Showing posts with label Transparency. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Transparency. Show all posts

Monday, March 8, 2021

Day 48, and Joe Biden is still afraid to hold his first press conference.

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Sunday, January 21, 2018

Interest in memo on alleged FISA abuses spreads to Senate Republicans #Releasethememo



A top secret memo on alleged surveillance abuses that was made available to the entire House on Thursday is piquing interest of some Republicans in the Senate.

The four-page report, put together by the GOP majority in the House Intelligence Committee, has already made waves among dozens of House Republicans demanding its release to the public over concerns about the misuse of Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act by the Obama administration, even as Democrats dismiss its contents as nothing more than "talking points."

The effort by conservatives, boosted online by a hashtag, #ReleaseTheMemo, appears to be gaining momentum as Chairman Devin Nunes, R-Calif., is participating in talks about the process through which it could be unveiled, lawmakers say....

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Tuesday, January 9, 2018

Trump on immigration reform: "I will take the heat. I will take all the heat you want to give me and take the heat off the Democrats and the Republicans."































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Tuesday, November 28, 2017

What to do with Charlie Rose, Al Franken, John Conyers?

















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Monday, November 27, 2017

There are 264 sealed sexual harassment settlements totaling over $17 million in taxpayer money.

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Wednesday, November 22, 2017

EPA Progresses Through HUNDREDS Of FOIA Requests Left Unanswered Under Obama

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Tuesday, November 21, 2017

Opinion: Void the Non-Disclosure Agreements That Conceal Congressional Misconduct





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Sunday, November 5, 2017

The Obama administration's selective releases portrayed Tehran as an enemy of the extremists. There's more to it.







...Ryan Trapani, a spokesman for the CIA, told me Thursday: "Documents collected during the bin Laden raid, which have been declassified, indicate Iran and al-Qaeda have an agreement to not target each other. The documents indicate bin Laden referred to Iran as the 'main artery' for al-Qaeda to move funds, personnel and communications."

Some of this was known before. The U.S. government has sanctioned members of al-Qaeda's network in Iran going back to the Obama years. The State Department's annual reports on terrorism also touch on this.

Nonetheless, it's understandable why many observers would dismiss the notion of an Iran-al-Qaeda connection. Earlier releases of the bin Laden files under the Obama administration emphasized the Iran-al-Qaeda rivalry. All the while documents that showed cooperation remained classified....

Current and former Trump administration officials tell me the declassification of the documents was a priority for the new president's team. The former senior director for intelligence at the National Security Council, Ezra Cohen-Watnick, pressed the CIA and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence to declassify the bin Laden documents. He met with resistance because translations, vetting the documents and providing official analysis would sap resources from higher priorities, according to these current and former officials. In the end, the CIA released most of the documents on Wednesday without translations and analysis, in hard-to-download zip files.

In the coming days and weeks, outside analysts and experts will be able to see for themselves the extent of Iran's cooperation with al-Qaeda....









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Wednesday, May 31, 2017

The blanks will be filled in as the majority party rams through all the deals it makes behind closed doors.



Just last week, we witnessed the annual practice of passing 40 “shell” budget bills that are virtually devoid of written content. The blanks will be filled in as the majority party rams through all the deals it makes behind closed doors.

Before the ink on the governor’s signature has dried on the largest gas tax increase in California history, Sacramento Democrats are fully intending to break their promise to dedicate the new revenue to fixing our crumbling roads. In the upcoming budget, there is a proposal to divert 30 percent of this gas tax increase to items and programs completely unrelated to repairing our roads and highways, such as park maintenance and job training for felons.

Regrettably, these bait-and-switch tactics are now so commonplace in Sacramento that few notice. For many years, billions in transportation dollars have been diverted from road building and maintenance to the general fund, which has created the crisis we are currently facing. Why would anyone think things will be different now with the new $52 billion car and gas tax hikes?
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Monday, March 20, 2017

California recently approved billions in tax increases meant for education, but investigators have now discovered millions meant for underprivileged kids is actually being spent on other purposes, including staff pay hikes.



Californians pay the top marginal income tax rate in the nation, 13.3 percent. So as we prepare for Tax Day, it is worth considering where all that state tax money is supposed to go and whether or not it actually reaches the students it is intended for.

California’s single largest budget item is education funding. In fact, the state’s budget for K-12 schools and two-year community colleges has increased from $47 billion in 2011 to a projected $73 billion in the 2017-2018 school year.

Last November, voters extended the state’s income tax on high-income earners, which provides billions of dollars for K-12 education and funds the state’s Local Control Funding Formula. The LCFF was designed to give school districts flexibility, more local control and guarantee that the districts with substantial numbers of disadvantaged students receive more state money for those kids....

...it appears that many school districts may be spending money intended for disadvantaged students on district-wide expenses. A new February 2017 report by the Center for Public Integrity notes that as “the LCFF unfolds, complaints are surfacing about dubious expenditures — on school policing or across-the-board staff pay raises that state officials warn should be ‘targeted’ to benefit disadvantaged kids.”...
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Monday, February 6, 2017

It's not a wild assumption that citizens would like to know how the government's highest official is conducting business.

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Time for Trump to Release Full Details of the Iran Nuclear Deal



Does anyone know what's really in the Iran nuclear deal with all its unpublished side agreements and secret verbal pledges?

Certainly not the American public, on whose behalf it was putatively negotiated. And probably not most, if not all, members of Congress who were bypassed in its negotiation and "signing" in a manner that doesn't seem remotely constitutional.

Despite the yeoman efforts of Jay Solomon, Omri Ceren and others, the full extent of the deal is still a mystery....

We also know that Iran has already broken at least one UN resolution...

But most importantly, are the Iranians also breaking the original nuclear deal? Well, we don't know because, as noted, we don't know what it is. Not only that, as many have reported and PJM's Michael Ledeen predicted quite some time ago, neither side has actually signed the deal in the first place. So it may not even exist. It's a tree growing unseen in the wilderness or, perhaps more accurately, one of those Hollywood-style "verbal agreements"—enforceable only when opportune. It's maximum plausible deniability all around....

Perhaps I'm missing something, but what reason could there be, at this point, not to release the so-called terms of this so-called deal—other than the embarrassment of the officials involved? America has a right to know what has been done in its behalf. Instead of BS transparency, we need real transparency. So do the citizens of many others countries that are in the crosshairs of the newly enriched (by us) Iran with its expansionist goals that have been brutally apparent since this imaginary signing in Syria, Lebanon, Yemen and who knows where else.

The time is long since past for the complete details of this quondam deal to be released. I suspect they would be more than a little disturbing. Do it, Mr. President.
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Wednesday, November 9, 2016

Forbes: Why Historians Must Use Wikileaks To Write The History Of The 2016 Election

























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Friday, October 28, 2016

BIG BREAKING: Attorney General Lynch 'Pleads Fifth' To Congress on Secret Iran 'Ransom' Payments



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Sunday, September 4, 2016

You’ll be floored to know how much Hillary requires for a child under 16 to ask a single question

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Thursday, September 1, 2016

Clinton threatens military action over #DNCLeaks or something...

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Thursday, August 25, 2016

This is an accurate description of what is happening. Think about that for a moment



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Thursday, August 18, 2016

MOTHERLODE: CLINTON FOUNDATION HACKED?







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Wednesday, June 22, 2016

Capitol Update Wednesday, June 22, 2016


CFRW Capitol Update: Republicans Call for Transparency

Last week we reported on the record-breaking spending plan, also known as the 2016-2017 California State Budget. The budget allocates a whopping $270 billion dollars with $122.5 billion in the General Fund alone. Many budget trailer bills were passed without the full committee hearing process which left the public without the ability to input their opinion. This, unfortunately, is a common practice with the Democrat Legislative Majority. Our Republican leaders wrote a letter to the Speaker of the Assembly, Anthony Rendon (D), expressing their concerns over the lack of transparency in our state budget process. The letter has been copied below. If you are as outraged as our Republican Representatives, please send this letter to your local newspapers and post it online so that the Californians not paying attention can be made aware of what really happens at the Capitol.

Dear Mr. Speaker:

We write to express our disappointment with the process and lack of transparency that marked the passage of the 2016-17 state budget. Specifically, none of the final bills that implemented the budget (“trailer bills”) were granted a public hearing by the Assembly Budget Committee. It is our responsibility to ensure that the people of California have the opportunity to make their voices heard on all state policy issues, and few issues are more important than our state budget.

Legislative Democrats often point to the various budget subcommittee hearings and the budget conference committee as opportunities for public input. However, the fact is that the budget conference committee specifically prohibits public testimony, and the budget subcommittees primarily adopt “placeholder” language that is only filled in at the very last minute before the bills are voted on by the house. There is no credibility to the claim that “work-in-progress” discussions in sub committees or conference committee constitute a public review and vetting of the final policy bill. When committees direct staff to draft language reflecting conceptual agreements, this language must be brought back to the committee for public review and a final vote. Integrity, transparency and good governance dictate that the committees adopt clear, definitive language that has been scrutinized by the public.

In the Assembly, this year’s budget trailer bills failed this basic test of legislative transparency. In the end, the Senate Budget Committee heard the trailer bills in their final form while the Assembly remained attached to a system designed to pass the budget without public input. This is unacceptable to us, and we hope it is equally unacceptable to you.

A stark example of this lack of transparency was evident just this week with the passage of SB 839 (Resources Trailer Bill) and SB 840 (Energy Trailer Bill), which were passed off the Assembly Floor with language that had only been publicly available for one day. Unfortunately, there are many other examples as well. Californians should not fear what may be slipped into a budget trailer bill because of the failure to hold hearings to review the bills.

This year’s state budget spends a record $122.5 billion General Fund and nearly $270 billion overall. It is imperative that the process be open and transparent, and this starts with ensuring that the public is able to review and comment on clear, definitive final language. We can do better and the public deserves it.

Our Caucuses have worked well together on several issues this session; however on the issue of transparency our differences remain. As we move forward this year and in the future, we hope you will guarantee that the Assembly holds public hearings on all final budget trailer bills and also ensure all other legislative measures receive the proper level of transparency and public participation.

Sincerely,

CHAD MAYES JAY OBERNOLTE
Assembly Republican Leader Assembly Republican Budget Vice-Chair

Deadlines Looming

June 30th is the last day for propositions to qualify for the November ballot. The CFRW will switch gears come end of August to really focus on the ballot measures. We will take positions on the measures, which will end up being close to 20 on the ballot. We will devote a majority of the Capitol Update to education on the propositions. It is so important that when you read the Capitol Update, you understand the measures we are focusing on and are able to educate other Californians on what they voting for.

July 1st is the last day for committees to hear and report bills to the floor. Then the Legislature goes on its summer recess. Next week will be the last Capitol Update until August. The Capitol Update will take a short recess as well to research ballot measures then be back the first week of August to start our General Election education! Be sure to stay plugged in!
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Taxpayers, Sacramento politicians are trying to pass a phony transparency bill to undermine the will of the voters. Please read the information below to take action now:



Immediate Action Requested!

ACTION NEEDED: Senate Constitutional Amendment 14, (SCA 14) (State Senator Lois Wolk D--Davis) is an amendment to the Constitution that serves as a legislative response to the HJTA endorsed “California Legislative Transparency Act” (CLTA) a measure on the November ballot that received over one million signatures in order to qualify. The CLTA represents true transparency reform, SCA 14 does not. Legislators need to be informed that their version of transparency is insufficient.

WHEN TO TAKE ACTION: Immediately! SCA 14 could be heard on the Assembly Floor as early as Thursday morning at 9:30, due to the Legislature’s ability to waive its own rules in order to hear this bill.

WHY: Everything regarding how SCA 14 has moved through the Legislature has been the opposite of a transparent process. The State Assembly has waived its own rules twice just this week in order to quickly move the bill forward. Why? Because simply put, they don’t want the public finding out about their fake reform bill. If SCA 14 passes, the Legislature can amend the statutory provisions of the bill anytime they want on a majority vote. The CLTA cannot be altered by the Legislature if voters approve it in November. The CLTA also includes clear requirements stating that legislation must be posted online and given to legislators 72 hours before a vote, and also allows members of the public to film their own video in the Capitol. SCA 14 is far more ambivalent, and fails to allow the public to film.

Contact your State Assembly Member and urge them to vote no on SCA 14. It requires a two-thirds vote, so every vote is important. Even if you get this email after 5:00, call tonight and leave a message. If you don’t know who your Assembly Member is, please use this website: ◼ http://findyourrep.legislature.ca.gov/
________________________

State Assembly (District 2)
Assembly Member Jim Wood-DEM
◼ CONTACT Jim Wood via webworm HERE - OR:

CONTACT:

Capitol Office:
State Capitol
P.O. Box 942849
Sacramento, CA 94249-0002
Tel: (916) 319-2002
Fax: (916) 319-2102

Humboldt:
(Also represents Del Norte and Trinity Counties)
1036 5th Street, Suite D
Eureka, CA 95501
Tel: (707) 445-7014
Fax: (707) 445-6607

Mendocino:
Ukiah Valley Conference Center
200 S. School St. Suite D
Ukiah, CA 95482
Tel: (707) 463-5770
Fax: (707) 463-5773

Sonoma:
50 "D" Street, Suite 450
Santa Rosa, CA 95404
Tel: (707) 576-2526
Fax: (707) 576-2297
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