Filed under: Videos,Autoblog Minute,Original Video
Continue reading The future of urban travel, according to Mercedes-Benz
The future of urban travel, according to Mercedes-Benz originally appeared on Autoblog on Thu, 31 Aug 2017 22:12:28 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Permalink | Email this | CommentsKellyanne Conway, adviser to the man who cannot even address an ongoing federal disaster like Hurricane Harvey without making it all about himself, actually went on a Christian news network and straight up had the nerve to tell Pat Robertson that Donald Trump’s best characteristic is humility.
People, you cannot make this up.
The Republican National Committee has been losing staffers one after the other of late. Now chief of staff Sara Armstrong is resigning as well.
Armstrong is the sixth staffer to leave the RNC in just over the month. A handful of aides in the committees data department have left recently amid a change in departmental leadership.
This is only a few days after the last resignation, that of director Conor Maguire; most of the others are in the data department, and come soon after Reince Priebus ally Katie Walsh was booted from the White House and into that very department.
Party operatives have been taken aback by the departures, which come at a relatively early stage in the 2018 campaign. They say the elevation of [Ellen Bredenkoetter], a newcomer to the committee, has left some hurt feelings among veteran RNC aides who’ve been passed over.
It seems that the tumult in the White House isn't just affecting the White House. Don't feel bad for Sara Armstrong, however: She'll be taking a new position at the Chamber of Commerce, where her new duties will include doing Chamber of Commerce stuff and not having to organize RNC efforts to preserve party documents relating to the Donald Trump campaign.
Filed under: Videos,Autoblog Minute,Original Video
Continue reading Grand Cherokee Trackhawk or Challenger SRT Demon
Grand Cherokee Trackhawk or Challenger SRT Demon originally appeared on Autoblog on Thu, 31 Aug 2017 21:07:04 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Permalink | Email this | CommentsIn a video testimony, Dreamer Juan Escalante says that “almost a million lives could be impacted” if Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) is rescinded by the Trump administration. Because of DACA, over 800,000 immigrant youth can work legally, apply for driver’s licenses, pursue educational and career goals, and live free from the fear of deportation. “I am one of those people,” Juan says.
“Fundamentally, deep down inside, I consider myself an American,” Juan says. “That is because I’ve lived in the United States for the past 17 years, paid my taxes, worked hard, got an education, and grew up in this country.” But all of Juan’s hard work stands to get ripped away if DACA rescinded by Donald Trump, despite the program having overwhelming support from the American public, who favor both DACA staying and permanent legalization for undocumented immigrant youth.
In the video, Juan asks immigrant rights allies to reach out to Congress to defend DACA and stand by immigrant youth. “I hope that you will reach out to your representatives, your senators,” Juan says, “and make sure you express your outrage. Because make no mistake, if this program ends, people like myself, hardworking individuals, could be next in Donald Trump’s mass deportation agenda. We could be sent back to countries that we no longer have attachments to.”
Juan reminds us that “we did not win the DACA program by just hoping that Congress would act. We won the DACA program because we took action.” Watch his powerful video testimony below, and click here to share on Facebook.
Jared Kushner and other members of his family real estate firm have twice been caught using Kushner’s closeness with Trump as a means of peddling $500,000 deals that come with an inside track to a US visa.
Now Bloomberg has made it clear why Kushner was willing to risk running afoul of regulators. He really needs the cash.
Jared Kushner, Donald Trump’s son-in-law and top adviser, wakes up each morning to a growing problem that will not go away. His family’s real estate business, Kushner Cos., owes hundreds of millions of dollars on a 41-story office building on Fifth Avenue. It has failed to secure foreign investors, despite an extensive search, and its resources are more limited than generally understood.
In fact, Kushner’s financial situation is so precarious, that it might be driving more than just his efforts to sell Chinese investors on his ability to get Trump’s attention.
The mortgage on their tower is due in 18 months. This has led to concerns that Kushner could use—or has perhaps already used—his official position to prop up the family business despite having divested to close relatives his ownership in many projects to conform with government ethics requirements.
Like Donald Trump, it’s hard to determine just how much Jared Kushner is really worth. But the speed with which he’s been burning through other resources, and the desperation to make a deal with foreign investors, suggests that Kushner is in a very tight spot. Because the depth of the hole his company dug to buy this white elephant of a building is staggering.
On Tuesday, Donald Trump Jr. agreed to provide a “transcribed interview” for members of the Senate Judiciary Committee.
On Wednesday, by an astounding coincidence, Donald Trump called the chairman of that very same committee to talk about one of the most burning issues confronting the nation. Not flooding following Hurricane Harvey. Not missiles launched by North Korea. Not Trump’s vague and number-free tax plan. Not Trump’s equally vague and number-free plans for Afghanistan. Not even another attempt to destroy health care.
No, the burning reason that Trump dialed up Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley was something much more urgent.
President Trump called the head of the Senate Judiciary Committee to talk about one of his most important parochial issues — ethanol — shortly before the committee is slated to interview his son in its ongoing Russia probe.
Ethanol?
Trump decided to call Grassley on Wednesday to kill the rumors and reassure Iowa’s senior senator that he supported ethanol and would not walk away from his campaign promise, the official said.
Filed under: Videos,Autoblog Minute,Original Video
Continue reading Life-Size Ferrari F1 car from Lego bricks
Life-Size Ferrari F1 car from Lego bricks originally appeared on Autoblog on Thu, 31 Aug 2017 19:32:38 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Permalink | Email this | CommentsA Cobb County, Georgia police officer is being investigated after dash cam footage showing him making questionable statements during a suspected DUI traffic stop was released. During the stop the officer, dealing with a nervous but not uncooperative passenger, had this interaction:
Officer: Use your phone. It’s in your lap right there.
Woman: OK. I just don’t want to put my hands down. I’m really sorry, I’m just—
Officer: --You’re just really [unintelligible]
Woman: --no, no, no I’ve just seen way too many videos of cops—
Officer: --But you’re not black. Remember, we only shoot black people. Yeah. We only shoot black people, right? In all the videos you’ve seen, have you seen the black people get killed?
Woman: Yeah.
Officer: You have.
WSB-TV Atlanta reports that it was only after their channel’s investigation asked for the video that the Cobb County police department opened an internal investigation. According to the report, Lt. Greg Abbott is the officer in the video and he has been put on administrative leave pending the outcome of the internal investigation. The woman’s attorney believes that Lt. Abbott was being sarcastic in his comments, but also believes that this doesn’t change the fact that it is a highly inappropriate thing to say—even if the woman was being less than cooperative. Abbott’s attorney Lance LoRusso told WSB-TV:
Lt. Greg Abbott is a highly respected 28-year veteran of the Cobb County Police Department. He is cooperating with the department's internal investigation and will continue to do so. His comments must be observed in their totality to understand their context. He was attempting to de-escalate a situation involving an uncooperative passenger. In context, his comments were clearly aimed at attempting to gain compliance by using the passenger's own statements and reasoning to avoid making an arrest.
Cobb County police Chief Mike Register says they are seriously investigating the events in the video, and as of this diary, he was unaware of any previous “racial bias complaints” against officer Abbott. The fact of the matter is that police officers, for good and for bad, need to check themselves into the context of the world we now live in. Trying to de-escalate a situation using racially charged “humor” is not a particularly sensitive thing to do, and it is also an incredibly unintelligent thing to do. Cobb County, like many parts of America, has racial tensions that have been exacerbated by our current political climate.
Just last year a Cobb County police officer, Maurice Lawson, resigned after facing suspensions after a couple of racially charged incidents exposed Lawson as a cop unfit for his job.
The controversial Cobb County police officer who was caught on video telling an African American motorist “I don’t care about your people” submitted his resignation in a two-paragraph letter on Thursday.
Maurice Lawson was facing a two-week unpaid suspension and required additional training after a lengthy investigation into his traffic stop of Fulton County middle school teacher Brian Baker in November. The video also showed Lawson asking Baker if he wanted to get out of his car to talk, and admitted to fellow officers after Baker left that he “loses his cool every time.”
Sixty percent of Americans oppose Donald Trump’s pardon of the disgraced Joe Arpaio while nearly two-thirds of Americans support the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, according to a new NBC News/SurveyMonkey poll:
Six in 10 said they felt it was "wrong" for Trump to pardon Arpaio, who was convicted last month of criminal contempt for ignoring a judge’s order not to detain suspected undocumented immigrants.
The poll also found that 64 percent of Americans support DACA, the Obama-era program allowing young people — known as "Dreamers" — who came to the U.S. illegally as children to remain here. Some also came legally but their visas expired.
A massive 71 percent also support letting undocumented immigrants already working in the U.S. a chance to stay here legally, versus only 26 percent who support a mass deportation force. We must demand DACA, and ultimately permanent protection through legislation, for undocumented youth and their families.
As a Bloomberg editorial stated this week, “there is no good reason to deny Dreamers’ participation in American life, and to deny Americans the benefits of Dreamers’ participation in the economy. In a world of complicated trade-offs, easing the path of Dreamers into education, employment and citizenship is an easy call. Trump should keep the promise to Dreamers. And Congress should pass the Dream Act of 2017 to secure it.”
Alabama’s prisons are, to be generous, a disgrace. The state has been sued over what’s going on in those prisons repeatedly and they’ve been investigated by reporters at The Birmingham News, as well as investigators at the Equal Justice Initiative and the Southern Poverty Law Center. The SPLC’s June 2014 report is a horrific read that ought to bring fury and tears to anyone who has even an ounce of humanity.
The list of morally criminal treatment of prisoners includes severe overcrowding, sexual abuse, and deaths from inadequate or entirely absent medical care. One blind prisoner was forced to sign a Do Not Resuscitate consent form he couldn’t read. There are 15.2 full-time-equivalent physicians and 12.4 FTE dentists for more than 25,000 prisoners in the system.
As Sofia Resnick at Rewire writes, these reports “paint a picture of widespread violence, rape, corruption, and filth.” So bad is the situation that the U.S. Department of Justice is investigating not just one prison as is usually the case, but all 15 of them operated by the Alabama Department of Corrections.
Yes, that would be the DOJ now overseen by Attorney General Jefferson B. Sessions, the former Alabama senator much of whose reputation was built on support for “tough on crime” measures that have contributed to prison problems not only in Alabama but other states as well.
Resnick writes:
Sessions’ past and current records pushing policies that contribute to mass incarceration worry the civil rights attorneys and activists who have long been calling attention to Alabama’s deeply troubled prison system. Believing what the state needs is serious prison reform, some are skeptical of how deep this DOJ’s investigation will delve, and what reforms it will (or won’t) recommend.
“When it was announced, it was the most far-reaching investigation into a prison system that the Department of Justice had ever announced it was undertaking,” Maria Morris, an attorney for the SPLC—one of the leading plaintiffs involved in multiple legal claims against Alabama’s correctional system—told Rewire. “And the head of the Department of Justice is now the former senator from Alabama. We have no idea how that will play out. We certainly hope that he will push the department to do a really thorough and comprehensive investigation.”
Hope is a fine sentiment. But you’ll excuse me if I seriously doubt a Sessions-vetted DOJ report on Alabama’s prisons will be worth a half-pint of spit.
The Trump team's efforts to sabotage the American health insurance markets continues apace.
Donald Trump will reduce Obamacare advertising spending 90 percent, from the $100 million that the Obama administration spent last year to $10 million this year. It will also cut the budget for the in-person enrollment program by 39 percent.Administration officials cited “diminishing returns” from outreach activities. In a phone call with reporters, they said that most Americans already know about the Affordable Care Act.
Most Americans may know about the Affordable Care Act, but they might not know just how to sign up for it. Or when to sign up. Or where the "exchanges" are, or what the requirements are, or what assistance the government can provide, or what the penalties are for remaining uninsured.
By slashing the advertising budget, Trump's team is making a hard play to keep those people from finding out. People who need to join the exchanges for specific health reasons will likely continue to do so, but younger and healthier Americans may not be as motivated to try. The result: prices will rise, while the number of insured Americans falls.
Which would be, if you are an ideologue looking to declare health insurance reforms "dead" due to rising prices or still-high numbers of uninsured, precisely the point. You'd be an inhuman monster, to intentionally sabotage millions of Americans in such a manner, but that would be how you would do it.
The disaster in Texas is on all our minds right now—and hopefully will be for some time, frankly. The crisis won’t be over when the floodwaters recede. Folks will be working to rebuild their homes and lives for many months, even years, to come.
(Looking to help out? Check out this list of great charities! Anything you can give makes a difference.)
But statehouse action pauses for no crisis, so here’s a look at what’s happening around the country that’s not hurricane-related but is still plenty, um, dark and stormy.
Campaign ActionFear and loathing in the Commonwealth: Fear’s a bad look on any candidate, and Ed Gillespie is wearing it especially poorly.
Virginia’s Republican gubernatorial nominee couldn’t help but have been spooked by his own flaccid primary performance against crazypants Confederate apologist Corey Stewart—not to mention his own party’s overall abysmal turnout, especially relative to Democratic primary numbers (about 350,000 vs. 540,000 voters, respectively).
Gillespie had significant ground to make up post-primary, but he really hasn’t made any headway since June 13.
When the going gets tough, Gillespie gets … scared and desperate, apparently.
Filed under: Green,Spy Photos,Mazda,Fuel Efficiency,Emerging Technologies,Technology,Hatchback
Continue reading Mazda3 with Skyactiv-X engine technology caught testing in the wild
Mazda3 with Skyactiv-X engine technology caught testing in the wild originally appeared on Autoblog on Thu, 31 Aug 2017 17:25:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Permalink | Email this | CommentsThe man cannot help himself.
Campaign ActionThe problem: As many, many, many reporters and other eyewitnesses can attest, Donald Trump was nowhere near the "damage" of Hurricane Harvey. He went to Austin and to Corpus Christi. He met with the Texas governor, and he was briefed at a Corpus Christi firehouse. He was in Texas for a total of about three hours.
That's probably for the best; nobody wants their high-water rescue delayed because the Secret Service needs to commandeer thirty or so flat-bottomed boats for some sightseein’. But Trump could have just said nothing—Trump could always, in these situations, just say nothing—and instead he had to lie to America because it's some sort of nervous tic. Wake up, brush your teeth, pointlessly lie about something every fact checker or news watcher in America knows is false the minute your pie-hole slams shut again, repeat.
The next step, inevitably, is White House Press Secretary Insert Name Here redefining the entire English language rather than admitting the unpleasant man in the curved-wall room was once again being dishonest.
"He met with a number of state and local officials who are eating, sleeping, breathing the Harvey disaster," [Sarah Huckabee Sanders] told reporters.She added that Trump talked "extensively" with Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R).
"Who certainly is right in the midst of every bit of this, as well as the mayors from several of the local towns that were hit hardest," she said.
"And detailed briefing information throughout the day yesterday talking to a lot of the people on the ground — that certainly is a firsthand account."
By that logic, you could also claim that Donald Trump Has Been To The Moon.
Filed under: Green,Rumormill,Technology,Autonomous,Future
Continue reading Zoox bites into Apple, hires 17 former Project Titan engineers
Zoox bites into Apple, hires 17 former Project Titan engineers originally appeared on Autoblog on Thu, 31 Aug 2017 16:50:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Permalink | Email this | CommentsA bipartisan group of governors, led by Colorado Democrat John Hickenlooper and Ohio Republican John Kasich have a proposal intended to stabilize the Affordable Care Act insurance markets and try to Trump-proof the law. They've written to House and Senate leadership to propose concrete steps to allow Obamacare to continue to work.
Previously, we have written that changes to our health insurance system should be based on a set of guiding principles that include improving affordability and restoring stability to insurance markets. Reforms should not shift costs to states or fail to provide the necessary resources to ensure that the working poor or those suffering from mental illness, chronic illness or addiction can get the care they need.Based on these guiding principles, we recommend (1) immediate federal action to stabilize markets, (2) responsible reforms that preserve recent coverage gains and control costs, and (3) an active federal/state partnership that is based on innovation and a shared commitment to improve overall health system performance. Just as these proposals have brought together governors from across the political spectrum, we are confident they can attract support across party lines in both chambers of Congress.
The details, however, are what's important. To stabilize the markets, they suggest Congress funds the cost-sharing reduction payments to insurers that Trump has been holding hostage, making sure that insurers will be reimbursed for subsidizing copayments, deductibles and other out of pocket expenses for lower income enrollees as they are required to by law. They also propose two years of funding for a program states can "use to create reinsurance programs or similar efforts that reduce premiums and limit losses for providing coverage," and for Congress to encourage competition in areas that have only one insurance provider now by exempting insurers going to those counties from the federal health insurance tax on their exchange plans.
Here's a big one that is largely out of anyone's but the Trump administration's hand—they recommend the individual mandate continue to be enforced to make sure that people continue to sign up for coverage. The administration has already signaled it won't go after people refusing to enroll with penalties, as required by law, so outside of states creating their own mandate and penalties or Congress impeaching Trump, it's hard to see how they can make that happen.
According to White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders, Donald Trump is pledging $1 million dollars for Hurricane Harvey relief efforts—exactly $4 million dollars less than when he offered Barack Obama $5 million for his birth certificate in 2012. Because priorities:
Sure, $1 million is a lot of money, but Donald Trump is also worth $10 billion dollars (allegedly). Folks on Twitter were quick to note that it makes his $1 million donation .01% of his assets. “Median net assets for Americans = $44,900. So it's like donating $4.49.” That is, if that money even comes from him and not the Trump Foundation instead. Say, did President Obama ever get that check?
Fox News is reporting that “senior administration officials” have said Donald Trump “intents to end” the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program as soon as Friday, but as the National Immigration Law Center noted, “this is a speculative, thinly sourced report. There has been no official announcement.” McClatchy also reports:
President Donald Trump is expected to end an Obama-era program that shielded young people from deportation, but he will likely let the immigrants known as Dreamers stay in the United States until their work permits run out, according to multiple people familiar with the policy negotiation.
Beware that spin, America’s Voice notes: “If the Administration ends the renewal of work permits and deportation protections for current DACA beneficiaries, and refuses to accept new applications for DACA, the impact will be profound and immediate. It will upend lives. Around 1,400 young people will lose their jobs every single day over the next two years. ”
And as immigrant rights activists have speculated, a reason why the Trump administration continues to delay announcing a decision is because they know how unpopular ending the program will be among Americans overall. Also remember that late last week that similar rumors swept through immigrant communities, and this is an m.o. of white supremacists and anti-immigrant figures—to continuously instill fear.
The fact is no final decision has been announced on DACA yet, and because these are all rumors, the most important thing you can do is to keep fighting, keep pressuring Donald Trump and members of Congress, and keep urging the continuation of this vital program. Click here to help defend DACA.
Filed under: Government/Legal,Autonomous
Continue reading Autonomous car legislation heads to US House for vote next Wednesday
Autonomous car legislation heads to US House for vote next Wednesday originally appeared on Autoblog on Thu, 31 Aug 2017 15:51:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Permalink | Email this | CommentsWhen Russian lawyer Natalia Veselnitskya was asked to describe the meeting between representatives of the Russian government and senior members of the Trump campaign staff, she offered only one memory of Paul Manafort:
“And the other individual who was in the same meeting, but all the time he was looking at his phone. He was reading something. He never took any active part in the conversation. That was Mr. Manafort."
However, it turns out that Manafort wasn’t looking at his phone because he was distracted and not paying attention to the meeting. He was looking at his phone because he was using it to take notes.
Manafort's notes, typed on a smart phone and described by one briefed source as cryptic, were turned over to the House and Senate intelligence committees and to Special Counsel Robert Mueller.
Those notes haven’t yet been made public, but one small snippet from Manafort’s “cryptic” text seems immediately interesting:
They contained the words "donations," and "RNC" in close proximity, the sources said.
If the deal at the meeting included not just an offer of information harmful to Hillary Clinton as part of a Russian government program to help Trump—as Donald Trump Jr. expected when the meeting was arranged—but also an offer to provide donations to the Republican National Committee, then that’s another law that may have been broken. It’s illegal for American campaigns to accept foreign donations. That includes through the political parties.
When Russia expelled 755 US diplomats at the beginning of August, Donald Trump had some pretty straight talk for Vladimir Putin.
President Trump said Thursday that he was "very thankful" that Russian President Vladimir Putin had ordered the expulsion of hundreds of U.S. diplomats from the country in response to sanctions — because the administration needs to cut the State Department's budget anyway.
Ha ha ha … no, wait. Though Trump surrogates hurried to say that he was kidding, he certainly seemed serious. Otherwise, why is it that Trump still hasn’t so much as nominated anyone for 384 positions, including dozens of ambassadors? Apparently we don’t need so many diplomats when Trump is ready to meet Putin one-on-one without so much as a a single witness, note-taker, or even translator on the US side.
And three weeks later, it seems the US is ready to return the favor for Russia.
The United States is retaliating against Russia by forcing closure of its consulate in San Francisco and scaling back its diplomatic presence in Washington and New York.
The State Department says move is in response to the Kremlin forcing a cut in U.S. diplomatic staff in Moscow. Spokesman Heather Nauert says the move brings the U.S. and Russia into “parity,” with each having three consulates in the other country.
Even Steven. Though no one should expect a thank-you card from diplomats pushed from San Francisco back to Moscow just as summer is coming to a close.
It’s not clear if this move is related to why Lawfare blog writer and famous tick-tick-ticker, Benjamin Wittes, sent this tweet:
Filed under: Motorsports,Honda,McLaren,Racing
Continue reading Fernando Alonso denies giving McLaren a Honda-or-me ultimatum
Fernando Alonso denies giving McLaren a Honda-or-me ultimatum originally appeared on Autoblog on Thu, 31 Aug 2017 14:20:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Permalink | Email this | CommentsFiled under: Motorcycle,Performance
Continue reading Harley kills off its sportiest motorcycles for 2018 as V-Rod production ends
Harley kills off its sportiest motorcycles for 2018 as V-Rod production ends originally appeared on Autoblog on Thu, 31 Aug 2017 14:15:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Permalink | Email this | CommentsFiled under: Etc.,Chrysler,Fiat,Ford,GM,Car Buying
Continue reading Automakers, dealers are rushing cars to Houston after Harvey
Automakers, dealers are rushing cars to Houston after Harvey originally appeared on Autoblog on Thu, 31 Aug 2017 14:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Permalink | Email this | CommentsFiled under: Etc.,Nissan,Automotive History,Coupe,Classics,Performance
Continue reading 2003 Nissan 350Z with serial number 1 for sale
2003 Nissan 350Z with serial number 1 for sale originally appeared on Autoblog on Thu, 31 Aug 2017 13:35:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Permalink | Email this | CommentsDonald Trump wants his border wall, and has explicitly said that he's willing to shut down the government if he doesn't get it. Congress has to pass, and Trump has to sign, a continuing resolution to keep government funded by the end of September. In addition to keeping the government's doors open, there's also a debt ceiling increase so that America doesn't default on its debt, sending the global economy into a tailspin. There are funding reauthorizations needed for the Children's Health Insurance Program and, oh yeah, the National Flood Insurance Program. Speaking of which, there's this major disaster continuing to unfold in southeast Texas that will require billions in emergency assistance in the coming days and weeks. It's also so serious that even the Freedom Caucus is thinking that having a government shutdown right now isn't such a great idea.
House Freedom Caucus Chairman Mark Meadows said Wednesday that he and his allies will support short-term legislation to fund the government even if it excludes money for President Donald Trump’s proposed border wall. […]"In talking to a number of my members, if there was a vote for a continuing resolution next week that did not include border wall funding, the majority of those members would be supportive of that," Meadows said in an interview on ABC's "Powerhouse Politics" podcast. He emphasized that he's supportive of the wall but wants to avoid a shutdown fight amid federal relief efforts in Houston.
Meadows' comments makes it more likely that a congressional showdown over a wall on the U.S. border with Mexico will be put off until December, when Congress is expected to revisit measures to fund the government. […]
Trump has said he hopes a shutdown isn’t necessary but hasn't ruled out vetoing government funding legislation that excludes wall funding money. He's slated to meet with legislative leaders next Wednesday to discuss the September agenda.
So there's definitely an expiration date on their desire to avoid a government shutdown, but it's now likelier that it won't happen at the end of next month. That is, if Trump is paying attention and understands that he won't have allies in Congress if he continues to demand his border wall funding happen immediately. It's Trump, so who knows. It's going to depend on his attention span and the ability of congressional leadership—who he has been at war with for weeks—to rein him in.
As the slow disaster of Harvey continues to roll over southeast Texas and into Louisiana, bringing record-shattering rainfall over the region, the Republican Congress is pondering $1 billion in cuts to federal disaster response programs to fulfill Donald Trump's demands for a border wall.
The pending reduction to the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s disaster relief account is part of a spending bill that the House is scheduled to consider next week when Congress returns from its August recess. The $876 million cut, part of the 1,305-page measure’s homeland security section, pays for roughly half the cost of Trump’s down payment on a U.S.-Mexico border wall.It seems sure that GOP leaders will move to reverse the disaster aid cut next week. The optics are politically bad and there’s only $2.3 billion remaining in disaster coffers.
One would like to think that they'd reverse those cuts. But don't forget the request they're working with from the White House.
The proposal, drawn up by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), also would slash the budget of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, which provides disaster relief after hurricanes, tornadoes and other natural disasters. The Coast Guard’s $9.1 billion budget in 2017 would be cut 14 percent to about $7.8 billion, while the TSA and FEMA budgets would be reduced about 11 percent each to $4.5 billion and $3.6 billion, respectively.
All so Trump can hire more border agents, build his wall, and more effectively terrorize people of color. Given the disproportionate hit people of color are taking from this natural disaster, don't bet on Trump changing his mind about pushing for these cuts.
The ever-growing list of special election wins and over-performances by Democrats should already have Republicans on red alert this election cycle.
But there’s a new indicator that Republicans are running scared, at least in Virginia, home to a key gubernatorial election and 100 House of Delegates races this fall. Daily Kos has gotten its hands on hard evidence that Republicans are going to extreme lengths to conceal their party ID in their own campaign literature that they’re sending out to voters.
Republican Del. Joseph Yost is a three-term incumbent in a Southwest Virginia district that includes several rural communities. His Democratic challenger is first-time candidate (and Daily Kos endorsee) Chris Hurst.
Of the 63 GOP House members running for re-election in Virginia this fall, Yost is the first to drop direct mail in his district. This alone indicates that Yost is worried about keeping his seat, but it’s the content of the mail piece that actually reveals just how concerned he is.
In fact, based on this piece, a voter would be hard-pressed to discern which party Yost even belongs to.
Check it out for yourself. Can you spot the word “Republican”?
You can support Yost’s opponent by donating $3 to the Chris Hurst campaign today.
Trump International Hotel in Washington isn’t Donald Trump’s building. It’s actually the Old Post Office Pavillion, a U.S. landmark, in which Trump happens to operate a hotel under a 2012 lease with the government. That lease has been the subject of several concerns, including whether Trump has violated the foreign emoluments clause by rewarding representatives of other nations who stay there or organize activities there. In addition, there are more domestic issues of concern, including a standard clause in the contract that prohibits the lease from benefiting “any elected official.”
The potential conflicts generated a number of lawsuits, including one from Democrats in Congress led by Richard Blumenthal.
The lawsuit ... says Trump has refused to disclose the foreign payments he has received and is in violation of the Constitution's foreign emoluments clause that prohibits government officials from receiving gifts from foreign governments without first consulting Congress.
But the Jefferson Sessions Justice Department took a unique view of emoluments, more or less saying anything that Trump earned through his business was out of bounds. And concerns about the contract took a blow back in March when the General Services Administration ruled that there was no violation of the lease.
But now the GSA’s inspector general is going to investigate the GSA.
“GSA’s Office of Inspector General (OIG) is evaluating GSA’s management and administration of the ground lease for the Old Post Office Building,” GSA press secretary Pam Dixon told TPM.
This could lead to a re-evaluation of whether the lease is still valid. When the hotel recently proved to be unexpectedly profitable, it’s hard to argue that it’s not making money for Trump, and that the reason it’s making more money than predicted is because Trump has been able to leverage his political power.