Jeff Sessions by the Numbers
6 - Years of litigation reversed when Attorney General Jeff Sessions dropped a Department of Justice lawsuit against discriminatory voter-ID practices in Texas.
21,366 - Number of inmates in private for-profit prisons when Sessions rescinded a DoJ directive to reduce the companies' contracts.
25 - DoJ investigations of police departments during the Obama years, a practice Sessions vowed to curtail. (Source: The Nation, March 27, 2017).
FCC Rules by the Numbers
50 - Number of senators that voted to eliminate FCC rules that prevent internet service providers from selling customers' browsing data.
$138K - Average amount that House Republicans who voted to repeal the rules received from the telecom industry.
12K - Public comments sent to the FCC about the repeal of protections. (Source: The Nation, April 24/May 1, 2017).
"Bad Boy Made Good"
In the March 17, 2017 issue of The Nation magazine, Gary Younge discusses the rehabilitation of George W. Bush. Following are some headlines and comments, then and now:
"A Welcome Return" - The Guardian on Bush, February 27, 2017.
"Bush sneaks through host of laws to undermine Obama." - The Guardian, December 13, 2008.
"Michelle Obama isn't the only liberal embracing George W. Bush these days." - The Washington Post, March 3, 2017.
"He's Only Fifth Worst" - The Washington Post, December 3, 2006.
"I know liberals made a big mistake because we attacked [George W. Bush] like he was the end of the world. And he wasn't." - Comedian Bill Maher, November 4, 2016.
"He combines the corruption of Warren G. Harding, the abuse of power of Richard Nixon, and the warmongering of James K. Polk. I mean, who would you rank lower than George W. Bush?" - Bill Maher, May 25, 2007.
Yemeni-American Activist Awaits Husband
Rabyaah Althaibani awaits her husband, Basheer Othman, who is in Malaysia, waiting for a visa. Othman's immigration problem is complicated by the fact that he fled Yemen, one of the targeted countries in President Trump's original and revised temporary immigration bans.
"The new order stresses that people like Othman mst be barred because they hail from a country that is a 'state sponsor of terrorism, has been significantly compromised by terrorist organizations, or contains active conflict zones,' thus making them an 'unacceptably high' risk 'to commit terrorist acts of otherwise harm the national security of the United States.' But even Trump's own Department of Homeland Security disagrees, stating that it has found no evidence to show that people from the countries on the list pose such a threat." (Source: Julianne Hing, "New Ban, No Relief," The Nation, March 27, 2017).
Environmental Wrecking Crew
Newly Inaugurated President Trump declares: "I am, to a large extent, an environmentalist," then proceeds to revive the Keystone XL pipeline, which had been sidetracked by Barack Obama.
Myron Ebell, who led the Trump administration's transition team at the EPA, calls the environmental movement "the greatest threat to freedom and prosperity in the modern world."
The White House orders the EPA to remove the climate change page from its website. After a public uproar, the order is reversed, so the page remains.
Trump proposes slashing the EPA's budget by a quarter and giving the savings to the military. The amount would be roughly enough for the navy to purchase one destroyer.
The first major piece of legislation signed by the new president repeals an Obama-era rule that required oil and mining companies to report payments to foreign governments.
The president signs a repeal of the Stream Protection Rule, which limited the coal industry's ability to dump mining debris into rivers and streams.
Trump signs a executive order to repeal the Clean Water Rule (a.k.a. Waters of the U.S. Rule). The rule clarified which streams and wetlands were subject to protection under the Clean Water Act. Trump owns 12 U.S. golf courses that might have been affected by the rule.
EPA administrator Scott Pruitt, who as attorney general of Oklahoma sued the agency on numerous occasions, questions whether the EPA has the authority to regulate greenhouse gases. (Source: Paul Rauber, "The Wrecking Crew Arrives in Washington," Sierra, May/June 2017).
Fetal Homicide Laws
38 states have enacted fetal homicide laws, 16 of which have no maternal exception. Most state laws only protected fetuses starting from some point after the first trimester, but the federal bill sought to cover fetuses from conception. With the federal Unborn Victims of Violence Act as a model, the newest state fetal homicide laws protected fetuses from the moment of conception; several states with laws that previously only applied after viability amended them to start earlier in a pregnancy.
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