tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15863294636378277712024-02-22T03:08:59.857-05:00PerspectivesHoratio Greenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02642924301059758532noreply@blogger.comBlogger1158125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1586329463637827771.post-33670613247158357342017-09-26T19:22:00.001-04:002017-09-26T19:22:33.614-04:00Robert Reich’s Live Anti-Trump Resistance Report for September 25th (VIDEO)<div class="MsoNormal">
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<i><span style="font-size: x-small;">Senator Ron Wyden speaks at a </span></i><i style="font-size: 12.8px;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">town-hall meeting</span></i></div>
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<i style="font-size: 12.8px;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">at Linn-Benton Community College’s </span></i><i style="font-size: 12.8px;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">activity center </span></i></div>
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<i style="font-size: 12.8px;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">in Albany, Oregon, </span></i><i style="font-size: 12.8px;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">on February 4, 2017.</span></i></div>
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<span style="font-size: 16pt;"><a href="https://www.thenation.com/article/your-guide-to-the-sprawling-new-anti-trump-resistance-movement/">YOUR GUIDE TO THE </a></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 16pt;"><a href="https://www.thenation.com/article/your-guide-to-the-sprawling-new-anti-trump-resistance-movement/">SPRAWLING NEW </a></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 16pt;"><a href="https://www.thenation.com/article/your-guide-to-the-sprawling-new-anti-trump-resistance-movement/">ANTI-TRUMP </a></span><br />
<span style="font-size: 16pt;"><a href="https://www.thenation.com/article/your-guide-to-the-sprawling-new-anti-trump-resistance-movement/">RESISTANCE MOVEMENT</a></span><span style="font-size: 16pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #f9cb9c;"><i><span style="font-size: x-small;">By Joshua Holland</span></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">“T</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">he election of Donald Trump was a catastrophe for progressive America, but the damage may be mitigated over the long term by a remarkable surge of energy on the left in response to his election.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">”</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">In February, a</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">s many as 5.2 million people participated in hastily organized Women’s Marches across the country, senators’ phones </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">were</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> jammed with calls protesting Trump’s cabinet nominees and other early moves, and, according to a poll conducted by The Washington Post</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> at the time</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">, more than one in three Democrats say they plan to become “more involved in the political process in the next year” as a result of the election. That’s true of 40 percent of Democratic women, and almost half of self-identified liberal </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Democrats</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">,” <a href="https://www.thenation.com/article/your-guide-to-the-sprawling-new-anti-trump-resistance-movement/">according to The Nation.</a></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">That surge of energy has evolved into a strong anti-trump resistance movement on social media and in cities and towns across America. </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">Robert </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Reich has emerged as a</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> leader in the anti-trump resistance movement. He is a persistent </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">leading voice</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">, spearheading forces against Donald Trump’s presidency</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">,</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> and </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">is a </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">staunch advocate for his impeachment. </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Reich’s resistance report </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">analysis and guidance are indispensable for anyone who wants to be informed during these crazy and frightening times in American politics. Reich </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">is outstanding </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">at connecting the dots and illuminating the bigger picture that links the countless scandals and outrages that come across the newswire.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://www.facebook.com/search/str/robert+reich+resistance+report/keywords_blended_videos"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Reich’s Live </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Resistance Report</span></a><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> on</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> September 25th, 2017</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">, delves into the </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">controversy over Donald Trump's criticism of the NFL and the players and coaches' responses. </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">He </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">also talk</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">ed </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">about the Muslim ban, Trump and Kim Jon-un's escalatory back-and-forth, and the fundamental question of what patriotism is about.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span><br />
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Horatio Greenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02642924301059758532noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1586329463637827771.post-71321203542405202502017-09-26T15:38:00.001-04:002017-09-26T15:38:48.141-04:00Senate won't vote on ObamaCare repeal bill<div class="MsoNormal">
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">Good news. Although I</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">’m afraid it will not be the end of it. The “Zombie” Republican health care bill known as Graham-Cassidy” does not have the votes to pass.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">According to The Hill, “</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Senate Republicans have decided to not vote on their latest ObamaCare repeal legislation, signaling a collapse in their last-ditch effort to kill off President Obama's signature law.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">”</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">“</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">The last-ditch bill sponsored by Sens. Bill Cassidy (R-La.) and Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) would dismantle ObamaCare’s insurance subsidy program and Medicaid expansion and convert their funding into block grants to states. </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">"</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> ‘</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">We don't have the votes,</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">’</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> Cassidy acknowledged after meeting with his colleagues on Tuesday </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">. . . </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">We made the decision since we don't have the votes, we're going to postpone it</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">“</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Graham said the health care debate will resume after Congress tries to move a tax reform package and expressed confidence his bill will eventually muster 50 votes.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">"</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> ‘</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">It's not if, only a matter of when," he said, adding that with more </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">‘</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">attention</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">’</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> and </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">‘</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">time,</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">’</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> the bill could eventually become law.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">“</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">In the meantime, Graham and Cassidy plan to tour the country to build support.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">"</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> ‘</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">We're going to take our show on the road,</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">’</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> Graham said.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">”</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">Here</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">’s the story:</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #f9cb9c;">Under the proposed Graham-Cassidy legislation to repeal and replace the Obamacare, the board of the National Association of Medicaid Directors stated, "The scope of this work, and the resources required to support state planning and implementation activities, cannot be overstated." <br /><br />(Alex Wong/Getty Images)</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: large;"> <a href="http://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/352503-senate-wont-vote-on-obamacare-repeal-bill">SENATE WON'T VOTE ON OBAMACARE REPEAL BILL</a></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="color: #f9cb9c;">By Alexander Bolton</span></span></i></div>
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Horatio Greenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02642924301059758532noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1586329463637827771.post-36643809330647146112017-09-26T10:12:00.000-04:002017-09-26T10:12:52.430-04:00AP -- GOP, White House prepare to roll out tax cuts<div class="MsoNormal">
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">I realize I am oversimplifying, but in reality, when Republicans say they want to simplify the tax code it means making it simpler for wealthy folks. But not necessarily for the rest of us. The tax code is simply a ruse: It intends on making it look like they care about taxes middle-class Americans pay. They</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">’re</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> fully committed to cutting taxes for wealthy Americans because they believe </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">“trickle-down</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> economics</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">” works, </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">but when it comes to the rest of us, they are more concerned about what that would do to tax revenue and </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">“substantially” </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">adding to the deficit. </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">The whole current tax code could be really simplified by legislating a simple federal tax on sales, excluding food, clothing, and medical expenditures. The rich would pay higher taxes on expensive cars, million dollar homes, and million-dollar yachts. It would come down to all of us paying taxes on our wants and not on our needs. </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">From the Associated Press’ Marcy Gordon And Ken Thomas:</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">“</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">They’re in agreement on wanting to cut tax rates and simplify the byzantine tax system but they’re divided over whether to add to the government’s ballooning debt with tax cuts. The GOP also is at odds over eliminating the federal deduction for state and local taxes.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">“</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">The White House and congressional Republicans are finalizing a tax plan that would slash the corporate rate while likely reducing the levy for the wealthiest Americans, with President Donald Trump ready to roll out the policy proposal at midweek.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">“</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">The grand plan to rewrite the nation's tax code would be the first major overhaul in three decades, delivering on a Trump campaign pledge and providing a sorely needed legislative achievement. It also is expected to eliminate or reduce some tax breaks and deductions.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">“</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">The plan would likely cut the tax rate for the wealthiest Americans, now at 39.6 percent, to 35 percent, people familiar with the plan said Monday. They spoke on condition of anonymity ahead of a formal announcement.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">“</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">In addition, the top tax for corporations would be reduced to around 20 percent from the current 35 percent, they said. It will seek to simplify the tax system by reducing the number of income tax brackets from seven to three.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">“ ‘</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">The plan being assembled lays out </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">‘</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">pro-growth tax reform,</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">’</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> Rep. Kevin Brady, R-Texas, head of the tax-writing House Ways and Means Committee, told reporters on Capitol Hill. It will fix a tax code that is </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">‘</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">so complex, so costly and so unfair,</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">’</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> he said.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">“</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Brady predicted the plan </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">‘</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">will deliver the lowest tax rates on businesses in modern history.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">’</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">”</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">Here</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">’s the rest of the story:</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #f9cb9c;"><i><span style="font-size: 12pt;">The big three meet on </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">tax reform</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></i></span></div>
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<span style="color: #f9cb9c;"><i><span style="font-size: 12pt;">at the White House in Washington,</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></i></span></div>
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<span style="color: #f9cb9c;"><i><span style="font-size: 12pt;">September 5, 2017.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></i></span></div>
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<span style="color: #f9cb9c;"><i><span style="font-size: 12pt;">J</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">oshua Roberts | Reuters</span></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 16pt;"><a href="https://apnews.com/6fc9e0c469be415ba1d7d037bea0ebd4">GOP, WHITE HOUSE PREPARE TO ROLL OUT TAX CUTS</a></span><span style="font-size: 16pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="color: #f9cb9c;">By Marcy Gordon And Ken Thomas</span></span></i><i><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
Horatio Greenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02642924301059758532noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1586329463637827771.post-9636729057962101202017-09-25T19:16:00.001-04:002017-09-25T19:16:44.732-04:00Masters of War: Senate Defense Budget Set to Exceed One Third of Global Military (VIDEO)<div class="MsoNormal">
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<span style="font-size: 16pt;"><a href="http://www.alternet.org/news-amp-politics/masters-war-senate-defense-budget-set-exceed-one-third-global-military-spending">MASTERS OF WAR: </a></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 16pt;"><a href="http://www.alternet.org/news-amp-politics/masters-war-senate-defense-budget-set-exceed-one-third-global-military-spending">SENATE DEFENSE BUDGET </a></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 16pt;"><a href="http://www.alternet.org/news-amp-politics/masters-war-senate-defense-budget-set-exceed-one-third-global-military-spending">SET TO EXCEED ONE THIRD</a></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 16pt;"><a href="http://www.alternet.org/news-amp-politics/masters-war-senate-defense-budget-set-exceed-one-third-global-military-spending">OF GLOBAL MILITARY</a></span><span style="font-size: 16pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="color: #f9cb9c;">By Ben Dangl</span></span></i></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">It’s </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">unconscionable</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> that the Senate approved a military spending package that is </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">three times as much as China </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">spends </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">on its military, and 10 times as much as Russia.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">Moreover, the spending package is almost double what Donald Trump requested.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><a href="https://theintercept.com/2017/09/18/the-senates-military-spending-increase-alone-is-enough-to-make-public-college-free/">According to the Intercept,</a> “One of the</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> most controversial proposals put forward by </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Senator</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> Bernie Sanders during the 2016 presidential campaign was a pledge to make tuition free at public colleges and universities. Critics from both parties howled that the pie-in-the-sky idea would bankrupt the country. Where, after all, would the money come from?</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">“</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Those concerns were brushed aside Monday night, as the Senate overwhelmingly approved an $80 billion annual increase in military spending, enough to have fully satisfied Sanders’s campaign promise. Instead, the Senate handed President Donald Trump far more than the $54 billion he asked for. The lavish spending package gives Trump a major legislative victory, allowing him to boast about fulfilling his promise of a </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">‘</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">great rebuilding of the armed services.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">’</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">“</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">The bill would set the U.S.’s annual military budget at around $700 billion, putting it within range of matching the spending level at the height of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">“</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">To put that in further perspective: If the package becomes law, U.S. military spending would exceed the total spending of its next 10 rivals put together, going off of 2016 military spending estimates from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">“Before the bill becomes law, it has to be reconciled with the version the House already passed, which contains a similar $77 billion spending increase. It is likely to become law by the end of the year.”</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Horatio Greenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02642924301059758532noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1586329463637827771.post-81717643125599358822017-09-25T10:11:00.000-04:002017-09-25T10:11:20.753-04:00ABC -- Trump seen by most Americans as doing more to divide than unite country (POLL)<div class="MsoNormal">
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<a href="https://www.facebook.com/newsandguts/posts/292090487862593"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">From the </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">News And Guts</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> Facebook page :</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">Is he Donald The Deflector? Maybe Donald The Diverter? Why would the President take on America’s pro athletes and its most popular game? This morning's tweets bashing the NFL may be less about defending the flag than Donald Trump diverting attention from his failures. Healthcare reform is about to tank (again), his administration has zero significant legislative accomplishments, his candidate for Senate in Alabama is about to lose and the border wall remains something Trump can only dream about.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">Meanwhile, Mike Allen at Axios says NFL and NBA players are just the latest in a <a href="https://www.axios.com/the-great-divider-2489027836.html">long line of Trump targets</a>:</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">“</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Opinionated athletes have a lot of company. Other than white, straight, Christian men, it's hard to think of a group President Trump hasn't offended or attacked as a candidate or in office</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">Be smart: Trump's mostly white, mainly rural, majority-male base clearly laps this up — and he knows it.”</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">Meanwhile, a new poll from ABCNews + Washington Post finds Donald Trump with historically low approval ratings. It also shows most Americans don't want to go to war with North Korea and don't trust Trump can handle the threat responsibly. Here's more from ABC:</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">"Views on North Korea underscore trepidations about Trump on the global stage. Even as a record number of Americans see North Korea as a threat, the public by a wide 62-37 percent does not trust Trump to act responsibly in handling the situation. Compare that with trust in U.S. military leaders; at 72 percent, it’s about double the level of trust in their commander-in-chief.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">But Trump faces equal difficulties at home. His approval rating is the lowest of any president at eight months in office in polling back 71 years. The public by 66-28 percent says he’s done more to divide than to unite the country."</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEioLcANk2N7baXQPHrW1OcwIxknhcnSnqaWm6rGYFJzNAIScyCO_p2nDhyphenhypheng2J6eGzs1m06Pv7wS-FLGq-F9hpbmDSHTxozkkg_9p-aO2sNcdUcquiR4XcG95rq8niO8UpPbhfIwlrSawamY/s1600/Trump+seen+by+most+Americans+as+doing+more+to+divide+than+unite+country.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="414" data-original-width="992" height="133" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEioLcANk2N7baXQPHrW1OcwIxknhcnSnqaWm6rGYFJzNAIScyCO_p2nDhyphenhypheng2J6eGzs1m06Pv7wS-FLGq-F9hpbmDSHTxozkkg_9p-aO2sNcdUcquiR4XcG95rq8niO8UpPbhfIwlrSawamY/s320/Trump+seen+by+most+Americans+as+doing+more+to+divide+than+unite+country.png" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="font-size: 16pt;"><a href="http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/deep-challenges-trump-north-korea-home-front-poll/story?id=50032349">TRUMP SEEN BY MOST AMERICANS AS DOING MORE TO DIVIDE THAN UNITE COUNTRY (POLL)</a></span><span style="font-size: 16pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="color: #f9cb9c;">By Gary Langer </span></span></i><i><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
Horatio Greenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02642924301059758532noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1586329463637827771.post-11409299424856329362017-09-25T09:18:00.000-04:002017-09-25T09:18:17.453-04:00NY Times -- Trump Attacks Warriors’ Curry. LeBron James’s Retort: ‘U Bum.’<div class="MsoNormal">
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">Donald Trump’s response to the National Football League’s players kneeling during the national anthem and Golden Gate Warrior point guard Stephen Curry’s rejection to attend a White House Celebration of the teams 2017 NBA Championship win has drawn <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/23/sports/trump-nfl-nba.html?mcubz=1">intense blowback</a> from the NFL and the NBA.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">Dallas Mavericks owner <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/politics-news/mark-cuban-pres-trump-needs-be-able-take-blowback-n804246">Mark Cuban fired back at President Donald Trump’s criticism </a>of NFL players, as well as the president’s decision to revoke a White House invitation to Golden State Warriors' star Stephen Curry.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">On Sunday, <a href="https://www.boston.com/sports/nfl/2017/09/24/robert-kraft-deeply-disappointed-by-the-tone-of-trumps-comments-on-protesting-nfl-players">New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft,</a> a supporter, and donor who gave the president his Super Bowl ring, </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">said </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">"I am deeply disappointed by the tone of the comments made by the president on Friday</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">. </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">“</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">There is no greater unifier in this country than sports, and unfortunately, nothing more divisive than politics.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">"Our players are intelligent, thoughtful and care deeply about our community and I support their right to peacefully affect social change and raise awareness in a manner that they feel is most impactful."</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><a href="https://www.facebook.com/RBReich/posts/1712932378719351">Robert Reich</a></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> reacts on his Facebook page: </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">NFL players have far more class and more understanding of America’s ideals than Trump does. Kudos to them for standing up to the bully-in-chief.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">To recap: Trump went to Alabama Friday evening, and in front of a vastly white audience he criticized athletes -- nearly all of them black -- who have protested police brutality by silently holding a fist aloft or taking a knee on the sidelines of football games. </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">“</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Wouldn’t you love to see one of these N.F.L. owners, when somebody disrespects our flag, to say, ‘Get that son of a bitch off the field right now. Out! He’s fired. He’s fired!</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">’”</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">In response, Steph Curry, star of the Golden Gate Warriors, winner of the N.B.A. championship in June, explained why he thought the team should skip the champions’ customary visit to the White House. “By acting and not going, hopefully that will inspire some change,” he said, “when it comes to what we tolerate in this country and what is accepted and what we turn a blind eye to.”</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">Yesterday morning, Trump declared on Twitter he would not invite Curry, to the White House.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">Which led players around the country to respond. For example:</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">N.B.A. point guard Chris Paul: “With everything that's going on in our country, why are YOU focused on who's kneeling and visiting the White House??? #StayInYoLane</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">LeBron James: “U bum @StephenCurry30 already said he ain't going! So therefore ain't no invite. Going to White House was a great honor until you showed up!”</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">Bishop Sankey, a Vikings running back: “It's a shame and disgrace when you have the President of the US calling citizens of the country sons of a bitches.”</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">Even N.F.L. Commissioner Roger Goodell: “Divisive comments like these demonstrate an unfortunate lack of respect for the N.F.L., our great game and all of our players, and a failure to understand the overwhelming force for good our clubs and players represent in our communities.”</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">Donald Trump is not just an embarrassment. He's a petty, vindictive man-child who doesn’t want America to tolerate free speech he dislikes, and who wants to divide this nation. He is unfit to be our president. We must unite to remove him from office as soon as possible.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 16pt;"><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/23/sports/football/trump-nfl-kaepernick.html?mcubz=1">TRUMP ATTACKS WARRIORS’ CURRY. LEBRON JAMES’S RETORT: ‘U BUM.’</a></span><span style="font-size: 16pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="color: #f9cb9c;">By Ken Belson And Julie Hirschfeld Davis</span></span></i><i><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
Horatio Greenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02642924301059758532noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1586329463637827771.post-14703983718478546182017-09-24T19:48:00.000-04:002017-09-24T19:48:22.647-04:00Steve Kerr: Mr. President: You Represent All of Us. Don’t Divide Us. Bring Us Together<div class="MsoNormal">
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">Steve Kerr</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">,</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">head </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">coach of the Golden State Warriors, </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">w</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">rites </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">an o</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">pen </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">l</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">etter </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">about </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Donald Trump </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">t</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">rying to </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">s</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">ilence </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">b</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">lack </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">a</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">thletes</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">:</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">“</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">We knew it was coming.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">“</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">After Steph spoke up at media day on Friday, we figured it was just a matter of time until the president responded. Then on Saturday morning my wife, Margot, woke me up. “Here it is,” she said, and showed me Trump’s tweet. Our invitation, he wrote, “has been withdrawn” because, “going to the White House is considered a great honor for a championship team” and, “Stephen Curry is hesitating.”</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">“</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">First off, I’m pretty sure Steph wasn’t </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">‘</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">hesitating</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">.’</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> He made it clear he wouldn’t go. Second, as I joked to the media Saturday, it was like the president was trying to break up with us before we broke up with him.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">“</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Regardless, it’s a shame. I’ve been fortunate enough to meet President Reagan, both Bushes, Clinton, and Obama. I didn’t agree with all of them, but it was easy to set politics aside because each possessed an inherent respect for the office, as well as the humility that comes with being a public servant in an incredible position of power, representing 300 million people. And that’s the problem now. In his tweet to Steph, Trump talked about honoring the White House but, really, isn’t it you who must honor the White House, Mr. President? And the way to do that is through compassion and dignity and being above the fray. Not causing the fray.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">“</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Would we have gone? Probably not. The truth is we all struggled with the idea of spending time with a man who has offended us with his words and actions time and again. But I can tell you one thing: it wouldn’t have been for the traditional ceremony, to shake hands and smile for cameras. Internally, we’d discussed whether it’d be possible to just go and meet as private citizens and have a serious, poignant discussion about some of the issues we’re concerned about. But he’s made it hard for any of us to actually enter the White House, because what’s going on is not normal. It’s childish stuff: belittling people and calling them names. So to expect to go in and have a civil, serious discourse? Yeah, that’s probably not going to happen.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">“</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Look, I’m a basketball coach and what I do obviously pales in comparison to what the president does. But our jobs are similar in at least one respect: If you want to be an NBA coach, you need to be prepared to be criticized. You kind of know that going in. If I coach poorly and we lose the game, I hear about it. That’s okay. It’s really where we coaches earn our money, accepting and dealing with criticism and keeping the ship moving forward. There has to be an inherent understanding when you enter into any public position of power that this is what happens. People are going to take shots at you and it’s incumbent upon you to absorb those shots. Maybe you respond diplomatically, but you maintain a level of respect and dignity. What you can’t do is just angrily lash out. Can you imagine if I lashed out at all my critics every day and belittled them? I’d lose my players, I’d embarrass ownership, I’d embarrass myself. Pretty soon I’d be out of a job. It’s a basic adult thing that you learn as you grow up: People aren't always going to agree with you. And that’s OK.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">“</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Instead, we get Trump’s comments over the weekend about NFL players, calling them ‘sons of bitches’ for kneeling during the anthem. Those just crushed me. Crushed me. Just think about what those players are protesting. They’re protesting excessive police violence and racial inequality. Those are really good things to fight against. And they’re doing it in a nonviolent way. Which is everything that Martin Luther King preached, right? A lot of American military members will tell you that the right to free speech is exactly what they fight for. And it’s just really, really upsetting that the leader of our country is calling for these players to be ‘fired.’</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">“</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">The hard part is knowing what to do now. Margot and I talked for a long time Saturday morning about what to say publicly. I’ve probably been as critical of Trump as anybody but maybe it’s time to take a different course. There’s no need to get into a war of words. It’s about trying to hang on to the values that are important to us as an organization, a country, and, really, as human beings.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">“</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">The fact is we live in an amazing country, but it’s a flawed one. I consider myself unbelievably lucky to live here, so please spare me the ‘If you don’t like it you can get out’ argument. I love living here. I love my country. I just think it’s important to recognize that we as a nation are far from perfect, and it’s our responsibility to try to make it better. And one of the ways to do that is to promote awareness and understanding and acceptance. Not just acceptance but embracing our diversity, which when you get down to it is not only who we are but truly what makes us great. And it’s not happening.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">“</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Remember, the president works for us, not vice versa. We elected him. He doesn’t just work for his constituents and his base. He works for every citizen. Once you take that office, you have to do what’s best for the entire country. Sure, you’re going to have policies that align with your party, but that’s not the point. Respectfully, Mr. Trump, the point is this: You’re the president. You represent all of us. Don’t divide us.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">“</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Bring us together.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">”</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">Steve Kerr</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJbs4OErkB4g5AE9prZmQuYokNl9dkuajafanwNh1abhExdW1EXcuWN7TXFtyIDfm_MM8CS2amSZOZJ_tizZAfUhW0Co4KNhgzNH6F2L9e73uHnIUpoaTqIqRr4ahaN4Vd1FdKtOpKAZpr/s1600/ou+Represent+All+of+Us.+Don%25E2%2580%2599t+Divide+Us.+Bring+Us+Together.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="724" data-original-width="1300" height="178" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJbs4OErkB4g5AE9prZmQuYokNl9dkuajafanwNh1abhExdW1EXcuWN7TXFtyIDfm_MM8CS2amSZOZJ_tizZAfUhW0Co4KNhgzNH6F2L9e73uHnIUpoaTqIqRr4ahaN4Vd1FdKtOpKAZpr/s320/ou+Represent+All+of+Us.+Don%25E2%2580%2599t+Divide+Us.+Bring+Us+Together.png" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://www.si.com/nba/2017/09/24/steve-kerr-warriors-donald-trump-white-house-stephen-curry">MR. PRESIDENT: YOU REPRESENT ALL OF US. DON’T DIVIDE US. BRING US TOGETHER</a></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span style="color: #f9cb9c;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">By </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Steve Kerr (As Told To Chris Ballard)</span></span></i><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
Horatio Greenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02642924301059758532noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1586329463637827771.post-20393634471787584392017-09-24T11:28:00.001-04:002017-09-24T11:28:49.520-04:00Nation -- Bernie Sanders Just Gave One of the Finest Speeches of His Career (VIDEO)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<i style="color: #f9cb9c;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Outlining a vision of an America on the side of peace and justice, the senator shredded Trump’s brutish foreign policies.</span></i></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDOagulrzBmkNQNZtiJoTzxjvUuFgonsWk3oxQP_Gp-wAFh24u5t6cGRua5yKE2gwSU8II7jR6-_Z2p2r8oe2ck3eV1_HRGf6Um8xivAqnwseBjX4-4t7-lLztifjzlicQGzZmxyhyphenhyphenArha/s1600/Bernie+Sanders+Just+Gave+One+of+the+Finest+Speeches+of+His+Career.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="564" data-original-width="896" height="201" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDOagulrzBmkNQNZtiJoTzxjvUuFgonsWk3oxQP_Gp-wAFh24u5t6cGRua5yKE2gwSU8II7jR6-_Z2p2r8oe2ck3eV1_HRGf6Um8xivAqnwseBjX4-4t7-lLztifjzlicQGzZmxyhyphenhyphenArha/s320/Bernie+Sanders+Just+Gave+One+of+the+Finest+Speeches+of+His+Career.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: 16pt;"><a href="https://www.thenation.com/article/bernie-sanders-just-gave-one-of-the-finest-speeches-of-his-career/">BERNIE SANDERS </a></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 16pt;"><a href="https://www.thenation.com/article/bernie-sanders-just-gave-one-of-the-finest-speeches-of-his-career/">JUST GAVE ONE </a></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 16pt;"><a href="https://www.thenation.com/article/bernie-sanders-just-gave-one-of-the-finest-speeches-of-his-career/">OF THE FINEST SPEECHES </a></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 16pt;"><a href="https://www.thenation.com/article/bernie-sanders-just-gave-one-of-the-finest-speeches-of-his-career/">OF HIS CAREER</a></span><span style="font-size: 16pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="color: #f9cb9c;">By John Nichols</span></span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-size: 12pt;">“</span></i><i><span style="font-size: 12pt;">What a rational and progressive foreign policy is about is building upon our common humanity. We must do everything we can to oppose the forces that try to divide us up and set us against each other.</span></i><i><span style="font-size: 12pt;">” -- Senator Bernie Sanders</span></i></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">The Nation</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">’s John Nichols writes . . . </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">“</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">The most meaningful foreign-policy address delivered by a prominent American political figure in this moment of global turmoil and possibility was not, as should be quite clear by now, Donald Trump’s “Rocket Man” rant at the United Nations.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">“</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Rather, it was the speech that Senator Bernie Sanders gave Thursday at Westminster College in Fulton, Missouri. The long-planned address by the 2016 presidential contender was not presented as a formal response to Trump. And yet, as Sanders outlined a vision for foreign policy that was more nuanced, more complex, and more genuinely internationalist than that of the president, he provided the most necessary and valuable counter to Trump.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">“</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Sanders also countered the narrow framework of the contemporary debate about foreign policy that gave rise to the nationalist presidency of a billionaire populist who thinks there is a country in Africa called </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">‘</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Nambia.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">’ </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">”</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Horatio Greenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02642924301059758532noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1586329463637827771.post-56975096171594254042017-09-24T10:51:00.000-04:002017-09-24T10:51:06.180-04:00CBS -- Steph Curry responds to Trump's comments: 'That's not what leaders do'<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="color: #f9cb9c;">Trump rescinded Curry's invitation to the White House after Curry said he wasn't interested in going</span></span></i></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">According to CBS Sports: “</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">The world woke up Saturday morning to </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Donald Trump’s </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">tweets rescinding Curry's invitation, which in turn led to players such as LeBron James, Chris Paul, and Kobe Bryant responding with their own tweets, and eventually both the Warriors and NBA commissioner Adam Silver releasing statements. </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">“</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Now, Curry himself has shared his thoughts on the situation, saying it was "surreal," and lamenting that Trump's actions are "not what leaders do</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">" </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">“ ‘</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">It's surreal, to be honest,</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">’</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> Curry said after that practice had concluded at the team's facility in downtown Oakland. </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">‘</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">I don't know why he feels the need to target certain individuals, rather than others.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">"</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> ‘</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">I have an idea of why, but it's kind of beneath a leader of a country to go that route. That's not what leaders do.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">’ </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">"</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><a href="https://www.facebook.com/RBReich/posts/1712408432105079">Robert Reich</a></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><a href="https://www.facebook.com/RBReich/posts/1712408432105079"> congratulates Curry</a> for taking a stand against Trump’s Twitter outburst, saying . . . </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">This morning </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">[Trump] </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">called out Curry for saying that he didn't want the team to visit the White House. In a vindictive and childish tweet, Trump wrote, </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">“</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Going to the White House is considered a great honor for a championship team. Stephen Curry is hesitating, therefore invitation is withdrawn!"</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">This afternoon Curry took the high road, telling reporters, "That's not what leaders do." The Warriors also issued a statement that read in part, "We believe there is nothing more American than our citizens having the right to express themselves freely on matters important to them."</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">This is the response of real champions -- something Trump could never even remotely understand. </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i><span style="color: #f9cb9c;">USA Today</span></i></td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: 16pt;"><a href="https://www.cbssports.com/nba/news/steph-curry-responds-to-trumps-comments-thats-not-what-leaders-do/">STEPH CURRY RESPONDS TO TRUMP'S COMMENTS: 'THAT'S NOT WHAT LEADERS DO'</a></span></div>
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<span style="color: #f9cb9c;"><i><span style="font-size: 12pt;">B</span></i><i><span style="font-size: 12pt;">y Jack Maloney</span></i></span><i><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
Horatio Greenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02642924301059758532noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1586329463637827771.post-58201236255039932432017-09-24T10:08:00.000-04:002017-09-24T10:08:02.797-04:00Clean air and safe water should always come before corporate profits<div class="MsoNormal">
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">Donald Trump and Scott Pruitt have turned the Environmental Protection Agency over to corporate polluters. Pruitt meets frequently with mining and fossil fuel industry executives, but hardly takes any meetings with environmental groups, according to a new report by the Washington Post. The corporate meetings also appear to be influencing the agency's decisions:</span></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-size: 12pt;">1) </span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Less than two weeks after Pruitt met with an Alaskan mining company, the agency approved a controversial mine that could contaminate nearby streams.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-size: 12pt;">2) </span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-size: 12pt;">In April, Pruitt met with representatives of the American Gas Association. Two weeks later the agency announced it would reconsider Obama-era regulations on harmful methane leaks at drilling sites.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-size: 12pt;">3) </span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-size: 12pt;">After Pruitt's meeting with a truck manufacturer, the agency halted new standards for the trucking industry.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">The EPA has a duty to protect the public from harmful pollution, not cater to the needs of corporate interests. Clean air and safe water should always come before corporate profits.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><i><a href="https://www.facebook.com/RBReich/posts/1711346742211248">-- Robert Reich</a></i></span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGF6YCC7vUDmEG6U79ZPiNvqqk76UFVT_JLxi0XJHHVpYB7RjH0PWUXqR-ehLQo250NpUQ2gJ8HNhHBqJGwNQXXacVCFwJbmR5Dem0DlmVCKDohTN5VIpe0J9hMsKv8d8ghPNwNVrdmujn/s1600/Clean+air+and+safe+water+should+always+come+before+corporate+profits.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="742" data-original-width="1113" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGF6YCC7vUDmEG6U79ZPiNvqqk76UFVT_JLxi0XJHHVpYB7RjH0PWUXqR-ehLQo250NpUQ2gJ8HNhHBqJGwNQXXacVCFwJbmR5Dem0DlmVCKDohTN5VIpe0J9hMsKv8d8ghPNwNVrdmujn/s320/Clean+air+and+safe+water+should+always+come+before+corporate+profits.png" width="320" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/energy-environment/wp/2017/09/22/epa-chief-pruitt-met-with-many-corporate-execs-shortly-before-making-decisions-in-their-favor/?utm_term=.697b697a92b8"><span style="font-size: large;">EPA CHIEF PRUITT MET WITH MANY CORPORATE EXECS. THEN HE MADE DECISIONS IN THEIR FAVOR.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></a></div>
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<i><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="color: #f9cb9c;">By Steven Mufson and Juliet Eilperin</span></span></i><i><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
Horatio Greenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02642924301059758532noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1586329463637827771.post-17129938073232384792017-09-24T09:44:00.000-04:002017-09-25T12:04:13.994-04:00The Resurrection Of Roy Moore<div class="MsoNormal">
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">President Trump is popular in Alabama. He won the state by 28 percentage points. So, it might seem surprising that </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">contender for the U.S. Senate, Roy </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Moore</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">, a former chief justice of the State Supreme Court,</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> is leading </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Donald Trump’s endorsement </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Luther Strange, currently serving as the junior United States Senator from Alabama</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">. </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">“T</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">he president ramped up his support for </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">‘</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Big Luther</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">’</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> with several tweets, and campaigned for Strange at a rally in Huntsville on Friday. But many Alabamans don’t see a contradiction in liking Trump but rejecting Strange. Moore’s core supporters, especially, see Strange, a former D.C. lobbyist, as a creature of the very swamp they elected Trump to drain</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">,” writes Politico’s </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Eric Velasco</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><a href="https://www.facebook.com/RBReich/posts/1711944188818170">Robert Reich</a></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><a href="https://www.facebook.com/RBReich/posts/1711944188818170"> remarked on Facebook:</a> “</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">It’s all about Trump. Always.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">”</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">Reich wrote, “</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Trump spent the first 25 minutes of last night’s campaign rally defending his decision to endorse Luther Strange, the Republican establishment’s pick for the Alabama Senate race in the upcoming Republican primary. Strange's opponent is Roy Moore, who was twice removed as Alabama’s chief justice for defying federal judges, who questioned former President Barack Obama’s citizenship, who said “homosexual conduct” should be illegal, and who suggested the 9/11 attacks were an act of punishment by God.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">“</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> ‘</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">I might have made a mistake. I’ll be honest, I might have made a mistake,</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">’</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> Trump told the crowd. Why? Not because Moore is totally unqualified to be a U.S. Senator. No, Trump said his reason for doubting his endorsement of Strange was that if Strange loses, the media will accuse Trump of being </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">‘</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">unable to pull his candidate across the line</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">’</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> and cast the loss as a </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">‘</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">total embarrassment.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">’ </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">”</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i><span style="color: #f9cb9c;">On the left is Luther Strange, the right is Roy Moore</span></i></td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: 16pt;"><a href="http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2017/09/23/roy-moore-alabama-senate-resurrection-215639">THE RESURRECTION OF ROY MOORE</a></span><span style="font-size: 16pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="color: #f9cb9c;">Alabama’s would-be senator has a long history of bucking the system, suffering the consequences—and bouncing back.</span></span></i><i><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="color: #f9cb9c;">By Eric Velasco</span></span></i><i><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
Horatio Greenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02642924301059758532noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1586329463637827771.post-3827673338400805002017-09-24T08:30:00.001-04:002017-09-24T08:30:55.332-04:00Nation -- Canada Is Using NAFTA to Demand Protection for US Unions<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 16px;"><i><span style="color: #f9cb9c;">Canadian negotiators are pushing the US to do away with anti-labor policies like “right to work.”</span></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) has, to a significant extent, defined the relationship between the three North American nations over the last fifteen years. NAFTA was sold on the promise that it would bring more and better jobs and faster growth to the region and reduce emigration from Mexico to the United States and Canada. While trade and investment flows did increase, NAFTA did not create more net trade-related jobs and those that it did were very often less stable, with lower wages and fewer benefits. Instead, increased trade largely benefited the corporate elite in all three countries. Income inequality has also grown in the region. We believe that the trade liberalization and investors' rights provisions contained in NAFTA were important contributors to these results</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">, <a href="https://nacla.org/news/mexican-canadian-and-us-unions-statement-nafta">-- NACLA</a></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">And, Donald Trump has made NAFTA central to his debate over free trade. He </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">has stated his intent to "renegotiate" NAFTA</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">, calling it the “worst trade deal in the history of the country.”</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">According to The Nation, “</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">US labor has long criticized NAFTA as an enemy of unions, corroding domestic labor standards while spurring offshoring of blue-collar jobs to “low-road” Global South nations. But, up north, Canada’s unions fear exactly the same from the United States—that Washington’s relatively lax regulatory regime is dragging down standards and sucking away jobs.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> So, </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Canada wants to fix its southern neighbor’s labor laws.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">”</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">So</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">,</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">“</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">the Trudeau administration has reportedly challenged Washington to raise labor standards as part of any revamped NAFTA deal. It has demanded protections for unionization and collective-bargaining rights, and called directly for a ban on “right to work” laws, which many states have used to dilute union power and sink wages, with spillover effects for the workforces of US trade partners. Pressured by unions, Canadian ministers seem to be leveraging labor standards to pressure Trump to make NAFTA, in theory, more beneficial for Canada’s labor force by countering the “race to the bottom.”</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://www.facebook.com/RBReich/posts/1711929735486282?ref=notif&notif_t=notify_me_page&notif_id=1506044951250309"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">In agreement, Robert Reich</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> writes . . .</span></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">Canada is intent on fixing what it considers a major unfair trade practice in the United States – American laws that keep down wages by making it harder for American workers to unionize than for Canadian workers to unionize. Canada is demanding stronger protections for American workers who want to unionize, and also a ban on “right to work” laws that states use to dilute union power and reduce wages. Canada says these unfairly reduce American wages and thereby hurt Canada’s competitiveness.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">Canada is absolutely right. If the United States wants to renegotiate NAFTA to prevent Mexico from offering unfairly low-wage work, Canada should use the opportunity to prevent the United States from offering unfairly low-wage work, too.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj01kYKlRfzHHzUPb5aJE4_yj1plFzROPNwDqb-_Kp0yCz-_Mum-Quj6FbOA9Bw5cKzDmoMUNjvf_N9Ufg9eF2Lz975HYQ7w4amvJNN56p6v2bmENmLM7jGHa_Mn44pyAKz9I9SSwaDd2yV/s1600/Canada+Is+Using+NAFTA+to+Demand+Protection+for+US+Unions.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="489" data-original-width="777" height="201" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj01kYKlRfzHHzUPb5aJE4_yj1plFzROPNwDqb-_Kp0yCz-_Mum-Quj6FbOA9Bw5cKzDmoMUNjvf_N9Ufg9eF2Lz975HYQ7w4amvJNN56p6v2bmENmLM7jGHa_Mn44pyAKz9I9SSwaDd2yV/s320/Canada+Is+Using+NAFTA+to+Demand+Protection+for+US+Unions.png" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: 16pt;"><a href="https://www.thenation.com/article/canada-is-using-nafta-to-demand-protection-for-us-unions/">CANADA IS USING NAFTA TO DEMAND PROTECTION FOR US UNIONS</a></span><span style="font-size: 16pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="color: #f9cb9c;">By Michelle Chen</span></span></i></div>
Horatio Greenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02642924301059758532noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1586329463637827771.post-58492828895771354472017-09-23T12:14:00.001-04:002017-09-23T12:19:46.975-04:00Obama: We Have To Keep "Our Leaders" From "Inflicting Real Human Suffering On Their Constituents" (VIDEO)<div class="MsoNormal">
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><a href="https://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2017/09/20/obama_we_have_to_keep_our_leaders_from_inflicting_real_human_suffering_on_their_constituents.html">OBAMA: WE HAVE TO KEEP </a></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><a href="https://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2017/09/20/obama_we_have_to_keep_our_leaders_from_inflicting_real_human_suffering_on_their_constituents.html">"OUR LEADERS" FROM "INFLICTING </a></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><a href="https://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2017/09/20/obama_we_have_to_keep_our_leaders_from_inflicting_real_human_suffering_on_their_constituents.html">REAL HUMAN SUFFERING </a></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><a href="https://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2017/09/20/obama_we_have_to_keep_our_leaders_from_inflicting_real_human_suffering_on_their_constituents.html">ON THEIR CONSTITUENTS"</a></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span style="color: #f9cb9c; font-size: 12pt;">By Ian Schwartz</span></i><i><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">I strongly oppose Graham-Cassidy. Like so many </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">of the </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">other Republican bills, it is another attempt to abolish government legislated health-care that is comprehensive</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> and </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">affordable</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">, and not one that raises cost, reduces coverage, or one that doesn’t provide protections for Seniors, people with</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> pre-existing conditions</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">, and certainly not one that would make health-care almost unattainable for those who don’t have the wherewithal to pay for it. While the United States needs to take the profit out of health-care, Republicans want to give health-care back to the for-profit insurance providers as it was prior to ACA. A Medicare-for-all single-payer system will give health-care decisions to the people and take the profit out.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">Former President Barack Obama spoke today about the Republicans push to repeal the Affordable Care Act. At an event for the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, on Wednesday</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">, in part </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">he said:</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">"For the first time more than 90% of Americans know the security of health insurance. Paying more for insurance or being denied insurance because of a pre-existing condition or because you are a woman, that is not a thing anymore, we got rid of that. And people are alive today because of it and that is progress.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">“</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Now, the legislation that we passed was full of things that still need to be fixed. It wasn't perfect. It was better.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">“</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">And so when I see people trying to undo that hard won progress for the 50th or 60th time with bills that would raise cost or reduce coverage or rollback protections for older Americans or people with pre-existing conditions, the cancer survivor, the expectant mom or the child with autism or asthma, for whom coverage once again would be almost unattainable, it is aggravating. And all of this being done without demonstrable or actuarial or plain common sense rational, it frustrates and it is certainly frustrating to have to mobilize every couple months to keep our leaders from inflicting real human suffering on our constituents."</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><a href="https://www.facebook.com/meredith.piscitelli/posts/10214387364980910?notif_t=notify_me%C2%ACif_id=1506169540559068">Support the effort to end the Senate Republican’s health-care bill by contributing to the public testimony for Monday's Graham-Cassidy hearing.</a></span></div>
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Horatio Greenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02642924301059758532noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1586329463637827771.post-91404530248856191072017-09-23T09:54:00.000-04:002017-09-23T09:55:40.585-04:00NPR -- 10 Months After Election Day, Feds Tell States More About Russian Hacking<div class="MsoNormal">
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">“</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">One of the public's unanswered questions about Russia's attempts to break into election systems last year was which states were targeted. On Friday, states found out.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">“</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">The Department of Homeland Security said earlier this year that it had evidence of Russian activity in 21 states, but it failed to inform individual states whether they were among those targeted. Instead, DHS authorities say they told those who had </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">‘</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">ownership</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">’</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> of the systems </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">-- </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">which in some cases were private vendors or local election offices.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">Former Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson told the House Intelligence Committee</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> in June</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">: "In 2016 the Russian government, at the direction of Vladimir Putin himself, orchestrated cyberattacks on our nation for the purpose of influencing our election </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">-- </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">plain and simple. Now, the key question for the President and Congress is: What are we going to do to protect the American people and their democracy from this kind of thing in the future?"</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">But </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Donald </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Trump</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> and Congress have done nothing about it. They are e</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">ither ignoring Russia’s cyber-attack, denying it, or</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">, at least the White House, seemingly trying </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">to cover it up.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">The </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">P</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">resident </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">and Congress have </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">a sworn duty to protect the United States and the Constitution. We have been attacked, folks. Trump</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">, his administration, and Congress </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">are failing in </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">their </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">most important and fundamental responsibility.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">The Trump Administration today finally got around to notifying states about Russian cyberattacks on their voting systems. According to the Department of Homeland Security, hackers targeted election databases in 21 states last year. The department didn't disclose the details of the attacks or how many systems were breached, though based on earlier reports hackers gained access to systems in at least Illinois and Arizona. For many states this was the first time the federal government had contacted them about Russian interference.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">The Trump administration's lax response to these attacks is absolutely appalling. Russian interference in the 2016 election was a brazen and direct attack to our democratic system of government, but Trump and his administration have only tried to sweep it under the rug. Unless we take immediate steps to secure our election systems, the foundation of our democracy will remain at risk. We need to make this a major priority ahead of the 2018 midterms.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLMgxqBIwUC3ilWSqxrLQaFck4pDbthhoNu5UkCu9kNKVCNtoM6Fht4bXDMudkZ6CkwgnTq8nXunmn8NcCb6JD5h0eOa07FBc1hgCyBBLlHXzJucG6g3INyq0QPnAcnlnzuvUJRe581kdq/s1600/10+MONTHS+AFTER+ELECTION+DAY%252C+FEDS+TELL+STATES+MORE+ABOUT+RUSSIAN+HACKING.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="562" data-original-width="562" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLMgxqBIwUC3ilWSqxrLQaFck4pDbthhoNu5UkCu9kNKVCNtoM6Fht4bXDMudkZ6CkwgnTq8nXunmn8NcCb6JD5h0eOa07FBc1hgCyBBLlHXzJucG6g3INyq0QPnAcnlnzuvUJRe581kdq/s320/10+MONTHS+AFTER+ELECTION+DAY%252C+FEDS+TELL+STATES+MORE+ABOUT+RUSSIAN+HACKING.png" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: 16pt;"><a href="http://www.npr.org/2017/09/22/552956517/ten-months-after-election-day-feds-tell-states-more-about-russian-hacking">10 MONTHS AFTER ELECTION DAY, FEDS TELL STATES MORE ABOUT RUSSIAN HACKING</a></span><span style="font-size: 16pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #f9cb9c;"><i><span style="font-size: 12pt;">By</span></i><i><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> Pam Fessler</span></i></span><i><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
Horatio Greenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02642924301059758532noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1586329463637827771.post-35805924596010903742017-09-22T18:22:00.000-04:002017-09-22T18:22:55.920-04:00The Cassidy-Graham bill probably won’t become law <div class="MsoNormal">
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">The good news is that the Graham-Cassidy proposal looks like it lacks the support to pass. </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">And </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">it </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">is unpopular with the broader electorate.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">A new poll finds that more than half of Americans prefer Obamacare </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">over the newest Republican </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">plan. Only 33 percent prefer the</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Graham-Cassidy </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">proposal </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">that Senate Republicans</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> plan to vote on by the end of September. </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">According to the Washington Post, “</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Public opinion didn’t stop Republicans from voting on unpopular health-care bills earlier this year. Republicans may try again early next week to pass this bill, given it’s their last chance for a while to do something on health care. It’s likelier than not it will fail, given that Sens. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and Rand Paul (R-Ky.) oppose it and two other senators have serious concerns about it.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><a href="http://www.cnn.com/2017/09/22/politics/john-mccain-health-care/index.html">According to CNN</a>, “</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Sen. John McCain announced Friday in a statement that he cannot "in good conscience" vote for the GOP's latest plan to overhaul Obamacare, likely ending Republicans' latest effort to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">"</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> ‘</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">I cannot in good conscience vote for the Graham-Cassidy proposal</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">,’</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> the Arizona Republican said in a statement. </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">‘</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">I believe we could do better working together, Republicans and Democrats, and have not yet really tried. Nor could I support it without knowing how much it will cost, how it will (affect) insurance premiums, and how many people will be helped or hurt by it. Without a full CBO score, which won't be available by the end of the month, we won't have reliable answers to any of those questions.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">’</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">“</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">McCain's </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">‘</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">no</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">’</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> vote means it is likely Republicans won't be able to repeal and replace Obamacare before September 30, as Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky said he would not back Graham-Cassidy and Sen. Susan Collins of Maine has said she is leaning "no" on the proposal. But there are still questions as to where Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski is at the moment. It's also unclear if senators on the fence would support a procedural motion on the bill even if they decide they are against Graham-Cassidy in the end.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">If Cassidy-Graham doesn’t pass it “</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">would mean Obamacare would be the law of the land for the foreseeable future. And more than half of America is okay with that.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">”</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">Here’s the story:</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXPzu6IjRA3DkRm2p-ZM0sBBCz_vICYAN4MnvQKJzYm0P4RFcE3AfUkdCcuZnMyRjaEczgbxUO-gfHaEUDowPNdKNQO5r9VQCu7vpvj-xA0ga_5ZdSM5G4KQ4yxISthNNw-us1Ll6cCprS/s1600/THE+CASSIDY-GRAHAM+BILL+PROBABLY+WON%25E2%2580%2599T+BECOME+LAW.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="629" data-original-width="1160" height="173" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXPzu6IjRA3DkRm2p-ZM0sBBCz_vICYAN4MnvQKJzYm0P4RFcE3AfUkdCcuZnMyRjaEczgbxUO-gfHaEUDowPNdKNQO5r9VQCu7vpvj-xA0ga_5ZdSM5G4KQ4yxISthNNw-us1Ll6cCprS/s320/THE+CASSIDY-GRAHAM+BILL+PROBABLY+WON%25E2%2580%2599T+BECOME+LAW.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i style="font-size: 16px; text-align: start;"><span style="color: #f9cb9c;">Alex Brandon/AP</span></i></td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: 16pt;"><a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2017/09/22/the-cassidy-graham-bill-probably-wont-become-law-and-more-than-half-of-america-is-good-with-that/?utm_term=.aa2fb8c2f6c7&wpisrc=al_alert-COMBO-politics%252Bnation&wpmk=1">THE CASSIDY-GRAHAM BILL PROBABLY WON’T BECOME LAW</a></span><span style="font-size: 16pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><i><span style="color: #f9cb9c;">By Amber Phillips</span></i></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Horatio Greenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02642924301059758532noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1586329463637827771.post-48065653388920038362017-09-22T10:44:00.001-04:002017-09-22T10:44:40.010-04:00Politico -- Price Traveled by Private Plane At Least 24 Times<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="color: #f9cb9c;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">HHS secretary chartered flights even to cities with frequent, inexpensive commercial options.</span></i></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><a href="http://www.politico.com/story/2017/09/19/tom-price-chartered-planes-flights-242908">Politico previously reported</a> that “</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">In a sharp departure from his predecessors, Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price last week took private jets on five separate flights for official business, at a cost of tens of thousands of dollars more than commercial travel.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">“</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">The travel by corporate-style jet comes at a time when other members of the Trump administration are under fire for travel expenditures, and breaks with the practices of Obama-era secretaries Sylvia Mathews Burwell and Kathleen Sebelius, who flew commercially while in the continental United States.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">”</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">But now </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">It turns out Health Secretary Tom Price didn't just take 5 flights on a private jet</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">“</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price has taken at least 24 flights on private charter planes at taxpayers’ expense since early May, according to people with knowledge of his travel plans and a review of HHS documents.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">”</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">“</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">The frequency of the trips underscores how private travel has become the norm — rather than the exception — for the Georgia Republican during his tenure atop the federal health agency, which began in February. The cost of the trips identified by POLITICO exceeds $300,000, according to a review of federal contracts and similar trip itineraries.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">”</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicMNk_iulTk2uAcwLT2h0JVFW3ngukEy6194MT74k2I0ORzAcRiyD02IQOfdsDwEujVyrgLp9k4VlNByKxITcn_DKFrhx7XHz86CAkrGo95OFeMDZq8j8bnIZ2nd1rCHh9W17QZuKX018t/s1600/Price+Traveled+by+Private+Plane+At+Least+24+Times.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="629" data-original-width="1160" height="173" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicMNk_iulTk2uAcwLT2h0JVFW3ngukEy6194MT74k2I0ORzAcRiyD02IQOfdsDwEujVyrgLp9k4VlNByKxITcn_DKFrhx7XHz86CAkrGo95OFeMDZq8j8bnIZ2nd1rCHh9W17QZuKX018t/s320/Price+Traveled+by+Private+Plane+At+Least+24+Times.png" width="320" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://www.politico.com/story/2017/09/21/tom-price-private-charter-plane-flights-242989" style="font-size: 16pt;">PRICE TRAVELED BY PRIVATE PLANE AT LEAST 24 TIMES</a></div>
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<i><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="color: #f9cb9c;">By Rachana Pradhan And Dan Diamond </span></span></i><i><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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Horatio Greenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02642924301059758532noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1586329463637827771.post-71241845397269895712017-09-22T09:34:00.003-04:002017-09-22T09:34:55.160-04:00Facebook Agrees to Give Congress Russian Ads and Pledges to Dig Further<div class="MsoNormal">
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">Mark Zuckerberg, after 10 months of wrangling with criticism over the issue of Russians linked to the Russian government buying Facebook ads to sway the 2016 election, finally capitulated to provide investigators with 3,000 ads.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">Zuckerberg also announced that his company would take new steps during future elections to identify purchasers of sponsored ads, which can be targeted to the Facebook pages of narrow groups of voters without public awareness, and to curb the spread of fake news on its platform during election campaigns around the world.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">“I don’t want anyone to use our tools to undermine democracy,” Zuckerberg said. “That’s not what we stand for … We’re going to make political advertising more transparent.”</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">That</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">’s great! But what took Zuckerberg so long to take action? It took Facebook 10 months to complete their own internal investigation? Hmm!</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://www.facebook.com/RBReich/posts/1710367655642490?ref=notif%C2%ACif_t=notify_me_page%C2%ACif_id=1506044951250309"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Robert Reich</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> writes:</span></a><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">Earlier this month the social media platform revealed that a Russian company with ties to the Kremlin created at least 470 fake accounts on the site and purchased $100,000 in political advertisements targeting U.S. voters ahead of the election. Facebook also plans to continue to investigate the extent of Russian interference.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">The information could have big implications for Trump and his associates. Special Counsel Robert Mueller has also obtained a search warrant to review Facebook's records. In order to obtain a search warrant, Mueller had to prove to a judge that there's good reason to believe a crime was committed on the site by foreign operatives. If anyone within the Trump campaign was aware of the criminal activity, they could be charged with aiding and abetting a crime. Mueller and congressional investigators will now review the records for any suspicious connections.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">Russia's interference in our election was an unprecedented attack on our democracy, and anyone who aided in their efforts needs to be held accountable.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">Here</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">’s the story:</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0lmmGoGEZQLPUo3i_AnmBqo8MED6nFH28ICIKGe225ONOHHIEFhvUuFyNYfbC7-UnOhpbbMoRZ_jwLHDHDBn0O2ptD3QJ6gIF5i9vSPZNLLLMVbR_Z6rAHCmC_6ivzlEWBbINWZUAydcy/s1600/Facebook+Agrees+to+Give+Congress+Russian+Ads+and+Pledges+to+Dig+Further.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="375" data-original-width="750" height="160" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0lmmGoGEZQLPUo3i_AnmBqo8MED6nFH28ICIKGe225ONOHHIEFhvUuFyNYfbC7-UnOhpbbMoRZ_jwLHDHDBn0O2ptD3QJ6gIF5i9vSPZNLLLMVbR_Z6rAHCmC_6ivzlEWBbINWZUAydcy/s320/Facebook+Agrees+to+Give+Congress+Russian+Ads+and+Pledges+to+Dig+Further.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.i-am-bored.com/2017/09/facebook-says-fake-russian-facebook-accounts-bought-100000-in-political-ads" style="text-align: start;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Google images</span></a></td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: 16pt;"><a href="http://www.mcclatchydc.com/news/nation-world/national/article174703341.html">FACEBOOK AGREES TO GIVE CONGRESS RUSSIAN ADS AND PLEDGES TO DIG FURTHER</a></span><span style="font-size: 16pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="color: #f9cb9c;">By Greg Gordon</span></span></i><i><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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Horatio Greenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02642924301059758532noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1586329463637827771.post-28073190537232170652017-09-22T08:12:00.000-04:002017-09-22T08:12:11.879-04:00EW -- Jimmy Kimmel Eviscerates Gop, Fox News Host with Fiery Health Care Bill Takedown (VIDEO)<div class="MsoNormal">
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRVu899rlKMqryYUZ3x19xF3SkiU8IRL_WMpWixPHtQ0ahCWA_k2ZhS3HgeXThxtMGOpvgyUj85Fi0d5GjY-I4VAPZdFxM4fj8T7GFI_Fy4OAysg5lXyz4-T3rQE4OEQaGeTR4SHoFatAS/s1600/JIMMY+KIMMEL+EVISCERATES+GOP%252C+FOX+NEWS+HOST+WITH+FIERY+HEALTH+CARE+BILL+TAKEDOWN.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="630" data-original-width="1200" height="168" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRVu899rlKMqryYUZ3x19xF3SkiU8IRL_WMpWixPHtQ0ahCWA_k2ZhS3HgeXThxtMGOpvgyUj85Fi0d5GjY-I4VAPZdFxM4fj8T7GFI_Fy4OAysg5lXyz4-T3rQE4OEQaGeTR4SHoFatAS/s320/JIMMY+KIMMEL+EVISCERATES+GOP%252C+FOX+NEWS+HOST+WITH+FIERY+HEALTH+CARE+BILL+TAKEDOWN.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: 16pt;"><a href="http://www.msn.com/en-us/tv/news/jimmy-kimmel-eviscerates-gop-fox-news-host-with-fiery-health-care-bill-takedown/ar-AAsismQ?ocid=sf">JIMMY KIMMEL </a> </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 16pt;"><a href="http://www.msn.com/en-us/tv/news/jimmy-kimmel-eviscerates-gop-fox-news-host-with-fiery-health-care-bill-takedown/ar-AAsismQ?ocid=sf">EVISCERATES GOP, </a></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 16pt;"><a href="http://www.msn.com/en-us/tv/news/jimmy-kimmel-eviscerates-gop-fox-news-host-with-fiery-health-care-bill-takedown/ar-AAsismQ?ocid=sf">FOX NEWS HOST </a></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 16pt;"><a href="http://www.msn.com/en-us/tv/news/jimmy-kimmel-eviscerates-gop-fox-news-host-with-fiery-health-care-bill-takedown/ar-AAsismQ?ocid=sf">WITH FIERY </a></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 16pt;"><a href="http://www.msn.com/en-us/tv/news/jimmy-kimmel-eviscerates-gop-fox-news-host-with-fiery-health-care-bill-takedown/ar-AAsismQ?ocid=sf">HEALTH CARE BILL </a></span></div>
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<span style="color: #f9cb9c;"><i><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Entertainment Weekly</span></i><i><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></i></span></div>
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<span style="color: #f9cb9c;"><i><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Full text by </span></i><i><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Nick Romano</span></i></span><i><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">Comedian Jimmy Kimmel said on his late-night talk show monologue: "This guy, Bill Cassidy, just lied right to my face."</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">He was speaking of Senator Bill Cassidy, a co-author of the recently proposed “Graham-Cassidy” repeal of the Affordable Care Act.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">In May, Kimmel told the story of his son who was born with a heart defect, and needed expensive care that it would not have been possible to afford if it wasn’t for his income.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">At the time,</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> Senator </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Cassidy went on Kimmel's show and vowed that any version of Trumpcare had to "pass the Jimmy Kimmel test." But the Graham-Cassidy version of Trumpcare fails that test. Completely. And now Mitch McConnell is planning to hold a vote on this horrible bill next week.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">“He just wants to get rid of [ObamaCare] because Obama’s name is on it,” Kimmel said. “The Democrats should just rename it ‘Ivankacare.’ Guaranteed he gets on board. Can you imagine Donald Trump actually sitting down to read a health care bill? It’s like trying to imagine a dog doing your taxes. It just doesn’t compute</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">,</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">” </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Kimmel said.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><a href="https://www.facebook.com/RBReich/posts/1710065825672673?notif_t=notify_me_page%C2%ACif_id=1505931213090451">Robert Reich</a></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> writes on his Facebook page: </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">Republicans are using wildly misleading numbers to try to sell their Graham-Cassidy repeal of the Affordable Care Act.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">In reality, Graham-Cassidy would drastically reduce federal funding. Estimates vary from a $215 billion cut between 2020 and 2026 to $239 billion. Graham-Cassidy would also redirect money from states that now have high Affordable Care Act enrollment (largely through Medicaid expansion) to those with fewer sign-ups. California would lose about $78 billion while Alabama would gain $5 billion between 2020 and 2026, for example.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">But Cassidy’s office is saying only 8 states would see their funding decline between 2020 and 2026, and only by a small amount, and that California’s funding would actually increase.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">Baloney. Cassidy’s numbers compare Graham-Cassidy's block grants in 2026 to what the Graham-Cassidy block grants would be in 2020. In other words, they're leaving out current law altogether, pretending that the Affordable Care Act was already repealed</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">Senator Bil</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">l </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Cassidy went on CNN Wednesday morning and said of Kimmel’s </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Monday night health care monologue</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">, “I’m sorry he does not understand [the bill].” What ensued was Kimmel’s </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">rebuttal:</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">Here’s the video:</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Horatio Greenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02642924301059758532noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1586329463637827771.post-75871944264655495092017-09-21T06:52:00.000-04:002017-09-21T06:52:27.570-04:00Politico -- Price’s private-jet travel breaks precedent<div class="MsoNormal">
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">In a sharp departure from his predecessors, Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price last week took private jets on five separate flights for official business, at a cost of tens of thousands of dollars more than commercial travel.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">The secretary’s five flights, which were scheduled between Sept. 13 and Sept. 15, took him to a resort in Maine where he participated in a Q&A discussion with a health care industry CEO, and to community health centers in New Hampshire and Pennsylvania, according to internal HHS documents.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">The travel by corporate-style jet comes at a time when other members of the Trump administration are under fire for travel expenditures, and breaks with the practices of Obama-era secretaries Sylvia Mathews Burwell and Kathleen Sebelius, who flew commercially while in the continental United States.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">Price, a frequent critic of federal spending who has been developing a plan for departmentwide cost savings, declined to comment.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">“</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">As Secretary of Health and Human Services Tom Price calls for drastic cuts to Medicaid, including programs that provide care for children and people with disabilities, he's billing taxpayers thousands of dollars to fly around in private jets. Just last week, Price racked up a $60,000 bill for five chartered flights. One trip between Washington and Philadelphia (less than 150 miles apart) cost taxpayers an estimated $25,000. Past secretaries flew commercial. Even Price himself, a self-proclaimed deficit-hawk, once called the use of government planes, "fiscal irresponsibility run amok." Trump and his enablers continue to serve their own interests, while doing nothing to improve the lives of the American people</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">,” <a href="https://www.facebook.com/RBReich/posts/1709503515728904?ref=notif&notif_t=notify_me_page&notif_id=1505931213090451">-- </a></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><a href="https://www.facebook.com/RBReich/posts/1709503515728904?ref=notif&notif_t=notify_me_page&notif_id=1505931213090451">Robert Reich</a>.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.politico.com/story/2017/09/19/tom-price-chartered-planes-flights-242908">PRICE’S PRIVATE-JET TRAVEL BREAKS PRECEDENT</a></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="color: #f9cb9c;">By Dan Diamond And Rachana Pradhan </span></span></i><i><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
Horatio Greenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02642924301059758532noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1586329463637827771.post-71957538957969491412017-09-20T17:37:00.002-04:002017-09-20T17:37:49.891-04:00How Do We Abolish the Electoral College (VIDEO)<div class="MsoNormal">
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<span style="font-size: 16pt;"><a href="http://www.cnn.com/2017/09/13/politics/hillary-clinton-anderson-cooper-electoral-college-cnntv/index.html">IT'S TIME TO ABOLISH </a></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 16pt;"><a href="http://www.cnn.com/2017/09/13/politics/hillary-clinton-anderson-cooper-electoral-college-cnntv/index.html">THE ELECTORAL COLLEGE</a></span><span style="font-size: 16pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">The</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">2016</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> Presidential election brings to mind once again the issue of whether the Electoral College </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">i</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">s an institution whose time has passed.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> All that is needed is the popular vote. One Person, One Vote. It’s the principle that all citizens, regardless of where they reside in a state, are entitled to equal legislative representation. </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">Hillary Clinton told CNN on Wednesday that it is time to abolish the Electoral College, part of a sweeping interview where the former Democratic nominee sought to explain why she lost the 2016 election.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">"I think it needs to be eliminated," Clinton said of the Electoral College. "I'd like to see us move beyond it, yes."</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">“</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">While we resist Donald Trump, we also need to make sure our democracy doesn't ever again elect a candidate who loses the popular vote. We must abolish the electoral college. Already 10 states and the District of Columbia have passed laws to reform the system, but we need more to join. Help spread the word</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">,” <a href="https://www.facebook.com/RBReich/videos/1708489065830349/?ref=notif&notif_t=notify_me_page&notif_id=1505757392632672">-- </a></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><a href="https://www.facebook.com/RBReich/videos/1708489065830349/?ref=notif&notif_t=notify_me_page&notif_id=1505757392632672">Robert Reich</a></span></div>
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Horatio Greenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02642924301059758532noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1586329463637827771.post-58149475094560647832017-09-20T10:57:00.000-04:002017-09-20T10:57:17.761-04:00Trump, White House all in on ObamaCare repeal push<div class="MsoNormal">
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">A new version of Trumpcare is gaining momentum inside the Senate Republican caucus</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">. But, the new Trumpcare proposal </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">known as "Graham-Cassidy"</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> is just as bad as previous versions.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">Why now? Robert Reich says it’s “mainly because it is assumed the Affordable Care Act (ACA)was in the clear so we put our attention elsewhere.”</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">Senate </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Republicans are planning to take action on it before September 30.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">The </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">new proposal would leave millions of Americans struggling to pay their medical bills and to get coverage.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">The Congressional Budget Office won’t have time to calculate the cost of </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">"Graham-Cassidy"</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> but it is anticipated that 32 million will lose coverage.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">The big difference between the new Trumpcare and previous versions is that under the new </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">repeal legislation, sponsored by Sen</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">ators</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> Lindsey Graham and Bill Cassidy,</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> the individual states would be given <a href="http://familiesusa.org/product/block-grants-bad-idea-medicaid">block grants</a>. The block grants would be used to fund all of each state’s health care needs (what was Obamacare, and medicare and medicaid).</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">It would undermine requirements that people with pre-existing conditions be covered, leading millions to either lose health care or have to pay a lot more for it.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">It would lead to massive cuts to Medicaid, forcing states to deny health care to millions of children and families.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">It would defund Planned Parenthood and be a major step backward for women's health care and particularly for reproductive health care.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">Right now, Republicans are very close to getting the 50 votes they need to pass it. Only a few Republicans are against it or undecided -- including Alaska's Lisa Murkowski and Maine's Susan Collins. John McCain has said he's willing to vote for it, but as details of the bill leaked and revealed how badly Arizona would be hit, he's become less certain.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">We've been very close to losing on this several times in 2017 -- but because Americans mobilized to fight it, we were able to stop Trumpcare. If we can stop them again by September 30, then it will take 60 votes (instead of 50) to pass Trumpcare. That makes it a lot harder for Trump and the Republicans to take away health care from millions.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">President Trump and Vice President Pence have been making calls to senators and governors in a furious effort to gain support for a last-ditch ObamaCare repeal bill. </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">The Trump administration is making clear it's all in on the repeal push, with Pence warning that the White House will not support efforts to "fix" or "prop up" ObamaCare.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">That would appear to rule out a bipartisan effort in the Senate Health Committee to craft a bill stabilizing </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">AFC</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> insurance markets.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">Pence will attend a Senate GOP lunch Tuesday and tell senators "this is the moment" to repeal ObamaCare, the vice president told reporters Tuesday.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">He'll say ObamaCare is "collapsing" and make clear that Trump would sign the bill. </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 16pt;"><a href="http://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/351362-trump-pence-working-the-phones-for-obamacare-repeal-bill">TRUMP, WHITE HOUSE ALL IN ON OBAMACARE REPEAL PUSH</a></span><span style="font-size: 16pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="color: #f9cb9c;">By Jessie Hellmann</span></span></i><i><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
Horatio Greenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02642924301059758532noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1586329463637827771.post-87653115500511804682017-09-20T07:27:00.000-04:002017-09-20T07:27:38.733-04:00WP -- In U.N. speech, Trump threatens to ‘totally destroy North Korea’ and calls Kim Jong Un ‘Rocket Man’<div class="MsoNormal">
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><a href="https://www.facebook.com/RBReich/posts/1708002595878996?ref=notif&notif_t=notify_me_page&notif_id=1505757392632672">Robert Reich</a></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><a href="https://www.facebook.com/RBReich/posts/1708002595878996?ref=notif&notif_t=notify_me_page&notif_id=1505757392632672">’s reaction</a> to Donald Trump’s U.N. speech:</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">Trump delivered his first speech to the United Nations General Assembly this morning. Among his comments were these (followed by my annotations):</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">1. For the cost of resettling one refugee in the United States, we can assist more than 10 in their home region.”</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">Earth to Trump: That makes no sense. The reason they’re refugees is they can’t be resettled in their home without being endangered or killed. As to costs, your own Department of Health and Human Services has found that refugees have brought in $63 billion more in government revenues over the past decade than they cost, but your White House didn't like this conclusion and, according to today's New York Times, has pulled the report. </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">2. “Fortunately, the United States has done very well since Election Day last November 8th. The stock market is at an all-time high -- a record. Unemployment is at its lowest level in 16 years, and because of our regulatory and other reforms, we have more people working in the United States today than ever before. Companies are moving back, creating job growth the likes of which our country has not seen in a very long time. And it has just been announced that we will be spending almost $700 billion on our military and defense.”</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">Earth to Trump: Bragging about the U.S. isn't exactly appropriate in this forum. Nor is self-promotion. And if I were you I wouldn't be touting a gigantic military budget that's bigger than the total military budgets of the next 10 biggest militarized nations put together.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">3. “The United States has great strength and patience, but if it is forced to defend itself or its allies, we will have no choice but to totally destroy North Korea. Rocket Man is on a suicide mission for himself and for his regime."</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">Earth to Trump: If you hadn't noticed, your increasingly incendiary threats against North Korea aren't helping. Perhaps you should take a different tack.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">4. “I will always put America first just like you, the leaders of your countries, should put your countries first.”</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">Earth to Trump: The world is not a zero-sum game. America wins when other nations win.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">5. The U.N.-backed Iran nuclear deal is “one of the worst and most one-sided” agreements ever, and “an embarrassment” to the United States.”</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">Earth to Trump: The deal is better than no deal. If you declare Iran out of compliance, Iran will resume its nuclear buildup.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">6</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">. “Major portions of the world are in conflict and some, in fact, are going to hell.”</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">Earth to Trump: Are you referring to the Trump administration?</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-politics/wp/2017/09/19/in-u-n-speech-trump-warns-that-the-world-faces-great-peril-from-rogue-regimes-in-north-korea-iran/?utm_term=.473fcc77ab13"><span style="font-size: 16pt;">IN U.N. SPEECH, TRUMP THREATENS TO ‘TOTALLY DESTROY NORTH KOREA’ AND CALLS KIM JONG UN </span><span style="font-size: large;">‘ROCKET MAN’</span></a></div>
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<i><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="color: #f9cb9c;">By David Nakamura and Anne Gearan</span></span></i><i><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
Horatio Greenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02642924301059758532noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1586329463637827771.post-57152790860257046602017-09-19T10:30:00.000-04:002017-09-19T17:29:50.380-04:00HuffPost -- Don’t Look Now, But Full Obamacare Repeal Is Back On The Table<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="color: #f9cb9c;">A bill nobody took seriously suddenly sounds serious.</span></span></i></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">Full repeal of the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) is on the Senate’s agenda. It’s reported that the Republicans are planning to take action on it before September 30.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">The bill is known as <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/last-ditch-gop-effort-repeal-obamacare-unveiled-senate-n801031">Graham-Cassidy</a>.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">Regardless of any differences the new proposal may have from previous health care legislative attempts to make health care legislation their own, it still wouldn't dramatically scale back what the “</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">federal government spends on health care and undermining rules designed to guarantee insurance for people with pre-existing conditions, this new proposal would leave millions of Americans struggling to pay their medical bills and to get coverage.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">”</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">The Huffington Post’s Jonathan Cohn writes,</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">“The prospects for the new legislation are murky. The proposal has generated a ton of conversation in political and health policy circles in just the past week, with multiple outlets reporting that leadership is now thinking about floor action before Sept. 30. That’s the magic date when, because of parliamentary rules, Republicans lose their ability to pass repeal with just 50 votes. But much of the chatter is hype from supporters and it’s hard to know how much enthusiasm for the proposal actually exists.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">Nevertheless, “It is, in other words, another shot at full repeal, although its GOP sponsors sometimes suggest otherwise ― and that’s one reason it has escaped heavy scrutiny until now.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">“</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">It’s difficult to say where this is all going. After all, the idea that repeal could get another look now, despite its unpopularity, in the form of a proposal that in some respects is more radical than its predecessors, is difficult to fathom. And yet here we are, fathoming it.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">”</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/obamacare-suddenly-grave-danger-here-s-why-n802496"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">NBC News</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">’ </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Benjy Sarlin</span></a><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> tells us </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">what you need to know about what the new GOP health care bill does, where senators stand, and what would have to happen for it to pass.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">Here's the story from the Huffington Post:</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 16pt;"><a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/dont-look-now-but-full-obamacare-repeal-is-back-on-the-table_us_59bd9f2de4b086432b07a12a">DON’T LOOK NOW, BUT FULL OBAMACARE REPEAL IS BACK ON THE TABLE</a></span><span style="font-size: 16pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><i><span style="color: #f9cb9c;">By Jonathan Cohn</span></i></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
Horatio Greenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02642924301059758532noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1586329463637827771.post-13968713429597108822017-09-19T08:07:00.000-04:002017-09-19T08:07:14.320-04:00Vox -- Reports: Paul Manafort was wiretapped, has been told to expect an indictment<div class="MsoNormal">
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">President Donald Trump’s affinity for Russian President Vladimir Putin, the entanglements of Trump’s former campaign manager Paul Manafort and his former </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">National Security Advisor Michael Flynn</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> with Russia raises huge questions and red flags. </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">There are way too many questions to ask,</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> way</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> too many hints</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> of wrongdoing, way </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">too many circumstances of President Donald Trump’s associates nefariously colluding with the Russian government, for the most obvious reason: to put Donald Trump in the White House.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">Paul Manafort</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> and Michael Flynn are </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">the leading focus of the </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">special prosecutor’s office </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">into whether Trump’s associates coordinated with the Russians to interfere in the 2016 campaign on </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">his</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> behalf.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">All of </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">it </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">increasingly point</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">s</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> to Trump’s direct knowledge of</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> Manafort’s and Flynn’s involvement. It could have even been at Trump’s direction</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> to diminish Hillary Clinton’s chance of becoming the next President of the United States.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">The latest report suggests that special prosecutor Mueller’s legal team is getting to the heart of Trump’s Russia problem.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><a href="https://www.facebook.com/RBReich/posts/1707257799286809?ref=notif&notif_t=notify_me_page&notif_id=1505757392632672">Robert Reich</a></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> summarizes the story:</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">Three big developments in the Mueller investigation. Paul Manafort and Michael Flynn appear to be in serious legal trouble:</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">1) Mueller's investigators have reportedly told Manafort to expect an indictment, according to the New York Times. The warning came after an early morning raid on his home over the summer, where documents and electronic files were seized.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">2) A federal judge authorized the FBI to wiretap Manafort's communications with possible Russian operatives. The surveillance began before Manafort joined the Trump campaign while he was working for pro-Russian interests in Ukraine. Federal investigators again turned their focus on Manafort last summer when they began investigating possible collusion between the campaign and Russian agents to sway the election.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">3) Former Trump National Security Advisor Michael Flynn has established a legal defense fund to cover his attorneys' fees. In recent months, Mueller has intensified his investigation into Flynn, requesting White House documents and questioning witnesses about his international consulting firm. Flynn's camp appears to be bracing for a long legal battle.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">These revelations come as Mueller has reportedly obtained a search warrant for records of the fake Facebook accounts set up by Russian agents during the 2016 campaign. That probe could have implications for Jared Kushner.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">Bottom-line: Trump can try to distract the public from the investigation by repealing DACA and banning transgender Americans from the military, but Mueller is only gaining steam.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 16pt;"><a href="https://www.vox.com/2017/9/18/16330978/paul-manafort-wiretap-indictment">REPORTS: PAUL MANAFORT WAS WIRETAPPED, HAS BEEN TOLD TO EXPECT AN INDICTMENT</a></span><span style="font-size: 16pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span></i><i style="color: #f9cb9c;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">B</span></i><i style="color: #f9cb9c;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">y Andrew Prokop</span></i></div>
Horatio Greenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02642924301059758532noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1586329463637827771.post-34358129803356918362017-09-18T17:30:00.000-04:002017-09-24T14:23:55.374-04:00WP -- Speaker Ryan’s fuzzy math on the nation’s ‘terrible tax system’<div class="MsoNormal">
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">Speaker of the House of Representatives Paul Ryan </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">said in an interview </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">with the Associated Press</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> on September 13th, </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">“It is a terrible tax system that was written in ’86. … The headlines write themselves: We tax our corporations at 35 percent, and successful small businesses are taxed as high as 44.6 percent. The average tax rate in the industrialized world for businesses is 22.5 percent.”</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">Donald Trump promised his supporters that he would cut corporate taxes to 15%. Speaker of the House of Representatives Paul Ryan now says that in reality, it will be around 20% </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">"The numbers are hard to make </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">[15%] </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">work. </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">[President Trump] </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">obviously wants to push this as low as possible and I completely support that, but at the end of the day we got to make these numbers work," Ryan said. "I think our goal is to be at or below the industrial world average, and that's 22.5%. So our goal is to get in the mid- to low 20s."</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">The Republican House framework for tax reform is planned to be unveiled on September 25th.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><a href="https://www.facebook.com/RBReich/posts/1706804965998759">Robert Reich</a></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> labels Ryan’s reasoning as “</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Lies, lies, and more lies</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">”:</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">Here’s what House Speaker Paul Ryan is saying about corporate taxes and why the U.S. must lower them: “We tax our corporations at 35 percent, and successful small businesses are taxed as high as 44.6 percent. The average tax rate in the industrialized world for businesses is 22.5 percent.”</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">We don’t tax our corporations at 35 percent. That’s the official rate by law – the statutory rate. But it doesn’t include corporate tax deductions, which are abundant. The effective tax rate – <a href="https://www.cbo.gov/sites/default/files/115th-congress-2017-2018/reports/52419-internationaltaxratecomp.pdf">what corporations actually pay after all deductions – is just 18.6 percent</a>. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">Small businesses aren’t <a href="http://www.politifact.com/wisconsin/statements/2015/dec/10/paul-ryan/paul-ryan-says-us-taxes-small-businesses-446-perce/">taxed at 44.6 percent</a>. A 2013 study commissioned by the National Federation of Independent Businesses found that the average effective tax rate for small businesses is 21.3 percent. Source: </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">The average tax rate in the industrialized world for businesses is not 22.5 percent. Ryan got this number by averaging the <a href="https://taxfoundation.org/corporate-income-tax-rates-around-the-world-2017/">statutory tax rates for all the countries in the OECD</a>, including small countries like Iceland. When weighted according to the size of the economy, according to the Tax Foundation, the average statutory corporate rate in the OECD is 31.4 percent. Source: </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">Bottom line: Ryan is putting out fake facts. In reality, U.S. corporations pay about the same tax rate as corporations in other major economies. There's absolutely no justification for a corporate tax cut.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwyTSRbHvU1sOFaFFIWpinsRKkjQrAWxMh5X9kQqyTirGHtYpnCBbKctbB6AMTgR1bVssYpudpRgBKYd0SrfJ41aZSCXGB4GhUZZpBpXZTzo9hRCekTe0LQjjfeOkbkJBuULUrRlAEBFBB/s1600/SPEAKER+RYAN%25E2%2580%2599S+FUZZY+MATH+ON+THE+NATION%25E2%2580%2599S+%25E2%2580%2598TERRIBLE+TAX+SYSTEM%25E2%2580%2599.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="495" data-original-width="742" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwyTSRbHvU1sOFaFFIWpinsRKkjQrAWxMh5X9kQqyTirGHtYpnCBbKctbB6AMTgR1bVssYpudpRgBKYd0SrfJ41aZSCXGB4GhUZZpBpXZTzo9hRCekTe0LQjjfeOkbkJBuULUrRlAEBFBB/s320/SPEAKER+RYAN%25E2%2580%2599S+FUZZY+MATH+ON+THE+NATION%25E2%2580%2599S+%25E2%2580%2598TERRIBLE+TAX+SYSTEM%25E2%2580%2599.png" width="320" /></a></div>
<a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/fact-checker/wp/2017/09/18/speaker-ryans-fuzzy-math-on-the-u-s-s-terrible-tax-system/?utm_term=.792928442b2f" style="font-size: 16pt;">SPEAKER RYAN’S FUZZY MATH ON THE NATION’S ‘TERRIBLE TAX SYSTEM’</a></div>
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<i><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="color: #f9cb9c;">By Nicole Lewis</span></span></i><i><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
Horatio Greenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02642924301059758532noreply@blogger.com