2001 terrorist attacks, were properly funded perhaps it would be better equipped to meet its critical mission or handle unexpected events such as a government shutdown. The agency is charged with securing transportation by adequately screening luggage, passengers and properly vetting foreign flight students. Instead, it is best known for its shameful security lapses and efforts to cover them up. For nearly a decade Judicial Watch has reported extensively—and uncovered records—involving the TSA’s serious transgressions and failure to adequately fulfill its mission. This includes missing guns and bombs during covert exercises known as “red team tests,” TSA agents literally sleeping on the job and stealing from passengers, the failure to properly screen luggage and a number of other violations that have risked the nation’s safety. Records obtained by Judicial Watch a few years ago show hundreds of badges that allow agents to access secure areas of airports went missing along with uniforms and other devices used to control entry. Just a few months ago, a bipartisan congressional investigation found that persistent misconduct by TSA managers often goes unpunished and whistleblowers who report it as well as airport safety risks are penalized by senior officials.

 

USA Trade Deal with China Pivots on Huawei

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Could it be that the Trump administration has the ace-in-the-hole when it comes to forcing the hand of China? Could it be that China is finally caught due to Huawei?

How Meng Wanzhou’s ‘P’ passport works | The Star

There is a 13-count indictment against the Chinese telecommunications giant Huawei Technologies, alleging the company took part in a long-running scheme in which it deceived the U.S. government about its business dealings with Iran.

Could it be that European countries that are pressing to stay in the JCPOA deal with Iran could eventually be implicated as well?

Huawei-et-al.-Press-Release-(1)

BROOKLYN, N.Y. – A 13-count indictment was unsealed earlier today in federal
court in Brooklyn, New York, charging four defendants, all of whom are affiliated with
Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd. (Huawei), the world’s largest telecommunications equipment
manufacturer, with headquarters in the People’s Republic of China (PRC) and operations
around the world. The indicted defendants include Huawei and two Huawei subsidiaries
—
Huawei Device USA Inc. (Huawei USA) and Skycom Tech Co. Ltd. (Skycom) —
as well as Huawei’s Chief Financial Officer (CFO) Wanzhou Meng (Meng).
The defendants Huawei and Skycom are charged with bank fraud and conspiracy
to commit bank fraud, wire fraud and conspiracy to commit wire fraud, conspiracy to
defraud the United States, conspiracy to violate and substantive violations of the
International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA), and conspiracy to commit
money laundering. Huawei and Huawei USA are charged with conspiracy to obstruct
justice related to the Grand Jury investigation in the Eastern District of New York. Meng
is charged with bank fraud, wire fraud, and conspiracy to commit bank and wire fraud.
“As charged in the indictment, Huawei and its subsidiaries, with the direct and
personal involvement of their executives, engaged in serious fraudulent conduct,
including conspiracy, bank fraud, wire fraud, sanctions violations, money laundering and
the orchestrated obstruction of justice,” stated United States Attorney Donoghue. “For
over a decade, Huawei employed a strategy of lies and deceit to conduct and grow its
business. This Office will continue to hold accountable companies and their executives,
whether here or abroad, that commit fraud against U.S. financial institutions and their
international counterparts and violate U.S. laws designed to maintain our national
security.” Mr. Donoghue thanked the FBI, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations, U.S. Department of Commerce Office of Export Enforcement and the Defense Criminal Investigative Service agents who are
investigating this case for their tireless work and dedication.
“These charges lay bare Huawei’s blatant disregard for the laws of our country
and standard global business practices,” stated FBI Director Wray.
“Companies like Huawei pose a dual threat to both our economic and national security, and the magnitude of these charges make clear just how seriously the FBI takes this threat. Today should serve as a warning that we will not tolerate businesses that violate our laws, obstruct justice, or jeopardize national and economic well-being.”
“As charged in the indictment, Huawei and its Chief Financial Officer broke U.S.
law and have engaged in a fraudulent financial scheme that is detrimental to the security
of the United States,” stated U.S. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Nielsen.
“They willfully conducted millions of dollars in transactions that were in direct violation
of the Iranian Transactions and Sanctions Regulations, and such behavior will not be
tolerated. The Department of Homeland Security is focused on preventing nefarious
actors from accessing or manipulating our financial system, and we will ensure that
legitimate economic activity is not exploited by our adversaries. I would like to thank
ICE Homeland Security Investigations for their exceptional work on this case.”
“For years, Chinese firms have broken our export laws and undermined sanctions,
often using the U.S. financial systems to facilitate their illegal activities,” stated U.S.
Department of Commerce Secretary Ross.
Do you kinda wonder as I do how long this was going on actually and what did the Obama Justice Department do?    NUTTIN  it seems.
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(Reuters) – Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou, who was arrested in Canada and faces possible extradition to the United States, is exploring a defense that claims U.S. charges against her are politically motivated, the Globe and Mail newspaper reported on Monday.

Meng, the chief financial officer of China’s Huawei Technologies Co Ltd, is the central figure in a high-stakes dispute between the United States and China. Canada arrested Meng in December at the request of the United States and last month she was charged with wire fraud that violated U.S. sanctions on Iran.

“The political overlay of this case is remarkable,” Richard Peck, lead counsel for Meng, told the Toronto newspaper in a telephone interview.

“That’s probably the one thing that sets it apart from any other extradition case I’ve ever seen. It’s got this cloud of politicization hanging over it,” Peck added.

Dog Alerted to the Largest Fentanyl Bust Ever

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NOGALES, Ariz. — U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials intercepted nearly 254 pounds of fentanyl at the U.S.-Mexico border Saturday in what the agency called its largest fentanyl bust ever.

Border officials report biggest fentanyl bust

Valued at approximately $3.5 million, the fentanyl was found in a secret compartment inside a load of Mexican produce heading into Arizona. The agency’s police dog team alerted officers to the presence of drugs after a secondary inspection indicated “some anomalies” in the load, Nogales CBP Port Director Michael Humphries said.

Most of the fentanyl was in powder form, though the load did contain about 2 pounds of pills. Agents also seized nearly 395 pounds of methamphetamine with a street value of $1.18 million, Humphries said.

“It is said that a quarter-milligram, or the size of a few grains of salt, of fentanyl, which is a dangerous opioid, can kill a person very quickly,” Humphries said. The seizure, he said, had prevented an immeasurable number of doses of the drug “that could have harmed so many families.” Press release here.

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The driver was enrolled in the FAST program, a trusted travel program for truck drivers. This program also applies to drivers from Canada. The drivers must have a clean record with regard to immigration, law enforcement and customs.Perhaps using Presidential authority, Trump should suspend this program until such time Nancy and Chuck negotiate in good faith as she pledged when government reopened.
The truck itself was carrying cucumbers and the vehicle had a false floor under which during a secondary inspection, the dog alerted. The truck went through a massive x-ray machine. The fentanyl coming from Mexico however while lethal is not as lethal as that coming from China.
Just a few grains of fentanyl can put a person into a coma. Fentanyl should be declared a chemical agent of mass destruction. Question is why has this not been done? The other question is who was this driver working for and who owned the truck? There are more details that need to be released.
Meanwhile you have to ask if the Democrats are reading CBP press releases like this one: