Trump Firing Sparks Warnings On Both Sides
‘You Will Not Destroy America’: A Trump battle is no longer one-sided. NYT: As President Trump has voiced his grievances against the F.B.I. with a series of insult-laden tweets, his targets have responded nearly in kind, turning a conflict that would in the past have stayed behind closed doors into a brawl for all to see. Throughout the weekend, the president attacked 'lying James Comey,' the F.B.I. director he fired last year. He also celebrated the dismissal of Mr. Comey’s onetime deputy, Andrew G. McCabe, calling it on Friday 'a great day for Democracy.' Mr. Comey struck back on the president’s preferred digital soapbox. 'Mr. President, the American people will hear my story very soon,' he wrote on Twitter on Saturday, in what was most likely a reference to his coming book. 'And they can judge for themselves who is honorable and who is not.' Mr. McCabe, through his lawyer, tweeted a similar message, though with a biting flourish. 'We will not be responding to each childish, defamatory, disgusting & false tweet by the President,' said the lawyer, Michael R. Bromwich. 'The whole truth will come out in due course.'
Dems Rally To Defend McCabe
Dems flood McCabe with Federal job offers to save his pension. HuffPo: "Democrats in Congress may have found a way to save former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe’s government pension, despite Attorney General Jeff Sessions firing him two days before he could qualify for it. Rep. Mark Pocan (D-Wis.) on Saturday extended a federal job offer to McCabe, who has worked for the FBI for 21 years. Pocan wants McCabe to work with his office on election security. Should McCabe accept the offer, Pocan said in a statement it would allow the former FBI official to reach the length of service he needs to retire and collect his pension, estimated at $60,000 a year. The congressman claims Sessions’ ousting of McCabe proves that President Donald Trump and his administration are working to “discredit the FBI and undermine” Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into whether Trump’s presidential campaign colluded with Russia."
Friday Budget Deadline Looms
Congress considers a monster spending bill. Axios: "The House and Senate need to pass their massive 2018 spending bill before the government shuts down on Friday. Senior sources from both parties on Capitol Hill tell me they expect they'll get the deal done — though there's plenty of last minute haggling. The big picture: This spending bill will cost more than $1 trillion and will further add to the deficit, which is likely to reach at least $800 billion for the 2018 fiscal year. Republican leaders and Trump will sell the spending package as a much-needed boost to military spending. House defense hawks, led by House Armed Services Chairman Mac Thornberry, campaigned aggressively for this boost. And Democrats will rightly be thrilled that they've forced Republicans to capitulate to fund so many of their domestic priorities."
House Battles Over Changes To Banking Rules
Power struggle threatens to sink bank legislation. The Hill: "A power struggle between House Republicans and Senate Democrats could kill what's seen as the last chance Congress has to revise the strict banking rules enacted by former President Obama. Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) has vowed to freeze a bipartisan Senate bill to loosen the 2010 Dodd-Frank Act until senators agree to negotiate changes. But Senate Democrats who spent years working on the measure have ruled out amending it. They say House Republicans should quickly pass the bill, calling it the most sweeping revamp of Dodd-Frank to ever earn bipartisan support. The battle threatens to derail one of the few major pieces of legislation with a chance to pass before the midterm elections."
Kushner Co. Routinely Lied To Evict Tenants
Kushner Cos. routinely filed false NYC housing paperwork. AP/CBS: "When the Kushner Cos. bought three apartment buildings in a gentrifying neighborhood of Queens in 2015, most of the tenants were protected by special rules that prevent developers from pushing them out, raising rents and turning a tidy profit. But that’s exactly what the company then run by Jared Kushner did, and with remarkable speed. Two years later, it sold all three buildings for $60 million, nearly 50 percent more than it paid. Now a clue has emerged as to how President Donald Trump’s son-in-law’s firm was able to move so fast: The Kushner Cos. routinely filed false paperwork with the city declaring it had zero rent-regulated tenants in dozens of buildings it owned across the city when, in fact, it had hundreds."
Demographic Shift Drives White Grievance
As America changes, some anxious whites feel left behind. NatGeo: "Hazleton was another former coal mining town slipping into decline until a wave of Latinos arrived. It would not be an overstatement to say a tidal wave. In 2000 Hazleton’s 23,399 residents were 95 percent non-Hispanic white and less than 5 percent Latino. By 2016 Latinos became the majority, composing 52 percent of the population, while the white share plunged to 44 percent... Immigrants have been flocking to Hazleton for decades. Putting down roots. Working hard. Raising families. Striving. Climbing. Spending money in local businesses. But the word 'immigrant' takes on a different tone now. Older Hazleton residents who are themselves the children of immigrants often say the word with a sneer."
More from OurFuture.org:
Putting Lawmakers On Notice in Idaho. Adrienne Evans: "Idahoans are fed up with lawmakers like Gov. Butch Otter who cave to the interests of deep-pocketed donors rather than than step up to defend quality, affordable health care in our state. Make no mistake: Idaho voters have now put lawmakers on notice that they can either take action to provide health care and represent the needs of their constituents, or prepare for people who are mobilizing across our state like never before to vote them out and take back the people’s house."
Labor Organizes a Congressional Win. Leo Gerard: "Conor Lamb is the kind of union-supporting Democrat that workers and organized labor volunteers will gladly spend hundreds of hours walking door-to-door to support. And that block-walking and door-knocking clearly can make the crucial 600-vote difference between winning and losing in a long-time Republican district."
