"It’s no coincidence that DeJoy backed down just as Democratic AGs announced lawsuits. When Dem AGs team up, the Administration pays attention. But we won’t believe it until we see it."
"Without concrete action by DeJoy to undo the damage already done and prevent future problems, we are moving forward to hold the Trump Administration accountable.”
“And here’s our message to the American people: Use your vote. Vote early; whether in person or by mail. However you choose to vote, Democratic state attorneys general are standing up to make sure every single vote is counted.”
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A few eye popping headlines a whole bunch of people, all across the country, should care about ...
Encourage folks to take a look on this Saturday to see the widespread impacts and the potential consequences later this year.
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SF CHRONICLE: Trump’s spending freeze halts key California wildfire work: ‘We can’t even buy the rakes’
"The Bureau of Land Management confirmed it had stopped all plans to clear hazardous overgrowth on public lands across the country if the projects were to be paid for through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. The law was slated to fund $113 million worth of fuels reduction work on 770,000 acres nationwide this year, a bureau spokesperson said."
“We can’t even buy the rakes, if we wanted to rake the forest,” said Steven Gutierrez with the National Federation of Federal Employees, the union representing federal workers.
"Gutierrez, a former U.S. Forest Service firefighter, said that the cuts involved key support roles for firefighting, if not permanent staff firefighter positions."
"'The workforce is deeply concerned the government doesn’t have their back,' he said."
As we end the week, I wanted to share some really good local reporting on how President Trump's water actions in California are being received by locals...
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via @SJVwater ...
"Tulare County water managers were perplexed and frustrated, noting both physical and legal barriers that make it virtually impossible for Tulare County river water to be used for southern California fires.”
“A decision to take summer water from local farmers and dump it out of these reservoirs shows a complete lack of understanding of how the system works and sets a very dangerous precedent,” said Dan Vink, a longtime Tulare County water manager and principal partner at Six-33 Solutions, a water and natural resource firm in Visalia.”
“This decision was clearly made by someone with no understanding of the system or the impacts that come from knee-jerk political actions.”
“I have no idea if this is the new norm for operations or not. I certainly hope not.”
"releasing the water at the capacity the Corps had planned to would have flooded both the Kaweah and Tule rivers"
“Channel capacity is very dangerous,” Hernandez said. “People don’t understand that [with] channel capacity, you’re going to have flood damage down below.”
President Trump "incorrectly blamed the temporary lack of water in Los Angeles hydrants during wildfires earlier this month on the state’s water management policies, though the state’s reservoirs are at or near historic levels right now and the hydrants went dry because of the high local demand."
"a former senior Bureau of Reclamation official said moves like the one in Tulare County could endanger property and lives."
“Something really bad could happen because of their nonsensical approach,” the former official, who was granted anonymity because of the issue’s political sensitivity, said. “Floods are real. This isn’t playing around with a software company.”
"The Army Corps did not respond to a question about how the water would reach Los Angeles, about 200 miles away."
"Other water experts said it would have been nearly impossible to divert the water to Los Angeles"
"Dumping the water from Lake Kaweah and Success Lake poses a flood risk to downstream communities...It also reduces the amount of irrigation water available to farmers during the driest months of the year."
Here are just *SOME* of the efforts taken this week by @CAGovernor Newsom to protect and support Californians from the ongoing firestorms worsened by hurricane-force winds.
#BREAKING >> Alabama AG Steve Marshall -- who is the Chair of the Rule of Law Defense Fund, the RAGA org that sponsored & promoted the Jan 6 rally turned deadly riot -- is seeking re-election.
Jan 8 AG Marshall said, he "was unaware of unauthorized decisions," that "it is unacceptable that I was neither consulted about nor informed of those decisions" & that, "those who chose to engage in violence and anarchy should and will be held accountable" alreporter.com/2021/01/08/ala…
Fast forward to April 9 -- three months later -- and AG Marshall and the Republican Attorneys General Association "didn’t respond to questions" from @BurkhalterEddie
This is gonna be a painful & expensive primary for the Republican Attorneys General Association.
It’s certainly possible this turns into a RAGA v MAGA primary if GPB gets Trump’s endorsement—which, I have to believe, would be incredibly embarrassing for indicted TX AG Ken Paxton
Why embarrassing? There are few who attached themselves closer to Trump.
Paxton, along with other Republican AGs, essentially acted as Trump’s personal lawyer…and in the final days even sued to try to overturn the election & spoke at the Jan 6 rally turned deadly riot.
On top of that, the Republican Attorneys General Association has gone full MAGA.
-> Their new chair tried to overturn the election not once, but ~twice~
-> Their new Exec Dir is deeply tied to Jan 6 & “Big Lie”