http://thehill.com/policy/energy-enviro ... izzlies-in
A federal judge in Montana issued a court order Thursday temporarily blocking the first trophy hunt of grizzly bears in Yellowstone National Park in more than 40 years. ...The order came two days before Wyoming and Idaho were scheduled to allow licensed grizzly hunts that could lead to as many as 23 bears being killed for sport in the two states.
...The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced in June 2017 that grizzlies would no longer be listed as a threatened species in and around Yellowstone, leaving states to decide on hunting rules. That announcement corresponded with a slight rebound in the grizzly population after falling to several hundred in the lower 48 states in 1975...Environmentalists opposed the move, saying removing them from the larger population was biologically unsound.
The restraining order will last for 14 days.
Recently, both the Trump administration and the GOP have been working hard to weaken endangered and theatened species protections. So I'm not sure what will happen even if the environmentalists win their lawsuit. Stopping people from filing such lawsuits is also a goal of this administration.
http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing- ... y-blocking
President Trump's reelection campaign caught flak Thursday night after a man identified as a rally worker was pictured allegedly trying to block a photographer from capturing footage of a demonstrator. During the president’s rally in Indiana, where Trump continued to ramp up his attacks against the news media, a man identified as a volunteer member of the president's advance team can be seen blocking the lens of a photographer.
Important to remember that this man represents the president of the United States. And the White House did not condemn this or promise to look into it when contacted by The Hill.
http://thehill.com/homenews/news/404518 ... ed-america
A man arrested Thursday for allegedly making threats against The Boston Globe praised President Trump as he left court following his release on bail. “I would like to make one statement. America was saved when Donald J. Trump was elected president,” Chain told reporters, according to Boston's local CBS station.
You’re the enemy of the people, and we’re going to kill every f---ing one of you," Chain allegedly said in one phone call, according to CNN.
Chain, who was arrested near Los Angeles, was charged with making 14 threatening phone calls threatening the newspaper after it led a campaign denouncing President Trump’s attacks on the media. ....Before being released on bond, Chain was ordered to give up all the guns in his possession. Authorities reportedly discovered at least 20 firearms in his home. He faces up to five years behind bars and a fine of $250,000.
Remember when Trump claimed his goal was zero tariffs between the US and trading partners?
http://thehill.com/policy/finance/40446 ... fs-to-zero
President Trump on Thursday refused an offer from the European Union to lower car tariffs to zero.
“It’s not good enough,” Trump said of the offer that came earlier in the day from Brussels during an Oval Office interview with Bloomberg News. “Their consumer habits are to buy their cars, not to buy our cars," he said.
Earlier, EU Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmstrom told the European Parliament
that Europe would be willing to cut car tariffs to zero if the U.S was willing to do the same.
So does that mean Trump also wants EU governments to force people to buy American cars they don't want, and run giant, gas-guzzling SUVs on narrow city streets? And, in turn, will he pressure Americans to buy European goods they don't want?
http://fortune.com/2018/08/30/trump-can ... conditions
President Donald Trump said he’s canceling pay raises for most federal workers that were to take effect in January, citing “serious economic conditions” and the strain that the raises would place on the federal budget.
The move would undo a planned raise for most federal workers, including a 2.1% across-the-board increase as well as raises that account for higher costs of living in cities like San Francisco, New York, and Washington, D.C. The pay raises were intended to help federal salaries keep pace with inflation. Consumer prices have risen 2.9% in the 12 months through June.
... In April, the Federal Salary Council reported that the overall salaries of federal workers lags the salaries of similar workers in the private sector by about 32%.
...“The cost of employing the Federal workforce is significant,” Trump wrote. “In light of our Nation’s fiscal situation, Federal employee pay must be performance-based, and aligned strategically toward recruiting, retaining, and rewarding high-performing Federal employees and those with critical skill sets.”
Translation - my political employees deserve high salaries. But the secretary who keeps the office running and the janitors don't deserve a cost-of-living raise.
Fortune also notes:
In December, Trump signed a tax reform bill that is forecast to expand the U.S. deficit by about $1.5 trillion over 10 years. The president has often touted the strength of the U.S. economy on Twitter.In June, he boasted of presiding over what he called the “Best Economy & Jobs EVER.”
http://thehill.com/homenews/administrat ... in-custody
Hundreds of children separated from their parents at the U.S.-Mexico border remain separated, according to a court filing on Thursday. ... 497 children remain in U.S. government custody, CNN reports. Twenty-two of those children are under the age of 5, according to the report. The parents of 322 children have been deported, including the parents of six children 4 years old or younger, CNN reported.
Only 14 children were reunited with their parents since last week, according to the government.
http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing- ... d-of-being
Bank of America is facing scrutiny amid reports they have been freezing the bank accounts of customers suspected of not being legal U.S. citizens. The Miami Herald on Thursday published a report featuring numerous profiles from Bank of America customers who have alleged the bank either froze or threatened to freeze their accounts due to citizenship questions.
One of the examples:
Saeed Moshfegh, an Iranian doctoral student at the University of Miami, told The Herald he was denied access to his bank account after his local branch told him it could not accept the documentation that showed his current status as a student.
Edit:
I have to give the Trump reelection campaign credit for responding appropriately to the incident where a rally worker tried to stop a photographer from taking a picture of a protester:
http://thehill.com/homenews/media/40456 ... ng-lens-of
[White House Correspondents' Association] President Olivier Knox said in a statement on Friday that he spoke with Trump's 2020 reelection campaign about the incident, who said it taken the the volunteer off the road.
http://thehill.com/homenews/administrat ... a-on-trade
President Trump said privately that he won’t compromise at all with Canada on trade, according to remarks obtained by The Toronto Star.
Trump, in comments he wanted “off the record” in an interview with Bloomberg News reporters on Thursday, said he won't be budging in trade talks with the U.S.'s northern neighbor, according to a source familiar with the conversation. The president reportedly said he could not disclose his position publicly because “it’s going to be so insulting they’re not going to be able to make a deal."
“Here’s the problem. If I say no — the answer’s no. If I say no, then you’re going to put that, and it’s going to be so insulting they’re not going to be able to make a deal … I can’t kill these people,” Trump said of the Canadian government, the Star reported.
The president reportedly said a possible deal on trade with Canada would be “totally on our terms.”
I can't figure out the end of his comment at all, except that something is going to be very insulting to the Canadians. But it's pretty clear that Trump's idea of negotiating with other sovereign nations is that of a bully.
Trump is upset that the Star reported his remarks:
http://thehill.com/homenews/administrat ... canada-are
It is unclear how the Star obtained Trump's remarks from the interview. The president appeared to confirm in his tweet Friday that the reported comments were accurate.
Bloomberg Editor-in-Chief John Micklethwait attended the interview and did not dispute the authenticity of the remarks that the Star reported.
Edit to a link to the complete story from the Toronto Star:
https://www.thestar.com/news/world/2018 ... anada.html
The unusual series of events began on Friday morning, when the Star asked Trudeau’s team, which was heading into a critical top-level 9 a.m. meeting with Trump’s team, for comment on the remarks.
Trudeau’s team believed the remarks to be accurate, and it saw them as confirmation of its suspicions that Trump’s team has not been truly planning to compromise. Earlier on Friday morning, before becoming aware of the remarks, a Canadian official told the Star the U.S. side was not offering “any movement” on the issues most important to Canada.
So at the outset of the Friday meeting — which was expected to involve Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland and senior Trudeau adviser Gerald Butts among others on the Canadian side and U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and senior Trump aide Jared Kushner among others on the U.S. side — Trudeau’s officials unveiled the quotes to their U.S. counterparts.
The Canadian government declined to comment on what transpired in the meeting.
It includes Trudeau's remarks:
Trudeau, who happened to be in Oshawa as the drama unfolded, said: “We will only sign a deal if it is a good deal for Canada.” “Again, no deal is better than a bad deal for Canada and for Canadians, and that’s exactly what we are remaining firm on. However, we know that it is possible to get a deal that works in everyone’s interests,” he said.
“Over the past year and a half, there’s a lot of things that have been said from time to time. I think people have noticed that our government’s appproach is always to stay constructive, positive, to engage on the substance of issues, and to demonstrate that we understand that the path forward is one of making sure that there’s a win-win-win on all sides.
The latest is that the Canadians did not agree to the US terms and the talks will continue next week. Which means that the deal, if any, will be made under Mexico's new president, which is something the Trump administration had hoped to avoid.
http://thehill.com/policy/national-secu ... ump-over-a
Department of Justice (DOJ) official Bruce Ohr reportedly told lawmakers during a private interview this week that former British intelligence agent Christopher Steele told him that Russian intelligence officials believed “they had [President] Trump over a barrel.”
http://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/40 ... ns-go-well
Vice President Pence said Thursday that Republicans plan to give another try to repealing and replacing ObamaCare if they do well enough in November’s elections.
http://thehill.com/policy/energy-enviro ... -integrity
The Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) internal watchdog is auditing how the agency deals with issues of scientific integrity. In a notice released Friday, the Office of the Inspector General (OIG) said it would launch research into how the EPA implements and adheres to its scientific integrity policy. The audit was launched voluntarily by the office, so it is not connected to a specific request from a lawmaker or complaint.
Apparently, the Canadian newspapers are keeping track of Trump's lies, too:
https://www.thestar.com/news/world/2018 ... ident.html
Donald Trump stood before a gathering of Ohio Republicans and warned the party faithful that the national motto, “In God We Trust,” was under threat. “Did you see some court ruled against it the other day?” Trump asked. No court had ruled against “In God We Trust” the other day. Nor the other month. There have been no recent rulings against the use of the phrase, groups on both sides of the issue told the Star.
...Trump made 20 false claims in the speech to the Ohio Republicans. He did even worse at his campaign rally in Charleston, West Virginia, with 24 false claims. And he added 13 false claims in his interview with Fox and Friends... And he caused an international incident with a false claim he made on Twitter.
....Trump is now up to 2,436 false claims for the first 584 days of his presidency, an average of 4.2 per day.