Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai, named by Trump in January, has been working every day since then to repeal rules that classify internet service as a utility. Under the Pai plan, high-speed internet service will no longer be treated like a public utility with strict rules, as it is now. Instead, he said, the industry "should largely be left to police itself.”
Very few people have heard of the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative until early November 2017.
The Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) is a global standard to promote the open and accountable management of oil, gas and mineral resources.
The EITI Standard requires information along the extractive industry value chain from the point of extraction, to how the revenue makes its way through the government, to how it benefits the public.
Trump's White House has nominated Chris Sharpley as the Inspector General for the Central Intelligence Agency. Sharpley is currently the acting Inspector General until confirmed by Senate.
Two former CIA employees say the Trump administration’s nominee to be CIA inspector general misled Congress last month when he testified. The allegations against Sharpley have prompted concerns among both Democratic and Republican senators and could delay his confirmation.
Last week, Trump named Jerome Powell to be the next chair of the Federal Reserve.
If confirmed by the Senate, Powell, 64, will succeed Janet Yellen — the first woman to head the Fed — whose term expires in February. Powell, a current member of the Fed's board of governors, is expected to pursue policies largely in line with the gradual interest rate hikes of the Yellen-led Fed.
The mission of the Environmental Protection Agency is inherent in it's name -- protect our environment and, in doing so, protect our people. EPA head Scott Pruitt is one of the hardest working politicians in D.C. in 2017, efficiently dismantling the EPA as discussed many times on Smart Dissent. This is an EPA already unable to keep up with the massive needs it ought to be filling due to decades of woeful funding and obstruction by the GOP.
Government at its purest exists solely to protect The People it serves. We elect officials to work on OUR behalf. It's been apparent for decades, but likely never more so, that the Republican Party works on behalf of corporate interests, their lobbyists and donors with zero regard for The People. They repeatedly take actions that harm nearly every living, breathing human being in our country yet millions of ignorant people continue support and enable them.
In 2008-2009, the United States went through its longest, and by most measures worst economic recession since the Great Depression. The impacts were felt for years beyond that as 8.7 million jobs were lost ruining the lives of tens of millions more. The culprit was wreckless activity by traditional and investment banks. It seems like forever ago but you may recall a huge movement called Occupy Wall Street which sought to hold these financial institutions responsible for destroying our nation. Meanwhile, as the government bailed out the banks with billions of taxpayer dollars during the
This past June marked the one year anniversary of the Pulse nightclub shooting in Orlando that left 49 dead and the second anniversary of the chuch shooting in Charleston where nine were murdered during Bible study. It was also back in June that House Republicans began work on something known as the "Hearing Protection Act."
You are not alone if you had no idea what this is about until now. With this Act, House Republicans are seeking to relax restrictions on firearm silencers making it easier for shooters to shoot without being noticed.
In April 2017, Trump signed an Executive Order aimed at ending the ban on offshore drilling in certain areas. Smart Dissent painfully covered that here. In late June, Trump spoke again on the topic, claiming that progress is being made to make his "vision" a reality and sell our environment to the highest bidder.
