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You've been Trumped!

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aninkling
Post subject: Re: You've been Trumped!
Posted: Mon 19 Mar , 2018 8:45 pm
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Jude, this interview with a Watergate prosecutor might be helpful:
https://www.npr.org/2018/01/27/58134352 ... ntention-t
Quote:
The New York Times reports President Trump wanted to fire special counsel Robert Mueller last year. NPR's Michel Martin talks about the investigation with Richard Ben-Veniste, a lead Watergate prosecutor.
Basically, what it all comes down to is that impeachment is political, and public pressure may be necessary to make the current crop of highly partisan politicians act.


Speaking of which (from Fox!):
http://thehill.com/homenews/media/37916 ... of-justice
Quote:
Fox New’s Judge Andrew Napolitano warned Monday that Attorney General Jeff Sessions's firing on Friday of former deputy FBI director Andrew McCabe could be seen as “obstruction of justice.”

Napolitano said on Fox News's "America's Newsroom" Monday that he viewed McCabe’s firing as “vindictive” and “reckless.”


More news - Trump has tried to gag public employees as he did the employees at his companies:
http://thehill.com/homenews/administrat ... -last-past
Quote:
President Trump required senior White House staffers to sign nondisclosure agreements that extend past his presidency, according to a reported column in The Washington Post.

...Some of the staffers were reportedly hesitant to sign the agreements, but did so after pressure from then-chief of staff Reince Priebus and the White House counsel. Those staffers believed that it would be nearly impossible to enforce the agreements.

...A draft of the agreement penalized staffers $10 million, to be paid to the federal government, for sharing confidential information.That information was defined as “all nonpublic information I learn of or gain access to in the course of my official duties in the service of the United States Government on White House staff,” including “communications ... with members of the press” and “with employees of federal, state, and local governments.”

The ACLU's take on it:
http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing- ... ements-are
Quote:
Ben Wizner, the director of the ACLU’s Speech, Privacy and Technology Project, ripped the report on Sunday. “Public employees can’t be gagged by private agreements. These so-called NDAs are unconstitutional and unenforceable,” Wizner said in a statement.

_________________

Society can and does execute its own mandates, and if it issues wrong mandates instead of right, or any mandates at all in things with it ought not to meddle, it practices a social tyranny more formidable than many kinds of political oppression, since, though not usually upheld by such extreme penalties, it leaves fewer means of escape, penetrating much more deeply into the details of life, and enslaving the soul itself. ― John Stuart Mill


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aninkling
Post subject: Re: You've been Trumped!
Posted: Tue 20 Mar , 2018 7:06 pm
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https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/201 ... ons-claims
Quote:
One of the most senior officials in Ben Carson’s housing department has lost his job after the Guardian disclosed his link to a colleague accused of fraud and a federal watchdog received allegations of corruption in his office. Johnson Joy departed from his position as chief information officer at Carson’s Department for Housing and Urban Development (Hud) on Tuesday. A Hud spokesman said Carson accepted Joy’s resignation.

...Joy’s departure on Tuesday came as the Guardian was preparing a new article on a complaint filed by Joy’s former executive assistant, which alleged that she was fired from her job because she raised concerns about possible corruption in Joy’s office. Katrina Hubbard said she was reassigned from her position and then terminated altogether in January soon after she raised the alarm within Hud about an apparent misuse of public funds.

...Last month the Guardian revealed that the OSC was investigating a complaint from Helen Foster, a senior HUD official, who said she was demoted for refusing to break a legal spending cap on improvements to Carson’s office.


https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/19/us/p ... awyer.html
Quote:
President Trump hired the longtime Washington lawyer Joseph E. diGenova on Monday, adding an aggressive voice to his legal team who has pushed the theory on television that the F.B.I. and Justice Department framed Mr. Trump.

...Mr. diGenova has endorsed the notion that a secretive group of F.B.I. agents concocted the Russia investigation as a way to keep Mr. Trump from becoming president. “There was a brazen plot to illegally exonerate Hillary Clinton and, if she didn’t win the election, to then frame Donald Trump with a falsely created crime,” he said on Fox News in January. He added, “Make no mistake about it: A group of F.B.I. and D.O.J. people were trying to frame Donald Trump of a falsely created crime.”

Little evidence has emerged to support that theory.
This looks to me like the act of someone who's getting scared. Trump already had a legal team.


On the other hand,
http://thehill.com/homenews/administrat ... legal-team
Quote:
Attorney Theodore Olson will not join President Trump’s legal team, one of his legal partners said Tuesday afternoon....

I can confirm that @gibsondunn and Theodore B. Olson will not be representing @realDonaldTrump
— Ted Boutrous (@BoutrousTed) March 20, 2018

Olson served as the U.S. solicitor general under President George W. Bush and is considered a star attorney in Washington. He had previously turned down an offer to join the Trump administration.


http://thehill.com/homenews/administrat ... on-victory
Quote:
President Trump on Tuesday congratulated Russian President Vladimir Putin on his reelection and said he wants to meet with the Russian leader to discuss the “arms race” between their two nations ...The president spoke to reporters in the Oval Office after what he described as a “very good call” with Putin

...Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) criticized Trump for making a congratulatory call to Putin...“An American president does not lead the free world by congratulating dictators on winning sham elections," he said in a statement.

...Trump, the White House and the Kremlin on Tuesday made no mention of nerve-gas attack [in the UK] and whether it came up during the phone conversation.

EDIT: Oops. Despite McCain's comments this does seem to be routine.
https://www.reuters.com/article/usa-rus ... YN20120310
Quote:
President Barack Obama called Russian President-elect Vladimir Putin on Friday to congratulate him on his election victory and the two discussed issues including Iran, Syria and missile defense, according to a White House statement.
It's still a sham congratulating Putin for a rigged election, though.


http://thehill.com/blogs/congress-blog/ ... ure-legacy
Quote:
Revisiting America’s torture legacy

President Trump’s decision to nominate CIA Deputy Director Gina Haspel to replace outgoing Director Mike Pompeo should represent another chance to confront what Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) has so rightly called “one of the darkest chapters in American history.” Instead, some prominent conservative commentators and former senior CIA officials are using Haspel’s nomination to simultaneously try to rewrite that history and attack Haspel’s critics.

The nonprofit news organization ProPublica gave Haspel supporters an opening when the organization published a correction to a February 2017 story on the CIA torture program and Haspel’s role in it.

Simply stated, Haspel allegedly did not arrive at the particular “black site” in question until after al Qaeda operative Abu Zubaydah’s torture sessions were over. I say “allegedly” because even the ProPublica correction is based largely on the claims of anonymous ex-CIA officials, not actual CIA travel or personnel records.

What ProPublica got wrong was the timeline of Haspel’s tenure at the particular “black site”—she was still in charge when al Qaeda operative 'Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri was waterboarded multiple times. Later, she was involved in the CIA’s destruction of the videotapes of detainee interrogations.

Edit to add:
http://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/37 ... on-program
Quote:
Internal emails and memos reveal that political appointees at the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) went against career officials' objections by deciding to cut short grants aimed at preventing teen pregnancy.

Documents released under a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) Request indicate that three political appointees directed the changes to the Teen Pregnancy Prevention (TPP) program: Valerie Huber, who prior to joining HHS headed a national abstinence education advocacy group, Teresa Manning, a former anti-abortion lobbyist who has since left HHS, and Steven Valentine, who previously worked for Rep. Chris Smith (R-N.J.), chairman of the Congressional Pro-Life caucus.

btw, a Fox commentator just quit, with a blistering email to colleagues about Trump and Fox, reproduced in full here:https://www.buzzfeed.com/tomnamako/ralp ... .xhpl9lvgb
In part:
Quote:
In my view, Fox has degenerated from providing a legitimate and much-needed outlet for conservative voices to a mere propaganda machine for a destructive and ethically ruinous administration. When prime-time hosts--who have never served our country in any capacity--dismiss facts and empirical reality to launch profoundly dishonest assaults on the FBI, the Justice Department, the courts, the intelligence community (in which I served) and, not least, a model public servant and genuine war hero such as Robert Mueller--all the while scaremongering with lurid warnings of "deep-state" machinations-- I cannot be part of the same organization, even at a remove. To me, Fox News is now wittingly harming our system of government for profit.

_________________

Society can and does execute its own mandates, and if it issues wrong mandates instead of right, or any mandates at all in things with it ought not to meddle, it practices a social tyranny more formidable than many kinds of political oppression, since, though not usually upheld by such extreme penalties, it leaves fewer means of escape, penetrating much more deeply into the details of life, and enslaving the soul itself. ― John Stuart Mill


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aninkling
Post subject: Re: You've been Trumped!
Posted: Wed 21 Mar , 2018 4:03 pm
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I found this summary of the Cambridge Analytica scandal helpful - and, thankfully, brief.
https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/ ... hs/556046/
Quote:
The Cambridge Analytica Scandal, in 3 Paragraphs

What it means for Facebook, for President Trump’s world, and for every American

In related news:
http://thehill.com/homenews/administrat ... t-facebook
Quote:
Chris Wylie, a self-described whistleblower and former employee of the firm told the Post that [Steve] Bannon oversaw the firm's efforts in 2014, the year Wylie left, as the firm tested messaging on terms that would become central themes of the Trump campaign: "drain the swamp" and "deep state."

“We had to get Bannon to approve everything at this point. Bannon was Alexander Nix’s boss,” said Wylie, then the firm's research director. “Alexander Nix didn’t have the authority to spend that much money without approval.”

Bannon served as vice president and secretary of Cambridge Analytica from 2014 to 2016.


http://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/37 ... ated-cases
Quote:
Attorney General Jeff Sessions on Wednesday issued a memo to U.S. Attorneys about seeking the death penalty for some drug traffickers... “I strongly encourage federal prosecutors to use these statutes, when appropriate..." The memo points to statutes where the death penalty can be used, including certain racketeering activities, the use of a gun that resulted in a death during a drug trafficking crime, murder in advancing a criminal enterprise and dealing in “extremely large” quantities of drugs.

On Monday, Trump unveiled a three-pronged plan to fight the opioid epidemic: reducing the demand and over-prescription of opioids, cutting off the supply of illegal drugs and boosting access to treatment. It included a mandate to the Department of Justice to seek the death penalty when appropriate under current law, a controversial move that’s received push back from human rights and criminal justice advocates.

...It’s possible the move could face legal hurdles.

“Under long established United States Supreme Court precedent it's unconstitutional to use the death penalty for any offense that does not result in death,” said Robert Dunham, the executive director of the Death Penalty Information Center.


http://thehill.com/policy/energy-enviro ... tion-rules
Quote:
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is proposing a series of changes to pollution rules for oil refineries that it says would save the industry $11.5 million a year. The EPA characterized the changes, sought by the oil industry, as technical corrections and clarifications to the Obama administration’s 2015 rule setting new standards to prevent air pollution at refineries. The changes proposed Tuesday concern provisions in the 2015 rule related to issues like work practices, recordkeeping and compliance reporting.
Otherwise, the changes are vague. But given it's Pruitt, there are almost certainly some loopholes to allow companies to escape regulation and pollute more.


And this is trivial, but it sure is indicative of how well Trump takes advice from experts - not a good sign for foreign policy.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics ... story.html
Quote:
President Trump did not follow specific warnings from his national security advisers Tuesday when he congratulated Russian President Vladi­mir Putin on his reelection — including a section in his briefing materials in all-capital letters stating “DO NOT CONGRATULATE,” according to officials familiar with the call.

_________________

Society can and does execute its own mandates, and if it issues wrong mandates instead of right, or any mandates at all in things with it ought not to meddle, it practices a social tyranny more formidable than many kinds of political oppression, since, though not usually upheld by such extreme penalties, it leaves fewer means of escape, penetrating much more deeply into the details of life, and enslaving the soul itself. ― John Stuart Mill


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aninkling
Post subject: Re: You've been Trumped!
Posted: Thu 22 Mar , 2018 6:55 pm
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Interesting little twist. Might be significant, might be nothing:

http://abcnews.go.com/US/exclusive-fire ... d=53914006
Quote:
Nearly a year before Attorney General Jeff Sessions fired senior FBI official Andrew McCabe for what Sessions called a "lack of candor," McCabe oversaw a federal criminal investigation into whether Sessions lacked candor when testifying before Congress about contacts with Russian operatives, sources familiar with the matter told ABC News.

...One source told ABC News that Sessions was not aware of the investigation when he decided to fire McCabe last Friday less than 48 hours before McCabe, a former FBI deputy director, was due to retire from government and obtain a full pension, but an attorney representing Sessions declined to confirm that.
Quote:
According to the sources, McCabe authorized the criminal inquiry after a top Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee, Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vermont, and then-Sen. Al Franken, D-Minn., wrote a letter in March 2017 to the FBI urging agents to investigate "all contacts" Sessions may have had with Russians, and "whether any laws were broken in the course of those contacts or in any subsequent discussion of whether they occurred."

It's unclear how actively federal authorities pursued the matter in the months before Sessions' interview with Mueller’s investigators.
Now also reported at the New York Times:
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/21/us/p ... rjury.html

_________________

Society can and does execute its own mandates, and if it issues wrong mandates instead of right, or any mandates at all in things with it ought not to meddle, it practices a social tyranny more formidable than many kinds of political oppression, since, though not usually upheld by such extreme penalties, it leaves fewer means of escape, penetrating much more deeply into the details of life, and enslaving the soul itself. ― John Stuart Mill


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aninkling
Post subject: Re: You've been Trumped!
Posted: Fri 23 Mar , 2018 1:34 pm
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This looks very bad for our prospects of staying out of a war. Bolton was one of the people behind getting us into the Iraq war. And together with the giant boosts to military spending and the piece on Pompeo, where some CIA staffers were saying that they've been asked leading questions reminiscent of the lead-up to that war...

http://thehill.com/homenews/administrat ... ty-adviser
Quote:
President Trump announced Thursday he will replace national security adviser H.R. McMaster with former United Nations Ambassador John Bolton.

In a tweet, no less.

btw, clearly the media had it right about McMaster. Trump didn't wait long after claiming they had given us "fake news" to prove them right.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles ... sion-looms
Quote:
Inside Trump’s Snap Decision to Oust McMaster

McMaster Ousted Days After His Briefing to Trump on Putin Call
Trump names ex-U.S. envoy Bolton as national security adviser


The GOP and Democrats agreed on a spending bill. Trump wants to torpedo it an start another shutdown.
http://thehill.com/homenews/administrat ... order-wall
Quote:
In a tweet, Trump cited the bill's lack of funding for his long-promised wall along the U.S.-Mexico border and the fact that it does not extend protections for beneficiaries of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program.
The second excuse, of course, is laughable, given that he's been killing bipartisan agreements on DACA, even when he initially claims he'll sign whatever they bring him.




And Trump's "easily winnable" trade wars continue.:
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles ... -war-fears
Quote:
The trade conflict between China and the U.S. escalated, with Beijing announcing its first retaliation against metals levies hours after President Donald Trump outlined fresh tariffs on $50 billion of Chinese imports and pledged there’s more on the way.

On Friday, China unveiled tariffs on $3 billion of U.S. imports in response to steel and aluminum duties ordered by Trump earlier this month. The White House then declared a temporary exemption for the European Union and other nations on those levies, making the focus on China clear. Though Beijing’s actions so far are seen by analysts as measured, there may be more to come.

Equity indexes from Tokyo to Frankfurt tumbled with European equities falling to the lowest in more than a year. U.S. stock futures dropped, signaling a further retreat for the S&P 500 Index after it fell 2.5 percent, on risks a further escalation in trade tensions will undermine an unusual phase of synchronized global economic growth.

http://thehill.com/policy/national-secu ... nctions-on
Quote:
An influential fund-raiser for President Trump offered to help a Moscow-based lawyer get U.S. sanctions lifted on some Russian companies last year.

Bloomberg News reported Friday that Elliott Broidy, the deputy finance chairman for the Republican National Committee, sent a proposal to Andrei Baev, a lawyer at Chadbourne & Parke LLP, shortly before Trump's inauguration outlining a plan to influence U.S. officials.

Both men acknowledged the offer in statements to Bloomberg, but insisted that the plan never came to fruition.




https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles ... ller-probe
Quote:
John Dowd resigned as Donald Trump’s attorney amid friction over the hiring of Joseph diGenova, a vocal critic of the Russia probe who has attacked the FBI and the Justice Department, according to three people familiar with the matter.

Dowd, who had been Trump’s lead lawyer against Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia probe for the past nine months, had been pushing Trump to cooperate with the investigation.


Edits:

Trump signed the spending bill. No doubt he didn't want to miss his planned weekend at his Florida resort (I wonder if anyone has kept track of how many weekends he hasn't flown to one of his resorts, at taxpayer expense.)

http://thehill.com/policy/finance/37991 ... tor-report
Quote:
The acting director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) dropped the agency’s probe of a payday loan collector and is mulling ending cases against three high-interest lenders, Reuters reported Friday.

...Former CFPB Director Richard Cordray was reportedly set to sue the NCA, but Mulvaney dropped the case, Reuters reported.

Reuters also reported that Mulvaney was considering ending the CFPB’s probes into Security Finance, Cash Express LLC and Triton Management Group, three lenders of high-interest, short-term “payday” loans.

The CFPB under Cordray found that the three lenders and their debt collectors pressured, misled and harassed consumers into dangerous cycles of debt, Reuters reported. Cordray reportedly planned to seek millions of dollars in damages and fines.

https://www.theatlantic.com/internation ... on/556346/
Quote:
A Short Guide to John Bolton's Government Career

The incoming national-security adviser has advocated for war with North Korea.
Quote:
Bolton was a regular on Fox News, where he called for aggressive postures toward North Korea and Iran. Bolton, like Trump, is also a critic of multilateral institutions, international agreements, and free trade, and an advocate for a foreign policy based on what he sees as exclusively American interests.

Bolton has called for an “end” to North Korea and argued recently in The Wall Street Journal for a preventive first strike against the regime of Kim Jong Un, who Trump is expected to meet in May. Like Trump, he believes the nuclear deal China, France, Germany, Russia, the United Kingdom, the United States, and the European Union signed with Iran is a sham that does little to curb Tehran’s activities. His appointment increases the likelihood the president will withdraw from the agreement in May.

http://thehill.com/homenews/administrat ... f-of-staff
Quote:
President Trump reportedly considered firing chief of staff John Kelly earlier this month and fulfilling the duties himself rather than naming a replacement.

NBC News reported Thursday that Trump suggested to others outside the White House that he would leave the chief of staff position open. He would then receive direct reports from a handful of top aides, in a set-up that would resemble how he operated the Trump Organization.

Trump has reportedly tabled the concept for the time being.
In other words, until tomorrow.

_________________

Society can and does execute its own mandates, and if it issues wrong mandates instead of right, or any mandates at all in things with it ought not to meddle, it practices a social tyranny more formidable than many kinds of political oppression, since, though not usually upheld by such extreme penalties, it leaves fewer means of escape, penetrating much more deeply into the details of life, and enslaving the soul itself. ― John Stuart Mill


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Frelga
Post subject: Re: You've been Trumped!
Posted: Fri 23 Mar , 2018 8:19 pm
A green apple painted red
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I wish the media stop reporting what Trump says he is going to do. It has no relationship to what he actually does.

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MariaHobbit
Post subject: Re: You've been Trumped!
Posted: Mon 26 Mar , 2018 6:28 pm
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:yes:


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aninkling
Post subject: Re: You've been Trumped!
Posted: Tue 27 Mar , 2018 5:26 pm
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I often feel that way. On the other hand, they do highlight his craziness when the media writes "Trump is planning to do X," then he says "No I'm not - FAKE NEWS!" .... then a week later, he turns around and does X and proves them right.


http://www.businessinsider.com/trump-20 ... ics-2018-3
Quote:
The Commerce Department announced Monday that it would include a question regarding citizenship on the 2020 Census.
Many lawmakers and advocates worry the move could lead to an inaccurate count of immigrants in the US.
An statistically significant miscount in the Census could hurt everything from how the federal government allocates funds, to academic research, to private business decisions.
States are already suing.


http://thehill.com/policy/energy-enviro ... sentatives
Quote:
Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke has finalized the makeup of an advisory panel for outdoor recreation, with all of the seats filled by representatives of the recreation industry.

The members Made in America Outdoor Recreation Advisory Committee, announced Monday, include representatives of companies that act as concessioners in national parks and other federal land areas, the fishing industry, gun makers and hospitality, among others.

The Washington Post reported Monday that three of the 16 members of the panel had been flagged by Interior staffers for having potential conflicts of interest that would prohibit them from serving.

btw, the lawyer Trump was going to hire (diGenova) can't work for him, due to unspecified conflicts.

_________________

Society can and does execute its own mandates, and if it issues wrong mandates instead of right, or any mandates at all in things with it ought not to meddle, it practices a social tyranny more formidable than many kinds of political oppression, since, though not usually upheld by such extreme penalties, it leaves fewer means of escape, penetrating much more deeply into the details of life, and enslaving the soul itself. ― John Stuart Mill


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Frelga
Post subject: Re: You've been Trumped!
Posted: Tue 27 Mar , 2018 7:01 pm
A green apple painted red
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I thought the lawyer conflict was that he also represented potential witness against Trump?

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aninkling
Post subject: Re: You've been Trumped!
Posted: Tue 27 Mar , 2018 8:16 pm
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I missed that.

The last I'd heard, neither he nor his wife could work for Trump because of "conflicts." Then I pretty much stopped paying attention.Too much else going on in the Trump 3-ring circus.

_________________

Society can and does execute its own mandates, and if it issues wrong mandates instead of right, or any mandates at all in things with it ought not to meddle, it practices a social tyranny more formidable than many kinds of political oppression, since, though not usually upheld by such extreme penalties, it leaves fewer means of escape, penetrating much more deeply into the details of life, and enslaving the soul itself. ― John Stuart Mill


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aninkling
Post subject: Re: You've been Trumped!
Posted: Thu 29 Mar , 2018 1:00 pm
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http://thehill.com/homenews/administrat ... ns-affairs
Quote:
President Trump said Wednesday he is removing Veterans Affairs (VA) Secretary David Shulkin and tapping White House physician Adm. Ronny Jackson as his replacement, ending weeks of uncertainty at the embattled agency.

Trump announced the decision on Twitter,

...Jackson has served as the presidential physician since 2013, when former President Obama was in office. His experience in the White House goes back to the George W. Bush administration and he was also in charge of resuscitative medicine for a trauma-response unit during the Iraq War.

The doctor gained national attention in January when he gave an hourlong press conference praising Trump’s health and crediting his "good genes."

Trump said Jackson, who has no experience running a large organization, "is highly trained and qualified"
The important question anyone else would ask is: Qualified for what? Though he seems to have the vital qualification of being highly loyal to Trump. :)



http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing- ... serve-your
Quote:
David Shulkin on Wednesday penned an op-ed following his ouster as Veterans Affairs (VA) secretary, railing against the "toxic" and "chaotic" environment in Washington and describing a "brutal power struggle" at the VA.

...He specifically blamed his opposition to privatizing health care at the VA for his ouster, saying "some political appointees" within the administration are "choosing to promote their agendas instead of what’s best for veterans."

...Shulkin had been in the hot seat for months over a scathing report accusing him of misusing taxpayer dollars.
Among other things, he had apparently used government funds to pay for his wife to accompany him on a trip. Whatever the truth is about the behind-the-scenes machinations of Trump's political appointees, that's definitely unethical.


http://thehill.com/policy/finance/38071 ... dodd-frank
Quote:
The outgoing vice chairman of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) on Wednesday warned against loosening key rules meant to keep banks stable in times of crisis. Thomas Hoenig, who will leave the FDIC within weeks, defended the measures enacted after the 2007 financial crisis to force banks to hold higher levels of capital and limit leverage in his last speech as the bank insurer’s vice chairman.

Hoenig also warned that several U.S banks were too big to fail and that emergency measures meant to protect the economy from a collapsing major firm were insufficient.

...Hoenig’s speech comes as financial regulators appointed by President Trump and a bipartisan coalition of lawmakers seek to loosen the strict Dodd-Frank Act banking rules, passed in 2010 with the intent to prevent another financial crisis

_________________

Society can and does execute its own mandates, and if it issues wrong mandates instead of right, or any mandates at all in things with it ought not to meddle, it practices a social tyranny more formidable than many kinds of political oppression, since, though not usually upheld by such extreme penalties, it leaves fewer means of escape, penetrating much more deeply into the details of life, and enslaving the soul itself. ― John Stuart Mill


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aninkling
Post subject: Re: You've been Trumped!
Posted: Mon 02 Apr , 2018 5:54 pm
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All the stock market losses Trump has created lately are quite ironic, considering his earlier boasts about the stock market - even when it was still rising on former President Obama's policies.
http://thehill.com/policy/finance/38126 ... us-imports
Quote:
U.S. stocks slid Monday after China announced new tariffs on agricultural imports from the United States in response to President Trump’s levies on foreign steel and aluminum.

The Dow Jones industrial average had fallen more than 500 points shortly after noon, a 2.3 percent drop. The S&P 500 index had dropped 2.6 percent and fell into correction territory — a 10 percent drop from its 52-week high. The Nasdaq had taken the heaviest losses, falling 2.9 percent.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles ... -skyrocket
Quote:
Here’s one way to assess President Donald Trump’s tariffs on imported steel and aluminum: America’s factories already aren’t feeling so great.

The tariff announcement helped send a measure of raw-material prices paid to an almost seven-year high in March, the Institute for Supply Management’s manufacturing survey showed Monday.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles ... -quicktake
Quote:
Trump Wanted a Trade War. Here's What One Looks Like
Quote:
In a two-week span, President Donald Trump ordered up an array of tariffs against numerous countries, blocked Chinese takeovers of U.S. companies and sought new restrictions on future Chinese investment. China responded with tariffs of its own on imports of 128 U.S. goods. Economists are warning that the world is on the verge of an all-out trade war, featuring tit-for-tat reprisals, heated rhetoric and appeals to the World Trade Organization, which may be ill-equipped to respond.
I'm not fond of all the cheap Chinese imports or their increasing power in the U.S., but it's one thing to consult with real experts and formulate policies, and another for Trump to create a mess of a trade war based on his own impulses and what seems to be Peter Navarro's influence.


https://www.marketwatch.com/story/calle ... 2018-03-02
Quote:
Meet Peter Navarro, the man who pushed Gary Cohn out of the White House
Quote:
It wasn’t that long ago that Peter Navarro was the butt of jokes in Washington. Now, or at least for the moment in the topsy-turvy world of the Trump White House, it looks like he just got the last laugh.

Navarro, a trade deficit hawk, has long advocated for President Donald Trump to impose trade restrictions on national security grounds and to pull out of the North American Free Trade Agreement.

...A trade publication recently suggested that Navarro is set for a promotion into Trump’s inner circle.


The National Review (conservative) and the Washington Post (leans liberal) are united in their disdain for Peter Navarro:
https://www.nationalreview.com/2017/04/ ... economics/
Quote:
Peter Navarro: Trump’s Nutty Economics Professor
https://www.washingtonpost.com/business ... story.html
Quote:
Meet Mr. ‘Death by China,’ Trump’s inside man on trade

A disturbingly predictive 2017 article from Politico
https://www.politico.com/magazine/story ... ina-214772
Quote:
The Most Dangerous Man in Trump World?

How Peter Navarro could lead us into a global depression—or worse.




Also ironic - getting more accurate information from Russian media than the US presidency.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles ... emlin-says
Quote:
“When our presidents spoke on the phone, Trump suggested having the meeting in Washington at the White House,” Kremlin foreign policy aide Yuri Ushakov told reporters on Monday. “This is quite an interesting, positive idea.”

...Trump had told reporters he discussed a potential summit with Putin shortly after the phone call but neither he nor Sanders disclosed that an invitation to the White House was under consideration until the Kremlin revealed it Monday
This was the phone call where Trump's national security advisors had told him "DO NOT CONGRATULATE" at the top of his briefing and he went ahead and congratulated Putin on "winning" his rigged election anyway.






And Sinclair media is flexing its muscle in promoting Trump on local news:

http://fortune.com/2018/03/08/sinclair- ... fake-news/
Quote:
Sinclair TV Group Requires Local News Anchors to Echo President Trump in Bashing 'Fake News'

Sinclair Media Group, one of the largest local TV station owners, is reportedly requiring its anchors to read promotional messages on air that many are calling “pro-Trump propaganda.”

Trump loves them, of course:
http://thehill.com/homenews/administrat ... s-networks
Quote:
President Trump on Monday defended Sinclair Broadcasting Group after its move to have its local news anchors warn of alleged bias in reporting by other media outlets.

... So funny to watch Fake News Networks, among the most dishonest groups of people I have ever dealt with, criticize Sinclair Broadcasting for being biased. Sinclair is far superior to CNN and even more Fake NBC, which is a total joke.


Lots of mainstream news organizations sites have been writing exposes and warning about Sinclair, for a while now:
https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/sincl ... local-news
Quote:
How Sinclair Broadcasting puts a partisan tilt on trusted local news
https://www.theguardian.com/media/2017/ ... tbart-news
Quote:
This is Sinclair, 'the most dangerous US company you've never heard of'

Sinclair is the largest broadcast company in America. But its partisan politics – and connections to the White House – are raising concerns
Quote:
Most Americans don’t know it exists. Primetime US news refers to it as an “under-the-radar company”. Unlike Fox News and Rupert Murdoch, virtually no one outside of business circles could name its CEO. And yet, Sinclair Media Group is the owner of the largest number of TV stations in America.

“Sinclair’s probably the most dangerous company most people have never heard of,” said Michael Copps, the George W Bush-appointed former chairman of Federal Communications Commission (FCC), the top US broadcast regulator.
http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_ ... _news.html
Quote:
News. Traffic. Weather. Trump.
How Sinclair Broadcast Group and Boris Epshteyn took administration propaganda from the Oval Office to the local news.

They've also been fined by the PCC for other trickery:
http://variety.com/2017/politics/news/s ... 202647175/
Quote:
The FCC is slapping Sinclair Broadcast Group with a $13.4 million fine for running news stories on a cancer foundation but failing to disclose that the foundation was paying for them to air.

The FCC said that the programming was broadcast more than 1,700 times, “either as stories resembling independently generated news coverage that aired during the local news, or as longer-form stories aired as 30-minute television programs.” The agency said that it was the largest fine ever imposed for a violation of its sponsorship identification rules.


And they're about to get more control of your local news, thanks in part to Trump's FCC chief.
http://fortune.com/2017/07/25/sinclair- ... -local-tv/
Quote:
Sinclair Broadcast Group isn’t looking to challenge Fox News’ position as the leading conservative voice in cable news, but the country’s largest television station operator’s latest acquisition could at least trigger a major shift in the local TV news landscape.

https://www.politico.com/story/2017/08/ ... ion-241337
Quote:
Sinclair Broadcast Group is expanding its conservative-leaning television empire into nearly three-quarters of American households — but its aggressive takeover of the airwaves wouldn’t have been possible without help from President Donald Trump's chief at the Federal Communications Commission.

Sinclair, already the nation’s largest TV broadcaster, plans to buy 42 stations from Tribune Media in cities such as New York, Chicago and Los Angeles, on top of the more than 170 stations it already owns. It got a critical assist this spring from Republican FCC Chairman Ajit Pai, who revived a decades-old regulatory loophole that will keep Sinclair from vastly exceeding federal limits on media ownership.

http://www.baltimoresun.com/business/bs ... story.html
Quote:
Feb 28, 2018. Sinclair Broadcast Group expects to finalize its proposed $3.9 billion takeover of Tribune Media in the second quarter, the Hunt Valley TV station owner said Wednesday.

The company updated the status of the planned acquisition, which would cement its spot as the nation’s largest broadcaster, as it reported financial results for the last three months of its fiscal year.

Edit to add another Sinclair media tentacle, from Harvard's Nieman Foundation
http://www.niemanlab.org/2017/07/in-cir ... n-hannity/
Quote:
In Circa, Sinclair sees a way to attract “independent-minded” millennials (and Sean Hannity)
What was once an imaginative mobile news app has become a big part of Sinclair’s national strategy — one that critics say pushes its conservative views on audiences.

_________________

Society can and does execute its own mandates, and if it issues wrong mandates instead of right, or any mandates at all in things with it ought not to meddle, it practices a social tyranny more formidable than many kinds of political oppression, since, though not usually upheld by such extreme penalties, it leaves fewer means of escape, penetrating much more deeply into the details of life, and enslaving the soul itself. ― John Stuart Mill


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aninkling
Post subject: Re: You've been Trumped!
Posted: Tue 03 Apr , 2018 2:23 pm
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Sinclair is not happy at being in the news, and Trump is publicly backing them. I'm old enough to remember when people would have been shocked just to hear the US President promoting one news organization while calling legitimate news organizations that disagree with him "fake news." It should still be ringing alarm bells everywhere, even among conservatives. This is something you expect in places like Russia.
http://thehill.com/homenews/media/38137 ... redibility
Quote:
Sinclair Broadcasting Group executive chairman David Smith has lashed out at the print media saying it is "so left wing as to be meaningless dribble" that has "no credibility."

In emails to New York Magazine published Monday, Smith fired back after critics accused his company of pushing pro-Trump propaganda, arguing that print media “serves no real purpose.”

...President Trump on Tuesday defended Sinclair in the wake of the video, writing on Twitter that the company's critics in the news media were jealous of Sinclair's ratings."The Fake News Networks, those that knowingly have a sick and biased AGENDA, are worried about the competition and quality of Sinclair Broadcast," he tweeted.
Smith doesn't seem to be terribly well-educated, either - it should be "mindless drivel," not dribble. Says something about their quality, I suppose.


Sounds like Sinclair's control over the content in their stations has been going on for decades:
http://thehill.com/homenews/media/38136 ... or-america
Quote:
A former anchor for a Sinclair Broadcasting TV station in Baltimore said Monday that the company’s mandate for on-air talent to read scripted segments warning of media bias is “not good for America.” Kirk Clyatt told MSNBC that local affiliates have been forced to replace community stories with “these forced, must-run, lockstep with the Trump administration commentaries.”

“You have these extreme commentaries coming from this station, a very cookie-cutter way that is certainly not good for America,” he said.

Clyatt said that when he worked at a Sinclair station after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, anchors were asked to read a statement about how they supported then-President Bush’s war on terrorism.


https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/ar ... pa/557123/
Quote:
Scott Pruitt Bypassed the White House to Give Big Raises to Favorite Aides

In early March, Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt approached the White House with a request: He wanted substantial pay raises for two of his closest aides.

The aides, Sarah Greenwalt and Millan Hupp, were part of the small group of staffers who had traveled with Pruitt to Washington from Oklahoma, where he had served as attorney general. ...
Pruitt asked that Greenwalt’s salary be raised from $107,435 to $164,200; Hupp’s, from $86,460 to $114,590. Because both women were political appointees, he needed the White House to sign-off on their new pay.

... staffers from the Presidential Personnel Office dismissed Pruitt’s application....So Pruitt found another way.

A provision of the Safe Drinking Water Act allows the EPA administrator to hire up to 30 people into the agency, without White House or congressional approval. The provision, meant to help expedite the hiring of experts and allow for more flexible staffing... has been used to hire specialists into custom-made roles in especially stressed offices, according to Bob Perciasepe, a former acting EPA administrator.

... Pruitt’s team [learned that] by reappointing Greenwalt and Hupp under this authority... Pruitt could exercise total control over their contracts and grant the raises on his own.

Pruitt ordered it done. Though Hupp and Greenwalt’s duties did not change, the agency began processing them for raises of $28,130 and $56,765, respectively, compared with their 2017 salaries. Less than two weeks after Pruitt had approached the White House, according to time-stamped Human Resources documents shared with The Atlantic, the paperwork was finished.

...Hupp... is making more than her Obama-era predecessor, a five-year veteran of the agency who did not break six figures until the final year of the administration, according to public records.


http://thehill.com/homenews/administrat ... troversies
Quote:
President Trump is giving Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Scott Pruitt a vote of confidence, despite the mounting ethics troubles that are causing headaches for the administration.

A White House official said Trump phoned Pruitt on Monday night.The president told the EPA chief to “keep your head up, keep fighting” and that “we have your back,” according to multiple media reports.

White House chief of staff John Kelly called Pruitt Tuesday morning to reiterate Trump’s message.



http://thehill.com/blogs/congress-blog/ ... n-unravels
Quote:
“This is not about energy. There is no oil and gas assets [sic],” Zinke claimed the day after President Trump signed the largest rollback of federal lands protections in the nation’s history.

...[but] thousands of pages of Interior Department documents now reveal how mining and drilling interests were indeed at the center of Trump’s attack on national monuments. Among the documents is a series of maps submitted to the Interior Department by Sen. Orrin Hatch in March 2017, a month before Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke began his monument review. Hatch recommended that stripping monument protections from the lands in the map would “resolve all known mineral conflicts.” When Trump flew to Salt Lake City to gut Grand Staircase and Bears Ears, his maps were nearly identical to Hatch’s.

...An eye-opening investigation by the Western Values Project reveals that Utah state Rep. Mike Noel has owned 40 acres of land within Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument’s boundaries while at the same time advocating against protecting the monument. His parcel was carved out of the monument in President Trump’s new map. He also owns ranchland near the monument’s boundaries. All of this was held in the name of a company he failed to disclose on conflict of interest forms. In total, the lands owned by this company are estimated to be worth a hefty $1.29 million.

...Lately, he’s been angling to lead the Bureau of Land Management


http://thehill.com/homenews/house/38133 ... fense-fund
Quote:
Democrats on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee are ringing alarm bells about a legal defense fund that was set up for the White House and Trump campaign staffers being investigated by special counsel Robert Mueller.

Called the Patriot Legal Expense Fund Trust, LLC, the organization is a blanket account that accepts donations — and doles out funds — to help defray the legal costs associated with the Russia probes in the Justice Department and in Congress. Aides in the White House, in addition to those involved in the presidential transition and campaign, are eligible to receive money.

...Specifically, they are asserting that there is a lack of transparency and loopholes that could allow for mismanagement and abuse.

...“This is a shell game,” wrote former OGE Director Walter Shaub in a Los Angeles Times op-ed. “For legal purposes, any bad money taints the whole fund because money is fungible: Every dollar the fund accepts from a questionable source and pays to a nongovernmental beneficiary frees up a dollar for those who do work for the government.”



In other news:
http://thehill.com/homenews/administrat ... l-park-fee
Quote:
The Interior Department is backing off from substantially raising the entrance fee for national parks after more than 100,000 Americans wrote to complain about the proposed hikes, The Washington Post reported on Monday.

Last October, Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke proposed raising the entrance fee for 17 major parks from $25 to $70, a change that would mark the largest price increase since World War II.

However, after a deluge of public comments opposing the price increase, the Interior Department reconsidered. Prices will allegedly remain unchanged for now, though price increases are nonetheless likely to happen in the near future.


Edit to add a link to this article, which analyzes how Trump is trying to make complex issues like NAFTA, immigration, etc. fit his simple worldview:
https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/ar ... mp/557033/
Quote:
The Gap Between Trump's Tweets and Reality

The president’s latest tirade—on immigration policy, NAFTA, and U.S. relations with Mexico—reveals a policy founded on misunderstandings, half-truths, untruths, and contradictions.
Quote:
Start with the idea that NAFTA has been a boon to Mexico and a nightmare for the U.S. That’s connected with Trump’s view that trade is a zero-sum proposition, one that isn’t shared by most serious economists. “Mexico is making a fortune on NAFTA,” Trump complains. It is true that NAFTA has been beneficial to Mexico, but as the Congressional Research Service summed it up last year, “Most post-NAFTA studies on economic effects have found that the net overall effects on the Mexican economy tended to be positive but modest.” The deal brought some new money and wealth to Mexico, but some sectors benefited, while others were harmed.

Despite Trump’s repeated insistence that the U.S. was taken for a ride by NAFTA, much the same is true domestically, too. CRS and other analysts have found that the deal had a positive impact on the U.S. GDP, though not an enormous one, and that the benefits and costs are not evenly distributed.
Quote:
That’s not the only reason he can’t get much done, though. Writing about the president’s latest outburst Monday, James Hohmann pithily summed up the situation: “Donald Trump is either woefully uninformed or intentionally misleading the American people about one of his most consequential decisions as president. Which is the more charitable explanation?” This is not necessarily a binary choice, though. Trump has indeed lied to the public repeatedly, and his narrative of what happened to DACA is misleading. Yet the view that he has laid out in his tweets also shows many misunderstandings, of both fact and process, including on such basic matters as how Congress works. It’s very hard to make policy effectively when one’s vision of the situation is so far removed from reality.

_________________

Society can and does execute its own mandates, and if it issues wrong mandates instead of right, or any mandates at all in things with it ought not to meddle, it practices a social tyranny more formidable than many kinds of political oppression, since, though not usually upheld by such extreme penalties, it leaves fewer means of escape, penetrating much more deeply into the details of life, and enslaving the soul itself. ― John Stuart Mill


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aninkling
Post subject: Re: You've been Trumped!
Posted: Wed 04 Apr , 2018 2:15 pm
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http://thehill.com/policy/international ... n-us-goods
Quote:
China's government is responding to the latest tariffs levied by the Trump administration with its own set of tariffs targeting American soybeans, cars, and other exports. The Washington Post reports that Beijing announced a plan Wednesday to implement 25 percent tariffs on imports of U.S. soybeans, airplanes, and automobiles in a package that totals about $50 billion of U.S. goods.

The Post reports that South Korea's main stock exchange slid more than 1 percent on the news, while Europe
http://thehill.com/policy/finance/38157 ... ew-tariffs
Quote:
Stocks opened with steep losses Wednesday morning amid an escalation of trade tensions between the U.S. and China. The Dow Jones Industrial Average opened close to 500 points lower Wednesday morning, a roughly 2 percent drop. The Standard and Poor’s 500 index and Nasdaq took opened 1.4 percent percent lower, respectively, while industrial and materials sector stocks took the heaviest losses.

...Dow futures fell close to 500 points before Wednesday’s open, implying a major loss once trading began at 9:30 a.m. S&P futures fell 1.3 percent afterhours, while Nasdaq futures dropped 1.6 percent.

It's the latest market dive seemingly triggered by President Trump’s tariffs and the retaliation they’ve drawn from U.S trade partners.
http://thehill.com/business-a-lobbying/ ... -trade-war
Quote:
Businesses already smarting from China’s retaliatory tariffs are bracing for more trade actions from the Trump administration and U.S. trade partners.

...On Tuesday, the Trump administration unveiled a list of about 1,300 Chinese goods for a proposed 25 percent tariff, including metals, a slew of machine parts and electronic components.

...Business groups fear that China might be preparing to enact even steeper tariffs if Trump moves forward; the agriculture sector is particularly nervous. “If there is going to be a trade war and there’s going to be retaliation by China or anyone else against the U.S., the obvious target is going to be agriculture,” said Peter Friedmann, executive director of the Agriculture Transportation Coalition, a trade group.

http://thehill.com/policy/international ... with-china
Quote:
Trump: We are not in a trade war with China
President Trump said the U.S. is not in a trade war with China in a tweet hours after China unveiled the latest round of tariffs targeting $50 billion in U.S. goods.

..."We are not in a trade war with China, that war was lost many years ago by the foolish, or incompetent, people who represented the U.S. Now we have a Trade Deficit of $500 Billion a year, with Intellectual Property Theft of another $300 Billion. We cannot let this continue!" Trump wrote.
I'm right, I'm right, I'm right! Everyone else is an idiot! And it's all Obama's fault anyway!




http://thehill.com/homenews/media/38154 ... t-was-true
Quote:
Fox News host Shepard Smith on Tuesday fact-checked President Trump's claim that the U.S. Postal Service was losing large amounts of money because Amazon was delivering packages at low cost.

..."The Postal Service's own numbers show it makes money by delivering packages for Amazon and other companies. As for taxpayers, the post office's own website points out, and I quote, 'the Postal Service receives no tax dollars for operating expenses.' None," Smith said.

"And a reference to that $1.47 the president came up with there? A Citigroup study last year showed on average that the Postal Service was charging a $1.46 below market rates for package delivery, but our researchers point out if that discount exists, it's not just for Amazon, it's a bulk rate discount," he continued.

"There is a great deal of confusion or something here regarding Amazon and the Post Office because none of that, none of that was true," Smith told Fox News White House correspondent John Roberts.

Trump has taken aim at the retail giant on Twitter this week, resulting in the company's stock dropping this week.

I am right about Amazon costing the United States Post Office massive amounts of money for being their Delivery Boy. Amazon should pay these costs (plus) and not have them bourne by the American Taxpayer. Many billions of dollars. P.O. leaders don’t have a clue (or do they?)!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 3, 2018
Note the nasty little implication in the last bit "or do they?)!"


http://thehill.com/homenews/administrat ... eter-thiel
Quote:
President Trump is reportedly set to have dinner on Tuesday night with Oracle Corp. co-CEO Safra Catz and venture capitalist Peter Thiel. The dinner plans, reported by Bloomberg News, come as Oracle is competing with Amazon for a multibillion-dollar contract to provide cloud computing services to the Pentagon.

...Thiel, the co-founder of PayPal, has been a vocal supporter of Trump. He touted the real estate mogul's nomination at the 2016 Republican National Convention, and later became a high-dollar donor to Trump's campaign.
Also worth noting - Jeff Bezos, who owns Amazon, also owns the Washington Post, which has been very critical of Trump's presidency.



Edit to add:
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/201 ... scientists
Quote:
Donald Trump’s agriculture secretary, Sonny Perdue, has been criticized for rolling back school nutrition standards, attempting to upend the food stamps program, rejecting World Health Organization guidelines on antibiotics in agriculture and ending a pesticide ban, in a new report from the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) advocacy group.

...Despite the USDA’s huge impact, Stillerman said Perdue remains an “under-the-radar” cabinet secretary. UCS said Perdue’s low profile belied the magnitude of changes he had sought.

For example, the USDA surprised antibiotic resistance campaigners when it said World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines against using medically important antibiotics in agriculture were “not in alignment with US policy and are not supported by sound science”. There is widespread scientific agreement that the magnitude of antibiotic use in agriculture is problematic.

...Perdue’s hires were also criticized. For example, the Trump administration’s first nominee for the role of the USDA’s top scientist was not actually a scientist but a former rightwing radio host. The nominee, Sam Clovis, eventually withdrew. Clovis was a Trump campaign co-chair who was questioned in the FBI’s Russian collusion investigation.

Nevertheless, Perdue hired Clovis as a “senior adviser” to Perdue.

...Perdue has sought, and received, ethics waivers to hire lobbyists for top positions at the USDA.



https://www.agweb.com/article/perdue-fl ... t-shakeup/
Quote:
Perdue is the U.S. secretary of agriculture, running an agency with a $140 billion budget and a low profile.... He may be the most aggressive enforcer of President Donald Trump’s pro-business and deregulatory agenda that the fewest Americans have ever heard of.

“The USDA generally slides under the radar,” said Juliette Majot, executive director of the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy in Minneapolis, which advocates for small farmers. But change at the department under Perdue is “profound,” she said. ...
The short Perdue list includes reversing a regulation to boost protection of the welfare of animals in organic-food production; supporting revocation of a 2015 clean-water directive; axing another Obama-era decree giving small poultry producers more power to sue big buyers such as Tyson Foods Inc.; and reorganizing the USDA to give more official power to staffers tasked with promoting production and trade rather than food safety or rural development.


https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles ... ve-to-quit
Quote:
After Sinclair Broadcast Group Inc. drew widespread criticism for having anchors read a statement taking aim at the integrity of other U.S. media outlets, many wondered why some of the company’s journalists didn’t just quit.

The short answer is the cost may be too steep. According to copies of two employment contracts reviewed by Bloomberg, some Sinclair employees were subject to a liquidated damages clause for leaving before the term of their agreement was up: one that requires they pay as much as 40 percent of their annual compensation to the company.

While they were also subject to a six-month noncompete clause and forced arbitration, three current and former Sinclair employees said it was the potential financial penalty that had the greatest impact on those thinking of quitting.

_________________

Society can and does execute its own mandates, and if it issues wrong mandates instead of right, or any mandates at all in things with it ought not to meddle, it practices a social tyranny more formidable than many kinds of political oppression, since, though not usually upheld by such extreme penalties, it leaves fewer means of escape, penetrating much more deeply into the details of life, and enslaving the soul itself. ― John Stuart Mill


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Jude
Post subject: Re: You've been Trumped!
Posted: Wed 04 Apr , 2018 5:03 pm
Aspiring to heresy
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From Trump's twitter feed today, regarding the market plunge due to his policies:
Quote:
Incompetent idiot.

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[ img ]

Melkor and Ungoliant in need of some relationship counselling.


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Frelga
Post subject: Re: You've been Trumped!
Posted: Wed 04 Apr , 2018 5:18 pm
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Proof that we've gone down the wrong leg of the Trousers of Time.

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aninkling
Post subject: Re: You've been Trumped!
Posted: Thu 05 Apr , 2018 2:01 pm
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But he promises that China's tariff's on agricultural goods won't hurt farmers. Don't you believe him? ;)

http://thehill.com/homenews/administrat ... t-by-trade
Quote:
Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue said on Wednesday that President Trump told him farmers will not be hurt by an ongoing trade dispute with China.

Speaking at a town hall discussion in Ohio, Perdue said that the recently announced Chinese tariffs on $50 billion worth of U.S. products could be concerning to farmers but noted that the president said they shouldn’t worry.

"I talked to the president as recently as last night," Perdue said. "And he said, 'Sonny, you can assure your farmers out there that we're not going to allow them to be the casualties if this trade dispute escalates. We're going to take care of our American farmers. You can tell them that directly.'"
Which means either Perdue is a sycophant who knowingly spreads Trump's lies or that Trump plans to use taxpayer money to bail out farmers for the mess he is creating. At least the big corporate farmers. I doubt he cares about the little ones.



Trump seems to be using scare tactics about illegal immigration to shore up support among his base (whatever's left of it).
http://thehill.com/homenews/administrat ... ern-border
Quote:
President Trump signed an order Wednesday night to deploy National Guard troops to the U.S. southern border.

Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen first announced Trump's plan to deploy the National Guard earlier in the day Wednesday while speaking at the White House. Nielsen framed the move as a way to toughen an immigration system that “rewards bad behavior,” including illegal drug smuggling and border crossings....“The threat is real,” Nielsen said. “This threatens not only the safety of our communities and children, but also our very rule of law, on which, as you know, our country was founded.”

...The president has also cited a “caravan” of more than 1,000 Central Americans traveling toward the U.S. southern border as justification for a new crackdown. The caravan, which has been the subject of reports on Fox News, is part of an annual protest organized by the group Pueblo Sin Fronteras. Most of the participants are not expected to cross the border into the U.S.

...The ongoing planning and lack of publicly available details about the operation suggests Trump’s announcement took many in his administration by surprise.
I'll bet the National Guard is thrilled (they had to participate in similar shows under former presidents Bush and Obama). And I wonder how much this will cost us.

Quote:
“Our Border Laws are very weak while those of Mexico & Canada are very strong,” Trump tweeted Wednesday morning. “Congress must change these Obama era, and other, laws NOW! The Democrats stand in our way - they want people to pour into our country unchecked....CRIME! We will be taking strong action today.”
That's funny - I've never thought it was difficult at all to cross into Canada, and the Canadian agents have always been polite, welcoming and professional. It became more miserable (under Obama? or was it Bush?), but that was because of the American border agents when you come back. I have no personal experience with Mexico, but have the impression that crossing that border is impeded mostly by the U.S. I know there was fairly free passage between communities on either side of the border at one time, for daytrips and shopping, and I thought we were the ones who shut that down.


Edit to add:
https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/ar ... ns/557276/
Quote:
Trump's New Solution to Every Problem

Like his predecessors, the president is discovering the allure of using the armed forces to solve problems, and like them, he’s also quickly discovering its limitations.
Quote:
What is unusual about Trump is how quickly he has landed on the military as his silver bullet, and the range of cases in which he has employed it.
This doesn't bode well, with Bolton coming in, plus Pompeo proposed for the State Dept and Gina Haskell for the CIA.




http://thehill.com/homenews/administrat ... ent-report
Quote:
The State Department spent around $12 million on private consultants to help shepherd the agency through former Secretary of State Rex Tillerson's much-touted "redesign," according to documents obtained by Politico.

In some cases, the consultants charged the department more than $300 an hour, Politico reported Tuesday. Most of the money went to Deloitte as part of a pre-existing federal contract, the news outlet added.

The value of that contract was raised to $265 million from nearly $140 million, according to Politico. While contract ceilings are often not reached, the move offers an insight into the grand ambitions of Tillerson's proposed overhaul of the department.


Who's been dining with Trump:
http://thehill.com/homenews/administrat ... ies-report
Quote:
President Trump has taken to hosting a slew of private dinner parties at the White House with friends, lawmakers, conservative leaders and prominent television journalists, according to a Politico report.

...Trump has garnered a reputation as a sort of recluse in Washington, known for fielding late-night phone calls with friends and political allies instead of throwing the high-profile events that have been common for past presidents.

Among those who have dined with Trump at the White House are Patriots owner Bob Kraft, media mogul Rupert Murdoch and New York real estate developer Richard LeFrak. Fox News host Sean Hannity has also stopped by for dinner, according to Politico.

_________________

Society can and does execute its own mandates, and if it issues wrong mandates instead of right, or any mandates at all in things with it ought not to meddle, it practices a social tyranny more formidable than many kinds of political oppression, since, though not usually upheld by such extreme penalties, it leaves fewer means of escape, penetrating much more deeply into the details of life, and enslaving the soul itself. ― John Stuart Mill


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aninkling
Post subject: Re: You've been Trumped!
Posted: Thu 05 Apr , 2018 5:49 pm
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http://thehill.com/policy/energy-enviro ... troversies
Quote:
A top aide and close friend of Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Scott Pruitt has issued her resignation in the midst of various scandals plaguing the agency chief. Samantha Dravis, the senior counsel and associate administrator in EPA's Office of Policy, tendered her resignation last week, the agency confirmed to The Hill on Thursday.

The sudden departure is described by one source with close knowledge of Dravis’s relationship with Pruitt as a “five-alarm story.”

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/02/clim ... tment.html
Quote:
The Environmental Protection Agency signed off last March on a Canadian energy company’s pipeline-expansion plan at the same time that the E.P.A. chief, Scott Pruitt, was renting a condominium linked to the energy company’s powerful Washington lobbying firm. Both the E.P.A. and the lobbying firm dispute that there was any connection between the agency’s action and the condo rental, for which Mr. Pruitt was paying $50 a night.

...Nevertheless, government ethics experts said that the correlation between the E.P.A.’s action and Mr. Pruitt’s lease arrangement — he was renting from the wife of the head of the lobbying firm Williams & Jensen — illustrates why such ties to industry players can generate questions for public officials: Even if no specific favors were asked for or granted, it can create an appearance of a conflict.

...The signoff by the E.P.A. came even though the agency, at the end of the Obama administration, had moved to fine Enbridge $61 million in connection with a 2010 pipeline episode that sent hundreds of thousands of gallons of crude oil into the Kalamazoo River in Michigan and other waterways. The fine was the second-largest in the history of the Clean Water Act, behind the penalty imposed after the Deepwater Horizon spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

A look at what $50 a night will get a person without connections in Washington. :)
https://www.washingtonian.com/2018/04/0 ... hill-rent/
Quote:
For six months in 2017, Pruitt paid nightly for a room in a Capitol Hill condo co-owned by lobbyist Vicki Hart, an arrangement which might have already compromised the EPA. We took Pruitt’s cushy, ethically dubious rental set-up as a challenge: What would it look like to pay $50 a night for a bedroom in one of the most expensive neighborhoods in the District? We checked Airbnb for some insight, looking at similarly priced private rooms near the Capitol ranked from least to most appealing.


http://thehill.com/business-a-lobbying/ ... tions-from
Quote:
The White House is reportedly looking into a proposal that some warn could strip protections for hundreds of threatened species.The proposal is called "Removal of Blanket Section 4(d) Rule," CNN reported, citing a government database. The blanket rule has been used by the Fish and Wildlife Service to cover hundreds of threatened animal and plant species that are at risk of becoming endangered.

A spokesman for the Fish and Wildlife Service said it is false to say the rule would strip the protections and noted it is a "draft" that is "under internal review."

...The proposal comes after reports that President Trump's appointee to oversee wildlife and parks at the Interior Department has a history of opposing endangered species protections.


http://thehill.com/homenews/administrat ... out-report
Quote:
Aides to President Trump are reportedly preparing for a scenario in which Trump withdraws the U.S. from the Iran nuclear agreement next month. Trump's national security team is considering strategies for pulling out of the multilateral agreement and reimposing the sanctions waived by the U.S., according to The Associated Press.

...One option under consideration is an immediate reapplication of sanctions on Iran delayed by six months, the AP reported, giving allied nations time to consider new actions or help revise the deal that Trump has called "the worst deal ever negotiated."

National security staffers are also considering whether to allow the European nations that co-signed the agreement to preserve it without U.S. involvement, officials told the news service.

http://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/38 ... id-changes
Quote:
Two employees at the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) are no longer with the agency following a tumultuous rollout of a federal family planning program.

OPA runs the Title X grant program, the only federal program that focuses solely on funding family planning services, like birth control and testing for sexually transmitted diseases, for low-income women and men. Cathy Deeds and Mary Vigil, who were both senior advisers at the Office of Population Affairs (OPA), are no longer employed by HHS, a spokesperson confirmed Thursday.

It's not clear if Deeds and Virgil resigned or were fired. An HHS spokesperson said they have nothing further to add "at this time."

The new rollout places an emphasis on abstinence education and downplays the role of contraception. Advocates say the changes also appear to be geared toward funding faith-based groups that promote abstinence-only education and oppose abortion rights.

This is noteworthy from the Trump administration because it's sane and compassionate:
http://thehill.com/business-a-lobbying/ ... rry-opioid
Quote:
The surgeon general in a rare public health advisory is calling on more Americans to carry a potentially life-saving medication that can reverse the effects of an opioid overdose.

Jerome Adams said it is particularly important for friends and family of those at risk of an opioid overdose to have naloxone on hand as the nation’s opioid crisis shows no signs of slowing down.



https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/201 ... s-employer
Quote:
A cyclist in effect fired from her job after giving Donald Trump the middle finger is suing her former employer. Juli Briskman filed a lawsuit in a Virginia court on Wednesday arguing that the government contractor Akima violated the state’s employment law when it forced her to quit. Briskman was cycling last October when Trump, departing his golf club in Sterling, northern Virginia, passed her in his motorcade.

...The image was captured by photographers travelling with the president and quickly went viral ...The Herndon-based company then forced her to resign, claiming that her posting of a photo of the incident on her Facebook page (which did not mention her association with Akima) violated the company’s social media policy.
One important point is that a senior director of operations , who WAS identified as an Akima employee, wrote “You’re a fucking Libtard asshole” in a Facebook discussion about Black Lives Matter and wasn't fired.

_________________

Society can and does execute its own mandates, and if it issues wrong mandates instead of right, or any mandates at all in things with it ought not to meddle, it practices a social tyranny more formidable than many kinds of political oppression, since, though not usually upheld by such extreme penalties, it leaves fewer means of escape, penetrating much more deeply into the details of life, and enslaving the soul itself. ― John Stuart Mill


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aninkling
Post subject: Re: You've been Trumped!
Posted: Thu 05 Apr , 2018 11:57 pm
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Dear Leader is busy escalating his trade war:

http://thehill.com/homenews/administrat ... s-on-china
Quote:
President Trump announced Thursday that he has directed officials in his administration to look at slapping $100 billion in additional tariffs on China, the latest move in an escalating trade dispute between Washington and Beijing.

"In light of China’s unfair retaliation, I have instructed the USTR to consider whether $100 billion of additional tariffs would be appropriate under section 301 and, if so, to identify the products upon which to impose such tariffs," Trump said in a statement, referring to the U.S. Trade Representative.

"I have also instructed the Secretary of Agriculture, with the support of other members of my Cabinet, to use his broad authority to implement a plan to protect our farmers and agricultural interests," he added.
So it seems it's going to be taxpayer money to bail out the industries hurt by Trump being an idiot.



Meanwhile, more corruption comes to light:
http://thehill.com/policy/energy-enviro ... t-spending
Quote:
A number of high ranking Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) employees were demoted, reassigned or requested new positions after raising red flags at the agency, The New York Times reported Thursday.

At least five EPA officials, four of which were high ranking, were given different positions after questioning Administrator Scott Pruitt, according to the report. The reassigned staffers included Kevin Chmielewski, a political appointee who was placed on administrative leave without pay, and three career officials.

...CBS reported earlier Thursday that Weese's job was downgraded after an incident where he told the administrator he could not use the emergency siren lights on his vehicle to get more speedily through D.C. traffic to get to a meeting on time. Weese, a special agent and 16-year veteran of the EPA in charge of Pruitt's security detail, was later replaced, CBS reported.

http://thehill.com/policy/finance/38190 ... ion-agency
Quote:
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau director Mick Mulvaney gave major pay raises to political appointees he hired at the agency, according to multiple media reports.

Four of the political appointees are making $259,500 and another staffer is earning $239,595. Those salaries far exceed those made by even the highest-ranking government staffers, including members of Congress and Cabinet secretaries, according to the Associated Press.


http://thehill.com/policy/defense/38186 ... guard-plan
Quote:
The Pentagon on Thursday had few details to provide regarding President Trump's plan to deploy the National Guard to the U.S.-Mexico border.

Officials would not say whether Trump's newly signed proclamation late Wednesday would be paid for with Defense Department dollars long stressed as needed for military readiness. Details were also scarce as to how the Pentagon will support the plan,... Chief spokeswoman Dana White could not say when or how many troops would be deployed, did not have cost estimates for the endeavor and didn’t say whether state or federal dollars would be used.
...White could not say whether guardsmen would be armed or if they will perform patrols with border security agents, adding that the new support cell will help answer such questions.

Trump on Tuesday announced he wants to deploy U.S. troops to guard the southern border until his proposed wall is built.“Until we can have a wall and proper security, we are going to be guarding our border with the military,” Trump said at the White House, while sitting next to Defense Secretary James Mattis.
And of course, the National Guard is made up of people with normal jobs, who will now be pulled off those jobs to guard the border until Trump's wall is built. In other words, he's holding everyone hostage to his demand for a physical wall.



http://thehill.com/homenews/house/38180 ... l-spending
Quote:
Democrats are lashing out at the notion that President Trump and GOP leaders may seek to eliminate some of the funding increases in the enormous 2018 spending package adopted less than two weeks ago.

Republicans have come under fire in their districts during the spring recess after supporting the $1.3 trillion omnibus bill, which provides a huge bump in both defense and domestic spending, adding hundreds of billions of dollars to federal deficits. In response, Trump and Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) are reportedly in talks to tap an obscure provision of a decades-old budget law to prune some of the spending increases from the package.

Democrats, who supported the omnibus only after receiving funds for their domestic priorities, said any GOP effort to make after-the-fact changes would be a major betrayal. “It would completely poison the well to the idea that there can be responsible bipartisan compromise,” said Matthew Dennis, a spokesman for Rep. Nita Lowey (N.Y.), the senior Democrat on the House Appropriations Committee. ...“It’s a bill that was signed into law with Democratic and Republican votes and with the signature of the president. And they apparently didn’t like the way it played in the media afterwards, so now they’re going to try to call for a do-over,” he said.
Quote:
It’s unclear if the idea is gaining steam in the GOP conference, or even if other Republican leaders outside of McCarthy, who has increasingly aligned himself with Trump, are on board. The offices of both McCarthy and Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) did not respond Thursday to requests for comment.
In other words, Trump and McCarthy want to make every budget from now on a complete disaster unlikely to get bipartisan agreement, no matter which party is in the majority.


https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/gra ... fc1e07367a
Quote:
The Trump administration is seeking to slash nearly $4 billion in annual funding for student aid programs, but the two-year budget deal signed into law last week complicates that proposal.
Quote:
President Trump and Education Secretary Betsy DeVos released a fiscal 2019 budget Monday that rehashes many of the proposals floated by the White House last year. Among them are plans to ax loan forgiveness for public servants, alter the terms of income-driven student loan repayment and stop paying the interest on low-income students’ loans while they are in school. Those three changes alone could increase the cost of higher education for borrowers by more than $200 billion over the next decade.

...The Trump administration wants to slash nearly $790 million from the federal work-study programs that help students work their way through college. That is substantially more than the $487 million proposed last year. ...

The two-year budget deal that Trump signed into law last week will spare the work-study program, along with a few others, from such drastic reductions in funding.

_________________

Society can and does execute its own mandates, and if it issues wrong mandates instead of right, or any mandates at all in things with it ought not to meddle, it practices a social tyranny more formidable than many kinds of political oppression, since, though not usually upheld by such extreme penalties, it leaves fewer means of escape, penetrating much more deeply into the details of life, and enslaving the soul itself. ― John Stuart Mill


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aninkling
Post subject: Re: You've been Trumped!
Posted: Fri 06 Apr , 2018 1:19 pm
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Posts: 2048
Joined: Fri 10 Aug , 2012 4:42 pm
 
http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing- ... ant-crisis
Quote:
Fox News correspondent Geraldo Rivera said the immigrant crisis surrounding the Central American caravan traveling to Mexico was “manufactured.”

Rivera sparred with host Sean Hannity on Thursday after saying he thought reports of the caravan had caused an overreaction. “I think this immigrant crisis is manufactured,” Rivera said. “I think it’s an overreaction to the so-called caravan of 1,000 that is now broken up in the southern city around Puebla … They are seeking asylum.”

...“Illegal immigration across the southern border is near 46-year lows,” Rivera said. “We did have a spike in March, probably having to do with the demand for agricultural workers here in the southwestern part of the country.”
IMO, Hannity is a nasty piece of work with zero interest in facts. And Trump's buddy.



http://thehill.com/latino/381926-trump- ... ons-report
Quote:
The Trump administration's director of the Office of Refugee Resettlement has directed staff to provide him with a consistently-updated spreadsheet of unaccompanied minors in custody seeking abortions, The New York Times reports.

Scott Lloyd, the top official in charge of refugees at the Department of Health and Human Services, instructed HHS staff to keep an updated spreadsheet each week that details how many minors traveling without their parents are requesting abortion services and how far along they are in their pregnancy. Lloyd has called for counseling for these girls from "life-affirming" sources

...The news comes months after it was reported that Lloyd tried to block an undocumented minor teen who was impregnated after being raped from receiving an abortion. A court eventually ruled that Lloyd was not allowed to block the teen from receiving the procedure.


http://thehill.com/homenews/administrat ... ll-targets
Quote:
The Washington Post reported Thursday after watching a recorded video of a Syrian drone strike where officials waited until the target was outside of his family’s home, Trump asked, “Why did you wait?”

The agency’s head of drone operations explained to an “unimpressed” Trump there are techniques to limit the number of civilian casualties.

Trump called for the CIA to start arming its drone in Syria and reportedly asked for it to be started in days.


And, of course, the stock market is falling again due to Trump's proposed new tariffs.

_________________

Society can and does execute its own mandates, and if it issues wrong mandates instead of right, or any mandates at all in things with it ought not to meddle, it practices a social tyranny more formidable than many kinds of political oppression, since, though not usually upheld by such extreme penalties, it leaves fewer means of escape, penetrating much more deeply into the details of life, and enslaving the soul itself. ― John Stuart Mill


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