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)”

Trump Administration Relaxes Sanctions Against Russia’s Security Agency

The following article by Franco Ordonez, Anita Kumar and Kevin G. Hall of the Tribune Content Agency was posted on the National Memo website February 3, 2017:

Russian President Vladimir Putin attends a meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on the sidelines of Eastern Economic Forum in Vladivostok, Russia, September 2, 2016. Sputnik/Kremlin/Alexei Druzhinin/via REUTERS

WASHINGTON — The Trump White House has loosened financial sanctions against Russia’s powerful security agency that the Obama administration had imposed as punishment for Russia’s meddling in November’s presidential election and for Russia’s 2014 annexation of Crimea.

The administration downplayed the importance of the action, but the decision drew fire from Democrats and raised eyebrows among Republicans who oppose lifting any sanctions against the Russians.

“U.S. intelligence agencies have thoroughly detailed the Russian security services’ brazen assault on American democracy in support of candidate Donald Trump,” said House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif. “Less than two weeks after walking into the White House, President Trump lifts sanctions on the Russian Security Service. Vladimir Putin’s thugs meddle with an American election, and President Trump gives them a thank you present.” Continue reading “Trump Administration Relaxes Sanctions Against Russia’s Security Agency”

Howard Stern says the presidency will damage Trump’s mental health because he just ‘wants to be loved’

The following article by Emily Chan was posted on the Daily Mail website February 3, 2017:

 

  • Radio host is old friend of Trump and has had him on his show a number of times
  • Stern does not believe presidency will be ‘healthy experience’ for Trump
  • The 63-year-old claimed the President ‘loves’ Hollywood and the press 

 

Photo: The Hill

Howard Stern says the presidency will damage Donald Trump‘s mental health because he just ‘wants to be loved’.

The radio host said on his show on Wednesday that he does not believe it will be a ‘healthy experience’ for Trump.

The 63-year-old is an old friend of the President and has invited him onto his show a number of times.  Continue reading “Howard Stern says the presidency will damage Trump’s mental health because he just ‘wants to be loved’”

Trump’s administration isn’t very diverse. Photo ops make it glaringly obvious.

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

In his first two weeks, Donald Trump has sought to project the image of a new president moving quickly to enact his agenda.

He has surrounded himself in a series of photo ops with his most trusted senior aides as he signs a flurry of executive orders, visits government agencies and calls world leaders from the Oval Office. Continue reading “Trump’s administration isn’t very diverse. Photo ops make it glaringly obvious.”

Trump vows to ‘totally destroy’ restrictions on churches’ support of candidates

The following article by John Wagner and Julie Zauzmer was posted on the Washington Post website February 2, 2017:

President Trump speaks during the National Prayer Breakfast in Washington on Thursday. (Win Mcnamee/Bloomberg News)

President Trump vowed Thursday to “totally destroy” a law passed more than 60 years ago that bans tax-exempt churches from supporting political candidates, a nod to the religious right that helped sweep him into office.

Speaking at the National Prayer Breakfast in Washington, Trump said he would seek to overturn the Johnson Amendment, which prohibits tax-exempt nonprofits — including churches and other houses of worship — from “directly or indirectly” participating in a political candidate’s campaign. Continue reading “Trump vows to ‘totally destroy’ restrictions on churches’ support of candidates”

Betsy DeVos’ Threat to Children with Disabilities

The following article by Meg Benner and Rebecca Ullrich was posted on the Center for American Progress website February 2, 2017:

Introduction and summary

There is something that supporters of school vouchers—such as Betsy DeVos, President Donald Trump’s nominee for education secretary—will not admit: Children with disabilities can and will be harmed under voucher programs.

Consider Trinity Fitzer: In the spring of 2012 when Trinity was a 6-year-old kindergartener, she was kicked out of the private school she attended using a voucher provided by the Milwaukee Parental Choice Program.1 Over the course of the year, Trinity’s mother had been called several times to pick her up early because of behavioral problems, with school officials calling Trinity “out of control.” According to the Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism, Trinity suffered from gastrointestinal problems and anxiety, which led to challenging behaviors that her private school was not prepared—or required—to manage. Continue reading “Betsy DeVos’ Threat to Children with Disabilities”