Altough everysign on cautions Federal employees they have no legal right to accept their communications are protected, what a Agency Chief feels this threatened???
Endangered Paranoid Act
The right wingers in this country are threatened.
People might find out the corporation are poisoning you. Pharmaceuticals killing you. And their making billions doing it and paying no taxes. Big brother is right wing government led by Donald Trump.
We should shut him up right away. Jail!
6
Scott Pruitt is the WORST sort of ideologue and political hack--and we now learn he's a Trump-like agency tyrant who doesn't like dissenting viewpoints from EPA employees who--can you believe it--actually want to protect the environment and not see their agency coddle polluters. An authoritarian rube from Oklahoma. We are a looking at a very corrupt (and deeply incompetent) administration--in every way.
10
These guys are definitely enemies of the people.
10
It's 1984. These wannabe tyrants are scaredy cats, weak and ignorant.
5
The "vast, right-wing conspiracy" does exist. It has been in place since the early 1980s, and has grown more and more powerful over the past 35+ years. Mr. Pruitt, Mr. Zinke, Mr. Pence, and countless other Trumpian administration members have been active members and participants in this conspiracy against the American people, their (our) government, and our laws from the beginning of their political lives, and they are as committed as the bolsheviks in their determination to undermine American polity and democracy.
Don't think of this as a hysterical scare tactic: this is who these people are, and this is what they do. When it's exposed, it quickly becomes normalized, just as Mr. Trump's behavior -- that of Caligula two millennia ago -- was normalized by those who feared the consequences should they stand up to him.
Whenever you ask yourself, "Can they go any lower than this?" remember: the answer is ALWAYS "Yes, they can. And they will."
12
When people fear that their job and the nature of their work is being compromised for political reasons, it is natural they would communicate this? What is happening to the EPA's enforcement program is a known fact. Stellar work on protecting the environment is being replaced by actions that protect the polluter.
4
How could anyone who understands the role of the EPA is literally to protect the environment for the benefit of ALL Americans, not just the polluters, not be in opposition to Pruitt, Trump, the GOP, America Rising (sic), et al?
I was a teenager celebrating the first Earth Day in 1970 by walking 25 miles along the banks of the polluted Cuyahoga River. We were well aware of the results of air, water and soil pollution as evidenced the Cuyahoga catching fire in 1968.
Contrast and compare that river with the Cuyahoga of today where my nephews and nieces can visit without fear and my cousins can safely water ski along Lake Erie next to the Jake and Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
I want to Pruitt's office environment to mimic the air and water I encountered as a kid so he can understand why the EPA exists.
6
Time after time Trump has demonstrated not just lack of insight into his choices for the choices he made, such as Pruit, to run our agencies, hears to be trying to dismantle each and every one. Investigate me if you want. All you will find is contempt!
4
Why don't they just change the name to the Environmental Exploitation Agency and stop playing games?
7
Similar practices occur at many colleges and universities as well as suburban and urban high schools. Ask Wisconsin history professor William Cronon about the monitoring of his emails. This practice is very common in the Chicago suburbs by administrators who have little work and plenty of down time to "investigate" employees. Many of these districts cut teachers and add admins.
3
Does anyone now doubt that Big Brother is alive, well and indeed thriving under the auspices of djt?
Those who underplay the current president's part in all this by maintaining that he is being manipulated by more artful advisors are underestimating him.
Due to his fear and loathing of Obama I believe that his brief to Pruitt and other appointees was very simple: 'Destroy every last vestige and thread of Obama's work, no matter what remains. And, if you can make a quick buck for any of my fellow billionaires while you're at, then have at it, let loose the dogs of war on reason, good sense and the good of generations to come '.
Don't you think?
6
The EPA is seeking public input on a possible replacement of the Obama administration's Clean Power Plan. Comments can be submitted online at regulations.gov, by email, fax, postal mail, or by hand/courier delivery. Instructions for submitting a comment here:
https://www.epa.gov/stationary-sources-air-pollution/clean-power-plan-pr...
This is an extremely important area of environmental policy. The comment period closes January 16, 2018, so it is important to act quickly and submit a comment. With or without the seven naughty words.
2
Welcome to the Paranoid Police State, currently under construction by the Trumpsters.
Wasn't it telling when, in spite of slashing EPA's budget for doing important (and legally mandated) work, they found the money to fund a security staff to guard Pruitt?
EPA staffers who have spoken out should also be on the watch for sudden IRS "inquiries" into their personal taxes.
3
I can see that there are those without science backgrounds that think regulations against minute quantities of chemicals is a waste of time. But unfortunately we are living in a chemical age where these compounds are not the same as those that have been proven to cause cancer at certain doses. Some of these chemicals can disrupt normal development in several generations and others can get into the food chain and magnify to the point where everyone is exposed. There are still others like methyl mercury that can travel around the globe and fall out in our back yards. The EPA has led the way in the regulation of these chemicals. To stop that now so the CEO of polluting corporation can earn more money for stockholders and to buy accessories for his yacht will be a major blow to all of us.
6
It is becoming obvious that there are hundreds of thousands of federal government bureaucrats who are paid more than $100,000 per year by taxpayers who believe that they can attempt to undermine their new bosses who were duly elected or appointed by elected government officials. Bureaucrats who are stupid enough to criticize their new bosses should be terminated summarily. This is what would happen to such employees in the private sector. Taxpayers should not be asked to pay the lavish salaries of these entitled fools who refuse to do their jobs as defined by their new bosses.
4
You mean EPA employees who are being told, effectively, to not do their jobs.
10
Easy problem: FLOOD THE SYSTEM. Everyone write 100 emails a day with the keywords in them.
2
East solution to the problem. FIRE ALL THE IDIOTS THAT SEND 100 MEANINGLESS EMAILS.
2
As a water right litigator and hearing examiner at Montana's Department of Natural Resources and Conservation from 2005-2008 I noted conduct by staff a judge would later call "total disregard for the controlling statutes" and assess more than 75K in fees. Those responsible have been promoted. Those who turned them in excoriated by judges and colleagues alike. Montana is an excellent model for what these folks can look forward to in the years to come. There is often no safety net for all but the most famous whistle blowers and even they cannot make up the opportunity cost. Folks like these demand robot like loyalty to any cause and will lie themselves silly to harm those who do not give it to them.
5
Joel Clement was a top science-change official at the Interior Department. Unhappy with Clement's inconvenient truth regarding climate change impacts on Alaska Native villages, Ryan Zinke reassigned him to an accounting role. Clement didn't know anything about accounting, and quit after three months. He does however write a mean resignation letter.
https://apps.washingtonpost.com/g/documents/national/read-joel-clements-...
In light of what has come to light at EPA and the CDC, now would be an excellent time for the NY Times to print the letter in its entirety. Not as an insert or a link, but as a stand-alone document. It is likely that most if not all the other departments and agencies are experiencing similar repression.
9
Trump and the minions see no risk in losing morale or putting good, honest people's standings in jeopardy. Not at the EPA, the Education Department, Justice, State......the list goes on and on. Trump's 'scorched earth' policy sees nothing but distain for anyone who disagrees with his agenda. And that agenda is clearly to make the uber rich even more wealthy (guaranteeing more of the same in the next elections), cripple the American information system through constant and unforgiving lies doubting the credibility of same, and arm the American population with weapons, mistrust and hate. How will we ever recover?
5
I can save this administration all the money they're wasting paying outside consultants to track how they're working overtime to undermine the government agencies that work to protect the quality of the air, water, food, drugs, in short, the health and welfare of the people of this country.
I keep track of it...and will happily pass it on to them at no cost - along with a short- and long-term estimate of the costs of that kind of cut-your-nose-off-to-spite-your-face stupidity: increase in communicable diseases, increased health care cost, shorter life-spans, human productivity loss, increase in depression, suicide, general dissatisfaction with quality of life - in this - the "greatest country on earth."
Give me a break.
We seriously need to find out the name of each and every Republican voter who put THIS congress in our Capital, and THIS so-called POTUS in our White House, label them "Incompetent Dissidents," put them on a watch list as THE most serious threat to our national security since 1861.
5
even federal and state employees have the right to free speech. It appears Putin has taken over the feds
6
Good. Scour all the emails. Flush out the leftists. Politics out of EPA! The EPA epitomizes bloated government. That was on the ballot.
1
"Fascism Rising" is more like it. This is outright censorship, but is anybody going to have the guts to stand up to the censors? The irony is that freedom of speech was supposedly one of the reasons the Republicans conducted the Cold War against Soviet communism in the 1950s and violated the rights of many US citizens in the process. But today it's OK for the GOP to kick the Bill of Rights the rest of the way into the trash, even though the only enemy they've met is us, those who want to exercise those freedoms. Oh, yeah, I forgot one difference. The communists were godless, whereas the GOP is doing it in the name of God--or is it really just mammon in disguise (with diamonds)? The GOP is trying to buy Americans' silence by giving them a couple of dollars in temporary tax cuts, and sadly, it may well work. George Orwell said his books were not written to warn only against communism but also to warn the west about itself. How prescient he was.
5
>>“A lot of funky stuff has been going on with E.P.A. staff,” she said.<<
Yes, let's start right at the top with Pruitt. Funky stuff, indeed.
4
If after all this we can't be bothered to vote Democrat next year and put these fascists out of business, we will deserve everything we get. The world and our own stupidity will stamp us flat.
7
The Deep State is not the government employees of institutions created by the constitution and constitutional law m making. Those people are the actual government.
The Deep State is the mega rich donors, thneir political appointees and the private corporations attacking the government from the inside.
This is a story about the Deep State. A billionaire who owns a large part of the oil industry is now also head of the Environmental Protection Agency, a department that directly determines how much he will have to spend on cleaning up the pollution his industry obviously makes. And he is using private investigators to attack members of the actual government.
The members of the government are there because our representatives wrote laws and presidents signed them (Nixon in this case), and so have a constitutional reason to exist. This private company does not. It is a private political operation actively attacking government employees that were greeted under is laws and regulations. The Deep State.
4
America's nihilistic billionaires are their own worst enemies.
5
So the EPA has hired an independent contractor to spy on their employees and report any perceived disloyalty back to Pruitt. Apparently the GOP believe the constitution only guarantees freedom of speech to Republicans. Are we surprised?
They kick and scream about the Mueller investigation obtaining GOP emails "improperly." Meanwhile the same Trump Administration hypocritically releases email sent by FBI agents to the press because said emails were critical of their dear leader. They are extremely bold in their hypocrisy, calling for Mueller to be brought down and locked up. Only those loyal to Trump are allowed to send email without big brother looking over their shoulder. Clearly there is a double standard at work here. Democrat emails bad. GOP emails good. Us vs. them. Strictly a binary choice with no nuance, negotiation or compromise possible, just as we have come to expect from them.
Add these facts to the CDC banning words like "fetus" and "transgender" from their vocabulary and it really does start to seem like we are on the brink of becoming an Orwellian police state under this so called "president." Clearly the GOP and their oligarch overlords are pushing us toward single party rule. The rest of us simply don't matter to them. Dems better come back strong in 2018 or we lose the country and the democracy. No more voting for the green party or staying home because the Dems didn't serve us the perfect candidate on a silver platter. This is for all the marbles.
6
Two notes:
(1) This contract for "news analysis" is listed as non-competed or 'sole source.' (See "Competition Information") Why? Is there only one group who can provide this service? Typically, a written justification must be filed to explain such an unusual bidding process.
(2) Since Mr. Blutstein or America Rising is now a government contractor, are THEIR emails available for public inspection? (Where does NYT apply to gain access?)
5
A fanatical yet somehow effectively self-promoting Blowhard Demagogue and Quasi Buffoon is narrowly elected to high office and begins to leverage more and more power through relentless propaganda and shameless lying. Check.
The powers that be refuse to stand up to him, who fully they recognize as a blowhard demagogue and quasi buffoon, because they are confident that they will be able to contain and control him to suit their purposes. Check.
Said BD&QB tightens grip on media, government agencies, demands an oath of personal loyalty to himself alone as leader of the nation. Check.
Said BD&QB involves himself less and less directly with affairs of state while flying around his realm appearing at party rallies to fire up chanting masses. Minorities are vilified. Check.
Administration of BD&QB begins to censor language to be used in government reports and documents. Demands names of dissenters. Check
Administration of BDQB moves ahead with rearmament despite international concerns. Sword futures up, plowshares down. Check.
Where is this going I wonder? America First! America Over All!
3
The bevy of readers posting their outrage at the "spying" of employee emails is to be expected. However, most of these readers clearly have no idea how the real world works.
I work in a large, global consultancy firm and I can tell you that any disparaging remark made about my immediate manager or employer via email or instant message is grounds for immediate termination. And that would happen even IF I'm still doing the job they tell me to do. If you want to try adding gross insubordination to the mix, I don't have to tell you what happens there either.
So yes, all of our workplace emails and instant message are subject to monitoring and archiving and open to searches for any reason whatsoever and we employees have no expectation of privacy. The same is and should be true of employees for the government.
Donald Trump is now President and his agenda will reign until such time that he is voted out of office. If EPA employees deliberately undermine their superiors and the policies of this administration, they must be terminated. It is not enough to believe that they are doing the right thing for the planet. They must follow the administration's agenda, or step aside. Save the outrage for later.
1
Trump is not their employer. We are.
Perhaps that is why you have reached your corporatist conclusion.
1
The so-called land of the free and home of the brave is really just a kiss up kick down pecking order, isn't it?
3
Under the laws and regulations that govern the Federal Civil Service employees have rights. Participating in a political rally on your private time is one of them. Expressing concerns to a manager another. One does not surrender their constitutional rights when one goes to work for the federal government. All of these protections were instituted so that amoral liars like Pruitt and Trump cannot simply come in and fire everyone that disagrees with them. So now they are trying to intimidate and scare them with contracts like this one. Ever wonder why?
The EPA is bound by existing laws and regulations that Trump and Pruitt are ignoring or breaking on an almost daily basis. Blind obedience is not and never will be a condition of government employment.
"Follow or step aside"? Maybe where you work, but not in the federal government. Thank God because the career civil servants are one of the only things holding this disaster of an administration and their country together.
6
These are the actions of an authoritarian regime. U.S. agencies are under attack by a hostile government. That government is the one currently occupying the White House and the majority in congress. The agencies that protect our health, the environment, workers and consumers, and our national monuments, as well as those agencies that engage in international diplomacy on behalf of the U.S., and protect the U.S. from both foreign and domestic threats are systematically being undermined and hollowed out by the Trump GOP regime. The threat to our democracy by this administration cannot be overstated.
5
By all appearances, Donald Trump has learn his lessons well from his Russian friends; from the amount of suspicion, repression, spying-on, and weeding out of all disgruntled E.P.A. agents, we're looking less like a Democracy and more like East Germany everyday -- no surprise he's so determined to build a wall.
5
Oh. And I forgot to mention that I lived there, so I know what I'm talking about -- I just never thought that I'd ever see the same thing happening here. Very scary,
4
By now every federal employee should understand that their email and texts on federal devices and networks are subject to disclosure under FOIA or the Privacy Act. I understood that 14 years ago when I retired. I always wrote emails that wouldn’t embarrass me if they were published in the Times or the Post. If you want to rant about Trump, do it over lunch in person or at a bar after work. Never do it over email or text. You will likely be embarrassed if you do. If you are a civil servant in this administration, you are assumed to be disloyal. Don’t prove to them that you are.
1
Do the top guys know their war against the environment will not shorten their own lives? Fair-minded people, including Congress which made protecting the environment the duty of the EPA, agree that environmental violations shorten lives of persons exposed to them. Are Donald J. Trump and Scott Pruitt dumb enough to imagine they, their families, children, grandchildren, are magically immune to environmental risks we make more of than the rest of the world? Few except Trump and Pruitt, bad guys warring against real citizens by authorizing tax-payments for spying on EPA employees, believe that a plethora of cancers, to cite one class of examples, are unrelated to environmental causes. Government spies are protecting high bureaucrats, never the environment. We are paying for a governmental war by General Trump and General Pruitt against every human inside our borders.
19
One word - STASI. and for all of you who said we were overreacting to Trump's authoritarianism - you were dead wrong.
6
Next thing they'll be sent to gulags. Why aren't Americans TERRIFIED of this administration? Don't they see what's happening to our country?
4
The horrors of this administration are never ending, and enabled by the equally despicable Republicans currently in office. Other than their Fox & Friends and Hannity base, the majority of the country is appalled by these shameless, vile vulgarians. Whether Mueller gets to them first, or we the people are heard from in 2018, this whole unfit, disgusting gang is going down. Just not soon enough. Maybe they can send us their "thoughts and prayers" as we slog through this nightmare.
3
I don't understand how this can be allowed to go on. The intel agencies are not allowed to spy on US persons, why is this allowed to be? It is in essence what they are doing to the employees. As they say, the fish rots from the head. 45 condones this activity and Pruitt follows through. Pruitt is vile, despicable and a scourge on this country of ours. I can only hope he tries to run for Imhof's seat when he leaves the senate. These people are evil.
1
No work emails are privileged. Everyone should know that by now. What is interesting, is that administration believes it has the right to read employees emails, but that Robert Mueller's team does not.
5
After 67 years on this planet, many of them spent manufacturing here in this country or marketing for companies that do, I am not sure if Republicans are cynical or just incredibly naive. I suspect both and would like to add short sighted and ignorant to the mix of adjectives.
Back in the '70s I had my lesson in the ethics of ordinary businessmen and it created my own insight into business practices. I was taking a group of customers from Jamaica to tour a beef slaughtering facility near Amish country in PA where my company had provided some of the refrigeration equipment. Everything went well until we sat down in the cafeteria for lunch. One of my Jamaican guests asked about waste treatment regulations.
A well-spoken, clean cut, engineer answered him pleasantly. "Well we put as much of it in the river where it gets diluted and goes back to nature... But we have to be careful when we find out that we are getting a visit from the EPA or health inspectors." A lot of winking and laughter followed that. I was shocked, not long out of college with a BA in political science and a big concern for the environment.
I can only imagine that this philosophy of skirting regulations went underground. With a weakened EPA maybe businessmen will return to openly laughing about it. I guess that will pass for our new "open" society as Trump and his boys continue to wreak "generational damage" and gut our environmental safety nets.
PS, I didn't last that much longer at that job, >LOL
2
Why should it be surprising that the Administration is looking at people that reject the Administration’s policies and priorities and that are using their governmental jobs and resources to undermine the Administration and work against its policies and priorities? How many long-term EPA employees voted for Trump or support Pruitt’s leadership?
3
Which employees voted for or support Trump/Pruitt is immaterial. A purging of career employees, devoted to the agency’s legislative mandate, based on that political support is the tragedy here.
2
It's not too much to say that our government is being taken away from us. I hope that the EPA folks will stay strong. The rest of us must also speak out and oppose this government which is more and more frightening.
1
Not only is Scott Pruitt a disaster for the Environmental Protection Agency, he is a danger to the democratic process. Spying on government employees is the sort of thing expected in Russia.
3
CDC banning words from its publications, EPA scurrying to find squeaky wheels in its midst: rats on a sinking ship.
Confidence in the mission would preclude paranoia. Mueller closes in and the thieves are scrambling.
2
The reminder that W did the same re EPA and climate change, banishing words and ideas even after their own task force wrote of urgent action needed. Rove threatened all in government with dismissal for referring to global warming or climate change and hired faith-based lawyers out of Liberty U law school to join every Fed agency to monitor its activities regarding climate etc. Like trickle down nonsense begun by Reagan Trump and his Congress simply continue unraveling the threads of democracy to say nothing of the capitalism they pretend to champion but undermine every day. BAMN brethren
1
I would urge everyone to click on the links provided in the article to Definers Public Affairs and America Rising. It's horrifying. This company is a propaganda mill, not unlike the propagandists in regimes in communist countries and dictatorships. Citizens should not have to countenance, let alone finance, the destruction of their own rights and democracy.
Opening statement from Definers: "We distill and strategically deploy public information to build and influence media narratives, move public opinion and provide powerful ammunition for your public relations and government affairs efforts."
Opening statement from America Rising: "America Rising Corporation is an opposition research and communications firm whose mission is to help its clients defeat Democrats."
So money that is supposed to go into protecting the citizenry from industrial pollution in the interest of corporate greed is being stolen by the Republicans to suppress dissent and further such greed. What an incredible perversion.
2
Purification and re-education of political thoughts are common practices in totalitarian regions are unfolding in front of us and turning a federal agency into a subsidiary of the oil and gas industry.
1
McCarthyism returns? I thought we were done with that ugly period in American history. This is awful.
3
A U T O C R A C Y
or
F A S C I S M
?
Hard to tell.
2
A thought to make Conservatives happy:
"Lock them up! Lock them up!"
1
Fascism grows apace.
Thank you for reporting on it. To anyone reading this, please pass this article on.
2
This is what tyranny looks and feels like. Building a case against professional employees in a government agency for political reasons. Lying about your intent. These are gestapo tactics. Right wing fanatics in the Trump administration are staging a coup.
3
This is how Russia does things. Fascism in action.
4
The children and grandchildren--perhaps for 2 or 3 generations--will be saddled with the ruin Pruitt and his industry masters are doing to our environment.
The EPA was born in 1970, in response to growing concerns about the environment; the clean water act followed in 1972, on Nixon's watch, when there were polluted rivers and lakes that, on occasion actually caught fire.
Who remembers the Love Canal debacle? With Pruitt and his industry masters at the helm, we will see the return of this kind of disasters, and perhaps even greater ones---all for the glory of greed. I shutter to think and am grateful to be 74 and not likely to witness the total destruction of our natural nation.
God help us!
9
When did protecting the environment become a partisan issue? Shouldn’t we expect all of our elected officials, of both parties, to work to ensure access to clean air and water? I’m no scientist, but I don’t think I can live without air and water.
3
It does appear that the EPA is being transformed to the ERA, the Environmental Repression Agency. The intimidation of employees who may have disagreements is not a good practice in a democracy. A democracy depends upon the free and open exchange of ideas and opinions. We have to learn how to disagree and still respect each other for our divergent opinions or ideas. Let us not allow the destruction of 50 years of progress in protecting our increasingly fragile environment.
1
S let me get this right...
The Environmental Protection Agency is trying to purge itself of those staff members that are concerned about our environment. The full cast of Idiocracy at work America.
5
This is also happening in the VA System. Veterans who are employees as well as other non-veteran employees are being terminated by leadership for speaking out on transparency, corruption and wrongdoing with veterans patient safety occurring at the VA Hospitals in Chicago especially in the Department of Radiology.
This is frightening, the opposite of democracy.
13
Any sign of science, thought or environmental protection will be met with severe punishment...
Also your language, and all communication will be monitored by the Pruitt Schutzstaffel...
Lock up time...GOP surely is building Re-location Camps in Montana, Utah and Idaho.
14
Surprise, NYT and its reliably liberal readership! Elections have consequences, as Blessed Obama usd to say.
Obama, Clinton, and their ilk investigated Trump and his people.
Now Trump and his team are investigating Obama holdovers at the EPA and elsewhere who wish to block his agenda.
Good luck in the 2018 elections if you want to return to the good, ol' liberal days.
In the meantime, as I'm again allowed to do, I wish you all from sunny Southern California Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, or whatever holiday you might observe.
4
As you assert so plausibly, we in New York are not allowed to say Merry Christmas, Merry Christmas, Merry Christmas. I hope someone is thoughtful enough to give you a psychiatric evaluation for the holidays.
2
Breathe deeply, James, and enjoy that clean water while you can. Elections have consequences, and clean air and water have a poor ROI.
3
You were never forbidden from wishing others good will. Ever. Most people who voted never envisioned as a consequence of an election to be the rise of a peculiar form of fascism, but evidently some did and applaud it.
3
Employees of the EPA are understandably having difficulty accepting the reality that their job is no longer to protect the environment. So what to do? Play the game or challenge authority? Just another example of the creeping fascist state. Shameful, scary, wrong.
12
Been reading Victor Klemperer's diaries from 1933 to 1941. VK was an open-eyed, intelligent and loyal German Jew with a ringside seat to the rise of the Third Reich. The parallels between Germany at that time and today's USA (minus the Brown Shirts and the physical violence, I concede) are scary. Propaganda, control of the science sector and the recasting of language were major tools in the Nazis' efforts to steer the country towards fascism and dictatorship. The same is happening now in America. Now Trump is no Hitler, but the GOP and the Trump administration is acting very much like the National Socialists of that time. Klemperer kept a running analysis on the language use and abuse of the Nazis; every time I read one of his observations on the subject I am astounded by the similarities with what is happening in the USA. Even the CDC now says that it "bases its recommendations on science in consideration with community standards and wishes". So if the community wishes to say the earth is flat, that that is its standard, then the earth is flat, right?
19
The violence is there. Maybe not so much with the average New York Times reader but definitely with people of color. In particular men of color. And if women of color stand up and get louder they will find that they too are the objects of violence perpetrated by law and Military authorities. Last year a couple of weeks after the election a friend was stopped by a police chief. She was doing nothing wrong simply driving the car with Texas license plates that was clearly registered to a Hispanic man. The car being from Texas and very dark tinted windows so when the police chief came up to the driver side window and found a fair red-haired girl he was clearly astonished. He had expected an immigrant who he could haul off to jail. He gave her a ticket and she got a lawyer and everything went the normal way. But what would have happened if the person to whom the car was registered had been driving? It has only gotten worse since then. Go down to the valley in Texas and watch what is happening.
Surely it is not legal for the government to share emails of employees, especially if on their personal accounts, with a political "research group."
Sadly, employees of this government must be careful not to put their concerns in writing. We've already seen the kerfuffle that caused because an FBI agent texted privately his concerns about Mr. Trump.
While federal employees are not allowed to politic, they are still entitled to their personal opinions.
I fear for our country's environment, both physical and political.
14
As a former FOIA Officer, I can report that Federal employees are not entitled to separate work and personal accounts (except maybe Hilary). Everything you type on the government computer belongs to FOIA.
1
" It is by the goodness of God that in our country we have those three unspeakably precious things: freedom of speech, freedom of conscience, and the prudence never to practice either of them.". — Mark Twain
5
Mark Twain knew what a racket religion was and continues to be in the US.
3
I can't say that I am terribly surprised to see Trump and his administration witch-hunting, attacking dissenting views, and trying to shut down any and all investigation of facts.
It's not just that that's always been this clown's policy, as well as that of the Right in general. It's that of course they're doing this, while Trump and his pack of lawyers scream about Robert Mueller and being witch-hunted, while trying desperately to suppress any and all facts.
6
Is it 1984 yet? Orwell's predictions are coming true.
8
“In addition to sharing at least nine current and former executives, Definers Public Affairs shares an office building in Arlington, Va., with the multiple arms of America Rising and NTK Network.”
Doesn’t sound like $120K to me. Those execs wouldn’t water the geraniums for that kind of dough. Dig deeper.
11
“These are committed people,” he said of the agency employees. “It’s not just a job for them. To put their morale and their good standing in danger is going to risk losing something very valuable to the government and to the country.”
...which is precisely the goal of this administration which is not buying that "something very valuable" is at risk. I notice the administration is beginning to be credited with addressing and even meeting its goals. And come on, now, the people in charge at the E.P.A. are certainly not "hostile to protecting the environment." I am confident that if they believed the environment needed protecting they would be on the front lines of reform. But they don't.
1
what most needs protecting is the next quarterly profit report, largely in the energy sector.
k
blinded by greed and selfishness, the top white old guys who Trump respects and pals around with, care much more about golf than future generations. it seems their only thought in that direction has to do with the tax on huge inheritances... again proving that among this bunch, MONEY trumps all and people mean nothing.
What do employee emails hae to do with press clippings? Big Brother knows. Another rung on the slippery staircase towards totalitarianism.
11
Ah, what's next? Extrajudicial killings disguised as accidents? Or are intimidation and ending distinguished careers enough of an assassination. No wonder this administration and its president admire Putin so much.
13
Ironic isn't it, America has been so transfixed on defending their 2nd Amendment right to gun ownership, they've unwittingly given up their 1st Amendment right to free speech, without even knowing it. Good job NRA.
20
Guns are really about shooting first because you'll never have an answer to any good question.
What is it that Scott Pruitt wants to keep from the American People? Every day this Administration has the feel of an Authoritarian Regime.
19
I find the article misleading and the comments generally misinformed. 1) A private entity has been making FOIA requests. 2) This private entity is "affiliated" through its leadership with another company which was later contracted to the EPA through a competive bidding process. The NYT makes it appear that A = B = C and, unfortunately, most its readers readers buy in.
6
K
"America Rising PAC. America Rising PAC's sole purpose is to hold Democrats accountable and expose any hidden hypocrisy. "
Depending on how they define "hypocrisy", and conditioned on the lie that federal employees are in any way beholden to the occupant of the White House, this is a license to cherry pick victims, do whatever they wish with the information they gather, and insist employees break the law by ignoring their oath.
In essence, you are campaigning for federal employees to be strictly partisan, that is you are creating "the deep state" out of spite, you are endorsing whistle blowing, and you are seeking to make every federal action a political one. Talk about reckless hypocrisy and willful partisan ignorance.
3
I enjoy seeing right-wingers try to smear words like "entity," and "affiliated," on realities such as, "far-right political ad agencies," and, "getting paid by taxpayers to run witch-hunts."
Please keep going; it's truly funny to see Trumpists use words like, "misleading," and "misinformed."
3
So you support the Muller investigations acquisition of emails too?
3
This is not new! In some places polluters pay or give favors to regulators to look the other way. In other places the regulator is there to prevent the protestors from disrupting business. It's called corruption. Unfortunately we are seeing a trusted institution, the EPA, being corrupted in plain view by an administrator for political reasons. If you're a straight shooter, you speak out.
7
Pruitt's actions is fascism, pure and simple, and horrifying. These employees need our help, we must stand with them.
18
Ultimately, how alarming is it to realize that Trump is now attempting to be our "Big Brother"?
10
Next look for the Emperor to declare "Off with their heads!"....or, if he has a moment to recognize he and his minions are not above the law, "You're fired!" The major agencies that are the integral parts of our government have been hijacked and no longer working. I would personally like to ask each and every one of those 63 million that propelled this disaster into the top office in our nation exactly what they were thinking! Or maybe they weren't thinking at all.
9
How about doing a F.O.I.A. investigation of the only #employee who actually matters to America: POTUS45? Start with his tax returns...
16
I agree, a lot of "funky stuff" is going on at the EPA all related to the present administration of it. They are attempting to "stuff" all things pertaining to climate science down the drain. They are ignoring the serious warnings of the quickening pace of climate change, and we will pay for it in devastating floods, wildfires, hurricanes, mudslides, tornadoes, and sandstorms. Fresh water is drying up and increasingly becoming polluted. Desertification is eroding farmland. Famine is stalking the globe. And the band plays on in the WH and the agencies meant to protect us.
Do the plutocrats really believe it is possible to grow enough food hydroponically to feed even themselves? Do they really believe the private armies they are contracting will NEVER figure out that they, too, are at risk?
As my mother used to say, pride goeth before a fall.
8
As as a retired employee, I have resorted to communicating with my former colleagues by private email or personal phone. The fear is palpable from the little man who now heads the agency.
14
Is the EPA workforce unionized? I would guess not. When I worked for a federal agency, our union blocked management from releasing employee emails pursuant to a partisan request. However it is true that employees have no right to privacy regarding employer computer systems and should only communicate government business via email. In the future, they should use "snail mail" or their personal email to communicate with members of Congress and messaging apps such as WhatsApp to communicate with fellow employees. It is also not a good idea to make oneself the face of a NYT interview on this matter. Yes, people have rights but people also have to operate defensively in a hostile climate.
6
Shades of 1984 novel. Freedom of Speech, going and even gone. Doesn't anyone outside the EPA understand the nature of short term economic gains at the expense of long term survival and quality of life.
9
"I hope E.P.A. employees realize after a few months that we are providing a really great and invaluable service that advances their mission," Mr. Pounder said.
Really really great. It should be noted that Mr. Pounder is the most recent recipient of the Kellyanne Conway Alternative Reality Merit Badge, with Honors in Straight-faced Smiling Delivery.
Hey George O., you were a little off on the date, but right on the money (literally).
7
I want to thank the NYT for reporting on this development. We, as Americans, regardless of party affiliation, should object to public employee's intimidation. What happened to the Whistleblowers Protection Act? It seems like these federal workers were and are trying to tell us something is brewing. An investigation at this point is appropriate.
When Trump and his troops are "done" with us, we should get a Nuremberg Trial going to right the wrongs of his administration.
6
“These are committed people,” he [William Reilly, a former EPA Administrator] said of the agency employees. “It’s not just a job for them. To put their morale and their good standing in danger is going to risk losing something very valuable to the government and to the country.”
— But that's precisely the objective of the Trump Administration and of the Pruitt EPA leadership, isn't it?
5
This has all the earmarks of an authoritarian regime. It should be a wake-up call to all who've repeated the mantra "it can't happen here". It can and it is.
9
Our congress is like the German people in the 30's and one day they will rouse from their stupor and say, " How did this happen to the USA?" We will have seen our country go from the hope of humankind to the dopes of humankind. Of course, the repubs will not take any of the blame for there being enough weapons in the hands of the people to kill off every one of us or the fact that our environment is so polluted that Mars will look like the only option for us to survive. And all this while the Liar in Chief keeps on smiling while the once great USA slides down the pit to rest with the rest of history's
once great nations. How sad is that!
3
You are being watched - your days are numbered - like a line from Doctor Zhivago - the republican kleptocracy demands full loyalty and cooperation - understand.
6
Remember the "good old days" of the EPA "superfund" scandals during the Reagan-Bush years?
2
Trump, glorious in his ignorance, tries to please his ignorant supporters with dumbest-guy-in-room assertions. So, while leaders of 190+ countries support the Paris accord, serial liar Trump pretends climate change is a hoax and coal is clean. He then chooses monumental science denier Pruitt, who is purposely ignorant as well, to run the EPA...much like having bank robbers protect banks.
We see what's going on and will respond appropriately in 2018 and 2020. Ignorance combined with arrogance deserves only one response: complete and total rejection.
Eclectic Pragmatism — http://eclectic-pragmatist.tumblr.com/
Eclectic Pragmatist — https://medium.com/eclectic-pragmatism
6
Before there was an EPA and before other Western nations had similar organizations, tort and negligence law was developing doctrines to address pollution, albeit slowly — think nuisance, riparian rights and Rylands v. Fletcher. It may be time to dust off the old case-books and get ready to litigate against polluters. At least we now have fairly well-developed class action doctrines.
5
America, land of the free? Not any more. Pray she remains the home of the brave during this experiment with totalitarianism.
12
I suggest Mr. Blutstein move to Russia where his services should be in demand.
I thought the courts didn't look kindly on "fishing expeditions". Shouldn't there be a legal test of his right to target individuals' e-mails?
Memo to government employees. If you didn't know your e-mails weren't secure you were out to lunch. The USG is now playing by Kafka Rules.
6
This monitoring of speech/thoughts by people who are critical of any government agency is straight out of Putin's playbook. Putin must be so proud of his progeny.
8
The EPA under Pruitt has abandoned its mission and is now the dept of Env Pollution Advancement. It is corporate owned and shows no concern for the greater good. The employees know this as they watch a savage leader ruin years of accomplishment in favor of corporate do What do you expect? They are loyal to country and the constitution. As should be Pruitt.
3
Here's a solution. Every EPA employee sends emails citing facts about Trump's and Pruitt's anti-environment actions and scientifically-credible information contrary to such actionw. Then, the Orwellian trackers will have to report everyone except the lackeys in Pruitt's hermetically sealed office. Let them sort that one out.
6
The dismantling of the EPA, medical care, the internet, etc. are all sure signs that we have entered into a Corporate Fascist government. Yes, we have.
12
It appears that Huxley was prescient
5
Seems Trump is taking a lesson from North Korea. The next step will be little Donald pins.
6
Scott Pruitt is running our environment into the ground in order to appease his big oil fellows and their pocket books. The man is a danger to humanity, and should be tried in a criminal court for crimes against humanity.
Christians - if you're looking for one of the horsemen of the apocalypse - he's right here.
9
This is physically chilling to read. Clearly there is nothing so sinister, slimy, or unAmerican that this Administration will not pursue it. We may truly be sinking into an authoritarian system before our eyes. This is a matter of urgency for everyone who believes in America.
12
We live in an Orwellian world. Unless someone in the Republican Party actually and seriously decided to follow hisnor her oath of office we will end our run as a democracy. Once this kind of authoritarian behavior starts it is hard to stop. The GOP has become a party of traitors, if not de jure definately de facto.
7
William K. Reilly: "“This shows complete insensitivity, complete tone-deafness, or something worse.”
It is worse. It's Fascism.
11
If we take the simple point of view that Trump is a Russian Agent, then every one of his actions make perfect sense. Discredit America, remove it from international leadership positions, wreck its most important domestic government functions and accomplishments, do it drunk and twittering, and always give credit for anything positive to cooperation with Uncle Vladimir. Trump is a Russian Agent, get this straight, he needs Generals around him to make him appear patriotic. Any old General will do, dig up Ludendorff and Hindenburg if need be, 'cuz 'Mericans are too dumb to get it even while it's going down.
Response?
Wreck Trumpeters first, put them on notice, they're not American and they're not patriotic, each and every one of them. They don't own the flag. KellyAnn Conway's soldier girl inauguration costume makes me want to projectile vomit at her. And, they went there first, so don't blame me for stating the obvious about Russian agent Trumpeters, especially the ones with their American Flag lapel pins hiding behind their Russian guided twisted version of America they're claiming as exclusive to themselves only. It's not their flag, they don't own it, it's not their country they are fighting for, and they are not patriotic, and no right to ownership of America and its government is in the Constitution I know and stood up for. Get it straight. Trump is a Russian agent and Trumpeters are doing good Russian work.
5
1933 thru 1939 all over again? Only this time, America, not Germany; willingly blind Americans, not Germans; Yankee plutocrats in it for the bucks, not the Hun industrialists;
What is in the deadly mix in both cases? Latent Racism, Divisivesmess, Disrespect, Fear Mongering and most of all: a manic narcissist in control and willing to exploit it all in promotion of his delusional self image, a control bequeathed to him by a willingly blind citizenry.
1939-1945 all over again? Perhaps, unless we wake up before its too late.
7
Big Brother is watching.
7
Outrageous! Sounding more and more like Erdogan and Turkey to me.
7
OF COURSE WE ARE BEING WATCHED! The Republicans are in charge. The 'jackboots" are coming, this is just the beginning. We will be another Banana Republic much quicker than I thought possible. Just a wild guess, but I think Trump will be passed over by his owners and donors, and Bannon will become the "new" Dictator For Life!
4
America has fallen to tyranny. It cannot be saved.
#calexit
7
Two words: Snail mail. The USPS is still safe.
It is secure, at least for now, and although a bit slower still private. Disposable too. and it stays really gone. No screen shots to come back and haunt ya. No FOIA access.
It is time for people to behave as if Big Brother is watching, because he is.
6
This is Orwellian. This form of threat is a direct attack on free speech. I am aware that now all forms of recorded speech and thought critical of anything associated with the Trump regime can be used against any individual at any time. That is why I am not going to visit family in Florida this winter. I know what I say right here can be captured and used to stop me at the US border and we all know the extent of the power of border guards. Being refused entry is the least of worries. America - your government has made you a frightening and untrustworthy neighbour.
4
So, when the devastation caused by our immoderate use of fossil fuels, paving over of wetlands, and pouring of poisons into the earth becomes too much to ignore any longer, EPA employees can say: "We were just following orders".
People of conscience recognize that this administration is attempting to remove science from policy throughout the entire government. Resistance is the only chance for the survival of our nation.
5
When people fear that the nature of their work and their job is being compromised for political reasons, why would anybody think they should not communicate this? What is happening to the EPA is a known fact. Stellar work on protecting the environment is being replaced by actions that protect the polluter.
5
An EPA story: A company I worked for sold many electricity generation plants in China. We brought the Chinese engineers who were to operate these new plants here to the U.S. train them, and entertained these guests while they were here. Took them to dinners, sightseeing, had coffee and tea. Asked the Chinese what their first strongest impression of America was. They all responded with wide eyes, 'BLUE SKY, CLEAR AIR.' Clearly American leadership at work, a big success story.
This is an inconvenient truth to Trump and Trumpeters who want to wreck the EPA, America, and the Constitution for their rich foreign friends while claiming ownership of America, patriotism, our constitution, and our futures. Get it straight, Trump and friends are not patriotic and they don't own us.
4
The action by the Trump cronies is in fact violating the Constitutional right of the EPA employees. Additionally, Pruitt is the fox guarding the hen house.
2
We no longer live in a democracy. The spying on EPA employees and others outside the agency smacks of a dictatorship. We are loosing our rights to speak freely as the investigation into EPA employees goes on and the CDC has been banned from using 7 words. What is next? A tax bill that favors the rich and big business will dismantle the middle working class and drive the poor into intolerable situations. The congress must act to stop these actions before our news services are also restricted from writing the truth. 2020 cannot come soon enough.
5
“This shows complete insensitivity, complete tone-deafness, or something worse.”
It is something far worse, a desire to completely destroy the EPA.
3
Three more years... can we Americans survive the EPA and the Trump administration? If we do, what will we be?
4
When he was first nominated, I saw Scott Pruitt's appointment, along with the rest of Trump's nominees, as extremely worrying, as they seemed to be named for the primary purpose of dismantling their respective agencies. I wasn't wrong.
This is nothing short of a war on our civil servants, our environment, and our democracy.
2
Let's play this little game. Presidents, as do corporate CEOs, have the right to expect that everyone, in any department, executes and supports their policies. The problem here is the press and chattering classes do not agree with this particular President's viewpoint on ANY issue no matter how trivial. If employees in a government agency elect not to do their duty in executing a President's policy, why have elections? Nothing would change. The Administration is going to extremes in ferreting out dissidents, and I agree with their positions re the environment, but they have been in government service long enough to know they are taking chances with their careers. Find another way to negate the election, and not on the back of career professionals, no matter how misguided the may be. By the way, aren't career civil service employees supposed to keep their personal opinions to themselves?
3
No. Career civil service employees have all the same rights as you, including freedom of speech. The U.S. government is not a private, profit seeking entity. You are comparing apples to oranges which is why your comment is complete nonsense.
5
Garcetti v. Ceballos
2
As a former Federal employee I can say DEH is correct. But it appears the rules of conduct that applied when I was working, 1977-2008, no longer applies.
“I hope E.P.A. employees realize after a few months that we are providing a really great and invaluable service that advances their mission,” Mr. Pounder said.
Really? Like what? This statement screams for a follow-up.
Another one..
"A lot of funky stuff has been going on with E.P.A. staff,” she said.
Really? Like what?
This statement by a Trump official needs to be substantiated.
1
This looks like a transparency in government issue to me. If the critical comments are professionally based and a contribution to a policy discussion, that's one thing. If they're political messages crafted on government time, then there is reason to suspect illegal behavior.
More importantly, we have a civil service to execute policy in a professional, nonpolitical manner. The extent to which the civil service is becoming politicized is a matter of concern for all citizens -- and that behavior should be publicly exposed.
The last thing we want to do is make heroes out of politicized "civil servants," which seems to be a major theme in this particular article.
BTW, there seems to be an interesting double standard here. If one accepts Mr. Mueller's assertion that the Trump staff e-mails carry no expectation of privacy, then the same standard clearly applies to the EPA e-mails in question.
3
I worked for over 30 years for the Federal Government. Part of my job was FOIA Officer. Fishing expeditions using FOIA happens all the time. Although in my experience, they were always Left Wing and I never recall a request of this nature. My official advice to employees was never put in an E-mail what you would not put in writing. Did they always listen? No. BTW: deleting E-mails after a FOIA request is illegal. Again, people did not listen or care. We never discussed E-mails of political views. You just don't do it. Not regarding Carter, Reagan, Bush, Clinton, and Bush.
3
Where I work the company owns the emails at work. They don’t have to submit a request to get them too. Courts have decided that the emails used on the company system are company property. The emails from the government are government property too. We just went through Hillary and her server to get around the rule. One would think that the workers at the EPA most know that their emails are not private. Why are they incriminating themselves?
3
I believe the EPA will be reconfigured in 2020. This administration's attitude towards Science and the future of the planet will be a bad memory.
1
I don't understand. Anyone hired by the federal government should be very aware of the fact that their email is subject to the Freedom of Information Act. This seems like serious sensationalization.
2
As as a person involved with a group doing FOIA requests on one particular EPA employee, I can testify that the requests for Michael Cox’s emails were answered with unusual speed, less than a month. We are still awaiting replies to similar requests for this person’s emails that were made 9-10 months ago. Something is badly amiss inside the EPA’s FOIA Office, too.
1
The EPA employee who should be watched most aggressively is Scott Pruitt.
However, he is doing everything in his power to conceal his actions. He has limited written communications to foil FOIA requests. He refuses to include professional staff whenever possible but schedules meeting after meeting with industry groups. And, of course, he has that privacy booth to shield his phone communications.
Pruitt is yet another Republican who does not believe in democracy. He's one of the most dangerous members of the Trump Administration.
Pruitt must go while we still have clean air and clear water.
Mr President, how about you give the American people a real Christmas gift rather than welfare for corporations and the wealthy masquerading as tax reform and fire Scott Pruitt now?
3
I’m a little shocked that this is news to anyone. Maybe it’s because I worked for land management agencies for the federal government for a long time. Timber industry lobbyists, environmental groups and crazy constitutionlists carrying guns into meetings were commonly submitting FOIA requests on a variety of small to large issues. Leadership within the agencies that was industry friendly (think Reagan and Bush era) often went on witch hunts within the agencies. I guess there is a new generation that will need to be educated the hard way. Never use your government property to send critical messages. Unions have every right to communicate with it’s members but don’t think management will make it easy. There are good whistleblower protection groups but try to do everything you can to avoid going that route. It will make you sick, bring heartbreak and will rarely bring justice. Keep doing your job and try to wait out the turmoil. Don’t go to the mat for small issues. Make sure it is worth your career if you have to do it now.
3
This is about the preservation of what is remaining of the integrity of the planet.
It is about the health of our generations, and those to follow, and about the beauty of the earth.
John Donne (1572-1631), Devotions Upon Emergent Occasions, Meditation XVII: Nunc Lento Sonitu Dicunt, Morieris:
"Perchance he for whom this bell tolls may be so ill, as that he knows not it tolls for him; and perchance I may think myself so much better than I am, as that they who are about me, and see my state, may have caused it to toll for me, and I know not that.
No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main. If a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less, as well as if a promontory were, as well as if a manor of thy friend's or of thine own were: any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind, and therefore never send to know for whom the bells tolls; it tolls for thee."
Phrases.org.uk
1
What The find most disturbing, both in these actions and in comments defending these actions, is that every attempt by an official - from the president on down - to silence a civil servant is a direct violation of their oath of office. Every government worker, from the president on down, has taken a simple, sworn oath, the protect and defend the Constitution. These public servants work for We the areole, NOT for their bosses. The ALL have sworn that oath, and must be held to it. And they need to recognize that each and every one is protected by the first amendment, which specifically says they have the right to free speech, which the government can not take away. Donald Trump has already shown, in his attempt to get a loyalty pledge from James Comey, that he does not believe in the oath he swore, and actions by others show the same. Sure, in business an employee is responsible to the business. But the government is NOT a business, it's rules are simply and specifically bound to the constitution. I find it both telling and deeply disturbing that alleged conservatives I this thread attack "liberals" for defending the employees while bringing up the "business don't allow this." Conservatives used to go around with little copies of the constitution. No longer - they have shredded them in exchange for ideology which finds the constitution convenient only in certain circumstances.
1
It would appear to me that this is harassment unless every single one of the EPA employees were subject to the same degree of scrutiny of their emails as was Gary Morton and the other EPA employees who exercised their right of free speech. I am not sure that the planet will still be inhabitable in the not too distant future if the mob of psychopaths led by donald trump is not stopped.
1
This is very concerning, but to put the blame on Trump and Pruitt for it is missing a big point. They're just doing the bidding of Republicans who've long put corporate profits of their contributors ahead of the health and well being of our people and the planet. The Republicans are the driving force behind the ongoing destruction of the E.P.A being carried out by the Trump administration.
1
Really? -- Are we back to emails again?? This is clearly an obsession of the Republicans. Except of course, when it involves Donald Trump's emails when they are being requested by Robert Mueller's investigation.
Are we "winning" yet?
73
Now we know who The Con Don and his Robber Baron brethren spies are - Definers Public Affairs and their founder, Joe Pounder.
Harass them mercilessly. Jam their website. Jam their phone lines. Protest outside their office(s). Stop them from helping the Robber Barons destroy democracy in America.
NOW is the time.
Look here for the information on their web page, you tube site and other information. They are based in Arlington, Virginia.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Definers_Public_Affairs
15
How about adding to your list: writing our own public disclosure requests?
1
The end of our democracy is near. When people are censored for disagreeing with our leaders, we have reached critical mass. While the GOP has been attacking the the democracy for decades and making gradual inroads, this is the nuclear option. The only hope is Dems win a chamber of congress next year and the investigation go to full speed.
14
The bedrock of a Fascist State is the suppression of dissent. We should all be terrified.
36
EPA employees who raise policy concerns within agency channels, such as by writing to a new Administrator are taking completely legitimate action. If they publically criticize agency actions in a public setting or create dissention within the agency, they are not. They then make themselves subject to administrative discipline. Just like any company would do.
4
Um, no, absolutely not. They work for We the People, NOT some corporate entity. They have sworn an oath to protect and defend the Conatitution, not to their bosses and whims and ideology. Foremost, the constitution has the first amendment, which specifically says the government cannot restrict speech. It is unfortunate in this corporatist climate that too many Americans do not understand the very basics of our constitutional republic. Civil servants are not corporate workers, they work for us. And have sworn an oath - from Trump on down - to that effect.
1
The First Amendment does not cover private entities as it is limited only to government – federal, state and local. So if a government worker critizes his employer, i.e. the government, on their own time, using a private email they are protected. Whistleblower laws of course protect all employees.
1
Are you confusing government with business? Businesses are full of abuse and can fire people for any - or no - cause. The government cannot.
This administration is proof positive of why the government cannot and should never be run "like a business". Businesses put their employees lives at risk all the time whenever they think they can get away with it. Ask the people in coal country.
2
Rather than spending government money in support of the advancement of science, it’s being spent to snoop on the scientists. Dark days.
40
The good news is that nobody, not Pruitt, not Trump, not anyone, can stop good people committed to just causes from talking. I work in the public section and under no delusions about how I can and cannot use my email or other government issued devices. However, there are always work arounds and methods for leaving a paper trail. There are always like minded people, and they are all around you, including above. We can be threatened and retaliated against but we still talk - to our friends, family, the stranger we meet on the bus, and to reporters digging for a story. Eventually, we win, and the cost of watching the bad guys fall is worth it.
20
Country over ideology, exactly what the oath every public servant swears to. It's good to know that some still believe in that oath. If only the leadership did.
2
Even though she was a horrible candidate, with the possibility of this type of snooping lurking in the background, you kind of can't blame Hillary for using a private server.
11
The police state of Donald Trump is upon us! However he and his administration can threaten EPA employees with fear and intimidation, including this little punk Joe Pounder, they can not intimidate US citizens. This is a call to flood the EPA with honest and opened phone calls in opposition to their purposeful destruction of our environment for the profit of a few. The same goes for these companies that are hired like legal spy organizations that under the guise of "opposition research" are actually turning in employees of the EPA for what they consider an act of betrayal or sedition! This is a police state!
28
I think you give 45 way too much credit. He is not running this show. Check out Steven Miller, Scott Pruitt and the cast of conservative nut job/science deniers. 45 does not have the attention span or intelligence for this.
1
We must flood the local offices of all of our senators next week with real, live human protestors while they are on vacation from the tough work of shredding our democracy and serving it on a silver platter to their plutocrats. We must make them fear for their "seats". A challenger from the reactionary, fascist wing of their party is not the only way they can be removed from office.
1
If there were a debate over the shape of the planet, this administration would characterize it as a political rather than a scientific question. That the shape of the Earth is observable is irrelevant.
15
This is all about fear. Fear by a bunch of Trump creeps that anyone would question their seriously flawed agenda.
26
It is completely baffling to me why protection of the air we all breath and the water we drink has become a partisan issue.
52
It affects the way corporations survive. If the EPA says no dumping sludge in waterways, the corporation must find a different way to dump which costs money. Trump is helping the corporations, in turn helping his own interests. He, nor his administration believe in science. Nor care for the environment.
16
It has always been extremely partisan. Always. The partisan line is drawn between public welfare and private profit, between ordinary citizens and corrupt criminals or the wealthy few and the numerous poor.
1
Duh. It's called "gang stalking" and there are various forms of it that have been made easy with technology and nasty predatory people. This is a much better example than your expose on people who think they are being hassled by human/reptile hybrid lizard people, lol. This type of protocol is also called "cointelpro" when execeuted by law enforcement, and the Times feature on the resurgence of cointelpro was also elegantly written. PLEASE do another objective investigation into the surge of organized intimidation/surveillance or "gang stalking" that is occurring worldwide.
Editor’s note: This comment has been anonymized in accordance with applicable law(s).
18
This is truly sinister. It is a blatant undermining of the civil institutions that our society is based on. Silencing those trying to carry out the true mission of the EPA represents a kind of repression and deception that should alarm every American. We are seeing our country fall from a liberal democracy to a backward autocracy built to serve the narrow, anti-progress interests of the few in power.
32
It isn't just Trump. As reported, the devil said "I am legion." It is the legion of Republicans in the pay of big money that will destroy the country.
If capitalism and human and natural exploitation are part of God's plan, what does Satan do?
4
The "true mission" of the EPA or any other federal agency is determined by the Congress and the administration in place at any given time. Employees are not invited to simply cast their preference to decide which version of policy to follow; and if they favor that of a prior administration it matters not for they are not free agents but must follow the new direction set forth by a new administration. The same thing will happen when the next president takes office.
2
Um, wrong. Civil servants work for us, not the administration. As does congress. They've sworn an oath to We the People.
2
To the religiously prophetic the country is in end times. We're all soon to be wallowing in a toxic waste dumpster/sewer. This massive environmental destruction and dismantling may take generations to reverse, if ever. These were my greatest fears when T was elected and this nightmare is now becoming true.
I cry for our children and their children.
When or what will it take for us to get angry enough to take back our country?
20
This is not the "end times" just to the religious radicals. It is the end times for the entire planet. Species are going extinct at a breath-taking rate. The oceans may look the same way on the surface, but it is a toxic dump underneath - even in its greatest depths. By the end of the century, if not earlier, there will be no more large mammals. You might want to check a freshmen college biology textbook to see what that includes. Our farmland is polluted with chemicals and livestock waste which is allowed to run into our waterways. And every year becomes the hottest one on record.
Tell me I am wrong. I have recycled, reused, and reduced my carbon footprint for the last four decades. I avoid the use of chemicals and plastic like the plague they are. It is all undone every day by the fossil fuel industry. Yes, I am angry.
3
Propaganda over logic, doctrine over reality, distortion over science, voluntary blindness over understanding. The axis of Trump, Pruitt and the rest of the radical right-wing that has hijacked America is coming on with the force of Niagara. Unfortunately, it seems most rational Americans are trying to hold this Niagara back by holding their hand up and yelling stop! These desperate times brought on by people who wish to undermine everything good about America may need to be answered by desperate measures, because there seem to be no others available. I have great fear about what these measures will look like, but I sense that they are coming. I do not rest easy. No one should.
And lest anyone think that I am being paranoid, I'm not. Paranoia is unreasonable fear. All fear of this government now seems to be agonizingly reasonable.
24
So, how do these E.P.A. employees get the attention of the nation? Not everyone reads The New York Times, and these voices must be heard. There are too many of our neighbors who remain ignorant to how our environment is systematically being destroyed.
19
I agree. The people who most need to know what is going on, will likely never hear it. Conservative media, if they are running this story, are likely to frame the narrative as some disgruntled liberal employees trying to undermine the agenda of their President and his administration. They have been told that environmental regulations are costing them good-paying jobs. So what if some of those jobs are dumping toxic wastes into the water ways, polluting the air, and speeding up the rate of irreversible climate change?
8
Ignorance is strength to the GOP big brothers.
4
This is frightening. The E.P.A. is there to protect the people and our national resources from harm. Since when does gathering information on your employees who speak out and "media monitoring" constitute that mission? This is not America. VOTE.
19
No articles are written on just how authoritarian the US government has become already, and how all the political firewalls the US once had to keep real democracy are long gone. Media seems hopelessly stuck in some sort of game to either under report, or to fool the public into complacency. No one news outlet in the US even remotely warned the American people that they were voting for a party that will march in the same way any corrupt authoritarian government does. Call it a banana republic, a kleptocracy, or budding dictatorship.
One party rule by today's rabidly radical, and publicly tone deaf GOP always scared me, but when I told people my fears before the election they looked at me like I was from Mars. Actually, I stopped listening to TV news long ago, because I once worked there and saw the demise of American media from the inside out. Production teams detached from the public writing shallow party friendly stories, moving the political goal posts all over the place. Or, just massaging the public into a political coma by entertaining them. Up has been down for a very long time.
Most history professors can tell you corporate globalism always ends badly. A market shell game that always ends. Today we sadly we no longer have democratic institutions that could've brought a needed course change, like an FDR after the collapse of global capitalism in '29. This time we got shades of an early Mussolini type in Trump et al.
16
Thank the media for two things: the extended, free coverage Trump got during the primaries, and the vilification of the only candidate who had a chance to beat him: Bernie Sanders.
The NYT is owned by so-called "liberal" (only in comparison to Murdoch) plutocrats who also don't want capitalism and its excesses questioned.
First, this story is worthy of one of those whiteboard layouts prosecutors use where they mount all the witnesses and subjects with pins so they can draw lines to connect the dots. The few names and the different companies mentioned in this article overlap and they appear to be more intertwined as one cohesive enterprise rather than disparate agents.
And second, as for the defending comments by their "clients":
Liz Mair, president of a Republican consulting firm - saying the relatively small dollar amount of the contract was an indication that all the agency was buying was a clipping service, and not some kind of sophisticated intelligence-gathering on employees. But she added that certain E.P.A. staff members actually merited more scrutiny.
It would be helpful to view the "small dollar amount" she paid similar to the smaller portion employee pay to their health insurance with employers paying the lions share. In this case some other entity is probably funding this organized research and thus keeping her payments low.
Maybe a completely separate research firm is needed to track the people and firms in this article to see if they are engaged in anything inappropriate as well. Spies spying on spies. Just like Russia.
9
If you can spare a minute, read the article. Liz Mair is not a party to the contract with the EPA. She was paid no "small dollar amount". If you had read the article, you would have known that the "small dollar amount" of the contract was $120,000 and that the term of the contract runs from December 7, 2017 through December 6, 2018.
2
this entire presidency must be struck as invalid... if we get the chance to correct this inhumanity it will take years to do what he has undone in a matter of months. All I can say it has exposed the most of the congress for what it is ... deplorable
12
For a while there I thought I was reading something from the USSR back in the sixties. As for Mr Brian Rodgers comments, there is no such person or persons as "conservative thought leaders" LOL.
14
The core mission of the EPA is to protect the public. "Public" is not defined to be a handful of companies working hard to maximize profits at our expense. Pruitt is there to destroy the EPA. "DDT is good for your health."
29
This is a positive development which will end up putting all the cards on table.
EVERYBODY will be held accountable for their actions before this is over.
The Definitive Issue here is: "What is the proper role of government"?
And since our shared environment affects both the nation's Health and Productivity as well as the Quality of Life and Pursuit of Happiness of it's citizens, a strong Environmental Protection Agency is clearly a NECESSARY ADJUNCT to any Great Nation!
Rather than be destroyed it will become strengthened in the end, in accordance with the current POTUS own criteria.
3
I wish I shared your optimism in what you have forecast about the intent of the director toward the agency’s longevity.
You raise a good point, that framing environmental protection as an economic issue is another way to skin a cat.
1
Sounds to me that you haven't a clue what projects the EPA has been involved with thus far.
The EPA works for the interests of the public. Cleaning up waterways, rivers, air, etc.
The EPA run by Trump is to rollback all strict ruling on corporations allowing them more leeway which in turn will ruin the environment. Smog filled air will return to the US, toxic dumping and runoffs into water meant for farming, drinking. The pipes will leak oil & no one will bat an eye.
Then to force EPA employees to be silenced when they have an issue with their organization being run into the ground. This is Trump taking advice from Putin; How to silence the voices 101.
1
I can't speak for the intentions of the EPA's Director.
I simply don't believe either he or Trump can roll back the legislation and regulatory codes that guide the EPA's activities.
And any legislators that attempt to do that will be identified and voted out of office.
The pendulum may swing but can only swing so far before it swings back the other way.
Environmental protection is more than an economic issue since both the quality of life and life itself depend on the integrity of the biological life support systems that evolved along with the living organisms that help modulate them.
They wealthy may have more expensive health care but health itself requires a clean environment to flourish and persist.
A fine line in some instances perhaps, especially to those who see any criticism of Trump to be a goal and need, rather than an option. Nevertheless, it does bear stating what should be obvious. Federal employees are not in place to serve their own political or personal agendas, but to fulfill the goals set forth for their agencies in the law and by elected officials over them. They are not granted the same freedom to dissent in the workplace as, say, a member of Congress. They can personally feel however they like, but a public employee has certain obligations to comply with policy even if they dislike it.
Further, none of these employees has the right to use government email servers for anything other than official business; everyone knows that all such communications are not personal and private, but subject to review, oversight and disclosure. Thus, one should not be using them as a forum for expressing personal political views, either for or against an administration. An employee may certainly differ on a policy and make recommendations commensurate with their position, but it must be done in a neutral fashion, and not given to some of the political hyperbole one sees in social media.
Public employees are also limited, in some cases, in expressing some views inconsistent with their positions. Unfair? Well, work in the private sector if that is untenable.
5
George, as a career Federal scientist, I totally agree. Government e-mail is limited to business, and not the place for personal opinions. Go home and use your own system on your own time
3
If you are using a computer or a network owned by your employer, that employer has every right, in fact a responsibility, to monitor those communications. If you want a greater degree of privacy, use your own computer at home.
5
In the era of Trump, free speech is for the the donor class (like the Koch's and Mercer's), conservatives, evangelical Christians, and their supporters. Any detractors or critics must be silenced with fascist intimidation tactics. For those of us down here in the real world without off shore bank accounts and trust funds, protest and informed activism are the only weapons we have against the excesses of increasing greed and stupidity. Especially given that our voting system has been corrupted by gerrymandering.
Welcome to the Machtergreifung people. Conservatives in Germany in the 30's thought they could control Hitler and the Nazi party and that a dictatorship/fascist regime was not possible because the Germans believed in freedom of speech and thought. Sound familiar? If not, you haven't been paying attention.
20
Down here in the real world, this is the 21st Century and not 1930s Germany. Down here, this is the USA, not the shambles of the Third Reich, which was an extension of the First and Second Reich, which were not bastions of freedom of speech and thought. Down here in the real world, the donor class is Buffet and Gates, Steyer and Bloomberg, SilVal and Holyweed, the Hamptons and Martha's Vineyard. Pay attention.
2
At least all this spying consumes time that Pruitt could be devoting to selling off government lands.
5
“This shows complete insensitivity, complete tone-deafness, or something worse.” -- oh, it's something worse, we can count on the Trump administration for that! It's pure fascism.
7
Looks like we now have Gestapo oversight at the EPA and CDC. People who are not confident in their ability to do their jobs develop paranoia about everybody out to get them. The vast majority of Americans ARE out to get these cretins out of our government and out of our lives.
6
Spending taxpayer funds to spy on Employees. How Nixonian. Trump: Nixon without the Brains or class. Fail.
18
But waaaaay more dangerous than Nixon. Nixon ultimately respected the institutions of the United States of America, Trump wants to destroy it. We are under serious threat, I think the time for calling him brainless has past. He’s pulling off a coup, in case you haven’t noticed.
6
Americans elected this immoral predator to lead them like cattle to the slaughterhouse. Ignorant, racist, White Americans did this. The decent half of the American People are too afraid to speak up let alone to act, and would rather forfeit their liberty than confront the monster. With their passivity, the decent half are complicit in turning the US into the number one enemy of humanity. Never in history has one individual been soon nefarious - for the superstitious, this is the Anti-Christ, for rational people, it is worse, much worse.
13
Last time I checked, the Constitution guaranteed the right to free speech--oh right--that was before Trump and his band of devils started to infest the government.
8
I don't like the roll back of environmental protection either, but why don't you go criticize your boss in public and see how much free speech you have. All the constitution guarantees is that running your mouth won't land you in jail. It doesn't guarantee that you will keep your job.
4
Using our tax dollars from an already skimpy budget to fund a GOP alt-right organization to investigate federal employees expressing their freedom of speech and freedom to protest has to be illegal or, at the least, worthy of a thorough investigation. Who is doing oversight of the EPA? Has Pruitt ever showed up to answer for his already revealed wasting of money? Congress should be screaming their heads off, but no, all they want is this tax bill and pouring more money to GOP donors and the GOP gestapo organizations.
VOTE them out!!
13
We are rapidly becoming Hitler's Germany: Election of a psychologically unstable person who uses racial hatreds and stories that "others" are taking our good lives away from us. Installation at key positions of those who promise "personal loyalty", even if not competent or knowledgeable of their jobs. Dismantling the safeguards of our society; economic, environmental, social, legal, medical. Building the military, cutting most other things, running up the national debt. Angry statements against anyone who dares criticize the "Fuhrer". Rallies, even well after the election, at which people are whipped up into angry yelling frenzies at contrived enemies. Conciliatory statements toward neo-nazis and supremacists, while claiming to be "the law and order president". Undermining of investigations, trash talking the courts. Suggesting that the media shouldn't be able to print "anything they want", while putting forth their own stories which are often entirely false. Saber-rattling against other countries, favoring military over diplomacy. Consolidating power and money in a few, while claiming that what they do is for the masses.
What's next, Trump suspending elections and declaring himself "President for Life"? You can bet he's thought about it.
Sending the SS Guard after any EPA employees who speak out against the dismantling of their agency and the polluting of our country, is sadly just one more step in the campaign to Make America Anything But Great.
19
The witch hunts have only just begun. Trump is draining the swamp - we just never realized the “swamp” meant us. Trump is clearly an existential threat to large swaths of the republic based on any number of factors. He intends to run the table. It’s going to get really ugly.
6
This is the same people that during the campaign railed against the "deep state" and now doesn't like Mueller reading their emails. Hypocrites & liars. The word of the year should have been orwellian.
8
This is pure paranoia displayed by the circus clown and his side-kick because people are availing themselves of the 1st Amendment. As much as the circus clown dissed NK, he is creating the same environment. Oh the irony.....
3
We actually don't need an investigation on collusion . The proof is in the Russian tactics of this administration and yes, republican led congress. I would'nt be surprised if they're singing Russian anthem and toasting with vodka, and cheerin"nostrivia" this week . The emperor definitely is naked. And all of these actions are against US Citizens, not foreign powers. Send them all to the motherland.
6
If "Big" Brother is watching you, one must watch him.
3
"Congress and the courts must step in to stop these initiatives before a serious effort is made to dismantle the democracy in which we live." --gordon of the Bronx
Alas, Congress is complicit in the dismantling of our late, great democracy. The serious effort you are worried about has been underway for a year now and is almost complete. A lying sociopath and a thoroughly corrupt political party have captured the executive and legislative branches of government, respectively, and are in the process as we speak of taking over the judicial branch, installing judges at every level up to and including the Supreme Court who are either completely unqualified or politically loyal to those now in power.
So, no, gordon. Don't expect Congress to lift a bloody finger to stop their own coup. Their only concern is their own cushy sinecures, paid for by you and me, and their re-election, paid for by their .01% donors. Our only hope is for everyone who opposes this corrupt regime to vote and t'row da bums out next November.
6
Gee, if the Dems retake either house of Congress, think there might be some hearings into this? Hearings so aggressive that they'll make the BENGHAZI!!!!! hearings look tame?
5
Sinclair Lewis’ amazingly prophetic book, “It Can’t Happen Here,” published in 1935 seems to have been used as an instruction manual by this fascist regime now destroying our once great country.
RIP USA. It was an honor and privilege knowing you.
8
Shameful policing of E.P.A. members reluctant to toe the line in denying empiric evidence (i.e. climate changes, occurring as we speak), a willful ignorance by stupid Pruitt, in cahoots with out ignorant (by choice) in chief. How ironic, the denial of science and the need to minimize the harm to the environment, this country being one of the greatest polluters in the world. And climate change knows not to stop at the borders, hence, creating havoc in poor countries without the resources to deflect suffering and premature death. Can we really be this irresponsible? And unscrupulous? I guess we can; just let;s not be complicit in it by our loud silence.
3
An agency that wants to cut its budget for services policing the protection of the environment wants instead to hire a parasitic private Gestapo outfit to spy on its own employees? If this were plot lined in Scandal, or in a movie, it would be laughed at as implausible.
But that is where we are: improbably occupant of the WH, incompetent heads of departments, incredibly unqualified judicial candidates.... Nice work, Putin! The whole election job is paying off nicely in dismantling the democracy of the US.
4
As Trump transition officials are finding out and as Hillary Clinton knows, emails on government computers are in the public domain and subject to the Freedom of Information Act. EPA employees are free to express themselves, but anyone in the public has a right to see their government emails. Having worked at EPA for a long time, I can tell you that every employee is trained in record management and is supposed to know this. It is a system that ensures transparency. Just as the public has a right to know who Scott Pruitt is talking to, so is it entitled to employee emails. That's why you would have to be an idiot to write something you wouldn't want others to see on a government computer.
6
Trumps lawyers are arguing that emails on government computers are personal...
Scott Pruit is a plague, a cancer, a massive infected boil on the backside of the planet.
7
Having worked for DoD for more than 30 years before retirement this does not surprise me. Reality check, if its not in writing it does not exist, work communications devices are always subject to monitoring and we are employed for our talents not our political views. Given those three realities if you don't support the current administration but believe your agencies work is important and you contribute positively to the mission do the following. Never ever communicate your disagreements in writing or via agency communication devices, never disclose classified information to those without proper clearance and need to know, keep your head down, listen and learn what is going on around you and network on your own time and outside of the workplace. This actions will not prevent you from being spied on but the agency will need to intentionally do so and is more apt to screw up and get caught.
Following Watergate the President issued executive orders limited the amount of actions agencies were allowed to use outside of work to monitor employees. I have been told that after the Sept 11 attacks most of those prohibitions were reversed. Just because you are paranoid doesn't mean someone is not out to get you!
19
Nobody should be keeping their head down while the EPA is basically being dismantled. Comparisons to DoD are a little weak for this one. THIS is the potential end of US.
7
This is the time for everyone who cares about these issues to join or donate to the ACLU. I just did.
Everyone should also find an environmental organization (or two) to join or donate to if you haven't already. Because they are coming after our public lands, too, and undermining regulations designed to protect our water, air, and land.
I don't use the word fascism lightly, but it appears that these outside groups are all we have right now standing between us and a real takeover of American freedoms -- you know: the freedom to think, speak, assemble, vote, worship (or not) as we please.
May we live in less interesting times.
28
As this article shows, the Trump administration is acting like the infamous Stasi of East Germany, particularly in EPA. It's time for everyone to refer to them as such in every article or speech, Pruitt's Stasi police. That means the Democratic leadership should also demand that Pruitt's EPA stop their Stasi tactics and fire all who have been involved in these efforts. The Democrats should stop acting like wimps and call it what it is.
12
I hope to God that these EPA employees can undermine Scott Pruitt's "work" which as we know is to destroy or at least seriously cripple the EPA. To me the statement “A lot of funky stuff has been going on with E.P.A. staff,” translates to: EPA employees are trying to do the job the taxpayers are paying them to do and we don't like that. If what Scott Pruitt and the republicans are doing to try to destroy the EPA is not treason, it should be.
20
Got an Atlantic Mag in the mail. There's a story titled, How Charter Schools Won. It describes the 100s of millions being made by school operators at the expense of public school.
Last night, 60 Minutes told the story of the neutering of the DEA and their congress inspired inability to stop opioids from being dumped on the streets by the nation's largest drug manufacturer
The WAPost tells the story this morning of the dismantling of the IRS. It no longer has the funds or the ability to oversee phony charitable groups.
Coming at you quickly.
19
No matter how they choose to weasel their way out of this underhanded and sleezy move, if your employees are unhappy and feel threatened, the employer is doing something seriously wrong.
11
This is nauseating. Many thanks and more power to the employees of the EPA who are acting on their civic and moral duty to protect our environment. They are heroes and should be recognized for it.
18
We Americans understand that our present government is even more corrupt than Watergate. We are not surprised if President Trump's cabal is spying in those honorable ones who have worked for the now corrupt and dishonorable EPA.
10
So much we need to fix once Mueller causes 45 to exit. Sonner rather than later, I hope.
8
I’m sure Pence will get right on that. People need not have any fantasies that Trump gone means all this damage will be magically reversed. It won’t be, but rather it will then be headed up by a religious extremist.
And, in any case, Trump is going nowhere- Mueller will be fired.
1
We need more than trump.gone. Dems,vote in every election
4
Big brother is watching. He always has been watching. Anyone who puts anything on the Internet and thinks it will be seen only by those for whom it was intended will be painfully shocked. Personal emails are as potentially public as if they had been broadcast on Fox News. There is no information no matter how well-encrypted that cannot be unencrypted.
3
Exactly. The best strategy is to muddy the waters. All of us need to access and generate content that is suspect on all levels such that determining who to target becomes impossible unless they were to round up all of us. Strength in numbers.
But of course they know that. And this is why they did away with net neutrality. The internet was a threat to authority. It had to be locked down and censored.
2
Silencing and purging people who do not adhere to GOP anti-science doctrinal purity.
What will it be next? McCarthy-like hearings to ferret out scientists loyal to science and rather than GOP non-facts?
9
Call it Orwellian, Stalinist, even Kimjongilist, this program of hunting down, ferreting out, eradicating, purging any rational dissent is more Erdogan than McCarthy.
We're somewhere between the Inquisition & the Witch Trials.
Which would be apt, as I suspect Pruitt's War on Science is a biblical Dominionist crusade rather than purely an abuse of industrial capitalism for money.
If Pruitt's ambitions stem from his Southern Baptist radical Dominionism, this needs to be exposed by investagitive journalists who should interview those who know him personally at the Church f the Broken Arrow.
If there's a religious or ideological war her between those who hold Eart sacred & those who would exploit God's supposed directive in Genesis to take 'Dominion' over it, let it be known.
But for most, the Environmentalist cause is about health, liberty to live unpolluted, & responsibility & stewardship. Their position is based more in science, democracy & rights.
Either way there should be no compromise for Mother Earth. Liberty, reason, science, rights & democracy must prevail over biblical inquisitions & industrial abuse.
13
My advice, make them fire you, don't quit. Use private email or public media to talk about environmental issues, raise legitimate issues at work, at work advocate for sensible policies and object when laws are violated or not followed, but follow orders. Document everything. And get a good lawyer.
4
As private citizens one of the few actions we have available to counteract the efforts by groups like America Rising to target those who want to protect our environment is to contribute to organizations that defend Scientists who are subjected to their attacks. The Climate Science Legal Defense Fund is a good example of an organization that helps defend people like those targeted by America Rising's FOI requests.
6
Sinecures flap their gums at their own risk. There is no constitutional protection for insubordinate government employees.
They're free to practice politics of course--on their own time and at their own expense.
3
Sorry, there are definite enumerated rights in the constitution protecting speech, specifically in what the government cannot do, and no exception which applies to government employees. When the government silences citizens, especially civil servants who have specific protections under civil service, we are on the path to destruction of our democracy and ideals.
6
To all the trolls who wrote in support of what Scott Pruitt’s administration is doing to the EPA: First, agreed - it’s only a catastrophe if one values the work and mission of the EPA. But if people start choking on pollution, don’t expect any sympathy for your personal story of woe. Second, the country has a long history of nonpartisan civil service (it took a long reform effort to get there) that includes rights that people in private employment can have no expectation of. One of those rights is the right to public and private expressions of disagreement with agency policies and missions. As long as employees perform their responsibilities in accordance with defined performance standards, it doesn’t matter what they say about those policies and missions. It’s the essence of a loyal opposition. But, we get it. After long term Republican corruption of civic service, we agree - it’s time to abandon this standard of civil service. So, for starters, we’re proposing that when we get our country back from this gang of pirates, we change the laws, hunt down every Republican in civil service and dismiss them. After all, it’s an oxymoron for any Republican to be in government service.
8
What's missing in those support arguments is the fact that the EPA has specific responsibilities under the law. That the GOP congress allows the administration to undermine the law is as dangers as what the administration is attempting to do.
5
Let's remember that this is the fault of the Republicans in Congress. Absolutely NONE of this would be happening to the EPA and its employees if the Republicans hadn't given Trump absolutely free rein.
If Democrats can flip the Senate or the House in 2018, all bets are off for Trump and his execrable activities. I implore everyone to engage in grassroots efforts to get out the Democratic vote. And to open your wallets to support Democratic candidates.
17
The thought police and the science deniers are in control at the EPA. Scott Pruitt, an evangelical Christian, doesn't believe in science. He believes in the Bible. And since the Bible doesn't mention greenhouse gases and other pollutants, in his mind they don't exist. And because they don't exist in his minds of the like-minded Luddites he has surrounded himself with, the true career scientists are the ones who need to be silenced. You see, God gave Scott Pruitt and other Christians the right to do to the Earth what they see fit. Strip mine it, pollute it, destroy it.
8
When Trump is kicked out of office, I really hope that the Democrats show some spine and prosecute people like Scott Pruitt, instead of yielding to fake pleas of bipartisanship like in 2008. Look where that got us. 8 years of obstruction and at least one completely stolen Supreme Court seat, and all of the insults of the present day. No more.
10
...at least one completely stolen Supreme Court seat,...
---------- the supremes managed to steal a presidency: Gore . . .
2
The Trump administration being brought down because of their emails. Isn't Karma a wonderful thing to behold?
6
America is not a democracy anymore. It has slipped into a dictatorship and I can see the middle class slowly disappearing. Every day I read your papers in horror, and the more I read, the more I feel sorry for America. I just can't see it recovering, with racism so entrenched, political tribalism and Citizens United allowing the rich and big corporates to buy your politicians - goodbye net neutrality - the stage is set.
The GOP is like some big monster that is nashing it's teeth with glee they are in clear power. If it weren't so serious I'd say it's like the kids got the key to the liquor cabinet and they're going to party till everything is destroyed and the Dems seem to be sitting there saying nothing - hello, is anyone there? I know you can't do anything, but can you at least say something? It doesn't seem to be something that's going to pass. The weird thing is, it seems like a huge part of the country doesn't know it or doesn't seem to care. It's like America is eating it's own self right before our eyes and evil is winning. I think I'm going to be feeling sorry for the rest of the world soon, I read the other day it seems more likely than not the US is going to nuke NK according to Mattis who is supposed to be one of the sane ones restraining Trump. God help us all.
9
EPA has been holding back the tide of environmental destruction. Dedicated people have worked hard, and paid attention to scientific warnings. Now, safety net is collapsing and the environmental debt is accumulating. The stupidity of this Trump administration will fuel the blaze and increase that debt. Wild fires out of control, storm surges and hurricanes are signs of an environmental debt as human impacts add up. Repaying that environmental debt adds to our national financial debt , the debt resulting from the Congressional tax bill.
6
The anti-science, anti-environment Republicans are back with a fury.
5
This sounds like a taste of their own medicine for the political correctness crowd to me.
3
Elections have consequences. And one of the consequences is policy changes that federal employees may or may not like. Too bad if you don't like it, Trump & Co. got elected for their policy positions and you don't get to undermine them with impunity.
5
Trump & Co. did not win. They lost for their policy positions and we should undermine with impunity. Trump & Co. belong in prison, not the White House.
7
Thankfully, there are patriots who realize this and are still willing to risk all to fight the good fight against Trump and his authoritarian cronies. The way the GOP has seized power amounts to a coup, so just about anything goes now. The GOP is a hostile terrorist organization as far as I'm concerned.
6
Trump and Pruitt are undermining the health and safety of our country. More asthma, more childhood cancers, more lung cancer. Thanks to this election.
It is a sad day for this country when people like you, Trump and Pruitt think dirty air, dirty water and dirty soil are American qualities. Whatever happened to truth, transparency, honesty? US environmental policy is turning us into a third-rate country.
3
So far none of the EPA employees who dared exercise free speech have been "disappeared."
So far.
8
The new EPA under Pruitt and Trump has abandoned its core mission and is facilitating polluters instead of fighting pollution. In and of itself that is terrible and unacceptable. Now they are adopting the tactics of fascists to intimidate dissenters and sow fear in those who have honest concerns regarding the direction of the department. This is intolerable and unAmerican. We fought wars against people who wanted the world to live in a police state, and now here we are creating our own police state! People need to wake up and see what is happening in this country. I only hope people come out and vote next year and in 2020 to preserve our democracy.
18
E.P.A. = Stassi
We are doomed -
tRump may be ousted or jailed ( hopefully ) but the effects of his presidency , of what and he the republican enablers have done to the very foundation of our democracy will not fade so quickly.
9
Most of us have been through different managers, takeovers and mergers where we work. Job and department goals are constantly changing, dictated by outside market forces and new internal personnel hires. You either adapt or leave. One sure way to get relegated to office Siberia or fired is to undermine the new management. When new management takes over, one should consider it their first day on a new job. That’s hard to do for longtime employees who mistakenly think they are entitled to their job. Government is no different. You get with the new program or else. I don’t know why anyone at the EPA doesn’t get this. Why would new management tolerate employees undermining them at every turn? The fact that the EPA hired outside contractors to do this quickly and ruthlessly doesn’t change the dynamics. People should stop their whining and either do what their bosses want or leave.
4
In this case it is not a change in procedure that is the problem. It is a director ordering employees to lie, and to do the opposite of what their job legally requires them to do. It is the Environmental PROTECTION Agency, not the Environmental Pollution Agency. Their mandate under law is clear, and Scott Pruitt is going against the legal mandates that the agency is required to follow
4
In contrast to you, I’m very grateful to these employees who feel and uphold an obligation to the country they serve, not just the boss. That’s the point of career staff.
5
Republicans are to blame here, trump doesn’t know enough to realize how he’s being used and manipulated. Our president is so needy and requires so much adulation, that he is being molded by those whose deception is clear cut. This administration is looking more and more like a regime from the Soviet Union, from banning certain words to spying on employees at government agencies.
Republicans are not simply trying to dismantle agencies, they are burning them to the ground. People need to step up here to stop these attacks on not only the EPA, but the people who work there. We must not remain silent . . .
182
No, the president does not know enough to know he is being used and manipulated, but he is responsible. He is also responsible for having a team around him that alerts him if anyone is trying to manipulate him and advice him how to act when it happens. If he fails to do that, fails to bring together a team that he can trust and that at the same time is competent enough to monitor what goes on in the country, then he is still responsible. If he is not even competent enough to understand his own responsibilities, then... well, the American people is responsible. You put him there, it's your guy.
4
Contact your Members of Congress daily and get everyone to vote 2018.
1
You really believe Trump is innocent? That he doesn't know? This is the man who believed he was elected dictator. He is ignorant of how our system of government works, yes, but he is not innocent. This is Bannon, the puppet master, and the puppet is more than willing to play the role of the dummy. Kelly and McMaster are enabling it by their silence and cooperation. Still think they are so wonderful?
2
Hard to believe the Trumpers are in favor of dismantling of the EPA. Many of them live in low-income communities that EPA helps. My son is an EPA engineer who oversees the removal of toxic waste in many communities (and loves his job). These toxins were dumped by unregulated businesses who paid nothing to clean up their waste. It’s now the taxpayers who are responsible for this cleanup.
For years, these families have lived with poisons seeping from the soil into their drinking water, giving them more than their fair share of childhood and adult cancers. These people deserve the EPA’s help. There are many of these sites waiting for the EPA to help them. They cannot sell their homes once the neighborhood has been identified as toxic. Their children cannot play outside for fear of exposure. One family told of snow turning multi colors in the Spring as toxins bubbled up from the ground.
Welcome to Trump/Pruitt’s America.
10
Since Pruitt doesn't want the EPA to do what it was created for, the agency should be disbanded and Pruitt should lose his government position and salary. It will be up to the next Democratic administration to restore the the EPA and correct the environmental damage Trump and his cabinet are doing.
4
This is terrible but reading employee emails isn't limited to the Trump administration and the federal government. This happens in corporate America, too. Of course, it is awful that EPA employees with a conscience are being persecuted but this practice did not begin and end with the Trump administration. Abuses occur every day and with everyone who uses email. To avoid these problems use email to communicate directions and avoid making comments. If you feel the need to vent, write a letter.
3
Now the EPA employs Definers to help Trump and Scott Pruitt achieve their chemical industry-friendly goal: convert the EPA into the Environment Destruction Agency.
3
Not surprising. There is no vendetta too petty for Trump to pursue. He regularly attacks individuals, private citizens or members of his own team, on social media. He takes joy in breaking up families, putting vulnerable people in dangerous situations, punishing states for not voting for him, to name a few. Even more disturbing are his supporters, and what appears to be most, if not all, GOP politicians who follow him like obedient puppies. Many of these politicians spoke out against Trump during the primaries, but now they support him wholeheartedly, often chiding the American public, with righteous indignation, giggling like schoolchildren as they come out of closed-door negotiation sessions on Capitol Hill. Which means they have truly sold their souls, because they know what he is doing is wrong, and still happily help him destroy everything that truly made America great. Some were always soulless (Paul Ryan, Mitch McConnell), but I'm sure they'll all be dancing around and clapping when we declare war on some Middle Eastern country.
7
"“Mr. Pruitt appears not to understand that the two most valuable assets E.P.A. has is the country’s trust and a very committed professional work force,”'
Of course, he understands that. How better to explain intimidation of its most environmentally conscious staff?
6
The intimidation and censorship begins. Big Brother is watching.
7
Never the less it still turns! Environmental damage is going to happen as long as ignorance is the driver of decisions. THE EARTH IS THE ONLY PLANET WE HAVE!
1
Subversion, spying on employees to hold information on them as leverage. They are infatuated with the dystopian state. Pruitt is the perfect Orwellian character. One Party is the objective. Singular control like we have never believed possible in the U.S.
153
Trump's Environmental Pollution Agency will not tolerate science, freedom of speech or any restriction of Big Polluters unfettered right to unregulated greed, profits and industrial cancer and death.
Some more methane, benzene, arsenic and fracking fluid in your coffee, America ?
Trump-Pruitt 2017
'Drop dead, America !"
148
Makes you wonder if Stephen Miller is behind all this. It certainly looks like the type of operation that'd have his fingerprints all over it.
1
I think the election of Donald Trump was the worst thing to happen to this country since 9/11. That this intimidation of dissenting voices in our government is happening unfettered further underscores that we are now living under an authoritarian regime.
154
I'd say the Trump administration has done more damage than 9/11. Back then, we momentarily had the goodwill of almost the entire world. Can't say that now.
10
You might change that 9/11 to the day that Washington was selected as president. There has never been a worse or more dangerous man to fill a seat in government. That trump fills the highest seat is a travesty beyond measure.
4
It seems the administration can spy and be partisan but the special counsel's office is not allowed to do its job and gain access to correspondence relevant to collusion with an enemy government.
The hypocrisy engaged in by this administration is mind blowing!
The rules only apply to everyone else and not them.
277
What you are seeing is the big money hardliners all massing to take over the a government these boys have felt interfered with their big business "operations" for far too long.
No surprise Trump hangs onto Pootsy's coat tails for dear life. Don't look for the coward Republican traitors to stop Trump.
In fact, now Trump and Pootsy and their traitor GOP boys are secure in the knowledge that by Trump refusing to admit there ever election hacking, he and his GOP can "win" elections and rig rig rig rig away. Who's going to stop them?
3
And our steady march towards Putinesque Banana Republicanism continues unabated.
From setting the shining example of how to strive to be a little more perfect with our various endeavors and institutions despite all of our imperfections for the rest of the world, we have so quickly descended to be their laughingstock.
Shameful. Heartbreaking. And what a waste of talents and resources.
45
The EPA was the only agency protecting America from pollution. Seriously, does anyone believe the chemical and fossil fuel industries would regulate themselves to not pollute? Republicans in leadership get paid by these industries and have targeted the EPA. Now there're in power and are dismantling it so industries are free to pollute our nation. We all know this, its common news. What is new is the targeting of EPA employees, many of whom care deeply about the environment and so tend to be Democrats because Republicans don't tend to care and so why would they seek a job with the EPA. These tactics are clearly designed to intimidate and bully from a Republican authoritarian regime that is our patriotic duty to resist and remove and replace.
203
It would be interesting to see bank statements for Pruitt and his family for the past ten years as well as the next twenty. It's hard to believe he would do what he's doing to the EPA if he or his family were not being generously compensated by the fossil fuel industries and the big polluters.
4
"... because they target conservative thought leaders ...?" What the heck is that? Conservatives actually think? Or, more surprisingly, they are leaders??
32
The E.P. A. has become the Entrepreneur Protection Agency. And it is misled by the corrupt crony capitalist corporate plutocrat oligarch politician lawyer lobbyist for the fossil fuel industry E.P.A. Administrator Edward Scott Pruitt. Pruitt is no scientist. Pruitt is a Southern Baptist evangelical from the fracking state of earth quaking Oklahoma.
46
Enter the thought police. Just because an employer has certain rights to access company information such as email does not mean that is wise or even responsible to do so in all circumstances. However this type of restraint based on judgment and a sense of decency are not the hallmarks of this administration.
10
Of course, if these e-mails are on the government's server, they are subject to government oversight at all times. And government workers are not allowed to use their e-mail accounts for non-government activity. A gotcha? Yes, but a known gotcha.
8
How, exactly, is warning of threats to their agency's mission "non-government activity? With all due respect, this contention is simply nonsense.
2
Very true. Employees of the federal government know this, too. I've only worked for state agencies in Texas, but you are told early and often that all email, phone records, documents, metadata, etc, is subject to open records requests. You never use work computers or phones for personal business, including any opinions you have about people or policies. These people knew this, and they should have been more careful. Any slip on their part can be used by the Trump administration as "proof" to fit their narrative.
2
True, and all employees should be aware of this with everything they author. Reprisal for attendance at a rally is another thing altogether.
It is going to take generations to repair the harm that is being done. Trust once destroyed is very difficult to restore.
37
The Trump Administration is a full court press to destroy everything about the federal government besides warmaking and policing. I cannot identify a single individual in this whole mob who merits respect, although there are many to fear.
46
Wow. Big Brother is here.
Between that and the CDC, it is now official.
30
Exactly!!!
We the people and the media and en ironmental groups need to keep publicly criticizing Scott Pruitt. It’s apparently making him uncomfortable. Keep up the pressure and let’s get him to resign. This can’t wait until 2020.
37
In truth, it can't wait till 2018.
1
Germany 1930. You will do as you are told, the truth is what trump says it is.
44
Glad my dad retired from EPA in January.
The Trump government is horrible. Civil servants are allowed to have free speech--the Trump government is violating the constitution by these actions.
32
My son is still working there. It’s very hard for him. Many of his coworkers are leaving and he has thought of leaving, but then what will be left of the EPA? I guess this is Pruitt’s goal...force them out by making their lives miserable.
1
Today, Pruitt of EPA banned the following words from all Agency reports: air, water, pollution, cancer, climate and change.
21
Michael I hope you're kidding. With this administration, it's hard to tell.
2
Big Brother is watching. Here is the proof.
22
Excellent work, NYT. Keep t up!
39
So much for democracy and what America once was. We are more and more a repressive nation much like North Korea where you cannot speak or openly share your thoughts or views lest you are prepared to be punished. This NK America is all thanks to this abomination Trump who is out to destroy our nation from within. Nothing but a traitor to America, a man who honors the likes of Putin while demeaning our allies and friends. He surely will receive the Russian Presidential Medal for his loyalty to the Russian.
18
We are now living in an Orwellian nation. Words are being banned..and anyone who speaks out is being attacked. The Trump Regime...Fox News..ProTrump PACS, the Koch Brothers and their Ilk and the Republicans are all "actively working to destroy our Democracy and turn it into a Authoritarian Oligarch State.
"If you aren't Outraged...you aren't paying attention"...or you are complicit.
VOTE in 2018 to slow down this Trump Authoritarian Regime..by throwing out Republicans.
35
If we are still allowed to vote by then.
3
The key takeaway for all employees is to never use company email to say negative or political things about the company.
Use your private email only.
That said, it is almost assured that these companies will also scrutinize social media for your comments.
168
They are doing that already.
They'll ultimately abuse the courts to subpoena private docs.
The antics of this epa crackdown & purge, as well as the new radical antienvironmentalism needs to be continually leaked.
Pruitt's Orwellian antics need to be continually undermined by exposure from all staffers privy to his tyrannical subversion.
All epa personnel are morally & ethically obliged to leak everything he does. There can be no secrets at epa, this is not CIA, this is our earth, air, water & national integrity.
Expose Pruitt's every action, every abuse, every persecution. Require all his emails, calls & actions be documented & published, bar him from doing anything under secrecy. Blockade him with lawsuits, depositions, document requests.
Pruitt is bad for America. Turn his tactics back on him, & refuse to carry out damaging agency directives.
6
Unless you are a whistleblower avoid any criticism of your private employer at all that can be traced back to you. The First Amendment does not cover private entities
2
This is "1984" come to life! Big Brother is Watching You!
46
Gee it looks like that America Rising organization has had their sympathizers scribble comments here for this article.
May I suggest the true name for this political propaganda group should be "America Crumbling".
25
It is, at least, comforting to know that that most of the people who fought in World War Two have passed on. These patriots, like my mother and father, did not live to see the rise of what increasingly looks like a fourth Reich in our country.
The Memorial Wall at the Central Intelligence Agency headquarters in Langley, Virginia honors CIA employees who died in the line of service, most in opposition to regimes like Putin's. Yet Trump has voiced his admiration of Putin and his criminal regime.
Our president, and his rag tag administration of second rate grifters and fascists, are a disgrace to the memory of all Americans who fought and died for our country.
110
The Gestapo is alive and well in the Trump administration. For the first time in my 76 years I am seriously concerned about the survival of our democracy. Trump is taking us to the brink!
83
Exactly. They believe we will mewl like kittens and then be drowned without a fight.
And so it begins... How long will the NYTimes let this go without calling out Trump and his Republican lackeys on their attempt to hijack the country.
It's time to start pointing out the lies in everything done by this unified Republican govt. The tax code debacle, the attempt to kill the affordable care act, the future destruction of Medicare and Social Security already being planned.
Why are you not screaming this in your headlines. I don't even care if you add a few "Clinton Emails" references to balance this out in your idiotic attempts to be "fair".
17
Donald Trump is a Liar, a Bully, and a woman assaulter, but way more dangerous than that, he does not accept the evidence of or believe the intelligence community which is telling him that Russia interfered with our election. Instead, he believes Vladimir Putin, whom he so obviously admires. When told that the evidence was believed by the FBI and CIA, Trump said, "So what?" People, please join me in asking Donald Trump, No, demanding, that Trump resign now. Our country is in danger. Our Democracy is in danger.
26
Power in this country resides with the people. The people can remove this corrupt, anti-American government from power, if they have the will. Our Founders showed us the way. All we need is the courage to act.
2
ACLU, anyone?
14
This is the time for everyone who cares about these issues to join the ACLU. I'm doing so today.
Everyone should also find an environmental organization (or two) to join if you haven't already. Because they are coming after our public lands, too, and any regulations that protect our water, air, and land.
I don't use the word fascism lightly, but it appears that these outside groups are all we have right now standing between us and a real takeover of American freedoms -- you know: the freedom to think, speak, assemble, vote, worship (or not) as we please. May we live in less interesting times.
4
Pruitt and his cone of secrecy sounds like he needs some help with his mental health. Just a little paranoia?
14
Not much we can do with Congress in the hands of the Republicans willing to tolerate these Gestapo tactics. Dems best go all out in the mid-terms before voter suppression dwindles the power of the electorate.
7
Now more then ever we need these whistle-blowers in all departments of the government, because this moron running the government is going to ruin this country.
33
A combination of the worst of Orwell and Joseph McCarthy, that is the Trump method. What an employee thinks or speaks about on their own personal time and declares is a personal opinion is protected by the first amendment and goes back to court cases from the Reagan days. Anything else is censorship pure and simple.
46
The Trump administration is engaging censorship and bullying of the EPA staff. They will not be satisfied until the EPA forsakes its mission and becomes a rubber stamp for polluters and their lobbyists.
27
This is censorship.
Say it loud and clear.
Our government, which we elected into office, is now wasting our tax money by hiring email spies. Last week it forbade the CDC from using 7 words. These are simply the latest insults to our intelligence. I cannot recall a time when there has been such an attack on words and speech and ideas.
I am shocked but not surprised. Standing like deer in the headlights won’t help us. We depend more than ever on reporting by journalists to defend against censorship.
We depend on ourselves to vote in 2018.
310
Blah, blah, blah... You monitor all conservative movements, and then you get monitored, and then you are offended. The freedom of information act works both ways, now. We will use the tools you created, against you, as you have used those tools against. Wanna dispute the pipeline in North Dakota? And leave your mountain of pollution behind? And the Liberal media chooses not to report on it. The current EPA employees feel they are entitled to a job. Every other job on the planet is based on production, positive or negative, it is hard to maintain employment under a critical employer, Obama was not one of them. He ran a runaway government. Let's talk about your Prius, that we burn coal and other fossil fuels to run electricity, and have an enormous carbon footprint when you calculate the cost of building it, disposal of batteries, etc... All EPA employees should work in the private sector first, then work for our government as career employees to understand the world, and how it needs to work. And if an EPA employee goes to work for the government right out of school, there should be a term limit, then welcome to the real world.
Our brains can only process so much information. While 45 plays the mass media his lackeys are dismantling all that truly makes America great, and it barely makes a blip on the public conscience. I hope this can be turned around before it is too late.
20
Conservatives complain about the dangers of the "deep state" while simultaneously creating their authoritarian deep state. In this case they are also getting paid $120,000 of federal dollars to spy on the federal government from within.
Said William K. Reilly, the E.P.A. administrator under George Bush. “This shows complete insensitivity, complete tone-deafness, or something worse."
I'll stick with "something worse".
Senator Whitehouse, Senator Warren and any elected official who's communication with citizens has been subject to this EPA scrutiny should demand immediate investigation of Definers Public Affairs, America Rising and Allan L. Blutstein.
16
Two thoughts: Hopefully these employees are using company time and company resources appropriately and not to discuss politics at a personal level. And maybe they are not.
However, I really don’t think my taxes should be paying for these dirt-digging lawyers or research companies like America Rising that have been engaged.
6
This is what they used to do in the old Soviet Union, and now under Putin, it seems like Trump has a lot of that mind set in him and is passing it down to his own administration.
18
Its good to see our elected officials cracking down on a group of out of control un-elected bureaucrats who are seeking to undermine government policy. If these employees dont like the direction that the EPA is going in they are free to find jobs elsewhere. This is exactly the types of actions needed to eradicate the deep state that is so damaging to our country.
3
Once your right to speak freely is damaged, perhaps you will reconsider your support for government sanctioned actions which undermine first amendment rights. Your paranoia about the "deep state" might be better channeled in responding to the egregious actions on the part of EPA leadership- I use the term loosely.
7
Americans are entitled to free speech and privacy. If you can't live with that the world is full of unAmerican places that don't tolerate it. You should feel right at home.
9
Rob, that guy protesting in Philly has an important job to do in the EPA, and he wants to keep doing it. That's why he went to the rally.
I don't think you understood the gist of this article.
11
Email is like a post card. Anyone can read it and will.
Work email should ONLY be used for work related items. Any other thoughts, complaints, jokes, and such should be sent in one's private email from one's own devices (phone, tablet, computer) not a work computer. And further, when sending out personal email make certain that it is sent only to the recipient's private account NOT the person's work account.
7
there are times that the government policies effect the work of government work, thus the emails that may have political content. Public health care workers may need to know about changes in the services they can provide. Guidance documents previously provided by the federal government are/were critical, but are now not available. Email should not be used for campaigning, obviously, but there are justifiable times to mention our president's name for his administration as government employees. Of course, the jokes are on us and belong in private emails as well:)
1
There is no conservation behind the conservative label. The GOP donors are very adept at stifling truth and science. once again most people want clean air, clean water, and sound environmental policy. Nope, not the Trump administration.
18
Given the numerous leaks and blatant lack of loyalty shown by the federal bureaucracy in general scanning EMPLOYEE emails seems not only reasonable but prudent. These are employee's of the government and the emails are the property of the organization not the individual. This is not retaliation as much as proactive prevention of deliberate sabotage and misuse.
4
The false idea that government employees owe "loyalty" to the current corrupt administration is the problem. The employees being monitored are the ones who are looking out for our interests, in opposition to those in the White House who are dedicated to selling out this country to the highest bidder.
4
“Blatant lack of loyalty?”
I thought that the primary consideration in their position was to promote and defend the general welfare, not marching in lockstep.
3
Paul
Many of these employees addressed their concerns openly in letters and comments to their director or supervisors, explaining what they worried about and making recommendations or seeking guidance.
If you want to characterize that as some idiotic "deep state" fantasy of a government inexplicably opposed to your hero, the problem is with you.
You are a vindictive, frightened, ignorant little man. Enjoy your time in the political sun. It probably won't last. If it does, though, it's uneducated big mouths like you they will be coming for next. Either way sounds good to me.
1
Banning topics and phrases from public communications - like climate change. And now a group called America Rising - America Rising? Really? I guess SPECTRE was taken? - are scrutinizing communications from disloyal employees?
Doesn't this make people nervous?
But as long as these organizations investigating disloyalty fulfill a need for a better clipping service, it's all good.
We have moved from quietly using tools of oppression favored by dictators to openly using them. I have long thought we are approaching a "Brave New World" but this smacks of "1984."
20
The EPA's science and its role in protecting critical health from water to pollutants are under attack because the GOP's masters, real estate to oil, chemicals and big ag, want unfettered freedom to poison citizens and destroy the environment. No one asks what will be left when we are a wasteland. There are no borders as pollution seeps into the broader environment. It is desecration.
9
trump displayed in his Israel speech exactly what his goal for the country is, that we all become blithering idiots. Just like him, using whatever chemical he did before that speech because it was certainly not 'dry throat' or loose dentures that was talking.
2
Draining the Washington swamp is a thankless job. Unfortunately, we have numerous agencies, such as the EPA, that have become bloated and out of control...not to mention full of people who put their political party ahead of America and Americans.
3
You have it backwards, it is the GOP, Trump, and his minions, that are undermining decades of progress in protecting our environment and people from the short term destructive greed of a few. They are out of control and putting their warped political philosophy ahead of the well being of this country.
5
You have it exactly backwards. It's the swamp creatures of this corrupt administration who are trying to drive out the real Americans in agencies like the EPA, with the assistance of hired thugs like those who work for America Rising.
5
Since when can one speak out or demonstrate against the policies and leadership of one's employer without consequence? Further, a dissatisfied employee is more likely to be a "leaker".
If you don't like where leadership is taking your employment, you leave. I did at least twice in my career. Further, I never let "the pension plan" keep me in a job I hated. Life and work satisfaction is too important. Make sure, every time you leave, you put the pension money you are entitled to in a rollover IRA. Today, my retirement money is soundly invested in rollover IRAs. Had I stayed with the State of New Jersey, I would be worried about its grossly underfunded State Pension Plan.
7
So wait? You're no longer permitted to question your boss without being spied on? Leaders are only supposed to hear positive feedback?
That's a recipe for group-think.
23
Since when is reasonable debate among employees about a company’s direction a crime? What good employer doesn’t want to hear concerns and suggestions from employees? Moreover, when that company is a government agency that serves hundreds of millions of citizens and is supposed to be apolitical, the hunting down and suppression of those who care enough to express their views — and who can provide significant experience and expertise — is unconscionable.
13
Open disagreement and pushback is exactly what Bridgewater Associates, one of the most financially successful money management firms in America, demands of their employees. Silencing opposition leads to potential catastrophe ... which is exactly the direction the EPA is heading under the leadership of Pruitt.
8
The EPA epitomizes bloated government staffed with career liberal democrats looking every which way to expand their power at the expense of our capitalistic system of government. That entire swamp agency should be eliminated or down sized. That was on the ballot. Elections have consequences.
8
I agree. Sadly the elections have given us the likes of Rick Perry, Ben Carson and the recent totally incompetent judges that Trump has put up for election.
3
"That was on the ballot"? "[O]ur capitalistic system of government"? "Steve, from Long Island": read a document sometime--an actual ballot, the Constitution, the warning on the bleach bottle--really, anything.
17
Yeah, let’s go back to the heyday of smog alerts, Love Canal, toxins in foods, burning rivers, and children’s pajamas impregnated with flammable carcinogens. Let’s all enjoy the healthful waters of Flint. Let’s look to Mumbai and Beijing for the latest in fashions that complement extreme air pollution.
14
Employees for the EPA are under attack by the very agency they work at. They need to have separate email accounts outside the government to be able to communicate safely.
25
Trump and company have transformed our democracy into an Orwellian nightmare. Those of us who still value our Constitution must resist and fight to reclaim our democracy.
170
Elections have consequences.
Revolutions have consequences as well. Perhaps it's time we follow the example of our Founders.
Brian Rogers says that America Rising is committed to ensuring a balanced debate. Sounds like Orwellian doublespeak. Between the order to the CDC to ban words that contradict the rhetoric of this Administration and the monitoring of employees of the EPA who expressed concern over climate change, we are seeing a determined attempt to censor speech and squelch any kind of dissenting opinions.
Congress and the courts must step in to stop these initiatives before a serious effort is made to dismantle the democracy in which we live.
79
The courts are being stuffed with equally unqualified judges, appointed to lifetime positions, as fast as Congress can process them.
There may be no election next November. They may incite a riot, and then use it as an excuse to establish a "temporary" (until they are defeated by some other power) martial law. They are courting insurrection and have militarized the police (thank you, Obama administration for not revoking the transfer of military equipment from the Pentagon to the nation's police departments while you had the chance.) for exactly this scenario.
Our choice is becoming increasingly clear. We can have tsk-tsking or we can take action in extremely large numbers. They can't arrest us all.
1
A few months before the Flint Pb crisis made the news, I had a phone conversation with an employee of the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) about how hard it was to for her to do her job under a GOP administration. The DEQ was way understaffed and pressured NOT to act to enforce environmental regulations. Political pressures made it impossible for DEQ employees to ensure that people and the environment were protected. Then Flint made the news, and I wasn't surprised in the least. I had also seen first-hand the enormous mess that resulted when the Enbridge pipeline company was allowed to run a tar sands pipeline in SW Michigan that they knew was in bad condition and likely to leak.
We need people who work for the EPA and various state environmental agencies to be able to do their jobs. When politicians act to silence the people who work at environmental agencies and to prevent them from doing their jobs, our health and our lives are put at risk.
I've been an environmental geologist for decades. I've seen how much good has been done by the Clean Air and Clean Water acts. For example, we wouldn't have the economic benefits of waterfront development and tourism along rivers if those same rivers were still cesspools. Some regulations have gone too far but most Republican politicians today see only the costs of regulations, not the many benefits. We need to allow people to do their jobs and to speak openly. And we need a sense of balance.
291
Some regulations have gone too far? They made a better world for nothing? We need balance? FIfty per cent good; the rest bad?
2
"..most Republican politicians today see only the costs of regulations, not the many benefits."
And some simply wish to expedite The Rapture.
3
Wow. Love how these right wingers claim to be trying to support debate with “conservative thought leaders”. This sure is a strange way to go about it. I would thought they would’ve been interested in challenging them to debate. Oh, that’s right, the so-called conservative thought leaders don’t really have anything supported by facts or reason when it comes to this debate. So let’s just call this what it is: an intimidation campaign orchestrated once again by dangerous, un-American authoritarians who desire to squelch any form of dissent from their views.
87
Dictator Trump. Stephen Bannon has shown him how to rule his empire according to the observations of George Orwell.
36
Sounds like Putin to me. Trump's hero.
5
Pruitt’s mission is to completely destroy, or at a minimum, render useless, the EPA. He will seek to fire or silence any employees who dissent. Pruitt doesn’t care about pollution or clean air/water. He doesn’t care about harmful global warming. All he cares about is helping his “donors” in industry.
124
"“What they are doing is trying to intimidate and bully us into silence,”
.....................................................................................................................
This has been the life-long modus operandi of ill-educated Scott Pruitt ever since he was in grade school -- A Cowardly Bully and he will never change
62
What do you expect from a fascist totalitarian government? Freedom of speech and freedom of decent do not exist under such regimes. The individual exists only to serve the corporate/government cabal. How much more proof do we need that we are under such a government? Next thing you know, the fascists will be banning certain words and phrases from official documents. Then they will give huge tax breaks to wealthy corporatist political donors. Then they will be banning people from certain nations from entering our country. Then they will be rounding up people for deportation.
Look out the window people and wake up. The Trump regime has pushed into fascism. He calls it nationalism. It's all there but the goose-stepping.
104
So the transition to nascent dictatorship is complete. Beginning with open and utter destruction of the machinery of state, populating critical agencies with leaders opposed to their missions, the muzzling, re-assignment and firing of employees seeking to hue to their mission, the denigration of professionalism, of intellectuals generally, of the free press (so-called)...it's textbook.
Read any dozen histories of tyranny, of banana republics, of tin pot dictatorships and this is how they, without exception, begin. The most horribly successful of them share a single attribute: they install mindless, self-interested legislative bodies, unwilling to reign in obvious abuses at the top. And they pervert and control the courts.
McConnell and Ryan are willing, more like eager, sycophants who still stupidly believe they can control the beast they put in place.
We're in serious trouble. Long-lasting, maybe permanent trouble. Having made ourselves a hated presence on the international scene, even among our erstwhile allies, its fair to say we are in serious danger as well.
We are soon to see if Trump's comment that he could shoot people and no one would care is one of the very few times he actually meant what he said.
375
Big Brother has actually arrived and has become no longer a George Orwell fiction but the Trump administration's mission to dismantle our democracy.
155
Corporations, enjoy tax breaks. Go On Polluting.
1
Just use code words! Change it by the day, using Looney Tunes characters. Daffy Duck, Foghorn Leghorn, Porky Pig, Sylvester, Beaky Buzzard (my favorite, and closest to reality). Why not? They all fit anyway.
20
This is good reporting. NYT should continue to investigate what is increasingly looking like a war on science within this administration. Not much has changed among conservatives since the days of Galileo.
256
This administration's obsession with demanding personal loyalty to el Jefe needs to be squelched immediately. It is un-American. This horrifically naked emperor needs our committed public service professionals to tell him he has no clothes, loudly and often.
210
Not quite, they need us to stand up for them. Don't write your senator; go to his local office and take your friends with you.
1
What with the overseers of the EPA and the CDC (so far), is the creation of an American Stasi far behind?
Every day, in every way, it just keeps getting worse and worse.
183
Trump and the GOP will never stop short of what Trump recommended for Hillary -- 2nd Amendment "action".
...
And even if Americans do decide to fight back it may be too late for the environment and the National Parks and Monuments and the Alaskan Wildlife Reservations -- laws can be reversed but destroyed land, especially historical and environmental areas will never be recovered....So Sad, Bye-Bye Miss American Pie
8
Sen. Joseph McCarthy has come back to life as an entire administration.
2
It is mind-boggling to see that Pruitt’s EPA is so actively and willfully intent on polluting the very environment that the American people are paying him to protect. And unspeakably sad for the younger Americans who will have to live through the many irreversible effects of such cold-blooded moves.
372
This is not new. In some places polluters pay or give favors to regulators to look the other way. In other places the regulator is there to prevent the protestors from disrupting business. It's called corruption. Unfortunately we are seeing a trusted institution, the EPA, being corrupted by their appointed administrators for political reasons. Sad!
3
Hello Trump and Radical Right--- the EPA's mission and your mission are antithetical... as a matter of public hygiene and the health of the planet, the EPA needs to advocate against powerful people like you.
81
one more scary thing on our country's march towards a dictatorship? I didn't know that the 1st amendment didn't apply to government employees.
278
The first amendment is under direct threat. The entire constitution is. The republic is being attacked.
5
The first amendment only applies to corporations. Just ask the corrupt five on the supreme court. Gorsuch wasted no time cashing in as a speaker at a conference held at Trump's D.C. hotel. He fits right in as Scalia's replacement.
3
It never occurred to me that the E.P.A. would end up being administered by those hostile to protecting the environment. Removing safeguards of our water and air because big business wants to save money endangers the public and that includes the families of the executives who such firms.
Monitoring the emails of those in the E.P.A. who were upfront about their concerns is not surprising with this administration which has made it clear that there are elements of the Constitution that they do not back.
446
The administration is a criminal enterprise led by a crook and backed by the vilest of human beings.
8
It never occurred to me that the E.P.A. would end up being administered by those hostile to protecting the environment....
[ Perfect and perfectly sad. ]
5