turbinetree
turbinetree's JournalWe've Found $16.1 Million in Political and Taxpayer Spending at Trump Properties
Most came from political entities such as the Trump campaign, but government agencies chipped in, too. “I could offer clarity,” one federal employee explained, “but I choose not to.”
by Derek Kravitz, Alex Mierjeski and Gabriel Sandoval June 27, 6 a.m. EDT
Since Donald Trump declared his candidacy for president in late 2015, at least $16.1 million has poured into Trump Organization-managed and branded hotels, golf courses and restaurants from his campaign, Republican organizations, and government agencies. Because Trump’s business empire is overseen by a trust of which he is the sole beneficiary, he profits from these hotel stays, banquet hall rentals and meals.
To arrive at the total, we compiled campaign finance reports from the Federal Election Commission; state government spending gleaned from dozens of state websites and portals; and federal agency expenditure records obtained by the Washington-based transparency organization Property of the People. For this project, Property of the People filed Freedom of Information Act requests with 15 federal agencies and sued four of them to obtain records. (The organization is also attempting to procure comparable records for the Obama era.)
The vast majority of the money — at least $13.5 million, or more than 84 percent of what we tracked — was spent by Trump’s presidential campaign (including on Tag Air, the entity that operates Trump’s personal airplane). Republican Senate and House political committees and campaigns have shelled out at least another $2.1 million at Trump properties. At least $400,000 has been spent by federal, state and local agencies. (For example, the Florida Police Chiefs Association held its summer conference last year at the Trump National Doral Miami.) The state and local tally appears to be a gross undercount because of the agencies’ spotty disclosures and reporting.
The use of taxpayer dollars at Trump hotels is under scrutiny in a closely watched lawsuit in Maryland federal court. The District of Columbia and the state of Maryland sued Trump, citing a venerable anti-corruption provision of the U.S. Constitution known as the Emoluments Clause. It prohibits any financial gift, or emolument, from benefiting a sitting public official, including the president.
https://www.propublica.org/article/political-and-taxpayer-spending-at-trump-properties-16-1-million
https://projects.propublica.org/paying-the-president/
November 2018 cannot get here fast enough......................vote
CBO projects grim budget outlook under Trump
BY NIV ELIS - 06/26/18 10:18 AM EDT
A new report from the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) projects a grim fiscal outlook for the United States, which is seeing rising red ink under President Trump.
In 30 years, the U.S. debt burden is projected to double, eclipsing even the debt carried by the United States during World War II.
Payments the U.S. government makes to China and others holding U.S. debt would surpass projected Social Security spending in 2048, the report found. Interest payments will also exceed discretionary spending, the amount that Congress approves for defense and nondefense spending each year, which is projected to hit 5.4 percent of gross domestic (GDP) product by 2048.
Most of the rising debt is related to an aging population and rising entitlement spending, problems that were bedeviling the United States well before Trump’s election.
http://thehill.com/policy/finance/394142-interest-payments-to-exceed-social-security-cost-by-2048-cbo
The cause of the rising debt is not "entitlements" , I hate that fucking word, its because of tax cuts.
Today is Primary Day in the following states...................please vote
Colorado June 26
Maryland June 26
Oklahoma June 26 | Aug. 28
South Carolina June 12 | June 26
Utah June 26
Please note I voted in Maryland for straight ticket democratic candidates,
Ben Jealous
https://benjealous.com/meet-ben/
Jess Colvin
https://jessecolvin.com/
to unseat the current governor and the current us rep
3 young progressives look to topple longtime incumbents in New York's Tuesday primaries
"It's time we acknowledge that not all Democrats are the same."
ADDY BAIRD JUN 26, 2018, 10:32 AM
A trio of young progressives are attempting to beat three longtime Democratic incumbents in New York on Tuesday, something no challenger has done so far this primary season.
In Queens, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is challenging Rep. Joseph Crowley (D-NY), who has served in the House since 1999 and who is widely considered as a possible next Speaker should Democrats take back the House. But first he has to get past the 28-year-old progressive, who has garnered national attention as she has waged war against Crowley’s corporate donations and centrist policy record.
In Manhattan, 34-year-old Suraj Patel has turned to handing out branded condoms and a strategy he calls “Tinder banking,” a highly controversial plan to reach young voters by chatting with them on dating apps, in his effort to unseat Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-NY). Patel also teaches business ethics at New York University, a job he recently described in a debate with Maloney, who was first elected to Congress in 1992, as “God’s work.”
https://thinkprogress.org/progressive-challengers-ny-55b73342f5b5/
McConnell is a fraud
The Senate Majority Leader once warned about Trump's Muslim ban. Now he's gloating about it.
AARON RUPAR JUN 26, 2018, 11:15 AM
On Tuesday, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s (R-KY) official campaign Twitter account gloated over news that the U.S. Supreme Court’s conservative majority upheld President Trump’s Muslim ban in a 5-4 decision by posting a photo of McConnell shaking hands with Justice Neil Gorsuch.
McConnell, of course, did more than anybody else to make sure Gorsuch got on the court. Following the death of Justice Antonin Scalia in February 2016, McConnell refused to hold confirmation hearings for then-President Obama’s choice to replace him, Merrick Garland.
McConnell’s tweet suggests that scoring a political win is more important to him than principle. In January 2017, he criticized President Trump’s decision to implement an executive order banning people from a number of Muslim-majority countries from entering the United States.
“I think we need to be careful; we don’t have religious tests in this country,” McConnell said at the time.
https://thinkprogress.org/mitch-mcconnell-neil-gorsuch-travel-ban-trump-157a4bf4853f/
The courts are not going to save us from Donald Trump
Tuesday's decision is likely to embolden Trump even further.
IAN MILLHISER JUN 26, 2018, 11:54 AM
Chief Justice John Roberts is either a very stupid man, or he believes that the rest of us are very stupid.
In the first paragraph of Roberts’ opinion in Trump v. Hawaii, handed down on Tuesday, the Chief writes one of the most literally unbelievable lines to appear in a Supreme Court opinion: “the President concluded that it was necessary to impose entry restrictions on nationals of countries that do not share adequate information for an informed entry determination, or that otherwise present national security risks.”
If you believe that, you probably also believed President Donald Trump when he claimed that he’d replace Obamacare with “something terrific.” If you believe that, you probably slept through the entire 2016 presidential campaign.
For any of you who stopped paying attention in 2015, Trump repeatedly promised to ban Muslims from entering the country while he was a candidate for the presidency. Roberts’ 5-4 opinion in Trump acknowledges as much — it quotes Trump’s statement calling for a “total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States until our country’s representatives can figure out what is going on.”
https://thinkprogress.org/supreme-court-uphold-muslim-ban-ec069fe33609/
Toys "R" Us employees seek severance from private equity
Source: Axios
Should the former private equity owners of Toys "R" Us pay around $70 million in severance to the company's 33,000 laid-off employees?
Why it matters: This is not an academic question. It's been debated by big public pension funds that invest in private equity, prompted by a lobbying campaign by left-leaning nonprofit advocacy groups.
The basic argument: Bain Capital, KKR and Vornado killed Toys "R" Us by saddling it with too much debt, while taking out fees along the way. It's only fair that they help folks who are without work because of private equity's mismanagement, particularly when PE firms are so rich and many of the employees were living paycheck-to-paycheck.
The legal argument: There is none. The private equity firms no longer own Toys "R" Us, and a bankruptcy court judge threw out the severance package because employees weren't high enough in the creditor stack.
Read more: https://www.axios.com/toys-r-us-private-equity-severance-c99eb63c-c465-4d57-a511-ff74f9bc61fb.html
And just guess whose hedge fund is in the mix Bain Capital................Mitt Romney running for the Utah Senate
And the really insulting aspect of this, is this.............
The legal argument: There is none. The private equity firms no longer own Toys "R" Us, and a bankruptcy court judge threw out the severance package because employees weren't high enough in the creditor stack.
You can work through a bankruptcy..................and the court sides with the creditors that your work is free, and do not deserve a pay check and your not high on the creditors stack because ....................
Sanders Chides Supporters Who 'Push Hate And Vandalism' At Restaurant
Source: Talking Points Memo
By Matt Shuham | June 25, 2018 4:12 pm
White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders on Monday addressed being kicked out of a restaurant over the weekend.
“We are allowed to disagree but we should be able to do so freely and without fear of harm, and this goes for all people regardless of politics,” Sanders said.
She connected that night to comments from Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA) Saturday and actor Peter Fonda a week ago.
“Some have chosen to push hate and vandalism against the restaurant that I was asked to leave from,” Sanders said. “A Hollywood actor publicly encouraged people to kidnap my children. And this weekend a member of Congress called for people to push back and make clear to those serving their country in this administration that they are not welcome anywhere, any time, for anything.”
“Healthy debate on ideas and political philosophy is important, but the calls for harassment and push for any Trump supporter to avoid the public is unacceptable.”
Read more: https://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/sanders-chides-supporters-who-push-hate-and-vandalism-at-restaurant
Dear Sarah, may I call you Sarah.........................it started on 2016 when he came down an escalator and it started in the 1970's with your boss when he and his father were discriminating against human beings---------------and you came out today and said that a judge is not needed for due process.................you get up every morning and condone the acts of harassment and bullying tactics from your boss.....................people are pissed off....................you used a government phone to tweet your incident in violation of the law.....................and condone it every time you go in front the camera and in front of the podium.......to lie.........
Virginia GOP Calls For Boycott Of Restaurant That Turned Away Sanders
Source: Talking Points Memo
By Nicole Lafond | June 25, 2018 2:26 pm
The Virginia state GOP has seized on news that White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders was asked to leave a restaurant in Virginia on Friday night and has called for a boycott of the business, Red Hen.
In a tweet on Monday morning, the state Republican Party painted the incident as the “intolerant left” showing its “true colors.” It asked followers to sign a “boycott petition” to “show Red Hen that patriotic Trump supporters are the silent majority in Virginia!”
On the petition page, the group claimed that Sanders was thrown out “in the middle of dinner” because she works for President Donald Trump. However, Red Hen co-owner Stephanie Wilkinson told The Washington Post on Saturday that she pulled Sanders aside on the restaurant patio and asked her to leave after her chef and other staff members expressed discomfort in serving her.
In order to sign the boycott petition, the GOP asks for a participant’s address, email and phone number. The petition had received a little more than 50 signatures as of Monday afternoon.
Read more: https://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/virginia-gop-boycott-red-hen
I guess they don't realize.......the GOPeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee, that there are more democratic people in the area than them............
And THE RED HEN ..............is great place to eat, think I will make a reservation...................
https://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaurant_Review-g57896-d1115746-Reviews-The_Red_Hen-Lexington_Virginia.html
Trump administration plan to mine near popular Minnesota wilderness area sparks multiple lawsuits
Plans to mine copper in the state's national forest would bring "contamination and degradation" environmental groups say.
KYLA MANDEL JUN 25, 2018, 3:36 PM
Environmental groups have filed a lawsuit against Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke in an effort to stop plans to allow mining near the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness in northeastern Minnesota.
The lawsuit was filed in a federal district court on June 25 in Washington, D.C. by The Wilderness Society, Center for Biological Diversity, and the Izaak Walton League of America, and represented by Earthjustice. Together, the organizations join nine local Minnesota businesses that filed a similar, separate lawsuit last week.
The legal challenges come after President Donald Trump announced during a rally in Duluth, Minnesota last week that he wanted to keep large portions of land within the state’s Superior National Forest — where the Boundary Waters recreation area is located — open to mining. These ares of land were set to be banned to industry activities under the Obama administration.
This followed a decision issued by the Interior Department last month to reinstate two expired federal mineral leases held by Twin Metals Minnesota. The foreign-owned company is pursuing a copper-nickel project in the area and stands to benefit from Trump’s promise to rescind an Obama-era decision to restrict industrial access from hundreds of thousands of acres in the national forest.
https://thinkprogress.org/lawsuit-filed-against-zinke-to-stop-mining-near-minnesota-wilderness-area-7c03315bd14a/
Hey David Bernhardt...................... I grew up in the area maybe its time for the citizens of Minnesota to once and for all have ballot measure on the area.................it generates more income to the state than transferring that money to Chile oligarchy who knows Ivanka Trump, because she may have a stake in that mine if it were to come to fruition.................
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