Category: National Issues

Cargill, dependent on trade and immigration, criticizes Trump’s trade stances

The following article by Kristen Leigh Palmer was posted on the Star Tribune website February 4, 2017:

CEO speaks out for his private company that usually keeps a low profile.

Agribusiness giant Cargill keeps a low-profile on most political issues, but its executives are stepping forward to criticize protectionist and anti-immigrant sentiments.

Cargill Inc., the Minnesota-based company at the center of the global food chain, is stepping out of its usual low-key profile to fight attacks on trade and immigration.

“We have to turn the tide on some of the current themes that we are seeing,” Chief Executive David MacLennan said in a speech in St. Paul on Friday. “Geopolitics are shifting and we are standing at the crossroads of some really important issues for business and for society.”

The Wayzata-based company is the nation’s biggest food processor, shipper and trader, touching every step of the food chain, from seeds and feeds used by farmers to the processing and delivery of food to restaurants and grocery stores. Continue reading “Cargill, dependent on trade and immigration, criticizes Trump’s trade stances”

President Trump likes to move fast. The public isn’t thrilled.

The following column by Chris Cillizza was posted on the Washington Post website February 3, 2017:

Almost half (47 percent) of those polled in a recent Gallup survey said that President Trump, right, is “moving too fast to address the major problems facing the country today.” (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

One of the hallmarks of Donald Trump’s 14-day-old presidency is speed. The 45th president of the United States was fond of saying on the campaign trail that most politicians did too little and that he would be a man of action if he got into the White House. It was — and is — a point of pride for him.

“The administration has already racked up more than 60 significant actions,” White House press secretary Sean Spicer boasted at Friday’s news briefing, noting that the total included “21 executive actions, 16 meetings with foreign leaders and 10 stakeholder meetings.”

It’s clear that Trump views his willingness to make decisions — and fast — as a major feather in his cap. No dawdling for this president. Just making good on his campaign promises and being tough — I mean, cordial — with foreign leaders. It’s part and parcel of his brand. Continue reading “President Trump likes to move fast. The public isn’t thrilled.”

Bannon film outline warned U.S. could turn into ‘Islamic States of America’

The following article by Matea Gold was posted on the Washington Post website February 3, 2017:

 

The flag fluttering above the U.S. Capitol is emblazoned with a crescent and star. Chants of “Allahu Akbar” rise from inside the building.

That’s the provocative opening scene of a documentary-style movie outlined 10 years ago by Stephen K. Bannon that envisioned radical Muslims taking over the country and remaking it into the “Islamic States of America,” according to a document describing the project obtained by The Washington Post. Continue reading “Bannon film outline warned U.S. could turn into ‘Islamic States of America’”

Trump’s rallying cry: Fear itself

The following article by Karen Tumulty and David Nakamura was posted on the Washington Post website February 3, 2017:

President Trump often stokes the nation’s anxieties in arguing for his agenda. (Washington Post Staff Illustration/The Washington Post)

The machete-wielding man was quickly shot and arrested Friday morning by French police and soldiers, but from the vantage point of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, it was a crisis dire enough to put a nation 4,000 miles away on high alert.

“A new radical Islamic terrorist has just attacked in Louvre Museum in Paris. Tourists were locked down. France on edge again. GET SMART U.S.,” President Trump tweeted. Continue reading “Trump’s rallying cry: Fear itself”

Eric Trump’s business trip to Uruguay cost taxpayers $97,830 in hotel bills

The following article by Amy Brittain and Drew Harwell was posted on the Washington Post website February 3, 2017:

Eric Trump and members of his entourage walk outside La Huella, a beachfront restaurant, during a private business trip in early January to Punta del Este, Uruguay. (Cristian Cordoba)

When the president-elect’s son Eric Trump jetted to Uruguay in early January for a Trump Organization promotional trip, U.S. taxpayers were left footing a bill of nearly $100,000 in hotel rooms for Secret Service and embassy staff.

It was a high-profile jaunt out of the country for Eric, the fresh-faced executive of the Trump Organization who, like his father, pledged to keep the company separate from the presidency. Eric mingled with real estate brokers, dined at an open-air beachfront eatery and spoke to hundreds at an “ultra exclusive” Trump Tower Punta del Este evening party celebrating his visit. Continue reading “Eric Trump’s business trip to Uruguay cost taxpayers $97,830 in hotel bills”

Trump’s first executive action: Cancel Obama’s mortgage premium cuts

Just so we don’t forget the President Trump’s first executive action was one that impacted the public’s ability to purchase homes.  So much for being a populist.

The following article by Gregory Korte was posted on the USA Today website January 20, 2017 (updated January 23, 2017):

Photo: Susan Walsh/AP

The very first executive action by the new Trump administration wasn’t a sweeping order on immigration, trade or health care — but rather to block an Obama administration policy change that would have reduced the cost of mortgages for millions of home buyers.

In the first hour of Trump’s presidency, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development sent a letter to lenders, real estate brokers and closing agents suspending the 0.25 percentage point premium rate cut for Federal Housing Administration-backed loans.

That cut would have saved home buyers about $29 a month on a $200,000 mortgage. Continue reading “Trump’s first executive action: Cancel Obama’s mortgage premium cuts”

Here’s what’s at stake as Trump moves to unravel Dodd-Frank

The following article by James Rufus Koren was posted on the L.A. Times website February 3, 2017:

The Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform Act is named after former Democratic Sens. Christopher J. Dodd, left, and Barney Frank, shown in 2010. (Saul Loeb / AFP/Getty Images)

President Trump signed an executive order Friday that calls for his administration to review the landmark Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform Act, with an eye toward revising or eliminating parts of the 2010 law.

An administration official told reporters that the law “in many respects was a piece of massive government overreach” and that some of the rules within the law, passed in the wake of last decade’s financial crisis, “may have even been unconstitutional.” Continue reading “Here’s what’s at stake as Trump moves to unravel Dodd-Frank”

In an age of ‘alternative facts,’ a massacre of schoolchildren is called a hoax

The following article by Barbara Demick was posted on the L.A. Times website February 3, 2017:

Noah Pozner, the youngest child killed at Sandy Hook Elementary School in 2012. Some people contend he wasn’t killed, or claim he never existed, and are tormenting his parents. (Courtesy of Pozner family)

If there is anything worse than losing a child, it is losing a child and having people taunt you over the loss.

That is what happened to the family of Noah Pozner, a 6-year-old with tousled brown hair and lollipop-red lips, the youngest of the 26 children and staff members gunned down in 2012 at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn.

The massacre that shook the country and opened new anxiety over gun violence, the family has received hate-filled calls and violent emails from people who say they know the shooting was a hoax. Photos of their son — some with pornographic and anti-Semitic content — have been distributed on websites. Continue reading “In an age of ‘alternative facts,’ a massacre of schoolchildren is called a hoax”

Hill Republicans’ new role: Playing cleanup with the world for President Trump

The following article by Paul Kane was posted on the Washington Post website February 2, 2017:

It’s not often that the Australian media pepper House Speaker Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.) with questions at his weekly news briefing.

But that’s where things stood Thursday morning after Ryan ducked several queries about President Trump’s confrontational phone call with Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull. Continue reading “Hill Republicans’ new role: Playing cleanup with the world for President Trump”

What Trump got wrong on Twitter this week (#4)

The following article by Michelle Ye Hee Lee was posted on the Washington Post website February 3, 2017:

Welcome to the fourth installment of Fact Checker’s series highlighting what President Trump got wrong on Twitter in a given week. Last week, we fact-checked Trump’s tweets as a part of a larger round-up of inaccurate and exaggerated statements from his first week in office.

Here’s a look at what Trump got wrong in 10 tweets this week. Continue reading “What Trump got wrong on Twitter this week (#4)”