Category: National Issues

Donald Trump gave a doozy of a speech at the National Prayer Breakfast

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

Donald Trump spoke at the annual National Prayer Breakfast in Washington on Thursday. It was, um, unorthodox. Using Genius, I annotated it. You can too! Sign up for Genius and annotate alongside me! To see an annotation, click or tap the highlighted part of the transcript.

TRUMP: Thank you, Mark. So nice.

(APPLAUSE)

Thank you very much, thank you. (APPLAUSE)

Thank you very much, it’s a great honor to be here this morning. And so many faith leaders — very, very important people to me — from across our magnificent nation, and so many leaders from all across the globe. Today we continue a tradition begun by President Eisenhower some 64 years ago. Continue reading “Donald Trump gave a doozy of a speech at the National Prayer Breakfast”

Many Americans support Trump’s immigration order. Many Americans backed Japanese internment camps, too.

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

On Jan. 27, President Trump signed an executive order temporarily prohibiting visa holders and immigrants from seven majority-Muslim countries from entering the United States, as well as halting the admission of refugees. Many critics describe the order as effectively a partial Muslim ban, and the American Civil Liberties Union argues it is likely unconstitutional.

Recent polling, however, indicates that at least a plurality of Americans see no problem with it. A Reuters/Ipsos survey found that 49 percent of Americans agreed with Trump’s executive order, while 41 percent disagreed and 10 percent offered no opinion. Continue reading “Many Americans support Trump’s immigration order. Many Americans backed Japanese internment camps, too.”

Free speech targeted in bills nationwide, critics say

In North Dakota, motorists who run down demonstrators on public streets could be exempt from prosecution, even if someone is injured or killed, as long as the motorist did not purposely hit the victim.

In Minnesota, demonstrators who break the law could be billed for the cost of law enforcement.

And in Iowa, blocking traffic on a highway could be a felony punishable by up to five years in prison. Continue reading “Free speech targeted in bills nationwide, critics say”

In which Trump discovers some guy named Frederick Douglass

The following column by Dana Milbank was posted on the Washington Post website February 1, 2017:

President Trump is capable of many a miracle. On Wednesday, after just 12 days on the job, he raised the dead.

Addressing a small group of African American aides and supporters to kick off Black History Month, the new president not only offered pro forma praise for the usual suspects — Rosa Parks, Harriet Tubman, Martin Luther King Jr. — but also singled out somebody who recently caught his attention. Continue reading “In which Trump discovers some guy named Frederick Douglass”

Tensions erupt on campuses around the country over Trump immigration order

The following article by Ryan Brooks was posted on the USA Today website January 31, 2017:

Students at colleges and universities around the country are protesting against President Donald Trump’s executive order temporarily banning citizens from seven Muslim-majority countries from entering the United States.

With a few strokes of his pen on Friday Trump barred citizens from Iraq, Iran, Syria, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen from entering the United States. The executive order also suspended the refugee resettlement program for 120 days and indefinitely barred Syrian refugees from entering the country. Continue reading “Tensions erupt on campuses around the country over Trump immigration order”

Eyeing the House, Democrats move to hire operatives in 20 GOP-held districts

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

Democrats are moving urgently to harness the wave of grass-roots protests that have greeted President Trump in his first weeks in office to reclaim the House majority in next year’s midterm elections.

As of this week, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee is hiring full-time operatives to do political organizing work in 20 key Republican-held districts — an unusually early investment in House races that do not even have declared candidates yet.

Rep. Ben Ray Luján (D-N.M.), the committee’s chairman, called the move “unprecedented” for Democrats, who need to pick up two dozen GOP-held seats to win the majority. Continue reading “Eyeing the House, Democrats move to hire operatives in 20 GOP-held districts”

Rep. Tom Price’s STOCK Act Scandal

The following article by Danielle Root was posted on the Center for American Progress website February 1, 2017:

(AP/Andrew Harnik)
Nominee for Health and Human Services Secretary Rep. Tom Price (R-GA) pauses while testifying on Capitol Hill in Washington, January 24, 2017, at his confirmation hearing before the Senate Finance Committee.

Rep. Tom Price’s (R-GA) nomination to be the new secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services is under a heavy ethical cloud. Price is alleged to have engaged in dubious ethical decisions at best and corrupt dealings that violate the Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge, or STOCK, Act at worst. The STOCK Act prohibits members of Congress from making “investment decisions based on insider information they might come across because of their congressional role.”

There is evidence, for example, that Rep. Price received a tip from Rep. Chris Collins (R-NY) to purchase stock from an Australian biomedical firm, Innate Immunotherapeutics Inc. Collins, who sits Continue reading “Rep. Tom Price’s STOCK Act Scandal”

Minnesota suing Trump administration over refugee order

In a statement, Attorney General Lori Swanson called the executive order banning refugees and travelers from a list of predominantly Muslim nations “unconstitutional.”

The following article by Karen Zamora and Mary Lynn Smith was posted on the Star Tribune website February 2, 2017:

The state of Minnesota is suing the Trump administration over the president’s executive order that temporarily bans refugees and travelers from seven predominantly Muslim nations from entering the United States.

Minnesota Attorney General Lori Swanson on Wednesday night joined the attorneys general of Washington state, New York, Virginia and Massachusetts in taking legal action against the ban.

“The executive order that imposes blanket entry restrictions to the United States for people from certain countries is unconstitutional,” Swanson said in a statement. Continue reading “Minnesota suing Trump administration over refugee order”

Trump interested in national restrictions on unions

The following article by Mary Spicuzza and Patrick Marley of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel was posted on the USA Today website February 1, 2017:

President Donald Trump’s administration is interested in going national with Wisconsin’s restrictions on unions, Gov. Scott Walker said Wednesday.

Walker said he spoke with Vice President Mike Pence during his Friday visit to the White House about his 2011 move to sharply limit collective bargaining for most public workers in Wisconsin, known as Act 10.

The governor said he and Pence talked about “what we’ve done here in Wisconsin, how they may take bits and pieces of what we did with Act 10 and with civil service reform, and how they could apply that at the national level” for federal workers. Continue reading “Trump interested in national restrictions on unions”

Eli Broad, billionaire philanthropist and charter school backer, urges senators to oppose DeVos

The following article by Emma Brown was posted on the Washington Post website February 1, 2017:

AP/Carolyn Kaster
Secretary of education nominee Betsy DeVos testifies at her confirmation hearing in Washington on January 17, 2017.

Eli Broad, a billionaire philanthropist from California and major backer of charter schools, is urging senators to oppose the nomination of Betsy DeVos as education secretary, saying that she is unqualified for the job.

“At the risk of stating the obvious, we must have a Secretary of Education who believes in public education and the need to keep public schools public,” Broad wrote in a letter Wednesday to Sens. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.). Continue reading “Eli Broad, billionaire philanthropist and charter school backer, urges senators to oppose DeVos”