Off Topic Politics Thread
- Thread starter ChilcoSaint
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Not too surprising really. It's been going up for the last year and is high at the moment. The pound is more significant because of trade. Still a long way to go there although some said it was too high originally.
In control of Congress and soon the White House, Republicans are readying plans to roll back the influence of the Endangered Species Act, one of the government’s most powerful conservation tools, after decades of complaints that it hinders drilling, logging and other activities.
Over the past eight years, GOP lawmakers sponsored dozens of measures aimed at curtailing the landmark law or putting species such as gray wolves and sage grouse out of its reach. Almost all were blocked by Democrats and the White House or lawsuits from environmentalists.
Now, with the ascension of President-elect Donald Trump, Republicans see an opportunity to advance broad changes to a law they contend has been exploited by wildlife advocates to block economic development.
“It has never been used for the rehabilitation of species. It’s been used for control of the land,” said House Natural Resources Committee Chairman Rob Bishop. “We’ve missed the entire purpose of the Endangered Species Act. It has been hijacked.”
Bishop said he “would love to invalidate” the law and would need other lawmakers’ cooperation.
Reforms proposed by Republicans include placing limits on lawsuits that have been used to maintain protections for some species and force decisions on others, as well as adopting a cap on how many species can be protected and giving states a greater say in the process.
Wildlife advocates are bracing for changes that could make it harder to add species to the protected list and to usher them through to recovery. Dozens are due for decisions this year, including the Pacific walrus and the North American wolverine, two victims of potential habitat loss due to climate change.
www.washingtonpost.com/national/energy-environment/gop-targets-landmark-endangered-species-act-for-big-changes/2017/01/17/91abc4a0-dc7f-11e6-8902-610fe486791c_story.html?postshare=2731484663189062&tid=ss_tw&utm_term=.2aa766172bb7
Over the past eight years, GOP lawmakers sponsored dozens of measures aimed at curtailing the landmark law or putting species such as gray wolves and sage grouse out of its reach. Almost all were blocked by Democrats and the White House or lawsuits from environmentalists.
Now, with the ascension of President-elect Donald Trump, Republicans see an opportunity to advance broad changes to a law they contend has been exploited by wildlife advocates to block economic development.
“It has never been used for the rehabilitation of species. It’s been used for control of the land,” said House Natural Resources Committee Chairman Rob Bishop. “We’ve missed the entire purpose of the Endangered Species Act. It has been hijacked.”
Bishop said he “would love to invalidate” the law and would need other lawmakers’ cooperation.
Reforms proposed by Republicans include placing limits on lawsuits that have been used to maintain protections for some species and force decisions on others, as well as adopting a cap on how many species can be protected and giving states a greater say in the process.
Wildlife advocates are bracing for changes that could make it harder to add species to the protected list and to usher them through to recovery. Dozens are due for decisions this year, including the Pacific walrus and the North American wolverine, two victims of potential habitat loss due to climate change.
www.washingtonpost.com/national/energy-environment/gop-targets-landmark-endangered-species-act-for-big-changes/2017/01/17/91abc4a0-dc7f-11e6-8902-610fe486791c_story.html?postshare=2731484663189062&tid=ss_tw&utm_term=.2aa766172bb7
No surprise there then. Trump and his cronies will happily rape and pillage the land for monetary gain and the Republicans (who blocked almost everything Obama tried) will happily go along with it. I fail to understand how Congress and Senate seem to remain staunchly right wing no matter who is president.
If any Americans actually bothered to watch the last episode of Sir David Attenborough's recent programme or, even, the one just aired about Yellowstone Park, they should be worried.
However, like with everything driven by greed, the human race won't get it until it's too late and climate change (that "myth" according to the Trump camp) is irreversible
On top of the Brexit repeal of European Justice, workers rights and environmental laws, this is even more depressing.
China beats Trump!
http://www.bbc.com/sport/snooker/38656701
damn, sorry got confused - Hong Kong beats Trump!
http://www.bbc.com/sport/snooker/38656701
damn, sorry got confused - Hong Kong beats Trump!
No-one has repealed anything of the sort. All these laws are going to be written into UK law and we will continue with the same rights and laws. Only parliament in years to come will be able to repeal them. Vote for Corbyn's lot if you are so worried about the Tories.
There are very few true Tories left in the Conservative Party. Most are UKIPPERS in reality. Cameron failed to chuck out all the eurosceptics from a party that was once very pro-EU. Like the Labour Party in the 1980s under Foot when considerable swathes were Socialist Worker and Trotskyist, the Conservative Party has been infiltrated by UKIP and other right-wing movements.
And therein lies our nation's tragedy. Choose between a Labour Party led by a 1970s geography teacher who thinks he is still leading a student sit-in, or a Conservative Party which, having threatened for years to tear itself apart over Europe, has now spread the contagion and torn the country apart.
Only Tim Farron is making sense over the great issue of the day; and unfortunately for him, Nick Clegg stabbed his party in the heart 7 years ago.
I fear that the full tragedy of Cameron's doomed gamble is barely beginning to unfold; we now face many decades of a divided nation falling in on itself, adrift from it's neighbours, riven with internal conflict, poisoned by bitterness. Well done, Dave; the Tory who killed Great Britain and dis-united a kingdom. Still, you've given the next Shakespeare plenty of material.
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She can't say much else otherwise we may as well roll over to them now.
Shame she told at least one blatant lie in that speech. She said everyone knew they were voting to leave the single market, when most of the Brexit campaign team, including Farage, said it would be economic madness. They just hadn't thought it through.You must log in or register to see images
There were some mixed views on the single market but it simply isn't true that most of the leave campaign wanted to stay in the single market. The leaders - Johnson, Gove, Leadsom and Farage - all wanted to leave the single market. Cameron and Osborne said a vote to leave the EU would be a vote to leave the single market.
It was also implied in what was being discussed. There would be no point leaving the EU and remaining in the single market when all the major issues people had with the EU - immigration, business regulation, EU law overriding U.K. law - would be unaffected by doing that.
The clip of Farage in that video that's doing the rounds is carefully clipped out of an interview he gave when he suggested that if necessary we could remain in the EEA for a transitional period while we sorted out a new arrangement with the EU. Farage did not want to stay in the single market.
They = anyone and everyone?
It may have been clear to you, but it certainly wasn't to a lot of people. The fact that we've had nearly 7 months of debate since the referendum over what Brexit actually means shows that nobody, including David Cameron and Theresa May, the 2 Prime Ministers during that period, had a clue what it meant to themselves or the British public. If it had been clear to the entire electorate prior to the vote I would guess the result may have been different, as quite a few people I know wanted a "have cake and eat it" outcome.
I've just watched the party political broadcast from the labour party. They used the NHS as the vehicle for it and it epitomised everything I detest about politics. They continually said that the government are breaking promises made during the Brexit vote that said £350m a week would be available for the NHS.... sorry, but that is a disgusting, purposeful twist and attempt to mislead the UK population. The Exit campaigners promised those figures which was made up of people from all parties. It really pissed me off watching that. I really hate politics and politicians. Utterly appalling.