I was recently robbed, but then again, aren't we all being robbed?

"So, I think in terms of our democracy, the public lands are one of the greatest examples
of what is egalitarian about this country. They are a shared value and a shared
responsibility. For our democracy that is key. And [the public lands] are even more
important now when you have [President Donald] Trump and the powers that be,
both in the House of Representatives and the Senate, trying to redefine what our
democracy is, trying to make the public lands the property of some and not of others.
There is a clash. It is a clash around the public lands as a symbol of our democracy
and our representative form of government."
~ Rep. Raul Grijalva

Public Trust Thefts

Recently, someone trespassed on private property where I rent. The trespassers then robbed me of valuables and compounded the theft with forgery, causing me to be locked out of my account, no access to my own funds. I have had friends and family members robbed before, and remember them relating how violated and vulnerable it made them feel. It truly does make you feel vulnerable and angry that someone else, feeling entitled, decided they had a right to steal what is yours.

Immediately, I contacted officials to report them robbery with details, serial numbers, etc. You look around and try to figure out what is missing? And that is the part that still nags at me … what did I miss, what else could be stolen that I didn't notice at first glance?

And then it hit me, yes, I was robbed, but then again, aren't we all being robbed?

We collectively own our public lands and resources, yet we are being robbed on so many fronts (this theft goes well beyond natural resources). We have people and organizations watchdogging, trying to make an accounting and call attention to what is being stolen, often while the thieves and robbers are still in the act of plundering. What is worse, in this natural resources case, when we contact authorities to report the thefts, some of those authorities are part of the theft ring against the American public (examples below). 

Quick note, if you would like to be a contributor to EMWH's work, please click the Contribute or Subscribe link at the bottom - so much to do, very little funding to do it. Thank you.

On a good note, in an effort to combat Dark Money, our Helena Move To Amend chapter worked to continue the process begun by Will Garvin, of passing a Helena City Resolution 20498, A Resolution Supporting and Calling For A United States Constitutional Amendment To Explicity State That Constitutional Rights Are Rights of Natural Persons Only and Money Is Not Free Speech. I added some whereases and worked with the city attorney on some of the language. Thank you to the Helena City Commission for unanimously passing this Resolution.

Public Trust Theft Examples:

Currently, we have an 11th-hour pitch for the lame duck Congress to authorize full and permanent funding for the expired Land and Water Conservation Fund.

MT Groups Push for Land & Water Conservation Fund in Lame-Duck Congress
" 'It's discouraging, actually, to watch it languish and die, and expire in Congress when really, there was no need for that to happen. There's no need for the LWCF to be used as a political football.'

Still, Potts said he is optimistic the program will gain approval. Along with supporting the state's booming recreation industry, which generates more than $7 billion in consumer spending a year, Potts said the LWCF has been integral to Montanans' way of life. 'Every county has benefited to one degree or another from LWCF dollars. We absolutely would not be able to enjoy the breadth and depth of amenities and quality of life that we enjoy as Montanans were it not for LWCF.' "


Military Vets Plead With Congress to Save Public Lands
"A New Mexico veteran joined other former service members in signing on to a letter asking Congress to pass legislation that would conserve land and water in a number of states. Brett Myrick of Gila traveled to Washington, D. C., with the veterans' group to support nine bills that would permanently protect more than 1 million acres of wilderness, 395 miles of wild and scenic river, and 713,000 acres with other conservation designations. Myrick is a former U.S. Navy SEAL and said protected public lands and rivers offer spaces where veterans can recover from the stresses of military service.

'It's a minimal amount of land that we have for veterans, or people of all walks of life, and from other countries to be able to go out and enjoy nature and beauty and solitude and pristine country,' Myrick said. Mental health experts say 10-15 percent of all veterans suffer from post-traumatic stress."

FactCheck.org - Trump Repeatedly Errs on California Wildfires with a Science Check
"Over the past two weekends, as two major wildfires devastated communities in Northern and Southern California, President Donald Trump has inaccurately blamed the state’s forest management practices for the blazes. He has also wrongly said that raking — a method he attributed to Finland — could have solved the problem... While forest management can be an important element in certain wildfires, Trump’s claim that forest management is solely or even largely responsible for these fires is false."

Energy Speculators Jump on Chance to Lease Public Land at Bargain Rates (Montana)
"The Trump administration’s policy of encouraging more oil and gas drilling combined with a loophole in federal rules has been a boon for investors with a taste for gambling — and has drawn criticism that it is a bad deal for taxpayers."


Rep. Raúl Grijalva intends to force a reckoning with climate change, A Democratic spitfire takes the helm of the House Committee on Natural Resources.
"Less than a week before the midterm elections, U.S. House Rep. Raúl Grijalva, D- Arizona, released a report detailing how the U.S. House Committee on Natural Resources, on which he has served for 14 years, stacked its hearings with industry interests. 'Under Republican leadership,' he wrote, 'hearings have disproportionally included witnesses who pad their profits by degrading public lands.'

Now that Democrats have won a majority in the House, Grijalva will have his chance, as the committee’s new chairman, to change the direction of the governing body that oversees federal lands and energy and water resources. Grijalva’s committee will also oversee and investigate the Interior Department, employing the system of checks and balances that Grijalva thinks his predecessors neglected."


As a warming world wreaks havoc, Trump wages war on climate science. The US administration’s politicization of science has led to big budget cuts for data and analysis. Others must fill the gap.
"The recent report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) warning of mass wildfires, superstorms, food shortages and dying coral reefs by 2040 was a cry for immediate action.
Climate change will make the next global crash the worst.

But as climate change is happening in real time, the practice of climate science –collecting data, observing and analyzing the Earth’s systems and communicating those findings to decision-makers and the public – has never been at greater risk. That’s why I am in Brussels this week speaking to European Union parliamentarians on the unprecedented threats facing the global understanding of climate change as a result of the Trump administration’s hostility to climate science, and discussing what European countries can and should do in response."


White House admits Trump climate policies will cost Americans $500 billion a year
Trump team approves -- but tries to bury -- report finding inaction on climate will devastate the country.
"The 1,000-page climate report released by the White House Friday quantifies the staggering cost of President Trump’s climate science denial...The White House oversaw the report’s review and clearance process — and tried to bury the findings by releasing it at 2 p.m. on the Friday after Thanksgiving. But the reality of climate change cannot be buried. Indeed the report concludes that 'the evidence of human-caused climate change is overwhelming and continues to strengthen, that the impacts of climate change are intensifying across the country, and that climate-related threats to Americans’ physical, social, and economic well-being are rising.' "


Suit To Penetrate Political Screening of Interior Grants, Inspector General Decries “Weak or Non-Existent Controls” on Grants and Aid
"The Interior Department screens grants for political alignment with the priorities of Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke but has not disclosed how that process works and what grants have been discontinued or blocked, according to a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit filed today by Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER). At the same time, Interior’s Office of Inspector General finds the agency does not screen grants for conflicts of interest or ethics compliance."


Zinke’s #2 has so many potential conflicts of interest he has to carry a list of them all
"Bernhardt’s relentless work ethic helps explain how he’s managed to advance Trump’s pro-industry agenda over the nation’s public lands. Having worked for years as a lobbyist representing many of the very businesses he now regulates, he walked into the No. 2 job at Interior with so many potential conflicts of interest he has to carry a small card listing them all.

'This is the deep state,' said Jim Lyons, who served as deputy assistant secretary for land and minerals management under Barack Obama. 'He is the guy behind the curtain who’s manipulating everything, which he can do with his wealth of knowledge and experience.' In recent weeks his boss, Ryan Zinke, has come under increased scrutiny for a Montana land deal. If Trump reshuffles his Cabinet and Zinke steps down, it will likely be Bernhardt who steps up."




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Thank you,
Kathryn QannaYahu
406-579-7748
www.EMWH.org
Helena, MT