May 1, 2017

The Daily 202: Eight ways Trump got rolled in his first budget negotiation

By James Hohmann May 1 at 9:39 AM

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-- You can read the 1,665-page bill here. The House Appropriations Committee posted a department-by-department breakdown here.

-- Now that the language has posted, here are the eight most notable areas Trump caved in his first big spending negotiation:

1. There are explicit restrictions to block the border wall.

We knew last week there would be no money to start construction on a project that the president says is more important to his base than anything else. But the final agreement goes further, putting strict limitations on how Trump can use new money for border security (e.g. to invest in new technology and repair existing fencing). Administration officials have insisted they already have the statutory authority to start building the wall under a 2006 law. This prevents such an end run.

The $1.5 billion for border security is also half as much as the White House requested. Additionally, there are no cuts in funding to sanctuary cities, something a federal judge said last week would be required for the Justice Department to follow through on its threats. And there is also no money for a deportation force.

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2. Non-defense domestic spending will go up, despite the Trump team’s insistence he wouldn’t let that happen.

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3. Barack Obama’s cancer moonshot is generously funded.

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4. Trump fought to cut the Environmental Protection Agency by a third. The final deal trims its budget by just 1 percent, with no staff cuts.

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5. He didn’t defund Planned Parenthood.

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6. The president got less than half as much for the military as he said was necessary.

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7. Democrats say they forced Republicans to withdraw more than 160 riders.

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8. To keep negotiations moving, the White House already agreed last week to continue paying Obamacare subsidies.

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full article:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/powerpost/paloma/daily-202/2017/05/01/daily-202-eight-ways-trump-got-rolled-in-his-first-budget-negotiation/590687f2e9b69b3a72331f09/?utm_term=.7ebf98a04d8c&wpisrc=nl_daily202&wpmm=1

May 1, 2017

U.S. top court rejects 'gay conversion' therapy ban challenge

Source: Reuters

Mon May 1, 2017 | 9:57am EDT

By Andrew Chung

The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday left intact California's ban on "gay conversion" therapy aimed at turning youths under age 18 away from homosexuality, rejecting a Christian minister's challenge to the law asserting it violates religious rights.

The justices, turning away a challenge to the 2012 law for the second time in three years, let stand a lower court's ruling that it was constitutional and neither impinged upon free exercise of religion nor impacted the activities of clergy members.

The law prohibits state-licensed mental health counselors, including psychologists and social workers, from offering therapy to change sexual orientation in minors. The Supreme Court in 2014 refused to review the law after an appeals court rejected claims that the ban infringed on free speech rights under U.S. Constitution's the First Amendment.

California outlawed gay conversion therapy in 2012, calling it ineffective and harmful. New Jersey, Illinois, Oregon, Vermont, New Mexico and the District of Columbia have similar laws on the books, according to the Human Rights Campaign, an advocacy group for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people. The Supreme Court turned away a challenge to New Jersey's law in 2015.

Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-court-gayconversion-idUSKBN17X1SJ

May 1, 2017

'Like a third-grade paper': Internet shreds Trump's historically illiterate Andrew Jackson comments

BRAD REED
01 MAY 2017 AT 09:51 ET

During an interview with the Washington Examiner published on Monday, President Donald Trump claimed that former President Andrew Jackson was “very angry” about the American Civil War, and he would have stopped it had he still been president in 1861.

“I mean, had Andrew Jackson been a little later, you wouldn’t have had the Civil War,” Trump said. “He was a very tough person, but he had a big heart. He was very angry that he saw what was happening with regard to the Civil War, he said, ‘There’s no reason for this.'”

Jackson may have been a “very tough person,” but that didn’t stop him from dying in 1845 — or 16 years before the Civil War started.

The internet quickly pounced on the president’s historical illiteracy, and hammered him for not knowing very basic facts about his own country’s past. Some of the top reactions follow below.

https://twitter.com/doopergirl/status/859030761902571520
https://twitter.com/GeeGeeAkili/status/859033677833154560
https://twitter.com/SamGrittner/status/859034732734148609

more
http://www.rawstory.com/2017/05/like-a-third-grade-paper-internet-shreds-trumps-historically-illiterate-andrew-jackson-comments/

May 1, 2017

CNN graphic nails Trump for lying about preexisting conditions

http://www.rawstory.com/2017/05/cnn-nails-trump-with-on-screen-fact-check-for-lying-about-preexisting-conditions-in-latest-health-bill/

May 1, 2017

"If You Keep Fucking With Mr. Trump We Know Where You Live"

Trump’s casino business went bankrupt, and then a lawyer representing investors told police he got a menacing call from a man who said “we’re going to your house for your wife and kids” if he didn’t stop “fucking with Mr. Trump.” The FBI determined the call came from a phone booth across the street from the theater where Trump was appearing on The Late Show with David Letterman.

Posted on May 1, 2017, at 5:44 a.m.

Jason Leopold
BuzzFeed News Reporter

When Donald Trump’s casino business went bankrupt in 2009, a lawyer whose clients stood to lose more than a billion dollars told police and the FBI that he got a menacing phone call from a man with a thick New York accent who threatened his family.

“My name is Carmine. I don’t know why you’re fucking with Mr. Trump but if you keep fucking with Mr. Trump, we know where you live and we’re going to your house for your wife and kids,” the caller said, according to the account that the attorney, Kristopher Hansen, gave to the Holmdel police department in New Jersey. Hansen speculated that the caller was Trump’s bodyguard.

According to FBI case notes, the phone call to Hansen was made at 2:05 p.m. on February 18, 2009, from a New York City telephone booth located across the street from the Ed Sullivan Theater, where Trump was a guest that day on The Late Show with David Letterman. Two former employees told BuzzFeed News that guests were typically asked to arrive between 2:30 and 3:00 to get ready for the show, which began taping at 4:30.

The incident, which has never before been made public, came at a time when Trump's signature mix of celebrity glamor and ruthless business tactics was on stark display. The implosion of his flagship casino company, Trump Entertainment Resorts, left many investors and contractors empty-handed. But Trump walked away from the wreckage, gilding his public image and largely denying responsibility. “I wasn’t involved at all in management,” Trump told Letterman. Trump had been chairman of the board until five days earlier, and his daughter Ivanka had also been on the board.

more
https://www.buzzfeed.com/jasonleopold/if-you-keep-fucking-with-mr-trump-we-know-where-you-live?utm_term=.ern5eeb4g#.to85vvBy1

May 1, 2017

Hamas to soften stance on Israel, Muslim Brotherhood in policy document: sources

Source: Reuters


Mon May 1, 2017 | 8:37am EDT

The Palestinian Islamist group Hamas will remove a call for Israel's destruction and drop its association with the Muslim Brotherhood in a new policy document to be issued on Monday, Gulf Arab sources said.

Hamas's move appears aimed at improving relations with Gulf Arab states and Egypt, which label the Brotherhood as a terrorist organization, as well as with Western countries, many of which classify Hamas as a terrorist group over its hostility to Israel.

The sources said Hamas, which has controlled the Gaza Strip since 2007, will say in the document that it agrees to a transitional Palestinian state along the borders from 1967, when Israel captured Gaza, the West Bank and East Jerusalem in a war with Arab states. Israel withdrew from Gaza in 2005.

A future state encompassing Gaza, the West Bank and East Jerusalem along 1967 borders is the goal of Hamas' main political rival, the Fatah movement led by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. His Palestinian Authority has engaged in peace talks with Israel on that basis, although the last, U.S.-mediated round collapsed three years ago.

Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/us-palestinians-hamas-document-idUSKBN17X1N8

May 1, 2017

Asian nations pulled into China's orbit as Trump puts America first

Mon May 1, 2017 | 8:13am EDT

By Martin Petty and Manuel Mogato | MANILA

Across Asia, more and more countries are being pulled into Beijing's orbit, with the timid stance adopted by Southeast Asian nations on the South China Sea at a weekend summit a clear sign this fundamental geostrategic shift is gathering momentum.

U.S. President Donald Trump's flurry of calls at the weekend to the leaders of the Philippines, Thailand and Singapore might cheer those who fear his predecessor Barack Obama's "pivot" to Asia has been abandoned in favor of an "America First" agenda.

But White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus said the conversations were aimed at lining up Asian partners in case tensions over North Korea lead to "nuclear and massive destruction in Asia", and mentioned no broader strategic goal.

Southeast Asian nations will need more than that to convince them the United States still has their backs.

In the meantime, some are leaning closer to China, soft-pedalling quarrels over the disputed South China Sea and angling for a slice of Beijing's "One Belt, One Road" infrastructure investment program to compensate for the U.S. abandonment of the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade pact.

more
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-china-asia-analysis-idUSKBN17X1NE

May 1, 2017

White House expects vote on healthcare bill this week

Source: Reuters



Mon May 1, 2017 | 9:18am EDT

Top White House officials on Monday said they expect a vote in the U.S. House of Representatives this week to pass Republicans' latest plan to overhaul the nation's healthcare system.

"We're convinced we've got the votes," White House economic adviser Gary Cohn told CBS News. In a separate interview with the network, White House chief of staff Reince Priebus said: "I think it will happen this week."

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Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-healthcare-idUSKBN17X1Q2?il=0

May 1, 2017

Joe Biden says he won't run for President in 2020

Source: International Business Times


01 MAY 2017 AT 09:11 ET

While speaking at an annual state Democratic Party dinner Sunday in New Hampshire, former Vice President Joe Biden said he won’t run for president in 2020. The dinner was organized to honor the country’s first all-female, all-Democratic congressional delegation in Manchester.

His speech to the New Hampshire Democrats, in which he spoke about restoring dignity to politics and winning back working class voters, raised speculations that the former vice president would try making another presidential bid in the 2020 elections. However, Biden put a rest to all such speculation, saying: "When I got asked to speak, I knew it was going to cause speculation. Guys, I'm not running,” Biden clarified while the audience applauded.


But as soon as Biden made that statement, the audience booed and at least one person shouted "Run, Joe Run," before he could continue with his speech.

Biden said he wouldn’t run for public office. Instead, he was ready to start campaigning and raising money in order to help get Democrats elected at every level of governance. He also endorsed some of his post-White House policy work, which included chairing the Biden Institute at the University of Delaware.

Read more: http://www.rawstory.com/2017/05/joe-biden-says-he-wont-run-for-president-in-2020/

May 1, 2017

Trump Campaign Going Up With $1.5 Million Ad Buy Promoting First 100 Days

Source: Talking Points Memo



By CAITLIN MACNEAL Published MAY 1, 2017 7:40 AM

President Donald Trump’s campaign on Monday morning announced a $1.5 million ad buy to tout his first 100 days in the Oval Office. The buy includes a 30-second television ad and digital ads, the Trump campaign said in a statement unveiling the ad buy.

The television ad promotes Trump’s nomination of Neil Gorsuch to the Supreme Court, claims that Trump has created jobs in the U.S., and touts his work to undo regulations passed under President Barack Obama.

“You wouldn’t know it from watching the news,” the narrator says in the ad as the screen flashes “FAKE NEWS.” “America is winning, and President Trump is making America Great Again.”

The ad buy promoting Trump’s first 100 days came after Trump repeatedly tried to downplay the 100-day mark. Trump also pushed for Congress to move forward on a bill to repeal Obamacare by the 100-day mark, but Republican leaders have still not been able to bring the bill to a vote.

Read more: http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/trump-campaign-ads-first1200-days