The Many Faces of US Politics...

[seafoid]

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/trumptanic-approaches-repeal-iceberg-everything-is-fine

[seafoid]

https://www.cbo.gov/publication/52486

CBO and JCT estimate that enacting the American Health Care Act would reduce federal deficits by $337 billion over the coming decade and increase the number of people who are uninsured by 24 million in 2026 relative to current law.

[screenexile]

Poor Donald can't get his racist Executive Orders to stick at all!

[stew]

Poor Donald can't get his racist Executive Orders to stick at all!

What racist executive orders would they be???

[screenexile]

Poor Donald can't get his racist Executive Orders to stick at all!

What racist executive orders would they be???

Oh my apologies I was referring to his ban of "certain countries" entering the US!

[Eamonnca1]

Poor Donald can't get his racist Executive Orders to stick at all!

What racist executive orders would they be???

Guess.

[Gabriel_Hurl]

A bad day keeps continuing for Don - first the travel ban being blocked, then having to meet Enda Kenny - now this

[Eamonnca1]

Wiretaps

• House Intelligence Committee chair Rep. Devin Nunes (R-CA) told reporters on Capitol Hill that "I don't think there was an actual tap of Trump Tower... We don't have any evidence that took place," and that the President, if taken literally, is simply "wrong."

• F.B.I. director James Comey will testify Monday at the committee's first public hearing on its Russian interference investigation, where he will also be grilled about whether or not the President was being surveilled.

• Senate Judiciary Chair Chuck Grassley (R-IA) & Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) threatened to block the deputy attorney general nominee until they get an answer from the F.B.I. about whether or not there was a wiretap.

• The President broke the "neither the White House nor the President will comment further" declaration on Fox tonight, saying "some very interesting items" would be revealed in the next two weeks and "Let's see whether or not I proved it." He also tried to follow Spicey's spin by saying that since "wiretap" was in quotes he didn't literally mean "wiretap" but surveillance in general — even though he only used quotes on two of the four tweets and he specifically wrote about tapping phones.

• In one of the more head-spinning displays of inconsistency and dissonance, the President said that he first heard about the wiretapping from a Jan. 20 New York Times article that "used that exact term," but he then went on to levy his usual insults against them, calling them "failing" and "dishonest media."
Cabinet

• The Senate confirmed Dan Coats as Director of National Intelligence 85-12.

The Fed

• Raised interest rates by a quarter-point in response to what it sees as a strengthened U.S. economy. The decision is meant to head off the prospect of rising inflation, which erodes savings and could destabilize the economy. It also means our payments on mortgages, credit cards, and other loans will increase. Higher rates also tend to slow economic growth and cut exports (due to a stronger dollar). Increasing both are priorities for the administration. The Fed expects two more rate bumps this year.

POTUS

• Held a rally in Nashville, TN today. Asked how long he was going to keep this up, he said, "We're going to do these rallies every two weeks."

Maybe they can just pipe an applause track into the White House hallways? It'll be a cheaper ego boost than this.

• He railed against the Ninth Circuit Court

• Said he would rather be cutting taxes now but has to do health care first.

I thought "Obamacare repeal" was always on his Day 1 agenda.

• Took a shot at Hillary and then walked around the dais soaking in the cheers & "Lock her up!" chants like a wrestler mugging to the audience.

• In an interview with Fox host Tucker Carlson, incorrectly claimed that assimilation of Muslims in the U.S. has "been a very hard process. It's been very very difficult."

• When asked by Carlson what evidence he's amassed regarding wiretapping the President could only cite media reports.

Press Secretary

• Spicey called it "despicable" and "offensive" to ask if the President — who has a history of leaking news about himself — leaked news (the 2005 tax forms) about himself.

Draining the Swamp

• Goldman Sachs managing director James Donovan will be nominated to serve as deputy treasury secretary. This would be the fifth Goldman veteran to take a senior role in the administration.

Health Care

• Current Senate vote estimate: 38-62 against.

• Rep. Dave Brat (R-VA) says he'll vote against the bill in a Budget Committee vote tomorrow. Three more votes on the committee and it won't make it to the House floor.

• A Fox News poll shows only 34% support among voters for TrumpCare.

• Last week Speaker of the House Paul Ryan was saying that "this is the bill." They rammed it through Ways & Means with no amendments before the CBO score came out. Now faced with GOP opposition from both sides, Ryan says they will "incorporate feedback to improve this bill, to refine this bill."

• The "Phase Three" bills in the GOP's health care plan, including one that would allow insurers to sell across state lines, will start arriving next week according to House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy. These will not be able to be passed under the budgetary reconciliation process and so will need 8 Senate Democrats to reach 60 votes.

• Health & Human Services Secretary Tom Price participated in a CNN town hall tonight on TrumpCare and demonstrated that he does not know what is in the bill. When asked by Dana Bash why they were repealing the prohibition on insurance providers writing off executive salaries greater than $500,000, Price stammered, claimed that it wasn't in the bill, then tried to recover and talk about how it was un-American to tax *people* making the same amount different rates, which is not what that provision did at all.

• Secretary Price, a physician, also believes that states should be able to determine if immunizations are required.

• Over 12 million people signed up for ACA plans this year. This fell short of the projected 13.8 million, but historically there has been an end-of-window surge every year and this January the new President ordered all promotion of signups and the impending deadline to cease, which undoubtedly hurt the number of participants.

Travel Ban

• Judge Derrick K. Watson of United States District Court in Honolulu issued a nationwide temporary restraining order against the revised travel ban. In part of his eviscerating ruling he writes, "The Government appropriately cautions that, in determining purpose, courts should not look into the "veiled psyche" and "secret motives" of government decisionmakers and may not undertake a "judicial psychoanalysis of a drafter's heart of hearts." ... The Government need not fear. The remarkable facts at issue here require no such impermissible inquiry. For instance, there is nothing "veiled" about this press release: "Donald J. Trump is calling for a total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States.""

• The President went full-authoritarian at his Nashville rally in reaction, saying "This ruling makes us look weak," and "people are suggesting breaking up the 9th circuit."

He called Travel Ban 2.0 "a watered down version of the 1st one" and indicated he wanted to return to that. Which 2.0 rescinded. And had lost five different court cases. He's... not a smart man.

• Five judges of the 9th Circuit supported the travel ban in a filing, writing that the panel's decision to block it "stands contrary to well-established separation-of-powers principles," and that "whatever we, as individuals, may feel about the President or the Executive Order, the President's decision was well within the powers of the presidency."

Foreign Relations

• Jason Greenblatt, the former Trump Organization chief legal officer, is now point man on peace in the West Bank. He reports not to the State Department, but to the president's son-in-law and senior advisor, Jared Kushner. When Trump named him his top Israeli affairs adviser during a meeting with Orthodox Jewish reporters in 2016, it took Greenblatt by surprise: "I knew that he was relying on me for certain aspects of Israel, but I didn't know I was his top adviser."

He has no diplomatic experience but his main sources of information are daily email alerts, American Israel Public Affairs Committee materials and a weekly Jewish radio program. "There's just a tremendous amount of literature out there, emails and all that, so I read all of those as often as I can."

The Hill

• After Rand Paul (R-KY) objected to John McCain's (R-AZ) motion advancing Montenegro's push for NATO membership in the face of a Russian-backed coup and walked out of the Senate chambers, McCain said, "the Senator from Kentucky is working for Vladimir Putin." No one made a move to Rule 19 him like when Dr. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) tried to read Coretta Scott King's letter on Jeff Sessions' racism into the record.

This has been Day 55 in Trumpistan. Good night!

[foxcommander]

Wiretaps

• House Intelligence Committee chair Rep. Devin Nunes (R-CA) told reporters on Capitol Hill that "I don't think there was an actual tap of Trump Tower... We don't have any evidence that took place," and that the President, if taken literally, is simply "wrong."

• F.B.I. director James Comey will testify Monday at the committee's first public hearing on its Russian interference investigation, where he will also be grilled about whether or not the President was being surveilled.

• Senate Judiciary Chair Chuck Grassley (R-IA) & Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) threatened to block the deputy attorney general nominee until they get an answer from the F.B.I. about whether or not there was a wiretap.

• The President broke the "neither the White House nor the President will comment further" declaration on Fox tonight, saying "some very interesting items" would be revealed in the next two weeks and "Let's see whether or not I proved it." He also tried to follow Spicey's spin by saying that since "wiretap" was in quotes he didn't literally mean "wiretap" but surveillance in general — even though he only used quotes on two of the four tweets and he specifically wrote about tapping phones.

• In one of the more head-spinning displays of inconsistency and dissonance, the President said that he first heard about the wiretapping from a Jan. 20 New York Times article that "used that exact term," but he then went on to levy his usual insults against them, calling them "failing" and "dishonest media."
Cabinet

• The Senate confirmed Dan Coats as Director of National Intelligence 85-12.

The Fed

• Raised interest rates by a quarter-point in response to what it sees as a strengthened U.S. economy. The decision is meant to head off the prospect of rising inflation, which erodes savings and could destabilize the economy. It also means our payments on mortgages, credit cards, and other loans will increase. Higher rates also tend to slow economic growth and cut exports (due to a stronger dollar). Increasing both are priorities for the administration. The Fed expects two more rate bumps this year.

POTUS

• Held a rally in Nashville, TN today. Asked how long he was going to keep this up, he said, "We're going to do these rallies every two weeks."

Maybe they can just pipe an applause track into the White House hallways? It'll be a cheaper ego boost than this.

• He railed against the Ninth Circuit Court

• Said he would rather be cutting taxes now but has to do health care first.

I thought "Obamacare repeal" was always on his Day 1 agenda.

• Took a shot at Hillary and then walked around the dais soaking in the cheers & "Lock her up!" chants like a wrestler mugging to the audience.

• In an interview with Fox host Tucker Carlson, incorrectly claimed that assimilation of Muslims in the U.S. has "been a very hard process. It's been very very difficult."

• When asked by Carlson what evidence he's amassed regarding wiretapping the President could only cite media reports.

Press Secretary

• Spicey called it "despicable" and "offensive" to ask if the President — who has a history of leaking news about himself — leaked news (the 2005 tax forms) about himself.

Draining the Swamp

• Goldman Sachs managing director James Donovan will be nominated to serve as deputy treasury secretary. This would be the fifth Goldman veteran to take a senior role in the administration.

Health Care

• Current Senate vote estimate: 38-62 against.

• Rep. Dave Brat (R-VA) says he'll vote against the bill in a Budget Committee vote tomorrow. Three more votes on the committee and it won't make it to the House floor.

• A Fox News poll shows only 34% support among voters for TrumpCare.

• Last week Speaker of the House Paul Ryan was saying that "this is the bill." They rammed it through Ways & Means with no amendments before the CBO score came out. Now faced with GOP opposition from both sides, Ryan says they will "incorporate feedback to improve this bill, to refine this bill."

• The "Phase Three" bills in the GOP's health care plan, including one that would allow insurers to sell across state lines, will start arriving next week according to House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy. These will not be able to be passed under the budgetary reconciliation process and so will need 8 Senate Democrats to reach 60 votes.

• Health & Human Services Secretary Tom Price participated in a CNN town hall tonight on TrumpCare and demonstrated that he does not know what is in the bill. When asked by Dana Bash why they were repealing the prohibition on insurance providers writing off executive salaries greater than $500,000, Price stammered, claimed that it wasn't in the bill, then tried to recover and talk about how it was un-American to tax *people* making the same amount different rates, which is not what that provision did at all.

• Secretary Price, a physician, also believes that states should be able to determine if immunizations are required.

• Over 12 million people signed up for ACA plans this year. This fell short of the projected 13.8 million, but historically there has been an end-of-window surge every year and this January the new President ordered all promotion of signups and the impending deadline to cease, which undoubtedly hurt the number of participants.

Travel Ban

• Judge Derrick K. Watson of United States District Court in Honolulu issued a nationwide temporary restraining order against the revised travel ban. In part of his eviscerating ruling he writes, "The Government appropriately cautions that, in determining purpose, courts should not look into the "veiled psyche" and "secret motives" of government decisionmakers and may not undertake a "judicial psychoanalysis of a drafter's heart of hearts." ... The Government need not fear. The remarkable facts at issue here require no such impermissible inquiry. For instance, there is nothing "veiled" about this press release: "Donald J. Trump is calling for a total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States.""

• The President went full-authoritarian at his Nashville rally in reaction, saying "This ruling makes us look weak," and "people are suggesting breaking up the 9th circuit."

He called Travel Ban 2.0 "a watered down version of the 1st one" and indicated he wanted to return to that. Which 2.0 rescinded. And had lost five different court cases. He's... not a smart man.

• Five judges of the 9th Circuit supported the travel ban in a filing, writing that the panel's decision to block it "stands contrary to well-established separation-of-powers principles," and that "whatever we, as individuals, may feel about the President or the Executive Order, the President's decision was well within the powers of the presidency."

Foreign Relations

• Jason Greenblatt, the former Trump Organization chief legal officer, is now point man on peace in the West Bank. He reports not to the State Department, but to the president's son-in-law and senior advisor, Jared Kushner. When Trump named him his top Israeli affairs adviser during a meeting with Orthodox Jewish reporters in 2016, it took Greenblatt by surprise: "I knew that he was relying on me for certain aspects of Israel, but I didn't know I was his top adviser."

He has no diplomatic experience but his main sources of information are daily email alerts, American Israel Public Affairs Committee materials and a weekly Jewish radio program. "There's just a tremendous amount of literature out there, emails and all that, so I read all of those as often as I can."

The Hill

• After Rand Paul (R-KY) objected to John McCain's (R-AZ) motion advancing Montenegro's push for NATO membership in the face of a Russian-backed coup and walked out of the Senate chambers, McCain said, "the Senator from Kentucky is working for Vladimir Putin." No one made a move to Rule 19 him like when Dr. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) tried to read Coretta Scott King's letter on Jeff Sessions' racism into the record.

This has been Day 55 in Trumpistan. Good night!

Yawn. Stop boring us.
Hillary lost - get over it.

[armaghniac]

I don't know whether to put this in the What the f**k thread or here

http://www.independent.ie/irish-news/news/my-new-friend-a-great-guy-president-trump-full-of-praise-for-taoiseach-as-he-confirms-he-will-visit-ireland-35537632.html

[seafoid]

Wiretaps

• House Intelligence Committee chair Rep. Devin Nunes (R-CA) told reporters on Capitol Hill that "I don't think there was an actual tap of Trump Tower... We don't have any evidence that took place," and that the President, if taken literally, is simply "wrong."

• F.B.I. director James Comey will testify Monday at the committee's first public hearing on its Russian interference investigation, where he will also be grilled about whether or not the President was being surveilled.

• Senate Judiciary Chair Chuck Grassley (R-IA) & Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) threatened to block the deputy attorney general nominee until they get an answer from the F.B.I. about whether or not there was a wiretap.

• The President broke the "neither the White House nor the President will comment further" declaration on Fox tonight, saying "some very interesting items" would be revealed in the next two weeks and "Let's see whether or not I proved it." He also tried to follow Spicey's spin by saying that since "wiretap" was in quotes he didn't literally mean "wiretap" but surveillance in general — even though he only used quotes on two of the four tweets and he specifically wrote about tapping phones.

• In one of the more head-spinning displays of inconsistency and dissonance, the President said that he first heard about the wiretapping from a Jan. 20 New York Times article that "used that exact term," but he then went on to levy his usual insults against them, calling them "failing" and "dishonest media."
Cabinet

• The Senate confirmed Dan Coats as Director of National Intelligence 85-12.

The Fed

• Raised interest rates by a quarter-point in response to what it sees as a strengthened U.S. economy. The decision is meant to head off the prospect of rising inflation, which erodes savings and could destabilize the economy. It also means our payments on mortgages, credit cards, and other loans will increase. Higher rates also tend to slow economic growth and cut exports (due to a stronger dollar). Increasing both are priorities for the administration. The Fed expects two more rate bumps this year.

POTUS

• Held a rally in Nashville, TN today. Asked how long he was going to keep this up, he said, "We're going to do these rallies every two weeks."

Maybe they can just pipe an applause track into the White House hallways? It'll be a cheaper ego boost than this.

• He railed against the Ninth Circuit Court

• Said he would rather be cutting taxes now but has to do health care first.

I thought "Obamacare repeal" was always on his Day 1 agenda.

• Took a shot at Hillary and then walked around the dais soaking in the cheers & "Lock her up!" chants like a wrestler mugging to the audience.

• In an interview with Fox host Tucker Carlson, incorrectly claimed that assimilation of Muslims in the U.S. has "been a very hard process. It's been very very difficult."

• When asked by Carlson what evidence he's amassed regarding wiretapping the President could only cite media reports.

Press Secretary

• Spicey called it "despicable" and "offensive" to ask if the President — who has a history of leaking news about himself — leaked news (the 2005 tax forms) about himself.

Draining the Swamp

• Goldman Sachs managing director James Donovan will be nominated to serve as deputy treasury secretary. This would be the fifth Goldman veteran to take a senior role in the administration.

Health Care

• Current Senate vote estimate: 38-62 against.

• Rep. Dave Brat (R-VA) says he'll vote against the bill in a Budget Committee vote tomorrow. Three more votes on the committee and it won't make it to the House floor.

• A Fox News poll shows only 34% support among voters for TrumpCare.

• Last week Speaker of the House Paul Ryan was saying that "this is the bill." They rammed it through Ways & Means with no amendments before the CBO score came out. Now faced with GOP opposition from both sides, Ryan says they will "incorporate feedback to improve this bill, to refine this bill."

• The "Phase Three" bills in the GOP's health care plan, including one that would allow insurers to sell across state lines, will start arriving next week according to House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy. These will not be able to be passed under the budgetary reconciliation process and so will need 8 Senate Democrats to reach 60 votes.

• Health & Human Services Secretary Tom Price participated in a CNN town hall tonight on TrumpCare and demonstrated that he does not know what is in the bill. When asked by Dana Bash why they were repealing the prohibition on insurance providers writing off executive salaries greater than $500,000, Price stammered, claimed that it wasn't in the bill, then tried to recover and talk about how it was un-American to tax *people* making the same amount different rates, which is not what that provision did at all.

• Secretary Price, a physician, also believes that states should be able to determine if immunizations are required.

• Over 12 million people signed up for ACA plans this year. This fell short of the projected 13.8 million, but historically there has been an end-of-window surge every year and this January the new President ordered all promotion of signups and the impending deadline to cease, which undoubtedly hurt the number of participants.

Travel Ban

• Judge Derrick K. Watson of United States District Court in Honolulu issued a nationwide temporary restraining order against the revised travel ban. In part of his eviscerating ruling he writes, "The Government appropriately cautions that, in determining purpose, courts should not look into the "veiled psyche" and "secret motives" of government decisionmakers and may not undertake a "judicial psychoanalysis of a drafter's heart of hearts." ... The Government need not fear. The remarkable facts at issue here require no such impermissible inquiry. For instance, there is nothing "veiled" about this press release: "Donald J. Trump is calling for a total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States.""

• The President went full-authoritarian at his Nashville rally in reaction, saying "This ruling makes us look weak," and "people are suggesting breaking up the 9th circuit."

He called Travel Ban 2.0 "a watered down version of the 1st one" and indicated he wanted to return to that. Which 2.0 rescinded. And had lost five different court cases. He's... not a smart man.

• Five judges of the 9th Circuit supported the travel ban in a filing, writing that the panel's decision to block it "stands contrary to well-established separation-of-powers principles," and that "whatever we, as individuals, may feel about the President or the Executive Order, the President's decision was well within the powers of the presidency."

Foreign Relations

• Jason Greenblatt, the former Trump Organization chief legal officer, is now point man on peace in the West Bank. He reports not to the State Department, but to the president's son-in-law and senior advisor, Jared Kushner. When Trump named him his top Israeli affairs adviser during a meeting with Orthodox Jewish reporters in 2016, it took Greenblatt by surprise: "I knew that he was relying on me for certain aspects of Israel, but I didn't know I was his top adviser."

He has no diplomatic experience but his main sources of information are daily email alerts, American Israel Public Affairs Committee materials and a weekly Jewish radio program. "There's just a tremendous amount of literature out there, emails and all that, so I read all of those as often as I can."

The Hill

• After Rand Paul (R-KY) objected to John McCain's (R-AZ) motion advancing Montenegro's push for NATO membership in the face of a Russian-backed coup and walked out of the Senate chambers, McCain said, "the Senator from Kentucky is working for Vladimir Putin." No one made a move to Rule 19 him like when Dr. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) tried to read Coretta Scott King's letter on Jeff Sessions' racism into the record.

This has been Day 55 in Trumpistan. Good night!

Yawn. Stop boring us.
Hillary lost - get over it.

the red states lost
24 million poor Americans will lose their healthcare

[foxcommander]

I don't know whether to put this in the What the f**k thread or here

http://www.independent.ie/irish-news/news/my-new-friend-a-great-guy-president-trump-full-of-praise-for-taoiseach-as-he-confirms-he-will-visit-ireland-35537632.html

Enda certainly put him in his place. Just goes to show how foolish Fine Gael publicly backing the democrats was.

Kenny going in to bat for undocumented irish in the states is embarrassing. If they are illegal they should be turfed out. No question. The government wants them to stay in the US I bet as they can't afford people returning.

[Eamonnca1]

Yawn. Stop boring us.

Who's "us?" Are you schizophrenic?

[FL/MAYO]

I don't know whether to put this in the What the f**k thread or here

http://www.independent.ie/irish-news/news/my-new-friend-a-great-guy-president-trump-full-of-praise-for-taoiseach-as-he-confirms-he-will-visit-ireland-35537632.html

Enda certainly put him in his place. Just goes to show how foolish Fine Gael publicly backing the democrats was.

Kenny going in to bat for undocumented irish in the states is embarrassing. If they are illegal they should be turfed out. No question. The government wants them to stay in the US I bet as they can't afford people returning.

I have a few Irish friends that hold the same view, the irony is that they came over here legally on Donnelly or Morrison Visas that were won in lotteries back in the early 90's. These visas came about through the hard work of illegal Irish citizens living here in the 80's.

[foxcommander]

Yawn. Stop boring us.

Who's "us?" Are you schizophrenic?

I'm not the one who holds differing views on accepting election results
I hope you've told your psychiatrist about it. Since Trump won I bet she's got some good business out of you!