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Energy
Fossil fuel divestment movement struggles to build momentum on college campuses
WASHINGTON TIMES
Valerie Richardson
Climate change activists spent Valentine’s Day weekend wooing supporters for fossil fuel divestiture with their first-ever Global Divestment Day, but not everyone was feeling the love. While the hoopla elicited some victories — notably a statement in favor of curbing coal power generation from the leaders of Great Britain’s three main parties — other more sparsely attended events underscored the divestment drive’s uphill battle to build momentum and gain converts as opponents increasingly challenge the idea of selling off fossil fuel stocks as an effective way to fight global warming.
Train derailment sends oil tanker into West Virginia river
FOX NEWS
A train carrying more than 100 tankers of crude oil derailed during a snowstorm in southern West Virginia on Monday, sending at least one tanker into the Kanawha River, igniting at least 14 tankers in all and sparking a house fire, officials said.
Iowa pumps ethanol to 2016 field
THE HILL
Timothy Cama
Key business and government leaders in Iowa plan to leverage the 73,000 people tied to ethanol, other biofuels and the corn and soy that go into them to push presidential candidates to support the federal mandate under the renewable fuel standard (RFS), and shame candidates who oppose it. As in past elections, Iowa will try to use its role hosting the first nominating contest of the election season to make sure the next president will put forth policies that help the struggling industry that so many Iowans rely on.
Can science solve climate change?
WASHINGTON POST
Editorial
Congress has not been wise in its handling of the domestic discretionary budget over the past several years, shortsightedly declining to invest in important research and infrastructure. With the resources available, low-carbon energy technologies should remain the funding priority. But the National Academy report should at least put climate intervention on the table as worthy of some support.
Why oil refinery workers are striking for the first time in decades
WASHINGTON POST
Editorial
At a time when membership has sunk, unions that control critical infrastructure — like oil refineries — are digging in. And the fact that the economy is finally recovering gives them more solid ground to stand on, since unions figure that companies have the margins to share a little extra. Unlike many labor disputes, though — and in contrast with the AFL-CIO’s new focus on raising wages — this one isn’t about pay. … Rather, the Steelworkers say, this is about safety. There aren’t enough people working in the plants, they argue, and the companies work around industry standards to keep employees on the job more days in a row than they can handle without losing focus.
Technology
Drone Rules Cheered, but Not by All
WALL STREET JOURNAL
Jack Nicas and Andy Pasztor
Long-awaited federal rules proposed for commercial drones should pave the way for thousands of U.S. businesses to fly the devices in industries like filmmaking, farming and construction, but drone proponents worried that limits in the regulations would stifle other possible uses like package delivery.
GOP watchdogs smell ‘smoke’ with FCC probe
THE HILL
Mario Trujillo
Chaffetz is not concerned with Obama’s public recommendations. He wants to know if there were direct staff-level discussions between the administration and the FCC that have not been disclosed. Even direct pressure from a White House surrogate could cross the boundary, he said. “And that may have gone via another person or two,” he said. “But if it had the intention of unduly influencing what is supposed to be an independent agency, I have a problem with that.”
Trouble right here in Cedar Falls
USA TODAY
Richard Bennett
U.S. broadband speed typically doubles every three years, so was it worthwhile for Cedar Falls to have its bond rating downgraded for a temporary boost? Voters said “yes” in their referendum; others should have the same right, but government networks must play fair and be open to competitors.
Let cities compete for broadband
USA TODAY
Editorial
The FCC’s proposed rule does raise some legal and constitutional questions, most notably whether a 1996 law gives the commission the authority to pre-empt states and, if so, whether that law is constitutional. If the rule is struck down, then so be it. Cities will then have to defeat the lobbyists one state at a time. Either path would help build out broadband Internet and promote competition.
Obama attacks Europe over technology protectionism
FINANCIAL TIMES (Subscribe)
Murad Ahmed, Duncan Robinson and Richard Waters
European officials have hit back at Barack Obama for suggesting that efforts to restrain Silicon Valley companies on the continent were a form of protectionism. The US president said over the weekend that European scrutiny of companies such as Google and Facebook was driven by the “commercial interests” of the region’s tech companies who struggle to compete with better American rivals.
A new cyber intelligence unit makes sense but is not enough
WASHINGTON POST
Editorial
What’s urgently needed is a response that will bring the U.S. government’s sophisticated tools to bear on protecting private-sector networks — before they are attacked. Only Congress can do this, with information-sharing legislation that will bridge legal gaps and overcome suspicions. We hope this Congress will rise to the challenge. At a cybersecurity summit Friday at Stanford University, President Obama correctly appealed for cooperation between government and the private sector and signed an executive order promoting hubs for companies to share information on malware and other threats. But executive orders and new bureaucratic units are not enough. The country’s cyber enemies are unpredictable, capable of surprise and require a far more robust response than has been mounted so far.
All Along the Apple Watchtower
WALL STREET JOURNAL
Editorial
Apple might have settled long ago as most corporations do, and that option might even have been cheaper than a protracted appeal. But the company is doing a public service by attempting to vindicate a legal principle and brake the growing abuse of court-appointed monitors and a crank theory of antitrust that will harm many more innovators if it is allowed to stand. If Apple prevails in the Second Circuit, it ought to sue Mr. Bromwich and attempt to disgorge the $2.65 million he has soaked from shareholders.
Stopping the Economy-Sapping Patent Trolls
WALL STREET JOURNAL
John Chambers and Myron E. Ullman
Mr. Goodlatte’s bill includes a number of important reforms. For example, it would require disclosure of the actual basis for claims at an earlier point in the legal process; this will provide clarity, sharply reducing defense costs. It would also require transparency as to who is filing the suit, so that multiple suits from the same owner can be detected. It also would strengthen the right of winning defendants in bad cases to recover their legal costs. These reforms would help level the playing field to ensure that suits that actually have merit go forward and be resolved through the courts, while those that are frivolous and abusive are deterred, denied and diminished.
Finance
President Paul? Wall Street on high alert
POLITICO
Ben White and Katie Glueck
But Paul could face a significant challenge if he emerges from Iowa with a legitimate shot at the Republican nomination. Because experts say he gets many of his arguments about the Fed flat wrong. And the establishment wing of the GOP — backed by piles of Wall Street money — views Paul’s approach to the Fed as dangerous and irresponsible. “He seems to have a poor understanding of what’s actually on the Fed balance sheet and how the bank operates,” said James Pethokoukis, a scholar at the conservative American Enterprise Institute. “And if you don’t have a firm grip on one of your signature issues, people eventually are going to doubt other things you have to say.”
Inequality Has Actually Not Risen Since the Financial Crisis
NEW YORK TIMES
David Leonhardt
No question, inequality is extremely high from a historical perspective – worrisomely so. But a new analysis, by Stephen J. Rose of George Washington University, adds an important wrinkle to the story: Income inequality has not actually risen since the financial crisis began. How could that be? Because the crisis, which ran roughly from 2007 to 2010, reduced the pretax incomes of the wealthiest Americans more than the incomes of any group. The wealthy have indeed received the bulk of the gains since the recovery began, but they still haven’t recovered their losses. Meanwhile, the steps that the federal government took in response to the crisis, including tax cuts and benefit increases, have mostly helped the nonwealthy.
Currency Battle Is Tethered to Obama Trade Agenda
NEW YORK TIMES
Jonathan Weisman
The push for strong currency provisions — in legislation to grant the president “fast track” trade negotiating authority, in a major trade deal with a dozen Pacific Rim countries, or in both — has presented the White House with what it fears is something of a Catch-22. If members of Congress are to be believed, unless the president’s trade negotiator includes strict, enforceable prohibitions on policies to intentionally hold down the value of currencies, any completed trade accord will die on Capitol Hill. But, administration officials say, demanding the inclusion of such prohibitions would kill the trade deals before they were completed.
Politics
Early-state polls show wide-open GOP primary
POLITICO
Nick Gass
The Republican field for 2016 remains wide open in the early caucus and primary states of Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina, according to a new set of NBC News/Marist polls, with Hillary Clinton still the overwhelming favorite among Democrats.
Christie Team Planning Big Push in New Hampshire
WALL STREET JOURNAL
Heather Haddon and Reid J. Epstein
New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie’s aides plan to arrange a series of town-hall meetings for him this year in New Hampshire, anticipating that his direct and sometimes combative style will play well in the state that analysts say is his best chance at victory among the early battlegrounds for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination.
Obama Immigration Policy Halted by Federal Judge in Texas
NEW YORK TIMES
Julia Preston
A federal judge in Texas has ordered a halt, at least temporarily, to President Obama’s executive actions on immigration, siding with Texas and 25 other states that filed a lawsuit opposing the initiatives. In an order filed on Monday, the judge, Andrew S. Hanen of Federal District Court in Brownsville, prohibited the Obama administration from carrying out programs the president announced in November that would offer protection from deportation and work permits to as many as five million undocumented immigrants. The first of those programs was scheduled to start receiving applications on Wednesday.
Millions at risk of losing coverage as justices take up challenge to Obamacare
WASHINGTON POST
Lena H. Sun and Niraj Chokshi
About the only thing both sides agree on is that the subsidies are critical to the health-care law, whose second open enrollment season ended Sunday. If the Supreme Court bars subsidies for people in 34 states, some say, the law will unravel and the number of uninsured will soar. Others say that the White House and Congress may come up with a solution. And still others say that at least some states will rush to set up exchanges. But any alternative would raise a host of legal and practical questions and could be difficult to implement.
Republicans are playing hot potato with Homeland Security funding
WASHINGTON POST
Editorial
So far, House Republicans prefer to fulminate, grandstand and vent their fury — which will be nothing compared with the fury directed at them if a critical department of government is shuttered. Sen. Mark Kirk (R-Ill.) had it right. “When we were given the honor of the majority, we have to govern wisely,” he told Politico. “Shutdowns are not wise policy for key national security-related departments.”
President BuzzFeed
WALL STREET JOURNAL
Bret Stephens
With Barack Obama —you won’t mind, Señor Presidente, if we call you Barry?—it’s another story. Dignity of office? How quaint. In this most self-infatuated of presidencies, the D-word is at best an accessory and more often an impediment to everything Barry has ever wanted to be: Cool. Chill. Connected. So it was that, hours after the U.S. confirmed the murder of Kayla Jean Mueller at the hands of Islamic State, Mr. Obama filmed a short video for BuzzFeed, striking poses in a mirror, donning aviator shades, filming himself with a selfie stick and otherwise inhabiting a role that a chaster version of Miley Cyrus might have played had Hannah Montana been stuck in the White House after a sleepover with the Obama girls.
White House Avoids Mentioning That 21 Beheaded Christians Were Christians
CNS NEWS
Patrick Goodenough
On the eve of a White House summit on “countering violent extremism” that has already drawn complaints from some Muslim groups, the administration in its response to the beheading of 21 Egyptian Copts has not mentioned the religious affiliation of either the killers or victims. Absent from a 192-word statement from White House press secretary Josh Earnest condemning the brutal killings were the words “Christian,” “Coptic,” “Islam” or “Muslim.”
