Weekend Toon Roundup 2 - The Rest

Women




Protest




Moore


Cabinet










Fraud





Tax plan





Equifax



Hefner

Weekend Toon Roundup 1 - Tiny Hands

That Awkward Moment when Republicans stop being 'pro-life'

Arpaio plans to continue 'investigation' into Obama birth certificate

PHOENIX — Former Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio said Thursday that he planned to continue his investigation into former President Barack Obama’s birth certificate.

In an interview with the San Jose Mercury News before a speaking event in Fresno, Arpaio said the birth certificate “has to go down as the biggest cover-up in the history of the United States. Nobody wants to touch it.”

Arpaio has been investigating Obama’s birth certificate for years. In December, he said he had conclusive proof that the document was a forgery.

more

http://ktar.com/story/1761507/arpaio-plans-continue-investigation-obama-birth-certificate/

Tesla Sends Hundreds of Batteries to Puerto Rico

Tesla is sending its Powerwall system to Puerto Rico as the island deals with widespread power loss in the wake of Hurricane Maria.

According to Electrek, the company has been quietly shipping hundreds of battery packs to be paired with solar panels to Puerto Rico ever since the storm cleared.

Fortune reported that Tesla employees are currently on the U.S. territory installing the batteries and repairing solar systems, as well as coordinating efforts with local organizations.


Much of the island's 3.4 million American citizens are currently without power and disconnected from modes of communication. Officials estimate that some areas will not see their power restored for months. As Climate Nexus pointed out, "the future of the island's bankrupt and corrupt utility and its fossil-fuel-heavy colonial legacy are now top of mind as experts and officials begin to tackle the best way to restore power and rebuild the island's power grid."

more
https://www.ecowatch.com/tesla-batteries-puerto-rico-2490950539.html

Senate Republicans budget proposes cutting $450 billion from Medicare

Senate Republicans are proposing something that President Donald Trump promised never to do: cut hundreds of billions of dollars from Medicare, the federal health program that covers elderly Americans.

On Friday, Republican staff sent members of the Senate Budget Committee proposals that included reducing Medicare spending by approximately $450 billion over the next 10 years, according to tables provided to Vox.

The cuts, released in conjunction with the 2018 Republican Senate budget resolution proposal, are ultimately up to the Senate committees to propose. Even if they make it into the committee’s proposal, they would have virtually no chance of being enacted, as it would need to garner support from eight Democrats to pass the 60-vote threshold in the Senate.

more
https://www.vox.com/platform/amp/policy-and-politics/2017/9/29/16387518/senate-republicans-budget-cut-medicare

Fine Print in the GOPs Budget Would Help Rush a Tax Cut Through Congress

By Erik Wasson

Buried in the fine print of the newly released Senate Republican budget: language making it much easier to rush a tax cut through Congress.


The budget would erase a Senate rule requiring a full Congressional Budget Office estimate of the cost of the legislation at least 28 hours before a vote. It would get rid of a provision that required a Senate budget reconciliation bill to reduce the deficit by at least as much as a House reconciliation bill. That language caused headaches for Republicans during their failed Obamacare repeal effort.

"They learned some lessons from Obamacare repeal and they are doing this in order to rush deficit-increasing tax legislation through," said Ed Lorenzen, a senior adviser for the nonpartisan Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget.

The budget allows tax legislation to increase the deficit by $1.5 trillion over ten years and would also waive Senate rules that would have required those deficit increases be offset by spending cuts. If the tax cuts are enacted, a separate "paygo" law would require the White House budget office to impose automatic spending cuts to pay for the tax cuts. Congress would need to include language in the tax bill to turn off those cuts, Lorenzen said.

more
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-09-29/budget-fine-print-would-help-rush-tax-cut-through-u-s-congress

Or is that Russian a tax cut though congress...

Special counsel Robert Mueller has assembled a team of 16 seasoned prosecutors

Special Counsel Robert Mueller has assembled a team of more than a dozen seasoned prosecutors to probe Russian interference in the 2016 election, including any potential collusion between Russian agents and members of Donald Trump’s campaign.

In addition to a squad of agents from the FBI and the IRS, Mueller has 16 attorneys on staff, a spokesperson for Special Counsel Robert Mueller confirmed to ABC News, but only 14 of them have been identified publicly.

These 14 attorneys are confirmed members of Mueller’s team:

Zainab Ahmad is an attorney on detail from the Eastern District of New York. Ahmad made a name for herself prosecuting terrorist suspects in New York, including Lawal Babafemi and Najibullah Zazi, the would-be al-Qaeda subway bomber. The authorities initially tracked down Zazi by following information from Ahmad’s prosecution of Abid Naseer, a Pakistani man who had been plotting an attack on a shopping center in the United Kingdom. Before leaving EDNY, Zainab also attained the position of Deputy Chief at their National Security and Cybercrime Section.

the rest
http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/special-counsel-robert-mueller-assembled-team-16-seasoned/story?id=50186443

Trump kids' ski vacation incurs over $300,000 in security costs

Source: CBS

The annual Aspen ski vacation taken in March by President Trump's children, Ivanka and Eric Trump, and their families, including son-in-law Jared Kushner, left taxpayers on the hook for security costs of at least $330,000, CBS News has learned.

Records obtained by CBS News through a Freedom of Information Act request show that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) spent $329,561 for the week-long vacation. Housing costs were $195,700 at hotels across town.

The Secret Service also spent $26,000 on rental vehicles. Equipment costs were close to $22,000 -- to accompany the family on the slopes, the Secret Service had to buy lift tickets and rent skis and boots. They also rented bikes and bought other unidentified items at outfitting supplier REI and Backcountry.com.

Pictures posted on Instagram show Ivanka Trump and her husband, Jared Kushner – both senior advisers to the president -- along with Eric and Lara Trump atop Aspen Mountain. Eric Trump and his wife also brought along their two dogs.

Read more: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/trump-kids-ski-vacation-incurs-over-300000-in-security-costs/?ftag=CNM-00-10aab7e&linkId=42939789

Here's how the Trump tax plan would raise taxes on many middle-income families

Asked Thursday about whether the Republican tax plan would cut taxes on the wealthy, top White House economic adviser Gary Cohn said he didn't think Americans would care what happened to other people's taxes — they would care about getting a tax cut for themselves.

Cohn said a "typical" American family making around $100,000 would get a tax break of about $1,000.

"If we allow a family to keep another $1,000 of their income, what does that mean?" he asked. "They can renovate their kitchen, they can buy a new car, they can take a family vacation, they can increase their lifestyle."

So. About that.

While there are still a lot of details to be filled in, the information we have available suggests the new Republican tax proposal would raise income taxes on many families who make just a bit more than the national average.

more
http://www.businessinsider.com/trump-tax-plan-raise-taxes-middle-income-families-2017-9?r=US&IR=T

And while those making less may feel the urge to be smug about all this, remember they aren't finished with the plan. It is quite likely that other folks making less will get hosed before this is all said and done.