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Tag: Federal Regulation

Palantir Co-Founder Warns AI Fear Could Give Government and Big Tech More Power
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Real Clear Politics, Approved, National

Palantir Co-Founder Warns AI Fear Could Give Government and Big Tech More Power

By Tyler Stone | Real Clear Politics WILL CAIN: Palantir co-founder Joe Lonsdale joins me now. Joe, good to see you. Thanks for being with us here today. Are the woke wizards somebody we can count on to save us from AI doomsday? JOE LONSDALE, PALANTIR CO-FOUNDER: Man, the woke ones are the worst, but you got Steve Bannon appearing with Bernie at that same conference. I call it the BBC. It's Bannon, Bernie, and the CCP. It's crazy guys on both sides. And you got Josh Hawley proposing regulation here. This is a really interesting time, Will, because you have dozens of NGOs that are trying to astroturf this AI panic. We had lots of people call me and my friends this weekend. There's a panic going on because they're trying to scare people, because they want people scared, ...
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Only Congress can tax you. So why are unelected regulators doing it?
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Rocky Mountain Voice, Commentary, National, Top Stories

Only Congress can tax you. So why are unelected regulators doing it?

By Jay Davidson | Guest Commentary, Rocky Mountain Voice "I know no safe depository of the ultimate powers of the society but the people themselves; and if we think them not enlightened enough to exercise their control with a wholesome discretion, the remedy is not to take it from them, but to inform their discretion by education. This is the true corrective of abuses of constitutional power." —Thomas Jefferson (1820) A battle of wills has been developing over the past 100 years, actually longer. It's a war between ideas, principles, philosophy and is the seminal event for our children's children. In truth, this conflict is eternal. Once we realize the dividing lines, our life philosophy comes clear. What type of government best suits the concept that Jefferson (the...
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Beyond the “kill switch”: How modern vehicles are already tracking drivers
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Rocky Mountain Voice, Commentary, National, Top Stories

Beyond the “kill switch”: How modern vehicles are already tracking drivers

By Maria Orms | Guest Commentary, Rocky Mountain Voice Many people are talking about the “car surveillance” provision in the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, which directs regulators to develop technology that can monitor driver impairment—such as passively detecting blood alcohol levels. This has led to claims about a government “kill switch.” But what’s less widely discussed is that forms of remote connectivity and control have already been built into vehicles for over a decade. Since the 2010s, automakers have steadily integrated cellular connectivity—first 3G, then 4G LTE, and now 5G—into modern vehicles. Systems like OnStar and similar platforms allow cars to communicate with external networks. These connections enable features like emergency assistance, navigation up...
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NEPA’s unintended consequences: How a well-meaning law became a barrier to progress
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GregWalcher.com, Approved, Commentary, National

NEPA’s unintended consequences: How a well-meaning law became a barrier to progress

By Greg Walcher | Commentary, GregWalcher.com In 1970 when President Nixon presented to Congress “Reorganization Plan No.3,” no one foresaw the eventual result – some of history’s greatest environmental successes, and a virtual stranglehold on economic progress. America’s air and water are far cleaner today, automobiles emit virtually nothing, and many formerly polluted lands have been cleaned up. But the cumbersome procedures required for federal permitting have also led to delays, higher costs, and often killed projects and jobs permanently. Those impacts were never part of the plan. Nixon signs NEPA into law, January 1, 1970 EPA was created by executive order, bringing under one roof dozens of programs from multiple departments. Simultaneously, Congress passed a...
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Look what they’ve done to her BLM mess: A policy reversal hits a nerve
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GregWalcher.com, Approved, Commentary, National

Look what they’ve done to her BLM mess: A policy reversal hits a nerve

By Greg Walcher | Commentary, GregWalcher.com The New Seekers are best remembered for wanting to buy the world a Coke in their classic hit, "I'd Like to Teach the World to Sing." But a year earlier, they first hit the charts with another standard, "Look What They've Done to My Song," featuring the sad lyric, "It's the only thing that I can do half right, and it's turning out all wrong." That must be the lamentation of Tracy Stone-Manning, who ran the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) under President Biden. I know because she is complaining so loudly about her successors in the current Administration. They are steadily unraveling the mess she left behind, and she is not happy. In an online editorial, she bitterly complains that the agency is in dire straits because of staffi...
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Feds Unveil Colorado River Options as States Miss Agreement Deadline
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Colorado Politics, Approved, State

Feds Unveil Colorado River Options as States Miss Agreement Deadline

By Marianne Goodland | Colorado Politics Two months after the seven states of the Colorado River basin failed to reach consensus on managing the waterway, the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation issued a set of proposed alternatives. The alternatives are familiar concepts, including “no action” — an unlikely scenario — and certain levels of coordination, including voluntary measures, among the states. One option is driven by the historical, natural flow at one of the reservoirs. Current operating guidelines for the river that supplies water to seven states, 40 million people, 30 tribes and 5.5 million acres of agricultural land will expire at the end of 2026.  On Jan. 9, the Bureau issued a draft Environmental Impact Statement that evaluates five operational alterna...
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If regulators make the rules, what is Congress doing?
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GregWalcher.com, Approved, Commentary, National

If regulators make the rules, what is Congress doing?

By Greg Walcher | Commentary, GregWalcher.com An interesting case in Tennessee focuses on Congress delegating its legislative power to others – for decades. Not just to executive branch agencies, but in some situations to anyone at all. In Tennessee Riverkeeper v. City of Luttrell, an environmental group from another state (Alabama) sued the tiny town of Lutrell, population 1,000, over its wastewater treatment facility. Neither the federal EPA nor state environmental regulators had any problem with Lutrell. But in the Clean Water Act of 1972, Congress explicitly authorized “citizen suits,” whereby anyone can file suit to enforce the law. Like legalized vigilantes. Lutrell, the boyhood home of Chet Atkins, fought back, asking the U.S. Supreme Court to decide whether Congress h...
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Colorado Hospitals Halt Gender Treatments for Minors After Federal Warning
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TownHall.com, Approved, State

Colorado Hospitals Halt Gender Treatments for Minors After Federal Warning

By: Amy Curtis | Townhall On December 18, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. announced new and sweeping regulatory changes that would bring an end to "gender-affirming care" for minors. This includes a ban on puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones, and surgical procedures for those under 18 years of age. The reforms mean that hospitals that continue to provide such "gender-affirming care" to children would be stripped of all federal funding as a condition of their participation in Medicare/Medicaid programs. In his announcement, Kennedy said, "Doctors assume a solemn obligation to protect children. Yet doctors across the country now provide needless and irreversible sex-rejecting procedures that violate their sacred Hippocratic oath, endangering t...
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Trump Admin Moves Aggressively to Reshape Food and Chemical Policy
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Just The News, Approved, National

Trump Admin Moves Aggressively to Reshape Food and Chemical Policy

By Amanda Head | Just the News The MAHA Effect: The chemical review overhaul seeks to comprehensively reassess food additives, pesticides, and environmental toxins to reduce their role in chronic diseases and improve overall safety standards. On Wednesday, Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Lee Zeldin announced that following an extensive and comprehensive review, required under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA), the agency will now regulate the usage of a variety of five common chemicals used for pliability in materials used for construction and industrial applications.  The list includes: Butyl Benzyl Phthalate (BBP), Dibutyl Phthalate (DBP), Dicyclohexyl Phthalate (DCHP), Diethylhexyl Phthalate (DEHP), and Diisobutyl Phthalate (DIBP).  ...
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1,500 Truckers Pulled Off the Road for Failing English Rule Revived by Trump
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National, Approved, The Daily Signal

1,500 Truckers Pulled Off the Road for Failing English Rule Revived by Trump

By Fred Lucas | The Daily Signal FIRST ON THE DAILY SIGNAL—Following new guidelines from Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy to enforce English language proficiency for commercial truck drivers, 1,500 drivers have had their licenses placed out of service by law enforcement, The Daily Signal has learned. “‘America First’ means safety first. Americans are a lot safer on roads alongside truckers who can understand and interpret our traffic signs,” Duffy said in May at the signing of the guidelines. “This commonsense change ensures the penalty for failure to comply is more than a slap on the wrist.”  The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, a division of the Transportation Department, has had longstanding English-language proficiency requirements.  ...
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