Paul Ryan is a practiced liar, but when he knows he’s about to say the
exact opposite of what he said one day prior, even he squirms a bit.
Cenk Uygur, host of The Young Turks, breaks it down.
"Republican resistance to a deal to raise the national borrowing limit —
struck by President Donald Trump and Democratic congressional leaders —
is straining GOP unity just as Congress enters the most politically
treacherous stretch of the legislative calendar.
The leaders of the Republican Study Committee, an alliance of more than
150 conservative House members, panned the deal Thursday, even as
Speaker Paul Ryan — who initially opposed it as well — praised Trump for
seeking a bipartisan approach. The measure is expected to be attached
to a bill that would send billions of dollars worth of disaster aid to
Texas for its recovery from Hurricane Harvey.”
Read more here: http://www.politico.com/story/2017/09/07/key-conservatives-oppose-trump-debt-ceiling-deal-242445
Friday, September 8, 2017
Trump Makes A Deal With The Democrats
Trump Deals finally made a deal and heads are exploding. Cenk Uygur,
host of The Young Turks, breaks it down.
"President Donald Trump on Thursday suggested he is open to getting rid of the nation's debt ceiling altogether. "It could be discussed," Trump told reporters Thursday. "There are a lot of good reasons to do that."
A day after Trump agreed with Democrat to suspend the debt ceiling for three months, a shorter time period than Republican leaders wanted, reports said Trump also told Democratic leaders Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi that he was willing to work with them on legislation to eliminate the ceiling permanently.”
Read more here: http://www.businessinsider.com/trump-debt-ceiling-schumer-pelosi-deal-2017-9
Host: Cenk Uygur
Cast: Cenk Uygur
"President Donald Trump on Thursday suggested he is open to getting rid of the nation's debt ceiling altogether. "It could be discussed," Trump told reporters Thursday. "There are a lot of good reasons to do that."
A day after Trump agreed with Democrat to suspend the debt ceiling for three months, a shorter time period than Republican leaders wanted, reports said Trump also told Democratic leaders Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi that he was willing to work with them on legislation to eliminate the ceiling permanently.”
Read more here: http://www.businessinsider.com/trump-debt-ceiling-schumer-pelosi-deal-2017-9
Host: Cenk Uygur
Cast: Cenk Uygur
Trump’s betrayal of the Republican leaders should surprise no one
Chuck
and Nancy and Donald and Ivanka seemed to thoroughly enjoy their
meeting at the White House the other day. Mitch and Paul, not so much.
One thing that should be blindingly obvious by now is that political loyalty, for the president, is a one-way street. Yes, McConnell and Ryan embarrassed themselves and squandered precious political capital in a long, fruitless attempt to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act. Yes, the Republican leaders have held their tongues time and again when Trump has manifested his unfitness for office. Yes, they have pretended not to notice the glaring conflicts of interest between Trump’s private business affairs and his public responsibilities.
Still, there was something brazen about the way events unfolded Wednesday. First, Ryan tells reporters that a short-term, three-month extension on the debt ceiling, tied to relief funds for Hurricane Harvey — an idea supported by Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) — was “ridiculous and disgraceful.” Then, in the Oval Office meeting, Trump stuns everyone by endorsing the Schumer-Pelosi plan — and agrees to work with the Democrats on repealing the debt ceiling altogether, according to The Post. Later, on Air Force One, Trump goes on about what a productive meeting he had with “Chuck and Nancy,” not bothering to mention the GOP congressional leaders by name. Ouch.
Some shell-shocked attendees said they believed the meeting went off the rails when the president’s daughter Ivanka, who has an office in the West Wing, cheerily dropped in and disrupted the conversation’s focus. But this sounds to me like nothing more than a search for a scapegoat. Ryan and McConnell have no one to blame but themselves.
Trump is many things, but he is not, nor has he ever been, a committed Republican. He seized control of the party in a hostile takeover. His campaign positions on trade, health care, entitlements and other issues bore no resemblance to GOP orthodoxy. He has instincts — some of them odious, from what we can intuit about his views on race and culture — but his worldview is transactional and situational, not ideological.
Ryan, McConnell and many of their Republican colleagues in Congress convinced themselves that Trump could be a useful instrument — that he would sign whatever legislation they sent him, and therefore they would be able to enact a conventional GOP agenda of tax and entitlement cuts.
Trump might have gone along with this scenario, at least for a while. But Ryan and McConnell utterly failed to hold up their end of the bargain.
Look at the health-care fiasco from Trump’s point of view. His campaign position was that Obamacare had to be repealed, but that the replacement should be a system offering health care for “everyone.” What Ryan and the House delivered, however, was a plan that would make 23 million people lose health insurance and cut nearly $800 billion from Medicaid.
Trump called that legislation “mean” but was so desperate for a big win that he backed it anyway. In the Senate, however, McConnell wasn’t able to deliver anything at all — not even a stripped-down measure to repeal the ACA now and replace it later. Trump was humiliated and angry. “Mitch M” and “Paul R” became frequent targets of his barbed tweets.
So on Wednesday, Trump dished out a little humiliation of his own. At the White House meeting, the president reportedly cut off Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin — who supported the Ryan-McConnell approach to raising the debt ceiling — in mid-sentence to announce that he was siding with Schumer and Pelosi.
The stunning slap down almost overshadowed a surprise that Trump had delivered Tuesday evening: After sending Attorney General Jeff Sessions out to announce the end of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, Trump tweeted that if Congress did not act within six months, he would “revisit” the question.
What Trump clearly has already revisited is his belief in the ability of the conservative GOP congressional majorities to get anything meaningful done. He seems to be at least flirting with the idea of working instead with Democrats and GOP moderates — working not with but around the House and Senate leadership.
I just hope Schumer and Pelosi know not to trust him the way Ryan and McConnell did.
Read more from Eugene Robinson’s archive, follow him on Twitter or subscribe to his updates on Facebook. You can also join him Tuesdays at 1 p.m. for a live Q&A.
Donald Trump Jr.'s Closed Door Senate Statement Is Going To Cause Him A Lot Of Problems
In this ‘Dollemore Daily’ Jesse Dollemore addresses Donald Trump Jr.'s prepared
statement in front of Senate Intelligence Committee staffers and
investigators.
Thursday, September 7, 2017
Republicans Left Reeling After Deal Between Trump And Democrats
WASHINGTON — Republicans were left fuming at a deal struck Wednesday
between President Donald Trump and Democratic leaders that combines
disaster aid for Hurricane Harvey victims with measures to keep the
government open and extend the debt ceiling for three more months.
The agreement occurred during a late-morning Oval Office meeting between Trump, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, House Speaker Paul Ryan, Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer and House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi. During the meeting, Trump sided with the Democrats, agreeing to their demands for a short-term extension of government funding and the debt limit and rejecting Republicans’ efforts to seek a longer-term debt ceiling hike.
It was a blow to GOP plans to avoid a series of politically treacherous votes for their members, or at least provide cover for them by attaching it to the disaster relief bill.
By agreeing to the three-month extensions, the GOP-controlled Congress would be forced to revisit both the debt ceiling and government spending extensions in December. And it increases the pressure on Republicans to pass yet more extensions to both, or face the prospect of the U.S. defaulting on its bills or a government shutdown just weeks before Christmas.
Democrats praised the deal, which was reached just before the House overwhelmingly passed $7.85 billion in disaster relief with nothing else attached.
“It was a really good moment of some bipartisanship and getting things done,” Schumer told reporters.
But it leaves rank-and-file Republicans befuddled and with few good choices. Opposition to increasing the nation's debt ceiling has become a matter of principle for many conservatives who say that this deal is worse than any they could have imagined because it forces them to vote on it twice in three months.
“The Pelosi-Schumer-Trump deal is bad,” said Sen. Ben Sasse, R-Neb., in a short, terse statement.
McConnell told reporters it was the president’s decision and that GOP leadership will move forward with it.
“The President can speak for himself, but his feeling was that we needed to come together to not create a picture of divisiveness at a time of genuine national crisis and that was the rationale,” McConnell told reporters.
Still, it was a stunning turn of events.
Wednesday morning began with Pelosi and Schumer issuing their demand that the debt limit be increased for just three months as part of the hurricane relief bill. Ryan called the idea “ridiculous and disgraceful,” adding that Democrats “want to play politics with the debt ceiling.”
An hour later, the four leaders met with Trump. Republicans entered the meeting proposing an 18 month increase to the debt limit, which would put the issue aside until after the midterm elections.
Trump rejected that and so Republicans floated six months. But Pelosi and Schumer stuck to their three month demand.
Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin, who was also present, argued in favor of a longer-term debt limit extension, but the president cut him off and sided with the Democrats, multiple sources with knowledge of the meeting said.
In an unexpected turn of events, Ivanka Trump, the president's daughter and adviser, came into the room to say hello toward the end of the meeting, which derailed the conversation and left the Republicans visibly annoyed, a Democratic aide briefed on the meeting said.
AshLee Strong, a spokeswoman for Ryan, called that characterization of Republican reaction "false."
And a White House aide said that Trump invited his daughter in to talk about her child-tax credit proposal, that she stayed on-topic and that it was “not an issue.”
Back on Capitol Hill, there was a mixture of resignation and outrage.
At the weekly lunch for Senate Republicans, McConnell, joined by White House budget director Mick Mulvaney and Vice President Mike Pence, laid out the deal reached with Democratic leaders.
When asked if they were surprised at the deal that was made, some senators appeared unfazed.
“Nothing shocks me around here,” said Sen. John Kennedy, R-La.
“Am I surprised? Not really,” said Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn.
Still, senators were left unsure of how they’d vote on the deal, even though it includes nearly $8 billion in immediate relief for Harvey victims.
“We are literally funding this government on 90 day notes. That is not the way to fund the largest, most relevant entity in the world,” said Sen. Dan Sullivan, R-Alaska.
He said that he’s likely to vote for it because of the desperate need of people in Texas, adding, “patience is wearing thin on short-term funding of this government.”
Some Republicans, however, fumed. During a lunch of the conservative Republican Study Committee, members unanimously voiced their opposition to the deal, an aide said.
Rep. Mark Meadows, R-N.C., said Republican leaders didn’t go into the talks with a good enough proposal.
“You've got to give the president conservative options," Meadows said. "There was not a conservative option on the table. It was either a clean debt ceiling or this deal. And when we look at that you can’t criticize somebody when there’s not a conservative proposal that’s put forth."
Rep. Mark Walker, R-N.C., chairman of the conservative Republican Study Committee, said Mnuchin and Republican leaders have been pushing for a way to find the easiest path to pass a debt ceiling with no reforms attached.
“They’ve been trolling along looking for something to attach it to,” Walker said of Republican leaders. “To use the pain and suffering of the people of Texas to me is offensive."
Trump praised the deal aboard Air Force One on his way to North Dakota for a speech on tax reform. But he said he had a very good meeting with Pelosi and Schumer, and didn’t even mention the leaders of his party — McConnell and Ryan.
He also said that the debt ceiling must always be lifted without question, a position not held by most Republicans, who in recent years have turned it into a lever to achieve their policy goals of budget cuts.
“We had a very good meeting with Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer," Trump said. "We agreed to a three-month extension on debt ceiling, which they consider to be sacred — very important — always we’ll agree on debt ceiling automatically because of the importance of it."
The deal, however, just pushes the threat of a government shutdown to December.
“Merry Christmas,” said Sen. John Thune, R-S.D.
The agreement occurred during a late-morning Oval Office meeting between Trump, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, House Speaker Paul Ryan, Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer and House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi. During the meeting, Trump sided with the Democrats, agreeing to their demands for a short-term extension of government funding and the debt limit and rejecting Republicans’ efforts to seek a longer-term debt ceiling hike.
It was a blow to GOP plans to avoid a series of politically treacherous votes for their members, or at least provide cover for them by attaching it to the disaster relief bill.
By agreeing to the three-month extensions, the GOP-controlled Congress would be forced to revisit both the debt ceiling and government spending extensions in December. And it increases the pressure on Republicans to pass yet more extensions to both, or face the prospect of the U.S. defaulting on its bills or a government shutdown just weeks before Christmas.
Democrats praised the deal, which was reached just before the House overwhelmingly passed $7.85 billion in disaster relief with nothing else attached.
“It was a really good moment of some bipartisanship and getting things done,” Schumer told reporters.
But it leaves rank-and-file Republicans befuddled and with few good choices. Opposition to increasing the nation's debt ceiling has become a matter of principle for many conservatives who say that this deal is worse than any they could have imagined because it forces them to vote on it twice in three months.
“The Pelosi-Schumer-Trump deal is bad,” said Sen. Ben Sasse, R-Neb., in a short, terse statement.
McConnell told reporters it was the president’s decision and that GOP leadership will move forward with it.
“The President can speak for himself, but his feeling was that we needed to come together to not create a picture of divisiveness at a time of genuine national crisis and that was the rationale,” McConnell told reporters.
Still, it was a stunning turn of events.
Wednesday morning began with Pelosi and Schumer issuing their demand that the debt limit be increased for just three months as part of the hurricane relief bill. Ryan called the idea “ridiculous and disgraceful,” adding that Democrats “want to play politics with the debt ceiling.”
An hour later, the four leaders met with Trump. Republicans entered the meeting proposing an 18 month increase to the debt limit, which would put the issue aside until after the midterm elections.
Trump rejected that and so Republicans floated six months. But Pelosi and Schumer stuck to their three month demand.
Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin, who was also present, argued in favor of a longer-term debt limit extension, but the president cut him off and sided with the Democrats, multiple sources with knowledge of the meeting said.
In an unexpected turn of events, Ivanka Trump, the president's daughter and adviser, came into the room to say hello toward the end of the meeting, which derailed the conversation and left the Republicans visibly annoyed, a Democratic aide briefed on the meeting said.
AshLee Strong, a spokeswoman for Ryan, called that characterization of Republican reaction "false."
And a White House aide said that Trump invited his daughter in to talk about her child-tax credit proposal, that she stayed on-topic and that it was “not an issue.”
Back on Capitol Hill, there was a mixture of resignation and outrage.
At the weekly lunch for Senate Republicans, McConnell, joined by White House budget director Mick Mulvaney and Vice President Mike Pence, laid out the deal reached with Democratic leaders.
When asked if they were surprised at the deal that was made, some senators appeared unfazed.
“Nothing shocks me around here,” said Sen. John Kennedy, R-La.
“Am I surprised? Not really,” said Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn.
Still, senators were left unsure of how they’d vote on the deal, even though it includes nearly $8 billion in immediate relief for Harvey victims.
“We are literally funding this government on 90 day notes. That is not the way to fund the largest, most relevant entity in the world,” said Sen. Dan Sullivan, R-Alaska.
He said that he’s likely to vote for it because of the desperate need of people in Texas, adding, “patience is wearing thin on short-term funding of this government.”
Some Republicans, however, fumed. During a lunch of the conservative Republican Study Committee, members unanimously voiced their opposition to the deal, an aide said.
Rep. Mark Meadows, R-N.C., said Republican leaders didn’t go into the talks with a good enough proposal.
“You've got to give the president conservative options," Meadows said. "There was not a conservative option on the table. It was either a clean debt ceiling or this deal. And when we look at that you can’t criticize somebody when there’s not a conservative proposal that’s put forth."
Rep. Mark Walker, R-N.C., chairman of the conservative Republican Study Committee, said Mnuchin and Republican leaders have been pushing for a way to find the easiest path to pass a debt ceiling with no reforms attached.
“They’ve been trolling along looking for something to attach it to,” Walker said of Republican leaders. “To use the pain and suffering of the people of Texas to me is offensive."
Trump praised the deal aboard Air Force One on his way to North Dakota for a speech on tax reform. But he said he had a very good meeting with Pelosi and Schumer, and didn’t even mention the leaders of his party — McConnell and Ryan.
He also said that the debt ceiling must always be lifted without question, a position not held by most Republicans, who in recent years have turned it into a lever to achieve their policy goals of budget cuts.
“We had a very good meeting with Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer," Trump said. "We agreed to a three-month extension on debt ceiling, which they consider to be sacred — very important — always we’ll agree on debt ceiling automatically because of the importance of it."
The deal, however, just pushes the threat of a government shutdown to December.
“Merry Christmas,” said Sen. John Thune, R-S.D.
Alex Moe, Garrett Haake, Frank Thorp V and Hallie Jackson
Wednesday, September 6, 2017
Donald Trump Rescinds DACA - Stands With White Supremacists Against A Million Dreamers
In this ‘Dollemore Daily’ Jesse Dollemore addresses Donald Trump's decision to rescind DACA.
Trump's DACA Decision Is A Grim Turning Point
The opportunists in the GOP who enable these racist moves will face a reckoning.
Monday, September 4, 2017
Thursday, August 31, 2017
Is Joel Osteen A Bad Guy For Reasons Beyond Failing To Act During Hurricane Harvey?
In this episode of "The Conversation", Jesse Dollemore discusses Joel Osteen and
his bizarre Americanized version of Jesus' Gospel message.
His inaction in the face of the suffering caused by Hurricane Harvey was bad, but are there more reasons his actions should be questioned and scrutinized?
His inaction in the face of the suffering caused by Hurricane Harvey was bad, but are there more reasons his actions should be questioned and scrutinized?
Will Trump's Republican lackeys in Congress reverse course on disaster response cuts?
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.
Donald Trump Lied About Avoiding Flood Victims In Flooded Areas
In this ‘Dollemore Daily’ Jesse Dollemore addresses the reporting from journalists
with Donald Trump which refutes his claims of witnessing the 'horror'
and 'devastation' caused by Hurricane Harvey in Houston, Texas.
Wednesday, August 30, 2017
Trump's Hurricane Speech Turns Into Campaign Rally
Recently Donald Trump visited Texas and the survivors of Hurricane Harvey and couldn't resist talking about his crowd sizes.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/even-in-visiting-hurricane-ravaged-texas-trump-keeps-the-focus-on-himself/2017/08/29/3037a4a6-8cc3-11e7-84c0-02cc069f2c37_story.html
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/even-in-visiting-hurricane-ravaged-texas-trump-keeps-the-focus-on-himself/2017/08/29/3037a4a6-8cc3-11e7-84c0-02cc069f2c37_story.html
Trump Visits Texas: Ignores Victims And Damage, Brags About Crowd Size
Donald Trump finally made his way to Texas on Tuesday, but instead of
touring the areas that are being ravaged by floods, he stayed completely
dry, didn’t meet with a single victim, and bragged about the size of
the crowd that showed up to hear him speak.
This man is not a leader, and his callous response to Hurricane Harvey is just another reason why he shouldn’t beresident. Ring of Fire’s Farron Cousins discusses this.
This man is not a leader, and his callous response to Hurricane Harvey is just another reason why he shouldn’t be
Maggie Haberman Smears Bernie - Internet Immediately Trounces
If Joel Osteen and Maggie Haberman have shown anything, its that Twitter is a shaming force for good.
Fox Host Falls For Hurricane Hoax
Jesse Watters fell for a little bit of Photoshopping. Ana Kasparian and
Michael Shure, the hosts of The Young Turks, break it down.
Mike Pence is trying to make people forget his heartless response to Hurricane Katrina
Mike Pence is on a self-serving blitz of
radio appearances this week, touting the Trump administration’s response
to Hurricane Harvey. That includes promises to have federal funds ready
to go for relief — something he cruelly opposed when he was in
Congress.
Pence had the nerve, during his several radio interviews Monday, to repeatedly refer to his time in Congress as proof he understands the importance of passing legislation to provide for disaster relief.
“We’re very confident that the Congress of the United States is going to be there to provide the resources necessary,” Pence told the host at Houston’s KHOU. He added that he will work with legislators to “make sure that the disaster assistance that already some 22,000 Texans have signed up for is available and is there.”
But when thousands of citizens affected by Hurricane Katrina in 2005 needed Pence’s help, he had other priorities. He was instead focused on bludgeoning those citizens by attaching his extremist political ideology to disaster relief bills, holding up vital support that was urgently needed.
Pence said that funding for Katrina relief should be paid for with cuts to Social Security and Medicare, ideas that the right has championed for decades, even though they have proved to be unpopular and destructive again and again.
Justifying his cruelty, Pence told reporters at the time that Katrina relief and the rebuilding of devastated areas like New Orleans just had to wait, because “it is not acceptable to take a catastrophe of nature and turn it into a catastrophe of debt.”
He also said on the floor of the House, “When a tree falls on your house you tend to the wounded, you rebuild and then you figure out how you are going to pay for it.”
Ignoring the dire situation in the region, Pence lectured victims and offered up right-wing talking points.
“Let’s pay for the cost of Katrina by reducing the size and scope of government,” he said.
Pence even said that legislators should have considered delaying a $40 billion prescription drug benefit for seniors, and use that money for Katrina relief — instead of approving new funding in Congress.
Those statements, in contrast to his platitudes during Hurricane Harvey, show how Pence and his fellow Republicans have often instigated mealy-mouthed concerns about “debt” when they are out of power, only to disregard them when they are in charge.
Pence is not alone in his hypocrisy. Other Republicans have argued that disaster relief must be “offset” by cuts to necessary programs. It’s a despicable way to exploit a national disaster to target programs Republicans have long sought to dismantle.
Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) is pushing for hurricane relief now, but when Superstorm Sandy hit New York and New Jersey, he voted against the emergency aid package to help the victims. He complained at the time that the bill had been loaded up “with billions in new spending” unrelated to the storm. Like Pence, he also invoked worries about “debt” to justify his stance.
The claim was also untrue. Cruz recently made the same claim while defending his Sandy spin, and it was fact checked by the Washington Post, which awarded him “three Pinocchios” for his ugly lie.
“The bill was largely aimed at dealing with Sandy, along with relatively minor items to address other or future disasters,” the Post noted.
Mick Mulvaney, currently serving as Trump’s budget director, was in Congress during Sandy as well, and he was among those who also called for budget cuts to offset storm relief.
It is unlikely he will do so now from inside the White House.
Pence had the nerve, during his several radio interviews Monday, to repeatedly refer to his time in Congress as proof he understands the importance of passing legislation to provide for disaster relief.
“We’re very confident that the Congress of the United States is going to be there to provide the resources necessary,” Pence told the host at Houston’s KHOU. He added that he will work with legislators to “make sure that the disaster assistance that already some 22,000 Texans have signed up for is available and is there.”
But when thousands of citizens affected by Hurricane Katrina in 2005 needed Pence’s help, he had other priorities. He was instead focused on bludgeoning those citizens by attaching his extremist political ideology to disaster relief bills, holding up vital support that was urgently needed.
Pence said that funding for Katrina relief should be paid for with cuts to Social Security and Medicare, ideas that the right has championed for decades, even though they have proved to be unpopular and destructive again and again.
Justifying his cruelty, Pence told reporters at the time that Katrina relief and the rebuilding of devastated areas like New Orleans just had to wait, because “it is not acceptable to take a catastrophe of nature and turn it into a catastrophe of debt.”
He also said on the floor of the House, “When a tree falls on your house you tend to the wounded, you rebuild and then you figure out how you are going to pay for it.”
Ignoring the dire situation in the region, Pence lectured victims and offered up right-wing talking points.
“Let’s pay for the cost of Katrina by reducing the size and scope of government,” he said.
Pence even said that legislators should have considered delaying a $40 billion prescription drug benefit for seniors, and use that money for Katrina relief — instead of approving new funding in Congress.
Those statements, in contrast to his platitudes during Hurricane Harvey, show how Pence and his fellow Republicans have often instigated mealy-mouthed concerns about “debt” when they are out of power, only to disregard them when they are in charge.
Pence is not alone in his hypocrisy. Other Republicans have argued that disaster relief must be “offset” by cuts to necessary programs. It’s a despicable way to exploit a national disaster to target programs Republicans have long sought to dismantle.
Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) is pushing for hurricane relief now, but when Superstorm Sandy hit New York and New Jersey, he voted against the emergency aid package to help the victims. He complained at the time that the bill had been loaded up “with billions in new spending” unrelated to the storm. Like Pence, he also invoked worries about “debt” to justify his stance.
The claim was also untrue. Cruz recently made the same claim while defending his Sandy spin, and it was fact checked by the Washington Post, which awarded him “three Pinocchios” for his ugly lie.
“The bill was largely aimed at dealing with Sandy, along with relatively minor items to address other or future disasters,” the Post noted.
Mick Mulvaney, currently serving as Trump’s budget director, was in Congress during Sandy as well, and he was among those who also called for budget cuts to offset storm relief.
It is unlikely he will do so now from inside the White House.
Pence, Cruz, and Mulvaney have been exposed as hypocrites. When they were out of power, they didn’t think twice about holding up disaster relief so they could engage in political experimentation for the right.
But now, when the storm is on their watch, all the hand-wringing about “debt” has evaporated into thin air. As if it was always a cynical and callous ruse all along.
Trump Cybersecurity Advisors Resign, Citing His ‘Insufficient Attention’ to Threats
By David Z. Morris
A quarter of the members of the National Infrastructure Advisory Council, whose purview includes national cybersecurity, have resigned. In a group resignation letter, they cited both specific shortfalls in the administration’s approach to cybersecurity, and broader concerns that Trump and his administration have undermined the “moral infrastructure” of the U.S.
In a report issued just after the mass resignations, the NIAC issued a report saying that dramatic steps were required to prevent a possible "9/11-level cyberattack."
A quarter of the members of the National Infrastructure Advisory Council, whose purview includes national cybersecurity, have resigned. In a group resignation letter, they cited both specific shortfalls in the administration’s approach to cybersecurity, and broader concerns that Trump and his administration have undermined the “moral infrastructure” of the U.S.
The resignations came Monday and were acknowledged by the White House on Tuesday. Nextgov has recently published the resignation letter that the departing councilors submitted. According to Roll Call, seven members resigned from the 27 member Council.
Several of those resigning were Obama-era appointees, including former U.S. Chief Data Scientist DJ Patil and former Office of Science and Technology Policy Chief of Staff Cristin Dorgelo.
Not surprisingly, then, the issues outlined in the resignation letter
were broad, faulting both Trump’s decision to withdraw from the Paris
climate accords and his inflammatory statements after the
Charlottesville attacks, some of which came during what was intended to
be an infrastructure-focused event.
“The
moral infrastructure of our Nation is the foundation on which our
physical infrastructure is built,” reads the letter in part. “The
Administration’s actions undermine that foundation.”
But
the resigning advisors also said the Administration was not “adequately
attentive to the pressing national security matters within the NIAC’s
purview, or responsive to sound advice received from experts and
advisors.” The letter also zeroed in on “insufficient attention to the
growing threats to the cybersecurity of the critical systems upon which
all Americans depend,” including election systems.
While he has ordered better security for government networks, Trump has shown little understanding
or seriousness when it comes to the broader issues surrounding, in his
words, “the cyber.” Most notably, he has refused to accept the U.S.
intelligence community’s conclusion that Russia engineered a hacking and
propaganda campaign meant to subvert the 2016 presidential election,
and even floated the idea of forming a cyber-security task force with Russia. The administration also missed a self-imposed deadline for presenting a comprehensive cyber-security plan.
Best Buy apologizes for big mistake of price-gouging Texans for water - after their stock tanks
$43 pack of bottled water being sold at a Houston Best Buy (Photo via Ken Klippenstein).
The image, which raced across the internet, shows $42.96 cases of Dasani bottled water, next to a “limited supply” of “Smart Water” for $29.98 a case.
“As a company we are focused on helping, not hurting affected people,” Best Buy told Business Insider. “We’re sorry, and it won’t happen again.”
The company claims the “big mistake” was caused by an employee multiplying the price of a single bottle. The company says the price-gouging signage was only up on Friday and that the Cypress, TX store in question is now closed due to Hurricane Harvey.
Best Buy stock fell 11 percent Tuesday, in heavy trading.
Below is a sampling of social media criticism:
One Houston resident sent me a pic of water he saw being sold for *$42* at a nearby Best Buy. They were kind enough to offer $29 bottles too pic.twitter.com/8dKz3sJJM1— ken klippenstein (@kenklippenstein) August 29, 2017
Hey @BestBuy, check out what one of your locations in Houston is doing. Pretty sick stuff. https://t.co/WQqstnTotr— Erick Fernandez (@ErickFernandez) August 29, 2017
Rot in hell, @BestBuy. pic.twitter.com/Jj7xUfoUp4— jordan 🌹🌹 (@JordanUhl) August 29, 2017
Hey @BestBuy you want to explain why this store of yours in Houston is illegally price gouging? pic.twitter.com/803tuo4XLm— Max Cotterill 🚩 (@mcotteri) August 29, 2017
Greedy Best Buy Gouges Hurricane Plagued Texas Residents; Sells Cases of Water for $42 https://t.co/HNs8XnkEVh— Thomas Paine (@Thomas1774Paine) August 29, 2017
The @BestBuy at Houston charging $40 for a pack of water bottles is a disgrace. People are in need, shame on you #bestbuy #shame #greed— Panda (@4kec4) August 29, 2017
@BestBuy this was happening by me in Houston this past week. Safe to say I will never shop in your stores again. pic.twitter.com/1wAUhnks14— James DeCicco (@bobbyd914) August 29, 2017
Only bcause they got caught. Sum1 HAD 2 authorize the sign, sell & purchase of the #gouging , stop blaming the wrkr bees Fire Mgmt @BestBuy pic.twitter.com/OFKRfeotea— MoreMusicMoreMoney (@MoreMusicMoreMo) August 29, 2017
In response to my article, Best Buy issues apology, saying the pricing was "a big mistake" & "it won't happen again" https://t.co/AcLuHkp0y1— ken klippenstein (@kenklippenstein) August 29, 2017
Is The Street Wrong? What Best Buy $BBY Is Doing Right (video) https://t.co/sgNCaLZoXg @BestBuy #stocks #BestBuy #Retail #investors pic.twitter.com/WoL0DYuLK5— Domain Mondo (@DomainMondo) August 29, 2017
By Bob Brigham
Tuesday, August 29, 2017
Donald Trump's Plans For A Russian Trump Tower In Moscow Just Revealed
In this ‘Dollemore Daily’ Jesse Dollemore addresses the just revealed plans for a
Trump Tower in Moscow, Russia which were previously concealed by Donald
Trump.
Add to the mix, Felix Sater, who has deep mafia ties and connections to heavy hitters in the Russian government.
Add to the mix, Felix Sater, who has deep mafia ties and connections to heavy hitters in the Russian government.
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