15 May 2018

"Stop Attacks On Children" [Statement By UNICEF Executive Director Henrietta H. Fore]

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On 3 April 2018 in the Syrian Arab Republic, children stay at a school-turned shelter in Zeyarah village, north of Aleppo city.
On 3 April 2018 in the Syrian Arab Republic, children stay at a school-turned shelter in Zeyarah village, north of Aleppo city. © UNICEF/UN0207849/Al-Issa (CNW Group/UNICEF Canada)
Statement by UNICEF Executive Director Henrietta H. Fore 

"From the Central African Republic to South Sudan, and from Syria to Afghanistan, attacks on children in conflict have continued unabated during the first four months of the year.

With little remorse and even less accountability, parties to conflict continue to blatantly disregard one of the most basic rules in war: the protection of children.

No method of warfare has been off-limits, no matter how deadly for children: Indiscriminate attacks on schools, hospitals and other civilian infrastructure, abductions, child recruitment, besiegement, abuse in detention, and denial of humanitarian assistance were all too commonplace.

In Yemen, for example, more than 220 children were allegedly killed and over 330 were injured since the beginning of the year as a result of the conflict. Nearly 4.3 million children are now at risk of starvation, a 24 per cent increase over 2017 levels. An acute watery diarrhoea and cholera outbreak which killed more than 400 children under the age of five last year is threatening to claim even more young lives as the rainy season begins and hygiene conditions deteriorate further.

In Syria, hopes for peace remain dim. More than 70 attacks on hospitals and health facilities were verified during the first three months of the year, denying children and families vital health services. Over 300 education facilities have been attacked since the beginning of the conflict. Some 5.3 million children have been internally displaced or became refugees, and nearly 850,000 children continue to live in besieged or hard-to-reach areas.

In Bangladesh, more than 400,000 Rohingya refugee children who survived recent atrocities in Myanmar need humanitarian assistance. As the monsoon season approaches, the risk of cholera and other waterborne diseases is higher than ever.

In South Sudan, the first country I visited as UNICEF Executive Director, at least 2.6 million children have been forced to flee their homes. More than 1 million children are acutely malnourished including over 250,000 severely so and at increased risk of death. Although close to 600 children have been released from armed groups so far this year, around 19,000 continue to serve as fighters, messengers, porters, cooks and even sex slaves for the warring parties.

In Afghanistan, more than 150 children were reported killed and over 400 injured during the first three months of the year because of the conflict.

In the Central African Republic, renewed violence over the past few months has forced nearly 29,000 children to flee their homes, bringing the total number of internally displaced children close to 360,000. More than 2 in 5 children under the age of five suffer from chronic malnutrition and one third of school-aged children are now out of school.

In all these countries and many more, committed teams from UNICEF and partners are doing all they can to alleviate the suffering of the most vulnerable, those separated from their families, terrified and alone, those getting sick in densely populated refugee camps, those on the move in monsoon and unrelenting dry seasons, and those who are starving.

Despite funding shortfalls – we have only received 16 per cent of our funding needs for this year – we are resolutely committed to serving the most vulnerable. We are vaccinating children, treating them for malnutrition, sending them to school, providing them with protection services, and trying to meet their basic needs.

Humanitarian aid alone is not enough. Children need peace and protection at all times. The rules of war prohibit the unlawful targeting of civilians; attacks on schools or hospitals; the use, recruitment, and unlawful detention of children; and the denial of humanitarian assistance. When conflicts break out, these rules need to be respected and those who break them need to be held to account. Enough is enough. Stop attacks on children."
Iraq, 2018: Noor and Sarah walk in the west of Mosul where many buildings have been totally destroyed. "I do not know what happened to my father. He's been missing for three months," says Nour.
Iraq, 2018: Noor and Sarah walk in the west of Mosul where many buildings have been totally destroyed. "I do not know what happened to my father. He's been missing for three months," says Nour. (© UNICEF/UN0161148/Rfaat)
About UNICEF:
UNICEF has saved more children's lives than any other humanitarian organization. We work tirelessly to help children and their families, doing whatever it takes to ensure children survive. We provide children with healthcare and immunization, clean water, nutrition and food security, education, emergency relief and more.

UNICEF is supported entirely by voluntary donations and helps children regardless of race, religion or politics. As part of the UN, we are active in over 190 countries - more than any other organization. Our determination and our reach are unparalleled. Because nowhere is too far to go to help a child survive. 
For more information about UNICEF, please visit unicef.ca.
Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), 2017: Marie-Pierre Poirier, UNICEF's Regional Director for West and Central Africa, visits the "BaptĆŖme et Graduation Des Capoeristes" in Goma. (© UNICEF/UN0126977/Wessels)

SOURCE: UNICEF Canada


14 May 2018

DreamWorks Animation: The Exhibition - Journey from Sketch to Screen at the Montreal Science Centre

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DreamWorks Animation: The Exhibition
DreamWorks Animation: The Exhibition (Credit: Mark Ashkanasy)
The beloved characters from DreamWorks most celebrated films, including How to Train Your Dragon, ShrekMadagascar and Kung Fu Panda, are spending the summer in town at the MontrĆ©al Science Centre's newest exhibition DreamWorks Animation: The Exhibition – from Sketch to Screen.
DreamWorks Animation: The Exhibition
DreamWorks Animation: The Exhibition (Credit: Mark Ashkanasy)
More than 400 objects on display 
To mark its 20th anniversary, DreamWorks Animation has mined its vaults for rare and never-before-seen items, including maquettes, sketches, photographs, posters and accessories. This impressive collection is combined with unpublished interviews and behind-the-scenes footage, giving visitors an exclusive look inside  the creative process that brings the much-loved characters of the world's leading animation studio to life. 
DreamWorks Animation: The Exhibition
DreamWorks Animation: The Exhibition (Credit: Mark Ashkanasy)
Technology in the service of art 
Divided into three sections (Character, Story and World), the Exhibition is full of surprising, interactive experiences including 'flying' on the back of a dragon as well as creating your own 2D animation sequence. "DreamWorks has developed unique animation techniques over the years, a fascinating blend of art and technology that has thrilled generations of moviegoers. I suspect that many parents will not have to be asked to come to the Science Centre this summer," said Science Centre Director Isabel Dansereau.
DreamWorks Animation: The Exhibition
DreamWorks Animation: The Exhibition (Via Old Port of Montreal)
Exploring some of the Characters

Shrek
Shrek  (PRNewsFoto/DreamWorks Home Entertainment)
SHREK: The Shrek films were originally inspired by William Steig’s children’s story about a frightful ogre who finds true love when he saves a magnificently ugly princess. Through the magic of DreamWorks; however, this grumpy green ogre transforms into an anti-hero whose fearsome appearance belies a kind heart. Director Vicky Jensen outlines, “The story is all about self-acceptance and that things aren’t always as they appear. We definitely turn the concept of beauty on its ear, which I think is a powerful theme” (The Art of DreamWorks Animation, p. 55).

The Exhibition allows visitors to trace the gradual evolution of the look of this character, showing how the original designs were closer to the character in Steig’s picture book and how these gradually developed into the lovable character that we all recognize today. Shrek nevertheless remains undeniably ugly, and it was up to the animation team to communicate his true nature and range of emotions through complex facial expressions, made possible via new digital animation techniques.

Shrek’s vulnerability and lack of self-esteem is integral to his characterization and how audiences respond to him. This aspect of Shrek’s character is central to the moment when Shrek mishears a conversation between Fiona and Donkey and thinks Fiona is repelled by his ugliness. Producer Aron Warner explains, “There was something about that moment that spoke to his delicate vulnerability as a character. Everyone related to it, and you had immediate compassion for him” (Shrek: From the Swamp to the Screen, p. 21).

In Shrek 2, Shrek continues to be haunted by his lack of self-esteem and insecurity, and drinks a magic potion to transform himself into a handsome hero. In transforming Shrek, the character designers focused on retaining some of the original ogre within the handsome features of the new-look Shrek. Character designer Tom Hester solved this challenge by using “toned-down aspects of his ogre features, like his squared-off nose and under bite, and gave him the body of a football player —big, strong and developed, but with a softening layer of body fat” (Shrek: From the Swamp to the Screen, p. 85).
DreamWorks Animation: The Exhibition - Kung Fu Panda
DreamWorks Animation: The Exhibition - Kung Fu Panda (Credit: Mark Ashkanasy)
KUNG FU PANDA: Inspired by the traditional art of kung fu and set in ancient China, Kung Fu Panda tells the story of Po, a panda who loves kung fu more than anything else in the world. This unlikely hero is voiced by actor Jack Black, who describes Po as, “an innocent, chubby dreamer on a quest to find his destiny” (The Art of Kung Fu Panda, p. 6).

Chosen by Grand Master Oogway over the Furious Five (characters based on different styles of kung fu fighting: Monkey, Snake, Crane, Tiger and Praying Mantis), Po must prove himself to be the true Dragon Warrior. To do this, he needs to use his special qualities as a panda — his size, shape and ravenous hunger — to defeat the terrifying snow leopard Tai Lung.

Character designer Nicolas Marlet worked with the natural shapes of the animal characters. As production designer Raymond Zibach states, “The way Nicolas designs, he looks at the actual animal and tries to distill down what's there into something that works for the film” (Academy of Art Character and Creature Design Notes).

Po’s soft, round panda shape influenced the overall character design in which “good things were round and soft.” His large and unwieldy body contrasts with the elegance of the settings and opened the way for much visual humour. Body shape is also used to great comical effect in the relationship between Po and his father, Mr. Ping, a duck.

Because of the decision to adhere fairly closely to all of the characters’ natural animal silhouettes, costume was a particular challenge. The traditional Chinese costumes and robes that were part of the original concept art had to be pared down so as not to interfere with the natural animal-like movements of the characters. The character design also had to allow for the characters’ individual and distinctive fighting styles.
DreamWorks Animation: The Exhibition - Madagascar
DreamWorks Animation: The Exhibition - Madagascar (Credit: Andrew Morley)
MADAGASCAR: Madagascar tells the story of four animal friends — Alex, Melman, Gloria and Marty —who travel far from their home in New York’s Central Park Zoo and end up on the island of Madagascar.The characters featured in Madagascar were designed to look ‘cartoon-like’ and were originally inspired by children’s picture books from the 1950s and slapstick cartoons of the Golden Age of American Animation. The simple design of the characters, in turn, determined the design of the world they inhabit: slightly askew with straight lines contrasting against curves.
 
As well as adding to the comedy of the characters, this simple character design allowed the animators to apply the classic “squash and stretch” animation technique (where characters are stretched into extreme shapes and then snapped back to convey extreme motion and impact). As the film’s producer, Mireille Soria, outlines, “The design is definitely more “cartoony” than anything we’ve done before. We applied that style to the characters and to the overall design of the movie” (The Art of DreamWorks Animation, p. 102).
 
Each of the four main characters is based on a simple geometric shape: Alex is an inverted triangle, Marty a cylinder, Melman a tall, skinny stick and Gloria a circle. These shapes and design identity elements also help to communicate particular personality traits for each character: Alex’s posture and mane communicate his self-confidence, Marty’s huge and expressive mouth and eyes communicate his upbeat personality, Melman’s skinny body and large facial features highlight his phobic character traits, while Gloria’s full-figured gracefulness is linked to her strength and stability.The material displayed in the Exhibition reveals the development of these four key characters and includes colour gouache portraits; pencil sketches detailing anatomical poses and movements, as well as large-scale character masks.
 
Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron
Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron (DreamWorks)
SPIRIT: STALLION OF THE CIMARRON: Set in the 19th century American Wild West, Spirit explores the clash between the wilderness and the forces of colonization and settlement. Refusing to be tamed or defeated by the invaders, the wild stallion, Spirit, is a combination of strength, courage, tenderness and determination. 

Director Lorna Cook states that, “There is something wonderful about the character of Spirit, who can endure so many trials and tribulations and still maintain his strength and courage” (The Art of DreamWorks Animation, p. 60).

Spirit’s story is unusually recounted as a voice-over narration in the first person, but from the perspective of the animal. While voice actor Matt Damon occasionally narrates Spirit’s thoughts, most of Spirit’s personality is communicated through the animation. The emphasis on presenting these wild and beautiful animals within their natural state was achieved by the animation team by using real horses as reference for designing and developing the horse characters. The challenge for the animators was to create characters with which audiences could identify, but to also depict the dignity and beauty of the real-life animals portrayed. As Spirit begins his story, he tells the audience that it is up to them to decide “whether the west was won or lost.”

While DreamWorks is known for its innovative approach to 3D animation, Spirit is a blend of 2D hand-drawn animation and 3D digital animation. DreamWorks’ CEO at the time, Jeffrey Katzenberg (2004-2016), describes this approach as “tradigital animation.”

When visiting the Exhibition, visitors will be able to track the development of the Spirit character from delicate early drawings through to animators’ sketches, oil paintings and character maquette.
⏩ DreamWorks Animation: The Exhibition, produced in collaboration with the Australian Centre for the Moving Image (ACMI) and DreamWorks, in partnership with Universal Brand Development, will be on display until September 16, 2018
DreamWorks Animation: The Exhibition
DreamWorks Animation: The Exhibition (Credit: Mark Gambino)
About the MontrƩal Science Centre
Attracting more than 750,000 visitors annually, the MontrƩal Science Centre is a complex dedicated to science and technology. It is characterized by its accessible, interactive approach and its showcasing of local innovation and expertise.
About Australian Centre for the Moving Image (ACMI) 
ACMI is Australia's national museum of film, video games, digital culture and art - situated at the very heart of Melbourne, in Federation Square. The world's most visited moving image or film museum, ACMI exists to celebrate, support and explore the past, present and future of the moving image through a vibrant calendar of exhibitions, screenings, installations and commissions, festivals, workshops, as well as public and education programs, in Australia and beyond. 
More at acmi.net.au
About Universal Brand Development 
Universal Brand Development globally drives expansion of the company's intellectual properties, franchises, characters and stories through innovative physical and digital products, content, and consumer experiences.  Along with franchise brand management, Universal Brand Development's core businesses include Consumer Products, Games and Digital Platforms, and Live Entertainment based on the company's extensive portfolio of intellectual properties created by Universal Pictures, Illumination Entertainment, DreamWorks, and NBCUniversal cable and television.  Universal Brand Development is a business segment of Universal Filmed Entertainment Group, and part of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast Corporation. 
For more information visit: universalbranddevelopment.com
DreamWorks Animation: The Exhibition
DreamWorks Animation: The Exhibition (Via Old Port of Montreal)



Why Bullshit Hurts Democracy More Than Lies

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Why is bullshit so harmful?
Why is bullshit so harmful? (Ted Eytan, CC BY-SA)

Since the inauguration of Donald Trump as president, members of his administration have made many statements best described as misleading. During the administration’s first week, then-press secretary Sean Spicer claimed that Trump’s inauguration was the most well attended ever. More recently, Scott Pruitt claimed falsely to have received death threats as a result of his tenure at the Environmental Protection Agency. President Trump himself has frequently been accused of telling falsehoods – including, on the campaign trail, the claim that 35 percent of Americans are unemployed.

President Trump with EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt.
President Trump with EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik, File)

What is extraordinary about these statements is not that that they are false; it is that they are so obviously false. The function of these statements, it seems, is not to describe real events or facts. It is instead to do something more complex: to mark the political identity of the one telling the falsehood, or to express or elicit a particular emotion. The philosopher Harry Frankfurt uses the idea of bullshit as a way of understanding what’s distinctive about this sort of deception.

As a political philosopher, whose work involves trying to understand how democratic communities negotiate complex topics, I am dismayed by the extent to which bullshit is a part of modern life. And what bothers me the most is the fact that the bullshitter may do even more damage than the liar to our ability to reach across the political aisle.

Bullshit does not need facts
Democracy requires us to work together, despite our disagreements about values. This is easiest when we agree about a great many other things – including what evidence for and against our chosen policies would look like.

You and I might disagree about a tax, say; we disagree about what that tax would do and about whether it is fair. But we both acknowledge that eventually there will be evidence about what that tax does and that this evidence will be available to both of us.

The case I have made about that tax may well be undermined by some new fact. Biologist Thomas Huxley noted this in connection with science: A beautiful hypothesis may be slain by an “ugly fact.”

The same is true, though, for democratic deliberation. I accept that if my predictions about the tax prove wrong, that counts against my argument. Facts matter, even if they are unwelcome ones.

If we are allowed to bullshit without consequence, though, we lose sight of the possibility of unwelcome facts. We can instead rely upon whatever facts offer us the most reassurance.

Why this hurts society

In the absence of a shared standard for evidence, bullshit prevents us from engaging with others
In the absence of a shared standard for evidence, bullshit prevents us from engaging with others. (Mike Gifford, CC BY-NC)

This bullshit, in my view, affects democratic disagreement – but it also affects how we understand the people with whom we are disagreeing.

When there is no shared standard for evidence, then people who disagree with us are not really making claims about a shared world of evidence. They are doing something else entirely; they are declaring their political allegiance or moral worldview.

Take, for instance, President Trump’s claim that he witnessed thousands of American Muslims cheering the fall of the World Trade Center on Sept. 11. The claim has been thoroughly debunked. President Trump has, nonetheless, frequently repeated the claim – and has relied upon a handful of supporters who also claim to have witnessed an event that did not, in fact, occur.

The false assertion here serves primarily to indicate a moral worldview, in which Muslims are suspect Americans. President Trump, in defending his comments, begins with the assumption of disloyalty: the question to be asked, he insisted, is why “wouldn’t” such cheering have taken place?

Facts, in short, can be adjusted, until they match up with our chosen view of the world. This has the bad effect, though, of transforming all political disputes into disagreements about moral worldview. This sort of disagreement, though, has historically been the source of our most violent and intractable conflicts.

When our disagreements aren’t about facts, but our identities and our moral commitments, it is more difficult for us to come together with the mutual respect required by democratic deliberation. As philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau pithily put it, it is impossible for us to live at peace with those we regard as damned.

It is small wonder that we are now more likely to discriminate on the basis of party affiliation than on racial identity. Political identity is increasingly starting to take on a tribal element, in which our opponents have nothing to teach us.

The liar, in knowingly denying the truth, at least acknowledges that the truth is special. The bullshitter denies that fact – and it is a denial that makes the process of democratic deliberation more difficult.

Speaking back to bullshit
These thoughts are worrying – and it is reasonable to ask what how we might respond.

One natural response is to learn how to identify bullshit. My colleagues Jevin West and Carl Bergstrom have developed a class on precisely this topic. The syllabus of this class has now been taught at over 60 colleges and high schools.

Another natural response is to become mindful of our own complicity with bullshit and to find means by which we might avoid rebroadcasting it in our social media use.

The ConversationNeither of these responses, of course, is entirely adequate, given the insidious and seductive power of bullshit. These small tools, though, may be all we have, and the success of American democracy may depend upon our using them well.

About Today's Contributor:
Michael Blake, Professor of Philosophy, Public Policy, and Governance, University of Washington


This article was originally published on The Conversation

11 May 2018

Holy S***, Balls!: The Deadpool 2 Original Motion Picture Score Is Out Now

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Deadpool 2 Original Motion Picture Score
Deadpool 2 Original Motion Picture Score (PRNewsfoto/Sony Music Masterworks)
The official Deadpool 2 (Original Motion Picture Score) is now available everywhere digitally to stream / download. Fans can now hear the first-ever "parental guidance" tagged score album from award-winning composer, Tyler Bates (John Wick, Guardians of the Galaxy, Watchmen) and look forward to explicit numbers such as "Holy S*** Balls" and "Make the Whole World our B****."  Billboard says "the score…matches the smart-ass spirit of the franchise." 

⏩ Stream or download the album now ahead of the film's release on May 18, 2018.
"We're thrilled to receive a 'parental guidance' tag on the score album!" says Tyler Bates.

Deadpool
Deadpool
About Deadpool 2:
After surviving a near-fatal bovine attack, a disfigured cafeteria chef (Wade Wilson) struggles to fulfill his dream of becoming Mayberry's hottest bartender while also learning to cope with his lost sense of taste. Searching to regain his spice for life, as well as a flux capacitor, Wade must battle ninjas, the yakuza, and a pack of sexually aggressive canines, as he journeys around the world to discover the importance of family, friendship, and flavor – finding a new taste for adventure and earning the coveted coffee mug title of World's Best Lover.
Directed David Leitch and written by Rhett Reese & Paul Wernick & Ryan Reynolds. The movie stars Ryan ReynoldsJosh BrolinMorena BaccarinJulian Dennison, Zazie Beetz, T.J. Miller, Brianna Hildebrand and Jack Kesy.

The Trailer:


About Tyler Bates:
With an innate understanding of an environment's power, perhaps it's no coincidence that Tyler Bateshas become not only an artisan at architecting music for film, television, and video games, but an in-demand multi-instrumentalist, writer, and producer. Through the nineties, he logged 1,200-plus live shows in his bands, including Pet, released on Igloo/Atlantic Records, under the guidance of Tori Amos, before segueing into the world of film score. He started to make waves by creating the audio backdrop for the popular Zack Snyder Dawn of the Dead reboot in 2004 followed by his soundtrack for the filmmaker's 300.
By 2017, he worked on the most successful franchises in recent memory: Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy and John Wick. In addition to composing for Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 1 & Vol. 2 and winning a BMI Film Music Award for the first, he co-wrote and produced a fan favorite "disco version" of "Guardians Inferno" [feat. David Hasselhoff], performed the second installment's score at the 2017 MOSMA Festival in Spain, and crafted the music for the Disney California Adventure attraction Guardians of the Galaxy – Mission Breakout!
Meanwhile, John Wick: Chapter 2 represents the nexus of his work as a composer, performer, and songwriter. He penned the closing credits tune "A Job To Do" alongside legendary Alice In Chains guitarist and vocalist Jerry Cantrell and performed on-screen during the climactic "Rock Opera" sequence, rocking a guitar-viol on stage with Le Castle Vania and Nostalghia. Samurai Jack offered a similar experience. After overseeing score production for Samurai Jack with composers, Joanne Higginbottom and Dieter Hartmann, he took the stage to perform a suite of the score at a sold-out Ace Theatre concert.
Samurai Jack just one of his many TV credits. His sonic presence can also be felt throughout Netflix's The Punisher, Showtime's Californication, Audience Network's Kingdom, WGN America's Salem, and more as well as video games such as Killzone: Shadow FallGod of War: AscensionArmy of Two: The 40th Day, and most recently Crossfire.
2014 saw the birth of a powerful partnership with Marilyn Manson, touring the world. After meeting on a Californication performance, Bates went on to co-write and produce the 2015 epic, The Pale Emperorand the follow up in 2017, Heaven Upside Down. A runaway worldwide success, it achieved the Top 10 of the Billboard Top 200 at #6 and earned widespread critical acclaim with Rolling Stone hailing it as the "#1 Metal Album of 2015."
Bates handled music for the blockbuster Atomic Blonde starring Academy Award® winner Charlize Theron. For the project, he also produced Health's cover of "Blue Monday" and re-invigorated and revitalized Ministry's "Stigmata" with Manson for key sequences in the film. On the big screen, he can be heard in the critically acclaimed The Belko Experiment as well as Public and 24 Hours to Live, while his voice permeates NETFLIX's The Punisher and Season 2 of The Exorcist.

Deadpool 2 (Original Motion Picture Score) Tracklist:
1. X-Men Arrive
12. Ice Box
2. Fighting Dirty
13. Docking
3. Hello Super Powers
14. Make the Whole World our B****
4. Escape
15. Pity D***
5. Vanessa
16. Knock Knock
6. Weasel Interrogation
17. Let Me In
7. Holy S*** Balls
18. Maximum Effort
8. Mutant Convoy
19. The Orphanage
9. The Name is Cable
20. Cable Flashback
10. Sorry for Your Loss
21. Genuine High Grade Lead
11. You Can't Stop this Mother F*****
22. Courage Mother F*****

10 May 2018

Trump's Deregulatory Record Doesn't Include Much Actual Deregulation

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Cutting red tape is a high priority, but the execution hasn’t always led to results
Cutting red tape is a high priority, but the execution hasn’t always led to results. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

One year ago, the Trump administration’s deregulatory push was in full swing. The administration was preparing a proposed rule to repeal the Waters of the United States (WOTUS) regulation, and to delay and repeal the restriction of methane emissions from oil and gas extraction on public lands.

Surely these well-publicized deregulatory initiatives which the Trump administration has made a big show of taking credit for have taken effect by now.

Well, not exactly. The WOTUS proposal has not been finalized, and the methane extraction rule is tied up in a thicket of court cases.

President Trump’s record on deregulation has gotten a great deal of attention. He brags about it regularly. It is often placed alongside the tax cuts passed by Congress when his chief accomplishments are recounted. To listen to the president (or the media), one would think that thousands of regulations were repealed.

But as the WOTUS and Bureau of Land Management extraction rules indicate, the actual extent of deregulation is much more limited. At the same time, other moves to dismantle the “administrative state” have quietly been more effective.

No more easy routes
Early in the Trump administration, Congress used the Congressional Review Act, a statute that allows the Senate to bypass the filibuster to repeal recently issued regulations. By May 17, 2017, Congress had repealed 14 Obama regulations using the CRA in a wide array of policy areas. They would add one more regulation from the Consumer Protection Financial Bureau by the end of 2017.

But these repeals are largely the work of Congress and frequent punching bag for President Trump, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell. And now, most Obama-era regulations are off limits for the CRA (although Congress has explored expanding its use). That leaves President Trump and his administration to rely on the typical route for writing and revising regulations – the executive branch – if they want to repeal any more of the thousands of regulations issued during the Obama administration.


In seeking to roll back fuel economy standards and other regulations, EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt’s staff hasn’t shown the same attention to the rule-making process as his predecessor
In seeking to roll back fuel economy standards and other regulations, EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt’s staff hasn’t shown the same attention to the rule-making process as his predecessor. (Gage Skidmore, CC BY-NC-ND)

Making announcements about a desire to repeal regulations is easy. President Trump did so in December (although his claim that 22 regulations had been repealed for every new regulation was vastly exaggerated). Actually repealing significant regulations is much harder, as the administration is finding out.

An agency must start by developing a proposal to repeal a regulation. This must often be accompanied by a detailed economic analysis of the repeal. The proposal and the analysis are then sent to the Office of Management and Budget for a review. When that review is complete, the proposal is published in the Federal Register for public comment. Agencies must review the public comments, respond to them, make any changes they feel necessary to their proposal and analysis, and then resubmit it to OMB before publishing a final rule. Finally, the rule is subject to litigation.

To navigate this process takes time and expertise. President Trump and his Cabinet members, particularly Scott Pruitt at the EPA, have instead tried to rush through the many steps of this process. This has meant that the last step, the litigation over regulatory repeals, has proven particularly problematic for the administration. At the EPA, courts have struck down delays or repeals of regulations six times already. This pattern holds across the government.

Another kind of damage
Part of the problem for the Trump administration is that while they have been hasty in trying to repeal regulations, the Obama administration was thorough in promulgating them. Over the course of eight years, Obama appointees solicited comments on their proposals, did detailed economic analyses, and built strong cases for many of their regulations. For example, the former EPA administration compiled a 1,217-page analysis done over years to buttress its fuel economy rules, while the current administration generated a 38-page document dominated by auto industry comments to justify reviewing and rescinding them.

Repealing existing regulations requires the work of government staffers who know the processes but a number of agencies, including the EPA, have lost many significant employees
Repealing existing regulations requires the work of government staffers who know the processes but a number of agencies, including the EPA, have lost many significant employees. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

In order to repeal these regulations, the Trump administration will have to convince courts that there are sound legal reasons to ignore all of this work. The statute that governs the creation of regulations, the Administrative Procedure Act, requires agencies to demonstrate that they are not arbitrary and capricious.

To do so, the Trump administration will have to rely on the expertise that lies within the federal bureaucracy. But President Trump and his appointees have regularly denigrated those whose help they now require. As a result, many of the most talented people at the agencies have left public service. At the EPA alone, more than 700 employees have left during this administration.

This means not only has the administration failed thus far to repeal many regulations beyond those overturned by Congress using the CRA, but their prospects for doing so in other cases are not strong. These cases include the WOTUS regulation, the Clean Power Plan to limit carbon emissions from power plants, and the recently announced plans to roll back emission standards for automobiles and take on California over their auto emission requirements.

Stephen Bannon listed the deconstruction of the administrative state as a goal of the Trump administration. The repeal of regulations is often trumpeted as the most important sign that Trump is succeeding. But while the administration is failing at the piece of deconstruction they are talking about most loudly, there are signs that they are succeeding in other ways.

The first is the enforcement of existing regulations. While the Trump administration has ramped up enforcement of immigration regulations, it has ratcheted down enforcement of environment and worker safety requirements. This selective pattern of enforcing regulations sends signals to firms that they don’t need to worry about complying with the law when it comes to the environment or public health.

Meanwhile, there has been an exodus of employees from the federal government which will likely have a corrosive long-term effect. Replacing talented public servants is not something that can be done overnight, even by a new administration dedicated to doing so. Training these new government employees will take even longer. As government becomes less effective because of the talent drain, faith in government diminishes further and a cycle of cynicism about public service is made worse.

The Trump administration has declared war on the regulatory state. But the things the administration is reluctant to take credit for, notably not enforcing the law and driving out talented public servants, are likely to have a much larger impact than its largely nonexistent regulatory repeals.

About Today's Contributor:
Stuart Shapiro, Associate Professor and Director, Public Policy Program, Rutgers University

This article was originally published on The Conversation

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When someone told Mr Trump the Law of Gravity was one of Mr Obama's, he repealed it.

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