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Heard on CBC radio from Toronto/Ottawa and also just posted to BBC --
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-38324045
A special archiving event is being held in collaboration with Archive's End of Term project. Since 2008 this has saved US government websites at risk during government transitions.
Canadian "guerrilla" archivists will be assisting a rushed effort to preserve US government climate data.
Environmentalists, climate scientists and academics are collaborating to protect what they view as fragile digital federal records and research.
They want the data saved before Donald Trump takes office.
The CBC report interviewed a Canadian scientist who described some of the scientific data that was lost during the Harper government.
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(Score: 2, Insightful) by Beanlover on Friday December 16 2016, @02:51PM
...that people think the President has such broad, sweeping power that (s)he can just unilaterally make a motion and do things like make EPA data disappear.
Do people not realize how "real" life works? I know the power of the President has experienced "scope-creep" in recent decades with "Executive Orders" and such...but just because those haven't been struck down by the other two areas of power in our government doesn't mean it's constitutionally correct for the President to do such things.
I'm sure the reason why Executive Orders haven't been challenged is because one "side" or the other either agreed with the order OR was waiting for "their guy" to be in power so they could use the same constitutionally-violating power...rather than thinking, "Hey...this is bad for THE COUNTRY...we should fix this now!". That, apparently, went away a long time ago (which, coincidently, is one reason why Trump got elected in my opinion...people tired of politics as usual and wanted someone who was going to look out for the country...even if they only ever just said they were going to).
Seriously...do people ACTUALLY think that Trump will just wave his hand and all this data will vanish? The scaremongering is reaching ridiculous levels...so much so that I'm hopeful those who are normally influenced by it will see it for what is it when it finally reaches the absurd levels it is apparently aspiring to now.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Friday December 16 2016, @03:10PM
Forget executive orders and simply look at the man who has been chosen to lead the EPA, as well as the Congress likely to approve him.
A Trump Presidency is a case study in risk. If you don't prepare now, you risk getting burnt alive.
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Friday December 16 2016, @06:54PM
> Forget executive orders and simply look at the man who has been chosen to lead the EPA, as well as the Congress likely to approve him.
Or his appointment to lead the Dept of Energy - Rick Perry - who famously wanted to eliminate the entire agency in 2011 [latimes.com] but was such a bumblefuck he couldn't even remember its name.
Obviously as head he won't eliminate the agency. What he will do is dismantle as much of it as possible, except for the parts that prop up american oil companies. That means all the research into green energy engineering and energy conservation is at risk.
This is Trump's pattern - put people in charge of agencies who haven't just been critical of the agencies but are opposed to much of their official purposes. Like the hardcore religious billionaire DeVoos who wants to privatize public education being appointed to the department of education. I suspect that what's really going on is that Bannon is pulling the strings. He's publicly said he wants to tear down the institutions of government and put (his version of christian) religion in charge. [theguardian.com]
(Score: 2) by bob_super on Friday December 16 2016, @08:04PM
In a nutshell, to destroy and annoying agency, you appoint someone who wants it gone, and therefore won't fight when it loses huge chunks of its budget next year.
You make it pretty clear down the ranks that the boss isn't interested in some causes. Then the hammer comes down because of the budget cuts, with projects eliminated based on the boss's priorities.
It sucks all motivation out of the workers, and they either quit or produce nothing you didn't want to hear.
When both Congress and the Executive want to zombify an agency, there are no checks and balances. How many votes do you lose crippling the DOE and the FCC?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday December 16 2016, @09:38PM
0 votes until at least 2018 or 2020. Until then, it's open season.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday December 16 2016, @11:48PM
Another outcome is that the rank-and-file employees of the agency rebel and throw a shitstorm until they replace the head. Remember James Watt, the head of Interior who wanted to sell off all the public lands?
(Score: 2) by bob_super on Saturday December 17 2016, @12:01AM
It's not 1980 anymore, and I'm pretty sure Trump would love to get some Reagan-cred by firing as many terrible, bad members of a useless department as possible.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday December 17 2016, @01:53AM
Christian religion? You do realize this is the guy who listed Dick Cheney, Darth Vader, and Satan [cnn.com] as being among his heroes. Whatever else you might call him, Christian just doesn't quite fit him. It still leaves me gobsmacked that somewhere around 80% of evangelicals in America voted for Trump even though they were well aware of the peculiar values of his campaign CEO and many others of his inner circle.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday December 17 2016, @03:15AM
> Whatever else you might call him, Christian just doesn't quite fit him.
I said his version of christianity. His whole schtick is that america was founded on judeochristian values and america has declined because we've turned away from them. [patheos.com] Of course, as you've noticed, his version of judeochristian is peculiar.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday December 17 2016, @08:28AM
You forgot that Satan is a goddamn angel, and the other two are just his role models.
(Score: 4, Informative) by fritsd on Friday December 16 2016, @04:54PM
Yes, we do :-) Some of us weren't born yesterday, you know.
Somebody high in the hierarchy sighs "won't somebody rid me of that troublesome scientific organisation?"
Some eager climbers take action, unsanctioned, unauthorized. They command an underling to do the actual deed "or you're fired"
The underling does the evil deed
The underling gets found out and prosecuted for criminal action (eventually)
The eager climbers get found out and prosecuted eventually
They may or not be sentenced to become a Fox News talkshow host after several years (cf. Oliver [wikipedia.org] North [wikipedia.org]).
The high ups are let off completely scot-free [wiktionary.org].
The end.
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Friday December 16 2016, @06:28PM
For those who missed the reference: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Becket#Assassination [wikipedia.org]
(Score: 3, Informative) by stretch611 on Friday December 16 2016, @07:41PM
You are correct, things like this do not go away with a simple wave of the hand...
However, When trump takes office, The executive branch will become republican. The legislative branch will be republican. The judicial branch will be tied based on political affiliation; but the first thing done will be to have a conservative appointee rushed through as fast as possible. Basically everything will be set to push through all of Trump's and the republican party's agenda.
Yes there are things like fillibusters available to be done by the democrats... but such measures are usually held for just the most atrocious pieces. It is not something that you will not likely seen done to every single piece of legislation.
For the next 2 years, the ball is in their court.
And before you say it is overblown... look at this "100 day wishlist..." https://consumerist.com/2016/12/15/house-freedom-caucus-asks-trump-to-undo-232-rules-on-everything-from-net-neutrality-to-tobacco-to-nursing-homes-to-ceiling-fans/ [consumerist.com]
Essentially anything done through a presidential Executive order can be repealed/changed with a new executive order from trump after the inauguration. Congress can act to change wipe out any regulatory action by entities like the FCC/FTC/CFRB made in the last 200 days with just a vote.
It will take time to get through everything... but watch out as your rights will be eroded away quickly as the Rich and Powerful elites laugh their way to the bank.
Now with 5 covid vaccine shots/boosters altering my DNA :P
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday December 16 2016, @08:51PM
What? The EPA has secret data? Why don't they just publish EVERYTHING on something like wikileaks, github, etc. It'll get replicated everywhere. This election results fear mongering is getting very silly. Now I can't believe anything they're saying. They're all FAKE news!
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday December 16 2016, @11:23PM
Maybe try growing a brain? It seems you are paying zero attention to the details of reality... The amount of data the EPA has is HUGE, not something you can just send up on a torrent file and "replicate everywhere".
(Score: 4, Informative) by Scruffy Beard 2 on Friday December 16 2016, @09:45PM
Stephen Harper up in Canada destroyed many volumes of scientific literature by de-funding the libraries storing them. This has happened in the last 5 years,
The Harper Government Has Trashed and Destroyed Environmental Books and Documents [vice.com]