What goes through my my mind when I read the news with my morning coffee. …Or for the Simon's Rockers in the group, this is my response journal.
President Donald Trump suggested Thursday that Puerto Rico is going to have to shoulder more responsibility for recovery efforts from Hurricane Maria, saying the federal government’s emergency responders can’t stay there “forever.”
Donald Trump: We cannot aid Puerto Rico ‘forever’ – CNNPolitics
What the fuck is this idiot’s problem? Does he not realize that Puerto Ricans ARE fucking Americans. They are part of this “we” you talk about you fucking bent-ass dildo!
But just saying NASA is going to do something isn’t enough for the space agency to actually accomplish a task. Ambitious programs require extra money and sustained commitment from Congress in order to become a reality.
…Either Congress can raise NASA’s budget by billions of dollars each year, or the space agency can rework its existing programs to free up funds for technology development. But such changes aren’t easy to implement, and it’s unclear which route the new administration will take in order to follow through on Pence’s bold proclamation.
If Mike Pence wants to send NASA back to the Moon, he has to find funds – The Verge
hmmm
Republican donors paid up to $5,000 per couple for a photo with Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke at a fundraiser held during a taxpayer-funded trip to the U.S. Virgin Islands, according to documents reviewed by POLITICO — raising questions about his habit of mixing official government business with political activism.
The new details about Zinke’s March trip to the Caribbean, including the previously undisclosed invitation to the Virgin Islands Republican Party fundraiser, emerged after weeks of scrutiny of the former Montana GOP congressman’s travels. The nearly two-hour event was one of more than a half-dozen times Zinke has met with big donors or political groups while on department-paid trips, Interior travel records and other documents show.
…The secretary is already under investigation by his department’s inspector general over his use of taxpayer-funded private planes for some of the trips, and the Justice Department’s Office of Special Counsel is looking into an activist group’s allegations that he violated the Hatch Act, the law limiting political activism by federal employees.
Zinke visited the Virgin Islands from March 30 to April 1 on an official trip related to the Interior Department’s role overseeing the U.S. territory. On his first day, following a “veterans meet and greet” and a reception with Gov. Kenneth Mapp, he appeared in his personal capacity at a March fundraiser for the local Republican Party at the patio bar of the Club Comanche Hotel St. Croix, department records show.
Tickets for the fundraiser ranged from $75 per person to as much as $5,000 per couple to be an event “Patron,” according to Zinke’s official calendar and a copy of the invitation.
The following day, Zinke took a $3,150 flight on a private plane, paid for by the department, from St. Croix to official functions on St. Thomas and returned later that evening.
Zinke is allowed to engage in partisan political activity in a “purely personal (not official) capacity,” so long as he does not use government resources, according to Interior Department guidelines on the Hatch Act and other federal laws.
…All told, Zinke has spent around $20,000 for three charter flights as secretary, nowhere near the $1 million tab Price racked up on non-commercial trips. But he has on numerous occasions attended political receptions, spoken to influential conservative groups or appeared alongside past campaign donors during trips he takes outside of Washington, D.C., for official department business.
In one instance, Zinke gave a motivational speech for a professional hockey team owned by a major campaign contributor that he said was official business — and which required him to charter a $12,000 flight to Montana for an appearance at the Western Governors Association the next day.
…Swift did not respond to questions about whether the department had gotten reimbursement for the political portion of Zinke’s three-day Virgin Islands trip, as the head of one watchdog group says it should have.
“Some of this travel is clearly political and that part of the travel should have been paid for by the RNC, NRCC, state political parties, a campaign committee or Zinke personally,” said Daniel Stevens, executive director of the Campaign for Accountability.
No payments to the department are listed in the Virgin Islands Republican Party’s FEC records.
Trump’s Interior chief ‘hopping around from campaign event to campaign event’ – POLITICO
hmmmm
A new report says a fraud case against Ivanka Trump and Donald Trump Jr. was dropped after Manhattan D.A. Cyrus Vance Jr. received a visit from Donald Trump’s lawyer, a top donor.
Ivanka Trump’s little secret: She avoided indictment in 2012
hmmmm
President Donald Trump visited an island completely devastated by the fury of Hurricane Maria and in full Trump fashion, used the opportunity as a self-aggrandizing political photo op to pat himself on the back for the “great work” he and administration have done in Puerto Rico.
…Before departing for the island “tour,” he slammed Puerto Rico’s debt problems, yet again, by saying that Puerto Rico had thrown the federal budget “out of whack” with what the recovery would cost. I don’t remember him throwing Texas or Florida’s debt in their face when he generously approved their recovery packages.
…He also gave out flashlights but then yelled out, “But you all don’t need flashlights anymore do you!” in a clear attempt to highlight the “great work” he has done to bring the island back from disaster.
People DO need flashlights, however: Just 8.6 percent of the population has electricity. In addition, just 48 percent have access to drinking water.
…the upscale neighborhood Trump visited sustained minimal damage.
… even the residents who were chosen to speak with Trump were baffled at why he would be there instead of in the most ravaged areas where people lived on coconut water for a week because they were cut off from the rest of the island.
Trump’s Puerto Rico drop-in was a monumental insult | TheHill
sigh…
Congressional dysfunction has placed a healthcare program for kids in jeopardy.
Monsters.
Tom Price, President Trump’s embattled health and human services secretary, resigned Friday amid sharp criticism of his extensive use of taxpayer-funded charter flights, the White House said.
The announcement came shortly after Trump told reporters he considered Price a “fine man” but that he “didn’t like the optics” and planned to make a decision by the end of the day.
heh
The White House approved the use of military aircraft for multi-national trips by Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price to Africa and Europe this spring, and to Asia in the summer, at a cost of more than $500,000 to taxpayers.
The overseas trips bring the total cost to taxpayers of Price’s travels to more than $1 million since May.
Price pledged on Thursday to reimburse the government for the cost of his own seat on his domestic trips using private aircraft — reportedly around $52,000 — but that would not include the cost of the military flights.
Price’s wife, Betty, accompanied him on the military flights, while other members of the secretary’s delegation flew commercially to Europe.
Price took military jets to Europe, Asia for over $500K – POLITICO
hmmm
During the trial, each of the three took the stand and detailed the effects of being accused of crimes such as drug dealing, money laundering and gun running. Gill played out the accusations on a radio show, electronic billboards in high traffic areas such as South Willow Street, and social media that logged views in the thousands, sometimes millions.
“This was never about the money,” said Anagnost. Gill went after politicans, judges and people without the resources to fight back, Anagnost said. But he and his co-plaintiffs could afford the fight, and the verdict saves future victims from any slanders by Gill, Anagnost said.
All three said most of the money they collect will go to charity.
Both Anagnost and Crews said the verdict could have far reaching effect in the world of social media. Crews hopes the allegations will change the social media habits of someone who accuses people of crimes.
“As a Marine Corps vet I’m very serious about First Amendment rights, I believe in them, but I also believe that as a human being, the Golden Rule should come first,” Crews said. Everyone has the responsibility to not make false accusations they can’t back up, he said.
A judge has already ordered that the electricity be cut to Gill’s electronic billboards, and Pulse 107.7 has halted Gill’s paid radio program. Next up, Anagnost said, lawyer Steve Gordon will seek an injunction ordering Facebook and Twitter to darken Gill’s accounts.
“We become the aggressor now,” Anagnost said.
Update: Jury awards businessmen defamed by Michael Gill $274.5 million, most in NH history | New Hampshire
hmmm
Like some of the other 26 flights that Price took on corporate jets since May identified by a POLITICO review, the trip to Tennessee appears to have occurred despite the existence of multiple commercial flight options. The trip to Georgia, while less direct, also could have been accomplished with a routine connecting flight through Atlanta’s busy international airport.
On Aug. 4, Price flew a Dassault Falcon 2000 twin jet from Raleigh, North Carolina, where he had given a speech to a flu vaccine manufacturer, to Brunswick Golden Isles Airport, which is about a half-hour drive from St. Simons Island. It was the same plane that had shuttled him between five states in four days, one that HHS had chartered through Classic Air Charter for more than $86,000, according to federal contracts.
The plane arrived in Brunswick at 4:02 p.m. the afternoon before the start of the two-day Medical Association of Georgia retreat and roughly 40 hours before Price addressed the group, according to airport records and people familiar with the event. At about the same time, there were connecting commercial flights from Raleigh to Brunswick via Atlanta that would have gotten Price to St. Simons Island that evening.
…The Nashville trip offered even more commercial options. On June 6, Price took a Learjet 55 — a $17,760 round-trip flight, according to a federal contract — that departed from Washington Dulles International Airport at 9:12 a.m. ET and touched down in Nashville at 9:44 a.m. CT.
Two commercial flights that morning followed similar itineraries. An American Airlines plane departed Reagan National Airport at 9:05 a.m. ET and landed in Nashville at 9:39 a.m. CT. A Southwest Airlines flight left Baltimore-Washington International at 9:18 a.m. ET and arrived in Nashville at 9:54 a.m. CT.
Commercial airline tickets with government discounts would have cost between $102 and $333 per person one way between the two cities, according to the U.S. General Services Administration.
…Richard Painter, who served as the top ethics official for President George W. Bush, said Price’s trips may have been legal but were ethically dubious.
“To use a charter flight on something that combines personal and government business, I think it’s highly unprofessional and really inappropriate,” Painter said — especially if personal business represented a disproportionate part of the trip.
…Painter said Price’s trip to Nashville raised multiple ethical concerns. Despite spending nearly $18,000 on a Learjet, Price spent just five-and-a-half hours in the city and with only two official visits on his calendar — an hourlong tour of the dispensary and a 20-minute speech — that bookended his lunch with his son.
Price’s private-jet travels included visits with colleagues, lunch with son – POLITICO
hmmm
Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) has urged Trump officials to rethink the decision.
US won’t waive shipping restrictions for Puerto Rico relief | TheHill
For the love of Christ….
PR is part of the United States for God’s sake!!!
Senate hearing seeks to answer if the SEC breach held the potential for insider trading and how long the SEC knew about the security breach before disclosing it.
Congress questions SEC chairman on security of files after Equifax hacking – CSMonitor.com
hmmm
The HHS secretary sometimes combined official travel and meetings with friends and family.
Price’s private-jet travels included visits with colleagues, lunch with son – POLITICO
Hope he ends up disgraced and in jail.
Given how economically and racially segregated the country remains, many Americans, and especially wealthy whites, have little direct knowledge of what life looks like for families in other demographic groups.
…We’re inclined, as well, to believe that society is fairer than it really is. The reality that it’s not — that even college-educated black workers earn about 20 percent less than college-educated white ones, for example — is uncomfortable for both blacks who’ve been harmed by that unfairness and whites who’ve benefited from it.
…These findings suggest that the motivation to see the world as fair may be even stronger in this context than stereotypes white Americans hold, for instance, equating blacks with poverty.
hmmmm
KOAA-5 first reported Monday morning that Miller had been “fired” from his deal with Phil Long because of his protest but Miller has not had an agreement with the dealership for nearly six months. Miller’s previous agreement with Phil Long Ford expired in March. There had been talks about a renewal, but nothing had materialized.
Von Miller didn’t lose Phil Long Ford endorsement over national anthem protest
So Phil Longs is cashing in on some free publicity at Miller’s expense? Classy.
Building light bulbs to last poses a vexing problem: no one seems to have a sound business model for such a product.
The L.E.D. Quandary: Why There’s No Such Thing as “Built to Last” | The New Yorker
Agggghhhhh!
White college-educated Americans are far less likely to say poverty is a critical issue — only 37 percent, compared to 47 percent of white non-college-educated Americans and a majority of Hispanic and black Americans (at 52 and 69 percent, respectively).
…The empathy gap of college-educated whites only widens in regions where Trump excelled electorally, like the Southwest and the Southeast. White college-educated residents of those regions are far less concerned than those without a college degree about the lack of equal opportunity in education. Nearly half of white college-educated respondents (46 percent) told PRRI that it is not a major problem if not everyone has an equal chance in life — a view shared by only 36 percent of those without a college education.
….64 percent of whites without a college degree in the Southeast and Southwest — including 31 percent of Democrats — said discrimination against white people has become as big a problem as discrimination against blacks and other minorities. Strikingly, more than 40 percent of young white people (under age 30) in these regions agreed that discrimination against whites is as big a problem as discrimination against nonwhites.
…As PRRI noted when releasing its survey on Monday, the Republican Party is increasingly becoming a party of white evangelical Protestants, while the Democratic Party is increasingly the home of ethnic minorities and the religiously unaffiliated.
…There is no point in having a debate on economic anxiety versus old-fashioned racism when a huge swath of white people insist that barriers to success in this country are conceived more in economic than in social terms, while another group of white people seem unable to empathize with the suffering of others, even those who look like them.
New study: White people lack empathy across the socioeconomic spectrum – Salon.com
…Naturally, his praise quickly took on a vaguely colonialist tone.
“I have so many friends going to your countries to get rich,” he actually said to them, adding that “six of the world‘s 10 fastest growing economies are in Africa.” Perhaps getting himself a little too worked up about all the ways in which Africa poses an opportunity for his close personal friends to further enrich themselves, the president referred to a country called “Nambia,” which has the unique distinction of not existing.
…In fairness to Trump, we should probably award him partial credit for refraining from telling the group “I love Africa. Great colonialism. Excellent mineral extraction opportunities,” which we can only assume was how the first draft of his speech began.
Trump Praises Africa for Making “So Many Friends” Rich | Vanity Fair
Jeezus….
A key vacancy in the State Department is creating friction between the European Union and United States over a new agreement affecting thousands of U.S. companies that do business in Europe.
The agreement, known as the privacy shield, allows businesses to swiftly send personal data across the Atlantic, something that affects a huge swath of U.S. companies, from Facebook and Apple to Netflix and Google.
Without the shield, companies that operate in Europe would have to enter into special contracts to transfer personal data.
EU officials are worried that the Trump administration has yet to nominate an ombudsman at the State Department to oversee complaints from Europeans about the access U.S. national security agencies may have to their data.
Trump vacancy raises consternation with Europe | TheHill
hmmmm
Critics argue that civil asset forfeiture program’s abuses outweigh its benefits.
Has asset forfeiture gone too far? Truck seizure case sparks outrage, a call for change | Fox News
Although the truck incident is unfair it is far from the most egregious example of asset seizure gone wrong. Apparently the truly outrageous thing here is that this dude is a white republican???
Asset seizure IS wrong but this case is nothing compared to what’s out there.
Democrats say they are planning to look into a report about Secretary of Health and Human Services Tom Price taking five work-related trips on private jets
Hill Dems vow to probe Price’s private flights – CNNPolitics
hmmmm
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