President Donald Trump pardoned Sheriff Joe Arpaio on Friday night, just hours before Hurricane Harvey unleashed havoc on Texas families along the Gulf Coast.
Many speculated he used to storm in order to limit the amount of damage he would receive in the news media for pardoning America’s most racist Sheriff. After all, he was convicted for ignoring a federal court order to stop singling out Latinos simply due to the way they looked.
But, knowing Trump, in the late evening hours, he eventually tweeted the information already spread over every mainstream media news outlet.
Shortly after Trump made it Twitter official, Sheriff Arpaio returned the favor, personally thanking the president for granting him the pardon. After getting a few of the congratulations out of the way, he used the occasion to beg for donations to pay off his legal debt.
Let’s just say, the pardon, coupled with the fact that he wanted help for his legal fee fund, didn’t exactly sit well with users around the country who still couldn’t believe Trump would pardon someone like him.
We thought conservatives weren’t about taking hand outs, and that only illegal immigrants did that (pun intended).
![ari111111111](<p>California is facing an enormous environmental catastrophe in the form of a drought unprecedented in modern history. In four years time, some of the most beautiful lakes, streams and ponds in the country have all but dried up, and scientists are concerned that without a significant rain season soon, the damage may be irreversible.</p>
<p>To try to combat the drought, Governor Jerry Brown issued California’s first ever mandated restrictions on water usage via <a href="http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2015/04/02/3642058/california-mandates-water-use-cuts-amid-drought/" target="_blank">executive order</a>. The order forces water authorities to reduce water usage by 25%, places strict rules for conservation on cemeteries, golf courses and college campuses, and will replace 50 million square feet of lawn with “drought resistant landscape.”</p>
<p>The order places the burden of cutting back water usage directly on the residents of the state. The order does not, however, mention fracking or oil production. At all.</p>
<p>Reuters <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/04/03/us-california-drought-fracking-exclusive-idUSKBN0MU01M20150403" target="_blank">reported</a> that fracking in California consumed nearly 70 millions of water last year. While proponents of killing our environment for oil and natural gas argue that the water used is largely recycled, it’s estimated that fracking will consume the same as 526 households.</p>
<p>Not included in those estimates is steam injection, a practice commonly used for oil and gas production. Reuters said that environmentalists estimated the use of California’s freshwater by big energy companies to be at 2 million gallons a day.</p>
<p>Regardless of whether or not water for fracking is recycled, it isn’t re-used, because it is contaminated with the poisons required to fracture rock and extract oil. Water used by residents is recycled back into potable water.</p>
<p>Zack Malitz of environmental group Credo <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/04/02/us-usa-drought-california-oil-idUSKBN0MT05K20150402" target="_blank">told Reuters</a> last week:</p>
<blockquote><p>Governor Brown is forcing ordinary Californians to shoulder the burden of the drought by cutting their personal water use while giving the oil industry a continuing license to break the law and poison our water. Fracking and toxic injection wells may not be the largest uses of water in California, but they are undoubtedly some of the stupidest.</p></blockquote>
<p>Once again, profit from oil and natural gas trumps the world we live on.</p>
<p><em>H/T: <a href="http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2015/04/06/3643184/california-70-million-gallons-fracking/" target="_blank">Think Progress</a> | Image: <a href="http://www.noaanews.noaa.gov/stories2014/images/cadrought-folsom1.jpg" target="_blank">CA Dept. of Water Resources/NOAA</a></em></p>
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