Getting a couple of big ones right on day three

Cuffing the hands of what had been an all-too-effective tool for tyranny when the previous regime was gripping America's throat:

Donald Trump plans to ban the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) from funding science, and “overhaul” its use of science from outside groups, according to a Monday report published in Axios.

The EPA is the agency charged with protecting America’s clean air and water, and under former President Barack Obama, it took significant steps to combat climate change.

Axios reporters Jonathan Swan and Mike Allen say they got a “sneaky peek” at the Trump transition team’s action plan for the agency. They did not publish the full plan, but summarized it and included this key excerpt:

“EPA does not use science to guide regulatory policy as much as it uses regulatory policy to steer the science. This is an old problem at EPA. In 1992, a blue-ribbon panel of EPA science advisers that [sic] ‘science should not be adjusted to fit policy.’ But rather than heed this advice, EPA has greatly increased its science manipulation.”

And the previous regime's deliberate hobbling of economic advancement gets an abrupt reversal:

President Donald Trump on Tuesday signed executive actions to advance approval of the Keystone XL and Dakota Access oil pipelines.

The decision to advance the pipelines cast aside efforts by President Barack Obama's administration to block construction of the two pipelines, while making good on one of Trump's campaign promises.

As he signed the documents Tuesday in the Oval Office, Trump also vowed to "renegotiate some of the terms" of the Keystone bill and said he would then seek to "get that pipeline built."

Beautiful and glorious.

As I've said a few times recently, it's clear that wise, principled people have the new president's ear.

Color me pleasantly surprised and delighted.