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Congressional offices continue to be bombarded with phone calls from angry constituents, putting lawmakers on notice about supporting President Trump and forcing countless staff assistants to eat yogurt at their desks for lunch for two weeks straight. Kellyanne Conway tried to politicize the “Bowling Green massacre,” which isn’t actually a thing ― a major insult to the victims of real tragedies, like the River of Blood. And the Super Bowl is this weekend, that time when we’re reminded that we deserve Trump because ad firms have compelling data suggesting 30-second clips of service members being reunited with their children will make you want to take out a policy with Nationwide. This is HUFFPOST HILL for Friday, February 3rd, 2017:
HUDDLED MASSES UPDATE - This ends with yet another adorable photo-op involving Justin Trudeau welcoming people to Canada. Elise Foley: “The Trump administration provisionally revoked 100,000 visas as part of its ban on travelers from seven Muslim-majority countries, a government lawyer said in court on Friday. The revelation caused shockwaves on Twitter, but the State Department actually confirmed earlier this week that it had provisionally revoked most visas held by people from Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen. State Department officials said later Friday that fewer than 60,000 individuals’ visas were provisionally revoked as a result of the order...Those currently in the U.S. on revoked visas will still be allowed to live in the U.S. for the term of their visa and do the things they were previously authorized to do, such as working or attending school, a Department of Homeland Security spokeswoman told HuffPost.” [HuffPost]
TRUMP NOW FRIENDS WITH HOAX JOBS REPORT - Delaney Downer: “During his campaign for president, Donald Trump frequently said the official U.S. unemployment statistics were ‘phony’ and that the real jobless rate was many times higher than the government said. On Friday, he touted the numbers in the first monthly jobs report released under his administration. ‘Two-hundred twenty-seven thousand jobs,’ Trump said at the White House. ‘Great spirit in the country right now, so we’re very happy about that. I think that it’s going to continue, big league. We’re bringing back jobs.’.... ‘The report is fine, but if anything, shows a less rapid pace of growth than the average for the last three years,’ economist Dean Baker said in an email, pointing out that the report covers the month of January, using data from the second week of the month as its reference point.” [HuffPost]
GOP DEFENDS 2ND AMENDMENT RIGHTS OF PEOPLE WHO CAN’T MANAGE OWN FINANCES DUE TO MENTAL IMPAIRMENT - That’s literally it. Double Downer: Congressional Republicans want to undo an Obama administration initiative designed to keep mentally ill people from buying guns. The House of Representatives voted Thursday, mostly along partisan lines, to stop the Social Security Administration from telling the FBI about disability insurance recipients who have mental impairments that should disqualify them from buying guns. The Obama administration pushed the measure as part of a broader gun control effort following the 2012 massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School. The Social Security Administration finalized the rule in December. Republicans and the National Rifle Association blasted the initiative as unconstitutional gun-grabbing. Rep. Sam Johnson (R-Texas) introduced legislation to block the rule last year. ‘We need to protect rights of all Americans, including individuals with disabilities,’ Johnson said then, referring to Second Amendment rights.” [HuffPost]
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TRUMP SIGNS ORDER RELIEVING FINANCIAL ADVISERS FROM HAVING TO CARE ABOUT YOU - To be followed by the If The Meineke Guy Wants To Shove A Pebble-Filled Sock Into Your Car’s Tailpipe, Who Are We To Judge Act. Zach Carter: “One of the Donald Trump administration’s first orders of business on the economy will scuttle a rule protecting retirees from being scammed out of $17 billion a year by their own financial advisers. The Obama administration approved the regulation last year. The rule established a “fiduciary duty” for money managers, requiring them to operate retirement accounts in the best interests of their clients. The Trump team’s repeal will allow financial professionals to steer retirees into expensive or poor-performing products that carry economic benefits and perks for the advisers and their firms, without disclosing such conflicts of interest. The Obama administration calculated that consumers lose $17 billion a year due to conflicted investment advice. A Goldman Sachs study concluded the rule would cost the financial industry $13 billion in upfront costs and $7 billion each year.” [HuffPost]
BIG WIN FOR THE GLOBALISTS - It’s almost like the stuff Steve Bannon truly cares about only involves brown people. Lisa Lambert and Sarah N. Lynch: “The Republican-led Congress killed a controversial U.S. securities disclosure rule early on Friday aimed at curbing corruption at big oil, gas and mining companies. In a 52 to 47 vote, the Senate approved a resolution already passed by the House of Representatives that wipes from the books a rule requiring companies such as Exxon Mobil and Chevron Corp to publicly state the taxes and other fees they pay to foreign governments. Republican President Donald Trump is expected to sign it shortly. Exxon and other major energy corporations have fought for years to prevent the rule, required by the 2010 Dodd-Frank Wall Street reform law, from seeing the light of day.” [Reuters]
The Bowling Green Massacre Fund. Make a difference to those impacted.
TRUMP/RYAN WORKING ON CLOSING CARRIED INTEREST - Ryan Grim :”In June, House Republicans sketched a “blueprint” for tax reform that would replace taxes on corporate profits with a new system of “border adjustments.” Companies would pay taxes for shipping stuff into the United States, while goods sold across the border would be exempted. The idea, if the GOP could pull it off, would eliminate a host of strategies private equity firms and hedge fund managers deploy to game the tax code. It would also reduce the total amount of revenue the government brings in, allowing Grover Norquist and other anti-tax hard-liners to tout it as a tax cut. It could be seen as a boost to manufacturing, but retailers are panicked about rising costs of imported products. The Trump administration hasn’t quite figured out how it feels about this idea. In an interview with The Wall Street Journal last month, President Donald Trump criticized the plan as overly complicated. But last week, White House spokesman Sean Spicer offered a simplified version: a 20-percent tax on imports to pay for a new wall along the Mexican border. “ [HuffPost]
TRUMP POWERFULLY KEEPS WITH CURRENT PRACTICE - A bold move for the statust quo. S.V. Date: “Just hours after President Donald Trump’s bellicose tweet that Iran was ‘playing with fire,’ his administration rolled out narrow financial sanctions, just as the previous administration had done a year ago. ‘Today’s sanctions really represent a very, very strong stand against the actions that Iran has been taking,’ White House press secretary Sean Spicer said Friday. Former Obama administration officials agree ― but wonder what makes them so much stronger now than they had been under the previous president. ‘This is not a meaningless action. This is the sort of thing you should do,’ said Richard Nephew, who was a State Department Iranian sanctions expert in the Obama administration. ‘This is also not a dramatic escalation. It’s not really different from what the Obama administration was doing.’ ‘The question is: Is this it? Or is this the beginning of an escalation?’ wondered Ilan Goldenberg, who worked on Iranian issues at the Pentagon during Obama’s first term.” [HuffPost]
SESSIONS AN EARLY LEADER IN GUN VIOLENCE MISDIRECTION - Jason Cherkis: “Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.), soon to be confirmed as President Donald Trump’s attorney general, may have helped invent this grief response to mass shootings. Eight days after 12 students and one teacher were killed at Colorado’s Columbine High School in 1999, Sessions joined a chorus of conservative cultural warriors who argued that the horrifying shooting didn’t require new gun laws, but a deeper examination of Hollywood. The senator didn’t stop there. In a speech on the Senate floor, Sessions suggested that the real cause of the massacre was the faith ― or lack of faith ― of the teenage perpetrators. In a remarkable turn, he suggested maybe it was their parents’ fault, too.” [HuffPost]
TRUMP’S TRIP TO MAR-A-LAGO COSTING $3 MILLION - Does it even matter at this point if we trudge up his tweets about Obama’s vacations? *looks at news for two seconds* Nope. Matthew Nussbaum: “President Donald Trump’s trip to his luxury resort in Mar-a-Lago this weekend could saddle taxpayers with a bill upward of $3 million and is already drawing the type of scrutiny Trump and other Republicans regularly heaped upon former President Barack Obama. The Florida trip is Trump’s first getaway as president and is expected to be part business, part pleasure. He will reunite with his wife, Melania, who has been living in Trump Tower in Manhattan as their 10-year-old son Barron finishes the school year, and there are rumors he will attend the American Red Cross’ annual fundraising gala, which is being held at Mar-a-Lago on Saturday night. In between the socializing, Trump will have several meetings and phone calls as he maintains his aggressive work schedule.” [Politico]
TRUMP’S LABOR NOMINEE ROYALLY SCREWED WORKERS - A list of reported violations by Andy Puzder’s CKE Restaurants, via Dave Jamieson: “Managers at a Hardee’s restaurant in Alabama scrubbed workers’ hours from the logbooks in order to avoid paying them overtime. Hardee’s workers in Pennsylvania were required to pay 10 cents per hour for the privilege of wearing a Hardee’s uniform. Workers at a Georgia Hardee’s were told to clock out and sit in the parking lot when business slowed down. When it picked up again, they were told to clock back in and work. Managers at a Hardee’s in Missouri had money deducted from their paychecks whenever the cash register came up short. Adult workers at a Hardee’s restaurant in Iowa were paid a “sub-minimum wage” that was legal only for minors, while minors worked so late that their hours broke child labor law.” [HuffPost]
BECAUSE YOU’VE READ THIS FAR - Here’s a pig who loves dogs.
FOR THOSE OF YOU LOOKING TO FIRST AMENDMENT THIS WEEKEND - Rachel Sadon: “Tonight, Amnesty International is gathering in protest outside the White House from 5:30 - 7:30 p.m with the goal of sending a message to senators who haven’t spoken up in opposition to the travel ban...Meanwhile, WERK for Peace (best known as the architects behind the biodegradable glitter-filled dance party outside Mike Pence’s temporary home) plans to shake it off outside the Trump International hotel from 6 p.m.- 9 p.m...Tomorrow will see a reprise of last weekend’s rally to support immigrants and refugees outside the White House, from 1 - 4 p.m. The plan is to “gather, speak, chant, and sing” before marching on Pennsylvania Avenue to the Capitol and Supreme Court. Shortly thereafter, people plan to gather in front of the Islamic Center of Washington and walk over to the Naval Observatory, holding a candlelight vigil outside Mike Pence’s residence from 5:15 - 8 p.m.” [DCist]
COMFORT FOOD
- Ahead of the Super Bowl, here is our own sports mascot.
- Why so many cartoon characters wear gloves.
- Poor dog is trapped in a block of wood.
TWITTERAMA
@AlexJamesFitz: personally I preferred bowling green massacre’s first album, American Carnage
@daveweigel: The left: Primary any Dem who votes for Trump nominee.
The right: tbh we just need a warm body to nominate Heritage-approved judges.
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