October 8, 2019

The Donfather trailer is out! This is not a movie. This is America - Eleven Films

https://twitter.com/Eleven_Films/status/1181539774353424385

October 4, 2019

Treasury inspector general to review handling of Trump's tax returns

Treasury inspector general to review handling of Trump’s tax returns


The Treasury Department’s acting inspector general has opened a review into whether the Trump administration acted improperly during its ongoing fight with House Democrats over releasing President Trump’s tax returns.

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin has refused to comply with a request from House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Richard E. Neal (D-Mass.) for six years of the president’s business and financial returns. Democrats have said a 1924 law explicitly gives them the authority to request the documents, but Mnuchin has denied the request, and now the matter is pending in federal court.

A focus of the fight is the mandatory audit program that the Internal Revenue Service conducts on the president’s and vice president’s tax returns.

As the fight has intensified, an IRS whistleblower in July filed a complaint with lawmakers and relayed concerns that at least one Treasury Department official attempted to interfere in that audit process.

On Monday, Neal sent a letter to Richard Delmar, Treasury’s acting inspector general, and asked for a review.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2019/10/04/treasury-inspector-general-opens-investigation-into-handling-trumps-tax-returns/

October 4, 2019

Bernie had a heart attack earlier this week

A heart attack caused Sen. Bernie Sanders to be hospitalized earlier this week, doctors say


Sanders, 78, who was released Friday from a Las Vegas hospital, experienced chest pains at a Tuesday campaign event. Doctors found a blockage in one artery and performed a stent procedure to clear it. “Sen. Sanders was diagnosed with a myocardial infarction,” his doctors said in a statement released by his campaign.
Sanders, an independent senator from Vermont, is seeking the Democratic presidential nomination. His wife, Jane, said earlier this week that he would rest at home for several days before returning to the campaign trail.
This is a developing story. It will be updated.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/politics/wp/2019/10/04/a-heart-attack-caused-sen-bernie-sanders-to-be-hospitalized-earlier-this-week-doctors-say/

October 4, 2019

Iranian Hackers Targeted Trump's Re-election Campaign

SAN FRANCISCO — Iranian hackers targeted President Trump’s re-election campaign, two people with knowledge of the attacks said on Friday, in a sign of how cyberattacks could become a fixture of the 2020 presidential election.

Microsoft said in a report earlier Friday that hackers, with apparent backing from Iran’s government, had made more than 2,700 attempts to identify the email accounts of current and former United States government officials, journalists covering political campaigns and accounts associated with a presidential campaign.

It was not clear what information — if any — had been taken in the attack on the Trump campaign, according to the two people, who were not allowed to publicly discuss the investigation. While the Microsoft report did not name Iran’s targets, it found evidence that hackers had infiltrated email inboxes in at least four cases. But the four successful hacks tracked by Microsoft did not belong to a presidential campaign.

Tim Murtaugh, the Trump campaign’s communications director, said in a statement that “we have no indication that any of our campaign infrastructure was targeted.”

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/04/technology/iranian-campaign-hackers-microsoft.html

October 3, 2019

Trump's executive order has some stealth provisions that would blow up Medicare as we know it

https://twitter.com/TopherSpiro/status/1179850904318742528



This provision would spike the cost of Medicare. Because premiums are linked to cost, premiums would skyrocket for seniors.

(b) The Secretary, in consultation with the Chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers, shall submit to the President, through the Assistants to the President for Domestic and Economic Policy, a report within 180 days from the date of this order that identifies approaches to modify Medicare FFS payments to more closely reflect the prices paid for services in MA and the commercial insurance market, to encourage more robust price competition, and otherwise to inject market pricing into Medicare FFS reimbursement.


This provision is a fancy way of saying Medicare privatization. This is Paul Ryan's old plan. Learn more here: https://americanprogress.org/issues/healthcare/reports/2011/12/16/10822/the-inherent-flaws-in-medicare-premium-support/


(b) The Secretary shall study and, within 180 days of the date of this order, recommend approaches to transition toward true market-based pricing in the FFS Medicare program. The Secretary shall submit the results of this study to the President through the Assistants to the President for Domestic and Economic Policy.

Note this stuff can probably be done under existing statutory authorities, if they decide to proceed. Scary stuff.

https://twitter.com/TopherSpiro/status/1179882376488521729


If Democrats can't focus and weaponize this, god help us. We eviscerated Romney when he proposed Medicare privatization.

October 3, 2019

Ali Velshi said about 15 minutes ago that Trump is going to sign an EO on Medicare

Can he privatize it with an executive order?

October 2, 2019

Trump just imposed tariffs on EU countries : 25% tax on French wine and Scotch whiskey

https://twitter.com/davidshepardson/status/1179499985378975744


Full list : https://ustr.gov/sites/default/files/enforcement/301Investigations/EU_Large_Civil_Aircraft_Final_Product_List.pdf


Breaking: US imposing 25% on French wine, single-malt Scotch whisky as part of response to EU aircraft subsides



Also, olives, sweaters, anoraks , butter and all kinds of cheese: Edam, Gouda, Pecorino. Swiss, Stilton, Cheddar.

October 2, 2019

There were Trump hotel envelopes in the packet Raskin had from State IG

https://twitter.com/SethAbramson/status/1179500366821351424


By
@FridaGhitis
, CNN: "Raskin says there are Trump Hotel envelopes in the packet of disinformation and conspiracy theories [the IG brought to Congress]—which [packet] is of 'mysterious provenance.' There may be misconduct by Pompeo. The packet may have come from the White House."



This is nuts.

October 2, 2019

A Finnish reporter just asked Trump what "favors" he's going to ask of the Finnish President

Trump went off on another rant. The Finnish don't play.

October 1, 2019

Trump wanted to shoot migrants in the legs and a snake-filled moat on the border-NYT

Shoot Them in the Legs, Trump Suggested: Inside His Border War

WASHINGTON — The Oval Office meeting this past March began, as so many had, with President Trump fuming about migrants. But this time he had a solution. As White House advisers listened astonished, he ordered them to shut down the entire 2,000-mile border with Mexico — by noon the next day.

The advisers feared the president’s edict would trap American tourists in Mexico, strand children at schools on both sides of the border and create an economic meltdown in two countries. Yet they also knew how much the president’s zeal to stop immigration had sent him lurching for solutions, one more extreme than the next.

Privately, the president had often talked about fortifying a border wall with a water-filled trench, stocked with snakes or alligators, prompting aides to seek a cost estimate. He wanted the wall electrified, with spikes on top that could pierce human flesh. After publicly suggesting that soldiers shoot migrants if they threw rocks, the president backed off when his staff told him that was illegal. But later in a meeting, aides recalled, he suggested that they shoot migrants in the legs to slow them down. That’s not allowed either, they told him.

“The president was frustrated and I think he took that moment to hit the reset button,” said Thomas D. Homan, who had served as Mr. Trump’s acting director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, recalling that week in March. “The president wanted it to be fixed quickly.”

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/01/us/politics/trump-border-wars.html?action=click&module=Top%20Stories&pgtype=Homepage