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Freeloading Rusty

Freeloading Rusty

Here comes Rover, sniffin’ at your ass
Jan 11, 2016
26,916
26,589
White House taking down petition website, pledges to launch new one
The White House says it will take down a website that hosts petitions to the federal government, with a promise to restore it as a new site next year.

The “We The People” website, launched by then-President Obama in 2011, will be taken down on Tuesday at midnight, The Associated Press reported Monday.

Officials told the AP that platform will be replaced with a new website in late January and that all of the existing petitions will be restored at that time.

The Trump administration has yet to respond to any petitions that have exceeded 100,000 signatures, which necessitate a response from the federal government.

Trump officials told the AP that the administration will begin responding to the petitions once the new website is live.

Several of the petitions that have reached that threshold are highly critical of President Trump, including calls for him to release his tax returns, for him to divide or put all of his assets in a blind trust, and for him to resign.

The White House says the move will save taxpayers $1.3 million a year.
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Freeloading Rusty

Freeloading Rusty

Here comes Rover, sniffin’ at your ass
Jan 11, 2016
26,916
26,589
Iran says Trump cannot cause collapse of nuclear deal: TV
“The nuclear deal will not collapse... Those who hope that Trump will cause its collapse, are wrong,” Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said in a speech broadcast live on State TV.

In October, Trump declined to certify that Iran was complying with the nuclear agreement reached among Tehran, the United States and other powers in 2015. His decision triggered a 60-day window for Congress to decide whether to bring back sanctions on Iran.

Congress passed the ball back to Trump by letting the deadline on reimposing sanctions on Iran pass last week. Trump must decide in mid-January if he wants to continue to waive energy sanctions on Iran.

Under the deal, nuclear-related sanctions imposed on Iran were lifted last year, in return for Tehran curbing its nuclear program.

Iran has said it will stick to the accord as long as the other signatories respect it, but will “shred” the deal if Washington pulls out.
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Freeloading Rusty

Freeloading Rusty

Here comes Rover, sniffin’ at your ass
Jan 11, 2016
26,916
26,589
Parents Upset Over Surprise Ivanka Trump Visit In Norwalk
Parents of students at a Connecticut high school say they were upset when Ivanka Trump made an unannounced visit.

Some parents pulled their children from class on Monday, saying they were troubled they were not told in advance that President Donald Trump's daughter and senior White House adviser was paying a visit to Norwalk Early College Academy at Norwalk High School.

Karey Fitzgerald, of Norwalk, told News 12 Connecticut she thinks parents should have had the choice of whether to send their child to school when Ivanka Trump was there.
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Freeloading Rusty

Freeloading Rusty

Here comes Rover, sniffin’ at your ass
Jan 11, 2016
26,916
26,589
EPA chief sweeps office for bugs, installs high-tech locks
The head of the Environmental Protection Agency used public money to have his office swept for hidden listening devices and bought sophisticated biometric locks for additional security.

The spending items, totaling nearly $9,000, are among a string of increased counter-surveillance precautions taken by EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt, who also requires around-the-clock protection by an armed security team.

The EPA’s Office of Inspector General is already investigating Pruitt’s $25,000 purchase of a custom-made soundproof privacy booth for his office to deter eavesdropping on his phone calls.
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Freeloading Rusty

Freeloading Rusty

Here comes Rover, sniffin’ at your ass
Jan 11, 2016
26,916
26,589
Donald Trump thinks he just quietly repealed Obamacare

Here's what Trump told reporters before a Cabinet meeting at the White House on Wednesday morning.

"The individual mandate is being repealed. When the individual mandate is being repealed, that means Obamacare is repealed. Because they get their money from the individual mandate. So the individual mandate is being repealed. So in this bill, not only do we have massive tax cuts and tax reform, we have essentially repealed Obamacare and will come up with something that will be much better, whether it's block grants or whether it's taking what we have and doing something terrific. But Obamacare has been repealed in this bill. We didn't want to bring it up. I told people specifically 'be quiet with the fake news media because I don't want them talking too much about it. Because I didn't know how people would - but now that it's approved, I can say the individual mandate on health care, where you had to pay not to have insurance, okay, think of that one. You pay not to have insurance. The individual mandate has been repealed."

First take in the fact that Trump thinks (and is proud of!) the flawed idea that the tax bill sneakily repealed what Republicans were unable to do directly.

He thinks he was able to slip it into the bill by not talking about it. And he's proud of the idea -- which is incorrect -- that he tricked everyone.
Let's examine each part of what he said.

"The individual mandate is being repealed."

This first sentence is sort of true. While no part of the law has been repealed -- Republicans tried and failed, repeatedly, to "repeal" the law -- they did zero out the tax, or fine, levied against people who do not secure health insurance under the Affordable Care Act's individual mandate.

What will happen as a result? CNN's Tami Luhby recently wrote: "The Congressional Budget Office predicts that four million fewer people would be covered in the first year the repeal would take effect. That number would rise to 13 million by 2027, as compared to current law. Meanwhile, premiums would rise by about 10% in most years of the decade."

Senate Republicans, by the way, zeroed out the penalty as a way to help pay for the massive tax cut bill. That particular provision raised more than $380 billion, according to the CBO, but it didn't keep the tax bill from adding $1.5 trillion to deficits.

"When the individual mandate is being repealed, that means Obamacare is repealed. Because they get their money from the individual mandate. So the individual mandate is being repealed."

Again, it's inaccurate to say anything has been "repealed." Americans are still technically required to have insurance, they just won't face a fine. That might seem like splitting hairs, but Trump is claiming something here -- repeal -- when in fact he's working to starve the law. The rest of the law, meantime, remains intact, although Trump has engaged in other efforts to chip away at it, like cutting insurance companies off cost-sharing subsidies, even if they seem likely to throw the individual insurance market into disarray. The subsidies, like mandate, still exist. But Trump just stopped paying them because he says they're illegal. The bigger thing here is the word "Obamacare." It clearly gets under his skin. After the most controversial of his moves -- ending government reimbursements to insurers to reduce health care costs for low-income people -- he declared in October, "Obamacare is finished. It's over. It's gone."

"So in this bill, not only do we have massive tax cuts and tax reform, we have essentially repealed Obamacare and will come up with something that will be much better, whether it's block grants or whether it's taking what we have and doing something terrific."

Republicans Sen. Susan Collins voted for the tax cut bill in exchange for a promise that Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell would schedule a vote on a bipartisan plan, first sponsored by Sens. Patty Murray, a Washington Democrat, and Lamar Alexander, a Tennessee Republican, to replace some of the insurance payments Trump had ended. She then voted or the bill. But there's no Republican support for the plan in the House. So the vote Collins was promised likely won't happen as part of a stop-gap government spending bill, but, perhaps, next year. Other Obamacare fixes have yet to materialize.

"But Obamacare has been repealed in this bill."

See above. Elements of the Affordable Care Act Republicans haven't been able to touch include protections for those with pre-existing conditions, the requirement that insurers provide comprehensive coverage, subsidies to reduce premiums of low- and moderate-income consumers and the expansion of Medicaid to low-income adults

"We didn't want to bring it up. I told people specifically 'be quiet with the fake news media because I don't want them talking too much about it."

This is Trump seeming to take credit for repealing the law without people understanding what he was doing. Please read this story from CNN Money from December 15, which has the headline, "Will Obamacare survive the tax bill?" Or from November: "Individual mandate repeal to be included in Senate's tax bill."
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Freeloading Rusty

Freeloading Rusty

Here comes Rover, sniffin’ at your ass
Jan 11, 2016
26,916
26,589
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