Source: CNBC

A hero of Warren Buffett and lifetime Republican has told the BBC that President Donald Trump's plan to grow the U.S. economy by 4 percent a year is probably "not even possible for anybody."

He also said administration rhetoric over regulation was a concern.

"I think reducing regulations is a reasonable thing to do if you do it the right way, but eliminating regulations is some sort of madness."

And highlighting that he himself is the child of an immigrant, Bogle questioned the trade and border policies emanating from the White House.



Read more: http://www.cnbc.com/2017/03/03/warren-buffett-hero--trump-growth-target-impossible-to-achieve.html

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"I think increasing trade barriers is the wrong way to go for business," he said.

"And I'm not making a political statement here, the economics of cutting back on immigration is extremely harmful in the long run for our economy."

Source: Boston Globe

PROVIDENCE, R.I. — Around 200 people chanted ‘‘Coward!’’ and booed as Republican House Speaker Paul Ryan attended an event in the heavily Democratic state.

A strong police presence kept the crowd across the street from a Providence office building, where Ryan was meeting Thursday with Year Up, a nonprofit career training organization.

Ryan was not seen entering the building, but a motorcade carrying him pulled into an alley, where there’s a back entrance, away from protesters.

‘‘We want him to hear loud and clear that his values are Wall Street values, they’re not Rhode Island values,’’ said Georgia Hollister Isman, the state director of Rhode Island Working Families. ‘‘We’re also here in solidarity with our friends in Wisconsin who’ve been trying for months to get a town hall meeting with him.’’


Read more: https://www.bostonglobe.com/news/nation/2017/03/02/paul-ryan-set-visit-heavily-democratic-rhode-island/nR2fNscUOGum9QJo95bm6L/story.html

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Source: POLITICO

A Republican congressman who aligned with President Donald Trump during the 2016 campaign called Friday for a special prosecutor to oversee the investigation into Trump associates' contacts with Russia.

Rep. Darrell Issa said on HBO's "Real Time" that Attorney General Jeff Sessions who Trump appointed as the nation's top law enforcement officer should not handle the problem.

"You cannot have somebody, a friend of mine Jeff Sessions, who was on the campaign and who is an appointee," the California Republican said in response to a question from host Bill Maher. "You're going to need to use the special prosecutor's statute and office to take not just to recuse. You can't just give it to your deputy. That's another political appointee."

Issa emphasized that "there may or may not be fault" with Trump's associates but said Russian President Vladimir Putin's brutality toward political enemies highlighted the need for such a probe.

Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2017/02/issa-trump-russia-probe-special-prosecutor-235387

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Weird. Posting for what, if anything, it's worth.

"Trump is, by all appearances, consciously destroying the fabric of civil conversation."

According to a transcript posted online by Vatican Radio, the pontiff called it a “scandal” during his morning mass on Thursday:

“Scandal is saying one thing and doing another; it is a double life, a double life. A totally double life: ‘I am very Catholic, I always go to Mass, I belong to this association and that one; but my life is not Christian, I don’t pay my workers a just wage, I exploit people, I am dirty in my business, I launder money…’ A double life.”

The pontiff said “many Christians” were living this double life.

“How many times have we heard ― all of us, around the neighborhood and elsewhere ― ‘but to be a Catholic like that, it’s better to be an atheist,’” he said.

He gave an example of a Christian boss taking a vacation as his workers went unpaid — and issued a stern warning about where that will lead.

“You will arrive in heaven and you will knock at the gate: ‘Here I am, Lord!’ ― ‘But don’t you remember? I went to Church, I was close to you, I belong to this association, I did this… Don’t you remember all the offerings I made?’ ‘Yes, I remember. The offerings, I remember them: All dirty. All stolen from the poor. I don’t know you.’ That will be Jesus’ response to these scandalous people who live a double life.”


http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/pope-francis-atheists-better-than-hypocrites_us_58afb6ace4b0a8a9b780e4e1?

Voters support 54 - 38 percent "renegotiating major trade deals with other countries, even if it means paying more for the products you buy" and support 87 - 10 percent increasing federal spending for roads, mass transit and other infrastructure, the independent Quinnipiac (KWIN-uh- pe-ack) University Poll finds.

But American voters oppose other measures:
62 - 31 percent against reducing taxes across the board, even if it increases the deficit;
51 - 38 percent against restarting the Keystone XL and Dakota Access pipelines;
60 - 37 percent against building the wall on the Mexican border, with 65 - 33 percent against the wall if the U.S. must pay for it;
76 - 18 percent against lowering taxes on the wealthy;
50 - 43 percent against lowering taxes on businesses and corporations;
54 - 34 percent against removing regulations on businesses and corporations;
63 - 27 percent against removing specific regulations intended to combat climate change;
54 - 43 percent against repealing the Affordable Care Act.

https://poll.qu.edu/national/release-detail?ReleaseID=2432

Starts @ 2:08