Monday, April 9, 2018

Notations On Our World (Weekly Edition): On the Week That Was...

It has been quite a weekend as President Trump spoke up for Scott Pruitt,  Trump Officials went on The US Public Affairs shows to defend the President's Tariff plans and the President called out Putin by name in the aftermath of the Horrific Chemical Attack on Syria--and this is as the President went after the Justice Department and the FBI.

Facebook, in the meantime, is in the cross hairs in the aftermath of the Cambridge Analytica fiasco--This reporting last week from the Washington Post was troubling as all who use it may have been compromised--some 2 Billion Users.   The Top Two Facebook Executives made the media rounds to note how "sorry" they were.   Mark Zuckerberg, the Facebook Founder, Chair and CEO, is due to appears before Congress on April 10. Our team maintains a presence on Facebook as we feature periodic updates on our curation of the World's On-going Media--and will continue to do so.   

It is bound to be interesting as we feature a sampling of the challenging week that was: 







Post: Two EPA Officials and A White House Official Say Pruitt Personally Instructed Staff To Approve Controversial Raises

EPA administrator Scott Pruitt was adamant in his disastrous interview with Fox's Ed Henry that he was unaware of the controversial raises given to two aides and that he attempted to find out which officials were responsible.  The interview not only did not sit well many viewers, it clearly did not sit well with people at the EPA and the White House. The Washington Post is reporting that he personally instructed agency staff to approve raises for two top aides who had previously served under him in Oklahoma, The Post reports that two EPA officials and a White house official confirmed that Pruitt not only knew of the raises but instructed underlings to approve them.
What is also critical is to be aware of what is going on in our Home State of California.   California has been at the forefront of the so-called "resistance" to the Trump Administration including the enactment of the Sanctuary Cities Law that has prompted lawsuits and this on what the State has done to issue Drivers' Licenses: 



California DMV Surpasses One Million Driver’s Licenses For Undocumented Individuals

by jonathanturley
download-1California reached a milestone recently in its immigration laws: the state has now given over one million illegal or undocumented immigrants driver's licenses.  Passed in 2013 by sponsor Luis Alejo, Assembly Bill 60  required the California Department of Motor Vehicles to issue driver's licenses to undocumented immigrants as long as they can prove their identity and residence within the state. As of March 31st, some 1,001,000 undocumented immigrants have received licenses.  The state has reached this goal at a time when it is on a collision course with the Trump Administration on immigration enforcement as well as some of its own cities.  The result is rising rhetoric on both sides and an inevitable court fight.


In the meantime, the President has apparently made decisions to initiate cuts in spite of the Budget having been passed by Congress:  


  GovExec Today

    
April 5, 2018

Trump Looks to Slash Agency Budget Increases He Just Signed Into Law // Eric Katz

President could face lawsuit if he withholds funds without congressional approval. 


As our team concluded our assessment for the week, what was interesting was this take by Corey Robin as he talked about how it appears that the Tax Cuts (that has been the driving force behind the GOP) seems to losing its' luster:


Vote on the Reagan Tax Cuts of 1981 : House: 321-107 (131 of those 321 yes votes are Democrats; one Republican votes no) ; Senate: 89-11 (37 of those 89 yes votes are Democrats; one Republican votes no) 

Vote on the Bush Tax Cuts of 2001:  House: 240-154 (28 of those 240 yes votes are Democrats; no Republican votes no); Senate: 58-33 (12 of those 58 yes votes are Democrats; two Republicans vote no)

Vote on the Trump Tax Cuts of 2017: House: 227-205 (none of those 227 yes votes are Democrats; 13 Republicans vote no); Senate: 51-48 (none of those 51 yes votes are Democrats; 1 Republican votes no) 

Interesting Times....

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