5: TEAM TRUMP: The four types of people in the president-elect’s cabinet
The emerging team of Trump Cabinet members who will decide the bulk of government policy for the next four years can be sorted into a variety of categories, including people named Steve, former boy scouts, and Goldman Sachs alumni. But four categories seem particularly instructive: the super-rich, the military men, the establishment foes, and the Washington insiders. Trump’s Cabinet and senior staff include representatives from each group who are poised to battle for the president’s favor.
A throng of D.C. insiders would seem to contradict the president-elect’s promise of complete institutional overhaul, but they may be necessary for a consummate outsider attempting to navigate Washington’s political minefield. Then there are the firebrands who are determined that Trump not be co-opted by the political establishment.
Trump has also picked generously from military ranks to fill positions normally reserved for civilians. These military men with a lifetime of service will work alongside others who spent their lives in the private sector making billions of dollars.
Vice News
4: IF YOU WANT TO SEE HOW DONALD TRUMP WILL DESTROY THE ENVIRONMENT, READ THIS LEGISLATIVE ROADMAP
IF YOU’VE BEEN wondering which environmental protections the incoming administration will target and how exactly how they’ll try to undo them, take a look at the Competitive Enterprise Institute’s legislative agenda, “Free to Prosper.” Just a few months ago, this radical plan to dismantle environmental safeguards would have been dismissed as the wacky wish list of a conservative fringe group. But with Donald Trump headed to the White House and Myron Ebell, CEI’s director, overseeing the transition of the Environmental Protection Agency, the report, which was released last week, is a chilling preview of the attacks on environmental and health regulations that are likely to come — and a must-read for anyone trying to avert them.
Beyond laying out specific paths to destruction, CEI’s legislative roadmap helps explain the group’s twisted logic for attacking environmental laws in the first place, something that may be lost on the vast majority of Americans, who want clean air and water, accept the reality of climate change, and are not steeped in anti-governmental legal theory.
As CEI sees it, efforts to address the affects of pollution from fossil fuels on our climate are really a “war on affordable energy.” Bizarrely, the report uses a decline in global death rates due to extreme weather since the 1920s to justify the continued burning of oil and coal and its claim that carbon-based fuels “increase life expectancy.” While fossil fuels have unquestionably kept many people warm over the past century, alternative energy sources can also provide plenty of heat — and have the additional appeal of reducing the likelihood of extreme weather events.
Most disingenuously, CEI presents its efforts to do away with climate protections as stemming from a concern for the poor, since “energy costs already impose real burdens on low-income households.” In truth, the poor are disproportionately affected by climate change. And, of course, huge energy and chemical companies are the ones who stand to benefit most from the assault on climate and other environmental protections suggested in the report. Not coincidentally, many of these same powerful interests, including Exxon, Dow, Texaco, the American Petroleum Institute, and the Koch Brothers have funded CEI.
The Intercept
3: China seizes US naval drone in South China Sea
A Chinese Navy warship has seized an underwater drone deployed by an American oceanographic vessel in international waters in the South China Sea, triggering a formal diplomatic protest from the US and a demand for its return, a US defence official said.
The “naval glider” was used to test water salinity and temperatures to help in the mapping of underwater channels, the official said, before adding “it was taken” by China in international waters about 50 miles off Subic Bay.
The incident took place on Thursday just as the USNS Bowditch, an oceanographic survey ship, was about to retrieve the unmanned, underwater vehicle, the official said.
Aljazeera
2: A Legislative Coup in NC? Rev. William Barber on GOP Stripping Power from New Democratic Governor
Republican lawmakers in North Carolina are being accused of waging a legislative coup by attempting to strip power from the state’s incoming governor, Democrat Roy Cooper. Cooper narrowly beat Republican Governor Pat McCrory by 10,000 votes last month. In an unprecedented move, Republicans filed dozens of new bills this week during a special session of the General Assembly called to consider relief for Hurricane Matthew victims. The Republican lawmakers are attempting to impose measures to slash the number of state employees appointed by the governor, require Senate approval for all of the governor’s Cabinet picks and strip the governor of the power to appoint University of North Carolina trustees. Another bill aims to weaken the governor’s control over the state Board of Election. Yet another Republican bill would strip some power away from the Democratic governor and give it to the lieutenant governor, who happens to be a Republican. None of the bills were being considered until after Republican Governor Pat McCrory conceded defeat. We speak to Rev. William Barber, president of Repairers of the Breach and head of the North Carolina NAACP.
Democracy Now
1: Clinton accuses Putin of acting on ‘personal beef’ in directing email hack
Hillary Clinton has accused the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, of personally directing a cyberattack against her as revenge for a five-year-old slight.
US intelligence agencies blame Russian hackers for targeting the Democratic National Committee and Clinton campaign chairman, John Podesta. The emails were published by WikiLeaks and widely reported by media during the US presidential election.
The CIA has reportedly concluded that the Russians were trying to swing the election for Donald Trump. On Friday afternoon the Washington Post reported that the FBI now agreed with this assessment, citing a message to staff from CIA director John Brennan reported to them by unnamed officials.
“Earlier this week, I met separately with FBI [director] James Comey and DNI [director of national intelligence] Jim Clapper, and there is strong consensus among us on the scope, nature, and intent of Russian interference in our presidential election,” the paper quoted Brennan as saying.
The Guardian
