State

Censorship Update — FOIA’d Email: “Special Climate Envoy” Kerry Came in With Plans to “Engage” Facebook

This email dated two days before the Biden inauguration comes to us courtesy of government-transparency group Energy Policy Advocates, which obtained the doc in Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) litigation with the Biden State Department for certain records about “Special Climate Envoy” John Kerry’s ethics, disclosure, and recusal paperwork. State produced to EPA a tranche of documents which appear to…

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Energy Policy Advocates Files Suit Against State Department Seeking “Special Climate Envoy” Kerry’s Ethics, Recusal Records

Other agencies have complied re lower-ranking officials, but not for Kerry, McCarthy Today, the nonprofit governmental transparency group Energy Policy Advocates (EPA) filed an open records lawsuitagainst the United States Department of State seeking records including and relating to the required ethics clearance and recusal process for Special Presidential Envoy for Climate Change John Kerry, who is employed by or…

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Pipeline: Red Dragon, Green Agenda

The Pipeline has run a piece by GAO board member Chris Horner about the growing record of China’s influence on Western institutions, which the Chinese deploy to advance China’s interests, particularly weakening the West through advancing the “green” agenda. That is to say, “For China, climate change offers a strategic opportunity. Decarbonizing the rest of the world makes China’s economy stronger…

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“China’s Green Offensive”: GAO FOIA Suit Featured in Series

Capital Research Center has published a series by investigative journalist Kevin Mooney, “China’s Green Offensive”. This item, “China’s Green Offensive: The Obama State Department”, includes reference to an important suit brought under the federal Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) on behalf of the Institute for Energy Research. Excerpts: Natural Resources Defense Council. In particular, Jack Schmidt, NRDC’s director of international…

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RELEASE: Court Denies Request to End State Dept. Stonewall on Documents Behind Obama Evasion of Senate “Advice & Consent” for “most ambitious climate agreement in history”

As Biden vows immediate re-entry into climate pact, State has stopped processing critical FOIA request; Plaintiff argued to Court that next 60 days present the sole opportunity for public to debate the question whether Paris was in fact legally “entered” by Obama/Biden’s Pen-and-a-Phone Strategy Court Nonetheless Urges State to Release Three Remaining Documents by October 15 WASHINGTON, D.C. – This…

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RELEASE: GAO Asks Court to Force State Dept. to Stop Stonewalling on Paris Climate Treaty

As Biden vows immediate re-entry into climate pact, State stops processing FOIA request: litigation seeks to reveal whether Memo asserting false premise for “disturbing contempt” of skirting Senate ‘advice & consent’ is genuine; “major political and legal scandal” WASHINGTON, D.C. – Late Monday night, the public interest law firm Government Accountability & Oversight, P.C. (GAO) filed a motion asking the…

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Maryland AG Becomes First to Hide Plea for Bloomberg Money from Public

On Monday afternoon, May 6, 2019, Maryland Attorney General Brian Frosh filed an Answer in response to an open records lawsuit by Government Accountability & Oversight, P.C., a suit that seeks Frosh’s application to Michael Bloomberg’s “Center for State Impacts” for a privately hired prosecutor to “advanc[e] progressive clean energy, climate change, and environmental legal positions.” That Center hired and…

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New Report – Government for Rent: Governors Edition

This week media, activists, major environmental donors, and government officials will descend on San Francisco for the Global Climate Action Summit hosted by California Gov. Jerry Brown and co-chaired by former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, United Nations representatives, and others. According to a new report by Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI) Senior Fellow Chris Horner, the summit is part of a larger…

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IER vs US Department of State Complaint 18 – 1802

This is an action under the Freedom of Information Act (“FOIA”), 5 U.S.C. § 552, to compel production under one FOIA request for certain described agency records, to which request defendant has provided no response whatsoever and therefore has denied. These records are of great public interest and would further illuminate State Department assistance with an effort by a lobbyist…

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