The Serious Side - part 4

https://www.forbes.com/sites/chloesorvino/2017/03/20/puerto-rico-trump-bankruptcy-golf-course/amp/

  
 Lists  #TrumpsAmerica

Inside The Bankruptcy of The Puerto Rican Golf Course Trump Managed
 Sorvino, FORBES STAFF 
Mar 20, 2017 7:45 AM 4,930 

Lizzy, here's CNN on it......

http://edition.cnn.com/2017/09/25/politics/trump-jr-secret-service/index.html

Re the golf course in Puerto Rico, clearly seif-interest, greed and getting back at people take priority - even in the middle of a humanitarean crisis

The health bill may have died again tonight. But I am so impressed with this interview with a cancer patient. She is so succinct she deserves to be a regular contributor!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yppluSV2QLc

Thanks, PAN. I was beginning to think I imagined it. I think they may have reinstated his protection detail because his father is so unpopular. There have probably been plenty of threats against him and his family. Also, I think it was today there was something in the news about a heavily armed man arrested outside the White House. I'm guessing nobody there feels very secure these days.

I saw that video the other day. That woman truly is amazing, isn't she? I really hope she makes it.

http://people.com/politics/trump-revels-in-john-mccains-dire-cancer-battle-as-promises-obamacare-repeal-one-yes-vote-in-hospital/

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President Donald Trump is continuing to attack cancer-stricken war hero Sen. John McCain after he rejected the latest Obamacare repeal bill by the GOP.
On Tuesday, Sen. Mitch McConnell officially pulled the bill because it didn’t have the necessary votes to pass Congress – thanks in part to McCain’s announcement he would not support it. But, Trump seemed confident on Wednesday morning that the necessary amount of votes would now be possible thanks to McCain’s battle with brain cancer.
“With one Yes vote in hospital & very positive signs from Alaska and two others (McCain is out), we have the HCare Vote, but not for Friday!” Trump tweeted. “We will have the votes for Healthcare but not for the reconciliation deadline of Friday, after which we need 60. Get rid of Filibuster Rule!”

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@realDonaldTrump
[ltr]With one Yes vote in hospital & very positive signs from Alaska and two others (McCain is out), we have the HCare Vote, but not for Friday![/ltr]








7:32 AM - Sep 27, 2017

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[ltr]We will have the votes for Healthcare but not for the reconciliation deadline of Friday, after which we need 60. Get rid of Filibuster Rule![/ltr]








7:36 AM - Sep 27, 2017

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McCain’s opposition to the Republican Graham-Cassidy Bill prompted Trump to tweet out a video compilation of the Arizona senator advocating for repealing and replacing Obamacare.



“My oh my has he changed-complete turn from years of talk!” the president captioned the post.


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[ltr]A few of the many clips of John McCain talking about Repealing & Replacing O'Care. My oh my has he changed-complete turn from years of talk![/ltr]








9:24 PM - Sep 25, 2017

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In an interview with CBS’ 60 Minutes on Sunday, McCain opened up about his diagnosis of glioblastoma, an aggressive form of brain cancer, saying doctors have told him “it’s a very poor prognosis.” “Some say 3 percent, some say 14 percent,” he added of his chances for survival.
Joe Scarborough came to McCain’s defense on Tuesday on his show, Morning Joe.
“You have no humanity,” Scarborough said of Trump. “You have a man who is dying and you’re using him for political punch lines on talk radio and also in audiences in Alabama?”
“And by the way, for people watching at home, if you’re in the audience and John McCain is getting attacked, and he’s fighting for his life — unless you were raised in a barn, keep your mouths shut,” Scarborough continued. “Show a little respect. Show a little dignity. Show a little class.”



RELATED VIDEO: ‘It’s a Very Poor Prognosis’: John McCain Opens Up About Cancer Diagnosis



'It’s a Very Poor Prognosis': John McCain Opens Up About Cancer Diagnosis
John McCain Diagnosed With Glioblastoma, An Aggressive Form Of Brain Cancer




The McCain bashing is even worse, Scarborough said, considering the senator is a veteran who spent five and a half years as a prisoner of war in Vietnam. The host also noted that McCain was offered his freedom due to having a powerful father, but he refused to leave captivity until his fellow prisoners were also released.
“[He] could have done what Donald Trump did,” Scarborough said. “He could have avoided the draft. His dad was one of the most powerful men in America. He could have stayed home like Donald Trump, and he could have stayed home and chased models.”

I know this "cause" seems to have been dropped....but for those interested...He is coming home in a matter of days....

https://www.irishtimes.com/news/social-affairs/ibrahim-halawa-gets-new-irish-passport-ahead-of-release-1.3227979

18 September 2017

Ibrahim Halawa has been acquitted of all charges after spending four years in jail in Egypt. He is expected to be released within days.
The verdict comes after four years of family appeals, trial adjournments, diplomatic interventions, Dáil rows, visits by an Oireachtas delegation and demonstrations.
The judgement was expected to be delivered last month but it was adjourned until today. It is unlikely he will be released immediately due to procedures within the Egyptian judicial and prison authorities.

I wasn't aware of this story WWHS.  That is good news for him and his loved ones.

To follow-up on annemarie's post .... this is what has continued to baffle me about the people who stand in solidarity with Trump.  Where is their sense of humanity?  And so many are evangelicals.  It blows my mind. Trump doesn't have an empathetic or compassionate bone in his body.  Who doesn't see that???  The absolute hypocrisy of Trump is on full display after bashing and disrespecting McCain for not being a war hero because he got captured and denigrating NFL players for kneeling during the national anthem.  Trump has no clue of the meaning of patriotism.

I think a lot of his followers think like him. They voted for him so they are like him sadly.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4925708/Putin-announces-Russia-destroy-chemical-weapons.html


[size=34]Putin announces Russia will today destroy the last of its chemical weapons… and criticises Trump for not following suit[/size]

• Kremlin strongman, 64, made the announcement today in a televised speech
  
  
• He said it'd be a 'historic event' when last of Russia's chemical weapons are gone 
  
  
• Putin also used speech to needle Washington, saying US was neglecting duties
  
  
• Weapons inherited from Soviet era could've destroyed all living things, he said 
  
  

By GARETH DAVIES FOR MAILONLINE
PUBLISHED: 10:15 EDT, 27 September 2017 | UPDATED: 10:16 EDT, 27 September 2017

    

Vladimir Putin has announced Russia will destroy its last chemical weapons today in a 'historic event' and has criticized his American counterpart Donald Trump for not following suit.
The Kremlin strongman made the announcement today, saying everything Russia inherited from the Soviet era - which he claimed would be enough to destroy all living things many times over - would be obliterated. 
President Putin also used the speech to needle Washington, saying the United States was not carrying out its international duties in full. 


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Russian President Vladimir Putin attends a meeting of the Presidium of the State Council on comprehensive development of passenger transportation in the Russian Federation in Ulyanovsk last week


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Two Russian soldiers make a routine check of metal containers with toxic agents at a chemical weapons storage site in the town of Gorny, 124 miles south of the Volga River city of Saratov, Russia in this May 20, 2000
'Today the last chemical ammunition from Russia's chemical weapon stockpile will be destroyed,' Putin said in comments he made on television.




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'This is truly a historic event, taking into account the huge amount we inherited from Soviet times that was enough - as experts believed - to destroy all living things many times over.
'This is a huge step towards making the modern world more balanced and safe.'


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US President Donald Trump and Russia's President Vladimir Putin hold a meeting on the sidelines of the G20 Summit in Hamburg, Germany, on July 7, 2017. President Putin also used the speech to needle Washington, saying the United States was not carrying out its international duties in full


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A Russian military officer showing a Scud missile of the type that Soviet forces filled with nerve agents and stored in seven chemical weapons arsenals in this June, 2001 file picture.
The US 'unfortunately is not carrying out its obligations when it comes to the timeframe of destroying chemical weapons - they pushed back the liquidation timeframe already three times,' Putin was quoted as saying by Russian news agencies.
Putin said Washington had postponed its plans to destroy its chemical weapons citing insufficient funds, which he said 'looked a little bit strange'.
He added: 'Well okay, we expect the United States to carry out all of its obligations it has taken upon itself as part of international agreements just like other countries do.'

Okay,
I said I'd write something about the federal elections in Germany from last Sunday once I've returned from my kids' rehabilitaion and am connected with a stable wifi connection.

First of all, our electoral system is a bit different from yours, it's a mixture of different systems given to Germany after WW II.
We use a mixed-member proportional representation system, a system of proportional representation mixed with elements of first-past-the-post voting. The Bundestaf has 598 nominal members, elected for a four-year term, and these seats are distributed between the sixteen German states in proportion to the states' population eligible to vote.

Every elector (which means everybody who's at least 18 and of German nationality who doesn't serve a long-time prison sentence) has two votes: a constituency and a list vote. 299 members are elected in single-member constituenciesby first-past-the-post, based just on the first votes. The second votes are used to produce an overall proportional result in the states and then in the Bundestag. If a party wins fewer constituency seats in a state than its second votes would entitle it to, it receives additional seats from the relevant state list.
If a party by winning single-member constituencies in one state receives more seata than it would be entitled toaccording to its second vote share in that state (so-called overhang seats), the other parties receive comprehensation seats.

In order to qualify for the party-list vote, a party must either win three single-member constituencies or exceed a threshold of 5% of the second votes nationwide. If a party only wins obe or two single-member cobstituencies and fails to get at least 5% of the second votes, it keeps the single-member seat(s), but other oarties that accomplish at least one of the two threshold conditions receive comorehension seats.
at the 2013 elections, the FDP (liberals) only won 4.8% of party-list which cost it all if the seats in the Bundestag since they didn't win any single-member constituencies.

Due to these compensatiin and overhang seats, the new Bundestag will have not less than 709 members
The new Bundestag will hold its first sitting within 30 days where they will elect the chancellor, until then the old Bundestag will continue to work (or not, as I suggest).

Oud current political situation:

Following the 2013 elections, there were only four parties in the Bundestag: the conservatives (CDU and their Bavarian associates CSU), the social democrats (DPD), the Green party and the socialistic party called 'Die Linken (the left party, hose roots are the leading party in the former GDR). The two leading parties CDU/CSU and SPD formed a coalition with nearly 80% of the MPs. So there wasn't much to do for the opposition, formed by the Green and the Left party.
In addition, chancellor Merkel had announced to shut down all nuclear power stations after Fukushima in 2011, originally a project which had been perfect for the Green party. Two years ago, the conservatives (i.g. chancellor Merkel) decided to allow refugees to enter Germany after chaotic situations in Hungary - this subject had been perfect for the other three parties in the Bundestag, but it was the conservatives - which of course irritated voters as much as politicians who seemed to have lost their profile. And it put them is a difficult position - should they critisize their decision just because it wasn't them?

The liberals used these four years apart from the parliament to renew themselves. They got a new chairman who's just 38 and stages himself like a popstar, have new slogans- they're in English now and even people whose English is quite good, often don't know what it's about, their members know it even less. In fact, their prigram hasn't changed a single bit, but they were elected.

The new AfD ('Alternative for Germany') had started just five years ago as a party which critisized the monetary politics in the Eurozone and was elected into the European Parliament. Two years ago they fired their founders and changed their profile, fighting refugees and immigrants now. They didn't really have or need a program, they stoke fears (often irrational fears, proved by no evidence). One of their leaders said - I'd talked about this a while ago - that he doesn't think our national soccer team represent our country anymore since they've got players with spanish, italian, greec, and turkish roots and - believe it or not - even some black players. Shocking, isn't it? He also wants us to endorse our soldiers who served in two wars during the last century - two world wars which killed millions, caused millions of refugees, damaged Germany's reputation.They continue to talk about sending Angela Merkel to prison, claiming that she broke the law although judges and leading jurists denied that. They provoke , speak controversial, insult other politicians and minorities - and got nearly 13% of the second votes. In East Germany they were second party after the CDU, and in Saxony they even won (and there they have the lowest number of immigrants and refugees). They use social medias much more than any other party and often spread fake news.
What does that say about the voters? They are not more intelligent than in other countries, and somebody like Trump would be voted by many as well. Many voters of the AfD said that they don't expect them to do politics but wanted to teach the other politicians a lesson. Heard that before? Maybe in Britain in June 2016?

Well, the AfD was elected into our county parliament last year and also into several local parliaments, they are also elected into most of the federal parliaments in Germany. And guess what they do? They provoke, put questions and don't accept the responses, block the parliaments' and also the governments' work and have absolutely no intention to work constructive. And half of them already left their party and either continue to work as independant MPs or left it completely. After the elections on Sunday, the chairwoman of the AfD declared on Monday that she won't hjoin the AfD party in the Bundestag but will remain as an independant MP. That was ONE day after she'd won a constituency seat for the AfD!

On Saturday, when my kids were still on their rehabilitation in a city of about 60,000 people near Berlin, we went into town by tram / trolley car. There was a man on our tram, insulting immigrants in such a rude way that I just couldn't believe it. I just hope they didn't understand what he was saying. He also talked about that we all should vote for AfD to 'throw these 'wogs'out of our country' and similar things. At the same time he was drinking several bottles of beer (you're not allowed to drink alcohol onpublic transport), throwing waste on the floor and burping. I thought about starting a discussion with him what he exactly meant when he called others 'asocial' and felt quite guilty that I didn't do it but I was worried since I was there with my two handicapped kids and fidn't know how aggressive / drunk this man was. I have to admit that I feel guilty that I didn't stand up against him...

By they way: Since we'll have elections in our federal state on October 15th, a candidate for the AfD for my area wants 'to reduce the number of immigrants coming to our federal state, to zero'. Can you really discuss seriously with somebody about that? I can't.

Well carol I just read through your very impressive description of the German electoral system and party line breakdown.  Of course to me it seems very confusing.  But when you talk about the alternative right party I get it!  You could easily be profiling that same faction here in the U.S.   ... and their supporters.  Interesting coincidence?

Merkel is a conservative but is that just basically because of her economic policies. Is that what differentiates conservatives from liberals and how do cultural issues factor into the conservative and liberal parties?

By the way, you were smart not to engage the man on the tram.  Your children were with you and you had no way of knowing how this man would react. And he was drunk! No need to feel guilty.  It is sad to say it seems far more dangerous to confront strangers nowadays.  You never know how volatile someone might get or if they might be carrying a weapon!

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4925588/Trump-lifts-curtain-reforms.html





[size=34]Trump says dramatic tax reform plan with three brackets, zero tax on couples' first $24,000 and a massive corporate rate slash is not about him - 'I think there's very little benefit for people of wealth'
[/size]

• President Donald Trump and GOP leaders put out a jointly agreed upon framework for tax reform that they say slashes rates for the middle class
  
  
• Trump has said it will be the 'largest tax cut' in American history. He promotes the plan Wednesday in Indianapolis, Indiana
  
  
• Plan proposes three rates of 12 percent, 25 percent and 35 percent - but also abolishes state tax deduction
  
  
• Corporations will see their rates drop from 35 percent to 20 percent
  
  
• White House is not dictating what income levels will qualify for each bracket
  
  

By FRANCESCA CHAMBERS, WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT FOR DAILYMAIL.COM
PUBLISHED: 09:52 EDT, 27 September 2017 | UPDATED: 15:24 EDT, 27 September 2017


    

The Trump administration yanked the curtain off its federal tax proposal Wednesday. 
President Donald Trump and GOP leaders released a jointly-agreed framework for tax reform that slashes rates for the middle class.
It also cuts the tax rate for wealthy Americans like the president, a billionaire who retains ownership of the business he managed before he took office.
Trump told reporters as he left the White House this afternoon that he would not be benefiting from the proposal, though, characterizing it as a plan for jobs and working people.
'In fact, very, very strongly as you see, there's no -- I think there's very little benefit for people of wealth,' he stated.
Calling it the ‘largest tax cut' in American history, Trump will push the proposal today in Indianapolis, Indiana. 

WHAT TAX REFORM WILL MEAN FOR YOU 

• The lowest income bracket of 10 percent will be eliminated and replaced with a 12 percent rate
  

• Standard deduction will also be doubled
  
• But state and local tax deduction will be abolished 
  

• The first $12,000 of income will not be taxed when filers choose not to itemize
  

• The proposed standard deduction for joint filers is $24,000 annually
  

• Three tax brackets will take the place of the current seven: 12 percent, 25 percent and 35 percent 
  
• No announcement yet on what incomes the three new brackets all be at 
  
• Child tax credit will go up but the plan does not say by how much
  
• A $500 non-child dependent credit is also included 
  
• Most itemized deductions are eliminated and so is the death tax
  
• Mortgage and charitable contribution deductions retained 
  

Vice President Mike Pence governed Indiana until earlier this year, when he stepped into the role of VP. The Midwestern state is also home to Democratic Sen. Joe Donnelly, who's catching a ride with Trump today on Air Force One.
A total overhaul of the tax code, the plan axes four of the existing tax brackets and leaves three rates of 12 percent, 25 percent and 35 percent. Corporations will see their rates drop to 20 percent.  

'The vision is to make it simpler,' White House Counselor Kellyanne Conway said Wednesday morning on Fox and Friends.
Americans are currently taxed at rates of 10, 15, 25, 28, 33 ,35 and 39.6 percent.
They have the option to file a standard tax form or an itemized one. 


'The code currently favors the wealthy and privileged and the connected who can hire attorneys and accountants that can help them navigate and take advantage of these deductions and credits, many of which go away in the Donald Trump legislative plan for tax overhaul,' Conway said Wednesday on Fox. 
It is unclear what income levels will qualify for each bracket in the Trump plan - the White House is leaving that up to Congress. 
What is known is that the administration is proposing to double the standard deduction on taxable income.
The first $12,000 of income will not be taxed when filers choose not to itemize. The proposed standard deduction for joint filers is $24,000 annually. 

But it will also abolish deductions for state and local tax, which could hit taxpayers in high-rate areas, including New York and California. The death tax is repealed, too.
Republicans are also proposing to increase the child tax credit to an unspecified amount that promises to be higher than the current credit of $1,000. A $500 non-child depended is in the framework to help Americans take care of sick or elderly relatives.

SCROLL DOWN FOR VIDEO 



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President Trump told reporters as he left the White House that he would not be benefiting that his tax plan is about jobs and working people. 'In fact, very, very strongly as you see, there's no -- I think there's very little benefit for people of wealth,' he stated
The corporate tax rate will see a steep drop from 35 percent. Trump's plan proposes bring it below a worldwide average of 22.5 percent to make American businesses more competitive.
Businesses will also be with a one-time tax on offshore profits, payable over several years, that's intended to eliminate their incentive to store assets overseas, however.
'We believe a lot of that money will be repatriated and brought back to the U.S.' a senior official said Tuesday.
Small and family-run businesses will pay a maximum rate of 25 percent in the framework that was released on Wednesday. 

Today’s announcement, which Trump will pump during an event this afternoon at the Indiana State Fairgrounds, advances the blueprint the Republican administration put out earlier this year.
It’s the product of careful negotiation between the president’s chief economic adviser, his Treasury secretary, the House speaker, Senate majority leader and the Republican heads of the tax-writing committees of Capitol Hill.
'The goal with all of this is to give our workers the level playing field that they deserve. And they're going to win -- because if the fight is fair, no one on Earth can beat the American worker,' a senior official said Tuesday, previewing the president's speech this afternoon. 


President Trump had vigorously campaigned for a steeper reduction in taxes for corporations and a 10 percent floor for the income tax.
He’ll have to accept the higher rates that congressional Republicans are offering him in order to have a chance at passing reform.



The framework released on Wednesday asserts that 'typical families in the existing 10% bracket are expected to be better off ' because of significantly larger standard deduction, the increased child tax credit and other tax relief it says will be included in tax legislation.
'We believe that the vast majority of people...who are in the 10 percent bracket today will be better off under our framework than under current law,' a White House official told reporters Tuesday during a background call. 

A White House official emphasized on Wednesday morning that Trump would prefer a 15 percent corporate tax rate, even though that’s not what he agreed to.
Trump has repeatedly stressed his desire for the dramatically lower rate that he says will make American businesses more competitive.
Republican lawmakers involved in the tax-writing process have long said that a rate of 20 percent is more attainable. They’ll go to work now turning the proposal into a bill that can be attached onto next year’s budget once that document has passed. 
Administration officials have said they want to pass a budget in October and have tax reform through by the end of the year.
House Speaker Paul Ryan has committed to having a new tax code by New Year’s Day. 
Congressional Republicans are wasting no time delving into the details. They held a half-day retreat to discuss the tax overhaul before a formal rollout this afternoon. Pence was on hand to reinforce the administration's position.
Ryan said at an an event that followed that it's a 'now or never moment' to pass reform. 'The choice before us is really clear.'
Thanking Trump for his leadership, Ryan said, 'To him this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity that is all about more jobs, fairer taxes and bigger paychecks for American families.'
A parade of Republican lawmakers on the House and Senate committees responsible for writing a bill came the microphone to register their support for tax reform.
'This is a big deal. Opportunity is coming. And opportunity is coming for every American, 'Arizona Rep. David Schweikert, a member of the House Ways and Means Committee, said. 
The Republican legislator candidly said, 'Yeah, we have some tough math ahead of us. But I'm gonna make you the argument that growth is coming if we make this work, and we're gonna make it work.'
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said a separate statement that 'after a decade of lost growth, hardworking American families know the status quo is unacceptable.'
'We need to make it easier for America to compete here at home and overseas. It’s time to take more money out of Washington’s pockets, and put more of it in the pockets of Americans.'



A previous analysis by the Committee for a Responsible Budget found that the GOP tax plan to cost anywhere from $3 to $7 trillion. That review was based on a 15 percent corporate rate and the individual rate of 10 percent that Trump had wanted.
Doubling the standard deduction, something the plan does do, will cost $1.5 trillion on its own, the analysis said. 
The administration is counting on growth of 3 percent annually to offset projected revenue losses.  
Democrats are howling at the plan. House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi excoriated is a 'framework that gives away the store to the wealthiest, while sticking the middle class with the bill.'
'Cutting the top tax bracket for the richest and the $270 billion giveaway of repealing the estate tax reveal a GOP tax framework built for billionaires,' Pelosi said in a statement. 'Meanwhile, the token provisions for hard-working middle class families are likely swallowed by Republicans raising the base rate and forcing them to pay more for their state and local tax burden.'
Pelosi said the 'billionaires-first tax plan' uses 'deceitful math' and 'blows a multi-trillion dollar hole in the deficit.' 
A senior official said Tuesday that the the budget resolution that passes the House and the Senate will determine how much the administration's tax reforms can add to the deficit.
'We strongly believe that when you account for the elimination of tax breaks, the base broadening, and the economic growth, that this is not going to add to the deficit; that it will be a deficit-neutral bill when economic growth is taken into account,' the official said. 
'But we are also aware that economic growth numbers depend a lot on the model that you're using. But we are going to have as much of a deficit as the budget resolution allows us to have, and that will be determined once they vote on it.'


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Democrats are howling at the plan. House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi excoriated is a 'framework that gives away the store to the wealthiest, while sticking the middle class with the bill'
Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer also blasted the plan as fiscally irresponsible. He said he also can't see Republicans from states like his, New York, supporting the plan because it repeals state and local tax deductions. 
'Under this plan the wealthiest Americans and wealthiest corporations make out like bandits while middle class Americans are left holding the bag,' he declared at a Capitol Hill News conference. 
Trump said the tax overhaul would be a boon for the middle class, he noted. 
'The plan is a major disappointment because it so deviates from everything the president said...He's talking the talk, but this plan shows he is not walking the walk.' 
Democrats are open to tax cuts for small businesses, Schumer state. There's no proof that big businesses will take the money they save from a lower tax rate and put it into job-creating expansions, though.
The framework doesn't indicate that loopholes closures will offset the rate-slash for big businesses, either, he contended.
'What about on the individual side? Multimillionaires with estates over 11 million dollars, they get a tax break, too. By repealing the estate tax, which goes only for the very wealthy, Republicans are giving $269 billion to the richest two tenths of one percent,' Schumer charged.
Club for Growth, a major player on the right, gave high marks to the administration and the Republican members of Congress who came together to write the tax plan.
The group, which has an economic emphasis, said it is 'very encouraged and pleased' with the proposal that came out today. 
'Fundamental tax reform comes around only once in a generation, and this is our chance,' Club for Growth President David McIntosh said. 'To this end, the Club will also work with Congress to pass a budget in order to get reconciliation tax instructions.' 

Republicans in the ultra-conservative House Freedom Caucus said they'll be supporting the tax reform framework, too, easing passage of a bill in the lower chamber where disputes between Republicans on the edges and those that are right of center have slowed down other GOP priorities. 
'The Freedom Caucus looks forward to sending a final bill based on this framework to President Trump's desk as soon as possible,' ' a statement from the group today said.
Ryan, one of the creator's of the joint framework, said in a statement, 'It has been 31 years since we last got this done, and hardworking families and small businesses cannot afford to wait any longer. Under President Trump’s leadership, we are determined to finally give the American people the simpler, fairer, and more competitive tax system they deserve.' 


Republicans have a lock on the U.S. Senate and the House of Representatives. But leadership's reforms may not have the support of the entire caucus in the Senate, where three no votes from Republicans could kill a reform bill.
Trump has been courting Democrats in states that he won, like Donnelly, as such.
He made his pitch for tax reform in Missouri and North Dakota at events this summer.
Trump invited North Dakota Sen. Heidi Heitkamp on stage at event in Bismarck earlier this month to stand alongside the state's other elected leaders, the rest of whom were Republicans, as he pushed for unprecedented federal tax overhaul
'Everyone's saying, "What's she doing up here?" But I'll tell you what, good woman, and I think we'll have your support. I hope we'll have your support,' Trump told the endangered Democrat from the podium.
He said later in the event, as he spoke about Members of Congress who won't offer their support to his tax plan, 'We're not gonna put her on the spot. I'm not putting her on the spot,' after asking Heitkamp directly, 'Are you listening, Heidi?'


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Vice President Mike Pence governed Indiana until earlier this year, when he stepped into the role of VP. The Midwestern state is also home to Democratic Sen. Joe Donnelly, who's catching a ride with Trump today on Air Force One
Trump told her constituents in his next breath that any Democrat who doesn't vote for his plan should be booted from office.
Heitkamp and Donnelly are up for reelection in 2018. They're both in tough races. Trump is trying to strongarm them into voting for tax reform. He has his eye on West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin, as well.
The Democrats are the only three senators from their party to abstain from a letter that leadership sent Trump pledging not to vote for a tax package that reduces rates for the rich. 
Trump choose Indiana for the tax launch to put pressure on Donnelly but also to  highlight the state's gains under Pence's leadership.
Pence is responsible for the largest income tax cut in Indiana history, an official said. 'He slashed taxes on employers, on families, on farmers. He sped up the elimination of the death tax. He cut red tape; balanced the state's budgets.'
Indiana is 'special' to Trump, the official said. 'It's where he met then-Governor, now Vice President Pence, so it kind of holds a special place in his heart for that reason.'

Carolhathaway - I was glad to see you had a chance to post about your electoral system. It's very interesting to me to see how other governments work. At first I thought "Well, this isn't too different from us" when you were talking about proportional representation, but then I got so lost! HELP!

If you could clear up a couple of things I think I'll be ok. What are: single member constituency, first past the post and list vote. I think if I understood those things I could figure out the rest.

Thanks!

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4927714/Why-Trump-let-Britain-down.html

[size=34]Why HAS Trump let Britain down? ALEX BRUMMER says no one could have guessed the President would turn his fire on US's closest Anglo-Saxon allies[/size]
By ALEX BRUMMER FOR THE DAILY MAIL
PUBLISHED: 20:54 EDT, 27 September 2017 | UPDATED: 20:58 EDT, 27 September 2017

    




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President Donald Trump (pictured) declared he would put America first and protect US manufacturing
When President Trump declared he would put America first and protect US manufacturing from cheap foreign competition, everyone imagined he was referring to the dumping of goods in the country by China, and the cars, steel and consumer products swamping the US from Mexico.
No one could have guessed he would turn his fire on two of America's closest Anglo-Saxon allies – Canada and the UK. After all the US already has a big open trade deal with Canada known as the North America Free Trade Agreement.
And it has wooed Theresa May's government with a pledge to reverse Barack Obama's threat to send the UK to the back of the queue for any post-Brexit free-trade deal. But as we have learnt, Trump is nothing if not unpredictable.
This week his administration, via the US Department of Commerce, imposed an astonishing 220 per cent duty on a major order from Delta Air Lines for the Canadian plane manufacturer Bombardier's C-Series short-haul passenger jet to be partly built in Belfast. Trump's decision was made in the face of passionate pleas from Canadian Premier Justin Trudeau and Mrs May not to punish Bombardier.
At the heart of the dispute is the vexed issue of subsidies. Every government in the Western world provides assistance to plane makers to help cover the enormous research, development and engineering costs required when building new generations of aircraft.
Seattle-based Boeing claims that the cash injected into Bombardier C-Series is over the top and amounts to 'dumping' by Canada and the UK.

RELATED ARTICLES

• There are dozens of ways in which aircraft manufacturers are assisted by their governments. Boeing itself receives development support both from the US government and the city of Seattle and Washington state where its main factories are located. It charges premium prices to the Pentagon for military aircraft and receives cheap finance from the US Export-Import Bank, the country's official export credit agency.
  
  

Boeing and Toulouse-based Airbus are in almost permanent combat at the World Trade Organisation over the scale of the hidden subsidies to vast aircraft and engine deals.
One of the major curiosities about Boeing's complaint against Bombardier is that it currently doesn't have an off-the-shelf short-haul aircraft to fulfil the needs of Delta on domestic US flights. So the world's biggest aircraft maker does not even have any skin in the game.


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The US imposed a 220 per cent duty on a major order for the Canadian plane manufacturer Bombardier's C-Series short-haul passenger jet to be partly built in Belfast (pictured) 
Furthermore, the 220 per cent tariff could actually damage US manufacturing since the engines which will power Bombardier's C-Series are made by US engineering colossus Pratt & Whitney. The imposition of the new duty is by no means the last word in the dispute. The matter will now go to the US International Trade Commission which will rule on whether the duty is justified.
Even if it were to find against Bombardier, the matter could be referred to the World Trade Organisation.
The difficulty for Bombardier is that keeping production lines in Northern Ireland and Canada open while the dispute trundles through the appeals process would be hugely costly.
Bombardier's great hope may lie in China where the company is currently in negotiations with several regional carriers about buying the C-Series plane.
Indeed, it may well have been the possibility of Boeing being frozen out of the lucrative Chinese market which made it so determined to throw a spanner in the works of the Delta sale.
Whatever happens, the dramatic action by the US Department of Commerce cannot help but seriously damage Anglo-American trade relations and the ambitions of Liam Fox and the UK's post-Brexit team of trade negotiators to forge a major free trade deal with the US.
The United States talks up free trade at every opportunity it has.
Yet Trump's protectionist stance looks likely to be the biggest threat to open trade of modern times.

Annemarie,
Trump has attacked Germany really aggressively as well due to its foreign trade balance. He attacks our industry and politics of selling goods to the States, not selling any.
He's right in saying that we sell more from other countries than we buy, but naming the car industry in particular: nobody forces Americans to buy German cars, and American cars are mostly just useless since we don't need large cars to drive around in cities where you don't have enough space to drive them around and especially park them. It's the costumers' choice which car he buys, and I'd really like to know which cars he and his family own privately.

Plus Trump usually seems to forget US companies like Apple, Microsoft, Amazon who compensate the foreign trade balance. So IMO much of his talks is just hot air - but a businessman should know what he's talking about.

LizzyNY wrote:Carolhathaway - I was glad to see you had a chance to post about your electoral system. It's very interesting to me to see how other governments work. At first I thought "Well, this isn't too different from us" when you were talking about proportional representation, but then I got so lost! HELP!

If you could clear up a couple of things I think I'll be ok. What are: single member constituency, first past the post and list vote. I think if I understood those things I could figure out the rest.

Thanks!

Lizzy,
I'm sorry to have confused you about our electoral system. I took the description from a wikipedia article to make sure I use words you'll understand, but maybe that's too specific.

First of all I have to add that we need to register at our local authorities once we move to a different town or city. This means additioning, that you don't need to register to vote as in the States or in the UK, once you have the right age and nationality, you get an invitation to vote. We don't use computers to vote, we use ballot papers instead. And at the end of the day - you usually are allowed to vote from o a.m. to 6 p.m. - the election board counts all the ballots and all the numbers. In my town with about 20,000 people we have about 20 polling stations, one in every village, two in the bigger villages and about ten in the town itself. These numbers are sent to the authorities above and are summed up to until you have the exact result.

Our ballot has two votes. The first one is for the candidate itself - which is the single-member constituency - (you usually have the choice of about ten of them), the second is for the list of the parties in your federal state. Because otherwise - as you all know - all the votes for the other candidates get lost. Which could mean that one candidate wins by a majority of one vote compared to number two (first-past-the-post). So every party in every federal state also sets up a list with candidates, which we are able to vote for as well (list vote), and by the end of the day,after summing up all the votes for the parties, they know how many additional seats each party will get. So they take the lists and add politicians from that list, going down and cancelling candidates who've already been votes by first-past-the-post.
During the last legislative period, we had three MPs for my region: the one who won the majority of votes who is a social democrat and our current secretary of state, one conservative and one from the green party. This isn't actually too bad because you sometimes need a bipartisan lobby.

I hope this helps a bit, Lizzy!

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4927848/Don-Trump-Jr-ditched-Secret-Service-hunt-MOOSE.html

[size=34]Game on: Donald Trump Jr ditched Secret Service so he could hunt MOOSE in Canada[/size]

• Trump Jr ditched his security detail last week, leading to many fevered rumors
  
  
• Some said he would flee due to investigation into alleged Russia collusion
  
  
• But it turned out he was just flying to the Yukon in Canada to hunt moose 
  
  
• He flew on an economy flight across the country to hunt in Whitehorse
  
  
• He reportedly bagged 'a big one'; hunting a moose can cost up to $18,000
  
  
• Trump Jr has since reinstated his Secret Service detail 
  
  

By JAMES WILKINSON FOR DAILYMAIL.COM
PUBLISHED: 22:50 EDT, 27 September 2017 | UPDATED: 23:07 EDT, 27 September 2017

    

When Donald Trump Jr canceled his Secret Service detail this month, rumors ran wild that he was trying to engage in nefarious undercover business with Russia.
But anyone hoping to connect him to dodgy double-dealings with Putin's henchmen is on a wild moose chase.
That's because he temporarily dropped his government entourage so he could hunt the antler-bearing beasts in Canada, The New York Times reported.
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Donald Trump Jr (seen left in the Trump Tower elevator, right in 2010 holding an elephant's tail) canceled his Secret Service detail so he could hunt moose in the Yukon, it has emerged
It emerged last week that Trump Jr had decided to ditch his Secret Service detail.
There then followed a string of articles linking that decision to the fact that he was under investigation for allegedly colluding with Russia to get his father elected.
One GQ article, for example, said that it seemed 'particularly suspicious' and was 'probably shady'. 
Some speculated that he might attempt to flee the country; others that he had engineered a meeting with Russian agents. 
But the truth, it seems, was much more mundane: He was hunting moose.
Trump Jr was spotted flying economy on Air Canada Jazz Flight AC 8889 from Vancouver, British Columbia, to Whitehorse in the Yukon on September 14.
One witness who spotted him wearing 'outdoorsy gear' - khaki clothes, boots and a baseball cap - called him in to the New York Times, which then went on a hunt of its own. 


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It was speculated that Trump Jr (seen with his family and Secret Service agents) had ditched his protection because he might flee the country during the ongoing Russia investigation
Its reporter eventually tracked down the presidential offspring on his return to Whitehorse airport, carrying what appeared to be a case for a hunting bow.
When asked if he'd killed anything, Trump Jr replied: 'I can't really tell you that. Let's just say it was a good hunt.'
It was indeed a good hunt, the Times said - he had bagged a 'big one'.
Then again, you might hope so - hunting in the Yukon for 10 days can cost a base sum of $10,000.
The guides can then tack on additional fees for killing an animal - from $100 for a wolf to $10,000 for a sheep.
According to Bass Pro Shops, a trip to hunt a moose in the Yukon can cost as much as $18,000.

RELATED ARTICLES

Trump Jr was apparently pleased with the coverage, sharing a grab of the headline - 'Donald Trump Jr.'s Great Escape' - on his Instagram. 
'Thanks, The NY Times called me handsome, polite, is surprised that I fly comercial [sic] like everyone else, and cleared up nonsense speculation as to why I was quiet for a few days... I'll take it,' he wrote.
'Checking outside for flying pigs. Shockingly, I guess I'm less of an international man of mystery than others would have you believe.'


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However, the New York Times revealed he had just gone hunting; something that he said on Instagram pleased him (left). Trump Jr has been hunting for years, and has killed many animals
He has since reinstated his Secret Service detail, it was revealed on Monday.
Trump Jr is an avid hunting fan; in July, a photo of him holding an elephant's severed tail led to Hugh Grant calling him a 'w****r' on Twitter.
The photo, taken in 2010, resurfaced in 2015, when Mia Farrow shared a photo taken on the same trip of Trump Jr and brother Eric Trump holding up a dead leopard.
She added the caption: 'What sort of person could kill this beautiful animal? Trump sons could.'

At the time the hunting pictures were first made public, Trump Jr defended his enthusiasm for hunting, writing: 'Not a pr move I didn't give the pics but I have no shame about them either. I hunt and eat game.' 
He added: 'I hunt it all. Just love to be outdoors with a gun or bow .' 
Hunting Legends, the company that organised the Trumps' trip has said their hunt was 'completely legal'. 


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In 2015 this photo of Trump Jr and brother Eric with a dead leopard horrified Mia Farrow, who slammed him for killing the 'beautiful creature'. Trump Jr was unrepentant 

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4927992/Senator-says-Russian-internet-trolls-stoked-NFL-debate.html

[size=34]Senator claims Russian 'troll farms' are stoking NFL debate to 'push divisiveness' and make it seem a bigger issue than it actually is[/size]

• President Trump declared Friday that NFL players who refused to stand during the national anthem were 'sons of b***hes' and should be fired
  
  
• Since then, the hashtags #TakeAKnee and #BoycottNFL have been trending
  
  
• Hundreds of sports stars, celebrities and everyday people have been sharing photos of themselves kneeling in solidarity
  
  
• Now Sen. James Lankford, of Oklahoma, has claimed that Russian trolls have been stoking the NFL debate to rile up divisiveness
  
  
• He said they have been sharing the hashtags 'take a knee' and 'boycott NFL' to amplify the issue and spread discord
  
  
• 'They were taking both sides of the argument... to try to raise the noise level of America and make a big issue seem like an even bigger issue,' he said
  
  
• Facebook acknowledged hundreds of fake accounts, probably run from Russia, spent about $100,000 on ads aimed at stoking divisive issues like race relations
  
  

By HANNAH PARRY FOR DAILYMAIL.COM  and REUTERS
PUBLISHED: 01:35 EDT, 28 September 2017 | UPDATED: 03:32 EDT, 28 September 2017

    

A US senator on Wednesday said Russian internet trolls were stoking the NFL debate to try and stir up divisiveness in America.
Hundreds of sports stars have taken the knee in protest since President Trumpdeclared on Friday that NFL players who refused to stand during the national anthem were 'sons of b***hes' and should be fired.
Since then, the hashtags #TakeAKnee and #BoycottNFL have been trending and the movement has been picked up by celebrities, scientists and doctors who have shared pictures of them kneeling in solidarity on social media. 
On Wednesday, Sen. James Lankford, of Oklahoma, claimed that Russia had paid social media trolls to stoke the debate in an attempt to polarize America. He said they have been sharing the hashtags 'take a knee' and 'boycott NFL' to amplify the issue and spread discord. 
'We watched, even this weekend, the Russians and their troll farms, their internet folks, start hashtagging out #TakeAKnee and also hashtagging out #BoycottNFL,' Lankford, who sits on the Senate Intelligence Committee, said during a hearing on threats faced by the United States. 
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 Sen. James Lankford (pictured) said Russian internet trolls were stoking the NFL debate to try and stir up divisiveness in America


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Terrance Smith #48, Eric Fisher #72, Demetrius Harris #84, and Cameron Erving #75 of the Kansas City Chiefs are seen taking a knee before the game against the Los Angeles Chargers Sunday afternoon, in protest over Trump's comments


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Hundreds of sports stars have taken the knee in protest since President Trump declared on Friday that NFL players who refused to stand during the national anthem should be fired (Members of the Detroit Lions take a knee  on September 24, in Detroit)
'We watched, even this weekend, the Russians and their troll farms, their internet folks, start hashtagging out #TakeAKnee and also hashtagging out #BoycottNFL,' Lankford, who sits on the Senate Intelligence Committee, said during a hearing on threats faced by the United States. 

RELATED ARTICLES

'They were taking both sides of the argument this weekend ... to try to raise the noise level of America and make a big issue seem like an even bigger issue as they are trying to push divisiveness in this country,' Lankford said.
Lankford did not provide evidence to corroborate his statement.
The claim comes as congressional investigators who are probing Moscow's alleged meddling in the 2016 presidential election, focusing on how Russian agents used social media to spread divisive political content.


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President Donald Trump last week referred to NFL players who kneel during the anthem as 'sons of b******' 






A Lankford aide said U.S. intelligence shared with senators showed that Russian troll operations relied on social media to meddle in U.S. issues going back to last year's presidential election in an effort to divide Americans.
Such activity has also been occurring in Europe for years, the aide said.
A website built by researchers working with the Alliance for Securing Democracy, a bipartisan, transatlantic project to counter Russian disinformation, showed tweets promoting both sides of the football debate from 600 accounts that analysts identified as users who spread Russian propaganda on Twitter.
A Senate aide said the website was viewed as credible among congressional investigators.

Earlier this month, Facebook acknowledged hundreds of fake accounts, probably run from Russia, spent about $100,000 on ads aimed at stoking divisive issues such as gun control and race relations during the election.
Executives from Facebook , Alphabet Inc's Google and Twitter will appear in the US Congress in the coming weeks as lawmakers probe Russia's alleged interference in the 2016 US election, committee sources said on Wednesday.
Lawmakers are increasingly alarmed about evidence that hackers used the internet to spread fake news and otherwise influence the 2016 election, have been pushing for more information about the influence of social networks in particular.
As a member of the Senate intelligence committee, Lankford is privy to intelligence that Russian troll farms have used social media to create doubt and chaos in U.S. institutions and government, according to a congressional aide. The aide, who was not authorized to speak publicly, spoke only on condition of anonymity.
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Earlier this month, Facebook acknowledged hundreds of fake accounts, probably run from Russia, spent about $100,000 on ads aimed at stoking divisive issues such as gun control and race relations during the election 


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 Facebook revealed recently that it sold $100,000 worth advertisements to possible Russia-linked buyers (Pictured: Russian President Vladimir Putin Sept. 27, 2017)
The NFL controversy has been a hot topic in the news recently.
President Donald Trump has spent days lashing out at players who kneel during the national anthem, a practice that started with a handful of players to protest racial issues, including police brutality.
Clint Watts, who helped create a website that tracks Russian propaganda on social media, said he can't yet say with certainty that Russian trolls were a major force in the NFL protest debate — after all, plenty of Americans also weighed in. But he suspects Lankford is right.
Watts, a senior fellow at the Foreign Policy Research Institute, said it would be consistent with other documented propaganda campaigns that originated in Russia, such as the use of Facebook to push messages for and against the Black Lives Matter movement.
'The goal is heightened tensions,' Watts said. 'They'll use organic American content to amplify to American audiences. They would much rather use organic American content. It hits the audience better and it's cheaper and more effective.'
Trump, who triggered the debate on Friday, is the perfect vehicle for 'active measures' campaigns, a Soviet term for information warfare designed to destabilize democracies from the inside, Watts said.
'The Russians can just sit back and say: 'Amplify on both sides. Make people angry.' And it works, man, God, it works,' Watts said.
He also said: 'The goal is to sow division in America.'
Russia denies seeking to influence the U.S. election, and Trump has dismissed claims of collusion as fake news.

Big surprise- NOT! My question is, why aren't we retaliating in kind? Or are we?

It's getting weirder, folks.........


https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/sep/28/jared-kushner-registered-as-a-female-voter

I saw that yesterday in the Mail. They said this is the man working on peace in Israel and can't tick the right box on a form.

http://people.com/politics/trump-says-tax-plan-wont-benefit-him-not-true/

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US PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP SPEAKS ABOUT TAX REFORM AT THE INDIANA FARM BUREAU BUILDING ON THE INDIANA STATE FAIRGROUNDS SEPTEMBER 27, 2017 IN INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA. / AFP PHOTO / BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI (PHOTO CREDIT SHOULD READ BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP/GETTY IMAGES)
President Donald Trump made a bold claim as he unveiled his tax reform plan this week: He says he won’t benefit from it.
Speaking at a rally in Indianapolis on Wednesday, Trump rolled out a nine-page tax plan that remains a work in progress. But some of the details included in the plan right now would likely help the president’s bottom line.
“I’m doing the right thing and it’s not good for me, believe me,” he said.
Of course, Trump was the first major-party presidential candidate since 1976 not to release his tax returns, so it’s hard to say exactly how he’ll be affected. But based on tax returns which have become public and what we know of his finances, there are at least three key ways he could benefit.
Here’s how the tax plan would be good for Trump.

Trump wouldn’t have to pay the alternative minimum tax

The alternative minimum tax, or AMT, which dates back to a tax bill passed in 1969, is a backup measure designed to ensure wealthy taxpayers don’t end up paying too little.



Since upper-class Americans can take advantage of various deductions and loopholes in the tax code, the federal government requires them to complete a secondary tax form which looks at things like trusts and estates. If that amount is higher than the tax owed on the regular form, they have to pay the difference.
According to a leaked 2005 Triump tax return, the New York real estate mogul saw his tax bill go from $5.3 million to $36.5 million thanks to the alternative minimum tax. If it had not been in effect that year, he would have saved $31 million.

Trump’s family wouldn’t have to pay the estate tax

The estate tax is levied when people inherit money from a loved one who has died — which is why conservative critics have often referred to it as the “death tax.” Under current law, the first $11 million of an estate is not taxed for a married couple, so it only applies to the wealthiest taxpayers.
The tax is calculated using a complicated formula, but at the upper end it can be as much as 40% on the inheritance over the exempt amount.
Estimates of Trump’s net worth vary, with financial journalists pegging it at about $3 billion, while Trump himself claims it is more than $10 billion. But regardless, it’s clear that Trump’s family would stand to gain if the estate tax were eliminated.

Trump’s business would benefit from the treatment of pass-through corporations

When a small-business owner makes money, is that corporate or personal income? That’s a question the tax code attempts to address with its treatment of so-called “pass-through corporations,” where the corporate income “passes through” to the owner.
Though pass-through corporations are supposed to be mom-and-pop shops, they have become more popular among the wealthy in recent years as a way of categorizing their income under the lower personal income tax rate rather than the corporate tax rate. The Tax Policy Center calculated that about 85% of the net benefit of the change would go to the top 1% of earners.



Under the plan Trump unveiled, pass-through corporations would face a 25% tax, essentially reducing the rate by 14.6 percentage points.
The Trump Organization, the President’s umbrella for his varied corporate interests, owns more than 500 pass-through business entities, all of which would see their tax rate go down.

Did anyone really think he'd come up with a tax plan that didn't benefit him and his friends?

Of course not, he does nothing if it doesn't benefit him and his friends.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4933590/HHS-secretary-taken-1-MILLION-tax-paid-flights.html

[size=34]BREAKING NEWS: You're fired! Trump axes private jet scandal HHS Secretary Tom Price[/size]

• Health secretary Tom Price was under fire for taking government jet flights now totaling $1 million
  
  
• The White House released a statement Friday saying he had resigned 
  
  
• He took more than $400,000 worth of Domestic flights
  
  
• President Donald Trump called Price a 'fine man' on Friday 
  
  
• The president said he didn't like the 'optics' 
  
  
• Price announced Thursday he would he would personally reimburse the government $52,000 for the costs of his seats
  
  
• Price also took government jet flights to Europe and Asia costing $500,000 
  
  
• HHS inspector general and internal agency review are underway
  
  
• Visits to Berlin, Geneva, Liberia, Beijing, Tokyo, Vietnam with his wife  
  
  
• President Trump said he was 'not happy' with the situation 
  
  

By GEOFF EARLE, DEPUTY U.S. POLITICAL EDITOR FOR DAILYMAIL.COM
PUBLISHED: 09:51 EDT, 29 September 2017 | UPDATED: 17:10 EDT, 29 September 2017

    

Secretary of Health and Human Services Thomas Price resigned his post Friday after a constant drip of revelations about his costly trips aboard government jets – and the president's frank admission that he didn't like the 'optics.'
The White House revealed his departure Friday afternoon, just hours after Trump had called him a 'fine man' but failed to provide a reassurance he could keep his job.
White House press secretary Sarah Sanders issued a statement saying: 'Secretary of Health and Human Services Thomas Price offered his resignation earlier today and the President accepted.'
Earlier, Trump said he would make a decision tonight on the fate of the embattled Health and Human Services Secretary, whose flights on government jets have cost taxpayers more than $1 million and brought a week of bad PR to the administration. 


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President Donald Trump called HHS Secretary Tom Price a 'very fine man' and said he would make a decision on his status tonight
Stepping in on an acting basis will be Don J. Wright of Virginia, whose designation takes effect just before midnight.  
'Mr. Wright currently serves as the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Health and Director of the Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion,' Sanders said.

Trump got asked about Price on Friday, following revelations of his domestic and international travel aboard military and government-owned jets.
Although the president praised Price's personal character, he did not hide his displeasure. 
'He's a very fine man,' Trump responded in the early afternoon comments. 'But we're going to make a decision some time tonight.' Then Trump added: 'He's a very, very fine man.'


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THIS MIGHT HURT A BIT: Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Tom Price (L) receives a flu shot administered by registered nurse Sharon Walsh-Bonadies (R) during an event on the importance of annual influenza prevention, at the National Press Club
Shortly before Price's time in the cabinet was done, Trump quipped: 'We have great secretaries and some that own their own planes, so that solves that.'
He added: ' We put in an order that no more planes – if you look at past administrations, for instance, if you look at the Obama administration and take a look at the amount of time they spent in the air, they spent a lot of time in the air. But I felt very badly bc Secretary Price is a good man. But we are looking into it and we are looking into it very seriously.'

RELATED ARTICLES

The comments left Price dangling a bit longer, amid widespread predictions he wouldn't last through the week.  
Trump said he was displeased with the 'optics' of the situation – an acknowledgement of how the story has dragged on for a week, even undermining his campaign vow to 'drain the swamp' in Washington – even while calling attention to his own costly travel to visit an array of Trump properties.
'I certainly don't like the optics. I'm not happy, I can tell you that. I'm not happy,' Trump told reporters at the White House before taking off aboard Marine One for his golf course in Bedminster, New Jersey. 


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'I certainly don't like the optics. I'm not happy,' Trump said of Price's trips aboard government aircraft
Trump called the situation a 'shame' – and seemed to indicate that he believed the criticism was misplaced because his own efforts to negotiate with executives had brought down the costs of massive government aircraft contracts.  
'I have a great cabinet,' Trump told reporters. 'We save hundreds of millions of dollars through negotiation. I’ll give you an example. With the F-35 fighter plane, me, myself, I’ve saved hundreds of millions of dollars in negotiations. That’s one of the reasons why I don’t like seeing anybody having a question about flying,' he said. 
'I don't like to see that happen. And I think it’s a shame because as a human being, Tom Price is a very good man, I can tell you that.'
'It’s not a question of competence,' Trump continued. 'I was disappointed because I didn’t like it cosmetically or otherwise. I was disappointed.'
Price is the first cabinet official – confirmed by the Senate – who Trump has let go. He joins a string of senior administration who have been the door during Trump's nine-month tenure.
These have included chief of staff Reince Preibus, chief strategist Steve Bannon, Communications Director Anthony Scaramucci, and press secretary Sean Spicer. 
An administration official with knowledge of the situation confirmed the assessment shortly before the shoe dropped.
The president 'cares about how things look, and this looks really bad. He’s not a happy camper,' said the official.
Price himself acknowledged the tenuousness of his situation, telling Fox News on Thursday: 'I work at the pleasure of the president.'  


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THUMBS DOWN: Price is the first cabinet official – confirmed by the Senate – who Trump has let go
Price took flights to Europe aboard U.S. military jets that cost taxpayers more than $500,000 to operate – and brought his wife along for the trip.
The cost of Price's international was revealed after his job was already on the line following revelations about his costly domestic jet travel on government-owned jets.
President Trump has said he is 'not happy' with the situation – and Price on Thursday agreed to pay back taxpayers $52,000 – the cost of his seats on the domestic flights, but not the total costs.
Price's international trips about military jets bring his grand total to over $1 million since January. The trips were approved by the White House, which oversees travel by cabinet secretaries aboard military aircraft, Politico reported as it revealed the cost of the trips. 
Price was accompanied by his wife, Betty, as he toured global capitals this spring to attend global health conferences. He flew to Berlin, Geneva, Beijing, Tokya, Ho Chi Minh City, as well as Liberia.
He used a C-37B aircraft for the trip, according to the report – a military version of a Gulfstream jet. 


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The president said Price's status would be decided tonight, but the White House announced Price was gone Friday afternoon


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Former Rep. Tom Price (R-GA) stands with his wife Betty Price before being sworn in as the new Health and Human Services Secretary, on February 10, 2017 in Washington, DC. Betty Price accompanied Price on his trip to Europe this spring
In another embarrassing disclosure indicating Price has adversaries within the administration, Buzzfeed reported that Price asked a White House official – only two months after Trump took office – to tell the president he wanted to reopen an executive dining room at HHS. He wanted to reconstitute the dining facility, which had been closed since the George W. Bush administration, a second source confirmed to the publication.
Price undertook a damage control effort to try to save his job Thursday – releasing a statement saying he was done with government jets, agreeing to pay back some funds, and making his case on Fox News – a favorite network for the president, where he hailed Trump as a 'remarkable leader.'   
'I work at the pleasure of the president. The president is a remarkable leader I’m incredibly privileged to serve in his cabinet and work on behalf of the American people,' Price said.


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'We're going through this process, we're going to conduct a full review, and we'll see what happens,' White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said.
'I look forward to regaining the trust that the American people, some of the American people may have lost in the activities that I took,' he continued. 'And to not only regain the trust of the American people but to gain the trust of the administration and the president.'
The White House refused to say Thursday that Price would keep his job in the administration amid ongoing probes of his use of government-provided jets.
'I think the president's addressed this yesterday,' White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders told reporters at the Thursday press briefing at the White House. 'We're going through this process, we're going to conduct a full review, and we'll see what happens,' Sanders said.
Thursday afternoon, HHS announced he was stopping all private jet travel and giving back funds spent to ferry him to appointments around the country.  
'To make sure everyone knows that I understand and appreciate this, and to make sure everyone knows that this will never happen again, I am taking the following steps,' Price wrote.

[size=18]Trump 'not happy' towards health chief Price over private travel

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'My staff and I will continue to cooperate fully with the OIG and internal review. I will take no more private charter flights as Secretary of HHS. No exceptions.'
'Today, I will write a personal check to the US Treasury for the expenses of my travel on private charter planes. The taxpayers won’t pay a dime for my seat on those planes,' Price wrote.
Price got a flu shot at an event at the National Press club but left before taking questions amid the intense media scrutiny. 
'I think we've still got the full confidence of the president' he told reporters who caught him outside.


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Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price is having his use of government jets examined by an inspector general as well as by the House Oversight committee
Sanders' comments came a day after Trump let reporters know he was 'not happy' about the situation – and indicated he had told Price so himself.
'I was looking into and will look into it, and I will tell you personally, I'm not happy about it, I am not happy about it,' the president said when asked about Price as the president prepared to take a trip aboard Marine One en route to Indiana Wednesday.
'I am not happy about it and I let him know it,' Trump added.
'As the president said yesterday, he's not thrilled, definitely not happy,' Sanders said when asked about it.


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Price's government jet tab not surpasses $1 million when military flights approved by the White House are included
'The White House does not have a role on the front-end, of approving private charter flights at the agencies, and that's something that we're certainly looking into from this point forward, and have asked a halt be put, particularly at HHS, on any private charter flights moving forward, until those reviews are completed,' she said.
An inspector general and a House committee are already looking at the conduct, and HHS is also conducting an internal review.
Sanders said the White House was looking at agency jet use generally.
When a reporter noted that counselor to the president Kellyanne Conway was aboard one flight with Price and whether the White House was aware, she responded: 'I didn't say we weren't aware. I said the White House doesn't authorize those private charter flights.' 



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Price is under fire for using government jets when he could have flown commercial


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Secretary of Health and Human Services Tom Price speaks with reporters aboard Air Force One in flight during a trip with US President Donald Trump to Beaver, West Virginia, July 24, 2017.
Sanders also tried to take a shot at the Obama administration, whose cabinet officials have said they seldom if ever used charter corporate-style aircraft, pointing to the use of military aircraft.
'When it comes to military aircraft, that's a part where the White House does actually play a role. And on that front, the Trump administration has actually authorized far fewer flights for senior government officials than the Obama administration did during the same time period,' she said.
'And so we're continuing to look at ways to bring that back, under the places where the White House has that direct control and authority, which is under military aircraft, which we've cut back significantly at this point,' she said.
Price is already under fire for running up travel costs of more than $400,000 using government-owned corporate-style jets rather than flying commercial as he travels around the country.


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NOT HAPPY: President Donald Trump said he is 'not happy' with the situation, which is under review by the White House, Congress, and an inspector general
Politico revealed that one trip was to the resort area of St. Simons Island in Georgia, where Price and his wife own property.

Thanks annemarie for one good news story!  Good riddance to a corrupt and thoroughly hypocritical politician.  

Just got to wonder if anyone is gonna want the job of HHS secretary now.

http://people.com/politics/trump-big-water-ocean-puerto-rico-response/

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[url=https://pinterest.com/pin/create/button/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fpeople.com%2Fpolitics%2Ftrump-big-water-ocean-puerto-rico-response%2F&media=https%3A%2F%2Fpeopledotcom.files.wordpress.com%2F2017%2F09%2Fgettyimages-843825652.jpg%3Fw%3D594&description=A %E2%80%98Toddler-Level%E2%80%99 Response: Trump Mocked for Citing %E2%80%98Big Water, Ocean Water%E2%80%99 as Obstacle to Helping Puerto%C2%A0Rico][/url]
WASHINGTON, DC - SEPTEMBER 07: U.S. PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP ANSWERS REPORTERS' QUESTIONS DURING A JOINT NEWS CONFERENCE WITH AMIR SABAH AL-AHMAD AL-JABER AL-SABAH OF KUWAIT IN THE EAST ROOM OF THE WHITE HOUSE SEPTEMBER 7, 2017 IN WASHINGTON, DC. FOLLOWING MEETINGS AND A WORKING LUNCHEON, THE TWO LEADERS TALKED ABOUT THEIR ONGOING MILITARY COOPERATION AND ONGOING TENSIONS IN THE MIDDLE EAST. (PHOTO BY CHIP SOMODEVILLA/GETTY IMAGES)
President Trump has been criticized for what some are calling his lackluster response to hurricane-ravaged Puerto Rico — and his explanation on Friday did little to help him.
During a speech on his tax plan in Washington, D.C., Trump said the Hurricane Maria disaster relief effort in Puerto Rico has been complicated because the island is “surrounded by water.”
“This is an island, surrounded by water. Big water. Ocean water,” the president said.
Now the president is being pilloried on Twitter not just for his hurricane response, but for his “toddler-level” response to that response.

 Follow
Uriah the Heap @twittednphilly
[ltr]#Trump sounds like a first grader who just saw a topographic map of the ocean floor for the first time. "Big water. Ocean water."[/ltr]
2:48 PM - Sep 29, 2017

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Farron Cousins 

@farronbalanced
[ltr]Trump called the ocean "big water." My just-turned-3-year old refers to the beach as going to "big water." Trump speaks at a toddler level.[/ltr]
12:47 PM - Sep 29, 2017

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Eric Boehlert 

@EricBoehlert
[ltr]amazing, how Obama was able to deliver massive relief to the island of Haiti, which is surrounded by "big water" https://shareblue.com/trumps-puerto-rico-defense-this-is-an-island-surrounded-by-water-big-water-ocean-water/ …[/ltr]
12:13 PM - Sep 29, 2017

Trump's Puerto Rico defense: "This is an island surrounded by water. Big water. Ocean water." -...

Trump blames "big water" for his pathetic response to the disaster in Puerto Rico.
shareblue.com

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Ana Navarro 

@ananavarro
[ltr]Trump forgot to say Puerto Rico is surrounded by, "wet water".

Ay, bendito. God help us all, particularly Puerto Rico.[img(16.05px,16px)]https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/72x72/1f1f5-1f1f7.png[/img]https://twitter.com/kylegriffin1/status/913795940305264641 …[/ltr]
1:01 PM - Sep 29, 2017

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Nick Jack Pappas 

@Pappiness
[ltr]In Trump's defense, it's called "Big Water" in the Puerto Rico brief they put on his desk:[/ltr]
4:06 PM - Sep 29, 2017

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Troostwornall @TroostWornall
[ltr]"Big Water, Ocean Water," a Trump Can Read book by Dr. Seuss.[/ltr]
12:50 PM - Sep 29, 2017 · Manhattan, NY

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RELATED VIDEO: Watch: Natasha Stoynoff Breaks Silence, Accuses Donald Trump of Sexual Attack



[size=14]Watch: Natasha Stoynoff Breaks Silence, Accuses Donald Trump of Sexual Assault
Natasha Stoynoff claims she was sexually assaulted by Donald Trump while on assignment for People at his Mar-a-Lago estate.


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Hurricane Maria has devastated Puerto Rico, leaving many of its 3.4 million residents without power, food and drinking water.
Trump similarly defended his response to Puerto Rico during a news conference on Tuesday, when he said: “It’s very tough because it’s an island. In Texas, we can ship the trucks right out there and we can do — we’ve gotten A-pluses on Texas and on Florida, and we will on Puerto Rico. But the difference is it’s an island, sitting in the middle of an ocean.”

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http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4933776/Russia-ready-work-NK-peaceful-resolution.html

[size=34]Russia is ready to work together with North Korea to find a 'peaceful resolution' to nuclear missile crisis, Moscow says[/size]

• Russian and North Korean representatives met in Moscow on Friday
  
  
• Moscow said it had made it clear to Pyongyang that it is ready to mediate
  
  
• Foreign Ministry said it wants to find 'peaceful' solution to nuclear missile crisis
  
  

By SARA MALM FOR MAILONLINE
PUBLISHED: 11:00 EDT, 29 September 2017 | UPDATED: 16:01 EDT, 29 September 2017

    

Moscow is prepared to work with Pyongyang to try to find a peaceful resolution to the North Korean missile crisis, the Russian Foreign ministry said on Friday.
Russian and North Korean foreign ministry representatives met in Moscow today, and Kremlin said it had sent a clear message to Pyongyang that it was ready to step in to mediate.
Earlier today it was reported that any attempt by North Korea to fire a missile at the United States may force the US military to destroy a nuclear warhead over Russian territory, as this would be the likeliest trajectory of a missile.


+3


Covert mission: Members of the North Korean delegation leave after the talks at the Russian foreign ministry venue in Moscow on Friday
Any missile fired at the US by the totalitarian dictatorship would most likely fly over the North Pole and may even have to be destroyed over Russia itself.
General Lori Robinson, the head of the US Northern Command and the North American Aerospace Defense Command (or NORAD), said today that this fact was something she is 'aware of'.

RELATED ARTICLES

The Russian Foreign Ministry released a statement today after the meeting in Moscow between Russian ambassador-at-large Oleg Burmistrov and Choe Son-hui, director-general of the North American department of North Korea's foreign ministry.
Son-hui also met with Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Igor Morgulov, the ministry said.
'The Russian side confirmed its readiness to combine efforts in the interests of finding ways to solve the problems in the region by peaceful, political and diplomatic means,' it said. 


+3


Talks: Russian and North Korean foreign ministry representatives met in Moscow today, and Kremlin said it had sent a clear message to Pyongyang that it was ready to mediate


+3


Finger on the button: Should North Korea's Kim Jong-Un fire a missile at the United States, the US military is likely to have to destroy it over Russia, as this would be the likeliest trajectory
This comes as North Korea warned the US its 'belligerent bravado' will only 'erupt our will for revenge', after US military carried out an exercise close to its border last week.
In a show of force on Saturday, U.S. Air Force B-1B Lancer bombers escorted by fighters flew east of North Korea.  

The Pentagon said the squadron's flypast was the farthest north of the Korean Demilitarized Zone that any U.S. fighter jet or bomber has flown in the 21st century.
Pyongyang responded by calling it an 'extremely dangerous act, designed to drive the situation of the Korean Peninsula to extremes'. 

Today, a state-run North Korean propaganda outlet slammed the exercise and called it an 'anti-Pyongyang provocation that cannot be overlooked in the least.'
In a commentary called 'Provocative behavior that arouses tens of millions of people's will for revenge', overseas media outlet Uriminzokkiri said: 'The U.S. belligerent bravado will only fiercely erupt our will for revenge.'

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/sep/29/air-force-academy-general-racism-jay-silveria

Presidential candidate potential?

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/sep/29/san-juan-mayor-criticizes-us-officials-for-calling-puerto-rico-relief-effort-good-news

Yep PAN, real leaders know how to denounce racism.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/ushome/index.html

[size=34]Trump attacks 'nasty' San Juan mayor on Twitter and says Puerto Ricans 'want everything to be done for them' as officials plead for more federal assistance in the wake of Maria[/size]

• President Donald Trump went on a Twitter rant Saturday blasting the coverage of the government's response to Hurricane Maria and the San Juan mayor 
  
  
• He  also said Puerto Rican workers 'want everything to be done for them'
  
  
• Trump also said Democrats told Mayor Carmen Yulín Cruz to be 'nasty' to him 
  
  
• On Friday,  DHS Secretary Elaine Duke said the government 's response to the category five storm was a 'good news story' 
  
  

By KAILEEN GAUL FOR DAILYMAIL.COM
PUBLISHED: 09:15 EDT, 30 September 2017 | UPDATED: 10:55 EDT, 30 September 2017

    


President Donald Trump took to Twitter Saturday to blast San Juan Mayor Carmen Yulín Cruz, calling her 'nasty' and also said the American citizens in Puerto Rico expect handouts.
Trump tweeted: 'The Mayor of San Juan, who was very complimentary only a few days ago, has now been told by the Democrats that you must be nasty to Trump.'
'Such poor leadership ability by the Mayor of San Juan, and others in Puerto Rico, who are not able to get their workers to help.'
Cruz responded to Trump's comments this morning telling Joy Reid on MSNBC: 'Actually, I was asking for help. I wasn't saying anything nasty about the president, but don't take my word for it. 
'General Buchanan, a three-star general, has said as one of the first comments that he has made about the Puerto Rico situation, that he doesn't have enough troops and he doesn't have enough equipment of what he needs to get the situation under control.'
In his first tweet after Hurricane Maria devastated the US territory, Trump brought up how the country still owed money to Wall Street. 


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President Trump said Democrats told San Juan Mayor Carmen Yulín Cruz to be 'nasty' towards him in a Twitter rant early Saturday morning 


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Trump criticized the mayor's leadership and said she was not able to get 'workers to help' the devastation in Puerto Rico 
The county is in $73 billion of debt but less than a quarter of that debt is owned by hedge funds. According to CNN Money, the rest is held by individuals and mutual fund i.e. Main Street America.  
Today he criticized the efforts of the Puerto Rican people and Mayor Carmen Yulín Cruz. On Friday, she pleaded with the federal government to send more resources to Puerto Rico. 
Cruz said in several TV interviews that the lack of an efficient response by the US military and government was going to cost people's lives. 
White House Director of Social Media Dan Scavino Jr tweeted that Cruz was dramatizing the situation in Puerto Rico because she did not like the president before the storm.
He screenshotted tweets in Spanish that were critical of the president, writing: 'San Juan, PR Mayor has been hating on @realDonaldTrump long before he was our President. I'm not surprised by the show she is putting on...' 

Trump will visit Puerto Rico on Tuesday with the First Lady. He also said he would try to stop by the US Virgin Islands, saying people there are 'working hard.'
He continued in his rant: 'They want everything to be done for them when it should be a community effort. 10,000 Federal workers now on Island doing a fantastic job.'


+7



San Juan Mayor Carmen Yulín Cruz was astonished that DHS Secretary Elaine Duke Duke called the government response to Hurricane Maria was a 'good news story' 


+7


'Puerto Rico was totally destroyed': Trump said the US military and first responders were doing an 'amazing job' in the wake of the category five hurricane 


+7


White House Director of Social Media Dan Scavino Jr said the mayor was putting on a show 
'The military and first responders, despite no electric, roads, phones etc., have done an amazing job. Puerto Rico was totally destroyed.' 
He then went on to criticize news coverage of the devastation from the category five hurricane.

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 Trump tweeted: 'Fake News CNN and NBC are going out of their way to disparage our great First Responders as a way to "get Trump." Not fair to FR or effort!'
Trump's Homeland Security chief told reporters Friday that the government's response to Maria was a 'good news story.'


+7


'When you're drinking from a creek, it's not a good news story': Cruz was shocked DHS Secretary Elaine Duke Duke called the government's response to Maria a good news story 


+7


Puerto Rico National Guard delivers FEMA supplies of water and MRE meals by helicopter to rural area of Lares devastated by hurricane Maria
DHS Secretary Elaine Duke Duke said: 'I know it is really a good news story in terms of our ability to reach people and the limited number of deaths that have taken place in such a devastating hurricane.' 
In an interview with CNN Friday, Cruz seemed astonished by Duke's comments.
 Cruz responded the quote on the brink of tears saying: 'When you're drinking from a creek, it's not a good news story. When you don't have food for a baby, it's not a good news story.'
'When you have to pull people down from buildings -  I'm sorry, that really upsets me and frustrates me. '
Cruz then invited Duke to come witness the devastation of the towns and reconsider her statement.
Frustated, she said: 'Dammit, this is not a good news story. This is a 'people are dying' story. It's a life-or-death story.'

It boggles the mind to see Donald Trump, the definition of a lousy leader, criticize anyone for "poor leadership ability". Has he never looked in a mirror?

One wonders if he would be more sympathetic if the people of Puerto Rico spoke English and had lighter skin. Maybe he'll be more helpful once he realizes that the island will have to be rebuilt. Great opportunity for a real estate developer to get in cheap and plaster his name all over things. When he goes to PR on Tuesday, I hope the mosquitos get him!

He is simply nasty, the mayor is seeing people starving and dying, this he doesn't understand. Everything has to be about him this is what America is stuck with a man who has no common sense or compassion.

There is a well known Washington chef, Jose Andres, who has been down in PR since Monday.  He brought his chef skills, his heart and his credit card and he has been dishing out thousands and thousands of meals in and around San Juan, including hospitals.  This is the same chef who was sued by Trump last year when Andres pulled out of opening a restaurant in Trump's new Washington hotel after Trump denigrated Mexicans.

It is evident that Trump does not consider PR worthy of the kind of support that was given to Texas and Florida, and continues to use dog whistles to demean their citizens.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4938486/Trump-Tillerson-wasting-talking-Little-Rocket-Man.html




[size=34]Trump tweets that Rex Tillerson is 'wasting his time' trying to negotiate with 'Little Rocket Man' one day after secretary of state acknowledges the US is in direct contact with North Korea
[/size]

• President Trump seemed to admonish efforts made by Secretary of State Rex Tillerson to calm relations with North Korea 
  
  
• In Beijing this weekend, Tillerson warned Saturday that the 'whole situation is a bit overheated right now'
  
  
• The secretary of state also acknowledged that the US has been in contact with the North Koreans over the regime's nuclear and missile testing  
  
  

By NIKKI SCHWAB, U.S. POLITICAL REPORTER FOR DAILYMAIL.COM
PUBLISHED: 11:17 EDT, 1 October 2017 | UPDATED: 12:24 EDT, 1 October 2017

    nts

President Trump suggested Sunday that he wasn't interested in a diplomatic solution in North Korea by speaking to Pyongyang. 
'I told Rex Tillerson, our wonderful Secretary of State, that he is wasting his time trying to negotiate with Little Rocket Man...,' Trump tweeted first. 'Save your energy Rex, we'll do what has to be done!'  
Trump's tweets come just as Tillerson has been urging a calming of tensions between North Korea and the United States.  


+4




+4



President Trump (left) said Saturday that his own Secretary of State Rex Tillerson (right) was wasting time by trying to negotiate with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un over the regime's nuclear and missile testing 






President Trump may have thrown a wrench into Secretary of State Rex Tillerson's plans to start a dialogue with North Korea by dashing off these two tweets 


+4


Secretary of State Rex Tillerson is visiting Beijing and revealed yesterday that the United States has direct channels to speak with the North Korean. He also advised that the Americans and the North Koreans needed to 'calm things down' 


+4



'I think the most immediate action that we need is to calm things down,' Tillerson told reporters Saturday, after meeting with Chinese President Xi in Beijing. 'They're a little overheated now. And I think we need to calm them down first.' 
A reporter then asked Tillerson if he was referring to words used by President Trump. 
Trump has adopted the nickname 'Rocket Man' for North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, even deploying it during his speech before the United Nations General Assembly. 
'I think the whole situation is a bit overheated right now, Tillerson said. 'I think everyone would like for it to calm down.'  

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He added, 'Obviously it would help if North Korea would stop firing off missiles.' 
'That would calm things down a lot,' he added, according to Time.   
Tillerson also acknowledged for the first time yesterday that the US is in direct communication with the North Koreans over their nuclear and rocket tests, according to the New York Times.  
 'We are probing, so stay tuned,' Tillerson said when asked how he might initiate a conversation with the North Korean dictator. 
'We ask, "Would you like to talk?" We have lines of communication with Pyongyang – we're not in a dark situation, a blackout,' Tillerson said. 'We have a couple, three channels open to Pyongyang,' Trump's secretary of state acknowledged. 
 'We can talk to them, we do talk to them,' Tillerson said, though wouldn't go as far as describing the communication as an established dialogue. 
'We haven't even gotten' that far, Tillseron acknowledged.   
The sheer brashness of Trump's Sunday morning tweets were greeted with shock by those in the diplomatic world. 
'Diplomacy not a favor we dispense but a critical national security tool for ourselves,' wrote Council on Foreign Relations president Richard N. Haass on Twitter Sunday. 'Potus truly misguided here-& SecState should resign,' Haass advised.

Puerto Rico

https://twitter.com/ladygaga/status/914153268493770752?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw&ref_url=http%3A%2F%2Fthehill.com%2Fblogs%2Fin-the-know%2Fin-the-know%2F353241-lady-gaga-trump-not-helping-puerto-rico-because-of-the

Since yesterday, homosexual couples in Germany are allowed to marry. Before that, they were aloowed to have a 'civil union' which meant that they had the same duties but not the same rights as married couples. Now this changed, and homosexual couples have the same rights as hetrosexual couples as well. 

In many cities the registrar's office opened just for them and married many couples. Two men in Hamburg are 81 and 89, they are together for 56 years. At that time, homosexual relations were criminal, and homosexuals were imprisoned. I'm really happy for them and a bit proud about my country.

I just read about the attack in Las Vegas. More than 20 people were killed, more than 100 injured. What a horror!

http://people.com/crime/active-shooter-reported-near-las-vegas-casino-hotel-during-country-music-festival/

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At least 50 people have been killed and 200 wounded after a gunman opened fire on a country music festival with a fully automatic weapon Sunday night.
The shooting started just as Jason Aldean began his show at the Route 91 Harvest Festival, a three-day country music festival.
Videos posted on social media show Aldean singing as very rapid gunfire begins in the background. He can be seen running from stage as he, and the thousands in the crowd, realized what was happening.
One off-duty officer with the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department, who was attending the concert, is among the dead, Sheriff Joseph Lombardo told reporters early Monday.
Witnesses reported that a gunman continued to rain bullets on the terrified audience for up to two hours. The victims took the short pauses while the shooter reloaded to run to safety, according to NBC News. Many were trapped in the concert venue as police searched for the gunman.



Police SWAT officers killed the shooter – identified as Stephen Paddock, 64, of Mesquite, Nevada – after finding him on the 32nd floor of the Mandalay Bay Casino, Lombardo said.
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 Follow
Luke Broadlick 

@LukeBroadlick
[ltr]Insane.... this JUST happened. #PrayForVegas[/ltr]
3:43 AM - Oct 2, 2017

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“Right now we believe it’s a solo act, a lone wolf attacker,” Lombardo told reporters early Monday. “We are pretty confident there is no longer a threat.”
The gunman has not yet been officially identified.
Aldean called the scene “horrific,” but said he was safe in an Instagram post early Monday.
“Tonight has been beyond horrific. I still dont know what to say but wanted to let everyone know that Me and my Crew are safe. My Thoughts and prayers go out to everyone involved tonight,” he wrote. “It hurts my heart that this would happen to anyone who was just coming out to enjoy what should have been a fun night.”


AP/REX/SHUTTERSTOCK[url=https://pinterest.com/pin/create/button/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fpeople.com%2Fcrime%2Factive-shooter-reported-near-las-vegas-casino-hotel-during-country-music-festival%2F&media=https%3A%2F%2Fpeopledotcom.files.wordpress.com%2F2017%2F10%2Fvegas-shooting-5-2000.jpg%3Fw%3D2000&description=Chase Stevens%2FLas Vegas Review-Journal via AP][/url]CHASE STEVENS/LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL VIA AP




Aldean’s wife Brittany posted a message on Instagram early Monday saying, “We are safe… our angels were definitely watching over us tonight. No words for what happened… Just horrific. Praying for everyone.”
Witness Ivetta Saldana told the Las Vegas Review-Journal, “It was was a horror show. People were standing around, then they hit the floor.”
Robyn Webb, who was at the concert with her husband, told the newspaper, “It just kept coming. It was relentless.”

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Authorities are searching for a 62-year-old woman named Marylou Danly, whom they call the gunman’s roommate. She is being called a person of interest in the investigation.
NBC reports that police have searched a home in Mesquite, Nevada, 85 miles from Las Vegas. It’s believed the gunman lived there with Danly.
[url=https://pinterest.com/pin/create/button/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fpeople.com%2Fcrime%2Factive-shooter-reported-near-las-vegas-casino-hotel-during-country-music-festival%2F&media=https%3A%2F%2Fpeopledotcom.files.wordpress.com%2F2017%2F10%2Fmarilou-danley-1-2000.jpg%3Fw%3D2000&description=Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department][/url]LAS VEGAS METROPOLITAN POLICE DEPARTMENT
 
Country star Jake Owen has just finished his set and was still on stage when the shooting started. He told the Today show that he ran off the stage and ducked for cover.
“I was crouched down behind a cop car. There was blood on people and you could see a couple of people in the streets that looked like they had been shot,” he said.[/size]

I'd love to hear the NRA rationalize this. This obviously unstable man used a fully automatic weapon for exactly what it was designed to do: shoot as many people as possible. That's its only purpose.

I guess in the political climate we're living in the NRA thinks we should all have that kind of firepower in case someone disagrees with us. If they get their way we'll be able to put silencers on our guns, too.

It occurs to me that we'll never be ble to really regulate guns in this country. Maybe instead we should tax the ammo. How about a $5 tax on each bullet? Maybe that would slow some of these idiots down.

This mass murder in Las Vegas was obscene and repulsive.  I'm sick of hearing the rhetoric that we are all going to hear over the next few days about how and why this happened.  And how it could have been prevented.
These horrific murders will continue.  Sadly there is a lot of hate out there and guns provide the expression of that hate.  I feel so bad for the victims and their families.  Another sad day for our country.

This is going to sound dreadful - it's not meant to - but I suppose that if you allow people to own as many guns of all sorts as they like and make them freely available, and facilitate their practice in using them, then logically at some point aren't the odds that someone, for whatever reason is likely to use them - and in possibly the most appalling way?

PAN - Don't apologize for saying what every sane person in this country has been saying for years. Unfortunately, too many of our politicians take money from the NRA and are supported by the same conspiracy theory gun-rights nuts that make up Trump's base. It's ironic that they're the ones most likely to cause trouble.

I know ISIS is claiming this guy was a convert, but at this point I think they'd take credit for any crime committed anywhere just to continue to stay in the headlines.

LizzyNY wrote:PAN - Don't apologize for saying what every sane person in this country has been saying for years. Unfortunately, too many of our politicians take money from the NRA and are supported by the same conspiracy theory gun-rights nuts that make up Trump's base. It's ironic that they're the ones most likely to cause trouble.

I know ISIS is claiming this guy was a convert, but at this point I think they'd take credit for any crime committed anywhere just to continue to stay in the headlines.

Lizzy,
I just read that the rifle companies' value on stock raised because it is believed that more people will buy guns now due to this shooting. They seem to speculate that people will now go to festivals armed to be able to shoot somebody who steps on their feet, sings false or simply go on their nerves.

It's my assumption as well that ISIS tries to stay present in the medias by trying to claim responsibility for any crime committed worldwide. That's also a way to cause fears and mystify themselves.

Carolhathaway - Stock in gun companies always goes up after a mass shooting because so many people in this country are paranoid.  For some reason they're afraid that someone, somehow is going to come charging at them and take away everything they hold dear.  Truth is their guns won't help them at all where the real threats to their lives are concerned - being unprepared for a global economy, global pollution and climate change, governmental failure to support citizens' concerns over corporate profit...I could go on for hours. In the meantime they just keep buying more guns and mostly  shooting each other - and occasionally, like today, a whole lot of people who never did them any harm.

If this country was a person we'd be labeled schizophrenic, locked in a mental ward and medicated!

I just read this truely inspiring comment in the New York Times by Nick Kristof:

https://mobile.nytimes.com/2017/10/02/opinion/mass-shooting-vegas.html?smid=tw-nytopinion&smtyp=cur&referer=https://t.co/q8nMOo61Vu?amp=1


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People run from the Route 91 Harvest country music festival in Las Vegas after gunfire was heard on Oct. 1.

DAVID BECKER / GETTY IMAGES


OCTOBER 2, 2017




Nicholas Kristof

After the horrific mass shooting in Las Vegas, the impulse of politicians will be to lower flags, offer moments of silence, and lead a national mourning. Yet what we need most of all isn’t mourning, but action to lower the toll of guns in America.
We don’t need to simply acquiesce to this kind of slaughter. When Australia suffered a mass shooting in 1996, the country united behind tougher laws on firearms. As a result, the gun homicide rate was almost halved, and the gun suicide rate dropped by half, according to the Journal of Public Health Policy.
Skeptics will say that there are no magic wands and that laws can’t make the carnage go away. To some extent, they’re right. Some criminals will always be able to obtain guns, especially in a country like America that is awash with 300 million firearms. We are always likely to have higher gun death rates than Europe.
But the scale is staggering. Since 1970, more Americans have died from guns (including suicides, murders and accidents) than the sum total of all the Americans who died in all the wars in American history, back to the American Revolution. Every day, some 92 Americans die from guns, and American kids are 14 times as likely to die from guns as children in other developed countries, according to David Hemenway of Harvard.


So while there’s no magic wand available, here are some steps we could take that would, collectively, make a difference:
1. Impose universal background checks for anyone buying a gun. Four out of five Americans support this measure, to prevent criminals or terrorists from obtaining guns.

2. Impose a minimum age limit of 21 on gun purchases. This is already the law for handgun purchases in many states, and it mirrors the law on buying alcohol.
3. Enforce a ban on possession of guns by anyone subject to a domestic violence protection order. This is a moment when people are upset and prone to violence against their ex-es.
4. Limit gun purchases by any one person to no more than, say, two a month, and tighten rules on straw purchasers who buy for criminals. Make serial numbers harder to remove.

5. Adopt microstamping of cartridges so that they can be traced to the gun that fired them, useful for solving gun crimes.
6. Invest in “smart gun” purchases by police departments or the U.S. military, to promote their use. Such guns require a PIN or can only be fired when near a particular bracelet or other device, so that children cannot misuse them and they are less vulnerable to theft. The gun industry made a childproof gun in the 1800’s but now resists smart guns.
7. Require safe storage, to reduce theft, suicide and accidents by children.
8. Invest in research to see what interventions will be more effective in reducing gun deaths. We know, for example, that alcohol and guns don’t mix, but we don’t know precisely what laws would be most effective in reducing the resulting toll. Similar investments in reducing other kinds of accidental deaths have been very effective.


These are all modest steps, and I can’t claim that they would have an overwhelming effect. But public health experts think it’s plausible that a series of well-crafted safety measures like these could reduce gun deaths by one-third—or more than 10,000 a year.

It’s too soon to know what, if anything, might have prevented the shooting in Las Vegas, and it may be that nothing could have prevented it. In some ways, these mass shootings are anomalies: Most gun deaths occur in ones or twos, usually with handguns (which kill far more people than assault rifles), and suicides outnumber murders.
But in every other sphere, we at least use safety regulations to try — however imperfectly — to reduce death and injury.
For example, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration has seven pages of rules about ladders, which kill 300 people a year. Yet the federal government doesn’t make a serious effort to reduce gun deaths, with a toll more than 100 times as high.
The best example of intelligent regulation is auto safety. By my calculations,we’ve reduced the auto fatality rate per 100 million miles driven by more than 95 percent since 1921. There was no single solution but rather many incremental efforts: seatbelts, air bags, padded dashboards, better bumpers, lighted roads, highway guardrails, graduated licenses for young people, crackdowns on drunken driving, limits on left turns, and so on. We haven’t banned automobiles, and we haven’t eliminated auto deaths, but we have learned to make them safer — and we should do the same with guns.
The gun lobby will say that this isn’t a time for politics. But if we can’t learn the lesson from this carnage, then there will be more such shootings — again and again. This is a particularly American tragedy and completely unnecessary.


So let’s mourn. But even more important, let’s act.
I invite you to sign up for my free, twice-weekly email newsletter. Please also join me on Facebook and Google+, watch my YouTube videos and follow me on Twitter (@NickKristof).

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I know it's hard to think about something else than Las Vegas today, but I just read that the House and Senate missed the deadline to reauthorize the Children's Health Care Program (CHIP), meaning that federal funding of the program expired by the end of September:

http://abcnews.go.com/amp/US/program-low-cost-health-care-9m-children-set/story?id=50188069


ABCNews

Program that provides low-cost health care to 9M children set to expire
By ERIN DOOLEY and MERIDITH MCGRAWSep 29, 2017, 8:54 PM ET









Cultura Exclusive/Getty Images
Amid intense debates about the Graham-Cassidy health care bill, the Senate and House missed the deadline to reauthorize the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP) -- meaning federal funding for the program will expire at the end of the month.
Last reauthorized in 2015, CHIP is a partnership between the federal government and states that insures American children from low and moderate-income families.





And though the program's situation isn't yet dire -- and won't be until the states begin to run out of money -- some states are starting to get nervous about paying for the program.
"States are optimistic that Congress will actually act. They're not totally panicked yet," said Diane Rowland, executive vice president of Kaiser Family Foundation. "But, they need to know very soon that addition money will be coming so they'll know how they can continue their programs."

A Little History

CHIP was passed into law with bipartisan support under President Bill Clinton in 1997.
Co-sponsored by the late Sen. Ted Kennedy, D-MA, and Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-UT, and championed by then-first lady Hillary Clinton, the program provides low-cost health coverage to children in families who earn too much to qualify for Medicaid, but still need government support to pay for their kids' healthcare.
In the years following the program's passage, the uninsured rate among children fell significantly, from 13.9 percent in 1997 to 4.5 percent in 2015, according to a Medicaid and CHIP Payment and Access Commission report released early this year. An analysis from the American Academy of Pediatrics found that families are more likely to take advantage of preventative and primary care after enrolling their children in the program.

Who and What Does CHIP Cover?

In 2016, more than 8.9 million children were enrolled in CHIP, up from 8.44 million in 2015, Access Commission records show.
Eligibility rules vary by state, but in most states, children age 18 and younger qualify if their family's income falls under 200 percent of the federal poverty line -- just under $50,000 for a family of four. Some states also offer coverage to children in families earning 250 or even 300 percent of the poverty line. Twenty states offer coverage for pregnant women as well.
Benefits also vary by state, but coverage generally includes routine checkups, immunizations, mental health services, prescriptions, inpatient and outpatient hospital care, and x-ray and lab services.

How Much Does CHIP Cost?

According to the Access Commission, CHIP spending reached about $13.6 billion in FY 2016.
The feds foot the bill for the bulk of CHIP expenditures, with most state governments covering less than 15 percent of the program's cost.
The average cost to families is just over $150 per child per year, according the Access Commission estimates. If not for CHIP, those families would have faced bills of more than $850 per year per child in employer-sponsored insurance, the report said.
Most states have enough money put aside to help pay for CHIP if the government grants aren't immediately available.
But ten states are slated to run out of funding by the end of 2017.
Minnesota's state commissioner for the Department of Human Services even wrote a letter to the Minnesota congressional delegation urging them to extend funding now, saying the state will exhaust their $115 million CHIP allotment soon.

What Happens If We Don't Reauthorize CHIP?

While health coverage for kids under CHIP won't suddenly disappear on Oct. 1, there are serious consequences for the program at the state level. If certain needs aren't met, states will have to reshuffle their funds and may have to notify families soon of amended coverage plans.
Some advocates have expressed concern that CHIP could be another battleground for Obamacare, but most evidence points to lawmakers being supportive of the bipartisan program.
"What I don't know is whether there will be an extension for 5 years, 1 year, 2 years. So while I don't think there will be an immediate crisis, I don't know what the long range prospect for CHIP will be," said Rowland.






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party animal - not! wrote:This is going to sound dreadful - it's not meant to - but I suppose that if you allow people to own as many guns of all sorts as they like and make them freely available, and facilitate their practice in using them, then logically at some point aren't the odds that someone, for whatever reason is likely to use them - and in possibly the most appalling way?

Unfortunately PAN it can happen.  I think back to the Sandy Hook massacre perpetrated by a young unstable guy who lived with his mom who owned several guns and stored them at home.  Speaking of Sandy Hook, a mother of one of the children killed at the school a few years ago tweeted today "In America we value guns, flags and fake patriotism over people, pain and real acts of courage."  

Back in Washington the Republucan majority Congress recently reversed an Obama administration law that had made it more difficult for mentally ill people to obtain guns.  Just this week the Congress is scheduled to vote on making it easier to purchase gun silencers!  To know this on top of the horrendous news today is just surreal.


Thanks carol for the Nick Kristoff opinion piece.  I always like to read his commentary but I personally have heard most of his thoughts before.  When Sandy Hook happened in 2012 so many of Kristoff's suggestions were put out there for debate.  Nothing happened.  We couldn't even get background checks for gun purchasers passed into law.  The NRA got their way.  Again.    Even after 20 six and seven year old children were brutally murdered in an elementary school.  I have no confidence that anything will change as a result of the worst mass murder event in U.S.'s history.  


In fact I wonder how many people who attended the concert last night would actually support banning semi automatic assault weapons, ammunition magazines or just stringent background checks for gun purchases.

Donnamarie - A ray of hope: the guitarist of one of the musical groups posted that he has changed his stance on guns. After being in Vegas last night he has decided that things have gone too far and we need to make changes. He's sorry it took him so long to come around.

Maybe other people who were there will come to the same conclusion. There is no way to rationalize more than 50 dead and over 500 wounded. Every Congressman and Senator who votes down gun control laws should be sued or criminally charged. I'm sure if we think hard enough we could find something to charge them with. Maybe accomplice to murder?

Looks like there might be a familial link.......

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4941790/Las-Vegas-gunman-s-father-FBI-s-wanted.html

On BBC Newsnight here they interviewed a campaigner against guns who said that some local communities are starting to set their own legislation because they are so disturbed by the fact that 93 people are killed by gunfire in the USA every single day