Jumped the Shark
<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">see OMG bizz</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">see conspir 3 // impeach</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">neglected distinction? basically omg 3?</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div><div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><a href="https://www.alternet.org/2020/03/twitter-deletes-right-wing-outlets-post-suggesting-americans-get-intentionally-infected-with-covid-19"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">https://www.alternet.org/2020/03/twitter-deletes-right-wing-outlets-post-suggesting-americans-get-intentionally-infected-with-covid-19</font></a></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">no lnx</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Twitter deletes right-wing outlet’s post suggesting Americans get intentionally infected with Covid-19</b></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Written by David Badash / The New Civil Rights Movement March 25, 2020</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 204, 102);">Twitter has finally stepped in and deleted a post from <b>The Federalist that links to their article suggesting a program intentionally infecting healthy Americans with the coronavirus. The highly-controversial article which runs counter to medical experts’ advice effectively suggests coronavirus parties as a “social activity,</b>” a database of every person in the U.S. and their COVID-19 infection status, and wonders: “Will we allow parents to make these sorts of infection decisions for both themselves and their children?”</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“This Tweet is no longer available because it violated the Twitter Rules,” is the message social media users trying to access The Federalist’s tweet now receive.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Twitter has finally stepped in and deleted a post from The Federalist that links to their article suggesting a program intentionally infecting healthy Americans with the coronavirus. The highly-controversial article which runs counter to medical experts’ advice effectively suggests coronavirus parties as a “social activity,” a database of every person in the U.S. and their COVID-19 infection status, and wonders: “Will we allow parents to make these sorts of infection decisions for both themselves and their children?”</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“This Tweet is no longer available because it violated the Twitter Rules,” is the message social media users trying to access The Federalist’s tweet now receive.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Facebook has not deleted The Federalist’s post promoting its article. NCRM will not link to it but our original reporting on the article is here.</b></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The article itself, penned by an Oregon dermatologist, has not been taken down, but it has been removed from the front page and does not appear in the website’s list of most popular stories, which given the controversy surrounding it, likely is.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">“Twitter initially added a warning to the link stating that the post might be ‘unsafe,’” Mediaite reports. Twitter then “temporarily locked” The Federalist’s account, but it is once again active, sans the offensive and dangerous tweet, which read: “It is time to think outside the box and seriously consider a somewhat unconventional approach to COVID-19: controlled voluntary infection.”</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">“Twitter has taken aggressive measures to crack down on misinformation surrounding the coronavirus,” but there is still a tremendous amount of user-generated bad information on the platform.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">As NCRM reported earlier, aside from the obvious problems with the article itself, the author ignores the fact that there is no proof re-infection would not happen after the coronavirus parties. There is sufficient anecdotal information to suggest at least some can “catch” the virus after recovery.</font></div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">
</span></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">The Federalist is a right wing website whose secret finding has been the source of much online speculation. It advocates increasingly extremist viewpoints, and was co-founded by Ben Domenech, who is a regular on NBC’s and MSNBC’s “Meet the Press.”</font></div><div>
</div></div><div><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></p></div></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></div><div><div><p class="yiv3129815998headline3" style="color: rgb(29, 34, 40); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-family: Georgia, " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" serif="serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" margin="margin" padding="padding"><a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://click1.e.alternet.org/qwghfjdydbntnfrrtvsddtdrrvtrygpchbdnsmjshddd_hvbqvfmfzvcmnbfhhfw.html?a=&b=3613&c=21989&d=2" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">‘Apologia for authoritarianism’: Legal analysts slam Trump lawyer for arguing president can do whatever he wants to boost reelection chances</a></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-family: Georgia, " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" serif="serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" font-style="font-style" italic="italic" color="color" rgb="rgb" margin="margin" padding="padding"> </p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; color: rgb(102, 102, 102); margin: 10px 0px; padding: 0px;">"They are saying that abuses of power in order to…</p></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"></font></div></div><div><div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">omg wtf? seems like bizarroworld but rudy, perry? igor and parnas fruman all trying to do energy side deals // resource curse?!</font></div><div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><b>“Erik Prince, a major Republican donor and founder of controversial security firm Blackwater,</b> has been referred to the U.S. Treasury Department for possible sanctions violations tied to his recent trip to Venezuela for a meeting with a top aide of President <b>Nicolas Maduro,</b>” according to the AP.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>WaPo also reported that Rudy Giuliani was involved in a back-channel negotiation with Maduro</b> that would “reopen resource-rich Venezuela to business.” The effort, according to the report, “provides another example of how Giuliani used his private role to insert himself into foreign diplomacy, alarming administration officials confused about whose interests he was representing.”</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">*</font></div></div></div><div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></div></div><div><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></p><p><a href="https://www.alternet.org/2019/11/here-are-5-ways-trump-and-his-supporters-are-using-the-same-strategies-as-science-deniers/"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">https://www.alternet.org/2019/11/here-are-5-ways-trump-and-his-supporters-are-using-the-same-strategies-as-science-deniers/</font></a></p><p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">no lnx</font></p><p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><b>
</b></font></p><p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><b>Here are 5 ways Trump and his supporters are using the same strategies as science deniers</b></font></p><p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">
</font></p><p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Written by Lee McIntyre, The Conversation November 27, 2019</font></p><p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">While watching the House impeachment hearings, I realized my two decades of research into why people ignore, reject or deny science had a political parallel.</font></p><p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">
</font></p><p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">From anti-evolutionists to anti-vaccine advocates, known as “anti-vaxxers,” climate change deniers to Flat Earthers, science deniers all follow a common pattern of faulty reasoning that allows them to reject what they don’t want to believe – and accept what they favor – based on a misunderstanding of how science deals with evidence.</font></p><p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">
</font></p><p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">As I’ve been watching the hearings, I’ve noticed that a number of characteristics of this type of reasoning are now being embraced by President Donald Trump and his congressional supporters.</font></p><p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">
</font></p><p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Characteristic acts</font></p><p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><b>There are five common tactics used by science deniers.</b></font></p><p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">
</font></p><p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">In 1998, brothers Mark and Chris Hoofnagle (a lawyer and a physiologist) wrote an early blog post about science denialism. That was followed by further work by econometrician Pascal Diethelm and public health scholar Martin McKee and cognitive scientists John Cook and Stephan Lewandowsky. All identified the following factors as <b>characteristic acts of science deniers:</b></font></p><p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">
</font></p><p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Believing in conspiracy theories;</font></p><p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Relying on cherry-picked evidence;</font></p><p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4" style="background-color: rgb(255, 204, 102);">Relying on fake experts (and dismissal of actual experts);</font></p><p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Committing logical errors;</font></p><p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Setting impossible standards for what science should be able to deliver.</font></p><p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">These elements are present when those who deny the Earth is round or who believe vaccines cause autism insist that there is a governmental cover-up of the real evidence on their topics. They can be seen when Ted Cruz tries to discredit climate change with talk about the anomalous world weather pattern in 1998 due to El Niño. And they’re evident when intelligent design theorists complain that evolution by natural selection still has not been proven.</font></p><p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">
</font></p><p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><b>Alternative reality</b></font></p><p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Trump and his defenders in Congress echo this pattern. Even though Trump has firsthand knowledge of some of the facts under dispute – whereas his supporters may not – all seem to have bought in fully to the idea that the actual political situation is not the one pictured in the mainstream consensus of facts and evidence, but instead is based on an alternative reality.</font></p><p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><b>Here are the five ways Trump and his allies use the same strategies as science deniers:</b></font></p><p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><b>Conspiracy theories</b>: During his questioning of Ambassador Bill Taylor and other witnesses at the impeachment hearings, Republican counsel Steve Castor repeatedly pursued a debunked conspiracy theory involving an alleged plot in which the Ukrainian government – and not the Russians – interfered with the 2016 presidential election because they were out to get the president.</font></p><p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><b>Cherry-picking:</b> Gordon Sondland, U.S. ambassador to the European Union, testified before the House Intelligence Committee that President Trump told him, “I want nothing from Ukraine. I want no quid pro quo.” Trump and his supporters focused on this statement as evidence of his innocence, despite the fact that in other testimony by Sondland that day, he said, “Mr. Giuliani’s requests were a quid pro quo for arranging a White House visit for President Zelensky…Mr. Giuliani was expressing the desires of the president of the United States, and we knew that these investigations were important to the president.”</font></p><p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><b style="background-color: rgb(255, 204, 102);">Discrediting experts:</b> President Trump has repeatedly – and falsely – claimed that State Department and CIA employees such as Bill Taylor, George Kent, Fiona Hill, Alexander Vindman and others who have testified in the impeachment hearings are “Never Trumpers,” a term for Republicans who do not support Trump – and who therefore have no credibility. His supporters have latched onto this tactic. GOP Sen. Josh Hawley of Missouri said on Sept. 20, after the whistleblower complaint was made public: “It looks to me like another deep-state attack.”</font></p><p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><b>Illogical reasoning:</b> Trump supporters have claimed that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky never complained that he felt pressured by Trump to do the investigations into the Bidens that Trump sought. Trump himself has described the July 25 conversation he had with Zelensky in which he asked for the investigations as “perfect.” But news reports have shown that Zelensky did in fact feel pressured, and analysts have pointed out that Zelensky would risk losing crucial U.S. support were he to anger Trump by saying that he felt pressured.</font></p><p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><b>Double standard for opponents:</b> Trump claimed that written testimony from the whistleblower was unacceptable, despite the fact that he himself had only given written testimony in the Mueller investigation. Some of his supporters seem to agree and have tried to compel the whistleblower’s in-person testimony.</font></p><p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">
</font></p><p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><b>Partisan logic</b></font></p><p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">What might be behind the similarities between Trump defenders and science deniers?</font></p><p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Perhaps, like science denial, all fact denial is basically the same.</font></p><p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">All ideology supports the reflex to believe what you want to believe.</font></p><p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><b>Scholars have studied the role of identity in shaping belief and concluded that sometimes even empirical beliefs can be tribal, </b>reflecting what the other people on your team want you to believe. Adherence to a belief is not always based on evidence.</font></p><p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">The danger, of course, is that even as new facts come in, people won’t change their minds. This is the direct opposite of good empirical reasoning.</font></p><p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">It is the hallmark of science that beliefs should be based on evidence, and that people should be willing to change their beliefs based on new evidence. This means that people should be able to specify in advance what evidence, if it existed, would be sufficient to get them to change their minds.</font></p><p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">
</font></p><p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">But are Trump and his congressional supporters doing that?</font></p><p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Like science deniers, no amount of evidence seems sufficient to change their partisan beliefs that the phone call with Zelensky was proper and that Trump “did nothing wrong.”</font></p><p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Even when the facts are overwhelming, congressional Republicans seem, like science deniers, willing to contort their beliefs and torture their logic, to stick to the party line because that is who they are.</font></p><p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><b>As Sen. Lindsey Graham recently put it, “I don’t care what anybody else says about the phone call … The phone call, I’ve made up my own mind, is fine.”</b></font></p><p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">In science, such behavior means that one is eventually read out of the profession – you’re not fired, your tenure isn’t revoked, but you’re no longer taken seriously anymore.</font></p><p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">In politics, it is not yet clear what the consequences might be.</font></p><p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">
</font></p><p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Lee McIntyre is the author of: Post-Truth.</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" /></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">MIT Press provides funding as a member of The Conversation US</font></font></font></font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></font></font></p></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">----</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">erik jok weapons training wyo officially calling it 5/6/19</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></font></font></div><div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">omg</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><div class="header-list-style" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><h2 class="entry-title grid-title" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; letter-spacing: 1px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.alternet.org/2019/05/mike-pompeo-actually-just-cheered-the-new-opportunities-presented-by-the-arctics-melting-ice-sheets/" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer; letter-spacing: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"> Pompeo actually just cheered the ‘new opportunities’ presented by the Arctic’s melting ice sheets</font></a></font></font></h2><div class="grid-post-box-meta" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 12px 0px 0px; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span class="author-italic author vcard" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">by <a class="url fn n" href="https://www.alternet.org/author/cody-fenwick/" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">Cody Fenwick</a></span> <span style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">May 6, 2019</span></font></font></font></div></div><div class="item-content entry-content" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 18px 0px 0px; padding: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has never been terribly worried about climate change, but in a new speech to the Arctic Council Ministerial Meeting in Finland on Monday, he seemed…</font></font></font></p></div></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></font></font></div></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">==</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">mma 419 selection from week in dumb:</font></font></font></div><div><ul><li style=""><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
<font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Right-wing outlets like <i>The Wall Street Journal</i> editorial page are touting <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://click.e.mediamatters.org/?qs=e9e94d47ce4553bf68facf64c089738dbf262141cb45bae6ef880da66fb8e4dd951d4447686820efc55aad792fab8287bb9eb3ba25ca1171" style="text-decoration: underline;" title="a deeply flawed new study">a deeply flawed new study</a> attacking electric vehicles.</font></font></font></li><li style=""><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
<font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Trump Fed pick Stephen Moore <a rel="nofollow" target="blank" href="http://click.e.mediamatters.org/?qs=e9e94d47ce4553bffc7f738725d96fbf6d6b473ae19e4aff27fdb8a5abb22bd09a181e7a284cc137057429555ed61f040c066237b80829bf" style="text-decoration: underline;" title="repeatedly said">repeatedly said</a> that he liked working at Fox News because he met "a lot of beautiful women" there. Moore has <a rel="nofollow" target="blank" href="http://click.e.mediamatters.org/?qs=e9e94d47ce4553bfc8f4abae3949312f74d01c0de2e3cacc24fab61ddd4e601c0c6701e67a7bc526899029bf50717bc889192ed50751edc1" style="text-decoration: underline;" title="also praised">also praised</a> slave-owning Confederate general Robert E. Lee and hates climate science so much that he
<a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://click.e.mediamatters.org/?qs=e9e94d47ce4553bf24d2d13c2861879f464669ae1a2e57440ba6b71197e0039b33db087fed43c810dec08e896cdb4fd996b1f3dc544efcfe" style="text-decoration: underline;" title="even attacked">even attacked</a> Ivanka Trump.</font></font></font></li><li style=""><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
<font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Tucker Carlson's <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://click.e.mediamatters.org/?qs=e9e94d47ce4553bfd9fe07d3e66de17dee6ed20c633a081ec1065be3ac80b30ed7f930c867fa78dbd86558f8a8ab7e98cf834275578e0231" style="text-decoration: underline;" title="wild new talking point">wild new talking point</a> is that abortion is somehow a tool of "corporate" oppression.</font></font></font></li><li style=""><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
<font size="4" face="Times New Roman">A Fox host <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://click.e.mediamatters.org/?qs=e9e94d47ce4553bfd909a4975fec6cf4e52ee75d62f4b8fc135072c65ce4a6f631a8bf3fb5beb9f1f87ac8f83787ae62e42ce5b697e703c6" style="text-decoration: underline;" title="blamed bank regulation">blamed bank regulation</a> for high tuition and the student loan crisis.</font></font></font></li></ul></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">ref</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">PRESS RELEASE: <b>HEARTLAND INSTITUTE STATEMENT ON ALEC ENDANGERMENT FINDING RESOLUTION</b></font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">DECEMBER 7, 2017</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>By Tim Huelskamp, Ph.D.</b></font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">‘Heartland thanks <b>Rep. Piscopo</b> for taking the lead on this important issue, and thanks ALEC for allowing this debate to take place.’ – Tim Huelskamp, Ph.D.</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">ALEC logo</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Yesterday, a task force of the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) debated a resolution calling for a review of the Environmental Protection Agency’s 2009 “Endangerment Finding.” After a lively debate and straw vote, the sponsor of the resolution, Rep. John Piscopo (R-CT), along with Bette Grande, a research fellow for The Heartland Institute who helped draft the resolution, withdrew it for now, saying “the final decision on this issue will be made by the Trump Administration.”</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Background links:</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Resolution to review the Endangerment Finding [click here]</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Coalition letter in favor of the resolution [click here]</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Letter withdrawing the resolution [click here]</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Rep. Piscopo and Ms. Grande agreed to withdraw the resolution after corporate members of ALEC, led by<b> ExxonMobil and Edison Electric Institute (EEI</b>), packed the meeting room with lobbyists and allies and indicated they would vote against the resolution.</span> Heartland’s discussions with state legislators on the task force, as well as a straw vote of elected officials attending the committee meeting, showed a majority of them supported the resolution.</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The following statement from Tim Huelskamp, Ph.D., president of The Heartland Institute – may be used for attribution. For more comments or to book Dr. Huelskamp on your radio or television program, please contact Director of Communications Jim Lakely at jlakely@heartland.org and 312/377-4000 or (cell) 312/731-9364.</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> </font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);" size="4" face="Times New Roman">[OMFG]</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);" size="4" face="Times New Roman">“This result is disappointing, but not surprising. Big corporations like ExxonMobil and trade groups like <b>EEI have long been members of the discredited and anti-energy global warming movement. They’ve put their profits and ‘green’ virtue signaling above sound science and the interests of their customers.</b></font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“Heartland thanks Rep. Piscopo for taking the lead on this important issue, and thanks ALEC for allowing this debate to take place. The debate will continue both inside ALEC, where a majority of legislative members and policy advisors agree that the Endangerment Finding ought to be reviewed, as well as outside the organization. We will continue to work with scientists, economists, policy experts, and allies at ALEC to strengthen the case for rescinding the Endangerment Finding.</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“This discussion at ALEC changes nothing at the federal level, where action to repeal the Endangerment Finding will take place. President Trump and EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt have rejected unscientific alarmism, embraced sound science, and are implementing pro-energy, pro-America policies. <b>Rescinding the Endangerment Finding is the logical and necessary next step. </b>We are optimistic that the self-serving regulatory capture and green preening of big corporations like ExxonMobil may delay but will not prevent that step.”</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> </font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The Heartland Institute is a 33-year-old national nonprofit organization headquartered in Arlington Heights, Illinois. Its mission is to discover, develop, and promote free-market solutions to social and economic problems. For more information, visit our website or call 312/377-4000.</font></font></font></div><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></font></font></p></div>