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n2doc's JournalHouse Dems slam Perdues rollback of healthy school meal standards
House Democrats slammed the administration Monday for walking back healthy school meal standards promoted by former first lady Michelle Obama
Democratic Reps. Jim McGovern (Mass.), Rosa DeLauro (Conn.) and Chellie Pingree (Maine) called Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue’s first actions as head of the Department of Agriculture “disappointing.”
“Just days into his new job as Secretary of USDA, Secretary Perdue has decided to put special interests ahead of the health of America’s children,” DeLauro said in a statement.
“School meal nutrition standards were enacted, on a bipartisan basis, to bring school meals up to date with the latest nutrition science — ensuring that our children have healthy options on their plates. However, the USDA and President Trump have now decided to roll back much of the progress we have made in the fight against rates of childhood obesity and malnutrition."
more
http://thehill.com/regulation/331438-house-dems-slam-perdues-roll-back-of-healthy-school-meal-standards
Eight ways Trump got rolled in his first budget negotiation
-- Now that the language has posted, here are the eight most notable areas Trump caved in his first big spending negotiation:
1. There are explicit restrictions to block the border wall. We knew last week there would be no money to start construction on a project that the president says is more important to his base than anything else. But the final agreement goes further, putting strict limitations on how Trump can use new money for border security (e.g. to invest in new technology and repair existing fencing). Administration officials have insisted they already have the statutory authority to start building the wall under a 2006 law. This prevents such an end run.
The $1.5 billion for border security is also half as much as the White House requested. Additionally, there are no cuts in funding to sanctuary cities, something a federal judge said last week would be required for the Justice Department to follow through on its threats. And there is also no money for a deportation force.
2. Non-defense domestic spending will go up, despite the Trump team’s insistence he wouldn’t let that happen. The president called for $18 billion in cuts. Instead, he’s going to sign a budget with lots of sweeteners that grow the size of government. Mitch McConnell made sure $4.6 billion got put aside to permanently extend health benefits to 22,000 retired Appalachian coal miners and their families. Nancy Pelosi made sure $295 million was included to shore up Medicaid in Puerto Rico. Chuck Schumer got $61?million to reimburse local law enforcement agencies for the cost of protecting Trump when he travels to his residences in Florida and New York. There is also another $2 billion in disaster relief money for states, which bought a couple votes. (Kelsey Snell, our lead budget reporter, has more examples.)
3. Barack Obama’s cancer moonshot is generously funded. The administration asked to slash spending at the National Institutes of Health by $1.2 billion for the rest of this fiscal year. Instead, the NIH will get a $2 billion boost – on top of the huge increase it got last year. Republican appropriators who care about biomedical research, including Rep. Tom Cole (R-Okla.) and Sen. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.), delivered.
Trump also failed in his efforts to cut money for other kinds of scientific inquiry. For example, he proposed defunding the Advanced Research Projects Agency–Energy. Instead, it is getting a $15 million increase.
more
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/powerpost/paloma/daily-202/2017/05/01/daily-202-eight-ways-trump-got-rolled-in-his-first-budget-negotiation/590687f2e9b69b3a72331f09/?utm_term=.bb0b3824ba06
Seriously, Fox News- Fabio?
by Jack Cluth
In its ongoing precipitous descent into ever-greater depths of self-parody, Fox News Channel (FNC) continues to engage in the very same activity it castigates the “Liberal Media” for. FNC bookers seem to believe celebrities- merely by virtue of their celebrity- have something intelligent and important to contribute to the public discourse. Fabio may well be a prince of a guy, but he’s an authority on crime in the same way I’m a brain surgeon.
Fabio? Really? What’s next…FNC interviewing Scott Baio for his insight and expertise on foreign policy? Or Carrot Top as an expert on global climate change? Perhaps Ted Nugent will enlighten us on health care policy? This is America’s top-rated cable news channel? Or is America’s Lowest Common Denominator © just that gullible? As if that question’s anything but rhetorical….
Perhaps for these fine examples of intellectual rigor, news and entertainment have become indistinguishable…and we’re indeed well and truly gefickt.
Nice work, America.
http://whatwouldjackdo.org/2017/05/01/coming-up-well-talk-to-noted-human-rights-advocate-bashar-al-assad/#more-9027
Monday Toon Roundup 2- The Rest
GOP
Taxes
Saudis
Gawd
Airlines
Texas
California
Rodney King
Panel Of NC Judges Backs Cooper Over Election Changes
Source: AP
RALEIGH - North Carolina judges on Friday put a temporary brake on renewed efforts by Republican state lawmakers to curtail the new Democratic governor’s control over state and local elections.
A panel of state trial court judges voted 2-1 to stop a new law from taking effect Monday until a more extensive hearing on May 10. The panel’s majority said Gov. Roy Cooper was likely to succeed in challenging a law GOP legislators passed this week diluting the ability governors have had for more than a century to pick election board majorities.
State Senate leader Phil Berger blasted the temporary restraining order, saying legislators had responded to the panel’s rejection of an earlier version by tailoring the revamped effort “exactly as they required.”
The temporary freeze “is little different than the legislating from the bench they specifically promised they would not do,” Berger said in a prepared statement. “They have taken the first, disturbing step toward giving Roy Cooper total control of the board responsible for regulating his own ethics and campaign finance conduct, and we will continue to defend the law evenly dividing elections and ethics enforcement between both political parties.”
Read more: http://www.wfmynews2.com/news/politics/panel-of-nc-judges-backs-cooper-over-election-changes/435374124
Trump rally attendees call for 'complete idiot' Paul Ryan to be fired
Supporters at President Trump's rally in Harrisburg, Pa. on Saturday agreed on two things: Trump deserves high marks for his first 100 days in office, and House Speaker Paul Ryan needs to go.
"Ryan is a complete idiot," said rally-goer John Knepper speaking with AOL.com. "If I was Trump, boom, he'd be out of there in no time."
Tensions between establishment Republicans and Trump have seemingly heated up since the administration and Congress failed to repeal and replace Obamacare shortly after the president took office.
In March, after the health care repeal bill failed to secure enough votes in the House, President Trump urged the public to watch "Justice with Judge Jeanine" on FOX News the night Judge Pirro called for Ryan to step down during the opening segment of her show, which spurred speculation that Trump wanted Ryan out.
more
https://www.aol.com/article/news/2017/04/30/trump-rally-attendees-call-for-complete-idiot-paul-ryan-to-be/22062411/
Warning: watching these idiots on the video at link will likely drop your IQ by 10 percent or more.
After slashing taxes, Okla. struggles to fund schools, other services
By Sean Murphy
OKLAHOMA CITY — Four years ago, Oklahoma’s oil patch was booming, unemployment was falling, and lawmakers were debating what to do with a $200 million surplus.
Republicans who control state government successfully pushed to reduce the top income tax rate, slash the oil and gas production tax rate from 7 percent to 2 percent, and give more tax incentives to industry.
But the boom ended, and the money dried up.
Now, the once-unwavering confidence in the wisdom of lower taxes has given way to a growing panic over how to pay for basic services, including schools, health care, and public safety. Revenue has fallen about 20 percent short of budgeted needs — for the third year in a row.
https://www.bostonglobe.com/news/nation/2017/04/27/after-slashing-taxes-oklahoma-struggles-fund-schools-other-basic-services/d3Z4z26eF7cXbN2Wgs5LzI/story.html
Same shit, different state.
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