April 10, 2018

Fox News Radio reporter: Trump mouthed thank you for question about firing Mueller

Fox News Radio reporter: Trump mouthed ‘thank you’ for question about firing Mueller

Kevin Miller: What was that like, I mean, Jon, you’re paid to write stories and ask the questions but here you are, at the epicenter, the president focused on Syria but obviously very, very concerned about what happened to Gary Cohn and others and then boom: You ask the question and he responds by looking right at you.

Jon Decker: Oh, he does. . . . Yesterday was a remarkable day for me, Kevin. He answered four of my questions yesterday over the course of the full day . . . And when we were leaving the room, the president mouthed to me, ‘Thank you.’ I think he wanted to get that off his chest and he wanted the question that I posed to him yesterday. And so, that’s the reason why you see this answer being rerun constantly on 24-hour cable. It is news that the president is contemplating — it sounds like — possibly removing Bob Mueller from his position as special counsel.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/erik-wemple/wp/2018/04/10/fox-news-radio-reporter-trump-mouthed-thank-you-for-question-about-firing-mueller/?utm_term=.56c5d5cab820

April 10, 2018

Horror of Being Governed by Fox & Friends

As The Guardian put it, “The show manages to serve as a court sycophant, whispering in the ear of the king, criticizing his perceived enemies and fluffing his feathers.”

Politico Magazine concurred, saying the show “feels intentionally designed for Trump himself — a three-hour, high-definition ego fix.”

And the impact that the show is having on Trump is undeniable. Dan Snow, a master’s student at the University of Chicago, analyzed the president’s tweets and found that they are highly concentrated in the hours when the show is on.

As Politico wrote, Trump is “live-tweeting” Fox’s coverage. Vox noted that at times he seems to be tweeting precisely what he sees on the show, sometimes even using their exact language.

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Trump’s Fox fixation isn’t benign or inconsequential — because, like him, the network has an aversion to the truth.

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/08/opinion/fox-friends-trump.html?action=click&pgtype=Homepage&clickSource=story-heading&module=opinion-c-col-right-region®ion=opinion-c-col-right-region&WT.nav=opinion-c-col-right-region

April 10, 2018

These Americans are trapped in their jobs: they need to pay $10,000 to quit

These Americans are trapped in their jobs: they need to pay $10,000 to quit
Terri Gerstein

Why would dozens of news anchors recite a Sinclair Broadcast group script? Because their contracts entrap them

Dozens of news anchors robotically intoned “This is extremely dangerous to our democracy,” after reciting what turned out to be a script by Sinclair Broadcast Group, owner and operator of 193 local TV stations. Dan Rather called it Orwellian, and many have asked in amazement: why would local journalists across the nation allow themselves to be used in such a demeaning way?

The answer is clear to me, as a lawyer with decades handling cases involving low-wage workers: people need jobs. But the anchors may have an even more specific concern: an employment contract that doesn’t just bind but entraps them

Among other things, Sinclair contracts contain a requirement that employees must pay their employers if they leave their jobs before their contract terms end. For example, an employee making $50,000 annually might have to pay in the ballpark of $10,000 if she wanted to leave after one year of a two-year term.


While it’s plainly illegal to impose a penalty on employees for leaving a job, the contract describes this requirement as “liquidated damages”. But such damages are allowed only in very limited situations, such as when an employee leaves a job shortly after receiving, at the employer’s expense, costly, specific, and transportable training. This is hardly the situation for Sinclair employees.


https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/apr/08/sinclair-broadcast-anchors-us-labor-contracts

April 10, 2018

Judge finalizes $25 million settlement for 'victims of Donald Trump's fraudulent university'

New York Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman called the settlement a victory for Trump U. "victims."

"Judge Curiel's order finalizing the $25 million Trump University settlement means that victims of Donald Trump's fraudulent university will finally receive the relief they deserve," he said in a statement, adding that the amount surpassed the initial number the class-action suit initially negotiated.

"This settlement marked a stunning reversal by President Trump, who for years refused to compensate the victims of his sham university," the statement added. "My office won't hesitate to hold those who commit fraud accountable, no matter how rich or powerful they may be."

http://abcnews.go.com/US/judge-finalizes-25-million-settlement-victims-donald-trumps/story?id=54347237

April 10, 2018

A whopping 100,000 16- and 17-year-olds have preregistered to vote in the Golden State

Washington (CNN)California teens are prepared to rock the vote when they turn 18.

A whopping 100,000 16- and 17-year-olds have preregistered to vote in the Golden State since a law enacted in 2016 gave young people the opportunity to sign up to vote before they are eligible, California Secretary of State Alex Padilla said last week.

The number is an increase from the roughly 90,000 who had preregistered to vote in California as of a month ago.

"The numbers keep going up," Padilla told CNN. "These kids know that to change the political environment and policy, they need to register to vote, and they need to vote."

https://www.cnn.com/2018/04/09/politics/california-teens-preregister-to-vote/index.html

April 10, 2018

Scott Pruitts Civilization-Threatening Lie

From the day he walked into Congress as the nominee to head the Environmental Protection Agency, Scott Pruitt has been trying to foist a colossal lie on the American public.

“Science tells us that the climate is changing, and human activity in some manner impacts that change,” he said that day, 14 months ago. “The human ability to measure with precision the extent of that impact is subject to continuing debate and dialogue, as well they should be.”

In other words: We do not know enough about the risks to take any action. Burn that coal, baby! Mr. Pruitt, confirmed by the Senate in a close vote, then proceeded to begin dismantling the modest regulations on climate change that the Obama administration had put in place.

This is not just any old white lie that Mr. Pruitt has been telling. This is a civilization-threatening lie, a lie that will kill people and destroy small nations, if not some large ones. Future generations will see him as a man guilty of a major historical crime, along with his enablers in Congress and their puppet masters in the fossil-fuel industry.

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/09/opinion/scott-pruitt-epa-climate.html?action=click&pgtype=Homepage&clickSource=story-heading&module=opinion-c-col-right-region®ion=opinion-c-col-right-region&WT.nav=opinion-c-col-right-region

April 10, 2018

Conservatives and business leaders worried about the deficit take aim at Social Security and Medicar

One would have thought that after saddling the U.S. economy with a tax cut costing $1.5 trillion over 10 years, conservatives and their patrons in corporate America would soft-pedal the usual attacks on Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid.

One would be wrong.

Recently, the drumbeats for cuts in social insurance benefits have been sounding louder. As is traditional, the call for cutbacks is placed in the context of concern about rising federal deficits. Just two weeks ago, five economists and thinkers at the conservative Hoover Institution evoked the "debt crisis" in the pages of the Washington Post. They attributed the crisis to "sharply rising entitlement spending" in coming years.


"To address the debt problem, Congress must reform and restrain the growth of entitlement programs and adopt further pro-growth tax and regulatory policies," wrote the Hooverites, Michael J. Boskin, John H. Cochrane, John F. Cogan, George P. Shultz and John B. Taylor. As for the tax cut bill enacted in December, the sages said not to worry: They called it "a good first step, as it sharply increases the incentive to invest and grow businesses, which will increase incomes."


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The Hoover fellows aren't alone in calling for cutting social programs, effectively to pay for tax cuts that go overwhelmingly to corporations and the wealthy. We've documented how Republicans such as House Speaker Paul Ryan of Wisconsin and Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida started calling for benefit cuts even as the tax bill was making its way through Congress. Just last week, Jamie Dimon, the chairman and chief executive of the giant bank JPMorgan Chase, weighed in on the topic in his annual letter to shareholders. (We covered Dimon's treatment of healthcare costs in the letter here.)


http://www.latimes.com/business/hiltzik/la-fi-hiltzik-deficits-entitlements-20180409-story.html

April 9, 2018

Donald Trump just made the Masters all about him

CNN)Patrick Reed's Masters victory on Sunday spawned 1,000 headlines: a young American's first major championship, Reed's stormy past, his strained relationship with his parents, the failure of Rory McIlroy to make a serious run at Reed on Sunday.

Or, if you are the President of the United States, to tout your golf course.
Yes, you read that right.

Here's Trump's "congratulatory" tweet for Reed on Sunday night:

"Congratulations to Patrick Reed on his great and courageous MASTERS win! When Patrick had his amazing win at Doral 5 years ago, people saw his great talent, and a bright future ahead. Now he is the Masters Champion!"

Who owns Doral, you ask? That's the "Trump National Doral" -- if we're being formal.

Trump didn't mention the four other tournaments Reed had won before winning Sunday at Augusta. Just the one that was held on a golf course -- and resort -- that carried the "Trump" name.

https://www.cnn.com/2018/04/09/politics/donald-trump-masters-patrick-reed/index.html

April 9, 2018

extraordinary request. Trump's company asked the leader of a US alley to intercede

Warning of ‘repercussions,’ Trump company lawyers seek Panama president’s help

PANAMA CITY — Lawyers representing President Trump’s company last month wrote directly to the president of Panama, asking him to intervene in a legal fight over the Trump International Hotel in the nation’s capital — and warning that the case could have “repercussions” for Panama’s reputation.

The law firm, Panama-based Britton and Iglesias, wrote in Spanish to President Juan Carlos Varela on March 22 to “urgently request your influence in relation to a commercial dispute regarding the Trump hotel.”

At the time, the majority owner of the Trump hotel — Cypriot-born investor Orestes Fintiklis — had kicked out the Trump Organization as the hotel’s manager, after a ruling from a low-level Panamanian judge. The president’s company was seeking to retake control.

The request was extraordinary: The U.S. president’s company was asking the leader of a U.S. ally to intercede on its behalf, disregarding Panama’s separation of powers.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/warning-of-repercussions-trump-company-lawyers-seek-panama-presidents-help/2018/04/09/9e3fbb8e-3c2f-11e8-8d53-eba0ed2371cc_story.html?utm_term=.2c4e0678fc90

April 9, 2018

Retiring GOP lawmakers cut loose on Trump

Members have cited a mix of reasons for deciding to leave Congress, from expiring chairmanship terms to family and personal reasons.

But some lawmakers have pointed to another factor: Trump. They say that the unconventional, freewheeling president has added new headaches to an already demanding job.

“It’s exhausting,” centrist Rep. Charlie Dent (R-Pa.), who announced his retirement last fall, told The Hill. “What we’ve gotten out of the administration is all this disruption, and it’s very destabilizing.”

Dent has become one of the most vocal and outspoken Trump critics in Congress, always offering up a reliable soundbite to reporters in the Capitol seeking GOP reaction to the latest White House controversy.

Just last week, Dent told The Associated Press that Trump’s "lack of impulse control" is cause for concern, after a week of unpredictable moves by the White House left lawmakers uneasy about key Republican agenda items.

http://thehill.com/homenews/house/382028-retiring-gop-lawmakers-cut-loose-on-trump