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Post by lucyg on Jan 30, 2018 18:41:42 GMT
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Post by withapea on Jan 30, 2018 18:52:09 GMT
You can read the article HERESaveSave
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Post by lucyg on Jan 30, 2018 19:16:19 GMT
Thank you!
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Deleted
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Sept 20, 2024 12:36:24 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Jan 30, 2018 19:43:01 GMT
linkDuring the campaign trump touted pretty much what he is unveiling this week. Besides rolling back environment regulations he is pushing for “private investment. Problem with that is when a private entity invests in anything they expect a return on that investment. Which means John Q Public is going to have to pay and pay and pay for that investment by a private entity. But I pay taxes and one of the items my taxes should go for is fixing the infrastructure. So now we are going to end up paying for something twice that we should only pay for once through our taxes. Another reason why we can’t afford the tax cuts. Paul Waldman - Washington Post... “Trump is going to propose an infrastructure plan tonight. It's a scam.”At tonight’s State of the Union address, President Trump is going to outline an infrastructure plan, something he has been saying he has wanted to do since the presidential campaign. Which might sound like a good thing, because there’s widespread agreement that our roads, bridges, water systems, sewage systems, electrical grid, public transit and other parts of the nation’s physical plant are woefully in need of upgrading. But the Trump plan is a scam. So we need a federal infrastructure bill. The problem with this one is that it’s being sold as something it isn’t, it makes it harder for states and localities to afford infrastructure projects, it prioritizes private profits over public needs, and in the end if it passes we’d wind up paying more and getting less. In other words, it’s just about what you’d expect from this president. Last week, Axios obtained a draft of the proposal, which a variety of analysts have used, along with what the White House has said over the past year about what it wants to do, to determine what this plan actually consists of. Let’s count the ways it isn’t what the administration would have us believe — and isn’t what the country needs: Misleading numbers: Trump and his aides are going to throw around “$1.5 trillion” a lot, but that number is misleading. The White House is proposing an expenditure of only $200 billion over 10 years, which is supposed to translate into $1.5 trillion of total “investment,” with the rest of the money to be spent by states, localities and private investors .
Interestingly enough, in June the administration briefly touted what looks like essentially the same proposal, but back then they said the $200 billion in federal spending would translate into $1 trillion in total investment, a figure that has magically increased by 50 percent. Amazing! Not only that, the administration is simultaneously proposing a series of cuts to federal infrastructure spending, which could amount to as much or more than the $200 billion it wants to spend on this new plan. Putting corporate profits over the needs of the public: As a new report from the Democratic group Democracy Forward explains, the administration’s plan was developed with the help of an advisory board headed by two New York real estate magnates who just happen to be personal friends of the president. Not surprisingly, the plan maximizes opportunities for private profits: On the rubric for judging infrastructure grant applicants under the President’s proposal, 70 percent of a project’s score would be based upon the availability of non-federal revenue, compared to 5 percent for a project’s “economic and social returns.” At the same time, the plan limits federal funding to 20 percent of a project’s overall cost. This formula will favor projects that can more easily generate revenue for private financiers, as states will need to attract investors to fill in the federal funding gap. Let’s be clear on what this kind of public-private partnership isn’t. In normal circumstances, the government decides it needs a new bridge, so it hires Joe’s Construction to build it. But the bridge still belongs to the government; we just have to pay maintenance costs. In the kind of “partnership” the Trump administration wants more of, the government decides it needs a new bridge, so it gives PriveCo Equity Partners a gigantic tax incentive to build the bridge, which the company now owns — and which will charge tolls on in perpetuity. Taxpayers could shell out nearly as much in tax incentives to the private company as we would have spent to just build the bridge, and then on top of that you’ll have to pay tolls to cross it — forever. As long as the bridge stands, people are paying extra so PriveCo Equity Partners can make a profit. Environmental and safety problems: Something else Trump will reportedly stress in tonight’s speech is his desire to accelerate the construction of these projects by eliminating “red tape” that delays projects by years. Which sounds good, as long as you accept the Republican assumption that regulations never have any purpose behind them other than causing problems for noble job-creators. Of course, that isn’t true. The Center for American Progress explains what kind of “red tape” the administration wants to cast aside: As detailed in the leaked proposal, the Trump administration’s plan would require fundamental changes to no fewer than 10 bedrock environmental laws that protect the nation’s clean air, clean water, wildlife, and national parks. The plan would hollow out the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), the law that requires federal project sponsors to consult with stakeholders who would be affected by new projects and identify ways to reduce their impact on the environment, public health, and cultural resources. The Endangered Species Act is also in the crosshairs, as several provisions would prioritize new development over the protection of wildlife that is on the brink of extinction. The Trump administration proposes significant changes to the Clean Air Act and Clean Water Act to make it easier for corporations to break ground and avoid inconvenient air and water quality protections. The proposal even includes some mystifying provisions, such as one to give Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke unilateral authority to site natural gas pipelines in national parks.
That’s not to say it would be impossible to streamline the approval process for infrastructure projects, but the devil is in the details. If by “streamline,” you mean “ignore the health and safety of the communities where projects are placed,” that’s not the kind of bargain we should want to make. The wrong projects: This is an inevitable problem when the fundamental principle of your plan is that somebody other than the federal government should pay the bulk of the cost for these infrastructure projects. If states and localities have to put together the money, what happens when they just don’t have it? Can Flint, Mich., afford to apply for an infrastructure grant if the federal government is only going to put up 20 percent of the funds? The focus on private investment, furthermore, will naturally privilege projects that can generate a profit for private companies, which probably won’t be the most sorely needed upgrades. Trump often complains that other countries are laughing at us. He’s usually wrong, but infrastructure is one area where we really are far behind our peer countries. It affects every sector of the economy; according to the American Society of Civil Engineers, “If this investment gap is not addressed throughout the nation’s infrastructure sectors by 2025, the economy is expected to lose almost $4 trillion in GDP, resulting in a loss of 2.5 million jobs in 2025.” So we need a federal infrastructure bill. The problem with this one is that it’s being sold as something it isn’t, it makes it harder for states and localities to afford infrastructure projects, it prioritizes private profits over public needs, and in the end if it passes we’d wind up paying more and getting less. In other words, it’s just about what you’d expect from this president.
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Post by papercrafteradvocate on Jan 30, 2018 20:38:59 GMT
You can read the article HERESaveSaveThank you! I was trying to get back and post the article attributes but got distracted! Lol
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Deleted
Posts: 0
Sept 20, 2024 12:36:24 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Jan 30, 2018 21:13:06 GMT
THe New York Times...
“WASHINGTON — The Taliban are in retreat, the Afghan military is on the brink of assuming control of the country, and the government in Kabul is one step away from being able to provide security across the land. So three successive presidential administrations have said over 16 years about the war in Afghanistan.
Yet devastating attacks on villages, convoys, government offices and hotels continue.
Three strikes over the past two weeks have killed 128 people, mostly civilians, in Kabul, the Afghan capital, alone. The latest came on Monday, when Islamic State militants stormed an Afghan military training base, killing at least 11 soldiers.
In coming months, the total number of American troops in Afghanistan will grow to an estimated 15,000. Nearly a third of them — 4,000 — will have been sent under President Trump’s new war strategy, which he is expected to promote during his State of the Union address on Tuesday night.
“We’re going to finish what we have to finish,” Mr. Trump told reporters Monday at the start of a lunch at the White House with United Nations ambassadors on the Security Council. “What nobody else has been able to finish, we’re going to be able to do it.”
What president tiny hands is doing is controlling the narrative on what is going on in Afghanistan, Iraq, and the fight against ISIL. He is doing it by withholding information that had been provided by The Obama Administration like the number of boots on the ground in the Middle East and how much territory ISIL controls. What he wants to do is paint a picture that we are winning, as noted in the bolded paragraph above, when in reality he probably won’t that much more successful than the two previous presidents. What concerns me is the damage he will do trying to prove he can win something Presidents Bush and Obama couldn’t and ultimately failing.
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suzastampin
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 2,587
Jun 28, 2014 14:32:59 GMT
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Post by suzastampin on Jan 30, 2018 21:49:45 GMT
I hope Mueller has kicked the investigation into high gear to get things tied up before everybody gets fired and replaced with Trump worshippers.
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Deleted
Posts: 0
Sept 20, 2024 12:36:24 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Jan 30, 2018 21:55:54 GMT
Paul Waldman....
“Maybe the craziest thing about the Nunes memo is the apparent Republican belief that if they can just destroy the credibility of the FISA warrant to surveil Carter Page, the entire Russia investigation will collapse.”
&
“Really wonder if when Republicans in Congress are talking about the Nunes memo anyone pipes up and says "You know fellas, I don't think history's going to be too kind to us on this one."
I was watching Rachel last night and bailed half way through her show. Not because she annoyed me it’s just I reached a point I didn't want to hear anymore how corrupt the GOP has become in Congress. The reason, it’s been reported the reason the FBI wanted the FISA warrant was because a person of interest to the FBI for several years as possible Russian spy all of a sudden popped up in the trump campaign as a foreign policy adviser. Carter Page. And now the GOP is trashing the FBI for doing their job just to protect trump.
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Deleted
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Sept 20, 2024 12:36:24 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Jan 30, 2018 23:03:23 GMT
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Post by dewryce on Jan 30, 2018 23:12:19 GMT
We could not make this shit up. Seriously, fanfiction has more plausible stories yet here we are...
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Deleted
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Sept 20, 2024 12:36:24 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Jan 31, 2018 0:49:32 GMT
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Post by LavenderLayoutLady on Jan 31, 2018 0:56:30 GMT
And then he laughed like a hyena and screamed, "Psych!" before dropping the mike and strutting out of the room to go do vodka shots with his homie Putin.
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Deleted
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Sept 20, 2024 12:36:24 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Jan 31, 2018 1:14:04 GMT
NBC News...
“Trump to declare "New American Moment" — but Hillary Clinton declared one first”
Yup in 2010 while Secretary of State.
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Deleted
Posts: 0
Sept 20, 2024 12:36:24 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Jan 31, 2018 2:16:49 GMT
Joy Reid...
“This is Donald Trumps dream - to be in a chamber full of important people who have no choice but to stand and cheer for him. #SOTU “
Boy that’s the truth.
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Deleted
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Sept 20, 2024 12:36:24 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Jan 31, 2018 2:23:04 GMT
Joy Reid is on a roll tonight...
“Trump's outreach to the USVI and Puerto Rico has to ring hollow in those places tonight. Well, in the few places where they have electricity and wanted to tune in. #SOTU “
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Deleted
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Sept 20, 2024 12:36:24 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Jan 31, 2018 2:25:25 GMT
FiveThirtyEight..
“Only four Supreme Court justices are at the speech tonight: John Roberts, Neil Gorsuch, Elena Kagan and Stephen Breyer.”
What did trump do to Clarence Thomas and Alito?
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Deleted
Posts: 0
Sept 20, 2024 12:36:24 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Jan 31, 2018 2:41:29 GMT
Reuters...
“Oil prices fall for third day on inventory build reut.rs/2DPifRo”
Didn’t this country go through what happens when the oil inventory builds not to long ago? Didn’t it cause high unemployment in oil related industries?
And trump thinks it’s a good idea to trash the country on the way to this happening again.
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Deleted
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Sept 20, 2024 12:36:24 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Jan 31, 2018 3:38:03 GMT
Joe Kennedy....
“Lucky tie, check. Water bottle, check. Big smile, check. OK, friends, in just a few minutes, I'll address the nation. I'm logging off Twitter, but Team Kennedy will post the livestream for you. I'm excited to hear your thoughts!”
Well at least he has a sense of humor. 😀
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Deleted
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Sept 20, 2024 12:36:24 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Jan 31, 2018 4:08:28 GMT
I admit I’m a Joe Kennedy fan. While he may never be the caliber of a speaker as President Obama or even past Kennedy’s like John, Robert, Ted he still made his points. And he delivered ,IMO, the core Democratic message. There wasn’t one thing he said I disagreed with.
Now my other favorite politician is talking on MSNBC Kamala Harris.
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Deleted
Posts: 0
Sept 20, 2024 12:36:24 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Jan 31, 2018 5:14:33 GMT
Nate Silver...
“Like if Bernie Sanders were elected POTUS and said: "Democrats and Republicans, let's put aside our differences to work on our common goal: health care for every American"—and then outlined a plan to nationalize the health care system—that wouldn't really be too bipartisan.”
This is exactly why Sanders would not have been much better in unifying the country then trump is.
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Post by ntsf on Jan 31, 2018 6:54:55 GMT
the way trump talked about federal workers.. are we going to get rid of civil service protections.. that were put in place after other corrupt presidents.
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Deleted
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Sept 20, 2024 12:36:24 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Jan 31, 2018 16:05:55 GMT
MSNBC...
“Nicolle Wallace: When Pres. Trump called for purging of federal employees in his State of the Union, he was really talking about purging officials who aren't loyal to him:”
This is what I think as well.
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Deleted
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Sept 20, 2024 12:36:24 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Jan 31, 2018 16:37:01 GMT
Josh Dawsey...
“Trump, in scripted TelePrompTer speeches, often embraces unity and bringing people together. Trump, on Twitter and unscripted, often embraces fights, incendiary comments and culture wars.”
Translation: scripted speeches reflect someone else’s views while twitter and unscripted comments reflect trump’s views.
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Post by revirdsuba99 on Jan 31, 2018 16:55:13 GMT
the way trump talked about federal workers.. are we going to get rid of civil service protections.. that were put in place after other corrupt presidents. Trump: Congress should give agencies power to fire federal employeesBY LYDIA WHEELER - 01/30/18 09:52 PM EST President Trump called on Congress during his State of the Union address Tuesday night to give the heads of federal agencies the power to fire federal workers. “All Americans deserve accountability and respect, and that is what we are giving them,” said Trump, who campaigned on a pledge to dramatically cut the size of the federal government. “So tonight, I call on the Congress to empower every Cabinet secretary with the authority to reward good workers and to remove federal employees who undermine the public trust or fail the American people," he said. thehill.com/homenews/administration/371532-trump-congress-should-give-agencies-power-to-fire-federal-employeesHe should be at the top of the list........ HE does not understand career service. Of course those who do not do their work should be gone, but not fire at will.
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Deleted
Posts: 0
Sept 20, 2024 12:36:24 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Jan 31, 2018 16:59:02 GMT
MSNBC...
“JUST IN: Train carrying members of Congress to GOP retreat hits a garbage truck, sources confirm.
A GOP aide said most people seem to be okay, but "there appears to be some injuries."
While I hope and it’s been confirmed that no one was hurt how ironic & fitting GOP members of Congress would have a collision with a garbage truck. Fate moves in mysterious ways.
Again I’m glad that no one was hurt.
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Post by mrssmith on Jan 31, 2018 16:59:47 GMT
the way trump talked about federal workers.. are we going to get rid of civil service protections.. that were put in place after other corrupt presidents. Trump: Congress should give agencies power to fire federal employeesBY LYDIA WHEELER - 01/30/18 09:52 PM EST President Trump called on Congress during his State of the Union address Tuesday night to give the heads of federal agencies the power to fire federal workers. “All Americans deserve accountability and respect, and that is what we are giving them,” said Trump, who campaigned on a pledge to dramatically cut the size of the federal government. “So tonight, I call on the Congress to empower every Cabinet secretary with the authority to reward good workers and to remove federal employees who undermine the public trust or fail the American people," he said. thehill.com/homenews/administration/371532-trump-congress-should-give-agencies-power-to-fire-federal-employeesHe should be at the top of the list........ HE does not understand career service. Of course those who do not do their work should be gone, but not fire at will. Yes, it will be interesting to see if (big IF) this happens, how "failing the American people" will be interpreted.
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Deleted
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Sept 20, 2024 12:36:24 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Jan 31, 2018 17:44:41 GMT
Trey Gowdy....
“There is a time to come and a time to go. This is the right time, for me, to leave politics and return to the justice system. Full statement here →”
Another one bits the dust. Don’t let the door hit you on the way out.
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Post by lucyg on Jan 31, 2018 17:54:56 GMT
Jeez. GOOD RIDDANCE, Trey Gowdy!
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Montannie
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 3,486
Location: Big Sky Country
Jun 25, 2014 20:32:35 GMT
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Post by Montannie on Jan 31, 2018 18:01:05 GMT
From the WaPo: By Elise Viebeck and David Weigel By Elise Viebeck and David Weigel Email the author January 31 at 12:30 PM
House Oversight Committee Chairman Trey Gowdy (R-S.C.) announced Wednesday that he will retire at the end of the current term and leave politics to return to work in the justice system.
A former prosecutor, Gowdy rose to prominence as chairman of a special House panel investigating the deadly 2012 attacks in Benghazi, Libya, and then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s role in the State Department’s response.
“I will not be filing for reelection to Congress nor seeking any other political or elected office; instead I will be returning to the justice system,” Gowdy said in a statement.
“Whatever skills I may have are better utilized in a courtroom than in Congress, and I enjoy our justice system more than our political system,” he said. “As I look back on my career, it is the jobs that both seek and reward fairness that are most rewarding.”
The special panel’s discovery of Clinton’s use of a private email server for government business became a significant issue in the 2016 presidential election and prompted an FBI review of her actions that reverberated until the final days of the campaign.
Gowdy’s northern South Carolina district is heavily Republican and includes the city of Greenville.
The 53-year-old, who won his seat in 2010 by ousting moderate Republican Bob Inglis, had talked about retiring for years. In 2016, he waited until weeks before the election filing deadline to declare his candidacy for reelection, after months of speculation that he would leave once the House Select Committee on Benghazi finished its work.
Gowdy’s contribution to that committee made him a major player in the 2016 election. His researchers discovered that Clinton had used a private server for email while in the State Departmen, and in 2015, weeks before the first votes were cast in the Democratic presidential primaries, Gowdy brought Clinton before the committee for an interrogation that dragged late into the night.
Gowdy’s background as a prosecutor was legendary among his colleagues, who praised him for asking precise, cutting questions in settings where members of Congress were often given to rambling.
“He can ask a question,” Sen. Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.) said when Gowdy was picked to run the committee. “Now, the bar is low in Congress, I’ll be first to admit.”
In 2017, after then-Oversight Committee Chairman Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah) surprised Republican House members by retiring from Congress, Gowdy’s colleagues elevated him to lead that panel. In that role, Gowdy emerged as a defender of President Trump in the ongoing investigations of possible Russian involvement in the 2016 elections, most recently saying that text messages between FBI agents who were looking into Trump’s campaign suggested that their investigation was biased.
“It’s clear that they did not want [Clinton] charged; they wanted her to be the president of the United States. They really, really didn’t want Donald Trump to be the president of the United States, and they concede throughout these texts that they did things in this investigation differently from any other investigation that they were part of,” Gowdy said on Fox News last week.
U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations and former South Carolina governor Nikki Haley praised her fellow Republican in a tweet on Tuesday. “I always said the reason @tgowdysc was amazing at his job was bc he disliked politics so much. Trey, thank you for your impatience, sacrifice, and fight to make our country a more just place,” Haley wrote.
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Deleted
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Sept 20, 2024 12:36:24 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Jan 31, 2018 20:46:34 GMT
linkNewsweek.. “The Afghanistan war has gotten so bad for the U.S., but the Trump administration is hiding more data bit.ly/2BJaJWy” Something to ponder.
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