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Climate Change Advocates Ignore Contrary Evidence

Advocates of the theory that human activities have caused dangerous global warming are becoming desperate—and litigious.

With the startling revelation the Justice Department actually discussed taking legal action against the fossil fuel industry for “denying” climate change, it is now clear that the long history of fraud, misconstrued data, and junk science is beginning to take its toll on those who seek to impose drastic and questionable measures against a threat that may not bear any resemblance to their claims.  It is also becoming increasingly obvious, considering the lack of clear evidence for unusual global warming, that the motivation for the intensity of their efforts may have less to do with concern for the environment and more to do with an unrelated political agenda.

There have been attempts to prevent—even criminalize– discussion on the controversial issue of manmade global warming by its advocates, who base their position on suspect data.

A Competitive Enterprise Institute report  notes: “What boggles the mind is not that … climate scientists would attempt to stifle debate, drive the market out of the marketplace of ideas, and punish those who do not worship at the altar of ‘consensus.’ There’s no shortage of ‘progressive’ intolerance in these times. Using RICO [a legal tool designed to fight organized crime] to silence opponents is fairly tame compared to environmental activist Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.’s demand that fossil-fuel executives be tried for treason (the usual punishment for which is death). What’s noteworthy …is the scientists’ lack of self-awareness—their inability to judge themselves by criteria they invoke to condemn others. They have no clue how easily they can be hoist on their own petard.”

While pressure from the Obama Administration has chilled dissent from those currently working for government agencies, retired scientists have made no secret of their views that contradict the prevailing global warming orthodoxy. In 2012, Business Insider reproduced a letter penned by 49 retired NASA scientists and astronauts:

March 28, 2012

The Honorable Charles Bolden, Jr.
NASA Administrator
NASA Headquarters
Washington, D.C. 20546-0001

Dear Charlie,

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The unbridled advocacy of CO2 being the major cause of climate change is unbecoming of NASA’s history of making an objective assessment of all available scientific data prior to making decisions or public statements.

As former NASA employees, we feel that NASA’s advocacy of an extreme position, prior to a thorough study of the possible overwhelming impact of natural climate drivers is inappropriate. We request that NASA refrain from including unproven and unsupported remarks in its future releases and websites on this subject. At risk is damage to the exemplary reputation of NASA, NASA’s current or former scientists and employees, and even the reputation of science itself.

For additional information regarding the science behind our concern, we recommend that you contact Harrison Schmitt or Walter Cunningham, or others they can recommend to you.

Thank you for considering this request.

The letter is not unique. 31,072 scientists, including 9,029 with PH.D’s, have signed a petition which states:

“There is no convincing scientific evidence that human release of carbon dioxide, methane, or other greenhouse gases is causing or will, in the foreseeable future, cause catastrophic heating of the Earth’s atmosphere and disruption of the Earth’s climate.  Moreover, there is substantial scientific evidence that increases in atmospheric carbon dioxide produce many beneficial effects upon the natural plant and animal environment of the Earth.”

RealClimateScience analyzed an NOAA briefing citing statistics indicating a warming trend over the past 37 years. The data presented was selective, omitting a portion of the research which indicated that, in the approximately two decades before the recent 37 years, there had been a cooling trend.  The end result is that there has been, using NOAA’s own research, no evidence of global warming over the past 58 years. Data from other sources indicates that there has been no evidence of global warming since 1997.

The inappropriate tilting of government agencies towards the unproven theory of manmade climate change has been exposed by several sources. The Freebeacon has reported that “The business arm of billionaire Democrat Tom Steyer’s political advocacy network worked behind the scenes with senior administration officials to undermine a study by a federally commissioned group that criticized environmental regulations, internal emails show.”

Earlier this year, the United States Supreme Court placed a stay on President Obama’s “Clean Power Plan” regulations.  It was the first time that the highest court overruled a lower court to stay a regulation. The stay had been requested by 27 states.

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More Taxes, More Spending, Nothing Resolved

If there is one area that government has been unquestionably successful in over the past several decades, it has been in collecting revenue.  Despite stagnant wages and a moribund economy, the dollars keep rolling in to both Washington and state capitals.

Taxrevenue.com estimates that the “direct revenue” collected in fiscal year 2016 breaks down as follows:  Approximately $3.3 trillion went to Washington, $1.9 trillion to the states, and $1.4 trillion to local governments. Combined, all that totals $6.6 trillion.

The U.S. Census Bureau reported after last year’s April 15 tax day headline that “State government tax revenue increased 2.2 percent, from $847.1 billion in fiscal year 2013 to $865.8 billion in 2014, the fourth consecutive increase… General sales and gross receipts taxes drove most of the revenue growth, increasing from $258.9 billion to $271.3 billion, or 4.8 percent. Severance taxes (levies imposed on removal of natural resources) increased 6.0 percent, from $16.8 billion to $17.8 billion, and motor fuel taxes increased 3.4 percent, from $40.1 billion to $41.5 billion.”

On the federal side, A Freebeacon analysis  reports, “since 1998, tax revenues have increased 30 percent.” In FY 2015, Washington took in approximately $3.3 trillion.

For all that increased revenue, however, Americans have gained very little. Some salient examples:  Social Security remains headed for insolvency. Government pensions are underfunded.  The poverty rate remains virtually unchanged since the War on Poverty began in the 1960’s. In the face of massive new threats from Russia, China, Iran, North Korea and terrorists, the Pentagon has endured substantial cuts.  Infrastructure needs go unmet, with bridges, highways, water systems and other key elements in disrepair. NASA can’t put an astronaut in space other than by hitchhiking on a foreign craft.

And, of course, there is the debt and the deficit.  The federal debt has skyrocketed by over $8 trillion during the Obama Administration, soaring from $10,626,877,048,913 on the day he was first inaugurated to $18,722,746,583,118 currently.
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A CNS News study  found that “the portion of the federal government’s debt that is held by the public…has more than doubled during President Barack Obama’s time in office” up by 113.8 percent.

Although the states, more restricted in their ability to engage in deficit spending, (they can’t print money like Washington) have been more stable than the national government, they too face challenges. The Mercatus organization notes that “there are troubling signs that many states are still ignoring the risks on their books, mainly in underfunded pensions and health care benefits. Even states that appear to be fiscally robust—perhaps owing to large amounts of cash on hand or revenue streams from natural resources—must take stock of their long-term fiscal health before making future public policy decisions.”

Despite all the increased revenue Washington and the states have consumed, and their lack of success in using it to balance their books or improve conditions, there are proposals to increase taxes even more.

A Tax Policy Center  analysis concludes that Bernie Sanders’ tax proposals would increase taxes by $15.3 trillion over the next decade. The Center also concludes that Clinton’s tax plan “would generate $1 trillion in additional revenue for the government over the first decade and an additional $2 trillion over the next 20 years.” The Sanders and Clinton tax increase plans apparently are not aimed at paying down the debt or addressing the many needs noted above.  Rather, they seek to finance new spending programs, including, depending on the candidate, high ticket items such as free college, universal health insurance, or continuing the massive increase in entitlements (such as food stamps) that have been the hallmark of the Obama tenure in office.  That leaves all those essential areas, including social security, defense, infrastructure, still facing massive solvency challenges.

In contrast, the Republican candidates look to cut taxes, but critics note that they don’t provide adequate details on how the lost revenue would be replaced.

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Cancer on the Left

Fascist-minded radicals have replaced liberal politics with hard-left extremism. Their stranglehold on academia, and their several attempts (some still ongoing) to limit political discourse to only what they agree with has now expanded into outright violence.

Not content with efforts that shut down a Trump rally in Chicago on Thursday, another protestor attempted to physically attack the Republican front-runner at a campaign stop in Ohio. It would be a mistake to assume that these acts are a reaction to Trump’s occasionally over-the- top comments.  Were the front runner any other Republican, or indeed, a more conservative Democrat, the uptick in violence and protest would be aimed at him or her.

Politics as usual no longer exists for the left.  It is no longer a contest of ideas. It is an open battle for power, no holds barred. Common sense, the rule of law, and common decency has no place in their game plan. Constitutional restrictions are nowhere on their radar.

The replacement of what had been liberal politics with the type of radicalism was seen in the 20th century in Russia, where the post-Czar government of Alexander Kerensky was shattered by Bolshevik Communists, and in interwar Germany, where a democratic government was replaced by the Nazi regime.

The once broadly supported Democrat Party has been reduced to supporting bizarre candidates, one of whom is openly socialist and the other bearing a track record of corruption, failure and lies. Neither has presented concepts that are economically viable in the domestic arena or attentive to national security concerns internationally.

Even among those two, the concept of fair play is missing.  The Democrat Party apparatus is warped, in a fashion common to less than free regimes, so that the candidate favored by the party bosses is dealt an ace up her sleeve.  Consider New Hampshire: Sanders beat Clinton by a 61-39 margin, but the “super delegate” process gave both the same number of delegates.  The party leadership has tilted towards Ms. Clinton in a manner that induces one to wonder whether the Sanders camp will at some point file a breach of fiduciary duty lawsuit against it.

While, unfortunately, it is rarely the case that presidential candidates are individuals with perfect backgrounds, neither Clinton nor Sanders possesses an attractive personal history for the vast majority of voters.

Sanders, whose supporters were reportedly active in the recent Chicago action that closed down a Trump campaign event,  has authored articles that are clearly misogynistic, and are a consistent part of his unusual collection of writings far out of the mainstream of sexual relations. He has a history of extremist involvement. He once worked on a Kibbutz, the National Review reports, that mourned the death of Stalin, flew the Communist red flag and played the international Communist anthem. He honeymooned in the Soviet Union.
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The New York Post writes: “he’s not even a socialist. He’s a communist. Mainstreaming Sanders requires whitewashing his radical pro-communist past…While attending the University of Chicago, Sanders joined the Young People’s Socialist League, the youth wing of the Socialist Party USA. He also organized for a communist front, the United Packinghouse Workers Union…he produced a glowing documentary on the life of socialist revolutionary Eugene Debs, who was…hailed by the Bolsheviks as ‘America’s greatest Marxist’…This subversive hero of Sanders, denounced even by liberal Democrats as a ‘traitor…hailed the ‘triumphant’ Bolshevik revolution in Russia. Those Russian comrades of ours have made greater sacrifices, have suffered more, and have shed more heroic blood than any like number of men and women anywhere on Earth,’ Debs proclaimed. ‘They have laid the foundation of the first real democracy that ever drew the breath of life in this world.”

Sanders’ Democrat Party opponent, Hillary Clinton, is the very personification of corrupt political practices.  Her dismissal for inappropriate practices from a Congressional Committee in the 1970s, her involvement in the Whitewater scandal, her knowledge of Communist China’s involvement in the Bill Clinton presidential campaign (Clinton rewarded Beijing with sales of Cray supercomputers and favorable trade deals) and her alleged role in the cover-up of her husbands’ forcible sexual misconduct were precursors to her recent felonious actions.

Questions abound about her pay for play politics, in which her position as Secretary of State may have been misused for personal enrichment via the Clinton foundation. Writing in the Wall Street Journal, Kimberley Strassel questions whether revelations from the FBI’s probe into Ms. Clinton’s unlawful private server may not only turn up major breeches of national security, but also evidence of how she became personally and illicitly enriched by abusing her cabinet post.

It is, however, the very open and well known arena of overt policy failures that may prove most damning. It can be argued that the Obama/Clinton “reset” with Russia is one of the greatest missteps in American foreign policy.   And, of course, there is Benghazi.  Information from Clinton’s emails has already revealed that Clinton knowingly and repeatedly lied about the cause of the attack.  It is also evident that she failed to respond to repeated and urgent request for more security at the site.

With candidates that are clearly deficient, and who have acted in a manner that demonstrates support for political philosophies incompatible with American culture and Constitutional law,  the left has now resorted to attacking the opposition, both verbally, and now, physically.

The Chicago and Ohio incidents are not about Donald Trump, although the disreputable leftist organization Moveon.org has labelled their effort as a “Stop Donald Trump” campaign.   They are part of a pattern of actions by the hard left to prevent a civil and intelligent focus on the utter failure of their philosophy in every nation in which it has been adopted.  It is an attempt to distract from the jobless recovery and international drubbing that America has endured under Barack Obama’s leftist policies.

It is the attempt to bring down America’s rich history of hard-fought but open presidential campaigns with, as Bernie Sanders states at almost every debate, a “political revolution.” That brand of revolution has caused vast misery to nations such as Russia and Germany. It should not be tried again in the United States.

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The Chicago Incident and the Looming End of Free Speech

The disgraceful scene of anti-free speech thugs shutting down a political event in Chicago should worry every American, no matter what their political inclinations, party affiliation, or which candidate they support.

The incident, unfortunately, is not isolated.  Attempts to dismantle the operation of the First Amendment occur every day on college campuses across the nation, where progressive academics repress any dissenting opinion, and where centrist and conservative professors are intentionally excluded from the hiring process.

The situation is not much better in politics.  New York’s Senator Charles Schumer’s introduction of legislation to amend the First Amendment to allow the restriction of paid political speech actually gained 40 votes in the U.S. Congress before being defeated.

The left wing campaign to attack free speech will take a major step forward in the near future when President Obama’s move to transfer internet control from the U.S. to an international body influenced by nations that practice censorship is finalized.

It is baffling why the White House continues its pursuit of internationalizing internet control, particularly in light of moves by nations such as China to continuously clamp down on internet freedom.  Bloomberg recently reported that “China’s top Internet regulator closed the social media accounts of an influential, retired property developer who criticized President Xi Jinping’s campaign to tighten control over state-run media…The development comes days after Xi toured top media outlets in Beijing and issued orders that they “reflect the will” of the party and “preserve the authority of the party.” The edict represented the latest in a series of Xi moves to centralize power and rein in dissent, including jailing reporters, detaining influential Internet commentators and passing rules to keep party members from criticizing the leadership.”

Adding to the concern, the U.K.’s Independent  newspaper reports that China is preparing to ban all foreign media from publishing online.

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The Washington Examiner  has reported that FCC Commissioner Ajit Pai recently stated “”I think it’s dangerous, frankly, that we don’t see more often people espousing the First Amendment view that we should have a robust marketplace of ideas where everybody should be willing and able to participate.”

The paradigm shift away from universal support for free speech in the U.S. can be seen even beyond the words and actions of politicians, elected officials, and academics.  Social media giants such as Twitter and Facebook have discussed proposals for censoring the entries of their users if they can be deemed “offensive.”

The problem is, “offensive” is not clearly defined.  While some examples, such as the use of racial slurs is self-evident, in practice, such as on college campuses, “offensive” has come to mean anything, on any topic, that the prevailing left-wing orthodoxy disagrees with.

The tenor of the Chicago protestors can be seen in some of the participants.  Gateway Pundit reports that Bill Ayers was active in the event. Terrorist Bill Ayers, who led the Weather Underground group in the 1960’s and 1970’s, is infamous for his encouragement to his followers to “Kill all the rich people.” He participated in the bombing attacks against the Pentagon in 1972, the Capitol in 1971, and New York City’s Police headquarters in 1970.

Despite the allegation of the current Chicago protestors that they were acting out of anger at Donald Trump’s comments regarding immigration issues, the reality is that they were continuing the radicalization of American politics and culture, already seen on college campuses.  The central tool of that radicalization is the suppression of any event, speech, or candidacy that does not fall in line with left-wing views.  It is, in essence, the elimination of open discourse, debate or campaigning. It is the replacement of Constitutional order with mob rule.

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U.S. Nuclear Arsenal Requires Urgent Modernization

The recent successful launch of an unarmed Minuteman III missile from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California was welcome news, but concerns about America’s deteriorating nuclear deterrent continue.

Only the U.S., among all the nuclear powers, has allowed its strategic deterrent to deteriorate. As noted in our recent report, Rep. Thornberry (R-Tx), chair of the House Armed Service Committee) stated that “Our warheads and delivery systems have all been neglected and are aging out at about the same time [that other states are modernizing their nuclear weapons systems.”

Writing in the Wall Street Journal, retired Vice Admiral and former Defense Nuclear Agency Director Robert R. Monroe worried that “None of the presidential candidates is talking about it, but one of the most important issues in the 2016 election should be the precarious decline of America’s nuclear forces….” He criticized President Obama’s goal of a “world without nuclear weapons” as nonsensical and damaging, and urged the modernization of the U.S. arsenal.

In 2014, Defense.gov reported that “then-Defense Secretary Hagel worried that ‘underfunding and a focus on two wars allowed the status of the nuclear deterrent to degrade. Service members accomplished the missions in the nuclear enterprise thanks to their own ‘heroic efforts.”

“The internal and external reviews [Hagel ordered] show that a consistent lack of investment and support for our nuclear forces over far too many years has left us with too little margin to cope with mounting stresses,’ Hagel said.

“The reviews found evidence of systematic problems. These include manning, infrastructure and skill deficiencies. The reviews found ‘a culture of micromanagement and over-inspection,’ the secretary said. Finally, the reviews found inadequate communication, follow-up and accountability.

“The root cause has been a lack of sustained focus, attention and resources, resulting in a pervasive sense that a career in the nuclear enterprise offers too few opportunities for growth and advancement,’ Hagel said.”

A Heritage Foundation review concurred with Admiral Monroe’s views. According to the study, “Fiscal uncertainty and a steady decline in resources for the nuclear weapons enterprise have negatively affected U.S. nuclear weapons readiness.

“Admiral C. D. Haney, Commander, U.S. Strategic Command (STRATCOM), recently testified that “[i]n recent years the percentage of spending on nuclear forces has gradually declined to only 2.5% of total DOD spending in 2013—a figure near historic lows,…”

“Admiral Haney went on to note that the sequestration-level reductions in FY 2013 had negatively affected STRATCOM’s readiness and had the potential to further affect U.S. capabilities in the future. While he noted that it was impossible to tell just what effects sequestration would have, he observed that the existing freeze on hiring new personnel and furlough of the workforce during the summer of 2013 had diminished the human capacity needed, resulting in a lessening of STRATCOM’s readiness through lack of research and development, modernization, and know-how…

“From an aging nuclear weapons infrastructure and workforce, to the need to recapitalize all three legs of the nuclear triad, to the need to conduct life extension programs while maintaining a self-imposed nuclear weapons test moratorium, to limiting the spread of nuclear know-how and the means to deliver nuclear weapons, to adversaries who are modernizing their nuclear forces, there is no shortage of challenges on the horizon.”

An Unclassified Defense Department review found that problems with the U.S. deterrent “Can be divided into several categories: longstanding, known problems that remained unaddressed and so became, over time, under-reported; known problems that were addressed but the corrective actions made the problem worse (or created new problems); and problems that were common knowledge in the field but which were never communicated to leadership. Significantly, the review determined that many of these problems were inextricably interrelated, with one problem begetting another….

The review team made clear that this essential mission requires refocused attention and resources at all levels of the Department. … the review surveyed an aging nuclear enterprise with a focus on sustainment, operations and maintenance (O&M) funding, and infrastructure issues. The review determined that as this infrastructure continues to age, sustainment will become increasingly more difficult, time-consuming and expensive.

Findings included:

  • The lack of “weapon system” approach to the ICBM force, leading to disparate and inefficient sustainment and investment decisions for different system components;
  • Component issues resulting from an aging, unique, and (relative to other weapons programs) small-sized, programs and systems; Serious shortfalls in basic O&M requirements; and
  • Shipyard inefficiency caused by use of obsolete and/or temporary facilities.
  • Finally, looking at the organization of the nuclear enterprise, the internal review echoed the finding of the external review regarding the absence, at the departmental level, of an integrated “nuclear enterprise.” This absence led to reduced awareness of issues in the nuclear field, particularly those issues that cut across individual stovepipes.

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The General Accounting Office’s  10-year budget estimates for sustaining and modernizing U.S. nuclear weapons estimates that $178.8 billion will be needed to upgrade nuclear delivery systems, $103.5 billion will be needed for nuclear stockpile & security, and $37.5 billion for command, control, and communications systems.

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NASA Manned Spaceflight Endangered

The President’s proposed 2017 budget does little to change the disappointing fact that America’s returned to crewed space flight in a NASA vehicle won’t take place  until 2023.  In contrast, private companies are moving steadily ahead to finally restore a means to launch astronauts from U.S. soil.

The President’s $19,025,000,000 2017 NASA budget proposal represents a 1.3%, $300 million reduction from the prior year.

There is much controversy in the continuing diversion of funding within the space agency from its traditional mission of manned space flight while dramatically, to the tune of $2 billion, increasing Earth Science research by 70% over the years, mostly to advance Mr. Obama’s climate change agenda.

Of the total funds requested for NASA, less than half, $8,413,000,000, is designated for human space flight. Within the proposed NASA general science funding request for $5,601,000,000, the lion’s share is designated for Earth Science, $2,032,000,000, an increase of 5.8%, $111 million over the FY 2016 enacted budget.

House space subcommittee chair Steven Palazzo (R-Miss.) previously noted:

“It is no secret that this Committee is concerned that the support within NASA for the [Space Launch System] and Orion (a manned spacecraft) is not matched by the Administration. While this lack of commitment is somewhat puzzling, it is not at all surprising. The President has made clear that he does not believe space exploration is a priority for the nation and has allowed political appointees within the administration to manipulate the course of our human space flight program. These decisions should be made by the scientists, engineers, and program managers that have decades of experience in human space flight…The Administration has consistently requested large reductions for these programs despite the insistence of Congress that they be priorities.”

The New York Analysis of Policy & Government noted in December that “President Obama prematurely cancelled the Space Shuttle program, then defunded what had been planned to be its immediate manned spacecraft replacement, the Constellation system. The Orion system is the next on the list, if funding for that effort continues at the current pace.”

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NASA’s Spaceflight.com states that “NASA officials have admitted the interim Upper Stage for the Space Launch System is at the top of their ‘worry list’, as the Agency’s key advisory group insists NASA should make a decision about bringing the more powerful Exploration Upper Stage (EUS) online sooner. The Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel (ASAP) fears NASA is at risk of wasting $150 million on an Upper Stage they intend to ‘toss away’.

NASA sources note that this has been presenting the space agency with a headache for some time, although it took the recent ASAP meeting to finally confirm those concerns to the public.

“The next big event is test flight Exploration Mission (EM)-1, on track for 2018 – a 24-day, unscrewed cis-lunar voyage that will inject a lot of energy into the Program. The following flight, EM-2 that will have a crew, brings up an issue that deserves attention,” noted the minutes from the meeting.

“Presently, the Program does not have the upper stage that it needs because of lack of funding. A new upper stage, called the Exploration Upper Stage (EUS), will be developed for future crewed flights.

“As a fall back, NASA is planning to use the Interim Cryogenic Propulsion System (ICPS) that will get the job done through the test flight, but it is not what NASA will be using eventually.”

A NASA committee was told it will cost “at least $150 million” to human-rate the ICPS, something the panel believe “will be wasted because this design will be ‘tossed’ in the near future.

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Obama’s Unlawful Climate Change Moves

The availability of energy is the key ingredient in the world’s economy.  Control it, and everything else falls into place.

This reality has been the essence of why there has such been such an intense drive on the part of those who have sought to push for more centralized control of the economy using the excuse of climate change as a rationale.

The obstacle in the path of the White House, which has ardently sought to “fundamentally change” America’s economy in part using global warming as an excuse (from essentially capitalist to something more akin to the democratic socialism of Europe) has been the lack of support by the public or the Congress.  A yougov poll found only 9.2% consider global warming as their biggest concern, and, notes the Daily Caller, a Fox News poll found only 3% of U.S. residents cite that issue as a top concern.

Pursuing a radical change in energy production is a tough sell, since it lacks public or Congressional support.  Even the courts have stepped in, blocking Mr. Obama’s unlawful attempt to impose power plant regulations.

Despite the Constitutional and legal obstacles, the Environmental Protection Agency, under the direction of the Obama White House, has engaged in numerous maneuvers to evade appropriate and mandatory procedures.  A December 2015 Government Accountability Office Report found, for example, that:

“The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) violated publicity or propaganda and anti-lobbying provisions contained in appropriations acts with its use of certain social media platforms in association with its “Waters of the United States” (WOTUS) rulemaking in fiscal years 2014 and 2015. Specifically, EPA violated the publicity or propaganda prohibition though its use of a platform known as Thunderclap that allows a single message to be shared across multiple Facebook, Twitter, and Tumblr accounts at the same time. EPA engaged in covert propaganda when the agency did not identify EPA’s role as the creator of the Thunderclap message to the target audience…EPA also violated anti-lobbying provisions though its hyperlinks to certain external Web pages in an EPA blog post. Both of the external Web pages led to appeals to the public to contact Congress in support of the WOTUS rule, which taken in context, constituted appeals to contact Congress in opposition to pending legislation. EPA associated itself with these messages through its decision to include the hyperlinks in its blog post.”

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The most significant attempt to impose alterations on the national economy based on climate change concerns has been the Paris Agreement. (For a review of the Paris accords, see the New York Analysis of Policy & Government article here) The far-reaching impact and enormous cost of its provisions clearly rise to the level of a major international treaty.  However, since treaties must be approved by the Senate, the White House has attempted to label the treaty as an “Agreement.”

Mr. Obama can choose to call the treaty any number of terms, but it does not exempt him from compliance with Article II, Section 2, Clause 2 of the Constitution. In accordance with the Constitution, the Senate has responsibility for advice and consent to ratification of treaties with other nations that have been negotiated and agreed to by the Executive Branch.

“The President… shall have Power, by and with the Advice and Consent of the Senate, to make Treaties, provided two thirds of the Senators present concur….”

The Competitive Enterprise Institute  notes:

“President Obama claims the recently adopted Paris Agreement on climate change is not a treaty but rather an executive agreement…Why is he doing this? Because if he were to follow the constitutional treaty-making process, and submit the agreement to the Senate for its advice and consent, the treaty would be dead on arrival.In fact, the Paris Agreement is a treaty. That is the only reasonable conclusion based on U.S. historic practice, the Agreement’s potential costs and risks, its prescriptiveness and ‘ambition’ compared to predecessor climate treaties, and international protocol, including recent instructions from the United Nations Climate Change Secretariat to the Conference of the Parties of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). Obama claims the Paris Agreement is not a treaty because America’s emission-reduction commitments under it are ‘non-binding.’ That is a non sequitur. Our emission-reduction commitments under the Senate-ratified UNFCCC are also non-binding, yet no one disputes that the UNFCCC is a treaty.”

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Parents, Legislators Revolt vs. Biased Textbooks

There is a pervasive left-wing bias in American education, both in classroom instruction as well as in the books assigned.

A member of the lower house of the New York State legislature has decided to tackle the problem in his state by introducing legislation mandating that instructional materials are free of bias. Assembly member Bill Curran, a Republican from Long Island, is sponsoring a bill,  A09057,  that would mandate state approval of teaching materials.

His proposed law notes:

“Unfortunately, over the last three decades, education has morphed into a progressive, socialist agenda that fails at every level to help our children and future leaders develop these important skills. In … textbooks found across America in states such as Tennessee, Texas, and Florida, references have been found showing bias toward pro-Islamic traditions, Anti-Semitism, Anti- Judeo Christian values and race. According to the Reading and Writing Project from Columbia University, there are too many textbooks around the country for all states to mandate and regulate what gets put into these textbooks.  Since there are biases in our textbooks, the tests’ students receive could have pro-Islamic bias and distorted American facts as well. It is our goal to appoint a committee to oversee the textbooks our children our receiving, as well as their education. A teacher should not bring in any “supplemental” reading/textbook material that “they” deem   appropriate without authorized consent of the textbook governing body’s written approval. This is a rising problem in our country, and we want to help create a bill that further prevents the bias within our textbooks.

“This legislation hopes to be a trailblazer and lead the way into the quest for nonpartisan improvement of education, serving all students equally, without discrimination or bias.”

The measure would create a State Textbook Commission, charged with the responsibility to review and prepare a list of standard editions of textbooks for approval by the State Education Department and then adopted by local boards for use in schools. It would prohibit teachers, principals and other instructional persons from using or permitting any supplemental textbooks or instructional materials without the consent of the Commission.

Anger over textbooks being used to foster a biased, usually negative view, of the U.S. has spread across the nation.  The use of a particularly warped view, Howard Zinn’s “A People’s History of the United States,” which presents a Marxist analysis of American History, as a preferred text has inspired widespread parental distress.

Writing for the History News Network, Daniel Flynn reports:
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“Through Zinn’s looking-glass, Maoist China, site of history’s bloodiest state-sponsored killings, becomes “the closest thing, in the long history of that ancient country, to a people’s government, independent of outside control.” The authoritarian Nicaraguan Sandinistas were “welcomed” by their own people, while the opposition Contras, who backed the candidate that triumphed when free elections were finally held, were a “terrorist group” that “seemed to have no popular support inside Nicaragua.” Castro’s Cuba, readers learn, “had no bloody record of suppression.”

Along with an anti-U.S. bias, there has been a disturbing trend towards anti-Semitism in textbooks. WND and Breitbart have reported instances of this problem in a variety of states.

Breitbart has reported “There is bias in the books … it’s coming from education progressives. According to Dr. Sandra Alfonsi, expert on accuracy and unbiased textbooks…”  Examples of bias included passages that claimed “Cuba had economic freedom, and that the Bible was full of “stories” while the Koran was the “word of God.” In a review of the 9/11/01 attack on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon,  the terrorists were not identified as Muslims or Islamic Jihadists.”

WND noted that in 2014, A Tennessee group that combats anti-Semitism asked the governor to investigate school textbooks not only because of instances of anti-Semitism but also hundreds of inaccuracies, biases and disinformation, including anti-American and anti-Christian content.

The group stated that “The texts are in direct violation of the U.S. and Tennessee Constitutions by ‘teaching the religious dogmas of one religion,’ Islam, charged Laurie Cardoza-Moore.

A Project Veritas  video shows a former textbook company executive making statements such as “The dead white guys did not create this country,” “Damn the Second Amendment.”

Texas has also been a significant battleground in the fight against biased education. One widely criticized lesson plan in the Lone Star state equated the Boston Tea Party with modern day terrorism.

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North Korea: An Analysis, Part III

The New York Analysis of Policy & Government concludes its review of the Department of Defense’s 2015 Report to Congress on the Military and Security Developments Involving the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea . In this segment, we examine Pyongyang’s nuclear, missile, biological, chemical and cyber warfare capabilities, as well as its proliferation of advanced weapons technology. 

Ballistic Missile Force. North Korea has several hundred short- and medium-range ballistic missiles (SRBMs and MRBMs) available for use against targets on the Korean Peninsula and Japan. A developmental intermediate-range ballistic missile (IRBM), though untested and unreliable as a weapon, could also be launched at targets in the region.

North Korea has an ambitious ballistic missile development program in addition to its deployed mobile theater ballistic missiles. Since early 2012, North Korea has made efforts to raise the public profile of its ballistic missile command, now called the Strategic Rocket Forces. In 2014, Kim Jong Un personally oversaw several ballistic missile launch exercises, and North Korea launched an unprecedented number of ballistic missiles. The State media covered the usually secretive events, including reporting on two launch cycles in the same week. Kim’s public emphasis of the missile force continued into 2015, when he appeared at what North Korea portrayed as the test launch of a submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM). In late November 2015, the ROK’s Yonhap news agency reported that North Korea appeared to conduct an SLBM test but it ended in failure with no indication that the missile successfully ejected from the vessel.

North Korea is committed to developing a long-range, nuclear-armed missile that is capable of posing a direct threat to the United States. Pyongyang displayed the KN08 ICBM, which it refers to as Hwasong-13, on six road-mobile transporter-erector-launchers (TEL) during military parades in 2012 and 2013. If successfully designed and developed, the KN08 likely would be capable of reaching much of the continental United States, assuming the missiles displayed are generally representative of missiles that will be fielded. However, ICBMs are extremely complex systems that require multiple flight tests to identify and correct design or manufacturing defects. Without flight tests, the KN08’s current reliability as a weapon system would be low. In October 2015, North Korea paraded four missiles on KN08 TELs. These missiles are noticeably different from those previously displayed on these TELs.

North Korea also continues to develop the TD-2, which could reach the continental United States if configured as an ICBM. In April and December 2012, North Korea conducted launches of the TD-2 configured as a SLV, which used ballistic missile technology. The April launch failed but the December launch succeeded.

Developing an SLV contributes heavily to North Korea’s long-range ballistic missile development, since the two vehicles have many shared technologies. However, a space launch does not test a reentry vehicle (RV). Without an RV capable of surviving atmospheric reentry, North Korea cannot deliver a weapon to target from an ICBM.

Advances in ballistic missile delivery systems, coupled with developments in nuclear technology

are in line with North Korea’s stated objective of being able to strike the U.S. homeland. North Korea followed its February 12, 2013 nuclear test with a campaign of media releases and authoritative public announcements reaffirming its need to counter perceived U.S. hostility with nuclear-armed ICBMs. North Korea continues to devote scarce resources to these programs, but the pace of its progress will also depend, in part, on how much technology and other aid it can acquire from other countries.

Cyberwarfare Capabilities. North Korea has an offensive cyber operations (OCO) capability. Implicated in malicious cyber activity and cyber effects operations since 2009, North Korea probably views OCO as an appealing platform from which to collect intelligence and cause disruption in South Korea and other adversaries including the United States. North Korea likely views cyber as a cost-effective, asymmetric, deniable tool that it can employ with little risk from reprisal attacks, in part because its networks are largely separated from the Internet and disruption of Internet access would have minimal impact on its economy. On November 24, 2014, North Korean cyberactors using the name “Guardians of Peace” attacked Sony Pictures Entertainment, shutting down employee access and deleting data. As a result of North Korea’s historical isolation from outside communications and influence, it is likely to use Internet infrastructure from third-party nations.

Nuclear Weapons. North Korea continues to pursue a nuclear weapons program, having conducted nuclear tests in 2006, 2009, and 2013. In April 2013, less than two months after its third nuclear test, North Korea promulgated a domestic “Law on Consolidating Position as a Nuclear Weapons State” to provide a legal basis for its nuclear program and another signal that it does not intend to give up its pursuit of nuclear development. The law states “the nuclear weapons of the DPRK can only be used by a final order of the Supreme Commander of the Korean’s People’s Army (Kim Jong Un) to repel invasion or attack from a hostile nuclear weapons state and make retaliatory strikes.” North Korea continues to invest in its nuclear infrastructure and could conduct additional nuclear tests at any time. In 2010, North Korea revealed a uranium enrichment facility at Yongbyon that it claims is for producing fuel for a light water reactor under construction. In April 2013, North Korea announced its intent to restart and refurbish the nuclear facilities at Yongbyon, including the nuclear reactor that had been shut down since 2007 and the uranium enrichment facility.
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The director of the DPRK Atomic Energy Institute confirmed in September 2015 that all of the nuclear facilities in Yongbyon, including the uranium enrichment plant and reactor, were “adjusted and altered” following the April 2013 announcement and restarted for the purpose of building its nuclear force. The director also claimed that scientists and technicians were enhancing the levels of various nuclear weapons in quality and quantity.

These activities violate North Korea’s obligations under UNSCRs 1718, 1874, 2087, and 2094, contravene its commitments under the September 19, 2005 Six-Party Talks Joint Statement, and increase the risk of proliferation.

Biological Weapons. DoD assesses that North Korea may consider the use of biological weapons as an option, contrary to its obligations under the Biological and Toxins Weapons Convention (BWC). North Korea continues to develop its biological research and development capabilities, but has yet to declare any relevant developments and has failed to provide a BWC Confidence-Building Measure declaration since 1990.

Chemical Weapons. North Korea probably has had a longstanding chemical weapons (CW) program with the capability to produce nerve, blister, blood, and choking agents and likely possesses a CW stockpile. North Korea probably could employ CW agents by modifying a variety of conventional munitions, including artillery and ballistic missiles. In addition, North Korean forces are prepared to operate in a contaminated environment; they train regularly in chemical defense operations. North Korea is not a party to the Chemical Weapons Convention.

Proliferation. North Korea has been an exporter of conventional arms and ballistic missiles for several decades. Despite the adoption of United Nations Security Council resolutions (UNSCRs) 1718, 1874, 2087, and 2094, which prohibit all weapons sales and the provision of related technical training from North Korea, the DPRK continues to market, sell, and deliver weapons-related goods and services. Weapons sales are a critical source of foreign currency for North Korea, which is unlikely to cease export activity in spite of UN Security Council sanctions; the implementation of Executive Order 13382, under which designated WMD proliferators’ access to the U.S. and global financial systems are targeted; or increased international efforts to interdict its weapons-related exports.

North Korea uses a worldwide network to facilitate arms sales activities and maintains a core, but dwindling group of recipient countries including Iran, Syria, and Burma. North Korea has exported conventional and ballistic missile-related equipment, components, materials, and technical assistance to countries in Africa, Asia, and the Middle East. Conventional weapons sales have included ammunition, small arms, artillery, armored vehicles, and SAMs.

In addition to Iran and Syria, past clients for North Korea’s ballistic missiles and associated technology have included Egypt, Iraq, Libya, Pakistan, and Yemen. Burma has begun distancing itself from North Korea but concerns remain regarding lingering arms trade ties.

North Korea uses various methods to circumvent UNSCRs, including falsifying end-user certificates, mislabeling crates, sending cargo through multiple front companies and intermediaries, and using air cargo for deliveries of high-value and sensitive arms exports.

North Korea’s demonstrated willingness to proliferate nuclear technology remains one of our gravest concerns. North Korea provided Libya with uranium hexafluoride, the form of uranium used in the uranium enrichment process to produce fuel for nuclear reactors and nuclear weapons, via the proliferation network of Pakistani nuclear scientist AQ Khan. North Korea also provided Syria with nuclear reactor technology until 2007.

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North Korea: An Analysis, Part II

The New York Analysis of Policy & Government continues its review of the Department of Defense’s 2015 Report to Congress on the Military and Security Developments Involving the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea . In this segment, we examine Pyongyang’s conventional military strength. 

NORTH KOREA’S CONVENTIONAL MILITARY FORCES

The North Korean military poses a serious threat to the ROK [Republic of Korea], its other neighbors, and U.S. forces in the region despite its many internal challenges and constraints, including deterioration of its conventional capabilities.

North Korea’s national military strategy is designed to support its national security strategy by defending the Kim regime’s rule and enabling the regime to conduct coercive diplomacy. This strategy relies heavily on deterrence, strategically through its nuclear weapons program and supporting delivery systems and conventionally by maintaining a large, heavily-armed, forward-deployed military that presents a constant threat to South Korea, especially the greater Seoul metropolitan area. These two aspects of its military strategy are meant to be mutually supporting; the threat posed by one is employed to deter an attack on the other.

North Korea’s force modernization goals are aimed at maintaining the credibility of its conventional forces through more realistic training and the modest production of new systems; enhancing the credibility of its strategic deterrence by advancing its nuclear and missile programs; and developing new or improved means to support its coercive diplomacy – most notably via its cyber and missile programs. North Korea directs its limited resources to areas where it sees the potential for localized comparative advantage.

North Korea’s large, forward-positioned military can initiate an attack against the ROK with little or no warning, minimizing the logistics strain it would incur if deploying forces from further away. The military retains the capability to inflict significant damage on the ROK, especially in the region from the DMZ to Seoul. Although North Korea is unlikely to attack on a scale that would risk regime survival by inviting overwhelming U.S.-ROK counterattacks, North Korea’s threshold for smaller, asymmetric attacks and provocations is unclear. Recent provocations (e.g., the November 2014 cyber attack against Sony Pictures Entertainment and the August 2015 DMZ landmines incident) suggest that North Korea sees some value in such attacks. Indeed, North Korea’s special operations forces (SOF), growing artillery, and missile forces provide significant capabilities for small-scale attacks that could rapidly escalate into a larger scale confrontation.

North Korea is making efforts to upgrade select elements of its large arsenal of mostly outdated conventional weapons. It has reinforced long-range artillery forces near the DMZ and has a substantial number of mobile ballistic missiles that could strike a variety of targets in the ROK and Japan. However, the DPRK’s force modernization will likely emphasize defensive and asymmetric attack capabilities to counter technologically superior ROK and U.S. conventional forces.

North Korea will likely continue to develop and test-launch missiles, including the Taepodong (TD)-2 intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM)/ space-launch vehicle (SLV). North Korea’s desire to enhance deterrence and defense and to improve its ability to conduct limited attacks against the ROK drives its road-mobile ICBM development, missile tests, and programs to improve unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV), denial and deception, cyber, electronic warfare, and submarines.

The Korean People’s Army (KPA) — a large, ground force-centric organization comprising ground, air, naval, missile, and SOF — has over one million soldiers in its ranks, making it the fourth largest military in the world. Four to five percent of North Korea’s 24 million people serve on active duty, and another 25 to 30 percent are assigned to a reserve or paramilitary unit and would be subject to wartime mobilization. With approximately 70 percent of its ground forces and 50 percent of its air and naval forces deployed within 100 kilometers of the DMZ, the KPA poses a continuous threat to the ROK and U.S. forces stationed there. The general disposition of the KPA has not changed in the last two years.

The KPA primarily fields legacy equipment, either produced in or based on designs from the Soviet Union and China dating back to the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s. Although a few weapons systems are based on modern technology, the KPA has not kept pace with regional military capability developments. The KPA has not acquired new fighter aircraft in decades, relies on older air defense systems, lacks ballistic missile defense, its Navy does not train for blue water operations, and recently unveiled artillery systems include tractor-towed rocket launchers while most other countries are improving the mobility of such systems.

Kim Jong Un seems to prioritize the development of new weapons systems, as demonstrated by his numerous appearances with military units and research and development organizations. He has personally overseen land- and sea-based ballistic missile and anti-ship cruise missile testing activity in 2014 and 2015. He has also overseen events designed to demonstrate the proficiency of his conventional military forces.

Ground. The KPA’s ground forces are predominantly regular and light infantry units, supported by armor and mechanized units and heavy concentrations of artillery. These forces are forward-deployed, fortified in several thousand underground facilities, and include long-range cannon and rocket artillery forces that are capable of reaching targets in Seoul from their garrisons.

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In October 2015, North Korea paraded what appears to be a large-caliber MRL — larger than its 240-mm MRL — that carries eight tubes on a wheeled chassis. In recent years, North Korea has unveiled other new ground force equipment, including tanks, artillery, armored vehicles, and infantry weapons. The display of these systems shows that North Korea continues to produce, or at least upgrade, limited types and numbers of military equipment.

Air and Air Defense. The North Korean Air Force (NKAF), a fleet of more than 1,300 aircraft that are primarily legacy Soviet models, is primarily responsible for defending North Korean air space. Its other missions include SOF insertion, transportation and logistics support, reconnaissance, and tactical air support for KPA ground forces. However, because of the technological inferiority of most of its aircraft fleet and rigid air defense command and control structure, much of North Korea’s air defense is provided by surface-to-air missiles (SAMs) and anti-aircraft artillery (AAA).

Naval. The North Korean Navy (NKN) is the smallest of the KPA’s three main services. This coastal force is composed primarily of numerous, though aging, small patrol craft that carry a variety of anti-ship cruise missiles, torpedoes, and guns. The NKN maintains one of the world’s largest submarine forces, with around 70 attack-, coastal-, and midget-type submarines. In addition, the NKN operates a large fleet of air-cushioned hovercraft and conventional landing craft to support amphibious operations and SOF insertion. The force is divided into East and West Coast Fleets, which each operate variety of patrol craft, guided-missile patrol boats, submarines, and landing craft.

The NKN has displayed limited modernization efforts, highlighted by upgrades to select surface ships and a continued program to construct submarines. North Korea unveiled a new submarine in mid-2015, which it claims was developed domestically and can fire a ballistic missile.

Special Operations Forces. North Korean SOF are among the most highly trained, well-equipped, best-fed, and highly motivated forces in the KPA. As North Korea’s conventional capabilities decline relative to the ROK and United States, North Korea appears to increasingly regard SOF capabilities as vital for asymmetric coercion.

Strategic SOF units dispersed across North Korea appear designed for rapid offensive operations, internal defense against foreign attacks, or limited attacks against vulnerable targets in the ROK as part of a coercive diplomacy effort. They operate in specialized units, including reconnaissance, airborne and seaborne insertion, commandos, and other specialties. All emphasize speed of movement and surprise attack to accomplish their missions. SOF may be airlifted by An-2 COLT or helicopters (and possibly Civil Air Administration transports), moved by maritime insertion platforms, or travel on foot over land or via suspected underground, cross-DMZ tunnels to attack high-value targets like command and control nodes or air bases in the ROK.

Intelligence Services. North Korean intelligence and security services collect political, military, economic, and technical information through open-source, human intelligence, cyber, and signals intelligence capabilities. North Korea’s primary intelligence collection targets remain South Korea, the United States, and Japan.

The Reconnaissance General Bureau (RGB) is North Korea’s primary foreign intelligence service, responsible for collection and clandestine operations. The RGB is comprised of six bureaus with compartmented functions including operations, reconnaissance, technology and cyber, overseas intelligence, inter-Korean talks, and service support.

The Ministry of State Security (MSS) is North Korea’s primary counterintelligence service and is an autonomous agency of the North Korean government reporting directly to Kim Jong Un. The MSS is responsible for operating North Korean prison camps, investigating cases of domestic espionage, repatriating defectors, and conducting overseas counterespionage activities in North Korea’s foreign missions.