Deconstruction and Delay

#"President Donald Trump says the United States now aims for 'energy dominance' -- i.e., drilling for oil and gas offshore and on public lands, exporting more gas and coal, and boosting nuclear power.

#The EPA moves to repeal the Clean Water Rule, a.k.a. 'Waters of the U.S.,' which protects the drinking water for millions of Americans.

#EPA Administer Scott Pruitt denies a petition to ban chlorpyrifos, a pesticide manufactured by Dow Chemical Com;any that has been shown to harm children's brains, even in minute doses.

#After the EPA is sued by 15 states and numerous public health and environmental organizations (including the Sierra Club), Pruitt abruptly reverses his attempt to delay new rules, limiting atmospheric ozone, the main component of smog.

Polluter fines drop 60 percent from the amounts levied by the past three administrations at this point in their first year.

#The EPA has paid more than twice as much on a personal-security detail for Pruitt in his first three months as it did for his past two predecessors. Several EPA agents who have previously investigated and prosecuted environmental crimes have been reassigned to serve as Pruitt's bodyguards.

#Joel Clement, a climate scientist at the Interior Department, is reassigned to an accounting job, processing lease payments from oil companies.

#Alaska senator Lisa Murkowski votes not to proceed with a debate on repealing Obamacare. Afterward, Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke calls for her and fellow senator Dan Sullivan, reportedly warning them that energy and development projects in Alaska might suffer as a result.

#The Department of Homeland Security waives environmental and other laws in order to start construction on President Trump's border wall. ]1]

Firearms Factoids
93 - Average number of Americans killed with guns every day.

50 - Women shot dead by an intimate partner in the U.S. in a typical month.

12M - Estimated number of AR-15 assault rifles in the U.S.

50% - Percentage of the world's guns owned by Americans, who make up 5 percent of the world's population.

$8B - Size of the U.S. firearms industry. [2]

The Thin White Line

"Police departments, along with correction departments and even the military, are being infiltrated by racist organizations. One Philadelphia cop, outed after a photo of his tattoos -- including a apparent Nazi 'Party Eagle' beneath the word 'Fatherland' -- showed up on social media." [3]

"However alarming the trend may be, it is not a recent one. Beginning in the Reconstruction era, white supremacists found a home in law enforcement, with many local police forces in the South run by officers affiliated or sympathetic to the Ku Klux Klan." Recently, "at least three Florida police officers over a five-year period were found to have been involved with the Klan.

Across the country, police leaders have repeatedly failed to remove avowed racists from their ranks -- even after they have been exposed. When Philadelphia police refused to fire the cop with the Nazi tattoo, the department explained: 'As long as you'e not violating public trust, it's very difficult to police.' " [3]

Political Protest Worse Than Treason
In regard to National Football League players kneeling or raising a fist during the playing of the National Anthem, President Trump tweeted: "The NFL has all sorts of rules and regulations. The only way out for them is to set a rule that you can't kneel during our National Anthem!" To President Trump, keeling in sorrow -- at police brutality -- is both a sign of disrespect for the rules of the game and a desecration of the American flag.

"The first concern is that executive power is being used to interfere in contract relations between private parties. " "Trump's tweeted injunction, moreover, was deployed by a head of state against citizens whose political views he doesn't like." One "shouldn't have to give up basic civil rights in deference to a service or employment contract." [4]

President Trump has repeatedly equated "taking a knee" with desecration of the American flag. "Of course, the Supreme Court has ruled more than once that disrespecting or outright destroying the flag isn't a punishable offense -- and expatriation has been deemed 'cruel and unusual punishment' even for wartime desertion." [5]

Footnotes
[1] Paul Rauber, "Deconstruction and Delay," Sierra, November/December 2017.

[2] Sarah Aziza, "DC By the Numbers," The Nation, October 23, 2017.

[3] Elizabeth Adetibe, "The Thin White Line," The Nation, October 23, 2017.

[4] Patricia J.Williams, "Citizenship on Its Knees," The Nation, October 23, 2017.

[5] Ibid.