HW: The Truth About EPA Chief Scott Pruitt’s ‘Scandals’

Published March 6, 2017

If you don’t visit Freedom Pub and the Heartlander digital magazine every day, you’re missing out on some of the best news and commentary on liberty and free markets you can find. But worry not, freedom lovers! Heartland Weekly is here for you every Monday with a highlight show. Subscribe to the email today, and read this week’s edition below.

Heartland Institute Experts React to President Trump’s Address to Congress
On Tuesday, President Donald Trump delivered his first speech to a joint session of Congress. Said Heartland Director of Communications Jim Lakely: “I noticed the dog that didn’t bark: global warming. The words ‘global warming,’ or ‘green energy,’ and not even ‘climate’ passed Trump’s lips. It’s long past time that America’s national policy abandoned the myth that humans have their hand on the global thermostat, and if we all just work together – with the poor suffering first and most – we can turn it down by, say, a half-degree by 2100. Good for Trump for putting an end to that fraud.” READ MORE

Murray Rothbard, An Exceptional American
Charles N. Steele, American Spectator
March 2, 2017 would have marked the 91st birthday of economist and political theorist Murray Rothbard. A fierce critic of all aspects of the federal government, Rothbard was an exceptional American. His scholarship was crucial to the rebirth of the Austrian school of economics, the development of modern libertarian/classical liberal thought, and the advancement of the theory of anarcho-capitalism. Celebrate Rothbard’s remarkable life by reading this piece by Hillsdale College Professor and Heartland Policy Advisor Charles N. Steele. READ MORE

The Truth About EPA Chief Scott Pruitt’s ‘Scandals’
Justin Haskins, Washington Examiner
EPA chief Scott Pruitt is attacked by Progressives for having received financial support from the fossil fuel industry, but using the same logic, it’s reasonable to criticize environmentalists for their dependence on alternative energy interests and far-left foundations. Environmentalists say their only goal is to protect the environment, but many of the leading “environmentalists” have financial ties to green-energy industries. And virtually all of the leaders of the modern environmental movement have close connections to radical environmental zealots and government interests. READ MORE

Featured Podcast: Turner: Importing Drugs Would Import Statist Price Controls
President Donald Trump pledged on the campaign trail to allow drugs from foreign countries to be sold in the United States. Although this may sound laissez-faire, the fact is other countries undermine free and fair trade by imposing price controls that would be imported to the United States. This would reduce the profits of drug companies in the U.S. and lead to less investment in research and development of new drugs. The cost of developing a new drug in the U.S. now averages $2.6 billion. Grace-Marie Turner, president and founder of the Galen Institute, shares these insights and more. LISTEN TO MORE

IT’S ON! HEARTLAND’S NEXT CLIMATE CONFERENCE
The most important conference on climate change held in 2017 is taking place on Thursday and Friday, March 23–24, in Washington DC. An all-star line-up of scientists, economists, and elected officials will explain how and why the Trump administration should reset climate policy away from the fake science and alarmism of the Obama years and toward real science and data. Speakers include Don Easterbrook, Ph.D. (Western Washington University), Myron Ebell (Competitive Enterprise Institute), Bette Grande (former state legislator, ND), Mary Hutzler (Institute for Energy Research), Patrick Michaels, Ph.D. (Cato Institute), Lord Christopher Monckton, Willie Soon, Ph.D. (Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics), and many others. Space is limited, so reserve your place today! SUBSCRIBE HERE

ESAs Would Help the ‘Land of Opportunity’ Live Up to Its Name
Tim Benson, RealClearEducation
The education-choice movement is based on a simple proposition: Parents should be given options for their child’s education. No longer should a child’s schooling be determined solely by ZIP code and circumstance. The Arkansas Parental Empowerment for Education Choice Act, if passed, would help advance this proposition. It would establish the nation’s first universal education savings accounts (ESA) program to be funded via tax-credit scholarships. READ MORE

Betsy DeVos Encourages College Conservatives to be Outspoken on Campus
Teresa Mull, School Choice Weekly
Following her own bout of harassment from the left for her views, U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos took to the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) stage last week to encourage conservative college kids to speak up. CPAC is a good place to bring conservative ideas to the table, and let’s hope DeVos doesn’t “shut up” anytime soon when it comes to speaking up about expanding school choice in the states. READ MORE

Trump Qualifies to Scold Congress About Obamacare
Michael Hamilton, Consumer Power Report
In his February 28 speech before a joint session of congress, President Trump outlined his vision for strengthening the U.S. military, securing the nation’s borders, overhauling the federal government’s budget, and replacing the Affordable Care Act (ACA). Trump’s action against ACA to date qualifies him to scold congressional Republican leadership for failing to prepare adequately in the past eight years to replace Obamacare. Speaker of the House Paul Ryan (R-WI) and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) have failed to back any of the several replacement plans members of Congress have proposed. READ MORE

Trump’s Kids, Climate Scientists Disagree on Climate Policy
H. Sterling Burnett, Climate Change Weekly

Reflecting his widely cited climate skepticism, presidential candidate Donald Trump pledged to end the United States’ participation in the Paris climate agreement and reverse various domestic carbon dioxide restrictions, including the Climate Action Plan, put into place by the Obama administration. Unfortunately, though a simple signature is all it would take, Trump has yet to withdraw the United States from the Paris climate agreement. There are early indications his daughter, Ivanka, and son-in-law, Jared Kushner, may be to blame. READ MORE

Bonus Podcast: Susan Crockford: Polar Bears are Doing Well, Despite Climate Fear Mongering
H. Sterling Burnett, managing editor of Environment & Climate News, celebrated International Polar Bear Day this week with Dr. Susan Crockford, one of the world’s leading experts on polar bears and sea ice. Burnett and Crockford debunk a number of myths about the global polar bear population. For instance, polar bears are not in danger of extinction. Their numbers, in fact, are as high as they’ve been in the past 50 years. Polar bears also do not require summer sea ice for their survival, but are among the planet’s most adaptable and mobile species. LISTEN TO MORE

Why Cutting Back ‘Free’ School Lunches Would Be a Favor to Families
Teresa Mull, The Hill
The school lunch debate is a fantastic illustration of the Left doing what it does best: promoting a false narrative that paints Republicans as cruel tyrants who delight in depriving the needy of life’s basics. It’s terrible political imagery for the right, and the mainstream media is getting away with spinning the facts into a fiction that fits their liberal agenda. READ MORE

States Consider Laws to Penalize Violent Anti-Pipeline Protests
Bonner R. Cohen, Environment and Climate News
Concerned increasingly violent protests against the construction of new oil and natural gas pipelines pose a threat to public safety, lawmakers in eight states have introduced bills designed to deter protestors from damaging property, injuring bystanders, and blocking traffic. Bills limiting actions protestors can take have been introduced in Colorado, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, North Dakota, Virginia, and Washington State. READ MORE