[AMV] Amerikaanse politiek #441The biggest tax scam in history

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At this sprawling steel mill on the outskirts of Philadelphia, the workers have one number in mind. Not how many tons of steel roll off the line, or how many hours they work, but where they fall on the plant’s seniority list.

In September, ArcelorMittal, which owns the mill, announced that it would lay off 150 of the plant’s 207 workers next year. While the cuts will start with the most junior employees, they will go so deep that even workers with decades of experience will be cast out.

“I told my son, ‘Christmas is going to be kind of scarce, because mommy’s going to lose her job soon,’” said Kimberly Allen, a steelworker and single parent who has worked at the plant for more than 22 years. On the seniority list, she’s 72nd.

The layoffs have stunned these steelworkers who, just a year ago, greeted President Trump’s election as a new dawn for their industry. Mr. Trump pledged to build roads and bridges, strengthen “Buy America” provisions, protect factories from unfair imports and revive industry, especially steel.

But after a year in office, Mr. Trump has not enacted these policies. And when it comes to steel, his failure to follow through on a promise has actually done more harm than good.

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More than 700 people have left the Environmental Protection Agency since President Trump took office, a wave of departures that puts the administration nearly a quarter of the way toward its goal of shrinking the agency to levels last seen during the Reagan administration.

Of the employees who have quit, retired or taken a buyout package since the beginning of the year, more than 200 are scientists. An additional 96 are environmental protection specialists, a broad category that includes scientists as well as others experienced in investigating and analyzing pollution levels. Nine department directors have departed the agency as well as dozens of attorneys and program managers. Most of the employees who have left are not being replaced.

The departures reflect poor morale and a sense of grievance at the agency, which has been criticized by President Trump and top Republicans in Congress as bloated and guilty of regulatory overreach. That unease is likely to deepen following revelations that Republican campaign operatives were using the Freedom of Information Act to request copies of emails from E.P.A. officials suspected of opposing Mr. Trump and his agenda.

The cuts deepen a downward trend at the agency that began under the Obama administration in response to Republican-led budget constraints that left the agency with about 15,000 employees at the end of his term. The reductions have accelerated under President Trump, who campaigned on a promise to dramatically scale back the E.P.A., leaving only what he called “little tidbits” in place. Current and former employees say unlike during the Obama years, the agency has no plans to replace workers, and they expect deeper cuts to come.

“The reason E.P.A. went down to 15,000 employees under Obama is because of pressure from Republicans. This is the effort of the Republicans under the Obama administration on steroids,” said John J. O’Grady, president of American Federation of Government Employees Council 238, a union representing E.P.A. employees.

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President Donald Trump suggested Friday that Republicans and Democrats who have been at odds over nearly every major policy issue this year might soon come together on an infrastructure plan “for the good of the country.”

“At some point, and for the good of the country, I predict we will start working with the Democrats in a Bipartisan fashion,” the president wrote on Twitter Friday morning. “Infrastructure would be a perfect place to start. After having foolishly spent $7 trillion in the Middle East, it is time to start rebuilding our country!”

twitter:

realDonaldTrump twitterde op vrijdag 22-12-2017 om 14:05:06 At some point, and for the good of the country, I predict we will start working with the Democrats in a Bipartisan… https://t.co/YVl8tAcSOk reageer retweet

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President Donald Trump’s former chief strategist Steve Bannon and his former campaign manager Corey Lewandowski have been asked to testify to House lawmakers investigating Russian interference in the 2016 election.

Both men were sent letters this week by the House Intelligence Committee asking them to testify in early January, according to an official familiar with the panel’s schedule.

The committee hasn’t yet received a response from either Bannon or Lewandowski. The invitation, which didn’t come in the form of a subpoena compelling them to testify, was for a "voluntary interview" in the committee’s offices, which means it would be held behind closed doors, the official said.

The letter doesn’t lay out specific reasons the committee wants to interview them, or the questions the panel wants to pose, but it makes clear that the interviews are part of the Russia investigation.

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Op vrijdag 22 december 2017 21:15 schreef ExtraWaskracht het volgende:
Lijstje met wat gespeculeer over democratic kandidaten in 2020: https://www.washingtonpos(...)tes-for-2020-ranked/

15. Dwayne "The Rock" Johsnon
14. Terry McAuliffe (Governor van Virginia)
13. Howard Schultz (voormalig Starbucks CEO)
12. Deval Patrick (voormalig Governor van Massachesetts)
11. Oprah Winfrey
10. Andrew M. Cuomo (Governor van New York)
9. Sherrod Brown (Senator van Ohio)
8. Jerry Brown (Governor van California)
7. Chris Murphy (Senator van Connecticut)
6. Cory Booker (Senator van New Jersey)
5. Kamal D. Harris (Senator van California)
4. Kirsten Gillibrand (Senator van New York)
3. Elizabeth Warren (Senator van Massachusetts)
2. Joe Biden (voormalig VP onder Obama)
1. Bernie Sanders (Senator van Vermont)

Voor mij zouden qua leeftijd afvallen (60+ dan): Sanders, Biden, Warren, Jerry Brown, Sherrod Brown, Andrew Cuomo, Oprah Winfrey, Deval Patrick, Howard Schultz, Terry McCauliffe.

Dan hou je over: Dwayne Johnson, Chris Murphy, Cory Booker, Kamala Harris, Kirsten Gilibrand. Mja,... Dwayne Johnson zie ik niet als politicus, Booker als gemankeerd, Gilibrand als op een heksenjacht voor eigen gewin... dus dan blijven er twee over: Kamala Harris of Chris Murphy?

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Op vrijdag 22 december 2017 23:32 schreef ExtraWaskracht het volgende:

[..]

Ja, het was toen wel goed natuurlijk. Maar ja, het bleek niet heel effectief om dit te gebruiken voor publieke forums, omdat de spike in gevraagde bandbreedte in bepaalde gevallen niet afdoende is. Imgur is in mijn ervaring echt veel en veel beter wat dat betreft.

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President Donald Trump told aides he was eager to take questions Friday and hold a news conference to tout his accomplishments before leaving for Mar-a-Lago, but some advisers argued against it.

The aides were eager to avoid him being besieged with questions about the investigation into Russian election meddling and other matters that could overshadow the tax bill he had signed into law, two White House officials told CNN.

The President's schedule remained in flux over the last day, amid questions about whether he would stage a public bill-signing ceremony of the tax legislation or hold a news conference. Many previous presidents have held year-end news conferences before leaving for Christmas vacations.

For two straight days, Thursday and Friday, White House aides were told to prepare for a news conference of some kind.

Both plans were scrapped.

Friday morning, aides finally said the President would sign the tax and government funding bills in private. When the pool protested, saying the pictures from a White House photographer wouldn't be used, news reporters and photographers were hastily escorted into the Oval Office for the signing.

The President's mood was bright and he seemed eager to answer a few questions. Aides appeared on higher alert than normal, with Chief of Staff John Kelly and other aides attempting to kick reporters out and get the President on Marine One to Mar-a-Lago.

Trump answered several questions, including whether he had learned anything from the legislative process related to the tax overhaul, whether he would travel to sell the tax package and whether he wished he had started his congressional agenda with infrastructure.

"We're going to get infrastructure," Trump told reporters. "Infrastructure is the easiest of them all. We're very well on our way. We have essentially repealed Obamacare. You know, the individual mandate was a very big factor in this bill, frankly. A lot of people don't talk about it because the tax cut is so important."

As reporters kept pressing Trump, aides moved closer and closer to the Resolute Desk, gently prodding reporters and photographers to leave the Oval Office. With the President still talking, chief economic adviser Gary Cohn and other officials stood in front of the desk, all but blocking Trump's view.

Finally, White House chief of staff John Kelly also joined in and asked the press to leave, saying: "Helicopter is running out of gas," referring to Marine One that was waiting to take the President to Air Force One.

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President Donald Trump's commission investigating voter fraud must give one of its Democratic members access to more of the panel's records, a federal judge ruled Friday night.

U.S. District Court Colleen Kollar-Kotelly said Maine Secretary of State Matt Dunlap appeared to have been denied documents needed to be an active player in the deliberations of what is formally known as the President's Advisory Commission on Election Integrity.

"Plaintiff has a right, as a commissioner, to 'fully participate' in the proceedings of the Commission. In the Court’s view, his assertion that he will be unable to fully participate without the information contained in relevant documents that the Commission has not shared with the public has merit," wrote Kollar-Kotelly, an appointee of President Bill Clinton.

The judge said she was issuing an injunction to prevent "dysfunction" at the commission, but her effort to keep the panel on track may be too little, too late. The group held its last meeting in September and officials have said it will not meet again this year.

The commission was expected to issue a report early next year. But several members say it has been dormant for a couple of months and there appears to be little chance of a report emerging in the next few months.

In her 24-page opinion, Kollar-Kotelly cited three instances where she said Dunlap was not given adequate access to information needed to participate in the panel's deliberations. The judge said Dunlap should have been informed about and seen a draft of a controversial request asking states to submit their voter rolls and other sensitive, but publicly-available, information about voters.

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A panel of the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals on Friday ruled against the third iteration of President Trump

's travel ban, saying it goes against federal law.

"We conclude that the President’s issuance of the Proclamation once again exceeds the scope of his delegated authority," the court said in its ruling.

The most recent iteration of the ban bars people from eight countries – six of which are predominantly Muslim – from coming to the U.S.

The San Francisco-based appeals court, however, said the Trump administration could continue to bar individuals from countries in the Middle East and North Africa from entering the U.S. if they do not have a "bonafide" relationship with someone in the U.S.

The court said the ruling would be put on hold pending any review by the Supreme Court.

In the ruling, the court said that "the Proclamation’s indefinite entry suspensions constitute nationality discrimination in the issuance of immigrant visas," and that it discriminates against travelers and immigrants in the same vein as Trump’s previous travel bans.

The Supreme Court decided earlier this month that it would allow the latest travel ban to take effect, while litigation ran its course.

A Richmond, Va.-based appeals court must rule on the ban before the Supreme Court revisits the matter.

The Trump administration has pushed for a travel ban since January, which it says is necessary to safeguard national security. But each iteration of the ban has run into legal disputes, prompting the administration to issue increasingly narrow orders that could muster legal challenges.