Conservative Blogger
Thursday, April 6, 2017
Trump administration revokes Obama-era directive blocking controversial water project
The Trump administration issued a memo late last week revoking two federal directives implemented under President Obama that had blocked a controversial water project in California’s Mojave Desert.
An acting assistant director at the U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM) rescinded two legal guidances that reinforced the agency’s 2015 decision that Cadiz Inc. could not use an existing federal railroad right-of-way in its long-standing project to pump groundwater from the project’s planned well field in the Mojave Desert and sell it to urban areas throughout Southern California that rely on the Colorado River Aqueduct.
While the BLM’s one-page order didn’t specifically mention the Cadiz project, it eases the way for the company to argue for the reversal of the findings of the agency’s California field office, which said the company needed federal approval to construct its 43-mile water pipeline. The memo also noted that any future right-of-way decisions will be determined by the BLM’s office in Washington, D.C.
The resource company hopes to pump groundwater stored in its privately-owned Mojave holdings to supply 100,000 households. If successful, Cadiz stands to make between $1 billion and $2 billion in revenue over the project's 50-year lifespan.
The pipeline has the support of many local lawmakers, including the San Bernardino County Board of Commissioners, which approved the project back in 2012. The board argued that the project would be a boon to the local economy by creating thousands of jobs and also bring water reliability to an area of the country that has suffered through a devastating drought over the past few years.
Cadiz also overcame a number of environmental lawsuits under state law. As part of its decision the San Bernardino County supervisors established an independent enforcement role over the project’s operations and authorized groundwater withdrawals that will avoid harm to desert resources.
Environmentalists and desert advocates, however, have decried the project, arguing that the project could deplete water needed to support the local wildlife and cause dust storms that would affect regional air quality.
Federal hydrologists have challenged Cadiz’s assertions about the rate of natural recharge of the desert aquifer. Public land advocates say that any pumping will dry up the natural springs on surrounding federal land.
“Many of the springs and seeps are going to dry up because of groundwater extraction,” Ileene Anderson, a biologist with the Center for Biological Diversity, told The Press Enterprise.
Sen. Diane Feinstein, who authored the California Desert Protection Act and was instrumental in creating the nearby Mojave Trails National Preserve, has been one of the biggest opponents of Cadiz. The California Democrat has for years attached riders to congressional appropriations bills preventing the BLM from spending money that would benefit the Cadiz project.
“The Trump administration wants to open the door for a private company to exploit a natural desert aquifer and destroy pristine public land purely for profit,” Feinstein said in a statement. “The administration is completely undermining federal oversight of railroad rights-of-way.”
Despite the pushback from Feinstein, the project enjoys a good deal of support in Congress. Rep. Rob Bishop of Utah – the chairman of the House Natural Resources Committee – was one of 18 members of Congress to urge Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke to revoke the BLM directives.
The anti-sanctuary city: Arizona county bucks national trend
Casa Grande, Ariz. – While an increasing number of cities declare themselves safe zones for illegal immigrants, a sheriff in Arizona is bucking the trend by openly working with Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the Border Patrol.
“I’m not for sanctuary cities,” said Pinal County Sheriff Paul Lamb. “That’s pretty much it in a nutshell.”
Pinal County, south of Phoenix, is the size of Connecticut. Its 450,000 residents are an ethnic mix – black, white, Hispanic and Native Americans.
SESSIONS TAKES AIM AT 'DANGEROUS' SANCTUARY CITIES, WARNS ON FUNDING
Lamb took office in January and instituted a cooperative program so his jail deputies are cross trained as ICE agents, allowing them to question and immediately determine an inmate’s immigration status. In practice, it allows for a seamless transition of criminal aliens from the Pima County courthouse or jail to ICE custody for deportation.
“Ultimately their goal is the same as ours – public safety,” said David Marin, an ICE director in Los Angeles. “Those sheriffs and law enforcement agencies realize that by turning over these criminal aliens to us they’re not going to be able to go out and commit additional crimes.”
Currently Pinal County has four jail deputies trained in the ICE 287g program, which allows local police to enforce immigration laws. The Trump administration hopes to expand the program to as many cities as possible.
“My job is to keep the people of Pinal County safe,” said Lamb. “The 287g program allows me to make sure I’m not putting criminals back in the community.”
MAYORS OF SANCTUARY CITIES SHOULD BE THROWN IN JAIL
As trained ICE agents, the deputies are able to tap into Department of Homeland Security computers and determine an inmates’ legal status. And unlike sanctuary jurisdictions, the county honors ICE warrants and detainers and will give ICE a call when an inmate is preparing to leave.
“This county cares about illegal immigration and it’s my job to make sure that we work with our federal partners to uphold the law,” Lamb said.
That includes the Border Patrol, which works closely with the county’s anti-smuggling unit.
“They back us up and we help them,” said Deputy Eddie Joseph.
Behind the wheel of an unmarked, black Dodge pickup, Joseph patrols Interstate 8 and 10, both of which cross east-west across Pinal County.
He watches a battered blue SUV suspiciously go up and down a desert road twice in 30 minutes. The behavior mirrors that of smugglers who are looking to pick up illegals hiding in the bushes along the road.
It’s a seven-day walk from the U.S. Mexican border about 80 miles away. Yet, piles of discarded clothes, water bottles and burlap sacks used to carry marijuana litter the desert in popular spots near the highways.
“We see a lot of drug and human smuggling” Joseph said. “You can see here the foot tracks in the sand. They’re probably a few days old.”
The Trump Administration sees local law enforcement as a front line in its battle against illegal immigration, at the border and in the interior. They do not expect to turn local cops into immigration agents. But once an immigrant is booked into jail, for any offense, they become fair game.
The administration argues it is the federal government’s prerogative – not a local mayor or city council – to decide who gets deported and who does not.
“It’s a slippery slope, when you get into that,” Lamb argued. “You can’t start determining this person meets a criteria and this one doesn’t. The bottom line is, it’s illegal (to be here). If someone is illegal, it’s against the law and my job to uphold the law.”
Marin wished more local law enforcement shared his attitude.
“It’s troubling for us because here’s a criminal alien, somebody that we can use our unique authorities to not only remove them from the community,” he said, “but ultimately remove them from the country and again there’s law enforcement agencies that are just letting them go.”
Michael Goodwin: Susan Rice's lousy track record makes it tough to believe her now
Before we get to Susan Rice, first things first.
Every scandal needs a catchy nickname so we can avoid repeating
drawn-out descriptions. One-word nicknames are best, especially for
those who traffic in tabloids and television.
Absent a better choice, this one shall be known as SpyGate. Spy because there is mounting evidence the Obama administration spied on Team Trump. And Gate because ever since Watergate, big scandals and wannabe big scandals must be Gate. It’s a rule.
We also need a memorable question or two that points toward the endgame. When Richard Nixon’s fate hung in the balance, the case turned on these: What did the president know and when did he know it?
In SpyGate, the crucial question is this: How do we know that the Obama spying on Team Trump was incidental?
What if it was intentional? What if spying was part of a plot to destroy Trump’s candidacy and, when that failed, sabotage his presidency?
We don’t have verifiable answers yet, despite being assured repeatedly that Trump and his associates merely were picked up in conversations with Russian and other foreign officials who were being spied on. Those doing the assuring said that since the Trumpsters were not the targets, it was incidental and thus no harm, no foul.
But there were lots of harms and fouls. For months, stories about possible collusion between Trump and Russia turned exclusively on leaks about members of Trump’s inner circle being caught talking to Russians.
Gen. Mike Flynn was the first example, Attorney General Jeff Sessions was second and others include Jared Kushner. Those leaks, always from anonymous officials, serve to undermine the new president and encourage Democrats to obstruct the administration in the hope that impeachment is coming.
By my count, at least six people — including Trump himself — have been identified as having their communications intercepted by American law enforcement or intelligence. Always, it was “incidental.”
Which gets us to Susan Rice and the importance of her role in seeking the unmasking of those Trump officials. Weeks after she denied any knowledge of unmasking, Obama’s national security adviser flip-flopped Tuesday and admitted she had “sometimes” asked intelligence agencies to identify American citizens whose names had been withheld, as required, in initial reports.
“And sometimes, in that context, in order to understand the importance of the report and assess its significance, it was necessary to find out, or request the information as to find out who that US official was,” she told MSNBC.
Count that as one mystery solved. But Rice made two other denials. One, that she didn’t leak any names to the media. And two, that the unmasking was never done for political purposes.
Her track record doesn’t help her credibility. Rice infamously went on five Sunday television shows in 2012 to assure the nation that the Benghazi attack that killed four Americans was in response to an Internet video. That was a flat-out lie — it was a planned terror attack and she had to know as much.
She also brazenly insisted in 2014 that Bowe Bergdahl, the Army sergeant held by the Taliban for five years, had “served with honor and distinction” to justify the trade of five terrorists from Gitmo for his release. Her claim was false, and even the Army disagreed with Rice, charging Bergdahl with desertion.
So when Rice and her defenders insist that SpyGate is much ado about very little, that’s not even close to good enough. She has to prove it — by testifying under oath to Congress.
To continue reading Michael Goodwin's column in the New York Post, click here.
Michael Goodwin is a Fox News contributor and New York Post columnist.
Absent a better choice, this one shall be known as SpyGate. Spy because there is mounting evidence the Obama administration spied on Team Trump. And Gate because ever since Watergate, big scandals and wannabe big scandals must be Gate. It’s a rule.
We also need a memorable question or two that points toward the endgame. When Richard Nixon’s fate hung in the balance, the case turned on these: What did the president know and when did he know it?
In SpyGate, the crucial question is this: How do we know that the Obama spying on Team Trump was incidental?
What if it was intentional? What if spying was part of a plot to destroy Trump’s candidacy and, when that failed, sabotage his presidency?
We don’t have verifiable answers yet, despite being assured repeatedly that Trump and his associates merely were picked up in conversations with Russian and other foreign officials who were being spied on. Those doing the assuring said that since the Trumpsters were not the targets, it was incidental and thus no harm, no foul.
But there were lots of harms and fouls. For months, stories about possible collusion between Trump and Russia turned exclusively on leaks about members of Trump’s inner circle being caught talking to Russians.
Gen. Mike Flynn was the first example, Attorney General Jeff Sessions was second and others include Jared Kushner. Those leaks, always from anonymous officials, serve to undermine the new president and encourage Democrats to obstruct the administration in the hope that impeachment is coming.
By my count, at least six people — including Trump himself — have been identified as having their communications intercepted by American law enforcement or intelligence. Always, it was “incidental.”
Which gets us to Susan Rice and the importance of her role in seeking the unmasking of those Trump officials. Weeks after she denied any knowledge of unmasking, Obama’s national security adviser flip-flopped Tuesday and admitted she had “sometimes” asked intelligence agencies to identify American citizens whose names had been withheld, as required, in initial reports.
“And sometimes, in that context, in order to understand the importance of the report and assess its significance, it was necessary to find out, or request the information as to find out who that US official was,” she told MSNBC.
Count that as one mystery solved. But Rice made two other denials. One, that she didn’t leak any names to the media. And two, that the unmasking was never done for political purposes.
Her track record doesn’t help her credibility. Rice infamously went on five Sunday television shows in 2012 to assure the nation that the Benghazi attack that killed four Americans was in response to an Internet video. That was a flat-out lie — it was a planned terror attack and she had to know as much.
She also brazenly insisted in 2014 that Bowe Bergdahl, the Army sergeant held by the Taliban for five years, had “served with honor and distinction” to justify the trade of five terrorists from Gitmo for his release. Her claim was false, and even the Army disagreed with Rice, charging Bergdahl with desertion.
So when Rice and her defenders insist that SpyGate is much ado about very little, that’s not even close to good enough. She has to prove it — by testifying under oath to Congress.
To continue reading Michael Goodwin's column in the New York Post, click here.
Michael Goodwin is a Fox News contributor and New York Post columnist.
Lawmakers say intel agencies stonewalling on surveillance probe
Lawmakers
probing the surveillance of key officials in the Trump campaign and
administration say the intelligence agencies now nominally under the
president’s control are stonewalling efforts to get to the bottom of who
revealed names and leaked protected information to the press.
The House and Senate Intelligence Committees are currently investigating allegations the Obama administration spied on Trump associates – and possibly Trump himself – for as long as the year preceding his inauguration. And while former Obama National Security Adviser Susan Rice has been implicated as at least one of the officials who sought redacted names from surveillance transcripts, multiple lawmakers and investigators for the panel told Fox News the CIA, FBI and National Security Agency - all agencies in position to aid the probe – are not cooperating.
“Our requests are simply not being answered,” said one House Intelligence committee source about the lack of responsiveness. "The agencies are not really helping at all and there is truly a massive web for us to try and wade through.”
A Senate Intelligence Committee source said the upper chamber had the same experience.
An FBI spokesperson said the bureau is working in good faith.
“The FBI will continue to work with the congressional oversight committees on their requests,” the spokesperson said.
A CIA spokesperson told Fox News the NSA was the lead agency on the matter and referred questions to it.
In a statement to Fox News, the NSA called the allegations "categorically untrue."
"Allegations that the National Security Agency is 'withholding information' from congressional intelligence committees investigating Russian interference in the 2016 election are categorically untrue," the statement said. "NSA fully supports the committees' work. We have already made available significant information in response to their requests, and we look forward to continuing to work with them in the execution of their important responsibilities."
Sources within the NSA said they are watching the investigation closely, with one telling Fox News, “A number of people saw a lot of very questionable stuff. [The Obama administration was] using national assets and intelligence for politics.”
It was not clear if the alleged lack of cooperation was from top brass or agency holdovers resisting the new administration.
The CIA is now headed by former Rep. Mike Pompeo, who himself served on the House Intelligence Committee prior to his nomination. The FBI and NSA are run by James Comey and Mike Rogers, respectively. Both are holdovers from the Obama administration. Last month, both men declined to appear at a private closed door House Intelligence Committee briefing and have not met with the committee members since.
The meeting was supposed to be a follow-up to public testimony by Comey and Rogers to the committee in late March on the topic of Russian meddling in the presidential election and the alleged mishandling of intelligence related to the Trump transition team.
During the public hearing, the pair had declined to answer more than 100 questions, and Comey has been completely unavailable since.
House Intelligence Chair Devin Nunes, R-Calif., told Fox News he had hoped that behind closed doors, Comey and Rogers would be more forthcoming.
Nunes also wanted to ask them about intelligence reports he’d viewed that showed incidental electronic intercepts of Trump team communications. The intelligence reports, which included surveillance of foreign targets, revealed that the names of Trump's team had been "unmasked" or revealed, and their identities widely disseminated throughout the government and to the media.
Nunes said during a March 22 press conference that he was “troubled” because the reports he’d seen were not connected to Russia or any foreign intelligence.
U.S. intelligence sources have told Fox News that Rice, President Obama's national security adviser, is responsible for unmasking at least some of Trump team named in surveillance reports.
Rice said Tuesday on MSNBC, “It was not uncommon, it was necessary at times to make those requests…..” to understand the information. But Rice maintained she is not the leaker, didn’t send the information to the press and did not use the information for political purposes.
And while U.S. intelligence sources told Fox News that unmasking requests escalated after Trump was elected, Rice claimed she didn’t remember. “I don’t have a particular recollection of doing that more frequently after the election.”
President Trump on Wednesday claimed that he believes Rice may have committed a crime by requesting the identities of Trump associates who were mentioned in U.S. surveillance, though he did not provide proof.
Asked by the New York Times if Rice committed a crime, Trump said, “Do I think? Yes, I think.”
Rice isn’t the only Obama official implicated in the Trump team surveillance scandal. Multiple sources insist she was part of a group involved at the highest levels and was not calling the shots.
“A lot of us are upset. We believe this group of people were using national assets for politics and misappropriating them,” said one NSA source. “Don’t forget as the national security advisor, Susan Rice is supposed to ingest and digest. Despite what you are hearing, it is not normal to investigate especially in the broad manner that was being done. She [was] a White House staffer, not a member of an intelligence agency."
The House and Senate Intelligence Committees are currently investigating allegations the Obama administration spied on Trump associates – and possibly Trump himself – for as long as the year preceding his inauguration. And while former Obama National Security Adviser Susan Rice has been implicated as at least one of the officials who sought redacted names from surveillance transcripts, multiple lawmakers and investigators for the panel told Fox News the CIA, FBI and National Security Agency - all agencies in position to aid the probe – are not cooperating.
“Our requests are simply not being answered,” said one House Intelligence committee source about the lack of responsiveness. "The agencies are not really helping at all and there is truly a massive web for us to try and wade through.”
A Senate Intelligence Committee source said the upper chamber had the same experience.
“Our requests are simply not being answered.”“Any information that will help find the wide extent on the unmasking and surveillance is purposely not being provided,” said the Senate source.
- House Intelligence Committee source
An FBI spokesperson said the bureau is working in good faith.
“The FBI will continue to work with the congressional oversight committees on their requests,” the spokesperson said.
A CIA spokesperson told Fox News the NSA was the lead agency on the matter and referred questions to it.
In a statement to Fox News, the NSA called the allegations "categorically untrue."
"Allegations that the National Security Agency is 'withholding information' from congressional intelligence committees investigating Russian interference in the 2016 election are categorically untrue," the statement said. "NSA fully supports the committees' work. We have already made available significant information in response to their requests, and we look forward to continuing to work with them in the execution of their important responsibilities."
Sources within the NSA said they are watching the investigation closely, with one telling Fox News, “A number of people saw a lot of very questionable stuff. [The Obama administration was] using national assets and intelligence for politics.”
It was not clear if the alleged lack of cooperation was from top brass or agency holdovers resisting the new administration.
The CIA is now headed by former Rep. Mike Pompeo, who himself served on the House Intelligence Committee prior to his nomination. The FBI and NSA are run by James Comey and Mike Rogers, respectively. Both are holdovers from the Obama administration. Last month, both men declined to appear at a private closed door House Intelligence Committee briefing and have not met with the committee members since.
The meeting was supposed to be a follow-up to public testimony by Comey and Rogers to the committee in late March on the topic of Russian meddling in the presidential election and the alleged mishandling of intelligence related to the Trump transition team.
During the public hearing, the pair had declined to answer more than 100 questions, and Comey has been completely unavailable since.
House Intelligence Chair Devin Nunes, R-Calif., told Fox News he had hoped that behind closed doors, Comey and Rogers would be more forthcoming.
Nunes also wanted to ask them about intelligence reports he’d viewed that showed incidental electronic intercepts of Trump team communications. The intelligence reports, which included surveillance of foreign targets, revealed that the names of Trump's team had been "unmasked" or revealed, and their identities widely disseminated throughout the government and to the media.
Nunes said during a March 22 press conference that he was “troubled” because the reports he’d seen were not connected to Russia or any foreign intelligence.
U.S. intelligence sources have told Fox News that Rice, President Obama's national security adviser, is responsible for unmasking at least some of Trump team named in surveillance reports.
Rice said Tuesday on MSNBC, “It was not uncommon, it was necessary at times to make those requests…..” to understand the information. But Rice maintained she is not the leaker, didn’t send the information to the press and did not use the information for political purposes.
And while U.S. intelligence sources told Fox News that unmasking requests escalated after Trump was elected, Rice claimed she didn’t remember. “I don’t have a particular recollection of doing that more frequently after the election.”
President Trump on Wednesday claimed that he believes Rice may have committed a crime by requesting the identities of Trump associates who were mentioned in U.S. surveillance, though he did not provide proof.
Asked by the New York Times if Rice committed a crime, Trump said, “Do I think? Yes, I think.”
Rice isn’t the only Obama official implicated in the Trump team surveillance scandal. Multiple sources insist she was part of a group involved at the highest levels and was not calling the shots.
“A lot of us are upset. We believe this group of people were using national assets for politics and misappropriating them,” said one NSA source. “Don’t forget as the national security advisor, Susan Rice is supposed to ingest and digest. Despite what you are hearing, it is not normal to investigate especially in the broad manner that was being done. She [was] a White House staffer, not a member of an intelligence agency."
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