April 19, 2018, Fairfax, Va.—Americans for Limited Government President Rick Manning today issued the following statement urging the U.S. Department of Labor to investigate allegations of widespread workplace abuses by Amazon, Inc.:

“Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos may be the richest man in the world, with his holdings including the Washington Post among others, but he should not be above the law. It is disturbing that reports continue to emerge from around the world and in the U.S. that allege Amazon is failing to meet basic labor standards in their warehouse operations. In 2011, the conditions of the Allentown, Pa. facility were so bad reportedly that Amazon had to keep an ambulance parked outside to take fallen workers to the hospital on hot days because it lacked air conditioning. More recently, Amazon has been forced to deny claims in the UK that workers had to urinate in bottles to save time because bathroom breaks were not allowed. In November 2017, a class action suit was filed in California for fulfillment centers across the state being denied rest breaks, overtime pay and appropriate payment of wages.

“At a time when state and local governments are promising massive taxpayer handouts to Amazon in exchange for their location of a second corporate headquarters in their jurisdiction, it is time for the U.S. Department of Labor to open Wage and Hour, OSHA and other investigations on Amazon’s practices to ensure that federal labor laws are being complied with.

“What is almost equally distressing about Amazon’s reported shortcomings in the treatment of their labor force is that the Bezos-owned Washington Post appears to be turning a blind eye to their corporate master’s potential liabilities. As the Trump administration seeks to restore the basic concept that no one is above the law, there is no excuse for Amazon to not be subjected the same scrutiny as any other company. If Amazon is found to be implementing the best labor and safety practices, they should lauded, but if the disturbing allegations from around the world are found in America, they should face the full weight of the law.”

Attachments:

“Inside Amazon’s Abusive Labor Practices,” by Marshall Auerback, AlterNet, Jan. 26, 2018 at https://www.truthdig.com/articles/inside-amazons-abusive-labor-practices/

Interview Availability: Please contact Americans for Limited Government at 703-383-0880 ext. 106 or at media@limitgov.org to arrange an interview with ALG experts.

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April 17, 2018, Fairfax, Va.—Americans for Limited Government President Rick Manning today issued the following statement echoing the call of the National Association of Scholars (NAS) for government agencies to adopt the standards used by the National Institutes for Health in publishing scientific findings that are reproducible and falsifiable:

“It is ridiculous that we even have to have a discussion about whether the data collected by scientists relying on government funding that is used in policy making ought to be published, reproducible and transparent, but here we are. The National Association of Scholars correctly notes that we face crisis of irreproducibility in modern science, and government absolutely agencies play a tremendous role in exacerbating it when they implement policies without fully publishing the science behind it. We echo the Association’s call for the EPA and other agencies to adopt the standards used by the National Institutes for Health in requiring that data be published and be accessible in the grantmaking process. Science and policies generated based on it rely on its transparency and must adhere to requirement that every theory can be falsified.”

Attachments:

“The Irreproducibility Crisis of Modern Science,” By David Randall and Christopher Welser, National Association of Scholars, April 2018 at https://www.nas.org/images/documents/NAS_irreproducibilityReport.pdf

Interview Availability: Please contact Americans for Limited Government at 703-383-0880 ext. 106 or at media@limitgov.org to arrange an interview with ALG experts.

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April 16, 2018, Fairfax, Va.—Americans for Limited Government President Rick Manning today issued the following statement responding to former FBI Director James Comey’s ABC News interview:

“James Comey’s ABC News interview saves every American the trouble of reading his memoirs. Comey reveals himself to be a conflicted drama queen who would be tragic if he had not revealed himself to be so pathetic. The former FBI Director’s seeming inability to own the truth as he vacillated between Clinton offender and Trump despiser reveals a man whose job was far bigger than his 6′ 8” frame could handle. Comey’s public Lady Macbeth-like washing his hands trying to rid himself of the stain of his career should be a lesson for future federal law enforcement leaders that when you tell the truth and follow the law, you never have anything to apologize for.”

Attachments:

“James Comey is a drama queen,” June 8, 2017 at https://getliberty.org/2017/06/james-comey-is-a-drama-queen/

Interview Availability: Please contact Americans for Limited Government at 703-383-0880 ext. 106 or at media@limitgov.org to arrange an interview with ALG experts.

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April 13, 2018, Fairfax, Va.—Americans for Limited Government President Rick Manning today issued the following statement praising President Donald Trump for pardoning Scooter Libby:

“Scooter Libby is the exact example of why nobody should ever speak to federal investigators pretty much about anything. Libby never leaked Valerie Plame’s name, Richard Armitage did, but he was still prosecuted by Special Counsel Patrick Fitzgerald in 2005 and convicted in 2007. The only crime he committed was speaking on the record. The Special Counsel was appointed to find out who leaked Plame’s name but instead went on a fishing expedition to take out the Vice President by targeting his chief of staff. This miscarriage of justice being remedied is long overdue.

“This pattern has been repeated by Special Counsel Robert Mueller, who has guilty pleas on lying to federal investigators — or is it for not remembering? — from Michael Flynn, George Papadopoulos and Richard Gates.He forgets one thing and it becomes the crime of the century even if it really was a faulty recollection.”

Interview Availability: Please contact Americans for Limited Government at 703-383-0880 ext. 106 or at media@limitgov.org to arrange an interview with ALG experts.

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April 12, 2018, Fairfax, Va.—Americans for Limited Government President Rick Manning today issued the following statement urging President Donald Trump not to reenter the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade agreement:

“President Donald Trump made it clear well before his candidacy in 2015 that he opposed the Trans-Pacific Partnership, calling it a bad, bad deal. One of his first acts as President was to withdraw from the TPP to the applause of the American people because it did not put America first. The White House’s reported reconsideration of this withdrawal would be a disaster both for our nation and for President Trump, who won the election promising to get out of this deal. This sovereignty-killing globalist dream pact embodies everything that the President has opposed throughout his political life, and there is simply no margin to reenter it.

“Bilateral trade deals make sense. But multilateral deals that includes larger economies like Japan and third world nations like Malaysia are absurd on their face. It’s easier to negotiate these one by one. President Trump is right when he says that trade deals need to be fair and reciprocal. He is also right when he points to currency manipulation as a tool used by advanced economies as another non-tariff barrier and trade imbalance. Reentering TPP today addresses neither of these concerns and is still a bad, bad deal, and the President must just say no.”

Attachments:

Trump anti-TPP radio spot, May 6, 2015 at https://getliberty.org/2015/05/donald-j-trump-joins-americans-for-limited-government-in-fight-against-trade-promotion-authority-trans-pacific-partnership-deal/

Interview Availability: Please contact Americans for Limited Government at 703-383-0880 ext. 106 or at media@limitgov.org to arrange an interview with ALG experts.

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April 10, 2018, Fairfax, Va.—Americans for Limited Government President Rick Manning today issued the following statement warning that Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s probe has become a threat to national security:

“Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s desperate FBI raid on the home and office of President Donald Trump’s attorney, Michael Cohen, is a trivial distraction in dangerous times. The simple fact that Mueller’s investigation has devolved into chasing decade-old allegations of an aging porn star points to the end of Mueller’s relevance. The Attorney General should immediately fire Rod Rosenstein and Special Counsel Mueller for abusing President Trump’s constitutional rights.

“Today, the President is dealing with talks to denuclearize North Korea, the Syrian chemical weapons attack, trade issues with China and potential Russian encroachments into Ukraine. The distraction that Mueller’s headline-seeking antics create over trivial matters are no longer in U.S. national security interests. We need President Trump fully focused on the real problems facing our nation. It’s time for Jeff Sessions to swat the gnat that is Mueller and put the Special Counsel investigation to rest. Our nation’s security demands it.”

Interview Availability: Please contact Americans for Limited Government at 703-383-0880 ext. 106 or at media@limitgov.org to arrange an interview with ALG experts.

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April 9, 2018, Fairfax, Va.—Americans for Limited Government President Rick Manning today issued the following statement calling for Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein to be fired after the FBI raided President Donald Trump’s personal attorney, Michael Cohen:

“It is inexcusable that Special Counsel Robert Mueller would recommend that President Donald Trump’s attorney-client privilege be violated in one more example of the win-at-any-cost attitude by this rogue prosecutor. It is beyond comprehension how Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein would have allowed the U.S. Attorney in Manhattan and the FBI based in Manhattan to become pawns in Mueller’s Constitution-destroying game. Rod Rosenstein should not still have a job by the end of this week. This prosecutorial insanity has to end.”

Interview Availability: Please contact Americans for Limited Government at 703-383-0880 ext. 106 or at media@limitgov.org to arrange an interview with ALG experts.

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April 9, 2018, Fairfax, Va.—Americans for Limited Government President Rick Manning today issued the following statement urging members of the House to cosponsor H.R. 559, the Modern Employment Reform, Improvement, and Transformation Act of 2017 or the MERIT Act of 2017 offered by U.S. Rep. Barry Loudermilk (R-Ga.) and the House to pass it:

“Every House Member should support the MERIT Act, which would expedite the removal of federal employees who have engaged in misconduct or are simply not performing, while limiting appeals to 30 days. Under current law it can take multiple years to remove an employee. A system that was initially designed to stop political manipulation of the civil service has become an unhealthy protection of bad behavior. Many Americans wonder how civil servants at the Justice Department who abused their power still have their jobs. The reason is because of antiquated civil service protections. Congress has already managed to reform this problem at the Department of Veterans Affairs, and it’s working, now it needs to be allowed to work for all the other departments and agencies to hold federal employees accountable for their actions. This is a bill whose time has come.”

Attachments:

“Inside the uncivil service,” By Don Todd, July 28, 2014 at http://dailytorch.com/2014/07/inside-uncivil-service/

Interview Availability: Please contact Americans for Limited Government at 703-383-0880 ext. 106 or at media@limitgov.org to arrange an interview with ALG experts.

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April 6, 2018, Fairfax, Va.—Americans for Limited Government President Rick Manning today blasted Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) for joking about killing President Donald Trump and members of his administration on the Ellen Degeneres show:

“It is reprehensible that Democrats who are vying for the right to run for the presidency of the United States continue to call for violence against President Donald Trump. Kamala Harris’ latest ‘joke’ on the Ellen Degeneres show is just one more pathetic example of Democrats pandering to the Antifa wing of their party. Apparently, political violence sells among the Democrat base. They are a long way from Woodstock.”

Attachments:

“Dehumanizing Trump and his supporters is dangerous — and is becoming normalized,” By Robert Romano, April 6, 2018 at http://dailytorch.com/2018/04/dehumanizing-trump-and-his-supporters-is-dangerous-and-is-becoming-normalized/

Interview Availability: Please contact Americans for Limited Government at 703-383-0880 ext. 106 or at media@limitgov.org to arrange an interview with ALG experts.

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April 6, 2018, Fairfax, Va.—Americans for Limited Government President Rick Manning today issued the following statement in response to a piece by Jeff Spross at The Week suggesting China could “win” a trade war by “clamp[ing] down on these exports”:

“With the U.S. increasingly vulnerable to Chinese stranglehold on the rare earth marketplace, it is time for President Trump and Interior Secretary Zinke to do whatever is necessary to open up rare earth mining facilities. The U.S. has an abundance of rare earth minerals in the west on federal lands which could be rapidly developed but extraordinary measures would need to be taken to overcome national security threatening regulations.

“Additionally, rare earth metals are being developed in Afghanistan where the United States has poured 17 years of blood and treasure incredibly the Chinese are being allowed to develop those rare earth metals. It might be worthwhile for President Trump to talk to Afghani President Ashraf Ghani about redirecting that development to be exported to the United States.

“In the meantime, America has a great abundance with incredible mineral reserves that have been put under regulatory lock and key, it is time for us to get back in the domestic mining business so that we are no longer fully dependent on foreign powers for the critical materials necessary for a modern economy and military.”

Interview Availability: Please contact Americans for Limited Government at 703-383-0880 ext. 106 or at media@limitgov.org to arrange an interview with ALG experts.

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