Saturday, March 25, 2017

Here Are the 50 GOP Senators Who Just Sacrificed Your #BroadbandPrivacy to Corporate Profits

http://www.commondreams.org/news/2017/03/23/here-are-50-gop-senators-who-just-sacrificed-your-broadbandprivacy-corporate-profits
"Privacy and consumer advocates—and a seemingly endless chorus of Internet users—were expressing outrage on Thursday after the Republican-controlled U.S. Senate passed a bill that will allow powerful media corporations to collect personal data of internet users without their consent and sell that information to the "highest bidder" for profit."

Is a billionaire-funded coup to rewrite the Constitution on the verge of happening?

Is a billionaire-funded coup to rewrite the Constitution on the verge of happening?

"According to Wisconsin.gov, Republican lawmakers will hold a public hearing on Tuesday, March 28, to determine whether Wisconsin will call for a constitutional convention."

Trump’s ‘draconian’ budget devastates rural communities already hanging by a thread

https://thinkprogress.org/trumps-budget-leaves-rural-america-behind-28d24564b8e7#.q1rijze9j
"President Donald Trump’s proposal for the federal budget, released on Thursday, targets a number of agencies and programs for elimination that benefit the rural poor. These 19 independent agencies provide, among other things: job training for low-income seniors, after-school programs for kids in high-poverty areas, and housing assistance to low-income families. These cuts would be particularly harmful if they came along with the end of the Affordable Care Act’s Medicaid expansion, which the House Republican health care reform proposal would eliminate. Health care is often more expensive in rural areas, but Trumpcare does not account for geographical price disparities. Even without Medicaid cuts, however, advocates say that rural communities could be devastated by provisions of the Trump budget proposal. “This budget is draconian when it come to the needs of rural places,” said Robert Mahaffey, executive director of the Rural School and Community Trust."

Trump's proposed State Department budget cuts put US at risk

http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow/watch/trump-s-proposed-state-department-budget-cuts-put-us-at-risk-900056643933
"Donald Trump's proposal to cut the State Department's budget by a third, and the implications that will have on fighting terrorism and epidemics like Ebola."

Bernie Sanders: President Donald Trump Broke Working People Promise

Trump: Don't Blame Me When I Quote Fox News

http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2017/03/trump-dont-blame-me-when-i-quote-fox-news
"Donald Trump does not like taking responsibility for White House screw-ups. He'll blame anyone else he can think of—even his friends at Fox News."

DeVos Moves To Give Control Of Education To Koch Brothers And Heritage Foundation | Crooks and Liars

DeVos Moves To Give Control Of Education To Koch Brothers And Heritage Foundation | Crooks and Liars

"Secretary of Education, Betsy DeVos, is wasting no time when it comes to destroying our children's education on a federal level. During her confirmation hearing, she stressed that she would work in the best interests of students, teachers and education leaders, and that she supported public schools, wanting only the best for them. But for those who know DeVos' history, this was not in tune with her previous statements and actions. She has spent the last twenty plus years destroying the education system in her home state of Michigan."

Oops: Devin Nunes Backpedals Spying Claims

Trump-loving former congressman hauled off in handcuffs for allegedly looting his own charity

Trump-loving former congressman hauled off in handcuffs for allegedly looting his own charity

"Tea Partier and Trump supporter Steve Stockman has been charged with violating federal election law by misusing money from a charity that he created. The former Texas congressman allegedly started the non-profit Life Without Limits, then channelled $350,000 in charity donations back to his own account, Click2Houston reports.  At his Thursday court appearance, the judge assured the former congressman that it’s in his best interest to get good counsel as soon as possible."

Trump’s budget proposal plans a disaster for public investment

Trump’s budget proposal plans a disaster for public investment

"The broader cuts in the budget blueprint foreshadow an even worse fate for overall public investment. NDD is only about 16 percent of all federal spending, but fully half of it is public investment. The Trump budget essentially puts a long-run decline in NDD spending on overdrive. NDD budget authority fell from almost 7 percent of GDP in 1977 to about 3 percent by 1990. It has hovered around 3 percent since then, beginning a slow decline in recent years. The administration’s budget intends to accelerate this decline, reducing NDD spending swiftly and sharply from 2.8 percent of GDP in 2016 to 2.3 percent by 2018."

Trump Stooge Spectacularly Undermines Investigation

Trump budget slashes heat assistance for struggling families, saying it's a 'lower-impact program'

http://www.dailykos.com/stories/2017/3/16/1644153/-Trump-budget-slashes-heat-assistance-for-struggling-families-saying-it-s-a-lower-impact-program
"Across the country, LIHEAP helps millions of families, 75 percent of which include an elderly or disabled person or a child."

Over 350,000 Back Call for Lawmakers To Give Up Their Subsidized Healthcare

http://www.commondreams.org/news/2017/03/15/over-350000-back-call-lawmakers-give-their-subsidized-healthcare
"Highlighting the hypocrisy of members of Congress who benefit from large healthcare subsidies at the same time that they work to kick millions of Americans off of their health coverage, a man who lost his father to cancer because he was uninsured has created a petition demanding an end to those subsidies for lawmakers."

Russian Agent Ran Trump's Campaign

Trump’s budget screws over his voters

https://thinkprogress.org/trumps-budget-will-drive-up-on-his-own-voters-power-bills-3a6ea89ed93e#.e0my7e5rb
"President Trump’s new federal budget continues a remarkable pattern of being gratuitously cruel to his own voters. The just-released budget zeroes out the two major programs designed to help low-income and elderly Americans deal with energy costs: the Department of Energy (DOE)’s Weatherization Assistance Program (WAP) and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS)’s Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP)."

Trump’s budget blueprint is a war on the future of the American economy

http://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2017/3/16/14940712/trump-budget-science-education-health
"President Donald Trump’s debut budget proposal is a stark declaration of war on the future of the American economy that substitutes a curious mix of ideology and blind nostalgia for any effort to think critically about the actual needs of a 21st-century nation."

Lawrence: President Trump, Paul Ryan, Devin Nunes In Over Their Heads

Senate votes to kill Obama contractor rule

https://www.publicintegrity.org/2017/03/07/20748/senate-votes-kill-obama-contractor-rule
"The rule stemmed from a 2014 executive order issued months after a report by Senate Democrats revealed that almost 30 percent of the worst violators of wage and worker-safety laws from 2007 to 2012 had received government contracts."

We're Witnessing a Dangerous Detachment from Reality

http://www.esquire.com/news-politics/politics/news/a53868/trump-detachment-reality/
"This is the profound emptiness at the heart of conservatism when it gets into government. Even in triumph, it can't turn off the autonomic anti-government nerve system that has animated modern conservatism for the past 50 years. It has relied on so much that is contrary to human nature and human experience that it doesn't know how to relate to the world any other way. This is a movement that believes that, to be free, a 68-year-old Alzheimer's patient should shop for his own health insurance, which will be provided to him at a reasonable price because, if it isn't, some market magic will make the health insurance company go bankrupt for being mean to its customers. This is the movement that produces critters like Rep. Joe Barton of Texas, who, when asked why he voted against the Violence Against Women Act, replied that violence against women was a state issue and not a federal one. When asked, and I'm paraphrasing here, whether or not he realized how very stupid his first answer was, Barton replied, Shut up. This is a movement that believes that government's relationship with industry should be a silk hand in a velvet glove, that corporations like those which mine and sell coal have a vigorous social conscience, and, therefore, when they find that they are endangering their workers, they will spend what it takes to make them safe. There are people who believe this bunk, just as there are people who believed Donald Trump."

Donald Trump Russia Case 'More Than Circumstantial'

Trump's Budget Won't Balance Federal Spending, but It'll Move a Lot of Money to the Rich

http://www.truth-out.org/opinion/item/39876-trump-s-budget-won-t-balance-federal-spending-but-it-ll-move-a-lot-of-money-to-the-rich
"The political theater that passes for serious policy debate is about to run into an unfortunate reality as Donald Trump's budget plan comes face to face with its arch-nemesis: arithmetic. It's impossible to cut taxes, increase spending, and balance the budget. That's not political bluster. That's math. Throughout the campaign and since, Trump promised to invest in infrastructure, pass an enormous tax cut, boost military spending, cut "waste, fraud, and abuse," and protect Social Security and Medicare -- and, of course, balance the budget. This rhetoric has been remarkably effective, the presidential equivalent of offering free ponies for everyone -- but even less practical. Working in Trump's favor, however, is that many Americans believe things about the federal budget that are simply not true. There's a lot of misinformation out there. According to public opinion polls, Americans believe nearly a third of the budget goes to international aid. In reality, it's less than 1 percent. A survey of Fox News viewers from 2013 showed nearly half believed most federal debt could be eliminated by "cutting waste and fraud." It can't. Out of a nearly $4 trillion annual federal budget, about $3.4 trillion is spent on things that either can't be cut or Trump has promised he doesn't want to cut. This includes Social Security, Medicare, military spending, and interest on the national debt. That leaves just over half a trillion dollars to cover all non-military discretionary spending. It's a lot of money, to be sure, but a small proportion of overall spending. This is the part Trump is proposing to cut. What's included in this side of the budget? To name just a few things: The benefits that help veterans get back on their feet after getting wounded. The nutrition assistance that helps babies born to low-income mothers. The science research that will mitigate the next infectious disease outbreak (remember Zika?)."

The Nuclear Danger Posed by Trump Has Only Grown @alternet

The Nuclear Danger Posed by Trump Has Only Grown @alternet:

"Before the 2016 election, Schlosser said the notion of Trump “with the launch codes, capable of devastating cities and countries, is extraordinary. It’s like the plot out of a science-fiction film." Now that film is reality and the opening scenes are already scary."

Russia Seeks Parity With US On Cyber-Power

The butcher’s bill keeps coming due: Donald Trump’s Hannibal Lecter budget cannibalizes his own supporters

http://www.salon.com/2017/03/16/the-butchers-bill-keeps-coming-due-donald-trumps-hannibal-lecter-budget-cannibalizes-his-own-supporters/
"But what happens when Trump and the Republican Party are done feasting on the “white working class” and their other supporters? When the bones are picked clean, to whom will they turn for a meal? People of conscience know the answer even if it terrifies them. If a budget is a kind of moral document and a statement of priorities, Trump has shown that he is an enemy of the American people and the common good — including his most stalwart supporters. If Trump is willing to betray them, all others should quake in fear at what he plans for his enemies in the process of “making America great again"."

Russia’s 5th Column

https://www.americanprogress.org/issues/security/reports/2017/03/15/428074/russias-5th-column/
"President Donald Trump is following the same playbook as the Russian-backed far-right European leaders, adopting eerily similar language to theirs and pursuing the same policies that advance Russia’s objectives even when they are inconsistent with previous Republican policy positions."

Russia Payments Intensify Michael Flynn Scandal

Mike Flynn was paid by Russia's top cybersecurity firm while he still had top-secret-level security clearance

http://www.businessinsider.com/mike-flynn-and-russia-2017-3
"Retired Gen. Michael Flynn was paid $11,250 by Russia's top cybersecurity firm, Kaspersky, in 2015, according to new documents obtained and published by the Congressional Oversight Committee on Wednesday. Flynn was also paid $11,250 by the Russian charter cargo airline Volga-Dnepr Airlines, according to the documents. Flynn was paid for his work with both companies while he still had top-secret level security clearance, a year after he was fired as head of the Defense Intelligence Agency, the Wall Street Journal's Shane Harris noted."

A Timeline: Russia and President Trump

http://billmoyers.com/story/the-trump-resistance-plan-a-timeline-russia-and-president-trump/
"Investigative reporters have begun to flesh out the Trump/Russia timeline. To keep everything in one location, here’s an updated summary (so far)."

The Most Telling Thing About the FBI’s Probe into Trump | The Resistance with Keith Olbermann | GQ

‘We will not be a nuclear waste dump’: Vulnerable GOP senator slams Trump’s Nevada nuke waste plan

‘We will not be a nuclear waste dump’: Vulnerable GOP senator slams Trump’s Nevada nuke waste plan

"The Las Vegas Review Journal notes that, while Trump would increase funding to revive the Yucca Mountain facility, his budget would also slash the Office of Science’s $5 billion budget by a whopping $900 million, which would dramatically cut the amount of research that it now funds at more than 300 universities and at 10 national labs."

Trump Proposal To Privatize Air Traffic Control Puts Everyone Who Flies At Risk

http://thedailybanter.com/2017/03/trumps-faa-privatization-puts-flying-public-at-risk/
"the fact remains that the U.S. civil aviation system has an excellent safety record and it generally works well for all who use it. Yes, some modernization is needed in some areas, and in a few instances the FAA is already working on that. But giving control of the system over to a private vendor that would likely favor the needs of the big airlines over other users of the system is not the answer, and would clearly jeopardize the safety of all who fly."

Russia! Russia! Russia! | The Resistance with Keith Olbermann | GQ

Defense Secretary Defies Trump, Says Climate Change Is a Real Threat to American Interests

http://www.dailykos.com/stories/2017/3/15/1643924/-Defense-Secretary-Defies-Trump-Says-Climate-Change-Is-a-Real-Threat-to-American-Interests
"Indeed, the new Pentagon chief is directly disavowing the position of the President. He went on to stress that "this is a real-time issue, not some distant what-if." According to "Mad Dog" Mattis "Climate change is impacting stability in areas of the world where our troops are operating today." This is not a particularly new opinion within the walls of the Pentagon. The military has been crystal clear for years about the very real consequences of a world where water and arable land become scarce, and nations erupt into chaos and war."

HHS Secretary Tom Price Lied To A Cancer Survivor's Face | Crooks and Liars

HHS Secretary Tom Price Lied To A Cancer Survivor's Face | Crooks and Liars

"Price's answer was just stunningly evil. After explaining that he was a doctor and had treated many, many cancer patients, he launched his litany of lies."

How the System Got Broken, and Why It Can’t Be Fixed

http://billmoyers.com/story/system-got-broken-cant-fixed/
"The system failed because the Founding Fathers did not anticipate anything like the modern Republican Party. On the contrary, they believed that extremism and overweening self-interest of the sort Republicans routinely display could always be quarantined. Were they wrong! Instead of the Constitution circumscribing reactionary populism, reactionary populism has circumscribed the Constitution. That is where we are now. And there is no way out."

Lawrence: President Donald Trump Is 'Defining Deviancy Down'

The House Republicans’ Corporate Tax Cut

https://www.americanprogress.org/issues/economy/reports/2017/03/14/427967/house-republicans-corporate-tax-cut/
"Much of the reduction would benefit the largest and most-profitable businesses, including those that have engaged in shifting profits and jobs out of the United States."

'The Big Short' author on Trump and Wall Street

http://www.msnbc.com/the-last-word/watch/-the-big-short-author-on-trump-and-wall-street-896852035551
"Michael Lewis, author of "The Big Short," "Moneyball," and "The Undoing Project," explains why some of the Trump administration's policy ideas could take the USA back to the same situation before the crash of 2008."

Friday, March 24, 2017

Trump Already Bought By Big Pharma

"Making America Great" at Americans' Expense

http://www.commondreams.org/views/2017/03/14/making-america-great-americans-expense
"Now in the White House, he proceeds to push programs and policies that contradict many of his promises. He is ballooning an already massive, bloated military budget by cutting the health and safety budgets of consumer, environmental and labor regulatory agencies and housing and energy assistance. Reportedly he wants to cut one billion dollars out of the budget of the Centers for Disease Control that works to detect and prevent global epidemics! Just today, the Congressional Budget Office announced that under the proposed Republican Health Plan, 24 million people will lose health care by 2026. Apparently he is oblivious to the perils of Avian Flu, SARS, Ebola and Zika threatening our national security and the health and lives of millions of people. There is more to this emerging betrayal. Trump is supporting Republican Speaker of the House Paul Ryan’s “you’re on your own, folks” devastating health insurance plan. Slash and burn Ryan, comfortably fully insured by the taxpayers, publicly admits he doesn’t know how many people will lose their health insurance."