A federal civilian hiring freeze ordered by President Donald Trump has forced at least two Army bases to indefinitely suspend some child care programs.
Officials at Fort Knox, Kentucky, notified families Feb. 17 of the suspension to the on-base part-day child development center (CDC) programs, its hourly care program and the enrollment of new families into the CDC.
“Effective immediately, no new children will be enrolled in the CDC,” states the letter, signed by Fort Knox garrison commander Col. Stephen Aiton. “Also, effective 27 February 2017, the CDC will no longer accommodate childcare for our hourly care and part day families until further notice.”
The CDC’s part-day programs include its part-day preschools. Many military families, including some CDC workers, rely on hourly care for child care during part-time jobs or school hours, or when the full-time day care program is full. One Army spouse at Fort Knox reported that the wait list for her 1-year-old is estimated through July.
“We are prevented from bringing new caregivers on board but are still having our usual staff turnover and illnesses, which creates challenges to maintaining ratios and providing quality childcare,” the Fort Knox letter states.
Officials at U.S. Army Garrison Wiesbaden, Germany, announced that all part-day programs will be suspended in a letter dated Feb. 22 but circulated Tuesday.
Part-day programs at Wiesbaden will be suspended starting March 1, that letter states. That letter does not address hourly care or other CDC enrollment.
“The closure is a result of staff shortage due to the federal hiring freeze,” says the letter, signed by Wiesbaden garrison commander Col. Todd Fish.
At issue is a Jan. 23 White House directive freezing most hiring at all federal agencies.
https://twitter.com/splcenter/status/834568462538117120
Watching the candidates for DNC chair debate on CNN and so far…for what it’s worth, the young Mayor from Southbend Indiana Pete Buttigieg, appears to be the most well-rounded, the least seemingly manufactured…quite thoughtful, mature, forward-looking and all around impressive – so far…
He comes across as solid, and having some integrity – and more importantly, not just a good talker…or a bull-shitting talking points reciter…or an agenda-driven spoiler…
They are all politicians in the end, but the young Mayor comes across as not just being in this solely for his own aggrandizement… or to just pursue his own self-aggrandizing agenda …he seems to be in it for the right reason… to serve the greater good…
And though he’s been endorsed by 😏Howard Dean, I’m still quite partial to him because …my historic FLOTUS…
Of everyone on that stage – including those who worked for her husband and those who are part of her downtrodden race – the young Mayor is the only one who from day one, has consistently honored and treated my historic first black First Lady with great respect…As my fam knows, that is not only very telling, but incredibly key for me…
And by the way, anyone who was part of the Clinton inner circle and an active Hillary campaign ‘strategist’/debacle insider…looking at you Jehmu Greene, Jaime Harrison…is automatically disqualified…squandering every advantage with record amounts of money to boot…not good…And this had little to do with OFA..
And someone needs to tell Jaime Harrison to kindly f*ck off…nothing I hate more than a cowardly, mealy-mouthed massa-ass-kisser who suddenly finds his voice, gets all ‘bold and tough’ when it comes to jigging and carrying water for massa…attacking, putting down and disrespecting one of the best of his own..
South Carolina does not even begin to represent our national politics…
And ‘winning’ in South Carolina courtesy of James Clyburn’s patronage, is not winning…somebody better ask Hillary about that…
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BUERS-9CMAAvFRN.jpg
Tom Cotton is getting a ROYAL ASS WHUPPING at his Arkansas town hall.
Question: Did these folks vote for Trump & GOP rats who have been screaming for repeal of Obamacare since 2010?
They are tearing Tom Cotton’s ass UP!
Interesting they are airing these town halls, where these white folks are screaming for that health care insurance, isn’t it?
These Pols can’t handle these meetings from their o-called constituents. Seriously, I don’t have sympathy or empathy for these folks who voted for them.
Team Perez all the way.
Trump on DNC race: Ellison ‘predicted early that I would win!’
By LOUIS NELSON
02/22/17 08:14 AM EST
President Donald Trump offered his own take Wednesday morning on the race for the chairmanship of the Democratic National Committee, offering some self-serving praise for Rep. Keith Ellison, “the one who predicted early that I would win!”
Ellison (D-Minn.) is considered a top contender to be the next DNC chairman, along with former Secretary of Labor Tom Perez. South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg, is also a candidate for the job and on Wednesday morning was endorsed by former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean.
Republicans Could Have Blown Up Obamacare Yesterday, But Didn’t
by Nancy LeTourneau
February 22, 2017 1:04 PM
If Republicans really wanted to send Obamacare into a death spiral, they had the perfect chance to do so yesterday. In order to understand the opportunity they let pass them by, we need to dive into the weeds a bit to understand a court case on a little known funding mechanism for making health insurance affordable on the Obamacare exchanges.
It was understood by the framers of health care reform that the exchanges might not initially draw enough business from mostly healthy young people to offset the costs of insuring those with more chronic medical conditions. In order to keep premiums down and make plans more affordable, the law included subsidies to health insurance providers for covering low income participants. The problem was that there was no funding mechanism for this provision included in Obamacare. So the administration applied other funds from the Treasury.
In 2014, House Republicans sued the Obama administration over this and a federal district judge ruled in their favor, but stayed the decision to allow the administration time to appeal the ruling. That appeal was still in the works when Trump was elected. Immediately following the election, Republicans asked the court to pause its proceedings until February 21st (yesterday), presumably to give the new administration the opportunity to weigh how to handle the lawsuit.
Once Trump was inaugurated, with Jeff Sessions confirmed as Attorney General, all the administration would have had to do is drop the appeal and the federal district judge’s ruling would stand, ending the subsidies. The result would have been chaos in the insurance market – leading to the very real possibility that companies would either significantly increase their premiums or pull out of the exchanges altogether.
The GOP’s Dangerous Advantages
by Martin Longman
February 22, 2017 11:43 AM
Ed Kilgore looks at the polling data and the landscape for the 2018 congressional elections and makes the point that Trump isn’t as unpopular as you might like to believe and that, even if he were, the Republicans are not yet vulnerable to a 2010-like shellacking in the next midterms.
Ed’s right.
I wrote about this in a very pessimistic piece we published on February 10th. My conclusion was that we’ve arrived at a point where the Democrats can win the popular vote and lose the presidency, win the popular vote and lose seats in the Senate, and win the popular vote and not gain control of the House. The first of those just happened for the second time in the last five presidential elections, and the latter two are more likely than not to happen in 2018.
As a result, the Republicans don’t fear accountability as much as they should, and certainly are less subject to external pressure than the Democrats.
The concern I expressed is that “the Republicans’ advantages are currently so great that we cannot get any accountability…and, soon, there’s a real risk of a breakdown in public order when people finally realize that our country is no longer even passingly representative.
New emails shed light on EPA chief’s industry ties
02/22/17 12:49 PM
By Steve Benen
Donald Trump chose so many top administration officials who were hostile to their agencies’ core mission that the nominations almost seemed sarcastic. The president chose Betsy DeVos to lead the Department of Education despite her opposition to public schools; he chose Andy Puzder to lead the Department of Labor despite his opposition to workers; and Trump chose Scott Pruitt to lead the EPA despite his overt hostility towards environmental safeguards.
Pruitt, who clashed with the EPA during his tenure as attorney general of Oklahoma, spoke to the agency’s employees yesterday, and by some measures, the new administrator’s remarks were not well received.
But while Pruitt settles into his new office, we’re not yet done scrutinizing the work he did before he reached the EPA. The New York Times reported this morning:
He’s always lying: If you want to learn about Trump and his very shady business dealings with Sater, Russia, Ukraine, this thread is IT.
— meta (@metaquest) February 22, 2017
DeVos and Sessions had a disagreement over removing the protections over transgender rights.
— Sopan Deb (@SopanDeb) February 22, 2017
@ametia @rikyrah
https://twitter.com/BraddJaffy/status/834424886156197889
UM HMMM
LIZA
Get well real fast, my friend,
That’s what I wish for you,
For while you’re sick you’re deeply missed,
So I am sad and blue.
So have some pity on me,
Don’t leave me in the dump.
Return to health real soon, my friend,
Or I will be a grump!
An Alternative Strategy for Democratic Success: Growing a New Electorate
by Nancy LeTourneau
February 22, 2017 10:30 AM
POLITICAL ANIMAL BLOG
We often hear that the problem Democrats are facing is that they not only lost the presidency in 2016, but are getting trounced at the state and local level. Much has been written about that challenge, but we rarely dive into the weeds about solutions or shine a spotlight on successes.
What if I was to tell you about a county in a red state where Democrats won almost every slot on the ballot in 2016 (some for the first time in decades) and Clinton won by over 160,000 votes, after Obama’s margin was less than a thousand in 2012? That is exactly the story Andrew Cockburn tells us about Harris County Texas (Houston and the surrounding suburbs).
Cockburn credits the work of three women for those results: Michelle Tremolo, Ginny Goldman and Crystal Zermeno—two of whom met while working for the now-defunct organization ACORN. They created an organization called the Texas Organizing Project (TOP). Given that Texas has one of the lowest voter turnout rates in the country, the first order of business for TOP was to find out who was not voting.
The next step was one that is too often skipped. TOP wanted to learn why 4 million registered voters of color (likely Democrats) in Texas don’t show up at the polls. They conducted a series of focus groups and, armed with the results, began organizing them to have an impact on local concerns, predominantly criminal justice issues. Starting with the 2012 election, they began mobilizing both volunteers and paid staff to work in their own neighborhoods with relentless efforts to get out the vote. As a result, in that year Latino turnout in Harris County increased by 5%. In 2016, the success wasn’t limited to Harris County.
Benen gives these phuckers the benefit of the doubt about what they ‘ understand.’
I don’t.
…………………
The White House’s response to Islamophobia is familiar, but wrong
02/22/17 10:40 AM
By Steve Benen
In October, during the second presidential debate, a young woman posed a good question to the candidates: “There are 3.3 million Muslims in the United States, and I’m one of them. You’ve mentioned working with Muslim nations, but with Islamophobia on the rise, how will you help people like me deal with the consequences of being labeled as a threat to the country after the election is over?”
Donald Trump was the first to respond, and he offered a memorable answer. The Republican said, “Well, you’re right about Islamophobia, and that’s a shame, but…” Trump proceeded to talk at great length about his perceptions about security threats posed by Muslims, his concerns that Muslims don’t report potential violence in advance, and his outrage that President Obama and Hillary Clinton don’t throw around the term “radical Islamic terrorism.”
In other words, an American expressed concerns about Islamophobia, and Trump responded by effectively endorsing Islamophobia.
With this in mind White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer was asked yesterday about a recent report showing that the number of organized anti-Muslim groups in the United States tripled last year. In response to pressure, the president eventually spoke out against anti-Semitism, but will Trump be forceful about addressing Islamophobia? Spicer responded:
It’s as if he didn’t understand the question. Asked about anti-Muslim hate groups, the White House press secretary immediately spoke about Trump’s “desire to combat radical Islamic terrorism.”
Sorry Benen, but these fuckers understand. #45 & company DO NOT WANT TO ADDRESS ISLAMAPHOBIA. PERIOD
Which is exactly why Americans are fighting back aggressively against your RADICAL RACIST RANTINGS & POLICES.
Kansas Republicans send Brownback a tax hike
02/22/17 10:06 AM
By Steve Benen
In the 21st century, it’s effectively impossible to get Republican officials to support raising taxes on anyone, by any amount, for any reason. But in Kansas, Gov. Sam Brownback’s (R) radical economic experiment has failed so spectacularly, GOP officials believe they’ve run out of choices.
The Kansas City Star reported late last week that the state legislature, where Republicans dominate in both chambers in one of the nation’s reddest red states, “passed a bill to increase taxes Friday that could mark the end of many of the policies long championed by Gov. Sam Brownback.”
To be sure, if local reporting is any indication, state lawmakers weren’t altogether pleased with their solution, but Brownback’s tax cuts have left the state’s finances in such shambles, even Kansas’ Republican-led chambers have found themselves ready to change direction.
Why Is Congress Undermining Retirement Security for Millions of Americans?
Helping Americans save for retirement doesn’t sound like a very divisive issue, but that’s exactly what House Republicans have made it.
by Justin King and David Newville
February 22, 2017
When you think about all of the contentious issues that have defined the past few years—especially the last presidential campaign—what comes to mind? Our guess: issues like immigration, tax reform, and climate change. But helping Americans save for retirement? That probably doesn’t strike you as being very divisive—but that’s exactly what House Republicans have made it.
Yesterday the House passed two bills that would undo key regulations that the Department of Labor put in place last year. These regulations clarify the right of states, and certain municipalities, to offer automatic enrollment retirement savings plans (often called Secure Choice plans) to workers who are not offered a 401(k) or similar type of plan by their employer—some 40 million working-age households.
The House used a rare and sweeping law called the Congressional Review Act (CRA) to do this. The CRA allows Congress to overturn regulations issued by government agencies. Only successfully used by Congress once before this year—in 2001—the act is now back in play as Republicans rush to overturn Obama-era regulations. The new Congress is attempting to rollback regulations concerning everything from consumer financial protection to environmental issues, as well as firearm sales to some individuals with diagnosed mental disorders. Unlike more common mechanisms of policy change, CRA disapproval does long-term damage to the ability of the government to put effective policy in place, since it prohibits “substantially similar” rules from being issued without additional Congressional action.
…………………………
Back in 2009, President Barack Obama tried to address this impending crisis by introducing a national automatic individual retirement account (auto-IRA) proposal along with improved tax subsidies to help low- and moderate-income workers save for retirement. Despite the inclusion of the auto-IRA proposal in his annual budgets, the Republican majorities that took hold of Congress in 2011 refused to pass any meaningful retirement savings legislation. Some states have responded by taking action into their own hands. Backed by extensive market and policy research, five states—California, Illinois, Connecticut, Oregon, and Maryland—have started their own auto-IRA programs to help cover the millions of their citizens who lack access to a retirement account through their employer. Other states are studying and developing plans of their own, and 11 states have introduced legislation to create a plan or study in 2017, according to the Georgetown Center for Retirement Initiatives.
But now Congress is putting all of that in jeopardy.
These rollbacks won’t directly kill existing Secure Choice plans, but they’ll open the door to legal challenges that will drag on for years, preventing additional states from acting—and harming the retirement prospects of millions of workers.
House Republicans and the US Chamber of Commerce have offered a wide array of arguments against the regulations. Sponsors of the resolutions argued that a “patchwork of rules” would harm businesses, a surprising argument given the usual party support for federalism over centralized control. For example, state-facilitated individual savings accounts for college, commonly called 529 plans, were brought into being thanks in part to the leadership of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY). 529 plans have operated successfully for decades and are the model on which Secure Choice plans are being built. Both 529s and Secure Choice are operated out of state treasurer’s offices, in some cases by the same staff, and using the same private sector partners to manage investments. In recent years, 529s have enjoyed vociferous Republican support.
Get well, Liza!
GET WELL LIZA :)
Democratic recruiters see new zeal for public service in office
Rachel Maddow reports on the surge in enthusiasm that Democratic Party officials are seeing while recruiting new candidates for local legislative office, and the energized crowds that members of Congress are encountering in their home districts
Annoyed by pushback, Trump takes aim at progressive activism
02/22/17 08:00 AM
By Steve Benen
At his White House press conference last week, Donald Trump acknowledged the progressive activists working to protect their health care benefits, but the president quickly added that these Americans don’t really count.
“We’ve begun preparing to repeal and replace Obamacare,” he said. “Obamacare is a disaster, folks. It’s a disaster. You can say, ‘Oh, Obamacare.’ I mean, they fill up our rallies with people that you wonder how they get there, but they’re not the Republican people that our representatives are representing.”
It was a bizarre peek into the thinking of a president who doesn’t fully understand the basics of our democracy. Elected Republican officials, in Trump’s mind, should focus on representing “Republican people.” Others may speak up and petition the government for redress of grievances, but as far as Trump is concerned, their voices are neither important nor relevant.
Republicans are elected to represent Republicans, the argument goes, not all of their constituents. It’s a zero-sum game: if your side of the political divide isn’t in a position of power, then you might as well sit down, shut up, and stop asking impertinent questions at town-hall forums in which GOP officials want to hear from “the Republican people” – as opposed to, say, the American people.
Also, don’t forget, unlike with Trump, Obama’s travel expenses weren’t paid mainly to…Obama.
— Mehdi Hasan (@mehdirhasan) February 21, 2017
While Pence poses for cameras with U.S. allies, “President Bannon” meets in private to destroy them
— Oliver Willis (@owillis) February 22, 2017
Trump deportation agenda exposes how US economy has long rested heavily on large part of labor force having no legal rights & protections
— Philip Gourevitch (@PGourevitch) February 21, 2017
Yet this fool with the reign of Bannon has opened that PANDORA’S BOX
Uh huh
Uh huh
They should not be allowed to use the word PATRIOTISM in your presence.
Not.A.One.
Many Republican voters decide Putin’s not so bad after all
02/22/17 09:20 AM
By Steve Benen
When Donald Trump invested quite a bit of energy in 2016 singing Russian President Vladimir Putin’s praises, there was an inherent electoral risk. Putin is not only the leader of an American adversary, but he’s also an authoritarian whom the American mainstream broadly disapproves of.
As it turns out, the risk didn’t matter – Trump won the election anyway, thanks in part to an illegal Russian espionage operation – and the Republican president’s success managed to change some Americans’ perceptions. Gallup reported yesterday:
At his White House press conference last week, Donald Trump acknowledged the progressive activists working to protect their health care benefits, but the president quickly added that these Americans don’t really count.
“We’ve begun preparing to repeal and replace Obamacare,” he said. “Obamacare is a disaster, folks. It’s a disaster. You can say, ‘Oh, Obamacare.’ I mean, they fill up our rallies with people that you wonder how they get there, but they’re not the Republican people that our representatives are representing.”
It was a bizarre peek into the thinking of a president who doesn’t fully understand the basics of our democracy. Elected Republican officials, in Trump’s mind, should focus on representing “Republican people.” Others may speak up and petition the government for redress of grievances, but as far as Trump is concerned, their voices are neither important nor relevant.
Republicans are elected to represent Republicans, the argument goes, not all of their constituents. It’s a zero-sum game: if your side of the political divide isn’t in a position of power, then you might as well sit down, shut up, and stop asking impertinent questions at town-hall forums in which GOP officials want to hear from “the Republican people” – as opposed to, say, the American people.
Trump’s immigration order will tear America’s social fabric & usher in ugly scapegoating politics. My take on CNN
— Brian Klaas (@brianklaas) February 22, 2017
The Myth of the Immigration Crisis — a good reality check on the state of illegal immigration in US https://t.co/uxzlfYkCvW pic.twitter.com/W9v2qduHn5
— Mark Murray (@mmurraypolitics) February 22, 2017
Trump’s lawyer responds to Russia questions with evolving answers
02/22/17 08:43 AM—UPDATED 02/22/17 08:58 AM
By Steve Benen
Last month, a controversial meeting took place in a hotel lobby in New York. In attendance were Michael Cohen, Donald Trump’s personal attorney; Ukrainian lawmaker Andrii Artemenko, a member of a pro-Putin party; and Felix Sater, a businessman who’s worked for years to facilitate Trump business deals in Russia. The trio discussed a plan to end hostilities between Russia and Ukraine, effectively by giving Vladimir Putin everything he wants in exchange for nothing.
So far, these basic details are not in dispute. We know there was a meeting; we know who attended; and we know what they discussed.
Understanding what happened next is more complicated.
According to the New York Times, after the meeting, Cohen took a sealed envelope with the outline of the plan to the White House and delivered it to National Security Advisor Michael Flynn’s office before Flynn’s resignation. The Times’ reporting, according to the paper, was based on Cohen’s own assessment of what transpired.
Soon after, however, Cohen talked to the Washington Post and gave a very different version of events, saying he attended the meeting and took a written copy of the plan, but never delivered it to Flynn or anyone else at the White House.
Soon after, it was time for Version #3.
Ivanka Trump hit with lien in New York for failure to pay taxes on her high end jewelry business
Tom Boggioni TOM BOGGIONI
21 FEB 2017 AT 19:16 ET
It has been a tough month for presidential first daughter Ivanka Trump, with retailers dropping her fashion lines due to poor sales, and it got worse as it was revealed that she has been hit with a lien for failure to pay back taxes owed by her New York jewelry store.
According to documents acquired by the Daily Mail, Trump owes over $5,000 in taxes related to Ivanka Trump Fine Jewelry — officially listed as Madison Avenue Diamonds LLC — located in Trump Tower.
According to the report, the high-end jewelry business routinely sells items in the $1,000 to $20,000 range.
uh huh
uh huh
Yes, Trump’s Aide Really Did Throw “White Power” Sign
By SemDem
Tuesday Feb 21, 2017 · 8:10 PM PST
2017/02/21 ·
Take a look at the guy in the picture. That’s Steve Miller, senior advisor to Donald Trump. He’s also an avowed racist. Don’t take my word for it—that’s what his friends and family say. He hasn’t been quiet about it at all: he has openly disparaged blacks, Latinos, and Asians throughout his school career, from high school to Duke University, where he palled around with white supremacist leader Richard Spencer. He continued his racist streak when he interned with Jeff Sessions and now spends his days trying to out-bigot the other white supremacist named Steve in Trump’s White House. No wonder David Duke adores him.
Now look at the picture. I used a screen grab for the very same shot of Miller that was used in the headlines for The Guardian, New York Daily, and Washington Post just to name a few. He made headlines that day for defending the Muslim ban by saying Trump’s actions “will not be questioned”!
……………………………….
You might think that’s an odd natural gesture to make. And it is. What Steve is doing is completely intentional:
The right hand, on top, is showing just three fingers: “W”.
His left hand curls to make the “P” formation.
WP. White Power. White nationalists know exactly what that sign means.
According to the Anti-Defamation League, this is a common white supremacist hand sign “particularly” used in California. (Stephen Miller is from Santa Monica.)
ICYMI
Here is the clip of Maxine Waters on Chris Hayes, calling Dolt45’s people SCUMBAGS.
Hayes clutched the pearls, and Maxine was like… I.SAID.WHAT.I.SAID.
LOL
……………………….
ALL IN WITH CHRIS HAYES 2/21/17
Rep. Maxine Waters: Trump advisors with Russia ties are ..
The Democratic congresswoman from California calls the president’s friends and advisors with ties to Russia and oil and gas interests ‘a bunch of scumbags.’
Maxine is tearing it up, baby!
MSNBC LIVE 2/19/17
White House: Stephen Miller is not available
Ari Melber invited Stephen Miller, senior adviser to the president, to come on MSNBC after Miller said he was “prepared to go any show, anywhere, anytime” to talk about voter fraud
Lips Pursed.
This GOP Media Survey Is More Propaganda Than Poll
Republicans are looking to bolster Trump’s ‘enemy of the people’ declaration.
by Stefan Hankin
February 21, 2017 4:45 PM
Not long after President Donald Trump declared the media the “enemy of the people,” the Republican Party released a “poll” on the Donald J Trump website, entitled the “Mainstream Media Accountability Survey.”
It’s fairly obvious that the results of this effort will be used to bolster the President’s attacks against the press. As propaganda, the results of this survey might work to rally the Trump faithful, but it in no way resembles a serious piece of opinion research. As a professional pollster, I can confidently state that this survey pushes the very definition of what a survey is and violates just about every principle of polling.
For starters, there is the question of who is being surveyed. No poll is valid unless the sample reflects an accurate cross-section of the population (what’s called a “representative sample”). The short version is that the people taking the survey should reflect the entire population you are trying to reach. So if you are conducting a national survey of registered voters, you want to make sure that the gender, age, ethnicity, location and other demographic details of the people you are surveying are proportional to the population at large. If 53 percent of registered voters are female, for example, the same should be true of your sample. On top of this, we also typically use “quotas” to make sure that we speak to the right number of women, registered voters under the age of 30, etc., so that the results are not biased. For example, having too many liberal Democrats in your sample will bias the results. Quotas also ensure that we are not just surveying people who are home and willing to answer their phone at a certain time.
POLITICS SPECIAL REPORTS | Mon Dec 5, 2016 | 9:39pm EST
Trump advisors aim to privatize oil-rich Indian reservations
Native American reservations cover just 2 percent of the United States, but they may contain about a fifth of the nation’s oil and gas, along with vast coal reserves.
Now, a group of advisors to President-elect Donald Trump on Native American issues wants to free those resources from what they call a suffocating federal bureaucracy that holds title to 56 million acres of tribal lands, two chairmen of the coalition told Reuters in exclusive interviews.
The group proposes to put those lands into private ownership – a politically explosive idea that could upend more than century of policy designed to preserve Indian tribes on U.S.-owned reservations, which are governed by tribal leaders as sovereign nations.
Quick Takes: Some People Can’t Give Up On the Idea of a Trump Pivot
by Nancy LeTourneau
February 21, 2017 7:00 PM
For the writers at NBC’s First Read, the hope of an eventual Trump pivot lives on.
I can answer that question with one word: No. What we are likely experiencing is the depressive side of Trump’s manic/depressive tendencies after he let loose over the weekend. If you can point me to a time in the president’s history when he seized the opportunity to become “no-drama,” I’m all ears.
uh huh
uh huh
DHS Employees Couldn’t Access Their Own Computers Today
by Josh Alvarez
February 21, 2017 7:36 PM
President Trump is expected to sign a new version of his executive order banning refugees and immigration from seven Muslim-majority nations sometime this week. Implementation of the order will largely fall to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), specifically US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS). On Trump’s first attempt, DHS was taken completely by surprise and chaos ensued in airports around the country, including reports that some DHS officers defied federal court orders.
But events earlier today show DHS still might not be ready to carry out Trump’s sweeping immigration policies. Reuters reported that DHS employees in the DC-area, including some in USCIS, were sent home today after they were denied entry into their own computers. In a statement, a DHS official confirmed four U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) facilities in the Washington area were affected.
A source familiar with the situation told me that workers in the DC and Philadelphia areas, and possibly other areas in the East Coast, were also denied access to their computers.
This wasn’t the result of a hack. In order to access their network, DHS employees have to enter personal identify verification (PIV) cards as well as credentials. That information is then sent to a domain controller that verifies the data and then grants access to the network. The problem was the domain controller couldn’t be contacted because its certificate had expired, something that “could’ve been easily renewed in a matter of minutes and should have been done weeks ahead of time,” the source said. “It’s a recurring to-do that should not have caught anyone by surprise.” As a result, at least one entire building in a DC-area campus was cleared out today.
What if Conservatives Really Were Pro-Life?
by Nancy LeTourneau
February 22, 2017 8:05 AM
Corinne Segal has an important story about how marriage equality is saving lives.
………………………….
Speaking of substance abuse treatment, that saves lives too.
Well another day another of Trump’s shananigans. Now he is cutting down on Day for these Military people. How are they suppose to work.
You know Trump you are the DEVIL N DISGUISE.
And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light.
Once again I do apologize if I have offended anyone.
Good Morning, Everyone 😐😐😐
Happy HUMP day, Everyone.
Good morning, everyone