[PAX] My Idiot President

Eventhorizon said:
The New York Times is all you need to know about that.
Click to expand...

Prove it wrong then smart guy.
(Discount and dismiss)
Go on.
It’s a snarky comment to something that is true.
Back your shit up or shut up about it because you just look ignorant and uninformed when you discount actual facts.
 
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While we were distracted by Trump, Republicans advanced these 9 terrifying bills

POSTED BY: TOM CAHILL ​


The Republican-led Congress is wasting no time forcing through the most horrendous bills seen in decades while America’s eyes are on Russia.

With both houses of Congress solidly under Republican control, there’s little in the way to stop House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wisconsin) and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Kentucky) from sending bills to President Trump’s desk that embody the most dangerous aspects of radical right-wing ideology.


However unlikely these bills’ passage would have seemed in the 114th Congress, the possibility of these nine bills becoming law is much higher now, especially considering the flurry of headlines around Donald Trump’s ties to Russia, Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ recusal on the ongoing investigation into the president’s Russian connections, and Russian ambassador Sergey Kislyak’s multiple meetings with several of Trump’s top lieutenants.

Here are the nine worst bills to keep an eye on:

1. H.R. 861: To terminate the Environmental Protection Agency
This bill — cosponsored by Republican members of Congress from fossil fuel-producing states — is just one sentence long, and says nothing about what would happen to the multiple environmental regulations the EPA has instituted since 1970, or its multibillion-dollar budget, or its thousands of staffers. H.R. 861 is currently awaiting action in the subcommittee on environment.

2. H.R. 610: Tax dollars for private schools
Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa) introduced this bill in January, which would redistribute funding earmarked for public schools in the form of vouchers for parents to send children to private schools. Over the long term, this would eventually bankrupt public schools, and create a stratified education system in which cash-strapped public schools would be unable to meet the educational needs of low-income students. The bill is awaiting action in the House Committee on Education and the Workforce.

3. H.R. 899: To terminate the Department of Education
If this bill, introduced by Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Kentucky), becomes law, the U.S. Department of Education would terminate by the end of 2018. The bill’s brevity leaves many questions unanswered, like what would happen with Department of Education grants for public schools and universities, its budget, or its staff. Education Secretary Betsy DeVos has said she would personally be “fine” if the agency she heads were to be abolished.

4. H.J.R. 69: To repeal a rule protecting wildlife
Rep. Don Young (R-Alaska), whose constituents likely include hunters who kill wildlife for sport rather than for food, introduced this joint resolution voicing displeasure with a Department of Interior rule that prohibits “non-subsistence” hunting in the Alaska National Wildlife Refuge. The resolution passed the House and is awaiting action in the Senate.

5. H.R. 370: To repeal the Affordable Care Act
While President Obama was in office, House Republicans voted at least 60 times to repeal the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act — also known as Obamacare — despite its futility. However, the Trump administration has made the repeal of Obamacare a top priority, meaning the repeal bill from Rep. Bill Flores (R-Texas) is likely to pass.

6. H.R. 354: To defund Planned Parenthood
Despite the widely publicized debunking of the video alleging the women’s health nonprofit was selling human organs, Republicans are still refusing to stop destroying Planned Parenthood. Rep. Diane Black (R-Tennessee) introduced a bill that would prevent any federal grants from going to Planned Parenthood for a full year unless they swore to not perform abortions. As the chart below from Planned Parenthood shows, only 3 percent of Planned Parenthood resources go toward abortions, while the vast majority of funding is used to help low-income women get STD tests, contraceptive care, and breast cancer screenings:
pp-1024x627.jpg


7. H.R. 785: National Right-to-Work legislation
Conservative ideologue Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa) is aiming to cripple unions at the nationwide level with a bill that would systematically deprive labor unions of the funding they need to operate. Unions often provide one of the crucial pillars of support for Democratic candidates and causes, and conservatives aim to destroy them once and for all by going after their funding. It’s important to note that right-to-work is bad for all workers, not just union members — in 2015, the Economic Policy Institute learned that wages in right-to-work states are roughly 3.2 percent lower than in non-right-to-work states.

8. H.R. 83: Mobilizing Against Sanctuary Cities Act
Multiple cities and states around the country have openly stated that they won’t abide by President Trump’s plan to aggressively round up and deport undocumented immigrants. A bill by Rep. Lou Barletta (R-Pennsylvania) would strip all federal funding of any city that doesn’t obey Trump’s immigration policies for up to a year.

9. H.R. 147: To criminalize certain forms of abortion
Rep. Trent Franks (R-Arizona) wants to aggressively prosecute pregnant women seeking abortions, along with abortion providers, by making abortion a felony punishable by up to five years in prison. While Franks’ bill wouldn’t universally target all abortions, and just abortions made for sex, gender, race, or color of the child, it nonetheless opens the floodgates for future actions criminalizing abortion in the future. The bill is currently awaiting action in the Subcommittee on the Constitution and Civil Justice.

To fight back against these bills, call 202-224-3121,
ask for your member of Congress, and tell them to vote no.​






 
An Indecent Budget Proposal

Apparently, the wealthiest Cabinet in U.S. history considers
Meals on Wheels for seniors and programs to alleviate child hunger to be wasteful.

58f3a3702600003600c45ea7.jpeg
​

Donald Trump’s first budget proposal is a nightmare for children.
Ironically named “America First: A Budget Blueprint to Make America Great Again,” it contains $9 billion in cuts to education and forecloses on the federal government’s long-standing commitment to reduce educational inequalities.

The budget would take a meat cleaver to public schools, and children with the greatest needs would suffer the greatest harm. Trump and Education Secretary Betsy DeVos plan to slash programs that help low-income children—like after-school and summer programs, class-size reduction efforts, mentoring for early-career teachers, child nutrition programs and community schools.

Trump’s budget director said the administration “went looking for the most wasteful, most indefensible programs” in order to increase defense spending and build the infamous “wall.”

Apparently, the wealthiest Cabinet in U.S. history considers Meals on Wheels for seniors and programs to alleviate child hunger to be wasteful.

Half of all children in America’s public schools live in poverty.
Rather than make a specious claim that the budget blueprint protects “the nation’s most vulnerable populations,” DeVos should have fought for the programs that would actually do that.

For example, in McDowell County, W.Va., formerly coal country and now the seventh-poorest county in the nation, 900 children could lose after-school programs that provide tutoring, technology, health care, counseling, recreational activities and, for some children, their only reliable meal of the day.

Parents—like Irma Castanon, whose son Juan attends the after-school program at Hart Elementary School in Austin, Texas, while she is at work—have peace of mind knowing their children are safe, supported and engaged after school.

And kids like Juan can experience things that, Irma says, “all children should be able to,” like being on a soccer team, joining Boy or Girl Scouts and getting help with homework.

More than 80 House of Representatives members—including Trump supporters—and nearly 1,500 organizations are calling on Congress to maintain federal funding for after-school programs.

Trump’s budget proposal also targets funding for community learning centers, like the Community Health Academy of the Heights in New York City, that wrap services for children and families around the school.

CHAH offers a full-service health clinic, mental health services, free eyeglasses for students who need them, a parent resource center and a food pantry.

Far from wasteful, these resources are life-changing, as nearly all of the school’s 650 students live below the poverty line.
Aside from the obvious benefits to their well-being, CHAH students are making the grade; the number of students reading at the lowest level fell by 37 percent between 2013 and 2016.

Dozens of other communities have taken similar approaches with similar results.

Compare this with school voucher programs, which get a windfall in the budget despite reams of research showing their ineffectiveness.

The Louisiana voucher program has led to large reductions in kids’ reading and math scores.
Even a study by a pro-voucher group, the Fordham Institute, found that students in Ohio’s voucher program did worse than children in public schools.

The proposal also targets initiatives that help teachers teach.
In Toledo, Ohio, for example, teachers receive training in an intensive reading program for students who are not reading proficiently by third grade—which research shows puts them at greatly increased risk of not graduating from high school.

Classes that have implemented the program have shown a 50 percent increase in reading proficiency.

Escambia County, Fla., could lose a peer mentoring and assistance program that pairs accomplished teachers with first-year and struggling teachers.

In addition to improving teaching quality, the high level of support has been an effective recruiting tool.
All this is on the chopping block.

DeVos often says she wants parents to have more choices.
Ask parents what they want, and most often you will hear they want things like a school that is safe, with well-prepared teachers and class sizes small enough that their child can get personal attention; a school that meets children where they are and helps them thrive.

The Trump-DeVos budget does just the opposite.
Indeed, it seems intended to do what DeVos did in Michigan: defund and destabilize public schools so parents feel the need to look elsewhere.

I have invited the education secretary to visit public schools with me so she can see that they are far from being a “dead end,” as she called them, but rather are foundational to our communities and our democracy.

That is as true in deep-blue places as it is in places that are ruby red—like Van Wert, Ohio, the rural district we will visit next week.

Van Wert’s public schools focus on children’s well-being, engage in project-based learning and anchor the community.
They—like so many others—need federal investment in these programs, not a budget that takes a hatchet to public schools, which 86 percent of American children attend.


The 62 agencies and programs Trump wants to eliminate
​
Corrections & clarifications: A previous version of this story referred incorrectly to a Fish and Wildlife Service program proposed for elimination in President Trump’s budget submission.

The Department of the Interior says it is the National Wildlife Refuge fund, a $13.2 million revenue-sharing arrangement with local governments.

WASHINGTON — President Trump's proposed budget takes a cleaver to domestic programs, with many agencies taking percentage spending cuts in the double digits.

But for dozens of smaller agencies and programs, the cut is 100%.

Community development block grants. The Weatherization Assistance Program.
The Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program.

The National Endowment for the Arts.
The Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

All would be axed if Congress adopts Trump's budget.

Also proposed for elimination are lesser-known bureaucracies like the McGovern-Dole International Food for Education Program, the Endocrine Disruptor Screening Program and the Inter-American Foundation.

Many of those programs have constituencies in states and cities across the country — and their champions in Congress. "The president's beholden to nobody but the people who elected him, and yes, I understand that every lawmaker over there has pet projects," said Trump budget director Mick Mulvaney. "That's the nature of the beast."

More coverage:

He said not every program would disappear overnight.
The Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which now receives $485 million a year, might still get some federal funding in 2018, for example.

"It might take a while to unwind that relationship. It’s just the nature of contracts," Mulvaney said.

Trump's budget says hundreds of programs and agencies would be eliminated — with more than 50 in the Environmental Protection Agency.

But his first budget proposal identified 62 specifically.

The list:

Department of Agriculture
Water and Wastewater loan and grant program ($498 million): "Rural communities can be served by private sector financing or other federal investments in rural water infrastructure, such as the Environmental Protection Agency's State Revolving Funds," the budget says.

McGovern-Dole International Food for Education program ($202 million): Trump's budget says the program — a sort of Third World school lunch project — "lacks evidence that it is being effectively implemented to reduce food insecurity."

Department of Commerce
Economic Development Administration ($221 million): Obama's 2017 budget touted the agency as " the only federal government agency with a mission and programs focused exclusively on economic development." The Trump budget says it has "limited measurable impacts and duplicates other federal programs."

Minority Business Development Agency ($32 million): The White House says this minority business incubator program is "duplicative" of other programs in the Small Business Administration.

Department of Education
Supporting Effective Instruction State Grants program ($2.4 billion): The White House says the program is "poorly targeted and spread thinly across thousands of districts with scant evidence of impact."

21st Century Community Learning Centers program ($1.2 billion): The formula grants to states support before- and after-school and summer programs. "The programs lacks strong evidence of meeting its objectives, such as improving student achievement," the budget says.

Federal Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grant program ($732 million): This financial aid program, known as SEOG, help give up to $4,000 a year to college students based on financial need.

The Trump administration says it's a "less well-targeted" program than Pell Grants.

Striving Readers Comprehensive Literacy Program ($190 million): The grants are targeted toward students with disabilities or limited English proficiency.

Teacher Quality Partnership ($43 million): A teacher training and recruitment grant program.

Impact Aid Support Payments for Federal Property ($67 million): Obama also proposed the elimination of this program, which reimburses schools for lost tax revenue from tax-exempt federal properties in their districts.

International Education programs ($7 million): This line item funds a variety of exchange programs, migrant schools and special education services abroad.

Department of Energy
Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy ($382 million): This alternative energy research program was established by Congress in 2007 with the goal of funding projects that the private sector would not.

Title 17 Innovative Technology Loan Guarantee Program: This loan fund finances projects that combat global warming.

Advanced Technology Vehicle Manufacturing Program: Helps finance fuel-efficient vehicle research. "The private sector is better positioned to finance disruptive energy research and development and to commercialize innovative technologies," the White House says.

Weatherization Assistance Program ($121 million): The program helps homeowners make their homes more energy efficient with grants of up to $6,500.

State Energy Program ($28.2 million): Gives grants to states to help them work on energy efficiency and anti-climate change programs.

Department of Health and Human Services
Health professions and nursing training programs ($403 million): Trump's budget says these programs "lack evidence that they significantly improve the nation's health workforce.”

Instead, Trump wants to provide scholarships and student loans in in exchange for service in areas with a nursing shortage.

Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program ($3.4 billion): LIHEAP helps the elderly and low-income people pay their heating and power bills.

Community Services Block Grants ($715 million): CSBG is an anti-poverty grant program that the White House says duplicates emergency food assistance and employment programs.

Department of Housing and Urban Development
Community Development Block Grant program ($3 billion): CDBG has been a bread-and-butter funding source for local communities for 42 years, totaling more than $150 billion in grants over its history.

"The program is not well-targeted to the poorest populations and has not demonstrated results," Trump's budget says.

Section 4 Capacity Building for Community Development and Affordable Housing program ($35 million): The affordable housing program supports organizations like the Local Initiatives Support Corp., which the White House says should be privately funded.

Department of the Interior
Abandoned Mine Land grants ($160 million): The Trump administration wants to eliminate a discretionary grant program that it says overlaps with a $2.7 billion permanent fund.

National Heritage Areas ($20 million): These are state-and-federal partnerships to preserve natural, historic, scenic, and cultural resources.

National Wildlife Refuge fund ($13.2 million): This is a revenue-sharing fund that makes payments to counties where wildlife refuges are located from fees the Fish and Wildlife Service receives.

Department of Justice
State Criminal Alien Assistance Program ($210 million): Four states receive the bulk of the funding from this program, which reimburses states for the cost of incarcerating criminal immigrants.

Department of Labor
Senior Community Service Employment Program ($434 million): SCSEP is a job training program for low-income people 55 and older that the White House says is "ineffective."

Occupational Safety and Health Administration training grants ($11 million)

Department of State and U.S. Agency for International Development
The Global Climate Change Initiative ($1.3 billion) was an Obama administration proposal to support the Paris climate agreement.

It includes the Green Climate Fund($250 million), the Strategic Climate Fund ($60 million) and the Clean Technology Fund ($171 million).

Emergency Refugee and Migration Assistance Fund ($70 million): The account allows the president to "provide humanitarian assistance for unexpected and urgent refugee and migration needs worldwide," but Trump said the mission is best left to international and non-governmental relief organizations

The East-West Center ($16 million): Chartered by Congress as the Center for Cultural and Technical Interchange Between East and West, the Honolulu-based nonprofit has a mission of strengthening relations among Pacific Rim countries.

Department of Transportation
The Essential Air Service program ($175 million) provides federal subsidies for commercial air service at rural airports.
EAS flights are not full and have high subsidy costs per passenger.

Trump's budget says several of those airports are close to major airports, and that rural communities could be served by other modes of transportation.

Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery grants ($499 million): The Obama-era TIGER program funded multi-modal and multi-jurisdictional projects, but the White House wants to cut existing infrastructure spending in favor of his own $1 trillion infrastructure proposal.

Department of the Treasury
Community Development Financial Institutions grants ($210 million): Trump's budget says the 23-year-old program to support community banks and credit unions is obsolete.

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
Geographic watershed programs ($427 million) like the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative ($40 million) and the Chesapeake Bay Restoration Initiative ($14 million): The Trump budget would turn over responsibility for those efforts to state and regional governments.

Fifty other EPA programs ($347 million) including Energy Star, Targeted Airshed Grants, the Endocrine Disruptor Screening Program, and infrastructure assistance to Alaska Native Villages and the Mexico border.

National Aeronautics and Space Administration
Office of Education ($115 million), which the Trump budget says duplicates efforts by the agency's Science Mission Directorate.

Independent agencies and commissions
African Development Foundation ($26 million): An independent foreign aid agency focusing on economic development in Africa.

Appalachian Regional Commission ($119 million): A 52-year-old agency focused on economic growth in 420 counties.

Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board ($11 million): The agency was created by the Clean Air Act of 1990 and investigates chemical accidents.

Corporation for National and Community Service ($771 million): The agency is best known for its Americorps community service program.

Corporation for Public Broadcasting ($485 million): Supports public television and radio stations, including the PBS television network and, indirectly, National Public Radio.

Delta Regional Authority ($45 million): An economic development agency for the eight-state Mississippi Delta region.

Denali Commission ($14 million): A state and federal economic development agency for Alaska.

Institute of Museum and Library Services ($231 million): Provides money to the nation's 123,000 libraries and 35,000 museums.

Inter-American Foundation ($23 million): Promotes "citizen-led grassroots development" in Latin America and the Caribbean.

U.S. Trade and Development Agency ($66 million): Promotes U.S. exports in energy, transportation, and telecommunications.

Legal Services Corp. ($366 million): A 43-year-old congressionally chartered organization that helps provide free civil legal advice to poor people.

National Endowment for the Arts ($152 million): Encourages participation in the arts.

National Endowment for the Humanities ($155 million): Supports scholarship into literature and culture.

Neighborhood Reinvestment Corp. ($175 million): Better known as Neighborworks America, the organization supports local affordable housing programs.

Northern Border Regional Commission ($7 million): A regional economic development agency serving parts of Maine, New Hampshire, New York and Vermont.

Overseas Private Investment Corp.($63 million): Encourages U.S. private investment in the developing world.

U.S. Institute of Peace ($40 million): Government-run think tank focusing on conflict prevention.

U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness ($4 million): An independent agency coordinating the federal government's efforts to reduce homelessness.

Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars ($11 million): A program to provide scholarships and fellowships in social sciences and humanities.



 
spicer92.webp
 
sean spicer93.webp
 
CindyLou said:
View attachment 35211
Click to expand...

Should not even be an issue with the serious number of actual issues that should demand our attention.
Who cares which crowd was larger...let’s just work on not getting into a nuclear war with N. Korea at this point.
Only Trump seems to really care about his crowd sizes...is his fragile ego that exposed all the time?
*sigh*
 
CindyLou said:
@Skarekrow

I personally don't give a shit. NYT was deceptive but that's nothing new.

Not exactly shocked lol
Click to expand...

Yeah...I was agreeing with you.
I’m not arguing.
They are all deceptive...each news station/site/whatever form has it’s own spin...it’s the spin that usually reflects the views of those who live in that general area (like newspapers), but it also reinforces those spun-beliefs back at people reinforcing a narrow (or large) viewpoint depending on everyone’s subjective points of view.
So while I feel it’s petty to compare two picture of the football teams and make a determination of who is most popular (Like, what is this, HS? ;) ).
But it was also silly when Sean Spicer came out after the inauguration and says “Biggest ever and that’s final.” only to storm out of the room.
It made me LOL.
It’s amazing how many stories and memes shared on FB and elsewhere are just not true if one does a bit of checking...but they continued to get shared because they are reinforcing their own viewpoint which is waaaaay easier to do than to really work to understand both sides of an issue or sentiment.
It’s easier to discount the other guy as baseless when it questions what we believe to be true, and all of us do it to greater or lesser amounts, but it’s part of the structure of how a human mind thinks.
No one can claim to be more “woke” (to use a term that makes me want to hit someone with a bat) than anyone else really.
We all base our views on the experiences we have had in our lives, what influenced us growing up, what decisions have we made for what reason and how did that turn out for us thus shaping an experience we draw from when interpreting information we gather today...if something is factual and can be proven then we shouldn’t have a misunderstanding...the problem these days IMHO is there seems to be a frightening effort on the part of all the political parties to feed as much disinformation as they can into our factual reality ...CNN does it, Fox does it, MSNBC does it, Alex Jones and Brietbart definitely do it, RT News, etc., etc.
I think we all need to take a step back and start to find some common ground again.
There are many things I know we all would wholeheartedly agree with.
Like, healthcare being more affordable - without screwing people over to do it.
We could really make America great again....but we can’t do that if we are at each other’s throats all the time about silly things...when we have serious issues to tackle....so many it’s hard to know where to even begin.
Anyhow...have a good day!
 
Capture.webp
 
How long before we get nuked? Anyone have any predictions?
 
Wow. Up to 8 pages of funny.
I have to admit I didn't think you could actually beat a dead horse that long.
 
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18033052_277122802698662_6436473794111968179_n.png
 
Skarekrow said:
Yeah...I was agreeing with you.
I’m not arguing.
They are all deceptive...each news station/site/whatever form has it’s own spin...it’s the spin that usually reflects the views of those who live in that general area (like newspapers), but it also reinforces those spun-beliefs back at people reinforcing a narrow (or large) viewpoint depending on everyone’s subjective points of view.
So while I feel it’s petty to compare two picture of the football teams and make a determination of who is most popular (Like, what is this, HS? ;) ).
But it was also silly when Sean Spicer came out after the inauguration and says “Biggest ever and that’s final.” only to storm out of the room.
It made me LOL.
It’s amazing how many stories and memes shared on FB and elsewhere are just not true if one does a bit of checking...but they continued to get shared because they are reinforcing their own viewpoint which is waaaaay easier to do than to really work to understand both sides of an issue or sentiment.
It’s easier to discount the other guy as baseless when it questions what we believe to be true, and all of us do it to greater or lesser amounts, but it’s part of the structure of how a human mind thinks.
No one can claim to be more “woke” (to use a term that makes me want to hit someone with a bat) than anyone else really.
We all base our views on the experiences we have had in our lives, what influenced us growing up, what decisions have we made for what reason and how did that turn out for us thus shaping an experience we draw from when interpreting information we gather today...if something is factual and can be proven then we shouldn’t have a misunderstanding...the problem these days IMHO is there seems to be a frightening effort on the part of all the political parties to feed as much disinformation as they can into our factual reality ...CNN does it, Fox does it, MSNBC does it, Alex Jones and Brietbart definitely do it, RT News, etc., etc.
I think we all need to take a step back and start to find some common ground again.
There are many things I know we all would wholeheartedly agree with.
Like, healthcare being more affordable - without screwing people over to do it.
We could really make America great again....but we can’t do that if we are at each other’s throats all the time about silly things...when we have serious issues to tackle....so many it’s hard to know where to even begin.
Anyhow...have a good day!
Click to expand...

Sorry, I have been a bit busy and didn't get to reply to this (I wanted to) but wanted to let you know I appreciated this post and agree 100%. Clicking like didn't seem to be enough appreciation for it.
 
CindyLou said:
Sorry, I have been a bit busy and didn't get to reply to this (I wanted to) but wanted to let you know I appreciated this post and agree 100%. Clicking like didn't seem to be enough appreciation for it.
Click to expand...
Aren’t you just the sweetest!
Thank you very much...I can say the same about your own posts...you are always open to new information, kind, and fair.

source.gif
 
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